Cryogenic Exfoliation of 2D Stanene Nanosheets for Cancer Theranostics

Stanene(Sn)-based materials have been extensively applied in industrial production and daily life,but their potential biomedi-cal application remains largely un...     

A Low-Power Fullband 802.11a/b/g WLAN Transceiver With On-Chip PA

A low-power fullband 802.11a/b/g WLAN transceiver in 0.15-mum CMOS technology is described. The zero-IF transceiver achieves a receiver noise figure of 4.4/4 dB for the 2.4-GHz/5-GHz bands, respectively. The corresponding sensitivity at 54-Mb/s operation is -72 dBm for 802.11g and -74 dBm for 802.11a using actual PER measurement. An on-chip PA delivers 20 dBm output P1-dB. A new I/Q compensation scheme is implemented in local oscillator (LO) and an image rejection of better than 52 dB is observed. The transmitter delivers 10/1.5 dBm (2.4-/5-GHz) EVM-compliant output power for a 64-QAM OFDM signal at 54-Mb/s. The power consumption is 117/135 mW (1.8-V) in the receive mode and 570/233.1 mW in the transmit mode for 2.4/5 GHz, respectively. The low power consumption, high integration and robustness (-40 to 140degC) make this transceiver suitable for portable applications     

Hypoxia Regulates the Self-Renewal of Endometrial Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem-like Cells via Notch Signaling

Human endometrium is an incredibly dynamic tissue undergoing cyclic regeneration and shedding during a woman’s reproductive life. Endometrial mesenchymal stromal/stem-like cells (eMSC) contribute to this process. A hypoxic niche with low oxygen levels has been reported in multiple somatic stem cell types. However, the knowledge of hypoxia on eMSC remains limited. In mice, stromal stem/progenitor cells can be identified by the label-retaining technique. We examined the relationship between the label-retaining stromal cells (LRSC) and hypoxia during tissue breakdown in a mouse model of simulated menses. Our results demonstrated that LRSC resided in a hypoxic microenvironment during endometrial breakdown and early repair. Immunofluorescence staining revealed that the hypoxic-located LRSC underwent proliferation and was highly colocalized with Notch1. In vitro studies illustrated that hypoxia activated Notch signaling in eMSC, leading to enhanced self-renewal, clonogenicity and proliferation of cells. More importantly, HIF-1α played an essential role in the hypoxia-mediated maintenance of eMSC through the activation of Notch signaling. In conclusion, our findings show that some endometrial stem/progenitor cells reside in a hypoxic niche during menstruation, and hypoxia can regulate the self-renewal activity of eMSC via Notch signaling.     

Measurement of periodic micro flows using micro-particle image velocimetry with phase sampling

A phase-sampling method has been developed to measure periodic flows at a high temporal resolution using conventional micro-particle image velocimetry (PIV). In this technique, the sampling is set such that each velocimetry dataset represents a unique point in phase of a periodic flow. The flow characteristics over a single cycle are reconstructed from measurements over a number of cycles, thus allowing measurement at a higher temporal resolution than the PIV system. The flow measurements were performed for AC electroosmotic flows and verified with results from the phase-locking technique. The temporal resolution is limited by the shortest camera exposure time and the time separation between laser pulses. The theoretical sampling resolution can be as low as 20 μs for 100 Hz periodic flows. A resolution of 200 μs was obtained in the experiment using 40 velocimetry datasets.     

Spatial Wavefunction-Switched (SWS) InGaAs FETs with II–VI Gate Insulators

This paper presents the implementation of a novel InGaAs field-effect transistor (FET), using a ZnSe-ZnS-ZnMgS-ZnS stacked gate insulator, in a spatial wavefunction-switched (SWS) structural configuration. Unlike conventional FETs, SWS devices comprise two or more asymmetric coupled quantum wells (QWs). This feature enables carrier transfer vertically from one quantum well to another or laterally to the wells of adjacent SWS-FET devices by manipulation of the gate voltages (V _g). Observation of an extra peak (near both accumulation and inversion regions) in the capacitance–voltage data in an InGaAs-AlInAs two-quantum-well SWS structure is presented as evidence of spatial switching. The peaks are attributed to the appearance of carriers first in the lower well and subsequently their transfer to the upper well as the gate voltage is increased. The electrical characteristics of a fabricated SWS InGaAs FET are also presented along with simulations of capacitance–voltage (C–V) behavior, showing the effect of wavefunction switching between wells. Finally, logic operations involving simultaneous processing of multiple bits in a device, using coded spatial location of carriers in quantum well channels, are also described.     

Simulation of hole-mobility in doped relaxed and strained Ge

As silicon CMOS begins to reach the limits of its performance, alternative channel materials are being considered. Thus there is renewed interest in employing Germanium for p-MOSFETs, due to the significant improvement in hole mobility as compared to silicon for undoped materials. Of considerable interest from a device point of view is the transport in doped layers. We investigate hole transport at high carrier-densities in doped Germanium layers using a bulk 6-band k·p Monte Carlo simulator, and show that both dynamic and multi-ion screening play a significant role in describing the resulting transport.     

Preparation and photoluminescence properties of γ-KCaPO4: Eu phosphors for near UV-based white LEDs

Novel whitish-blue phosphors based on a phosphate host matrix, γ-KCaPO₄: Eu²⁺, were prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction method using slightly phosphorus deficient conditions and their photoluminescence properties were investigated. The concentration quenching process, temperature dependence of the luminescence and decay curve were also investigated. The γ-KCaPO₄: Eu²⁺ phosphor was efficiently excited by UV-Visible light at wavelengths of 200-450 nm and exhibited a bright whitish-blue emission with a maximum peak wavelength of 473 nm. All of these characteristics suggest that the γ-KCaPO₄: Eu²⁺ phosphors combined with red phosphors could be applicable to near UV-based white LEDs, i.e., only two kinds of phosphor powders are needed for the formation of white light.     

A theoretical and experimental investigation of the tool-tip vibration and its influence upon surface generation in single-point diamond turning

This paper presents a theoretical and experimental investigation of the influence of tool-tip vibration on surface generation in single point diamond turning (SPDT). Although it is well known that the relative vibration between the tool and the workpiece plays an important role in the surface generation in single-point diamond turning, most of the prior work has been focused on studying the relative tool-work vibration in the infeed (thrust force) direction while the significant contribution of the effect of the tool-tip vibration in the cutting force direction has been overlooked. In the present study, two characteristic peaks (twin peaks) are identified and found to be corresponding to the tool-tip vibrations by power spectrum density (PSD) analyses. The vibrations possess the features of small amplitude but high frequency. A physical model is proposed to capture the dominant factor based on the characteristic and it reveals that the twin peaks are attributed by the impact between the tool tip and workpiece and the process damping effect. Hence, a geometric model of surface roughness is proposed to take account of tool-tip vibration and it is verified through a series of experiments. The simulation results have been found to agree well with the experimental results.     

Management of the variability of vibration response levels in mistuned bladed discs using robust design concepts. Part 2: Tolerance design

The mistuning pattern on a bladed disc is controlled in Part 2 of the two-part article either by (i) imposing a small maximum allowable mistune according to the small mistuning approach or (ii) incorporating non-identical blades of specific patterns, known as the intentional mistuning approach. These approaches resemble the tolerance design stage of the Taguchi method of robust design. The first-order maximum amplification factor sensitivity in a single-degree-of-freedom (DOF)-per-sector system is derived to support a new definition of the interblade coupling ratio and to illustrate the dependence of the maximum amplification factor sensitivity on design parameters of a bladed disc. It is found that the variability of the forced vibration response levels in flexible bladed discs can be reduced by controlling the degree of mistune within realistic levels. The potential of a “linear” mistuning pattern to become an effective intentional mistuning pattern is evaluated by observing the amplification factors of bladed discs with combined intentional mistuning and additional random mistuning. A tool based on the importance sampling method is used to reduce the computational effort in determining the magnitude of intentional mistuning. Guidelines of designing bladed discs with a lower variability of forced vibration response levels are given according to the findings in casting the blade mistuning problem as a robust design problem.