Gender Inequalities in the Workplace Essay

The issue of gender inequality has been in the eyes of the public and been in awareness of society for decades. The problem of inequality in employment is one of the most vital issues in today’s society. In order to understand this situation one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the factors that cause the female sex to have a much more difficult time in getting the same benefits, wages, and job opportunities as the male sex. The society in which we live has been shaped historically by men. â€Å"A woman’s primary attachment is to the family role; women are therefore less intrinsically committed to work than men and less likely to maintain a high level of specialized knowledge† (Oakley, 1974, p. 28)President Clinton proclaimed April 11, 1996, as the â€Å"National Pay Inequality Awareness Day. In the year 1972, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act was established; the goal of the government was to change and eliminate the discrimination in the workplace. The major aim of these two acts is to protect individual rights and promotes employment opportunities and fairness for everyone within the workplace. We accept that the government is aware of the inequality between men and women in work place, and they are trying every way they can to prevent and discontinue the inequality; so the question is what are the reasons why women are still being treated unfairly at work?Work plays an important role in helping individuals find their true identity as well as helpi ng one builds their self-esteem. However, in the past women were not encouraged to work â€Å"real jobs†, instead they often stayed at home and are often labeled as housewives. The truth is women do work, they always have worked, but the work that they do are often unpaid labor work. Before men assumed that women didn’t really want to work; they didn’t need the money; and that they have different interests. (Kimmel, 2000, p.175) So it was assumed that women either couldn’t do a job, or, if they could, they would neither want to nor need to do it. Now in the twenty-first century things have changed dramatically, more women are educated, and more determined to search for their identity. In order for them to do that, they often time seek employment. Women’s participation in the labor force has grown to such an extent that society can no longer ignore and view women as unimportant. Women face many obstacles when seeking out jobs, and even more obstacles when they are working with men. Sex discrimination and gender inequality have always existed in society, but when does it actually start? The answer is ever since the minute they were born. In 1995 Wall Street Journal report observed that elementary school girls receive smaller allowances and are asked to do more chores than boys. (Kimmel, 2000, p.174) When a woman grows up and enters womanhood, if she wishes to work, she would have to face many irrelevant tribulations. Sex â€Å"discrimination occurs when we treat people unequally because of personal characteristics that are not related to the job. Discrimination can be when we treat people who are similar in different ways, or when we treat people who are different in similar ways.† (Kimmel, 2000) We often discriminate the people we meet because of our past experiences, from what we have learned, and through stereotyping. Stereotyping is the process of judging someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs. (Robbins, 2003) Stereotypes exist because of the differences among individuals. Since it is almost impossible for human brains to process such large degree of differences quickly, people simplify these differences and make generalizations without even noticing doing so. While these generalizations has originally begun with observed differences among people and have a shred of truth to them, most of these generalization have been so largely exaggerated over time that they no longer serve their original purpose of describing people accurately. The way that people make these generalizations are greatly dependent on their ability, background and culture. These characteristics influence how individuals perceive the world around them and their expectations toward others. Socialization and information overload also play a big role in gender stereotyping. Individuals begin learning stereotypes as early as in their infancy. According to The Reproduction Mothering theory by Nancy Chodorow (1978), infants learn expected gender behaviors and stereotypes from their mothers. The girls remain attached to their mothers to learn about emotionally intimacy, while boys are forced to separate from their mothers to be strong and independent. Then from media, school, peers and religion institution, children gradually learned what is to be expected from people who are different from themselves in ethnicity and gender, for instance. The  large amount of information readily available to us today also increases stereotyping. Since it is impossible to take in all the information, individuals have to cope with information overload by simplifying what is around them. Stereotyping generally prevents people from recognizing who an individual really is. When a person believes certain stereotypes to be true, his or her perception of a group will most probably be limited by these stereotypes and are unlikely to change. These groundless generalizations can often delay effective communications as a person assumes things about another. In the workplace, this can lead to not recognizing individual achievements and unfriendly relationships between groups, which reduces employee morale and productivity. It is important to recognize stereotypes in the workplace because of the diverse workforce today. Globalization and feminist movement have greatly increased the diversity in the work force. However, stereotypes delay management from recognizing the value of diversity and reinforce conformity in the workplace, thus limiting the organization’s potential to grow. For instance, managements can miss out good potential employees who can do good. Stereotypes are also â€Å"noises† in communications. (Robbins, 2003) In today’s organizations where communications are essential to success, stereotypes can create misunderstandings and harmfully affect day-to-day operations. Therefore, it is important that people should understand the harmful impact of stereotypes. It is also important to mention that even though occupational sex segregation started to decrease in the 1970’s and in the 1980’s, it still exists in today’s workforce. Such discrimination is operated through interviewing techniques and the stereotypes of the initial recruiter. A recruiter may believe, for example, that a managerial position is a â€Å"man’s job.† He or she may believe that a woman’s nature does not allow her to be a good manager because women are seen to â€Å"lack† leadership, managerial and technical skills. Recruiters should avoid stereotyping and realize that women are ready to join the work force in any type of job. (Robbins, 2003)Men and  women differ in their experiences with both paid and unpaid work. In comparison to men, for example women do a disproportionate share of unpaid – and usually less valued – work. Discrimination at work often leads to income gap, for doing the same job as the men, women get less pay. One of the reasons for the inequality wage gap is the assumption that when a man enters a labor force, he enters for good, while for a woman the assumption is that when she enters will eventually take time out for childbearing and parental leave. This too greatly affects women’s wages; women who drop out of the labor force have lower real wages when they come back to work than they had when they left. Jobs held by mostly females are considered unimportant and lower skilled as compared to male jobs. The other obstacle that women face in workplace is the glass ceiling and the sticky floor; these two elements are barriers preventing women from succeeding and raising their status at work. The glass ceiling is an expression used to describe the inequalities of men and women within the workforce. It seems that women can become employed but then run into an invisible barrier when they try to move up the ladder of hierarchy within the organization (McGuire, 2000, p. 3). Employers should pay close attention to gender stereotyping which exists within a workplace. If they avoid doing so they may lose an opportunity to hire or promote a good employee. In order to avoid gender stereotyping it would be of use to mention the stereotypes that exist today. Some common masculine behavior include: independence, superiority, status, competition and aggression. In contrast, the feminine behaviors are consensus, inferiority, harmony, and gentleness. (Kimmel, 2000) David Geary, a psychology professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia, concluded that such qualities of men and women are generally true. He states that these stereotypical behaviors are strongly influenced by nature. He also mentions that â€Å"Over the course of evolution, these stereotypes have resulted due to strategies used by males and females to attract mates. Men and women use certain sexual strategies in order to reproduce, and they are essential to our mating patterns.† These sexual strategies are the cause of the male and female differences of today including physical attributes, social behavior,  parental interests, and motivational and emotional patterns. However, as an employer, it is important to realize that these are generalities, and that one person can express both masculine and feminine behaviors. People should not be labeled, but instead they should be judged as individuals. Men believe that it is easier to work with men and that men do a better job and therefore deserve more money. Their pride and egos tell them that women cannot do the job as well as they can. These personal beliefs must be changed. Pairing men and women together on teams will expand the male mindset and hopefully help them realize that females and minorities are as equally qualified. Valuing the differences of all employees can make an organization stronger. Society requires that men and women work together and this is not going to change. What has to change is the way we work together. Communication is the key. If we do not communicate effectively, then the best intentions of both genders will fail (Heim, 1995, p.3). â€Å"Society influences what we are taught as children in regards to roles of females and males overflow into the workplace (Hale, 1999, p.14) â€Å"In sum, it is the relationship between social roles, interests, intergroup relationships and organizational culture norms and values that set the conditions that perpetuate unequal employment opportunities and outcomes (Hale, 1999, p.13). It is impossible to change people overnight; especially what they have been taught and what they have always have confidence in generation after generation. The managers of today grew up in families where their mothers stayed at home, kept house, and took care of children. They have been taught at home that men should be the bread winner; the leader of the house, and women should only be housewives and take care of the house. They are also taught that men are stronger and should be the leader of the household and therefore these behaviors flow into the work setting. Even the Bible states that a woman should not be over a man. These beliefs are taught generation after generation. Despite the awareness of gender inequality, there are still arguments about gender difference and assumptions that women and men are from different planets; women and men are still treated distinguishably in society. The  workplace still remains an unequal arena, plague by persistent sex segregation, wage inequality, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment. Women and men work because they want to and because they have to. Employers should not judge women as being non-dependable. Family structure has changed dramatically over the years. Fathers and mothers today now share family responsibilities. To compensate for this change, businesses have introduced flextime, job sharing, telecommuting, on-site child care and parental leave. (Kimmel, 2000) Employers should accommodate a woman’s needs and expand the gender diversity of their company. There was a time where the balance of respect and roles never existed between the two, but today, men and women are truly redefining themse lves and their relationships with each other. Most importantly, women have broken from the bondage of dependence on men. Women no longer have to submit themselves to one main role in family life as the mother. Along with being the mother, women have become the educated breadwinners. As for men, the need for dominancy has changed dramatically because today, men have been found to be the nurturing stay-at-home fathers of their family. Male and female relation is not entirely a dispute on inequality that women received from society, although that is what propels finding equality between the two genders. Besides, men today also require such needs and hiring based on gender is no longer relevant. Rather, male and female relation resolute this emergent society to work together as a unit. References Oakley, Ann. (1974) The Sociology of Housework New York: Pantheon BooksStromberg, Ann H. & Harkess, Shirley. (1978) Women Working: Theories and Facts inPerspective. California: Mayfield Publishing CompanyRobbins, Stephen P. (2003) Organizational Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice HallMcGuire, Gail M. (2000) Gender, Race, Ethnicity, & Networks [Electronic version]. Work &Occupations, 27(4), 500-523. Hale, Mary. (1999) He Says, She Says: Gender and Worklife. Public Administration Review,59(5). Retrieved March 4, 2009, from www.questia.comKimmel, Michael S. (2000) The Gendered Society. New York: Oxford University Press

Dual Core processors: A New and Better CPU Technology Essay

Most modern personal computers are based on a single-core processor – that is, a single processing unit in one integrated circuit. Never designs have integrated multi-core processors, which have more than one processing unit, integrated into a single chip. The most common design of commercial multi-core processor is a dual-core processor, which combines two processing units in one chip. These processors are used in most new Apple products, many Windows-based personal computers and many gaming systems. Major chip manufacturers AMD and Intel both offer dual core processors for use in consumer electronics. Other chip manufacturers such as Fujitsu and Pennsylvania Semiconductor have followed suit with their own dual core offerings. Manufacturers aren’t stopping at dual core offerings – they continue to increase the number of processing units in their multicore offerings, with four or even eight processing units available. Most dual core processors are RISC-based processors (Reduced instruction Set Computing), which offers faster processing than the standard single processor chip (Mears, 2005). Dual core processors have a number of advantages over the older single-core processors. They use less power, run cooler and are faster in some applications than the older chips, decreasing the possibility of overheating as well as reducing the device’s use of power (Lynch, 2005). Virtualization, or the abstraction of multiple resources into a single virtual resource or a single resource into multiple virtual resources, also is made possible by dual core chips (Lynch, 2005). This process greatly increases the efficiency of multitasking, or running multiple programs at the same time. Dual core processors were first introduced to the consumer market in mid-2005, with both AMD and Intel, the two largest chip manufacturers, bringing their products onto the market at about the same time (Lynch, 2005). They quickly became popular, particularly with graphic artists and gamers, who required the faster performance of the dual core processor. However, machines built with the processors had a steep price tag, slowing the consumer adoption of the processors. Dual core processors were at first only offered in high-end workstations intended for graphics-intensive gaming or graphics creation, and the machines often had price tags of $5,000 or more (Begun, 2005). Today, they are offered in most major computer lines, including Apple, IBM and others. Notebook computers also offer dual core processors. By the time dual core processors were introduced in 2005, single core processors had reached their speed limit due to limits on the size of chip components (Lynch, 2005) Dual core processors did not offer faster speeds for all programs at first. Because of the design of the chip, only programs that were able to run multithreaded (dividing the required calculations between two different processors) would see an increase of speed when used with a dual core processor. At the time the processors were introduced, this included operating systems such as Windows, some graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop and many graphics-intensive games, particularly multi-player Internet based games (Begun, 2005). Lynch (2005) noted that a popular consumer application of the dual core chip would be to download media such as television or movies while playing a game using the other core. More impressive than the efficiency games in high-calculation applications is the reduced power requirement and heat production. Wong’s analysis of the PA Semiconductor PA6T dual core chip demonstrates the gains made over single core chips in this area. The PA6T chip uses the 64 bit Power architecture, and uses a fine-grain clock gating approach to reduce the power usage even further (Wong, 2007). The chip uses only 13W of power for a 2-gHz chip, offering a significant advantage over a single-core processor. Lynch (2005) stated that while a single core AMD chip used 89 Watts, a dual core chip with twice the processing power used only 95. Lynch noted that the heat gains that were realized with the dual core architecture were especially important in reducing fan noise and emissions. Single core chips could not run faster than they did without producing significant, sometimes dangerous levels of heat, which required ever-larger processor fans to disperse. The dual core architecture, which ran far cooler than single core architecture, resolved this problem easily (Lynch, 2005). The ability to use virtualization is a major benefit of dual core processors. Virtualization originated as a distributed computing concept. Using virtualization, physical computing resources such as processing units, memory, and disk storage are overlaid with a virtual representation which reorganizes the physical resources into a virtual architecture, creating a single virtual resource out of more than one physical resource or partitioning a single physical resource into multiple virtual resources (Ernest & Fellenstein, 2004). Virtualization not only increases efficiency and reduces spending on physical computing resources; it can greatly reduce power usage (Information Week, 2006). This technique is used in Web services development, grid computing and a number of other areas of computer science. Application of virtualization to personal computers with dual core processors has been very successful in speeding applications and multitasking. VMWare, a popular implementation of virtualization for personal computers, began to support dual core processors shortly after their commercial introduction, offering their first dual core product in 2005 (Mears, 2005). Sun Microsystems is another major provider of virtualization software. In 2006, Sun announced plans to provide virtualization software that could run up to 32 processes on a single multicore processor, increasing to 64 processors the year after introduction (Information Week, 2006). Sun’s new systems immediately showed the benefits of the power-saving multicore processors. David Young, CEO of Joyent, a provider of e-mail and storage services, says he saw immediate benefits in moving to UltraSparc T1-based systems. With a customer base doubling each of the past two years, Joyent attempted to increase capacity at a co-location facility, but was told there was no available power. Joyent consolidated a number of older Intel-based Dell servers onto 20 Sun servers. Each Sun server saved the company more than $1,000 per year in power and cooling costs, and generated an additional $1,000 per year in rebates from the utility provider. â€Å"If I can save $4,000 a month, that’s someone I else I can hire to improve our service to our customers,† he says. (Information Week, 2006). Dual core processors have gained increasing acceptance in the consumer and business market. According to Lynch (2005), the majority of the consumer processor market was predicted to be dual core processors by 2007. However, there are even bigger and better things on the horizon. Multicore processors don’t stop at only two processing units – processors with up to 1,024 processing units have been designed in the laboratory, and commercial offerings now range up to 8 processing units. Apple has announced that their Mac Pro desktop machine can now be configured with two 3. 0 gHz quad-core Intel Xeon processors, for a total of eight processing units (eWeek, 2007). The machine, targeted to graphic designers, software developers and researchers, can support up to 8 displays, has 16MB total of L2 cache and a 1333 MHz front side bus. Although the Mac Pro is on the high end of consumer desktops, the Apple spokesperson stated â€Å"The eight-core Mac Pro gives pro software developers a platform to prepare new versions of their application for the future, when eight-core technology is more prevalent on the desktop (eWeek, 2007)†. If the enthusiastic consumer adoption of dual-core technology is an indication, the future Apple dreams of is not too far off. Dual core processors offer a wide margin of improvement over the older single-core processors in many areas. Increased speed for popular applications such as 3-d gaming and graphics programs make the processors attractive; decreased heat output and power requirements ease environmental and operations concerns. The benefit of virtualization has brought levels of computing previously only enjoyed by users of large-scale grid computing, multi-processor servers or other industrial or academic computing environments home to the desktop. Ever-widening horizons of multicore processing offer the promise of even greater and more powerful home computing. Dual core processors are only the start of the future of consumer computing. Works Cited Wong, William. â€Å"Judicious clocking subdues power-architecture cooling needs: this 2- GHz, dual-core processor uses thousands of gated clocks to cut power requirements by more than a factor of three. (LeapFrog). † Electronic Design 55. 9 (April 27, 2007): 34(2). Begun, Daniel, Rich Brown, and Matthew Elliott. â€Å"Maximum multitasking: dual-core CPUs double up for faster multithread processing. (Central processing units). † Computer Shopper 25. 7 (July 2005): 96(2). Joseph, J. , M. Ernest, and C. Fellenstein. â€Å"Evolution of grid computing architecture and grid adoption models. † IBM Systems Journal 43. 4 (Dec 2004): 624(22). Mears, Jennifer. â€Å"VMware virtually primed for dual core. † Network World (July 25, 2005): 25. â€Å"Sun Expands Virtualization Products, Services; Sun is introducing enhanced virtualization technology for its UltraSparc T1 CoolThreads servers that will let customers run up to 32 applications simultaneously on a single processor. (Sun Microsystems Inc. ). † InformationWeek (Oct 17, 2006): NA. â€Å"Analysis – Dual-core processors speed to market. More is most definately better that less when it comes to CPUs. With the ability to run numerous applications in tandem, the new product will dominate the PC market in no more than a couple of years says Martin Lynch. † Computer Reseller News (Oct 17, 2005): 27. â€Å"Apple Unveils Eight-Core Mac Pro. † eWeek (April 4, 2007): NA.

Creating a Plan for a Culturally Diverse Classroom Essay

Creating a Plan for a Culturally Diverse Classroom - Essay Example Classroom differences do not only show ethnic and racial groups but also religious and political groups. These differences may affect the students’ behaviour towards their classmates, teachers and other people. Learning about the diversity in a classroom will not be easy. The differences of the students will take extra effort, patience, creativity, attentiveness and guts on the part of the teacher. However, a teacher must be able to work out the issues and differences in a multicultural classroom to help build a stronger foundation for the students’ growth and development. The teacher should create an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, and caring the in environment. This diversity demands more work, sincerity, resolution and understanding. Thus, to address these issues, a multicultural education was developed. According to Gollnick and Chinn (2006), multicultural education is â€Å"educational strategy in which students’ cultural backgrounds are used to develo p effective classroom instruction and school environments.† This educational strategy carries the concept of diversity, equality, culture, social justice and democracy in the classroom (Gollnick, Chinn, 2006). These concepts are the foundational areas that are given importance in the developed strategy. It is very important that we give meaning and sentiments to the issue of multiculturalism. Thus we need to create an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, and caring in our classroom environment to promote unity and commonality to the students. Diversity has long been an issue and thus we can only address this if we somehow demand conformity. If we embrace multiculturalism in our classroom, it gives us the chance to practice the students with democracy on which our state was founded. Thus, despite the diversity, we need to commit to find new language of unity and mutuality based on equality and respect and to gain courage to face the fears of differences. Teachers should be able to address the diversity and unequal power relations because these have huge impact on a student’s and group’s capacity to classify and achieve their own ambitions and purpose. These differences can lead to confusion and misperceptions that would eventually cause conflict. In the near future, these differences will end in political alliances. The coalitions respond to both perceived and real dominations and subordinations faced by such groups. Strong feelings of unity and patriotism stemmed from these perceptions and may result in armed conflicts in tribes, ethnic groups, and religious communities and even across the state. Thus, as early as in the classroom, we should be able to help create a unified and unbiased setting despite the differences. The Plan To be able to help address the issue on multiculturalism in a certain classroom, the teacher should be able to implement and handle the class very well. Before anything else, orient the students of the learning activ ities that are going to be implemented and taught during the school year. Also, explain the objectives and outcomes of activities thoroughly. Also, set academic standards and expectation and make sure that these have been explained and understood by the students. Students have different understanding and interpretation of every topic discussed in class. Thus it is very important to explain very well the teacher’

TERM PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

TERM PAPER - Essay Example healthcare system. The emergence of new diseases and continuous growth of the population have triggered the need to modernize disease prevention and public health systems. In the past, the clamor for a National Health Insurance was the outcry of many administrations – in the U.S. and many countries in Europe. Recently however, the Obama administration has pushed for the full implementation of its once a campaign platform but now has become a law, the Affordable Care Act or what is popularly known as the ObamaCare. The aim of this law is to implement within the next ten years an Information System for the healthcare sector and to invest $10 billion annually for the many programs about health insurance and address the problems and challenges of healthcare. Modernizing disease prevention and public health systems is a question of policies and political will. If there is political will, all things are possible under the sun. But what should be modernized? The Medicare and the Medi caid are two healthcare programs that insure U.S. citizens but the system is already rotten and needs to be reprogrammed to address healthcare problems of the people. Medicare was designed to provide healthcare insurance to seniors and the disabled. It was run by the government to focus on reimbursing healthcare expenses and financed by federal taxes but also shared by payroll tax from employers and their workers, to include individual enrollees. Medicare covers hospitalization expenses, physician fees, and expenses for drugs. Medicare Gaps The Medicare program has many gaps which need review and so-called modernization. For example, insurance lacks nursing services, inadequate preventive care insurance, and no insurance for dental, loss of hearing, or vision. Since there is lack of insurance, some enrollees resort to supplemental insurance and so more expenses for the citizens. This gap needs to be reviewed and covered by the ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act launched by the pr esent administration. The Medicaid is a government insurance program for the poor and the disabled. It is also the program for poor pregnant women, children, seniors, disabled, and poor parents. Although it’s a federal program, states are given the leeway to improve the coverage and eligibility options. (Chua, 2006, p. 2) Incentives for Prevention of Chronic Diseases Stakeholders in disease prevention should be provided with government incentives. Again this is a question of policies. Policy makers should be able to determine the areas where care is most needed, know the various stakeholders and identify their motivational factors where they could be effective in disease prevention, and develop systems in accessing the incentives. (Singh as cited in Committee on Living Well with Chronic Disease: Public Action to Reduce Disability and Improve Functioning and Quality of Life, Institute of Medicine, 2011, p. 240) Modernizing Disease Prevention and Public Health Systems Problems in healthcare require new ways of detection and prevention of illness. Aids and other virus-triggered diseases are considered new diseases that require new techniques and methods. A. Clinical and Community Preventive Services When there is improved collaboration among health professionals and the community, there is increased reduction in health disparities, deaths and morbidity. Public and private sectors should focus more on the 65-years-and-older sector as this is growing. This is composed of Baby Boomers who

Global business enironment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global business enironment - Essay Example Although global organisation operations are intense in the developed nations, the developing nations have also been impacted in one way. Amid the globalisation and diversification of production, the benefit of business activities that are carried out abroad has increased rapidly than even domestic markets (David, Joakim & Richard, 2008).Therefore, the essay evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of globalization for business. Today wave of globalisation that began immediately after World War II has moved businesses and entire world economy to a state of interdependence, and it enabled it through making possible expansion of investment and trade across the national borders. Multinational companies that are always referred as borderless organisations have played a key role in accelerating the pace of world economic interdependence and integration by expanding their businesses (Wallerstein, 2009). Globalisation has led to the dismantling of national barriers and the breakdown of barriers to the flow of goods, capital, services, ideas and people, and the explosion in the volume, complexity and variety of those flows. In addition, it has led to increasing uniformity and standardisation among businesses, the growing homogenisation of infrastructure, policy, and ideas to conform to the global platforms(Wallerstein, 2009). For most of the business organisation, globalisation means an opportunity of taking advantage of scale, and exploiting synergistic benefits, as well as benefiting from the geographical merits and the market power advantages. However, according to the scale economy theory, the average cost per unit goes down as the amount of goods and services that are provided increases. Growth and expansion abroad of the business are the key strengths to getting the benefits of scale, hence achieving important cost reduction for the cost of a production unit, sales system

Gender Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gender Communication - Essay Example However, the major difference that plays a role in determining the manner which men and women communicate is their sexes. In the recent years, linguistics have begun studying the differences in the communication styles, between a man and a woman. The main reason for carrying out these studies is for purposes of identifying the differences in the communication styles that exists between a man and a woman. This in turn would help both men and women to adapt with each other, and hence form a meaningful relationship (Berger, 2006). The differences in these communication affects men and women in a variety of ways, and this includes in any social set up, and examples include in a religious set up, at work, in sports, and even in academics. Therefore, having an understanding on the manner of managing these differences is important in developing a relationship between a man and woman. This paper examines the various differences that exist in the manner which both men and women communicate. The roles that women and men play, is reflected in the manner which they are able to interact with each other, and the methods that they use for purposes of interaction. One of the most important elements that exist in the communication methods of women is to establish and maintain relationship with other people. This is one of the most dominant methods of defining the feminine use of the process of interaction. Berger (2006) explains that women normally use language, for purposes of developing connection, maintaining a sense of closeness, understanding each other, and providing support to each other. These are some of the essential elements that are needed for any relationship to be formed. Berger (2006) further explains that women normally value creating equality through achieving of asymmetry. In their communication, women are also known for expressing their emotions, and using language that can help in

American Government Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

American Government - Research Paper Example Lynda (2000) asserts that, politicians use newspapers, television, radio, and the internet in seeking support from voters and influencing public opinions. Television in America has been entwined with every political process, ranging from coverage of key political events and organizations to effects on political campaigns and elections. Currently political advertising in America is the main form of communication between voters and candidates. Election candidates use television spots and television debates to sell their policies to the electorate (Richard, 1998). Through television, candidates are able to defend themselves against false accusations, for example, corruption charges. Also, television exposes the conduct of various candidates, thus enabling the public to access this information. Television acts as a public watchdog on government activities; television keeps an eye on the governing process and government institutions. Coverage of political processes on television has a more impact on political campaigns and elections as compared to other political processes. Most Americans relies on television news, television debates, and television spots to obtain information about politics. Through coverage of political processes on television, candidates are able to enhance, sell, and influence the views of their policies (Lynda, 2000). On the other hand, voters are able to analyze policies of various candidates thereby influencing on the outcome of the election (Lynda, 2000). The following are the reasons of using television spots in political advertising. First, spots overcome partisan selectivity; the spots are usually seen by all voters regardless of their parties. Second, electorate learns more about political issues from television spots than from television debates and news. Third, an election candidate and his/her campaign team directly control the content of the television spots. Fourth, television spots can reach a much

Cultural Relativism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural Relativism - Essay Example Cultural relativism is related to a natural theory of evolution that views the cultural and linguistic diversity of human civilization globally as related to unique aspects of geographical isolation and parallel development. Maria Baghramian traces cultural relativism as back as Herodotus, and cites the woks of Montaigne, Dilthey ("Patterns of Culture"), and Frank Boas as the important figures of the development of this movement. (Baghramian, 2004) The main aspect of the development of cultural relativism historically also includes the interrelation of ideas between Darwin, Dewey, and Boas. (Strauss, 2011) Darwin’s work in the Galapagos influenced Boas’ conception of cultural diversity by allowing him to see the patterns of evolution in language and culture that proceeded on the same fundamental lines as the development of diversity in species as Darwin described. This also led him to value the history and lineage of each culture as an essential characteristic of cultur al relativism. (NNDB, 2011) The Darwinian aspects of cultural relativism made it an attractive methodology for the study of global cultures in anthropology. Yet, with cultural relativism there also developed a basis of moral relativism, which in some ways was posited in a manner that reflected the scientific method in social sciences, but which also removed moral criticism of cultural practices from academic research. For example, in this context foot-binding, as described by, Pang-Mei Natasha Chang in â€Å"Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir,† was practiced traditionally in Chinese society, though it created immense pain and suffering in the girls themselves. With cultural relativity in the practice of anthropology, researchers are required to suspend judgment and evaluate foot-binding within the socio-cultural understanding of Chinese society and its indigenous values and morality. This investigates how foot –binding relates to other cultural traditions, rituals, and hierarchies, but it fails to take a stand on the morality of the practice in universal teams, believing that the question is beyond the anthropological or scientific method. (Glazer, 1996) Thus, in this manner it can be argued that foot-binding was so widely accepted of a practice, that it was not immoral because it was the common, accepted basis of society. In this sense, there are no universals, only cultural and moral relativism in patterns of human evolution. However, looking at description from the girls themselves, who describe their motivations at the time, it is clear that many girls opposed it themselves, in their own minds and suffering, but were simply too lacking in respect politically and socially without power, that they were abused on a mass scale. (Celliana, 2010) The question of the mass-practice of harmful, immoral, or violent practices culturally is viewed through our contemporary moral value system, which taints our own judgment from that of the dispassionate objectivism which cultural re lativism is based on, but we have to continue to reform society to outlaw, abolish, and reform harmful practices from history that have no legitimate foundation. In Pang-Mei Natasha Chang’s â€Å"Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir,† the character Chang Yu-I has her feet bound by her mother, who follows the ancient tradition like most other women in the society. Chang Yu-I as a child is shown to resist the process and ultimately forces her parents to stop torturing her is this way. This is used symbolically as a means to foreshadow Chang Yu-I’s role in becoming one of the first â€Å"modern women† in China, and to pioneer divorce in a society where it was unknown and unaccepted historically. The issues of arranged marriages, forced marriages, and practices like foot-binding in

Poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Poem - Essay Example Collins â€Å"Introduction to Poetry,† consist of seven stanzas. Collins opens the first stanza with the line, â€Å"I ask them to take a poem.† This sentence contains three objects: â€Å"I† – the writer or speaker, â€Å"them† – the listeners and â€Å"poem.† The poet urges to â€Å"take† the poem as an object and not just scan or read it. By comparing â€Å"poem† as an object, Collins uses the metaphor as the figurative language. Once â€Å"poem† is considered as an object; then it can be compared to any other objects. That is why one can notice abundant use of metaphor for â€Å"poem† throughout this work. In the second line, the speaker asks, â€Å"and hold it up to the light† instead of asking to read it. However, when this line is coupled with the third line, â€Å"like a color slide† everything becomes apparent. Collins uses figurative language simile - the object â€Å"poem† is a color slide. Of course, projection of a color slide has to be done using light. The poet creates a strong imagery in the first stanza that says one can see all seven colors of the rainbow in the poem if one knows how to hold it to the light and see it. The second stanza consists of one line; Collins electrifies the reader with intrigue, â€Å"or press an ear against its hive.† He uses the metaphor and compares â€Å"poem† to a honey-drippy hive that produces a buzzing sound as well as conveys both danger and anticipation. The third stanza, â€Å"I say drop a mouse into a poem, and watch him probe his way out† compares â€Å"poem† to a â€Å"labyrinth.† The preposition â€Å"into† instead of â€Å"onto† makes the stanza rigid defining â€Å"poem† as a three-dimensional object. Through this metaphor, the poet states that one has to understand the labyrinth of the poem to get out of it. In the fourth stanza, Collins uses double metaphors; compares the â€Å"poem† to a three-dimensional room and content of

Indonesian worker in Saudi Arabia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Indonesian worker in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example Her job can hardly be considered greedy as, apart from her salary, she receives no bonuses and benefits, although if she falls ill, her employers do pay for her treatment. Furthermore, her salary is fixed and is not reviewed for increases and she works hard for ever dollar she earns. Her employers are a middle-aged Saudi couple whose children are grown up and living away from home. They are exceedingly rich and very well-connected. The husband works as an ambassador, now retired, at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the wife is a member of the Saudi Royal family. The couple, contrary to the stereotypical image she had of rich Saudi Arabians, treat their staff very courteously and are very sedate. They hardly entertain anyone outside of their family, although they do go out quite frequently. Yes, it is a living wage for an Indonesian. She transfers 250USD to Indonesia every month, keeping only 50USD for herself. Of the $250 she transfers home, $100 enter her husband's account to help support the family and the rest into a savings account in her name. The 100$ that go towards household expenses are double the amount that her husband earns per month. The family relies on this money to pay for the children's schooling, their clothes, food and, if need be, medication. She saves half of her s... She transfers 250USD to Indonesia every month, keeping only 50USD for herself. Of the $250 she transfers home, $100 enter her husband's account to help support the family and the rest into a savings account in her name. The 100$ that go towards household expenses are double the amount that her husband earns per month. The family relies on this money to pay for the children's schooling, their clothes, food and, if need be, medication. 9-how/on what does this global woman spend her wages She saves half of her salary, hoping that one day she would have saved enough to buy a home. The fifty dollars which she puts aside for herself are hardly used at all since she rarely has an opportunity to go out or purchase anything. The 100$ which are spent every month, all go towards her children's expenses. 10-what is the economic situation in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia Indonesia is a developing country. Its per capita income is ranked as the 99th in the world. Inflation rates are high and well-paying job opportunities are limited. In direct comparison, Saudi Arabia is ranked as the 33rd in the world in terms of per capita income. Jobs for nationals are very well-paying and the government subsidises most services, including education and healthcare. While inflation is on the increase, salaries increase accordingly. The implication here is that even though both countries may accurately be described as developing' Saudi Arabia is in a far stronger economic position than is Indonesia. 11- explain how this woman fits into the economy of her home/host country She is an expatriate worker and this has numerous implications. In the first place it means that rather than join her domestic labour force and live her life as an

Analysis Annual Report 2010 Bayer Essay Example for Free

Analysis Annual Report 2010 Bayer Essay Profitability Which indicators have been brought forward in the annual report of the company? Which specific targets are aimed at? How does the group state and assess the evolution of profitability in the annual report? Is there more recent public information about this issue? Where? Is this information in line with the one mentioned in the annual report? Is it indicating a similar evolution? What are the main propositions of the company to improve its profitability? Financing What is the global financing strategy of the group? What is the evolution of the financing cost (several indicators)? What is the shareholders’ remuneration program? What are your sources (of information) regarding this issue? Investments What are the main investment / disinvestment policies? How are these investments financed? What is the outlook of the company regarding this issue? Consolidation process What are the most important consolidated subsidiaries? (Eventually mention the approximate number of subsidiaries)? Are there associated companies? What is the evolution of the income attributable to shareholders (or result part of the group)? What are the comments of the company regarding this issue? What kind of indicators does the company report about shareholder value? Are those indicators compared with other information? International standards Does the group announce the non-publication of some standards? If yes, for which reasons? Among explanatory notes associated with the consolidated accounts, choose one that is relative to a specific standard. For this note, report essential characteristics that highlight the differences in terms of recording and reporting in the relation to Belgian GAAPs. What is the impact of IAS/IFRS referential (if any) on the account that is concerned by this note? Global diagnostic Is there important recent information about this company? Would you invest in this company? Why? Business sector What is the main business of the group? Firstly, we have to know that Bayer was founded in Barmen, Germany in 1963 by Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott his partner. It is a global and an inventor company with core competencies in the domain of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. They produce and provide services to benefit people and improve their quality of life. In addition, they seek to create value with the help of innovation, growth and high earning power. For them, sustainability is very important for their social and ethical responsibilities. Its headquarters are in Leverkusen. This is one of the largest phamarceutical companies in the world and has three sebgroups: Bayer CropScience, Bayer HealthCare and Bayer MaterialScience. Led by the management holding company, they also have three services companies which operate independently: Bayer Business Services, Bayer Technology Services and Currenta. Are there other activities, complementary businesses within the group? Bayer CropScience has products in crop protection and nonagricultural pest control. It also has activities in seeds and plant traits. Bayer HealthCare is Bayers pharmaceutical and medical products subgroup. It is involved in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of products. It comprises a further four subdivisions: Bayer Schering Pharma, Bayer Consumer Care, Bayer Animal Health and Bayer Medical Care. Bayer MaterialScience is a supplier of high-tech  ­polymers, and develops solutions for a broad range of applications relevant to everyday life. Bayer Business Services located at the Bayer USA Headquarters in Pennsylvania. It handles the information technology infrastructure and technical support aspect of Bayer Canada and USA. Bayer Technology Services is engaged in process development and in process and plant engineering, construction and optimization. Currenta offers services for the chemical industry, including utility supply, waste management, infrastructure, safety, security, analytics and vocational training. What are the main groups competitors? The main group’s competitors are Merck Co, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Sanofi Aventis. Indeed, GlaxoSmithKline have the second post in the pharmaceuticals world just behind Pfizer. Sanofi Aventis is in fourth place and Merck Co and Bayer share the third place. Which main risks (that are inherent to this business sector) does the company mention? Which hedging policies are put in place? Business operations necessarily involve risks. So according to Bayer, effective management of risks is a key factor in sustainably safeguarding a company’s value. Risks are assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively in determining strategies of the strategic business entities. The risk management system is set on the Group Intranet. Directive published explains the basic principles of this management in accordance with German Law.According to Bayer Group, the definition of the risk is represented by events and possible developments within or outside of the group that would decrease the value of the company. These risks are described as follows: Legal risksBayer Group is exposed to numerous legal risks from legal disputes or proceedings to which they are currently a party †¦ So it is therefore possible that legal or regulatory judgments could significantly affect the revenues and earnings of the company.Industry-specific risksSome governments intervene directly in setting prices and the government reimbursement systems favoring less expensive generic pharmaceuticals over brand-name products, which diminish earnings from Bayer’s pharmaceutical products and could potentially render the market introduction of a new product unprofitable. So if it necessary, Bayer’s Group adjusts his business plans according to the significance of governmental intervention. Sales of the Group are subject to seasonal fluctuations and CropScience business particularly affected by weather conditions. Moreover the early identification of trends in the economic market is important elements of the Bayer’s Group business management. Finally where it appears strategically advantageous they may acquire a company or part of a company and combine it with their existing business. The integration processes associated with their acquisitions are steered by integration teams. Appropriate resources are provided to support the integration processes.Product development risksThe Group’s competitive position, sales and earnings depend significantly on the development of commercially viable new products and technologies’ production. So they therefore devote substantial resources to research and development. Furthermore it is possible that effects of their products may be discovered after regulatory approval or registration. So litigations and associated claims for damages due to negative effects can materially diminish their earnings.Regulatory risksOur life science businesses, in particular are subject to strict regulatory regimes relating to the testing, manufacturing and marketing of many of our products. In some countries regulatory controls have become increasingly demanding like in the USA or in EU. That may increase product development costs. So Projects have been initiated to coordinate the implementation of new regulatory controls and mitigate any negative implications for the business. Patent risksA large proportion of Bayer’s products is protected by patents. When a patent defense is unsuccessful, or if one of our patents expires, our prices are likely to come under pressure because of increased competition from generic products entering the market. The legal department, in conjunction with the relevant functional departments, regularly reviews the patent situation. Potential infringements of Bayer’s patents by other companies are carefully monitored so that legal action can be taken if necessary. Production, procurement market and environmental risksProduction capacities at some of their manufacturing facilities could be adversely affected by, for instance, technical failures, natural disasters †¦ This applies particularly to the biotech products because of the highly complex manufacturing processes. If in such cases they are unable to meet demand they may suffer declines in sales revenues. So they address product and environmental risks by way of suitable quality assurance measures. In addition, they are committed to the international Responsible Care initiative of the chemical industry. IT risksMajor disruptions or failure of global or regional business systems may result in loss of data and impairment of business and production processes. As a consequence technical precautions such as data recovery and continuity plans have been established together with the internal it service provider to address this risk. Risk to pension obligations from capital market developmentsThe Bayer Group has obligations to current and former employees related to pensions and other post-employment benefits. Changes in relevant valuation parameters such as interest rates, mortality and rates of increases in compensation may raise the present value of the pension obligations. This may lead to increased pension costs or diminish stockholders’ equity. Financial risksIn this part we are speaking about the management of financial and commodity price risks. As a global enterprise, Bayer is exposed in the normal course of business to credit risks, liquidity risks and various market price risks that could materially affect its net assets, financial position and results of operations. The various risks associated with financial instruments are outlined below together with the relevant risk management systems. In this risk there is a lot of subcategories: Credit risks: arise from the possibility of the value of receivables or other financial assets being impaired because counterparties cannot meet their payment or other performance obligations. To effectively manage the credit risks from trade receivables, Bayer has put in place a standardized risk management system Credit limits are set for all customers. Finally to minimize credit risks, financial transactions are only conducted with banks and other partners of first-class credit standing in line with predefined exposure limits. Liquidity risks: arise from the possibility of not being able to meet current or future payment obligations because insufficient cash is available. Those problems are centrally managed in the Bayer Group. Sufficient liquid assets are held to meet all of the Group’s payment obligations when they fall due, thereby ensuring solvency at all times. The size of this reserve is regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary to current conditions. Then credit facilities also exist with banks. Markets risks: relate to the possibility that the fair value or future cash flows of financial instruments may fluctuate due to variations in market prices. Market risks include currency, interest rate and other price risks, especially commodity price risks. Currency risks: since the Bayer Group conducts a significant portion of its operations outside the euro zone, fluctuations in currency exchange rates can materially affect earnings. Currency risks are identified, analyzed and managed centrally and systematically. The scope of hedging is evaluated regularly and defined in a corporate directive. Then a significant proportion of contractual and foreseeable currency risks is hedged, mainly through forward exchange contracts and currency options. Interest rate risks: The Bayer Group’s interest rate risks arise primarily from financial assets and liabilities with maturities exceeding one year. Interest rate risks in the Group are analyzed centrally and managed by the central finance department. This is done in line with the duration set by the Board of Management, which implicitly also includes the ration of fixed-rate to floating-rate debt. Then the duration is subject to regular review. Other price risks (especially price risks): The Bayer Group requires significant quantities of petrochemical feed stocks and energy for its various production processes. The prices of these inputs may fluctuate considerably depending on market conditions. This applies particularly tothe MaterialScience business. They have addressed this risk by concluding long-term contracts with multiple suppliers. The operation of their production facilities requires large amounts of energy, mostly in the form of electricity and steam. To minimize the exposure to energy price fluctuations, they aim for a balanced diversification of fuels for steam production and a mix of external procurement and captive production for power generation. As we can see the overall risk assessment is based on a consolidated view of risk each. There were no risks identified may endanger the existence of the group in 2010. And this is the continuation of the previous year. Profitability Which indicators have been brought forward in the annual report of the company? Which specific targets are aimed at? The profitability of a company makes the relationship between the results obtained by the company and the means used to achieve this result. The result of a business can be estimated thanks to different criterion, such as:Operating income: Which one measures the earnings generated from the production activity of the company? The profit of the year: Which measures the net result of the company, when expenses and benefits have been taken into account? The Value Added: which measures the wealth created thanks to the production function of the company? Similarly, the means used by a business can be measured by:The total of assets: this corresponds to the measurement of assets used by the company to produce. The equity: measurement of all financial resources used to produce starting. Capital stock: it is all the financial resources made available to the company by shareholders. We must not forget that a business can be profitable but still have a lower profitability of its sector. That’s why its profitability should be compared with the one of its main competitors. Thus a possible lack of competitiveness could be detected. There are 3 kind of profitability: Return on business ; Return on assets ; Return on equity. The profitability indicators highlighted by the Bayer Group in its annual report are the following: EBIT (before special items) EBITDA (before special items); Cash flow return on investment ; Earnings per share ; ROE (return on equity); ROA (return on assets). So concerning specific targets we believe that shareholders, investors and potential investors, suppliers and staff are the key audiences that are intended profitability indicators. How does the group state and assess the evolution of profitability in the annual report? Is there more recent public information about this issue? Where? Is this information in line with the one mentioned in the annual report? Is it indicating a similar evolution? The group assesses its profitability by focusing on the various indicators mentioned above. In its annual report, the group highlights a number of indicators of profitability, which are: EBIT EBITDAThese indicators are reported in order to allow a more accurate assessment of business operations. The company considers EBITDA before special items to be a more suitable indicator of operating performance since it is not affected by depreciation, amortization, impairments or special items. By reporting this indicator, the company aims to give readers a clearer picture of the results of operations and ensure greater comparability of data over time. EBIT for 2010 came in at â‚ ¬ 2,730 million whereas it was â‚ ¬ 3,006 million in 2009. This decrease is due to several factors that are: Sales of the Bayer Group rose by 12.6% from the previous year to â‚ ¬35,088 million; in 2009 the amount was â‚ ¬31,168 million, thanks largely to the recovery in the Material Science business. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, sales grew by 8.0% ; The cost of goods sold advanced by 13.0% to â‚ ¬17,103 million. This was mainly due to a considerable increase at MaterialScience, which in turn resulted chiefly from the growth in volumes and higher average raw material prices for the year. The ratio of the cost of goods sold to total sales was 48.7%, this ratio increased by 0, 1%, it was 48, 6% in 2009. Selling expenses rose by 11.1% year on year to â‚ ¬8,803million, it was â‚ ¬7,923million in 2009, and were thus equivalent to 25.1% of sales. Health Care accounted for the greater part of the increase. The group raised their research and development expenses in 2010 by a further 11.2%,the amount increased from â‚ ¬2,746million in 2009 to â‚ ¬3,053million in 2010;

The Drill Stem Component Description Engineering Essay

The Drill Stem Component Description Engineering Essay CHAPTER 3 INTRODUCTION This chapter presents general procedures for drill string design. The design aspects of critical importance and factors controlling drill pipe selection are highlighted. The term Drill Stem is used to refer to the combination of tubulars and accessories that serve as a connection between the rig and the drill bit (RGU lecture slides). It consists mainly of Drill Pipe, Drill Collars (DC) and Heavy Weight Drill Pipes (HWDP) and accessories including bit subs, top drive subs, stabilisers, jars, reamers etc. Drill stem is often used interchangeably with the term Drill String which actually refers to the joints of drill pipe in the drill stem. For the purpose of this report, Drill String will be used to refer to the string of drill pipes that together with drill collars and heavy weight drill pipe make up the drill stem see fig 3.1. 3.1 DRILL STEM COMPONENT DESCRIPTION 3.1.1 Drill Pipe The drill pipes are seamless pipes usually made from different steel grades to different diameters, weights and lengths. They are used to transfer rotary torque and drilling fluid from the rig to the bottom hole assembly (drill collars plus accessories) and drill bit. Each drill pipe is referred to as a joint, with each joint consisting of a pipe body and two connections (see fig 3.2). Drill pipe lengths vary, and these different lengths are classified as ranges, the available or more common ranges include: Range 1: 18 22 ft Range 2: 27 30ft Range 3: 38 40ft. Drill Stem. Fig 3.1: Drill Stem with components. (Heriott Watt University lecture Notes: Drilling Engineering) Drill pipes are also manufactured in different sizes and weights which reflects the wall thickness of the drill pipe. Some common sizes and their corresponding weights include 31/2 in. 13.30 lb/ft and 4 1/2in. 16.60 lb/ft. The indicated weight is the nominal weight in air (pipe body weight excluding tool joints) of the drill pipe. A complete listing of API recognised drill pipe sizes, weight and grades are published in the API RP 7G. The drill pipe grade is an indication of the minimum yield strength of the drill pipe which controls the burst, collapse and tensile load capacity of the drill pipe. The common drill pipe grades are presented in the table below Grade Yield Strength, psi Letter Designation Alternate Designation D D-55 55,000 E E-75 75,000 X X-95 95,000 G G-105 105,000 S S-135 135,000 Table 3.1: Drill Pipe Grades. Drill pipes are often used to drill more than one well, therefore in most cases the drill pipe would be in a worn condition resulting in its wall thickness being less than it was when the drill pipe was brand new. In order to identify and differentiate drill pipes, they are grouped into classes. The different classes are an indication of the degree of wear on the wall thickness of the drill pipe. The classes can be summarised as follows according to API standards: New: Never been used, with wall thickness when to 12.5% below nominal. Premium: Uniform wear with minimum wall thickness of 80%. Class 2: Allows drill pipe with a minimum wall thickness of 70%. It is essential that the drill pipe class be identified in drill pipe use or design, since the extent of wear affects the drill pipe properties and strength. When specifying a particular joint of drill pipe, the class, grade, size, weight and range have to be identified, the specification could therefore appear thus: 5 19.5 lb/ft Grade S Range 2 Fig 3.2: Parts of Drill pipe. (Handbook for Petroleum and Natural gas) 3.1.2 Tool Joints Tools joints are screw type connections welded at the ends of each joint of a drillpipe. The tool joints have coarse tapered threads and sealing shoulders designed to withstand the weight of the drill string when it is suspended in the slips. Tool joints are of two kinds; the pin (male section) and the box (female section). Each drill pipe has a pin attached to one end and a box attached at the other end. This makes it possible for the pin of one joint of drill pipe to be stabbed into box of a previous drill pipe. There are several kinds of tool joints widely used: Joint Type Diagram Description Internal Upset (IU) Tool joint is less than the pipe. Tool joint OD is approximately the same as the pipe. Internal Flush (IF) Tool joints ID is approximately the same as the pipe. The OD is upset. Internal / External Upset (IEU) Tool joint is larger than the pipe such that the tool joint ID is less than the drill pipe. The tool joint OD is larger than the drill pipe. Table 3.2 Types of tool joints. (The Robert Gordon University Lecture Notes: Drill String Design) 3.1.3 Drill Collars Drill collars are thick walled tubes made from steel. They are normally the predominant part of the bottom hole assembly (BHA) which provides Weight on Bit (WOB). Due to the large wall thickness of the drill collars, the connection threads could be machined directly to the body of the tube, thereby eliminating the need for tool joints (see fig 3.3). Drill collars are manufactured in different sizes and shapes including round, square, triangular and spiral grooved. The slick and spiral grooved drill collars are the most common shapes used currently in the industry. There are drill collars made from non-magnetic steel used to isolate directional survey instruments from magnetic interference arising from other drill stem components. The steel grade used in the manufacture of drill collars can be much lower than those used in drill pipes since they are thick walled. Functions Provide weight on bit Provide stiffness for BHA to maintain directional control and minimise bit stability problems. Provide strength to function in compression and prevent buckling of drill pipes. Fig 3.3: Carbon Steel Drill Pipes. 3.1.4 Heavy Weight Drill Pipe Heavy weight drill pipes (HWDP) are often manufactured by machining down drill collars See fig 3.4. They usually have greater wall thickness than regular drill pipe. HWDP are used to provide a gradual cross over when making transition between drill collars and drill pipes to minimise stress concentration at the base of the drill pipe. These stress concentrations often result from: Difference in stiffness due to the difference in cross-sectional area between the drill collar and drill pipe. Bit bouncing arising from rotation and cutting action of the bit. HWDP can be used in either compressive or tensile service. In vertical wellbores it is used for transition and in highly deviated wells, it used in compression to provide weight on bit. Fig 3.4: Heavy Weight Drill Pipe. (Heriott Watt University lecture Notes: Drilling Engineering) 3.1.5 Accessories Drill Stem accessories include: Stabilisers: these are made of a length of pipe with blades on the external surface. The blades are spiral or straight, fixed or mounted on rubber sleeves to allow the drill string rotate inside. Functions of the stabiliser include: Stabilise the drill collars to reduce buckling and bending Ensure uniform loading of tricone bits to reduce wobbling and increase bit life. To provide necessary wall contact and stiffness behind the bit to induce positive side force to build angle when drilling deviated wells. Reamers: used in the BHA to enlarge the well bore diameter and ream out doglegs, key seats, ledges. Drilling Jars: incorporated in the BHA to deliver a sharp blow and assist in freeing the drill string should it become stuck. 3.2 DRILL STRING DESIGN The drill string design is carried out in order to establish the most efficient combination of drill pipe size, weight, and grades to fulfil the drilling objectives of any particular hole section at the lowest cost within acceptable safety standards. In order to design a drill string to be used in a particular hole section, the following parameters need to be established: Hole section depth Hole section size Expected mud weight Desired safety factors in tension and overpull. Desired safety factor in collapse Length of drill collars required to provide desired WOB including OD, ID and weight per foot. Drill pipe sizes and inspection class The drill string design has to meet the following requirement: The working loads (tension, collapse, burst) on the drill string must not exceed the rated load capacity of each of the drill pipes. The drill collars should be of sufficient length to provide all required WOB to prevent buckling loads on the drill pipe. The drill pipes used have to ensure the availability of sufficient fluid flow rate at the drill bit for hole cleaning and good rate of penetration. 3.2.1 Design Safety Factors Design safety factors are applied to calculated working loads to account for any unexpected service load on the drill string. They are used to represent any features that are not considered in the load calculations e.g. temperature and corrosion, thus ensuring that service loads do not exceed the load capacity of the drill pipe. Design safety factor values are often selected based on experience from operating within a particular area, the extent of uncertainty in the operating conditions e.g. when operating in HPHT conditions, a larger safety factor is applied than when operating in less harsh conditions. Some commonly used design safety values are illustrated in the table below Load Design Safety Factor Value Tension 1.1 1.3 Margin of overpull (MOP) 50,000 100,000. MOP of 400,000 have been used in ultra deep wells Weight on Bit 1.15 or 85% of available Weight on bit to ensure neutral point is 85% of drill collar string length measures from the bottom (API RP 7G) Torsion 1.0 (based on the lesser of the pipe body or tool joint strength) Collapse 1.1 1.15 Burst 1.2 3.2.2 Drill Collar Selection The drill collars are selected with the aim of ensuring that they provide sufficient WOB without buckling or putting the lower section of the drill string in compression. 3.2.2.1 Size selection Lateral movement of the drill bit is controlled by the diameter of the drill collar directly behind it. Therefore the size/diameter of the drill collar closest to the bit will be dependent on the required effective minimum hole diameter and the relationship can be given as When two BHA components of different cross-sectional areas are to be made up, it is essential that the bending resistance ratio (BRR) be evaluated. This is important because BHA components have tensile and compressive forces acting on them when they are bent in the well bore. These forces cause stress at connections and any location where there is a change in cross-sectional area. Therefore it is important to ensure that these stresses are within acceptable ranges. The bending resistance (BR) of a drill string component is dependent on its section modulus which is given as Z = section modulus, in3 I = second moment of area, in4 OD = outside diameter, in ID = inside diameter, in The BRR is used to express any change in BR and can be calculated using BRR should generally be below 5.5 and in severe drilling conditions, below 3.5. 3.2.2.2 Connections When selecting connections to be used with drill collars, it is essential to check that the BRR of the pin and box indicates a balanced connection. The BRR for drill collar connection is calculated as the section modulus of the box divided by the section modulus of the pin. The API RP 7G contains tables that can be used to determine BRR for any box and pin OD. BRRs of 2.5 have given balanced connections (RGU Lecture notes, 2005). 3.2.2.3 Weight on Bit The maximum weight on bit required is normally a function of the bit size and type. The rule of thumb is: Maximum WOB of 2000lbf per inch of bit diameter when using Polycrsyalline Diamond Compact bits (PDC) and mud motors. Maximum WOB of 5000lbf per inch of bit diameter when using tricone bits. Other factors controlling WOB include inclination, hole size and buckling. In vertical wellbores the length of drill collars required to provide a specified weight on bit is given by LDC = Length of Drill Collars, ft WOB = Weight of Bit, lb DFBHA = Safety factor to keep neutral point in drill collars. WDC = Weight per foot of Drill Collars, lb/ft Kb = Buoyancy Factor. The neutral point as described by (Mian, 1991) referring to Lubinksi, is the point that divides the drill stem into two portions, with the section above the neutral point in tension and that below in compression. Therefore in order to ensure that the entire length of drill pipes remain in tension, the neutral point of the drill stem has to be maintained within the drill collars. According to the API RP 7G, the height of the neutral point measured from the bottom of the drill collars will be 85% of the total length of drill collars used, with 85% being the safety factor. In inclined wellbores, the angle of inclination has to be taken into consideration when calculating the maximum WOB that can be applied without buckling the drill pipe. This is because although the WOB is applied at the inclination of the wellbore, this weight acts vertically, thus reducing the available weight at the bit. Therefore to allow for this reduction, the buoyed weight of the BHA would be reduced by the cosine of the well inclination, thus WOB in inclined holes is calculated with the formula All parameters remain as defined in equation 5; ÃŽÂ ¸ is the angle of inclination of the well. As a result of the vertically acting weight of the BHA, the drill string tends to lie on the low side of the hole and is supported to some extent by the wall of the well bore. Therefore the pipes above the neutral point could only buckle if the compressive forces in the drill string exceed a critical amount. This critical buckling force is calculated as follows Fcrit = critical buckling force, lb ODHWDP = outside diameter of HWDP, in. ODtj = maximum outside diameter of pipe, in. IDHWDP = inside diameter of HWDP, in. Kb = buoyancy factor. Dhole = diameter of hole, in. ÃŽËÅ" = hole inclination, degrees. Since HWDP are sometimes used to apply WOB in inclined wells, and drill pipes are sometimes used in compression, the critical buckling force is calculated for both HWDP and drill pipes. 3.2.3 Drill Pipe Selection Factors to be considered for drill pipe selection include: Maximum allowable working loads in tension, collapse, burst, and torsion. Maximum allowable dogleg severity at any depth in order to avoid fatigue damage in the drill pipe. Combined loads on the drill pipe. The loads considered when selecting drill pipes to be used in the drill string is dependent on the well depth, well bore geometry and hole section objectives. In shallower vertical wells, collapse and tension are of more importance than burst or torsion. Burst is normally not considered in most designs since the worst case for a burst load on the drill pipe would occur when pressuring the drillstring with a blocked bit nozzle, even with this condition, the burst resistance of the drill pipe is likely to be exceeded. Torsion is of less importance in vertical well bores because drag forces are at minimal amounts unlike in highly deviated wells. The dogleg severity of the well for both vertical and deviated wells is important because of increased fatigue in the drill pipe when it is rotated in the curved sections of the wellbore. A graphical method is recommended for drill pipe selection, with the loads plotted on a load versus depth graph. This makes it possible for loads at particular points on the drill string to be easily visualised, and any sections of the drill pipe that do not meet the load requirements are easily identified and redesigned. 3.2.3.1 Collapse Drill pipes are sometimes exposed to external pressures which exceed its internal pressures, thereby inducing a collapse load on the drill pipe. The worst scenario for collapse in a drill pipe is during drill stem tests when they are run completely empty into the wellbore. The collapse loads are highest at the bottom joint of the drill pipes, as a result, the collapse load would normally control the drill pipe grade to be used at the bottom of the drill string. The API specified collapse resistance for different sizes and grades of drill pipe assuming either elastic, plastic or transition collapse depending on their diameter to wall thickness ratio have been calculated and are published in the API RP 7G with the relevant formulae. The maximum collapse pressure on the drill pipe when it is completely empty can be calculated as follows: Pc = collapse pressure, psi MW = mud weight, ppg TVD = true vertical depth at which Pc acts, ft. On some occasions, the mud weight outside the pipe varies from that inside the pipe, also the fluid levels inside and outside the pipe may also vary. This situation could also induce collapse loads. The collapse loads induced by this scenario can be calculated thus L = Fluid depth outside the drill pipe, ft MW = Mud weight outside the drill pipe, ppg Y = fluid depth inside drill pipe, ft MW = Mud weight inside drill pipe, ppg. The value for Pc is then plotted on the collapse load graph as the collapse load line see fig 3.5. It is recommended practice to apply a design safety factor to the collapse load calculated from equations 8 or 9 (depending on expected scenarios) in order to account for unexpected additional loads as wells as unknown variables. The value of the design factor is often between 1.1 1.5 for class 2 drill pipes. According to (Adams, 1985) the design factor should be 1.3 to account for the fact that new drill pipes are often not used for drill stem tests. The value of the collapse load multiplied by the collapse design factor is plotted on the collapse load graph as the design line, this is then used to select an appropriate grade and weight of drill pipe to fulfil these load conditions. Fig 3.5: Sample Collapse load graph. 3.2.3.2 Tension Load The tensile load capacity of the drill string should be evaluated to ensure there is enough tensile strength in the topmost joint of each size, weight, grade and class of to support the weight of the drill string submerged in the wellbore, hence the need to include buoyancy in the calculations. There has to also be enough reserve tensile strength to pull the drill string out of the well if the pipe gets stuck. The stabiliser and bit weight can be neglected when calculating the drillstring weight. In a vertical wellbore, the forces acting on the drill string are tension from its self weight and the hydrostatic pressure from the fluid in the wellbore. The hydrostatic pressure in the wellbore exerts an upward force on the cross sectional area of the drill string, which is commonly referred to as buoyancy. Therefore the resulting tensile load on the drill string attached to drill collars, taking account of buoyancy is calculated as: FTEN = resultant tensile load on drill string, lb LDP = length of drill pipe, ft LDC = length of drill collars, ft WTDP = air weight of drill pipe, lb/ft WTDC = air weight of drill collars, lb/ft MW = Mud weight, ppg. ADC = Cross sectional area of drill collars, in2 FTEN is plotted on the tension load graph as the tensile load line. The tensile strength values for different sizes, grades and inspection classes of drill pipes are contained in the API RP 7G, and can be calculated from the equation: Fyield = minimum tensile strength, lb Ym = specified minimum yield stress, psi A = cross section area, in2 Fyield is plotted as the minimum tensile strength line on the tension load graph. However, these values (Fyield) are theoretical values based on minimum areas, wall thickness and yield strength of the drill pipes. Therefore, these values only give an indication of the stress at which a certain total deformation would occur and not the specific point at which permanent deformation of the material begins. If a pipe is loaded to the minimum tensile strength calculated from equation 11, there is the possibility that some permanent stretch may occur, thereby making it difficult to keep the pipe straight in the wellbore. In order to eliminate the possibility of this occurrence, 90% of the minimum tensile strength as recommended by the API (American Petroleum Institute), should be used as the maximum allowable tensile load on the drill pipe, i.e Fdesign = maximum allowable tensile load 0.9 = a constant relating proportional limit to yield strength. Fdesign is plotted on the tension load graph as the maximum allowable tensile load line. As with the collapse load, a design factor would be applied to the tensile loads to account for dynamic loads in the drill pipe which occur when the slips are set, as well as prevent the occurrence of pipe parting close to the surface. The product of FTEN and the design factor is plotted as the tension design load line in the tension load graph see fig 3.6. Margin Of Overpull A margin for overpull is added to the tension load to ensure there is sufficient tensile strength in the drill pipe when it is pulled in the event of a stuck pipe. This margin is normally 50,000 100,000lb, but in deeper wells margins of overpull have reached 300,000lb. The value obtained after adding the margin of overpull is also plotted on the tension load graph see fig 3.6. The difference between the calculated tensile load at any point in the drillstring (FTEN) and the maximum allowable tension load would also represent the available overpull. This value represents available tensile strength of the drill pipe to withstand any extra forces applied to the drill string when trying to release it from a stuck pipe situation. FTEN and Fa can also be expressed as a safety factor This safety factor is an indication of how much the selected drill pipe will be able to withstand expected service loads. Due to uncertainty with actual service loads and conditions, a safety factor greater than 1 is always required. Slip Crush Slip crushing is generally not a problem if the slips are properly maintained. However, it is necessary to apply a safety factor for slip crushing when designing the drill string. This helps account for the hoop stress (SH) caused by the slips and the tensile stress (ST) caused by the weight of the drill string suspended in the slips. This relationship between SH and ST can be represented by the following equation SH = hoop stress, psi ST = tensile stress, psi D = outside diameter of the pipe, in. K = lateral load factor on slips, Ls = length of slips, in. = slip taper usually 9 ° 27 45 z = arctan ÃŽÂ ¼ ÃŽÂ ¼ = coefficient of friction, (approximately 0.08) The calculated tensile load is multiplied by the slip crush factor () to obtain the equivalent tensile load from slip crushing: Ts = tension from slip crushing, lb TL = tension load in drill string, lb SH / ST = slip crush factor. Ts is also plotted on the tension load graph as the slip crush design line. Fig 3.6: Sample Tension load graph The general step-by-step procedure for drill pipe selection using the graphical method is given as 1. Calculate the expected collapse load on drill pipe and apply the collapse design safety factor to derive the design load. Use the result to select weight and grade of drill pipe that satisfy collapse conditions. Plot expected collapse load and design load on a pressure vs. depth graph. 2. Calculate maximum allowable tensile load for the drill pipe selected in (1) above. Also calculate tension load on the drill string including buoyancy effects. Plot the tension load, specified minimum yield strength, and maximum allowable tensile load values on axial load vs. depth graph. 3. Apply tension design factor, margin of overpull, and slip crush factor to the calculated tension load and plot the individual results on the axial load vs. depth graph. Of the three factors applied to the tension load, the one resulting in the highest value is selected as the worst case for tensile loads. 4. Inspect graph and re-design any sections not meeting the load requirements. When designing a tapered drill string, the maximum length of a particular size, weight, grade and class of drill pipes that can be used to drill the selected hole section with specified WOB can be calculated as: All parameters remain as defined in equation 10 and 11. Note that equation 16 is only used when the MOP design line is the worst case scenario for tensile loads. When slip crushing is the worst case, the formula below is used SF = safety factor for slip crushing. The lightest available drill pipe grade should be used first in order to ensure that that the heavier grades are used upper section of the drill string where tensile loads are the highest. 3.2.4 Dog Leg Severity Fatigue damage is the most common type of drill pipe failure. It is known to be caused by cyclic bending loads induced in a drill pipe when it is rotated in the curved sections of the wellbore. The rotation of the drill pipe in the curved hole sections induce stresses in the outer wall of the drill pipe by stretching it and increasing its tensile loads. Fatigue damage from doglegs tends to occur when the angle exceeds a critical value. This critical value can be calculated as: C = maximum permissible dog leg severity, deg/100ft E = Youngs modulus, psi (30 x 106 for steel, 10.5 X 106 for aluminium) D = Drill pipe outer diameter, in. L = half the distance between tool joints, (180 in, for range 2 pipe) T = tension below the dogleg, lb à Ã†â€™b = maximum permissible bending stress, psi. I = drill pipe second moment of area, = à Ã†â€™b, is calculated from the buoyant tensile stress (à Ã†â€™t) and is dependent on the grade of the pipe. à Ã†â€™t = T/A, where T is defined in equation 19, and A is the cross sectional area of the pipe body in in2. For grade E pipe, The results from equation 20 are valid for à Ã†â€™t values up to 67,000psi. For grade S pipe, The results from equation 21 are valid for à Ã†â€™t values up to 133,400psi. It is recommended that an allowable dogleg severity (DLS) versus depth chart be plotted for every hole section with a particular drill string design since DLS changes with depth. The chart is plotted with the DLS on the x-axis and depth on the y-axis (see fig 3.7). When DLS lies to the left of the line or below the curve, the drill pipe is in safe operating conditions, and when it falls above or to the right of the curve, it is in unsafe conditions. Fig 3.7: Allowable Dogleg Severity Chart. (Mian, 1991) 3.2.5 Torsion Drill pipe torsional yield strength is important when planning deviated wells and ultra deep wells. In deviated wells, increased drag forces acting on the drill string from its interaction with the wellbore increase torsional loads on the drill pipe. In deeper wells, it is important in stuck pipe situations, in order to know the maximum torque that can be applied to the drill string. The pipe body torsional yield strength when subjected to torque alone can be calculated from the equation: Q = minimum torsional yield strength, ft lb J = polar second moment of area, à Ã¢â€š ¬/32 (D4 d4) D = pipe OD in, d = pipe ID in. Ym = minimum yield strength, psi. 3.2.6 Combined Loads On The Drill String Collapse and Tension The collapse resistance of the drill pipe is often reduced when the drill pipe is exposed to both tension and collapse loads. This happens because tensile loads stretch the drill pipe thereby affecting its D/t (diameter -wall thickness ratio) which controls the collapse resistance of the drill pipe. In ultra deep wells, the effect of combined collapse and tension is experienced when function testing the Blow out Preventers (BOP). It is becoming common practice in ultradeep drilling to equip BOPs with test rams in order to enable the BOP be tested without setting plugs in the well head. This is done to save tripping time due to extreme well depths. An example given by (Chatar, 2010), using 65/8in 27.70lb/ft drill pipe showed that with 65/8in drill pipe having 860kips of maximum allowable tensile loads, at half of this load, the drill string is only capable of withstanding 4,500psi collapse loads, which is often not sufficient for ultradeep drilling BOPs. The corrected collapse resistance of drill pipes under tension can be calculated using the formula Where R represents the percentage of the collapse resistance left when the drill pipe is under tension, therefore in equation 25, the value for R is used to multiply the normal plastic collapse resistance of the pipe to give the collapse resistance under tension. R can also be determined graphically with the following steps 1. Calculate Z using equation 24 2. Enter the ellipse for biaxial stress (fig 3.8) on the horizontal axis with the value for Z and draw a vertical line to the ellipse curve. 3. Draw a horizontal line from the vertical line drawn in (2) above to the vertical axis and read off the value. 4. Use the value from (5) above to multiply the collapse resistance to get the corrected collapse resistance with tension. Fig 3.8: Ellipse of Biaxial yield Strength: Effect of tensile loading om collapse resistance. (RGU Lecture notes: Casing design) Combined tension and torsion The torsional yield strength of a drill pipe is significantly reduced when the pipe is under tension loads. The torsional yield strength of the drill pipe under tension can be calculated with the equation Q = minimum torsional yield strength under tension, ft lb J = polar second moment of area. D = pipe OD in, d= pipe ID in. Ym = minimum yield strength, psi P = total load in tension, lb A = cross sectional area, in2 3.2.7 Tool Joint Performance The makeup torque to be applied to the tool joints when connecting drill pipes is calculated as follows ID = inside diameter, in. OD = outside diameter, in. Values for X, M, B and Q for standard connections are presented in the table be

The Recession: Causes and Effects

The Recession: Causes and Effects Executive Summary Introduction There was a recession in United States in the late 2008 which carried away in the 2009 as well making an impact on the entire world. The inflation rate soared high with all the things expensive around the corner. A persons earning power and purchasing power, everything reduced and in fact in some countries it ended. People started saving and cost cutting on almost all the objects and almost in all the aspects of life. The demand for the goods reduced and thus the supply which impacted on many jobs around the world. People were fired from the job without any prior notice. A majority of the population went unemployed. Every consumer started saving in the maximum way they can. There was a situation of panic in almost all the houses in different parts of the world. The stock market got crashed and so as the banks. Banks lost their clients, people started living and enjoying inside their house. Corporate reduced their expenses in the form of salaries and job cuts. People travelling in bus iness class started travelling in economy. It was a major blow for the world all over. Money lost its value. Developed nations were the worst affected. No investors were ready to invest further money. But there was also few countries like china and India where this panicked situation did not occur. Although, it did reduced their balance of payment and trade but it did not made much impact on the people living in these countries. They were much relaxed in comparison with different parts of the world. India has developed its own domestic market which never tried to made an impact of the recession. Exports were reduced and so does imports, There were jobs cuts for the BPOs but there were many alternatives to the people for the jobs. US economy did made around 60 percent of the impact on India but the impact were actually not seen anywhere in India. India has developed its domestic market quite strongly. It has all the local tradesman and local customers. Although there were price rises in some of the few products but they were never taken seriously by the Indian people because the country is used to high and low prices because of the changing government on random basis. The living standard of people in India were still increasing at the time of the recession when the rest of the world were affected by the high rising costs of everything and were into the â€Å"Saving Mode†. In another words there was an economic downfall in India and could not be called as â€Å"Recession†. Recession: The standard text book definition of a recession is: â€Å"Negative Economic Growth for two consecutive quarters†. This means there must be a fall in real output for a period of 6 months. However, not all of them as analyst/economists are happy with this definition. The reason being this are: Rise in Population: If the population increase is by a single percent in a year. The Real GDP growth of a half percent will mean the decline in the GDP per Capita. Therefore, a country like USA, where the population is increasing day by day, it is really important to have a check on it. Inaccurate Statistics: Generally Gross Domestic Product statistics are not accurate and they need to be amended. So, In consequence of that, if there is a growth of 0.4%,that actually means the growth is declining by 0.3%. Sometimes, the economist rounds up the figure and use it in the practical calculations. Growth under incline Rate. If dimension is growing by an average of 3 percent every year, this means there is an economic growth of 0.9 percent every year, which means there is an increase in spare capacity and hence, it is likely to raise the percentage level of unemployment. Hence, Few economists suggests, there is a recession if there is a rise in spare capacity. But, its a confusing statement as it means growth in the economy of about a percent means a phase of the recession. Also, according to some economist, it refer to a beginning phase of the recession and deep decline in growth rate are the special features of the recession. Level of Unemployment. The most important discussion and the area of concern at the time of recession is the rise in the percentage level of unemployment. If there is a sharp increase in peoples losing jobs and getting unemployed, this shows an economy is in recession. It might be quite controversial to say about this situation that it is not in recession if the unemployment level has risen up by half a million in spite of the countrys positive growth. A point of consideration here is about the level of unemployment rise which is caused by the supply side and not the demand side factors. Result of Survey: Give a thorough research on the topic with the worlds economists and it will be quite interesting to find their subjective response. According to few economists, a figure less than fifty percent decline to accept the economic recession in USA and vice versa. NBER Definition of Recession- NBER announces the occurrence of the recession in USA. The definition by NBER is: A significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. NBER further tells us that: â€Å"There is no fixed rule about what weights are assigned to the various indicators, or about what other measures contribute information to the process.† This statement is quite clear about the recession but it is not certain about the time period or its occurrence time and what exactly can cause the recession. Recession My personal View According to my personal view, recession occurs when there is a decline in real GDP. If there is a small growth of say,0.4 percent we can expect a recession or at least we can say that the economy is well behind the trend growth. However, we should always consider the point that a recession does require a decline in Gross Domestic Product for at least one quarter. Also, in brief, we can say, recession is a steep decline in Real GDP per Capita. Depression is defined as: ‘Depression is when a person looses his job and he do not have any money flowing into his account to support his family. Drastic decline in the real GDP causes a situation of depression. It is when the productivity of the output falls for more than eighteen months or by more than, four percent. There was a steep decline in the great depression of 1929-33 of almost eighteen percent. so there is a difference between A recession and A depression. And the idea behind this ,is, the scenario between recession and depression is known as Economic Downturn. Therefore, an economic downturn is the balanced structure of recession and depression. Indicators of Recession The economist involved in the financial and advisory fields generally mention the stock market situations as an indicator of recession. According to them, In Western Europe and North America, the prediction of the recession can be made by sudden and sharp decline in the average performance of the share market. These performances can be checked by DowJones or Standards Poors 500 index. However, this definition seems to be quite insufficient. By looking into the history of the stock market, about their high and low stock indicators, gearing up with the past seventy years of the analysis report nothing has been found that could be relevant with the definition or is even closer to the definition of the recession. Moreover, if we analyse the current recession or the recessions of the past two decades, it does demonstrate a downfall of the stock market. But if we analyse it carefully we will find all the stock market crashed after the recession came in. Therefore, we cant take it as the indicator of recession rather than it just tell us one factor responsible and effected at the time of recession. To measure the inbound recession, the best measurable indicator is an inverted yield curve. Inverted yield curve shows the point on which the investments in long term fall (specifically, those holding a period like as term deposit) under the yields on the deposit of short term. This shows the utmost importance of the identification of the market itself. The yields and pricing on investments generally relates to the demand and supply models. If the value of the money is going to decrease in the future, it is going to be a problem for the borrowers and lenders as well. No one will borrow the money on high rates and the lenders will have the affect of it. No person will ever borrow money when the value of the money will depreciate. Therefore, when we calculate and formulate the risk, it makes sure that the market observes a decline in the upcoming value of money, which includes the rate of the price and rate of the yield. Market yield is determine by the expectations of the investors, risk prising and knowledge about risk and if in long term the yield gets shortened, the economy is going to be in the same level. Therefore, the further market expectations can be predicted on the basis of the yield curve. According to the experimental data, this works in the reality as well and not only theoretically. Although, the yield curve is not so perfect but the little knowledge and understanding of it by the borrowers, investors, and individuals give them enough understanding to handle the market in a better position than anyone else. They are likely to make few rational decisions on based of these calculations. On the basis of the calculations figured out of the above yield, five out of the six inverted yield curves in the past thirty years have predicted a weak economic environment, which is said to be an informal decision about the recession. Quite interesting to see this theory of risk pricing is in correlat ion with the quality of the recession predicted. At the time of recession, say, at the present scenario, most of the investors are not ready to take risk and trying to withdraw the money from the invested market. There is no investment at the moment where the investors can expect a good return and so they are trying to sell off their /shares and have control on their money. Due to the risk involve at the moment for loss off all the money invested, they are particularly thinking to invest in the best safest place which they can think off so that the money can be in circulation. These safe investments are called as â€Å"quality investments†. At the end, NGOs along with the conference board has published an index of leading economic pointers which can be used in the prediction of the economic activities and the business cycles. This index has the listing of ten itemised observance and many more subjective metrics in consumers behaviour with the calculations of the hours per week they work. This index made an experiment of the recession which tried to figure out the recessions of the past fifty years and was successful enough to predict around two hundred percent of the times of the economic withdrawals which had actually been in the past. This helps them in getting a solid base knowledge of the occurrence of the recession and their indicators. This knowledge can help investors in knowing the correct time of investing money and coming out of it and they can predict accurately about the business cycles, recessions occurrence time and other effective economic metrics can help them to move out or stay decisions to rent profit s from the investments which they make to generate their revenue and income with a strong level of prediction of the uncertain cause of the economic recession. However, most of the experts say, that the current knowledge of this is not going to give any outcome in the near future as the situations differ from time to time and it will be of no use by predicting from the historical datas. This might be wrong and investment decision can still be risky in the future, if by using the same method of historical dates. Causes of Recession- Fall in the aggregate demand also commonly known as AD is one of the important cause of the recession. Following are the causes of decline in AD in United States in the recent time: Credit Crunch: there has been lots of difficulty of borrowing the money in the US because of the high mortgage defaults. Many banks and financial institutions lost their money and after that they were quite reluctant in lending money. This made borrowing a very expensive method which leads to the less investment by the consumer. Investments were quite low which made the shortage of the money in the market. Defaults in Mortgage: companies introduced introductory offers for the people taking mortgage instantly and when this introductory offer ended, the interest rates increased which made it quite expensive. Peoples disposable income got reduced and which lead to default in the payment of mortgage rates by the people. Rising Costs: There has been an increase in the oil prices, energy rates and food prices which increased the production cost in almost all the things which lead the Aggregate Supply (AS) curve to shift from right to left. Lower income consumer cant afford the costly and expensive times due to which the demand got reduced and became a cause for the recession. Decline in the House Prices: Loosing the value of assets is quite trouble giving situation to the households. This situation reduces consumers wealth and it prevents equity withdrawal through remote gagging. With decline in house prices consumers tend to spend less because of the depreciating value of their money and assets. Bankruptcy: The financial institutions and banks like Bear Sterns and Northern Rock going bankrupt made people fear of spending the money. They were now, more into savings and prefer staying at home rather than moving out. According to Keynesian theory-â€Å" Fall in AD will result in Fall in Real GDP.† Real GDP effects depends upon the slope of the Aggregate Supply curve. Lets assume, the economy being very close to the highest level, then the lower Aggregate Demand curve would shift a bit and cause a very small fall in Real GDP. Decline in any of the constituent can cause economic crisis. Example, Say-MPC= x, cost of borrowing=y If â€Å"X† increases the interest rate by 4%, â€Å"Y† would also increase which in turn will make saving quite attractive. Therefore, the consumers will save more and spend less. Spending will be only done on the basic requirements which will benefit them in lots of savings. On the other hand, if the government increases the tax rate and lower its spending, Aggregate Demand would fall as well. Lets see the above figure. If we assume, there is a decline in Aggregate Demand then the multiplier effect may magnify the initial downward movement in the point â€Å"A†. Lets take an example of the factory where the production of the factory reduces, then definitely, the company would try to cut its cost and would reduce the labour from its factory because that will save them extra money. Now, as these workers are jobless, they are going to spend very less which will cause a secondary decline in Aggregate Demand, which will make the fall in Real GDP to a great extent. A positive rate of economic growth can be determined by consumer satisfaction level and the business growth level. If everything goes positive and there is a satisfied market then there wont be any reduction in the demand even if the interest rates are hiked by the banks and the government. Moreover, if people are unsecured about their job and finances, they will start saving and spend the minimum they can, Which will cause the Aggregate Demand to decline or may be move at very slower rate. Hence, the consumers predictions and expectations of the future should be safe and secure which might be very helpful in the circulation of money and the well balanced demand and supply curve. Example: Lets assume a country, say -United Kingdom. The most important feature of the country is based on International trade. Therefore, if there is a recession in other parts of the world the country will get affected as demand for their products will decline, and the export margin for the country will also decline due to the very less demand from the international boundaries. And this cycle will repeat in the UKs economy as well, where peoples demand will also reduce leading to the economy into the crisis. According to the classical economists beliefs, If there is any decline in Real GDP, they wont be permanent and will come to the finishing point when the labour markets get set themselves to the new price margin. They also argue on the point, If there is a decline, no matter big or small, in the Aggregate Demand, there will be fall in Real GDP. Hence, with a small shift in the price margin, wages will fall and finally SRAS will have a positive shift towards the right and gradually it will benefit in the economy returning to the original level at YF and the recession will come to an end. But, speaking harshly on these above valuations about the great depression of 1930, Keynes said, the long period of negative growth points about the markets show that they cant get clear automatically. He argued on the following reasons: Whenever there is a situation of recession, people have the tendency to save more rather than spend. They try to do savings as much as they can as they are really unsecure about the upcoming days, this is known as â€Å"Paradox of Thrift†. The factories or the business segments cut the wages and salaries to reflect downward movement in the prices but originally the workers are really harsh on it because a reduction in the salary/wages does not give them enough purchasing power and saving power. Now, if the salaries are deducted of the employees/workers, they would have less purchasing power, therefore, the demand will fall which will make the total impact on the AD curve, which will continue to decline at a rapid pace. Keynesian policies: An inspirational success Keynes introduced the power of elimination of the fear of people of depression with the practical examples. Before the Second World War, there were 8 U.S. recessions which got transformed into the situation of depression (1807, 1837, 1873, 1882, 1893, 1920, 1933, and 1937). Since the Second World War, there were 9 recessions (1945-46, 1949, 1954, 1956, 1960-61, 1970, 1973-75, 1980-83, and 1990-92) out of which not a single recession transformed into the situation of depression.This is a wonderful gift to the world by Keynes. Supply and demand factor When there is an excess of supply and demand in the market, a recession can take place within an international boundary which can later spread to the entire world. When the industries hire more and more labour and start the production at maximum level with the perception of the high demand in the market, they get a set back if the taste of the consumers has changed. When this situation arises supply in excess can cause the company loss and can be forced to reduce the prices. The companies then try to regain the loss by cutting employment and getting rid of the produced items. So in this case the excess supply factor would reduce and can be very slow. Along with this there is another situation which does occurs frequently from the side of the consumers. When the consumers demand is more than the supply side, the industries take benefit of it by increasing the prices of the products and by reducing the production of its products. And at this time, the products prices will be higher than it used to be because of the scarcity of the products in the market. Now, the consumers think, that the prices can exceed further, therefore, they buy the products in lots of quantity to satisfy their needs and excess demand. These poor industrial balances start giving a hint of industrial recession which spreads in the market affecting everyone. The supplier as well as consumers gets affected by this. Inflation A smaller amount of increase in the price value can click the beginning of the recession in the world market. The price value of all the domestic products like sugar, oil, wheat, rice, fruits, vegetables increases and become very costly which are not easily affordable. Not only the domestic products prices, but the price of oil also increases with rapid speed. At the moment, if we check the oil prices in the world, they have increased to huge height. The United States makes an impact on the entire world and the economists have warned them to stay in a planned economy to escape the recession or else they along with themselves will carry the entire world into the recessions. This warning should be the wake up alarm for all the countries including the USA. Crash in the Stock Market The crash in the stock market leading to fall of all the share prices is also one of the main reasons for the recession. The United States attacked Iraq which caused a major countrys revenue and put the entire country in the pressure of monetary problems also led the country lead into recession. According to the local people and share brokers, this war made an impact on the share market of USA which led to the decline in the prices value of the shares. The anti protection team were made against terrorism causing again the huge revenue for the country which resulted in the sharp decline in the share prices. Due to terrorism not only USA but the entire worlds share market is going down which is an issue of major concern. Selling of the Stocks By the alarming situation of the war, inflation, deflation, hyper inflation, catastrophe people start trading their shares on the large basis. The large investors sell out their shares at very cheap rates and get their money back due to the fear of loosing them. This also marks the factor of the inflation. In the year 2008, there was maximum trade of shares and the value of all the shares were at the bottom level. Saving factor of House Holds Most of the consumers are saving the money which is not allowing the money to rotate in the current market. The money is kept safely under their respective homes. Middle class families are quite resisting in going out and spending rather than keeping their pockets in tacked for the future. Majority of the money is owned by rich class people and even they are not exposing their money. This means, the moneys rotational nature is stopped and hence, the situation of recession is getting worse day by day. High consumption One of the major causes of the recession is over consumption. Peoples attitude of taking the life into a luxurious manner makes them overspend in the form of getting more and more luxury items. They want to build their standard of living and want to show off in the society. Everyone tries to compete with each other in terms of fashion and high status. Along with this the purchases of the luxurious health beauty costumes also make them spend on these products and the reason behind this is just â€Å"Show Off† in the society. Going to the expensive restaurants and having the most expensive food with lesser and higher quality also marks their standards. This excessive consumption of money has leaded the world fall into recession and poverty. United States invested billions of dollars into its war with Iraq which made economists alarmed them to be cautious about their future planning and also the consumption of the money in a more better and organised manner. Contamination in the Asian market The terrorism threats in Asia are causing the United States under an absolute pressure of recession. USA is taking major steps to avoid the terrorist attacks and threats in Asia and implementing its policies towards it to control the situation otherwise which can make a huge negative impact on the world. The major economic activity in the continent has been on the diminishing line on the graph which can cause the world a very huge burden of the recession which may be later converted into the situation of depression. Dirty environment, poverty, deflation, flood, hyperinflation, stock market downfall are some of the factors which are the areas of concerned in the continent. All these has made the United States quite interested in the enquiries towards the factors of recession and trying to take control of the difficult situation which may be very harmful to he world. The money supplys expansion is the work of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He is the one who can influence the economy without much notice. He can take immediate decisions on the raise or drop of the interest rates which can be even by fifteen percent. He makes the economy run by developing the movement of unemployment or the balance of the demand and supply. There have been many chairmen who were quite successful in managing the floatation of the interest rates but some were not successful as well. It has been agreed by all the economist, the person who can control the money supply should be enough influential and enough intelligent to handle it. On contrary, President of the United States has influence only on the long term on the economy. The decision taken by him at the time of his rule, they are implemented on a long term which may come into action even after his term gets over. Borrowing and spending decisions also take considerable time to pass through all the stages of confirmation and then getting it implemented in the economy. Therefore, the president is not at all responsible for the recessions as many people point the situation towards them. Its the chairman of the Federal Reserve who is responsible for the economic imbalances in the country. Many economists have agreed on this and has announced as injustice done to the presidents. There have been examples in the US economy where actions have been taken against the then presidents at the time of recession, which actually is not correct at all. Carter was punished for that high unemployment and inflation in the country and so as George Bush. However, if it was the president who was controlling the money supply they will be considered into the merit list. Impact of Recession The peoples purchasing power reduced as the companies reduced their labour and the workers still with them got cuts in their salary. Therefore, when the demand was low, production was low. All the prices of the small to big things became costly and people started saving rather than spending. Frequent flight travellers used trains as an alternative and similarly, in all the things in the market, consumers started opting for the cheaper substitutes which made a heavy impact on the business industry. The stock prices crashed down and people lost their life time savings in the stock market. Banks announced their loss or some banks did announce their bankruptcy as well. Historical review of recessions Recessions in the world Due to the unavailability of the proper acceptance of the definition of a global recession, IMF considers global recessions when the global growth is less than 3%. According to the estimates of IMF, global recession does occur in a cyclical phase of 8 and 10 years. As per them, the past three global recessions of the past 20 years, the global output per capita growth was in negative or less than zero. The economists with IMF states the global growth rate of 3 % or less would slowdown the overall growth of the countries. The recessions of 1990-1993,1998, 2001-2002, and 2008-2009 had a massive decline of the growth rate below zero. USA has faced many expansions and contractions since 1854 which has an average of seventeen months of contraction and thirty eight months of expansion. Meanwhile, since USA entered in 1980s they have faced only 8 periods of negative or zero growth in the economy over a fiscal quarter or more, and four periods considered recessions: January-July 1980 and July 1981-November 1982: 2 years total July 1990-March 1991: 8 months March 2001-November 2001: 8 months December 2007-current: 15 months as of March 2009 From 1991 to 2000, the U.S. experienced 37 quarters of economic expansion, the longest period of expansion on record. NBER in USA announces the arrival of the recessions in its economy and have succeeded in conforming correctly the economy in recession over a decline period of two quarters. But, there is a point of consideration of the recession of 2001 which involved the preceding of two quarters of alternative decline and weak growth in spite of the decline of the two consecutive quarters. Stock market and recessions Anticipations have been made by the economists about the recessions of the decline in the stock markets. However, the stock market crashes after the recession is in. In the recent period of time, there have been many sounds of crash from all over the worlds stock markets. According to Siegel, in the Long run, since 1948 there have been 10 recessions which were preceded by a fall in the stock market with an average time period of around six months, however, there have been some stock markets in the Dow Jones which crashed below ten percent but still they did not come into recessions. The impact of recessions can be also seen on real estate market which however last much longer than the recessions and take a good number of quarters to gain the momentum again. Its almost next to impossible to predict the business cycle. And Therefore, Siegel on this argues strongly and say its almost impossible to make timings investment decisions on based of these economic cycles. In fact, NBER also takes quite a bit of time to determine about the negative growth in all the sectors brining down the economy to a halt. Whenever, there is a decline in the economy, the consumers tend to adopt the stuffs of daily requirement from the market in whole sale and keep them in their stocks. Tobacco, contraceptives and medicines industry grow even at the time of negative economic and tends to hold a better position than any other industry. The stock market gets better day by day as the economy progress at a span of time. Once the economy is at worst i.e. after the lowest decline, market tends to grow and the stocks moves really fast building its strong position once again. There have been issues and objection over the health care companies progress. This is so because, they are in a better position than any other industry at the time of recession and after the market recovers; it is quite interesting to watch their stocks progress. Some companies diversify their risks and invest into the international projects which may provide them safety and a better industry position however, the countries which are very closely trading with USA also gets affected by the US recession. There has been a trend set of the recession by their historical figures and therefore, the investors begin discounting a recovery when the recession has crossed its halfway. The average length of a recession in US has been taken as thirteen months; nevertheless there are many recessions which have been shorter in period than thirteen months. Therefore, the present recession discounting period had already been started in the November 2009 and the market is growing with a good speed and trying to gain the momentum once again and is expected to be in a good position by the Middle of 2010. PoliTICS RECESSION The administration gets the blame or the credit for the economy of its country. The political controllers has to make sure the countrys economy is running into a good position, which has actually made disagreements about the arrival of the recession. Whenever, there is a downturn in an economy in can be considered a posi