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The morphology and orientation evolution of Cu6Sn5 grains formed on (001)Cu and (011)Cu single crystal substrates under temperature gradient (TG) were investigated. The initial orientated prism-type Cu6Sn5 grains transformed to non-orientated scallop-type after isothermal reflow. However, the Cu6Sn5 grains with strong texture were revealed on cold end single crystal Cu substrates by imposing TG. The Cu6Sn5 grains on (001)Cu grew along their c-axis parallel to the substrate and finally merged into one grain to form a fully IMC joint, while those on (011)Cu presented a strong texture and merged into a few dominant Cu6Sn5 grains showing about 30° angle with the substrate. The merging between neighboring Cu6Sn5 grain pair was attributed to the rapid grain growth and grain boundary migration. Accordingly, a model was put forward to describe the merging process. The different morphology and orientation evolutions of the Cu6Sn5 grains on single crystal and polycrystal Cu substrates were revealed based on crystallographic relationship and Cu flux. The method for controlling the morphology and orientation of Cu6Sn5 grains is really benefitial to solve the reliability problems caused by anisotropy in 3D packaging.

Scalable preparation of flexible, porous, and microstructure membrane for triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with controllable thickness and high contact surface area using cost-effective methods is still a great challenge. Herein, we developed a novel, cost-effective, and scalable fabrication procedure for the preparation of a lightweight, flexible, thin, and porous polyurethane (PU) membrane for a TENG device. Importantly, the thickness and pore size of the PU membrane can be tuned easily. The PU-based TENG device fabricated with a porous PU membrane of 5 μm thickness and 15 μm pore size (PU-5-15) generated a maximum peak to peak output voltage was 58.5 V with a corresponding peak to peak current was 1.37 μA at 4 N and power density of 9.7 mW/m2. The device was systematically used to energize 24 green commercial lightemitting diodes (LEDs) in brighter condition connected in series and to turn on the LCD of a portable timer clock within 51 s and glow for 1 s after 187 taps. The developed TENG device also exhibited stable cyclic charging and discharging property that is very important for real applications. Furthermore, the energy-harvesting performance of the device was also tested with human body movements. The developed industrially compatible method is very easy and convenient, and mass production is possible. Compared to other studies, in this novel study, we achieved a higher electrical performance at the desired lower thickness for the porous PU membrane-based TENG device. The developed fabrication method will pave the way for the facile and scalable industrial processing of PU membranes for energy-harvesting applications.

In this study, well-dispersed nanocomposite films with triacetate cellulose (TAC) as a matrix and reinforced with lemon peel-cellulose nanofibers (lemon peel-CNF) were developed. The nanofibers in aqueous solution were solvent-exchanged to methanol by a series of centrifuging and re-dispersing steps. Afterward, using the solution casting method, the mixture of recycled TAC (rTAC) film and nanofibers prepared by stirring combined with ball milling technique to achieve full dispersed solution was coated onto glass to obtain a thin film. The dispersion effect of CNF in TAC was observed by transmission electron microscopy. The optical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the nanocomposite films were characterized experimentally. The results showed that with varying CNF content (1–7 wt%), the haze was slightly increased while the transmittance was not affected compared with that of rTAC film (92.7%). The addition of CNF increased the tensile strength by 60%, tensile strain by 150%, and yield strength by 50%. Creep compliance improved for all nanocomposites compared with rTAC film. CNF led to a significant reduction in the thermal expansion properties of rTAC film.

Experiments were performed in a low-speed wind tunnel to study the effect of textile roughness on the aerodynamic flow around a circular cylinder. The circular cylinder is fitted with different fab...

Radiative cooling of the thermally isolated system is investigated in KAGRA gravitational wave telescope. KAGRA is a laser interferometer-based detector and main mirrors constituting optical cavities are cool down to 20K to reduce noises caused by the thermal fluctuation. The mirror is suspended with the multi-stage pendulum to isolate any vibration. Therefore, this mirror suspension system has few heat links to reduce vibration injection. Thus, this system is mainly cooled down with thermal radiation. In order to understand the process of radiative cooling of the mirror, we analyzed cooling curve based on mass and specific heat. As a result, it was newly found that a cryogenic part called ”cryogenic duct-shield” seems to have large contribution in the beginning of the mirror cooling. This finding will help to design new cooling system for the next generation cryogenic gravitational wave detector.

An angular displacement-enhanced heterodyne polarimeter has been employed to investigate the optical properties and thermal denaturation of collagen. In the angular measurement, the phase change of the collagen at different temperatures can be enhanced using a null-detection technique with a retardation-tunable wave-plate and analyzer into our common-path heterodyne polarimeter. Also, the environmental noise can be reduced by the interference of transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves from the optical common-path setup. We first measured the optical rotation of deionized water, glucose solution (dextrorotatory), and bovine serum albumin (BSA, levorotatory) to ensure the accuracy and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the experimental setup. It was found that the optical rotation from the measured phase difference can be enhanced up to 40-fold amplification with a soleil babinet compensator (SBC). Moreover, we have investigated the thermal denaturation from the denaturation temperature defined by the change of optical rotation, and the thermal renaturation of collagen has been studied by heating the samples to 55°C followed by cooling down to 25°C and then heating back to 55°C. The results reveal that 63% triple helices in the collagen structure have been refolded during the renaturation stage. This approach successfully provides with a real-time, noninvasive, and high resolution detection for thermal denaturation and renaturation of collagen.

A 56-day feeding trial was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary glutamate (Glu) supplementation on growth performance, digestive enzyme activities and intestinal antioxidant capacity of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). A total of 540 grass carp with average initial weight of 370 ± 3.8 g were fed three diets supplemented with 0, 8 and 16 g kg−1 Glu. The per cent weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, and protein and lipid productive value were significantly improved by dietary Glu supplementation. Feed intake, condition factor, visceral somatic index and perivisceral fat ratio were not significantly different between dietary groups. Hepatosomatic index, intestinal somatic index, intestine length index, intestine protein content, trypsin activity in hepatopancreas and intestine, lipase activity in proximal and mid-intestine (MI) and hepatopancreas, alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activities in intestine, creatine kinase activities in the mid- and distal intestine, intestinal folds height in the proximal and MI were significantly increased with increased Glu. Malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl contents in the intestine decreased with increased Glu. Superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenging ability, glutathione reducase, catalase and total superoxide dismutase activities, and glutathione content in the intestine were increased with increased Glu. These results suggested that dietary Glu supplementation increased intestinal antioxidant capacity, digestive and absorptive ability and improved fish growth.

This work reports a large controllability of domain evolution in BaTiO3 ferroelectric nanodot by isotropic surface charge screening (SCS). The phase field simulations show that the nanodot can exhibit fruitful domain patterns and evolution paths as functions of temperature and screening factor and changing direction of these two variables. Four typical types of experimental processes have been simulated, including the cooling-down and heating-up processes under fixed SCS conditions, and the processes of increasing and decreasing SCS under fixed temperatures. During these processes, the nanodot exhibits up to 13 different kinds of domain patterns, among which some are either polar or toroidal and some are both polar and toroidal. We summarized the phase diagrams as functions of temperature and charge screening factor, and also analyzed the typical domain evolution paths.

12″ manufacturable 90nm CMOS fully compatible 1Mb HfO 2 -ReRAM by 2 extra masks between Metals with BEoL thermal stress immunity is for the first time achieved in this work. Cycle random soft error, for the first time systematically observed in this work, due to improper phase-transition of TiO δ on filament are successfully suppressed by stoichiometric engineering on HfO 2 / reservoir interface to achieve reliable 20K / 100K endurance and 85°C 10 years retention. This technology can thus offer potential applications of embedded IoT systems due to low energy consumption and cost effective benefit.

In this study a hexapod robot is used to explore its immediate environment. The man-machine interface program at the computer end is designed to detect the surroundings, plot simple topographic maps, and execute motion control by means of servos. The servomotor control interface designed and used in this study is based on a CPLD. The device, directly integrated with a single chip, can precisely generate the desired pulse width for PWM to control the robot servos. The control method used significantly reduces the workload on the MCU to allow it to better communicate with external devices. Most commercially available robots capable of making topographic maps and avoiding obstacles have wheels and they do not function well on surfaces that are not flat and even. This work may be continued and tests carried out on a range of different ground surfaces. The servomotor conversion device used here simplifies control and reduces the power needed by the single chip. This allows it to work with more external sensors and accomplish more communications tasks. Although this device uses ultrasonic and infrared sensors, a biaxial accelerometer and an electronic compass, it is desirable for more sensing functions to be incorporated in subsequent studies. The platform of the hexapod robot will also become a design reference for such devices in the engineering and the manufacturing fields and should provide useful options and applications for the commercialization of different industrial robots.

A 130-pole superconducting undulator with NbTi wires was wound and tested at National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC). The magnetic field was measured with a cryogenic mini-Hall sensor in a vertical dewar. The difference of total length between the nominal design and that measured experimentally with the Hall probe is approximately 1.2 mm; this discrepancy arises from the thermal contribution during the field measurement in the test dewar. The reliability of the measurement system is confirmed, and is discussed in terms of the field-mapping spectrum. The measurement of the field strength revealed a non-uniform distribution of the field in the 1 m long arrays. An iron pole piece was used to shim the on-axis field strength of the undulators. We discuss the thermal effect of the measurement system, a useful shimming method and its results for the superconducting undulator.

Self-reinforced poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) composites prepared by using a modified film-stacking tech- nique were examined in this study. The starting materials included a high tenacity PET yarn (reinforcement) and a low melt- ing temperature biodegradable polyester resin (matrix), both of which differ in their melting temperatures with a value of 56°C. This experiment produced composite sheets at three consolidation temperatures (Tc: 215, 225, and 235°C) at a con- stant holding time (th: 6.5 min), and three holding times (3, 6.5 and 10 min) at a constant consolidation temperature of 225°C. This study observed a significant improvement in the mechanical properties obtained in self-reinforced PET com- posites compared to the pure polyester resin. The results of tensile, flexural, and Izod impact tests proved that optimal con- ditions are low consolidation temperature and short holding time. The absorbed impact energy of the best self-reinforced PET composite material was 854.0 J/m, which is 63 times that of pure polyester resin.

Antibody titers raised for vaccinations against avian influenza (AI) and Newcastle disease (ND) were higher in Chinese Beijing-You (BJY) than in White Leghorn (WL) (P < 0.001), but there was no breed difference in titers for sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Genotyping by PCR-SSCP identified seven haplotypes in WL and 17 in BJY. After sequencing PCR products (35 and 85, respectively), 43 (WL) and 47 (BJY) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found in the 264 bp of exon 2. In WL chickens, significant associations were found with antibody responses to AI (two SNPs), ND (six SNPs), and SRBC (one SNP), while in BJY there was association with responses to ND (two SNPs) and SRBC (two SNPs), but none with AI. These results indicate that the genomic region bearing exon 2 of the major histocompatibility complex B-F gene has significant effects on antibody responses to SRBC and vaccination against AI and ND. Different SNPs affected antibody titers for each of the antigens and they differed between these very distinct breeds.

Visfatin is an adipokine that is highly expressed in visceral fat. Plasma levels of visfatin have been reported to be higher in subjects with obesity and/or type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the role of visfatin in endothelial dysfunction has been largely unexplored.We investigated the possible pathogenic role of visfatin in endothelial dysfunction, particularly focusing on its effect on inflammatory mediators.Primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) pretreated with visfatin (1, 10 and 50 ng ml(-1)) were used to study the relationship between visfatin and endothelium dysfunction. Expressions of adhesion molecules (ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin) and cytokines (interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8) affected by visfatin were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, flow cytometry and real-time PCR. Activity of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB was examined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay.At a visfatin concentration of 50 ng ml(-1), significant increases in IL-6, IL-8, ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin gene expression along with increased IL-6, IL-8 and sE-selectin protein levels in the conditioned medium were detected. Flow cytometry showed that the addition of visfatin significantly increased ICAM-1 expression and VCAM-1 expression (10 and 50 ng ml(-1), respectively). Electrophoretic mobility shift assay confirmed that visfatin increased the DNA-binding activity of NF-kappaB. In addition, pretreatment with visfatin (10 and 50 ng ml(-1)) increased human monocyte cell line THP-1 adhesion to HUVECs.Our findings suggest that visfatin causes endothelial dysfunction by increasing inflammatory and adhesion molecule expression at least partly through the upregulation of NF-kappaB activity.

Barium strontium titanate (BST) has been targeted as one potential ferroelectric glass–ceramic for high-energy density dielectric materials. Previous testing has shown that the dielectric constant of these materials was as high as 1000 and the dielectric breakdown strength up to 800 kV/cm. This did not, however, result in exceptional energy density (∼0.90 J/cc). In order to increase overall energy density refining agents can be added to the melt, but the nucleation and growth of the ceramic particles can also play a role. Therefore, in this study the crystallization kinetics were studied to more fully understand how BST phase forms so that the optimal energy density could be obtained. It was determined that the activation energy of the crystallization of BST 70/30 glass–ceramic is approximately 430 kJ/mol which is close to the dissociation energy of Si–O bonds. The Avrami parameter was found to be ∼3 meaning that three-dimensional growth is dominant and the mechanism of growth was interface controlled.

Summary Background Most reports suggest that mutations in the interferon sensitivity-determining region (ISDR) correlate with response to conventional interferon-based therapies in hepatitis C virus-1b (HCV-1b) patients. However, the correlation between ISDR region mutations and response to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin therapy in HCV-1b patients remains unclear. Aim To assess whether ISDR mutations correlate with response to Peg interferon plus ribavirin therapy in HCV-1b patients. Patients and methods Sixty HCV-1b naive patients who had undergone 6 months of Peg interferon α-2b plus ribavirin and a 6-month follow-up were enrolled. The amino acid sequences of the nonstructural 5A-interferon-induced RNA-dependent protein kinase (NS5A–PKR)-binding domain were determined by polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. Results Thirty (50%) patients achieved sustained virological response (SVR). Univariate analysis showed that the proportion of patients with ISDR mutations ≥4 and rapid virological response rate was higher in the sustained virological response group than in the non-SVR group. Viral load was lower in the SVR group than in the non-SVR group. Multivariate analysis revealed that ISDR mutations ≥4 and ribavirin ≥14 mg/kg/day were independent predictors of SVR. Conclusion Mutations of the ISDR correlate with SVR to Peg interferon α-2b plus ribavirin therapy in HCV-1b patients.

Barium strontium titanate glass-ceramics were successfully produced with one major crystalline phase when Al2O3 was added to the melt. A dielectric constant of 1000 and a breakdown strength of 800 kV/cm was achieved; however the energy density was only measured to be 0.3–0.9 J/cm3. These energy density values were lower than anticipated due to the presence of dendrites and pores in the microstructure. Using BaF2 as a refining agent improved the microstructure and doubled the energy density for BST 80/20 samples. However, no refining agent reduced the increasing amount of hysteresis that developed with increasing applied electric field. This phenomenon is believed to be due to interfacial polarization.

This investigation presents the solution of kinematic wave equations for overland flow, in which the lateral term is determined from unsteady rainfall and the infiltration φ index model [1], in which the rate of abstractions is constant, yielding an excess rainfall hyetograph with a total depth that equals the depth of direct runoff over the watershed. Lateral inflow is inferred by the unit step function to represent an unsteady rainfall event; the solution uses the method of characteristics. Part of the discharge hydrograph that satisfies the boundary condition is semi-analytically solved, by a reduced, simple procedure, which does not require the use of numerical method such as finite difference. The analysis presented herein this investigation deals with both rising and falling stages. Example calculations, water surface profiles, and discharge hydrographs are also presented.

Internal strain amplification can be utilized in piezoelectric ceramics to obtain relatively large displacements. The monomorph described in the present work is a bending bar made from a single piece of material into which a smooth gradient of piezoelectric activity is introduced. The application of a voltage then causes the bar to bend due to the differential stresses that are induced. These are relatively uniformly distributed and do not peak in the center as in a conventional bimorph. Significantly increased life and reliability can then be achieved.

Instrumented drop weight impact and compression-after-impact tests (CAI) were conducted to assess the impact performance, compression failure mechanisms and residual compression strength of three-dimensional (3-D) interlock carbon woven/epoxy composites. Comparative evaluations were also contrasted with those for conventional two-dimensional (2-D) plain woven/epoxy laminated composites. The results show that the 3-D interlock woven composites exhibited a smaller impact damage area and higher % residual strength than the 2-D woven laminated composites. The improvements were attributed to the larger crimp-angle and interlacing structure of the 3-D interlock woven composites, which inhibits delaminated propagation along the plane direction. Besides, the fact that the 3-D interlock woven structure prevents buckling of the fibre tows under compressive load also contributes to the CIA performance.

This paper surveys the recent achievements with thermoset rubber/layered silicate nanocomposites considering their production methods, cure characteristics, structure and basic properties (mechanical, thermal and barrier). It was shown that the properties of the “nanoreinforced” rubbers strongly depend on the dispersion state of the silicate. The latter can be influenced by various methods related to the production route (latex, solution or melt compounding), silicate type (natural and artificial origin mostly affecting the aspect ratio), surface modification of the silicate (chemical buildup of the surfactant used for “organophilization”), recipe (curatives, activators, compatibilizers, etc.) and compounding parameters (temperature, time, shear rate, etc.). A peculiar skeleton-type reinforcing structure can be produced by latex compounding. Solution and melt intercalation techniques usually result in nanocomposites containing silicate layers in both intercalated and exfoliated forms. To detect the related structure the combined use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques is inevitable. Confinement and deintercalation of the organophilic layered silicates occurring during compounding can be circumvented by the proper selection of the surfactants. Based on the present praxis some tendencies for future R&D activities with rubber nanocomposites were deduced and a strong impetus was forecasted to them owing to the fast development with thermoplastic/layered silicate systems. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:1083–1093, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.

Owing to tectonic collision, about 70% of Taiwan’s land are mountains and foothills. With several unfavourable conditions such as typhoons, strong rainfalls, and earthquakes, the landslide hazard is a critical issue in Taiwan. This issue is increasingly important because the use of hillsides for residence are growing in recent years. To address the issue and to protect its citizens, Taipei City Government initiated a pilot project to monitor landslide displacements in 2010. The project involves a selected hillside community with dip slope in Taipei City. The community had a major landslide in 1983.The monthly monitoring with non-automated devices is not helpful for residence to react to landslides. To help improve the situation, we use motion sensors to develop fully automated devices to infer displacements. We also used numerical analyses to help determine the best locations to install these devices. They were mounted to the ground surface to sense the tilt. The tilt converts to displacements by assuming slip surfaces. Small displacements were detected during a typhoon event in July of 2013.With the developed monitoring device, standard operation procedures were developed accordingly. Community residents has been educated how to react to unfavourable conditions. These conditions are defined by displacements exceeding certain thresholds.

In order to understand the influence of various factors on the evaporation rate on the vapor-liquid interface, the evaporation process of water in pure steam environment was calculated based on the statistical rate theory (SRT), and the results were compared with those from the traditional Hertz-Knudsen equation. It is found that the evaporation rate on the vapor-liquid interface increases with the increase of evaporation temperature and evaporation temperature difference and the decrease of vapor pressure. When the steam is in a superheated state, even if the temperature of the liquid phase is lower than that of the vapor phase, the evaporation may also occur on the vapor-liquid interface; at this time, the absolute value of the critical temperature difference for occurring evaporation decreases with the increase of vapor pressure. When the evaporation temperature difference is smaller, the theoretical calculation results based on the SRT are basically the same as the predicated results from the Hertz-Knudsen equation; but the deviation between them increases with the increase of temperature difference.

An interferometer having accuracy in displacement measurement of

It is generally known that Morse code is an efficient input method for one or two switches and it is made from long and short sounds separated by silence between the sounds. The long-to-short ratio in the definition is always 3 to 1, but the long-to-short ratio variation for a disabled person is so large that it is difficult to recognize. In the last few years, several Morse code recognition methods have been successfully built on the LMS adaptive algorithms and neural network algorithm. But LMS-related adaptive algorithms need mass computation to infer the characteristic of the controller; also the neural network must learn first, by inputting some data before it is used to recognize the Morse code sequence. In this study, two fuzzy algorithms are used to recognize the unstable Morse code sequences and the result demonstrates a significant improvement of recognition for real time signal processing in a single-chip microprocessor.