Saturday, May 23, 2020

Speculative Trading Profits In The Foreign Exchange Market Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1954 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Introduction Speculation in financial terms means an initial investment on which does not have any safety or there is significant risk of loss on investment. The term speculation is defined by Graham and Dodds which means buying share, equity, assets or debts without analysis which involves a significant risk. Others financial said purchase, holding, short-selling of financial instrument, derivatives, collectibles, stocks, commodities (oil and gold) , bonds to gains profits when fluctuations in its price. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Speculative Trading Profits In The Foreign Exchange Market Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Where as investment is a careful analysis of market and invests in order to obtain profits in long run as is a part of the holding company. The UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup are the top foreign exchange dealers who reportedly earn per year from foreign exchange trading is over $1 billion. The profits of foreign exchange dealers are not necessarily due to speculative excess because most of trading in foreign exchange market is trading between banks. If one bank earns $1 billion then other bank lose $1 billion in foreign exchange trading. Interbank is zero sum game. The foreign exchange dealers are the market makers who trade with each other in order to adjust their range of price in response to buy and sell transactions from the corporate world and earn profits by providing liquidity in a market. Lets us carefully analysis about there earning is it through speculating trading or not by taking example of Citigroup. Suppose that 20% of all trading is between banks and their cus tomers. In 2004 Citibanks total market share was 7.50%. Hence if total volume in the foreign exchange market is $1.9 trillion, the volume of transactions per day handled by Citibank is .0750 X $1.9 trillion = $142.5 billion However 80% of these transactions involve other foreign exchange dealers and we assume that overall Citibank does not earn money on these deals. However, it does earn the bid-ask spread from dealing with corporate customer and other customers, which represents 20% of their market or .20 X $142,5 billion = $ 28.50 billion. if a typical bid-ask spread is 0.30% the profit potential from pure market making is $28.5 billion/day X  ½ X 0.30/100 X 250 trading days = $ 1069 billion / year ( International Financial Management , pp 55). They are number of reasons that Citigroups earn from liquidity service which it provide in foreign exchange market. Firstly we look the interbank spread for the major currencies in the spot market and we know that spreads wi th retail customer is higher than in the interbank market. Second Citigroup have a large market share in less liquid minor currency market for which the spread is much higher. Finally Forward contracts and other derivative contracts involve in foreign exchange trading but spreads are one of the larger part. After analyzing carefully its clear that bulk of Citigroup profits come from market making function not from speculative. It also conformed in study conducted by Amer and Brunner about foreign exchange dealer among United States commercial banks, that speculative trading was average source not major source of profit in foreign exchange trading. Conclusion Speculation is an initial investment for purchase or sell of share, bonds etc based on the information that does not have safety for the investment. Speculative trading in the foreign exchange market is the major source of profit for the dealers but average source of profits. The most of the profits for dealers in foreign exchange trading is market making activities vs. speculation. 2) Is the U.S Current Account Deficit Excessive? Introduction Current account deficit occurs when a nations total exports such as goods, services and transfers is less than nations total imports such as goods, services and transfers. This makes a nation a debtor to the rest of world. However current account deficit is balanced by the capital account surplus. If the capital account does not able to balance the current account then current account deficit leads to balance of payment deficit. A current account deficit is not a problem for certain countries. In order to increase the productivity and export in future some developing countries may run current account deficit for short period of time. To understand the current account by understanding the private saving, private investment and government budget surplus and deficits. To know current account deficit is good or bad is by checking the source of the deficit that is investment and savings. The United States current deficit expand in forth quarter which reflect an improving economy, but fell at the lowest point in eight years because of imbalance happen in 2009. The deficit will increase in 2010, says economist but not that much what we have seen in before recession. For the year, current account deficit pushed by 40.5 percent i.e. $419.9 billion which is the smallest imbalance since 2001. Last years deficit was 2.9 percent of United States total economy which was the smallest percentage in 11 years. The economists closely watch the figures of current account which not only includes trade in goods and services but also investment flows between countries which are tracked by the government on a monthly basis. These figures indicate how much money a country needs to finance its balance of payment imbalance. Economist predict that weaker dollar will boost United States exports because it make United States goods more competitive in foreign market and imports goods more expensive for United States consumers. United States export rose to 8.8 percent for the fourt h quarter because of improving global economy which boosted the demand for United States Autos, Industrial supplies and farm product in foreign market as well as demand for imports also increased because of rebound in United States economy. Imports rose to 9.2 in forth quarter which led big gain in petroleum, capital goods, autos and consumer goods. The amount of $36.5 billion profit gain in service trade such as transportation, financial and other service was used to offset some of the deficit in goods of $145.5 billion in the 4th quarter. The United States of America had a deficit of $31.8 billion in a sector called as unilateral transfers, this transfer includes things like foreign aid, and on the other hand United States had a $25.1 billion profit on investment flows. The Chinese save very much and Japan saving is also high from past 20 year where as American do not save very much because of this the government of United States run big government deficit where as Japan and China run a large current account surplus. The situation will reverse as soon as the investment demand picks up in these counties and these countries starts investing or buying U.S assets. Conclusion In other words an imbalance in nations current account due to payment made by the country for buying the imports is greater than payment received by the country for selling the exports. However current account deficit is balanced by the capital account surplus. However current account is not good or bad because when a country has a current account deficit it borrows from foreigners. If foreign funds profitably invested then these investments will increase the domestic growth and generate greater returns which help to pay off the foreign debts. 3rd Question Answer as fallows. Dollar dominated pure discount bond is 4.5% Per Annam ($) In France, the Euro rate is 7.5% Per Annam (ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬) The current spot rate = $1.08/ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ (S) Forward exchange rate=? Formula to find the forward exchange rate F (n) = S ÃÆ'Æ’- [1+i (n, $)] n [1+i (n, ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬)] n = $1.08/ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ ÃÆ'Æ’- (1.045) 5 = $ 0.9375/ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ (1.075) 5 So the forward exchange rate for five year is $ 0.9375/ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ Now, lets use a different method to fine the result. Let assume, invest $10,000,000 in 5 year dollar dominated pure discount. So, at the end of 5 year, the investment will grow to $ 10,000,000 ÃÆ'Æ’- (1.045)5 = $12461819.38 At the current spot exchange rate, the Euro cost of $ 10,000,000 is = $ 10,000,000/ $1.08/ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ = ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ 9259259.26 If invest ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ 9259259.26 in one year dollar dominated discount bond, at the end of the year will have =ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ 9259259.26 ÃÆ'Æ’- (1.075)5 = 13292864.13 Now, F(5) = $ 12461819.38/ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ 13292864.13 = $ 0.9375/ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ Question 4 Ans 180-day Swiss franc deposit: 8.0% P.A. 180-day euro deposits: 10.0% P.A. Spot exchange rate: EUR 1.1960/CHF. 180-day forward exchange rate: EUR 1.2024/CHF. If Carla Heinz invested in euro denominate @ 10% Per Annum. she will have after six months of investment. EUR invest = (euro 10,000,000 X .01) 180 / 360 + Euro 10,000,000 EUR invest = 500,000+10,000,000 = Euro 10,500,000 Next, lets calculate the euro return if Carla Heinz invests her Euro 10,000,000 in Swiss francs denominated assets. This analysis requires three steps: Step 1. Convert the euro principal into Swiss francs in the spot foreign exchange market. The Euro 10,000,000 will buy at the current spot exchange rate this is Carla Heinz principal. Euro 10,000,000 = CHF 8361204 Euro 1.1960 Step 2. Calculate Swiss francs denominated interest plus principal. Carla can invest her Swiss francs principal at @ 8% for one year. Hence, Carla Heinz know that in a six month she will have a return of Swis s francs principal plus interest equal to (CHF 8,361,204 X 0.08)  ½ + CHF 8,361,204 = CHF 8,695,652.26 Step 3. In this case Carla Heinz would contract to sell CHF 8,695,652.26 for Euro at the six month forward rate of Euro 1.2024/CHF. In a six month she would receive. CHF 8,695,652.26 X (Euro 1.2024/CHF) = Euro 10455652 = Euro 10,455,652 Euro 10,500,000 Note: After analyzing the investment of Carla in Euro and Swiss francs its seems that investing in Euro denominated is better compare to Swiss francs and she even dont have a risk of forward exchange rate. But know Carla has an option to barrow money from Swiss and invested in Euro denominated. III) On other hand if Carle Heinz can borrow money CHF 10,000,000 and invested in Euro dominated assists what she will get. For half year she will owe (CHF 10,000,000 X 0.08)  ½ CHF 10,000,000 =CHF 1,040,000 IV) So if Carle Heinz invests in Swiss franc denominate assists then Step 1. Convert from CHF to Euro. CHF 10,000,000 X (Euro 1.1960/CHF) = Euro 11,960,000 Step 2. Calculate Euro interest rate (Euro 11,960,00 X 0.1)  ½ + Euro 1,196,000 = Euro 1,255,800 Step 3. Cove the foreign exchange risk by engaging forward contract to sell. Euro 1, 255,800 Euro 1.2024/CHF = CHF 1,044,411 = CHF 1,044,411 CHF 1,040,000 = CHF 4411. Note: After analyzing the investment of Carla in Euro by browning Swiss francs it seems that investing in Euro denominated is good even after covering forward exchange risk. Ms Carla Heinz will receive CFH 411 in a six month for every CHF 10,000,000. Question 5 Ans Spot exchange rate: CHF 1.4706/$. 180-day forward exchange rate: CHF 1.4295/$. 180-day dollar interest rate: 7.0 % P.A. 180-day Swiss francs interest rate: ? The formula to find forward premium the Swiss francs inertest rate is F S S 1_____ 1_____ F S = CHF 1.4295/$ CHF 1.4706/$ = 2.88 % S 1_____ CHF 1.4295/$ Note that the interest rate differential (dollar Swiss francs) is 7.0% 2.88% = 4.12%, which is approximately equal to the forward premium. The Swiss francs forward interest rate i.e. 4.12% which prevent arbitrage. Question 6 Ans Probability of Argentina will nationalize its banks is = 0.5% ( p ) The interest rate in United States =5 % ( i ) What Argentine banks offer inter rate? p = 0.05, i = 0.005. Formula to find out expected return to the depositing bank is [(1-p) x (1+i)] + (px0) = (1-p) x 91+i) (1-P) ÃÆ'Æ’- (1-i) = 5% = (1-0.005) ÃÆ'Æ’- (1-i) = 0.05 (1+i) = 0.05 = 0.0503 x 100 to convert in to percentage = 5.03% 0.995 Note: the Argentine banks have to offer 5.03% interest in order to attract deposits from foreign investors. Question 7 Intel is a US company, and it is scheduled to receive yen in the future. A weakening of the yen versus the dollar causes a given amount of yen to convert to fewer dollars in the future. This loss of value could be severe if the yen depreciates by a significant amount. If Intel chooses not to hedge its transaction exchange risk, what is Intels expected dollar value of the 100,000,000 the expected spot rate incorporates a 1% weakening of the dollar. This means that the expected yen price of the dollar is 1% less than the current spot rate of 103/$ OR Et(S (t+90,/$) ) = 0.99103/$ = 101.97/$ Hence, Intel expects to receive 100,000,000/101.97/$ = $980,681 We are told that the standard deviation of the rate of depreciation of the dollar is 4%. The standard deviation of the future spot rate is therefore 4% of the current spot rate of 1.04103/$=4.12/$. Thus, plus or minus 2 standard deviations around the conditional expected future spot rate is 101.97/$ + 8.24/$ = 110.21/ $ 101.97/$ 8.24/$ = 93.73/$ the range that encompasses 95.45% of https://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EH4M901.htm

Monday, May 18, 2020

Theories and Trends in Identity Theft - 2054 Words

This essay strives explains certain aspects of identity theft. The work has first defined identity theft as basically the act of impersonating people so as to gain access to their financial statements. On the other hand, some theories and concepts explain the origin of certain behaviours and acts like identity theft. These theories include social systems theory and theft identity theory. There are trends in this type crime that are worth noting and UK is a good reference to this trend. The crime also has some effects on businesses and consumers that must also be put into consideration. Some case studies like Nigerian and Romanian examples have acted as points of references for identity crimes in the online business environment. Finally, the report has given certain recommendations on how to reduce the incidences of online identity theft. 2.0 Introduction Identity theft is the impersonating of an individual mainly for financial benefit. It results to a person loosing their personal data like passwords, banking information, user names and credit card information (Savirimuthu A Savirimuthu J 2007). It is basically an online theft or crime. This type of theft has resulted because the modern business environment is online oriented where people leave their important personal information like name, address, cell number, phone number (OECD 2008). If a cyber thief is able to hack such information, then he or she can use it fraudulently. These thieves have been using socialShow MoreRelatedOrganizational Issues In Criminal Justice1009 Words   |  5 PagesIn this new age of consciousness evoking the notion of progress and continuity with new ideas in the field of administration of justice is truly a remarkable phenomenon (Taylor, 2013). Overtime numerous theories have been posited regarding the causes of crime and deterring criminal behavior. However, little attention has been given to the law enforcement of social policy and government regulation. Meier (19877) suggests that one path toward addressing justice issues would be to strive for moreRead MoreHow Far Is Too Far When It Comes Privacy?972 Words   |  4 Pagescompanies have taken the initiative to expand and control it. Entire companies now exist exclusively online. Other companies profit from consumers just using the internet. Companies provide the service and people pay for it, which seems simple in theory; however, most of those companies are not forthright with their data collection policies. They lack transparency. These companies collect the data for various reasons, the biggest is marketing research. They collect an exceptional amount of data,Read MoreCrime Is A Serious Problem1487 Words   |  6 Pageshas increased over the years and is continuing to do so. The city of Memphis has experienced a great increase of crime. Memphis Polic e have developed initiatives to reduce crime, using federally funded programs. Unfortunately, crime problems such as theft, assaults and homicide have become irrepressible over the last three years. The rate of homicide in Memphis is more typical of cities of its size. Assaults were accounted for 65 percent of deaths in the area.(Kellermann, Rivara Lee,1996,p.1438-1440)Read MoreViolence And Crime Plagues Societies Essay1452 Words   |  6 Pagespaper, I’m going to discuss the problems with crime we face in this country, the damage that crime can do to a society, and the multiple different ways we can use geography to bring down the rate of crime and violence. Using geography, you can spot trends in crime. In locations with high social inequality and widespread poverty, you will often see very high levels of violence. High Urbanized areas on the other hand sees crime in a different manor. Particularly in drug use, especially amongst the youthRead MoreHas Data Security At Work Gone Too Far?1276 Words   |  6 Pages2005. b. Employers must protect their data but at what cost does such protection derive? There is consumer risk in every environment, even when adequate controls exist to prevent internal loss or identity theft but there is also hope, even with a persistent threat of consumer risk. II. Employee data theft examples can be found regularly. a. The Santa Clara Signal (2015) reported, â€Å"[B]ank employee was sentenced today after he admitted stealing thousands of dollars from Wells Fargo customers† (paraRead MoreThe Role Consumerism Plays in Modern Day American Society 1520 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"any use of computer technology to examine large amounts of data to reveal relationships, classifications, or patterns.† Many consumers aren’t even aware that companies are compiling information on purchases, online viewing habits, and spending trends. Something as trivial as using a debit or credit card at checkout to pay for your purchases can begin the process of data mining. Many shoppers at storefront or traditional â€Å"box-store† retailers are not privileged to the fact that this phenomenonRead MoreHispanic Adolescent Youth Gangs Essay1399 Words   |  6 Pagesyouths immigrating into the United States. Researchers and scholars have offered multiple theories as to why youths, and Hisp anics youths in particular integrate themselves into gang organizations. Three schools of thought arise when conducting gang integration research. Rational Economics Theory1 proposes that youths, and all individuals, join gangs for financial and material benefit. Cultural Deviance Theory considers youth gang members as exposed to a lower class subculture that rationalizes andRead MoreEssay On Domestic Violence871 Words   |  4 Pagesare more likely to be victims of DV. Men can get influence by society and culture beliefs as well as peer pressure which can lead to drugs and alcohol addiction which cause aggressiveness and affect the mentality of individuals. Secondary conflict theory is applied to domestic violence as there is a powerful and weak individual in the situation. The abuser is in power as they have more resources and authority, while the victim has no resources or financial support. according to the conflict theoristRead MoreThe Pros and Cons of Social Networking1378 Words   |  6 Pagescorporate gateway controls – for example, most social networks support file transfer, quick messaging and email without importantly going through the corporate email gateway. Social engineering – discovering useful data that can be used for identity theft. Information leakage – probably the most visible threat to corporate and the one that tends to make newspaper headlines. Information will leak naturally from organisations, but social networking can make it very easy, and once the informationRead More Technology Today Essay2005 Words   |  9 Pagesexplore the social implications of experimentation with identities online, as well as evaluating the ways in which new technologies may continue to shape this issue in the future. The self and self-identity is a continually changing entity, which is constantly being reconstructed throughout a person’s life. (Slevin, 2000) Technology provides a means through which people can ‘actively and intelligently’ engage in constructing or altering their identity. (Slevin, 2000) The Internet provides many opportunities

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The theme of Dreams in A Raisin in the Sun - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1512 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/04/01 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: A Raisin in the Sun Essay Did you like this example? The play, A Raisin In The Sun is staged in 1959 during a time when African-Americans could not be successful in the economy due to the extreme amounts of racism that were present. The constant encounters of prejudices and racism causes them to have to put aside their hopes and dreams to focus on trying to figure out how to overcome the obstacles that are set out in front of them. During these times, the Great Depression had begun. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The theme of Dreams in A Raisin in the Sun" essay for you Create order The Great Depression of the 1930s worsened the already unpromising economic situation of African Americans. They were laid off from their jobs, and they suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times more than whites. In early public assistance programs African Americans often received substantially less aid than whites, and some charitable organizations even excluded blacks from their soup kitchens. The Civil Rights movement was also coming about. While we dont see a single raisin in the play, we do see a lot of deferred dreamsthe dreams represent the raisin. At the end, one dream is fulfilled. African-Americans believe in the American dream but do not realize how limited their success is when you are a person of color. Hansberry portrays this by showing the different struggles the Younger family goes through during the times they are in. The entire Younger family has different ideas of what the familys money should be used for. Mama has dreams of moving her family out of their current house and into a house with a yard where children can play and she can tend to her own garden. Ruths dream is very similar to Mamas. She wants to build a happy family and believes another step toward this goal is to buy a bigger and better place to live for the family. Beneathas dream is to become a doctor. She also intends to save her race from ignorance. Beneatha lived in a time when society expected women to focus on building homes rather than their own careers. Walter dreams of becoming a wealthy father and providing for his family like the rich people he drives around do for their families. He frames this dream in terms of his family†he dreams of giving the family what he has never had. He feels like a slave to his familys economic hardship. The protagonist of, A Raisin in the Sun is Walter Lee. His gift is ambition. Walter has the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through determination,initiative, and hard work. Walter Lees, along with several other African-Americans during this time, success was limited. Success to Walter, was measured by how much money a man had in his pocket and what he could do for his family. Others, like Beneatha and Mama, see success as how comfortable you are with your lifestyle. As the date of the check coming approaches, Walter becomes more and more anxious to figure out how the family can use the insurance money to make more money. Walter wants to use the money to invest in a liquor store. The American Dream was often deferred during the time that the Youngers live in. Their prolonged dreams, countless obstacles they faced everyday. All of the familys dreams were deferred. Mamas dream has been delayed since she and her husband moved into the apartment that the Youngers still stay in now. Every day, her dream provides her with an incentive to make money. But no matter how much she and her husband strived, they could not get enough money to make their dream a reality. The resulting insurance money and his death present Mamas first opportunity to realize her dream. Ruths dream is also deferred by a lack of money, which forces her and Walter to live in a crowded apartment where their son must sleep on a sofa. Beneathas dream is deferred because of the money Walter loses. Her dream is also a dream for all women. Walters dream has been deferred by his poverty and inability to find decent employment. He attributes his lack of job prospects to racism, a claim that may be part ially true but is also a crutch. Over the course of the play, his understanding of his dream of gaining material wealth evolves, and by plays end, it is no longer his top priority. Over the course of the play, Walters ambition starts to basically take him over. His money-hungry attitude causes him to spend the money in foolish and crazy ways, instead of doing what Mama intended him to do with the money. She gives him the remaining $6,500 of the insurance money and tells Walter to deposit $3,000 for Beneathas education and to keep the last $3,500. With this money, Mama says, Walter should become, and should act like he has become, the head of the family. Walter suddenly becomes more energized and confident. He talks to Travis about his plans, and he then says that he is going to make a transaction that will make the family more wealthy. Walters excitement builds while he talks about his dream of their future house and cars, as well as Traviss college education. Walters foolish spending of the money teaches one thing and that is that you should follow your dream and take the risk that comes along with it. If you believe in something and know theres a potential risk that comes along with it, you should still follow through with it because the outcome could very well be in your favor. It is easy for someone to give up on something they dream about and face the harsh realities that are set out in front of them, but it takes courage and confidence for someone to overlook those harsh realities and focus on making their dream come true. Walters aspirations push him to strive and achieve his goals. Beneathas dreams are the hardest to achieve. During these times, women were not expected to want to be doctors, lawyers, dentists,etc. They were expected to stay home and raise families while the men went out to get jobs. This was even the case for white families. White women were expected to stay home while the men went out to do labor and make the familys money. Beneatha was proving people wrong and following her original dreams. If Beneatha had settled for staying at home and raising a family, she would be following the societal norm that had been set. Beneatha is different and set apart from the other members of the Younger family because she is far better educated and has wider horizons. Walter thinks she should let her dreams of becoming a doctor go. He thinks she should stay home and raise a family. He wants Beneatha to be a housewife. When Walter and Ruth were in the kitchen, Walter began to rant on about how he was tired of his living conditions and wanted something better. Ruth told him to eat his eggs. Walter went on to say, Damn these eggs!! The quote represents all of the tension tied into their relationship. There is no tenderness. Walter also has his head in the clouds so Ruth tries to keep him within reality. Walter also jumps from dream to dream like Beneatha. He is also confused about what he wants to do in his life. Mama compares her children to the plant in the window. The only way for the plant to see is through the one window of the house. The children are the plant and the check is the window for them. Her children have grown. She has always wanted a prosperous garden and prosperous children. Mama wants nothing more for her children but for them to have great lives and be successful in their future. She wants them to prosper in everything they do. This goes back to the American Dream. They do not have equal rights like the whites in the world. Whites in this time have little to no obstacles stopping them from being what they want to be or going where they want to go. A Raisin in the Sun is mostly about dreams, the main characters struggle to deal with the oppressive circumstances that rule their lives. The title of the play references a conjecture that Langston Hughes famously posed in a poem he wrote about dreams that were forgotten. He wonders if these dreams in the play shrivel up like a raisin in the sun. Every member of the Younger family has an individual and separate dreams †Beneatha wants to become a doctor, and Walter wants to earn more money so that he can afford certain things for his family. The Younger family continues to struggle to attain these dreams throughout the entirety of the play, and much of the familys happiness and depression is directly related to their attainment of, or failure to attain, these dreams. At the end of the play, the family learns that the dream of a house is the most important dream because it keeps the family whole.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Constitutionalism And Human Rights A Troubled Continent...

Postcolonialism is a troubled continent of contested conceptions; the challenge and complexity stand aggravated when the unfamiliar guest – the discourse of constitutionalism and human rights – makes appearance at the dining table. Constitutionalism, most generally understood, provides for structures, forms, and apparatuses of governance and modes of legitimation of power. But constitutionalism is not all about governance; it also provides contested sites for ideas and practices concerning justice, rights, development, and individual| associational autonomy. Constitutionalism provides narratives of both rule and resistance. Constitutionalism typically evokes the device of written constitutions; but the texts of the constitution do not always illuminate, much less exhaust, the context of political and social action. Indeed, constitutionalism interrogates the notion of writtenness in at least two ways. First, behind every written constitution lies an unwritten one, which enacts the conventions and usages, the protocols and accouterments of power that resist linguistic codification. Second, the unwritten often overrides that which stands elaborately written, such that we have the paradox of â€Å"constitutions wi thout constitutionalism† (to adapt a notion of OkethOgando). The defense/war power of the executive furnishes the paradigm case of the first; the second stands illustrated by periods of constitutional dictatorships. In these, the acquisition of political power is legitimated

The Career Cycle of Teachers A Review of Mr. Holland’s Opus Free Essays

In the 1995 film Mr. Holland’s Opus, we watch as the protagonist Glen Holland goes from a near novice to a distinguished teacher. Although the film ends at his (forced) retirement, judging by his past involvement I would imagine he will continue, in the teacher emeritus tradition, to mentor students and teachers and possibly as an advocate for arts education (Steffy Wolfe, 16). We will write a custom essay sample on The Career Cycle of Teachers: A Review of Mr. Holland’s Opus or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are two specific incidents I wish to compare to illustrate the career development of Glen Holland. One is in the development of a senior revue that he devotes much of his time to during the later part of his career, and the other is his decision to incorporate methods into his teaching and conducting that offer ways for the deaf community to ‘hear’ music. These two incidents follow directly on the heels of each other, proving that the process of â€Å"reflection, renewal, and growth† (17) which Steffy and Wolfe discuss in their article on the career cycle of teachers is a constant, and constantly changing, process. During the years previous, we are able to see many career-altering moments for Glen Holland, from learning his wife is pregnant to teaching a young man to â€Å"find the rhythm† (Herek). It is during his final decade of teaching when he helps to create and produce a senior revue in place of the senior play. His involvement in the school revue shows he has a broad influence across departments within the school. Compared to his initial lack of involvement, to the extent that he would literally run to his car as soon as the bell rang at the end of the day, the amount of time and energy he puts into a non-academic activity shows his progression as a well-rounded teacher. At the same time, he has chosen to put energy into teaching that should perhaps be going into his family life, and particularly his deaf son, who he has never learned to communicate with properly. Following this production, in which he encourages a young woman to follow her talent to New York instead of working at her family’s restaurant, he has a revelation about his family and son. His son, Coltrane, confronts him about his thinking that Cole, as a deaf person, can’t appreciate music. This spurred Glen to learn ways he could incorporate new methods (specifically using lights to ‘play’ movements during a concert) into his teaching and performing. In an interview with Frank McCourt on PBS, he said that his turning point in teaching led him to discover that he â€Å"was the big learner out of this teaching experience† (Only). This experience seemed to light a new love of teaching in him, perhaps because, like Frank McCourt talks about, he has rediscovered his own love of learning. These two points in Glen’s career demonstrate the unique career development process of teachers. As Pam Grossman points out in her article about the profession of teaching and the challenges facing it, there has been a flood of under-qualified teachers into schools (par. 2). However, as Mr. Holland proves, it is not just knowledge of methods that makes one a great teacher, but an intimate and profound knowledge of the subject matter. Early in the movie, he tells a young woman who can’t seem to learn the clarinet that â€Å"Playing music is supposed to be fun. It’s about heart, it’s about feelings, moving people, and something beautiful, and it’s not about notes on a page. I can teach you notes on a page, I can’t teach you that other stuff† (Herek). On the contrary, his skill appears to be in teaching exactly that – how to love music instead of merely playing notes on a page. Throughout his career development, he shows that it is this love of his subject matter combined with his love of teaching itself that has touched so many young lives. Teaching may not always lead to monetary riches, but in Mr. Holland’s life it has led to a multitude of personal and professional riches. References Grossman, P. (2003, January/February). Teaching: From A Nation at Risk to a profession at risk? Harvard Education Letter. Retrieved April 14, 2008 Herek, S. (Director). (1995). Mr. Holland’s Opus [DVD]. Hollywood: Buena Vista Home Entertainment/Hollywood Pictures. Only a Teacher: Interview with Frank McCourt. (2003). Retrieved April 18, 2008, from http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/index.html. Steffy, B. Wolfe, M. (2001, fall). A life cycle model for career teachers. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 38(1), 16-19.    How to cite The Career Cycle of Teachers: A Review of Mr. Holland’s Opus, Essay examples

Audio Strategy Free Samples for Students †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Questions: 1.Has the audio strategy been defined, and is it aligned to the key message of the film? 2.Has the student demonstrated within the audio section of the implementation plan how they intend to accomplish the audio strategy, in a creative and practical way? 3.Is the audio strategy in line with the other element of the implantation plan? Answers: 1. As a sound engineer in the film, I need to make sure that proper sound effects are given all throughout the film to engage the audiences and even promote the strategic intent properly. The major message that is to be delivered to the audiences is to adopt or consider their own flaws and overcome their self-esteem issues. An audio strategy is required to increase the favoring for new sound effects and connect with more people through a proper content consisting of a story. For this film, the media company and its filmmakers have tried experimental audio content to create and share the messages and information regarding the film to the audiences and influence them to watch the film. The audio strategy has allowed to overcome the audio fill gaps and supplemented other media to deliver the best content that are presented through audio effects displaying the importance of overcoming self-esteem issues and embrace their flaws (Ye et al. 2012). The audio strategy is effective enough to a ttract mass audience and even attract the advertisers and marketers to make the film successful as well as make people learn about embracing their flaws, not make self-esteem issues come in front and focus on the perfection. Thus, the audio strategies have been clearly defined and aligned with the strategic content of the film that has been delivered through messages (Kaliakatsos-Papakostas, Floros and Vrahatis et al. 2013). 2. To accomplish the audio strategies, it is important to evaluate the audio section of the implementation plan, furthermore make sure that the sound effects are aligned with the strategic content and messages delivered through the films release. To accomplish the audio strategy, it would be important to promote the brand of the movie production company and increase awareness among the audiences. This would be possible by creating better publicity and developing community to engage more prospects who could promote the film and act as major business stakeholders. The dates should be assigned for the accomplishment of audio strategies and ensure that proper sound effects were provided to the film. Creating list of resources like audiovisual equipments is important and must be ensured that the audio requirements requiring extra support would act according to the Equality Act and other legislations, laws and rules (Xie and Guan 2013). After all the necessary equipments are available, the audio toolsets including the Audio Middleware, Audio Graphical Editor, EAX2, Microsoft XACT and XAudio2 shall be used. All these tools could create convenience in accomplishing the audio strategy as well as add or remove additional functionalities with the advanced features of low-level audio libraries. A proper IT engineer should handle all these tools with support by me to audition environmental Reverb parameters and enable programming and middleware solutions to keep the sound frequencies under control and provide the best sound too (Luo, Yang and Huang 2014). 3. The audio strategies are in line with the various other elements of the implementation plan such as the use of sound toolkits have helped to maintain proper sound frequency and made sure that the scenes all throughout the film are provided with the right quality sounds without any noise. The audio strategy was aligned with the components, because of which, the sound propagation curves were controlled properly and the global variables had been managed properly as well including the Doppler and speed of sound. This provided initialization of the sound parameters, furthermore created beautiful sound effects that could match with the scenes present in the movie (Ye et al. 2012). Thus, it is evident that the audio strategy is in line with the various elements of the implementation plan and will be beneficial for making audiences understand the strategic content of the film too. References Kaliakatsos-Papakostas, M.A., Floros, A. and Vrahatis, M.N., 2013. A clustering strategy for the key segmentation of musical audio.Computer Music Journal,37(1), pp.52-69. Luo, D., Yang, R. and Huang, J., 2014, May. Detecting double compressed AMR audio using deep learning. InAcoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 2014 IEEE International Conference on(pp. 2669-2673). IEEE. Xie, Z. and Guan, L., 2013. Multimodal information fusion of audio emotion recognition based on kernel entropy component analysis.International Journal of Semantic Computing,7(01), pp.25-42. Ye, G., Jhuo, I.H., Liu, D., Jiang, Y.G., Lee, D.T. and Chang, S.F., 2012, June. Joint audio-visual bi-modal codewords for video event detection. InProceedings of the 2nd ACM International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval(p. 39). ACM.

Friday, May 1, 2020

My Life In Music free essay sample

My name, in ancient Sanskrit, translates directly to music. Perhaps it was destiny that brought along such a happy coincidence, since music has played an integral role in my life. My mother took me to my first piano lesson at the tender age of five, at a time when I couldnt yet speak English. As I learned a new language in school, I learned a completely different one outside of the classroom. I learned to read music much earlier than I learned to read any other language, so in essence, it was the first full language I acquired. Music has translated into almost every aspect of my life. Early in my musical journey, I realized musics connections to math. When I learned about fractions and percentages, my musical knowledge also expanded into sixteenth and thirty-second notes, which involved subdividing a measure into minuscule equivalent parts. It may not have been extraordinarily difficult, but to a fourth grader, learning both concepts at the same time made both simpler. We will write a custom essay sample on My Life In Music or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page High school brought yet more connections between academics and music . When I started studying Spanish in high school, many of the adjectives I learned were similar to the florid Italian ones I had seen on my sheet music. Tempo markings in my music like allegro, which my music dictionary had translated simply to fast, were made clearer when I learned that in Spanish, alegre meant happy and lively. This brought a whole new meaning to what the composers of my music had originally intended each piece to be played as. Keeping in mind the new-found insight it had given me, I started appreciating Spanish and the beauty of language more. Music also showed up in my other subjects, like history. In my sophomore year English class, we were assigned to write an essay comparing pieces of art. Of course, I chose classical music as my art form, and decided to research Wagners famous Ride Of The Valkyries and Schoenbergs lesser-known A Survivor From Warsaw, two completely opposite pieces. By rese arching their composers and the world events surrounding their creations, as well as the intricate musical nuances that lay within each, I heard the pieces with a new perspective. Suddenly, Wagners majestic brass fanfares sounded like nationalistic pride, and I could clearly hear the pain behind Schoenbergs atonal orchestral melodies. Uncovering the background behind each composition was fascinating, and music felt more like a means for expressing a story than ever. Music, of course, hasnt only helped me in an academic sense; it has given me opportunities for leadership and self-growth. By being a part of my high schools band, I have grown immensely as both a musician and a leader. Surrounding myself with people just as fervent about music as I am has intensified my passion, and in an effort to contribute as much as I can, I have been section leader of my section for the past two years. This has brought me many responsibilities, like managing a large group and motivating them to try their best, as well as skills like teaching and conducting. Although I may not be the most talented musician or even be exploring music as a career option, it has given me a way of finding myself through art. The feeling I get when I can finally sight-read a piece perfectly, or introduce a lesser known artist to my friends proves to me each time that being lost in music is the most enlightening place to be.