Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Essay

The experiment focuses on finding out what kind of activating effects that four different substituents will have on an aromatic benzene ring. The substituents being tested are aniline, anisole, acetamide (acetanilide), and phenol. All four of these groups are either para or ortho activating. Bromination is the reaction that will be carried out. The melting point ranges of the final products will be taken in order to determine their identities and reactivity. It is predicted that substitution order from most to least reactive should be aniline, phenol, anisole, and acetamide. Theory: Regioselectivity and the rate of electrophilic aromatic substitution are affected by the substituents attached to the original benzene. In electrophilic aromatic substitution, (EAS for short), the rate determining step is the first step of the reaction. This experiment deals with activating substituents that increase the rate of reaction. In the first rate determining step, the electron density rich pi bonds of benzene react with the electrophile (Bromine) to form a resonance stabilized carbocation. This step is the most important factor that decides which substituents make benzene react faster. This is because the rate of the reaction can be determined through the stability of the carbocation transition state hybrid, which is also known as resonance effect and the Hammond Postulate. In other words, if a carbocation intermediate is more stable, there is less energy needed in the transition state to form the carbocation. Less energy needed translates to a faster reaction. All in all, substituents that increase the electron density on the ring contribute by making the benzene ring more nucleophilic through increased electron density. The increased electron density around the ring would help to stabilize the positively charged carbocation intermediate. This means that this intermediate is more likely to form. Electron donating substituents would activate the ring towards EAS, which means the overall rate would be faster compared to benzene. The aniline group forms the most stable carbocation because it has the same resonance effects as the other groups but because nitrogen is less electronegative than oxygen, its inductive effects are weaker. Therefore aniline should react the fastest. Acetamide would be last in terms of  reactivity because it has the weakest resonance effects compared to inductive effects, in other words it is the weakest electron donating group. The order of reactivity from strongest activator to least should be aniline, phenol, anisole, and acetamide. It is also predicted that all of the groups should react towards a polyhalogenated product except for acetamide. Specifically, they should all be tri-substituted except for acetamide. Steric hindrance also plays a factor in preventing Br from being added to the ortho positions, so it should be expected that the acetamide product should only have a substituent added to the para position. Results: Compound/Group Melting Point Range (⠁ °C) Product acetamide (Johnson/Leo) 164.2-168.8 4-bromoacetamide aniline (Iris/Jenelle) 120-130.4 2,4,6-tribromoaniline phenol (Jack/Kyle) 90-93 2,4,6-tribromophenol anisole (N/A) 40-43 and 55.3-73.7 2,4-dibromoanisole Anisole product did not recrystallize so data is taken from another lab’s. Crude mass product of acetamide: 0.235g Recrystallized product mass of acetamide: 0.087g Theoretical yield: 0.0625g Percent yield: 139% Discussion: Aniline and phenol both formed a tri-substituted product in two ortho and one para positions according to their respective melting point ranges. This  confirms expectations that these two substituents are the strongest activators. This is because the NH2 and OH groups are very electronegative and reactive which allows their carbocation resonance structures to be stabilized. Even though both aniline and phenol had the same amount of polybromination, we know that since nitrogen is less electronegative than oxygen, aniline has less inductive effects. In turn, it means that aniline would have more electron density which make makes it more reactive to electrophiles. Although the anisole did not form a product, retrieved data suggests that the product is is actually disubstituted this contradicts the prediction that it would be trisubstituted also it is not surprising because anisole has an extra carbon attached to the oxygen which could weaken resonance effects. Lastly, the melting point ranges for the acetamide product suggest that it formed 4-bromoacetamide. Based on the data gathered, the ranking in order of increasing activity would be aniline, phenol, anisole, and acetamide. This matches up with initial predictions. These results make sense because anisole and acetamide have resonance structures where the electron density is moved outside of the ring so it cannot activate the benzene ring as well as the other two. With regards to the efficiency of the reaction, three of the reactions appeared to be efficient. Aniline, phenol, and acetamide all reacted efficiently. This is observed through their products which displayed conclusive melting point ranges that confirmed their predictions. Although 10% bromine solution was used these reactions carried to completion and their yields were decent. Conclusion: Aniline and Phenol both yield trisubstituted products of 2,4,6-bromoaniline and 2,4,6-bromophenol according to the melting point ranges obtained. This supports predictions that these amine and hydroxyl groups would be the strongest activating groups of benzene. Anisole yielded a disubstituted product which suggests that it is a more moderate activator when compared to aniline and phenol. Acetamide, which has the bulkiest substituent, yield a monosubstituted product which suggests that it is the weakest activator of the four. These results match up with ranking predictions but differ with substituent predictions. It was predicted that anisole’s activating strength would be on par with that of phenol and aniline when results indicate that it is actually considerably weaker. Sources of Error: After recrystallzation and weighing out the final product identified as 4-bromoacetamide. It was observed that the actual yield was higher than the theoretical yield. This could have been due to impurities in our final product.

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.

Pathological Modern Human or Evolutionary Offshoot Essay

Upon initial discovery of the skeletons at Liang Bau cave on the island of Flores in Indonesia in 2003, these enigmatic skeletons were appropriately dubbed ,†Hobbits† by Australian and Indonesian researchers because of their small stature and curious bone structure. The location of the skeletons themselves is interesting because of the remoteness of the island from the Asian continent. This leads one to wonder how these people’s ancestors came to the island in the first place close to 800,000 years ago. It is highly debated whether or not these tiny skeletons are evidence of an offshoot of one of our evolutionary ancestors or examples of modern humans with pathologies that caused the deformities. If these skeletons are proved to be a new species in our genus, it would be a profound implication since these peoples were contemporary with modern humans as recently as 13,000 years ago and may have had some interaction. A recent study indicated that these humans were indeed a new species of the genus Homo, and had distinct characteristics, such as cranial morphology that was different from modern humans with pathologies like dwarfism or microcephalism (Kubo 2013). If they are indeed a new species, it leaves open the possibility of other unknown species of the genus Homo that might have been mischaracterized as a pathological deformity. Before going into the recent evidence for Homo Floresiensis being a distinct species of Homo, I’d like to establish some information that was known about these peoples. The skeletons that were discovered had an average height usually around one meter tall, weighing about twenty kilograms, and had a lifespan of approximately thirty years of age. Evidence from archaeological sites indicates that this pupulace utilized fire, along with stone tools and weapons. One of the most astonishing facts is that these people, who would have a stature close to a three year-ol d child, worked together and planned jointly in order to hunt big-game animals like the pygmy Stegodon, which could weigh up to a thousand kilograms. Although they had brains about the size of grapefruits with capacities around 400cc; compared to the average cranial capacity of modern humans, 1350cc; thisjoint communication and planning indicates that they had high cognitive capacity despite their small endocranial volume. There is additional evidence that shows that these people also hunted Komodo Dragons, giant rodents, and lizards, along with other small game animals, like fish, frogs, birds, snakes, and tortoises (Mayell 2004). Although it is unknown how these people first arrived on the island, it is known that they arrived around eight hundred and forty thousand years ago. It is postulated that these people who first came were most likely normal sized Homo Erectus from the Asian mainland, as evidence by their high degree of prognathism, lack of chins, and heavy brow ridge (Mayell 2004). Because the skeletons of Floresiensis also shows other primitive traits in their bone morphology, an alternative theory is that they came from an even older unknown ancestor is not excluded (Ghosh 2013). It is thought that the original inhabitants of this island shrunk over a long period of time by a process called Island Dwarfing that is evident in other animal species. It is likely that over tens of thousands of years their bodies shrunk because environmental conditions favored it. And it is no wonder that this process is the likely answer, because islands typically have a limited food supply, a small amount of predators, and other animals competing for resources, which would lead to the body gradually shrinking in order to reduce the daily energy requirements. One skeptical approach to this theory is that perhaps these people came to the island already dwarfed, due to the lack of larger bodied ancestors being found. It is unfortunate that these people have not survived into the mo dern era, which would allow us to have more solid information on their daily lives and physical traits, they went extinct along with their food sources about thirteen thousand years ago due to a volcanic eruption (Mayell 2004). Although there are many people who are skeptical that these miniature skeletons are indeed a new species, there is ample evidence that would indicate that these people are indeed a whole new species in the long line of our evolutionary history. At Liang Bau limestone cave, the site of the original discovery, many stone artefacts in the forms of complex tools and weapons were found dated to around one hundred thousand years ago, associated with the Late Pleistocene era. Because of the complexity of these artefacts, some claim that they were created by modern Homo Sapiens. This claim though, is ruled out by the evidence found at Mata Menge, a sitelocated about fifty kilometers to the east. Researchers at this site have noted that there is specific similarities and apparent continuity between the stone artefacts found there and the more recent artefacts found at Liang Bau cave (Brumm 2006). The authenticity of these complex stone artefacts is demonstrated by similar older finds in the Soa Basin, at the sites of Boa Lesa, Kobatuwa, and Mata Menge, which were all dated to around eight hundred thousand years ago, all showing similarities and technological development leading towards the more recent artefacts found at Liang Bau (B rumm 2006). Aside from the stone artefacts found dated to eight hundred thousand years ago that prove that the newer stone artefacts at Liang Bau were not made by modern H. Sapiens, there is even more convincing evidence in the bones of Homo Floresiensis that indicate that they are indeed a new species that evolved separately from the rest of the Homo Erectus population. Or perhaps from an even older undocumented ancestor that was dispersed into Southeast Asia (Jungers 2009). The female Homo Floresiensis skeleton that was found, dubbed LB1, was relatively intact, and researchers have been studying her bones to find clues to her evolutionary origin. Researchers initially looked at the morphology of the three wrist bones of LB1 for clues as to her evolutionary origin, this is a good way of determining evolutionary history because modern and upper paleolithic Homo Sapiens and Neandertals all have certain exclusive features of their wrist bone morphology that is absent in other species. Because of t his, looking at the formation of the wrist bones of Homo Floresiensis allow us to get an idea of whether or not they evolved from early Sapiens and Neandertals, or from an even earlier ancestor. LB1’s wrist morphology shares primitive features that is associated with African Ape-Human clade, while absent in modern humans. When compared to the bone morphology of our more recent evolutionary ancestors, it seems to indicate that it is unlikely that some unknown pathology is responsible for these primitive features being present (Tocheri 2007). Perhaps even more convincing is the fact that modern wrist bone morphology was not evident until as recently as eight hundred thousand years ago, which was contemporary with H. Floresiensis arrival on the island; and because they lack this feature, it seems to indicate that they were from an older ancestor that was established on the island before this distinct morphology formed. The wrist bones themselves were not the only bones under scrutiny by researchers, they also looked at the feet of H. Floresiensis, and it yielded surprising information that strengthened the probability that these peoples were indeed a separate species of the genus Homo. Upon inspecting the feet morphology of LB1, it was discovered that the feet were exceptionally long relative to the tibia and femur. This trait is not evident in any hominin species, but is found in certain African apes. The combination of the unusual lower-limb proportions and primitive pedal phalanges indicate that LB1 had distinct differences in biomechanical function from modern humans, and would have had a unique kinetic motion (Jungers 2009). This, along with the wrist morphology of LB1, all seem to indicate that they evolved from an early primitive ancestor, and making it extremely unlikely that these primitive bone morphologies were all caused by pathologies or some unknown disease. Perhaps the most important evidence for H. Floresiensis as a separate species and not simply a case of repeated pathologies or diseases, is the morphology of the skull relative to know pathologies or genetic diseases. Researchers compared a virtual endocast of LB1’s brain relative to endocasts from great apes, Homo Sapiens, Homo Erectus, a human pygmy, a human microcephalic, an Australopithecus Africanus, and a Paranthropus Aethiopicus. The data derived from these comparisons concluded that LB1’s cranial morphology is not consistent with a microcephalic or a pygmy, based on its’ morphometric, allometric, and shape data; with the only similarities being a small endocranial volume (Falk 2005). More recent research done thi s year has determined that LB1’s endocranial volume is a bit higher than previously thought, now at 426 cc, compared to the previous measurement of 400 cc. This is significant because when paired with the body-to-brain ratio, it indicates that as H. Floresiensis shrunk, its’ brain scaled down to compensate for the reduction of body mass; which implies in the past H. Floresiensis brain and body was larger and could have descended from an earlier small-brained ancestor or the larger brained H. Erectus (Kubo 2013). Although the brain is still extremely small when compared to modern humans, â€Å"LB1 has frontal and temporal lobes and a lunate sulcus in a derived position, which is consistent with capabilities for higher cognitive processing† (Falk 2005). This conclusion indicates that it is a likely possibility that H. Floresiensis is a separate species, based on the fact that these bone morphologies are unlikely to occur simply from pathologies or defects, and are not consistent with modern cases of such pathologies. Also, their arrival on the island is contemporary with when modern wrist morphology was developed, and because they lack this morphology along with the standard lower-limb proportions, to me it indicates that they were evolved from an older and more primitive ancestor down our evolutionary line, and should be considered a new species. This find initially was significant because people started to research and think about the possibility that these â€Å"hobbits† were indeed a new species. And as more research was done on their bone morphology, it became even more significant because the additional research increased the probability that this was truly a new species, and not just a case of an unknown pathology or disease. The implication that this is a new species has far reaching and significant effects; it shows us that our evolutionary history was not as straightforward as we once thought, and that evolution took us through a few twists and turns to get where we are today (Ghosh 2013). This should cause archaeologists to be more open minded about our evolutionary history, and consider other undiscovered evolutionary paths we are unaware of. And maybe this being accepted as a new species will lead to the discovery of other past forms of Homo that we have overlooked as being the effects of a pathology or dis ease. I would definitely consider this one of the more interesting and important finds of the twenty-first century. Bibliography Ghosh, Pallab 2013 BBC News : Science and Environment. Web Page, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22166736, accessed May 5, 2013 Mayell, Hillary 2004 National Geographic News. Web Page, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html, accessed May 5, 2013 Tocheri, Matthew 2007 The Primitive Wrist of Homo Floresiensis and Its Implications for Hominin Evolution Science 21, Vol. 317, No. 5845 : 1743-1745 Falk, Dean 2005 The Brain of LB1, Homo Floresiensis Science 8, Vol. 308, No. 5719 : 242-245 Jungers, W. L. 2009 The Foot of Homo Floresiensis Nature 459 : 81-84 Brumm, Adam 2006 Early stone technology on Flores and its implications for Homo floresiensis Nature 441 : 624-628 Kubo, Daisuke 2013 Brain size of Homo floresiensis and its evolutionary implications Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Vol. 280, No. 1760

Choose one of the following Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 4

Choose one of the following - Assignment Example influenced not only the business performance of a company but also the ability of the company to fulfill its current and future business goals (Ravasi and Schultz, 2006; DuBrin, 2002). On the contrary, having a weak organizational culture can also lead to the development of a poor business performance. To ensure that business organizations could benefit from having a strong oranizational culture, this study will purposely examine the positive and negative features of organizational culture. Prior to conclusion, this study will discuss how a strong and weak organizational culture can affect the business performance of a company. According to Lussier and Achua (2010, p. 369), â€Å"strong corporate cultures improve performance by facilitiating internal behavioral consistancy†. It simply means that the ability of the corporate leaders to positively manipulate or influence each employee’s work-related values, attitude, norms, behavioral practices, and expectations play a significant role towards developing further improvements in the busienss performance of a company. Organizational culture can either be classified as weak or strong (Anghel, 2012, p. 135; Lussier, 2009, p. 51). In relation to having a strong and well-defined organizational culture, one of the most obvious and common features of having a strong organizational culture is one that has aligned organizational vision, mission, and goals (Hill and Jones, 2012, p. 32; Lussier and Achua, 2010, p. 370). Commonly shared by the managers and staffs, the presence of a well-defined organizational vision, mission, and goals serve as a guiding attitude and behaviour within a business organization (Lussier and Achua, 2010, p. 370). Therefore, employees within a business organization with strong culture are subconsciously sharing assumptions on how they will achieve the organizational goals (Lussier, 2009, p. 51). In the absence of any of these features, it would be more difficult on the part of the business managers

Cause of Stress among College Students Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Cause of Stress among College Students - Essay Example Stating precisely, stress is a physical response that develops the feeling of being upset and imbalances among people and in the modern scenario of the learning, when students at times get frustrated with the demanding situations. Additionally, the students’ life is today considered as highly exposed to the issues of stress to make them prepare for the future uncertainties. However, the students who were already having other health complications such as depression or are rather venerable to it, extreme level of stress can significantly trigger to develop other complications. Besides, the perception of the students over the demand of the situation plays a decisive role   in the having a positive or a negative influence, depending on the fact students perceive to have positive approach towards the demanding situations. Relatively, different factors and scenarios can cause stress among students, wherein the most commonly cited causes of stress include examination pressure, dead line pressure, difficulty in organising the personal and working life, noise, improper environment, difficulty in adjusting the life among the other factors. Relatively, in various instances, the causes of stress gradually accumulated without the other notice and leads to severe threats in the students’ life. Gradually, the unnoticed response and measure to remove the causes of stress will have significant impacts - physical, emotionally and mentally (Olpin & Hesson, 2015). Kai-Wen (2010) investigated different reasons of stress among the Taiwanese students.

Why Less Homework Should be Assigned to Students Essay

Why Less Homework Should be Assigned to Students - Essay Example Such an increase in the workload of the students has created extra stress for the students besides allowing schools to compete with each other. It is argued that the schools have deliberately increased the level of difficulty of the curriculum therefore naturally the volume and extent of homework given to students has increased too. (HU) It is also critical to note that teachers claim that more homework actually increases the capability of the students to face the world and its challenges. However, studies do suggest that doing extensive homework in the school has little or no effect on the study skills of the students during their college. During college days, students actually have a lot of time to study as they only have few study sessions during the week. More amount of homework therefore not only make the students physical exhausted but it can also create mental fatigue. Carrying heavier books increases the weight which students have to carry thus making them physically fatigued. The above arguments, therefore, suggest that there should be less homework assigned and the students must be allowed to relax and have a lower amount of homework. There is a greater need to re-design and re-develop the way students are taught at schools. This can help the students to have less homework and more chances to engage themselves in creative and innovative activities.

How do the cars effect the CO2 level of the air Lab Report

How do the cars effect the CO2 level of the air - Lab Report Example However, humans have been actively affecting the CO2 natural balance through activities that increase the accumulation of these gases in the atmosphere, a factor contributing to increased accumulation of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The typical combustion activities include burning of natural gases, oil coal and in transportation, where vehicles are the main contributors of pollution. In the US today, combustion of gasoline in transportation services accounts for 32% of the total emissions in the country and 27% of all greenhouse emissions; it is  the second largest contributor of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Brugge, 3). Consequently, vehicles using gasoline are the second most significant source of greenhouse gases in the U.S, raising concerns on the use of carbon-based fuels. This practical was aimed at measuring the levels of carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles at two busy locations within the school. The aim was  to understand the effect of high vehicle densi ties and the differences in concentration of CO2 gas at two different locations. Vehicles play a significant role in increasing the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As has been stated above, combustion is one of the major human activities has been blamed for increased cases of greenhouse gases. A primary agent of combustion that steadily increases the accumulation of these gases is the use of carbon-based fuels. As such, the testing of carbon dioxide levels in the parking area and at the school exit seeks to indicate the role played by vehicles in increasing the levels of emissions in the atmosphere. Utmost care was observed when handling the sensitive instrument to avoid damage.   Two or more people  had  to carry the device while holding the S.S probe  in position. The probe was also prevented from touching the ground where it could collect data and get damage. An important observation during the experiment was that when placing the digital CO2 sensor in the required

What are the main areas of risk facing a medium-sized developing Essay

What are the main areas of risk facing a medium-sized developing housing association explain what might influence its response to those risks and what a risk strategy might include - Essay Example Risk is often seen as possibility of an undesirable event. Under scenario analysis, risk is differentiated from threat. A threat is considered an event with very low probability but possessing serious harms. Analysts are often unable to allocate a probability to threat and for that there is no effective preventive measure is available. The only precautionary measure that can be taken to cope up with a threat is to reduce the set of definite risks before proceeding to an experiment, project, action or innovation. If any of the above-mentioned variables reduces to zero, then the overall approaches to risk will be zero. For instance, humans are extremely vulnerable to the threat that aliens might control their minds, which would have a severe effect. But since we have never seen aliens therefore, we can say that they might not pose such amount of threat so the overall risk reduces to almost zero. Every type of business possesses some level of risk. Many risk-averse people prefer not to do business, since it includes a large amount of risk i.e. a business might work, and a business might not work. So there are 50/50 chances that one will be successful in respective business. Every business has certain risks, some of which are foreseeable while others cannot be predicted and are therefore uncontrollable risks. Risk is an important component of small and medium sized business as well. Some common types of losses in SMEs include fire, theft, flood, injury, legal liability, disability, etc. Undoubtedly, every business entity requires vigorous risk assessment and management system but Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) need to put even more attention to risk management since they may not have means and resources to control and manage risks due to several limitations and their varying size. However, this is not the case in large multinational corporations because organizations take special

Hospitality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Hospitality Management - Essay Example se international portfolio requires a dynamic leadership and operational team who are well-versed in contemporary theories of consumer behaviour and are able and willing to respond to the needs of fluctuating market preferences. With the aforementioned in mind, it would appear that Hilton Hotels must actively scrutinise the internal and external market environment, determine their internal capacity to fulfill these identified service requirements and deliver on the promise of providing excellence in all aspects of business; both domestic and foreign. Being able to deliver on such promises requires a sophisticated team of service professionals, suggesting that Hilton brands must provide adequate training and development programmes geared toward service excellence and create quality systems to deliver these services and to respond to issues of service recovery to gain customer loyalty. Such systems require a flexible leadership team who remain focused on continuous improvements in the hotel industry. This project focuses on three specific elements which currently exist at Hilton Hotels, including their training and development systems, the inter-connected nature of staff behaviours and customer interaction as well as an analysis of the systems currently in place to manage issues of service failure and subsequent service recovery. Brand and service differentiation are two primary strategic objectives of Hilton Hotels, which involves creating the perceptions of high-quality facilities uniquely tailoured to fit the needs of a diverse consumer market. Hilton maintains a wide variety of four-star accommodations across much of Europe and North America, as well as less-affluent facilities designed for the busy traveller or family-oriented tourist. As the majority of Hilton brands are full-service facilities, including restaurant, banquet and conference catering and regional tourism packages, this would suggest that Hilton employees are fully interactive in virtually all

Systems Theory and Small Group Communication Essay

Systems Theory and Small Group Communication - Essay Example As the paper discusses  the changing of one part of the system will lead o the change of the entire system because they are interdependent. For instance, one family member who is dysfunctional will affect the entire nuclear family. If one family member has issues with drug abuse or passes away, the rest of the entire family will be impacted. The subsystems and individual family members who comprise of the family system are mutually dependent and influenced upon one another.This discussion highlights that the concept of synergy in the family system occurs where the performance of the entire system collectively will exceed expectations based on the individual ability of each family member. According to the family systems theory, a family will accomplish more by interacting together rather than each member working alone. For example, when the family members work together to improve their financial status, they will easily achieve the common goal as a unit. It is because of the deep di versity that exists among the family members such as the differences in task skills that include abilities, values, perspectives and problem-solving strategies. Negative synergy will also occur where the family members working together will produce a worse result on the basis of the perceived unconstructive abilities and skills of the members.  The systems theory argues that a small or a minimum group size is the best needed group size so as to complete tasks because when the group is too large, problems develop.

Debate & MySpace Essay Example for Free

Debate MySpace Essay The motion here today is that Social networking sites can actually cause more harm than good. We do not however deny the fact that in today’s society, these social networking sites do bring benefits to our daily life and also in the ever growing business industry. For example, it helps us connect with our loved ones who are halfway round the globe, or even a marketing platform for business developers with its vast consumer reach. On the other hand, what we are affirming today is that despite it upsides, it can bring about MORE harm than good. It is an increasingly untenable fact, especially with the ease of access to the internet to virtually anyone, that these social media can have more negative effects than good. This is Veronica, she will be speaking about the negative effects that it will bring to our health and financial fraud. Secondly, Hema will elaborate further the effects on business risk and personal risk. Thirdly, Nazrul will touch on the topic of productivity and cyber-criminal activities. Last but not least, Joshua will briefly wrap up about this debate. This is a 5-round debate, and we look forward to challenging our opponent in this controversial topic. Social networking sites are websites that facilitate communication between 2 or more individuals. When we are communicating with 2 or more individuals, many fail to realise that we are essentially putting out information on ourselves out there on the World Wide Web. There are obviously a lot of privacy issues at hand when this happens. Im certain that the opposition will argue that we have control of what we share over the internet, and we can prevent these issues from happening. Even if we are very careful on what information we share, we still cannot prevent all forms of privacy violation  from happening. An article on The Guardian UK states that Facebook users are unwittingly revealing intimate secrets including their sexual orientation, drug use or political beliefs. A research shows that just by looking at a user’s Like activities, they can predict information about the user. Researchers are able to predict a users characteristics, race, religion, beliefs and political views with up to an accuracy rate of a shocking 88%. Even if we do put in controls, data on these sites are still accessible to anyone, especially those with expertise in the IT arena. A student from the University of Georgia is suing her university of $2 million dollar over the misuse of her Facebook picture. The University have pulled out a picture of her in a bikini from her social media account for a district-wide presentation campaign raising awareness on what not to do on social media. Incidentally, this student has set her privacy settings to only allow her friends to view her pictures. These examples here gives a fair indication of how our personal information can be accessed by almost anyone regardless of the measures that we took to protect our information. And if the opposition party would like to argue that it is the user’s decision NOT to put anything on the social sites, then I think that it would be considered as NOT USING these social media sites in any case, and as such, would be irrelevant to the topic of today. Another issue that I would like to address today is Cyber Bullying. Cyber bullying is a very serious problem because it’s very harmful to younger generation psychologically and also physically. Most bullies don’t think about what they say or do have an enormous effect on others. A very famous case sparked the attention of many people to realize that cyber bullying does have a very negative effect. The case of Amanda Todd shocked the world as she posted a video before committing suicide. In the black white video, Amanda tells the world her story of years of bullying. I now would like to pass on to my fellow colleague who will go on to the second point. Cyber Bullying Amanda Todd http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/Girl-Commits-Suicide-After-Being-Cyber-Bullied/qIO2h9LBhUaCEB_3oQlbzg.cspx Jessica Laney http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/social-media-blamed-teen-suicide-article-1.1218550 Eden Wormer http://abcnews.go.com/US/bullied-teen-commits-suicide-posting-loves-haterz/story?id=15887174 http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/mar/11/facebook-users-reveal-intimate-secrets http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/student-sues-school-district-for-using-her-facebook-bikini-picture-in-school-wide-presentation/ http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/selfies-damage-relationships-study-article-1.1424830 http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/internet-is-bad-for-kids-mental-health-237178.html In Wake Of Teen Suicides, Ask.fm Faces A Myspace Problem

Police History Essay Example for Free

Police History Essay Starting In 1829, Sir Robert Peel began developing his theory of policing. These nine principles are as relevant today as they were in the 1800s. Peel established the Metropolitan Police when he served as Home Secretary of England. Since Sir Robert Peel introduced his principles of policing in the early 1800s, our country has continued to follow his ideas of effective policing. Community policing is based on Peels concept of prevention. According to one of Peel’s principals, the real key for policing is The police are the people and the people are the police. Peel believed that prevention of crime could be accomplished without intruding into the lives of citizens. Sir Robert Peels first principle was that, â€Å"The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder† (Westminster Police Department, 2012) In our diverse society, it is necessary for police to understand the different cultures that make up the communities that they patrol. If police can relate to and understand the different cultures of the community, they will be able to successfully gain public approval. I believe this is important for his second two principals. â€Å"The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions. † Also, â€Å"Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public†. (Westminster Police Department, 2012) Peel also felt strongly about the idea of the use of force as well. In two other principals Peel stated â€Å"The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force† and that â€Å"Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient. (Westminster Police Department, 2012) Excessive force has been a public concern and the first sign of community mistrust in the police. It can take years to gain the trust of a community and one incident to lose that trust. By providing adequate training on the use of force and having the publics trust and respect can ensure that force is only used to the extent necessary. When individuals have little or no respect towards the police, they are most likely to ignore the requests or demands of officers. This can lead to the officer having to use force in order to gain control of a situation. Peel felt that â€Å"The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it. (Westminster Police Department, 2012) When police are faced with dispersing large crowds, it is necessary for the public to have the respect to follow police orders. When individuals lack trust and respect for the police, riots may occur, which can also lead to arrests, serious injuries, and even death. Sir Robert Peels principles and Community Policing go hand in hand and share the same concepts and goals in policing. One of the distinct similarities between Peels approach and Community Policing is that prevention of crimes is the number one priority. I believe that Peel felt morals played an important role in effective policing. It is important that police officers think things through and have the best interests in mind before making decisions. Peel’s principals â€Å"Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law†, and â€Å"Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary† (Westminster Police Department, 2012) Are important and should be demonstrated to earn the trust of the people in the long run and to uphold the law. The relationship between the U. S. overnment and police organizations across the United States can be analyzed in several ways. I believe that because the police organizations and the government have a close relationship in several ways. Not only are police organizations expected to follow rules from their own departments, they also must follow standard federal guidelines as well. There are federal, state and, local levels of police organizations. The federal government roles are similar to that of local and state; however there are a few differences. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the Department of Homeland Security are examples. Employees of these organizations are by law, allowed to make an arrest in any county or state. Unlike local or state police organizations, these officers do not provide basic protection services or simple criminal investigations unless the local or state agency cannot control the situation (say for example a serial killer). There are some problems with the way our government controls certain things with the other agencies. For example our government ran U. S. military is being used for domestic law enforcement. Also, the federal government is taking over the training, financing and delegation of local police. This could cause many issues, removing the police from local control may not be the smartest move. The concern is arising that the federalized police have increasingly turned to violent tactics and assaults on people who have not committed any crimes. When issues like this arise, it can cause problems within local or state organizations when it comes to police procedures and the way policing is being done. If the organizations don’t feel as though they are in control, or that their problems or concerns are not being addressed properly, this may affect the quality of law enforcement. It could also cause communication issues and lapses. There is the other possibility, that some people may have the opinion that things are better with more outside control. Policing may have to change in many ways to adapt to the change in control. Conclusion In conclusion I think there can be both pros and cons to the relationship between the U. S. government and the police organizations. I also believe that Sir Robert Peel had a major effect on the policing of his time, our current police procedures, and community policing.

Art Is Lie That Brings Truth Nearer

Art Is Lie That Brings Truth Nearer I decided to evaluate the quotation by Pablo Picasso: Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth because the claim contains several issues that, depending on the definition, may lead to further difficulties in interpretation. What do we mean by truth?; What is a lie; What do we mean by arts?; Who do we consider when saying us? A piece of art, as a separate subject, is hermetically understood by every individual. It inspires us all, both creators and receivers of the art leading to specific, personal, conclusions. Therefore, not only the main assumption but also the main outcome of the arts is relativism; that is why we cannot state any absolute values in it. As Pablo Picasso once said: You will not understand arts as long as you wont understand that in arts 1+1 may give any result but 2  [1]  . This underlines, I believe, that art is never able to give an absolute answer, therefore is a lie in absolute terms. Hence, art outlines only the artists personal impression, his tru th, and cannot be a measure of any unambiguous distinction between the absolute and impression itself. Since it is the quotation of Pablo Picasso that is evaluated in this essay, it can be explained in relation to cubist theory of truth. The theory claims the total truth is a sum of all perspectives. So the more personal truths, in relativistic terms, or various lies (not hole truths), in absolute terms, are added, the closer one gets to knowing the real truth. That is how the art is a lie that helps us realise the truth. I will prove my thesis by analysing what kind of truth do paintings of Johannes Vermeer, a realist, Pierre Auguste Renoir, an impressionist, Edward Munch, an expressionist, and Rij Rousseau, a cubist, tell me separately and altogether about women. These artists, and specific movements they represent, were chosen because of the underlying contrast in both perceiving the truth and expressing it. They represent varied approaches which will allow to present flaws in ea ch view and draw moderate conclusion, which falls into the thesis of the investigation. The painting The Milkmaid , by Vermeer, shows a woman standing in a kitchen, preparing a meal. Her face is calm and it can be judged from her clothes and the content of the room that she lives in relative luxury. The painting presents somehow the reality of the 17th century social situation in Netherlands which gives me a social and historical truth concerning woman. Additionally, Vermeers truth about women is that they are the guardians of the households. His view falls into correspondence theory of truth, which claims that something is true if it corresponds to a fact. Despite recent XXth centurys social changes concerning womans position, they have always played a major role in taking care of home. The movement itself is an example of realism that comprises in the mimetic theory of art. The concept of mimesis assumes that the purpose of the art is to copy reality. Therefore the problem arises when evaluating realism- is it false because it deals with imitation, or it is true throu gh paradox of fiction- that the model presents some regularities of human behavior? I believe that by taking from the character her personal identity in exchange for creating a generalized model, Vermeer in fact hinders the personal truth about this woman. He effectively presents the social order and historical truth, however generalization is always concerned only with average, not with all possibilities. The painting Woman with a dog of Renoir presents a woman with a dog sitting in the grass. The blurry curves are used in order to show movement of the grass. By looking at the bloom and the reddish shade on a girl it can be judged it is a late afternoon. Renoirs truth in this painting applies only to womans look in a specific place at a specific time. Additionally, the painting says something personal about her- that she probably enjoyed spending her time close to the nature, since her face expresses joy, and that she probably enjoyed watching sunsets. The painting is an ideal example of impressionism. As Childe Hassam  [4]  once noticed: The true impressionism is realism that so many people do not observe. The crucial difference, however, between these two concepts is that impressionism tries to prove that truth is not a generalisation, like in realism. Instead, it uncovers the truth about certain objects in relation to very specific time and place. Therefore, impressionism also falls into correspondence theory of truth since Renoirs painting corresponds to a fact- girls look during a sunset. However, since impressionists tried to immortalise the very glance we must ask ourselves how good truth is that? Following Monets thoughts I assume that the truth about everything would be hindered in a series of glances. Thus, showing just one of the uncountable in their number glances gives us only an insignificantly small part of the truth about women in general and the girl in particular. The painting Madonna by Edvard Munch presents a woman with sunken orbits and slender posture which makes her look like a demon. The foetus in the left corner symbolises fertility and therefore depicts woman as a source of life. Her face expresses experiencing ecstasy and by linking this image with the title of a piece, Madonna, which is the Christian perception of a Holy mother, Munch degraded the value of woman. The artist was a misogynist and his truth is that a woman is a source of all suffering, the mother of heresy and the incarnation of pure evil.  [6]  Expressionists, like Munch, disregarded mimetic approach to arts; instead they wanted to show the world through the prism of their own perception. Thus, the basic idea in this movement was not to imitate reality (so they were not interested in absolutes), but to present the very subjective and very personal opinions- just as in the coherence theory of truth. The theory claims that a proposition is true if it fits in with our overall set of beliefs. Although the concept of woman being a demon could be true for Munch, for majority of people it would be perceived as extremist and prejudiced view. However, expressionism, because of its fundamental assumptions, speaks more of the painter than of the world. Munchs perception derives from fear of woman that is why it is so narrow. Nevertheless, this narrowness is a deliberate action. Author, as an expressionist, through his works tells me: This is MY truth, what is yours? The painting of Rij-Rousseau does not describe, as the title could suggested, the outer look. In Portrait she depicted three different bodies which shows the complexity and diversity of womens nature. It can be cheerful and warm (orange), or impassive and cold (green), and there is also the person between them, poorly visible, brown- imitating the whole uncertainty and mystery of other womans embodiments. Rousseaus truth about woman is hidden in symbols: the green face resembles a mask, so the outer look, which would mean that the blithe person represents the inner nature of woman. Therefore, the painting represents the very essence of the cubist theory of truth-to present the object in the widest context possible by considering it from multiple viewpoints. In other words cubism assumes that we are getting closer to the truth the more perspectives we get to know. But now again, how good truth is that? I now realize that the absolute truth about woman means summing up all the personal truths about each woman separately, yet it is an impossible task. Furthermore, any attempt to draw a mathematically moderate view about woman would mean going back to the very beginning, so the concepts of generalization and mimesis. Therefore, what is gained through dealing with arts is not only finding out how great is our own ignorance, but also how unattainable to comprehend, and impossible to depict, the absolute truth is. What have I gained through dealing with the paintings of Vermeer, Renoir, Munch and Rousseau? The Milkmaid told me what the social status in Netherlands was in XVIIth century. Renoir immortalised some girls look at the time of a sunset, the emotions that her face expressed and the move of the grass around her. Munch told me of his greatest despise and fear of women. Rousseau showed not to trust the first impression because a woman is a very complex being. Therefore, I am wiser with the views of these four paintings, bur now I realise I am poorer with the lack of the perceptions depicted in another thousands paintings. Thus, I know that I know nothing  [8]  of the absolute truth about woman, since I just grasped only an idea of the truths complexity. When Picasso said that art is a lie that helps us realise the truth I believe he didnt mean any specific style, i.e. he didnt mean that realism is a lie, but that all the achievements in arts, in all styles and assumptions, are just n ot complete. Having in mind that Picasso actually created cubism, I cant resist evaluating his claim in relation to cubist theory of truth. According to this idea the absolute truth is a mosaic composed of various elements individual approaches. In other words, what Picasso meant is that arts is closed in specific boundaries of different styles and cannot present the whole picture, therefore is a lie. However, as new forms and concepts are created the more perspectives are added and, piece by piece, the mosaic is being completed.

hydrogen economy :: essays research papers

The first and foremost element on the periodic chart is well known throughout the world. It makes up the greater portion of the earths atmosphere. It was discovered by Cavendish in seventeen seventy-six. It all started with his discovery which has led to future events. I am referring to the substance we all know as hydrogen. In nineteen thirty-seven, the Germans had used hydrogen in the Hindenburg, which in turn after the disaster has scared many into thinking that hydrogen is a very dangerous substance. However, little radiant heat is emitted when hydrogen burns and will not cause danger to anyone unless they actually touch the fire, which is the reason why so many survived. In nineteen fifty-eight, when NASA was created, hydrogen was chosen to be the fuel for the rocket program. The choice of hydrogen was due to its clean emissions and the abundance of hydrogen on earth. The demand from NASA for hydrogen has inspired the question throughout the world; why not use hydrogen as an al ternative source of energy? As this question has remained in the minds of many, one such question was asked: Why not use hydrogen for the vehicles that we have become so dependent upon for transportation? The two thousand Olympics, which were held in Sydney, allowed the general public to see the advancement and the future potential of the hydrogen car which made a huge exposure throughout the world through mass media. If hydrogen became the number one fuel source for the automobiles of the future, the United States will be able to avoid oil spills, avoid harmful pollutants, and end the dependence on foreign sources for oil. However, many troubles arise in the area of using it as fuel for a car, being able to store it so it is safe for the everyday use and producing enough Hydrogen to make it economically efficient.