Synthesis and characterization of a new hyperbranched organic–inorganic solid polymer electrolyte with cyanuric chloride as a core element

A new hyperbranched organic–inorganic hybrid electrolyte based on the use of 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine (cyanuric chloride, CC) as the coupling core to couple with oligo(oxyalkylene)-amines, followed by condensation with (3-glycidoxypropyl)-trimethoxysilane (GLYMO) and complexed with LiClO₄, has been prepared and characterized. The Vogel–Tamman–Fulcher (VTF) like conductivity behavior is observed in the present organic–inorganic hybrid electrolytes with a maximum ionic conductivity value of 4.4 × 10⁻⁵ S cm⁻¹ at 30 °C. Multinuclear NMR techniques are used to provide a microscopic view for the specific interaction between the polymer chains and Li⁺ cations and their dynamic behaviors. The results of 2D ¹H–¹³C wide-line separation (WISE) and ⁷Li static line NMR width measurements divulge that the mobility of the ⁷Li cations is strongly related to a dynamic environment created by the polymer motion in the amorphous phase. The combined results of conductivity and ⁷Li pulse-gradient spin-echo (PGSE) NMR self-diffusion coefficient measurements reveal that the conductivity enhancement at low salt concentrations is mainly caused by the high mobility of the lithium cations.     

Impacts of material parameters on breakdown voltage and location for power MOSFETs

Journal of Computational Electronics - To improve the electrical performance of power devices, materials used in fabrication need to be analyzed and optimized. By numerical simulations, we reveal...     

Assessing improvement in management research in Taiwan

Research performance is difficult to evaluate because most of the criteria are incommensurable, and assessing its improvement over time is even more difficult. This paper assesses the performance improvement in management research in Taiwan between 2006 and 2010 using the Malmquist productivity index (MPI). The criteria for measuring research performance are journal publications, where the journals are classified as SI-, TI-, other international-, and other local-types. While the number of papers has increased for three types and decreased in one, the MPI indicates that the aggregate performance has improved significantly. The areas of management covered in this study are management information systems, production and operations management, and marketing. For all these areas the performance has improved, although the improvement in marketing is insignificant. The assessment sheds some light on the area and category of journals that contribute to the improvement of research performance, and which are useful for setting goals to reach higher levels.     

Diagnosing Multiple Byzantine Open-Segment Defects Using Integer Linear Programming

Faulty behaviors of open-segment defects are non-deterministic due to the Byzantine effect induced by the physical circuit layout. It is the test pattern and difficult for traditional ATPGs to manifest the corresponding faulty effect. Therefore, we propose a three-stage diagnosis approach for finding multiple open-segment defects. Stage one applies path tracing to help extract candidate fault sites from error outputs of failing patterns. An ILP solver in stage two effectively enumerates all fault combinations when considering fault candidates and simulation responses simultaneously. During stage three, fault simulation with support of physical information is responsible for identifying true open-segment defects by pruning false cases. Experimental results show good resolutions (only 1.7X and 1.5X total numbers of segments on average under 1,000 random and 5-detect patterns, respectively) for all ISCAS’85 circuits with 2–5 randomly-injected open-segment defects.     

Effect of chain microstructure on modulus of ethylene–α-olefin copolymers

A family of copolymers of ethylene and α-olefin resins with homogeneous branching distribution, which behaves as elastomers at high short-chain branching levels and acts as typical thermoplastics at low short-chain branching levels, is now available. Control of this broad range of properties stems from the ability to control the molecular architecture more effectively using Dow's INSITE

1 Trademark of The Dow Chemical Co.

technology than in the past. Due to the unique combination of narrow short-chain branching distribution (SCBD) and narrow molecular weight distribution (MWD), these resins provide a unique opportunity to model structure/property relationships in branched ethylene-α-olefin copolymers. The modulus in branched ethylene-α-olefin copolymers with aliphatic branches is shown to be primarily dictated by crystallinity. It is shown that the branch distribution and the branch type have an insignificant effect on the modulus of ethylene copolymers containing aliphatic branches at a given crystallinity. Modulus data have been successfully modeled in such systems using a lamellar fiber-reinforced amorphous matrix composite model. Switching from aliphatic branches to cyclic branches significantly affected the modulus at similar crystallinities. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A collaborative model for capacity expansion of the IC foundry industry

Collaborative project management is becoming a key means of survival for managing the integrated circuit (IC) foundry business. Starting a new IC foundry fabrication project involves complex organizational collaboration and systems integration. In the past, the lack of adequate theoretical approaches to combine parallel systems has led to poor integration of information and poor communication. This paper presents an object-oriented reference model for helping the project managers and the participants to better manage the collaborative relationship and systems integration during the expansion of new IC fabrication foundries. The tool set of the architecture of integrated information systems (ARIS) is applied to describe the interaction between the organization, events, functions, and the systems flow. An object-oriented analysis approach is used to represent the architecture of the collaborative model. A prototype Web-based platform is constructed to demonstrate the model for the capacity expansion of the IC foundry industry and show the improved communication channel.     

An automated tracking system to measure the dynamic properties of vesicles in living cells

Recent technological improvements have made it possible to examine the dynamics of individual vesicles at a very high temporal and spatial resolution. Quantification of the dynamic properties of secretory vesicles is labor-intensive and therefore it is crucial to develop software to automate the process of analyzing vesicle dynamics. Dual-threshold and binary image conversion were applied to enhance images and define the areas of objects of interest that were to be tracked. The movements, changes in fluorescence intensity, and changes in the area of each tracked object were measured using a new software system named the Protein Tracking system (PTrack). Simulations revealed that the system accurately recognized tracked objects and measured their dynamic properties. Comparison of the results from tracking real time-lapsed images manually with those automatically obtained using PTrack revealed similar patterns for changes in fluorescence intensity and a high accuracy (<89%). According to tracking results, PTrack can distinguish different vesicular organelles that are similar in shape, based on their unique dynamic properties. In conclusion, the novel tracking system, PTrack, should facilitate automated quantification of the dynamic properties of vesicles that are important when classifying vesicular protein locations.