The current status of childhood obesity on measured outcomes Essay

The current status of childhood obesity on measured outcomes - Essay Example A child who attends a public school and is eligible for national school lunch and school breakfast programs has a higher prevalence of BMI than one attending private school (Hooker, 2009, p. 100). Approximately 70% of the children being obese have a cardiovascular risk while on the other hand, 30% of them are at risk of hypertension (MMWR, 2011, p. 42). Due to increased concern about the condition, an initiative needs to be started to reduce child prevalence of obesity. The research indicates that the obesity levels are increasing tremendously especially with the increasing low child activity with one hour on TV and playing games being associated with 0.08%-1.4% increase in obesity (MMWR, 2011). For the condition to be reversed, children are to be encouraged to participate in physical activities such as games. This will play a great role in reversing the condition and reducing the escalating

Economics of Warfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Economics of Warfare - Essay Example The inconsistency in the evaluation occurs because of the endogenous regressor that measures the magnitude of the association. In an ordinary circumstance, both the direction of causation and the magnitude provides invaluable information to the policy analysts. Therefore, the use of instrumental variable provides estimates that assist in obtaining consistent parameters. The article by Miguel et al. (2004) that assessed Economic shocks and civil conflict provides a simple and most effective way of using instrumental variables. For that reason, the article was the most important paper to critique and use when explaining why and how to use the instrumental variable. Estimation of economic impacts from civil conflict is not a simple process because of the endogeneity and the likelihood of biases. Miguel et al (2004) used rainfall variations to simulate the instrumental variables to assess economic growth for 41 countries in Africa after the onsets of wars and civil conflict because most of the countries rely on rain-fed agriculture for economic growth. Miguel et al. (2004) noted that instrumental variables provided credible association between conflicts like civil wars, and financial condition takes a causal relationship rather than merely a correlation (p. 726). The study reported that instrumental variables use two separate equations to define one function. Each of the equation defines and specifies a particular relationship. For instance, one of the equations will explain the existing relationship between the outcome and the independent variable. The second equation will determine the association that exist between the outcome and the instrum ental variable. For instance, if Y refers to the result, V refers to the critical independent variable that measures the policy outcome, N refers to instrumental variable, x refers to the vector of controlled variable, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 signifies the parameters yet to be

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

A Modest Proposal: The Environment Essay -- essays research papers

Something akin to panic is communicated onto my sterile computer screen, then my furrowed brow and soon my troubled mind when I sit alone, in the dark of my room and explore ideas and possibilities. Turning the light on and the computer off doesn’t dissolve my disturbed mood; nothing does until the outside can creep in and warm me. It’s usually a human voice; something more real than the essays and articles I read on global warming and remote ice caps that melt slowly every year. The fear settles until someone with a weaker sense of reality can convince me that â€Å"something is being done† by environmental scientists and none of it will affect me when I am dust. In just the last fifty years, humans, namely Americans have virtually remodeled the Earth and everything on it. We have changed its landscapes, wind patterns, migration routes, and weather; diminished its greenery and killed its animals. Nature did not seem a force that could be controlled and yet it has been. We are conducting an inadvertent global experiment by changing the face of the entire planet. We are destroying the ozone layer, which allows life to exist on the Earth's surface, clearing the majority of the earth’s forests, and disrupting countless ecosystems. The result has been an unfavorable alteration of the composition of the biosphere and the Earth's heat balance. If we do not slow down our use of fossil fuels and stop destroying the forests, the world will become hotter than it has been in the past million years. This warming will rearrange entire biological communities and cause many species to become extinct. The desperate plight of the environment should by all means be the first priority for every single government and person on this planet. With today’s common knowledge of what might happen in the near future if significant changes aren’t made in the lifestyle of most people it’s hard to understand why 70 million cars continue to vomit their poison into the air everyday. All around the world environmental activists fight to preserve our patches of rain forests and wetlands, as well as protect a variety of fragile but important ecosystems. In all major cities, advocates of environmental conservation annually propose plans with alternative modes of transportation and energy-efficient appliances that will every citizen would be mandated to use. Even if instituted gradually, these ch... ...r. â€Å"Environmental Studies† were the most interesting and abstract words I had ever seen preceding â€Å"High School†. For this reason and the fact that it was near Central Park, I decided to apply and then attend. Because of the central theme of my classes I have been exposed in the shape of special speakers and class discussions to others who share my fear but not my growing sense of hopelessness. Quite recently, it has become more and more important to me that I am a part of the solution for the problems facing the environment. It is fear that I feel when I allow myself to dwell on the ignored warnings and the very complicated mess of problems and impossibilities that plague this planet. I don’t understand why there is even the possibility that one of the last natural, pristine ecosystem, in North America, namely that of Alaska, is in danger of being ruptured by the ever-powerful oil companies. I don’t understand why the heads of state who are infinite ly more knowledgeable than me on the dangers of continued abuse of our gracious home don’t drastically and immediately cause change. I don’t understand why people haven’t listened. I guess it’s because they are not fifteen and scared.

New Historicism

CO-TEXT: A historical document which is contemporary with and studied alongside a literary document. COMEDY: A play or literary composition written chiefly to amuse its audience by appealing to a sense of superiority over the characters depicted with a (usually) happy ending for the leading characters. CULTURAL MATERIALISM: – A critical practice that concentrates on the interventions whereby men and women make heir own history and situate the literary text in the political situation of our own (and not of its own day as New Historicists do). It reads the literary text in a way as to enable us to â€Å"recover histories†. – It uses the technique of close textual analysis but often employ structuralist and post-structuralist techniques. – It works mainly within traditional notions of the canon. EMPLOTMENT: The process by which a text is organized into a plot. EMPLOTTED: Organized into a plot. EPIC: A long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heros in a grand ceremonious style. EQUAL WEIGHTING: A combined interest in â€Å"the textuality of history, the historicity of texts† (L. Montrose) FICTION-MAKING: The historian bestows a particular significance upon certain historical events and then matches them up with a precise type of plot. MAINSTREAM LITERARY HISTORY: : Old historicism, dominant historical scholarship, monological, earlier historicism, single political vision, internally coherent and consistent, the status of historical fact, a stable point of reference. NARRATIVE: – A set of events (The story) recounted in a process of narration (or discourse). – A telling of some true or fictitious event o connected sequence of events, recounted by a narrator. NEW HISTORICISM: – A critical practice that gives equal weighting to literary and non-literary texts. – It insists on the textualization of reality (from Derrida) and the premise that society is governed by the collusion between discourse and power (from Foucault). – It places literary and non-literary texts in conjunction and interprets the former through the latter – It looks for manifestations in text and co-text of State power, patriarchy and colonization. PLOT: – A particular selection and reordering of the full sequence of events (story). The pattern of events and situations in a narrative or dramatic work. ROMANCE: – A fictional story in verse or prose that relates improbable adventures of idealized characters in some remote or enchanted setting. – A tendency in fiction opposite to that of realism. SATIRE: A mode of writing that exposes the failings of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn. STORY:  œ The full sequence of events as we assume them to have occurred in their likely order,, duration and frequency. In modern narratology, the sequence of imagined events that we reconstruct from the actual arrangement of a narrative. – In the everyday sense, any narrative or tale recounting a series of events. TAILORING: Adapting the facts to a particular story form. TRAGEDY: A serious play or novel representing the disastrous downfall of a central character, the protagonist. VALUE-NEUTRAL: Historical events acquire narrative value only after the historian organizes them into a specific plot type. VERBAL FICTIONS: A construct which is made of words and based on invention rather than reality.

Personality Essay

The terms Counseling and Psychotherapy are often used interchangeably. Though they have similar meanings with significant overlap, there are some significant peculiarities between the two that are useful to keep in mind when one is considering a mental health care provider. The paper below will further explore on those distinctions that exist between counselling and psychotherapy. According to The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2006), counselling is a type of rehabilitation that helps people speak out and resolve their problems and work through their emotional states.The Royal college of Psychiatrists defined a counsellor as an individual who employs â€Å"counselling† as a method to resolve people’s problems.Counselors guide clients to discover their own answers and support them through the actions they choose to take. According to COSCA (2004), psychotherapy, just like counseling, is centered on a healing relationship between health care practitioner and a client. Psychotherapy takes place over a chain of meetings, though frequently it lasts longer than counseling. Some people participate in therapy off and on over several years. Instead of tapering in on individual problems, psychotherapy reflects complete patterns, long-lasting issues, and recurring feelings. This requires an openness to exploring the past and its impact on the present. The main aim of psychotherapy is to resolve the fundamental issues which fuel ongoing grievances. Psychotherapists assist to resolve past experiences as part of laying the base for a satisfying future. Arbuckle (1967), argues that â€Å"†¦counselling and psychotherapy are in all essential respects equal† One of the most noticeable thing that must be considered concerning the similarities between counselling and psychotherapy is that the classes of issues that pull people to use counselling and psychotherapy are often very alike and the aims of both are similar, both counselling and psychotherapy can be seen as efforts to allow the person to build up resources to live in more healthy, meaningful and satisfying ways, and to develop selfawareness. Also a high degree of respect for the independence/autonomy of the client is a basic code in both counselling and Psychotherapy. With an understanding that the clients bring with them the potential needed to successfully achieve their aims. (COSCA, 2004) Another similarity that was stated by COSCA is that both counselling and psychotherapy require the therapist to have highly developed skills. COSCA portrays that counsellors and psychotherapists go throughlong training, often lasting several years and their work is continuously supervised by  another practitioner/expert who assist them to process and reflect on the matters of worry to their clients (2004: 2). Nevertheless it has been considered that different routes involve considerably different levels of difficulty and length of training and supervision. Counselling and psychotherapy are both methods of responding to a wide range of human needs accordingly associated with what sometimes called difficulties in living and deeply felt need to make vicissitudes in one’s life. Both counselling and psychotherapy provide possibilities for those seeking help to find their own ways towards living in more satisfying and resourceful ways(Arbuckle 1967).Among the issues they deal or treat are self-confidence or self-esteem, relationship difficulties, work related stress, bullying, problems of drinking, bereavement, mental problems, vague feelings and desire for personal change. Another area of similarity is that both counselling and psychotherapy may involve vibrant treaties between the therapist and the client as to what the aims of the therapy are and the roles involved. Some of these have been summarized by Professor Paul S Morgan-Ayres of Fellow Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (FCPS) as: 1. â€Å"An Assessment to ascertain whether the therapist can help you / have a good chance of helping you. 2. That the therapist does not lead you to believe in some sort of magic cure and that you realize that they are there to help you change yourself. 3. That you have explained to you what is proposed before the therapy commences so that you are giving informed consent to the therapy. 4. That any person under 16 years has a parent’s permission and signature. 5. That confidentiality is discussed and the therapist’s position is made clear. 6. That the therapist is registered, insured and monitored † Psychotherapy and counselling despite of their similarities they do also have differences, one of the differences between psychotherapy and counselling that is often quoted is that psychotherapy involves working in greater depth than counselling, that clients see their  psychotherapist more frequently and for a long period of time. By contrast counselling takes place over a shorter period of time. The counsellor sees his or her clients for a short time. Psychotherapy is about ‘deconstruction, and ‘reconstruction’ of the client’s self-concept, a process likely to be lengthy and at a greater depth than counselling might explore. Furthermore psychotherapy deals more with deeper, long term problems and counselling with more situational and shorter term issues, therefore clients do not go to these different fields for exactly the same specific reasons because of the same general motivation. Taking it a step further one can note that different varieties have often quite different aims. Gestalt therapy for example: â€Å"seeks to promote a person’s awareness, support creative choice and encourage responsibility in a person’s effort to realize a meaningful and fulfilling life† This appears to be a more wide ranging and deeper aim than that of counselling which is â€Å" Help the person focus on ways to manage their difficulties a little or a lot better † This relates to the point considered before that counselling is more focused on situational problems, and therefore its aims are likely to be more limited than psychotherapy. Professor Paul S Morgan-Ayres (FCPS) argued that counselling is more suitable to clients who are more open to speaking while psychotherapyis suitable for those who find it difficult to open up, hence the psychotherapisttakes a more active role in guiding them. He further notes, asthe client turn out to be more able and used to speaking, the procedure may change in to a more clientcentred approach. Counselling, according to Morgan-Ayers, ‘is a process in which the therapist is there as a ‘tour guide’ for the client, refocusing them in aprocess that they are otherwise quite good at exploring themselves. Therefore the ‘counsellor speaks very little and gives the client plenty of space to offloadand talk themselves into self-knowledge’. Another difference is that the pathology of a person is the primary focus of psychotherapy whereas counselling mainly focuses on personal strengths and  resources. Psychotherapy conceptualizes the client as an individual with problems in psychological functions that problems like stress, anger management problems, unhappiness, relation problems and selfesteem problems. However counseling conceptualizes the client as a person in a social  context who needs urgent and brief treatment and the problem are treatable that is why past experiences are of less use during counseling. According to a paper by Ivory research, (2009), the setting of the treatment is also thought to be different between counselling and psychotherapy. A counselling session often takes place in a number of non-medical settings such as an office or small therapy centre, or even in the therapists’ residents, whereas psychotherapy is often thought as taking place in a more medical setting, perhaps a clinic or hospital. Again this is not so clear cut, as counselling increases in respectability it can also be found in hospital settings, and psychotherapy can also take place in settings like the therapist home. Another major difference can be drawn from the history of both psychotherapy and counselling. Psychotherapy has its origins in Freudian’s psychodynamics. The training period was also normally long, and involved working with real clients under supervision and consists of a long period of self-analysis both in working with clients and the analysis of the psychotherapist themselves which focused mostly on comprehensive regards in past issues. Nevertheless counselling was seen as something that can be done after a shorter period of preparation and less thorough self-analysis. In conclusion, it can be argued that both counselling and psychotherapy’s main objective, despite their differences, is to offer the clienta stable platform in which to explore personal difficulties and also the role of the psychotherapist and counsellor is to guide clients to discover their own answers and support them through the actions they choose to take. References: Arbuckle, D. S. (1967). Counselling and Psychotherapy: An Overview. New York: McGraw Hill. Bayne,R., Bimrose, J. and Horton, I. (eds) (1996). New Directions in Counselling. New York: Routledge British Confederation of Psychotherapists (1999). found at Internet URL: http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/bcp.htm Accessed: 15/03/2014 Chriss, J. (1999). Counselling and the Therapeutic State. New York: Aldine De Gruyter COSCA (2004). Counselling and Psychotherapy: COSCA’s Description Stirling: Cosca Ivory Research, (2014). Found at internet: http://www.ivoryresearch.com/samples/socialwork-essay-example-differences-and-similarities-between-counselling-and-psychotherapy/ Morgan-AyresP.Prof.,found-at-Internet:URL:http://www.hpnoanalysis.co.uk/psychotherapyanalysis-counselling.htm.Accessed:15/03/2014 Sutton, J and Stewart, W. (2008). Learning to Counsel. 3rd Edition Oxford: How To Books.