Maintenance outsourcing coordination with risk-averse contractors

Under a maintenance outsourcing contract, an external contractor receives a fixed payment from a manufacturer for periodically performing preventive maintenance and for performing minimal repairs whenever process failures occur. If the contractor’s maintenance policy results in a process uptime above a target level specified in the contract, the contractor receives a bonus payment based on the difference between the uptime and the target levels. We study the optimal designs of maintenance outsourcing contracts for achieving channel coordination when the contractor is risk averse towards uncertain repair costs caused by process failures. We find cases in which channel coordination cannot be achieved because of the contractor’s risk preference. Furthermore, the contractor’s risk preference may make channel coordination more difficult or easier, depending on the parameters considered in the model.     

Method for modulating the wafer bow of free-standing GaN substrates via inductively coupled plasma etching

The bowing curvature of the free-standing GaN substrate significantly decreased almost linearly from 0.67 to 0.056 m⁻¹ (i.e. the bowing radius increased from 1.5 to 17.8 m) with increase in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching time at the N-polar face, and eventually changed the bowing direction from convex to concave. Furthermore, the influences of the bowing curvature on the measured full width at half maximum (FWHM) of high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) in (0 0 2) reflection were also deduced, which reduced from 176.8 to 88.8 arcsec with increase in ICP etching time. Decrease in the nonhomogeneous distribution of threading dislocations and point defects as well as V_Ga–O_N complex defects on removing the GaN layer from N-polar face, which removed large amount of defects, was one of the reasons that improved the bowing of the free-standing GaN substrate. Another reason was the high aspect ratio of needle-like GaN that appeared at the N-polar face after ICP etching, which released the compressive strain of the free-standing GaN substrate. By doing so, crack-free and extremely flat free-standing GaN substrates with a bowing radius of 17.8 m could be obtained.     

Measurement of the Binding of Adenosylcobalamin to Glutamate Mutase by Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Fluorescence spectroscopy is a fast, highly sensitive technique for investigating protein‐ligand interactions. Intrinsic protein fluorescence is usually occurred by exciting the proteins with 280‐295 nm ultraviolet light, and the light emission is observed approximately between 330‐350 nm. No emission light between 330‐350 nm can be observed when adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) is excited at 282 nm. The binding of AdoCbl to glutamate mutase was therefore investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy in this study. Our results show that direct measurement for determining the K_d of AdoCbl by fluorescence spectroscopy leads to significant errors. Here we report the source of error and a corrected method for measuring the binding of coenzyme B₁₂ to glutamate mutase using fluorescence spectroscopy.     

Hard nanocomposite comprising stereoregular syndiotactic polypropylene with chemically bonded gold nanoparticles

An effective method to synthesize directly a hard composite material containing uniformly dispersed nanogold particles chemically bonded with a stereospecific, crystalline polymer matrix has been developed. Syndiotactic polypropylene was synthesized and functionalized to have a hydroxyl terminal group (sPP_OH) via a metallocene catalysis with a selective chain transfer. Next, sPP_OH was activated to react with ethylene sulfide forming the thiol‐terminated polymer, sPP_SH. sPP_SH was then chemically bonded to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) formed in situ via a reduction of HAuCl₄. The bonding between thiol and AuNP stabilized the AuNPs and led to the formation of sPP_AuNPs composite containing uniformly‐dispersed AuNPs of a 19–40 nm size without noticeable aggregation. Furthermore, the chemical bonding of AuNPs has afforded sPP_AuNPs a thermal degradation temperature (T_D) 49.4 °C higher than the pristine sPP or sPP_OH and 25.7 °C higher than sPP_SH without any adverse effect on the crystalline temperature and melting temperature. In addition, the characteristic UV‐Vis absorption wavelength of sPP_AuNPs remains the same at various temperatures, thus indicating the independence of optical property on temperature as well as the good thermal stability of the sPP_AuNPs composite. ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FESEM, STEM, XPS, TGA and DSC were used to investigate the molecular structure, morphology and thermal properties of the resulting sPP_AuNPs nanocomposite. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

Incorporating the learning effect into data envelopment analysis to measure MSW recycling performance

The effect of organizational learning, which results in continuous improvement of organizational performance over time, has been widely discussed. The cumulative learning effect may form as a source of intellectual capital. Thus far, the static data envelopment analysis (DEA) model has not been used to examine the longitudinal learning effect. Therefore, a two-stage approach is developed together with the estimation of a latent learning effect using time-series data; the estimated learning effect is then used as an input in the DEA Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model. The proposed DEA SBM model can be used to investigate the efficiency of the organizational learning effect of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) recycling systems.     

Compatible and tearing properties of poly(lactic acid)/poly(ethylene glutaric‐co‐terephthalate) copolyester blends

Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance results suggest that the carboxylic acid groups of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) molecules react with the hydroxyl groups of FePol (FP) molecules during the melt‐blending of PLA_xFP_y specimens. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) experiments of PLA and PLA/FP specimens suggest that only small amounts of poor PLA and/or FP crystals are present in their corresponding melt crystallized specimens. In fact, the percentage crystallinity, peak melting temperature, and onset re‐crystallization temperature values of PLA/FP specimens reduce gradually as their FP contents increase. However, the glass transition temperatures of PLA molecules found by DSC and DMA reduce to a minimum value as the FP contents of PLA_xFP_y specimens reach 6 wt %. Further DMA and morphological analysis of PLA/FP specimens reveal that FP molecules are compatible with PLA molecules at FP contents equal to or less than 6 wt %, as no distinguished phase‐separated FP droplets and tan δ transitions were found on fracture surfaces and tan δ curves of PLA/FP specimens, respectively. In contrast to PLA, the FP specimen exhibits highly deformable and tearing properties. After blending proper amounts of FP in PLA, the inherent brittle deformation and poor tearing behavior of PLA were successfully improved. Possible reasons accounting for these interesting crystallization, compatible and tearing properties of PLA/FP specimens are proposed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 913–920, 2010     

Characterizing fracture energy of proton exchange membranes using a knife slit test

Pinhole formation in proton exchange membranes (PEM) may be caused by a process of flaw formation and crack propagation within membranes exposed to cyclic hygrothermal loading. Fracture mechanics can be used to characterize the propagation process, which is thought to occur in a slow, time‐dependent manner under cyclic loading conditions, and believed to be associated with limited plasticity. The intrinsic fracture energy has been used to characterize the fracture resistance of polymeric material with limited viscoelastic and plastic dissipation, and has been found to be associated with long‐term durability of polymeric materials. Insight into this limiting value of fracture energy may be useful in characterizing the durability of proton exchange membranes, including the formation of pinhole defects. In an effort to collect fracture data with limited plasticity, a knife slit test was adapted to measure fracture energies of PEMs, resulting in fracture energies that were two orders of magnitude smaller than those obtained with other fracture test methods. The presence of a sharp knife blade reduces crack tip plasticity, providing fracture energies that may be more representative of the intrinsic fracture energies of the thin membranes. Three commercial PEMs were tested to evaluate their fracture energies (G_c) at temperatures ranging from 40 to 90 °C and humidity levels varying from dry to 90% relative humidity (RH). Experiments were also conducted with membrane specimens immersed in water at various temperatures. The time temperature moisture superposition principle was applied to generate fracture energy master curves plotted as a function of reduced cutting rate based on the humidity and temperature conditions of the tests. The shift with respect to temperature and humidity suggests that the slitting process is viscoelastic in nature. Also such shifts were found to be consistent with those obtained from constitutive tests such as stress relaxation. The fracture energy is more sensitive to temperature than on humidity. The master curves converge at the lowest reduced cutting rates, suggesting similar intrinsic fracture energies; but diverge at higher reduced cutting rates to significantly different fracture energies. Although the relationship between G_c and ultimate mechanical durability has not been established, the test method may hold promise for investigating and comparing membrane resistance to failure in fuel cell environments. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 333–343, 2010