A memorandum Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

A memorandum - Case Study Example mit courts as well as local governments from subjecting religious, religious monitored institutions, clergy as well as their employees into penal acts for refusing to sanctify or recognize marriages that are against their religious doctrines. This law provides freedom to access of all places of public accommodation to persons of divere sexual orientation, religious affiliations, ethnic, cultural and political affiliations. That is, this law guarantees all citizens living in New York the freedom and the right to access all places that have been made public for provision of accommodation services. According to this law the term â€Å"public place of accommodation† includes road houses, inns, taverns, motels and hotels. The public is free to access such facilities whether for purposes of health, food, entertainment and rest. Additionally, this law provides the freedom and rights to the populace of New York to access saloons, parks enclosure and bar rooms where spirituous as well as malt liquors are sold; the public is also able to access ice-cream parlors, soda fountains, confectionaries and all any other facility that has been opened with an intention to provide services and products to the general public. From case provided, taking into consideration the telephone conversation that was recorded by Jennifer McCarthy between Mrs. Gifford and Melisa Erwin, it is indicated that Mrs. Gifford answered Melisa politely that they could not host a lesbian or same sex marriage on the Liberty Farm. This is a fact that could be claimed using the New Marriage Equality Act of 2011. The act hinders any kind of discrimination that may be directed to persons intending to engage in same sex marriage. It is therefore a fact that Mr. and Mrs. Gifford violated the terms of the New York Marriage Equality Act, by specifically asserting that they could not host McCarthy and Melisa’s wedding on their Liberty Ridge Farm on the basis that they were Lesbians. In relation to the New York

Critisism on Curleys Wife Essay Example for Free

Critisism on Curleys Wife Essay For Of Mice and Men is a Tragedy, a tragedy not in the narrow modern sense of a mere sad story (though it certainly is that), but a tragedy in the classic Aristotelian/Shakespearean sense of showing humanitys achievement of greatness through and in spite of defeat. Some people seem to believe that the function of literature is to provide vicarious happy endings, to provide in words a sugary sweetness we would like to have but cannot always get in real life. To such people, true literary tragedy is distasteful. But the greatest writers and the best readers know that literature is not always only mere sugar candy; it can sometimes be a strong medicine: sour perhaps — at least to the untrained taste — but necessary for continued health[.] Some readers may object to the books presentation of low class characters, vulgar language, scenes suggestive of improper sexual conduct, and an implied criticism of the social system. But none of this is presented indecently, or beyond the ordinary norms of contemporary literature. Compared to many modern works, (or to movies and TV) this book is tame indeed. Furthermore, these features are necessary in this book in two ways. First, they are part of the accurate precise reporting of the reality of a particular time and place and environment. Part of Steinbecks literary point is that this is true to life. As such, the dirty details are part of Steinbecks enlargement of the realm of Tragedy, the democratization of the tragic world. Traditionally, the subjects of Tragedies have been Kings and other Great Ones: Job, Oedipus, Lear. But Steinbecks point — a truly American point — is that all men are created equal: Tragedy exists even among the lowly of the earth; even the least of us — even a Lennie or a George — has the human potential for tragic nobility. Of Mice and Men is a tragedy in the modern tradition of The Hairy Ape and Death of a Salesman. Second, the grossness is a way of presenting briefly the complex turmoil of life. This book is not stereotype melodrama. It is not a simpleminded book. There are no purely bad people in it. Conversely, there are no purely good people in it either. All the characters are complex mixtures of good and bad, or rather of bad results from good intentions. They are all — in their ability and in their outlook — limited. And they live in a gross and dirty world. Given their position in that world, they are not able to achieve much. But they are trying to do the best they can; they are trying to be good people and to have good lives. They have good intentions. They have noble aims. The tragedy is that, limited as the characters are, the world they live in is even more limited; it is a world in which the simplest dream of the simplest man — poor dumb big Lennie — cannot come true. The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft a-glae [go oft a-stray], wrote Robert Burns in the poem which provides the books title and its theme. And Steinbecks story shows why: The best laid plans go oft astray because they come in confl ict with one another. The simplest good intention — simply to stay alive — of a simple mouse, a simple pup, a simple young woman, is thwarted by Lennies urge to pet something soft and beautiful. Lennies drive to touch beauty kills the things he loves. But his problem is the same problem that bothers Curley, the Bosss son, the closest thing to a villain in the book. Like Lennie, Curley doesnt know how to hold on to what he finds important: his young wife, his status as the Bosss son, his reputation as a man. He loses each by trying to hold on too tightly. Curleys aim to be a respected husband/boss/man is foiled by his own limited abilities. The similar but simpler aim of Lennie and George to have a small place of their own where they can live offa the fatta the lan is doomed to frustration also by their own limitations and the tragic chain of circumstance and coincidence that ends with Lennie dead by Georges hand. The point, of course, is that they all — we all — live in a too limited world, a world in which not all our dreams can come true, a world in which we — all of us some of the time and some of us all the time — are doomed to disappointment. The tragic dilemma is that for our basic humanity, for the goodness of our aims, we all deserve better than we get. But because of our human limitations, by our weaknesses of character, none of us is ever good enough to earn what we deserve. Some philosophers, seeing this dilemma, pronounce profound pessimism for humanity. Some religions promise for this worlds disappointments supernatural intercession and other-worldly compensations. The tragic viewpoint (the view of Shakespeare, the Greek tragedians, the Old Testament Job, and John Steinbeck) finds in it the chance for nobility of soul: even in the blackest of disappointments, a human can achieve individual greatness. One may be defeated physically — but one need not be crushed spiritually. One can remain true to ones dream and true to ones friend. We humans may die, but we can love one another. Friendship. Love. That too is what Of Mice and Men is all about. Lennie and George, disparate types, are, against all good reason, friends. They share a good dream. They love one another. They are too limited, too inarticulate, to know how to say it, but they do show it — or rather Steinbeck shows it to us readers. So the book treats the great themes of Dreams and Death and Love with simple powerful clarity. It does so with a classically elegant structure — another reason for using the book as a teaching tool: it allows a reader — especially an untrained or beginning reader of literature — to see (or be shown) how structure supports and presents content. Of Mice and Men has the classic situation/complication/twist/and/resolution plot structure uncluttered by diversions, distractions, or subplots. There is inevitableness, a starkness that makes the poi nt of the story unavoidable. The story has the classic unities of time and place and action. It begins in a small spot of beautiful nature, a secluded camp in the woods by a stream; it moves to the buildings of a California ranch, and ends back in the woods by the stream. The style is simple: clear, direct sentences of description and action, direct quotation of the speech of simple people. Few long words, no hard words. The action is simple: two poor and vagrant workers, big, dumb Lennie and small, clever George, take jobs at a large ranch. Lennie has trouble with the Bosss son, Curley. Lennie accidentally — more or less — kills Curleys wife. George kills Lennie to save him from the horrors of a lynch mob led by Curley, bent on revenge. The settings are simple in detail, and simply powerfully symbolic. The secluded spot in the woods by the stream is the uncomplicated world of Nature; the bunkhouse is the bleak home of hired working men trying to make sense of their lives and gain comfort in a limited environment; the barn is the place of working life, of seed and harvest, birth and death; the harness room with Crooks bunk symbolizes social constraints; the little place of our own about which George and Lennie dream and all too vaguely plan is the Paradise on earth we all hope for. The characters, too, are simple yet significant. Begin with an individual, and before you know it you find you have created a type, wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald; begin with a type, and you find that you have created — nothing. Steinbeck begins with individuals: clearly and sharply crafted characters, a whole set of individuals who are so clearly realized that each — without surrendering individuality — becomes a type, an archetype, a universal character: There is Candy, the old, one-arme d worker with no place to go, as useless as his toothless dog; there is Carlson, gruffly and deliberately unfeeling, who can coolly kill old Candys ancient dog simply because he stinks and he aint no good to you; and there is Crooks, the dignified proud and aloof but helpless and lonely victim of racial discrimination. There is Slim, calm, reasonable, compassionate, the real leader of men. And there is Curley, the arrogant but inept Bosss son. The man who could lead well does not have the position; the one who has the position and the authority is not a true leader. Curley hides his insecurities behind a mask of macho toughness. His competitive bravado makes him push too far and Lennie, after enduring much, is given permission by George to get him. Lennie in self-protection crushes Curleys fist in his own big hand, crippling Curley somewhat as Candy and Crooks have been crippled by the punitive harshness of life. Curley is also the one man who has a woman. But clearly he does not — does not know how to — relate to her as a person. She is to him a thing, a possession, a sex-object and a status symbol. For the men, in braggadocio, he flaunts the sexuality of the relationship; and yet, out of his own self-doubts he is intensely jealous of the mens awareness of her. The young woman has no name — she is merely Curleys wife. She knows she wants — and somehow deserves — something better than this. I dont like Curley, she says of her husband. She has grandiose ambitions of being a Hollywood star in the pitchers. She is a lost little girl in a world of men whose knowledge of women is largely limited to memories of kind old ladies and rumors of casual prostitution. All these men are afraid of Curleys wife, afraid and aware that her innocent animal appeal may lead them into temptation and trouble. In self-protection they avoid her. Only Lennie, in naive goodness, actually relates to her as a person to a person. She talks to him. For a little time they share in their aesthetic sense; they both admire beauty. Unfortunately, she is too naive, and Lennie is too strong and c lumsy. In trying — at her invitation — to pet her lovely hair he is panicked by her quick resistance, and ends by killing her. Just as he had earlier killed a puppy and a mouse. Curleys wife, a naive Romantic, wants love and tenderness in a harsh crude Naturalistic world; Lennie, big and ignorant, tries to give love. But he is too weak in the mind, too strong in the body. His tenderness is too powerful for weaker, unsuspecting creatures. We readers can identify with Lennie. We sympathize; we empathize. We care. We have — most of us — been in his position; not quite able to cope with the complexities of the world around us, wanting only security, peace, comfort, and something soft and beautiful to pet and love. Perhaps one reason that this book has evoked controversy and censorious action is that it is so simple and clear and easy to understand — and so painful! It hurts to read this book. And some people dont like their books to hurt them; they want soothi ng. But great Tragedy is meant to hurt. One neednt subscribe wholly to the Aristotelian doctrine of catharsis by Art to see that one function of literature is to help us deal with the pain of real life by practicing with the vicarious pains of tragic art. Of course Of Mice and Men contains unpleasant attitudes; there is brutality, racism, sexism, economic exploitation. But the book does not advocate them; rather it shows that these too-narrow conceptions of human life are part of the cause of human tragedy. They are forces which frustrate human aspiration. Lennie and George have a noble dream. They are personally too limited to make it come true, but they do try. They try to help each other, and they even enlarge their dream to include old one-handed Candy and crippled black Crooks. Theirs is the American Dream: that there is somehow, somewhere, sometime, the possibility that we can make our Paradise on earth, that we can have our own self-sufficient little place where we can live off the fat of the land as peaceful friends. What is sad, what is tragic, what is horrible, is that the Dream may not come true because we are — each and all of us — too limited, too selfish, too much in conflict with one another. Maybe ever-body in the whole damn world is scared of each other, says Slim. And George expresses the effects of loneliness, Guys that go around alone dont have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin to fight all the time. What is ennobling in this tragedy of mice and men is the Revelation of a way beyond that loneliness and meanness and fighting, a way to rise above our human limitations: Two men — Lennie and George — who have nothing else, do have each other. We kinda look after each other. says George. And they do have their Dream. And the Dream is there even in the final defeat. For in the end the one thing George can do for Lennie is to make sure hes happy as he dies. He has Lennie look acrost the river you can almost see [the place]. And as Lennie says, Lets get that place now, George kills him mercifully. Its a horrible thing to do, and George knows that. And we know that. But in this limited world in this limited way it is all that George can do for his friend. And he does it. That is the horror and the nobility which together make up Tragedy. The Tragic pattern closes. There is a sense of completeness, of both defeat and satisfaction. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck has shown us something about the pain of living in a complex human world and created something beautiful from it. In true great literature the pain of Life is transmuted into the beauty of Art. The book is worth reading for a glimpse of that beauty — and worth teaching as a way to show others how such beauty works.

How Can Students be Moviated to Stay in High-school Essay -- Teaching

How Can Students be Moviated to Stay in High-school First of all, I think the students should be motivated mainly by their parents and then by their teachers. Parents should motivate their children by telling them how being a high-school graduate High-School Drop-Outs How can students be motivated to stay in school? First of all, I think the students should be motivated mainly by their parents and then by their teachers. Parents should motivate their children by telling them how being a high-school graduate will help them in life. The parent may mention how being a high-school graduate helped them or how they were hurt by being a high-school drop-out. Teachers can help motivate students by making school fun along with the teaching of the regular lessons. Teachers could also invite various people that graduated from high-school and some that were drop-outs to tell their own personal story. This may help students see the reality of being a high-school graduate or that being a high school drop-out can seriously affect that persons' life. Another thing that should be taken into consideration is that when a parent or teacher is talking to their child or student, the parent or teacher should not focus all on negative ideas. If they focus on negative ideas, and say such things as, â€Å"If you don't finish school then......,† then the child could be demotivated instead of being motivated. Parents and teachers should focus mainly on the positive ideas when motiv...

Metal Protection Crossion

DBT 303 METALS PROTECTION ASSIGNMENT 1 1) 2) 3) What is meant by oxidation and reduction processes? What is meant by anode and cathode? Write both half reaction equations and total equations in an electrochemical cell that consists of Pb and Zn in their respective 1M ion solutions. 4) Write both half reaction from the total equilibrium electrochemical cell below? Define what happen for each half reaction? Calculate the voltage that is generated Zn + 2HCL->ZnCl2 + H2 5) What is meant by Corrosion Penetration Rate, CPR? (i) (ii) Define CPR. Give its unit. ) 7) 8) State three (3) corrosion medium? State the difference between EMF series and galvanic series that you know? What is meant by? (i) (ii) Corrosion? Corrosion rate? 9) One half of an electrochemical cell consists of a pure Nickel electrode in a solution of Ni2+. The other is a Cadmium electrode immersed in a Cd2+ solution. (i) If the cell is a standard one, write the spontaneous overall reaction and calculate the voltage that is generated. (ii) Compute the cell potential at 25? C if the Cd2+ and Ni2+ concentrations are 0. 5 and 10-3 M, respectively.Is the spontaneous reaction direction still the same as for the standard cell? 10) 11) Define passivity. Give an example of passivity. Briefly explain how passivity behaviour protects the metal surface from further corrosion. 12) 13) 14) 15) State two (2) examples of metals that displays passivity behaviour. Define erosion corrosion and how does it happen? What is crevice corrosion? Give an example of crevice corrosion. Where are intergranular corrosion always occur? How to prevent intergranular corrosion? 16) A piece of corroded steel plate was found in submerged ocean vessel.It was estimated that the original area of the plate was 15 in. 2 and approximately 2. 8 kg had corroded away during the submersion. Assuming a corrosion penetration rate of 180 mpy for this alloy in seawater, estimate the time of submersion in unit of years. The density of the steel is 7. 9 g/cm3. 17) 18) 19) 20) How does Activation Polarization occur? Explain about sacrificial anode and in what environment can be used? Explain about impressed current and how does it operated? Give four (4) common methods to apply metallic coating?

Everything Is Possible

Example, Ryan and Aaron only get sales of about $17,000 in the first year but they put more effort on their business ND start to double their sales each year and eventually reach an amount of $1 5 million a year. Although they gain a lot of profit through the large amount of sales, but they bravely plow most of the money back to the firm so that the profit of the firm can grow dramatically in a short time. This shows that we need to be brave to face the risk so that we can get a better result in our business.Before Ryan and Aaron start their business, they set a goal for themselves which is to help small businesses to compete with large businesses by having an inexpensive way which is by rumoring online. The above shows that we need to set a goal first before start working on something so that we won't confuse when we are middle of our working. Ryan and Aaron also realized the American economy and made good use of the internet and other technology. It will be hard if we don't underst and the economy of our working area.It will be more easily to start a business when we understand the economy of our working area. Not only that, if we made good use of the internet and the technology around us, we will be able to minimize our work and maximize the result. Lastly, Ryan and Aaron hire smart people and train them well to work with them so that they can handle a diverse customer base. This show that we needs to hire not only good but also smart employees so that we can higher our profit and lower our expenditure.Answer for question 2 Stakeholders of ‘Contact are people and groups affected by, or that can effect an organizations operations, policies, and decisions of [Contact. To balance the need of the stakeholders, we need to prioritize business and stakeholders needs. In order to feel like the company is still yours without offending or losing big stakeholders that intricate money to keep your company in business you need to take a moment and prioritize busines s needs and stakeholders' needs.This means that we have to capture business processes and link them to projects software and capabilities. We will also need to modify our procrastination as our understanding of the application an s Keener needs change. We need to take Into consideration ten customer needs as well by involving them in the project. Center development activities around stakeholder needs are also one of the ways to balance the need of the stakeholders. By leveraging certain developments or user center designs we can accept the fact that stakeholder needs will change over time.As our business changes so will the needs of the stakeholders and we will also need to meet their changing needs. The most important way is to understand available assets. By understanding what assets are available to the business we can also balance asset reuse with stakeholders needs. Some examples of business assets would be legacy applications, reusable components, etc. Answer for question 3 Th e two entrepreneurs most impressed me is that we are almost the same age when hey starts their business.By their age, I'm still studying but they already started their own business and started to earn money by themselves. They are also very brave to face the risk. As we know, they plowed most of the money back to the firm so that the firm can grow dramatically over time which shows that they are very brave to face the risk. They seem very different from the typical college student. Usually, a typical college student Just represents certain subject or society in the college, but they starts they own business which is no relation with the college.

Kite Runner Essays

Kite Runner Essays Kite Runner Essay Kite Runner Essay Essay Topic: The Kite Runner American Military Academy British Literature 12-3 Prof. Minerva I. Mendez Analytical Essay #1 Kite Runner Essay Raymond Alexander Bravo Miranda #2 September 17, 2012 I chose to do my paper on the caste system. The caste system is an inherited social ranking of the classes and plays an important role throughout the Kite Runner. The book sates that there needs to be an order of the people to make sense of things worthwhile. The two boys try to defy that the caste system is nothing more than a state of mind. The Afghan people feel alienated from their own history because of the caste system. Kite fighting is a perfect example of the caste system. One has the fighter who attacks other kites, and the runner who chases he fallen kites. Hassan who is a Shia while Amir is Pashtun and has many more opportunities available to him because of his social class. Although they are friends, Amir is hesitant to acknowledge this while in public. I believe that the caste system imposes many of its own seemingly unintentional rules among the people. These systems even lead Amir to stand by while his servant was raped by local bullies. Even though there may not be any laws about certain issues, the caste system might impose and enforce them through hate and violence. The caste system forces people to be alienated from their own history. The novel depicts the story of Amir, an Afghan living in San Francisco who receives a call from his fathers friend living in Pakistan, a place which brings back bittersweet memoirs of childhood days spent in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir narrates his idyllic childhood in Kabul where his father is well-endowed with much financial success, power, and prestige. Amir and his father render housing for their servants or to the socially disadvantaged people within their jurisdiction. As opposed to the wealthy background that Amir has grown accustomed to, Ali together with his son are the servants of Amir and his father and who have long remained within the distinction of being underprivileged. The novel centers on the theme of ocial class, a key factor that separates the world of Amir from Hassan and tries to hinder their true friendship from blossoming. As what caste system suggests, those who are under the dominant and powerful party must adhere to rendering service to those in the upper class. True enough, in the novel, Hassan respects and admires upper-class Amir amid neighborhood bullies and intimidation which make them stick together through any hindrance. It is in their friendship that the concept of caste syste m is explicated. A Caste System is a distinctive kind of social structure which divides people in accordance with inherited social status. According to Pruthi, A caste system manifests itself as a vertical structure in which individual castes are hierarchically graded and kept permanently apart, and at the same time, are linked by well-defined expectations and obligations†. In the stirring and humane novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the caste system is viewed intricately within the friendship of Amir and Hassan. The novel depicts the story of these two characters who live within the boundaries of social status and who try to defy that the caste system is nothing more than a state of mind. The novel portrays the challenges seen through the bounds of the caste system and is felt by the main characters. In Hosseini’s moving elegy, Amir’s personal quest is a vivid picture of the entire Afghan culture completely drowned in massive violence and despair; and explicates how the Afghan society feels alienated from their own history. Amir is a clear manifestation of how hard it is for Afghan expatriates to begin a new chapter in life and represents how the nation has become an enormous quagmire. Notably, the novel is about Amir’s journey to atone for something he did for his best friend coming from the lower class named Hassan while the two of them were competing in a local kite-fighting tournament. But it is being depicted that there is much more to the tournament than being a mere old winter tradition, it is a vivid manifestation of war against tyrant delineation in the society. The title itself is suggestive of a symbolic state of innocence that can only be obtained through serving others. Brian Smith writes in his book, â€Å"Classifying the Universe,† â€Å"It is widely claimed that the classification in the society is the basis for all of what people call thought, reason, and logic†. Within the given context, it is then viewed that to be able to make sense of things worthwhile, there should be an order within the society and organizing its constituents by dividing them into classes or categories. Smith continues to say, â€Å"In addition, categorization is an innate capacity and necessity of human beings in which the nature of the people’s mind is deeply examined†. More than a mere tradition, running a kite in Afghanistan is a showcase of social status and the race to gain dominance over the competitive field. As the game involves the servitude of those in lower class, in this case, Amirs assistant is Hassan who held the spool and fed the line. At the start of the story, Hassan is the innocent protagonist, serving Amir through running Amirs kite. In the storys conclusion, it is Amir who runs the line for Hassans kite. In whatever way the caste system is presented, it is shown that humans are bound to have kings and leaders or those they need to serve and follow. Given this situation, the novel suggests that creating social hierarchy is an inherent character of people and unknowingly and subconsciously, people are subject to a certain kind of social standing also known as caste system in various ways. The kite tournament is a race for social dominance and the kite itself is the much coveted prize in which it takes a mileage and a great deal of service and struggle to get a hold of it. In this sense, Amir is of great advantage because he has his own assistant to fight for him while Hassan is left with no other choice but to obey the customary tradition of a caste system and servitude. As it is being defined that â€Å"the caste system is a closed system of social stratification and it is also a system of social inequality in which the status of the people is permanently determined at birth based from their parents ascribed characteristics†, it is evident the novel validate the fact that social dominance is present in a society within the grounds of a caste system. Amir, coming from the United States and endowed with wealth and power, clearly manifests the cruel fact that what you have and what you possess define your position in the society. The novel’s utilization of The United States as Amir’s place where he grew as a man presented with so much opportunities explicates the conception that Amir is being cemented on a higher position in the society. This is because the United States is a first world country and is an effective tool to be used if one is trying to xpound more on the idea of social class and social structure. According to Hosseini, â€Å"when a kite runner had his hands on a kite, no one could take it from him. That wasn’t a rule. That was a custom†. This quotation states that though a caste system is never considered to be a rule, it is an accepted tradition or a custom in which the most coveted prize is the honor and dominance. Hosseini continues by saying, â€Å"For kite runners, the most coveted p rize was the last fallen kite of a winter tournament. It was a trophy of honor, something to be displayed on a mantle for guests to admire. In this sense, those who have the prize of dominance of power are deemed to be privileged. As a caste system is all about hierarchy, which serves as the main reference of the parts to the whole in the social system, Louis Dumont explains in his book Homo Hierarchicus, â€Å"it must be borne in mind that there is an intrusion of power into the domain of hierarchy†. When it comes to power, the novel provides a clear judgment on the exercise of power within the caste system as seen by how privileged is the dominant party and how the inferior party is left with nothing but scraps of those in endowed with power. Relating the concept of the caste system with the idea of stealing, Baba’s statement is reflective of how much the underprivileged are being robbed of their rights to equal opportunities and showcase of skills. As what Baba said to Amir, Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft†. Theft, in connection with the caste system, signifies how the socially disadvantaged are being robbed with the opportunity to equal rights and justice. Barnes wrote that a certain caste system can override some universal laws regarding the act of stealing and although several literatures conjure with the fact that everyone is to be judged according to the law and not according to family ties, social status, or political influence, it is not easy to enforce that principle. In this notion, the rules are followed and obeyed because they are objectively right and not because they are means to preserve the order and the law. With this statement, it is strongly suggested that Baba had inkling that stealing is one of the consequences of living within the horizons of the caste system. As it is noted that Baba is somewhat referring to the religious entities who exercise holiness to cover evil deeds or intentions, it can be said that the novel maintains the fact that the caste system involves religious influence or authority in the hierarchy of society. Hosseinis Kite Runner takes its noble strength at the saying that true friendships hold no borders and adheres to no rules. The societal rules and roles do not prevent Amir and Hassan from forming a deep friendship that could defy the structure of their caste system and prove that human relationships are not limited to social status. The novel imparts that one can find a friend everywhere, in all aspects of life even when there is the presence of caste system in any forms. Unfortunately, this conception is being overshadowed by those bullies who are greatly consumed by the idea of social class or status and are not open-minded enough to think of social equality and fairness. In the novel, the separation of class and religion, though Amir and Hassan share some conversations about the concepts of trust, integrity and friendship, their neighborhood friends do not appreciate or acknowledge Hassans role in the society and instead, the neighborhood boys ridicule and make fun of him due to his lower status. The neighborhood boys reflect how people stigmatized those who are not endowed with wealth and power, a fact still evident nowadays. The involvement of the United States in the story plays a crucial role in presenting the powerful Amir to set a clear line between who is wealthy and powerful and who is unfortunate and bullied.

How to Build the Back of a Book Cover (with Template)

How to Build the Back of a Book Cover (with Template) The Back of a Book Cover: How to Build One That Actually Works (with Template) Picture an intrepid reader in the bookstore. They’re skimming the shelves when their eye is caught by a brilliantly imagined front cover. They pick the book up. Check. The spine is bold and inviting. Check. Then they flip to the back of the book cover - and it’s a boring solid background with no text.When it comes to book design, your thoughts probably don’t jump straight to a book’s back - it’s not as sexy or attention-grabbing as, say, the front. But it happens to be one of the most important sales tools at your disposal. So let's clear up some misconceptions:Nobody ever sees the back cover of a book online! Amazon.com now allows customers to view the back of paperback books.I don’t need a back cover to create a print book! KDP Print and IngramSpark require you to upload a front cover, spine, and back cover.Then there’s the biggest myth of all: nobody pays attention to the back of a book. Almost everyone reads the blurb before they decide whether to purchase. What’s more, they’ll spend only 10 seconds doing it. In this post, we’ll show you how to make that time count so that a reader ends up deciding in your favor.What makes a good back cover? As you start putting your own back cover together, just remember: experiment to find a balance that works for your book. When you hit a perfect balance between all the elements, you’ll have created a back cover that works.Are you in the middle of designing your own back cover? How have you found the experience? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Map of Natural Radioactivity

Map of Natural Radioactivity Many people do not realize that radioactivity occurs naturally on Earth. In fact, it is actually quite common and can be found virtually all around us in the rocks, soil and air. Natural radioactivity maps may look quite similar to normal geologic maps. Different types of rocks have specific levels of uranium and radon, so scientists often have a good idea of the levels based on geologic maps  alone.   In general, a higher altitude means a higher level of natural radiation from cosmic rays. Cosmic radiation occurs from the suns solar flares, as well as subatomic particles from outer space. These particles react with elements in the Earths atmosphere as they come into contact with it. When you fly in an airplane, you actually experience significantly higher levels of cosmic radiation than from being on the ground.   People experience different levels of natural radioactivity based on their geographic locale. The geography and topography of the United States is very diverse, and as you may expect, levels of natural radioactivity differ from region to region. While this terrestrial radiation should not concern you too much, it is good to be aware of its concentration in your area.   The featured map was derived from radioactivity measurements using sensitive instruments. The following explanatory text from the US Geological Survey  highlights a few of the areas on this map that show especially high or low levels of uranium concentration. Radioactive Areas of Note Great Salt Lake: Water absorbs gamma rays so it shows as no data area on the map.Nebraska Sand Hills: Wind has separated the lighter quartz from the clay and heavier minerals that usually contain uranium.The Black Hills: A core of granites and metamorphic rocks high in radioactivity is surrounded by less radioactive sedimentary rocks and gives a distinctive pattern.Pleistocene glacial deposits: The area has low surface radioactivity, but uranium occurs just below the surface. Thus it has a high radon potential.Deposits of glacial Lake Agassiz: Clay and silt from a prehistoric glacial lake have higher radioactivity than glacial drift surrounding it.Ohio Shale: Uranium-bearing black shale with a narrow outcrop zone was scooped up and spread over a large area in west-central Ohio by glaciers.Reading Prong: Uranium-rich metamorphic rocks and numerous fault zones produce high radon in indoor air and in ground water.Appalachian Mountains: Granites contain elevated uranium, particularly in fault zones. Black shales and soils above limestone also contain moderate to high levels of uranium. Chattanooga and New Albany Shales: Uranium-bearing black shales in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana have a distinctive outcrop pattern clearly defined by radioactivity.Outer Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: This area of unconsolidated sands, silts, and clays has one of the lowest radon potentials in the United States.Phosphatic rocks, Florida: These rocks are high in phosphate and associated uranium.Inner Gulf Coastal Plain: This area of the Inner Coastal Plain has sands containing glauconite, a mineral high in uranium.Rocky Mountains: Granites and metamorphic rocks in these ranges contain more uranium than sedimentary rocks to the east, resulting in high radon in indoor air and in ground water.Basin and Range: Granitic and volcanic rocks in the ranges, alternating with basins filled with alluvium shed from the ranges, give this area a generally high radioactivity.Sierra Nevada: Granites containing high uranium, particularly in east-central California, show as red areas.Northwest Pacific Coastal Mountains and Columbia Plateau: This area of volcanic basalts is low in uranium. Edited by Brooks Mitchell

Precedent in English Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Precedent in English Law - Essay Example It is always considered to be the rule-based, legally well-established case law. "The fact that English Law is largely a system of case-law means that the judge's decision in a particular case constitutes a 'precedent'The judge may simply be obliged to decide the case before him in the same way as that in which the previous case was decided, even if he can give a good reason for not doing so," Cross and Harris (1991, p.4). There is no doubt that precedents have not remained what they used to be and as the society evolves, some of the precedents might become irrelevant and it is left to the court's discerning judgement where and how to apply these highly useful precedents. "Rather, what is common to all the various traits of free judicial decision-making is their critical attitude towards the formalist premises of legal positivism and the ideology of bound judicial decision-making," Siltala (2000, p.5) and he argues that legislative techniques have undergone great change in 20th century which has given way to 'judicial anti-formalism'. Precedent spells the legal authority in the form of a forgone legal case that had reached a judgement that could be described as 'out of the track'. It does not say that similar judgement should be established every time; it only becomes a mandatory example from which either the judge could derive inspiration or measure the new case from that angle. Court is expected to consider such precedents before interpreting law for another judgement. Precedent is a landmark decision that could be applied to other cases, but according to independent circumstances. "The rule-based model suggests that the function of precedent is to settle the law so that it can guide individuals and the courts. The reason-based model suggests that the function is to compensate for the erosion of consensus in the common law by simultaneously fixing starting points for decision-making without giving the judiciary lawmaking power" http://journals.cambridge.org/download.phpfile=%2FLEG%2FLEG11_01%2FS1352325205050019a.pdf&code=303b5dd539d0786a50aadfcbedad50cd Precedents could be mandatory/binding or persuasive, depending on the importance of the said precedent, and also depending on the exclusive circumstances under which it was delivered and the authority who created the precedent. Usually binding precedents are created by higher courts for the lower courts to follow. If created by a lower court, it is never binding on the higher court, although it could take it as a matter of sound significance. Even if it is binding, this does not mean that the lower court has to follow it to the letter unless it is 'directly in point' and no additional cases could be formed on the precedent case. Also in rare occasions, a higher court can overturn the judgement of precedent case, or sometimes even limit the scope of the precedent. Even when they are binding, they do so in a certain ratio, which was highly pronounced in Duncan v Cammell. "On that criterion the ratio decidendi of Duncan v Cammell, Laird would have to be "the" reason which explains the holding on "the" material facts and nothing wider. Therefore all utterances in the precedent case which went in verbal ambit beyond such a reason, even though that ambit might seem to govern the instant facts, did not in law do so. For they were simply not a part of the ratio of Duncan's case," says Stone (1985, p.133).

SHORT LISTENING ASSIGNMENT FORMAT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

SHORT LISTENING ASSIGNMENT FORMAT - Essay Example group of musicians like the group of three trumpeters, saxophonists, and trombone players and the soloists like the pianist or cellist or the drummer take turns to improvise the piece based on what was performed by the musician(s) before him. Riff refers to short relaxed phrases being repeated over varied melodies. In this piece the complex riff structure in the head arrangements or collaborative arrangement that was memorized and not written down. The visual appeal in the video is remarkable. The video displays the musicians’ prowess and their rhythmic motions to the music mark the beginning of the swing era. The swing music was gaining popularity at the time and the Jazz Big Bands were a reflection of the times. The trumpet solo was very significant. The musician starts from low tone and displays a wide range in tone during his solo. He is preceded by the saxophone soloist and succeeded by the piano solo. The trumpet lends to the bouncy beat and light mood of the music piece and is very well placed in the sequence. The visual elements as discussed previously is enhanced with the lighting effects where the lights fall on each sectional as they play out their piece starting with saxophone players, the trombones and their head motions imitating the music and then the section of trumpet players. The One O’Clock Jump ends with all the players playing a repetitive phrase with variations in tone and melody and the catchy beat almost like a dance beat lends to the charm of the song. Why this jazz song became so popular is not difficult to understand. The overall performance is quite astounding. The light and fluffy rhythm has an energetic feel that is easy to swing to and uplifts the mood instantly. The complex riffs played out by the ensemble is very melodious and the sequences played out all seem to fit in perfectly and hence it is no wonder why it has come to be considered as one of the best songs of the

Knolege creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Knolege creation - Essay Example Modern day business research has become restricted to what Tranfield and Starkey refer to as ‘academic fundamentalism’ ( 1998, page 350) . The research concentrates on the theoretical and has little on no practical value for business, but is published purely for selfish reasons, as a means of career enhancement. Their findings are ignored by real business practitioners and read instead the works of management gurus such as Jack and Suzy Welch’s ‘Winning: The Ultimate Business How-to Book’ ( 2005) in order to discover how best to manage their companies. The usual image of a researcher is someone in a flapping white coat, standing in a laboratory surrounded by flasks, retorts and bottles trying to find a new solution to a medical or chemical problem. It is difficult to imagine what a ‘business school researcher’ must look like. It seems to me that the most advantageous future of business schools would be an amalgam of the best of academics and or practise, as described by Starkey and Tempest (2008, pp. ... There is, as always, a need for people trained in the basics of finance , in accounting , human resources and so on, and some people will always stay at these levels. . Managers and, even more so, business leaders require knowledge of these fundamentals of good business, but other things are needed too, such as psychology or philosophy. In mid-level business schools such studies can be provided, and be financed by a variety of sources – government grants, student fees as well as obtaining funds from business backers. If actually receiving funds from businesses their research is more likely to the real needs of business. The economy is going through difficulties worldwide, and this includes the economies of education. All around the globe, if not now, very soon, government funding will be reduced or cut completely. How will the business schools survive? A few perhaps could concentrate their resources and limit themselves to niche aspects of business studies. Failure to do this might result in them becoming merely trade schools. Other schools could turn their resources to promoting environmentally sustainable and profitable businesses, and yet more could set their sights on international co-operation and management. The remainder could specialize upon socially responsible business management in societies that are nevertheless capitalistic. The non-monetary connections between the academic world and that of business could be increased if there were individuals prepared to move more often, an dif this were made easier – from business to academia, from academia to government, from politics to academia. This would result in a combination of academic research and better work place practise.

The Justice System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Justice System - Research Paper Example This generally helps in creating a peaceful society as the people are ensured of justice. Premised on this fact, disputes in a society are settled in an amicable manner thus reducing the conflicts that might arise. Without the criminal and civil courts it’s impossible for the justice system to operate as the need for a body to resolve issues is part and parcel of the justice system. The civil and criminal courts form the judicial system that ensures citizens of any country live safely as well as in a civilized manner. A society cannot do without a judicial system that ensures justice is done. Criminal courts Criminal courts form part of the judicial system that seeks to enforce justice in a society. The idea of criminal courts came about due to the need for an institution to enforce the criminal laws coded in the different states of various countries. Some acts and omissions have been criminalized under the Tennessee Criminal Code and as such the Tennessee criminal courts are institutions that ensure that the criminal justice system is enforced as provided in the law. The criminal courts came about to regulate alleged, potential and actual criminal activities within the limits that have been put in place by the law so as to protect the citizen of a particular country from the wrongful treatment as well as protection from wrongful conviction. The two main reasons why the criminal courts exists is, thus, to first ensure that people are protected from harm of any wrong doer. Secondly, to ensure that the alleged wrong doers are not convicted for a wrong they did not commit (Brown 65). Therefore, the criminal courts serve justice to the victim of the wrong doing as well as to the wrongdoer himself. In many countries it is wrong for citizens to take the law into their hands. For example mob justice is an example of a situation where citizen take the law into their hands and decide on the punishment of the wrong doer. The criminal courts are put in place to avo id such situation where fairness and justice are not seen to be done. Many a time the alleged wrong doer might not be guilty and as such it is important to determine his or her guilt in a free and fair manner through a fair trial and hearing. I addition to giving the alleged wrong doer a fair trial the criminal courts came about to give justice to the person who has suffered harm as a result of the wrong doing. Thus the criminal courts have to balance the interests of both parties of the wrong doing and ensure that justice is done. The idea of criminal courts also came about so as to determine the exact punishment of a guilty person. Every criminal act is known as an offence and various countries have provided for it in their status. Further for every offence provided the there is a punishment and in most cases the punishment provides for a fine not exceeding a particular amount or for a jail sentence not exceeding a particular number of years. This means that there is need to be a system that determines the specific amount of fine or number of years for a jail term. An example is where the Criminal Code of Tennessee provides that a person who commits Class A felony is to be jailed for a term not less than (15) years or more than sixty (60) years imprisonment. In addition to this, the code further provided that the jury may assess a fine not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). In such a case there is need for a criminal court which determines the gravity

The advantages and disadvantages of robots Essay - 1

The advantages and disadvantages of robots - Essay Example In simple terms robots can be defined as a mechanical device that may resemble sometimes a human and is capable of performing several tasks or often complex human tasks which may be programmed in advance or perform on command. The following report includes the discussion about the advantages of robots in this innovative and technological world. The report also includes the description of the disadvantages of robots. Finally a conclusion has been drawn in the report related to the research done. There are several advantages of robots, as they are machines which can perform several tasks and actions which humans cannot do. Robots can work 24/7 without any need of salary and food, and they can also perform tasks with accuracy and consistency. Robots are advantageous because they can perform tasks faster than humans along with more accuracy and consistency. Robots can be used in doing several tasks like in production, household etc. using robots in the industrial sector have several advantages as they can help in improving the quality of products and also will reduce the wastage or breakages. Robots can be very advantages in business terms as they can increase the level of production and can also decrease the cost per unit of production as compared to human labour (Gray, 88). This is because they have the ability to work constantly without any breaks, vacation, and sleep and also has a potential to be more productive than any human worker. Robots also has the advantages of work place safety, as the workers are moved to the supervisory role and the humans don’t have to perform dangerous actions in several hazardous settings. Robots may also lead to savings as higher workers safety also leads to savings. This also leads to lower level of concerns for the workers insurances by employers. Robots also perform each and every task faster than any human which helps in saving of time. Robots measurements and actions are more

The Justice System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Justice System - Research Paper Example This generally helps in creating a peaceful society as the people are ensured of justice. Premised on this fact, disputes in a society are settled in an amicable manner thus reducing the conflicts that might arise. Without the criminal and civil courts it’s impossible for the justice system to operate as the need for a body to resolve issues is part and parcel of the justice system. The civil and criminal courts form the judicial system that ensures citizens of any country live safely as well as in a civilized manner. A society cannot do without a judicial system that ensures justice is done. Criminal courts Criminal courts form part of the judicial system that seeks to enforce justice in a society. The idea of criminal courts came about due to the need for an institution to enforce the criminal laws coded in the different states of various countries. Some acts and omissions have been criminalized under the Tennessee Criminal Code and as such the Tennessee criminal courts are institutions that ensure that the criminal justice system is enforced as provided in the law. The criminal courts came about to regulate alleged, potential and actual criminal activities within the limits that have been put in place by the law so as to protect the citizen of a particular country from the wrongful treatment as well as protection from wrongful conviction. The two main reasons why the criminal courts exists is, thus, to first ensure that people are protected from harm of any wrong doer. Secondly, to ensure that the alleged wrong doers are not convicted for a wrong they did not commit (Brown 65). Therefore, the criminal courts serve justice to the victim of the wrong doing as well as to the wrongdoer himself. In many countries it is wrong for citizens to take the law into their hands. For example mob justice is an example of a situation where citizen take the law into their hands and decide on the punishment of the wrong doer. The criminal courts are put in place to avo id such situation where fairness and justice are not seen to be done. Many a time the alleged wrong doer might not be guilty and as such it is important to determine his or her guilt in a free and fair manner through a fair trial and hearing. I addition to giving the alleged wrong doer a fair trial the criminal courts came about to give justice to the person who has suffered harm as a result of the wrong doing. Thus the criminal courts have to balance the interests of both parties of the wrong doing and ensure that justice is done. The idea of criminal courts also came about so as to determine the exact punishment of a guilty person. Every criminal act is known as an offence and various countries have provided for it in their status. Further for every offence provided the there is a punishment and in most cases the punishment provides for a fine not exceeding a particular amount or for a jail sentence not exceeding a particular number of years. This means that there is need to be a system that determines the specific amount of fine or number of years for a jail term. An example is where the Criminal Code of Tennessee provides that a person who commits Class A felony is to be jailed for a term not less than (15) years or more than sixty (60) years imprisonment. In addition to this, the code further provided that the jury may assess a fine not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). In such a case there is need for a criminal court which determines the gravity

Developing service Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Developing service - Assignment Example Focusing on this aspect, the report describes about how the various features of services can have an impact on the design and delivery of the proposed services. Besides, the report also analyses the proposed services on the basis of different service models and extended marketing mix strategies. The objective is thereby to understand that various aspects which needs to be considered in designing and developing the services at Derby Museum. How Would the Features of Services Affect the Design and Delivery of the Service and What Could Managers Do to Limit the Effects of These? The services provided by organisations are diverse in nature. They can determine the performance of organisations. However, designing and delivering of services relies on the features of services provided by an organisation (Pride & Ferrell, 2012). Since services are not physical, they are termed as intangible. Services cannot be touched and hence evaluating the quality of services becomes quite challenging to b e measured. The other feature of services is its perishable nature. It denotes that unlike goods, services cannot be warehoused for future purposes. Therefore, this feature of services can also be observed to have a deep impact on the overall performance of organisation. To be precise, as services are not perishable, it is hard for organisations to balance its supply and demand. Variability is the other vital feature of services (Wild, 2007). It is also known by heterogeneity which denotes that services provided by organisations are dependent on great variability being delivered by individual entities. The behaviour of people is quite challenging to control as it has been observed to fluctuate on a regular basis. Aspects such as work pressure, experience, knowledge and skills among other factors can further lead to variability of the services. Inseparability is the fourth feature of services. The creation of services is often observed as related with the consumption, unlike products and goods where production and consumptions occur at separate instances (Wild, 2007). As a result, in order to make intangible services more tangible for the customers, managers need to determine the way for effective service deliveries which can help to create a high degree of confidence among customers about the value of services. The tangibility of services arrives from profound personal interactions, clear communications and physical atmospheres where the business operates. Hence, maintaining a positive customer relationship, setting proper potentials and representing the organisation in acceptable manner by appropriate advent, approach and facilities can enhance the service quality for the proposed services of Derby museum (Fisk et al., 2008). Besides, managers of Derby museum can enhance customer satisfaction facilitating the involvement of consumers in the service delivery procedure. Regular communication with customers and frequent meetings can further help to establish ass urance towards providing quality assured and customer convenient services. In order to enhance customer satisfaction towards the offered services, the managers of Derby museum can focus on recognising the degree of personalisation required

MediaCorps Police and Thief Essay Example for Free

MediaCorps Police and Thief Essay 1. Short summary of my understanding of the question and my thesis statement 2. State some obvious similarities and differences between the 2 case studies. 3. Dissect each case study with the following categories in mind: a. Narratives b. Genres c. Representation d. Ideology e. Scenes 4. Conclusion 5. Some other things to think about: a. Give concrete examples. b. Aspects of styles. These two shows are very Singaporean. By this I mean that they contain many elements which are unique to my country, elements which only within the paradigm of our society will resonate with local viewers. Homerun, an Asian remake of the internationally acclaimed Iranian movie Children of Heaven is a movie directed by Jack Neo, who is a local celebrity best known for his comedic prowess and the many comedy shows under his name. Police and Thief is a relatively new weekly half-hour sitcom shown on Channel 5 which has yet to set a foothold in the heart of local audiences. These locally produced shows use, essentially different techniques in many areas to present the story to us while making use of our experiences as Singaporeans to help us understand and appreciate the shows from their story/plot to the surprises and nuances contained within. I will proceed to show you how the techniques used are also more different than similar. A distinction between the two shows is the element of narration. Cause and effect is employed to effectively present the story or stories in the shows. It is not uncommon to find secondary stories in an episode of a situation comedy or sitcom. These are often inserted into the plot and often come together in conclusion at the end of the episode. In Police and Thief, the show starts off on this episode with Lee Tok Kong the main character of the show wanting to get under the blanket with his wife and due to common reasons of tiredness and falling asleep quickly, has his pleas ignored. This scene is related to how Tok Kong later reacts to the wiles of a less than archetypical femme fatale. There is another story inserted in between, which shows how the neighbours sons, Rudy and Rafi having an unspoken conflict over a common love interest. This plot development has no explicit and implicit impact on the main story mentioned earlier. It almost feels like tokenism has taken place, either to fill up the half hour of screen time or to give emphasis to the other characters in the sitcom. In Homerun, it is quickly established that poverty leads to a lack of options and hence with the losing of shoes early into the movie, we see the main cause in the show that explains later effects. The show revolves around how the main characters are thwarted at every attempt to obtain a new pair of shoes or retrieve the old pair. We do not see scenes that have no relation to any other. In fact the entire narration of Homerun is about a search for a cause-shoes. Both the shows have different range of stories. There is less suspense buildup in Police and Thief and this is probably due to restricted narration where both the audience and the characters in the show know the same information at relatively equal times. The only example of unrestricted narration in the recent episode was when Rudy cheated on his promise to his brother Rafi behind his back to get a chance to go out with the girl, Cecilia, they both like. Rafi only found it out in another scene when Cecilia whom similarly does not know of the conflict called their home. In this case, we know more than several characters in the show at a particular time. In Homerun, during the opening sequence of Chew Kiat Kun running errands for his family, it is quickly established that a rag-and-bone man had taken away the pair of shoes which Kiat Kun had put down. Kiat Kun has no idea how the shoes had mysteriously disappeared and hence his sister Seow Fang too. In this scene alone, a beautiful play on camera angle suffices to keep us in suspense till much later in the show. This seemingly passing top down close up scene of the gnarled hands removing the shoes helps to tug hard at our heart strings when we later realize the rag-and-bone man is blind. The above is a good example of how both restricted and unrestricted narration can be developed from one scene. We know who had taken away the shoes (unrestricted narration) but like the characters in the show we have no idea he was blind (restricted narration). These two shows belong to the 2 commonest genres in Singapore. Police and Thief can be classified as belonging to the HDB genre. In fact this plot of this particular sitcom revolves around the conflict faced by two men who live in close proximity. It has an appeal particular to local viewers who are able to appreciate the familiar settings. One example which we can relate to is the scene of Lily, Tok Kongs wife who repeats a punch line in a scene where her face is framed in the center of our common older HDB window panes. It is common to see neighbours walking and talking from the same angle for those who have lived in HDB flats. Homerun is a social commentary and even as it is based in 1965, the year Singapore became independent, it reflects on socio-political situations which were prevalent during the time of filming i.e. the water issue between Malaysia and Singapore. Another genre which is mixed into both these shows is the coffee shop genre, featuring many scenes of meeting and interactions at local coffee shops. We see this in Police and Thief where Tok Kong was being interviewed by a lady near the beginning of the show and in Homerun, Kiat Kun helps out his teacher from school who is close to collapsing from shortness of breath at a roadside coffee shop. There is obvious stereotyping in Police and Thief. Tok Kong is your typical gangster or Ah Beng in colloquial terms. He has wild, pointy gelled hair and wears colourful clothing, even for sleeping attire (Opening scenes). His heavily accented Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) (Dont play with my heart) and his love for techno music scream Ah Beng. He is put in direct contrast with his neighbour and antagonist in the show Sergeant Dollah who is a policeman. Dollah is characterized with short hair, very neat and righteous. These stereotypes alone set the premise for tension and conflict as neighbours. It is akin to Phua Chu Kang versus his sister-in-law Margaret. The stereotypes in Homerun broadly differentiate the rich and the poor. A simple comparison can be made between Beng Soon and Kiat Kun, friends of opposite ends of the economic spectrum whose relationship sours then mends in the course of the show. Beng Soon is cast in shirts, clean with well-gelled hair (in school) and stands at a good head taller than Kiat Kun. His friend however is almost always dirty, with smudges on his singlet and/or face. Even during a game of soccer, Beng Soon provides the soccer boots and he is the only one on the field with soccer socks. Tok Kong as the gangster also becomes an icon easily associated with local shows of similar genres. There is no obvious icon in Homerun. It uses a motif rather, to play out the story. There were multiple scenes of close ups of your Bata white or dirty shoes (in the shops or in the background with Seow Fangs face in the focus). Many scenes of tension started because of shoes e.g. the shoes slipping off and into a canal full of rushing water and even in the scene where Seow Fangs teacher paces as the children are exercising). These scenes feature changes in music, close ups with dialogue in the background, all to draw attention to the motif in the show. During the scene at the well with the confrontation between the two groups of boys, we see wealth being equated with power, that Beng Soon who was the rich one could actually decide who got to use the well. This is perhaps the directors ideology portraying the way Malaysia hordes over us in the water issue. The premise of Homerun revolved around three things: shoes, intelligence and power being associated with wealth. Jack Neo parodies the socio-political situation between Singapore and Malaysia using the three elements with shoes being the water, Singapore being the more intelligent country and power that Malaysia holds over us due to their superior water resource. The two shows end differently too. The end of the sitcom is close without answered questions while the cryptic ending of Homerun leaves us pondering what the director would have us think as we leave the cinema. There is no element of suspense left in Police and Thief to entice the audience to look out for the next episode, unlike a soap opera. Even as both shows make use of our experience to enhance our appreciation and understanding of the shows, they obviously use several different techniques and some similar ones to bring forth the essence of each individual story. These different methods highlight certain elements essential to the plot of the stories and ultimately help us to enjoy the shows as Singaporeans.

Analysis of Momentum in Indian Stock Markets

Analysis of Momentum in Indian Stock Markets LITERATURE REVIEW The first study on momentum based investment strategy was documented way back in 1967. Levi (1967) claims the success of trading strategy based on buying stock with current price significantly higher than the average of last 27 weeks generate significant positive abnormal returns. However Jensen Bennington (1970) argues that the trading rule based on relative strength proposed by Levi was the one out of sixty eight trading strategies he tested and while tested for out of the sample test period it did not outperformed the buy hold strategy and hence was attributable to selection bias. Test of contrarian investment strategies was stealing the show fund managers were found busy picking stocks based on relative strength in US market. Majority of mutual funds examined by Grinblatt Titman (1989) note the tendency of fund managers to buy the stocks that have seen price increase in last quarter. Apart from that Value Line rankings of mutual funds that were largely based on relative strength also enjoyed high predictive power. The success of mutual funds investing on the basis of relative strength and high predictive power of value line rankings (Copeland Myres (1982)) provide some evidence of success of investment strategies based on relative strength. The academic literature suggests contrarian returns generate abnormal returns whereas value line rankings and mutual funds generating abnormal returns based on relative strength strategy are in stark contrast of each other. A seminal study by Jegadeesh Titman (1993) solves the puzzle by providing an explanation based on different of investment horizons considered by mutual funds using momentum strategies and contrarian strategies advocated by academic literature in late eighties and early nineties. Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) using US market data from 1965-1989 found not only the evidence of long term success of contrarian investment strategy but also found that momentum strategies generate significant positive returns in medium run over 3-12-month holding periods. They documented the reversal of momentum after about nine months. Their study suggests that in short run for about 3-12 months holding period momentum strategy generate significantly positive returns while in long run for the holding period of 1-3 years contrarian strategy generates significantly positive returns. Conrad and Kaul (1993) also find evidence from US market that the contrarian strategy is profitable for short-term (weekly, monthly) and long-term (2-5 years, or longer) intervals, while the momentum strategy is profitable for medium-term (3-12-month). As mentioned earlier the results of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) had thrown a new light on seminal study of De Bondt Thaler (1985, 1987) and found evidence of short term momentum precedes long term reversal. Although all the results provided strong evidence of market inefficiency, different studies documented different explanations for such returns. Fama French (1996) presents result based on multifactor CAPM using size and MV/BV ratio to explain various anomalies in asset prices including momentum as well as contrarian returns and claim that market efficiency is intact. However the study failed to explain the presence of short term momentum using the multifactor model and hence short term momentum anomaly remains unexplained. Several behavioural explanations were found and presented to jointly explain the short-run cross-sectional momentum in stock returns documented by Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) and the long-run cross-sectional reversal in stock returns documented by DeBondt and Thaler (1985). Daniel, Hirshleifer, and Subrahmanyam (1998) (DHS hereafter) assume that investors are overconfident about their private information and overreact to it. If these investors also have a self-attribution bias, then investors attribute success to their own skills more than they should and attribute failures to external noise more than they should. The consequence of this behaviour is that investors overconfidence increases following the arrival of confirming news. The increase in overconfidence furthers the initial overreaction and generates return momentum. The overreaction in prices will eventually be corrected in the long-run as investors observe future news and realize their errors. Hence, increased overconfidenc e results in short-run momentum and long-run reversal. As against the above cited behavioral explanation to short term momentum and long term reversal, some scholars argue that the returns from these strategies are just compensation for taking additional risk or may be the product of the data mining. Most noteworthy of all Conard and Kaul (1998) argue that the profitability of momentum strategies may be the result of data-mining and momentum portfolio shows positive returns in any post ranking period is true irrespective of the length of test period. Thus Conard and Kaul (1998) suggest that there is no case of long term reversal. This is diagonally opposite to what the behavioral models suggests where after short term momentum prices will reverse to more fundamental levels. In fact, the criticism of Conard and Kaul (1998) led to another study by Jegadeesh and Titman (2001) where they used out of the sample test by using data from 1991 to 1998 an overlapping test period compared to their 1993 study where they used data form 1965-89. Their study also eliminated small firms from the study to check whether the earlier momentum returns were actually dominated by small, high-risk and illiquid stock or otherwise. Though they focus on short term momentum in their study choosing two year holding period post formation but they also tested post holding period returns from the period of two to five years after formation. They present some very interesting results. The momentum profits of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) continued in 2001 also with almost same magnitude for same holding period that actually has proved that the earlier momentum profits were not the result of data-mining. It also suggests that unlike small firm effect where after the published research on superior returns on small firms compared to their large counterparts, superior returns on small firms disappeared in subsequent studies using data from the periods after the small firm effect from earlier studies got published, that means market has learnt quickly and hence such superior returns disappeared however momentum returns were still present with the same magnitude in 2001 as they were in 1993 study suggest that momentum returns are not just the temporary anomaly but it may have to do with some systemic cognitive bias which sustains for a long time. It also proves that momentum profit is just not the result of some small, illiquid and risky stocks and most noteworthy the reversal found in their post holding period cumulative returns, which render support to the explanations of behavioral theorists and provides evidence against the Conard and Kaul hypothesis. As far as studies in Asian markets are concerned Chang (1995) found abnormal profits of contrarian strategies in the Japanese markets. Chui (2000) found significant positive abnormal returns with contrarian investment strategy in Japanese and Korean markets. Hameed Ting (2000) found evidence of market overreaction hypothesis (contrarian strategy) in Malaysia. Kang (2002) found significant short term positive returns with contrarian strategy in Chinese markets. On the other end, Hameed Kusandi (2002) found no evidence of contrarian profits in six Pacific Basin markets. While Rouwenhorst (1998) and Griffin Martin (2005) found existence of momentum in many non-US countries, the quantum of momentum returns in non-US countries was small, and in the case of Asia, insignificant. For example, Griffin (2005) estimates average monthly returns of 0.78%, 0.77% and 0.40% for the Americas (excluding the US), Europe and Asia respectively. End of the Beginning or Beginning of the End†¦ The big bull has fallen down, investors have lost their vision, and experts knowledge went futile with the downturn of the global economies. When the markets were on peak, the funds across the world have flooded in the global economies. Policy makers had lot of confidence on the market, that it will help the economy to grow at faster pace. The market excelled 21000 points which was more ahead then the growth of the economy of India. But that does not seem true for the world economies, as the crisis had hit badly in USA and other parts of world which insisted FIIs and other investors to withdraw their money and markets crashed, went to 7000 points, where investor lost everything and policies could not work to take them up to the level. What was the reason of the crash? What will be the result of the market? Is this the end of the beginning or beginning of the end? Indian market is the strong base of determining the financial system of the country. Majority of the financial decisions are dependent on the stock market other financial market. Indian stock market serves a link to banking and other financial policies which provides impetus to the industry. Indian stock markets heavily based on the sentiments of the clients (market players) also of the market makers. The crash or boom (in a period/ year) determines the structure of the Indian capital system. The boom in the market (year till 2008) has brought many changes in the performance of mutual funds, insurance (ULIPS), investment products which led the country into the inflow of the money supply in the market. Till 2007-08 the market was running at its best, touched the heights, but the global crash in the market became a typhoon took away major players organizations into the quick sand of the recession. The insights from the market were not showing positive sign in anyways, so whether this was a new platform or just a time (economic) cycle. Prologue to decline†¦ Earth provides enough to satisfy mans need, but not greed. -M.K.Gandhi The market crash started with the fall of big financial organizations in the USA in the world like Lehman Brothers, AIG, Freddie and Fannie and many more. The failures were primarily due to exposure into Subprime loans Credit default swaps issued to insure these loans the issuers devolved resulted into bank failures steep reduction in the price of equities worldwide. The economic crisis led many world markets to suspend the trade due to fall in price. On October 8, 2008 Indonesian stock market halted trading, after a 10 % drop in one day. The crash of 2008 was around 21% which was little less than 1987 (Times of London). Beginning of October month was Black in the world market. The Dow Jones volumes were low and the industrial average fell over 1874 points which was worst weekly decline. The Icelandic stock market was into pitiable situation where the markets had been suspended for 3 days i.e. 9, 10 13 October. On October 24 many of the worlds stock market experienced the worst decline, with around 10% drop in the indices. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OMX_Iceland_15_SEP-OCT_2008.png The above graph shows the steep and the worst decline a market could ever witness. The Iceland stock market crashed up to unpredictable level. The trading had been suspended for 3 days because of the crash in the market. This situation was visible in all global stock markets, because of financial crisis in USA. Hence, the worst was yet to be experienced by the global markets market players. The Indian stock markets were also badly hit the confidence of people was shattered. The markets were not showing the positive sign in any of the context people had no clue about the next jump or next level of the market. Market experts were expecting the markets will be into recuperation at the earliest, but things were not going the way it had been desired. Source: Hindubusinessline.com Indian market which has shown strong performance till 2007, but from January it plummeted more than 3000 points on all the stock prices by October 2008, it had touched the 7000 (BSE) line. The continuous unpredictable scenarios in the stock market led many investors and institutional investors to withdraw their money because of negative performance of the markets. The above shown graph is depicting the dream turned into nightmare for global domestic investors. The Beehive capitalism†¦ Everything that goes up without base falls steeply with great force. The same situation has happened with the world economies. The supreme economy of the world has become the devil for the small economies, leading major big companies to file for the bankruptcy. The global meltdown is the result of Financial Hybrids Innovations, which has been actively traded all across the world markets. The investment bankers, banks, financial institutions were actively relied on these new and innovative models, which has yet to gain the acceptance across the world. The main accused element for collapse is â€Å"Credit crisis†, in which the US banks got the regulations to lend money to the people having no sufficient background to get the loans. These kind of loans were termed as NINJA loans (NO INCOME, NO JOBS, NO ASSETS), given in abundance by the US banks. Emerging economies like India, China and other big economies were initially considered to be the places which will remain unaffected from the distortion of crisis. But despite of the strong fundamentals Indian economy dipped into the crisis. The stock market had lost more than 50% of its value (source: economic times), which shattered the hopes of the Indians. There was continuous monitoring by the Central Bank (Reserve Bank of India) on the market trend. The tornado of crisis had destroyed most of the stock markets, banks and financial institutions after soaring to the new heights of investment. The below mentioned graph depicts the movement of BSE Sensex SP CNX Nifty Source: SEBI Bulletin November 2008. BSE Sensex closed at 9788 on October 31, 2008 as against 12680 on September 30, 2008, a fall of 3072 points (almost 24%).The month of October 2008 had been the most volatile month, where Sensex recorded a high of 13055.67 on October 1, 2008 low of 8509.56 on October 27. Nifty closed 2886 on October 31 against 3921 against 30 September 2008. By the end of a month Nifty registered the fall of 1035 points (almost 27%). The market had shown unpredictability of the base stability level, dissuading more and more investors to take exit from the market. The Financial crisis: A Sub-prime loan is a type of mortgage loan made to borrowers who have at least one of the following characteristics: (1) Low credit scores; (2) The inability to post the traditional 20 percent down-payment for a home; and/or (3) The inability to fully document their income. The subprime crisis is not the result of recent financial innovations and developments, but it is the outcome of lax capitalism policies which had been developed by the US government. In the fifties American government passed a legislation to delink the commercial banking investment banking. The legislation stated implied that a commercial bank cannot open an investment bank. In 70s European American economies faced slowdown, due to which these banks were finding difficult to invest their investible surplus. This time the East Asian economies were liberalizing their economies, due to which the capital from western economies started moving to these economies. After the huge influx of capital into these economies, Asian bubble gets burst, forcing the western economies to introduce new financial measures to invest into the markets. These circumstances and the need of new financial avenues led the US European economies to trade into the new financial products, by liberalizing the norms for Commercial Investment Banks. The liberalization in the regulations led to the introduction of the Mortgaged products (a prime cause of crisis). In the late 90s US mortgage lender began offering the mortgage products to would be â€Å"home buyers† who could not qualify for a mortgage loans. Millions of Americans Europeans, who previously could not afford to buy home, were obtaining these mortgages, due to which great Demand of home (boom) took place leading to shoot of real estate prices. The above diagram shows how the base of subprime crisis took place in the global markets. The downfall in the economies is considered to be as the Dominoes Effect. The lax screening of borrowers, large capital accumulation capitalized market structure created a bubble which could not be ceased from getting expand. The whole cycle got mitigated with the introduction of new instruments in the financial markets. The sub prime crisis is about the collapse of the unregulated, $3 trillion over-the-counter market for complex structured assets, some of which happen to contain sub prime residential mortgages. The semiannual global financial stability report by IMF said that declining US housing prices and rising delinquencies on the residential mortgage market could lead to losses of $565 billion. When combining these factors with other market factors, it puts potential losses at about $945 billion which is almost 25% of the $24trillion global credit market. Financial innovations were brought into the market to make the products work in the market. The Mortgage products started to conflagrate the US European markets, where such loans started becoming the pool of assets (Risky) and been traded in the market. Hence, due to this many other factors got the impetus ultimately resulted into the uncontrollable bubble of mortgage, which gets burst and deepened the world economies into the recession. The subprime crisis has affected the global economies resulting into the fall of big financial corporation like Lehman Brothers, Bear sterns, AIG, Freddie Fannie, and many more big organizations of whom one cannot think to get fail. The sizes of the organization (exposure) were in plethora that it was not possible for the US European government to revive these financial institutions. AIG, one of the largest insurance companies (Private) became government undertaking due to the impacts of financial crisis. SUB PRIME OVERVIEW: Source: The India Economic Review 2008. (Dec 08) The whole system works in three stages, Stage First consist of Borrowers lenders; Second stage consists of the creation of SpecialPurpose Vehicle (SPV) with the inclusion of legal intermediaries. The last (third) stage consists of investors those who had invested their money into the riskier assets including the investment banks. In stage first agent enters between borrowers and lenders, accepting the collateral and also factoring the future price rise. The agents accept the loans, who previously could not even qualify for the approval, now getting loans from the banks other lenders. The housing price bubble allowed many borrowers to get loans easily because of the high house prices. The loans were mortgaged on a larger scale by creating the pool of similar group of mortgage assets through Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) given the risk involved on the pool of assets. In second stage, SPVs were created all the liabilities were transferred into bankruptcy remote securitization trust or SPV. Underwriters were used to issue market the MBS (mortgage backed securities). These securities were divided into different tranches, which were of similar securities. The rating agencies were to give rating to these tranches of securities. The ratings were given to the tranches based on the risk, priority of payment of the funds. Higher ratings were given to those tranches benefiting from the credit enhancements the MBS generates or credit insurance purchased from third party bond insurer. In third stage, Institutional or individual investors such as hedge funds or managers of Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), purchase the securities and then re-securitize the MBS, along with other assets, into a CDO. The Commercial Papers (CP) generated in the initial years was all sold and there was demand for more. Consequently the SPVs started producing more CPs or MBS. The sale of the same only meant that the SPVs were flush with funds. These funds were to be invested somewhere so, the agents were pressed to bring in more borrowers. The lending norms were further diluted to accommodate lesser and lesser deserving borrowers in order to deploy the huge funds available. The consequent spiral that got generated only led to the continued dilution of the Capital Adequacy and Prudence norms. The system went burst once the housing prices turned negative turning the very foundation of subprime lending upside down. The turmoil of subprime has been expected of more than $ 3 trillion, which is too big for any country to even imagine of recuperating. The impact on Indian market was slow but had been proved acute on the stock market due to the constant humongous withdrawal of FIIs loss of confidence in the consumers (investors). Mortgage: Huge pack of cards†¦ The magnanimous crisis which all started with lax policies of US government, provided impetus for the Fed Reserve to implement new structures in the economy. The capitalist policy was looking very attractive to the market players, but the policy was hollow from the fundamentals. It all started with the Alan Greenspans reformative structures models in the financial markets, led to turmoil in the global economies. The US Fed Bank Clinton government in 1999 passed Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) which had abjured the old Glass-Steagall Act which had regulated the Investment Banks, Banks Insurance industries. The new legislation has unregulated the Wall Street Investment Banks and commercial banks. This deregulation has enlarged the gamut of activities in the financial activities of the commercial banks other financial institutions. The deregulation had been further reintroduced by legalizing gambling activities into financial sector, a prohibition that had been in place after 1907 financial crisis. The steps towards deregulation of the US markets had converted the US markets into a big casino. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2004 took a step towards the deregulation on the financial activities by removing the ceiling on risk that the largest American investment banks could take on Securitized loans. By this time, no one would have thought that the deregulation will result into large speculation create a bubble in the market. Lastly, the Securities and Exchange Commission took the last step toward deregulating financial markets when in the month of July 2007, weeks before the onset of the subprime crisis; it removed the â€Å"uptick† rule for short selling any security. The housing bubble was fed by extraordinarily low interest rates low lending standards (norms) for mortgages. The excessive monetary liquidity short term interest rates fell to 1%, which led to high borrowing of loans from the banks, resulted into the big bubble of mismanagement of financial activities. After the tech bubble burst in 2001 the recession, the Fed (Greenspan) aggressively lowered the Federal funds rate from 6.5 percent to 1 percent in 2004, the lowest since 1958. The lowered interest rates reduced lending standards made the banks to lend the money known as ‘ Predatory Lending to the borrowers who did not have capabilities to qualify for the loans, but with the mortgage lending, excessive loans were provided to these lenders as they (banks) were getting big bonuses for bearing risk on these loans. Non-traditional home loans were advanced to borrowers who had no documented incomes. Some loans were interest only loans with down payments of 5% or less . Some were Adjustable Rate loans (ARMs), with low interest rates for one or two years to be reset later at much higher rates. In 2006 around 25% of American mortgages were subprime and close to 20% were ARMs. Mortgage lenders and Home buyers presumed that home prices were not going to fall on a national basis. THE NEW ALCHEMY OF FINANCE The subprime crisis is the result of new financial products in the market the deregulation of the financial activities for the FIs. The main reason of such lending was the facility with which subprime lenders could sell their risky mortgages upstream to bigger players, investments banks for example, which undertook to buy them, pool them into mortgage bonds and re-channel them into new financial instruments through a process of aggressive securitization. The Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs) which fall into the large class of derivative products came under various names such as Collateral Debt Obligations (CDOs). They had the characteristics of short term asset based commercial paper that were backed by the underlying income producing mortgage assets downstream and were graded according to a certain risk of default. More than 1 trillion half dollars of these asset backed financial products were sold in all over the world. Another new financial instrument that made matters much worse and led directly to the crisis: the Credit Default Swaps. Due to lack of government regulation, this product has become a weapon of mass destruction. In order to protect against the risk of default on the new asset-backed securities (ABS), some insurance companies but also some investment banks themselves began to issue bilateral â€Å"insurance† contracts against the newly created ABS. These were called Credit Default Swaps (CDS), which were supposed to protect the investment instruments against the default on asset based securities. The issuer of ABS could buy the protection against the default by paying a premium. This was a financial innovation, the so-called â€Å"insurance against default†, that opened the floodgates of money to be invested in the new financial instruments. Indeed, it allowed investors such as pension funds and other institutions which have a fiduciary obligation to buy only high-qualit y securities, to legally buy artificially highly rated (but risky) ABS securities, or to invest in hedge funds which specialized in leverage trading in derivative products. But the problem was that the issuance and use of such financial â€Å"insurance† contracts were not regulated by any government agency, because the word â€Å"insurance† was not used; instead, they were considered as simply a protection against the â€Å"default† of payment on a financial security. And thats where the gambling part enters the picture: only ten percent of CDS are genuine insurance contracts held by investors who really own asset-backed securities (these are covered CDS); 90 percent of them are rather held by speculators who trade CDS, while not owning any asset-backed securities to be protected (these are naked CDS). Economy as Casino: The gamut of gambling that US government Fed has created was even unimaginable, allowed big participation into these new investment instruments. Credit Default Swaps (CDS) can be bought and sold by speculators who are not directly involved in the mortgage business. Because of the 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act passed by Congress, no state has the power to regulate this new form of sophisticated gambling. The result is astounding: it is estimated that the notional value of credit default swaps outstanding today is about $ 62 trillion (four times the size of the US economy). This is an indication of popularity of the â€Å"naked† CDS innovation was as a way to bet on the collapse of the entire asset-backed securities construction. This was also a clear sign that, in a crisis, it would be all but financially impossible for the issuers of CDS to meet their obligations. In other words, disaster was just around the corner. This is an event that any regulatory agency should have seen coming. When housing prices hit the expected top of their cycle, in the 2005, and began falling, especially in 2006, the price for CDS s was still relatively low. So, some astute speculators undertook to buy CDSs and simultaneously began selling short the ABS that had been issued by investment banks, such as Lehman Brothers, in the correct expectation that mortgage-backed securities were bound to lose value with the expected rise in home foreclosures and mortgage defaults. This is how unimaginable spiral got created by the steps undertaken by Fed Reserve US government which ultimately result into the great burst ever faced in the history globally. GRAMM-LEACH- BILLEY ACT 1999 The Gramm Leach Billey Act 1999 (GLBA) passed by US government in the year 1999 with a view of security data integrity in the market. The GLBA repealed the part Glass Steagall act of 1933, which had opened the market among the banking companies, securities companies insurance companies. The GSA had prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank and or an insurance company. But the GLBA allowed commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, insurance companies to consolidate. The act was announced in the 1993 finalized in 1994, allowing many big corporations to merge to enhance their range of activities take the benefit of the deregulation. The law was passed to legalize these mergers on a permanent basis. The law has not fully deregulated the previous act, but they had relaxed the norms and allowed the FIs to have non financial assets. GLBA was amended with some part of the Bank Holding Company act of 1956. The crucial aspect of the GLBA stated that no merger can go ahead until the financial holding institutions, or affiliates receives a â€Å"less than satisfactory (SIC) rating at its most recent CRA exam†. GLBA compliance was mandatory; whether a financial institution discloses non public information or not, there must be a policy in place to protect the information from prospective threats in security data integrity. The law was segregated into three main aspects: FINANCIAL PRIVACY RULE: This rule requires FIs to provide each consumer with a privacy notice at the time the consumer relationship is established and annually afterwards. The notice must explain the information collected about the consumer, where that information is shared, how that information is used and how that information about the consumer is protected. The consumer must be notified give consent about any change at any point of time. Each time the privacy notice is reestablished the consumer has the right to opt it again. SAFEGUARDS RULE: The safeguards rule requires FIs to develop a written information security plan that describes how the company is prepared for, and plans to continue to protect clients non public personal information. This plan must include the following; Denoting at least one employee to manage the safeguards. Constructing a thorough on each department handling the non public information. Develop, monitor test a program to secure the information. Change the safeguards as needed. The Safeguards Rule forces financial institutions to take a closer look at how they manage private data and to do a risk analysis on their current processes. PRETEXTING PROTECTION: The GLBA encourages the organizations covered by GLBA to implement safeguards against pre texting. Pre texting means when someone tries to access the personal nonpublic information without proper authority approval. Thus the institutions having covered under the GLBA, needs to have control safeguard the information of their client, to prevent the details from any misuse. CRITICISM AND DEFENSE: There Analysis of Momentum in Indian Stock Markets Analysis of Momentum in Indian Stock Markets LITERATURE REVIEW The first study on momentum based investment strategy was documented way back in 1967. Levi (1967) claims the success of trading strategy based on buying stock with current price significantly higher than the average of last 27 weeks generate significant positive abnormal returns. However Jensen Bennington (1970) argues that the trading rule based on relative strength proposed by Levi was the one out of sixty eight trading strategies he tested and while tested for out of the sample test period it did not outperformed the buy hold strategy and hence was attributable to selection bias. Test of contrarian investment strategies was stealing the show fund managers were found busy picking stocks based on relative strength in US market. Majority of mutual funds examined by Grinblatt Titman (1989) note the tendency of fund managers to buy the stocks that have seen price increase in last quarter. Apart from that Value Line rankings of mutual funds that were largely based on relative strength also enjoyed high predictive power. The success of mutual funds investing on the basis of relative strength and high predictive power of value line rankings (Copeland Myres (1982)) provide some evidence of success of investment strategies based on relative strength. The academic literature suggests contrarian returns generate abnormal returns whereas value line rankings and mutual funds generating abnormal returns based on relative strength strategy are in stark contrast of each other. A seminal study by Jegadeesh Titman (1993) solves the puzzle by providing an explanation based on different of investment horizons considered by mutual funds using momentum strategies and contrarian strategies advocated by academic literature in late eighties and early nineties. Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) using US market data from 1965-1989 found not only the evidence of long term success of contrarian investment strategy but also found that momentum strategies generate significant positive returns in medium run over 3-12-month holding periods. They documented the reversal of momentum after about nine months. Their study suggests that in short run for about 3-12 months holding period momentum strategy generate significantly positive returns while in long run for the holding period of 1-3 years contrarian strategy generates significantly positive returns. Conrad and Kaul (1993) also find evidence from US market that the contrarian strategy is profitable for short-term (weekly, monthly) and long-term (2-5 years, or longer) intervals, while the momentum strategy is profitable for medium-term (3-12-month). As mentioned earlier the results of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) had thrown a new light on seminal study of De Bondt Thaler (1985, 1987) and found evidence of short term momentum precedes long term reversal. Although all the results provided strong evidence of market inefficiency, different studies documented different explanations for such returns. Fama French (1996) presents result based on multifactor CAPM using size and MV/BV ratio to explain various anomalies in asset prices including momentum as well as contrarian returns and claim that market efficiency is intact. However the study failed to explain the presence of short term momentum using the multifactor model and hence short term momentum anomaly remains unexplained. Several behavioural explanations were found and presented to jointly explain the short-run cross-sectional momentum in stock returns documented by Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) and the long-run cross-sectional reversal in stock returns documented by DeBondt and Thaler (1985). Daniel, Hirshleifer, and Subrahmanyam (1998) (DHS hereafter) assume that investors are overconfident about their private information and overreact to it. If these investors also have a self-attribution bias, then investors attribute success to their own skills more than they should and attribute failures to external noise more than they should. The consequence of this behaviour is that investors overconfidence increases following the arrival of confirming news. The increase in overconfidence furthers the initial overreaction and generates return momentum. The overreaction in prices will eventually be corrected in the long-run as investors observe future news and realize their errors. Hence, increased overconfidenc e results in short-run momentum and long-run reversal. As against the above cited behavioral explanation to short term momentum and long term reversal, some scholars argue that the returns from these strategies are just compensation for taking additional risk or may be the product of the data mining. Most noteworthy of all Conard and Kaul (1998) argue that the profitability of momentum strategies may be the result of data-mining and momentum portfolio shows positive returns in any post ranking period is true irrespective of the length of test period. Thus Conard and Kaul (1998) suggest that there is no case of long term reversal. This is diagonally opposite to what the behavioral models suggests where after short term momentum prices will reverse to more fundamental levels. In fact, the criticism of Conard and Kaul (1998) led to another study by Jegadeesh and Titman (2001) where they used out of the sample test by using data from 1991 to 1998 an overlapping test period compared to their 1993 study where they used data form 1965-89. Their study also eliminated small firms from the study to check whether the earlier momentum returns were actually dominated by small, high-risk and illiquid stock or otherwise. Though they focus on short term momentum in their study choosing two year holding period post formation but they also tested post holding period returns from the period of two to five years after formation. They present some very interesting results. The momentum profits of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) continued in 2001 also with almost same magnitude for same holding period that actually has proved that the earlier momentum profits were not the result of data-mining. It also suggests that unlike small firm effect where after the published research on superior returns on small firms compared to their large counterparts, superior returns on small firms disappeared in subsequent studies using data from the periods after the small firm effect from earlier studies got published, that means market has learnt quickly and hence such superior returns disappeared however momentum returns were still present with the same magnitude in 2001 as they were in 1993 study suggest that momentum returns are not just the temporary anomaly but it may have to do with some systemic cognitive bias which sustains for a long time. It also proves that momentum profit is just not the result of some small, illiquid and risky stocks and most noteworthy the reversal found in their post holding period cumulative returns, which render support to the explanations of behavioral theorists and provides evidence against the Conard and Kaul hypothesis. As far as studies in Asian markets are concerned Chang (1995) found abnormal profits of contrarian strategies in the Japanese markets. Chui (2000) found significant positive abnormal returns with contrarian investment strategy in Japanese and Korean markets. Hameed Ting (2000) found evidence of market overreaction hypothesis (contrarian strategy) in Malaysia. Kang (2002) found significant short term positive returns with contrarian strategy in Chinese markets. On the other end, Hameed Kusandi (2002) found no evidence of contrarian profits in six Pacific Basin markets. While Rouwenhorst (1998) and Griffin Martin (2005) found existence of momentum in many non-US countries, the quantum of momentum returns in non-US countries was small, and in the case of Asia, insignificant. For example, Griffin (2005) estimates average monthly returns of 0.78%, 0.77% and 0.40% for the Americas (excluding the US), Europe and Asia respectively. End of the Beginning or Beginning of the End†¦ The big bull has fallen down, investors have lost their vision, and experts knowledge went futile with the downturn of the global economies. When the markets were on peak, the funds across the world have flooded in the global economies. Policy makers had lot of confidence on the market, that it will help the economy to grow at faster pace. The market excelled 21000 points which was more ahead then the growth of the economy of India. But that does not seem true for the world economies, as the crisis had hit badly in USA and other parts of world which insisted FIIs and other investors to withdraw their money and markets crashed, went to 7000 points, where investor lost everything and policies could not work to take them up to the level. What was the reason of the crash? What will be the result of the market? Is this the end of the beginning or beginning of the end? Indian market is the strong base of determining the financial system of the country. Majority of the financial decisions are dependent on the stock market other financial market. Indian stock market serves a link to banking and other financial policies which provides impetus to the industry. Indian stock markets heavily based on the sentiments of the clients (market players) also of the market makers. The crash or boom (in a period/ year) determines the structure of the Indian capital system. The boom in the market (year till 2008) has brought many changes in the performance of mutual funds, insurance (ULIPS), investment products which led the country into the inflow of the money supply in the market. Till 2007-08 the market was running at its best, touched the heights, but the global crash in the market became a typhoon took away major players organizations into the quick sand of the recession. The insights from the market were not showing positive sign in anyways, so whether this was a new platform or just a time (economic) cycle. Prologue to decline†¦ Earth provides enough to satisfy mans need, but not greed. -M.K.Gandhi The market crash started with the fall of big financial organizations in the USA in the world like Lehman Brothers, AIG, Freddie and Fannie and many more. The failures were primarily due to exposure into Subprime loans Credit default swaps issued to insure these loans the issuers devolved resulted into bank failures steep reduction in the price of equities worldwide. The economic crisis led many world markets to suspend the trade due to fall in price. On October 8, 2008 Indonesian stock market halted trading, after a 10 % drop in one day. The crash of 2008 was around 21% which was little less than 1987 (Times of London). Beginning of October month was Black in the world market. The Dow Jones volumes were low and the industrial average fell over 1874 points which was worst weekly decline. The Icelandic stock market was into pitiable situation where the markets had been suspended for 3 days i.e. 9, 10 13 October. On October 24 many of the worlds stock market experienced the worst decline, with around 10% drop in the indices. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OMX_Iceland_15_SEP-OCT_2008.png The above graph shows the steep and the worst decline a market could ever witness. The Iceland stock market crashed up to unpredictable level. The trading had been suspended for 3 days because of the crash in the market. This situation was visible in all global stock markets, because of financial crisis in USA. Hence, the worst was yet to be experienced by the global markets market players. The Indian stock markets were also badly hit the confidence of people was shattered. The markets were not showing the positive sign in any of the context people had no clue about the next jump or next level of the market. Market experts were expecting the markets will be into recuperation at the earliest, but things were not going the way it had been desired. Source: Hindubusinessline.com Indian market which has shown strong performance till 2007, but from January it plummeted more than 3000 points on all the stock prices by October 2008, it had touched the 7000 (BSE) line. The continuous unpredictable scenarios in the stock market led many investors and institutional investors to withdraw their money because of negative performance of the markets. The above shown graph is depicting the dream turned into nightmare for global domestic investors. The Beehive capitalism†¦ Everything that goes up without base falls steeply with great force. The same situation has happened with the world economies. The supreme economy of the world has become the devil for the small economies, leading major big companies to file for the bankruptcy. The global meltdown is the result of Financial Hybrids Innovations, which has been actively traded all across the world markets. The investment bankers, banks, financial institutions were actively relied on these new and innovative models, which has yet to gain the acceptance across the world. The main accused element for collapse is â€Å"Credit crisis†, in which the US banks got the regulations to lend money to the people having no sufficient background to get the loans. These kind of loans were termed as NINJA loans (NO INCOME, NO JOBS, NO ASSETS), given in abundance by the US banks. Emerging economies like India, China and other big economies were initially considered to be the places which will remain unaffected from the distortion of crisis. But despite of the strong fundamentals Indian economy dipped into the crisis. The stock market had lost more than 50% of its value (source: economic times), which shattered the hopes of the Indians. There was continuous monitoring by the Central Bank (Reserve Bank of India) on the market trend. The tornado of crisis had destroyed most of the stock markets, banks and financial institutions after soaring to the new heights of investment. The below mentioned graph depicts the movement of BSE Sensex SP CNX Nifty Source: SEBI Bulletin November 2008. BSE Sensex closed at 9788 on October 31, 2008 as against 12680 on September 30, 2008, a fall of 3072 points (almost 24%).The month of October 2008 had been the most volatile month, where Sensex recorded a high of 13055.67 on October 1, 2008 low of 8509.56 on October 27. Nifty closed 2886 on October 31 against 3921 against 30 September 2008. By the end of a month Nifty registered the fall of 1035 points (almost 27%). The market had shown unpredictability of the base stability level, dissuading more and more investors to take exit from the market. The Financial crisis: A Sub-prime loan is a type of mortgage loan made to borrowers who have at least one of the following characteristics: (1) Low credit scores; (2) The inability to post the traditional 20 percent down-payment for a home; and/or (3) The inability to fully document their income. The subprime crisis is not the result of recent financial innovations and developments, but it is the outcome of lax capitalism policies which had been developed by the US government. In the fifties American government passed a legislation to delink the commercial banking investment banking. The legislation stated implied that a commercial bank cannot open an investment bank. In 70s European American economies faced slowdown, due to which these banks were finding difficult to invest their investible surplus. This time the East Asian economies were liberalizing their economies, due to which the capital from western economies started moving to these economies. After the huge influx of capital into these economies, Asian bubble gets burst, forcing the western economies to introduce new financial measures to invest into the markets. These circumstances and the need of new financial avenues led the US European economies to trade into the new financial products, by liberalizing the norms for Commercial Investment Banks. The liberalization in the regulations led to the introduction of the Mortgaged products (a prime cause of crisis). In the late 90s US mortgage lender began offering the mortgage products to would be â€Å"home buyers† who could not qualify for a mortgage loans. Millions of Americans Europeans, who previously could not afford to buy home, were obtaining these mortgages, due to which great Demand of home (boom) took place leading to shoot of real estate prices. The above diagram shows how the base of subprime crisis took place in the global markets. The downfall in the economies is considered to be as the Dominoes Effect. The lax screening of borrowers, large capital accumulation capitalized market structure created a bubble which could not be ceased from getting expand. The whole cycle got mitigated with the introduction of new instruments in the financial markets. The sub prime crisis is about the collapse of the unregulated, $3 trillion over-the-counter market for complex structured assets, some of which happen to contain sub prime residential mortgages. The semiannual global financial stability report by IMF said that declining US housing prices and rising delinquencies on the residential mortgage market could lead to losses of $565 billion. When combining these factors with other market factors, it puts potential losses at about $945 billion which is almost 25% of the $24trillion global credit market. Financial innovations were brought into the market to make the products work in the market. The Mortgage products started to conflagrate the US European markets, where such loans started becoming the pool of assets (Risky) and been traded in the market. Hence, due to this many other factors got the impetus ultimately resulted into the uncontrollable bubble of mortgage, which gets burst and deepened the world economies into the recession. The subprime crisis has affected the global economies resulting into the fall of big financial corporation like Lehman Brothers, Bear sterns, AIG, Freddie Fannie, and many more big organizations of whom one cannot think to get fail. The sizes of the organization (exposure) were in plethora that it was not possible for the US European government to revive these financial institutions. AIG, one of the largest insurance companies (Private) became government undertaking due to the impacts of financial crisis. SUB PRIME OVERVIEW: Source: The India Economic Review 2008. (Dec 08) The whole system works in three stages, Stage First consist of Borrowers lenders; Second stage consists of the creation of SpecialPurpose Vehicle (SPV) with the inclusion of legal intermediaries. The last (third) stage consists of investors those who had invested their money into the riskier assets including the investment banks. In stage first agent enters between borrowers and lenders, accepting the collateral and also factoring the future price rise. The agents accept the loans, who previously could not even qualify for the approval, now getting loans from the banks other lenders. The housing price bubble allowed many borrowers to get loans easily because of the high house prices. The loans were mortgaged on a larger scale by creating the pool of similar group of mortgage assets through Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) given the risk involved on the pool of assets. In second stage, SPVs were created all the liabilities were transferred into bankruptcy remote securitization trust or SPV. Underwriters were used to issue market the MBS (mortgage backed securities). These securities were divided into different tranches, which were of similar securities. The rating agencies were to give rating to these tranches of securities. The ratings were given to the tranches based on the risk, priority of payment of the funds. Higher ratings were given to those tranches benefiting from the credit enhancements the MBS generates or credit insurance purchased from third party bond insurer. In third stage, Institutional or individual investors such as hedge funds or managers of Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), purchase the securities and then re-securitize the MBS, along with other assets, into a CDO. The Commercial Papers (CP) generated in the initial years was all sold and there was demand for more. Consequently the SPVs started producing more CPs or MBS. The sale of the same only meant that the SPVs were flush with funds. These funds were to be invested somewhere so, the agents were pressed to bring in more borrowers. The lending norms were further diluted to accommodate lesser and lesser deserving borrowers in order to deploy the huge funds available. The consequent spiral that got generated only led to the continued dilution of the Capital Adequacy and Prudence norms. The system went burst once the housing prices turned negative turning the very foundation of subprime lending upside down. The turmoil of subprime has been expected of more than $ 3 trillion, which is too big for any country to even imagine of recuperating. The impact on Indian market was slow but had been proved acute on the stock market due to the constant humongous withdrawal of FIIs loss of confidence in the consumers (investors). Mortgage: Huge pack of cards†¦ The magnanimous crisis which all started with lax policies of US government, provided impetus for the Fed Reserve to implement new structures in the economy. The capitalist policy was looking very attractive to the market players, but the policy was hollow from the fundamentals. It all started with the Alan Greenspans reformative structures models in the financial markets, led to turmoil in the global economies. The US Fed Bank Clinton government in 1999 passed Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) which had abjured the old Glass-Steagall Act which had regulated the Investment Banks, Banks Insurance industries. The new legislation has unregulated the Wall Street Investment Banks and commercial banks. This deregulation has enlarged the gamut of activities in the financial activities of the commercial banks other financial institutions. The deregulation had been further reintroduced by legalizing gambling activities into financial sector, a prohibition that had been in place after 1907 financial crisis. The steps towards deregulation of the US markets had converted the US markets into a big casino. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2004 took a step towards the deregulation on the financial activities by removing the ceiling on risk that the largest American investment banks could take on Securitized loans. By this time, no one would have thought that the deregulation will result into large speculation create a bubble in the market. Lastly, the Securities and Exchange Commission took the last step toward deregulating financial markets when in the month of July 2007, weeks before the onset of the subprime crisis; it removed the â€Å"uptick† rule for short selling any security. The housing bubble was fed by extraordinarily low interest rates low lending standards (norms) for mortgages. The excessive monetary liquidity short term interest rates fell to 1%, which led to high borrowing of loans from the banks, resulted into the big bubble of mismanagement of financial activities. After the tech bubble burst in 2001 the recession, the Fed (Greenspan) aggressively lowered the Federal funds rate from 6.5 percent to 1 percent in 2004, the lowest since 1958. The lowered interest rates reduced lending standards made the banks to lend the money known as ‘ Predatory Lending to the borrowers who did not have capabilities to qualify for the loans, but with the mortgage lending, excessive loans were provided to these lenders as they (banks) were getting big bonuses for bearing risk on these loans. Non-traditional home loans were advanced to borrowers who had no documented incomes. Some loans were interest only loans with down payments of 5% or less . Some were Adjustable Rate loans (ARMs), with low interest rates for one or two years to be reset later at much higher rates. In 2006 around 25% of American mortgages were subprime and close to 20% were ARMs. Mortgage lenders and Home buyers presumed that home prices were not going to fall on a national basis. THE NEW ALCHEMY OF FINANCE The subprime crisis is the result of new financial products in the market the deregulation of the financial activities for the FIs. The main reason of such lending was the facility with which subprime lenders could sell their risky mortgages upstream to bigger players, investments banks for example, which undertook to buy them, pool them into mortgage bonds and re-channel them into new financial instruments through a process of aggressive securitization. The Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs) which fall into the large class of derivative products came under various names such as Collateral Debt Obligations (CDOs). They had the characteristics of short term asset based commercial paper that were backed by the underlying income producing mortgage assets downstream and were graded according to a certain risk of default. More than 1 trillion half dollars of these asset backed financial products were sold in all over the world. Another new financial instrument that made matters much worse and led directly to the crisis: the Credit Default Swaps. Due to lack of government regulation, this product has become a weapon of mass destruction. In order to protect against the risk of default on the new asset-backed securities (ABS), some insurance companies but also some investment banks themselves began to issue bilateral â€Å"insurance† contracts against the newly created ABS. These were called Credit Default Swaps (CDS), which were supposed to protect the investment instruments against the default on asset based securities. The issuer of ABS could buy the protection against the default by paying a premium. This was a financial innovation, the so-called â€Å"insurance against default†, that opened the floodgates of money to be invested in the new financial instruments. Indeed, it allowed investors such as pension funds and other institutions which have a fiduciary obligation to buy only high-qualit y securities, to legally buy artificially highly rated (but risky) ABS securities, or to invest in hedge funds which specialized in leverage trading in derivative products. But the problem was that the issuance and use of such financial â€Å"insurance† contracts were not regulated by any government agency, because the word â€Å"insurance† was not used; instead, they were considered as simply a protection against the â€Å"default† of payment on a financial security. And thats where the gambling part enters the picture: only ten percent of CDS are genuine insurance contracts held by investors who really own asset-backed securities (these are covered CDS); 90 percent of them are rather held by speculators who trade CDS, while not owning any asset-backed securities to be protected (these are naked CDS). Economy as Casino: The gamut of gambling that US government Fed has created was even unimaginable, allowed big participation into these new investment instruments. Credit Default Swaps (CDS) can be bought and sold by speculators who are not directly involved in the mortgage business. Because of the 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act passed by Congress, no state has the power to regulate this new form of sophisticated gambling. The result is astounding: it is estimated that the notional value of credit default swaps outstanding today is about $ 62 trillion (four times the size of the US economy). This is an indication of popularity of the â€Å"naked† CDS innovation was as a way to bet on the collapse of the entire asset-backed securities construction. This was also a clear sign that, in a crisis, it would be all but financially impossible for the issuers of CDS to meet their obligations. In other words, disaster was just around the corner. This is an event that any regulatory agency should have seen coming. When housing prices hit the expected top of their cycle, in the 2005, and began falling, especially in 2006, the price for CDS s was still relatively low. So, some astute speculators undertook to buy CDSs and simultaneously began selling short the ABS that had been issued by investment banks, such as Lehman Brothers, in the correct expectation that mortgage-backed securities were bound to lose value with the expected rise in home foreclosures and mortgage defaults. This is how unimaginable spiral got created by the steps undertaken by Fed Reserve US government which ultimately result into the great burst ever faced in the history globally. GRAMM-LEACH- BILLEY ACT 1999 The Gramm Leach Billey Act 1999 (GLBA) passed by US government in the year 1999 with a view of security data integrity in the market. The GLBA repealed the part Glass Steagall act of 1933, which had opened the market among the banking companies, securities companies insurance companies. The GSA had prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank and or an insurance company. But the GLBA allowed commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, insurance companies to consolidate. The act was announced in the 1993 finalized in 1994, allowing many big corporations to merge to enhance their range of activities take the benefit of the deregulation. The law was passed to legalize these mergers on a permanent basis. The law has not fully deregulated the previous act, but they had relaxed the norms and allowed the FIs to have non financial assets. GLBA was amended with some part of the Bank Holding Company act of 1956. The crucial aspect of the GLBA stated that no merger can go ahead until the financial holding institutions, or affiliates receives a â€Å"less than satisfactory (SIC) rating at its most recent CRA exam†. GLBA compliance was mandatory; whether a financial institution discloses non public information or not, there must be a policy in place to protect the information from prospective threats in security data integrity. The law was segregated into three main aspects: FINANCIAL PRIVACY RULE: This rule requires FIs to provide each consumer with a privacy notice at the time the consumer relationship is established and annually afterwards. The notice must explain the information collected about the consumer, where that information is shared, how that information is used and how that information about the consumer is protected. The consumer must be notified give consent about any change at any point of time. Each time the privacy notice is reestablished the consumer has the right to opt it again. SAFEGUARDS RULE: The safeguards rule requires FIs to develop a written information security plan that describes how the company is prepared for, and plans to continue to protect clients non public personal information. This plan must include the following; Denoting at least one employee to manage the safeguards. Constructing a thorough on each department handling the non public information. Develop, monitor test a program to secure the information. Change the safeguards as needed. The Safeguards Rule forces financial institutions to take a closer look at how they manage private data and to do a risk analysis on their current processes. PRETEXTING PROTECTION: The GLBA encourages the organizations covered by GLBA to implement safeguards against pre texting. Pre texting means when someone tries to access the personal nonpublic information without proper authority approval. Thus the institutions having covered under the GLBA, needs to have control safeguard the information of their client, to prevent the details from any misuse. CRITICISM AND DEFENSE: There