Better Pay and Working Conditions in Multinational Essay Example for Free

Better Pay and Working Conditions in Multinational Essay Reaction Paper Part I: Identification Alexander Hijzen and Paul Swaim, â€Å"Do multinationals promote better pay and working conditions? † OECD (Organization for Economic Development) Observer, October 2008; Issue 269, pp 15 – 17. Part II: Abstract Summary The article examines the behavior of international business enterprises, also known as multinational enterprises (MNEs), wages and working conditions, from the perception of the Organization for Economic Development (OECD). It gives a basic definition of a MNE as a corporation with headquarters in one country and affiliates, subsidiaries or merged operations in one or several other countries. Example MNE’s mentioned in the article include: Coca-Cola, Nike, Microsoft, EDF (French energy company), Rio Tinto (British-Australian mining firm), and Toyota. The article notes that there are thousands of MNEs and that they all are not a symbol of Western economic dominance. Some of the top firms listed now in FT one of the UK’s top international business magazines includes China, Russia, India, and Brazil. First, the article addresses the pro and con opinions that supporters and opponents of globalization bring to the working table of MNE’s. It stresses the fact that no matter what one’s opinion may be, the role of the MNEs in the world economy will continue to grow. Next, the article discusses the nature of MNEs as well as notes their advantages on employment (wages and working conditions). Concerning the wages, the article mentions that MNEs’ technical expertise and modern management styles would provide a basis for higher pay wages. However, the pessimists doubt the higher pay since the MNEs are typically in a strong bargaining position with local workers. The article explains that the best way to answer the question do multinational promote better pay and working conditions was to present a comparison of local and foreign companies in terms of their labor practices. So a study was completed to report on this question. The study showed that MNEs do tend to pay more than local firms that compete in the same markets. In general the pay is 40% higher. The study also noted that the pay may be higher to minimize worker turnover and reduce monitoring cost. These results were based upon the report focusing on three OECD countries (Germany, Portugal, and the UK) and two emerging economies (Brazil and Indonesia). Then the author presented the results from the study of those newly hired workers pay vs. those workers who moved from a domestic to a foreign-owned firm, as well as their adjustments to labor practices/working conditions. The study showed higher wages for newly hired workers and small losses or no effect for those moving to foreign firms. Several previous studies were mentioned which noted that multinational tend to adapt to local practices rather than impose their own. Finally, the author expresses the effect that experienced managers have on MNE’s. It has been proven that local firms that recruit managers with experience in multinationals enjoy higher productivity. They can more easily recognize and enforce internationally accepted labor standards. In the end, it is noted that not only experienced managers but also government support is what will help the MNEs be productive and help development.

Effects of students attitude on their performance

Effects of students attitude on their performance In a developing country like Pakistan, education is considered most important factor in the advancement of a nation. The role of students in developing a country is huge. You cant expect a country to develop if it doesnt have literate people. These students who are studying would be working tomorrow. They would be working for the public, private sector etc. These students, if perform well, can serve as pillars, the country would be standing on in future. And there are several factors which, if identified can improve students performance. In my views among all factors, attitude has a powerful impact on students performance. As Winston Churchill quotes Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. Earl Nightingale said that a great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views about person, place, thing, or event-in brief attitudes are judgments. They develop on the ABC model (affect, behavior, and cognition). The behavioral intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioral tendency of an individual. The cognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individuals beliefs about the object. Most attitudes are the result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment. Students can increase their performance if they are told that their faulty or negative attitudes are influencing their GPAs badly. The primary objective of this study is to prove to the less scoring students that they can increase their performance by changing their negative attitudes like their beliefs, behaviors or thinking. Most of the students that are unable to perform well thinks that its just the fault of their dumb minds but they do not consider their own attitudes that are significantly affecting their performance. My objective is to prove to them that bringing a change in their faulty attitudes can increase their performance, as those students who have positive attitudes are able to score high. In this way overall class will be performing better and this will * HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: STUDENTS PERFORMANCE: Students performance or their success is greatly linked with their attitudes i.e their beliefs, feelings or behaviors. Harry F.Bank has quoted that for success, attitude is equally as important as ability. Funmi Wale-Adegbite has stressed more as he said that Success is 80% attitude and 20% aptitude. Sterling W. Sill said that everything depends on attitude. We get good grades or poor grades, it depends on our attitude. Thomas Jefferson say that Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. H1= Students performance greatly depends upon attitude. STUDENTS ATTITUDE: Attitude is Evaluative statements of judgment concerning objects, people or events. There are three components of attitude that are as follows: Cognitive Attitude: The opinion or belief segment of an attitude Effective Attitude: The emotional or feelings segment of an attitude Behavioral Components: An intention to behave in a certain way towards someone or something. Students performance is affected by all three components. Belief segment of attitude influences students performance significantly as Michael Korda said To succeed, we must first believe that we can. H2= There is positive and significant relationship between Cogniti0n, attitude and students performance Emotions play an important part in our lives, and even more so in self-improvement. Often times, successful people are those who know how to take control of their emotions and use it to their benefit- Ethan Beh H3= Affective component plays an important role in determining attitude and influences performance significantly. When you change your behavior, you change your performance. Author Unknown, from by changing your thinking. Kirby, Winston et al. (2002) focused on students impatience (his time-discount behavior) that influences his own academic performance. H-4= Attitude relies on behavioral segment as well. MODEL: Attitude Students performance Behavioral component Affective component Cognitive component This model shows that attitude significantly effects performance. In this model students performance is an independent variable and attitude is a dependent variable. Whereas cognitive, affective and behavioral are the components of attitude. METHODOLOGY: SAMPLE: As sample we had taken students of MBA 2nd and 3rd semester that are 90 in total. In order to fill questionnaires, Students were selected randomly. 25 questionnaires were made and all were utilized. PREPARATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE: Questionnaire comprised of thirteen questions in total. First question was regarding their performance i.e. GPA in previous semester. It had three options that are 2.5-3.0, 3.0-3.5, and 3.5-4.0. Rest twelve questions were regarding attitude i.e four questions from each component. Every question had three options yes, no and sometimes. PROCEDURE: After questionnaires were filled. We counted the no. of students choosing each option. We also counted the student falling in each category of performance. After it was done we made table showing overall calculations. We also calculated percentages regarding result of each question and also made pie charts for convenience purpose. The purpose of doing all this was to show that good performers have comparatively good attitudes and vice versa. RESULT AND DISCUSSION: Following is the result of first question that was meant to checkout students performance. QUESTIONS 2.4-3.0 3.0-3.5 3.5-4.0 1.GPA in previous semester 11 9 5 *Q.2-Q.5, Q.6-Q.9, Q.10-Q.13 YES NO SOMETIMES 2.Do you feel good about your subjects? 60 30 10 3.Do you feel bad when your friend gets good marks? 40 52 8 4.Do you feel your teacher is competent? 68 20 12 5.Do you feel bored when your teacher delivers lecture? 52 33 15 6.Do you irritate your teacher intentionally by asking silly questions? 24 60 16 7.Do you dream during class? 48 45 7 8.Are you in a habit of producing different sounds during lecture? 52 32 16 9.Do you misbehave in class? 44 50 6 10.Do you perceive that teachers attention is directed towards specific students as favoritism or biasness? 44 40 16 11.Do you perceive that your subjects are challenging? 48 36 16 12.Do you feel your teacher deducts your marks intentionally? 24 64 12 13.Do you feel your outcome is less than the efforts you are putting in? 56 40 4 In beginning of questionnaire development, I set the performance standard. Students falling in GPA 3.0 were considered poor performers or weak students. Those between 3.0-3.5 were labeled good whereas above that GPA were categorized as brilliant students. As in fig. 1 the results showed that 44% students lie in weak category.36% are good students whereas only 20% are brilliant performers. Fig.1 Now our intention was to check up the feelings or affective part of students attitude. So we asked them that do they like their subjects and the result is depicted as follows: Fig.2: We got a higher percentage of students who had a positive attitude towards their chosen subjects. But at the same time there were 30% students who had not actually liked there subjects. Means the problem with attitude of some students was that they didnt feel good about their subjects. There can be many possible reasons to this. But overall affect it had was on their performance. Our third question was directly looking up for sign of jealousy (a highly negative feeling) in students. It straightly asked them that do they feel jealous when any friend gets good marks and the results are shown through pie chart i.e. Fig.3 The result clearly showed that there are a lot of jealous students in class. Jealousy is a form of negative attitude and is related to the feeling or affective segment. This was a big reason for a high percentage of low scoring students in class. it is very important for a student to feel good about his/her teacher and feel that teacher is competent. But when they were asked about their feeling about competence of their professor, 40 percent felt that the teacher is incompetent. Its a fairly high percentage. And clearly told the reason for bad performance of students in exams. Results to the question that do they feel bored during lecture directly favored my hypothesis. Next four questions were aimed at faulty attitudes regarding behaviors. By the results of our next question, we found out that students biggest problem lies with their behavior in class. It was because 60% students admitted that they irritate their teacher intentionally by asking silly questions. We had observed that the backbenchers of our class produce different sounds during lecture in order to interrupt or tease the teacher. So we thought to include this question also. Surprisingly students were honest enough to admit that they are in habit of producing different sounds during lecture. 52% marked yes to this question. Overall result to this question is shown in fig. There were many i.e. 44% who even admitted that they misbehave in class. And the result was this: Attitudes major and equally important component is cognitive component. Here we included last four questions, which purely dealt with students believes or opinions. Our first question regarding cognition was that do they perceive that teacher favors specific students and the answer were: Our thinking can affect our performance sign -ANALYSIS As it is clear from our results that the results show what was intended. The students who try and make progress in there studies with positive attitude are always successful while those who are negative in there behavior are more concerned about the negative outcomes which lead to there failure. The results of the questionnaire are also same as intended. -OVERALL DISCUSSION CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: -HYPOTHESIS WAS THIS -MY RESULT WAS THIS -COMPARE UR CONCLUSION WITH ANYONES -RECOMMENDATIONS

Conditions for the Haber Process

Conditions for the Haber Process In this essay I will find out what are the best conditions for the production of the maximum yield in the Haber process, by running simulations of the Haber process at different conditions to determine the best conditions. From the Experiment I found that the lowest temperature possible and the highest pressure possible would provide the best conditions to operate the Haber process at for the maximum yield possible. Introduction The Haber process is an important Process used in chemical Industry to manufacture Ammonia from Nitrogen and Hydrogen that originate in the air. The reason why its very important is it turns an inert gas Nitrogen (N2) and a very volatile and reactive gas Hydrogen (H2) into ammonia which is a stable compound but reactive enough to be used in different aspects. Why was the Haber process discovered? During the First World War Britain Cut off Germany Supply route to Chiles salt peter natural deposits. Since the Allies (Russian Empire,  United Kingdom,  France,  Canada,  Australia,  Italy, the  Empire of Japan,  Portugal  and the  United States) has gained control over the natural deposits of saltpetre from natural deposits found in Chile, therefore cutting off Germanys access to materials that the needed to produce necessary items such as food, guns, bombs other war materials.   Germany has to find ways to produce its own hence the Haber process which was discovered in 1909 by a German chemist named Fritz Haber to produce ammonia was set into industrial scale in 1913; the produced ammonia was later processed into a Synthetic Form of Chile saltpetre Introduction The Haber process is the process that uses extracted nitrogen from the atmosphere and reacts the nitrogen (N2) gas would react with 3 moles of hydrogen (H2) gas by using a medium temperature around 473K-673K (200- 400 °C) High atmospheric pressures such as 250 atmospheres (25331250 Pascal) and a catalyst to create ammonia (NH3). Due to advancements made to technology we are able to do reaction at extremely high temperatures such as 2300K (2026 °C) and we know that a reaction occurs faster when conducted at the highest temperature possible but the Haber processs success is not calculated on the speed of the reaction but on the yield of the ammonia that is produced during the reaction. Although increasing the temperate would surly increase the rate of reaction in a normal forward reaction the problem with using this method on the Haber process is its not a normal forward reaction type of reaction but is an equilibrium type of reaction. The Chateliers Principle states increasing the temperature will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the left side of the reaction resulting in a lower yield of ammonia because the forward reaction is exothermic. N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen Very High heat, Low pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) ammonia Reducing the temperature will cause the equilibrium system to change the point of equilibrium to minimise the effect of the change, and hence it will produce more heat due to an increase the exothermic reaction therefore causing the wanted increase in the yield of ammonia. N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen Low heat, High pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) ammonia However, the rate of the reaction at very lower temperatures is exceptionally slow, and so a higher temperature should be used to increase the speed of the reaction which results in a lower yield of ammonia but a temperature low enough to create more ammonia than use in the reverse reaction hence we have the final equation is an which an above normal ammonia production. N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen High Temperature, Low pressure, catalyst http://www.avogadro.co.uk/chemeqm/eqm_sign.gif   2NH3(g) ammonia Increasing the pressure condition of the haber chamber causes the equilibrium position to shift to the right resulting in an increased yield of ammonia because ammonia has more gas molecules (more moles) on the left hand side or the forward reaction of the equation (4 in total 3 Hydrogen and 1 Nitrogen) than there are on the right hand side or backwards reaction of the equation (2 in total 2NH3). N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen High Temperature, Low pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) ammonia Increasing the pressure means the system will have to adjust to reduce the effect of the change, which is reducing the pressure built up by reducing the amount of moles that can be located in the equilibrium reaction. Uses as ammonia One of nitrogens upper most important uses is in making ammonia (NH3), which is a colourless gas with a strong odour, similar to the smell of urine because urine contain some most definitely contains ammonia. The production of ammonia changes the non oxidation properties of nitrogen as the Oxidation reaction. Pharmaceuticals Used in the manufacture of drugs such as sulphonamide which inhibit the growth and multiplication of bacteria buy the removal of replacing the aminobenzoic acid for the synthesis of folic acids and minerals as well as vitamins and thiamine. Fertilizer An important usage of ammonia is in the making of fertilizers. Ammonia can be used directly as fertilizer by adding it to irrigation water because plants need a good supply of nitrogen in order to grow and which ammonia is able to provide. It is also used to produce the urea (NH2CONH2), which is also used as a fertilizer. Another important use of ammonia is to create nitric acid (HNO3), which is then also used to make fertilizer. The Haber Process didnt lonely provide the Germans with Saltpetre but revolutionized the agriculture industry with an increased yield in crop production enabling them to continue. Cleaning Products Many people use household ammonia as a disinfectant. Nitric acid-made form ammonia-is used in explosives. Ammonia is also used in the plastic industry and as a feed supplement for livestock. The dipole moment of this compound and this is consistent with its geometry, a triangular pyramid due to its electronic arrangement obeying the octet rule, Four pairs of electrons three bonding pairs and one lone pair repel each other giving the molecule the triangular pyramid shape of bond angles of 107 degrees is close to the tetrahedral angle of 109.5 degrees. The electronic arrangement of the valence electrons in nitrogen is described as sp3 hybridization of atomic orbitals. The NH3 molecules and their ability to make hyrodgen bonds explains thir polarity and high solubility of ammonia in water. A chemical reaction occurs when ammonia dissolues in water as it acts as a base acquiring a hydrogen ion from H2O to ammonium and hydroxides ions NH3(aq) + H2O(l) http://www.avogadro.co.uk/chemeqm/eqm_sign.gif NH4+(aq) + OH-(aq) The production of hydroxide ions when ammonia dissolves in water gives the solution of ammonia its alkaline characteristics (basic properties), The double arrow in the equation states that an equilibrium has been reached between the dissolved ammonia gas and ammonium ions The ammonium ion acts as a weak acid aqueous solution because it dissociates to form Hydrogen ion and ammonia. (Shakhashiri, 2008) This is why dissolved ammonia is used in cleaning products because its able to react with both and acid stain and alkaline stain meaning its an all round cleaning products even though the acid is weak its strong enough to deal with domestic stains. Explosives Sodium Nitrate is a Chemical compound with the chemical compound of NaNo3 has been referred to as Chile saltpetre before. And is produced by a reaction of a metal and an acid to produce a salt and is highly soluble in water. (Quote) Sodium Nitrate can be used as a fertilizer and as a material from the production of explosive gunpowder. Naturally gun powder is a rapid burning compound made of Carbon (C12) potassium nitrate, KNO3 and Sulfur and is used in guns because of its capacity to burn in a rapidly producing enough pressure to propel a bullet and not explode. (Quote) Sodium nitrate has antimicrobial properties when used as a food preservative. It can be used in the production of nitric acid by combining it with sulfuric acid. It can used as a substitute oxidizer used in fireworks as a replacement for potassium nitrate commonly found in gun powder. Because sodium nitrate can be used as a Phase Change Material it may be used for heat transfer in solar power plants. Imporantance of Nitrogen Nitrogen gas (N2) is often used as a substitution for air which is a mixture of 78% nitrogen 78%), Oxygen 20%, and 1% of other gases such as Water Vapour Argon and Carbon dioxide (0.03%). where oxidation is unwanted. One area for use is to maintain the freshness to food products by packaging them in nitrogen gas to reduce the fermenting of food due to its properties for preventing oxidization which can cause Rancid unpleasant odour or taste of decomposing oils or fats (http://www.school-for-champions.com/chemistry/nitrogen_uses.htm). Argon has been used as replacement for air in light bulbs to prevent the heated tungsten filament from reacting with the oxygen found in air because Argon is an inert gas but is expensive so ammonia can be reverted back to Nitrogen gas by the process gentrification to replace Argon in light bulbs and is cheaper inert material than Argon. Nitrogen is also used as a controlled storage and Transportation measure food packages due to its capacities to be used as a noble gas, to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables and is now used during storage to displace most of the oxygen in the containers http://www.igs-global.com/nitroswing/hdlg.htm, for the purpose of slowing down the reparation and deterioration of food as proven in biochemistry as in aerobic respiration 32 ATP molecules are created from one glucose molecules and 2 ATP molecules are created from one glucose molecule which is a clear sign that respiration and deterioration of food occurs at 16 times slower during anaerobic respiration which respiration without the presence of oxygen, than respiration occurring aerobically which is respiration with oxygen present. Investigation Design To do this Investigation I will be using a simulator that allow we to change the conditions of the Haber process chamber and notice the change in the yield and work out the direction that the equiliburm will take with extra options such as catalysis. Firstly I had to decide what the 2 variables I would be looking at during this investigation and decided that the dependant variable will be the yield of ammonia that I would receive from running the simulations. The Controlled variable will be the temperature and atmospheric pressure that the reaction will be taking place. Another variable that I looked at was if the reaction will be taking place in the presence of a catalyst of not. It was decide that due to the lack of acquiring two or more simulations that were able to run the haber process reaction in the presence of a catalyst The uncontrolled variable would be required in this reaction because the aim of the reaction is to achieve a dynamic equilibrium which is a reaction in which the forward reaction and backward reaction are equal in a closed environment. Meaning all variables and atoms present are controlled and accounted for. Set both simulations at the same pressure and temperature to and begin the reaction recorded both results and create a table of results and find the mean of both tables. Redo the experiment changing the controlled variables every time and recording the yield of the reaction at those conditions Create a Graph using both the mean table to display the results that where shown in the table. This Is the haber process taking place without the presence of an iron catalyst at the temperature of 300oC and 191 atmospheric pressure. Which will give me the amount of ammonia produced in grams and will be working out in percentage of the nitrogen used to allow compatibility of the 2 different simulations that one will be using. Is the Haber process taking place without the presence of an iron catalyst at the temperature that the Chateliers Principle indicates will be the most effective in the promotion of increasing the Yield. Because this Simulation cannot give the yield of the Haber process ammonia moles or grams I have to change the data received from the first simulation into compatible data. Results From these results obtained in the diagram above we notice an increase in yield as we increase the pressure of the reaction while keeping the temperature the same which agrees with the information placed in the beginning of the introduction which states icreasing the pressure will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the right side of the reaction resulting in an increased yield of ammonia since there are more gas molecules Simulation 2 (changing the Pressure but keeping the Temperature at 150) From these results obtained in the diagram above we notice an increase in yield as we increase the pressure of the reaction while keeping the temperature the same which agrees with the information placed in the beginning of the introduction which states the Chateliers Principle states increasing the temperature will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the left side of the reaction resulting in a lower yield of ammonia because the forward reaction is exothermic. And the 0.8 ( r) shows that there is a high positive correlation between the yield amount The Curve tends to show that if the pressure was increased any more that 1000 the increment in the production of ammonia may not be justified for the amount of effort that will be put into creating a haber process camber at that atmospheric pressure. The equilibrium expression for this reaction is: Keq = [NH3]2 [N2][H2]3 Temperature (oC) Keq 25 6.4 x 102 200 4.4 x 10-1 300 4.3 x 10-3 400 1.6 x 10-4 500 1.5 x 10-5 As the temperature of increases, the equilibrium constant decreases as the yield of the ammonia decreases. http://nawabi.de/chemical/ammonia.asp The results of the Ka test agree with the graphs that simulation 1 and simulation 2 provided. As the Ka increases the PH reduces towards the more acidic range meaning the NH3 concentration increases meaning for the best yield of the Haber process, industry must obtain the highest level Ka. Conclusion In conclusion the from the graphs and from the working out of the Keqi can state that the best conditions to process the haber process under is the lowest temperature that is usable because it increases the yield of the haber process in a linear regression which is a positive feedback increase in the yield of ammonia the optimized temperate was 200oC because it provided the highest yield. The other condition that was optimized during this experiment was pressure and after the experiment I found that the highest possible pressure is the optimum condition for this reaction to take place under. Because it gave the highest yield of ammonia compared to lower pressures which all provided lower yield. Evaluation The simulations that were used during this Essay were accurate enough to accept as possible theoretical yield but did not take into account of the possibility that some materials would be lost during the preparation for the haber process. It would have been better if I had more simulations and different type of simulations to check if the results I received from using these simulations were accurate or not and would increase the reliability of this experiment. The limitations to using this method were the some simulations couldnt operate a catalyst which limited the amount of results I was able to obtain and didnt factor in any cost effectiveness into the reaction. The haber process occurring in the presence of a catalysis does not affect the amount of NH3 that is produced by the reaction yet it only hastens the reaction by lowing the activation energy is takes for atoms to react. This would increase the rate of reaction without taking into consideration the geometric position that theses atoms need to react. A catalyst is a chemical that is used in a chemical reaction to speed up the rate of reaction with out the compound being used up in the reaction itself, meaning after the reaction the catalyst retains its structure and physical properties it had before the reaction took place. It works by lowering the activation energy of the reaction. The iron catalyst acts as a platform on which the Nitrogen and hydrogen atoms will bind on to before under going the reaction. The binding on to the catalyst is creates a transactional compound N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen Fe http://www.avogadro.co.uk/chemeqm/eqm_sign.gif   2NH3(g) ammonia Another Factor that I should have researched was the rate of reaction and possibly to the cost effectiveness of having a lower rate of reaction over the time effectiveness of having a high rate or reactions. Looking at the effect that the rate or reaction would have on at equilibrium And working out possible ways to reduce the forward reaction to increase the yield of ammonia by adding a rate determining step for the forward reaction to encourage the forward reaction to reaction and produce ammonia but would discourage the backward reaction from according either by adding third party molecule such Sulphuric acid to create ammonium sulphate and can easily to separated by heating to 235oC because it sublimes to create ammonia and sulphuric acid and the gases are at different weights meaning using a gases filtration method and condense then separately. (NH4)2SO4(s) NH3(g) + H2SO4(g) http://image.tutorvista.com/content/equilibrium/reversible-reaction-equilibrium-state.gif Another improvement would be to calculate the H of the reaction while looking at G and S of the reaction to allow to choose the most accurate best conditions for the reaction and most accurate cost effective option for the reaction. Because the having a positive H means the need more energy placed in which reduces the cost effectiveness of the reaction but may increase the yield of the ammonia while the G which measure reactions ability to reaction at room temperature which would increase the rate of reaction and the low temperature would mean the equilibrium would shift and allow the ammonia to be created in much more yield making the reaction cost effective and maximum conditions for the maximum yield. By working out the S and H I could use them to work out the amount of unused heat which is lost to the surroundings during the reaction, after this work out which reaction conditions provide the less heat lost to the surrounding while still providing an acceptable amount of yield. Af ter working out the H, G and S if would help me make a more informed decision on which of the reaction conditions provided current industry yield and cost and work out which conditions provided either current industry yield at a lower cost or improved yield at a higher cost and ultimately work out which conditions produced greatest yield and at the lost possible cost. Another improved for this experiment would be increasing the range of pressure that was used during the simulations because I noticed in the graphs that increasing the pressure post 1000 would make the production of ammonia not as effective as lower pressures are.

The Beast Fable and Romance in the Nuns Priests Tale Essay -- Nuns Pri

The Beast Fable and Romance in the Nun's Priest Tale Chaucer utilized many literary forms when composing his Canterbury Tales. Among these forms he utilized were the beast fable and romance. We find elements of both of these forms in the Nun's Priest's Tale. Yet Chaucer was a decidingly original poet. When he took these forms he made them his. He often diverged from the accepted norms to come up with stories that were familiar to the fourteenth century reader yet also original. First let us look at the use of beast fable and how Chaucer diverged from tradition. One significant difference is that there is almost no human interaction with the animals. We have a brief description of the human inhabitants of the farm and then they disappear until the end. The true "humans" are the animals themselves as they possess almost total human qualities. For example, Chauntecleer and Pertelote are a "married" couple and bicker as humans. They also "love" each other. "He loved hir so that wel was him terwith" (VII. 2876). Most striking is the logical analysis both chickens are capable...

Clear Liquid Thought: The Photographs of Jim Dine Essay -- Photography

Clear Liquid Thought: The Photographs of Jim Dine The camera sees even beyond the visual consciousness. --Ralph Eugene Meatyard Argument: The Photographic Unconscious In his article "Photographie avant analyse"1 photography critic Franà §ois Soulages discusses the reciprocal influence between photography (as an emerging technology in the nineteenth century) and the study of the unconscious (prior to the invention of psychoanalysis). To what extent, he asks, did a new technology such as photography enlighten, modify, or enrich the understanding of the unconscious? And, conversely, how did what he calls "the hypothesis of the unconscious" allow for a better understanding of a new technology? These questions, inherent in the beginnings of photography and essentially linked to its role in the comprehension of the visible and the invisible body, have gained considerable importance today. The photographic works I will discuss here participate in our understanding of the unconscious in a paradoxical way, since they do not imply disclosing images of the artist's unconscious specifically encoded into symbolic meaning. On the contrary, my concern is with these works' potential to generate visual equivalents of inner life perceptions in a variety of puzzling formal patterns whose disclosure of meaning is cunningly deferred. The photographic compositions of Jim Dine are not narratives of inner life, but forms of visual experience that inform our ways of thinking the unconscious. ------------------------------------ 1 Franà §ois Soulages, "Photographie avant analyse", Photographie et inconscient (31-35). In this study, Soulage primarily deals with the beginnings of photography and with its paradoxical uses in psychiatry .. ...rundberg, Andy. "Now, the Camera's Eye Turns Inward", in The New York Times, May 28. 1989. Hamon, Philippe. Imageries.Littà ©rature et image au XIXe sià ¨cle. Paris: Josà © Corti, 2001. ------------------------------------ 19 The phrase used in the title of this article is coined after the title of one of Dine's black-and-white photogravure prints, "Clear Liquid Talking", 1996. Krauss, Rosalind.The Optical Unconscious. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1993. Meatyard, Ralph Eugene. Caught Moments -- New Viewpoints. Exhibition catalogue. London: Olympus Gallery, 1983. Powers, Richard. Three Framers on Their Way to a Dance. New York : W. Morrow, 1985. Sibony, Daniel. "Une technique de l'instant ou la machine à   clicher", La Recherche photographique 7 (1990) Soulages, Franà §ois. "Photographie avant analyse", Photographie et inconscient, Soulages ed. Paris: Osiris, 1986.

Managerial economics Essay

1. If a firm raises its price for Product X, TR will increase. Uncertain, Total revenue = Price Ãâ€" Quantity Sold. The price elasticity of demand tells us there are two eï ¬â‚¬ects, first is price eï ¬â‚¬ect. If price increase, each unit sold sells for a higher price, which tends to raise revenue. Second is quantity eï ¬â‚¬ect. If price increase, fewer units are sold, which tends to lower revenue. This is determines by which price eï ¬â‚¬ect or the quantity eï ¬â‚¬ect is stronger 2. When MR > MC, MP (marginal profit) will be positive.  True, for each unit sold, marginal profit equals marginal revenue (MR) minus marginal cost (MC). Then, if MR is greater than MC at some level of output, marginal profit is positive and thus a greater quantity should be produced. 3. If a 10% increase in price leads to a 5% increase in TR, demand must be elastic. False, if an increase in price causes an increase in total revenue, then demand can be said to be inelastic, since the increase in price does not have a large impact on quantity demanded. 4. If the cross price elasticity is positive for two goods X and Y, X and Y must be complements. False, if the goods are complements, the value will be negative because quantity demanded increases when the price of complement falls. Example, if the price of petrol decreases to RM2 a litre, sales of cars would increase. 5. Maximizing TR is never a desirable goal for a firm.  True, profit is the difference between a firm’s total revenue and its total opportunity cost. Total revenue is the amount of income earned by selling products. But it does not include the total opportunity costs of all inputs into the production process. Hence, it is never a desirable goal for a firm. Firm should consider maximizing Profit instead of TR. 6. The more inelastic the demand, the more likely it is that a firm can have regular price increases. True, if firm have regular increase in price (refer to Appendix 1) from P4 to P5, the decrease in the quantity demanded is relatively small (from Q4 to Q5). It means that, the more inelastic the  demand, the percentage change in quantity demanded is less than percentage change price. Hence, firm can have regular price increases. 7. If EP = -1.25 for Group A, and EP = -.375 for Group B, and a firm uses price discrimination, Group A should pay a higher price than Group B. False, Group A is elastic and Group B is inelastic. The consumers in the inelastic sub-market will be charged the higher price, and those in the elastic sub market will be charged the lower price. So Group B should pay higher price. Please refer to Appendix 2 for illustration. 8. A consumer spends 1% of her income on Good A and 25% on Good B. Price Elasticity of Demand should be greater for Good B. True, if the consumer spends less of her income, means that Good A is a necessity good and spends more of her income means that Good B is a luxury good. Luxuries tend to more elastic than necessities as there are more options for consumer. 9. Income elasticity for an inferior good is always negative. True, because quantity demand falls as income rises. Quantity demanded and income move opposite directions, inferior goods have negative elasticity. 10. The more inelastic the demand, the flatter the demand curve. False, inelastic demand have steeper curve because quantity demanded does not respond strongly to price changes. Please refer to Appendix 3 for illustration. For a inelastic demand product such as cigarettes, when price increase by 10%, the quantity demanded will fall by 3.8%. 11. If demand goes from P = 1850 – .05Q to P = 1700 – .05Q, Demand has increased. False. If P = 1850 – .05Q then Qd= 37000-20P and if P = 1700 – .05Q, then Qd= 34000-20P. The demand curve shift to left and hence, the demand decreases. Please refer to Appendix 4 for illustration 12. If TC goes from TC = 1250 + .5Q to TC = 1200 + .6Q, FC have gone up and VC have gone down. False, because TC=TFC+TVC. From the equation above shows that, the FC decreases leads TFC to fall from 1250 to 1200 and the VC increases leads TVC to gone up from 0.5 to 0.6. Part B (Explain in a short Essay (not more than 1 page each)) 1) Define demand, discuss various determinants of demand. Demand is the quantities of good or service that consumers are willing to buy at various prices within some given period of time. Holding all other factors constant, the price of a good or service increases as its demand increases and vice versa. When factors other than price changes, demand  curve will shift. There are 5 determinants of the demand curve. First factor is price of related goods. A good or service can be related to another by being a substitute or complement. If price of a substitute changes, we expect the demand for the good under consideration to change in the same direction as the change in the substitute’s price. For instance, if the price of coffee rises, the demand for tea should increase. The complement goods are the goods that can be used together. Price of complement and demand for the other good are negatively related. Example, if the price of sugar increases, the demand for coffee will fall. Second factor is income, as people’s income rises, it is reasonable to expect their demand for a good to increase and vice versa, the demand curve will shift right. A fall in income will lead to a decrease in demand for normal goods. Goods whose demand varies inversely with income are called inferior goods. Third determinant is future expectation. If enough, buyers expect the price of a good rises in future, the current demand will increase. Also, if consumers’ current demand will increase, they expect higher future income. For example, in 2005 housing prices rose, but people bought more because they expected the price to continue to go up. This drove prices even further, until the bubble burst in 2006 (Stafffullcoll.edu. n.d.). Forth factor is tastes and preferences. This is the desire, emotion, or preference for a good or service. If consumer preference is favorable change will leads to an increase in demand. Likewise, unfavorable change leads to a decrease in demand. Example, companies spend thousands on advertising to make you feel strongly that you want a product. Last determinant is number of buyer. If the number of buyers in market rises, the demand increases. For example, the housing bubble case. Low-cost mortgages increased the number of people who were told they could afford a house. The number of buyers actually increased, driving up the demand for housing. When they found they really couldn’t afford the mortgage, especially when housing prices started to fall, they foreclosed. This reduced the number of buyers, and demand also fell. 2) Briefly explain the concept of Law of diminishing returns? Discuss its assumption and importance? The law of diminishing marginal returns means that the productivity of a variable input declines as more is used  in short-run production, holding one or more inputs fixed. This law has a direct behavior on market supply, the supply price, and the law of supply. The main reasons the marginal product (MP) of this variable input declines is the fixed input. The fixed input imposes a capacity constraint on short-run production. For example, in a sandwich production, the size of the sandwich-producing kitchen and equipment is fixed. The company employs additional workers, the kitchen becomes increasingly crowded. Only so many workers can use the sandwich-preparation counter to prepare sandwich. While adding additional workers do increase total sandwich production, the extra production attributable to these workers is certain to fall as the capacity of the fixed input is limited. In fact, adding too many workers actually results in a negative marginal product, hence, total product falls. The law of diminishing marginal returns is reflected in the shapes and slopes of the total product, marginal product, and average product curves. The most important of these being the negative slope of the marginal product curve. Appendix 5 shows the graph three product curves. The total product (TP) curve shows that the total number of Sandwich Company produced per hour for a given amount of labor. The increasingly flatter slope of the TP is attributable to the law of diminishing marginal returns. Also, the marginal product curve indicates how the total production of Sandwich Company changes when an extra worker is hired. The negatively-sloped portion of the MP curve is a direct embodiment of the law of diminishing marginal returns. Further, the average product curve indicates the average number of Sandwich Company produced by workers. The negatively-sloped portion of the AP curve is indirectly caused by the law of diminishing marginal returns. As marginal product declines, due to the law of diminishing marginal returns, it also causes a decrease in average product. 3) Explain the various economies and diseconomies of scale? Economies of scale are the cost advantages that a business can exploit by expanding the scale of production. The effect is to reduce the long run average (unit) costs of production. Economies of scale have brought down the unit costs of production and feeding through to lower prices for consumers (appendix 6). It could be achieved by buying new machinery, and build a bigger factory. There are two types of economy of scale and depending on the particular characteristics of an industry, some are more important than others. Firstly, internal economies of scale are a  product of how efficient a firm is at producing, that is specific to individual firm. Example, advantages are enjoyed by expansion. Next, external economies of scale occur outside of a firm but within an industry. Example, industry’s scope of operations expand due to better transportation network, will result a decrease in cost for a company working within industry, , external economies of scale have been achieved. Diseconomies of scale are the forces that cause larger firms to produce goods and services at increased per unit costs. The concept is the opposite of economies of scale to a situation which economies of scale no longer function for a firm. Rather than experiencing continued decreasing costs per increase in output, firms see an increase in marginal cost when output is increased (appendix 6). When a firm expands its production scale beyond a certain level, it suffers certain disadvantages. These disadvantages are called internal diseconomies of scale. The result of these diseconomies of scale is a fall run average cost. There are a number of factors that might give rise to inefficiencies as the size of the firm grows. As the size of the firm grows beyond a certain level, organization, control and planning is needed. This makes the managerial responsibilities more difficult. Delegation of the management functions to lower personnel becomes very common. Since the lower personnel lack the adequate experience to undertake the task, it may result in low output at higher cost. All these lead to an increase in the long-run average cost. Further, the external diseconomies of scale are beyond the control of a company increases its total costs, as output in the rest of the industry increases. The increase in costs can be associated with market prices increasing for some or all of the factors of production. For instance, high competition for labor, when there is more firms in industry, there will be increased demand for labor, making the best workers harder to keep (Keat and Young, 2009). References Stafffullcoll.edu. n.d. DETERMINANTS OF DEMAND. [online] Available at: http://staffwww.fullcoll.edu/fchan/macro/1determinants_of_demand.htm [Accessed: 28 Mar 2014]. Keat, P.G. and Young, P.K.Y., 2009 ‘Managerial Economics: 6th ed. Economic Tools for Today’s Decision Makers’. Pg. 266-268

Course reflection Essay

I have learned so much during this course that helped me get a better understanding of the writing process. A few of the concepts that helped me the most were keeping an error log, and reading my assignments out loud. The first concept I will address in this discussion is also the most important guidance I have received since starting at Ashford. My instructor, Dr. Wells, advised me in week 1, that I might want to keep an error log. What that is, is writing down the mistakes I make in my assignments, quizzes, and discussions. After writing these errors down, find the correct spelling or the grammatical rule I broke, write the correct answer, and then study and learn from these mistakes. This technique has helped me the most since starting at Ashford. As a writer, I have always been a big proofreader of my work. I would sometimes look over my papers several times before submitting them. Most of the times I would catch 90% of my errors, not all the time though. I learned that reading your paper out loud can also improve your proofreading. Sometimes just looking over a paper isn’t enough. When you hear the writing though, you can hear what others will be hearing. I would catch small errors because the sentence didn’t sound right or it was a run on sentence. These are things I would sometimes miss just reading my paper. Out of all the course materials I have read and studied, I believe 2 of the most valuable were chapters 4-3, Essentials of College Writing, and The Ashford Writing Center. In the Essentials of College Writing, 4-3 The Writing Process, showed me different techniques to use for writing an essay. Some of these ideas were plan, generate ideas, create a rough draft, revise, edit, and proofread and check format. This book taught me the value of making an outline and the importance of planning. It always helps to be prepared and have an idea of what you’re writing before you write it. The Ashford Writing Center has really made a big impact on my writing style. I was having so much trouble with APA formatting and how to insert citations, that I would lose percentage points on my work. After skimming through this text, I found in chapter 7-1 an instructional video that showed me step by step how to use APA format. In the same book, chapter 7-3, Citations and References, this taught me the proper way to insert my citations. There is also a thesis generator in this text in chapter 3-3, this has been one of the biggest helps to me in my writing process. The areas and that I believe have improved the most, and that I will continue to work on are my spelling and punctuation. The error log has helped with my spelling and punctuation but I still sometimes make careless mistakes. Though these areas have improved a lot, I will continue to work on these areas.