The Solvay process for sodium carbonate Research Paper

The Solvay process for sodium carbonate - Research Paper Example n) whereby sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3 precipitates and converts to sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) while both carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) are liberated as gases. This paper critically investigates the thermodynamics of final reaction of the Solvay process (calcination step) during the industrial production of sodium carbonate. The thermal decomposition of sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3 (commonly known as calcination reaction) normally involves heating Sodium hydrogen carbonate to temperatures above 80Â °C. Although the calcinations reaction normally takes place at temperatures of or above the thermal decomposition of the reactant, it occurs below the melting point of the product material. Calcination is the last step in the production of soda ash. The process begins with an aqueous solution of sodium chloride which is introduced into ammonia followed by carbonization. The ammonium carbonate produced (NH4HCO3) then reacts with NaCl to produce Sodium carbonate (NaHCO3) and ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). The result is heated to release carbon dioxide (CO2) which is the recycled. The calcinations process as mentioned before receives NaHCO3 and produce Na2CO3 carbon dioxide and water (Barner & Scheuerman, 2012).The bicarbonate then undergoes a dehydration reaction in which it gradually breaks down into sodium carbonate, water and carbon dioxide as shown below: The decomposition of NaHCO3 depends on a number of factors. The pressures at which the carbon dioxide and water are taken back play a big role. It has been reported that the decomposition occurs at 270oC on the higher side and as low as 38oC in one research. The decomposition is crucial in pore formation of sodium carbonate. In most researches the decomposition temperature was set between 121oC and 149oC for optimized conditions. The largest specific area was reported to occur between the temperatures of 204oC and 316oC in a draft oven. The activation energy is higher than 3kcal/mole in diffusion controlled processes

Management of a Family Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Management of a Family Business - Essay Example A family business can be described as the kind of commercial organisations where the decision-making process is often influenced by several generations of a group of people that are united by marriage or blood. In many instances, these people are often identified by the particular business through ownership or the process of leadership. It is important to realize that businesses that are characterized by an effective relationship between the owner and manager cannot fall into this category of businesses because of lack of the element of marriage or blood relationship. For this reason, family businesses are those that have a unique relationship of the leaders and managers of the particular business. In the recent, studies on the growth and operations of family-run businesses have been increasing; however, DeRond &Bouchikhi, explains that this is not always easy as compared to those businesses that do not have such kinds of mutual relationships. According to Deresky, one of the reasons that makes the study of these businesses something quite hard depends on the fact that these businesses do not always have proper standards of business management like other businesses. On many occasions, it is the high level of trust among the managers and other leaders that drives the growth and success of these businesses. These businesses tend to lack many of the requirements for effective financial reporting; additionally, very little information is often given to the public about these businesses regarding their financial performance as well as other important aspects

America The Most Powerful Nation Media Essay

America The Most Powerful Nation Media Essay America is arguably, the most powerful nation on Earth, having one of the largest military forces and in addition to this, American culture saturates the market, almost drowning out cultural exports from other countries, both developed and developing, this cultural overshadowing of the rest of the globe allows America to, in effect be the power house of the entire World. There is not a major urban metropolis on the planet without a McDonalds or a Starbucks. This Globalisation has also helped to cement Americas position as the most powerful nation on Earth. Many authors have attempted to identify precisely why and how America achieved this fantastical global domination, including Ziauddin Sardar who lists The Ten Laws of American Mythology in his text, American Dream/Global Nightmare. Rather than examine every one of Sardars laws of American Mythology, I have instead decided to merely look at five examples and see if they support Sardar claims that every citizen in the world is a citizen of America. Sardars first law of American Mythology is that; Fear is Essential (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) and living in this modern age of terror, it is hard not to see that law applied across the Globe. Terrorists, so we are told, can strike anywhere, at anytime and can be absolutely anyone. This atmosphere of fear and distrust, very similar to that which was created under McCarthy in America in the Nineteen Fifties, or even ironically under Stalin in Communist Russia. Sardar states that; To live in America is to be beset by fear, anxiety and insecurity, to be surrounded by potential harm, enemies and evil intent. (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) This fear of terrorism and general atmosphere of fear is supported by the news media, who spend the entirety of their time either reporting on stupid n onsense, of absolutely zero interest or significance on anyones life, which is also an American influence, worship of the cult of celebrity, or alternatively forming a state of fear, creating folk devils and moral panics, much as they did with hoodies in the early years of the Twenty-First Century, or punks before that in the Nineteen Seventies. Sardars second law of Americana also supports the theory that everyone is a citizen of America; Escape is the reason for being (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) Sardar states that America was created for people; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in search of room to breathe, in search of a place to recreate themselves and shape a new lifestyle free from constraints. (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) This especially applies in the modern world where escapism seems to be virtually everyones ultimate goal, people can even have entire virtual lives on the internet, generally playing American made games. Even if someone decides to experience some escapism at a lower level, maybe some light reading or watching a film, chances are they are American made as well, and will almost undoubtedly portray an American bias, either in the spellings, or the pronunciations or possibly even just the cultural standards that everyone needs to reference in order to fully appreciate and enjoy a work of art. War is a necessity (Sardar, 2004, pp.25) America is probably the most pro war nation on the planet, having, in the last twenty years, sent troops into: Iraq , Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, The Philippines, Iraq again and most recently Libya. As Sardar states; Even before 9/11, [America] had waged war on over half the nations of the globe. [Americas] economy is a war economy. Its science and technology is deeply entrenched in the military machine. (Sardar, 2004, pp.25) Arguably most of the wars in Americas recent history, havent even been waged for ideological reasons, or for any necessary reason, but instead for money, and to further advance or merely enable the atmosphere of terror that Sardar identified in his first law. Sardars seventh and eighth laws, namely that; Cinema is the engine of empire and that; Celebrity is the common currency of empire (Sardar, 2004, pp.24) both support his theory; The [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] notion that America is the idea of nation, was formalised and made manifest in cinema. And this standardised, industrialised, manufactured product became Americas greatest export, the idea of Self it represented to the world, and through which it demonised, appropriated and brought other cultures within its own purview. (Sardar, 2004, pp.24) The dominance of America in the world of Cinema is staggering, as well as owning one of the worlds greatest movie-making and movie exporting locations, Hollywood. In the very early days of cinema almost all films were American made, and this legacy has not gone away, the film world is incredibly America-centric, and so of course the country itself profits greatly from this exportation of film. In addition to being the location of the movie capital of the world, American films are translated and shipped all over the world. As well as this, many big American films are simply remade by large foreign studios, such as Bollywood. However, this trend has begun to reverse in recent years, with the apparent lack of original thinking in Hollywood leading to an exceptional number of remakes of foreign films. It is impossible to speak about American films, without mentioning celebrities, the passengers for whom these vehicles are crafted. American celebrities, and celebrities in general all over the world, perform little basic function in the real world but are universally praised regardless of their talent or charisma, and there is no shortage of opportunities to applaud them, such as the Oscars, as Sardar states; They are collective ritual where obeisance is made to the engine of empire. The ritual performance of the Oscar ceremony is a demonstration of global power and domination that will provide headlines, column inches and immense economic rewards around the globe for the year to come. (Sardar, 2004, pp.24-25) There is little doubt that America has a massive effect on the rest of the world and on citizens of all nationalities, but especially upon Great Britain. America has dragged Britain into many ill-ventured Wars in the last two decades, including; Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently Libya. How many of these military ventures would Great Britain have been involved in if not for America and the special relationship that exists between the two countries. There are many possible reasons for this to have occurred, not least of which, in my opinion, is due to fear on the part of British politicians and leaders, fear of America and the power that America can wield, after all fear is essential according to Sardar. However the War on Terror was not something that purely affected America, while the destruction of the World Trade Centre was undoubtedly a tragedy and spurred America into taking action against virtually the entire of the Middle East and a large portion on the rest of the world, there were also other terrorist attacks on major European capital cities, there was the bombing of the London Underground and the number 30 Bus on the Seventh of July 2005, and the bombing of the Cercanias in Madrid on the Eleventh of March 2004, but it was definitely America that led the charge against the perceived threat of terrorism. However America did nothing when there were terrorist attacks that did not affect or threaten them, such as the campaign by the Real Irish Republican Army; including the Banbridge bombing on the First of August 1998, and the Omagh bombing of the Fifteenth of the same month, even continuing their hands-off attitude towards world security when the Real IRA began their campaign against London in the year 2000. But maybe this carelessness on the part of America was for the best as their response to terrorism has been heavy handed at best, War on Terror has already become deeply embedded in laws, policies, and the practices of government agencies, But nearly eight years since the 9/11 attacks, US charities are still treated as a threat to security. Although, the change in administration in Washington gave hope that the US government would adopt more measured responses to the threat of terrorism, (Howell, 2009. Pp53) Another way in which America is slowly but surely wearing away any sense of individuality in any other country is Globalisation and the impact that America has on the rest of the world economically. The recent economic crisis that has plagued the entirety of the world, has its roots in America, on Wall Street, and the greed of American bankers sending the world economy into a meltdown. Much like the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed it, the economy of the entire world looks to Wall Street for its cues, economically, and when that collapses the entire world follows suit, not just in the United Kingdom, across the entirety of Europe national economies have collapsed completely and require bailing out. This is in contrast to the way in which America affected so many countries before the breakdown, with its material security; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the availability and expansion of material security and comfort enabled early American social patterns and culture to expand and solidify, to both delineate and spread an American national character. With growth, more people could participate in that distinctive culture more fully and could become more American (Fischer, 2010) This greed of America has other less deep effects, rather than the drastic nature of an economic meltdown, the desire for greater profits means that many American companies subcontract work abroad, where they have to pay workers less money for doing the same work; Most American computer firms now subcontract basic work to Bangalore, (Wes, 1996, pp.49) The ultimate result of this is that foreign workers have a loyalty to America for providing them work and allowing them to feed their families, and as they have to speak the language and think about America for the majority of their day. Inevitably American culture and sensibilities work their way into the daily life of these foreign workers. Americas globalisation is not only confined to high street outlets, as was mentioned in my introduction, but in actual fact goes much deeper than that. The majority of household brands consumed in England are American in origin, such as Mars, and every subsidy of that which comprises most of the chocolate eaten in the country and Coke and Pepsi which together produce the majority of all soft drinks. Even brands which ostensibly appear to be British are in fact American, such as the fact that ASDA is actually owned by Wal-Mart. Globalization as an economic phenomenon has been the dominant force for economic integration and the main driver of growth worldwide for many decades, although the speed of globalization- taken to include trade, finance, flows of information and technology, and offshoring- is unprecedented in modern economic history. The increased economic interconnections between countries are widely credited as one of the driving forces that significantly reduced poverty in China and Vietnam, enabled the poorer nations of Europe to ride the European Union train to higher incomes, and gave hope to some African countries. (Spence, M. 2010. Pp 4) However, as Spence states, Globalisation is not merely a one way system with America pushing its culture onto the rest of the world, there are many other cultures with a huge influence over the worldwide ethos, such as Japan and the huge influence Manga and Anime have over the fields of western animation and comic books, or the influence of J-Pop and J-Rock on music or the fashion sensibilities of Japans youth subcultures. It certainly appears that America has a far greater influence on other cultures than any other country, but I believe that this is simply because America is, comparatively, a newer country, having only existed independently for two-hundred and thirty-five years, and rather than gradually coming into being like most other countries, America came into being with a bang with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776. Therefore, rather than gradually affecting neighbouring countries through occupation or the spread of changing languages, the use of foreign words in the English language is not seen as dominance of other cultures, American culture has had a much more sudden influence on the rest of the world. In regards to language, American words; sidewalk instead of pavement and American spellings of English words; color instead of colour for example have for the most part completely failed to influence the English language in any way. However there are many words in the English language which are actually foreign words in origin, for example French, abandon, abattoir and abbreviation, and German words such as, zeitgeist. However this may be due to historical concerns, the American language is essentially a slight variation on the English language which would explain why there has been little influence, and the fact that approximately thirty percent of the words in a standard English dictionary have a French origin is due to the Norman conquest in the 11th Century. Another reason for the dominance of American culture is the fact that, as a nation, America has entered the Empire building stage of their development during a time in which Empire building is strongly discouraged by the international community, all other countries that have had extensive Empires; Rome, Great Britain and Mongolia, greatly spread their culture around the Globe through sheer force and domination of the natives. Whereas America has to be more subtle in the ways in which American culture is spread, it is no longer acceptable to conquer a country and force the local populace to speak your language and follow your customs, so America has to make itself seem like the ideal, Sardar in fact refers to this with the title of his essay; American Dream/ Global Nightmare The American Dream in many ways, is the ultimate goal of every person on the globe, regardless of nationality or creed, to be allowed to support yourself and live how you want to live, but by naming it The America n Dream gives the impression that to be American is in itself the ultimate goal, this dream can only be achieved in America, The Land of the Free supposedly. However I do not believe that this submission to American cultural dominance is a necessity as Sardar claims it is, while it would undoubtedly be difficult to remove all American influences from your life, it would not be impossible. American culture is not as essential to life as oxygen or food or water, but the influence it has, both directly; such as the import of American brands and culture, like books and films, and also indirectly; such as the influences that American culture has had on books and films created in other countries, for example, as was mentioned earlier in this essay, the news media now reports either stupid nonsense of terrifying stories of horrific violence. This has come from an American influence, the cult of the celebrity is definitely American in origin, and possibly serves to fill the void left by the lack of a monarchy. In conclusion I believe that while America undoubtedly has a massive influence on the rest of the world and that the difference between American and non-American citizens is rapidly decreasing, but that doesnt mean that everyone is becoming an American citizen, it merely means that everyone is a citizen of the World. The increasing availability and dominance of technology means that communication across the world is now incredibly simple and the dominance of the internet means that practically anyone can interact with anyone else on the globe without actually having to meet them. In addition to this, Nietzsches Death of God, and the increasing redundancy of National Identity means that there is very little loyalty to either country or religion, only loyalty to ones self and ones family, this in itself is Americas greatest influence over the rest of the world. This combination of atheism and almost a self loathing of your country of origin, is what is causing many people to seem like American citizens, even when they are not. Americas worldwide domination is undoubtedly on the decline, the rising powers of India and China are threatening Americas hold over the culture of the world, in addition to this, Americas military imperialism is causing many people, both in America and throughout the World, to question the way in which the country is run, the torture committed at Guantanamo Bay and the suspension of civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism is causing America to be painted as the real villain of the World building on the image sketched out by the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. The blind, heartfelt patriotism of Americans who willingly went to die on foreign soil in the Second World War for Uncle Sam and Moms Apple Pie is well and truly dead, modern Americans are much more likely to question their country and their place in the world as is exemplified by the work of modern artists; such as film directors and rappers.

In the Details :: Personal Narrative Writing Papers

In the Details I started taking a fiction class at just the right moment in my life. It was a genre I had never been good at, and had even been afraid of since that day J.C. laughed at my pathetic attempt to write a short story about a lesbian returning home to the South, only to be welcomed by a non-accepting mother, who all but condones it when a man rapes her to teach her how a woman is supposed to be. Of course, it was an awful story, but it was agony to write. The dialogue was so forced, as I tried to spell it the way I heard it in my head, tried to capture inflections and drawls and pauses. In the end, it read more like a cartoon, and no one could empathize with my character when she got drunk, got in his truck, and didn’t scream for help or fight him off. The plot was thin, none of the characters had any motivation, and the devices I tried to use were not working. I learned then that fiction had these elements for a reason. In order to craft a good story, I had to learn to use the tools. In essays and poetry, all these things had never seemed important to me. They were usually crafted because of an idea, and I could execute that idea without worrying about literary devices or symbolism, or other large concepts. My sole needs for my writing had always been voice, subtlety, and sometimes, alliteration. Fiction was much harder than I had previously thought. It wouldn’t be until the spring of 2001 that I would try my hand at it again. I decided that spring to take an introductory fiction class at a community college. By that time, I was actually making a living as a writer (albeit a technical writer), and I was comfortable in every other aspect of my writing, but I was still afraid of fiction. It must have come at just the right time for me. Within a week after I joined the class, I was downsized at the company I had worked at for two years. My whole department was just not needed anymore, although we were the only ones writing the training for new employees. So, with nothing but time in my day between Internet searches for new jobs and calls to recruiters, I began to write some stories.

Daily School Routine Essay

Life is an interesting adventure worth living. I enjoy every bit of my life and enjoy things around me such as, beautiful landscape, budding flowers, green scenery, wonders of science seen in different forms, marvels of city life, the leisure of free time,. Though much of my daily school is routine-based, yet the variety and diversity of daily existence make my daily school routine an exciting adventure. Every person on the planet has his own life and obligations. A lot of people have different daily school routines. Some of them have long day and others an easy day. But that depends on how many classes they have. The biggest problem is the Time management which is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities. But there are ways to manage your life routine. My daily school routine starts at home. First, I get up from bed early in the morning. I do my morning duties. I wash my face and brush my teeth. Then I take a little physical exercise . Next I dress myself to go to school. I am never late in attending school. I take different subjects and I always try to listen to my teachers in the class. My daily routine is packed with school stuff these days. My days at school are Tuesday and Thursdays. The first class starts at 9:30 which is an ESL class with Mr. Dave Bruno that finishes at 10:45. Then I have my psychology class it’s my favorite it. It starts at 11:00 to 12:15 with Mr. Mike Colbert. After that I have a break for 3 hours, so I go to have lunch with my friends’ . then my last classes is math with a funny teacher . We call him General. School routine can be hard sometimes especially during exams. Throughout the course of my ESL classes, English tests always proved to be difficult for me. I had trouble remembering terms and vocabulary, despite the fact that my memorization skills were quite capable. Indeed I had a teacher that sometimes surprise us with little quizzes. And no preparation the odds of passing the unannounced test were not slanted in my favor. Time management is a phrase that I have lived by throughout parts of grade school, high school, and now college. I have been introduced to this because of the numerous activities and amounts of work that I have accumulated over the years. In high school, I had to balance my time from going to school, to practice, and then to homework. I would try to balance out the work, but sometimes there was not enough time in the day to finish all of it. I quickly learned that working ahead of time was key to my success. I learned a lot about the common myths of time management and where I fall in the classification of effective time management. Time cannot be managed; it can only be controlled by each individual person and the way time is directed. Scheduling is extremely important when it comes to managing the use of time. It is important to manage time wisely. When time is managed and organized wisely; it can make the difference between a productive day and a very hectic day. Using time management during an ordinary day can help reduce stress and simplifies life. Without have a plan on how to manage time, it can create stress in life and also forgetting important dates and deadlines. By not having some type of organization in life it will create chaos and will seem as if there is not enough time in one day to complete daily tasks. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date. When I learn and maintain good time management skills, I find freedom from deadline pressure and from stress in general. I am more productive, procrastinate less, and I have more time to relax, which helps further decrease stress and anxiety. Making a list, Set deadlines and Stopping multi-tasking are things I do to manage my time in school. I set reminders on my phone and computer. One of the most important things is I make sure I list feel attainable. No one wants a 30-item to-do list and have to, at the end of the day, I look at the 20 items that I didn’t get done. Prioritize my and others’ needs and plan accordingly. I might even want to make three lists — personal, home and school. Setting deadline. Again, there is no point in setting deadlines if I make executive decisions to always push them back. Setting a deadline and trying my best to stick to it. This allows for the possibility that other things will get in the way, but also allow for me still to get the task done. Also stopping multi-tasking. Multitasks often seem to think they get more accomplished, but it’s not always the most productive or efficient route. my mind work better when I am truly able to focus and concentrate on one thing. Daily school routine makes the five dharma’s work for the body. Actually, man’s lifespan can be 150 – 170 years or even more. Since we are violating hese dharmas, it has been reduced to 60-80 years. This routine is not suggested to make you live for 100 years for certain, but to live a healthy life. This Natural Life Style is a part of Naturopath. Once you started time management schedule your body is in good condition and is ready for the dharma of fast. Until you have been following this routine for months. The natural lifestyle suits anyone and everyone – man or woman, young or old, chronic patient or ordinary person. It requires only a strong desire and inspiration to have a sound body. That’s more than enough.

Multiculturalism and Professionalism

The 2008 presidential race is the testimony of increasing multiculturalism in United States, first time in the history of this great nation a woman or an African American will be a serious contender to be the Commander in Chief. The race in itself is not an aberration or affirmative action but a reflection how our society is evolving. In the latest census more than 20 percent of American identifies themselves under two different ethnic backgrounds. The country is now truly becoming the melting pot of world’s different cultures. This increasing multiculturalism is no where more prominent than American schools where the children of majority, second generation of immigrants and various other sections of the society studying together and learning to build their own dream world in their own ways. The five most common challenges faced in a multi cultural environment are (Jeffrey Sanchez, 2005)–   Managing diversity, resolving cultural conflicts, creating a culture of inclusion, building team spirits and harnessing the advantages of differences. Managing Diversity – A teacher has to be competent into managing diversity and first step in managing it is understanding diversity. For a teacher to be successful he/she should have knowledge of subject he/she is teaching and knowledge of subjects whom he/she is teaching. Knowledge of subjects will not only help him/her in developing empathy with them but also provides him/her an opportunity to innovate him/her teaching approach. Resolving Cultural Conflicts – Number of times there are no wrongs or right, just the difference of perspective due to cultural grooming of children. If the teacher is not equipped with the cultural grooming of children then he/she won’t be able to arbitrate effectively and thus fail to take the whole class in one direction. Creating a Culture of Inclusion – The most effective tool for managing diversity is creating a culture of inclusion where students are encouraged to recognize the cultural difference of each other and even though they may not agree with them but receptive enough to understand that there is difference, no superior or inferior values but just different values. Building Team Spirit – A teacher need to have a good knowledge of team building as working in the teams students are most likely to understand each other differences better than just providing them dossiers of information. Working together will help them in accommodating each others perspective and how they can contribute to the given task. Harnessing the Advantages of Difference – Today from school, to clubs and corporate houses are all striving to achieve diversity, the reason for it is the advantages various cultures bring in. Teams with diverse members are better equipped at looking at the same problem from different perspective and these diverse perspectives enable the team to come up with various different solutions. Steps a Teacher can take to create a Culture of Inclusion The teacher can take following steps to create a culture of inclusion where no student feel alienated but instead feel welcomed and respected (Karlfried, 1995) – Creating a descriptive communication plan for students, a good beginning could be multiple messages with same message. Secondly the teacher should not assign work and responsibility on race or cultural generalizations. Thirdly the teacher should strive to develop a performance metric which is easily understood by the students and also completely transparent and fair to each section of the class. Finally teachers and students both be exposed to cross cultural interaction and workshops where they can understand the motives of cultural values rather than just taking on them face. Conclusion Cross cultural understanding and respect today is not only important for students but also for teachers as they are the focus of building tomorrow’s America where the present generation of school will be decision makers. Multiculturalism and professionalism not only has to go hand in hand but one has to feed the other. If today’s school generation has lesser problems with cross cultural environment in school then it will have even lesser problems at work places in future. References Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, Eric J. Neuman, Shirli Kopelman, Oscar Ybarra, Hyekyung Park and Karen Goh (2006) Conflict in the Workplace. MIT Sloan Management Review. Winter 2007, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 5 Karlfried Knapp (1995) The Definition of Intercultural Communication. Retrieved from 20th Feb 2008 from http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/definition-of-intercultural-communication.html