Globalization in Morocco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globalization in Morocco - Essay Example The population of Morocco is approximately 33,757,175 (World Fact Book) with a mixture of ethnic groups like Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Jewish and others. The official language spoken is Arabic and its dialects and the language used for business is French. Their legal system is based on Islamic law and French and Spanish civil law systems. The economic policies of Morocco brought some stability to the country in the 1990’s but could not initiate sufficient growth to put an end to the prevailing unemployment problems. The problem worsened when draught reduced the output in agriculture and as a result wheat had to be imported at sky rocketing world prices. Trying to build up small and medium enterprises and its continued dependence on foreign energy slowed down the economy still further. Therefore Moroccan authorities realize that understanding the reasons for their poverty and providing jobs to beat the problem of unemployment and improving agriculture are the key points necessary to improve domestic security and further development. To improve the living conditions of its people the Moroccan Government is trying to implement a few reforms in their effort of opening its economy to foreign investors. Their currency the dirham is wholly convertible only for current account transactions. In 2005, the Moroccan Government launched the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), a $2 billion social development plan that addressed the poverty and unemployment issues of the country and to improve the conditions of the urban slums in the country. (World Fact Book) In 2006, it also took part in the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) (World Fact Book) with the United States to resolve some of the long term issues associated with improvement in education and Job prospects for Moroccan youth. The FTA is also responsible for bridging the gap between the rich and the poor by encouraging tourism and boosting competition in the textile

Capital and unskilled labor are substitutes Essay

Capital and unskilled labor are substitutes - Essay Example These are the factors that facilitate the growth development and expansion of a business. One would therefore have to understand the importance of labor in maintaining the production of more capital for a business. There is an immense similarity between the capital invested in a project and the type of labor it can afford to hire. This is also determined by the materials used by the business as it grows and ensuring that it rises. Production takes place when all the integral parts of an organization or business work together to attain a goal that will contribute to the whole company as well. It is particularly through these social relations to each other that that each part influences the other (Krusell 2000). These interactions between the manufacturers and the atmosphere within which they trade tasks and contribute to the complete construction usually differ depending on the nature of the method of production. Capital also involves the exchange values. It is hence a computation of property, trade ethics and social extent. It maintains its value regardless of the form in which it is invested in. Basically; capital always has a constant value of exchange. For instance, if the capital is in the form of land the exchange value will still remain the same. The commodity may appreciate or depreciate in value but during transformation its exchange value will not be altered. This shows that all factors are interrelated in one way or another so as to produce an end result that favors each integral part of the system (Johnson 1997). A laborer will receive a mode of survival in return for his services. Substitution of capital with unskilled labor would depend on how much initial capital was invested. Low capital investment would not enable employment of skilled labor as this would reflect unrealistic allocation of finances. Therefore, low capital investments will lead to employment of unskilled labor. A workforce that does not have adequate skills would

Developing Good Work Habits Essay Example for Free

Developing Good Work Habits Essay During the early school years, students must begin to develop good work habits including preparing for schoolwork, organizing time and effort, and developing effective study skills. As students continue into middle school and high school their success depends, to a large degree, on refining and sustaining these work habits. Time management, organizational skills, and efficient study skills become especially important by this stage. Students who are able to develop and maintain good work habits are in a position to succeed – to learn what needs to be learned, and to become confident students. Getting started on assignments in school and at home requires students to engage their attentional abilities. Students must be alert to the task at hand, possibly shifting focus to a new activity, and have the mental effort necessary to initiate the task. Students who are able to preview, or think about the outcomes of a task before beginning, are helped in many ways. They can have an idea of what a report will be like once a topic is selected, what materials will be necessary to do an assignment, etc. In addition, students who have a strong sense of step-wisdom – knowing how tasks or activities can be broken down into a series of steps, will be able to determine the first step needed to get started on an assignment. There is an optimal rate for accomplishing most tasks. A competent student is often a well-paced student, performing at a rate appropriate to the task and available time. Taking the appropriate amount of time for a task is largely dependent upon both a student’s temporal-sequential skills and his/her attentional abilities. Temporal-sequential skills help us interpret, retain, or create information that is in serial order. These skills are related to a student’s ability to appreciate time in general and estimate time appropriately. Tempo control (a facet of attention) helps students regulate the allocation of time to the task at hand, and predict the time required for an upcoming task. Tempo control also instills a sense of â€Å"step-wisdom†, the knowledge that it is more effective to undertake activities in a series of steps, rather than all at once. Tempo control allows a student to match his/her pacing to the demands of a given task, e. g. , to take the right amount of time to finish an essay test, to do a homework assignment thoroughly yet efficiently, etc. For many students, time is their most precious resource. Making the most of the time they have enables students to be as efficient and successful as possible, leading a balanced life of work and play. A clear understanding of time is required for students to manage their own time effectively, e. g. , plan long term projects, organize schedules, etc. As such, time management skills are an important component of a student’s success – in school and beyond. In order to meet assignment deadlines and to keep up with schedules related to school and schoolwork, students must engage their temporal-sequential ordering abilities. These skills help us interpret, retain, or create information that is in a serial order. Students with strong temporal-sequential ordering skills are able to manage their schedules, organize their work, and make efficient use of their time. Such students are also able to avoid procrastination (putting off a task that must be done). For students with weak time management skills, procrastination can have painful consequences, affecting both academic and personal success. In order to complete assignments for school, students must develop their cognitive working capacity. That is, students must learn to initiate and maintain the mental effort needed to complete tasks and activities. The ability to manage one’s effort is closely linked to academic productivity and success. A strong capacity for work enables students to delay gratification and to persevere through tasks that take considerable energy. It also helps them sustain their effort when information is worthy of attention, even though not immediately exciting, such as when studying a chapter they will be tested on the next day, or reading the instructions for a science experiment. Developing good organizational behaviors can play a key role in efficient school performance. School is much easier for students who know how to organize themselves, their materials, and their work space. Having effective organizational tactics will continue to be a valuable asset throughout a students education and career. Being ready to learn often means being prepared for the next activity, having to shift gears from one task to another, and having all the necessary materials on hand. In order to develop this aspect of learning readiness, students must engage their attentional abilities (especially that of previewing), as well as their memory skills. Through previewing, a student is able to look ahead and be prepared to deal with upcoming circumstances, challenges, and academic tasks. For example, previewing helps students prepare for a test, get ready for an upcoming class, and smoothly transition from one activity to the ext. In addition, students who preview are able to determine which materials are needed for a task and to remember to have those materials on hand. As a result, they are better prepared for activities and better able to follow through on assignments. Staying organized for school requires a student to have strong spatial abilities as well as a strong memory. To efficiently keep track of school materials and assignments, for example, students must have an internal sense of how things should be organized. In order to follow through on school-related tasks, such as turning in homework and bringing the right books to class, students must be able to remember where these items are, as well as remember to have the items on hand when needed! Maintaining a good study space is important to every student’s success. Students must have appropriate environments in which to learn and study, both at school and at home. Setting up and keeping an organized work space requires that students have strong spatial abilities. Such abilities help a student arrange a consistent place for storing school books, organize a desk drawer, keep a desk clear of clutter, etc.

Chronic Kidney Disease: Pathology and Biochemistry

Chronic Kidney Disease: Pathology and Biochemistry The kidneys are a pair of organs that function to removing metabolic wastes like urea, carbon dioxide, salts, and chemicals from the blood and excreting these wastes as urine. Kidneys also regulate the concentration of body fluids and electrolyte concentrations, arterial pressure, secretion/excretion of hormones and acid-base balance of body fluids (Guyton Hall, 2005). The main functional filtering unit of the kidney is the nephron. At least 800 thousand nephrons are in one kidney. The initial filtering unit in the nephron is the glomerulus, and the filtrates coming from the glomerulus are formed into urine as it passes the other components in the nephron. Diseases in the kidney cause a significant number of deaths and disabilities worldwide (Coresh, et al., 2007). Acute renal failure is manifested by the kidneys abruptly stopping, although the chance exists that the kidneys could recover, while in chronic kidney disease there is a progressive decline in the function of the nephrons. More specifically, chronic kidney disease is defined as damaged or decreased kidney function measured by a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) for a period or three or more months (Levey, et al., 2003). Initial damage to the nephron results in compensatory responses of the remaining nephrons allowing for the continuation of clearance of blood solutes. The compensatory action of the nephrons during early damage is thought to be a major cause of renal damage, because during compensation the glomerular capillary pressure is increased so much that damages are incurred leading to lesions in the glomeruli (Arora Verelli, 2010). Chronic kidney disea se is also caused by hypertension, diabetes, disorders in blood vessels and glomeruli, infections, immune system disorders, congenital disorders, and urinary tract obstructions (Guyton Hall, 2005). Clinical symptoms for chronic kidney disease are not evident until the number of functional nephrons decreases by 70-75% (Guyton Hall, 2005). The progressive deterioration in kidney function could ultimately lead to end-stage renal disease where the patient must undergo dialysis to remove wastes from the blood, or transplanted with a new kidney. Chronic kidney disease has 5 stages based on the GFR (National Kidney Foundation, 2002). Patients with the stage 1-3 of the disease do not show symptoms. At stage 4-5 electrolyte balance and endocrine disorders become evident. It is believed that the uremic disorders observed at stage 5 are due to the accumulation of toxins (Arora Verelli, 2010). Increased retention of potassium (hyperkalemia) occurs due to inability of the kidneys to excrete potassium. Metabolic acidosis results from the inability of the kidneys to produce enough ammonia necessary to react with the endogenous acid and produce ammonium. Phosphates, sulphates, and other organic anions accumulate, causing large anion gaps. Metabolic acidosis increases protein degradation and amino acid oxidation, and reduces albumin synthesis, resulting in protein-energy malnutrition, decreased body mass, and increased muscle weakness. Acidosis also interferes with Vitamin D metabolism and mineral imbalance resulting in renal osteodys trophy or renal bone disease. Renal bone disease can be averted with timely dietary measures and medications like phosphate binders and calcitriol (Renal Resource Center, 2007). Skeletal and extraskeletal complications result from the progression of renal bone disease. In chronic kidney disease, renal bone disease is categorized into four general types: (1) low turnover disease or defective mineralization; (2) high turnover bone disease brought about by high levels of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels; (3) beta-2-microglobulin associated bone disease; and (4) mixture of the 3 diseases (Arora Verelli, 2010). Diagnosis and management of chronic kidney disease Chronic kidney disease is diagnosed by laboratory tests on urine and serum. Serum creatinine as an estimate of glomerular filtration rate, albumin-creatinine ratio in the urine, and examination of urine sediment and dipstick test for erythrocytes and leukocytes are recommended (Levey, et al., 2003). Image analysis by ultrasound can be performed for patients with symptoms of stones, infection, obstruction of the urinary tract and having a family medical history of polycystic kidney disease. Serum electrolytes should be measured on patients who are hypertensive, diabetic, and those who have been exposed to drug toxicity. Other tests include urinary concentration or dilution, and acidification for selected patients who present symptoms of polyuria, metabolic acidosis, metabolic alkalosis, hypo- and hyperkalemia (very high levels of potassium). Kidney function is assessed by analyzing serum creatinine along with a blood urea nitrogen test (Lab Tests Online, 2009). Creatinine clearance is an indication of the efficiency of the kidneys in filtering small molecules out of the blood. A traditional and principal marker of kidney damage is persistent or recurring proteinuria (Kean Eknoyan, 1999). Proteins are large molecules, and therefore they cannot pass the membranes of the glomeruli into the urine. Glomeruli, being negatively charged, also repel proteins. Size and charge barriers do not allow the passage of proteins into urine, unless the glomeruli are damaged (Proteinuria and microalbuminuria, 2007). Proteins can be measured using reagent strip tests for point of care detection and laboratory tests, including immunoassays (Carter, Tomson, Stevens, Lamb, 2006). When the protein level is more than 3500 milligrams, extensive glomeruli damage has already occurred. An albumin (or protein)-creatinine ratio higher than 30 mg albumin/g creatinine, is abnormal since the cut-off points are greater than 17 mg/g in males and more than 25 mg/g in females (Warram, Gearin, Laffel, Krolewski, 1996; (Jacobs, Murtaugh, Steffes, Yu, Roseman, Goetz, 2002). Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is currently the best test for detecting kidney disorders. GFR is estimated using a formula that uses serum creatinine value, and gender, age and weight of individual. The GFR has been recommended to be the main criterion in classifying kidney disease. Five stages of chronic kidney diseases have been identified based on the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (National Kidney Foundation, 2002). Kidney damage has been proposed with normal or increased GFR of > 90 mL/min per 1.73 m2, while kidneys have already failed when the GFR greatly decreased at Indications of chronic kidney disease are varied and diverse. Increase or decrease in levels of important electrolytes phosphate, potassium and calcium. Other indications are metabolic acidosis, pericarditis, malnutrition, neuropathies and cardiovascular complications (Shlipak, et al., 2005; Tonelli, et al., 2006). The treatment of chronic kidney disease depends on the stage of the disease and should focus on several important factors (Arora Verelli, 2010). The primary objective is to delay and halt the progression of the disease by treating the known underlying condition (e.g. hypertension, diabetes). Systolic blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and glycemic levels must be controlled, and use of angiotensin receptor blockers is recommended. Pathologic symptoms should be treated as follows: anemia with erythropoietin; high phosphate levels with dietary means for binding and restricting phosphate binders; low calcium levels with supplements and hyperparathyroidism with vitamin D analogs or calcitriol (Arora Verelli, 2010). For uremic manifestations, dialysis and transplantation are recommended depending on the stage of the diseases, and the indications. Timely planning for renal transplantation is also necessary in order to prepare the patient. Reflection on module Chronic kidney disease is prevalent worldwide, with millions of people affected. The review conducted here shows that the disease has been well characterized with respect to the point-of- care and clinical tests for diagnosis. Chronic kidney disease affects the accumulation of ions in the blood therefore leading to a multitude of adverse conditions. The US National Kidney Foundation has spearheaded efforts to standardize and systematize the different stages, diagnostic approaches and treatment modalities. Apparently, chronic kidney disease results from other disorders. Therefore it can be prevented and corrected by first preventing and curing the underlying cause. This makes the nature of the disease complicated, and solutions are also complex. What is clear is that kidney disease is mostly a result of lifestyle, since most underlying causes like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hyperlipidemia are mostly due to lifestyles. A limitation in the publications that were reviewed was the lack of clear recommendations on how the onset of chronic kidney disease can be prevented, and what specific medications can lead to repair of the glomeruli and the nephrons after damage has occurred. Clearly, a patient with chronic kidney disease is saddled with the knowledge that a complete cure is not possible; and it only takes a matter of time for one to have the end-stage renal disease. The challenge for the medical community is to come up with a clear preventive strategy against kidney disease, and to have other long-term options aside from dialysis or organ transplantation.

Barren Lives in James Joyces The Dead Essay -- Joyce Dead Essays

The Barren Lives of The Dead "One day he caught a fish, a beautiful big big fish, and the man in the hotel boiled it for their dinner" (p.191). Little did Mrs. Malins know that those words issued from her feeble old lips so poignantly described the insensibility of the characters in James Joyce's The Dead toward their barren lives. The people portrayed in this novelette represented a wealthy Irish class in the early twentieth century, gathered at the house of the Morkan sisters for an annual tradition of feast and dance. Although all of the personages had, at one point, a potential for a beautiful life, sad memories of the past and the despair that invaded Ireland had eventually boiled all true senses and desires into a dull stew, destined to rot. Of particular interest is Gabriel Conroy, whom Joyce singularly bestowed a gift of introspection, though that did not save him from becoming yet another of the living dead. Gabriel, a respectable middle-aged professor and writer, wished for an escape, but did not search for one. It was this passivity and resistance to change, like the "beeswax under the heavy chandelier"(p.186), that eventually solidified into the wall which he had not the courage to oppose. He felt himself a "pennyboy for his aunts"(p.220), the hostesses of the congregation, a victim of his own inability to "feel and show the excitement of swift and secure flight"(p.193). In contrast, Miss Molly Ivors, a professor of politics and Gabriel's academic equal, possessed this capability of escaping obligations, as she departed from the gathering before dinner was served, "quite well able to take care of [her]self"(p.195). In this respect, Miss Ivors differed from the rest of the charact... ...He had been surrounded his whole life by a "ghostly light"(p.216) of sad memories and death, emanating from the hearts of the people with whom he had had the closest contact, which eventually suffocated his own identity "into a grey impalpable world"(p.223). The whole country of Ireland was covered in the "silver and dark"(p.223) snowflakes of death, and the Mr. Browne's of the world, who reminisced of great singers long gone and hid their true senses under countenances of false gallantry, were everywhere. All of the characters in The Dead contributed to a viscous web that made escape virtually impossible for Gabriel, for "one by one they were all becoming shades"(p.222) of the "region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead"(p.223). They were all fishes in an icy cold pond, acting their parts and waiting for the day they would be caught and boiled for dinner.

The Justification of Science :: Science Scientific Racism Physiognomy Essays

The Justification of Science What does the average person think when they hear that an idea is supported by science? Often, it makes people assume that this idea must be objectively true, and will necessarily be more right than a theory that doesn’t have the backing of â€Å"science.† While in many cases, objective science really does produce better results than mere conjecture, there have also been influential movements in history that were justified by â€Å"science,† but which we see today as unjustifiable. These include biometrical methods like phrenology and craniology, the empirical definitions of racial difference in the 19th century, and the â€Å"scientifically† racist ideology of the Nazis, among many others. In many of these situations, biology has been used to support conceptions that were already accepted in the society of the time. However, they seemed stronger with scientific support, even if the scientific support was weak enough that it was eventually proven to be untrue. Considering this, why were these â€Å"scientific† conclusions seen as objective when, with the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that they were not? Additionally, why did the supporters of these ideologies want to use science as support? If science were seen as merely a collection of useless knowledge, it would not have been relied upon in the way that it was, so it is clear that the scientific method was trusted to add some additional level of truth to the given conclusions. The interactions between these systems of classifying groups of people, their scientific support, and society in general tell us many things about science and about people. Physiognomy and Phrenology The earliest versions of biological classification are found in the related disciplines of physiognomy and phrenology. Physiognomy, the science of reading a person’s character based on facial characteristics, was popularized by Johann Caspar Lavater in the late 18th century. His Essays on Physiognomy, widely read throughout Europe for many decades, gave a newly scientific justification to an idea that had been present in popular thought since ancient Greece. There, Aristotle recorded observing that certain physical traits in people are often linked to distinctive personality traits, and Pythagoras is said to have selected students for his classes based on who â€Å"looked† to have potential (Mainwaring 1980). As this concept reached the 18th century, it was given the explanation that God makes a connection between a person’s face and their â€Å"inner state.

A Review of Laser Processes Used in Solar Cell Fabrication

A Review of Laser Processes Used in Solar Cell Fabrication Abstract There are many different laser techniques that can be used in the production of solar cells. By examining the research which the various solar cells were fabricated with laser technique, it is possible to understand the pros and cons of using laser for produce the cells. The following paragraphs will list which process the laser technique have been used in this review. Introduction The buried contact solar cell was invented at University of New South Wales by Green et al. in 1983. These solar cells have a relatively high efficiency approximately 25% and present a possibility of cost-reduction with applying this technology to the manufacturers’ production lines. The following are the general main steps of forming the buried contact solar cell: 1. Texturing of surfaces 2. Top surface diffusion 3. Oxide growth 4. Groove cutting and diffusion 5. Aluminum deposition and sinter 6. Metal plating 7. Edge isolation The key parts of this process, which result in the cells become more efficiency than the standard screen printing solar cells are the laser grooving and groove diffusion to reduce the cell shading and contact resistance and the texturing which reduce the surface reflection. A schematic of a buried contact solar cell is shown in the figure below (Green 1995). [pic]Figure 1: Cross-section of buried contact solar cell Research continues working on the ways which could further improve the efficiency of the buried contact solar cell. With the statistics obtained from the experiment, they can try to figure out the effects which using different methods and materials in solar cells would cause. These parts include different diffusion profiles to form the p-n junction, surface passivation using different materials, and the different methods of grooving of the silicon, rear surface treatment, metallization and so on. Laser texturing In order to reduce the reflection effect of the solar cells, front surface texturing is one solution. There have many methods to increase the light trapping, such as mechanical scribing and reactive ion etching. However, laser texturing could effectively texture the multicrystalline surface, providing isotropic etching that other techniques cannot do. Abbott and Cotter (2006) revealed that with deeper laser texturing, the less the front surface reflection is. More detailed results are shown in figure 2 (adapted from Abbott and Cotter 2006). Note that with very shallow texturing (10mm), they cannot trapping very well, as a result behaving like the planar one. Figure 2: Front surface reflection of laser textured samples with different ablation pit depths (0) 10mm, (? 20mm, (? ) 30 mm, (*) 40 mm, (x) 50mm with residual slag, (+) planar silicon and (line) random pyramid textured silicon. It is straightforward that we should texturing deeper pit, however, this will increase the surface recombination rate, which is detrimental to solar cells. Even though the pit depths 50mm have the lowest reflection, it will leave some slag in the pits that acting like defects. These residual slags will enhance t he surface recombination rate, reducing the open-circuit voltage as well as the efficiency of the solar cells. Finding better parameters of operation to texture the wafer properly without the appearance of slag is therefore becomes the main issue for the manufacturers. Top Surface diffusion The conventional method for doping materials is the thermal diffusion which performed at high temperature (over 800? ). The process is so-called solid state diffusion and has various methods, for instance physical vapour deposition, to control the doping profiles. Also there is a considerable alternative method of forming doping areas in silicon solar cells by using laser-doping. With the Nd:YAG pulsed laser, the doping profiles can be controlled with the desirable doping area. Ogane et al. (2009) asserted that by using the laser doping technique with 0. 5W output, it can fabricate the solar cells with comparable efficiency to those fabricated by thermal diffusion methods. Some statistics of the result from their research are shown in figure 3 (adapted from Ogane et al. 2009). Note that a large number of the oxygen atoms are induced to the solar cells owing to the operation is in air. This increase the sheet resistance and as a result, reducing the efficiency of the solar cells. The advantages of the laser doping process are that it can be operated at room temperature, in the atmosphere, as well as the easier process forming a selective doping area without any lithography pre-set processes. With these advantages, even though the properties of these solar cells are slightly worse than the cells handled by thermal diffusion, it is acceptable to some manufacturers and worthy to work on it. [pic] Figure 3: The average of six solar cells properties of cells with emitters fabricated by laser doping as a function of laser output power, compared with the case of thermal diffusion (TD). Laser groove The most common device which is used to form the laser grooved front surface contacts is the Nd:YAG pulsed laser, operating at a high frequency. The depth of the laser groove after lasing is typically 30 microns deep and approximately 20 microns wide. During the process, laser will vaporises silicon through the oxidation layer, and this will induced the thermally damaged to silicon. Such this damage will acts as recombination sites of carriers when operating the solar cells, minimised this defect is therefore necessary in order to improve the efficiency of the solar cells. Studies on this part (Schoonderbeek et al. 2007) have revealed that using the shorter wavelength of the laser, i. e. the higher power output can reduce the thermal damage induce by the laser. [pic] Figure 4: Increased lifetime ratios (decreased laser damage) are obtained when scribing lines using short-wavelength lasers. Figure 4 (adapted from Schoonderbeek et al. 2007) above shows that by using lasers with short-wavelength at either 532nm (green) or 355nm (UV) will have better properties in comparison to 1064nm (IR) laser. Nevertheless, the lower cost of the IR laser is more favourable to the manufacturer. Thus the solar cell research of this part is undertaken at institutions and companies in order to find out the better trade-off point. Back surface field and laser-fired contacts The technology which usually used for rear contact passivation in solar cells is that highly doped region near the back contact. This is called back surface field. Normally aluminium is applied to it by evaporation, following by sintering to make aluminium atoms diffuse into the silicon. For reducing the cost per watts generated by solar cell, some different methods were tested for the feasibility analysis. One of the ways for reducing the cost is doping aluminium locally (Meemongkolkiat et al. 2006). It is obviously that doping less metal could reduce the cost, however the efficiency should not be diminish too much. In this process the oxide on the back surface is partially etched prior to aluminium were screen-printed on it. In their research, with choosing the aluminium screen-printing pastes properly (the composition is not provided in their paper), the efficiency of the solar cells are adequately (16%) compared to the normally full back surface field (16. %). Alternatively, aluminium deposition can be applied to the solar cell with the passivated emitter and rear contact, followed by fast scanning laser firing to reduce the rear surface recombination rate as well as improve light trapping. With this so-called laser-fired contact technique, Schneiderlochner et al. (2002, p. 32) demonstrated that the efficiency of the laser-fired contact solar cell can reach up to 21. 3%. Some result s from their research can be seen in figure 5, which are adapted from Schneiderlochner et al. 002. Note that the silicon nitride passivated layer has a lower efficiency maybe due to degradation in passivation quality during laser firing. [pic] Figure 5: The solar cell results with the laser-fired contact technique compared with conventionally processed passivated emitter and rear cells The main advantage of the laser-fired contact is that after possessed a passivating layer and depositing the aluminium, there is only one step needed (laser firing) instead of several processes of photolithography. Hence by using Nd:YAG pulsed laser system for laser-fired contact processing, the cost per watts can be reduced due to less handling steps, as well as the expensive chemicals. Summary There are some different techniques with respect to laser that applied to the fabrication of the solar cells are discussed above. With the laser system applied to the back surface field and laser-fired contacts, the cost can be reduced by using less costly chemicals, whereas shrinking the cost of instruments and operation for the case that laser system induced to the top surface diffusion. The aims of both grooving and texturing using laser technique are improving the properties of the solar cells. The laser system provides the possibilities of reducing the cost per watts without decreasing too many characteristics of the solar cells, which is the most important issue for manufacturers. Therefore, studies focus on these techniques will continue while some of them are already used in fabricating solar cells with other techniques. The ultimate aim of these is make the solar cells as cheap as possible so that public are willing to having it, thus minimizing the environment impact. Reference Abbott, M. and Cotter, J. 006, ‘Optical and electrical properties of laser texturing for high-efficiency solar cells’, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Volume 14, Issue 3, pp. 225-235. Honsberg, C. and Bowden, S. 2009, Buried Contact Solar Cells, Photovoltaics CDROM, accessed 12 September 2009, . Meemongkolkiat, V. ; Nakayashiki, K. ; Dong Seop, K. ; K im, S. ; Shaikh A. ; Kuebelbeck, A. ; Stockum, W. and Rohatgi, A. 2006, ‘Investigation of modified screen-printing Al pastes for local back surface field formation’, Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on, Volume 2, pp. 1338-1341. Nd:YAG laser’, wiki article, 3 July 2009, accessed 14 September 2009, < http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nd:YAG_laser>. Ogane, A. ; Hirata, K. ; Horiuchi, K. ; Nishihara, Y. ; Takahashi, Y. ; Kitiyanan, A. and Fuyuki, T. 2009, ‘Laser-doping technique using ultraviolet laser for shallow doping in crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication’, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Volume 48, Issue 7, pp. 071201. Schneiderlochner, E. ; Preu, R. ; Ludemann, R. and Glunz, S. W. 2002, ‘Laser-fired rear contacts for crystalline silicon solar cells’, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp. 9-34. Schneiderlochner, E. ; Grohe, A. ; Glunz , S. W. ; Preu, R. & Willeke, W. 2003, ‘Scanning Nd:YAG laser system for industrially applicable processing in silicon solar cell manufacturing’, Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 2003. Proceedings of 3rd World Conference on, Volume 2, pp 1364-1367. Schoonderbeek, A. ; Stute, U. ; Ostendorf, A. ; Grischke, R. ; Engelhart, P. ; Meyer, R. and Brendel, R. 2007, ‘Laser technology in silicon solar cell production’, Proceedings of the 4th International WLT-Conference on Lasers in Manufacturing, pp 693–698. [pic]