1,720,965 research outputs found
A home-made system for IPCE measurement of standard and dye-sensitized solar cells
Full text linkA home-made system for incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) characterization, based on a double-beam UV-Vis spectrophotometer, has been set up. In addition to its low cost (compared to the commercially available apparatuses), the double-beam configuration gives the advantage to measure, autonomously and with no need for supplementary equipment, the lamp power in real time, compensating possible variations of the spectral emission intensity and quality, thus reducing measurement times. To manage the optical and electronic components of the system, a custom software has been developed. Validations carried out on a common silicon-based photodiode and on a dye-sensitized solar cell confirm the possibility to adopt this system for determining the IPCE of solar cells, including dye-sensitized ones
Easy fabrication of aligned PLLA nanofibers-based 2D scaffolds suitable for cell contact guidance studies
No full textAn easy, low-cost and fast wet processing-based method named ASB-SANS (Auxiliary Solvent-Based Sublimation-Aided NanoStructuring) has been used to fabricate poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) highly ordered and hierarchically organized 2D fibrillar patterns,with fiber widths between 40 and 500 nmand lengths exceeding tens of microns. A clear contact guidance effect of these nanofibrillar scaffolds with respect to HeLa and NIH-3T3 cells growth has been observed, on top of an overall good viability. For NIH-3T3 pronounced elongation of the cells was observed, as well as a remarkable ability of the patterns to guide the extension of pseudopodia. Moreover, SEM imaging revealed filopodia stemming from both sides of the pseudopodia and aligned with the secondary PLLA nanofibrous structures created by the ASB-SANS procedure. These results validate ASB-SANS as a technique capable to provide biocompatible 2D nanofibrillar patterns suitable for studying phenomena of contact guidance (and,more in general, the behavior of cells onto nanofibrous scaffolds), at very lowcosts and in an extremely easy way, accessible to virtually any laboratory
Toward Low-Voltage and Bendable X-Ray Direct Detectors Based on Organic Semiconducting Single Crystals
No full textOrganic materials have been mainly proposed as ionizing radiation detectors in the indirect conversion approach. The first thin and bendable X-ray direct detectors are realized (directly converting X-photons into an electric signal) based on organic semiconducting single crystals that possess enhanced sensitivity, low operating voltage (≈5 V), and a minimum detectable dose rate of 50 μGy s(-1)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Electrostatic manipulation of piezoelectric fibres using a sharp probe electrode in a dielectric liquid: Analysis of the electrohydrodynamic phenomena
Full text linkMicro-assembly techniques have been identified as a major technology ‘pillar’ that
will underpin further advancements in integrated micro-and nano-systems. In practice,
there is a generic requirement for component parts that are often fragile, or that have
been prepared by mutually incompatible processes, to be brought together to make a
complete working system. This thesis discusses an electrostatic positioning technique
for micro-scale elements that could form the basis of an industrial process.
A highly non-uniform field generated between a needle-like upper electrode and a
bottom flat electrode can be used to electrostatically capture, displace, and relocate
elements into a predefined spatial configuration. The very intense field at the needle
tip can facilitate the collection of the material at a precise point. However charge
injection and local dielectric breakdown must also be considered as they can induce
instability near the tip, and consequently interfere with any picking up action.
The principal physical phenomena and potential benefits are analysed and discussed,
considering three different configurations to achieve the pick and place operation for a
micro-fibre in the needle-plane configuration. The first two are operated on an
isolated single fibre lying on a flat bottom electrode, applying respectively a DC or an
AC voltage. The third case is that of a group of fibres, and it exploits a
dielectrophoretic chain structuring effect to assist in the micro-manipulation
technique. Experimentation has focussed on the importance of the charge transfer
mechanisms, leading to a model which provides good agreement with the observed
behaviour. Moreover, an analysis of the forces exerted on the fibres showed that they
arise not only from a polarisation effect, but that there is also an electrophoretic
contribution.
The viability of the proposed technique has been demonstrated using lead zirconate
titanate (PZT rods and carbon fibres)
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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