Process Research on Polycrystalline Silicon Material (PROPSM)

Results of hydrogen-passivated polycrysalline silicon solar cell research are summarized. The short-circuit current of solar cells fabricated from large-grain cast polycrystalline silicon is nearly equivalent to that of single-crystal cells, which indicates long bulk minority-carrier diffusion length. Treatments with molecular hydrogen showed no effect on large-grain cast polycrystalline silicon solar cells

Process Research on Polycrystalline Silicon Material (PROPSM)

Results of hydrogen-passivated polycrystalline silicon solar cells are summarized. Very small grain or short minority-carrier diffusion length silicon was used. Hydrogenated solar cells fabricated from this material appear to have effective minority-carrier diffusion lengths that are still not very long, as shown by the open-circuit voltages of passivated cells that are still significantly less than those of single-crystal solar cells. The short-circuit current of solar cells fabricated from large-grain cast polycrystalline silicon is nearly equivalent to that of single-crystal cells, which indicates long bulk minority-carrier diffusion length. However, the open-circuit voltage, which is sensitive to grain boundary recombination, is sometimes 20 to 40 mV less. The goal was to minimize variations in open-circuit voltage and fill-factor caused by defects by passivating these defects using a hydrogenation process. Treatments with molecular hydrogen showed no effect on large-grain cast polycrystaline silicon solar cells

Speech and crosstalk detection in multichannel audio

The analysis of scenarios in which a number of microphones record the activity of speakers, such as in a round-table meeting, presents a number of computational challenges. For example, if each participant wears a microphone, speech from both the microphone's wearer (local speech) and from other participants (crosstalk) is received. The recorded audio can be broadly classified in four ways: local speech, crosstalk plus local speech, crosstalk alone and silence. We describe two experiments related to the automatic classification of audio into these four classes. The first experiment attempted to optimize a set of acoustic features for use with a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) classifier. A large set of potential acoustic features were considered, some of which have been employed in previous studies. The best-performing features were found to be kurtosis, "fundamentalness," and cross-correlation metrics. The second experiment used these features to train an ergodic hidden Markov model classifier. Tests performed on a large corpus of recorded meetings show classification accuracies of up to 96%, and automatic speech recognition performance close to that obtained using ground truth segmentation

Designing new business models: blue sky thinking and testing

© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose: In what is going to be an uncertain and rapidly evolving global economic landscape, it is clear that firms will have to become more adaptive and responsive to changes within their marketplace. To do this, businesses will not only need to engage in business model experimentation but also look to embrace business model innovation as a core competency and a means for sustained competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach: This paper outlines how a design process of experimenting and prototyping can apply to the design of business models through the case study of hypothetical luggage company Packright. Findings: Five meta-models with differing foci are illustrated as an accessible and provoking framework that provides a new logic to classifying, experimenting and prototyping business model designs. Practical implications: These five meta-models provide a tangible starting point from which a business can begin to explore different perspectives and gain insights into the internal and external capabilities of their company. Originality/value: This paper builds upon the emerging research and exploration into the importance and relevance of dynamic, design-driven approaches to the creation of innovative business models

Financial networks and the globalization of transnational corporations: the case of educational services

In this article, I advance understandings of the intersection between financial and educational services from an economic geographical perspective by examining the importance of financial networks in shaping the internationalization activities of for- profit business education service firms. By combining relational approaches to the globalization of transnational corporations (TNCs) with work on monetary networks I argue that extra-firm networks with financial services are an important element in understanding how, where and why business education service firms internationalize. Theoretically, this argument responds to calls for firm finances to be more fully incorporated into understandings of wider economic geographies and, in particular, addresses the neglect of finance in extant understandings of the internationalization of TNCs. Empirically, I position educational services as an overlooked business services sector that deserves greater attention within economic geography

Calibration of the visible and near-infrared channels of the NOAA-9 AVHRR using high-altitude aircraft measurements from August 1985 and October 1986

Visible and near infrared wavelength sensors mounted on operational satellites now in use do not have onboard absolute calibration devices. One means of establishing an in-orbit calibration for a satellite sensor is to make simultaneous measurement of a bright, relatively uniform scene along the satellite view vector from a calibrated instrument on board a high altitude aircraft. Herein, aircraft data were recorded over White Sands, New Mexico at satellite overpass time. Comparison of the coincident aircraft and orbiting satellite data for the visible and near infrared wavelength channels of the NOAA-9 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer shows that the calibration of the visible channel was unchanged from prelaunch values, but that the near infrared channel has degraded 6 percent by Aug. 1985. By Oct. 1986 the visible channel had degraded 13 percent and the near infrared channel had degraded 19 percent

Calibration of the visible and near-infrared channels of the LANDSAT-5 Thematic Mapper using high-altitude aircraft measurements

Visible near-infrared sensors mounted on operational satellites now in use do not have on-board full aperture absolute calibration devices. One means of establishing an in-orbit calibration for a satellite sensor is to make simultaneous measurements of a bright, uniform scene along the satellite view vector from a calibrated instrument on board a high altitude aircraft. In the work reported here, aircraft data were recorded over White Sands, New Mexico at satellite overpass time for the LANDSAT-5 Thematic Mapper (TM). A comparison of the coincident aircraft and orbiting satellite data showed the radiometric gain for TM channel 1 had degraded 4.7 percent by August 28, 1985; gains for TM channels 2 and 3 were within 1 percent of prelaunch values

Visible and near-infrared channel calibration of the GOES-6 VISSR using high-altitude aircraft measurements

Present and future visible and near-infrared wavelength sensors mounted on operational satellites do not have on-board absolute calibration devices. One means of establishing an in-orbit calibration for a satellite sensor is to make simultaneous measurements of a bright, relatively uniform scene along the satellite view vector from a calibrated instrument on board a high altitude aircraft. Aircraft data were recorded over White Sands, New Mexico, and the coincident aircraft and orbiting satellite data is compared for the visible and near-infrared wavelength channel of the GOES-6 Visible Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometer

Design LED innovation: Shifting from smart follower to digital strategy leader in the Australian airport sector

© 2013 IEEE. This paper presents and discusses organisational barriers and opportunities arising from the dissemination of design led innovation within a leading Australian airport corporation. This research is part of a greater action research program which aims to integrate design as a strategic capability through design led innovation within Australian businesses. Findings reveal that there is an opportunity to employ the theoretical framework and tools of design led innovation in practice to build collaborative idea generation by involving customers and stakeholders within the proposal of new to world propositions. The iterative gathering of deep customer insights also provided an opportunity to leverage a greater understanding of stakeholders and customers in strengthening continuing business partnerships through co-design. Challenges to the design led approach include resistance to the exploratory nature of gathering deep customer insights, the testing of long held assumptions and market data, and the disruption of an organisational mindset geared toward risk aversion instilled within the aviation industry. The implication from these findings is that design led innovation can provide the critical platform to allow for a business to grow and sustain internal design capabilities necessary to challenge prevailing assumptions about how its business model operates to deliver value to customers and stakeholders alike. The platform of design led innovation also provides an avenue to support a cultural transformation towards anticipating future needs necessary for establishing a position of leadership within the broader economic environment