Distributed Leadership Essay

lead is the important natural action that motivates an single to achieve the predetermined objectives. This motivation nurtures inspiration that boosts us towards the goal. Now, comes the discussion of whether the leading arse be centralized or it elicit be distributed among various people. Once we start the discussion of distributed leaders, it should also be known whether it is a horizontal or vertical distribution. Horizontal distribution means distributing the leadership among the same level of people whereas vertical distribution again forks into top-down distribution and bottom-up distribution.Exploring these contrastive approaches we identify two dimensions along which to consider the knowledgeable changes they raise closely measuring how check leadership is distributed across work staff data semen and data focus. We should also observe the variations between schools and between activities that are adapted for distributing the responsibilities of leadership. Let us also consider different carriages of postulateing how the play of managing and leading schools is distributed among people in schools and the methodological and philosophical pros and cons involved in this live on.If we closely observe the daily lives of schools, we can think from a distributed aspect which has the authorization to propose ingestionful insight into how management and leadership unfold themselves. In the process of distributing the leadership, we can identify numerous entities in the school across which leadership can be distributed, including people in the aspects of the situation such as r asideines and imaginations. While there have been recent advances in articulating the conceptual frameworks for distributed school leadership, the verifiable research base in this area is less developed.With a few exceptions, most empirical work has involved small samples of schools. While performing this study of distributed leadership, we come across two important observations to be made Across which school actors do researchers hypothesize leadership and management is distributed? What aspects of leadership and management work are hypothesized to be distributed across people? These two questions lead to many sub questions like Who should provide evidence of distributed leadership? Leaders, followers, or both?Among leaders, should researchers adjudicate evidence on formal leaders, informal leaders, or both? Should the proof on distributed leadership come from self-reports or from more objective measurement plans such as the reports given by others through surveys? How do these various methodological choices about measuring the distributed leadership affect the validity of data? We can use multiple ways of identifying actors within schools among whom the work of leadership and management might be distributed. A distributed perspective serves as a new conceptual frame.It helps us understand leadership practice and how leadership practices mig ht work more effectively in the context of schools. It is non a type of leadership or a style of leadership. Its not a model of leadership. Its not something you place on top of a school and say, Now you are doing distributed leadership. A distributed perspective is thinking about the situation as an integral part of the leadership context it is an integrated view of leaders thinking, their activity and behaviors, and the situation. The distributed perspective focuses on leadership activity.In an organizational context, leadership activity might be laborious to sell a vision in the context of the school or trying to transform the instructional practice in particular classrooms within a school. It is the activity that we are trying to understand. Think about the conformation of people who are involved, how the context shapes what happens with that activity, and how artifacts might be an integral part of that activity. The distributed perspective is integrative thinking about all o f those pieces and on leadership activity itself.The roots of distributed leadership is an outgrowth of activity theory and distributed cognition. Activity theory is about how an activity system works. Think of the cockpit of an airplane the people in the cockpit, the prick panel, the people who are trying to help the plane land and try to think about the activity of landing the plane not as something an individual person does, not as something the instrument panel does without the people, not as something a pilot could do without the air traffic controller. Try to think about the whole activity system.This is comparable to what is meant by leadership activity. With distributed cognition, we are trying to think about how sense making is stretched over amicable interaction and artifacts in an environment. The context and social system matter. Distributed cognition suggests that peoples thinking and actions dont happen in a vacuum. Thinking happens through social interaction and i nteraction with the environment. These impact how the leadership activity happens. Distributed leadership integrates these central ideas from activity theory and distributed cognition.We think of leadership as an influence relationship the susceptibility to influence the practices of others in ways that bring about a major change in form, nature, and function of some phenomenon. But distributed leadership moves beyond trying to understand leadership through the actions and beliefs of single leaders. It is constituted through the interaction of leaders, teachers, and the situation as they influence instructional practice. Distributed leadership is a powerful way to understand leadership activity in schools in more complex and interconnected ways.Distributed leadership can also be called as dispersed leadership, collaborative leadership, democratic leadership and shared leadership. Dispersed appears to suggest leadership as an activity that can be located at different points within an organization and pre-exists delegation which is a conscious choice in the exercise of power. The idea of dispersed leadership is captured by David Greens term leaderful community which involves a community in which people believe they have a contribution to make, can exercise their initiative and can, when relevant to the parturiency in hand, have followers.The Collaborative leaderships operates on the basis of alliance or partnering or networking. Network learning communities, sponsored by NCSL are an expression of collaboration across the boundaries of individual institutions. Collaborative leadership may also apply to an inter-agency context, expressed in schools joint work with community agencies, parents, teacher groups, and other outer stakeholders. Leadership as democratic is by definition antithetical to hierarchy and delegation.Elsbernd suggests four defining characteristics (i) a leaders interaction with, and encouragement of others to get in fully in all aspects of leadership tasks (ii) wide-spread sharing of information and power (iii) enhancing self-worth of others and (iv) energising others for tasks. Democratic leadership can either take the form of consultive (where a leader makes a group decision after consulting members about their willingness) or participative decision-making (where a leader makes the decision in collaboration with the group members a lot based on majority rule).Shared leadership is best understood when leadership is explored as a social process something that arises out of social relationships not simply what leaders do. It does not dwell in an individuals qualities or competencies but lies between people, within groups, in collective action, which defies attempts to single out a leader. A common message that runs through these definitions is that leadership is not the monopoly of any one person, a message that is central to the notion of distributed leadership.In distributed leadership, it is not only the headte achers leadership that counts but also the leadership roles performed by deputy heads, substantive teachers, support teachers, members of school councils, boards or governing bodies and students. Leadership is dispersed rather than concentrated and does not necessarily give any particular individual or categories of persons the privilege of providing more leadership than others.In this clear up distributed leadership cannot be said to be a new leadership technique but rather an intellectual label that seeks to re-enforce the fact that leadership needs to be a shared activity in schools. It should therefore be conceptualised, not simply as another technique or practice of leadership, but, adept as importantly as a way of thinking about leadership in post-heroic terms rather than a heroic phenomenon.In this way, we can distinguish clearly between delegation as a heroic phenomenon in which distribution is initiated solely from the top (headteacher) and distributed leadership as a post-heroic phenomenon in which distribution does not solely depend on the headteachers initiative. Everyone in the schools should have the opportunity to exercise leadership from the youngest child through out and not just a selected few (Secondary head) and problems in the schools should be dealt openly and honestly with the involvement of other people (secondary head).Staff who have only been in the school for a short time could also be school leaders in that they show by their personality, by their vision, by their jobs, commitment, expectations and values that they have got the susceptibility to lead. In a sense, anyone can be a leader. It is a process that a lot of staff can demonstrate. Formally, the process of distribution is initiated by the headteacher who identifies and delegates leadership responsibilities to individual teachers.Schools, in some places are structured in terms of designated leadership and managerial roles through which the headteacher delegates respons ibility. Such delegations may be driven by a headteachers recognition that others have expertise that he/she does not have. Distributed in this way, there is an expectation of delivery and the headteachers role is to support and provide. The formality characterising the distribution process gradually leads unto a less formal or informal approach as headteachers develop trust in their teachers and beget more confident in teachers leadership capabilities.As headteachers become more comfortable with their own indorsement and feel more able to acknowledge the authority of others they are able to extend the compass of leadership and to let go the more. This is evident in one headteachers comment I think initially from top-down through delegation and as it progresses it becomes both bottom-up and top-down. People who show willingness to take some levels of initiative from any direction are unfeignedly encouraged. And I love to see it really happen and thats when I become happy.

Crude Oil Refining or Petroleum Product Importation: Which Is Economical for Nigeria

CRUDE OIL REFINING OR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS IMPORTATION WHICH IS ECONOMICAL FOR NIGERIA? ABSTRACT One of the most crucial challenges facing Nigeria is being sufficient to pertain the slide fastener pack of the push button hungry populace the exponential population growth stigmas it even more challenging. The approach adopted to meeting this need has impacted severely on the economy of the nation as reflected in the year-on-year stinting figures. This can be attributed to her choice of net importer of oil color crossroads status to the more than more frugal domestic refining option.This paper analyses the best economic option between refining earthy inunct and importing the products in Nigeria, at the end devising probable suggestions. TABLE OF CONTENT ABBRECIATIONS 1. NTRODUCTION. 4 2. CRUDE OIL REFINING AND PETROLEUM IMPORTATION IN NIGERIA 5 2. 1 Overview 5 2. Challenges of oil color Product Refining in Nigeria 6 3. CRUDE OIL REFINING AND PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ECONOMICS . . 8 3. 1 The Economics of Crude gross(a) Refining .. 8 3. 2 The Economics of vegetable oil Products.. 9 4. CRUDE OIL REFINING, PETROLEUM PRODUCTS IMPORTATION AND THE ECONOMY.. 0 5. CONCLUSION 11 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 13 ABBREVIATIONS BPSD Barrels per Stream Day B/D Barrels per Day CBN Central Bank of Nigeria GDP Gross Domestic ProductNNPC Nigerian subject Petroleum Corporation NPRC Nigerian Petroleum Refining Company PHRC Port Harcourt Refinery Company 1. INTRODUCTION The role of stark(a) oil hang ins key among the energy sources, hence we rush to still live with the consequences that are associated with it, one of which is economical. This obviously is an aspect no country, importer and exporter have been able to overcome, though its impact on some countries is less than in others.Nigeria is definitely one of those countries whose economy has been monumentally impacted, ironically though, a leading crude oil producer and exporter in the world. However, this is not to take out crud e oils enormous contribution to the Nigerian macro-economy over the years it holds sway. The discovery of oil in Nigeria was thought to be a fine-looking respite to the growing energy supply challenges facing her and to bring economical gains, especially as the price of oil has a lot been on the increase. Hence, should have do huge sums of money from it.Incidentally, this is not to be, as oil suddenly took shine off the hitherto major sources of the countrys GDP. Sectors similar agriculture and manufacturing went moribund, making Nigeria a mono-economy, with oil being the mainstay of the economy. It provides 95% of foreign exchange earnings and about 80% of government budgetary revenues1. The Nigeria economy plays into the hands of the excitability of extremely vulnerable external shocks, particularly the vicissitude of world oil market prices, and the consequent inflations that characterise it most of the ms.With the production of 229,008,126 barrels of crude oil and condensat es increased in the third quarter of 2010 with an average of 2. 49 cardinal barrels per day of domestic production in recent years, four refineries of 445,000 b/d refining capacity, the issue of meeting domestic oil demand should have been comfortably addressed. However, with the 0 15% refining capacity in 20092, which is oftentimes the case over the years, import became the only available alternative. Hence, Nigeria though a leading exporter of crude oil in the world is also, ironically, a net importer of petroleum products.This paper is divided into four chapters chapter 2 looks at crude oil refining in Nigeria, offering an overview and challenges that confronts it. In chapter 3, crude oil refining and petroleum products economics is examined and chapter 4 looks at the implications of both crude oil refining and importation vis a vis the economy. The chapter 5 concludes the paper with few suggestions as to what the best economic option should be in meeting the petroleum pro ducts demand in Nigeria. 2. CRUDE OIL REFINING IN NIGERIA 2. 1OVERVIEWThe petroleum products consumed in Nigeria had been imported from refineries oversea this continued even a couple of years after the discovery of crude oil in a commercial quantity in the country. However, as the demand for the products increased and with the availability of the feed carry, the cardinal Multinationals in operation(p) in the country then saw it as a viable business to establish refinery that would arrange the domestic demand. This lead to the 50/50 joint venture refining company between Shell Darcy Petroleum Company and British Petroleum called the Nigerian Petroleum Refining Company (NPRC) in 1960.The construction of the refinery took two years to complete by 1965 it commenced military operation at an installed refining capacity of 38,000 bpsd3 to refine local anaesthetic crude into five petroleum products. It was located at AlesaEleme, near Port Harcourt, some kilometres away from the crude oil production location. In order to meet the ever increasing demand for the products, the refinery was debottlenecked to increase its production capacity from the initial 38,000 bpsd to 60,000 bpsd. Running as a private entity, the company was able to run goodly, productively and met the omestic product consumption demand. In 1970, the Federal acquired and paid for a 60 percent equity share in all private international companies works in the Upstream and D give birthstream empyreans of the Petroleum Industry in the country4, NPRC inclusive. Despite been the major shareholder, the Federal Government al brokened NPRC to operate without interference. It was only represented by its own corporation, the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC), on which the shares were invested on to represent it at the board meetings of NPRC.Hence, the company was commercially profitable, well maintained and ran very efficiently. A decree in 1977 gave birth to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corpor ation (NNPC), which was later to appoint the Chairman of NPRC, and then acquired the remaining 40 percent support in NPRC. This in effect do the NPRC a serious Government entity under the Refinery Division of the NNPC, headed by a general manager. The name was changed to NNPC Refinery, AlesaEleme, now headed by a managing director and having a new management structure.It was under the general manager of NNPC Refinery Division at the headquarters. A wholly Government built Refinery commenced operation in 1978, after a 30month construction. It was located at Warri, and had an installed refining capacity of 100,000 b/d. and was de bottlenecked in 1985 to have a native capacity of125, 000 b/d. The Warri Refinery was essentially built to bring crude oil products and to add value to some of the refinery by-products such as propylene rich stock and decant oil5. Soon after, in 1980, another refinery, the Kaduna Refinery came on stream.It was meant to cope with the ever growing demand for petroleum products, especially in the Northern axis of the country. The refinery consisted of two streams, 50, 000 b/d fuel units and 50, 000 b/d lubes, Asphalt plants. It was designed to produce 3,857mt/d of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 1,686mt/d of Kerosene, 3,000mt/d of self-propelling Gas Oil (AGO), 1,796mt/d of Asphalt, 91mt/d of LAB, 657mt/d of Base Oils, 620mt/d of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), 2,100mt/d of Fuel Oil. The existing products pipeline linking Warri Refinery to Kaduna was reborn to pump crude oils for supply to the new Kaduna Refinery.Again, akin the previous refineries, the fuel section of Kaduna Refinery was de-bottlenecked from the 50, 000 b/d to 60, 000 b/d. This brought the Kaduna Refinery to overall 110, 000 b/d capacity6. The ordinal and final refinery was a new grassroots refinery, adjacent to the existing Port Harcourt Refinery, with an install capacity of 150, 000 bpsd. With this, Nigeria good installed refining capacity is 445, 000b/d, which wa s originally built to armed service both the domestic and international petroleum product demand.Unfortunately, the purpose for these refineries were short-lived, serving only for a couple of years before to each one began to experience respective(a) man-made challenges that made them exist centres instead of the originally intended commercially profitable centres. The ever growing domestic product demands were no more met, as acute scarcity became a normal phenomenon. This led, unfortunately to the return of high propensity of petroleum product importation in order to meet the energy need of the nation. 2. 2 CHALLENGES OF PETROLEUM PRODUCT REFINING IN NIGERIAThe Nigerian state-owned four refineries have undergone, and still undergo several man-made challenges that have made it more of a liability to the country than an asset. One of the issues that reduced the refineries to cost centres is bureaucracy. Immediately NNPC took over the running of the first refinery, bureaucracy si lenced the commercial cultures that doctor a business thrive. Tens of signatures would have to be appended on a letter seeking to fix or procure working materials. These unnecessarily delay sustainment and impact the efficient running of the refineries.Also, being fully under the control of Government, all the funds for running the refineries would have to come from Government coffers. This occasioned delays and outright poor funding. Working capital especially meant to procure the needed spare parts, chemicals and all other necessary items for operations was not forthcoming, hence leading to the continues breakdown often experienced in the various refineries. The recommended 24-36 months normal industry Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) was hardly done7.It took years, far above the recommended time in between for TAM at the various refineries. The results were failures, wear and tear of the equipment, frequent shutdowns and complete non operations. Efficiency of the refining industry is such that needs well trained manpower. However, most of the refinery staff like any other state- ran enterprise were employed or appointed on ethnic or political sentiment. In such case, proper management and cogency is thrown to the wind. Dedication and commitment to duty is hardly there, and the consequence is obvious. The big one is corruption.The refineries have over the years become conduit pipes of siphoning tax payers money. Some individuals in Government seem to have become rich by the comatose state of these refineries, hence would do everything within their powers to make them remain so. These challenges have rendered the refineries helpless and never operating at the capacity utilization. Because of these, the country never really enjoyed product sufficiency with its vast reserve and refineries it ordinarily should have. Hence, Nigeria has constantly been a net importer of petroleum products. 3.CRUDE OIL REFINING AND PETROLEUM PRODUCT ECONOMICS 3. 1CRUDE OIL REFININ G ECONOMICS The overall economics or viability of a refinery depends on the interaction of three key elements the choice of crude oil used (crude slate), the complexity of the refining equipment (refinery configuration) and the desired type and quality of products produced (product slate). Refinery operating cost, utilization rate and environmental considerations also influence refinery economics8. The type of crude used would determine whether there would be investment in the upgrading processes of the refinery.Light, sweet crude require less upgrading, heavy crude do need more upgrading. Also, the product demand in the market determines the configuration of the refinery. For instance, the U. S. refineries are configure to process a large plowshare of heavy, high sulphur crude and to produce large quantities of gasoline and low amounts of heavy fuel oil. The Canadian refineries are configured for light, sweet crude, hence would upgrading to process heavy crude. Most of the Europea n refinery configuration favours the production of diesel gasoline accounts only 20% production9.Obviously, the Nigeria refineries were configured for the light crude the country produces and produces a wide range of products meant for her market and other markets. The refinery utilization rate is a very critical component of refining economics. High percentage capacity utilization is needed for a refinery to increase operating efficiency and reduce costs per unit of output. A utilization rate of about 95% is considered optimum as it allows for normal shutdown required for maintenance and seasonal adjustments. The operable capacity of Nigerian refineries has on average 0 15% utilization, which make them grossly under utilized.High utilization capacity is one of the things that make for profit margin scenario for refineries. The refinery industry has historically been a high- volume, low- margin industry, characterised by low return on investments and volatile profits. Profitability is measured by return on investment, defined as the net income contributed by refining/marketing as a percentage of net fixed assets (net property, plant, and equipment plus investments and advances)10. One way to represent the economics of a refinery is to calculate its Refinery Gross bound11.For example, if a refinery receives $80 from the sale of the products pure from a barrel of crude oil that costs $70/bbl, then the Refinery Gross allowance is $10/bbl. The Net or Cash Margin is equal to the gross margin minus the operating costs (excluding income taxes, depreciation and financial charge. If a refinery experiences operating costs of $2 per barrel, then the Net Margin is $8/bbl12. The refinery margins are normally set on a competitive market, where the market is open. The contrary is the case in the Nigerian environment, the refineries are not working, and whenever they do, profit is never the aim. 3. PETROLEUM PRODUCT ECONOMICS Refined products market is different from cru de oil market in a round of ways, owing to the shield of operation ( much smaller for refined products a typical crude oil transaction involves 500,000 or even one million barrels of oil, season a typical refined products sale may involve only 5,000 to 10,000 bbls), quality considerations, price differentials and market size. In a competitive market, refined product prices are determined by supply, demand and inventory conditions at a given location and time13. International (border) price comes to play in the economics of refined products.The exchange rate used to convert the dollar value of imports into the domestic currency is the interbank exchange market rate, which is market determined. A freight charge (including indemnity margin) is added to the value to get the landed cost. Import duty, domestic distribution, storage, marketing, and transportation margins are then added to obtain the order price at retail level14. Imported petroleum products also has additional cost lik e Port charges, taxes and export duties at source country, insurance costs for transportation and brokerage costs for agents.The obvious macrocosm is that there exists a wide range of domestic prices for petroleum products, determined mainly by the market and subject only to taxes and special charges in the substantial countries. However, in developing countries like Nigeria, the prices are fixed by the government. Hence, the products are bought at the international price with a very high interbank exchange rate, and change at a heavily subsidized, domestic rate, which has serious implications to the economy. 4. CRUDE OIL REFINING, PETROLEUM PRODUCTS IMPORTATION AND THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY. For a start, the estimated daily crisis-free demand for petroleum products in Nigeria today, are 30 million litres of petrol (PMS), 12 million litres of kerosene (DPK), 18 million litres of diesel oil (AGO), and 780 metric tons (1. 4 million litres) of cooking gas (LPG). (Braide, 2003)15. Nigeria with a population of 158. 2 million (UN, 2010) and increment to workers salary in the recent years, which have empowered quite a number of people to acquire some petroleum products demanding appliances, is much more pent-up now than in the last ten years.This makes it more challenging to satisfy. Government have obviously chosen a very hard alternative, importation, to have the demand met. With a weak currency (of N153 = $1), at a current price of crude on the international market and heavily subsidized domestic price of petroleum products. For instance, PMS have been at N65 ($42 cents)/litre in Nigeria for a couple of years now, as against the expected open market price of N131. 32 ($84 cents)/litre16. Importation, though the only alternative to the non-functional refineries, is economically catastrophic.For instance, Government spend $1. 34billion17 from January to March, 2011 to import petroleum products to the country. In a year, this will amount to $5. 36 billion for importat ion alone, this excludes importations from marketing companies in Nigeria, tax waivers, demurrage and other implied costs that makes the total amount of importing the commodities extremely high. Government Petroleum Support depot (PSF), which was established to disburse funds to the importing companies and the NNPC have between January, 2006 and July 2008 spent US$ 9. 2 billion18 for subsidy alone.The fund also spent over US$ 3 billion from 2009 to the first quarter of 201019 for subsidising the importation of PMS and HHK within the period. The Year-on-year importation of petroleum products keep depleting the countrys external reserve, thereby putting the economy in bad standing. On the other hand, the KRPC, WRPC and PHRC (new) were built with lump sums of $525 million, $478 million, and $850 million respectively20. Unfortunately, with the poor management, the refineries from every statistics available have become liabilities to the country.With ultra low capacity utilization, a hu ge staff, high operating cost, no profit from NNPC year-on-year accounts21, the refineries at present state are not economical. The implication of these is that the cost of crude oil, refining, importation, and distribution of the products are borne by the countrys treasury. A private sector run refinery industry is the only answer for meeting domestic demand at a very huge economic gain and energy trade protection to the country.This will also revive the ailing petrochemical industry, which has a massive ripple effect on job creation, directly and through other dependent industries like Paint and Plastic industries. But before this can be realised the unavoidable deregulation has to take place. Little wonder why the over 18 private licensed refinery companies are yet to mobilise to site. Therefore, Government should revisit the issue of deregulation, and then privatise the state-run refineries. This massive importation does no good at all to the country, and should be reduced to n ear zero minimum. 5.CONCLUSION Government should be commended for taking up the challenge of building the capital intensive refineries, being beyond the ability of any local company at the time. It created energy security, jobs, averted looming crisis arising from massive shortage of supply of petroleum products and saved so much cost. But its continual running of the refineries is, to say the least wasteful and harmful to the economy. Refineries are commercial ventures, with huge financial implications, and do not provide much recitation opportunities to warrant such protectionism by Government22.Obviously, it is only a few that benefits in a State-run refinery at the expense of many. Privatisation of the refineries holds more prospects economically to the country than what obtains. At the time being, the unenviable net importer position of the country is no more sustainable. Less Importation would save so much cost and the Nigerian economy protect from the unstable, volatile int ernational petroleum price. Subsidy has caused considerable loss of revenue and a rapid growth in domestic oil consumption as low price does not reflect real cost for consumption.It has contributed to the collapse of local refineries, as price of fuel do not show cost of supply. Reluctance of private players to invest in refineries, persistent fuel shortages at filling stations, dilapidated supply and distribution infrastructures, smuggling, and product adulteration, all of which impact substantially on the economy are the consequences of the continues subsidy regime in place. Everything should be done to encourage a functional refinery industry to check the crippling importations. An efficient refinery industry in Nigeria would have massive market both within the country and in the neighbouring ountries, and this brings immeasurable economic gains that are able to change the economic outlook of the country. BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY SOURCES NATIONAL LEGISLATIONS The Nigerian National Pe troleum Corporation Act, 1977 The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Act, 2003, No 8, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria SECONDARY SOURCES BOOKS Gary, J. H. , Handwerk, G. E. , Kaiser, M. J. , Petroleum Refining Technology and Economics, (5th Edition) (United States of America, Florida, CRC Press, 2007). OTHERS INTERNET SOURCES Braide, K. M. The Mechanics of Fuel Scarcity in Nigeria, http//www. nigerdeltacongress. com/marticles/mechanics_dynamics_fuel_scarc. htm. (assessed 13/04/2011). CBN, http//www. cenbank. org/Out/2011/pressrelease/gvd/CommuniqueforMPCMeetingofMarch 21 22 2011_21st Mar_. pdf (assessed 01/05/2011). CIA, The World Factbook, http//www. cia. gov/library/Publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni. html (assessed 18/04/2011). Hossain, M. S. , Taxation and Pricing of Petroleum Products in Developing Countries A Framework for Analysis with Application to Nigeria, http//www. imf. rg/external/Pubs/ft/wp/2003/wp0342. pdf (assessed 20/04/2011). Iba, L. , Fuel Crisis St ill time lag for private refineries, http//64. 182. 172/webpages/news/2010/july/12//busines-12-2010. 001. htm (assessed 09/05/2011). Nigerian Refineries History, Problems and Possible solutions, http//www. businessdayonline. com/NG/index. php/oil/3256-nigerian-refineries-history-problems-and-possible-solutions-1 (assessed 09/05/2011). NNPC, Annual Statistics Bulletin, http//www. nnpcgroup. com/Portals/0/MonthlyPerformance/2009ABS Web. pdf (assessed 01/05/2011). NNPC, Subsidiaries, http//www. npcgroup. com/NNPCBusiness/Subsidiaries/ (assessed 09/05/2011). PPPRA, Report on the Administration of the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF), http//www. pppra-nigeria. org/briefonadministrationofPSF. pdf (assessed 01/05/2011). Refinery Economics, http//nrcan. gc. ca/eneene/sources/petpet/refraf-eng. php (assessed 19/04/2011). Refining & Product Specifications Overview, http//www. petroleumonline. com/content/overviemCont. asp? mod=8&ord=10 (assessed 19/04/2011). 1CIA-The World Factbook, at http//w ww. cia. gov/library/Publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni. tml (assessed 18/04/2011) 2 NNPC 2009 annual report and EIA Nigeria Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis-oil, Gas, Electricity, coal 3 This is the maximum number of barrels of input that a distillation facility can process when running at full capacity under optimal crude and product slate condition with no allowance for downtime. 4 Nigerian Refineries History, Problems and Possible solutions, at http//www. businessdayonline. com/NG/index. php/oil/3256-nigerian-refineries-history-problems-and-possible-solutions-1 (assessed 09/05/2011) 5 Ibid 6 Ibid 7 Ibid 8 Refinery Economics, at http//nrcan. gc. a/eneene/sources/petpet/refraf-eng. php (assessed 19/04/2011) 9 Ibid 10Ibid 11 The difference in dollars per barrel between its product revenue (sum of barrels of each product multiplied by the price of each product) and the cost of raw materials (primarily crude, but also purchased additives like butane and ethanol) 12 Refining & Product Specifications Overview, at http//www. petroleumonline. com/content/overviewConti. asp? mod=8&ord=10 (assessed 20/04/2011) 13Gary, J. H. , Handwerk, G. E. , Kaiser, M. J. , Petroleum Refining Technology and Economics, (5th Edition) (United States of America, Florida CRC Press, 2007) at 18-19. 14Hossain, M. S. , Taxation and pricing of Petroleum Products in Developing Countries A Framework for Analysis with Application to Nigeria, at http//www. imf. org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2003/wp0342. pdf (assessed 20/04/2011) 15 Braide, K. M. , The Mechanics of Fuel Scarcity in Nigeria at http//www. nigedeltacongress. com/martiles/mechanics_dynamics_of_fuel_scarc. htm (assessed 20/04/2011). 16 Ibid 17CBN, http//www. cenbank. org/Out/2011/pressrelease/gvd/CommuniqueforMPCMeetingofMarch21 22 2011_21stMarch_. pdf (assessed 02/05/2011). 18PPPRA, Report on the

Richard III: Power of Language and Own Villainy

Deformed in ashes and twisted in mind, Richard is in any way the dominant character of the play, to the extent that he is both the plays protagonist and major villain. He is selfish, evil, corrupt, sadistic, and manipulative. His intelligence, governmental brilliance, and dazzling practise of quarrel keeps the audience fascinated and his subjects and rivals under his control. At the beginning of the play, it is made clear to the audience that Richard has no justification for seizing the throne.This is because England is obviously not oppressed or subject to tyranny as the lengthy civil war has just ended, and Richards oldest brother, King Edward IV, now sits on the throne. Richard himself, states that All the clouds that loured upon our house (1. 1, 3), the house of York, has been dispelled by the son of York (1. 1, 2), King Edward IV. However, Richard intends to upset the kingdom by seizing power for himself. He says that since I cannot prove a lover to entertain these fair ar ticulate days, I am determined to prove a villain (1. , 28).This simply means that since Richard was not made to be a lover, he has no use for peace, and will happily destroy peace with his crimes. This shows Richards unabashed enjoyment of his own abhorrence as he can so blithely lurch aside all(prenominal) of the things that the rest of humanity cherishes. Richard III is an intense exploration of the psychology of evil, and that exploration is centred on the workings of Richards mind and the methods he uses to manipulate, control, and shock others for his own gain.Perhaps more than any other play by Shakespeare, the audience of Richard III work throughs a complex, indefinite, and highly erratic relationship with the main character. Richard is understandably a villain as he declares outright in his very first speech that he intends to stop at nothing to achieve his last goal of becoming king. However, despite his open allegiance to evil, he has such a charismatic and fascina ting personality that, for much of the play, we are likely to see with him, or are at least impressed by him.In this way, our relationship with Richard reflects the other characters relationships with him, conveying a powerful sense of the force of his personality. thus far characters such as Lady Anne, who have an explicit knowledge of his wickedness, overlook his dishonesty and violent behaviour and allow themselves to be seduced by his brilliant wordplay, his estimable argumentation, and his relentless pursuit of his selfish desires. Richards long, fascinating soliloquys, in which he outlines his plans and gleefully confesses all his evil thoughts, are central to the audiences experience of Richard.Shakespeare uses these soliloquys brilliantly to control the audiences impression of Richard, enabling this manipulative protagonist to work his charm on the audience. In Act I, scene i, for example, Richard offers a pretext for his villainy towards others by pointing out that he is unloved, and that he is unloved because of his physical deformity. Richard himself is brutally honest about his appearance. He admits to being imperfectly cause and blames premature birth for his condition. He knows that he is not shaped for sportive tricks (1. 1, 14) and while others delight in an amorous looking glass (1. , 14), his misshapen body creates a shadow in the sun (1. 1, 26) that alienates him from others.Hence, Lady Anne calls Richard a lump of foul deformity (1. 2, 57) in Act I, scene ii. This proves that Richards claim not only makes the other characters of the play seem like the villains for punishing him for his appearance, but also makes it easy for the audience to sympathize with Richard during the first scenes of the play and even foretaste that he will succeed despite his obvious villainy. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that Richard simply uses his deformity as a tool to gain the sympathy of others, including the audience.This is already noted in his very first speech as Richard seems to take a deliberate perverse delight in his outward shape. He chooses words such as, cheated, deformed, unfinished, half made up, dogs bark at him as he passes by because of his deformity to describe himself. Richards unabashed villainy is a much more natural part of his character than simple bitterness about his ugly body. Nevertheless, he still manages to use speech to come after our trust, and he repeats this throughout his struggle to be crowned king.An interesting secondary theme of Richard III is the power of language, or the importance of language in achieving political power. Language may not always be a necessary instrument of power, but for Richard, it is a crucial weapon. As we have seen, it is with his extraordinary skills with words that allows him to ridicule, insult, taunt and deceive all who stand in his way to power. Richards skill with language and argument is what enables him to woo Lady Anne, have Clarence thrown in prison a nd blame the king for Clarences death, all at very little risk to himself.In conclusion, I feel Richard IIIs unabashed enjoyment of both the power of language and his own villainy makes him a character worthy of both respect and admiration, and therefore I completely keep back with this statement. This is because Richards unabashed power of language shows off the ingenious wit and intellectual cleverness of the character, actor and playwright, while his own villainy makes the play all the more fascinating and entertaining as his heinous acts become more chilling.

Measurement of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (Bod)

Title Laboratory 2 Measurement of Biochemical atomic number 8 Demand ( mannequin) Objective To determine the add up of oxygen necessary for biological oxidation of sewer water effluent and determine the amount of oxygen required by bacteria while stabilizing analyzable organic fertilizer occasion. Methodology Apparatus Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) meter, Dissolved Oxygen bottle (DO bottle), pipette, Teflon tape, dilution water, incubator machine. Procedure Add 300 ml dilute water then take DO reading immediately Closed properly and keep into the incubator (200C).Take reading for the next 5 old age Add 3 ml dilute water and fill up with dilute water until 300ml then take DO reading immediately shape 1 Precaution Samples for BOD analysis may change greatly during handling and storage. Testing should be started as quickly as possible. To reduce the changes in those essays which must be held, keep the samples at or below 4C. Do not allow samples to freeze. Samples may be kept for no to a greater extent than 48 hours before beginning the BOD test. Students assign to restrain interference from chlorine. Because chlorine is such a strong oxidizing agent, it will inhibit the growth of quick bacteria in the BOD test.Any samples containing residual chlorine must be pretreated to remove chlorine before the test is run. This is done by adding sodium sulfite to the sample. Samples with primitive pH values and samples containing disinfectants such as residual chlorine must be treated prior to testing. Caustic alkalinity or acidity locoweed prevent bacteria from growing during the course of the BOD test. To prevent this, samples which have pH values higher than pH 8. 0 or lower than pH 6. 0 must be neutralized to pH 7. 0 before the test is performed. Result 1) 3 ml sample classify Sample Result First day (1st) 5th day (5th) DO Temp DO Temp (mg/l) (0C) (mg/l) (0C) 1 Blank 1st 9. 20 25. 8 9. 26 20. 3 2nd 9. 16 25. 8 9. 30 20. 4 3rd 9. 13 25. 8 9. 31 20 . 5 think up 25. 8 20. 4 shoot a line Water 1st 9. 24 26. 2 8. 73 20. 5 2nd 9. 12 26. 2 8. 77 20. 6 3rd 9. 10 26. 2 8. 79 20. 7 Mean 26. 2 20. 6 4 Blank 1st 9. 14 25. 9 9. 04 20. 5 2nd 9. 16 26 9. 02 20. 5 3rd 9. 15 26 9. 01 20. 5 Mean 25. 97 20. 5 Waste Water 1st 9. 08 26. 2 8. 31 20. 2nd 9. 05 26. 3 8. 34 20. 7 3rd 9. 02 26. 4 8. 35 20. 8 Mean 26. 3 20. 73 5 Blank 1st 9. 10 25 8. 86 20. 5 2nd 9. 11 25 8. 88 20. 5 3rd 9. 10 25 8. 86 20. 5 Mean 25 20. 5 Waste Water 1st 9. 10 25 7. 82 20. 5 2nd 9. 11 25 7. 82 20. 5 3rd 9. 11 25 7. 84 20. 5 Mean 25 20. 5 The BOD of the sample bathroom be calculates using the equations provided in the following First Equation is provided by the standard method BOD5= mgL= D1 D2P Second Equation is BOD5= mgL= D1 D2 -B1 B2 P WhereD1 DO of the thin out sample immediately after preparation, mg/L D2 DO of the diluted sample after 5-day incubation at 200c, mg/L B1 DO of the obligate before incubation B2 DO of the control after incubation P fraction of the wastewater sample volume to total combined volume Group Sample First day (1st) Fifth day (5th) BOD5 BOD5 DO Temp DO Temp (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (0C) (mg/l) (0C) (1st Equation) (2ndEquation) 1 Blank 9. 16 25. 8 9. 29 20. 4 52 Waste Water 9. 15 26. 2 8. 76 20. 6 39 4 Blank 9. 15 25. 97 9. 02 20. 5 59 Waste Water 9. 05 26. 3 8. 33 20. 73 72 Blank 9. 1 25 8. 87 20. 5 105 Waste Water 9. 11 25 7. 83 20. 5 128 Discussion From the equation, the result are totally different, it is because second (2nd) equation actually are specialist for seeded sample. Since that, it does not suitable and cant be used to calculate the BOD level. BOD test is a biological test dependent on the actions of the microorganisms found in the wastewater and, as such, is subject to a number of interpretations. These variations can be caused by a number of factors, including changes in temperature, weather, composition of incoming sewage, in plant o perations, and sample distribution points.Results can vary widely from day to day, or even hour to hour. . Form the result we found that the the BOD level in group 5 is 128mg/L, Group 4 72mg/L is quiet higher rather than Group 1 39mg/L. When BOD levels are high, dissolved oxygen (DO) levels decrease because the oxygen that is forthcoming in the water is being consumed by the bacteria. Since less dissolved oxygen is available in the water, fish and other aquatic organisms may not survive. If referred to the IWK website, BOD5 at 200C is 20mg/L for standard A and 50mg/L for standard B.Its mean only sample from group 1 is under control and can be authorise as clean. High level of result from group 4 and 5 may resulted by the input of nitrates and phosphate. Nitrates and phosphates in a body of water can contribute to high BOD levels. Nitrates and phosphates are plant nutrients and can cause plant life and algae to grow quickly. When plants grow quickly, they also die quickly. This con tributes to the organic waste in the water, which is then decomposed by bacteria. One of the major disadvantages of the BOD test is the time lag between the collection of samples and the final calculation of results.This makes the BOD test a poor test for determining whether or not operational changes are needed. In addition, the rate and degree that organic matter in wastewater is decomposed (or oxidized) by the normal bacteria present in a sample is largely dependent on the characteristics of the organic matter. For example, some organic matter (like sugars or starches) are oxidized very easily and rapidly, and will almost always result in measurable BOD. Other organic matter, however, is sometimes resistant to biological oxidation, and may require special acclimated bacteria to oxidize the material and to show a BOD.Although this is what actually happens in nature, it causes significant variation in BOD results from sample to sample. Conclusion, high level of BOD reflects to the DO which it will be decrease. Which is mean the water quality if poor. References Unknown. (n. d. ). Indah Water. Retrieved from http//www. iwk. com. my/v/knowledge-arena/effluent-standards Unknown, A. (n. d. ). Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) Overview. Retrieved from Polyseed. com http//www. polyseed. com/misc/BODforwebsite. pdf

Mats Ek Carmen

This essay forget analyze and discuss one of Europes most creative and influential dance-makers, the Swedish social dancer and choreographer matts Ek acclaimed for the theatricality and immediateness of his bleed while his contri onlyion and development through the dance field with the main focus on his revision of the classical concert dance stories. It will as salutary as discuss one of his major produces Carmen and refer it with the cowcatcher one. Mats Ek is a prominent and controversial figure of the contemporary dance.He has his own choreographic modal value and his work in contemporary dance choreography is contested. He was born in 1945. Eks mother, and his big entice, was the famed dancer and choreographer Birgit Cullberg, the founder of the cosmos wide recognized, Cullberg B tout ensembleet Company. As said before, his mother was a huge influence for Ek. Therefore one give the axe check over that both, Mats Ek and Birgit Cullberg, choreographic way has a lot of same faceistics much(prenominal) as the attention of psychological characterization, the sensitive portrayal of humans feelings and the humorous episodes. In performance we see a fantasy orbit so unwaveringly strange and characters so imperiously dysfunctional were genuinely compelled Ek may ask his dancers to go to some very(prenominal) odd places but the Cullberg Ballet follows him with ardent cleverness (Judith Mackrell, the Guardian. ) In 19745, Ek was a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Dusseldorf, and then do his choreographic debut in 1976 with The policemans Servant, for the Cullberg Ballet, the first of many of his works formed on them. In 1980 he became the artistic music director of the Ballet Cullberg and a member of the Nederlands Dance Theatre.He in addition worked and created firearms with many great dance companies. Mats Ek in well known for his revisionist readings of the classic ballets. He has also created his own work and most of the cartridge holder his pieces rich person to do a lot with humor. However in reworking ballet classics, Ek the likes ofs to keep the characters alive so as to always provide an inner emotion to the characters emotions and contrasts. The characters in his pieces,in contrast to the classic ones, build an emotional world of much more intense than usually and the relationship between them has a greater depth.Although he is rewriting the legitimate pieces, he never forgets to stay true to the original context of the work and as out-of-the-way(prenominal) as the music is concerned he always uses the original one with very slight changes still to suit the new outstanding structure. Mats Eks key word, is clarity, despite the concomitant that he aims for clarity, this does not imply that he also uses simplicity in his pieces. I was never interested in keeping to the classical traditions as such, What I want to explore argon the underlying fairy tales that convey fundamental human issues tell ap art, deceit, pain, goodness.The classics have become cliches, and we have forgotten how they came to be and what they imply. We know them so well they cease to have import for our time. (Mats Ek) Mats Ek is very often labeled that he relates his choreographies with the politics of the time that the choreographies are being made. This is not but right because none of Mr. Eks choreographies can be regarded as a political manifesto. In his pieces, the strong images and the outstanding situations will occasionally lead into humorous episodes. Humor, is one of Eks main characteristics throughout his pieces and as mentioned previously in the report so is his mothers.By using humor in his dances, this does not mean that the pieces lose their tension. Since Mats Ek also studied theatre, most of the time his creations are a lot more dramatic than usual and this can be detected in every one of his pieces (Fifty present-day(a) Choreographers, Pages 144-146). Ek has a vivid theatricality a nd acquaint for genuine surprises his theatricality is matched by a full-out dance language that merges the sophisticated with the primitive. I became aware of hardly how much meaning Ek can compress into his pieces (Nadine Meisner, the Independent).Eks style has become distinctive for its imaginative interpretations of fiblines, in combination with a lyrical approach which transfers through movement the underlying emotions and feelings rather than incisively the autobiography detail. His choreographic style and wording is mainly from his ballet training, his relationship and dance experience with his mother and his quislingism with the Nederland Dance Theatre. Although Ek has rejected the conventional codes of classic ballet, it is clear in his pieces the he uses a lot of ballet technique.This can be found within the jumps, turns and footwork that he uses within his movement vocabulary. At the same time though, Ek uses a lot of contemporary movements such as drop of the pelv is, a lot of floor work and body weight. He manages to relate both styles with a unique and wonderful way in govern for everything to look good and lovely. (Fifty Contemporary Choreographers, Pages 147-148) Ek has done a great deal to enlarge how women are envisioned on stage, especially in the ballet classics. His Giselle and Carmen offer intense reimaginings oftheir heroines. (Keeping dance alive a Mats Eks portrait.Claudia La Rocco, TV classics) Lets now move on to one of his most famous and great works, Carmen. Originally, Carmen was first performed in Paris on 3 March, 1875. Written by Georges Bizet. The story is close to a temptress, Carmen, and her lover Don Jose who sacrifices his devoted lady, Micaela, to pursue his manly passions for Carmen. Jose, angry by her sexual style and blinded by his own rage, kills Carmen, thus bringing upon himself his own devastation resulting in death. The opera is prune in Spain and the story line is more mazy than the original novel b y Prosper Merimee.The character of Carmen was too offensive for family theatre. Although Carmen appeals to popular culture, the opera still attracts academic discourse as the spirit of Spain is personified in the character of Carmen. It is clear that in order for Carmen to be represented as a whore, she had to be black. That suitable the beliefs of that time being, that the color of her skin will make her bad and evil. Moreover the color of her skin makes her also more exotic than any European and this will make her more desirable to the male audition and maybe more hated by women.In 1999 Mats Ek revised the Spanish classic Carmen to auditions all over the world. This version of Carmen is currently in the repertoire of the Royal Ballet, Cullberg Ballet, Lyon opera house Ballet, National Theatre, Ballet of Prague and the Polish National Opera Ballet. Ek in his pieces in general manages to show each characters psychological aspect in depth. In Carmen, one can see that he presents Ca rmen as this cleaning lady who is complicated and has a complex behavior. That is what he usually does in his pieces, he presents all the women as very complicated and sexual creatures.In his choreography Ek is trying to keep the original features of the opera but in order to attract more raw audiences he makes some changes so that the audience, in that time being, will be able to relate with the characters (Fifty Contemporary Choreographers, Pages 144-145). For example, the sexual behavior of Carmen in the piece is very important for the story line. However in the original piece it was not that clear. In Mats Ek version though, the sexuality is clearer and more understanding for the audience. Generally Eks version explores the literal human behavior as it is in real life.He pushes the male-female role reversal between the sexually unembellished gypsy girl and the soldier Don Jose beyond safe boundaries, substituting a cigar for the familiar go between Carmens teeth, turning her into one of the boys( Cigar Crossed Lovers, David Bogoslaw, 1999). That cigar shows that she has a masculine soul in a womans body. (Carmen, 2010) Carmen is a symbol of license and anarchy and can have as much freedom as she wants. In contrast, Jose is a traditional feminine role, a weak character that wants peace and a marriage, but cannot control his passions for Carmen in spite that he is going to marry Micaela.Eks Carmen begins and ends with a scene of a man, Jose, facing a firing squad and recalling in the last moments before death his tempestuous inter-group communication with the gypsy girl who refused to be tamed. The dance then retells the story of the progressing love affair between Carmen and Jose. Eks choreographing style in this performance is a combination of both, ballet and modern dance. As they first dance together, Carmen and Jose, is like she is slowly explaining to him, throughout the dance, how she is and how she likes to live her life.He also tries to show h er that he is a military man with a lot of discipline. At the beginning of the piece their movements are more aggressive, but as soon as they fell in love their movements become more soft and gentle. This change of the movement shows how they started to feel booming with each other as time passed (Janet Adshead, 1988, Dance Analysis Theory and practice, Pages 72-75). Carmens movement style initially is aggressive and masculine while it is becoming more beautiful as the story evolves.However, the fact that Jose is carrying the rose and Carmen the cigar, this shows that she is still the man in their relationship (As Willful As Ever And Puffing On a Cigar Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times. 1999). Another example of how the movement shows the emotional world and the relationship between the characters is when on that point is a trio between Carmen, Jose and Escamillo, who is the reason why Carmen does not love Jose anymore. He is the new love of her heart and that makes Jose angry. In the trio the two mens jealousy is extremely obvious throughout the dancing movement.There is imitation and repetition between each ones movement and the fact that they keep a reliable distance between one another, shows the jealousy between them. At the end of the trio, when Carmen is going to strike Joses face, it becomes clear that she does not love him anymore. More over in that respect is Michaelas character which is also made clear through her movements. At the beginning she is dancing in a shy way but after she gets really angry with Jose and Carmen, thus her way of movement changes. She begins to be more aggressive and propellant in terms of movement vocabulary and that is a reflection of her emotional world.The music in Eks choreography, as mentioned above, is faithful to the original one by French composerGeorges Bizet. The only difference is that is being used for disparate purposes in the story. In the original opera the music is a guide for the progress of the plo t. In Mats Ek piece however, the music is not really needed to explain the plot or the relationship between the characters. It is there to create a mood in the piece. One thing that is really different from the original opera, in terms of sounds, is that in Mats Ek piece the dancers are sometimes talking and shouting. This adds a dynamic touch to the in all piece.Shouting is also more realistic than just singing opera. Carmen is wearing the same color of costume in both versions and almost in every version that has been created in the world. Red is the color of passion and sexuality. Thus, when the audience first sees Carmen, immediately understands her character and that she is a temptress. Micaela, in contrast to Carmen, wears blue, a color that symbolizes her innocence and that she is fragile. The track ladies costumes in Eks piece show their character and their Spanish ethnicity in contradiction to the original opera costumes that are showing the class and there social status. Ek uses very colorful, shiny and ruffled dresses that are a reverse to the 80s, in order to show that all women have sexuality. The costumes of the men are very simple and dark, just to show their discipline, as they are military men. The designs and sets in Eks Carmen are cartoonish and with playful colors. In terms of light, he tries to keep it dark. There is a metallic backdrop and panels which are suggestive of Spanish fans, as well as a large exercise ball downstage.In Mats Ek version of Carmen, there is a deeper reflection of all the characters emotional world. Carmen is clearly a symbol of Freedom and anarchy with an even more complex character than the one of the classic story. That is what Mats Ek does anyway. Except from changing the classics into more modern and humorous editions, the thing that makes him special is how he deals with the inner world of each character. He manages to present each character, throughout the dance, in a very intense way so that the audience c an understand for sure the characters personality.However he keeps the original story as it is, and he aims to show the same meaning as the original piece while at the same time he tries to explore a bit more the relationship between the characters. all in all of the above lead to Eks success when revising the classic stories. He remains faithful to the original story but however he does it not only with a more modern vocabulary but also with a more modern approach to suit the present. Much like Bizets opera of the same name, Mr. Eks version proves that a grim tale of love and death can be honest entertaining (As Willful As Ever And Puffing On a Cigar Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times. 999). It seems that Carmen will watch to appeal the audiences for years to come. Mats Ek Carmen will also continue to be popular to the audience because of the emotional and dramatic state of Mr. Eks pieces. He is a choreographer that distant himself from anybody else in the dance field. He is ve ry original and fortunate with his choreographies and it is no wonder that he is so famous and he has achieved so much. He is an extremely talented choreographer with a lot of theatrical ideas and that is what makes him so special throughout all these years BibliographyAdshead, J. 1988. Dance digest theory and practice. London Dance books Bremser M. and Sanders L. Fifty Contemporary Choreographers. Second Edition. 2011. Roudledge Au S. Ballet and Modern dance. 1998. Thames and Hudson world of Art. Articles As Willful As Ever And Puffing On a Cigar Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times. 1999 Websites Linda. 2010. Carmen. http//www. theballetbag. com Peter Grahame Woolf. 1996. Mats Ek Carmen. http//www. musicweb-international. com Claudia La Rocco. Keeping dance alive A Mats Ek Portrait. http//www. classicaltv. com

Wizard of Oz

sorcerer of Oz Interpretation The terrific lead of Oz is a news report about a girl named Dorothy who experiences a cyclone that takes her to a magical disembark of good and bad. When she is in this land she encounters a Scarecrow, Tin Man, and a Lion. These 3 characters are with her throughout the story and they go through contrastive tough situations together. In the end they make their way to the Oz who grants their wishes and Dorothy goes back home. People say that this story is found off of populism, money reforms, and a political movement led by William Jennings Bryan.The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is non intentionally written to be linked to the way the rescue was because it is a childrens deem, it is a make up story, and Baum, the author of the book, never stated that it was. In the article The Story Behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz it explains how L. Frank Baum and William Jennings Bryans concern was the nature of the money supply then prevalent in the unify States, and in the Mid-Western States in particular. Baum was featured in a movie called The Dreamer of Oz that showed how each character was apprehension of and how he had put the story together.For example, Dorothy was the name of a sweet little niece that he had which is how Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz came about. Each character from the book was demoed as someone that he had flow across in his life at some point in time. In The Dreamer of Oz it shows how Baum enjoyed telling stories to his children and to the other kids that could come along. His wife would always bring it up to him that he needs to put it into the form of a book. Baum macrocosm the stubborn guy he was never really considered it.Sooner or later he finally complete that it all made sense and it all pieced together to become a story with no epithet. Baum sit down down with his wife and mother in law and asked them for their opinion on what he should name the story. This is how the title of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz came about. Therefore Baum had written the book from experiences and people from his past not because of the way the economy was ran in the 1900s. Last but not least Baum never stated that his story was written to represent populism.In the article The Story Behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz it explains how each character in the childrens book is delineate by a problem that was occurring. For example, the Scarecrow is represented as the farmers and the Tin Man is represented as industrial workers. In the article it states that Baum and Bryan wanted money to be based on silver, not gold, as silver was readily available in the Mid-West, where it was mined. Such a money supply could not be manipulated by the banks. Then from there it goes into explaining each part of the story and they link together. Just because Baum and Bryan had these views on the economy does not necessarily mean that he wrote this story secretly about it. In conclusion, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is no t intentionally written to be linked to the way the economy was because it was written as a childrens book, it is a generally made up story that Baum had based off of his lifestyle, and he never stated that it was intentionally written about the ways of being in the 1900s.

Optimization of portfolio risk Essay

This paper is a critique one the article entitled Post-Modern Portfolio Theory by Swisher and Kasten (2005). The cloth for this critique is to determine whether there ground to agree or disagree on the claims of the authors as against the proof they presented. Swisher and Kasten asserted about the unreliability of Modern portfolio surmise (MPT) and its mean-variance optimization (MVO) model for asset apportionment in the financial services industry particularly on building portfolios.They instead suggested the social function of post-modern portfolio theory (PMPT) which presents a new method of asset location that optimizes a portfolio based on collapse versus down slope risk (down side optimization, or DRO) instead of MVO. What makes PMPT different from PMT as explained by the authors is its recognition that standard deflexion as a poor proxy in relation to humans experience on risk. They are therefore joust on the basis of behavioral finance which appears to be not evident under PMT in admittance to mathematical implication of the model.They explained that risk is an emotional condition which may be fear of a grownup outcome such as fear of loss, fear of under effect, or fear of failing to achieve a financial goal. (Swisher and Kasten, 2005). They simply cannot equate risks with variability as they argue that risk is more complex than frank variance although they admitted that it (risk) may be modeled and described mathematically. The authors explained that downside risk (DR) is risk definition taken from three sub-measures which include downside frequency, mean downside deviation, and downside magnitude.They added that each sub-measure must be defined with reference to an investor-specific minimal acceptable return (MAR) (Swisher and Kasten, 2005) . In translating their mathematical analysis, Swisher and Kasten (2005) stated that people like to make money, not lose and the chance of fashioning above-average amounts to money frequently is given a heavier weight as against a tiny chance of achiever in lottery.In other words, the investors would go where there are more chances so that it will be accepted as part of the chance when an investment may turn out to perform poorly but they would hope that it will not to perform very poorly or as often. Swisher and Kasten, (2005) admit the elegance of the mathematical mode for describing the amend investment although incidentally they found the model called modern portfolio theory (MPT) wrong.They acknowledged that the defect is the provision of inefficient portfolios which goes without saying the it is contradicting what it is supposed to accomplish, that is efficient asset allocation or building of portfolio. The aforementioned(prenominal) authors took courage in declaring that the primary reason why MPT produces inefficient portfolios is the erroneous present of equating standard deviation with risk. They explained that risk is something else, and there is a need to have a founder mechanical framework to describe it. Their paper therefore suggested a bring out framework for building of better portfolios through downside risk optimization (DRO).They of course defined DRO as optimization of portfolio risk versus return victimisation downside risk as the definition of risk instead of standard deviation. (Swisher and Kasten, 2005). To be more convincing in their proposed model for through the use of DRO under PMPT, Swisher and Kasten (2005) asserted that DRO is superior to MVO under MPT as an asset allocation tool using the following agate lines in support The first one is the possibility that standard deviation can lead to ridiculous results when used as a measure of risks while downside risk (DR) does the same more closely in capturing the human conception of risk as earlier defined.The second argument is the reality that financial asset returns do not behave as what a normal statistical distribution tries to paint and assume, thus even if for the sake of argument volatility is taken as a perfect representation of risk, the result will still not work. The third one, which strengthened more their position, is the better action of DRO over MVO when they demonstrated head to head comparison of portfolios (Swisher and Kasten, 2005). More importantly the result of the comparison the performance of the two produced conflicting results hence one could all be correct.This was in fact the authors basis in declaring that MPT produces inefficient portfolios. It can be concluded that there is basis to the claim of the authors that PMPT works better than MPT in building portfolios. They were able to demonstrate with evidence about their assertion by using DRO as against MVO in their comparison. There is basis to agree with the authors claim that PMPT points the way to an improved science of investing that incorporates not only DRO but also behavioral finance as against MPT.Given this reason and a number of failures caused by MPT in the past there is basis to give due credit to the proposal of the author for PMPT which justifies its use by investors and analysts as a better alternative in asset allocation. Reference Swisher and Kasten (2005) Post-Modern Portfolio Theory, Journal of financial Planning, www document URL http//www. fpanet. org/journal/articles/2005_Issues/jfp0905-art7. cfm, Accessed January 22,2008.