bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ethno-Religiosity in Orthodox Christianity: A Source of Solidarity & Multiculturalism in American Society
Authors: Durante Chris
Published: April 2015

This study will analyze the processes of community organization implemented by Eastern Orthodox Christian ethno-religious groups, and Greek Orthodox Christian communities in particular, to establish themselves in American civil society. It will be argued that the symbiotic relationship formed between ethnicity and religion in this tradition, as well as the democratized grassroots mode of community organization that American civil society fosters, contributes to a strong sense of belonging amongst members of the ethno-religious Orthodox Christian congregations. In turn, this sense of belonging has produced a multi-layered mechanism for solidarity-building in these communities. It will then be suggested that in addition to contributing to America’s religious diversity, the preservation of ethno-linguistic heritage by the various Orthodox Christian churches simultaneously contributes to America’s poly-ethnicity and linguistic diversity as well. Last, it will be argued that the continued survival of ethno-religiosity in American Orthodoxy can either lead to further isolation amongst the separate ethnic congregations, or it can alternatively open avenues for the cultivation of a form of Orthodox Christian multiculturalism that supports neither homogeneity nor isolationism.
Using a Remote Sensing-Supported Hydro-Agroecological Model for Field-Scale Simulation of Heterogeneous Crop Growth and Yield: Application for Wheat in Central Europe
Authors: Hank Tobias , Bach Heike , Mauser Wolfram
Published: April 2015

The challenge of converting global agricultural food, fiber and energy crop cultivation into an ecologically and economically sustainable production process requires the most efficient agricultural management strategies. Development, control and maintenance of these strategies are highly dependent on temporally and spatially continuous information on crop status at the field scale. This paper introduces the application of a process-based, coupled hydro-agroecological model (PROMET) for the simulation of temporally and spatially dynamic crop growth on agriculturally managed fields. By assimilating optical remote sensing data into the model, the simulation of spatial crop dynamics is improved to a point where site-specific farming measures can be supported. Radiative transfer modeling (SLC) is used to provide maps of leaf area index from Earth Observation (EO). These maps are used in an assimilation scheme that selects closest matches between EO and PROMET ensemble runs. Validation is provided for winter wheat (years 2004, 2010 and 2011). Field samples validate the temporal dynamics of the simulations (avg. R² = 0.93) and > 700 ha of calibrated combine harvester data are used for accuracy assessment of the spatial yield simulations (avg. RMSE = 1.15 t∙ha−1). The study shows that precise simulation of field-scale crop growth and yield is possible, if spatial remotely sensed information is combined with temporal dynamics provided by land surface process models. The presented methodology represents a technical solution to make the best possible use of the growing stream of EO data in the context of sustainable land surface management.
Dielectric Sensors Based on Electromagnetic Energy Tunneling
Authors: Siddiqui Omar , Kashanianfard Mani , Ramahi Omar
Published: April 2015

We show that metallic wires embedded in narrow waveguide bends and channels demonstrate resonance behavior at specific frequencies. The electromagnetic energy at these resonances tunnels through the narrow waveguide channels with almost no propagation losses. Under the tunneling behavior, high-intensity electromagnetic fields are produced in the vicinity of the metallic wires. These intense field resonances can be exploited to build highly sensitive dielectric sensors. The sensor operation is explained with the help of full-wave simulations. A practical setup consisting of a 3D waveguide bend is presented to experimentally observe the tunneling phenomenon. The tunneling frequency is predicted by determining the input impedance minima through a variational formula based on the Green function of a probe-excited parallel plate waveguide.
A Method for Improving the Pose Accuracy of a Robot Manipulator Based on Multi-Sensor Combined Measurement and Data Fusion
Authors: Liu Bailing , Zhang Fumin , Qu Xinghua
Published: April 2015

An improvement method for the pose accuracy of a robot manipulator by using a multiple-sensor combination measuring system (MCMS) is presented. It is composed of a visual sensor, an angle sensor and a series robot. The visual sensor is utilized to measure the position of the manipulator in real time, and the angle sensor is rigidly attached to the manipulator to obtain its orientation. Due to the higher accuracy of the multi-sensor, two efficient data fusion approaches, the Kalman filter (KF) and multi-sensor optimal information fusion algorithm (MOIFA), are used to fuse the position and orientation of the manipulator. The simulation and experimental results show that the pose accuracy of the robot manipulator is improved dramatically by 38%~78% with the multi-sensor data fusion. Comparing with reported pose accuracy improvement methods, the primary advantage of this method is that it does not require the complex solution of the kinematics parameter equations, increase of the motion constraints and the complicated procedures of the traditional vision-based methods. It makes the robot processing more autonomous and accurate. To improve the reliability and accuracy of the pose measurements of MCMS, the visual sensor repeatability is experimentally studied. An optimal range of 1 x 0.8 x 1 ~ 2 x 0.8 x 1 m in the field of view (FOV) is indicated by the experimental results.
Fast Video Encryption Using the H.264 Error Propagation Property for Smart Mobile Devices
Authors: Chung Yongwha , Lee Sungju , Jeon Taewoong , Park Daihee
Published: April 2015

In transmitting video data securely over Video Sensor Networks (VSNs), since mobile handheld devices have limited resources in terms of processor clock speed and battery size, it is necessary to develop an efficient method to encrypt video data to meet the increasing demand for secure connections. Selective encryption methods can reduce the amount of computation needed while satisfying high-level security requirements. This is achieved by selecting an important part of the video data and encrypting it. In this paper, to ensure format compliance and security, we propose a special encryption method for H.264, which encrypts only the DC/ACs of I-macroblocks and the motion vectors of P-macroblocks. In particular, the proposed new selective encryption method exploits the error propagation property in an H.264 decoder and improves the collective performance by analyzing the tradeoff between the visual security level and the processing speed compared to typical selective encryption methods (i.e., I-frame, P-frame encryption, and combined I-/P-frame encryption). Experimental results show that the proposed method can significantly reduce the encryption workload without any significant degradation of visual security.
Setting Priorities for Urban Forest Planning. A Comprehensive Response to Ecological and Social Needs for the Metropolitan Area of Rome (Italy)
Authors: Capotorti Giulia , Mollo Barbara , Zavattero Laura , Anzellotti Ilaria , Celesti-Grapow Laura
Published: April 2015

Urban forests represent key elements of green infrastructure and provide essential ecosystem services in both the ecological and social spheres. Therefore, forestation planning plays a decisive role in the sustainable development strategies of metropolitan areas and addresses the challenge of maintaining biodiversity while improving human health and well-being. The aim of this work is to present a methodological approach that can be used to identify priorities in urban forest planning and can provide comprehensive responses to ecological and social needs in any metropolitan context. The approach, which is based on interdisciplinary principles of landscape ecology, ecosystem geography and dynamic plant sociology, has been adopted in the Municipality of Rome (Italy). The first step entails defining an ecological framework for forestation plans by means of the ecological land classification and assessment of landscape conservation status. The second step entails setting forestation priorities according to both ecological and social criteria. The application of the method proved to effectively select limited areas requiring intervention within an extensive metropolitan area. Furthermore, it provided responses to sustainability issues such as long-term maintenance of restored habitats, landscape perspective of planning, greening of urban agriculture, improvement in urban resilience, and cost-effective improvement in ecosystem services provision.
Interdisciplinary Approaches and Methods for Sustainable Transformation and Innovation
Authors: Kim Sangkyun
Published: April 2015

To increase the likelihood of success and sustainability, organizations must fundamentally reposition themselves and try to change current processes or create new products and services. One of the most effective approaches to find a solution for transformation and innovation is to learn from other domains where a solution for similar problems is already available. This paper briefly introduces the definition of and approaches to convergence of academic disciplines and industries, and overviews several representative convergence cases focusing on gamification for sustainable education, environments, and business managements.
Topology of Platonic Spherical Manifolds: From Homotopy to Harmonic Analysis
Authors: Kramer Peter
Published: April 2015

We carry out the harmonic analysis on four Platonic spherical three-manifolds with different topologies. Starting out from the homotopies (Everitt 2004), we convert them into deck operations, acting on the simply connected three-sphere as the cover, and obtain the corresponding variety of deck groups. For each topology, the three-sphere is tiled into copies of a fundamental domain under the corresponding deck group. We employ the point symmetry of each Platonic manifold to construct its fundamental domain as a spherical orbifold. While the three-sphere supports an orthonormal complete basis for harmonic analysis formed by Wigner polynomials, a given spherical orbifold leads to a selection of a specific subbasis. The resulting selection rules find applications in cosmic topology, probed by the cosmic microwave background.
Comparative Investigation of the Efficacy of Three Different Adsorbents against OTA-Induced Toxicity in Broiler Chickens
Authors: Nedeljković-Trailović Jelena , Trailović Saša , Resanović Radmila , Milićević Dragan , Jovanovic Milijan , Vasiljevic Marko
Published: April 2015

The aim of our study was to determine the efficacy of three different adsorbents, inorganic (modified zeolite), organic (esterified glucomannans) and mixed (inorganic and organic components, with the addition of enzymes), in protecting broilers from the toxic effects of ochratoxin A in feed. Broilers were fed diets containing 2 mg/kg of ochratoxin A (OTA) and supplemented with adsorbents at the recommended concentration of 2 g/kg for 21 days. The presence of OTA led to a notable reduction in body weight, lower weight gain, increased feed conversion and induced histopathological changes in the liver and kidneys. The presence of inorganic, organic and mixed adsorbents in contaminated feed only partially reduced the negative effects of OTA on the broiler performances. Broilers that were fed with adsorbent-supplemented feed reached higher body weight (17.96%, 19.09% and 13.59%), compared to the group that received only OTA. The presence of adsorbents partially alleviated the reduction in feed consumption (22.68%, 12.91% and 10.59%), and a similar effect was observed with feed conversion. The applied adsorbents have also reduced the intensity of histopathological changes caused by OTA; however, they were not able to prevent their onset. After the withdrawal of the toxin and adsorbents from the feed (21–42 days), all previously observed disturbances in broilers were reduced, but more remarkably in broilers fed with adsorbents.
Presence of Poly(A) Tails at the 3'-Termini of Some mRNAs of a Double-Stranded RNA Virus, Southern Rice Black-Streaked Dwarf Virus
Authors: He Ming , Jiang Ziqiong , Li Shuo , He Peng
Published: April 2015

Southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV), a new member of the genus Fijivirus, is a double-stranded RNA virus known to lack poly(A) tails. We now showed that some of SRBSDV mRNAs were indeed polyadenylated at the 3' terminus in plant hosts, and investigated the nature of 3' poly(A) tails. The non-abundant presence of SRBSDV mRNAs bearing polyadenylate tails suggested that these viral RNA were subjected to polyadenylation-stimulated degradation. The discovery of poly(A) tails in different families of viruses implies potentially a wide occurrence of the polyadenylation-assisted RNA degradation in viruses.
Addendum: Kaźmierczak, Z.; Górski, A.; Dąbrowska, K. Facing Antibiotic Resistance: Staphylococcus aureus Phages as a Medical Tool. Viruses 2014, 6, 2551-2570.
Authors: Kaźmierczak Zuzanna , Górski Andrzej , Dąbrowska Krystyna
Published: April 2015

The authors would like to add the following Acknowledgements section: “Acknowledgements This work was funded by the National Science Centre in Poland grant UMO-2012/05/E/NZ6/03314.” [...]
L’Afrique subsaharienne à l’épreuve de la crise
Authors: Bedossa Bastien , Bellocq François-Xavier , Jacquet Pierre , Letilly Gäelle
Published: April 2015

Sub-Saharan Africa towards the Crisis.

Sub-Saharan African countries are still less integrated into global financial markets than emerging economies. However, spillover effects from global crisis after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 also hit African economies. The international trade collapse and the downturn of foreign capital inflows led to a major growth slowdown in 2009 ; this slowdown differed according to African countries’ exposure to the globalization. The implementation of countercyclical budgetary policies certainly provided support for economic activities but resulted in higher fiscal deficit and public indebtedness. The decline of international trade weakened current accounts of many Sub-Saharan African countries ; however, no specific tension
Notre système financier nous sert-il bien ?
Authors: Friedman Benjamin M.
Published: April 2015

Is our Financial System Serving Us Well ?

The financial crisis that occured in 2007 has put the way the financial system works at the heart of the economists and politicians preoccupations. If the causes and effects of this crisis have been explored in depth, a fundamental question has not been addressed : does the financial system allocates the savings efficiently and is its efficiency worth its cost ? For the last thirty years, this system has become more and more costly whereas the performances of the American economy as a whole have been on a decreasing trend. The author considers that economists face the challenge to measure this efficiency with regard to its cost. This question might seem straightforward but it is practically highly complex. That is why he suggests a few concrete steps that might reduce the risks of a new financial crisis in the meanwhile.

Classification JEL : C0, E44, G0, G01.
Les collectivités locales et les produits structurés
Authors: Bouvard Michel
Published: April 2015

Les difficultés financières de plusieurs collectivités locales en France et dans d’autres pays européens du fait du recours à un endettement à base de produits structurés ont été mises en avant au cours de ces derniers mois. L’utilisation de ces produits doit cependant être relativisée : ainsi en 2009, seuls 9 % de la dette des collectivités locales françaises reposaient sur des produits structurés volatiles. La charte Gissler s’est attaquée aux problèmes d’information et de transparence de ces produits. Se pose malgré tout la nécessité d’une meilleure formation de l’encadrement et des élus locaux. Mais un des problèmes majeurs reste celui du niveau d’information des assemblées délibérantes sur la gestion de la trésorerie et de la dette, sur le niveau de risque induit et sur la prise de décisions. Par ailleurs, il importe aussi que les prêteurs aient une vision complète de la situation financière des emprunteurs.

Classification JEL : G21, H74.
« Et le Verbe advint chair ... ». Une relecture de l’Évangile de S. Jean
Authors: Jerumanis Pascal-Marie
Published: April 2015

L’Évangile de S. Jean a tenu une place considérable dans la réflexion située à l’arrière-plan des grands conciles œcuméniques des iv e et v e siècles. On connaît les questions qui ont surgi au cours de ces débats et qui demeurent actuelles. Dans cet article, nous relisons S. Jean pour lui-même, dans la perspective qui lui est propre, tout en ayant ces questions à l’esprit.
Measuring Cognitive and Emotional Processes in Retail
Authors: Cherubino Patrizia , Maglione Anton Giulio , Graziani Ilenia , Trettel Arianna , Vecchiato Giovanni , Babiloni Fabio
Published: April 2015

The purpose of this chapter is to share scientific methods for the quantitative measurement of emotion through the recording of physiologic and cerebral variables of consumers in relation to advertising stimuli and during the purchase in the store. For this reason, the authors describe the way to estimate the emotion along the visit of a shop by using the approach-withdrawal index. It demonstrates how it is possible to describe the variation of the appreciation of a shop visit by two groups of persons. The specific contribution to the scientific literature is the use of such approach-withdrawal index and the estimation of the emotion linked with the visit of a large point of sale (e.g. a supermarket). The proper use of these methodologies can provide information related to cognitive and emotional aspects of persons involved in the appreciation of products in retail points of sale.
Radical and Incremental Innovation Effectiveness in Relation to Market Orientation in the Retail Industry
Authors: Lewrick Michael , Omar Maktoba , Williams Jr. Robert , Tjandra Nathalia C. , Lee Zui-Chih
Published: April 2015

The retail industry market environment is very competitive; thus, in order to maintain their competitive advantage retailers are required to continuously come up with innovative offerings and systems. This chapter aims to provide useful insights for the retailers regarding the correlation between market orientation and innovation. The chapter illustrates the differences in start-up and mature companies, and reveals new insights with regard to market orientation and its constituent elements, and its relationship with both incremental and radical innovations. Readers learn that strong competitor orientation, a key ingredient of market orientation, has a positive relationship to incremental innovation for start-up companies, but it is counterproductive for mature companies, where a strong customer orientation is associated with radical innovation. The focus is to understand the dynamics of the entrepreneur versus manager during the transition process as a company grows.
Fashion Retail Innovation
Authors: Tambo Torben
Published: April 2015

Fashion retail is recognised for its strong capabilities in product innovation, while also having the potential to improve the governance of technology-based process innovation. This chapter proposes a model perspective in management of technology and innovation, including special requirements of fashion retailing. In particular, this chapter discusses the context of fashion retailing understood as product and brand-based characteristics. A case study-based methodology is then used to guide an analysis of antecedents and (expected) outcome of fashion retail innovation. IT-based innovation dominates, but innovation is suggested to include a broader scope of technologies. Contrary to innovation maturity models, this chapter proposes to consider innovation as a continuous refinement between dynamic capabilities and absorptive capacity where technologies must be adapted to the special characteristics of the fashion retail industry.
Financial Sustainability of Innovative Technology in Retailing
Authors: Renko Sanda , Kovac Ivan
Published: April 2015

The main purpose of this chapter is to address two important areas for successfully managing retail businesses—financial sustainability and innovative technology—in order to find out in which ways they affect each other. In order to clarify the financial sustainability of innovative technologies and the ways innovative technologies contribute in achieving financial sustainability in a retail company as a whole, it has been explored in grocery retailing in the Republic of Croatia. The results of a study among the top retail companies operating in the Croatian market suggest that innovative technology has the highest priority in their strategic and financial planning as one of the four fundamental pillars of financial sustainability. However, the results also indicated a long payback period after the implementation of new technological solutions.
Computer-Assisted E-Customs Transactions
Authors: Krumeich Julian , Bredehöft Timo , Werth Dirk , Loos Peter
Published: April 2015

E-government aims to ease administrative processes based on an electronic handling. While larger enterprises can often benefit from electronically integrated governmental transaction services, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) regularly face certain obstacles. For instance, this can be observed in the context of e-customs transactions. According to a United Nations study, an inefficient customs clearance is responsible for 7% of international trade costs. Hence, governments across the world aimed to reduce administrative burdens by introducing electronic customs systems. The paper at hand examines existing approaches of electronically declaring exports to e-customs systems focusing the German ATLAS system. Based on an evaluation regarding the appropriateness of existing approaches from the perspective of SME, the paper concludes that none of them sufficiently meets their specific requirements. To tackle this status-quo, the paper presents the concept of computer-assisted e-customs transactions as well as the EXPORT system, which is a prototypical implementation of the proposed concept.
Investigations on implementation of e-ATM Web Services based on .NET technique
Authors: Medhi Subhash , Bezboruah Tulshi
Published: April 2015

Web service is accepted by all communities of services due to its interoperability, flexibility of design and architecture. Improving performance is the key research point for developers and researchers. We propose to design, develop and implement a prototype research electronic automated teller machine web service to study the loads, performance and scalability of the service. The service is based on Visual Studio .NET framework. It is developed by using C# as programming language, Internet Information Service (Version: 2005) as web server and, Microsoft Structured Query Language as database server. To study its different aspects the service has been tested by deploying it on Mercury LoadRunner (Version 8.1). In this paper we will present the architecture, testing procedure, results of performance testing as well as results of statistical analysis on recorded data of the service.
Latent Topic Model for Indexing Arabic Documents
Authors: Ayadi Rami , Maraoui Mohsen , Zrigui Mounir
Published: April 2015

In this paper, the authors present latent topic model to index and represent the Arabic text documents reflecting more semantics. Text representation in a language with high inflectional morphology such as Arabic is not a trivial task and requires some special treatments. The authors describe their approach for analyzing and preprocessing Arabic text then they describe the stemming process. Finally, the latent model (LDA) is adapted to extract Arabic latent topics, the authors extracted significant topics of all texts, each theme is described by a particular distribution of descriptors then each text is represented on the vectors of these topics. The experiment of classification is conducted on in house corpus; latent topics are learned with LDA for different topic numbers K (25, 50, 75, and 100) then they compare this result with classification in the full words space. The results show that performances, in terms of precision, recall and f-measure, of classification in the reduced topics space outperform classification in full words space and when using LSI reduction.
Supply Chain Information Sharing
Authors: Pujara Akshay A. , Kant Ravi
Published: April 2015

The purpose of this paper is to present an approach for modeling the barriers of information sharing (IS) in supply chain (SC) by developing the relationship between various information sharing barriers (ISBs). Using interpretive structural modeling (ISM), the result shows a hierarchy-based model and the mutual relationships among the ISBs. The result shows that there is a group of ISBs having high driving power and low dependence which requires maximum attention and of strategic importance while another group consists of those ISBs which have high dependence and are the resultant actions. This categorization provides an important guideline to top management to differentiate between independent and dependent ISBs and their mutual relationships which are playing the role of roadblocks for effective IS in SC.
Issues in Supply Chain Implementation
Authors: Manzouri Malihe , Rahman Mohd Nizam Ab , Arshad Haslina
Published: April 2015

The current global market forces compel most companies to create an international supply chain. Most of these companies have examined the problems and issues that they encounter during the implementation of this international supply chain. These problems are related to the attitude and culture of people around the world or rooted in the nature of the supply chain. Thus, this study compares the implementation of supply chain management (SCM) in two different countries with different cultures and attitudes. This study highlights the similarities of the problems and benefits of SCM implementation in the two countries. This study identifies the characteristics that are not related to attitude and culture and are rooted in the nature of SCM. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to 600 automotive companies in Malaysia and Iran. Several interviews were conducted to find solutions to the problems. Limited information and the lack of expert employees were identified as the most serious problems, whereas the improvement of warehouse management was identified as an important benefit of SCM implementation. Benchmarking and training courses were the important solutions to these problems. These results reveal that most issues in SCM implementation are rooted in its nature.
Non-Invasive Wireless and Passive MEMS Intraocular Pressure Sensor Based on Flexible Substrate
Authors: Liu Li Juan , Wang Jun Bo , Chen De Yong , Chen Jian
Published: April 2015

The intraocular pressure (IOP) is an indicator for the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma. The traditional measurement of IOP cannot provide a continuous measurement within 24 hours with compromised functionality in glaucoma diagnosis. This paper presents a wireless, passive and non-invasive contact lens sensor (CLS) for continuous monitoring of IOP based on the flexible substrate. This curvature-sensitive sensor includes an inductor and two capacitors to form a C-L-C resonant circuit, which were embedded in parylene C using PDMS as the intermediate medium layer. The C-L-C resonant circuit is used for passive and wireless sensing and simplifying the wireless bonding step. Compared to parylene C, PDMS has a much lower Young Modulus, enabling the quantification of the sensor curvatures, as an indicator of IOP. To fit human eyeballs, the size of the sensor was designed as follows: the outer diameter: 12 mm, the radius of curvature: 8.5 mm. The sensor was characterizedin vitroto obtain the frequency response, and the results show that the sensor has a linearity R>0.97 and a sensitivity>9.7 kHz/kPa. This sensor can be used to monitor IOP together with the reading circuit continuously, enabling the diagnosis of glaucoma without impacting the daily life of users.
Electrohydrodynamic Direct-Write Micro/Nano Pattern with the Restriction of Inducing Tip
Authors: Yu Zhao Jie , Jiang Jia Xin , Sun Ling Ling , Zheng Gao Feng , Sun Dao Heng
Published: April 2015

As a novel and simple non-contact fabrication method, electrohydrodynamic direct-write (EDW) has been regarded as one of the most potential technologies for large scale manufacturing of flexible and organic electronics. An inducing tip was introduced into the EDW apparatus. The enhanced electrical field between spinneret and inducing tip provided an excellent way to restrict the motion of charged jet, by which the stabilization of EDW jet can be promoted and the disturbances can also be overcome. Charged jet is deposited layer by layer to construct three dimension structure between spinneret and collector. The three dimension structure grows directly to the spinneret by the guidance and restriction of focused electric field. With the help of X-Y motion stage, the motion track of collector can be controlled by the host computer to fabricate designed pattern. The inducing tip provides a good way to increase the stability and deposition accurate of EDW charged jet.
Electrohydrodynamic Direct-Write Multi-Layer Micro Circuit on Flexible Substrate
Authors: Sun Ling Ling , Jiang Jia Xin , Yu Zhao Jie , Zheng Gao Feng , Sun Dao Heng
Published: April 2015

Electrohydrodynamic Direct-Writing (EDW) provides a simple and rapid way to print micro/nanostructures from viscoelastic solution, which meets the demand in the development of all-printed organic electronics. Overlapped printing of different functional materials to build up multi-layer devices displays excellent advantages in the flexible electron. The 3D multi-layer devices as well as flat interconnection can be fabricated on the flexible substrate directly via EDW technology. The technology of EDW utilized stable charged jet to print orderly conductive and insulator micro/nanostructure. Silver ink is used to print conductor connection, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) solution is used to fabricate insulator layer. Multi-layer interconnection can be printed layer by layer on the polyimide (PI) flexible insulator substrate. The resistance of top and bottom conductor connection was 6.1Ω and 5.9Ω, respectively. The insulator layer demonstrated excellent insulation characteristics between the bottom and top silver interconnection.
A Flexible Ultrasensitive IgG-Modified rGO-Based FET Biosensor Fabricated by Aerosol Jet Printing
Authors: Yu Wei , Cai Pei Jie , Liu Rui , Shen Fang Ping , Zhang Ting
Published: April 2015

High-performance biosensors are the key elements for rapid and real-time detection of specific biomolecules. Herein, an ultrasensitive FET biosensor on a flexible polymer substrate was reported, and the aerosol jet printing (AJP) method offers a unique way for low-cost mass manufacturing of the flexible sensors. The stable PBA functionalized rGO layer and the goat-anti-rabbit IgG layer on the rGO were both printed by AJP method between the source/drain electrodes. The flexibe biosensors exposure to low concentrations of target rabbit IgG showed dramatic increase in the source-drain current, which exhibited great sensing performance with the lowest detection limit of 13 fM.
Controllable Fabrication of Flexible Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes/Reduced Graphene Oxide Hybrid Ultrathin Films
Authors: Yu Wen Xiu , Qin Su Jie , Xiong Zuo Ping , Ren Zhong Qiang , Wang Xue Wen , Zhang Ting
Published: April 2015

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes/reduced graphene oxide (MWCNT/rGO) hybrid films have attracted increasing massive attention due to their unique advantages such as high conductivity, superior mechanical property and thermal properties. In this work, a novel, facile and low cost method was developed to fabricate the MWCNT/rGO flexible ultrathin hybrid films with the thickness of about 55 nm. These hybrid films can be fabricated repeatedly through layer-by-layer exfoliation on the surface of liquids, and transferred to various substrates. The devices based on MWCNT/rGO hybrid films offer a unique platform for integrating carbon nanomaterials for advanced electronics, energy, and sensor applications.
Synthesis and Characterization of Substituted μ-oxo-bis[tetra-phenylporphyrinatoiron] Compounds
Authors: Sun Zhi Cheng , Chen Shu Ying , Guo Zhi Peng , Cao Mei Juan , Li Lu Hai
Published: April 2015

A novel one-pot method for the synthesis of substituted μ-oxo-bis [tetraphenyl porphyrinatoiron] compounds ([TRPPFe]2O) from pyrrole and aromatic aldehydes was proposed and investigated in this paper. Four kinds of [TRPPFe]2O were designed and synthesized by one-pot reaction and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectra and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Moreover, the [TRPPFe]2O yields of 18.7~22.4% could be obtained with this novel method under the optimum reaction conditions.
DFT Study on Geometric and Electronic Structures Properties of Dye Sensitizers
Authors: Cao Mei Juan , Sun Zhi Cheng , Li Lu Hai , She Yuan Bin , Yang Zuo Lin , Wu Tian Yue
Published: April 2015

A series of porphyrin sensitizers with different central metal ions (PMn, PFe, PCo, PNi, PCu, and PZn) have been studied based on density functional theory (DFT). The geometric structure of the dyes was optimized and the frontier molecular orbital were calculated. The result shows that the LUMO levels of PFe, PNi and PZn were much lower than that of PMn, PCo and PCu, which suggest a lower energy barrier for electron transfer from the donor to the acceptor tunneling. Furthermore, the energy gap of HOMO and LUMO for PFe was only 0.81 eV, it indicates a significant red shift of the absorption spectrum. The LUMO of PMn, PNi, PCu and PZn were mainly decocalized on the porphyrin core and the bridge moiety, which was beneficial to electronic transport.
Synthesis of Nitro-Functionalized A3B-Type Tetraphenylporphyrins Compounds and Potential Applications in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
Authors: Li Hui , She Yuan Bin , Fu Hai Yan , Jia Ting Wen
Published: April 2015

An improved Adler pre-mixed method based on a TFA-catalyzed condensation reaction between aldehydes and pyrroles was developed to synthesize a series of nitro-functionalized A3B-type tetraphenylporphyrins, and all the structures of A3B-type tetraphenylporphyrins were characterized by melting point analysis, electronic absorption spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectroscopy, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. Several factors in the synthesis process were systematically investigated to establish the optimum reaction conditions, hereby obtaining the high yield of products.
Electric-Field Assisted Hydrothermal Growth of ZnO Nanorods on Flexible Substrate and their Strain Sensing Applications
Authors: Zong Xian Li , Zhu Rong , Zhang Chao
Published: April 2015

This paper presents an electric-field assisted hydrothermal seedless synthesis of ZnO nanorods (NRs) on flexible polyimide (PI) substrate and their strain sensing applications. A three-electrode structure including top cathode and anode on PI substrate with a Copper layer on the back of PI (served as bottom gate) was fabricated with photolithography, sputtering and lift-off techniques. Hydrothermal growth of ZnO NRs on and between top cathode and anode (comb-like electrode-pair) was realized in Zn (NO3)2 and HMTA solution whilst an alternating current (AC) electric-field was applied onto the electrodes. The strain sensing properties of the fabricated ZnO NRs device were tested by measuring I-V characteristics of the device under different strains. From strain-free to 0.48% strain, the decrease ratio of the current flowing through the device reached 75% at a bias voltage of 1V.
Controllable Synthesis of Silver Nanospheres with Uniform Size
Authors: Zhao Yu Xia , Liu Cheng Mei , Zhang Li Na , Li Lu Hai , Wei Yen , Han Lu
Published: April 2015

We reported a facile route to obtain silver nanospheres with uniform shape and narrow size distribution by polyol synthesis, in which ethylene glycol (EG) was used both as solvent and reductant and polymer polyvinglpyrrolidone (PVP) was used as capping agent. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM), UV-vis, and dynamic light scattering(DLS) were used to characterize the morphologies and size distribution of as-synthesized silver nanoparticles. Uniform silver nanospheres with an average diameter of 45 nm can be routinely synthesized through this approach by optimizing PVP/AgNO3(silver nitrate) molar ratio of 24 .
Preparation of Au-Ag Nanoframe and its Application in SERS
Authors: Liu Shi Li , Xin Zhi Qing , Li Lu Hai
Published: April 2015

A simple and facile preparation approach of gold-silver nanoframes is described based on triangular silver nanoplates. HAuCl4was used as etching agent and added to boiling nanoplates suspension under stirring. Especially, when different concentrations of HAuCl4was employed, various etching happened and corresponding morphology of gold-silver nanoframes were acquired. The properties of nanoframes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-vis spectra. Then the nanoframes were self-assembled onto the silicon treated with APTMS and used as SERS substrates for detecting p-ATP molecules. The results indicated that nanoframes showed better SERS effects than nanoplates.
Characteristics of Fe-Si-B-Cr-C Powders Synthesized by the Spinning Water Atomization Process (SWAP) and its Application in Magnetic Core
Authors: Chen Shih Fan , Huang Shih Hang , Wang Shea Jue , Lin Jin Shyong , Chen Shih Hsun , Chen Chien Chon
Published: April 2015

The application properties of magnetic cores made of Fe72.8Si11.2B10.8Cr2.3C2.9 powders was studied. The amorphous Fe72.8Si11.2B10.8Cr2.3C2.9 powders were prepared by a spinning water atomization process (SWAP), and the cores further were fabricated from those powders by a hydraulicpressing process. The particle size distribution of powders was about 10 to 20 μmand the alloy powders would crystallize during milling. For the cores, the maximum permeability μi was 14 and quality factor Q was 84 between 100kHz - 2000kHz for 1 wt.% Na2SiO4solidified with H-epoxy at 300°C. The minimum coercivityHcwas 0.22 Oe at 1 wt.% Na2SiO4 with PVB consolidated at 150 °C, and the maximum saturation magnetization Bm was 7.64×102 G for 2 wt.% Na2SiO4 with H-epoxy at 300 °C.
An Analysis of Low-Pressure High-Frequency Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition System for Flexible Solar Cell Characteristics
Authors: Thungsuk Nuttee , Yuji Toshifumi , Kasayapan Nat , Mahawan Chirapas , Arunrungrusmi Somchai , Mungkung Narong
Published: April 2015

The flexible dye-sensitized solar cells have a need to improve adhesive property in each layer in order to increase efficiency of this solar cell. Flexible surface with Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) were modified by using surface treatment from developed the low-pressure high-frequency Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition system in order to improve adhesive characteristic. The oxygen plasma treatment can improve adhesive property of Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) films and also cleaning surface. We were using the mixture of Ar and O2 gas for plasma treatment with oxygen gas flow rate from 0.1 L/min. to 0.5 L/min. while Ar gas flow rate was set at 10 L/min. and 5 minute for treatment time. The results indicate that using low-pressure high-frequency Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition system can be possible improvement adhesive characteristic of PEN films with radical increased on films.
Synthesis and Characterization of Nanofibres of 2ZnO·3B2O3·5H2O Ceramic Composite Using the Sol-Gel Processing and the Electrospinning Techniques
Authors: Sevim Fatih , Kara Adem , Aksakal Oguz , Demir Fatih , Eroglu Hayrettin
Published: April 2015

2ZnO.3B2O3.nH2O (Zinc borate) having the industrially important composite and used as flame retardant, anti-smoke and semiconductor in the electronic circuits was examined different crystal structures. In this study, nanofibers of PVA /zinc nitrate/ boric acid composite were prepared by using sol-gel processing and electrospinning technique. By high temperature calcinations of the above precursor fibers, nanofibers of 2ZnO.3B2O3.5H2O composite with diameters of 110 nm could be successfully obtained. The products have been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FT-IR (Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy). The effects of experimental conditions on the products were investigated.
Carbon-Fabric Reinforced PP/Graphene Nano-Sheets Nanocomposites: Preparation and Performance Evaluation
Authors: Lin Jia Horng , Lin Jan Yi , Li Ting Ting , Lin Mei Chen , Lou Ching Wen
Published: April 2015

This study uses graphene nanosheets (GNs) as filling materialand PP as base materialto preparePP/GNsnanocomposites using melt compounding. In order to compensate tensile property of PP/GNs nanocomposites,carbon-fiber woven fabrics (CFW) were stacked with the PP/GNsnanocompositesusing compression molding forming PP/GNs/CFWnanocomposites. DSC, Tensile, SEMand EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of nanocomposites are evaluated afterwards.Result displays that, after addition of carbon fabric intoPP/GNsnanocomposites, tensile strength were reinforced significantly, and EMI shielding frequency became wider.The resulting nanocomposites successfully applied in high temperature at around 160°C.
Fe(III) Induced Behavior of Hydrothermally Synthesized Tin Dioxide Nanoparticles
Authors: Singh Ajaib , Kumar Astakala Anil , Kumar Ashok , Kumar Jitendra
Published: April 2015

We report structural, optical and magnetic behavior of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) capped iron containing tin dioxide (SnO2) nanoparticles synthesized via facile cost effective, environmentally benign, low temperature hydrothermal process. X-ray diffraction pattern of pristine SnO2 revealed the formation of tetragonal rutile phase with lattice parameter, a = 0.479 nm, c = 0.323 nm; crystallite size being about 3 nm. The incorporation of iron resulted in progressive increase of unit cell parameters and average crystallite size, despite the fact that Fe3+ ion has lower ionic radius than Sn4+. The high resolution electron micrographs revealed the [110] preferred crystal orientation.
Synthesis and Characterization Anodized Titania Nanotubes for Enhancing Hydrogen Production
Authors: Vongwatthaporn Rinnatha , Tipparach Udom
Published: April 2015

Pure and doped Titania nanotubes (TiO2 NTs) photoanodes were fabricated by means of anodization method. The anodization was carried out in electrolytes prepared by mixing ethylene glycol (EG), ammonium fluoride (0.3 wt % NH4F) and deionized water (2 Vol % H2O) with different concentrations of dopant Fe (NO3)3∙9H2O. A constant dc power supply of 50 V was used as anodic voltage. The samples were annealed at 450 °C for 2 hours. The resultant products were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine their microstructures when TiO2 NTs were doped with different amounts of Fe atoms. The diameters of TiO2 NTs were about 60-120 nm. The highest density of TiO2 NTs was obtained when the nanotubes were doped with 0.01 M of Fe. The photocatalytic activity was examined without external applied potential. The maximum photocurrent density was 3.0 mA/cm2 under illumination of 100 mW/cm2.
Effect of Oxidation Condition on the Synthesis of Graphene Nanosheets and the Electrical Properties of Poly (Trimethylene Terephthalate) Composites Prepared Using these Nanosheets
Authors: Huang Chien Lin , Xu Wei Zhe , Wu Syuan Hua , Chen Wen Cheng , Lin Jia Horng
Published: April 2015

Graphene nanosheets (GNSs) with different oxygen contents crucially affect the performance of polymer composites. In this study, we compared GNSs prepared from graphite oxide (GO) using three different concentrations of potassium permanganate and thermal reduction of GO at 1050 °C. The structural properties of GO and GNSs were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, an effective coagulation method was used to prepare poly (trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) composites filled with well-dispersed GNSs by selecting suitable solvents for solution blending. The electrical properties of PTT/GNSs were investigated to reveal the effect of oxygen content of GNSs.
Dye Degradation Using Ag/ZnO Illuminated by Fluorescent Lamps
Authors: Amornpitoksuk Pongsaton , Suwanboon Sumetha
Published: April 2015

Heterostructure of Ag/ZnO was synthesized by a reduction of Tollen’s reagent on ZnO powders. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/ZnO was investigated through the degradation of three different dye solutions (methylene blue, rhodamine B and reactive orange 16) under visible light using the fluorescent lamps with a 420 nm longpass filter. The efficiencies of dye degradations for all three dyes by Ag/ZnO are better than that of pure ZnO. Furthermore, the parameters including photocatalyst loadings and initial pHs of dye solutions were also studied. The photocatalytic degradations for all three dyes were increased with the increasing of catalyst loadings. The effect of pHs on photocatalytic activity of Ag/ZnO can be explained by the interaction between the charge on the surface of photocatalyst and the charge of dye ions.
Formation of Eu-Doped CaF2 Naonocrystals in Glass-Ceramics by Infrared Laser Irradiation
Authors: Kim Dong Seon , Lee Jin Ho , Lim Ki Soo
Published: April 2015

Glass-ceramic was precipitated on the oxyfluoride glass surface by thermal annealing with a CO2 laser and a heat gun. Micro x-ray diffraction showed the formation of CaF2 ain the exposed region to the laser. Dopant distribution in glass ceramics was probed by confocal fluorescence microscope by observing much strong emission from Eu ions than the glassy area under 405 nm excitation. Much enhanced visible emissions under 365 nm excitation also showed well incorporation of Eu3+ ions into a crystalline environment.
Application and Evaluation of New Design Method by Using Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastics
Authors: Iida Haruhiko , Ohbuchi Yoshifumi , Fujishima Toshiaki , Sakamoto Hidetoshi
Published: April 2015

This research is the application of new design method for integrating the optimum shape and strength design process. The products is manufactured from product design which can use the advanced characteristic of composite materials obtained by the experiment and the numerical analysis. Here, the collaboration of the design and the strength analysis by using composite materials is carried out. The products, which are made from high strength composite materials, need new product design technology which draws out the characteristic of material's advantage. Existing product developments tend to separate product design from product planning. The process consists of three stages as follows; 1) Planning the shape of the product by designers, 2) Calculating the strength by numerical analysis, 3) Designing the product. It is performed a styling design by requirements from the engineering point of view. By using this design method of high-strength materials, we designed new styling ZIGZAG Chair made of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic with excellent strength and lightweight.