In this paper, a simple method is described for visually demonstrating that the wavelength of light reduces when entering a medium of higher refractive index. When a violet laser (405 nm) is ...reflected off the surface of a Blu-ray disc (track spacing 320 nm) diffraction cannot occur since the wavelength is greater than the track spacing. However, in water (refractive index 1.33) the wavelength of violet light reduces to 304.5 nm and therefore first-order diffraction can occur when a violet laser is reflected off a Blu-ray disc submerged in water. A violet laser was reflected off a DVD in air, and one diffraction order was seen, but two orders were observed when the disc was immersed in water. Red, green, and violet lasers were reflected off CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs and the number of observed diffraction orders compared with theory. When a violet laser was reflected off a CD in air, three diffraction orders were seen, however five orders were observed in water. The use of tonic water in the experiments enabled the diffraction orders to be seen more easily because violet light causes the quinine in tonic water to fluoresce.
Few directors have had their work as incessantly packaged and repackaged on home video as Stanley Kubrick, whose oeuvre seems to get a new box set re-release every few. Critical analyses of the DVD ...format have overwhelmingly argued that film’s remediation onto home video has a profound impact on acts of spectatorship and interpretation, not least because of added paratextual content like commentaries, making-of docs, etc. As Brookey and Westerfelhaus establish, such paratexts don’t merely encourage preferred readings but can also discourage others. Extending this line of thinking, Grant has argued that DVDs function as “auteur machines” (borrowing the term from Klinger) insofar as they emphasize directorial intentionality as the central aspect of the DVD’s commodity, connoisseur, and cinephilic value. Even with physical media sales on the wane in favour of streaming services, cinephiles and collectors continue to prioritize ownership and quality over bang-for-buck, as they have since the era of laserdiscs. In this context, it makes sense that The Criterion Collection – a company that has always courted a collector- and cinephile-centric market with their curated selection, high quality presentations, and academic supplemental features – would continue to thrive. Almost half of Kubrick’s features have received “the Criterion treatment” (either on laserdisc or DVD/Blu-ray), buttressing these films’ canonical status. This article analyses the discursive choices made in two of Criterion’s Kubrick discs (Paths of Glory and Dr. Strangelove) in order to determine how Kubrick’s authorship is framed paratextually. While DVDs typically fuel the “auteur machine” in ways consistent with Hollywood’s interest in commodifying and branding key filmmakers, Criterion positions Kubrick as a more ambivalent and historically-specific figure in terms of authorship. Rather than eliminating contradictions and ambiguities in service of constructing or reinforcing Kubrick’s status as auteur, Criterion emphasizes moments of uncertainty and interpretive difficulty, encourageing viewers to think for themselves instead of deferring to the authority of the author.
Commercial HD DVDs provide a characteristic structure of encoding pits which were utilized to fabricate cost efficiently large area SERS substrates for chemical analysis. The study targets the ...simulation of the plasmonic structure of the substrates and presents an easily accessible fabrication process to obtain highly sensitive SERS active substrates. The theoretical simulation predicted the formation of supermodes under optimized illumination conditions, which were verified experimentally. First tests of the developed SERS substrates demonstrated their excellent potential for detecting vitamin A and pro-vitamin A at low concentration levels.
•Simple and cost effective electrophoretic method to fabricate plasmonic substrates.•SERS performance at three different excitation laser lines.•Promising applicability in SERS based biosensing.
In ...this work we present a simple, rapid and cost effective method to fabricate highly active SERS substrates. This method consists in an electrophoretic deposition of gold nanoparticles on a metallic nanostructured template of a commercial digital versatile disk (DVD). The negatively charged gold nanoparticles self-assemble on the positively charged DVD metallic film connected to a positive terminal of a battery, due to the influence of the electric field. When gold nanoparticles self-assembled on DVD metallic film, a 10-fold additional enhancement of Raman signal was observed when compared with the case of GNPs self-assembled on a polycarbonate DVD substrate only. Finite-difference time-domain simulations demonstrated that the additional electromagnetic field arising in the hot-spots created between gold nanoparticles and DVD metallic film induces an additional enhancement of the Raman signal. SERS efficiency of the fabricated plasmonic substrate was successfully demonstrated through detection of para-aminothiophenol molecule with three different excitation laser lines (532, 633 and 785nm). The enhancement factor was calculated to be 106 and indicates that plasmonic substrates fabricated through this method could be a promising platform for future SERS based sensors.
The accurate and precise transport of the small amounts of the liquid by the syringe pump is widely used in many fields. In this paper, an Arduino-based syringe pump is fabricated using the computer ...DVD (digital versatile disc) drive. For the fabrication of the syringe pump, low-cost electronic components such as an Arduino microcontroller, a stepper motor, a stepper motor driver, and a display are used. The tray-loading mechanism of the computer DVD drive (close/open mechanism of the tray for inserting/removing DVD) was used for the injection process. To provide the necessary force for the precise and accurate movement of the plunger of the syringe, we replaced the DC motor of the computer DVD drive with the stepper motor and the stepper motor driver. An Arduino code was developed to control the infusion process. Depending on the syringe dimension (inner diameter and barrel length), the stepper motor (angular resolution), and the motor driver (microstepping mode), the code can be modified by using the Arduino software. The syringe pump infuses the water in the flow rates from 0.005 (mL/min) to 1 (mL/min) with a maximum of 10 μL difference between the mean measured volume and the infused volume. The fabricated syringe pump does not require the complex mechanical components that are used in conventional syringe pumps. The project provides instructions for building and testing a syringe pump and enables the students to fabricate a low-cost, open-source syringe pump using the recycled parts of the computer DVD drive for less than $30. As a result, the students will increase their hardware and software skills by completing the project.
In this work, we reported an effective method for the synthesis of a multirecognition magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP) with atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), using ...2,4-diamino-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazine as pseudo-template. The resulting MMIP was characterized in detail by Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetic analysis (TGA), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). These results indicated the successful synthesis of MMIP with sufficient thermal stability and magnetic properties. The adsorption experiments were carried out to evaluate the specific selectivity of MMIP related to the spatial structure of target molecules. The MMIP exhibited multirecognition ability and excellent binding capability for melamine (MEL), cyromazine (CYR), triamterene (TAT), diaveridine (DVD), and trimethoprim (TME), and the apparent maximum number of binding sites (
Q
max
) was 77.5, 75.2, 72.5, 69.9, and 70.4 μmol g
−1
, respectively. The multirecognition MMIP not only possessed adequate magnetic responsiveness for fast separation but also avoided the risk of template leakage on trace component analysis. Therefore, it was suitable for serving as a magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) adsorbent. MSPE coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography analysis was applied to enrich and separate five target molecules from three samples. Recoveries for all target molecules ranged from 81.6 to 91.5% with relative standard deviations of no more than 4.1% (
n
= 3).
Graphical abstract
Multirecognition property of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer prepared with pseudo template
Purpose
Given the high uncertainty in the quality perception of experiential products, manufacturers use signals to influence consumers’ decisions. In the movie industry, literature shows that ...performance of the main channel (e.g. cinema) strongly influences the performance of auxiliary channels (e.g. DVDs). The success of a movie in the home country is also to be resonated by its good performance in host countries. However, the cultural contingency of these success-breeds-success (SBS) effects has not been examined. This paper aims to test the influence of cultural values on the SBS effects across channels and countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Borrowing concepts from the signaling literature and analyzing DVD sales data from six international markets using a multilevel mixed-effects model, the study finds that culture plays a significant role to influence both SBS effects.
Findings
In countries with low power distance, short-term orientation and high indulgence, consumers who purchase from auxiliary channels are more likely to be influenced by the box office performance of movies. Meanwhile, cultural distance between the home and host nations significantly decreases the cross-national SBS effect.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are likely to be generalized to online auxiliary channels of movies, but empirical testing is required to ensure that no major adaptation is required in the process. Future research can also extend the framework of this paper to include more countries into the analysis and investigate cultural variables beyond Hofstede’s dimensions.
Practical implications
This paper suggests that the SBS effects may vary across nations. When managers plan for the sequential distributions of experiential products, the cultural values of target markets should be considered to decrease the uncertainty in sales prediction.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating the international auxiliary channels of movies and incorporating cultural values into the framework of sequential distributions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to test the links between the main and auxiliary channels from an international marketing perspective.
Digital distribution channels raise many new challenges for managers in the media industry. This is particularly true for movie studios where high-value content can be stolen and released through ...illegitimate digital channels, even prior to the release of the movie in legal channels. In response to this potential threat, movie studios have spent millions of dollars to protect their content from unauthorized distribution throughout the lifecycle of films. They have focused their efforts on the pre-release period under the assumption that pre-release piracy could be particularly harmful for a movie’s success.
However, surprisingly, there has been little rigorous research to analyze whether, and how much, pre-release movie piracy diminishes legitimate sales. In this paper, we analyze this question using data collected from a unique Internet file-sharing site. We find that, on average, pre-release piracy causes a 19.1% decrease in revenue compared to piracy that occurs post-release.
Our study contributes to the growing literature on piracy and digital media consumption by presenting evidence of the impact of Internet-based movie piracy on sales and by analyzing pre-release piracy, a setting that is distinct from much of the existing literature.
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