School Violence Essay Example for Free

School Violence Essay Introduction From the many reported and even more unreported events, school violence is seen as a subset of youth violence and a broader health problem. Factors that contribute to school violence are socioeconomic status, family, peers, and mental health. The best way to deal with school violence is to establish physical and social environments that prevent violence and promote safety within schools (Brener 81). There are many different forms of school violence. School violence could be seen as bullying, fighting, weapon use, shootings, stabbings, gang violence, and now growing cyber-bullying. Bullying tends to be the leading cause for school violence. Middle schools have the highest rate of bullying at 43 percent, and 22 percent of high schools have reported ongoing bullying problems in 2005-2006 (Statistics 2). Bullying not only has psychological effects on the victims, but it can affect the bully as well. Bullying can include the following: mocking, rumors, pushing, threats, exclusion, and being forced to do something one does not want to do. School violence occurs in and out of school. The most reported cases of school violence occur on school property. There were 46 percent of schools reporting 20 or more acts of violence on schools grounds. Other forms of school violence occur on the way to or from school and during school-sponsored events. Not only does school violence occur in these areas, but cyber-bullying has also been a big problem in schools lately. Students who are victims of cyber-bullying are more likely to become absent from school or even worse, can lead to several cases of suicide. Bullying Bullying is viewed as a pre-evolution to violence in schools and is common among students in grades six through ten. It is estimated that about ten percent of students are bullied at some point in their lives, six percent have both been bullied and bullied others and thirteen percent admit to SCHOOL VIOLENCE2 bullying others. Bullying is becoming a hot topic in education because of school violence and suicides. Bullying is defined as an act to humiliate another person who is perceived as weaker, or less capable than the bully. The act of humiliation can be anything from physical, verbal or emotional abuse, as well as sexual harassment, which has been categorized under bullying recently (Fried, 1996). The bully is usually a person of dominance over the one being bullied. In girls, dominance is achieved by social status and popularity. In boys, it is achieved by physical qualities such as size and strength. Types of Abuse Physical abuse and bullying includes anything from punching, stabbing, shooting, strangling, and suffocating to poking, hair pulling, and excessive tickling. physical abuse is more common between boys but there are still some girls who bully others using physical abuse. (Winkler, 2005). Violence and aggression among youth has increased a lot in the last twenty years and it begins with physical abuse. This rise in aggression is even more alarming with the higher availability of guns. Instead of using fists and hands more students are using guns and other weapons on both their victims and their bullies. Verbal abuse is the most common form of bullying and there are various forms of this abuse. Verbal abuse is used with an intention to harm another and cause pain, and is used to gain power over another person. (Fried, 1996). In addition, verbal abuse also leaves the victims feeling alone and exposed, and usually escalates, leading to physical consequences. Emotional abuse can reduce a child’s self-confidence to the point where they consider themselves unworthy of respect, friendship, love and protection. This is the most difficult type of abuse to define and diagnose. It can include rejecting, isolating, terrorizing, and corrupting. SCHOOL VIOLENCE3 Sexual abuse is the most complicated, the most difficult to document, and the hardest to address. â€Å"Sexual interactions involving children with peers or younger children are problematic if the relationship is coercive, exploitive, aggressive or threatens the physical or psychological well-being of either participant† (Fried, 1996). Sexual abuse needs two conditions to take place: Sexual activities involving a child and an abusive condition. There are two categories of sexual activities: noncontact and contact sexual abuse. Noncontact abuse includes exhibitionism, voyeurism, verbal sexual propositions or harassment. It can also include sexual notes or pictures, sexual graffiti, making suggestive or sexual gestures, pulling someone’s clothes off, and spreading sexual rumors (Fried, 1996). The conditions of noncontact sexual abuse is sexual activities that occur when there is mutuality, experimentation with sexual language and words in a non-demeaning way, situations when children have equal power and authority, and an absence of coercion or manipulation. Contact sexual abuse is when the other person has a large age or maturational advantage over the child, is in a position of authority, in a caretaking relationship with the child, or the activities are carried out against the child using either force or trickery. What Makes a Bully? Bullies are usually confident and have plenty of self-esteem. They have no difficulty in making friends, and these friends usually share pro-bullying attitudes and problem behaviors. Bullies tend to get in more trouble in school and do poorly in their academics. Often coming from homes where their parents provide little emotional support or involvement, where discipline styles tend to be either extremely permissive or excessively harsh leads to bullying behavior. â€Å"There is a strong relationship between bullying other students at a younger age and being involved in legal and criminal activities later on in life. About 60 percent of people that were surveyed who were SCHOOL VIOLENCE4 considered bullies in sixth through ninth grade had at least one criminal conviction by age 24† (Rimm, 2005). Victims of bullying tend to have social adjustment problems and are more likely to have low self-esteem and feel anxious and insecure. They rarely defend themselves, and male victims are usually physically weaker or smaller than their peers. The most common reason why kids were bullied was that they do not fit in. Children who are bullied may feel anxious, fearful, and have a hard time concentrating on schoolwork. Worrying about being harassed by their peers may also make them afraid to even go to school. â€Å"Researchers have found that adults who were bullied frequently as children had higher levels of depression and lower self-esteem than other adults† (Rimm, 2005). Those who are both bullied and bully others usually have the most serious behavioral and emotional problems. Social isolation, lack of success in school and behavioral problems combined make them a high-risk group. It is most likely that they were bullied first and then imitated the bullying behavior, although it is possible that they bullied first and others later retaliated. They exhibit social-emotional adjustment problems typical of bullies as well as victims which makes it unlikely that they will be resilient enough to adjust to a healthy lifestyle without effective intervention strategies. Middle School Violence Middle school is the period in schooling that comes between elementary and high school. The notion of middle school comes from G. Stanley Hall in 1904 that emphasized the need for an intermediate school. According to Hall, there was an adolescent age that requires its own in-between level of schooling. He defines the childhood period as gradually terminating at the end of the twelfth year, with the transition of adolescence beginning at that point (Coopock, 1974). SCHOOL VIOLENCE5 The background described above is essential in providing reasoning for the increase in violent acts as well as the nature of the violent acts. Middle school is where violent behaviors begin to fester. Just like the middle child in a family, they struggle to fit in. They are too old to fit in with the elementary students and they are not quite old enough to fit in with the high school students. They are battling with hormones associated with puberty and as mentioned above, are starting to develop physically, mentally, and emotionally, which leads to more aggression, sexual frustration and for some, the inability to cope with new social problems. Common Signs of Violence in Middle School Although there are some forms of violence in elementary school, middle school is where the more violent acts begin, where rampage shootings, sexual harassment and or sexual assault and bullying are the most common. Other forms of shootings, stabbings and fights are common throughout a child’s schooling, but as mentioned in the statistics there is a significant increase in the amounts and forms of violence that occur in middle schools. The numbers go from 34 percent which includes rare shootings, name calling, tattling, fighting, stabbing and bullying in the elementary level to 76 percent which more than doubled adding rampage shooting, sexual assault and sexual harassment to the list at the middle school level. Sexual harassment and or sexual assault can be perpetrating by students and administrators. For example, Cleveland’s Wiley Middle School teacher was sentenced to 153 years for sexually harassing and assaulting two middle school students. The effects of assault caused by personnel leaves a bigger scar on these children because the perpetrators are individuals who are supposed to be responsible for protecting the students. Instead, 31 year old Christopher Thomas of Eastlake used his cell phone to call and text inappropriate sayings of a sexual nature with two 14 year old girls from June 2008 until November 2009. One of the girls he sexually assaulted in her home and his cell SCHOOL VIOLENCE6  phone and computer contained nude photos of both girls. During his sentencing, the perpetrator cited that he knew what he was doing was wrong. (website, 2010). Middle High School Violence: Rampage Shootings Most other forms of violence have been described throughout this essay showing the different forms and most of the information provided mainly deals with the problems of urban schools. But contrary to belief, suburban schools encounter school violence of all forms and are particularly known for rampage shootings. Rampage shootings are different from other forms of school violence. For example, these shootings can take place on school campuses before an audience of fellow students; it can involve multiple victims who are often chosen at random and can be carried out by students or former students of the school where they occur. † (Hunnicutt, 2006). For example 14 year old, Michael Carneal of West Paducah, Kentucky, always wore black and was known by his class mates as a Satanist, he went to school on the morning of Dec. 1 1997 and pulled out a 22 caliber handgun and started firing into a praying group of students. He left 3 girls dead and 5 others wounded (Hunnicutt, 2006). Littleton, Colorado is home of the most famous rampage shooting recorded in high school history. The perpetrators were two students who attended Columbine High School, Klebold Dylan and Eric Harris. These two young men, dressed in camouflage, entered the building and began shooting at random. They killed 13 people before killing themselves. The Columbine High School shootings gave the world a picture of one type of violence that is within high schools. School Violence: Urban Suburban Schools Another factor that may influence the occurrence of violence in schools is the number of students that attend a particular high school. There is a large possibility that the relationship of having more students can directly lead to a form of competition and problems becoming more SCHOOL VIOLENCE7 intense. Compared to the 200,000 public elementary and secondary schools in 1940, there were only 65,000 schools in 2005. In those 65 years, the numbers of schools decreased while the U. S. population increased by 70 percent (Quindlen, 2001). A study done by Barker and Gump in 1964 on social functioning size and high school size, recognized that on average, students in smaller schools participate in extracurricular activities twice as much as students who are in larger schools. Another study concluded that smaller high schools sizes had more positive results than larger schools in academic performance, absenteeism, dropout rate, extracurricular activities, sense of community, student satisfaction, social behavior, dropout rate, and parental involvement, regardless of rural or urban settings. Now looking at numbers, â€Å"smaller high schools (enrollment size 400-600) experienced one-eighth the rate of serious crimes (four percent compared to 33 percent), one-tenth the rate of physical attacks with weapons (two percent to 20 percent), and one-third the rate of theft or larceny (18 percent to 68 percent) and vandalism (23 percent to 62 percent)† of that compared to larger high schools (enrollments above 600) (Devoe et al. , 2002). The rates of schools violence tend to mirror the behavior of the general population. Community violence in the inner cities is more of a problem than in rural areas, with rampage shootings being the exception. This helps partially prove that community violence has a direct influence on the children. Much research today suggests that violence is a learned behavior, so children acting out in violent or aggressive ways may have learned the violence from adults in their community. Early intervention may be the best way to prevent this type of behavior. Making the environment safe is the most important thing a community can do. Schools have adopted a zero tolerance policy against school violence which helps prevent violent acts of behavior. Conclusion SCHOOL VIOLENCE8 There are three recommendations from Dessel’s article that can be drawn to inform future practice in education and future research in public school settings. First, increased attention must be paid to the constructs of public school culture and climate. Second, changing school culture and climate specifically involves teacher education. Third, future research must improve and explore the barriers to implementing programs. As Zirkel and Cantor (2004) state, in 1954 people were not asking whether schools would welcome and nurture African American children and adapt the curriculum to be inclusive, but were only starting to open the doors. Today, the doors must not only swing wide open, but all children must be welcomed with acceptance, celebration of differences and acknowledgement of the contribution of diversity, for the benefit of everyone (Dessel, 2010). Bibliography Coopock, N. (1974). iddle Schools School leadership digest. In N. Coppock, Middle Schools School leadership digest (pp.1-42). Arlington: National Association of Elementary Principal. Fried, S. Fried, P. (1996). Bullies Victims. New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc. Hunnicutt, S. (2006). School Shootings. In S. Hunnicutt, School Shootings (pp. 1-102). San Diego : Thomas Gale. Kaiser, D. A. (2005). School Shootings, High School Size, and Neurobiological Considerations. Journal of Neurotherapy, 9(3), 101-115. doi:10. 1300/J184v09n03. 07 Logue, J. N. (2008, January). Violent Death in American Schools in the 21st Century: Reflections Following the 2006 Amish School Shootings. Journal of School Health. pp. 58-61. doi:10. 1111/j. 1746-1561. 2007. 00267. x. Mayer, M. J. , Leone, P. E. (2007). School Violence and Disruption Revisited: Equity and Safety in the School House. Focus on Exceptional Children, 40(1), 1-28. Rimm. S. (2005). Growing Up Too Fast: The Rimm Report on the Secret World of America’s Middle Schoolers. New York: Rodale, Inc. Stein, N. (2007). Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students. In , Radical Teacher (pp. 30-35). Radical Teacher. Website. (2010, November 17). 19ActionNews. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from E:\Teacher convicted of sex acts sentenced to 153-years in prison 19 Action NewsCleveland, OHBreaking News, Weather, Exclusives. mht: E:\Teacher convicted of sex acts sentenced to 153-years in prison 19 Action NewsCleveland, OHBreaking News, Weather, Exclusives. mht. Werle, G. D. (2006). Taking Steps to Promote Safer Schools. Journal of School Health, 76(4), 156-158. doi:10. 1111/j. 1746-1561. 2006. 00087. x Winkler, K. (2005). Bullying: How to Deal with Taunting, Teasing, and Tormenting. Berkley Heights: Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Marketing strategies which can help Cadburys in launching there new product

Marketing strategies which can help Cadburys in launching there new product Cadbury Background In 1824, John Cadbury began selling tea, coffee, and drinking chocolate, which he produced himself, at Bull Street in Birmingham, England. John Cadbury later motivated into the production of a variety of Cocoas and Drinking Chocolates being manufactured from a factory in Bridge Street, supplying mainly to the wealthy due to the high cost of manufacture at this time. At this time the company was known as Cadbury Brothers of Birmingham. Cadbury is a leading global confectionery company with an outstanding collection of chocolate, gum and candy brands. Cadbury employ around 45,000 people and has direct operation in over 60 countries, selling its products in markets everywhere around the world. Cadbury is nearly 200 years old. In 1969 Cadbury merged with Schweppes to create Cadbury Schweppes. In 2003, Adams Confectionery was acquired including its Trident and Halls brands, now respectively the worlds largest gum and candy brands. On 7 May 2008, Cadbury demerged the Americas Beverages business and created Cadbury plc. In March 2009, they announced a definitive agreement to sell the Australia Beverages business for approximately  £550 million. The following few pages which follow help to show overall how and which types of strategies on various things based on Marketing strategies can help Cadburys in launching there new product. Marketing strategy is a plan of action which is used by many businesses around the world, which helps the business meet its aims and objectives, it can also assist a business when launching a new product as it helps to identify which different strategies would be best to use. Marketing strategies can be split into two main categories which are: Short-Term Long-Term Short-term strategies help a business to focus mainly on the four Ps: Product, price, place and promotion which are vital to all businesses, as these four features are the main things which help a business to achieve objectives if they are used correctly. On the other we have long-term strategies which are used to plan the future actions of a business, this can include producing tables such as a Ansoff matrix which helps a business to decide on many things such as, whether to launch a new product or to improve previous products, overall making the right decisions on which type of strategy to use is vital, especially in the case of Cadburys as it helps to decide how to launch a new cereal bar, to ensure that they reach maximum sales. Throughout the next few pages I will discuss possible short-term and long-term strategies which Cadburys could use, indicating which type of strategy in each case would be the most useful to help them achieve success with there new product. Ansoff Matrix An ansoff matrix can be used to identify and show various types of growth strategies, many firms such as Cadburys could benefit from the use of an ansoff matrix as it helps to focus on the firms present and possible products as well as the markets. The main thing in ansoff matrix helps to identify is possible ways for a business to grow; this can include improving previous products or producing new products. Diversification Market Penetration: This is when a firm tries to achieve growth using existing products in there current market segment, to try and increase its market share. Product Development: This is when a firm targets a new product at there current market segment. Market Development: This is when a firm seeks growth by targeting there existing products at a new market. Diversification: This is when a firm tries to diversify into new businesses by producing new products to aim at a new market. Best marketing strategy for Cadburys: The following list helps to show which marketing strategy from the ansoff matrix would be best for Cadburys to use: If Cadburys was to use market penetration for there product, I feel this would not help at all as the current product they have out in the market which is the Brunchbar, is not doing very well and people would not buy it, so I feel this would be the worst option to choose. If Cadburys was to use product development for there product, I feel this could possibly be successful, although after the failure of there previous product people may not buy there new product. If Cadburys was to use market development, I feel that again there could possibly be a chance of success, as they may have aimed there previous product at the wrong market, although people from the new market may also not be keen to buy there product. It is clear that if Cadburys was to use diversification and aim a new product at a new market, there would be a high chance of success as long as the new product was to meet customer needs, which can be done through extensive market research to help gather an idea of people who would regularly purchase there product. Marketing Objectives Before a business such as Cadburys can decide on which market strategy they will be using, they must take into consideration that correct and precise marketing objectives are set to help the business to become as successful as possible in the future. The best way for a business to ensure that they set realistic and achievable objectives would be by following the acronym of SMART, this helps identify points which need to be checked by a business to make sure high-quality objectives are being set to maintain high sales for the product. The acronym SMART is short for the following which all need to be checked over by businesses when setting its marketing strategy: Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timed For a business such as Cadburys to be successful within such a competitive market, good quality objectives must be set. The following is a list of objectives Cadburys could set themselves to ensure that they are successful with the launch of there new product: Principles of Marketing There are many different features to be looked at when marketing your product to ensure there are no hiccups when releasing a new product. The following are a list of different things which need to be looked at by businesses such as Cadburys to ensure success for the new product: Understanding customer needs: This can be found through extensive market research to help the business determine the customers outlook on products and also the new tendency within the market. Through my market research which I have conducted, I have now found the correct segment for me to aim my product at helping to almost ensure success with the new product as I have covered the needs of my chosen segment. Understand and keep ahead of competitors: This again can be done through market research to help a business stay above competitors. I have used secondary research here to help me see the biggest rivalries within the market, therefore enabling me to stay above them. Communicate effectively with customers: This can be done through varieties of places; the most affective would be through promotional techniques used by the business. To ensure I have done this, I listed the possible promotion techniques and chose the ones which I felt would be best to use. Organize functions to achieve objectives: To ensure correct objective have been set, a business must look at the four Ps around the product to make certain that the correct marketing objectives have been set. To help me do this I ran through the four Ps of my product, and then checked to see that I had stated most of the possible strategies for the product. Aware of constraints: All businesses must be aware of the constraints they face on there marketing activities, to ensure that they are then able to work there way around it. To ensure I was aware of the possible constraints from many different factors, I produced both a SWOT and PEST analysis to help me identify these. The above principles of marketing must all be looked and analyzed by businesses, to ensure that the launch of the new product runs as smooth as possible. Cadbury plan their production process by using a time series method as this helps Cadbury to accurately produce the needed amount of chocolate at the correct period of time. A time series shows historical data that can be used and analyzed to predict future trends. Christmas and Easter are peak selling times for all chocolate manufactures including Cadbury; this is obviously because chocolate products make good gifts for these occasions. The disadvantages of this type of forecast are: Cadbury needs to have a lot of past data in order for the time series method to be used accurately to predict sales figures. If the external environment doesnt stay stable then there will be problems with the forecast for example if the prices of the raw materials used to produce Cadbury products increases then the price of the product has to increase in order for Cadbury to make a profit from the product produced. This may affect the customers purchasing trends. The data may be biased or representative. The advantages of this type of forecast are: The data helps Cadbury to reduce wastage and produce the amount of products that customers would purchase. The data is reliable if collected properly/accurately. The forecast helps Cadbury to make products efficiently as it helps Cadbury to set a target of the amount of products needed; there are always enough products to supply to customers. However precise information about this is not available to the public. Therefore I am going to use the information that I have produced about an imaginary firm I have used in E4 of my assignment. The most profitable product that the imaginary firm produces is the mugs, making a profit of  £10,500 for the first quarter of the year. I think that this is excellent as this firm is selling the mugs well and making a reasonable amount of profits from them; the mugs are batch produced and are everyday household objects. The firm does some research and find out what types of designs the customers are interested in purchasing. This would help to increase the sales, as customers like to have mugs with designs that they like and match with the rest of their kitchen accessories/items. If the firm shows that they are interested in giving the customers what they want then customers are very likely to purchase mugs from the firm. But a problem that would arise is that customers dont need too much mugs as they can be reused again and again so at some point the firm will need to stop producing mugs and withdraw it from the market as the demand will decrease. The firm could sell the mugs in multi packs as a set as well as individually and this will help to increase the sales of the mugs as most customers prefer to have a set of mugs the same design. From the figures of wastage and production I suggested that the saucer department of this firm should be closed down as it was costing the firm too much to continue to produce saucers to sell to the customers as it was not making its potential profit. The department that I suggested should have an increase in production was the teapot department this was due to the fact that it was the second most profitable product that this firm produced (along with the saucers but I have explained why it wasnt possible for the firm to continue to produce them). I think that if the firm improved the strength of the teapots then they would be more successful in the market as customers would realize this and want a teapot that is strong so it lasts longer. How the production process is monitored The quality assurance system that Cadbury use is total quality management (TQM). For Cadburys TQM is a method of ensuring that their products are of a high standard of quality and a method to monitor the production of products. To monitor the production process Cadbury employs supervisors to inspect the product at each stage of production. Marketing strategy In order to increase sales Cadburys needs to undertake a range of marketing activities before deciding upon the best way to encourage the purchase of its product. When identifying the basic principals which Cadburys must apply to its marketing will be its basic objectives because all business must have objectives it allows them to increase sales and make profit. Corporate aims are the long term intentions of a business, whereas corporate objectives are the specific targets required to achieve the aims. The common aim and objectives of the corporation such as Cadbury includes the following: Survival Profit maximization- which is often taken to be the reason why firms exists and to be the primary objectives in practices most firms have a hierarchy of objectives when a firms survival is threaten it may profit maximize in order to restore its financial health. Growth- which includes Cadbury selling new products or expanding overseas. Diversification- which is the spreading of business risks by reducing dependence on one product. Sales maximization- which is the increasing of sales Improving the product image-which includes creating a new logo or launching a new brand of product and creating more attractive packaging. For example, Cadbury set out two objectives for the development of their chocolate, Fuse. These were: To grow the market for chocolate confectionery To increase Cadburys share of the snacking sector when launching a product the company Cadburys had to make sure that any new product in the snaking sector must establish points of difference, creating a unique selling proposition (USP) i.e. a product with unique appeal which is not shared by any of its competitors. Referring back to the example of Fuse, Cadbury lost a lot of money testing out the combination of various ingredients and more than 250 were combined before the recipe of the chocolate was finalized. As the products are developed, Cadbury tests them to ensure that consumers are willing to buy them. Cadbury then promotes its products in various ways such as the use of above the line promotion, which is where a product is advertised through consumer media such as television, magazines, newspapers and radio. 4ps Product My product is a re-launch of Cadbury dairy milk. Cadbury dairy milk is made from real chocolate. Its ingredients include cocoa butter and there is a glass and half full cream dairy milk in every 200 grams of Cadbury dairy milk chocolate, Cadbury buys 65 million litres of fresh milk each year to make Cadbury dairy milk chocolate. Price Price is an important element of the marketing mix. The price charged for a chocolate bar can determine whether a consumer will buy it and the level of sales achieved can determine whether or not Cadbury Schweppes will make a profit. Price is also affected by factors such as the state of the economy, what competitors are charging, the stage reached in the products life cycle and above all what price the market will bear. From the marketing point of view this is what matters. Place Cadbury dairy milk is produced at the chocolate factory in Bourneville in Birmingham. After the chocolate is produced and has undergone all the quality checks it is transported to the stockrooms. After this Cadbury sells it products to shops that deal with beverages and confectionery e.g. corner shops, super stores such as Iceland, Sainsbury, Kwik save, Tesco, Asda, Safeway and petrol station. These businesses are usually visited by customers on a daily basis. They then sell it to the general public. Cadbury produces chocolate for more than 200 countries so that they have a chance to enjoy it as well and make profit. This gives them a wide range of consumers around the world. Cadbury Schweppes therefore makes sure that the cultures of these different people are kept. They can do this by producing products, which are eaten in that particular country without upsetting religious or cultural practices. Promotion The purpose of promotion is to communicate directly with potential or existing customers, in order to encourage them to purchase dairy milk and recommend it to others. The main promotional tools are sales promotions, public relations and advertising. Production representation Cadbury monitor the production process by using total quality management to ensure that the chocolate/products that are produced are of a high quality and meet the needs of the customers, this is vital for Cadbury because they produce chocolate products mainly which has a lot of substitutes, this means that customers could loose interest in Cadbury products if their demands are not met or thought about. To enforce total quality management Cadburys have supervisors that monitor the machines, the other workers and the products that are made. Cadbury also monitor the quality of their products by using a quality assurance system, (mentioned above) total quality management TQM. TQM ensures that the products that Cadbury produces tastes good to the customers, is appealing to the customers, customer complaints are solved, listening to customers and Cadbury make continuous improvements to their products. Those are all the benefits for Cadbury monitoring the quality of their products and usin g a quality assurance method. At the moment Cadburys use TQM to monitor the quality of their products and as a quality assurance method. I think that this could be improved if other methods of quality assurance and monitoring production were used; I think that this would help to improve them. An alternative quality assurance method that Cadbury could use is benchmarking. Benchmarking is a method for comparing the performance of one business against another, this would of an advantage to Cadbury because they could compare their sales figures, production figures etc against a major competitor (Nestle for example), the comparisons would help Cadbury to set aims and goals for the business itself and once the aims have been met it may almost be certain that Cadbury is outperforming its competitor. However the competitor that Cadbury choose has to be near enough the same size business as Cadbury, this is to make the benchmarking fair. As well as the above benchmarking will help Cadbury to do better than their competitor(s). To improve the monitoring method that Cadbury could use to monitor their products, Cadburys could continue to use total quality management ? TQM and also give all the other workers more responsibilities by enforcing self-checking and inspection on the products produced at Cadbury. Self- checking is traditionally the main method of a business to achieve quality control, to ensure that the workers inspect the products professionally, correctly and properly Cadbury should make a list of things that the workers should check. In 1895, an innovation in the provision of model housing by manufacturers occurred with the development by George Cadbury of Bournville Model Village. This was the first model settlement to provide low-density housing not restricted to factory employees. This paper uses the Bournville archives to explore the accepted history of this settlement. It is argued that the accepted history is a particular reading of this planning experiment. The paper explores the construction of the ‘accepted history, identifies some of the authors behind the history and uses the minute books and secretary reports of Bournville Village Trust to construct an alternative historical narrative. The alternative history is one in which Bournville begins as a building estate rather than as a model village. The building estate was provided with no community facilities, and the houses were targeted at the lower- and upper- middle classes. Cadbury repackaged the building estate by appropriating the garden city movement; in return the garden city movement also appropriated Bournville by using it as a working example of a model garden village. The paper makes a contribution to theoretical debate by linking a literature from organizational studies concerned with story-telling and construction to historical geography.

Errors And Failures During Oil Well Drilling Engineering Essay

Errors And Failures During Oil Well Drilling Engineering Essay This paper provides a general overview of errors and failures during drilling and tripping operations in the oil industry. The overview is presented in a tabular format for quick and easy reference. The work makes a clear distinction between errors and failures and how errors may possibly lead to drilling failures. A classification of drilling failures with their signs and symptoms as well as the possible causes of these failures is included in the overview. The overview may help during a thorough audit of failures that are encountered during a drilling operation. Developing a list of possible failures during drilling with a description of basic observatory signs and symptoms of their occurrence is the crucial first step in minimizing Non Productive Time (NPT) during drilling operations. Keywords: Drilling, Error, Failure, Tripping 1. Introduction The oil industry is unarguably one of the most complicated industries which face so many challenges yet functions as efficiently as possible. This assertion is true because the primary object of interest to the petroleum engineer cum the industry is located thousands of feet beneath the earths surface. This is accompanied by varying conditions of temperature and pressure as well as other geological factors. A combination of these factors makes the subject of understanding the process of getting at the object of interest complex to drilling engineers. The elusive nature of this understanding makes drilling operations encounter failures. These failures range from drill tool/equipment breakdown, wellbore or formation collapse, lost circulation, kicks and blowouts. Suffice it to say that these failures cost the industry valuable drilling time running into billions of dollars annually. It is against this background that this work on drilling failures is looked into. The primary focus of this work therefore is to improve the drilling process, by designing a good approach to identify all possible failures, how and when they occur, and most importantly their root causes. This would be done from a taxonomic perspective. This would involve classifying failures in the industry in their natural groups and isolating their possible causes, the key indicators to such failures as well as the errors leading to the failures. 2. Reported Cases of Failures in the Oil Industry To put the cases of failure in the right perspective, it is necessary to first define failure and error as it applies to oil well drilling operations. Schlumberger (2012) in their oil field glossary webpage defines failure in drilling as: Failure to meet the defined drilling objective. Deviation in the expected TD depth /run length Deviation in the expected performance (penetration rates, directional, power use) Error as defined by Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, is a mistake especially one that causes problems or affects the result of something. In todays error classification systems, error can mean several things: Error as the cause of failure. For example: This event was due to human error. Classifications rely on this definition when seeking the cause of operator error in, for instance, a supervisors failure to provide guidance (Shappell Wiegman, 2001.). Error as the failure itself. For example: The operators decision was an error (e.g. Helmreich, 2000). Classifications rely on this definition when categorizing the kinds of observable errors operators can make (e.g. decision errors, perceptual errors, skill-based errors) (Shappell Wiegmann, 2001). Error as a process, or, more specifically, as a departure from some kind of standard. This standard may consist of operating procedures. Violations, whether exceptional or routine (Shappell Wiegmann, 2001), or intentional or unintentional (Helmreich, 2000), is one example of error according to the process definition. Depending on what we use as standard, we of course come to different conclusions about what is an error. Based on the above definitions, the following are the reported cases of failures in the oil industry. The most recent case is the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster in 2010. Though the immediate and remote causes of the incident still remains a subject of controversy, the fact remains that the incident makes the subject of failures in the oil industry a relevant one. Shokir (2004) listed the following actual failure cases that occurred in Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO) in Gulf of Suez area and Western Desert area. These are cases 1 to 5. Case #1 This development well drilled in the Western Desert Concession in the onshore Abul-Gharadig area in 1991. Egyptian drilling company Rig No.8 (EDC-8) was used to drill this well to a total depth (TD) of 10,616 ft. While drilling 12.25-inch hole from 10,503 ft to 10,616 (TD) through the Limestone of Abu Roash formation with rotary bottom hole assembly and water base mud, lost 350 psi. When pulling out of hole, washout in Shock Sub was detected Case #2 This development well drilled in the Gulf Of Suez Concession in the offshore Ramadan area in 1993. Pyramid drilling Rig (Bennevis) was used to drill this well to a total depth (TD) of 12,504 ft. While drilling 12.25-inch hole from 10,805 ft to 10,823 through the Shale and Limestone of Mheiherrat formation with rotary bottom hole assembly and water base mud, lost 300 psi. Pull out of hole, found vertical crack in the top joint of heavy weight drill pipe. Case #3 This development well drilled in the Gulf Of Suez Concession in the offshore Hilal area in 1993. Sonat Offshore drilling Rig (Mercury) was used to drill this well to a total depth (TD) of 10,267 ft. While drilling 12.25-inch hole from 8,747 ft to 8,961 through the Limestone of Rudeis formation with rotary bottom hole assembly- and water base mud, lost 600 psi. Pull out of hole, found hole in the drill pipe near the surface. Case #4 This development well drilled in the Gulf Of Suez Concession in the offshore October area in 1995. Sonat Offshore drilling Rig (Comet) was used to drill this well to a total depth (TD) of 16,080 ft. While drilling 12.25-inch hole from 10,035 ft to 10,239 through the Anhydrite of South Gharib formation with rotary bottom hole assembly and oil base mud, lost 300 psi. Pull out of hole, found the short drill collar cleaned smooth cut 0.3 ft from the boxfish neck area. Case #5 This Exploratory well drilled in the Gulf Of Suez Concession in the offshore Badri area in 1995. Santa Fe International Rig No.124 was used to drill this well to a total depth (TD) of 12,480 ft. While drilling 12.25 inch hole from 12,417 ft to 12,480 through the Salt with Shale, Limestone and Sand Streaks of Ayun Musa formation with rotary bottom hole assembly and water base mud, had very hard back ream and very high torque, pump pressure dropped 1200 psi. Pull out of hole; found the drill string backed off at the short drill collar. CASE # 6 Horbeek et.al (1995), in their work cited Shell Expros effort in 1991 to tackle drillstring failures in their operations. This they did by carrying out autopsies. The autopsies confirmed what they had long been suspected: fatigue particularly BHA connection fatigue was the main cause of failure. Table1 briefly summarizes the autopsies carried out from 27/5/1992-1994. Failures in the BHA accounted for 79%, whilst drillpipe accounted for 21%of the total failures for this period. BHA connection fatigue alone accounted for 58% of the BHA failures and was attributed to poor inspection criteria, poor drilling practices and lack of stress relief features. Other learning points from the autopsies were: Majority of failures, 46%, occurred in the 12 1/4 hole section. Greater attention should be paid to rig torque gauge calibration; MWD shock logs can warn of impending drillstring failure. New drillstring components were not being specified to Shell specifications. Use of stabbing guide will reduce failures associated with connection damage. Avoid slip cutting drillpipe. Improved pipe identification system needed. Once a downhole pressure loss is established POOH immediately. From interviews they carried out during the autopsy process it quickly became clear that a general lack of understanding of cause, effect and cost of fatigue failures existed. The failures are summarized in the Table 1. Table 1: DRILLSTRING FAILURE AUTOPSIES 1992-1994 (Horbeek et al, 1995) DATE FAILURE ROOT CAUSE 27/05/92 Twist off at HDIS BHA connection fatigue 23/07/92 Twist off at crossover BHA connection fatigue 24/07/92 Twist off at MWD crossover BHA connection fatigue 02/11/92 Twist off at stabilizer Combination torsion/tension overload 05/11/92 Twist off at MWD Tensile overload 21/11/92 Washout at crossover BHA connection fatigue 22/11/92 Cracked mud saver sub Overtorque of new connection 26/11/92 Twist off at MWD BHA connection fatigue 08/12/92 Twist off at HWDP Accidental over-torque by top drive 02/01/93 Twist off at jars Tension/torsion overload 19/02/93 Twist off at bit sub BHA connection fatigue 24/02/93 Washout at HWDP Connection damage/bad handling 12/03/93 Twist off at shock sub Connection fatigue 19/03/93 Washout at HWDP Shoulder seal damage/bad handling 21/03/93 Washout at jars BHA connection fatigue 04/04/93 Washout at crossover BHA connection fatigue 10/08/93 Twist off at jar -intensifier BHA connection fatigue 20/08/93 Twist off at jars Insufficient hole cleaning 05/10/93 Twist off at mud motor BHA connection fatigue 23/10/93 Twist off at hole opener Poor hard banding application inspection 08/11/93 Washout at drillpipe connection Tool joint connection fatigue 24/11/93 4 washouts from split boxes DCs and HWDP Age condition of equipment 24/11/93 Washout at drillpipe connection Overtorqued connection DATE FAILURE ROOT CAUSE 02/12/93 Twist off at drill collar Torsion/tension overload when stuck 02/12/93 Twist off at jars BHA connection failure 03/01/94 Washout in HDIS Fatigue and vibration 05/01/94 Washout in drillpipe Fatigue and vibration 09/01/94 Washout in drill collar Fatigue and vibration 11/01/94 Washout in drill collar Fatigue and vibration 14/02/94 Washout in HWDP Age and condition 11/03/94 Washout in drillpipe Slip cuts 09/05/94 3washout in drillpipe Stabbing damage 28/06/94 Twist off NM drillpipe Stress corrosion cracking 23/08/94 Twist off SHWDP Brittle failure 23/08/94 Twist off in drillpipe Drillpipe tube fatigue 07/11/94 Twist off NB stabilizer Fatique/vibration 04/12/94 Drillpipe parted Tensile strength exceeded 04/12/94 Washout in jars Fatigue 3. Errors Contributing to Drilling Failure The error leading to a drilling or tripping failure may be caused by the abnormal state of either the formation being drilled, the wellbore itself or the equipment used in the drilling or tripping operation or caused by other external factors. It must be stated here that these errors may be attributed to either human, manufacturing or mechanical errors. Human Error Here are just a few generic definitions for human error: An inappropriate or undesirable human decision or behavior that reduces, or has the potential for reducing, effectiveness, safety, or system performance An action that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits An action whose result was not desired by a set of rules or an external observer To put things into context, there are three primary stages of cognition (planning, storage, and execution), which relate to the three error types (mistakes, slips, and lapses). The three human error types are: Mistakes: Mistakes occur when an intended outcome is not achieved even though there was adherence to the steps in the plan. This is usually a case in which the original plan was wrong, was followed, and resulted in an unintended outcome. Lapses. Lapses are associated with our memories (e.g., lapses of memory, senior moments, etc.). These are generally not observable events. Slips. Slips are generally externalized, observable actions that are not in accordance with a plan. These are often referred to as Freudian slips, in which a person may be thinking something but inadvertently says it so that someone else can hear it. Slips are most often associated with the execution phase of cognition. Manufacturing Error Variation caused by the manufacturing process that affects the size of the part. Manufacturing error is part of measurement value. From a design perspective the engineer or designer produces a piece of equipment or a system with intentions to function in a certain way. When it doesnt function that way (it breaks, catches on fire, messes up its output or is befallen of some other mishap) they try to find the root cause. Typically the cause can be identified as a: Design deficiency when the mechanical, electrical or other components of the design has a problem that caused the mishap Manufacturing defect when the material or assembly has an issue that causes it to fail Environmental hazard when an outside factor such as the weather causes the hazardous condition Mechanical Error Mechanical error is a deviation from correctness in computer-processed data, caused by equipment failure. This error can often be attributed to a range of different problems on both the manufacturer and the user side, as well as to the unpredictable forces of chance. When equipment malfunctions or falls short of its intended purpose, it may cause delays and lost funds. In rare cases, however, the results can be catastrophic. Serious injuries, loss of life and long-term negative repercussions can emerge from the failure of a seemingly innocuous industrial component. Such events may emphasize the importance of manufacturing standards and safety considerations, or highlight certain industrial concerns that influence the outcome of a project. These errors are related to drilling operations as shown in Table 2. Table 2: Errors during drilling tripping operations ERROR WHERE ERROR IS LOCATED SOURCE OF ERROR POSSIBLE CAUSE OF ERROR CONTRIBUTING FACTORS LEADING TO FAILURE Abnormal state of an Entity Formation Fractured faulted formations Natural fracture, geological fault, cavernous formation, permeable formation Human /Mechanical Errors Tectonically stressed formations Stressed formation Abnormal pore pressure Under compaction of shales Reactive formation Dissolving limestone, reactive shale Mobile formation Drilling salt fomations Unconsolidated formation Poor sediment cementation Naturally over pressured shale collapse Under compaction of shales Wellbore Material accumulation in the wellbore Cuttings accumulation,cavings accumulation Human/Mechanical Errors High hydrostatic wellbore pressure High pore pressure Low hydrostatic wellbore pressure Low pore pressure Crooked wellbore Doglegs, keyseat Equipment Hardware error Age of equipment, design errors Human Error, Mechanical Mechanical Errors Software error Limited knowledge of software by drilling crew members, typo errors Technical error Lack of technical know-how by drilling personnel 4. General Classification of Drilling Failures The classification of drilling failures in this paper is broadly categorized into three namely: equipment failure, wellbore failure and then formation failure. Table 3 lists these failures and their potential causes. Table 3: Summary of drilling and tripping failures, causes Errors Failure Type Observations Potential Causes Errors Leading to failure Error type EQUIPMENT FAILURE Failure class Failure sub class Drillstem failure Failure to acquire evaluation data, high torque drag Shocks vibrations Drillstem design Manufacturing error Drill pipe washouts Loss of hydrostatic pressure, Low SPP Deviated holes and doglegs, corrosive mud or gases,CO2 H2O in mud Running drill pipe in compression, in-correct make up torque of tool joints Human/operator error Drillpipe corrosion Contaminants in drilling fluids O2 in drilling fluids Human error Drillpipe fatigue Pipe leakage High cyclic loads Shallow doglegs in conjunction with high tension and slow penetration rates H2S CO2 in mud Drillstring buckling Compressive load in pipe exceeds a critical value Cracked pipes Sudden drop in pressure Over torqued threads Swelled or mushroomed box end shoulders,pin connection breaks When enough torque is not applied at the table When enough torque is not applied at the table Human error Pipe twist Torque exceeding pipes ultimate shear strength Pipe parting Ultimate tensile strength exceeded Galling Metal to metal contact b/w the pin box threads, stabbing Human error Failure Type Observations Potential Causes Errors Leading to failure Error type EQUIPMENT FAILURE CONTD. Failure class Failure sub class Casing failure Thermal failure High temperature during steam injection Sulphide stress corrosion cracking failure Stress corrosion by H2O H2,high strength steels Poor design of steels Manufacturing error External corrosion failure Exposure of casing to wet air and/or saline fluids Human error Helical buckling failure axial load and compressive forces exceeds the casings load carrying strength Casing collapse fail BHA hangs up when RIH, Calliper log shows collapsed casing high external formation pressure Centralizer failure Inefficient mud displacement Under-reamed wells, using an incorrect unit for the job Using an incorrect unit for the job Human error Mud motor failure Mud motor stalling A sudden severe increase in SPP , ROP ceases operating parameters exceeding the capability of the motor Motor Failure during reaming extended reaming operations Motor Failure during tripping key seats, ledges Motor failure due to downhole temperatures downhole temperatures increase beyond 225Â ° F FORMATION RELATED FAILURE Lost circulation Induced fracture LC Volume of mud in mud pit reduces High mud density, ,increase in annular pressure Failure Type Observations Potential Causes Errors Leading to failure Error type Failure class Failure sub class FORMATION RELATED FAILURE CONTD Lost circulation contd Natural fracture LC Volume of mud in mud pit reduces Natural fractures, high permeability formations, cracks,vugs, fissures Incorrect estimation of annular pressures Human error Kicks High pore pressure kick Geo-pressured formations Operational related kick Swab Surge during tripping Inefficient ROP Formation related Low ROP Cuttings accummulation Operational related Low ROP Low WOB,Bit balling WELLBORE FAILURE Wellbore wall related Cementing failure Stress cracking Appears as no cement on bond logs stress changes caused by casing expansion Gas migration un-cemented channel, low overbalance pressure before and during cementing Cement shrinkage Cement cracks Exposure to air of low humidity Micro annulus Inter zonal Communications, Well Leakage Hydrostatic Pressure Reduction inside the Casing, Cement Shrinkage Borehole caving Angular, Splintery cavings Highly tensional/compressive stress Failure Type Observations Potential Causes Errors Leading to failure Error type WELBORE FAILURE CONTD. Failure class Failure sub class Solids induced pack off Keyseating Sudden overpull Cyclic overpull at tool joint intervals on trips. High tensional side forces Underguage hole Pulled bit or stabilisers are undergauge. Sudden set down weight. Circulation is unrestricted. Bit stuck PDC bit run after a roller cone bit, When drilling abrasive formations Ledges and doglegs Sudden erratic overpull or set down Running an unsuitable BHA,changes in BHA Junk Missing hand tools / equipment. Circulation unrestricted. Sudden erratic torque. Inability to make hole. Poor housekeeping on the rig floor. The hole cover not installed Cement blocks Cement fragments. Erratic torque. Hard cement becomes unstable around the casing shoe Green cement Increase in pump pressure. Loss of string weight. Sudden decrease in torque. Green cement in mud returns, discoloration of mud. drill string is inadvertently run into cement Bit jamming Poor hole cleaning ,fluid is too thin Differential Sticking Bit balling Reduced ROP,Increased SPP, Overpull on tripping Swellable soft clays Failure Type Observations Potential Causes Errors Leading to failure Error type WELBORE FAILURE CONTD. Failure class Failure sub class Hole collapse Little or no filter cake Wellbore washouts Excessive hole fill,cuttings Swelling shale, hole erosion, insufficient mud weight Reactive formations Hydrated or mushy cavings. Shakers screens blind off, clay balls form. Increase in LGS, filter cake thickness, PV, YP, MBT When using WBM in shales and clays in young formations. When drilling with an incorrect mud specification When using WBM in shales and clays in young formations. When drilling with an incorrect mud specification Unconsolidated formations Increase in pump pressure. Fill on bottom. Overpull on connections. Shakers blinding Little natural cementation Mobile formations Overpull when moving up, takes weight when running in Drilling salt formations Fractured faulted formations Hole fill on connections. Possible losses or gains natural fracture system in the rock Tectonically stressed formations Pack-offs and bridges may occur. Cavings at the shakers (splintery). Increase torque and drag highly stressed formations are drilled Naturally over-pressured shale collapse Cavings (splintery) at shakers. Increased torque and drag. Hole fill. An increase in ROP. Cuttings and cavings are not hydrated or mushy. under-compaction, naturally removed overburden 5. Conclusions This work has been a modest attempt at classifying downhole failures and errors during drilling and tripping operations. Though not exhaustive, the work has been able to group failures and errors into their natural groups and then elucidated their symptoms and their potential causes. Finally, it is concluded that: Failures during tripping and drilling operations may be naturally classified into: wellbore related, equipment related and formation related failures That errors leading to these failures may be broadly classified into errors located in the formation, errors located in the equipment or errors located in the formation or wellbore being drilled That these errors may result from misinterpretation of test data, improper use of hardware or software, ineffective monitoring of events, under maintenance of equipment Nomenclature BHA = Bottom Hole Assembly BOP = Blowout Preventer CO2 = Carbon (IV) Oxide H2O = Water H2S = Hydrogen Sulphide HWDP = Heavy Weight Drill Pipe LC = Lost Circulation LGSC = Low Gravity Solids Content MBT = Methylene Blue Test MWD = Measurement While Drilling O2 = Oxygen PDC = Polycrystalline Diamond Compact Bit POOH = Pull out of Hole RIH = Run in Hole ROP = Rate of Penetration SPP = Stand Pipe Pressure TD = Total Depth WBM = Water Based Mud WOB = Weight on Bit YP = Yield Point Acknowledgement A work of this magnitude must have been culled from other writers work; hence I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all the authors whose works were consulted in the course of writing this paper. This acknowledgement would essentially be incomplete if I fail to extend my deepest appreciation to the Almighty God-Jehovah, for without Him, there would have been no me. To others whom I have not mentioned due to space or the lack of it, I remain your debtor in gratitude.

The Cause and Effect of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis :: Financial Crisis Mortgage Sub-Prime

The subprime mortgage crisis is an ongoing event that is affecting buyers who purchased homes in the early 2000s. The term subprime mortgage refers to the many home loans taken out during a housing bubble occurring on the US coast, from 2000-2005. The home loans were given at a subprime rate, and have now lead to extensive foreclosures on home loans, and people having to leave their homes because they can not afford the payments. (Chote) The cause and effect of this crisis can be broken down into five major reasons. When subprime mortgages began to flourish, the term housing bubble came into existence. The term relates to the time in which houses sharply increased in value, and consumers often borrowed at less than the lowest rates. People believed that the price of their homes would rise and they could then refinance for lower payments. The problem with that mentality is many people didn’t just refinance for lower payments, they also refinanced for personal spending. Inflation of home prices meant homeowners suddenly had more equity and were able to spend the money as they chose. All good things must come to and end. In late 2005, the housing bubble burst, and housing began to decline in price. People who refinanced, particularly those who financed with variable interest rates suddenly found their homes were valued at much less. The housing market became flooded with homes for sale, because the homeowners with variable rates and interest only loans could not continue to make their payments. (Greenspan) The rise in the number of homes for sale caused further lowering of home values. Keeping in mind that the main reason for the mortgage crisis is the high number of defaulted home loans, which triggered foreclosures and sell offs. The other four contributing factors include high-risk loans, the bust in the housing market, mortgage fraud, and speculation. High-risk loans are loans that are over leveraged, where the financing is done more than the suggested values to be given. (Greenspan) This can result in immediate sell off when the property falls below that loan amount and to avoid further loss the banks start raising the installment. The housing market has seen pressure as a result of the over pressure on most homeowners by increasing rates. This affects people ability to make the payments, resulting in defaults. This is the problem with the burst in the housing market. The third major factor that is causing the mortgage crisis is, mortgage fraud.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay -- Literary Analysis, Zora Neale Hu

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the relationship between Janie and Nanny is one of great dispute over if it is healthy or not. The idea that the most influential person in Janie’s life is also the one who triggered her struggles when she was becoming a woman is sadly ironic. Nanny’s true influence on Janie is brought to light through symbolic, and decaying diction, Biblical, and Greek Mythological allusions, and natural metaphors, by describing Janie’s journey to womanhood, through finding her own opinion, acquiring a stable life from Nanny, her maturation, and what she gained when becoming a woman. Through the use of symbolic diction, decaying diction, and metaphors, Hurston illustrates Janie’s inner struggle around accepting Nanny’s opinions as the correct ones. Inside Janie’s conscious self, â€Å"There is a basin in [her] mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight†¦Ã¢â‚¬  where she can think freely with thoughts that are, â€Å"†¦untouched by words† (24). This is a place where Janie can flourish by thinking about ideas without being inhibited by peer pressure. To truly understand the ideas formed in Janie’s mind, it is necessary for Janie to get in touch with her body and herself. However, through symbolic diction, it is clear that Janie’s impressionability leads her to not completely understand these thoughts; she has not reached the level of maturity necessary for this level of self-reflection. These qualities cause Janie to have the tendency to mirror Nanny’s opinions on issues, even when she internally disagrees with them. This tension is demonstrated when, â€Å"Nanny entered this infinity of conscious pain again on her old knees† (24). The â€Å"conscious pain† (24) which Janie speaks... ... Nanny’s ideals, values, and opinions. Every aspect of Nanny was drilled inside of Janie, and once Nanny died, Janie was finally a free woman. The reason Janie was able to truly become a woman was because she realized that she was able to become a woman because when Nanny died she set her free. During the journey that Janie went through when she became a woman she gained self-knowledge, and understood on a deeper level why Nanny did things. While Janie matured, it looked at first glance like Nanny was hindering her advancement. However, Nanny’s controlling actions were justified by her belief that she was doing the right thing, and that God would look after Janie. It is difficult to become a person unimpeded by what other people think, it took Nanny’s death for Janie to be released of an important influence, and never return to this time in her life.

Introducing Constance Essay

In Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), the audience is swept into the playful subconscious of the protagonist, Constance Ledbelly. Before she speaks, her imaginative nature is introduced by way of Act I, The Prologue. The chorus enters giving an intriguing monologue in which the first stages of an exciting transformation begin to unfold. The Prologue is so useful in that it gives indications of plot, theme, conflict and so on. All of which carry a heavy dramatic significance. However, Ann-Marie Macdonald suggests that the biggest use of The Prologue is in developing the character of Constance. The chorus begins by asking â€Å"What’s alchemy? The hoax of charlatans?† (5) In other words, is alchemy a transformation of base metals into gold, or just the trick of a fraud or phony? Can such transformation exist, not just in the mind, but also in reality? Such a statement indicates that there shall be a changing of sorts. This change is seen literally as Constance’s fountain pen is later transformed to solid gold. But this change is also seen as a transformation of character. From something plain, to something miraculous. Constance begins as a flighty, insecure, and somewhat foolish daydreamer. Some might call her a push-over. She is full of eccentricities and is not taken too seriously, dressed in her frumpy clothes. However, later after her encounters with Desdemona and Juliet, she becomes strong and opinionated. She opens herself to the possibility of embarrassment and mochary by speaking her mind, and interfering where she deems fit. The Prologue gives the audience a clue of the changes Constance will endure. Thus setting up her character. In The Prologue the chorus speaks of opposites coming together. He mentions the ‘merging of unconscious selves’ and the ‘marriage of true minds.'(6) These unconscious selves perhaps are actually Desdemona and Juliet living within Constance’s unconscious. They are parts of her. Desdemona represents the driven and somewhat violent side, and Juliet is the hopeless romantic side of Constance. These two selves are about to be brought together and made aware to Constance for the first time. â€Å"Unite these lurking shards of  broken glass into a mirror that reflects one soul.† (6) The chorus says to bring together these two sides of Constance in a way that she will see they are her own within herself. Two references are made to the Philosopher’s Stone in The Prologue. This is yet another indication of change. The Philosopher’s Stone was once believed to turn other metals into gold. The chorus announces the Gustav Manuscript as the key to Constance’s Philosopher’s Stone. â€Å"Here is the key to her Philosopher’s Stone – the psychic altar that will alter fate.† (6) Constance uses the manuscript, and her forced exploration of two of Shakespeare’s plays, (Othello, Romeo and Juliet), to discover herself. The manuscript and the events in it lead to Constance’s journey of self discovery. She accepts her likeness to the characters of Desdemona and Juliet. She realizes that the three of them are all one in the same. Gemini is the sign of twins and is often associated with split personalities. Also having two different sides to one. After removing the discard items from the wastebasket and replacing them on Constance’s desk, the chorus says, â€Å"Swift Mercury, that changing element, portrayed as Gemini, hermaphrodite and twin, now steers the stars of Constance Ledbelly, and offers her a double-edged re-birthday.† (6) Another tease that Constance’s two sides that will soon come together, and be revealed to her. Act I, The Prologue is full of dramatic significance. However it seems to be directly related to the characterization of Constance Ledbelly. By toying with the use of metaphors and clever wit, Ann-Marie MacDonald fully succeeds in her use of The Prologue to set up the main character of her play.

American Airlines and US Airway’s Merger Essay

Abstract American Airlines has suffered tremendous profit losses over the last few years. The losses have been so great that the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The news for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was a shock to many, considering the fact that they had enough money to operate and cover their losses through the following year. The merger indeed was great decision on behalf of American Airlines. The merger itself was questionable. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against regarding concerns that it could raise prices for consumers. A settlement was reached and the world largest airline has been formed. American Airlines has been suffering for many years. The company has suffered more losses than profits. Jobs have been cut; benefits have been scaled back, and the pilots of American Airlines are paid a lot lower salaries than their competitors. Many of them have been furloughed. All of these and many other factors have contributed to American deciding to create the world largest airlines with US Airways. In this essay I will discuss the circumstances that resulted in the merger, assess the significant positive (or negative) effects of the merger, and examine the organizational structure that has resulted from the merger. American Airlines filed for bankruptcy in November 2011. According to an interview with Richard Quest of CNN, Thomas Horton the new CEO of American Airlines stated that the company was forced into bankruptcy because of the cost disadvantages it faced compared to it’s competitors that had already gone through a bankruptcy. The news came as a shock to many. The company had enough money  to sustain the losses that it may incur through the next year. Although the company had the money to operate, the company still decided to go through with filing for bankruptcy (Isidore & Ellis, 2011). At one time American was the world largest carrier, it had dropped to third in the recent years. The company has reported only one quarter where a profit was made since 2007, and lost 4.8 billion over those three and a half years. The company was projected to continue to suffer losses. Now that the merger has been approved, American will be able to get themselves out of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (Isidore & Ellis, 2011). Now that the merger is complete, the new American Airlines has ordered over 600 new aircrafts that are updated and more modern. The new aircrafts will allow them to compete with their competitors. In the past they have lost a great deal of money from their business class travelers due to their lack of the amenities that their competitors carry on their aircrafts (American, US Airways reach merger deal., 2013). The two joining airlines will offer over 6,700 daily flights to 336 destinations in 56 countries. The merger will not distress any of the hubs presently served by American Airlines and US Airways. American Airlines has been in bankruptcy for a little over a year, and the merger will be effected pursuant to a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11. â€Å"The combination of American and US Airways brings together two highly complementary networks with access to the best destinations around the globe and gives us a strong platform to provide our customers the most connected, comfortable travel experience available,† Horton said â€Å"The operational and financial strength of the combined airline is expected to enable continued investment in new products and technologies and will create exciting new opportunities for our people, even as we deliver strong cash flow and sustainable profitability.† (American, US Airways reach merger deal., 2013). The merger with Us Airways allowed American Airlines to come out of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. Being able to do so was the first time that a major airline has been able to satisfy a bankruptcy with a return on equity for its shareholders. By deciding to partner with a smaller, but stable US Airways, the company was able to raise the value of the combine stock. Pursuant to the plan of reorganization, so-called double-dip, single-dip, and intercompany claims were settled through a delivery process which distributed the proceeds of America Airlines’ estate based on the  trading price of the new company’s common shares. This quick fix solution lessens the opportunity of appraisal disputes by guaranteeing creditors got a current market value. When it was all said and done, American Airlines creditors, including its unsecured creditors were given payment in full. For the first time in a major airline reformation, shareholders were able to accept a return on their equity. The approved stock exchange merger left American Airlines shareholders with 72% of the new company and the US Airway investors with the lingering 28%.US Airways decided to do what most company who are going through a merger wouldn’t. They negotiated with American Airlines unions before finalizing the merger. This established a foundation of a cooperative negotiating agreement for the new company, so that labor disagreements would not disrupt or lengthen the merger development. Following numerous noteworthy airline merges it was predictable that the formation of one of the world’s largest carriers would raise some anti-tr ust hurdles. The first curtailed from the US government. The airline seized a proactive tactic, agreeing to surrender some of it apertures at airports around the US, leading to court approval of the merger (Thomas, 2014). Although the two companies have merged and are legally one entity, they have both agreed to operate separately until they can integrate both systems successfully. As with any merger, both sides will suffer losses of their employees. Majority of the top leadership positions will be held by US Airways top executives in the new American Airlines. US Airways CEO Doug Parker will head the merged carrier. Of the top eight executive positions, five of those positions come from the US Airways’ side. American CEO Tom Horton will be the chairman of the board, and will continue on through until the first meeting of the new board next year. Parker will keep the executives that he is more familiar with. The new leadership team includes US Airways President Scott Kirby and others who have worked alongside Parker for several years (American and US Airways name merged airline leadership, 2013). American Airlines has suffered tremendously over the last few years. Us Airway which is a smaller company, was in a better position financially than American. Although Us Airway was more stable, they didn’t have access to many of the locations that American Airlines did. The merger was a great idea for both. American was able to get out of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier than anticipated. They have switched over from the Star  Alliance and move to One world global alliance. The new company now has over a 100,000 employees worldwide. Nothing but positive results seems to be coming from the merger of the two. In the beginning, the merger was questionable, and the Justice Department along with six other states filed a lawsuit against the company. The reason for the lawsuit is that they were in fear of the creation of the world largest airline raising prices on travelers. The slight raise in ticket sales, fees for flight changes, check bags, would be detrimental to consumers. American Airlines and US Airways were able to settle the suit and bring everyone to ease. In summary, the merger has run smoothly thus so far and according to plan. Currently both companies are operating individually although they are legally identified as one entity. The companies are working to collaborate their systems together as well. At the point in time, they are honoring each other’s flier miles and plan. Some of them have been eliminated to coincide with the polices of the company. American Airlines decided to merge with Us Airways to regain its place as the world largest airline. The reason for the merger has been negative on American’s side, but will benefit their company in the long run. In my essay, I have attempted to explain In the circumstances that resulted in the merger, assess the significant positive (or negative) effects of the merger, and examine the organizational structure that has resulted from the merger.