Customer''s time-variant purchase behavior and corresponding marketing strategies: an online retailer''s case

The traditional customer relationship management (CRM) studies are mainly focused on CRM in a specific point of time. The static CRM and derived knowledge of customer behavior could help marketers to redirect marketing resources for profit gain at the given point in time. However, as time goes on, the static knowledge becomes obsolete. Therefore, application of CRM to an online retailer should be done dynamically in time. Though the concept of buying-behavior-based CRM was advanced several decades ago, virtually little application of the dynamic CRM has been reported to date.

In this paper, we propose a dynamic CRM model utilizing data mining and a monitoring agent system to extract longitudinal knowledge from the customer data and to analyze customer behavior patterns over time for the retailer. Furthermore, we show that longitudinal CRM could be usefully applied to solve several managerial problems, which any retailer may face.     

Copper nanofiber-networked cobalt oxide composites for high performance Li-ion batteries

We prepared a composite electrode structure consisting of copper nanofiber-networked cobalt oxide (CuNFs@CoO _x ). The copper nanofibers (CuNFs) were fabricated on a substrate with formation of a network structure, which may have potential for improving electron percolation and retarding film deformation during the discharging/charging process over the electroactive cobalt oxide. Compared to bare CoO _x thin-film (CoO _x TF) electrodes, the CuNFs@CoO _x electrodes exhibited a significant enhancement of rate performance by at least six-fold at an input current density of 3C-rate. Such enhanced Li-ion storage performance may be associated with modified electrode structure at the nanoscale, improved charge transfer, and facile stress relaxation from the embedded CuNF network. Consequently, the CuNFs@CoO _x composite structure demonstrated here can be used as a promising high-performance electrode for Li-ion batteries.     

Round-robin test on thermal conductivity measurement of ZnO nanofluids and comparison of experimental results with theoretical bounds

Ethylene glycol (EG)-based zinc oxide (ZnO) nanofluids containing no surfactant have been manufactured by one-step pulsed wire evaporation (PWE) method. Round-robin tests on thermal conductivity measurements of three samples of EG-based ZnO nanofluids have been conducted by five participating labs, four using accurate measurement apparatuses developed in house and one using a commercial device. The results have been compared with several theoretical bounds on the effective thermal conductivity of heterogeneous systems. This study convincingly demonstrates that the large enhancements in the thermal conductivities of EG-based ZnO nanofluids tested are beyond the lower and upper bounds calculated using the models of the Maxwell and Nan et al. with and without the interfacial thermal resistance.     

Fabrication of aluminum nano-scale structures using direct-embossing with a nickel template

Al plate was patterned by a direct embossing process. An electroformed Ni plate with a nano-sized surface protrusion pattern was used as an embossing mold. The Ni stamp with a nano-sized surface protrusion pattern was pressed onto an electro-polished Al plate; thus, a reversed Al nano-pattern was formed on the Al surface by the localized plastic deformation of Al. The Al plate was softened by annealing at 400 °C for 5 min; thus, high-fidelity pattern transfer was achieved at a low embossing pressure.     

A study on flow characteristics and discharge coefficients of safety valve used in LNG/LNG-FPSO ships

The safety valves used in liquefied natural gas — floating production storage and offloading (LNG-FPSO) ships play an important role in maintaining a fixed pressure by controlling the release of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from pipes in an LNG piping system. Therefore, the discharge coefficient is regarded as the most important parameter influencing the valve performance. In order to satisfy the ship’s classification criteria, the discharge coefficient of the safety valve must usually be over 0.8. Despite the importance of a good understanding of the flow phenomena inside the safety valve for the improvement of the discharge coefficient, the successful design of valves depends on experience and experiments in an industrial field. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigation was carried out with ANSYS-CFX software to observe the flow phenomena inside the valve and to determine the discharge coefficients from changes in the valve lift, which is the distance between the exit of the nozzle and the lower part of the disc plate. The discharge coefficients obtained were also verified through comparison with available experimental data.     

The effect of man made source processes on the behavior of total gaseous mercury in air: a comparison between four urban monitoring sites in Seoul Korea

Concentrations of total gaseous mercury (TGM) were measured continuously at four urban residential locations (G (Guro-gu); N (Nowon-gu); S (Songpa-gu); and Y (Yongsan-gu)) in Seoul, Korea from 2004 to 2009. The mean concentrations of Hg at these sites were found on the order of N (3.98 ± 1.68 ng m^− 3), S (3.87 ± 1.56 ng m^− 3), G (3.80 ± 1.60 ng m^− 3), and Y (3.36 ± 1.55 ng m^− 3). Evidence indicates that the spatial distribution of Hg should be affected by the combined effects of both local anthropogenic (incineration facilities and thermal power plants) and natural (soil) emission sources in association with the meteorological parameters. Inspection of the Hg temporal patterns indicates the co-existence of contrasting seasonal patterns between the central site Y (winter dominance) and all other outbound sites near city borders (summer dominance). The long-term trend of Hg, if examined by combining our previous studies and the present one, shows that Hg levels in this urban area declined gradually across decadal periods despite slight variabilities in spatial scale: (1) above 10 ng m^− 3 in the late 1980s, (2) ~ 5 ng m^− 3 in the late 1990s, and (3) ~ 3 ng m^− 3 toward the late 2000s. The results of the principal component analysis along with observed differences in seasonal patterns (between study sites) suggest that Hg distributions between different urban sites are greatly distinguishable with strong source signatures at each individual site.     

Instability prediction of GO2/GCH4 flames in a single recessed coaxial injector using 1D lumped network model

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - This study analyzes the effect of changes in input parameters on the prediction results in combustion instability. First, applying the centroid...     

The effect of ITO and Mo electrodes on the properties and stability of In-Ga-Zn-O thin film transistors

The effect of ITO and Mo electrodes on the electrical properties and stability of In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) are investigated. While the field effect mobility values of the devices employing ITO and Mo electrodes are similar, the former exhibit smaller threshold voltage (V_th) and subthreshold swing (SS). It is suggested that the relatively large workfunction of Mo (4.7 eV) compared to that of ITO (4.4?~?4.5 eV) induces a large Schottky barrier at the Mo/IGZO junction, which prohibits the effective injection of electrons from the metal into the IGZO semiconductor. The workfunction of IGZO is usually reported to be approximately 4.5 eV. The device stability of the two types of TFTs under negative bias stress (NBS) and positive bias stress (PBS) is similar, which implies that the degradation of the devices under bias stress is mainly affected by the trapping of carriers at the IGZO/gate insulator interface. In the presence of illumination, the devices using optically transparent ITO electrodes allow the penetration of a more abundant concentration of photons into the IGZO active layer, and thus undergo larger V_th shifts under negative bias illumination stress (NBIS). However, under positive bias illumination stress (PBIS), the TFTs using ITO exhibit smaller positive V_th shifts. The latter phenomenon is suggested to result from the excess photo-induced electrons in the bulk that counter the effect of electron trapping near the IGZO/gate insulator boundary.     

Development of Anionically Decorated Caged Neurotransmitters: In Vitro Comparison of 7‐Nitroindolinyl‐ and 2‐(p‐Phenyl‐o‐nitrophenyl)propyl‐Based Photochemical Probes

Neurotransmitter uncaging, especially that of glutamate, has been used to study synaptic function for over 30 years. One limitation of caged glutamate probes is the blockade of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐A receptor function. This problem comes to the fore when the probes are applied at the high concentrations required for effective two‐photon photolysis. To mitigate such problems one could improve the photochemical properties of caging chromophores and/or remove receptor blockade. We show that addition of a dicarboxylate unit to the widely used 4‐methoxy‐7‐nitroindolinyl‐Glu (MNI‐Glu) system reduced the off‐target effects by about 50–70 %. When the same strategy was applied to an electron‐rich 2‐(p‐Phenyl‐o‐nitrophenyl)propyl (PNPP) caging group, the pharmacological improvements were not as significant as in the MNI case. Finally, we used very extensive biological testing of the PNPP‐caged Glu (more than 250 uncaging currents at single dendritic spines) to show that nitro‐biphenyl caging chromophores have two‐photon uncaging efficacies similar to that of MNI‐Glu.     

Effect of a critical percolation threshold in purified short carbon nanotube-polymer/ZnS:Cu,Cl composite on electroluminescence

AC driven inorganic electroluminescence (EL) of the carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymer/phosphor composite was fabricated to investigate the effect of the critical percolation threshold by CNT concentration on EL performance. In order to control the appropriate CNT condition in EL device, CNTs were shortened by cryogenic crushing and purified by thermal treatment. Among various CNT concentrations in the composite film, the critical percolation threshold can be found to be 0.0925 wt.% by fitting conductivity data of the composite film. Near the critical percolation threshold of a CNT concentration, the EL performances of the composite EL were greatly increased compared to the reference EL. The tunneling barrier thickness at the ZnS–Cu_xS contact could become thin to induce more charge carrier tunneling into ZnS host lattice by the local field enhancement of CNTs, resulting in increased electron–hole recombination to produce more light emission.