Microwave Sol–Gel Synthesis of CaGd2(MoO4)4:Er3+/Yb3+ Phosphors and Their Upconversion Photoluminescence Properties

CaGd₂(MoO₄)₄:Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ phosphors with the doping concentrations of Er³⁺ and Yb³⁺ (x = Er³⁺ + Yb³⁺, Er³⁺ = 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and Yb³⁺ = 0.2, 0.45) have been successfully synthesized by the microwave sol–gel method, and the crystal structure refinement and upconversion photoluminescence properties have been investigated. The synthesized particles, being formed after heat‐treatment at 900°C for 16 h, showed a well‐crystallized morphology. Under the excitation at 980 nm, CaGd₂(MoO₄)₄:Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ particles exhibited strong 525 and 550‐nm emission bands in the green region and a weak 655‐nm emission band in the red region. The Raman spectrum of undoped CaGd₂(MoO₄)₄ revealed about 15 narrow lines. The strongest band observed at 903 cm^?1 was assigned to the ν₁ symmetric stretching vibration of MoO₄ tetrahedrons. The spectra of the samples doped with Er and Yb obtained under 514.5 nm excitation were dominated by Er³⁺ luminescence preventing the recording Raman spectra of these samples. Concentration quenching of the erbium luminescence at ²H_11/2→⁴I_15/2 and ⁴S_3/2→⁴I_15/2 transitions in the CaGd₂(MoO₄)₄:Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ crystal structure was established to be approximately at the 10 at.% doping level.     

Proposition of a New Severity Analysis Based on ‘Shake’ Detection: Example of the Vatry Airport Tarmac

In packaging science, the study of transport is important in determining the viability of a package/product pair. Many load breaks occur (e.g. handling and storage) along a supply chain. Transport also generates various physical stresses (e.g. shocks, shakes and vibrations). These physical phenomena can be recorded using a variety of customized sensors (e.g. tri‐axial accelerometers, temperature sensors and pressure sensors). This study focuses on a transport phase that has not been studied in depth to date. Transportation operations on tarmacs include many handling and transportation machines, which are characterized by typical constraints that are often more stringent than airlift phase constraints. For comparison, acceleration distributions were estimated and analysed for the tarmac phase and road phase. Severity indicators were calculated based on existing methods. The second part of this study addresses the study of shakes. The shake distributions at 90 and 95% were another indicator of the shakes' severity and probability of occurrence. These elements allow us to characterize the impact of the tarmac area during air transport.     

Effect of P2O5 on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Magnetite‐Based Glass‐Ceramics

The specific morphology and magnetic properties of magnetite‐based glass‐ceramics obtained by crystallization of Fe‐containing borosilicate glassmelts in the presence of P₂O₅ as nucleating agent are investigated. We found that the distribution of the tiny nanoparticles of magnetite determines the low temperature response to magnetic field. The observed effects are discussed with respect to the following factors: (1) the existence of a multimodal size distribution of the tiny grains as revealed by Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetometry, and high‐resolution electron microscopy; (2) the existence of a disordered layer at the grain surface which is driven by field in a magnetically ordered state; and (3) the interplay between the relaxation mechanisms in different temperature ranges.     

ForceSpinning of polyacrylonitrile for mass production of lithium‐ion battery separators

We present results on the Forcespinning^® (FS) of Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) for mass production of polymer nanofiber membranes as separators for Lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). Our results presented here show that uniform, highly fibrous mats from PAN produced using Forcespinning^®, exhibit improved electrochemical properties such as electrolyte uptake, low interfacial resistance, high oxidation limit, high ionic conductivity, and good cycling performance when used in lithium ion batteries compared to commercial PP separator materials. This article introduces ForceSpinning^®, a cost effective technique capable of mass producing high quality fibrous mats, which is completely different technology than the commonly used in‐house centrifugal method. This Forcespinning^® technology is thus the beginning of the nano/micro fiber revolution in large scale production for battery separator application. This is the first time to report results on the cycle performance of LIB‐based polymer nanofiber separators made by Forcespinning^® technology. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 132, 42847.     

Strategy for robot motion and path planning in robot taping

Covering objects with masking tapes is a common process for surface protection in processes like spray painting, plasma spraying, shot peening, etc. Manual taping is tedious and takes a lot of effort of the workers. The taping process is a special process which requires correct surface covering strategy and proper attachment of the masking tape for an efficient surface protection. We have introduced an automatic robot taping system consisting of a robot manipulator, a rotating platform, a 3D scanner and specially designed taping end-effectors. This paper mainly talks about the surface covering strategies for different classes of geometries. The methods and corresponding taping tools are introduced for taping of following classes of surfaces: Cylindrical/extended surfaces, freeform surfaces with no grooves, surfaces with grooves, and rotational symmetrical surfaces. A collision avoidance algorithm is introduced for the robot taping manipulation. With further improvements on segmenting surfaces of taping parts and tape cutting mechanisms, such taping solution with the taping tool and the taping methodology can be combined as a very useful and practical taping package to assist humans in this tedious and time costly work.     

Measuring quality of government in EU regions across space and time

A wave of recent cross-national research has pointed to the positive consequences for countries with high levels of “quality of government” (QoG), broadly defined, such as corruption, impartiality, and quality of public services. Yet the question of how QoG varies at the sub-national level is still widely overlooked, in particular with measures that are available over time. To address it, we present the third round of data from the regional European Quality of Government Index (EQI) survey corruption (D73), Europe (N44) governance (H11); sub-national (R50), time series (C22), collected in 2017 and built upon the opinions of 78,000 respondents in 193 regions from 21 European countries. The data provides several contributions to the literature. First, while the majority of QoG-type indices rely on expert assessments, the EQI relies on the assessments of citizens, who are the on-the-ground consumers of public services. Second, the data begins to show trends on QoG variation over time, as well as across European regions. Consequently, this data is the most comprehensive sub-national data to date; mapping of QoG within and across EU countries over the past decade. Building on previous rounds of data collected in 2010 and 2013, the 2017 EQI, which is published free for scholarly use, builds on both perceptions and experiences of citizens in public service areas such as health care, education, and law enforcement. This paper presents the results of the latest survey, improved with respect to the previous ones, discussion of trends across space and over time, as well as interesting avenues for future research that we detect across European regions.