Transparent Platform Research Articles

Active energy-controlling windows incorporating transparent photovoltaics and an integrated transparent heater

Despite being essential interfaces between interior spaces and their surrounding environments, windows are often considered as being among the least important energy components in buildings, houses, and vehicles. The proportionally large window areas of man-made structures mean that smarter window design would lead to more efficient energy control. Here we report large-scale transparent photovoltaics and their integration with a transparent heater for an energy-efficient active window unit. The latter possesses high average visible transmittance (>60%), low transmission haze (<7%), neutral color perspective, and excellent thermal protection, and its heating function is powered by solar energy and the electric energy from the transparent photovoltaics. This active window unit may overcome some of the limitations of conventional passive windows for power consumption, with electrical power being generated from transparent solar cells and the energy flow being governed by the window’s temperature-control scheme. Active energy system incorporating transparent energy platforms for window applications High-transparency (>60%) energy windows have transparent photovoltaics and heaters Transparent heater is driven by power from TPVs for active energy platforms Despite being essential interfaces between interior spaces and their surrounding environments, windows are often considered as being among the least important energy components in buildings, houses, and vehicles. Patel et al. report large-scale transparent photovoltaics and their integration with a transparent heater for an energy-efficient active window unit.

Transparent sustainable energy platform: Closed-loop energy chain of solar-electric-hydrogen by transparent photovoltaics, photo-electro-chemical cells and fuel system

Ultimate goal of the sustainable energy system is to support our current without compromising the need of future generation. Limitless and continuous energy from Sun offers the potential to realize solar-powered photovoltaics (PVs) and concomitant hydrogen production by water-splitting. We propose the use of transparent PVs (TPVs) and transparent photo-electro-chemical (TPEC) cells to combine the generation of electric power and energy storage of hydrogen fuel. Transparent metal-oxide ZnO/NiO heterojunction was applied for TPV-TPEC module with high transparency (64%) to generate high photovoltage (0.546 V), photocurrent (2.28 mA/cm2) with power-conversion-efficiency (1.47%). This electric power is directly used and applied for the hydrogen production (Power-to-Gas, P2G). This onsite hydrogen production is effective to resolve the burden of hydrogen delivery and storage. Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) unit is linked to TPV-TPEC module to convert hydrogen to electric power (Gas-to-Power, G2P). This G2P mode is efficiently reduce the PV dependence on intermittent nature of sunlight and complete the closed-loop energy supply chain. We demonstrated TPV-TPEC-PEMFC energy system for the continuous energy production, supply and conversion for the transparent energy platform. In the future, it will be possible to obtain the continuous green energy from the window without losing vision.

Managing Crowdsourcing in the Public Sector: The Role of Government Feedback to Citizen Input

Crowdsourcing is a participation mechanism by which organizations engage with an external crowd of individual solvers via digital platforms. Government organizations increasingly use crowdsourcing platforms to integrate citizen knowledge and inputs in designing and delivering public services. After receiving input, the government usually provides feedback to individual users on whether the input can be considered. Drawing on attribution theory, this study asks how government feedback affects citizens’ future participation in crowdsourcing platforms. Using a 7-year dataset of both online reports from citizens to government and government feedback to citizen requests, we examine communication patterns and find that approximately 50 percent of first reports shared by citizens are rejected by the government. Our results show that being rejected the first time decreases citizens’ continued participation behavior. Furthermore, future participation behavior is dependent on the reason for the rejection. This study contributes to research on digital interaction between citizens and the government and highlights the importance of rationale transparency and regular platform management to sustain citizen participation in the era of digital government.

Architecture design of big data analysis platform for smart grid in rural areas

The power grid is facing more and more challenges with the development of new energy. Thus, uncoordinated network load and local heavy overload problems always affect the development of rural power grid, especially the impact of voltage quality and power supply reliability on the rural power grid. According to the characteristics of rural power grid, firstly, the work establishes the overall architecture of smart grid big data analysis platform and then analyzes the software functions and hardware configuration of the platform, finally, discusses the deployment mode of rural big data platform and power grid big data analysis platform. Furthermore, it introduces the technical principle and data transmission principle of smart grid big data analysis platform. Finally, the paper emphasizes that we should build a rural intelligent big data analysis platform according to building a green and transparent smart platform area and building an integrated and open intelligent cockpit.

HerBChain, a blockchain-based informative platform for quality assurance and quality control of herbal products

The use of medicinal plants is popular worldwide. Correct herbal authentication is of paramount importance to the safety and best interest of consumers. On the market, there is no comprehensive blockchain-based system to track the processes from plantation to manufacturing and to the sale. With the advancement of information technology, an open and transparent blockchain-based platform, HerBChain, was created to enhance the quality control of herbal products. The implementation of blockchain technology is to minimize the manipulation of recorded information. HerBChain is an information platform for recording the six important processes of herbal product manufacturing and marketing, which include plantation base, TCM processing factory, TCM manufacturer, testing laboratory, distributor and retailer. By duly recording the parameters and data essential for product quality in manufacturing and supply chain, the traceability and reliability of the products can be ensured.

Embedding Blockchain Technology Into IoT for Security: A Survey

In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has made great progress. The interconnection between IoT and the Internet enables real-time information processing and transaction implementation through heterogeneous intelligent devices. But the security, the privacy, and the reliability of IoT are key challenges that limit its development. The features of the blockchain, such as decentralization, consensus mechanism, data encryption, and smart contracts, are suitable for building distributed IoT systems to prevent potential attacks and to reduce transaction costs. As a decentralized and transparent database platform, blockchain has the potential to raise the performance of IoT security to a higher level. This article systematically analyzes state of the art of IoT security based on the blockchain, paying special attention to the security features, issues, technologies, approaches, and related scenarios in blockchain-embedded IoT. The integration and interoperation of blockchain and IoT is an important and foreseeable development in the computational communication system.

Emissive Platforms Employing NaYF4‐based Upconverting Nanoparticles and Mesoporous Metal Oxide Thin Films

AbstractWe present the design and synthesis of a novel optically transparent platform based on the combination of NaYF4: Er3+, Yb3+ upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) and mesoporous metal oxide thin films (MOTFs). The UCNP were obtained by the thermolysis method and were deposited onto a glass substrate by spin coating. The MOTFs (TiO2, ZrO2 and SiO2), prepared by the combination of the sol‐gel approach and the self‐assembly of surfactants, were subsequently deposited on top of the particles giving rise to an ultrathin composite. The characterization of the obtained composite films indicates that they blend the properties of both starting materials: they exhibit upconverting properties, as they are capable of emitting visible light when irradiated in the NIR region, and the MOTFs deposited on top provide an ordered array of mesopores with highly accessible porosity. As the UCNPs emission properties depend on their surrounding temperature, the composite films were tested for temperature sensing applications, using both emission intensity and lifetimes of different signals, with promising results.

Comparing CO2 emissions impacts of electricity storage across applications and energy systems

Summary Electricity storage systems can support the decarbonization of energy systems. However, the effect of electricity storage use on greenhouse gas emissions is complex because of roundtrip efficiency losses of the storage and its effects on the dispatch of different electricity-generation technologies. The limited literature examining this issue focus on individual electricity storage applications and the geographies where they are applied. Here, we systematically compare the effects of electricity storage on CO2 emissions across four applications in electricity systems resembling seven European countries. Our findings reveal large emission impact differences between applications and countries. Among other findings, we find that when compared with wholesale arbitrage, storing electricity in other applications exhibits much lower effects on CO2 emissions. We also investigate different policy options to reduce CO2 emissions from storing electricity. We find that although a higher carbon price can have a substantial effect on reducing the CO2 emissions from wholesale arbitrage, other applications require alternative approaches.

Islamic Business Ethics As A Basic of Policies Facing The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemics

Morals are very important in every action in the life of a Muslim, including in his business activities. In a difficult or happy situation a Muslim must continue to prioritize in order to create the benefit of the whole community. In difficult circumstances such as in early 2020 where the world and Indonesia were shocked by the emergence of the COVID-19 virus which disrupted the health and economy of the country. At such times it is important to review the establishment of policies that can provide welfare for all levels of society both from the government or business actors in accordance with applicable norms and culture. This research . This research was conducted with a literature review method using analysis of secondary data. The results of this study indicate that some requirements that are in accordance with Islamic business ethics must be considered by the government and business actors, namely establishing clear and transparent information platforms, setting standards on business activities and products that are in accordance with health regulations to control the needs of community products, and making public educative.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: pandemic, company policy, regulation, welfare.

Stretchable and Transparent Electrochemical Sensor Based on Nanostructured Au on Carbon Nanotube Networks for Real-Time Analysis of H2O2 Release from Cells.

Various electrochemical biosensors have been developed for direct and real-time recording of biomolecules released from living cells. However, since these traditional electrodes are commonly rigid and nonflexible, in situ monitoring of biochemical signals while cell deformation occurs remains a great challenge. Herein, we report a facile approach for the development of a stretchable and transparent electrochemical cell-sensing platform based on Au nanostructures (nano-Au) and carbon nanotube (CNT) films embedded in PDMS (nano-Au/CNTs/PDMS). The sandwich-like nanostructured network of nano-Au/CNTs endows the sensor with excellent mechanical stability and electrochemical performance. The obtained nano-Au/CNTs/PDMS electrode displays desired performance for H2O2 detection with a wide linear range (20 nM-25.8 μM) and low detection limit (8 nM). Owing to good biocompatibility and flexibility, HeLa and human umbilical vein endothelial cells can be directly cultured on the electrode and real-time monitoring of H2O2 release from cells under their stretched state was realized. The proposed strategy demonstrated in this work provides an effective way for design of stretchable sensors and more opportunities for sensing biomolecules from mechanically sensitive cells.

Estimation of upcoming problems in Alaşehir geothermal field using a numerical reservoir model

Alasehir geothermal area located in Alasehir Graben, West Anatolia, is the latest target for geothermal field development in Turkey. Seven different operators are developing the power capacity in this geothermal field on a strictly competitive and largely confidential basis without the significant exchange of resource information among them. Currently, eleven binary and combined flash-binary geothermal power plants with widely changing power generation efficiency between plants produce from the same reservoir. In order to identify upcoming problems for the complex and aggressive geothermal exploitation in Alasehir Geothermal Field, a highly populated numerical reservoir model was developed in TOUGH2 using different data sources such as geology, geophysics, pressure transient tests, tracer test, and geochemistry. The real-time power data are retrieved from the transparency platform of the Turkish energy exchange. The geothermal fluid is withdrawn from the field at a total production rate of 12,600 tons per hour. There are more than 100 wells in the field. The flow rate and wellhead flowing pressure of wells in the field central are used for calibration. The flow rate of wells changes between 100 and 450 tons per hour. The numerical model results are compared with a Monte Carlo simulation results in the field. Numerical reservoir simulation showed that more than 270 MWe production is not supported by artesian flow which is in agreement with Monte Carlo simulation results. The pressure decline of the field was found 3 bar per year. Using this model, power supply capability of the field is discussed considering economic and physical reliability. The best solution for maximizing energy exploitation from the field was found to produce with unitized reservoir management.

A BLOCKCHAIN-BASED ONLINE REVIEW SYSTEM OF TOURISM PRODUCTS USING ETHEREUM

Rapid technological advances have made blockchain technology applicable not only to digital money, but in various fields. One of the areas that can be implemented by blockchain is digital tourism, specifically in the online review system of tourism products. The current online review system has several problems due to its centralized nature. The problem faced is the manipulation of review data which can be in the form of review deletion by a centralized party. This research proposes a decentralized online review system using the Ethereum blockchain technology, Smart Contracts, and IPFS to provide a secure, transparent, and trustworthy online review system platform. The purpose of this research is to implement a permission-less blockchain as a storage for reviews (review forms and log notes) and develop a web application as a user interface. The data used is data from travel sites which contain details about hotels and restaurants in Bukhara. The results displayed are the development of a web application that implements a permission-less blockchain using Ethereum and the system performance is displayed based on system testing, which comprised of unit testing and Black-Box testing.

Political dispute in Poland in the eyes of Facebook slacktivists

This text is a report from research on selected aspects of the crisis of democracy in Poland. The problem of the analysis focuses on questions about the attitude of the participants in the political dispute towards opponents, the possibility (and method) of reaching an agreement and the assessment of the situation. I chose the area of analysis considering social media a transparent platform for political dispute (especially during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic). The essence of the research was to find respondents clearly involved in the political dispute. I choose Facebook, among the other things, because this platform creates a place of many actively operating thematic groups which gathers supporters of particular political options. This fact facilitate reaching respondents with the preferred characteristics. The survey was conducted in the period 13/12/2020 to 25/01/2021 on the basis of the author’s form consisting of 15 questions. The research sample consists of 220 respondents: 126 women and 94 men aged 14 to 72 years old. Appropriately for the nature of the variables and the sample size, the contingency coefficient and the Kruskal-Wallis test were calculated, together with the statistical significance of the obtained results. All analyzes were performed on the basis of SPSS software version 26 and Microsoft Excel.

The Effect of Thickness-Based Dynamic Matching Mechanism on a Hyperledger Fabric-Based TimeBank System

In a community with an aging population, helping each other is a must society function. Lacking mutual trust makes the need for a fair and transparent service exchange platform on top of the public service administration’s list. We present an efficient blockchain-based TimeBank realization with a newly proposed dynamic service matching algorithm (DSMA) in this work. The Hyperledger Fabric (or Fabric in short), one of the well-known Consortium Blockchains, is chosen as our system realization platform. It provides the identity certification mechanism and has an extendable network structure. The performance of a DSMA is measured by the waiting time for a service to get a match, called the service-matching waiting time (SMWT). In our DSMA, the decision as to whether a service is to get a match or wait for a later chance depends dynamically on the total number of contemporarily available services (i.e., the thickness of the service market). To better the proposed TimeBank system’s service quality, a Dynamic Tuning Strategy (DTS) is designed to thicken the market size. Experimental results show that a thicker market makes on-chain nodes have more links, and in turn, they find a match easier (i.e., consume a shorter SMWT).

A novel device to simply 3D print bulk green ceramic components by stereolithography employing viscous slurries

This paper reports on a novel solution to 3D print bulk components by stereolithography with photosensitive ceramic-based slurries. We designed, realized and tested a novel apparatus, characterized by a UV transparent platform and a silicone flexible film under tension, which cures layers of ceramic slurries exploiting the “top-down” approach. This new device guarantees a precise slice thickness between the transparent wall and the mating slice, allowing the precise building of bulk green ceramic components. The device can 3D print viscous photosensitive ceramic slurries (i.e. viscosity up to 10 ​Pa ​s at 10 s−1 shear rate). Moreover, the apparatus allows for the production of complex bulk components where the adhesion forces are high. This permits to widen the range of geometrical features of 3D printed objects printable by common stereolithography.

Multi-point Fundraising and Distribution via Blockchain

Trust and transparency are significant facets that are much esteemed by charitable organizations in achieving their mission and encouraging donations from the public. However, after many high-profile scandals, the faith in charities is questionable, heralding the need for an increased level of transparency among such organizations. Fortunately, leveraging Blockchain technology in charities’ systems could help to rebuild the integrity of these organizations. This study aims to raise the level of integrity showcased by charities by creating a multi-point fundraising approach using smart contracts. The proposed system offers a transparent fundraising platform through its integration of charity organization evaluators. Various steps were deployed to satisfy the intended target. Firstly, the study investigated the potentials of Blockchain in improving the level of transparency. Secondly, a probing process was undertaken to choose a suitable platform as a server-side in the system. This process involved garnering salient features in Blockchain platforms based on the proposed system requirements. After the probing process, a Decision Support System (DSS) was utilized to investigate the most suitable Blockchain platform. Results garnered proved that the Ethereum platform is best for the proposed system.

A Transparent and Privacy-Preserving Healthcare Platform With Novel Smart Contract for Smart Cities

A smart city ensures quality maintenance in diverse sectors, namely citizen safety, security, healthcare, transportation, and energy. Besides, data privacy and security have become an uprising concern for Electronic Health Records (EHR) in smart cities. This is because the EHR platforms are constantly getting cyber threats from cybercriminals. On the other hand, health insurance companies offer certain specific policies that require the association of patients' financial data with EHRs. Thus, additional security concern arises as fraudulent entities can alter these insurance policies. An extra challenge is triggered as patients need to validate their identities separately while communicating with different smart healthcare entities. This is because these healthcare facilities and insurance companies ought to ensure authenticity before offering any service for an individual. Hence, we have implemented a blockchain framework to safeguard patients' personal information and insurance policy. In this paper, we propose a solution for the healthcare system that provides data privacy and transparency. Furthermore, in the proposed system, insurance policies are incorporated in blockchain via the Ethereum platform and data privacy is shielded with cryptographic tools.

Opportunities, Constraints and Critical Supports for Achieving Sustainable Local Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in Africa: With a Focus on the Role of Finance, Final Report

The Open Society Foundations Public Health Program commissioned an interdisciplinary team to examine the extent to which gaps in financing are an obstacle to more robust local production of pharmaceutical products (including diagnostics, vaccines and treatments (DVT)) and personal protective equipment (PPE) with focus on Africa. The Report is posted here. The Executive Summary and an Addenda compilation (which includes 3 supplemental research reports) are posted along with the Report at the website of Nova Worldwide Consulting.The overall findings of the study are that gaps in financing pose a constraint on the localization of pharmaceutical production in Africa. The gaps are not mainly due to a lack of financial capital in global financial markets that might be deployed for this purpose. The main problems are associated with the market environment in the sense that sustainable business operations require adequate demand, and market demand for pharmaceutical products in Africa is limited by various factors. In addition, comparatively weak infrastructure (recognizing variation among countries) makes it difficult to compete with large efficient foreign suppliers that are bolstered by foreign government support. Potential investors appear to perceive relatively high risks associated with investing in pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa.Transforming political engagement:The COVID-19 pandemic may serve as adequate impetus to transform local production of pharmaceuticals into a governmental priority. Government commitment at a high level is required to engage the financial levers that will support localization of production.Sustainable business models:Particularly outside the vaccine sector, successfully operating a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility means addressing a market with sufficient demand to generate revenue and profits. Alternatively, or as a supplement, governments may provide direct subsidies, guaranteed offtake agreements, tax credits, local production pricing premiums, and other measures to substitute for market demand. These forms of support are commonly used for “infant industries”, and there should be plans to withdraw such support once a business has achieved sustainability.The social impact investor market:African governments should consider a program to encourage sovereign wealth funds and other financial asset managers to invest in local production on the African continent as a way to accomplish important social goals. To facilitate this objective, there should be some type of backstop or guarantee of the social impact investments within reasonable parameters. The African Development Bank may be helpful in establishing mechanisms for this purpose.Opportunities for advocacy:There is substantial room for advocacy by civil society to move Africa toward greater self-sufficiency in the production of pharmaceutical products. At the high level of political commitment, government authorities should be persuaded to prioritize local production of pharmaceuticals as a matter of public health security, engaging the financial levers to support such a commitment. At the level of industrial policy, the African Union should be encouraged to engage in concrete planning for regional pharmaceutical production hubs, and associated infrastructure and centers of technical expertise. Whether in conjunction with that, or separately, procurement authorities should be encouraged to form regional pooled procurement mechanisms to aggregate demand, allow for more effective bargaining with suppliers, and support regional hub manufacturers.Support for effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area in terms of reducing barriers to intra-Africa trade in pharmaceutical products would improve the market situation. Similarly, continuing support for efforts to integrate the African regional regulatory structure for pharmaceutical products would accelerate access to medicines. Establishment of a library of available drug master files for reference by manufacturers would significantly lower barriers to manufacturer market entry.Foundations should be encouraged to develop a transparent platform which could provide information to African manufacturers with respect to opportunities for financing and expertise for pursuing their objectives.

Fully Automatic Atrial Fibrosis Assessment Using a Multilabel Convolutional Neural Network.

Pathological atrial fibrosis is a major contributor to sustained atrial fibrillation. Currently, late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) scans provide the only noninvasive estimate of atrial fibrosis. However, widespread adoption of atrial LGE has been hindered partly by nonstandardized image processing techniques, which can be operator and algorithm dependent. Minimal validation and limited access to transparent software platforms have also exacerbated the problem. This study aims to estimate atrial fibrosis from cardiac magnetic resonance scans using a reproducible operator-independent fully automatic open-source end-to-end pipeline. A multilabel convolutional neural network was designed to accurately delineate atrial structures including the blood pool, pulmonary veins, and mitral valve. The output from the network removed the operator dependent steps in a reproducible pipeline and allowed for automated estimation of atrial fibrosis from LGE-cardiac magnetic resonance scans. The pipeline results were compared against manual fibrosis burdens, calculated using published thresholds: image intensity ratio 0.97, image intensity ratio 1.61, and mean blood pool signal +3.3 SD. We validated our methods on a large 3-dimensional LGE-cardiac magnetic resonance data set from 207 labeled scans. Automatic atrial segmentation achieved a 91% Dice score, compared with the mutual agreement of 85% in Dice seen in the interobserver analysis of operators. Intraclass correlation coefficients of the automatic pipeline with manually generated results were excellent and better than or equal to interobserver correlations for all 3 thresholds: 0.94 versus 0.88, 0.99 versus 0.99, 0.99 versus 0.96 for image intensity ratio 0.97, image intensity ratio 1.61, and +3.3 SD thresholds, respectively. Automatic analysis required 3 minutes per case on a standard workstation. The network and the analysis software are publicly available. Our pipeline provides a fully automatic estimation of fibrosis burden from LGE-cardiac magnetic resonance scans that is comparable to manual analysis. This removes one key source of variability in the measurement of atrial fibrosis.

Single-Crystalline All-Oxide α-γ-β Heterostructures for Deep-Ultraviolet Photodetection.

Recent advancements in gallium oxide (Ga2O3)-based heterostructures have allowed optoelectronic devices to be used extensively in the fields of power electronics and deep-ultraviolet photodetection. While most previous research has involved realizing single-crystalline Ga2O3 layers on native substrates for high conductivity and visible-light transparency, presented and investigated herein is a single-crystalline β-Ga2O3 layer grown on an α-Al2O3 substrate through an interfacial γ-In2O3 layer. The single-crystalline transparent conductive oxide layer made of wafer-scalable γ-In2O3 provides high carrier transport, visible-light transparency, and antioxidation properties that are critical for realizing vertically oriented heterostructures for transparent oxide photonic platforms. Physical characterization based on X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging confirms the single-crystalline nature of the grown films and the crystallographic orientation relationships among the monoclinic β-Ga2O3, cubic γ-In2O3, and trigonal α-Al2O3, while the elemental composition and sharp interfaces across the heterostructure are confirmed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Furthermore, the energy-band offsets are determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at the β-Ga2O3/γ-In2O3 interface, elucidating a type-II heterojunction with conduction- and valence-band offsets of 0.16 and 1.38 eV, respectively. Based on the single-crystalline β-Ga2O3/γ-In2O3/α-Al2O3 all-oxide heterostructure, a vertically oriented DUV photodetector is fabricated that exhibits a high photoresponsivity of 94.3 A/W, an external quantum efficiency of 4.6 × 104%, and a specific detectivity of 3.09 × 1012 Jones at 250 nm. The present demonstration lays a strong foundation for and paves the way to future all-oxide-based transparent photonic platforms.