Psychology and Crime Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Crime Essay There are a number of other theories developed by researchers including Bandura (1986), Beck (1982), Ellis (1976) and Ross and Fabiano (1985) describing cognitive structures or thinking frameworks that lead to troubled or criminal behaviour. These theories suggest that how an individual thinks about an external event, not the event itself, can trigger feelings that lead to criminal behaviour. Cognitive restructuring enables offenders to change their anti-social attitudes and beliefs through a process that focuses on the individuals thinking patterns. Kohlberg (1978) in the theory of moral development was concerned with the cognitive processes behind moral judgement. He used the work of Piaget (1932) and suggested that moral reasoning advances with age. Offending occurs when there is a delay in moral development and the offender does not have the reasoning to resist temptation from offending. (Hollin as citied in Maguire 2002) This could explain why some criminals are seen to grow out of criminality. This theory has been criticised on the basis that Kohlberg was explaining moral reasoning not moral behaviour. In conclusion psychoanalytical accounts do not offer a satisfactory explanation of crime but neither do any of the other theories on their own. Psychoanalytic theories concentrate on the unconscious, which is a contributing factor in the explanation of crime but the theory cannot explain all types of crime. Learning theories look at the values and beliefs that are learnt through the environment however they do not take into account internal or cognitive factors. Cognitive approaches help us to understand crime but do not explain the causes of crime. Cognitive theories focus on the individual and how the individual can be treated to change. This is why they are in favour with criminal justice at the moment. The theories assume that all offenders are the same however it is only crime itself that can be described in such a uniform way. In order to explain crime all the available theories including sociological theories need to be taken into account. As for psychoanalytical theories Psychoanalytical theories stress the inner processes and conflicts as determinants of behaviour. However they do not ignore or neglect the environmental or social factors, but they favour the dynamic processes as playing a major role in the development of criminal behaviour. (Hollin 1989) Bibliography Ainsworth.P (2000) Psychology and Crime: Myths and reality. (Essex: Pearson) Hollin.C (1989) Psychology and crime. (London: Routledge) Maguire.M etal (2002) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 3rd Edition) McLaughlin.E Muncie.J (2001) The Sage Dictionary of Criminology (Sage Publications ltd. London) Putwain.D Sammons.A (2002) Psychology and Crime (East Sussex: Routledge)

Examining The Sonata Form Music Essay

Examining The Sonata Form Music Essay According to Green, D. M. (1979), the term sonata has usually been reserved for works which are performed by one or two players. Sonatas which have more performers are usually called trios for three players, quintets for four players, and orchestra symphonies for many performers. The history of the term sonata is not related to the history of genre itself during the sixteenth century and before because sonata means a piece to be played on instruments and could denote to any type of instrumental compositions. But in genre, sonata is a piece consisting of several sections for one or more instruments. The author also said that in the seventeenth century, the sonatas history was very complicated. During that time, two main classes of sonata emerged. It was usually written for two instruments such as violin with basso continuo, along with harpsichord and other instruments that can produce harmonies. The three movement and four movement types of sonata became standards in the first half of the eighteenth century after it emerged. The three movements usually consist of fast slow fast sections and it has been very common since the beginning of the eighteenth century. The four movements on the other hand, had two fast movements surrounding two middle movements. One of the middle movements is slow, the other will be a minuet. Then the last movement which is fast is usually the scherzo such as Beethovens Piano Sonata Op.2 No.1) Sonata form is a standard form and the most important type of large scale in the eighteenth century for instrumental music. According to Caplin, W.E. (1998), many historians and theorists consider it to be the periods most highly developed and complex compositional design, the one in which composers reveal their greatest technical skill and expressive potential. He also said that the sonata form continued to influence compositional practice in later musical periods and styles until the middle of the twentieth century. The Sonata form consists of three large scale functions which are the exposition, development and recapitulation. Sometimes there are two functions which is the exposition may be preceded by an introduction in a slow tempo and the recapitulation is followed by a coda. The Sonata Allegro, is also known as the first movement form. According to Rosen, C. (1988), this may be one of the most complex and tightly organized series of forms because of the tendency of the late eighteenth century to put a tremendous weight in the opening movement. In the first movement form, there are two sections. The opening bars give a strict tempo, a tonic, characteristic thematic material and texture to create frames. The first part of a sonata form is called the exposition then it goes to development which indicated that the section is often devoted to the motivic development based on the themes heard in the exposition. Lastly is the term recapitulation which indicates the return of a number of themes rather than a single one. According to Rosen, C. (1988), the exposition of a sonata form is a thematic material that articulates a movement from tonic to dominant in various ways so that it takes on the character of the piece that it is composed upon. This character can be defined as a large scale dissonance which the material is played outside of the tonic key. The sonata style did not create this dissonant concept but it is the first style to make it the useful force of an entire movement. This style can be achieved by a variety of procedures. The first procedure is to have a half cadence on the dominant of the dominant with a clear break of texture which is usually seen as V of V on V. It is usually reinforce before going to the tonicization of V. A half cadence on V is followed by a new theme on the dominant which is always seen on any sonata in Mozart and Haydn. The second procedure is a very common procedure and has always remained useful from the eighteenth century until the late of nineteenth century which is the sudden move to the dominant of the relative minor. It usually goes like V of vi to vi, V of V to V, V of V of V of V of V and V. The third procedure it about going to the dominant and remain there which is V of V and to V of V again. This make the music sounds like it has no meaning to want to move on. The fourth procedure is about the changes of texture and rhythm. It will change at the point of departure from the tonic, at the arrival of the dominant and at the confirmed cadence. There are two significant breaks in the harmonic rhythm and there is always a pause so to mark the two events of the exposition. It always begins at the beginning of the second group and at the end of the entire section. The first section is in an animated texture and it will modulate itself. The second section which is the dominant section will also have an animated rhythm toward the end and will have a harmonic rhythm that is against the animation by starting in at a faster rhythm and ending with a stable rhythm. The fifth procedure is that it may be useful to summarize the articulation by theme briefly and a new theme has sometimes a different character which may arrive when the modulation to the dominant key is completed. In order to articulate the movement to the dominant, the first theme might be played in a new key or a part of the theme is played more complex, moving and unstable. This method is usually used by Haydn and it requires longer and more varied modulatory sections between the opening and the dominant section. The eighth procedure is that modulation in an exposition need preparation and this is where we can see the one of the revolutionary side of the sonata style. The dominant is treated as a dissonant tonality in the exposition. The ninth procedure is about the interchange between the harmony and rhythm. It may show us something from some classical expositions such as a move away from the tonic and can be imperative if the initial cadence on the tonic has been final. Rosen, C. (1988) said that the term development consists of two meanings and is also partly overlapped. The first is that it indicates both central section of a sonata. The second is a series of techniques of thematic transformation. The function of development is distributed over both the exposition and recapitulation part and also sometimes in the coda part too. The techniques of the thematic transformation are fragmentation, deformation, used of themes in an imitative contrapuntal texture, transposition and arrangement in a rapidly modulating sequence. There are three main places in a sonata movement where the development is most likely to occur which is the modulation to V in the exposition, second phrase of the recapitulation which often goes to the secondary development section, the development section proper and sometimes found in the coda section. The central section of a sonata form has two different functions which are development and transition. The development usually cre ates polarization and then delays the resolution but the transition prepares the resolution. Rosen, C. (1988) also said that the recapitulation can be said as the most fundamental and radical innovation of the sonata style. This concept is usually found in the Baroque binary forms but for sonata it does not occurs because the sonata does not like binary forms. It sometimes repeats all or parts of the exposition which are transposed into tonic. In the sonata, there is a reinterpretation of the pattern of the exposition and a transformation of articulated movement away from stability into an affirmation of a stable area. This section always exhibits a great variety of forms as the exposition and the development. The form of recapitulation is always determined by the development section as by the exposition on which everything begins from there which is their base. The more dramatic tension is build up by the development section, the more elaborate the measures are taken in the recapitulation section to ease and solve the dramatic tension. The recapitulation can continue the th ematic development while it is resolving the harmonic tension. 2.2 Introduction of the First Movement The first movement, Grave then allegro con brio begins in C minor. The time signature is in 4/4 time. This movement reveals his characteristics such as manly, earnest, painful and passionate. According to Elterlein, E. V. (1920), at the beginning of the first movement, it seemed restraint but sometimes fire breaks out here and there. After that the fire will immediately ease out. But just as the allegro con brio comes in, the fire breaks out again and this time it explodes and became even stronger in E flat minor. Then in D flat major, a soft, soothing voice pleading the storm to retrain itself. After a moments pause which the passage is marked grave; the storm begins to break out and with increased intensity in E minor. Then it became calmer after it modulates to F minor and C minor. A third grave appears and then a last short outburst, followed by a great calmness. The grave which is repeated three times in the first movement is special and it is not written repeatedly by the composer for no reason because the composer might have his own reasons for repeating them and is also to remind us of the introduction to the work. This movement gives the impression that the composer has very strong determination. 2.3 An analysis of the First Movement The passage which is marked grave starts in bar 1 to 10. Then it repeats again in bars 133 until 136. It repeats the third and final time in bars 295 until 298. The difference of the passage is that it starts at a different key but it still plays the same rhythmic pattern. The beginning of the piece is the exposition from bars 1 until 26 because in bar 27 the key of c minor has modulated to the dominant key which is G major. The development starts to build up after modulating from c minor to G major. In the development section, there are modulations which are from G major to Eb minor and then it goes back to G major from bars 27 till 130, including first and second house. After that the piece goes back to the grave passage in the key of G major and then modulates to E major in bar 137. Later it modulates to D major in bar 142 then to G minor in bar 147. It returns back to G major in bars 167 till 186. Before going to recapitulation part, the piece returns to C minor in bars 195 till 220. The recapitulation part is from bars 221 until the end. It is in the key of f minor from bars 221 until 252 before modulating to c minor from bars 253 till 268. Then it modulates back to f minor from bars 254 till 298. The grave passage appears again for the third and last time from bars 295 till 298. The theme in c minor after the grave passage is repeated for the final time as the first movements ending from bars 299 until 309. The piece started in grave tempo in bar 1, it started in fortepiano (fp) which means it is played loud, then immediately soft and it lasted for 3 bars. The sforzando (sf) which means it is played with accent on the first beat of bar 4 then gradually moved to piano (p) which means soft on the second beat in bar 4. There is a crescendo (cresc.) to make it gradually go back to sforzando. In bar 5, it is played in piano (p) then suddenly in fortissimo (ff) which means very loud. In bar 6, it returned back to piano (p) and is played softly until bar 8 where a crescendo emerges. Then a sforzando and immediate piano (p) is played until the ending of the grave theme in bar 10. Then it goes into the Allegro di molto e con brio tempo meaning it is played in the quick and very animated tempo. In bar 11, the dynamic is in piano (p) then there is a crescendo starting from bars 15 18 and went back to playing softly in bars 19 22. The crescendo emerges again in bars 23 26 and went back soft in b ar 27 but the melody on the right hand are reinforced especially on the octaves which are played in bar 27, 28, 31 and 32. The crescendo emerges again in bar 35. In bars 38, 42, 45 48, some of the notes are being accented and goes back to playing softly in bars 49 84. There is a decrescendo in bar 85 because it gets gradually softer to prepare the bar which needs to be played in pianissimo (pp) in bar 88 only and then it returns back to piano on the following bar which is bar 89. There is a crescendo from bars 93 98 so that it is played gradually getting louder towards forte (f) which means loud from bars 99 100. Then immediately became soft again from bars 101 104 and the crescendo emerges again to go to forte in bars 111 112 and again it immediately became soft again in bars 113 116. The crescendo emerges again and gradually gets louder to forte in bars 121 131. Finally, it ended with fortissimo in bar 132 before beginning on the second grave theme. The second grave theme began in fortepiano (fp) and ended it pianissimo in bar 136. Allegro molto e con brio tempo is played again for the second time. It begins softly then crescendo in bar 137 and it gradually goes loud in bar 139 then goes back soft in bar 140. The crescendo is again appearing in bar 143 and gradually becomes louder again in bar 145 then goes back soft in bar 146. Starting from bar 163, it is played softly until bar 167 which it is being played even more softly because it is written pianissimo (pp). It was played in pianissimo until bar 186 which sometimes in between those bars there are crescendos and sforzandos which are written on the score. In bar 187, the fortepiano (fp) returns for a while and gradually becomes softer to piano. Starting from bars 195 284, it is played softly but in between there are a few crescendos and sforzandos. There is also forte in bars 263 264. Forte (f) is played from bars 285 onwards until it reach fortissimo (ff) in bars 293 294 . The final grave theme comes in and it is played softly instead of fortepiano (fp). It gradually became louder then gradually became softer to pianissimo (pp). The first movement ended with fortissimo (ff) which it ended with a very loud ending. The pedal points which are found in the score are mostly consists of the tonic pedal and the dominant pedal. The tonic pedal in c minor is played from bar 11 until bar 15, bar 195 until 199, bar 203 until 207, bar 253 until 254, bar 265 until 266, bar 281, bar 285 until 289 and also from bar 299 until 303. The dominant of c minor are from bar 17 until 18, bar 25 until 27, bar 280, bar 284 and in bar 292. The dominant pedal of e flat minor is from bar 35 until 62, bar 76 until 78, bar 84 and bar 87 until 88. The dominant pedal of A flat major is from bar 89 until 90, bar 101 until 102, bar 117 and bar 121 until 125. The tonic pedals are bar 115, bar 119 and bar 129. The dominant pedal of D major is from bar 141 until 142 and the tonic pedal is from bar 143 until 145. The dominant pedal of f minor is from bar 221 until 230 and bar 245. In bar 246, there is only the tonic pedal. There are suspensions in the first movement. From bars 25 until 26, there is a 4 3 suspension in G major. From bars 46 until 47 and bars 48 until 49, there is a 4 3 suspension in those bars in e flat minor. There is a 7 6 suspension in E major in bar 141. There is a 6 5 suspension from bars 173 until 174, bars 181 until 182, bars 183 until 184 and bars 185 until 186 in G major. There is a 4 3 and 6 5 suspension in bars 201 until 202 in c minor. 2.3.1 This is a table of the analysis of the first movement. The Graves theme that appear in the first movement of the piano sonata. The modulations which are found in the first movement of this piano sonata. Bars 1 10 Begins in the key of c minor. Bars 11 26 The key still remains in c minor. Bars 27 50 The key is modulated to G major in bar 27 and remains in that key until bar 50. Bars 51 92 The key is modulated to e flat minor in bar 51 and remains in that key until bar 92. Bars 93 132 The key is modulated to A flat major in bar 93 and remains in that key until bar 132. Bars 133 136 The key is modulated to G major in bar 133 and remains in G major for 4 bars. Bars 137 141 The key is modulated to E major in bar 137 and remain in E major for a short while. Bars 142 146 The key is modulated to D major in bar 142 and remain in D major for a few bars. Bars 147 166 The key is modulated to g minor in bar 147 and lasted in the same key until bar 166. Bars 167 194 The key is modulated in G major in bar 167 and remain in the same key until bar 194. Bars 195 220 The key is modulated back to c minor in bar 195 and remain at the same key for 5 bars. Bars 221 258 The key is modulated to f minor in bar 221 and it remains in the same key until bar 258. Bars 259 268 The key is again modulated back to c minor in bar 259 and remain in c minor until bar 268. Bars 269 284 The key is modulated to f minor in bar 269 and remain in f minor until bar 284. Bars 285 310(ending of first movement). It goes back to c minor in bar 285 and ends perfectly in the tonic chord in bar 309. Bar 310 are a long pause and a semibreve. The dynamic markings which are written on the first movement of this piano sonata by the composer. Bar 1 3 Fortepiano(fp) is on the first beat of every bar. Bar 3 A sudden sforzando (sf) on the third beat of the bar. Bar 4 On the first beat issfthen gradually getting softer to piano(p) on the second beat of the bar. There is a crescendo(cresc.) then a sfon the last beat of the bar. Bar 5 6 On the first beat is pand the third beat is played in fortissimo(ff). Bar 7 This bar is played in p. Bar 8 A crescendois written in this bar to prepare for the sf in the next bar. Bar 9 Sf is played on the first beat and is immediately soft to p. Bar 10 It is played in p. On the last beat and a half, it is played in sf with a pause sign. Bars 11 14 Is played in p. Bars 15 18 A crescendois written and so it is played gradually getting louder. Bars 19 22 It is played in p. Bars 23 26 A crescendois played. Bar 27 It is played in p. On the third beat of the bar, there is rforzando(rf). Bar 28 There is rfon the third beat of the bar. Bars 31 32 There is sfon both bars on the third beat. Bars 33 34 They are played in p. Bars 35 37 A crescendois played. Bar 38 42 There is sfon the first beat of both bars. Bars 39 41 Bars 43 44 They are played in p. Bars 45 48 The sfdynamic are played on the third beat in every bar. Bars 49 87 They are played in p. Bars 53 54, bars 61 62 bars 69 70 The sfis played on the first beat of every bar which is mentioned while still maintaining pfrom bars 49 87. Bar 79 There is rfon the second beat of the bar. Bars 85 87 There is a decrescendoto prepare for bar 88. Bar 88 It is played in pianissimo(pp). Bars 89 92 It is played in p. Bars 93 98 A crescendois played to build up the tension for the next bar. Bars 99 100 It is played in forte(f). Bars 101 104 It is played in p. Bars 105 110 A crescendois played to build up the tension for the next bar. Bars 111 112 It is played in f. Bars 113 116 It is played in p. Bars 117 120 A crescendois played to build up the tension for the next bar. Bars 121 131 It is played in f. Bar 132 This bar is played in fortissimo(ff). Bars 133 135 Fpis played on every bar but in bar 135 it is played in pon the third beat. Bar 136 There is a decrescendoon the first beat and ends with ppon the last beat of the bar. Bar 137 The first beat is played in pand then a crescendois started on the third beat of the bar. Bar 139 It is played in f. Bars 140 142 It is played in p. Bars 143 144 A crescendo is played. Bar 145 It is played in f. Bars 146 148 It is played in pimmediately in bar 146. Bars 149 162 A crescendois played. Bars 163 166 It is played in p. Bars 167 170 It is played in pp. Bars 171 174 A crescendois played. Bars 175 178 It is played in pp. Bars 179 186 A crescendois played. Bar 181, 183 185 The sfis on the third beat of these bars. Bar 187 The first beat is played fp. Bars 188 198 It is played in pbut on the second beat of bar 198 the sf is played. Bars 199 202 A crescendois played. Bars 203 206 It is played in p but in bar 205, there is sfon the third beat. Bars 207 218 Crescendosare played from bars 207 until 210. Pis played on the first beat of bar 211 and then on the third beat a crescendois played. The same goes in bar 215. Bars 219 250 Pis played but in bar 223, 224, 231, 232,239 and 240 have sfon the first beat. There is a decrescendoin bar 245 and it gradually gets softer until it reaches bar 250. Bars 251 252 It is played in pp. Bars 253 256 It is played in p. Bars 257 262 A crescendois played. Bars 263 264 It is played in f. Bars 265 268 It is played in p. Bars 269 274 A crescendois played. Bars 275 276 It is played in f. Bars 277 280 It is played in p. Bars 281 284 A crescendois played. Bars 285 292 It is played in f. Bars 293 294 It is played in ff. Bars 295 296 It is played in p. Bars 297 The crescendostarts on the second beat. On the third beat, there is sfand it gradually gets softer. Bars 298 Decrescendois played and the third beat is played in pp. Bars 299 302 It is played in p. Bars 303 304 A crescendois played. Bars 305 310(end of first movement) It is played in ff. The pedal points which are in the first movement. C minor Tonic pedal Bars 11 15, bars 19 23, bars 195 199, bars 203 207, bars 253 254, bars 265 266, bar 281, bars 285 289 and bars 299 303. Dominant pedal Bars 17 18, bars 25 27, bar 280, bar 284 and bar 292. E flat minor Dominant pedal Bars 35 62, bars 76 78, bar 84 and bars 87 88. A flat major Dominant pedal Bars 89 90, bars 101 102, bar 117 and bars 121 125. Tonic pedal Bar 115, bar 119 and bar 129. D major Dominant pedal Bars 141 142. Tonic pedal Bars 143 145. F minor Dominant pedal Bars 221 230 and bar 245. Tonic pedal Bar 246. Suspensions which are found in the first movement Key Suspension Bar C minor 4 3 Bars 26 27 E flat minor 4 3 Bars 46 47 E flat minor 4 3 Bars 48 49 E major 7 6 Bar 141 G major 6 5 Bars 173 174 G major 6 5 Bars 181 182 G major 6 5 Bars 183 184 G major 6 5 Bars 185 186 C minor 4 3 and 6 5 Bars 201 202 2.4 An Analysis of scores edition According to Badura-Skoda, E. (1994), sometimes a serious musician feels agitated about a previously trusted edition. For example, the musician is disturbed by an articulation mark or by a piano sign in a passage that he or she thinks should be played in loudly. After looking at other editions, the author discovered that printed editions of the same work often contradict each other. There are some editions which proudly labeled themselves as Ur-text but some might not be favoured by the musicians. The term Ur-text also means original or authenticity. The author said that a good Ur-text edition always states which markings are the composers and which are editorial additions by printing them in italic or parentheses and further explanations are written in footnotes. There should be a preface to inform the musician about the editors addition. The Beethovens piano sonata in c minor, op.13 Pathetique first movement piano score that will be used are the ABRSM version and the G. Henle Verlags Urtext version. They will be compared to which edition is the best to be used by everyone who is interested in playing this piece. G.Henle Verlags Urtext Version ABRSM Version This movement consists of 8 pages. For example, see Appendix I. This movement consists of 10 pages. For example, see Appendix II. The title is written in German. For example, view Example 1.0. The title is written in English. For example, view Example 1.1. The score also includes the year that it was composed. For example, see Example 1.0. The score in this version did not include the year that it was composed by the composer. For example, see Example 1.1. The score is not altered by the editor. For example, see Example 1.2. It is bar 1 of the first movement. The score is a bit altered by the editor. For example, see Example 1.3. It is bar 1 of the first movement. The arrangement of the melody and chords are the same as what the composer had written. For example, see Example 1.2. It is bar 1 of the first movement. The arrangement of the melody and chords are slightly altered especially in page 1 (Gravepart). For example, see Example 1.3. It is bar 1 of the first movement. There are no pedal markings. For example, see Example 1.4. There are pedal markings written on the score by the editor. For example, see Example 1.5. There are no staccatissimo in the score. For example see Example 1.6. There are staccatissimo in some bars. For example, see Example 1.7. The fingering markings are written as followed by the composer. For example, see Example 1.8. This is in bar 10. The fingering are slightly different than what was written by the composer because that is the editors fingering after deciding that the fingering the editor used is easier to be played than the composers given fingering. For example, see Example 1.9. This is in bar 10. Example 1.0 Example 1.1 Example 1.2 Example 1.3 Example 1.4 Example 1.5 Example 1.6 Example 1.7 Example 1.8 Example 1.9 After comparing and analyzing both versions, there are pros and cons in using either one of the versions of this first movement from this piano sonata. It seems that the ABRSM version is a better version to be used in the 21st century for any musicians who wished to play this piano sonata. The Urtext version of the piano sonata consists of eight pages of the first movement but the ABRSM version of the piano sonata has ten pages of the first movement. The ABRSM version has the piano sonata name written in English but for the Urtext version, it is written in german. The Urtext version and the ABRSM version also includes what the composer had been written on the score which is Beethoven dedicated this piano sonata to Prince Lichnowsky. Only the Urtext version included which year it was composed although they were all written in German. On the other hand, the ABRSM version of this piano sonata, this version did not include when the piano sonata was composed although it was written in Eng lish. The Urtext version of the first movement does not have pedal markings on the score but the ABRSM have meaning that the editor has added his own opinion on how the first movement should be played. The Urtext version of the first movement does not have pedal markings and is maybe because it follows what the composer had written. There is also a possibility that the editor wants the pianist to apply the pedal on the chord or bar which is suitable to the pianist own technique of playing the piano for that piano sonatas first movement. In the G.Henles Urtext version of the first movement of this piano sonata, the score is still the same as what the composer, Beethoven had written. The editor of this book did not want to change anything on what the composer had written because he wanted to preserve the originality of the score. But, in the ABRSM book, the editor had slightly altered the originality of the score because the editor tried to make it easier and understandable for the pianist w ho wants to play the composers pieces. For example, the arrangements in bar 1 of the first movement, in the Urtext version of this first movement, the c minor chords are all written in the bass line with only the middle c on the treble clef line but in the ABRSM version they appear different. The ABRSM version has both lines with chords. Another example is that the Urtext version does not have staccatissimo on their scores. They have only staccatos written on the scores but in ABRSM it is slightly different. Some of the notes in the ABRSM version are played in staccatissimo which is written by the editor of the ABRSM edition. The staccatissimo is written on the score by the editor and is most possibly the editors suggestion on whether to play it in staccatissimo rather than in staccato. On the other hand, the Urtext version is only written in staccato and it might be possible that the editor wants the pianist who is playing this piano sonatas first movement to play it with their own preferred technique, creativity or just want them to follow what was originally written on the score. The fingering on the first movement is slightly different after comparing both versions. The Urtext version follows according to what the composer had written but the ABRSM version of fingerings for this first movement is according to the editors fingering. It might be even easier for some pianist to follow his fingering. The finger markings which are on both versions can be used but it also depends on the pianist on which is most suitable for him or her to use while playing the first movement of the piano sonata. Some pianist will prefer the Urtext version because it is tidier, lesser pages and lesser markings. It might be possible that they prefer it too because it is almost like the original version of the piano sonata that was written by Beethoven and the pianist have more freedom in applying other playing techniques on the first movement while playing it without getting distracted by the markings on the score. But, some pianist would prefer the ABRSM version because it might be possible that they must follow what the

Price Reaction To Merger And Acquisition Announcements Finance Essay

Price Reaction To Merger And Acquisition Announcements Finance Essay Event study of stock price reaction to merger and acquisition announcement has been concerned by experts since it started being developed. The common method to estimate the price reaction around the event is residual analysis, which means that test whether there are abnormal returns before and after announcement date. Also, residual analysis can be used as a mean to test the market efficiency. In this paper, it concentrates on the study of the effect of merger and acquisition announcement on share prices of target companies and then tests the market efficiency by analyzing the result of abnormal returns before and after announcement date, whether there is inside information influence before announcement date and whether the price reflection public information quickly after the announcement. The paper first will review the literature of development of event studies and methodology used in event studies. Then, it will illustrate the data and methodology of the event study of this paper . Last but not least, it will analysis the effect of announcement on price reaction and market efficiency according to the statistic result. Literature review An event study is a method to estimates the stock price impact of certain corporate events, such events can be dividend announcements, mergers and acquisitions. According to S.P. Kothari and J.B. Warner(2004), event studies that focus on announcement effects for a short-horizon around an event provide evidence relevant for understanding corporate policy decisions. In financial markets, event studies can be used to specify and test economic hypotheses. Besides, event studies also research on evidence of market efficiency focusing on long-horizon tests at least twelve months. The evolution of event studies started from Dolley(1933), who examined stock price reaction to stock splits, plusing several other published papers indicating that by the 1960s, which made their way into leading business economics journals(C.J. Corrado). S.P. Kothari and J.B. Warner(2004 ) reported that the total number of papers reporting event study results is 565 in five leading journals from the year 1974 to 2 000, Journal of Business(JB), Journal of Finance (JF), Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA), and the Review of Financial Studies (RFS). The number of papers published per year increased in the 1980s. Among these papers, Fama(1991) paid attention to the relation of event studies to tests of market efficiency and Kothari and Warner(1997) summarized of long-horizon tests. Beyond financial economics, event studies are also researched by experts in related areas, such as accounting literature (Kothari(2001)), law and economics. As a standard method of measuring security price reaction to certain corporate events, the methodology of event studies is also concentrated by experts and developed in parallel with the event studies. Initially from event study methodology being introduced by Fama, Fisher,Jensen and Roll(1969), the basic format of methodology of event studies has not changed over time. The key focus is to measure the sample securities mean and cumulative mean abnormal return around the event(S.P. Kothari and J.B. Warner(2004)). There are two areas of changes that make the methodology more precise and sophisticated, one is the use of daily instead of monthly security return data. According to S.J. Brown and J.B. Warner(1984), as long as methodologies are based on the OLS market model and using standard parametric tests, the characteristics of daily data present few difficulties in the context of event study methodologies. For example, the non-normality of daily returns has no obvious impact on method ologies of event studies. The other is the long-horizon event study methods used to estimate abnormal returns and calibrate their statistic significance, although there are more limits in using long-horizon event study methods compared with short-horizon methods. The basic of methodology is to measure abnormal returns as residual by using some benchmark model of normal return. Specifically, there are a variety of models can be used to measure the normal rate of return, with the addition of certain variables, and then to generate abnormal return estimates. J.J. Binder(1998)reported that abnormal returns have be measured as mean-adjusted returns, market-adjusted returns, deviations from the market model, deviations from the one factor Capital Asset Pricing Model(Sharpe(1964), Lintner(1965), Black(1972)), deviations from a multifactor model like Arbitrage Pricing Theory(Ross(1976)). Stock price reaction to merger and acquisition events There are a large number of literatures representing the impact on the market value of merging firms before and after the merger and acquisition events and numerous studies have examined the impact of merger announcements on the prices of the stocks of the acquirer and target firms(M.F. Leong, B. Ward and C. Gan(1996)). Hawawini and Swary(1990) reported the stock market reaction by examining 130 acquirer banks and 123 target banks during 1980s, they found that targets banks perform better than that of acquirer banks in mergers and the share price of a target bank increased by 11.5 percent during the week of the merger announcement on average. Dodd and Asquith(1980) concluded the evidence that mergers have a favourable effect on the common stocks of the merging companies, besides, they found that acquired firms stockholders earn large positive abnormal returns from the merger and acquisition events and the acquiring firms stockholders are affected little if at all. The same results co mes from Asquith and Kim(1982)s research, which concluded that abnormal returns are positive and statistically in acquired firms significant but are not significantly different from zero. The reason why target companies performed well is established at a condition, which is that investors do not anticipate the event before the announcement period, in another words, the market is at least semi-strong. If not, the returns of the target company around merger announcement date do not reflect the complete economic impact of the event(M.F. Leong, B. Ward and C. Gan(1996)). Leong, Ward and Gan(1996) concluded that if the market doesnt reflect to an event, it can be interpreted as evidence of the irrelevancy of the event instead of an indicator of market efficiency. They also directed that market price reaction following the announcement of the merger can be affected by either the content of the information or how its relation to previous information expectations. Gopalaswamy, Acharya and M alik(2008) reported that there was an upward trend of target companies in India between the year of 2000-2007 in the cumulative average abnormal return few days before the announcement of mergers because of anticipation or leakage of information. Besides, there is sudden downfall in the CAAR for the target companies from the day after the announcement and the average abnormal return is negative and significant after two days of announcements, as a result, they concluded that the India market is semi-strong efficient. Data and methodology To analyse the stock price reaction around merger announcement date, it is necessary to choose the appropriate sample in order to represent the entire trend of the stock market in one country. In this paper, it chose 50 target companies of France that were announced during1/ 2010 to 3/2012. The more the companies are chose, the more the result is closed to normality. The announcement date is identified as the day when the target company first publishes disclosed information about the merger and this was specified as day zero in the event time. In order to be included in the event study, all target companies should be listed in France-continuous market. Besides, the sectors of selected companies are widely spread so that it can avoid the market impact on the specific sectors. According to S.P. Kothari and J.B. Warner(2004), constructing a portfolio of event firms for a number of days around the announcement can address the bias of estimated standard deviation of cumulative abnormal re turn. The information and the data of each company are obtained from the website http://banker.thomsonib.com/ta/. The data of each company are selected 100 days prior to the announcement date and 10 days after announcement date. The data obtained is daily price other than monthly price or else. OLS Market model In order to measure the magnitude of the share price variation around the announcement date, abnormal return should be calculated. According to A. Leemakdej(2009), since an abnormal return is unobserved, it is identified by taking the difference between an actual return and an expected return derived from a financial model. There are a variety of expected return model can be used in event studies to calculated the expected return of stocks. Here, the market model is selected to be used to calculate the expected return of stocks: In order to calculate the expected return of stocks around the announcement date, the event study separates the data of the sample into two sections, namely estimated periods and test periods. Estimated periods are identified as the day 100 before the announcement to the day 15 before the event. While, test periods are identified as ten days before and after the event and the event window is[-10, 10]. Speaking of event window, it is a consideration that the dissemination of company-specific information may extend over more than one day. Because the release of information of a company and the financial express reporting information may not happen simultaneously, it is unsure that whether market participants had information released by companies when they are trading. So, it is necessary to extend the day of event into multiple days(M.F. Leong, B. Ward and C. Gan(1996)). Data during the estimate period is used to estimate the expected return model by representing the return of stocks i n [-100, -15] as expected return. Rmt is the market return calculated by using the SBF120 index of France. The objective of estimate period is to calculate two parameters in the market model alpha and beta in order to estimate the expected return of the stock in event period. and are obtained by an ordinary least-squires regression of E(R) and Rm, which are used to estimate the true value of and . Besides, event period data can investigate the impact from the event and the abnormal return should be calculated in this period in order to get the cumulative abnormal return. The return of stocks can be calculated using the formula: The equation of abnormal return is: The equation of cumulative abnormal return is: The sample has chose 50 target companies, in order to avoid the specific influence of some special companies, it is necessary to calculate the average cumulative abnormal return of each day in test period. The equation of average cumulative abnormal return is: Note that by using a time-series of average excess returns, the test statistic below can take into account cross-sectional dependence in the excess returns of specific securities(S.J. Brown and J.B. Warner(1984)). Hypotheses testing The objective of this event study is to access whether there are any abnormal returns in the test period. So the null hypotheses is there is no abnormal performance while the alternative hypotheses is that abnormal return is not equal to zero. H0: ARi,t = 0 H1:ARi,t à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚   0 The test statistic used sampling distributions and it is a random variable because abnormal returns are measured with error, which comes from two reasons, predictions about securities unconditional expected return are imprecise and individual firms realised returns at test period are affected for reasons unrelated to the event. In order to reduce this error, the estimated standard deviation of cumulative abnormal return is the portfolio of 50 target firms of 10 days before and after the announcement. M. Barakat and R. Terry(2011) concluded that OLS market model is well specified under a variety of condition, for example, non-normality of daily returns has no impact on event study methods. As the deviation of abnormal return is estimated by the sample,so the hypotheses used t-statistic: As there are two variables É‘and ÃŽÂ ²that have been used, the degrees of freedom is (n-2). The significant level is 5%. With the two-tail test, the null hypotheses should be rejected if A test statistic larger than the upper-tail critical value t0.025 provides statistical evidence that the announcement had a significant positive impact on the price. While, a test statistic less than the lower-tail critical value -t0.025 provide evidence that the announcement had a significant negative impact. Furthermore, the hypotheses can also test the market efficiency. If the market is efficient, the share price will reflect all available information and the announcement will cause the abnormal return performance. Empirical result on stock returns The event study chose two event windows to analyse the result from the empirical research. First, when the event window is [-10, 10], the estimated standard deviation of the mean abnormal return is 1.626. Putting the figure into the t-statistic test can obtain the daily critical value used to test the null hypotheses. The table below illustrated the critical values 10 days before and after the announcement. event window average CAR t-statistic -10 -0.34 -0.207671297 -9 0.10 0.061251696 -8 0.07 0.040681124 -7 0.21 0.130356535 -6 0.22 0.135745854 -5 -0.01 -0.003102476 -4 0.17 0.101805486 -3 -0.25 -0.155581646 -2 0.58 0.355347928 -1 0.63 0.386680663 0 2.73 1.679904902 1 3.81 2.342014843 2 3.83 2.356724889 3 3.69 2.266579855 4 3.25 2.000369788 5 2.99 1.838127393 6 2.75 1.694045979 7 2.77 1.70510293 8 3.24 1.991626516 9 3.40 2.093802276 10 2.93 1.800949686 As the significance level is 5% and the degrees of freedom is 48, the critical value of two-tail test is 2.01. According to the table above, the t values in day 1,2,3 and 9 are greater than critical value, which means that the abnormal return are significantly positive in the day 1,2,3 and 9 after the announcement. However, the t-values of the day before the announcement are all less than the t-value, which concludes that there is no abnormal return before announcement. So, it can infer that there is no information of announcement leaking to certain market participants, the stock price does not change and investors can not acquire abnormal returns before announcement date. If there is abnormal return before announcement, according to M.F. Leong, B. Ward and C. Gan(1996), there are two reason can be explained. First, there is insider trading. The information is leaking to some investors who then buy stocks before the announcement, as a result, the stock prices will start to react the inside information and those investors will obtain abnormal returns before the announcement. It can conclude that the market is semi-strong efficient. However, the information may not be leaked, the reason of the increase of stock prices is that public may become suspicious of merger before the announcement. So, it is impossible to monitor directly all trading motivated by the possession of inside information. No matter what happen, it can conclude that the market in France may be not semi-strong efficient because if the inside information is leaked the share prices will reflect the insider information, however, the null hypotheses should be accepted as there is no abnormal returns before the announcement. So, in these condition, the market is strong efficient and prices incorporate all information that any investor can acquire. Therefore, non-public information is not useful for certain investors make abnormal return. On the other hand, the semi-efficient form market can not be rejected. The inside information may not be leaked and investors have no anticipation that the firm they they owned would be acquired by other companies, so they have no incentives to buy a large number of shares before the announcement and the share price would not increase beyond participants expectation. According to the table above, on the announcement date, the realised value is 1.68, although the figure is much larger than that one day before announcement, it still smaller than the critical value. There are two reasons that can explain this condition. First, the market is not efficient because the share prices can not reflect the public information. This may be the result of European sovereign debt crisis, during the crisis, the bond market was influenced heavily in France, even in the stock market, investors had less confident to invest fund to financial market, so even the announcement of merger can not bring them confidence to investment. However, there is also evidence that the market is efficient. According to Mitchell Netter (1990), they reported that corporations may release information one day and the financial press may report this information on the following day, therefore, it is sometimes unclear on which day the information reaches the market. It can happen because m arket participants had the information during the market trading hours on the day is not the information that is released by corporations. So, the share price may not reflect to the announcement because investors did not receive the information if the financial market, or only a minority of investors have confidence to purchase stocks. From the table above, the t-value on day one is greater than the critical value. The null hypothesis is rejected from the first day after the announcement, so the share prices reflect the announcement start from the following day of the announcement until the third day after the announcement. However, there is an abnormal condition that the abnormal return is not equal to zero on the ninth day after the announcement, which can happen for the reason beyond the merger event. In order to clear away the influence this abnormal return, the event window can shrink to five days before and after the announcement date. event window CAR t-statistic -5 -0.01 -0.003182304 -4 0.17 0.104424975 -3 -0.25 -0.159584813 -2 0.58 0.364491149 -1 0.63 0.396630085 0 2.73 1.723129414 1 3.81 2.402275663 2 3.83 2.417364204 3 3.69 2.324899708 4 3.25 2.051839968 5 2.99 1.885423021 The table illustrates the t-value when the event window is [-5, 5]. Similarly, there is no abnormal return before the announcement. Although the t-value on the announcement date is much larger than that before the announcement, the abnormal return is still equal to zero. The share prices begin to reflect the announcement from the following day of the announcement. So, it would thus appear that the market is efficient in France. Conclusion According to the statistic result, there is no abnormal return before announcement, which concluded that no inside information was leaked before announcement date. On the day of announcement, there was still no abnormal return, this can not be explained that the market is not efficient because there may be a gap between the releasing of information and reporting of information. It can be demonstrated that the abnormal return emerged after announcement until the third day. However, this method used to test market efficiency has its weakness generated in its estimation of regression of market model. Nevertheless, the result presented that the market is efficient.

Bosnia-Hercegovina :: World History Essays

Bosnia-Hercegovina Missing Works Cited The origin of the arms with the argent between 6 fleur-de-lys, which is now on the flag of the republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina, has long puzzled me, but they are in fact the arms of the Kotromanic family, which ruled Bosnia in the 14th and 1 5th centuries. Other arms have also been attributed to Bosnia in the 19th century. I finally thought of a way to get at this question of the origin of the current Bosnian flag: numismatics, of course. I found a book by one Ivan Rengjeo, Corpus der mittel-alterlichen Mnnzen von Kroatien, Slavonien, Dalmatien und Bosnien, Graz, 1959, which is as exhaustive as you can get on the topic (coins from those regions, that is). I have also consulted an article by Pavao Andelic on Medieval Seals of Bosnia-Hercegovina, in the monograph series of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia-Hercegovina (Sarajevo, 1970),but it is in Serbo-Croat, so I can only look at the (numerous) illustra tions. What follows is a historical/heraldic account, pieced together from these sources, and a few encyclopedias. Bosnia was dominated alternatively by Serbia and, from the 12th c. onward, by Croatia (in personal union with Hungary) until the early 14th c. Typically, the king of Hungary and Croatia appointed bans, or local governors; and, in typical medieval fashion, these bans took advantage of any weakness of the central monarchy to carve out territories for themselves. In the early 14th c., the ban of Croatia was Pavao (Paul) Subic of Brebir or Breberio (a town in Dalmatia which was given to the family in 1222): his father and grandfather were counts or Trau or Trogir, his cousins were counts of Spalato or Split. This p owerful man titles himself ban of Croatia and dominus Bosniae, and appoints his brother Mladen I Subic (1302-04) and later his eldest son Mladen II (1312-14) as ban of Bosnia. His second son Georg was count of Trau and Split, his third son Pavao was count of Trau. By the third generation, however, the family had lost its power. This first dynasty of bans issued byzantine-style coins, with no heraldry. Their seals, however, show the Subic arms: an eagle wing displayed, and 5 flowers with stems as crest (mi sread by Siebmacher as ostrich-feathers). The style of the arms is very German, with the shield tilted to the left, a German helm, lambrequins, and a crest. There are no tinctures, but a junior branch issued from Pavao count of Trau, the Subic de Zrin, bo re Gules, two wings sable (an interesting violation of the s -called tincture rule).

Afrocentric vs. Eurocentric Worldviews :: Afrocentrism Eurocentrism Essays

The Afrocentric, or African-centered, worldview is very different from the Eurocentric, or Europe-centered, worldview. Afrocentrism is centered around the beliefs that: . The highest value of life lies in the interpersonal relationships between men; . One gains knowledge through symbolic imagery and rhythm; . One should live in harmony with nature; . There is a oneness between humans and nature; . The survival of the group holds the utmost importance; . Men should appropriately utilize the materials around them; . One's self is complementary to others; . Change occurs in a natural, evolutionary cycle; . Spirituality and inner divinities hold the most significance; . There are a plethora of deities to worship; . Cooperation, collective responsibility, and interdependence are the key values to which all should strive to achieve; . All men are considered to: be equal, share a common bond, and be a part of the group; . The Afrocentric worldview is a circular one, in which all events are tied together with one another. The Eurocentric worldview is centered around the beliefs that: . The highest value of life lies in the object, or in the acquisition of the object; . One gains knowledge through counting and measuring; . One should control and dominate nature; . There is a dichotomy, or separateness, between nature and humans; . The survival of the fittest holds the utmost importance; . Men should have an unlimited exploitation of the materials around them; . One's self is distinct from others; . Change occurs to meet the immediate objectives, and is quite arbitrary; . A distant, impersonal god holds the most significance; Afrocentric vs. Eurocentric Worldviews :: Afrocentrism Eurocentrism Essays The Afrocentric, or African-centered, worldview is very different from the Eurocentric, or Europe-centered, worldview. Afrocentrism is centered around the beliefs that: . The highest value of life lies in the interpersonal relationships between men; . One gains knowledge through symbolic imagery and rhythm; . One should live in harmony with nature; . There is a oneness between humans and nature; . The survival of the group holds the utmost importance; . Men should appropriately utilize the materials around them; . One's self is complementary to others; . Change occurs in a natural, evolutionary cycle; . Spirituality and inner divinities hold the most significance; . There are a plethora of deities to worship; . Cooperation, collective responsibility, and interdependence are the key values to which all should strive to achieve; . All men are considered to: be equal, share a common bond, and be a part of the group; . The Afrocentric worldview is a circular one, in which all events are tied together with one another. The Eurocentric worldview is centered around the beliefs that: . The highest value of life lies in the object, or in the acquisition of the object; . One gains knowledge through counting and measuring; . One should control and dominate nature; . There is a dichotomy, or separateness, between nature and humans; . The survival of the fittest holds the utmost importance; . Men should have an unlimited exploitation of the materials around them; . One's self is distinct from others; . Change occurs to meet the immediate objectives, and is quite arbitrary; . A distant, impersonal god holds the most significance;

Monarchy/Episcopalianism Government

The advantages of a Monarchy government are it only has one ruler. The government and the state are in high power and in a single person’s hands. These states are called a kingdom or empire. Another advantage is the power of the king or supreme magistrate has limitations by the constitution. It also gives less control to the ruler then despotism but also makes the population happier and more productive. The advantage of an Episcopalianism government is unity of structure, style and doctrine within church government. The disadvantage of a Monarchy is that you have more control over the people in your empire.Therefore, the production capabilities within the cities will be very limited. The disadvantage of Episcopalianism government is authority is given to an office not a person. (Acts 6:36), (Acts 14:23). Republicanism/ Presbyterianism Government The advantages of a Republicanism government are citizens can participate in government and give there opinions. There is no dictator ship; citizens can elect representatives to office. The advantages of a Presbyterianism government it is an ideal system for the maintaining of proper church discipline.It is also based on scripture principles; it is the nearest teachings of the Holy Scriptures on church government. â€Å"Christ is the great head of the church universal. † â€Å"All church government must be subject to him alone† (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18) â€Å"The people have a right to substantive of government of the church†. â€Å"But all things must be done decently and in order†. (1 Corinthians 14:40; Acts 14:23) (Romans 3:1; 1 Timothy 6:3-5) (Galatians 4:21) The disadvantages of a Republicanism government are you cannot maintain martial law in a city under this government.The bad thing about trading is you cannot have prosperity in your empire because the senate approves everything you do. The disadvantage of a Presbyterianism government is it has not totally removed all of the abuse and errors in the churches that have adopted it. It greatly reduces much time and effort in the decision-making, politics, and parties’ attitude. Has little or no accountability to the larger community of believers. Democracy/Congregationalism Government The advantages of a Democracy government are everyone has a voice in the decision-making. Citizens have the same rights and freedoms and all citizens are equal before the law.They also have equal power; it also safeguards the interest of the people. It is known for stability, firmness and efficiency. The advantages of a Congregationalism government are the church appears to be independent in the New Testament, it also recognizes the importance of individual believers. It also accepts the bible as a sufficient rule in matters of faith and practice. The disadvantages of Democracy is it citizens because it does not establish dictatorship of majority. It ignores the minority and the minorities are oppressed if no party gets absolute majority coalition governments are formed.  (Romans 13:1) (Peter 2:13-14)The disadvantages of a congregationalism government are there are too many people foster independent spirits and opinions. It forms easy church splits and can lead to lack of history or past. There is too much authority given to an office competitiveness and lack of unity. (Matthew 18:18-20) In conclusion, I believe all of the forms of government can be of good nature where the government is concerned. It is also elements of all three forms of church governments in the New Testament. They all intertwine as co-existing in the government in many forms and fashions and bring a balance to our government as a whole.

Mexican immigration

Mexican immigration has been considered as a distinct event that occupies a place in the history of United States immigration.   There are currently millions of Mexican Americans in the U.S., occupying almost all regions of the country.   Their immigration started in the 20th century and the influx of Mexicans is still continuing to date.   The culture of Mexico and its US immigrants is complex, representing a combination of Spanish, Mexican and other indigenous tribal traditions and beliefs. The significant migration of Mexicans to the US has influenced the judiciary and public systems of the US.   In addition, legislative rulings regarding immigration have been constantly changing since the 20th century, mostly due to the Mexican migration.   Interestingly, the US society has also experience variations in reception of these migrant individuals, ranging from a warm welcome to a cold feeling for unsolicited migrants.   In return, the Mexican immigrants have learned to adapt to an ever-changing treatment in the US and have become skilled at defending themselves from US citizens that show prejudice towards them. Today, a huge portion of the US population is composed of Mexican immigrants.   Their numbers in the US have made them prominent social and cultural group, influencing the employment of the Spanish language in most of the public services and commercial products.   The Mexican food has been around the US for hundreds of years now, with its meals being a staple even to non-Mexican US citizens. The growth of the Latino population in the United States has resulted in the significant observation of social and economic risk factors that are associated with health.   Mexican-Americans or the Latino population comprise the largest group of immigrants in the United States.   Studies have revealed that the concept of having Mexican origins was an independent risk factor that influences conditions of being uninsured.   Even though the word â€Å"Latino† is an acceptable descriptor for this specific population, other groups categorized this ethnic group as â€Å"Hispanic.†Ã‚   Several studies have attempted to describe and evaluate the socio-demographic features of Mexican-Americans, including the health conditions and healthcare needs of this specific population (NIH, 2006). The Mexican-American population is considered an immigrant population, hence it should also be noted that it takes time for this population to totally settle down in the United States (Schmidley, 2001).   Studies show that first-generation Mexican American families experienced a more difficult living condition than subsequent generation.   These include family income level, educational attainment and language.   It has been generally observed that approximately 65% of the first-generation Mexican-Americans lived in poverty, and 75% of the heads of Mexican-American household possessed less than 9th grade education.   It is also interesting to know that less that 10% of the Mexican-American households had a good command of English. First-generation Mexican American children had the highest rate of being uninsured (64.2%), which was significantly higher than the percentage reported for Hispanics as a whole. Significant differences persisted for the second- and third generation groups. In fact, each generational group of Mexican American children was more likely to be uninsured than either non-Hispanic white children or black children. It is also interesting to note that, among first-generation Mexican American children, there were almost equal proportions of children with private and public health insurance. This is not surprising, because 70% of the heads of household were employed.   A significantly greater proportion of first-generation children could be insured if their parents worked for employers who provided health insurance. Even when insurance is offered, however, many employed Hispanics in poor and low-income households decline coverage because of lack of affordability. Previous reports that immigrant children as a whole are less likely to have health insurance, less likely to have a usual source of care, and less likely to have had a doctor’s visit in the past year were limited in that they did not differentiate Hispanic subgroups or generations.   First-generation Mexican American children had much worse health care access than previously described for Hispanic children as a whole. Previous studies show that majority of Hispanic children had a usual source of care.   With regard to immigrant children, 51% of all foreign-born children (including Latino, white, black, and Asian children) in working-poor families were uninsured and that 65% had a usual source of care, suggesting that first-generation Mexican American children may also fare worse than immigrant children considered as a whole. Even when first-generation Mexican American children were insured, they had the lowest likelihood of having a regular source of care or a specific provider. First-generation Mexican American children also demonstrated the lowest levels of utilization of health care services, as assessed by visits to a physician, use of prescription medications, and screening for hearing and vision problems (Holl et al., 1995; Weinick and Krauss, 2000).   Poor health care access is a known predictor of poor health care utilization; however, the data also suggest that the first-generation group might have had decreased needs.   For example, fewer reported earaches/infections in the first-generation group and lower levels of treatment for ear infections were consistent with fewer visits to a physician for earache/infection. First-generation Mexican American children also had lower rates of reported cold or flu, pneumonia, and ear infections, which were consistent with lower rates of prescription medication use.   Better health outcomes in recent immigrant populations form the basis of what has been described as the â€Å"epidemiologic paradox† (Trevino et al., 1991).   Despite the presence of demographic and socioeconomic risk factors, foreign-born Mexican American women have low birth weight infant birth rates and infant mortality rates similar to those of white women. It has not been confirmed that any advantage at birth persists into early childhood, and study results are conflicting.   Mexican American mothers report low rates of asthma, coordination problems, psychologic and behavioral problems, speech problems, and mental retardation among their children, suggesting that immigrant children may fare better with regard to specific illnesses. A substantially higher number of first-generation Mexican American households reported Spanish as the primary language spoken and also had lower levels of health care access and utilization, compared with the other groups (Kurzon, 2000).   Hispanic parents identify language problems, long waits at the physician’s office, lack of health insurance, difficulty paying medical bills, and difficulty arranging transportation as the greatest barriers to care (Halfon et al., 1997). However, several may not bring their children in for care if the medical staff does not understand Hispanic culture.   This is an important realization that points to systemic factors, as opposed to individual patient factors, as causes of racial/ethnic disparities in health care. The cultural shortcomings of clinical staff, including lack of Spanish language proficiency, lack of knowledge of Hispanic culture, and lack of Hispanic staff members, cannot be underestimated.   Additional research is required to identify the specific barriers to health care access and utilization for specific population subgroups, the benefits of a culturally competent and language-friendly clinical environment, and the costs of creating and maintaining such an environment. Indeed, culture, cultural perspective, and/or cultural differences may account for a portion of the difference attributed to generational status (Jackson and Heroux, 1999). One of the most studied measures of acculturation, namely, language, reflected the first-generation Mexican American households, with most being primarily Spanish-speaking. Although the definitions of acculturation varied, past studies that used language preference as a measure of acculturation showed increased use of preventive services and decreased perceived barriers to care for Hispanics who spoke English. A substantially higher number of first-generation Mexican American households reported Spanish as the primary language spoken and also had lower levels of health care access and utilization, compared with the other groups.   The language and culture of the medical office may have disproportionate effects on utilization of health care for first-generation immigrants (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4389/is_200410/ai_n15294610). Hispanic parents identify language problems, long waits at the physician’s office, lack of health insurance, difficulty paying medical bills, and difficulty arranging transportation as the greatest barriers to care. However, many may not bring their children in for care if the medical staff does not understand Hispanic culture.   This is an important realization that points to systemic factors, as opposed to individual patient factors, as causes of racial/ethnic disparities in health care. T he cultural shortcomings of clinical staff, including lack of Spanish language proficiency, lack of knowledge of Hispanic culture, and lack of Hispanic staff members, cannot be underestimated.   Additional research is required to identify the specific barriers to health care access and utilization for specific population subgroups, the benefits of a culturally competent and language-friendly clinical environment, and the costs of creating and maintaining such an environment. First-generation Mexican American children also demonstrated the lowest levels of utilization of health care services, as assessed by visits to a physician, use of prescription medications, and screening for hearing and vision problems. Poor health care access is a known predictor of poor health care utilization.   The first-generation group might have had decreased needs.   For example, fewer reported earaches/infections in the first-generation group and lower levels of treatment for ear infections were consistent with fewer visits to a physician for earache/infection. First-generation Mexican American children also had lower rates of reported cold or flu, pneumonia, and ear infections, which were consistent with lower rates of prescription medication use.   Better health outcomes in recent immigrant populations form the basis of what has been described as the â€Å"epidemiologic paradox.† Previous studies of perinatal outcomes showed that, despite the presence of demographic and socioeconomic risk factors, foreign-born Mexican American women have low birth weight infant birth rates and infant mortality rates similar to those of white women. It has not been confirmed that any advantage at birth persists into early childhood, and study results are conflicting.   Previous studies suggested that Mexican American mothers report low rates of asthma, coordination problems, psychologic and behavioral problems, speech problems, and mental retardation among their children, suggesting that immigrant children may fare better with regard to specific illnesses. The generational status alone may account for lower developmental scores among Mexican American children.   Lower rates of specific illnesses among first-generation Mexican American children seem to support the epidemiologic paradox, suggesting that first-generation Mexican American children had decreased health care needs with respect to the conditions reported. This might have translated into decreased utilization of health services for this group.   The theory that Mexican American children become less healthy as they become more acculturated has now been assessed and reviewed.   Subsequent generations reported higher prevalence of the illnesses tested, adding to evidence in the literature that Hispanic immigrant children have health outcomes and indicators that worsen with greater acculturation and each successive generation (NIH, 2007). References Halfon N, Wood DL, Valdez RB, Pereyra M and Duan N (1997): Medicaid enrollment and health services access by Latino children in inner-city Los Angeles. JAMA 277:636–641 Holl JL, Szilagyi PG, Rodewald LE, Byrd RS and Weitzman ML (1995): Profile of uninsured children in the United States. Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med.   149:398–406 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4389/is_200410/ai_n15294610 Jackson M and Heroux J (1999):   Program to address sociocultural barriers to health care in Hispanic communities.   National Program Report.   Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/19/d5/46.pdf Kurzon VP (2000):   Mexican-American culture and antepartum management.   Grad. Res. Nursing.   Retrieved from http://www.graduateresearch.com/kurzon.htm. National Institutes of Health (2007):   Health disparities.   Bethesda: NIH. National Institutes of Health (2007):   U.S.-born Hispanics may have poorer health than immigrants.   Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_52026.html Schmidley AD (2000): Profile of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States.   Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. US Census Bureau Current Population Reports, series. p23-206. Trevino FM, Moyer ME, Valdez RB, Stroup-Benham CA (1991): Health insurance coverage and utilization of health services by Mexican Americans, mainland Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans. JAMA   265:233–237. Weinick RM, Krauss NA. Racial/ethnic differences in children’s access to care. Am. J. Public Health. 90:1771–1774.