Sony Case Study free essay sample

Sony had been so successful In the past with the Walkway, Plantation, and other electronics because they were innovative and new for their time. They helped reshape the music and gaming industry as we know it today. Without such developments, technology might not be where it is today. Sonnys competition was also vastly different. At the time of the Walkway, there were no other major competitors and the purchase of CBS Records only furthered their stronghold on the Industry. Sonnys product quality was also superior, as they were known world-wide for reducing electronics of the highest design. 2. Mr.. Idle stated that the integration of the divisions across the global market proved to be quite challenging, but yielded excellent lessons for future mergers. He said that he would have preferred a soft acquisition rather than a hard one, and in saying this, I believe he means that In order to successfully Integrate new divisions In new markets, a strategic alliance would cult the company better than a straight merger. We will write a custom essay sample on Sony Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This way, the company will be able to assess the major differences in the efferent markets, while not sacrificing production. Mr.. Died noted that there are advantages and disadvantages of this strategy, but I believe the strategic alliance approach works best In the long run as youll have two strong companies, who have a strong knowledge on their current markets, working together to achieve the same goals. 3.Apple succeeded In the digital portable music industry because It took Sony principle of Innovation and used It to Its advantage. Tunes sparked a completely unique and convenient way for consumers to obtain music without leaving their mom, and with the pod the only accessible device to it, users were forced to buy an pod to reap the benefits. Sony seemed to be fixated on the anti-piracy aspect of digital music and their fight stalled any attempts to gain leverage on Apple and other companies. Sony has a lot invested in the music industry, so their fight was valid, but it allowed a company like Apple to gain a large market share by offering a 100% legal way of obtaining music digitally. Sony proved to be somewhat negligent during this time and maybe relied too heavily on the past loyalty of consumers to dig themselves UT the hole. Its apparent that this technique did not help them. 4. Sony surely could have found a different way to approach the digital music Industry, as well as find better ways to successfully integrate different divisions across the globe.Songs carelessness and unawareness to the rise of the Internet allowed a company like Apple to develop Digital Rights Management to gain contracts single device with compatibility. Sony needs to find aware to avoid the culture shock that comes along with major moves to different countries first and foremost. Theyll eve to do more research on countries they plan on operating in in order to avoid a decrease in productivity. Additionally, Sony needs to go back to their roots when they Newer the most innovative of all electronics producers.Their research and development teams need to be sharper in order to uncover the next great potential device and roll with it. 5. At this point, it may be nearly impossible to compete with Apple (although Im sure Apple felt the same way about Sony at one point). Rather than compete with Apple initially, Sony should branch out and focus on a certain market that does not eve a stranglehold on, particularly the computing industry.Sony may want to make their computers/tablets/notebooks more affordable and attractive to buyers, considering they all run on a Microsoft operating system. If they begin manufacturing Innovative computing, it may begin to bring buyers back from Apple. Apples products are notoriously expensive, but there are companies out there producing similar quality at lower prices. If Sony were to follow suit, the buyers could quickly return because people have not forgotten the quality of product Sony has historically produced.

s Advice To America

Machiavelli’s Advice to America Leaders of the world are not just a regular breed of individuals. In present days, the United States citizens elect representatives through a very precautious procedure; people know if the wrong person were to get into office they could cause a downfall of a nation. Not all of Machiavelli’s principles of a leader are strongly practiced in today’s world, yet when revised many compare incredibly to the way the American government is governed. In The Qualities of the Prince, Machiavelli discusses a number of traits that he believes a prince or ruler of his time must have to be safe, successful, and loved by his people. Machiavelli believed in exploring both sides of an issue, â€Å"the art of war and the art of life, liberality and stinginess, cruelty and clemency, the fox and the lion† (36). Most of his instances have something to do with war, he is very repetitive in many of his believed traits and he stands firm with them by giving many examples. By reading The Qualities of a Prince it is very easy to assume that Machiavelli was brilliant in his thoughts during his time, this leaves one to ponder the thought of how successful these traits would be in modern American politics. Americans elect leaders with certain distinct qualities, Machiavelli’s beliefs on leaders characteristics don’t totally relate to our expectations. He does mention that he doesn’t recommend tyranny, meaning one ruler have all the power or use it too his advantage. In American government there are no tyrants, all the power is distributed into branches where decisions are made on agreement on that of which will help the American people the most. The majority of Machivelli’s characteristics of a good leader would not get a man elected in the United States, in his time that wasn’t applicable because you were born a leader. Machiavelli wrote of it to be good to be generous but said that a reputation of it w... 's Advice To America Free Essays on Machiavelli\'s Advice To America Machiavelli’s Advice to America Leaders of the world are not just a regular breed of individuals. In present days, the United States citizens elect representatives through a very precautious procedure; people know if the wrong person were to get into office they could cause a downfall of a nation. Not all of Machiavelli’s principles of a leader are strongly practiced in today’s world, yet when revised many compare incredibly to the way the American government is governed. In The Qualities of the Prince, Machiavelli discusses a number of traits that he believes a prince or ruler of his time must have to be safe, successful, and loved by his people. Machiavelli believed in exploring both sides of an issue, â€Å"the art of war and the art of life, liberality and stinginess, cruelty and clemency, the fox and the lion† (36). Most of his instances have something to do with war, he is very repetitive in many of his believed traits and he stands firm with them by giving many examples. By reading The Qualities of a Prince it is very easy to assume that Machiavelli was brilliant in his thoughts during his time, this leaves one to ponder the thought of how successful these traits would be in modern American politics. Americans elect leaders with certain distinct qualities, Machiavelli’s beliefs on leaders characteristics don’t totally relate to our expectations. He does mention that he doesn’t recommend tyranny, meaning one ruler have all the power or use it too his advantage. In American government there are no tyrants, all the power is distributed into branches where decisions are made on agreement on that of which will help the American people the most. The majority of Machivelli’s characteristics of a good leader would not get a man elected in the United States, in his time that wasn’t applicable because you were born a leader. Machiavelli wrote of it to be good to be generous but said that a reputation of it w...

Health disparities in Rural areas Research Paper

Health disparities in Rural areas - Research Paper Example Great health care disparities prevail in United States. Health status of the negatively privileged population is poor. Ethnic and racial minorities suffer great segregation problems in America. The African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans struggle to meet the medical expenses. They are comparatively more vulnerable to chronic diseases than the whites. This ill-privileged group has high mortality rate and negative health outcomes. The heavy racial and ethnic disparities in United States reflect in health care sector also. For example, cancer rate is found to be very high among the African Americans (nearly 25% higher than the whites). Other blacks, especially Hispanics, are highly risky towards diabetes. The black minorities who live in unhealthy environment are also vulnerable to various other problems like AIDS and infant mortality. The healthcare policy of the United States is least favorable for this minority groups. The minority population residing in t he rural areas does not have a proper access to healthcare facilities. There is great disparity in the healthcare access of minorities and rest of the population. Minorities are deprived of efficient and good quality healthcare facilities. Rural residents of United States report poor health. They are more vulnerable to chronic conditions like diabetes. Heart disease is also not uncommon among them. Compared to their urban counterparts, minorities living in rural areas are more prone to diseases and are also deprived of good healthcare facilities. Negatively privileged minorities seldom receive the preventive services, and do not get access to good healthcare service providers. Even though they have more healthcare needs compared to others we find that they do not take proper treatment. The statistics of cancer screening and treatment of diabetes and heart diseases show that minorities are not always benefited of the treatment. Minorities residing in rural areas are disadvantaged bec ause of several reasons. Only nine percent of the doctors of the United States practice in the rural areas though rural areas have a heavy population who are in real need of healthcare facilities. Almost 20 percent of the nation’s population lives in rural areas. Rural residents choose not to avail medical facilities for they have to travel long distance to reach quality healthcare service providers. Certain improvements in healthcare for chronic conditions, availability of preventive services and access to quality healthcare have contributed to the reduction of disparity in healthcare field. These day minorities are fortunate to get better access to healthcare facilities. For example, access to pediatric vision care, timing of antibiotics, counseling for addictions, receipt of mammography and various other things have improved for negatively privileged people. However still there are disadvantaged populations who are not benefited out of these improvements. Asians, Indians, Alaska Natives, Hispanics, Latinos and few other populations still suffer from the lack of quality healthcare service. For example, when we look at the colon cancer screening statistics we can find this disparity. The disparity is increasing in spite of other attempts to give more privileges to the negatively privileged population. Disparities have also affected Hispanics and other people of color. Treatments for psychological disorders also give only a second privileged to blacks and other minorities. Health

Decide by yourself Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Decide by yourself - Essay Example It is difficult to pin point an exact time of disappearances of specific individuals after the Bacon Rebellion. What is so mysterious, however, is that the disappearances of numerous freed slave families simply no longer existed on record after the time of the Bacon Rebellion. The Rebellion itself occurred in 1676, but progressively after the rebellion, the disappearances began. A brief history of the Bacon Rebellion will tell us that a few key factors implicated in igniting it involved a decline in tobacco quality due to massive over production and lowered prices, scarce land availability, raised taxes, and an overall low popularity of the government at the time, particularly Governor Berkley. Other factors which played more critically in the events that spurned the rebellion were poor relations with Native Americans. In fact, there was a great deal of unrest between several tribes and the colonists. In some of the raids perpetrated on Native American tribes, it was a case of mistaken identity that made a bad situation worse. Initially, it was the Doeg tribe which instigated the raid. The Susquehanna tribe, however, was victim to the retaliation raid by the colonists. In reality, it was these raids back and forth between Native Americans and colonists that started the Bacon Rebellion. Nathaniel Bacon, a highly popular colonist, began and led the Bacon Rebellion. At the time, Sir William Berkley served as governor of the colony. He would not consent to sending troops to help the colonists in their retaliation against the Native Americans whom the colonists felt posed a threat. Eventually, Bacon and his followers essentially overthrew Berkley. In the end, however, it was Berkley who won with the help of British royal naval ships. It is important to mention that many freed slaves were actually in support of the rebellion as well as part of it. It was the working class colonists and freed slaves against the

Family Variations and Implications to Children Essay

Family Variations and Implications to Children - Essay Example Therefore, the economic, social, and cultural background of a family has a great impact on the behaviors and the upbringing of a child in the community. Children from single parenting portray different characteristics from children with two parents, with the gender of the child being a factor in determining how the family structure and relationships affect children in particular families. Wright & Chrysalis (2007, 16) argue that the rapidly changing family dynamics result in varying characteristics and behaviors in children, indicating that the structure of a family has a direct impact on the upbringing of a child. Therefore, children adopt behaviors and characteristics that mirror the family cultural and economic backgrounds, and family structures in the society. In this report, the various effects of family structures and their effects on children influenced by the social, economic, and cultural factors will be investigated. Berthoud (2) further notes that in black families, the issue of extended family is more profound, and may include grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, among others. Generally, research in most U.K families portrays most traditional family structures are more stable compared to the current marriage structures, which include single parenting and cohabitation forms of marriages (Mooney, Oliver & Smith 2009, 3). Children in stable marriages portray healthy and stable development psychologically, mentally and are in most cases protected from vices experienced by children in the other two forms of marriages (Mooney, Oliver & Smith 2009, 3). Such children are likely to be morally responsible according to stable upbringing, or the favorable atmosphere in these families; they have to learn their cultural orientations and the expected code of behaviors in the society.  

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Engineering Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Engineering Essay Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are a class of device which make conversion of electrochemical fuel to electricity with negligible pollution[1]. SOFCs have two major configurations: flat planar and tubular and the SOFCs system consists of a stack that is made of many unit cells. Each unit cell is composed of two porous electrodes, a solid ceramic electrolyte and interconnects. Unlike other fuel cells, the SOFCs conduct oxygen ions from the cathode to the anode through the electrolyte, and hydrogen or carbon monoxide reacts with the oxygen ions in the anode[2]. The materials of anode and cathode have different requirements; the anode should withstand a very reducing high temperature environment whilst the cathode has to survive a very oxidising high temperature environment[3]. Among all the important fuel cells under development, the solid oxide fuel cells operate at the highest operating temperature, typically between 600 and 1000à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™[4]. So the SOFCs has also been called the third-generation fuel cell technology because it was expected to be put into application widely after the commercialisation of Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells (PAFCs) (the first generation) and Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFCs) (the second generation)[2]. The solid oxide fuel cell is composed of all solid components with the electrolyte acting as an oxide ion conductor and operating at high temperature (~1000à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™) in order to ensure adequate ionic and electronic conductivity for the cell components[5]. 1.1.1 SOFC Advantages and Disadvantages SOFCs have a number of advantages due to their solid materials and high operating temperature. Since all the components are solid, as a result, there is no need for electrolyte loss maintenance and also electrode corrosion is eliminated[6]. Since SOFCs are operated at high temperature, expensive catalysts such as platinum or ruthenium are totally avoided[2, 6]. Also because of high-temperature operation, the SOFC has a better ability to tolerate the presence of impurities as a result of life increasing[6]. Costs are reduced for internal reforming of natural gas[6]. Due to high-quality waste heat for cogeneration applications and low activation losses, the efficiency for electricity production is greater than 50 ¹Ã‚ ªand even possible to reach 65 ¹Ã‚ ª[2, 6]. Releasing negligible pollution is also a commendable reason why SOFCs are popular today[5]. However, there are also some disadvantages in existence for deteriorating the performance of SOFCs. SOFCs operate high temperature, so the materials used as components are thermally challenged[5]. The relatively high cost and complex fabrication are also significant problems that need to be solved[6]. 1.1.2 SOFC Applications Due to the advantages mentioned above, SOFCs are being considered for a wide range of applications, such as working as power systems for trains, ships and vehicles; supplying electrical power for residential or industrial utility[2, 7]. 1.1.3 SOFC Components and Configurations A SOFC system is composed of fuel cell stacks, which consist of many unit cells. There are two major configurations, tubular and planar, being pursued, described generally as follows. Tubular unit cell is shown in Figure 1[8, 9]. The schematic illustrates the corresponding current flow direction and components. According to X. Li[2], due to easy stacking consideration, recently more and more tubular cells have the structure of cathode inside and anode outside the electrolyte layer. The planar unit cell has a flat structure with a bipolar arrangement, as shown in Figure 2[10]. Seung-Bok Lee at el.[11] reported that since the more effective current collection by planner interconnects, planar SOFCs have superiority in power density. On the contrary, the thermal and mechanical properties of tubular SOFCs are better than that of planner SOFCs. Table 1[2] lists a comparison of the two different SOFC cell configurations Table 1 A comparison of the two different SOFC cell configurations[2] Advantage Disadvantage Ease of manufacturing Edge current collection Tubular No need for gas-tight cell sealing Low-power density Less thermal cracking due to thermal expansion mismatch High materials cost Lower fabrication cost High temperature gas-tight sealing Planar Ease in flow arrangement High assembly effort and cost Higher power density Stricter requirement on thermal expansion match An SOFC stack consist of many unit cells, which are connected by interconnects. Figure 3[12] illustrates image of planar SOFC stack. 1.1.3.1 Cathode The typical material for the cathode is strontium-doped lanthanum manganite (La1-xSrxMnO3, x=0.10-0.15), because of its good electrochemical activity for oxygen reduction, high electronic conductivity, good stability[2, 4].Other materials, like platinum and other noble metals have also been considered as candidates of the SOFC cathode due to the highly oxidising environment. However, considering the high cost of platinum, it is not best choice to use this metal as the cathode. 1.1.3.2 Anode Though as for the cathode, precious metals like platinum can be used for the SOFC anode, the most widely used material is a nickel-zirconia cermet, i.e. a mixture of nickel and yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ) skeleton[2]. About 20 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ¦-40 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ porosity in the anode structure is good for mass transport of reactant and product gases[1, 2]. Nickel plays the role as the electrocatalyst for anode reaction and also can conduct the electrons produced at the anode whilst the yttria-stabilised zirconia is used for conducting oxygen ions[2]. 1.1.3.3 Electrolyte There are a number of materials that can be used for the SOFC electrolyte. Among them, yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ), i.e. zirconia doped with around 8 mol ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ yttria and gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) is the most widely used materials suitable for the SOFC electrolyte. GDC has very good ionic conductivity, but it also shows a high electronic conductivity[5]. Compared with GDC, YSZ is stable in either reducing or oxidising environments and has a good conductivity to transmit ions, especially at sufficiently high temperature. But unlike GDC, YSZ shows little or no capability to conduct electrons. Each time two yttria ions (Y3+) replace two zirconia ions (Zr4+) in the zirconia crystal lattice, three oxide ions (O2-) replace four O2- ions, which make one O2- site become vacant, as shown in Figure 4[5]. The vacancies are determined by the amount of yttria doped. So it seems superficially that the more yttria doped, the better the conductivity. But there is an upper limit for the amount of doped yttria, which is shown in Figure 5[5]. The peak conductivity appears at yttria concentration of 6% to 8 mol%. Very dense YSZ has a very low gas permeability, which does not allow the reactant gases to mix. However, since YSZ has a low ionic conductivity, in order to ensure the ohmic loss and match with other components, it has to be made about 20-50 ÃŽÂ ¼m thick [1, 2]. 1.1.3.4 Interconnects Interconnects are used to connect the neighbouring cells. Materials which act as interconnect must have properties of high electronic conductivity[1]. Ceramics are usually used for the interconnect since the operating temperature is around 1000à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™. Mg-doped lanthanum chromite, LaCr1-xMgxO3 (x = 0.02-0.01) shows advantages because its electronic conductivity typically increases with temperature[2]. However, although noble metals have good electronic conductivity, their high price limits their becoming a candidate for the interconnect[ 2, 4]. 1.1.5 Electrochemical Conversion The air is carried to the cathode and the oxygen reacts with electrons from the external circuit yielding oxide ions[2, 4]: Cathode: O2 + 2e- à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ O2- (1) The electrolyte does not permit the oxygen pass through it, but the oxide ions migrate from the electrolyte to the anode. At the anode hydrogen or carbon monoxide reacts with oxygen ions to produce water or carbon dioxide[2, 4]: Anode: H2 +O2- à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ H2O + 2e- (2) CO + O2- à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ CO2 + 2e- (3) This releases electrons to move through the external circuit to the cathode, thus generating an electric current. So the overall cell reaction occurring is[2, 4]: H2 + O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ H2O +Waste Heat + Electric Energy (4) CO + O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ CO2 +Waste Heat + Electric Energy (5) The electrochemical conversion is shown in Figure 6[13]. 1.2 Electrolyte Materials 1.2.1 Zirconia Zirconia is a white ceramic, with the properties of high temperature, wear and corrosion resistance, high melting point and low coefficient of thermal expansion. Historically, the application of zirconia has been in refractory and ceramic paints[2]. However, with the development of advanced technologies, due to its stabilised and excellent properties mentioned above, it can be used as electrical conductivity material in the solid oxide fuel cells, wear parts and sensors. Zirconia can exist in three different crystal structures: monoclinic, tetragonal and cubic. At room temperature, it naturally exists as the form of the monoclinic crystalline structure. When the temperature reaches around 1100à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™, the crystal form changes to tetragonal, and then to cubic at about 2370à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™[14]. Pure zirconia is never used because of its unstable properties, so many dopants are added to stabilise the higher temperature forms and hence avoid the damaging tetragonal to monoclinic transformation, e.g. MgO, CaO, Ce2O3, and Y2O3. Of these, yttria is the most common dopant, yielding yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ). 1.2.2 Yttria Stabilised Zirconia (YSZ) and the Effect of Different Yttria Contents YSZ is considered to be an important electrolyte material for solid oxide fuel cells. The proportion of yttria in YSZ is still under research, but is often around 8 mol%. This yields a cubic fluorite-structure YSZ, which displays good thermal stability, good ionic conductivity at high temperature and a thermal expansion compatibility with electrode materials[15]. However, it is mechanically weak as a result of the high fraction of vacancies present in the structure. Different amount of yttria in zirconia has different effect on the properties of YSZ, including ionic conductivity, toughness, fracture strength etc[16]. 8 mol% yttria stabilised zirconia (8YSZ) has a cubic structure with properties of high ionic conductivity, good chemical stability but its low mechanical strength, limits the fabrication[17, 18]. However, for 3-7 mol% Y2O3, both cubic and tetragonal phases exist in the microstructure. Table 2[19] lists comparison of phases for different yttria concentration in zirconia. Table 2 Phase variation for different concentration of yttria in zirconia[19] %Y phase 2YSZ Tetragonal with some monoclinic 3YSZ Pure tetragonal 4.5YSZ Cubic and tetragonal 6YSZ and higher cubic If the YSZ has a great volume fraction of metastable tetragonal phase, which will provide good mechanical properties (strength and toughness) to the ceramic[16]. For example, 3 mol% yttria stabilised zirconia (3YSZ) has an excellent mechanical properties of high flexural strength and good fracture toughness. M. Ghatee et al.[16] also demonstrated that 3YSZ shows higher electrical conductivity than 8YSZ at T550 °C. That is because the activation energy of electrical conductivity for 3YSZ is lower than 8YSZ at all temperatures. And the strength of the material is determined by grain size and flaw size[16]. 1.2.3 Nanostructured Zirconia Nanostructured ceramics are expected the average particle size is less than 20nm[20]. And recently, nanotechnology have drawn much attention because of the good mechanical properties, i.e. increasing of hardness, strength, of the materials in nano-size. It is reported that the electrical conductivity of nanostructured YSZ is about 2-3 orders of the magnitude larger than that of microcrystalline YSZ[15]. Since nanostructured YSZ has many advantages, the development of nanocrystalline YSZ electrolyte grows rapidly. Y. Chen et al.[15], has synthesised nanocrystalline YSZ electrolyte via the plasma spray technique. 1.3 Characterisation of YSZ 1.3.1 Ionic Conductivity Conductivity is a measurement of whether charges transport well or not. Ionic conductivity is derived from  ion mobility rate, which is determined by carrier concentration c and carrier mobility u, which is shown in Equation 1 [5]. (1) [5] where is the charge number of the carrier, is Faradays constant. 1.3.1.1 AC Impedance Spectroscopy Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a widely used technique for differentiating different losses, i.e. anode activation losses, ohmic losses and cathode activation losses. Impedance, Z, a judgement of the capacity of a system to resist current flow relates to variation of time and frequency. It is given by the following Equation 2[5]: Z = (2) [5] Where: V(t) is time-dependent voltage = V0 cos() i(t) is time-dependent current = i0 cos() V0 and i0 are the amplitudes of voltage and current is radial frequency is phase shift It often uses sinusoidal voltage perturbation, V = V0cos(), dominating responded current, i = i0cos(), to measure impedance. So according to Equation 2, impedance Z is written by Equation 3[5]: Z = = Z0 (3)[5] Ionic conductivity is often investigated by impedance spectroscopy. Temperature and frequency are important factors which should be controlled accurately[21]. Measurements are often processed using platinum electrodes, in air. The YSZ electrolytes are coated with platinum paste on both sides. Two platinum wires which adhere to each side of the YSZ electrolyte were connected to the frequency response analyser. And the measurements are carried out under the temperature range of 200-1000 °C[21, 22]. 1.3.1.2 4-Probe Method 4-point probe method is used to measure the electrical impedance of YSZ. The configuration of the 4-point probe shown in Figure 7[23], is composed of four independent electrical terminals, the two probe (A and B) are used to provide current whilst the potential drop is measured by the inner terminals (C and D)[23, 24]. Figure 7 Principle of 4-point probe technique[23] And the face contact should be ensured when the measurement was made[25]. According to H. Kokabi[23], before measurement, the following two assumptions must be processed: The area of measurement is uniform; The diameter of the contact point is far less than the distance between two probes. 1.3.1.3 Sintered Density and Grain Size Effect on Ionic Conductivity According to X.J. Chen et al.[21], ionic conductivity can be divided to two parts: intragranular conductivity and intergranular conductivity. The former one is related to density, while the later one depends on the grain size and grain boundary. Intragranular conductivity increases with increasing density, and intergranular conductivity increases with the sintering temperature till 1350à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™, then drop down[21]. It is reported that high densities and small grain sizes can improve the electrical and mechanical properties of YSZ[26]. In the case of the porosity, >10%, can has great reduction for conductivity because the pores hinder the conduction way between grains[26]. On the contrary, the fully dense YSZ has a maximum conductivity. Han et al.[27] said that the grain boundary motion induces grain growth, which is driven by two processes: grain boundary diffusion and grain boundary migration. They both make densification increase, but the latter one gives rapid grain growth[22]. So if dense sintering with little grain growth needs to be achieved, hindering grain boundary migration, whilst keeping grain boundary diffusion active, is a good method. The activation energy for grain boundary migration, which is the least energy to ensure migration occurring, is higher than that for grain boundary diffusion. So as D. Mà ¦land[22] suggests, it is better keeping the sintering temperature to no more than 1300 °C, which means that grain boundary migration is inhibited, but grain boundary diffusion is active.

Banking Sector Essay -- Financial System, Bank Runs

Traditionally, the existence of bank runs was a very frequent phenomenon in Europe during the 19th century. It was mostly seen in the emerging countries where the boeotian level was low. Kaminsky and Reinhard introduced a new concept in the banking sector called twin crises. The twin crises concept started since 1980 and occurs when both currency and banking crises take place simultaneously. This harmful phenomenon anticipated a significant recession after the 1933 when the Federal Reserve System imposed the concept of Deposit Insurance in the US. In the same directions all governments around the world tried to find ways to prevent crises. Several schemes like the Suspension of convertibility and penalty on short-term deposits followed the implementation of Deposit Insurance scheme. As a result of the establishment of these new schemes, policy makers and bankers focused their attention and criticism on the recent concept of moral hazard that came into surface during the savings and loan crisis of 1980. In order to begin analyzing the macroeconomic concept of bank runs I have to mention that there are literally two general views. The first group of economists such as Diamond and Dybvig (1983), Chang and Velasco (2001) and Cooper and Ross (1998) supports that bank runs are self-fulfilling prophecies, unconnected to the real economy of the country. Under this view, if agents do not expect a bank run to take place, the risk-sharing mechanism of the banking sector operates beneficially and an efficient allocation of resources is achieved. On the other hand, if the agents believe that a bank run will occur then they will all have the tendency to run and withdraw their money as soon as possible to avoid losing them. The second appr... ...mplementing the 5 regulatory policies as I mentioned above at the end of the first part of this paper. The Diamond and Dybvig model clearly explains why these five policies were introduced. Firstly, the suspension of convertibility was introduced in order for events like the example of the bad equilibrium be avoided and keeping the bank alive. On the same line was introduced the tax on short-term deposits as well in order to disencourage depositors to withdraw their money early. In addition, the FCDI scheme was implemented in order to remove the fear of a bank run from the investors to eliminate the occurrence of panic within the financial market. Furthermore, the ICDI scheme was introduced to eliminate the concept of moral hazard that is caused by FCDI. Finally, the capital requirement scheme was established in order to keep the banks more liquid and solvent.