Maternal Death Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Maternal Death - Research Paper Example Those deaths occurring to women during pregnancy but are not related in any way to that pregnancy are referred to as accidental. However, many other definitions are contrary to this. Such definitions offer an extension of the duration for consideration after the termination of the pregnancy to one year. Other definitions incorporate incidental and accidental deaths of pregnant women as maternal death (Temmerman & Verstraelen, 2004). Therefore, there lacks a universal definition of maternal death. As such, the issue of maternal death is complex, starting from its definition, to its causes. While there is wide range of information sources regarding maternal death, the sources have not tackled the subject comprehensively, with a gap being left for more research to be undertaken in this field (Temmerman & Verstraelen, 2004). Although it is a complex issue, there is much that is known about maternal death. One of the issues well studied and understood is the causes of this death. The remedies to these causes have also been researched and developed. The direct causes attributable to this death include bleeding. This is known to account for 25% of all maternal deaths (Thaddeus, 1994). This bleeding is caused by hemorrhage or deep vein thrombosis. A lack of skilled medical care during birth could also lead to bleeding, since cuts could be made in a way they are not supposed to be made. If not addressed, bleeding can kill a woman within two hours after birth. Therefore, it is supposed to be addressed immediately it is discovered, through the injection of oxytocin immediately after birth. The other cause of maternal death has been observed to be infections, which normally occurs after birth. After birth infections, accounts for 13% of all known maternal death (Temmerman & Verstraelen, 2004). Therefore, it can be prevented through the observation of hygiene after the birth of the child by a woman. If the signs of infections are discovered earlier, then seeking medical attention is important to eliminate infection related deaths. High blood pressure is another cause of maternal death, which accounts for 12% of such deaths in women. This needs to be discovered and managed earlier, just before it causes convulsions and other complications to the pregnant woman. The effects of high blood pressure can be lowered through the administration of magnesium sulfate, which lowers the risk of developing the high blood pressure in pregnant women (Temmerman & Verstraelen, 2004). Obstructed labor is another cause of maternal death. This mostly occurs when the head of the unborn child is too big for its mother’s pelvis. It can also occur, on the event that the baby is poorly positioned in the uterus (Huron, 2005). It is known to cause 8% of all maternal deaths and as a result needs to be controlled . Obstructed labor can be addressed by the use of partograph, which detects the conditions of a baby before birth. When observed that the conditions are likely to cause prolonged labor pain, then a caesarian delivery can be opted for, to reduce risks associated with obstructed labor for the mother and the child. There are other causes of maternal deaths, which are classified as indirect. They include diseases

Strategies to Detect Neutrinos

Strategies to Detect Neutrinos Thomas Kayll What are Neutrinos and how do we detect them A neutrino (ÃŽ ½) is a subatomic particle from the lepton family with a lepton number of +1, a charge of 0 and a spin of  ½. There are three flavours of neutrino the Muon Neutrino, Tau Neutrino and the Electron Neutrino1. Neutrinos rarely interact with matter because they are so small and have no charge and are also not affected by the strong nuclear force. So the only way a neutrino can interact with matter is through the weak nuclear force. Neutrinos are about 100,000 times smaller than electrons but there are so many neutrinos being emitted into the universe that even with their incredibly small mass they outweigh the amount of matter in the universe9. Figure 1 Neutrinos were hypothesised in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli8, he theorised that another particle must be emitted in beta decay other than the electron as not all the energy from the decay carried by the electron so Pauli suggested that another particle was emitted and was carrying the rest of the energy given off. It was expected that the electron would carry all the energy but this is not what was found. The law of conservation of energy states that Energy can’t be created or destroyed, but it can be changed into a different form, also that in a closed system it cannot be lost. The red line represents the energy the electron should have if none was shared from the beta decay of carbon 14 and the blue line represents the actual energy of the electrons. The first people to detect the neutrino were Reines and Cowan. They did this by using the prediction the nuclear reactors were meant to produce high amounts of neutrino fluxes. When one of the antineutrinos collides with a proton a neutron and a positron are given off6. These positrons then collide with electrons and annihilate via pair-annihilation. When this happens two gamma rays are produced as radiation in opposite direction. Figure 8 Reines and Cowan soon realized that detecting the gamma bursts wasn’t enough evidence to categorically say they had found neutrinos. So they aimed to detect the neutron given off as well. Reines and Cowan set up a new experiment where they constructed a tank of water and lined it with a scintillating material to detect the gamma radiation. A scintillating material is a material that fluoresces when hit by a photon or a charged particle. This is then picked up and amplified by photomultiplier tubes. They also put cadmium into the tank; cadmium absorbed the neutrons given off in the reaction between the antineutrino and the proton and becomes an exited form of cadmium witch give off gamma radiation1.1. Figure 9 The gamma rays form the exited cadmium were detected 5X10-6 seconds after the positron electron annihilation. This gave enough evidence to prove that neutrinos did exist. Reines and Cowan repeated the experiment in a different location with better cosmic ray shielding. Cosmic rays comprise of very high energy particles such as high energy photons, these particles can interfere with very sensitive electronics used in the experiments and can create false readings. Form this they got more reliable results1.1. In a reaction the baryon number, lepton number and the strangeness must stay the same. So in beta decay where an electron is given off an anti lepton must be released to make the lepton number 0 again. I am going to be looking at how the Super-Kamiokandeis able to detect neutrinos. The Super-Kamiokandeis a large experiment where 50,000 tonnes2 of ultra pure water is held in a stainless steel spherical tank covered in 11,146 photomultiplier tubes all of this is located in a old mine 1,000 meters underground to stop cosmic ray interference. To be detected, a neutrino would interact with a H2O molecule and would cause an Electron to be discharged and this would be travelling faster than the speed of light in water causing Cherenkov radiation to be emitted. Cherenkov radiation is emitted when a particle travels faster than the maximum velocity of a photon in that medium. This radiation produces a ring of light which is detected by the photomultiplier tubes witch amplify the signal, using this we can calculate where the neutrino interacted and what flavour of neutrino it was3. Photomultiplier tubes are needed as they are able to amplify the signal by around 100 million times. When a photon from the Cherenkov radiation hits the photocathode then a photoelectron is released vie the photoelectric effect , this is then attracted to the first dynode with a pd of approximately 100V this electron gains kinetic energy and then hits the dynode liberating more electrons (typically 3-4) then these are attracted to the next electrode with a pd of 100V and a charge of 200eV and the same happens again until there is a strong enough signal and the electrons hit the anode and then the detected signal is sent off to the computer4. For each electron liberated on the dynodes the energy is The 100eV the electron carries is enough to liberate around 4 new electrons on the next dynode. With some electrons not hitting the dynodes and some not liberating exactly 4 new electrons then the figure that the signal is amplified by 100 million times and that (3-4) electrons are liberated by on electron make are correct. From research it seems that the dynodes have a work function (ψ) of around 5eV this means that about 80eV is lost when the electron hits the surface of the material. Figure 5 This Is the Super-Kamiokande form the inside. Each dot is a photomultiplier tube, and there are two people checking them on the surface of the water in a dingy. The first recorded instance of an observation of a neutrino was in 1970 on the 13 of November. The event was observed when a neutrino collided with a proton and created a mu-meson (muon) and a pi+-meson (pion). A pi+-meson is a particle which consists of a quark and an anti-quark. A pi+-meson consists of an up quark and an anti down quark. A muon is a member of the lepton family in the standard model. This all occurred in a hydrogen bubble chamber. A bubble chamber is a vessel that holds super heated liquid (in this case hydrogen); it is used to detect charged particles that enter it. It is able to crate observations of these particles as when a charged particle passes through the chamber it causes an ionisation path which causes the surrounding liquid to vaporise and form bubbles which size are proportional to the specific particles energy loss. This is all captured by cameras which can produce a picture of the event5. Figure 6 This is the original picture of the collision This is an annotated picture showing the paths of the colliding particles. Muon (ÃŽ ¼), proton (p), neutrino (ÃŽ ½ÃŽ ¼) and the pion (Ï€+). When the neutrino and the proton collide the proton moves to the left. The neutrino is turned into a muon which keeps going forwards and the pion is created from the collision5. The annotation to the right shows what is happening at the sub atomic level with quarks. In 2011 the OPERA experiment conducted which came across the odd results that neutrinos were travelling faster than the speed of light. The results were declared as anomalous as anything going faster than the speed of light in a vacuum is considered to go against special relativity. The scientists conducting the experiment set investigations into why they got the results they did. From these investigations it was found the there were two faults in how the experiment was set up. One was that a fibre optic cable was improperly connected and that a clock oscillator was set to fast. Taking both of these errors into account meant the reading were not actually faster than the speed of light. In 2012 it was reported that the speeds of neutrinos are the same as the speed of light. This information was gathered by numerous different scientific groups including OPERA. There are many different sources of neutrinos such gamma ray bursts, supernovas, neutron stars, nuclear fission and cosmic rays. Neutrinos are defiantly not rare with potentially about 100,000 billion passing through your body every second. All of these sources are some of the most energetic/violent processes in the universe. The main source of our neutrinos that are detected by places like ice cube and Super-Kamiokande is the sun through its nuclear fission which gives off many neutrinos. Here you can so that a neutrino and a positron are emitted when two H1 atoms collide and coalesce to form a H2 atom. Ice cube is another neutrino detector in the South Pole that uses the same idea as the super-Kamiokande in that it detects the gamma rays from when a neutrino collides with a water molecule. Ice cube is a hexagon that is around 2,450 meters deep and has 86 lines of sensors with 60 sensors on each line so a total of 5,160 sensors. Conclusion From my research into what neutrinos are and how we can detect them I have found out the fundamental nature of neutrinos and how we are able to detect something that rarely interacts with matter. I have learnt that neutrinos are harder to detect than I had imagined and that there are different methods such as detecting the Cherenkov radiation from the neutrinos colliding with water molecules or by seeing their ionising path in a bubble chamber. I have also found out some of the reasons behind why neutrinos are so hard to detect in the first place, for example that neutrinos are extremely small, have very low mass, are not charged and only really interact through the weak nuclear force. Over all, neutrinos are very elusive and one of the weirder particles that we have discovered and there is still a lot we do not know about them. Bibliography Date accessed: 23/11/2014 1 URL: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/lepton.html URL: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/cowan.html Hyper physics is a reliable website source because it is hosted by the physics and astronomy department at Georgia state university and has professors who teach the subjects input also it should be non biased as there is no gain for it providing false information. Hyper physics states that their second experiment at Savannah River Plantwas 12 meters underground and states the cross-section of the reaction to be 6X10-44 and the same figures are stated http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowan%E2%80%93Reines_neutrino_experiment Date accessed: 23/11/2014 URL: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/1998/jun/05/super-kamiokande-finds-neutrino-mass Physics world is a website that publishes the new and old physics topics and has many different topics that it has published. It is a reliable source as it is backed by some very credible companies, such as Angstrom Sciences and Moxtek Inc. It also has scientist informing and righting as well which further proves the reliability of the website. Date accessed: 21/11/2014 URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Super-Kamiokande.html Princeton.edu states that the page is sourced from Wikipedia URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-Kamiokande. it is reliable as Princeton university would not be publishing wrong information on their site as that would be bad for them so that gives this information some credibility. Also physics world URL:http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/1998/jun/05/super-kamiokande-finds-neutrino-mass states that the super-Kamiokande is 1000m underground and holds 50,000 tonnes of water which is the same as on the Princeton page this back up the reliability of the data. Date accessed: 23/11/2014 URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photomultiplier The data that I found on Wikipedia on photomultiplier tubes was backed up from the equations I used to try and estimate the number of electrons hitting the anode, which gave similar figures to my calculations. Also the theory behind how photomultipliers work was the same as explained in http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/digitalimaging/concepts/photomultipliers.html this website also stated gains around 100 million which is my calculated and Wikipedia’s stated value. All this shows that it is a reliable source. Date accessed: 26/11/2014 URL: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/lectures/lec22.html This is an educational site from the University of Oregon who should not be biased as they have no reason to put incorrect information on their website as it would have a negative effect on them and they wouldn’t gain anything. It is reliable as it is written by scientists. The date stated on the page November the 13th 1970 is the same as stated on http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FirstNeutrinoEventAnnotated.jpg. Date accessed: 26/11/2014 URL: http://t2k-experiment.org/neutrinos/a-brief-history/ T2k is a website dedicated to neutrinos. The website is primarily about news in the field and the t2k experiment of neutrino oscillation. It is a reliable source as it is written by professionals.† the positron annihilates with an electron to create two gamma rays† this statement says the same thing as http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/lepton.html says on the topic. Date accessed: 30/11/2014 URL: http://icecube.wisc.edu/science/depth Ice cube is a website dedicated to the ice cube particle detector in the south-pole that is trying to detect neutrinos and more. Its primary funding source is the national science foundation, this is a US government organisation that funds and conducts many different projects. Their aim is to keep US science at the forefront of the world in discovery. The web site ice cube should be reliable as it has major government input and would not gain anything from false publication. On ice cube it states that the detector has 5,160 detectors this is the same at http://phys.org/news/2013-11-world-largest-particle-detector-icecube.html. Phys is a large physics news blog with articles written by universities and scientists so it is a reliable website as it is written by people who have extensive knowledge in what they write. â€Å"Advanced Physics†, Steve Adams, Jonathan Allday/oxford university press/November 2nd 2000, p416 Advanced physics is a book published by oxford university press. It is reliable because Oxford University is a highly regarded university that would get a negative publicity if what they published was incorrect. Oxford should not be biased as it doesn’t have any large Companies or influential people pressuring them to publish false information. â€Å"Neutrino†, Frank Close/oxford university press/ February 23rd 2012, p2 The book neutrino talks about what neutrinos are and how we detect them, their history, their discovery, their sources and many different topics related to them. The point of the book is to inform and educate people on neutrinos. Professor Frank Close the author is a professor at Oxford University this shows he knows what he is talking about and that the book is reliable as he is a regarded physicist. Oxford press is a reliable publisher as I have stated in reference 8. Figures Date accessed: 23/11/2014 URL:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svg/2000px-Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svg.png Date accessed: 26/11/2014 URL: http://t2k-experiment.org/neutrinos/a-brief-history/ Date accessed: 23/11/2014 URL: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/lepton.html Date accessed: 23/11/2014 URL: http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/165501-unit-g495-advance-notice-june-2014.pdf Date accessed: 21/11/2014 URL:https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=irct=jq=esrc=ssource=imagescd=cad=rjauact=8ved=0CAUQjhwurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpprc.qmul.ac.uk%2F~still%2Fwordpress%2F%3Fpage_id%3D138ei=iSBnVK2IG5XWaqubgfAJbvm=bv.79142246,d.d2spsig=AFQjCNH_tc4ZUVMJfiVeSgUvb3ba_uDsqA Date accessed: 26/11/2014 URL:https://www.windows2universe.org/sun/Solar_interior/Nuclear_Reactions/Neutrinos/neutrino_picture_big.gif Date accessed: 26/11/2014 URL:http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/lectures/lec22.html Date accessed: 23/11/2014 URL:http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/cowan.html Date accessed: 23/11/2014 URL:http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/cowan.html

Babettes Feast Essay -- essays papers

Babettes Feast I believe that everything happens for a reason. Happen, and happen at certain times for a reason also. The movie, Babette’s Feast, helped confirm my beliefs. This movie started out focused on Martina and Phillipa with their father, the pastor. The movie quickly shows his silent dominance over his two daughters. He keeps them under his wings until the day he dies, and then even after that they continue to live in his shadow. Everything he preached is believed and followed by them and members of their community. The father taught them that â€Å"the only thing which we may take with us from our life on earth are those things which we have given away.† Because of their father, the two devoted their lives to carrying on his preaching and his kindness towards the other followers. So instead of marrying, they decided to devote their lives to God and to their late father. By doing this they would take away from earth exactly what they gave while on earth. Their dedication to their father and the church made them underestimate the power of love and marriage. It’s not like these women did not have chances to marry, or take different courses in their lives. Martina was extremely beautiful and caught the eye of every young man, but the sternness of her father, and her own aloofness kept them from pursuing her. A prime example would be, Lorens Loewenhielm, the officer who met her via his rich older aunt. Martina was very interested in him, but never gave him any encouragement. Phillipa was blessed with â€Å"the voice of an angel,† while singing in church she caught the eye/ear of world renowned French tenor Achille Papin. Not only does he fall in love with her, he wanted to make her into a star in France. Yet again, a suitor is rebuffed by the daughters. In both cases the daughters did not openly reject their suitors, instead they were aloof and acted uninterested. In the case of Phillipa she asked her father to inform Papin that she no longer wanted to take music lessons from him. There is no clear reason why they turned down all their suitors. Though there are many possible reasons. The girls may not have found the men attractive and suitable to settle down with, maybe they just weren’t interested in men, perhaps their true calling was God and helping others, though it could possibly be because their father had told them never to marry. He ... ...a seductive love affair that no one who tasted the food was immune to its powers. They all became part of the food. There was so much power in the food it healed rifts in the community that had been there for years. Though it may have seemed random that Babette showed up on the sisters doorstep on a stormy night, armed with a letter from Phillipa’s old beau. It really wasn’t, Babette was a necessary part of their lives. Because everything happens for a reason, Babette came to live with the sisters for a reason. During the time Babette came to Jutland the community was in shambles. After the loss of the pastor faith had begun to dwindle. Though Babette was often a silent attribute she in fact was very powerful in all their lives. She may not have verbally preached to the community, but her food had a message that connected them all. Babette came to Jutland to escape from the war in France. but her presence was much more important than just a housemaid, she also helped the sisters with their charity work. More importantly, she came there to help reunite the community. That was her role in life. To create beautiful meals, and help that poor community in rural Denmark.

Critical Review of “Theology: the Basics”

Critical Review: Theology; The Basics By: Luke Knoll Survey Of Christian Beliefs Kerry Pretty Pacific Life Bible College Theology: The Basics; Critical Review As Christians we often believe certain things simply because it’s what our parents and the people around us believe. We often go about our Christian walk without ever giving thought or reason to why we believe what we do. The world of Christian Theology is a place where Christians can find answer to the ‘what and why’ of Christianity.If we are able to begin comprehending Christian Theology and the rudimental knowledge of it, then we can take it with us into more in depth books and discussions about theology, know the importance of it and how vital it is for Christians to actually know what and why they believe specific things The goal of the book Theology: The Basics is to introduce basic foundational terms of Christian Theology to those who have never studied theology before. It explains how we get doctrine and theology from the Apostle’s Creed and the technicalities found in it.The book attempts to have an unbiased approach at the ideas and theology brought up in the contents. The book can be easily summarized by looking at the flow of the chapters in the table of contents. Starting off with the basics, â€Å"What is faith? † (pg. 1) then moving into discussion on God, Creation, Jesus, Salvation, Spirit, Trinity, Church, Sacraments and finishing off with Heaven. This book thoughtfully moves and flows through some of the most thought about of topics.With each chapter the reader can dive into the meaning of these terms and if there are big intimidating words in front of their eyes they are able to refer to the glossary conveniently added in the back of the book. The tactics that McGrath uses in his book are very practical. McGrath takes a specific topic and meticulously teaches on it using both a historical and educational stand point. McGrath uses the history of the time period that the Apostle’s Creed was written in and gives historical background to add clarity on the topics he is teaching on.In doing this McGrath lets our minds have enough backstory to more easily understand the information given. After giving historical background McGrath breaks down the topic in a very clear format. When talking about Jesus (pg. 58-76) He talks about why Jesus is important â€Å"Christology†, but then he educates us by breaking down the considerably large topic of Jesus into more manageable categories such as the names of Jesus; Messiah, Lord, Son of God, Son of Man, God.After going through the names of Jesus he then educates us on other important theological discussions of Jesus like: Functional statements about Jesus, Early Christological Models, The Council of Chalcedon, The incarnation and icons, and Christ as mediator. Then after discussing the ‘meat’ of the topic he then gives us an opportunity to â€Å"Engage with a text† at the end of every topic. These texts give different examples and opinions for each topic and then McGrath gives the reader a short series of questions for individual or small group discussion about the text/topic he had given.Though McGrath did do a very good job at giving us insight on the historical background of the topics and also educated us in a very easy, elementary level on the theology, he lacked personal touch. In this I’m talking about some personal stories or experiences from his life that has helped him engage these theological terms and ideas. It was very â€Å"theological† in its approach, however the simple addition of some personal experiences might help him engage a broader and more diverse target audience.Even with that being so, the book was very well written and I enjoyed learning about the different topics about Christian Theology. This book did help me develop my own ideas of some of the terms, as it remained unbiased throughout majority of the book. One area where I think McGrath could have connected more with the reader is in the chapter discussing the Spirit. When he is discussing the term â€Å"Charism† (pg. 100) as he is discussing how it means the filling of an individual with the spirit of God.I believe that could have been a prime situation for him to give a personal testimony in attempt to connect with the reader and give additional examples. I do though understand that if McGrath were to start giving personal stories he would have to add them throughout the entirety of the text as well as change the voice of his writing all together. So even though McGrath may not be able to connect with every type of learning (as many authors cannot) he did create a great resource to be used by those of us who are just simply ‘newbies’ at theology.The books purpose as stated was to create a text in which people who did not have any knowledge of theology could come and learn about it in an easy, clear mann er. In Theology: The Basics, McGrath did an excellent job at teaching us these somewhat daunting terms and topics. He admirably took a broad tip paint brush and went over all of the basic terms that are lined out in the Apostle’s Creed.In doing so he whetted our appetite in the world of Christian Theology and he was able to give us great rudimental knowledge that we can take with us into more in depth books and discussions about theology, the importance of it and how vital it is for Christians to actually know what and why they believe specific things. Overall the book did a good job at creating a medium to pass on knowledge as well as staying unbiased to keep us unoffended if his view didn’t entirely line up with the readers.

Waltham Motors Division

Question 1: Using budget data, how many motors would have to be sold for Waltham Motors Division to breakeven? In order to calculate the breakeven point, we use the following equation and budget data: Breakeven Sales*Unit Price-Unit Variable Cost= Fixed Costs Breakeven=Fixed CostsUnitary Price-Unitary Variable Cost Breakeven point=260,000864000/18000-512800/18000=13,226 units Q2. Using budget data, what was the total expected cost per unit if all manufacturing and shipping overhead (both variable and fixed) was allocated to planned production? What was the actual per unit cost of production and shipping?The results for the total expected cost/unit with budget data is: Expected Cost/Unit= Manufacturing Overhead(variable and not variable)+Shipping Overhead# of Units= =484,000+148,000+28,80018,000=$36. 71/unit The results for the total expected cost/unit with actual data is: 404,000+149,200+28,00014,000=$41,51/unit Q3. Comment on the performance report and the plant accountant’s analysis of results. How, if at all, would you suggest the performance report be changed before sending it on to the division manager and Marco Corporation headquarters?The accountant is making a big mistake by comparing absolute numbers from Budgeted costs and revenues with Actual costs, since the actual number of units sold is less than the Budgeted amount. Therefore, a more detailed analysis must be done, and calculate the costs per unit, as Table 1 shows: Table 1 From this new data on Table 1, we can make the following observations about the accountant’s comments: * The only cost that was underestimated (Favourable = F) is the Indirect Labour, so the first comment about being under budget on every single cost except for supervision is wrong. The operating income has decreased, which is expected given the decrease in number of motors sold (4. 000), but based on the report we still cannot tell whether that is the only reason. This also leads to a difference between the actu al price ($49) and the budgeted price ($48). * The current static budget needs to be changed into a flexible budget so the budgeted data can be recorded taking into account the actual units produced, that is, 14. 000 units. Q4. Prepare your own analysis of the Waltham Division’s operations in May.Explain in as much detail as possible why income differed from what you would have expected. As suggested in Question3, a new Flexible budget is calculated, so now it is possible to calculate the variances between the Flexible budget and the Actual Results and Static budget we had before. The data is show below in Table 2: Table 2 From this table we can see how the unfavourable Static budget variance = 98400 seen in the accountant’s Performance Report is now divided into the Flexible budget variance = 20. 356$ (2) and the Sales volume variance = 78. 44$ (3): Flexible budget variance: is the difference between the actual result and the corresponding flexible-budget amount. This variance is subdivided into: * Sales variance $14. 000 Favourable. This is due to a higher price charged for the motors (49$ instead of the 48$ budgeted), maybe because of changes in prices of the competitors as well. * Variable costs variance is Unfavourable by $27. 556, the different components of this variance are: * Direct Material variance: Unfavourable by of $1. 00, we need to find out whether this is due to Price and/or Efficiency variance. The accountant indicates that the actual price for direct materials is $5. 7/unit (5% less than budgeted), but the budgeted price was $6/unit. On the other hand, the standard quantity is 14. 000 units while the actual quantity is 85. 400/5. 7=14982. 45 units, therefore: * Price variance = $89. 894,75 – $85. 400 = $4494. 76 Favourable. This reflects the company saved money with the decreased prices of raw materials * Efficiency Variance = $84. 00-$89. 894,76 = $5894,76 Unfavourable. Since this amount is larger than the Favourable am ount of the Price variance, we can conclude that the overall unfavourable 1. 400$ Direct material balance is due to Efficiency Variance. There are many reasons that might cause this inefficiency coming from the production manager or the purchase manager, such as bad quality of the raw materials bought (which were cheaper after all), or waste of these during the production process. * Direct Labour variance: Unfavourable by $22. 000.Again, we need to find out whether this is Price and/or efficiency driven. We know that according to the accountant information, the actual price is $16,4/unit while the Standard price is $16/unit. On the other hand, the Standard Quantity is 14. 000 units while the actual Quantity is 246. 000/16,4=15. 000 units. Therefore: * Price Variance = 240. 000-246. 000 = $6000 Unfavourable. This reflects the increase in medical benefits noted by the accountant. * Efficiency Variance = 224. 000-240. 000 = $16. 000 Unfavourable.The accountant does not mention anything that can tell for sure the reasons for this lack of efficiency, so we can only guess some reasons such as a change in the labour force to an unskilled one. * Idle Time and Cleanup Time: Unfavourable by $3. 000 + $1. 600 respectively, might be due to different reasons such as low efficiency in the cleanup process, or bad shape of the machines used to manufacture the motors that turned into a lot of idle time compared to the one budgeted. The idle time must be monitored since it can lead to further decrease of Labour efficiency. Indirect Labour and Miscellaneous supplies: Favourable by $400 + $40 respectively, might be due to many reasons but the amounts are too small to make up for the unfavourable amounts found in the rest of the variable costs. It might be a coincidence, but there was a favourable Price efficiency for Direct Material, so maybe the Purchasing department is doing a good job. * Fixed costs variance * Supervision unfavourable by $1. 200 might be due to low efficiency of the supervising staff as noted in the accountant comments. * Shipping costs variance: Unfavourable by $5. 00 probably because of additional shipping due to bad quality of products that have to be returned and shipped again, or just because of bad efficiency in the shipment process by not using full capacity of transportation. Sales-volume variance: it is the difference between the flexible-budget amounts and the static budget and it arises solely because of the difference between the actual quantity of motors produced and the amount budgeted (expected) to be produced by the company. In this case there is a variance of $78. 044, and we can assume it is because of the key contract that was lost.