Volume 05, Number 02, 2008
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Item Foreign exchange risk management practices-a study in Indian scenario(BRAC University, 2008) Debasish, Sathya SwaroopIndian economy in the post-liberalization era has witnessed increasing awareness of the need for introduction of various risk management products to enable hedging against market risk in a cost effective way. This industry-wide, cross-sectional study concentrates on recent foreign exchange risk management practices and derivatives product usage by large non-banking Indian-based firms. The study is exploratory in nature and aims at an understanding the risk appetite and FERM (Foreign Exchange Risk Management) practices of Indian corporate enterprises. This study focuses on the activity of end-users of financial derivatives and is confined to 501 non-banking corporate enterprises. A combination of simple random and judgment sampling was used for selecting the corporate enterprises and the major statistical tools used were Correlation and Factor analysis. The study finds wide usage of derivative products for risk management and the prime reason of hedging is reduction in volatility of cash flows. VAR (Value-at-Risk) technique was found to be the preferred method of risk evaluation by maximum number of Indian corporate. Further, in terms of the external techniques for risk hedging, the preference is mostly in favor of forward contracts, followed by swaps and cross-currency options This article throws light on various concerns of Indian firms regarding derivative usage and reasons for non-usage, apart form techniques of risk hedging, risk evaluation methods adopted, risk management policy and types of derivatives used.Item Learning through community service: Bangladesh perspective(BRAC University, 2008) Banerjee, SanjoyThis paper discusses the need to practice “Service Learning” as an effective way of learning for the university students in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a very fertile land to practice service learning which advocates volunteer work to enhance academic experience. The volunteering university students could be both male and female and from Bengali and English medium background. The English students can tutor underprivileged children to help them write better composition in English. The science students can tutor the demanding but poor students. They can also experiment things in real life contexts. The BBA students can demonstrate classroom learning in some small and medium enterprises. Moreover, the volunteering university students can serve the humanity by creating awareness among the slum dwellers about common health problems. Besides, they can talk or stage short performances on the bad effect of drug addiction at some English and Bengali medium schools. Later on, they would do reflective writing and by this way their writing would be better gradually. The writer hopes that service learning has its prospect, validity and reliability in Bangladesh.Item Numerical approximation of a nonlinear parabolic partial differential equation(BRAC University, 2008) Bhowmik, Samir K.We consider the Allen-Cahn model of phase transitions. We approximate the problem using finite difference method in space coupled with several explicit and implicit methods in time and compare the solutions. We present some numerical experimental results of such approximations.Item Multisegment integration technique for post-buckling analysis of a pinned-fixed slender elastic rod(BRAC University, 2008) Banu, Sajeda; Saha, Goutam; Saha, SumonThis paper investigates the post-buckling behavior of a slender axially inextensible elastic rod with pinned-fixed end. The set of five first order nonlinear ordinary differential equations with boundary conditions specified at both ends constitutes a complex two point boundary value problem. By using multisegment integration technique, the highly nonlinear boundary value problems are numerically solved. Results are presented in non-dimensional graphs for a range of prescribed loading condition. The secondary equilibrium paths and the post-buckling configurations of the rod are presented.Item First language acquisition: Grammar in the speech of a two-year old Bangladesh child(BRAC University, 2008) Nasrin, SadiaThe paper explores the grammar in the speech of a two-year old Bengali-speaking child. Though language acquisition process is still a mystery, linguists throughout the world confirm that it follows a systematic process in case of any language of the world. However, they have tried hard to discover the grammar in the speech of children. This research is such an attempt to apply the theories of first language acquisition to a Bengali speaking child which identifies that children’s speech is ‘grammatical’ as they follow a systematic pattern.Item Empowerment and resistence : A study of women refugees as members of self-organized groups in UK(BRAC University, 2008) Khan, Mohammad Moniruzzaman; Khan, SanzidaIn relation to the theoretical and empirical construction of my research this study focuses on refugee and asylum seeker women as members of self organized groups and how these have contributed to women’s empowerment and the debate surrounding gender interests and women’s political mobilization. To do this research, qualitative methodology was conducted using semi structured interview technique to gain in-depth data from the four refugees/asylum seekers from different countries. A positive impact of belonging to a collective movement for women asylum seekers and refugees has been found in this study. Because they have found a space for resistance and empowerment by organizing collectively around their specific needs. This research has also shown that ethnicity and gender are clearly very important factors in creating and maintaining group solidarity amongst the women.Item Vertical equity effect of subsidy to higher education in Bangladesh(BRAC University, 2008) Mamun, Md. Shamsul Arifeen KhanGovernment shares of the total recurring budget of public universities and public degree colleges are very high. The paper analyzes equity effect of government subsidy among the students of poor and non-poor household in Bangladesh in 2005. Benefit incidence analysis is done and gini coefficient is estimated using data from Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2005. The resulted is compared with previous findings of the year 1996. Gini coefficient shows that higher education opportunity still favors the reach. Over the last five years with increasing enrollment in public universities and degree colleges, inequality has been increased slightly.Item Subversive images of women in medieval English literature: a selective reading(BRAC University, 2008) F. Shams, SheikhIt is commonly assumed that medieval society is hostile to women’s power. Women are continuously contained and constrained by the patriarchal norms of medieval Europe to strengthen the heroic ideals of masculinity, while maintaining the ideals of the domestic private sphere. This study shows that even within the domestic private sphere, women exert considerable amount of power to influence men’s actions. In fact, what we see are models of powerful women capable of damaging the heroic ideals of men. Hence there is a tendency to control women’s power. This essay explores how far this tendency to control is actually successful. If not then we are witnessing a tension between dominant patriarchal ideology and the subversive images of women. The resistance that women characters in medieval literature's pose to the hegemonic ideology is a matter of particular interest of this paper. At the same time, the nature of their containment and appropriation is also something that this paper wishes to examine.Item Factors related to childbearing in Bangladesh: a generalized linear modeling approach(BRAC University, 2008) Asaduzzaman, Md.; Khan, Md. Hasinur RahmanChildbearing is generally considered as an important and major determinant of large family size and rapid population growth, particularly in the countries where family planning is not widely practiced. Bearing more children produces substantial risks to the health of the mothers and the children. This paper aims to determine the different factors of childbearing among the ever-married women in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey data 1999-2000 and 2004 have been used for this study. A generalized linear model with Poisson link function is used to determine the key socio-economic and demographic factors of childbearing in Bangladesh. Mother's age group, educational level, types of place of residence, age at first marriage, division, having radio etc. are found to be significantly associated with bearing more children in Bangladesh.Item Comparing the performance of time series models for forecasting exchange rate(BRAC University, 2008) Newaz, M.K.In this paper an attempt has been made to compare different time series models to forecast exchange rate. A survey of literature shows that continuous debate is going on whether exchange rate follows a random walk or it can be modeled; there is also a debate whether one should use structural models or time series models to forecast exchange rate. Paper uses Box-Jenkins methodology for building ARIMA model, exponential smoothing, naïve 1 and naïve 2 models. Sample data for the paper were taken from September 1985 to June 2006, out of which data till December 2002 were used to build the model while remaining data points were used to do out of sample forecasting and check the forecasting ability of the model. All the data were collected from various issues of International Financial Statistics published by International Monetary Fund. Result of this study shows that ARIMA models provides a better forecasting of exchange rates than exponential smoothing and Naïve models do. Comparison of the MAE, MEAE, MAPE, MSE and RMSE shows that the proposed ARIMA model is the best among all these models.