Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Lookin for love

The first personal ad I f und on craigslist had to do with the equity theory â€Å"Country guy looking for a good woman (PAIWV) First off I want to be straight up I'm not looking to rush into anything serious. That's what I would like eventually but only with the right one. With that said a little about me I'm a young looking 30yo white, no kids, 6†² with fit/slender build. I'm a mountain boy thru and thru but not your typical one. I don't listen to country, chew tobacco, drive a truck etc. But I do like my guns collecting/shooting, bein in the woods or on the lake, rock climbing, on and on.I also like working in my shop, my cars, woodworking etc. I'm educated so I can hold my own talking about pretty much any topic. Also have a descent Job, nice house in the mountain and financially responsible. I dont want to ramble so I'll save it for getting to know each other. What I'm looking for is a mature honest woman that has her stuff together. Drama free, no crazy ex boyfriends or a nything like that. Anywhere between 21-35, must be fit/inshape and take care of yourself. Just a descent woman that has a good head on her shoulders and looking for the same.If interested drop e a line anytime(l). † The equity theory is the idea that people are the happiest with relationships in which the rewards and costs experienced and the contributions made by both parties are roughly equal (pg. 300). This ad reflects this theory because the man who wrote this clearly states that he is looking for an equal partner. He wishes for her to be independent not have to rely on him to support her financially. If a women had written this ad then things might have been written differently.A women would emphasize his needing to be financially independent but ould also put more of an emphasis on how he looks, where he lives and what type of Job does he have. The second personal ad has more to do with the social exchange theory. â€Å"I am a white man, 6ft, 185, very clean, d;d free. I am searching for a white lady that has sexual relationships with black men but would like to have a white man that would support ; spoil her. I would never Judge her, she would be treated like a queen. Age and size is not a factor. Please get in touch, I am very real, it suppose to me very nice this week.I would like to hear from you and we can exchange pics and chat and possibly meet. Please put queen of spades in subject when responding. (2)† The social exchange theory is the idea that people's feelings about a relationship depends on their perceptions of the rewards and costs of the relationship, the kind of relationship they deserve and their chances for having a better relationship with someone else (pg. 299). This ad reflects this theory because the man is offering to not only support her financial but promises to spoil her if she meets his equirements.If a women were to be writing an ad like this she would be more subtle in her writing, for one should would not come o ut and admit her past relationship experiences but she may try to allude to it. However if she was actively looking for someone to take care of her financially she would most likely openly state that in her ad. Sex differences in attraction exist but each individual person is looking for something different. What attracts you to one person may be a complete turn off to someone else. lookin for love.

Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in Pakistan

FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN PAKITAN A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of MBA (Finance) (2009-2011) Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar Chapter 1: Introduction According to James Edwin Kee, Fiscal decentralization is the devolution of certain administrative and fiscal powers and functions to the sub-national governments.It also means the shifting of responsibility to the low-level governments with concomitant accountability. The extent of Fiscal devolution can be measured in terms of the powers of low-level governments to raise revenue or to incur expenditures. Fiscal devolution in the public sector has received great attention during the last two decades for many reasons. The implications of financial autonomy on the performance of sub level government and economic growth has been studied widely both for the developing and the developed world.In transition countries, with the disintegration of centralized system, fiscal federalism emerged; and in many developing countries, like India, Brazil and Argentina, financial decentralization was debated regarding its effects on economic stabilization. Some studies have, however, suggested that the relationship between the two has not been conclusive. [Financial devolution] is reckoned as a key policy tool that ensures economic efficiency and good governance through financial autonomy of the [federating units].It leads to the integration of provinces and enhances their participatory role in the economic development of a country. It relieves the central government from paying attention to the details of financial matters, thereby enabling it to undertake the tasks at national level in a more effective and efficient manner. Also, if the central government for some reasons becomes inefficient, then devolution can be a possible solution. It accelerates growth and empowers the low-level governments through financial autonomy and administrative empowerment.The devolution makes the federating units more responsible as it brings the government closer to the people. Decentralization policy has a positive effect on economic growth as it helps implement social policies in a better manner. In decentralized set ups, the lower tiers of governments know more about the necessities and developmental needs of the people, which leads to economic efficiency in service delivery, thereby accelerating the growth rate at national and regional levels. This is also called the â€Å"Oats Decentralization Theorem†.It says that if the people in one municipality are not provided with adequate public services, they may opt for shifting to other municipalities having more facilities. Financial autonomy reduces the wasteful utilization of resources by the central government. According to Bird and Smart (2002), for effective service delivery it is important that the recipient of funds has clear man date, sufficient resources and powers to make decisions. Through decentralization, responsibilities as well as resources are devolved to the lower level governments (Rondinelli,1981).In this way , the federating units are empowered which enable them to use the resources to good effect , raise living standard of the people and distribute the work load (Gordin, 2004). In Pakistan’s case, the significance of Fiscal devolution cannot be overemphasized. Pakistan is a federation having a centralized taxation system. The major chunk of revenue is collected by the central government, which is then distributed among the provinces to remove financial disparities.Article 160 of the constitution empowers the president that he shall constitute National Finance Commission after every five years for the distribution of funds, taxes and other monetary assets among the federating units. The decision of the commission is called National Finance Commission Award. The commission is comprised of the finance ministers of the federation and the provinces and such other persons as may be appointed by the president in consultation with the governors of the respective provinces. So far, seven NFC Awards have been announced, the latest being the 7th NFC Award of 2010.Except for the 1974 Award, there has been a growing tendency in the transfer of revenue from the centre to the provinces. The 4th NFC Award was a significant move forward towards fiscal decentralization as it enhanced the share of the provinces by 18% and accepted their right over hydel profit, developmental surcharge and excise duty on crude oil. The 7th NFC Award accepted the demands of Baluchistan, KPK, Sindh by devising a formula, wherein poverty, inverse population density and under development have also been given due weightage.Moreover, the provincial share has been enhanced from the previous 47. 5% to 56%. The provinces were also given the powers to collect Sales Tax on their own. Following this decision, the Sindh Province has already undertaken this task and claims to have collected 50% more Sales Tax in the first five months of the financial year compared to the corresponding period last year [Dawn, Dec 10, 2011]. The 8th Financial Award is scheduled to be held on 16th Dec, 2011.Apart from the resource distribution Through NFC Award, Article 161 of the Constitution provides for transfer of Royalty on natural resources to the respective provinces in the shape of surcharge on gas and crude oil. This will lead to greater transfer of funds from the centre to the provinces. With the 18th Constitutional amendment, the concurrent list has been abolished, and with it entry No. 49 in the 4th Schedule to the Federal Legislative list has also been amended. As a result, the GST Services in Federal Excise mode have been assigned to the provinces.Despite the presence of this constitutional mechanism for resource distribution, the smooth allocation of funds was interrupted due to deadlocks among th e provinces over the distribution formula, and, resultantly, the NFC Award failed to narrow down the vertical and horizontal resource gaps. At the district level, The National Reconstruction Bureau launched a decentralization programmed through Government Plan 2000, wherein it was acknowledged that without Fiscal Decentralization no authority is devolved, which further emphasizes the importance of transfer of funds to the lower tiers of government.The above paragraphs portray only one side of the picture. There are many studies which suggest that there is no direct relationship between fiscal devolution and economic growth and efficiency at the level of sub-national governments. As a matter of fact, there is also a strong case against the Fiscal federalism. It may lead to social inequalities as for instance, incomes and taxes may not be equitably distributed among the various regions of a country. Also, fixed costs are associated with running administrations of low-level governments .So, in low-income countries it may not be justified to spend substantial amount of the available funds on these expenses (Homme,1995). The relationship of Fiscal devolution and economic growth has been studied extensively in recent years. So, large volume of literature is available on the topic. Different relationships were studied to establish any clear relationship between Fiscal devolution and economic growth, but inconsistent results were obtained both for the developed and the developing economies.Some studies have shown positive relationship, others negative and still others no relationship at all between economic growth and fiscal autonomy. For Pakistan, too, studies have yet to find any clear relationship between financial decentralization and economic growth. Important contributions on this subject have been made by Zang and Zou(1998) ,Xie , Zou and Davoodi (1999) , Lin and Liu (2000) , Thieben (2001) , Martinez-Vazquez , McNab(2001) , Felenstine & Iwata (2005) and Kardar (2006) etc.This study identifies strengths and weaknesses of the existing Resource Distribution System (RDS) through historical review. It is generally believed that that proper information about the existing RDS will lead to better policy formulation, which will ultimately put the country on the road to prosperity. In this connection, it is also worthwhile to analyze the implications of the current resource distribution policies on the economic growth of the country. Thus, this study helps ascertain the extent of financial autonomy of the provinces and measures its long term benefits.Rest of the study is arranged as follows: Chapter 2 pertains to Literature review i. e. study conducted previously by other researchers on this topic; In chapter 3 theoretical background and econometric methodology for our estimation is being discussed; chapter 4 discusses sources of our data and construction of variables; chapter 5 covers results and interpretation thereof results and chapter 6 is abo ut the conclusion of research. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2. 1 IntroductionIn this chapter, we discuss the empirical studies related to our study i. e. work done previously by other researchers on this topic. 2. 2 Previous empirical studies The significance of relationship between the financial autonomy and economic growth can be gauged from the volume of literature available on this topic. Various important relationships were studied to establish clear relationship between the two, but inconsistent results were obtained both for the developed and the developing economies.For Pakistan too studies have yet to find any clear relationship between financial decentralization and economic growth. On leafing through the pages of available literature, one comes across valuable work on the topic, some of which is discussed in the following paras: Davoodi and Zou (1998) developed a theoretical model for studying the relationship between Fiscal autonomy and economic growth on the basis of ave raged panel data of 46 countries. The study showed a negative relationship between the two for developing countries.Zhang and Zou (1998), while using China’s provincial panel data for the period 1978-1992, found a negative association between provincial economic growth and the degree of financial autonomy over the past fifteen years. Philips and Woller (1997) studied the above referred relationship for seventeen developed and twenty three less developed countries on the data collected for the period 1974 to 1991. A negative weakly significant relationship was found for the developed world. However, no such relationship could be proved between the two variables for the less developed countries.Xie , Zou and Davoodi (1999) observed that there is a highly insignificant relationship between Fiscal Decentralization and economic growth for the United States, which the authors attributed to the fact that the country had already reached optimal level of fiscal autonomy and thus no fu rther progress on this line was possible. Thieban (2001) made use of OECD countries cross sectional data for the period 1975 to 1995, but the study failed to establish any link between revenue decentralization of the low-level governments and economic growth of these countries.Martinez –Vazquez and Mc Nab (2001) concluded that the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth is still unclear, and that little attention has been paid to indirect factors through which fiscal devolution may influence economic growth. In contrast to the above findings, Lin and Liu (2000), while using panel data of 28 provinces for the period 1970 to 1993, arrived at the conclusion that there exists a positive relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in China. The authors noted that the impressive growth of china for the last twenty years can be linked to fiscal reforms.Ebel and Yilmaz (2001), observed that Fiscal design of OECD countries is unable to exp lain Fiscal decentralization in true sense. Martinez –Vazquez and Mc Nab (2003), on the basis of panel data, covering the period 1972-1997, studied the direct and indirect relationship between fiscal decentralization, economic growth and macroeconomic stability . They arrived at the conclusion that devolution minimizes the inflation rate, has no direct influence on economic growth, and has positive indirect effect on growth as it results in on macroeconomic stability.Justin Yifu and Zhiqiang (2000), investigated the implications of fiscal decentralization of economic growth in China, and found that it has made remarkable contribution to economic growth. This finding is in conformity with the hypothesis that Fiscal devolution enhances economic efficiency. Fielstentein and Iwata (2005), while using VAR (Vector Auto regressive) model found that there is a relationship between decentralization and macro economic performance in China. They concluded that Fiscal decentralization is positively related to growth in the period after the war, and has negative effects on the inflation rate after the 1970s.While using the cross country data for 78 countries, Mello and Barenstein (2001) observed that as the share of receipts, including non-tax revenue, grants and transfer of funds, from the federal government increases in the total provincial revenues, the relationship between financial devolution and governance grows stronger. Shah (1991) pointed out that poor performance in most of the developing countries in the last 40 years can be attributed to highly centralized regimes.Huther and Shah (1998) noted that good governance and fiscal decentralization are positively related, which in turn may enhance economic growth. Akai and Sakata (2002) used single country data and predicted that fiscal decentralization plays a role in economic development. They pointed out that in the United States, high government spending was required in the initial phases of economic develop ment, therefore, any analysis that took into consideration this period is bound to overestimate the role of central government in the economic development.This led Xie et al (1999) to declare that decentralization has adverse effect on economic development. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez and Mark Rider (2006) pointed out the structure of financial system plays a pivotal role in determining the conduct and performance of low-level governments, which indirectly influence economic growth of a country. According to them, though both China and India show great financial decentralization, the central governments restrict the fiscal autonomy of the sub-national governments through conditional grants and inadequate powers to raise revenue.Thus, the regional governments are forced to use extra budgetary allocations to overcome their financial constraints, which results in waste of resources. These structural infirmities in the financial systems entail profligacy and unproductive expenditure policies , which may hamper the growth rate in the future in both the countries. Nobuo Akai, Yukihiro Nishimura and Masayo Sakata (2007), while using panel data of the fifty states of the US, showed that fiscal decentralization minimizes the variance of GDP growth due to decentralization among various levels of government.They also observed that there exists a negative relationship between fiscal devolution and economic volatility. Hiroko Uchimora and Yurika Suzuki (2009) studied Fiscal Decentralization in the Philippines after the promulgation of Local Government code (1991) . This study examined the fiscal relationship between the central and sub national governments by using the indicators of Fiscal decentralization. According to their findings, in the Philippines, the responsibility to incur expenditures by the local governments is not accompanied by corresponding strengthening of the fiscal capacity.As a result, local governments rely heavily on fiscal transfers from the central governm ent and Internal Revenues Allotment, which render the local finance unstable. Atushi Alimi(2004) Although , in theory, decentralization promises efficient provision of public services at local level, empirical evidence gives a mixed picture regarding its implications on economic growth. They attempted to resolve this inconsistency by using instrumental technique on the data for the period 1997 to 2001.In this study, fiscal decentralization is measured in terms of the ratio between local expenditure to total government expenditure. The result showed a significant positive relationship between per capita growth rate and Fiscal decentralization. Perraton, J. and Wells, p. (2003), in their paper, ‘Multi level governance and Economic cohesion’ noted three general trends in economic policy making: the transfer of powers to supranational institution in economic policy formulation, e. g. he formation of the European Union and World Trade Organization; secondly, almost all devel oped countries have established regional organizations, to which powers of economic policy-making have been devolved. In the transition states, there is a growing tendency towards decentralization to curtail expenditures and to make the governments more accountable; thirdly, the governments are now inclined to reduce their sizes and make alternate arrangements for governance through NGOs. This concept of governance is referred to as multi-level governance.In Pakistan’s case, Fiscal Federalism has been studied in detail. According to Anwar Shah, World Bank (Dec, 2006), there are two ways of transferring funds from the Centre to the provinces: assigning share of the federal revenues to the provinces at a pre-determined rate and direct transfer of funds (other than revenue) from the Centre to the provinces. According to him, the revenue sharing system in Pakistan affects the transfers in a lump sum and predictable manner to the federating units, which are at liberty to use these funds the way they choose.The author further argues that NFC places greater responsibility of revenue collection on the Federal government, thereby making the tax machinery efficient and tax compliance cost effective. The Revenue sharing system may have its merits, but it is also associated with certain demerits. For example, the provinces enjoy vast discretion in the utilization of funds, but have no control over the amount of funds they receive from the centre ; the federal government cannot influence the provinces to set priorities for achieving uniform standards in reas like health and Education; the provinces receive the funds without any strings attached to it , therefore, they feel less accountable while spending the funds; the share received by the provinces have no relation with the expenditures they incur, as usually the expenditures outgrow the rate at which the Federal revenue grows. Nighat Bilgrami and Mahpara Sadaqat (2006) have given an account of evolution and worki ng of NFC Award ever since its introduction in 1951. According to the authors, with the exception of 1974 Award, there is a growing tendency in increase of revenue transfer to the provinces.The major step forward in this direction was the 1991 NFC Award, wherein new taxes were included in the divisible pool. In addition, as envisaged in Article 161 of the Constitution, royalty on crude oil and surcharge on gas were also transferred to the provinces. This caused greater decentralization of funds, which over a period of time played a pivotal role in improving service delivery in health, education and irrigation etc sectors. The paper identifies various forms of fund transfers from the Federal government to the provinces.These include Revenue Sharing Transfers, Straight transfers, Recurring Grants, Development Grants and loans. The authors have also elucidated that how resources are transferred in Pakistan from the federal government to the provinces in four ways: from the centre to th e provinces, from provincial to local governments, from the federal government to the local governments and from local to local governments. The paper also gives a rationale for transfers of resources from the federal to provincial and municipal governments.At the end of the paper, the authors have suggested that smaller provinces be provided with soft loans and factors like backwardness and poverty be also considered while allocating the resources. Moreover, the provinces should be allowed to generate revenues that fall within their domain. Iftikhar Ahmed, Usman Mustafa and Mahmood Khalid (2007) have dilated upon the evolution of resource distribution over time. According to them the divisible pool has been expanded by the inclusion of more taxes.However, as population is the sole criteria for the distribution of resources through NFC awards, it has given birth to serious differences among the provinces. The paper says that resources are transferred from the centre to the provinces in two ways: Systematic or Formula Based transfer, comprising of revenue sharing and Random transfer, including grants, executive discretionary funds and Parliamentarian funds etc. According to the authors, with the passage of time the federal government has become more centralized, thereby adversely affecting the efficiency of the provincial governments.The federal government has got engaged in activities that purely fall within the purview of provinces. These include irrigation, roads, culture, tourism, youth affairs etc. This has increased the burden on federal government. The Federal government collects 93 % of the revenue but expends only 72%, whereas the provinces generate just 7% but spend 28%. The argument behind greater revenue collection by the centre is that it is more efficient in revenue collection than the provinces. But this argument is flawed as the provincial and local governments are left with lesser opportunities to collect revenue.This results in the dependency of the provinces on the federal government for transfer of resources. In this paper, NFC Award has also been criticized in that the criteria for resource distribution are mainly population. Elsewhere in the world, other factors like backwardness, population density, and revenue generation are also considered while devising a formula for distribution of resources. According to the authors, the major shift towards fiscal decentralization appeared in the 1996 NFC Award, whereby all duties and taxes were included in the divisible pool.By so doing transparency and predictability in resource distribution was though enhanced, yet the resource distribution formula between the federal and provincial governments changed little. The paper says that resources distribution has never been taken seriously. Only one criterion, that is population, has been followed for resource distribution, that’s why the NFC Award has failed to resolve the problem of Fiscal Decentralization. Usman Mustafa ( 2011) has highlighted the importance of federal form of government and has argued that even European Union has the characteristics of federalism.While referring to works of notable authors on the subject, it has been argued that Fiscal Decentralization increases efficiency, transparency and accountability. According to the author, in Pakistan’s case, there are pre-federalism (from 1947-71) and post federalism (from 1973 onwards) periods. In the first perid, the authority was centralized (one unit), whereas the second period is characterized by the march towards decentralization of powers from the centre to the provinces. In this context, the author argues that NFC Award is a step forward towards decentralization.He, however, criticizes population being suitable criteria for resource distribution between the centre and the provinces. In order to remove the grievances of the smaller provinces, a historical decision was taken in the 7th NFC Award on Dec, 2009 at Gawadar, to whic h all the provinces agreed. In this award, the demands of the smaller provinces were accepted, and a multifactor formula was devised. In the formula, factors like poverty, underdevelopment and inverse population density were also included for resource distribution. Moreover, the Federation sacrificed more that 10% of its share in favour of the provinces.It was also agreed that collection charges received by the Federal government on revenue would be curtailed from the existing 5% to 1%. This will increase the volume of net transfer of revenue from the federal to the provincial governments. All these decisions taken in the 7th NFC Award will contribute favourably towards Fiscal Decentralization in Pakistan. According to Kardar (2006), local governments have significance both in the context of Devolution plan and failure of central and provincial governments to deliver quality services to the masses ever since the emergence of Pakistan.He further argued that though legislation on devo lution is a landmark achievement, the biggest challenge is to settle the row over powers between the provinces and district governments. Dr. Shahnawaz Malik, Mahmood-ul-Hassan and Shahzad Hussein analyzed the relationship between Fiscal decentralization and economic growth for the period 1971-2005. They obtained mixed results on the basis of different variables used in analysis. The study further showed that with the continuous rise in the share of provincial government revenues and expenditures, economic growth slows down.Naeem-ur-Rehman Khattak, Iftikhar Ahmed and Jangraiz Khan, while using time series data, for the period 1980 to 2007, analyzed the resource distribution, and studied the impact of financial decentralization on the economic growth of Pakistan. According to them, the divisible pool has expanded over the years by the inclusion of more taxes in it. They pointed out that the resource distribution mechanism failed to affect economic growth positively, and suggested that the distribution formula be revisited, having regard to factors like tax collection and backwardness of the provinces.They further suggested that more powers be delegated to the provinces to raise their own revenues. Chapter 3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND ECONMETRIC METHODOLOGY 3. 1 Introduction In this chapter we discuss the theory which guides our research, variables of our model, type of statistical relationship and the model we will use for estimation. 3. 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Various forms of Decentralization. It refers to the delegation of powers and functions from the central to low-level governments. There are three main forms of decentralization (JICA 2008): . 2. 1. Decentralization It is the weakest type of decentralization, and refers to the transfer of decision making powers along with financial and management responsibilities from the officials in the centre to those serving in the local /regional offices. 3. 2. 2. Delegation Here the powers are delegated to the auton omous bodies, including corporations, housing authorities’ etc. , working under the supervision of the central government. These organizations enjoy vast discretion and decision making powers. 3. 2. 3.Devolution It is the gradual transfer of administrative, financial and political authority to the local bodies, which exercise their powers and functions within certain geographical confines. It has three main constituents, as discussed below: a) Political decentralization It refers to the shifting of powers and authority to local bodies, run by local political representatives. It has a well-established system of political decision-making and accountability at the local level. b) Administrative decentralizationIt is the form of devolution whereby staff of line ministry is dissociated from their corresponding ministries and brought under the control of the local administration. This is done through establishing local pay roll, which empowers them to reward and punish the staff. c ) Fiscal decentralization It refers to the shifting of authority and responsibility to the sub-level governments with regard to decision-making on distribution of financial resources. This also includes the powers to raise local revenue.Fiscal decentralization has attracted great attention, among the economic circles, especially for improving service delivery at the local level. The main objectives of Fiscal decentralization include efficient utilization of resources, effective service delivery, macroeconomic stability and economic growth. With these objectives in view, the developing world is following the principle of Subsidiarity, which emphasizes that authority should rest with the lower tiers of government for effective use, and that the responsibility of incurring expenditures should match with adequate financing.Decentralization leads to efficient utilization of funds through improvement in governance, as lower strata of government can better assess people’s problems a nd know their priorities. Decentralization enhances participation of local population as the beneficiaries are directly involved in planning the allocation of funds. Increased decentralization gives birth to democratization, which keeps the government close to the masses, thereby making it more accountable. 3. 3 Various theories regarding decentralizationThe above narrated advantages, and many more not discussed here, emphasize the importance of Fiscal decentralization. But it was since the publishing of Tiebout’s article, â€Å"A pure theory of local Expenditure† that this concept has gained great popularity among the theorists, and the volume of literature on this topic has increased tremendously. According to Tibeout (1956), Fiscal decentralization improves production efficiency through greater mass mobilization. In 1959 Musgrave pointed out that the role of government is to bring stability to the market and effect the redistribution of income.He further argued that efficient utilization of resources can be secured only when local tastes and choices are taken into consideration. Oates (1972) pointed out that people living in different localities have peculiar tastes and preferences for public service, therefore, local governments, as against central government, being better informed, will provide better services to its citizens. This concept is called Oates â€Å"Decentralization Theorem†, according to which economic efficiency can be enhanced by decentralizing the availability of public goods and services.Thus, the central government should be responsible for devising a national policy and providing efficient levels of government for distribution of goods . (Oates,2005) So, equipped with the requisite paraphernalia , the sub-national governments are in a better position to put in place welfare-maximizing policies. Cremer, Estach and Seebright (1994), stated that government at the centre cannot reach the information about local tastes a nd choices. Thus, it is through Fiscal Decentralization that local agents can bring about efficient supply of goods and services to their constituencies.Almost identical views were expressed by Qian and Weingast (1997), who opined that decentralization puts a check on budget expansion by promoting competition and strengthening accountability, which effects supply of goods and services in an efficient manner. Having said this, there is always a tendency among the local political agents to enlarge the scope of public goods and services at the cost of other jurisdictions. Rodden (2003) attributed this predilection to the type of decentralization being followed.If decentralization is dependent on self-generated tax revenue, smaller governments emerge; and if transfer of funds occurs from the centre, it results in budget expansion. Though from economic and political point of view there are many benefits of Fiscal decentralization, yet it is not a cure for all ills. For instance, Fiscal D ecentralization entails loss of Economies of Scale and loosens control over scarce resources. From it follows that centralization and Decentralization are not alternatives, rather the countries should find a balance between the two as per their requirements. . 4. Rationale for Fiscal Transfer in Pakistan The first reason is the general perception that the federal government is better equipped to collect major taxes, but is inefficient to collect smaller taxes. Also, the federal government may undertake major projects, but fail to deliver on smaller projects. Hence, the efficiency criteria must be followed while deciding allocation of means and responsibilities. The second reason for resource transfer from the centre to the provinces is that the latter lack the resources to finance the provision of even basic services.In the last ten years, the average revenue generated by the centre, provinces and municipalities stand at 89%, 5% and 6% respectively. As against the revenue generation , the share in recurring expenditure of the federal, provincial and municipal governments is 74%, 23% and 4% respectively. As regards developmental expenditure, the share of these governments is as follows: Federal government 65%, provincial government 25% and municipal governments 6%. These figures indicate that the provinces have limited resources vis-a-vis the amount of expenditure they incur.This necessitates the transfer of resources from federal to lower-tiers of government. Another reason that can be attributed to the allocation of resources among the different levels of government is Adequacy of Revenue. This concept refers to the capability of government not only to generate the initial revenue required to start a project but also to its ability to sustain it. In Pakistan’s case, Adequacy of revenue does not exist; hence transfer of resources to the lower tiers of government is necessary if they are to undertake any such projects.The fourth reason of transfer funds f rom the centre to the provinces is that there are taxes which though provincial in nature but is collected by the federal government, for example Sales Tax. Another rationale for transfer of funds is that federal government uses certain taxes for the overall stabilization of the economy; hence they should be under the control of the federal government. [NFC AWARDS Commentary and Agenda, Nighat Bilagarami, Jaffery and Mahpara Sadaqat (2006)]. 3. 5 ECONMETRIC METHODOLOGY 3. 5. 1Augmented Dicky Fuller (ADF) Test In this study a time series data is being used.Since this kind of data is usually non-stationary in nature, we first test it for stationarity or non-stationarity. For this purpose, an enhanced version of Dicky fuller Test, known as Augmented Dicky Fuller Test, is being employed. The ADF includes extra lagged terms of the dependant variable so as to remove auto-correlation. The following equations denote the three possible forms of ADF Test. i) Without any constant and trend ?yt =? *yt-1+i=1p? i? yt-i+et ii) Constant with non trend ?yt=a+? *yt-1i=1p? i+? yt-1+et iii) Constant with trend ?yt=a+? t+? *yt-1+i=1p? i+? yt-1+etOf the above equations, (iii) represents a more generalized form of ADF Test. Mackinnon(1991) gave critical values for the DF test The critical values for the ADF Test are the same as those for Dickey Fuller Test. If the DF Statistical value is smaller than the critical value, Null hypothesis of a unit root is rejected, which suggests that the yt is stationary process or the variables are stationary. If on running the ADF Test the variables are found non-stationary in their original levels of series, the variables are made stationary in their first difference level of the series. . 5. 2 Ordinary least square model (OLS) Once the variables are made stationary, estimation is made by employing Ordinary least square model (OLS). This model is suitable for ascertaining linear interdependencies in a time series data. Here it is also worthwhile to discuss Regression model. A multiple linear regression model estimates value of dependant variable (also called response variable) on the basis of independent variables (also called explanatory variables). But there is always a difference in estimated and observed values.Therefore, a Regression model also possess unexplained variable, also called error term, which measures the difference between observed and estimated values. y= b+b1 x1+ b2 x2+ b x3 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ +ei A regression model will be â€Å"best fit† if the difference between observed and estimated value is minimum. We cannot take error term by simply adding all the difference between observed and estimated value because it may contain both positive and negative values which can cancel the effect of each other. So, we take the square of error terms which leads us to OLS . i. e. minimum squared difference.OLS is useful for structural inference and policy analysis. For the purpose of Structural Analysis of data, cert ain assumptions regarding the causality of data are made. These are : error term (i) is normally distributed (ii) has zero expected value of mean (iii) has constant variance in each time period and for all values of X and (iv) its value in one time period is unrelated to its value in another time period. OLS is a very simple technique by which we can calculate the coefficient of each variable in other words it gives us the impact of one variable on another variable, which is summarized by impulse response function. | | | | | Chapter 4 DATA AND VARIABLE 4. 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter covers how data is collected, what are sources of our data and how variables have been constructed variables for our estimation. 4. 2 Data type For the purpose of studying the relationship between Fiscal decentralization and economic growth, secondary data is being utilized. 4. 3 Sources of data For the purpose of this study the following sources have been utilized. i) Issues of â€Å"Economic survey of Pakistan† ii)World Development Indicators iii)Ten years in Pakistan Statistics† (1983) iv)UNDP Human Development Report, 2007. )Hand book of Statistics on Pakistan Economy (2005)† 4. 4 Construction of variables Economic growth of the country is taken as dependant variable. It is measured in terms of per capita Log of per capita gross domestic product (LYP), which is rebased by the year 2000 market prices. The variable is expressed in real terms using GDP deflator to ascertain the pattern of economic growth over the years. The Fiscal decentralization is captured on the ratio of Provincial share in Total Revenue to the Total Revenue (PRFR). The data source for these variables is â€Å"Economic survey of Pakistan and covers the period from 1964 to 2008.As regards investment, it is captured by the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and data is taken from â€Å"Pakistan Economic Survey† Moreover, a variable for trade openness (OPN) is also used in the estimat ion model. This variable is obtained by adding imports and exports and dividing the same by LYP (at market prices). Here, too, the source of data is â€Å"Economic Survey of Pakistan† Other variables in the estimation model are Tax to GDP ratio (TGDP) and GINI co-efficient, the latter being used to calculate income equality and its source is UNDP Human Development Report. Chapter 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . 1 INTRODUCTION The section consists of results and their interpretation. In para 5. 1, 5. 2 and 5. 3 Stationarity of data, Autocorrelation and the results of OLS model respectively have been discussed. 5. 2 Unit Root test In a time series data, the major problem is the non-stationarity of variables. So, before estimation, a test is applied to make the variables stationary. For this purpose various tests can be employed, but in our case we have used Augmented Dickey Fuller test, the results of which are shown in table 5. 1 below. Table 5. 1 UNIT ROOT TEST| Non stationary var iables| ADF-value| 5% Critical value| Gfcf| -1. 693492| -2. 9303| Gini| -2. 462911| -2. 9303| Lpy| 0. 863730| -2. 9303| PRFR| -2. 206432| -2. 9303| TGDP| 0. 158213| -2. 9303| Stationary variables| | ADF-value| Critical value| Gfcf| -3. 997577| -2. 9320| Gini| -4. 766215| -2. 9320| Lpy| -4. 632922| -2. 9320| OPN| -3. 453532| -2. 9303| PRFR| -3. 662186| -2. 9320| TGDP| -3. 01612| -2. 9320| Gfcf- Gross fixed capital formation, Gini- Income inequality, Lpy- Log of GDP, OPN- Openness to trade (export+import/GDP), PRFR- Ratio of provincial shares in total revenue to total revenue, TGDP- Tax to GDP ratio.At the level, all the variables except â€Å"OPN† were found non-stationary, and were, therefore, stationarized at First difference level by using ADF Test. 5 . 3 TEST FOR AUTOCORRELATION Autocorrelation tells about the relationship between two or more error terms in the model. For unbiased estimation, autocorrelation must be zero. If there exists problem of autocorrelation, it has to be removed. For this purpose, two hypothesis are constructed : one, H0: Co-Var(u,u+1)=0,there is no autocorrelation between the error terms and second, Ha: Co-Var(u,u+1)not equal to zero, meaning there is a problem of autocorrelation.To check autocorrelation in our model, we have used Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test (BG TEST), as shown in table 5. 2. According to the table, probability of F-statistic is significant at 5%, so we reject the hypothesis that cov (ut, ut+1) is equal to zero. In other words, there is autocorrelation problem in our model. In order to remove the autocorrelation problem, we have applied ARMA model with autocorrelation through AR (1), AR (3) and MA (2). Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM Test:| F-statistic| 4. 781666| Probability| 0. 001241| Obs*R-squared| 20. 50376| Probability| 0. 002252|Probability of F-statistic is significant at 5%, so we reject the hypothesis that cov (ut, ut+1) is equal to zero. It means there is autocorrelation proble m in our model. 5 . 4 ESTIMATION The results of the estimation with OLS are tabulated in Table 5. 3 below: Dependent variable:LPYMethod: Least Squares| Date: 03/25/12 Time: 11:13| | | | | | Variable| Coefficient| t-Statistic| Prob. | | GFCF| 0. 004693| 3. 806074| 0. 0006| | GINI| -0. 324275| -2. 919698| 0. 0065| | OPN| 0. 000254| 0. 468847| 0. 6425| | PRFR| -0. 000173| -0. 517278| 0. 6086| | TGDP| -0. 003194| -0. 809929| 0. 4242| | | | | | | R-squared| 0. 97793| Prob(F-statistic)| 0. 000000| Adjusted R-squared| 0. 997081| | | Durbin-Watson stat| 1. 705104| | | | | | | In the model ‘’R^2’’ shows strength of the regression line, which means how much important variables are covered by a model or how well variation in independent variables explains the variation in dependent variable. For time series analysis â€Å"R^2’’ value must be greater than 0. 70 or 70%, which means the model must explain at least 70% of the total variation in dependent v ariable. In our results, â€Å"R^2=99%† value is greater than 70%, so 99% of variation LPY is explained by our variables i. . GFCF, GINI, OPN, PRFR, TGDP. But the values in the 3rd column against each variable show â€Å"t† values. If the t value, in absolute form, is greater than â€Å"2†, the relationship between the variables is significant. In our case, the financial autonomy is measured in terms of â€Å"Ratio of Provincial share in Total Revenue (PRFR)†, whereas the Economic growth is captured on the variable LPY. It is evident from the table that the relationship between LPY (dependent) and PRFR (independent) is insignificant because the â€Å"devalues, in absolute form, are less than â€Å"2†.It implies that LPY is not influenced by PRFR. In other words, in Pakistan’s case, Fiscal decentralization has no bearing on economic growth. The model shows that GFCF and GINI with variables have ‘’t’’ value greater than 2 in absolute form affect economic growth. Durbin-watson value in the table tells us about the problem of auto-correlation in the model. If the value of Durbin-watson test is between 1. 7 and 2. 2 there will be no auto-correlation. In our table its value 1. 7, so we say that the problem of auto-correlation has been removed.CHAPTER NO: 06 CONCLUSION This study focuses on identifying the impact of fiscal decentralization on economic growth through compilation of its historical trends. It is generally believed that that proper information about the existing fiscal decentralization system will lead to better policy formulation, which will ultimately put the country on the road to prosperity. In this regard, it is also worthwhile to analyze the implications of the current fiscal decentralization policy on the economic growth of the country.Thus, this study helps ascertain the extent of financial autonomy of the provinces and measures its long term benefits. In this study secondary d ata has been used, which covers the period from 1964 to 2008. Provincial share in total revenue (PRFR), GFCF- Gross fixed capital formation, Gini- Income inequality, OPN- Openness to trade (export+import/GDP), PRFR- Ratio of provincial shares in total revenue to total revenue, TGDP- Tax to GDP ratio are dependant variables, whereas LPY (Log of GDP) is dependent variable in the data.We used OLS model for our estimation, the results of which revealed that only GFCF and GINI have significant impact on GDP growth. On the other hand the influence of, OPN, TGDP and PRFR on economic growth (LPY) are insignificant. As PRFR and LPY measure the extent of fiscal decentralization and Economic growth respectively, we conclude that economic growth in Pakistan does not depend on fiscal decentralization. This may be due to the fact the Resource Distribution Formula has been mainly based on population. The results of other factors, included of late in the NFC Award, are yet to be seen.It is, therefo re, proposed that not only the impact of population in the distribution formula be diluted by the inclusion of other factors, being emphasized by the smaller provinces, but also the powers of the provinces with regard to revenue generation be enhanced. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The words, Financial devolution, financial autonomy and Financial /fiscal decentralization are being used interchangeably in this study. [ 2 ]. In this discussion ,the words, federating unit, unit, province, sub-national government and low-level government will be used interchangeably.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

The Single Persona of Ophelia and Gertrude

Zoe Alternate Ms. Herring AP English 5 November 2013 The Single Persona of Aphelia and Gertrude According to Shakespeare, Elisions did not require more than two women, let alone two unique women. On a larger scale, the society in which Shakespeare wrote agreed that most women were indistinguishable: women in general did not hold positions of prominence and did not demand recognition. In all of Shakespearean plays, a meager 126 female characters develop; of these, Aphelia and Gertrude play minor roles in Shakespearean Hamlet, having a mere 169 lines and 128 lines respectively.Being the only two females in the play, and with Shakespearean lack of knowledge that women could have varying personalities, Aphelia and Gertrude manage to possess many similar characteristics. In fact, they are so similar that one could argue, if convinced an Oedipus-complex exists, there is no need for two separate characters. Through their relationships and circumstances, interactions and dialogue, Shakespear e portrays Aphelia and Gertrude as parallel characters. Women during the Renaissance, and even women during any time period prior to the sass, were submissive and loyal.Aphelia and Gertrude are no exceptions to this stereotype; they passively listen and, without question, obey their superiors. As Alerter accuses Hamlet of false love, Aphelia agrees saying, â€Å"l shall the effect of this good lesson keep† (1. 3. 44). Soon afterward, Polonium demands that Aphelia avoid Hamlet, and Aphelia is obedient: â€Å"l shall obey, my lord† (1. 3. 136). Even in Alerter' questioning of Hamlet's feelings, Aphelia admits that, as a woman, she should not have her own thoughts: â€Å"l do not know, my lord, what I should think† (1. . 104). She repeats this degrading fact saying, â€Å"l think nothing, my lord† (3. . 107) when Hamlet asks what she thought he meant in mentioning a virgin's legs. In 2. 2 lines 110-113, as Polonium attempts to raise his popularity among the court, he reads a personal letter from Hamlet to Aphelia, while Aphelia, surely embarrassed, sits back with no argument. The same acquiescence lies within Queen Gertrude. In 2. 2 lines 19-26, Gertrude repeats, only more succinctly, what Claudia has already said, proving her lack of original thought.When Claudia orders her to leave the court, Gertrude says, â€Å"l shall obey you† (3. 1. 38), maintaining her proper wifely status. To please her new Cubans, Gertrude endeavors to placate Hamlet's mournful mind and persuade him to â€Å"let [his] eye look like a friend on Denmark† (1. 2. 69), so that the Danish citizens may think all is well with the new political structure. Just as Aphelia holds a willingness to bow to Alerter and Polonium, Gertrude yields to Claudia every time except once right before her demise, which will be subsequently analyzed further.They are both â€Å"made malleable by [their] sense of duty and by [their] nature as well† (Magnums 1). Regard less of their wrongful obedience to their respective superiors, both Aphelia ND Gertrude truly love Hamlet. The only two women in the play have a very intimate relationship with the protagonist, one being his mother and the other his love interest. The love is made certain when Hamlet, truthfully or not, retracts his previous affection toward Aphelia; yet, she still replies, â€Å"Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so† and â€Å"l was the more deceived† (3. . 118-122), revealing her broken heart. Gertrude love, whether her relationship with Hamlet includes an Oedipus-complex or not, proves sincere as she calls to Hamlet Just before her untimely death: â€Å"O my dear Hamlet! (5. 2. 312). Neither female character can stand to have the connection between their familial and friendly bonds amputated. Aphelia can see that Hamlet's madness has generated a break between her father's wishes and Hamlet's, and, distressed by the apparent severed bonds, pleads for help,  "Heavenly powers, restore him! † (3. 1 . 142).Gertrude, in the midst of a barrage of verbal accusations, strives to conserve the filial bond; she refers to Hamlet as â€Å"sweet Hamlet† (3. 4. 98) and, in an effort to stop his attack, says, â€Å"O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain† (3. 4. 158). She needs his approval and therefore asks, â€Å"What shall I do? † (3. 4. 184). According to David Abnegation's interpretation, the priority of Aphelia and Gertrude is familial harmony, motivating their actions throughout the play. Nonetheless, due to their blind and steadfast allegiance, Aphelia and Gertrude cannot help but act treacherously against Hamlet despite their deep love for him.Consequently, when Polonium devises a scheme to unearth the backstops of Hamlet's madness, he commands Aphelia, â€Å"Walk you here†¦ ‘ Read on this book/ That show of such an exercise may color/ Your loneliness† (3. 1. 3-47). She immediately follows alo ng so that Hamlet may suppose her alone when he happens upon her. Of course, Hamlet the keen prince he is, senses her betrayal. When Hamlet asks the whereabouts of Polonium, Aphelia answers with a lie, â€Å"At home, my lord† (3. 1 . 132). Gertrude also refuses to take sides in the war between Claudia and Hamlet. She agrees to Polonium' ploy to spy on Hamlet by saying, â€Å"I'll warrant you.Fear me not† (3. 4. 7), allowing Polonium to take cover behind her curtains. Again, Hamlet discovers the betrayal, killing Polonium in the process. Shortly after, notwithstanding Hamlet's recent attack and her ostensible promise, Gertrude defends Claudia' throne cursing the â€Å"false Danish dogs† (4. 5. 108) when the Messenger reports that the crowd wants Alerter as king. Furthermore, Claudia deduces that Gertrude will concur with Hamlet's need to be shipped to England and includes her in his plot to rid Denmark of Hamlet: â€Å"Come, Gertrude, we'll call up our friends/ And let them know†¦ Hat we mean to do† (4. 1. 38-39). She does not contend. But Gertrude even now holds onto the love for her son and begs the crowd in the cemetery to be patient, â€Å"For love of God, forbear him† (5. . 259). After Hamlet and Alerter brawl in Aphelion's grave, the fickle Gertrude endeavors to convince the multitude that Hamlet's fit, even though Hamlet clearly mourns Aphelion's death, is in reality â€Å"mere madness† (5. 1. 271-275). Aphelia and Gertrude fluctuate between their alliance to Hamlet and to the court, and, in the throes, move with duplicity against Hamlet.These innumerable and sundry breaches of faith trigger Hamlet's abandonment of the goodness in humanity, especially womankind. The ones who should love him the most are the ones contributing to Hamlet's degrading mental state. Yet, being tender of heart and still submissive, both women â€Å"are forced into uncharacteristic vices,† unaware of their evil guides(Penning ton). Hamlet's hatred goes so far as to dub frailty a woman in 1. 2. Aphelia and Gertrude are made into products of a â€Å"stereotypic wanton sexuality' (Wellness 1).Hamlet displays his disgust toward the sexuality of women in saying, â€Å"The power of beauty will†¦ Transform/honesty from what it is to a bawd† (3. 1. 113-114). Hamlet denounces women as two-faced and promiscuous saying, â€Å"God has given you one face and you make yourselves another†¦ And make our wantonness your ignorance† (3. 1 . 143-146). His anger builds until he commences separate assaults on the two female characters. During his meeting with Aphelia, he spits several insults on her. Hamlet bids Aphelia, â€Å"Get thee to a nunnery' (3. 1 . 123).He additionally advises that if Aphelia must marry, she should â€Å"marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters [she] makes of them† (3. 1 . 139-140). Later, in the course of his climactic talk with his mother, Hamlet ac cuses Gertrude of â€Å"such a deed/As from the body of contraction plucks/The very soul, and sweet religion makes/ A rhapsody of words† (3. 4. 46-49). Both women are much too delicate to take on Hamlet's harsh words, and they crumble in the presence of his disgust. A final correlation between Hamlet's female characters is their closing exits.As the plays only females decay, it is evident that a factor to their degeneration is their lack of independence. Neither woman ever speaks without being prior spoken to with the exception of 4. 5. Aphelion's reason finally collapses, and her songs spill out as if they were the liquid madness sloshing in her head. After Alerter Journeys to France and Aphelia agrees to avoid Hamlet in 1. , Aphelia remains without any confidant. She is â€Å"an isolated figure in a patriarchal world† (Magnums 1), even more so in the wake of her father's slaughter. Gertrude can relate.Claudia, her only confidant, has been forbidden by Hamlet, and her own son abhors her. These women retain little strength to act of their own will. Even their own deaths occur accidentally, the fault of fated chain reactions. Aphelia, in an effort to commit suicide, falls into a body of water and drowns. Her only attempt to do something for herself is pulverize, Shakespearean way of keeping femininity helpless. As Gertrude recounts Aphelion's passing, she mentions that in falling from the branch, Aphelia continues â€Å"snatches of old lauds/As one incapable of her own distress† (4. . 176-177). Perhaps Aphelia knows how to swim, but indeed does decide for herself to let the water take her. Comparably, Gertrude is killed by a poison meant for the protagonist. Perchance she knows what Claudia has planned; some of Gertrude last words are defiant against Claudia, potentially proving her want of death to come as soon as possible and her own decision to make that happen. Claudia weakly calls on Gertrude to replace Hamlet's poisoned drink; however , Gertrude replies, â€Å"l will, my lord, I pray you, pardon me† (5. 2. 287).Their deaths can be argued as accidental or premeditated; nevertheless, Gertrude and Aphelia maintain irrefutably passive qualities throughout the play, which are conducive to their individual endings. The Queen of Denmark and a fool's daughter, although endowed with separate names and kinsmen, possess stark and tangible similarities. Both temperaments are comprised of a complaint nature, unintentional treachery, a tender heart, and dependency. Aphelia and Gertrude can effortlessly be labeled parallel characters on count of Shakespearean alacrity to conform to societal views of women.

Monday, July 29, 2019

The Final Solution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Final Solution - Essay Example The derivation of â€Å"The Final Solution† can be witnessed in the period between 1939 and 1941. The fruition of this genocide was based on the religious disparity existing between the Jews and the Christians. In the 1939s the Christian leaders witnessed a failure in demonstrating Jesus as ‘Messiah’ before the fellow Jews which indeed fuelled up the adversarial correlation among the two religious groups (Browning, C. R., â€Å"The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942†). However, the antagonism among these religious groups was witnessed long before the plan was factually determined, i.e. in the 1919 in which Adolf Hitler played a grave function. It is worth mentioning that he was the most evident personality who grounded the need to destroy the Jews from the country with his â€Å"Jewish Question† (McFee, â€Å"When did Hitler Decide on the Final Solution?†). As he stated in 1919s in his letters, â€Å"Jews were a race and not a religion† and that it was quite important for the European government to abolish this race in order to attain â€Å"national strength† (Kershaw, â€Å"Hitler’s Role in the â€Å"Final Solution†Ã¢â‚¬ ). The ultimate execution of â€Å"The Final Solution† was planned in the Wannsee Conference in the early 1942. Reinhard Heydrich, who was recognized to be the second in charge of the RF-SS of Himmler, coordinated around 15 Nazi bureaucrats belonging to the top level of the Nazi society in the conference which was held in Berlin. These Nazi leaders were affirmed to execute the plan to abolish a targeted number of 11 million Jews from Europe, which shall be instigated from Germany (Zapotoczny, â€Å"The Final Solution†). Although the plan was instigated from Germany in 1942, it was extended to the added parts of Europe including Poland, Greece, Hungary, France and others. The plan came to an end in the year 1944. With the rapidly increasing number of deaths of Jewish people a rescue committee was set in Budapest titled as Jewish Rescue Committee. The committee proposed to settle a contract with the European government which stated that in return of large quantities of tea, coffee, sugar, war materials and other goods, the government would spare the lives of the rest 800,000 Jews left in Europe (Breitman and Aronson, â€Å"The End of the "Final Solution"?: Nazi Plans to Ransom Jews in 1944†). By the year of the winding up of the plan in 1944, almost 5,933,900 Jews were annihilated by the Nazi leaders amounting to 67% of the total Jew population (The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, â€Å"Estimated Number of Jews Killed in The Final Solution†). Undoubtedly, the entire act created a long lasting and profound impact not only on the social aspects of human lives, but also in the political, economical and military dimensions. In the 20th century, the rise of Nazi l eaders to sovereignty in the European continent headed towards the state-enforced racial discriminations. As a consequence, the economic environment of Germany, Poland and other nations of Europe had to witness terrific fluctuations. Several policies and anti-Jewish regimes were enforced in the period, such as â€Å"Aryanization†, â€Å"Night of Broken Glass† and others (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, â€Å"The "Final Solution"†). The consequences of the so called â€Å"

Sunday, July 28, 2019

The Lack of an internal audit department in a company called Mawarid Research Paper

The Lack of an internal audit department in a company called Mawarid Islamic finance in the UAE - Research Paper Example In accordance with the issues discussed in the paper Mawarid Finance’s strategy focuses on supporting and developing the national economy through the provision of Islamic financial services and products for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of a nation’s economy, to enable them to develop, grow stronger and faster. The organization specializes in developing Shariah complaint economical or financial services. It provides eMurabaha that allows its clients to buy the goods offline or online; financing for the purchase of the items; letter of guarantee covering bib; online labor guarantees, and advance payment bonds, together with guarantees for the retention monies, customs duty, labor, home financing, maintenance. Moreover, it offers vehicle and property financing for people, and different services to the corporate sector, which include working capital, assets, deposits, trading activities and financing projects. Mawarid Finance is the only UAEà ¢â‚¬â„¢s financial institution that is absolutely independent. However, in an attempt to ensuring that it hands itself operational independence, we find that the distribution of its shares has been done across over three hundred and fifty shareholders, whereby organizations or even companies own less than five percent each of the capital there is no stake of an individual shareholder that is more than two and half percent. (English 54). Problem Statement: Lack of internal auditors has appeared as one of the fundamental factors that have led to misappropriation of funds in several companies and organizations. That is why several companies and organizations have adopted it to help in bringing accountability, so that each money spent can be accounted for. Background and Significance: Internal auditors play a very crucial role in the corporate governance of their organizations, financial reporting processes, analysis of risk management and internal control structure. During the last dec ade, they actively offered management with assurance and consulting services to help in conformity with the laws like the 2002 U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley. The internal audit resources have also seen expansion for the purposes of satisfying the increasing demand for the services to facilitate financial report and internal control’s executive certifications. In the future years, it might be expected of the internal auditors to broaden their role to responsibilities such as the improvement of risk management, reduction of organizational costs and complexity, and participation in the development of governance and strategic processes. For instance, the rules of Proxy Disclosure Enhancements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to reveal their governance measures, which include the structure of their board, the board’s supervision of risk management as well as its relationship with the executive practices and policies of compensation. The new proxy rules will act ually exert pressure or compel the boards to show their role in the supervision of risk management, and further, this presents both opportunities and challenges for the CAEs (chief audit executives) and their

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Contemporary Latin America Politics Research Proposal

Contemporary Latin America Politics - Research Proposal Example While Venezuela is not presently engaged in any attritional conflict with its neighbors, its relationship with the United States has declined steadily over the recent past. The escalating tension between the United States and Venezuela is attributable to both ideological and material reasons. On the side of ideology, Venezuela is presently led by Hugo Chavez, a highly popular Socialist Party member. His party and its policies derive from Marxist doctrines, which are anathema to the capitalist economic organization seen here in the United States. Moreover, Mr. Chavez is not hesitant to openly condemn American leadership and its alleged hegemonic impulses. A diplomatic flashpoint occurred during the United Nations General Assembly of 2006 when Hugo Chavez cited American leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky’s book ‘Hegemony or Survival’ to support his criticism of high handed foreign policy measures of the United States government. The speech is unprecedented in terms of its audacity and confrontational tone, which almost no diplomatic goodwill was left between the two nations ever since (Tinker-Salas, p.52). Adding to the Venezuelan problem is the open and tacit support that it receives from Latin and Central American nations. For example, Venezuela’s attempt to garner a UN Security Council seat was supported by several countries with influence in the General Assembly, including China, Russia, Malaysia and India. American trading partners in the region such as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile are also likely to back Venezuela. If Venezuela’s bid should succeed in the future, then it will give a new thrust to the Non-Aligned Movement, by shifting its headquarters out of New York and into a city in the hemispheric South such as Brasilia, Havana or Caracas (Tinker-Salas, p.53). If this does become a reality in the near future, it will be a huge

Friday, July 26, 2019

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 22

Personal Statement Example To me, the aspiration of becoming a well-educated person is one of the most monumental and highly valuable objectives a person can seek to achieve. Why is this? As the world becomes more standardised, in which cultural and professional values are becoming rather universally-accepted norms, businesses (and communities) require the input of individuals who are driven to think uniquely, outside of the proverbial box, as a means of eliciting positive change. I am reminded of a term once taught in one of my foundational classes known as groupthink, a form of psychological and sociological phenomenon where the inherent desire to conform to the beliefs and values of group members leads to dysfunctional decision-making outcomes. In the business environment, as a wide variety of empirical studies continue to iterate, this phenomenon is often detrimental to developing innovations and strategies that are important for achieving competitive advantages. It is through university education, as well as a product of being exposed to diverse and unique educational professionals, one learns to think abstractly and consider both life and career from multiple perspectives rather than being too conventional. My father, a person who I greatly admire, is a skilled and experienced business professional. I remember many evenings, whilst discussing his workday around a hearty family meal, where he had grown frustrated and, seemingly, a bit aggravated at the lack of ingenuity and resourcefulness from the people of which he was charged to manage and lead. My father rather regularly defended that these weaknesses were oppressive for the business in achieving its main goals and as a result it was quite difficult to introduce vital changes that served to make the business more successful in what was a very competitive and adaptable market environment. My primary understanding of real-world

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Agile software development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Agile software development - Essay Example Agile software has a lot of flexibility as opposed to the rigid waterfall. The main hallmark of the agile system is its adaptability and agility. The iterative nature of agile makes it to be able to work without following a given pattern. A lot of iterations are involved including testing, coding and designing. Agile is different from waterfall in the sense that unlike the waterfall system which cannot allow for any changes to be made once the design is already completed, agile has no rigidity and allows for changes to be made and improvements to be done even at the last stages of software development. Teams developing software through the use of the Agile process are usually cross functional in their nature. There have been always an expertise sharing and close cooperation unlike the case with waterfall. (Highsmith, 2002) The waterfall model happens in a manner that is sequential, moving from one stage to the other. This software development undergoes various stages including identifying the specification before conception, then analyzing, working on the designs, coding and testing, debugging then installing and finally, maintaining in the end. The developing team moves to the next stage only after the previous stage is completed. The engineers working on the software do spend much time at every stage and there is no chance of debugging once the software is made ready for the testing process. The Waterfall methodology considers documentation as an integral part of the software development. The Agile methodology has a team that is adaptive and that can easily respond and adjust to the changes in the requirements. Effort and time must not be invested on by the team thus reducing the chances of being irrelevant in terms of customers’ needs and wants. The team has a face to face communication with the customers hence having quality products at the required time. It is not always difficult to assess and establish the required

Nursing Shortage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Nursing Shortage - Essay Example he trend of nursing shortage in the United States of America, forecasts suggests that the situation is only going to worsen unless steps to arrest the decline in the attractiveness of the nursing profession and reduced the stress on nursing professionals are taken on an urgent basis (Buerhas, Donelan, Ulrich, Norman & Dittus, 2005). The nursing shortage in the United States of America is a matter of serious concern, for according to Shirey, 2006, the United States of America is in the midst of one of the most crippling nursing shortages in its history, with the projections of this shortfall in nursing to rise to twenty percent of the demand for nursing professionals by 2020, which in sheer numbers means that there will be a shortfall of as many as 800,000 registered nurses, which is a staggering figure. These figures on the shortage of nurses experienced in every area of nursing care requirement is bound to rise given that nearly sixty percent of the current nursing professionals may retire by 2009. The possibility of the shortfall in nursing professionals being made good through new registered nurses (RN) coming through the education programs for nursing in Iowa is dismal given that the admissions to the nursing programs in Iowa have been dropping rapidly for more than a decade. This is the grim reality of the nursing shortage in Iowa (Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet). The shortage of nurses in Iowa has implications on health care in Iowa. For the healthcare sector it means that the quality of health care provided to healthcare seekers in Iowa is likely to be deficient, affecting the standards of health care in Iowa. To the medical professionals the shortage of nursing implies that some of the functions in providing treatment and management of diseases normally handed over to nursing professionals will shift to them increasing their workload. To the citizens of Iowa the shortage of nurses means that there will be nursing care will not measure up to their

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Practical Word Assignment - The Differences between the Traditional Essay

Practical Word Assignment - The Differences between the Traditional Web and Web 2.0 - Essay Example Web 2.0 differs with the traditional web in a number of ways. Many web applications now come under the heading of Web 2.0, these include. Flickr, Google adsense, Wikipedia, blogging, Bit torrent, Napster and search engine optimization. (Web 2.0) One of the most important features of the Web 2.0 which differentiates it from the traditional web is the ‘Ajax’ which actually means the shaping of the new web-based applications to work in friendlier and easier desktop-based applications. These applications form a major part of this web and a new wave of such applications have entered the internet market. Companies like Microsoft are now focused on developing such internet applications but it was Google which made a head start, beginning with its popular Google maps. From then, a number of web applications have been created including Google earth. The next distinguishing feature of the Web 2.0 is the way of sharing and collaborating information. Web 2.0 proposes democracy in which anyone can say or post whatever he wills. This has been done in practice by the introduction of blogging sites like blogspot.com and social networking sites like facebook. Traditional web did not provide a platform to promote voice of the people but with the concept of Web 2.0, people can actually write and post their views with adequate ease. Another part is the easy access to information and Wikipedia is the living example of it. Users are able to access huge encyclopedias of information without making payments, registering themselves or subscribing to newsletters. (OReilly, 2005) Another important feature of the Web 2.0 is fair treatment of the users. In the traditional web, the sites were really strict in their handling of the users, subjecting them to frequent registrations and quite unnecessary ads. Many of the famous sites based on the traditional web system are loaded with conspicuous and obtrusive

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Aphasia and Grammar Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Aphasia and Grammar Paper - Essay Example The fact that we do not lose language by damage to our vocal chords is proof that language is a function that originates from the brain. Language is such an integral part of our lives yet we take words and their systematic arrangement in a sentence, grammar, for granted until we lose the ability to speak coherent grammatically correct sentences. This condition or disorder is called Aphasia. Damage to our vocal chords only limits our sounds and expression of the language but in the case of Aphasia the main centre in the brain that is linked with our linguistic ability gets damaged. This can happen when our brain is unable to communicate within its cortex walls to send the right signals to the sensory organs effectively to create the sound, deliver the words in the right arrangement and form a coherent language? Simply put, Aphasia is a disorder, which damages the parts of the brain that are responsible for language, as we know it. Typically a person with Aphasia loses the ability to s peak coherently or form grammatically coherent sentences. In other words, grammar is lost to the person with Aphasia. The disorder can happen to anyone or any age group and is usually the result of a stroke or damage to the brain. Most people with Aphasia have been known to regain their language skills through intense therapy by way of reacquainting their brain with language skills. In that case, it leaves us with the following questions. When a person gets Aphasia 1. Where does the grammar go? 2. How is it able to resurface suddenly? This article hopes to examine Aphasia and find some answers to the above questions. Where does the grammar go during Aphasia? To understand this point we need to go a bit in detail into the condition itself from a physiological point of view. Language is a function that is predominantly controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain. The left hemisphere as we all know controls the right side of the body and is also responsible for abstract reasoning an d anything that involves a systematic progression. This linear model of progression is the basis of language, which is a composite of words and sounds. Therefore a blow, stroke or damage to the left hemisphere can cause language disability or Aphasia. But the brain is a complex organ and this same language centre, and the consequent Aphasia is divided into two sections in the frontal and posterior regions of the left cerebral cortex, named after the neurologists who identified them. They are Broca’s Aphasia after Paul Broca and as Wernicke’s Aphasia after Carl Wernicke respectively. To explain in very simple terms, Broca’s region is the one that is involved with structural format or grammatical reasoning while Wernicke region is like a storehouse of words, like nouns and verb as well as phrases and composite words derived from familiar objects and have thus formed by association with Broca’s region. Grammar is the structural format that is the basis of se ntences, phrases and composite formations. Therefore it is important for Broca’s and Wernicke’s regions to connect. It has been found that they are intricately connected by some specific neurons. When this connection gets severed or if there is damage to either one of the regions, Aphasia occurs. Let us examine how this damage actually brings about the loss of grammar. In the case of Broca’

Monday, July 22, 2019

Two Milestones In The History Of Space Exploration Essay Example for Free

Two Milestones In The History Of Space Exploration Essay The subject of space conquest has been a very interesting aspect of human history for the past few decades. Although to date, we already use advanced technologies, high-powered telescopes, satellites and spacecrafts, it would still be helpful for us to look back through time and consider the beginnings of space exploration. We will do this by studying two important events that enabled humanity to realize the possibility of conquering space.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On April 12, 1961, Moscow Time, the world entered the realm of outer space flight when the spacecraft Vostok 1 carried to outer space the first human being to ever orbit the earth. The name of the cosmonaut to first orbit the earth was Yuri Gagarin. Zal (2002) wrote an interesting record of the Vostok 1 flight as follows: â€Å"The launch vehicle blasted off nearly as scheduled at 09:06:59.7 Moscow Time and the orbital insertion looked nominal to Gagarin. However unknown to the pilot, the core (second) stage of the rocket burned longer than scheduled, leaving the spacecraft in a 327-kilometer apogee orbit, instead of planned 230 kilometers. It meant, that in case of a complete failure of the braking engine, a natural reentry of the spacecraft caused by the friction in the upper atmosphere would take place at least five days after a 10-day supply of vital life-support consumables onboard Vostok would run out†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When the Russian government launched the Vostok 1 project and chose Yuri Gagarin to be on board, there was no complete certainty that the mission would work out one hundred percent successful.   Two years earlier, the first artificial satellite to enter geocentric orbit, named Sputnik 1, burned into space as it attempted to reenter the earth’s atmosphere. Previous unmanned test launches of Vostok 1 prototypes turned out to be failures. â€Å"Out of seven prototypes of the Vostok spacecraft flown (Versions 1K and 3KA), two spacecraft did not reach orbit due to the failure of the launch vehicle and two vehicles did not complete all their tasks†. (Zal, 2001)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A few hours before the flight of Vostok 1, it encountered a strange problem. During the closure of Gagarin’s capsule hatch, one of its sensors suddenly would not turn on. The hatch had to be re-opened to activate the sensor and everything went back to normal. Later however, the spacecraft, was able to successfully get out of the earth’s atmosphere. Its flight around the earth’s orbit took a total of 108 minutes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The plan regarding Gagarin’s reentry into the earth was that he would detach from the spacecraft and enter the atmosphere by a capsule. Strange as it may seem, the capsule took ten minutes longer than expected before it actually detached from the spacecraft. This is crucial because any miscalculation and digression from the plan may cause the capsule to explode in the atmosphere. According to Gagarin, he experienced rapid spinning and extreme heat as the capsule began to enter the atmosphere. In the midst of the turmoil, Gagarin sent a message to the ground monitors which will later become an inspiration for other cosmonauts for the years to come: â€Å"Everything OK†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Needless to say, Yuri Gagarin successfully returned to earth and was regarded a hero by Russian authorities. His name also changed the history of space exploration forever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Meanwhile, if Yuri Gagarin was the first person to orbit the earth, Galileo Galilei was the first person to use a telescope to study the moon and other heavenly objects. What he did was improve the newly invented spyglass (invented in 1608 by a Dutch spectacle maker)[1] and turned it skyward in an attempt to study elements in outer space. His findings were shocking to the people of his time. Galileo found out that the moon doesn’t have a smooth surface, just like everyone supposed. In fact, it was full of rocky terrain and craters. He was also the first to discover sunspots, the four large moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although Galileo’s findings were challenged and was not generally accepted by the religion of his time, still he was able to contribute to modern space conquest and research. Isaac Newton, in 1750, improved Galileo’s concept of the telescope. In future centuries, telescopes of a greater and broader view of the universe were invented. Among these far reaching telescopes are the Keck Telescope, the Very Large Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. According to Mould, Geffner and Lesser (1991), the Keck telescope is 33 feet in diameter, situated 33,000 feet above sea level in the Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The Very Large Telescope, a European project, is 52.5 feet in diameter and situated in the mountains of Chile. The Hubble Space Telescope is a satellite telescope and can see images in outer space up to 14 billion light years away.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Galileo’s basic findings through the telescope evidently paved the way for giant leaps of astronomical findings in future years and gave us a better understanding of the universe. Works Cited: Bellis, M. (2005). History of the Telescope – Binocular. Retrieved September 1, 2007, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelescope.htm Mould, J.A., Geffner, S.L., Lesser, S.M., (1991). General Science (3rd ed.).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New York: Amsco School Publications. Pogge, R.W. (2006). Lecture 16: The Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei the    Telescope. In An Introduction to Solar System Astronomy (Astronomy 161). Retrieved September 1, 2007, from http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-   state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.html    Zak, A. (2001). Vostok 1: Dawn Of Human Space Flight. Retrieved September 1,  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2007, from http://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok1.htm   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  [1] Although the credit for the invention of spyglass or early telescope was often given to Hans Lippershey of Holland, there was no sufficient evidence that he was the first to make one. See Bellis (2005).

Sunday, July 21, 2019

The Drill Stem Component Description Engineering Essay

The Drill Stem Component Description Engineering Essay CHAPTER 3 INTRODUCTION This chapter presents general procedures for drill string design. The design aspects of critical importance and factors controlling drill pipe selection are highlighted. The term Drill Stem is used to refer to the combination of tubulars and accessories that serve as a connection between the rig and the drill bit (RGU lecture slides). It consists mainly of Drill Pipe, Drill Collars (DC) and Heavy Weight Drill Pipes (HWDP) and accessories including bit subs, top drive subs, stabilisers, jars, reamers etc. Drill stem is often used interchangeably with the term Drill String which actually refers to the joints of drill pipe in the drill stem. For the purpose of this report, Drill String will be used to refer to the string of drill pipes that together with drill collars and heavy weight drill pipe make up the drill stem see fig 3.1. 3.1 DRILL STEM COMPONENT DESCRIPTION 3.1.1 Drill Pipe The drill pipes are seamless pipes usually made from different steel grades to different diameters, weights and lengths. They are used to transfer rotary torque and drilling fluid from the rig to the bottom hole assembly (drill collars plus accessories) and drill bit. Each drill pipe is referred to as a joint, with each joint consisting of a pipe body and two connections (see fig 3.2). Drill pipe lengths vary, and these different lengths are classified as ranges, the available or more common ranges include: Range 1: 18 22 ft Range 2: 27 30ft Range 3: 38 40ft. Drill Stem. Fig 3.1: Drill Stem with components. (Heriott Watt University lecture Notes: Drilling Engineering) Drill pipes are also manufactured in different sizes and weights which reflects the wall thickness of the drill pipe. Some common sizes and their corresponding weights include 31/2 in. 13.30 lb/ft and 4 1/2in. 16.60 lb/ft. The indicated weight is the nominal weight in air (pipe body weight excluding tool joints) of the drill pipe. A complete listing of API recognised drill pipe sizes, weight and grades are published in the API RP 7G. The drill pipe grade is an indication of the minimum yield strength of the drill pipe which controls the burst, collapse and tensile load capacity of the drill pipe. The common drill pipe grades are presented in the table below Grade Yield Strength, psi Letter Designation Alternate Designation D D-55 55,000 E E-75 75,000 X X-95 95,000 G G-105 105,000 S S-135 135,000 Table 3.1: Drill Pipe Grades. Drill pipes are often used to drill more than one well, therefore in most cases the drill pipe would be in a worn condition resulting in its wall thickness being less than it was when the drill pipe was brand new. In order to identify and differentiate drill pipes, they are grouped into classes. The different classes are an indication of the degree of wear on the wall thickness of the drill pipe. The classes can be summarised as follows according to API standards: New: Never been used, with wall thickness when to 12.5% below nominal. Premium: Uniform wear with minimum wall thickness of 80%. Class 2: Allows drill pipe with a minimum wall thickness of 70%. It is essential that the drill pipe class be identified in drill pipe use or design, since the extent of wear affects the drill pipe properties and strength. When specifying a particular joint of drill pipe, the class, grade, size, weight and range have to be identified, the specification could therefore appear thus: 5 19.5 lb/ft Grade S Range 2 Fig 3.2: Parts of Drill pipe. (Handbook for Petroleum and Natural gas) 3.1.2 Tool Joints Tools joints are screw type connections welded at the ends of each joint of a drillpipe. The tool joints have coarse tapered threads and sealing shoulders designed to withstand the weight of the drill string when it is suspended in the slips. Tool joints are of two kinds; the pin (male section) and the box (female section). Each drill pipe has a pin attached to one end and a box attached at the other end. This makes it possible for the pin of one joint of drill pipe to be stabbed into box of a previous drill pipe. There are several kinds of tool joints widely used: Joint Type Diagram Description Internal Upset (IU) Tool joint is less than the pipe. Tool joint OD is approximately the same as the pipe. Internal Flush (IF) Tool joints ID is approximately the same as the pipe. The OD is upset. Internal / External Upset (IEU) Tool joint is larger than the pipe such that the tool joint ID is less than the drill pipe. The tool joint OD is larger than the drill pipe. Table 3.2 Types of tool joints. (The Robert Gordon University Lecture Notes: Drill String Design) 3.1.3 Drill Collars Drill collars are thick walled tubes made from steel. They are normally the predominant part of the bottom hole assembly (BHA) which provides Weight on Bit (WOB). Due to the large wall thickness of the drill collars, the connection threads could be machined directly to the body of the tube, thereby eliminating the need for tool joints (see fig 3.3). Drill collars are manufactured in different sizes and shapes including round, square, triangular and spiral grooved. The slick and spiral grooved drill collars are the most common shapes used currently in the industry. There are drill collars made from non-magnetic steel used to isolate directional survey instruments from magnetic interference arising from other drill stem components. The steel grade used in the manufacture of drill collars can be much lower than those used in drill pipes since they are thick walled. Functions Provide weight on bit Provide stiffness for BHA to maintain directional control and minimise bit stability problems. Provide strength to function in compression and prevent buckling of drill pipes. Fig 3.3: Carbon Steel Drill Pipes. 3.1.4 Heavy Weight Drill Pipe Heavy weight drill pipes (HWDP) are often manufactured by machining down drill collars See fig 3.4. They usually have greater wall thickness than regular drill pipe. HWDP are used to provide a gradual cross over when making transition between drill collars and drill pipes to minimise stress concentration at the base of the drill pipe. These stress concentrations often result from: Difference in stiffness due to the difference in cross-sectional area between the drill collar and drill pipe. Bit bouncing arising from rotation and cutting action of the bit. HWDP can be used in either compressive or tensile service. In vertical wellbores it is used for transition and in highly deviated wells, it used in compression to provide weight on bit. Fig 3.4: Heavy Weight Drill Pipe. (Heriott Watt University lecture Notes: Drilling Engineering) 3.1.5 Accessories Drill Stem accessories include: Stabilisers: these are made of a length of pipe with blades on the external surface. The blades are spiral or straight, fixed or mounted on rubber sleeves to allow the drill string rotate inside. Functions of the stabiliser include: Stabilise the drill collars to reduce buckling and bending Ensure uniform loading of tricone bits to reduce wobbling and increase bit life. To provide necessary wall contact and stiffness behind the bit to induce positive side force to build angle when drilling deviated wells. Reamers: used in the BHA to enlarge the well bore diameter and ream out doglegs, key seats, ledges. Drilling Jars: incorporated in the BHA to deliver a sharp blow and assist in freeing the drill string should it become stuck. 3.2 DRILL STRING DESIGN The drill string design is carried out in order to establish the most efficient combination of drill pipe size, weight, and grades to fulfil the drilling objectives of any particular hole section at the lowest cost within acceptable safety standards. In order to design a drill string to be used in a particular hole section, the following parameters need to be established: Hole section depth Hole section size Expected mud weight Desired safety factors in tension and overpull. Desired safety factor in collapse Length of drill collars required to provide desired WOB including OD, ID and weight per foot. Drill pipe sizes and inspection class The drill string design has to meet the following requirement: The working loads (tension, collapse, burst) on the drill string must not exceed the rated load capacity of each of the drill pipes. The drill collars should be of sufficient length to provide all required WOB to prevent buckling loads on the drill pipe. The drill pipes used have to ensure the availability of sufficient fluid flow rate at the drill bit for hole cleaning and good rate of penetration. 3.2.1 Design Safety Factors Design safety factors are applied to calculated working loads to account for any unexpected service load on the drill string. They are used to represent any features that are not considered in the load calculations e.g. temperature and corrosion, thus ensuring that service loads do not exceed the load capacity of the drill pipe. Design safety factor values are often selected based on experience from operating within a particular area, the extent of uncertainty in the operating conditions e.g. when operating in HPHT conditions, a larger safety factor is applied than when operating in less harsh conditions. Some commonly used design safety values are illustrated in the table below Load Design Safety Factor Value Tension 1.1 1.3 Margin of overpull (MOP) 50,000 100,000. MOP of 400,000 have been used in ultra deep wells Weight on Bit 1.15 or 85% of available Weight on bit to ensure neutral point is 85% of drill collar string length measures from the bottom (API RP 7G) Torsion 1.0 (based on the lesser of the pipe body or tool joint strength) Collapse 1.1 1.15 Burst 1.2 3.2.2 Drill Collar Selection The drill collars are selected with the aim of ensuring that they provide sufficient WOB without buckling or putting the lower section of the drill string in compression. 3.2.2.1 Size selection Lateral movement of the drill bit is controlled by the diameter of the drill collar directly behind it. Therefore the size/diameter of the drill collar closest to the bit will be dependent on the required effective minimum hole diameter and the relationship can be given as When two BHA components of different cross-sectional areas are to be made up, it is essential that the bending resistance ratio (BRR) be evaluated. This is important because BHA components have tensile and compressive forces acting on them when they are bent in the well bore. These forces cause stress at connections and any location where there is a change in cross-sectional area. Therefore it is important to ensure that these stresses are within acceptable ranges. The bending resistance (BR) of a drill string component is dependent on its section modulus which is given as Z = section modulus, in3 I = second moment of area, in4 OD = outside diameter, in ID = inside diameter, in The BRR is used to express any change in BR and can be calculated using BRR should generally be below 5.5 and in severe drilling conditions, below 3.5. 3.2.2.2 Connections When selecting connections to be used with drill collars, it is essential to check that the BRR of the pin and box indicates a balanced connection. The BRR for drill collar connection is calculated as the section modulus of the box divided by the section modulus of the pin. The API RP 7G contains tables that can be used to determine BRR for any box and pin OD. BRRs of 2.5 have given balanced connections (RGU Lecture notes, 2005). 3.2.2.3 Weight on Bit The maximum weight on bit required is normally a function of the bit size and type. The rule of thumb is: Maximum WOB of 2000lbf per inch of bit diameter when using Polycrsyalline Diamond Compact bits (PDC) and mud motors. Maximum WOB of 5000lbf per inch of bit diameter when using tricone bits. Other factors controlling WOB include inclination, hole size and buckling. In vertical wellbores the length of drill collars required to provide a specified weight on bit is given by LDC = Length of Drill Collars, ft WOB = Weight of Bit, lb DFBHA = Safety factor to keep neutral point in drill collars. WDC = Weight per foot of Drill Collars, lb/ft Kb = Buoyancy Factor. The neutral point as described by (Mian, 1991) referring to Lubinksi, is the point that divides the drill stem into two portions, with the section above the neutral point in tension and that below in compression. Therefore in order to ensure that the entire length of drill pipes remain in tension, the neutral point of the drill stem has to be maintained within the drill collars. According to the API RP 7G, the height of the neutral point measured from the bottom of the drill collars will be 85% of the total length of drill collars used, with 85% being the safety factor. In inclined wellbores, the angle of inclination has to be taken into consideration when calculating the maximum WOB that can be applied without buckling the drill pipe. This is because although the WOB is applied at the inclination of the wellbore, this weight acts vertically, thus reducing the available weight at the bit. Therefore to allow for this reduction, the buoyed weight of the BHA would be reduced by the cosine of the well inclination, thus WOB in inclined holes is calculated with the formula All parameters remain as defined in equation 5; ÃŽÂ ¸ is the angle of inclination of the well. As a result of the vertically acting weight of the BHA, the drill string tends to lie on the low side of the hole and is supported to some extent by the wall of the well bore. Therefore the pipes above the neutral point could only buckle if the compressive forces in the drill string exceed a critical amount. This critical buckling force is calculated as follows Fcrit = critical buckling force, lb ODHWDP = outside diameter of HWDP, in. ODtj = maximum outside diameter of pipe, in. IDHWDP = inside diameter of HWDP, in. Kb = buoyancy factor. Dhole = diameter of hole, in. ÃŽËÅ" = hole inclination, degrees. Since HWDP are sometimes used to apply WOB in inclined wells, and drill pipes are sometimes used in compression, the critical buckling force is calculated for both HWDP and drill pipes. 3.2.3 Drill Pipe Selection Factors to be considered for drill pipe selection include: Maximum allowable working loads in tension, collapse, burst, and torsion. Maximum allowable dogleg severity at any depth in order to avoid fatigue damage in the drill pipe. Combined loads on the drill pipe. The loads considered when selecting drill pipes to be used in the drill string is dependent on the well depth, well bore geometry and hole section objectives. In shallower vertical wells, collapse and tension are of more importance than burst or torsion. Burst is normally not considered in most designs since the worst case for a burst load on the drill pipe would occur when pressuring the drillstring with a blocked bit nozzle, even with this condition, the burst resistance of the drill pipe is likely to be exceeded. Torsion is of less importance in vertical well bores because drag forces are at minimal amounts unlike in highly deviated wells. The dogleg severity of the well for both vertical and deviated wells is important because of increased fatigue in the drill pipe when it is rotated in the curved sections of the wellbore. A graphical method is recommended for drill pipe selection, with the loads plotted on a load versus depth graph. This makes it possible for loads at particular points on the drill string to be easily visualised, and any sections of the drill pipe that do not meet the load requirements are easily identified and redesigned. 3.2.3.1 Collapse Drill pipes are sometimes exposed to external pressures which exceed its internal pressures, thereby inducing a collapse load on the drill pipe. The worst scenario for collapse in a drill pipe is during drill stem tests when they are run completely empty into the wellbore. The collapse loads are highest at the bottom joint of the drill pipes, as a result, the collapse load would normally control the drill pipe grade to be used at the bottom of the drill string. The API specified collapse resistance for different sizes and grades of drill pipe assuming either elastic, plastic or transition collapse depending on their diameter to wall thickness ratio have been calculated and are published in the API RP 7G with the relevant formulae. The maximum collapse pressure on the drill pipe when it is completely empty can be calculated as follows: Pc = collapse pressure, psi MW = mud weight, ppg TVD = true vertical depth at which Pc acts, ft. On some occasions, the mud weight outside the pipe varies from that inside the pipe, also the fluid levels inside and outside the pipe may also vary. This situation could also induce collapse loads. The collapse loads induced by this scenario can be calculated thus L = Fluid depth outside the drill pipe, ft MW = Mud weight outside the drill pipe, ppg Y = fluid depth inside drill pipe, ft MW = Mud weight inside drill pipe, ppg. The value for Pc is then plotted on the collapse load graph as the collapse load line see fig 3.5. It is recommended practice to apply a design safety factor to the collapse load calculated from equations 8 or 9 (depending on expected scenarios) in order to account for unexpected additional loads as wells as unknown variables. The value of the design factor is often between 1.1 1.5 for class 2 drill pipes. According to (Adams, 1985) the design factor should be 1.3 to account for the fact that new drill pipes are often not used for drill stem tests. The value of the collapse load multiplied by the collapse design factor is plotted on the collapse load graph as the design line, this is then used to select an appropriate grade and weight of drill pipe to fulfil these load conditions. Fig 3.5: Sample Collapse load graph. 3.2.3.2 Tension Load The tensile load capacity of the drill string should be evaluated to ensure there is enough tensile strength in the topmost joint of each size, weight, grade and class of to support the weight of the drill string submerged in the wellbore, hence the need to include buoyancy in the calculations. There has to also be enough reserve tensile strength to pull the drill string out of the well if the pipe gets stuck. The stabiliser and bit weight can be neglected when calculating the drillstring weight. In a vertical wellbore, the forces acting on the drill string are tension from its self weight and the hydrostatic pressure from the fluid in the wellbore. The hydrostatic pressure in the wellbore exerts an upward force on the cross sectional area of the drill string, which is commonly referred to as buoyancy. Therefore the resulting tensile load on the drill string attached to drill collars, taking account of buoyancy is calculated as: FTEN = resultant tensile load on drill string, lb LDP = length of drill pipe, ft LDC = length of drill collars, ft WTDP = air weight of drill pipe, lb/ft WTDC = air weight of drill collars, lb/ft MW = Mud weight, ppg. ADC = Cross sectional area of drill collars, in2 FTEN is plotted on the tension load graph as the tensile load line. The tensile strength values for different sizes, grades and inspection classes of drill pipes are contained in the API RP 7G, and can be calculated from the equation: Fyield = minimum tensile strength, lb Ym = specified minimum yield stress, psi A = cross section area, in2 Fyield is plotted as the minimum tensile strength line on the tension load graph. However, these values (Fyield) are theoretical values based on minimum areas, wall thickness and yield strength of the drill pipes. Therefore, these values only give an indication of the stress at which a certain total deformation would occur and not the specific point at which permanent deformation of the material begins. If a pipe is loaded to the minimum tensile strength calculated from equation 11, there is the possibility that some permanent stretch may occur, thereby making it difficult to keep the pipe straight in the wellbore. In order to eliminate the possibility of this occurrence, 90% of the minimum tensile strength as recommended by the API (American Petroleum Institute), should be used as the maximum allowable tensile load on the drill pipe, i.e Fdesign = maximum allowable tensile load 0.9 = a constant relating proportional limit to yield strength. Fdesign is plotted on the tension load graph as the maximum allowable tensile load line. As with the collapse load, a design factor would be applied to the tensile loads to account for dynamic loads in the drill pipe which occur when the slips are set, as well as prevent the occurrence of pipe parting close to the surface. The product of FTEN and the design factor is plotted as the tension design load line in the tension load graph see fig 3.6. Margin Of Overpull A margin for overpull is added to the tension load to ensure there is sufficient tensile strength in the drill pipe when it is pulled in the event of a stuck pipe. This margin is normally 50,000 100,000lb, but in deeper wells margins of overpull have reached 300,000lb. The value obtained after adding the margin of overpull is also plotted on the tension load graph see fig 3.6. The difference between the calculated tensile load at any point in the drillstring (FTEN) and the maximum allowable tension load would also represent the available overpull. This value represents available tensile strength of the drill pipe to withstand any extra forces applied to the drill string when trying to release it from a stuck pipe situation. FTEN and Fa can also be expressed as a safety factor This safety factor is an indication of how much the selected drill pipe will be able to withstand expected service loads. Due to uncertainty with actual service loads and conditions, a safety factor greater than 1 is always required. Slip Crush Slip crushing is generally not a problem if the slips are properly maintained. However, it is necessary to apply a safety factor for slip crushing when designing the drill string. This helps account for the hoop stress (SH) caused by the slips and the tensile stress (ST) caused by the weight of the drill string suspended in the slips. This relationship between SH and ST can be represented by the following equation SH = hoop stress, psi ST = tensile stress, psi D = outside diameter of the pipe, in. K = lateral load factor on slips, Ls = length of slips, in. = slip taper usually 9 ° 27 45 z = arctan ÃŽÂ ¼ ÃŽÂ ¼ = coefficient of friction, (approximately 0.08) The calculated tensile load is multiplied by the slip crush factor () to obtain the equivalent tensile load from slip crushing: Ts = tension from slip crushing, lb TL = tension load in drill string, lb SH / ST = slip crush factor. Ts is also plotted on the tension load graph as the slip crush design line. Fig 3.6: Sample Tension load graph The general step-by-step procedure for drill pipe selection using the graphical method is given as 1. Calculate the expected collapse load on drill pipe and apply the collapse design safety factor to derive the design load. Use the result to select weight and grade of drill pipe that satisfy collapse conditions. Plot expected collapse load and design load on a pressure vs. depth graph. 2. Calculate maximum allowable tensile load for the drill pipe selected in (1) above. Also calculate tension load on the drill string including buoyancy effects. Plot the tension load, specified minimum yield strength, and maximum allowable tensile load values on axial load vs. depth graph. 3. Apply tension design factor, margin of overpull, and slip crush factor to the calculated tension load and plot the individual results on the axial load vs. depth graph. Of the three factors applied to the tension load, the one resulting in the highest value is selected as the worst case for tensile loads. 4. Inspect graph and re-design any sections not meeting the load requirements. When designing a tapered drill string, the maximum length of a particular size, weight, grade and class of drill pipes that can be used to drill the selected hole section with specified WOB can be calculated as: All parameters remain as defined in equation 10 and 11. Note that equation 16 is only used when the MOP design line is the worst case scenario for tensile loads. When slip crushing is the worst case, the formula below is used SF = safety factor for slip crushing. The lightest available drill pipe grade should be used first in order to ensure that that the heavier grades are used upper section of the drill string where tensile loads are the highest. 3.2.4 Dog Leg Severity Fatigue damage is the most common type of drill pipe failure. It is known to be caused by cyclic bending loads induced in a drill pipe when it is rotated in the curved sections of the wellbore. The rotation of the drill pipe in the curved hole sections induce stresses in the outer wall of the drill pipe by stretching it and increasing its tensile loads. Fatigue damage from doglegs tends to occur when the angle exceeds a critical value. This critical value can be calculated as: C = maximum permissible dog leg severity, deg/100ft E = Youngs modulus, psi (30 x 106 for steel, 10.5 X 106 for aluminium) D = Drill pipe outer diameter, in. L = half the distance between tool joints, (180 in, for range 2 pipe) T = tension below the dogleg, lb à Ã†â€™b = maximum permissible bending stress, psi. I = drill pipe second moment of area, = à Ã†â€™b, is calculated from the buoyant tensile stress (à Ã†â€™t) and is dependent on the grade of the pipe. à Ã†â€™t = T/A, where T is defined in equation 19, and A is the cross sectional area of the pipe body in in2. For grade E pipe, The results from equation 20 are valid for à Ã†â€™t values up to 67,000psi. For grade S pipe, The results from equation 21 are valid for à Ã†â€™t values up to 133,400psi. It is recommended that an allowable dogleg severity (DLS) versus depth chart be plotted for every hole section with a particular drill string design since DLS changes with depth. The chart is plotted with the DLS on the x-axis and depth on the y-axis (see fig 3.7). When DLS lies to the left of the line or below the curve, the drill pipe is in safe operating conditions, and when it falls above or to the right of the curve, it is in unsafe conditions. Fig 3.7: Allowable Dogleg Severity Chart. (Mian, 1991) 3.2.5 Torsion Drill pipe torsional yield strength is important when planning deviated wells and ultra deep wells. In deviated wells, increased drag forces acting on the drill string from its interaction with the wellbore increase torsional loads on the drill pipe. In deeper wells, it is important in stuck pipe situations, in order to know the maximum torque that can be applied to the drill string. The pipe body torsional yield strength when subjected to torque alone can be calculated from the equation: Q = minimum torsional yield strength, ft lb J = polar second moment of area, à Ã¢â€š ¬/32 (D4 d4) D = pipe OD in, d = pipe ID in. Ym = minimum yield strength, psi. 3.2.6 Combined Loads On The Drill String Collapse and Tension The collapse resistance of the drill pipe is often reduced when the drill pipe is exposed to both tension and collapse loads. This happens because tensile loads stretch the drill pipe thereby affecting its D/t (diameter -wall thickness ratio) which controls the collapse resistance of the drill pipe. In ultra deep wells, the effect of combined collapse and tension is experienced when function testing the Blow out Preventers (BOP). It is becoming common practice in ultradeep drilling to equip BOPs with test rams in order to enable the BOP be tested without setting plugs in the well head. This is done to save tripping time due to extreme well depths. An example given by (Chatar, 2010), using 65/8in 27.70lb/ft drill pipe showed that with 65/8in drill pipe having 860kips of maximum allowable tensile loads, at half of this load, the drill string is only capable of withstanding 4,500psi collapse loads, which is often not sufficient for ultradeep drilling BOPs. The corrected collapse resistance of drill pipes under tension can be calculated using the formula Where R represents the percentage of the collapse resistance left when the drill pipe is under tension, therefore in equation 25, the value for R is used to multiply the normal plastic collapse resistance of the pipe to give the collapse resistance under tension. R can also be determined graphically with the following steps 1. Calculate Z using equation 24 2. Enter the ellipse for biaxial stress (fig 3.8) on the horizontal axis with the value for Z and draw a vertical line to the ellipse curve. 3. Draw a horizontal line from the vertical line drawn in (2) above to the vertical axis and read off the value. 4. Use the value from (5) above to multiply the collapse resistance to get the corrected collapse resistance with tension. Fig 3.8: Ellipse of Biaxial yield Strength: Effect of tensile loading om collapse resistance. (RGU Lecture notes: Casing design) Combined tension and torsion The torsional yield strength of a drill pipe is significantly reduced when the pipe is under tension loads. The torsional yield strength of the drill pipe under tension can be calculated with the equation Q = minimum torsional yield strength under tension, ft lb J = polar second moment of area. D = pipe OD in, d= pipe ID in. Ym = minimum yield strength, psi P = total load in tension, lb A = cross sectional area, in2 3.2.7 Tool Joint Performance The makeup torque to be applied to the tool joints when connecting drill pipes is calculated as follows ID = inside diameter, in. OD = outside diameter, in. Values for X, M, B and Q for standard connections are presented in the table be