Internet Culture Essay Example

Internet Culture Essay Example Internet Culture Paper Internet Culture Paper BA Humanities Media and Society It is hard to understand the term culture. What is culture? Is it a way of life, is it a group of shared interests that brings a community of individuals together or is it a utopian dream, an invention created by the powers that be who govern society to help to collaborate interests in a structured easy to monitor way? Culture is defined in many different ways. It is said that cultures are maps of meaning through which the world is made intelligible1, but whatever the true meaning of the word Culture, Raymond Williams was right in suggesting that Culture is one of the most complicated words in the human language2: Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language. This is so partly because of its intricate historical development { } but mainly because it has now come to be used for important concepts in several distinct intellectual disciplines and in several distinct and incompatible systems of thought3. Culture has become the antithesis of modern times. Its meaning is so vast and indescribable that it would be very difficult to placate an entire essay on its meaning and come to any fore longed conclusion. Culture has a different meaning to different people and it is this paradigmatic complexity that allows the word to put fear into anyone attempting to analyse its essence. However, if you put a leading word, a word that defines disciplines within a specific culture, the term suddenly becomes identifiable. Oral Culture, Print Culture, Popular Culture and what we are attempting to understand within this research, Internet Culture begins to have a more clear and concise meaning. The very nature of the words associated and linked to the term culture allow for a more natural semblance of association. Once a word has been linked with the massive expanse of the term culture, the essence and meaning of a task such as describing what you understand by the term Internet Culture becomes significantly easier to digest and comprehend. Within the following research I will attempt to describe what I understand of the term Internet Culture and to address some of the key critical questions being asked about the movement towards the Internet Revolution4. For the basis of consistency, I will divide the text into what I feel are the key critical issues that are being questioned regarding Internet Culture, beginning with the definition that I believe personifies the term Internet Culture. As there are a phenomenal amount of issues that are being questioned I have chosen two key concepts that I feel are of importance regarding the construction and maintenance of a culture that is virtual in essence. The main critical issues that I will review are:   Can you have a virtual community?   How will Internet Culture affect the information Have and Have Nots? However, before we go any further it is imperative that we decipher what I believe and understand by the term Internet Culture. A contemporary hobby or obsession has been the compartmentalisation of eras in time and space or epochs that relate specifically to how society and the inhabitants of society communicate. Theorists have been able to highlight a number of shifts in the way a society communicates that has led to different aspects of cultural identity being adopted. It is safe to suggest that the fundamental link between varying societies and cultures are the way that they communicate and interact, as the understanding of a common language strengthens a community, just as a lack of understanding can also divide and ostracise. One of the first epochs to be defined was the Primary Oral Culture, a culture that communicated only by speech with no written text or literature present. Oral Culture was temporally biased5, it relied heavily on mythology and legend as well as ceremony and memorisation in order to transcend meaning and keep a sense of cultural identity alive6. It can be said that Oral Culture laid the foundations for the evolution of culture and society through differing communication media. The Primary Oral Culture led to Print Culture and then Visual Culture and to the epoch, which contemporary western societies are meant to inhabit, that of Internet Culture. Since Oral Culture all other cultures have included a fundamental aspect of the oral society7. We live in a predominantly word based environment, one of speech and hearing a world of sound8, however, the interactive medium that Internet Culture utilises is perhaps the only medium that converges all traditional modes of communication9. Internet Culture is the epoch that contemporary society has begun to inhabit, however, it can also be a fluid and complex medium that has many cultural meanings with little social understanding. Internet Culture cannot be as easily associated and linked to past specifications of culture that society has grown accustomed to. David Porter gives an interpretation of what Internet Culture is and the diverged sense of cultural significance that the Internet procures: If the Internet can be understood as the site of any culture at all, it is not, presumable, culture in the sense either of an elitist enclave or of a homogeneous social sphere. The culture that the Net embodies, rather, is a produce of the peculiar conditions of virtual acquaintance that prevail online, a collective adaptation of the high frequency of anonymous, experimental, and even fleeting encounters familiar to anyone who has ventured into a newsgroup debate. 10 It is therefore difficult to ascertain what Internet Culture is and it is equally difficult to give an explanation of a new medium with such a heavy cultural significance. The Internet is changing the way society communicates, but this is not a new or contemporary notion. Erla Zwingle establishes the movement of society and tradition when he affirms that Goods move, people move, ideas move and cultures change11. It is this that has the cultural significance in a continuously fluid environment like the Internet. However, to what extent the cultural significance has affected society and cultural infiltration is at this stage purely speculative with no foreseeable way of monitoring the effects that the Internet has. As we enter the 21st century electronic media have become an imperative aspect of western societies daily lives. We use computers because they are easy, they buy us time and they give us entertainment. Internet Culture is an extension of the visual image that saturates our everyday lives.

Calculating and Understanding Real Interest Rates

Calculating and Understanding Real Interest Rates Finance is riddled with terms that can make the uninitiated scratch their heads. Real variables and nominal variables are a good example. Whats the difference? A nominal variable is one that doesnt incorporate or consider the effects of inflation. A real variable factors in these effects. Some Examples For illustrative purposes, lets say that youve purchased a one-year bond for face value that pays six percent at the end of the year. Youd pay $100 at the beginning of the year and get $106 at the end because of that six percent rate, which is nominal because it doesnt account for inflation. When people speak of interest rates, theyre typically talking about nominal rates.   So what happens if the inflation rate is three percent that year? You can buy a basket of goods today for $100, or you can wait until next year when it will cost $103. If you buy the bond in the above scenario with a six percent nominal interest rate, then sell it after a year for $106 and buy a basket of goods for $103, youd have $3 left. How to Calculate the Real Interest Rate   Start with the following consumer price index (CPI) and nominal interest rate data: CPI Data Year 1: 100Year 2: 110Year 3: 120Year 4: 115 Nominal Interest Rate Data Year 1: Year 2: 15%Year 3: 13%Year 4: 8% How can you figure out what the real interest rate is for years two, three, and four? Begin by identifying these notations:  i means inflation rate,  n is the nominal interest rate  and  r is the real interest rate.   You must know the inflation rate - or the expected inflation rate if youre making a prediction about the future. You can calculate this from the CPI data using the following formula: i [CPI(this year) – CPI(last year)] / CPI(last year) So the inflation rate in year two  is [110 – 100]/100 .1 10%. If you do this for all three years, youd get the following: Inflation Rate Data Year 1: Year 2: 10.0%Year 3: 9.1%Year 4: -4.2% Now you can calculate the real interest rate. The relationship between the inflation rate and the nominal and real interest rates is given by the expression (1r)(1n)/(1i), but you can use the much simpler Fisher Equation  for lower levels of inflation.   FISHER EQUATION: r n – i Using this simple formula,  you can calculate the real interest rate for years two  through four.   Real Interest Rate (r n – i) Year 1: Year 2: 15% - 10.0% 5.0%Year 3: 13% - 9.1% 3.9%Year 4: 8% - (-4.2%) 12.2% So the real interest rate is 5 percent in year 2, 3.9 percent in year 3, and a whopping 12.2 percent in year four.   Is This Deal Good or Bad?   Lets say that youre offered the following deal:  You lend $200 to a friend at the beginning of year two and charge him the 15 percent nominal interest rate. He pays you $230 at the end of year two.   Should you make this loan? Youll earn a real interest rate of five percent if you do. Five percent of $200 is $10, so youll be financially ahead by making the deal, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you should. It depends on whats most important to you: Getting $200 worth of goods at year two prices at the beginning of year two or getting $210 worth of goods, also at year two prices, at the beginning of year three. Theres no right answer. It depends on how much you value consumption or happiness today compared to consumption or happiness one year from now. Economists refer to this as a person’s discount factor. The Bottom Line   If you know what the inflation rate is going to be, real interest rates can be a powerful tool in judging the value of an investment. They take into account how inflation erodes purchasing power.

Week 3 Discussion Questions and Participation Questions Essay - 1

Week 3 Discussion Questions and Participation Questions - Essay Example When a firm uses product differentiation the market structure of the firm is monopolistic competition. Examples of firms that use product differentiation are fast food companies such as McDonalds and Burger King. I believe that my firm could not benefit from product differentiation due to its integration to a perfect competition marketplace. Product differentiation would be an added cost that would not provide the firm with any added benefits. I agree that competition in price and services can be as effective as price strategies. Proving a top customer service can improve the customer retention rate of the company. Quality products that last a long time help companies built a good reputation which increases sales in the long run. Since they are not able to achieve economic profits in the long run corporations prefer to use non price competition. There are dangers associated with price competition such as price wars. The use of non price factors such as marketing campaigns can improve the demand for the product without having to reduce the price. A way to maintain the ability to be the sole participation in the marketplace companies can the legal protection that comes from obtaining a patent. A patent protects a company’s product for 17 years. Patents are utilized a lot in the pharmaceutical industry. Due to the massive amounts of money these firms invest in R&D they need patent protection to be able to get a return on their investment. A patent is the best way to achieve legal protection that allows a firm to participate in a monopoly marketplace. Despite the fact monopolist can charge any price they want due to the lack of competition the monopolist structure is still subject to the law of supply and demand. I do not agree with the statement that monopolist raise price until customers are not willing to pay more. A lot of monopolists exist to serve a social purpose. For example the utilities companies often have regional

Strategic Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Strategic Marketing - Essay Example In the above statement, he emphasized on the imagination of people for bringing new product development with innovative technologies. In the gradual development of globalization, the technological advancement is one of the most vital factors. The process of globalization has led to change the thoughts, views and opinions of human beings and they become more capable of imagining which was once considered to impossible (Samli, 2011, p.125). The capability of imagination is the most powerful strength of mankind that has brought significant developments. Basically, the imagination acts as a tool for inspiration and it motivate people to be innovative. In this regard, Morgan has commented correctly that â€Å"imagination motivates people to climb mountains, to paints pictures and to win races† and people are applying their imagination in the field of business management (Morgan, 2001, p.79). The greatest innovation in the world is a successful outcome of imagination. People may pos sess necessary technological knowledge and expertise or necessary monetary requirement. No doubt that these factors are indispensible for product development but the first priory is creativity based on with the technological knowhow is applied for practical implications. Archytus of Taremtum, the great mathematician during 400 B.C. imagined and created a wooden bird which was able to fly. Finally, in 1950s, George C. Devol first invented and patented modern robot which was based on imagination developed by Archytus 400 B.C ago. There are also an ample numbers of such examples that proves that imagination is prime factors behind development of new products (Patel, 2011, p.5). Question 3 â€Å"Evaluation consumes high proposition of... The researcher states that in the process of strategic business management, evaluation is one of the most critical steps for any company. In the process of evaluation, the effectiveness of implemented strategies and performances of each responsible employee are assessed for further betterment of entire situations. The performance evaluation of each employee is helpful in identifying the areas of improvements though proper performance appraisal methods. These performance appraisal methods are also meant to offer promotions, higher remunerations and incentives. The process of evaluation affected time and energy of marketing executive that can be used for more productively. The task of marketing executives generally includes the development of marketing campaigns and promotions of products and services for generating higher amount of sales. Their tasks are very challenging and they have to use their creativity to attract the target audience and target market. Creativity comes from the i magination and for motivating the marketing executive to think creative marketing ideas, it is necessary to provide sufficient time and energy. In the evaluation process consumes the time and energy of each employee including marketing executive. Therefore, the management must consider such drawbacks of evaluation for marketing executives. William R. King have identified that performance appraisal of marketing executives are difficult to interpret as task of marketing like creating ideas cannot be directly quantify.

Economical and religious repression Essay Example for Free

Economical and religious repression Essay Illustrate from Blakes songs the ways the poet shows that the people of his time were alienated from their natural selves and from society by political, economical and religious repression A major target of Blakes in the conquest to correct the unnatural state of society was that of religion and the Church. Blake was an unconventional Christian. Although clearly religious, as seen in poems such as The Lamb and Night, he abhorred the concept of organised religion and believed it to be an extremely damaging institution which was more concerned with the oppression of the lower classes and the continuance of the unequal status quo than with true religion. Blake believed the moral codes that were extolled by the Church were significantly damaging to society, making innocent concepts deviant and causing bitter unhappiness. In The Garden of Love, Blake conveys his feelings on the repressive qualities of religion. This poem is the basis for Blakes theory on repressive religion, using The Garden of Love as a basis for the damaging effects of religious bans, Blake then goes onto portray how the effects change with different experiences such as love and sex. In the poem, the speaker returns to The Garden of Love where he used to play (which seems to refer to the innocent discovery of sexuality by children) and finds that it has been transformed. Where once children used to play on the green there are now priests in black gowns, and gravestones where there used to be flowers. The speaker has become aware of Church law and its oppressive bans, Blake emphasises the influence of the religious morals by use of metrical technique. The power of Thou shalt not paralyses the poem, with three successive stresses halting the regularly anapaestic rhythm. In the same way that Thou shalt not stops the flow of the poem, the construction of the Chapel stops the innocent play of children. In the design which accompanies the poem children are seen praying over the graves of Joys Desires, which were murdered by the Church. Blake further expands his theory on how repressive religion alienates people of his day from their natural selves in his two poems on sexual intercourse, The Blossom and The Sick Rose. The Blossom is a celebration of what Blake would call completely natural sex, being free from morals and repressive religion it is a wonderful and joyous occasion, so full of emotion that it makes the robin sob with joy. The Blossom is full of positive language, such as happy, merry and pretty and contains a simple and bouncing rhythm that conveys the naturalness of the act and how positive such sex is. The Sick Rose on the other hand portrays sexual intercourse at its most depraved and shameful. The poem is a vision of sex under the influence of repressive religious morals and restricting social conventions; it portrays sexual intercourse under the influence of repressive religious morals. The poem utilises a complicated and lumpy rhythm, with a mix of anapaestic and iambic feet and a disturbing first line which is difficult to scan, the world of Experience is clearly evoked through Blakes metrical technique. The poems imagery of an invisible worm flying at night in a howling storm is full of darkness, violence and depravity. The Rose hides (implied by found out) her sexual pleasure, her bed of crimson joy, which reveals the hypocrisy of female pleasure in this depraved form of sex; the Rose has sexual desire but hides it from the invisible worm. In the final two lines Blake sums up his point of the poem, that this kind of sexual intercourse, this dark secret love, Does thy life destroy. Through his portrayal of love and sex in the Songs, Blake shows the damaging effects of religious repression. Repressive religious morals and laws have led to the body becoming detached from the soul, and sex, which the Church associates with the body, has become a seedy and deviant act. In these poems, Blake has shown that the Church has alienated people from their natural selves. In My Pretty Rose Tree, Blake reveals his beliefs on the unnatural constraints of marriage. Blake repudiated any kind of binding contracts or morals, which might constrain the natural self from its freedom and marriage fell firmly within his sights. As far as Blake was concerned, marriage was a dead institution (as revealed by the marriage hearse of London) and an unnatural social prison which severely damaged peoples natural selves. In the poem, a flower was offered to the speaker, a metaphor for an extra-marital affair, by a woman which the speaker finds attractive (Such a flower as May never bore). However, the unnatural constraints of marriage cause the speaker to unhappily, suggested by the slowing of the rhythm with a double stress in And I passed the sweet flower oer, turn down the offer and return to his wife, his Pretty Rose tree. The artificial boundaries of marriage have led to the speaker giving up the chance of being happy with his sweet flower and to being trapped with his jealous Rose tree whose thorns are his only delight. Blake suggests that without the constraints of marriage that the speaker would have been free to follow his heart, rather than conforming to an artificial law and becoming unhappy. In London, Blake further expresses his attitude towards marriage. In the poem, marriage is presented as a hearse, a vessel for carrying the dead, though with their bodies (their sexual selves) being dead in a loveless and institutionalised marriage which extols the virtues of the soul over the deviant and depraved body. Blake blames the unnatural state of love in society on the Churchs separation of body and soul. The separation has forced the soul to be encapsulated in marriage and the body to be forced to become deviant and turn to youthful Harlots. Sexual pleasure has only two options, either a loveless marriage or buying pleasure from seedy and diseased prostitutes. Marriage, in Blakes eyes, has made all sexual pleasure the kind found in The Sick Rose, depraved and hidden, whereas in a world free from the unnatural constraints alienating people from themselves, people would be able to enjoy the pleasure found in The Blossom.

Shakespeare, Loncraine, Donaldson, Richard, and Me Essay -- Shakespear

Shakespeare, Loncraine, Donaldson, Richard, and Me Act 2.4 of Loncraine’s Richard III is where I started furiously scribbling notes in the margins of notes. After Rivers is shockingly murdered, Loncraine films a still shot of the countryside. A farmer leads an ox in the foreground, while a train noisily passes in the background. There is a quick cut to the train, smoke billowing from its engines, entering a dark tunnel and then another cut to a toy train in the palace. The young Yorks are playing with the toy train and also a gray airplane. Queen Elizabeth and her mother-in-law, the Duchess of York, chat nearby. Their discussion is light. The Duchess expresses her desire to see the Prince, as she has heard he has grown. Margaret plays the piano in the background and the whistle of the toy train continues. Lord Stanley and Richmond enter, harboring grave news. Suddenly there are a series of short cuts between the faces of the Duchess, the Queen, Stanley and Richard as the news is revealed. Rivers has been murdered. At this mome nt, there is silence. Then the toy train begins to make noise again. Elizabeth says "I see the ruin of my family" and then another cut to the boys playing with their toy train and airplane. In the shadow of the hallway, Richard’s accomplice, Tyrrell, derails the toy train with his foot, smirking at young York. The toy train noise smoothly becomes a real train whistle. And lastly, the scene is framed with the image of the real train, on which the Prince is a passenger. After watching this is the scene of Loncraine’s film, I hit the pause button triumphantly. I positioned my text of Richard III and Donaldson’s essay "Cinema and the Kingdom of Death: Loncraine’s Richard III adjacent to each other and ea... ...ces an extensive dialogue within the text with an image of the train, arousing a modern anxiety of doom: the destructive capabilities of rapidly growing technology are seizing an innocent and aweless existence. Before reading Peter S. Donaldson’s article, "Cinema and the Kingdom of Death: Loncraine’s Richard III," I slept eight hours, ate a well-balanced breakfast, and ran a mile to warm up. I knew from reading "In Fair Verona," that Donaldson writes for fit athletes of an intense analytical and intellectual field. Focus, pacing, and especially composure are essential to navigating his intricate and challenging course of connections, allusions, Shakespeare, media, history, past, present, future and beyond. I was prepared, though, and began slowly, but confidently, on another one of Donaldson’s awesome paths. And this time, I just may have created some of my own.

Destin Brass Products Co. Case Study Essay

Destin Brass Products Co. has been established and grown to produce valves (24% of the company revenue), pumps (55% of the company revenue), and flow controllers (21% of the company revenue). This paper will illustrate the recommended solutions for the management of the company that are trying to evaluate the competitive trends of the market for the mentioned products, and trying to start new strategies to deal with these trends. Finance and accounting, as mentioned by Ambler (2008) are the essentials and basis to the short and long existence of any type of companies. The high competitiveness of market requires that all types of businesses have a comprehensive understanding to the costs and profits in much detail in order to facilitate decision making process. In Destin Brass case, the company tried to establish a high brand name for producing the valves, but later as an expansion to the business, the company included two new product lines which are the pumps and the flow controllers keeping in mind the similarities of productions and the availability of the productions capacity. Destin Brass did not have a distinguished competitor in the valves market because of the high quality of the valves produced, but there is a massive competition in the pump and flow controllers market. This paper will capture a time of the company business where there is a high competition on the pumps’ prices and the solution of increasing the prices of the flow controllers did not change the market. The management is in need to reconsider its financial strategy in order to face competition. The financial analysis After evaluating the current financial situation of Destin Brass, The analysis hereby will collaborate to answer the management questions, and examples of the below solutions had been used by business and it proved to have an influence of decision making process regarding the company strategy. The solutions are as follows: Product costs as per the ABC information From the given information in the case study, there is a connection between the products costs and the costs incurred by the activities related to the productions of each product line. The answer to this issue is to prepare cost estimates for the three products by applying the essentials of the  activity based costing, table 1 shows that the ABC costs of the valves is 37.8, the pumps is 48.82, and the flow controllers is $100.63. The ABC method tries to connect the indirect costs to the products, and consequently treat them as direct costs. Based on the case study financial information, the calculations in table 1 have been prepared by using the following: Creating a cost pool for the machine depreciation and maintenance cost, and allocate the products based on machine hours. Creating a cost pool for receiving and material handling costs by calculating the number of transactions consumed for every product. Creating a cost pool for engineering costs by calculating how much engineering is consumed by each product. Comparing the ABC with the standard and the revised unit costs In this comparison, it will appear the cost of each product under the three types of costing calculation methods and the reason why they are different. Table 2 shows the comparison. The three costing methods treat direct costs which are run labour and material, in the same way. Moreover, financial experts support the idea that direct costs is not the actual problem as this can be tracked to the product, but the issue is that costing calculations gets complicated when trying to allocate the overheads (Indirect costs). The allocation of overheads is where the differences in costs come under the three costing methods. In the standard cost accounting there is no effort made to track the overhead costs to the products. It is believed that indirect costs can not be related with the products that’s why they are summarised and then allocated to the products based on the given allocation factor (cost driver). In Destin Brass case, the overheads which include the receiving and materials handling, packing and shipping, and depreciation and maintenance for $680.000 per month, are allocated based on the run labour dollars. Consequently, every product is allocated a percentage of the overheads in the same ratio that the product consume of labour (valves 0.5 run hours per unit, pumps 0.5 run per unit, and flow controllers 0.4 run per unit). See table 3 for details. The revised cost accounting makes part of the indirect costs as direct. The material and handling costs are treated in a separate way, but not the best cost driver had been chosen (direct material dollars), as it would be seen in the ABC. Moreover, setup labour is assigned directly based on the setup hours for which information is available. The remaining overheads are allocated on the basis of machine  hours. As mentioned by Peggy Alford, this gives an idea why competitors are cutting prices on pumps. It is now clear that costs of the pumps is overstated using the standard costing method while the costs of the valves are understated. But, costing can be improved especially that the flow controllers’ price is not really explained that they are cheaper to produce than it was calculated by the standard costing method. The ABC method tracks as much as possible of the indirect expenses of the products and services. So any expense incurred of a product is directly charged to that particular product rather than spreading the expense over all the products. When expenses incurred of a number of products, they are gathered and allocated based on a proper cost driver. In this way, the allocation will be done in proportion to the real costs consumption by all the products. Table 1 had shown the ABC costs calculations for the three products. Now, we can see that flow controllers have been subsidised by pumps and selling them for $97.07 is loss making (cost $100.63) rather than at 42% gross margin. But, subsidising flow controllers had made pumps less profitable while selling price of $81.26 corresponds to 43.37% gross margin. The costs of the valves are the same under both the standard and the ABC methods. Strategic implications of the financial analysis According to Bhimani et la (2008), highly competition business environment requires a comprehensive costs understanding, and a proper costing strategy is essential to facilitate decision making. In Destin Brass case, the management is facing a decision whether to go on in the pumps market in spite of the prices fall and decreasing profit margins or to cut this business line and concentrate only on the valves and the flow controller’s products which are profitable. But, making a decision following the standard costing method would have caused disastrous consequences for the company as it would cut the profitable product and concentrate on products that are selling at a loss. Destin Brass is an ideal example of how vital is to have an accurate costing method to follow to provide strategic decision making. But, in spite of the importance of the financial and accounting information that the costing method will provide, the management vision should be supported by the information not only dictated by the accounting information. The next month results In the time where cost accounting does not matter for the cost allocation to determine the costs of the products, it does not affect the bottom line. Here, assuming that the quantities of the productions and the sales, inventory, selling prices stay the same, and the prices of material, labour, handling remains the same. The net profit would be the same as the net profit of the last month. The bottom line will be affected in case the results showing in the ABC method are considered and the selling prices are adjusted. Conclusion The costing methods used to identify the strengths and weakness of the business performance helps management to decide whether operations require any improvements. This indicates that the inaccurate costing allocation can lead to either over or under pricing. Consequently, this will prevent the management from leading the company to make higher profit, retain customers or lead the company to wrong strategic decisions.

Padma Bridge

1. Overview Padma Bridge is one of major outstanding infrastructure required for balanced economic development of Bangladesh. It is anticipated that the gross domestic product of the would increase by 2 percent once the bridge was constructed. The bridge, which would connect the southwest region with the rest of the country, could be used for the trans-Asian route; the minister said adding â€Å"The Bridge will help gear up industrialisation in the region too. Environmental impact of the bridge would be assessed during the preparation of design. Government is endeavouring to start construction of the proposed Padma Bridge in 2011 to comple it by 2014. The bridge to be built at an estimated more than twenty thousand crore TK would be, the longest bridge in the country with 6. 15km length and 25m width, he added. The bridge will have four lanes and a railroad in the middle. The bridge will also have a gas transmission pipeline, power transmission line and telecommunication cable. The Jamuna Multi-Purpose Bridge Authorities (JMBA) that looked after large bridge projects, in a study in 2005 estimated that 918. 76 hectares of land would be needed to be acquired on both the sides of Padma Bridge. The land acquisition cost is estimated at 3. 2 billion taka (about 46 million U. S. dollars), said the study. According to a survey by JICA, nearly 30,000 people will lose their lands due to land acquisition for construction of the bridge. The 6. 5 km long 22-metre wide, four lane bridge on the river Padma connecting Mawa (35km south of Dhaka) in Munshiganj with Jazira in Madaripur is also likely to contribute hugely to the functioning of the Mongla Port in Bagerhat, the second seaport of the country that fails to attract cargo ships owing to poor communications. The decision to construct the bridge was taken back in 2001 but dilly-dally over selecting the construction sites delayed the process. 2. INTRODUCTION The three major rivers of Bangladesh – the Padma, Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Meghna divide the country into four principal regions such as north-west, north central, eastern and south-west regions. The Padma River separates the South-west region from the capital city and requires time consuming ferry crossings to major destinations. At present, transportation of passengers and freight across the river is by ferries and to a lesser extent by launches and manually-operated boats, but their services are grossly inadequate in both capacity and service level. The existing ferry services involve long and unpredictable waiting time at terminals lacking basic service facilities. They are prone to suspension orcancellation due to flood, fog and inclement weather conditions. The proposed Padma Bridge is expected to make cross-Padma transport more reliable and drastically reduce the travel time and cost across the river. The proposed bridge plans to build a multipurpose crossing with additional utilities like rail, telephone, gas and power lines across the Padma. It is designed to remove the last major physical barrier in the road connection between Dhaka and the South-west region of Bangladesh, where about one quarter of the population of Bangladesh is living. The bridge will shorten the distance from the South-west to Dhaka by 100 km and travelling time will considerably be reduced. The project is viewed as a very important infrastructure and transportation network, which will hugely facilitate social, economic and industrial development of this relatively underdeveloped region of the country. The padma Bridge will help to stimulate economic activity in the SW region by providing a reliable and rapid transport connection. It is estimated in the feasibility study that the project will increase the GDP by 1. 2% and that of South-West Region by 2. 3%. The Padma Bridge is on the Asian Highway Route A-1 and Trans-Asian Railway Route. When the railway will be effectively connected, the Padma Bridge will contribute to the multimodal international transport network for the Eastern Region of the Indian sub-continent and substantial benefit to GoB for bi-lateral cargo movement between India and Bangladesh. 3. PROJECT COMPONENTS Among the project components main bridge is by far the prime component of the project covering about 50% of the project cost. The main components of the Padma Multi-Purpose Bridge Project consist of: * A 6. 15km long two-level steel truss main bridge. (four-lane divided highway on top and single track rail on the bottom deck); * The Approach Road to the bridge consisting of a 12. 4 km four-lane divided highway and includes five minor bridges of 150~270m length over local waterways, 21 drainage box culvert and 8 local road underpasses. * Transition structures that includes the Approach Viaduct at Mawa length of 721. 50m and 756. 788m for the northbound and southbound carriageways respectively. The length of the Approach Viaduct at Janjira is 873. 250m and 797. 315m for the northbound and southbound carriageways respectively; * Bridge End Facilities on both sides of the river that includes Toll Plazas and Service Areas; * Access roads totaling about 8. 9 km and 14. 5 km of service road . * Four Resettlement villages (two on the Mawa side and two on the Janjira side). 4. MAIN BRIDGE The total length of the main bridge is 6150m and the main bridge is connected to approach viaducts on both ends and overall width of the bridge is 22. m. The main bridge is in the form of composite steel truss with two levels, railway at lower deck level and highway at upper deck level suitable for fast track construction. Longitudinally, the main truss is in the form of a continuous warren truss and the concrete roadway slab is connected to the top chord by shear stud. The railway deck comprises longitudinal steel beams spanning between lower cross beams and a concrete railway slab which is also compositely connected to the beams. The roadway slab is reinforced concrete in the transverse direction, and is a pre-stressed concrete structure in the longitudinal direction. There are 41 spans each 150 m in length optimized in the computer program. It is sub-divided into 7 continuous bridge modules, and each module is comprised of 5 or 6 spans. At the interface between adjacent modules, a movement joint is present to accommodate the movement due to various actions. The major portion of the bridge is flat (0% vertical gradient) except at the two ends the bridge level decreases with approximately 0. 5% vertical gradient to match with the adjacent approach viaducts. The horizontal alignment of the bridge consists of straight sections, curved sections with onstant radius and short transition curves. The tightest radius is found in Module 7, where the radius is 3000 metres. 5. CROSSING REQUIREMENTS The bridge is to carry the following facilities: Highway The bridge is required to carry a dual two-lane carriageway road with a design traffic speed of 100km/hr. Each carriageway shall comprise two 3. 5 meter wide traffic lanes plus a 2. 5 meter wide hard shoulder and 650mm wide median. The bridge is intended to carry motorized vehicles only. Railway Provision shall be made for future addition of a single track broad gauge railway along the bridge. The railway is proposed to be an extension of the Indian Railways Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and is likely to be part of the Trans-Asian Railway. The design rail speed is 160km/hr for passenger trains and 125 km/hr for freight trains. Power Transmission Line The bridge will be required to carry a high voltage power transmission line with a capacity of 400kV as part of the developing power supply network in south west Bangladesh. High Pressure Gas Transmission Line A 30 inch (76 cm) diameter gas pipe is to be carried by the bridge, which is expected to operate at a pressure of. 1135 psi. The gas pipe shall be hydro tested to a pressure of 1710 psi in accordance with procedures approved by Petrobangla. The high pressure gas main shall be designed in accordance with the requirements of Petrobangla with reference to appropriate recognized international design standards such as the American 6. BRIDGE VIADUCTS The viaduct spans are separated into the approach road and the railway viaducts. The main bridge is a two level structure which required a challenging task in the arrangement of the viaducts to separate the railway from the highway and alternative options were considered during the Scheme Design Phase of the project. There are a total of four viaducts supporting the highway, two on each side of the river. The length of the approach road viaducts ranged from 720m to 875m long and consists of 38m spans. The superstructure consists of precast, pre-tensioned concrete Super-T girders which will become the first Super-T girder structure to be constructed in Bangladesh. The Super-T girder is an economical beam commonly used on highway bridges in Australia and is becoming more widespread on projects throughout Asia. The introduction of the Super-T girder to Bangladesh presents an opportunity for future use on other projects throughout the country. There is a total of two viaducts supporting the railway, one on each side of the river. The length of the railway viaducts ranged from 2. 36km to 2. 96km and consists of 38m spans similar to the approach road viaducts. The superstructure consists of precast, post-tensioned concrete I-girders. The detailed design of the viaduct structures posed some major challenges in bridge engineering specifically involving earthquakes under soil conditions highly susceptible to significant depths of liquefaction. A multi modal response spectra analysis was used to analyse and the design the viaducts for a seismic event with a return period of 475 years. This paper describes the dynamic analysis procedure and the design features of the structure to withstand these seismic events. A transition pier is located at the interface of the viaduct spans to the river spans and supports the end spans of the main bridge, the approach road viaduct structure and the railway viaduct structure. The transition pier also provided the location for the diversion of the gas pipe, power cables and telecommunication utilities located on the main bridge whilst also enclosing an access stairwell for inspection, maintenance and emergency evacuations. 7. SITE SELECTION Four alternative bridge sites were identified as alternative locations in the following areas: Site-1:Paturia-Goalundo Site-2 : Dohar-Charbhadrasan Site-3 : Mawa-Janjira Site-4 : Chandpur-Bhedarganj Four alternative locations were examined from the view points of existing transport of the project area, traffic demand forecast, preliminary river study and technical consideration in highway planning, preliminary bridge planning, environmental & social consideration. JICA study team considers site-1 and site-3 to be most advantageous for a new fixed crossing and recommends these sites for further study until Interim report. Survey Results Estimated amount of land to be acquired is almost same (about 1,250 ha ) in both cases The number of affected households / structure varies due to differences in population density Current estimate suggests:- Mawa – Janjira 70,000 to 80,000 Paturia – Goalundo 40,000 to 45,000 Traffic Study and Economic Analysis (Main Work Items) 1) Traffic Surveys (Traffic counts, OD Survey) 2) Establishment of Future Socioeconomic Framework (Population, GDP, GRDP) 3) Traffic Demand Forecast (Target year 2025) 4) Confirmation of Economic Feasibility 5) Economic Impacts of the Padma Bridge ) Improvement of Accessibility 2) Regional Economic Development 3) Formation of International Road Network Summary of Comparisons of Two Sites from traffic and Economic Point of View Evaluation Criteria| Paturia-Goalundo| Mawa-Janjira| Traffic Demand (2025)| 19,850 vehicles/day| 41,550 vehicles/day| Economic Feasibility| EIRR=9. 6%| EIRR=16. 9%| Financial Project Cost (Million US$)| 1,26 0| 1,074| Improvement of Accessibility| (Travel time) Dhaka – Mongla Dhaka – Benapole (Beneficiary Population) Within 3 hours from Dhaka Within 4 hours from Dhaka| 4. 5 hours 4. 6 hours ,791,000 (9%) 12,738,000 (42%)| 3. 6 hours 3. 6 hours 10,417,000 (35%) 22,247,000 (74%)| Density of Feeder Roads| No big difference| Formation of International Road Network| | Asian Highway A-1. Short distance to Benapole Land Port and Mongla Sea Port| Regional Economic Development| GDP of Southwest region will increase by 18% (1. 2% /year)| GDP of Southwest region will increase by 35% (2. 3% /year)| Growth centers around the bridge sites| No big difference| Indicative Cost Paturia – Goalundo| Mawa – Janjira| US$ 1,260 million| US$ 1,074 million| Evaluation of P-G & M-J sites Evaluation Criteria | Paturia – Goalundo| Mawa – Janjira| Economic Feasibility| EIRR| 9. 6%| 16. 9%| B/C Ratio| 0. 71| 1. 81| | NPV (Mil. Taka)| -9,857| 23,140| | Regional Development| Increase of GRDP of Southwest Region| 18% up (1. 2% per year)| 35% up (2. 3% per year)| Environmental Impact| Result of IEE| No big difference| Social impact and Resettlement Issues| Households requiring relocation| 1,842| 2,635| Community structures affected| 18| 60 `| | Total population affected (both direct and indirect)| 40,000-45,000| 70,000-80,000| Preliminary RAP cost| 23. 7 mil. US$| 38. 79 mil. US$| Traffic Demand Forecast of the Padma Bridge | Traffic Volumes across PadmaRiver (both ways 2003: From Traffic Survey)| | Paturia-Goalundo| Mawa-Jajira| Cross-Padma| Light Vehicle| 572| 128| 700| Bus| 687| 227| 914| Truck| 1,217| 78| 1,295| Total| 2,476| 433| 2,909| Launch Passenger| 15,559| 9,126| 24,685| Present Traffic Movement Pattern At present, traffic at Mawa is lower than Paturia due to the following reasons: 1)    Road condition of NH 8 is now very poor. 2)    A narrow approach road to the Mawa ghat. 3)    Quality of ferry services at Mawa is lower than Paturia in general. )    No sufficient parking space for trucks. 5)    Two hour river crossing time at Mawa is significantly longer than 35 minutes of Paturia. Future Traffic Movement Pattern Future traffic movement pattern will be drastically changed if the Padma Bridge is constructed at Mawa with following reasons: 1)    Improvement of NH 8 (Dhaka – Khulna Road Project by ADB) will be completed by the end of 2004. 2)    Direct road link from Dhaka for the largest traffic demands to Khulna and Jcssore. 3)    Elimination of two hour crossing time. Criteria for Final Site Selection Preliminary results shows greater impacts In Mawa-Janjira over Paturia site   Site selection should be more on technical – engineering grounds-future safety of the bridge infrastructure   Major Impacts of the project – Irrespective of    sites   Selection of Final site Is critical to set the next agenda preparation of RAP   Task would be to minimize Impact, develop Improved policy for mitigation of adverse Impacts, management and capacity building for resettlement management   Experience of the Jamuna and other donor-funded projects will be used In the planning and Implementation of RAP for Padma . CONCLUSION The Padma multipurpose bridge is a long cherished dream of the people of the entire southern region. The bridge will link the greater Khulna, Greater Faridpoor and Greater Barisal region with the rest of the country. It will give tremendous boost to national economy as the direct driving travel distance between Dhaka and this region will be greatly redu ced and hustles and harassment people face in moving tradeable commodities to and from this region will be removed. The agro rich region of Barisal and Khulna can feed the rest of the country much easily. Mongla port can make greater contribution. Tourism industry in the picturesque mangrove forest Sundarban and marvellous sea resort Kuakata will get massive boost. Nepal, Bhutan and 7 sisters around Bangladesh may utilise this bridge to use Mongla port which will give our economy a massive shot in the arm. Padma Bridge Padma Bridge Padma Multipurpose Bridge Carries| Motor vehicles, Railway| Crosses| Padma River| Locale| Louhajong, Munshiganj to Shariatpur and Madaripur,  Bangladesh| Maintained by| Bangladesh Bridge Authority| Designer| Maunsell AECOM| Design| Truss bridge| Material| Steel| Total length| 6,150  m (20,180 ft)| Width| 21. 10  m (69. 2  ft)| The Padma Bridge is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River to be constructed in Bangladesh. When completed it will be the largest bridge in Bangladesh and the first fixed river crossing for road traffic.It will connect Louhajong, Munshiganj to Shariatpur and Madaripur, linking the south-west of the country, to northern and eastern regions. The project covers three districts — Munshiganj (Mawa Point/North bank), Shariatpur and Madaripur (Janjira/South bank). The total area of land to be acquired and required for its components is 918 hectares. The requisition of land for the construction yard will be for six years on a rental basis. As per the new design, an additional 144. 04 ha has been identified for acquisition, bringing the total to 1062. 14 hectares. Similar essay: Padma Bridge ParagraphThis additional land is required because project site lost significant land due to erosion, for transition structures and due to a change in railway alignment. The two-level steel truss bridge will carry a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single track railway on a lower level. The project will include 6. 15  km long and 21. 10 m wide bridge,15. 1  km of approach roads, toll plazas and service area. Previous Source of Financing Project cost is estimated to be US$3. 00 billion. Funding for the project is provided by the Asian Development Bank (US$615 m), the World Bank ($1. billion), Japan International Cooperation Agency ($415 m), Islamic Development Bank ($140 m). The government also signed another $14. 84 million agreement with the IDB for the implementation of the water-supply and sanitation project in cyclone-prone coastal areas, and Abu Dhabi Development Group ($30 m). Of the total amount, the government will provide Tk 50 millio n while the rest will come in the form of project aid. The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) invited the pre-qualification tender for the project in April 2010. Construction of the bridge was expected to commence by early 2011 and be ready for major completion in 2013 (and complete all sections by late 2015). The proposed Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project will provide direct connectivity between the central and southwestern part of the country through a fixed link on the Padma River at Mawa-Janjira points. The bridge will contribute significantly towards facilitating the social, economic and industrial development of this relatively underdeveloped region with a population of over 30 million.The area of influence of the direct benefit of the project is about 44,000  km2 or 29% of the total area of Bangladesh. Therefore, the project is viewed as very important infrastructure towards improving the transportation network and regional economic development of the country. The bridge has provisions for rail, gas, electric line and fibre optic cable for future expansion. The project will be co-financed by the government of Bangladesh, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Islamic Development Bank.The Bangladesh Bridge Authority is the executing agency of the project. Padma Bridge financing vs. word-of-mouth strategy THE Padma Bridge is a high priority national project of the Awami League government. It is a 6. 15-kilometre long and 21. 10-metre wide bridge with 15. 1-kilometre approach roads to connect the south-western districts with the capital. It will be a very important infrastructure for economic development of more than 30 million people. The construction work of the $2. 9 billion project was expected to begin in 2012 with financial assistance of the World Bank ($1. billion), the Asian Development Bank ($615 million), the Japan International Cooperation Agency ($400 million) and the Islamic Devel opment Bank ($140 million). The government is a co-financer that has already spent Tk  15 billion on land acquisition and rehabilitation projects. However, the construction work became uncertain when the World Bank suspended its $1. 2 billion credit line last year alleging corruption conspiracy against Bangladeshi officials and executives of a Canadian firm. Considering the uncertainty of the World Bank financing, the government looked for an alternative source and almost confirmed a $2. billion Malaysian fund. Meanwhile, the bank, after almost one year of unsuccessful dealings, cancelled the agreement on June 29. It was usual for the ministers and high officials to react against the bank’s accusation. However, the government standing was ambiguous when the finance minister kept the World Bank chapter open to get the decision reviewed. An alternative deal with a Malaysian company went out of the frame when the prime minister announced that the bridge would be built with dom estic fund, eight days after the World Bank decision.Meanwhile, the word-of-mouth strategy in political game became dominant to whip up nationalistic sentiments. Moreover, come business organisations congratulated the prime minister, advertising their commitment to investing in the project. Padma Bridge with Own Fund The government will build the Padma bridge with its own funds and construction work will begin in the current fiscal year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced in parliament. She said the mega project, estimated to cost around Tk 23,000 crore, would be completed within fiscal year 2015-16.The prime minister was delivering her concluding speech in the budget session of the House, which was prorogued last evening. She urged the global lenders not to put up â€Å"unnecessary obstacles† to Bangladesh's development efforts. Hasina's announcement came nine days after the World Bank pulled out of the bridge project, citing a corruption conspiracy. In her address, she sketched out how her government would arrange the money for the project from various sources.Terming â€Å"unprecedented† the response she had received from people in the last few days in support of the government's plan for building the bridge with local resources, Hasina said she was overwhelmed by the way they had expressed their enthusiasm. She added: â€Å"We will not bow to anybody. We can in no way accept the huge damage the World Bank has done to Bangladesh on lame excuses. No Bangalee can accept the allegation of corruption by the World Bank when not a single penny was released for the project. Criticising the WB for delaying her government's move to build the bridge, she said, â€Å"The construction cost has increased due to the delay. I will ask the finance minister to seek compensation from the World Bank. † Hasina also accused the global lender of instigating other lending agencies, including the Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Jica, not to provide funds for the Padma bridge project. HOW TO RAISE FUNDS The premier said the government had lately estimated the construction cost of the bridge on a year-to-year basis.According to the estimate, Tk 3,197 crore will be needed in the current fiscal year, Tk 7,868 crore in 2013-14, Tk 7,786 crore in 2014-15 and Tk 3,785 crore in 2015-16 to complete the project. Citing the allocation of Tk 55,000 crore in the ADP for this fiscal year, Hasina said she had already discussed the matter with some ministries, and they had said they would not take their entire allocations in the current year's budget. â€Å"It is possible to save Tk 24,000 crore from the ADP. For this, we will have to be economical and may have to cut some development work under different ministries.But again, construction of the Padma bridge is also development work and will generate employment for many,† she said. The government would be able to begin the construction work soon, and will not waste any more time. The prime minister said the government had earmarked Tk 1,500 crore for infrastructure development and Tk 3,000 crore in the public-private partnership fund. Besides, a certain amount of money had been allocated for the Padma bridge in the budget. The government had also decided to issue sovereign bonds to collect $750 million.Besides, her government might levy a surcharge as was done for the construction of the Jamuna bridge. â€Å"We will also welcome any foreign investment in this project,† she added. Giving a breakdown of the Padma bridge costs, Hasina said Tk 15,000 crore would be spent for construction of the main portion of the bridge; Tk 7,200 crore for river training; Tk 1,281 crore for building Jajira approach road; and Tk 310 crore for Mawa approach road. She said her government had already spent Tk 1, 500 crore on land acquisition and rehabilitation purposes. The Consequent Impact of Constructing Padma Bridge in Own FundBe that as it may, the question i s whether the prime minister’s plan to construct the Padma Bridge without external finance is realistic. According to the estimates, Tk  32 billion will be needed in 2012-13, Tk  79 billion in 2013-14, Tk  78 billion in 2014-15 and Tk  38 billion in 2015-16. The current year’s requirement, as announced, will be redirected from the annual development programme. The government also plans to issue sovereign bonds to collect $750 million and other accumulations will be defined in future. However, mobilisation of domestic resources has hardly been impressive in the past.Regardless of the government rhetoric, the public-private partnership has not yet taken off although Tk  30 billion was allocated three years ago. In such circumstances, if the government continues to redirect funds from the ADP for the Padma Bridge, other projects will certainly be crowded out. The government is already reeling under high subsidy burden and inadequate allocation for its thrust sec tors. Although the inflow of remittance has kept foreign exchange reserve adequate, foreign aid for public projects has dwindled over the years. As such, receipt of foreign direct investment is much needed.In fact, did we not welcome the World Bank’s credit line for the Padma bridge project? Was it not highlighted in the news media? Amidst the raging global economic crisis, the government needs to realise the necessity of the soft loan from the World Bank. It needs to also have a closer looks at the country’s institutional capacity to finance such a colossal project without import of materials and without a foreign company. We might be able to prove our national capacity bypassing the World Bank, but the domestic financing for the project is highly likely to have some negative impacts on the economy.The additional outflow of foreign currency for import of materials will raise the price of dollar for which the estimated cost of Tk  230 billion is expected to increase to up to Tk  300 billion. Moreover, fund accumulation from non-residents may not be steady because of downtrend in the current account balance. The current account balance, which was 3. 7 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2009-10 and is projected to decrease to 0. 3 per cent of the GDP in 2012-13, could slide to a negative value.On the other hand, devaluation of the local currency will raise the price of imported products and will contribute to inflation. In addition, it will continue to provide additional tax burden on the taxpayers. In this context, the government’s strategy to enrich domestic capacity needs to be complemented with a friendly compliance strategy to handle donors and foreign investors. It is reported that the Anti-Corruption Commission failed to comply with the World Bank’s requirement due to its limitation with domestic policy.However, what was the limitation for the ministers to control corruption of their personal secretary or officials. If and when domestic resources will be allocated for the multi-billion dollar project, will the designated officials and implementing agents hesitate to divert billions of taka to their personal accounts? Ultimately, the government needs to address the corruption-related problem first and foremost. To this end, mere assertions of commitment will not be enough; they have to be complemented with decisive and demonstrative actions.Meanwhile, people will look forward to the dream of Padma Bridge coming to reality. So, in shortly if we summarized all the disadvantages of own funding for Padma Bridge, we could get:- * Mobilization of domestic resources is not impressive in our country, so there must be a huge need of importing resources. * We would need more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), because foreign exchange is not adequate in Bangladesh. * Domestic funding would prove costly for the economy in the long run. * The additional outflow of foreign currency for import of materials will raise the price of dollar. Fund accumulation from non-residents may not be steady because of downtrend in the current account balance. * Devaluation of the local currency will raise the price of imported products and will contribute to inflation. We should not build the Padma Bridge just for the sake of building it. It has to be cost-effective, financially viable and above all economically rewarding. All of these depend on minimisation of direct and indirect costs of building the bridge with domestic finance as contemplated by the government.The first and foremost issue in this context is to be fully aware of the possible risks and costs involved in domestic financing, and find a way out to minimise them before starting the construction work. What are the possible risks that may escalate both direct and indirect costs of building the bridge with domestic funding? First comes the direct resource cost, which was estimated to be around US$ 3. 0 billion or nearly Tk 24,500 crore. Since the decision was taken to build the bridge on the basis of the feasibility study carried out by an independent agency, it can be assumed that it was found cost effective.The main indirect cost will be the impact on other economic activities and the balance of payments as a result of diverting resources, both in terms of local and foreign currency. Economists have already expressed their concern about these indirect costs. Although the private sector cannot grow adequately if the infrastructural inadequacies are not removed, they will not build infrastructure on their own as its benefit cannot be fully internalised and priced properly to recover the cost. This is what the economists call the market failure, which shifts the onus on the government.In principle, there is nothing wrong in diverting resources to build infrastructure by government which will ultimately help the private sector. The main point is to keep diversion of resources within tolerable limits so that it will not hur t the private sector significantly by squeezing the resources available to them. In the absence of sufficient sources for revenue earning, the government will have to borrow money from the banking sector to finance the bridge, limiting the resources available for the private sector to borrow from, which the economists call ‘crowding out effect. It will also increase the interest rate raising the cost of credit for the private sector. The size of government borrowings and the extent of private sector's reliance on the banking sector will determine the actual crowding out effect. Another potential indirect effect of government borrowings may work through the stock market. When the banks are faced with liquidity crisis to give loans to the private sector, they may decide to withdraw from the stock market causing another nose-dive of stock price, which has just started bottoming up after a major debacle.How government borrowing affects overall growth in a developing country, where the private sector is always constrained by infrastructural constraints, and government is the sole provider of infrastructure, is an empirical question. Unfortunately, this issue is not adequately researched in Bangladesh. There is only one study carried out by Bangladesh Bank a couple of years ago, which shows that private investment in Bangladesh is not affected significantly by rising interest rates. This finding makes it difficult to guesstimate crowding out effects of government borrowing in Bangladesh.Moreover, 6. 3 per cent GDP growth in the last fiscal in the midst of hue and cry about the crowding out effect does not provide any clear indication of how significantly government borrowing affects overall growth in the country. Yet, the government cannot and should not completely shrug-off the likely effects of its domestic borrowing. It should leave no stone unturned to keep its borrowing from domestic sources as low as possible. It should rethink a new strategy to keep the yearly requirement of resources to meet the cost at a tolerable level.One way of doing it would be to extend the construction period to five years from three years as currently envisioned. The total cost of Padma Bridge will have both local and foreign components; the former would require local currency, and the latter foreign currency. Let us review and compare the yearly requirement of taka and US dollar under different scenarios. No clear public information is available on the relative share of these two components. According to an expert, foreign component is about 40 per cent of the total cost.That means the government would need approximately US$1. 2 billion and Tk 148. 50 billion to construct the bridge, if the total cost is $3. 0 billion as originally estimated. Let us increase these amounts by 10 per cent, to $1. 32 billion and Tk 160. 38 billion, to account for inflation (as the start of the construction work has been delayed by more than a year. ) With this upward adjust ment, the yearly requirement in local currency will be about Tk 32. 08 billion if the bridge is constructed in five years. This amount will increase to Tk 53. 6 billion, if the bridge is constructed in three years. Similarly, the yearly requirement in foreign currency will be US$264 million if the construction period is five years, US$440 million in case of three years. If the total cost is equally divided between local and foreign components, yearly requirement will be Tk 44. 55 billion, if the bridge is constructed in three years and Tk 26. 73 billion in case of five years. Similarly, under this alternative scenario, yearly requirement will be US$550 million and $330 million respectably.Yearly requirements of taka and US dollar under different scenarios are shown in the table. As can be seen, yearly requirement of taka under any scenario does not exceed Tk 53. 46 billion. This should not be a very big problem to collect this money without any significant crowding effect in the eco nomy to negatively affect the growth. Also, even if there is some level of crowding out effect, part of it will be compensated by the multiplier effect of government spending in the construction of the bridge.Some adjustments in the annual development programmes (which always involve some inefficient and politically motivated projects) will also help reduce the negative effects on resource diversion. Besides, compromise with some level of growth in the construction phase of the Bridge which will foster regional equity and growth (as evidenced from Banghabandhu Bridge) will not be entirely unjustifiable from economic point of view. Inter-temporal optimisation of benefits always includes some trade-off between present and future benefits.The main problem that may become a concern is the availability of US dollar to finance the foreign component of the cost. The government has already expressed its optimism to be able to face this problem by using the forex reserve, which is currently in robust shape. However, this robustness may not sustain given the volatility of the global economy as well as our   export and import scenario. However, continued growth of remittances in the recent years is a plus point for the country.Yet, to minimise the risk of any probable foreign currency crisis and reduce pressure on the balance of payment, it will be prudent to extend the construction period of the bridge to five years, which will keep the yearly need of US dollar at a level of about $330 million. It is not easy for a developing and growing economy, which constantly operates under a stringent resource frontier, to invest in a huge infrastructure project like that of the Padma bridge. But the above numbers suggest that constructing the bridge in five years with domestic financing is very much doable contradicting the apprehension expressed by many. The End

Free Essays on Surrealism

Surrealism Surrealism as World War I came to an end; the Dada movement evolved into a new movement called Surrealism. This medium of art created a palette of purity and hope though automatism and use of dreams. The Surrealists strove for simplicity and spontaneity or as some called it, automatism. They wanted to answer the question "how shall I be free?" and to express thought without any tainted preconceptions. They believed automatism "would reveal the true and individual nature of anyone who practiced it, far more completely than could any of his conscious creations. This free style of expression, first used in literary circles headed by Andre Breton and then by painters like Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali and Renà © Magritte, upheld the Dadaist rejection of traditional forms of art. However, by portraying a field of unconscious thought and thereby, following an uncontaminated reality, the surrealists avoided the horrors of premeditated warfare and political, social and economic lies and injustices. Surrealist theorists found Surrealism to be a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and the imaginary, the past and the future, the communicable and the incommunicable, the heights and the depths, cease to be perceived a contradiction. In vain one would seek any other motive for Surrealist activity than determining this point. Surrealism found a place where contradictory thoughts might not serve as dichotomies. Free of a socially constructed point of view or "raison", a writer or artist travels to a place of thinking that is both irrational and rational at the same time. Through the unconscious or a highly sensitized state of mind, the surrealist brought forth a new manner of seeing and feeling the world as it was understood and negotiated by Western peoples. In its development, Surrealism celebrated the art of children, mad people and primitive art. The Surrealists believed in the innocent eye. They foun... Free Essays on Surrealism Free Essays on Surrealism Surrealism Surrealism as World War I came to an end; the Dada movement evolved into a new movement called Surrealism. This medium of art created a palette of purity and hope though automatism and use of dreams. The Surrealists strove for simplicity and spontaneity or as some called it, automatism. They wanted to answer the question "how shall I be free?" and to express thought without any tainted preconceptions. They believed automatism "would reveal the true and individual nature of anyone who practiced it, far more completely than could any of his conscious creations. This free style of expression, first used in literary circles headed by Andre Breton and then by painters like Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali and Renà © Magritte, upheld the Dadaist rejection of traditional forms of art. However, by portraying a field of unconscious thought and thereby, following an uncontaminated reality, the surrealists avoided the horrors of premeditated warfare and political, social and economic lies and injustices. Surrealist theorists found Surrealism to be a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and the imaginary, the past and the future, the communicable and the incommunicable, the heights and the depths, cease to be perceived a contradiction. In vain one would seek any other motive for Surrealist activity than determining this point. Surrealism found a place where contradictory thoughts might not serve as dichotomies. Free of a socially constructed point of view or "raison", a writer or artist travels to a place of thinking that is both irrational and rational at the same time. Through the unconscious or a highly sensitized state of mind, the surrealist brought forth a new manner of seeing and feeling the world as it was understood and negotiated by Western peoples. In its development, Surrealism celebrated the art of children, mad people and primitive art. The Surrealists believed in the innocent eye. They foun...

Definition and Examples of Word Triplets in English

Definition and Examples of Word Triplets in English In  English grammar  and  morphology, triplets  or word triplets are three distinct words derived from the same source but at different times and by different paths, such as place, plaza, and piazza (all from the Latin platea, a broad street). In most cases, such words have the same ultimate origin in Latin. Captain, Chief,andChef The triplets wont necessarily be obvious just by looking at the words but will take a little investigation for their relationship to come clear. English words encode interesting and useful historical information. For example, compare the words captainchiefchef All three derive historically from cap, a Latin word element meaning head, which is also found in the words capital, decapitate, capitulate, and others. It is easy to see the connection in meaning between them if you think of them as the head of a vessel or military unit, the leader or head of a group, and the head of a kitchen respectively. Furthermore, English borrowed all three words from French, which in turn borrowed or inherited them from Latin. Why then is the word element spelled and pronounced differently in the three words?The first word, captain, has a simple story: the word was borrowed from Latin with minimal change. French adapted it from Latin in the 13th century, and English borrowed it from French in the 14th. The sounds /k/ and /p/ have not changed in English since that time, and so the Latin element cap-  /kap/ remains substantially intact in that word.French did not borrow the next two words from Latin...French developed from Latin, with the grammar and vocabula ry being passed down from speaker to speaker with small, cumulative changes. Words passed down in this way are said to be inherited, not borrowed. English borrowed the word chief from French in the 13th century, even earlier than it borrowed captain. But because chief was an inherited word in French, it had undergone many centuries of sound changes by that time...It was this form that English borrowed from French.After English borrowed the word chief, further changes took place in French...Subsequently English also borrowed the word in this form [chef]. Thanks to the linguistic evolution of French and the English propensity to borrow words from that language, a single Latin word element, cap-, which was always pronounced /kap/ in Roman times, now appears in English in three very different guises. (Keith M. Denning, Brett Kessler, and William R. Leben, English Vocabulary Elements, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2007) Hostel, Hospital, and Hotel Another example [of triplets] is hostel (from Old French), hospital (from Latin), and hotel (from modern French), all derived from the Latin hospitale. (Katherine Barber, Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do With Pigs. Penguin, 2007) Similar but From Different Sources The resulting English triplets might not even look similar, depending on the route they took to get to English. The simultaneous borrowing of French and Latin words led to a highly distinctive feature of modern English vocabulary: sets of three items (triplets), all expressing the same fundamental notion but differing slightly in meaning or style, e.g., kingly, royal, regal; rise, mount, ascend; ask, question, interrogate; fast, firm, secure; holy, sacred, consecrated. The Old English word (the first in each triplet) is the most colloquial, the French (the second) is more literary, and the Latin word (the last) more learned. (Howard Jackson and Etienne Zà © Amvela, Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology. Continuum, 2000)Still more remarkable is the fact that there are in our language words that have made three appearances- one through Latin, one through Norman-French, and one through ordinary French. These seem to live quietly side by side in the language, and no one asks by what claim they are here. They are useful; that is enough. These triplets are- reg al, royal, and real; legal, loyal, and leal; fidelity, faithfulness, and fealty. The adjective real we no longer possess in the sense of royal, but Chaucer uses it...Leal is most used in Scotland, where it has a settled abode in the well-known phrase the land o the leal. (J.M.D. Meiklejohn, The English Language, Its Grammar, History, and Literature.  12th ed. W.J. Gage, 1895)

Toyota Origins Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Toyota Origins - Term Paper Example (Piotrowski & Guyette, 2010, p.89) It was Mr. Toyoda Sakichi, who provided the original impetus to the young company. This entrepreneur and inventor par excellence translated some of the creative ideas he employed in the textile industry to the fledgling automobile industry. Under the mentorship of Toyoda Sakichi, his son Toyoda Kiichiro applied the proven methods of efficiency from the textile looms to automobile manufacturing. In mid-twentieth century, Ford and General Motors had a significant market share of the Japanese car industry, and competing with them was near impossible. Yet, based on the visionary aspiration of the deceased Toyoda Sakichi, his son took upon the challenge of competing with the bigger firms. Apart from the founder’s vision, some practical necessities in the form of Japanese military missions also facilitated the growth of Toyota Motor Corporation in its early days. And then when the legendary Ohno Taiichi joined the company after the Second World War , his incisive engineering inputs helped transform the company into a reputable global player. (Price, 1997, p.14) In 2001, Toyota issued a document titled Toyota Way 2001, which highlights some of the core principles and values espoused by the management and the workforce. Some of these principles also serve as strategically important in distinguishing Toyota from other companies. For example, principles such as Respect for People, Continuous Improvement, etc are inculcated into the workforce right during times of prosperity and distress. The automotive market in the world is said to be highly competitive and volatile. Moreover, demand in this market is affected by a number of factors such as social, political and general economic conditions; launch of new vehicles and technologies; and expenses incurred by customers to buy and operate vehicles. These factors can make consumer demand to vary substantially from one year to another across market geographies and for different types of automobiles. Yet, in spite of such uncertainties and still competition, a recent annual report of Toyota shows â€Å"increasing unit sales from 2006 to 2008, based on the total unit sales of its products all over the world. But, based on the unit sales per geographic segment, there was a decline in the  Toyota unit sales in Japan, from 2,364,000 units in 2006 down to 2,188,000 units in 2008. Despite the decline in the unit sales of  Toyota’s products in Japan,  Toyota’s market share (including Daihatsu and Hino) including min-vehicles, and  Toyota and Lexus' market share excluding mini vehicles, remained at a high level close to prior fiscal year reflecting the sales efforts of domestic dealers (Cortez   & Penacerrada, 2010, p.113). One of the key driving forces behind the continued success of Toyota is its embrace of Lean Manufacturing and Just-In-Time Production techniques. Then there is the overarching set of philosophies and values brought under the ter m the Toyota Way. The Toyota Way can be further broken down into 4 components. First is a long-term approach to management decision making; second is a systematic approach to problem-solving; third is value addition to the company; and fourth is to focus on solving persistent problems facing the company. These principles and procedures add up to form the formidable