Skin‐Like Oxide Thin‐Film Transistors for Transparent Displays

Flexible transparent display is a promising candidate to visually communicate with each other in the future Internet of Things era. The flexible oxide thin‐film transistors (TFTs) have attracted attention as a component for transparent display by its high performance and high transparency. The critical issue of flexible oxide TFTs for practical display applications, however, is the realization on transparent and flexible substrate without any damage and characteristic degradation. Here, the ultrathin, flexible, and transparent oxide TFTs for skin‐like displays are demonstrated on an ultrathin flexible substrate using an inorganic‐based laser liftoff process. In this way, skin‐like ultrathin oxide TFTs are conformally attached onto various fabrics and human skin surface without any structural damage. Ultrathin flexible transparent oxide TFTs show high optical transparency of 83% and mobility of 40 cm² V^?1 s^?1. The skin‐like oxide TFTs show reliable performance under the electrical/optical stress tests and mechanical bending tests due to advanced device materials and systematic mechanical designs. Moreover, skin‐like oxide logic inverter circuits composed of n‐channel metal oxide semiconductor TFTs on ultrathin, transparent polyethylene terephthalate film have been realized.     

Membrane Rigidity-Tunable Fusogenic Nanosensor for High Throughput Detection of Fusion-Competent Influenza A Virus

The emergence of fatal viruses that pose continuous threats to global health has fueled the intense effort to develop direct, accurate, and high-throughput virus detection platforms. Current diagnostic methods, including qPCR and rapid antigen tests, indicate how much of the virus is present, whether small fragments or whole viruses. However, these methods do not indicate the probability of the virus to be active, capable of interacting with host cells and initiating the infection cycle. Herein, a sialic acid-presenting fusogenic liposome (sLipo–Chol) nanosensor with purposefully modulated membrane rigidity to rapidly detect the fusion-competent influenza A virus (IAV) is developed. This nanosensor possesses virus-specific features, including hemagglutinin (HA) binding and HA-mediated membrane fusion. It is explored how the fusogenic capability of sLipo–Chol with different membrane rigidities impacts their sensing performance by integrating Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) pairs into the bilayers. The addition of an intact virus led to instant FRET signal changes, thus enabling the direct detection of diverse IAV subtypes—even in avian fecal samples—within an hour at room temperature. Therefore, the sensing approach, with an understanding of the cellular pathogenesis of influenza viruses, will aid in developing bioinspired nanomaterials for evolution into nanosystems to detect infection-competent viruses.     

Host Cell Mimic Polymersomes for Rapid Detection of Highly Pathogenic Influenza Virus via a Viral Fusion and Cell Entry Mechanism

Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) infections have occurred continuously and crossed the species barrier to humans, leading to fatalities. A polymerase chain reaction based molecular test is currently the most sensitive diagnostic tool for HPAIV; however, the results must be analyzed in centralized diagnosis systems by a trained individual. This requirement leads to delays in quarantine and isolation. To control the spread of HPAIV, rapid and accurate diagnostics suitable for field testing are needed, and the tests must facilitate a differential diagnosis between HPAIV and low pathogenic avian influenza virus (LPAIV), which undergo cleavage specifically by trypsin‐ or furin‐like proteases, respectively. In this study, a differential avian influenza virus rapid test kit is developed and evaluated in vitro and using clinical specimens from HPAIV H5N1‐infected animals. It is demonstrated that this rapid test kit provides highly sensitive and specific detection of HPAIV and LPAIV and is thus a useful field diagnostic tool for H5N1 HPAIV outbreaks and for rapid quarantine control of the disease.     

Mitigating tail latency in IEEE 802.11–based networks

Delay sensitive applications are being actively introduced with the advent of 5G and vehicular communications, and such applications are very sensitive to tail latency. However, tail latency has not been seriously considered so far, especially in IEEE 802.11–based networks. Channel access is scheduled by random Contention Window (CW) values in IEEE 802.11–based networks, and the node with the larger CW waits longer, and it may even observe multiple transmissions from a single contending node, which results in a long latency tail. In this paper, we propose a new decentralized MAC called SynchMAC to mitigate this latency tail. In SynchMAC, every competing node transmits exactly one packet within a virtual time slot without a centralized controller. Using the proposed approach, the maximum channel access latency is bounded by T×2N, where T is the time required for transmitting a single packet (including Inter‐Frame Space and CW) and N is the number of competing nodes. To maximize the system throughput, the proposed scheme optimizes the value of T by considering the probability of successful transmission. Our simulation study shows that SynchMAC reduces the maximum access latency by up to 94% and 53% compared with the conventional IEEE 802.11 MAC and the comparative scheme, respectively, without degrading throughput performance. We also show that SynchMAC is easily extended to support weighted access.     

Etch characteristics of silver by inductively coupled fluorine-based plasmas

In this study, thin films of Ag deposited onto glass substrates were etched using inductively coupled fluorine-based plasmas. The effects of various process conditions on the Ag etch characteristics were evaluated to ascertain whether it would be possible to etch patterned Ag films with high etch rates and smooth sidewalls free of involatile etch products. It was found that involatile etch products remained on the substrate when films were etched in CF₄-based gas mixtures possessing either O₂ or N₂ as an additive. However, when Ar was added to either NF₃ or CF₄, a residue-free etch was obtained provided the partial pressure of Ar was no less than 50%. It is proposed that the residue-free Ag etch mechanism involves the formation of silver fluoride, which is physically sputtered by Ar⁺ ions. A Ag etch rate of 160 nm/min with a Ag to photoresist etch selectivity exceeding 1.1 was achieved with an inductive power of 1500 W, a d.c. bias voltage of −180 V and a chamber pressure of 0.8 Pa with 50-50 CF₄/Ar partial pressures obtained with 60 sccm CF₄/60 sccm Ar flows. In addition, these conditions produced smooth Ag sidewall etch profiles.     

Prediction of microstructure evolution during high temperature blade forging of a Ni−Fe based superalloy,Alloy 718

The mechanical properties of the Ni−Fe-based Alloy 718 depend very much on grain size, as well as the strengthening phases, γ’ and γ. The grain structure of the superalloy components is mainly controlled during thermo-mechanical processes by the dynamic, meta-dynamic recrystallization and grain growth. In this investigation, the evolution of the grain structure in the process of two-step blade forging was experimentally and numerically dealt with. The evolution of the grain structure in Alloy 718 during blade forging was predicted using a 2-DFE simulator with implemented constitutive models on dynamic recrystallization and grain growth. The comparison of the simulated microstructure with the actual grain structure of the forged parts validated the prediction of the grain structure evolution. The effect of dynamic recrystallization on the evolution of grain structure is highlighted in this article.     

The type II peroxiredoxin gene family of the mouse: molecular structure, expression and evolution

The central effect of 3-morpholinosydnonimine, a nitric oxide donor, on the sympatho-adrenomedullary system was investigated in urethane-anesthetized rats. Intracerebroventricular administration of 3-morpholinosydnonimine (100, 250 and 500 microg/animal) induced a marked elevation of adrenaline levels and a slight elevation of noradrenaline levels in the plasma. These 3-morpholinosydnonimine (250 microg/animal)-induced elevations of catecholamines were abolished by intracerebroventricular treatments with 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-l-oxyl 3-oxide (750 microg/animal), a nitric oxide scavenger, and indomethacin (500 microg/animal), a cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor, but not with superoxide dismutase (250 units/animal), a superoxide anion scavenger. Furthermore, the 3-morpholinosydnonimine (250 microg/animal)-induced elevation of plasma adrenaline levels was abolished by intracerebroventricular treatments with thromboxane A2 synthase inhibitors [furegrelate (100, 250 and 1000 microg/animal) and carboxyheptyl imidazole (500 microg/animal)], and also with thromboxane A2 receptor blockers [(+)-S-145 (100, 250 and 1000microg/animal) and SQ29548 (8microg/animal)]. The elevation of noradrenaline levels was, however, not attenuated by these thromboxane A2-related test agents. The present results indicate that nitric oxide but not peroxynitrite markedly activates central adrenomedullary outflow. Thromboxane A2 in the brain is probably involved in this central activation of adrenomedullary outflow.