Copper electrodes with a micromesh/nanomesh structure were fabricated on a polyimide substrate using UV lithography and wet etching to produce flexible transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs). Well-defined mesh electrodes were realized through the use of high-quality Cu thin films. The films were fabricated using radio-frequency (RF) sputtering with a single-crystal Cu target—a simple but innovative approach that overcame the low oxidation resistance of ordinary Cu. Hybrid Cu mesh electrodes were fabricated by adding a capping layer of either ZnO or Al-doped ZnO. The sheet resistance and the transmittance of the electrode with an Al-doped ZnO capping layer were 6.197 ohm/sq and 90.657%, respectively, and the figure of merit was 60.502 × 10–3/ohm, which remained relatively unchanged after thermal annealing at 200 °C and 1,000 cycles of bending. This fabrication technique enables the mass production of large-area flexible TCEs, and the stability and high performance of Cu mesh hybrid electrodes in harsh environments suggests they have strong potential for application in smart displays and solar cells.

Successful exergames should lead players not only to achieve enough level of energy expenditure but also to engage in the play itself. The aim of this study is to review studies that explored the psychological effects of playing exergames, from the viewpoint of player engagement. Peer-reviewed journal articles in English collected via database search (Science Direct, Web of Science, ACM Digital Library) from 2011 to 2015 were considered, and 45 experimental studies were selected out of 911 studies. The results show that a variety of psychological effects of engagement including enjoyment, immersion, and flow were measured in the exergame studies. In addition, physiological variables (e.g., energy expenditure), feedback modality (e.g., auditory and tactile), and play modes (e.g., solitary or group play mode) are related to psychological effects of playing exergames. Finally, salient methodological issues (e.g., validated measurement, sample size calculation) in the studies are identified and discussed.

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Purpose This study aims to test the role of branded content marketing on YouTube in brand building and explicates the mechanism through which brand content influences brand loyalty and purchase intentions. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a quantitative, Web-based, three-step randomized intervention design and recruits YouTube users through the Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 925). Findings Post-intervention results (n = 596) show that consumers’ repeated exposure to branded content facilitates their social learning processes. Consumers derive value from the relevant content and subsequently form more favorable brand attitudes, greater brand loyalty and heightened purchase intentions. Brand loyalty mediates the effect of perceived brand content value on purchase intentions. Practical implications This study’s findings support the advantages of investing in the creation and dissemination of valuable brand content through a brand’s own social media channel(s). While informative content and entertaining content can both drive brand loyalty, high product-involvement brands are advised to emphasize on informative content to precipitate brand–consumer attachment. Low product-involvement brands, on the other hand, are advised to feature more enticing and captivating content to stimulate consumer devotion. Originality/value This study reveals the positive impact of branded content marketing within social media on consumers’ brand attitudes, brand loyalty and purchase intentions. It also explicates the mechanism through which content marketing influences brand evaluation and purchase intentions by coordinating consumer learning and value derivation.

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PurposeThe aim of this study is to compare the gene expression profile in mesenchymal stem cells derived from dental tissues and bone marrow for characterization of dental stem cells.MethodsWe employed GeneChip analysis to the expression levels of approximately 32,321 kinds of transcripts in 5 samples of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) (n=1), periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) (n=2), and dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) (n=2). Each cell was sorted by a FACS Vantage Sorter using immunocytochemical staining of the early mesenchymal stem cell surface marker STRO-1 before the microarray analysis.ResultsWe identified 379 up-regulated and 133 down-regulated transcripts in BMSCs, 68 up-regulated and 64 down-regulated transcripts in PDLSCs, and 218 up-regulated and 231 down-regulated transcripts in DPSCs. In addition, anatomical structure development and anatomical structure morphogenesis gene ontology (GO) terms were over-represented in all three different mesenchymal stem cells and GO terms related to blood vessels, and neurons were over-represented only in DPSCs.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the genome-wide gene expression patterns of STRO-1+ mesenchymal stem cells derived from dental tissues and bone marrow. The differences among the expression profiles of BMSCs, PDLSCs, and DPSCs were shown, and 999 candidate genes were found to be definitely up- or down-regulated. In addition, GOstat analyses of regulated gene products provided over-represented GO classes. These data provide a first step for discovering molecules key to the characteristics of dental stem cells.

Using a single-crystal wire fabricated through the crystal growth process, the contribution of grain boundaries (GBs) to electrical resistivity was investigated in copper. We developed a novel wire fabrication process that preserved the grain-free structure of single-crystal copper (SCC) grown by the Czochralski method. The resistivity of grain-free SCC showed a reduction of 9% compared to the international annealed copper standard (IACS) resistivity, with the resulting value smaller than that of silver. We also found that the GBs strongly influenced the resistivity above 70 K, but hardly contributed below 70 K, unlike the impurities. Insights into the GB effects could contribute to our understanding of conducting phenomena and the development of nanoscale analytical models.

Copper (Cu) thin films have been widely used as electrodes and interconnection wires in integrated electronic circuits, and more recently as substrates for the synthesis of graphene. However, the ultra-high vacuum processes required for high-quality Cu film fabrication, such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), restricts mass production with low cost. In this work, we demonstrated high-quality Cu thin films using a single-crystal Cu target and radio-frequency (RF) sputtering technique; the resulting film quality was comparable to that produced using MBE, even under unfavorable conditions for pure Cu film growth. The Cu thin film was epitaxially grown on an Al2O3 (sapphire) (0001) substrate, and had high crystalline orientation along the (111) direction. Despite the 10−3 Pa vacuum conditions, the resulting thin film was oxygen free due to the high chemical stability of the sputtered specimen from a single-crystal target; moreover, the deposited film had >5× higher adhesion force than that produced using a polycrystalline target. This fabrication method enabled Cu films to be obtained using a simple, manufacturing-friendly process on a large-area substrate, making our findings relevant for industrial applications.