Preparation of PbTiO3 thin films using an alkoxide-alkanolamine sol-gel system

The stable range of PbTiO₃ sol and the processing conditions of uniform thin films were investigated using a solution of titanium isopropoxide, three kinds of alkanolamines (monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine), lead acetate trihydrate and isopropanol. Depending on the sol state with various alkanolamine/alkoxide molar ratios, diethanolamine (DEA) was very effective in preparing uniform and dense oxide films through room-temperature reaction, owing to its superior stability during the hydrolysis and condensation reaction. Perovskite PbTiO₃ thin films were obtained on oxidized silicon wafer above 550 °C and completely pure films were obtained at 650 °C using DEA as a complexing agent. The dielectric constant and loss tangent of these thin films fired at 650 °C for 30 min were found to be 240 and 0.01 at 1 kHz, respectively.     

Photonic Crystal Palette of Binary Block Copolymer Blends for Full Visible Structural Color Encryption

Structural color (SC) arising from a periodically ordered self-assembled block copolymer (BCP) photonic crystal (PC) is useful for reflective-mode sensing displays owing to its capability of stimuli-responsive structure alteration. However, a set of PC inks, each providing a precisely addressable SC in the full visible range, has rarely been demonstrated. Here, a strategy for developing BCP PC inks with tunable structures is presented. This involves solution-blending of two lamellar-forming BCPs with different molecular weights. By controlling the mixing ratio of the two BCPs, a thin 1D BCP PC film is developed with alternating in-plane lamellae whose periodicity varies linearly from ≈46 to ≈91 nm. Subsequent preferential swelling of one-type lamellae with either solvent or non-volatile ionic liquid causes the photonic band gap of the films to red-shift, giving rise to full-visible-range SC correlated with the pristine nanostructures of the blended films in both liquid and solid states. The BCP PC palette of solution-blended binary solutions is conveniently employed in various coating processes, allowing facile development of BCP SC on the targeted surface. Furthermore, full-color SC paintings are realized with their transparent PC inks, facilitating low-power pattern encryption.     

Effect of stents coated with a combination of sirolimus and alpha-lipoic acid in a porcine coronary restenosis model

The aim of this study was to evaluate antiproliferative sirolimus- and antioxidative alpha-lipoic acid (ALA)-eluting stents using biodegradable polymer [poly-l-lactic acid (PLA)] in a porcine coronary overstretch restenosis model. Forty coronary arteries of 20 pigs were randomized into four groups in which the coronary arteries had a bare metal stent (BMS, n = 10), ALA-eluting stent with PLA (AES, n = 10), sirolimus-eluting stent with PLA (SES, n = 10), or sirolimus- and ALA-eluting stent with PLA (SAS, n = 10). A histopathological analysis was performed 28 days after the stenting. The ALA and sirolimus released slowly over 30 days. There were no significant differences between groups in the injury or inflammation score; however, there were significant differences in the percent area of stenosis (56.2 ± 11.78 % in BMS vs. 51.5 ± 12.20 % in AES vs. 34.7 ± 7.23 % in SES vs. 28.7 ± 7.30 % in SAS, P < 0.0001) and fibrin score [1.0 (range 1.0–1.0) in BMS vs. 1.0 (range 1.0–1.0) in AES vs. 2.0 (range 2.0–2.0) in SES vs. 2.0 (range 2.0–2.0) in SAS, P < 0.0001] between the four groups. The percent area of stenosis based on micro-computed tomography corresponded with the restenosis rates based on histopathological stenosis in different proportions in the four groups (54.8 ± 7.88 % in BMS vs. 50.4 ± 14.87 % in AES vs. 34.5 ± 7.22 % in SES vs. 28.9 ± 7.22 % in SAS, P < 0.05). SAS showed a better neointimal inhibitory effect than BMS, AES, and SES at 1 month after stenting in a porcine coronary restenosis model. Therefore, SAS with PLA can be a useful drug combination for coronary stent coating to suppress neointimal hyperplasia.     

Displaced fractures of the middle third of the forearm in children. The therapeutic considerations]

There been studied 100 cases of fractures of the middle third of both bones of forearm in child for to assess the correctitude of the therapy, based on the analysis of results. The most correct surgical techniques consist of osteosynthesis with Kirschner wire of the both bones, knowing the particularities of the fracture linea in child and the minimal tissues' damages. In the child younger then 10 years old, the open reduction is rarely necessary. Any displaced fracture of middle third of both bones of forearm, whatever the age of the child would be orthopedically reduced, before performing the surgical therapy. The unstable osteosynthesis such as simple screw "osteosynthesis" with wire or thread are contraindicated.     

Betweenness parameterized above tight lower bound

We study ordinal embedding relaxations in the realm of parameterized complexity. We prove the existence of a quadratic kernel for the Betweenness problem parameterized above its tight lower bound, which is stated as follows. For a set V of variables and set C of constraints “vi is between vj and vk”, decide whether there is a bijection from V to the set {1,…,|V|} satisfying at least |C|/3+κ of the constraints in C. Our result solves an open problem attributed to Benny Chor in Niedermeier's monograph “Invitation to Fixed-Parameter Algorithms”. The betweenness problem is of interest in molecular biology. An approach developed in this paper can be used to determine parameterized complexity of a number of other optimization problems on permutations parameterized above or below tight bounds.     

分子动力学模拟中基于GPU的范德华非键作用计算

GPU最初是专为图形渲染而设计的.近年来已经演化为高并行度、多线程、具有强大计算能力和极高存储器带宽的通用多核处理器,目前主流GPLJ的峰值计算能力通常可达CPU的数10倍.这提供了1种解决大计算量难题的新的可能.分子动力学模拟需要极强的计算能力.故使用GPU来进行分子动力学模拟的尝试是很自然的选择.本文基于NVIDIA的GeForceGTX295 GPU和CUDA2.3开发环境实现了范德华力计算、范德华势能计算和基于网格的邻居搜索.在邻居搜索算法实现中,对于不同计算能力的GPU给出了不同的实现策略.对36万粒子规模的高分子聚乙烯体系算例的测试表明:1个时间步的计算结果与计算性能突出的分子动力学软件GROMACS相应的计算结果一致(运行在工作站Intel Xeon E 5405上),相对于CPU单核计算性能有大幅提高,其中邻居搜索加速了17倍,范德华力计算加速了47倍;并且解决了邻居搜索时的边界问题.虽然本文是针对范德华力的计算,但是策略是通用的,其他方向的研究人员也可以参考.测试结果表明,使用 GPU来加速较大规模计算量的计算是可取的.     

Integration of piezoelectric tunable capacitors and bonded-wire inductors for contactless RF switch and tunable filter

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of a contactless radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch, composed of two surface-micromachined piezoelectric tunable capacitors and two bonded-wire inductors. The measured insertion loss and power isolation of the fabricated switch are 2.2 and 10.1 dB, respectively, with a capacitance variation of 4:1 over a narrow bandwidth near 2.2 GHz. This novel approach of using inductors eases the deflection requirement for the deformable bridge of the variable capacitor, and allows piezoelectric ZnO film to be used to deflect the capacitor bridge to vary the air gap, thus yielding a contactless RF switch.     

Anti-cloning protocol suitable to EPCglobal Class-1 Generation-2 RFID systems

Radio frequency Identification (RFID) systems are used to identify remote objects equipped with RFID tags by wireless scanning without manual intervention. Recently, EPCglobal proposed the Electronic Product Code (EPC) that is a coding scheme considered to be a possible successor to bar-code with added functionalities. In RFID-based applications where RFID tags are used to identify and track tagged objects, an RFID tag emits its EPC in plaintext. This makes the tag inevitably vulnerable to cloning attacks as well as information leakage and password disclosure. In this paper, we propose a novel anti-cloning method in accordance with the EPCglobal Class-1 Generation-2 (C1G2) standard. Our method only uses functions that can be supported by the standard and abides by the communication flow of the standard. The method is also secure against threats such as information leakage and password disclosure.