Broadband Printed Cross-Dipole Element with Four Polarization Reconfigurations for Mobile Base Station Array Antenna Applications

This paper describes a broadband printed cross-dipole element with four polarization reconfigurations (BPCDE_PR). The BPCDE_PR can configure two linear and two circular polarizations in the operating band of 1.7–2.5 GHz. To implement the broadband polarization reconfigurations, switched network type broadband phase shifters are proposed and designed. The fabricated BPCDE_PR prototype with switched network including broadband phase shifters shows good electrical performances and the desired polarization reconfigurable functions in the operating band

KVN observations suggest multiple γ\gamma-ray emission regions in 3C 84

3C 84 (NGC 1275) is a well-studied mis-aligned Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN), which has been active in Gamma rays since at least 2008. We have monitored the source at four wavelengths (14 mm, 7 mm, 3 mm and 2 mm) using the Korean VLBI network (KVN) since 2013 as part of the interferometric monitoring of $\gamma$-ray bright AGN (iMOGABA) program. 3C 84 exhibits bright radio emission both near the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) feature known as C1 and from a moving feature located to the south known as C3. Other facilities have also detected these short-term variations above a slowly rising trend at shorter wavelengths, such as in Gamma ray and 1 mm total intensity light-curves. We find that the variations in the $\gamma$ rays and 1 mm total intensity light-curves are correlated, with the $\gamma$ rays leading and lagging the radio emission. Analysis of the 2 mm KVN data shows that both the Gamma rays and 1 mm total intensity short-term variations are better correlated with the SMBH region than C3, likely placing the short-term variations in C1. We interpret the emission as being due to the random alignment of spatially separated emission regions. We place the slowly rising trend in C3, consistent with previous results. Additionally, we report that since mid-2015, a large mm-wave radio flare has been occurring in C3, with a large Gamma ray flare coincident with the onset of this flare at all radio wavelengths.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted to MNRA

Specific Radius Change of Quantum Dot inside the Lipid Bilayer by Charge Effect of Lipid Head-Group

We studied the quantum dot-liposome complex (QLC), which is the giant unilamellar vesicle with quantum dots (QDs) incorporated in its lipid bilayer. A spin coating method in conjunction with the electroformation technique yielded vesicles with highly homogeneous unilamellar structure. We observed QD size dependence of the QLC formation: QLCs form with blue, green and yellow-emission QD (core radius ~1.05 nm, 1.25 nm and 1.65 nm) but not with red-emission QD (core radius ~2.5 nm). In order to explain this size dependence, we made a simple model explaining the QD size effect on QLC formation in terms of the molecular packing parameter and the lipid conformational change. This model predicts that QDs below a certain critical size (radius ≈ 1.8 nm) can stably reside in a lipid bilayer of 4 - 5 nm in thickness for Egg-PC lipids. This is consistent with our previous experimental results. In the case of red-emission QD, QD-aggregations are only observed on the fluorescent microscopy instead of QLC. We expected that the reduction of packing parameter (P) would lead to the change of specific QD radius. This prediction could be verified by our experimental observation of the shift of the specific QD size by mixing DOPG

Fabrication of FeSe1-x superconducting films with bulk properties

We have fabricated high-quality FeSe1-x superconducting films with a bulk Tc of 11-12 K on different substrates, Al2O3(0001), SrTiO3(100), MgO(100), and LaAlO3(100), by using a pulsed laser deposition technique. All the films were grown at a high substrate temperature of 610 oC, and were preferentially oriented along the (101) direction, the latter being to be a key to fabricating of FeSe1-x superconducting thin films with high Tc. According to the energy dispersive spectroscopy data, the Fe:Se composition ratio was 1:0.90+-0.02. The FeSe1-x film grown on a SrTiO3 substrate showed the best quality with a high upper critical magnetic field [Hc2(0)] of 56 T

Electrically Robust Single-Crystalline WTe2 Nanobelts for Nanoscale Electrical Interconnects

As the elements of integrated circuits are downsized to the nanoscale, the current Cu-based interconnects are facing limitations due to increased resistivity and decreased current-carrying capacity because of scaling. Here, the bottom-up synthesis of single-crystalline WTe2 nanobelts and low- and high-field electrical characterization of nanoscale interconnect test structures in various ambient conditions are reported. Unlike exfoliated flakes obtained by the top-down approach, the bottom-up growth mode of WTe2 nanobelts allows systemic characterization of the electrical properties of WTe2 single crystals as a function of channel dimensions. Using a 1D heat transport model and a power law, it is determined that the breakdown of WTe2 devices under vacuum and with AlOx capping layer follows an ideal pattern for Joule heating, far from edge scattering. High-field electrical measurements and self-heating modeling demonstrate that the WTe2 nanobelts have a breakdown current density approaching approximate to 100 MA cm(-2), remarkably higher than those of conventional metals and other transition-metal chalcogenides, and sustain the highest electrical power per channel length (approximate to 16.4 W cm(-1)) among the interconnect candidates. The results suggest superior robustness of WTe2 against high-bias sweep and its possible applicability in future nanoelectronics

Truth is somewhere in between: an ethnographic account of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) in South Africa - a work in progress

Abstract Dissertation Title: Truth is Somewhere In Between: An Ethnographic Account of Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) in South Africa Broad Based Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) policy, codes and scorecard were finalised in 2007 in South Africa. In an attempt to eradicate economic polarity, the policy’s aim is to pursue concurrent economic growth and social distribution. The goal is honourable, but is it achievable? Progress among all affected parties needs to be investigated and evaluated. In addition to much confusion arising between the policy’s discourses and practices, the uneasy logic of BBBEE in the neo‐capitalistic state of South Africa faces resistance and various challenges. Adopting an anthropological research approach, this paper makes particular use of participant observation in an effort to deconstruct the multilayered BBBEE concept and its practice. An examination of a firm that achieved broad based empowerment score provides the necessary ethnographic data. The dynamics of organisational culture, management and their BBBEE implementation, together with the perspectives of various stakeholders such as those within the community, government and among consultants, are all explored. BBBEE score, for all intents and purposes, was perceived as being irrelevant to the actual employees and their daily operations. To the degree that it may have been pertinent, the constant battles of culture and perceptions between various people and positions aggravated any hope of a possible point of reconciliation. Capitalist determination among all parties exists at the core of economic game they consent to play. Despite the policy’s effort to transform the management paradigm, the traditional organisational structure and practice is largely upheld and consequently, empowerment remains merely in the realm of discourses among both practitioners and beneficiaries. Narrow based empowerment persists as the dominant view of many and, as a result, BBBEE remains a sheer bureaucratic baby, impotent at bringing about any meaningful cultural transformation in the current economic trend of South Africa