Apple Inc. Case 2010

1. What, historically, have been Apple’s competitive advantages? Apple has had various competitive advantages since its origin until the present. Firstly, Apple’s innovation has always been its hallmark. Beginning with the first â€Å"Apple I† till the â€Å"iPad 2†, Apple products have change the development of the market many times, specially during the last decade, with the first iPod’s lunch. Although Apple’s single technologies have not been walkthroughs created by the company itself, it has developed the characteristics of these technologies and combined them in a way that had never been done before.One of Apple’s main ways to innovate is through the ease of use of its products, another of its big competitive advantages. Apple’s products are popularly considered as very intuitive and, although MP3 players already existed in 2001 or multi-touch surfaces in 2007, products like the iPod and iPhone allow the use of these techn ologies and devices in a very practical way with an almost vertical learning curve. Besides this ease-to-use, Apple has â€Å"plug & play† oriented designs: devices ready to be used with a series of peripherals without requiring prior knowledge.This has led Mac computers to be â€Å"digital hubs† of the new digital devices. Moreover, Apple has always had a proprietary design. Apple has never licensed any of its products or designs (except during Spindler’s management). This means that it has always had a wide control over its value chain, from the designs from scratch of their computers, till the software and its marketing or sales. It has a widely vertical integrated business and nowadays, it is even beginning to design its own microchips. This has led to a very unique differentiation that can be hardly found in competitors’ products.That is why one of Apple’s most typical characteristics are its products’ elegant and state-of-the-art indus trial designs and superior software (OS). All components of its products are perfectly integrated and work altogether better than separated. Apple’s design process consists of a series of activities that can be hardly copied. Finally, it is very important to highlight Apple’s brand image and the whole culture created around it. As Jobs says, Apple products are intended to be a â€Å"cultural force†.Apple delivers through its products complete solutions and experiences, different to the use of any other company’s products. Its devices are considered as iconic within their correspondent markets and the company is seen as a leader of the â€Å"digital age†. Apple has always had a solid base of loyal customers and its brand is presently one of the best known in the world. Furthermore, Steve Jobs CEO is considered as an innovation guru and has been named CEO of the decade, boosting Apple’s popularity even higher, if possible. 2. Analyze the perso nal computer industry.Are the dynamics favorable or problematic for Apple? The personal computer industry is a highly concentrated market. The four top PC vendors (Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo) control the 55% of worldwide shipments. It is a competition intense sector given the low switching costs of the industry. Growth has been driven by a decrease of prices and expansion of capabilities, with consequently higher sales volumes, but with a relatively smaller growth in revenues. PC components are going through a standardization process and PC makers are cutting expenditures in R&D.Due to the aforementioned low switching costs and the low differentiation among vendors, the threat of substitute products is very high in the industry. However, despite the low product differentiation, vendors have built strong brands and the investments required to enter the sector are very high, for what the entrance of new competitors with similar volume and brand awareness as the present top vendors is q uite unlikely. The only open way for competitors seems to be the â€Å"white-box† market (with around 30% of sales in 2009), but these machines cover only the desktop market.Regarding the clients’ power, they have a wide range of very similar products in design, capabilities and price to choose from, for what the switching costs are very low, as mentioned. PC vendors’ customers are therefore in a strong position to push them in the desired direction. On the other hand, PC makers have also high bargaining power in their relationships with their suppliers, as PC components are widely available at very competitive prices (excluding microprocessors and operating systems).As for Apple, the sector’s dynamics involve both favorable and problematic characteristics. The still hegemonic â€Å"wintel† systems make Apple’s products a strong and very differentiated alternative. Moreover, home consumers are the biggest segment in the industry, a group tha t values design, mobility and connectivity, some features in which Apple is a leader. On the other hand, the company may have an overall minor base of potential clients willing to acquire the knowledge to operate its devices.Despite the fall in prices and increase in capabilities that the market requests, something that could seem problematic to any player in the sector, Apple is still able to charge premium prices through design and â€Å"user experience† differentiation, without requiring to push its devices capabilities over the average. All of this means that Apple can make big profits in its premium niche market, but that overall penetration might be a setback. Nevertheless, Apple is still reliant on its components’ suppliers, who â€Å"force† Apple to purchase major volumes in order to reach competitive costs.

Computer user freedom Essay

1) Users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. The freedoms to run the program as you wish, for any purpose. The freedoms to study how the program works and change it so it does your computing as you wish. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html 4) A nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users. Linux is an open-source operating system modeled on UNIX. GNU developed many of the tools, including the C compilers that are part of the Linux operating system. Linux is the name of the operating system kernel developed by Linus Torvalds, which has since been expanded and improved by thousands of people on the Internet. http://www.sobell.com/CMDREF1/answers/01.answers.even.cmdref.i.pdf Chap.2 pg.50 1) Installing Fedora/RHEL is the process of copying operating system files from a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive to hard disk(s) on a system and setting up configuration files so Linux runs properly on the hardware. Several types of installations are possible, including fresh installations, upgrades from older releases of Fedora/RHEL, and dual-boot installations. Chap.3 Pg.86 1) A live system gives you a chance to preview Fedora without installing it. It does not write to hard disks. 4) Put /boot at the beginning of the drive (partition 1) so that there is no issue of Linux having to boot from a partition too far into the drive. 8) When the system enters runlevel 5. http://www.sobell.com/RH4/answers/03.install.main.ans.even.RH4.pdf Chap.11 Pg.498 1) When a system is in single-user mode, you can log in only at the console. Not all of the file systems are mounted, and many daemons are not running. With the system in multiuser mode you can log in at any terminal or workstation that is set up for login, most or all of the file systems are mounted, and all of the daemons that your system is set up to run are  running. 3) The letters stand for substitute user. You can give yourself privileges of any user whose password you know (or any user when you are running as root). You can also execute a command (other than a shell) as the specified user. To log in as Alex, you would first log in as root, and then give the command su alex, or su – alex to establish the same environment that Alex has when he logs in. 7) Use Uppercase and lowercase characters, along with numbers and special characters, and your password should be at least 8 characters long. http://www.sobell.com/RHLINUX1/answers/Chapter_17.ans.pdf

Higher education in Qatar Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Higher education in Qatar - Research Paper Example Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa took over his father’s leadership in 1995 and since then, reforms have been instituted such as the suffrage of women and the establishment of a constitution with democratic elements. The dynamism of the Sheikh brought into the country Al-Jazeera, a renowned Arabic-language news network which is considered to be the biggest change brought about by the new leadership. This development was not looked upon with favour of the region’s autocratic states because it allowed foreign workers to outnumber native workers in the country (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2012). In his wisdom, the new emir created the Qatar Foundation in 1995 as he recognized the challenges of the country’s reliance on its oil and natural gas resources, and he realized the need for more specialized professionals to help his countrymen (Qatar Foundation, 2010). The primary mission of the Qatar Foundation is to build human capital through the programs and services it wi ll offer in education, community development and scientific research. The Qatar Foundation claims to bring world-class education, work experience and career opportunities to Qatar in the pursuit of a modern knowledge-based economy. Currently, the foundation has an extensive campus equipped with the latest state-of-the-art facilities serving nearly 4,000 students including multicultural students representing around 90 different nationalities, enrolled from preschool to university levels. It is a university which embraces cultural diversity that supports students’ professional and personal development (Qatar Foundation, 2012). Qatar’s Supreme Education Council (SEC) has appointed a Higher Education Institute (HEI) to supervise deserving youth in pursuing higher education to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills that will help them in a competitive and rapidly changing global world. Various scholarship programs are provided by the HEI to help the youth be pre pared for the challenges they will be undertaking in top colleges and universities worldwide so they get to achieve their own dreams as well as address the needs of the country’s labour market (SEC, 2012). The main objectives of the HEI are as follows: Provide opportunities to further develop the students’ language, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Provide opportunities for students to have more awareness and understanding of other cultures Provide opportunities for high achieving students to prepare themselves for future leadership roles. Meet workforce needs. Offer flexibility to outstanding Qatari students by allowing them to pursue interests in fields that directly benefit the society and economy. (SEC, 2012, para. 4) Among the guiding principles of the HEI is the promotion of the highest quality of education to help students become self-learners in institutions with the highest international standards. Another is flexibility for students to choose the ir preferred universities and course that suits their own abilities and interests to help them pursue a lucrative career after their schooling. The HEI also aims to develop accountability and competency in their students as they learn to be self-reliant in their learning, confident that they will be supported in their endeavours so they can concentrate on being better students. HEI gives students the assurance

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 16

Marketing - Essay Example Nevertheless, the company has built a reputation with teenagers and young adults who generally flock their stores to purchase fashionable clothes of their choice. As such, these clothing apparels, which are produced and marketed internationally requires strategic decision making. For A&F to make good judgements regarding its operations, the company must primarily perceive the external factors that may affect the company’s operation that are out of its direct control (CIPD, 2008). Understanding the macro-environment aids both in the detection of possible opportunities and financial threats for and to the business respectively. In order to perceive a better view of the environment where Abercrombie and Fitch operates in, the PESTLE analysis should be used to identify risks, growth and decline, proper market positioning and possible direction for the overall improvement of the company’s product and organizational management (CIPD, 2008). PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental (CIPD, 2008). Taking into consideration the individual elements of PESTLE as previously mentioned the Abercrombie and Fitch Management should decisively analyze the following: 1. Political – as a retail clothes company that manages outlets internationally, management at A&F must de aware of the different government regulations regarding trading policies with regards to trade restrictions and tariffs that may apply. It should also be updated with political trends, international pressure groups and inter-country relationships. 2. Economic encompasses the overseas economic trends. Taxation changes specific to product/service. The company must also be aware of interest and exchange rates on international trade and monetary issues. A study of credit availability, cost of living, economic growth and wage rates among others must be done on a

Community Policing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Community Policing - Research Paper Example Over time this relationship eroded away and the policing strategy moved over to a reformation era which further gave rise to a community problem solving era after the 1960s (Kelling & Moore, 2015) However the role of politics in policing is still undefined in times of uncertainty. This role has changed over time but the affiliation of political powers to that of policing powers can never be negated. This policing power can be easily misused by the politicians if they are given the opportunity. A political era marks the history of the policing department and this should always be kept in mind when implementing new strategies for the police department. This essay would revolve around the issue of political involvement in the policing of the United States. In order to gain an understanding on the topic of politics and police, it becomes necessary to review the order of policing and political affiliations at first. Currently, three systems dominated in the United States namely Legislative, Executive and Judicial. These systems work in a symbiotic environment to help each other and the Police belong to the Executive system. Police however is under constant scrutiny by the judicial system which works as an auditor for the policing powers. The police agencies working under the United States are usually seen at a local level and the head of the police at this local level needs to understand the political background of the place that he is operating in. It is necessary for the policing staff to understand this political background and act in a manner that does not violate the rules set down by the system of the country. The city is mainly under the power of some stakeholders that represent the whole region and this includes the mayor, the c ity manager and the police commissioner. The complex tasks of politics set in when the police has to be answerable to all of them in accordance to

Art is fun Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Art is fun - Essay Example This shows that art is undergoing a transformation into a multicultural platform where parties involved are sensitive to each other’s cultural issues. The distinctive observation about Donald Morgan’s work of art is that the artifacts he creates and displays around the world are culture sensitive. The artifacts he creates are based on forest imagery, objects that are familiar to individuals from all cultures. Therefore, Donald Morgan’s work is multicultural and serves to bring individuals together from various cultures in appreciating common works of art. The main focus of Donald Morgan’s multimedia presentation is the notion of manifesting diversity. The forest imagery that the presentation depicts ranges from natural to artificial objects and living to non-living objects (University of Oregon, uoregon.edu). This forest diversity represents the cultural diversity that characterizes the peoples of the world. Morgan depicts his art both through paintings an d sculptures. This serves to emphasize the concept of diversity further by utilizing diverse artistic techniques. A distinctive observation concerning Barminski’s multimedia presentation is that he employs diverse artistic techniques, which put across his message concerning gun culture. He uses sculptures as well as photos and drawings. Therefore, his artwork portrays diversity (Barminski, Barminski.com). Both Morgan’s multimedia presentation and Coco’s performances make me feel that different people are becoming more tolerant of each other’s differences than ever before. I feel there is a realization among people all over the world that their different cultures, beliefs, and lifestyles are not significant enough to compromise their relations with each other. For example, Coco writes that a white visitor to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago was shocked to see Coco and Guillermo put in a cage like animals. Thinking they were not performing but were real aborigines, he was astonished to see people put in a cage for display to the public (Gablik, 313). This occurrence serves as a testament to the fact that western attitudes regarding cultural equality have changed significantly since several years ago, when western people used to believe their culture is superior to the rest of the world’s cultures. The performances of Coco and Guillermo had a significant impact in furthering the cause of artists of color of achieving greater representation in the world of art. However, some of the methods the two performers used to achieve their aims were unorthodox. In particular, the instant whereby the two performers mislead city officials in Spain to believe that their performance was just street entertainment in order to receive their permission was quite irresponsible of them (Gablik, 326). Their decision to downplay the political aspect of their performance almost put the city officials in trouble with their seniors. The two should have conducted all their activities with honesty and integrity. Their lack of integrity undermined the cause for which they were fighting. Donald Morgan’s multimedia presentation displayed a high degree of creativity which I found very impressive. His focus on forest imagery is quite revolutionary

Copyrights in fashion business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Copyrights in fashion business - Research Paper Example This will demonstrate the need for any designer with a fashion accessory to prove to the authorities and the industrial courts that design qualifies for copyright protection. Such proof can only be through a demonstrable non-utilitarian purpose that the accessory serves. The fashion design industry it is common imitations of designs with different trademarks. The owners of the original designs can only file litigation if their trade marks if they find an imitation of their designs. Considering that copyright laws do not protect them, litigation on any of the imitated designs would fail unless the owner proves that indeed theirs had a unique non-utilitarian function to warrant copyright protection. It is hence paramount to explain through this research paper the reason for such unprotection and why there are few attempts to introduce law that can give copyright protection in the fashion industry. Introduction The fashion business is the most challenging for starters who come up with n ew designs. It operates in unfriendly legal environments with scant protection form intellectual property rights. A jaunt in the busy streets of London or New York reveals a culture of business ‘knocking off’ where people rush to imitate any new design as soon as it enters the fashion market. The most humiliating part is that vendors sell their imitations at a price almost half of the price of the original design. It is appalling that there are companies have built huge and legitimate enterprise selling the replicas of other original designs in malls and on the web. All such unfathomable outcomes of intellectual property abuses are not a justification for the introduction of copyright protection for fashion business. The fashion business is a great success in the world and especially the United States and the United Kingdom. Its uniqueness in the scope of offering products with utilitarian value to consumers needs little protection in form of trademarks in the extreme. Though the discussion it would be interesting to note that the fashion and design industry defies all the assumptions of the monopoly theory that establishes the doctrines of intellectual property rights. Thesis statement The fashion industry lacks the legal justification for copyright protection of new designs in the market. Discussion In mid 2011, the southern District of New York the held that color as a trade mark should only b limited to industrial products. It has been general rue that color can be registered as a trademark as long it is non-functional and has a secondary meaning. Color can only be a trade mark if the industrial goods with the color is used as the identifying feature of the specific product. In the case, Christian Louboutin versus Yves St. Laurent had similar allegation of trademark infringement. Christian Louboutin who sold shoes with a red sole alleged that Yves St Laurent had copied the color of its products. The southern district refused to grant a prelimi nary injunction that would have stopped Yves form continuing to sell shoes with a red sole. The court held that color could not be a trademark. After the denial of a preliminary injunction order, the court also granted St, Laurent’s motion for summary judgment on the invalidity of Louboutin’s trademark. The court held that, even if the public associated red soles of the shoes with Louboutin, color is a basic and essential element of fashion design

Property Equity and trust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Property Equity and trust - Essay Example Most civilizations are moving away from the government-sponsored tenure systems. This change means that the government initiatives to provide the legally binding property rights fail to meet the needs of the locals. This paper discusses the factors that contribute to the changes in legal property ownership and the implications of such changes on the socio-economic and legal systems. For the purpose of this paper, a property is defined as either immobile, fixed assets or mobile assets that can be valued in economic terms and that which provides a sense of wealth to the owner. Property rights define the control that particular individuals in the society have over assets, the profits gained from the assets and the residual rights over such property. An ideal property right must be secure and easily defensible within the court system. The security the individuals obtain from property rights is subject to the stability and predictability of such rights. However, there are various informal constraints to legal property ownership such as gender definitions and assignments. These informal limitations inevitably affect legal access to the property since they are not flexible or responsive to formal changes (Engels 112). It is evident that the socio-cultural ways are not bound to change completely at once despite the economic pressures from formal sectors such as gender equity and affirmative action to improve the property access rights of the females. The formal laws are antagonistic to the informal property rights resulting in instability of such formal rights. Due to the instability, individuals have opted to a privatized property ownership, which offers comparatively stable property ownership rights. Taking the example of the land ownership in Africa, it can be determined that the imposition of formal private property rights by the government is sometimes conflict

England Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

England - Assignment Example Players in the industry had to put forward drastic measures by the engagement of massive discounts so as to support the relatively threatened customer base especially due to the global economic meltdown which had its effects in the UK by the end of 2009.It has been reported that the global shipments of the products have been growing by 4% annually supported majorly by the imports from the US ,Japan and South Africa .The Japanese market has been stabilizing currently making ripple effects in the local market and enabling the increasing stability of the UK market an achievable phenomenon. By January the import of our company stood at 7% and the shipments to foreign branches stood at 3.1 %.The projected sales of champagne in the year 2012 is expected to be 35.5M. Sales is one of the most important components of a business ,however it has to promote responsibility to avoid the long term effects on their brand and to avoid the crumbling of the business. The size of the industry has been growing over the previous years, however it received a major slow down due to the impacts of the global economic recession. Despite the economic troubles facing the globe presently, the sales are stable and relatively high during the festive seasons plus there are new emerging markets within the country offering the champagne business new avenues for major sales. The ports that are used by our company for the importation of our facilities and majorly for our products have to meet the criterion for efficiency and have to be secure .the port has to be versatile ,have diversity of traffic and the charges have to be competitive and realistic for the business venture of our type to avoid extra input into the system. The company has been using the Bristol port for a very long time for its shipping duties since it is meeting the standards put by the management and the stakeholders in the company. Our

Computer - Aided Instruction Essay Example for Free

Computer Aided Instruction Essay A self-learning technique, usually offline/online, involving interaction of the student with programmed instructional materials. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is an interactive instructional technique whereby a computer is used to present the instructional material and monitor the learning that takes place. CAI uses a combination of text, graphics, sound and video in enhancing the learning process. The computer has many purposes in the classroom, and it can be utilized to help a student in all areas of the curriculum. CAI refers to the use of the computer as a tool to facilitate and improve instruction. CAI programs use tutorials, drill and practice, simulation, and problem solving approaches to present topics, and they test the students understanding. Typical CAI provides 1. text or multimedia content 2. multiple-choice questions 3. problems 4. immediate feedback 5. notes on incorrect responses 6. summarizes students performance 7. exercises for practice 8. Worksheets and tests. Types of Computer Assisted Instruction 1. Drill-and-practice Drill and practice provide opportunities or students to repeatedly practice the skills that have previously been presented and that further practice is necessary for mastery. 2. Tutorial Tutorial activity includes both the presentation of information and its extension into different forms of work, including drill and practice, games and simulation. 3. Games Game software often creates a contest to achieve the highest score and either beat others or beat the computer. 4. Simulation Simulation software can provide an approximation of reality that does not require the expense of real life or its risks. 5. Discovery Discovery approach provides a large database of information specific to a course or content area and challenges the learner to analyze, compare, infer and evaluate based on their explorations of the data. 6. Problem Solving This approach helps children develop specific problem solving skills and strategies. Advantages of CAI †¢ one-to-one interaction †¢ great motivator †¢ freedom to experiment with different options †¢ instantaneous response/immediate feedback to the answers elicited †¢ Self pacing allow students to proceed at their own pace †¢ Helps teacher can devote more time to individual students †¢ Privacy helps the shy and slow learner to learns †¢ Individual attention †¢ learn more and more rapidly †¢ multimedia helps to understand difficult concepts through multi sensory approach †¢ self directed learning – students can decide when, where, and what to learn

Gas sensors on zinc oxide nanostructures

Gas sensors on zinc oxide nanostructures Introduction Gas sensors based on semiconducting metal oxides are being widely used for sensing gases and vapors. The initial momentum was provided by the findings of Seiyama et al. in metal oxide-gas reaction effects in 1962. It was shown that the electrical conductivity of ZnO can be changed by the presence of reactive gases in the air. The merits of these sensors include their reliability, low cost and easy implementation. Nanostructures of metal oxides have been found to be most effective as gas-sensing materials at elevated temperatures. Very popular sensing materials are metal oxide semiconductors such as ZnO, SnO2, TiO2, and WO3. Generally the change of electric field (conductance, voltage, resistance or the change of piezoelectric effect) of the sensor is monitored as a function of the target gas concentration. Gas sensors normally operate in air, in the presence of humidity and interfering gases. A heated substrate membrane is fitted with gas sensitive nanostructured semiconductor material which generates electrical output signals once chemical reactions are initiated at their surface. A common property of all these detection reactions is that they require significant levels of thermal activation to proceed at a measurable rate. Nanostructures of semiconducting oxides are widely used for gas sensing due to their large surface area to volume ratio and possibility of complete depletion of carriers within nanostructures when exposed to gases. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a reddish-brown, highly reactive gas that reacts in the air to form corrosive nitric acid as well as toxic organic nitrates. The major man made source of NO2 emissions is high-temperature fuel combustion in motor vehicles and industries. These emissions are primarily in the form of NO which gets oxidized in the atmosphere to NO2. The conversion rate depends on the ambient concentration of NO and O3. If O3 is present, the conversion is very rapid. Health and safety guidelines suggest that humans should not be exposed to 3ppm or more NO2 gas for periods longer than eight hours because of its toxicity. NO2 is a pulmonary irritant primarily affecting the upper respiratory system in human beings. Continued or frequent exposure to high levels of NO2 can cause inflammation of the lungs. Therefore, the development of a stable NO2 gas sensor that can detect extremely low concentrations of NO2 with high sensitivity and selectivity is highly desirable. Such a sensor can be used for environmental monitoring. It can also be used in an early warning system that detects the presence of NO2 before the critical concentration of NO2 is reached. In our work, we will develop a sensor for NO2 gas sensing based on our understanding in sensor mechanism and synthesis of ZnO nanorods, using simple hydrothermal methods. The various performance parameters of the sensor, namely gas selectivity, sensitivity, response and recovery time will be studied. The gas sensor test-bench developed in COEN (Centre of Excellence in Nanotechnology), AIT, will be employed for characterizing the sensor performance. Chapter 2 Literature review This chapter is focused on the literature review of metal oxide based semiconducting nanostructures used for gas sensing. The working principle of metal oxide gas sensors, measurement methods and synthesis mechanisms is included in this review. Metal oxide nanostructures Metal oxides such as SnO2, WO3, TiO2 and ZnO possess high sensitivity to changes in their surrounding atmosphere at elevated temperatures. The sensing properties of metal oxides in form of thick or thin films have been studied to improve, by the addition of noble metals namely Pd, Pt, Au, Ag in terms of selectivity and stability. In 1991, Yamazoe showed that reduction of crystallite size caused a huge improvement in sensor performance. In a low grain size metal oxide almost all the carriers are trapped in surface states and only a few thermal activated carriers are available for conduction. From the point of view of device fabrication, first generation gas sensor devices were fabricated by thick film technology. Then the material fabrication processes improved towards the thin film technology. The fabrication process for thin film technology namely physical and chemical vapour deposition was highly automated and offers high reproducibility. The electrical properties of both thin and thick film sensors drift due to the grain porosity modification and grain boundary alteration. Several methods like addition of noble metals as catalysts or mixed oxides were put forward to improve the sensing performance of the gas sensors. The structural engineering of metal oxide nanostructured thin films proved to optimize the performance of these types of gas sensors. The various operating parameters such as response time, output signal, selectivity and stability can be improved and tuned through the optimization of the structure. Using structural engineering method, the various geometric parameters of metal oxide gas sensing matrix like grain size, agglomeration, film thickness, porosity can be controlled. The next forward step in gas sensing was achieved by the successful preparation of stable single crystal quasi-one-dimensional semiconducting oxides (nanorods, nanowires) leading to the third generation of metal oxide gas sensors. Working principle of metal oxide gas sensors Conductometric metal oxide gas sensors depend on changes of electrical conductivity due to the interaction with the surrounding atmosphere. The normal operating temperature of metal oxide gas sensors is within the range between 200  °C and 500  °C. The operating temperature should be high enough so that gas reactions occur in a time on the order of the desired response time and should also be low enough to avoid any variations in the bulk of the sensing matrix. The single crystal structure synthesized at temperatures higher than the operating temperature of the sensor shows high stability. Based on the study of a large range of oxides, the phenomenon of change in conductivity to the presence of reactive gases in air is common to oxides and not specific to a few special cases. If the conductivity is too high, then an effect is not expected and similarly if the conductivity is too low, then an effect will be difficult to measure. In practical applications, if an oxide sample has a resistivity between 104 and 108 Ocm at 300- 400  °C, then it will function as a gas sensor when heated to a temperature in this range. The sign of response (resistance increase or decrease) leads to a simple classification: gases can be classified as oxidizing or reducing and oxides can also be classified as p or n type. P-type oxides show a resistance increase in the presence of traces of reducing gases and resistance decrease to oxidizing gases. n-type oxides show opposite behaviour. This behaviour also correlates with the effect of changing oxygen partial pressure (PO2). Adsorption on surfaces The sensing mechanism in metal oxide gas sensors is related to ionosorption of species over their surfaces. The most important ionosorbed species when operating in ambient air are oxygen, water, carbon and its compounds. High concentrations of carbon can block surface sites of adsorption on a metal oxide. In the temperature range between 100  °C and 500  °C, oxygen ionosorbs over metal oxide in molecular (O2-) or atomic form (O-). Hence the study of adsorption is of fundamental importance in the field of sensors. Physisorption In this weakest form of adsorption like van der waals forces, no true chemical bond between the surface and adsorbate (or reaction species) is established. This bonding is mainly due to the induced dipole moment of a nonpolar adsorbate interacting with its own image charges on the polarized surface. The bonding energy is rather weak in the order of 0.1 eV. Chemisorption Chemisorption corresponds to the creation of chemical bonds between the adsorbate and surface and results in the electronic structure perturbation. In gas sensors, the target gas may be chemisorbed or physisorbed on the surface. When the gas species adsorb on the surface, molecules are either dissociated or diffused in the sensitive layer. Based on the Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD) and Electron Paramagnetic study (EPR) studies, at lower operating temperatures, oxygen is considered to be adsorbed in molecular form (either as neutral O2 (ads) or charged O2(ads) 2- ) due to its lower activation energy. At higher temperatures it dissociates into atomic oxygen (either neutral O(ads) or singly ionized (charged) O(ads)- or doubly ionized O2(ads)- ). Finally at very high temperatures the loss of lattice oxygen (first surface and then bulk) takes place. When a reducing gas like CO comes into contact with the surface. These consume ionosorbed oxygen and in turn change the electrical conductance of metal oxide. The overall effect is a change of the density of ionosorbed oxygen that is detected as an increase of sensor conductance. Direct adsorption is also possible for the gaseous species like strongly electronegative NO2, which decreases the sensor conductance. NO2 absorption on tin oxide surfaces was studied by temperature programmed desorption measurements and found that the adsorbates originating from NO2 are the same as those from NO, as NO2 molecule dissociates easily over the tin oxide surface. These adsorbates can be divided into three types, two nitrosil types (Sn NO+ and Sn NO- ) and the nitrite type Sn O-N=O. The nitrite type does not play any role in gas sensing since it is not involved in any electron exchange with the bulk of the semiconductor. In practical applications, gas sensors are normally expected to operate in air, in the presence of humidity and interfering gases. In such cases, for operating temperatures in a range of 100 to 500  °C, at the surface of the sensitive material various oxygen, water and carbon dioxide related species are present. Some gas species form bonds by exchanging electrical charge with specific surface sites and others may form dipoles. Dipoles do not affect the concentration of free charge carriers and so they have no impact on the resistance of sensitive layer. Fig.1 explains the simplified case of adsorbed oxygen ions and hydroxyl groups bound to an n-type metal oxide semiconductor. These adsorbed ions cause a band bending while the dipoles change the electron affinity when compared to the state before the adsorption .The changes of the work function (?F) are determined by band bending (qVs due to ionosorption) and changes in the electron affinity () due to building of dipoles at the sur face (M d+ OH d-). Ec, Ec,s Energy level representing the bottom of the conduction band and at the surface respectively. Ev, Ev,s Energy level representing the top of the valence band and at the surface respectively. Evac vaccum level, EF Fermi level, ÃŽ ¦ Work function, χ Electron affinity. Sensor Characteristics The characteristic of a sensor is classified into static and dynamic. Static characteristics can be measured when all the transient effects of the output signal have stabilized in to steady state. Dynamic characteristics tend to describe the sensors transient behavior. Static characteristics Sensitivity Sensitivity is the ratio of incremental change in the output of the sensor to its incremental change of the measurand in input. For example, if we have a gas sensor whose output voltage increases by 1 V when the oxygen concentration increases by 1000 ppm, then the sensitivity would be 1 mV/ppm. Generally, the sensitivity to the target gas is defined as the percent reduction of sensor resistance. Sensitivity (%) = [(Ra- Rg) / Ra] Ãâ€"100, where Ra is the value of initial equilibrium resistance in air and Rg is resistance in the presence of a target gas. For convenience sometimes the sensitivity of gas sensor is expressed as the ratio of resistance in air over resistance in gas for reducing gases (Ra/Rg) and resistance in gas over resistance in air (Rg/Ra) for oxidizing gas. Selectivity The sensors ability to measure a single component in the presence of others is known as its selectivity. For example, an oxygen sensor that does not show a response to other gases such as CO, CO2 is considered to be selective. Selectivity = (sensitivity of gas1/sensitivity of gas2) Selectivity of the sensor is assessed by the ratio of sensitivity between the gases that is of interest to be detected over the gases that are uninteresting for detection in equivalent concentrations. To improve selectivity to specific gases, sensor array technology is also being adapted. Stability and Drift The sensors ability to produce the same output value when measuring a fixed input over a period of time is termed as stability. Drift is the gradual change in the sensors response characteristics while the input concentration of the gas remains constant. Drift is the undesired and unexpected change that is unrelated to the input. It may be attributed to aging, temperature instability, contamination, material degradation, etc. For instance, in a gas sensor, gradual change of temperature may change the baseline stability, or gradual diffusion of the electrodes metal into substrate may change the conductivity of a semiconductor gas sensor. Repeatability It denotes the sensors ability to produce the same response for successive measurements of the same input, when all operating and environmental conditions remain constant. Reproducibility The sensors ability to reproduce responses after some measurement condition has been changed. For example, after shutting down a sensing system and subsequently restarting it, a reproducible sensor will show the same response to the same measurand concentration as it did prior to being shut down. Hysteresis It is the difference between output readings for the same measurand, when approached while increasing from the minimum value and the other while decreasing from the peak value. Response Time The time taken by a sensor to arrive at a stable value is the response time. It is generally expressed as the time at which the output reaches a certain percentage (for instance 95%) of its final value, in response to a stepped change of the input. At the onset, the response time is very fast, followed by a long drawn tail before reaching steady state value, thus the response time are often expressed as 50% or 70% of the final time. Recovery time is defined as the time that the sensor takes to recover its resistance from exposed condition to the baseline value after target gas is cut out from the environment Dynamic Range or Span The range of input signals that will result in a meaningful output for the sensor is the dynamic range or span. All sensors are designed to perform over a specified range. Signals outside of this range may cause unacceptably large inaccuracies, and may even result in irreversible damage to the sensor. Dynamic characteristics The dynamic characteristics of a sensor represent the time response of the sensor system. The various important dynamic characteristics of sensors are discussed below, Rise time Rise time is defined as the time required by the sensor response to change from 10% to 90% of it final steady state value. Settling time It is the time taken by the sensor response to settle down to within a certain percentage of the steady state value. Influence of contact electrodes on sensor performance The contact electrodes used in gas sensors can have both electrical and electrochemical roles. For thin compact films, contact resistance plays an important role as dominant factor in overall resistance. The contribution of contact resistance is also extremely important for the case in which individual nanorods, nanowires or nanobelts are used as sensing layers. These electrodes are generally made of metals. They can also be fabricated from materials such as conductive polymers or conductive metal oxides. Although the concept of resistance change of the sensitive material when exposed to target gas is widely known, the overall resistance of the sensor depends not only on the gas sensing material properties but also on parameters such as transducer morphology, electrode etc. When the sensitive layer consists only of a compact continuous material and the thickness is larger than the Debye length, it can only partly depleted when exposed to target gas. In this case, the interaction does not influence the entire bulk of the material. Two levels of resistance are established in parallel and this fact limits the sensitivity. Thin layer will be the better choice which can be fully depleted. The representation shows the influence of electrode-sensing layer contacts. Rc is resistance of the electrode-metal oxide contact, R11 is the resistance of the depleted region of the compact layer, R1 is the equivalent of series resistance of R11 and Rc, and the equivalent series resistance of SRgi and Rc, in the porous and compact situations, respectively. Rgi is the average inter-grain resistance in the case of porous layer, Eb minimum of the conduction band in the bulk, qVs band bending associated with surface phenomena on the layer, and qVc also contains the band bending induced at the electrode-metal oxide contact. Improvement of selectivity by surface modifications Mixing metal oxides with Metals that function as catalysts Binary compounds and multi-component materials Doping are the most common methods used to enhance the gas sensing performance of metal oxide gas sensors. These additives can be used for modifying the catalytic activity of the base oxide, favoring formation of active phases and improving the electron exchange rate. The interaction of gas with the sensing material, resulting in the gas sensitivity, is determined by the chemical properties of the sensor surface. Different surface atoms can be introduced on the surface of the metal oxide sensors. This surface modification leads to new chemical reactivity and enables the sensor to be operated at low temperatures. Nanoscale particles of noble metals (Pd, Pt, Au and Rh) and oxides of other elements (Co, Cu and Fe) deposited on the surface of metal oxides can act as surface sites for adsorbates and promoters for surface catalysis. They create additional adsorption sites and surface electronic states and as a result gas sensitivity, selectivity, rate of response can be altered. For achieving high gas response, the noble metal should create optimal conditions for both electron and ion (spillover) exchange between surface and reacting gas species. The nature of noble metals, their oxidation state and their distribution on the surface are determining factors in gas sensor sensitivity and selectivity. To attain the homogenous distribution of noble metal on the surface is very difficult. Surface morphology has a significant effect on the shape and distribution of catalysts. Noble metal clusters have a tendency to accumulate at step edges and kinks of metal oxides during their deposition. Catalysts based on noble metals can be poisoned by many organic and inorganic chemicals that contain sulphur (H2S, SO2, thiols) and phophorus. The excessive thickness of catalytic active additives can change their functions, turning into either shunting layer or active membrane filters, obstructing the penetration of detecting gas in the surface of gas sensing matrix. At certain conditions this quality can also be used for an improvement of gas sensors selectivity. It has been studied that the incorporation of additional phases (different oxides) in nanocrystalline systems in small quantities can change the conditions of base oxide growth. SnO2 doped with Nb (0.1 4 mol%) causes a decrease in crystallite size from 220 nm for pure SnO2 to about 30 nm for Nb (0.1 mol%) doped samples. The additional influence observed due to doping is the change in film resistance. SnO2 doping by Nb and Sb in the range of 0.01 and 1.0 mol% during sol-gel preparation and annealed at 900  °C leads to film resistance decrease of 100 to 1000 times respectively, while doping with In resulted in a rise in film resistance by a factor of 100. The effect of doping on gas sensing properties of metal oxide gas sensors is different from the catalytic activity of these additives. Improvement of selectivity by operating conditions The sensor material may be operated at a comparably wide range of operating temperatures (300 900  °C) leading to different thermal energies for the surface reactions, differences may be attained by selecting the operating temperature, leading to a variation in gas sensitivity. A more improved version of this idea is to continuously increase or decrease the operating temperature of a given sensor and to continuously measure the variation of conductivity. This technique is known as temperature transient operation which gives more information in case of gas mixtures. To realize selective gas detection, sensor arrays are also constructed where several sensors showing different patterns of gas sensitivity are selected and simultaneously operated. A simple technique to obtain an array using one sensor is to modulate the operating temperature to different levels. Excessive increase of operating temperature may lead to a considerable drop of gas sensitivity. Moreover increasing working t emperature can create conditions, where gas response will then be determined by change of bulk properties of material. Improvement of response and recovery time of gas sensors A high speed gas switching system can be used to improve the response of the gas sensor. Yamazoe et al. studied the response and recovery properties of SnO2 porous film gas sensors using a high speed gas switching system. The developed system allows the rapid replacement of the gas atmosphere in the chamber between air and H2 (or CO). It was reported that the response speed of the sensor was fast, reaching a response time of less than 0.5s at 350  °C. The rates of diffusion and surface reactions of these gases (H2 and CO) in the porous sensing film are high enough for the sensor to reach a steady state within a short time. However the resistance in air did not reach the original value by repeated switching. This incomplete recovery was attributed to the slow desorption of H2O and CO2 formed on SnO2 by the surface reaction of H2 and CO respectively. Synthesis of 1-D metal oxide nanostructures Metal oxide nanostructures synthesis methods are broadly categorized as Solution phase synthesis method, where the growth process is carried out in liquid. Since aqueous solutions are used, this process is otherwise termed as hydrothermal growth process. Gas phase synthesis method uses gaseous environment in closed chambers. The synthesis is carried out at high temperatures from 500  °C to 1500  °C. Zinc oxide (ZnO) ZnO is wide bandgap (Eg = 3.4 eV) II VI compound semiconductor which has a non-centrosymmetric wurtzite structure with polar surfaces and lattice parameters a = 0.3296 and c = 0.52065 nm. The structure of ZnO can be described as a number of alternating planes composed of tetrahedrally coordinated O2- and Zn2+ ions, stacked alternatively along the c-axis. The tetrahedral coordination in ZnO results in piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. The oppositely charged ions produce positively charged (0001)-Zn and negatively charged (000-1)-O polar surfaces, resulting in a normal dipole moment and spontaneous polarization along the c-axis. Hydrothermal Synthesis of Zinc oxide nanostructures Different techniques namely sol-gel, spray pyrolysis, hydrothermal method, electrospinning and thermal evaporation are prevalent for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles and nanorods. The hydrothermal process is an environmentally friendly process and does not require a complex vacuum environment. The hydrothermal process is surface independent and provides good control over the morphology of the nanostructures. ZnO nanorods growth on glass substrates by thermal decomposition of hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) and zinc nitrate is reported by Baruah et al. Thermal degradation of HMT releases hydroxyl ions which react with Zn2+ ions from ZnO. The role of HMT is to supply the hydroxyl ions to drive the precipitation reaction. Sugunan et al, have proposed that HMT being a long chain polymer and a nonpolar chelating agent, gets preferentially attached to the non polar facets of the zincitie crystal thereby cutting off the access of Zn2+ ions to them leaving only the polar (001) face for epitaxial growth. Metal oxide nanostructure based conductometric gas sensors Zinc oxide Characterization of gas sensing properties of ZnO nanowires is reported by Ahn et.al. ZnO nanowires were fabricated by a selective growth method on patterned Au catalysts forming a nanobridge between two Pt pillar electrodes. The gas sensing properties were demonstrated using NO2 gas. The response as a function of temperature is shown to be highest at 225  °C and linearly increased with the concentration of NO2 in the range of 0.5 3ppm and saturated beyond this range. The sensor performance is also compared with ZnO nanocrystals, Sn and In doped ZnO thin film. Also the nanobridge structure is shown to have fast recovery behaviour because the desorbed gas molecules can be easily removed off from the nanowires surfaces. Lupan et.al demonstrated the gas sensing behaviour of Al doped ZnO films synthesized by successive chemical deposition method. Successive chemical solution deposition method was reported to be simple and requires non-sophisticated equipment to produce nanostructures with high efficiency. Nanostructured ZnO films doped with Al showed a high sensitivity to CO2 than undoped ZnO films. Characterization and gas sensing properties of ZnO hollow spheres is reported by Zhang et.al. Different concentrations of NH3 and NO2 at different temperatures were used to test the gas sensor. ZnO hollow sphere sensor exhibited extremely different sensing behaviors to NH3 and NO2. The optimum operating temperature of the sensor was 200  °C for NH3 and 240  °C for NO2 respectively. The gas sensor exhibited much higher response to NO2 than to other gases at 240  °C implying good selectivity and potential application of the sensor for detecting NO2. Tin oxide Law et.al, analyzed room temperature sensing properties of a single crystalline tin oxide nanowire sensor towards nitrogen dioxide. NO2 chemisorb strongly on SnO2 surface and at room temperature desorption is not complete when the NO2 is removed. UV light was used to activate both the adsorption and desorption process. In the dark, oxygen adsorbs on the surface capturing electrons from the semiconductor and creates a depletion layer. When exposed to UV, photo-generated holes migrate to the surface and recombine with electrons releasing oxygen ions, with an increase in conductance. The detection limit was 2 10 ppm of nitrogen dioxide. Kolmakov et.al studied the effect of catalysis in tin oxide single wire FET structures. The sensing capabilities of SnO2 single nano-wires and nanobelts in a FET configuration before and after functionalization with Pd catalyst was analysed. The improvement in the sensing performance after catalysation was reported to be the combined effect of spill-over of atomic oxygen formed catalytically on Pd clusters and migrating on SnO2 surface and also to the back spill-over effect in which weakly bound molecular oxygen migrates to Pd clusters and are catalytically dissociated. Indium oxide Indium oxide nanowires have been tested towards ethanol by Xiangfeng et.al. A mixture of In2O3 nanowire and polyvinyl alcohol solution was coated on alumina tubes with two gold contacts at the end; a heating wire was inserted in the tube to operate in the temperature range 100 500 °C. The resistance of the nanowires was monitored in presence of air, ethanol and other gases. The highest response was obtained with ethanol, the detection limit was estimated to be equal to 100 ppm. Molybdenum oxide Molybdenum oxide nanorods based gas sensing was reported. The MoO3 nanorods were characterized by high response to ethanol and CO at temperatures in the range of 100  °C. The response of thin films with the same structure was comparatively studied and nanorods based sensor resulted in one order of magnitude more sensitive due to the high surface to volume ratio and reduced lateral dimensions of the nanorods. Other metal oxides Sawicka et.al. presented the nitrogen sensing properties of tungsten oxide nanowires prepared with electrospinning. The effect of processing parameter variations was studied and a comparison with thin films prepared by sol-gel was also presented. WO3 nanowires showed better NO2 sensing performances compared to sol-gel processed films due to increase in surface area of nanowires. A large amount of literature is available on the gas sensing properties of carbon nanotubes. Only little attention is put in the studies of gas sensing properties of metal oxide based tubular structures. Varghese et.al. studied the hydrogen sensing properties of titania nano-tubes. The tests were performed in nitrogen atmosphere and 1% H2. The response time increased with temperature and the response time was 2-3 min. NO2 gas sensors based on ZnO nanostructures Liu et.al reported the NO2 gas sensing properties of vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays prepared by hydrothermal method with zinc acetate and hexamethylenetetramine. The seed layer was deposited by ultrasonic spary pyrolysis. The aqueous hydrothermal solution was prepared by mixing equimolar ratio of zinc acetate dehydrate and HMT. The hydrothermal growth was carried out in a Teflon-lined stainless container. The substrate was put in the solution with the seeded face down and the container was sealed and kept at 110 °C for three hours. The nanorod sensor shows a higher sensitivity than the ZnO film based sensor prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. The enhanced sensitivity is attributed to the higher aspect ratio of the nanorod structure and the sensitivity increases with the length of the nanorod. The relative response of the sensor is linearly proportional to NO2 concentration in the 0.2 5 ppm range. The NO2 gas sensing properties of semiconducting type gas sensors with channels composed of non-agglomerated, necked ZnO nanoparticles were investigated by Jun et.al. The heat treatment of the nanoparticles at 400 °C led to their necking and coarsening. The slight necking of the nanoparticles with their neighbors also enhanced the conductivity of the channels, due to the lowering of the potential barrier. The response of the necked nanoparticle based sensor was reported to be as high as 100 when exposed to 0.2 ppm of NO2 at 200  °C. NO2 gas sensor based on ZnO nanorods grown by ultrasonic irradiation was reported to very high sensitivity with a very low detection limit of 10 ppb at 250 °C. Sonochemical route was employed for the fabrication of vertically aligned nanorods on a Pt electrode patterned alumina substrate. The total time requir

On-line Dangers Essays -- Essays Papers

On-line Dangers In this day and age of super high-speed networking and digital communications, just about anything on any subject can be found on the Internet. Some materials, such as online libraries are helpful, some, such as student’s personal homepages are fairly useless, and some sites, such as online medical references, can be lifesaving. All these sites have a right to be on the web. However, there are also sites that could be detrimental to people, such as pornography sites, pages detailing the manufacture of illegal drugs, and instructions on how to build high explosives and other illegal devices. With the number of these types increasing daily, parents and lawmakers alike are becoming concerned for the well being of the public, specifically the younger sector of the population. This raises the issue of how safe the Internet is. With the wealth of useful information available on the Internet also comes dangerous and harmful information regarding everything from stealing cable to manufacturing high explosives, as well as child pornography and invasion of privacy. If the wrong information fell into the wrong hands, disaster could result. One of the issues most common in the papers today is pornography available on the Internet. There are two main types of pornography available on the Internet: regular and child pornography. Regular porn is rationalized by the following argument: The idea that a TV show or lyric can transform a healthy and connected child into a dangerous monster is absurd. The same goes for the Internet. The idea that certain material on the net can cause a child to grow up to be a child molester is primarily the invention of politicians, who use it to frighten and rally. Religious groups who use it to teach belief to the young, and journalists, who use it to regain their once powerful position in American society. The Internet should be treated with respect, and used with responsibility, just like any other form of media. This type of porno should be allowed on the net, but all sites should require a password of some kind. However, the other type of pornography, child porn, is much more dange rous as well as illegal. This type of pornography often involves people that are willing to spend great amounts of time, money, and energy to gradually seduce their targets, as well as people that immediately engage in sexua... ... victim. Fraudulent sellers use these various on-line services to promote bogus stock offerings, credit repair services, and other far fetched ideas or offers. More chances for Internet scam artists to claim victims can be found in the on-line classified advertising. No matter where you read these, you are likely to find some that are false, such as ads promoting â€Å"miracle† weight loss products and programs. A good way to avoid being ripped off by these scams is to use your common sense: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. In the digital age, we are offered a wide variety of conveniences and services through the Internet. Even though most of these can be useful, there are many evils out there in the digital world. Although there is probably no way we can ever make the Internet one hundred percent safe, we can use our good judgement to keep ourselves out of harms way. This includes knowing the tip-offs for online scams, never giving your credit card numbers out to sources that you don’t trust, and most importantly, monitoring your child when he or she is on the computer. It is up to the Internet user to keep themselves safe from the dangers that lurk on-line. On-line Dangers Essays -- Essays Papers On-line Dangers In this day and age of super high-speed networking and digital communications, just about anything on any subject can be found on the Internet. Some materials, such as online libraries are helpful, some, such as student’s personal homepages are fairly useless, and some sites, such as online medical references, can be lifesaving. All these sites have a right to be on the web. However, there are also sites that could be detrimental to people, such as pornography sites, pages detailing the manufacture of illegal drugs, and instructions on how to build high explosives and other illegal devices. With the number of these types increasing daily, parents and lawmakers alike are becoming concerned for the well being of the public, specifically the younger sector of the population. This raises the issue of how safe the Internet is. With the wealth of useful information available on the Internet also comes dangerous and harmful information regarding everything from stealing cable to manufacturing high explosives, as well as child pornography and invasion of privacy. If the wrong information fell into the wrong hands, disaster could result. One of the issues most common in the papers today is pornography available on the Internet. There are two main types of pornography available on the Internet: regular and child pornography. Regular porn is rationalized by the following argument: The idea that a TV show or lyric can transform a healthy and connected child into a dangerous monster is absurd. The same goes for the Internet. The idea that certain material on the net can cause a child to grow up to be a child molester is primarily the invention of politicians, who use it to frighten and rally. Religious groups who use it to teach belief to the young, and journalists, who use it to regain their once powerful position in American society. The Internet should be treated with respect, and used with responsibility, just like any other form of media. This type of porno should be allowed on the net, but all sites should require a password of some kind. However, the other type of pornography, child porn, is much more dange rous as well as illegal. This type of pornography often involves people that are willing to spend great amounts of time, money, and energy to gradually seduce their targets, as well as people that immediately engage in sexua... ... victim. Fraudulent sellers use these various on-line services to promote bogus stock offerings, credit repair services, and other far fetched ideas or offers. More chances for Internet scam artists to claim victims can be found in the on-line classified advertising. No matter where you read these, you are likely to find some that are false, such as ads promoting â€Å"miracle† weight loss products and programs. A good way to avoid being ripped off by these scams is to use your common sense: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. In the digital age, we are offered a wide variety of conveniences and services through the Internet. Even though most of these can be useful, there are many evils out there in the digital world. Although there is probably no way we can ever make the Internet one hundred percent safe, we can use our good judgement to keep ourselves out of harms way. This includes knowing the tip-offs for online scams, never giving your credit card numbers out to sources that you don’t trust, and most importantly, monitoring your child when he or she is on the computer. It is up to the Internet user to keep themselves safe from the dangers that lurk on-line.

finding neverland movie review Essay -- essays research papers

Analysis of Roger Ebert's â€Å"Finding Neverland† Film Review â€Å"Finding Neverland† is a recently released motion picture starring acclaimed actors Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and directed by Marc Forster ("Monsters Ball†) Personally, I loved the movie and It was hard to find a critic that gave the movie a negative review, so I stopped trying to find someone to argue with and I came across the king of all critics, Roger Ebert. I usually don't agree with his reviews, so I figured we would clash on this one, but surprisingly we came to agree on many aspects. He makes a point to mention Freddie Highmore and the remarkable job he did playing the angry but sad role of Peter. A very challenging role for a child that even most adult actors couldn't portray. He can make you feel so sad for him although he is acting like a brat most of the time, but he makes you feel the pain he's going through with the tears and sadness always running through his eyes. He also commends Johnny Depp for his â€Å"widely differing roles† bringing up characters Depp has played in the past which gives you a glance at how many different roles he has not only played, but was excellent in portraying. It is obvious Ebert was impressed by Depps performance but it seams he is giving the movie credit to Depp and ignoring the director. â€Å"For Depp, "Finding Neverland" is the latest in an extraordinary series of performances. After his Oscar nomi...

The Lively Earth: Important Features Make the Earth Unique

EASC 2112 Earth System The lively Earth: important features make the Earth unique Name: Leung Ho Nam, Banson UID: 2011712579 Introduction: The Earth is one of the eight planets in the solar system. The planet Earth is emphasized as â€Å"the rare Earth† in numerous literatures because of its unique physical conditions and the complicated interactions among all biotic and abiotic systems. Isotope dating indicates the earth was formed approximately from 4. 53 to 4. 568 Ga, according to isotope used (Allegre et. al. , 1995).Despite the precise formation time of the Earth, there is no exact planet formation model that is generally accepted except the minimum mass solar nebula model, MMSN (Canup, 2008). The MMSN model suggested the planetary accretion of the Earth and other terrestrial planets begins with a disc of hydrogen abundant gas and dust, circulating around the sun. Following by a series of collision, small particles combine and collapse repeatedly. The runaway growth slows down until reaching a certain mass (Canup, 2008). The formation process is crucial to the evolution of the Earth because it determines the source of materials which the Earth contains.The formation of the Earth, indeed, is not specific enough to comprise â€Å"the rare Earth† because all solar planets were grown within a circumsolar disc of gas and dust suggested by Canuo (2008). When we look at the solar system from the outer space, the Earth is probably the only shiny blue planet because of water surface reflection. 70 percent of the Earth surface is covered by the ocean. There is approximately 1. 4 billion km2 of liquid water by mass on Earth (Oak & Kanae, 2006). The existence of permanent liquid water responsible to create a mild temperature and a stable environment.Liquid water is an important element implicates the emergence and evolution of life on Earth after a few million years from the latest collision (Baross & Hoffman, 1985). The distinct blue colour of t he ocean and the green colour of the terrestrial land is obvious on the Earth surface. Nevertheless, it is hardly to observe the entire view of the surface because of the scattering effect (Adams, 1934) and screening effect of the cohesive cloud in the atmosphere. Differences between the earth’s atmosphere and other planetary atmosphere including the presence of oxygen and relatively low carbon dioxide concentration.The atmosphere is extremely important to the biosphere. Without atmosphere, organisms nowadays would probably remain in the simple form or single celled. Furthermore, the ozone layer in the atmosphere absorbs and reflects part of the solar radiation incoming from the sun. This reduction of solar radiation lowers down the atmospheric temperature dramatically which allows organisms to survive. The Earth would not be so unique among the solar system when missing either one of the systems. The Gaia hypothesis links this concept and indicates the Earth is a giant self- regulating system.The interactions of the organisms with their abiotic environments modified the condition of the Earth such as oxygen content and atmospheric temperature, making the Earth more habitable terrestrial planet (Lovelock, 1973). Evolution of the Earth: Allegre and the research team (1995) suggested that the Earth was formed 4. 53 to about 4. 7 Ga. The age range of the earth was estimated by means of a series of isotope dating so the results are relatively valid. The Earth queues the third planet from the sun and its average radius is 6371 km (Lide, 2000).Because of specific distance from the sun and the size, the Earth prevents some of the very light elements, such as hydrogen, from escaping, by gravitational force (Adams, 1934). Moreover, the Earth has a gravitational force of 10 g (Yoder, 1995). Gravitational force is an inconspicuous pull generated from the Earth core. The Earth self-spins once it is formed. The rotation period of the earth is 23 hours and 56 minutes (Gold, 1967). This spinning effect creates centrifugal force which differentiate substances by mass. Heavy metal tends to migrate toward the Earth core and leaving the light materials outside.When time passes, the surface of the earth cools and the first land formed. Although land also appears in other planets such as Mars, the crust of the Earth is different. Interestingly, unlike Mars, the Earth surface is not covered by a concrete sphere but a few tectonic plates. Since the Mars is much smaller than the Earth so the cooling effect of Mars is much faster than the Earth. By now, the crust of the Mars has not been renewed for a certain long period. The plate tectonic moves with three strategies, convergency, divergency and transformation. The movement of the plates driven by the underneath semisolid magma (Courteny, 2008).Surface morphology is determined by the way which the tectonic plates move and density of the plates. Tectonic activities, earthquake, mountain-building, volcanic eruption and subduction zone, are restricted along plate boundaries (Courtery, 2008). Volcanic activities and oceanic subduction are extremely important processes to deliver materials from the inner core and renew surface materials respectively. These recycling processes keep providing accessible resources for the living organisms. Atmosphere and ocean formation was also suggested to be related to volcanic activities (Morbidelli, 2000).Aforementioned that self-spinning of the Earth differentiate substances on Earth. Iron, as a metal that can be magnetized, and with accordingly high atomic mass, moves inward and forms the core. After 60 million years after the late Heavy Bombardment, the magnetic field was established (Staff, 2010). Studies from Karato (1993) implies the magnetic field may relate to the magnetizing properties of iron. No matter how the Earth’s magnetic field was formed, it â€Å"prevents the atmosphere being stripped away by the solar wind† (Staff, 2010 ). Atmosphere: The atmosphere is the outermost, thin layer enclosing the Earth.The composition of the atmosphere for example, oxygen, is imperative to the evolution of the Earth. The atmosphere of the Earth is comparable to the nearby terrestrial planet such as Mars and Venus. Given that the average distance and the size of Venus from the sun is 3/4 and 4/5 of the Earth, Venus has an atmosphere (Adams, 1934). Spectroscopic studies indicate that the atmosphere of Venus does not show any markings representing the presence of oxygen and water vapour, even if these elements, once, had been appearing on Venus, they were consumed by the crust.Another result in the same spectroscopic concluded that the Venus atmosphere contains a high concentration of carbon dioxide, triggering a sever greenhouse effect (Adams, 1934). In addition to Venus, the Mars with only one tenth by the mass of the Earth also has an atmosphere. Spectrograms studies raised significant markings on ? 8300 and ? 8700 reco gnizes the appearance of water and carbon dioxide respectively on the Mars atmosphere(Kaplan et. al. , 1964). The presence of water on Mars is obvious with the ice cap present in the polar region of Mars (Adams, 1934).Not surprisingly, oxygen absents in Mars atmosphere and was proofed by the light frequency relative to carbon dioxide was not absorbed by the Mars atmosphere (Kaplan et. al.. 1964). From the example of Venus and Mars, it clearly shows that containing such a high concentration of oxygen, 21%, with extraordinary low carbon dioxide concentration, 0. 03%, as the Earth’s atmosphere is uncommon in the solar system. The composition of the Earth atmosphere provides with evidences that it has been modified by some other factors. This modification, as we know, was conducted by plants.Plants inhale carbon dioxide and exhale free oxygen as a by-product through the process of photosynthesis, inorganic substances were also converted into organic substances during the process (Berkner & Marshall, 1965). Free oxygen facilitates the evolution of organisms because high oxygen concentration triggers aerobic respiration, without oxygen, organisms nowadays would probably remain simple (Fenchel & Finlay, 1994). Differences between aerobic and anaerobic respiration not only limit on the requirement of oxygen, the oxidizing power and good electron accepting properties of oxygen boosts energy metabolism (Babcock, 1999).Babcock (1999) also stated that aerobic respiration releases much more ATPs than anaerobic respiration, ATP can be treated as the energy storage unit in organisms. In other words, organisms undergo aerobic respiration can perform more vigorous activities or prolong the duration of the activities. Furthermore, the ozone layer derived from the excess free oxygen incubated a habitable environment for living organisms. The ozone layer with related to energy budget and the effect on human was well examined in Norway (Adams, 1934; Henriksen, 1990) .The ozone layer prevents living organisms burnt to death by screening out part of the UV-radiation reaching to the Earth surface. Hydrosphere: By the time when Earth was just formed, water from asteroids,  proto-planets, and  comets was locked in the core. Volcanic extrusion and outgassing brings magma along with dissolved gas and water vapour to the surface respectively. Extruded gas and water vapour suspended in the atmosphere therefore atmospheric pressure continuously increases. Water condenses when the atmospheric vapour pressure is saturated.Water droplets fall onto the ground and ocean formed (Morbidelli, 2000). Liquid water is an advance heat reservior because of having an extremely high specific heat capacity, 4200J/kg/?. This significantly high specific heat capacity, in other words, a large sum of energy can only result in a small extent of changes in temperature of water. The high energy absorption ability combined with the ocean current makes the ocean a good vecto r for transporting absorbed solar energy and regulating global climate (Michon, 2006). Apart from an excellent thermal reservoir, liquid water is also a good solvent.Gases in the atmosphere and minerals from the hydorthermal vents can easily dissolve into the water. Dissolved gas and minerals has planted a seed to the extensive evolution of life throughout the geological time (Morris, 2007). Biosphere: As we discussed the geosphere, atmosphere and the hydrosphere above, these systems have one thing in common. All the systems are linked with the biosphere. Although other planets in the solar system exhibit either physical feature, mostly not more than two, with Earth. The true uniqueness of the Earth raised from the presents of life which cannot be found on other planets recently.The origin of life is still a hot arguing topic among groups of scientists. However, the hydothermal vent is the most commonly and recently acceptable concepts of the origin of life (Baross & Hoffman, 19 85). The origin of life via submarine hydrothermal vent hypothesis has not been disproved yet since it was published because there are no other environment on Earth can provide a thermo-stable habitat with abundant minerals supply, for example, nitrogen and sulphur, for life establishment (Baross & Hoffman, 1985). Photosynthesis is considered as a key issue of the origin of life (Hartman, 1996).Bacteria record found in western Australia, dated as 3. 5 billion years ago, stated that cyanobacteria may be the first autotrophic organism and responsible for the later atmospheric modification (Awranik, 1992). This key process opens the window of free oxygen, hence considerably boosted the evolution of organisms. The GAIA Hypothesis: Every system discussed above has its own features and contributions within the system boundaries. There is no doubt that every literatures when emphasizing the planet Earth, it can hardly find any paper just put the focus on a single system.The same situat ion can also be observed in this article. For example, in the discussion part of the origin and development of the atmosphere, the tectonic activities and outgassing processes were mentioned. Moreover, a similar case was obtained when investigating biosphere. Although the whole part is bias towards living organisms, the effect of atmosphere to the biosphere can hardly be eliminated. The above situation is not due to the habit of the authors or the regulations of the publishers but it is the real case of the Earth.All systems on the Earth, including geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere or even self-defined systems, are interdependent. These systems interact with each other to create a more habitable planey. This complex interaction has long been observed by James Lovelock (1973) and explained in the GAIA Hypothesis. GAIA hypothesis suggested early life form achieve some sort of ability to control the global climate and the effect is still active. Lovelock (1972) stated that once the life exist on Earth, the physical environment and the chemical states had resulted a dramatic change.For example, the solar radiation level had increased dramatically since life exists. The Earth surface temperature, nevertheless, has only changed for a few degrees, throughout billion of years, compared to the current temperature. More interestingly, the rate and the extent of temperature change during the past billion years is so slow and mild respectively that the environment always permit the persistence of living organisms or provide long enough time for organisms to adapt. Without life, the atmosphere of the Earth will be similar to that of Mars and Venus.The above example, therefore, proved that the atmosphere we are now breathing is â€Å"biological contrivance† (Lovelock, 1972). The terms â€Å"Spaceship Earth† (Lovelock, 1972) was used to represent the planet where we are living. When astronauts were sent into the space, all the requirements for survi val can only obtain from the storage in the spaceship. If either system in the spaceship fails, astronauts will probably die. Conclusion: Doubtlessly, the Earth has many physical environments that absent in other planets. For example, liquid water and living organisms.However, what really makes the Earth rare is the interaction between different functional systems with unknown complexity. These interactions connected to the terminology of the â€Å"Spaceship Earth† meaning the Earth has the ability to self-regulate to adjust its own environmental condition that result in a harmonious giant system. Reference: Awramik, S. M. (1992). The oldest records of photosynthesis. PhotosynthesisResearch 33 (2): 75-89 Claude J. Allegre,  Gerard Manhes,  Christa Gopel, (1995). The age of the Earth. David R. Lide. (2000). Various. Handbook of Chemistry and Physics  . 1 Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 59 (8):1445–1456 Gerald T Babcock. (1999). How oxygen is activated and reduced in respiration. PNAS. 96(23):12971-12973 Henriksen, Thormod, Dahlback, Arne, Larsen, Soren H. H. Moan, Johan. (1990). ULTRAVIOLET-RADIATION and SKIN CANCER. EFFECT OF AN OZONE LAYERDEPLETION. Photochemistry and Photobiology. 51 (5):579-582 Hyman Hartman. (1996). Photosynthesis and the origin of life. Origins of life andevolution of the biosphere. 28:515-521 James E. Lovelock, (1972). Chapter 25: GAIA as seen through the atmosphere.Atmospheric environment. 6 (8):579-580 James E. Lovelock, (1973). Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: thegaia hypothesis. Tellus. 26 (1-2):2-10 John A. Baross & Sarah E. Hoffman. (1985). Submarine hydrothermal vents andassociated gradient environments as sites for the origin and evolution of life. Origin of life and evolution of the biosphere. 15 (4):327-345 L. V. Berkner & L. C. Marshall. (1965). On the origin and rise of oxygen concentrationin the earth’s atmosphere. Journal of the atmospheric science. 22(3):225-261 Lewis D. Kaplan, Guido Munch, Hyron Spinrad (1964). An analysis of the spectrum ofMars. The astrophysical journal. 139 (1): 1-15 Morbidelli, A. et al. (2000). Source regions and time scales for the delivery of waterto Earth. Meteoritics & Planetary Science  35  (6): 1309–1320 Morris, Ron M. (2007). Oceanic Processes. NASA Astrobiology Magazine. P. D. Moore. (1983). Plants and the palaeoatmosphere. Journal of the GeologicalSociety of London, 140(1):13-25 Robin M. Canup, (2008). Accretion of the Earth. Philosophical Transactions:Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 66:4061-4075 Scott, Michon (2007). Earth's Big heat Bucket. NASA Earth Observatory Seligman, Courtney (2008). The Structure of the Terrestrial Planets. OnlineAstronomy eText Table of Contents. URL: cseligman. com. Accessed: 6thNovermber,2012 Shun-ichiro Karato. (1993). Inner Core Anisotropy Due to the MagneticField—induced Preferred Orientation of Iron. Science,  262 (5140):1708-1711. Staff. (2010 ). Oldest measurement of Earth's magnetic field reveals battle betweenSun and Earth for our atmosphere. Physorgnt. news. T. Gold. (1967).Radio Method for the Precise Measurement of the Rotation Period ofthe Earth. Science. 21 (3786):302-304 Taikan Oki & Shinjiro Kanae, (2006). Global Hydrological Cycles and World WaterResources. Science 313 (1068. ) Tom Fenchel & Bland J. Finlay. (1994). The evolution of life without oxygen. Americanscientist. 82 (1):22-29 Walter S. Adams, (1934). The Planets and Their Atmospheres. The Scientific Monthly. 39 (1):5-19 Yoder, Charles F. (1995). Global Earth Physic. A Handbook of Physical Constants. Washington: American Geophysical Union. p. 12

Hamlet’s Infatuation with Death

†An Undiscover’d Country†: Hamlet’s Infatuation With Death Have you ever wondered what happens to you when you kick the bucket? Will you still be the same person? Or is death really the great equalizer? Is it possible we all end up the same? Death is a very scary and lonely thing to think about, and nothing is a greater example of that than William Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet. Hamlet is infatuated with the idea of death and what it brings. With comments like, â€Å"To die: to sleep; / No more,† (Hamlet 3. 1. 61-62) and â€Å"we fat all/ Creatures else to fat us† (4. 3. 3-24), it is clear Hamlet has a very lonely and depressing view on what happens when you bite the dust. Hamlet’s fascination with death and dismal view on it are all evident throughout the whole play. We start to learn that Hamlet has a bizarre fascination with death when, every other scene, he is talking how everyone will end up in the ground one way or anothe r. â€Å"To be or not to be – that is the question† (3. 1. 57), is where it all starts off. From this famous speech to the end of the play, all Hamlet worries about is death. He continues to go on and on about how we will all become equal and starts to wonder what it is like to die. Hamlet often talks about self-murder, or suicide, and how it will affect his afterlife if he decided to do it. HAMLET. O, that this too solid flesh would melt Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God! (1. 2. 129-132) Hamlet is obviously contemplating suicide here, but then he realized that he cannot go to Heaven if he commits suicide. Going to Hell is something that Hamlet does not want at all. This is obvious because, throughout the play, Hamlet thinks about killing himself, but he never does because he is scared to die, and even worse, scared to go to Hell. The language that Hamlet uses to express death is very interesting. The way and how Hamlet talks about death all the time is extremely depressing to read and I can only imagine how it made Hamlet depressed. Hamlet often has trouble with expressing his views on death as he often has conflicting statements. Sometimes he will think of death as an adventure, â€Å"The undiscover’d country from whose bourn/ No traveller returns† (3. 1. 81-82), or he will think of it as an extremely gruesome thing, â€Å"A certain/ Convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. † (4. 3. 21-22). The way he talks about death here is cringe-worthy. Just thinking about worms chowing down on Polonius is nauseating. Hamlet does not often talk about death this way in the play, though. He is almost making a joke in this quote, but the joke is true and extremely gross. Hamlet’s view on death is very dark and grim. His believe that death makes us all equal and there is nothing we can do to prevent that. In Act Five, Hamlet is in a graveyard with Horatio and is carrying on a very dark conversation with him. Hamlet has a very interesting quote in this Act, â€Å"Alexander died, Alexander was buried, / Alexander returneth into dust† (5. 1. 189-190). This quote is about Alexander the Great, and his name should go without saying that he was a very important person. It is depressing to think about it because Alexander was a great king. But he ended up like we will all end up, and that is dust in the ground. In the same scene Hamlet drops another interesting quote, â€Å"let her paint an/ Inch thick, to this favor she must come† (5. 1. 170-171). Hamlet happens to be holding the skull of Yorick when he says this. No matter how much make-up, or paint, you put on, no matter how much you dress up and act fancy, you will still end up like Yorick. And the sad part is that there is nothing you can do to prevent it. Mortality is a very commonly thought about in this play. Hamlet is not the only character that worries about the afterlife. Almost every character in the play has a view on life and death. Their views maybe different, most are still depressing. This theme is present because Shakespeare’s view on death was depressing. Hamlet’s view on death is a direct relation to William Shakespeare’s. They both believe we will end up the same; a dead body in the ground.

The Market for Online Education

Introduction Traditional education is designed around face-to-face communication in a physical classroom. Educational institutions are required to pay for costly inputs, the costs of which are spread out over a limited number of students. It is no surprise then that this education delivery model has produced a 550% increase in the cost of tuition at U.S. universities since 1985 (Vella, 2012). In addition to this, most universities are run by non-profit trusts or governments, where there is little pressure to innovate and fully utilize the physical and intellectual resources of the institution. With this backdrop, online courses are offering low-cost learning alternatives, which are customized for needs of customers, and are available without regard to space and time for different groups of customers worldwide. Over time, attitudes of students and employers towards online education are also improving. Finally, new private companies are coming up to offer customized solutions often backed by cloud computing platforms, though they still lack the brand recognition of traditional universities. This paper will examine the limitations of traditional educational methods and explore sources of demand and supply of online education with a view towards how innovative business models such as crowdsourcing and technology infrastructures such as cloud computing are creating change in online education (Weld et al., 2012). Evolution of Online Education Traditional education delivery in thousands of universities globally is designed around transfer of knowledge from teachers to students via face-to-face, lecture based interaction in physical classrooms. At the outset, this imposes the limit of physical capacity of the classroom on the number of individuals who can enrol in the class. In comparison, recent advances in information and communication technologies have enabled alternative online education delivery mechanisms, which can optimize educational delivery in a cost-efficient manner for a large number of users. Online education can be defined as a new social process which utilizes digital technology to partially or fully substitute traditional classroom learning methods, optimized for learners without the barriers of a traditional educational setup (Hiltz & Turoff, 2006). Allen and Seaman (2013) define online education to include courses where at least 80% of the course content is delivered online. These courses are delivered ov er the Internet and include significant use of digital media, data storage and communication technologies such as computer-assisted instruction, group communications, use of immersive simulations, gaming and asynchronous learning networks, collaborative knowledge systems and use of wireless and handheld devices. Online education offers different sets of opportunities to different organisations and individuals. For existing educational institutions, it offers a way to increase enrolment or reach a different type of audience such as corporate training. For start-ups looking to shake up the education ‘industry’, it offers the opportunity to compete with traditional universities on different bases of competition, such as price, program duration or class timing. For others, it offers the opportunity for lifelong learning or the opportunity to learn from professors of top universities. Surveys show that the number of students taking online learning courses is on the rise. Allen and Seaman (2013) report that the total number of students in the U.S. taking at least 1 online course during 2012 has increased to 6.7 million, representing 32% of the total student population of 21 million students. In an endorsement of the online learning platform, 77% of academic leaders believe that online learning leads to better learning outcomes than face-to-face instruction. On the major obstacles that are holding back the growth of online education, the authors believe that most faculty members still do not have a positive view about online learning. 40% believe employers have reservations about online degrees. Product Offerings Online education is influencing different tiers of the market in different ways. Firstly, in traditional universities, more and more fully online classes are being developed, and technology is finding its way into more traditional classes as well. Many universities now offer online only classes for their students. In addition, universities such as Georgia Tech are creating tailor made degrees for corporations such as AT&T. This setup benefits the university which gets an extra revenue stream and also AT&T which gets high-end skills training for its employees on the job (Kitroeff, 2014). In addition, some new, non-traditional universities have also been set up. These online universities, such as the University of Phoenix, replicate the existing university model but without a physical campus, utilizing online content delivery. A different model has also been developed by some traditional universities such as MIT and Stanford. In partnership with private start-up companies such as Coursera and EdX, these institutions are putting together free classes open to global masses known as massive open online courses (MOOC). These courses are available to all the students in the world who have Internet access and some of these classes boast registrations in hundreds of thousands. Currently, nearly 3% of institutions of higher education in the US are offering MOOCs while another 10% are in the planning process of offering MOOCs (Allen & Seaman, 2013). Coursera is also expanding into China with its more than 1 million online learners (Larson, 2014). However, it is not clear how MOOC offerings will be financed (Anderson, 2012). The author points out that giving away content for free usually never turns out to be good business model. Suggestions for revenue generation include subscription and charging employers who want to hire successful students. Another issue is how to ascertain the identity and actual completion of work by a given individual. Udacity, another start-up has devised a solution by offering physical testing facilities in different countries where students can take certification exams in a supervised environment. While they are becoming increasingly popular, MOOCs offer limited customization. In comparison, some start-up education companies are exploring the idea of customized learning enabled by ‘crowdsourcing’. Crowdsourcing is a term which defines the development of an online community whose physically dispersed members may be called upon to provide results online to a given problem. One limitation of MOOCs is that grading assignments of hundreds of thousands of students requires using automated software, which can only grade multiple choice problems. This solution does not work very well in the humanities and social sciences. A crowdsourcing-based solution is to use peer evaluation for this purpose. These learning environments also deploy other technology enabled learning techniques such as using software to analyse common mistakes made by large groups with the highest frequency. Significant insights can be gained into human learning from observing such errors and analyzing their causes. Other automated software agents can crawl the web for useful resources pertaining to the course and collect it on a new website. Additional functionalities that can be offered by machine learning systems include services that link students with particular needs with tutors with skills suitable for teaching those subjects. Role of technology in the online education ecosystem Central to this paradigm shift in education is the Internet and technology revolution. A key enabling innovation in this regard is the development of a low-cost services model known as cloud computing. Cloud computing is an umbrella terms which describes how computers, servers, and applications and processes on those servers can be networked together in a distributed computing platform to create scalable infrastructure which enables users to connect from anywhere and using any device. Cloud computing may be considered an extension of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), which is a software design which makes it easy for computers on a network to cooperate. An institution or group of institutions that gets together to develop a cloud computing based platform needs to develop content and services that can reside inside the cloud since not all applications are cloud enabled (Mircea & Andreescu, 2011). Cloud computing is a way of designing a network in blocks, not all of which need to be owned or operated by one university. Instead some components of infrastructure, or the platform or the software or even the computing power itself may be owned and managed by service providers who allow the university to pay for them on an ongoing, pay-per-use basis (Matthew, 2012). Cloud enabled service delivery enables access to educational content by anyone, anywhere on a pay-per-use basis, thus enabling deployment of scalable educational services. If a substantial number of users exist, the cost per user and thus the fee charged to the user can be lowered substantially compared to traditional educational institutions (Moore, 2011). This can have several other advantages for institutions as well. For example, institutions can combine resources with others to share a cloud, and then focus on content creation to focus on their strength and outsourcing the IT services to a large degree. The new business models will begin with market need identification, and then deploying a solution to meet that need, offering a high return on investment (ROI). A major university offering a global MOOC would need a very different platform than a commercial service offering English as Second Language in China and cloud computing would allow each to have the right cost and infrastructure for the size of the opportunity. A lot of effort is going into the development of each of the elements of online education. These include digital books, grading software, intelligent software agents, cloud computing infrastructure and tablets. Amazon is also selling more digital books than paper books and it is now even possible for students taking online classes to rent their textbooks for limited time (Schuetze, 2011). Through its success, online education seems to be substituting traditional education (Mehaffy, 2012). This phenomenon has been labelled by Christensen & Eyring (2011) as the process of ‘disruption’. ‘Disruptive technologies’ are championed by new companies which do not compete with the incumbents along the existing bases of competition, but offer new and often low-cost product to a previously underserved group of consumers. Once successful in their niches, they increase volume, improve product quality and unseat incumbents in the high end of the market. Alternatively, disruption forces incumbents to change their business models. One of the reasons the education market seems ripe for disruption is the high cost of university education which makes the high-end of the market out of reach for many students. Some of the new business models in online education offer lower cost alternatives for those average students. In response, several mainstream universities are already considering lowering the residency requirement of their degrees to lower the total cost of earning them, while considering how to improve their online courses. While it may be too early to predict how successful they will be, for now the online education market seems set to grow globally. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said that online education is a powerful business model because it can service large underserved segments of the education market at low average cost (Gaytan, 2007). It is a solution for those who could previously not afford the high cost of education or may only need to develop certain job related skills or they may be lifelong learners. Deployment of digital content and software over a cloud enabled distributed computing network is the first step towards infrastructure development required for online learning platforms. More high-quality content is required together with ingenious business models to take online education to the next level of success. Recommendations While they do not face any immediate threats, existing educational institutions will need to adapt their business models in order to not become obsolete. At a minimum, they should consider ways of reducing their cost without diluting the experience. Traditional universities have a strong competitive advantage – they offer a period of residence in an academic community. This is difficult to replicate for online institutions. Online universities should consider partnerships for revenue and content sharing with traditional institutions in order to build their brands quicker. Without brand acceptance, they will never be able to compete with traditional universities. Start-ups should focus on helping develop those innovations that increase the return on investment in new business models for educational service providers to encourage innovation and investment in technology supporting online education. Bibliography Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. 2013. Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States. Sloan Consortium. PO Box 1238, Newburyport, MA 01950. Anderson, N. 2012. Elite education for the masses. The Washington Post, 4. Christensen, C. M., & Eyring, H. J. 2011. The innovative university: Changing the DNA of higher education from the inside out. John Wiley & Sons. Conn, S. S., & Reichgelt, H. 2012. 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