Conduction mechanism of grain oriented Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 ceramics fabricated by a hot-forging method

We have fabricated ordinary fired (OF) and grain oriented Bi_3.15Nd_0.85Ti₃O₁₂ (HF[⊥], HF[//]) samples by a hot-forging technique. The grain orientation factor F calculated from X-ray diffraction patterns of the c-axis oriented Bi_3.15Nd_0.85Ti₃O₁₂-HF[//] sample is determined to be above 90%. The dielectric and ferroelectric properties of Bi_3.15Nd_0.85Ti₃O₁₂ ceramics with different grain orientation have been investigated as a function of temperature. The a-b axis oriented Bi_3.15Nd_0.85Ti₃O₁₂-HF[⊥] sample had an enhanced dielectric constant (1163 at T _c) and ferroelectric properties (P _r ∼ 32 μC/cm²). The electrical conductivity of BNT ceramic has been studied as a function of temperature in order to investigate the conduction mechanism with different grain orientations.     

Hysteresis in theIc(H) characteristics of high-temperature superconducting ceramics and thin films

The experimental hysteretic behavior of the transport critical current observed in ceramic Y-Ba-Cu-O and (Bi-Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O, as well as thin film Y-Ba-Cu-O, are presented. The data are analyzed semiqualitatively. The results show certain similarities among the ceramic samples and the films.     

Differential Sensitivity of Melanoma Cells and Their Non-Cancerous Counterpart to Cold Atmospheric Plasma-Induced Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species

Despite continuous progress in therapy, melanoma is one of the most aggressive and malignant human tumors, often relapsing and metastasizing to almost all organs. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a novel anticancer tool that utilizes abundant reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) being deposited on the target cells and tissues. CAP-induced differential effects between non-cancerous and cancer cells were comparatively examined. Melanoma and non-cancerous skin fibroblast cells (counterparts; both cell types were isolated from the same patient) were used for plasma–cell interactions. The production of intracellular RONS, such as nitric oxide (NO), hydroxyl radical (•OH), and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), increased remarkably only in melanoma cancer cells. It was observed that cancer cells morphed from spread to round cell shapes after plasma exposure, suggesting that they were more affected than non-cancerous cells in the same plasma condition. Immediately after both cell types were treated with plasma, there were no differences in the amount of extracellular H₂O₂ production, while Hanks’ balanced salt solution-containing cancer cells had lower concentrations of H₂O₂ than that of non-cancerous cells at 1 h after treatment. The melanoma cells seemed to respond to CAP treatment with a greater rise in RONS and a higher consumption rate of H₂O₂ than homologous non-cancerous cells. These results suggest that differential sensitivities of non-cancerous skin and melanoma cells to CAP-induced RONS can enable the applicability of CAP in anticancer therapy.     

Quantum Dot–Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Phototransistor with an Enhanced Optical Stark Effect

Enhanced carrier–carrier interactions in hybrid nanostructures exhibit exceptional electronic and optoelectronic properties. Carbon nanotubes demonstrate excellent switching behavior with high on/off ratio and high mobility but do not show photoresponse in the visible range, whereas quantum dots (QDs) shows excellent optical response in various optical ranges which can be tuned with diameter. Here, a simple and effective way to develop hybrid phototransistors with extraordinary optoelectronic properties is presented by decorating semiconducting QDs on the surface of a single‐walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT). This hybrid structure demonstrates clear negative photoresponse and optical switching behavior, which could be further tuned by applying external gate bias in the future. A clear type conversion of SWCNT transistor from p‐type to n‐type caused by a charge transfer from attached QDs to CNT is demonstrated. Moreover, this hybrid structure also demonstrates an enhancement in ‘optical Stark effect’ without applying any external electric field. Charged SWCNT surface plays a key role behind the enhancement of optical Stark effect in QDs. The carrier dynamics of the QD and CNT heterostructures system highlights the potential application opportunity of the quantum dot systems, which can be adaptable to the current technologies.     

Evolving Recursive Programs by Using Adaptive Grammar Based Genetic Programming

Genetic programming (GP) extends traditional genetic algorithms to automatically induce computer programs. GP has been applied in a wide range of applications such as software re-engineering, electrical circuits synthesis, knowledge engineering, and data mining. One of the most important and challenging research areas in GP is the investigation of ways to successfully evolve recursive programs. A recursive program is one that calls itself either directly or indirectly through other programs. Because recursions lead to compact and general programs and provide a mechanism for reusing program code, they facilitate GP to solve larger and more complicated problems. Nevertheless, it is commonly agreed that the recursive program learning problem is very difficult for GP. In this paper, we propose techniques to tackle the difficulties in learning recursive programs. The techniques are incorporated into an adaptive Grammar Based Genetic Programming system (adaptive GBGP). A number of experiments have been performed to demonstrate that the system improves the effectiveness and efficiency in evolving recursive programs. Communicated by: William B. Langdon An erratum to this article is available at .     

DAPP: automatic detection and analysis of prototype pollution vulnerability in Node.js modules

International Journal of Information Security - The safe maintenance of Node.js modules is critical in the software security industry. Most server-side web applications are built on Node.js, an...     

Quantitative determination of conjugated linoleic acids in hydrogenated vegetable oils using refractive index

Conjugated linoleic acid contents in hydrogenated vegetable oils were differentially determined using refractive indices when the iodine value could not be used. The refractive indices of soybean oil, cottonseed oil, and corn oil varied linearly with changes of linoleic acid contents of individual oils with determination coefficients of 0.91, 0.98, and 0.98, respectively. The refractive index can be used as a simple and fast method for control of the hydrogenation process of vegetable oils to obtain a desired conjugated linoleic acid content without fatty acid compositional analysis.     

The production of a flexible electroluminescent device on polyethylene terephthalate films using transparent conducting carbon nanotube electrode

An inorganic electroluminescent (EL) device on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and its properties were investigated. The transparent conducting film (TCF) made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (CNT-TCF) was employed in the flexible EL device. CNT-TCF was formed by filtration of CNT solution and was transferred to the PET film. It was found that the brightness of the inorganic EL device was strongly dependent on the quality of the CNT composite films. After a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane treatment of the PET substrate, CNTs uniformly were dispersed and showed a good adhesion to the substrate, and the resulting EL device showed better performance. The flexible EL device showed the brightness of 96.8 cd/m² at 28 kHz and 50 V.