Knowledge of Causative Agent of Tuberculosis Among Patients

Knowledge of Causative Agent of Tuberculosis Among Patients Knowledge of causative agent of Tuberculosis among TB patients in Jaipur district (Rajasthan). Dr Shobha Tomar, Resident Community, Medicine,NIMS Medical College , Jaipur. Dr Dharmendra Mandarwal, Assistant Professor, Community Medicine,NIMS Medical College , Jaipur Dr Brajesh kumar chahar, Assistant Professor(statistics), Community Medicine,NIMS Medical College , Jaipur Dr. Sumit Ahluwalia, Demonstrator, Community Medicine,NIMS Medical College , Jaipur ABSTRACT :Background: Tuberculosis is known since ages and its causative agent was discovered eight to nine decades ago and still misconception is present regarding its cause in india. India is facing TB epidemic at present. Objectives: to assess the knowledge of TB patients regarding causative agent of the disease. Results: Total 300 TB patients participated in the study, 75% were male and 25% were female, 60% were married and 25% were unmarried 15% were widow or widower, 77% were hindu and 22% were muslim,49% were literate and 51%were illetrate, 59% patients belonged to social class 4. 56% of patients knew the causative organism, 72% of the female don’t know the causative agent. 71% to 73% literate patients knew about the causative agent. Evil eye(56%), past sins(52%) were main myths as cause of TB. Lower socio economic class had more myths about the causative agent (23% in class 4) (58% in class 5). Conclusion: In poor country like india emphasis must be paid regarding awar eness of tuberculosis among poor and low socioeconomic group people and patient. KEYWORDS : Tuberculosis, knowledge, myth. Introduction: Tuberculosis kills more people in economically productive age group greater than any other infectious disease worldwide. Tuberculosis alone kills more people than malaria and AIDS combined. Women death due to maternal mortality lies second to tuberculosis, such is the magnitude of problem worldwide. Tuberculosis is turning out to be greatest epidemic of this century, so great is the concern about tuberculosis epidemic. The problem of tuberculosis is acute in developing countries which accounts for three fourth of cases in the world. The impact of tuberculosis is greatest on poor 99.00% of deaths and 95.00% of all cases occurring in developing and poor countries. The majority of people affected by tuberculosis are in economically active age group. Tuberculosis and poverty go hand in hand people who are poor get tuberculosis and people who get tuberculosis becomes poor1. In developing countries still lot number of tuberculosis patients goes undiagnosed. There has been over all increase in absolute number of tuberculosis cases during last 30 years because of population explosion during this period2. Tuberculosis is the oldest known disease to mankind and is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. The causative organism was discovered long back but myths regarding cause of tuberculosis is still prevalent not only in general population but also among the TB patients. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The present study aims to study knowledge of TB cases regarding causative agent of tuberculosis and myths related to its causation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Period of study: Survey was conducted from 1st January 2013 to 30th Dec, 2013 for a period of 1 year. Sampling units: Study was conducted on the tuberculosis patients of the Jaipur treatment unit at DTC and at 20 DOTS enters: Area of study: The present study was conducted as District tuberculosis centre and randomly selected DOT centres of Jaipur treatment unit. Patients attending DTC and DOT’s centre to which they belonged to. Sampling Technique: During the period of study a total of 173 TB patients were registered for treatment at District TB centre Jaipur of which 167 were included in the study while 6 refused to participate in the study. Tuberculosis unit – Jaipur at the time of study had 415 DOT’s providers of which 5% i.e. every 20th DOT’s provider was include for study by using systemic random sampling technique i.e. choosing every 20th DOT’s provider from the available list. Thus this figure came to be 20 DOT’s provider out of 415. During the period of study 133 TB patients were taking treatment from these 20 DOTS provider and these 133 patients were taken up for the study. Thus the total sample size came to be 167+133 = 300 (167 form DTC and 133 from DOTs provider). Technique used: The study was conducted by taking interview of TB patients attending DTC and DOT’s centre. Data were collected in pre designed and pre tested proforma. All the details of TB patients, which included socio-demographic and clinical profile of the patient such as age, sex, marital status, religion, education, occupation, socio-economic condition etc. Clinical profile consisted of symptoms of tuberculosis, past history, family history, diet, bowel habits BCG vaccination etc. Environmental factors such as type of housing was also taken in account. Revised B G Prasad classification was used to determine the social class of the tuberculosis patient in the present study. Knowledge of the causative agent of tuberculosis patients regarding their disease and myths regarding causation was studied in pre tested proforma. OBSERVATIONS Socio-demographic characteristics of TB patients Table shows 75% of TB patients are male and 25% female. Most of the cases are in age group 15-39yr i.e. 63.9%. Married constitutes about 60% of the cases and among illiterate 48.67%. TB is more common among labourers. Table: 2 Observation showing cases distribution according to social class area of residence Above table indicates that 258(86%) patients belong to urban and urban slum in this study Table: 3 Distribution of cases according to the knowledge of causative organism à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ £2 = 28.72 df = 1 p Table shows that 55.67% had knowledge about causative organism. 64.89% of males and 28.00% of females had knowledge about causative organism. 44.33% cases had no knowledge about causative organism 72.00% female and 35.11% males had no knowledge about causative organism. The difference was statistically significant. Table: 4 Correlation between awareness about TB causative organisms and literacy à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ £2 = 16.41 df = 4 p Observation in this table shows that 73.91% and 71.42% of TB cases with literacy status of sr. secondary and graduate respectively knew about causative agent. 34.72 and 59.61% of cases who were primary and secondary educated knew about causative organism. Knowledge about causative organism among illiterate was found to be 56.84%. The difference was statistically significant. . Distribution of TB cases as per literacy status Table: 5 Observation showing myths among tuberculosis cases Table shows that 56.66% of the respondents ststed evil eye, 52.00% of the respondents considered past sins as the cause of tuberculosis. Respondents gave multiple response regarding myths about tuberculosis cause. Table: 6 Observation showing myth about disease in relation to social class à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ £2 = 7.56 df = 4 p > 0.05 Observation in this table shows that 53.67% cases had myth about disease as the social class rose the percentage of cases with myth declined. It was 8.75% in social class II. While it was 23.35% and 58.08% in social class IV and V. The difference was statistically non significant. DISCUSSION Present study is an attempt to explore various socio-demographic factors and knowledge of TB patients regarding the causative agent of the disease, factors like personal habits were not taken. Study was carried out in 300 patients of tuberculosis attending DTC and DOTS provider. Age break-up of 300 patients revealed that maximum number of them i.e.36.60% belonged to age-group of 15-29 yrs followed by 27.30%in the age group of 30-39yrs. The observation suggest that about 2/3rd of the patients belonged to active age group for earning and productivity Shrivastav et al (1977)7 and Arya VR (2000)6 also found majority of patients below 40yrs. Mohamed et al (2007)15 in his study found 60.8% of respondents belonged to age group 20-39 years. 75.00% of the patients were male and 25.00%female. Male, female ratio being 3:1. Gopi et al (1978)10 also found prevalence of tuberculosis three times higher in males than in female. Chaterjee et al (2000)5 also found about three quarter of patients being male and one quarter being female. ICMR (1959)3 also found Male- female ratio of tuberculosis patients to be 3:1. Of the total 300 patients one third i.e. 33.34% were from urban area and more than half (52.60%) were from urban slums. 14.00% of the patients were from rural areas. Chaddha et al (1977)8 and Srivastav et al (1977)7 also found maximum patients belonging to urban slums (47.70% and 44.00% respectively). 77.00% of the patient were Hindus 22.33% Muslim. Shah M J (1993)9 found tuberculosis to be 70.40% Hindus and 26.00% Muslim Gopi et al (1997)4 and Laring R D (1995)8 found higher number of Muslim patient i.e. 32.80% and 35.60% respectively. Observation from literacy status of tuberculosis cases indicate that about half 48.60% were illiterate another 24.00% were literate upto primary level. Only 27.33% of patients were literate upto secondary level or above. Chaddha et al (2000)8, Gopi et al (1997)4 and Shah M J (1993)9 also found that maximum numbers of patients to be illiterates (39.00%, 58.60% and 58.30% respectively). Damor D, Singh MP (2012) 16 in their study found that 31.9% of the respondents were illiterate. Only two third of patients i.e 65.67% knew about the causative organism. No correlation between awareness of causative agent and literacy status was found . In study by Ali et al (2003)13, 78.00 % of patients knew about causative organism while Rajeshwari et al (1995)12 found that 86.00 % of cases were aware about causative organism. Dubey et al (2000)11 noted 95.00% of tuberculosis cases being aware of causative agent. Damor D, Singh MPS (2012) 16 in their study found only 6.9% of the cases knew the cause of disease. Ali Khan Khwaja (2010) 17 in his study found that 39% of the cases knew germ as the cause of disease. Various myths related to T B prevalent in tuberculosis patients were ; Punishment from God (40.66%) , Curse (42.33%) , Past sins (52.00%) , Evil eye (55.66%) , Ghost intrusion (31.00%). The myth were prevalent more frequently in lower social class cases then upper class. Javed Ahmed khan (2006) 14 also found that 50% of the respondents had myths regarding the cause of tuberculosis. Observation on correlation between knowledge of duration of treatment and literacy status reveal a positive correlation i.e higher the literacy higher the knowledge .It was 42.20% in illiterate while it was 85.71% in graduate. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 63.90% ie.2/3 rd of the patients belonged to active age-group i.e. 15-39 yrs. Which is age for earning and productivity. 75.00% of patients were male and 25.00% were female. Male female ratio being 3:1 1/3rd of patients belonged to urban area. More than half (52.60%) from urban slums and 14.00% of rural areas. About 60.00% of patients were married and 40.00% were either unmarried, widow and widower. 77.00% of patients were Hindu, 22.33% were Muslims and rest belong to other religion. Maximum number of patients were laborers (40.00%) followed by self employed (23.67%), 18.67% were housewives. Literacy status of sample was 51.40% 2/3 rd of the patients belonged to nuclear family Majority of the patients ie. 78.00% were from lower socio economic classes. Only 2/3rd of the patients i.e. 65.67% knew about the causative organism and literacy status was found. Myths regarding causation of TB were widely prevalent especially in lower class than upper class which were; punishment from God (40.66%), curse (42.33%), past sins (52.00%), evil eye (55.66%) and ghost intrusion (31.00%) indicating the need of creating awareness in patients in particular and community in general. BIBLIOGRAPHY World TB report WHO – 1998 Ian Smith (1999) Stop TB-is DOTS the Answer ? Indian Journal Tuberculosis, April –1999, Vol:46, p 81. Godhi et. al. (1979). Prevalence of Tuberculosis in a South Indian District Indian Journal of Tuberculosis 1979 p.26, 121. Chatterjee et. al. (2000). Multicentre study on TB cases. 55th TB Chest disease conference Kolkata. P100. Khatri G.R. (1999). RNTCP – Status report on first 1,00,000 patients. NTL Bulletin Vol. 35/ 1-4. 1999. p 18-26. Khatri G.R. (2000) Forum. Ind. J. Of Tuberculosis. Vol. – 47. p-117. Chaddha et. al. (2000). Treatment outcome of TB patients placed under DOTS- A cohort study. Ind. J. of TB Vol. – 47 (2000). P-155,158. Laring R.D. (1995). Prevalence of TB in age group 5-14 yr and 45+ among Tribal community. Calcutta University P-45. Nagpal D.R. Tuberculosis epidemic in India – editorial. Ind. J. tuberculosis Vol. 46-1999. P-79-80. Mishra P. (1990). A study of evaluation of NTP in Ahmedabad District. Study report of supervised field training MD PSM Gujarat University. Pavo Tanni – Medical Social aspects of chi TB in Finland. Scand J. of Respiratory disease 1970, 73 (supp) P 93-105. Bansal AK. – Assessment of Tribal and Non Tribal community regarding need for TB education. International Journal of Lund disease (1994) Vol. 3 p 782. San Sebestian And Bothanley. Tuberculosis preventive therapy; perspective form a multi ethinic community. Respiratory medicine 2000 (94). P 648-653. Javed Ahmed Khan et al knowledge. Attittude and misconceptions regarding TB in Pakistani patients. Journal of Pakistan Medical Association May 2006,Vol. 2(1). Mohamed A I et al. Knowledge of TB –A survey among TB Patients in Omdurman Sudan. Sudanese journal of public health January 2007:Vol2(1). Damor D, Singh DMP. Assessment of knowledge about TB among newly diagnosed patients registered in DTC Bhavnagar ,Gujrat. NJIRM (2012) 3(3):90-94. Ali Khan Khwaja. Knowledge about TB among patients attending clinic in karanchi(2010) www. /uhms,edu.pk/jlumhc/Vol 04 No.02

Batch Reactor As A Plant Engineering Essay

Batch Reactor As A Plant Engineering Essay What is a plant unit. All Equipment that make up a plant can be divided into 3 different categories or levels, the highest being the Plant as a whole, then the plant units and the lowest are the plant items. While the actual plant performs an overall production, the Plant unit refers to the main components of a Plant which perform a major production function of the Plant and without which the Plant can not continue its operations. A Plant unit is made up of items but it can be replaced as a whole (Anthony Kellyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) In this Plant, the Batch Reactor receives raw materials from the raw material storage, processes them for a certain amount of time then transfers them to the centrifuge feed vessel. From the above diagram, it is obvious that the Batch Reactor is a major component of the plant and from its function it is seen that the reactor must process the raw material for progress to be made to the next stage of production. I am therefore concluding this as my explanation as to why the Batch reactor is a plant unit. Explain Your Reasons For Concluding That This Unit Is Critical For Production. Several Factors determine how critical a piece of equipment is to production. They include: Will the Equipment affect safety in the plant? Will the Equipment not working cause downtime in the plant? How easily can the Equipment be maintained? What is the cost of this maintenance? What is the current situation of the Equipment? (Paul Wheelhouse) Now each of the factors can be used to examine the Batch Reactor and after which an educated decision can be made. The Batch Reactor affects the safety in the plant because its function involves the heating of chemicals under pressure and its failure might cause the leakage of these chemicals or at the worst lead to an explosion in the Plant. If the Batch Reactor was to stop working, there would be prolonged downtime until it is fixed; this is due to the fact that the Reactor performs a major function in the Plant without which further production would come to a halt. The Batch Reactor is made up of a number of different items, some of which can be run-to-failure, but for the most an established schedule of maintenance must be made for. Without such a schedule, maintenance would be most difficult to carry out. The cost of maintaining the Batch Reactor may vary but if is not properly attended to; one fault might lead to another even bigger one so the cost of maintaining might increase. The items in the Batch Reactor have a life plan which is currently not being kept to; this means the Equipment requires monitoring to avoid random failure or prolonged breakdown and downtime. On the account of the above facts, it is my belief that the Batch Reactor needs to be labelled as critical. Extract Any User Requirements For This Designated Unit From The Plant Description. Are There Any Production Windows? What are User requirements? This simply refers to the specifications that are inbuilt in a piece of equipment so that it might be able to fulfil the end users needs according to those tasks which it is used to perform. In line with the plant description given on this particular Batch Reactor, a number of user requirements can be ascertained and these are listed below: To receive 18te of raw materials from the raw material storage. To remain sealed and heat its contents through a preset temperature / time profile by use of a temperature control system consisting of a thermocouple in a temperature pocket, a temperature controller and a control valve. That the control valve regulates the supply of low pressure steam. That its temperature alarm signal when the temperature exceeds 1250C. That all safety relief valves work in event of an increase of temperature past the safety limit of 1250C. That the bottom run off valve opens when the operation is complete and releases the contents from the Batch reactor to the centrifuge feed vessel by the discharge pump. That the operation lasts 10 hours only. What is a production window? This is a period during production in which maintenance procedures can be carried out without causing a halt in production. With emphasis on the Batch reactor it can be seen that there is a production window and this can be explained below. While the batch reactor makes 18te of product every 10 hours, the centrifuge processes this product at a rate of 1.5te an hour i.e. it would have completely used up the 18te of product in 12 hours. Since it takes 10 hours for the batch reactor to work, this would give a 2 hour production window in which it can be properly maintained. Also depending on the capacity of the centrifuge storage vessel, it is possible for the batch reactor to work overtime filling this feed vessel up and then be switched off and maintained while the centrifuge is operated using the previously stored produce in the centrifuge feed vessel. Extract Any Corporate Requirements for This Unit From The Plant Description. What are corporate requirements? These are the requirements which the upper management or Business sector of the company running plant desire from its industrial operations in order to make a suitable return on its investments (ROI). From the plant description the following corporate requirements can be made below: That its keeps to its scheduled annual shutdown period of 16 hours during week 40 each year. That all maintenance pertaining to the batch reactor abides by the permit to work system which controls all maintenance activities. That the batch reactor achieves a 25 year life and that the gearboxes achieve a 15 year life as well. That the batch reactor remains well-painted, clean and tidy at all times. Extract Any Legislative Requirements for This Unit From The Plant Description. What are legislative requirements? These are Plant requirements made by the Law, rules or regulations or the Country in which the Plant operates. They must be implemented in order for the plant to avoid sanctions or being shut down. In this particular plant description they include: That the Batch Reactor abides by the rules by the FDA and British pharmaceutical Society put in place for their license holders. All production and maintenance activities involving the Batch reactor comply with the Good Manufacturing practise (GMP). That the processes involving the Batch Reactor are as okayed by the quality standard ISO 9002. That the batch reactor conforms to the environmental standard ISO14000. That if used by the Pharmaceutical inspection team, the batch reactor must pass any risk-based inspections based on a DNV methodology that might be carried out. Comment On If Some of The tasks Designed For Shutdown Could be Done During Production Windows Or When The Plant Is Online. Could Any Of These Tasks Be Designated For Completion During Production Windows Be Completed Online? We have previous explained what production windows are and when a Plant is online refers to when the plant is carrying its usual operational procedures. From the work done previously in section 1.3, we now know that there is a definite 2 hour production window during which the batch reactor can be maintained while the centrifuge is working. In looking at the life plan for the batch reactor unit, there are a certain amount of tasks that could be done in 2 hours and should be moved from shut down to production window, these are: The replacement of the trim of the CV1 every 2 years. The pressure testing and inspection of the SV1 every 6 years. The visual check of the Agitator every 6 years. The SV2 pressure testing and inspection every 6 years. There is only one task put to be completed when there is a production window and it can be done while the Plant is online. This is the weekly visual check on the Agitator coupling, because if it is checked while online it might lead to the location of which wouldnt have being seen if the equipment was offline. Analyse The Recorded Jobs From The Computer Maintenance Management System (CMMS) For This Unit. Is There Any Evidence Which Confirms That The Life Plan Is Being Carried out? Is There Any Evidence To Say If The Life Plan Is Effective Or Not? What is a Life plan? All plant units or manufacturing stages in production are designed to have a certain life. To fulfil this, maintenance plans are put in place to achieve this expected equipment life and if possible, to exceed it. These maintenance plans are called Life plans. (Wheelhouse, 2008) On comparing the life plan of the batch reactor to the computer maintenance management system (CMMS) it can be seen that the life plan isnt being carried out. This is due to the factor that there is a remarkable difference between the standard time taken to maintain every single unit item in the reactor and the actual time the job was done in hours, meaning the maintenance done cannot be adequately planned for and could lead to excessive downtime. It can be seen that for this singular reason the life plan of the batch reactor is not capable of being effective. Use The Figures, Plant Description And The Data From The CMMS To Analyse The Unit Into Its Maintenance Causing Items. Using the figure 1 shown previously and the figure 2 shown directly above as well as the Life plan and the CMMS, the maintenance causing items can be broken down as done bel Batch Chemical Reactor CV1 Agitator Coupling Temperature controller Gearbox Motor bearing Oil seal Agitator Trim Agitator gear box Reactor Vessel Temperature sensor Pump Motor Pump bearing SV1 SV2 P1 V1 Vessel Jacket Figure 3: The Maintenance Causing Items in a Batch Chemical Reactor Develop your own life plan for these maintenance causing items using the task selection logic for Reliability Centred Maintenance. RCM WORK SHEET SYSTEM: CHEMICAL PLANT SUB-SYSTEM: BATCH CHEMICAL REACTOR SUB- SYSTEM FUNCTION FUNTIONAL FAILURE FAILURE MODE FAILURE EFFECT CRITICALITY RESPONSE TIME FREQUENCY CV1 Regulates supply of low Pressure steam Unable to supply Steam at all. Supplies Inadequate steam Faulty Trim Absence or insufficient Supply of steam High Replace trim 3 hrs 2 yearly (Production window) Agitator Motor Gearbox Transmit motion to the Agitator Fails to transmit motion To the Agitator. Broken seal Shortage of lubrication Damaged bearings Worn gear teeth Oil leakage Damage to gearbox Medium Monitor vibrations and check oil seal and condition. 2 hrs (vibration monitoring), 12 mins oil inspection Monthly Vibrations, Daily oil seal checks (Online) Agitator Coupling Connects Agitator motor gearbox to Agitator for motion transmission Doesnt transmit motion From gearbox to agitator. Transmits inadequate Motion. Slackness in fitting Doesnt give agitator The necessary Transmitted motion. Medium Tighten coupling as required. 6 mins Daily (online) Temperature Controller Controls the temperature making sure it doesnt exceed 1250 C Unable to read the correct temperature. Faulty temperature sensor . Increase or reduction of reactor temperature on wrong information. High Recalibrate temperature sensor. 2 hrs 2 year (Production window) SV1 Releases the pressure steam in the vessel during times of alert. Unable to release excess pressure steam Blockage at valve outlet. Crack in valve Pressure steam is not released properly or in time. High Inspect, pressure test and recondition if necessary. 3 hrs 6 yearly (Shutdown) SV2 Releases excess steam in the jacket in times of alert Unable to release excess steam Blockage at valve outlet. Crack in valve Pressure steam is not released properly or in time. High Inspect, pressure test and recondition if necessary 3 hrs Yearly (Production window) Agitator Shakes, stirs mixes the raw materials in the reactor. Unable to stir or mix Raw materials. Damaged blades Eroded surface Raw materials are not mixed properly. Medium Recoat or replace as necessary. 3 hrs Re-coat or replace as necessary.(Shutdown) Jacket Maintain its integrity and contain raw materials during processing. Leakage of materials during processing. Damaged or eroded Parts. Contents leak out causing contamination. High Pressure test and repair as necessary. 5 hrs Yearly (Shutdown) V1 Releases processed material to P1 pump Processed materials not released Leakage of material during release Blockage at valve outlet Crack in valve Contents not released properly. Contents leak out causing contamination. High Leak test and repair if necessary. 15 mins Daily test (Online) P1 Transfer processed materials from reactor to centrifuge feed vessel Leaks material Unable to pump materials at all. Pumps materials at Wrong rate. Replace seal if necessary. Replace pump if necessary. Contents leak. Contents not pumped properly High Condition monitoring Replace seal if necessary Replace pump if necessary. 1.5 hrs (Condition Monitoring) 4 mins (Leak test) Monthly condition Monitoring (Online), Daily leak checks (online) Figure 1.4: Life Plan using RCM logic. Compare and contrast between your Life plan with the one described previously, comment on any similarities and differences. There are a number of ways in which my Life plan differs from the one previously given but there are also ways in which both are similar. Some of them are as listed below: To begin, the first detail that can be noticed when comparing both life plans is that since I used the RCM selection logic, my life plan carries much more details as I included the functions, functional failures, failure modes, failure effect and criticality of each subsystem or item. This will be particularly useful in settling up priorities as the criticality of each subsystem is set at low, medium or high depending on the considerations of safety, performance and impact of the subsystem or item on the rest of the plant. I brainstormed and added more failure modes and their activities than had being previously discovered or had activities planned for in the previous life plan so as to further prepare maintenance personnel to be able to tackle these failures if and when they do occur. I changed the time frame for certain activities to take into consideration the new 2 hour production window that was discovered earlier. This will help reduce the amount tasks that are done during a shutdown and therefore cut down the downtime which the plant undergoes. I increased the amount of time to be used to accomplish most tasks due to the fact that in the previous life plan, insufficient time was allocated to these tasks so therefore they couldnt be planned or executed properly within the targets set for them. Now in terms of similarities, I observed that the preventive maintenance and condition monitoring carried out on the Batch Reactor had ensured breakdowns were kept to a minimum so bearing this in mind, I retained all the activities from the old life plan and continued using them for the various items. I also continued to carry out maintenance activities at the same frequency that was mapped out in the old life plan as I believe that the punctuality with which activities were carried out improved the reliability of the equipment. CHAPTER 2 Describe The Philosophy of Total Productive Maintenance. What is TPM? Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) refers to a management system for optimizing the productivity of manufacturing equipment through systematic equipment maintenance involving employees at all levels.   Under TPM, everyone is involved in keeping the equipment in good working order to minimize production losses from equipment repairs, assists, set-ups, and the like. (http://www.siliconfareast.com/tpm.htm). The goal of TPM is to increase production while at the same time boosting employee morale and job satisfaction. (Venkatesh. J) This is possible because there would be less downtime as TPM is carried out by the Operators on the items or machinery which they use as they, the maintainers and Designers work as a team towards the total elimination of equipment defects in the Plant (Paul Wheelhouse). History of TPM TPM is a Japanese idea that can be traced back to 1951 when preventive maintenance was introduced into Japan from the USA. Nippondenso, part of Toyota, was the first company in Japan to introduce plant wide preventive maintenance in 1960. In preventive maintenance operators produced goods using machines and the maintenance group was dedicated to the work of maintaining those machines. However with the high level of automation of Nippondenso, maintenance became a problem as so many more maintenance personnel were now required. So the management decided that the routine maintenance of equipment would now be carried out by the operators themselves. This is known as Autonomous maintenance, one of the features of TPM. The maintenance group then focussed only on maintenance works for upgrades. For pioneering TPM, Nippondenso became the 1st company to receive TPM certification (wikipedia). Why Use TPM? For TPM to be used in an Organisation, everyone from senior management to the operators on the floor must be carried along and made to understand why this particular system is being used. For this to happen effectively, the Motives, Objectives and benefits must be fully stated out and properly absorbed. The table below gives a generic illustration: Motives of TPM Adoption of life cycle approach for improving the overall performance of production equipment. Improving productivity by highly motivated workers which is achieved by job enlargement. The use of voluntary small group activities for identifying the cause of failure, possible plant and equipment modifications. Uniqueness of TPM The major difference between TPM and other concepts is that the operators are also made to involve in the maintenance process. The concept of I (Production operators) Operate, You (Maintenance department) fix is not followed. TPM Objectives Achieve Zero Defects, Zero Breakdown and Zero accidents in all functional areas of the organization. Involve people in all levels of organization. Form different teams to reduce defects and Self Maintenance. Direct benefits of TPM Increase productivity and OPE (Overall Plant Efficiency ) by 1.5 or 2 times. Rectify customer complaints. Reduce the manufacturing cost by 30%. Satisfy the customers needs by 100 % (Delivering the right quantity at the right time, in the required quality.) Reduce accidents. Follow pollution control measures. Indirect benefits of TPM Higher confidence level among the employees. Keep the work place clean, neat and attractive. Favourable change in the attitude of the operators. Achieve goals by working as team. Horizontal deployment of a new concept in all areas of the organization. Share knowledge and experience. The workers get a feeling of owning the machine. Figure 4 .TPM table Source: An Introduction to Total Productive Maintenance (Venkatesh. J) For TPM to start properly, the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) should be calculated and a loss analysis performed to give both a baseline for continuous upgrading and ascertain the improvement priorities. This will allow the operator/core maintenance team to prioritize and then tackle the 6 classic losses of: Breakdowns Set-ups and changeovers Running at reduced speeds Minor stops and idling Quality defects, scrap, yield and rework Starting up losses The above losses add to the direct costs. Implementation of TPM attacks these and other direct (visible) costs as well as indirect (hidden) costs and follows each step in the production and supply chain from Management to the human resources to the Machine to the process, then to suppliers and finally to the customers (Willmott and McCarthy). Components of TPM Figure 4: Pillars of TPM Source: An Introduction to Total Productive Maintenance (Venkatesh. J) As shown above, TPM is made up of 8 main aspects which when combined present the full TPM package. They are: The 5 S which are primarily the foundation of TPM and involve organising the workplace. These are sorting, systematising, sweeping, standardising and self-discipline. Autonomous maintenance which refers to the operators handling most or in cases all of the maintenance concerning the machines which they operate. Kobetsu Kaizen means small improvements or changes for the better of the organisation. Planned maintenance entails scheduled maintenance which is done to ensure trouble free machines and equipments producing defect free products for total customer satisfaction. Quality maintenance is aimed at providing customer satisfaction by providing the highest quality through defect free manufacturing. Training to give employees a multi skilled edge. Office TPM to ensure administrative efficiency as well. Safety, health and environmental awareness to ensure zero accidents, zero health damages and zero fires (Venkatesh. J). Describe a Case Study Where TPM has been successfully applied The case study which I wish to use is that of RHP Bearings. This RHP Bearings branch which is in Blackburn, manufactures cast iron bearing housings for a variety of uses from agricultural machinery to fairground rides, and is one of seven RHP manufacturing sites in Europe owned by Japanese group NSK, the worlds second largest bearings manufacturer. How TPM was carried out. NSK acquired RHP in 1990, when the Blackburn site was under the imminent threat of closure because of high costs and the subsequent lack of competitiveness. Employing a staff of 93, TPM was then introduced to the site in 1993 but it didnt see much success till 1996 due to the fact that the earlier efforts to drive TPM had been largely theoretical and the workforce faded to see its relevance to the everyday running of the plant. In 1996 a maintenance company was brought in to do a scoping study of the plant, conduct a workshop and support two pilot TPM projects. The Plant Manager and the TPM facilitator then began to implement measures to ensure TPM was made directly relevant to the jobs of the staff. Operators were sent off to climb over their machines and log problems through a detailed condition appraisal, to establish a foundation for future TPM improvements. TPM was piloted on two key machines, the PGM core making machine in the foundry and the Shiftnal sphering machine in the machine shop, using a detailed seven-step TPM implementation programme: Collection and calculation of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Data Assessing the six losses Criticality assessment and condition appraisal Risk assessment Refurbishment plan Asset care and best practice routines Regular review for problem solving TPM is applied to machines of all ages from new to 30 years old, ensuring that older machinery is brought up to modern specification and newer machinery is kept in as-new condition. The TPM was applied at the site by 9 different equipment teams focusing on specific machinery and involving 60% of the workforce. These teams included operators, maintainers, quality technicians and group leaders also drawing on help from personnel with specialist skills when necessary. Each Team developed a standard routine for their respective machines using: Autonomous Maintenance System (AMS) boards which show a schematic of the machine then tags with labels to show losses affecting availability, performance and quality. These labels are then used to generate TPM agendas for team meetings. TPM step notices which illustrate the machines progress in TPM seven step programme. Mainpac database which is used to gather machine performance details and calculate the OEE. Key performance indicators which the teams use to accesses their improvement and progress in areas of waste sand, Gas emissions, Kaizen, Customer returns, lost time incidents, injurious accidents, Audit and product conformance. Each team then has an activity board covering subjects such as milestone activities and previous days conformance result among others. To ensure TPM succeeded, Teams had to dedicate substantial time to carrying out laid down activities and held meetings as needed. Benefits of TPM Implementing TPM had both direct and indirect effect on the production system a combination of which generated major savings at RHP, Blackburn. Major Site-wide benefits were scored in the following areas: à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬400,000 running costs saved Unit cost reduced by 21% Scrap reduced by 8% Attracting increased capital investment currently at 15% of turnover and Customer returns reduced by 11% Increased customer satisfaction Improved safety record Environmental and quality awards Improvement in staff morale The two key machines (The Shiftnal sphering and the PGM core making machine) also had major total cost saving OEE improvements as well as other time saving and cost reduction achievements making the TPM well worth it (Willmott and McCarthy). Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) As Applied in a Section of a Plant What is RCM? RCM is a method for developing and selecting maintenance alternatives based on safety, operational and economical criteria. RCM employs a system perspective in its analyses of system functions, failures of functions and prevention of these functions (Jones, R.B). So RCM requires in-depth of the machinery, detailing all logic problems and their maintenance solutions and as such can be quite time consuming, for this reason it is usually used only on the critical equipment. The use of RCM methodology requires that 7 questions be answered: What are the functions of the Asset? What are the functional failures? What causes the functional failures? What happens when the failure occurs? How much does each failure matter? Can we predict or prevent failure and should we be doing so? How should we manage the failure if prediction or prevention is not an option?(Paul Wheelhouse) Now in order to answer the above questions, a System analysis process is used to begin RCM on any section of the plant. This System process will implement several steps, all of which define and characterize RCM and will methodically delineate the information required for the maintenance: Step 1. System selection and Information collection: Taking decisions as to what level of the plant at which to do the RCM and also choosing this system or section based on criticality i.e. based on function and impact on plant and environment. Step 2. System Boundary Definition: This involves creating an accurate list of what is or is not part of the section so an accurate list of components can identified and to establish what comes in and what leaves the System(IN and OUT interfaces). This is necessary to ensure the accuracy of the Systems analysis process. Step 3. System description and functional Block diagram: This is used to identify and document the essential details of a system that are needed to perform the remaining steps in a thorough and technical fashion. The five separate items are developed in this step: System Description Functional Block Diagram IN/OUT interfaces System Component list Equipment history Step 4. System Functions and Functional failures: involves classifying each OUT interface of the system into its functions and identifying the failures which might hinder these functions. Step 5. Failure Mode and Effect analysis (FMEA): involves analyzing each component failure to discover which have the potential to disruption their function and then detailing what exactly these effects could be. This is done using functional failure-equipment matrix. Step 6. Logic (Decision) Tree Analysis (LTA): the failure modes which pass through effects analysis will now go through this process. The purpose of this step is to further prioritize the emphasis and resources that should be devoted to each failure mode on the basis that all Authority (TVA). TVA is a power production plant wholly owed by the US government and equipment, functions and failures are not the same. The LTA identifies the failure modes in 3 aspects: Safety Downtime Economics (Finance) Step 7. Task selection: In this step, applicable maintenance tasks which are most effective to combat the detailed failure modes are listed, at the same time decisions on whether to run-to-failure or design out

Customer Service Representative Morale Essay -- essays research papers

A business seeks to make a profit by providing customers with goods and services. The success of the business is in the quality of the goods and customer service. Management and leadership styles have a great impact on the working environment and employees’ motivation. The working environment also affects both management and other employees’ motivation, which in turn influences the overall progress and well being of the organization. It all comes down to keeping employees enthusiastic and energized by developing a leadership style that will build teamwork and growth for the organization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The managers’ leadership style contributes directly to the employees’ motivation and work satisfaction. There are many types of leadership styles, one that is task-oriented and the other is employee-oriented. A manage or supervisor with a task-oriented style will typically train and expect results as if they we doing the task themselves. On the other hand, the manager with an employee-oriented leadership style will foster team work with a concern in boosting employee self esteem, enhancing their decision making and problem solving skills. Not all leaders fall exclusively into one style or the other. Depending on the personality and the dominant part of the manager’s style, the effects on the customer service representative will vary. There are three main types of leadership styles that shape all kinds of leaders. The three types are the autocratic, democratic, and free-reign styles of leadership. The autocratic style of leadership would be considered the most task-oriented type, in which the manager carries out all the decision-making process without any feedback or suggestions from subordinates. Communication is one-way, where the work provided by the manager is to be done without any modifications by the subordinates. In this style of leadership, the delegation of authority is controlled, meaning that the decision-making is only performed by senior managers and is rarely delegated to subordinates along the chain of command. The democratic leadership style is more of a participative type of leadership. It is a two-way communication leadership, in which employees are allowed to contribute in the decision-making; however, the manager makes the final decision. The delegation of authority in this style of leadership is less controlled and more de... ...ses, motivating employees to produce the desired behavior. The days of a customer service representative sitting in a dimly lit cubical for hours on end, without the proper skills and information are long gone. The customer service representative today is a highly skilled individual with a passion for assisting each and every caller with the best possible service they can provide. They are empathetic, compassionate, and dedicated to the task at hand. They are truly an asset to any companies well being and success. References Leavitt, W.M. (1996). High pay and low morale-Can high pay, excellent benefits, job security, and low job satisfaction coexist in a public agency? Public Personnel Management, 25, 333-341. Khaleque, A., & Chowdhury, N. (1983, May). Perceived importance of job facet and over all job satisfaction of top and bottom level industrial managers. Paper presented at the proceedings of the third Asian Regional Conference of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Bang, Malaysia. Rahman, T., Rahman, T., & Khaleque, A. (1995). Job facets and job satisfaction of bank employees in Bangladesh. Psychological Studies, 40, 154-156

The Crucible - How John Proctor Changed Essay -- Essay on The Crucible

The Crucible - How John Proctor changed throughout the storyline from mistreating his wife by cheating on her while she was ill with Abigail, to someone who took the blame so no one else got in trouble. The Crucible In this essay I will talk about how John Proctor changed throughout the storyline from mistreating his wife by cheating on her while she was ill with Abigail, to someone who took the blame so no one else got in trouble. The Crucible is based on the true story of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials where people were hanged if they were accused of being a witch. All of them were innocent and wrongly hanged. Arthur Miller has changed some of the play so it would be easier to write about like the girls in crying out has been reduced and Abigail's age has been raised. There were also 7 judges of equal authority which has all been symbolized in Hathorne and Danforth. The story starts out with a group of girls who were caught dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris. He also saw one of them naked in the woods. Next morning Betty falls ill and Parris keeps asking what's wrong with her and what did Abigail do to her. He asks about the devil and Abigail sees this as an opportunity to blame people for being involved with the devil and getting her own back on people. We then see people coming into the house and leaving. Abigail tells all these people who she saw with the devil. Later on we get introduced to John Proctor who was respected in Salem and even feared. He is in his middle thirties and was a farmer. Then in Act2 John Proctor sits down to dinner with his wife, Elizabeth. Mary Warren, their servant, has gone to the witch trials, disobeying Elizabeth's order that she remain in the house. Fourteen... ...eople were acting quickly. At the beginning everybody speaks with the same dialect. He uses goody for names which is short for good wife. And people call each other with mister and miss. This all contributes to the feeling of a different society. Distanced not only by time but by the way it communicated. While we was reading it in class, there was some people who thought that John Proctor took the easy way out and was being selfish by committing suicide and leaving his children and wife to them selves and not standing up to the rest of the village by knowing that people wouldn't like him anymore and if he died then he wouldn't have to put up with that. I think though that he changed during the play and did what was right by trying to do his best and make up to his wife about his mistakes. He changes and tries to take the blame instead of everyone else.

The tour :: Short Stories Science Medical Essays

The tour Her breath was becoming labored. It was always like this after working a full shift in the zone. The dust made her throat dry and her lungs ache. The feeling of every pore in her body closing in response to the biological assault was all too familiar. She had been on the Tour now for three months; many people did not survive more than two, and she theoretically had to serve five. There wasn't anyone she knew that had actually completed their Tour, except for Xern, and his respiratory system had been replaced at least twice. But now Sweepers were just as expendable as cars used to be -- internal organs could be replaced or even upgraded, but it eventually became more cost effective to generate a new body than to constantly maintain an old one. Besides, the Sweepers did not seem to be of use to anyone, beyond the task they performed. And after working a full shift, they were not even of use to themselves. Sometimes she was so mentally and physically spent that she would barely make it through the evening recalibration before falling asleep -- only to wake up feverish a few hours later. Tonight was no exception. It hurt so much to breathe, let alone cough or yawn. She had trained herself to take short, even breaths, because any sudden or deep intake sent a stabbing sensation throughout her chest. She couldn't even remember the last time she felt healthy. It was certainly sometime before she received that notice on her monitor: The Federal Medical Management and Research Association has identified a particular segment of your DNA that indicates immunity to BH-247XN30. This immunity merits a rarity of 5 on the Milton Scale, and has been identified in only .000014% of the population. Less than 5% of the same have been randomly selected to participate in Tour 598E that begins 1645/28/07/2048†¦ She had only vaguely heard of these Tours up until that point. They were of the vicious rumor variety, much like the perpetual threat of a comet-Earth collision. After she received the notice, she accessed the information site for the Tours. The laws governing them had been implemented 1022/03/05/2045, almost three years earlier. When she checked her voting account, she discovered that she had even submitted her approval for the laws.

Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room Essay

Enron was involved in American’s largest corporate bankruptcy. It is a story about people, and in reality it is a tragedy. Enron made their stock sky rocket through unethical means, and in reality this company kept losing money. The primary value operating among the traders was greed, money, and how to make profits under any circumstance. The traders thought that a good trader is a creative trader and the creative trader can find any arbitrage opportunity. Arbitrage opportunity was defined for the trades as the opportunity to make abnormal profits. The traders rocked the prices of electricity over the roof on the consumers’ accounts. Traders discovered that they could create artificial shortages of electrical power so they could push the price of energy higher. With this strategy the west coast traders were able to make almost 2 billion dollars for Enron. The traders never stepped back and asked themselves if what they were doing was ethical; it is in their long term interest; does it help them if they totally defrauded California; does it advanced their goal in nationwide deregulation? Instead, they have pulled from every loop they could have to get the profit from California’s misery. It was released in the court that traders knew they are doing something wrong. The traders that were not comfortable with Enron’s style had only two options. They could have protected themselves from the guild by leaving the company or stay in the game, and blindly follow the orders from the authorities. Those traders would not ask any questions because they were afraid that they would only confirm what they suspected would be true. Therefore, they tried to protect themselves from remorse. We need to ask what the motivation of traders to behave this way was. It was the vision of fat bonuses and Enron’s ability to exploit the darker side of the traders. The traders lost their sense of morality. Once the traders accepted the idea of inhumanity it was acceptable for them to continue with their unethical behavior. The moral compass is our natural feeling that makes people know what is right and wrong and how they should behave. If the working environment does not have moral standards and the individual is not strong enough to step aside, he/she will be drag down and lose their moral compasses. Some people lose their moral compasses and might not feel any responsibility for their actions, because a higher authority approved their action. The traders felt no responsibility on their accounts and accepted their unethical behavior because they had an approval from their CEO Jeffrey Skilling. When I used to work for the banking industry I had an opportunity to see how people can change. The bonus and profit involvement was not at all similar to the ones of the traders from Enron, but the principle was same. Once there was involvement of power from high level management, threat, or reward, people were able to change drastically their behavior. They did not care about clients’ money, property, and well-being because they were threatened of losing their job or blind by the bonuses and career growth visions. I was always curious if they would do the same thing to their family members. How would they behave if there was no client sitting in front of them but their mom or dad? Would they still try to convince them to close some dirty deals by using those lying phrases that they were taught by their supervisors? I could have never understood how it is possible that some people are able to change their face so rapidly without any shame or guilt. I think everybody should treat people the same way how they want to be treaded. I did not care about the pay cut I had to take in my new job as long as I did not need to be involved in such unethical working environment like banking industry. It was my worst working experience ever and in the future I will do everything that I can to avoid working for an industry without moral standards. There is only one circumstance that might cause me to lose my moral compass, and that would be only if somebody would hurt a loved one. John Locke based his theory on moral rights. The people are free and equal and everybody owns their body and labor. The people own anything that was labored by them. However, people agree to form the government to protect their rights, liberty and property that would be otherwise be insecure and unsafe. In Locke’s theory Enron should have not been allowed to be involved in deregulation, because government should be there to protect people’s property and rights. If the government stayed involved in electricity power regulation in California, Enron would not have so easily ripped California of $30 billion dollars. The government should also protect people that invested in Enron, especially employees’ 401k plans. Locke’s natural rights are negative right and for Locke the negative rights do not conflict with positive rights. Those rights imply that the market should be free, which can cause inequality between people. For example large groups of society will stay poor compared to other groups that would grow even richer. Adam Smith’s view of free market derives from utilitarian agreement. The greatest benefits would be produced by free market and private property. The buyers will look for lowest price possible and producers will sell to the buyers anything they want to for the lowest possible price. The market competition would drive the self-interested individuals which would serve society. Enron created fake shortages of the electrical power and since there was not too many suppliers to create market competition that allowed Enron to boost the price of their stock and manipulate the stock market. The criticism of Smith’s argument is the fact that his vision is not accounting for the monopoly companies. Economist Keynes argued Smith’s invisible hand theory. He claimed that without government involvement the demand might not be high enough to absorb the supply. This approach would avoid unemployment and depression. We should not forget that government spending might not cure high unemployment but create inflation. Marx argued that capitalism is concentrating industrial power to the few individuals who organize workers for mass production. This can cause production surplus and economic depression, and replacement of workers by machines can create unemployment. The property should have served for the needs of all society. The social classes were determined by the way how society organized their workers. Enron would never be able to operate under capitalism. The company would be owned by the government and if there would be any discrepancy done it would never come up to the public. State should create mixed economy that would retain private property and market system. The government policies should remedy any deficiencies. The intellectual property system should tend towards Locke’s utilitarian system than Marx’s socialist system. There should be a healthy mix of Locke’s, Marx’s, Smith’s, and Keynes’ philosophy and political views. We should follow Smith and Locke in their low level of government interaction, which would keep strong competition between businesses and benefits for society. Keynes idea would balance the supply-demand equilibrium, unemployment and inflation. And Marx vision would equalize and decrease the gap between social classes and provide support for retirees and disabled society.

Habeas Corpus and the War on Terror Essay

The law of Habeas Corpus was created to permit the guilty to present their case in court and to be tried fairly. In today’s war on terror, the amount of such enemy combatants who were detained indefinitely without any trial has raised. The courts are split up on following the law by the letter or to practically change it according to the situation’s needs. I feel it’s necessary to follow these laws in the same context in which they were written, and the pragmatic approach leaves room for reckless changes. To deny an enemy combatant his or her day in court cannot be justified as taking the pragmatic approach in dealing with war criminals. This paper is an attempt to present the state of law today towards war criminals and the implications of denying the basic right of Habeas Corpus to suspected terrorists. Ever since the onset of civilization, arguments have routinely erupted between various members, families, factions, and groups within civilizations and between civilizations. In ancient times, arguments would be resolved by crude means, means not limited to the powerful person using brute force to show he was in the right. The stronger person would always have, say for example, the first right to food, to agricultural produce, cattle and to wealth etc. The weak wouldn’t dare pick an argument over the stronger person in fear for their life. But as civilizations grew and advanced over time, a code of ethics and laws began to form. Societies began to incorporate and adapt these laws in their daily functioning. Drawing inspiration from religion, past civilization practices and their mistakes, it was only natural that basic human rights were thought about and codified. The rights were guaranteed to all human beings, irrespective of who was physically stronger. The American Revolution has beyond doubt shaped the basic structure of human rights for the entire world to follow. Among many undeniable rights to citizens, the writ of Habeas Corpus was identified and established very early on in the Revolution. In Europe, the writ of Habeas Corpus was first traced to be used around the 12th and 13th centuries during the medieval period. Habeas Corpus translates from Latin to mean â€Å"you may have the body† or you may examine the body. It is essentially a writ that requires any person detained by law enforcers to be tried in a court of law and have his detention validated (Bbc. com, 2005). The writ doesn’t decide whether the accused is guilty or not, it merely stipulates that the accused be tried and detained if only found guilty of the crime being accused for. The US inherited this law from the English and codified it in the constitution in Article 1, section 9. The UN later incorporated it in their international human rights in 1952. The point of contention with the habeas corpus right is to whom it applies. The law stipulates that this right be never be suspended or denied except in cases of rebellion, invasion or when perceived as a threat to public safety. Surprisingly, this writ has been previously suspended twice in the past for seemingly similar reasons. President Lincoln suspended the writ in 1861 to prosecute the war prisoners captured during the American Civil war. His argument was that the confederates were a threat to the union and hence issued the order (Dueholm, 2008). This law was later restored after the war ended in 1866. President Bush in 2006 issued a similar suspension of the habeas corpus writ to detain enemy combatants captured in the global war against terror. It deemed these accused terrorists as a threat to national security and denied them the right to be presented and tried in court. This paper will focus on the consequences faced by the accused and the validity of enforcing such a suspension. Just suspending the writ wouldn’t seem very harmful when looked at by itself. But consider for a moment who the government arrests. American policy makers routinely count any military age males as enemy combatants. Drone strikes assume anyone in the vicinity of a drone strike of military age to be a enemy combatant first and then when sufficient intelligence is available to the contrary, they are posthumously declared civilians (Balko, 2012). In a likewise fashion, arrests were also made based on the very broad physical description of an age group, or depending on where they are and who they interact with, were picked up after being accused of terrorism. Next, consider the location of their detention. Accused terrorists were detained at prison, run by US military personnel backed by US administration; set up in a foreign land i. . Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The single reason for maintaining such an institution away from US soil was to escape the jurisdiction of laws that govern detainees which would apply if held on US soil. Laws of detention stipulate not only the kind of treatment but also the punishment meted out to convicted terrorists. The captors were free to torture their captives in any way they saw fit to gather any amount of relevant information, regardless of whether the person accused is an actual terrorist holding any real information to share. Terms such as enhanced interrogation techniques had to be invented to pass them as legal and humane methods in congress. Add to this polarized scenario, the suspension of the one single law that could serve as the difference between life and death of an innocent civilian – the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. The suspension took away with it the only chance an innocent civilian had to prove his innocence. In short, simply standing at the wrong place at the wrong time can get you to serve a lifetime of torture with not even a hint of a fair trial. Naturally, concern about the handling of such detainees grew and petitions filed by family and friends of detainees finally began to reach the courts. The Supreme Court finally in a landmark case of Boumediene v. Bush ruled against the suspension of habeas corpus for the detainees with a 5-4 majority. It declared that the suspension of the writ was indeed unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy who ruled with the majority supported his stand with examples from the history of the writ back in the 12th century and its recent applicability in territories outside the border of US but still falling in its control, such as Chanel Islands. His summary also compared the legality of this writ in Scotland, which is a sovereign nation and yet still under English laws. Once US jurisdiction was proved, Justice Scoter, Ginsburg and Bryer pointed out that it would have to be one that was based on the constitution or no jurisdiction at all. Justice Scalia argued that the habeas corpus law was in fact protected by the Detainee Treatment Act, and refuted the entire judicial intervention. He was supported by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito and Thomas. The Justices did a fine job of evaluating the suspension of the writ. From establishing jurisdiction and what kind of jurisdiction, to an alternate mechanism to protect the habeas corpus in spirit, all avenues were thoroughly investigated. The courts also recognized the extremely difficult nature of assessing an individual in a warzone to be a combatant or a civilian in a foreign location. And yet, the writ cannot be suspended out of fear of failure in acquiring adequate proof against the detainee. Personally, I feel strongly that the writ of habeas corpus is a right so basic that it cannot be suspended in any scenario. The very least an accuser can do is to offer a fair trial to the accused. I feel that the President was wrong to remove the last ray of hope of an innocent civilian that might have been unfairly detained. The case also established the judicial soundness of our nation even at times of war, and the entire exercise in judiciary coming in between the functioning of Congress was an example to the world. Denying such a basic right makes us no different than the terrorists who accuse and punish others that broadly fit their own enemy description. Living as a part of a civilized nation for over 200 years, we owe it to ourselves to act in a dignified manner, even with our captives.