Do Not Use the Refutation Essay Sample - Why Not to Do So?

Do Not Use the Refutation Essay Sample - Why Not to Do So?The rebuttal essay is the best way to clear yourself from abuse. You do not have to do this, however, because I have written a response essay sample to go along with this article.At the age of seven or eight my parents' email was leaked to my school, where I also had classes. At first, I did not even know why my school had called on me, but when I had to go to them to explain, they asked me why I had created a letter to my mother. I did not understand why, but that is not what happened. When my mother was going through the whole process of writing a letter, I wrote it.My mother is different people from everyone else, and that is why she knows everything about her child. The letter had so much to say about what I had been through, and it really did show that I was being misused, and abused, by my mother.She had read the letter, and then had to write another letter to her mother, who had left me for four years. As you can see, t he letter was much more than a 'formality', and she had to make sure she was sending out the right message.I still am in touch with her from time to time, and she still tells me that she does not like to leave the house anymore because it is so hard on her to be home alone. All of this is no doubt because of the 'another child' who came into the family after the divorce.Sometimes the mother of the child will respond to your letter in a different way than the mother of the child with whom you are in contact, but what does thatmatter? If you have to understand the how the woman left the child, then you can use the essay sample to help you.In your own experience, you can see why your writing should be more personal, and not just written in order to please your mother. As you do more research on 'women who leave their children' the more you will understand what they are going through, and it can help you see that you are not as bad as you thought.

Humman Cloning Essay Example

Humman Cloning Essay * INTRODUCTION: The world of science and the public at large were both shocked and fascinated by the announcement in the journal Nature by Ian Wilmut and his colleagues that they had successfully cloned a sheep from a single cell of an adult sheep (Wilmut 1997). Scientists were in part surprised, because many had believed that after the very early stage of embryo development at which differentiation of cell function begins to take place, it would not be possible to achieve cloning of an adult mammal by nuclear transfer. In this process, the nucleus from the cell of an adult mammal is inserted into an ennucleated ovum, and the resulting embryo develops following the complete genetic code of the mammal from which the inserted nucleus was obtained. But some scientists and much of the public were troubled or apparently even horrified at the prospect that if adult mammals such as sheep could be cloned, then cloning of adult humans by the sameprocess would likely be possible as well. Of course, the process is far from perfected even with sheep— it took 276 failures by Wilmut and his colleagues to produce Dolly, their one success. Whether the process can be successfully replicated in other mammals, much less in humans, is not now known. But those who were horrified at the prospect of human cloning were not assuaged by the fact that the science with humans is not yet there, for it looked to them now perilously close. The response of most scientific and political leaders to the prospect of human cloning, indeed of Dr. Wilmut as well, was of immediate and strong condemnation. We will write a custom essay sample on Humman Cloning specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Humman Cloning specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Humman Cloning specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In the United States, President Clinton immediately banned federal financing of human cloning research and asked privately funded scientists to halt such work until the newly formed National Bioethics Advisory Commission could review the â€Å"troubling† ethical and legal implications. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized human cloning as â€Å"ethically unacceptable as it would violate some of the basic principles which govern medically assisted reproduction. These include respect for the dignity of the human being and the protection of the security of human genetic material† (WHO 1997). Around the world similar immediate condemnation was heard, as human cloning was called a violation of human rights and human dignity. Even before Wilmut’s announcement, human cloning had been made illegal in nearly all countries in Europe and had been condemned by the Council of Europe (Council of Europe 1986). A few more cautious voices were heard, both suggesting some possible benefits from the use of human cloning in limited circumstances and questioning its too quick prohibition, but they were a clear minority. In the popular media, nightmare scenarios of laboratory mistakes resulting in monsters, the cloning of armies of Hitlers, the exploitative use of cloning for totalitarian ends as in Huxley’s Brave New World, and the murderous replicas of the film Blade Runner, all fed the public controversy and uneasiness. A striking feature of these early responses was that their strength and intensity seemed to far outrun the arguments and reasons offered in support of them— they seemed often to be â€Å"gut level† emotional reactions rather than considered reflections on the issues. Such reactions should not be simply dismissed, both because they may point us to important considerations otherwise missed and not easily articulated, and because they often have a major impact on public policy. But the formation of public policy should not ignore the moral reasons and arguments that bear on the practice of human cloning— these must be articulated inE-4 order to understand and inform people’s more immediate emotional responses. This paper is an effort to articulate, and to evaluate critically, the main moral considerations and arguments for and against human cloning. Though many people’s religious beliefs inform their views on human cloning, and it is often difficult to separate religious from secular positions, I shall restrict myself to arguments and reasons that can be given a clear secular formulation and will ignore explicitly religious positions and arguments pro or con. I shall also be concerned principally with cloning by nuclear transfer, which permits cloning of an adult, not cloning by embryo splitting, although some of the issues apply to both (Cohen and Tomkin 1994). I begin by noting that on each side of the issue there are two distinct kinds of moral arguments brought forward. On the one hand, some opponents claim that human cloning would violate fundamental moral or human rights, while some proponents argue that its prohibition would violate such rights. On the other hand, both opponents and proponents also cite the likely harms and benefits, both to individuals and to society, of the practice. While moral and even human rights need not be understood as bsolute, that is, as morally requiring people to respect them no matter how great the costs or bad consequences of doing so, they do place moralrestrictions on permissible actions that appeal to a mere balance of benefits over harms. For example, the rights of human subjects in research must be respected even if the result is that some potentially beneficial research is made more difficult or cannot be done, and the right of free expression prohibits the silencing of unpopular or even abhorrent views; in Ronald Dworkin’s striking formulation, rights trump utility (Dworkin 1978). I shall take up both the moral rights implicated in human cloning, as well as its more likely significant benefits and harms, because none of the rights as applied to human cloning is sufficiently uncontroversial and strong to settle decisively the morality of the practice one way or the other. But because of their strong moral force, the assessment of the moral rights putatively at stake is especially important. A further complexity here is that it is sometimes controversial whether a particular consideration is merely a matter of benefits and harms, or is instead a matter of moral or human rights. I shall begin with the arguments in support of permitting human cloning, although with no implication that it is the stronger or weaker position * The possibility of human cloning, raised when Scottish scientists at Roslin Institute created the much-celebrated sheep Dolly (Nature  385,  810-13, 1997), aroused worldwide interest and concern because of its scientific and ethical implications. The feat, cited by  Science  magazine as the breakthrough of 1997, also generated uncertainty over the meaning of cloning an umbrella term traditionally used by scientists to describe different processes for duplicating biological material. Historical Background: The history of human cloning human cloning is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating chapters of our lives. Essential question to be discussed to understand the ramifications of human cloning is when human life begins? C. Ward Kischer, a famous American embryologists, wrote in a recent article: Since 1973 when Roe vs. Wade was wo n there were many socio-legal issues related to human embryo. Abortion, fertilization in vitro research on human embryos, research on stem cells, cloning and genetic engineering are substantive issues of human embryology†. The answer is clear embryology that life begins at fertilization of the egg by a sperm (sexual reproduction) or if the SCNT cloning, implantation and activation when the donor somatic cell nucleus into an egg recipient (asexual reproduction). (6) Although non-mammalian cloning was achieved in 1952, mankind had to wait another 44 years until he was finally cloned the first mammal. The first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep was born on July 5, 1996. In this fascinating history of cloning, there has been a major setback in 2003 when Dolly died at the age of 6 years. Death of the first cloned mammal, was followed by a lively debate related issues / ethical aspects of cloning, debate that continues today. Besides the successful attempts to clone the different species of animals, XX century was marked by several important moments in the development of the genealogy. Deciphering the success of DNA code in 1968 came as an enormous progress around much desired human clone. With nearly 20 years later, by 1988 the human genome, that genome Homosapiens stored in 23 pairs of chromosomes has been released. As things were headed becoming better by the appearance of a human clone, a major problem has become human cloning prohibition act in 2009, which has labeled as cloning illegal, immoral, not unethical activity. Since 2009, human cloning is illegal in 23 countries. So far, experiments were undertaken with five species of animals and the high rate of failure has given rise to many questions about human cloning success. Only 1% of animal cloning made so far have had a positive result, but most of them have suffered serious disorders. The conclusion of experts is that the current level of technology, human cloning is very dangerous. I discussed two types of human cloning: therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells from an adult for medicinal use and is an active research area, while reproductive cloning would involve the creation of human clones. Therapeutic cloning could provide unique ways to cure diseases until now considered incurable: diabetes, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, heart disease. (1) The third type of cloning called replacement cloning is a possibility in theory and would be a combination of therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Higher probability of achieving a therapeutic cloning is more accessible in terms of technique, but also less morally problematic. * Statement Of The Problem: * What is cloning? Are there different types of cloning * How can cloning technologies be used? * What Animal Haved Been Cloned ? * Can organs be cloned for use in transplants? * What are the risks of cloning? * Should humans be cloned? * How Human Cloning Will Work Cause And Effect: Ethics Ethical issues of human cloning have become an important issue in recent years. Many ethical arguments against human cloning are based on misconceptions. Many people think that these clones will have the same characteristics / personalities as the person cloned. Although clone and cloned individual have the same genes, traits and personalities are different. People think that a clone is physically identical to the donor and her behavior, but this is not true because although there is a physical identity, living environment shapes an individuals ongoing behavior and psychology. Many people believe that cloning will lead to loss of individuality eventually, but people have their own personality cloned which personality is similar to those in which they were created. Lawrence Nelson, associate professor of philosophy at UCS, said that embryos can be used for research if: the purpose of research can not be achieved by other methods;    the embryos have reached more than 14-18 days of development;    those who use forbid you to consider or treat as personal property. One of the most serious problems of cloning of human embryos for therapeutic purposes, is that with harvesting stem cells, the embryo is formed by cloning practical killed. We can not reduce the existence of a human embryo to a cell as long as after both science and teaching of the Church, the human embryo is a carrier of life. 8) For a few years, the legalization of human cloning is in the center of global debate, which was also attended not only scientists but also politicians, philosophers, theologians, psychologists. For example, American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) has spoken out against cloning, drawing attention that some business people might think of trading a human life. (4) What is harder is that it could reach the reproduction of living people without them knowing, to be involved in this process or to give consent. Questions appeared on the social status of any clone. What will be their status in society? In the U. S. House of Representatives issued a ruling that human cloning is illegal, but the Senate has yet to rule on the matter. The opinions are still leaning toward accepting only therapeutic cloning. Legalization of therapeutic cloning has been proposed as the only way to investigate, the chances of success, the basic criterion for funding such programs as the primary objective should be finding cures for incurable diseases. A coalition of states, including Spain, Italy, Philippines, USA, Costa Rica and the Holy Land have tried to expand the debate on all forms of human cloning, noting that in their view, therapeutic cloning violates human dignity. Costa Rica proposed the adoption of an international convention to combat any form of cloning. Australia has banned human cloning in December 2006, but therapeutic cloning is now legal in some parts of Australia. European Union European Convention on Human Rights prohibits human cloning in an additional protocol, but the protocol has been ratified only by Greece, Spain and Portugal. England The British government introduced legislation to allow therapeutic cloning in a debate on January 14, 2001. Hope that parliament will pass the law was prohibitive. Roman Catholic Church under Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the practice of human cloning, saying it represents a grave offense against human dignity and equality among the people. Human cloning is prohibited in Islam at the Tenth Conference in Jeddah. Saudi Arabia has decided on June 28, 1997-July 3, 1997 as the beginning of human cloning is haraam (forbidden by the faith-sin). Jesse Rainbow explain why there is an aversion to human cloning a clone would not be a real person cloning is playing the God cloning is not natural mention in closing some of the conditions proposed in a provisional list yet, so research on therapeutic human cloning (reproductive one is illegal) to proceed lawfully: it is necessary for embryos to be used only in the early stages of their development, without being allowed to grow further, all programs research must be supervised by government organizations dealing with fertilization and genetic techniques, various research programs will receive funding and approval only if it is scientifically demonstrated that there is no other way of obtaining the same results conventional, will not be permitted to research on human genetic material can be combined with that of animals, there must be a permanent state of public information on research undertaken and to be postulated that the limitations may be required to report the experiences and suffering of animals used for human benefit. (5)

Career Comparison Essays

Career Comparison Essays Career Comparison Essay Career Comparison Essay ENGL 227 Formal Report Instruction In this assignment, students will work independently to write a short formal report that analyzes a situation and provides recommendations. This course project will satisfy TCOs 4, 6 and 8. Overview In this assignment, students will analyze two possible career choices, and then write a formal analytical report effectively presenting a recommendation to pursue one of the careers. This project has two parts: * Part one, the Table of Contents and Introductory Section, is due at the end of week 6. Part two, the report in its entirety, is due at the end of week 8. * Students are encouraged to begin work on this project no later than week 5, reading the project directions, reading Chapters 13, 14, and 15, and, if time permits, doing preliminary research. Formal Report Topic This assignment is based on Case Number 4, Chapter 15 on pages 466-67: Reconciling the experts: Resolving the advice on writing business plans. Here’s th e situation: Read and follow the directions on pages 466-67 in chapter 15. Your report should include the following: * Information as noted and asked for in the case. Research from at least six credible sources to inform the your audience and to support the recommendation(s) * APA citations for all researched information (in-text parenthetical citations and a reference list at the end of the report) * Formal report formatting You will need to conduct outside research and cite your sources using APA citations. Conclude the formal report by making recommendations to your audience. Your report MUST be formatted as a formal report. Part One (Due Week 6) Table of Contents and Introduction Your assignment this week is to write your formal report’s table of contents and introduction, using formal formatting. To complete this assignment, you will need to have a good plan in place for your formal report. I encourage you to use the three-step process we’ve been studying this session. (The formal report is due in its entirety at the end of week 8. In week 6, only the table of contents and introduction are due. Formatting Help View this week’s tutorial, which will show you how to use the outline view of MS Word to create a table of contents. Using the outline view will make formatting your table of contents and report much simpler than formatting the entire TOC manually! Notice that there are slight differences between formal reports and formal proposals. When referring to chapters 13-16, make sure you refer to the passages that pertain to formal re ports. Formatting Help View this week’s tutorial, which will show you how to use the outline view of MS Word to create a table of contents. Using the outline view will make formatting your table of contents and report much simpler than formatting the entire TOC manually! Notice that there are slight differences between formal reports and formal proposals. When referring to chapters 13-16, make sure you refer to the passages that pertain to formal reports. In week 6, your assignment should include the following: * A table of contents using formal report formatting. Note that page numbers are not necessary this week, as you will not have written the actual report yet. Page numbers should be added next week, though, when you complete the report. ) * The table of contents should include first- and second-level headings, like the example on page 437 in chapter 15. * Include an introductory section featuring the following four parts (see page 439 in chapter 15 for an example. * Introduction * Purpose, Sco pe, and Limitations * Sources and Methods * Report Organization Identify at least six credible sources you will use in your proposal in the â€Å"Sources and Methods† section. * Use formal report formatting. * Be free of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Part Two (Due Week 8) Formal Report in Full In week 6, you planned the formal report and wrote the TOC and introduction. In week 8, you will complete the formal report. (You may need to revise the TOC and Introduction, based on the feedback you receive from your instructor. ) In week 8, your assignment should contain the following: Be formatted as a formal report, following the guidelines formal reports in the text (including the guidelines for headings and subheadings found on pages 435-448); * Include appropriate prefatory, text, and supplemental parts (The formal report should contain appropriate prefatory, text, and supplemental parts, including the following: a cover and/or title page; a letter of transmittal; a table of contents; the four-part Introductory Section from week 6; appropriately labeled body sections; and appendices, such as the client interview and list of references. Your report does not need to contain all of these parts, but should contain most of them. ); * Fully answer the question posed in the case from the text, considering all of the background information provided and fulfilling the purpose outlined in the case. The word count for the intro, body, and conclusion should be 1250-1750 words); * Use at least six credible researched sources appropriately and effectively; * Include proper documentation using APA style (both in-text and end-of-text citationsplease check your work using turnitin. om); and * Be free of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Note: Visual aids are entirely appropriate for this kind of report, but they are not required. If you decide to use visual aids, be certain to adhere to the standards we have studied previously in this course. How the Formal Report Assignment is Graded The Formal Report Assignment will be graded according to the criteria set forth in the Rubrics for weeks 6 and 7/8, located in Doc Sharing.

Managing Change in Healthcare Organisation Essay - 1

Managing Change in Healthcare Organisation - Essay Example The ABC healthcare organisation is a large multiple site facility providing a continuum of healthcare services from acute to long term care patients in hospital setting. One of its acute care facilities which provide emergency services to the community is in need of a new triage system in emergency departments. Both management and the emergency nursing staff have identified the need to improve the practice of triage in the emergency departments. Each has expressed, in written documents, the recommendation to change and implement the new national triage guidelines. At the same time, the emergency department staff has expressed dissatisfaction with how changes have been implemented in the past. They have expressed their perception that there is no formalised plan to implement change. In addition, they have also expressed, in meetings and discussions within the department, their unhappiness with the multitude of changes that have occurred within the organisation itself. The emergency staffs, themselves, have also undergone changes in their unit's management. They have gone from having their own individual managers to one manager for multiple facilities. They have also had a number of different managers over the past few years and identified a lack of consistent leadership within the department. Another issue that has also been identified in staff meetings and discussions within the department is the staff's unhappiness with how decisions are made within the department. It is their expressed perception that the system of decision making within the organisation is top/bottom. Decisions are made by management at the top and flow down to staff at the bottom, who are expected to follow them. The emergency department staff has expressed their feelings of not being listened to. They have also expressed their perception that others are making decisions and implementing changes that affect them, but no one has consulted them in the process. Lack of input and obvious planning are seen as fundamental problems. Changes are seen as being imposed without consultation or any visible change management planning or strategy (Paton & McCalman, 2008). According to Senge (1990), most organisations create fundamental learning disabilities by the way they have been taught to think, interact and d o their jobs. In this top/bottom system there is a sense of "I am my position" from the top and "the enemy is out there" from the bottom (p.18-19). These learning disabilities limit the organisation's ability to implement effective and lasting change. A change that is planned and has the commitment of the emergency department staff could be implemented successfully and be of benefit to both the patients encountering the emergency department, and the organisation itself. Identifying the Problem Nurses value quality care and patient safety (Henderson et al, 2007). Accurate decision making is important to them. Nurses want to make the right decisions but do not necessarily like the idea of change. Emergency nurses like many other professionals resist change (Paton & McCalman, 2008). In addition, the tremendous amount of change the facility emergency departments have been through in recent years can be expected to increase this resistance. "However people attracted to a field as diverse and chaotic as emergency care are usually aggressive and motivated and do not tolerate stagnation any better then they tolerate change" (MacPhail, in Budassi-Sheehy, 1992, pl). One cause of the problem is continuous change within the organisation and the perception that change is implemented without consultation or a plan of action (Harvard Business Essentials, 2003). The root cause of the problem is a lack of trust. When employees trust the management they are more likely to be more prepared and open to undertaking change but less likely if they do not feel trust. Trustworthiness needs

CMM-Media and Society - Discuss Pozner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CMM-Media and Society - Discuss Pozner - Essay Example Since women are called the jealous gender, they are also given the title of being untrustworthy. And all this is simply a result of television shows making up our minds for us. We regularly watch such shows where women are shown trying to steal other women’s boyfriends and husbands; where they are competing with their own gender and planning against them; where they are trying to harm other women and getting a weird kind of satisfaction through it. And the reason behind television portraying such a view of women is that these kinds of shows are more popular among those who have nothing better to do than pass time. Besides, it serves as comedy and entertainment shows for the less intellectuals. Again, it is mainly about ratings and where there is a catfight there will be bound to be an audience for it. Such has become the mentality of our people and the television takes full advantage of

Explosion In The British Petroleum Texas City Refinery Commerce Essay

Explosion In The British Petroleum Texas City Refinery Commerce Essay The explosion and fires incident in the British Petroleum Texas City refinery on 23 March, 2005 has been described and reviewed in this assignment. Investigation report revealed that the incident occurred during the startup of an isomerization (ISOM) process unit. It was reported that this incident resulted in huge impact on BP Company and its stakeholders. The impact of the incident has been critically commended with the support of several data. Fatalities and injuries on nearby trailers, onsite and offsite damage, post-incident emergency response, and economic losses were the major consequences of the explosion. Causes of the incident have been also examined in order to improve BP performance. Organizational and process safety inadequate was the major blame for the incident. Recommendations which may improve BP situation and help to avoid hazardous incident have been provided throughout the assignment. The improvement on process safety culture, organizational changes such as merger and acquisition, budget cutting and employees training at all levels, as well as the enforcement of more effective safety management systems have been suggested to improve BP performance. Lastly, a safe trailer placement policy has been proposed to avoid the risk of similar incident. British Petroleum Company and Texas City Refinery Background The British Petroleum (BP) refinery in Texas City, Texas is the third largest oil refinery plant in the U.S. On Wednesday, 23 March 2005 at 1:20p.m, an explosion and fires happened at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, 30 miles southeast of Houston. The BP refinery in Texas City has the great impact on the overall gasoline supply in the U.S. This oil refinery has the capability to produce about 10 million gallons of gasoline per day. This amount of production makes up about 2.5% of the gasoline sold in the U.S. Apart from producing gasoline, this BP refinery also produces diesel fuels, jet fuels, and chemical feed stocks. There are 29 oil refinery units and 4 chemical units cover its 1,200 acre plant. In BP refinery in Texas City, BP employs about 1,800 employees. While the explosion and fires occurred, about 800 contractor workers were onsite carrying turnaround activities. The site has had several alters in management at both the corporate and refinery stages from its commission ing to the date of the explosion incident (Kaszniak Holmstrom, 2008; U.S Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), 2005). Incident Description On 23 March, 2005, explosion and fires in BP Texas City refinery occurred during the startup of an isomerization (ISOM) process unit (Figure 1). On that morning, the raffinate splitter tower in the refinerys ISOM unit was restarted after it had been shut down for maintenance. During the startup of a section of the ISOM unit, flammable liquid hydrocarbons were pumped into a distillation tower for more than 3 hours without any liquid being removed by operations worker. This action was opposing to startup procedure instructions. The false signal provided by control instrumentation and critical alarms failed to alert the operator workers of the high level in the tower. As a result, unidentified by the operations worker, the distillation tower was overfilled and flammable liquid hydrocarbons overflowed into the overhead pipe at the top of the tower (Kaszniak Holmstrom, 2008; U.S CSB, 2005). As the overhead pipe filled with liquid hydrocarbons, the pressure at the bottom rose rapidly and resulted in the three emergency relief valves which used to protect the tower from high pressure opened for six minutes. A large quantity of liquid hydrocarbons then flowed from the discharge of safety relief valves to a blowdown drum with a vent stack open to the atmosphere. The blowdown drum and stack speedily overfilled with flammable liquid hydrocarbons, which resulted in geyser-like release out the 113-foot tall stacks (Figure 2) (Kaszniak Holmstrom, 2008; U.S CSB, 2005). According to CSB final report (2005), this blowdown system was a hazardous and outdated design. As the liquid hydrocarbons fell to the ground, some of the volatile liquid evaporated to form a flammable vapor cloud. The explosion and fires happened when the flammable vapor cloud was ignited most likely by an idling diesel truck positioned approximately 25 feet from the blowdown drum. The vapor cloud arrived at a wi de area which is evident by the burned area as shown in Figure 3 (U.S CSB, 2005). Figure 1. Raffinate section of isomerization ISOM process unit (U.S CSB, 2005) Figure 2. Raffinate splitter tower overfills and blowdown drum releases flammable liquid hydrocarbons to the atmosphere (U.S CSB, 2005) Figure 3. A post-explosion photo shows the burned area in and around the ISOM unit had the most severe fire damage while the red arrow points to the top of the blowdown stack (U.S CSB, 2005). Causes of Incident There are several key findings as the causes of this incident occurred in BP Texas City refinery after an investigation was conducted by BPs investigation team which coordinated with CSB, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The causes of the incidents are summarized as below, The BP board of Directors did not propose effective safety culture and major accident prevention programs. There were no member in charge of measuring and verifying the performance of BPs major accident hazard preventive programs (U.S CSB, 2005). Risk blindness (The Economists, 2006). For instance, BP did not take effective actions to halt the growing risk of a catastrophic event although several fatalities occurred in BP Texas City refinery prior to this incident (U.S CSB, 2005). BP was too much focused on the low personal injury rate at Texas City while the process safety management and safety culture had severe insufficiency (U.S CSB, 2005) Inadequate in BPs mechanical integrity program. This led to the failure of the process unit in BP Texas City refinery (U.S CSB, 2005). Overzealous cost-cutting strategies (Economist, 2006; Marketline, 2007a; U.S CSB, 2005). According to CSB final report (2005), BP Group executive managers had expenses cuts in the 6 years resulting in the Texas City disaster without measuring their impact on safety of the site (Economist, 2007; Process Engineering, 2007). The blowdown drum and the relief valve disposal piping were undersized and the relief valve system safety study was 13 years overdue (Process Engineering, 2007; US CSB, 2005). ISOM operators had been overstretched (Economist, 2007; US CSB, 2005). Insufficient in BPs operator training program (US. CSB, 2005). Impact of Incident on BP Company and its Stakeholders Explosion and fires in BP Texas City refinery resulted in several negative effects on BP Company and its stakeholders. Those effects include casualties and injuries, facility and equipment damage, offsite damage, post-incident emergency response and economic losses (US CSB, 2005). Stakeholders of BP who had been affected by this incident were as below, BP Company and its employees Employees of contracting firms which include Jacobs Engineering Group (J.E. Merit), Fluor Corp. and General Electric Co. Families of dead victims and injured workers in this incident Texas community Texas City BP stockholders The U.S citizens who use crude oil Casualties and injuries In the incident, it was reported that 15 contract employees of J.E. Merit, Fluor Corp. and General Electric Co. were killed and a total of 180 employees in the refinery were injured (U.S CSB, 2005). Investigation report revealed that those 15 casualties were due to the explosions impact on the nearby temporary office trailers where employees were having meetings. Of the 15 casualties, 11 of them were employees of Jacobs, Pasadena, Calif, which was contractor in BPs Texas City refinery. The 11 dead Jacobs workers include several managers, administrators and 4 female craft workers. 3 of the victims were employees of Fluor, Aliso Viejo, Calif, was contractor provided maintenance management services at the plant since 2001. The remaining contractor victim was employee of General Electric Co. whereas no BP employee was killed in the incident. Blunt force trauma, which most likely resulting from being hit by structural components of the trailers was the cause of the all 15 casualties. Duri ng the incident, there were approximately 2,200 contract employees and 1,100 BP employees working at the refinery plant. Table 1 shows the details of the 15 dead contractor employees (Powers Rubin, 2005; US CSB, 2005). Company Name Age Position J.E Merit Glenn V. Bolton 50 Planner-scheduler J.E Merit Lorena Lori G. Cruz 32 Instrument fitter-helper J.E Merit Morris R. King 57 Construction manager J.E Merit Arthur G. Ramos 59 Quality control technician J.E Merit Ryan Rodriquez 28 Craft superintendent J.E Merit James W. Rowe 48 Civil superintendent J.E Merit Linda M. Rowe 47 Tool room assistant J.E Merit Kimberly A. Smith 43 Field administrator J.E Merit Susan D. Taylor 33 Pipe fitter helper J.E Merit Larry S. Thomas 63 Project superintendent J.E Merit Eugene White 53 Safety supervisor Fluor Corp. Rafael Herrera 27 Quality control inspector Fluor Corp. Daniel Hogan 58 Quality control inspector Fluor Corp. Jimmy Hunnings 58 Quality control inspector General Electric Co. Larry Linsenbardt 58 Title not disclosed Table 1. Contractor employees who died in the incident (Powers Rubin, 2005) Additionally, 180 employees at the plant were injured, 66 of the victims had serious injuries and most of them were suffered multiple injuries. It was reported that lacerations, fractures, sprains, strains, punctures and second-and third degree burns were the typical combination of injuries occurred on victims. Those seriously injured had leave for works, medical treatment or constrained work activity. Of the 66 workers with serious injuries, 14 were BP employees while the others were contractor workers from 13 different firms. Moreover, report revealed that 114 employees were given first aid during the incident. Of those who were given first aid, 35 were BP employees while the rest were contract employees from 14 different contracting firms (U.S. CSB, 2005). Facility and equipment damage According to CSB final report (2005), the place within the ISOM unit which caused explosion, nearby trailer area, the adjacent catalyst warehouse as shown in Figure 4 and the adjacent parking areas suffered the most severe blast damage. The nearby metal warehouse which used to store catalyst and the satellite control room were heavily damaged (Powers Rubin, 2005; U.S CSB, 2005). Figure 4. Nearby trailers that sited west of the blowdown drum (pointed by red arrow) were destroyed (U.S CSB, 2005). Furthermore, it was found that about 70 vehicles surrounding the ISOM unit were damaged and numerous vehicles were destroyed (U.S CSB, 2005). Moreover, a total of 44 trailers sustained heavy damaged (Figure 5) and 13 trailers were totally destroyed by the blast pressure wave that propagated through the plant when the explosion and fires happened. Report also disclosed that a number of workers were injured in trailers as far as 479-foot away from the explosion (Kaszniak Holmstrom, 2008; U.S CSB, 2005). Additionally, adjacent buildings also were damaged by the blast pressure. The damage level on building was not as severe as those occurred on trailers. The damage on surrounding buildings included damaged doors, cracked walls, and broken windows, scattering of interior contents, damaged roofs and bent metal panels. Also, the explosion also damaged a total of 50 storage tanks although most tank farm was located more than 250-foot away from the ISOM unit. The damage on tanks included distorted tank shells, both the shell sides and the roofs. A number of tanks utilized to hold hazardous substances like benzene were found being damaged as well and this resulted in the hazardous substances vapors escaped to atmosphere (U.S. CSB, 2005). Offsite Damage CSB report disclosed that not only the buildings in the refinery were damaged but windows of some houses and business buildings which situated north of the refinery were broken as well. These damaged offsite buildings were located up to 3 quarters of mile away from the explosion (U.S CSB, 2005). Figure 5. Trailers in the vicinity of the ISOM unit were heavily damaged (Occupational Hazards, 2005). Post-Incident Emergency Response The emergency response teams in Texas City were one of the BP stakeholders affected by this BP refinery explosion. These emergency teams provided effective and rapid assistance for the injured people and recovered the fatalities. Texas City Industrial Mutual Aid System (IMAS) member companies helped with search and rescue and fire hose lines (U.S CSB, 2005) Economic Losses BP has set aside approximately $2 billion in compensation repairs, payouts and lost profit for settlement of the incident (Marketline, 2007a). According to The Justice Department and US Environment Protection Agency (EPA), in order to resolve Clean Air Act violations in Texas City refinery, BP Products North America has spent over $161 million after the explosion to control pollution in Texas City, improved monitoring and maintenance and enhanced its internal management practices in Texas City refinery. EPA also reported that $12 million was paid by BP on civil penalty and $6 million was spent on a supplemental project to decrease air pollution in Texas. For settlement issues, BP also converted 100 diesel public vehicles to vehicles that operate using liquefied or compressed natural gas in order to reduce the hazardous emissions like hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Besides that, BP agreed to build 4 refueling stations for those converted public vehicles (Marketl ine, 2009). It was also reported that BP faced penalties with $92,000 from The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for violations in the Texas City refinery (Marketline, 2007b). Moreover, to compensate the victims in the explosion, BP has incurred $1.6 billion (Economist, 2007). Likewise, BP faced reduction in its fourth quarter profit in 2006 due to the huge expenses on safety and integrity investments after the incident. It was reported that BPs fourth quarter profit fell 12% when compared to the last 3 quarters of 2005. Although BP achieved record profit for 2006; BP lagged behind that of its UK competitor Shell (Marketline, 2007c). BPs share price also trailed its rivals like Americans Exxon Mobil in 2006 (Economist, 2007). Recommendations Some recommendations to improve BP situation have been proposed after accessing the causes of the incident. Safety culture recommendation and trailer siting recommendation have been suggested to BP Company as follow, Safety culture recommendation Improve and emphasis more on process safety culture and performance through: Increase spending on safety assessment and maintenance Appoint an expert on safety management systems for at least 5 years to examine the safety progress in BP refineries. Incorporate process safety into management decision making at all levels Promote improved process safety through education and training employees at all levels Construct organizational changes that may improve process safety which include: Main organizational changes in refinery, for instance through mergers and acquisitions Policies changes like cost cutting and ensure consistency of policies Employees changes such as changes in staff experience and hire more workers to avoid work overloads. Reinforce safety management systems through enforcement of more valuable and effective programs, for instance: Mechanical integrity programs Risk management and analysis programs and Errors reporting and investigation programs Trailers siting recommendation Develop a novel trailers placement policy which contains practices to ensure the safe siting of trailers as below, Protect occupied trailers from accident exposure, for example, explosion pressure and heat Set up minimum safe distance requirements for trailer siting where is away from dangerous zones of process plants Assess the relocated trailers placement via novel risk analysis methodology Conclusion The explosion and fires occurred in BP Texas City refinery in 2005 resulted in huge impact on BP Company and its stakeholders. The effects of the incident included casualties and injuries which 15 contract employees were killed and 180 employees in the plant were injured, facility and equipment in the plant were damaged or destroyed, offsite houses and business buildings were damaged, assistance from emergency response teams in Texas City and economic losses. BP had has paid about $2 billion to compensate the repairs, payouts and lost profits and about $1.6 billion to compensate the victims. Moreover, BP was fined by EPA and OSHA for violations in Texas City refinery. BPs Q4 profit in 2006 also faced declination due to the explosion in Texas City refinery. The profit reduction not only affected BP Company but also BP stockholders. The incident also resulted in the financial performance of BP lagged behind its competitors. As part of settlement, BP also agreed to convert 100 diesel pu blic vehicles to vehicles that operate using liquefied or compressed natural gas. Furthermore, the incident has vast impact on the overall gasoline supply in the U.S as the gasoline production of this oil refinery makes up about 2.5% of the gasoline sold in the U.S. Safety culture recommendation and trailer siting recommendation have been given to improve BP situation. Even though compliance with practices in policies does not guarantee on avoidance of hazardous incident, non-compliance undoubtedly increases the risks. Also, enforcement of effective safety management systems is essential in all companies. Last but not least, employees safety training at all levels are very important to prevent the major incidents.

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Living with Lupus Lauren Choate College of the Mainland â€Æ' Lupus is a dangerous disease that can affect anyone. It has no cure and is known to affect 9 out of 10 adults. â€Å"Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), also called lupus, is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by unusual antibodies in the blood that target tissues of the body.† (Frazier & Drzymkowski, 2008) Autoimmune means that your immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body. Lupus affects each individual differently and it may be worse for one person than it is for another. My grandmother, Carolyn, was diagnosed with Systemic lupus erythematosus in her early forties. She suffered a long time before she was diagnosed with Lupus. â€Å"The worst part of my lupus is the flare-ups† Carolyn said, â€Å"It feels as if I am on fire sometimes and every single inch of my body hurts in the most awful way I have ev...