Reproducibility of transition temperature and critical current density of thin films of YBa2Cu3O7 on (100) LaAlO3

Submicrometer epitaxial films of YBa₂Cu₃O₇(YBCO) on (100) LaAlO₃ were made by coevaporation and furnace annealing. Samples from more than a dozen runs are used in this study. The zero resistance transition temperature (T _c) is high (89 or 90 K) if the film composition is phase pure (Ba/Y=2, Cu/Y=3) or if it is enriched in Ba and Cu. For these compositions the critical current density (J _c) at 77 K has an average value of 2×10⁵ A cm^–2, with a tendency for decreasingJ _c with increasing film thickness (0.2 to 0.8m). Variations inJ _c are not correlated with deviations from ideal stoichiometry. Steeper slopes of the resistance-temperature curves above 100 K and lower values of the room-temperature resistivity are associated with high values ofJ _c. If the film composition is enriched in Y relative to Ba and Cu,T _c decreases by several degrees.     

Remote-Controlled Ambidextrous Robot Hand Concept

In the development of robotic limbs, the side of members is of importance to define the shape of artificial limbs and the range of movements. It is mainly significant tbr biomedical applications concerning patients suffering arms or legs injuries, fn this paper, the concept of an ambidextrous design lbr robot hands is introduced. The fingers can curl in one xvay or another, to imitate either a right hand or a left hand. The advantages and inconveniences of different models have been investigated to optimise the range and the maximum force applied by fingers. Besides, a remote control interthce is integrated to the system, allowing both to send comrnands through internet and to display a video streaming of the ambidextrous hand as feedback. Therefore, a robotic prosthesis could be used for the first time in telerehabilitation. The main application areas targeted are physiotherapy alter strokes or management of phantom pains/br amputees by/earning to control the ambidextrous hand. A client application is also accessible on Facehook social network, making the robotic limb easily reachable for the patients. Additionally the ambidextrous hand can be used tbr robotics research as well as artistic performances.     

Triangulation in practice

Triangulation is the means by which an alternate perspective is used to validate, challenge or extend existing findings. It is frequently used when the field of study is difficult, demanding or contentious and presence research meets all of these criteria. We distinguish between the use of hard and soft triangulation—the former emphasising the challenging of findings, the latter being more confirmatory in character. Having reviewed a substantial number of presence papers, we conclude that strong triangulation is not widely used while soft triangulation is routinely employed. We demonstrate the usefulness of hard triangulation by contrasting an ontological analysis of in-ness with an empirical study of (computer) game playing. We conclude that presence research would be well served by the wider use of hard triangulation and for the reporting of anomalous and ill-fitting results.

Concerted evolution at the population level: pupfish HindIII satellite DNA sequences

The canonical monomers (approximately 170 bp) of an abundant (1.9 x 10(6) copies per diploid genome) satellite DNA sequence family in the genome of Cyprinodon variegatus, a "pupfish" that ranges along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to central Mexico, are divergent in base sequence in 10 of 12 samples collected from natural populations. The divergence involves substitutions, deletions, and insertions, is marked in scope (mean pairwise sequence similarity = 61.6%; range = 35-95.9%), is largely confined to the 3' half of the monomer, and is not correlated with the distance among collecting sites. Repetitive cloning and direct genomic sequencing experiments failed to detect intrapopulation and intraindividual variation, suggesting high levels of sequence homogeneity within populations. The satellite sequence has therefore undergone "concerted evolution," at the level of the local population. Concerted evolution has previously almost always been discussed in terms of the divergence of species or higher taxa; its intraspecific occurrence apparently has not been reported previously. The generality of the observation is difficult to evaluate, for although satellite DNAs from a large number of organisms have been studied in detail, there appear to be little or no other data on their sequence variation in natural populations. The relationship (if any) between concerted, population level, satellite DNA divergence and the extent of gene flow/genetic isolation among conspecific natural populations remains to be established.     

Recent advances in amperometric glucose biosensors for in vivo monitoring

The substance-use, positive health practices, diet and eating habits, driving behaviours and preventive health care practices of 113 nurses living in the southeast of England were assessed by means of a postal questionnaire. Females were generally more compliant than males with most of the behaviours assessed. Females reported taking greater risks with driving behaviours by an occasional tendency to "drink and drive". Many males reported both a lack of knowledge of how to self-examine their testicles for signs of cancer and little compliance with this behaviour. This sample reported more smoking and alcohol use than previously reported samples of American nurses and U.K. norms. The nurses in this sample were more likely to avoid foods high in cholesterol, add fibre to their diet and be more vigilant in their driving behaviour than American nurses and British non-nurses.     

Highly Efficient Quasi 2D Blue Perovskite Electroluminescence Leveraging a Dual Ligand Composition

Perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) are advancing because of their superior external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) and color purity. Still, additional work is needed for blue PeLEDs to achieve the same benchmarks as the other visible colors. This study demonstrates an extremely efficient blue PeLED with a 488 nm peak emission, a maximum luminance of 8600 cd m⁻², and a maximum EQE of 12.2% by incorporating the double-sided ethane-1,2-diammonium bromide (EDBr₂) ligand salt along with the long-chain ligand methylphenylammonium chloride (MeCl). The EDBr₂ successfully improves the interaction between 2D perovskite layers by reducing the weak van der Waals interaction and creating a Dion–Jacobson (DJ) structure. Whereas the pristine sample (without EDBr₂) is inhibited by small stacking number (n) 2D phases with nonradiative recombination regions that diminish the PeLED performance, adding EDBr₂ successfully enables better energy transfer from small n phases to larger n phases. As evidenced by photoluminescence (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization, EDBr₂ improves the morphology by reduction of pinholes and passivation of defects, subsequently improving the efficiencies and operational lifetimes of quasi-2D blue PeLEDs.     

Discriminating constant from variable angular velocities in structure from motion

We investigated accuracy in discriminating between constant and variable angular velocities for orthographic projections of three-dimensional rotating objects. The reported judgments of "constant" or "variable" angular velocity were only slightly influenced by the projected angular velocities, but they were greatly affected by the variations of the deformation, a first-order component of the optic flow. When viewing either a rotating ellipsoidal volume or a planar surface that accelerated and decelerated over the course of rotation, observers' tendencies to report a variable angular velocity were increased when the temporal phase of the acceleration pattern increased the range of variation of the median deformation; the tendencies were decreased when the same acceleration pattern was used to decrease the range of variation of the median deformation. These results provide evidence contrary to the hypothesis that the visual system performs a mathematically correct analysis of the optic flow.     

Fiber-optic probes with improved excitation and collection efficiency for deep-UV Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy

The ability of ultraviolet resonance Raman spectroscopy (UVRRS) to determine structural, environmental, and analytical information concerning low-concentration aqueous biomolecules makes it a powerful bioanalytical and biophysical technique. Unfortunately, its utility has been limited by experimental requirements that preclude in situ or in vivo studies in most cases. We have developed the first high-performance fiber-optic probes suitable for long-term use in pulsed UVRRS applications in the deep- UV (DUV, 205-250 nm). The probes incorporate recently developed improved ultraviolet (IUV) fibers that do not exhibit the rapid solarization and throughput decay that previously hampered the use of optical fibers for delivering pulsed, DUV light. A novel 90 degrees mirrored collection geometry is used to overcome the inner-filtering effects that plague flush-probe geometries. The IUV fibers are characterized with respect to their efficacy at transmitting pulsed, DUV laser light, and prototype probes are used to obtain pulsed UVRRS data of aromatic amino acids, proteins, and hormones at low concentrations with 205-240-nm pulsed excitation. Efficient probe geometries and fabrication methods are presented. The performance of the probes in examining resonance-enhanced Raman signals from absorbing chromophores is investigated, and the optimal excitation wavelength is shown to be significantly red-shifted from the maximum of the resonance Raman enhancement profile. Generally applicable procedures for determining optimal experimental conditions are also introduced.     

Refining the systematic literature review process—two participant-observer case studies

Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) are a major tool for supporting evidence-based software engineering. Adapting the procedures involved in such a review to meet the needs of software engineering and its literature remains an ongoing process. As part of this process of refinement, we undertook two case studies which aimed 1) to compare the use of targeted manual searches with broad automated searches and 2) to compare different methods of reaching a consensus on quality. For Case 1, we compared a tertiary study of systematic literature reviews published between January 1, 2004 and June 30, 2007 which used a manual search of selected journals and conferences and a replication of that study based on a broad automated search. We found that broad automated searches find more studies than manual restricted searches, but they may be of poor quality. Researchers undertaking SLRs may be justified in using targeted manual searches if they intend to omit low quality papers, or they are assessing research trends in research methodologies. For Case 2, we analyzed the process used to evaluate the quality of SLRs. We conclude that if quality evaluation of primary studies is a critical component of a specific SLR, assessments should be based on three independent evaluators incorporating at least two rounds of discussion.     

Shape optimization for tumor location

In non-invasive thermal diagnostics, accurate correlations between the thermal image at skin surface and interior human physiology are desired. In this work, an estimation methodology to determine unknown geometrical parameters of an embedded tumor is proposed. We define a functional that represents the mismatch between a measured experimental temperature profile, which may be obtained by infrared thermography on the skin surface, and the solution of an appropriate boundary problem. This functional is related to the geometrical parameters through the solution of the boundary problem, in such a way that finding the minimum of this functional form also means finding the unknown geometrical parameters of the embedded tumor. Sensitivity analysis techniques coupled with the adjoint method were considered to compute the shape derivative of the functional. Then, a nonmonotone spectral projected gradient method was implemented to solve the optimization problem of finding the optimal geometric parameters.