Emotional Variance Analysis: A new sentiment analysis feature set for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications.

Sentiment Analysis (SA) is a category of data mining techniques that extract latent representations of affective states within textual corpuses. This has wide ranging applications from online reviews to capturing mental states. In this paper, we present a novel SA feature set; Emotional Variance Analysis (EVA), which captures patterns of emotional instability. Applying EVA on student journals garnered from an Experiential Learning (EL) course, we find that EVA is useful for profiling variations in sentiment polarity and intensity, which in turn can predict academic performance. As a feature set, EVA is compatible with a wide variety of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications. Although evaluated on education data, we foresee EVA to be useful in mental health profiling and consumer behaviour applications. EVA is available at https://qr.page/g/5jQ8DQmWQT4. Our results show that EVA was able to achieve an overall accuracy of 88.7% and outperform NLP (76.0%) and SentimentR (58.0%) features by 15.8% and 51.7% respectively when predicting student experiential learning grade scores through a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) ML model.

Microhotplates for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Gas Sensor Applications-Towards the CMOS-MEMS Monolithic Approach.

The recent development of the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare and indoor air quality monitoring expands the market for miniaturized gas sensors. Metal oxide gas sensors based on microhotplates fabricated with micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology dominate the market due to their balance in performance and cost. Integrating sensors with signal conditioning circuits on a single chip can significantly reduce the noise and package size. However, the fabrication process of MEMS sensors must be compatible with the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits, which imposes restrictions on the materials and design. In this paper, the sensing mechanism, design and operation of these sensors are reviewed, with focuses on the approaches towards performance improvement and CMOS compatibility.

Dark ambient degradation of Bisphenol A and Acid Orange 8 as organic pollutants by perovskite SrFeO3-δ metal oxide.

Current advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are chemically and energetically intensive processes, which are undesirable for cost-effective and large-scale system water treatment and wastewater recycling. This study explored the Strontium Ferrite (SFO) metal oxide on the degradation of highly concentrated organic pollutants under dark ambient condition without any external stimulants. The SFO particles with single perovskite structure were successfully synthesized with a combined high temperature and high-energy ball milling process. An endocrine disruptor, Bisphenol A (BPA) and an azo dye, Acid Orange 8 (AO8) were used as probe organic pollutants. BPA was completely degraded with 83% of mineralization in 24 h while rapid decoloration of AO8 was achieved in 60 min and complete breakdown into primary intermediates and aliphatic acids occurred in 24 h under the treatment of dispersed SFO metal oxide in water. Such efficient degradation could be attributed to the enhanced adsorption of these anionic pollutants on positively charged ball-milled SFO metal oxide surface, resulted in higher degradation activity. Preliminary degradation mechanisms of BPA and AO8 under the action of SFO metal oxide were proposed. These results showed that the SFO metal oxide could be an efficient alternative material as novel advanced oxidation technology for low cost water treatment.

Hydrothermal growth of TiO2 nanorod arrays and in situ conversion to nanotube arrays for highly efficient quantum dot-sensitized solar cells.

TiO2 nanorod (NR) and nanotube (NT) arrays grown on transparent conductive substrates are attractive electrode for solar cells. In this paper, TiO2 NR arrays are hydrothermally grown on FTO substrate, and are in situ converted into NT arrays by hydrothermally etching. The TiO2 NR arrays are reported as single crystalline, but the TiO2 NR arrays are demonstrated to be polycrystalline with a bundle of 2-5 nm single crystalline nanocolumns grown along [001] throughout the whole NR from bottom to top. TiO2 NRs can be converted to NTs by hydrothermal selective etching of the (001) core and remaining the inert sidewall of (110) face. A growth mechanism of the NR and NT arrays is proposed. Quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) are fabricated by coating CdSe QDs on to the TiO2 arrays. After conversion from NRs to NTs, more QDs can be filled in the NTs and the energy conversion efficiency of the QDSCs almost double.

Facile fabrication of Ag/C-TiO2 nanoparticles with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity for disinfection of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis.

This work aimed to investigate the promotive effect of Ag modification on C-TiO2 for visible light photocatalytic disinfection of microorganisms. Ag/C-TiO2 was prepared by a facile one-step synthesis approach through thermal oxidation of AgNO3-impregnated TiC precursor. The self-doped carbon exists as both interstitial and substitutional carbon to collectively enhance the visible light photocatalytic absorption. The loaded silver nanoparticles were uniformly distributed on the TiO2 surface in the Ag0 metallic state, further enhancing the visible light absorption due to surface plasmon resonance yet inhibiting the charge carrier recombination by conduction band electron trapping. The band structure and a tentative visible light photocatalytic disinfection mechanism of Ag/C-TiO2 with four pathways were thus proposed, and the enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance was demonstrated for disinfection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) in comparison with C-TiO2. This improvement was more pronounced with increasing Ag loading in the range of 0.5-5.0 wt%, which can be attributed to the improved visible light absorption and good charge carrier separation due to Ag modification as well as to the inherent bactericidal effect of metallic Ag.

Self-organization of a hybrid nanostructure consisting of a nanoneedle and nanodot.

A special materials system that allows the self-organization of a unique hybrid nanonipple structure is developed. The system consists of a nanoneedle with a small nanodot sitting on top. Such hybrid nanonipples provide building blocks to assemble functional devices with significantly improved performance. The application of the system to high-sensitivity gas sensors is also demonstrated.

SnO2 nanorod arrays: low temperature growth, surface modification and field emission properties.

SnO(2) nanorod arrays have been deposited on 4 inch SiO(2)/Si and Si wafers and stainless steel substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition without any high temperature treatment or additional catalysis. The SnO(2) nanorods grow up from seed nanocrystals along the [110] preferential direction by a self-catalyzed vapor-solid growth mechanism. The surface of the SnO(2) nanorods was modified by ZnO, Pt and Ni nanocrystals. After surface modification, the field emission properties of the SnO(2) nanorod arrays are improved. The Ni nanocrystal with sharp tips and edges act as additional field emission sites to SnO(2) nanorods and thus the Ni/SnO(2)/SiO(2)/Si outperforms other samples due to the synergistic effects of good conductivity and hierarchical sharp apexes. The field enhancement factor of the Ni/SnO(2)/SiO(2)/Si increased around 3 times while the turn-on field of 8.0 V µm(-1) is about one third of the SnO(2)/SiO(2)/Si device.

A label-free immunosensor for diagnosis of Dengue infection with simple electrical measurements.

The interdigitated electrodes and electrical measurements for the diagnosis of dengue infection using antigen-antibody conjugation method are reported. As a proof of concept, pre-inactivated dengue virus was firstly immobilized indirectly onto the immunosensor surface, pre-coated with sol-gel derived barium strontium titanate (BST) thin film and modified with organic self-assembled monolayer (SAM) formed by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) and a cross-linker glutaraldehyde over the interdigitated electrodes. The modified sensor surface served as selective sensing probe to capture/conjugate the dengue antibody molecules present in patient's serum. Our immunosensor is based on non-faradaic process, using only de-ionized water as electrolyte during the simple electrical measurements. Both ac impedance spectroscopy and dc I-V measurements between the electrodes gave a clearly discernable and repeatable signal to positively identify the presence of dengue antibody in the serum. Direct correlation was obtained between the signal outputs with respect to antibody concentrations. The measured signal changes in impedance/current without/with the presence of dengue antibody were attributed to the surface conductivity change upon biomolecules immobilization and the dipole-induced interfacial polarization potential at the SAM film/biomolecules interface. By monitoring the impedance or current change, the antibody molecules in the patient's serum could be positively detected.

Sensing mechanisms for carbon nanotube based NH3 gas detection.

There has been an argument on carbon nanotube (CNT) based gas detectors with a field-effect transistor (FET) geometry: do the response signals result from charge transfer between adsorbed gas molecules and the CNT channel and/or from the gas species induced Schottky barrier modulation at the CNT/metal contacts? To differentiate the sensing mechanisms, we employed three CNTFET structures, i.e., (1) the entire CNT channel and CNT/electrode contacts are accessible to NH(3) gas; (2) the CNT/electrode contacts are passivated with a Si(3)N(4) thin film, leaving the CNT channel open to the gas and, in contrast, (3) the CNT channel is covered with the film, while the contacts are open to the gas. We suggest that the Schottky barrier modulation at the contacts is the dominant mechanism from room temperature to 150 degrees C. At higher temperatures, the charge transfer process contributes to the response signals. There is a clear evidence that the adsorption of NH(3) on the CNT channel is facilitated by environmental oxygen.

Effects of intermediate dielectric films on multilayer surface plasmon resonance behavior.

The effects of intermediate dielectric films on multilayer surface plasmon resonance (SPR) behavior were studied in terms of biosensing applications. Ten simple and complex oxides and fluoride, including MgF(2) and MgO, SiO(2), TiO(2) and complex PZT family dielectric materials, were evaluated. The materials cover a wide range of refractive indices, from 1.19 for the porous silica film to 2.83 for the TiO(2) film. The resonance curves of the multilayer SPR configurations were taken from an angular modulated Kretschmann set-up under a fixed incident wavelength of 543.5 nm. The intermediate dielectric layer has no strong effect on the SPR resonance angle and minimum reflectance at the resonance point. Some intermediate dielectric films, such as MgF(2), porous silica, TiO(2) and PLZT, apparently reduce the width of the resonance curves, resulting in sharper resonance dips. Better performance of the multilayer SPR biosensor incorporating these dielectric films is expected.

Study of gaseous interactions in carbon nanotube field-effect transistors through selective Si(3)N(4) passivation.

Carbon nanotube field-effect transistors with Si(3)N(4) passivated source and drain contacts and exposed carbon nanotube channel show n-type characteristics in air. In contrast, by passivating only the source contact, a diode-like behavior with a maximum current rectification ratio of 4.6 × 10(3) is observed. The rectifying characteristic vanishes in a vacuum but recovers once the devices are exposed to air. From our experiments, key parameters, such as critical gas pressure, adsorption energy of oxygen molecules and the contact barrier height modulation, can be obtained for studying the gaseous interaction in the carbon nanotube devices.

Charge-trapping effects caused by ammonia in carbon nanotubes.

Hysteretic behaviors caused by low-concentration ammonia gas are found in single-walled carbon nanotube based field-effect transistors. The transfer curves are found to shift towards negative gate voltage when the gate voltage is swept forwardly upon introducing ammonia. In contrast, no significant change in the transfer curves is observed for the backward sweeping of the gate voltage. This phenomenon is repeatable even after the devices are annealed in dry air at 200 degrees C for 2 hrs. Our findings can be interpreted in terms of additional charge traps induced by the adsorbed ammonia molecules. The observed hysteretic behavior enables the devices to work as memory cells, in which the carbon nanotube field-effect transistors act as readout and ammonia molecules play roles of charge storage.

Fabrication and characterization of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers with thick composite PZT films.

Ferroelectric microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has been a growing area of research in past decades, in which ferroelectric films are combined with silicon technology for a variety of applications, such as piezo-electric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs), which represent a new approach to ultrasound detection and generation. For ultrasound-radiating applications, thicker PZT films are preferred because generative force and response speed of the diaphragm-type transducers increase with increasing film thickness. However, integration of 4- to 20-microm thick PZT films on silicon wafer, either the deposition or the patterning, is still a bottleneck in the micromachining process. This paper reports on a diaphragm-type pMUT. A composite coating technique based on chemical solution deposition and high-energy ball milled powder has been used to fabricate thick PZT films. Micromachining of the pMUTs using such thick films has been investigated. The fabricated pMUT with crack-free PZT films up to 7-microm thick was evaluated as an ultrasonic transmitter. The generated sound pressure level of up to 120 dB indicates that the fabricated pMUT has very good ultrasound-radiating performance and, therefore, can be used to compose pMUT arrays for generating ultrasound beam with high directivity in numerous applications. The pMUT arrays also have been demonstrated.

Investigation of influence of hydrogen gas on Pd/BST/Pt device by impedance spectroscopy.

A new application using barium strontium titanate (BST) thin films to fabricate the Pd/BST/Pt heterostructure for hydrogen gas detection has been investigated. To further understand the mechanism of this novel hydrogen sensing properties, impedance spectroscopy of the Pd/BST/Pt has been systematically studied and interpreted satisfactorily based on an equivalent circuit model. The alternate current (AC) electrical data of the extracted parameters and the properties of dielectric permittivity are discussed. The influence of hydrogen on the impedance spectra demonstrates that the charges induced by hydrogen ions mainly occur at the interface rather than in the bulk of the film. These experimental results provide clear evidence for the hydrogen sensing mechanism in the Pd/BST/Pt capacitive device.