Spoiled, but Not a Brat

Diquan Lamar Hubbard Introduction to College Writing Professor Sophie Bradford October 19, 2012 Spoiled, but not a Brat The ideal spoiled child does not come to mind easily. I observed people around campus, but I think one of the perfect examples of a spoiled child is Angelica Pickles from the popular Nickelodeon show Rugrats. Angelica showed characteristics that made her stand out as an antagonist. She would refer to the other characters as â€Å"dumb babies. † Angelica would show how selfish she was by convincing the other characters to do plans that would only benefit her, which set her up most of the time as the antagonist in each episode.She would receive gifts to her heart’s desire and not be the least bit thankful. Her parents set out to please her in every way that they could, but it never seemed like it was enough. What makes a child in the real world like this? How have these bratty tendencies in childhood showed up later in life? A better way to explain this is to look deeper into what characteristics a brat actually has. Some people would look at a person as a brat because they get expensive things from their parents. Getting nice things may not have been seen as out of the ordinary to some spoiled children.Davis shares how she saw life at a younger age: Growing up, I was oblivious to money and the division of classes like many young kids. I never knew not every kid was presented with new clothes every day, or got to go to Toys-R-Us whenever they wanted or had to take educate classes once a week. I thought that was a normal everyday thing in the life of a kid. That was what kids my age did. (Davis 1) I think that receiving things and having a well off lifestyle does not mean that a person is spoiled. I think it is there sense of entitlement afterwards.Davis admitted that she was oblivious to other people and she thought that everyone lived the same way that she did. If a person feels like the reason that they receive these things is be cause they deserve them; that shows that is a characteristic of a brat. A brat thinks that they are the greatest gift to earth and nothing else matters as much as they do. Davis may have gotten things, but that doesn’t necessarily make her into a brat. Brattiness can continue on longer than in childhood if it is not stopped earlier. There are some people who continue to be brats, even into their college years.Students in college may be seen as spoiled or brats if they don’t have to work or they go home every weekend to have things like groceries bought or laundry done for them. I think this is overgeneralizing some of the habits that these students may do. I can see how this can look like they are just being lazy from the outside, but it could be that it is a way to save money by washing clothes together. This is especially true for people who live near campus. I was an example of people that did that. Since I had to go home every weekend at my college summer classes, I did not do laundry at school.Instead I would take it home and get it washed with everyone else’s, in an effort to save money. Any way that I could think of to save money was a plus, not just for me, but for my grandmother as well. My grandmother, who I lived with thought it was a good idea. It was cheaper for her to wash all of the clothes together, instead of having to half loads of clothing. I think that the whole idea of spoiled children being brats can sometimes lead to a lot of overgeneralization. This especially applies to people who may have more money than others. We assume that if someone has expensive things that they will be brats.I have seen a lot of rich people that can be very humble and a lot of people who don’t have as much money be as bratty as can be. A good example is a close friend of mine, Whittney Williamson. Whittney is rich. I think rich is even an understatement. She doesn’t even know how much money she has. Her father owns oil fields in Oklahoma and Texas. He also sells machinery. Whittney seems like she would get everything in the world, but that isn’t the case. I think Whittney was humble and very misunderstood. Because, she came to school in Camaros and Corvettes, other students assumed that she was going to be brat.I worked with her in Student Council, a club that makes decisions for the school and does community service, for three years. I have seen, just by working with her how hard she works. She is constantly being taught things from her father that will make her into a well off college student. She explained that she had to do the same things as most other normal kids and that she got this philosophy from her father who did not start out as an oil tycoon, but worked his way up. I have also seen a counter example in a people that may not be rich, but they were brats.I was in program called Upward Bound, while I was in high school. Upward Bound was created for at-risk teens that may not have come f rom the wealthiest of homes and they are usually first-generation college students. While I was in Upward Bound it was common to see people with nice things, but they had worked for them. They wore expensive clothes; they had all kinds of expensive technology like MacBook’s and iPads. A lot of them worked too and they would off-set the cost of a lot of their things. There were some that didn’t; that acted like they deserved to have things given to them just for being present.In Upward Bound they would help us by giving us checks for our mileage and gifts all of the time. There were some people who were just ungrateful for what they were given. To be ungrateful for something a person is given is a bad quality of a person in general. It is just another one of those factors that make someone into a brat instead of a spoiled child. A spoiled child can be guided toward becoming a brat depending on external influences. Family and peers can either facilitate a person’s brattiness or discourage it. Maria Yagoda, editorial assistant at saveur. om, explained how she was stopped from being a brat: Part of my avoidance of â€Å"brat† status, I believe, comes from having attended public schools, where I learned alongside a socially and economically diverse group of students. My parents also preached to me the importance of social activism and political involvement: dragging me to rallies, encouraging me to volunteer and constantly reminding me how fortunate I was to grow up where I did. (Yagoda) If a person has experiences the outside world and learns about people and situations that are out of their comfort zone, they are less likely to be a brat.Like Yagoda mentioned, being in public school made her have to learn about different people. In most public schools there are a variety of people. Yagoda also said that her parents encouraged her to get involved. A parent has a lot of influence on how their child acts. If they allow different behaviors to occur, they are more likely to increase. Davis admits that her father grew up in a â€Å"struggling household† and that is what made him look outside of her privileged world. As people begin to become more independent they tend to act less like a brat.Something that helps is when parents teach their teenagers, especially right before college, more domestic skills. Yagoda mentioned that she had the pink laundry load. When teens a taught things like how to do laundry and how to do things like sweeping, or taking care of their own money while at home, they benefit later in life. They have things that they don’t have to. They won’t have to call mom or dad to help because a load of laundry turned pink or they didn’t realize that they used up all of their money in their checking account. Being spoiled is not a bad thing.A spoiled child, or even young adult, may get what they want, but that doesn’t make them into a brat. The behaviors that they show a fterwards are what make them into a brat. A person can be spoiled all of their life, but if they learn to receive things and be thankful; they will be seen in a completely different light. If a person learns to not rely solely on receiving things but, striving out to get things done themselves and setting their own goals, they can be seen as not brats, or even spoiled children. They will be seen as good person in general.There are plenty of external factors that can make someone into a brat, but the ultimate thing that stops a spoiled child from turning into a brat is themselves. There is only so much that parents and peers can do that can affect a person’s personality. The deciding factor is how a person chooses to behave and how a person chooses to be in life. Works Cited Davis, Lacee. â€Å"Yes, I’m Spoiled† 15 Oct, 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012 Yagoda, Maria. â€Å"†I'm Spoiled, But I'm Not a Brat†Ã¢â‚¬  Motherlode Blog. The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.

Mental health and illness

The nature of `mental health` and `mental illness` has been described as `contested`. Who are the contestants and what is the contest about? The Mental Illness has always been considered as a contested issue, because this is the only suffering of unfortunate human beings, which is being highly misunderstood. There are different types of mental illnesses that are suffered by human beings, and in each mental illness there are number of complexities involved like social problems, defect in any part of the brain etc.Psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors and sociologists, who so ever are dealing with the issue of Mental illness are contestants to this issue and advocates their own perceptions like Psychiatrists consider mental illness as a physical state of debilitation and look at it from the social angle, whereas doctors dictates it as a faulty or malfunctioning parts of the brain, such as infections, genetic defects and chemical imbalances within the individual, and neglects the wider social picture which is an ingredient part of illness.How well does the idea of labeling explain what happens to someone who is diagnosed as mentally ill?When a person is diagnosed mentally ill, he or she is labeled., a doctor or practitioner can understand the intensity of his problem and can prescribe the best treatment for him. Thus labeling can be a boon in disguise. Naturally if doctor labeled a person as â€Å"mentally disable†, that means he is considering the symptoms that a person is showing which is typical of mental disorder and can delve upon the problem and chart out the solutions.Critically review the evidence that there is an association between mental health and socio-economic inequality.No doubt there is a deep association between Mental Health and socio economic inequality. Socio economic inequalities lead to high psychiatric morbidity, disability, depression, Schizophrenia.   Studies by the World Psychologist, 2005 October; 4(3): 181–185 on 10,108 adults aged 16-65 resident in private households in the UK reveal that people who had no access to a car had an odds ratio for neurotic disorder of 1.4 (95% CI 1.1-1.7), compared with those who had access to two or more cars. People who rented their homes were also at increased risk of depression (1.3 [1.1-1.5]). These Income inequalities in the western market economies last 20 years had adverse consequences on the mental health of the people. Basically, the inferiority complex is a basic root and cause of this severe problem.Discuss how a family might affect and be affected by one of its members having a psychiatric diagnosis mental illness.Families of the patients suffering from severe psychotic symptoms often suffer from heavy emotional and social strains.   Many households may accept the patients, but the social rejections that are followed can cause serious consequences on the whole family. They can lead to strains of mental illness on a marriage life may also be very devasta ting. The divource rate is high among people who have depression or bipolar disorder.How might consultation be used to improve the sensitivity of mental health services to different needs?Consultation is a very important means of service delivery for mentally ill child and adolescents.   Consultation can be provided in number of ways: group or individual; fixed session or on demand; clinical-based or area office-based. For psychiatrists, the consultancy service is a very valuable experience. Trainees develop an awareness of the difficulties facing social work staff in difficult cases. The social work team also gains considerable benefit from an informal consultation service, which can improve their skills in further understanding the patient problems.   Through consultation, social workers can go into the depth of the causes of the problems of mentally ill within the family setting.Many people who have mental health problems are socially isolate. What can be done to provide them with informal support and friendship if they want this?The stigma that is attached to the mentally ill patients leads them to be isolated from the Society. Lot can be done for mentally ill patients. They can be, as suggested by World Health Organization (WHO), http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs218/en/ï‚ ·Ã‚  Ã‚   Openly discussing about the problem of mental illness in the community.ï‚ ·Ã‚  Ã‚   Providing accurate information on the causes, prevalence, course and effects of mental illnessï‚ ·Ã‚   Countering the negative stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding mental illness;ï‚ ·Ã‚   Providing support and treatment services that enable persons suffering from a mental illness to participate fully in all aspects of community life.ï‚ ·Ã‚   Ensuring the existence of legislation to reduce discrimination in the workplace.What are the particular challenges of resettling long-stay mental patients in the community, and what kinds of resource are needed to support them there?1. Hard to place psychiatric patient due to behavioral/management problems.2. Difficulty placing patient into the community due to lack of financial resources.3. How do we take care of the geriatric patient with a psychiatric disorder who becomes combative/disruptive that he is not allowed to remain in secure environments due to the high risk of harm to other patients?RESOURCES NEEDED TO SUPPORT THEM1. First fix the behavioral problems and poor compliance.2. The Training centers, employment programs, volunteer options and local clubs should all be part of the life plan of these people.3. Encourage realistic consideration of work and practical steps in preparation for reintegration, such as enrolment at a day programme.4. Involve them in any Meaningful occupation such as volunteer work etc.What are the rewards and stresses of work in mental health services? What measures might employing organisations take to reduce the effects of stress on staff and improve their job satis faction? The biggest reward for the people who are engaged in the mental health services is naturally the one when patient is recovered from mental illness. Besides getting mental satisfaction, they are also reward by the government for their meticulous services like â€Å"Award for Excellence in Community Mental Health Services†, 2006 Public Citizen of the Year award. Thus Government does appreciate these noble souls who are engaged in community welfare programs.HOW THE EMPLOYING ORGANIZATIONS REDUCE THE STRESS OF STAFF:They can reduce the stress of staff by:Effective management structureClear purpose & goals Functionally defined roles Team support Making appropriate plans for stress management Proper management of workload Balanced lifestyle Discuss the view that madness can be a valuable experience if only its value is recognized.Never consider the person who is mad as incompetent, as what he can provide to the Society, no able person can provide. For eg. If a person is di sillusioned with the society apathetic attitude, so in his madness he will keep on reflecting and mentioning about what’s wrong in the Society but we ignore his talks, but if we clearly ponder on his talks,   we will realize what role he is playing in giving the best to the Society which no body will ever intend to give.

IKEA Brand Scorecard Final Essay

Introduction The brandscore card is an essential element used to evaluate the overall equity of a brand. The scorecard is an effective way to asses the unmet needs of the brands customers, it enables the brand to stay relevant and effective in the marketplace in a methodological manner. The scorecard should be able to fill any gaps that have developed within the brand’s approach to management and its strategic direction, as well as developing and maintaining a functional management system that can grow as the brand grows, while remaining comprehensive and completely brand relevant. (Kaplan and Norton, n.d.) In terms of evaluating the current situation of a brand, a brand scorecard enforces a successful management plan by directly addressing what is at the core of the brand. It allows for the brand managers to objectively rate their brand against their own set of standards, based on their strategy. Brand Planning 1 IKEA’s Mission & Vision In order to create a viable scorecard to measure against the IKEA Brand against, it is important to define exactly what the vision and the mission of the IKEA Brand is and if they honour their vision and mission. According to IKEA’s business concept , â€Å"At IKEA our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them†(Ikea.com, 2014). From their own definition of what their vision is it can be said that they aim to vastly improve the quality of the lives of people who are in a lower income bracket, whilst still maintaining a certain level of product superiority and status. The IKEA brands vision is to use the concepts of conservation and minimalism to their full potential, by focusing on the effectiveness of simplicity and the functionality of each product rather then purely the aesthetical components. The price of each IKEA product makes a large part of what their brand vision entails, â€Å"Low prices are the cornerstone of the IKEA vision†(Ikea.com, 2014). By using their low prices as the foundation of their brands vision, Ikea fulfils a widespread and need for product availability. 2 Potential Goals In line with the Ikea vision there will always be consumers in need of their products. By following their current goals such as: Keeping prices low – at design phase, there are strict product requirements which need to be met in terms of function, efficient distribution, quality and impact on the environment. A certain level of quality is always maintained – by using effective negotiation skills and carrying out rigorous quality control evaluations on their materials. Awareness and measurement of their brand environmental impact – Ikea are transparent in their approach to choosing suppliers and using sustainable materials that can be recycled and renewed as well as monitoring and controlling a high standard of their social and working conditions. Consumer friendly product – throughout the supply chain, Ikea is true to their environmentally friendly approach from raw materials all the way to the end user. Reduce carbon emissions – IKEA gave 9000 bycicles to their employees as well as subsidized their employees’ fairs to work. This increases healthy living for their employees and reduces carbon emissions. They also designed their water cans to stack on top of each other neatly, reducing the amount of trips it would take to transport them to the stores. Maintain existing stakeholder relationships – Ikeas ensures that the communication lines between suppliers, manufacturers and of their  stakeholders are clear and concise according to both their vision and mission. In order to access the potential goals of the Ikea Brand, it is necessary to consider the following statement â€Å"It’s not difficult to manufacture expensive fine furniture: just spend the money and let the customers pay. To manufacture beautiful, durable furniture at low prices is not so easy – it requires a different approach. It is all about finding simple solutions and saving on every method, process or approach adopted – but not on ideas.† (Ikea.com, 2014). We have identified two potential goals for Ikea: Simplistic Assembly Process – their assembling instructions are crafted so that consumer can easily interpret the instructions in a straightforward manor resulting in easy product assembly. Bettering current environmental impact – ensuring that they maintain their current best practice with specific reference to their means of distribution and manufacturing, by making sure that they are highly aware of the environmental impact of the resulting increased traffic that may occur from erecting stores. 3 Corporate Objectives To produce cheap and affordable product for the public and their customers To provide a better life for those who cannot afford expensive products To ensure that their customers find what they are looking for in their stores. To provide low prices without compromising on quality 4 Situational Analysis 4.1 Macro: Economical – High profits, high growth and good profit margins has contributed to the retail market. Social – IKEA have formed partnerships with WWF and UNICEF in order to educate others to be aware of child labor and destroying forests. Technological –IKEA have use excellent recycling methods and also encourage their stakeholders to use technology to their advantage in terms of efficiency. Environmental – IKEA have implemented regular measurement tools and inspection to monitor all noise, water, air pollution such as the â€Å"E-Wheel† (IKEA, the Times 100) Legal – IKEA has in store terms and conditions and abide by industry best practice in the suppliers that they choose to work with and the standards that they demand on manufacturers in terms of the law. 1.2. Market The market – 43 manufacturing units in 12 countries. The Chinese market has almost doubled due to large urbanization needs. (Li Fangfang, China Daily USA, 29 August 2013). IKEA has almost 300 stores in 36 countries and 42 distribution centres in 18 countries and over 1000 suppliers. (National Geographic, 2013, n.d) Competitors – IKEA’s main competitors are: Wal-Mart Stores, Ashley furniture industries, Howden joinery group. IKEA have the competitive advantage because they have researched where to find the best resources, they have developed the latest technologies in manufacturing, they have encouraged their suppliers to use the latest in research and development and the have built sustainable relationships with their stakeholders. Consumers – IKEA has a wide spread target market as they have such a vast variety of products that are trendy and extremely affordable. It appeals to those wanting the latest styles but also to the market that cannot afford costly furniture. Location – IKEAS stores are generally located just outside of the main town due to their stores being so large. 4.3 Micro – SWOT Analysis Strengths: Powerful Brand Image Wide range of products & Styles Funky up & up-to-date Swedish designs Cheap & Affordable Able to assemble your own furniture One stop shop Friendly atmosphere and layout of their stores They have restaurants and day care Strong global sourcing Weaknesses: Assembling furniture yourself may not appeal to certain clusters of consumers Not too many stores across the globe For those looking for a quick shopping experience, the store might be unappealing IKEA Swedish designs could limit their target market Quality of furniture is not built to be life long Opportunities Untapped Markets (Africa) Make consumers more aware of IKEA Open high end stores or smaller express stores Create more online store presence Threats Increasingly competitive pricing Social trends such as a slow down in first time home owner buyers Economic factors such as less spending power due to recession effects 5 Key Issues Quality of Products – some products may vary in quality from country to country. Things such as a countries standards for manufacturing may not be as high compared to another country and therefore the end product could be different. Size of organisation – if there are any changes implemented to IKEA’s strategy or operations, it is difficult to roll out to their entire organisation as they are so massive. Differentiation – with the current  economic climate, many furniture stores are producing low cost furniture but may not have the same sustainable values as IKEA. This makes it challenging for IKEA to keep their costs low as well as try and differentiate themselves from their competitors. Spending Power – The economic recession has hit consumers hard and therefore they have less spending power which has lowered expenditure on goods such as furniture. 6 Assumptions The Ikea brand assumptions are based upon their established and successful financial revenues: The Brand has remained current, both socially and culturally. The brand is empathetic and touches the consumers on an emotional level. There is a considered environmental plan that the brand is aware of in all of its practises. The brand focuses on upholding ethical business practises, it is transparent. 7 Segmentation, targeting and Positioning IKEA targets young and fashionable people as its main consumers; in particular those love modern furniture and accessories. Therefore, its products are more colourful and novel. In addition, IKE fixes the products’ prices at a lower level, which is quite attracting for the average consumers, such as white-collars. IKEA mainly target the younger market who like innovative products. 8 Brand objectives To increase market share in news segments such as Africa, Asia and South America. The benefits of this would be increased profits, brand awareness and increased market share. Reduce costs to appeal more to their intended target market in order to increase market share. One way in which IKEA are trying to cut costs is by 9 Strategies and plans IKEA plans â‚ ¬1.5bn investment in wind and solar energy through to 2015 as part of new sustainability strategy in order to be completely independent from using energy and resources. This will protect their consumer from price spikes and their own organization from fluctuating resource and energy prices. IKEA plan to become an energy exporter with their renewable energy.  IKEA has dedicated and committed themselves to making sure that delivery trucks are at least 60 to 70 per cent full. They will replace 1.2 million light sources in stores with low energy consumption LEDs, as well as only sell LED lights in their stores from 2016. (Will Nichols, BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network theguardian.com, Tuesday 23 October 2012) 10 Communication Objectives To develop better communication and integration strategies so that IKEA has the same brand quality through their organisation internationally. 11 Task Budget The Ikea brand focuses on their project management, employee management and their resource management processes by directing all employees in a positive manner, â€Å"IKEA co-workers enjoy many advantages and opportunities from working in such a free and open environment – but all freedoms are counter-balanced with expectations. For example, the expectation that each co-worker is able to assume responsibility for his or her own actions. Although on the surface it is evident that we have a lot of fun together working at IKEA, at the same time all are expected to be very hardworking and conscientious. Here are some more examples to illustrate give and take, IKEA style.† (Ikea.com, 2014) By ensuring this positive management style they are able to entrust their business objectives to the right employees. Each task is managed and set according to specific and expected outcomes. The tasks and objectives can be achieved through their smart brand management and budgeting correctly. 1 – The IKEA brand makes a point of acknowledging its brand history and the various ways that it has left a brand footprint within its brand environment. There are however inconsistencies between what the employees think of the brand and what the consumers think of the brand. It can be recommended that the employee engagement efforts transcends into the appropriate marketing strategies targeted to the consumer. By doing so there will be a far more holistic brand perception. 2- The IKEA brand is targeted at a lower income bracket and it does this successfully by continuously seeking to source affordable and quality suppliers. The importance of continuously having their correct target market in mind is always a census thought in the mind of the brand managers. 3- The IKEA brand strictly sticks to their current corporate identity, all the brand collateral is consistent, they make a point of doing all marketing on an international level. However they must be couscous of their various contact points ( mainly at the smaller branches) as these are sometimes overlooked. 4 – IKEA is able to deliver a consistent product, there are various return policies in place that allows the consumer the ability to deal with any product issues in a simply and easy manner. 5 – IKEA is responsible towards all its stakeholders, it maintains the relationships by using proactive objectives to direct all of its future  interactions. The brand can improve its equity by reinforcing the current brand image internally, engaging with all the levels of employees. 6 – IKEA offers products that are appropriate to their brand visions, they better the lives of the consumers. 7 – IKEA offers various and innovation products. The brand should continue with their irreverent approach to innovation. 8 – IKEA has a pricing strategy that is unarguably inline with their brand identity. The pricing strategy has set a ideal brand expectation to the IKEA consumer, It is however of utmost importance that IKEA is alway consistent in terms of pricing. 9 – IKEA is aware of and involved with every product that they product, each is treated as potential development and there is no apparent product hierarchy. 10 – The IKEA brand is a green focused brand throughout its entire supply chain, it upholds a impeccable environmental process. However there is room for improvement within their distribution sector. References Businesscasestudies.co.uk, (2014). Introduction – Building a sustainable supply chain – IKEA | IKEA case studies and information | Business Case Studies. [online] Available at: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/ikea/building-a-sustainable-supply-chain/introduction.html#axzz3BWC79qBb [Accessed 24 Aug. 2014]. Ikea.com, (2014). Our business idea – IKEA. [online] Available at: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_SG/about_ikea/our_business_idea/index.html [Accessed 24 Aug. 2014]. Ikea.com, (2014). Our low prices – IKEA. [online] Available at: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_SG/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/our_business_idea/our_low_prices.html [Accessed 25 Aug. 2014]. Kaplan, R. and Norton, D. (n.d.). The balanced scorecard. 1st ed. http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/the-critical-issues-faced-by-ikea-marketing-essay.php Will Nichols for BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network theguardian.com, Tuesday 23 October 2012 http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-08/29/content_16929111.htm http://money.howstuffworks.com/ikea4.htm (National Geographic, 2013, n.d, http://www.natgeotv.com/ca/megafactories/ikea-facts) Essays, UK. (November 2013). An Analysis Of Market Segmentation Of Ikea And Bandq Marketing Essay. Retrieved from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/an-analysis-of-market-segmentation-of-ikea-and-bandq-marketing-essay.php?cref=1 Essays, UK. (November 2013). Competitive Advantage And Problems Faced By Ikea Marketing Essay. Retrieved from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/competitive-advantage-and-problems-faced-by-ikea-marketing-essay.php?cref=1

Discuss the ways in which law is changed and assess whether the law Essay

Discuss the ways in which law is changed and assess whether the law responds adequately to changes in technology and changes in - Essay Example It draws on the dominant morals, ethics and values to establish rules that are consolidated into law. Changes in Common Law comes with changes in the dominant culture of England at any point in time. Equity automatically developed after the Crown appointed a distinct unit of courts to handle cases based on the tradition of pardons that was established by in cases. Equity therefore changes with the changes in the dominance practices in the society. Aside Common Law and Equity which forms the basis of law in the UK, there are statutes that are created by Parliament as well as various units with powers arising from delegated legislation. Statutes are changed as and when a bill is presented before parliament and relevant bodies and changed as appropriate. Aside the British parliament, there are also various statutes that are created from the European Union as well as other international bodies that the country is signatory to like the United Nations. Statutes are interpreted by the Judic iary who are empowered as an autonomous body to do so. This is discharged through the various courts. The decisions of a court serves as precedence for other cases that may be presented to courts at its level or with jurisdictions below it. This is known as judicial precedents. Judicial precedents also change when the case at hand is decided in a manner that is quite different from the previous ruling. It can be pointed out that although the Common Law and Equity forms the broad framework within which the law is applied, Statutes are rules that are made and changed from time to time to ensure that the courts get a specific basis for the handling of cases. Changes in Law Rules are converted to laws when they are written down and backed by authority. Laws are created through bills which are discussed before parliament or an appropriate body, accepted, signed into law and enforced. In the UK today, Law is made by parliament – that is the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This therefore means that if a law is to be changed, it needs to go through the House of Lords and the House of Commons before it can be accepted as changed. A change in law can be prompted by a member of parliament, a Royal Commission set up to examine a certain law or situation in the society, a national emergency, the Law Commission or the party manifesto of the ruling government. All these outlets can potentially cause parliament to consider changing an existing statute to reflect situations that exist in the society at a given point in time. In this sense there are three main types of bills, there are the public bills, which affect the general public, the public members' bill which are put forward by an individual member of parliament. There is also a private bill which is a bill meant to create a law that affects a small interest group in the United Kingdom. After a proposition for a new law is raised before parliament, the relevant government department publishes a Green Pape r that outlines the elements of the Bill and engage various interest groups in a consensus building process. When the inputs for all interest groups are taken, the civil servants in the Government department summarizes the advice and comments and present them to the Minister in question. The Minister examines the comments and publishes a White Paper that contains the main ideas of the

PTSD The invisible wounds of War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PTSD The invisible wounds of War - Essay Example Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) starts after a horrifying ordeal that concerned physical harm or the danger of physical injury. The soldiers get PTSD due to the horrors and miserable events of the war. In war, the service volunteers powerlessly witness brutal deaths of dear comrades and guiltless Afghanistans and Iraqi (Bouvard, 2012). They undergo sexual abuse and even rape by superiors during the war and cannot report. The veterans become both agents and fatalities of violence and then come back home to a country not knowledgeable or concerned in engaging with their afflictions. Their training regularly prevents them from reporting the necessity to seek counseling. The moment one admits, they encounter a Veterans Administration insufficiently resourced (Bouvard, 2012). The re-experience of PTSD is from the veterans. Many veterans suffer in mum, unable to state the pain they experience, the losses they have undergone the change that has transformed them strangers to themselves (Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007). It is not simple to hear their tones, but Marguerite Guzmà ¡n Bouvard has projected their sounds, by learning how to pay attention. In this book of the dreadful truth, she inspires the rest of readers to pay attention and to be far more considerate and angry and optimistic. An awful outline of psychic spoil emerges from Bouvards summary of veterans and their loved ones (Bouvard, 2012). Avoidance symptoms are attempts individuals make to shun the traumatic experience. Individuals with PTSD may attempt to shun situations that prompt memories of the traumatic encounters (Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007). Avoidance and numbering symptoms presented in the story through Noah Pierce events. Noah Pierce joined up the volunteer service team to Afghanistan in 2002, at age seventeen (Bouvard, 2012). The mother, Cheryl,

Brands that needs to identify the segmentation, targeting, and Essay

Brands that needs to identify the segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategy - Essay Example Kellogg cornflakes are the popular breakfast cereals in Hong Kong which became more familiar with breakfast cereals. In busier lifestyles it makes a good choice for quick and healthy breakfast. In 2013, breakfast cereals were expected to enjoy high growth prospects of 9%. In the year 2012 the growth of industry was down due to economic downturn in the country. The brand Alphen is very popular in Hong Kong for breakfast cereals. The product it deals with was chocolates. It expanded its brands with breakfast cereals like muesli bars and cereals. The brands have created an image on the mind of customers. It also includes improving customer’s perception about the brand and to be informed about the product that are to be launched. The brand also requires a good understanding of competing products and the benefits of targeted market. The products basically target those customers who have busier lifestyles as well as the children. It is a good source of nutrients for both children and adults. The brands have a variety of products for the consumers and they can choose any one of the products. The products are comparatively less costly than Kellogg corn flakes. It has different groups of customers to target (Proctor, 2013 pp. 75-88). This helps to group the customers into segments that have a common need and will response in marketing actions. It offers alternate growth and profit opportunities. The brand focuses on the characteristics such as age group of the customer for making segmentation among the customer group. It has also focused in the customer’s lifestyle and everyday busy schedule which make this brand very popular among them. The brand has different products for different age groups. Kellogg has a very dominating position in breakfast cereals, accounting from 71% to 72% value shares in 2012 and 2013. The company is present in the country with huge variety of products as well as with efficient and distribution network. Consumers can easily find

How a Leader Should Be Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How a Leader Should Be - Essay Example I’d expect my leader to lead in a democratic manner, which encourages everyone’s participation, rather than in an authoritative manner, in which only the leader would have a say. (Ivancevich et al. 2011) In the provided article, the focus is placed on inculcating such leadership qualities that encourage group work, rather than individual efforts. I believe that this is in line with my expectations from a good leader. As the article states, a good leader will recognize talent and guide it effectively. Moreover, they’d be willing to take risks and think out of the box. The article further states that these leaders would encourage creativity, which is also in line with how I believe a good leader should be. They’d also encourage participation from other group members, rather than taking all the authority in their hands completely. They would recognize that involving everyone would result in more balanced and effective decision-making. As the article states, a leader would facilitate the members through tasks rather than give them orders. 2 (Bennis and Biederman 1996) One very popular theory on leadership is that of Transformational Leadership by James MacGregor Burns. This theory states that the leader and the followers work together in the process of ‘raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation’. ... Both theories focus on the relationship between the leader and the followers. In other words, focus is placed on the functioning of the group as a whole. The followers of leader under transformational leadership feel trust, admiration, and respect for the leader and under such leadership, they would feel to be one with the group which would encourage them to work hard towards their goal. Further similarities between the two theories include: the leader acts as a mentor and gives attention to the needs of the followers; there is open communication among the group; any individual contribution to the group is given due attention and respect. The leader solicits the ideas of the followers in order to encourage creativity and power of thinking. The leader encourages the group to challenge and push themselves towards achieving the impossible; he/she provides a vision and purpose to the group which encourages them to work towards their goals. 4 I personally had a chance to witness a situati on of a weak leadership at a youth conference, where the focus was entirely on the demands of the leader and group participation was minimal. A group of ten people had to work together to make a model bridge in very limited time. The chosen leader had an authoritative style of leading where, instead of delegating and assigning tasks, the leader took everything in her hands. There was very little motivation among the members to contribute to the project. The project was carried out in quite a haphazard manner where no one was quite sure of what they were supposed to do. This experience further strengthened my belief that a leader alone cannot achieve a task which requires more than one hand. He/she has to keep

Petroleum Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Petroleum - Lab Report Example The compounds with lower boiling points rise faster and higher on the column while those with higher boiling points evaporate slower and do not reach the top of the tower (the vapours condense on the lower trays). The distillation process separates the constituents of the crude oil on the basis of their difference in their boiling point. Refinery gas, (methane, ethane, propane and butane) is removed as a composite gas mixture on the top of the column (Figure 1 and Table 1). The second fraction, naphtha/gasoline, boils in the range of 40-180oC. As the other fractions have higher boiling points, they collect on the lower trays. Cracking converts heavy fractions from the primary distillation into more useful compounds. For example, when C11H24 is cracked, C9H20 and C2H4 are obtained (Hill, G.C and Holman, J.C, 400-401). C9H20 can be used as gasoline, but more importantly C2H4 can be used as a starting material for the manufacture of products such as plastics, alcohol, diols etc. The cracking process also provides more useful branched-chain alkanes. Catalytic cracking is a process in which long chain alkanes are converted into hydrocarbons of lower molecular weights by the mediation of catalysts at fairly high temperatures. The catalysts normally consist of Al2O3-SiO2 mixtures (Brown, T.L, LeMay, H.E and Bursten, B.E., 947). 4. Platforming Platforming is a process in which linear alkanes are converted into aromatic hydrocarbons. For example, heptane can be converted into toluene in the presence of catalytic amount platinum (Hart, 103). 6 marks 4. The naphtha fraction from the primary distillation is a starting point of the Petrochemical Industry. List 3 useful chemicals that are made from this fraction stating the uses to which they are put. 6 marks Hexane: solvent and fuel Heptane: FuelOctane: Fuel 5. Briefly describe ONE potential source of damage to the environment caused by the Petroleum Industry. 4 marks Crude oil spillage is catastrophic for the environment. It is very rare that an oil tanker spills large quantities of crude oil, but when it does, a large area of the sea gets contaminated by the thick black fluid. Fish, birds, aquatic plants and even mammals living in affected areas suffer from a major oil spillage. Even though the spillage areas are cleaned, a good part of the crude oil remains in the affected areas during several years, which

General Managemnet Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

General Managemnet - Research Paper Example Functions of Management Planning Planning in management is the manner through which a group of people, mainly the directors and other officials get together and make decisions on what should happen in future. Moreover, these officials take up the task of providing a plan for action (Kochan 165). Organizing This is the function of management where the managers and directors implement the plans set up. This involves understanding the relationships that the workers have with each other and trying to maximize the usage of available resources in an effort to attain the objectives set. Staffing Staffing is the process of analyzing job prospects for the incorporation of the best people to complete various tasks in an organization. The incorporation of these people is through recruitment and hiring of personnel. Directing The upper management of an organization looks through the various practices an organization goes through and offers the best ideas on what should be done and assigns the mo st favorable people to do so (Griffin 92). Controlling The authority in a given organization goes through the work carried out by various people in an effort to understand their progress with regard to the set goals. Motivation Motivation is important in an organization as through this, personnel get encouraged on the best way forward and work in an enthusiastic manner with a goal in mind (Lutz 24). The chart below is an illustration of all the functions of management Levels of Management There are different types of managers in a given organization and this depends on the power that each of them bears. Top Level Managers This is the highest group of managers and it consists of the board of directors and the Chief Executive Officer of the organization. This group of people has the task of controlling all the activities that take place in an organization. It is their responsibility to develop strategies for the company and mobilization of outsourced resources (Dale 125). Middle Level Managers Middle level management is the level of management in an organization that consists of department managers and branch managers. Most of the work carried out by these people is the directing of the various processes within an organization. They also serve as the link between the top and lower management. This is from the fact that when the lower management wishes to pass some information to the top management, the middle level managers have the task of going through the information and passing it on (Peter 11). Accordingly, when there is the establishment of new policies in the organization, the middle level managers have the responsibility of passing the information to the lower level managers. First Level Managers This level consists of supervisors mostly whose work is observing the manner in which the lower personnel work with the basic function of coordinating their activities and offering advice on the most appropriate way to carry out functions for the optimal success of an organization. According to Lawrence Kleiman, these managers are imperative to a company as they offer the basis for motivation and performance feedback that are vital for the success of any institution (Kleiman 78). How Management is Relative to my Dream As I was growing up, I always admired the manner in which power ran down from the top position all the way down to the lower leve

Term Limits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Term Limits - Essay Example That potential has all too often been realized with the rise of the career politician in American, and the ubiquity of that political animal has led to a deep rift between those who support and those who oppose the idea of constitutionally restraining the excesses of those who see public service as a route toward personal empowerment. The growth of public support for term limits was made clear in 1995 when nearly half of America's fifty states had chosen to limit terms for their representatives. The momentum for the movement stalled, however, when the Supreme Court ruled by a slim one vote majority that these restrictions on terms were unconstitutional. The high court asserted that "allowing individual States to craft their own qualifications for Congress would thus erode the structure envisioned by the Framers, a structure that was designedto form a 'more perfect union'" (Bandow). What this ruling means, therefore, is that the only way that the system can ever be changed is if those very people who are benefiting from the status quo take the initiative to draft a Constitutional amendment that is directly in opposition to their own best interests. The voting public, indeed the entire country, is placed at the mercy of goodness in the hearts of its lawmakers. Opponents to the idea of limiting the terms of elected officials primarily argue that to do so runs counter to the very democratic ideals upon which the country is based, asserting that the ability to limit terms is already an inherent, indeed integral, part of the existing political process. Those who are unhappy with the governance of their lawmakers have the opportunity ever two to six years to impose a limit upon the terms by simply voting them out of office. Critics insist that there is significant turnover during elections, and that term limits will serve to disincline people from running for office if they see no long term future in it (Levene 210). This idea becomes problematical, however, when one realizes that the likelihood of an incumbent losing a bid for re-election is very low. Even during the historical GOP landslide during of 1994, the incumbency rate was still remarkably high: despite the fact that over three dozen Democratic incumbents failed in their bid for re-el ection, the overall re-election rate in the House was still an astounding 90 percent, with 314 of the 348 members retaining their seats. Likewise, Senate incumbents proved resilient even in the face of widespread voter dissatisfaction as only two Senators up for re-election were voted out of office (Mattei 30). The argument against term limits carries on with the concept that term limits create an atmosphere of chaos and confusion in Congress as a result of loss of experience on the part of legislators. It is suggested that longer service increases legislator's knowledge and arcane "rules, routines, and procedures that are essential to survival in Congress[and] may also know a great deal about how to use the federal bureaucracy to serve their constituents" (Petraca). Incumbents, it is argued, are therefore a vital and necessary component in keeping Congress operating smoothly. This argument seems disingenuous, however, since Congress can hardly be said to have ever been running smoothly; the argument seems

Phobias Definition Essay Example for Free

Phobias Definition Essay When people see the words one and direction together, they either have a mini heart attack due to extreme excitement or they simply disregard the subject. I am the mini heart attack type; therefore, I have done my research on the infamous band. While doing this, I found an interesting fun fact. Liam Payne, the One Direction middleman, is petrified of spoons, yes the eating utensils. He claims to not have a reason as to why, but according to psychology and logic, there has to be some kind of an origin, some kind of association made to spoons. So whether you are the mini heart attack type or the disregarder, strike up your psychoanalytical minds with the explanations I have theorized. Here is what I have come up with: * When Liam Payne was a child, he had an unfortunate event involving a spoon. When I was a kid, I was washing the dishes and there was a massive knife in the sink. I couldn’t see the dishes because the water was bubbly, so I had no perception as to where the knife was. When I put my hands in to grab a dish, I just happened to slice my hand open with the huge knife. Ever since then, whenever I see a knife or my mom wants me to cut something with one, I subconsciously associate whatever knife she is displaying for me to cut to that incident so long ago; therefore, I do not use them, at all. (It’s a really good way to get out of washing dishes, by the way.) Anyways, I believe that Liam had one of these scary situations with a spoon and now has a phobia. * Genetics. Yes, there are genetic factors associated with phobias. A good amount of people with phobias have relatives with similar phobias or symptoms such as fears and a tendency to avoid certain circumstances. My sister-in-law, Edith, is afraid of cockroaches, just like her mother and now, her younger sister. Perhaps, one of Liam Payne’s relatives has a similar phobia. * Everybody uses spoons in Britain. Daring to be different? Liam Payne isn’t incredibly different from other people but maybe, in this situation, he wanted to go against the current. Liam is British. A very stereotypical assumption about British people is that they drink a lot of tea; therefore, they use spoons a lot. It is also stereotypical to say that they tend to eat scones; scones are also eaten with a spoon. Some people just like to rebel against their culture! Although the word phobia literally means â€Å"irrational fear†, I believe one of these theories is correct. I don’t have the materials to prove this but one day, the truth will set me free and I will know the rational reason of Liam Payne’s silly terror of spoons. Louis Tomlinson, the oldest member of One Direction apparently likes ladies that eat carrots. Maybe it’s just an odd, irrational band.

Economic development Essay Example for Free

Economic development Essay Economic development and economic growth are both indicators of the economic position of the country. Economic growth is the growth in gross domestic product and economic development is related to growth in the standard of living and poverty. As you can see economic growth and economic development are not the same thing, economic development is far more than just growth in GDP as it involves indicators that are not purely economically related. However economic growth is an indicator of economic development but there are also several other factors that represent economic development. These indicators are; life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, daily calorie supply per capita, adult literacy rate, number of doctors per 1000 people, average years of schooling, availability of clean water, freedom of press, immunisation rates and levels of discrimination. As you can see these are generally not economic indicators but when they are combined they form the economic development figure. There are fifteen barriers to economic development, the first of these being a lack of physical capital. Lack physical capital is a significant barrier to the development of a country for several reasons. There is already a shortage of capital that further leads to less capital being produced; this creates significant problems for developing countries. In these countries the income levels are low leading to low savings and therefore little money for investment in capital. This lack of capital furthers the low productivity therefore the employment remains low. This also leads to a lack of demand for goods and services the low demand means that less needs to be produced therefore less capital needs to be produced. This then forces the country into a cycle of underdevelopment. This consequently creates a barrier for the country to develop. An example of this is in most less developed countries where they are in constant times of war and civil unrest. Their capital is destroyed through war making it difficult for the country to produce more capital. Also, Sierra Leone, the worlds least developed country, as shown by the human development index, has a GDP per capita of US$159 this creates significant problems for the economy and its development. A lack of human capital is the next barrier to development. This barrier is created through a lack of education and training of the population. It also relates to the general heath and wellbeing of the population. If the labour-force are getting sick then they are unable to work and therefore decreasing the labour capital. A current example of this situation is in South Africa. In South Africa the micro-economic impact of AIDS is very serious and is getting worse. Among skilled workers HIV prevalence is expected to peak between a fifth and a quarter percent by the year 2000, which is consequently depleting the number of skilled workers creating the lack of capital development barrier. These problems are also leading to a rise in insurance bills and the costs of health benefits rise. This therefore diverts government savings to pay for health care and as a result the availability of funds for investment will fall. AIDS is predicted to knock 0.3 to 0.4 percent off the annual growth rate. As you can see this is a severe barrier to development in these less developed countries. A strategy to this barrier is human resource development. The next barrier to development is a lack of savings. This also causes low levels of investment due to the low income leading to low savings. This low level of savings is also caused by several other reasons such as; poorly developed financial markets, holding of savings in traditional non-money forms, the purchase of unnecessary luxury items, cheap family labour reducing the incentive to save for investment and the general indebtedness of the population. The low incentive to reinvest profits by businesses also reduces the savings. Budget deficits by the government to make up for the low taxation revenue are also decreasing the amount being saved. When there is a lack of savings caused by any of these causes it forces the need to borrow form overseas that consequently leads to problems with the balance of payments. An example of lack of savings exists in Nigeria. In Nigeria there are severe problems with their currency. These begin with significant fraud problems also the majority of trading is done with cash in which until recently the currency did not exceed the equivalent of 50 cents. The next problem is that they dont believe in banks, the only use of banks is to exchange foreign currencies for tourists, which leads to a lack of funds for investments. Also, Local traders keep all working capital stuffed in coca jars, as they believe business opportunities will disappear in the time it takes to make a withdrawal. Banks do not allow credit due to the fear of not being repaid. All of these factors contribute to a large barrier to development simply due to a lack of savings. This could be solved through improving the financial system. Another barrier to development is a lack of taxation revenue. A lack of taxation creates barriers as it means the government has little finances to use on economic development. The high unemployment, very low-income levels and difficulties in tax collection cause this lack of tax revenue. The government is then forced to collect tax mainly from customs duties, sales taxes and excises. These taxes can prove to be very inflationary and are also regressive. Another problem with these taxes is that they discourage investment and the creation of employment. Nigeria also has a problem with the collection of taxation. Most Nigerians that can afford to avoid paying taxes, as they believe that their money will be flinched by the corrupt government. This creates severe problems for the country, as there is no money for the government to use in investment to promote economic development. Improving the financial system will also help solve this barrier. The next barrier to entry is a lack of infrastructure. Less developed countries rarely have a sufficient supply of necessities such as roads, ports, sewerage, power schools or water- facilities etc. The main reason that this infrastructure is not being made is that the government simply cannot raise the funds to finance them due to their lack of taxation revenue. Another reason maybe that the government has chosen to finance defence spending or if they are in time of war, in which most LCDs are. A lack of infrastructure restricts the free flow of goods and services and reduces the productivity of the labour force that further restricts the economic development of the country. In Africa infrastructure is very underdeveloped compared to the other less developed regions. They have 6 phone lines for every 1000 people compared to the average of 54 for other developing regions. Also their power supply is far less than the average of 300kw per 1000 peoples with 80kw this significantly stops their development. In Nigeria there are serious problems with infrastructure causing business uncertainty. Telephones rarely work and the electric comes in periodic vengeful surges. Nigerian firms, particularly the state-owned ones due to the lack of taxation, devote little effort into maintaining their infrastructure and it therefore ends up breaking down. Reliable firms are so hard to come by that firms barter contacts: well let you share the electricity from our generator if you can help us find spare parts for it. Firms wanting to set up in Nigeria face the problem known locally as BYOI (bring your own infrastructure) this shows how much of a problem infrastructure is in Nigeria. A lack of infrastructure could be solved in many ways such as encouraging enterprise, human resource development or improving the financial system. A lack of entrepreneurs is another barrier to economic development. Enterprise is essential in order for development to occur, as it is one of the key factors to production. In the less developed countries there tens to be a lack of entrepreneurs for several reasons. The first of these is the fact that there is a limited opportunity to make a profit, due to the lack of demand. The next reason is that the businesses not easily financed due to the low level of savings. The lack of infrastructure available also distracts these entrepreneurs. Another reason to the lack of entrepreneurs is that cultural beliefs often place little importance on monetary gain and entrepreneurs are thus given little status. The number of entrepreneurs is also reduced by the lack of education in these countries. The final reason is that it is risky for an entrepreneur due to the political and economic instability. An example of a lack of entrepreneurs is also in Nigeria as it closely relates to the lack of the infrastructure. The lack of infrastructure adds at least 25 percent onto a firms operating costs if it choses to set up in Nigeria, this is a significant deterrent for firms to set up and should be solved if the county wants to achieve economic development. A strategy that could be adopted to help this situation is encouraging enterprise. The next barrier to economic development is a lack of technology. There are several reasons why these less developed countries are not more technologically advanced. The first reason being that most new technology will involve some investment in capital that is lacking in these less developed countries. Also another problem is that the new technology will need skilled labour to operate it but skilled labour is also of shortage in a LCD. The next reason is that companies dont really want to adopt labour saving technology when they already have cheap labour and there are high unemployment rates. The final reason that there is a lack of technology is that new technology is used to facilitate the achievement of economies of scale and the small markets in LCDs reduce the incentive to mass-produce. The governments however, have managed to encourage technology into these LCDs and most currently use modern technology that compliments the labour so workers maintain their jobs. A lot of the modern technology used in these counties is generally used in the foreign owned industries where they mass-produce in order to export to advanced markets. Over population and rapid population growth is another factor that causes a barrier to development. In these less developed countries the birth rates are often five times higher than in the more developed countries. The advances of medicine have also caused a fall in the deaths, which leads to a higher population growth. The growth of these countries is generally around 2 percent and their growth is usually below this figure, which therefore worsens the situation, and the real GNP per capita often falls. In the more advanced countries they generally have population growth of around 0.5 percent and their economic growth will usually be higher than that. This is where the widening gap occurs pushing less developed countries further away from more advanced countries. This high growth of the population also has the effect of increasing the labour force, but as there is little demand for labour the unemployment rate will tend to rise. Also, most of this population is below 15 or above 65 meaning they are unable to contribute o production but still need things such as food, water, clothing and shelter. This creates a problem known as dependency burden making development even harder. Governments in these LDCs fight a tough battle with a rapid growing population and are always trying to slow this rate but they face several problems such as poor education, communication, lack of contraception and cultural attitudes. Africa is currently the fastest growing of all the developing regions with a growth rate of 3 percent over the past decade but with this high growth rate comes several associated problems. Africa has one doctor for every 20,000 people compared to an average 5000 people in developing countries and its infant mortality rate is the highest at 96 per thousand births almost double the developing countries average. Africans also have a life expectancy of 52 years where the average for developing countries is 64. As you can see that the effects of a high population are not beneficial to a developing country. This barrier to development can be solved with the population control strategy. The next barrier to development is inflation. Inflation in these countries is caused by the scare amounts of goods and services relative to the high population consequently causing demand pull inflation. The domestic supply is unable to match the domestic demand. The inflation rates in many of these countries gets above 200 percent compared to that of around 5 percent in most advanced countries. This high inflation has many unwanted effects such as decreased living standards and a reduction in real income, it also tends to redistribute the income from the poor to the wealthy therefore increasing the income inequality that already exists. A high inflation rate also causes the investment of non-productive assets such as antiques or gold, this money is therefore taken out of the economy reducing the funds available for investment. These high inflation rates also cause a reduction in the competitiveness of exporters and import competing firms that therefore leads to an increase in the countries current account deficit. Another effect that inflation will lead to is a falling exchange rate, which if the country has a large foreign debt will make it even harder to pay. Inflation is very high in most of the African countries and causes severe problems to their economy and development progress. Balance of payments problems is also another barrier to development of these less developed countries. The majority of LCDs have problems with their external balance as the little income they do earn is used on imports and used to pay off interest on their foreign debts. As these countries are in deficit they are continually forced to borrow from overseas to finance their payments worsening their current account deficit even more. Many of these countries are also suffering from worsening terms of trade that also decreases their export revenue and thus further worsening their balance of payments. The WTO worldwide reduction of tariffs will help to assist this but government policies need to be implemented to seriously boost export revenue and turn the consumers away from imports. The strategy to help the balance of payments is import replacement. The next barrier to development that LCDs face is a depletion of their natural resources. Many of these countries are highly dependent on one major export to create export revenue, create growth, employment and income and the reduction in the current account deficit. This creates problems as they may deplete natural resources without considering future production. This reduces the potential for further future development and growth. In Mauritius, they have cleared 25 percent of their forests in the last 19 years purely for export. This causes massive environmental effects and also is a serious concern, as when the resources run out the countrys economy will fail to stay afloat. This is the same in many less developed countries including many African counties and their dependency on oil. It can be helped with export development to have a wider range of exports and less dependency on one major export. Another significant barrier to economic development in these less developed countries is corruption and poor administration by the government. Corruption is a very common problem in LDCs. The problem associated with this is that aid and government revenue is not all used in promoting growth, corrupt leaders and government officials take most of it. When a government is corrupt it causes most of their aid to be withdrawn forcing them to reform their political structures. This withdrawal of overseas assistance causes depletions in general living standards of the country. Another problem with these governments is that they know little or nothing about economics. These leads to several problems including poor administration and efficiency these lead to a poor ability to promote development. An example of this is in Nigeria where it has been estimated that in the last twenty years over two billion dollars of oil revenue from the country has been embezzled. This is mainly due to their last dictator who ordered the Nigerian Central Bank to deposit 15 million dollars a day into his own Swiss bank account. This works out to twenty percent of GDP and when you take into consideration that their NFD is over 40 percent of GDP, the country is not left with much money. A strategy that has been put into place for this specific barrier is the refusal to lend money to Nigeria from IMF. Natural disasters are another barrier to development in less developed countries. The effects of natural disasters such as floods or droughts have a much greater impact on less developed countries compared to that of advanced countries. Most LCDs are prone to these natural disasters, which is a significant factor to their underdevelopment. In India they have times of severe droughts and flooding where 80 million people were affected. This has severely decreased their agriculture production and is consequently creating a barrier to their development. There is not much that can be done about natural disasters but do adjust to them and to adopt new ways to cope with them. Another significant factor preventing the development of less developed countries is war and civil unrest. Many LCDs are in constant war and civil unrest, this causes several problems with development. The first of these problems is that entrepreneurs are discouraged by the countries instability also important infrastructure is destroyed and governments spend their little taxation revenue on maintaining order or producing weapons. Economies in war torn countries are unlikely to be operating at full capacity making it hard for development to occur. In Rwanda civil wars in the nineties have claimed the lives of almost 1,000,000 Rwandans. Most of the aid to the country was invested in weaponry and therefore not used in promoting economic development, as it should have been. This is how civil wars can create barriers to development. The only solution to this is to end the wars and focus the spending into promoting economic development. The final barrier to development is a lack of press freedom. Press freedom involves the exchange of ideas, criticism of government and increased awareness of world events and developments. This is something that most LCDs do not have and therefore their economic development is limited. In Mexico the government allowed Televisa to have a monopoly in the television market if they didnt play any anti-government shows and supported the government. In the eighties journalists were killed by the police in Mexico City if they published any anti-government articles. This is serious problem in these less developed countries and is usually the result of government corruption. The first strategy to promote economic development in these less developed countries is export development. This strategy involves assisting those producers who export to overseas markets. An increase in export development will earn foreign exchange and create unemployment and income and also help to solve problems with the balance of payments. The next strategy to promoting development is import replacement. Import replacement involves the shifting of demand away from imports and towards the domestically produced products. This can be done in several ways including the induction of tariffs on imports making them more expensive relative to the domestic product. This also encourages foreign investment as the foreign firms wish to have the same protection. Assisting domestic producers financially is another way of promoting this economic development, by subsidising and offering tax incentives to local producers it will increase their competitiveness with imports by the lower costs of production. However, replacing imports is only a short-term solution and therefore policies promoting long-term development must be applied. Human resource development is the next strategy to development. This development involves improving the size of the labour force and also the skills of the labour force. The labour force can be increased through improved health care and skills can be attained through things such as training and education. In Nigeria the World Bank is currently funding an $80 million project into their education as well as building a better and more consistent water supply. Also In Malaysia education investment has been amongst their highest priorities for decades, they have spent $731 million on improving their education levels to the level they are currently at Another way to promote economic development in these less developed countries is through encouraging enterprise. In most LDCs there is a lack of entrepreneurs, in order to increase the quantity there are several solutions such as improving management and leadership training and tax incentives, subsidies and free loans. Cuba has introduced a group of people called the cuentapropistas, 170,000 entrepreneurs marking the arrival of a new business sector in the islands socialist economy. They account for 8% of the labour force and manage to put food on the table for one in ten Cubans. These new small businesses have been a result of reduced subsidies to state enterprises, increased foreign investment, and introduction of incentives in the agricultural sector and the legalisation of dealings in foreign currency. This has already had positive signs on the Cuban economy with growth in 1998 at 8 percent some 31percent higher than two years previous. Population control is another strategy to economic development. Rapid population growth is unwanted as it creates problems such as inflation and scarcity and therefore more poverty. There are plenty of methods that can be put into place to slow population growth. Some of these methods include maximum children policy such as Chinas one child policy and free supplies of contraception. The Grameen bank is another contributor to helping population control in Bangladesh. The bank issue loans to woman and as part of the conditions to borrowing the money they must agree to have small families. This has proved to be a successful program all across the world and has helped to promote the small-scale development of many less developed countries. The next strategy to promote economic development is increasing the agricultural productivity. Agriculture is usually a major sector in the less developed countries and thus improving its productivity will significantly promote development. Improving the agriculture productivity can be done in many ways. Some of these include merging small farms to create larger more efficient ones and encouraging owner operators to increase the incentive to improve productivity there also several other ways in which these countries can improve their agricultural productivity. With 75 percent of the population living in rural areas, improving the efficiency of Indias agriculture is the key to attaining high growth and reducing poverty. Accelerating rural development and poverty reduction requires cutting spending on input subsidies; investing in rural infrastructure; providing more effective rural services, especially to the poor and socially excluded; improving management of water, forests, and other natural resources; liberalizing the rural economy, including the rural financial system. In the heart of Indias poorest region, the Bihar Plateau Development Project is increasing access to much-needed irrigation and safe drinking water by tribal communities and raising their incomes through the diversification of rural livelihoods. The project aims to reach 4.5 million people through a variety of institutional mechanisms, including water and sanitation committees, water user associations, and income generation schemes, all aiming to transfer skills and enhance peoples capabilities so that the benefits may be sustained once the project ends. This is one way in which India is proving to increase its agricultural produc tivity. Another strategy to promoting economic development is by adopting intermediate technology. If a less developed country invested in new technology it may be forgiving employment possibilities, as most new technology is very labour intensive, this will consequently lead to a fall in employment. As these countries have an abundance of labour it is much easier, cost effective and better for the economy if they use intermediate technology that still requires high levels of labour. An example of this is Fred Hollows, Hollows uses local resources to create employment income and economic growth through the training of people to perform the medical tasks and also employment in the factories where the lens are created. The final strategy to promote economic development is to improve the financial system. In these economies there is a lack of savings and an insufficient financial system, this creates major barriers to development. Thus policies need to be adopted to improve this situation that promote growth and employment without generating high levels of inflation. The World Banks Executive Board approved a $506 million loan to support financial sector adjustment and reform in Colombia. The loan is part of a revised World Bank strategy for Colombia that includes intensified lending to help the country promote peace, ease the impact of the recession on the poor, and rebuild after their earthquake. It is also part of a $1.4 billion package to help bolster Colombias economy. This financial sector adjustment loan reflects the World Banks confidence in Colombias wide-ranging reform strategy, which is critical to its effort to overcome the recession, said Andres Solimano, director of the Banks program i n Colombia. The financing of many of these strategies is usually funded through institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund institutions. The World Bank is a major force behind the development of less developed countries as it gives issues discounted loans to most of these countries. Another way that these countries can fund their development is through overseas aid. The are large amounts of money flowing out of the developed countries from governments and other aid organizations as aid into the less developed countries hoping to achieve economic development. For all of these less developed countries to achieve economic development, an effort from all developed countries with aid and advice must be contributed, but until then the world will not have any chance of abolishing poverty. References: IFC Building the private sector in Africa The Economist January 15th 2000 survey Nigeria World bank Rwanda development project The Economist May 27th Aids impact in South Africa World Bank Cubas Cuentapropistas World Bank Indias development The Grameen Bank Economic Development in Bangladesh The Economist May 27th Growth is good The Economist Feb 22nd Televista World Bank press release, 11th June 1998

The Piper Oil Field Engineering Essay

The Piper Oil Field Engineering Essay Introduction On the night of June the 6th, 1988, an explosion took place on the Piper Alpha oil and gas production platform. It led to a series of fires that eventually melted the platform into the waters of the North Sea, killing a hundred and sixty seven men, and resulting in insurance losses of U.S. $3.4 billion. To date, it remains the worst offshore disaster in the history of the Petroleum industry, defined in terms of both human and financial loss. The images of horror broadcasted from the disaster site, the final tally of human lives lost, and the enormous financial loss shock Occidental Petroleum, the operator of the platform, violently. It has since become worthy of thorough examination, to fully assimilate the numerous lessons it has to offer. Ronin Advanced Systems investigated the events leading up to that night, pinpointing the deficiencies in the fragile Safety Matrix then applied by Occidental Petroleum, in order to provide viable recommendations that can help prevent such accident s from happening in the future and increase the overall Operational Safety of offshore installations. Purpose and Scope The impact of the Piper Alpha disaster on the Petroleum industry was huge. It was on such an unprecedented level that every oil company made it an absolute requirement to document it as a Case Study. The purpose of this research is to isolate the faults and errors carried out by both the management of Occidental Petroleum as well as the crew of Piper Alpha, which directly resulted in the disaster. This report will cover several topics regarding the Piper Alpha offshore production platform, including its location, construction, modification, Safety Matrix and Record, as well as the timeline of the disaster and its aftermath. Throughout the report, we do not include any on-site research from the Piper oil field. Assumptions Our recommendations are based on the assumption that the Piper Alpha disaster could have been completely avoided. This is in turn based on the fact that its management made a series of wrong decisions, which seriously compromised the safety level on board the platform and rendered its crew helpless in face of accidents. The failure of the crew to act appropriately with respect to the sequence of events of the disaster can only be attributed to the failure of Occidentals management. The assumption is also based on the factual and documented deterioration of the safety level on board the platform after its modification to produce gas. Several gas leaks were recorded and a research commissioned by Occidental to investigate the newly installed Gas Lines which found them of extreme risk was ignored. At the end of this report, we will prove without a shred of doubt that the assumption holds; thus, deeming our recommendation worthy of being put into action as soon as possible. Methods The information in this report was compiled from various sources including Lord Cullens Public Inquiry, numerous printed and electronic publications, video footage from the British Royal Air Force helicopters, as well as the numerous support vessels, that were present on site during rescue operations and the accounts of the survivors. Limitations As mentioned earlier, this research is limited to materials and information available in the Public Domain via the Internet, various publications, and recorded video footage. In addition, Ronin Advanced Systems was not able to send any personnel to the disaster site to perform on-location examination due to the following main reasons: The incident happened on July the 6th, 1988. The Piper Alpha offshore production platform melted down to its core. Furthermore, its remains were later detonated and removed by Occidental Petroleum. Piper oil field A hundred and twenty miles from Aberdeen, beneath some of the fiercest waters of the North Sea, lies the Piper oilfield. A joint venture of four companies, known as the OPCAL (short for Occidental Petroleum Caledonia) and led by Occidental Petroleum, obtained a license to explore those waters in 1972, after the British government allowed offshore exploration licenses in 1964 (Miller, 1991). The Piper oil field was discovered in the early months of 1973, prompting OPCAL to commission the construction of the Piper Alpha platform, as well as the pipelines and Onshore Support Installations. Oil production started in late 1976. At its peak, the Piper oilfield produced 30,000 tons of oil daily. Nearby, two more fields were discovered; those were the Tartan and the Claymore oilfields. Two more platforms were commissioned and named after the two fields respectively. The three vast oilfields Piper, Tartan and Claymore are usually referred to collectively as the Piper oilfield. Figure 1: Location of Piper Oilfield with respect to Aberdeen and Flotta Oil Facility As shown in Figure 1, OPCAL built the Flotta oil terminal on the Orkney Islands to collect and process oil from the three massive fields. As the development of the three platforms progressed, more oil and gas lines were laid, resulting in Piper being at the heart of a busy network of pipelines. Its platform acted as both a communication systems hub as well as an oil and gas collection point, before relaying it all onto shore on one main line, namely the Main Oil Line or MOL, which is the line seen connecting the Piper field and Flotta in Figure 1. This report will dedicate an entire subsection to further examine the pipeline network surrounding the Piper oilfield and its neighbouring counterparts. It will also discuss the impacts that network had on the level of Operational Safety on board the Piper Alpha platform and how it actively contributed to its tragic and total eradication off the waters of the North Sea. Piper Alpha Piper Alpha, the platform that exploited the Piper oilfield, stood tall at two hundred metres above seabed. Its sheer size made it seem almost indestructible. It was originally designed for oil production, but was later adapted to produce natural gas as well; a decision that proved to have tragic consequences. Producing almost ten percent of Britains North Sea oil and gas in 1988, Piper Alpha was highly productive. It was deemed a lucrative investment for Occidental Petroleum, shoring millions of dollars annually. It is assumed that at the time of the accident, the platform was the heaviest offshore production rig operating in the North Sea. Figure 2: Piper Alpha Offshore Oil Gas Production Platform Piper Alpha was a fixed platform constructed by McDermott Engineering at Ardesier and UIE at Cherbourg, with sections united at Ardersier during 1975 (Wikipedia, 2010). The platform consisted of four modules (A, B, C and D) separated by Fire-Proofed walls, and arranged such that the most dangerous works such as drilling were as far as possible from the Accommodation Block. At the time of the accident, the platform operated thirty-six well heads using various technologies that were then available. Figure 3, an East-side Elevation of the platform, illustrates its modular design and the locations of the areas of interest to the scope of this report, mainly Modules C, D and the Oil Separation Compartment in Module B. Figure 3: East Elevation of Piper Alpha the impacts of the 1980 Gas module fitting Impact on the platform Layout I Production Level 84 In 1980, a Gas Recovery Module was installed on the Piper Alpha platform. This decision left an unfortunate legacy in its design, as some of the gas compression works had to be sited in Module C, which was later called the Gas Compression Module. Figure 4 illustrates the layout of Production Level 84. It clearly shows how the compression works in Module C were close to many sensitive areas in Module D, such as: the Control Room, the Electrical Power Gas Turbine Generators, the Emergency Diesel Generator, the Fire Pumps Manual Control Panel and some of the Electrical Switch Rooms. The Accommodation Block, where the crewmen lived, was located above Module D, with the Helicopter Pad (or Helideck) on top of it as shown in Figure 3. Figure 4: Production Level 84 Firewalls Hazard: Blast-Proof Walls Since Piper Alpha was initially designed to produce oil, only Fire-Proofed walls were installed to separate its four modules instead of Blast-Proof walls, which are installed on gas production platforms. Figure 4 shows the locations of the Fire-Proofed walls as well as their ratings. The B/C and the C/D walls did not withstand the first explosion. Their failure was the beginning of the end for the platform. Hazard: Fire-Fighting System Piper Alpha was equipped with a state-of-the-art Automatic Fire-Fighting System. It relied on two different sets of pumps for operation; electrically powered and diesel powered. They would suck in huge amounts of seawater via underwater inlets to douse any fires. However, the safety procedures on the platform dictated that the system would be switched over to manual control in case divers were in the water regardless of their locations with respect to the inlets so that they would not get sucked in. That procedure never considered the possibility of a fire or an explosion blocking access to the Manual Control Panel, preventing the crew from operating the pumps and eventually causing the fire to rage unchallenged. ii deck support frame: level 64 Two large gas pumps, designated A and B, were placed in Module C. Those were responsible for pressurizing the produced gas and sending it to the offshore Manifold Compression platform MCP-01, some thirty miles to the North West of Piper Alpha. They were also responsible for providing the gas required for generating Electrical Power that fed the entire platform. They operated in redundancy; i.e. one was operated and the other was put on standby in case the former stopped working. Those two pumps were present on level 68, sixteen levels below production level number 84. Figure 5: Deck Support Frame of Level 68 Location of Pumps A B A pipeline eighteen inches in diameter acted as the Main Gas Line (MGL), carrying the gas production of Piper Alpha to the Manifold Compression Platform, MCP-01. A year later, another eighteen-inch pipeline was extended from the Tartan platform to Piper Alpha, in order to collect gas production from both rigs before sending it on the Main Gas Line to MCP-01. Later on, another sixteen-inch pipeline was extended from Piper Alpha to the Claymore production platform, to feed its onboard Gas Lift System. Hazard: Gas Lines In Figure 5, all gas lines also known as risers were secured with automatic Emergency Safety Valves (ESVs) and Pig Traps to cut off gas flow in an out of the platform in case of emergencies and failures. However, there were no Remotely Operated Shutoff Valves (ROSOVs) on any of the lines that the neighbouring platforms could use in case the ESVs had failed or in case things on Piper Alpha had gone out of control. Moreover, two years prior to June the 6th 1988, Occidental Petroleum commissioned a report to investigate the safety of the platform after the added functionality and pipelines. The report portrayed a fearful image, clearly warning of the dangers of the gas lines. The findings stated that those gas lines would take hours to depressurize, mainly due to their capacities that was defined based on their lengths and diameters. The report went on to speculate that should anything happen to those lines, they could result in a High-Pressure Gas Fire that would be virtually impossi ble to fight. Thus, putting the entire platform at risk, and threatening the lives of its personnel. Impact on the Pipeline network Since the Piper oilfield was the first to be discovered, and Piper Alpha was the first platform to come online, its historic development and that of adjacent fields meant that the platform would become a centre for communication systems, as well as oil transfer, reaching land-based operations (Drysdale Evans, 1998). The belated installation of the Gas Module, and the subsequent extension of Gas Lines, further complicated an already complex network of pipelines interconnecting the three platforms Claymore, Piper Alpha, and Tartan with one another as well as with MCP-01 and the Flotta oil processing facility. Figure 6 shows this complex network of oil and Gas Lines connecting the four platforms and onshore installations. The Main Oil Line (MOL) carried oil from Piper to Flotta. Oil was routed from Tartan to Claymore, via a separate line, and from there it was sent onto the MOL, some thirty-five miles west of Piper. The MOL also carried the main communication cable (originating at Piper Alpha) between the three rigs and Occidentals Control Centre (OCC) on the Orkney Islands. Hazard: Oil Back Pressure The legacy of that design had not only reduced the level of Operational Safety on board of Piper Alpha significantly, but also it had put the entire communication system at risk. The design simply jeopardized losing all cable-based communications with OCC, in case an explosion or a massive rig fire took place. Furthermore, due to the lack of any Remotely Operated Shutoff Valves (ROSOVs) which would prevent the back flow of oil because of pressure differences and/or major failures in the Emergency Safety Valves (ESVs) the design exhibited a Back-Pressure nature that would allow oil from the Tartan and Claymore platforms to flow directly back into Piper Alpha instead of going down the Main Oil Line to shore should Piper Alpha stop pumping oil. That hazard was an important factor in fuelling the oil fire that started in the Oil Separation compartment in Module B on board of the platform in peril. Figure 6: Claymore, Piper, Tartan Pipeline Network spiral to disaster The common image of the disaster can be attributed to a single devastating explosion on board the Piper Alpha. In fact, once it took place, the catastrophe unfolded gradually. During one crucial hour, there were critical moments that it could have been averted. However, an unfortunate series of events led to the total destruction of the platform. On the morning of July the 6th, Pump A was undergoing routine maintenance and its pressure valve was removed for inspection. Another maintenance overhaul, which would have taken two weeks, was scheduled for the same pump but had not begun then. The valve removed was placed between the pump and the gas pipe feeding it. The service crew sealed the pipe with a Blind Flange; a flat metallic disc used to temporarily cover pipes and risers during various routine maintenance jobs. When the Day Shift ended at 6:00 PM, the job was not done. The supervising engineer prepared a Permit-to-Work (PTW) stating that the pressure valve was removed and that the pump should not be started under any circumstance (Wikipedia, 2010). The engineer then headed to the Control Room, where he found the platforms manager busy. He chose not to inform him that Pump A was out of order, and instead signed the new PTW, placed it on the managers desk and left to the Accommodation Block. This was the first critical moment in the timeline of the accident. The failure of the engineer to inform the manager with the serious condition of the pump is nothing but a clear example of terrible lack of communication between colleagues. It showcases a superficial attitude and approach by Occidentals personnel towards Safety. This failure is one of the main reasons of the disaster, if not its main trigger. An hour later, another maintenance job was taking place underwater; divers were carrying out a routine inspection and welding job on one of the pipes. Therefore, and as we explained previously, the Automatic Fire-Fighting System was switched to manual control. This was a safety practice to ensure that divers would not get sucked in through the underwater inlets of the powerful fire extinguishing pumps. It is worth noting that on other platforms Fire-Fighting systems were controlled manually only if divers were very close to the inlets. This practice, which was enforced to ensure the safety of the divers, reduced that of the platform drastically and deprived it from an automated response by the Fire-Fighting System that could have saved it from its fatal doom; yet another critical moment down the course of the horrible disaster. At 9:45 PM, Pump B suddenly stopped and could not be restarted. The pumps were responsible for providing gas to the Gas Turbine Generators, which in turn provided the entire platform with Electrical Power. The sudden stop of Pump B, and the failure to restart it, threatened the total loss of Electrical Power during ongoing drilling operations. This meant that the drilling head could get stuck at enormous costs. The system provided fifteen minutes of backup power, via the Emergency Diesel Generator, during which the only two choices were either restarting Pump B or bringing Pump A online; a crossroads that sent the platform and its crewmen down the spiral to disaster. Pressured as time went by with no success at restarting Pump B, the engineer who was sent down to inspect the pump was forced to consider bringing Pump A online. He returned to the Control Room on level 84 and searched through the PTWs, trying to determine whether Pump A could be started or not. He located the PTW for the General Overhaul that had not started then, yet failed to find the newer one that stated that the pumps pressure valve was removed. He signed off the General Overhaul PTW and returned to level 68 to start Pump A. The reason why the engineer could not find the newer PTW is simple; the pressure valve was in a different location from the pump and therefore its permits were stored in a different box, as PTWs on board the platform were sorted by location. The engineer never checked the PTW box for the location where the pressure valve was. None of the personnel present in the Control Room then was aware that a vital piece of the pump had been removed. The platforms manager assumed from the existing documents that it would be safe to start Pump A (Wikipedia, 2010). In fact, no one noticed that the pressure valve had been removed as it was placed several metres above the ground of level 64. Furthermore, it was blocked from line-of-sight by gas risers. Ten minutes later, Pump A was started, allowing gas to flow into it in the absence of the pressure valve, which quickly resulted in an overpressure the Blind Flange could not withstand. Gas started to leak at very high pressure and in great amounts, with audible sounds that took the crewmen on level 64 by surprise. The leak triggered several gas alarms. However, at exactly 9:50 PM, and before anyone could realize the situation and plan a response, the gas ignited and exploded, blowing through the Fire-Proofed walls. In the initial blast, the Fire-Proofed walls B/C and C/D failed. Panels from the C/D wall were propelled into Module D, destroying the Control Room, the Emergency Diesel Generator, and the Gas Turbine Generators, starting a hydrocarbon fire fed by a mixture of gas and diesel and blocking access to both the Manual Control Panel of the Fire-Fighting System as well as the Lifeboat Entry Points. The platforms manager quickly pressed the Emergency Shutdown button, closing the Emergency Safety Valves (ESVs) on the sea lines and ceasing all oil and gas production, before ordering an evacuation of the Control Room. This should have isolated the platform entirely from the flow of oil and gas. However, Panels from the failing B/C Fire-Proofed wall flew into Module B, rupturing another gas pipe as well as the main oil separation manifolds, starting an oil fire in the Oil Separation compartment, which spread out to all of Module B within a few minutes. Figure 7: The Initial Fire on Piper Alpha. Black smoke indicating an Oil Fire is seen rising from Module B The manager headed to the Radio Room, where he ordered a Mayday call to be transmitted. The Radio Room was then evacuated and all personnel headed to the Fire-Proofed Accommodation Block awaiting further instructions or evacuation by helicopters. Although Occidentals management was aware that a gas explosion on board Piper Alpha would be devastating, the managers on Claymore and Tartan never Shutdown oil production after they received the Mayday transmitted out of the burning platform. Even though black smoke could be seen on the horizon, which meant that there was an oil fire, the managers never suspected the failure of the Emergency Safety Valves (ESVs). The oil fire, fed by oil from Tartan and Claymore, heated up the Tartan Gas Line to the point it failed. The pipeline ruptured, releasing 15~30 tonnes of gas (pressurised to 120 ATM) per second. The gas burst into a massive fire ball that engulfed the entire Piper Alpha platform as well as a Fast Rescue Craft launched from the Multi-purpose Vessel Sandhaven. This situation was exactly what the report commissioned two years earlier had warned against; a High-Pressure Gas Fire that would be impossible to put out. At this critical moment, the fate of the platform had already b een decided, with no viable means of reversing it. The massive fire ball can be seen in Figure 8, as it instantaneously contained the platform and darkened the clear blue sky above it. Figure 8: Sequence of Images taken from a Video Footage captured by a Support Vessel showing the Explosion of the Tartan Gas Line. MV Lowland Cavalier can be seen on the Right As Figure 8 vividly illustrates, the wind was blowing in the direction of the Helideck, which in turn pushed fire and smoke towards it, making any helicopter landing absolutely impossible and an act of suicide. No further instructions were given to the trapped crewmen, who took shelter in the Accommodation Block, while smoke began to penetrate it. Some were seen jumping off the platform and into the water, against what their training instructed. Ironically, those were the ones who survived the tragic ordeal. The actions of two crewmen are worth noting. As the situation worsened, they donned Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and tried to make their way to the Manual Control Panel of the Fire-Fighting System to start the diesel pumps. Those two men were never seen again and their bodies were never recovered. Nearby, and as the situation rapidly escalated, the managers on Claymore and Tartan believed that they did not have the authority to order an Emergency Shutdown of production without first consulting their superiors. The initial explosion knocked off the main communication line with OCC; however, Tartans manager somehow contacted his superior, and was instructed to stay online and continue pumping gas and oil. Meanwhile, Claymores manager tried for more than twenty minutes to raise OCC by satellite phone, but to no avail. When he finally succeeded at contacting his manger, the MCP 01 Gas Line failed and exploded, as they were speaking, at exactly 10:50 PM. It was not until that point that Claymores manager finally ordered an Emergency Shutdown of production, after receiving instructions from his superior, who also instructed him to contact Tartan and tell them to shutdown as well. Figure 9: Sequence of Images taken from a Video Footage captured by a Rescue Helicopter showing the Explosion of the MCP 01 Gas Line. The MSV Tharos can be seen on the Right By the time both platforms had ordered an Emergency Shutdown, there was no turning back for Piper Alpha; the platform was destined to burn for hours more to come, until the pipelines were depressurised, and all the hydrocarbons they carried were depleted. The fearsome heat ate its way at the machinery and steelwork comprising the once gigantic platform in a tremendous scene that horrified everyone who saw it. The final chapter in the disaster was inevitable and quite expectable. The gas line feeding Claymore finally failed and ruptured at 11:20 PM. The third explosion was the final nail in the platforms coffin. After withstanding the intense heat for more than an hour, the Generation and Utilities Module D, home to the Accommodation Block, finally slid into the sea. Most of the platform soon fell after it. Forty-five minutes past midnight, the entire platform was gone, and only Module A was all that remained. Figure 10: Image from Video Footage taken by a Rescue Helicopter landing on the MSV-Tharos as the Final Explosion of Claymores Gas Line take place The Role of nearby Support vessels The Multi-purpose vessel LowLand Cavalier (mv lowland cavalier) Although the Lowland Cavalier was the closest to Piper Alpha at the time of the initial explosion, she was only equipped as a Diving Support vessel then. She pulled away to safety immediately, after signalling the underwater divers to surface. Her role in the disaster was limited to reporting the first explosion. Figure 11: Recent Photos of the MV Lowland Cavalier The Multi-purpose vessel Silver Pit (mv silver pit) The Fast Rescue Craft MV Silver Pit was a converted fishing ship, with a small Landing Area (yellow circular area seen in Figure 9). It was the first support vessel to respond. The largest number of survivors thirty-seven out of fifty-nine was recovered by her crew. Her coxswain, James Clark, received the George Medal a second level civil decoration of the United Kingdom Commonwealth in recognition of his tremendous efforts in the Search Rescue operation (Scottish TV, 2010). Figure 12: Image taken from a Video taken by a Rescue Helicopter during a Winch-Recovery of a Survivor picked up by the MV Silver Pit the Multi-purpose vessel sandhaven (mv sandhaven) Though her actions show obvious disregard for common logic and safe practices, the efforts exerted by the crew of the Sandhaven were remarkable; they raced against time to rescue Pipers oilmen from the raging inferno. In an insane act of bravery, and in defiance to every safety rule and procedure known in the world of Offshore Rescue Operations, she approached the burning platform to a very close distance, launching a fast rescue boat with three men on board that rescued six of Pipers crewmen. However, when the gas line from Tartan exploded, a massive fire ball engulfed the burning platform as well as that boat, killing two of its crewmen along with all of survivors. The lone survivor on board that boat, Ian Letham, was also awarded the George Medal in recognition of his participation in the relief efforts during the tragic ordeal. Figure 13: The Tharos (Left Background) Sandhaven (Small Red Boat) next to Piper Alpha just as Tartans Gas line exploded the Multi-purpose Support Vessel Tharos (msv tharos) The Tharos was a semi-submersible, multi-purpose support vessel. She comprised several roles such as Fire-Fighting, Construction, Accommodation and Diving Support. She also carried a fully operational hospital and was equipped with a massive Helideck. She was commissioned by Occidental Petroleum precisely to deal with emergencies on offshore platforms. On June the 6th, 1988, and by pure chance, she was anchored close to Piper Alpha. She should have been a Godsend; however, upon approaching the burning platform, her crew started her water cannons too fast, tripping the Fire-Fighting system and wasting ten long minutes before successfully restarting it. Furthermore, those cannons were deemed very powerful, thus restricting the Tharos to as where to use them; since the stream could seriously injure or even kill anyone it hits. Figure 14: Images taken from Video Footage taken during the landing of a Rescue Helicopter on the Helideck on board the MSV-Tharos showing the Vessels powerful cannons engaged in Fire-Fighting Operations Figure 12 shows how close the Tharos was anchored to Piper as well as the locations of the MV -Lowland Cavalier and the MV Silver Pit mentioned earlier in this section. Figure 15: Locations of Support Vessels from Piper Alpha Worse still, the Tharos was equipped with an extensible bridge that could have worked as an escape route for the personnel trapped onboard, but due to flaws in its design it proved useless. The extension mechanism was too slow, taking five minutes to move two feet; so to extend to its full thirty metres, it would have taken over an hour. At 10:50 PM, the Tharos ran out of time; the MCP-01 Gas Line ruptured and burst. A huge fireball burnt brightly in the dark sky over the North Sea, and to date is considered an icon of the Piper Alpha disaster. The gas burning was more than the entire consumption of the United Kingdom. The intense heat threw the Tharos back, forcing her to return the bridge into its storage position, and from then on, her crew could only witness as Piper slowly melted and collapsed (McGinty, 2009). Figure 16: Screenshot from a Video Footage taken by a Surveillance Camera on board the MSV-Tharos showing the Extensible Bridge being extended towards Piper Alpha Figure 17: The Tharos docked to Piper Alpha via its Extensible Bridge Weeks before the Disaster Figure 10 shows the extensible bridge docked to Piper Alpha weeks before the disaster. Had the Tharos attempted to approach Piper to such a close distance, the situation would have turned into a nightmare, and the Tharos would have been engulfed in flames just like the Sandhaven. The Tharos continued fighting the fire from a safe distance until the morning of the following day. Divers from the Tharos recovered many bodies from the sea bed and from the galley area of the Accommodation Block, where most of the crewmen onboard gathered awaiting extraction by helicopter. The vessel supported the Fire-Fighting and Well Kill operations that eventually led to the extinguishing of the burning well three weeks later (Wikipedia, 2010). The Aftermath The Day After With the break of light of the following day, the scale of the disaster was unravelled. The entire platform melted down to its core through the night and sank into the sea. Ironically, Module A, once considered the most dangerous section of the platform, remained fairly intact. That was attributed to the fact that the Fire-Proofed wall separating modules A and B did not fail. Of the massive platform, only what shows in Figures 15 and 16 was what was left. Figure 18: Module A carrying a sign with the platforms number and name Piper A Figure 19 : The Remains of Piper Alpha with the MSV-Tharos in the Background Human Loss A total of a hundred and sixty seven men lost their lives in the disaster; of which, a hundred and sixty five were Piper Alpha crewmen. A hundred and sixty four of them died on site and one died later in hospital. Two crewmen from the MV Sandhaven died, along with six survivors from the platform, when their fast rescue craft was engulfed in flames after the explosion of Tartans gas link. Only sixty one men survived, almost all because they had decided to ignore what little training they had been given and jumped off the burning platform. Financial Loss The total financial loss amounted to U.S. $3.4 billion. It was paid in full by insurance companies that insured the platform and the personnel against operational hazards. The insurance companies also covered the cost of the Clean-Up operation. Damage to Public Image Occidental Petroleum claimed that their Safety Record was impeccable, claiming that it was the first time in twelve years that they had had a causality in the North Sea. However, their statement was challenged when various sources revealed that an oilman died four years earlier on board Piper Alph