Solving the technology barriers in flexible AMOLED displays

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gelinck, G.H.; Steen, J.L. van der; Tripathi, A.K.; Ellis, T.; Akkerman, H.; Leuken, L. van; Li, F.; Maas, J.; Smits, E.; Rovers, M.; Nag, M.; Myny, K.; Malinowski, P.; Ameys, M.; Ke, T.H.; Schols, S.; Steudel, S.; Genoe, J.; Heremans, P.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we present some of the technology challenges and process temperature trade-offs when realizing AM OLED displays on thin flexible plastic films that can be mechanically bent to a roll radius of ∼1 cm. We furthermore present complementary approaches to realize low-power, high resolution

Printable inorganic nanomaterials for flexible transparent electrodes: from synthesis to application

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dingrun; Mei, Yongfeng; Huang, Gaoshan

2018-01-01

Printed and flexible electronics are definitely promising cutting-edge electronic technologies of the future. They offer a wide-variety of applications such as flexible circuits, flexible displays, flexible solar cells, skin-like pressure sensors, and radio frequency identification tags in our daily life. As the most-fundamental component of electronics, electrodes are made of conductive materials that play a key role in flexible and printed electronic devices. In this review, various inorganic conductive materials and strategies for obtaining highly conductive and uniform electrodes are demonstrated. Applications of printed electrodes fabricated via these strategies are also described. Nevertheless, there are a number of challenges yet to overcome to optimize the processing and performance of printed electrodes. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51475093, U1632115), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 14JC1400200), the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (No. 2015ZX02102-003), and the Changjiang Young Scholars Programme of China.

Recent Advancements in Liquid Metal Flexible Printed Electronics: Properties, Technologies, and Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xuelin Wang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This article presents an overview on typical properties, technologies, and applications of liquid metal based flexible printed electronics. The core manufacturing material—room-temperature liquid metal, currently mainly represented by gallium and its alloys with the properties of excellent resistivity, enormous bendability, low adhesion, and large surface tension, was focused on in particular. In addition, a series of recently developed printing technologies spanning from personal electronic circuit printing (direct painting or writing, mechanical system printing, mask layer based printing, high-resolution nanoimprinting, etc. to 3D room temperature liquid metal printing is comprehensively reviewed. Applications of these planar or three-dimensional printing technologies and the related liquid metal alloy inks in making flexible electronics, such as electronical components, health care sensors, and other functional devices were discussed. The significantly different adhesions of liquid metal inks on various substrates under different oxidation degrees, weakness of circuits, difficulty of fabricating high-accuracy devices, and low rate of good product—all of which are challenges faced by current liquid metal flexible printed electronics—are discussed. Prospects for liquid metal flexible printed electronics to develop ending user electronics and more extensive applications in the future are given.

Strategies for spatial and technological flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristiana Cellucci

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The design of housing sys- tems is today challenged by a highly uncertain context, dominated by the rapid development of functional and technological obsolescence in inherited housing models. The design of housing systems should first and foremost optimise the longevity of the sub-systems and be able to offset the process of obsolescence which is concomitant to both the current use of materials and components devised to fail after a short period, and to rigid spatial models that are incapable of adapting to changes in the household’s needs over time. This research examines flexibility as a fundamental requirement to be incorporated in the Life Cycle of the house, through the use of strategies that affect both the form and the technological system that governs its structure.

Optical fiber cabling technologies for flexible access network

Science.gov (United States)

Tanji, Hisashi

2008-07-01

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) outside plant infrastructure should be so designed and constructed as to flexibly deal with increasing subscribers and system evolution to be expected in the future, taking minimization of total cost (CAPEX and OPEX) into consideration. With this in mind, fiber access architectures are reviewed and key technologies on optical fiber and cable for supporting flexible access network are presented. Low loss over wide wavelength (low water peak) and bend-insensitive single mode fiber is a future proof solution. Enhanced separable ribbon facilitates mid-span access to individual fibers in a cable installed, improving fiber utilizing efficiency and flexibility of distribution design. It also contributes to an excellent low PMD characteristic which could be required for video RF overlay system or high capacity long reach metro-access convergence network in the future. Bend-insensitive fiber based cabling technique including field installable connector greatly improves fiber/cable handling in installation and maintenance work.

Influence of Technological Assets on Organizational Performance through Absorptive Capacity, Organizational Innovation and Internal Labour Flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Encarnación García-Sánchez

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Organizational innovation is increasingly mandatory for firms to overcome their competitors. Organizational innovation is especially relevant in today’s dynamic and turbulent environments, where other internal variables—such as technological assets, employee training, coordination of new management capabilities, and new flexible human resources and more adaptable organizational designs—must be encouraged to create value and competitive advantage. The purpose of our research is to analyse whether technological assets influence absorptive capacity (potential and realized absorptive capacity and how absorptive capacity influences internal labour flexibility, organizational innovation and performance. We achieve these goals by analysing the interrelations among internal labour flexibility, organizational innovation and performance, using the theory of resources and capabilities. A quantitative study was carried out with data gathered by personal interview using a structured questionnaire. Relationships proposed in the theoretical model were estimated through a structural equation model, using a sample of 160 European technology companies. The results show that support for technology and improvement of technological skills and technological distinctive competencies promote improvement in organizational performance through their positive influence on the processes of potential and realized absorption capacity. Potential absorptive capacity influences realized absorptive capacity, which impacts not only internal labour flexibility but also organizational innovation and organizational performance. Further, internal labour flexibility influences organizational performance through organizational innovation. This issue is of particular interest when considering the dynamic nature of turbulent technological environments in which the organization operates. Technological assets thus identify new sources of flexibility and organizational innovation based

Study for application of flexible fuel technology in the Brazilian automobile market; Estudo para aplicacao da tecnologia multi combustivel no mercado automobilistico brasileiro

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gasparotto, Alexsander David [FIAT/GM Powertrain (Brazil); Massarani, Marcelo [Sao Paulo Univ., SP (Brazil). Escola Politecnica

2006-07-01

The objective of this work is a study for the application of a new technology that will be used in the engine management system in the vehicle; where the final consumer can opt for the inquiry performance or seeking an economy for the fuel consumption depending on its daily use and of the prices offered in the gas stations. Flexible Fuel is a technology in development for the auto mobile market that mixes the use of two fuels (gasoline and ethanol) and their mixtures in the internal combustion engine. (author)

The use of whitetopping technology in the aspect of implementation of repairs of flexible pavements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Rudnicki

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of technical and economic implementation of repairs of bituminous pavements using whitetopping technology at the example of classical jointed solutions and the continuous reinforcement. The problems of repairs of asphalt roads in the context of steadily progressive degradation of flexible pavements in Poland are discussed.The types of pavement constructions were presented, with particular emphasis on characteristics of flexible pavements. There were identified and described significant factors contributing to damage, which consequently lead to surface degradation. Also there have been described the types of concrete pavements and their characteristics, taking into account modern technology of cement concrete overlays made in various technologies. The results of the analysis of technical and economic implementation of repairs of flexible pavements using whitetopping technology are presented at the example of classical jointed solutions and the continuous reinforcement. The benefits and potential difficulties in the implementation of pavements repairs as cement concrete technology are indicated.[b]Keywords[/b]: road, repair, whitetopping, overlay, flexible surface, cement concrete pavement, continuous reinforcement

Technology for 3D System Integration for Flexible Wireless Biomedical Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Cheng Kuo

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new 3D bottom-up packing technology for integrating a chip, an induction coil, and interconnections for flexible wireless biomedical applications. Parylene was used as a flexible substrate for the bottom-up embedding of the chip, insulation layer, interconnection, and inductors to form a flexible wireless biomedical microsystem. The system can be implanted on or inside the human body. A 50-μm gold foil deposited through laser micromachining by using a picosecond laser was used as an inductor to yield a higher quality factor than that yielded by thickness-increasing methods such as the fold-and-bond method or thick-metal electroplating method at the operation frequency of 1 MHz. For system integration, parylene was used as a flexible substrate, and the contact pads and connections between the coil and chip were generated using gold deposition. The advantage of the proposed process can integrate the chip and coil vertically to generate a single biocompatible system in order to reduce required area. The proposed system entails the use of 3D integrated circuit packaging concepts to integrate the chip and coil. The results validated the feasibility of this technology.

Flexible Electrostatic Technology for Capture and Handling Project

Science.gov (United States)

Keys, Andrew; Bryan, Tom; Horwitz, Chris; Rakoczy, John; Waggoner, Jason

2015-01-01

To NASA unfunded & planned missions: This new capability to sense proximity, flexibly align to, and attractively grip and capture practically any object in space without any pre-designed physical features or added sensors or actuators will enable or enhance many of MSFC's strategic emphasis areas in space transportation, and space systems such as: 1. A Flexible Electrostatic gripper can enable the capture, gripping and releasing of an extraterrestrial sample of different minerals or a sample canister (metallic or composite) without requiring a handle or grapple fixture.(B) 2. Flexible self-aligning in-space capture/soft docking or berthing of ISS resupply vehicles, pressurized modules, or nodes for in-space assembly and shielding, radiator, and solar Array deployment for space habitats (C) 3. The flexible electrostatic gripper when combined with a simple steerable extendible boom can grip, position, and release objects of various shapes and materials with low mass and power without any prior handles or physical accommodations or surface contamination for ISS experiment experiments and in-situ repair.(F)(G) 4. The Dexterous Docking concept previously proposed to allow simple commercial resupply ships to station-keep and capture either ISS or an Exploration vehicle for supply or fluid transfer lacked a self-sensing, compliant, soft capture gripper like FETCH that could retract and attach to a CBM. (I) 5. To enable a soft capture and de-orbit of a piece of orbital debris will require self-aligning gripping and holding an object wherever possible (thermal coverings or shields of various materials, radiators, solar arrays, antenna dishes) with little or no residual power while adding either drag or active low level thrust.(K) 6. With the scalability of the FETCH technology, small satellites can be captured and handled or can incorporate FETCH gripper to dock to and handle other small vehicles and larger objects for de-orbiting or mitigating Orbital debris (L) 7. Many of

Flexible spacecraft dynamics, control and guidance technologies by giovanni campolo

CERN Document Server

Mazzini, Leonardo

2016-01-01

This book is an up-to-date compendium on spacecraft attitude and orbit control (AOC) that offers a systematic and complete treatment of the subject with the aim of imparting the theoretical and practical knowledge that is required by designers, engineers, and researchers. After an introduction on the kinematics of the flexible and agile space vehicles, the modern architecture and functions of an AOC system are described and the main AOC modes reviewed with possible design solutions and examples. The dynamics of the flexible body in space are then considered using an original Lagrangian approach suitable for the control applications of large space flexible structures. Subsequent chapters address optimal control theory, attitude control methods, and orbit control applications, including the optimal orbital transfer with finite and infinite thrust. The theory is integrated with a description of current propulsion systems, with the focus especially on the new electric propulsion systems and state of the art senso...

Economic Dispatch of Demand Response Balancing through Asymmetric Block Offers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

O'Connell, Niamh; Pinson, Pierre; Madsen, Henrik

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a method of describing the load shifting ability of flexible electrical loads in a manner suitable for existing power system dispatch frameworks. The concept of an asymmetric block offer for flexible loads is introduced. This offer structure describes the ability of a flexible...

Implementation of NFC technology for industrial applications: case flexible production

Science.gov (United States)

Sallinen, Mikko; Strömmer, Esko; Ylisaukko-oja, Arto

2007-09-01

Near Field communication (NFC) technology enables a flexible short range communication. It has large amount of envisaged applications in consumer, welfare and industrial sector. Compared with other short range communication technologies such as Bluetooth or Wibree it provides advantages that we will introduce in this paper. In this paper, we present an example of applying NFC technology to industrial application where simple tasks can be automatized and industrial assembly process can be improved radically by replacing manual paperwork and increasing trace of the products during the production.

[Flexibility and safety in hospitals].

Science.gov (United States)

Fara, G M; Barni, M

2011-01-01

The paper explains the reasons according to which the newly-planned hospitals must adopt the concept of advanced flexibility (structural, technological, organizational, diagnostic and therapeutic), in order to avoid the risk of being already obsolete at the moment of their opening, and this due to the fact that too much time elapses in this Country between the moment of planning a new hospital and the moment of the start of its activity. Flexibility is needed at different levels: at low or medium levels for what concerns administrative spaces and also patient rooms (except, in this latter case, when differential intensity of care is adopted); at advanced levelfor what concerns diagnostic and therapeutic areas, which must be rapidly adaptable to new solutions offered by advances in technology and organization. From a different standpoint, flexibility applies also to the fact that hospital must increasingly become a node of a large net including territorial health services: the latter devoted to take care of chronicity, while hospitals should concentrate on acute pathology. Of course the territory surrounding the hospital, through its outpatient service and consultories, is in charge also for first level diagnosy and therapy, leaving the hospital to more sophisticated activities.

Flexible technology for Electronics: Its Derivatives and Possibilities

OpenAIRE

Deovrat Phal; Akshay Narkar

2014-01-01

With the inkjet printing technology becoming more popular, integration of circuits developed on flexible substrates which are easily embedded inside the machine as against the rigid PCB circuits is becoming more prevalent. Much of the research has been done in applications of such circuits in human body implants or for other low cost applications. This paper concentrates particularly on applications of such circuits in the field of consumer electronics, disposable electronics,...

Feasibility study of flexible phased array ultrasonic technology using irregular surface specimen

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Seung Pyo; Moon, Yong Sik; Jung, Nam Du

2015-01-01

Nuclear power plant contain many dissimilar metal welds that connect carbon steel components with stainless steel pipes using alloy 600 welding materials. Primary water stress corrosion cracks at dissimilar metal welds have been continuously reported around the world. In periodic integrity evaluations, dissimilar metal welds are examined using a generic ultrasonic testing procedure, KPD-UT-10. In this procedure, the gap between the probe and examination surface is limited to 1/32 inch (0.8 mm). It is not easy to test some dissimilar metal welds in Korean plants applying ordinary technology because of their tapered shapes and irregular surface conditions. This paper introduces a method for applying a flexible phased array technology to improve the reliability of ultrasonic testing results for various shapes and surface conditions. The artificial flaws in specimens with irregular surfaces were completely detected using the flexible phased array ultrasonic technology. Therefore, it can be said that the technology is applicable to field examination.

Feasibility study of flexible phased array ultrasonic technology using irregular surface specimen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Seung Pyo; Moon, Yong Sik; Jung, Nam Du [NDE Performance Demonstration Team, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, Central Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-02-15

Nuclear power plant contain many dissimilar metal welds that connect carbon steel components with stainless steel pipes using alloy 600 welding materials. Primary water stress corrosion cracks at dissimilar metal welds have been continuously reported around the world. In periodic integrity evaluations, dissimilar metal welds are examined using a generic ultrasonic testing procedure, KPD-UT-10. In this procedure, the gap between the probe and examination surface is limited to 1/32 inch (0.8 mm). It is not easy to test some dissimilar metal welds in Korean plants applying ordinary technology because of their tapered shapes and irregular surface conditions. This paper introduces a method for applying a flexible phased array technology to improve the reliability of ultrasonic testing results for various shapes and surface conditions. The artificial flaws in specimens with irregular surfaces were completely detected using the flexible phased array ultrasonic technology. Therefore, it can be said that the technology is applicable to field examination.

Shared service alternatives offer flexibility and tax benefits.

Science.gov (United States)

Danehy, L J; Scutt, R C; Stonehill, E

1985-05-01

Because the performance of shared service and tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code can be incompatible, hospitals planning to provide services to each other or to other organizations on a fee-for-service basis may wish to do so through a separate corporate entity. Using either a Section 501(e) shared service organization, a Sub-chapter T cooperative, or a taxable business corporation, a compromise can be reached between operational flexibility and tax benefits.

Flexible Assembly Solar Technology (FAST) Final Technical Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Toister, Elad [BrightSource Energy Inc., Jerusalem (Israel)

2014-11-06

The Flexible Assembly Solar Technology (FAST) project was initiated by BrightSource in an attempt to provide potential solar field EPC contractors with an effective set of tools to perform specific construction tasks. These tasks are mostly associated with heliostat assembly and installation, and require customized non-standard tools. The FAST concept focuses on low equipment cost, reduced setup time and increased assembly throughput as compared to the Ivanpah solar field construction tools.

Investing in biogas: Timing, technological choice and the value of flexibility from input mix

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Di Corato, Luca; Moretto, Michele

2011-01-01

In a stochastic dynamic frame, we study the technology choice problem of a continuous co-digestion biogas plant where input factors are substitutes but need to be mixed together to provide output. Given any initial rule for the composition of the feedstock, we consider the possibility of revising it if economic circumstances make it profitable. Flexibility in the mix is an advantage under randomly fluctuating input costs and comes at a higher investment cost. We show that the degree of flexibility in the productive technology installed depends on the value of the option to profitably re-arrange the input mix. Such option adds value to the project in that it provides a device for hedging against fluctuations in the input relative convenience. Accounting for such value we discuss the trade-off between investment timing and profit smoothing flexibility. - Research highlights: ► We study the technology choice problem of a continuous co-digestion biogas plant where input factors are substitutes but need to be mixed together to provide output. ► We show that the degree of flexibility in the productive technology installed depends on the value of the option to profitably re-arrange the input mix. ► Such option adds value to the project in that it provides a device for hedging against fluctuations in the input relative convenience.

Microwave photonics technologies supporting high capacity and flexible wireless communications systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lu, Xiaofeng; Tatarczak, Anna; Rommel, Simon

2015-01-01

Emerging 5G wireless systems require technologies for increased capacity, guarantee robustness, low latency and flexibility. We review a number of approaches to provide the above based on microwave photonics and hybrid optical fiber-wireless communication techniques....

Impact of information technology infrastructure flexibility on mergers and acquisitions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Benitez, Jose; Ray, Gautam; Henseler, Jörg

2018-01-01

Although mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a common strategy to reduce costs and pursue growth, the variance in returns from M&A is very high. This research examines how information technology (IT) infrastructure flexibility affects M&A. We use a combination of secondary as well as matched-pair

Model Based Business and IT Cloud Alignment as a Cloud Offering

OpenAIRE

Robert Woitsch; Wilfrid Utz

2015-01-01

Cloud computing proved to offer flexible IT solutions. Although large enterprises may benefit from this technology by educating their IT departments, SMEs are dramatically falling behind in cloud usage and hence lose the ability to efficiently adapt their IT to their business needs. This paper introduces the project idea of the H2020 project CloudSocket, by elaborating the idea of Business Processes as a Service, where concept models and semantics are applied to align business pro...

Exogenous Factors in the Development of Flexible Fuel Cars as a Local Dominant Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Tromboni de Souza Nascimento

2009-12-01

Full Text Available With flexible fuel technology, customers can choose among gasoline, ethanol, or any mix thereof at the fuel station pump. This paper presents the endogenous and exogenous factors that influnced the development of a flexible fuel electronic injection system by Magneti Marelli Automotive Systems Brazil – the first to the market. This software-based technological architecture, launched commercially in 2003, is now the dominant flexfuel design in the Brazilian market. This article documents the emergence of a local dominant technology (design in a specific car sub-system. It is shown how exogenous institutional factors played the major role in this process. The paper describes how this local dominant technological design emerged through the sharing of capabilities and interaction among the key market players, in the absence of a strong appropriability regime. All the main market pioneers were multinational affiliates, inviting questions concerning this technology diffusion outside Brazil.

Improved HEPA Filter Technology for Flexible and Rigid Containment Barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinson, Paul Arthur

1998-01-01

Safety and reliability in glovebox operations can be significantly improved and waste packaging efficiencies can be increased by inserting flexible, lightweight, high capacity HEPA filters into the walls of plastic sheet barriers. This HEPA filter/barrier technology can be adapted to a wide variety of applications: disposable waste bags, protective environmental barriers for electronic equipment, single or multiple use glovebag assemblies, flexible glovebox wall elements, and room partitions. These reliable and inexpensive filtered barriers have many uses in fields such as radioactive waste processing, HVAC filter changeout, vapor or grit blasting, asbestos cleanup, pharmaceutical, medical, biological, and electronic equipment containment. The applications can result in significant cost savings, improved operational reliability and safety, and total waste volume reduction. This technology was developed at the Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) in 1993 and has been used at ANL-W since then at the TRU Waste Characterization Chamber Gloveboxes. Another 1998 AGS Conference paper titled ''TRU Waste Characterization Gloveboxes'', presented by Mr. David Duncan of ANL-W, describes these boxes

Game-Changing Photovoltaic Flexible Blanket Solar Array Technology with Spectrolab Flexsheets, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Deployable Space Systems, Inc. (DSS) in collaboration with Spectrolab, Inc. has developed a modular multi-junction photovoltaic flexible blanket technology that uses...

Strategic analysis of companies offering technology services to farmers for mobile applications media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo da Silva Riquena

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The use of smart-phones and tablets is increasing the farming community before these fact companies that offer products and services to this sector are mobilizing to be active in this new reality. However, companies that operate in the rural market, not only have the aim of helping farmers in providing services through mobile technology applications, it was necessary to identify the strategic performance of these companies as a market opportunity in selling their products in the agricultural sector. Therefore, this article aimed to identify the strategic planning of technology companies to provide services through applications to farmers. The methodological approach used is a qualitative approach with the exploratory and descriptive aim of the use of content analysis of the websites of those companies studied. This study concluded that companies by offering technology services to farmers, use these services strategically to your advantage without the knowledge of the real needs of farmers.

Consumer flexibility - State and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grande, Ove S.; Saele, Hanne; Morch, Andrei Z.

2002-02-01

This report summarises experiences and results from relevant projects carried out within the area of consumer flexibility in the last years. A general description of the projects is presented. In addition are testing activities, economical signals for motivating the end user for load reductions and appropriate technology for communication and effect management mentioned separately. Briefly summarised is the following achieved: 1) The potential for effect regulating measures in ordinary consumption and in power demanding industry is analysed and estimated to 1750 MW and 3360 MW respectively. 2) Time varied rates are developed and are tested. The NVE has decided on this basis that all the network owners should offer season varied rates to their customers. 3) Test projects in Drammen, Oslo and Trondheim have shown that it is possible to motivate smaller consumers for and implement load reductions. 4) Technology for load management for the end user is evaluated. 5) A survey is made viewing the technology for two way communication. In addition the ''option'' market for the reserves of the Statnett has proved that a steady compensation is a sufficient incentive for producing substantial effect reserves in the load sector (power intensive industry). In the last part of the report the incentives and frame conditions for establishing technical solutions and infrastructure are discussed. Further work will focus on the consumer flexibility in shortage situations. The main challenges are connected to: 1) Establishing a foundation for decisions concerning cost efficient investments in necessary technical equipment. 2) To find an optimal combination of a price flexible and remote controlled load reduction

Planning low-carbon electricity systems under uncertainty considering operational flexibility and smart grid technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Rodrigo; Street, Alexandre; Arroyo, José M; Mancarella, Pierluigi

2017-08-13

Electricity grid operators and planners need to deal with both the rapidly increasing integration of renewables and an unprecedented level of uncertainty that originates from unknown generation outputs, changing commercial and regulatory frameworks aimed to foster low-carbon technologies, the evolving availability of market information on feasibility and costs of various technologies, etc. In this context, there is a significant risk of locking-in to inefficient investment planning solutions determined by current deterministic engineering practices that neither capture uncertainty nor represent the actual operation of the planned infrastructure under high penetration of renewables. We therefore present an alternative optimization framework to plan electricity grids that deals with uncertain scenarios and represents increased operational details. The presented framework is able to model the effects of an array of flexible, smart grid technologies that can efficiently displace the need for conventional solutions. We then argue, and demonstrate via the proposed framework and an illustrative example, that proper modelling of uncertainty and operational constraints in planning is key to valuing operationally flexible solutions leading to optimal investment in a smart grid context. Finally, we review the most used practices in power system planning under uncertainty, highlight the challenges of incorporating operational aspects and advocate the need for new and computationally effective optimization tools to properly value the benefits of flexible, smart grid solutions in planning. Such tools are essential to accelerate the development of a low-carbon energy system and investment in the most appropriate portfolio of renewable energy sources and complementary enabling smart technologies.This article is part of the themed issue 'Energy management: flexibility, risk and optimization'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Flexible work designs and employee well-being: examining the effects of resources and demands

OpenAIRE

ter Hoeven, C.L.; van Zoonen, W.

2015-01-01

Advances in communication technology continue to expand the possibilities for redesigning work environments to allow for temporal and spatial flexibility. Although flexible work designs (FWDs) are typically launched with high expectations, recent research shows that FWDs also pose challenges to employees and can even impede employee well-being. Based on the Job Demands-Resources model, we argue that FWDs offer both advantages (FWD-related resources) and challenges (FWD-related demands) to emp...

Flexible Bronchoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Russell J; Casal, Roberto F; Lazarus, Donald R; Ost, David E; Eapen, George A

2018-03-01

Flexible bronchoscopy has changed the course of pulmonary medicine. As technology advances, the role of the flexible bronchoscope for both diagnostic and therapeutic indications is continually expanding. This article reviews the historical development of the flexible bronchoscopy, fundamental uses of the flexible bronchoscope as a tool to examine the central airways and obtain diagnostic tissue, and the indications, complications, and contraindications to flexible bronchoscopy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ultrafast Fabrication of Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by Ultrasonic Spray-Coating Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Hyun-Gyu; Weerasinghe, Hashitha C.; Min Kim, Kwang; Soo Kim, Jeong; Cheng, Yi-Bing; Jones, David J.; Holmes, Andrew B.; Kwon, Tae-Hyuk

2015-09-01

This study investigates novel deposition techniques for the preparation of TiO2 electrodes for use in flexible dye-sensitized solar cells. These proposed new methods, namely pre-dye-coating and codeposition ultrasonic spraying, eliminate the conventional need for time-consuming processes such as dye soaking and high-temperature sintering. Power conversion efficiencies of over 4.0% were achieved with electrodes prepared on flexible polymer substrates using this new deposition technology and N719 dye as a sensitizer.

Coordinating Flexibility under Uncertainty in Multi-Area AC and DC Grids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Halilbasic, Lejla; Chatzivasileiadis, Spyros; Pinson, Pierre

2017-01-01

In the future, mixed AC and DC grids, spanning multiple areas operated by different transmission system operators (TSO), are expected to offer the necessary controllability for integrating large amounts of intermittent renewable generation. This is facilitated by high voltage direct current...... transmission based on voltage source converter technology that can offer recourse actions in the form of preventive and corrective control of both active and reactive power. Market-clearing procedures, based on optimal power flow algorithms, need to be revised to account for DC transmission, flexibility...... and privacy requirements. To this end, we propose a decentralized two-stage stochastic market-clearing algorithm that incorporates meshed DC grids and allows the sharing of flexibility resources between areas. The benefit of this approach lies in its pricing mechanism, used for coordinating the different area...

Recent Cooperative Research Activities of HDD and Flexible Media Transport Technologies in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, Kyosuke

This paper presents the recent status of industry-university cooperative research activities in Japan on the mechatronics of information storage and input/output equipment. There are three research committees for promoting information exchange on technical problems and research topics of head-disk interface in hard disk drives (HDD), flexible media transport and image printing processes which are supported by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering (JSME), the Japanese Society of Tribologists (JAST) and the Japan Society of Precision Engineering (JSPE). For hard disk drive technology, the Storage Research Consortium (SRC) is supporting more than 40 research groups in various different universities to perform basic research for future HDD technology. The past and present statuses of these activities are introduced, particularly focusing on HDD and flexible media transport mechanisms.

Flexible operation of thermal plants with integrated energy storage technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Koytsoumpa, Efthymia Ioanna; Bergins, Christian; Kakaras, Emmanouil

2017-08-01

The energy system in the EU requires today as well as towards 2030 to 2050 significant amounts of thermal power plants in combination with the continuously increasing share of Renewables Energy Sources (RES) to assure the grid stability and to secure electricity supply as well as to provide heat. The operation of the conventional fleet should be harmonised with the fluctuating renewable energy sources and their intermittent electricity production. Flexible thermal plants should be able to reach their lowest minimum load capabilities while keeping the efficiency drop moderate as well as to increase their ramp up and down rates. A novel approach for integrating energy storage as an evolutionary measure to overcome many of the challenges, which arise from increasing RES and balancing with thermal power is presented. Energy storage technologies such as Power to Fuel, Liquid Air Energy Storage and Batteries are investigated in conjunction with flexible power plants.

Piezoelectric Lead Zirconium Titanate Composite Touch Sensors for Integration with Flexible OLED Technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Deutz, D.B.; Tempelman, E.; Zwaag, S. van der; Groen, W.A.

2015-01-01

To enable the design of more intuitive product user interfaces, the prospects of matching piezoelectric touch sensors with flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology are investigated. Low stiffness piezoelectric composite sensors, combining piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 powder with a

Internet MEMS design tools based on component technology

Science.gov (United States)

Brueck, Rainer; Schumer, Christian

1999-03-01

The micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) industry in Europe is characterized by small and medium sized enterprises specialized on products to solve problems in specific domains like medicine, automotive sensor technology, etc. In this field of business the technology driven design approach known from micro electronics is not appropriate. Instead each design problem aims at its own, specific technology to be used for the solution. The variety of technologies at hand, like Si-surface, Si-bulk, LIGA, laser, precision engineering requires a huge set of different design tools to be available. No single SME can afford to hold licenses for all these tools. This calls for a new and flexible way of designing, implementing and distributing design software. The Internet provides a flexible manner of offering software access along with methodologies of flexible licensing e.g. on a pay-per-use basis. New communication technologies like ADSL, TV cable of satellites as carriers promise to offer a bandwidth sufficient even for interactive tools with graphical interfaces in the near future. INTERLIDO is an experimental tool suite for process specification and layout verification for lithography based MEMS technologies to be accessed via the Internet. The first version provides a Java implementation even including a graphical editor for process specification. Currently, a new version is brought into operation that is based on JavaBeans component technology. JavaBeans offers the possibility to realize independent interactive design assistants, like a design rule checking assistants, a process consistency checking assistants, a technology definition assistants, a graphical editor assistants, etc. that may reside distributed over the Internet, communicating via Internet protocols. Each potential user thus is able to configure his own dedicated version of a design tool set dedicated to the requirements of the current problem to be solved.

Flexible digital x-ray technology for far-forward remote diagnostic and conformal x-ray imaging applications

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Joseph; Marrs, Michael; Strnad, Mark; Apte, Raj B.; Bert, Julie; Allee, David; Colaneri, Nicholas; Forsythe, Eric; Morton, David

2013-05-01

Today's flat panel digital x-ray image sensors, which have been in production since the mid-1990s, are produced exclusively on glass substrates. While acceptable for use in a hospital or doctor's office, conventional glass substrate digital x-ray sensors are too fragile for use outside these controlled environments without extensive reinforcement. Reinforcement, however, significantly increases weight, bulk, and cost, making them impractical for far-forward remote diagnostic applications, which demand rugged and lightweight x-ray detectors. Additionally, glass substrate x-ray detectors are inherently rigid. This limits their use in curved or bendable, conformal x-ray imaging applications such as the non-destructive testing (NDT) of oil pipelines. However, by extending low-temperature thin-film transistor (TFT) technology previously demonstrated on plastic substrate- based electrophoretic and organic light emitting diode (OLED) flexible displays, it is now possible to manufacture durable, lightweight, as well as flexible digital x-ray detectors. In this paper, we discuss the principal technical approaches used to apply flexible display technology to two new large-area flexible digital x-ray sensors for defense, security, and industrial applications and demonstrate their imaging capabilities. Our results include a 4.8″ diagonal, 353 x 463 resolution, flexible digital x-ray detector, fabricated on a 6″ polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) plastic substrate; and a larger, 7.9″ diagonal, 720 x 640 resolution, flexible digital x-ray detector also fabricated on PEN and manufactured on a gen 2 (370 x 470 mm) substrate.

Office flexible cystoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavoussi, L R; Clayman, R V

1988-11-01

Since the development of the first purpose-built flexible cystoscope in 1984, flexible cystoscopy has become an accepted diagnostic and therapeutic modality. Indeed, it is estimated that more than 10 per cent of practicing urologists are already familiar with this technology. The flexible cystoscope has markedly extended the urologist's ability to examine the bladder, and it has become a valuable adjunct to the rigid cystoscope. Although the operation of this instrument is vastly different from that of its rigid counterpart, with practice, the technique can be learned. After experience is obtained with diagnostic flexible cystoscopy, the urologist will likely prefer this new instrument for bladder inspection, as it provides for a more thorough yet less morbid and less expensive examination. In the future, the development of improved and smaller instrumentation will further extend the therapeutic indications for flexible cystoscopy. Indeed, advances in laser technology are already providing the urologist with 300- to 600-micron (0.9 to 1.8F) flexible probes capable of incision (KTP laser), fulguration (Nd:YAG laser), and stone disintegration (tunable dye laser). Lastly, the skills obtained in using the flexible cystoscope are all readily applicable to the development of dexterity with the already available flexible nephroscope and the more recently developed flexible ureteroscope.

Contagious flexibility? A study on whether schedule flexibility facilitates work-life enrichment.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Vivi Bach; Jeppesen, Hans Jeppe

2012-08-01

Schedule flexibility defines an important generating resource for work-life enrichment; however, our knowledge about how such spillovers take place is limited. This multiple case study examines how workers from different working time contexts with varying levels of schedule flexibility experience work-life interplay. Given the adopted explorative design, it is important to interpret the findings in a tentative light. Nonetheless, the study offers important insight into work-life enrichment that may guide future research in this field. The findings indicate that schedule flexibility may act as a boundary-spanning resource owing to the agency potential it offers workers. Thus, it seemed that flexible schedule opportunities enabled workers to engage more fully in personal life activities, which in turn had a positive influence on their work involvement through positive affect. Such positive role engagements appeared, however, to be greatly determined by workers' boundary management and by time conditions of work and family. In conclusion, the major findings and limitation of the study are discussed against existing research and theory. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2012 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Limited access: gender, occupational composition, and flexible work scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Glauber, Rebecca

2011-01-01

The current study draws on national data to explore differences in access to flexible work scheduling by the gender composition of women's and men's occupations. Results show that those who work in integrated occupations are more likely to have access to flexible scheduling. Women and men do not take jobs with lower pay in return for greater access to flexibility. Instead, jobs with higher pay offer greater flexibility. Integrated occupations tend to offer the greatest access to flexible scheduling because of their structural locations. Part-time work is negatively associated with men's access to flexible scheduling but positively associated with women's access. Women have greater flexibility when they work for large establishments, whereas men have greater flexibility when they work for small establishments.

Cost-effective, transfer-free, flexible resistive random access memory using laser-scribed reduced graphene oxide patterning technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, He; Chen, Hong-Yu; Ren, Tian-Ling; Li, Cheng; Xue, Qing-Tang; Mohammad, Mohammad Ali; Wu, Can; Yang, Yi; Wong, H-S Philip

2014-06-11

Laser scribing is an attractive reduced graphene oxide (rGO) growth and patterning technology because the process is low-cost, time-efficient, transfer-free, and flexible. Various laser-scribed rGO (LSG) components such as capacitors, gas sensors, and strain sensors have been demonstrated. However, obstacles remain toward practical application of the technology where all the components of a system are fabricated using laser scribing. Memory components, if developed, will substantially broaden the application space of low-cost, flexible electronic systems. For the first time, a low-cost approach to fabricate resistive random access memory (ReRAM) using laser-scribed rGO as the bottom electrode is experimentally demonstrated. The one-step laser scribing technology allows transfer-free rGO synthesis directly on flexible substrates or non-flat substrates. Using this time-efficient laser-scribing technology, the patterning of a memory-array area up to 100 cm(2) can be completed in 25 min. Without requiring the photoresist coating for lithography, the surface of patterned rGO remains as clean as its pristine state. Ag/HfOx/LSG ReRAM using laser-scribing technology is fabricated in this work. Comprehensive electrical characteristics are presented including forming-free behavior, stable switching, reasonable reliability performance and potential for 2-bit storage per memory cell. The results suggest that laser-scribing technology can potentially produce more cost-effective and time-effective rGO-based circuits and systems for practical applications.

Conditions of the potential for commercialization of the patent: the implementation of a technology public offering system technology at CNEN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Archila, Daniela Lima Cerqueira

2015-01-01

This dissertation identifies the main factors which represent the conditions for the potential commercialization of patents aiming at the implementation of a system for technology public offering at CNEN as a strategy for creating licensing opportunities to the industrial sector. The method applied refers to an exploratory case study of a patented technology selected from a sample of CNEN's patent portfolio in the biopharmaceutical sector. The case study comprehends a field research of interviews conducted with two specialists in technology and innovation management, one researcher from CNEN and a biopharmaceutical company. The results show that among the nineteen main factors - related to technology, market, business and Science and Technology Organization (STO) - the market dynamics, the potential applications of the technology and an abstract of its main benefits compared to existing technologies are the major relevant information for each technology to be included in the public offering system. Other results indicate that the evaluation of such factors may be conducted by competent professionals to bring less uncertainty and risk to the early-stage of the innovation process, as well as enhance the potential interest of a company in the technology. On the other hand, the latter requires innovation capabilities to move the technology forward – additional R&D, scale-up, manufacturing and marketing - whilst the STO needs a entrepreneurial culture that mitigates its obstacles, creates more positive solutions for its routines and processes and gives sustainability to its Technology Transfer Office (TTO) through valuing its personnel in the long term. Finally, emphasis on technological partnerships with companies can be a motivating feature for directing the STO's patent strategy to the creation of proprietary technological platforms that reflect problems experienced by the commercial environment, as well as the development of this strategic patent

Printing polymer optical waveguides on conditioned transparent flexible foils by using the aerosol jet technology

Science.gov (United States)

Reitberger, Thomas; Hoffmann, Gerd-Albert; Wolfer, Tim; Overmeyer, Ludger; Franke, Joerg

2016-09-01

The optical data transfer is considered as the future of signal transfer due to its various advantages compared to conventional copper-based technologies. The Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP) technology offers the opportunity to print materials with high viscosities, such as liquid transparent polymer adhesives (epoxy resins), on almost any possible substrate material and even in third dimension. This paper introduces a new flexible and comparatively cost-effective way of generating polymer optical waveguides through AJP. Furthermore, the conditioning of the substrate material and the printing process of planar waveguides are presented. In the first step, two lines with hydrophobic behavior are applied on foil material (PMMA, PVC, PI) by using a flexographic printing machine. These silicone based patterns containing functional polymer form barriers for the core material due to their low surface energy after curing. In the second step, the core material (liquid polymer, varnish) is printed between the barrier lines. Because of the hydrophobic behavior of the lines, the contact angle between the substrate surface and the liquid core material is increased which yields to higher aspect ratio. The distance between the barrier lines is at least 100 μm, which defines the width of the waveguide. The minimum height of the core shall be 50 μm. After UV-curing of the core polymer, the cladding material is printed on the top. This is also applied by using the AJP technology. Various tests were performed to achieve the optimal surface properties for adequate adhesion and machine process parameters.

Capturing the Impact of Storage and Other Flexible Technologies on Electric System Planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elaine Hale, Brady Stoll, and Trieu Mai

2016-05-01

Power systems of the future are likely to require additional flexibility due to the operating characteristics of many clean energy technologies, particularly those relying on renewable energy sources. This subject has been well studied from an operational perspective, but it has been more difficult to incorporate into capacity expansion models (CEMs) that study investment decisions on the decadal scale. The primary purpose of this report is to present new capabilities that were developed for a particular CEM, NREL's Resource Planning Model (RPM), to better reflect the impact of variable wind and solar generation on system operations and resource adequacy, and, complementarily, to model energy-constrained flexibility resources.

Measuring and Comparing Energy Flexibilities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valsomatzis, Emmanouil; Hose, Katja; Pedersen, Torben Bach

2015-01-01

induced by time and amount individually, and by their com- bination. To this end, we introduce several flexibility measures that take into account the combined effect of time and energy on flex-offer flexibility and discuss their respective pros and cons through a number of realistic examples....

Tehcnology Choices for New Entrants in Liberalised Markets: The Value of Operating Flexibility and Contractual Arrangements

OpenAIRE

Roques, Fabien A.

2007-01-01

New entrants in liberalised electricity markets which are not vertically integrated and do not operate a large and diversified portfolio of generation technologies are likely to favour technologies which offer the best prospects to manage fuel and electricity price risks through contractual arrangements and operating flexibility. Monte Carlo simulations of a discounted cash flow model of investment in combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT), coal and nuclear power plant are run to compare the impac...

Business Process as a Service Model Based Business and IT Cloud Alignment as a Cloud Offering

OpenAIRE

Robert Woitsch; Wilfrid Utz

2015-01-01

Cloud computing proved to offer flexible IT solutions. Although large enterprises may benefit from this technology, SMEs are falling behind in cloud usage due to missing ITcompetence and hence lose the ability to efficiently adapt their IT to their business needs. This paper introduces the project idea of the H2020 project CloudSocket, by elaborating the idea of Business Processes as a Service (BPaaS), where concept models and semantics are applied to align business processes with Cloud deplo...

Optical properties of flexible fluorescent films prepared by screen printing technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Chen

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In this work, we prepared a fluorescent film comprised phosphors and silicone on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET substrate using a screen printing technology. The effects of mesh number and weight ratio of phosphors to silicone on the optical properties of the flexible films were investigated. The results indicate that the emission intensity of the film increase as the mesh decreased from 400 to 200, but the film surface gradually becomes uneven. The fluorescent film with high emission intensity and smooth surface can be obtained when the weight ratio of phosphor to gel is 2:1, and mesh number is 300. The luminous efficiency of the fabricated LEDs combined the fluorescent films with 460 nm Ga(InN chip module can reach 75 lm/W. The investigation indicates that the approach can be applied in the remote fluorescent film conversion and decreases the requirements of the particle size and the dispersion state of fluorescent materials.

Optical properties of flexible fluorescent films prepared by screen printing technology

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yan; Ke, Taiyan; Chen, Shuijin; He, Xin; Zhang, Mei; Li, Dong; Deng, Jinfeng; Zeng, Qingguang

2018-05-01

In this work, we prepared a fluorescent film comprised phosphors and silicone on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate using a screen printing technology. The effects of mesh number and weight ratio of phosphors to silicone on the optical properties of the flexible films were investigated. The results indicate that the emission intensity of the film increase as the mesh decreased from 400 to 200, but the film surface gradually becomes uneven. The fluorescent film with high emission intensity and smooth surface can be obtained when the weight ratio of phosphor to gel is 2:1, and mesh number is 300. The luminous efficiency of the fabricated LEDs combined the fluorescent films with 460 nm Ga(In)N chip module can reach 75 lm/W. The investigation indicates that the approach can be applied in the remote fluorescent film conversion and decreases the requirements of the particle size and the dispersion state of fluorescent materials.

Flexible Word Classes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

• First major publication on the phenomenon • Offers cross-linguistic, descriptive, and diverse theoretical approaches • Includes analysis of data from different language families and from lesser studied languages This book is the first major cross-linguistic study of 'flexible words', i.e. words...... that cannot be classified in terms of the traditional lexical categories Verb, Noun, Adjective or Adverb. Flexible words can - without special morphosyntactic marking - serve in functions for which other languages must employ members of two or more of the four traditional, 'specialised' word classes. Thus......, flexible words are underspecified for communicative functions like 'predicating' (verbal function), 'referring' (nominal function) or 'modifying' (a function typically associated with adjectives and e.g. manner adverbs). Even though linguists have been aware of flexible world classes for more than...

Flexible displays, rigid designs?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hornbæk, Kasper

2015-01-01

Rapid technological progress has enabled a wide range of flexible displays for computing devices, but the user experience--which we're only beginning to understand--will be the key driver for successful designs.......Rapid technological progress has enabled a wide range of flexible displays for computing devices, but the user experience--which we're only beginning to understand--will be the key driver for successful designs....

Flexible Electrostatic Technologies for Capture and Handling, Phase 1

Science.gov (United States)

Bryan, Thomas

2015-01-01

Fundamental to many of NASA's in-space transportation missions is the capture and handling of various objects and vehicles in various orbits for servicing, debris disposal, sample retrieval, and assembly without the benefit of sufficient grapple fixtures and docking ports. To perform similar material handling tasks on Earth, pincher grippers, suction grippers, or magnetic chucks are used, but are unable to reliably grip aluminum and composite spacecraft, insulation, radiators, solar arrays, or extra-terrestrial objects in the vacuum of outer space without dedicated handles in the right places. The electronic Flexible Electrostatic Technologies for space Capture and Handling (FETCH) will enable reliable and compliant gripping (soft dock) of practically any object in various orbits or surfaces without dedicated mechanical features, very low impact capture, and built-in proximity sensing without any conventional actuators. Originally developed to handle semiconductor and glass wafers during vacuum chamber processing without contamination, the normal rigid wafer handling chucks are replaced with thin metal foil segments laminated in flexible insulation driven by commercial off-the-shelf solid state, high-voltage power supplies. Preliminary testing in NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC's) Flat Floor Robotics Lab demonstrated compliant alignment and gripping with a full-sized, 150-lb microsat mockup and translation before a clean release with a flip of a switch. The flexible electrostatic gripper pads can be adapted to various space applications with different sizes, shapes, and foil electrode layouts even with openings through the gripper pads for addition of guidance sensors or injection of permanent adhesives. With gripping forces estimated between 0.5 and 2.5 lb/in2 or 70-300 lb/ft2 of surface contact, the FETCH can turn on and off rapidly and repeatedly to enable sample handling, soft docking, in-space assembly, precision relocation, and surface translation

CANDU flexible and economical fuel technology in China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mingjun, C. [CNNC Nuclear Power Operation Management Co., Zhejiang (China); Zhenhua, Z.; Zhiliang, M. [CNNC Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Co., Zhejiang (China); Cottrell, C.M.; Kuran, S. [Candu Energy Inc., Mississauga, ON (Canada)

2014-07-01

Use in CANDU reactor is one good option of recycled uranium (RU) and thorium (Th) resource. It is also good economy to CANDU fuel. Since 2008 Qinshan CANDU Plant and our partners (Candu Energy and CNNC and NPIC) have made great efforts to develop the engineering technologies of Flexible and Economical Fuel (RU and Th) in CANDU type reactor and finding the CANDU's position in Chinese closed fuel cycle (CFC) system. This paper presents a proposal of developing strategy and implementation plan. Qinshan CANDU reactors will be converted to use recycled and depleted uranium based fuels, a first-of-its-kind. The fuel is composed of both recycled and depleted uranium and simulating natural uranium behavior. This paper discusses its development, design, manufacture and verification tested with success and the full core implementation plan by the end of 2014. (author)

Free energy calculations offer insights into the influence of receptor flexibility on ligand-receptor binding affinities.

Science.gov (United States)

Dolenc, Jožica; Riniker, Sereina; Gaspari, Roberto; Daura, Xavier; van Gunsteren, Wilfred F

2011-08-01

Docking algorithms for computer-aided drug discovery and design often ignore or restrain the flexibility of the receptor, which may lead to a loss of accuracy of the relative free enthalpies of binding. In order to evaluate the contribution of receptor flexibility to relative binding free enthalpies, two host-guest systems have been examined: inclusion complexes of α-cyclodextrin (αCD) with 1-chlorobenzene (ClBn), 1-bromobenzene (BrBn) and toluene (MeBn), and complexes of DNA with the minor-groove binding ligands netropsin (Net) and distamycin (Dist). Molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations reveal that restraining of the flexibility of the receptor can have a significant influence on the estimated relative ligand-receptor binding affinities as well as on the predicted structures of the biomolecular complexes. The influence is particularly pronounced in the case of flexible receptors such as DNA, where a 50% contribution of DNA flexibility towards the relative ligand-DNA binding affinities is observed. The differences in the free enthalpy of binding do not arise only from the changes in ligand-DNA interactions but also from changes in ligand-solvent interactions as well as from the loss of DNA configurational entropy upon restraining.

A Compact Inductive Position Sensor Made by Inkjet Printing Technology on a Flexible Substrate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nataša Samardžić

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design, simulation and fabrication of an inductive angular position sensor on a flexible substrate. The sensor is composed of meandering silver coils printed on a flexible substrate (Kapton film using inkjet technology. The flexibility enables that after printing in the plane, the coils could be rolled and put inside each other. By changing the angular position of the internal coil (rotor related to the external one (stator, the mutual inductance is changed and consequently the impedance. It is possible to determine the angular position from the measured real and imaginary part of the impedance, in our case in the frequency range from 1 MHz to 10 MHz. Experimental results were compared with simulation results obtained by in-house developed software tool, and very good agreement has been achieved. Thanks to the simple design and fabrication, smaller package space requirements and weight, the presented sensor represents a cost-effective alternative to the other sensors currently used in series production applications.

Work Life Balance in the Netherlands: Flexible working hours and a flexible working place (Japanese)

OpenAIRE

KENJOH Eiko

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of Dutch approach to achieving Work Life Balance (WLB) and to draw policy implications for Japan. It is argued that flexibility of working hours and flexibility offered at one's working place are essential elements of WLB. In this respect, the Netherlands has attained relatively advanced policies and practices. For instance, workers in the Netherlands enjoy a strong degree of flexibility in terms of working hours, a system that strives to...

Attracting the Best. How the Military Competes for Information Technology Personnel

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hosek, James R; Mattock, Michael G; Fair, C. C; Kavanagh, Jennifer; Sharp, Jennifer; Totten, Mark

2004-01-01

The late-1990s peak in demand for information technology (IT) workers led private firms to respond by offering higher pay, enhanced on-the-job training opportunities, flexible work hours, and support for career development...

Demand flexibility from residential heat pump

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhattarai, Bishnu Prasad; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; Pillai, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna

2014-01-01

Demand response (DR) is considered as a potentially effective tool to compensate generation intermittency imposed by renewable sources. Further, DR can instigate to offer optimum asset utilization and to avoid or delay the need for new infrastructure investment. Being a sizable load together...... with high thermal time constant, heat pumps (HP) can offer a great deal of flexibility in the future intelligent grids especially to compensate fluctuating generation. However, the HP flexibility is highly dependent on thermal demand profile, namely hot water and space heating demand. This paper proposes...... price based scheduling followed by a demand dispatch based central control and a local voltage based adaptive control, to realize HP demand flexibility. Two-step control architecture, namely local primary control encompassed by the central coordinative control, is proposed to implement...

Crossing the Chasm – Introducing Flexible Learning into the Botswana Technical Education Programme: From Policy to Action

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alison Mead Richardson

2009-09-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on a longitudinal, ethnomethodological case study of the development towards flexible delivery of the Botswana Technical Education Programme (BTEP, offered by Francistown College of Technical & Vocational Education (FCTVE. Data collection methods included documentary analysis, naturalistic participant observation, and semi-structured interviews. The author identifies and analyses the technical, staffing, and cultural barriers to change when introducing technology-enhanced, flexible delivery methods. The study recommends that strategies to advance flexible learning should focus on the following goals: establish flexible policy and administration systems, change how staff utilization is calculated when flexible learning methodologies are used, embed flexible delivery in individual performance development and department/college strategic plans, ensure managerial leadership, hire and support permanent specialists, identify champions and share success stories, and address issues of inflexible organisational culture. This study may be of value in developing countries where mass-based models are sought to expand access to vocational education and training.

Flexible Laser Metal Cutting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villumsen, Sigurd; Jørgensen, Steffen Nordahl; Kristiansen, Morten

2014-01-01

This paper describes a new flexible and fast approach to laser cutting called ROBOCUT. Combined with CAD/CAM technology, laser cutting of metal provides the flexibility to perform one-of-a-kind cutting and hereby realises mass production of customised products. Today’s laser cutting techniques...... possess, despite their wide use in industry, limitations regarding speed and geometry. Research trends point towards remote laser cutting techniques which can improve speed and geometrical freedom and hereby the competitiveness of laser cutting compared to fixed-tool-based cutting technology...... such as punching. This paper presents the concepts and preliminary test results of the ROBOCUT laser cutting technology, a technology which potentially can revolutionise laser cutting....

A Flexible Sensor Technology for the Distributed Measurement of Interaction Pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Donati, Marco; Vitiello, Nicola; De Rossi, Stefano Marco Maria; Lenzi, Tommaso; Crea, Simona; Persichetti, Alessandro; Giovacchini, Francesco; Koopman, Bram; Podobnik, Janez; Munih, Marko; Carrozza, Maria Chiara

2013-01-01

We present a sensor technology for the measure of the physical human-robot interaction pressure developed in the last years at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The system is composed of flexible matrices of opto-electronic sensors covered by a soft silicone cover. This sensory system is completely modular and scalable, allowing one to cover areas of any sizes and shapes, and to measure different pressure ranges. In this work we present the main application areas for this technology. A first generation of the system was used to monitor human-robot interaction in upper- (NEUROExos; Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna) and lower-limb (LOPES; University of Twente) exoskeletons for rehabilitation. A second generation, with increased resolution and wireless connection, was used to develop a pressure-sensitive foot insole and an improved human-robot interaction measurement systems. The experimental characterization of the latter system along with its validation on three healthy subjects is presented here for the first time. A perspective on future uses and development of the technology is finally drafted. PMID:23322104

Optimized flexible cover films for improved conversion efficiency in thin film flexible solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Guterman, Sidney; Wen, Xin; Gudavalli, Ganesh; Rhajbhandari, Pravakar; Dhakal, Tara P.; Wilt, David; Klotzkin, David

2018-05-01

Thin film solar cell technologies are being developed for lower cost and flexible applications. For such technologies, it is desirable to have inexpensive, flexible cover strips. In this paper, we demonstrate that transparent silicone cover glass adhesive can be doped with TiO2 nanoparticles to achieve an optimal refractive index and maximize the performance of the cell. Cells covered with the film doped with nanoparticles at the optimal concentration demonstrated a ∼1% increase in photocurrent over the plain (undoped) film. In addition, fused silica beads can be incorporated into the flexible cover slip to realize a built-in pseudomorphic glass diffuser layer as well. This additional degree of freedom in engineering flexible solar cell covers allows maximal performance from a given cell for minimal increased cost.

Transfer-less flexible and transparent high-κ/metal gate germanium devices on bulk silicon (100)

KAUST Repository

Nassar, Joanna M.; Hussain, Aftab M.; Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2014-01-01

Flexible wearable electronics have been of great interest lately for the development of innovative future technology for various interactive applications in the field of consumer electronics and advanced healthcare, offering the promise of low-cost, lightweight, and multifunctionality. In the pursuit of this trend, high mobility channel materials need to be investigated on a flexible platform, for the development of flexible high performance devices. Germanium (Ge) is one of the most attractive alternatives for silicon (Si) for high-speed computational applications, due its higher hole and electron mobility. Thus, in this work we show a cost effective CMOS compatible process for transforming conventional rigid Ge metal oxide semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPS) into a mechanically flexible and semi-transparent platform. Devices exhibit outstanding bendability with a bending radius of 0.24 cm, and semi-transparency up to 30 %, varying with respect to the diameter size of the release holes array.

Transfer-less flexible and transparent high-κ/metal gate germanium devices on bulk silicon (100)

KAUST Repository

Nassar, Joanna M.

2014-08-01

Flexible wearable electronics have been of great interest lately for the development of innovative future technology for various interactive applications in the field of consumer electronics and advanced healthcare, offering the promise of low-cost, lightweight, and multifunctionality. In the pursuit of this trend, high mobility channel materials need to be investigated on a flexible platform, for the development of flexible high performance devices. Germanium (Ge) is one of the most attractive alternatives for silicon (Si) for high-speed computational applications, due its higher hole and electron mobility. Thus, in this work we show a cost effective CMOS compatible process for transforming conventional rigid Ge metal oxide semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPS) into a mechanically flexible and semi-transparent platform. Devices exhibit outstanding bendability with a bending radius of 0.24 cm, and semi-transparency up to 30 %, varying with respect to the diameter size of the release holes array.

WAGE FLEXIBILITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

TECULESCU Silviu Alexandru

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The paper follows to offer the most efficient solutions for the attainment by Romania of the economic development level associated to the Western European countries. It proposes the division of the flexibility of labour market in three components, namely: internal flexibility, external flexibility and wage flexibility. The analysis performed within the present study will emphasize the wage flexibility. Wage flexibility can be classified in four components: a plans of individual and group incentives; b plans of assigning wages out of productivity; c plans of distribution of profits and, respectively, d plans of suggestions. The labour market flexibility, in general, and especially the wage flexibility contributes to the increase of employee motivation at the workplace, aspect which leeds to the growth of labour productivity, through this one being put the bases of the medium- and long-term economic development.

Printing technologies in fabrication of drug delivery systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kolakovic, Ruzica; Viitala, Tapani; Ihalainen, Petri

2013-01-01

INTRODUCTION: There has been increased activity in the field recently regarding the development and research on various printing techniques in fabrication of dosage forms and drug delivery systems. These technologies may offer benefits and flexibility in manufacturing, potentially paving the way...... for personalized dosing and tailor-made dosage forms.\

Incentivizing Flexibility in System Operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milligan, Michael [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bloom, Aaron P [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Townsend, Aaron [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ela, Erik [Electric Power Research Institute; Botterud, Audun [Argonne National Laboratory; Levin, Todd [Argonne National Laboratory

2018-02-15

Defining flexibility has been a challenge that a number of industry members and researchers have attempted to address in recent years. With increased variability and uncertainty of variable generation (VG), the resources on the system will have to be more flexible to adjust output, so that power output ranges, power ramp rates, and energy duration sustainability are sufficient to meet the needs of balancing supply with demand at various operational timescales. This chapter discusses whether existing market designs provide adequate incentives for resources to offer their flexibility into the market to meet the increased levels of variability and uncertainty introduced by VG in the short-term operational time frame. It presents a definition of flexibility and discusses how increased levels of VG require increased needs for flexibility on power systems. Following this introductory material, the chapter examines how existing market designs ensure that resources have the right incentives to provide increased flexibility, and then discusses a number of emerging market design elements that impact flexibility incentives.

Maximizing flexibility and learning; using learning technology to improve course programs in higher education

OpenAIRE

Aasbrenn, Martin; Bingen, Hanne Maria

2009-01-01

ICDE 23rd World Conference. Including EADTU Annual Conference 7-10 June, 2009 The Netherlands, Maastricht MECC We propose a framework for development of course programs in higher education : Our vision is that all teaching in higher education should aim for maximal learning with maximal flexibility. Learning technology could be used to optimize this, implemented through continuous feedback from the students.

Options: the value of flexibilities in long term uranium contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Major-Sosias, M.A.

1996-01-01

It has been commonplace for uranium suppliers to offer utilities long-term contracts with significant quantity flexibilities. These are attractive to the utility for which the consumption of fuel is dependent on variable reactor performance and have given the suppliers an additional competitive tool. The return to a uranium market in which near-term supply is likely to be tight is a disincentive to suppliers to offer new contracts with flexibilities. Typical recent flexibility offers have been significantly less generous than in the past. A methodology is outlined which can be used to give a theoretical estimate of the value of the flexibility provision to the supplier and buyer. It is based on the similarity between flexibility provision and option contracts in the securities and commodity markets. By regarding flexibilities as ''embedded options'' it is possible to apply to them the Black-Scholes option pricing formula as long as the necessary inputs, such as the price of uranium, the loan rate and the volatility, are available. The formula does have its shortfalls, however; in particular, it cannot incorporate the political perturbations that are continually taking place in the uranium industry. (13 figures, 15 references). (UK)

Energy Flexibility in Retail Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Zheng; Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun

2017-01-01

Retail buildings has an important role for demand side energy flexibility because of their high energy consumption, variety of energy flexibility resources, and centralized control via building control systems. Energy flexibility requires agreements and collaborations among different actors......), with the discussion of the stakeholders’ roles and their interrelation in delivering energy flexibility with the influential factors to the actual implementation of energy flexible operation of their buildings. Based on a literature analysis, the results cover stakeholders’ types and roles, perceptions (drivers......, barriers, and benefits), energy management activities and technology adoptions, and the stakeholders’ interaction for the energy flexibility in retail buildings....

Labor Supply Flexibility and Portfolio Choice

OpenAIRE

Zvi Bodie; William Samuelson

1989-01-01

This paper develops a model showing that people who have flexibility in choosing how much to work will prefer to invest substantially more of their money in risky assets than if they had no such flexibility. Viewed in this way, labor supply flexibility offers insurance against adverse investment outcomes. The model provides support for the conventional wisdom that the young can tolerate more risk in their investment portfolios than the old. The model has other implications for the study of ho...

Flexible automated manufacturing for SMEs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grube Hansen, David; Bilberg, Arne; Madsen, Erik Skov

2017-01-01

SMEs are in general highly flexible and agile in order to accommodate the customer demands in the paradigm of High Mix-Low Volume manufacturing. The flexibility and agility have mainly been enabled by manual labor, but as we are entering the technology and data driven fourth industrial revolution......, where augmented operators and machines work in cooperation in a highly flexible and productive manufacturing system both an opportunity and a need has raised for developing highly flexible and efficient automation....

Demand Response Technology Readiness Levels for Energy Management in Blocks of Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tracey Crosbie

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Fossil fuels deliver most of the flexibility in contemporary electricity systems. The pressing need to reduce CO2 emissions requires new methods to provide this flexibility. Demand response (DR offers consumers a significant role in the delivery of flexibility by reducing or shifting their electricity usage during periods of stress or constraint. Blocks of buildings offer more flexibility in the timing and use of energy than single buildings, however, and a lack of relevant scalable ICT tools hampers DR in blocks of buildings. To ameliorate this problem, a current innovation project called “Demand Response in Blocks of Buildings” (DR-BoB: www.dr-bob.eu has integrated existing technologies into a scalable cloud-based solution for DR in blocks of buildings. The degree to which the DR-BoB energy management solution can increase the ability of any given site to participate in DR is dependent upon its current energy systems, i.e., the energy metering, the telemetry and control technologies in building management systems, and the existence/capacity of local power generation and storage plants. To encourage the owners and managers of blocks of buildings to participate in DR, a method of assessing and validating the technological readiness to participate in DR energy management solutions at any given site is required. This paper describes the DR-BoB energy management solution and outlines what we have called the demand response technology readiness levels (DRTRLs for the implementation of such a solution in blocks of buildings.

Should France invest in new nuclear technology? The enhancement of the EPR project using 'real option' method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Epaulard, A.; Gallon, St.

2000-01-01

The mathematical tools developed to enhance financial options can also be used to calculate the economics value of investment projects which offer flexibility but whose return is uncertain (like options offered on the stock exchange). In this article, an enhancement method of this kind is applied to a construction project (in 2000) for an EPR nuclear prototype. This prototype will make it possible to use EPR to renew the French electrical infrastructure in 2020 (flexibility), but its economic value will depend upon competitiveness vis-a-vis other production methods available at this time (hence an uncertain return). We demonstrate that investing in EPR technology in 2000 will provide sufficient flexibility in 2020 to be considered profitable, even though it is improbable that the EPR technology will be used at the end of this period. The investment agreed in 2000 to expand EPR technology therefore effectively has the role of an option, or of an insurance policy (guaranteeing against the risk that traditional electricity production methods will be expensive in 2020). (authors)

Working Hours Flexibility. Background Paper No. 30.

Science.gov (United States)

Staines, Graham L.

Flexible work schedules offer the promise of a low-cost option for helping people manage work and family responsibilities. Alternative work schedules include part-time work, job sharing, work sharing, shiftwork, compressed work week, flexitime, and flexiplace. Flexitime is the most prevalent full-time flexible schedule and is second in prevalence…

Printing technologies in fabrication of drug delivery systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolakovic, Ruzica; Viitala, Tapani; Ihalainen, Petri; Genina, Natalja; Peltonen, Jouko; Sandler, Niklas

2013-12-01

There has been increased activity in the field recently regarding the development and research on various printing techniques in fabrication of dosage forms and drug delivery systems. These technologies may offer benefits and flexibility in manufacturing, potentially paving the way for personalized dosing and tailor-made dosage forms. In this review, the most recent observations and advancements in fabrication of drug delivery systems by utilizing printing technologies are summarized. A general overview of 2D printing techniques is presented including a review of the most recent literature where printing techniques are used in fabrication of drug delivery systems. The future perspectives and possible impacts on formulation strategies, flexible dosing and personalized medication of using printing techniques for fabrication of drug delivery systems are discussed. It is evident that there is an urgent need to meet the challenges of rapidly growing trend of personalization of medicines through development of flexible drug-manufacturing approaches. In this context, various printing technologies, such as inkjet and flexography, can play an important role. Challenges on different levels exist and include: i) technological development of printers and production lines; ii) printable formulations and carrier substrates; iii) quality control and characterization; and iv) regulatory perspectives.

Flexible Pedagogies: New Pedagogical Ideas. Flexible Pedagogies: Preparing for the Future Series

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Alex; Tilbury, Daniella

2014-01-01

This publication is part of our five-strand research project "Flexible Pedagogies: preparing for the future". It identifies six "new pedagogical ideas" offering new pathways for learning. These include: (1) actively involving students in learning development and processes of "co-creation" thereby challenging existing…

Inverted cones grating for flexible metafilter at optical and infrared frequencies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brückner, Jean-Baptiste; Le Rouzo, Judikaël; Escoubas, Ludovic [Aix-Marseille Université, IM2NP, CNRS-UMR 7334, Domaine Universitaire de Saint-Jérôme, Service 231, 13397 Marseille Cedex 20 (France); Brissonneau, Vincent; Dubarry, Christophe [CEA-LITEN DTNM, 17 Avenue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble cedex 9 (France); Ferchichi, Abdelkerim; Gourgon, Cécile [LTM CNRS, Laboratoire des Technologies de la Microélectronique 17 Avenue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble cedex 9 (France); Berginc, Gérard [Thales Optronique S.A., 2 Avenue Gay Lussac, 78990 Elancourt (France)

2014-02-24

By combining the antireflective properties from gradual changes in the effective refractive index and cavity coupling from cone gratings and the efficient optical behavior of a tungsten film, a flexible filter showing very broad antireflective properties from the visible to short wavelength infrared region and, simultaneously, a mirror-like behavior in the mid-infrared wavelength region and long-infrared wavelength region has been conceived. Nanoimprint technology has permitted the replication of inverted cone patterns on a large scale on a flexible polymer, afterwards coated with a thin tungsten film. This optical metafilter is of great interest in the stealth domain where optical signature reduction from the optical to short wavelength infrared region is an important matter. As it also acts as selective thermal emitter offering a good solar-absorption/infrared-emissivity ratio, interests are found as well for solar heating applications.

Flexible technologies and smart clothing for citizen medicine, home healthcare, and disease prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Axisa, Fabrice; Schmitt, Pierre Michael; Gehin, Claudine; Delhomme, Georges; McAdams, Eric; Dittmar, André

2005-09-01

Improvement of the quality and efficiency of healthcare in medicine, both at home and in hospital, is becoming more and more important for patients and society at large. As many technologies (micro technologies, telecommunication, low-power design, new textiles, and flexible sensors) are now available, new user-friendly devices can be developed to enhance the comfort and security of the patient. As clothes and textiles are in direct contact with about 90% of the skin surface, smart sensors and smart clothes with noninvasive sensors are an attractive solution for home-based and ambulatory health monitoring. Moreover, wearable devices or smart homes with exosensors are also potential solutions. All these systems can provide a safe and comfortable environment for home healthcare, illness prevention, and citizen medicine.

Design of micro, flexible light-emitting diode arrays and fabrication of flexible electrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Dan; Wang, Weibiao; Liang, Zhongzhu; Liang, Jingqiu; Qin, Yuxin; Lv, Jinguang

2016-01-01

In this study, we design micro, flexible light-emitting diode (LED) array devices. Using theoretical calculations and finite element simulations, we analyze the deformation of the conventional single electrode bar. Through structure optimization, we obtain a three-dimensional (3D), chain-shaped electrode structure, which has a greater bending degree. The optimized electrodes not only have a bigger bend but can also be made to spin. When the supporting body is made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the maximum bending degree of the micro, flexible LED arrays (4  ×  1 arrays) was approximately 230 µ m; this was obtained using the finite element method. The device (4  ×  1 arrays) can stretch to 15%. This paper describes the fabrication of micro, flexible LED arrays using microelectromechancial (MEMS) technology combined with electroplating technology. Specifically, the isolated grooves are made by dry etching which can isolate and protect the light-emitting units. A combination of MEMS technology and wet etching is used to fabricate the large size spacing. (paper)

Offers

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2012-01-01

proposes the following offer: 15% discount for the Staff Association members who enroll their children in summer FUTUREKIDS activities. Extracurricular Activities For Your Children The FUTUREKIDS Geneva Learning Center is open 6 days a week and offers a selection of after-school extracurricular activities for children and teenagers (ages 5 to 16). In addition to teaching in its Learning Centers, Futurekids collaborates with many private schools in Suisse Romande (Florimont, Moser, Champittet, Ecole Nouvelle, etc.) and with the Département de l'Instruction Publique (DIP) Genève. Courses and camps are usually in French but English groups can be set up on demand. FUTUREKIDS Computer Camps (during school holidays) FUTUREKIDS Computer Camps are a way of having a great time during vacations while learning something useful, possibly discovering a new hobby or even, why not, a future profession. Our computer camps are at the forefront of technology. Themes are diverse and suit all ...

Technology in the policy process: The control of nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Collingridge, D.

1983-01-01

This book presents an examination of the methodology by which technology assessments and decisions are made with regard to technically complex intensive projects. The author focuses on current breeder reactor programs in England, France and the US, offering an overview of the history and pitfalls of this energy option. He then proposes various alternatives for enhancing the flexibility of the technology and for estimating the cost in more accurate terms

All-Solution-Processed Metal-Oxide-Free Flexible Organic Solar Cells with Over 10% Efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Wei; Fan, Xi; Xu, Bingang; Yan, Feng; Cui, Huiqin; Wei, Qiang; Peng, Ruixiang; Hong, Ling; Huang, Jiaming; Ge, Ziyi

2018-05-16

All-solution-processing at low temperatures is important and desirable for making printed photovoltaic devices and also offers the possibility of a safe and cost-effective fabrication environment for the devices. Herein, an all-solution-processed flexible organic solar cell (OSC) using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly-(styrenesulfonate) electrodes is reported. The all-solution-processed flexible devices yield the highest power conversion efficiency of 10.12% with high fill factor of over 70%, which is the highest value for metal-oxide-free flexible OSCs reported so far. The enhanced performance is attributed to the newly developed gentle acid treatment at room temperature that enables a high-performance PEDOT:PSS/plastic underlying substrate with a matched work function (≈4.91 eV), and the interface engineering that endows the devices with better interface contacts and improved hole mobility. Furthermore, the flexible devices exhibit an excellent mechanical flexibility, as indicated by a high retention (≈94%) of the initial efficiency after 1000 bending cycles. This work provides a simple route to fabricate high-performance all-solution-processed flexible OSCs, which is important for the development of printing, blading, and roll-to-roll technologies. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The creation, market deployment and performance relevance of market-focused flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fleischer, L.R.

2014-01-01

The thesis provides a market-focused representation of the flexibility concept. It portrays flexibility as a promising capability for firms that operate under uncertainty. It gives resource reallocation recommendations and offers a value-driven legitimation for the creation and use of flexibility.

Business Models for Power System Flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boscan, Luis; Poudineh, Rahmatallah

2016-01-01

As intermittent, renewable resources gain more share in the generation mix, the need for power system flexibility increases more than ever. Parallel to this, technological change and the emergence of new players bringing about innovative solutions are boosting the development of flexibility...... business models will play an important role in ensuring sufficiency and efficiency of flexibility services....

Movable MEMS Devices on Flexible Silicon

KAUST Repository

Ahmed, Sally

2013-01-01

Flexible electronics have gained great attention recently. Applications such as flexible displays, artificial skin and health monitoring devices are a few examples of this technology. Looking closely at the components of these devices, although MEMS

Recent progress on thin-film encapsulation technologies for organic electronic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Duan; Yang, Yong-Qiang; Chen, Zheng; Tao, Ye; Liu, Yun-Fei

2016-03-01

Among the advanced electronic devices, flexible organic electronic devices with rapid development are the most promising technologies to customers and industries. Organic thin films accommodate low-cost fabrication and can exploit diverse molecules in inexpensive plastic light emitting diodes, plastic solar cells, and even plastic lasers. These properties may ultimately enable organic materials for practical applications in industry. However, the stability of organic electronic devices still remains a big challenge, because of the difficulty in fabricating commercial products with flexibility. These organic materials can be protected using substrates and barriers such as glass and metal; however, this results in a rigid device and does not satisfy the applications demanding flexible devices. Plastic substrates and transparent flexible encapsulation barriers are other possible alternatives; however, these offer little protection to oxygen and water, thus rapidly degrading the devices. Thin-film encapsulation (TFE) technology is most effective in preventing water vapor and oxygen permeation into the flexible devices. Because of these (and other) reasons, there has been an intense interest in developing transparent barrier materials with much lower permeabilities, and their market is expected to reach over 550 million by 2025. In this study, the degradation mechanism of organic electronic devices is reviewed. To increase the stability of devices in air, several TFE technologies were applied to provide efficient barrier performance. In this review, the degradation mechanism of organic electronic devices, permeation rate measurement, traditional encapsulation technologies, and TFE technologies are presented.

Soldier Flexible Personal Digital Assistant Program

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Price, Mark; Woytowich, Jason; Carlson, Marc

2008-01-01

The main goal of the Soldier Flexible Personal Digital Assistant Program was to develop prototypes of a novel flexible display technology device for demonstration in a laboratory setting and use in Future Force Warrior (FFW) demonstrations...

Highly efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells grown on flexible polymer films.

Science.gov (United States)

Chirilă, Adrian; Buecheler, Stephan; Pianezzi, Fabian; Bloesch, Patrick; Gretener, Christina; Uhl, Alexander R; Fella, Carolin; Kranz, Lukas; Perrenoud, Julian; Seyrling, Sieghard; Verma, Rajneesh; Nishiwaki, Shiro; Romanyuk, Yaroslav E; Bilger, Gerhard; Tiwari, Ayodhya N

2011-09-18

Solar cells based on polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se(2) absorber layers have yielded the highest conversion efficiency among all thin-film technologies, and the use of flexible polymer films as substrates offers several advantages in lowering manufacturing costs. However, given that conversion efficiency is crucial for cost-competitiveness, it is necessary to develop devices on flexible substrates that perform as well as those obtained on rigid substrates. Such comparable performance has not previously been achieved, primarily because polymer films require much lower substrate temperatures during absorber deposition, generally resulting in much lower efficiencies. Here we identify a strong composition gradient in the absorber layer as the main reason for inferior performance and show that, by adjusting it appropriately, very high efficiencies can be obtained. This implies that future manufacturing of highly efficient flexible solar cells could lower the cost of solar electricity and thus become a significant branch of the photovoltaic industry.

Handbook of Visual Display Technology

CERN Document Server

Cranton, Wayne; Fihn, Mark

2012-01-01

The Handbook of Visual Display Technology is a unique work offering a comprehensive description of the science, technology, economic and human interface factors associated with the displays industry. An invaluable compilation of information, the Handbook will serve as a single reference source with expert contributions from over 150 international display professionals and academic researchers. All classes of display device are covered including LCDs, reflective displays, flexible solutions and emissive devices such as OLEDs and plasma displays, with discussion of established principles, emergent technologies, and particular areas of application. The wide-ranging content also encompasses the fundamental science of light and vision, image manipulation, core materials and processing techniques, display driving and metrology.

Flexible energy-storage devices: design consideration and recent progress.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xianfu; Lu, Xihong; Liu, Bin; Chen, Di; Tong, Yexiang; Shen, Guozhen

2014-07-23

Flexible energy-storage devices are attracting increasing attention as they show unique promising advantages, such as flexibility, shape diversity, light weight, and so on; these properties enable applications in portable, flexible, and even wearable electronic devices, including soft electronic products, roll-up displays, and wearable devices. Consequently, considerable effort has been made in recent years to fulfill the requirements of future flexible energy-storage devices, and much progress has been witnessed. This review describes the most recent advances in flexible energy-storage devices, including flexible lithium-ion batteries and flexible supercapacitors. The latest successful examples in flexible lithium-ion batteries and their technological innovations and challenges are reviewed first. This is followed by a detailed overview of the recent progress in flexible supercapacitors based on carbon materials and a number of composites and flexible micro-supercapacitors. Some of the latest achievements regarding interesting integrated energy-storage systems are also reviewed. Further research direction is also proposed to surpass existing technological bottle-necks and realize idealized flexible energy-storage devices. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Flexible injection control for fuel consumption and emission reduction in passenger cars?; Flexible Einspritzverlaufsformung: Auch bei PKW-Dieselmotoren ein wirkungsvolles Mittel zur Reduzierung von Verbrauch und Schadstoffemissionen?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laumen, H.J.; Koerfer, T.; Lamping, M. [FEV Motorentechnik GmbH, Aachen (Germany); Pischinger, S.; Schmuecker, K.J. [RWTH Aachen (Germany). Lehrstuhl fuer Verbrennungskraftmaschinen

2007-07-01

In the recent decade the Diesel injection technology has been modified significantly. The old cam driven injection systems have been replaced nearly completely by modern Common Rail systems which enable a significantly higher degree of freedom especially with respect to multi-injection strategies and exhaust aftertreatment demands. Nevertheless, cam driven injection systems offered special characteristics which were favorable regarding fuel consumption and emissions. Due to the much higher nozzle opening and closing velocity, the seat throttling effects are widely reduced. Furthermore the fuel injection rate during ignition delay is smaller, compared to today's Common Rail systems. A new type of a piezoelectric Common Rail injector for passenger car engines, called FIRST (Flexible Injection Rate Shaping Tool) is described in this article, which combines both, the flexibility of modern Common Rail injectors as well as the benefits of cam driven injection systems regarding reduced seat throttling effects. Additionally flexible injection rate shaping is enabled by forming the slope of the actuator voltage. Both, the hydraulic behavior and also the engine performance with the new injector are presented in comparison to conventional injectors. The FIRST injector offers a benefit of 20% in PM and CO emission with constant NO{sub x} emission and reduced fuel consumption at part load as a result of the reduced seat throttling. By an optimization of the injection rate shape, the NO{sub x} emissions can be reduced by 40% at constant fuel consumption and PM emissions and without deterioration of NVH level. (orig.)

Flexible temperature and flow sensor from laser-induced graphene

KAUST Repository

Marengo, Marco

2017-12-25

Herein we present a flexible temperature sensor and a flow speed sensor based on laser-induced graphene. The main benefits arise from peculiar electrical, thermal and mechanical performances of the material thus obtained, along with a cheap and simple fabrication process. The temperature sensor is a negative temperature coefficient thermistor with non-linear response typical of semi-metals. The thermistor shows a 4% decrease of the resistance in a temperature range of 20–60 °C. The flow sensor exploits the piezoresistive properties of laser-induced graphene and can be used both in gaseous and liquid media thanks to a protective polydimethylsiloxane coating. Main characteristics are ultra-fast response and versatility in design offered by the laser technology.

Balancing energy flexibilities through aggregation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valsomatzis, Emmanouil; Hose, Katja; Pedersen, Torben Bach

2014-01-01

One of the main goals of recent developments in the Smart Grid area is to increase the use of renewable energy sources. These sources are characterized by energy fluctuations that might lead to energy imbalances and congestions in the electricity grid. Exploiting inherent flexibilities, which exist...... in both energy production and consumption, is the key to solving these problems. Flexibilities can be expressed as flex-offers, which due to their high number need to be aggregated to reduce the complexity of energy scheduling. In this paper, we discuss balance aggregation techniques that already during...... aggregation aim at balancing flexibilities in production and consumption to reduce the probability of congestions and reduce the complexity of scheduling. We present results of our extensive experiments....

Flexible Learning in an Information Society

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Badrul, Ed.

2007-01-01

Flexible Learning in an Information Society uses a flexible learning framework to explain the best ways of creating a meaningful learning environment. This framework consists of eight factors--institutional, management, technological, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support, and evaluation--and a systematic understanding of these…

Flexible thermoelectric generator using bulk legs and liquid metal interconnects for wearable electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suarez, Francisco; Parekh, Dishit P.; Ladd, Collin; Vashaee, Daryoosh; Dickey, Michael D.; Öztürk, Mehmet C.

2017-01-01

Highlights: •Flexible thermoelectric generator (TEG) with bulk legs. •Flexible thermoelectric generator with liquid metal interconnects. •Flexible TEG with potential to match the performance of rigid TEGs. •Flexible TEG for wearable electronics. -- Abstract: Interest in wearable electronics for continuous, long-term health and performance monitoring is rapidly increasing. The reduction in power levels consumed by sensors and electronic circuits accompanied by the advances in energy harvesting methods allows for the realization of self-powered monitoring systems that do not have to rely on batteries. For wearable electronics, thermoelectric generators (TEGs) offer the unique ability to continuously convert body heat into usable energy. For body harvesting, it is preferable to have TEGs that are thin, soft and flexible. Unfortunately, the performances of flexible modules reported to date have been far behind those of their rigid counterparts. This is largely due to lower efficiencies of the thermoelectric materials, electrical or thermal parasitic losses and limitations on leg dimensions posed by the synthesis techniques. In this work, we present an entirely new approach and explore the possibility of using standard bulk legs in a flexible package. Bulk thermoelectric legs cut from solid ingots are far superior to thermoelectric materials synthesized using other techniques. A key enabler of the proposed technology is the use of EGaIn liquid metal interconnects, which not only provide extremely low interconnect resistance but also stretchability with self-healing, both of which are essential for flexible TE modules. The results suggest that this novel approach can finally produce flexible TEGs that have the potential to challenge the rigid TEGs and provide a pathway for the realization of self-powered wearable electronics.

THE FLEXIBILITY-AUTOMATION CORRESPONDENCE TO A VIRTUAL COMMERCIAL SOCIETY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liliana Doble

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Design and operation of FMS is based on system requirement can be as productive and flexible as necessary, i.e. obtaining controlled correspondence between the degree of flexibility and automation of system.The flexibility of a FMS (Flexible Manufacturing Systems is determined by two important criteria: Flexible hardware structure of the system; Flexible software structure. Flexible hardware structure of the CS system (calculation system is determined to its turn according to three components: Flexibility of technological subsystem; Flexibility subsystem of storage, transport and handling;Flexibility of informational subsystem.

Flexible Electronics Development Supported by NASA

Science.gov (United States)

Baumann, Eric

2014-01-01

The commercial electronics industry is leading development in most areas of electronics for NASA applications; however, working in partnership with industry and the academic community, results from NASA research could lead to better understanding and utilization of electronic materials by the flexible electronics industry. Innovative ideas explored by our partners in industry and the broader U.S. research community help NASA execute our missions and bring new American products and services to the global technology marketplace. [Mike Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC] This presentation provides information on NASA needs in electronics looking towards the future, some of the work being supported by NASA in flexible electronics, and the capabilities of the Glenn Research Center supporting the development of flexible electronics.

Flexible waste management to increase the effectiveness of minor actinide PT technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fukasawa, T. [Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd., 3-1-1 Saiwai, Hitachi 317-0073 (Japan); Inagaki, Y.; Arima, T. [Kyshu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Sato, S. [Fukushima National College of Technology, 30 Aza-Nagao, Tairakamiarakawa, Iwaki 970-8034 (Japan)

2016-07-01

Partitioning and transmutation (PT) technologies have been developed for minor actinides (MA) to reduce the high level waste (HLW) volume and long-term radiotoxicity. Although the MA PT can reduce the potential radiotoxicity effectively by 1-3 orders of magnitude, the actual operation of PT requires several tens of years for developing elemental technologies of nuclide separation, MA containing fuel fabrication, transmutation and their practical systematization. The high level liquid waste (HLLW) containing MA is presently vitrified immediately after spent fuel reprocessing, stored about 50 years at surface facility and will be disposed of at deep geological repository. Vitrified HLW form works as an excellent artificial barrier against nuclides release during storage and disposal. On the other hand, it is difficult to recover MA from the form. So the present waste management scheme has an issue of MA PT technology application until its deployment, which will produce much amount of vitrified HLW including long-lived MA without PT application. Thus the authors proposed the flexible waste management method to increase the effectiveness of the MA PT. The system adopts the HLLW calcination instead of the vitrification to produce granule for its dry storage of about 50 years until the MA PT technology will be applicable. The granule should be easily dissolved by the nitric acid solution to apply the typical aqueous MA partitioning technologies to be developed. This paper reports the purpose of the study, the feasibility evaluation results for the calcined granule storage and the evaluation results for the environmental burden reduction effect. (authors)

Flexible magnetic thin films and devices

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Ping; Wang, Baomin; Li, Runwei

2018-01-01

Flexible electronic devices are highly attractive for a variety of applications such as flexible circuit boards, solar cells, paper-like displays, and sensitive skin, due to their stretchable, biocompatible, light-weight, portable, and low cost properties. Due to magnetic devices being important parts of electronic devices, it is essential to study the magnetic properties of magnetic thin films and devices fabricated on flexible substrates. In this review, we mainly introduce the recent progress in flexible magnetic thin films and devices, including the study on the stress-dependent magnetic properties of magnetic thin films and devices, and controlling the properties of flexible magnetic films by stress-related multi-fields, and the design and fabrication of flexible magnetic devices. Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFA0201102), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51571208, 51301191, 51525103, 11274321, 11474295, 51401230), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2016270), the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KJZD-EW-M05), the Ningbo Major Project for Science and Technology (No. 2014B11011), the Ningbo Science and Technology Innovation Team (No. 2015B11001), and the Ningbo Natural Science Foundation (No. 2015A610110).

Mediaprocessors in medical imaging for high performance and flexibility

Science.gov (United States)

Managuli, Ravi; Kim, Yongmin

2002-05-01

New high performance programmable processors, called mediaprocessors, have been emerging since the early 1990s for various digital media applications, such as digital TV, set-top boxes, desktop video conferencing, and digital camcorders. Modern mediaprocessors, e.g., TI's TMS320C64x and Hitachi/Equator Technologies MAP-CA, can offer high performance utilizing both instruction-level and data-level parallelism. During this decade, with continued performance improvement and cost reduction, we believe that the mediaprocessors will become a preferred choice in designing imaging and video systems due to their flexibility in incorporating new algorithms and applications via programming and faster-time-to-market. In this paper, we will evaluate the suitability of these mediaprocessors in medical imaging. We will review the core routines of several medical imaging modalities, such as ultrasound and DR, and present how these routines can be mapped to mediaprocessors and their resultant performance. We will analyze the architecture of several leading mediaprocessors. By carefully mapping key imaging routines, such as 2D convolution, unsharp masking, and 2D FFT, to the mediaprocessor, we have been able to achieve comparable (if not better) performance to that of traditional hardwired approaches. Thus, we believe that future medical imaging systems will benefit greatly from these advanced mediaprocessors, offering significantly increased flexibility and adaptability, reducing the time-to-market, and improving the cost/performance ratio compared to the existing systems while meeting the high computing requirements.

Flexible thin-film NFC tags

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Myny, K.; Tripathi, A.K.; Steen, J.L. van der; Cobb, B.

2015-01-01

Thin-film transistor technologies have great potential to become the key technology for leafnode Internet of Things by utilizing the NFC protocol as a communication medium. The main requirements are manufacturability on flexible substrates at a low cost while maintaining good device performance

Flexible quality of service model for wireless body area sensor networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Yangzhe; Leeson, Mark S; Higgins, Matthew D

2016-03-01

Wireless body area sensor networks (WBASNs) are becoming an increasingly significant breakthrough technology for smart healthcare systems, enabling improved clinical decision-making in daily medical care. Recently, radio frequency ultra-wideband technology has developed substantially for physiological signal monitoring due to its advantages such as low-power consumption, high transmission data rate, and miniature antenna size. Applications of future ubiquitous healthcare systems offer the prospect of collecting human vital signs, early detection of abnormal medical conditions, real-time healthcare data transmission and remote telemedicine support. However, due to the technical constraints of sensor batteries, the supply of power is a major bottleneck for healthcare system design. Moreover, medium access control (MAC) needs to support reliable transmission links that allow sensors to transmit data safely and stably. In this Letter, the authors provide a flexible quality of service model for ad hoc networks that can support fast data transmission, adaptive schedule MAC control, and energy efficient ubiquitous WBASN networks. Results show that the proposed multi-hop communication ad hoc network model can balance information packet collisions and power consumption. Additionally, wireless communications link in WBASNs can effectively overcome multi-user interference and offer high transmission data rates for healthcare systems.

Experimental demonstration of an OpenFlow based software-defined optical network employing packet, fixed and flexible DWDM grid technologies on an international multi-domain testbed.

Science.gov (United States)

Channegowda, M; Nejabati, R; Rashidi Fard, M; Peng, S; Amaya, N; Zervas, G; Simeonidou, D; Vilalta, R; Casellas, R; Martínez, R; Muñoz, R; Liu, L; Tsuritani, T; Morita, I; Autenrieth, A; Elbers, J P; Kostecki, P; Kaczmarek, P

2013-03-11

Software defined networking (SDN) and flexible grid optical transport technology are two key technologies that allow network operators to customize their infrastructure based on application requirements and therefore minimizing the extra capital and operational costs required for hosting new applications. In this paper, for the first time we report on design, implementation & demonstration of a novel OpenFlow based SDN unified control plane allowing seamless operation across heterogeneous state-of-the-art optical and packet transport domains. We verify and experimentally evaluate OpenFlow protocol extensions for flexible DWDM grid transport technology along with its integration with fixed DWDM grid and layer-2 packet switching.

Load management through agent based coordination of flexible electricity consumers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Anders; Demazeau, Yves; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

2015-01-01

Demand Response (DR) offers a cost-effective and carbonfriendly way of performing load balancing. DR describes a change in the electricity consumption of flexible consumers in response to the supply situation. In DR, flexible consumers may perform their own load balancing through load management...

Most promising flexible generators for the wind dominated market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vorushylo, I.; Keatley, P.; Hewitt, NJ

2016-01-01

The intermittent nature of wind power and other forms of variable renewable energy requires complementary dispatchable flexible generators in order to guarantee the efficient, reliable and secure operation of electricity systems. The most popular solution to date has been peaking plant, usually in the form of open-cycle-gas- turbines (OCGT). Energy storage technologies have so far been considered too expensive, however technology development, as well as challenging renewable targets could potentially make storage economically viable. Although new advanced flexible combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT) have been developed by some manufacturers, they have not yet been investigated in electricity market models. This paper describes a techno-economic assessment of the most suitable flexible technologies for the wind-dominated all Ireland electricity market (the Single Electricity Market (SEM)). The analysis is conducted by considering the impact of a series of policy scenarios which are compared in an electricity market model. The comparison is quantified using three primary metrics: technical benefits to the system, economic advantages to the consumer and investment viability. Modelling results suggest that advanced CCGT and energy storage solutions are the most advantageous, however they need strong governmental support to attract potential investors and guarantee deployment in the market. - Highlights: •Future efficiency and stability of the wind dominated require flexible generators. •Energy storage systems are the most technically advantageous flexible generators. •The advanced flexible CCGT is the most efficient solution from an economic point of view. •Traditional peaking plants (OCGT) is the least advantageous flexible generator. •The governments will play a key role in integration of the flexible technologies.

Materials and Techniques for Implantable Nutrient Sensing Using Flexible Sensors Integrated with Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Wei; Liew, Guoguang; Li, Ya; Hao, Yafeng; Pan, Huizhuo; Wang, Hanjie; Ning, Baoan; Xu, Hang; Huang, Xian

2018-06-01

The combination of novel materials with flexible electronic technology may yield new concepts of flexible electronic devices that effectively detect various biological chemicals to facilitate understanding of biological processes and conduct health monitoring. This paper demonstrates single- or multichannel implantable flexible sensors that are surface modified with conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) such as copper-MOF and cobalt-MOF with large surface area, high porosity, and tunable catalysis capability. The sensors can monitor important nutriments such as ascorbicacid, glycine, l-tryptophan (l-Trp), and glucose with detection resolutions of 14.97, 0.71, 4.14, and 54.60 × 10 -6 m, respectively. In addition, they offer sensing capability even under extreme deformation and complex surrounding environment with continuous monitoring capability for 20 d due to minimized use of biological active chemicals. Experiments using live cells and animals indicate that the MOF-modified sensors are biologically safe to cells, and can detect l-Trp in blood and interstitial fluid. This work represents the first effort in integrating MOFs with flexible sensors to achieve highly specific and sensitive implantable electrochemical detection and may inspire appearance of more flexible electronic devices with enhanced capability in sensing, energy storage, and catalysis using various properties of MOFs. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Recent Developments of Flexible CdTe Solar Cells on Metallic Substrates: Issues and Prospects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. Aliyu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the key issues in the fabrication of CdTe solar cells on metallic substrates, their trends, and characteristics as well as effects on solar cell performance. Previous research works are reviewed while the successes, potentials, and problems of such technology are highlighted. Flexible solar cells offer several advantages in terms of production, cost, and application over glass-based types. Of all the metals studied as substrates for CdTe solar cells, molybdenum appears the most favorable candidate, while close spaced sublimation (CSS, electrodeposition (ED, magnetic sputtering (MS, and high vacuum thermal evaporation (HVE have been found to be most common deposition technologies used for CdTe on metal foils. The advantages of these techniques include large grain size (CSS, ease of constituent control (ED, high material incorporation (MS, and low temperature process (MS, HVE, ED. These invert-structured thin film CdTe solar cells, like their superstrate counterparts, suffer from problems of poor ohmic contact at the back electrode. Thus similar strategies are applied to minimize this problem. Despite the challenges faced by flexible structures, efficiencies of up to 13.8% and 7.8% have been achieved in superstrate and substrate cell, respectively. Based on these analyses, new strategies have been proposed for obtaining cheaper, more efficient, and viable flexible CdTe solar cells of the future.

The Geographical Aspect of Flexibility in Distribution Grids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kouzelis, Konstantinos; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; Pillai, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna

2015-01-01

, the reason for this is that flexibility is a multidimensional commodity. It can be associated with a unit or a system, a time-frame and a time-horizon of measuring it, its power magnitude and ramp rate, its energy shifting capability, its location and several other features. In this paper, the locational...... aggregation taking into account the distribution grid's radial structure. By aggregating the flexibility in this manner, different geographical points for offering it are defined. Through an illustrative market scenario, it is demonstrated how utilities might profit from their local flexibility by assisting...

Large-Scale Direct-Writing of Aligned Nanofibers for Flexible Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Dong; Ding, Yajiang; Duan, Yongqing; Su, Jiangtao; Yin, Zhouping; Huang, Yong An

2018-05-01

Nanofibers/nanowires usually exhibit exceptionally low flexural rigidities and remarkable tolerance against mechanical bending, showing superior advantages in flexible electronics applications. Electrospinning is regarded as a powerful process for this 1D nanostructure; however, it can only be able to produce chaotic fibers that are incompatible with the well-patterned microstructures in flexible electronics. Electro-hydrodynamic (EHD) direct-writing technology enables large-scale deposition of highly aligned nanofibers in an additive, noncontact, real-time adjustment, and individual control manner on rigid or flexible, planar or curved substrates, making it rather attractive in the fabrication of flexible electronics. In this Review, the ground-breaking research progress in the field of EHD direct-writing technology is summarized, including a brief chronology of EHD direct-writing techniques, basic principles and alignment strategies, and applications in flexible electronics. Finally, future prospects are suggested to advance flexible electronics based on orderly arranged EHD direct-written fibers. This technology overcomes the limitations of the resolution of fabrication and viscosity of ink of conventional inkjet printing, and represents major advances in manufacturing of flexible electronics. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Research for improved flexible tactile sensor sensitivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yun, Hae Yong; Kim, Ho Chan; Lee, In Hwan

2015-01-01

With the development of robotic technologies, in recent years these technologies have been applied to multidisciplinary fields of study. To operate similarly to a human being, many robot technologies require devices that can receive exterior stimulus, temperature, visual data, and the sense of smell, etc. The robot's hand needs sensor devices that can receive exterior stimuli in order to operate similarly to human skin. The flexible tactile sensor for the robot has to be manufactured to have a shape similar to the shape of human skin. The research studied the development of a system and materials that will enable exterior stimuli to be received effectively. This research used carbon nano tube as a material. Carbon nano tube is used because it has a high electrical conductivity and outstanding mechanical characteristics. In addition, the two composite Materials are used to improve the stimulation sensitivity at different rates, the flexible tactile sensor to measure the sensitivity. Using 3D printing technology, the fabrication of a flexible tactile sensor system is introduced.

Research for improved flexible tactile sensor sensitivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yun, Hae Yong; Kim, Ho Chan [Andong National University, Andong (Korea, Republic of); Lee, In Hwan [Chungbuk National University, Chungju (Korea, Republic of)

2015-11-15

With the development of robotic technologies, in recent years these technologies have been applied to multidisciplinary fields of study. To operate similarly to a human being, many robot technologies require devices that can receive exterior stimulus, temperature, visual data, and the sense of smell, etc. The robot's hand needs sensor devices that can receive exterior stimuli in order to operate similarly to human skin. The flexible tactile sensor for the robot has to be manufactured to have a shape similar to the shape of human skin. The research studied the development of a system and materials that will enable exterior stimuli to be received effectively. This research used carbon nano tube as a material. Carbon nano tube is used because it has a high electrical conductivity and outstanding mechanical characteristics. In addition, the two composite Materials are used to improve the stimulation sensitivity at different rates, the flexible tactile sensor to measure the sensitivity. Using 3D printing technology, the fabrication of a flexible tactile sensor system is introduced.

Educational technology in transnational higher education in South East Asia: the cultural politics of flexible learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Ziguras

2001-10-01

Full Text Available This paper examines appropriateness of using educational technologies to increase the flexibility of learning in transnational higher education in South East Asia. It considers the argument that while interactive educational technologies may be appropriate in countries in which self-directed study and student autonomy are emphasised, the same uses of technology may not be as appropriate in South East Asian countries in which education has traditionally been more tightly structured and teacher-directed. This paper examines government policies toward the use of educational technologies in higher education in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, and considers the experiences of five transnational institutions in these countries. The paper concludes that transnational educators are inevitably caught up in tensions between global modernising trends and local traditional practices. It argues that it is important for educators to recognise how their actions relate to local social changes in countries in which their students are located.

Quality and workflow integration in flexible manufacturing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

ten Dam, Dennis

2012-01-01

In recognising the relevance of production networks and flexible manufacturing, CNC Worknet aims to be a company that approaches the new era of flexible manufacturing by developing a novel business model that combines the technologies of e-Business with production networks. This business model is

Enabling Technologies for Fabrication of Large Area Flexible Antennas, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Flexible, foldable, and/or inflatable antenna systems open up a wealth of opportunities. Integrating antenna elements and related electronics onto flexible...

Minimising the economic cost and risk to accelerator-driven subcritical reactor technology: The case of designing for flexibility: Part 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steer, Steven J.; Cardin, Michel-Alexandre; Nuttall, William J.; Parks, Geoffrey T.; Gonçalves, Leonardo V.N.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Accelerator performance is a risk to ADSR reactor technology demonstration. ► Sensitivity of ADSR economic value to accelerator performance is assessed. ► Economic value of ADSRs with and without accelerator redundancy is tested. ► Real options identify design flexibility to accelerator performance uncertainty. ► Multiple ADSR “park” with a single integrated accelerator system is proposed. - Abstract: Demonstrating the generation of electricity for commercial markets with accelerator-driven subcritical reactor (ADSR) technology will incur substantial financial risk. This risk will arise from traditional uncertainties associated with the construction of nuclear power stations and also from new technology uncertainties such as the reliability of the required accelerator system. The sensitivity of the economic value of ADSRs to the reliability of the accelerator system is assessed. Using linear accelerators as an example of choice for the accelerator technology, the economic assessment considers an ADSR with either one or two accelerators driving it. The extent to which a second accelerator improves the accelerator system reliability is determined, as are the costs for that reliability improvement. Two flexible designs for the accelerator system are also considered, derived from the real options analysis technique. One seeks to achieve the benefits of both the single and dual accelerator ADSR configurations through initially planning to build a second accelerator, but only actually constructing it once it is determined to be economically beneficial to do so. The other builds and tests an accelerator before committing to constructing a reactor. Finally, a phased multiple-reactor park with an integrated system of accelerators is suggested and discussed. The park uses the principles of redundancy as for the Dual accelerator ADSR and flexibility as for the real options design, but for a lower cost per unit of electricity produced.

Financial Flexibility as a Phenomenon of Manifestation of Flexibility of the Financial System at the Micro-level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laktionova Oleksandra A.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The article considers financial flexibility of economic subjects in the context of specific features of manifestation of this property at the micro-level of the financial system. It generalises various theoretical approaches to understanding the essence of the financial flexibility in the context of motives of its formation, sources and instruments of realisation. It specifies criteria of financial flexibility: manoeuvrability, efficiency and economy. It studies interrelation between the financial flexibility and financial restrictions at the micro-level and, consequently, factors that determine them: capital market imperfection, development level and structure of the financial system, cyclicity of economy, and company characteristics (including financial architecture. The article describes their distinguishing features. It states that apart from maintaining the financial flexibility during formation of money reserves and debt load resource the companies can be guided by other motives. It offers classification of types of financial flexibility based on the sources and goals of formation, influence upon the financial potential, stages of reproduction of financial resources, the instruments used, engaged elements of the financial mechanism, stages of the business cycle and types of the used financial resources.

Flexible Friction Stir Joining Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feng, Zhili [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lim, Yong Chae [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Mahoney, Murray [MegaStir Technologies LLC, Orem, UT (United States); Sanderson, Samuel [MegaStir Technologies LLC, Orem, UT (United States); Larsen, Steve [MegaStir Technologies LLC, Orem, UT (United States); Steel, Russel [MegaStir Technologies LLC, Orem, UT (United States); Fleck, Dale [MegaStir Technologies LLC, Orem, UT (United States); Fairchild, Doug P [ExxonMobil, Upstream Research Company (URC), Houston, TX (United States); Wasson, Andrew J [ExxonMobil, Upstream Research Company (URC), Houston, TX (United States); Babb, Jon [MegaStir Technologies LLC, Orem, UT (United States); Higgins, Paul [MegaStir Technologies LLC, Orem, UT (United States)

2015-07-23

Reported herein is the final report on a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) project with industry cost-share that was jointly carried out by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (ExxonMobil), and MegaStir Technologies (MegaStir). The project was aimed to advance the state of the art of friction stir welding (FSW) technology, a highly energy-efficient solid-state joining process, for field deployable, on-site fabrications of large, complex and thick-sectioned structures of high-performance and high-temperature materials. The technology innovations developed herein attempted to address two fundamental shortcomings of FSW: 1) the inability for on-site welding and 2) the inability to weld thick section steels, both of which have impeded widespread use of FSW in manufacturing. Through this work, major advance has been made toward transforming FSW technology from a “specialty” process to a mainstream materials joining technology to realize its pervasive energy, environmental, and economic benefits across industry.

Flexible Capitalism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Approaching “work” as at heart a practice of exchange, this volume explores sociality in work environments marked by the kind of structural changes that have come to define contemporary “flexible” capitalism. It introduces anthropological exchange theory to a wider readership, and shows how...... the perspective offers new ways to enquire about the flexible capitalism’s social dimensions. The essays contribute to a trans-disciplinary scholarship on contemporary economic practice and change by documenting how, across diverse settings, “gift-like” socialities proliferate, and even sustain the intensified...

Flexible Training's Intrusion on Work/Life Balance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zane BERGE

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Flexible Training's Intrusion on Work/Life Balance Seema TAKIYAJennifer ARCHBOLDZane BERGEBaltimore, USA Learning interventions should be aligned with the human learning system. To be effective, they have to support human learning, not work against it. Thalheimer, 2004 ABSTRACT With more companies allowing “flextime”, more access to elearning, and telecomuting, the line between workplace flexibility and work-life balance begins to blur. Companies “sell” to employees the flexibility of being able to complete training programs from the comfort of the participant's home, allowing them to learn at their own speed. In many ways, this solution is of great value to many employees. What also must be considered with the flexibility such training offers, is the unintentional consequences. This article explores questions such as does this flexibility create a 24-hour work day where the employee is continually accessible to work? Does it result in less family, personal and leisure time to the detriment of the worker?

Extremely flexible nanoscale ultrathin body silicon integrated circuits on plastic.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahrjerdi, Davood; Bedell, Stephen W

2013-01-09

In recent years, flexible devices based on nanoscale materials and structures have begun to emerge, exploiting semiconductor nanowires, graphene, and carbon nanotubes. This is primarily to circumvent the existing shortcomings of the conventional flexible electronics based on organic and amorphous semiconductors. The aim of this new class of flexible nanoelectronics is to attain high-performance devices with increased packing density. However, highly integrated flexible circuits with nanoscale transistors have not yet been demonstrated. Here, we show nanoscale flexible circuits on 60 Å thick silicon, including functional ring oscillators and memory cells. The 100-stage ring oscillators exhibit the stage delay of ~16 ps at a power supply voltage of 0.9 V, the best reported for any flexible circuits to date. The mechanical flexibility is achieved by employing the controlled spalling technology, enabling the large-area transfer of the ultrathin body silicon devices to a plastic substrate at room temperature. These results provide a simple and cost-effective pathway to enable ultralight flexible nanoelectronics with unprecedented level of system complexity based on mainstream silicon technology.

Determinants of flexible work arrangements

OpenAIRE

Sarbu, Miruna

2014-01-01

Flexible work arrangements such as allowing employees to work at home are used in firms, especially since information and communication technologies have become so widespread. Using individual-level data from 10,884 German employees, this paper analyses the determinants of working at home as a form of flexible work arrangements. The analysis is based on descriptive analyses and a discrete choice model using a probit estimation approach. The results reveal that men have a higher...

PRODUCT OFFERING AS PART OF THE NPD PROCESS IN TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES

OpenAIRE

MATTI J. HAVERILA

2012-01-01

We present an exploratory investigation of how managers conceptualize and perceive the product offering effort variables in successful and unsuccessful New Product Development (NPD) projects, and explore the role that product offering effort variables play in differentiating between successful and unsuccessful NPD outcomes. Our findings indicate that managers rely on two broad types of product offering factors, "product effort" and "price/cost effort", during the NPD process so that there are...

Living in a Flexible Space

Science.gov (United States)

Canepa, Simona

2017-10-01

How long does a space or an object have to last? If in the past an object or a building manufacturing was designed to last as much as possible, nowadays it is designed to have a life related to the time in which it will be used. Flexibility is what characterizes a space, it’s the ability to be variable and adaptable to changes in the lives of users or in relation to the use which these will make over time. The evolution of the labour market, the difficulty of inserting within it and the need to push more and more frequent move today in the trial of living space models increasingly flexible: people, especially young people, are forced to move on territory outlining a new condition to which the flexible nomadic dwellings offer an adequate response, ensuring high functional performance in confined spaces.

Flexibility Study of a Liquid Food Production Process

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cheng, Hongyuan; Friis, Alan

2006-01-01

Applying process engineering simulation method to model the processing of liquid food can provide a way to build a flexible food factory that can efficiently offer a wide range of tailored products in short delivery time. A milk production process, as an example, is simulated using a process...... engineering software to investigate the process operation conditions and flexibility. The established simulation method can be adapted to simulate similar liquid food production processes through suitable modifications....

Development of a robotic nozzle inspection with a flexible transducer array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobigny, Blandine; Wattiau, Olivier; Bey, Sebastien; Vanhoye, Arnaud; Ancrenaz, Patrick; Dumas, Philippe; Fournier, Laurent

2016-01-01

The evaluation of the integrity of the nuclear plant components is a major issue. It is mandatory to assess the degradation due to the aging. NDE aim is to detect potential defects, resulting of thermal fatigue, and to be able to evaluate their dimensions. Ultrasonic non destructive testing has demonstrated its efficiency for detection and characterization of such defects and industrial probes offer satisfactory results in various applications. However, the complex geometry of some components (nozzle,..) severely limits the inspection performances. Indeed, the use of conventional probes is restricted to regular surfaces. Flexible transducer arrays technology provides an attractive solution in ultrasonic NDT for the inspection of complex geometry components. Its ability to conform to the wavy surface of the component and to ensure a good coupling when the limits of conventional probes are reached, makes it suitable for the characterization of a defect detected in a nozzle. To develop and implement a flexible probe inspection of a nozzle weld, several skills are needed: especially ultrasonic, robotic, simulation skills. Moreover, an innovative tool dedicated to delay laws and probe position calculation is used to optimize the performance of such phased array probes. In the framework of a partnership, EDF, the CEA LIST and AREVA have developed a robotic inspection tool able to be operate on nuclear site, in order to characterize defects located in the inner radius of a nozzle with a flexible transducer array. The article describes the use of the new tools developed for the nozzle case. It also presents acquisition results and the contribution of this technology of potential defect characterization. These results are compared to classical phased-array methods.

PROSPECTS FOR APPLICATION OF FLEXIBLE ULTRASONIC WAVEGUIDE SYSTEMS IN MEDICINE AND ENGINEERING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. T. Minchenya

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents comprehensive review of current and possible future applications of flexible ultrasonic waveguides in medicine and engineering. Issues of design, modelling and manufacturing of flexible waveguides are considered. The article also presents some results of the authors in this field, particularly modelling techniques developed for the design of flexible waveguides and ultrasonic technologies and equipment for ultrasonic thromboectomy, heating of frozen fuel and ultrasonic drilling of brittle materials. Novel technology for manufacturing flexible waveguides based on electrolytic-plasma machining is also described

Highly flexible SRAM cells based on novel tri-independent-gate FinFET

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chengsheng; Zheng, Fanglin; Sun, Yabin; Li, Xiaojin; Shi, Yanling

2017-10-01

In this paper, a novel tri-independent-gate (TIG) FinFET is proposed for highly flexible SRAM cells design. To mitigate the read-write conflict, two kinds of SRAM cells based on TIG FinFETs are designed, and high tradeoff are obtained between read stability and speed. Both cells can offer multi read operations for frequency requirement with single voltage supply. In the first TIG FinFET SRAM cell, the strength of single-fin access transistor (TIG FinFET) can be flexibly adjusted by selecting five different modes to meet the needs of dynamic frequency design. Compared to the previous double-independent-gate (DIG) FinFET SRAM cell, 12.16% shorter read delay can be achieved with only 1.62% read stability decrement. As for the second TIG FinFET SRAM cell, pass-gate feedback technology is applied and double-fin TIG FinFETs are used as access transistors to solve the severe write-ability degradation. Three modes exist to flexibly adjust read speed and stability, and 68.2% larger write margin and 51.7% shorter write delay are achieved at only the expense of 26.2% increase in leakage power, with the same layout area as conventional FinFET SRAM cell.

Recent advances in flexible low power cholesteric LCDs

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Asad; Shiyanovskaya, Irina; Montbach, Erica; Schneider, Tod; Nicholson, Forrest; Miller, Nick; Marhefka, Duane; Ernst, Todd; Doane, J. W.

2006-05-01

Bistable reflective cholesteric displays are a liquid crystal display technology developed to fill a market need for very low power displays. Their unique look, high reflectivity, bistability, and simple structure make them an ideal flat panel display choice for handheld or other portable devices where small lightweight batteries with long lifetimes are important. Applications ranging from low resolution large signs to ultra high resolution electronic books can utilize cholesteric displays to not only benefit from the numerous features, but also create enabling features that other flat panel display technologies cannot. Flexible displays are the focus of attention of numerous research groups and corporations worldwide. Cholesteric displays have been demonstrated to be highly amenable to flexible substrates. This paper will review recent advances in flexible cholesteric displays including both phase separation and emulsification approaches to encapsulation. Both approaches provide unique benefits to various aspects of manufacturability, processes, flexibility, and conformability.

Slant rigs offer big payoffs in shallow drilling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, J.; Edwards, B.

1992-01-01

Slant hole drilling technology can result in considerable savings over conventionally drilled deviated holes because mud motors and deviation control with measurement while drilling tools are usually unnecessary. The benefits of using slant hole rigs for development drilling improve after the bit walk tendencies and the correct bottom hole assemblies have been determined for a particular area. This article discusses three recent drilling operations that successfully used slant drilling technology on land-based projects: drilling for heavy oil in Alberta, drilling for gas in Alberta, and drilling a river crossing for a gas pipeline in British Columbia. These examples demonstrate the flexibility of slant drilling technology

App Factory: A flexible approach to rehabilitation engineering in an era of rapid technology advancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Michael; Mueller, James; Morris, John

2017-01-01

This article describes a flexible and effective approach to research and development in an era of rapid technological advancement. The approach relies on secondary dispersal of grant funds to commercial developers through a competitive selection process. This "App Factory" model balances the practical reliance on multi-year funding needed to sustain a rehabilitation engineering research center (RERC), with the need for agility and adaptability of development efforts undertaken in a rapidly changing technology environment. This approach also allows us to take advantage of technical expertise needed to accomplish a particular development task, and provides incentives to deliver successful products in a cost-effective manner. In this article, we describe the App Factory structure, process, and results achieved to date; and we discuss the lessons learned and the potential relevance of this approach for other grant-funded research and development efforts. Data presented on the direct costs and number of downloads of the 16 app development projects funded in the App Factory's first 3 years show that it can be an effective means for supporting focused, short-term assistive technology development projects.

Flexible Job-Shop Scheduling with Dual-Resource Constraints to Minimize Tardiness Using Genetic Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Paksi, A. B. N.; Ma'ruf, A.

2016-02-01

In general, both machines and human resources are needed for processing a job on production floor. However, most classical scheduling problems have ignored the possible constraint caused by availability of workers and have considered only machines as a limited resource. In addition, along with production technology development, routing flexibility appears as a consequence of high product variety and medium demand for each product. Routing flexibility is caused by capability of machines that offers more than one machining process. This paper presents a method to address scheduling problem constrained by both machines and workers, considering routing flexibility. Scheduling in a Dual-Resource Constrained shop is categorized as NP-hard problem that needs long computational time. Meta-heuristic approach, based on Genetic Algorithm, is used due to its practical implementation in industry. Developed Genetic Algorithm uses indirect chromosome representative and procedure to transform chromosome into Gantt chart. Genetic operators, namely selection, elitism, crossover, and mutation are developed to search the best fitness value until steady state condition is achieved. A case study in a manufacturing SME is used to minimize tardiness as objective function. The algorithm has shown 25.6% reduction of tardiness, equal to 43.5 hours.

Flexible Work Styles in the Corporate Research Center.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Katherine

2000-01-01

Explores the appropriateness for flexible work schedules for corporate librarians and provides insight into the benefits of flexible work arrangements in other industries. Highlights include technological changes that have changed roles and made resources available electronically; telecommuters; job sharing; and the effects of flexible…

Goal driven kinematic simulation of flexible arm robot for space station missions

Science.gov (United States)

Janssen, P.; Choudry, A.

1987-01-01

Flexible arms offer a great degree of flexibility in maneuvering in the space environment. The problem of transporting an astronaut for extra-vehicular activity using a space station based flexible arm robot was studied. Inverse kinematic solutions of the multilink structure were developed. The technique is goal driven and can support decision making for configuration selection as required for stability and obstacle avoidance. Details of this technique and results are given.

The Contributing Student: A Pedagogy for Flexible Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Collis, Betty; Moonen, J.C.M.M.

2002-01-01

At the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology in The Netherlands, we do not talk about distance education but rather 'flexible learning,' where distance is only one of the dimensions for which students have different options. In this article we briefly describe our approach to flexible

Flexible design in water and wastewater engineering--definitions, literature and decision guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Spiller, Marc; Vreeburg, Jan H G; Leusbrock, Ingo; Zeeman, Grietje

2015-02-01

Urban water and wastewater systems face uncertain developments including technological progress, climate change and urban development. To ensure the sustainability of these systems under dynamic conditions it has been proposed that technologies and infrastructure should be flexible, adaptive and robust. However, in literature it is often unclear what these technologies and infrastructure are. Furthermore, the terms flexible, adaptive and robust are often used interchangeably, despite important differences. In this paper we will i) define the terminology, ii) provide an overview of the status of flexible infrastructure design alternatives for water and wastewater networks and treatment, and iii) develop guidelines for the selection of flexible design alternatives. Results indicate that, with the exception of Net Present Valuation methods, there is little research available on the design and evaluation of technologies that can enable flexibility. Flexible design alternatives reviewed include robust design, phased design, modular design, modular/component platform design and design for remanufacturing. As developments in the water sector are driven by slow variables (climate change, urban development), rather than market forces, it is suggested that phased design or component platform designs are suitable for responding to change, while robust design is an option when operations face highly dynamic variability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flexible multimode polymer waveguides for high-speed short-reach communication links

Science.gov (United States)

Bamiedakis, N.; Shi, F.; Chu, D.; Penty, R. V.; White, I. H.

2018-02-01

Multimode polymer waveguides have attracted great interest for use in high-speed short-reach communication links as they can be cost-effectively integrated onto standard PCBs using conventional methods of the electronics industry and provide low loss (30 GHz×m) interconnection. The formation of such waveguides on flexible substrates can further provide flexible low-weight low-thickness interconnects and offer additional freedom in the implementation of high-speed short-reach optical links. These attributes make these flexible waveguides particularly attractive for use in low-cost detachable chip-to-chip links and in environments where weight and shape conformity become important, such as in cars and aircraft. However, the highly-multimoded nature of these waveguides raises important questions about their performance under severe flex due to mode loss and mode coupling. In this work therefore, we investigate the loss, crosstalk and bandwidth performance of such waveguides under out-of plane bending and in-plane twisting under different launch conditions and carry out data transmission tests at 40 Gb/s on a 1 m long spiral flexible waveguide under flexure. Excellent optical transmission characteristics are obtained while robust loss, crosstalk and bandwidth performance are demonstrated under flexure. Error-free (BER<10-12) 40 Gb/s data transmission is achieved over the 1 m long spiral waveguide for a 180° bend with a 4 mm radius. The obtained results demonstrate the excellent optical and mechanical properties of this technology and highlight its potential for use in real-world systems.

Flexible Thermal Protection System Development for Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators

Science.gov (United States)

DelCorso, Joseph A.; Bruce, Walter E., III; Hughes, Stephen J.; Dec, John A.; Rezin, Marc D.; Meador, Mary Ann B.; Guo, Haiquan; Fletcher, Douglas G.; Calomino, Anthony M.; Cheatwood, McNeil

2012-01-01

The Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIAD) project has invested in development of multiple thermal protection system (TPS) candidates to be used in inflatable, high downmass, technology flight projects. Flexible TPS is one element of the HIAD project which is tasked with the research and development of the technology ranging from direct ground tests, modelling and simulation, characterization of TPS systems, manufacturing and handling, and standards and policy definition. The intent of flexible TPS is to enable large deployable aeroshell technologies, which increase the drag performance while significantly reducing the ballistic coefficient of high-mass entry vehicles. A HIAD requires a flexible TPS capable of surviving aerothermal loads, and durable enough to survive the rigors of construction, handling, high density packing, long duration exposure to extrinsic, in-situ environments, and deployment. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of key work being performed within the Flexible TPS element of the HIAD project. Included in this paper is an overview of, and results from, each Flexible TPS research and development activity, which includes ground testing, physics-based thermal modelling, age testing, margins policy, catalysis, materials characterization, and recent developments with new TPS materials.

Flexible NAND-Like Organic Ferroelectric Memory Array

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kam, B.; Ke, T.H.; Chasin, A.; Tyagi, M.; Cristoferi, C.; Tempelaars, K.; Breemen, A.J.J.M. van; Myny, K.; Schols, S.; Genoe, J.; Gelinck, G.H.; Heremans, P.

2014-01-01

We present a memory array of organic ferroelectric field-effect transistors (OFeFETs) on flexible substrates. The OFeFETs are connected serially, similar to the NAND architecture of flash memory, which offers the highest memory density of transistor memories. We demonstrate a reliable addressing

Pop-up Library Makerspace: academic libraries provide flexible, supportive space to explore emerging technologies.

OpenAIRE

Groves, Antony

2016-01-01

The word Makerspace is a general term for a place where people get together to make things, create things and\\ud learn together. Antony Groves presents a look at a recent university library experiment hosting a pop-up makerspace. Working with local edtech leaders MakerClub and colleagues the library organised a two-hour workshop which offered the opportunity for students and staff to explore emerging technologies.

Low carbon technologies as providers of operational flexibility in future power systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pavić, Ivan; Capuder, Tomislav; Kuzle, Igor

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Mixed integer linear programming model for provision of multiple services from EV. • EV energy and reserve services provision effects on power system operation. • Impacts of conventional unit’s decommission on system’s operation and flexibility. • Assessment of power system’s flexibility under different wind generation polices. - Abstract: The paper presents a unit commitment model, based on mixed integer linear programming, capable of assessing the impact of electric vehicles (EV) on provision of ancillary services in power systems with high share of renewable energy sources (RES). The analyses show how role of different conventional units changes with integration of variable and uncertain RES and how introducing a flexible sources on the demand side, in this case EV, impact the traditional provision of spinning/contingency reserve services. In addition, technical constraints of conventional units, such as nuclear, gas or coal, limit the inherit flexibility of the system which results in curtailing clean renewable sources and inefficient operation. Following on that, sensitivity analyses of operational cost and wind curtailment shows which techno-economic constraints impact the flexibility of the high RES systems the most and how integration of more flexible units or decommission of conventional nuclear, coal and gas driven power plants would impact the system’s operation. Finally, two different wind generation polices (wind penalization and wind turbines as reserve providers) have been analysed in terms of operational flexibility through different stages of conventional unit’s decommission and compared with the same analyses when EV were used as reserve providers.

Flexible single-incision surgery: a fusion technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Noguera, José F; Dolz, Carlos; Cuadrado, Angel; Olea, José; García, Juan

2013-06-01

The development of natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery has led to other techniques, such as single-incision surgery. The use of the flexible endoscope for single-incision surgery paves the way for further refinement of both surgical methods. To describe a new, single-incision surgical technique, namely, flexible single-incision surgery. Assessment of the safety and effectiveness of endoscopic cholecystectomy in a series of 30 patients. This technique consists of a single umbilical incision through which a flexible endoscope is introduced and consists of 2 parallel entry ports that provide access to nonarticulated laparoscopic instruments. The technique was applied in all patients for whom it was prescribed. No general or surgical wound complications were noted. Surgical time was no longer than usual for single-port surgery. Flexible single-incision surgery is a new single-site surgical technique offering the same level of patient safety, with additional advantages for the surgeon at minimal cost.

Flexibility as a service

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aalst, van der W.M.P.; Adams, M.; Hofstede, ter A.H.M.; Pesic, M.; Schonenberg, H.; Chen, L.; Liu, C.; Liu, Q.; Deng, K.

2009-01-01

The lack of flexibility is often seen as an inhibitor for the successful application of workflow technology. Many researchers have proposed different ways of addressing this problem and some of these ideas have been implemented in commercial systems. However, a "one size fits all" approach is likely

Flexibility: the grid knows how to cope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boulanger, Vincent

2017-01-01

As variable energy sources, such as wind power and photovoltaic solar power, are more and more penetrating into the electric power mix, flexibility is therefore a growing challenge, notably concerning the power demand variability. As a matter of fact, experts show that, contrary to the popular belief, there is no needs to use thermal power plants, power-to-gas systems or energy storage for that, thanks to innovative power flexibility and load management tools and technologies (nuclear power plants are also gaining the aptitude to be more flexible than before). The frequency issue is addressed

Capacity flexibility allocation in an outsourced supply chain with reservation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boulaksil, Youssef; Grunow, Martin; Fransoo, J.C.

2011-01-01

We consider a contract manufacturer that serves a limited number of outsourcers (customers) on a single capacitated production line. the outsourcers have different levels of demand uncertainty and the contract manufacturer faces the question how to allocate the contractual capacity flexibility...... in an optimal way. The contractual capacity flexibility is a contract parameter that sets the amount of demand the contract manufacturer is obliged to accept from the outsourcers. We develop a hierachical model that consists of two decision levels. At the tactical level, the contract manufacturer allocates...... the capacity flexibility to the different outsourcers by maximizing the expected profit. Offering more flexibility to the more uncertain outsourcer generates higher expected revenue, but also increases the expected penalty costs. The allocated capacity flexibilities (determined at the tactical level) are input...

Flexible and Cellulose-based Organic Electronics

OpenAIRE

Edberg, Jesper

2017-01-01

Organic electronics is the study of organic materials with electronic functionality and the applications of such materials. In the 1970s, the discovery that polymers can be made electrically conductive led to an explosion within this field which has continued to grow year by year. One of the attractive features of organic electronic materials is their inherent mechanical flexibility, which has led to the development of numerous flexible electronics technologies such as organic light emitting ...

New developments in flexible cholesteric liquid crystal displays

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Tod; Davis, Donald J.; Franklin, Sean; Venkataraman, Nithya; McDaniel, Diaz; Nicholson, Forrest; Montbach, Erica; Khan, Asad; Doane, J. William

2007-02-01

Flexible Cholesteric liquid crystal displays have been rapidly maturing into a strong contender in the flexible display market. Encapsulation of the Cholesteric liquid crystal permits the use of flexible plastic substrates and roll-to-roll production. Recent advances include ultra-thin displays, laser-cut segmented displays of variable geometry, and smart card applications. Exciting technologies such as simultaneous laser-edge sealing and singulation enable high volume production, excellent quality control and non-traditional display geometries and formats.

FUEL-FLEXIBLE GASIFICATION-COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCTION OF H2 AND SEQUESTRATION-READY CO2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

George Rizeq; Janice West; Arnaldo Frydman; Vladimir Zamansky; Linda Denton; Hana Loreth; Tomasz Wiltowski

2001-07-01

It is expected that in the 21st century the Nation will continue to rely on fossil fuels for electricity, transportation, and chemicals. It will be necessary to improve both the thermodynamic efficiency and environmental impact performance of fossil fuel utilization. General Electric Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (GE EER) has developed an innovative fuel-flexible Advanced Gasification-Combustion (AGC) concept to produce H{sub 2} and sequestration-ready CO{sub 2} from solid fuels. The AGC module offers potential for reduced cost and increased energy efficiency relative to conventional gasification and combustion systems. GE EER was awarded a Vision-21 program from U.S. DOE NETL to develop the AGC technology. Work on this three-year program started on October 1, 2000. The project team includes GE EER, California Energy Commission, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and T. R. Miles, Technical Consultants, Inc. In the AGC technology, coal/opportunity fuels and air are simultaneously converted into separate streams of (1) pure hydrogen that can be utilized in fuel cells, (2) sequestration-ready CO{sub 2}, and (3) high temperature/pressure oxygen-depleted air to produce electricity in a gas turbine. The process produces near-zero emissions and, based on preliminary modeling work in the first quarter of this program, has an estimated process efficiency of approximately 67% based on electrical and H{sub 2} energy outputs relative to the higher heating value of coal. The three-year R&D program will determine the operating conditions that maximize separation of CO{sub 2} and pollutants from the vent gas, while simultaneously maximizing coal conversion efficiency and hydrogen production. The program integrates lab-, bench- and pilot-scale studies to demonstrate the AGC concept. This is the third quarterly technical progress report for the Vision-21 AGC program supported by U.S. DOE NETL (Contract: DE-FC26-00FT40974). This report summarizes program

Flexible Adaptation in Cognitive Radios

CERN Document Server

Li, Shujun

2013-01-01

This book provides an introduction to software-defined radio and cognitive radio, along with methodologies for applying knowledge representation, semantic web, logic reasoning and artificial intelligence to cognitive radio, enabling autonomous adaptation and flexible signaling. Readers from the wireless communications and software-defined radio communities will use this book as a reference to extend software-defined radio to cognitive radio, using the semantic technology described. Readers with a background in semantic web and artificial intelligence will find in this book the application of semantic web and artificial intelligence technologies to wireless communications. For readers in networks and network management, this book presents a new approach to enable interoperability, collaborative optimization and flexible adaptation of network components. Provides a comprehensive ontology covering the core concepts of wireless communications using a formal language; Presents the technical realization of using a ...

"Science SQL" as a Building Block for Flexible, Standards-based Data Infrastructures

Science.gov (United States)

Baumann, Peter

2016-04-01

We have learnt to live with the pain of separating data and metadata into non-interoperable silos. For metadata, we enjoy the flexibility of databases, be they relational, graph, or some other NoSQL. Contrasting this, users still "drown in files" as an unstructured, low-level archiving paradigm. It is time to bridge this chasm which once was technologically induced, but today can be overcome. One building block towards a common re-integrated information space is to support massive multi-dimensional spatio-temporal arrays. These "datacubes" appear as sensor, image, simulation, and statistics data in all science and engineering domains, and beyond. For example, 2-D satellilte imagery, 2-D x/y/t image timeseries and x/y/z geophysical voxel data, and 4-D x/y/z/t climate data contribute to today's data deluge in the Earth sciences. Virtual observatories in the Space sciences routinely generate Petabytes of such data. Life sciences deal with microarray data, confocal microscopy, human brain data, which all fall into the same category. The ISO SQL/MDA (Multi-Dimensional Arrays) candidate standard is extending SQL with modelling and query support for n-D arrays ("datacubes") in a flexible, domain-neutral way. This heralds a new generation of services with new quality parameters, such as flexibility, ease of access, embedding into well-known user tools, and scalability mechanisms that remain completely transparent to users. Technology like the EU rasdaman ("raster data manager") Array Database system can support all of the above examples simultaneously, with one technology. This is practically proven: As of today, rasdaman is in operational use on hundreds of Terabytes of satellite image timeseries datacubes, with transparent query distribution across more than 1,000 nodes. Therefore, Array Databases offering SQL/MDA constitute a natural common building block for next-generation data infrastructures. Being initiator and editor of the standard we present principles

Mechanically flexible optically transparent porous mono-crystalline silicon substrate

KAUST Repository

Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Syed, Ahad A.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2012-01-01

For the first time, we present a simple process to fabricate a thin (≥5μm), mechanically flexible, optically transparent, porous mono-crystalline silicon substrate. Relying only on reactive ion etching steps, we are able to controllably peel off a thin layer of the original substrate. This scheme is cost favorable as it uses a low-cost silicon <100> wafer and furthermore it has the potential for recycling the remaining part of the wafer that otherwise would be lost and wasted during conventional back-grinding process. Due to its porosity, it shows see-through transparency and potential for flexible membrane applications, neural probing and such. Our process can offer flexible, transparent silicon from post high-thermal budget processed device wafer to retain the high performance electronics on flexible substrates. © 2012 IEEE.

IEA EBC Annex 67 Energy Flexible Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marszal, Anna Joanna; Jensen, Søren Østergaard

2016-01-01

know ledge on and demonstration of the Energy Flexibility Buildings can provide for the energy grids as well of to identify critical aspects and possible solutions to manage this Energy Flexibility. The paper discusses the background, the aims and the work plan of IEA (International Energy Agency) EBC......The foreseen large deployment of renewable energy sources may seriously affect the stability of energy grids. It will be necessary to control energy consumption to match instantaneous energy production. The built-in Energy Flexibility in buildings may be utilized for stabilizing the energy grids......, allowing for a larger roll out of renewable technologies. The Energy Flexibility of a building is the ability to manage its energy demand and generation according to local climate conditions, user needs and grid requirements. Energy Flexibility of buildings will thus allow for demand side management...

In formation: Support for flexibility, mobility, collaboration, and coherence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Büscher, Monika; Kramp, Gunnar; Krogh, Peter Gall

2003-01-01

This paper describes support for flexibility, mobility and collaboration in engaging with, and making sense of, information. Our focus lies on the transitions people make between different, dynamic configurations of digital and physical materials, technologies, people and spaces. The technologies...... we describe have been developed in partnership with landscape architects over the past two years. We show that appliances and people can come together in a way that creates scope for such transitions, collaboration, and the emergence of new ways of working.......This paper describes support for flexibility, mobility and collaboration in engaging with, and making sense of, information. Our focus lies on the transitions people make between different, dynamic configurations of digital and physical materials, technologies, people and spaces. The technologies...

Communication satellites to enter a new age of flexibility

Science.gov (United States)

Balty, Cédric; Gayrard, Jean-Didier; Agnieray, Patrick

2009-07-01

To cope with the economical and technical evolutions of the communication market and to better compete with or complement terrestrial networks, satellite operators are requiring more flexible satellites. It allows a better fleet planning potential and back-up policy, a more standardized and efficient procurement process, mission adaptation to market evolution and the possibility of early entry in new markets. New technologies that are developed either for terrestrial networks or for space defense applications would become soon available to satellite and equipment manufacturers. A skilful mix of these new technologies with the older and more mature ones should boost satellite performances and bring flexibility to the new generation of communication satellites. This paper reviews the economical and technical environment of the space communication business for the next decade. It identifies the needs and levels of flexibility that are required by the market but also allowed by technologies, in both a top-down and bottom-up approach.

Flexible eddy current coil arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krampfner, Y.; Johnson, D.P.

1987-01-01

A novel approach was devised to overcome certain limitations of conventional eddy current testing. The typical single-element hand-wound probe was replaced with a two dimensional array of spirally wound probe elements deposited on a thin, flexible polyimide substrate. This provides full and reliable coverage of the test area and eliminates the need for scanning. The flexible substrate construction of the array allows the probes to conform to irregular part geometries, such as turbine blades and tubing, thereby eliminating the need for specialized probes for each geometry. Additionally, the batch manufacturing process of the array can yield highly uniform and reproducible coil geometries. The array is driven by a portable computer-based eddy current instrument, smartEDDY/sup TM/, capable of two-frequency operation, and offers a great deal of versatility and flexibility due to its software-based architecture. The array is coupled to the instrument via an 80-switch multiplexer that can be configured to address up to 1600 probes. The individual array elements may be addressed in any desired sequence, as defined by the software

Workplace flexibility: from research to action.

Science.gov (United States)

Galinsky, Ellen; Sakai, Kelly; Wigton, Tyler

2011-01-01

Ellen Galinsky, Kelly Sakai, and Tyler Wigton explore the "time famine" among American workers-the continuing sense among employees of not having enough time to manage the multiple responsibilities of work and personal and family life. Noting that large shares of U.S. employees report feeling the need for greater workplace flexibility to enable them to take better care of family responsibilities, the authors examine a large-scale community-engagement initiative to increase workplace flexibility voluntarily. Using the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce as a primary source of data, the authors begin with an overview of the prevalence of flexibility in today's American workplace. They track which categories of employees have access to various flexibility options, as well as the extent to which employees with access to various types of flexibility use those options. Findings from the study indicate that the majority of employees want flexibility but that access to it varies, with more advantaged employees--those who are well educated, have high salaries, and work full time, for example--being doubly advantaged in having greater access to flexibility. A number of employers, say the authors, tend to be skeptical of the value of workplace flexibility and to fear that employees will abuse it if it is offered. But the study data reveal that most employees use flexibility quite conservatively. When the authors use their nationally representative data set to investigate correlations between access to workplace flexibility and a range of workplace outcomes especially valued by employers--employee engagement, job satisfaction, retention, and health--they find that employers as well as employees can benefit from flexibility. Finally, the authors discuss When Work Works, a large, national community-based initiative under way since 2003 to increase voluntary adoption of workplace flexibility. The authors detail the conceptual basis of the project's design, noting its

Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry: An Emerging Technology in the Toxicology Laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yan Victoria; Wei, Bin; Zhu, Yu; Zhang, Yanhua; Bluth, Martin H

2016-12-01

In the last decade, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has seen enormous growth in routine toxicology laboratories. LC-MS/MS offers significant advantages over other traditional testing, such as immunoassay and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry methodologies. Major strengths of LC-MS/MS include improvement in specificity, flexibility, and sample throughput when compared with other technologies. Here, the basic principles of LC-MS/MS technology are reviewed, followed by advantages and disadvantages of this technology compared with other traditional techniques. In addition, toxicology applications of LC-MS/MS for simultaneous detection of large panels of analytes are presented. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards automated visual flexible endoscope navigation.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Stap, Nanda; van der Heijden, Ferdinand; Broeders, Ivo A M J

2013-10-01

The design of flexible endoscopes has not changed significantly in the past 50 years. A trend is observed towards a wider application of flexible endoscopes with an increasing role in complex intraluminal therapeutic procedures. The nonintuitive and nonergonomical steering mechanism now forms a barrier in the extension of flexible endoscope applications. Automating the navigation of endoscopes could be a solution for this problem. This paper summarizes the current state of the art in image-based navigation algorithms. The objectives are to find the most promising navigation system(s) to date and to indicate fields for further research. A systematic literature search was performed using three general search terms in two medical-technological literature databases. Papers were included according to the inclusion criteria. A total of 135 papers were analyzed. Ultimately, 26 were included. Navigation often is based on visual information, which means steering the endoscope using the images that the endoscope produces. Two main techniques are described: lumen centralization and visual odometry. Although the research results are promising, no successful, commercially available automated flexible endoscopy system exists to date. Automated systems that employ conventional flexible endoscopes show the most promising prospects in terms of cost and applicability. To produce such a system, the research focus should lie on finding low-cost mechatronics and technologically robust steering algorithms. Additional functionality and increased efficiency can be obtained through software development. The first priority is to find real-time, robust steering algorithms. These algorithms need to handle bubbles, motion blur, and other image artifacts without disrupting the steering process.

Light Management in Flexible OLEDs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harkema, S.; Pendyala, R.K.; Geurts, C.G.C.; Helgers, P.L.J.; Levell, J.W.; Wilson, J.S.; MacKerron, D.

2014-01-01

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are a promising lighting technology. In particular OLEDs fabricated on plastic foils are believed to hold the future. These planar devices are subject to various optical losses, which requires sophisticated light management solutions. Flexible OLEDs on plastic

Three-dimensional RF SoP technologies: LTCC versus LCP

KAUST Repository

Arabi, Eyad A.

2014-12-18

The system on package (SoP) is an emerging platform, introduced to provide enhanced functionality, and immense miniaturization through vertically integrated passive components in a multilayer process. This way the package is not a mere holder or cover but is a functional part of the system. The leading multilayer packaging technologies for SoP designs: low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) and liquid crystal polymer (LCP) are compared in this work for the first time. Passive components and filters have been implemented in both technologies to show the advantages of the three-dimensional nature of these technologies. The comparison results show that parallel plate capacitors implemented in the ultra-thin LCP provides the highest capacitance density. For spiral inductors, conversely, LTCC inductors have the highest inductances while LCP inductors offer the highest self-resonant frequencies and the highest quality factors (Q). In a circuit level, simulated and measured results of a bandpass filter at 1.5 GHz show that both LCP and LTCC can provide similar performances with an incredible size reduction for the case of ultra-thin LCP. Also, the thin LCP filter exhibits a large degree of mechanical flexibility which makes this technology suitable for future flexible modules.

Advances in maskless and mask-based optical lithography on plastic flexible substrates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barbu, I.; Ivan, M.G.; Giesen, P.; Moosdijk, M. van de; Meinders, E.R.

2009-01-01

Organic flexible electronics is an emerging technology with huge potential growth in the future which is likely to open up a complete new series of potential applications such as flexible OLED-based displays, urban commercial signage, and flexible electronic paper. The transistor is the fundamental

Preliminary clinical report of flexible videoarthroscopy in diagnostic knee and hip arthroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouaicha, Samy; Dora, Claudio; Puskas, Gabor J; Koch, Peter P; Wirth, Stephan H; Meyer, Dominik C

2012-01-01

Compared to rigid arthroscopic optics, a flexible camera system offers theoretically significant advantages: It has the potential to adapt to the naturally curved surface of joints, to move within the joint without stress to the cartilage or capsule and thereby to reduce the number of portals needed. Former studies evaluated flexible fiberoptic systems which were insufficient regarding image resolution. This is the first report on a new flexible videoendoscope with the so called "chip-on-the-tip" technology used in human joints. With a plasma sterilized 3.9 diameter flexible video endoscopy system (Visera ENF V, OLYMPUS) commonly used in diagnostic rhino-laryngoscopy, we performed preliminary testing in cadaveric knee joints. After successful feasibility testing we utilized the tool in two qualitative diagnostic knee and five hip arthroscopies in combination with conventional rigid 30° and 70° arthroscopes (STORZ). Qualitative evaluation showed superior visualisation of the posterior aspects of the knee joint as insertion of the posterior medial and lateral meniscal horn, tibial insertion of the posterior cruciate ligament and the posterolateral capsulo-ligamentous corner with acceptable image resolution and clarity compared to the rigid arthroscope. In the hip, it was possible to pass around the femoral neck, avoiding additional portals. There seemed to be virtually no risk for cartilage damage at all. Difficulties of the system were scope handling, navigation and orientation within the joint as well as potential damage to the tool itself. This is to our knowledge the first report on flexible videoarthroscopy. Some of the expectations were met, such as to reach virtually every corner the joint with minimal risk for the cartilage or other joint structures and with acceptable image quality. However, there are many significant disadvantages which question the routine use of such a videoendoscopic system with its present technical features. © 2012 – IOS Press and

Flexible Dermal Armor : Designs Learned from Nature

OpenAIRE

Chen, Irene Hsu

2015-01-01

Designs derived from nature have become a perfect blueprint for today's engineers and scientists to follow and implement. One particularly noted area is the defense industry, wherein flexible dermal armor inspired by nature has been pioneering many sophisticated technologies and designs in recent years. Designers today are considering borrowing aspects of flexibility and mobility of natural dermal armors to enhance the maneuverability of man-made armor by imitating the following mechanisms : ...

Smart City Through a Flexible Approach to Smart Energy

Science.gov (United States)

Mutule, A.; Teremranova, J.; Antoskovs, N.

2018-02-01

The paper provides an overview of the development trends of the smart city. Over the past decades, the trend of the new urban model called smart city has been gaining momentum, which is an aggregate of the latest technologies, intelligent administration and conscious citizens, which allows the city to actively develop, and effectively and efficiently solve the problems it is facing. Profound changes are also taking place in the energy sector. Researchers and other specialists offer a wide variety of innovative solutions and approaches for the concepts of intelligent cities. The paper reviews and analyses the existing methodological solutions in the field of power industry, as well as provides recommendations how to introduce the common platform on the basis of disparate sources of information on energy resources existing in the city as an optimal solution for developing the city's intelligence, flexibility and sustainability based on its starting conditions.

Forming contracts without offer and acceptance, Lord Denning and the harmonisation of English contract law

OpenAIRE

Stone, Richard

2012-01-01

English contract law has traditionally used the requirement of a matching offer and acceptance as the means of identifying agreement. A more flexible approach was proposed by Lord Denning in several cases in the 1970s, but firmly rejected by the House of Lords in Gibson v Manchester City Council [1979] 1 WLR 294. More recently there have been some suggestions of a revival of Lord Denning’s approach, culminating in the decision of the Supreme Court in RTS Flexible Systems Ltd v Molkerei Alois ...

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-Based Flexible Resistive Strain Sensors for Wearable Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Chen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available There is growing attention and rapid development on flexible electronic devices with electronic materials and sensing technology innovations. In particular, strain sensors with high elasticity and stretchability are needed for several potential applications including human entertainment technology, human–machine interface, personal healthcare, and sports performance monitoring, etc. This article presents recent advancements in the development of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-based flexible resistive strain sensors for wearable applications. First of all, the article shows that PDMS-based stretchable resistive strain sensors are successfully fabricated by different methods, such as the filtration method, printing technology, micromolding method, coating techniques, and liquid phase mixing. Next, strain sensing performances including stretchability, gauge factor, linearity, and durability are comprehensively demonstrated and compared. Finally, potential applications of PDMS-based flexible resistive strain sensors are also discussed. This review indicates that the era of wearable intelligent electronic systems has arrived.

Metal oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors for flexible electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petti, Luisa; Vogt, Christian; Büthe, Lars; Cantarella, Giuseppe; Tröster, Gerhard [Electronics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich (Switzerland); Münzenrieder, Niko [Electronics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich (Switzerland); Sensor Technology Research Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer (United Kingdom); Faber, Hendrik; Bottacchi, Francesca; Anthopoulos, Thomas D. [Department of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London (United Kingdom)

2016-06-15

The field of flexible electronics has rapidly expanded over the last decades, pioneering novel applications, such as wearable and textile integrated devices, seamless and embedded patch-like systems, soft electronic skins, as well as imperceptible and transient implants. The possibility to revolutionize our daily life with such disruptive appliances has fueled the quest for electronic devices which yield good electrical and mechanical performance and are at the same time light-weight, transparent, conformable, stretchable, and even biodegradable. Flexible metal oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors (TFTs) can fulfill all these requirements and are therefore considered the most promising technology for tomorrow's electronics. This review reflects the establishment of flexible metal oxide semiconductor TFTs, from the development of single devices, large-area circuits, up to entirely integrated systems. First, an introduction on metal oxide semiconductor TFTs is given, where the history of the field is revisited, the TFT configurations and operating principles are presented, and the main issues and technological challenges faced in the area are analyzed. Then, the recent advances achieved for flexible n-type metal oxide semiconductor TFTs manufactured by physical vapor deposition methods and solution-processing techniques are summarized. In particular, the ability of flexible metal oxide semiconductor TFTs to combine low temperature fabrication, high carrier mobility, large frequency operation, extreme mechanical bendability, together with transparency, conformability, stretchability, and water dissolubility is shown. Afterward, a detailed analysis of the most promising metal oxide semiconducting materials developed to realize the state-of-the-art flexible p-type TFTs is given. Next, the recent progresses obtained for flexible metal oxide semiconductor-based electronic circuits, realized with both unipolar and complementary technology, are reported. In

Flexible Graphene-Based Wearable Gas and Chemical Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Eric; Meyyappan, M; Nalwa, Hari Singh

2017-10-11

Wearable electronics is expected to be one of the most active research areas in the next decade; therefore, nanomaterials possessing high carrier mobility, optical transparency, mechanical robustness and flexibility, lightweight, and environmental stability will be in immense demand. Graphene is one of the nanomaterials that fulfill all these requirements, along with other inherently unique properties and convenience to fabricate into different morphological nanostructures, from atomically thin single layers to nanoribbons. Graphene-based materials have also been investigated in sensor technologies, from chemical sensing to detection of cancer biomarkers. The progress of graphene-based flexible gas and chemical sensors in terms of material preparation, sensor fabrication, and their performance are reviewed here. The article provides a brief introduction to graphene-based materials and their potential applications in flexible and stretchable wearable electronic devices. The role of graphene in fabricating flexible gas sensors for the detection of various hazardous gases, including nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), ammonia (NH 3 ), hydrogen (H 2 ), hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and humidity in wearable technology, is discussed. In addition, applications of graphene-based materials are also summarized in detecting toxic heavy metal ions (Cd, Hg, Pb, Cr, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Ag), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including nitrobenzene, toluene, acetone, formaldehyde, amines, phenols, bisphenol A (BPA), explosives, chemical warfare agents, and environmental pollutants. The sensitivity, selectivity and strategies for excluding interferents are also discussed for graphene-based gas and chemical sensors. The challenges for developing future generation of flexible and stretchable sensors for wearable technology that would be usable for the Internet of Things (IoT) are also highlighted.

Financial Flexibility in Highly Regulated Market: Indonesian Telecommunication Case during Tariff Pricing War

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Arief Rijanto

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In year 2008, regulation of Indonesian telecommunicationindustries changes due the tariff pricing war within Telecommunication operator. This regulation tie up the telecommunication operator and affect operating revenue margin.The needs of financial flexibility within tele communication firm is increased.Capex, operating revenue and reinvestment needs to be flexible must be inline with competition and change of technology. This paper goals is measuring financial flexibility based on Capex, operating revenue and re-investment needs.Re-investment needs by Telecommunication operator can be financed with or without financial flexibility. Data from year 2007 up to 2014 is selected to accommodate before and after changes of telecommunication regulation. The regulation effect to financial flexibility of telecommunication firm is still relevantbecause telecommunication industries by nature needs larger capital to re-new the telecommunication technology. Real options method will be used to measure financial flexibility.Keywords: Financial flexibility, Price war, Telecommunication Regulation, Real Option

Mapping brain activity with flexible graphene micro-transistors

Science.gov (United States)

Blaschke, Benno M.; Tort-Colet, Núria; Guimerà-Brunet, Anton; Weinert, Julia; Rousseau, Lionel; Heimann, Axel; Drieschner, Simon; Kempski, Oliver; Villa, Rosa; Sanchez-Vives, Maria V.; Garrido, Jose A.

2017-06-01

Establishing a reliable communication interface between the brain and electronic devices is of paramount importance for exploiting the full potential of neural prostheses. Current microelectrode technologies for recording electrical activity, however, evidence important shortcomings, e.g. challenging high density integration. Solution-gated field-effect transistors (SGFETs), on the other hand, could overcome these shortcomings if a suitable transistor material were available. Graphene is particularly attractive due to its biocompatibility, chemical stability, flexibility, low intrinsic electronic noise and high charge carrier mobilities. Here, we report on the use of an array of flexible graphene SGFETs for recording spontaneous slow waves, as well as visually evoked and also pre-epileptic activity in vivo in rats. The flexible array of graphene SGFETs allows mapping brain electrical activity with excellent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), suggesting that this technology could lay the foundation for a future generation of in vivo recording implants.

Design of flexible thermoelectric generator as human body sensor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qing, Shaowei; Rezaniakolaei, Alireza; Rosendahl, Lasse Aistrup

2018-01-01

Flexible thermoelectric generator (TEG) became an attractive technology that has been widely used especially for curved surfaces applications. This study aims an optimal design of a flexible TEG for human body application. The flexible TEG is part of a sensor and supplies required electrical power...... for data transmission by the sensor. The TEG module includes ink based thermoelements made of nano-carbon bismuth telluride materials. One flexible fin conducts the body heat to the TEG module and there are two fins that exchange the heat from the cold side of the TEG to the ambient. The proposed design...

Evolution of flexibility and rigidity in retaliatory punishment.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Adam; MacGlashan, James; Littman, Michael L; Cushman, Fiery

2017-09-26

Natural selection designs some social behaviors to depend on flexible learning processes, whereas others are relatively rigid or reflexive. What determines the balance between these two approaches? We offer a detailed case study in the context of a two-player game with antisocial behavior and retaliatory punishment. We show that each player in this game-a "thief" and a "victim"-must balance two competing strategic interests. Flexibility is valuable because it allows adaptive differentiation in the face of diverse opponents. However, it is also risky because, in competitive games, it can produce systematically suboptimal behaviors. Using a combination of evolutionary analysis, reinforcement learning simulations, and behavioral experimentation, we show that the resolution to this tension-and the adaptation of social behavior in this game-hinges on the game's learning dynamics. Our findings clarify punishment's adaptive basis, offer a case study of the evolution of social preferences, and highlight an important connection between natural selection and learning in the resolution of social conflicts.

An Overview of the Development of Flexible Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Su-Ting; Peng, Haiyan; Sun, Qijun; Venkatesh, Shishir; Chung, Kam-Sing; Lau, Siu Chuen; Zhou, Ye; Roy, V A L

2017-09-01

Flexible sensors that efficiently detect various stimuli relevant to specific environmental or biological species have been extensively studied due to their great potential for the Internet of Things and wearable electronics applications. The application of flexible and stretchable electronics to device-engineering technologies has enabled the fabrication of slender, lightweight, stretchable, and foldable sensors. Here, recent studies on flexible sensors for biological analytes, ions, light, and pH are outlined. In addition, contemporary studies on device structure, materials, and fabrication methods for flexible sensors are discussed, and a market overview is provided. The conclusion presents challenges and perspectives in this field. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Highly Integrated, Reconfigurable, Large-Area, Flexible Radar Antenna Arrays, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Highly-integrated, reconfigurable radar antenna arrays fabricated on flexible substrates offer high functionality in a portable package that can be rolled up and...

Transparent and Flexible Self-Charging Power Film and Its Application in a Sliding Unlock System in Touchpad Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Jianjun; Tang, Wei; Fan, Feng Ru; Liu, Chaofeng; Pang, Yaokun; Cao, Guozhong; Wang, Zhong Lin

2016-08-23

Portable and wearable personal electronics and smart security systems are accelerating the development of transparent, flexible, and thin-film electronic devices. Here, we report a transparent and flexible self-charging power film (SCPF) that functions either as a power generator integrated with an energy storage unit or as a self-powered information input matrix. The SCPF possesses the capability of harvesting mechanical energy from finger motions, based on the coupling between the contact electrification and electrostatic induction effects, and meanwhile storing the generated energy. Under the fast finger sliding, the film can be charged from 0 to 2.5 V within 2094 s and discharge at 1 μA for approximately 1630 s. Furthermore, the film is able to identify personal characteristics during a sliding motion by recording the electric signals related to the person's individual bioelectricity, applied pressing force, sliding speed, and so on, which shows its potential applications in security systems in touchpad technology.

Power-to-heat in adiabatic compressed air energy storage power plants for cost reduction and increased flexibility

Science.gov (United States)

Dreißigacker, Volker

2018-04-01

The development of new technologies for large-scale electricity storage is a key element in future flexible electricity transmission systems. Electricity storage in adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) power plants offers the prospect of making a substantial contribution to reach this goal. This concept allows efficient, local zero-emission electricity storage on the basis of compressed air in underground caverns. The compression and expansion of air in turbomachinery help to balance power generation peaks that are not demand-driven on the one hand and consumption-induced load peaks on the other. For further improvements in cost efficiencies and flexibility, system modifications are necessary. Therefore, a novel concept regarding the integration of an electrical heating component is investigated. This modification allows increased power plant flexibilities and decreasing component sizes due to the generated high temperature heat with simultaneously decreasing total round trip efficiencies. For an exemplarily A-CAES case simulation studies regarding the electrical heating power and thermal energy storage sizes were conducted to identify the potentials in cost reduction of the central power plant components and the loss in round trip efficiency.

Out-of-plane structural flexibility of phosphorene.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Gaoxue; Loh, G C; Pandey, Ravindra; Karna, Shashi P

2016-02-05

Phosphorene has been rediscovered recently, establishing itself as one of the most promising two-dimensional group-V elemental monolayers with direct band gap, high carrier mobility, and anisotropic electronic properties. In this paper, surface buckling and its effect on its electronic properties are investigated by using molecular dynamics simulations together with density functional theory calculations. We find that phosphorene shows superior structural flexibility along the armchair direction allowing it to have large curvatures. The semiconducting and direct band gap nature are retained with buckling along the armchair direction; the band gap decreases and transforms to an indirect band gap with buckling along the zigzag direction. The structural flexibility and electronic robustness along the armchair direction facilitate the fabrication of devices with complex shapes, such as folded phosphorene and phosphorene nano-scrolls, thereby offering new possibilities for the application of phosphorene in flexible electronics and optoelectronics.

A Model for Flexibly Editing CSCL Scripts

Science.gov (United States)

Sobreira, Pericles; Tchounikine, Pierre

2012-01-01

This article presents a model whose primary concern and design rationale is to offer users (teachers) with basic ICT skills an intuitive, easy, and flexible way of editing scripts. The proposal is based on relating an end-user representation as a table and a machine model as a tree. The table-tree model introduces structural expressiveness and…

Financial Flexibility in Highly Regulated Market: Indonesian Telecommunication Case during Tariff Pricing War

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Arief Rijanto

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In year 2008, regulation of Indonesian telecommunicationindustries changes due the tariff pricing war within Telecommunication opera-tor. This regulation tie up the telecommunication operator and affect operating revenue margin.The needs of financial flexibility within tele-communication firm is increased.Capex, operating revenue and reinvestment needs to be flexible must be inline with competition and change of technology. This paper goals is measuring financial flexibility based on Capex, operating revenue and re-investment needs.Reinvestment needs by Telecommunication operator can be financed with or without financial flexibility. Data from year 2007 up to 2014 is selec-ted to accommodate before and after changes of telecommunication regulation. The regulation effect to financial flexibility of telecommu-nication firm is still relevantbecause telecommunication industries by nature needs larger capital to re-new the telecommunication technology. Real options method will be used to measure financial flexibility.

Flexible versus common technology to estimate economies of scale and scope in the water and sewerage industry: an application to England and Wales.

Science.gov (United States)

Molinos-Senante, María; Maziotis, Alexandros

2018-03-09

The water industry presents several structures in different countries and also within countries. Hence, several studies have been conducted to evaluate the presence of economies of scope and scale in the water industry leading to inconclusive results. The lack of a common methodology has been identified as an important factor contributing to divergent conclusions. This paper evaluates, for the first time, the presence of economies of scale and scope in the water industry using a flexible technology approach integrating operational and exogenous variables of the water companies in the cost functions. The empirical application carried out for the English and Welsh water industry evidenced that the inclusion of exogenous variables accounts for significant differences in economies of scale and scope. Moreover, completely different results were obtained when the economies of scale and scope were estimated using common and flexible technology methodological approaches. The findings of this study reveal the importance of using an appropriate methodology to support policy decision-making processes to promote sustainable urban water activities.

[Drawing up a Guideline for Handling Information and Communication Technology, Flexibility and Availability in Small and Medium Enterprises].

Science.gov (United States)

Weilnhammer, Veronika; Heinze, Stefanie; Heiden, Barbara; Palm, Esther; Herbig, Britta; Lüke, Gabriele; Nowak, Dennis; Glaser, Jürgen; Herr, Caroline Eva Wella

2017-06-06

Background Within the last decades the world of work has changed enormously. Due to new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), working at any time from any place has become possible. Flexibility, availability and the dissolution of boundaries between work and private life are the possible results of this development. The spread of this development and possible consequences on the affected employee's health and wellbeing have been examined so far especially in big companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are rarely subjects of scientific studies in this context. Objective of this paper The aim of this work was to develop a guideline based on experiences and results of a study regarding flexibility in the business world (FlexA), as well as a systematic literature research. The target populations of this guideline are SMEs, focusing on integrating a health promoting way in dealing with ICT, flexibility and availability within the corporate culture. Methods In order to delineate the current state in of research in ICT-related work interventions, a systematic review in data bases e. g. PsycINFO, EconLit and Medline was carried out. The search strategy used the key words "work", "intervention", "ICT", "mental strain", "flexibility" and "availability". In addition, grey literature and findings from the FlexA study were used to formulate the current guideline. Results Based on the exclusion criteria, all studies from the systematic literature search were excluded after title and abstract screening. Within grey literature research, 4 relevant publications could be identified. The measures, developed during the corporate workshops of the FlexA study, e. g. the implementation of collective regulations in the company, were included in the guideline. Conclusion Due to the ongoing development of ICT and flexibility in daily business life, it is getting more and more important to follow this progress. Executives and corporate management are responsible

Modular battery design for reliable, flexible and multi-technology energy storage systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rothgang, Susanne; Baumhöfer, Thorsten; Hoek, Hauke van; Lange, Tobias; De Doncker, Rik W.; Sauer, Dirk Uwe

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Collection of existing battery topologies in electric vehicles. • Analysis of load profiles and the power consumption for electric vehicles. • Composition of battery packs and their passive components. • Modular, hybrid battery architecture with a dc-link. - Abstract: With large scale battery systems being more and more used in demanding applications regarding lifetime, performance and safety, it is of great importance to utilize not only cells with a high cyclic and calendric lifetime but also to optimize the whole system architecture. The aim of this work is therefore, to highlight the benefits of a modular system architecture allowing the use of hybrid battery systems combining high power and high energy cells in a multi-technology system. To achieve an optimized performance, efficiency and lifetime for an electric vehicle the complete drive train topology has to be taken into account instead of optimizing one of the components individually. Consequently, the topic will be analyzed from the system’s point of view, addressing in particular the modularization of the battery as well as the power electronics needed to do so. It will be shown that a highly flexible battery system can be realized by dc-to-dc converters between a modular, hybrid battery system and the drive inverter. By the dc-to-dc converters the battery output voltages and the inverter input voltages are decoupled. Hence, the battery’s topology can be chosen unrestrictedly within a wide range and easily be interconnected to a common dc-link of a different voltage. The benefits of this flexibility will be analyzed in detail showing especially how the lifetime of the battery system can be improved and the impact on system weight

Flexible Thermoelectric Generators on Silicon Fabric

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2012-11-01

In this work, the development of a Thermoelectric Generator on Flexible Silicon Fabric is explored to extend silicon electronics for flexible platforms. Low cost, easily deployable plastic based flexible electronics are of great interest for smart textile, wearable electronics and many other exciting applications. However, low thermal budget processing and fundamentally limited electron mobility hinders its potential to be competitive with well established and highly developed silicon technology. The use of silicon in flexible electronics involve expensive and abrasive materials and processes. In this work, high performance flexible thermoelectric energy harvesters are demonstrated from low cost bulk silicon (100) wafers. The fabrication of the micro- harvesters was done using existing silicon processes on silicon (100) and then peeled them off from the original substrate leaving it for reuse. Peeled off silicon has 3.6% thickness of bulk silicon reducing the thermal loss significantly and generating nearly 30% more output power than unpeeled harvesters. The demonstrated generic batch processing shows a pragmatic way of peeling off a whole silicon circuitry after conventional fabrication on bulk silicon wafers for extremely deformable high performance integrated electronics. In summary, by using a novel, low cost process, this work has successfully integrated existing and highly developed fabrication techniques to introduce a flexible energy harvester for sustainable applications.

Flexible diodes for radio frequency (RF) electronics: a materials perspective

KAUST Repository

Semple, James; Georgiadou, Dimitra G; Wyatt-Moon, Gwenhivir; Gelinck, Gerwin; Anthopoulos, Thomas D.

2017-01-01

Over the last decade, there has been increasing interest in transferring the research advances in radiofrequency (RF) rectifiers, the quintessential element of the chip in the RF identification (RFID) tags, obtained on rigid substrates onto plastic (flexible) substrates. The growing demand for flexible RFID tags, wireless communications applications and wireless energy harvesting systems that can be produced at a low-cost is a key driver for this technology push. In this topical review, we summarise recent progress and status of flexible RF diodes and rectifying circuits, with specific focus on materials and device processing aspects. To this end, different families of materials (e.g. flexible silicon, metal oxides, organic and carbon nanomaterials), manufacturing processes (e.g. vacuum and solution processing) and device architectures (diodes and transistors) are compared. Although emphasis is placed on performance, functionality, mechanical flexibility and operating stability, the various bottlenecks associated with each technology are also addressed. Finally, we present our outlook on the commercialisation potential and on the positioning of each material class in the RF electronics landscape based on the findings summarised herein. It is beyond doubt that the field of flexible high and ultra-high frequency rectifiers and electronics as a whole will continue to be an active area of research over the coming years.

Flexible diodes for radio frequency (RF) electronics: a materials perspective

KAUST Repository

Semple, James

2017-10-30

Over the last decade, there has been increasing interest in transferring the research advances in radiofrequency (RF) rectifiers, the quintessential element of the chip in the RF identification (RFID) tags, obtained on rigid substrates onto plastic (flexible) substrates. The growing demand for flexible RFID tags, wireless communications applications and wireless energy harvesting systems that can be produced at a low-cost is a key driver for this technology push. In this topical review, we summarise recent progress and status of flexible RF diodes and rectifying circuits, with specific focus on materials and device processing aspects. To this end, different families of materials (e.g. flexible silicon, metal oxides, organic and carbon nanomaterials), manufacturing processes (e.g. vacuum and solution processing) and device architectures (diodes and transistors) are compared. Although emphasis is placed on performance, functionality, mechanical flexibility and operating stability, the various bottlenecks associated with each technology are also addressed. Finally, we present our outlook on the commercialisation potential and on the positioning of each material class in the RF electronics landscape based on the findings summarised herein. It is beyond doubt that the field of flexible high and ultra-high frequency rectifiers and electronics as a whole will continue to be an active area of research over the coming years.

Flexible diodes for radio frequency (RF) electronics: a materials perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Semple, James; Georgiadou, Dimitra G.; Wyatt-Moon, Gwenhivir; Gelinck, Gerwin; Anthopoulos, Thomas D.

2017-12-01

Over the last decade, there has been increasing interest in transferring the research advances in radiofrequency (RF) rectifiers, the quintessential element of the chip in the RF identification (RFID) tags, obtained on rigid substrates onto plastic (flexible) substrates. The growing demand for flexible RFID tags, wireless communications applications and wireless energy harvesting systems that can be produced at a low-cost is a key driver for this technology push. In this topical review, we summarise recent progress and status of flexible RF diodes and rectifying circuits, with specific focus on materials and device processing aspects. To this end, different families of materials (e.g. flexible silicon, metal oxides, organic and carbon nanomaterials), manufacturing processes (e.g. vacuum and solution processing) and device architectures (diodes and transistors) are compared. Although emphasis is placed on performance, functionality, mechanical flexibility and operating stability, the various bottlenecks associated with each technology are also addressed. Finally, we present our outlook on the commercialisation potential and on the positioning of each material class in the RF electronics landscape based on the findings summarised herein. It is beyond doubt that the field of flexible high and ultra-high frequency rectifiers and electronics as a whole will continue to be an active area of research over the coming years.

Performance Assessment of Fixed and Flexible Public Transport in a Multi Agent Simulation Framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Narayan, Jishnu; Cats, O.; van Oort, N.; Hoogendoorn, S.P.; Esztergár-Kiss, Domokos; Mátrai, Tamás; Tóth, János; Varga, István

2017-01-01

The emergence of innovative mobility solutions that offer flexible transport services, is changing the way urban public transport systems will be designed. Such mobility solutions offer on demand transport services and hence can solve the problems inherent with traditional line based and schedule

Recent advances in flexible and wearable organic optoelectronic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Hong; Shen, Yang; Li, Yanqing; Tang, Jianxin

2018-01-01

Flexible and wearable optoelectronic devices have been developing to a new stage due to their unique capacity for the possibility of a variety of wearable intelligent electronics, including bendable smartphones, foldable touch screens and antennas, paper-like displays, and curved and flexible solid-state lighting devices. Before extensive commercial applications, some issues still have to be solved for flexible and wearable optoelectronic devices. In this regard, this review concludes the newly emerging flexible substrate materials, transparent conductive electrodes, device architectures and light manipulation methods. Examples of these components applied for various kinds of devices are also summarized. Finally, perspectives about the bright future of flexible and wearable electronic devices are proposed. Project supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2016YFB0400700).

The Necessity and Applicability Levels of the Courses that are Offered in the Departments of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies (CEIT)

Science.gov (United States)

Acat, M. Bahaddin; Kilic, Abdurrahman; Girmen, Pinar; Anagun, Senegul S.

2007-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to identify the levels of the necessity and applicability of the courses offered in the Departments of Computer Education and Instructional Technologies based on the views of the fourth grade and graduated students. In the study descriptive research model was used. The population of the study were final-year and…

Electro Spray Method for Flexible Display

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-12

AFRL-AFOSR-JP-TR-2016-0095 Electro Spray Method for Flexible Display Yukiharu Uraoka NARA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Final Report 11/26/2016...DATES COVERED (From - To)  20 Mar 2013 to 19 May 2016 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Electro Spray Method for Flexible Display 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT...NUMBER FA2386-13-1-4024 5c.  PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 61102F 6. AUTHOR(S) Yukiharu Uraoka 5d.  PROJECT NUMBER 5e.  TASK NUMBER 5f.   WORK UNIT NUMBER 7

Ultra-flexible lithium ion batteries fabricated by electrodeposition and solvothermal synthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Jian; Zhang, Lei; Zhou, Qingwen; Wu, Wenlu; Zhu, Chao; Liu, Ziqiang; Chang, Shaozhong; Pu, Jun; Zhang, Huigang

2017-01-01

Cathodes have been one of the major challenges of flexible batteries. The traditional slurry-based technologies lead to loose interparticle connection, which is vulnerable upon bending. The direct fabrication of cathode materials requires high temperatures, which may destroy flexible substrates. Here we developed an electrodepostion and solvothermal route to conformally coat cathode material on a flexible scaffold. The monolithic electrode enables an ultra-flexible lithium ion battery because of the close attachment of active materials to flexible scaffolds and the interlock effect between the hard shell and soft core. This ultra-flexible battery retains 58.8% of initial capacity even after bending 4000 cycles.

Printing nanotube/nanowire for flexible microsystems

Science.gov (United States)

Tortorich, Ryan P.; Choi, Jin-Woo

2014-04-01

Printing has become an emerging manufacturing technology for mechanics, electronics, and consumer products. Additionally, both nanotubes and nanowires have recently been used as materials for sensors and electrodes due to their unique electrical and mechanical properties. Printed electrodes and conductive traces particularly offer versatility of fabricating low-cost, disposable, and flexible electrical devices and microsystems. While various printing methods such as screen printing have been conventional methods for printing conductive traces and electrodes, inkjet printing has recently attracted great attention due to its unique advantages including no template requirement, rapid printing at low cost, on-demand printing capability, and precise control of the printed material. Computer generated conductive traces or electrode patterns can simply be printed on a thin film substrate with proper conductive ink consisting of nanotubes or nanowires. However, in order to develop nanotube or nanowire ink, there are a few challenges that need to be addressed. The most difficult obstacle to overcome is that of nanotube/nanowire dispersion within a solution. Other challenges include adjusting surface tension and controlling viscosity of the ink as well as treating the surface of the printing substrate. In an attempt to pave the way for nanomaterial inkjet printing, we present a method for preparing carbon nanotube ink as well as its printing technique. A fully printed electrochemical sensor using inkjet-printed carbon nanotube electrodes is also demonstrated as an example of the possibilities for this technology.

Timing-based business models for flexibility creation in the electric power sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helms, Thorsten; Loock, Moritz; Bohnsack, René

2016-01-01

Energy policies in many countries push for an increase in the generation of wind and solar power. Along these developments, the balance between supply and demand becomes more challenging as the generation of wind and solar power is volatile, and flexibility of supply and demand becomes valuable. As a consequence, companies in the electric power sector develop new business models that create flexibility through activities of timing supply and demand. Based on an extensive qualitative analysis of interviews and industry research in the energy industry, the paper at hand explores the role of timing-based business models in the power sector and sheds light on the mechanisms of flexibility creation through timing. In particular we distill four ideal-type business models of flexibility creation with timing and reveal how they can be classified along two dimensions, namely costs of multiplicity and intervention costs. We put forward that these business models offer ‘coupled services’, combining resource-centered and service-centered perspectives. This complementary character has important implications for energy policy. - Highlights: •Explores timing-based business models providing flexibility in the energy industry. •Timing-based business models can be classified on two dimensions. •Timing-based business models offer ‘coupled services’. • ‘Coupled services’ couple timing as a service with supply- or demand side valuables. •Policy and managerial implications for energy market design.

Economic and Technical Aspects of Flexible Storage Photovoltaic Systems in Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henrik Zsiborács

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Solar energy has an increasing role in the global energy mix. The need for flexible storage photovoltaic systems and energy storage in electricity networks is becoming increasingly important as more generating capacity uses solar and wind energy. This paper is a study on the economic questions related to flexible storage photovoltaic systems of household size in 2018. The aim is to clarify whether it is possible in the European Union to achieve a payback of the costs of flexible storage photovoltaic system investments for residential customers considering the technology-specific storage aspects prevalent in 2018. We studied seven different flexible storage photovoltaic investments with different battery technologies in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain because, in Europe, these countries have a prominent role with regard to the spread of photovoltaic technology. These investment alternatives are studied with the help of economic indicators for the different cases of the selected countries. At the end of our paper we come to the conclusion that an investment of a flexible storage photovoltaic (PV system with Olivine-type-LiFePO4, Lithium-Ion, Vented lead-acid battery (OPzS, Sealed lead-acid battery (OPzV, and Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI batteries can have a positive net present value due to the high electricity prices in Germany and in Spain. The most cost-effective technology was the Olivine-type-LiFePO4 and the Lithium-Ion at the time of the study. We suggest the provision of governmental support and uniform European modifications to the regulatory framework, especially concerning grid fees and tariffs, which would be necessary in the beginning to help to introduce these flexible storage PV systems to the market.

48 CFR 570.303-3 - Late offers, modifications of offers, and withdrawals of offers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Late offers, modifications of offers, and withdrawals of offers. 570.303-3 Section 570.303-3 Federal Acquisition Regulations... PROPERTY Contracting Procedures for Leasehold Interests in Real Property 570.303-3 Late offers...

Low NOx Fuel Flexible Combustor Integration Project Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Walton, Joanne C.; Chang, Clarence T.; Lee, Chi-Ming; Kramer, Stephen

2015-01-01

The Integrated Technology Demonstration (ITD) 40A Low NOx Fuel Flexible Combustor Integration development is being conducted as part of the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project. Phase 2 of this effort began in 2012 and will end in 2015. This document describes the ERA goals, how the fuel flexible combustor integration development fulfills the ERA combustor goals, and outlines the work to be conducted during project execution.

Turnkey offering a claimed sector 'first'.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Oliver

2011-01-01

Manufacturer and supplier of LED theatre lights, HD camera systems, video integration technologies, and ceiling support units, Trumpf Medical Systems UK, and "logistical services" company Canute International Medical Services (CIMS), one of whose specialities is providing mobile medical units for diagnostic imaging, have entered into a partnership that will see the two companies offer fully fitted out modular operating theatres and other medical/clinical buildings incorporating the latest technology and equipment, on a fully project-managed, "turnkey" basis. Oliver Law, Trumpf Medical Systems UK managing director, explains the background, and the new service's anticipated customer benefits.

Modular integration of electronics and microfluidic systems using flexible printed circuit boards.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Amy; Wang, Lisen; Jensen, Erik; Mathies, Richard; Boser, Bernhard

2010-02-21

Microfluidic systems offer an attractive alternative to conventional wet chemical methods with benefits including reduced sample and reagent volumes, shorter reaction times, high-throughput, automation, and low cost. However, most present microfluidic systems rely on external means to analyze reaction products. This substantially adds to the size, complexity, and cost of the overall system. Electronic detection based on sub-millimetre size integrated circuits (ICs) has been demonstrated for a wide range of targets including nucleic and amino acids, but deployment of this technology to date has been limited due to the lack of a flexible process to integrate these chips within microfluidic devices. This paper presents a modular and inexpensive process to integrate ICs with microfluidic systems based on standard printed circuit board (PCB) technology to assemble the independently designed microfluidic and electronic components. The integrated system can accommodate multiple chips of different sizes bonded to glass or PDMS microfluidic systems. Since IC chips and flex PCB manufacturing and assembly are industry standards with low cost, the integrated system is economical for both laboratory and point-of-care settings.

Review on Physically Flexible Nonvolatile Memory for Internet of Everything Electronics

KAUST Repository

Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2015-01-01

Solid-state memory is an essential component of the digital age. With advancements in healthcare technology and the Internet of Things (IoT), the demand for ultra-dense, ultra-low-power memory is increasing. In this review, we present a comprehensive perspective on the most notable approaches to the fabrication of physically flexible memory devices. With the future goal of replacing traditional mechanical hard disks with solid-state storage devices, a fully flexible electronic system will need two basic devices: transistors and nonvolatile memory. Transistors are used for logic operations and gating memory arrays, while nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices are required for storing information in the main memory and cache storage. Since the highest density of transistors and storage structures is manifested in memories, the focus of this review is flexible NVM. Flexible NVM components are discussed in terms of their functionality, performance metrics, and reliability aspects, all of which are critical components for NVM technology to be part of mainstream consumer electronics, IoT, and advanced healthcare devices. Finally, flexible NVMs are benchmarked and future prospects are provided.

Review on Physically Flexible Nonvolatile Memory for Internet of Everything Electronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed T. Ghoneim

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Solid-state memory is an essential component of the digital age. With advancements in healthcare technology and the Internet of Things (IoT, the demand for ultra-dense, ultra-low-power memory is increasing. In this review, we present a comprehensive perspective on the most notable approaches to the fabrication of physically flexible memory devices. With the future goal of replacing traditional mechanical hard disks with solid-state storage devices, a fully flexible electronic system will need two basic devices: transistors and nonvolatile memory. Transistors are used for logic operations and gating memory arrays, while nonvolatile memory (NVM devices are required for storing information in the main memory and cache storage. Since the highest density of transistors and storage structures is manifested in memories, the focus of this review is flexible NVM. Flexible NVM components are discussed in terms of their functionality, performance metrics, and reliability aspects, all of which are critical components for NVM technology to be part of mainstream consumer electronics, IoT, and advanced healthcare devices. Finally, flexible NVMs are benchmarked and future prospects are provided.

Review on Physically Flexible Nonvolatile Memory for Internet of Everything Electronics

KAUST Repository

Ghoneim, Mohamed T.

2015-07-23

Solid-state memory is an essential component of the digital age. With advancements in healthcare technology and the Internet of Things (IoT), the demand for ultra-dense, ultra-low-power memory is increasing. In this review, we present a comprehensive perspective on the most notable approaches to the fabrication of physically flexible memory devices. With the future goal of replacing traditional mechanical hard disks with solid-state storage devices, a fully flexible electronic system will need two basic devices: transistors and nonvolatile memory. Transistors are used for logic operations and gating memory arrays, while nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices are required for storing information in the main memory and cache storage. Since the highest density of transistors and storage structures is manifested in memories, the focus of this review is flexible NVM. Flexible NVM components are discussed in terms of their functionality, performance metrics, and reliability aspects, all of which are critical components for NVM technology to be part of mainstream consumer electronics, IoT, and advanced healthcare devices. Finally, flexible NVMs are benchmarked and future prospects are provided.

HPOTP low-speed flexible rotor balancing, phase 1

Science.gov (United States)

Giordano, J.; Zorzi, E.

1985-01-01

A method was developed that shows promise in overcoming many balancing limitations. This method establishes one or more windows for low speed, out-of-housing balancing of flexible rotors. These windows are regions of speed and support flexibility where two conditions are simultaneously fulfilled. First, the rotor system behaves flexibly; therefore, there is separation among balance planes. Second, the response due to balance weights is large enough to reliably measure. The analytic formulation of the low-speed flexible rotor balancing method is described. The results of proof-of-principle tests conducted under the program are presented. Based on this effort, it is concluded that low speed flexible rotor balancing is a viable technology. In particular, the method can be used to balance a rotor bearing system at low speed which results in smooth operation above more than one bending critical speed. Furthermore, this balancing methodology is applicable to SSME turbopump rotors.

Use of nondestructive evaluation to detect moisture in flexible pavements.

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the currently available nondestructive evaluation technology that holds the greatest potential to detect moisture in flexible pavements and then apply the technology in multiple locations throughout Virginia....

FDM 3D printed coffee glove embedded with flexible electronic

KAUST Repository

Bahri, Meznan

2017-10-31

With the advances in 3D printing technology, Flexible Electronics can now be exploited to form the so-called “Embedded Electronics”. This paper describes experiences learned from a research project which ran during summer 2016 at KAUST, in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Effat University, and aimed at creating a heating coffee glove product operating on double alkaline batteries using Kapton© as a flexible substrate for the circuit. The circuit and its batteries are encapsulated in a 3D printed glove, designed using SolidWorks©. The proposed methodology and techniques applied during this work could be further used in implementing other technologies, such as thermoelectric coolers head patches, smart garments, and flexible smartphones. Limitation and recommendation of the present methodology are also discussed.

ESF [Exploratory Shaft Facility] flexibility analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brusenback, R.W.

1987-03-01

This report directs that uncertainty allowances be included within the ESF facilities. The recommendations herein developed are intended as input to Title II Design criteria. Flexibility is measured first by lineal ft of drift, and then by hoisting rate and capacity of supporting utilities and services. A defined probability of need shows an extra 10,000 ft of drift for the first level of flexibility responding to testing and operations, and over 60,000 ft of drift for the second level of flexibility which recognizes possible need for perimeter drifting to investigate geologic stratigraphy. Observing there will be time constraints, a single shaft muck hoisting rate up to 170 to 250 tons per hour is recommended. The potential hoisting rate recommended for flexibility should be satisfied by a hoist approximately equivalent to, or conveniently upgraded from those being considered for sinking and construction, or 1000 horsepower. The cost of flexibility is limited to engineering planning and design (mostly conceptual) which makes later expansion achievable, and to selected items for initial construction where later upgrading would be impractical, impossible, or very costly. The cost is fixed to the level of flexibility and does not vary with excavated footage. The incremental margin is only a small fraction of the additional footage made available. Flexibility presents a strategy and not a position of design or technology. Examples used in this report are intended to be illustrative only, and not to lead design or cost estimates. 7 tabs

SNS online display technologies for EPICS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasemir, K.U.; Chen, X.; Purcell, J.; Danilova, E.

2012-01-01

The ubiquitousness of web clients from personal computers to cell phones results in a growing demand for web-based access to control system data. At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) we have investigated different technical approaches to provide read access to data in the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) for a wide variety of web client devices. The core web technology, HTTP, is less than ideal for online control system displays. Appropriate use of Ajax, especially the Long Poll paradigm, can alleviate fundamental HTTP limitations. The SNS Status web uses basic Ajax technology to generate generic displays for a wide audience. The Dashboard uses Long Poll and more client-side Java-Script to offer more customization and faster updates for users that need specialized displays. The Web OPI uses RAP for web access to any BOY display, offering utmost flexibility because users can create their own BOY displays in CSS. These three approaches complement each other. Users can access generic status displays with zero effort, invest time in creating their fully customized displays for the Web OPI, or use the Dashboard as an intermediate solution

Flexible Ultra Moisture Barrier Film for Thin-Film Photovoltaic Applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

David M. Dean

2012-10-30

Flexible Thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) is a low cost alternative to incumbent c-Si PV products as it requires less volume of costly semiconductor materials and it can potentially reduce installation cost. Among the TFPV options, copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) has the highest efficiency and is believed to be one of the most attractive candidates to achieve PV cost reduction. However, CIGS cells are very moisture sensitive and require module water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of less than 1x10-4 gram of water per square meter per day (g-H2O/m2/day). Successful development and commercialization of flexible transparent ultra moisture barrier film is the key to enable flexible CIGS TFPV products, and thus enable ultimate PV cost reduction. At DuPont, we have demonstrated at lab scale that we can successfully make polymer-based flexible transparent ultra moisture barrier film by depositing alumina on polymer films using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology. The layer by layer ALD approach results in uniform and amorphous structure which effectively reduces pinhole density of the inorganic coating on the polymer, and thus allow the fabrication of flexible barrier film with WVTR of 10-5 g-H2O/m2/day. Currently ALD is a time-consuming process suitable only for high-value, relatively small substrates. To successfully commercialize the ALD-on-plastic technology for the PV industry, there is the need to scale up this technology and improve throughput. The goal of this contract work was to build a prototype demonstrating that the ALD technology could be scaled-up for commercial use. Unfortunately, the prototype failed to produce an ultra-barrier film by the close of the project.

Flexible photonic-crystal Fano filters based on transferred semiconductor nanomembranes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou Weidong; Yang Hongjun; Qiang Zexuan; Chen Li; Yang Weiquan; Chuwongin, Santhad; Zhao Deyin [Department of Electrical Engineering, NanoFAB Center, University of Texas at Arlington, TX 76019 (United States); Ma Zhenqiang; Qin Guoxuan; Pang Huiqing, E-mail: wzhou@uta.ed, E-mail: mazq@engr.wisc.ed [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI 53706 (United States)

2009-12-07

Crystalline semiconductor nanomembranes (NMs), which are transferable, stackable, bondable and manufacturable, offer unprecedented opportunities for unique and novel device applications. We report and review here nanophotonic devices based on stacked semiconductor NMs that were built on Si, glass and flexible PET substrates. Photonic-crystal Fano resonance based surface-normal optical filters and broadband reflectors have been demonstrated with unique angle and polarization properties. Such a low temperature NM stacking process can lead to a paradigm shift on silicon photonic integration and inorganic flexible photonics.

Estimation of Residential Heat Pump Consumption for Flexibility Market Applications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kouzelis, Konstantinos; Tan, Zheng-Hua; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte

2015-01-01

load of a flexible device, namely a Heat Pump (HP), out of the aggregated energy consumption of a house. The main idea for accomplishing this, is a comparison of the flexible consumer with electrically similar non-flexible consumers. The methodology is based on machine learning techniques, probability...... theory and statistics. After presenting this methodology, the general trend of the HP consumption is estimated and an hour-ahead forecast is conducted by employing Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average modeling. In this manner, the flexible consumption is predicted, establishing the basis......Recent technological advancements have facilitated the evolution of traditional distribution grids to smart grids. In a smart grid scenario, flexible devices are expected to aid the system in balancing the electric power in a technically and economically efficient way. To achieve this, the flexible...

Report on achievements of research and development of an automatic sewing system in fiscal 1988. Flexible sewing system; 1988 nendo jido hosei system no kenkyu kaihatsu seika hokokusho. Flexible sewing system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1989-03-01

The Automatic Sewing System Technology Research Association was commissioned from the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology on research of a production system by apparel types and systematization of an experiment plant. As the research on systematizing the experiment plant, the association is tackling with the researches on a high-speed cutting sub-system, a flexible sewing sub-system, a hi-tech assembling sub-system, and a three-dimensional flexible pressing sub-system. This paper reports the achievement of the research and development on the flexible sewing sub-system. For this sub-system, researches were made on the experiment plant and the systematization by dividing them into (1) a high-function pattern technology, (2) a stabilization pre-treatment technology, (3) a multi-functional sewing technology, and (4) a production control technology. For the technology (1), easy processibility patterns and production and processing information were studied. For the technology (2), a technology to evaluate characteristics of padding material properties, a temporary hardening technology, and a high-frequency induction heating device to bond the right side with the padding were studied. For the technology (3), stations for multi-functional sewing, automatic dart sewing, automatic piping, and automatic pocket attaching, and various carrier devices, inspection devices, and printed information recognition devices were studied. For the technology (4), a process designing expert system and an automatic machine management and control system were studied. (NEDO)

Housing flexibility problem: Review of recent limitations and solutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabine Ritter De Paris

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The economic, technological, and cultural transformations of our present society influence various scales of our daily lives. In housing, these transformations include changes in the family nucleus and the activities performed in living spaces. Housing flexibility seeks to meet the multiple needs of users by changing their living spaces and functions. This study aims to explore housing flexibility through a review of relevant literature, discussion of valuable findings, and presentation of a contemporary panorama of the theme. Notions of flexibility are integrated to reinterpret the contemporary sense of dwelling. However, the lack of a well-defined concept of flexibility hinders the integration of methods and theories on the subject.

Temperature sensor realized by inkjet printing process on flexible substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dankoco, M.D.; Tesfay, G.Y.; Benevent, E.; Bendahan, M.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Flexible temperature sensor was realized by inkjet printing process on Kapton substrate. • The jetting parameters were optimized to obtain evenly distributed silver coating layers and a large meander forming the sensor. • The Temperature sensor studied offers a good sensitivity, a good linearity and less than 5% hysteresis in extended measurement in the range of 20–60 °C. - Abstract: The objective of this study is to realize a printed and flexible temperature sensor to achieve surface temperature measurement of the human body. The sensor is a thermistor composed silver (Ag) deposited on a Polyimide substrate (Kapton HN). The meander was patterned by inkjet printing with a drop-on-demand Jetlab4 (Microfab Technologies Inc.). The resistance temperature coefficients have been studied in the temperature range of 20–60 °C with a range of voltage between 0 and 1 V. The stability versus time has also been measured without a sensor layer protection. The sensitive area of the sensor, silver lines width and the gap between the electrical conductors were, respectively 6.2 cm 2 , 300 μm, 60 μm. The mean temperature sensor sensitivity found was 2.23 × 10 −3 °C −1 . The results show a good linearity and less than 5% hysteresis in the extended measurement.

Flexible Processes in Project-Centred Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ceri, Stefano; Matera, Maristella; Raffio, Alessandro; Spoelstra, Howard

2007-01-01

Ceri, S., Matera, M., Raffio, A. & Spoelstra, H. (2007). Flexible Processes in Project-Centred Learning. In E. Duval, R. Klamma, and M. Wolpers (Eds.), European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 4753, pp. 463-468. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag

Role of Pectoral Fin Flexibility in Robotic Fish Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Bazaz Behbahani, Sanaz; Tan, Xiaobo

2017-08-01

Pectoral fins play a vital role in the maneuvering and locomotion of fish, and they have become an important actuation mechanism for robotic fish. In this paper, we explore the effect of flexibility of robotic fish pectoral fins on the robot locomotion performance and mechanical efficiency. A dynamic model for the robotic fish is presented, where the flexible fin is modeled as multiple rigid elements connected via torsional springs and dampers. Blade element theory is used to capture the hydrodynamic force on the fin. The model is validated with experimental results obtained on a robotic fish prototype, equipped with 3D-printed fins of different flexibility. The model is then used to analyze the impacts of fin flexibility and power/recovery stroke speed ratio on the robot swimming speed and mechanical efficiency. It is found that, in general, flexible fins demonstrate advantages over rigid fins in speed and efficiency at relatively low fin-beat frequencies, while rigid fins outperform flexible fins at higher frequencies. For a given fin flexibility, the optimal frequency for speed performance differs from the optimal frequency for mechanical efficiency. In addition, for any given fin, there is an optimal power/recovery stroke speed ratio, typically in the range of 2-3, that maximizes the speed performance. Overall, the presented model offers a promising tool for fin flexibility and gait design, to achieve speed and efficiency objectives for robotic fish actuated with pectoral fins.

Substrate and Passivation Techniques for Flexible Amorphous Silicon-Based X-ray Detectors.

Science.gov (United States)

Marrs, Michael A; Raupp, Gregory B

2016-07-26

Flexible active matrix display technology has been adapted to create new flexible photo-sensing electronic devices, including flexible X-ray detectors. Monolithic integration of amorphous silicon (a-Si) PIN photodiodes on a flexible substrate poses significant challenges associated with the intrinsic film stress of amorphous silicon. This paper examines how altering device structuring and diode passivation layers can greatly improve the electrical performance and the mechanical reliability of the device, thereby eliminating one of the major weaknesses of a-Si PIN diodes in comparison to alternative photodetector technology, such as organic bulk heterojunction photodiodes and amorphous selenium. A dark current of 0.5 pA/mm² and photodiode quantum efficiency of 74% are possible with a pixelated diode structure with a silicon nitride/SU-8 bilayer passivation structure on a 20 µm-thick polyimide substrate.

Plasma jet printing for flexible substrates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gandhiraman, Ram P.; Singh, Eric; Diaz-Cartagena, Diana C.; Koehne, Jessica; Meyyappan, M. [Center for Nanotechnology, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035 (United States); Nordlund, Dennis [Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States)

2016-03-21

Recent interest in flexible electronics and wearable devices has created a demand for fast and highly repeatable printing processes suitable for device manufacturing. Robust printing technology is critical for the integration of sensors and other devices on flexible substrates such as paper and textile. An atmospheric pressure plasma-based printing process has been developed to deposit different types of nanomaterials on flexible substrates. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes were deposited on paper to demonstrate site-selective deposition as well as direct printing without any type of patterning. Plasma-printed nanotubes were compared with non-plasma-printed samples under similar gas flow and other experimental conditions and found to be denser with higher conductivity. The utility of the nanotubes on the paper substrate as a biosensor and chemical sensor was demonstrated by the detection of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, and ammonia, respectively.

LEARNING ON FLEXIBILITY FROM EXPERIENCES

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Ib Steen; Bonke, Sten

2011-01-01

aiming at stimulating the development of new building designs with an improved technological adaptability to new demands and flexibility. The data input to this review is extracted from 15 residential areas with a total of about 1000-1200 apartments which were built in the 1980s after a competition which...... storey housing with cross bearing walls. Within multi storey housing the developed system design appeared to be less adaptable to later alterations. Therefore The Danish Ministry of Housing and Building in 1983 issued an initiative to stimulate technology development of residential non profit housing...

French scientists offered time to set up companies

CERN Document Server

Butler, D

1999-01-01

The French minister of national education, research and technology announced that French researchers working for public research institutes and universities are to be offered up to six years sabbatical leave to set up their own companies (11 para)

Tunable TiO2 Nanotube Arrays for Flexible Bio-Sensitized Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-01

microid extender followed by a colloidal silica /wetted imperial cloth. The foil was then cut into 1- × 2-cm samples. Then, the substrates were...17. Lei, B.; Liao, J.; Wang, R. J.; Su, C.; Kuang, D. Ordered Crystalline Ti02 Nanotube Arrays on Transparent FTO Glass for Efficient Dye...combined with a transparent , Indium Tin Dioxide coated PET film are attractive candidates for efficient, flexible DSSC’s. Flexible solar cells offer

Damage assessment using flexibility and flexibility-based curvature for structural health monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Catbas, F N; Gul, M; Burkett, J L

2008-01-01

As a result of the recent advances in sensors, information technologies and material science, a considerable amount of research has been conducted in the area of smart infrastructures. While there are many important components of a smart infrastructure, an automated and continuous structural health monitoring (SHM) system is a critical one. SHM is typically used to track and evaluate the performance of a structure, symptoms of operational incidents, anomalies due to deterioration and damage during regular operation as well as after an extreme event. Successful health monitoring applications can be achieved by integrating experimental, analytical and information technologies on real-life operating structures. However, real-life investigations must be backed up by laboratory benchmark studies for validating theory, concepts, and new technologies. For this reason, a physical bridge model is developed to implement SHM methods and technologies. In this study, different aspects of model development are outlined in terms of design considerations, instrumentation, finite element modeling, and simulating damage scenarios. Different damage detection methods are evaluated using the numerical and the physical models. Modal parameter estimation studies are carried out to reliably identify the eigenvalues, eigenvectors and modal scaling from the measurement data. To assess the simulated damage, modal flexibility-based displacements and curvatures are employed. Structural behavior after damage is evaluated by inspecting the deflected shapes obtained using modal flexibility. More localized damage simulations such as stiffness reduction at a joint yield a very subtle stiffness decrease. In this case, the writers use a baseline to identify damage and also investigate the use of curvature as a complementary index. Curvature is advantageous for certain cases where the displacement results do not provide substantial changes. Issues related to using curvature as a damage identification

A practical approach to the transfer of nuclear technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Segerberg, F.

1978-01-01

The paper deals specifically with the transfer of light-water reactor technology to a developing country. The technology transfer scheme presented assumes that Sweden is the supplier of this technology. The basis of the proposed approach is that hardware deliveries for nuclear power plants in the recipient country should constitute an activity in parallel with the general technology transfer. It is pointed out that the developing countries form a very heterogeneous group with respect to industrial capability. On the other hand the supplier nations are not a homogeneous group. Sweden's most relevant characteristics as supplier nation can be summarized under the following headings: (i) fairly small and highly industrialized country; (ii) concentration on nuclear power to cover increasing electricity demands; (iii) independent reactor technology; (iv) well-established infrastructure with regard to component manufacturing; (v) political neutrality. It follows that each combination of two countries constitutes a unique example. The nuclear technology transfer schemes must consequently be extremely flexible. The paper outlines a 'modular' system. This concept means that the supplier offers a great variety of independent courses, training opportunities, facilities etc. which can then be combined into a package meeting the wishes of the recipient nation. The components in a Swedish package of this kind are elaborated. The paper ends with the general conclusion that Sweden has so far been successful in combining high national ambitions with limited manpower and limited financial resources. The underlying efficiency and flexibility will hopefully make Sweden an attractive partner for developing countries. (author)

Printable Spacecraft: Flexible Electronic Platforms for NASA Missions. Phase One

Science.gov (United States)

Short, Kendra (Principal Investigator); Van Buren, David (Principal Investigator)

2012-01-01

Atmospheric confetti. Inchworm crawlers. Blankets of ground penetrating radar. These are some of the unique mission concepts which could be enabled by a printable spacecraft. Printed electronics technology offers enormous potential to transform the way NASA builds spacecraft. A printed spacecraft's low mass, volume and cost offer dramatic potential impacts to many missions. Network missions could increase from a few discrete measurements to tens of thousands of platforms improving areal density and system reliability. Printed platforms could be added to any prime mission as a low-cost, minimum resource secondary payload to augment the science return. For a small fraction of the mass and cost of a traditional lander, a Europa flagship mission might carry experimental printed surface platforms. An Enceladus Explorer could carry feather-light printed platforms to release into volcanic plumes to measure composition and impact energies. The ability to print circuits directly onto a variety of surfaces, opens the possibility of multi-functional structures and membranes such as "smart" solar sails and balloons. The inherent flexibility of a printed platform allows for in-situ re-configurability for aerodynamic control or mobility. Engineering telemetry of wheel/soil interactions are possible with a conformal printed sensor tape fit around a rover wheel. Environmental time history within a sample return canister could be recorded with a printed sensor array that fits flush to the interior of the canister. Phase One of the NIAC task entitled "Printable Spacecraft" investigated the viability of printed electronics technologies for creating multi-functional spacecraft platforms. Mission concepts and architectures that could be enhanced or enabled with this technology were explored. This final report captures the results and conclusions of the Phase One study. First, the report presents the approach taken in conducting the study and a mapping of results against the proposed

Industrial Fuel Flexibility Workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

none,

2006-09-01

On September 28, 2006, in Washington, DC, ITP and Booz Allen Hamilton conducted a fuel flexibility workshop with attendance from various stakeholder groups. Workshop participants included representatives from the petrochemical, refining, food and beverage, steel and metals, pulp and paper, cement and glass manufacturing industries; as well as representatives from industrial boiler manufacturers, technology providers, energy and waste service providers, the federal government and national laboratories, and developers and financiers.

Possible Applications of 3D Printing Technology on Textile Substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Korger, M.; Bergschneider, J.; Lutz, M.; Mahltig, B.; Finsterbusch, K.; Rabe, M.

2016-07-01

3D printing is a rapidly emerging additive manufacturing technology which can offer cost efficiency and flexibility in product development and production. In textile production 3D printing can also serve as an add-on process to apply 3D structures on textiles. In this study the low-cost fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique was applied using different thermoplastic printing materials available on the market with focus on flexible filaments such as thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) or Soft PLA. Since a good adhesion and stability of the 3D printed structures on textiles are essential, separation force and abrasion resistance tests were conducted with different kinds of printed woven fabrics demonstrating that a sufficient adhesion can be achieved. The main influencing factor can be attributed to the topography of the textile surface affected by the weave, roughness and hairiness offering formlocking connections followed by the wettability of the textile surface by the molten polymer, which depends on the textile surface energy and can be specifically controlled by washing (desizing), finishing or plasma treatment of the textile before the print. These basic adhesion mechanisms can also be considered crucial for 3D printing on knitwear.

Polymer-metal hybrid transparent electrodes for flexible electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Hongkyu; Jung, Suhyun; Jeong, Soyeong; Kim, Geunjin; Lee, Kwanghee

2015-03-01

Despite nearly two decades of research, the absence of ideal flexible and transparent electrodes has been the largest obstacle in realizing flexible and printable electronics for future technologies. Here we report the fabrication of ‘polymer-metal hybrid electrodes’ with high-performance properties, including a bending radius 95% and a sheet resistance solar cells that exhibit a high power conversion efficiency of 10% and polymer light-emitting diodes that can outperform those based on transparent conducting oxides.

Being flexible through customization : The impact of incubator focus and customization strategies on incubate survival and growth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanderstraeten, J.; van Witteloostuijn, Arjen; Matthyssens, P.; Andreassi, T.

Given the increased importance of flexibility in company development models, it is not surprising that start-up support structures such as business incubators give more attention to flexible service offerings. In this paper, we argue that an incubator’s service customization strategy is ideal in

Research on The Construction of Flexible Multi-body Dynamics Model based on Virtual Components

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Z. H.; Ye, X.; Yang, F.

2018-05-01

Focus on the harsh operation condition of space manipulator, which cannot afford relative large collision momentum, this paper proposes a new concept and technology, called soft-contact technology. In order to solve the problem of collision dynamics of flexible multi-body system caused by this technology, this paper also proposes the concepts of virtual components and virtual hinges, and constructs flexible dynamic model based on virtual components, and also studies on its solutions. On this basis, this paper uses NX to carry out model and comparison simulation for space manipulator in 3 different modes. The results show that using the model of multi-rigid body + flexible body hinge + controllable damping can make effective control on amplitude for the force and torque caused by target satellite collision.

Manufacturing Concepts of the Future – Upcoming Technologies Solving Upcoming Challenges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hadar, Ronen; Bilberg, Arne

concepts and technologies that are being developed today which may be used to solve manufacturing challenges in the future, such as: (self) reconfigurable manufacturing systems, (focused) flexible manufacturing systems, and AI inspired manufacturing. The paper will try to offer a critical point of view......This paper presents an examination of Western European manufacturers’ future challenges as can be predicted today. Some of the challenges analyzed in the paper are: globalization, individualism and customization and agility challenges. Hereafter, the paper presents a broad analysis on manufacturing...

Wavelength converter technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kloch, Allan; Hansen, Peter Bukhave; Poulsen, Henrik Nørskov

1999-01-01

Wavelength conversion is important since it ensures full flexibility of the WDM network layer. Progress in optical wavelength converter technology is reviewed with emphasis on all-optical wavelength converter types based on semiconductor optical amplifiers.......Wavelength conversion is important since it ensures full flexibility of the WDM network layer. Progress in optical wavelength converter technology is reviewed with emphasis on all-optical wavelength converter types based on semiconductor optical amplifiers....

RCRA Part B permit modifications for cost savings and increased flexibility at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jierree, C.; Ticknor, K.

1996-10-01

With shrinking budgets and downsizing, a need for streamlined compliance initiatives became evident at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). Therefore, Rocky Mountain Remediation Services (RMRS) at the RFETS successfully and quickly modified the RFETS RCRA Part B Permit to obtain significant cost savings and increased flexibility. This 'was accomplished by requesting operations personnel to suggest changes to the Part B Permit which did not diminish overall compliance and which would be most. cost beneficial. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) subsequently obtained approval of those changes from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE)

Valuing flexibilities in the design of urban water management systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Yinghan; Cardin, Michel-Alexandre; Babovic, Vladan; Santhanakrishnan, Deepak; Schmitter, Petra; Meshgi, Ali

2013-12-15

Climate change and rapid urbanization requires decision-makers to develop a long-term forward assessment on sustainable urban water management projects. This is further complicated by the difficulties of assessing sustainable designs and various design scenarios from an economic standpoint. A conventional valuation approach for urban water management projects, like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis, fails to incorporate uncertainties, such as amount of rainfall, unit cost of water, and other uncertainties associated with future changes in technological domains. Such approach also fails to include the value of flexibility, which enables managers to adapt and reconfigure systems over time as uncertainty unfolds. This work describes an integrated framework to value investments in urban water management systems under uncertainty. It also extends the conventional DCF analysis through explicit considerations of flexibility in systems design and management. The approach incorporates flexibility as intelligent decision-making mechanisms that enable systems to avoid future downside risks and increase opportunities for upside gains over a range of possible futures. A water catchment area in Singapore was chosen to assess the value of a flexible extension of standard drainage canals and a flexible deployment of a novel water catchment technology based on green roofs and porous pavements. Results show that integrating uncertainty and flexibility explicitly into the decision-making process can reduce initial capital expenditure, improve value for investment, and enable decision-makers to learn more about system requirements during the lifetime of the project. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inspection and monitoring techniques for un-bonded flexible risers and pipelines

OpenAIRE

Simonsen, Anders

2014-01-01

Master's thesis in Offshore technology Un-bonded flexible pipelines and risers are an alternative to conventional rigid steel pipes. The use of flexible pipes has enabled development of several offshore fields that seemed unfeasible with the use of rigid pipes due to extensive seabed preparation and large dynamic motions. The lack of knowledge and integrity management tools for flexible pipes is a limiting factor and cause pipelines and risers to be replaced before their service life has ...

A flexible skin patch for continuous physiological monitoring of mental disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Won Ick; Lee, Bong Kuk; Ryu, Jin Hwa; Baek, In-Bok; Yu, Han Young; Kim, Seunghwan

2017-10-01

In this study, we have newly developed a flexible adhesive skin patch of electrocardiogram (ECG) device for continuous physiological monitoring of mental disorders. In addition, this flexible patch did not cause any damage to the skin even after 24 hours attachment. We have also suggested the possibility of novel interconnection for copper film on polyimide and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layers of the flexible patch. Self-align and soldering of IC chips such as resistor between metal pads on flexible skin patch have also successfully fabricated for 5 min at 180 °C in vacuum oven. Low temperature interconnection technology based on a Sn42/Bi58 solder was also developed for flexible ECG devices. As a result, we can monitor the mental health status through a comprehensive analysis of biological signals from flexible ECG devices.

Which standards’ characteristics increase system flexibility? Comparing ICT and Batch Processing Infrastructures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Egyedi, T.M.; Verwater-Lukszo, Z.

2005-01-01

Most large Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems develop in a piece-meal fashion. Their complexity and evolution is difficult to manage. They lack flexibility. This contrasts sharply with system design in the batch-wise processing industry, where flexibility has always had a high

Printed electronic on flexible and glass substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Futera, Konrad; Jakubowska, Małgorzata; Kozioł, Grażyna

2010-09-01

Organic electronics is a platform technology that enables multiple applications based on organic electronics but varied in specifications. Organic electronics is based on the combination of new materials and cost-effective, large area production processes that provide new fields of application. Organic electronic by its size, weight, flexibility and environmental friendliness electronics enables low cost production of numerous electrical components and provides for such promising fields of application as: intelligent packaging, low cost RFID, flexible solar cells, disposable diagnostic devices or games, and printed batteries [1]. The paper presents results of inkjetted electronics elements on flexible and glass substrates. The investigations was target on characterizing shape, surface and geometry of printed structures. Variety of substrates were investigated, within some, low cost, non specialized substrate, design for other purposes than organic electronic.

Graphene-based inkjet printing of flexible bioelectronic circuits and sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Sinar, Dogan; Knopf, George K.; Nikumb, Suwas

2013-03-01

Bioelectronics involves interfacing functional biomolecules or living cells with electronic circuitry. Recent advances in electrically conductive inks and inkjet printing technologies have enabled bioelectronic devices to be fabricated on mechanically flexible polymers, paper and silk. In this research, non-conductive graphene-oxide (GO) inks are synthesized from inexpensive graphite powders. Once printed on the flexible substrate the electrical conductivity of the micro-circuitry can be restored through thermal reduction. Laser irradiation is one method being investigated for transforming the high resistance printed GO film into conductive oxygen reduced graphene-oxide (rGO). Direct laser writing is a precision fabrication process that enables the imprinting of conductive and resistive micro-features on the GO film. The mechanically flexible rGO microcircuits can be further biofunctionalized using molecular self-assembly techniques. Opportunities and challenges in exploiting these emerging technologies for developing biosensors and bioelectronic cicruits are briefly discussed.

The nature and necessity of operational flexibility in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Michael J; Ferrand, Yann B; Laker, Lauren F; Froehle, Craig M; Vogus, Timothy J; Dittus, Robert S; Kripalani, Sunil; Pines, Jesse M

2015-02-01

Hospital-based emergency departments (EDs), given their high cost and major role in allocating care resources, are at the center of the debate about how to maximize value in delivering health care in the United States. To operate effectively and create value, EDs must be flexible, having the ability to rapidly adapt to the highly variable needs of patients. The concept of flexibility has not been well described in the ED literature. We introduce the concept, outline its potential benefits, and provide some illustrative examples to facilitate incorporating flexibility into ED management. We draw on operations research and organizational theory to identify and describe 5 forms of flexibility: physical, human resource, volume, behavioral, and conceptual. Each form of flexibility may be useful individually or in combination with other forms in improving ED performance and enhancing value. We also offer suggestions for measuring operational flexibility in the ED. A better understanding of operational flexibility and its application to the ED may help us move away from reactive approaches of managing variable demand to a more systematic approach. We also address the tension between cost and flexibility and outline how "partial flexibility" may help resolve some challenges. Applying concepts of flexibility from other disciplines may help clinicians and administrators think differently about their workflow and provide new insights into managing issues of cost, flow, and quality in the ED. Copyright © 2014 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Flexible riser global analysis for very shallow water

OpenAIRE

Karegar, Sadjad

2013-01-01

Master's thesis in Offshore technology Flexible risers are widely used for a range of water depths and can accommodate large floater motions when using a buoyant system. A wide range of buoyancy solutions have been developed for very shallow water (e.g. 30-50 m), shallow water (e.g. 90-110 m) and semi-deep water (e.g. 300-400 m) and in the ranges between these depths. Flexible risers can have different configurations. These different solutions have different characteristics which influe...

High performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs

KAUST Repository

Fahad, Hossain M.; Sevilla, Galo T.; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2014-01-01

We demonstrate the first ever CMOS compatible soft etch back based high performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs. The move from planar to non-planar FinFETs has enabled continued scaling down to the 14 nm technology node. This has been possible due

FUEL-FLEXIBLE GASIFICATION-COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCTION OF H2 AND SEQUESTRATION-READY CO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

George Rizeq; Ravi Kumar; Janice West; Vitali Lissianski; Neil Widmer; Vladimir Zamansky

2001-01-01

It is expected that in the 21st century the Nation will continue to rely on fossil fuels for electricity, transportation, and chemicals. It will be necessary to improve both the thermodynamic efficiency and environmental impact performance of fossil fuel utilization. General Electric Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (GE-EER) has developed an innovative fuel-flexible Advanced Gasification-Combustion (AGC) concept to produce H(sub 2) and sequestration-ready CO(sub 2) from solid fuels. The AGC module offers potential for reduced cost and increased energy efficiency relative to conventional gasification and combustion systems. GE-EER was awarded a Vision-21 program from U.S. DOE NETL to develop the AGC technology. Work on this three-year program started on October 1, 2000. The project team includes GE-EER, California Energy Commission, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and T. R. Miles, Technical Consultants, Inc. In the AGC technology, coal/opportunity fuels and air are simultaneously converted into separate streams of (1) pure hydrogen that can be utilized in fuel cells, (2) sequestration-ready CO(sub 2), and (3) high temperature/pressure oxygen depleted air to produce electricity in a gas turbine. The process produces near-zero emissions and, based on preliminary modeling work in the first quarter of this program, has an estimated process efficiency of approximately 67% based on electrical and H(sub 2) energy outputs relative to the higher heating value of coal. The three-year R and D program will determine the operating conditions that maximize separation of CO(sub 2) and pollutants from the vent gas, while simultaneously maximizing coal conversion efficiency and hydrogen production. The program integrates lab-, bench- and pilot-scale studies to demonstrate the AGC concept. This is the 1st quarterly progress report for the Vision-21 AGC program supported by U.S. DOE NETL (Contract: DE-FC26-00FT40974). This report summarizes program

Flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Humphrey, L. Dennis

1981-01-01

Flexibility is an important aspect of all sports and recreational activities. Flexibility can be developed and maintained by stretching exercises. Exercises designed to develop flexibility in ankle joints, knees, hips, and the lower back are presented. (JN)

Flexible Working Practices: How Employees Can Reap the Benefits for Engagement and Performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C. Wessels (Christina)

2017-01-01

markdownabstractTechnological developments such as the advent of laptops, mobile devices, and related new communication channels (e.g., social and business networks, instant messaging programs) enabled the uptake of flexible working practices in knowledge work organizations. Whether flexible working

High precision NC lathe feeding system rigid-flexible coupling model reduction technology

Science.gov (United States)

Xuan, He; Hua, Qingsong; Cheng, Lianjun; Zhang, Hongxin; Zhao, Qinghai; Mao, Xinkai

2017-08-01

This paper proposes the use of dynamic substructure method of reduction of order to achieve effective reduction of feed system for high precision NC lathe feeding system rigid-flexible coupling model, namely the use of ADAMS to establish the rigid flexible coupling simulation model of high precision NC lathe, and then the vibration simulation of the period by using the FD 3D damper is very effective for feed system of bolt connection reduction of multi degree of freedom model. The vibration simulation calculation is more accurate, more quickly.

Nanowire surface fastener fabrication on flexible substrate

Science.gov (United States)

Toku, Yuhki; Uchida, Keita; Morita, Yasuyuki; Ju, Yang

2018-07-01

The market for wearable devices has increased considerably in recent years. In response to this demand, flexible electronic circuit technology has become more important. The conventional bonding technology in electronic assembly depends on high-temperature processes such as reflow soldering, which result in undesired thermal damages and residual stress at a bonding interface. In addition, it exhibits poor compatibility with bendable or stretchable device applications. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to attach electronic parts on printed circuit boards with good mechanical and electrical properties at room temperature. Nanowire surface fasteners (NSFs) are candidates for resolving these problems. This paper describes the fabrication of an NSF on a flexible substrate, which can be used for room temperature conductive bonding. The template method is used for preparing high-density nanowire arrays. A Cu thin film is layered on the template as the flexible substrate. After etching the template, a Cu NSF is obtained on the Cu film substrate. In addition, the electrical and mechanical properties of the Cu NSF are studied under various fabrication conditions. The Cu NSF exhibits high shear adhesion strength (∼234 N cm‑2) and low contact resistivity (2.2 × 10‑4 Ω cm2).

Using Process Mining to Analyze and Improve Process Flexibility (Position Paper)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Aalst, Wil; Günther, Christian; Recker, Jan; Reichert, M.U.; Regev, Gil; Soffer, Pnina; Schmidt, Rainer

Contemporary information systems struggle with the requirement to provide flexibility and process support while still enforcing some degree of control. Workflow management systems are typically considered as too restrictive while groupware applications (e.g., e-mail) tend to offer hardly any process

Should flexible ureteroscope be added to our armamentarium to treat stone disease?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anand Dharaskar

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The field of Urology in Medicine has witnessed tremendous advancement in technology and in accordance with it. Endourology has taken a leap ahead in terms of stone management. Most of the stones could be treated with semi-rigid ureteroscopy, percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL and ESWL and some would need Flexible ureteroscopy. Flexible ureteroscopy has been primarily indicated to treat ESWL resistant renal stones but with changes in the technology of incorporating secondary active deflection and availability of laser fibres, its horizon for indications to treat stones is being widened. Though Flexible ureteroscopy is being used to treat stones of various sizes and locations, its cost effectiveness is debatable. Should it be used ubiquitously to treat stones amenable to PNL or ESWL is a big question we need to answer. As of now true indications of Flexible ureteroscopy are limited and there is an urgent need for a randomized trial to compare its efficacy with ESWL and PNL for renal and upper ureteric stones.

Thermally activated technologies: Technology Roadmap

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2003-05-01

The purpose of this Technology Roadmap is to outline a set of actions for government and industry to develop thermally activated technologies for converting America’s wasted heat resources into a reservoir of pollution-free energy for electric power, heating, cooling, refrigeration, and humidity control. Fuel flexibility is important. The actions also cover thermally activated technologies that use fossil fuels, biomass, and ultimately hydrogen, along with waste heat.

Advanced supersonic technology and its implications for the future

Science.gov (United States)

Driver, C.

1979-01-01

A brief overview of the NASA Supersonic Cruise Research (SCR) program is presented. The SCR program has identified significant improvements in the areas of aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, noise reduction, takeoff and landing procedures, and advanced configuration concepts. These improvements tend to overcome most of the problems which led to the cancellation of the National SST program. They offer the promise of an advanced SST family of aircraft which are environmentally acceptable, have flexible range-payload capability, and are economically viable. The areas of technology addressed by the SCR program have direct application to advanced military aircraft and to supersonic executive aircraft.

Flexible, Phase Change Fabric for Deployable Decelerators, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — SDMA proposes to develop a flexible fabric containing Phase Change Materials that is suitable for use on Deployable Decelerators. This technology will make...

New Electronic Technology Applied in Flexible Organic Optical System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andre F. S. Guedes

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The synthesis and application of new organic materials, nanostructured, for developing technology based on organic devices, have been the main focus of the scientific community. In recent years, the first polymeric electronics products have entered the market (organic semiconductor materials and there are some electrochromic devices among them that have been called smart windows, once they control the passage of light or heat through a closed environment as an ordinary window. The main functional aspect of electrochromic devices, when being used in architectural and automotive industry, is to control the passage of light and temperature with thermal and visual comfort. These devices can be flexible and very thin, not containing heavy metals, and formed by layers of organic material deposited in several architectures. In this study, the electro-deposition of organic materials in the Polyaniline, PANI case, which provide stability in optical and electrical parameters, was utilized with the means of developing prototypes of organic electrochromic devices. These materials were characterized by: ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy absorption (UV-Vis, measurement of thickness (MT and electrical measurements (EM. This study aims to establish the relationship between the thickness of the active layer and the value of the electrical resistivity of the layer deposited through an electro-deposition technique. The experimental results enabled the equating of the electrical resistivity related to the thickness of the deposited layer. The linear fit of these results has expressed the thickness of the conducting layer, α, and the lowest value of the electrical resistivity, β, associated with the gap between the valence band and the conduction band. Thus, the results have demonstrated that, when the layer of organic material is completely conductive, we may obtain the thickness of the organic material deposited on the substrate.

Process design and economics of a flexible ethanol-butanol plant annexed to a eucalyptus kraft pulp mill.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Guilherme C Q; Braz, Danilo S; Hamaguchi, Marcelo; Ezeji, Thaddeus C; Maciel Filho, Rubens; Mariano, Adriano P

2018-02-01

This work proposes a strategy, from a process design standpoint, for pulp companies to enter the Brazilian ethanol market. The flexible plant converts eucalyptus-derived glucose to either ethanol or butanol (according to market conditions) and xylose only to butanol production. Depending on the biomass pretreatment technology, Monte Carlo simulations showed that the Net Present Value (NPV) of the flexible plant increases by 20-28% in relation to an ethanol-dedicated plant. Whereas the lower costs of the steam explosion technology turns the investment more attractive (NPV = 184 MMUSD; IRR = 29%), the organosolv technology provides better flexibility to the plant. This work also shows that excessive power consumption is a hurdle in the development of flash fermentation technology chosen for the flexible plant. These results indicate that conventional batch fermentation is preferable if the enzymatic hydrolysis step operates with solids loading up to 20 wt%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Djeen (Database for Joomla!'s Extensible Engine): a research information management system for flexible multi-technology project administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Stahl, Olivier; Duvergey, Hugo; Guille, Arnaud; Blondin, Fanny; Vecchio, Alexandre Del; Finetti, Pascal; Granjeaud, Samuel; Vigy, Oana; Bidaut, Ghislain

2013-06-06

With the advance of post-genomic technologies, the need for tools to manage large scale data in biology becomes more pressing. This involves annotating and storing data securely, as well as granting permissions flexibly with several technologies (all array types, flow cytometry, proteomics) for collaborative work and data sharing. This task is not easily achieved with most systems available today. We developed Djeen (Database for Joomla!'s Extensible Engine), a new Research Information Management System (RIMS) for collaborative projects. Djeen is a user-friendly application, designed to streamline data storage and annotation collaboratively. Its database model, kept simple, is compliant with most technologies and allows storing and managing of heterogeneous data with the same system. Advanced permissions are managed through different roles. Templates allow Minimum Information (MI) compliance. Djeen allows managing project associated with heterogeneous data types while enforcing annotation integrity and minimum information. Projects are managed within a hierarchy and user permissions are finely-grained for each project, user and group.Djeen Component source code (version 1.5.1) and installation documentation are available under CeCILL license from http://sourceforge.net/projects/djeen/files and supplementary material.

Influence of hinge point on flexible flap aerodynamic performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, H Y; Ye, Z; Wu, P; Li, C

2013-01-01

Large scale wind turbines lead to increasing blade lengths and weights, which presents new challenges for blade design. This paper selects NREL S809 airfoil, uses the parameterized technology to realize the flexible trailing edge deformation, researches the static aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbine blade airfoil with flexible deformation, and the dynamic aerodynamic characteristics in the process of continuous deformation, analyses the influence of hinge point position on flexible flap aerodynamic performance, in order to further realize the flexible wind turbine blade design and provides some references for the active control scheme. The results show that compared with the original airfoil, proper trailing edge deformation can improve the lift coefficient, reduce the drag coefficient, and thereby more efficiently realize flow field active control. With hinge point moving forward, total aerodynamic performance of flexible flap improves. Positive swing angle can push the transition point backward, thus postpones the occurrence of the transition phenomenon

An overview of carbon materials for flexible electrochemical capacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Yongmin; Chen, Wanjun; Gao, Caitian; Zhou, Jinyuan; Li, Xiaodong; Xie, Erqing

2013-10-07

Under the background of the quick development of lightweight, flexible, and wearable electronic devices in our society, a flexible and highly efficient energy management strategy is needed for their counterpart energy-storage systems. Among them, flexible electrochemical capacitors (ECs) have been considered as one of the most promising candidates because of their significant advantages in power and energy densities, and unique properties of being flexible, lightweight, low-cost, and environmentally friendly compared with current energy storage devices. In a common EC, carbon materials play an irreplaceable and principal role in its energy-storage performance. Up till now, most progress towards flexible ECs technologies has mostly benefited from the continuous development of carbon materials. As a result, in view of the dual remarkable highlights of ECs and carbon materials, a summary of recent research progress on carbon-based flexible EC electrode materials is presented in this review, including carbon fiber (CF, consisting of carbon microfiber-CMF and carbon nanofiber-CNF) networks, carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene coatings, CNT and/or graphene papers (or films), and freestanding three-dimensional (3D) flexible carbon-based macroscopic architectures. Furthermore, some promising carbon materials for great potential applications in flexible ECs are introduced. Finally, the trends and challenges in the development of carbon-based electrode materials for flexible ECs and their smart applications are analyzed.

Weightbearing Computed Tomography of the Foot and Ankle: Emerging Technology Topical Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Barg, Alexej; Bailey, Travis; Richter, Martinus; de Cesar Netto, Cesar; Lintz, François; Burssens, Arne; Phisitkul, Phinit; Hanrahan, Christopher J; Saltzman, Charles L

2018-03-01

In the last decade, cone-beam computed tomography technology with improved designs allowing flexible gantry movements has allowed both supine and standing weight-bearing imaging of the lower extremity. There is an increasing amount of literature describing the use of weightbearing computed tomography in patients with foot and ankle disorders. To date, there is no review article summarizing this imaging modality in the foot and ankle. Therefore, we performed a systematic literature review of relevant clinical studies targeting the use of weightbearing computed tomography in diagnosis of patients with foot and ankle disorders. Furthermore, this review aims to offer insight to those with interest in considering possible future research opportunities with use of this technology. Level V, expert opinion.

Evaluating alternative offering strategies for wind producers in a pool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahimiyan, Morteza; Morales, Juan M.; Conejo, Antonio J.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Out-of-sample analysis allows comparing diverse offers using real-world data. → Offering the best production forecast is not optimal for a wind producer. → Stochastic programming offers lead to maximum expected profit. → Offering the best production forecast is not generally optimal for risk control. → Stochastic programming offers lead to the best tradeoff profit versus risk. -- Abstract: As wind power technology matures and reaches break-even cost, wind producers find it increasingly attractive to participate in pool markets instead of being paid feed-in tariffs. The key issue is then how a wind producer should offer in the pool markets to achieve maximum profit while controlling the variability of such profit. This paper compares two families of offering strategies based, respectively, on a naive use of wind production forecasts and on stochastic programming models. These strategies are compared through a comprehensive out-of-sample chronological analysis based on real-world data. A number of relevant conclusions are then duly drawn.

Offer as a creative foundation of direct marketing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kocić Milan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Investments into communications mix are specific because besides significant financial resources it also involves creative marketing ideas that are a result of imagination and experience. However, the application of direct marketing communication mix is like 'a cave on iceberg'. The visible aspect presented through promotional content is only a small part of the whole process including experts from different fields. The process of creation a new communication mix of direct marketing must fully use all the challenges posed by sophisticated technology. Direct marketing depicted by new technology (cable television, telemarketing and the Internet can substantially increase the competitive advantage of enterprises in attracting their customer's attention and creating their loyalty as well. The companies use the mentioned media more frequently in order to create such offers that will lead towards strengthening loyalty of the existing customers, while simultaneously attracting those customers who were previously making purchases with our direct competitors. Hence, an offer as a creatively designed marketing vehicle proposes a number of potential benefits to a client. However, the client will be able to claim those benefits only in the case when a customer takes action as suggested by a communicated message. Basically, those are 'the rules of the game' that regulate relationship between company and client in direct marketing. Creating offers which guide the process of direct marketing is in the domain of customer relations management. Without an attractive offer, consumers will not create any type of measurable response to a company and therefore relations with clients would never emerge. On the other hand, if a company fails to continuously follow client's needs and wants, those engaged in direct sales will not be able to create adequate offers that would satisfy clients and motivate them to repeat purchases. .

Vacuum Deposited Organic Light Emitting Devices on Flexible Substrates

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Forrest, Stephen

2002-01-01

The objective of this eight year program was to demonstrate both passive and active matrix, flexible, small scale displays based on small molecular weight organic light emitting device (OLED) technology...

Graphene-Based Flexible and Transparent Tunable Capacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Man, Baoyuan; Xu, Shicai; Jiang, Shouzheng; Liu, Aihua; Gao, Shoubao; Zhang, Chao; Qiu, Hengwei; Li, Zhen

2015-12-01

We report a kind of electric field tunable transparent and flexible capacitor with the structure of graphene-Bi1.5MgNb1.5O7 (BMN)-graphene. The graphene films with low sheet resistance were grown by chemical vapor deposition. The BMN thin films were fabricated on graphene by using laser molecular beam epitaxy technology. Compared to BMN films grown on Au, the samples on graphene substrates show better quality in terms of crystallinity, surface morphology, leakage current, and loss tangent. By transferring another graphene layer, we fabricated flexible and transparent capacitors with the structure of graphene-BMN-graphene. The capacitors show a large dielectric constant of 113 with high dielectric tunability of ~40.7 % at a bias field of 1.0 MV/cm. Also, the capacitor can work stably in the high bending condition with curvature radii as low as 10 mm. This flexible film capacitor has a high optical transparency of ~90 % in the visible light region, demonstrating their potential application for a wide range of flexible electronic devices.

Printable Transparent Conductive Films for Flexible Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dongdong; Lai, Wen-Yong; Zhang, Yi-Zhou; Huang, Wei

2018-03-01

Printed electronics are an important enabling technology for the development of low-cost, large-area, and flexible optoelectronic devices. Transparent conductive films (TCFs) made from solution-processable transparent conductive materials, such as metal nanoparticles/nanowires, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and conductive polymers, can simultaneously exhibit high mechanical flexibility, low cost, and better photoelectric properties compared to the commonly used sputtered indium-tin-oxide-based TCFs, and are thus receiving great attention. This Review summarizes recent advances of large-area flexible TCFs enabled by several roll-to-roll-compatible printed techniques including inkjet printing, screen printing, offset printing, and gravure printing using the emerging transparent conductive materials. The preparation of TCFs including ink formulation, substrate treatment, patterning, and postprocessing, and their potential applications in solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, and touch panels are discussed in detail. The rational combination of a variety of printed techniques with emerging transparent conductive materials is believed to extend the opportunities for the development of printed electronics within the realm of flexible electronics and beyond. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Flexible Temperature Sensors on Fibers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcin Sloma

2010-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to present research dedicated to the elaboration of novel, miniaturized flexible temperature sensors for textronic applications. Examined sensors were manufactured on a single yarn, which ensures their high flexibility and good compatibility with textiles. Stable and linear characteristics were obtained by special technological process and applied temperature profiles. As a thermo-sensitive materials the innovative polymer compositions filled with multiwalled carbon nanotubes were used. Elaborated material was adapted to printing and dip-coating techniques to produce NTC composites. Nanotube sensors were free from tensometric effect typical for other carbon-polymer sensor, and demonstrated TCR of 0.13%/K. Obtained temperature sensors, compatible with textile structure, can be applied in rapidly developing smart textiles and be used for health and protections purposes.

Offers

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2012-01-01

L'Occitane en Provence proposes the following offer: 10 % discount on all products in all L'Occitane shops in Metropolitan France upon presentation of your Staff Association membership card and a valid ID. This offer is valid only for one person, is non-transferable and cannot be combined with other promotions.

Low-cost high-quality crystalline germanium based flexible devices

KAUST Repository

Nassar, Joanna M.

2014-06-16

High performance flexible electronics promise innovative future technology for various interactive applications for the pursuit of low-cost, light-weight, and multi-functional devices. Thus, here we show a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible fabrication of flexible metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs) with high-κ/metal gate stack, using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) cost-effective technique to obtain a high-quality Ge channel. We report outstanding bending radius ~1.25 mm and semi-transparency of 30%.

Low-cost high-quality crystalline germanium based flexible devices

KAUST Repository

Nassar, Joanna M.; Hussain, Aftab M.; Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2014-01-01

High performance flexible electronics promise innovative future technology for various interactive applications for the pursuit of low-cost, light-weight, and multi-functional devices. Thus, here we show a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible fabrication of flexible metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors (MOSCAPs) with high-κ/metal gate stack, using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) cost-effective technique to obtain a high-quality Ge channel. We report outstanding bending radius ~1.25 mm and semi-transparency of 30%.

A Proposal for a Flexible Trend Specification in DSGE Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slanicay Martin

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper I propose a flexible trend specification for estimating DSGE models on log differences. I demonstrate this flexible trend specification on a New Keynesian DSGE model of two economies, which I consequently estimate on data from the Czech economy and the euro area, using Bayesian techniques. The advantage of the trend specification proposed is that the trend component and the cyclical component are modelled jointly in a single model. The proposed trend specification is flexible in the sense that smoothness of the trend can be easily modified by different calibration of some of the trend parameters. The results suggest that this method is capable of finding a very reasonable trend in the data. Moreover, comparison of forecast performance reveals that the proposed specification offers more reliable forecasts than the original variant of the model.

Flexibility of working hours in the 24-hour society.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, G

2006-01-01

The 24-hour Society undergoes an ineluctable process towards a social organisation where time constraints are no more restricting human life. The borders between working and social times are no more fixed and rigidly determined, and the value of working time changes according to the different economic and social effects you may consider. Shift and night work, irregular and flexible working hours, together with new technologies, are the milestone of this epochal passage. What are the advantages and disadvantages for the individual, the companies, and the society? What is the cost/benefit ratio in terms of health and social well-being? Coping properly with this process means avoiding a passive acceptance of it with consequent maladjustments at both individual and social level, but adopting effective preventive and compensative strategies aimed at building up a more sustainable society. Flexible working times now appear to be one of the best ways to cope with the demands of the modern life, but there are different points of view about labour and temporal 'flexibility" between employers and employees. For the former it means a prompt adaptation to market demands and technological innovations; for the latter it is a way to improve working and social life, by decreasing work constraints and increasing control and autonomy. Although it can be easily speculated that individual-based 'flexibility" should improve health and well-being, and especially satisfaction, whereas company-based flexibility" might interfere negatively, the effective consequences on health and well-being have still to be analysed properly.

Lecture Recording: Structural and Symbolic Information vs. Flexibility of Presentation

Science.gov (United States)

Stolzenberg, Daniel; Pforte, Stefan

2007-01-01

Rapid eLearning is an ongoing trend which enables flexible and cost-effective creation of learning materials. Especially, lecture recording has turned out to be a lightweight method particularly suited for existing lectures and blended learning strategies. In order to not only sequentially play back but offer full fledged navigation, search and…

Mobile internet and technology for optical teaching reform in higher education

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Muchun; Zhao, Qi; Chen, Yanru

2017-08-01

There are some problems in optical education such as insufficient flexibility, individuality and adaptability to students who need information and education at present. The development of mobile internet and technology provides support to solve these problems. Basic characteristics, advantages and developments of these techniques used in education are presented in this paper. Mobile internet is introduced to reform the classroom teaching of optical courses. Mobile network tool selection, teaching resources construction and reform in teaching methods are discussed. Academic record and sampling surveys are used to assess intention to adopt mobile internet and learning effect of academic major of students, the results show that high quality optical education can be offered by adopting mobile internet and technologies in traditional instruction.

Meeting the challenge of providing flexible learning opportunities: Considerations for technology adoption amongst academic staff | Relever le défi de fournir des occasions d’apprentissage flexibles : considérations pour l’adoption de la technologie

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Negin Mirriahi

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on a subset of findings from a larger study investigating resistance from academic staff to the integration of technology with on-campus foreign language teaching at one North American higher education institution. The study revealed that the factors influencing technology adoption paralleled Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model’s tenets of perceived usefulness and ease of use. Further, this study supports Lai and Savage’s (2013 assertion of a lack of attention to the pedagogical affordances of technology when adoption decisions are made by instructors, thus we highlight the need for higher education leaders to determine strategies promoting awareness of the benefits technology-enabled teaching and learning can bring to advance educationally-rich flexible learning opportunities. Cet article traite d’un sous-ensemble de résultats provenant d’une étude plus vaste ayant enquêté sur la résistance des universitaires envers l’intégration de la technologie à l’enseignement en langue étrangère sur le campus dans un établissement nord-américain d’études supérieures. L’étude a révélé que les facteurs ayant une influence sur l’adoption de la technologie coïncident avec les principes du modèle d’acceptation de la technologie de Davis sur l’utilité perçue et la facilité d’utilisation. De plus, cette étude appuie l’assertion de Lai et Savage (2013 d’un manque d’attention envers les affordances pédagogiques de la technologie lorsque les décisions d’adoption sont prises par les formateurs. Nous soulignons donc le besoin, pour les meneurs de l’éducation supérieure, de déterminer les stratégies qui favorisent la connaissance des avantages de l’enseignement et de l’apprentissage que permet la technologie pour faire progresser les occasions d’apprentissage flexibles et riches sur le plan éducatif.

Somatic Embryogenesis in Coffee: The Evolution of Biotechnology and the Integration of Omics Technologies Offer Great Opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Campos, Nádia A; Panis, Bart; Carpentier, Sebastien C

2017-01-01

One of the most important crops cultivated around the world is coffee. There are two main cultivated species, Coffea arabica and C. canephora. Both species are difficult to improve through conventional breeding, taking at least 20 years to produce a new cultivar. Biotechnological tools such as genetic transformation, micropropagation and somatic embryogenesis (SE) have been extensively studied in order to provide practical results for coffee improvement. While genetic transformation got many attention in the past and is booming with the CRISPR technology, micropropagation and SE are still the major bottle neck and urgently need more attention. The methodologies to induce SE and the further development of the embryos are genotype-dependent, what leads to an almost empirical development of specific protocols for each cultivar or clone. This is a serious limitation and excludes a general comprehensive understanding of the process as a whole. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of which achievements and molecular insights have been gained in (coffee) somatic embryogenesis and encourage researchers to invest further in the in vitro technology and combine it with the latest omics techniques (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phenomics). We conclude that the evolution of biotechnology and the integration of omics technologies offer great opportunities to (i) optimize the production process of SE and the subsequent conversion into rooted plantlets and (ii) to screen for possible somaclonal variation. However, currently the usage of the latest biotechnology did not pass the stage beyond proof of potential and needs to further improve.

Robust, Flexible and Lightweight Dielectric Barrier Discharge Actuators Using Nanofoams/Aerogels

Science.gov (United States)

Sauti, Godfrey (Inventor); Xu, Tian-Bing (Inventor); Siochi, Emilie J. (Inventor); Wilkinson, Stephen P. (Inventor); Meador, Mary Ann B. (Inventor); Guo, Haiquan N. (Inventor)

2015-01-01

Robust, flexible, lightweight, low profile enhanced performance dielectric barrier discharge actuators (plasma actuators) based on aerogels/nanofoams with controlled pore size and size distribution as well as pore shape. The plasma actuators offer high body force as well as high force to weight ratios (thrust density). The flexibility and mechanical robustness of the actuators allows them to be shaped to conform to the surface to which they are applied. Carbon nanotube (CNT) based electrodes serve to further decrease the weight and profile of the actuators while maintaining flexibility while insulating nano-inclusions in the matrix enable tailoring of the mechanical properties. Such actuators are required for flow control in aeronautics and moving machinery such as wind turbines, noise abatement in landing gear and rotary wing aircraft and other applications.

Ethernet access network based on free-space optic deployment technology

Science.gov (United States)

Gebhart, Michael; Leitgeb, Erich; Birnbacher, Ulla; Schrotter, Peter

2004-06-01

The satisfaction of all communication needs from single households and business companies over a single access infrastructure is probably the most challenging topic in communications technology today. But even though the so-called "Last Mile Access Bottleneck" is well known since more than ten years and many distribution technologies have been tried out, the optimal solution has not yet been found and paying commercial access networks offering all service classes are still rare today. Conventional services like telephone, radio and TV, as well as new and emerging services like email, web browsing, online-gaming, video conferences, business data transfer or external data storage can all be transmitted over the well known and cost effective Ethernet networking protocol standard. Key requirements for the deployment technology driven by the different services are high data rates to the single customer, security, moderate deployment costs and good scalability to number and density of users, quick and flexible deployment without legal impediments and high availability, referring to the properties of optical and wireless communication. We demonstrate all elements of an Ethernet Access Network based on Free Space Optic distribution technology. Main physical parts are Central Office, Distribution Network and Customer Equipment. Transmission of different services, as well as configuration, service upgrades and remote control of the network are handled by networking features over one FSO connection. All parts of the network are proven, the latest commercially available technology. The set up is flexible and can be adapted to any more specific need if required.

Transcervical heller myotomy using flexible endoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Spaun, Georg O; Dunst, Christy M; Arnold, Brittany N; Martinec, Danny V; Cassera, Maria A; Swanström, Lee L

2010-12-01

Esophageal achalasia is most commonly treated by laparoscopic myotomy. Transesophageal approaches using flexible endoscopy have recently been described. We hypothesized that using techniques and flexible instruments from our NOTES experience through a small cervical incision would be a safer and less traumatic route for esophageal myotomy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and success rate of using flexible endoscopes to perform anterior or posterior Heller myotomy via a transcervical approach. This animal (porcine) and human cadaver study was conducted at the Legacy Research and Technology Center. Mediastinal operations on ten live, anesthetized pigs and two human cadavers were performed using standard flexible endoscopes through a small incision at the supra-sternal notch. The esophagus was dissected to the phreno-esophageal junction using balloon dilatation in the peri-esophageal space followed by either anterior or posterior distal esophageal myotomy. Success rate was recorded of esophageal dissection to the diaphragm and proximal stomach, anterior and posterior myotomy, perforation, and complication rates. Dissection of the esophagus to the diaphragm and performing esophageal myotomy was achieved in 100% of attempts. Posterior Heller myotomy was always extendable onto the gastric wall, while anterior gastric extension of the myotomy was found to be more difficult (4/4 and 2/8, respectively; P = 0.061). Heller myotomy through a small cervical incision using flexible endoscopes is feasible. A complete Heller myotomy was performed with a higher success rate posteriorly possibly due to less anatomic interference.

Flexible work designs and employee well-being: examining the effects of resources and demands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

ter Hoeven, C.L.; van Zoonen, W.

2015-01-01

Advances in communication technology continue to expand the possibilities for redesigning work environments to allow for temporal and spatial flexibility. Although flexible work designs (FWDs) are typically launched with high expectations, recent research shows that FWDs also pose challenges to

Standardized Flexibility: The Choreography of ICT in Standardization of Service Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Røhnebæk

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article is based on a research project that explores the proliferation of infor-mation and communication technology (ICT in public services. Furthermore, the research explores how the enhanced presence of ICT relates to efforts to increas-ingly individualise the service delivery. It can be argued that enhanced individual-isation requires increased levels of discretion and flexibility. At the same time, this flexibility needs to be implemented within a standardized framework to ensure due process and to meet demands for efficiency. As local-level work practices in the public services are increasingly being enabled through ICT, the information systems can thus be seen to offer ‘standardized flexibility’. Hence, the information systems work as both enablers of flexibility and as controllers of the same. This research explores how this duality manifests empirically at the local-level of the Norwegian employment and welfare services (NAV. It focuses on the in-terface of the information systems and local-level employees. In this article, I por-tray the role of the information system, Arena, with regard to how the front-line employees structure and organize their work. This portrayal reveals that the in-formation system reflects an ideal world which is out of tune with local working conditions. The employees are thus facing gaps between the ideals of the system and their actual work context. The main purpose of the paper is to illustrate how the employees deal with this gap; I identify three types of responses and strate-gies. Moreover, I suggest that the relationship between the information systems and different kinds of local responses may be fruitfully analysed by drawing an analogy with choreography and dancing. The second purpose of this article is thus to outline how the metaphor of choreography may provide a suitable theoretical lens for analysing ICT-enabled standardization of work.

A flexible inkjet printed antenna for wearable electronics applications

KAUST Repository

Karimi, Muhammad Akram

2016-11-02

Wearable electronics has gained enormous attention since past few years because it is a promising technology to enhance the human experience. This paper shows a modified inverted-F antenna (IFA), inkjet printed directly on the fabric. A flexible and UV curable interface layer has been used to reduce the surface roughness of the fabric to realize the antenna on top of fabric with fine features. Flexibility tests of the prototype confirm the viability of the design for the wearable applications.

Offers

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2011-01-01

Special offers for our members       Go Sport in Val Thoiry is offering 15% discount on all purchases made in the shop upon presentation of the Staff Association membership card (excluding promotions, sale items and bargain corner, and excluding purchases using Go Sport  and Kadéos gift cards. Only one discount can be applied to each purchase).  

A flexible and configurable system to test accelerator magnets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jerzy M. Nogiec et al.

2001-07-20

Fermilab's accelerator magnet R and D programs, including production of superconducting high gradient quadrupoles for the LHC insertion regions, require rigorous yet flexible magnetic measurement systems. Measurement systems must be capable of handling various types of hardware and extensible to all measurement technologies and analysis algorithms. A tailorable software system that satisfies these requirements is discussed. This single system, capable of distributed parallel signal processing, is built on top of a flexible component-based framework that allows for easy reconfiguration and run-time modification. Both core and domain-specific components can be assembled into various magnet test or analysis systems. The system configured to comprise a rotating coil harmonics measurement is presented. Technologies as Java, OODB, XML, JavaBeans, software bus and component-based architectures are used.

Flexible cultural repertoires

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindegaard, Marie Rosenkrantz; Zimmermann, Francisca

2017-01-01

Despite extensive studies of street culture and the risks of offending and victimization in urban marginalized areas, little is known about the role of cultural repertoires for variation in victimization risks among young men not involved in crime. Based on two ethnographic studies, conducted...... independently of the authors in neighbouring township areas of Cape Town, we offer insights into patterns of victimization among young men not involved in crime who live and attend school in the townships. Young men WHO perform decent cultural repertoires are highly exposed to victimization due to their moral...... rejection of crime-involved youth. Young men who perform flexible cultural repertoires, by incorporating and shifting between gang and decent repertoires, experience low victimization due to their adaptation to crime-involved youth. Findings emphasize the importance of detailed investigations of the way...

A Flexible Statechart-to-Model-Checker Translator

Science.gov (United States)

Rouquette, Nicolas; Dunphy, Julia; Feather, Martin S.

2000-01-01

Many current-day software design tools offer some variant of statechart notation for system specification. We, like others, have built an automatic translator from (a subset of) statecharts to a model checker, for use to validate behavioral requirements. Our translator is designed to be flexible. This allows us to quickly adjust the translator to variants of statechart semantics, including problem-specific notational conventions that designers employ. Our system demonstration will be of interest to the following two communities: (1) Potential end-users: Our demonstration will show translation from statecharts created in a commercial UML tool (Rational Rose) to Promela, the input language of Holzmann's model checker SPIN. The translation is accomplished automatically. To accommodate the major variants of statechart semantics, our tool offers user-selectable choices among semantic alternatives. Options for customized semantic variants are also made available. The net result is an easy-to-use tool that operates on a wide range of statechart diagrams to automate the pathway to model-checking input. (2) Other researchers: Our translator embodies, in one tool, ideas and approaches drawn from several sources. Solutions to the major challenges of statechart-to-model-checker translation (e.g., determining which transition(s) will fire, handling of concurrent activities) are retired in a uniform, fully mechanized, setting. The way in which the underlying architecture of the translator itself facilitates flexible and customizable translation will also be evident.

Flexible solar strips light up campus bus shelter at McMaster

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon,

2009-10-15

This article described the installation of solar cells to illuminate a bus shelter on the campus of McMaster University. The innovative flexible solar cell technology was developed by a group of engineering researchers at the university who are hoping that the prototype will help commercialize the new technology. The solar technology is suitable for lighting up bus shelter signage and providing light for general safety. One of the main features of the technology is the ability to bend the solar cells to fit the curved roof of the bus shelter. The flexibility is achieved by tilting a large number of small silicon elements into an array, mounting them onto a flexible sheet, and connecting them through a proprietary method. The 2 solar strips installed on the roof of the bus shelter are about 90 centimeters long and 12 centimeters wide. Each strip has 720 one-centimetre square solar cells and generates up to 4.5 Watts of power. The solar strip is connected to 2 energy-efficient, multi-LED, light fixtures. Each light fixture uses only 600 milliwatts of power and produces about the same light output as a three watt regular tungsten bulb. The installation is being monitored to determine how much solar power is needed to fully recharge the batteries based on weather conditions, particularly during the winter months. 5 figs.

A Vision of Quantitative Imaging Technology for Validation of Advanced Flight Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Horvath, Thomas J.; Kerns, Robert V.; Jones, Kenneth M.; Grinstead, Jay H.; Schwartz, Richard J.; Gibson, David M.; Taylor, Jeff C.; Tack, Steve; Dantowitz, Ronald F.

2011-01-01

Flight-testing is traditionally an expensive but critical element in the development and ultimate validation and certification of technologies destined for future operational capabilities. Measurements obtained in relevant flight environments also provide unique opportunities to observe flow phenomenon that are often beyond the capabilities of ground testing facilities and computational tools to simulate or duplicate. However, the challenges of minimizing vehicle weight and internal complexity as well as instrumentation bandwidth limitations often restrict the ability to make high-density, in-situ measurements with discrete sensors. Remote imaging offers a potential opportunity to noninvasively obtain such flight data in a complementary fashion. The NASA Hypersonic Thermodynamic Infrared Measurements Project has demonstrated such a capability to obtain calibrated thermal imagery on a hypersonic vehicle in flight. Through the application of existing and accessible technologies, the acreage surface temperature of the Shuttle lower surface was measured during reentry. Future hypersonic cruise vehicles, launcher configurations and reentry vehicles will, however, challenge current remote imaging capability. As NASA embarks on the design and deployment of a new Space Launch System architecture for access beyond earth orbit (and the commercial sector focused on low earth orbit), an opportunity exists to implement an imagery system and its supporting infrastructure that provides sufficient flexibility to incorporate changing technology to address the future needs of the flight test community. A long term vision is offered that supports the application of advanced multi-waveband sensing technology to aid in the development of future aerospace systems and critical technologies to enable highly responsive vehicle operations across the aerospace continuum, spanning launch, reusable space access and global reach. Motivations for development of an Agency level imagery

"You are free to set your own hours": governing worker productivity and health through flexibility and resilience.

Science.gov (United States)

MacEachen, Ellen; Polzer, Jessica; Clarke, Judy

2008-03-01

Flexible work is now endemic in modern economies. A growing literature both praises work flexibility for accommodating employees' needs and criticizes it for fueling contingency and job insecurity. Although studies have identified varied effects of flexible work, questions remain about the workplace dimensions of flexibility and how occupational workplace health is managed in these workplaces. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of how managers in the computer software industry situate workplace flexibility and approach worker health. In-depth interviews were conducted with managers (and some workers) at 30 firms in Ontario, Canada. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, we examine managers' optimistic descriptions of flexibility which emphasize how flexible work contributes to workers' life balance. We then contrast this with managers' depictions of flexibility work practices as intense and inescapable. We suggest that the discourse of flexibility, and the work practices they foster, make possible and reinforce an increased intensity of work that is driven by the demands of technological pace and change that characterize the global information technology and computer software industries. Finally, we propose that flexible knowledge work has led to a re-framing of occupational health management involving a focus on what we call "strategies of resilience" that aim to buttress workers' capacities to withstand intensive and uncertain working conditions.

Micro-fabrication of Flexible Coils with Copper Filled Through Polymer Via Structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Q S; Zhang, Y; Itoh, T; Maeda, R; Toda, A

2013-01-01

In this work, we present one flexible 3D micro-coil. This 3D micro-coil is successfully prepared in a thin polymer film with a thickness of 120μm. The flexible coil is expected to be used in current sensing and energy harvesting MEMS those require a large deformation degree to wrap target object. A typical micro-machined 3D coil is composed of bottom, vertical and top windings. We firstly adopt through polymer vias (TPVs) and metal filling technology to fabricate the vertical windings. A high-speed copper electrodeposition technology of TPVs is developed to obtain void-free vertical windings

Djeen (Database for Joomla!’s Extensible Engine): a research information management system for flexible multi-technology project administration

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background With the advance of post-genomic technologies, the need for tools to manage large scale data in biology becomes more pressing. This involves annotating and storing data securely, as well as granting permissions flexibly with several technologies (all array types, flow cytometry, proteomics) for collaborative work and data sharing. This task is not easily achieved with most systems available today. Findings We developed Djeen (Database for Joomla!’s Extensible Engine), a new Research Information Management System (RIMS) for collaborative projects. Djeen is a user-friendly application, designed to streamline data storage and annotation collaboratively. Its database model, kept simple, is compliant with most technologies and allows storing and managing of heterogeneous data with the same system. Advanced permissions are managed through different roles. Templates allow Minimum Information (MI) compliance. Conclusion Djeen allows managing project associated with heterogeneous data types while enforcing annotation integrity and minimum information. Projects are managed within a hierarchy and user permissions are finely-grained for each project, user and group. Djeen Component source code (version 1.5.1) and installation documentation are available under CeCILL license from http://sourceforge.net/projects/djeen/files and supplementary material. PMID:23742665

Flexible Light Emission Diode Arrays Made of Transferred Si Microwires-ZnO Nanofilm with Piezo-Phototronic Effect Enhanced Lighting.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaoyi; Liang, Renrong; Tao, Juan; Peng, Zhengchun; Xu, Qiming; Han, Xun; Wang, Xiandi; Wang, Chunfeng; Zhu, Jing; Pan, Caofeng; Wang, Zhong Lin

2017-04-25

Due to the fragility and the poor optoelectronic performances of Si, it is challenging and exciting to fabricate the Si-based flexible light-emitting diode (LED) array devices. Here, a flexible LED array device made of Si microwires-ZnO nanofilm, with the advantages of flexibility, stability, lightweight, and energy savings, is fabricated and can be used as a strain sensor to demonstrate the two-dimensional pressure distribution. Based on piezo-phototronic effect, the intensity of the flexible LED array can be increased more than 3 times (under 60 MPa compressive strains). Additionally, the device is stable and energy saving. The flexible device can still work well after 1000 bending cycles or 6 months placed in the atmosphere, and the power supplied to the flexible LED array is only 8% of the power of the surface-contact LED. The promising Si-based flexible device has wide range application and may revolutionize the technologies of flexible screens, touchpad technology, and smart skin.

Techno-economic analysis of PC versus CFB combustion technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-10-01

In the last ten years circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC) has emerged as a viable alternative to pulverised coal combustion (PCC) for utility-scale coal power generation, with widespread deployment of 300 MW boilers and the successful demonstration of supercritical units of up to 600 MW. Although CFBC offers a greater degree of fuel flexibility and does not usually require downstream flue gas cleaning, high capital costs and high auxiliary power use have hindered the adoption of CFBC for utility power generation. Recent advances in CFBC unit capacity and steam conditions have led to higher efficiencies and economies of scale, with the result that a CFBC plant may now be more economically favourable than a PCC plant depending on a range of factors such as available fuels and regional emissions limits. This report reviews the state-of-the-art for both technologies and provides a comparison of their relative performances and economic costs. Standard operational parameters such as efficiency, availability, and flexibility are assessed, in addition to relative suitability for biomass cofiring and oxyfuel combustion as strategies for carbon mitigation. A review of recent cost evaluations of the two technologies is accompanied by a breakdown of individual plant expenses including flue gas scrubbing equipment and ash recycle value.

Flexible Query Answering Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Flexible Query Answering Systems, FQAS 2013, held in Granada, Spain, in September 2013. The 59 full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers...... are organized in a general session train and a parallel special session track. The general session train covers the following topics: querying-answering systems; semantic technology; patterns and classification; personalization and recommender systems; searching and ranking; and Web and human...

Advocating investments in information technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nirenberg, L.M.

1992-01-01

Information and communication systems can improve the timeliness and quality of decisions. These benefits are strategically important to the utility industry in an era of increasing competition. Because these systems often do not reduce labor cost, however, they can be difficult to evaluate. This report presents a new process for reaching consensus of the value of capital investment in information and communication systems. The results of this project is A Strategic Advocacy Process (ASAP), a methodology that can be used to evaluate investments in information technology. ASAP uses belief graphs to produce a living business case showing facts, assumptions, goals, and metrics for measuring progress toward those goals; shows how to use option pricing theory to quantify the value of managerial flexibility; ASAP uses an organizational impact assessment tool to identify the potential impact of new information systems and how to realize the benefits of managerial flexibility. The ASAP methodology addresses the critical problem of correctly valuing information and communication systems. The methodology offers a way to account for the ''intangible'' value of these systems by recognizing the managerial flexibility these systems can provide in addressing risks and uncovering new business opportunities. Metrics for measuring progress toward new goals can be defined, and plans for achieving the goals can be made. As a result, agreement can be reached on the uses, value, and priority of projects based on a metric other than on labor replacement savings

Fuel cycle flexibility in Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) with the use of Th-LEU fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thakur, A.; Singh, B.; Pushpam, N.P.; Bharti, V.; Kannan, U.; Krishnani, P.D.; Sinha, R.K.

2011-01-01

The Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is being designed for large scale commercial utilization of thorium (Th) and integrated technological demonstration of the thorium cycle in India. The AHWR is a 920 MW(th), vertical pressure tube type cooled by boiling light water and moderated by heavy water. Heat removal through natural circulation and on-line fuelling are some of the salient features of AHWR design. The physics design of AHWR offers considerable flexibility to accommodate different kinds of fuel cycles. Our recent efforts have been directed towards a case study for the use of Th-LEU fuel cycle in a once-through mode. The discharged Uranium from Th-LEU cycle has proliferation resistant characteristics. This paper gives the initial core, fuel cycle characteristics and online refueling strategy of Th-LEU fuel in AHWR. (author)

Achievement report for fiscal 1998 on area consortium research and development business, 2nd year. Area consortium research and development (research and development of process-compatible flexible robot technology); 1998 nendo chiiki consortium kenkyu kaihatsu. Kotei tekiogata flexible robot gijutsu ni kansuru kenkyu kaihatsu (dai 2 nendo)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-03-01

To increase international competitiveness, the construction of highly productive systems capable of autonomously accommodating changes in manufacturing processes is indispensable. Robot technologies for flexible, robotized manufacturing lines will be established, and robotization will be promoted in industries related with transportation equipment and semiconductor in and near Kumamoto City. Optimization is to be achieved in such processes as IC chip insertion so that piston insertion into a cylinder with but an extremely little gap between them will be performed without scratches on the cylinder walls and that no plastic deformation will occur in the initial lack of positional correspondence. The technological tasks to be carried out include position detection based on visual information and skill making up, micro-force sensor of great precision and flexible force control, coordinated control of different types of robots, flexible handling mechanism, and integration of different techniques based on an information management system. The control of force now being exercised by humans will be reviewed from a new point of view and harmonization will be established between the human endeavor and sensing devices. Conceptual designs will be completed by the fiscal year end, with efforts concentrated on two prototypes, one for assembly lines and the other for IC inspection. (NEDO)

Renewable energy technologies and its adaptation in an urban environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thampi, K. Ravindranathan, E-mail: ravindranathan.thampi@ucd.ie; Byrne, Owen, E-mail: ravindranathan.thampi@ucd.ie; Surolia, Praveen K., E-mail: ravindranathan.thampi@ucd.ie [SFI Strategic Research Cluster in Solar Energy Conversion, School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4 (Ireland)

2014-01-28

This general article is based on the inaugural talk delivered at the opening of OMTAT 2013 conference. It notes that the integration of renewable energy sources into living and transport sectors presents a daunting task, still. In spite of the fact that the earth and its atmosphere continually receive 1.7 × 10{sup 17} watts of radiation from the sun, in the portfolio of sustainable and environment friendly energy options, which is about 16% of the world’s energy consumption and mostly met by biomass, only a paltry 0.04% is accredited to solar. First and second generation solar cells offer mature technologies for applications. The most important difficulty with regards to integration with structures is not only the additional cost, but also the lack of sufficient knowledge in managing the available energy smartly and efficiently. The incorporation of PV as a part of building fabric greatly reduces the overall costs compared with retrofitting. BIPV (Building Integrated photovoltaic) is a critical technology for establishing aesthetically pleasing solar structures. Infusing PV and building elements is greatly simplified with some of the second generation thin film technologies now manufactured as flexible panels. The same holds true for 3{sup rd} generation technologies under development such as, and dye- and quantum dot- sensitized solar cells. Additionally, these technologies offer transparent or translucent solar cells for incorporation into windows and skylights. This review deals with the present state of solar cell technologies suitable for BIPV and the status of BIPV applications and its future prospects.

Methods for fabrication of flexible hybrid electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Street, Robert A.; Mei, Ping; Krusor, Brent; Ready, Steve E.; Zhang, Yong; Schwartz, David E.; Pierre, Adrien; Doris, Sean E.; Russo, Beverly; Kor, Siv; Veres, Janos

2017-08-01

Printed and flexible hybrid electronics is an emerging technology with potential applications in smart labels, wearable electronics, soft robotics, and prosthetics. Printed solution-based materials are compatible with plastic film substrates that are flexible, soft, and stretchable, thus enabling conformal integration with non-planar objects. In addition, manufacturing by printing is scalable to large areas and is amenable to low-cost sheet-fed and roll-to-roll processes. FHE includes display and sensory components to interface with users and environments. On the system level, devices also require electronic circuits for power, memory, signal conditioning, and communications. Those electronic components can be integrated onto a flexible substrate by either assembly or printing. PARC has developed systems and processes for realizing both approaches. This talk presents fabrication methods with an emphasis on techniques recently developed for the assembly of off-the-shelf chips. A few examples of systems fabricated with this approach are also described.

Review of recent progresses on flexible oxide semiconductor thin film transistors based on atomic layer deposition processes

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Jiazhen; Han, Ki-Lim; Hong, TaeHyun; Choi, Wan-Ho; Park, Jin-Seong

2018-01-01

The current article is a review of recent progress and major trends in the field of flexible oxide thin film transistors (TFTs), fabricating with atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes. The ALD process offers accurate controlling of film thickness and composition as well as ability of achieving excellent uniformity over large areas at relatively low temperatures. First, an introduction is provided on what is the definition of ALD, the difference among other vacuum deposition techniques, and the brief key factors of ALD on flexible devices. Second, considering functional layers in flexible oxide TFT, the ALD process on polymer substrates may improve device performances such as mobility and stability, adopting as buffer layers over the polymer substrate, gate insulators, and active layers. Third, this review consists of the evaluation methods of flexible oxide TFTs under various mechanical stress conditions. The bending radius and repetition cycles are mostly considering for conventional flexible devices. It summarizes how the device has been degraded/changed under various stress types (directions). The last part of this review suggests a potential of each ALD film, including the releasing stress, the optimization of TFT structure, and the enhancement of device performance. Thus, the functional ALD layers in flexible oxide TFTs offer great possibilities regarding anti-mechanical stress films, along with flexible display and information storage application fields. Project supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (No. NRF-2017R1D1A1B03034035), the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (No. #10051403), and the Korea Semiconductor Research Consortium.

Interactive Garments: Flexible Technologies for Textile Integration

OpenAIRE

Anupam Bhatia

2016-01-01

Upon reviewing the literature and the pragmatic work done in the field of E- textiles, it is observed that the applications of wearable technologies have found a steady growth in the field of military, medical, industrial, sports; whereas fashion is at a loss to know how to treat this technology and bring it to market. The purpose of this paper is to understand the practical issues of integration of electronics in garments; cutting patterns for mass production, maintaining the basic propertie...

Do flexible work policies improve parents' health? A natural experiment based on the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Avendano, Mauricio; Panico, Lidia

2018-03-01

There is limited evidence of the impact of policies to promote work-family balance on family health. Exploiting the introduction of the UK Flexible Working Act (2003), we examined whether a policy that grants parents the right to request flexible work influences their health and well-being. Using the UK Millennium Cohort Study, we focus on 6424 mothers employed in 2001-2002, when the cohort child was 9 months old, until their child's seventh birthday. We used a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach to compare changes in outcomes before and after the policy among mothers most likely to benefit and mothers unlikely to benefit from the policy. Flexible working increased in a small group of mothers (n=548) whose employer did not offer work flexibility before the reform (treatment group). By contrast, among mothers whose employer already offered flexible work before the reform (control group, n=5810), there was little change or a slight decline in flexible working. DiD estimates suggest that the policy was associated with an increase in flexible working (37.5 percentage points, 95% CI 32.9 to 41.6), but it had no impact on self-rated health (-1.6 percentage points, 95% CI -4.4 to 1.1), long-term illness (-1.87 percentage points, 95% CI -4.3 to 0.5) or life satisfaction scores (β=0.04, 95% CI -0.08 to 0.16). The Flexible Working Act increased flexible working only among a small group of mothers who had not yet the right to request work flexibility, but it had no impact on their health and well-being. Policies promoting work flexibility may require stronger incentives for both parents and employers. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

A flexible inkjet printed antenna for wearable electronics applications

KAUST Repository

Karimi, Muhammad Akram; Shamim, Atif

2016-01-01

Wearable electronics has gained enormous attention since past few years because it is a promising technology to enhance the human experience. This paper shows a modified inverted-F antenna (IFA), inkjet printed directly on the fabric. A flexible

Monolithically Integrated Flexible Black Phosphorus Complementary Inverter Circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuanda; Ang, Kah-Wee

2017-07-25

Two-dimensional (2D) inverters are a fundamental building block for flexible logic circuits which have previously been realized by heterogeneously wiring transistors with two discrete channel materials. Here, we demonstrate a monolithically integrated complementary inverter made using a homogeneous black phosphorus (BP) nanosheet on flexible substrates. The digital logic inverter circuit is demonstrated via effective threshold voltage tuning within a single BP material, which offers both electron and hole dominated conducting channels with nearly symmetric pinch-off and current saturation. Controllable electron concentration is achieved by accurately modulating the aluminum (Al) donor doping, which realizes BP n-FET with a room-temperature on/off ratio >10 3 . Simultaneously, work function engineering is employed to obtain a low Schottky barrier contact electrode that facilities hole injection, thus enhancing the current density of the BP p-FET by 9.4 times. The flexible inverter circuit shows a clear digital logic voltage inversion operation along with a larger-than-unity direct current voltage gain, while exhibits alternating current dynamic signal switching at a record high frequency up to 100 kHz and remarkable electrical stability upon mechanical bending with a radii as small as 4 mm. Our study demonstrates a practical monolithic integration strategy for achieving functional logic circuits on one material platform, paving the way for future high-density flexible electronic applications.

Field-effect enhanced triboelectric colloidal quantum dot flexible sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Lingju; Xu, Qiwei; Fan, Shicheng; Dick, Carson R.; Wang, Xihua

2017-10-01

Flexible electronics, which is of great importance as fundamental sensor and communication technologies for many internet-of-things applications, has established a huge market encroaching into the trillion-dollar market of solid state electronics. For the capability of being processed by printing or spraying, colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) play an increasingly important role in flexible electronics. Although the electrical properties of CQD thin-films are expected to be stable on flexible substrates, their electrical performance could be tuned for applications in flexible touch sensors. Here, we report CQD touch sensors employing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) triboelectric films. The electrical response of touching activity is enhanced by incorporating CQD field-effect transistors into the device architecture. Thanks to the use of the CQD thin film as a current amplifier, the field-effect CQD touch sensor shows a fast response to various touching materials, even being bent to a large curvature. It also shows a much higher output current density compared to a PDMS triboelectric touch sensor.

Simulated climate adaptation in storm-water systems: Evaluating the efficiency of within-system flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam D. McCurdy

Full Text Available Changes in regional temperature and precipitation patterns resulting from global climate change may adversely affect the performance of long-lived infrastructure. Adaptation may be necessary to ensure that infrastructure offers consistent service and remains cost effective. But long service times and deep uncertainty associated with future climate projections make adaptation decisions especially challenging for managers. Incorporating flexibility into systems can increase their effectiveness across different climate futures but can also add significant costs. In this paper we review existing work on flexibility in climate change adaptation of infrastructure, such as robust decision-making and dynamic adaptive pathways, apply a basic typology of flexibility, and test alternative strategies for flexibility in distributed infrastructure systems comprised of multiple emplacements of a common, long-lived element: roadway culverts. Rather than treating a system of dispersed infrastructure elements as monolithic, we simulate “options flexibility” in which inherent differences in individual elements is incorporated into adaptation decisions. We use a virtual testbed of highway drainage crossing structures to examine the performance under different climate scenarios of policies that allow for multiple adaptation strategies with varying timing based on individual emplacement characteristics. Results indicate that a strategy with options flexibility informed by crossing characteristics offers a more efficient method of adaptation than do monolithic policies. In some cases this results in more cost-effective adaptation for agencies building long-lived, climate-sensitive infrastructure, even where detailed system data and analytical capacity is limited. Keywords: Climate adaptation, Stormwater management, Adaptation pathways

Wind offering in energy and reserve markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Soares, Tiago; Pinson, Pierre; Morais, Hugo

2016-01-01

The increasing penetration of wind generation in power systems to fulfil the ambitious European targets will make wind power producers to play an even more important role in the future power system. Wind power producers are being incentivized to participate in reserve markets to increase...... their revenue, since currently wind turbine/farm technologies allow them to provide ancillary services. Thus, wind power producers are to develop offering strategies for participation in both energy and reserve markets, accounting for market rules, while ensuring optimal revenue. We consider a proportional...... offering strategy to optimally decide upon participation in both markets by maximizing expected revenue from day-ahead decisions while accounting for estimated regulation costs for failing to provide the services. An evaluation of considering the same proportional splitting of energy and reserve in both...

Study for application of multi fuel technology in the Brazilian automobilistic market; Estudo para aplicacao da tecnologia multi combustivel no mercado automobilistico brasileiro

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gasparotto, Alexsander David [FIAT/GM Powertrain (Brazil); Massarani, Marcelo [Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), SP (Brazil)

2006-07-01

The objective of this work is a study for the application of a new technology that will be used in the engine management system in the vehicle; where the final consumer can opt for the inquiry performance or seeking an economy for the fuel consumption depending on its daily use and of the prices offered in the gas stations. Flexible Fuel is a technology in development for the automobile market that mixes the use of two fuels (gasoline and ethanol) and their mixtures in the internal combustion engine. (author)

Plastic flexible films waste management - A state of art review.

Science.gov (United States)

Horodytska, O; Valdés, F J; Fullana, A

2018-04-21

Plastic flexible films are increasingly used in many applications due to their lightness and versatility. In 2014, the amount of plastic films represented 34% of total plastic packaging produced in UK. The flexible film waste generation rises according to the increase in number of applications. Currently, in developed countries, about 50% of plastics in domestic waste are films. Moreover, about 615,000 tonnes of agricultural flexible waste are generated in the EU every year. A review of plastic films recycling has been conducted in order to detect the shortcomings and establish guidelines for future research. This paper reviews plastic films waste management technologies from two different sources: post-industrial and post-consumer. Clean and homogeneous post-industrial waste is recycled through closed-loop or open-loop mechanical processes. The main differences between these methods are the quality and the application of the recycled materials. Further research should be focused on closing the loops to obtain the highest environmental benefits of recycling. This could be accomplished through minimizing the material degradation during mechanical processes. Regarding post-consumer waste, flexible films from agricultural and packaging sectors have been assessed. The agricultural films and commercial and industrial flexible packaging are recycled through open-loop mechanical recycling due to existing selective waste collection routes. Nevertheless, the contamination from the use phase adversely affects the quality of recycled plastics. Therefore, upgrading of current washing lines is required. On the other hand, household flexible packaging shows the lowest recycling rates mainly because of inefficient sorting technologies. Delamination and compatibilization methods should be further developed to ensure the recycling of multilayer films. Finally, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on waste management have been reviewed. A lack of thorough LCA on plastic films waste

Flexible, wearable, and functional graphene-textile composites

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ying; Zhang, Kun-Ning; Zhang, Ying; Tao, Lu-Qi; Li, Yu-Xing; Wang, Dan-Yang; Yang, Yi; Ren, Tian-Ling

2017-06-01

In this paper, a flexible, wearable, and functional graphene-textile composite is demonstrated. Laser scribing technology is applied to fabricate a graphene film. The thin layer of polydimethylsiloxane is covered on the surface of the graphene-textile film evenly, which would improve the abrasive resistance of the film, enhance the ability to adapt to environmental changes, and extend the service life, while maintaining the device's excellent flexibility and comfort. The graphene-textile composite can achieve constant temperature heating by controlling the input voltage, detect the human movement, and perceive the human pulse signal. The composite presents great commercial prospects and a large value in the medical, daily wear, and other areas that are closely related to human lives.

Flexible Language Interoperability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ekman, Torbjörn; Mechlenborg, Peter; Schultz, Ulrik Pagh

2007-01-01

Virtual machines raise the abstraction level of the execution environment at the cost of restricting the set of supported languages. Moreover, the ability of a language implementation to integrate with other languages hosted on the same virtual machine typically constrains the features...... of the language. In this paper, we present a highly flexible yet efficient approach to hosting multiple programming languages on an object-oriented virtual machine. Our approach is based on extending the interface of each class with language-specific wrapper methods, offering each language a tailored view...... of a given class. This approach can be deployed both on a statically typed virtual machine, such as the JVM, and on a dynamic virtual machine, such as a Smalltalk virtual machine. We have implemented our approach to language interoperability on top of a prototype virtual machine for embedded systems based...

3D inkjet printed flexible and wearable antenna systems

KAUST Repository

Shamim, Atif

2017-01-01

extremely low cost, to the extent that they become disposable. The flexible and low cost aspects can be addressed by adapting additive manufacturing technologies such as inkjet printing and 3D printing. This paper presents inkjet printing as an emerging new

Current progress and technical challenges of flexible liquid crystal displays

Science.gov (United States)

Fujikake, Hideo; Sato, Hiroto

2009-02-01

We focused on several technical approaches to flexible liquid crystal (LC) display in this report. We have been developing flexible displays using plastic film substrates based on polymer-dispersed LC technology with molecular alignment control. In our representative devices, molecular-aligned polymer walls keep plastic-substrate gap constant without LC alignment disorder, and aligned polymer networks create monostable switching of fast-response ferroelectric LC (FLC) for grayscale capability. In the fabrication process, a high-viscosity FLC/monomer solution was printed, sandwiched and pressed between plastic substrates. Then the polymer walls and networks were sequentially formed based on photo-polymerization-induced phase separation in the nematic phase by two exposure processes of patterned and uniform ultraviolet light. The two flexible backlight films of direct illumination and light-guide methods using small three-primary-color light-emitting diodes were fabricated to obtain high-visibility display images. The fabricated flexible FLC panels were driven by external transistor arrays, internal organic thin film transistor (TFT) arrays, and poly-Si TFT arrays. We achieved full-color moving-image displays using the flexible FLC panel and the flexible backlight film based on field-sequential-color driving technique. Otherwise, for backlight-free flexible LC displays, flexible reflective devices of twisted guest-host nematic LC and cholesteric LC were discussed with molecular-aligned polymer walls. Singlesubstrate device structure and fabrication method using self-standing polymer-stabilized nematic LC film and polymer ceiling layer were also proposed for obtaining LC devices with excellent flexibility.

Mechanical and electrical properties of ultra-thin chips and flexible electronics assemblies during bending

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Den Ende, D.A.; Van De Wiel, H.J.; Kusters, R.H.L.; Sridhar, A.; Schram, J.F.M.; Cauwe, M.; Van Den Brand, J.

2014-01-01

Ultra-thin chips of less than 20 μm become flexible, allowing integration of silicon IC technology with highly flexible electronics such as food packaging sensor systems or healthcare and sport monitoring tags as wearable patches or even directly in clothing textile. The ultra-thin chips in these

Graduate Program Scheduling Gains Flexibility through Container Courses: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, Richard

2011-01-01

Online course delivery makes possible one innovation which can provide each student with greater program flexibility as well as some personal ownership of the direction and pace of his degree progress. This concept can be called the "container course." A container course is the offering of more than one course simultaneously under a single course…

[Flexible endoscope in thoracic surgery: CITES or cVATS?].

Science.gov (United States)

Assouad, J; Fénane, H; Masmoudi, H; Giol, M; Karsenti, A; Gounant, V; Grunenwald, D

2013-10-01

Early pain and persistent parietal disorders remains a major unresolved problem in thoracic surgery. Thoracotomy and the use of multiple ports in most Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) procedures are the major cause of this persistent pain. For the last decade, a few publications describing the use of either single incision VATS and cervical thoracic approaches have been reported without significant results in comparison with current used techniques. Intercostals compression during surgery and early after by intercostals chest tube placement, are probably the major cause of postoperative pain. Flexible endoscope is currently used in several surgeries and will take more and more importance in our daily use in thoracic surgery. Instrument flexibility allows its use through minimally invasive approaches and offers a very interesting intra-thoracic navigation. We describe here the first use in France of a flexible endoscope in thoracic surgery through a single cervical incision to perform simultaneous exploration and biopsies of the mediastinum and right pleura using the original approach of Cervical Incision Thoracic Endoscopic Surgery (CITES). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

CMOS-Technology-Enabled Flexible and Stretchable Electronics for Internet of Everything Applications

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Aftab M.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2015-01-01

Flexible and stretchable electronics can dramatically enhance the application of electronics for the emerging Internet of Everything applications where people, processes, data and devices will be integrated and connected, to augment quality of life

Continuous, Highly Flexible, and Transparent Graphene Films by Chemical Vapor Deposition for Organic Photovoltaics

KAUST Repository

Gomez De Arco, Lewis

2010-05-25

We report the implementation of continuous, highly flexible, and transparent graphene films obtained by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) as transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) in organic photovoltaic cells. Graphene films were synthesized by CVD, transferred to transparent substrates, and evaluated in organic solar cell heterojunctions (TCE/poly-3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene:poly styrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/copper phthalocyanine/fullerene/bathocuproine/aluminum). Key to our success is the continuous nature of the CVD graphene films, which led to minimal surface roughness (∼ 0.9 nm) and offered sheet resistance down to 230 Ω/sq (at 72% transparency), much lower than stacked graphene flakes at similar transparency. In addition, solar cells with CVD graphene and indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes were fabricated side-by-side on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates and were confirmed to offer comparable performance, with power conversion efficiencies (η) of 1.18 and 1.27%, respectively. Furthermore, CVD graphene solar cells demonstrated outstanding capability to operate under bending conditions up to 138°, whereas the ITO-based devices displayed cracks and irreversible failure under bending of 60°. Our work indicates the great potential of CVD graphene films for flexible photovoltaic applications. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

Continuous, highly flexible, and transparent graphene films by chemical vapor deposition for organic photovoltaics.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomez De Arco, Lewis; Zhang, Yi; Schlenker, Cody W; Ryu, Koungmin; Thompson, Mark E; Zhou, Chongwu

2010-05-25

We report the implementation of continuous, highly flexible, and transparent graphene films obtained by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) as transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) in organic photovoltaic cells. Graphene films were synthesized by CVD, transferred to transparent substrates, and evaluated in organic solar cell heterojunctions (TCE/poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:poly styrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/copper phthalocyanine/fullerene/bathocuproine/aluminum). Key to our success is the continuous nature of the CVD graphene films, which led to minimal surface roughness ( approximately 0.9 nm) and offered sheet resistance down to 230 Omega/sq (at 72% transparency), much lower than stacked graphene flakes at similar transparency. In addition, solar cells with CVD graphene and indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes were fabricated side-by-side on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates and were confirmed to offer comparable performance, with power conversion efficiencies (eta) of 1.18 and 1.27%, respectively. Furthermore, CVD graphene solar cells demonstrated outstanding capability to operate under bending conditions up to 138 degrees , whereas the ITO-based devices displayed cracks and irreversible failure under bending of 60 degrees . Our work indicates the great potential of CVD graphene films for flexible photovoltaic applications.

The Quandaries of Technology Management-In Search of Danish Contexts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koch, Christian

1996-01-01

The contribution discusses Management of technology.The specific danish context is SME, labour market flexibility and a network of supporting institutions. Cases of technology management in manufacturing is discussed.......The contribution discusses Management of technology.The specific danish context is SME, labour market flexibility and a network of supporting institutions. Cases of technology management in manufacturing is discussed....

Nanofabrication and Nanopatterning of Carbon Nanomaterials for Flexible Electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Junjun

Stretchable electrodes have increasingly drawn attention as a vital component for flexible electronic devices. Carbon nanomaterials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit properties such as high mechanical flexibility and strength, optical transparency, and electrical conductivity which are naturally required for stretchable electrodes. Graphene growth, nanopatterning, and transfer processes are important steps to use graphene as flexible electrodes. However, advances in the large-area nanofabrication and nanopatterning of carbon nanomaterials such as graphene are necessary to realize the full potential of this technology. In particular, laser interference lithography (LIL), a fast and low cost large-area nanoscale patterning technique, shows tremendous promise for the patterning of graphene and other nanostructures for numerous applications. First, it was demonstrated that large-area nanopatterning and the transfer of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene via LIL and plasma etching provide a reliable method to provide large area nanoengineered graphene on various target substrates. Then, to improve the electrode performance under large strain (naturally CVD grown graphene sheet will crack at tensile strains larger than 1%), a corrugated graphene structure on PDMS was designed, fabricated, and tested, with experimental results indicating that this approach successfully allows the graphene sheets to withstand cyclic tensile strains up to 15%. Lastly, to further enhance the performance of carbon-based stretchable electrodes, an approach was developed which coupled graphene and vertically aligned CNT (VACNT) on a flexible PDMS substrate. Characterization of the graphene-VACNT hybrid shows high electrical conductivity and durability through 50 cycles of loading up to 100% tensile strain. While flexible electronics promise tremendous advances in important technological areas such as healthcare, sensing, energy, and wearable electronics, continued

Flexibility of Supply Chain in Industrialised Building System (IBS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kassim U.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available It is irrefutable that the construction industry is in need of a highly technological construction method or system for the simple aim of giving it a push it deserves. In Malaysia this technologically enhanced method is known as the Indutrialised Building System (IBS. Concerted efforts have been made for the past decade by various responsible parties especially by the government. Therefore, the IBS ‘Road Map’ 2003–2010 was introduced and now continues with the IBS ‘road map’ 2011-2015. However, its performance is still at its infancy, which target is only at an initial stage. This study seeks to identify and analyse the factor of the IBS’ system’s supply chain flexibility as a factor on the success of the system itself. It has been a suspicion that there exists a condition and situation where the supply chain is too rigid and is not flexible in fulfilling the needs and demands of the IBS development in Malaysia. This inflexible situation has brought about a broad range of problems and has stood in the way of the development of the industrialised building system, despite it being introduced since 1964, or 49 years ago. Flexibility in the IBS supply chain is very important and is associated with other industries like transportation, manufacturing industry, and others. Up until now, we have yet to discover any special studies related to the flexibility in the IBS supply chain in this country. Responding to this challenge, this research is hoped to be able to provide sufficient feedback to the solution to the IBS supply chain flexibility issue. The researcher is confident that the poor system flow of supply chain has impeded the advancement of the Industrialised Building System that has long been open to debate.

Use of flexible engineered cementitious composite in buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khitab, A.; Nadeem, M.; Hussain, S.

2011-01-01

This article describes the applications and benefits of a recently developed smart building material namely Engineered cementitious composite (ECC), also known as flexible or bendable concrete. Conventional concretes have a strain capacity of only 0.1 percent and are highly brittle and rigid. This lack of bend ability is a major cause of failure under strain and has been a pushing factor in the development of an elegant material which is capable to exhibit an enhanced flexibility. An ECC has a strain capacity of more than 3 percent and thus acts more like a ductile metal rather than like a brittle glass. The aim of this paper is to highlight a probable success of ECC in terms of industrial and commercial use in Pakistan. With the introduction of flexible concrete in building technology, it is likely to have safer and more durable construction. The material is expected to display reduced detrimental impacts on the natural environment. A bendable concrete is composed of all the ingredients of a traditional concrete minus coarse aggregates or crushed stones and is reinforced with micro mechanically designed polymer fibers. The mechanism of action of the micro-polymeric fibers in concrete has also been emphasized. The principles of mix designs of the mortar incorporating fibers to make an ECC have also been explained. It has also been mentioned in detail as how this technology can be used to enhance the flexibility of some modern concrete types like flowing concrete, self-compacting concrete, and lightweight concrete. ECC is a green construction material. The possible benefits like environment friendliness, cost effectiveness, and durability have been also been elucidated in the paper. (author)

On flexibility

OpenAIRE

Weiss, Christoph R.; Briglauer, Wolfgang

2000-01-01

By building on theoretical work by Mills and Schumann (1985) and Ungern-Sternberg (1990) this paper provides evidence on the determinants of two dimensions of flexibility, the flexibility in adjusting aggregate output over time (tactical flexibility) as well as the ability to switch quickly between products (operational flexibility). Econometric analysis of a sample of 40.000 farms in Upper-Austria for the period 1980 to 1990 suggests that larger full-time farms operated by younger, better ed...

Flexible Fe3O4@Carbon Nanofibers Hierarchically Assembled with MnO2 Particles for High-Performance Supercapacitor Electrodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Iqbal, Nousheen; Wang, Xianfeng; Babar, Aijaz Ahmed; Zainab, Ghazala; Yu, Jianyong; Ding, Bin

2017-11-09

Increasing use of wearable electronic devices have resulted in enhanced demand for highly flexible supercapacitor electrodes with superior electrochemical performance. In this study, flexible composite membranes with electrosprayed MnO 2 particles uniformly anchored on Fe 3 O 4 doped electrospun carbon nanofibers (Fe 3 O 4 @CNF Mn ) have been prepared as flexible electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors. The interconnected porous beaded structure ensures free movement of electrolyte within the composite membranes, therefore, the developed supercapacitor electrodes not only offer high specific capacitance of ~306 F/g, but also exhibit good capacitance retention of ~85% after 2000 cycles, which certify that the synthesized electrodes offer high and stable electrochemical performance. Additionally, the supercapacitors fabricated from our developed electrodes well maintain their performance under flexural stress and exhibit a very minute change in specific capacitance even up to 180° bending angle. The developed electrode fabrication strategy integrating electrospinning and electrospray techniques paves new insights into the development of potential functional nanofibrous materials for light weight and flexible wearable supercapacitors.

A silicon-based flexible tactile sensor for ubiquitous robot companion applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Kunnyun; Lee, Kang Ryeol; Lee, Dae Sung; Cho, Nam-Kyu; Kim, Won Hyo; Park, Kwang-Bum; Park, Hyo-Derk; Kim, Yong Kook; Park, Yon-Kyu; Kim, Jong-Ho

2006-01-01

We present the fabrication process and characteristics of a 3-axes flexible tactile sensor available for normal and shear mode fabricated using Si micromachining and packaging technologies. The fabrication processes for the 3 axes flexible tactile sensor were classified in the fabrication of sensor chips and their packaging on the flexible PCB. The variation rate of resistance was about 2.1%/N and 0.5%/N in applying normal and shear force, respectively. Because this tactile sensor can measure the variations of resistance of the semiconductor strain gauge for normal and shear force, it can be used to sense touch, pressure, hardness, and slip

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Flexible Near-Field Wireless Optoelectronics as Subdermal Implants for Broad Applications in Optogenetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Gunchul; Gomez, Adrian M; Al-Hasani, Ream; Jeong, Yu Ra; Kim, Jeonghyun; Xie, Zhaoqian; Banks, Anthony; Lee, Seung Min; Han, Sang Youn; Yoo, Chul Jong; Lee, Jong-Lam; Lee, Seung Hee; Kurniawan, Jonas; Tureb, Jacob; Guo, Zhongzhu; Yoon, Jangyeol; Park, Sung-Il; Bang, Sang Yun; Nam, Yoonho; Walicki, Marie C; Samineni, Vijay K; Mickle, Aaron D; Lee, Kunhyuk; Heo, Seung Yun; McCall, Jordan G; Pan, Taisong; Wang, Liang; Feng, Xue; Kim, Tae-Il; Kim, Jong Kyu; Li, Yuhang; Huang, Yonggang; Gereau, Robert W; Ha, Jeong Sook; Bruchas, Michael R; Rogers, John A

2017-02-08

In vivo optogenetics provides unique, powerful capabilities in the dissection of neural circuits implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders. Conventional hardware for such studies, however, physically tethers the experimental animal to an external light source, limiting the range of possible experiments. Emerging wireless options offer important capabilities that avoid some of these limitations, but the current size, bulk, weight, and wireless area of coverage is often disadvantageous. Here, we present a simple but powerful setup based on wireless, near-field power transfer and miniaturized, thin, flexible optoelectronic implants, for complete optical control in a variety of behavioral paradigms. The devices combine subdermal magnetic coil antennas connected to microscale, injectable light-emitting diodes (LEDs), with the ability to operate at wavelengths ranging from UV to blue, green-yellow, and red. An external loop antenna allows robust, straightforward application in a multitude of behavioral apparatuses. The result is a readily mass-producible, user-friendly technology with broad potential for optogenetics applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A generalized quarter car modelling approach with frame flexibility ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

HUSAIN KANCHWALA

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India e-mail: ... Quarter-car model; laplace domain; other wheel effects; reduced order; wheel hop; frame flexibility. ..... simply involve adding some internal modelling details. ... scale simulation, analysis and control design, and has been.

Fully Printed, Flexible, Phased Array Antenna for Lunar Surface Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Subbaraman, Harish; Hen, Ray T.; Lu, Xuejun; Chen, Maggie Yihong

2013-01-01

NASAs future exploration missions focus on the manned exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond, which will rely heavily on the development of a reliable communications infrastructure from planetary surface-to-surface, surface-to-orbit, and back to Earth. Flexible antennas are highly desired in many scenarios. Active phased array antennas (active PAAs) with distributed control and processing electronics at the surface of an antenna aperture offer numerous advantages for radar communications. Large-area active PAAs on flexible substrates are of particular interest in NASA s space radars due to their efficient inflatable package that can be rolled up during transportation and deployed in space. Such an inflatable package significantly reduces stowage volume and mass. Because of these performance and packaging advantages, large-area inflatable active PAAs are highly desired in NASA s surface-to-orbit and surface-to-relay communications. To address the issues of flexible electronics, a room-temperature printing process of active phased-array antennas on a flexible Kapton substrate was developed. Field effect transistors (FETs) based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with many unique physical properties, were successfully proved feasible for the PAA system. This innovation is a new type of fully inkjet-printable, two-dimensional, high-frequency PAA on a flexible substrate at room temperature. The designed electronic circuit components, such as the FET switches in the phase shifter, metal interconnection lines, microstrip transmission lines, etc., are all printed using a special inkjet printer. Using the developed technology, entire 1x4, 2x2, and 4x4 PAA systems were developed, packaged, and demonstrated at 5.3 GHz. Several key solutions are addressed in this work to solve the fabrication issues. The source/drain contact is developed using droplets of silver ink printed on the source/drain areas prior to applying CNT thin-film. The wet silver ink droplets allow the silver to

Gas market distorting effects of imbalanced gas balancing rules: Inefficient regulation of pipeline flexibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keyaerts, Nico; Hallack, Michelle; Glachant, Jean-Michel; D'haeseleer, William

2011-01-01

This paper analyzes the value and cost of line-pack flexibility in liberalized gas markets through examination of the techno-economic characteristics of gas transport pipelines and the trade-offs between different ways to use the infrastructure: transport and flexibility. Line-pack flexibility is becoming increasingly important as a tool to balance gas supply and demand over different periods. In the European liberalized market context, a monopolist unbundled network operator offers regulated transport services and flexibility (balancing) services according to the network code and balancing rules. Therefore, gas policy makers should understand the role and consequences of line-pack regulation. The analysis shows that the line-pack flexibility service has an important economic value for the shippers and the TSO. Furthermore, the analysis identifies distorting effects in the gas market due to inadequate regulation of line-pack flexibility: by disregarding the sunk costs of flexibility in the balancing rules, the overall efficiency of the gas system is decreased. Finally, the analysis demonstrates that the actual costs of line-pack flexibility are related to the peak cumulative imbalance throughout the balancing period. Any price for pipeline flexibility should, therefore, be based on the related trade-off between the right to use the line-pack flexibility and the provision of transport services. - Research Highlights: →Line-pack flexibility is a main gas balancing instrument. →Capacity related costs of line-pack flexibility depend on peak cumulative imbalances. →Line-pack pricing rules determine choice between ex ante and ex post balancing. →Inefficient line-pack regulation causes gas market distortions.

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Balance and flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

2003-12-01

The 'work-life balance' and flexible working are currently key buzz terms in the NHS. Those looking for more information on these topics should visit Flexibility at www.flexibility.co.uk for a host of resources designed to support new ways of working, including information on flexible workers and flexible rostering, the legal balancing act for work-life balance and home working.

Flexible Bit Preservation on a National Basis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jurik, Bolette; Nielsen, Anders Bo; Zierau, Eld

2012-01-01

In this paper we present the results from The Danish National Bit Repository project. The project aim was establishment of a system that can offer flexible and sustainable bit preservation solutions to Danish cultural heritage institutions. Here the bit preservation solutions must include support...... of bit safety as well as other requirements like e.g. confidentiality and availability. The Danish National Bit Repository is motivated by the need to investigate and handle bit preservation for digital cultural heritage. Digital preservation relies on the integrity of the bits which digital material...

Light management in flexible OLEDs

Science.gov (United States)

Harkema, Stephan; Pendyala, Raghu K.; Geurts, Christian G. C.; Helgers, Paul L. J.; Levell, Jack W.; Wilson, Joanne S.; MacKerron, Duncan

2014-10-01

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are a promising lighting technology. In particular OLEDs fabricated on plastic foils are believed to hold the future. These planar devices are subject to various optical losses, which requires sophisticated light management solutions. Flexible OLEDs on plastic substrates are as prone to losses related to wave guiding as devices on glass. However, we determined that OLEDs on plastic substrates are susceptible to another loss mode due to wave guiding in the thin film barrier. With modeling of white polymer OLEDs fabricated on PEN substrates, we demonstrate that this loss mode is particularly sensitive to polarized light emission. Furthermore, we investigated how thin film barrier approaches can be combined with high index light extraction layers. Our analysis shows that OLEDs with a thin film barrier consisting of an inorganic/organic/inorganic layer sequence, a low index inorganic negatively affects the OLED efficiency. We conclude that high index inorganics are more suitable for usage in high efficiency flexible OLEDs.

Supporting flexible processes with adaptive workflow and case handling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Günther, C.W.; Reichert, M.; Aalst, van der W.M.P.

2008-01-01

Workflow management technology has profoundly transformed the way complex tasks are being handled in modern, large-scale organizations. However, it is mostly those systems' inherent lack of flexibility that hinders their broad acceptance, and that is perceived as annoyance by users. In this context,

Report on achievements of research and development of an automatic sewing system in fiscal 1988. Three-dimensional flexible sub-system; 1988 nendo jido hosei system no kenkyu kaihatsu seika hokokusho. Sanjigen flexible sub system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1989-03-01

The Automatic Sewing System Technology Research Association was commissioned from the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology on research of a production system by apparel types and systematization of an experiment plant. As the research on systematizing the experiment plant, the association is tackling with the researches on a high-speed laser cutting sub-system, a flexible sewing sub-system, a hi-tech assembling sub-system, and a three-dimensional flexible pressing sub-system. This paper reports the achievement of the research and development on the three-dimensional flexible pressing sub-system. It was intended to move forward development of technologies to put on and take off apparels and transport products, to achieve interlocking with other component technologies, and to structure an efficient pressing and processing system for finish. An experiment plant was built for ladies' blazer coats set as objects of model wears. The plant operation experiments and comprehensive evaluation are scheduled to be performed in fiscal 1990. Therefore, basic design research was carried out on an automatic put-on/take-off device and an auto-hanger system with an objective of application of the experimental plant. Studies on accuracy improvement was executed in the research of setting shapes of flexible dummies. In the research of pressing conditions, application of the 'estimation type information retrieval and control system' was studied. As a result, achievements were obtained as nearly as has been initially intended. (NEDO)

Deploying 5G-technologies in smart city and smart home wireless sensor networks with interferences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lynggaard, Per; Skouby, Knud Erik

2015-01-01

communication in an Internet of Things (5G) contexts. In this paper we discuss some of the key challenges that exist in the smart city and smart home networks in the light of possible 5G-solutions. Focus is on deploying cognitive radio technologies (5G) which enables the smart city networks to support......Deploying 5G technologies in a combination of smart homes and smart city opens for a new ecosystem with big potentials. The potentials lie in the creation of an advanced ICT infrastructure with support for connected and entangled services possibilities including technologies for efficient...... interconnected infrastructure elements, to handle big-data from the smart homes, and to be compatible with existing infrastructures. The considered cognitive radio technology is based on pre-coded OFDM which offers the needed flexibility to deal with the key challenges found in the smart home networks. Thus...

High-Level Design Space and Flexibility Exploration for Adaptive, Energy-Efficient WCDMA Channel Estimation Architectures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoltán Endre Rákossy

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the fast changing wireless communication standards coupled with strict performance constraints, the demand for flexible yet high-performance architectures is increasing. To tackle the flexibility requirement, software-defined radio (SDR is emerging as an obvious solution, where the underlying hardware implementation is tuned via software layers to the varied standards depending on power-performance and quality requirements leading to adaptable, cognitive radio. In this paper, we conduct a case study for representatives of two complexity classes of WCDMA channel estimation algorithms and explore the effect of flexibility on energy efficiency using different implementation options. Furthermore, we propose new design guidelines for both highly specialized architectures and highly flexible architectures using high-level synthesis, to enable the required performance and flexibility to support multiple applications. Our experiments with various design points show that the resulting architectures meet the performance constraints of WCDMA and a wide range of options are offered for tuning such architectures depending on power/performance/area constraints of SDR.

Regulatory Barriers for Flexible Coupling of the Nordic Power and District Heating Markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skytte, Klaus; Olsen, Ole Jess

2016-01-01

that the choice of technologies for heat generation is mainly driven by outdated policies and tax conditions that create barriers for additional flexibility in the overall energy system. However, the balancing markets may be a main driver for introducing more electric boilers into DH and thereby increase its......Large share of variable renewable energy sources (VRE) is being deployed in the Nordic countries, especially wind power. This calls for additional flexibility of the power market. With the right coupling to the underlying national and local district heating (DH) markets, large shares of flexibility...

Solar cell fabricated on welded thin flexible silicon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hessmann Maik Thomas

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We present a thin-film crystalline silicon solar cell with an AM1.5 efficiency of 11.5% fabricated on welded 50 μm thin silicon foils. The aperture area of the cell is 1.00 cm2. The cell has an open-circuit voltage of 570 mV, a short-circuit current density of 29.9 mA cm-2 and a fill factor of 67.6%. These are the first results ever presented for solar cells on welded silicon foils. The foils were welded together in order to create the first thin flexible monocrystalline band substrate. A flexible band substrate offers the possibility to overcome the area restriction of ingot-based monocrystalline silicon wafers and the feasibility of a roll-to-roll manufacturing. In combination with an epitaxial and layer transfer process a decrease in production costs can be achieved.

Plasma assisted surface coating/modification processes: An emerging technology

Science.gov (United States)

Spalvins, T.

1986-01-01

A broad understanding of the numerous ion or plasma assisted surface coating/modification processes is sought. An awareness of the principles of these processes is needed before discussing in detail the ion nitriding technology. On the basis of surface modifications arising from ion or plasma energizing and interactions, it can be broadly classified as deposition of distinct overlay coatings (sputtering-dc, radio frequency, magnetron, reactive; ion plating-diode, triode) and surface property modification without forming a discrete coating (ion implantation, ion beam mixing, laser beam irradiation, ion nitriding, ion carburizing, plasma oxidation). These techniques offer a great flexibility and are capable in tailoring desirable chemical and structural surface properties independent of the bulk properties.

Plasma assisted surface coating/modification processes - An emerging technology

Science.gov (United States)

Spalvins, T.

1987-01-01

A broad understanding of the numerous ion or plasma assisted surface coating/modification processes is sought. An awareness of the principles of these processes is needed before discussing in detail the ion nitriding technology. On the basis of surface modifications arising from ion or plasma energizing and interactions, it can be broadly classified as deposition of distinct overlay coatings (sputtering-dc, radio frequency, magnetron, reactive; ion plating-diode, triode) and surface property modification without forming a discrete coating (ion implantation, ion beam mixing, laser beam irradiation, ion nitriding, ion carburizing, plasma oxidation. These techniques offer a great flexibility and are capable in tailoring desirable chemical and structural surface properties independent of the bulk properties.

23rd International Conference on Flexible Automation & Intelligent Manufacturing

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

The proceedings includes the set of revised papers from the 23rd International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM 2013). This conference aims to provide an international forum for the exchange of leading edge scientific knowledge and industrial experience regarding the development and integration of the various aspects of Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems covering the complete life-cycle of a company’s Products and Processes. Contents will include topics such as: Product, Process and Factory Integrated Design, Manufacturing Technology and Intelligent Systems, Manufacturing Operations Management and Optimization and Manufacturing Networks and MicroFactories.

BRIDGING THE KNOWLEDGE DIVIDE Educational Technology for Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reviewed by Ozlem OZAN,

2009-10-01

Makerere University in Uganda and University of Botswana, Eduardo Mondlane Univeristy, Catholic University of Mozambique are given and discussed. Within this context challenges and solutions are mentioned. Furthermore some framework for distance education planning and programming are offered. Results of evaluation study on the impact of a Cognitive Apprenticeship-Based Learning Environment are discussed.Flexibility of teacher education is an important issue for flexible education of students. Because of this, final section, which consists of five chapters, focuses on flexible learning and teaching into teacher preparation. Case studies and thoughts from China, Rwanda, Nigeria, Salvador de Bahia are shared.BIODATA and CONTACT ADDRESSES of AUTHOROzlem OZAN, MA has been a Research Assistant in Department of Computer Education & Instructional Technology at Eskisehir Osmangazi University in Turkey since 2002. She received B.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department and master’s degree in Distance Education at Anadolu University. Her research interests are distance education, information and communication technologies. She also gives lessons about multimedia development as an instructor

High Accuracy Attitude Control System Design for Satellite with Flexible Appendages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenya Zhou

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In order to realize the high accuracy attitude control of satellite with flexible appendages, attitude control system consisting of the controller and structural filter was designed. When the low order vibration frequency of flexible appendages is approximating the bandwidth of attitude control system, the vibration signal will enter the control system through measurement device to bring impact on the accuracy or even the stability. In order to reduce the impact of vibration of appendages on the attitude control system, the structural filter is designed in terms of rejecting the vibration of flexible appendages. Considering the potential problem of in-orbit frequency variation of the flexible appendages, the design method for the adaptive notch filter is proposed based on the in-orbit identification technology. Finally, the simulation results are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed design techniques.

FLECH - A Danish market solution for DSO congestion management through DER flexibility services

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Chunyu; Ding, Yi; Nordentoft, Niels Christian

2014-01-01

Future electric power systems will face new operational challenges due to the high penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs). In Denmark distribution system operator (DSO) expects a significant congestion increased in distribution grids. In order to manage these congestions and mobilize...... the DERs as economically efficient as possible in the future distribution grid, the brand new notion of Flexibility Clearing House (FLECH) is proposed in this paper. With the Aggregator-based offers, the proposed FLECH market has the ability to promote small scale DERs (up to 5MW) for actively...... participating in trading flexibility services, which are stipulated accommodating the various requirements of DSO. Accordingly, the trading setups and processes of the FLECH market are also illustrated in detail. A quantitative example is utilized to illustrate the formulation and classification of flexibility...

High performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs

KAUST Repository

Fahad, Hossain M.

2014-06-01

We demonstrate the first ever CMOS compatible soft etch back based high performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs. The move from planar to non-planar FinFETs has enabled continued scaling down to the 14 nm technology node. This has been possible due to the reduction in off-state leakage and reduced short channel effects on account of the superior electrostatic charge control of multiple gates. At the same time, flexible electronics is an exciting expansion opportunity for next generation electronics. However, a fully integrated low-cost system will need to maintain ultra-large-scale-integration density, high performance and reliability - same as today\\'s traditional electronics. Up until recently, this field has been mainly dominated by very weak performance organic electronics enabled by low temperature processes, conducive to low melting point plastics. Now however, we show the world\\'s highest performing flexible version of 3D FinFET CMOS using a state-of-the-art CMOS compatible fabrication technique for high performance ultra-mobile consumer applications with stylish design. © 2014 IEEE.

A low-cost, high-efficiency and high-flexibility surface modification technology for a black bisphenol A polycarbonate board

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Suhuan; Liu, Jianguo, E-mail: Liujg@mail.hust.edu.cn; Lv, Ming; Zeng, Xiaoyan

2014-09-30

Highlights: • A low-cost, high-efficiency, high-flexibility surface modification technology was achieved. • Different laser modification parameters resulted in different surface microstructures. • These special microstructures played a deciding role in the surface properties. • After the modification, the surface energy was found to have a significant increase. • The technology would be advantageous to fabricate high-quality micro devices and systems. - Abstract: In this paper, a low-cost, high-efficiency and high-flexibility surface modification technology for polymer materials was achieved at high laser scanning speeds (600–1000 mm s{sup −1}) and using an all-solid state, Q-switched, high-average power, and nanosecond pulse ultraviolet (355 nm wavelength) laser. During the surface modification of a very important engineering plastic, i.e., black bisphenol A polycarbonate (BAPC) board, it was found that different laser parameters (e.g., laser fluence and pulse frequency) were able to result in different surface microstructures (e.g., many tiny protuberances or a porous microstructure with periodical V-type grooves). After the modification, although the total relative content of the oxygen-containing groups (e.g., C-O and COO{sup −}) on the BAPC surface increased, however, the special microstructures played a deciding role in the surface properties (e.g., contact angle and surface energy) of the BAPC. The change trend of the water contact angle on the BAPC surface was with an obvious increase, that of the diiodomethane contact angle was with a most decrease, and that of the ethylene glycol contact angle was between the above two. It showed that the wetting properties of the three liquids on the modified BAPC surface were different. Basing on the measurements of the contact angles of the three liquids, and according to the Young equation and the Lifshitz van der Waals and Lewis acid–base theory, the BAPC surface energy after the modification was

A low-cost, high-efficiency and high-flexibility surface modification technology for a black bisphenol A polycarbonate board

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Suhuan; Liu, Jianguo; Lv, Ming; Zeng, Xiaoyan

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A low-cost, high-efficiency, high-flexibility surface modification technology was achieved. • Different laser modification parameters resulted in different surface microstructures. • These special microstructures played a deciding role in the surface properties. • After the modification, the surface energy was found to have a significant increase. • The technology would be advantageous to fabricate high-quality micro devices and systems. - Abstract: In this paper, a low-cost, high-efficiency and high-flexibility surface modification technology for polymer materials was achieved at high laser scanning speeds (600–1000 mm s −1 ) and using an all-solid state, Q-switched, high-average power, and nanosecond pulse ultraviolet (355 nm wavelength) laser. During the surface modification of a very important engineering plastic, i.e., black bisphenol A polycarbonate (BAPC) board, it was found that different laser parameters (e.g., laser fluence and pulse frequency) were able to result in different surface microstructures (e.g., many tiny protuberances or a porous microstructure with periodical V-type grooves). After the modification, although the total relative content of the oxygen-containing groups (e.g., C-O and COO − ) on the BAPC surface increased, however, the special microstructures played a deciding role in the surface properties (e.g., contact angle and surface energy) of the BAPC. The change trend of the water contact angle on the BAPC surface was with an obvious increase, that of the diiodomethane contact angle was with a most decrease, and that of the ethylene glycol contact angle was between the above two. It showed that the wetting properties of the three liquids on the modified BAPC surface were different. Basing on the measurements of the contact angles of the three liquids, and according to the Young equation and the Lifshitz van der Waals and Lewis acid–base theory, the BAPC surface energy after the modification was calculated

Influence of inflow angle on flexible flap aerodynamic performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, H Y; Ye, Z; Li, Z M; Li, C

2013-01-01

Large scale wind turbines have larger blade lengths and weights, which creates new challenges for blade design. This paper selects NREL S809 airfoil, and uses the parameterized technology to realize the flexible trailing edge deformation, researches the dynamic aerodynamic characteristics in the process of continuous flexible deformation, analyses the influence of inflow angle on flexible flap aerodynamic performance, in order to further realize the flexible wind turbine blade design and provides some references for the active control scheme. The results show that compared with the original airfoil, proper trailing edge deformation can improve the lift coefficient, reduce the drag coefficient, and thereby more efficiently realize flow field active control. With inflow angle increases, dynamic lift-drag coefficient hysteresis loop shape deviation occurs, even turns into different shapes. Appropriate swing angle can improve the flap lift coefficient, but may cause early separation of flow. To improve the overall performance of wind turbine blades, different angular control should be used at different cross sections, in order to achieve the best performance

Analysis of the Organ Offers Received From European Union Countries Before and After the Introduction of a Dedicated Information Technology Portal: The COORENOR/FOEDUS Portal.

Science.gov (United States)

Peritore, D; Rizzato, L; Di Ciaccio, P; Trapani, S; Carella, C; Oliveti, A; Rizzo, A; Nanni Costa, A

2017-05-01

To optimize the use of nontransplantable organs in their own territory, the European Commission, as part of a project led by Italy, has promoted the use of an information technology (IT) portal, the COORENOR portal, developed by the Czech Republic in 2012, which evolved to become FOEDUS in 2015. To evaluate the impact of the portal on our reality, we analyzed the number and type of offers received and organs imported in the previous 48 months (period A) as well as the 48 months after the introduction of the portal (period B). We also examined the origin and the offer mode. The offers received were 404 and 753, respectively, in the two periods, with 315 (41.8%) organs received through the portal. The organs transplanted were 53 and 64, respectively, in the two periods; 20 (31.2%) were sent through the portal. The most commonly offered organs are lungs (36.7% and 29.3% of offers in periods A and B, respectively). The most transplanted organ is the liver (59.4% and 45% of transplants in periods A and B, respectively). The use of the portal has gradually increased, growing from 16.4% of the offer mode in 2012 to 84.7% in 2016. The increase of offers related to the increase of donations and the attitude to the sharing of resources has determined an increase of 19.2% of total transplants, especially for certain types such as pediatric transplants. The portal, ensuring speed and simultaneity of offer, real time sharing of information and transparency of allocation, is also used for trade in the International Partnership Agreements. Therefore, transplants have been conditioned by the existing agreements with Greece, Malta, and the countries of the South Transplant Alliance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of flexible thermoelectric microcoolers using planar thin-film technologies

OpenAIRE

Gonçalves, L. M.; Rocha, J. G.; Couto, Carlos; Alpuim, P.; Min, Gao; Rowe, D. M.; Correia, J. H.

2007-01-01

The present work reports on the fabrication and characterization of a planar Peltier cooler on a flexible substrate. The device was fabricated on a 12 νm thick Kapton(c) polyimide substrate using Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 thermoelectric elements deposited by thermal co-evaporation. The cold area of the device is cooled with four thermoelectric junctions, connected in series using metal contacts. Plastic substrates add uncommon mechanical properties to the composite film-substrate and enable integrati...

Monitoring of Vital Signs with Flexible and Wearable Medical Devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Yasser; Ostfeld, Aminy E; Lochner, Claire M; Pierre, Adrien; Arias, Ana C

2016-06-01

Advances in wireless technologies, low-power electronics, the internet of things, and in the domain of connected health are driving innovations in wearable medical devices at a tremendous pace. Wearable sensor systems composed of flexible and stretchable materials have the potential to better interface to the human skin, whereas silicon-based electronics are extremely efficient in sensor data processing and transmission. Therefore, flexible and stretchable sensors combined with low-power silicon-based electronics are a viable and efficient approach for medical monitoring. Flexible medical devices designed for monitoring human vital signs, such as body temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, pulse oxygenation, and blood glucose have applications in both fitness monitoring and medical diagnostics. As a review of the latest development in flexible and wearable human vitals sensors, the essential components required for vitals sensors are outlined and discussed here, including the reported sensor systems, sensing mechanisms, sensor fabrication, power, and data processing requirements. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Conditions of the potential for commercialization of the patent: the implementation of a technology public offering system technology at CNEN; Condicionantes do potencial de exploracao comercial da patente: a implantacao de um sistema de oferta publica de tecnologia na CNEN

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Archila, Daniela Lima Cerqueira

2015-07-01

This dissertation identifies the main factors which represent the conditions for the potential commercialization of patents aiming at the implementation of a system for technology public offering at CNEN as a strategy for creating licensing opportunities to the industrial sector. The method applied refers to an exploratory case study of a patented technology selected from a sample of CNEN's patent portfolio in the biopharmaceutical sector. The case study comprehends a field research of interviews conducted with two specialists in technology and innovation management, one researcher from CNEN and a biopharmaceutical company. The results show that among the nineteen main factors - related to technology, market, business and Science and Technology Organization (STO) - the market dynamics, the potential applications of the technology and an abstract of its main benefits compared to existing technologies are the major relevant information for each technology to be included in the public offering system. Other results indicate that the evaluation of such factors may be conducted by competent professionals to bring less uncertainty and risk to the early-stage of the innovation process, as well as enhance the potential interest of a company in the technology. On the other hand, the latter requires innovation capabilities to move the technology forward – additional R&D, scale-up, manufacturing and marketing - whilst the STO needs a entrepreneurial culture that mitigates its obstacles, creates more positive solutions for its routines and processes and gives sustainability to its Technology Transfer Office (TTO) through valuing its personnel in the long term. Finally, emphasis on technological partnerships with companies can be a motivating feature for directing the STO's patent strategy to the creation of proprietary technological platforms that reflect problems experienced by the commercial environment, as well as the development of this strategic patent

Implementation of a robotic flexible assembly system

Science.gov (United States)

Benton, Ronald C.

1987-01-01

As part of the Intelligent Task Automation program, a team developed enabling technologies for programmable, sensory controlled manipulation in unstructured environments. These technologies include 2-D/3-D vision sensing and understanding, force sensing and high speed force control, 2.5-D vision alignment and control, and multiple processor architectures. The subsequent design of a flexible, programmable, sensor controlled robotic assembly system for small electromechanical devices is described using these technologies and ongoing implementation and integration efforts. Using vision, the system picks parts dumped randomly in a tray. Using vision and force control, it performs high speed part mating, in-process monitoring/verification of expected results and autonomous recovery from some errors. It is programmed off line with semiautomatic action planning.

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2011-01-01

Walibi Rhône-Alpes is open until 31 October. Reduced prices for children and adults at this French attraction park in Les Avenières. For more information about all these offers, please consult our web site: http://association.web.cern.ch/association/en/OtherActivities/Offers.html

Stability of perovskite solar cells on flexible substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Tam, Ho Won; Chen, Wei; Liu, Fangzhou; He, Yanling; Leung, Tik Lun; Wang, Yushu; Wong, Man Kwong; Djurišić, Aleksandra B.; Ng, Alan Man Ching; He, Zhubing; Chan, Wai Kin; Tang, Jinyao

2018-02-01

Perovskite solar cells are emerging photovoltaic technology with potential for low cost, high efficiency devices. Currently, flexible devices efficiencies over 15% have been achieved. Flexible devices are of significant interest for achieving very low production cost via roll-to-roll processing. However, the stability of perovskite devices remains a significant challenge. Unlike glass substrate which has negligible water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), polymeric flexible film substrates suffer from high moisture permeability. As PET and PEN flexible substrates exhibit higher water permeability then glass, transparent flexible backside encapsulation should be used to maximize light harvesting in perovskite layer while WVTR should be low enough. Wide band gap materials are transparent in the visible spectral range low temperature processable and can be a moisture barrier. For flexible substrates, approaches like atomic layer deposition (ALD) and low temperature solution processing could be used for metal oxide deposition. In this work, ALD SnO2, TiO2, Al2O3 and solution processed spin-on-glass was used as the barrier layer on the polymeric side of indium tin oxide (ITO) coated PEN substrates. The UV-Vis transmission spectra of the prepared substrates were investigated. Perovskite solar cells will be fabricated and stability of the devices were encapsulated with copolymer films on the top side and tested under standard ISOS-L-1 protocol and then compared to the commercial unmodified ITO/PET or ITO/PEN substrates. In addition, devices with copolymer films laminated on both sides successfully surviving more than 300 hours upon continuous AM1.5G illumination were demonstrated.

Highly flexible and robust N-doped SiC nanoneedle field emitters

KAUST Repository

Chen, Shanliang

2015-01-23

Flexible field emission (FE) emitters, whose unique advantages are lightweight and conformable, promise to enable a wide range of technologies, such as roll-up flexible FE displays, e-papers and flexible light-emitting diodes. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time highly flexible SiC field emitters with low turn-on fields and excellent emission stabilities. n-Type SiC nanoneedles with ultra-sharp tips and tailored N-doping levels were synthesized via a catalyst-assisted pyrolysis process on carbon fabrics by controlling the gas mixture and cooling rate. The turn-on field, threshold field and current emission fluctuation of SiC nanoneedle emitters with an N-doping level of 7.58 at.% are 1.11 V μm-1, 1.55 V μm-1 and 8.1%, respectively, suggesting the best overall performance for such flexible field emitters. Furthermore, characterization of the FE properties under repeated bending cycles and different bending states reveal that the SiC field emitters are mechanically and electrically robust with unprecedentedly high flexibility and stabilities. These findings underscore the importance of concurrent morphology and composition controls in nanomaterial synthesis and establish SiC nanoneedles as the most promising candidate for flexible FE applications. © 2015 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved.

Highly flexible and robust N-doped SiC nanoneedle field emitters

KAUST Repository

Chen, Shanliang; Ying, Pengzhan; Wang, Lin; Wei, Guodong; Gao, Fengmei; Zheng, Jinju; Shang, Minhui; Yang, Zuobao; Yang, Weiyou; Wu, Tao

2015-01-01

Flexible field emission (FE) emitters, whose unique advantages are lightweight and conformable, promise to enable a wide range of technologies, such as roll-up flexible FE displays, e-papers and flexible light-emitting diodes. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time highly flexible SiC field emitters with low turn-on fields and excellent emission stabilities. n-Type SiC nanoneedles with ultra-sharp tips and tailored N-doping levels were synthesized via a catalyst-assisted pyrolysis process on carbon fabrics by controlling the gas mixture and cooling rate. The turn-on field, threshold field and current emission fluctuation of SiC nanoneedle emitters with an N-doping level of 7.58 at.% are 1.11 V μm-1, 1.55 V μm-1 and 8.1%, respectively, suggesting the best overall performance for such flexible field emitters. Furthermore, characterization of the FE properties under repeated bending cycles and different bending states reveal that the SiC field emitters are mechanically and electrically robust with unprecedentedly high flexibility and stabilities. These findings underscore the importance of concurrent morphology and composition controls in nanomaterial synthesis and establish SiC nanoneedles as the most promising candidate for flexible FE applications. © 2015 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved.

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Are you a member of the Staff Association? Did you know that as a member you can benefit from the following special offers: BCGE (Banque Cantonale de Genève): personalized banking solutions with preferential conditions. TPG: reduced rates on annual transport passes for active and retired staff. Aquaparc: reduced ticket prices for children and adults at this Swiss waterpark in Le Bouveret. Walibi: reduced prices for children and adults at this French attraction park in Les Avenières. FNAC: 5% reduction on FNAC vouchers. For more information about all these offers, please consult our web site: http://association.web.cern.ch/association/en/OtherActivities/Offers.html

Photogrammetric Verification of Fiber Optic Shape Sensors on Flexible Aerospace Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Jason P.; Rogge, Matthew D.; Jones, Thomas W.

2012-01-01

Multi-core fiber (MCF) optic shape sensing offers the possibility of providing in-flight shape measurements of highly flexible aerospace structures and control surfaces for such purposes as gust load alleviation, flutter suppression, general flight control and structural health monitoring. Photogrammetric measurements of surface mounted MCF shape sensing cable can be used to quantify the MCF installation path and verify measurement methods.

Movable MEMS Devices on Flexible Silicon

KAUST Repository

Ahmed, Sally

2013-05-05

Flexible electronics have gained great attention recently. Applications such as flexible displays, artificial skin and health monitoring devices are a few examples of this technology. Looking closely at the components of these devices, although MEMS actuators and sensors can play critical role to extend the application areas of flexible electronics, fabricating movable MEMS devices on flexible substrates is highly challenging. Therefore, this thesis reports a process for fabricating free standing and movable MEMS devices on flexible silicon substrates; MEMS flexure thermal actuators have been fabricated to illustrate the viability of the process. Flexure thermal actuators consist of two arms: a thin hot arm and a wide cold arm separated by a small air gap; the arms are anchored to the substrate from one end and connected to each other from the other end. The actuator design has been modified by adding etch holes in the anchors to suit the process of releasing a thin layer of silicon from the bulk silicon substrate. Selecting materials that are compatible with the release process was challenging. Moreover, difficulties were faced in the fabrication process development; for example, the structural layer of the devices was partially etched during silicon release although it was protected by aluminum oxide which is not attacked by the releasing gas . Furthermore, the thin arm of the thermal actuator was thinned during the fabrication process but optimizing the patterning and etching steps of the structural layer successfully solved this problem. Simulation was carried out to compare the performance of the original and the modified designs for the thermal actuators and to study stress and temperature distribution across a device. A fabricated thermal actuator with a 250 μm long hot arm and a 225 μm long cold arm separated by a 3 μm gap produced a deflection of 3 μm before silicon release, however, the fabrication process must be optimized to obtain fully functioning

Carbon dioxide separation from flue gases: a technological review emphasizing reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Science.gov (United States)

Songolzadeh, Mohammad; Soleimani, Mansooreh; Takht Ravanchi, Maryam; Songolzadeh, Reza

2014-01-01

Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO2 in the atmosphere is a global warming. Human activities are a major cause of increased CO2 concentration in atmosphere, as in recent decade, two-third of greenhouse effect was caused by human activities. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a major strategy that can be used to reduce GHGs emission. There are three methods for CCS: pre-combustion capture, oxy-fuel process, and post-combustion capture. Among them, post-combustion capture is the most important one because it offers flexibility and it can be easily added to the operational units. Various technologies are used for CO2 capture, some of them include: absorption, adsorption, cryogenic distillation, and membrane separation. In this paper, various technologies for post-combustion are compared and the best condition for using each technology is identified.

Carbon Dioxide Separation from Flue Gases: A Technological Review Emphasizing Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Songolzadeh

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs such as CO2 in the atmosphere is a global warming. Human activities are a major cause of increased CO2 concentration in atmosphere, as in recent decade, two-third of greenhouse effect was caused by human activities. Carbon capture and storage (CCS is a major strategy that can be used to reduce GHGs emission. There are three methods for CCS: pre-combustion capture, oxy-fuel process, and post-combustion capture. Among them, post-combustion capture is the most important one because it offers flexibility and it can be easily added to the operational units. Various technologies are used for CO2 capture, some of them include: absorption, adsorption, cryogenic distillation, and membrane separation. In this paper, various technologies for post-combustion are compared and the best condition for using each technology is identified.

Innovative gas offers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sala, O.; Mela, P.; Chatelain, F.

2007-01-01

New energy offers are progressively made available as the opening of gas market to competition becomes broader. How are organized the combined offers: gas, electricity, renewable energies and energy services? What are the marketing strategies implemented? Three participants at this round table present their offer and answer these questions. (J.S.)

Feasibility study of flexible flat-panel X-ray detectors for digital radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joe, Ok La; Yun, Seung Man; Kim, Ho Kyung

2010-01-01

Flexible flat-panel detectors (FPDs), which utilize both organic photodiode (OPD) and organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) technologies, are recently concerned in digital radiography. The flexible FPD has several potential advantages, such as high accessibility to patient, avoidance of geometrical burr due to the oblique angle incidence of X-ray, great reduction in manufacturing cost due to jet-printing. At once, The OPD/OTFT arrays were fabricated by jet-printing techniques, mechanical robustness due to plastic substrates, and so on. In this study, we have investigated the feasibility of flexible FPD by comparing theoretical detective quantum efficiency (DQE) with that of the conventional amorphous silicon-based FPD. We chose copper phthalocyanine-fullerene (CuPc-C60) organic materials for the construction of the flexible FPD. DQE was calculated by the linear-systems transfer theory

Demand-Side Flexibility for Energy Transitions: Policy Recommendations for Developing Demand Response

OpenAIRE

Nursimulu, Anjali; Florin, Marie-Valentine; Vuille, François

2016-01-01

As a follow-up to IRGC's report on demand-side flexibility for energy transitions, this Policy Brief highlights that increasing flexibility in power systems is needed to accommodate higher shares of non-controllable and intermittent renewable generation, and that this requires changes to the market design and regulatory framework, to facilitate the development and deployment of appropriate technologies and market-based instruments (e.g. taxes and subsidies). The Policy Brief focuses on demand...

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2016-01-01

CERN was selected and participated in the ranking "Best Employers" organized by the magazine Bilan. To thank CERN for its collaboration, the magazine offers a reduction to the subscription fee for all employed members of personnel. 25% off the annual subscription: CHF 149.25 instead of CHF 199 .— The subscription includes the magazine delivered to your home for a year, every other Wednesday, as well as special editions and access to the e-paper. To benefit from this offer, simply fill out the form provided for this purpose. To get the form, please contact the secretariat of the Staff Association (Staff.Association@cern.ch).

Nozzle-less Ultrasonic Spray Deposition for Flexible Ammonia and Ozone Gas Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mónica ACUAUTLA

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In the last years printing and flexible electronic is transforming the way we used electronic devices. Among these, special interest is given to the development of gas sensors for industrial and environmental applications. Nozzle-less ultrasonic spray deposition is a simple and precise technique, which offers good homogeneity and high quality of the sensitive thin film. In addition, it represents a potential fabrication process for flexible electronic with low cost production and low waste of material. In this paper, nanoparticles of zinc oxide were deposited by nozzle-less ultrasonic spray deposition on flexible substrate. The sensing properties towards reducing and oxidizing gases in function of the operational temperature are reported. The flexible platform consists in titanium/platinum interdigitated electrodes and a micro-heater device, both fabricated by lift-off and photolithography. The operating temperature of the sensor is also challenging in term of power consumption. It is allowing the reaction with the exposure gases. Most of the semiconducting metal oxide materials used for gas sensing applications require high temperatures above 250 °C. Flexible gas sensors fabricated in this work present good responses towards ammonia and ozone at 300 °C and 200 °C respectively, with fast response and recovery time in a wide range of gas concentration.

Weak Memory Models: Balancing Definitional Simplicity and Implementation Flexibility

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Sizhuo; Vijayaraghavan, Muralidaran; Arvind

2017-01-01

The memory model for RISC-V, a newly developed open source ISA, has not been finalized yet and thus, offers an opportunity to evaluate existing memory models. We believe RISC-V should not adopt the memory models of POWER or ARM, because their axiomatic and operational definitions are too complicated. We propose two new weak memory models: WMM and WMM-S, which balance definitional simplicity and implementation flexibility differently. Both allow all instruction reorderings except overtaking of...

A flexible environmental reuse/recycle policy based on economic strength.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsiliyannis, C A

2007-01-01

Environmental policies based on fixed recycling rates may lead to increased environmental impacts (e.g., landfilled wastes) during economic expansion. A rate policy is proposed, which is adjusted according to the overall strength or weakness of the economy, as reflected by overall packaging demand and consumption, production and imports-exports. During economic expansion featuring rising consumption, production or exports, the proposed flexible policy suggests a higher reuse/recycle rate. During economic slowdown a lower rate results in lower impacts. The flexible target rates are determined in terms of annual data, including consumption, imports-exports and production. Higher environmental gains can be achieved at lower cost if the flexible policy is applied to widely consumed packaging products and materials associated with low rates, or if cleaner recycling technology is adopted.

Improved NGL recovery designs maximize operating flexibility and product recoveries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilkinson, J.D.; Hudson, H.M.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that the historically cyclical nature in the market for ethane and propane has demonstrated the need for flexible natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery plants. NEwly developed and patented processes are now available which can provide ultra-high recovery of ethane (95%+) when demand for ethane is high and provide essentially complete ethane rejection without the normally concomitant reduction in propane recovery. This provides plant operators the flexibility to respond more readily to NGL market conditions, thus maximizing plant operating profits. The new process designs provide this flexibility without increasing utility requirements. In fact, utility consumption is often lower when compared to conventional designs. This same process technology can also be easily retrofit into existing plants with relatively quick payout of the modifications from both recovery and efficiency improvements

Innovative Technology in Automotive Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, John

2007-01-01

Automotive Technology combines hands-on training along with a fully integrated, interactive, computerized multistationed facility. Our program is a competency based, true open-entry/open-exit program that utilizes flexible self-paced course outlines. It is designed around an industry partnership that promotes community and economic development,…

Gas microstrip detectors based on flexible printed circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salomon, M.; Crowe, K.; Faszer, W.; Lindsay, P.; Curran Maier, J.M.

1995-09-01

We have studied the properties of a new type of Gas Microstrip Counter built using flexible printed circuit technology. We describe the manufacturing procedures, the assembly of the device, as well as its operation under a variety of conditions, gases and types of radiation. We also describe two new passivation materials, Tantalum and Niobium, which produce effective surfaces. (author)

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Special Offers

CERN Multimedia

Staff Association

2011-01-01

Are you a member of the Staff Association? Did you know that as a member you can benefit from the following special offers: BCGE (Banque Cantonale de Genève): personalized banking solutions with preferential conditions.     TPG: reduced rates on annual transport passes for all active and retired staff.     Aquaparc: reduced ticket prices for children and adults at this Swiss waterpark in Le Bouveret.     Walibi: reduced prices for children and adults at this French attraction park in Les Avenières.       FNAC: 5% reduction on FNAC vouchers.       For more information about all these offers, please consult our web site: http://association.web.cern.ch/association/en/OtherActivities/Offers.html

Exploiting Framework Flexibility of a Metal-Organic Framework for Selective Adsorption of Styrene over Ethylbenzene

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mukherjee, S.; Joarder, B.; Desai, A.V.; Manna, B.; Krishna, R.; Ghosh, S.K.

2015-01-01

The separation of styrene and ethylbenzene mixtures is industrially important and is currently performed in highly energy-intensive vacuum distillation columns. The primary objective of our investigation is to offer an energy-efficient alternative for selective adsorption of styrene by a flexible

Flexible structured high-frequency film bulk acoustic resonator for flexible wireless electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Changjian; Shu, Yi; Yang, Yi; Ren, Tian-Ling; Jin, Hao; Dong, Shu-Rong; Chan, Mansun

2015-01-01

Flexible electronics have inspired many novel and very important applications in recent years and various flexible electronic devices such as diodes, transistors, circuits, sensors, and radiofrequency (RF) passive devices including antennas and inductors have been reported. However, the lack of a high-performance RF resonator is one of the key bottlenecks to implement flexible wireless electronics. In this study, for the first time, a novel ultra-flexible structured film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is proposed. The flexible FBAR is fabricated on a flexible polyimide substrate using piezoelectric thin film aluminum nitride (AlN) for acoustic wave excitation. Both the shear wave and longitudinal wave can be excited under the surface interdigital electrodes configuration we proposed. In the case of the thickness extension mode, a flexible resonator with a working frequency as high as of 5.2325 GHz has been realized. The resonators stay fully functional under bending status and after repeated bending and re-flattening operations. This flexible high-frequency resonator will serve as a key building block for the future flexible wireless electronics, greatly expanding the application scope of flexible electronics. (paper)

Accurate 3D Mapping Algorithm for Flexible Antennas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saed Asaly

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This work addresses the problem of performing an accurate 3D mapping of a flexible antenna surface. Consider a high-gain satellite flexible antenna; even a submillimeter change in the antenna surface may lead to a considerable loss in the antenna gain. Using a robotic subreflector, such changes can be compensated for. Yet, in order to perform such tuning, an accurate 3D mapping of the main antenna is required. This paper presents a general method for performing an accurate 3D mapping of marked surfaces such as satellite dish antennas. Motivated by the novel technology for nanosatellites with flexible high-gain antennas, we propose a new accurate mapping framework which requires a small-sized monocamera and known patterns on the antenna surface. The experimental result shows that the presented mapping method can detect changes up to 0.1-millimeter accuracy, while the camera is located 1 meter away from the dish, allowing an RF antenna optimization for Ka and Ku frequencies. Such optimization process can improve the gain of the flexible antennas and allow an adaptive beam shaping. The presented method is currently being implemented on a nanosatellite which is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2018.

The Motherhood Wage Penalty Revisited: Experience, Heterogeneity, Work Effort, and Work-Schedule Flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Deborah J.; Binder, Melissa; Krause, Kate

2003-01-01

Controlling for human capital inputs and unobserved heterogeneity explained 55-57% of the wage gap between mothers and nonmothers. Mothers faced the highest wage penalty at return to work. High school graduates suffered more prolonged, severe losses than women with lower or higher attainment. Their jobs were less likely to offer flexibility needed…

Flexibility of a combined heat and power system with thermal energy storage for district heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nuytten, Thomas; Claessens, Bert; Paredis, Kristof; Van Bael, Johan; Six, Daan

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A generic model for flexibility assessment of thermal systems is proposed. ► The model is applied to a combined heat and power system with thermal energy storage. ► A centrally located storage offers more flexibility compared to individual units. ► Increasing the flexibility requires both a more powerful CHP and a larger buffer. - Abstract: The trend towards an increased importance of distributed (renewable) energy resources characterized by intermittent operation redefines the energy landscape. The stochastic nature of the energy systems on the supply side requires increased flexibility at the demand side. We present a model that determines the theoretical maximum of flexibility of a combined heat and power system coupled to a thermal energy storage solution that can be either centralized or decentralized. Conventional central heating, to meet the heat demand at peak moments, is also available. The implications of both storage concepts are evaluated in a reference district. The amount of flexibility created in the district heating system is determined by the approach of the system through delayed or forced operation mode. It is found that the distinction between the implementation of the thermal energy storage as a central unit or as a collection of local units, has a dramatic effect on the amount of available flexibility

Photo-Induced Room-Temperature Gas Sensing with a-IGZO Based Thin-Film Transistors Fabricated on Flexible Plastic Foil.

Science.gov (United States)

Knobelspies, Stefan; Bierer, Benedikt; Daus, Alwin; Takabayashi, Alain; Salvatore, Giovanni Antonio; Cantarella, Giuseppe; Ortiz Perez, Alvaro; Wöllenstein, Jürgen; Palzer, Stefan; Tröster, Gerhard

2018-01-26

We present a gas sensitive thin-film transistor (TFT) based on an amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (a-IGZO) semiconductor as the sensing layer, which is fabricated on a free-standing flexible polyimide foil. The photo-induced sensor response to NO₂ gas at room temperature and the cross-sensitivity to humidity are investigated. We combine the advantages of a transistor based sensor with flexible electronics technology to demonstrate the first flexible a-IGZO based gas sensitive TFT. Since flexible plastic substrates prohibit the use of high operating temperatures, the charge generation is promoted with the help of UV-light absorption, which ultimately triggers the reversible chemical reaction with the trace gas. Furthermore, the device fabrication process flow can be directly implemented in standard TFT technology, allowing for the parallel integration of the sensor and analog or logical circuits.

Photo-Induced Room-Temperature Gas Sensing with a-IGZO Based Thin-Film Transistors Fabricated on Flexible Plastic Foil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan Knobelspies

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We present a gas sensitive thin-film transistor (TFT based on an amorphous Indium–Gallium–Zinc–Oxide (a-IGZO semiconductor as the sensing layer, which is fabricated on a free-standing flexible polyimide foil. The photo-induced sensor response to NO2 gas at room temperature and the cross-sensitivity to humidity are investigated. We combine the advantages of a transistor based sensor with flexible electronics technology to demonstrate the first flexible a-IGZO based gas sensitive TFT. Since flexible plastic substrates prohibit the use of high operating temperatures, the charge generation is promoted with the help of UV-light absorption, which ultimately triggers the reversible chemical reaction with the trace gas. Furthermore, the device fabrication process flow can be directly implemented in standard TFT technology, allowing for the parallel integration of the sensor and analog or logical circuits.

Designing institutions for climate change: Why rational design involves technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coninck, H. de [Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Petten (Netherlands)

2008-09-30

This paper aims to explore how to augment the institutional solutions offered by current political theory for addressing the unprecedented problem of climate change. Although steering directly at emission reductions in an international treaty has benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness, the paper arrives at the conclusion that considerations around technological development should be drawn into the treaty equation in order to generate sufficient reciprocity to have a politically feasible international regime. It then argues that the benefits of technology agreements for climate change mitigation may be larger than commonly assumed, as they - if properly designed - could lead to real emission reductions and provide more flexibility to reach agreement in post-2012 negotiations than proposals modelled exclusively on the Kyoto Protocol or other types of absolute emission targets. Based on rational design of international institutions for environmental governance, and attempting to take into account considerations of technological dynamics and the 'sociotechnical system', contours of a possible environmentally effective and politically feasible international climate change agreements are sketched.

75 FR 34445 - Audit Program for Texas Flexible Permit Holders

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-17

... flexible permit. The third-party auditor would identify for each emission unit regulated under the source's... Technology, State Implementation Plan citation). The auditor will also need to review and assess the adequacy... unit-specific emission limitations. Where deficiencies exist, the auditor will provide recommendations...

Model of Formation of the Enterprise Business Portfolio in the Context of Ensuring Strategic Flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shatilova Olena V.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers urgent problems of enterprise management under conditions of external environment instability, studies problems of the enterprise strategic flexibility management. It shows that one of the efficient mechanisms of ensuring strategic flexibility is restructuring of the enterprise business portfolio in accordance with the change of the situation in the target market of enterprise functioning. The goal of the article is development of a model of formation of enterprise business portfolio in the context of ensuring strategic flexibility. The main method of optimisation of the enterprise business portfolio in the context of ensuring strategic flexibility is the use of modification of the Markowitz model of investment portfolio formation. The offered model of the enterprise business portfolio formation allows taking into account changes of external and internal environments and conducting portfolio restructuring in the event of the change of the enterprise target market situation. Prospects of further studies in this direction are detailed elaboration and formalisation of the organisational and economic mechanism of realisation of strategic flexibility at an enterprise.

Security and labour market flexibility: an alternative view from Denmark

OpenAIRE

Refslund, Bjarke; Rasmussen, Stine; Sørensen, Ole H.

2017-01-01

In the face of the economic and financial crisis, several European countries haveimplemented a number of structural reforms to increase employment and the flexibility of the labour market, in particular by reducing employment protection in an effort to deregulate labour markets. Reform proponents believe that a reduction of the gap between the protection of regular and non-standard contracts will decrease the alleged disincentives to offer permanent contracts, which should then lead to an inc...

Flexible Micro Finance Program: Effectiveness and Efficiency to Reach the Extreme Poor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meherun AHMED

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Following widespread criticisms of the conventional MFI framework, Plan Bangladesh, an INGO devised a flexible credit scheme characterized by door to door collection of deposits and loan repayments on a day to day basis. The scheme departs from the joint liability mechanism practiced by traditional MFIs in an effort to disburse services to the ultra poor, who are often excluded by community screening mechanisms as well as service providers. This paper aims to test the viability of a flexible scheme offering products developed through participatory market research targeted at individuals. We find the scheme to be highly effective, enhancing income of ultra poor households as well as providing adequate leverage for asset accumulation.

Flexibility@Work 2013: yearly report on flexible labor and employment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhout, E.; Heyma, A.; Prins, J.

2013-01-01

There is no clear evidence that the strong growth in the share of flexible labor relations between 2002 and 2007 points at a worldwide trend towards a larger share of flexible labor at the expense of traditional open-ended labor contracts. The growth in flexible labor varies too much between

Flexible missile autopilot design studies with PC-MATLAB/386

Science.gov (United States)

Ruth, Michael J.

1989-01-01

Development of a responsive, high-bandwidth missile autopilot for airframes which have structural modes of unusually low frequency presents a challenging design task. Such systems are viable candidates for modern, state-space control design methods. The PC-MATLAB interactive software package provides an environment well-suited to the development of candidate linear control laws for flexible missile autopilots. The strengths of MATLAB include: (1) exceptionally high speed (MATLAB's version for 80386-based PC's offers benchmarks approaching minicomputer and mainframe performance); (2) ability to handle large design models of several hundred degrees of freedom, if necessary; and (3) broad extensibility through user-defined functions. To characterize MATLAB capabilities, a simplified design example is presented. This involves interactive definition of an observer-based state-space compensator for a flexible missile autopilot design task. MATLAB capabilities and limitations, in the context of this design task, are then summarized.

Efficient Design of Flexible and Low Cost Paper-Based Inkjet-Printed Antenna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. M. Mansour

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A new, efficient, flexible, and cheap antenna designed at 1.57 GHz microstrip patch antenna based on simple inkjet printer with improved performance using silver nanoparticles ink is developed. The antenna is printed on a kind of flexible substrate “glossy paper,” to offer the advantage of light and flexibility for different applications. The performance of silver nanoparticles ink has been studied through inkjet printing versus postsynthesis annealing and multilayer printing. The conductivity has been improved to have promising values up to 2 Ω/cm at temperatures up to 180°C. The surface morphology of the circuits has been analyzed using SEM with mean diameter of the nanoparticles around 100 nm, uniform surface distribution, and mean thickness of the printed layer around 230 microns. Also, a simple design of a coplanar waveguide (CPW monopole Z-shaped antenna has been considered as an application of fabricated printed antenna using the studied silver nanoparticles ink through a cheap printer.

Towards flexible solid-state supercapacitors for smart and wearable electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubal, Deepak P; Chodankar, Nilesh R; Kim, Do-Heyoung; Gomez-Romero, Pedro

2018-03-21

Flexible solid-state supercapacitors (FSSCs) are frontrunners in energy storage device technology and have attracted extensive attention owing to recent significant breakthroughs in modern wearable electronics. In this study, we review the state-of-the-art advancements in FSSCs to provide new insights on mechanisms, emerging electrode materials, flexible gel electrolytes and novel cell designs. The review begins with a brief introduction on the fundamental understanding of charge storage mechanisms based on the structural properties of electrode materials. The next sections briefly summarise the latest progress in flexible electrodes (i.e., freestanding and substrate-supported, including textile, paper, metal foil/wire and polymer-based substrates) and flexible gel electrolytes (i.e., aqueous, organic, ionic liquids and redox-active gels). Subsequently, a comprehensive summary of FSSC cell designs introduces some emerging electrode materials, including MXenes, metal nitrides, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), polyoxometalates (POMs) and black phosphorus. Some potential practical applications, such as the development of piezoelectric, photo-, shape-memory, self-healing, electrochromic and integrated sensor-supercapacitors are also discussed. The final section highlights current challenges and future perspectives on research in this thriving field.

Flexible and Stretchable Optoelectronic Devices using Silver Nanowires and Graphene.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Hanleem; Kim, Meeree; Kim, Ikjoon; Lee, Hyoyoung

2016-06-01

Many studies have accompanied the emergence of a great interest in flexible or/and stretchable devices for new applications in wearable and futuristic technology, including human-interface devices, robotic skin, and biometric devices, and in optoelectronic devices. Especially, new nanodimensional materials enable flexibility or stretchability to be brought based on their dimensionality. Here, the emerging field of flexible devices is briefly introduced using silver nanowires and graphene, which are famous nanomaterials for the use of transparent conductive electrodes, as examples, and their unique functions originating from the intrinsic property of these nanomaterials are highlighted. It is thought that this work will evoke more interest and idea exchanges in this emerging field and hopefully can trigger a breakthrough on a new type of optoelectronics and optogenetic devices in the near future. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Out-of-Plane Strain Effects on Physically Flexible FinFET CMOS

KAUST Repository

Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Alfaraj, Nasir; Torres-Sevilla, Galo A.; Fahad, Hossain M.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2016-01-01

. The devices were fabricated using the state-of-the-art CMOS technology and then transformed into flexible form by using a CMOS-compatible maskless deep reactive-ion etching technique. Mechanical out-of-plane stresses (compressive and tensile) were applied

Energy Flexibility Potential of Industrial Processes in the Regulating Power Market

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Zheng; Aabjerg Friis, Henrik Tønder; Gravers Mostrup, Christopher

2017-01-01

, and electric heating in replacement of conventional technologies. To enable the use of demand response, the consumers must have economical and practical incentives without loss of convenience. This study aims to investigate the demand-response market potential of a flexible industrial process in the current...... electricity market structure. The Danish West regulating power market is selected in this study with an ideal process simulation of an industrial roller press. By analysing market data, the value of flexible electricity consumption by the roller press in the regulating power market is demonstrated by an ideal...

FLEXIBILITY OF INDUSTRIAL “PRODUCT-SERVICE” SYSTEM: IMPLEMENTATION AND MEANS OF MEASUREMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Panteleev

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Article is devoted to the analysis of the flexibility of industrial “product-service” systems (hereafter IPSS, meaning provision of adaptability to the changing needs of users along the life-cycle of IPSS. Flexibility of the system gives company-producer of the industrial equipment competitive advantages on the b-to-b market. Due to this reason development and improvement of the means of valuation of flexibility is an important field of study. Aim of the article is IPSS flexibility analysis and development of efficient means of flexibility valuation.Article tasks. Research the advantages of the IPSS flexibility; analyze problems that arise as the result of flexibility implementation; propose ways to solve these problems.Methodology. Methodological base of the article are the following scientific methods: deduction, comparative and individual analysis, methods of systematization and generalization of theoretical materials.Results. Conclusions / importance. Article proposes to use IPSS concept model that takes into consideration IPSS resources, actions and functions. With the help of this model switching options, that reflect the flexibility of IPSS, can be defi ned. Economic and technological aspects of changes should be taken into consideration with the help of integrated, iterative approach, that compares supplier costs on flexibility implementation and the clients desire to pay for it. At the same time supplier can calculate the potential profi t from provision of fl exibility. Thus, the basis for efficient decision making when the IPSS is structures is made.

Evaluation of warm mix asphalt technology in flexible pavements.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-09-01

The primary goal of this research project is to quantify the performance of field produced and placed mixtures that utilize WMA technology and develop a framework for design, construction, and implementation of this technology in Louisiana. This rese...

Multiscale weighted colored graphs for protein flexibility and rigidity analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bramer, David; Wei, Guo-Wei

2018-02-01

Protein structural fluctuation, measured by Debye-Waller factors or B-factors, is known to correlate to protein flexibility and function. A variety of methods has been developed for protein Debye-Waller factor prediction and related applications to domain separation, docking pose ranking, entropy calculation, hinge detection, stability analysis, etc. Nevertheless, none of the current methodologies are able to deliver an accuracy of 0.7 in terms of the Pearson correlation coefficients averaged over a large set of proteins. In this work, we introduce a paradigm-shifting geometric graph model, multiscale weighted colored graph (MWCG), to provide a new generation of computational algorithms to significantly change the current status of protein structural fluctuation analysis. Our MWCG model divides a protein graph into multiple subgraphs based on interaction types between graph nodes and represents the protein rigidity by generalized centralities of subgraphs. MWCGs not only predict the B-factors of protein residues but also accurately analyze the flexibility of all atoms in a protein. The MWCG model is validated over a number of protein test sets and compared with many standard methods. An extensive numerical study indicates that the proposed MWCG offers an accuracy of over 0.8 and thus provides perhaps the first reliable method for estimating protein flexibility and B-factors. It also simultaneously predicts all-atom flexibility in a molecule.

Innovation and behavioral flexibility in wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons).

Science.gov (United States)

Huebner, Franziska; Fichtel, Claudia

2015-05-01

Innovations and problem-solving abilities can provide animals with important ecological advantages as they allow individuals to deal with novel social and ecological challenges. Innovation is a solution to a novel problem or a novel solution to an old problem, with the latter being especially difficult. Finding a new solution to an old problem requires individuals to inhibit previously applied solutions to invent new strategies and to behave flexibly. We examined the role of experience on cognitive flexibility to innovate and to find new problem-solving solutions with an artificial feeding task in wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons). Four groups of lemurs were tested with feeding boxes, each offering three different techniques to extract food, with only one technique being available at a time. After the subjects learned a technique, this solution was no longer successful and subjects had to invent a new technique. For the first transition between task 1 and 2, subjects had to rely on their experience of the previous technique to solve task 2. For the second transition, subjects had to inhibit the previously learned technique to learn the new task 3. Tasks 1 and 2 were solved by most subjects, whereas task 3 was solved by only a few subjects. In this task, besides behavioral flexibility, especially persistence, i.e., constant trying, was important for individual success during innovation. Thus, wild strepsirrhine primates are able to innovate flexibly, suggesting a general ecological relevance of behavioral flexibility and persistence during innovation and problem solving across all primates.

Flexible All-Inorganic Perovskite CsPbBr3 Nonvolatile Memory Device.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Dongjue; Lin, Qiqi; Zang, Zhigang; Wang, Ming; Wangyang, Peihua; Tang, Xiaosheng; Zhou, Miao; Hu, Wei

2017-02-22

All-inorganic perovskite CsPbX 3 (X = Cl, Br, or I) is widely used in a variety of photoelectric devices such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors. However, studies to understand the flexible CsPbX 3 electrical application are relatively scarce, mainly due to the limitations of the low-temperature fabricating process. In this study, all-inorganic perovskite CsPbBr 3 films were successfully fabricated at 75 °C through a two-step method. The highly crystallized films were first employed as a resistive switching layer in the Al/CsPbBr 3 /PEDOT:PSS/ITO/PET structure for flexible nonvolatile memory application. The resistive switching operations and endurance performance demonstrated the as-prepared flexible resistive random access memory devices possess reproducible and reliable memory characteristics. Electrical reliability and mechanical stability of the nonvolatile device were further tested by the robust current-voltage curves under different bending angles and consecutive flexing cycles. Moreover, a model of the formation and rupture of filaments through the CsPbBr 3 layer was proposed to explain the resistive switching effect. It is believed that this study will offer a new setting to understand and design all-inorganic perovskite materials for future stable flexible electronic devices.

Technology transfer for women entrepreneurs: issues for consideration.

Science.gov (United States)

Everts, S I

1998-01-01

This article discusses the effectiveness of technology transfers to women entrepreneurs in developing countries. Most women's enterprises share common characteristics: very small businesses, employment of women owners and maybe some family members, limited working capital, low profit margins, and flexible or part-time work. Many enterprises do not plan for growth. Women tend to diversify and use risk-avoidance strategies. Support for women's enterprises ignores the characteristics of women's enterprises. Support mechanisms could be offered that would perfect risk-spreading strategies and dynamic enterprise management through other means than growth. Many initiatives, since the 1970s, have transferred technologies to women. Technologies were applied to only a few domains and were viewed as appropriate based on their small size, low level of complexity, low cost, and environmental friendliness. Technology transfers may not be viewed by beneficiaries as the appropriate answer to needs. The bottleneck in transfers to women is not in the development of prototypes, but in the dissemination of technology that is sustainable, appropriate, and accessible. Key features for determining appropriateness include baseline studies, consumer linkages, and a repetitive process. Institutional factors may limit appropriateness. There is a need for long-term outputs, better links with users, training in use of the technology, grouping of women into larger units, and technology availability in quantities large enough to meet demand. Guidelines need to be developed that include appropriate content and training that ensures transfer of knowledge to practice.

Communication Technology: Pros and Cons of Constant Connection to Work

Science.gov (United States)

Diaz, Ismael; Chiaburu, Dan S.; Zimmerman, Ryan D.; Boswell, Wendy R.

2012-01-01

We examined the relationship between employees' attitudes related to communication technology (CT) flexibility, communication technology (CT) use, work-to-life conflict and work satisfaction. Based on data obtained from 193 employees, CT flexibility predicted more CT use. Further, CT use was associated not only with increased work satisfaction,…

Planning flexible learning to match the needs of consumers: a national survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Ayer, S; Smith, C

1998-05-01

The injection of market forces into the National Health Service (NHS) has led to nurse education being viewed as a commodity which educational institutions supply and NHS employers purchase. Conscious of the costs of paying for courses within this new consumer culture, NHS trusts and other health service employers are increasingly looking for cost-effective flexible training to educate their workforce quickly and efficiently. Parallel to this is the accelerated demand for continuing professional development (CPD) brought about by the inception of the UKCC's Post-Registration Education and Practice Project (PREPP). Both registered and enrolled nurses are finding they need professional updating and skills and thus increased access to courses. The increased demand for education and training brought about by these changes cannot be met through traditional methods alone, requiring educational institutions to re-appraise their methods of delivery and introduce more flexible approaches to learning. There is every evidence that this is now the case with open learning, distance learning and flexible approaches to learning ever growing in popularity as providers of nurse education recognize the benefits such approaches offer. The emphasis is on meeting the diverse needs of the health care employers and individuals by providing education that is flexible, learner-centred and customer focused. This paper presents the findings of a national survey to ascertain how providers of flexible education plan educational programmes to meet the needs of their customers. Based on data collected from 120 educational institutions within the higher education, health and social care and private sectors, it highlights: the ways in which flexible learning programmes and courses are delivered; what aspects of flexibility are considered important when designing programmes to meet the needs of prospective customers; and what approaches are used to assess demand for flexible education. The study

Temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of flexible yttria-stabilized zirconia substrate via 3ω technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, Shivkant; Yarali, Milad; Mavrokefalos, Anastassios [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX (United States); Shervin, Shahab [Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Houston, Houston, TX (United States); Venkateswaran, Venkat; Olenick, Kathy; Olenick, John A. [ENrG Inc., Buffalo, NY (United States); Ryou, Jae-Hyun [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX (United States); Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Houston, Houston, TX (United States); Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston (TcSUH), Houston, TX (United States)

2017-10-15

Thermal management in flexible electronic has proven to be challenging thereby limiting the development of flexible devices with high power densities. To truly enable the technological implementation of such devices, it is imperative to develop highly thermally conducting flexible substrates that are fully compatible with large-scale fabrication. Here, we present the thermal conductivity of state-of-the-art flexible yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrates measured using the 3ω technique, which is already commercially manufactured via roll-to-roll technique. We observe that increasing the grain size increases the thermal conductivity of the flexible 3 mol.% YSZ, while the flexibility and transparency of the sample are hardly affected by the grain size enlargement. We exhibit thermal conductivity values of up to 4.16 Wm{sup -1}K {sup -1} that is at least 4 times higher than state-of-the-art polymeric flexible substrates. Phonon-hopping model (PHM) for granular material was used to fit the measured thermal conductivity and accurately define the thermal transport mechanism. Our results show that through grain size optimization, YSZ flexible substrates can be realized as flexible substrates, that pave new avenues for future novel application in flexible electronics through the utilization of both their ceramic structural flexibility and high heat dissipating capability. (copyright 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Flexible automated systems of real time mining operation management: concepts, architecture, models of network engineering for data transmission and processing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Markhasin, A.B.

1987-11-01

Since the mid 1960's considerable effort has been invested by the mining industry and its research institutions and by universities to create real time mining management automation systems. Some of the shortcomings which still persist in realizing the efficiency such systems can offer are due to objective and subjective factors within and outside the management systems: the creation of the component base, automation equipment, and computer technology, on the one hand, and the organization, process, engineering, and coordination of mining work on the other. This review addresses several of these shortcomings with recommendations for their solution in a primary and systematic way and suggests methods for the implementation of microprocessors and a network of flexible data transmission and processing facilities for both surface and underground mining.

Towards interoperability of energy management systems using flexibility through conceptual modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rumph, F.J.; Huitema, G.B.; Verhoosel, J.

2013-01-01

Smart Grid technologies are being developed to better operate the power system and integrate larger amounts of renewable intermittent power sources and new energy efficient electrical equipment. Coordinating flexibilities in power supply and demand plays a crucial role in this development.

Flexible manufacturing system handbook. Volume 1: Executive summary

Science.gov (United States)

1983-02-01

Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs) represent a relatively new strategy to increase productivity. The technology is especially attractive for manufacturers who produce in the middle ranges of production volumes, neither mass production nor one of a kind. Today's unpredictable market environment demands low-cost solutions that provide quick product start-up, adaptability and responsiveness to changes in demand, and the capacity to easily resurrect out-of-production designs. In many instances, FMSs provide a direct hardware/software solution to this threefold management challenge. The adoption of FMS technology requires that one address many questions beforehand. This handbook provides a methodical approach to answering these questions. But it is not a cookbook; it cannot be. Each application of FMS technology is unique, therefore, the guidelines presented are fairly general.

Advances in fluidized bed technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mutanen, K.

1992-01-01

Atmospheric fluidized bed combustion (AFBC) has advanced into industrial cogeneration and utility-scale electric generation. During the 1980's AFBC became the dominant technology in the United States for power generation systems fired with solid fuels. Development of pressurized fluidized bed combustion/gasification (PFB/G) has grown rapidly from small bench-scale rigs to large pilot and demonstration plants. AFBC as large as 160 MWe in capacity are now in operation, while pressurized combustion systems generating 80 MWe have started up two years ago. The major driving forces behind development of fluidized bed technologies are all the time strictening emission control regulations, need for fuel flexibility, repowering of older power plants and need for higher efficiency in electricity generation. Independent power producers (IPP) and cogenerators were the first ones in the United States who accepted AFBC for wide commercial use. Their role will be dominant in the markets of the 1990's also. Developers of AFBC systems are working on designs that reduce investment costs, decrease emissions and offer even higher reliability and availability in utility-scale applications while developers of PFBC/G work on designs that increase plant efficiencies, allow modular construction, decrease emissions further and reduce the cost of generating power. This paper presents technological background, commercial status, boiler performance, emissions and future developments for both AFBC and PFBC/G systems

Flexible Design for α-Duplex Communications in Multi-Tier Cellular Networks

KAUST Repository

AlAmmouri, Ahmad

2016-06-13

Backward compatibility is an essential ingredient for the success of new technologies. In the context of inband full-duplex (FD) communication, FD base stations (BSs) should support half-duplex (HD) users’ equipment (UEs) without sacrificing the foreseen FD gains. This paper presents flexible and tractable modeling framework for multi-tier cellular networks with FD BSs and FD/HD UEs. The presented model is based on stochastic geometry and accounts for the intrinsic vulnerability of uplink transmissions. The results show that FD UEs are not necessarily required to harvest rate gains from FD BSs. In particular, the results show that adding FD UEs to FD BSs offers a maximum of 5% rate gain over FD BSs and HD UEs case if multi-user diversity is exploited, which is a marginal gain compared to the burden required to implement FD transceivers at the UEs’ side. To this end, we shed light on practical scenarios where HD UEs operation with FD BSs outperforms the operation when both the BSs and UEs are FD and we find a closed form expression for the critical value of the self-interference attenuation power required for the FD UEs to outperform HD UEs.

Power Control Flexibilities for Grid-Connected Multi-Functional Photovoltaic Inverters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Yongheng; Blaabjerg, Frede; Wang, Huai

2016-01-01

and intelligent services, such as fault ride-through and reactive power compensation, is the key to attain higher utilisation of solar PV energy. Such functionalities for the future PV inverters can contribute to reduced cost of energy, and thus enable more cost-effective PV installations. To implement...... the advanced features, a flexible power controller is developed in this study, which can be configured in the PV inverter and flexibly change from one to another mode during operation. Based on the single-phase PQ theory, the control strategy offers the possibilities to generate appropriate references...... for the inner current control loop. The references depend on system conditions and also specific demands from both system operators and prosumers. Besides, this power control strategy can be implemented in commercial PV inverters as a standardised function, and also the operation modes can be achieved online...

Power control flexibilities for grid-connected multi-functional photovoltaic inverters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Yongheng; Blaabjerg, Frede; Wang, Huai

2014-01-01

to reduced cost of energy. To implement the advanced features, a flexible power controller is developed in this paper, which can be configured in the PV inverter and flexibly be changed from one to another. This power control strategy is based on the single-phase PQ theory, and it offers the possibilities...... of ancillary and intelligent services, like Low Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT), reactive power compensation, and reliability-oriented thermal management/control by PV systems is a key to attain higher utilization of solar energy. Those essential functionalities for the future PV inverters can contribute...... to generate appropriate references for the inner current control loop. The references depend on the system conditions and also specific demands from both system operators and customers. Besides, this power control strategy can be implemented in a commercial PV inverter as standardized functions, and also...

Fuel flexibility in power generation onboard offshore floating units

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keep, Jeroen van [Waertsilae Corporation, Helsinki (Finland)

2012-07-01

Power Plants for offshore oil and gas installations utilizing dual fuel (DF) reciprocating engines are by many owners seen as an interesting alternative to conventional solutions due to the apparent advantages in fuel flexibility, fuel efficiency and lower emission. The paper summarizes the dual fuel technology, typical solutions for FPSO's and operational. Items that are discussed: DF operation and how it works; fuel flexibility, including transfer between fuel modes; fuel efficiency, also in production an important cost saver; emissions of the different fuel modes; size and weights, constraints; experiences of the P-63 project. With the above it is safe to conclude that the DF-technology is mature with important benefits for the offshore production market in certain specific applications, most notably the FPSO's for fields in low gas to oil ratios, bringing important fuel cost savings and also for new-built F-LNG/FSO/FPSO's where the power plant can be accommodated below decks, freeing up valuable deck space for the process plant. (author)

Dynamics and control of robotic spacecrafts for the transportation of flexible elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen, Hao; Chen, Ti; Yu, Bensong; Jin, Dongping

2016-01-01

The technology of robotic spacecrafts has been identified as one of the most appealing solutions to the on-orbit construction of large space structures in future space missions. As a prerequisite of a successful on-orbit construction, it is needed to use small autonomous spacecrafts for the transportation of flexible elements. To this end, the paper presents an energy-based scheme to control a couple of robotic spacecrafts carrying a flexible slender structure to its desired position. The flexible structure is modelled as a long beam based on the formulation of absolute nodal coordinates to account for the geometrical nonlinearity due to large displacement. Meanwhile, the robotic spacecrafts are actuated on their rigid-body degrees of freedom and modelled as two rigid bodies attached to the flexible beam. The energy-based controller is designed using the technique of energy shaping and damping injection such that translational and rotational maneuvers can be achieved with the suppression of the flexible vibrations of the beam. Finally, numerical case studies are performed to demonstrate the proposed schemes. (paper)

Sustainable development of the wind power industry in a complex environment: a flexibility study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Zhen-Yu; Zhu, Jiang; Zuo, Jian

2014-01-01

As a new and developing green energy business in emerging economies such as China, the wind power industry chain faces some complex issues that are further compounded by turbulent internal and external environments. To deal with the complex environment, the wind power industry needs to improve its level of flexibility so that it can become more adaptable to the changing environment. Hence it is important to explore the dynamics of the wind power industry chain flexibility with respect to the ever changing environment. This study uses questionnaire surveys and expert interviews to identify the influential flexibility components of the wind power industry chain. Subsequently a fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) methodology was used to establish a flexibility operating mechanism model. The research found that special attention should be paid to competition flexibility, technology flexibility, and intellectual property and talent flexibility. Policies play a pivotal role in regulating the driving effects of these components of flexibility with the aim being long term sustainability of a healthy level of overall flexibility of the wind power industry chain. This should in turn facilitate the sustainable development of the industry. - Highlights: • Wind power industry shall improve flexibility to deal with complex environment. • Critical components of flexibility of wind power industry chain were identified. • An operating mechanism model for flexibility of wind power industry is proposed. • Fuzzy cognitive mapping method is employed to model the dynamics of flexibility. • Policies play a pivotal role in fostering an industry environment toward flexibility

Flexible organic electronic devices: Materials, process and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Logothetidis, Stergios

2008-01-01

The research for the development of flexible organic electronic devices (FEDs) is rapidly increasing worldwide, since FEDs will change radically several aspects of everyday life. Although there has been considerable progress in the area of flexible inorganic devices (a-Si or solution processed Si), there are numerous advances in the organic (semiconducting, conducting and insulating), inorganic and hybrid (organic-inorganic) materials that exhibit customized properties and stability, and in the synthesis and preparation methods, which are characterized by a significant amount of multidisciplinary efforts. Furthermore, the development and encapsulation of organic electronic devices onto flexible polymeric substrates by large-scale and low-cost roll-to-roll production processes will allow their market implementation in numerous application areas, including displays, lighting, photovoltaics, radio-frequency identification circuitry and chemical sensors, as well as to a new generation of modern exotic applications. In this work, we report on some of the latest advances in the fields of polymeric substrates, hybrid barrier layers, inorganic and organic materials to be used as novel active and functional thin films and nanomaterials as well as for the encapsulation of the materials components for the production of FEDs (flexible organic light-emitting diodes, and organic photovoltaics). Moreover, we will emphasize on the real-time optical monitoring and characterization of the growing films onto the flexible polymeric substrates by spectroscopic ellipsometry methods. Finally, the potentiality for the in-line characterization processes for the development of organic electronics materials will be emphasized, since it will also establish the framework for the achievement of the future scientific and technological breakthroughs

Three-dimensional graphene/LiFePO4 nanostructures as cathode materials for flexible lithium-ion batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Y.H.; Ren, H.M.; Huang, Y.Y.; Chang, F.H.; Zhang, P.

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: Graphene/LiFePO 4 composites as a high-performance cathode material for flexible lithium-ion batteries have been prepared by using a co-precipitation method to synthesize graphene/LiFePO4 powders as precursors and then followed by a solvent evaporation process. - Highlights: • Flexible LiFePO 4 /graphene films were prepared first time by a solvent evaporation process. • The flexible electrode exhibited a high discharge capacity without conductive additives. • Graphene network offers the electrode adequate strength to withstand repeated flexing. - Abstract: Three-dimensional graphene/LiFePO 4 nanostructures for flexible lithium-ion batteries were successfully prepared by solvent evaporation method. Structural characteristics of flexible electrodes were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrochemical performance of graphene/LiFePO 4 was examined by a variety of electrochemical testing techniques. The graphene/LiFePO 4 nanostructures showed high electrochemical properties and significant flexibility. The composites with low graphene content exhibited a high capacity of 163.7 mAh g −1 at 0.1 C and 114 mAh g −1 at 5 C without further incorporation of conductive agents

Fiscal 1999 achievement report on regional consortium research and development project. Regional consortium research and development in its 3rd year (Research and development of process change accommodating flexible robot technology); 1999 nendo kotei tekiogata flexible robot gijutsu ni kansuru kenkyu kaihatsu seika hokokusho. 3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

A prototype force control piston insertion device which does not need jigs is built for use on the assembly line. An extensive reduction in investment for automated facilities is expected to realize because jigs conventionally required for each size are dispensed with. For expanding the scope of force control application, the device is verified for serviceability by use of a 5-axis robot and a visual servo control technique. A combination of vibration control and tracking control is applied to an integrated simulation/experiment environment. For the processing of inner force sensor data, a pseudo contact point monitoring technique is used. A wire type tactile sensor is proposed, which has a flexible-structure moment detector in which a flexible beam like a piano wire is the probe. For the inspection of ICs (integrated circuits), a passive compliance unit and a force control based flexible inserter are fabricated, to be used for a reduction in the number of no-good contacts. Technologies of shock absorption aided by robot terminal device tactile sense and of virtual damper control for shortening the setting time are verified for their validity by use of the IC inspecting inserter. (NEDO)

What Bulgarian Banks offer via Internet: an Overview

OpenAIRE

Bojidar Bojinov

2003-01-01

The new information technologies adoption and e-commerce emergence change the role of financial intermediaries in new E-conomy. During the last years, the bank started an expansion to the web – they offer broad range of traditional bank products and services via Internet. The remote banking become one of the main channels for bank services distribution. The Internet expansion of the Bulgarian banks is at its beginning. The showed results are based on the Internet research, which has aimed to ...

Agreement Between Face-to-Face and Free Software Video Analysis for Assessing Hamstring Flexibility in Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Moral-Muñoz, José A; Esteban-Moreno, Bernabé; Arroyo-Morales, Manuel; Cobo, Manuel J; Herrera-Viedma, Enrique

2015-09-01

The objective of this study was to determine the level of agreement between face-to-face hamstring flexibility measurements and free software video analysis in adolescents. Reduced hamstring flexibility is common in adolescents (75% of boys and 35% of girls aged 10). The length of the hamstring muscle has an important role in both the effectiveness and the efficiency of basic human movements, and reduced hamstring flexibility is related to various musculoskeletal conditions. There are various approaches to measuring hamstring flexibility with high reliability; the most commonly used approaches in the scientific literature are the sit-and-reach test, hip joint angle (HJA), and active knee extension. The assessment of hamstring flexibility using video analysis could help with adolescent flexibility follow-up. Fifty-four adolescents from a local school participated in a descriptive study of repeated measures using a crossover design. Active knee extension and HJA were measured with an inclinometer and were simultaneously recorded with a video camera. Each video was downloaded to a computer and subsequently analyzed using Kinovea 0.8.15, a free software application for movement analysis. All outcome measures showed reliability estimates with α > 0.90. The lowest reliability was obtained for HJA (α = 0.91). The preliminary findings support the use of a free software tool for assessing hamstring flexibility, offering health professionals a useful tool for adolescent flexibility follow-up.

Dynamic Model of a Rotating Flexible Arm-Flexible Root Mechanism Driven by a Shaft Flexible in Torsion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.Z. Ismail

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a dynamic model of a rotating flexible beam carrying a payload at its tip. The model accounts for the driving shaft and the arm root flexibilities. The finite element method and the Lagrangian dynamics are used in deriving the equations of motion with the small deformation theory assumptions and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The obtained model is a nonlinear-coupled system of differential equations. The model is simulated for different combinations of shaft and root flexibilities and arm properties. The simulation results showed that the root flexibility is an important factor that should be considered in association with the arm and shaft flexibilities, as its dynamics influence the motor motion. Moreover, the effect of system non-linearity on the dynamic behavior is investigated by simulating the equivalent linearized system and it was found to be an important factor that should be considered, particularly when designing a control strategy for practical implementation.

Ka-Band MMIC Subarray Technology Program (Ka-Mist)

Science.gov (United States)

Pottinger, W.

1995-01-01

Ka-band monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) arrays have been considered as having high potential for increasing the capability of space, aircraft, and land mobile communication systems in terms of scan performance, data rate, link margin, and flexibility while offering a significant reduction in size, weight, and power consumption. Insertion of MMIC technology into antenna systems, particularly at millimeter wave frequencies using low power and low noise amplifiers in closed proximity to the radiating elements, offers a significant improvement in the array transmit efficiency, receive system noise figure, and overall array reliability. Application of active array technology also leads to the use of advanced beamforming techniques that can improve beam agility, diversity, and adaptivity to complex signal environments. The objective of this program was to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the 'tile' array packaging architecture at EHF via the insertion of 1990 MMIC technology into a functional tile array or subarray module. The means test of this objective was to demonstrate and deliver to NASA a minimum of two 4 x 4 (16 radiating element) subarray modules operating in a transmit mode at 29.6 GHz. Available (1990) MMIC technology was chosen to focus the program effort on the novel interconnect schemes and packaging requirements rather than focusing on MMIC development. Major technical achievements of this program include the successful integration of two 4 x 4 subarray modules into a single antenna array. This 32 element array demonstrates a transmit EIRP of over 300 watts yielding an effective directive power gain in excess of 55 dB at 29.63 GHz. The array has been actively used as the transmit link in airborne/terrestrial mobile communication experiments accomplished via the ACTS satellite launched in August 1993.

Dry-Transfer of Aligned Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes for Flexible Transparent Thin Films

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Cole

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Herein we present an inexpensive facile wet-chemistry-free approach to the transfer of chemical vapour-deposited multiwalled carbon nanotubes to flexible transparent polymer substrates in a single-step process. By controlling the nanotube length, we demonstrate accurate control over the electrical conductivity and optical transparency of the transferred thin films. Uniaxial strains of up to 140% induced only minor reductions in sample conductivity, opening up a number of applications in stretchable electronics. Nanotube alignment offers enhanced functionality for applications such as polarisation selective electrodes and flexible supercapacitor substrates. A capacitance of 17 F/g was determined for supercapacitors fabricated from the reported dry-transferred MWCNTs with the corresponding cyclic voltagrams showing a clear dependence on nanotube length.

Library macro-environment: New technological and economic rules

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karmen Štular-Sotošek

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Fast and flexible adaptation to changes in the macro-environment is also crucial for libraries, which have to review them, respond to them and become a part of them. Consequently, the application of marketing science and tools helps libraries to find out how to survive in the competitive world and how to become better and stronger. The article, which draws from marketing, economic and information disciplines, introduces the main principles in the technological and economic environment of libraries and finds the knowledge about these disciplines to be most crucial for successful management of modern libraries, especially on the pretentious publishing market and on the market of information suppliers. Within the technological and economic environment, the cooperation is the only logical solution, which benefits the producers of information services and products as well as libraries. The following text finds that libraries will achieve long-term success and will be proactive in developing partnerships only by using relationship marketing. This relatively new approach offers libraries new ways for successful and long-term management of alliances between partners.

Wind offering in energy and reserve markets

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, T.; Pinson, P.; Morais, H.

2016-09-01

The increasing penetration of wind generation in power systems to fulfil the ambitious European targets will make wind power producers to play an even more important role in the future power system. Wind power producers are being incentivized to participate in reserve markets to increase their revenue, since currently wind turbine/farm technologies allow them to provide ancillary services. Thus, wind power producers are to develop offering strategies for participation in both energy and reserve markets, accounting for market rules, while ensuring optimal revenue. We consider a proportional offering strategy to optimally decide upon participation in both markets by maximizing expected revenue from day-ahead decisions while accounting for estimated regulation costs for failing to provide the services. An evaluation of considering the same proportional splitting of energy and reserve in both day- ahead and balancing market is performed. A set of numerical examples illustrate the behavior of such strategy. An important conclusion is that the optimal split of the available wind power between energy and reserve strongly depends upon prices and penalties on both market trading floors.

Global Sourcing Flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ørberg Jensen, Peter D.; Petersen, Bent

2013-01-01

the higher costs (but decreased risk for value chain disruption) embedded in a more flexible global sourcing model that allows the firm to replicate and/or relocate activities across multiple locations. We develop a model and propositions on facilitating and constraining conditions of global sourcing...... sourcing flexibility. Here we draw on prior research in the fields of organizational flexibility, international business and global sourcing as well as case examples and secondary studies. In the second part of the paper, we discuss the implications of global sourcing flexibility for firm strategy...... and operations against the backdrop of the theory-based definition of the construct. We discuss in particular the importance of global sourcing flexibility for operational performance stability, and the trade-off between specialization benefits, emerging from location and service provider specialization, versus...

A flexible and highly sensitive nonenzymatic glucose sensor based on DVD-laser scribed graphene substrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Songyue; Feng, Wendou; Miao, Xiaofei; Zhang, Xiangxin; Chen, Sujing; Chen, Yuanqiang; Wang, Wei; Zhang, Yining

2018-07-01

Flexible and implantable glucose biosensors are emerging technologies for continuous monitoring of blood-glucose of diabetes. Developing a flexible conductive substrates with high active surface area is critical for advancing the technology. Here, we successfully fabricate a flexible and highly sensitive nonenzymatic glucose by using DVD-laser scribed graphene (LSG) as a flexible conductively substrate. Copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) are electrodeposited as the catalyst. The LSG/Cu-NPs sensor demonstrates excellent catalytic activity toward glucose oxidation and exhibits a linear glucose detection range from 1 μM to 4.54 mM with high sensitivity (1.518 mA mM -1 cm -2 ) and low limit of detection (0.35 μM). Moreover, the LSG/Cu-NPs sensor shows excellent reproducibility and long-term stability. It is also highly selective toward glucose oxidation under the presence of various interfering species. Excellent flexing stability is also demonstrated by the LSG/Cu-NPs sensor, which is capable of maintaining 83.9% of its initial current after being bent against a 4-mm diameter rod for 180 times. The LSG/Cu-NPs sensor shows great potential for practical application as a nonenzymatic glucose biosensor. Meanwhile, the LSG conductive substrate provides a platform for the developing next-generation flexible and potentially implantable bioelectronics and biosensors. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Advanced technology heavy water monitors offering reduced implementation costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalechstein, W.; Hippola, K.B.

1984-10-01

The development of second generation heavy water monitors for use at CANDU power stations and heavy water plants has been completed and the instruments brought to the stage of commercial availability. Applications of advanced technology and reduced utilization of custom manufactured components have together resulted in instruments that are less expensive to produce than the original monitors and do not require costly station services. The design has been tested on two prototypes and fully documented, including the inspection and test procedures required for manufacture to the CSA Z299.3 quality verfication program standard. Production of the new monitors by a commercial vendor (Barringer Research Ltd.) has begun and the first instrument is scheduled for delivery to CRNL's NRU reactor in late 1984

Brain inspired high performance electronics on flexible silicon

KAUST Repository

Sevilla, Galo T.

2014-06-01

Brain\\'s stunning speed, energy efficiency and massive parallelism makes it the role model for upcoming high performance computation systems. Although human brain components are a million times slower than state of the art silicon industry components [1], they can perform 1016 operations per second while consuming less power than an electrical light bulb. In order to perform the same amount of computation with today\\'s most advanced computers, the output of an entire power station would be needed. In that sense, to obtain brain like computation, ultra-fast devices with ultra-low power consumption will have to be integrated in extremely reduced areas, achievable only if brain folded structure is mimicked. Therefore, to allow brain-inspired computation, flexible and transparent platform will be needed to achieve foldable structures and their integration on asymmetric surfaces. In this work, we show a new method to fabricate 3D and planar FET architectures in flexible and semitransparent silicon fabric without comprising performance and maintaining cost/yield advantage offered by silicon-based electronics.

Offers

CERN Document Server

Staff Association

2015-01-01

New offer for our members. The Staff Association CERN staff has recently concluded a framework agreement with AXA Insurance Ltd, General-Guisan-Strasse 40, 8401 Winterthur. This contract allows you to benefit from a preferential tariff and conditions for insurances: Motor vehicles for passenger cars and motorcycles of the product line STRADA: 10% discount Household insurance (personal liability and household contents) the product line BOX: 10% discount Travel insurance: 10% discount Buildings: 10% discount Legal protection: 10% discount AXA is number one on the Swiss insurance market. The product range encompasses all non-life insurance such as insurance of persons, property, civil liability, vehicles, credit and travel as well as innovative and comprehensive solutions in the field of occupational benefits insurance for individuals and businesses. Finally, the affiliate AXA-ARAG (legal expenses insurance) completes the offer. Armed with your staff association CERN card, you can always get the off...

Application of flexible scope in large testing laboratories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carina Di Candia

2011-04-01

Full Text Available According as the international definition of Flexible Scope, a laboratory must demonstrate face with the accreditation body that it has the knowledge, experience and competence to work within the full range of its flexible scope, as well as possessing suitable laboratory environments and equipment. The laboratory must also demonstrate that it has a management system in place that can control its proposed approach while continuing to comply with the requirements of ISO 17025:2005. In case of UKAS (Unites Kingdom Accreditation Service, prior to offering accreditation for flexible scope they must have a high degree of confidence that the staff are technically competent and that the management system controlling certain key processes as development, review, validation and authorization.LATU apply these requirements since 2004 as "Unified Tests". Until this date, LATU was doing the same type of tests in different materials departments using different equipment, personal, and testing quality control. In order to that were defined cross disciplinary groups to analyze this topic approaching in personal competence and quality control tests improvement, and resource's decrease. For example, LATU has the Unified Test Tensile Strength accredited by UKAS in: corrugated and solid fiberboard, paper board, linerboard, cork plugs, plastic bags, plastic sheeting, paper, woven fabrics, plastic woven bags and woven plastic. As a result of the Unified Tests was generated a general unified manage procedure with unified criteria's, responsibilities and actions. Was written a unique testing procedure not only with the actual flexible scope and the flexibilities limits but also the compliance requirements of ISO 17025 and the accreditations body methodology. We could decrease the amount of documentation to control. Was defined the methodology and implemented periodicaly internal inter comparisons between departments in order to valid the unified tests and has a unique

Nanomaterials on flexible substrates to explore innovative functions: From energy harvesting to bio-integrated electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koo, Ja Hoon; Seo, Jungmok; Lee, Taeyoon, E-mail: taeyoon.lee@yonsei.ac.kr

2012-12-01

Recent efforts in the semiconductor industry have focused on the realization of electronics with unusual form factors and functions which are not achievable using the current planar Si-based technology. Deposition of high-quality films or nanomaterials on low-temperature elastomeric substrates has been a technical challenge for flexible electronics. However, together with the development of new synthesis routes that enable the formation of robust thin films and nanomaterials on compliant substrates, including the dry transfer printing technique and fabrication of uniform nanogaps/nanowrinkles using the unique stretchable characteristics of elastomeric substrates, flexible electronics has emerged as a promising technology that can enrich our lives in a variety of ways. As examples, potential applications include skin-like smart prostheses, paper-like displays, disposable electronic noses, and hemispherically-shaped electronic eye cameras. Here, we review recent results demonstrating ingenious new functionalities using nanomaterials on flexible substrates, focusing on fabrication techniques, materials, operation mechanisms, and signal outputs.

Nanomaterials on flexible substrates to explore innovative functions: From energy harvesting to bio-integrated electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, Ja Hoon; Seo, Jungmok; Lee, Taeyoon

2012-01-01

Recent efforts in the semiconductor industry have focused on the realization of electronics with unusual form factors and functions which are not achievable using the current planar Si-based technology. Deposition of high-quality films or nanomaterials on low-temperature elastomeric substrates has been a technical challenge for flexible electronics. However, together with the development of new synthesis routes that enable the formation of robust thin films and nanomaterials on compliant substrates, including the dry transfer printing technique and fabrication of uniform nanogaps/nanowrinkles using the unique stretchable characteristics of elastomeric substrates, flexible electronics has emerged as a promising technology that can enrich our lives in a variety of ways. As examples, potential applications include skin-like smart prostheses, paper-like displays, disposable electronic noses, and hemispherically-shaped electronic eye cameras. Here, we review recent results demonstrating ingenious new functionalities using nanomaterials on flexible substrates, focusing on fabrication techniques, materials, operation mechanisms, and signal outputs.

Novel Flexible Wearable Sensor Materials and Signal Processing for Vital Sign and Human Activity Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Servati, Amir; Zou, Liang; Wang, Z Jane; Ko, Frank; Servati, Peyman

2017-07-13

Advances in flexible electronic materials and smart textile, along with broad availability of smart phones, cloud and wireless systems have empowered the wearable technologies for significant impact on future of digital and personalized healthcare as well as consumer electronics. However, challenges related to lack of accuracy, reliability, high power consumption, rigid or bulky form factor and difficulty in interpretation of data have limited their wide-scale application in these potential areas. As an important solution to these challenges, we present latest advances in novel flexible electronic materials and sensors that enable comfortable and conformable body interaction and potential for invisible integration within daily apparel. Advances in novel flexible materials and sensors are described for wearable monitoring of human vital signs including, body temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate, muscle movements and activity. We then present advances in signal processing focusing on motion and noise artifact removal, data mining and aspects of sensor fusion relevant to future clinical applications of wearable technology.

Elaboration of fabrication technology of ITO/CdS/CdTe solar cells on flexible polymer substrates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Potlog, T.; Spalatu, N.; Capros, N.

2007-01-01

The development of high efficiency, stable, lightweight and flexible solar cell is important for terrestrial and space applications. We have developed a novel process to make solar cells on flexible polymer sheets. A thin layer of CdTe compound semiconductor is used for the absorption of solar light and generation of electrical current. In this work the solar electricity conversion efficiency of 4,66% is the highest efficiency reported for a solar cell grown on a polymer sheet. (authors)

Conflicting flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Jong, P.; Schaap, A.

2011-01-01

New buildings are designed for first users. For a sustainable approach there are many advantages in designing in flexibility and adjustability in order to enable and facilitate the other sequential users. For the first investor this flexibility is translated into improved exit values due to

Inter-vertebral flexibility of the ostrich neck: implications for estimating sauropod neck flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Cobley, Matthew J; Rayfield, Emily J; Barrett, Paul M

2013-01-01

The flexibility and posture of the neck in sauropod dinosaurs has long been contentious. Improved constraints on sauropod neck function will have major implications for what we know of their foraging strategies, ecology and overall biology. Several hypotheses have been proposed, based primarily on osteological data, suggesting different degrees of neck flexibility. This study attempts to assess the effects of reconstructed soft tissues on sauropod neck flexibility through systematic removal of muscle groups and measures of flexibility of the neck in a living analogue, the ostrich (Struthio camelus). The possible effect of cartilage on flexibility is also examined, as this was previously overlooked in osteological estimates of sauropod neck function. These comparisons show that soft tissues are likely to have limited the flexibility of the neck beyond the limits suggested by osteology alone. In addition, the inferred presence of cartilage, and varying the inter-vertebral spacing within the synovial capsule, also affect neck flexibility. One hypothesis proposed that flexibility is constrained by requiring a minimum overlap between successive zygapophyses equivalent to 50% of zygapophyseal articular surface length (ONP50). This assumption is tested by comparing the maximum flexibility of the articulated cervical column in ONP50 and the flexibility of the complete neck with all tissues intact. It is found that this model does not adequately convey the pattern of flexibility in the ostrich neck, suggesting that the ONP50 model may not be useful in determining neck function if considered in isolation from myological and other soft tissue data.

Inter-vertebral flexibility of the ostrich neck: implications for estimating sauropod neck flexibility.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew J Cobley

Full Text Available The flexibility and posture of the neck in sauropod dinosaurs has long been contentious. Improved constraints on sauropod neck function will have major implications for what we know of their foraging strategies, ecology and overall biology. Several hypotheses have been proposed, based primarily on osteological data, suggesting different degrees of neck flexibility. This study attempts to assess the effects of reconstructed soft tissues on sauropod neck flexibility through systematic removal of muscle groups and measures of flexibility of the neck in a living analogue, the ostrich (Struthio camelus. The possible effect of cartilage on flexibility is also examined, as this was previously overlooked in osteological estimates of sauropod neck function. These comparisons show that soft tissues are likely to have limited the flexibility of the neck beyond the limits suggested by osteology alone. In addition, the inferred presence of cartilage, and varying the inter-vertebral spacing within the synovial capsule, also affect neck flexibility. One hypothesis proposed that flexibility is constrained by requiring a minimum overlap between successive zygapophyses equivalent to 50% of zygapophyseal articular surface length (ONP50. This assumption is tested by comparing the maximum flexibility of the articulated cervical column in ONP50 and the flexibility of the complete neck with all tissues intact. It is found that this model does not adequately convey the pattern of flexibility in the ostrich neck, suggesting that the ONP50 model may not be useful in determining neck function if considered in isolation from myological and other soft tissue data.

A modeling method for hybrid energy behaviors in flexible machining systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Yufeng; He, Yan; Wang, Yan; Wang, Yulin; Yan, Ping; Lin, Shenlong

2015-01-01

Increasingly environmental and economic pressures have led to great concerns regarding the energy consumption of machining systems. Understanding energy behaviors of flexible machining systems is a prerequisite for improving energy efficiency of these systems. This paper proposes a modeling method to predict energy behaviors in flexible machining systems. The hybrid energy behaviors not only depend on the technical specification related of machine tools and workpieces, but are significantly affected by individual production scenarios. In the method, hybrid energy behaviors are decomposed into Structure-related energy behaviors, State-related energy behaviors, Process-related energy behaviors and Assignment-related energy behaviors. The modeling method for the hybrid energy behaviors is proposed based on Colored Timed Object-oriented Petri Net (CTOPN). The former two types of energy behaviors are modeled by constructing the structure of CTOPN, whist the latter two types of behaviors are simulated by applying colored tokens and associated attributes. Machining on two workpieces in the experimental workshop were undertaken to verify the proposed modeling method. The results showed that the method can provide multi-perspective transparency on energy consumption related to machine tools, workpieces as well as production management, and is particularly suitable for flexible manufacturing system when frequent changes in machining systems are often encountered. - Highlights: • Energy behaviors in flexible machining systems are modeled in this paper. • Hybrid characteristics of energy behaviors are examined from multiple viewpoints. • Flexible modeling method CTOPN is used to predict the hybrid energy behaviors. • This work offers a multi-perspective transparency on energy consumption

Automation, robotics and remote handling technology in the nuclear fuel cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajagopalan, C.; Venugopal, S.

2013-01-01

Automation and Robotics technology are making significant contributions in almost all fields of engineering and technology and their presence is felt in all spheres of human life. The importance of automation and robotics has increased rapidly in the recent years to cater to the global competitive pressures by the manufacturing industry by utilizing the increased productivity and improved quality this technology offers. Improvement of productivity, quality, profitability and, indeed, survival are the major motivating factors in the implementation of automation and robotics technology in the manufacturing sector. Robots are used extensively in the automotive industry, primarily for welding, painting and material handling applications. The electronics, aerospace, metalworking and consumer goods industries are also major potential robot users. The common uses of robots in industries mostly include the four Ps - Picking, Placing, Packaging and Painting - apart from other industrial routines like assembly and welding. As is the case with industrial tools and machineries, a properly designed robot (for the appropriate task) has almost unlimited endurance with the added benefit of precisions unmatched by human workers. With robot technology as a key element, integrated factory automation systems touch on nearly all types of manufacturing. The productivity and competitiveness in these industries will depend in large part on flexible automation through robotics

Review of flexible and transparent thin-film transistors based on zinc oxide and related materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yong-Hui; Mei Zeng-Xia; Liang Hui-Li; Du Xiao-Long

2017-01-01

Flexible and transparent electronics enters into a new era of electronic technologies. Ubiquitous applications involve wearable electronics, biosensors, flexible transparent displays, radio-frequency identifications (RFIDs), etc. Zinc oxide (ZnO) and relevant materials are the most commonly used inorganic semiconductors in flexible and transparent devices, owing to their high electrical performances, together with low processing temperatures and good optical transparencies. In this paper, we review recent advances in flexible and transparent thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on ZnO and relevant materials. After a brief introduction, the main progress of the preparation of each component (substrate, electrodes, channel and dielectrics) is summarized and discussed. Then, the effect of mechanical bending on electrical performance is highlighted. Finally, we suggest the challenges and opportunities in future investigations. (paper)

Flexible power and bandwidth allocation in mobile satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Keyes, L. A.

The introduction of L-band mobile communication services by spot beam satellites creates a payload design challenge due to uncertainty in the location and size of the new market to be served. A combination of payload technologies that allow a flexible allocation of power and bandwidth to any portion of the coverage area is described. Power flexibility is achieved by a novel combination of a low-level beam-forming network and a matrix power module which ensures equal sharing of power among individual amplifiers. This eliminates the loss of efficiency and increased mass when an amplifier associated with a beam must be over-designed to meet uncertainties in power distribution between beams. Flexibility in allocation of bandwidth to beams is achieved by intermediate frequency subdivision of the L-band service categories defined by ITU. These spectral subdivisions are assigned to beams by an IF interconnect matrix having beam ports and filter ports as inputs and outputs, respectively. Two such filter switch matrices are required, one for the inbound L-band to feeder link transponder, and one for the outbound feeder link to L-band transponder.

The Flexible Care Service: a third-sector service for older people with mental health needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryder, Elaine

2015-01-01

Demographic patterns indicate that by 2030, one in five people in England will be over 65. Together with the fact that as people age they are more likely to suffer from comorbidities, it is of paramount importance that local services are designed to meet the needs of individual older people. The Flexible Care Service is a resource for older people with mental health problems. Through the use of client case studies, the Department of Health's 'six Cs' (care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment) are used as a framework to demonstrate how a third-sector service such as Flexible Care can offer a person-centred approach in order to meet the diverse needs of individual clients. The framework is also used to demonstrate the high level of skills needed by flexible carers in order to provide this support.

Flexible Labour, Flexible Production and Innovation-by-Agreement: International Comparisons Contesting the Lindbeck-Snower Insider-Outsider Thesis and 'Structural Reforms' in the European Union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Carla Oliveira

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper critiques the case for flexibilisation of labour markets. It evidences that influential claims for this in terms of an insider-outsider thesis by former Nobel economics committee member Assar Lindbeck and the British economist Dennis Snower were purely theoretical without offering any evidence, or recognising contrary evidence. It cites a recent admission by the IMF that there is no basis for claiming that protection of employee rights inhibits economic efficiency and cites also a questioning of structural reforms and an obsession with competitiveness by Benoît Cœuré, an Executive Director of the ECB. It illustrates that the achievement of some of the most competitive companies in the world, in Japan, has been based on reinforcing insider rights through commitment to lifetime employment for core employees and how this has enabled high levels of efficiency and process innovation through continuous improvement. It relates this to theories of psychological and social contracts, and evidences the influence of this flexible production rather than flexible labour market model on the recommendation of innovation-by-agreement in the 2000 Lisbon Agenda of the European Council including the right to work-life balance which has not been integral to flexible production in Japan. It then summarises some implications.

Interactive Web-based e-learning for Studying Flexible Manipulator Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abul K. M. Azad

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract— This paper presents a web-based e-leaning facility for simulation, modeling, and control of flexible manipulator systems. The simulation and modeling part includes finite difference and finite element simulations along with neural network and genetic algorithm based modeling strategies for flexible manipulator systems. The controller part constitutes a number of open-loop and closed-loop designs. Closed loop control designs include the classical, adaptive, and neuro-model based strategies. Matlab software package and its associated toolboxes are used to implement these. The Matlab web server is used as the gateway between the facility and web-access. ASP.NET technology and SQL database are utilized to develop web applications for access control, user account and password maintenance, administrative management, and facility utilization monitoring. The reported facility provides a flexible but effective approach of web-based interactive e-learning facility of an engineering system. This can be extended to incorporate additional engineering systems within the e-learning framework.

Biomass combustion technologies for power generation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiltsee, G.A. Jr. [Appel Consultants, Inc., Stevenson Ranch, CA (United States); McGowin, C.R.; Hughes, E.E. [Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA (United States)

1993-12-31

Technology in power production from biomass has been advancing rapidly. Industry has responded to government incentives such as the PURPA legislation in the US and has recognized that there are environmental advantages to using waste biomass as fuel. During the 1980s many new biomass power plants were built. The relatively mature stoker boiler technology was improved by the introduction of water-cooled grates, staged combustion air, larger boiler sizes up to 60 MW, higher steam conditions, and advanced sootblowing systems. Circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) technology achieved full commercial status, and now is the leading process for most utility-scale power applications, with more complete combustion, lower emissions, and better fuel flexibility than stoker technology. Bubbling fluidized-bed (BFB) technology has an important market niche as the best process for difficult fuels such as agricultural wastes, typically in smaller plants. Other biomass power generation technologies are being developed for possible commercial introduction in the 1990s. Key components of Whole Tree Energy{trademark} technology have been tested, conceptual design studies have been completed with favorable results, and plans are being made for the first integrated process demonstration. Fluidized-bed gasification processes have advanced from pilot to demonstration status, and the world`s first integrated wood gasification/combined cycle utility power plant is starting operation in Sweden in early 1993. Several European vendors offer biomass gasification processes commercially. US electric utilities are evaluating the cofiring of biomass with fossil fuels in both existing and new plants. Retrofitting existing coal-fired plants gives better overall cost and performance results than any biomass technologies;but retrofit cofiring is {open_quotes}fuel-switching{close_quotes} that provides no new capacity and is attractive only with economic incentives.