Micro/Nano Hierarchical Super-Lyophobic Surfaces Against Gallium-Based Liquid Metal Alloy

Against a gallium-based liquid metal alloy, we report super-lyophobic surfaces that have micro/nano hierarchical structures made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and carbon nanotube (CNT) materials. The surface oxidation of the liquid metal is a challenging problem to be utilized for various applications, as it wets most surfaces. However, the micro/nano hierarchical structures of a fabricated-PDMS micro pillar array with dual-scale surface texturing and a grown-CNT surface enable one to minimize a contact area between the liquid metal droplet and the surface. Due to the low contact area, a large static contact angle and a low contact angle hysteresis are achieved, indicating super-lyophobic surfaces. Based on these super-lyophobic surfaces, the gallium-based liquid metal alloy can be more widely utilized for undeveloped applications that rely on the liquid metal’s mobility

Simultaneous dual-frequency radio observations of S5 0716+714: A search for intraday variability with the Korean VLBI Network

This study aims to search for the existence of intraday variability (IDV) of BL Lac object S5 0716+714 at high radio frequencies for which the interstellar scintillation effect is not significant. Using the 21-meter radio telescope of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN), we present results of multi-epoch simultaneous dual-frequency radio observations. Single-dish observations of S5 0716+714 were simultaneously conducted at 21.7 GHz (K-band) and 42.4 GHz (Q-band), with a high cadence of 30-60 minute intervals.We observed four epochs between December 2009 and June 2010. Over the whole set of observation epochs, S5 0716+714 showed significant inter-month variations in flux density at both the K- and Q-bands, with modulation indices of approximately 19% for the K-band and approximately 36% for the Q-band. In all epochs, no clear intraday variability was detected at either frequency. The source shows monotonic flux density increase in epochs 1 and 3 and monotonic flux density decrease in epochs 2 and 4. In the flux density increasing phases, the flux densities at the Q-band increase more rapidly. In the decreasing phase, no significant flux density difference is seen at the two frequencies. The situation could be different close to flux density peaks that we did not witness in our observations. We find an inverted spectrum with mean spectral indices of -0.57+-0.13 in epoch 1 and -0.15+-0.11 in epoch 3. On the other hand, we find relatively steep indices of +0.24+-0.14 and +0.17+-0.18 in epochs 2 and 4, respectively. We conclude that the frequency dependence of the variability and the change of the spectral index are caused by source-intrinsic effects rather than by any extrinsic scintillation effect.Comment: 6 pages and 4 figures and 4 table

"Come out after Saul and after Samuel!" : a case for texual analysis of 1 Samuel 11:1-11

1 Samuel 11:1-11 is royal ideology for the kingship of Saul. The biblical text informs that Saul was divinely sanctioned as leader of Israel. The heroic leadership of Saul was prominent to rescue his people from the imposed national shame by Nahash the Ammonite. The leadership of Saul was endorsed by the spirit of Yahweh. The spirit of Yahweh pinpoints the prophetic connection of Saul with a group of ecstatic prophets from the high place (1 Sm 9). An original textual context for the royal ideology is referred to 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16 that provided a prophetic connection with the royal ideology. 1 Samuel 11:1-11 was involved in various textual and historical processes to form the present text and context. Through delicate redactional intentions the biblical text was incorporated in the macro-context of the royal ideology of David. In 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16 Saul was anointed as nagid by Samuel as the answer for the crying of the people (1 Sm 9:16). The anointing guaranteed a divine sanction for the leadership of Saul (1 Sm 11:1-11). The tradition of Saul (1 Sm 9:1-10:16; 11:1-11) idealized the leadership of Saul as a divinely sanctioned kingship after the defeat of the Ammonites (cf 1 Sm 11:15). However, Saul was judged as the rejected and unfaithful king of Israel throughout the Deuteronomistic History (DH). Strikingly, Saul was connected with the evil origin of the kingship in Israel. The kingship of Saul can be perceived in the background of the ancient Near East (ANE) in terms of royal ideology. A prominent characteristic of the royal ideology in the ANE is to emphasize a divine sanction of the kingship in the ANE. In the ANE the king had to prove his divine sanction for the kingship. The tradition of Saul tells how the kingship of Saul was divinely sanctioned in the perspective of the ANE. On the other hand, the Deuteronomist emphasized the divine sanction of Saul was illegitimate in connection with his prophetic connection with a group of ecstatic prophets from the high place. Further Saul was characterized as lacking of divine knowledge in the DH. The research shows that 1 Samuel 11:1-11 is the royal ideology for Saul. The appearance of the kingship of Saul was inevitable in the critical period of the Israelite history. The leadership of Saul was divinely sanctioned in the prophetic manner. Such a prophetic characteristic of Saul was highly welcomed by the people. It is a comprehensive approach resulting from synthesizing various approaches such as historical critical approaches, new literary approaches, and social scientific approaches. The methodology distinguished embedded historical information in the text from a final redactional intention, that is, theological purpose of the redactor.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008.Old Testament Studiesunrestricte

A Segmentation Study of Digital Pirates and Understanding the Effectiveness of Targeted Anti-Piracy Communication

The objective of this study is to improve the effectiveness of anti-piracy educational strategies by identifying unique digital pirate segments and delivering personalized campaign messages to the target audiences. In the first study, we introduced a segmentation study of digital pirates based on different types of risks involved in pirating activities. We identify four digital pirate segments (anti-pirates, hard-core pirates, performance-sensitive pirates, and finance-sensitive pirates), each demonstrating distinctive characteristics. Further profiling of the segments revealed different risk perceptions regarding gender and piracy experience. In the second study, we conduct an experiment to test the effects of targeted campaign messages for the newly identified pirating segments. Our results show that targeted piracy campaign messages have a significantly higher message persuasiveness, while they damage the attitude towards piracy. However, we found that the targeted piracy campaign messages have a marginal effect on changing the intention to pirate. Findings from this study offer useful implications for the design and implementation of anti-piracy educational campaigns. This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research: https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer1803007

Bifurcation instability of sheet metal during spring-back

In automotive and home appliance industries, there are many complex-shaped sheet metal components which need to be fabricated in multiple stamping operations. For example, the manufacturing of an outer case of washing machine consists of stamping followed by a bending operation. After the first stage of the stamping process, a large amount of spring-back takes place, and therefore, it is difficult to proceed to the next stage of the bending process. In the stamping process of that kind of sheet component with low geometric constraint, the forming area is large compared to the forming depth. Therefore, the formed part is in an unstable state and is less geometrically constrained, which causes a large amount of spring-back. To investigate this phenomenon, finite element analyses are carried out. During a spring-back analysis after forming, bifurcation takes place and the finite element solution procedure using the Newton-Raphson scheme becomes unstable. To get a stable post-bifurcation solution, a bifurcation algorithm is introduced at the bifurcation point. The deformed shapes obtained from finite element analyses are in good agreement with the experimental data. From this study, it is shown that the bifurcation behaviour enlarges the spring-back and the degree of dimensional error. To obtain additional possible post-bifurcation solutions, non-bifurcation analyses using initial guesses obtained in a modal analysis are carried. For the initial guesses, lowed four eigenmodes are utilized. Finally, the post-bifurcation behaviour and spring-back amount are investigated for various process parameters including the forming depth, punch width and corner radius

Effect of Phosphatidylserine on Unitary Conductance and Ba2+ Block of the BK Ca2+–activated K+ Channel: Re-examination of the Surface Charge Hypothesis

Incorporation of BK Ca2+–activated K+ channels into planar bilayers composed of negatively charged phospholipids such as phosphatidylserine (PS) or phosphatidylinositol (PI) results in a large enhancement of unitary conductance (gch) in comparison to BK channels in bilayers formed from the neutral zwitterionic lipid, phospatidylethanolamine (PE). Enhancement of gch by PS or PI is inversely dependent on KCl concentration, decreasing from 70% at 10 mM KCl to 8% at 1,000 mM KCl. This effect was explained previously by a surface charge hypothesis (Moczydlowski, E., O. Alvarez, C. Vergara, and R. Latorre. 1985. J. Membr. Biol. 83:273–282), which attributed the conductance enhancement to an increase in local K+ concentration near the entryways of the channel. To test this hypothesis, we measured the kinetics of block by external and internal Ba2+, a divalent cation that is expected to respond strongly to changes in surface electrostatics. We observed little or no effect of PS on discrete blocking kinetics by external and internal Ba2+ at 100 mM KCl and only a small enhancement of discrete and fast block by external Ba2+ in PS-containing membranes at 20 mM KCl. Model calculations of effective surface potential sensed by the K+ conduction and Ba2+-blocking reactions using the Gouy-Chapman-Stern theory of lipid surface charge do not lend support to a simple electrostatic mechanism that predicts valence-dependent increase of local cation concentration. The results imply that the conduction pore of the BK channel is electrostatically insulated from the lipid surface, presumably by a lateral distance of separation (>20 Å) from the lipid head groups. The lack of effect of PS on apparent association and dissociation rates of Ba2+ suggest that lipid modulation of K+ conductance is preferentially coupled through conformational changes of the selectivity filter region that determine the high K+ flux rate of this channel relative to other cations. We discuss possible mechanisms for the effect of anionic lipids in the context of specific molecular interactions of phospholipids documented for the KcsA bacterial potassium channel and general membrane physical properties proposed to regulate membrane protein conformation via energetics of bilayer stress

Digital piracy: An assessment of consumer piracy risk and optimal supply chain coordination strategies.

Digital piracy and the emergence of new distribution channels have changed the dynamics of supply chain coordination and created many interesting problems. There has been increased attention to understanding the phenomenon of consumer piracy behavior and its impact on supply chain profitability. The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand the impact of digital piracy on online music channel and optimal supply chain strategies which achieve high levels of coordination. A multi-method approach including survey, mathematical modeling, and simulation are used to a) analyze the impact of piracy on digital music channel coordination under different contract arrangements, b) develop theoretical and operational basis for conceptualizing a measurement model of consumer piracy risk, c) examine the effectiveness of piracy control strategies used to dissuade consumers from illegal music downloads. Findings from this dissertation contribute to the literature on digital piracy, consumer piracy behavior, online channel distribution, and supply chain coordination, and provide several important managerial implications

Psycho-oncology in Korea: Past, present and future

Background: Psycho-oncology in Korea was introduced among the circle of consultation-liaison psychiatrists, in the 1990s. For almost 25 years, the field has been developing at a steady pace as the psychosocial needs of patients with cancer continue to increase. In this study, we review the history of psycho-oncology in Korea, in a chronological order, within the domains of clinical practice, research activity, training, and public policy. Main body: Before the 1990s, patients with cancer with psychiatric comorbidities were usually taken care of by consultation-liaison psychiatrists in general hospitals. In 1993, psycho-oncology was first introduced by psychiatrists. Psychologists, nurses, and social workers have also been increasingly involved in providing psychosocial care for patients with cancer. Professionals from various disciplines began to communicate, and agreed to found the Korean Psycho-Oncology Study Group (KPOSG) in 2006, the first academic society in this field. In 2009, National Cancer Center published the Recommendations for Distress Management in Patients with Cancer, which are consensus-based guidelines for Korean patients. In 2014, the KPOSG was dissolved and absorbed into a new organization, the Korean Psycho-Oncology Society (KPOS). It functions as a center of development of psycho-oncology, publishing official journals, and hosting annual conferences. There are many challenges, including, low awareness of psycho-oncology, presence of undertreated psychiatric disorders in patients with cancer, shortage of well-trained psycho-oncologists, stigma, and suicide risk. It is important to improve the cancer care system to the extent that psycho-oncology is integrated with mainstream oncology. Considering the socio-cultural characteristics of Korean cancer care, a Korean model of distress management is being prepared by the KPOS. Conclusion: This article provides an overview of the development, current issues, and future challenges of psycho-oncology in Korea. Through its long journey to overcome the many barriers and stigmas of cancer and mental illnesses, psycho-oncology is now acknowledged as an essential part of integrated supportive care in cancer. Active research and international cooperation can gradually shape the Korean model of distress management.ope