With the introduction of virtual reality (VR) devices for private consumers in 2013, the industry experience great attention and notable progresses have been made in relation to hardware components (Papagiannidis et al. 2013). This enables better experiences of virtual environments and reduces the awareness of the consumer to be exposed to virtual stimuli, so that the virtual environment is perceived as (almost) real – the so-called immersion effect (Grau 2003). Even though VR is already in place, little research in service marketing literature exists about it (Bigné, Llinares, and Torrecilla 2016), so that this technique represents one of the most important topics to investigate from service perspective (Kannan and Li 2017). We assume that the immersion-effect might influence the perception of the service encounter and thus influence consumer evaluation in a new way. Thereby, we contribute to service marketing literature by exploring the value and barriers for VR usage in so-called virtually-extended service encounters from a customer perspective. Thereby, we further examine for which kind of services VR is useful, how consumer perceive VR technology in service environments and how the extension of the traditional service encounter by VR technology influences consumers’ service quality evaluations. VR represents a promising technology to promote high-involvement products or services like travel, furniture, or cars. Companies offering these kind of products and services can provide simple devices to customers, who can experience the product in a realistic setting upfront their purchase decisions. Especially novelty and innovation characteristics of VR-technology may have positive spillover effects on company brand, the product as well as the final purchase decision. To proceed with this research, we plan lab experiments with well-developed VR-devices.

Cobalt was electrodeposited onto chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene/Si/SiO2 substrates, during different time intervals, using an electrolyte solution containing a low concentration of cobalt sulfate. The intention was to investigate the details of the deposition process (and the dissolution process) and the resulting magnetic properties of the Co deposits on graphene. During and after electrodeposition, in-situ magnetic measurements were performed using an (AGFM). These were followed by ex situ morphological analysis of the samples with ΔtDEP 30 and 100 s by atomic force microscopy in the non-contact mode on pristine CVD graphene/SiO2/Si. We demonstrate that it is possible to electrodeposit Co onto graphene, and that in-situ magnetic measurements can also help in understanding details of the deposition process itself. The results show that the Co deposits are ferromagnetic with decreasing coercivity (HC) and demonstrate increasing magnetization on saturation (MSAT) and electric signal proportional to remanence (Mr), as a function of the amount of the electrodeposited Co. It was also found that, after the end of the dissolution process, a certain amount of cobalt remains on the graphene in oxide form (this was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), as suggested by the magnetic measurements. This oxide tends to exhibit a limited asymptotic amount when cycling through the deposition/dissolution process for increasing deposition times, possibly indicating that the oxidation process is similar to the graphene surface chemistry.

Polarbear is a ground-based experiment located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. The experiment is designed to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background B-mode polarization at several arcminute resolution. The CMB B-mode polarization on degree angular scales is a unique signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic in ation and B-mode signal on sub-degree scales is induced by the gravitational lensing from large-scale structure. Science observations began in early 2012 with an array of 1,274 polarization sensitive antenna-couple Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers at 150 GHz. We published the first CMB-only measurement of the B-mode polarization on sub-degree scales induced by gravitational lensing in December 2013 followed by the first measurement of the B-mode power spectrum on those scales in March 2014. In this proceedings, we review the physics of CMB B-modes and then describe the Polarbear experiment, observations, and recent results.

We identify a strong lensing galaxy in the cluster IRC 0218 that is spectroscopically confirmed to be at z = 1:62, making it the highest-redshift strong lens galaxy known. The lens is one of the two brightest cluster galaxies and lenses a background source galaxy into an arc and a counterimage. With Hubble Space Telescope (HST) grism and Keck/LRIS spectroscopy, we measure the source redshift to be zS = 2:26. Using HST imaging, we model the lens mass distribution with an elliptical power-law prole and account for the effects of the cluster halo and nearby galaxies. The Einstein radius is θE = 0.38+0.02-0.01" (3.2+0.2 -0.1 kpc) and the total enclosed mass is Mtot(< θE) = 1.8+0.2 -0.1 X 1011 M⊙. We estimate that the cluster environment contributes ~ 10% of this total mass. Assuming a Chabrier IMF, the dark matter fraction within θE is fChab DM = 0.3+0.1 -0.3, while a Salpeter IMF is marginally inconsistent with the enclosed mass (fSalp DM = -0.3+0.2 -0.5).

Activated carbon was prepared from pre-carbonized petroleum coke. Textural properties were determined from studies of the adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K and the surface chemistry was obtained using the Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer technique and the Boehm titration process. The adsorption of three aromatic compounds, namely phenol (P), p-nitrophenol (PNP) and benzoic acid (BA) onto APC in aqueous solution was studied in a batch system with respect to contact time, pH, initial concentration of solutes and temperature. Active carbon APC obtained was found to possess a high surface area and a predominantly microporous structure; it also had an acidic surface character. The experimental data fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model well; also, the intraparticle diffusion was the only controlling process in determining the adsorption of the three pollutants investigated. The adsorption data fit well with the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The uptake of the three pollutants was found to be strongly dependent on the pH value and the temperature of the solution. Most of the experiments were conducted at pH 7; the pH(PZC) of the active carbon under study was 5.0; the surface of the active carbon was negatively charged. The thermodynamic parameters evaluated for APC revealed that the adsorption of P was spontaneous and exothermic in nature, while PNP and BA showed no-spontaneity of the adsorption process and that process was endothermic in nature.

The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, acts as a vector of more than 100 plant viruses. B. tabaci is known to harbor a primary endosymbiont (Portiera) and 6 secondary endosymbionts (Arsenophonus, Cardinium, Fritschea, Hamiltonella, Rickettsia and Wolbachia). These endosymbionts play important roles in the acquisition and transmission of plant viruses. Using PCR analysis, we identified endosymbiotic bacteria in various B. tabaci populations collected from different places of Korea. Distribution of endosymbionts was different according to the biotype of B. tabaci. Subsequently, their relative densities of endosymbionts were compared between TYLCV-viruliferous and non-viruliferous populations of the Q biotype using quantitative realtime PCR. We found that the densities of Portiera, Cardinium and Hamiltonella are higher in viruliferous than non-viruliferous whiteflies. Our results suggest the role of endosymbiont for the TYLCV transmission of whiteflies.

Potassium hydroxide activated carbons were prepared from Egyptian petroleum cokes with different KOH/coke ratios and at different activation temperatures and times. The textural properties were determined by adsorption of nitrogen at -196℃. The adsorption of iodine and methylene blue was also investigated at 30℃. The surface area and the non-micropore volume increased whereas the micropore volume decreased with the increase of the ratio KOH/coke. Also the surface area and porosity increased with the rise of activation temperature from 500 to 800℃. Textural parameter considerably increased with the increase of activation time from 1 to 3 h. Further increasing of activation time from 3 to 4 h was associated with a less pronounced increase in textural parameters. The adsorption of iodine shows the same trend of surface area and porosity change exhibited by nitrogen adsorption, with KOH/coke ratio and temperature of activation. Adsorption of methylene blue follows pseudo-first-order kinetics and its equilibrium adsorption follows Langmuir and D-R models.

This paper presents a study of large grains by transmission electron microscopy in two WC-Co alloys, one W rich and one C rich. In the W rich alloy, some large grains are found in contact with the phase. The C content influences the morphology of large grains: they are flatter in the C rich alloy with smoother interfaces. Whatever the C content, they contain few dislocations compared to matrix grains except often in a small area. Small WC grains are often found inside the large grains. They have likely been engulfed during the growth of the large grains owing to the low boundary energy.

The horizontal high energy rotor ball mill () is used to break and activate dry solids. It is used for dry-milling and in the vertical mount for wet-milling in leaching processes. Technical electric arc furnace (EAF) dust with high contents of zinc oxide, zinc ferrite and magnetite is efficiently separated by ambient temperature leaching. The process shows promise for industrial application