Spatial variant gloss measurement of dielectric materials based on a polarized camera.

This study proposes an imaging method for gloss measurement solely by a single shot from a polarized camera. The system, comprising a polarized camera and well-diffused LED plate light, is inspired by the framework of ASTM D523, and it acquires images at 60° incident direction. The polarization characteristics of dielectric material samples were analyzed. A regression model was developed by using natural color system gloss scale and a commercial gloss meter. Subsequently, the gloss and spatial resolutions of this method were verified using various types of measurement samples. From experiments regarding different benchmarks, we concluded that the proposed method performs sufficiently for spatial variant gloss measurement.

Optoelectronic Effects of Copper-Indium-Gallium-Sulfur (CIGS2)-Solar Cells Prepared by Three-Stage Co-Evaporation Process Technology.

In this paper, the performance of Cu-(In,Ga)-S2 (CIGS2) solar cells with adjusting composite [Cu]/([Ga] + [In]) (CGI)-ratio absorber was explored and compared through an improved three-stage co-evaporation technique. For co-evaporating CIGS2 absorber as a less toxic alternative to Cd-containing film, we analyzed the effect of the CGI-ratio stoichiometry and crystallinity, and explored its opto-electric sensing characteristic of individual solar cell. The results of this research signified the potential of high-performance CIGS2-absorption solar cells for photovoltaic (PV)-module industrial applications. For the optimal CIGS2-absorption film (CGI = 0.95), the Raman main-phase signal (A1) falls at 291 cm-1, which was excited by the 532 nm line of Ar+-laser. Using photo-luminescence (PL) spectroscopy, the corresponding main-peak bandgaps measured was 1.59 eV at the same CGI-ratio film. Meanwhile, the best conversion efficiency (η = 3.212%) and the average external quantum efficiency (EQE = 51.1% in the visible-wavelength region) of photo-electric properties were achieved for the developed CIGS2-solar cells (CGI = 0.95). The discoveries of this CIGS2-absorption PV research provided a new scientific understanding of solar cells. Moreover, this research undeniably contributes to a major advancement towards practical PV-module applications and can help more to build an eco-friendly community.

Safety of bivalent live attenuated Salmonella vaccine and its protection against bacterial shedding and tissue invasion in layers challenged with Salmonella.

Nontyphoidal Salmonella infection was one of the predominant foodborne illnesses in humans. The medical burden and antimicrobial resistance of salmonellosis gained importance in public health and requested the poultry industry to seek effective measures to control the disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a commercial bivalent live attenuated vaccine (AviPro Salmonella DUO) in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens and field layers. It explored its safety and efficacy against medically important strains, Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) and S. Typhimurium (ST). The results demonstrated that ten vaccine doses in SPF chickens and regular doses in commercial layers showed desirable safety without affecting chicken health. Vaccinated layers demonstrated lower flock mortality and higher egg production performance than the unvaccinated layers during the raising and egg production periods. Additionally, no visceral colonization and egg contaminations were detected. Cloacal shedding of vaccine strains was noted, but the colonization of Salmonella disappeared within four weeks of the last vaccination. Regarding vaccine efficacy, one dose significantly reduced Salmonella cloacal shedding (P = 0.037 for SE and P = 0.027 for ST) and viable cell counts (P = 0.003 for SE and ST) on day 7 post the challenges. Significantly low Salmonella loads of cloacal samples on day 14 after the challenges were also determined in the vaccinated group (P = 0.006 for SE; P = 0.041 for ST). Triple immunizations effectively prevented layers from the cloacal shedding on either day 7 or day 14 post Salmonella challenges. Total viable counts of SE and ST in tissues of vaccinated layers were also reduced on day 14 after the challenges (P = 0.026 for SE; P = 0.002 for ST). To conclude, one dose of vaccine exhibited inhibitory effects on Salmonella shedding and tissue invasions in young layers. Following the regimen of triple vaccinations, Salmonella shedding was completely inhibited, and tissue invasions were significantly reduced. Incorporating this vaccine into a comprehensive Salmonella control program is promising to protect layers from the risks of contaminating the flocks and egg products.

Performance of High Efficiency Avalanche Poly-SiGe Devices for Photo-Sensing Applications.

This paper explores poly-silicon-germanium (poly-SiGe) avalanche photo-sensors (APSs) involving a device of heterojunction structures. A low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) technique was used to deposit epitaxial poly-SiGe thin films. The thin films were subjected to annealing after the deposition. Our research shows that the most optimal thin films can be obtained at 800 °C for 30 min annealing in the hydrogen atmosphere. Under a 3-µW/cm2 incident light (with a wavelength of 550 nm) and up to 27-V biased voltage, the APS with a n+-n-p-p+ alloy/SiO2/Si-substrate structure using the better annealed poly-SiGe film process showed improved performance by nearly 70%, 96% in responsivity, and 85% in quantum efficiency, when compared to the non-annealed APS. The optimal avalanche multiplication factor curve of the APS developed under the exponent of n = 3 condition can be improved with an increase in uniformity corresponding to the APS-junction voltage. This finding is promising and can be adopted in future photo-sensing and optical communication applications.

Combining near-field hyperspectral imaging and far-field spectral-angular distribution to develop mid-field white LED optical models with spatial color deviation.

The integration of spatial distribution of light intensity and color in the midfield is instrumental for LED optical design. On the basis of this rationale, we proposed an accurate and convenient method for developing white LED optical models. Near-field hyperspectral images and far-field spectral-angular distributions were integrated to illustrate changes in spatial light intensity and color distribution in the mid-field, to the exclusion of the absorption, conversion, and scattering of phosphors. The corresponding optical models were developed for three LED samples under different packaging conditions. Their normalized cross-correlation values for spatial light intensity and correlated-color-temperature distribution between simulation and measurement averaged as high as 0.995 and 0.99 respectively, which validated the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed method.