The effects of sintering temperatures on the performances and durabilities of conventional nickel-yttria-stabilized zirconia composite solid oxide fuel cell anodes were investigated. The anode microstructures after reduction and 100 hours operation were quantitatively analyzed by three-dimensional reconstruction based on focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy technique. Percolation of nickel, yttria-stabilized zirconia and pore phases and three phase boundary densities were quantitatively calculated. The anode sintered at 1450 • C has been found to show the minimum ohmic resistance and polarization resistance. The differences of ohmic resistances between the anodes can be quantitatively explained by the difference of active three phase boundary density. Besides, the anode sintered at 1450 • C could operate without large-scale channel cracks which may cause damage and relatively fast degradation. The lowest degradation rate of anode sintered at 1450 • C is attributed to the strengthened YSZ network for maintaining Ni phase percolation compared to the other two sintering temperatures.

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Previous corporate governance research has paid little attention to the role of chief executive officer (CEO) labor markets in controlling CEO behaviors because the CEO labor market has been considered inefficient. With the increasing mobility of top executives across firms, however, the potential of CEO labor markets to serve as an external disciplining force has been growing. In this study, we argue that CEOs will be more pressured to engage in desirable behaviors as the CEO labor market becomes more efficient. Using a longitudinal sample of S&P 1500 firms in high-technology industries in United States from 2011 to 2019, we found that CEOs tend to increase R&D investment as CEO labor market supply increases. We also found that the tendency is greater when external CEO succession is more frequent in the market. Our results demonstrate that CEO labor markets have the potential to function as an effective external governance mechanism.

This study examines the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational performance and how the relationship differs by type of communication within organizations. Using data on publicly traded manufacturing firms in Korea from the Human Capital Corporate Panel survey, we find that HPWS are positively related to organizational performance, and importantly, this relationship varies by the level of vertical and horizontal communication. The positive effect of HPWS on organizational performance is more apparent when vertical and horizontal communications are relatively high. These results emphasize the role of internal communication as an important organizational context for the implementation of HPWS.