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The phenomenon of the increase of numerous widespread and common diseases, ranging from simple dental problems to obesity, high blood pressure or diabetes, is a concern which can be observed in various aspects of the entire world. Reasons for this is a combination of an unhealthy diet and insufficient physical activity. Consequently, governments across the globe are seeing the need to change consumer behaviour by introducing plain packaging regulations. From an entrepreneurial point of view, this would result in financial losses as well as various limitations in product design, branding and differentiation. Therefore, an empirical study with 232 respondents was conducted, which revealed that the use of images on packaging activates emotions in customers within a few seconds. This master thesis examines possible correlations and differences between the importance of emotionally loaded product packaging and consumer behaviour at the point of sale. The persuasive effect of images on purchase decisions is based on personal consumer experiences and validated processing in the brain which trigger specific emotions. Modern companies are able to communicate company values through emotions by using images correctly. The results of the conducted survey enable Diezano to successfully implement the communication strategy in the event of the introduction of plain packaging regulations. By using mountain graphics, Diezano conveys values such as home, regional, refreshment, tasty, memories of childhood and nostalgia, which the brand aims to convey to the market. Based on the result of this master thesis, it is concluded that the picture superiority effect is mostly underestimated, yet it is an indispensable medium for emotional differentiation and thus a company’s success.
The dynamics of self-adaptive multi-recombinant evolution strategies on the general ellipsoid model
(2014)
Packaging has important functions, such as the marketing function or protecting the product from spoilage. However, the supply in the supermarket must be viewed critically, as the majority of packaging is designed for single use. The question of how producers and retailers can increase customer acceptance of sustainable packaging in supermarkets has particular relevance in terms of the environmental impact of packaging waste. Although more and more customers are interested in the topic of sustainability, a gap between their attitude and behavior is apparent. This is addressed in more detail on the basis of two product categories. Expert interviews with international producers and retailers as well as a consumer survey allow the views of these three decision-makers to be taken into account. At the end, concrete recommendations for action are presented. These show that, among other things, information and transparency are essential in order to be able to influence consumers' purchasing decisions. In addition, the responsibility of all decision-makers is seen as the key to success.
Why do some countries assign a major role to wind energy in decarbonizing their electricity systems, while others are much less committed to this technology? We argue that processes of (de-)legitimation, driven by discourse coalitions who strategically employ certain storylines in public debates, provide part of the answer. To illustrate our approach, we comparatively investigate public discourses surrounding wind energy in Austria and Switzerland, two countries that differ strongly in wind energy deployment. By combining a qualitative content analysis and a discourse network analysis of 808 newspaper articles published 2010–2020, we identify four distinct sets of storylines used to either delegitimize or legitimize the technology. Our study indicates that low deployment rates in Switzerland can be related to the prominence of delegitimizing storylines in the public discourse, which result in a rather low socio-political acceptance of wind energy. In Austria, by contrast, there is more consistent support for wind energy by discourse coalitions using a broad set of legitimizing storylines. By bridging the related but separate literatures of technology legitimacy and social acceptance, our study contributes to a better understanding of socio-political conflict and divergence in low-carbon technological pathways.
A Telecom optical fibers are still being the best transmission medium of digital data and analogue signals for long distance applications. Progress in integrated photonics enables development of photonic chips with new unique properties, circuits of the future, and overcomes current limits in information and communication technologies. The packaging of photonic chips is necessary for taking them out of research laboratories into real implementation in the information and communication technology applications. One important step of packaging is effective coupling of optical radiation between telecom optical fiber with ten microns core dimension and photonic chip optical waveguide with submicron dimensions. For complex photonic chips, it is necessary to couple not one optical fiber but several optical fibers, which are arranged in fiber arrays. In this case, it is necessary to use a 6D positioning system, which allows to optimally adjust the relative position of the photonic chip and the fiber arrays. After setting the optimal relative position of the photonic chip and the fiber array, the process of their fixation follows. One possibility of fixation is gluing with an adhesive in the optical path between the photonic chip and an array of optical fibers with a refractive index close to the refractive index of the optical fiber core. This paper is focused on the experimental test set-up for the temperature characterization of fiber array to photonics chip butt coupling at 1310 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths fixed themselves by UV adhesive in the optical path. The main aims of this works are selection of better adhesive from two types for gluing of photonic chip and fiber array in packaging process of photonics chips and validation of gluing process developing. The coupling and alignment of fiber arrays to photonics chip were done by automated active alignments system and they were fixed themselves by curable epoxy adhesive. Temperature changes of coupling insertion losses are measured and investigated for two different UV adhesives during three temperature cycles from -40 °C to 80 °C in climatic chamber according to Telcordia. Spectral dependence of insertion losses were measured and compared before and after three temperature cycles for 1530 nm to 1570 nm spectral range at room temperature.
This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contracts APVV-17-0662 and SK-AT-20-0017 and by the COST Action “European Network for High Performance Integrated Microwave Photonics” (EUIMWP) CA16220.
The main aims of this work are the validation of the developed process of gluing a single-mode optical fiber array with a photonic chip and the selection of a more suitable adhesive from the two adhesives being compared. An active alignment system was used for adjusting the two optical fiber arrays to a photonics chip. The gluing was done by two compared UV curable adhesives applied in the optical path. The insertion losses of glued coupling were measured and investigated at two discrete wavelengths 1310 nm and 1550 nm during temperature testing in the climatic chamber according to Telcordia GR_1209_Corei04 [3]. The measurement, investigation, and comparison of insertion losses of the glued coupling at the spectral band from 1530 nm to 1570 nm were done immediately after gluing process and after three temperature cycles in the climatic chamber with one month delay.
In this paper we report on the experimental test set-up for the temperature characterization of fiber array to photonics chip butt coupling at 1310 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths. The alignment and gluing of fiber arrays to photonics chip were done by automated active alignments system and they were fixed themselves by UV curable epoxy adhesive. Temperature changes of coupling insertion losses are measured and investigated for two different UV adhesives during three temperature cycles from -40 °C to 80 °C in climatic chamber. Spectral dependence of insertion losses was measured and compared before and after three temperature cycles for 1530 nm to 1570 nm spectral range at room temperature.
During two studies the influence of technologies on sleep were analyzed. The first one is about the effect of light on the circadian rhythm and as a consequence on sleep quality of persons in a vegetative state. The second one, which is still running, surveys the influence of several technologies on the sleep of elderly people living in a nursing home.
We present the technological verification of a size-optimized 160-channel, 50-GHz silicon nitride-based AWG-spectrometer. The spectrometer was designed for TM-polarized light with a central wavelength of 850 nm applying our proprietary “AWG-Parameters” tool. For the simulations of AWG layout, the WDM PHASAR photonics tool from Optiwave was used. The simulated results show satisfying optical properties of the designed AWG-spectrometer. However, the high-channel count causes a large AWG size with standard design approaches. To solve this problem we designed a special taper enabling the reduction of AWG structure by about 15% while keeping the same optical properties. The AWG design was fabricated and the measured spectra not only confirm the proposed size-reduction but also the improvement of optical properties of the size-optimized AWG.
Tap or swipe
(2023)
For a given set of banks, how big can losses in bad economic or financial scenarios possibly get, and what are these bad scenarios? These are the two central questions of stress tests for banks and the banking system. Current stress tests select stress scenarios in a way which might leave aside many dangerous scenarios and thus create an illusion of safety; and which might consider highly implausible scenarios and thus trigger a false alarm. We show how to select scenarios systematically for a banking system in a context of multiple credit exposures. We demonstrate the application of our method in an example on the Spanish and Italian residential real estate exposures of European banks. Compared to the EBA 2016 stress test our method produces scenarios which are equally plausible as the EBA stress scenario but yield considerably worse system wide losses.
Grey Box models provide an important approach for control analysis in the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) sector. Grey Box models consist of physical models where parameters are estimated from data. Due to the vast amount of component models that can be found in literature, the question arises, which component models perform best on a given system or dataset? This question is investigated systematically using a test case system with real operational data. The test case system consists of a HVAC system containing an energy recovery unit (ER), a heating coil (HC) and a cooling coil (CC). For each component, several suitable model variants from the literature are adapted appropriately and implemented. Four model variants are implemented for the ER and five model variants each for the HC and CC. Further, three global optimization algorithms and four local optimization algorithms to solve the nonlinear least squares system identification are implemented, leading to a total of 700 combinations. The comparison of all variants shows that the global optimization algorithms do not provide significantly better solutions. Their runtimes are significantly higher. Analysis of the models shows a dependency of the model accuracy on the number of total parameters.
Graphite substrates underwent two methods of creating doped silicon carbide films via carbothermal reduction; the first method being liquid-phase processing, or dip-coating, and the second gas-phase processing, otherwise referred to as the solid-vapour reaction. The dip-coating procedure resulted in flaky coatings, while the solid-vapour reaction resulted in polycrystalline films with columnar growth that displayed promising morphological and electrical properties. The films were tested on their performance as semiconductor diodes, and proved that carbothermal reduction in the gas phase is a promising technique for creating polycrystalline silicon carbide films for the application of light-emitting diodes.
Through mandatory ESG (environmental, social, governance) reporting large companies must disclose their ESG activities showing how sustainability risks are incorporated in their decision-making and production processes. This disclosure obligation, however, does not apply to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), creating a gap in the ESG dataset. Banks are therefore required to collect sustainability data of their SME customers independently to ensure complete ESG integration in the risk analysis process for loans. In this paper, we examine ESG risk analysis through a smart science approach laying the focus on possible value outcomes of sustainable smart services for banks as well as for their (SME) customers. The paper describes ESG factors, how services can be derived from them, targeted metrics of ESG and an ESG Service Creation Framework (business ecosystem building, process model, and value creation). The description of an exemplary use case highlighting the necessary ecosystem for service creation as well as the created value concludes the paper.
Sustainable distribution
(2020)
This master thesis gives an insight into the topic of sustainability in the banking industry and focuses on distribution. In the first part of the thesis, the terms and concepts of sustainability and sustainable distribution are being explained and existing methods for measuring sustainability are presented on the basis of an extensive literature research.
Subsequently, the banking industry is introduced, the distribution of financial services is explained, and the specifics of sustainable distribution in the banking industry are elaborated.
An empirical study in form of expert interviews was used to show to what extent sustainability currently plays or will play a role in the banking sector. For this purpose, experts from six banks were interviewed.
In the final part of the paper, the hypotheses formulated at the beginning of the paper as well as additional questions are examined or answered and a model for evaluating the effects of selected distribution channels on ecological and social sustainability is being presented.
With the emergence of the recent Industry 4.0 movement, data integration is now also being driven along the production line, made possible primarily by the use of established concepts of intelligent supply chains, such as the digital avatars. Digital avatars – sometimes also called Digital Twins or more broadly Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) – are already successfully used in holistic systems for intelligent transport ecosystems, similar to the use of Big Data and artificial intelligence technologies interwoven with modern production and supply chains. The goal of this paper is to describe how data from interwoven, autonomous and intelligent supply chains can be integrated into the diverse data ecosystems of the Industry 4.0, influenced by a multitude of data exchange formats and varied data schemas. In this paper, we describe how a framework for supporting SMEs was established in the Lake Constance region and describe a demonstrator sprung from the framework. The demonstrator project’s goal is to exhibit and compare two different approaches towards optimisation of manufacturing lines. The first approach is based upon static optimisation of production demand, i.e. exact or heuristic algorithms are used to plan and optimise the assignment of orders to individual machines. In the second scenario, we use real-time situational awareness – implemented as digital avatar – to assign local intelligence to jobs and raw materials in order to compare the results to the traditional planning methods of scenario one. The results are generated using event-discrete simulation and are compared to common (heuristic) job scheduling algorithms.
Background: Mobile health interventions are intended to support complex health care needs in chronic diseases digitally, but they are mainly targeted at general health improvement and neglect disease-specific requirements. Therefore, we designed TrackPAD, a smartphone app to support supervised exercise training in patients with peripheral arterial disease.
Objective: This pilot study aimed to evaluate changes in the 6-minute walking distance (meters) as a primary outcome measure. The secondary outcome measures included changes in physical activity and assessing the patients’ peripheral arterial disease–related quality of life.
Methods: This was a pilot two-arm, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Patients with symptomatic PAD (Fontaine stage IIa/b) and access to smartphones were eligible. Eligible participants were randomly assigned to the study, with the control group stratified by the distance covered in the 6-minute walking test using the TENALEA software. Participants randomized to the intervention group received usual care and the mobile intervention (TrackPAD) for the follow-up period of 3 months, whereas participants randomized to the control group received routine care only. TrackPAD records the frequency and duration of training sessions and pain levels using manual user input. Clinical outcome data were collected at the baseline and after 3 months via validated tools (the 6-minute walk test and self-reported quality of life). The usability and quality of the app were determined using the Mobile Application Rating Scale user version.
Results: The intervention group (n=19) increased their mean 6-minute walking distance (83 meters, SD 72.2), while the control group (n=20) decreased their mean distance after 3 months of follow-up (–38.8 meters, SD 53.7; P=.01). The peripheral arterial disease–related quality of life increased significantly in terms of “symptom perception” and “limitations in physical functioning.” Users’ feedback showed increased motivation and a changed attitude toward performing supervised exercise training.
Conclusions: Besides the rating providing a valuable support tool for the user group, the mobile intervention TrackPAD was linked to a change in prognosis-relevant outcome measures combined with enhanced coping with the disease. The influence of mobile interventions on long-term prognosis must be evaluated in the future.
The term start-up has become indispensable when new ideas are to be turned into business ventures. The number of start-ups is continuously increasing, but at the same time, many new start-ups are marked by failure. The successful path from start-up to a stable business model is to be explored in more detail in this thesis. The focus here is on the various success factors and how decisive they are.
At present, start-ups are mainly focusing on the area of digitalisation, not only triggered by the Covid19 pandemic but also by the high demand for digital products and services. In the past, start-ups founded in Silicon Valley/USA have been incredibly successful. Nevertheless, currently many other countries offer decisive advantages for start-ups and are therefore more attractive than the Silicon Valley. In Europe, Spain stands out with a rapidly growing start-up scene, primarily in the metropolises of Madrid and Barcelona.
This Master's thesis aims to empirically investigate the interrelationships of the necessary success factors in the start-up scene for the country of Spain. The focus of the study here is on the digitalisation industry. Qualitative content analysis is used for closer examination and is carried out through expert interviews. Qualitative research allows a much deeper insight into the interviewees' personal experiences and examines non-measurable factors. The subsequent evaluation is intended to present correlations and provide new insights. In summary, a list of recommendations is generated to provide future founders with suitable suggestions and advice right from the start.
The fact that services have emerged a driving force and the fastest growing sector in international trade attracts researchers to follow the changes taking place in the service industry. This study extends the scientific discussion on internationalization of service firms. Unlike previous research that examined factors that influence a single firm’s decision to internationalize, I acknowledge the heterogeneity of services, and based on the results obtained from secondary analysis of primary qualitative data sets, answer the main research question how internationalization motives differ between people-processing services, possession-processing services, and information-based services. This research goes beyond identification of variation in internationalization motives and analyses the service characteristics that might be responsible for the differences. In addition, I assess the key trends in the service sector and predict the possible future internationalization motives that are likely to emerge from the current trends.
Findings of this study reveal two major issues. First, it is evident that reasons for internationalization differ among hotel, retail firms and Higher education institutions representing people-processing services, possession-processing services, and information-based services respectively. Second, a few motives are common across sub-sectors, however the significance of the motives vary from sub-sector to sub-sector. I conclude that the differences in underlying structures of the respective service sub-sectors is the fundamental cause for the variation in internationalization motives among service sub-sectors. Other factors such as distinctive characteristics of service, firm’s competitive strategies, income elasticity of demand, and life-cycle stage of the service sub-sector also contribute to the differences in internationalization motives.
This paper also presents three different factors, which are likely to emerge as significant factors that influence service firm internationalization decision in future. (1) Company’s urge to be socially responsible and the need to contribute towards the environmental well-being (2) The need to sell regional products and services to neighbouring nations and respond to consumers’ demand for sustainable consumerism (3) Decision to penetrate foreign markets facilitated by the low risks and low cost of internationalization.
Observing the ratios of the rail usage in terms of passenger travelled per km and per capita, we see that there are huge differences between countries, so some railway systems are performing better in catching passengers than others. By analysing the factors that make the railways attractive for users, and setting standard values for these factors, we can analyse how well a system is performing. This paper has investigated those factors and developed an assessment tool that will inform about the required improvements, so in a later stage specific strategies can be developed to increase the performance in order to attract more passengers. Spain will be used as case study, since the country has specially low passenger rail usage compared to other countries even though the large investments in high speed lines the country undertook in the last decades.
Post-operative isoflurane has been observed to be present in the end-tidal breath of patients who have undergone major surgery, for several weeks after the surgical procedures. A major new noncontrolled, non-randomized, and open-label approved study will recruit patients undergoing various surgeries under different inhalation anaesthetics, with two key objectives, namely to record the washout characteristics following surgery, and to investigate the influence of a patient’s health and the duration and type of surgery on elimination. In preparation for this breath study using proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS), it is important to identify first the analytical product ions that need to be monitored and under what operating conditions. In this first paper of this new research programme, we present extensive PTR-TOF-MS studies of three major
anaesthetics used worldwide, desflurane (CF3CHFOCHF2), sevoflurane ((CF3)2CHOCH2F), and isoflurane (CF3CHClOCHF2) and a fourth one, which is used less extensively, enflurane (CHF2OCF2CHFCl), but is of interest because it is an isomer of isoflurane. Product ions are identified as a function of reduced electric field (E/N) over the range of approximately 80 Td to 210 Td, and the effects of operating the drift tube under ‘normal’ or ‘humid’ conditions on the intensities of the product ions are presented. To aid in the analyses, density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the proton affinities and the gas-phase basicities of the anaesthetics have been determined. Calculated energies for the ion-molecule reaction pathways leading to key product ions, identified as ideal for monitoring the inhalation anaesthetics in breath with a high sensitivity and selectivity, are also presented.
Strain-tunable GaAs quantum dot: a nearly dephasing-free source of entangled photon pairs on demand
(2018)
Strain-induced dynamic control over the population of quantum emitters in two-dimensional materials
(2023)
The discovery of quantum emitters in two-dimensional materials has triggered a surge of research to assess their suitability for quantum photonics. While their microscopic origin is still the subject of intense studies, ordered arrays of quantum emitters are routinely fabricated using static strain-gradients, which are used to drive excitons toward localized regions of the 2D crystals where quantum-light-emission takes place. However, the possibility of using strain in a dynamic fashion to control the appearance of individual quantum emitters has never been explored so far. In this work, we tackle this challenge by introducing a novel hybrid semiconductor-piezoelectric device in which WSe2 monolayers are integrated onto piezoelectric pillars delivering both static and dynamic strains. Static strains are first used to induce the formation of quantum emitters, whose emission shows photon anti-bunching. Their excitonic population and emission energy are then reversibly controlled via the application of a voltage to the piezoelectric pillar. Numerical simulations combined with drift-diffusion equations show that these effects are due to a strain-induced modification of the confining-potential landscape, which in turn leads to a net redistribution of excitons among the different quantum emitters. Our work provides relevant insights into the role of strain in the formation of quantum emitters in 2D materials and suggests a method to switch them on and off on demand.
Entangled photon generation at 1550 nm in the telecom C-band is of critical importance as it enables the realization of quantum communication protocols over long distance using deployed telecommunication infrastructure. InAs epitaxial quantum dots have recently enabled on-demand generation of entangled photons in this wavelength range. However, time-dependent state evolution, caused by the fine-structure splitting, currently limits the fidelity to a specific entangled state. Here, we show fine-structure suppression for InAs quantum dots using micromachined piezoelectric actuators and demonstrate generation of highly entangled photons at 1550 nm. At the lowest fine-structure setting, we obtain a maximum fidelity of 90.0 ± 2.7% (concurrence of 87.5 ± 3.1%). The concurrence remains high also for moderate (weak) temporal filtering, with values close to 80% (50%), corresponding to 30% (80%) of collected photons, respectively. The presented fine-structure control opens the way for exploiting entangled photons from quantum dots in fiber-based quantum communication protocols.
Stability of selected volatile breath constituents in Tedlar, Kynar and Flexfilm sampling bags
(2013)
Sponsorship
(2006)
The importance of Agent-Based Simulation (ABS) as scientific method to generate data for scientific models in general and for informed policy decisions in particular has been widely recognised. However, the important technique of code testing of implementations like unit testing has not generated much research interested so far. As a possible solution, in previous work we have explored the conceptual use of property-based testing. In this code testing method, model specifications and invariants are expressed directly in code and tested through automated and randomised test data generation. This paper expands on our previous work and explores how to use property-based testing on a technical level to encode and test specifications of ABS. As use case the simple agent-based SIR model is used, where it is shown how to test agent behaviour, transition probabilities and model invariants. The outcome are specifications expressed directly in code, which relate whole classes of random input to expected classes of output. During test execution, random test data is generated automatically, potentially covering the equivalent of thousands of unit tests, run within seconds on modern hardware. This makes property-based testing in the context of ABS strictly more powerful than unit testing, as it is a much more natural fit due to its stochastic nature.
Grid-scale electrical energy storage (EES) is a key component in cost-effective transition scenarios to renewable energy sources. The requirement of scalability favors EES approaches such as pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH) or compressed-air energy storage (CAES), which utilize the cheap and abundant storage materials water and air, respectively. To overcome the site restriction and low volumetric energy densities attributed to PSH and CAES, liquid-air energy storage (LAES) has been devised; however, it suffers from a rather small round-trip efficiency (RTE) and challenging storage conditions. Aiming to overcome these drawbacks, a novel system for EES is developed using solidified air (i.e., clathrate hydrate of air) as the storable phase of air. A reference plant for solidified-air energy storage (SAES) is conceptualized and modeled thermodynamically using the software CoolProp for water and air as well as empirical data and first-order approximations for the solidified air (SA). The reference plant exhibits a RTE of 52% and a volumetric storage density of 47 kWh per m3 of SA. While this energy density relates to only one half of that in LAES plants, the modeled RTE of SAES is comparable already. Since improved thermal management and the use of thermodynamic promoters can further increase the RTEs in SAES, the technical potential of SAES is in place already. Yet, for a successful implementation of the concept - in addition to economic aspects - questions regarding the stability of SA must be first clarified and challenges related to the processing of SA resolved.
The role of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in the current zeitgeist is to drive innovation, re-shape rigid, established processes in business as well as for consumers. They use new viewpoints to pioneer new (business) models which focus on ‘smartness’ rather than the purely monetary and short-sighted models of yesteryear. Fostering and supporting the culture of this current zeitgeist is a mayor challenge for entre- and intrapreneurial support infrastructures, namely startup centres and innovation hubs of universities and other public institutions as well as innovation centres of private companies. Hereby, support may range from access to funding over provision of resources such as offices or computing hardware to coaching in the development of business ideas and strategic roadmaps for product and service deployment. In this paper, we focus on describing the status-quo of afore- mentioned support infrastructures in Vorarlberg and the Lake Constance region, then extend the scope to existing (international) approaches for aiding founders and inno- vators in the development of smart services. An analysis of success stories of the Vorarlberg startup centre ‘startupstube’ and other initiatives including their compar- ison to international counterparts builds the basis for a methodological framework for (service science) coaching in entre- and intrapreneurial support infrastructures. The paper is concluded by the description of a framework for choosing the right methods and tools to create service value in entre-/intrapreneurship based upon tested, proven know-how and for defining support infrastructure needs based upon pre-defined stakeholder and target groups as well as the (industry) sectors of the innovators.
Smart services disrupt business models and have the potential to stimulate the circular economy transition of regions, enabling an environmentally friendly atmosphere for sustainable and innovation-driven growth of regions. Although smart services are powerful means for deploying circular economy goals in industrial practices, there is little systematic guidance on how the adoption of smart services could improve resource efficiency and stimulate smart regional innovation-driven growth, enabled through circular design. Implemented in the scope of Vorarlberg’s smart specialization strategy, this paper contributes to the literature on the circular economy and regional innovation-driven growth by assessing critical factors of the value creation and value capture implemented within the scope of the quadruple helix system. By identifying the main challenges and opportunities of collaborative value creation and value capture in setting-up smart circular economy strategies and by assessing the role of innovation actors within the quadruple helix innovation system, the study provides recommendations and set of guidelines for managers and public authorities in managing circular transition. Finally, based on the analysis of the role of actors in creating shared value and scaling-up smart circular economy practices in the quadruple helix innovation systems, the paper investigates the role of banks as enablers of circular economy innovation-driven regional growth and smart value creation.
Silicon nanophotonics
(2013)
Signatures of the optical stark effect on entangled photon pairs from resonantly-pumped quantum dots
(2023)
Two-photon resonant excitation of the biexciton-exciton cascade in a quantum dot generates highly polarization-entangled photon pairs in a near-deterministic way. However, the ultimate level of achievable entanglement is still debated. Here, we observe the impact of the laser-induced ac-Stark effect on the quantum dot emission spectra and on entanglement. For increasing pulse-duration-to-lifetime ratios and pump powers, decreasing values of concurrence are recorded. Nonetheless, additional contributions are still required to fully account for the observed below-unity concurrence.
Parametric anti-resonance is a phenomenon that occurs in systems with at least two degrees of freedom; this can be achieved by periodically exciting some parameters of the system. The effect of this properly tuned periodicity is to increase the dissipation in the system, which leads to a raising in the effective damping of vibrations. This contribution presents the design of an open-loop control to reduce the settling time using the anti-resonance concept. The control signal consists of a quasi-periodic signal capable of transferring the system’s oscillations from one mode to another mode of the system. The general averaging technique is used to characterize the dynamics, particularly the so-called slow dynamics of motion. With this analysis, the control signal is designed for the potential application of a microelectromechanical sensor arrangement; for this specific example, up to 96.8% reduction of settling time is achieved.
To create a map of an unknown area, autonomous robots must follow a strategy to explore the area without knowing the optimal paths to reduce the time needed to map the whole area. To reduce the time to accomplish this task, multiple robots can work together to create a map in a more efficient way. However, without proper coordination, the time a team of autonomous robots needs to explore the unknown area can exceed the time needed by a single robot. To counteract the challenges, a shared infrastructure is needed which extracts useful information for the individual robots out of the shared information of all robots so the exploration can be coordinated. These measures introduce new challenges to the system, concerning the load of the communication infrastructure as well as the overall task of exploring and mapping becoming dependent on the correct communication and robustness of the shared team infrastructure. Therefore, the amount of communication and dependency of each individual robot of the rest of the other robots of the team must be reduced to ensure that the robots can continue working even if the communication with the shared infrastructure fails.