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This article discusses the effectiveness of discounts in driving sales for retailers. It challenges the assumption that larger discounts attract more customers and proposes that smaller, more precise discounts could be more effective. The authors conducted nine experimental studies involving around 2,000 individuals and found that consumers were more likely to purchase products with precise discount depths. They also found that shorter perceived discount durations drove purchase intentions. The effectiveness of these smaller discounts was particularly strong for relatively low discounts. The article suggests that retailers should use precise discount descriptions and avoid rounding up discounts to the nearest whole number to increase sales. [Extracted from the article]

Nanostructured 7–9-residue cyclic and unstructured lipopeptide-based facial detergents have been engineered to stabilize the model integral membrane protein, bacteriorhodopsin. Formation of a cylindrical-type micelle assembly induced by facial amphipathic lipopeptides resembles a biological membrane more effectively than conventional micelles. The hydrophobic face of this cylindrical-type micelle provides extended stability to the membrane protein and the hydrophilic surface interacts with an aqueous environment. In our present study, we have demonstrated experimentally and computationally that lipopeptide-based facial detergents having an unstructured or β-turn conformation can stabilize membrane proteins. However, constrained peptide detergents can provide enhanced stability to bacteriorhodopsin. In this study, we have computationally examined the structural stability of bacteriorhodopsin in the presence of helical, beta-strand, and cyclic unstructured peptide detergents, and conventional detergent-like peptides. Our study demonstrates that optimal membranomimetics (detergents) for stabilizing a specific membrane protein can be screened based on the following criteria: (i) hydrodynamic radii of the self-assembled peptide detergents, (ii) stability assay of detergent-encased membrane proteins, (iii) percentage covered area of detergent-encased membrane proteins obtained computationally and (iv) protein–detergent interaction energy.

Abstract: Among all the theories proposed to explain the “anomalous” perihelion precession of Mercury’s orbit first announced in 1859 by Le Verrier, the general theory of relativity proposed by Einstein in November 1915 alone could calculate Mercury’s “anomalous” precession with the precision demanded by observational accuracy. Since Mercury’s precession was a directly derived result of the full general theory, it was viewed by Einstein as the most critical test of general relativity from amongst the three tests he proposed. With the advent of the space age, the level of observational accuracy has improved further and it is now possible to detect this precession for other planetary orbits of the solar system — viz., Venus and the Earth. This conclusively proved that the phenomenon of “anomalous” perihelion precession of planetary orbits is a relativistic effect. Our previous papers presented the mathematical model and the computed value of the relativistic perihelion precession of Mercury’s orbit using an alternate relativistic gravitational model, which is a remodeled form of Einstein’s relativity theories, and which retained only experimentally proven principles. In addition this model has the benefit of data from almost a century of relativity experimentation, including those that have become possible with the advent of the space age. Using this model, we present in this paper the computed values of the relativistic precession of Venus and the Earth, which compare well with the predictions of general relativity and are also in agreement with the observed values within the range of uncertainty.

All-inorganic 2-D Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) layered halide perovskite absorbers will be the real game changer for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) in the near future. In this work, we report an analytical model for all-inorganic 2-D RP layered mixed halide perovskite-based solar cells with Cs2PbI2Cl2 and Cs2SnI2Cl2 as absorbers. As these perovskites manifest layer-dependent properties, we investigate the variation of performance for monolayer, bilayer, and trilayer of the said layered perovskites. In addition, we explore the photovoltaic performance with these absorbers having two different architectures, namely, p-i-n and n-i-p. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) values are found to be significantly higher in the case of the n-i-p architecture for all the absorbers. The obtained PCEs are as high as 24.37% for bilayer Cs2PbI2Cl2 and 23.45% for trilayer Cs2SnI2Cl2 for n-i-p architecture. Moreover, we obtain the highest PCE of 24.58% at 500-nm thickness of bilayer Cs2PbI2Cl2 and 23.61% at 475-nm thickness of trilayer Cs2SnI2Cl2 for the n-i-p architecture.

Boron nitride (BN) is an exceptional material, and among its polymorphs, two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal and three-dimensional (3D) cubic BN (h-BN and c-BN) phases are most common. The phase stability regimes of these BN phases are still under debate, and phase transformations of h-BN/c-BN remain a topic of interest. Here, we investigate the phase stability of 2D/3D h-BN/c-BN nanocomposites and show that the coexistence of two phases can lead to strong nonlinear optical properties and low thermal conductivity at room temperature. Furthermore, spark-plasma sintering of the nanocomposite shows complete phase transformation to 2D h-BN with improved crystalline quality, where 3D c-BN possibly governs the nucleation and growth kinetics. Our demonstration might be insightful in phase engineering of BN polymorph-based nanocomposites with desirable properties for optoelectronics and thermal energy management applications.

The room temperature growth of two-dimensional van der Waals (2D-vdW) materials is indispensable for state-of-the-art nanotechnology. Low temperature growth supersedes the requirement of elevated growth temperatures accompanied with high thermal budgets. Moreover, for electronic applications, low or room temperature growth reduces the possibility of intrinsic film-substrate interfacial thermal diffusion related deterioration of the functional properties and the consequent deterioration of the device performance. Here, we demonstrated the growth of ultrawide-bandgap boron nitride (BN) at room temperature by using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process, which exhibited various functional properties for potential applications. Comprehensive chemical, spectroscopic and microscopic characterizations confirmed the growth of ordered nanosheet-like hexagonal BN (h-BN). Functionally, the nanosheets show hydrophobicity, high lubricity (low coefficient of friction), and a low refractive index within the visible to near-infrared wavelength range, and room temperature single-photon quantum emission. Our work unveils an important step that brings a plethora of potential applications for these room temperature grown h-BN nanosheets as the synthesis can be feasible on any given substrate, thus creating a scenario for “h-BN on demand” under a frugal thermal budget.

This paper proposes an effective system for indexing and retrieval of medical images, which uses steerable pyramid transform (SPT) and local neighborhood difference patterns (LNDP). In the first step of the proposed system, a medical image is subdivided into several sub-bands using SPT at different resolutions and orientations. Further, each sub-band is encoded using LNDP in a binary texture pattern to extract more complex texture features. Finally, LNDP histograms are computed for each SPT sub-band. Thereafter, all the sub-band histograms are combined to form a single histogram to produce the required feature vector. The proposed SPT-LNDP technique represents a medical image in an efficient way that contains many sources of information from various scales and orientations. Two open-source medical image datasets namely OASIS- MRI and VIA/I-ELCAP-CT images of human brain were considered for efficient evaluation of the proposed method. To validate the efficacy of the proposed method two parameters namely Average Retrieval Precision (ARP) and Average Retrieval Rate (ARR) were used. A detailed comparative study of the proposed method with other popular methods, which are described in this study, are also presented in this work. The results show improvement over other existing methods considered in this study.

It is projected that communication among cognitive machine-to-machine (M2M) in smart grid networks is necessary and vital in forthcoming years. The objective of this paper is to bring out the significance of cognitive medium access control (MAC) protocol focusing on the distinctive characteristics of the devices in M2M and requirements of the smart grid communication. Therefore, developing a cognitive radio system which supports dynamic access to the spectrum available that is recently considered as a novel solution for extending wireless systems. In this paper, MAC layer sensing approaches in cognitive radio networks are investigated by considering both proactive and reactive sensing. To evaluate the performance, analytical modeling and simulation studies are carried out by comparing with state of art methods. As a result, the proposed HCM2M-MACachieves 687.3 kbps of blocking probability, 368.6kbps of dropping probability, 96.4% bandwidth utilization, 67.3% end to end delay and 89.3% of throughput.

To generate additional sales, marketers frequently cross-promote various kinds of related and unrelated product and service offers to their customers. This paper examines how offers of additional products in a cross- promotion context elicit the emotion of irritation in consumers, and subsequently, how such irritation might negatively influence consumers' attitudes toward the advertiser and the advertised focal brand as well as their intentions to purchase the brand. In addition, this paper examines the moderating effects of the consumer's need to evaluate. We hypothesize that additional offers of unrelated products lead to higher levels of irritation and that this effect is greater for consumers with a high need to evaluate (HNE) than consumers with a low need to evaluate (LNE). In addition, we hypothesize that the emotion of irritation mediates the effects of additional product offers and the need to evaluate on attitudes and intentions. Empirical results support the proposed hypotheses., Imagine the following scenario: A consumer views an advertisement for a vegetable chopper on television and decides to call the toll-free number with the intent to purchase the advertised product. [...]

A study was conducted to identify boundary conditions for the effectiveness of partitioned pricing. The role of the reasonableness of a surcharge, as well as the need for cognition in consumers' processing of pricing information, is analyzed. Results show that there is no difference between partitioned and combined pricing across surcharge conditions.

Low price guarantees offered by retailers act as market signals for consumers. The effect of market price dispersion on consumer purchase decisions with respect to low price guarantees is examined.

Impact of cue concreteness on effectiveness of semantic cues, used by retailers to advertise discounts, is examined.

This paper examines the differential effects of celebrity and expert endorsements on consumer risk perceptions via three studies. Using source model theories, it is hypothesized that for high technology--oriented products there will be stronger effects of expert endorsers than celebrity endorsers in reducing consumer risk perceptions. In addition, for high technology--oriented products, there is likely to be an interaction effect between endorser type and consumer knowledge on respondents' risk perceptions. Such an interaction effect is likely to be absent for products with a low technology orientation. These hypotheses are supported by the first two studies. The third study examines the underlying theoretical processes of internalization versus identification and shows that the stronger effects of expert (versus celebrity) endorsers for high technology-oriented products is somewhat neutralized for certain types of perceived risks when there is high congruency between the celebrity endorser and the product., Celebrity endorsements are widely prevalent in advertisements. According to some estimates, almost 20% of all television advertisements in the United States feature a famous person as an endorser (Agrawal and [...]

Plausible post-purchase upshots of low price guarantee are examined. The impacts of value consciousness and penalty level on purchase effects are also analyzed.

This article presents a comparative study between the ZnO nanocone and nanofibers. ZnO nanocones were synthesized through the green route, using Azadirachta indica leaf extract media, and ZnO nanofibers were synthesized by the electrospinning process. The microstructural parameters of the prepared nanomaterials were investigated using powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and Rietveld refinement analysis. The XRD patterns confirmed the formation of single-phase ZnO with hexagonal wurtzite structure having an average crystallite size of 21 nm and 54 nm for the conical and fibrous nanoparticles, respectively. The field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed that the mean radius of nanofibers was 25-30 nm while the mean height and mean base radius of nanocones were 181 nm and 91 nm respectively. Elastic properties were estimated using elastic compliances S11 (6.0678×10-12 m2N-1), S12 (-2.2602×10-12 m2N-1), S13 (-1.3579×10-12 m2N-1), S33 (5.5196×10-12 m2N-1) and S44 (22.6833×10-12 m2N-1) which were calculated using the THERMO-PW code, based on the density functional theory. The calculated elastic constants of the two nanostructures yielded similar values as expected. However, the elastic limit of the two nanostructures differs due to their morphological anomaly. Moreover, the optical bandgap of nanofibrous ZnO was lower than that of nanoconical ZnO.

Introduction Imagery is 'a mental event involving visualization of a concept or relationship' (Lutz and Lutz 1978), and it has been defined as '...a process...by which...sensory information is represented in [...]

Introduction There is an increasing desire among marketers to utilize similar advertising campaigns throughout the world. Among the benefits of such a uniform approach, two of the most frequently mentioned [...]

The way in which reference prices in advertisements influence consumers' attitudes toward price and their behavioral intentions was studied. A model of reference pricing was developed, and research focused on brand, type of store, and level of reference price. The results indicated that consumers' attitudes toward price changed according to external reference prices, inference resulted in changed values other than those addressed by a reference price, and changes in beliefs were affected by the level of the external reference price in relation to consumers' previous estimates.

Oxygen bonded with diamond surfaces impacts important properties such as electrical conductivity, Schottky barrier height, field emission, and chemical reactivity. Though processes such as thermal, hydrogen plasma, etc., are efficient in oxidizing the hydrogen-terminated diamond surfaces, the oxidation of pristine diamond surfaces through wet chemical treatments is still in its infancy. Herein, we investigated the efficacy of Hummer’s method, one of the most celebrated chemical oxidation procedures to convert graphite to graphene oxide, to oxidize the pristine diamond surfaces. We attempted to oxidize both microcrystalline diamond powders and polycrystalline diamond wafers. Due to the presence of an acidic oxidative environment and the formation of strong oxidizing agents such as Mn2O7and MnO3+during the course of the reaction, Hummer’s method is found to be very effective in oxidizing the pristine diamond surfaces. The degree of oxygen termination is validated through various spectroscopic and surface probe measurements. Microcrystalline diamond powder is more prone to oxidation to polycrystalline diamond wafers due to excess surface area, and many facets with different dangling bond densities are exposed to the oxidizing medium. The experimental observations are endorsed through molecular dynamics simulations.

The present work attempts to study the issues associated with heat treatment of electroless Ni–P–Cu coatings particularly with respect to oxidation and observe their impact on the hardness (micro- and nano-indentation), friction, and wear behavior of the coatings. Electroless Ni–P–Cu coating is deposited on low carbon steel substrates and subjected to heat treatment at temperatures ranging between 400°C and 800°C and for durations of 1 h and 4 h. Additionally, scratch tests are conducted on the coatings to evaluate their abrasion resistance as well as observe the influence of heat treatment conditions on the adhesion of the coatings. The changes in the microstructure of the coatings are suitably captured with various characterization tools, namely, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. It is seen that above a heat treatment temperature of 450°C, oxidation of the coating is prominent. Moreover, diffusion of iron from the substrate leads to the formation of intermetallic compounds. The coating performs well when heat-treated around 400°C–450°C. Above 600°C, the performance of the coating degrades with unnecessary oxide formation and other associated phenomena, namely, grain coarsening, flaking, and so on.

In this work we address the question of growth of thin films of a soft van der Waals solid (2D MoS2) on a hard, crystalline metal oxide substrates. Thus, MoS2thin films are grown on different single-crystal metal oxide substrates (SrLaAlO4, c-Al2O3, SrTiO3, LaAlO3) by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and characterized by different techniques to confirm and quantify their phase constitution (2H, 1T′). We observe that, on the SrLaAlO4(001) substrate, a mixed 1T′+2H phase of MoS2grows with a dominant (∼75%) 1T′ phase, while on c-Al2O3(0001) pure 2H phase grows. On the SrTiO3and LaAlO3substrates also the mixed phase grows, but with a much lesser component of the 1T′. Higher 1T′ contribution in SLAO and STO points to the chemical role of strontium in the early growth. It is also noted that, with increased film thickness on SrLaAlO4, the contribution of the pure 2H phase is enhanced, indicating the pivotal role of lattice strain in stabilizing the initial layer(s). The mixed 1T′+2H phase in the ultrathin film shows significantly lower room temperature resistivity (∼2 mΩ cm) with respect to that of the pure 2H phase (∼14 mΩ cm). The substrate selective polymorphism with distinct electronic features could invite multiple application interests.

The microstructural changes of electroless Ni–P–Cu coating at various heat-treatment conditions are investigated to understand its implications on the tribological behavior of the coating. Coatings are heat-treated at temperatures ranging between 200°C and 800 °C and for 1–4 h duration. Ni–P–Cu coatings exhibit two-phase transformations in the temperature range of 350–450 °C and the resulting microstructural changes are found to significantly affect their thermal stability and tribological attributes. Hardness of the coating doubles when heat-treated at 452 °C, due to the formation of harder Ni3P phase and crystalline NiCu. Better friction and wear performance are also noted upon heat treatment of the coating at the phase transformation regime, particularly at 400 °C. Wear mechanism is characterized by a mixed adhesive cum abrasive wear phenomena. Heat treatment at higher temperature (600 °C and above) and longer duration (4 h) results in grain coarsening phenomenon, which negatively influences the hardness and tribological characteristics of the coating. Besides, diffusion of iron from the ferrous substrate as well as greater oxide formation are noticed when the coating is heat-treated at higher temperatures and for longer durations (4 h).

AbstractThe aim of the present paper is to study slant magnetic curves, magnetic curves and biharmonic curves on a 3-dimensional f-Kenmotsu mani- fold. Next we deal with curve for which tangent vector of the curve is parallel to ξ. Also we characterize ξ-vertical hypersurface in a 3-dimensional f-Kenmotsu manifold.

Einstein stated two dictums, so that more experimental facts can replace the previously adopted hypotheses and General Relativity (GR) can evolve to “grand aim” or perfection. In the absence of appropriate experimental facts during pre-CEREPAC (Century-long Experience of Relativity-related Experiments on Physics, Astronomy and Celestial-mechanics) era, Einstein found no “escape” from the consequence of non-Euclidean geometry, while keeping all frames permissible based on contemporary knowledge. Bergmann also stated in 1968 that the “principle of general covariance” has brought about serious complication in GR. During CEREPAC, relativists and mathematical-astronomers invariably identified the appropriate “nature’s preferred-frame,” which was later found essential for operation of conservation laws. Based on CEREPAC, replacing the experimentally unverifiable hypotheses with experimentally proven principles, and improving upon the GR-astronomers model (developed by JPL, USA, as an evolved-version of GR-conventional model) in two successive stages, GR was remodeled to what became evident as Evolved GR (EGR), after it enabled the elimination of all earlier-adopted ad-hocmethods or approaches, and of the problems, paradoxes and anomalies, associated with the applications of GR, during CEREPAC, and after it unraveled the “General-relativistic nature of speed-of-light (c)” which links the variable crwith Fr,the local Gravitational Red-Shift Factor (as stated by Einstein between 1911‐1921). As a consequence of the space-age developments in numerical simulation and in the availability of precision observational data, it got proven that nature itself operates the conservation laws of energy, and of linear and angular momentums (both magnitudes and directions), with respect to the appropriate “nature’s preferred frame”; this provided sufficient reason for giving up the “relativity of all frames,” bringing back Euclidean geometry in EGR. Euclidean space in EGR enabled development of a Prototype of future Ephemerides, leading to five orders-of-magnitude improvement in accuracy of computation of precession of celestial orbits, using three independentmethods; this methodology of Prototype Ephemeris and “three-methods-match” can alsobe applied while remaining exclusivelywithin the precincts of GR, by using one alternative mode of running the EGR program for planetary and Lunar orbits, by opting for GRTOPT=Y; this mode utilizes exclusively the GR equations instead of EGR equations; in fact, this mode is the GR-astronomers (modified) model that was really an intermediate stage of evolution (as mentioned above) between the GR-astronomers model and the EGR model. This model incorporates: (1) All good (and, experimentally proven) features from the three generations of GR models (Einstein’s original, Bergmann’s and Misner-Thorne-Wheeler or MTW), and (2) The “Nature-adopted” real orbital model(as proven from comparison of the computed precession values at Micro-arcsecond {μas} level using the “three-methods-match”) for its Methodology for Conservation of Linear and Orbital Angular Momentums, in a polar coordinate system (r, , Φ). This model computes: (1) Precession of celestial orbits at nearly the same accuracy as that done using the EGR model, and (2) About three digit more accurate (thanreported by Folkner in 2014, from fitting lunar laser ranging data with an updated lunar gravity field from the GRAIL mission, etc.) orbits of inner planets and the Moon.

Quoting from a previous abstract of an article of the present authors [A. Biswas and K. R. S. Mani, Phys. Essays 30, 421 (2017)]: “Einstein stated two dictums, so that more experimental facts can replace the previously adopted hypotheses and General Relativity (GR) can evolve to ‘grand aim’ or perfection. In the absence of appropriate experimental facts during pre-CEREPAC (Century-long Experience of Relativity-related Experiments on Physics, Astronomy and Celestial-mechanics) era, Einstein found no ‘escape’ from the consequence of non-Euclidean geometry, while keeping all frames permissible based on contemporary knowledge. Bergmann also stated in 1968 that the ‘principle of general covariance’ has brought about serious complication in GR. During CEREPAC, relativists and mathematical-astronomers invariably identified the appropriate ‘nature’s preferred-frame’, which was later found essential for operation of conservation laws. Based on CEREPAC, replacing the experimentally unverifiable hypotheses with experimentally proven principles, and improving upon the GR-astronomers model (developed by JPL, USA, as an evolved-version of GR-conventional model) in two successive stages, GR was remodeled to what became evident as Evolved General Relativity (EGR), after it enabled the elimination of all earlier-adopted ‘ad-hoc’ methods or approaches, and of the problems, paradoxes and anomalies, associated with the applications of GR, during CEREPAC, and after it unraveled the ‘General-relativistic nature of speed-of-light (c)’ which links the variable crwith Fr,the local Gravitational Red-Shift Factor (as stated by Einstein between 1911‐21). Consequent to the space-age developments in numerical simulation and in the availability of precision observational data, it got proven that nature itself operates the conservation laws of energy, and of linear and angular momentums (both magnitudes and directions), with respect to the appropriate ‘nature’s preferred frame’; this provided sufficient reason for giving up the ‘relativity of all frames’, bringing back Euclidean geometry in EGR.” Euclidean space in EGR enabled development of a Prototype of future Ephemerides, leading to five orders-of-magnitude improvement in accuracy of computation of the various components of precession of Planetary orbits, using three independent methods:the first method calculates Total precession αExVin a model-independent way, Directly from the Prototype Ephemeris; the second method computes αDrn,applying the Conservation Law of magnitudeof the Orbital Angular Momentum, M, and adds a small precession Ggoverned by the conservation law of directionof linear momentum vector, v, so as to match αExV, up to 0.1 Micro-arcsecond (μas) accuracy; and, the third method computes Orbital precession Pto match αDrn,by envisaging an elliptic orbit that precesses over the orbital plane, and simultaneously swings due to its Φ-rotation, governed by the respective conservation law of magnitude of the angular momentums, Mand MΦ. By closely matching the αExVgenerated from model-independent method, EGR proved that it has been able to unravel the nature’s methodology for conservation of linear and orbital angular momentums. The prototype ephemeris leads to a two-step methodology to generate a newephemeris by doing simultaneousangular momentum conservation for both Mand MΦ, while simultaneously doing LSA (least squares adjustment) using precise observational data; and, then using this new Ephemeris, run the EGR program for planetary orbits, to determine the accuracy level of Pusing its “three-methods-match.”

Cytosolic delivery of functional siRNA remains the major challenge to develop siRNA-based therapeutics. Designing clinically safe and effective siRNA transporter to deliver functional siRNA across the plasma and endosomal membrane remains a key hurdle. With the aim of improving endosomal release, we have designed cyclic and linear peptide-based transporters having an Arg-DHis-Arg template. Computational studies show that the Arg-DHis-Arg template is also stabilized by the Arg–His side-chain hydrogen bonding interaction at physiological pH, which dissociates at lower pH. The overall atomistic interactions were examined by molecular dynamics simulations, which indicate that the extent of peptide_siRNA assembly formation depends greatly on physicochemical properties of the peptides. Our designed peptides having the Arg-DHis-Arg template and two lipidic moieties facilitate high yield of intracellular delivery of siRNA. Additionally, unsaturated lipid, linoleic acid moieties were introduced to promote fusogenicity and facilitate endosomal release and cytosolic delivery. Interestingly, such protease-resistant peptides provide serum stability to siRNA and exhibit high efficacy of erk1 and erk2 gene silencing in the triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell line. The peptide having two linoleyl moieties demonstrated comparable efficacy with commercial transfection reagent HiPerFect, as evidenced by the erk1 and erk2 gene knockdown experiment. Additionally, our study shows that ERK1/2 silencing siRNA and doxorubicin-loaded gramicidin-mediated combination therapy is more effective than siRNA-mediated gene silencing-based monotherapy for TNBC treatment.

We propose a scheme to enhance the operational photonic bandwidth exploiting the bandgap overlapping of the same order or different orders through judiciously chosen aperiodic geometries of spatial dimension. To implement the scheme, we design a specialty optical fiber with hybrid chirped-cladding. Our designed fiber helps merge the fundamental bandgap with the first higher-order bandgap and thus provides an ultrawide photonic bandwidth of ∼3  μm. The designed fiber structure also provides a much flatter dispersion profile in comparison with conventional periodic cladding fiber carrying the signature of zero dispersion at ∼2.7  μm. This opens up possibilities in the mid-infrared wavelength regime for bandgap-tunable fiber-based devices. The proposed two-solid-material fiber geometry consisted of thermally compatible low-loss chalcogenide glasses, GeAsSe and AsSe as low and high index, respectively. The supported photonic bandwidth of the fiber covers the entire material low-loss window of the chosen glasses. The efficient delivery of short moderate-energy pulses with significantly less distortion in the temporal as well as spectral domain and enhanced spectral broadening of specific high-energy pulses under certain operating conditions are demonstrated through these specialty fibers.

Einstein stated two dictums so that more experimental facts can replace the previously adopted hypotheses and general relativity (GR) can evolve to perfection. In the absence of experimental facts during the pre-Century-long Experience of Relativity-related Experiments on Physics, Astronomy and Celestial-mechanics (CEREPAC) era, Einstein found no “escape” from the consequence of non-Euclidean geometry, while keeping all frames permissible based on contemporary knowledge. Bergmann also stated in 1968 that the “principle of general-covariance” has brought about serious complications in GR. During CEREPAC, relativists and mathematical-astronomers invariably identified the appropriate “nature's preferred-frame,” which was later found to be essential for the operation of conservation laws. Based on CEREPAC, replacing the experimentally unverifiable hypotheses with experimentally proven principles and improving upon the GR astronomer model (developed by JPL-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA, as an evolved-version of the GR conventional model) in two successive stages, GR was remodeled to what became evident as evolved general relativity (EGR), after it enabled the elimination of all earlier-adopted “ad-hoc” methods or approaches, and of the problems, paradoxes, and anomalies, associated with the applications of GR, during CEREPAC, and after it unraveled the “general-relativistic nature of speed-of-light (c)” which links the variable crwith F, the local gravitational red-shift-factor (as advocated by Einstein between 1911 and 1921). EGR enabled the first-time computation (over four astronomical-units) of c0(the lower-limit in nature, for cr) to be 299 792 458.3 m/s, which links crwith F. EGR predicted first-time, values of Δc, the “sought-after departure” of Space Time Asymmetry Research (STAR) mission (a US and Europe collaboration), having two baseline-objectives among those stated in National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science-Plan (2007‐2016): To test the validity of GR and detect Δcthat would have profound implications for cosmology, high-energy astrophysics, particle-astrophysics, and relativity [K.-X. Sun et al., in Astro 2010 White Paper for Technology Development for STAR mission(Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2010), Paper No. 94305-4088]. EGR enabled the computation of an order-of-magnitude more accurate value of 1983-adopted terrestrial c, to be 299 792 458.5 m/s, directly proven independently by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), USA, NPL (National Physical Laboratory), UK, and National Research Council of Canada, and the determined value is 299 792 458.6 ± 0.3 m/s. Five cases of Relativistic Geodesy at USA, France, and Japan verified the frequency shift due to the elevation difference between clocks in terrestrial Labs, providing direct experimental proof for EGR-computed (using relativistic-transformation factor) values:the most precise one in Japan, in the milliHz-domain and the largest shift in France, due to the elevation difference of about a km. Riehle stated in 2012 that optical transition in the 88Sr+clock at a precision of 10−17supersedes that of the existing cesium standard and could lead to adoption of a new frequency standard for defining Système International (SI) second. Likewise, Nicholson et al. [Nat. Commun. 6, 6896 (2015)], NIST, stated in 2015 the improved accuracy of the 87Sr clock at 2.1 × 10−18. Keeping the “time-keeper” role of the primary Cs clock unhindered, a methodology is being proposed here, to improve upon the decimal digits of νCs = 9 192 631 770.0000000(27) at its 2017 accuracy of 3 × 10−16since no constant-of-nature has so many consecutive zeroes. This methodology will make νCsand νSr(87&88)more accurate and compatible, leading to the accuracy improvement of SI second. Employing the newly adopted frequency standard (say 87Sr) for the fresh determination of terrestrial cr, will lead to 5 orders-of-magnitude improvement in accuracy of cand the SI meter.

We report a specially configured open optical microcavity, imposing a spatially imbalanced gain–loss profile, to host an exclusively proposed next-nearest-neighbor resonance coupling scheme. Adopting the scattering matrix (S-matrix) formalism, the effect of interplay between such proposed resonance interactions and the incorporated non-Hermiticity in the microcavity is analyzed drawing a special attention to the existence of hidden singularities, namely exceptional points (EPs), where at least two coupled resonances coalesce. We establish adiabatic flip-of-state phenomenon of the coupled resonances in the complex frequency plane (k-plane), which is essentially an outcome of the fact that the respective EP is being encircled in the system parameter plane. Encountering such multiple EPs, the robustness of flip-of-states phenomena has been analyzed via continuous tuning of coupling parameters along a special hidden singular line which connects all the EPs in the cavity. Such a numerically devised cavity, incorporating the exclusive next neighbor coupling scheme, has been designed for the first time to study the unconventional optical phenomena in the vicinity of EPs.

Between 1911 and 1921, Einstein stated on four instances regarding the “General relativistic nature of speed of light, c,” and in 1920 he categorically stated as one of the “Few Inferences from the general relativity (GRT)” that the special relativity (SRT) postulate of “constancy of c” is not valid according to GRT, as light rays could curve only when c varied with position, and that SRT cannot claim an unlimited domain of validity, since its results are valid only so long as it is possible to disregard the influences of gravitational fields on the phenomenon of light propagation. In short, Einstein indicated that the variable nature of cin GRT is intimately linked to the gravitational potential energy level at the corresponding location in space. Utilization of the numerical simulation methods enabled the authors to find that the variable speed of light cris intimately linked to gravitational potential energy level at any point in space, through c0, which is the minimum magnitude of cin nature, or, the lower limit of the coordinate speed of light, measurable at infinite distance from all gravitating bodies, as determined and reported in an earlier paper. This approach helped further to probe deeper into the Einsteinian concept of “General relativistic nature of c,” so as to find that the two sets of Shapiro Time delay measured very accurately during the Viking Relativity Experiment in 1976‐1977, for the closest approach of the radar signal from Sun's center, expressed as 3.5 and 5.9 times the solar radius, enabled the computation of (i) c0(ten-digit accuracy) over a vast tract of space (having the dimension of about 4 Astronomical units), and (ii) an order-of-magnitude more accurate value (computed up to the tenth significant digit, for the location of the 1983 experiment for determination of terrestrial c, conducted at NIST Lab, USA) of terrestrial c (than the corresponding 1983-adopted nine-digit magnitude), that is supported or justified by its (ten-digit) magnitude experimentally determined at NIST Lab, USA in 1983 (published in 1987). This paper presents to the international scientific community a proposal, based on the above-mentioned reason, that strongly suggests the need for (i) revision of the 1983 adopted magnitude of terrestrial c, and (ii) conducting low-cost experiments in terrestrial laboratories for fresh determination of c, utilizing the advanced present-age laser technology, as well as (iii) repetition of the Viking relativity experiment with dual-band round-trip measurements of time delay. The additional advantages may lead to at least another order-of-magnitude increase in the accuracy involving very little expenses, utilizing the advancement of technology that has emerged during last three decades. Thus, it appears that there is scope for making more than 2 orders-of-magnitude accuracy improvement in the magnitude of terrestrial c, and hence also of the length standard. Additionally, it may be mentioned that repetition of the above-mentioned two experiments following Einstein's dictum on long-continued experimental verifications of relativistic principles will lead to a deeper comprehension of the puzzling concept of the “General relativistic nature of c.”

Influenced by Einstein’s two dictums on incorporation of maximum of empirical facts with least of hypothesis, and on long-continued experimental verifications for perfecting his theory of relativity, the authors reviewed with special emphasis the “ad-hoc” or alternative methods or approaches that mathematical astronomers (working on celestial mechanics) and physicists continued to adopt in their respective fields while presenting their relativity-related experimental data or results, which makeup the “century-long experience of relativity-related experiments on physics, astronomy, and celestial mechanics” (CEREPAC). Faced with the limitations of the concept of “constancy of c” in different branches of physics, Professor Byer [Ke-Xun Sun et al, Astro 2010 White Paper for Technology Development, Stanford University], the developer of miniaturized space-qualified laser is leading the space time asymmetry research (STAR) mission, which aims to greatly advance the field of fundamental physics, and has two important Baseline Objectives among those stated in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Science Plan (2007‐2016): to test the validity of Einstein's General-Relativity-Theory (GRT) and to detect the “sought-after departure” Δc. A study of the annals of GRT, and Prof. Will's [Living Rev. Relativ. 17, 4 (2014)] observation from the annals of GRT reveal that GRT grew in isolation from celestial-mechanics and mathematical-astronomy, and also to some extent from mainstream physics during 1920‐1960. Subsequently, the mathematical-astronomers in Jet Propulsion Laboratory, applied the numerical simulation methods utilizing the high precision space-age ranging data to “n-body problem in Gravitation,” and developed an evolved or a more successful version, namely, GRT-astronomers model, while the older GRT-conventional model cannot perform numerical simulation of lunar and planetary orbits. To eliminate the principal downside of GRT-astronomers model, the authors incorporated relativistic-time for integration instead of nonrelativistic time, and avoided incorporating any hypothesis related to constancy of c, and the outcome was GRT-astronomers (modified) model. Subsequently, utilizing available clues from CEREPAC, further efforts by the authors led to the formulation of the remodeled relativity theory (RRT) by retaining and incorporating only experimentally proven principles. RRT determines the variable local or coordinate speed cr, which really is the local limiting speed in nature. RRT also enables the elimination of all sorts of ad-hocor alternative methods that got revealed from a review of CEREPAC, and helps to eliminate the problems and anomalies, associated with the century-long applications of GRT in astronomy, Celestial mechanics, and physics. Additionally, RRT has eliminated the black-hole-paradoxes of GRT and has shown that the higher redshifts of the compact celestial bodies (viz., in NGC 7603) provide observational evidences for RRT. As observational evidences provided first-level proofs for RRT, a low-cost “Direct” space experiment has been proposed in 2009 for verifying the RRT-predicted value of cr. Thus, evidently RRT has become an evolved version of GRT, and it made possible the first-time computation of the lower limit for crat 299 792 457.79 m/s, which is the minimum magnitude of c in nature, c0, as measurable at infinite distance from all gravitating bodies. Also, RRT has generated the equation for Δcof STAR mission and produced its values (that cannot be done using the first two models) along a vast tract of space for verification during the STAR and similar missions.

Diamond surface functionalization has received significant research interest recently. Specifically, H-termination has been widely adopted because it endows the diamond surface with negative electron affinity and the hole carrier is injected in the presence of surface transfer dopants. Exploring different functional groups’ attachment on diamond surfaces and their impact on the electronic structure, using wet and dry chemical approaches, would hence be of interest in engineering diamond as a semiconductor. Here, we report the functionalization of the H-terminated diamond surface with nitrogen and sulfur heteroatoms. Surface characterization of functionalized diamond surfaces shows that these groups are well-distributed and covalently bonded to diamonds. Four chemical functional groups (−SH, −S–S–, −S–O, and −S=O) were found on the sulfurized diamond surface, and two groups (−NH2and =NH) upon amination. We also report co-functionalization of surface with N and S (N–S), where sulfurization promotes sequential amination efficiency with reduced exposure time. Electrical measurement shows that heteroatom-modified diamond surfaces possess higher conductivity than H-terminated diamonds. Density functional theory (DFT) shows that upon functionalization with various N/S ratios, the conduction band minimum and valence band maximum downshift, which lowers the bandgap in comparison to an H-terminated diamond. These observations suggest the possibility of heteroatom functionalizations with enhanced surface electrical conductivity on the diamond that are useful for various electronic applications.

More than half a century before the advent of space age, overcoming the constraints of contemporary physics, Einstein formulated his Special Relativity Theory (SRT) by abandoning the prevalent ether theory, by replacing Newton's three absolutes (mass, time, and space) by a single absolute, the speed of light, c, and by introducing the radical concept of relativistic time; he laid particular emphasis on the importance of continued experimental verification of the theoretical principles of the theory of relativity. After almost a decade of successful results from SRT experiments, Einstein submitted his paper on General Relativity, and made a categorical statement (on the general relativistic nature of c) that the special relativity postulate of constancy of c is not valid under the influence of gravitational fields as the curvature of light rays can only take place when c varies with position. Influenced by Einstein's two dictums on incorporation of maximum of empirical facts, and on long-continued experimental verifications, for perfecting the relativity theory, the authors formulated the Remodeled Relativity Theory (RRT) based on the study of the century-long experience of relativity related experiments on Physics, Celestial mechanics, and Astronomy, and by retaining and incorporating only experimentally proven principles. An Einsteinian concept that a beam of light will bend in a gravitational field “exactly” as a material body would, if thrown horizontally with a velocity equal to c, was adopted in this remodeled theory; this leads to a rigorously determined (from numerical simulation) magnitude of c, which varies with position, increasing gradually at locations closer to the sun or massive celestial bodies, and which also conforms to the experimentally proven principle that higher energy level is the underlying cause for a stronger relativistic effect. At locations close to the compact emission line objects 2 and 3 in Seyfert Galaxy NGC 7603, the RRT-estimated value of c had already been reported in a previously published paper, to be, respectively, 1.243 and 1.391 times the value of the terrestrial c; the higher redshifts of these compact objects provide observational evidences for RRT. This shows that applying the value of terrestrial cas the limiting value of c (in disagreement with Einstein's categorical statement mentioned above) beyond the “sphere of influence” of Earth's gravitational field is leading and will lead to discrepancies or anomalies. For verification of the RRT-estimated value of c (at locations closer to the sun and beyond the “spheres of gravitational influence” of the earth and other planets), from a “direct” experiment, and for fulfilling a few other important objectives, the proposed low-cost space experiment needs to be conducted by sending a miniaturized space qualified 633 nm Iodine Stabilized Helium-Neon Laser device in a spacecraft, during any of the future Space missions to Venus, Mercury, or the sun. It is expected that NASA, ESA, ASI, ISRO, or any other Space research organization would now plan and conduct the proposed low-cost experiment, as it is possible now for even a small country by sending one microsatellite, using any other lending country's launching or launch-sharing facility.