Electric and Magnetic Manipulation of Liquid Metals

Over the past decade, gallium-based liquid metals have attracted enormous attention, emerging as a new cutting-edge multi-functional material for reconfigurable electronics, soft robotics, microfluidics, and biomedical applications, based on utilizing the intrinsic advantages of liquid metal. These unique advantages that combine high electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, biocompatibility, low mechanical compliance, and viscosity all-in-one make the liquid metal applicable for a tremendous number of applications. Moreover, the self-passivating oxide skin of the liquid metal in an ambient environment forms a unique core (oxide skin)-shell (liquid metal) structure and provides a new strategy for two-dimensional thin films with a thickness of a few nanometers. The reports on the liquid metal can be mainly divided into three categories: 1) liquid-metal-based composite structures; 2) the core-shell strategy for thin films; and 3) electrochemical manipulation of the liquid metal in electrolyte. The liquid metal (LM) composites represent material systems in which LM alloys are either suspended as small droplets within a soft polymer matrix or mixed with metallic nanoparticles to form a biphasic composition, through which the electrical, dielectric, and thermal properties of composites can be controlled, thus enabling their applications in soft-matter sensing, actuation, and energy harvesting. Moreover, the fluidity and conductivity of the liquid metal make it suitable to be directly patterned (i.e., liquid metal ink) on various soft substrates (e.g., polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for ultra-stretchable electronics. Compared to the traditional electronics, which are typically composed of intrinsically rigid materials that have limited deformability, the liquid metal based soft electronics are highly flexible, stretchable, and conformable. Most importantly, they are capable of electrical self-healing, enabling their electrical functionality, even under severe damage. These properties and applications of liquid metal composites show great potential for practical usage

Gifts of Control: Pseudo-Feminism in The Da Vinci Code

Since its publication in 2003, The Da Vinci Code written by Dan Brown came as a big hit to the world and has been listed atop the bestseller list by New York Times for about two years. The novel recounts a story of Sophie and Langdon questing the Holy Grail and then discovering an ancient secret behind it, namely, the marriage and an descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Most criticisms are concerned with historical and religious meanings, contributing to the public outcry for “radical feminist” of the novel in potentially threatening Christianity. However, it should be noted that the so-called great cause of unveiling Mary Magdalene, the silenced goddess, victimizes the modern female, Sophie. Despite the proliferation of current studies, there seems to be an oversight with regard to “cryptex” which is mentioned about sixty-nine times in the novel. Nevertheless, readers are easily entrapped by this negligence into men’s phony concern for women, in particular their masked manipulation of Sophie. From this vantage point, the present article, drawing on gift theories, aims to reveal the pseudo-feminism in the novel. It is argued that Sauniere’s cryptexes, presented as unconditional gifts for Sophie, are actually complicit with patriarchal ideology and finally force her to sacrifice self-identity for reciprocation. In the end, the paper pinpoints the practical implications of the novel for women in the contemporary world to remain vigilant and rational towards faux-feminism.&nbsp

Policy Analysis of Agricultural Water Fee Collection in China

AbstractThe low collection rate of agricultural irrigation water fee is a common problem facing many developing countries, which has also troubled China since the 2000s. In different areas of China, there are two problem-solving strategies: raising water collection rate or exempting water fee. In this paper, we analyze the dilemma of China's agricultural water fee collection from both practical and theoretical perspective. We argue that China will not follow up one single model in agricultural water fee collection and each local government should explore appropriate policy in line with their own situation

Telecommunications industry efficiency: A comparative analysis of high and middle income countries

This study evaluates telecommunications industry efficiency in 19 countries grouped into high income countries (HICs) and middle income countries (MICs). Using data from 2001 to 2013 and a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), it finds that HICs outperformed MICs, however, the two groups of countries exhibited improved technical efficiency, managerial effectiveness, and operational scale. Additionally, time in deregulation is negatively associated with technical and scale efficiency in HICs, however, the influence is insignificant in MICs. Labour productivity drives technical efficiency in HICs. Also, it augments managerial resourcefulness in HICs and MICs, however, its influence on scale efficiency is immaterial. Revenue per subscription enhances technical efficiency and managerial effectiveness in the two groups of countries. The relationship with scale efficiency, which is positive in HICs is irrelevant in MICs. Capital intensity has insignificant influence on managerial effectiveness in the two clusters of countries, however, it undermines technical efficiency in HICs and scale efficiency in MICs. Gross national income per capita is inconsequential to scale enhancement. However, it contributes to technical efficiency in the two categories of countries and drives managerial performance in HICs. Efficiency performances in HICs and MICs are insensitive to the industry's concentration level. Inflation has insignificant influence on scale efficiency in HICs and MICs. Although, it drives technical efficiency and managerial performance in MICs, the influence in HICs is immaterial. The joint impact of labour productivity and capital intensity is irrelevant to operational scale in HICs and MICs, however, it is negatively associated with technical efficiency and managerial effectiveness in MICs. This empirical study provides additional insight that managers in the industry and policy makers will find useful during strategy formulation and policy deliberations

Pancake bouncing on superhydrophobic surfaces

Engineering surfaces that promote rapid drop detachment is of importance to a wide range of applications including anti-icing, dropwise condensation6, and self-cleaning. Here we show how superhydrophobic surfaces patterned with lattices of submillimetre-scale posts decorated with nano-textures can generate a counter-intuitive bouncing regime: drops spread on impact and then leave the surface in a flattened, pancake shape without retracting. This allows for a four-fold reduction in contact time compared to conventional complete rebound. We demonstrate that the pancake bouncing results from the rectification of capillary energy stored in the penetrated liquid into upward motion adequate to lift the drop. Moreover, the timescales for lateral drop spreading over the surface and for vertical motion must be comparable. In particular, by designing surfaces with tapered micro/nanotextures which behave as harmonic springs, the timescales become independent of the impact velocity, allowing the occurrence of pancake bouncing and rapid drop detachment over a wide range of impact velocities.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 31 references, + 5 pages of supplementary informatio

Duopoly Competition between Airline Groups with Dual-brand Services - The case of the Australian domestic market

The Australian aviation industry achieved substantial growth after the abolition of the “two-airline-policy” in 1990. With Virgin’s purchase of Tiger Airways, a new duopoly between two airlines groups, each consisting of a full service airline (FSA) and a low cost carrier (LCC), emerged in the domestic market. In this study, we analyze the pricing dynamics among the four airlines of the duopoly groups, using panel data of online fares on the four most travelled routes in the domestic market. Our empirical results suggest that market segmentation allows the FSAs to charge significantly higher prices than the LCCs. Still, there is clear evidence of competition within and across the market segments, and the airlines’ pricing responses are asymmetric. Virgin’s price responses to Qantas and Jetstar are moderate. In comparison, more than one third of Qantas’s fare changes and less than half of Jetstar’s fare charges are in response to Virgin’s fare adjustments in the previous period. Despite Qantas and Jetstar’s large market share, after lengthy and costly price wars in previous years, the Qantas group still responds to Virgin as if competing with an entrant. All four carriers adopt revenue management practices, but the pricing of Qantas and Jetstar does not seem to be coordinated. Our study identifies a complex competition pattern between airline groups offering dual-brand services, and suggests that the Australian domestic market has not reached a stable equilibrium

Air Transport Services in Regional Australia – Demand pattern, frequency choice and airport entry

This study investigates the development of the aviation market at Australia’s top 50 regional airports during 2005-2013. Demand estimation results suggest that a higher commodity price increases traffic volume in markets where the local economy heavily relies on mineral resources and that an appreciation of the Australian dollar decreases passenger flows in tourism-dependent areas. The presence of leading airlines and low-cost carriers, and the availability of international services all contribute positively to market growth. Airport entry analysis reveals that major carriers engage in clear strategic interactions. The Qantas airline group has used Jetstar as a fighting brand, thus that Jetstar flies to a destination if and only if the regional airport is also served by Virgin Australia, the group’s major competitor. Unlike routes connected to major airports, demands in regional airports are not sensitive to flight frequency, but seem to be positively influenced by national fare levels. Our empirical results support a consistent aviation policy across Australia, especially for issues related to airline competition and demand stimulation. However, special considerations need be made for regional airports to help them to deal with economic shocks and cover fixed costs

Merger between airlines in financial distress: does the merger save them?

The merger in 2009 between China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines came at a time when both airlines were suffering heavy losses, and were struggling for survival during the global financial crisis. An examination of the prices on China Eastern’s seven domestic Shanghai-based routes suggests that on average fares on departure days have increased by 22% in the post-merger period. It appears that the 2009 merger conferred China Eastern with significant market power owing to the parallel nature of this acquisition, thereby resulting in record profit reported in 2010. This reminds regulatory authorities to remain vigilant in handling airline mergers when numerous parallel routes are involved

Calidad de vida y satisfacción laboral de los trabajadores de la U.M. San Rafael - MINSUR S.A., Puno 2021

El estudio de esta investigación procuro determinar la existencia de un vínculo entre la calidad de vida y la satisfacción laboral de los trabajadores de la U.M. SAN RAFAEL – MINSUR S.A, Puno 2021. La investigación fue catalogada como aplicada, manejando el enfoque cuantitativo, asimismo presenta un diseño no experimental de corte transversal y nivel descriptivo – correlacional. La población de dicho estudio fue constituida por 40 trabajadores, se analizó una muestra de 40 trabajadores, y se tuvo como instrumento, dos cuestionarios de 20 preguntas cada una, empleando la escala de Likert, seguidamente se ejecutó el software SPSS, para dar lugar a los resultados univariado y bivariado, donde se encontró un grado de correlación r = 0,763. Dando lugar a las conclusiones y recomendaciones que permiten tener una visión más conceptualizado de la calidad de vida en relación con la satisfacción laboral, el cual permite fortalecer el desarrollo de la organización