Ultrathin buffer layer at organic/organic interface for managing the recombination profile in organic light‐emitting diodes: Metal versus dielectric buffer

We report on the utilization of an ultrathin buffer layer at the organic/organic (O/O) interface to enhance device efficiency in organic light‐emitting diodes. Two different kinds of buffer layers are examined: metal and dielectric. It is shown that employment of an ultrathin Ag layer with a thickness of 1–2 nm enhances the device performance, while a MgF₂ dielectric buffer cannot affect the device properties considerably. In particular, the turn‐on voltage of the device with an appropriate buffer layer is reduced about 3 V, its current efficiency increases by a factor of more than three, and the power efficiency increases by a factor of more than five in comparison to the control device when a Ag buffer layer is introduced at the O/O interface. By employment of the buffer layer at the interface, an accumulation of current carriers appears within the device that redistribute the recombination profile toward the interior part of the emissive layer. Also, morphological examinations reveal that distinguishable phase segregation occurs in the blend of the hole‐transport layer. In particular, the polymer component remains at the surface and facilitates the hole transport into the successive layers. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43894.     

Out-of-Field Hippocampus from Partial-Body Irradiated Mice Displays Changes in Multi-Omics Profile and Defects in Neurogenesis

The brain undergoes ionizing radiation exposure in many clinical situations, particularly during radiotherapy for brain tumors. The critical role of the hippocampus in the pathogenesis of radiation-induced neurocognitive dysfunction is well recognized. The goal of this study is to test the potential contribution of non-targeted effects in the detrimental response of the hippocampus to irradiation and to elucidate the mechanisms involved. C57Bl/6 mice were whole body (WBI) or partial body (PBI) irradiated with 0.1 or 2.0 Gy of X-rays or sham irradiated. PBI consisted of the exposure of the lower third of the mouse body, whilst the upper two thirds were shielded. Hippocampi were collected 15 days or 6 months post-irradiation and a multi-omics approach was adopted to assess the molecular changes in non-coding RNAs, proteins and metabolic levels, as well as histological changes in the rate of hippocampal neurogenesis. Notably, at 2.0 Gy the pattern of early molecular and histopathological changes induced in the hippocampus at 15 days following PBI were similar in quality and quantity to the effects induced by WBI, thus providing a proof of principle of the existence of out-of-target radiation response in the hippocampus of conventional mice. We detected major alterations in DAG/IP3 and TGF-β signaling pathways as well as in the expression of proteins involved in the regulation of long-term neuronal synaptic plasticity and synapse organization, coupled with defects in neural stem cells self-renewal in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. However, compared to the persistence of the WBI effects, most of the PBI effects were only transient and tended to decrease at 6 months post-irradiation, indicating important mechanistic difference. On the contrary, at low dose we identified a progressive accumulation of molecular defects that tended to manifest at later post-irradiation times. These data, indicating that both targeted and non-targeted radiation effects might contribute to the pathogenesis of hippocampal radiation-damage, have general implications for human health.     

Nanoelectromechanical Chip (NELMEC) Combination of Nanoelectronics and Microfluidics to Diagnose Epithelial and Mesenchymal Circulating Tumor Cells from Leukocytes

An integrated nano‐electromechanical chip (NELMEC) has been developed for the label‐free distinguishing of both epithelial and mesenchymal circulating tumor cells (ECTCs and MCTCs, respectively) from white blood cells (WBCs). This nanoelectronic microfluidic chip fabricated by silicon micromachining can trap large single cells (>12 µm) at the opening of the analysis microchannel arrays. The nature of the captured cells is detected using silicon nanograss (SiNG) electrodes patterned at the entrance of the channels. There is an observable difference between the membrane capacitance of the ECTCs and MCTCs and that of WBCs (measured using SiNG electrodes), which is the key indication for our diagnosis. The NELMEC chip not only solves the problem of the size overlap between CTCs and WBCs but also detects MCTCs without the need for any markers or tagging processes, which has been an important problem in previously reported CTC detection systems. The great conductivity of the gold‐coated SiNG nanocontacts as well as their safe penetration into the membrane of captured cells, facilitate a precise and direct signal extraction to distinguish the type of captured cell. The results achieved from epithelial (MCF‐7) and mesenchymal (MDA‐MB231) breast cancer cells circulated in unprocessed blood suggest the significant applications for these diagnostic abilities of NELMEC.     

Fault detection and diagnosis in synchronous motors using hidden Markov model-based semi-nonparametric approach

Early detection and diagnosis of faults in industrial machines would reduce the maintenance cost and also increase the overall equipment effectiveness by increasing the availability of the machinery systems. In this paper, a semi-nonparametric approach based on hidden Markov model is introduced for fault detection and diagnosis in synchronous motors. In this approach, after training the hidden Markov model classifiers (parametric stage), two matrices named probabilistic transition frequency profile and average probabilistic emission are computed based on the hidden Markov models for each signature (nonparametric stage) using probabilistic inference. These matrices are later used in forming a similarity scoring function, which is the basis of the classification in this approach. Moreover, a preprocessing method, named squeezing and stretching is proposed which rectifies the difficulty of dealing with various operating speeds in the classification process. Finally, the experimental results are provided and compared. Further investigations are carried out, providing sensitivity analysis on the length of signatures, the number of hidden state values, as well as statistical performance evaluation and comparison with conventional hidden Markov model-based fault diagnosis approach. Results indicate that implementation of the proposed preprocessing, which unifies the signatures from various operating speeds, increases the classification accuracy by nearly 21% and moreover utilization of the proposed semi-nonparametric approach improves the accuracy further by nearly 6%.     

Generalized Storage Equations for Flood Routing with Nonlinear Muskingum Models

Water Resources Management - The nonlinear Muskingum model is a leading method for hydrologic routing. The efficiency of the nonlinear Muskingum model for routing of hydrograph outflow has been...     

Coupled twist–bending static and dynamic behavior of a curved single-walled carbon nanotube based on nonlocal theory

The static and dynamic behavior of a curved single-walled carbon nanotube which is under twist–bending couple based on nonlocal theory is analyzed. The nonlocal theory is used to model the mechanical behavior of structure in small scale. The obtained differential equations are solved using a simply supported boundary condition and Navier analytical method. Moreover the twisted vibration and bending of curved nanotube is analyzed and also the armchair model is assumed in this study. The following parameters were studied in this paper: the effect of nonlocal parameter, the curved nanotube’s opening angel, the Young’s modulus and the mode number is studied. The results were verified with the previous literature which showed an excellent agreement. The results of this paper can be used as a benchmark for future investigations.

     

Soluble soybean polysaccharide/TiO2 nanocomposites: Biological activity,release behavior,biodegradability, and biosafety

This study aimed to produce and characterize eco-friendly SSPS nanocomposites incorporated with various concentrations of TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) (1%, 3%, and 7%). The antimicrobial activity of the nanocomposite films against five strains of pathogenic bacteria was examined. Salmonella typhi PTCC 1609 was the most sensitive species to TiO₂ NPs at concentrations equal to the synthetic antibiotic. The migration of TiO₂ to ethanol and acetic acid, as two food simulants increased when the initial nano-TiO₂ content increased. The release profiles for TiO₂ in two simulants of ethanol and acetic acid indicated a non-Fickian release, and the release kinetics were concentration-dependent. SSPS/TiO₂ nanocomposites degraded easily and thus have the potential to be applied as an eco-friendly packaging system. Oral administration of doses of 1, 12.5, 25, 50, and 75 mg/kg TiO₂ revealed that the dose of 50 and 75 mg/kg increased malondialdehyde (p < .001) concentration in the liver tissue. In addition, it decreased glutathione (p < .001) concentration in the liver tissue.     

Poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes in wound-dressing application: microstructure,physical properties,and drug release behavior

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel membranes were prepared through three different preparation methods including freeze-thawing (FT), solution casting (SC) followed by thermal annealing, and phase separation (PS). The prepared hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and scanning electron microscopy. Nitrofurazone (NFZ) was then loaded in the hydrogels. FT and SC methods led to obtaining dense membranes, while PS method resulted in an asymmetric one. The effects of hydrogel preparation method on water absorption, gel fraction, water vapor and oxygen permeabilities, bacterial barrier, tensile properties, and drug release profiles were investigated. The water vapor permeability of the hydrogel prepared through PS method was about 1.5 times higher than those obtained through FT and SC methods. Gel formation in PS method is probably responsible for the highest degree of crystallinity, and consequently the maximum gel fraction for the corresponded membrane. The elongation-at-break for this membrane in wet state was 41% higher than that made by FT method and 18% greater than that of SC method. Membranes prepared by all three methods showed excellent barrier property against bacterial penetration during 1 week. The results showed that PS membrane could control the release of NFZ more effectively as compared with the other two samples.     

A charge sharing–based switching scheme for SAR ADCs

This paper presents an energy-efficient switching scheme for successive approximation register (SAR) analogue-to-digital converter (ADC). The proposed scheme employs charge recycling method to keep the capacitor arrays free of transitional energy between bit generations except reset phase. In comparison with the conventional switching scheme, the proposed one achieves 100% transitional energy saving without considering reset phase. In addition, configuration of a 10-bit SAR ADC shows that the proposed switching scheme reduces the capacitor area by 25% compared with the conventional switching scheme.     

Effects of bed-load movement on flow resistance over bed forms

The effect of bed-load transport on flow resistance of alluvial channels with undulated bed was experimentally investigated. The experiments were carried out in a tilting flume 250mm wide and 12.5m long with glass-sides of rectangular cross-section and artificial dune shaped floor that was made from Plexi-glass. Steady flow of clear as against sediment-laden water with different flow depths and velocities were studied in the experiments with a fine sand (d ₅₀ = 0.5mm). The results indicate that the transport of fine particles (d ₅₀ = 0.5mm) can decrease the friction factor by 22% and 24% respectively for smooth and rough beds. Increasing the bed-load size (d ₅₀ = 2.84 mm) can decrease the friction factor by 32% and 39% respectively for smooth and rough beds. The decrease in flow resistance is due to filling up of the troughs of dunes. This separation zone is responsible for increasing the flow resistance. On the upstream side of dunes condition is similar to plane bed. Presence of bed-load causes to increase the shear velocity and hence increasing flow resistance. But decreasing in flow resistance is more and it causes to decrease the total flow resistance. Grains saturated the troughs in the bed topography, effectively helping in smoothening of bed irregularities.