Valuation Methods of Collateralized mortgage obligations Dissertation

Valuation Methods of Collateralized mortgage obligations - Dissertation Example ted For Research Study 55 Data Analysis 57 Data Analysis Technique 57 Appropriateness of data analysis technique 59 Description on Questionnaire Formulation 61 Findings of the Research (CMO Valuation Model) 62 Reliability on the Data 62 Chapter Summary 63 Chapter Four: Methods 64 Introduction 64 Research Method 64 Research Design 66 Population and Sample 67 Sampling and Sampling Technique 67 Research Instrument 68 Primary Data Collection 69 Secondary Data Collection 70 Ethical Issues 71 Chapter Five: Findings 72 Introduction 72 Overview of the Study 72 Findings 72 Research Question One 73 Degree of relationship between the yield of FNMA-supported tranches and return on the US treasury bonds 73 Effect of Projected and Market Consensus on Subprime MSRs 76 Research Question Two 77 Relationship between the yields of FNMA-supported tranches and the assumption of the prepayment speed 77 Factors influencing the term structure of interest rate 79 Review on Subprime Meltdown 80 Research Quest ion Three 80 Fundamentals of CMO valuation identified through secondary data collection 81 Research Question 4 91 Quantitative representation of the MSR Price Impact 91 Component MSR Price Impact: 91 Total MSR Price Impact: 91 Impact on Sample Residual Interest is More Significant: 92 Fixed-rate mortgage valuation methodologies 93 Benchmark method 93 Rapid approximation method 96 Rational valuation approach 97 References 98 Dedication Acknowledgments Abstract Chapter One: Introduction This proposed quantitative descriptive research study discusses the various valuation methodologies of prepayment speeds with Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMO) tranches and analyzing how the prevalent valuation methods are useful in current complex economic scenarios. The objective of this study is primarily to examine the applicability of various methods of valuation for pricing the CMOs so as to determine their validity in the present economic conditions. Chapter 1 provides a broad overview o f the various facets with respect to the valuation of the prepayment speeds within CMO tranches. Collateralized Mortgage Obligations are derivative debt instruments that can be aptly defined as the claim that arises out of cash flows from large pools of home mortgages. The structure of CMO is such that once the principal and interest received from the mortgage holders it is distributed to tranches. The principal amount, the coupon rate, the prepayment risk and the maturity date differ among the tranches (Economy Watch, n. d.). CMOs are derivative debt instruments providing both retail and institutional investors the possibility of higher yields with a Standard & Poors AA

Impact of the French and Indian War Essay Example for Free

Impact of the French and Indian War Essay The Native tribes are one of those directly affected by the French and Indian War. Many native populations suffered a great loss when the French power in North America was eliminated. The French proved to be a strong ally of these native tribes and were essential in countering the continued British expansion. The elimination of the French power resulted to the dispossession of many native tribes, forcing them to move out of their lands. When the Spanish-controlled Florida was taken-over by the British, native tribes who did not want to involve themselves with the British, migrated westward. This has resulted to heated confrontations between several tribes who were already established in the area (Ohio History Central, 2005). The British exploited the boundaries between opposing tribes, making the natives fight among themselves. The French and Indian war also affected the American colonists. As Britain continued to expand their control over the colonies of other European powers, they continued to resettle many of its people throughout their North American provinces. As Britain continued to focus on its war for territory, it began neglecting its duties for its people and its colonies. The French and Indian war resulted to the doubling of Britain’s national debt, and with the shortage of funding; the government imposed new taxes on their colonies. This resulted to stiff resistance, and strained relationship between Britain and its colonies. Troops were called in to the colonies in order to make sure the taxes are paid accordingly (Ohio History Central, 2005). This greatly inconvenienced the colonies, until it finally came down to the American Revolutionary War. Reference: Ohio History Central. (2005). French and Indian War. Retrieved July 27, 2009, from http://www. ohiohistorycentral. org/entry. php? rec=498

Architectural History of Blenheim Palace

Architectural History of Blenheim Palace INTRODUCTION Blenheim Palace is the one of the huge building in England and it was designed by playwright Sir John Vanbrugh, assistants  Nicholas Hawksmoor, and landscape architect Lancelot Brown (Capability Brown). An impressive example of 18th English baroque style. It was located at a town in southwestern New York, Oxfordshire,  England. Formerly it was called by â€Å"Woodstock Manor†, This building of the palace was originally intended to be a reward tothe first duke Marlborough, John Churchill. [1] It was built in 1705 when Queen Anne bestows to John Churchill, he was Winston Churchill forefather. This was to celebrate the victory over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704. By Blenheim Palace as the axis a huge palace building complex, it was the center of Woodstock. Beside this hidden a lot of precious oil painting and sculpture of magnificent palace, it also had a lake, pasture and a typical of English manor. Even though in later period had add in a lot of art ificial features, but it is still a faction elegant English-style afternoon tea. Blenheim palace is an immortal country house, one of the England’s largest country house. it is the only non-royal, non-episcopal in England to hold the title of palace. [2] This is a territory of the Oxfordshire quiet, green village. Futhermore, Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, the former Prime Minister of the England. In 1988, Blenheim Palace was list as cultural heritage of the world. In early the 20th, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, was rebuilt the east and west sides in the shape neat gardens. This pattern of garden, had become a lawn. Regarding to the famous architect and sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, he was praised to him. Figure 1: Front view of Blenheim Palace Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace Source of Name The origin name of Blenheim Palace was come from a decisive war at the north shore of the Danube and it was happened in 13th August 1704. In a north shore of the Danube, nearby had a small village called Blenheim. It was built as a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill the military commander who led the Allied forces in the Battle of Blenheim on 13th August 1704. It was Marlborough who personally received the surrender from Marshall Tallard, leader of the French forces, following the battle.[3] Charity generous queen Anne giving the â€Å"Woodstock† royal honor and the construction of â€Å"Blenheim Palace† as a gift. The construction of this building start from 1705 to 1722 by Mr. Wenbuhler.The title of â€Å" Woodstock of the royal honor and building given by her majesty the queen Anne and confirmed by parliament.[4] In 1712, the construction of Blenheim Palace forced to stop all work. Since when Duke Marlborough continue across work for the queen, host ile forces are trying to think of ways to destroyed the queen for his love. Finally, the funds approval to build Blenheim Palace did not get, so that they owned the masonry, sculptor and other things include the architect. [1] [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace [3] http://www.blenheimpalace.com/blenheimpalace/about-blenheim-palace/the-history-of-blenheim-palace/ [4] http://en.labtud.com/article-160217-1.html Architectural Style Interior Design Blenheim Palace, the main building consists of two wings on the main building and courtyards. The exterior mixed with Collins-style colonnades and tower with Baroque style. High uplift of the triangular wall, forming patchwork of facade line. Entering the hall, it is surrounded salon, reception room, library, living room, all surrounded by a small courtyard, connected by corridors and hall. Furnishings with families portrait paintings, tapestries and a variety of decorative ornaments, each one from the hands of masters. To mimic the natural landscape sculpture gardens seldom do the decoration, while Blenheim Palace is a French Baroque garden. Sculptures are visible everywhere. The Grand Bridge Blenheim palace is an English baroque architecture. In 1709, the manor was destructed by the Duchess of Marlboroughs command, the foundation of Vanbrughs Grand Bridge used a lot of rubber to fill up. When John Churchill and Vanbrugh walking though inquired into Woodstock Park, they saw a valley of marsh, this gave Sir Vangbrugh some inspiration, he created and designed the fitnest bridgein Europe. Since in 1711, Marburg was the Queen of favor and banished several years. Sarah Churchill, the first duchess, she finished the Blenheim with Vanbrugh by their own expense, even though they faced a lot of budjet problem and enter the prohibited place. Figure 2: The Grand Bridge of Blenheim Palace Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace From the figure 2 above, can see the sea is surrounding the grand bridge. After the first duke died, his wife called in Colonel John Armstrong, he was a chief engineer, to re-designed the water-works in the park. The Great Hall The most amazing thing is the grand lobby, especially theGibbons hall. The hall is 67’ ft high, due to James Thornhill who is an english painter of historical subject, in 1716 he painted the ceilings of blenheim palace, according the order of war and to expand in blenheim palace, and to show the Madero victory. Futhermore, there had stone carving by Grinling Gibbons. However, the 9th Dukes bronze bust was made by Sir Jacob Epstein. Sarah Churchill was famous on bargain prices, she always argue with the workers that she hire. In a similar situation, she was argue with Grinling Gibbons, the master carver, he haven’t complete the work on house, but after that he never returned to complete and continue his work. Figure 3: Great Hall of Blenheim Palace Source:  http://www.discoverbritainmag.com/britain/blenheim_palace_steeped_in_history_1_3770278 The Saloon The Saloon, can only use once a year in Christmas dinner for the family of Duke Marlborough. In this elegant and classic room painted murals and paintings of French artist Louis Laguerre. Figure 4: Saloon ceiling of Blenheim Source:  http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_282079/Sir-James-Thornhill/Proposed-design-for-the-saloon-ceiling-at-Blenheim-Palace,-Oxfordshire-The-Apotheosis-of-Hercules Sarah Churchill were instructed to the first duke, John Churchill report the victory to Queen Anne. John Churchill used solid silver centerpiece writing the dispatch on horseback to his wife in this room. The centerpiece was made byGarrard, the Crown Jewellers. [5] The Green Writing Room In addition to Blenheim’s wall, there were thick tapestries made of expensive fabrics hang from the wall, describing the surrender from French on the battle been accepted by Marlborough in the green writing room. A carefully planned bureau in the room, the style of decorated was a modern inlay style, and this was made from the Queen’s nephew. The Long Library The long library, is one of the private house in Britain, the long library it was originally designed for the gallery, designed by Vanbrugh and Nicholes Hawksmoor. The library can contain around 10,000 books, the largely collection was from 9th Duke. Inside the wall, at the northern end, hang in a systemic statue of Queen Anne, King William III and the first duke, John Churchill. Maybe the most compelling place in the room is the magnificent Willis government agencies. In 1891, there was an organ belongs to Henry Willis and he designed it. This is the most ou tstanding room from Hawksmoor’s designed. The ordinary stucco ceilings designed, included two false domes, was completed in 1725. Figure 5: The Long Library Source: http://prato12.blog.sbc.edu/2011/08/11/blenheim-palace/ Due to the figure 3 above, there have a blank ceiling. At first, Sir James Thornhill was entrusted to filled up allegorical scenes. But it was too expensive, so they remained blank. The interesting things is, in 18th century, the blank and plane ceiling giving simple appearance to show atypical of the neoclassical or Georgian style of the Robert Adam. For many years, this long library had a number variety of uses. During World War I it was a hospital ward and during World War II it served as a dormitory for Malvern College boys. [6] [5] http://gouk.about.com/od/thingstodo/ig/Blenheim-in-Pictures/The-Saloon-at-Blenheim-Palace.htm#step-heading [6] http://gouk.about.com/od/thingstodo/ig/Blenheim-in-Pictures/The-Long-Library.htm 3.2 The Water Terraces Due to the water terraces of Blenheim palace, Winston Churchill was be responsible for the creation of a huge lake, the artificial fluctuations and a series of water cascades. He wrote that Blenheim’s unique attraction lie in its perfect adaptation of English parkland to an Italian palace. The â€Å"Italian palace† it seems to be part of the reference about the unique garden, the western water terraces, designed bythe French landscape architectAchille Duchà ªne. Figure 6: The upper water terrace in Blenheim Palace Source: During the 9th Duke of Marlborough, water terraces was built. It was built form 1925 to 1930, took around five years. The lower Water Terrace, separated from the upper Water Terrace by a wall of caryatids and tiered shells has been compared to the Parterre dEau at Versailles. Reportedly, the Water Terraces were inspired by the sculptor Bernini. The sphinx is one of pair with heads modeled on the features of the 9th Dukes second American wife Gladys Deacon. It was created by Ward Willis in 1930. Another piece of sculpture on the lower Water Terrace was modeled on local man and gardener by Bert Timms of Hanborough. Due to the story, he got inspired when walking through the garden and noticed who was carving Visseau at the time, As a result, he made the model of the head and torso of the leftmost caryatid on the wall that separates the two Water Terraces at Blenheim When walk in through, there had an archway describe about British lion forced down to a cockerel (the emblem of France). Altogether, on the exterior there were almost 15 references to mention British Victories against the French. 4.0 Architectural History In 13 August 1704, John Churchill achieved victory the Battle of Blenheim, who led the Allied forces. He was defeated in Bavaria with army of Louis XIV, in order to award his feats, he was awarded be the first Duke of Marlborough the king and giving him the construction of Blenheim as a gift. Blenheim Place is a masterpiece completed with a famous architect John Vanbrugh between 1705 until 1722. The building style of this was intended to reflect the establishment of the Duke of Marlboroughs outstanding contributions. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim, he is the eighth generation the first Duke of Marlborough’s grandson. He inherited on the fine tradition of the family, exert excellence military talent, go through brilliant political career. Winston Churchill wrote a biography about his family. Long ago, he was an officer, but later he served as British Prime Minister because of he successfully defended Britain in World War II. First, the first Duke took a fancy to a wide valley, later it formed to a piece of marsh. Sir John Vanbrugh design and build a grand large bridge. Bridge arches of main bridge total width 31 meters. It started the construction in 1708, but because of the cost was too high, and did not complete the constructed. Sarah Churchill, the first duchess, disagree to build an arched bridge under the valley. So, just built an ordinary bridge to connected between Blenheim and the ranch. In 1764, the family of duke the important task of construction to Blenheim Palace handed over to landscape architect, Capability Brown. He think that landscape design should blend with the natural landscape, not to leave traces of artificial modification. He repaired dams in the valley, form to a large territorial waters. Therefore, under the bridge become two edges of crooked lake. The first duke, John Churchill death on 1725, after the five years he death, the construction of Blenheim Palace just fully completed. The duke memo rial was a landmark to Blenheim Palace, under the memorial hall rooftop have a small tower and belfry. Supporting the Duke memorial hall there have 4 pillars, have the sing of Marlborough moral merit. The main part of this construction was using the columns to connect, and to replace the wall. Top of the memorial hall. There have a sculpture of British lion forced down to a cockerel, which means that the strength of victory. In early the 20th, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, was rebuilt the east and west sides in the shape neat gardens. This pattern of garden, had become a lawn. The 9th duke of Marlborough hire the famous French landscape designer,  Achille Duchà ªne to create a water garden. Duke hopes to restore the original appearance of the lake, but he just here to build a strange pond. Regarding to the famous architect and sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, he was praised to him. Bernini used the Roman of St. Pi erre Cathedral transformed into the famous Palazzo Barberini, it was very famous and well-known in Europe. At that time, they called it Bernini was a â€Å"Knight†, Louis XIV also asked him to remodelled the Louvre. In order to satisfy the wish of the Duke, Achille Duchà ªne have to follow according to Berninis approach to the design of Blenheim Palace Gardens. He imitated Bernini to build a new plaza, in this pond middle of Alpheus built a small fountain. In England, natural landscape gardens seldom to do the decoration, yet Blenheim Palace was a French Baroque garden, sculptor can easy to be seen at here. The layout of garden neat and orderly, wherein plants and ornaments panoramic view passage. Statue in every corner is a sign of military bravery and honor of military. Because this is to commemorated the residence of the British army and built it. Bibliography References The front view of Blenheim Palace, available on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace, accessed on 29 April 2015, 8p.m The Grand Bridge of Blenheim Palace, available on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace, accessed on 02 May 2015, 02:14am. The Great Hall of Blenheim Palace, available on http://www.discoverbritainmag.com/britain/blenheim_palace_steeped_in_history_1_3770278, accessed on 2 May 2015, 01:50 a.m. Saloon ceiling of Blenheim, available on http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_282079/Sir-James-Thornhill/Proposed-design-for-the-saloon-ceiling-at-Blenheim-Palace,-Oxfordshire-The-Apotheosis-of-Hercules, accesed on 1 May 2015 2:30pm. The Long Library available on, http://prato12.blog.sbc.edu/2011/08/11/blenheim-palace/, accessed on 1 May 2015, 4:00pm.

Poe Compare to Manson :: essays research papers

Though born at different times and in different places Edgar Allen Poe and Bryan Warner (Marilyn Manson) are surprising social and ideological doppelgangers. Starting as early as their childhood you can notice notable similarities. Bryan spent the majority of his time at his grandparent’s house. It was a generally hostile area for young children, leaving little access to parental supervision or interaction. Poe on the other hand had no father around to begin with and his mother died when he was two. He went on to live with his mother’s business associate who turned out to be quite abusive. Now due to personal problems Poe was unable to attend school any longer and didn’t finish his education which had been a aspiration of Poe’s to be removed. This seemed to be a similar trend between Poe and Bryan, because Manson did it as well. Both writers were similar in there choice of work as well, and how they delivered them. Both Poe and Bryan published many works before there writing became popular. The macabre story of â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† by Edgar A. P. is quite similar to Bryan’s first published work about himself ending up murdering and raping his sister. Obviously the chosen tone by both of these individuals is similar because they desire to put out a persona. This persona is a general feeling that each Artist expresses as a discontentment with life and society, and leads to there morbid works. Poe wrote â€Å"Poe’s Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque†, where Bryan published a CD â€Å"The Golden Age of Grotesque† which both turned out to be fairly similar. On an ideological level they both consider the modern man to not be that modern. They were both haunted by something internal possibly even external that drove them nearly insane and tainted there view of all of society. Both of them had very low morality and on many accounts lusted after family members and the same sex on occasion. Poe left the Army and West Point which had been the next step in his life, he enjoyed the army in many ways ideologically speaking but still loved writing too much to not follow it. He married his first cousin against the wishes of his family and decided to make a life. Bryan decided not to go into military but still always struggled with organized religion, he also had a sexual fascination with family members.

Evolution of Microprocessor

American University CSIS 550 History of Computing Professor Tim Bergin Technology Research Paper: Microprocessors Beatrice A. Muganda AU ID: 0719604 May 3, 2001 -2- EVOLUTION OF THE MICROPROCESSOR INTRODUCTION The Collegiate Webster dictionary describes microprocessor as a computer processor contained on an integrated-circuit chip. In the mid-seventies, a microprocessor was defined as a central processing unit (CPU) realized on a LSI (large-scale integration) chip, operating at a clock frequency of 1 to 5 MHz and constituting an 8-bit system (Heffer, 1986).It was a single component having the ability to perform a wide variety of different functions. Because of their relatively low cost and small size, the microprocessors permitted the use of digital computers in many areas where the use of the preceding mainframe—and even minicomputers— would not be practical and affordable (Computer, 1996). Many non-technical people associate microprocessors with only PCs yet there are thousands of appliances that have a microprocessor embedded in them— telephone, dishwasher, microwave, clock radio, etc. In these items, the microprocessor acts primarily as a controller and may not be known to the user.The Breakthrough in Microprocessors The switching units in computers that were used in the early 1940s were the mechanical relays. These were devices that opened and closed as they did the calculations. Such mechanical relays were used in Zuse’s machines of the 1930s. -3- Come the 1950s, and the vacuum tubes took over. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) used vacuum tubes as its switching units rather than relays. The switch from mechanical relay to vacuum tubes was an important technological advance as vacuum tubes could perform calculations considerably faster and more efficient than relay machines.However, this technological advance was short-lived because the tubes could not be made smaller than they were being made and had to be placed close to eac h other because they generated heat (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). Then came the transistor which was acknowledged as a revolutionary development. In â€Å"Fire in the Valley†, the authors describe the transistor as a device which was the result of a series of developments in the applications of physics. The transistor changed the computer from a giant electronic brain to a commodity like a TV set.This innovation was awarded to three scientists: John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley. As a result of the technological breakthrough of transistors, the introduction of minicomputers of the 1960s and the personal computer revolution of the 1970s was made possible. However, researchers did not stop at transistors. They wanted a device that could perform more complex tasks—a device that could integrate a number of transistors into a more complex circuit. Hence, the terminology, integrated circuits or ICs.Because physically they were tiny chips of silicon, they ca me to be also referred to as chips. Initially, the demand for ICs was typically the military and aerospace -4- industries which were great users of computers and who were the only industries that could afford computers (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). Later, Marcian â€Å"Ted† Hoff, an engineer at Intel, developed a sophisticated chip. This chip could extract data from its memory and interpret the data as an instruction. The term that evolved to describe such a device was â€Å"microprocessor†.Therefore, the term â€Å"microprocessor† first came into use at Intel in 1972 (Noyce, 1981). A microprocessor was nothing more than an extension of the arithmetic and logic IC chips corporating more functions into one chip (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). Today, the term still refers to an LSI single-chip processor capable of carrying out many of the basic operations of a digital computer. Infact, the microprocessors of the late eighties and early nineties are full-sclae 32-b it and 32-bit address systems, operating at clock cycles of 25 to 50 MHz (Heffer, 1986).What led to the development of microprocessors? As stated above, microprocessors essentially evolved from mechanical relays to integrated circuits. It is important to illustrate here what aspects of the computing industry led to the development of microprocessors. (1) Digital computer technology In the History of Computing class, we studied, throughout the semester, how the computer industry learned how to make large, complex digital computers capable of processing more data and also how to build and use smaller, less -5- expensive computers.The digital computer technology had been growing steadily since the late 1940s. (2) Semiconductors Like the digital computer technology, semiconductors had also been growing steadily since the invention of the transistor in the late 1940s. The 1960s saw the integrated circuit develop from just a few transistors to many complicated tasks, all of the same chip. (3) The calculator industry It appears as if this industry grew overnight during the 1970s from the simplest of four-function calculators to very complex programmable scientific and financial machines.From all this, one idea became obvious—if there was an inexpensive digital computer, there would be no need to keep designing different, specialized integrated circuits. The inexpensive digital computer could simply be reprogrammed to perform whatever was the latest brainstorm, and there would be the new product (Freiberger and Swaine, 1984). The development of microprocessors can be attributed to when, in the early 1970s, digital computers and integrated circuits reached the required levels of capability.However, the early microprocessor did not meet all the goals: it was too expensive for many applications, especially those in the consumer market, and it -6- could not hold enough information to perform many of the tasks being handled by the minicomputers of that time. How a m icroprocessor works According to Krutz (1980), a microprocessor executes a collection of machine instructions that tell the processor what to do. Based on the instructions, a microprocessor does three basic things: †¢ Using its ALU (Arithmetic/Logic Unit), a microprocessor can perform mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.Modern microprocessors contain complete floating point processors that can perform extremely sophisticated operations on large floating point numbers. †¢ A microprocessor can move data from one memory location to another. A microprocessor can make decisions and jump to a new set of instructions based on those decisions. There may be very sophisticated things that a microprocessor does, but those †¢ are its three basic activities. Put simply, it fetches instructions from memory, interprets (decodes) them, and then executes whatever functions the instructions direct.For example, if the microprocessor is capable of 256 different operations, there must be 256 different instruction words. When fetched, each instruction word is interpreted differently than any of the other 255. Each type of microprocessor has a unique instruction set (Short, 1987). -7- Archictecture of a microprocessor This is about as simple as a microprocessor gets. It has the following characteristics: †¢ an address bus (that may be 8, 16 or 32 bits wide) that sends an address to memory; †¢ a data bus (that may be 8, 16 or 32 bits wide) that can send data to memory or receive data from memory; †¢ RD (Read) and WR (Write) line to tell the memory whether it wants to set or get the addressed location; †¢ a clock line that lets a clock pulse sequence the processor; and a reset line that resets the program counter to zero (or whatever) and restarts execution. †¢ A typical microprocessor, therefore, consists of: logical components—enable it to function as a programmable logic processor; program co unter, stack, and instruction register—provide for the management of a program; the ALU—provide for the manipulation of data; and a decoder & timing and control unit—specify and coordinate the operation of other components.The connection of the microprocessors to other units—memory and I/O devices—is done with the Address, Data, and control buses. -8- Generation of microprocessors Microprocessors were categorized into five generations: first, second, third, fourth, and fifth generations. Their characteristics are described below: First-generation The microprocessors that were introduced in 1971 to 1972 were referred to as the first generation systems. First-generation microprocessors processed their instructions serially—they fetched the instruction, decoded it, then executed it.When an instruction was completed, the microprocessor updated the instruction pointer and fetched the next instruction, performing this sequential drill for each ins truction in turn. Second generation By the late 1970s (specifically 1973), enough transistors were available on the IC to usher in the second generation of microprocessor sophistication: 16-bit arithmetic and pipelined instruction processing. Motorola’s MC68000 microprocessor, introduced in 1979, is an example. Another example is Intel’s 8080. This generation is defined by overlapped fetch, decode, and execute steps (Computer 1996).As the first instruction is processed in the execution unit, the second instruction is decoded and the third instruction is fetched. The distinction between the first and second generation devices was primarily the use of newer semiconductor technology to fabricate the chips. This new -9- technology resulted in a five-fold increase in instruction, execution, speed, and higher chip densities. Third generation The third generation, introduced in 1978, was represented by Intel’s 8086 and the Zilog Z8000, which were 16-bit processors with minicomputer-like performance.The third generation came about as IC transistor counts approached 250,000. Motorola’s MC68020, for example, incorporated an on-chip cache for the first time and the depth of the pipeline increased to five or more stages. This generation of microprocessors was different from the previous ones in that all major workstation manufacturers began developing their own RISC-based microprocessor architectures (Computer, 1996). Fourth generation As the workstation companies converted from commercial microprocessors to in-house designs, microprocessors entered their fourth generation with designs surpassing a million transistors.Leading-edge microprocessors such as Intel’s 80960CA and Motorola’s 88100 could issue and retire more than one instruction per clock cycle (Computer, 1996). Fifth generation Microprocessors in their fifth generation, employed decoupled super scalar processing, and their design soon surpassed 10 million transistors. I n this – 10 – generation, PCs are a low-margin, high-volume-business dominated by a single microprocessor (Computer, 1996). Companies associated with microprocessorsOverall, Intel Corporation dominated the microprocessor area even though other companies like Texas Instruments, Motorola, etc also introduced some microprocessors. Listed below are the microprocessors that each company created. (A) Intel As indicated previously, Intel Corporation dominated the microprocessor technology and is generally acknowledged as the company that introduced the microprocessor successfully into the market. Its first microprocessor was the 4004, in 1971. The 4004 took the integrated circuit one step further by ocating all the components of a computer (CPU, memory and input and output controls) on a minuscule chip. It evolved from a development effort for a calculator chip set. Previously, the IC had had to be manufactured to fit a special purpose, now only one microprocessor could be ma nufactured and then programmed to meet any number of demands. The 4004 microprocessor was the central component in a four-chip set, called the 4004 Family: 4001 – 2,048-bit ROM, a 4002 – 320-bit RAM, and a 4003 – 10-bit I/O shift register. The 4004 had 46 instructions, using only 2,300 transistors in a 16-pin DIP.It ran at a clock rate of – 11 – 740kHz (eight clock cycles per CPU cycle of 10. 8 microseconds)—the original goal was 1MHz, to allow it to compute BCD arithmetic as fast (per digit) as a 1960's era IBM 1620 (Computer, 1996). Following in 1972 was the 4040 which was an enhanced version of the 4004, with an additional 14 instructions, 8K program space, and interrupt abilities (including shadows of the first 8 registers). In the same year, the 8008 was introduced. It had a 14-bit PC. The 8008 was intended as a terminal controller and was quite similar to the 4040.The 8008 increased the 4004’s word length from four to eight bits , and doubled the volume of information that could be processed (Heath, 1991). In April 1974, 8080, the successor to 8008 was introduced. It was the first device with the speed and power to make the microprocessor an important tool for the designer. It quickly became accepted as the standard 8-bit machine. It was the first Intel microprocessor announced before it was actually available. It represented such an improvement over existing designs that the company wanted to give customers adequate lead time to design the part into new products.The use of 8080 in personal computers and small business computers was initiated in 1975 by MITS’s Altair microcomputer. A kit selling for $395 enabled many individuals to have computers in their own homes (Computer, 1996). Following closely, in 1976, was 8048, the first 8-bit single-chip microcomputer. It was also designed as a microcontroller rather than a microprocessor—low cost and small size was the main goal. For this reason, da ta was stored on-chip, while program code was external. The 8048 was eventually replaced by the very popular but bizarre 8051 and 8052 – 12 – (available with on-chip program ROMs).While the 8048 used 1-byte instructions, the 8051 had a more flexible 2-byte instruction set, eight 8-bit registers plus an accumulator A. Data space was 128 bytes and could be accessed directly or indirectly by a register, plus another 128 above that in the 8052 which could only be accessed indirectly (usually for a stack) (Computer, 1996). In 1978, Intel introduced its high-performance, 16-bit MOS processor—the 8086. This microprocessor offered power, speed, and features far beyond the second-generation machines of the mid-70’s. It is said that the personal computer revolution did not really start until the 8088 processor was created.This chip became the most ubiquitous in the computer industry when IBM chose it for its first PC (Frieberger and Swaine, 1984 ). In 1982, the 802 86 (also known as 286) was next and was the first Intel processor that could run all the software written for its predecessor, the 8088. Many novices were introduced to desktop computing with a â€Å"286 machine† and it became the dominant chip of its time. It contained 130,000 transistors. In 1985, the first multi-tasking chip, the 386 (80386) was created. This multitasking ability allowed Windows to do more than one function at a time.This 32-bit microprocessor was designed for applications requiring high CPU performance. In addition to providing access to the 32-bit world, the 80386 addressed 2 other important issues: it provided system-level support to systems designers, and it was object-code compatible with the entire family of 8086 microprocessors (Computer, 1996 ). The 80386 was made up of 6 functional units: (i) execution unit (ii) segment unit (iii) page unit (iv) decode unit (v) bus unit and (vi) prefetch unit. The 80386 had – 13 – 34 registers divide d into such categories as general-purpose registers, debug registers, and test registers.It had 275,000 transistors (Noyce, 1981). The 486 (80486) generation of chips really advanced the point-and-click revolution. It was also the first chip to offer a built-in math coprocessor, which gave the central processor the ability to do complex math calculations. The 486 had more than a million transistors. In 1993, when Intel lost a bid to trademark the 586, to protect its brand from being copied by other companies, it coined the name Pentium for its next generation of chips and there began the Pentium series—Pentium Classic, Pentium II, III and currently, 4. (B)Motorola The MC68000 was the first 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Motorola in early 1980s. This was followed by higher levels of functionality on the microprocessor chip in the MC68000 series. For example, MC68020, introduced later, had 3 times as many transistors, was about three times as big, and was significantly fas ter. Motorola 68000 was one of the second generation systems that was developed in 1973. It was known for its graphics capabilities. The Motorola 88000 (originally named the 78000) is a 32-bit processor, one of the first load-store CPUs based on a Harvard Architecture (Noyce, 1981). C) Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) – 14 – In March 1974, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) announced it would offer a series of microprocessor modules built around the Intel 8008. (D) Texas Instruments (TI) A precursor to these microprocessors was the 16-bit Texas Instruments 1900 microprocessor which was introduced in 1976. The Texas Instruments TMS370 is similar to the 8051, another of TI’s creations. The only difference between the two was the addition of a B accumulator and some 16-bit support. Microprocessors TodayTechnology has been changing at a rapid pace. Everyday a new product is made to make life a little easier. The computer plays a major role in the lives of most p eople. It allows a person to do practically anything. The Internet enables the user to gain more knowledge at a much faster pace compared to researching through books. The portion of the computer that allows it to do more work than a simple computer is the microprocessor. Microprocessor has brought electronics into a new era and caused component manufacturers and end-users to rethink the role of the computer.What was once a giant machine attended by specialists in a room of its own is now a tiny device conveniently transparent to users of automobile, games, instruments, office equipment, and a large array of other products. – 15 – From their humble beginnings 25 years ago, microprocessors have proliferated into an astounding range of chips, powering devices ranging from telephones to supercomputers (PC Magazine, 1996). Today, microprocessors for personal computers get widespread attention—and have enabled Intel to become the world's largest semiconductor maker.I n addition, embedded microprocessors are at the heart of a diverse range of devices that have become staples of affluent consumers worldwide. The impact of the microprocessor, however, goes far deeper than new and improved products. It is altering the structure of our society by changing how we gather and use information, how we communicate with one another, and how and where we work. Computer users want fast memory in their PCs, but most do not want to pay a premium for it. Manufacturing of microprocessors Economical manufacturing of microprocessors requires mass production.Microprocessors are constructed by depositing and removing thin layers of conducting, insulating, and semiconducting materials in hundreds of separate steps. Nearly every layer must be patterned accurately into the shape of transistors and other electronic elements. Usually this is done by photolithography, which projects the pattern of the electronic circuit onto a coating that changes when exposed to light. Be cause these patterns are smaller than the shortest wavelength of visible light, short wavelength ultraviolet radiation must be used. Microprocessor features 16 – are so small and precise that a single speck of dust can destroy the microprocessor. Microprocessors are made in filtered clean rooms where the air may be a million times cleaner than in a typical home (PC World, 2000)). Performance of microprocessors The number of transistors available has a huge effect on the performance of a processor. As seen earlier, a typical instruction in a processor like an 8088 took 15 clock cycles to execute. Because of the design of the multiplier, it took approximately 80 cycles just to do one 16-bit multiplication on the 8088.With more transistors, much more powerful multipliers capable of single-cycle speeds become possible ( ). More transistors also allow a technology called pipelining. In a pipelined architecture, instruction execution overlaps. So even though it might take 5 clock c ycles to execute each instruction, there can be 5 instructions in various stages of execution simultaneously. That way it looks like one instruction completes every clock cycle (PC World, 2001). Many modern processors have multiple instruction decoders, each with its own pipeline.This allows multiple instruction streams, which means more than one instruction can complete during each clock cycle. This technique can be quite complex to implement, so it takes lots of transistors. The trend in processor design has been toward full 32-bit ALUs with fast floating point processors built in and pipelined execution with multiple instruction streams. There has also been a tendency toward special instructions (like the MMX – 17 – instructions) that make certain operations particularly efficient. There has also been the addition of hardware virtual memory support and L1 caching on the processor chip.All of these trends push up the transistor count, leading to the multi-million tra nsistor powerhouses available today. These processors can execute about one billion instructions per second! (PC World, 2000) ) With all the different types of Pentium microprocessors, what is the difference? Three basic characteristics stand out: †¢ †¢ †¢ Instruction set: The set of instructions that the microprocessor can execute. bandwidth: The number of bits processed in a single instruction. clock speed: Given in megahertz (MHz), the clock speed determines how many instructions per second the processor can execute.In addition to bandwidth and clock speed, microprocessors are classified as being either RISC (reduced instruction set computer) or CISC (complex instruction set computer). – 18 – Other uses of microprocessors There are many uses for microprocessors in the world today. Most appliances found around the house are operated by microprocessors. Most modern factories are fully automated—that means that most jobs are done by a computer. Au tomobiles, trains, subways, planes, and even taxi services require the use of many microprocessors. In short, there are microprocessors everywhere you go. Another common place to find microprocessors is a car.This is especially applicable to sports cars. There are numerous uses for a microprocessor in cars. First of all, it controls the warning LED signs. Whenever there is a problem, low oil, for example, it has detectors that tell it that the oil is below a certain amount. It then reaches over and starts blinking the LED until the problem is fixed. Another use is in the suspension system. A processor, controls the amount of pressure applied to keep the car leveled. During turns, a processor, slows down the wheels on the inner side of the curb and speeds them up on the outside to keep the speed constant and make a smooth turn.An interesting story appeared in the New York Times dated April 16 and goes to show that there’s no limit to what microprocessors can do and that resarc hers and scientists are not stopping at the current uses of microprocessors. The next time the milk is low in the refrigerator, the grocery store may deliver a new gallon before it is entirely gone. Masahiro Sone, who lives in Raleigh, N. C. , has won a patent for a refrigerator with an inventory processing system that keeps track of what is inside – 19 – and what is about to run out and can ring up the grocery store to order more (NY Times, 2001).Where is the industry of microprocessors going? Almost immediately after their introduction, microprocessors became the heart of the personal computer. Since then, the improvements have come at an amazing pace. The 4004 ran at 108 kHz—that's kilohertz, not megahertz—and processed only 4 bits of data at a time. Today's microprocessors and the computers that run on them are thousands of times faster. Effectively, they've come pretty close to fulfilling Moore's Law (named after Intel cofounder Gordon Moore), which states that the number of transistors on a chip will double every 18 months or so.Performance has increased at nearly the same rate (PC Magazine, 1998 ). Can the pace continue? Well, nothing can increase forever. But according to Gerry Parker, Intel's executive vice president in charge of manufacturing, â€Å"we are far from the end of the line in terms of microprocessor performance. In fact, we're constantly seeing new advances in technology, one example being new forms of lithography that let designers position electronic components closer and closer together on their chips. Processors are created now using a 0. 35-micron process.But next year we'll see processors created at 0. 25 microns, with 0. 18 and 0. 13 microns to be introduced in the years to come. † (PC Magainze, 1998) However, it's not just improvements in lithography and density that can boost performance. Designers can create microprocessors with more layers of metal tying – 20 – together the trans istors and other circuit elements. The more layers, the more compact the design. But these ultracompact microprocessors are also harder to manufacture and validate. New chip designs take up less space, resulting in more chips per wafer.The original Pentium (60/66 MHz) was 294 square millimeters, then it was 164 square millimeters (75/90/100 MHz), and now it's 91 square millimeters (133- to 200-MHz versions) (PC Magazine, 1998). When will all this end? Interestingly, it may not be the natural limits of technology that will eventually refute Moore's Law. Instead, it's more likely to be the cost of each successive generation. Every new level of advancement costs more as making microprocessor development is a hugely capital-intensive business. Currently, a fabrication plant with the capacity to create about 40,000 wafers a month costs some $2 billion.And the rapid pace of innovations means equipment can become obsolete in just a few years. Still, there are ways of cutting some costs, su ch as converting from today's 8-inch silicon wafers to larger, 300-mm (roughly 12inch) wafers, which can produce 2. 3 times as many chips per wafer as those now in use. Moving to 300-mm wafers will cost Intel about $500 million in initial capital. Still, nothing lasts forever. As Parker notes, â€Å"the PC industry is built on the assumption that we can get more and more out of the PC with each generation, keep costs in check, and continue adding more value.We will run out of money before we run out of technology. When we can't hold costs down anymore, then it will be a different business† (PC Magazine, 1998). At the beginning of last year, the buzz was about PlayStation 2 and the Emotion Engine processor that would run it. Developed by Sony and Toshiba, – 21 – experts predicted the high-tech processor would offer unprecedented gaming power and more importantly, could provide the processing power for the PlayStation 2 to challenge cheap PCs as the entry-level de vice of choice for home access to the Web.PlayStation2 is equipped with the 295MHz MIPS-based Emotion engine, Sony's own CPU designed with Toshiba Corp. , a 147MHz graphics processor that renders 75 million pixels per second, a DVD player, an IEEE 1394 serial connection, and two USB ports. Sony will use DVD discs for game titles and gives consumers the option of using the product for gaming, DVD movie playing and eventually Web surfing (PC World, 2000). Soon, instead of catching up on the news via radio or a newspaper on the way to work, commuters may soon be watching it on a handheld computer or cell phone.Early January this year, Toshiba America Electronic Components announced its TC35273XB chip. The chip has 12Mb of integrated memory and an encoder and decoder for MPEG-4, an audio-video compression standard. According to Toshiba, the integrated memory is what sets this chip apart from others. With integrated memory, the chip consumes less power, making it a good fit for portable gadgets. This chip is designed to specifically address the issues of battery life which can be very short with portable devices.The chip will have a RISC processor at its core and running at a clock speed of 70MHz (PC World, 2000). Toshiba anticipates that samples of this chip will be released to manufacturers in the second quarter, and mass production will follow in the third quarter. Shortly after this release, new handheld computers and cell phones using the chip and offering streaming media will be expected (CNET news). – 22 – It is reported in CNET news, that in February this year, IBM started a program to use the Internet to speed custom-chip design, bolstering its unit that makes semiconductors for other companies.IBM, one of the biggest makers of application-specific chips, would set up a system so that chip designs are placed in a secure environment on the Web, where a customer's design team and IBM engineers would collaborate on the blueprints and make change s in real time. Designing custom chips, which are used to provide unique features that standard processors don't offer, requires time-consuming exchanges of details between the clients that provide a basic framework and the IBM employees who do the back-end work. Using the Internet will speed the process and make plans more accurate.IBM figures that since their customers ask for better turnaround time and better customer satisfaction, this would be one way to tackle this. As a pilot program, this service was to be offered to a set of particular, selected customers initially, and then would include customers who design the so-called system-on-a-chip devices that combine several functions on one chip (CNET news). A new microprocessor unveiled in February 2000 by Japan’s NEC, offers high-capacity performance while only consuming small amounts of power, making it ideal for use in mobile devices.This prototype could serve as the model for future mobile processors. The MP98 process or contains four microprocessors on the same chip that work together in such a way that they can be switched on and off depending on the job in hand. For example, a single processor can be used to handle easy jobs, such as data entry, through a keypad, while more can be brought – 23 – online as the task demands, with all four working on tasks such as processing video. This gives designers of portable devices the best of both worlds—low power consumption and high capacity (PC World, 2000).However, it should be noted that the idea of putting several processors together on a single chip is not new as both IBM and Sun Microsystems have developed similar devices. The only difference is that MP98 is the first working example of a â€Å"fine grain† device that offers better performance. Commercial products based on this technology are likely to be seen around 2003 (PCWorld, 2000). In PCWorld, it was reported that, last September, a Japanese dentist received U. S . and Japanese patents for a method of planting a microchip into a false tooth.The one-chip microprocessor embedded in a plate denture can be detected using a radio transmitter-receiver, allowing its owner to be identified. This is useful in senior citizen’s home where all dentures are usually collected from their owners after meals, washed together and returned. In such a case, it is important to identify all the dentures to give back to their correct owners without any mistake (PC World, 2000). In March this year, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) launched its 1. 3-GHz Athlon processor. Tests on this processor indicated that its speed surpassed Intel’s 1. GHz Pentium 4. The Athlon processor has a 266-MHz front side bus that works with systems that use 266-MHz memory. The price starts from $2,988 (PCWorld, 2001). Intel’s Pentium 4, which was launched in late 2000, is designed to provide blazing speed—especially in handling multimedia content. Dubbed Intel Net Burst – 24 – Micro-architecture, it is designed to speed up applications that send data in bursts, such as screaming media, MP3 playback, and video compression. Even before the dust had settled on NetBurst, Intel released its much awaited 1. GHz Pentium 4 processor on Monday, April 23. The is said to be the company’s highest-performance microprocessor for desktops. Currently priced at $325 in 1,000 unit quantities. The vice president and general manager of Intel was quoted as saying, â€Å"the Pentium 4 processor is destined to become the center of the digital world. Whether encoding video and MP3 files, doing financial analysis, or experiencing the latest internet technologies—the Pentium 4 processor is designed to meet the needs of all users† (PC World, 2001).Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, over thirty years ago, announced that the number of transistors that can be placed on a silicon would double every two years. Intel maintains that it has r emained true since the release of its first processors, the 4004, in 1971. The competition to determine who has produced the fastest and smallest processor between Intel and AMD continues. Infact, Intel Corp. predicts that PC chips will climb to more than 10GHz from today's 1GHz standard by the year 2011. However, researchers are paying increasing attention to software.That's because new generations of software, especially computing-intensive user interfaces, will call for processors with expanded capabilities and performance.

Corporate Law Article Reviews †Essay

Corporate Law Article Reviews – Essay Free Online Research Papers Corporate Law Article Reviews Essay A) i) As mention in the Articles of Association (AA) of Fastdollar Limited, a director should obtain the approval from the Board of Directors before binding the company to any contract exceeding the value of HK$250,000. However, in this case, one of the directors, Albert, signed a contract on behalf of the company that exceeding the amount mentioned in the AA without consulting the other directors of the company. Therefore, the internal company procedure had not been completed before Albert signed the contract. By applying the Turquand’s rule, the contract is still valid and legally bound to the company. In Royal British Bank v. Turquand (1856) 6E. B. 327 , the company issued a bond under seal, but the articles said that ordinary resolution should be obtained and the board of director did not fulfill this requirement. The court held that the contract was valid as the outsider would not be expected to know of the irregularity. They could assume that all the internal regulations had properly carried out. In this case, since the Megacomputer is an outsider, it should not know that the internal procedure of the company and so Turquand’s rule can be applied. The contract is valid and legally bound to the company. However, the company can then sue the director in breach of AA since AA is a statutory contract between the company and director which limiting the power of the director. T he company can claim for damages that is the different between the value of the contract and the allowed value stated in AA. A) ii) Belinda, as a shareholder, according to the rule established in the case Salomon v Salomon Co Ltd(1897) AC 22, (1985-9) All ER Rep 33 , is a separate legal entity to the company. Debts of the company are separate to those of Belinda. Therefore, she is not personally liable to the contract with Megacomputer. Under Section 157B (1), a company can remove a director by ordinary resolution. As a director, she may call a general meeting and give a 14 days’ notice of the proposed resolution to all the shareholders. As a shareholder, she has voting right in general meeting and can either ratify the action of Albert or remove him. If there is more than 50% of the members agree to remove Albert, an ordinary resolution is passed and Albert will be no longer the director. B) i) In this case, since the company made no profit and what had distributed as dividends to the shareholder before was not the distributable fund and this was unlawful. In the AA (Table A) of the company, art 117 provides that no dividend shall be paid otherwise than out of profits. Also, in section 79B, it provides that a companys profits available for distribution are its accumulated realized profits less its accumulated realized losses . In this case, it is obvious that other funds of the company was wrongly used for dividend purposes as there was no profit available for distribution, s 79M makes all shareholders who knows or has reasonable grounds for believing that it was paid out of undistributable funds, are liable to repay it to the company . Therefore, in this case, the members should repay the dividend they received. B) ii) The auditors will be liable to their client in both contract and tort if they act in breach of their duty of care. Under s 5 of the Supply of Services ordinance Cap. 457, an auditor will owe an implied contractual duty to do his work with reasonable skill and care. The degree of care and skill depends upon the circumstance of each case and an auditor is a watchdog rather than a detective. He does not guarantee that the book give the true picture of the company’s affair . In Re Thomas Gerrard Sons Ltd. (1968) Ch.455, it shows that the standard applied to the auditor is of the careful and competent auditor who will exercise reasonable skill . In this case, Fastdollars can either choose to sue in contract or in tort which is the most benefits it. Both actions are objective test. If the company sues in tort of negligence, the test of proximity is needed to show that the auditor knew that the shareholders would rely on the audited reports for taking out large mortgages to buy of n ew flats. Besides, the company must establish the existence of a duty and breach of the duty. A majority loss arises as a result of the breach is also necessary for suing auditor for negligence. In this case, the interest expense in the large mortgages may be the majority loss to the shareholders. However, if this was the problem of the company that causing an error in its account but not the auditor, and the auditor practiced with reasonable skill and care, company cannot sue the auditor as the auditor can rely on the company when there is no ground to arise reasonable suspicion. B) iii) Under s 131 (6), a company can remove an auditor from office at any time by passing an ordinary resolution . If the directors propose to remove the auditors, they may call a general meeting and give 14 days’ notice to all the members. However, if the shareholders of the company propose to do so, a special notice is required under s 132 (1). The members must give the notice at least 28 days before the meeting and the company must then give the members at least 21 days’ notice of the resolution. In s131 (5), it provided that when there is a vacancy arises due to removal of the auditors before the expiration of his term of office, the directors or the company can make an appointment in a general meeting to fill the vacancy. Special notice is required for a resolution at general meeting to fill a causal vacancy. C) a) Donald is the shareholder, director and also the company secretary. As a director, he can call a general meeting and give a 14 days’ notice of proposed resolution to all the shareholders. According to Section 157B (1), a company can remove a director by ordinary resolution. As a shareholder, he has voting right in the general meeting. If Albert, Belinda, and Donald all agree to remove Charles, an ordinary resolution is passed and Donald will be no longer the director. C) b) There are several duties that a director is owned to the company. They are fiduciary duties, duties of skill and care, duty to act in good faith for the benefit of the company, duty for exercise their power for proper purpose and duty to avoid a conflict of interest. In this case, Charles, as a director of Fastdollar, he owned a clothing design studio. As we are difficult to find sufficient evidence to prove that the two companies are competing businesses, the company cannot sue him in breach of conflict of interest. As mentioned in this case, other directors considered that Charles was not wholeheartedly committed to the company and he was sometime absent in board meeting, but only these evidences were insufficient to show he is in breach of the director duty. Therefore, in the company’s position, it cannot sue Charles as there is no sufficient evidence to show that he is in breach of director duty. What the company may do is to remove him. Under Section 157B (1), a company m ay by ordinary resolution remove a director. An extraordinary general meeting is convened and a notice of 14 days is given to all the members of the company. If more than half of the shareholders agreed to remove Charles, that is an ordinary resolution is passed, Charles will be no longer the director of this company. C) c) The company can buy back its shares. As mentioned in ss. 49I-O, it permits a private company with authority in its articles, to buy back its shares otherwise than out of its distributable profits or the proceeds of a fresh issue, that is buy back out of capital . In this case, the company can only buy back its shares out of capital as they made no profit, and this is what allowed in AA. Sequences of procedures are provided for a private company that purchases its shares out of capital. First of all, the payment out of capital must be approved by special resolution and the payment out of capital must be made between five and seven weeks after the date of the resolution. Then, a statutory declaration must be made by directors that specifying the permissible capital payment. The statutory declaration must be accomplished by an auditor’s report. Within a week after the date of resolution the company must publish a notice in the Gazette stating that a) the company has approved the payment for the purpose of buying back its own shares, b) the amount of the permissible capital payment and the date of special resolution, c) that the directors’ statement and auditors’ report are available for inspection at the company’s registered office, d) any creditors may within five weeks following the resolution apply to the court to stop the payment . Research Papers on Corporate Law Article Reviews - EssayMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanTwilight of the UAWComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaLifes What IfsThe Project Managment Office SystemThe Fifth HorsemanWhere Wild and West MeetMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product