Electricity sector liberalization is moving forward with the purpose of efficiency, better customer service, and lower prices; however it has not fully succeeded yet, neither in Europe nor in the rest of the world. While service provider switching is an indicator of successful liberalization, it also means customer loss and acquisition from the electricity suppliers' point of view. Therefore, it has a significant importance for both the market regulator and market participants including customers and suppliers, making it a concept that should be understood thoroughly. This paper aims to build a conceptual model of electricity supplier switching behavior to be tested for a relatively neglected customer segment in the business to business market [B2B]: small and medium enterprises [SME]s. The model can also be used for business to consumer [B2C] segment because of the similar behaviors of small organizations and individuals. The model proposed in this study is mainly based on the study of Bansal et al. (2005) who adopt push, pull, and moorings [PPM] migration model to switching, using the similarities between human migration and customer switching. An extensive literature research is conducted to support and contribute to the existing PPM model and to have an extended version of it.
Plasma electrolytic oxidation coupled with hydrothermal treatment is a relatively new technique to form a hydroxyapatite/TiO2 layer on titanium alloys for biomedical applications. Hence the process allows achieving a bioactive and bactericidal surface by using electrolytes that contain ions (such as calcium-phosphorus and boron) necessary for desired properties. The coating properties are controllable by adjusting the parameters in the PEO process. In the present study, an electrolyte that contains both calcium, phosphorus, and boron ions was used to form a rough and porous oxide layer on Ti6Al7Nb which is known to be less toxic than the most widely used Ti alloy for biomedical applications, Ti6Al4V. A hydroxyapatite and boron-containing oxide layer was obtained after plasma electrolytic oxidation and hydrothermal treatment. Coatings were examined by XRD, XPS, SEM, contact angle measurement system, micro-hardness tester, wear tester, and corrosion measurement system. The results showed that the wear and the corrosion properties of all coated samples increased. Especially boron doping enhanced both the wear and corrosion resistance. Relatively the best corrosion resistance was achieved from CaP-B and the best wear resistance was from HA-B samples. The hardness values and mean surface roughness of all coated samples also increased while the average friction coefficients decreased. The hardness increased from 323 ± 5 HV0.1 to 1084 ± 16 HV0.1 where the coefficient of friction decreased from 0.5672 ± 0.01 to 0.4697 ± 0.03.
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