Regulation of Polymer Configurations Enables Green Solvent-Processed Large-Area Binary All-Polymer Solar Cells With Breakthrough Performance and High Efficiency Stretchability Factor

With the great potential of the all-polymer solar cells for large-area wearable devices, both large-area device efficiency and mechanical flexibility are very critical but attract limited attention. In this work, from the perspective of the polymer configurations, two types of terpolymer acceptors PYTX-A and PYTX-B (X = Cl or H) are developed. The configuration difference caused by the replacement of non-conjugated units results in distinct photovoltaic performance and mechanical flexibility. Benefiting from a good match between the intrinsically slow film-forming of the active materials and the technically slow film-forming of the blade-coating process, the toluene-processed large-area (1.21 cm²) binary device achieves a record efficiency of 14.70%. More importantly, a new parameter of efficiency stretchability factor (ESF) is proposed for the first time to comprehensively evaluate the overall device performance. PM6:PYTCl-A and PM6:PYTCl-B yield significantly higher ESF than PM6:PY-IT. Further blending with non-conjugated polymer donor PM6-A, the best ESF of 3.12% is achieved for PM6-A:PYTCl-A, which is among the highest comprehensive performances.     

Duplex spinel-ZrO2 ceramics

Duplex spinel-ZrO₂ ceramic composites were produced by an emulsion-hot kerosene drying technique. The sintered duplex spinel-ZrO₂ ceramics which had the composition of 55 wt% Al₂O₃-20 wt% ZrO₂-25 wt% MgO, consisted of a spinel matrix, whose grain size was in the range of 1.5 to 2.0 m, and uniformly dispersed zirconia agglomerates having grain sizes ranging from 1.0 to 2.0 m. Zirconia agglomerates began to appear at a temperature of 1500 °C and the duplex spinel-ZrO₂ structure was formed with the weight ratio of Al₂O₃/MgO being within 1.67 to 2.20 and the amount of ZrO₂ addition being within 5 to 25 wt %. The relative density, fracture toughness, flexural strength, and critical temperature difference of the spinel-ZrO₂ composite were 97.8%, 1.98 MPam^0.5, 390 MPa, and 275 °C, respectively.     

Dependence of giant magnetoresistance on microstructures in ion-beam co-sputtered CoxAg1−x granular films

A number of structural analysis methods were employed to investigate the microstructures of ion-beam co-sputtering of Co _x Ag_1–x (0x100 at%) granular films. Forx=22 at%, the sample which has the optimal giant magnetoresistance at room temperature, there exists either crystallized or highly disordered regions shown by high-resolution electron microscopy. At the boundary between cobalt granules and the silver matrix, lattice mismatch was formed, leading to roughness of the interfaces. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the samples had f c c structure at lowx, with (111) texture, and the h c p structure gradually appeared as x>75 at %. Relative lattice expansion was observed asx increased.     

Magnetic compass fault detection method for GPS/INS/magnetic compass integrated navigation systems

This paper proposes a magnetic compass fault detection method for GPS/INS/Magnetic compass integrated navigation systems. The fault is assumed to be caused by the hard iron and soft iron effect and modeled as an abrupt change in the magnetic compass output. In order to detect the fault, a test statistic related with only azimuth error measurement is determined. When a fault is detected, the GPS/INS/Magnetic compass integrated navigation system is changed into a GPS/INS integrated navigation system mode. In order to show the validity of the proposed method, computer simulation and van testing are carried out. The simulation and van test results show that the proposed navigation system gives more accurate outputs than the GPS/INS/Magnetic compass without the proposed method.     

Transformation of a thin-walled solid model into a surface model via solid deflation

A simplified geometric model with lower dimensionality, such as a mid-surface model, is often preferred over a detailed solid model for the analysis process, if the analysis results are not seriously impacted. In order to derive a mid-surface model from a thin-walled solid model, in this paper, we propose a novel approach called the solid deflation method. In this method, a solid model is assumed to be created by using air to inflate a shell that comprises the surface of the solid model. First, the model is simplified by the removal of any detailed features whose absence would not alter its overall shape. Next, the solid model itself can be converted into a degenerate solid model with zero thickness. Finally, a surface model is generated by splitting large faces paired in the thinned solid model, selecting one face per pair for creating a sheet model, and sewing the selected faces. Using this method, a more practical and usable mid-surface model can be very efficiently generated from a solid model because it can circumvent not only the tedious trimming and extension processes of the medial axis transformation method but also the time-consuming patch joining process of the mid-surface abstraction approach.     

An adaptive load balancing management technique for RFID middleware systems

In recent years, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) industries have taken a great interest in utilizing the benefits of RFID for supply chain management, inventory control and various other applications. This paper proposed an adaptive load balancing technique for RFID middleware systems to meet the demands of scalability and heterogeneity. First, we explored five basic load balancing policies, namely, information policy, job selection policy, transfer policy, initiation policy and location policy. Eighteen load balancing schemes were then proposed for RFID middleware systems that were combinations of various types of the five basic load balancing policies. Our empirical study suggested that these load balancing strategies performed differently under different workload statuses. Finally, an adaptive load balancing strategy was proposed. The load balancing schemes and the proposed adaptive load balancing strategy have been implemented in the RFID Middleware Load Management System (RM‐LMS). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new vertical‐alignment LC mode with high‐transmittance and fast‐response‐time features

Abstract— A novel pixel design for vertical‐alignment LCDs with superior transmittance has been developed. The new liquid‐crystal mode, refered to as the hole‐induced vertical‐alignment mode (Hi‐VA), uses a via hole of an organic layer on a TFT substrate to achieve multi‐domain alignment. Compared to the conventional design, the Hi‐VA mode has a transmittance of up to 135% with a contrast ratio of 2000:1. Moreover, the new structure is free from ITO patterning or protrusion on the color‐filter side, which makes the fabrication process simple and low cost.     

A Data‐driven Segmentation for the Shoulder Complex

The human shoulder complex is perhaps the most complicated joint in the human body being comprised of a set of three bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Despite this anatomical complexity, computer graphics models for motion capture most often represent this joint as a simple ball and socket. In this paper, we present a method to determine a shoulder skeletal model that, when combined with standard skinning algorithms, generates a more visually pleasing animation that is a closer approximation to the actual skin deformations of the human body. We use a data‐driven approach and collect ground truth skin deformation data with an optical motion capture system with a large number of markers (200 markers on the shoulder complex alone). We cluster these markers during movement sequences and discover that adding one extra joint around the shoulder improves the resulting animation qualitatively and quantitatively yielding a marker set of approximately 70 markers for the complete skeleton. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our skeletal model by comparing it with ground truth data as well as with recorded video. We show its practicality by integrating it with the conventional rendering/animation pipeline.     

Outsourcing strategy in two-stage call centers

This paper considers ‘two-stage’ call centers where some incoming calls are completed by first service while others require an additional second service. Although this type of call center is not uncommon, it has not been dealt with, if any, in the call center literature. In this paper, we introduce the concept of the ‘two-stage’ call center and discuss its features. Furthermore, we develop an effective outsourcing strategy in ‘two-stage’ call centers. To this end, we model ‘two-stage’ service system and propose several call routing structures. The structures are compared through numerical test and conventional queueing theories form the theoretical basis of our study.     

Simulation framework for small scale engagement

Developing future weapons systems has become increasingly complicated and costly. The armed forces of major nations use modeling and simulation techniques for new weapons systems from the conceptual stage to design, production, deployment and training stages to shorten the development cycle and guarantee their effectiveness. Failure in the development cycle carries too much loss in time and money. Therefore, computer-based modeling and simulation techniques are applied from the conceptual stage to gauge the efficacy of new weapons systems. The objective of this study is to develop a modeling and simulation methodology for small scale engagement using the DEVS formalism. The entities required for modeling and simulation are divided into three categories: combat, logical, and environmental entities. Combat entities represent the military hardware or combatants; logical entities represent the judgment and decision entities for the interaction between various entities; and environmental entities emulate the constituents of real combat environment. The combat entities are further modeled into Shell and Core Parts to maximize their reusability under various combat scenarios. The proposed framework is verified using a one-on-one combat engagement simulation (written in C++) between two submarines.