Molecular First Hyperpolarizabilities of a New Class of Asymmetric Squaraine Dyes

The molecular first hyperpolarizabilities (β) of a series of asymmetric squaraine dyes have been measured by electric-field-induced second harmonic generation; the dyes have negative β-values whose magnitudes are comparable to 4-N,N-dimethylamino-4′-nitrostilbene (DANS)

Slow Mass Transport and Statistical Evolution of An Atomic Gas Across the Superfluid-Mott Insulator Transition

We study transport dynamics of ultracold cesium atoms in a two-dimensional optical lattice across the superfluid-Mott insulator transition based on in situ imaging. Inducing the phase transition with a lattice ramping routine expected to be locally adiabatic, we observe a global mass redistribution which requires a very long time to equilibrate, more than 100 times longer than the microscopic time scales for on-site interaction and tunneling. When the sample enters the Mott insulator regime, mass transport significantly slows down. By employing fast recombination pulses to analyze the occupancy distribution, we observe similarly slow-evolving dynamics, and a lower effective temperature at the center of the sample

THE TECHNOLOGY FORECASTING OF NEW MATERIALS: THE EXAMPLE OF NANOSIZED CERAMIC POWDERS

New materials have been recognized as significant drivers for corporate growth and profitability in today’s fast changing environments. The nanosized ceramic powders played important parts in new materials field nowadays. However, little has been done in discussing the technology forecasting for the new materials development. Accordingly, this study applied the growth curve method to investigate the technology performances of nanosized ceramic powders. We adopted the bibliometric analysis through EI database and trademark office (USPTO) database to gain the useful data for this work. The effort resulted in nanosized ceramic powders were all in the initial growth periods of technological life cycles. The technology performances of nanosized ceramic powders through the EI and USPTO databases were similar and verified by each other. And there were parts of substitutions between traditional and nanosized ceramic powders. The bibliometric analysis was proposed as the simple and efficient tools to link the science and technology activities, and to obtain quantitative and historical data for helping researchers in technology forecasting, especially in rare historical data available fields, such as the new materials fields.new materials, bibliometric analysis, technology forecasting.

Is Contract Farming More Profitable and Efficient Than Non-Contract Farming-A Survey Study of Rice Farms In Taiwan

Trade liberalization and globalization has modernized the food retail sector in Taiwan, affecting consumers, producers and trade patterns. These changes have placed significant pressures on farmers and processors including more stringent quality control and product varieties. The government has launched a rice production-marketing contract program in 2005 to assist rice farmers and the agro-business sector to work together as partners. The minimum scale for each contract is 50 hectares of adjacent rice paddies with 50 participants including rice farmers, seedling providers, millers and marketing agents. In order to evaluate the outcome of this program, a survey is conducted in the summer of 2005 after the first (spring) crop is harvested. Information of price and value of output and major variable and fixed inputs are collected along with characteristics of the farmers and farms. The survey results show that the average revenue of a contract farm is about 11 percent higher than an average non-contract farm. The per hectare cost of production in a contract farm is about 13 percent lower and as a result the average profit margin under contract is more than 50 percent above those without contract. A swtiching regression profit frontier model is adopted to further investigate their efficiency performance. The result indicates that an average contract farms is 20 percent more efficient than an average non-contract farm in a comparable operating environment. The result also suggests that although contract farming has potential to improve the profit of smallholders, it is not a sufficient condition for such improvement.Land Economics/Use,

The motion of a neutrally buoyant particle of an elliptic shape in two dimensional shear flow: a numerical study

In this paper, we investigate the motion of a neutrally buoyant cylinder of an elliptic shape freely moving in two dimensional shear flow by direct numerical simulation. An elliptic shape cylinder in shear flow, when initially being placed at the middle between two walls, either keeps rotating or has a stationary inclination angle depending on the particle Reynolds number $Re=G_r r_a^2/\nu$, where $G_r$ is the shear rate, $r_a$ is the semi-long axis of the elliptic cylinder and $\nu$ is the kinetic viscosity of the fluid. The critical particle Reynolds number $Re_{cr}$ for the transition from a rotating motion to a stationary orientation depends on the aspect ratio $AR=r_b/r_a$ and the confined ratio $K=2r_a/H$ where $r_b$ is the semi-short axis of the elliptic cylinder and $H$ is the distance between two walls. Although the increasing of either parameters makes an increase in $Re_{cr}$, the dynamic mechanism is distinct. The $AR$ variation causes the change of geometry shape; however, the $K$ variation influences the wall effect. The stationary inclination angle of non-rotating slender elliptic cylinder with smaller confined ratio seems to depend only on the value of $Re-Re_{cr}$. An expected equilibrium position of the cylinder mass center in shear flow is the centerline between two walls, but when placing the particle away from the centerline initially, it migrates either toward an equilibrium height away from the middle between two walls or back to the middle depending on the confined ratio and particle Reynolds number.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1209.080