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Preparation of Polymer Nanocomposites: Key for Homogeneous Dispersion
Published in Toshikatsu Tanaka, Takahiro Imai, Advanced Nanodielectrics, 2017
Mikimasa Iwata, Yuki Honda, Takahiro Imai, Minoru Okashita
Fillers with layered structures are generally called “clay.” This “clay” is the same as the clay of “clay court” of tennis. Moreover, clay was used in the first nanocomposite in the world. Why is clay used in the fabrication of nanocomposites? Clay has a layered structure and contains metal ions between its layers. These ions can be exchanged for organic compounds that have an affinity to polymer. This property is essential for the fabrication of nanocomposites.
Clustering tennis players’ anthropometric and individual features helps to reveal performance fingerprints
Published in European Journal of Sport Science, 2019
Yixiong Cui, Miguel-Ángel Gómez, Bruno Gonçalves, Jaime Sampaio
Several studies highlighted the advantage of left-handed tennis players over their right-handed counterparts in competition, especially in elite male category (Breznik, 2013; Loffing et al., 2009, 2012). However, it was also suggested that their advantage is over-represented at elite level. There is a chance that in lower level tournaments like Challengers and Future tournaments this advantage persists. For higher-ranked players, the unfamiliarity with competing against left-handers is probably not the most serious issue. Therefore, the most obvious advantage of left-handers identified in this study resides in Roland Garros. In this clay court event, ball bounces and angles were higher for left-handed serves to the outside zone of the advantage court, which forced the returner to move a longer lateral distance and to hit the serve at a comparatively higher height (Gillet et al., 2009). This consequently helped left-handed players establish the advantage at the initial of points. Furthermore, when returning, the high friction of court diminished the prominence of right-handed serve speed, giving LT players more time to react and prepare for a good return, particularly on advantage court, which is their favourite side of the court (Loffing et al., 2009).