Micron: Changes for Continued Success

Strategy is important for every industry, and to succeed in such a competitive industry as the technology industry, it becomes imperative. Micron Technology, Inc. (“Micron”) is one of the companies in the technology industry that must have a strategic plan such as this. The best strategy for Micron was analyzed through a detailed background on the history of the company, the main problem that is currently found in the industry, the current internal position of the company in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of the company, an external analysis of the operating industry, and finally a recommendation and implementation plan for the company. The semiconductor industry is currently faced with the problem of high competition and shrinking profit margins. Micron specifically has great management to guide it through this industry. Using that core competency and the detailed analysis of the industry, the proposed recommendation is to increase spending on research and development and related expenses in order to improve processes used to produce the memory and storage technology that Micron creates. This can be completed through a 10% minimum spending requirement set, and a plan to improve recruiting and facilities in the future. This recommendation solves the problem of competition for lower margins by improving efficiency in the processes used to create the product. The recommendation will also allow Micron to offer lower prices to customers with the lower internal costs associated with selling the product

MMS Observations of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability and Associated Ion Scale Waves

The detailed mechanisms coupling the solar wind to Earth\u27s magnetosphere are not yet fully understood. Solar wind plasma is heated non-adiabatically as it penetrates the magnetosphere, and this process must span scale sizes. Reconnection alone is not able to account for the observed heating; other mechanisms must be at work. One potential process is the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). The KHI is a convective instability which operates at the fluid scale in plasmas, but is capable of driving secondary process at smaller scales. Previous work has shown evidence of magnetic reconnection, various ion scale wave modes, mode conversion, and turbulence associated with the KHI, all of which can contribute to heating and/or plasma transport across the magnetopause boundary. The launch of the Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) mission in 2015 offered a new opportunity to study secondary processes associated with the KHI down to the electron scale. The MMS mission\u27s goal was to study the microphysics of magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause and in the magnetotail. It comprises 4 identical spacecraft, which fly in formation and are equipped with the highest resolution instrumentation available. MMS is the first mission capable of resolving electron scale processes due to its combination of high temporal resolution instrumentation and its record breaking spacecraft separation. The work presented in this dissertation focuses on the fluid and ion scale behavior of the KHI as a proof of concept for the techniques used. Future work will apply these methods to smaller scales to fully take advantage of MMS\u27s capabilities. This work uses MMS observations of 45 KHI events between September 2015 and March 2020 to determine the influence of the KHI on magnetosphere dynamics and solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. The observed events are well distributed along the magnetopause, and occur for the full range of solar wind conditions and IMF orientations. The KHI growth rates and the percent of the solid angle unstable to the development of the KHI (which we term the unstable solid angle) are not effected by the solar wind conditions or IMF strength. The observed KHI grow more quickly and in more unstable regions the farther downtail they occur. Ion scale wave intervals observed within the KHI are consistent with the ion cyclotron, kinetic Alfvén, and kinetic magnetosonic wave modes, all of which can contribute to enhanced ion heating across the magnetopause. These ion scale wave intervals are compared with observations made when the KHI is not active. The KHI is associated with strong increases in quasi-perpendicular (quasi-parallel) ion scale wave activity in the magnetosphere (magnetosheath), consistent with previous studies of data from the Cluster spacecraft. Observations show electron beta is decreased and ion temperature anisotropy is increased in the magnetosheath when the KHI is present, which can help explain a KHI associated increase in quasi-parallel wave activity in the sheath. Additionally, parallel velocity shears are increased when the KHI is active, which may further drive wave activity in all regions. Ion scale wave intervals show enhanced Poynting flux in all regions and at all wave angles when the KHI is active, suggesting more energy is available to drive ion heating during the KHI. Increased Poynting flux is also well correlated with larger changes in energy during KH associated ion scale waves. The rate of heating, described by the characteristic heating frequency, also increases for ion scale waves associated with the KHI. These findings suggest that plasma heating is both increased and more efficient in the presence of the KHI

Convergence or Divergence of Values? A Comparison Case Study of Teacher Credentialing Programs

Educational commentators have long debated whether or not public school teaching is a profession. The definition of a profession is commonly anchored in Andrew Abbott\u27s criteria, which include knowledge (specialized and academic), jurisdiction (diagnosis, treatment, professional inference), and control (ethics, professional organizations, licensure). Teachers in most states need to complete credentialing programs to be licensed. The purpose of this study was to explore what teacher credentialing programs at three diverse universities are doing to build teaching as a profession. The guiding research questions were: (1) What is the relationship between teacher credentialing programs and the professionalization of teaching? (2) What types of knowledge, skills, and dispositions are teacher credentialing programs instructing candidate teachers and do they promote the professionalization of teaching? (3) What are the factors that support or challenge the professionalization of teacher candidates in contemporary teacher credentialing programs? (4) In what ways are teacher credentialing programs convergent or divergent in the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are perceived necessary for the preparation of teacher candidates? Methods used in this study included interviews with teacher credentialing program faculty members and a document analysis of university published materials. The research findings show that the three universities converge in their values but diverge in the language they use to describe those values. Credentialing programs provide licenses and formal schooling but lack established cultural norms; this compromises teaching as a profession. Additionally, there is a divergence of values and knowledge between the credentialing programs and school districts where teachers go to teach. Finally, at all three universities there is an absence of training teachers to conduct research to further the empirical knowledge of education as a profession. Based on Abbott\u27s criteria, the findings suggest teaching is a semi-profession in growth. If teaching is to become a recognized profession, credentialing programs will need to establish cultural norms. Teachers will need to conduct research that informs practice in the classroom and contribute to education\u27s body of knowledge. Future research includes studying how effective traditional and non-traditional credentialing programs are in advancing teaching as a profession how they compare to each other

Updating the determinants of health model in the information age

In 1991, Dahlgren and Whitehead produced a highly influential model of the determinants of health that has since been used by numerous national and international public health organizations globally. The purpose of the model is to enable interventions that improve health to be addressed at four key policy levels. It is not a model of health or disease; instead the model is structured around health policy decision-making. However the model needs an update, since it was devised there has been a digital revolution that has transformed every aspect of: human life, our cities, society and the fundamental principles upon which the global economy operates. The article examines the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the determinants of health. ICT has given rise to a new Information Age that is implicated in many of the major global health issues today. Addressing contemporary health issues requires intervention at the level of ICT, particularly as health communication online is central to the delivery and dissemination of public health policies

Multidimensional spectroscopy with a single broadband phase-shaped laser pulse

We calculate the frequency-dispersed nonlinear transmission signal of a phase-shaped visible pulse to fourth order in the field. Two phase profiles, a phase-step and phase-pulse, are considered. Two dimensional signals obtained by varying the detected frequency and phase parameters are presented for a three electronic band model system. We demonstrate how two-photon and stimulated Raman resonances can be manipulated by the phase profile and sign, and selected quantum pathways can be suppressed.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figure

Characteristics of Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves as Observed by the MMS from September 2015 to June 2017

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has presented a new opportunity to study the fine scale structures and phenomena of Earth’s magnetosphere, including cross scale processes associated with the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI). We present an overview of 19 MMS observations of the KHI from September 2015 to June 2017. Unitless growth rates and unstable solid angles for each of the 19 events were calculated using 5 techniques to automatically detect plasma regions on either side of the magnetopause boundary. There was no apparent correlation between solar wind conditions during the KHI and its growth rate and unstable solid angle, though we note no KHI were observed for solar wind flow speeds less than 300 km/s or greater than 600 km/s, likely due to a filtering effect of the instability onset criteria and plasma compressibility. Two-dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic (2D MHD) simulations were compared with two of the observed MMS events. Comparison of the observations with the 2D MHD simulations indicates that velocity dependent methods are the most consistent when calculating growth rate and unstable solid angle, but a combination of the velocity dependent and independent methods can be used to select KHI events in which the vortex has rolled over. This may prove useful for future work studying secondary processes associated with the KHI

Small Scale Plasma Waves and Heating within Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities at Earth’s Magnetopause

The Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI) is common at the magnetopause boundary enclosing Earth’s magnetosphere. The KHI drives several secondary processes which can transport plasma from the solar wind into Earth’s magnetosphere and convert kinetic energy in the plasma to thermal energy. Previous studies have shown the KHI and its associated secondary processes play an important role in the heating of ions and could help explain the observed asymmetry between ion populations in the dawn and dusk flanks of the magnetosphere. The contribution of the KHI to heating at the electron scale, however, is not well understood. Until the launch of the Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) mission in 2015, measurements of electron scale processes were not available. This study uses data collected by MMS between 2015 and 2020 to identify waves and potential sources of plasma heating between the ion and electron scales

First MMS Observation of Energetic Particles Trapped in High-Latitude Magnetic Field Depressions

We present a case study of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of the Southern Hemispheric dayside magnetospheric boundaries under southward interplanetary magnetic field direction with strong By component. During this event MMS encountered several magnetic field depressions characterized by enhanced plasma beta and high fluxes of high‐energy electrons and ions at the dusk sector of the southern cusp region that resemble previous Cluster and Polar observations of cusp diamagnetic cavities. Based on the expected maximum magnetic shear model and magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we show that for the present event the diamagnetic cavity‐like structures were formed in an unusual location. Analysis of the composition measurements of ion velocity distribution functions and magnetohydrodynamics simulations show clear evidence of the creation of a new kind of magnetic bottle structures by component reconnection occurring at lower latitudes. We propose that the high‐energy particles trapped in these cavities can sometimes end up in the loss cone and leak out, providing a likely explanation for recent high‐energy particle leakage events observed in the magnetosheath