Difference in Metaphysics Between Aristotle and Kant

What is the central difference between metaphysics as Kant conceives it, and metaphysics as Aristotle conceives it? Argue in support of one or the other view. Metaphysics is usually taken to involve both questions of what is existence and what types of things exist; in order to answer either questions, one will find itself using and investigating the concepts of being.Aristotle  proposed the first of these investigations which he called ‘first philosophy’, also known as ‘the science of being’ however overtime his writings came to be best known as ‘Metaphysics’ in which he studied being qua being with a central theme of how substance may be defined as a category of being. Kant who is a nominalist criticized both Aristotelian and therefore realists’ ideas of metaphysics by suggesting that they seek to go beyond the limits of human knowledge.Furthermore Kant argued that the structure of the world as it is in itself is unreachable to us; me taphysicians must be content to explain the structure of our thinking about that world. In this essay I will examine the two main exponents of such a doctrine in favor of realists by looking at the main differences of Metaphysics as Aristotle and Kant conceive it, which is centered on the all important question of whether metaphysics is a science of mind or of being.There have been disagreements between philosophers about the nature of metaphysics; Aristotle sometimes characterizes the discipline as the attempt to identify the first cause or better referred to as the unmoved mover and other times as the very universal science of being qua being. It is however important to remember that both of these characterizations identify one and the same discipline. On the other hand the empiricists and Kant were critical of both Aristotelian and rationalist ideas of metaphysics, by arguing that both disciplines seek to exceed the limits of human knowledge.Kant argued that the structure of the world as it is in itself is inaccessible to us and that metaphysicians must be content to describe the structure of our thinking about that world. Realists such as Plato and Aristotle maintain that for language to even exist there must be some universal quality to phenomenon. To elaborate, human beings do not discuss each object as a completely independent entity to be analyzed but rather draw comparisons to other known objects to compile a series of properties to categorize it.Nominalists, on the other hand, while not denying that humans group things together by virtue of certain qualities, maintain that this is simply a convention of language based on people's perception of them. Just because two objects share the same perceptible quality does not necessarily warrant grouping them together in any real way; it's simply a human way of making sense of reality through the senses. As soon as one asks the most basic questions of ‘what is Aristotelian Metaphysics? What study does A ristotle believe himself to be undertaking in these essays? you find yourself, baffled immediately. ‘Metaphysics’ is in fact a compilation of a number of Aristotle’s writings that later on editors put together. It has a central theme of an inquiry into how substance may be defined as a category of being. Book Gamma appears to start on characterizing something which Aristotle calls ‘the science of being qua being’ and then goes on to a discussion of the principle of non contradiction. â€Å"There is science which investigates being qua being and the attributes which belong to this in virtue of its own† (Warrington, 1956, P116).In order to study being qua being, one has to simply study those qualities which hold of entities in virtue of the fact that they are entities. What sort of attributes are qualities of entities qua being? Aristotle insists on unity or oneness as such a feature, on the grounds that everything – everything which exis ts is one thing. However Aristotle’s characterization of the subject raises a few doubts: why is there a need to restrict logic to entities? Is the word ‘qua’ appropriate? No doubt each entity is one thing but is it one thing qua being, or insofar as it exists?Although book Epsilon is rather brief, it shows a return to the science of being qua being and also passes some remarks on truth. â€Å"If there any immovable substances, then the science which deals with them must be prior, and it must be primary philosophy† (Loux, 2006, p14). This shows that the immoveable substances are divinities. Book Zeta appears to restrict our subject matter in a rather different way: ‘the question which, both now and in the past, is continually posed and continually puzzled over is this: what is being? That is to say, what is substance? This question defines the nature of Aristotle’s inquiries, at least for a large part of the Metaphysics, and it thus offers a f ourth account of the study or science of metaphysics. â€Å"The science of first principles, the study of being qua being, theology, the investigation into substance – four compatible descriptions of the same discipline? Perhaps there is no one discipline which can be identified as Aristotelian Metaphysics? And perhaps this thought should not disturb us: we need only recall that the metaphysics was composed by Andronicus rather than by Aristotle.But the four descriptions do have at least one thing in common: they are dark and obscure† (Ross, 1996, p174). Books Zeta, Eta and Theta, together form the central part of the Metaphysics, with a focus on their general topic ‘substance’: its classification and relation to matter and forms, to actuality and to potentiality, to change and generation. According to Aristotle, there is one kind of being which is in the strictest and fullest sense, substance. What we don’t see in Metaphysics is Aristotle treating the categories as a whole.The substance is the whole thing, including the qualities, relations etc which form its essence and this can exist apart. Secondary substances being universals, cannot according to Aristotle’s own doctrine exist apart, but must be supplemented by the special qualities of their individual members. Substance is prior in definition; in defining a member of any other category you must include the definition of the underlying substance. Substance is prior for knowledge; we know a thing better when we know what is than when we know what quality, quantity or place it has.In this realist point of view substance is evidently being thought of not as the concrete thing but as the essential nature. And this double meaning spreads through Aristotle’s whole treatment of substance. The existence of substance and the distinction between it and other categories is for Aristotle self-evident. Kant on the other hand seems to suggest that the necessity for metaph ysics is a psychological one, arising out of men’s desires which is the main difference between Aristotle and him; however I would argue against Kant that this is not the case and it is a logical necessity.It arises out of the mere pursuit of knowledge thus that pursuit, which we call science, is an attempt to think in a logical and systematic manner. This involves unraveling the presuppositions of our thoughts. Furthermore it involves discovering that some of them are relative presuppositions which have to be justified and that others are absolute presuppositions, which neither stand in need of justification nor can in fact be justified; and a person who has made this discovery is already a metaphysician.Kant intends to defend metaphysic and scientific knowledge by providing an accurate analysis of human reason. His theory is based on his discovery of synthetic a priori knowledge, judgments that are both informative and necessary. However I would argue against this nominalis t point of you as there’s a problem with explaining how much judgment should arise, as well as to give an explanation of their truth.In other words The Critique of Pure Reason argues that the necessary metaphysical principles underlying all hypothetical knowledge originate in the pure forms of feeling and the intellect. Furthermore In Kant’s point of view, there are no universal concepts underlying reality, simply the phenomenon in front of us. Realists, on the other hand, maintain that all things that share the same property — for example, greenness for all things with the color green — are therefore linked by this property. Sharing this property implies possession of the same universal form.Nominalism posits that what is perceived is what exists in reality, whereas realists view a perceived object as the manifestation of a universal concept. Consequently, perception is not a one-to-one process of seeing something as it actually exists, but a synthesis o f the underlying concept and real phenomena. Kant wrote the Critique of Pure Reason not as a piece of constructive metaphysical thinking, but it was placed before the public in order to move away from errors which had obstructed and did obstruct metaphysical thinking.In his preface, he argued that his view of Metaphysics is concerned with God, freedom and immortality; however as well as dealing with these subjects, it also signified an inquiry to which men could never be indifferent and which they would never renounce thus the question was no longer about whether people should have metaphysics or no metaphysics but whether they should have good metaphysics or bad metaphysics. He also argued that metaphysicians were to blame for this state of things and that a sounder metaphysics was not to be looked for until those errors had been cleared away. Kant’s way of accommodating both the Aristotelian and Newtonian world pictures alike- both natural teleology and natural mechanism is to ground both in the necessary possibility of rational human nature. According to Kant, the natural world is an objectively real material world in which human persons actually do exist, and consequently in which human persons must also be possible† (Hanna, 2006, p15). Kant’s point is that if metaphysical knowledge is possible, it will share some of the distinctiveness of logic.For Kant, any science must be based on necessary principles as one would not be able to be certain of what theories are true if scientific principles were only contingent. However unlike logic, which is purely formal, metaphysics has content because it is the science of reality. For Kant, The Laws of logic are not absolute or universal they are in fact left with everything else knowable as phenomenal. ‘Nominalist is true’ and ‘A and Not A, cannot both be true’ are both true statements but only and only because this is the way our subjective minds structure and condition reality.They can never true in the universal and absolute sense without this phenomenological caution. For Kant these statements are not necessarily true (though it may be) outside of phenomenal experience. There is no question that Kant intends his theory of pure concepts to replace Aristotle’s theory of the categories. In his categories, Aristotle identified ten classes as the fundamental ontological types under which all things fall: substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, posture, state, action and passion.He thought that things falling under all categories could be subject of essential predications, but only substances can keep their identities while undergoing change in time. In general the categories express metaphysical principles that set limits on meaningful discussions. Kant’s idea of categories differentiated from Aristotle’s in the sense that, he argued rather being empirical, in order for the categories to be successful, they must sho w that the concepts are pure and have originated in understanding rather than sensibility.In addition the list must include only fundamental concepts, and it must be systematic to ensure completeness. Kant believes it is possible to obtain a complete list because pure concepts express functions of the understanding, thus the key to a complete list is to assume that the understanding has one function. It can be argued that this method is an improvement over Aristotle’s who merely conducted an empirical survey of concepts, which can never guarantee the systematic completeness of the list. In Aristotle’s case it is unclear whether he saw it as a doctrine about things and their basic properties or about language and its basic predicates; whereas  Kant  quite explicitly used his categories as features of our way of thinking, and so applied them only to things as they appear to us, not as they really or ultimately are† (Barnes, 1995, p75). In conclusion Aristotle a nd Kant’s metaphysics differentiate in the sense that one is arguing in favor of realism and the other is arguing in favor of Nominalism.Although there is no doubt that both ideas have faults, the account I agree the most with is indeed Aristotle’s conception of metaphysics as it focuses on the logical necessity of metaphysics rather than psychological. The main differences between the two accounts can be seen in their treatment of perception, treatment of universals and treatment of language. Bibliography Ackrill, J. L. 1995. Aristotle. London: Routledge. 161 Allison, H. E. 2012. Essays on Kant. Oxford: Oxford University Press Barnes, J. 1995. The Cambridge companion to Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Buroker, J. V. 2006.Kant’s Critique of pure reason: an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. Page 8 Collingwood, R. G, 1966. An essay on Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hanna, R. 2006. Kant, Science and Human Nature. O xford University Press: Oxford. Loux, J. 2006. Metaphysics a contemporary introduction. London: Routledge Ross, D. 1996. Aristotle. London: Routledge Shields, C. 2007. Aristotle. London: Routledge Gardner, S. 1999. Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. London: Routledge Smith, N. K. 2007. Critique of Pure Reason. London: Palgrave Macmillan Warrington, J. 1956. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. London: J. M. Dent & Sons

Digital Fortress Chapter 7

Susan's mind was racing-Ensei Tankado wrote a program that creates unbreakable codes! She could barely grasp the thought. â€Å"Digital Fortress,† Strathmore said. â€Å"That's what he's calling it. It's the ultimate counterintelligence weapon. If this program hits the market, every third grader with a modem will be able to send codes the NSA can't break. Our intelligence will be shot.† But Susan's thoughts were far removed from the political implications of Digital Fortress. She was still struggling to comprehend its existence. She'd spent her life breaking codes, firmly denying the existence of the ultimate code. Every code is breakable-the Bergofsky Principle! She felt like an atheist coming face to face with God. â€Å"If this code gets out,† she whispered, â€Å"cryptography will become a dead science.† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"That's the least of our problems.† â€Å"Can we pay Tankado off? I know he hates us, but can't we offer him a few million dollars? Convince him not to distribute?† Strathmore laughed. â€Å"A few million? Do you know what this thing is worth? Every government in the world will bid top dollar. Can you imagine telling the President that we're still cable-snooping the Iraqis but we can't read the intercepts anymore? This isn't just about the NSA, it's about the entire intelligence community. This facility provides support for everyone-the FBI, CIA, DEA; they'd all be flying blind. The drug cartels' shipments would become untraceable, major corporations could transfer money with no paper trail and leave the IRS out in the cold, terrorists could chat in total secrecy-it would be chaos.† â€Å"The EFF will have field day,† Susan said, pale. â€Å"The EFF doesn't have the first clue about what we do here,† Strathmore railed in disgust. â€Å"If they knew how many terrorist attacks we've stopped because we can decrypt codes, they'd change their tune.† Susan agreed, but she also knew the realities; the EFF would never know how important TRANSLTR was. TRANSLTR had helped foil dozens of attacks, but the information was highly classified and would never be released. The rationale behind the secrecy was simple: The government could not afford the mass hysteria caused by revealing the truth; no one knew how the public would react to the news that there had been two nuclear close calls by fundamentalist groups on U.S. soil in the last year. Nuclear attack, however, was not the only threat. Only last month TRANSLTR had thwarted one of the most ingeniously conceived terrorist attacks the NSA had ever witnessed. An anti-government organization had devised a plan, code-named Sherwood Forest. It targeted the New York Stock Exchange with the intention of â€Å"redistributing the wealth.† Over the course of six days, members of the group placed twenty-seven nonexplosive flux pods in the buildings surrounding the Exchange. These devices, when detonated, create a powerful blast of magnetism. The simultaneous discharge of these carefully placed pods would create a magnetic field so powerful that all magnetic media in the Stock Exchange would be erased-computer hard drives, massive ROM storage banks, tape backups, and even floppy disks. All records of who owned what would disintegrate permanently. Because pinpoint timing was necessary for simultaneous detonation of the devices, the flux pods were interconnected over Internet telephone lines. During the two-day countdown, the pods' internal clocks exchanged endless streams of encrypted synchronization data. The NSA intercepted the data-pulses as a network anomaly but ignored them as a seemingly harmless exchange of gibberish. But after TRANSLTR decrypted the data streams, analysts immediately recognized the sequence as a network-synchronized countdown. The pods were located and removed a full three hours before they were scheduled to go off. Susan knew that without TRANSLTR the NSA was helpless against advanced electronic terrorism. She eyed the Run-Monitor. It still read over fifteen hours. Even if Tankado's file broke right now, the NSA was sunk. Crypto would be relegated to breaking less than two codes a day. Even at the present rate of 150 a day, there was still a backlog of files awaiting decryption. â€Å"Tankado called me last month,† Strathmore said, interrupting Susan's thoughts. Susan looked up. â€Å"Tankado called you?† He nodded. â€Å"To warn me.† â€Å"Warn you? He hates you.† â€Å"He called to tell me he was perfecting an algorithm that wrote unbreakable codes. I didn't believe him.† â€Å"But why would he tell you about it?† Susan demanded. â€Å"Did he want you to buy it?† â€Å"No. It was blackmail.† Things suddenly began falling into place for Susan. â€Å"Of course,† she said, amazed. â€Å"He wanted you to clear his name.† â€Å"No,† Strathmore frowned. â€Å"Tankado wanted TRANSLTR.† â€Å"TRANSLTR?† â€Å"Yes. He ordered me to go public and tell the world we have TRANSLTR. He said if we admitted we can read public E-mail, he would destroy Digital Fortress.† Susan looked doubtful. Strathmore shrugged. â€Å"Either way, it's too late now. He's posted a complimentary copy of Digital Fortress at his Internet site. Everyone in the world can download it.† Susan went white. â€Å"He what!† â€Å"It's a publicity stunt. Nothing to worry about. The copy he posted is encrypted. People can download it, but nobody can open it. It's ingenious, really. The source code for Digital Fortress has been encrypted, locked shut.† Susan looked amazed. â€Å"Of course! So everybody can have a copy, but nobody can open it.† â€Å"Exactly. Tankado's dangling a carrot.† â€Å"Have you seen the algorithm?† The commander looked puzzled. â€Å"No, I told you it's encrypted.† Susan looked equally puzzled. â€Å"But we've got TRANSLTR; why not just decrypt it?† But when Susan saw Strathmore's face, she realized the rules had changed. â€Å"Oh my God.† She gasped, suddenly understanding. â€Å"Digital Fortress is encrypted with itself?† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"Bingo.† Susan was amazed. The formula for Digital Fortress had been encrypted using Digital Fortress. Tankado had posted a priceless mathematical recipe, but the text of the recipe had been scrambled. And it had used itself to do the scrambling. â€Å"It's Biggleman's Safe,† Susan stammered in awe. Strathmore nodded. Biggleman's Safe was a hypothetical cryptography scenario in which a safe builder wrote blueprints for an unbreakable safe. He wanted to keep the blueprints a secret, so he built the safe and locked the blueprints inside. Tankado had done the same thing with Digital Fortress. He'd protected his blueprints by encrypting them with the formula outlined in his blueprints. â€Å"And the file in TRANSLTR?† Susan asked. â€Å"I downloaded it from Tankado's Internet site like everyone else. The NSA is now the proud owner of the Digital Fortress algorithm; we just can't open it.† Susan marveled at Ensei Tankado's ingenuity. Without revealing his algorithm, he had proven to the NSA that it was unbreakable. Strathmore handed her a newspaper clipping. It was a translated blurb from the Nikkei Shimbun, the Japanese equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, stating that the Japanese programmer Ensei Tankado had completed a mathematical formula he claimed could write unbreakable codes. The formula was called Digital Fortress and was available for review on the Internet. The programmer would be auctioning it off to the highest bidder. The column went on to say that although there was enormous interest in Japan, the few U.S. software companies who had heard about Digital Fortress deemed the claim preposterous, akin to turning lead to gold. The formula, they said, was a hoax and not to be taken seriously. Susan looked up. â€Å"An auction?† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"Right now every software company in Japan has downloaded an encrypted copy of Digital Fortress and is trying to crack it open. Every second they can't, the bidding price climbs.† â€Å"That's absurd,† Susan shot back. â€Å"All the new encrypted files are uncrackable unless you have TRANSLTR. Digital Fortress could be nothing more than a generic, public-domain algorithm, and none of these companies could break it.† â€Å"But it's a brilliant marketing ploy,† Strathmore said. â€Å"Think about it-all brands of bulletproof glass stop bullets, but if a company dares you to put a bullet through theirs, suddenly everybody's trying.† â€Å"And the Japanese actually believe Digital Fortress is different? Better than everything else on the market?† â€Å"Tankado may have been shunned, but everybody knows he's a genius. He's practically a cult icon among hackers. If Tankado says the algorithm's unbreakable, it's unbreakable.† But they're all unbreakable as far as the public knows!† â€Å"Yes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Strathmore mused. â€Å"For the moment.† â€Å"What's that supposed to mean?† Strathmore sighed. â€Å"Twenty years ago no one imagined we'd be breaking twelve-bit stream ciphers. But technology progressed. It always does. Software manufacturers assume at some point computers like TRANSLTR will exist. Technology is progressing exponentially, and eventually current public-key algorithms will lose their security. Better algorithms will be needed to stay ahead of tomorrow's computers.† â€Å"And Digital Fortress is it?† â€Å"Exactly. An algorithm that resists brute force will never become obsolete, no matter how powerful code-breaking computers get. It could become a world standard overnight.† Susan pulled in a long breath. â€Å"God help us,† she whispered. â€Å"Can we make a bid?† Strathmore shook his head. â€Å"Tankado gave us our chance. He made that clear. It's too risky anyway; if we get caught, we're basically admitting that we're afraid of his algorithm. We'd be making a public confession not only that we have TRANSLTR but that Digital Fortress is immune.† â€Å"What's the time frame?† Strathmore frowned. â€Å"Tankado planned to announce the highest bidder tomorrow at noon.† Susan felt her stomach tighten. â€Å"Then what?† â€Å"The arrangement was that he would give the winner the pass-key.† â€Å"The pass-key?† â€Å"Part of the ploy. Everybody's already got the algorithm, so Tankado's auctioning off the pass-key that unlocks it.† Susan groaned. â€Å"Of course.† It was perfect. Clean and simple. Tankado had encrypted Digital Fortress, and he alone held the pass-key that unlocked it. She found it hard to fathom that somewhere out there-probably scrawled on a piece of paper in Tankado's pocket-there was a sixty-four-character pass-key that could end U.S. intelligence gathering forever. Susan suddenly felt ill as she imagined the scenario. Tankado would give his pass-key to the highest bidder, and that company would unlock the Digital Fortress file. Then it probably would embed the algorithm in a tamper-proof chip, and within five years every computer would come preloaded with a Digital Fortress chip. No commercial manufacturer had ever dreamed of creating an encryption chip because normal encryption algorithms eventually become obsolete. But Digital Fortress would never become obsolete; with a rotating cleartext function, no brute-force attack would ever find the right key. A new digital encryption standard. From now until forever. Every code unbreakable. Bankers, brokers, terrorists, spies. One world-one algorithm. Anarchy. â€Å"What are the options?† Susan probed. She was well aware that desperate times called for desperate measures, even at the NSA. â€Å"We can't remove him, if that's what you're asking.† It was exactly what Susan was asking. In her years with the NSA, Susan had heard rumors of its loose affiliations with the most skilled assassins in the world-hired hands brought in to do the intelligence community's dirty work. Strathmore shook his head. â€Å"Tankado's too smart to leave us an option like that.† Susan felt oddly relieved. â€Å"He's protected?† â€Å"Not exactly.† â€Å"In hiding?† Strathmore shrugged. â€Å"Tankado left Japan. He planned to check his bids by phone. But we know where he is.† â€Å"And you don't plan to make a move?† â€Å"No. He's got insurance. Tankado gave a copy of his pass-key to an anonymous third party†¦ in case anything happened.† Of course, Susan marveled. A guardian angel. â€Å"And I suppose if anything happens to Tankado, the mystery man sells the key?† â€Å"Worse. Anyone hits Tankado, and his partner publishes.† Susan looked confused. â€Å"His partner publishes the key?† Strathmore nodded. â€Å"Posts it on the Internet, puts it in newspapers, on billboards. In effect, he gives it away.† Susan's eyes widened. â€Å"Free downloads?† â€Å"Exactly. Tankado figured if he was dead, he wouldn't need the money-why not give the world a little farewell gift?† There was a long silence. Susan breathed deeply as if to absorb the terrifying truth. Ensei Tankado has created an unbreakable algorithm. He's holding us hostage. She suddenly stood. Her voice was determined. â€Å"We must contact Tankado! There must be a way to convince him not to release! We can offer him triple the highest bid! We can clear his name! Anything!† â€Å"Too late,† Strathmore said. He took a deep breath. â€Å"Ensei Tankado was found dead this morning in Seville, Spain.†

Why South Africa must not bale Zimbabwe and why it would!

As Zimbabwe moves further and deeper into crisis, the world still looks on from a distance and utter mixed statements of condemnation and oddly so, admiration. Strengthened by the lack of consensus on the man-made crisis that Zimbabwe has come, Mugabe's government has continued to deal harshly with opponents in the urban areas by unleashing a so-called slams clearance programme dubbed ‘operation murambatsvina† which has left many homeless. To pacify the critics of this programme, operation garikai† has been muted to restore the vanquished hopes of Mugabe's victims. And for this, someone else other than Mugabe is expected to pay. Requests for an olive branch have been extended to many ‘friendly' or ‘neutral' countries, with south Africa and China topping the list. Observers have suggested that â€Å"Mugabe prefers the loan shark who demands no internal reforms, to the more accountable loan demanding reform. † In a letter to the editor (Business Day 26/07/05) Mark Wade contrasted the lack of facilities and skills to provide south Africans with decent housing, health care, social services, roads, city infrastructure – with the move to â€Å"give a banana republic dictator billions of our hard-earned rands to prop up a regime that has created the very policies that have destroyed his country. However, others view this as an opportunity to get Mugabe towing the ling suggesting that â€Å"now that South Africa seems poised to bale out Zimbabwe †¦ should finally pluck up the courage to extract maximum advantage for the people of that benighted country.† Such sentiments are reminiscent of those expressed when Mugabe won the controversial two-third majority making other observers suggest that, he would become a benevolent dictator and would want to show the world that he meant well also leaving behind a good legacy. More like teaching old dogs new tricks or like expecting sweet lemons? The basis upon which a loan must be extended to Zimbabwe must be based on the effect of the loan for the affected Zimbabweans. Will the loan enhance their lives and improve their access to services and human dignity. The answer to these questions is already obvious given a reading of the manner in which the Zimbabwean government has conducted itself. President Mbeki's argument that the loan would ensure that Zimbabwean problems do not spill into South Africa has surely passed its sell-by date. South African is already home to millions of Zimbabweans displaced by the ever-tumbling economy of that country. Mugabe claimed that he is in weekly contact with Mbeki and suggested that they share ideas. This revelation makes ‘quite diplomacy' a thing of the past and suggest that Mbeki is in complicity with Mugabe in the humanitarian crisis that has visited the people of that country. Anyone who has been following events in rural and urban South Africa would know about the spat of high intensity removals and evictions visited upon the urban and rural poors through South Africa's own version of shacks clearance programme. Poor and landless people have been evicted without notice and alternative land and accommodation. These people face daily evictions from bond housing and private buildings in an espoused â€Å"war on shacks that has seen the poor and landless moved from shack to shack.† Perhaps the most affected are the farm dwellers and farm workers community who face the most humiliating conditions from farm owners sanctioned by the Extension of Security of Tenure Act and the Labour Tenancy Act. Thabo Mbeki has failed to act decisively on these issues and the scourge of poverty has an unshakable impact on the masses of South African people. This makes Mbeki not different from Mugabe, and it would be hypocrisy for Mbeki to lecture on Mugabe on these rights which he has not been able to afford the poor. Bailing Zimbabwe means an endorsement of the irresponsible programmes of government that wrought the economic and social woes bedeviling the poor and masses. This extended from the irresponsible managed land reform, through to the dubious operation restore order. It is expecting too much to think that any amount of money put into a ZANU PF government's coffer would be put to any good use now. History does not judge Mugabe and his government well on this, especially since he embarked on the self-saving and apparently self-destructive route in the name of anti-imperialism and empowerment through land reform. The people of South Africa must look at more constructive, imaginative and creative ways of assisting the suffering masses of Zimbabwe. Bailing the Zimbabwe government is definitely not one of them.

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What factors contributed to success (or not) of these major building projects - Essay Example A good construction plan is the basis for developing the budget and the schedule for work. Developing the construction plan is a critical task in the management of construction, even if the plan is not written or otherwise formally recorded. (bpo.knowledgehills.com). In managing a construction project, it is common to adopt primary emphasis on three basic elements, namely, task, resource and time. They are interrelated, and any alteration in one will affect the other two. The main objective behind time management is to complete the project in minimal time. But this should not be achieved by compromising on the quality or cost factors. It should be taken care that by optimizing performance at any stage does not have an effect on the overall project such that it does not bring in an element of benefit. Even though all these objectives were taken into account while planning The Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, some flaws on the part of the managing team brought up a delay in the completion of the project. This was undesirable, in a project of such importance. Until September 2004, the delay that had occurred was as a result of delays with structural steelwork. It was noted that the time required to fabricate massive cruciform steelwork took longer than the estimated time. As all stages of work are interrelated, the delay in the ending of stage one of the construction process, took it’s toll on the starting of stage two, which again caused an unprec edented delay. Further more; to add to the miseries, bad weather was a great hindrance to the smooth proceeding of the activities, thus bringing in more delay. Europes largest glass floor and a glass external lift, â€Å"which caused most of the recent delays to the towers opening date because of safety doubts.†(Lindsay 2005). All these were defects of proper project management, which led to the inefficient utilization of time. All these resulted in the

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The Chrysanthemums - Assignment Example This is evident on her passion to pursue a life of adventure, on the road, like the tinker who came up her house one day. Her sexual needs are also mentioned in the story, having shared a flirtatious banter with the tinker and even kneeling in front of him like â€Å"a fawning dog†. It should be noted that Elisa doesn’t have kids and she was already 35, which signals that she and her husband Hank do not really have a productive, if at all, sexual relationship. The story ended with Elisa crying because she knew that she would be forever kept in that â€Å"closed pot† of a valley. The conflict of the story is character vs. society. This is set in 1938 and the women are not as privileged as men. Even though we see that Elisa is smarter and better than the two men, she is still confined to the house, tending flowers instead of doing something more productive. She finds this frustrating, and this is not her fault, it’s the society’s. Her happiness and se lf-fulfillment is being regulated by the society and it’s suffocating her. The theme is also gender inequality. We see this story as a good reflection of society in that day, and Elisa symbolizes the women as much as the two male characters symbolize the men. However great a woman can be, she is still relegated to doing house work, just because of her sex.

Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Terrorism - Essay Example If one kills another human being due to self-defense—there is some purpose to it. However, if the attacker deliberately takes a live of someone to instill their radical views—that is ethically wrong. During terroristic attacks, human beings get treated as mere objects rather than creatures of life. Kant himself mentioned that people often induce terror â€Å"to treat them as ends in themselves and not simply as means to one's own ends.† Here it may seem complicated and puzzling, but Kant clearly here depicts the true agenda that is molded in human morality. Another reason why terrorism is not a justified means of achieving a particular is aim is due to the fact that it takes the lives of innocent citizens. One cannot diminish the fact that terrorism leads to innocent lives of victims. The victims in terrorist attacks are killed merely because they were present at that moment. The attack was not focused in military personnel or anyone, which makes the attack seem illogical. The victims are taken simply because they were present at that moment even though they were not associated Lastly, the use of terrorism is wrong because it uses violence as a way to justify the means of conducting violence. Terrorist attacks are no doubt a violation of human dignity.

Discuss Karl Marxs critique of capitalism Assignment

Discuss Karl Marxs critique of capitalism - Assignment Example Similarly, Thomas Hobbes’s renowned publication, the â€Å"Leviathan† claims that a valid government is that which unifies the collective will of the majority and unites them under the authority of sovereign power. Though all the three theories have some similarities, their areas of specialization are different. For instance, they all assert that there should be absolute governments though the theories highlight different specializations in regard to the stated governments. The concept of alienation and class inequality focuses more on the relationship between labor and human expression under capitalism. Under this concept, the workers are alienated from their labor since it no longer belongs to the workers but rather to the capitalists. The workers do as at the demands of capitalist rather than to satisfy their own needs. As far as class inequality is concerned, Marx argues there would be more and more members of society becoming proletarians if communism is not going to be practiced (Gergen 23). He further argues that because capitalist are continually accumulating capital, few capitalist exploiting a large number of poor proletarians who are subsisting on low wages will eventually characterize society. This would in turn encourage two social classes: the capitalist (rich) and the proletariat (poor). Communism can help solve the issue of class inequality and alienation the society faces today. Through communism, all goods and services are shared and as such, every need is met. Communism helps to eradicated poverty since no gets rich (Marx 16-40). At a personal level, class inequality and alienation is something that I undergo on my daily life. For instance, because I come from a middle class as the society stratifies, I cannot freely go into a five star hotel and bond freely with other citizens since I am considered not of the status. As far as

Communicating at Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Communicating at Work - Essay Example Proper communication is necessary to resolve conflicts that may happen among employees when job satisfaction decreases (Masters and Albright). When there is no communication between the supervisor and the subordinate, the former becomes oblivious to the latter’s needs and demands thus putting the latter under job stress which increases his dissatisfaction. This has bad effects on the organization in the long run. The manager has to remain informed about his employees and the only way he can do it is through communicating with them about what they want to get and what they need to do to achieve organizational goals. Workers need to communicate among themselves so that they can share views and ideas, and stay stress free. This is internal communication. External communication is also as much important which involves communicating with partners, shareholders and the customers. All this adds to the organization’s integrity and rapport which pays off in the long run in the f orm of employee and customer satisfaction. Works Cited Masters, Marick Francis, and Robert R. Albright. The Complete Guide to Conflict Resolution in the Workplace. USA: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2002.

Project Management Essay Example for Free

Project Management Essay Due to the rapid changes in the working world and the business environment, organizations have been forced to transform as a way of surviving in the ever-changing business environment. According to Gardiner (2005), most organizations Have adopted projects as their means of implementing change within the organization. The adoption of a project oriented a approach, with its associated management framework, is sufficient to ensure greater success in the implementation of change within an organization. While use of best practices in project management may not guarantee success in the change of an organization, the presence of projects increases the opportunity for success. Studies have shown that, where a project manager is well equipped with the skills and knowledge of project management, projects work as the best tools for implementing change within the organization. The Concept on Project Management Project management refers to the discipline managing, planning and organizing resources to achieve successful completion of specific project objectives and goals. A project is in nature a finite endeavor, that specifies the date as to when it should begin, and the time when it should end, this is done in order to create a unique service or product that brings about added value, or beneficial change in a company. The finite character of the project is different from operations or processes of an organization, some of which may be permanent or functional work, that are used to repeated operations, with the aim of producing similar goods or services. Management of the two systems is always complex and difficult. There is therefore need to employ distinct technical skills and adopt separate philosophy of management, that would enable the implementation of the best project that can bring beneficial returns to the company. messages. Application of Project Management in Organizational Change According to Gray Larson (2006), in the regime where implementation for change is the motto for most organizations, projects are the best vehicles for implementing change. The aspect of project management has in fact become more significant than ever. In any company that needs to change its organizational structure so as to change with the improving technology, or in order to meet the needs and wants of the consumers, projects are used as the vehicles for implementing the required change, and managing the related change. It is however important to possess the ability to sustain and build project management in order to succeed in the implementation of change. The importance of project management has been illustrated by the efforts of Swiss Re organization by using all its business operations to meet the requirements of e-business. Projects were used as the main vehicles for implementing this change. Great concern has however been expressed in the way most projects once began fail to deliver, or get stopped while they are underway. According to a research carried out by Levine (2005), most of the Information technology projects implemented were discouraging with 90% of the projects being late to deliver change in the organizations. It has been shown that, 50% of the projects are never completed at the right time, while 30% of the projects began are stopped while still underway. Project management allows the implementation of change in an organization in a more organized manner likely to realize success. The major challenge of any form of project management is to attain the objectives and goals put in place, while at the same time adhering to project constraints which are usually in the form of time factor, budget and scope. The more ambitious and secondary challenge is the optimization of integration and allocation of inputs that may be necessary to meet the goals and objectives. The success of a project management is associated with the nature the project itself. Projects involve most of the key players in an organization, both the managers and the workers at the lowest level. Projects also involve the entire organizational participation. For instance, it involves people, money, provisions, motivation, communication and space, in order to achieve the project objectives and goals. With the contribution of all these elements, an organization is able to identify and make use of the best resources as a means of attaining the best results. Gray Larson (2006), have emphasized that the managers can easily identify the talented workers and most potential factors in the organization, and allocate them where they can give a maximum contribution towards the achievement of the company. Management of a project is often the key responsibility and province of a specific individual project manager. The manager however does not participate directly, but instead strives to maintain progress and motivate other factors involved in the process, so as to achieve the objectives. The aim of the project manager also involves striving to achieve productive mutual interaction of the active parties, in a way that the entire risk of failure is reduced. Studies have shown that, where a project manager is well equipped with the skills and knowledge of project management, projects work as the best tool for implementing change within the organization. The project manager should be well equipped with the vision and mission of the organization, so as to direct the process of the project in the right direction, failure to which the project may fail to deliver, be late to achieve its goals, or get stopped while underway due to discouragements. The project manager represents the interests of clients and has to implement, as well as determine the specific needs and requirements of the clients, based on the understanding of the organization they are representing. Gray Larson (2006), have expressed that the capability to adopt the available internal systems of the contracting organization, and to establish close links among the nominated representatives, is an important step to ensure that the major issues of quality, time, and cost among others are attained with the main aim of client satisfaction. A successful and focused manager should be in a position to envision the whole project from the beginning to the end, and should have the skills and ability to ensure that the vision is realized in order to achieve successful change within an organization. In order to attain successful change by use of a project, there is need for the project manager to consider the three key factors that include human resources, time and finance. If an organization is in need of achieving change in the shortest time possible, there is need to employ more people and resources towards the problem. Though this may increase the cost of the project, it may be the best way of achieving an organizational change in the shortest time possible. Doing the task quicker in fact helps to reduce the cost of the project, the organization may end up spending the same amount it may have spent if it was to carry the same project in a prolonged period. Researchers have established that, there is no single way of implementing a project within an organization due to the fact that each each enterprise is unique, has different characteristics, and different financial capability. It is therefore important for the project managers to consider the features that are appropriate and important within any organization. Consideration of the important factors guide the project managers to come up with appropriate and accurate projects that can easily realize the vision of a specific organization. Cultural Factors Considered in the Implementation of project Management According to Dye Pennypacker (1999), some of the important cultural organizational factors considered while implementing a project include the history of the previous enterprise implementations, record of failures or success of the company is looked into, as this provides an insight into what should be done to achieve success in the project. A consideration is also done on the types of operational work and projects to be managed, organizations that are able to clearly prioritize and identify their projects end up with rigorous features of a project from the initial stages to the end, unlike organizations that do not identify and prioritize their projects at the first stages of implementation. The number of departments involved within the organization are also considered. This directs the planners to consider if the project is meant to satisfy a small number of users, or whether the project should expand in the process, if other departments will be incorporate as time goes by, or whether all the departments will be involved from the begging, thus requiring the project to satisfy a large number of users from the on-set stage. The expectation and support of the senior leadership is considered as a very important factor, because their involvement drive acceptance, and appropriate expectation. This is important for the success and realization of the changes expected within the organization. The value to the end user and management is absolutely important to ensure that the change implemented through the use of the project satisfy the needs and expectations of all parties involved in the process. According to Levine (2005), organizations also consider the maturity of the desired project management discipline. The 2007 project server is often used as it contains important features for managing projects. Where an organization is considering the application of project management for the first time, it is not easy to incorporate all the capabilities at the first instance. Studies have established that, staging the first features in project management implementation help to establish both the short term and long term changes effected in an organization. Any changes that are likely to take place are considered due to the fact that, if too much changes takes place, the chances of implementation reduce, with most of the people within the organization becoming resistant to the change. Resistant to change is one of the human characteristics. Critique of Project Management Approach Researchers have however established that there still exist discomfort in the use of projects. While project management is preferred as the most efficient way of implementing change within an organization, use of too many projects may fail to deliver the desired results. Researchers have asserted that, most projects in organizations fail to deliver due to the use of poor project management practices, whose importance has been ignored by managers over a long period of time (Balogun, Hailey, 2004). Grundy, Brown (2002), have argued that the approach of organizational management is not effective on its own in the field of information technology, because they assume that IT solutions are developed by a technical team. The potential solution for organizations dealing with IT has been stated to be misaligned with the important characteristics of an organization like incentives or culture. Combining the management of projects in IT and organizational change management as it has been argued, cannot produce the desired results for the organizational change. Conclusion From the above analysis, studies have shown that, where a project manager is well equipped with the skills and knowledge of project management, projects work as the best tool for implementing change within the organization. Senior managers spend a lot of efforts and time promoting and formulating their strategy, but most of the time, they realize very little changes within the organization. The strategy may not yield the results expected, somehow the original goals are dissipated in the process of moving the strategy to implement the change, and the initial momentum may be lost before the anticipated benefits are achieved. Failure to implement change occurs as a result of the senior management trying to make use of the the existing structures and systems within the organization, the status quo, to change the same status quo. The adoption of a project oriented a approach with its associated management framework, is sufficient to ensure greater success in the implementation of change within an organization.

Enhanced Oil Recovery By In Situ Combustion Environmental Sciences Essay

Enhanced Oil Recovery By In Situ Combustion Environmental Sciences Essay Enhanced oil recovery is oil recovery by the injection of materials not normally present in the reservoir. In situ Combustion (ISC) is the process of an enhanced oil recovery process to improve the recovery of heavy crude oil. As it is the oldest thermal recovery technique, it has been used for over nine decades with many economically successful projects. Nevertheless, it is regarded as a high-risk process by many, primarily because of many failures of early field tests. Most of those failures came from application of a good process (ISC) to the wrong reservoirs or to the poorest prospects. This paper contains a description of ISC, a discussion of laboratory screening techniques, an illustration of how to apply laboratory results to field design, a discussion of operational practices and problems, and an analysis of field results. For complete review, the case study is done on Balol and Santhal fields in Mehsana. In-situ combustion has been known since 1888. Mendeleev was the first scientist to suggest the in-situ conversion of coal into combustible gases. Based on the earlier laboratory results, Sheinman and Dubrovai in 1934 proposed the processed the process of oil displacement by means of a moving underground fire-front. A number of field tests, were performed in various regions in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The results from these tests indicated that the heat losses were large, therefore the injected hot gases reached the formation zone with zero thermal energy. These studies however were followed by laboratory research field tests and development of mathematical models to simulate in-situ combustion as a result of which this process has been recognized and can be used as a promising method of recovering heavy oil from petroleum reservoirs. The principle of in-situ combustion is to achieve combustion within the pores of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir, burning part of the oil in place in order to improve the flow of the unburned part. Combustion is supported by the injection of air into the reservoir at one or more wells. The heat generated during combustion is sufficient to raise the rock to a high enough temperature to enable the combustion front to self propagate after initial ignition by increasing mobility of the fluid. Methodology The in-situ combustion process was applied to petroleum reservoirs depending on wide range of characteristics like Nature of formation, depth, temperature, reservoir thickness, permeability, porosity and oil saturation in order to recover oil. Pressure is also a factor but not much critical. The process was applied in reservoirs with average permeability ranging from 40 to 8000mD, whereas the oil saturation varied from 25 to 95%. In addition fuel content is one of the most important factors influencing the success of a fireflood process. The fuel content of the reservoir is the amount of coke available for combustion that is deposited on reservoir rock as a result of distillation and thermal cracking. If the fuel content is too low, the combustion process in the reservoir cannot be self sustained. Moreover, a high fuel content requires a large amount of air and high power cost which means low oil production. Gates and Ramey (1980) compared the estimated fuel content by various methods including laboratory results with that of field project data. It has been shown that fuel content determined experimentally in the laboratory by tube -run method can provide a reasonably good estimation of the fuel content obtained in the field. In situ combustion is basically injection of an oxidizing gas (air or oxygen-enriched air) to generate heat by burning a portion of the resident oil. Most of the oil is driven towards the producers by a combination of gas drive (from the combustion gases), steam and water drive. This process is also called fire flooding to describe the movement of a burning front inside the reservoir. Based on the respective directions of front propagation and air flow, the process can be forward, when the combustion front advances in the same direction as the air flow, or reverse, when the front moves against the air flow. Reverse Combustion This process has been studied extensively in laboratories and has been field tested. In brief, it has not been successful economically for two major reasons. First, combustion started at the producer results in hot produced fluids that often contain unreacted oxygen. These conditions require special, high-cost tubular to protect against high temperatures and corrosion. More oxygen is required to propagate the front compared to forward combustion, thus increasing the major cost of operating an in situ combustion project. Second, unreacted, coke-like heavy ends will remain in the burned portion of the reservoir. At some time in the process the coke will start to burn and the process will revert to forward combustion with considerable heat generation but little oil production. This has occurred even in carefully controlled laboratory experiments. In summary reverse combustion has been found difficult to apply and economically unattractive. Forward Combustion Forward combustion can be further characterized as dry when only air or enriched air are injected or wet when air and water are co-injected. Dry Forward Combustion The first step in dry forward ISC is to ignite the oil. In some cases auto-ignition occurs when air injection begins if the reservoir temperature is fairly high and the oil reasonably reactive. Artificial Ignition has been induced using down hole gas burners, electrical heaters, and/or injection of pyrophoric agents or steam injection. Figure : schematic illustration of the in-situ combustion process (Source) After ignition the combustion front is propagated by a continuous flow of air. As the front progresses into the reservoir, several zones exist between injector and producer as a result of heat and mass transport and the chemical reactions. The above figure is an idealized representation of the various zones and the resulting temperature and fluid saturation distributions. In the field there are transitions between zones. A. The burned zone is the volume already burned. This zone is filled with air and may contain small amounts of residual unburned organic solids. As it has been subjected to high temperatures, mineral alterations are possible. Because of the continuous airflow from the injector, the burned zone temperature increases from injected air temperature at the injector to combustion front temperature at the combustion front. B. The combustion front is the highest temperature zone. It is very thin, often no more than several inches thick. It is in this region that oxygen combines with the fuel and high temperature oxidation occurs. The products of the burning reactions are water and carbon oxides. The fuel is often misnamed coke. In fact it is not pure carbon but a hydrocarbon with H/C atomic ratios ranging from about 0.6 to 2.0. This fuel is formed in the thermal cracking zone just ahead of the front and is the product of cracking and pyrolisis which is deposited on the rock matrix. The amount of fuel burned is an important parameter because it determines how much air must be injected to burn a certain volume of reservoir. C/D. The cracking/vaporization zone is downstream of the front. The crude is modified in this zone by the high temperature of the combustion process. The light ends vaporize and are transported downstream where they condense and mix with the original crude. The heavy ends pyrolize, resulting in CO2 , CO, hydrocarbon gases and solid organic fuel deposited on the rock. E. The steam plateau. This is the zone where some of the hydrocarbon vapors condense. Most of those condense further downstream as the steam condenses. The steam plateau temperature depends on the partial pressure of the water in the gas phase. Depending on the temperature the original oil may undergo a mild thermal cracking, often named visbreaking that usually reduces oil viscosity. F. A water bank exists at the leading edge of the steam plateau where the temperature is less than steam saturation temperature. This water bank decreases in temperature and saturation downstream, with a resulting increase in oil saturation. G. The oil bank. This zone contains most of the displaced oil including most of the light ends that result from thermal cracking. H. Beyond these affected areas is the undisturbed original reservoir. Gas saturation will increase only slightly in this area because of the high mobility of combustion gases. Wet Forward Combustion A large amount of heat is stored in the burned zone during dry forward in situ combustion, because the low heat capacity of air cannot transfer that heat efficiently. Water injected with the air can capture and advance more heat stored in the burned zone. During wet combustion injected water absorbs the heat from the burned zone, vaporizes, moves through the burning front and condenses, expanding the steam plateau. This results in faster heat movement and oil displacement. Depending on the water/air ratio, wet combustion is classified as: (1) incomplete when the water is converted into superheated steam and recovers only part of the heat from the burned zone, (2) normal when all the heat from the burned zone is recovered, and (3) quenched or super wet when the front temperature declines as a result of the injected water. ISC requires particular attention to air compression, ignition, well design, completion, and production practices. Air compression causes high temperatures because of the high c p / cv ratio of air. Compressor design must consider these high temperatures to ensure continuous, sustained operations free from the corrosive effects of air and the explosion hazards of some lubricating fluids. Mineral oils are not recommended. Synthetic lubricants withstand the higher temperatures and offer lower volatility and flammability than conventional lubricants. In order to achieve the combustion in the petroleum reservoir, mainly Spontaneous ignition and Artificial ignition are the two methods that are used for heavy oil recovery. Ignition can occur spontaneously if the oil is reactive, the reservoir temperature high enough, and the reservoir is reasonably thick. Down hole gas-fired burners allow good control of the temperature of injected gases and may be operated at a greater depth than other methods. The disadvantages include the need to run multiple tubing strings in the injection wells. Catalytic heaters run at lower temperatures but are expensive. Electrical heaters can be lowered with a single cable, and can provide excellent temperature control. They can be reused repeatedly. There is, however, a depth limitation because of electrical power losses in the cable. Chemically enhanced ignition may require handling and storage of dangerous materials. Steam may be used to locally increase reservoir temperature and facilitate auto ignition . It suffers from depth limitation because of wellbore heat losses, but when the conditions are right it can be a very simple and effective method for ignition. Combustion process was also employed as primary and tertiary recovery processes. Applications In situ combustion can be applied to many different reservoirs. Some suggested screening guidelines are: Nature of the Formation : The rock type is not important provided that the matrix/oil system is reactive enough to sustain combustion. As in any drive process, high permeability streaks are detrimental. Swelling clays may be a problem in the steam plateau area. Depth: Depth should be large enough to ensure containment of the injected air in the reservoir. There is no depth limit, except that this may affect the injection pressure. Pressure: Pressure will affect the economics of the process, but does not affect the technical aspects of combustion. Temperature: Temperature will affect auto ignition but is otherwise not critical. Reservoir Thickness: Thickness should be greater than about 4m (15 ft) 2,3 to avoid excessive heat losses to surrounding formations. Very thick formations may present sweep efficiency problems because of gravity override. Permeability: This has to be sufficient to allow injection of air at the designed air flux. The air injectivity is especially important for heavy oil reservoirs. Conditions are favorable when kh /ÃŽÂ ¼ is greater than about 5md m/cp.3 Porosity and Oil Saturation: These have to be large enough to allow economic oil recovery. The product, à Ã¢â‚¬   So , needs to be greater than 0.08 for combustion to be economically successful. Oil Gravity: This parameter is not critical. Insitu viscosity has to be low enough to allow air injection and resulting oil production at the design rate. Oil Nature: In heavy oil projects the oil should be readily oxidizable at reservoir and rock matrix conditions. The laboratory experiments can also determine the amount of air needed to burn a given reservoir volume. This is key to the profitability of the process. Current Status of In-Situ Combustion The in-situ combustion process is attractive economically, provided it is applied to petroleum reservoirs containing approximately 50% oil saturation. The fuel content is one of the important parameters for combustion support at a relatively low air/oil ratio. Although laboratory experiments can provide some basic understanding of the process, the primary evaluation factor is a field application before the process is employed on a large scale. The present status of oil production by in-situ combustion in the United States is nearly 11,000 bbl/day. The commercial dry ISC project at Romania is the largest project of its kind and it has been in operation for more than 34 years. The Balol and Santhal projects in India have been in operation for more than seven years and have been applied in a wet mode. Currently, combined all these three projects produce approximately 2300m3 /day. It is likely that very little laboratory research can be performed to improve the displacement efficiency of this process. With continued improvement of the in-situ combustion technology, it is almost certain that some form of this process, such as dry, wet, and partially quenched combustion, will find greater application in the coming years. Currently, commercial In situ combustion projects are Economic Evaluation It is recognized that the success or failure of an enhanced oil recovery process depends on the economic evaluation. An economic study completed by Wilson and Root (1966), which is based on a modified form of two-dimensional model presented by Chu, compares the cost of heating a reservoir. The cost comparison was studied for a reservoir either in the presence of steam injection or forward combustion without oil production. The main consideration was to determine heating cost of the same dimensions of a reservoir by either steam injection or by forward combustion. The following conclusions were drawn from this study; (1) Combustion is favored over steam injection as the sand thickness decreases the pressure increase. (2) As the coke deposition increases, steam injection is favored over the combustion process. (3) As the heated distance in the reservoir increases, reservoir heating by combustion is more favorable as compared to steam injection. (4) Decreased injection rated favors the cost of steam injection relative to air. (5) Increased wellbore losses with increasing depth favor combustion. Conclusions It has been shown that in-situ combustion process is suitable to displace oils of gravities greater than 10 degree API. The average oil recovery by employing in-situ combustion is 50%. The major amount of oil is recovered before breakthrough of the combustion zone. For heavy oils, about 50% crude oil recovery occurs after breakthrough, whereas low-viscosity oil production declines very rapidly following breakthrough. The breakthrough of combustion zone can be recognized by an increase in gas production and its oxygen content. This is followed by a sharp increase ranging from 100 degree to 200 degree Fahrenheit in bottom hole temperature. In addition, the increase in water cut of the produced oil also indicates the breakthrough of the combustion zone. At the same time, pH of the produced water decreases, which is usually due to increase in the content of ions such as iron and sulphate. CASE STUDY IN-SITU COMBUSTION AT MEHSANA, GUJARAT. Mehsana asset, located in the northern part of Gujarat state in India is the highest oil producing onshore asset of ONGC with annual crude oil production of 2.35 MMT. Its having oil fields producing both heaviest crude and the lightest crude in India with API gravity ranging from 13ËÅ ¡ 42ËÅ ¡. Balol and Santhal fields form a part of this heavy oil belt with a API gravity 15ËÅ ¡-18ËÅ ¡. Balol and Santhal field encompass 22.17 MMT and 53.56 MMT of oil in place respectively. The crude is asphaltic in nature containing 6-8% asphaltene and the oil viscosity ranges from 50-450 cps at reservoir pressure of 100 kg/cm ² and 70ËÅ ¡ C temperature. Reservoirs have the permeability of the order of 3-8 darcies and are operating under active water drive. Subsequent Artificial lift methods resulted into high water production than oil. In many wells it became 95-100% and some wells had to be closed due to high water cut. The poor primary and secondary necessitated for In- Situ combustion technique in these fields. Exploitation of heavy oil from these heavy oil fields was a challenge for Mehsana asset. Based on results of laboratory studies, the In-situ combustion process was identified as the most suitable technique for enhancing the recovery from these fields. PILOT SCHEME A pilot test was designed and initiated in 5.5 acre area of southern part of Balol field in 1990-91. The first well CP#10 and thereafter Balol#171 were ignited with the help of foreign experts. The sustained combustion and production gain from nearby producers lead to conceptualization of the commercialization schemes in entire Balol field. In another attempt, a pilot scheme was also designed for Lanwa oil field and an inverted five slot pattern with four producer wells had been ignited in 1992. At present the commercialization of the scheme is in progress to enhance the production from the field. A pilot scheme is also running since 2002 in Bechraji field with four EOR injectors. COMMERCIAL SCHEMES Based on the techno-economic success of Balol Pilot project, commercial schemes were designed for entire Balol field for exploitation of heavy oil. Considering the similarities between the Balol and Santhal oil fields, this EOR technique has been implemented on a commercial scale in 1997 both at Balol and Santhal fields. Presently four commercial schemes viz. Balol Ph-1, Santhal Ph-1, Balol Main and Santhal Main are running successfully. Till date total 61 wells have been ignited in Balol and Santhal under these commercial schemes. More wells are in line for conversion into EOR injectors. For commercial exploitation of Balol and Santhal fields using In-situ combustion technique, four major air compressor plants, two, each in Balol and Santhal fields were set up. These plants supply compressed air to injector wells at reservoir conditions. Compressors except emergency air compressors at all the plants run on electricity. Combined installed capacity of these four plants is of compressing 4.9 NMm3/day air at maximum pressure of 123 Kg/cm2. Since water is required to be injected subsequently during wet phase, facilities for water treatment and injection are also installed in the respective plants. All these four plants are connected to each other with an integrated air grid network for better utilization of resources. A mobile unit called Ignition trailer is being used to initiate ignition process. Gas burners are used for artificial ignition in Mehsana. RESULTS After implementation of the technique, decline in production from Balol and Santhal fields was arrested. A number of wells have started flowing on self which were in artificial mode prior to in-situ combustion process. Production testing data of affected wells show the gradual increase in liquid production and decrease in water cut resulting increase in net oil production. Presently EOR gain from both the fields in the tune of 1200 TPD and air injection is in tune of 1.4MM Nm3/d. Production performance of these fields shows the gradual increase in oil production and decrease in W/C% with increasing number of injectors/air injection rate. It has not only given a new lease of life to Balol and Santhal fields but has also increased the oil recovery factor by 2-3 folds from 6-13% to 39-45%. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROJECT ONGC is one of the few organizations in the world, which has taken up In-situ combustion process on such a large scale. Total 68 wells have been converted in EOR injectors at Mehsana Asset so far. Most of the EOR injectors are old producer wells. They have been converted to injector wells after proper washing and cleaning of wells. Ignition is being done in the reservoir at an average depth of 990 meters, having 100 Kg/cm2 pressure and 70 degree Celsius temperature. Present Air-Oil ratio in these fields is about 1160 Nm3/m3 and Air-Oil ratio on cumulative basis it stands at 985 Nm3/m3, which indicates quite good efficiency of ISC process. Figure : Production profiles of Santhal and Balol fields (Source) MAJOR ISSUES Occurrence of Auto-Ignition: In Mehsana Gas burner is being used for artificial ignition. In this method air is injected through the annulus and natural gas through tubing. An aluminum plug fitted at the tip of burner prevents air and gas to mix. The plug pops out when gas injection pressure is more than air injection pressure and forms gas-air mixture at the bottom. A pyrophoric chemical is being used to initiate the flame. At well no. Balol # A on 1998 the burner caught fire without lowering pyrophoric liquid. Burner temperature shot up to 910 degree Celsius and was soon controlled by ignition tem members. There was no damage to thermocouple and down-hole assembly in this well. After this incidence auto ignition occurred successively in another three wells. In last two wells Santhal #B and Balol # C, thermocouple got damaged. Ignition experts were unable to establish the reason and remedy for auto ignition. Due to this failure, ONGC had completely suspended all the ignition operations fearing further auto igni tion and damage to thermocouple. A close study of all four cases of auto ignition revealed that gas injection was used to be done at full discharge rate of gas compressor. Due to this sudden release of huge amount of gas, a very rich mixture of air and gas forms making situation vulnerable for auto ignition. To overcome this problem, ignition team came up with an idea to put a cushion of an inert gas in the tubing before starting gas injection. At the time of plug pop up, now this inert gas release first afterwards natural gas comes in contact with air. This cushion provide ample time between plug pop up and release of natural gas which facilitate in regulating the gas injection rate to prevent formation of unwanted combustible mixture. The whole idea was put up before the management which was promptly agreed and broke the dead lock of suspended ignitions. After adoption of this technique till date no case of auto ignition encountered. EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF AIR COMPRESSOR Compression of air at high pressure is a costly affair because of huge consumption of electricity. To minimize this wastage of energy and for optimize the utilization of air compressors, it was thought to connect all the four plants with a common air grid. Subsequently the air grid was constructed using 6 and 4 dia pipelines as required. Now compressors are being run as per the total air requirement. By using this grid, on an average INR 2.0 Crores per month (USD 5.3 million per annum) are being saved as electricity charges. FAILURE OF AFTER COOLER OF AIR COMPRESSOR Running of large air compressor is difficult in India especially during summer due to high temperature. It may lead to explosion at compressed air piping due to accumulation of carryover lubricants and high discharge temperature. Two incidents of bursting of 3rd stage (Final stage) after coolers of HP compressor had taken place at a compressor plant of Santhal field. As a remedy synthetic lubricant has been introduced. Further regular chemical cleaning of the lines is being carried-out and monitoring of operational parameters has been intensified. OOZING OF AIR/FLUE GASES In Mehsana, mostly old wells were used for injection as well as for production. In some cases failure of casing or cementation have observed and has caused pressure built-up in outer casing and even in some cases oozing of gases/air from well site has also been observed. The remedies are 1) New additives for cementation (like thermal cements and calcium aluminates) have been introduced which help to withstand higher temperatures. 2) It is recommended to cement the casing to the full depth in case of new injector wells to prevent the risk of coming out of gas into overlying permeable layers. 3) It is suggested by IEOT (ONGC Institute) to have casing of API 5CT L-80 13 Cr steel in new injector wells and tubing in all wells. 4) New injector wells are being drilled to suit specially for in-situ combustion. 5) Regular monitoring of injection pressure, annulus pressure and outer casing pressure. Research Work Figure : showing the working model made in the laboratory The working model for the In situ combustion was made in laboratory. In this model Injection well and the production well is present on the left and right side respectively, gas injection at high pressure, igniter is taken as the kitchen lighter, test tube is made as an artificial reservoir and ignition zone near the artificial reservoir and also the temperature showing device at the bottom of the production well. This model can be compared to the real conditions with the help of the following diagram. Figure : In situ combustion process (source) There were many challenges during the modeling. These challenges were faced according to the need, economy and the factors available. For example reservoir simulation was not perfect, combustion zone was not able to be built exactly in the pores due to lack of oxygen supply. Hence I discover that this process is very economical as compared to other EOR processes but it is very risky as injection of gas should be done at correct place and ignition should be controlled then this process acts as magic recover the oil to 65%. I was successful in recovering the oil but the simulation problem was a main constraint of this working model as that requires a whole laboratory for its working. Hence according to my research heat loss should be minimum, combustion should be in controlled manner are the major challenges that should be overcome. And these can be overcome by calculating the area in which injection is to be done and what should be the ignition system use for ignition (whether a chemical can be used, artificial igniter at the combustion can be used or if the temperature of the bottom of the hole is very high that can give spontaneous ignition) should be preplanned according to the condition. The latest and important factor is the chemical injection to ignite the heavy crude oil, let us suppose the oil present there is very heavy oil that cannot be directly ignited; for that situation a chemical can be injected inside which will burn first and then increases the temperature of the respective zone to such an extent that the oil present there will ignite and the further process should start.

Classical Trade Model And Factor Intensity Economics Essay

Classical Trade Model And Factor Intensity Economics Essay The Ricardian models main focus is on comparative advantage, one of the most central ideas in international trade theory. This theory states that countries should specialize in the production of what they produce best, thus completely specializing instead of producing a wide variety of goods. The neo classical model or Heckcher-Ohlin theory differs from this, it stresses that countries should produce and export goods that require factors that are abundantly available. This theory then differs from those assumptions of comparative and absolute advantage since they only focus on the productivity of the production of a good. On the other hand, the Heckcher-Ohlin theory states that a country should concentrate production and exports based on the factors that are abundantly available to them and thus the cheapest to produce. The main idea of the model centres itself around the differences in factor endowment, the variations of factors (Land, Labour, Capital and Entrepreneurship) that a country have and can then make use of for manufacturing. These factors of production determine a countries comparative advantage, so a country then has a comparative advantage in the goods that are richly local and available to them, this then allows for trade flow. A country must also take into consideration costs, if a good requires local inputs that are abundantly available to that country then production is going to be cheaper, rather than engaging in the production of goods that are locally scarce. This introduces the concept of factor intensity, where producers use different ratios of factors of production in order to produce different goods. A country has been seen to use this concept if that country has a comparative advantage in a good whose production is intensive in the factors that are copiously available. To i llustrate an example we could take oil refining for instance, this can be said to be capital intensive as it is expensive to produce, on the contrary if we take the production of clothing as an example this can be said to be labour intensive. To outline this factor abundance theory, and give a better understanding of its main features we can look at its general structure/assumptions made: General Structure/assumptions of Neo Classical Model (Factor Abundance Theory)  [1]   2 x 2 x 2 model (two countries, two final goods, two factors of production capital and labour) This model has variable factor proportions between countries: so that countries which are extremely developed have a comparatively high ratio of capital to labour in relation to developing countries. This then makes the developed country capital intense/abundant relative to the developing country, and makes the developing country labour intense/abundant relative to the developed nation. Constant returns to scale : double input = double output ( X = 2, Y = 4) Identical Production technology everywhere Input factors capital and labour (KL) are mobile between sectors, but not between countries. All markets characterized by perfect competition, no barriers for trade, and no transport costs. Demand structure is the same, homothetic preferences Available amount of factors of production may differ (endowment may differ). These differences in factor abundance will give rise to international trade flows. Main Results of Neo Classical Trade Theory  [2]   These assumptions have given light to certain named conclusions, and have formed the main results of the neo classical trade model. They are as follows: Factor Price Equalization Theorem International trade of goods between two countries leads to an equalisation of the rewards of the factors of production the two countries. E.g. equal in capital rental rate (workers in each country are paid the same) Stopler Samuelson Theorem An increase in the price of a final good increases the reward to the factors of production, used intensively in the production of that good. E.g. if the price of a final good (paper) increases, then the price of wood would also increase Rybczynski Theorem An increase in the supply in a factor of production (K,L) results in the increase in the output of the final good that uses this factor of production relatively intensively. E.g. workers used intensively so will therefore result in an increase of output. Heckscher Ohlin Theorem A country will export the good which intensively uses the relatively abundant factor of production. In tackling this question as to why Marks and Spencer may switch manufacturing to a less developed country, the main focus will be upon the Factor Equalisation Theorem. This theorem suggests that when the prices of the output goods in this case clothing are equalised between countries as they come closer to trade, then the prices of the factors (capital and labour) will also be equalised between nations. This equalisation happens as a result of the countries being price takers due to perfect competition. Ohlin makes it clear that he himself did not actually think that the rewards for the factors of production would b equalised between two countries, just that there is likeliness that they would become more equal.  [3]  This becomes understandable when we know that the factors of production that are in abundance in one country are scarce in the other. Prices are equalised due to the assumption of perfect competition, if markets for clothing were open on the international market, the prices that they charge for clothing will be the same in both countries. Because of this reason, the factors of production will also be the same for both countries. In relation to the question, based on the factor equalisation theorem, production can switch to a different country solely on the concept of factor intensity. Moving production to a less developed country may be because labour is abundant in that country, therefore more efficient in the production of clothing. Even though both countries produce the same output at the same wage rate, there are differing amounts of capital and labour being used. To distinguish the amounts of labour and capital used we use the isoquant/isocost framework that is derived from the Cobb Douglas production function. Cobb Douglas Production Function Y = KyÃŽÂ ±y Ly1-ÃŽÂ ±y Y Production level of output Y K Amount of capital used in manufacturing sector L Amount of labour used in manufacturing sector ÃŽÂ ±y parameters (measure of capital intensity) This equation allows the substitution of one input for another, that is to produce the same level of output with different combinations of inputs, in principle; an infinite number of possibilities are available in order to produce the same level of output. We can also form an Isoquant graphical figure which is derived from this function; in unit terms the Cobb Douglas becomes the isoquant. Figure 1 shows an isoquant, which depicts all possible efficient combination of capital and labour able to produce giving the same level of output. Taking into account the concept of factor intensity, the country wants to produce using the factor that is abundantly available to them giving them leverage and making production more efficient on their part. Figure 2 shows the same isoquant but with the isocost lines added. Because we are looking at the production of clothing, which is labour intensive, we would prefer to be using labour as the main factor of production, meaning we would want a new optimal point (point B) where more labour is used than capital. Figure 2 shows this change in optimality making the isocost line flatter, the first move is that the isocost line pivots/rotates due to a lower wage rate, secondly it moves parallel until intersection point (becomes tangent) and shifts down until new optimal point (point B) at lower wage rate. Point A shows the point where capital is high (capital intensive), and point B is the complete opposite where labour is high (labour intensive). At point B, the production of clothing in the developing country is efficient and best suited as it is a labour intensive country. To conclude I will give the limitations of the model and then go on to relate the question and model in real life terms. Limitations/Criticisms of model Lieontief paradox argues with the main propositions made. Found that the US, despite having a relative abundance of capital, tended to export labour intensive goods and import capital intensive goods. That technology is the same The factor equalization theorem applies only for most advanced countries. Wage discrepancies are not normally in the scope of the H-O model analysis Identical production function The standard Heckscher-Ohlin model assumes that the production functions are identical for all countries concerned. This means that all countries are in the same level of production and have the same technology. This is highly unrealistic. No unemployment Unemployment is the vital question in any trade conflict. Heckscher-Ohlin theory excludes unemployment This question is related to clothing and production, therefore we assume that it refers to labour as its main factor of production, thus taking into consideration the concept of factor intensity we can say that it is labour intensive, furthermore unskilled labour intensive. The majority of exports and main share of production has been found to originate in that of the developing world. The high labour intensiveness of the industry has meant there is very strong encouragement for companies to shift production to a lower labour cost area. These labour costs heavily weigh the choice in which location to manufacture; strong financial incentives push production ideas into relocating this labour intense production process to a low labour cost area. The production of these goods in a developing country would have its competitive advantages for example cheaper raw materials and cheaper labour costs. From this we can build upon the idea of cost minimisation, the main incentive for a country i s to lower its costs and maximise its profits based on production decisions. In reality, the factor equalisation theorem does not hold, wages are not equal between countries. In the UK we have a minimum wage, and if we take a less developed country such as Vietnam this minimum wage is nonexistent and workers in the garment sector are paid as little as 49 cents.  [4]   Companies such as Marks and Spencer are in business to profit maximise through cost minimisation, moving to a less developed country for manufacturing is cheaper for the company itself due to the country being labour intensive and the goods produced need this high labour intensity. Under pressure to keep prices low, most retailers look for cheaper sources of clothes than cut profit margins, therefore relocate and base their relocation on quota allocation, delivery time, infrastructure and most importantly labour costs. So an incentive to relocate to produce goods at a lower cost seems the cheaper, efficient and best move to make.

The Battle for Political Power in The Tempest Essay -- The Tempest Ess

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln Shakespeare's "The Tempest" forms a world within itself. Within this world, many topics regarding government, power and colonization are addressed. Shakespeare tackles the discovery of new places and races, the relationship between the colonized and the colonist, old world ideologies on new soil, as well as theories on civilization and government. These aspects at the core reveal a very clear struggle for political power. Prospero's first major monologue creates the foundation of such a theme. In 1.2 lines 30-175 Prospero tell his story recounting the usurpation of the power he had as Duke of Milan, then quickly renews his power on the island. Prospero beings his story with an authoritative tone stating: "Obey and be attentive" (1.2 48). Desiring political power and authority becomes the core from which other themes derive. Power as the Central Theme: Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, so enthralled â€Å"In dignity, and for the liberal arts† (1.2 73), twelve years prior lost his dukedom to his brother Antonio. Antonio, in turn, betrayed Prospero’s trust by forming an alliance with the enemy, the King of Naples Alonso. This treaty gave Alonso â€Å"annual tribute, [to] do him homage, Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbowed—alas, poor Milan—To most ignoble stooping† (1.2 113-116). Ultimately, Milan gave up its freedom and became subject to Naples. Prospero, whose â€Å"library/ Was dukedom large enough† (1.2 109-110), lost his position as the Duke of Milan and he and his three year old daughter Miranda were sent â€Å"abroad a barque bore†¦to sea† (1.2 144-145). Eventual... ...cance to be defined. Works Cited: Brown, Paul. â€Å"This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine.† Political Shakespeare. Dollimore, Jonathan, and Alan Sinfield eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985. Cohen, Walter., et al. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2008. Frank, Mike. â€Å"Shakespeare’s Existential Comedy.† Essays—Shakespeare: Late Plays. Tobias, Richard eds. Ohio University Press, 1974. Hirst, David. The Tempest. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1984. James, D.G. The Dream of Prospero. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. Madison, James., et al The Federalist Papers. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. Mannoni, O. Prospero and Caliban: The Psychology of Colonization. Great Britain: Richard Clay and Company, 1956. Traversi, Derek. Shakespeare: The Last Phase. California: Stanford University Press, 1965. The Battle for Political Power in The Tempest Essay -- The Tempest Ess "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln Shakespeare's "The Tempest" forms a world within itself. Within this world, many topics regarding government, power and colonization are addressed. Shakespeare tackles the discovery of new places and races, the relationship between the colonized and the colonist, old world ideologies on new soil, as well as theories on civilization and government. These aspects at the core reveal a very clear struggle for political power. Prospero's first major monologue creates the foundation of such a theme. In 1.2 lines 30-175 Prospero tell his story recounting the usurpation of the power he had as Duke of Milan, then quickly renews his power on the island. Prospero beings his story with an authoritative tone stating: "Obey and be attentive" (1.2 48). Desiring political power and authority becomes the core from which other themes derive. Power as the Central Theme: Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, so enthralled â€Å"In dignity, and for the liberal arts† (1.2 73), twelve years prior lost his dukedom to his brother Antonio. Antonio, in turn, betrayed Prospero’s trust by forming an alliance with the enemy, the King of Naples Alonso. This treaty gave Alonso â€Å"annual tribute, [to] do him homage, Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbowed—alas, poor Milan—To most ignoble stooping† (1.2 113-116). Ultimately, Milan gave up its freedom and became subject to Naples. Prospero, whose â€Å"library/ Was dukedom large enough† (1.2 109-110), lost his position as the Duke of Milan and he and his three year old daughter Miranda were sent â€Å"abroad a barque bore†¦to sea† (1.2 144-145). Eventual... ...cance to be defined. Works Cited: Brown, Paul. â€Å"This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine.† Political Shakespeare. Dollimore, Jonathan, and Alan Sinfield eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985. Cohen, Walter., et al. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2008. Frank, Mike. â€Å"Shakespeare’s Existential Comedy.† Essays—Shakespeare: Late Plays. Tobias, Richard eds. Ohio University Press, 1974. Hirst, David. The Tempest. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1984. James, D.G. The Dream of Prospero. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. Madison, James., et al The Federalist Papers. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. Mannoni, O. Prospero and Caliban: The Psychology of Colonization. Great Britain: Richard Clay and Company, 1956. Traversi, Derek. Shakespeare: The Last Phase. California: Stanford University Press, 1965.

Urban Legend of Bloody Mary :: Urban Legends Ghost Stories

Bloody Mary Often, the story of â€Å"Bloody Mary† is the first story of supernatural form that is told to many individuals as young children. When I was in 3rd grade, a group of friends and I got together to have a sleepover; naturally, we all went to my friend’s basement and started telling scary stories. One of my friends told me that if I went into the bathroom without any lights and said â€Å"Bloody Mary† three times in front of a mirror, a bloody figure would appear. This urban legend was told by a nineteen year old woman at the University of Maryland who is originally from West Point, New York. She is currently a sophomore majoring in architecture. On the night of March 30, 2007, a group of friends and I got together in the 4th floor lounge of LaPlata. In the midst of discussion, the topic of scary stories came up, and at about midnight, the storyteller started telling her version of â€Å"Bloody Mary.† She paused for a moment and started talking about the origins of the urban legend. She said that â€Å"Bloody Mary† is a reference to Mary Queen of Scots, a Scottish monarch. Apparently, Mary Queen of Scots would bathe in the blood of virgins in order to look young and vibrant. The storyteller said that virgins were viewed as being pure, so exposure to their blood would make an individual look beautiful. The storyteller paused and said, â€Å"Now it’s time to get to the good part.† She said that an individual needs a candle, a lighter, a dark room, and a mirror. An individual would take the unlit candle and put it in front of the mirror with the lighter in his or her hand. The individual would spin around while chanting â€Å"Bloody Mary† seven times. As soon as he or she finished, the individual would immediately turn to the mirror and light the candle. After the candle is lit, a figure with a bloody face would appear in the mirror and kill the individual! As we all looked in awe, I asked her if she ever tried it, and she said that she was never able to do it because she was too frightened. Even though many of her friends did it and came out alive, the storyteller said that she could never have the courage to do it because it was too scary for her. Urban Legend of Bloody Mary :: Urban Legends Ghost Stories Bloody Mary Often, the story of â€Å"Bloody Mary† is the first story of supernatural form that is told to many individuals as young children. When I was in 3rd grade, a group of friends and I got together to have a sleepover; naturally, we all went to my friend’s basement and started telling scary stories. One of my friends told me that if I went into the bathroom without any lights and said â€Å"Bloody Mary† three times in front of a mirror, a bloody figure would appear. This urban legend was told by a nineteen year old woman at the University of Maryland who is originally from West Point, New York. She is currently a sophomore majoring in architecture. On the night of March 30, 2007, a group of friends and I got together in the 4th floor lounge of LaPlata. In the midst of discussion, the topic of scary stories came up, and at about midnight, the storyteller started telling her version of â€Å"Bloody Mary.† She paused for a moment and started talking about the origins of the urban legend. She said that â€Å"Bloody Mary† is a reference to Mary Queen of Scots, a Scottish monarch. Apparently, Mary Queen of Scots would bathe in the blood of virgins in order to look young and vibrant. The storyteller said that virgins were viewed as being pure, so exposure to their blood would make an individual look beautiful. The storyteller paused and said, â€Å"Now it’s time to get to the good part.† She said that an individual needs a candle, a lighter, a dark room, and a mirror. An individual would take the unlit candle and put it in front of the mirror with the lighter in his or her hand. The individual would spin around while chanting â€Å"Bloody Mary† seven times. As soon as he or she finished, the individual would immediately turn to the mirror and light the candle. After the candle is lit, a figure with a bloody face would appear in the mirror and kill the individual! As we all looked in awe, I asked her if she ever tried it, and she said that she was never able to do it because she was too frightened. Even though many of her friends did it and came out alive, the storyteller said that she could never have the courage to do it because it was too scary for her.