Design and Implementation of Micro Mechatronic Systems- SMA Drive Polymer Microgripper

A micromechatronic gripper was designed, fabricated, and tested with the proposed control system. By following realization axioms, the microgripper system including a polyurethane (PU) gripper mechanism and shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator was designed and developed. The micromechatronic gripper system was realized with cross-sectional area of (π/4) × 5002 μm2 for clean room operation. A synergetic operation of SMA actuator for driving microgripper mechanism was investigated in visual-based control. By incorporating with inverse Preisach compensator, an explicit self-tuning controller through Ziegler-Nichols criterion was selected for controlling the self-biased SMA actuator. The application of the gripper system for gripping and transporting a glass particle of 30 μm was tested

What factors drive corporate customer satisfaction with e-banking services

Due to the burgeoning development of electronic commerce (e-commerce),the broader applications of emerging service-Internet baking (e-banking) services have been introduced and provided by financial holding companies or banks at an accelerating rate in recent years since they can provide efficient, reliable, securable, and convenient financial services, such as online payment, deposit/loan, trading, and clearing/settlement, via electronic channels (e-channels, e.g., Internet and phone) for customers. E-banking services not only can create new competitive advantages, perhaps, but also can improve their relationships with customers for banks. Obviously, e-banking can offer better services required by corporations and individuals, it could be a strategic niche no matter for banks or their customers. Conceivably, how to implement e-banking successfully is becoming a critical management issue. Unfortunately, research pays scarce attentions on what factors drive success of e-banking, particularly from corporate customers\u27 perspective. For the reason, this paper attempts to explore what factors affect corporate customer satisfaction with e-banking (CCSEB) which is one surrogate variable of success of e-banking services. Based on a survey of 178 respondents collected from Taiwan companies, the results support that environmental, organizational, and globalization factors will affect customer satisfaction with e-banking significantly. Furthermore, there exist a reciprocal relationship between customer satisfaction and post-usage favorite behavior. We believe the results and findings proposed in this paper not only can offer in-depth insights for practitioners about how to implement e-banking successfully, but also can be further directions for researchers interested in designing related theories

The strip entropy approximation of Markov shifts on trees

The strip entropy is studied in this article. We prove that the strip entropy approximation is valid for every ray of a golden-mean tree. This result extends the previous result of [Petersen-Salama, Discrete \& Continuous Dynamical Systems, 2020] on the conventional 2-tree. Lastly, we prove that the strip entropy approximation is valid for eventually periodic rays of a class of Markov-Cayley trees

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and related factors in Taiwanese high-tech industry workers

OBJECTIVES: In light of the increasing number of high-tech industry workers and the differences in their working conditions compared to those of the general population, the health status of these workers merits serious attention. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its correlates among Taiwanese high-tech industry workers. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 4,666 workers who participated in labor health examinations at a hospital in southern Taiwan in 2008. Participants with metabolic syndrome were defined using the criteria proposed by the Taiwan National Department of Health in 2007. Factors associated with metabolic syndrome were determined using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 8.2%, and the prevalence was higher in men than in women (14.0% vs. 2.3%,

Boundary complexity and surface entropy of 2-multiplicative integer systems on Nd\mathbb{N}^d

In this article, we introduce the concept of the boundary complexity and prove that for a 2-multiplicative integer system (2-MIS) $X^{p}_{\Omega}$ on $\mathbb{N}$ (or $X^{\bf p}_{\Omega}$ on $\mathbb{N}^d,d\geq 2$), every point in $[h(X^p_\Omega), \log r]$ can be realized as a boundary complexity of a 2-MIS with a specific speed, where r stands for the number of the alphabets. The result is new and quite different from $\mathbb{N}^d$ subshifts of finite type (SFT) for $d\geq 1$. Furthermore, the rigorous formula of surface entropy for a $\mathbb{N}^d$ 2-MIS is also presented. This provides an efficient method to calculate the topological entropy for $\mathbb{N}^d$ 2-MIS and also provides an intrinsic differences between $\mathbb{N}^d$ $k$-MIS and SFTs for $d\geq 1$ and $k\geq 2$

Mechanics,Mechanisms and Modeling of the Chemical Mechanical Polishing Process

The Chemical Mechanical polishing (CMP) process is now widely employed in the Integrated Circuit Fabrication. However, due to the complexity of process parameters on the material removal rate (MRR), mechanism of material removal and pattern effect are not well understood. In this paper, three contact regimes between the wafer surface and the polishing pad were proposed: direct contact, mixed or partial contact, and hydroplaning. The interfacial friction force has been employed to characterize these contact conditions. Several polishing models are reviewed with emphasis on the mechanical aspects of CMP. Experiments have been conducted to verify the mechanical polishing models and to identify the dominant mechanism of material removal under typical CMP conditions.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

On the use of CO2 laser induced surface patterns to modify the wettability of Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)

CO2 lasers can be seen to lend themselves to materials processing applications and have been used extensively in both research and industry. This work investigated the surface modification of PMMA with a CO2 laser in order to vary the wettability characteristics. The wettability characteristics of the PMMA were modified by generating a number of patterns of various topography on the surface using the CO2 laser. These induced patterns were trench and hatch with scan dimensions of 50 and 100 μm. Through white light interferometry it was found that for all laser patterned samples the surface roughness had significantly increased by up to 3.1 μm. The chemical composition of selected samples were explored using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and found that the surface oxygen content had risen by approximately 4% At. By using a sessile drop device it was found that, in comparison to the as-received sample, 50 μm dimensions gave rise to a more hydrophilic surface; whereas 100 μm dimensions gave rise to either no change in contact angle or an increase making the PMMA hydrophobic. This can be explained by combinations of surface roughness and γp contributing to the observed contact angle, in addition to the possibility of different wetting regimes taking place owed to the variation of topographies over the as-received and laser patterned samples