An analytical model for charge pumping below strong inversion and accumulation

A compact analytical model for charge pumping (CP) is derived. It accounts for emission during the high and low gate bias levels and assumes instantaneous transition edges. This model, which does not apply on the top of the CP curves when using large gate voltage swings, where emission fully proceeds during the transitions edges of the gate signal, applies on all the other regions provided that the transition times of the gate signal are much shorter than the times at steady state biases. Therefore it holds at large bias swings on both edges of Elliot curves and at small bias swings on the whole Elliot curves provided that the interface traps are completely filled [1]. It is compared with the analytical model proposed by Wachnik and Lowney [2] in which emission is not accounted for at all. This model, which holds at Elliot curve maxima when small voltage swings are used, has been shown to be extremely useful for studying interface trap properties [1, 2, 3 and 4]. The CP model proposed primarily, that of Brugler and Jespers [5], is used as a reference. The model derived in this article very satisfactorily fits the experimental curves in the regions of large CP current where it holds. Discrepancies at low current levels are due to the well-known contribution of the transistor source and drain regions or could be due to edge effects. Comparing the different models and the experimental curves allows to evaluate emission and capture during different regions of the gate bias period. The three regions of CP response, depending on the gate voltage swing and involving or not emission and the full filling of the interface traps, are also evidenced.     

Impact of the radio channel modelling on the performance of?VANET communication protocols

The expected traffic safety and efficiency benefits that can be achieved through the development and deployment of vehicular ad-hoc networks has attracted a significant interest from the networking research community that is currently working on novel vehicular communication protocols. The time-critical nature of vehicular applications and their reliability constraints require a careful protocol design and dimensioning. To this aim, adequate and accurate models should be employed in any research study. One of the critical aspects of any wireless communications system is the radio channel propagation. This is particularly the case in vehicular networks due to their low antenna heights, the fast topology changes and the reliability and latency constraints of traffic safety applications. Despite the research efforts to model the vehicle-to-vehicle communications channel, many networking studies are currently simplifying and even neglecting the radio channel effects on the performance and operation of their protocols. As this work demonstrates, it is critical that realistic and accurate channel models are employed to adequately understand, design and optimize novel vehicular communications and networking protocols.     

Identification of Natural Products as Potential Pharmacological Chaperones for Protein Misfolding Diseases

Defective protein folding and accumulation of misfolded proteins is associated with neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, secretory, and metabolic disorders. Efforts are being made to identify small-molecule modulators or structural-correctors for conformationally destabilized proteins implicated in various protein aggregation diseases. Using a metastable-reporter-based primary screen, we evaluated pharmacological chaperone activity of a diverse class of natural products. We found that a flavonoid glycoside ( C-10 , chrysoeriol-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside) stabilizes metastable proteins, prevents its aggregation, and remodels the oligomers into protease-sensitive species. Data was corroborated with additional secondary screen with disease-specific pathogenic protein. In vitro and cell-based experiments showed that C-10 inhibits α-synuclein aggregation which is implicated in synucleinopathies-related neurodegeneration. C-10 interferes in its structural transition into β-sheeted fibrils and mitigates α-synuclein aggregation-associated cytotoxic effects. Computational modeling suggests that C-10 binds to unique sites in α-synuclein which may interfere in its aggregation amplification. These findings open an avenue for comprehensive SAR development for flavonoid glycosides as pharmacological chaperones for metastable and aggregation-prone proteins implicated in protein conformational diseases.     

Factorial design in optimization of the separation of uranium from yellowcake across a hollow fiber supported liquid membrane,with mass transport modeling

The extraction and stripping of uranium(VI) from other impurity elements in yellowcake was performed simultaneously in one stage by a hollow fiber supported liquid membrane. Uranium ions were selectively extracted from yellowcake using TBP as the extractant, while thorium and some rare earth elements were rejected in the raffinate. The optimization method was carried out using 3² factorial design. The concentration of nitric acid in the feed solution and the concentration of TBP in the liquid membrane were regarded as factors in the optimization. A mass transport model focusing on the boundary layer of the extraction side was also applied. The model can predict the concentration of uranium in the feed tank at different times. The validity of the developed model was statistically evaluated through a comparison with experimental data, and good agreement was obtained.     

Thermal Performance of a Closed-Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe With Multiple Heat Sources

A closed-loop pulsating heat pipe with multiple heat sources (CLPHP w/MHS) was invented to be used as a heat transfer medium between a number of heat sources to a single heat sink. However, an issue on the suitable heat source arrangement that causes the heat pipe to have the highest thermal performance was suspicious. The CLPHP w/MHS was made of a copper capillary tube with 32 turns. There were three heat sources with nonidentical input heat flux installed along a longitudinal axis in the evaporator section. Experimental investigations were conducted by permuting the heat sources into six unduplicated arrangements. For the vertical CLPHPs, the highest thermal performance is achieved when heat sources are arranged in consecutive order ascending from the lowest heat flux at the inlet of the evaporator section, since working fluid is promoted to circulate in complete one direction and then the heat can transfer more continuously. Finally, for the horizontal CLPHPs, the highest thermal performance is achieved when the heat sources are arranged in opposite order to the case of vertical CLPHPs, that is, descending from the highest heat flux, since working fluid pulsates with no intermission stop and this causes the heat transfer to be not interrupted.     

Image analysis to quantify histological and immunofluorescent staining of ex vivo skin and skin cell cultures

Image processing steps and analysis techniques were developed for the quantification of photomicrographs obtained from light and fluorescence microscopy. The substrates examined were either skin cell cultures, such as normal human keratinocytes (NHK) or fibroblasts, or ex vivo skin sections. Examples of the analyses are provided for the comparison of skincare active ingredient treated samples vs. placebo to demonstrate the utility of the methods to quantify and provide numerical data for a procedure that is typically qualitative in nature and based on observations by a histologist. Quantifiable experiments that are discussed include: Fontana Masson staining for melanin expression; Nile red staining to detect cellular lipid droplets; nuclei staining with diamidino‐phenylindole (DAPI); and immunofluorescent staining of protein expression with a primary antibody directed against the protein (antigen) and a secondary antibody tagged with a fluorescent dye (Alexa Fluor 488) against the primary antibody.     

蓝青蛙酒廊与录音棚

Serie建筑师事务所是一个国际化事务所,涉及的领域包括建筑、城市的设计。事务所关注于当代城市中建筑类型的进化和变异以及这些智慧形式在空间解决方案上的应用。类型学式的研究,或者用他们的名词,“连续”（SERIES）的思考和探索（利用建筑类型的累积智慧）是Serie作品的关键。     

Interface state densities, low frequency noise and electron mobility in surface channel In0.53Ga0.47As n-MOSFETs with a ZrO2 gate dielectric

This paper reports on an investigation of interface state densities, low frequency noise and electron mobility in surface channel In_0.53Ga_0.47As n-MOSFETs with a ZrO₂ gate dielectric. Interface state density values of D_it ∼ 5 × 10¹² cm⁻² eV⁻¹ were extracted using sub-threshold slope analysis and charge pumping technique. The same order of magnitude of trap density was found from low frequency noise measurements. A peak effective electron mobility of 1200 cm²/Vs has been achieved. For these surface channel In_0.53Ga_0.47As n-MOSFETs, it was found that η parameter, an empirical parameter used to calculate the effective electric field, was ∼0.55, and is to be comparable to the standard value found in Si device.     

Traffic congestion detection in large-scale scenarios using vehicle-to-vehicle communications

Cooperative vehicular systems are currently being investigated to design innovative ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) solutions for road traffic management and safety. Through the wireless exchange of information between vehicles, and between vehicles and infrastructure nodes, cooperative systems can support novel decentralized strategies for ubiquitous and more cost-attractive traffic monitoring. In this context, this paper presents and evaluates CoTEC (COperative Traffic congestion detECtion), a novel cooperative technique based on Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications designed to detect road traffic congestion. CoTEC is evaluated under large-scale highway scenarios using iTETRIS, a unique open source simulation platform created to investigate the impact of cooperative vehicular systems. The obtained results demonstrate CoTEC's capability to accurately detect and characterize road traffic congestion conditions under different traffic scenarios and V2V penetration rates. In particular, CoTEC results in congestion detection probabilities higher than 90%. These results are obtained without overloading the cooperative communications channel. In fact, CoTEC reduces the communications overhead needed to detect road traffic congestions compared to related techniques by 88%.