High-performance MIM capacitor using ALD high-k HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate dielectrics

For the first time, we successfully fabricated and demonstrated high performance metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate dielectric using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Our data indicates that the laminate MIM capacitor can provide high capacitance density of 12.8 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ from 10 kHz up to 20 GHz, very low leakage current of 3.2 /spl times/ 10/sup -8/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 3.3 V, small linear voltage coefficient of capacitance of 240 ppm/V together with quadratic one of 1830 ppm/V/sup 2/, temperature coefficient of capacitance of 182 ppm//spl deg/C, and high breakdown field of /spl sim/6 MV/cm as well as promising reliability. As a result, the HfO/sub 2/-Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ laminate is a very promising candidate for next generation MIM capacitor for radio frequency and mixed signal integrated circuit applications.     

Electrical stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex increases dopamine release in the striatum

Exogenous and endogenous glutamate has been shown to evoke dopamine (DA) release in the striatum using both in vitro and in vivo techniques. We hypothesized that stimulation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) would phasically enhance striatal DA release via the glutamatergic corticostriatal pathway. To test this hypothesis, in vivo brain microdialysis was employed to measure extracellular concentrations of DA in the striatum during electrical stimulation of the PFC. Five rats were implanted with bilateral electrodes located in the medial PFC and dialysis probes in the dorsal striatum. Two days later the PFC of these awake, freely moving rats was stimulated first at 50 microA and then at 100 microA for 20 minutes at 2-hour intervals. Both currents significantly increased DA release. Extracellular DA rose rapidly during stimulation, peaked immediately afterward, and then slowly returned to baseline values. Dopamine reached 118% of baseline values with 50 microA stimulation and 138% with 100 microA stimulation. Histologic analysis using the fluorescent retrograde dye Fluoro Gold confirmed that cells projecting to the vicinity of the striatal dialysis probe originated in the vicinity of the PFC electrodes. These results provide direct evidence for phasic, excitatory modulation of striatal DA release by the PFC.     

Improved atrial function in bicaval versus standard orthotopic techniques in cardiac transplantation

Atrial geometry is preserved in the bicaval technique of cardiac transplantation. Using Doppler echocardiography, we investigated the impact of this technique on preservation of atrial function and found that echocardiographic indexes of atrial function are improved in bicaval cardiac transplants versus the standard orthotopic transplants.     

Fixed-order H∞ compensator design

A method is presented for the construction of fixed-order compensators to provide H_∞ norm constraint for linear control systems with exogenous disturbances. The method is based on the celebrated bounded-real lemma that predicates the H_∞ norm constraint via a Riccati inequality. The synthesis of fixed-order controllers whose dimensions are less than the order of a given plant, is demonstrated by a set of sufficient conditions along with a numerical algorithm.     

Selection of network and learning parameters for an adaptive neural robotic control scheme

This paper presents the results of a study in the design of a neural network based adaptive robotic control scheme. The neural network used here is a two hidden layer feedforward network and the learning scheme is the well-known backpropagation algorithm. The neural network essentially provides the inverse of the plant and acts in conjunction with a standard PD controller in the feedback loop. The objective of the controller is to accurately control the end position of a single link manipulator in the presence of large payload variations, variations in the link length and also variations in the damping constant. Based on results of this study, guidelines are presented in selecting the number of neurons in the hidden layers and also the parameters for the learning scheme used for training the network. Results also indicate that increasing the number of neurons in the hidden layer will improve the convergence speed of learning scheme up to a certain limit beyond which the addition of neurons will cause oscillations and instability. Guidelines for selecting the proper learning rate, momentum and fast backpropagation constant that ensure stability and convergence are presented. Also, a relationship between the r.m.s. error and the number of iterations used in training the neural network is established.     

Pervasive 2007: It's about the User

Pervasive computing is as much about the user as it is about the technology. So, the Fifth International Conference on Pervasive Computing emphasized desirability rather than just feasibility. Featured themes included user benefits, human-computer interaction, group and social interactions, context awareness, finding and positioning people and objects, and personal privacy.     

Robust State Feedback Control Through Actuators With Generalized Sector Nonlinearities And Saturation

In control systems, actuators often have nonlinear characteristics that can not be neglected. For linear systems driven by actuators satisfying the generalized sector condition, a robust state feedback controller synthesis method is proposed to achieve the ultimate boundedness control. The method is based on the linear matrix inequality approach and is easy to apply. As an important special case of the generalized sector condition, the saturation characteristic of actuators is discussed separately, and non‐conservative results are obtained.     

Widespread microsatellite instability in sebaceous tumours of patients with the Muir-Torre syndrome

OBJECTIVE: Thoracic injury remains a major source of morbidity and mortality in urban trauma centers. With the advent and increasing expertise in video assisted thoracic surgery, this modality has become an attractive alternative in the management of patients with thoracic injury. This report will review our experience with video assisted thoracic surgery at a level I trauma center and attempt to further delineate the indications for and timing of thoracoscopy in thoracic trauma. METHODS: We identified 16 patients who had undergone video assisted thoracic surgery following chest trauma between July 1991 and June 1994. There were 15 penetrating and one blunt trauma. All 16 patients were initially treated with tube thoracostomy. From 0-20 days post-injury, video assisted thoracic surgery was attempted with either diagnostic or therapeutic intentions. RESULTS: Twelve of the 16 patients (75%) had successful thoracoscopy. Three patients had diaphragmatic injury excluded and nine patients had successful evacuation of clotted hemothoraces. Evacuation of clotted hemothorax up to 7 days post-injury was safe and easily accomplished. Four patients (25%) had unsuccessful thoracoscopy and were converted to standard thoracotomy; failure was attributed to either suboptimal single lung ventilation or severe pleural inflammatory reaction. The only death in the entire group occurred 10 days after a thoracotomy for retained hemothorax. The median post-operative hospital stay following successful video assisted thoracic surgery was 3.5 days. CONCLUSIONS: Video assisted thoracic surgery can be utilized as an effective and safe method for the initial diagnostic evaluation and surgical management of stable patients with penetrating thoracic trauma.     

Substrate-induced conformational change in a trimeric ornithine transcarbamoylase

The crystal structure of Escherichia coli ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTCase, EC 2.1.3.3) complexed with the bisubstrate analog N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-ornithine (PALO) has been determined at 2.8-A resolution. This research on the structure of a transcarbamoylase catalytic trimer with a substrate analog bound provides new insights into the linkages between substrate binding, protein-protein interactions, and conformational change. The structure was solved by molecular replacement with the Pseudomonas aeruginosa catabolic OTCase catalytic trimer (Villeret, V., Tricot, C., Stalon, V. & Dideberg, O. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92, 10762-10766; Protein Data Bank reference pdb 1otc) as the model and refined to a crystallographic R value of 21.3%. Each polypeptide chain folds into two domains, a carbamoyl phosphate binding domain and an L-ornithine binding domain. The bound inhibitor interacts with the side chains and/or backbone atoms of Lys-53, Ser-55, Thr-56, Arg-57, Thr-58, Arg-106, His-133, Asn-167, Asp-231, Met-236, Leu-274, Arg-319 as well as Gln-82 and Lys-86 from an adjacent chain. Comparison with the unligated P. aeruginosa catabolic OTCase structure indicates that binding of the substrate analog results in closure of the two domains of each chain. As in E. coli aspartate transcarbamoylase, the 240s loop undergoes the largest conformational change upon substrate binding. The clinical implications for human OTCase deficiency are discussed.