EGaIn‐Assisted Room‐Temperature Sintering of Silver Nanoparticles for Stretchable,Inkjet‐Printed,Thin‐Film Electronics

Coating inkjet‐printed traces of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) ink with a thin layer of eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) increases the electrical conductivity by six‐orders of magnitude and significantly improves tolerance to tensile strain. This enhancement is achieved through a room‐temperature “sintering” process in which the liquid‐phase EGaIn alloy binds the AgNP particles (≈100 nm diameter) to form a continuous conductive trace. Ultrathin and hydrographically transferrable electronics are produced by printing traces with a composition of AgNP‐Ga‐In on a 5 µm‐thick temporary tattoo paper. The printed circuit is flexible enough to remain functional when deformed and can support strains above 80% with modest electromechanical coupling (gauge factor ≈1). These mechanically robust thin‐film circuits are well suited for transfer to highly curved and nondevelopable 3D surfaces as well as skin and other soft deformable substrates. In contrast to other stretchable tattoo‐like electronics, the low‐cost processing steps introduced here eliminate the need for cleanroom fabrication and instead requires only a commercial desktop printer. Most significantly, it enables functionalities like “electronic tattoos” and 3D hydrographic transfer that have not been previously reported with EGaIn or EGaIn‐based biphasic electronics.     

Liquid Metal Supercooling for Low‐Temperature Thermoelectric Wearables

Elastomers embedded with droplets of liquid metal (LM) alloy represent an emerging class of soft multifunctional composites that have potentially transformative impact in wearable electronics, biocompatible machines, and soft robotics. However, for these applications it is crucial for LM alloys to remain liquid during the entire service temperature range in order to maintain high mechanical compliance throughout the duration of operation. Here, LM‐based functional composites that do not freeze and remain soft and stretchable at extremely low temperatures are introduced. It is shown that the confinement of LM droplets to micro‐/nanometer length scales significantly suppresses their freezing temperature (down to ?84.1 from ?5.9 °C) and melting point (down to ?25.6 from +17.8 °C) independent of the choice of matrix material and processing conditions. Such a supercooling effect allows the LM inclusions to preserve their fluidic nature at low temperatures and stretch with the surrounding polymer matrix without introducing significant mechanical resistance. These results indicate that LM composites with highly stabilized droplets can operate over a wide temperature range and open up new possibilities for these emerging materials, which are demonstrated with self‐powered wearable thermoelectric devices for bio‐sensing and personal health monitoring at low temperatures.     

The impact of extended-hours home hemodialysis and buttonhole cannulation technique on hospitalization rates for septic events related to dialysis access

Few studies adequately document adverse events in patients receiving long, slow, and overnight hemodialysis (NHD). Concerns about high rates of dialysis access complications have been raised. This is an observational cohort study comparing hospital admission rates for vascular access complications between alternate nightly NHD (n=63) and conventional hemodialysis (n=172) patients established on chronic hemodialysis for at least 3 months. Overall, hospital admission rates and hospital admission rates for cardiac and all infective events are also reported. The NHD cohort was younger and less likely to be female, diabetic, or have ischemic heart disease than the conventional hemodialysis cohort. When NHD and buttonhole cannulation technique were used simultaneously, there was a demonstrated increased risk of septic dialysis access events: incidence rate ratio 3.0 (95% confidence interval 1.04-8.66) (P=0.04). The majority of blood culture isolates in NHD patients were gram-positive organisms, particularly Staphylococcus aureus. Alternate nightly NHD did not significantly change total hospital admissions or hospital admissions for indications other than dialysis access complications, compared with conventional hemodialysis. Our data suggest that buttonhole cannulation technique should be used with caution in patients performing extended-hours hemodialysis as this combination appears to increase the risk of septic access complications. Randomized-controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings.     

A novel highly accurate synthetic technique for determination ofthe dispersive characteristics in periodic slow wave circuits

A highly accurate (0.1-0.5%) synthetic technique for determining the complete dispersive characteristics of electromagnetic modes in a spatially periodic structure is presented. It was successfully applied for the cases of the fundamental (TM₀₍₁₎) as well as higher-order (TM₀₍₂₎, TM₀₍₃₎) passband modes in a corrugated waveguide. This structure is commonly used in relativistic backward wave oscillators, traveling wave tubes, extended interaction oscillators, and a variety of multiwave Cerenkov generators. An appropriately shorted periodic structure resonates at specific frequencies. To measure these frequencies accurately and unambiguously, the authors used unique antenna radiators to excite pure modes in the circuit under test. An analytical technique for deriving the complete dispersion relation using the experimentally measured resonances is presented. This technique, which is based on the intrinsic characteristics of spatially periodic structures, is applicable to slow wave structures of arbitrary geometry     

Does RAD live up to the hype?

The author makes the point that, to be successful with RAD (rapid application development), we can no longer look just at the software product in isolation. A RAD development process demands that we expand our view to encompass users and their work environments-and if we do it right, everyone benefits. But given all the risks, would you stake mission-critical projects on RAD? If it is not mission-critical, then why bother at all?     

Prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in raw chicken on retail sale in the republic of Ireland

To assess the current risks to consumers from Campylobacter and Salmonella in raw chicken products sold in the Republic of Ireland, a retail survey was undertaken to define their prevalence. Samples (n = 510) were analyzed using protocols based on ISO 10272-1:2006 and ISO 6579:2002. Processor codes on pack labels showed that 67% of samples were produced in the Republic of Ireland and 25% in the United Kingdom. Salmonella was present in 5.1% of samples, but the eight serovars found caused less than 7% of human salmonellosis reported in the Republic of Ireland. The results suggest that on-farm controls to limit Salmonella infection of broilers have been successful and that in Ireland raw chicken is not a significant cause of salmonellosis in humans. The overall prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was 84.3%. Isolation by the ISO method found 52.7% of samples to be positive, but overgrowth by contaminants was frequently evident. Therefore, in addition to enrichment, an homogenized sample was plated directly onto modified charcoal cefoperazone deoxycholate agar, and this detected a further 31.6%. Speciation of isolates (n = 426) determined that 67% were Campylobacter jejuni and 32% were Campylobacter coli. These species are the most common cause of campylobacteriosis in man. The results indicate that there is a need for poultry producers to introduce interventions to minimize the exposure of consumers in the Republic of Ireland to Campylobacter spp., as has been successfully done for Salmonella.     

Optimization of Gate all-around Junctionless Transistor Using Response Surface Methodology

Silicon - In this paper, a response surface methodology (RSM) –custom design based multiobjective optimization approach is proposed to optimize the electrical behaviour of n-type and p-type...