Oviposition Preference and Performance of a Specialist Herbivore Is Modulated by Natural Enemies,Larval Odors,and Immune Status

Journal of Chemical Ecology - Insect herbivores frequently must balance host plant quality and the risk of attack by their natural enemies when making oviposition decisions. Yet, which factor is...     

Deep neural network and 3D model for face recognition with multiple disturbing environments

This paper presents the proposed bird search-based shuffled shepherd optimization algorithm (BSSSO) for face recognition. Initially, the input image undergoes a noise removal phase to eliminate noise in order to make them suitable for subsequent processing. The noise removal is performed using the type II fuzzy system and cuckoo search optimization algorithm (T2FCS), which detects noisy pixels from the image for improved processing. After the noise removal phase, the feature extraction is carried out using the convolution neural network (CNN) model and landmark enabled 3D morphable model (L3DMM). The obtained features are subjected to deep CNN for face recognition. The training of deep CNN is performed using the bird search-based shuffled shepherd optimization algorithm (BSSSO). Here, the proposed BSSSO is designed by combining the shuffled shepherd optimization algorithm (SSOA) and bird swarm algorithm (BSA) for inheriting the merits of both optimizations towards effective training of deep CNN. The proposed method obtained higher accuracy of 0.8935 and minimum FAR and FRR of 0.2190 and 0.2021 using LFW database with respect to training data.

     

Composite Si/PS membrane pressure sensors with micro and macro-porous silicon

Porous Silicon (PS) is a versatile material with many unique features making it viable in the field of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS). In this paper, we discuss the optimization of formation parameters of micro and macro PS with different porosity and thickness for use in pressure sensors. The optimized material is used in the fabrication of composite Si/PS membranes in piezo-resistive pressure sensors and tested. Pressure sensors with composite membranes have higher sensitivity than those with single crystalline silicon membrane with the sensitivity increasing as the porosity increases. For the same porosity and thickness of the PS layer, Si/micro PS membranes exhibit higher sensitivity than Si/macro PS ones. The offset voltage in these sensors is found to be high and can be due to the stress induced in the membrane during PS formation. Offset voltage and stress values are found to be higher in composite membranes with micro PS as compared to macro PS.     

Modes in optical waveguides formed by silver-sodium ion exchange

Exact solutions of the scalar wave equation for the guided modes of planar optical waveguides formed by silver-sodium ion exchange have been obtained. It has been shown that there is good agreement between the exact solution and the solution obtained by using the Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin (WKB) approximation.     

Effect of doping concentration on the grain boundary trap density and threshold voltage of polycrystalline SOI MOSFETs

PolySOI MOSFETs have been fabricated on undoped and doped polycrystalline silicon films and characterized to study the effect of doping on grain boundary passivation. The grain boundary trap density (N_ST) and threshold voltages have been extracted experimentally to evaluate the extent of grain boundary passivation by the dopants. Charge sheet model based on the effective doping concentration has been employed to analytically estimate the threshold voltages using the experimentally determined grain boundary trap density and grain size (L_g) as model parameters. The variation of threshold voltages with increasing doping concentration for the range of N_A ? (N_ST/L_g) has been studied both by simulation and experiments and the results are presented. Analytically estimated threshold voltages and experimental results show that the threshold voltage falls with increase in the dopant concentration and that this effect is indeed due to the reduction in N_ST as a result of the grain boundary passivation by the dopants.     

Miniaturization of EISCAP sensor for triglyceride detection

In this paper we discuss the fabrication and characterization of miniaturized triglyceride biosensors on crystalline silicon and porous silicon (PS) substrates. The sensors are miniaturized Electrolyte Insulator Semiconductor Capacitors (mini-EISCAPs), which primarily sense the pH variation of the electrolyte used. The lipase enzyme, which catalyses the hydrolysis of triglycerides, was immobilized on the sensor surface. Triglyceride solutions introduced into the enzyme immobilized sensor produced butyric acid which causes the change in pH of the electrolyte. Miniaturized EISCAP sensors were fabricated using bulk micromachining technique and have silicon nitride as the pH sensitive dielectric layer. The sensors are cubical pits of dimensions 1,500 microm x 1,500 microm x 100 microm which can hold an electrolyte volume of 0.1 microl. The pH changes in the solution can be sensed through the EISCAP sensors by monitoring the flatband voltage shift in the Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) characteristics taken during the course of the reaction. The reaction rate is found to be quite high in the miniature cells when compared to the sensors of bigger dimensions.     

Miniaturization of EISCAP sensor for triglyceride detection

Designing a three-dimensional (3-D) ideal scaffold has been one of the main goals in biomaterials and tissue engineering, and various mechanical techniques have been applied to fabricate biomedical scaffolds used for soft and hard tissue regeneration. Scaffolds should be biodegradable and biocompatible, provide temporary support for cell growth to allow cell adhesion, and consist of a defined structure that can be formed into customized shapes by a computer-aided design system. This versatility in preparing scaffolds gives us the opportunity to use rapid prototyping devices to fabricate polymeric scaffolds. In this study, we fabricated polycaprolactone scaffolds with interconnecting pores using a 3-D melt plotting system and compared the plotted scaffolds to those made by salt leaching. Scanning electron microscopy, a laser scanning microscope, micro-computed tomography, and dynamic mechanical analysis were used to characterize the geometry and mechanical properties of the resulting scaffolds and morphology of attached cells. The plotted scaffolds had the obvious advantage that their mechanical properties could be easily manipulated by adjusting the scaffold geometry. In addition, the plotted scaffolds provided more opportunity for cells to expand between the strands of the scaffold compared to the salt-leached scaffold.     

Studies on Gold/Porous Silicon/Crystalline Silicon Junctions

Electrical transport in Gold/porous silicon/crystalline silicon junctions has been studied. The junctions are found to improve when the porous silicon is exposed to a hydrogen plasma before depositing the top metal. The hydrogen passivated junctions exhibited higher current levels and emitted light at lower voltages as compared to the unhydrogenated ones. Internal photoemission measurements were carried out to investigate the gold/porous silicon barrier. The barrier height determined from the Fowler plot is independent of the top material. The temperature dependence of the barrier height is similar to that of the crystalline silicon energy gap.