Synthesis and Optical Properties of Sprayed ZnO and ZnO:Ga Thin Films

Characteristics and optical constants of pure and Ga-doped ZnO thin films have been studied. Pure and Ga-doped zinc oxide thin films were deposited onto glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis technique. Optical absorption studies in the wavelength range of 300–900 nm showed a peak near 450 nm for different doped films (in addition to the peak for un-doped ZnO). Increasing the doping concentration of Ga to 7% induced an increase in the optical constants of films. This increase is attributed to the formation of chargetransfer complexes. ZnO thin films doped with Ga have improved the optical transmittance in the visible region. The addition of Ga also induced an obvious increase in the optical band gap of these films; the optical band gap of Ga-doped films was slightly higher than that of undoped samples (3.1 eV). This study also found that the highest band gap (Eg=3.4 eV) occurred for the film deposited with a doping concentration of 5% gallium

Investigating the link between transaction and computational costs in a blockchain environment

The research and thinking pertaining to blockchain have thus far focused on cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. However, there is increased interest in using the technology to solve operational challenges in manufacturing and service supply chains. In this study, we introduce a new implication of using blockchain technology and propose two unique contributions. First, we introduce the notion of computational costs (measured in units of gas) as an essential mechanism for completing operational transactions in the blockchain environment. Second, we discuss the use of smart contracts and their influence on operational transactions. To investigate the link between blockchain transaction and computational costs, this study uses an experimental methodology. We develop and implement a fully functional virtual public blockchain to store, validate, and maintain transactions. The methodology provides a process to measure the computational costs, frequency, and intensity of transactions. This research contributes to conceptual research on the blockchain implementation paradigm. Its novelty stems from the identification of computational costs for operational transactions and use of an experimental methodology. This research provides managers an insight into the design of smart contract transactions in a supply chain from a cost perspective

O que é diverso o suficiente? Como escolas charter “intencionalmente diversas” recrutam e retêm alunos

School choice has the potential to be a tool for desegregation, but research suggests that choice more often exacerbates segregation than remedies it. In the past several years, hundreds of ‘intentionally diverse’ charter schools have opened across the country, potentially countering the link between charter schools and segregation. Yet, these schools raise important questions about choice, segregation, and equity. For instance: how do leaders of diverse charter schools prioritize diversity in decisions about location, marketing, and recruitment? What are the implications of these diversity efforts for equity, especially within competitive and marketized educational contexts? We explore the concrete recruiting and marketing strategies schools used to build and retain their diverse communities, drawing on qualitative data from New Orleans, LA, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. We identify key strategies used by school leaders, but also note that many strategies were ad-hoc and experimental. Furthermore, we noted that school goals around “how much” diversity was sufficient were often unarticulated, making schools susceptible to external pressures that might refocus attention away from equity and diversity, or allow groups with more power to shape agendas within the school. Finally, we find that contexts of gentrification and widening economic inequities threatened schools’ efforts to recruit and maintain a diverse student body. We discuss implications for leaders of diverse charter schools and other leaders seeking to diversify their student bodies, as well as policymakers and charter authorizers.La elección de la escuela tiene el potencial de ser una herramienta para desagregación, pero la investigación sugiere que la elección más frecuentemente exacerba la segregación que la remediación. En los últimos años, cientos de escuelas charter "intencionalmente diversas" se han abierto en todo el país, potencialmente contrarrestando el vínculo entre las escuelas charter y la segregación. Sin embargo, estas escuelas plantean cuestiones importantes sobre la elección, la segregación y la equidad. Por ejemplo: ¿cómo los líderes de diversas escuelas charter priorizan la diversidad en las decisiones sobre localización, marketing y reclutamiento? ¿Cuáles son las implicaciones de estos esfuerzos de diversidad para la equidad, especialmente dentro de contextos educativos competitivos y comercializados? Exploramos las estrategias concretas de reclutamiento y marketing utilizadas por las escuelas para construir y mantener sus diversas comunidades, sobre la base de datos cualitativos de Nueva Orleans, LA, y Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Identificamos las principales estrategias utilizadas por los líderes de las escuelas, pero también notamos que muchas estrategias fueron ad hoc y experimentales. Además, observamos que las metas escolares en torno a "cuánto" diversidad eran suficientes, a menudo se desarticulan, haciendo que las escuelas susceptibles a presiones externas que podrían redirigir la atención lejos de la equidad y la diversidad o permitir que grupos con más poder formen agendas dentro de la escuela. Finalmente, descubrimos que los contextos de gentrificación y el aumento de las desigualdades económicas amenazaban los esfuerzos de las escuelas para reclutar y mantener un alumnado diversificado. Discutimos las implicaciones para los líderes de diversas escuelas charter y otros líderes que buscan diversificar sus cuerpos estudiantiles, así como los formuladores de políticas y los coordinadores de charter.A escolha da escola tem o potencial de ser uma ferramenta para desagregação, mas a pesquisa sugere que a escolha mais frequentemente exacerba a segregação do que a remediação. Nos últimos anos, centenas de escolas charter "intencionalmente diversas" foram abertas em todo o país, potencialmente contrabalançando o vínculo entre as escolas charter e a segregação. No entanto, essas escolas levantam questões importantes sobre escolha, segregação e equidade. Por exemplo: como os líderes de diversas escolas charter priorizam a diversidade nas decisões sobre localização, marketing e recrutamento? Quais são as implicações desses esforços de diversidade para a equidade, especialmente dentro de contextos educacionais competitivos e comercializados? Exploramos as estratégias concretas de recrutamento e marketing utilizadas pelas escolas para construir e manter suas diversas comunidades, com base em dados qualitativos de New Orleans, LA, e Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Identificamos as principais estratégias utilizadas pelos líderes das escolas, mas também notamos que muitas estratégias foram ad hoc e experimentais. Além disso, notamos que as metas escolares em torno de “quanto” diversidade eram suficientes eram muitas vezes desarticuladas, tornando as escolas suscetíveis a pressões externas que poderiam redirecionar a atenção para longe da equidade e da diversidade ou permitir que grupos com mais poder formassem agendas dentro da escola. Finalmente, descobrimos que os contextos de gentrificação e o aumento das desigualdades econômicas ameaçavam os esforços das escolas para recrutar e manter um corpo discente diversificado. Discutimos as implicações para os líderes de diversas escolas charter e outros líderes que buscam diversificar seus corpos estudantis, bem como os formuladores de políticas e os coordenadores de charter

Spider monkey optimization routing protocol for wireless sensor networks

Uneven energy consumption (UEC) is latent trouble in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that feature a multiple motion pattern and a multi-hop routing. UEC often splits the network, reduces network life, and leads to performance degradation. Sometimes, improving energy consumption is more complicated because it does not reduce energy consumption only, but it also extends network life. This makes energy consumption balancing critical to WSN design calling for energy-efficient routing protocols that increase network life. Some energy-saving protocols have been applied to make the energy consumption among all nodes inside the network equilibrate in the expectancy and end power in almost all nodes simultaneously. This work has suggested a protocol of energy-saving routing named spider monkey optimization routing protocol (SMORP), which aims to probe the issue of network life in WSNs. The proposed protocol reduces excessive routing messages that may lead to the wastage of significant energy by recycling frequent information from the source node into the sink. This routing protocol can choose the optimal routing path. That is the preferable node can be chosen from nodes of the candidate in the sending ways by preferring the energy of maximum residual, the minimum traffic load, and the least distance to the sink. Simulation results have proved the effectiveness of the proposed protocol in terms of decreasing end-to-end delay, reducing energy consumption compared to well-known routing protocols

Optical Characterization of Silver Doped Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) Films

Silver-doped PVA films were prepared by casting method in order to study the effect of silver on the optical properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) using UV/VIS spectroscopy. It was found that these thin films have an indirect optical band gap (2.4-1.3) eV as the doping percentage increase. Extinction coefficient and refractive index increase as the doping percentage increase, while in general the optical dispersion parameters show an opposite behavior with dopin

Effects of Annealing on the Electronic Transitions of ZnS Thin Films

Thin films of zinc sulphide were prepared using a flash evaporation technique. The obtained thin films were subjected to heat treatment to investigate the effect of annealing on the transmittance spectrum and the electronic transitions. It has been found that annealing affected the transmission spectrum and caused an increase in the direct optical band gap. The optical parameters, oscillator energy E0 and dispersion energy Ed were determined using the Wemple DiDomenico single oscillator model. The optical energy gap obtained from the Wemple and DiDomenico model was in good agreement with the optical energy gap proposed by the Tauc theory

Data Analytics and Techniques: A Review

Big data of different types, such as texts and images, are rapidly generated from the internet and other applications. Dealing with this data using traditional methods is not practical since it is available in various sizes, types, and processing speed requirements. Therefore, data analytics has become an important tool because only meaningful information is analyzed and extracted, which makes it essential for big data applications to analyze and extract useful information. This paper presents several innovative methods that use data analytics techniques to improve the analysis process and data management. Furthermore, this paper discusses how the revolution of data analytics based on artificial intelligence algorithms might provide improvements for many applications. In addition, critical challenges and research issues were provided based on published paper limitations to help researchers distinguish between various analytics techniques to develop highly consistent, logical, and information-rich analyses based on valuable features. Furthermore, the findings of this paper may be used to identify the best methods in each sector used in these publications, assist future researchers in their studies for more systematic and comprehensive analysis and identify areas for developing a unique or hybrid technique for data analysis

A Comparative Study for String Metrics and the Feasibility of Joining them as Combined Text Similarity Measures

This paper aims to introduce an optimized Damerau–Levenshtein and dice-coefficients using enumeration operations (ODADNEN) for providing fast string similarity measure with maintaining the results accuracy; searching to find specific words within a large text is a hard job which takes a lot of time and efforts. The string similarity measure plays a critical role in many searching problems. In this paper, different experiments were conducted to handle some spelling mistakes. An enhanced algorithm for string similarity assessment was proposed. This algorithm is a combined set of well-known algorithms with some improvements (e.g. the dice-coefficient was modified to deal with numbers instead of characters using certain conditions). These algorithms were adopted after conducting on a number of experimental tests to check its suitability. The ODADNN algorithm was tested using real data; its performance was compared with the original similarity measure. The results indicated that the most convincing measure is the proposed hybrid measure, which uses the Damerau–Levenshtein and dicedistance based on n-gram of each word to handle; also, it requires less processing time in comparison with the standard algorithms. Furthermore, it provides efficient results to assess the similarity between two words without the need to restrict the word length

Association of Physical Activity with Co-morbid Conditions in Geriatric Population

To find out association of physical activity with co-morbid conditions in geriatric population, a cross-sectional study was conducted in different cties of Pakistan in 2015. A total of 114 participants were inducted by non-probability convenience sampling technique. Data was collected after informed verbal consent by a validated questionnaire that is Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity (RAPA). Participants were categorized into two groups i.e. physically active and physically inactive. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 20. There were 66 (57.9%) males and 48 (42.1%) females with mean age of 57.04±7.348 years. Among hypertensive individuals (n=43, 37.7%) there were 39 (90.7%) physically inactive, among individuals having angina (n=17, 14.9%) there were 15 (88.2%) physically inactive. Out of 37 (32.5%) diabetics, 35 (94.6%) were physically inactive. Among individuals suffering from arthritis (n=40, 35.1%), there were 38 (95%) physically inactive. A significant association was found between physical activity and diabetes and arthritis with p-value of 0.048 and 0.029 respectively. Physical activity is significantly associated with diabetes and arthritis in geriatric population. Adequate physical activity should be performed to reduce the risk of co-morbid conditions and improve the quality of life in geriatric population