Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among Australian Young Adults

Question: Discuss about the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among Australian Young Adults. Answer: Introduction: Mental disorders have always been treated as a social taboo in our otherwise highly advanced society. Millions of people suffer from some form of mental disorder worldwide and the majority of them are discriminated at by the societal structure (Aupperle et al., 2012). Hence, it becomes essential for the health care system to take the responsibility of promoting the quality of life in the population that suffers from some or other form of mental disorders. Studies suggest that stress related disorders are the most prevalent mental disorders in the current scenario targeting mostly the generation of young adults. The most frequent of theses stress related disorders are the post traumatic stress disorders. This report is designed to present a rationale on the complexities of the post traumatic stress disorders and why there is need for prioritizing this disorder in the young adult generation (Kumar Preetha, 2012). Post trauma stress disorder: Post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD as commonly known can be described as the set of reactions generated in the individuals after they have experienced a traumatic event that had threatened or had the potential to threaten their safety and wellbeing (Gospodarevskaya, 2013). A traumatic vent can be anything; it can be an accident, a natural disaster or a physical, warfare and emotional or sexual assault and torture. The symptoms to this disorder may begin within a timeframe that is different for different people, however, it generally starts within month of going a traumatic event (Gospodarevskaya, 2013). The symptoms of the PTSD can be intrusive memorise where the victim might experience recurring and unwanted visions of the traumatic events giving the victim the impression of reliving it over and over again. Another of the symptoms can be the avoidance that the victim will show to any activity that may remind him or her about the unfortunate event. PTSD can effectively impart pes simism and alter the emotional reaction of the victim. All these symptoms intensify over time and lead the victim towards social seclusion and chronic depression (Kandalaft et al., 2013). Consequences: Survey studies suggest that 5 to 10 percent of all Australian population suffer from stress disorder at some point of their lives, and the maximum are the age group of 18 to 30 years. Studies suggest that the majority of youngsters that suffer from the post traumatic stress disorder, have experienced some drastic event in their childhood or teenage (Kearns et al., 2012). In most of the cases it is either a torturous sexual assault or a bloodlust crime they witnessed. These events lead to depression and an extreme case of social seclusion and self harming tendencies in the later years. The rate of the victims to PTSD is increasing alarmingly everyday and has become a rising concern for the health care system. The society is losing a vast majority of their young population due to increasing suicide rates and these mental disorders can be a prime cause to it (Kearns et al., 2012). Health care system has long overlooked the mental stress related disorders and time has come for them to take the issue seriously to stop innocent lives getting lost due to the lack of proper help. Studies suggest that early intervention and treatment coupled with periodic counselling can help the victim tremendously if given to the needy at the right time. Therefore, it is clear that the need to prioritize the treatment options and benefits for the PTSD victims along with proper health promotion programs can diminish the issues in the bud and can help the victims regains the control to their life (Wilson, Smith Johnson, 2013). Relevance to the current priorities: We are no stranger to the fact that health care system has advanced and diversified significantly over the years and it no longer is what it used to be years ago. Health care is now focussed, patient-centred and patient-friendly to a large extent, oriented towards the demand of the current trends and issues commendably (Kumar Preetha, 2012). With the increasing number of super speciality facilities focussed on catering to a particular heath abnormality providing the best care possible with the convenience of the patients at the centre of it. A number of health care priorities have been identified in the national health priority areas in Australian health care. These priorities include cancer care, cardiovascular care, injury care, mental health, diabetes, asthma, obesity, musculoskeletal conditions and dementia. Each sector receives specialised care and campaigning with extra emphasis on prevention rather than stressing on the aftermath (Kearns et al., 2012). In this context post traumatic stress related disorder should also avail priority in the health care, as it has become one of the emerging health care concerns among the Australian young adults. It should include subjective approach focussed on the patient satisfaction and wellbeing to significantly eradicate the increasing rates of PTSD victims (Kumar Preetha, 2012). Debates and issues: There is substantial consensus regarding the existing care and treatment options and efficacy of them considering the present scenario. The most important element to these contrasting opinions can be due to the difference in reaction to a traumatic event in different people. It has to be considered that post trauma stress is one of the most abundant diagnoses in the field of psychiatry. It is inevitable that there will be argument over what treatment plan should gain priority when discussing PTSD disorder when different patients respond to different types of treatment (Kumar Preetha, 2012). Moreover, the outlook of the society toward anything abnormal is seclusion and discrimination, which worsens the situation for a PTSD victim. According to the Eriksons theory along the journey of an individuals life there are a number of conflicts that they need to overcome, such as shame and doubt and guilt and inferiority that plagues the mind until the individual loses sense of self worth (Wilson, Smith Johnson, 2013). Determinants and risk factors: The success of a broad scale program to target a key health care concern depends on different factors, called determinants. These determinants can be the response of the patients to the treatment, the constraints that are present to interfere with the successful implementation of the programs and the risk factors associated with the issue (Lee, Fang Luo, 2013). Firstly the victims to PTSD take years to seek the help of the treatment options if they even take it, which can seriously alter the effectiveness of the treatment if it is delayed to a large extent. The sufferers of mental disorders face a lot of societal shaming, and that can be a contributing factor to their aversion to seeking help. Furthermore, most of the patients do not get past their deep rooted apprehension and cannot communicate freely with their counsellor, which lessens the efficacy and response of the patients to the treatment. Lastly there are a number of risk factors associated with the issue (Lee, Fang Luo, 2013). The risk factors associated with disease are the likelihood of the long term sufferers progressing depression and anxiety, substance abuse, feeding disorders and most importantly suicidal tendencies. Target group: It has been discussed above that the young adult generation suffer more from post trauma stress than the rest of the age groups. It is said that this particular age range witnesses a lot of changes and transitions, this is the age range where an individual start their career and takes up a number of responsibilities and try to explore, and there can be unwanted traumatic experiences (Bisson et al., 2013). For example, almost 59% of the young generation is more prone to recklessness and hence they experience much more trauma than the rest. It is only likely that they receive the spotlight in the PTSD treatment program. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that the patients who gather enough courage to seek help for a mental disorder that has stemmed from a traumatic experience, and often they are too delayed. Focussing the treatment program on the young generation will ensure that they get the help in the earlier stages which can gain much better results from the treatment (Searcy, 201 2). Health promotion strategies: The treatment plan available for the PTSD sufferers in Australia are provided by the ADF and other health care facilities, and in the private hospitals under the discretion of the Department of Veterans Affairs including a combination of medication and counselling therapies, however, there is need for more improved and focussed strategies, such as, There is need for building healthy public policies, utilizing psychological debriefing, pharmacological treatment, and psychosocial interventions (Weathers et al., 2013). The nest strategy should be creation of supportive environments for the sufferers Another key area in the health promotion should be involving community action into creating supportive environment for the sufferers so that they can freely communicate about their issues without fear of being ashamed (Roden Jarvis, 2012). Large scale psychological checkups should also be conducted in case of a traumatic catastrophe that involves a large group of people so that they can develop skills beforehand to combat any stress disorders (Wilson, Friedman Lindy, 2012). Lastly there is need for reorganizing health care towards preventative measures, incorporating workshops and group sessions involving young adults in office premises, university campuses so that help gets to them before they have to seek help. Conclusion: There are a lot of facts and factors that influence the measures and their outcomes in case of mental disorders in the society. The treatment procedures have undoubted advanced to help the victims overcome the restriction that the mental disorders can pose. Health care priorities are a step in this direction to ensure that there is enough emphasis on areas that have been vastly previously ignored. Nonetheless, the emphasis should include the realistic issues that are more likely to be found in the general mass like PTSD. Promoting health care prioritization of such societal taboos will not only ensures that the health care is much more approachable and relatable to the victims but will also be the drive that will change the societys vision towards mental sicknesses. References: Aupperle, R. L., Melrose, A. J., Stein, M. B., Paulus, M. P. (2012). Executive function and PTSD: disengaging from trauma. Neuropharmacology, 62(2), 686-694. Bisson, J. I., Roberts, N. P., Andrew, M., Cooper, R., Lewis, C. (2013). Psychological therapies for chronic post?traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults. The Cochrane Library. Gospodarevskaya, E. (2013). Post-traumatic stress disorder and quality of life in sexually abused Australian children. Journal of child sexual abuse, 22(3), 277-296. Kandalaft, M. R., Didehbani, N., Krawczyk, D. C., Allen, T. T., Chapman, S. B. (2013). Virtual reality social cognition training for young adults with high-functioning autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 43(1), 34-44. Kearns, M. C., Ressler, K. J., Zatzick, D., Rothbaum, B. O. (2012). Early interventions for PTSD: a review. Depression and anxiety, 29(10), 833-842. Kumar, S., Preetha, G. S. (2012). Health promotion: An effective tool for global health. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 37(1), 5. Lee, R. D., Fang, X., Luo, F. (2013). The impact of parental incarceration on the physical and mental health of young adults. Pediatrics, 131(4), e1188-e1195. Roden, J., Jarvis, L. (2012). Evaluation of the health promotion activities of paediatric nurses: Is the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion a useful framework?. Contemporary nurse, 41(2), 271-284. Searcy, C. P. (2012). Pharmacological prevention of combat-related PTSD: a literature review. Military medicine, 177(6), 649. Weathers, F. W., Litz, B. T., Keane, T. M., Palmieri, P. A., Marx, B. P., Schnurr, P. P. (2013). The PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Scale available from the National Center for PTSD. Wilson, J. P., Friedman, M. J., Lindy, J. D. (Eds.). (2012). Treating psychological trauma and PTSD. Guilford Press. Wilson, J. P., SMITH, W., Johnson, S. K. (2013). A Comparative Analysis of PTSD Among Various. Trauma and its wake, 1, 142.

Sample Literary Analysis Essay For Sons and Lovers

Sample Literary Analysis Essay For Sons and LoversSample literary analysis essay for Sons and Lovers will serve as an excellent platform for students. It will provide them a real idea of the kind of essay, which can be written in such a case. It will also give them an idea of the course material which is commonly used in such a case.Many students, who have not followed a particular course, struggle with writing essays. So, it is highly important to find a guide that will enable them to write a complete essay. There are many guides available in the market and you can choose the one which best suits your requirement. But, before choosing a guide, you need to do some research on it so that you will get the most suitable one. Here are some sample literary analysis essay for Sons and Lovers.As per the sample, this is a basic book which can be used for a basic essay. In such a case, you need to start off with an introduction that will help you build up the foundation of the essay. You need to examine the structure of the article as well so that you will be able to construct an idea about the essay which can be written in a similar manner.After having the introduction, you need to analyze the content of the essay so that you will be able to understand the essay completely. You need to make some notes in this essay which will help you in constructing the proper structure of the essay. You can make some outlines for this work so that you will be able to proceed with the required practice and revision of the essay.After the analysis, you will need to write the contents of the essay. In this case, you need to make a list of all the points that are of importance to this essay. It is not necessary to include all the points as you can choose to leave some out from time to time. This will help you in writing a perfect essay.When you have completed writing the literary analysis essay for Sons and Lovers, you need to re-arrange the structure so that you will be able to discuss the contents effectively. This will help you in writing a proper essay. Some literary analysis essays have specific format and there are few guides that will help you in writing a perfect essay.There are several advantages of writing a literary analysis essay for Sons and Lovers. The first advantage is that you will be able to choose the appropriate material. By making a comparison between different materials, you will be able to know about different aspects of the subject. This will help you in writing a more creative essay which can be used in a college exam.

To Do It Or Not To Do It. . . Essays - Television, COPS,

To Do It Or Not To Do It. . . Does antbody really listen to the real issues of sex? No, they want to test it out on their own and most don't care about HIV, AIDS, or STD's. I am here to inform the reading audience of this serious issue. Yeah, I was young, I wanted to experiment, but it was the dumbest thing I ever did. I wound up pregnant with a daughter and found out, while giving birth at the age of 15, that I had herpes. I was mortified. I was ashamed. And, most of all, I couldn't bare talking to the father of my child so I just left the state and moved to Canada. It wasn't until the cops found me and told me the father of my child was suing me for custody of my child and made charges against me for kidnapping our child. This terrifying experience landed me in jail for 10 years and 6 months, giving custody to the father and permanently destroying my life. I am here to give a shout out to all those who are intrigued by the sexual world, please get yourself and the partner you plan on doing it with checked out b efore you go on. It will help even if you both are so certain that nothing is wrong. That's what happened with us. Bibliography My own conscience Human Sexuality

Free Essays on Debunking The Myth Of Global Warming

Debunking the Myth of Global Warming At various times since WW II warnings were sounded about the Earth entering another ice age. As a matter of fact, until the mid-seventies, average Northern Hemisphere temperatures actually went down, but by less than one degree Celsius ("Global Warming Treaty" 1-2). In the seventies, a number of scientists took this bit of data and predicted dire consequences for the Earth. The popular press picked up on this, and even Science magazine stated in 1975 "the approach of a full-blown 100,000-year ice age [was] a real possibility" (Shackleton 28). Although most Americans believe that humans cause global warming, there are many scientists who believe global warming is only a natural cycle. Since the 1970's, temperatures have gone up again, and the tiny decrease in temperatures since WW II has now been replaced with an equally tiny increase in nighttime global temperatures. Nighttime global temperatures have risen about 0.065 degrees Celsius, according to measurements by Tiros II, a temperature measuring satellite ("Instant" 5). So what happens? The doom and gloom about another ice age is replaced with the doom and gloom about global warming. What people are seeing now and what people were seeing then are merely natural variations in temperatures around the globe. They are due to natural variations in all kinds of variables, including solar flares. Greenhouse gases allow incoming solar radiation to pass through the Earth's atmosphere, but prevent most of the outgoing infrared radiation from the surface and lower atmosphere from escaping into outer space. Many gases exhibit such â€Å"greenhouse† properties, including those that occur naturally in the atmos phere, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. This process occurs naturally and has kept the Earth's temperature about 60 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it would otherwise be. Current life on Earth could not be sust... Free Essays on Debunking The Myth Of Global Warming Free Essays on Debunking The Myth Of Global Warming Debunking the Myth of Global Warming At various times since WW II warnings were sounded about the Earth entering another ice age. As a matter of fact, until the mid-seventies, average Northern Hemisphere temperatures actually went down, but by less than one degree Celsius ("Global Warming Treaty" 1-2). In the seventies, a number of scientists took this bit of data and predicted dire consequences for the Earth. The popular press picked up on this, and even Science magazine stated in 1975 "the approach of a full-blown 100,000-year ice age [was] a real possibility" (Shackleton 28). Although most Americans believe that humans cause global warming, there are many scientists who believe global warming is only a natural cycle. Since the 1970's, temperatures have gone up again, and the tiny decrease in temperatures since WW II has now been replaced with an equally tiny increase in nighttime global temperatures. Nighttime global temperatures have risen about 0.065 degrees Celsius, according to measurements by Tiros II, a temperature measuring satellite ("Instant" 5). So what happens? The doom and gloom about another ice age is replaced with the doom and gloom about global warming. What people are seeing now and what people were seeing then are merely natural variations in temperatures around the globe. They are due to natural variations in all kinds of variables, including solar flares. Greenhouse gases allow incoming solar radiation to pass through the Earth's atmosphere, but prevent most of the outgoing infrared radiation from the surface and lower atmosphere from escaping into outer space. Many gases exhibit such â€Å"greenhouse† properties, including those that occur naturally in the atmos phere, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. This process occurs naturally and has kept the Earth's temperature about 60 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it would otherwise be. Current life on Earth could not be sust...

Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Finance - Essay Example ormula also clearly generated risk associated with the investment and thus shows the possible measures to take in a given risk scenario in an investment. This is a financial field which proposes the use and application of psychology based theories which are used to explain the anomalies in the stock market. In this context, the assumption in behavioral finance is the characteristics of market participants and the information structure which systematically influences the investments individual decision in the market outcome. This evident in various stock exchange markets which investors have assumed on making the best decisions. In this area, there are numerous incidents of this phenomenon in the security market which contradicts the market hypothesis in the investor’s rationality. In this context, the behavioral finance hypothesis seems to attempt to cover and replace the investment void. In any investment, this theory states that it is totally impossible to beat the market due to the efficiency of the stock market which makes the existing shares to incorporate and thus reflecting the information which is relevant in accordance to this theory. It is therefore the investor purchases the undervalued stocks or eventually sells out the stock in inflated prices. Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) Definition | Investopedia." Investopedia - Educating the world about finance. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

How Should Organizational Information Systems Be Audited for Security Essay

How Should Organizational Information Systems Be Audited for Security - Essay Example S. General Accounting Office; Mandol and Verma; Cert-In; Stanford University; Davis). At the present, businesses should take a number of steps in an attempt to formulate or improve an IS security audit facility. For instance, organizations must clearly outline their business goals and aims. After that, the business should evaluate its own information security audit readiness. However, this kind of evaluation requires from organizations to recognize a variety of matter such as reporting limitations, legal problems, the audit situation, security and safety vulnerabilities, abilities automated tools and associated costs. Additionally, it is essential for the organizations to plan how to decide what information systems security audit projects should be performed for instance both stand-alone information system security audit projects and those projects which require support from the information systems security audit potential. Thus, when the planning stage is successfully completed, bus inesses should be able to connect the aims and objectives selected in the initial phase to the tasks required for their completion. On the other hand, all through the process, businesses should not ignore the resources exist on the Web intended for research and training (U. S. General Accounting Office; Mandol and Verma; Cert-In; Stanford University; Davis). Moreover, making a decision regarding organization’s aims and objectives for developing or improving an information system’s security audit capability will support them in determining and understanding the varieties of skills, tools and training required to carry out this process. In this scenario, it is essential for the organizations to define objectives and aims earlier without initial recognition like that how and by whom the business aims and objectives would be convened (for instance, whether organization resources would be contractor, in-house, shared staff or a number of combinations). In addition, establis hment of temporary milestones will facilitate in attaining a staged accomplishment of organization’s desired policy. Additionally, while constructing an information system security audit potential, administration should review the organization’s information systems security audit willingness by keeping in mind the applicable issues. In this scenario, the implementation of a baseline by recognizing powers and faults will facilitate an organization to choose a most excellent system to proceed (U. S. General Accounting Office; Mandol and Verma; Cert-In; Stanford University; Davis). Moreover, the process of tackling information security risks varies and depends on the nature of the processing carried out by the business and sensitivity of the data and information which is being processed. However, to completely judge these issues and risks, the auditor should completely understand information about the business’s computer operations and major applications. In this s cenario, a most important part of planning to produce or improve a successful information systems security audit potential can encompass activities such as assessing the present staff’s skills, knowledge and capabilities to decide what the audit capability is at the present and what knowledge

Replacement of Existing Air-cooled Chiller Systems

Replacement of Existing Air-cooled Chiller Systems Replacement of Existing Air-cooled Chiller Systems by Water-cooled Chiller Systems in Commercial Buildings in Hong Kong Introduction According to F.W.H. Yik, J. Burnett I.Prescott, the air-cooled chillers in Hong Kong are usually rated at an outdoor temperature of 35 oC and COP of the air-cooled chillers including the condenser fan power is ranging from 2.6 to 2.9. For a direct seawater-cooled chiller plant with seawater entering temperature of 27 oC, COP of the water-cooled chiller plant could achieve 4 to 5. As the electricity consumption for air-conditioning system in Hong Kong often accounts for a dominant portion of the operating cost of the shopping complexes, water-cooled air-conditioning systems are more preferable than air-cooled air-conditioning systems when space is sufficient for such installation and cooling water is available at low cost. In the past years, portable water supply was mainly imported from China and the reliability of this crucial water supply has been a major concern in Hong Kong. The use of fresh water in air-conditioning system was banned by Waterworks Regulations in Hong Kong and this discouraged the use of cooling towers in most commercial buildings including shopping complexes. Hence, air-cooled air-conditioning systems were prevalently installed in Hong Kong in the old days. In order to conserve electricity and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by electricity generation, the Hong Kong Government has put effort and emphasis on exploring the feasibility and viability of facilitating buildings to use water-cooled air-conditioning systems instead of air-cooled air-conditioning systems. Pilot Scheme for Wider Use of Fresh Water for Evaporative Cooling Towers was launched in June 2000 by the Hong Kong Government. The scheme aims to promote the energy efficient water-cooled air-conditioning syst ems and to assess the impacts on infrastructure, health and environmental effects with an ultimate aim to facilitate territory-wide implementation of water-cooled air conditioning systems in Hong Kong. Technology of Water-cooled Chiller Systems in Commercial Buildings The air-conditioning systems in buildings work on refrigeration principles by using cooling medium to decrease the indoor air temperatures. In air-cooled air-conditioning systems, heat absorbed by the refrigerant is directly rejected to the ambient; whereas in water-cooled air-conditioning systems, either fresh water or seawater is used as a heat rejection medium. And heat absorbed by the refrigerant is rejected to the ambient by evaporation through cooling towers or by seawater discharging into the sea. There are three major schemes in water-cooled air-conditioning systems, namely, the cooling tower scheme, the central sea water scheme, and the district cooling scheme. In the cooling tower scheme, the air conditioning system uses evaporative cooling tower for heat rejection. Water in the cooling tower will be lost due to continuous evaporation, bleed-off and wind drift. The water lost would be replaced by water coming from the city water mains. In central sea water scheme, the air conditioning system uses seawater for heat rejection. A dedicated central sea water supply distributes seawater from the sea to the user building. The rejected warm sweater from the condenser will be returned to the sea via dedicated pipe. In district cooling scheme, chilled water is produced by central chilled water plant. Individual user purchases chilled water for their building from the district cooling scheme operator and do not need to install their own chiller plants. For this scheme, a central chiller plant, a pump house and a central distribution pipeline network would be required. Water-cooled air conditioning system rejects heat depending on the ambient wet-bulb temperature rather than the dry-bulb temperature, so the refrigerant can be cooled to a lower temperature. This results in a better system coefficient of performance (COP) and thus more energy efficient. The District Cooling Scheme and Cooling Tower Scheme are more efficient than conventional air-cooled system as much as 35% and 20% respectively in accordance with a study commissioned by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD). Pros and Cons for Application of Water-cooled Chiller Systems Equipped water-cooled chillers and cooling tower with VSD and optimize their operation by automation control system could effectively trim down the peak demand charge, optimize the chiller efficiency in off-design condition, and lead to a more efficient operation of the overall water-cooled air-conditioning system. Variable speed drive chiller compressor can be considered as replacement of traditional chiller in the future, as its cost has been gradually reduced. The VSD chiller compressor will allow the compressor to run at lower speed under part-load conditions, thereby yielding a lower compressor kW/ton rating under such situations than using conventional centrifugal chillers where part-load control is by controlling the inlet guide vanes. In the conventional chiller plant automation control system, it controls the cooling tower to open the valves and start the tower fan on one-to-one basis even in common header system. When the condensing water temperature drops, the required compressor head will reduce. The efficiency of the water-cooled chiller equipped with VSD will improve by 4 to 5% while the entering condensing water temperature drops by 1 oC. It, therefore, would be better to operate the idle cooling towers in lower speed in order to further lower the condensing water temperature for the water-cooled chillers so as to increase the efficiency of the chillers. Lower total fan power consumption and lower condensing water temperature are resulted. As a result, optimization of the chiller and cooling tower operation with automation control system as above would further increase efficiency of the water-cooled chiller plant. The operating strategy of the multiple chillers is also crucial to achieve efficient operation of the chillers. For multiple chillers operating at a part-load condition, the second chiller should not be brought on-line until the first one is up to a pre-determined capacity. Generally, the least energy is used by one chiller operating at 90% capacity as compared with that used by two chillers each operating at 45% capacity. Retrofitting the existing air-cooled chiller plant with new water-cooled chiller plant could usually rectify the problems of load mismatching, low reliability of the existing chiller plant. Additional benefit from the conversion of air-cooled to water-cooled chiller plant would be the improvement of system reliability and minimization of system downtime when all the water-cooled chillers are furnished with variable speed drive as the starters. In case of power loss, the restart time of chiller could be reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes when compared with the conventional and typical EM starter. Moreover, after the conversion of the water-cooled chiller, less power would be consumed which means less CO2 emission. This would reduce the green house effect. There are nonetheless some limitations and potential risks for replacing the existing air-cooled air-conditioning system with new water-cooled cooling tower system. Noise from cooling towers, stagnant water in dead legs of water pipe or in idle system, nutrient growth due to contamination from surrounding areas and exposure to direct sunlight, poor water quality such as Legionella count, deficiencies in cooling tower system, separation of the cooling towers and access to existing building/residents, and occupational safety and health issues are all have to be dealt with carefully during the design stage, the installation stage as well as the operation and maintenance stage. Appropriate cooling tower system design, regular and proper maintenance including water treatment to the cooling tower system, and annual audit are all necessary to minimize the potential risks from the cooling tower system. Also, conversion of the existing air-cooled chiller plant to water-cooled chiller plant takes up more spaces as the additional air-conditioning equipment including cooling towers, condensing water pumps, water tanks, condensing water pipes, etc. shall be incorporated into the system and all of the equipment and the structural supporting frames for cooling towers and water tanks require additional spaces. Like places in Hong Kong where it is so densely populated and space is very limited with very high land price, optimal utilization of building spaces is a very important factor which the landlords would consider. Model to Access Efficiency Improvement Implementation of Load-based Speed Control for System Optimization in Water-cooled Chiller Systems The system COP means the chiller load output divided by the total input power of the chiller, condenser water pump and cooling tower fan. For conventional operation of cooling towers, the fans are cycled on and off, or controlled at variable speed to maintain the temperature of cooling water leaving the tower at its set point. The condenser water pump is staged continuously to provide the chiller operating with the rated flow of condenser water for all loading conditions. In accordance with the studies performed by F. W. Yu and K. T. Chan, load-based control could be applied to enhance the energy performance of water-cooled chiller systems. Thermodynamic-behavior chiller and cooling tower models were developed to find out how the energy use varies for a chiller system operating under various controls of condenser water pumps and cooling tower fans. The optimum operation of the water-cooled chiller systems could be obtained via the load-based speed control which the speed of the cooling tower fans and the condenser water pumps is regulated as a linear function of the chiller part load ratio. It resembles the typical sequencing of chillers based on their load conditions and without the need of high quality humidity sensors to reset the cooling water temperature. The system COP under the optimal control could increase by 1.4% to 16.1% when compared with the equivalent system of fixed temperature and flow rate control for the cooling water leaving the coo ling towers. Improvement in system performance could be achieved by applying variable speed control to the condenser water pumps and the cooling tower fans. To optimize the system, the condenser water flow rate would vary in direct proportion to the chiller load. This results in the control algorithm of pump speed (Spump,op) shown in Equation (1), given that speed is directly proportional to flow rate in accordance with the pump laws. The minimum speed is set at half of the full speed (Spump,full) to ensure the minimum condenser water flow required when the chiller load in terms of part load ratio (PLR) drops to below 0.5. Spump, op = (1) Following the traditional control of cooling water temperature, the controller for tower fan speed modulation has to evaluate the optimum set point (Tctwl,op) and operates the fan at the right speed to meet that set point. Based on the analysis by F. W. Yu and K. T. Chan, it is possible to apply load-based speed control for cooling tower fans so as to achieve optimum system operation. Figure 4 shows data of the optimum fan speed at which the maximum system COP took place for a set of operating conditions in terms of various combinations of PLRs from 0.2 to 1 at 0.1 intervals and wet-bulb temperatures from 16 to 28 DegC at 4 DegC intervals. Using regression analysis, a linear relationship between the optimum fan speed (Sfan,op) and chiller PLR can be obtained as Equation (2) with the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9215. Sfan,full denotes the full speed of the tower fans and the constant coefficients would be different for each specific design of the system. Sfan,op = (0.7281PLR + 0.1776) Sfan,full (2) It is expected that the load-based speed control is generic for all types of multiple-chiller systems with full or partial use of variable speed drives for the system components. The optimal control of the whole system could be highly simplified in this way as the sequencing of chillers, pumps and tower fans and their individual speed controls can be based entirely on the chiller load conditions only. The system COP under the optimal control could increase by 1.4% to 16.1% when compared with the equivalent system of fixed temperature and flow rate control for the cooling water leaving the cooling towers. Conclusion Retrofitting the existing air-cooled chiller plant with new water-cooled chiller plant could usually rectify the problems of load mismatching and low reliability of the existing chiller plant. A better system coefficient of performance (COP) and thus more energy efficient would be achieved. The application of water-cooled chiller system is more efficient than the conventional air-cooled system for as much as 35%. Implementation of the load-based speed control for the system could further increase the system COP by as much as around 16%. REFERENCES: F.W. Yu, K.T. Chan, Economic benefits of optimal control for water-cooled chiller systems serving hotels in a subtropical climate, Energy and Buildings (2009) 1-7. F.W.H. Yik, J. Burnett, I. Prescott, A study on the energy performance of three schemes for widening application of water-cooled air-conditioning systems in Hong Kong, Energy and Buildings 33 (2001) 167-182. F.W. Yu, K.T. Chan, Energy signatures for assessing the energy performance of chillers, Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 739-746. F.W. Yu, K.T. Chan, Optimization of water-cooled chiller system with load-based speed control, Applied Energy 85 (2008) 931-950. Jerry Ackerman, What a Water-Cooled HVAC System Can Do for Your Building, Buildings 102 (3) (2008) 72-76. 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