Boston Artwork Essay

The public artworks that I chose are Asaroton 1976 (Unswept Floor) and Boston’s Famed Rainbow Tank. The similarities of these artworks are that they are both available in public view and that they are unique types of artwork. There is not much like the Rainbow Tank or the Asaroton ’76 types, as they were original ideas of the artists. Considering the effect that they have on people, both artworks seem to blend in the everyday life of those who see it in a regular basis. The Asaroton is being walked around and stepped around, while the Rainbow Tank contains liquefied natural gas. It’s as if the artwork has naturally been there, a part of everyone’s ordinary lives despite the fact they are extraordinary creations (Millis, 1997). The Asaroton ’76 is an artwork like no other, as it is composed of bronze replicas of everyday waste and debris of the market, which is then embedded in concrete. At first glance, the artwork just seems to be a deformity or an abnormality in the road (Harries/Heder Public Art, 2006). But if you look at it closely, you will see the intricate details and designs embossed on the concrete walkway. In relation to this, it is situated in a segment of the street which forms a major crosswalk. Many people pass it or walk over it everyday, but they don’t seem to mind. To them, the artwork is already a part of their everyday lives. Boston’s Famed Rainbow Tank is actually a gigantic tank of liquefied natural gas which was painted with five huge swaths of color, artistically placed as though they’re just strokes of a paintbrush (NPR, 2001). The colors are yellow, orange, blue, vermillion, and purple. With the way the tank is painted, it’s as if it was just a large canvas for an abstract artwork. The stripes actually doesn’t resemble anything, but according to those who gaze at this gigantic work of art, they see faces of prominent personalities, whether they’re our friends or foes (images of Ho Chi Minh, Fred Flintstone, Saddam Hussein). The Asaroton ’76 is situated in the busy, open air produce market on Blackstone Street. The place it is embedded is a part of a major crosswalk, so you can just imagine how many people walk over it or pass it during the course of the day. Heavy motor traffic is also present during the day, so we can say that this artwork is not something that we keep in museums or galleries, as it is best appreciated in public. Boston’s Rainbow Tank is situated somewhere along Boston’s waterfront, the industrial part of the area. The rainbow tank is such a massive structure that many people can see it without having to get close to it. There were restaurants just around the area, and the rainbow tank has been a common view for the urban dwellers. The tank holds a good spot in everyone’s heart, as it was made originally as a sign of peace, and now it remains a masterpiece unique from any other artworks. The effectiveness of Asaroton ’76 in conveying an artistic message is incomparable, as it artfully depicts some of the common things that we see everyday. It immortalizes the debris of everyday life, which seem to reflect back to us, how we oftentimes don’t recognize these stuff as artistic or as anything valuable. With the Asaroton, we are able to see how these things, no matter what they are, can be a very good subject for a wonderful work of art. It’s main difference with the Rainbow Tank is obviously the size, and also the feeling it conveys, as it serves as a reminder of the things we usually neglect or ignore, as for the Rainbow Tank, it is a sign of peace, that’s why it conveys a feeling of happiness to the viewers. The Rainbow Tank is effective in its purpose of spreading peace, as it conveys a feeling of peacefulness and childish joy, despite the size of the structure. People who look at it tend to smile, even without a reason. Its mere presence in the area brings and assurance of peace for the people, though in reality, it could easily be a target of terrorism, with all the natural gas it contains. References: Harries/Heder Public Art. (2006). Asaroton 1976 (Unswept Floor). Retrieved June 9, 2008, from http://www. harriesheder. com/asaroton. htm Millis, C. (1997). An opinionated, irreverent look at Boston’s public art. Retrieved June 9, 2008, from http://www. bostonphoenix. com/archive/art/97/08/21/PUBLIC_ART. html NPR. (2001). Boston’s Famed Rainbow Tank Inspires Admiration, Scorn. Retrieved June 9, 2008, from http://www. npr. org/news/specials/response/home_front/features/2001/nov/rainbowtank/011105. rainbowtank. html

Christian moralists Essay

According to Freud, they are â€Å"fulfillments of the oldest, strongest, and most urgent wishes of mankind; the secret of their strength lies in the strength of their wishes† (Pals 72). For him, the only way to test something is by the scientific method (Pals 72). The believers of religion draw their religion from feelings and emotions (Pals 72). He mentioned that it was a given that religion may have helped build civilizations however, since civilizations were already built, superstition and repression should not continue to be the foundation (Pals 72). According to Freud â€Å"Religion would thus be the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity† (Pals 73). In his perception, mature people are those guided by reason and science and not by mere superstition and faith (Pals 73). God, for this thinker, was not a being that was real (Pals 73). In fact, he saw God as an illusion that was nearly projected by the self because they had a deep longing to overcome guilt and to lessen their fears (Pals 73). Religion may be something that is rooted from the ego to be able to make sense of the struggles that are present in the world. But it is more than just a bunch of feelings and emotions because those fade. Religion has been around for centuries and that cannot be because most of the people around the world have felt like believing in God for all these years. Hope has in fact been seen to be built on nothing but illusion; in reality, it exists because of faith (Palmer 279). Faith cannot exist without religion. However, Christian moralists would still stay true to the fact that with hope in their lives, it would be significant and have moral worth (Palmer 279). Critics of religion would say that morality would depend on the need of a â€Å"psychologically realistic foundation† that calls for human purposes (Palmer 279). Going back to the question posed earlier, if it was about feelings and emotions, then religion should have been replaced by money or by other things. Even though in this secular world, most of religion’s areas are penetrated by such things, it still prevails for a reason; because people have faith. Majority of the people in the world believe in God, does this mean only a part of the human population are mature people? If the strength of religion lies in the â€Å"strength of its wishers,† how come faithless people have come to know God because of the things that happen in their own lives that they would consider nothing short of a miracle (Pals 72). If everything can be tested by the scientific method, it should have tested why people fall in love or why people can risk their lives to rescue someone else. How come students from the direst of neighborhoods can graduate from high school despite everything that could hinder him or her? Was it determination and hope? Where did those qualities come from? Is it the illusion of the people that God had always been able to provide for them even if they felt that all is lost and has ended? Is it an illusion that the sun rises in the morning and that planets are held in their axis and revolve around there orbit? If religion is just something for a person to overcome guilt, how come people have to place such emotions of God while there are a whole lot of other things that are more tangible that people can turn to? Why not you rely on something can see if that means having to have a better concept of that â€Å"illusion. † Religion from Society Following Emile Durkheim’s point of view relating religion with sociology, morality was perceived to be the obligation of each other to others wherein it cannot be separated from religion (Pals 95). Religion and morals mesh together in a social framework (Pals 95). Under his views, the success of the religious leader does not lie in the number of converts he had brought in the congregation but the event that has reinstated a sense of community amongst the people (Pals 95). Durkheim believed that â€Å"Religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, set apart and forbidden† (Pals 99). When he talked about sacred things he referred to â€Å"unite in one moral community called church and those who adhere them† (Pals 99). Sacred things referred to the issues of the community while those that are not sacred referred to the private things and the everyday things a person encounters (Pals 99). Under Durkheim’s view of religion, it was more like a society. â€Å"The idea of society is the soul of religion† because the concept of religion needed the society in order to exist. It was based on creating a sense of belongingness. Society was formed by the collective commitment of the individuals because without such commitment the society would fail to exist. In the same way, religion exists merely because a lot of people are committed to the fact that it does exist. Like Freud, he referred to Totemism as an example of how society gave birth to religion. Freud saw how religion is exactly just like society, in comparison, the rituals and the rites and the church leaders can be seen as a mere superficial or surface part of religion because it is just a body of collective beliefs and practices that are endowed by such some kind of authority. This thinker also believed that there was nothing neither divine nor supernatural because he saw that it was just society that produced this concept in order to keep people in line and to give emphasis on certain things that the society should value as a whole. Society had survived from civilizations that have started in the past. The question whether how religion was formed was important to answer because defines the further need for it. Is it a mere creation of man that humanity exists? If not, then why did it exist; because of the perseverance of the human spirit? Where did this perseverance come from, more than that, where did the spirit come from? These are things the society cannot really provide for them if the premise is society gave birth to religion. Alienation Karl Marx, of all the thinkers in the past may have presented one of the most scornful and sarcastic contempt at religion (Pals 139). Most of the discussion about religion from this philosopher referred to religion as alienation. He never really just concentrated on discussing religion alone but his works have shown how he had pretty much a heavy opinion about it and that influenced the structure of Communism. It was plain and simple for Marx, â€Å"religion is pure illusion† (Pals 138). Similar to how Freud saw religion, Marx saw it more than an illusion but something that was dangerous and something that should be eradicated from society (Pals 138). He considered religion as the worst kind of ideology because of how it expressed a perceived bunch of excuses dressed as reasons in order to keep society in the manner that their oppression would like them to stay as (Pals 138). Religion is then related to a tool of oppression instead of being a liberating factor that most Christian ideals adhere to. Since he was consumed with how he taught a capitalist society brought about oppression he saw religion as merely another factor to keep people in line and to prevent them from having to go against the leaders of society. Since most of his arguments fall upon his hatred for the Capitalist society, he attacked religion saying it was fully determined by economics that made all the doctrines that was attributed to it to have no merits of their own (Pals 138). Since he had no respect for that kind of system, he did not see much of the structure and nature of religion as well (Pals 138). Marx found a profound parallelism between religion and socioeconomics wherein he saw how both areas of society alienated people from important parts of who they were (Pals 140). While religion took moral values; socioeconomics took productive labor (Pals 140-141). Religion took a way a part of the people, the morality part as humans and attributed it to a wholly imaginary being (Pals 141). Marx saw how it took away the credit from the people and awarded everything to God (Pals 141). On the other hand, socioeconomics took away the fruits of the labor of the people and awarded it to whoever had the money to pay, mostly to the rich (Pals 141). Marx saw how these two concepts were too much alike because of how they were related to each other. Like Durkheim, he saw that the capitalist society created religion as economics was the base for everything. He then moved for the abolition of religion under the Communist ideology as this was considered an illusory happiness (Pals 141). According to him, the abolition of religion was actually required for real happiness to occur (Pals 141). He saw that religion did not help the people, most especially the poor. For him, religion only created fantasies for the people that enabled them to ease the pain they felt from the oppression of society (Pals 141). He saw religion as the opium of the poor (Pals 140). He illustrated religion as nothing more than being addiction to any form of drug (Pals 142). It may be a form of escape that would make a person worry-free for a while but it does not serve anything (Pals 142). He saw religion as pure escapism (Pals 142). Religion, for Marx, only shifted the gaze of the people and their reliance on God instead of having to rely upon themselves for their own well-being (Pals 142). However, he also said that it blinded the people from the real injustice of the material, physical situation they had in society because they were much to focus on fixing their second life or their eternal life in heaven to be worried about their current stature on earth (Pals 142). The fact that religion was seen to oppress can be reflected in erroneous leadership on the part of the Church in the past but it cannot generalize the whole body of believers. If a person works for this current life with disregard for the consequences of the next life, what is he to gain? Is he to be satisfied? No person had ever found the ultimate satisfaction, no matter how hard they work or how wealthy they are, this cannot be attained in the present life. Whoever says he or she can must be fooling him or herself. Reliance on a supreme being is placed in the fiber of human nature for a reason, because they need God. It is not to oppress them to being helpless beings. It actually empowers them to be the best that they can become with the help from their creator. Conclusion No matter what such thinkers present regarding the false hopes and the perception of believers regarding religion, there are still so much areas that remain undisputed. There are still areas in the field of religion that remain to be untouched and simply ignored. The areas that cannot be explained cannot be test by scientific explanation. There are areas that can be denied that they exist even if they dispute that religion does not. If religion was birthed out of society, and there are a lot of atheists that can almost form a community out of themselves, how come they do not just create their own society that could affect the society of believers in the world? The argument about faith and the existence of God had been a long withstanding debate for centuries now and still, the world still contain a large body of believers that are willing to put faith first before reason. Does this make these people unintelligent beings? There had been thinkers as well who had defended the faith that had chosen to believe because they saw how reason cannot overcome everything, only faith can do that. The existence of religion cannot only be out of the desires of the leaders to keep society in line. It takes more than human power to be able to sustain this for centuries. If it was placed in the hands of mere humans, then there must have been a time wherein atheists have struggled for power and took the reigns of society to reverse the mindset. The protection around the concept of religion speaks tons for itself. It takes divine power to be able to stay significant for centuries for different peoples all over the world. Works Cited Pals, Daniel L. Seven Theories of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996 Palmer, Michael. The question of God: An introduction and Sourcebook. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Forest Hills Case Study Essay

According to the case materials, Forest Hill Paper Company is classified as a small manufacturer, and one that is â€Å"closely-held.† This could lead one to believe that it is possibly a family-owned business, or at least managed very actively by a few people. Ownership must be very hands on and aware of the business from a micro and macro level. Therefore, we would classify the company as a small business and ownership is probably structured by one or a few people who are very involved. FHPC could be even be an S-corp, depending on further information. Forest Hill operates in a very cyclical industry, with upswings every three to four years, according to the case. This is due to customers buying a lot of paper during good economic times. Customers overbuy and are left with inventories of paper, and therefore don’t buy for a while until another economic boom occurs. Therefore, the industry is very much affected by the overall macro economy. The industry is also being affected in terms of a loss of market share, because there is a trend toward plastic and the use of more environmentally friendly grades of recycled paperboard. One could argue that the industry and market is mature, and even declining. Another aspect to consider about this industry is that it is one that has barriers to entry. The costs of starting a manufacturing company are high. It is not an industry with small capital outlay. Also, there are regulations in manufacturing which could keep competition from arising. We read in the case that Forest Hills is a small company competing against bigger companies in a commodity market. Therefore, FHPC has taken the strategy of differentiation. They have tried to offer a comprehensive amount of products and services, but are trying to stand out from the crowd by offering exceptional service and rapid responses to customer needs. Unlike the bigger companies, FHPC could develop more of a relationship with each  customer, and take more time to listen to their needs and meet customer needs more efficiently. The strategy of differentiation shows their desire to create a niche based, not so much focused on innovation, but on customer service. Hopefully customers will appreciate the service, and want to continue business with FHPC as opposed to the bigger companies. There are many examples of complexities that drive overhead costs for FHPC. One of the complexities is that the company offers a variety of products, with some different processing for each product. We read that the company tries to manufacture products in an order that decreases costs, such as keeping similar processes together. Even so, the changes in process and equipment needed drive overhead costs up with so much variety in products and steps in the manufacturing process. Each time another product is added, or even changed slightly, costs are incurred and will drive overhead in terms of increased material costs or manufacturing costs. If Forest Hills is serious about meeting their customers individual needs, they also need to understand that each customer differential comes with greater overhead costs. The specifics of each customer desire causes complexity. We would also argue that another complexity of overhead costs is due to the cyclical nature of the business. There are times of large quantity of output, while other times production would be down as the demand decreases. This makes it difficult to predict and measure overhead costs, as the output of production varies. The management must truly try to understand their fixed and variable costs and how to balance times of boom and retraction appropriately and efficiently. Capturing Manufacturing Costs The current cost system allocates manufacturing overhead based on the amount of raw materials consumed in the production process. It applies the aforementioned overhead at a rate of $1.05, per $1.00 of raw materials consumed. Given the actual data gathered in exhibit 2, the rate appears to adequately account for the sum of overheads generated, as evidenced by the table below: Cost of a Grade Change FHPC produces 20 different grades of paperboard. Each grade is unique and the amount varies so some batches maybe very large and some quite small. The company practices lean manufacturing so successive batches of similar grades are grouped together in order to reduce waste. The cost of a grade change includes the following: depreciation, labor, energy, other and lost chemicals. Assume 4 grade changes in total from the information provided. Cost to Slit a Reel of Paperboard A parent roll of paperboard is 12 feet long. Food processors require widths of 18 inches. This means that three slits must be made to produce 3 – 18† rolls. Approximately 6 inches of waste is produced by creating 3 – 18† rolls. Only grade A and grade C are slit. A total of 85 reels are produced  each reel requiring 3 slits. A total of 255 slits are made. The overhead for slitting is $195,000 for slitting. The overhead rate per slit is $764.71. Assuming 3 slits per reel the total cost for slitting a reel is $2,294.12. Summary listed below. New Volume-based Overhead Rate If Forest Hill removes the overheads traceable to grade changes and slitting from total overhead, the application rate needs to be adjusted. An appropriate application rate for the remaining OH can be calculated by dividing the aforementioned OH by the sum of RM costs: Activity Based Costs – Grades A-D If an activity based cost system were to be implemented, the parent reel costs (for the same level of activity indicated in exhibit 1) could be estimated as follows: Activity Based Costs and Volume Cost Percent Change Prepare a table that illustrates the percentage change in costs between the volume-based system and the strategic activity-based system. Conclusions and Recommendations What conclusions can you draw from your analysis? As a consultant to Forest Hill, what actions would you recommend? 12. The analysis above shows the concerns of management were accurate. The costs of A and C were understated because the costs related to the slitting operation were unfairly being allocated to other grades. Grades B and D do not consume any of the slitting department resources, thus should not be responsible for the absorption of said departments’ overhead costs. In addition, the economies of scale being generated by high volume sales were being unfairly distributed to low volume grades. This is evident in the  cost of grade B, which was previously only being allocated $140 of total grade change costs (grade change as a percentage of total OH, multiplied by total overhead allocated to grade B). Given that grade changes are only incurred if a grade is run, it makes more sense to allocate costs based on the actual number of a production runs, as opposed to how much material was consumed in a run, which has no bearing on the number of set-ups required.

Serial killers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Serial killers - Essay Example This research essay will make an earnest attempt to find out what poignantly contributed to the onset of this intricate distorted personality and their violent demeanour which is far more many-sided. Introduction In the modern forensic psychology, serial murders appear to have assumed a pivotal place. According to Burgess, Douglas & Ressler (1983), a serial murder is one who has killed at least three or more victims with a cooling -off period in-between each murder. A serial killer does not have any past connection with the victim and murder seems to be random or unconnected. Further, the murder is mainly on the psychological background or for sex abuse and not for any monetary benefits. Serial killers’ victims will be adolescents, children, prostitutes and women. Dr.Harold Shipman, a serial killer, killed only elderly women who were his patients whereas young women are the choice for Ted Bundy. On the other hand, there was a female serial killer namely Alieen Wuornos who was a prostitute by profession who killed her male clients. Green River Killer practice was to kill the runaways and prostitutes. There are different motives attached to for the serial killing where some killers do the same for sexual pleasure ,some do it due to hatred, some do it for revenge , some do it because their intuition asked them to do it. (â€Å"Thomas, 2010, p.6†). ... and observed that their killings were done without any plan of action , a discovery that corresponds to the apparently random itinerary of spree killing. Casewell and Hollin (1994) defined serial killing as â€Å"many victims who are killed over the period of hours or days or weeks or months in diversified locations by a vagarious killer who seems to make no effort to escape detection. According to Fox and Levin (1998), multiple killings includes instances in which victims are killed either at over a short period of time (spree) or at once (mass) or over an elongated phase of time (serial) and hence, the time frame of serial killing has been detailed as either long or short duration that somewhere conforms to between serial killing and mass killing. (DeLisi et al, 2008, p40). Beauregard and Proulx (2002) examined the offending courses of 36 Canadian killers who were more often impelled by sexual sadism. According to Hazelwood and Warren (2000), sexually violent criminal killers are either ritualistic or impetuous in nature. They also found that impulsive killers are criminally primitive and mostly reactive in terms of crime scene demeanour and victim selection. Fox & Levin (1998) found that serial killers are those who kill their victim with their bare hands without the help or usage of any weapon or instrument. (DeLisi et al, 2008, p41). â€Å"Kinds of Serial Killers† There is no uniformity in defining a serial killer. This is mainly because due to the absence of typologies established to describe between kinds of serial murders. Based on analysis and interviews of more than 400 cases of serial killers, Holmes and De Burger (1988) have offered a complete definition of a serial killer. According to Wilson (2007), Holmes and De Burger, from their research study, they

Introduction to Financial Markets - Forecasting interest rates Essay

Introduction to Financial Markets - Forecasting interest rates - Essay Example Interest rates, according to the Financial Times , have fallen back to the historic lows, permitting companies, individuals, and some countries to borrow loans at a price lower than before. Contrary to this, households and the extensive economy still fight back in the wake of credit stagnation. The relationship between these two forces, that is the stimulating impact on economic operations of low borrowing prices and the damping impact of a liability squeeze has adverse repercussions for investors globally, from those individuals who save on their own to the world’s largest insurance companies (Aline, Mackenzie, & Milne, 2010). For the past couple of years, following the 2008 collapse in equity markets as well as in a hysterical serach for â€Å"secure† investments, more cash has been poured into bonds as compared to earlier times. Bonds from the U.S Treasury debt to upcoming market corporate bonds have been performing amazingly well, being ranked among the possessions around the world that have generated the largest returns in 2009 and 2010. On the other hand, if the descending trend in rates were to come to an end, then there may be an abrupt halt to the rally in bonds. In the same way that falling interest rates raise the bond prices paying flat rates of interest, increasing rates eat into their value and push costs lower. It is noted that when the interest rates rises, bond holders and bonds funds are likely to undergo losses. In fact, in the near future, it is expected that borrowing rates may fall even lower. At the time when the article was written, the Federal Reserve was planning to buy government bonds with the only aim of pushing interest rates lesser (Aline, Mackenzie, & Milne, 2010). The issue to focus on in this section is that, even after extra two years of close to zero official rates and large quantities of stimulus spending, big economies like the United States have not grown as strongly as they expected. This is the reason why t he Fed is planning to start its â€Å"quantitative easing† despite the fact that there are many investors and economists who doubt that it will have a powerful impact on economic growth. The Fed is making interest rates low, which means inflation and decreased bond yield, seeming like a bubble. The factors likely to have an impact on future interest rate movements An interest rate can be defined as the quantity of money received in connection to a loan, generally stated as a ratio of dollars obtained for each hundred dollars lent. From the credit markets review in the section above, there are factors that may affect future interest rate movements.   First, the U.S economy is an important player in this section. When it grows, consumers get employment and thus get some investments to lend through banks, though they must also borrow to purchase big items like cars or homes, or to fund other properties by using credit cards. For instance, Lieb, in the article claims that he ha s never experienced such inexpensive borrowing rates on housing loans. This means that when the funds’ demands drop, interest falls. In contrast, when funds’ demand increases, there is a rise in interest rates, acting as a

Common Inspection Framework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Common Inspection Framework - Essay Example In conclusion and summary I will suggest how this framework has helped improve or consolidate standards within the educational system and what other features could be incorporated within the framework for future improvement of educational standards. In the process I will discuss whether the framework is essentially a hindrance or is an asset to the educational system. Policy- Common Inspection Framework: The Common Inspection Framework has been introduced by the government and department of education to check and improve the quality and standards of education and to provide insights on the educational system in matters related to training and financial resources. Inspection of educational system helps to understand how the system is working and is almost essential for providing regular appraisals of workings and functioning of the system. According to the Common Inspection Framework, the main purposes of inspection are to: (from Common Inspection Framework, ALI and Ofsted, 2001) - give an independent public account of the quality of education and training, the standards achieved and the efficiency with which resources are managed - help bring about improvement by identifying strengths and weaknesses and highlighting good practice - keep the Secretary of State, the Learning and Skills Council for England and the Employment Service informed about the quality and standards of education and training - promote a culture of self-assessment among providers, leading to continuous improvement or maintenance of very high quality and standards. (from Common Inspection Framework, ALI and Ofsted, 2001) The three main purposes of inspection are thus to give an account of... This discussion stresses that the policy and its establishment, the connections of the policy with college education and the brief literature review that should be aimed during the search process for this article are discussed in the introductory stage of the analysis. The policy is then described and the changes made to date as well as the policy as it now stands are considered in the initial part of the discussion showing how the policy differs at present from its original version. The differences within the policy as seen in its earlier version and present version are studied to provide a better understanding of the meaning and influence of all aspects of the policy within education.From this paper it is clear that the three main purposes of inspection are thus to give an account of the quality of education followed, to identify strengths and weaknesses of educational systems and show room for improvement, and to promote self assessment and higher standards within the educational settings. Inspection seem to be generally associated with the results of what has been evaluated and how the findings are presented and also hw inspections are carried out. The key questions delineated by the Common Inspection Framework are the following.  The Common Inspection Framework helps in evaluating how efficient or effective the provisions and related services are in meeting all of learner’s needs and also suggests the steps that have to be taken to improve the learning provisions provided.  

Paraphrase for Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Paraphrase for Discussion - Essay Example In the case where multiple tubes are placed in a staggered pattern, just as in the experiment, each additional row progressively creates more turbulence on the other proceeding rows. Thus, this increase in turbulence leads to an increase in heat transfer for each tube rows. A keen look at the rate of increase in heat transfer from one row to another will reveal a decreasing trend with more decrease realized in those rows farthest from the first row of the heat exchangers. This is attributable to the fact that all the flow in the in the first row of heat exchangers is at first laminar before being converted into turbulent. On the other hand, the subsequent rows function as a turbulence generating grid, which therefore increases the turbulence in the entire heat exchanger. Still, for each additional row encountered, a larger percentage of the flow hitting a particular row is already turbulent before the hit leading to a release of just a small of percentage of the flow for conversion to turbulent flow. For instance, if 60% of laminar flow is converted to turbulent for each row that the flow encounters, the returns will be diminishing. This implies that for the first row, 60% of the flow will be turbulent whereas for the second and third rows only 78% and 84% respectively will be converted. Finally, the other factor that affects the heat transfer coefficient is the difference in temperature between the surface of the element and air. Since the heat transfer coefficient varies inversely with the difference in temperature (see equation 5), this implies that transfer coefficient for a given heat transfer increases as the temperature difference decreases. The second experiment was conducted to examine the effect of heat transfer as a function of location on a cylinder. A cylindrical probe was used to measure the heat transfer as a function of angle. The measurements were taken for uniform flow in an air tunnel. A

U05a1 and u05a2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

U05a1 and u05a2 - Essay Example 2. Why is Jupiter so much more dense than Saturn? Could a planet be smaller in size than Jupiter but greater in mass? Explain. Ans: Jupiter is closer to sun and has over 3 times more than the mass of Saturn. Jupiter is denser than that of Saturn because of two factors. They are (i). Jupiter has relatively larger gravitation field because of its mass and rotational pressures. (ii). Jupiter has denser core of rocks and other minerals. Jupiter has heavy metals in its interior. Hence it is denser than that of Saturn. Yes. There could be a planet smaller in size but greater in mass than that of Jupiter. Because Jupiter is mainly made up of gas, hence any planet slightly smaller in size but made of solid material would have more mass than Jupiter. And also building a planet with Hydrogen and Helium is like assembling the fluffy pillows one over the other. As the pillows are stacked one above the other the pillows at the bottom are compressed and hence their mutual gravitational force incre ases. Hence it slightly increases in its height as and when the stack size is increased but gets denser. Therefore the extra mass increases the density of the planet but smaller change in mass. 4. Why does Jupiter have such a strong magnetic field? Describe a few features of Jupiter’s magnetosphere. ... Jupiter’s magnetosphere traps far more charged particles than Earth’s magnetosphere. These particles contribute to auroras and also create belts of very intense radiation around Jupiter. This is so strong that it could damage the orbiting spacecraft. Jupiter’s magnetic field creates a magnetosphere that surrounds the planet as a shield which protects the planet from the solar wind. 6. Briefly describe Jupiter’s weather patterns and contrast them with those on the other jovian planets. What is the Great Red Spot? Ans: Jupiter’s atmosphere has several gases that condense to form clouds. Each of these gases condenses at a different temperature, leading to distinctive cloud layers at different altitudes. Jupiter has primarily three different cloud layers and Jupiter’s atmosphere is colder at higher altitudes. About 100 kilometers below the highest cloudtops, the temperatures are nearly earth-like And water can condense to form clouds. Higher up, the water clouds it is cold enough for a gas called ammonium hydrosulfide to condense into clouds which produces the dark colours of Jupiter. Higher still the temperature is so cold that ammonia condenses to make an upper layer of white clouds. Like the large hurricanes occasionally arise on Earth, Jupiter also has powerful storms. Spectroscopic observations (analysis of light) + calculations explains about the composition of clouds as follows: Ammonia (NH3) crystals in top layer. Ammonium hydrosulfide (NH4SH) crystals in middle layer. Water ice in lowest layer. The colors seem to be associated with temperature. White "zones" are higher and cooler. Dark "bands" are lower and warmer. Comparison with other atmosphere planets: Jupiter and Saturn have stripes of alternating color and wind direction. But Saturn's

How Not Getting Enough Sleep Affects Your Body Essay Example for Free

How Not Getting Enough Sleep Affects Your Body Essay It is extremely important for people to understand how lack of rest affects the body so that they will be more aware of the effects of not getting enough sleep every night. A lack of sleep can cause loss of brain function, and even death if continued for a long period of time. The effects of a consistent lack of sleep can be very dangerous to the person and others around them. The longer the person goes without sleep, the worse the effects will be until the person passes out and becomes hospitalized or has a fatal accident. A lack of sleep affects different parts of the body in more than one way and in different degrees depending on how long the person has gone without sleep. The largest effects of lack of sleep on the body can be seen on the brain of the individual. Going without sleep for a 24 hour period can result in the person exhibiting behavior resembling drunkenness, with studies showing that people in this condition are more dangerous when driving than people that are legally drunk. People that are suffering from lack of sleep can experience memory lapses, decreased concentration, and hallucinations. As this continues, the person can experience depersonalization where they do not believe that they or any of the people around them are real, almost ass they feel they are living in a dream. Psychotic episodes may also appear in the person which may or may not disappear after the person has returned to a normal sleeping schedule. A lack of sleep does not only affect the brain, but affects money other areas throughout the body as well, People that have gone without proper amount of sleep for a long amount of time can experience muscle fatigue, a weakened immune system, blurred vision, headaches, and nausea. Other effects such as muscle tremors, color blindness, hyperactivity, and weight loss or gain may occur. Lack of sleep has been linked to many different health conditions including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and many different mental conditions. In most cases, returning to normal sleep each night can stop these conditions but in some cases, the damage is irreversible. There are many ways that a lack of sleep can affect the body and each of the consequences of not getting enough rest can be dangerous to the person health and well being. Washington

Literature Review on Stress and Stressors in Bangladesh

Literature Review on Stress and Stressors in Bangladesh A Critical Review on Stress Scenario in Bangladesh Jannatul Ferdous Introduction Stress is a disruptive physiological and psychological reaction to events that make us feel vulnerable. A certain amount of stress is a foreseeable part of life; but acute stress can hinder our daily activities. It may causes disintegration of general health, frustrations, depression, anxiety, hysteria, cardiovascular accidents, muscular aches and pains, insomnia, hypertension, high blood pressure, cancers, sexual dysfunctions, allergies and other mental disorders (Rahman et al., 2012). Childhood cancers are increasingly becoming a matter of growing apprehension. In Bangladesh, yearly 5000-6000 children have been developing different type of cancers. Diagnosis of a chronic disease like cancer or coronary heart disease (CHD), and its treatment has a massive impact on all aspects of a patient’s life, their acquaintances and families. Sometimes these may cause post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS) to the parents of the sufferer (Basher et al., 2012). Stress due to mental retardation is another significant area to focus. Parents experience epidemic physical and mental stress in the process of nurturing the mentally retarded children (Islam, Shanaz, Farjana; 2013). Socio-demographic factors play a crucial role in stress and coping mechanisms (Siddiqui, 2014). Psycho-education can be effectual in alleviating somatic symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, and social dysfunction of exaggerated family members or caregivers at a greater percentage (Ara Chowdhury, 2014). There are some contradictory in research findings about the impact of age, sex, occupation, education, type of family, socio-economical status on stress. Differences in the design, sample and measures used in those studies also exist. The aim of this critical review is to understand the stress scenario in Bangladesh, their strengths and weakness in general. Method of Review A critical review was applied to explore the stress scenario in Bangladesh. In order to find out the appropriate published literature for the current review, available journals for psychological research: Bangladesh Psychological Journal, Dhaka University Psychological Journal, Dhaka University Journal of Biological Science, and Google Scholar, were consulted. The key words used in this literature search were â€Å"stress†, â€Å"education†, â€Å"psychology† and â€Å"Bangladesh†. A number of studies were initially found, but not all were appropriate for this review. Finally, a total of 5 original and most applicable published articles were incorporated for the review. These articles reflected studies conducted only in Bangladesh. Table 1 shows the studies with necessary information such as sample size, design, variables, and data analysis techniques. Table 1. Descriptions of the study Results Stress and Cancer Cardiac Patients Rahman et al. (2012) investigated the attitude toward stress of cancer and cardiac patients. They found that both cancer and cardiac patients expressed higher stress attitudes as compared to normal individuals. Regardless of gender and SES, cancer patients expressed higher stress attitude. In spite of type of individual and SES, female patients expressed higher stress attitude than their male counterparts that is partially supported by Islam et al. (2013). They also found that lower middle SES subjects expressed higher stress attitudes than upper middle SES subjects despite of type of individual and gender which are consistent with the findings of Havik et al. (1986). Childhood Cancer Parents Stress Basher et al. (2012) assessed the intensity of stress of the parents with a child anguishing from cancer. Their study may attempt to assess psychological misery and post traumatic stress reactions among the parents. They found leukemia in the highest frequency among all age groups of the sufferers. About 63.8% of the parents had certainly affected, 6.7% had severely affected due to the cancers of their children. 21.8% of the middle class parents (6-10 class educated, 31-40 years of age) with one child suffering from cancer in between 7-12 months, at the time of assessment, were found certainly and severely suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS). These findings are partially supported by Siddiqui (2014). Mental Retardation Parents Stress In a study, Islam et al. (2013) found that parents of children with mental retardation (PCMR) shared greater stress score than the parents of children with no mental retardation (PCNR). Mental stress score was significantly higher among PCMR. Moreover, mothers had significantly higher mental stress score than the fathers of mentally retarded children that is partially in consonance with the findings of Rahman et al. (2012) which indicated that female patients were more exaggerated in coping with stress than their male counterpart. Parents shared more mental stress than physical stress which was supported by Gupta, 2010. But the overall study suffers from adequate generalizations due to convenient selections of schools. Socio-demographic Profile of Families Stress Siddiqui (2014) assessed the relation between various socio-demographic variables of families with mentally retarded children and stress. He found that mild to severe stress was perceived by the families of mental retardation. None of the families showed very severe stress. No statistical significance was found between family stress and affected children’s age, sex. Rahman et al. (2012) also reported no relation between stress and the sufferer’s gender. This may be due to rising information resources and amend in social attitude. But in a study Peshwaria (1995) have indicated significantly greater impact on parents due to having a girl retarded child. As regards the age of the child, some studies have shown lower age of the retarded child to have significant relation with stress (Upadhyaya et al., 2008), while Peshwaria (1995) have shown more psychosomatic problems as the age of their child increases. In this study, no significant relation was found between child’s severity of retardation and stress in the families that is supported by Upadhyaya et al. (2008). But Pisula Gorska (2002) indicated that parents of severe and profoundly retarded children have higher stress. Except maternal education, there were no significant relations between stress and mothers’ and fathers’ demographic variables. The reason behind the significant association of stress with maternal education may be because educated mothers can better understand the clinical aspect of their child’s condition. This is consistent with findings of Behari (1995). Another finding of this study is that stress is not significantly related with the family variables (nuclear/joint family, SES, presence of sibling). In contrast, Rahman et al. (2012) found that lower middle SES subjects expressed significantly higher stress attitude. Hornby (1994) shows that grandparental support decreases stress. Moreover, no significant difference was found in families with or without presence of siblings. But lower stress is reported by Leyser (1990) for higher number of siblings. Psycho-education Stress Ara Chowdhury (2014) investigated the impact of psychoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ educational intrusion for care givers of children with autism. They found that care givers, who acknowledged psychoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ educational interventions, showed significant decline in the score of mental health commotion on the GHQà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 28 except Ê ¹severe depressionÊ ¹ than those who did not. That means psychoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ educational intervention is effective in training the care givers to handle their children and in enhancing their quality of life. It may also be beneficial to deal with cancer cardiac patients, mentally retarded children. Conclusions Accessible literature on stress reports mixed evidence. In the first two studies, purposive sampling technique was used, and data of cancer and cardiac patients were collected from different reliable sources. So, research findings can be generalized for entire population of our country. Purposive sampling technique was also used for collecting data from two special schools of autism of Dhaka city in the last study. But the other two studies suffer from adequate generalization due to convenient sampling. Further ample studies are needed to conduct with a representative sample to determine more reliable information. Both prospective and retrospective studies are required to enumerate the incidence and prevalence of unfavorable consequences in delegate allies of survivors. Information about possible late-effects and psychological supports need to be provided by the treatment care providers to the parents and survivors (Sloper, 2000). Familial support, social support, positive emotional regulation, self help networks etc. act as defensive shield during times of crisis. Apposite program may be facilitated to help people managing crisis and their stresses. References Ara, J., Chowdrury, K. U. A. (2014, January). Impact of psycho-education on care givers  mental health and perceived stress of children with autism. Dhaka University Journal of  Biological Science, 23(1), 39-45. Basher, M. A. R., Karim, M. R., Sultana, N., Hossain, K. J., Kamal, M. M. (2012). Parents  stress in childhood cancer. Bangladesh Medical Journal, 41(1). Behari, R. (1995). The maternal attitude- Child rearing link for mentally retarded children: A case study. Disabilities and Impairments, 9, 44-51. Gupta, R. K., Kaur, H. (2010). Stress among Parents of Children with Intellectual Disability.  Asia Pacific Disab. Rehab, 21(2), 119- 126. Havik, O. E., Maeland, J. G. (1986). Dimensions of verbal denial in myocardial infarction.  Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 27, 326-339. Hornby, G., Ashworth, T. (1994). Grandparents support for families who have children with  disabilities. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 3, 403-412.   Islam, M. Z., Shanaz, R., Farjana, S. (2013, January). Stress among parents of children with  mental retardation. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science, 12(1). Leyser, Y., Deckel, G. (1990). Stress in Parents of Mentally Challenged Children. The Journal  of Psychology,125(4), 251-254. Peshwaria, R. (1995). Understanding Indian Families having Persons with Mental Retardation.  National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH), Secundrabad. Pisula, E., Gorska, S. (2000). The childs intellectual disability and the parents marital quality.  Studia Psychologiczne, 40, 87-106. Rahman, A., Ara, S., Haque, E., Shahrier, A. (2012). Attitude towards stress of cancer and  cardiac patients. Journal of Life Earth Science, 7, 33-41. Siddiqui, A. F. (2014, October). Socio-demographic profile of families with mentally retarded  children and its relation to stress. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science, 13(4). Sloper, P. (2000). Predictors of distress in parents of children with cancer: a prospective study.  Journal of pediatric Psychology, 25(2), 79-91. Upadhyaya, G. R., Havalappanavar, N.B. (2008). Stress in Parents of the Mentally Challenged  Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 34, 53-59.

Accidents Have Caused Major Explosion

Accidents Have Caused Major Explosion In the past few years there had been a steady increment in the usage of the risk assessment in the offshore production facilities. This is especially after the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988 and many other major accidents that killed many lives. Operators are showing an increasing awareness by reviewing the safety of their existing topside production facilities. The Piper Alpha accident provided adverse confirmation that the predictions of risk analyses regarding major accidents were certainly prudent. Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) is very useful in order to reduce the risks especially on the hydrocarbon releases from offshore topsides facilities. (Harmony, 1998) The accidents have caused major explosion and followed by some other minor explosions that release huge amount of hydrocarbons such as gas, liquid and 2-phase liquid. According to the investigation report that had been made after the accident, the main reason that causes the accident is the handover work made by two different shift personnel. Communication problem is one of the reasons of the tragedy. Initially the platform only produced crude oil. However, after a few years natural gas is also being produced. During the installation of the gas conversion equipment, the fire walls were not upgraded to the blast wall that causes a severe explosion throughout the disaster. Moreover, the pumping operation of oil and gas was continued even though the fire started to spread on the platform due to lack of professed authority that just witness the burning of the Piper (Taylor, Wallace, Ward, 1991). It was started from the two condensate injection pumps which are A and B. The day shift engineer forgot to inform the condition of pump A to the night shift engineer in which the pressure valve was removed for recalibration and recertification. There are about 106 recommendation has made for the future of safety offshore by the Cullen Report. All of the recommendations had been accepted and implemented by the offshore operators later then (Simon, 2012a). Petrobras Enchova Central Platform was listed in the major offshore accidents. This platform also listed as one of the worst and notable blowouts in the history of offshore oil platform. It is located in the Enchova Field, Brazil and operated by Petrobras. Two major incidents recorded in these fields which were on 16 August 1984 and 24 April 1988. The first accidents caused by blowout followed by explosion and fire. Most of the personnel were evacuated safely by chopper and lifeboat. Unfortunately, 42 workers died during the evacuation processed. The main reason that killed many lives during evacuation is because the failure of lowering mechanism of a lifeboat. The lifeboat was suspended and eventually fell 10-20m to the sea which killed 36 personnel. The other six workers were killed when they jumped from the platform to the sea at 30-40m height. (Simon, 2012b) The second accident occurred on 24 April 1988 which is four years later during the workover operations on the platform. One of the well that operated by the platform blew out and finally ignited that resulted in the destruction of the platform. Petrobras decided to drill two relief wells in 30 days time and eventually succeed in controlling the blowout (Maduro Reynolds, 1989). The workover well was performed in order to convert oil well to gas well. Then the blowout occurred during that converting process. The fire resulted from gas ignition last for 31 days. There was no loss of life recorded because the floating living quarters were separated from the platform during the blowout. The operator incurred a total loss because the extensive damage to the topside structure (Simon, 2012b). Ekofisk Bravo Platform is another type of platform that was listed in the top five worst blowout accidents in the oil and gas industry in which the volume of hydrocarbon released is about 202,381 barrels. This platform is operated by Philips Petroleum Company located at Ekofisk field in Norwegian continental shelf. The event of blowout was recorded on 22 April 1977, a few years after the discovery of this field in 1969. It was declared that the blowout cause the biggest oil spill in the North Sea. The blowout occurred during the workover of the production well. It was started when the production tubing was pulled out at 10000 feet depth. Then the blowout preventer (BOP) is not yet installed after removing Christmas tree prior to the production tubing pulling process. The downhole safety valve was malfunctioned because of improperly installed that cause well kick then resulted in well blowout that release large amount of hydrocarbon to the environment. There was no loss of life recorded as the evacuation job carried properly. Initially the total release calculated was 202,381 bbls by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Then the oil was evaporated up to 40% of the initial release and a total spill estimated is lower than the initial amount. It was reported that there was no significant effect to the environment. The investigation to determine the root cause of the accident had been carried out. They found that the main reason of the blowout was caused by human errors. The human errors include inappropriate planning and well control, misjudgment on the job scope difficulty for instance ignores the proper installation documentation and equipment identification (Simon, 2012c). Bekok C platform that is operated by PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd. is one of the listed platform accidents in Malaysia that cause severe injuries to the workers. This platform is located 200km from the coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The major factor of the tragedy is because of the gas leaked that cause fire on the platform. Basically, the platform went through scheduled shutdown in order to plan maintenance activities during the accident (Bernama, 2010). There were about 108 personnel on the platform at that moment of incident and six of them were injured because of the fire. The fire just started after midnight and brought under control by the emergency response teams (ERT). The injured personnel were the one that on duty at that time and in the process to complete their shift. The six injured personnel suffered several burns on parts of their body including the face. The fire might be resulted from sparks that produced from one of the maintenance valves. The remaining 102 workers have been evacuated safely to the nearby platform (Chris, 2010). Another offshore accident in Malaysia is Tukau B platform located in Miris offshore. This platform is operated by PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd which is Malaysias National Oil Company. The fire occurred on 11 June 2012 which is the latest accident at an oil and gas facility recorded on offshore platform. It was reported that 16 workers were on the platform at that time of fire. Five of them (two PETRONAS employees and other three contractor staff were suffered first and second degree burn. There was no loss of life reported as other remaining workers were evacuated safely to the nearby platform, Tukau A living quarters. (Mohamad Abdullah, 2012) The fire resulted from the explosion at Tukau B oil drilling platform started to spread on the structure at 9.20am at the compressor skid. Fortunately they managed to put the fire under control within an hour that prevents the fire to spread over the platform. The personnel were doing some maintenance works on the platform at the time of fire. The human errors could be the reason of the explosion that cause fire and injured some of the workers. Most of the accidents occur were mainly cause by the engineering workers that do not have good understanding on the safety elements. Misjudgment on the job difficulty has been normal situation on the event of fire and explosion. Improper use of standard operating procedure for equipment always becomes major factor in platform accident. This is mainly occurring during the maintenance works that involve the operator and contractor staffs (Luin, 2012). The most recent incident that involves oil and gas industry in Malaysia is the fire and explosion of the oil tanker named Bunga Alpinia own by Malaysian International Shipping Company, MISC which occurred at 26 July 2012. This event of fire and explosion take place at Rancha-Rancha industrial zone, Pulau Enoe near Labuan. It was reported that the oil tanker was loading six tons of methanol at the PETRONAS Chemicals Methanol Sdn Bhd jetty when a small fire ignited during a thunderstorm. The fire started at 2.30am and resulted in at least three major explosions that shake the Labuan Island. Bunga Alpinia had 29 crews on board consisting 23 Malaysians and six Filipinos. The accident killed five workers; four of them were Malaysian and one Filipino as mentioned by MISC Company which is a subsidiary of PETRONAS. Another 24 workers were evacuated safely to onshore (Almeida, 2012). The fire and explosion just occurred nearby the PETRONAS Chemical Methanol plant that arise another concern if the flames from the tanker ignite the methanol silo. The effect might be severe which can cause enormous destruction to the surrounding area. Problem Statement According to Oil Gas UK Knowledge Centre, hydrocarbon release may contribute to major accidents as well as determine a key performance indicator of asset integrity management of offshore installations. A hydrocarbon can potentially release to atmosphere due to leakage from equipment, flanges, valves, pipe works and etc. Each of this equipment has their own release frequency. QRA study is very important in order to identify the most cost effective ways to reduce risks to people and to the production asset. It is also important for company to improve their understanding on the risks and hazard involved in its offshore operations (Hanson, Lewis, Walters, 1995). For Quantitative Risk Assessment study, the release frequency of each Isolatable Section needs to be calculated. The QRA is employed in order to size hazards and advantages gained from their concession. The QRA particularly calculates the overall risk and potential loss of life and the average individual risk of fatality. In order to determine the release frequency the installation type and location are the important parameters that should be considered. Objective The overall objective of these studies is to calculate the hydrocarbon release frequency for each isolatable section of offshore production facilities. In order to determine the release frequency, the isolatable section of the topsides production facilities needs to be identified at the early period of the research. The quantity of each of the process equipment needs to be determined in order to get the release frequency. The other objective is to utilize the raw and modify data of release frequencies from the risk assessment data directory (OGP Publications) in order to classify the release criteria by using the inventory released. Scope of the Research In this research, a typical unmanned platform is used as a subject of study. A complete offshore production facility will be divided into several sections in QRA study. The sections are known as Isolatable Section. The Isolatable Section consists of different type and sizes of equipment, flanges, valves, pipe works and etc. The research will identify method to calculate the release frequency of a given Isolatable Section of Offshore Production Facilities. All of the possible process equipment with various sizes is listed down to make the parts count easier. There are three types of release which are full releases, limited releases and zero pressure releases but in these studies full releases type will be used in order to determine the release frequency for each isolatable section. The parts count of process equipment with its specific sizes can be done by using the data that is provided in the Process and Instrumentation Diagram PID. Other than that, the volume of equipment on the topsides of offshore facilities also needs to be calculated by using the volume equation. Process Flow Diagram (PFD) is used in order to determine the volume of each of the process equipment. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Quantitative Risk Assessment 2.1.1 Definition According to C.M. Pietersen et al. (1991), Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) can be defined as a method to determine the risk in major offshore platform accidents. It is crucial to determine the release frequencies from process equipment in the event of failure so that the risk can be identified. P.J Corner et al. (1991) state that QRA can use many type of methods or model ranging from simple correlation to complex computer codes. The method of assessment includes the effect of releases such as fire and explosion models, the model for assessing the impact resulting from the fire and explosion and the probability of failures of the process equipment on the topsides platform. Based on R J Hanson et al. (1995), the QRA (computer based model) was implemented in order to evaluate the risk reduction measures. 2.1.2 History In order to improve safety on offshore platform, QRA was introduced after the tragic accident that killed many lives in the event of fire and explosion at Piper Alpha platform. Lord Cullen in his report of The Inquiry based on Piper Alpha Disaster had identified that QRA as a technique that provides a structured, objective and quantitative approach in order to have better understanding on the risks and ways to overcome or control them (Hanson et al., 1995). 2.2 Hydrocarbon Release Frequency 2.2.1 Type of Offshore Topsides Production Facility Offshore topsides production facilities investment is substantial in order to maximize the production. The main production facilities can encompass half of an offshore topsides platform area and half of the capital or installation cost. There are approximately 16 types of process equipment on the topsides of offshore installation facilities handling hydrocarbon that have potential to release hydrocarbon in the event of equipment failures based on the Risk Assessment OGP (2010). The process equipment include steel process pipe, flanges, manual and actuated valves, instrument connections, process (pressure) valves, centrifugal and reciprocating pumps, centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, heat exchangers (four different types), filters and pig traps (launchers/receivers). 2.2.2 Type of Releases According to the analysis of historic process release frequency data (Producers, 2010), releases can be divided into three different types which are full releases, limited releases and zero pressure releases. Full releases can be described as flow through the defined hole is consistent, starting at the normal operating pressure then continuing until controlled by emergency shutdown and blowdown. Limited releases can be classified as cases in which pressure is not zero but the quantity of releases are much less than from a full release. The main reason of these releases is because of the human intervention such as closing an inadvertently opened valve. Then it may cause by the failure from the system itself. Zero pressure releases can be defined as the cases where pressure inside the leaking equipment is virtually zero. This is because of the equipment has a normal operating pressure of zero. Releases can be classified as major, significant and minor based on the (Pratt, 2002) statement. Significant releases are those lying between major and minor releases. Release frequency of the major hydrocarbon release is higher compared to the significant and minor releases (Edmondson Hide, 1996). 2.2.3 Type of Hydrocarbon Releases Hydrocarbon releases have the highest risk on offshore platform that potentially cause loss of life (Hanson et al., 1995). According to Derek B Pratt (2002), the hydrocarbon release type can be classified into three which are gas, liquid and two phase hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbon such as diesel, methanol, hydraulic oil, lubricating oil and helicopter fuel were included. These types of hydrocarbon are termed as non-product hydrocarbon. (Hare, 2008) states that there are five types of hydrocarbon release which are gas, oil, non-process hydrocarbon, 2-phase hydrocarbon type and lastly condensate. 2.3 Inventory of Basic Data 2.3.1 Number of Decks on the Platform Basically there are three types of decks found in offshore platform which are cellar deck, main deck and helideck. Cellar deck is the lower part of the platform while main deck is the upper part of the platform. Helideck is installed on this main deck which commonly above the living quarters. In some platforms, there are four types of decks existed which are spider deck, cellar deck, main deck and helideck. Most of the time, all of the drilling or production facilities are placed or installed on the main deck such as power generator and water treatment while all of the manifolds and Christmas trees will be installed on the cellar deck. One of the significant issues in order to reassessment and requalification of an old platform is the wave-induced force on offshore platform decks. Platform may be subject to partial or even fully submerge in the event of severe storms due to seafloor sinking the cellar deck. The structural integrity of the platform will be obviously affected and is thus a very crucial issue of concern (Grà ¸nbech, Sterndorff, Grigorian, Jacobsen, 2001). 2.3.2 Accommodation Arrangement Living quarters are the crucial requirement for the safe operational and life support requirements for personnel in the offshore Oil and Gas Industry. The other key requirement in the design and build of offshore facilities is to provide functional spaces for optimum comfort of personnel. Providing a safe environment offshore is mandatory in this industry. The location of the living quarters on the platform is one of important parameters in personnel safety requirement. The findings presented to the Cullen report based on the past Piper Alpha disaster regarding on the risk reduction would be achieved whether by accommodating personnel on a nearby flotel (floating hotel) or on PDQ (production, drilling, quarters) platform. The advantage is that personnel are separated from fire and explosion hazards if there are accommodated on a nearby flotel but the disadvantage of exposing them to other hazards such as transportation and flotel capsize (E.F, 1993). According to the QRA made based on the Piper Alpha disaster, it can be concluded that safety can be improved by decreasing the number of personnel offshore or separating production and accommodation platforms linked by bridges. (Lewis Spouge, 1994) in their study also claimed that the risks depend mostly on the separation between the accommodation and the hydrocarbon inventories. 2.3.3 Location of Helideck Location of helideck also one of the important parameters in the offshore platform and should be taken into consideration in order to reduce the risks. The scope of study carried out by K.H Von Blohn et al. (1979) included different locations of helideck on platform, effect of a seaway on the wind velocity profile, effect of varying wind velocity on the turbulence level and air flow around modules without the helideck. Most of the helideck are located directly on top of the crew quarters structure (Blohn, Peterka, Cermak, Barnard, Ewald, 1979). Based on the wind tunnel tests made on the Maui B platform, the flow conditions over the helideck for all approach wind directions tested are improved if the original helideck shape is raised 2.5 m above the crew quarters. Different types of drilling rig or platform have different location of helideck for instance jack-up rig, submersible platform and drillship because they are different in sizes and water depth. The location of helideck also differs between fixed and unfixed structure (BOMEL Limited Burt, 2012). 2.3.4 Location of Process Equipment In order to ensure the safety of personnel working on the offshore platform the process equipment should be placed or installed at the right position where there is less tendency of injury during the event of emergency. In other words, accident can be prevented if the equipment had been engineered properly (Johnstone Curfew, 2011). Properly layout the facility on the platform is the first job in building a new facility. The equipment that needs to be installed should be listed out and a plot plan of the site must be obtained in order to plan equipment layout. It is started by placing the most hazardous items of equipment on the site. Some examples of hazardous items are venting system, flaring system, fire process equipment, engines and rotating equipment, separators, tanks and unfired vessels. According to J.E Johnstone et al. (2011), venting system should be positioned downwind of the facility in which the released gases will not risk the personnel life and platform area. Venting system must be placed where there are no or far from the source of ignition. The same goes to the flaring system. Fired process equipment such as heater treaters, heater or separator, glycol and amine reboiler should be placed away from the equipment that process or store flammable hydrocarbons. It is also should be located away from the potentially released type equipment such as vents and pig receivers. Pumps and compressors which are categories as engines and rotating equipment must be placed on the site to avoid damage from any possible hydrocarbon releases, ignition and noise. Liquid hydrocarbons may be released to the environment resulted from losing seals of pumps while compressors normally leak small amount of oil which might cause fire if there are source of ignition (Johnstone Curfew, 2011). 2.3.5 Location of Risers and Pipelines Risers and pipelines are frequently become one of the main risk contributor on an offshore platform. The most crucial safety goal is to minimize the potential leakage from a riser or pipeline. The impact and corrosion are the significant failure causes by risers and pipelines (Edmondson Hide, 1996). The location of riser and pipeline should be planned properly because of a limited space on platform in order to operate in a safe condition (Sarica Tengesdal, 2000). Moreover the congestion on the platform should be reduce in order to lower the risks (Majumder, Markanday, Anand, 1991). According to P.J Corner et al. (1996), the most important approach in QRA is the failure that will cause different in the holes sizes and leaks rate to the marine environment. The impact may result in rupture or destruction of the platform while corrosion may cause small holes on the riser or platform which can be repaired and not hazardous. It is also essential to anticipate the release duration in order to determine the significant effects. It might be the long duration release of medium size cause destruction compare to enormous release of very short duration. Some risers are installed outside of the shafts, leakage and explosion will occur if hit by ships (Larsen Engseth, 1978). 2.3.6 Location of Wellheads Wellhead is the equipment that installed on the surface of an oil and gas well that acts as a pressure seals and suspension point for casing string. Wellhead that is located at the production platform is called surface wellhead while if the wellhead is located below the water it is termed as subsea wellhead or mudline wellhead. Wellhead should be located properly on the platform because wellhead load includes all casing strings with cement weight, tubing strings weight, weight of wellhead itself and BOP equipment (Anderson, 1984). Meaning that wellhead carries massive loads and part of the platform weight. 2.3.7 Location of Any Drilling Activities Drilling operation is one of the most hazardous activities on the offshore platform. Many personnel are at risk because of the intensive labor work. This is because this operation involves in heavy lifts of many components, BOP stacks, collars and precisely miles of drill pipe. Additional risk will be encountered during exploration drilling especially on the shallow gas hazards and the ultra deepwater operations that potentially have high pressure and temperature (HPHT) wells. Harsh environment condition also need to be considered (E.F, 1993). The best location of any drilling activities is away from the living quarters in order to reduce the risks on personnel. This is for instance in the event of blowout, the personnel can be evacuated safely from the platform. The drilling operations should be separated from production in order to reduce the release frequency of reservoir fluids on the platform as well as reduce the population at risk. Blowout that can claim many lives also can be prevented if drilling and production carried out separately (E.F, 1993). 2.3.8 Transportation According to E.F et al. (1993), the risk to people working offshore start when they leave the shore and stop when they return onshore. The main transportation of the personnel (crew change) is by helicopter or boat. The use of QRA technique had made the risk become apparent because the future risk can be predicted, accidents to be anticipated and ways to overcome or prevent is considered by interpreting the past accident experiences (Lewis Spouge, 1994). The helicopter accident can be categorized into three major sections which are accidents in flight, accidents on take-off and accidents on landing while crew boat accident can be described in two categories which are fatalities in transit and fatalities in transfer. Helicopter crash is on the second ranking for causing of fatalities on UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) after hydrocarbon fire and explosion (Lewis Spouge, 1994). Based on transport risk study carried by JR Spouge et al. (1994), it can be concluded that transport risks are important. Transportation by using helicopter has higher risk if compared with crew boat. This is because the usage of helicopter is higher for crew change operation since the distant of onshore and platform is considered while crew boats indicate dissimilar problems in evaluating risk due to their great safety record. 2.4 Inventory of Materials That May Cause a Fire or Explosion 2.4.1 Inflammable, Combustible and Explosive Materials Inflammable, combustible and explosive materials are materials that are capable to cause fire and explosion. These types of materials should be placed or stored away from the fired process equipment, venting and flaring system in order to prevent any ignition from occurring. These materials must be located away from the living quarters to prevent severe injury to personnel on board in the event of fire and explosion. The blast or firewall has to be installed around these storage materials to reduce the impact of explosion. Properly handling method has to be done on these materials. 2.4.2 Medium of Materials Released There are many ways for materials release to the surrounding environment. One of medium of materials release is through cracks, splits or holes in the containment envelope. This medium is created from the degradation of the equipment such as corrosion, erosion and wears out. The releases of material to the atmosphere may be resulted from opening pathway that is provided by the opening of equipment that still containing hydrocarbon by personnel with intention (Pratt, 2002). 2.4.3 Types of Fire The event of fire and explosion are common in the oil and gas industry especially on the offshore oil and gas platform and drilling rigs (Heaviside, 1980). Every year many injuries and loss of life are recorded because of fire and explosion itself. Personnel are suffered from first to third degree burn which can cause severe injury as well as loss of life. Fire can be classified into four categories which are jet fire, flash fire, pool fire and fireball. 2.4.3.1 Jet Fire Jet fire can be classified into two categories which are the fire that colliding against wall resulting in a diffuse flame and without collision. Immediate ignition will cause jet fire (Pietersen Engelhard, 1991). Jet fire also termed as spray fire. Diffusion flame is resulted from the combustion of a fuel that unceasingly released with significant momentum in a particular direction or direction. The releases of gaseous, flashing liquid and pure liquid inventories can cause jet fires (Executive, 2012). 2.4.3.2 Flash Fire According to C.M Pietersen et al. (1991), in case of gases, delayed ignitions in open spaces will result in flash fire. A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as solid, flammable or combustible liquid or a flammable gas. It is described as high temperature, short duration and a rapidly moving flame front. 2.4.3.3 Fireball Fireball can arises from the delayed ignition in enclosed containment that resulting in gas cloud explosion (Pietersen Engelhard, 1991). The gas cloud explosion together with fire will gives tremendous effect on the offshore platform such as destruction of platform. Fireball can cause severe injuries as well as loss of life to the personnel on board. 2.4.3.4 Pool Fire Pool fire can be defined as the turbulent diffusion fire burning above a horizontal pool vaporizing hydrocarbon fuel where the fuel has zero or low momentum. Pool fires could be static which depends on where the pool is contained. Large amount of hydrocarbon inventories have the highest risk and likelihood for the arising of pool fire (Executive, 2012). 2.5 Identification of Initial Accidental Events 2.5.1 Release and Leakage of Hydrocarbon from Process Equipment Hydrocarbon releases is one of the main reasons that result in accident. The release of hydrocarbon from the process equipment may cause ignition followed by fire. Each of the process equipment has its own release rate and frequency. The release rate may be depends on the size and diameter of the equipment. The leakage of hydrocarbon from process equipment can lead to fire and explosion. Oil and gas can migrate to other areas of the platform in a split second and cause ignition that may destruct the platform as well as kill many lives. It is important to minimize the number of equipment and piping installation in order to reduce the failure rate. It is better to operate at low pressure if possible to lessen the leak. The equipment with high leak potential such as compressor is place in open ventilated area. Separation between process system from drilling systems, utilities and accommodation is made by using blast and firewalls (Comer Eades, 1991). 2.5.2 Failure of Utilities The failure of utilities such as electric power shutting down pumps, compressors or motor operated valves can result in overpressure. Overpressure can be defined as pressure build up over the set pressure of the primary relieving device. Overpressure can cause sudden rupture or leak of utilities. Loss of cooling system such as water and refrigeration can form hazardous situations (Johnstone Curfew, 2011). 2.5.3 Falling Loads According to E.F. Brandie (1993), falling loads or dropped objects will create an immediate hazard to offshore workers. It also has high potential to cause major accidents if falling on the process equipment. The object may be dr

The Challenges of Implementing The GAIN Program Essay -- Public Policy

The Challenges of Implementing The GAIN Program Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) no longer exists. A new era has arrived and the nation has moved in a completely different direction. In 1996, new legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, was passed. Under this new Act, " The state and local governments wide –ranging autonomy, discretion and responsibility for serving poor women and children were returned to them. It does this by repealing AFDC, the nation’s welfare employment program (the Job Opportunity and Basic Skills Training Program), and the AFDC emergency assistance program. In its place, Congress and the president have authorized an unprecedented amount of block grant funding to states through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)". In this paper, I will briefly identify provisions and rules under TANF, identify administrative policy and programs set-up to deal with the new TANF regulations, and discuss implementation of the Greater Avenues through Independence Program (GAIN) in relationship to administrative issues at the Regional Administrator (RA) level. TANF/CalWorks/GAIN In 1998, Los Angeles County implemented new rules under the TANF program. "TANF takes welfare in entirely new directions by creating a welfare cliff: a five-year, lifetime limit for receiving assistance from federal TANF funds. A state’s failure to comply with this requirement will result in its block grant being reduced by 5%." Through its California Work Opportunities and Responsibilities to Kids (CalWorks) program, cash aid is available to needy families who meet certain requirements. Under CalWorks counties are required to enroll single parent families in welfare... ...s and what and how they feel about the services of case managers. Provides comprehensive overview of consumers opinions to help in quality service. Stocker, Robert P. and The George Washington University and Wilson A. Laura and University of Baltimore. "Verifying Compliance: Social Regulation and Welfare Reform." Public Administration Review vol. 58 (Sept/Oct 1998) 395-405 Examination study of Maryland’s welfare reform system. Two procedures are given to aid with enforcing social regulations. Includes verification and program design, administrative concerns and lessons for policy analysts. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services " LA GAIN overview" http://dpssweb.co.la.ca.us/gain/overview.htm Overview of Los Angeles County GAIN program. List and discusses participant eligibility requirements, services available, and timelines.

Rome :: essays research papers

Rome began as a small city-state. It's army and way of running government remained the same as the small city grew to a huge empire. Somehow, this small-time system of management lasted for 600 years. It's obvious ill suitedness showed through though, when Rome's once strong rigid links began to jingle. When Rome began to crumble, its army went first. Besides causing civil unrest, with the people knowing their army was less than satisfactory, the loss of the army's comforting presence also caused a feeling of weakness about Rome.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The economy of Rome was not perfect either. Though the taxes were heavy, they were not able to cover the cost of government and construction of public buildings, the maintenance of the army, support two capitals, etc. etc. Because of this, Rome's splendor and beauty began to diminish (without the public funding to preserve the beauty), unrepaired roads and bridges, increased banditry, danger in travel (hence decreased trade), and a weak army. This was all because Rome did not organize an economic style made for and fitting an empire of its size.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A final force in the decay of Rome, perhaps as a result of the previous mentioned, was loss of public morale and values. Although in general, Rome was always mainly without the morals righteous people try to uphold today, Romans were hardworking, athletic, philosophical, stern, noble, and patriotic. When public morale decreased, however, Rome fell into a pit of laziness, unethical, disloyal dishonesty. One example of how this effected society, is when armies were pressured to work hard, the disloyal soldiers abandoned their legions to flee.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rome's main problem, as you can see, is the combination of all of these factors.

The Host Chapter 2: Overheard

The voices were soft and close and, though I was only now aware of them, apparently in the middle of a murmured conversation. â€Å"I'm afraid it's too much for her,† one said. The voice was soft but deep, male. â€Å"Too much for anyone. Such violence!† The tone spoke of revulsion. â€Å"She screamed only once,† said a higher, reedy, female voice, pointing this out with a hint of glee, as if she were winning an argument. â€Å"I know,† the man admitted. â€Å"She is very strong. Others have had much more trauma, with much less cause.† â€Å"I'm sure she'll be fine, just as I told you.† â€Å"Maybe you missed your Calling.† There was an edge to the man's voice. Sarcasm, my memory named it. â€Å"Perhaps you were meant to be a Healer, like me.† The woman made a sound of amusement. Laughter. â€Å"I doubt that. We Seekers prefer a different sort of diagnosis.† My body knew this word, this title:Seeker. It sent a shudder of fear down my spine. A leftover reaction. â€Å"I sometimes wonder if the infection of humanity touches those in your profession,† the man mused, his voice still sour with annoyance. â€Å"Violence is part of your life choice. Does enough of your body's native temperament linger to give you enjoyment of the horror?† I was surprised at his accusation, at his tone. This discussion was almost like an argument. Something my host was familiar with but that I'd never experienced. The woman was defensive. â€Å"We do not choose violence. We face it when we must. And it's a good thing for the rest of you that some of us are strong enough for the unpleasantness. Your peace would be shattered without our work.† â€Å"Once upon a time. Your vocation will soon be obsolete, I think.† â€Å"The error of that statement lies on the bed there.† â€Å"One human girl, alone and unarmed! Yes, quite a threat to our peace.† The woman breathed out heavily. A sigh. â€Å"But where did she come from? How did she appear in the middle of Chicago, a city long since civilized, hundreds of miles from any trace of rebel activity? Did she manage it alone?† She listed the questions without seeming to seek an answer, as if she had already voiced them many times. â€Å"That's your problem, not mine,† the man said. â€Å"My job is to help this soul adapt herself to her new host without unnecessary pain or trauma. And you are here to interfere with my job.† Still slowly surfacing, acclimating myself to this new world of senses, I understood only now that I was the subject of the conversation. I was the soul they spoke of. It was a new connotation to the word, a word that had meant many other things to my host. On every planet we took a different name.Soul. I suppose it was an apt description. The unseen force that guides the body. â€Å"The answers to my questions matter as much as your responsibilities to the soul.† â€Å"That's debatable.† There was the sound of movement, and her voice was suddenly a whisper. â€Å"When will she become responsive? The sedation must be about to wear off.† â€Å"When she's ready. Leave her be. She deserves to handle the situation however she finds most comfortable. Imagine the shock of her awakeninginside a rebel host injured to the point of death in the escape attempt! No one should have to endure such trauma in times of peace!† His voice rose with the increase of emotion. â€Å"She is strong.† The woman's tone was reassuring now. â€Å"See how well she did with the first memory, the worst memory. Whatever she expected, she handled this.† â€Å"Why should she have to?† the man muttered, but he didn't seem to expect an answer. â€Å"Needbeing your word. I would choose the termwant. â€Å" â€Å"Then someone must take on the unpleasantness,† she continued as if he had not interrupted. â€Å"And I think, from all I know of this one, she would accept the challenge if there had been any way to ask her. What do you call her?† The man didn't speak for a long moment. The woman waited. â€Å"Wanderer,† he finally and unwillingly answered. â€Å"Fitting,† she said. â€Å"I don't have any official statistics, but she has to be one of the very few, if not the only one, who has wandered so far. Yes,Wanderer will suit her well until she chooses a new name for herself.† He said nothing. â€Å"Of course, she may assume the host's name. We found no matches on record for the fingerprints or retinal scan. I can't tell you what that name was.† â€Å"She won't take the human name,† the man muttered. Her response was conciliatory. â€Å"Everyone finds comfort their own way.† â€Å"This Wanderer will need more comfort than most, thanks to your style of Seeking.† There were sharp soundsfootsteps, staccato against a hard floor. When she spoke again, the woman's voice was across the room from the man. â€Å"You would have reacted poorly to the early days of this occupation,† she said. â€Å"Perhaps you react poorly to peace.† The woman laughed, but the sound was falsethere was no real amusement. My mind seemed well adapted to inferring the true meanings from tones and inflections. â€Å"You do not have a clear perception of what my Calling entails. Long hours hunched over files and maps. Mostly desk work. Not very often the conflict or violence you seem to think it is.† â€Å"Ten days ago you were armed with killing weapons, running this body down.† â€Å"The exception, I assure you, not the rule. Do not forget, the weapons that disgust you are turned on our kind wherever we Seekers have not been vigilant enough. The humans kill us happily whenever they have the ability to do so. Those whose lives have been touched by the hostility see us as heroes.† â€Å"You speak as if a war were raging.† â€Å"To the remains of the human race, one is.† These words were strong in my ears. My body reacted to them; I felt my breathing speed, heard the â€Å"But one that even they must realize is long lost. They are outnumbered by what? A million to one? I imagine you would know.† â€Å"We estimate the odds are quite a bit higher in our favor,† she admitted grudgingly. The Healer appeared to be content to let his side of the disagreement rest with that information. It was quiet for a moment. I used the empty time to evaluate my situation. Much was obvious. I was in a Healing facility, recovering from an unusually traumatic insertion. I was sure the body that hosted me had been fully healed before it was given to me. A damaged host would have been disposed of. I considered the conflicting opinions of the Healer and the Seeker. According to the information I had been given before making the choice to come here, the Healer had the right of it. Hostilities with the few remaining pockets of humans were all but over. The planet called Earth was as peaceful and serene as it looked from space, invitingly green and blue, wreathed in its harmless white vapors. As was the way of the soul, harmony was universal now. The verbal dissension between the Healer and the Seeker was out of character. Strangely aggressive for our kind. It made me wonder. Could they be true, the whispered rumors that had undulated like waves through the thoughts of the of the I was distracted, trying to find the name for my last host species. We'd had a name, I knew that. But, no longer connected to that host, I could not remember the word. We'd used much simpler language than this, a silent language of thought that connected us all into one great mind. A necessary convenience when one was rooted forever into the wet black soil. I could describe that species in my new human language. We lived on the floor of the great ocean that covered the entire surface of our worlda world that had a name, too, but that was also gone. We each had a hundred arms and on each arm a thousand eyes, so that, with our thoughts connected, not one sight in the vast waters went unseen. There was no need for sound, so there was no way to hear it. We tasted the waters, and, with our sight, that told us all we needed to know. We tasted the suns, so many leagues above the water, and turned their taste into the food we needed. I could describe us, but I could not name us. I sighed for the lost knowledge, and then returned my ponderings to what I'd overheard. Souls did not, as a rule, speak anything but the truth. Seekers, of course, had the requirements of their Calling, but between souls there was never reason for a lie. With my last species' language of thought, it would have been impossible to lie, even had we wanted to. However, anchored as we were, we told ourselves stories to alleviate the boredom. Storytelling was the most honored of all talents, for it benefited everyone. Sometimes, fact mixed with fiction so thoroughly that, though no lies were told, it was hard to remember what was strictly true. But there were whispers of this: of human hosts so strong that the souls were forced to abandon them. Hosts whose minds could not be completely suppressed. Souls who took on the personality of the body, rather than the other way around. Stories. Wild rumors. Madness. But that seemed almost to be the Healer's accusation. I dismissed the thought. The more likely meaning of his censure was the distaste most of us felt for the Seeker's Calling. Who would choose a life of conflict and pursuit? Who would be attracted to the chore of tracking down unwilling hosts and capturing them? Who would have the stomach to face the violence of this particular species, the hostile humans who killed so easily, so thoughtlessly? Here, on this planet, the Seekers had become practically a militiamy new brain supplied the term for the unfamiliar concept. Most believed that only the least civilized souls, the least evolved, the lesser among us, would be drawn to the path of Seeker. Still, on Earth the Seekers had gained new status. Never before had an occupation gone so awry. Never before had it turned into a fierce and bloody battle. Never before had the lives of so many souls been sacrificed. The Seekers stood as a mighty shield, and the souls of this world were thrice-over indebted to them: for the safety they had carved out of the mayhem, for the risk of the final death that they faced willingly every day, and for the new bodies they continued to provide. Now that the danger was virtually past, it appeared the gratitude was fading. And, for this Seeker at least, the change was not a pleasant one. It was easy to imagine what her questions for me would be. Though the Healer was trying to buy me time to adjust to my new body, I knew I would do my best to help the Seeker. Good citizenship was quintessential to every soul. So I took a deep breath to prepare myself. The monitor registered the movement. I knew I was stalling a bit. I hated to admit it, but I was afraid. To get the information the Seeker needed, I would have to explore the violent memories that had made me scream in horror. More than that, I was afraid of the voice I'd heard so loudly in my head. But she was silent now, as was right. She was just a memory, too. I should not have been afraid. After all, I was called Wanderer now. And I'd earned the name. With another deep breath, I delved into the memories that frightened me, faced them head-on with my teeth locked together. I could skip past the endit didn't overwhelm me now. In fast-forward, I ran through the dark again, wincing, trying not to feel. It was over quickly. Once I was through that barrier, it wasn't hard to float through less-alarming things and places, skimming for the information I wanted. I saw how she'd come to this cold city, driving by night in a stolen car chosen for its nondescript appearance. She'd walked through the streets of Chicago in darkness, shivering beneath her coat. The words came slower and slower, and at first I did not understand why. Was this forgotten? Lost in the trauma of an almost death? Was I still sluggish from unconsciousness? I struggled to think clearly. This sensation was unfamiliar. Was my body still sedated? I felt alert enough, but my mind labored unsuccessfully for the answers I wanted. I tried another avenue of searching, hoping for clearer responses. What was her goal? She would find SharonI fished out the nameand they would I hit a wall. It was a blank, a nothing. I tried to circle around it, but I couldn't find the edges of the void. It was as if the information I sought had been erased. As if this brain had been damaged. Anger flashed through me, hot and wild. I gasped in surprise at the unexpected reaction. I'd heard of the emotional instability of these human bodies, but this was beyond my ability to anticipate. In eight full lives, I'd never had an emotion touch me with such force. I felt the blood pulse through my neck, pounding behind my ears. My hands tightened into fists. The machines beside me reported the acceleration of my heartbeats. There was a reaction in the room: the sharp tap of the Seeker's shoes approached me, mingled with a quieter shuffle that must have been the Healer. â€Å"Welcome to Earth, Wanderer,† the female voice said.