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PurposeBased on a multidimensional perspective of workplace spirituality, the authors examined a moderated mediation model, wherein workplace spirituality leads to life satisfaction through organizational commitment moderated by employees' religious affiliation.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from South Korean employees, and hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis.FindingsThree subdimensions of workplace spirituality – meaning at work, membership and inner life – were positively related to organizational commitment. In addition, organizational commitment mediated the relationships between the subdimensions and life satisfaction. Employees' religious affiliation moderated the relationship between the inner life and organizational commitment, which, in turn, also mediated the interactive effect on life satisfaction.Practical implicationsBased on the awareness of the importance of workplace spirituality, organizations need to endeavor to help employees find meaningfulness in their work, experience a climate of mutual understanding and feel a sense of trust and respect within organizations by providing opportunities or resources to fulfill their needs to spiritual self. In addition, organizations need to consider implementing policies to support employees to pursue their inner spirit not only within the workplace but also in the areas of personal life.Originality/valueThis study verifies the internal mechanisms behind the workplace spirituality – life satisfaction relationship and underlines how religious affiliation interacts with workplace spirituality to influence organizational commitment and life satisfaction.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationships between three dimensions – vision, hope/faith and altruistic love – of spiritual leadership and employees' creativity and to verify the mediating role of affective commitment in such relationships.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 462 South Korean employees in diverse industries through self-reported questionnaires, and hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis.FindingsThe authors found that vision, hope/faith and altruistic love were positively related to employees' creativity, while their affective commitment mediated such relationships. The authors also verified that the multidimensional structure of spiritual leadership was valid in the context of South Korea.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that leaders need to understand the importance of vision, hope/faith and altruistic love toward employees in formulating employees' affective commitment and stimulating creativity. Thus, organizations need to establish and operate leadership training programs for promoting leaders' behaviors that are based on spirituality.Originality/valueThis study contributes to broadening the variety of spiritual leadership's outcomes by providing an initial evidence of how spiritual leadership is associated with employees' creativity. Extending the verification of multidimensional structure of spiritual leadership so that it can be applied in South Korea has also been considered.

Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 ; commonly abbreviated as CZTS is a promising material for low cost thin film solar cells, because of its suitable band gap energy of around 1.5 eV and large absorption coefficient of over 10 4 cm −1 . All the constituents of this material are abundant in the earth’s crust, and they are not toxic making it a smarter choice. Since 1996, after the initial success of the CZTS based solar cell (with its light to electrical conversion efficiency of 0.6%), significant progress in this research area has been achieved, especially in the last five years. Now-a-days, the conversion efficiency of the CZTS thin film solar cell has improved to 12%. Over 600 papers on CZTS have been published since 2001, and the majority of these discuss the preparation of CZTS thin films by different methods. So far, many physical and chemical techniques have been employed for preparing CZTS thin films. Among them, the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a versatile deposition method. PLD is a simple, but multipurpose, experimental method that finds use as a means of modeling a very diverse range of materials, and in extensive areas of thin film deposition and multi-layer research. This technique is suitable for depositing high quality films with complex compositions because of its influencing properties such as harmonious transfer of species from the target to substrate, enrichment in crystallinity, clean deposition, and simplicity and flexibility in the engineering design. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of PLD, this manuscript, reviews the synthesis of CZTS semiconductor thin films fabricated by PLD. This review begins with a description of the PLD system, and then introduces the CZTS and preparation of the CZTS target for PLD deposition. A survey of pulsed laser deposited CZTS thin films and their solar cell performance is discussed in detail. Finally, we present perspectives for further developments of PLD for a CZTS based solar cell absorber layer.

High-energy electron-beam irradiation of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) films improved the short-range arrangement. The increase in band gap was used as an indication of such improvement. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the films treated with a DC voltage of 2–4.5 kV for duration of up to 35 min are in the amorphous state or nanocrystalline phase. Higher energy electron-beam irradiation led to increased conductivity, which mainly comes from the drastic increase in electron concentration. Electron-beam treatment could be a viable route to improve the contact resistance between the source/drain and channel layer in thin-film transistor devices.

Intramolecular excimer formation of bis(9-fluorenyl)methane (BFM) and 9-(9'-ethylfluorenyl)-9-fluorenylmethane (EFFM), in which an ethyl group is substituted to a 9-H atom in BFM, was studied by means of steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence. Ab initio and DFT calculations enabled the prediction of three conformers as stable species of orthogonal, trans-gauche, and gauche-gauche. The theoretical and experimental results reveal that the substitution effect is also found to appreciably influence the energies, spectroscopy, and kinetics associated with the interconversion of various conformers of the diaryl compounds. We have not observed the rising components in the excimer fluorescence decay of BFM and EFFM in PMMA as observed in the liquid solutions probably because of the existence of the sandwich conformer responsible for the excimer fluorescence prior to the laser irradiation.

This study examined and validated revised and new spiritual leadership models with higher-order factors in the Korean organizational context. Research on revised spiritual leadership models has not yet been conducted in the US context and no empirical research on new spiritual leadership models has occurred in South Korea. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results revealed that the revised spiritual leadership model had validity in the Korean organizational context. Inner life plays a foundational role having a positive relationship with three factors of spiritual leadership: vision, altruistic love, and hope/faith. Membership doubled the impact on team productivity and life satisfaction over calling/meaning. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) have been studied as novel bioimaging probes owing to the absence of autofluorescence and excellent photostability. For practical applications, biocompatible UCNPs with high upconversion efficiency, bright luminescence, and good colloidal stability are desirable. Herein, we report a quantitative and systematic study on the upconversion luminescence from a set of NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+-based nanoparticles by varying crystal structures, core/shell structures, and surface ligands. Upconversion luminescent properties in colloidal solution and at the single-particle level were examined. Hexagonal-phase core/shell UCNPs exhibited the most intense luminescence among various structures, while the excellent photostability was observed in all different types of UCNPs. To optimize the biomedical imaging capability of UCNPs, various surface coating strategies were tested. By quantitative spectroscopic measurements of surface-modified UCNPs in water, it was suggested that encapsulation with...

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational and task factors and the effectiveness of two types of informal learning: peer interaction and learning by doing via own task. The data examined were secondary data derived from the Human Capital Corporate Panel data in 2007, organized and collected by the Korea Research Institute of Vocational Education and Skill Training (KRIVET). A hierarchical multi-regression analysis was applied to data in this study. Study results supported the belief that top management leadership in human resource development (HRD) as well as open communications positively affected the effectiveness of informal learning. However, innovation culture did not have a statistically significant relationship with the effectiveness of informal learning. Further, this study showed that new task and task satisfaction positively influenced this effectiveness. Effectiveness increased when employees recognized that knowledge and skills obtained from current tasks...

We have found a separation of the photoluminescence band caused by a strong spin-orbit splitting of holes in a porous silicon quantum well. The porous silicon has a red-orange photoluminescence (480 ∼ 800 nm; λmax. about 600 nm) due to the quantum-confinement effect. In this research, the existence of sub-bands was newly confirmed by using the polarized excitation and photoluminescence spectroscopy. These sub-bands depended on the harmony of the rotation angle of the excitation and/or emission polarizers, respectively, and the degree of polarization was negative or positive values as a rotation angle of the excitation and emission polarizers. From these results, the quantumconfined band structure of the porous silicon is more concretely explained by using the spin-orbit splitting model. The photoluminescence band of the porous silicon was composed of an electronheavy hole and electron-light hole recombination, and its relaxation process is in good agreement with the electron transition selection rule. Namely, the polarization of the nanoporous material is caused by a strong spin-orbit splitting of the quantum-confined valence band.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based signal amplification and detection methods using plasmonic nanostructures have been widely investigated for imaging and sensing applications. However, SERS-based molecule detection strategies have not been practically useful because there is no straightforward method to synthesize and characterize highly sensitive SERS-active nanostructures with sufficiently high yield and efficiency, which results in an extremely low cross-section area in Raman sensing. Here, we report a high-yield synthetic method for SERS-active gold-silver core-shell nanodumbbells, where the gap between two nanoparticles and the Raman-dye position and environment can be engineered on the nanoscale. Atomic-force-microscope-correlated nano-Raman measurements of individual dumbbell structures demonstrate that Raman signals can be repeatedly detected from single-DNA-tethered nanodumbbells. These programmed nanostructure fabrication and single-DNA detection strategies open avenues for the high-yield synthesis of optically active smart nanoparticles and structurally reproducible nanostructure-based single-molecule detection and bioassays.

M M U N I Nonblinking and Nonbleaching Upconverting Nanoparticles as an Optical Imaging Nanoprobe and T1 Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agent C A T IO N By Yong Il Park, Jeong Hyun Kim, Kang Taek Lee, Ki-Seok Jeon, Hyon Bin Na, Jung Ho Yu, Hyung Min Kim, Nohyun Lee, Seung Hong Choi, Sung-Il Baik, Hyoungsu Kim, Seung Pyo Park, Beom-Jin Park, Young Woon Kim, Sung Ho Lee, Soo-Young Yoon, In Chan Song, Woo Kyung Moon, Yung Doug Suh,* and Taeghwan Hyeon*

The Raman and fluorescence spectroscopic properties of water-soluble oxo-titanium (IV) meso-tetrakis (1-methyl pyridium-4-yl) porphyrin (O Ti(TMPyP) 4+ ) bound with calf thymus DNA and artificial DNAs such as double stranded poly[d(A-T) 2 ] and poly[d(G-C) 2 ] have been investigated on the single DNA molecule basis by atomic force microscopy (AFM)-correlated confocal scanning microscope (CSM)-coupled Raman and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques as well as the ensemble-averaged spectroscopy. The ensemble-averaged spectroscopic studies imply that the porphyrin interacts with DNA in different groove binding patterns depending on the base pairs. AFM-images of the different DNAs bound with O Ti(TMPyP) 4+ were measured, and their morphologies are found to depend on kind of base pairs interacting with O Ti(TMPyP) 4+ . Being correlated with the AFM images, the CSM-coupled Raman and fluorescence spectral properties of the three different single O Ti(TMPyP) 4+ –DNA complexes were observed to be highly resolved and sensitive to base pair-dependent axial ligation of Ti–O bond as compared to the corresponding ensemble-averaged spectral properties, which affect the groove binding and its strength of the O Ti(TMPyP) 4+ with DNA. The axial ligation was found to be accompanied by vibration structural change of the porphyrin ring, leading to keep the shape of double stranded poly[d(A-T) 2 ] rigid while poly[d(G-C) 2 ] and calf thymus DNA flexible after binding with the oxo-titanyl porphyrin. The base pair dependence of the fluorescence decay times of the DNA-bound porphyrins was also observed, implying that an excited-state charge transfer takes place in the G-C rich major groove in calf thymus DNA. These results suggest that binding of O Ti(TMPyP) 4+ is more preferential with the G-C rich major groove than with the A-T rich minor groove in calf thymus DNA so that the morphology of DNA is changed.

Noncovalent approaches havebeen considered appropriate to softly modify the surfaceproperties of carbon nanotubes sufficient for chemical andbiological applications. However, the importance of thedevelopment of covalent bond-forming chemical reactionshas recently been refocused on, since the strategically drivencovalent bonds are known to promptly alter the electricalproperties of carbon nanotubes to secure a high population ofsemiconducting carbon nanotubes from mixtures.

Well-defined surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active systems were fabricated by single-crystalline noble metal nanowires. Crossed and parallel nanowire pairs were constructed by using a nanomanipulator to create SERS hot spots in the form of nanowire junction. SERS spectra of brilliant cresyl blue (BCB), p-mercaptoaniline (pMA), and p-mercaptobenzoic acid (pMBA) were observed at the junction of two nanowires. The SERS enhancement and polarization dependence are correlated well with the enhanced electric field intensities calculated by the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method for specific nanowire geometries. These simple and effective SERS active systems have a practical advantage that the hot spots can be readily located and visualized by an optical microscope. These well-defined SERS active systems based on noble metal nanowires can be further developed to find applications in a variety of biological and chemical sensing.

Photoluminescent (PL) p-type 6H porous silicon carbides (PSCs), which showed a strong blue-green photoluminescence band centered at approximately 490 nm, were annealed in Ar and vacuum conditions. The morphological, optical, and chemical states after annealing are reported on electrochemically etched SiC semiconductors. The thermal treatments in the Ar and vacuum environments showed different trends in the PL spectra of the PSC. In particular, in the case of annealing in a vacuum, the PL spectra showed both a weak red PL peak near 630 nm and a relatively intense PL peak at around 430 nm in the violet region. SEM images showed that the etched surface had spherical nanostructures, mesostructures, and islands. With increasing annealing temperature it changes all spherical nanostructures. The average pore size observed at the surface of the PSC before annealing was of the order of approximately 10 nm. In order to investigate the surface of a series of samples in detail, both the detection of a particular chemical species and the electronic environments at the surface are examined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The chemical states from each XPS spectrum depend differently before and after annealing the surface at various temperatures. From these results, the PL spectra could be attributed not only to the quantum size effects but also to the oxide state.

Blinking photoluminescence was observed in single TiO2 nanodiscs (NDs) by using a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM)-coupled steady-state and ps-time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic system, while it was not significantly observed for TiO2 quantum dots (QDs). Analysis of the PL blinking time trajectories revealed single-exponential kinetics with the average lifetimes of on-state (approximately 286 ms) and off-state (approximately 58 ms), implying the existence of inherent surface-trap sites which can be filled by photogenerated electron or hole. The PL spectra of single TiO2 NDs exhibited broad surface emissions with four decay times, which may be due to diffusion of the energies of electron or hole trap states related to surface structural changes by modification of TiO2 QDs. These results and the surface structural analysis (IR and XPS) suggests a simple model for the PL blinking of single TiO2 NDs that is based on repetitive interfacial electron transfer to the inherent surface trap sites (4Ti4+-OH) with Auger-assisted hole trapping in the multiple surface states as modified by the diffusive coordinate model and the surface-trap-filling model. Based on this blinking mechanism and kinetics, the rates of the interfacial electron transfer and the back electron transfer in TiO2 NDs were determined to be 18 ns and 58 ms, respectively, which are slow enough to keep the polarization of e-h pairs at the surface for efficient photocatalysis and photovoltaic activities. The present methodology and results may be applicable to obtain surface exciton dynamics of various photoelectronic semiconductor nanostructures.

We report the synthesis and characterization of Fe-FeOx core-shell nanowires by thermal conversion of the Fe nanowires from pulse electrodeposition in anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) nanotemplates under various conditions. Well-defined core-shell nanostructure of the Fe-FeOx nanowires was confirmed by TEM and corresponding elemental line scanning and point scanning. The type of the iron oxide in the shell was identified using nano-Raman spectroscopy, which exposes magnetite to be the major constituent. The magnetic measurements demonstrate that the nanowires are robustly soft magnetic, with the magnetization tunable by heat treatment parameters and a weak magnetic easy direction parallel to the nanowire axis.

In order to investigate the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process of dihydroxyanthraquinones (DHAQ; 1,5-DHAQ and 1,8-DHAQ) in organic-inorganic hybrid matrices, transparent SiO2, SiO2Al2O3, and Al2O3 matrices chemically bonded with DHAQ were prepared using a sol-gel technique. The absorption maxima of 1,5- and 1,8-DHAQ in SiO2 matrices are observed at around 420 nm, whereas those of DHAQ in both SiO2-Al2O3 and Al2O3 matrices are markedly shifted to longer wavelength compared with those in SiO2 matrix. This indicates that DAHQ forms a chemical bond with an Al atom of Al2O3. The DHAQ in SiO2 matrix shows a markedly Stokes-shifted emission which is originated from the ESIPT in DHAQ. Based on the emission lifetimes of DHAQ, the ESIPT of DHAQ was found to be strongly affected by the chemical interaction with Al atom in the Al2O3-related matrices.

A new class of nanostructures were fabricated by one-step hydrothermal reaction of a mixture solution of TiO2 anatase powder and a Sn-porphyrin, trans-dihydroxo[5,10,15,20-tetrakis(p-tolyl)porphyrinato]tin(IV) [SnTTP], and they were found to be well-crystalline trititanate (H2Ti3O7)-type multilayered nanofibers (TiNFs) intercalated by SnTTP which have lengths in the range of 0.5−1 μm with an average diameter of approximately 50 nm. Based on the femtosecond-diffuse reflectance transient absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopic measurements, the SnTTP-intercalated TiNFs were observed to exhibit efficient optoelectronic properties such as photoinduced electron transfer from deep surface states of trititanate layer to SnTTP, forming an anion radical SnTTP.•- rapidly in a few picoseconds. These results infer that electrons and holes are effectively separated in the SnTTP−TiNFs upon illumination, and consequently remarkable UV−visible light-sensitive photocatalytic activities as compared to those of free ...

Trititanate (H2Ti3O7) nanotubes were prepared by a non-hydrothermal digestion of TiO(OH)2 solution with 5 M NaOH, and their optical properties and exciton dynamics were studied by using steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Based on TEM, AFM and XRD measurements, the tubular structure was identified to be the same as that of trititanate crystalline multi-walled scroll nanotubes prepared hydrothermally, which has intershell d-spacing of 0.79 nm with inner diameters of 5 nm and the lengths of several tens of nanometers. The UV-absorption spectrum of trititanate nanotubes showed weak surface-state absorption at 425 nm as well as the absorption maximum band around 350 nm with onset energy 3.03 eV corresponding to the indirect band gap energy. The steady-state PL spectra of the trititanate nanotubes showed a band-edge emission band around 360 nm as well as a broad surface emission band originating from widely dispersed surface-state energy levels (2.84, 2.65, 2.41 2.21 2.03 eV), exhibiting higher relative intensity ratio of the band-edge emission to the surface emission as compared to that of TiO2 nanoparticles. These results with PL excitation spectra indicate that the density of the surface states was found to be higher in the nanotubes than in TiO2 nanoparticles. The PL decay profiles were measured by using the time correlated single photon counting system (TCSPC) adopting fs-TiSappire laser at 350 nm, and they were analyzed to fit a tri-exponential equation. The decay times depend on monitoring emission wavelength, and at least four different decay time components (~28 ps, ~70 ps, ~700 ps and ~4 ns) were resolved, implying the existence of charge-carriers trapping surface states with different energy levels. The two longer decay times are attributed to the deep-trap surface states of trititanate nanotubes, which are much longer than those of TiO2 nanoparticles. These results suggest that the nonradiative route to the surface excitons recombination is more dominant in trititanate nanotubes than in titania nanoparticles because of strong coupling of excitons wave functions with lattice phonons.

New spherical nanostructures of titania (TiO2) have been synthesized through formation of liposome−TiO2 nanocomposites by using egg lecithin lipid as a template, and their optical properties have been investigated with regard to the dynamics of surface charge carriers and photocatalytic activities by using UV−vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic techniques. On the basis of the measurements of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy, the spherical titania nanostructures are identified to be anatase crystalline nanodisks with an average diameter of 9 nm and height of 0.5 nm. The nanodisks have a large Brunauer−Emmett−Teller specific surface area of 227 m2/g. The FT-IR and X-ray photoemission spectra of the nanodisks confirm that the skeleton structure of the titania nanodisk is formed through H-bonding of the −Ti−O−Ti− network through tetrahedrally coordinated vacancies designated 4Ti4+−OH. Analysis of the UV−vis and PL spectra reveals that the band-gap energ...

The synthesized macrocycle L is the novel fluorescent receptor having the switching ability by the external stimuli as well as having the recognizing ability of various metal ions. In particular, this macrocycle L shows the possibility of the selectivity of metal ions even in the same charge ions of a different metal, and the values of association constant (M−1) of that for metal ions are consistent with the tendency of increasing charge number of metal ion. In addition, the values of quantum yield (ΦF) of metal complexes of macrocycle L were ranged from 0.021 to 0.111 enough to recognize the metal ions in macrocycle L. We know from the fluorescent pH titration of macrocycle L by acid/base that the change of fluorescence intersects at about pH=5.

Poly(1-dodecyl-2,5-pyrrylene vinylene) (PDPV) has an extended π-conjugated structure and exhibits characteristic spectroscopic features. The PDPV we prepared has an absorption maximum at 510 nm and its long absorption tail at ca. 750 nm in methylene chloride is due to the long π-conjugated system connected to vinyl group. The large red-shift of emission was 625 nm upon excitation at 480 nm, which suggests the existence of a low emissive state. The emission of PDPV in less-polar solvents decreased markedly relative to that in the more-polar solvents; this observation was ascribed possibly to quenching by a strong vibrational mode of the dodecyl groups of PDPV in less-polar solvents. Furthermore, the emission from the high-energy side had a single decay component (0.1 ns, 49.96%), while that from the low-energy side had two components (0.6 ns, 27.1%; 2.7 ns, 22.87%). We characterized the redox properties of PDPV by cyclic voltammetry. Every redox peak showed irreversible behavior; the oxidation peaks appeared at 1.7, 0.8, and 0.6 V and the reduction peak at −0.5 V.

We extensively study the relationships between single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SMSERS) intensity, enhancement factor (EF) distribution over many particles, interparticle distance, particle size/shape/composition and excitation laser wavelength using the single-particle AFM-correlated Raman measurement method and theoretical calculations. Two different single-DNA-tethered Au-Ag core-shell nanodumbbell (GSND) designs with an engineerable nanogap were used in this study: the GSND-I with various interparticle nanogaps from ∼4.8 nm to1 nm or with no gap and the GSND-II with the fixed interparticle gap size and varying particle size from a 23-30 nm pair to a 50-60 nm pair. From the GSND-I, we learned that synthesizing a1 nm gap is a key to obtain strong SMSERS signals with a narrow EF value distribution. Importantly, in the case of the GSND-I with1 nm interparticle gap, an EF value of as high as 5.9 × 10(13) (average value = 1.8 × 10(13)) was obtained and the EF values of analyzed particles were narrowly distributed between 1.9 × 10(12) and 5.9 × 10(13). In the case of the GSND-II probes, a combination of50 nm Au cores and 514.5 nm laser wavelength that matches well with Ag shell generated stronger SMSERS signals with a more narrow EF distribution than50 nm Au cores with 514.5 nm laser or the GSND-II structures with 632.8 nm laser. Our results show the usefulness and flexibility of these GSND structures in studying and obtaining SMSERS structures with a narrow distribution of high EF values and that the GSNDs with1 nm are promising SERS probes with highly sensitive and quantitative detection capability when optimally designed.

We report a simple but efficient method to synthesize carbon nanotube-bridged wires (NBWs) with gaps as small as 5 nm. In this method, we have combined a strategy for assembling carbon nanotubes (CNTs) inside anodized aluminum oxide pores and the on-wire lithography technique to fabricate CNT-bridged wires with gap sizes deliberately tailored over the 5–600 nm range. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of the utility of this architecture, we have prepared NBW-based chemical and biosensors which exhibit higher analyte sensitivity (lower limits of detection) than those based on planar CNT networks. This observation is attributed to a greater surface-to-volume ratio of CNTs in the NBWs than those in the planar CNT devices. Because of the ease of synthesis and high yield of NBWs, this technique may enable the further incorporation of CNT-based architectures into various nanoelectronic and sensor platforms.

A label-free, direct and noncompetitive homogeneous immunoassay, in which ochratoxin A (OTA) coupled with the anti-OTA antibody participates in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), was developed for the detection of OTA with great specificity and a detection limit of 1 ng mL(-1).

An ideal surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanostructure for sensing and imaging applications should induce a high signal enhancement, generate a reproducible and uniform response, and should be easy to synthesize. Many SERS-active nanostructures have been investigated, but they suffer from poor reproducibility of the SERS-active sites, and the wide distribution of their enhancement factor values results in an unquantifiable SERS signal. Here, we show that DNA on gold nanoparticles facilitates the formation of well-defined gold nanobridged nanogap particles (Au-NNP) that generate a highly stable and reproducible SERS signal. The uniform and hollow gap (∼1 nm) between the gold core and gold shell can be precisely loaded with a quantifiable amount of Raman dyes. SERS signals generated by Au-NNPs showed a linear dependence on probe concentration (R2 > 0.98) and were sensitive down to 10 fM concentrations. Single-particle nano-Raman mapping analysis revealed that >90% of Au-NNPs had enhancement factors greater than 1.0 × 108, which is sufficient for single-molecule detection, and the values were narrowly distributed between 1.0 × 108 and 5.0 × 109. Nanoparticles with a gold core and a gold shell separated by a hollow and uniform one-nanometre gap and nanobridges generate a highly stable and reproducible SERS signal.

Offshoring commonly refers to the movement of home-country jobs to another country – whether or not those jobs go to another company. Pennsylvanians who lose their jobs due to offshoring might need to obtain retraining to find new work at a comparable wage. Also, investments in training for entry into jobs that are susceptible to offshoring place social and individual returns to these investments in peril. Contained in this research report is an identification of Pennsylvania’s service-producing occupations that are susceptible to offshoring. Examined are the geospatial distribution and concentration of susceptible Pennsylvania service-producing occupations as well as the relationships of susceptibility to offshoring with education and training required and with occupational wages earned in these occupations. Among all 515 service-producing occupations listed in the Standard Occupational Classification System, 160 service-producing occupations were classified as offshorable by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in a 2008 study that appeared in Monthly Labor Review. Adopted for the current study was the Bureau’s scoring system for classifying the degree of susceptibility of these 160 occupations to offshoring. The jobs of one-quarter of all Pennsylvanians employed in service-producing occupations during 2009 were susceptible to offshoring. Pennsylvania workers were more likely to hold jobs with the highest risk for offshoring – and less likely to work in jobs with relatively low risk for offshoring – than workers in the entire United States employed in service-producing occupations. Pennsylvania workers with high wages in service-producing occupations held jobs that were less susceptible to offshoring than workers in low wage jobs in these occupations. Jobs in service-producing occupations requiring non-degree training and experience were more susceptible to offshoring than jobs in these occupations requiring associates or bachelors degrees. The numbers and concentrations of jobs susceptible to offshoring in service-producing occupations were dispersed widely among Pennsylvania counties.This report first was presented at the 2010 Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board Symposium in State College, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 2010.

Research addressed the relative impact of vocational versus academic education on employment status. Data from the National Longitudinal Study Youth 1997 (NLSY97) was the primary source of information. The group of black, Hispanic & other ethnicity is less likely to be employed rather than non-black, non-Hispanic group. A student whose curriculum included a combination of vocational and academic curricula had a greater chance of being employed than those that participated in an academic only curriculum. The group of black, Hispanic and other ethnicity within the special need student is less likely to be employed rather than the group of black, Hispanic & other ethnicity in total population. The possibility of employment for this group is weakened by virtue of having a special need.

This paper documents a study of an Au nano-dot array that was fabricated by electron beam lithography on a glass wafer. The patterns that had features of 100 nm dots in diameter with a 2-μm pitch comprised a total area of 200×200μm2. The dot-shaped Cr underlayer was open to the air after developing Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). When dipped into the Cr etchant, the exposed Cr layer was eliminated from the glass wafer in a short period of time. In order to ultimately fabricate the Ti/Au dot arrays, Ti and Au were deposited onto the arrays with a thickness of 2 and 40 nm, respectively. The lift-off procedure was carried out in the Cr etchant using sonication in order to completely remove the residual Cr/PMMA layer. The fabricated Au nano-dot array was then immersed in an Ag enhancing solution and then into an ethanol solution containing (N-(6-(Biotinamido)hexyl)-3′-(2′-pyridyldithio)-propionamide (Biotin–HPDP). The substrate was analyzed using a correlated atomic force microscopy (AFM) and confocal Raman spectroscopy. Through this procedure, position-dependent surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) signals could be obtained.

A novel fluorescent dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine (dppz) derivative, 7-(4-methoxybenzoylamino) dppz (1), was synthesized by amide connection to position 7 of the dppz ring. Its fluorescence quantum yield ( = 0.21 in dichloromethane) was as high as that of the conventional 7-amino-dppz (3), and its fluorescence lifetime was much shorter than that of 3.

We investigated the electric charge distribution in CuIn1-x GaxSe2 films, with particular emphasis on grain boundaries. Hall measurements, electron beam-induced current and optical beam-induced current measurements are commonly used for the characterization of solar cells, but they do not provide the resolution necessary for the investigation of individual grain boundaries. Therefore, we used an electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) capable of probing the electric charge distribution and the potential gradient of sample surface. EFM experiments were performed at 300 K with a Dimension trade 3100 scanning probe microscope (Digital Instruments). We suggest that grain boundaries should be electron-accumulated area and the inner grain area be the hole-accumulated area. The potential variations between the grain boundaries and inner grain area were estimated to be 60~180 meV

Department of Chemistry, Kongju National University, Kongju 314-701, KoreaReceived April 11, 2011, Accepted August 10, 2011Key Words : Metal ion sensing, Absorption, Emission, ComplexationFluorescent materials are attracting considerable interestfor their potential sensory, biomedical, medical, and photo-electronic applications.

the new naphthalic imide systems were synthesized systema-tically and their photophysical properties were studied. We found for the first time that the new imide systems showed a considerable emission regardless of having the electron with-drawing group in the imide systems. Herein, we report the emission results on the new naphthalic imide systems having electron donating group (X = CH

We presented a scalable fabrication method for the preparation of multilayered nano-prism vertex (NV)-tips whose dimensions can be controlled for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). The NV-tip had sharp vertices (diameter ~20 nm) originated from the chemical lift-off process after the angle-grinding process, enabling high resolution imaging. TERS measurements were performed on brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) molecules using a Ag/Au NV-tip, revealing the enhanced field localization at the vertices of the NV-tip. Furthermore, we could observe the polarization effect of the NV-tip. Our NV-tips should be a powerful tool for basic research on TERS experiments and SPM applications.

Ultra-long nanoparticle-chained polyaniline wires (NPWs) including one-dimensional (1D) Au nanoparticle (NP) chains were synthesized by a one-pot assembly process in water interfaced with a high-density aniline solution. The NPWs exhibited polarization-dependent surface-enhanced Raman scattering along the long axis, which was explained by the field enhancement effect by the embedded Au NP chains. Furthermore, the NPW-based devices exhibited a bistability in their electrical transport properties, which was attributed to charge trapping by the embedded Au NPs. This method allows us to mass-produce NPWs, which should have potential for various optoelectronic applications.