Effects of Plantar Flexor Stretching on Static and Dynamic Balance in Healthy Adults.

Stretching can affect balance ability by generating biomechanical and physiological changes in the postural muscles. Stretching of the lower extremity muscles can greatly affect posture maintenance strategies and balance ability. However, the relationship between stretching and balance ability has not been clarified. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of plantar flexor stretching on balance ability. Forty-four healthy young adults were randomly assigned to four groups (static stretching, dynamic stretching, ballistic stretching, and control). Ankle joint range of motion, static balance ability, and dynamic balance ability were evaluated before, immediately after, and 20 min after stretching. Stretching did not affect balance ability in the open-eye condition. After stretching, the sway area was significantly reduced in the closed-eye condition (p < 0.05). After stretching, the reach distance of dynamic balance ability increased significantly (p < 0.05). The results show that plantar flexor stretching can positively affect balance ability. Therefore, plantar flexor stretching should be considered a rehabilitation method to improve balance.

A visible-light phototransistor based on the heterostructure of ZnO and TiO2 with trap-assisted photocurrent generation.

Visible-light phototransistors have been fabricated based on the heterojunction of zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium oxide (TiO2). A thin layer of TiO2 was deposited onto the spin-coated ZnO film via atomic layer deposition (ALD). The electrical characteristics of the TiO2 layer were optimized by controlling the purge time of titanium isopropoxide (TTIP). The optimized TiO2 layer could absorb the visible-light from the sub-gap states near the conduction band of TiO2, which was confirmed via photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Therefore, the heterostructure of TiO2/ZnO can absorb and generate photocurrent under visible light illumination. The oxygen-related-states were investigated via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the interfacial band structure between TiO2 and ZnO was evaluated via ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). Oxygen-related states and subgap-states were observed, which could be used to generate photocurrent by absorbing visible light, even with TiO2 and ZnO having a wide bandgap. The optimized TiO2/ZnO visible-light phototransistor showed a photoresponsivity of 99.3 A W-1 and photosensitivity of 1.5 × 105 under the illumination of 520 nm wavelength light. This study provides a useful way to fabricate a visible-light phototransistor based on the heterostructure of wide bandgap oxide semiconductors.

Chemistry of ruthenium as an electrode for metal-insulator-metal capacitor application.

Notwithstanding its excellent properties such as high work function and low resistance, Ru has not been widely applied in the preparation of electrodes for various electronic devices. This is because of the occurrence of severe morphological degradation in the actual devices employing Ru. Herein, we investigated Ru chemistry for electrode application and the degradation mechanism of Ru during subsequent processes such as thin film deposition or thermal annealing. We revealed that subsurface oxygen induces Ru degradation owing to the alteration of Ru chemistry by the pretreatment under various gas ambient conditions and due to the growth behavior of TiO2 deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD). The degradation of Ru is successfully ameliorated by conducting an appropriate pretreatment prior to ALD. The TiO2 thin film deposited on the pretreated Ru electrode exhibited a rutile-phased crystal structure and smooth surface morphology, thereby resulting in excellent electrical properties. This paper presents an important development in the application of Ru as the electrode that can facilitate the development of various next-generation electronic devices.