Statistics Case Study - Desalination Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Statistics - Desalination - Case Study Example However, a key hindrance to this noble objective is the cost factor. This paper presents some of the basic assumptions leading to estimation of the $ cost per/m3 of the desalinated water the case of study being the City of Cambria which is situated on the central coast of California. Generally this definitive question lacks basic answers due to the fact that multiple factors are believed to influence the costs incurred in desalination of water. However, various assumptions assist in estimation of costs in this case. Firstly, it is assumed that the desalination process takes a typical approach as described in the diagram below; However, the processes do not form the cost centers with regard to the project at hand. The project cost drivers are rather classified differently in order to attain the estimated production cost. It is assumed that these cost drivers remain relatively the same irrespective of the project despite variance associated with other factors and hence amount to cost v ariations (Bauman 56). In the figure below are the cost categories assumed to affect the SWRO desalination project. It is assumed that that horizontal and slant wells which are comparable to open intake will be used. Although, they have typically higher costs, they offer the longest-running history of installation as well as reliability supportive of development of a full scale desalination facility. Additionally, the costs relating to disposal of concentrate stream are site specific and as such the costs estimates provided are averages assumed to be effective (Digiano and Heime 1667). The costs also include the conveyance that links the desalination plant to the point of disposal. These are similarly highly variable as a result of the varied conveyance distance and terrain and hence constitute a large portion of the disposal costs. With regard to pre-treatment, there is a perceived dependence on the quality of feed water. For instance, an open ocean feed is expected to have much mo re levels of suspended materials and impurities as compared to well-sourced water. Typically, costs are expected to lie in the range of between US$ 0.5MM to US$ 1.5MM per MGD (Digiano and Heime 1667). Costs are also affected with the feed water temperature, cleanliness of the source water, as well as the ambient salinity fluctuations. For instance, when the SWRO facility planned for the Northern part may treat seawater that averagely measures 10 degrees colder as compared to a SWRO facility located to the Southern part; there would be a rise in feed pressure by between 10 and 15% for an equivalent production value to be attained. Throughput capacity of a facility for desalination has an effect on the size as well as the number of equipment required, in addition to the space required to locate a treatment plant. The cost of situating a facility closer to the point from where it is made use of as well as a suitable power source needs to be weighed against intake/discharge pipeline eas ements, costs of transmission line, construction materials, permits issued, labor used, as well as maintenance costs .linked to intake/discharge or distribution service location (Gumerman and Hasen 34). Based on material cost online, it is estimated that a 20-mile distribution system that delivers 50 MGD would result into an increase of between 15 to 30% of the entire cost of project capital as compared to a 2-mile pipeline (Gumerman and Hasen 35). Permitting as well as regulatory issues also impact on the cost of the project in entirety. This often

Analysis of Red Sorghum Essay -- Red Sorghum Zhang Yimou China Movies

Analysis of Red Sorghum WHEN Zhang Yimou made his directorial debut, Zhang Yimou made his directorial debut, Red Sorghum, in 1987, he was better known as a cinematographer whose talent had been crucial to the success of critically acclaimed films like Zhang Junzhao's One and Eight (1984, released 1987) and Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth (1984). Not only did Red Sorghum become a seminal film of the Fifth Generation, it also won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1988, becoming the first mainland Chinese film ever to be awarded the highest honour at a major international film competition. Set in the 1920s and '30s in northern China, Red Sorghum's narrative centres on the fate of a young woman who is forced to marry a rich old leper but who eventually falls in love with a younger man. The motif of female oppression in feudal China is repeated in Zhang's next two films, Ju Dou (1990) and Raise the Red Lantern (1991). The films form a loose triptych, linked not only by similar thematic concerns but also stylistic elements. The latter include the luscious use of colour, lighting and bold composition to create the sensuous images and metaphors which have distinguished Zhang as an original auteur. Equally prominent are the silences and spare dialogue; music and sound are used with precision -- nothing extraneous is added. This article focuses on how visual and aural components in Red Sorghum are employed to enhance the dramatic aspect of the narrative as well as to convey philosophical and metaphoric meaning. RED SORGHUM is narrated as much through its storyline as by its splendid images and aural qualities. The film is photographed by Gu Changwei (who also shot Chen Kaige's (Farewell, My Concubine) in Cinemascope; the music is composed by Zhao Jiping, who has since composed the rest of the music scores for Zhang's films. The opening sequence establishes the vibrant mood and mythical atmosphere of the film and introduces the themes of passion and freedom through powerful imagery and music. It also establishes Zhang Yimou as a visual sensualist. In a deserted setting comprising mainly sand and stone, a strain of wedding music grows progressively louder. A traditional red sedan chair carried by a group of shirtless men, followed closely by a retinue of trumpeters and drummers, enliven the harsh landscape. Inside the covered sedan chair, the pretty face of a young br... ...vineyard. The workers revolt against the Japanese, and after their uprising is crushed, the Japanese order two of the local people skinned alive in front of the others. This sequence, shocking in its detail, is a dramatic change from the fable that went before. "Red Sorghum" perhaps can be read as a parable of China's development, or as a hymn in praise of the way the workers resisted the Japanese invaders. Western audiences probably are going to be more interested in the melodrama and the overwhelming visual quality of the film. It is some kind of irony that when Hollywood switched over to cheaper and faster forms of making color films, classic Technicolor equipment was dismantled and sold to China - which now makes some of the best-looking color films in the world. The cinematography in "Red Sorghum" has no desire to be subtle, or muted; it wants to splash its passionate colors all over the screen with abandon, and the sheer visual impact of the film is voluptuous. If the story is first naive and then didactic, that is one of the film's charms; Hollywood doesn't make films like this anymore, because we have forgotten how to be impressionable enough to believe them.

How is the theme of childhood presented Essay

The Romantic era ushered in a whole new way in which children were perceived. Romantics did not believe in the â€Å"Seen but not heard† attitude towards children. The Romantics often busied themselves trying to understand what made a man, what shaped a person’s personality to create the adult. Three poems in The Lyrical Ballads, all by Wordsworth, deal exclusively with the theme of childhood. They are We are Seven, Anecdote for Fathers and The Idiot Boy. A famous quote by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rosseau states that â€Å"Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains†. By this he meant that we are all born without any laws or morality and that these are ideals we gain only as we age and get exposed to them by society. This sentiment is reflected in the aforementioned poems, as this belief is one of the reasons children were so celebrated by the Romantic movement, they were untainted by the societal rules forced upon them, and so were a part of nature in a way an adult could not be. In We are Seven, Wordsworth relates a conversation between the poem’s narrator and a young girl. The young girl claims to have sixth brothers and sisters, however she says that two of them are dead. Despite the narrator’s attempts to convince her that makes only four brothers and sisters, five overall, he eventually concedes that is â€Å"Throwing words away† as the girl is not able to truly comprehend the realities of death. In this poem Wordsworth juxtaposes the cynicism of the narrator’s view of death with the innocence of the young girl’s view. The narrator’s view is that although she did have six brothers and sisters, she now only has four. The girl’s brother and sister are no longer alive and thus cannot be considered human, and equally can no longer be the girl’s brother and sister in any real sense, so he only recognises her as having four siblings. The girl however does not see death in that manner. Although she is aware that they are dead, she is not able to properly understand what this means. As the author says â€Å"What should it know of death? † To her, even though they are dead, they are still her brother and sister, just as much as her others and so she sees herself as one of seven children. In the poem Wordsworth gives a vivid description of the girl, referring to her as â€Å"rustic† and having a â€Å"Woodland air†, which overtly links her to nature. The fact that the narrator says that her beauty â€Å"makes me glad† shows that Wordsworth is indirectly calling the girl, her innocence and nature, which the girl is close to, a wonderful thing which should be celebrated. Both The Idiot Boy and Anecdote for Fathers deal with the imagination. In Anecdote for Fathers the narrator asks his son whether he prefers their home at Kilve or Liswyn Farm. The child clearly has never contemplated this, however as his father originally praises Kilve more than Liswyn Farm, he says that he prefers Kilve, as he believes that is what his father wants to hear. His father however questions his answer, which the child is not prepared for. Looking around in panic he sees a weather vane and responds with â€Å"At Klive there was no weather-cock, and that’s the reason why†. The narrator is ecstatic with his son’s answer, as he sees his son’s ability to imagine an innocent answer so easily. The father wishes that he could â€Å"Teach the hundredth part of what from thee I learn† The tone of excitement in the father’s response seems to stem from Wordsworth lamenting the fact that although he is able to understand how children are able to use their imagination in such ways, he is unable to mimic them, as he has already succumbed to the social ideals. In The Idiot Boy Wordsworth the effect of society on an adult by comparing the imagination of a child and his mother. In this poem a woman, Betty, is caring for her sick friend, Susan. Although Susan requires urgent medical care, Betty cannot leave her alone in her state, so she sends Johnny, the â€Å"Idiot Boy†, her mentally handicapped son. She gives him very clear instructions that he is to go straight to the doctor and straight back and not stop. Hours later he has not returned and Betty begins to worry about â€Å"sad mischances, not a few†. In the end Betty decides to go and look for him. As she is out calling his name, she starts to imagine her son being dead or hurt based on what she sees. For example when she sees a pond she imagines that her son may have drowned in it. Eventually she discovers that Johnny is safe and well, and has merely been playing for hours, imagining himself picking stars out of the sky, being a hunter and being a warrior. The contrast between the imagination of a child, with an extra layer of innocence due to his mental handicap, and his mother is incredibly stark. While Johnny’s imagination has kept him content for hours, Betty’s has, in a shorter space of time, made her start to contemplate suicide due to the grief it instilled within her. We then find that Susan has recovered for exactly the same reason that Betty felt such despair, all she was able to think about were horrible ways in which Betty and Johnny could’ve been hurt and was able to draw strength from her sadness at being unable to help. In the end, when asked what he had been doing for hours, Johnny merely replies â€Å"The cocks did crow to-whoo, to-whoo, and the sun did shine so cold†. Wordsworth called this response Johnny’s â€Å"glory†, which very accurately sums up the Romantic ideal of childhood and innocence being a thing to cherish, which was one of the messages Wordsworth and Coleridge tried to present with the Lyrical Ballads.

The Success Of A Recession - 1418 Words

Warren Buffett, entrepreneur and investor once said, â€Å"It’s only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked.† In order to know exactly what Mr. Buffett was talking about when he said this line, you would have either had to be there or one day have the opportunity to ask him yourself. However, in the context of comparing this quote to economics, or perhaps banking, one could say that what he meant was that the choices that are made today might not be judged until later down the road. For example, a recession is not something that just happens over night. In the event leading up to a recession, there are many factors and every recession is unique in their own way. As for the great recession in 2008, the causes included subprime lending, and greed amongst lenders and borrowers. Before jumping straight into the causes of the 2008 recession, first you must be informed of the history in previous recessions America has had to face. Since the Great Depression ended in mid 1930’s, America has had to overcome around eleven recessions. Now some might argue that not all recorded recessions were worthy of getting the tittle as an official recession. Many will simply say it was slight hiccup in the economy because of the short six to eight-month duration of the smaller recessions. When divided over the years It seems that the United States has one to two recessions every decade. However, everyone of the short recessions had a significant impact on the AmericanShow MoreRelatedThe Success Of The Great Recession1375 Words   |  6 PagesThe Great Recession which lasted from 2008 to 2010 is often regarded as the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression which took place during the 1930s. The causes of both crises can be said to be similar as both lie in the actions of the federal government. 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