Chang Koh Metal Ptd Ltd Essay Example for Free

Chang Koh Metal Ptd Ltd Essay Comment on the fixed salary system that Andrew adopted from his former employer. Why was this system not effective for motivating the plant workers? Do you think that scrapping the fixed salary system and replacing it with the piece rate system was a good idea? What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the piece rate system? Why was Andrew unsuccessful in his efforts to improve product quality? Do you think that a system of demerit points and wage deductions of the quality control workers would have been effective? Will more supervisors in the quality control department and shipping products to Singapore for final inspection solve the problem? What do you think would be an effective way to improve product quality? Were cross-cultural differences a factor on the effectiveness of the salary system? How effective do you think each system would have been if the plant was located in North America? Discuss the potential effects of implementing an MBO program in the plant. Do you think it would improve productivity and solve some of the problems? Are there any conditions under which the piece-rate system might have been more effective? What are some alternative ways to use pay to motivate the workers at the plant? Are there alternatives to the piece-rate system and how effective are they likely to be? What does this case say about using money as a motivator? What should Andrew do now? What would you do? ANSWERS QUESTION 1: The system was not effective for a number of reasons. It did not link pay to performance. Workers were paid a fixed salary based on the number of hours worked. This system does not take productivity into account as workers are paid the same amount per day regardless of the quantity produced. There is no incentive to reward workers for higher productivity and quality under this payment system. Another reason why the fixed salary system did not work was that it did not take cultural differences into account. Andrew imported an American business model that suited American employees who tend to have a highly individualistic culture. This is where workers perform their job based on what is required of them and do not care so much about other worker salaries but place more precedence over their own. The Chinese tend to have a culture of collectivism where each worker looks out for the best interests of their co-workers. Employees tend to place their collective goals ahead of those of the company and if both do not agree, a situation of lack of goal congruence results. QUESTION 2: Andrew adopted the same salary system as he seen used by his former employer and paid his workers a fixed salary based on the number of hours worked. The results of his actions were low productivity rates, and the workers demonstrated very little commitment to meeting the companys goals. Providing salaries for everyone changes labour cost from variable to fixed with serious employment security implications. The success of a fixed salary system requires stable, mature, responsible employees, a cooperative union, willing supervisors, and a workload that allows continuous employment. Based on the case it is evident that the fixed salary system adopted by Andrew was not successful hence we think that scrapping the fixed salary system and replacing it with the piece-rate system was a good idea but it  must be implemented with strict quality control programs. Piece-rate system usually works like this: An employee is guaranteed an hourly rate (probably the minimum wage) for performing an expected minimum output (the standard). For production over the standard, the employer pays so much per piece produced. Some of the strengths and weaknesses of the piece-rate system are as follows. Compared with a fixed salary system, the introduction of a piece-rate system usually leads to substantial increase in productivity. This system is a form of extrinsic motivation to employees. This means that the piece-rate pay, which stems from the work environment external to the task, motivates employees. According to the case, if workers produced at or below the minimum production standard for the day, they received additional money for each extra piece produced; hence they are motivated to produce above the rate in other to receive additional money. The piece-rate system may be designed to affect output other than performance. For example, employers may use the system to lower absenteeism and turnover. The system also allows employees to monitor the performance of individual employees, compare them and take the necessary actions based on the results and reduces non-value added activities which in turn lower cost. Along with the many strengths of the piece-rate system there are also some weaknesses. The use of the piece-rate system does increase output. Although production increases, other performance criteria may suffer for example quality. As mentioned in the case, after a short period of introducing the piece-rate system customer complained about low quality of the goods they were receiving from the company. Some employees are more inclined to perform better than other, since people have varying motivation to work. Employees may be dissatisfied if they have to work harder or if they feel manipulated by the system. And finally a piece-rate system that rewards individual productivity might decrease cooperation among workers. QUESTION 3: Andrews efforts were unsuccessful mainly because of the culture of the workers. The Chinese culture is one of collectivism which explains why the quality control inspectors chose to ignore products of poor quality. An implementation of a demerit system and wage deductions of quality workers may have worked but may have also had an adverse effect on the workforces motivation and their morale. The employment of additional supervisors and the shipping of final products may have also eased the situation but the question of whether the benefits outweigh the costs should be of major importance to Andrew as the chance of the company facing losses increases. Again, considering the culture of the workforce, there is a great possibility the most of the new supervisors can adopt the same attitude as the current ones. Presently, the method used by Andrew is a reactive one; an effective way to improve quality may be to have a more proactive system. Along with training the quality staff, Andrew should also train the production workers. The use of this preventative method will save a lot of resources that would otherwise go to waste. Andrew should also explain to all workers the true and long term cost of allowing product of poor quality to reach the market, which would be the loss of customers, the closing of the plant and their dismissal. QUESTION 4: Cross-cultural differences were a factor in the effectiveness of the salary systems. According to Hofstedes study, work-related values differ across culture. The North American culture is more individualistic whereas the culture in Asian countries such as China and Singapore is more collectivist. As a result, salary systems that emphasize individual initiative may not be successfully implemented in China as it would be in America. The collectivist culture in China emphasizes interdependence and loyalty to ones work group. If the plant was located in North America, the fixed salary system may not have been successful in increasing productivity because there in no incentive for employees to exert extra effort. In other words, the fixed salary system can be seen as unsuitable to the manufacturing industry, where improved productivity is important to the success of the firm. On the other hand, the piece-rate system can be effective if the plant was located in North America because given the countrys individualistic culture, employees would be more willing to exert individual effort to earn extra money. The company would benefit from increased productivity and highly motivated employees. In addition, the problem experienced with the quality control workers may not have been present if the company was located in North America. Given their individualistic nature, quality control employees in North America would not have accepted poor quality output from the production employees because it would not matter to them whether or not the production workers received a reduction in compensation. QUESTION 5: Management by Objectives (MBO) is a systematic, continuous management program designed to facilitate the establishment and accomplishment of goals as well as promote employee development. With an MBO program, objectives and goals for the organization are developed by top management and filtered down to the lower hierarchal levels. Chang Koh Metal Ptd Ltd is located in China, a country that values a high power distance between top management and other organizational members. As a result of this culture, employees value the goals of top management as it diffuses down the hierarchy. This would empower and motivate employees as they would feel as though they are part of the organization and therefore be more committed to serving it. When the goals are passed down to employees, they feel that they are pursuing a common objective, one that is shared by their coworkers. As a society that values collectivism among employees, the workers would feel that, by working towards common objectives, they are working towards the betterment of the  company. Workers at Chang Koh Metal Ptd Ltd are however not committed to the objectives and goals of the organization but hopefully through the MBO program they would realize the impact of their actions on others and on the organization as a whole. MBO programs aim to develop employees skills through training and employee interaction. At present, Jian Weis hiring practices allow people who do not have the skills necessary to perform a job to be hired for the job. By training the workers, Chang Koh Metal will benefit from increased productivity as skilled workers can be more efficient and effective in the workplace. Training will also solve the problem of poor quality as, through an MBO program, quality goals for both production and quality control employees can be set and adhered to. Employees can be trained to reduce internal and external failure of products while increasing prevention and appraisal procedures. This will result in financial savings to the organization. Periodic meeting can be held between workers and managers to monitor employees progress in achieving goals and review problems. An MBO program if implemented at Chang Koh Metal Ptd Ltd will solve the problems of lowered employee motivation, lack of skilled workers and lack of commitment towards the organization. Andrew Teo will be supportive of such a program because of his previous experience with American organizations but Jian Weis attitude will need to be changed. Jian Weis attitude is pro-collectivism as he seeks the best interest of the workers. However this attitude does not support the objectives of the organization as it hinders the effective quality control of products as well as aids in the violation of company rules and regulations against moonlighting and the use of company equipment to do so. The culture of the Chinese which includes high power distance and collectivism make it easy for the MBO programs to be implemented but attitude changes need to be made by the management before the program can be successful in Chang Koh Metal Ptd Ltd. QUESTION 6: The implementation of the piece rate system at the company did increase the  productivity of the workforce but at the expense of quality, so therefore, the conditions that may have made this pay system more effective should be focused on the maintenance of high quality with regards to the products. Firstly, the piece rate system may have worked better if the production workforce were properly trained to detect poor quality during the production process as this would minimize the proportion of the factory output that is below quality standards. Secondly, employees should be made aware of their task significance; this is impact of their job on others. By seeing the importance of what they do the workers may feel more needed which could increase their commitment to producing high quality products. A next and very important condition to be considered is the development of a quality circle within the organization. Involvement in this group can give employees a sense of empowerment. The quality circle would develop ways to improve quality; this may prove effective as it would be in compliance with the collectivist nature of the workers, Lastly, the use of total quality management in the factory can greatly improve the piece rate system. TQM is a systematic attempt to achieve continuous improvement in the quality of an organizations products and/ or services. This type of management encompasses aspects such as an obsession with customer satisfaction, a search for continuous improvement of processes, the prevention of quality error and high employee involvement and teamwork just to name a few. Top management must develop an atmosphere that is conducive to quality improvements. Workers must also be encouraged to provide feedback and to make suggestions. This, along with the aforementioned conditions should have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the piece rate system. QUESTION 7: Alternative wage incentive plans to link pay to performance at the production  plant include Profit sharing, Employee stock ownership programs, Gain sharing and Skilled based pay. Profit sharing is a group-oriented incentive system whereby when the firm makes a profit, some of the profit is returned to employees in the form of a bonus. This bonus can be paid in cash or in a deferred retirement fund. For Profit sharing to be considered, the firm must be profitable in the first place. Chang Koh Metal Ptd. Ltd. is not profitable currently. The general manager Andrew Teo could propose the profit sharing plan to the workers to motivate them to become more committed to the companys goals. Profits are only shared when the company makes a profit; however, profit sharing has some disadvantages associated with it that may cause Andrew to overlook this alternative completely. The problem with profit sharing is that there are too many factors beyond the control of the workforce that can affect profits no matter how productively workers perform their jobs. Such factors include the cost of raw materials, the state of the general economy such as a depression or slump, competition and other environmental factors the firm has no control over. Another disadvantage is that in a large firm, it is difficult to see the impact of ones work on profits, especially where the labour force is large. A second alternative to a piece rate system is Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). This is an incentive plan that allows employees to own a predetermined portion of the companys shares and provide employees with a stake in the companys future success. By increasing employees stake in the company, employee stock options may increase employee loyalty and motivation due to workers becoming more aligned with the companys goals and interests. However just as with profit sharing, ESOPs have the problem of external factors affecting it. In Chang Koh Metal Ptd. Ltd., it may be difficult for employees to see the connection between their efforts and company profits. Also various factors can influence the value of a companys stock beside employee effort and performance. Unlike the previous alternatives, Gain sharing rewards workers performance based on factors the worker can control to improve productivity. External factors that the worker has no control tend to be overlooked. An example of a common gain sharing plan is the Scanlon Plan whereby managers and employees work together to solve problems  and pay is used to reward employees for cooperative behavior. At Chang Koh Metal Ptd. Ltd., gain sharing can be considered a good alternative to the piece rate system. Gain sharing builds trust, commitment and loyalty through extensive workforce participation. It can align employee goals with those of the company due to increased participation and teamwork by employees, who in turn learn more about the organization and focus on organizational objectives. One disadvantage of this incentive plan is that it focuses only on productivity and may neglect other important objectives such as quality. Andrew can overcome this by perhaps combining gain sharing with other programs such as Total Quality Management (TQM) to make it more effective. QUESTION 8: There are many adjustments in which Andrew can adopt. Firstly, Andrew and Jian Wei should have a meeting and discuss their differences, in order to solve or work out their problems. This is an important issue, because in order to manage a company effectively managers need to be able to work together. Secondly, it is clearly stated that the companys recruitment and selection process was inefficient. The employees were hired, based on an informal basis. Andrew has a fairly good idea on how to adopt this strategy that is, selecting the right people with the right qualifications in the right position. Most of the employees in the company were unqualified and did not have the appropriate skills to perform the tasks. By implementing an effective recruitment and selection program the problems of low productivity and morale will be solved. Furthermore, instead of training the quality control supervisors, Andrew also needs to train the production workers. He should emphasize the long term problems of not producing quality goods through quality control programs. In order to alleviate the problem of the technicians using the in maintenance machine to do moonlighting work, Andrew should have regular meetings with the employees. This would ensure that employees know about the rules and regulations of the company. These are some of the steps in which Andrew can put into place in order to improve the level of productivity and quality of the employees. As a manager, I would try to work out the differences with Jian Wei, in order to ensure a smooth flow in operations, throughout the company. The culture of the organization and employees would also be important. Analyzing the culture of the employees would help in establishing an effective and efficient workforce within the organization. Implementing this strategy would aid the other managers in preparing and analyzing strategies that will best suit the culture of the workforce. Furthermore, understanding the culture and attitudes of the employees would also help the human resource managers of the organization design specific motivational strategies to increase the morale of the employees. They would be able to distinguish whether the workers are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated within the plant. Another strategy that I would consider is to encourage cohesive teamwork amongst the workers throughout the plant. This action would increase the benefits of the piece-rate salary system. Also, since the employees would be working in groups, more collaboration will be taking place, as well as the workers will feel more committed within the organization. One of the main reasons why Chang Koh Metal Ptd. Ltd. is experiencing a number of quality problems is because of the recruitment of unqualified workers. As a manager I would recommend, that despite the lower operating costs of employing cheap labour qualified and skilled workers should be selected. One has to remember that in order for an organization to be successful it relies on the output from the employees. These are some of the things that I would implement as a manager in Chang Koh Limited.

Economic growth and economic development Essay Example for Free

Economic growth and economic development Essay Like the infrastructure development, improvement of legal mechanism Can now be regarded as the most important precondition for sustainable Growth, a stronger economy, and pro-people system of governance, Writes M S Siddiqui Economic development generally refers to sustained and concerted actions, taken by the policy-makers and communities, which promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area. Economic development can also refer to as being quantitative and qualitative changes in the economy. Such actions might involve multiple areas including development of human capital, critical infrastructure, regional competitiveness, environmental sustainability, social inclusion, health, safety, literacy, and other initiatives. Economic development differs from economic growth. Whereas economic development is a policy intervention endeavour with aims of economic and social well-being of the people, economic growth is a phenomenon of market productivity and rise in GDP (gross domestic product). According to Amartya Sen, economic growth is one aspect of the process of economic development. Despite the good performance of Bangladesh in terms of many growth indices, it has been lagging behind in building a necessary infrastructure for achieving goals for the country to be treated as a middle-income one. Economic governance embraces all macroeconomic, microeconomic and fiscal policies, public economic agencies, regulatory bodies, company laws and legal institutions connected with economic matters. Good governance means an efficient, open, accountable and audited public service, which has the bureaucratic competence to help design and implement appropriate public policies and, at the same time, an independent judicial system to uphold the law. Good governance is a system of governance that is able to unambiguously identify the basic values of society, where values are economic, political and socio-cultural issues including human rights, and pursue these values through an accountable and honest administration. It is obvious that good governance is a must for the development and growth of a nation. Good governance generally implies a number of institutions, which regulate the behaviour of public bodies, stimulate citizens participation in government and control public-private relations. Governance is government plus the private and third (not for profit) sectors. In the 1992 report titled Governance and Development, the World Bank gave its definition of good governance. Good governance is defined as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a countrys economic and social resources for development. In an October 1995 policy paper called Governance: Sound Development Management, the ADB outlined its policy on this topic. Further, in a separate opinion issued by the ADB General Council, it was explained that governance has at least two dimensions: (a) political (e.g., democracy, human rights); and (b) economic (e.g., efficient management of public resources). The United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) definition of good governance is spelled out in a 1997 UNDP policy document titled Governance for Sustainable Human Development. The document states that governance can be seen as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a countrys affairs at all levels. The key elements of good governance as defined by UNDP are listed below: Participation: Participation by both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance. All men and women should have a voice in decision making either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Rule of law: Legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially, particularly the laws on human rights. Transparency: Transparency is built on the free flow of information. Processes, institutions and information are directly accessible to those concerned through it, and enough information is provided to understand and monitor them. Responsiveness: Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe. Consensus orientation: There are several actors and as many viewpoints in a given society. Good governance requires mediation of different interests in society to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved. Equity: All men and women have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being. Effectiveness and efficiency: Good governance means that processes and institutions produce results that meet the needs of society, while making the best use of resources at their disposal. Strategic vision: Leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development, along with a sense of what is needed for such development. There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities, in which that perspective is grounded. The rule of law as gauged by the responses to efficient functioning of judiciary indicates that most low and middle-income countries rate it as a much higher obstacle than their high-income counterparts. The aggregate average of street crime, organised crime, and corruption are all higher in these countries than in the developed world. There are many problems that come up as barriers to good governance. To ensure sound local development, action should be taken to work towards achieving good governance. The legal policy regime of a country provides base to the potential Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Unequivocal, neutral legal framework and better protection of property rights can lead to higher FDI. The legal and regulatory environment does matter for financial development. Countries with legal and regulatory systems that give a high priority to creditors receive the full value of their claims on cooperation, have better- functioning financial intermediaries than countries where the legal system provides much weaker support to creditors. Bangladesh is the seventh largest country in the world in terms of its population and now it is treated as N-11 after the BRICS countries. However, without progress in legal arenas, such as making suitable laws and their appropriate execution, speedy resolution of all corporate and financial disputes, and quick and transparent transfer of properties, some vital sectors of Bangladeshi economy may suffer irreparable loses. Like the infrastructural development, improvement of legal mechanism can now be regarded as the most important precondition for sustainable growth, a stronger economy, and pro-people system of governance. The writer is pursuing PhD at the Open University, Malaysia. [emailprotected]

The Crude Oil Distillation Engineering Essay

The Crude Oil Distillation Engineering Essay Basically, the product produced in this process can be categoried into 4 group, they are: light distillates, middle distillates, heavy distillates and others. The example of light distillates are liquid petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline, and kerosene. Apart from that, the products that can be classified as middle distillates are residential heating fuel and aautomoblie diesel fuels. Additionally, bunker fuel oils is an example of heavy distillataes, while petroleum cokes, lubricating oils and carban black are the other products in this distillation process. The brief description of crude oil distillation unit (CDU) process is as follow. First of all, the incoming crude oils is heating up before it is entering the fractionation column by heat exchanger. After that, the crude oil will pass through an equipment, called desalter, to remove water droplets and inorganic salts that contained in crude oil. Then, it will be further heating by heat exchanger. Next, crude oil will enter a furnace. At here, it will be heating up to 330-350 Â °C. The crude oil then is flashed in the atmospheric distillation column. At here, it is separated into a number of fraction with a particular boiling range. When each fraction in the distillation column reaches a tray where the temperature is just below its own boiling point, crude oil will be condensed and changes back into liquid phase. Moreover, heaviest fractions will condense on the lower trays and lighter fractions will condense on the higher trays in the column. At different elevations in the column, the fractions actually can be drawn out on gravity through pipes, for further processing in the refinery process by using a special trays called draw-off trays. The fraction is drawn out from the top, side and bottom of the distillation column. These fraction is the products that produced in this distallation process. Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU) For vacuum distillation unit (VDU), its main purpose is to separate the heavier end products such as vacuum gas oil and slop wax that is from the atmospheric distillation unit. The brief description of the process is as follow. First of all, heavy crude oil is heated by a series of heat exchanger and crude furnace to the desired temperature, which is 350-390 Â °C. After that, the crude oils flashed into the vacuum distillation column to separate the heavy crude oil. The separation is same as the separation in CDU process; light vapors rise to the top and heavier hydrocarbon liquids fall to the bottom. Next, crude steam is injected into the base of the distillation column to enhance the division of lighter boiling components from the bottom liquid. Then, Light vapour gases are abtracted at the top of the distillation column, it is condensed and recycled back to the column as reflux. For light naphtha, it is drawn off and excess gases are sent to flare. However, vacuum gas oil (VGO) and lubricating oils are drawn off and routed for further treatment in hydrotreating units. Apart from that, vacuum residue from the bottom of the distillation column is sent to intermediate storage or typically to be further processed in fluidic catalytic cracking (FCC) process or delayed coking unit. Fluid Catalytic Cracking Fluid catalytic cracking is the primary conversion process in petroleum refinery. It is the unit which utilizes a micro-spherodial catalyst (zeolitic catalyst) which fluidizes when properly aerated. The purpose of this process is to convert high-boiling petroleum fractions (gas oil) to high-value, high-octane gasoline and heating oil. This process uses the instrument called Circulating Fluidized Bed. This Circulating Fluidized Bed has fast fluidization regime and also good for catalyst is the size of less than 0.2 mm. They are also excellent in Gas-solid effective contact, Catalyst effectiveness, Catalyst internal temperature control, and Catalyst regeneration. The operating characteristics of this instrument are; Particle Diameter = 150 mm Geldart Classification = A Temperature = 650 0C Pressure = 100 kPa Superficial gas velocity = 10 m/s Bed depth = 0.85 m Fresh feed flow rate = 300,000 kg/hr Catalyst to oil ratio = 4.8 There are 6 steps of processes that occur in FCC. Reactor, Riser, Cyclones, Stripper, Regenerator, Standpipe and Slide Valve. Firstly, the reactor performance, the feed oil enters the riser near the base and contacts the incoming regenerated catalyst. Then the cracking reactions occur in the vapor phase. The expanded volume of vapors lifts the catalyst and vaporized oil rises. This reaction occurs at a very high speed, usually about few seconds of contact time. Secondly, the riser, which has diameter of 1.2 meters and height of 36.6 meters, has a plug flow with minimum back-mixing. Steam is used to atomize the feed, this increases the availability of the feed. The outlet vapor velocity would reach up to 18 ms -1. The hydrocarbon residence time is 2 seconds. Followed by, Cyclones. It is located at the end of riser to separate the bulk of the catalyst from the vapor. It uses a deflector device to turn catalyst direction downward. It will later undergo two stage cyclones in order to separate the remaining of the catalyst. It then returns the catalyst to the stripper through the diplegs. The product vapors exit the cyclones and flow to the main fractionator column. Then, the spent catalysts fall into the stripper. The valuable hydrocarbons are absorbed within the catalyst bed. Stripping steam, at a rate of 4 kg per 1000 kg of circulating catalyst, is used to strip the hydrocarbons from the catalyst. The catalyst level provides the pressure head which allows the catalyst to flow into the regenerator. The regenerator basically has two functions, one, restores catalyst activity. Two, it supplies heat to crack the feed. Air is the source of oxygen for the combustion of coke. The air blower with 1 m/s (3 ft/s) air velocity to maintain the catalyst bed in a fluidized state. About 14 kPa (2 psi) pressure drops in air distributors to ensure positive air flow through all nozzles. In standpipe and slide valve, it provides the necessary pressure head needed to circulate the catalyst around the unit. The catalyst density in standpipe is 642 kg/m3 (40 lbs/ft3). Slide valve is used to regulate the flow rate of the regenerated catalyst to the riser. Slide valve function is to supply enough catalyst to heat the feed and achieve the desired reactor temperature. Hydrocracking process Crude oil undergoes hydrocracking process after undergoing vacuum distillation and coking processes. Hydrocracking process is a catalytic chemical process used in petroleum refineries for converting the high-boiling constituent hydrocarbons in petroleum crude oils to more valuable lower-boiling products such as gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel and diesel oil. The process takes place in a hydrogen-rich atmosphere at elevated temperatures (260 425 Â °C) and pressures (35 200 bar). This process removes feed contaminants such as nitrogen, sulfur, metals. Hydrogenation occurs in fixed hydrotreating catalyst beds to improve hydrogen/carbon ratios. The size of the molecules must decrease and the atomic H/C ratio must increase if the products are to become useable as conventional fuel products. This is followed by one or more reactors with fixed hydrocracking catalyst beds to dealkylate aromatic rings, open naphthene rings, and hydrocrack paraffin chains. Major products from hydrocracking are jet fuel and diesel, while also high octane rating gasoline fractions is produced. All these products have a very low content of sulfur and other contaminants. Hydrocracking is normally facilitated by a bifunctional catalyst that is capable of rearranging and breaking hydrocarbon chains as well as adding hydrogen to aromatics and olefins to produce naphthenes and alkanes. This process cracks the high-boiling, high molecular weight hydrocarbons into lower-boiling, lower molecular weight olefinic and aromatic hydrocarbons and then hydrogenates them. Any sulfur and nitrogen present in the hydrocracking feedstock are, to a large extent, also hydrogenated and form gaseous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3) which are subsequently removed. The result is that the hydrocracking products are essentially free of sulfur and nitrogen impurities and consist mostly of paraffinic hydrocarbons. Basically, hydrocracking process consist of the splitting or breaking of straight or cyclic hydroca rbons and hydrogenation of the broken bonds. Example: For futher details about the yield and disposition, refer to the table below: Product Yield, volume% feed Disposition Light ends Varies depending upon objectives LPG Naphtha Gasoline, catalytic reformer Diesel Diesel Total volume yield 130 140 Gas oil conversion 60 99% They are two stages of hydrocracking unit; Single Stage Process and Multi Stage Hydrocracker. It is called a single stage process when the treating step is combined with the cracking reaction to occur in one reactor. The catalyst used in a single-stage process comprises a hydrogenation function in combination with a strong cracking function. In the case of high/full conversion is required, it becomes necessary to switch to a multi-stage process, in which the cracking reaction mainly takes place in an added reactor. Two versions of the multi stage hydrocracker have been developed; two stage hydrocracker and series flow hydrocracker. Both two stage and series flow hydrocracking are flexible process. The two stage process is more selective because product made in the first reactor is removed from the second reactor feed. In series flow operation, this product is partly overcracked into lighter products in the second reactor. Schematic of a two-stages hydrocraking unit HYDROTREATING PROCESS (Prepared by DING TIONG SOON, 10UEB01031) Hydrotreating technology is used in refinery processes to remove contaminants such as sulfur, nitrogen, condensed ring aromatics, or metals to produce a clean product for further processing. Hydrotreating process includes Naphtha Hydrotreating, Gasoline Hydrotreating, Mid-Distillate Hydrotreating and FCC Feed Pretreating. The feeds used in this process range from vacuum resid to naphtha , and the products are used as environmentally acceptable clean fuels. In the hydrotreating process oil fractions are reacted with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to produce high-value clean products. The operating conditions will depend on the final application. The heart of hydrotreating process is the reactor section, which features a high-pressure reactor vessel and proprietary catalyst and reactor internals technology. Hydrotreating process began when the liquid feed stream is joined by a stream of hydrogen-rich recycle gas. The mixture is then preheated by flowing through a heat exchanger. After that, it is heated to the desired hydrotreating temperature using a fired heater where the feed mixture is totally vaporized. Hydrotreating takes place when the feed mixture flows through a fixed-bed reactor in the presence of a catalyst consisting of an alumina base impregnated with cobalt and molybdenum.The hot reaction products are cooled by flowing through a water-cooled heat exchanger before it flows through the pressure controller (PC) and undergoes a pressure reduction down to about 3 to 5 atmospheres. The resulting mixture of liquid and gas enters the high pressure separator which separates the liquid hydrocarbon from the hydrogen , hydrogen sulfide or ammonia gas. Most of the hydrogen-rich gas from the gas separator vessel is recycled by routing through an amine contractor for the removal of acid gas and is reuse in the reactor section. Any excess gas from the gas separator vessel joins sour gas from the stripping of the reaction product liquid. The liquid from the gas separator vessel is routed through a reboiled or steamed stripper distillation tower. The stripper only have two products ,a top and a bottom. With a steam stripper, downstream processing, typically a salt dryer which is preceded by a vacuum dryer, is required to remove water from treated products. If multiple products are produced, then a fractionator with a fired reboiler is also used. Further separation of LPG gases occurs in the low pressure separator prior to sending the hydrocarbon liquids to fractionation. Meanwhile, the sour gas is sent to the refinerys central gas processing plant for removal of the hydrogen sulfide in the refinerys main amine gas treating unit and through a series of distillation towers. The Importance of hydrotreating is that it helps to improve air quality by desulfurization of fuel oils. Hydrotreating prepares valueable hydrocarbon products from heavy carbon streams and the production of low-sulfer-level fuel oil from residual stocks after distillation of crude oil. Coking (prepared by Soo Voo Yee, 10UEB01889) Coking is a thermal process for the conversion of low value residue to valuable products and coker gas oil. There have two types of coking process, which are delayed coking and fluid coking. For the delayed coking process, at first, the residual oil from the vacuum distillation unit is pumped into the bottom of the main fractionators. Along the way it is pumped to the furnace, some steams are injected to heat it to its thermal cracking temperature of about 4800C. The injected steam helps to minimize the deposition of coke within the furnace tubes. Besides that velocity inside the tube of the furnace is very fast. This is to reduce the loss of heat as a waste of source. Because of the short period in the furnace, so the coking of the feed is delayed until it reaches the large coking drum. Compared to the furnace, drum provides a longer period for the cracking process to proceed to completion. For the gas oil and the lighter components will leave from the top of the drum, left behind the components of liquids and solids. The gasses will be directed to the main fractionators to separate it into gases, naphtha and light and heavy gas oils based on each boiling points.The solid coke is deposited and remains in the coke drum in a porous structure that allows flow through the pores. 16 to 24 hours are needed to fill the drum full as a complete coke drum cycle. The hot mixture is switched to another empty drum, when the first drum is full of the solidified coke. While the second drum is filling, the full drum is steamed out to reduce the hydrocarbon content of the petroleum coke, and then is cooled down with water. The top and bottom heads of the full coke drum are removed, and the solid petroleum coke is removed from the coke drum via hydro jetting. The pressure of the water is about 1250psig to 4000 psig and the flow rate is about 750GPM to 1250 GPM. Fluid coking is a continuous process which consists of 2 units, reactor and furnace. In the reactor, the coke particles are fluidized by steam. The preheated feed will be injected directly into the reactor when it reached temperature of 2500C to 3500C. The temperature inside of the reactor is around 4800C to 5700C. On the surface of the coke particles, cracking process is occurred, causing the lighter components are being vaporized. To separate the entrained coke particles with the vapors, cyclones are used. The vapor is then sent to the bottom of the scrubber and condensed into heavy tar; meanwhile the remaining coke is removed and recycled back to the coke reactor. The overhead of the vapor is directed to a fractionator where it is separated into the desired boiling point fractions. Then the coke particles flow to the stripping zone to remove any product vapor between the coke particles. After that, the coke particles are sent to the burner. A part of the coke is burned to remain the average bed temperature. Hot coke is then sent back to the reactor. To maintain the coke inventory in the burner, coke which is one of the products, required to withdraw from the burner. The large coke particulate will be replaced by the smaller seed particles to prevent the circulating coke is too coarse. Compare to delayed coking process, fluid coking will be carried out at a more uniform and higher temperature and shorter contact time. The products produced by using fluid coking process are more valuable and less coke.

Comparing Catherine MacKinnons Not A Moral Issue and Sallie Tisdale’s

Comparing Catherine MacKinnon's Not A Moral Issue and Sallie Tisdale’s Talk Dirty to Me Professor’s Comment: This powerful essay contrasts the views of two feminist, Catherine MacKinnon and Sallie Tisdale, each of which perceives pornography in widely divergent ways. While MacKinnon's 'Not A Moral Issue' explains the adverse impacts of pornography to women and society as a whole, Tisdale's 'Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex' is receptive to pornography despite these adverse impacts, suggesting in fact that the solution to the problems associated with pornography is a greater role of women in production of that pornography. Breasts and booties, buns and knockers. Type these words into a search field and be prepared. The presence of pornographic and "obscene" material is rampant: in commercial advertising, on primetime television, and in every Danielle Steel novel. Such an over-abundance of disputed material introduces many questions for discussion. One must ask, why there is such a demand for these products and why have they created a forum of controversy from left- and right-wingers, as well as feminists and chauvinists? What, then, is pornography? Is it the art of sex, a struggle against morality, the world's leading epidemic of sexual violence, or the ongoing struggle for First Amendment rights? Pornography, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, is "sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal". This definition, however, lacks the clarity of realistically differentiating between pornography and erotica, and leaves room for interpreting the true meaning of "explicit." The issue at debate, however, is neither the naming nor identifying po... ... modern sexual revolution, but also to a third wave of feminism, is understandably disgruntling for right-wing conservatives. The questions about the unknown effects of this controversial media are endless. What if pornography poses such a great threat not for it's graphic sexual depictions or 'immorality', but for it's potential to encourage both men and women to lead lives of sexual freedom, without the antiquated ideals of nuclear families and desk jobs? Perhaps it is pornographic and sex-trade industries, which are blamed for the loss of contemporary social morality and ethics, that will prescribe new ideals of life in the future. Works Cited Catherine MacKinnon 'Not A Moral Issue' 1993 Martha Nussbaum Sex and Social Justice Oxford University Press, 2000 Tisdale, Sallie. Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

Relative File Organization :: Free Essay Writer

Relative File Organization This topic discusses different types of indexing techniques that allows the location of records in a file relatively fast with fewer accesses. The techniques that will be addressed deals with random access file organization only. As this is the best file organization that allows records to be stored randomly rather than sequentially or in a contiguous manner. By using direct addressing, a predictable relationship between a key of a record and the location of that record on an external file is established. Two different forms of addressing can be used to establish this relationship: 1.Absolute Addressing 2.Relative Addressing Absolute addressing make use of the storage devices to determine the relationship, and therefore it is machine dependent, e.g., cylinder-number, surface-number, and record-number if we are using cylinder addressing or sector-number and record-number if sector addressing is being used. Hashing Hashing is the application of a function to the key value of a record that results in mapping the range of possible key values into a smaller range of relative addresses. For example, if a company is to maintain data of 10,000 employees by using the employee’s social security number, which ranges from 1 to 999999999, into 10,000 relative positions. The hash function to be applied to the social security number must be able to match each 10,000 social security number into each relative address available. However, collisions do occur. Collisions occurs when two different keys, in this case two social security numbers, hash into the same relative address. These two different keys are termed synonyms. The relationship between the file space and the number of keys is described as the load factor. Load factor is the ratio of the number of key values to be stored versus the number of file positions: Load Factor = number of key values / number of file positions Prime-Number Division Remainder Prime number division remainder method works just like using the mod operator in Pascal or the % operator in C or C++. The key to a record is divided with a prime-number and the remainder from the division is used as the relative address for that record. Digit Extraction This method analyzes the key values to determine which digit positions in the key are more evenly distributed. The more evenly distributed digit positions are assigned from right to left, and the digit values are extracted and used as the relative address. For example, for a key value 546032178, the relative address could be 8134, from left to right the first, third, fifth, and eighth digit positions has been extracted.

Symbols and Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye Throughout the novel, the reader is presented with various symbols. The symbols are clearly made evident by Holden’s constant repetition of their importance. The symbols are so important and their symbolism is directly related to the major themes of the novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Allie, Holden’s young brother who died several years earlier, was a key symbol throughout the story. When Holden remembers incidents from his past involving Allie, his attitude changes, such as when he writes the composition about Allie’s baseball glove or when Holden broke his hand after punching all of the windows after Allie died. He feels that Allie was one of the few people who were not phony in a world full of phonies. More importantly, Allie represents the innocence and childhood that Holden strives to find throughout his multi-day journey. In Holden’s opinion, Allie represents the purity that Holden looks for in the world. Holden admits that he admires Allie more than he admires Jesus, and even prays to Allie at one point, rather than Jesus. Allie is Holden’s role model, whom he judges the rest of the world according to. When Allie dies, it creates turbulence in Holden’s life.   Ã‚  Ã‚   At various points during the course of the novel, Holden inquires as to what happens to the ducks who are normally on a pond in Central Park, when winter comes and the water freezes. As he inquires, the answers he receives range from as farfetched answers as the idea that the ducks still remain there under the ice, just as the fish do, to uncaring answers such as a simple "What a stupid question!" remark. Despite the answer he gets, Holden is never satisfied with the reply. Holden doesn’t consciously realize that the ducks relate to him. Whether he will admit it or not, Holden is scared. He has been kicked out of numerous schools, he can’t get good grades, his parents are angry with him, and he spends his days wandering through New York City. He doesn’t know where he is going to go, reflecting his question about the ducks. Perhaps if he knew where the ducks went, he could follow their example.   Ã‚  Ã‚   While walking through New York City, Holden arrives at the Museum of Natural History. He remarks about the museum that he likes the glass cases that the museum officials place all of their exhibits in.

How does Miller present ideas about justice and the law in A View from the Bridge? Essay

In A View from the Bridge, Miller portrays the two main methods of bringing about justice – the US Law System and the Sicilian moral code – and their many downfalls. He also uses the character of Alfieri as a symbol for the US Law System, and uses him to describe the archaic nature of the US Law system, as well as how it is ineffectual. The title of play is ‘A View from the Bridge’, and Miller portrays the way in which the characters are unable to bridge between the two cultures. Initially, Miller presents ideas about how the US Law System is out of date and ineffectual. Alfieri, the lawyer, is the personified symbol of the US Law system in the play, and he is initially described by Miller, at the start of the play, as ‘in his fifties, turning gray’. This could possibly be used to suggest the way that the US Law system is out-of-date – by 50 years – and that it is becoming increasingly ineffectual. In addition, Alfieri himself states that ‘the law is very specific’, which goes to show the way in which the law is not very effective and cannot solve many problems. This is further compounded upon by the way in which both Eddie and Marco come to the law, seeking for assistance, but neither of them get their way, although both are coming to the legal system for very different reasons. In fact, Alfieri himself states twice how he was ‘powerless’ to stop the story running ‘its bloody course’, which goes to show that Miller believes that the US Law system is ineffectual. In fact, Alfieri himself has to state that ‘only God makes justice’, further showing how the law system is too black-and-white to be effective, and that because of that, justice is out of their power. Through this, perhaps, Miller is trying to portray the way in which major reforms need to be made to the US Law System in order for it to be effective in contemporary society. Furthermore, Miller portrays ways in which the Sicilian moral code also has many flaws. Marco relies on the Sicilian moral code, and this can be seen when he states that ‘all the law is not in a book’, which could also show that Marco disagrees with the US Law System. Furthermore, he asks ‘where is the law for that?’ when he speaks about how Eddie has ‘degraded my brother’ and ‘robbed my children’, showing the way in which Marco believes that Eddie deserves punishment that the law does not provide. He also states that ‘in my country he would be dead’, which further shows how he abides by the Sicilian law system, and highlights the contrasts in justice and the law between the two countries. However, due to Marco’s strict obedience to the Sicilian morals, he ends up having to go back to Italy, even though he arrived in the country to ‘work for his family’. Miller possibly uses this to showcase the way in which strict allegiance to a certain belief only ends in failure, as Marco was unable to provide for his family due to his murdering of Eddie, due to the Sicilian moral code. In addition, Miller portrays the way in which there is a need to settle for half between the US Law system and the Italian moral code. The fact that both people who wholeheartedly rely on either the sicilian moral code or the US Law System are both tragic failures in the novel illustrates this fact. Furthermore, and the beginning and end of the play, Alfieri states how ‘we settle for half and we like it better’, which goes to show how ‘settling for half’ has a positive impact, in Miller’s opinion. Eddie’s failure to settle for half can be seen in the scene where he reads the newspaper. Initially, he is said to read the newspaper, and due to the newspaper’s black-and-white colouration, it could possibly be symbolic of the black-and-white US Law system, and therefore, it could be inferred that Eddie is using the shield of the US Law system to protect himself. However, when Rodolpho and Catherine begin to dance, he is said to ‘lower the paper’, and then ‘unconsciously twist the paper in a tight roll’. This could possibly suggest that Eddie has stopped relying on the US Law System, and is instead taking matters into his own hands, by utilising the Italian Moral Code, and it is this desire for control and failure to settle for half which is Eddie’s downfall in the play, resulting in his death. Through this, Miller portrays the issues with not being able to settle for half. Overall, Miller portrays how neither archaic methods of bringing about justice is effective in the real world, and uses the downfall of Eddie and Marco to illustrate the failures of not only the US Law System, but also the Sicilian Moral Code, and calls for the ‘settling for half’ between the two.