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The semaphorins represent a large family of signaling molecules with crucial roles in neuronal and cardiac development. While normal semaphorin function pertains largely to development, their involvement in malignancy is becoming increasingly evident. One member, Semaphorin 3C (SEMA3C), has been shown to drive a number of oncogenic programs, correlate inversely with cancer prognosis, and promote the progression of multiple different cancer types. This report surveys the body of knowledge surrounding SEMA3C as a therapeutic target in cancer. In particular, we summarize SEMA3C’s role as an autocrine andromedin in prostate cancer growth and survival and provide an overview of other cancer types that SEMA3C has been implicated in including pancreas, brain, breast, and stomach. We also propose molecular strategies that could potentially be deployed against SEMA3C as anticancer agents such as biologics, small molecules, monoclonal antibodies and antisense oligonucleotides. Finally, we discuss important considerations for the inhibition of SEMA3C as a cancer therapeutic agent.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary Risk Assessment and Management Program for Patients with Diabetes Mellitus (RAMP-DM) in reducing the risks of microvascular complications.This prospective cohort study was conducted with 29,670 propensity-score-matched RAMP-DM participants and diabetes patients under the usual primary care (14,835 in each group). Study endpoints were the first occurrence of any diabetic microvascular complications, non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy/preproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR/prePDR), sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) or blindness, nephropathy, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), neuropathy and lower-limb ulcers or amputation. Log-rank tests and multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regressions were employed to estimate between-group differences in incidences of study endpoints.After a median follow-up of 36 months with41,000 person-years in each group, RAMP-DM participants had a lower incidence of microvascular complications (760 vs 935; adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.66-0.81; P0.001) and lower incidences of all specific microvascular complications except neuropathy (adjusted HR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.61-1.45; P=0.778). Adjusted HRs for the RAMP-DM vs control group for ESRD, STDR or blindness, and lower-limb ulcers or amputation were 0.40 (95% CI: 0.24-0.69; P0.001), 0.55 (95% CI: 0.39-0.78; P=0.001) and 0.49 (95% CI: 0.30-0.80; P=0.005), respectively.The RAMP-DM intervention was associated with lower incidences of all microvascular complications except neuropathy over a 3-year follow-up. These encouraging results constitute evidence that structured risk assessment and risk-stratified management provided by a multidisciplinary team is effective for reducing microvascular complications in diabetes patients.NCT02034695, www.ClinicalTrials.gov.

Despite the amenability of early-stage prostate cancer to surgery and radiation therapy, locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer is clinically problematic. Chemical castration is often used as a first-line therapy for advanced disease, but progression to the castration-resistant prostate cancer phase occurs with dependable frequency, largely through mutations to the androgen receptor (AR), aberrant AR signaling, and AR-independent mechanisms, among other causes. Semaphorin 3C (SEMA3C) is a secreted signaling protein that is essential for cardiac and neuronal development and has been shown to be regulated by the AR, to drive epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and stem features in prostate cells, to activate receptor tyrosine kinases, and to promote cancer progression. Given that SEMA3C is linked to several key aspects of prostate cancer progression, we set out to explore SEMA3C inhibition by small molecules as a prospective cancer therapy. A homology-based SEMA3C protein structure was created, and its interaction with the neuropilin (NRP)-1 receptor was modeled to guide the development of the corresponding disrupting compounds. Experimental screening of 146 in silico‒identified molecules from the National Cancer Institute library led to the discovery of four promising candidates that effectively bind to SEMA3C, inhibit its association with NRP1, and attenuate prostate cancer growth. These findings provide proof of concept for the feasibility of inhibiting SEMA3C with small molecules as a therapeutic approach for prostate cancer.

A compact set of equations based on the multiple subbands quasi-ballistic transport theory is developed, and is used to investigate the channel electron effective mobility in recently reported In0.53Ga0.47As/Al2O3 tri-gate n-FinFET. The extracted electron effective mobility μn is around 370 cm2/V·s at low Vg - Vth bias at room temperature and decreases with increasing Vg, and increases with increasing temperature (240-332K). It is very different from the case of Si n-MOSFETs, where the electron mobility decreases with increasing temperature. The low channel effective mobility and the ab-normal temperature dependence of μn are ascribed to the high acceptor interface trap and border trap energy densities in the conduction band energy of InGaAs. The ballistic channel resistance RBall at low Vds is calculated and compared with the measured channel resistance RCH. The low transmission coefficient T = RBall/RCH ≈ 0.06 to 0.05 indicates that there is a large room to improve the InGaAs/Al2O3 n-FinFET performance.

The reliability performance of InxGa1-xAs n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with Al2O3 gate dielectric under positive-bias temperature instability stress is investigated systematically. A model of stress-induced border traps was proposed to interpret all charge pumping and I-V experimental results excellently. The stress-induced border traps include recoverable donor traps and permanent acceptor traps with respective energy densities ΔDSOXDonor(E) and ΔDSOXAcceptor(E) . The shapes of ΔDSOXDonor(E) and ΔDSOXAcceptor(E) have been extracted from experimental data. ΔDSOXAcceptor(E) mainly distributes in the conduction band of InGaAs with a tail extending to the mid-gap, whereas ΔDSOXDonor(E) has a large distribution inside the energy gap and extends to the conduction band. The high density of ΔDSOXDonor(E) in the energy gap induces large degradation in the off-current, which is particularly serious when the In composition x is raised to 0.65.

One of the major problems of p-i-n tunneling field-effect transistor (TFET) is the reliability due to the strong electric field near the tunneling junction. In this paper, using technology computer-aided design simulation, we show that the insertion of a thin n-layer into the tunneling junction of the p-i-n TFET (p-n-i-n TFET) not only enhances its drive current, as has been previously reported, but also improves its reliability. As compared with the conventional p-i-n TFET, we demonstrate the following properties of the p-n-i-n TFET: 1) The normal component of the electric field near the tunneling junction is reduced, and therefore, the field-driven interface-trap generation can be reduced. This can be further reduced by properly aligning the gate electrode with respect to the tunneling junction. 2) The threshold-voltage shift due to the dielectric charge generated near the tunneling junction is significantly reduced. 3) The variation of the threshold voltage to the oxide and bulk thickness variations is also reduced.

Sanitary sewage, oily wastewater, toxicant containing wastewater, and domestic solid wastes are major pollutants from ships threating inland water bodies. These pollutants are in significant volumes and wide ranges. Therefore, great efforts have been invested in inland ship water pollution control policy and regulations. A local ship pollution control decision evolution Game model based on bounded rationality is established to obtain the key factors affecting decision-making by ships in water pollution control include cost for pollution control, subsidies and credits, administrative supervision and punishment, while key factors affecting decision-making by authorities include cost for administrative supervision and pressures from supervisors caused by not taking supervisions, thus providing recommendations on policy and measures for inland ship pollution. This study provides references for establishment of inland ship pollution control system.

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is a key enzyme in fatty acid anabolism that plays an important role in the fat deposit of eukaryotic cells. Therefore, in this study, we detected 2 novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FASN gene in 313 adult individuals of Datong yak using polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism and DNA sequencing techniques. SNP g.5477CT is located in intron 3 of FASN, and 3 genotypes, HH, HG, and GG, were detected in this mutation site. SNP g.16930TA is located in exon 37 of FASN, and 2 genotypes, EE and EF, were detected in this site. Association analysis of these 2 SNPs with meat quality traits showed that in SNP g.5477CT, yaks with the HH genotype and HG genotype had significantly higher intramuscular fat content than individuals with the GG genotype (P0.01). In SNP g.16930TA, yaks with the EE genotype also had significantly higher IMF content than individuals with the EF genotype (P0.01). The results indicate that FASN may be used as a candidate gene affecting intramuscular fat content in Datong yaks.

In many fields of high-tech industry ultra-thin wall parts are employed. In this paper are reported experiments carried out to explore the surface microstructure of a camera’s guided draw-tube when applying an ultrasonic vibration cutting device to the traditional lathe. The influence rule of the cutting conditions on the surface roughness was put forward, which was drawn by comparing ultrasonic cutting with common cutting by use of a cemented carbide tool and a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool. The test results showed that the ultrasonic cutting performs better than the common cutting for the same conditions. According to the analysis of the test results, the surface characterization is influenced clearly by the rigidity of the acoustic system and the machine tool. Also it is dependent on the proper setting height of the tool tip, otherwise, dense regular low-frequency vibration ripples will be scraped on the ultrasonic machined surface, i.e., when the tool tip is set higher than the rotating center of the workpiece by three times the amplitude of ultrasonic vibration, the vibration ripples behave alight; on the other hand, they turn light and shade alternately when the tool tip is lower than the rotating center of the workpiece by three times the amplitude of ultrasonic vibration.

Copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) becomes more significant for solar cell applications as an alternative to silicon. The quality of the layer has a critical impact on the final efficiency of the solar cell. An influence of the post-deposition millisecond range flash lamp annealing on the optical and microstructural properties of the GIGS films was investigated. Based on the Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy, it is shown that flash lamp annealing reduces the defect concentration and leads to an increase of the photoluminescence intensity by a factor of six compared to the nonannealed sample. Moreover, after flash lamp annealing the degradation of the photoluminescence is significantly suppressed and the absolute absorption in the wavelength range of 200-1200 nm increases by 25%.

In this letter, we report for the first time the degradation mechanism of drain current in tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs). Using positive-bias and hot-carrier (HC) stress experiments and TCAD simulation, we show that the drain current degradation is mainly induced by the interface traps and/or oxide charge located above the tunneling region, causing reduction of tunneling field and tunneling current. The interface traps mainly induce the degradation in transconductance, while the oxide charge essentially causes a threshold-voltage shift in TFETs. The results show that the interface-trap generation is dominant under a positive-bias stress, while the oxide-charge creation is important under an HC stress in n-TFETs.

We report, for the first time, the reliability issues of tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) by experiments. We observed that the overall reliability performance of n-TFETs is very different from those of the conventional n-MOSFET. The degradation of n-TFETs under positive bias temperature instability (PBTI) stress is very large compared with the negligible degradation for the conventional n-MOSFET. The degradation of n-TFETs under hot-carrier stress is also larger than that in the conventional n-MOSFET and has a different temperature dependence. The shifts of the I d- V g curves under PBTI stress are not parallel in the strong inversion region as in the case of the conventional n-MOSFET. The different degradation behaviors are explained by different degradation mechanisms due to some inherent properties of TFETs.

The reliability performance of InxGa1-xAs n-MOSFETs with Al2O3 gate dielectric under positive-bias temperature instability stress is investigated. The following new phenomena are demonstrated: 1) There are high densities of fast interface traps N-it and slow oxide border traps N-SOX near the interface between InGaAs and Al2O3. The border traps are more fragile under stress, and therefore, the stress mainly induces border traps. 2) The stress-induced border traps consist of permanent acceptor traps and recoverable donor traps. Acceptor trap energy density Delta D-SOX(Acceptor) (E) is mainly distributed above the conduction band edge E-c of InGaAs with a tail extending to the midgap, whereas donor trap energy density Delta D-SOX(Donor) (E) has a large distribution inside the InGaAs energy gap with a tail extending to the conduction band. 3) Flicker noise variation after stress and its correlation to the acceptor and donor trap generation and recovery are demonstrated. 4) The recoverable donor traps induce the subthreshold slope and off-current degradation in the stress phase and recover in the recovery phase and also induce continuous degradation of on-current in the recovery phase. The permanent acceptor traps induce the transconductance and on-current degradation. The long-term device lifetime is mainly determined by the generation rate of the acceptor traps. 5) Comprehensive comparison between the Si and InGaAs MOSFETs' degradation behaviors under bias temperature instability stress is presented. The physical recovery of donor oxide traps in dielectric in InGaAs/Al2O3 has never been observed in a Si MOS structure, deserving special attention and further investigation.

Conference Theme: Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research in Asia-Pacific: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Direction

Reliability of InGaAs inversion channel n-MOSFET is investigated by systematic PBTI (positive bias temperature instability) stresses. The very complicated degradation phenomena are totally different from Si based MOSFETs. The degradation is mainly contributed by the generation of border traps under stress with recoverable donor trap of energy density ΔD SOX DONOR in the InGaAs energy gap with a tail extending to the conduction band energy, and with permanent acceptor trap of energy density ΔD SOX ACCEPTOR in the conduction band energy with a tail extending to the energy gap. The border trap model can explain all the experimental details of the PBTI degradation phenomena.

CMOS device degradations such as negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) and hot carrier injection (HCI) have been extensively investigated. However, the relationship between the device degradation and the circuit reliability is not well established. In this paper, we propose a model for the frequency degradation of the ring oscillator (RO) after static stress based on the device degradations of NBTI. The model is demonstrated by using the SMIC 65nm technology. We found that the frequency degradation is much significant for the RO consisting of short (60 nm) channel devices as compared to that of long (130 nm) channel devices. The difference is essentially due to the HCI which dominates the degradation of the RO consisting of short channel devices. Combine the proposed model and the frequency degradation of the RO under dynamic stress, the contribution of NBTI and HCI is distinguished.

CP measurements show that PBTI stress induced interface trap area density ΔN it in InGaAs/Al 2 O 3 n-MOSFET is very small and has power law time evolution At0.22 in the stress phase, and is partially recovered in the recovery phase. However the DC I s -V g measurements show large degradations of negative ΔV g and sub-threshold swing S in the sub-threshold region and are recovered in the recovery phase, also show degradation of positive ΔV g in the on-current region and continuing degradation in the recovery phase until reaching a stable state. The I s -V g degradation is mainly contributed by generation of near interface slow oxide traps under stress with recoverable donor trap energy density ΔD SOX DONOR in the InGaAs energy gap with a tail extended to the conduction band energy, and permanent acceptor trap energy density ΔD SOX ACCEPTOR in the conduction band energy with a tail extended to the energy gap. This trap model explains all experimental details perfectly.

Two modes could be adopted such as pulverizing coal in different mills’ and ‘blending before furnace’. When blending different kind of coal, for “blending before furnace ’that means the different coals are blended previously before they are transported into Coal bunker and different mills pulverize same raw coal; on the other hand, Pulverizing coal in different mills’ means that different raw coals enter different mills, that is to say, different mills pulverize different raw coal. It is often held that it is unnecessary to optimize coal-blending mode since there are no essential difference of combustion characteristic etc. between anthracites. To determine the necessity of optimize mode when blending one anthracite with another anthracite, numerical simulation is carried out under different conditions using dual-mixture fraction/PDF approach. The calculated result shows that the furnace temperature field, oxygen distribution and velocity field are quite symmetrical under the ‘blending before furnace mode. But In contrast of that on the mode of pulverizing coal in different mills, the burn-off degree of powder coal and furnace outlet temperature are much lower. Even if using the same ‘pulverizing coal in different mills’ mode, if the mills running mode is changed, the efficiency of the boiler exist a gap from one to another. The simulation results prove that ‘pulverizing coal in different mills’ can enhance the combustion efficiency of boiler greatly even when one kind of anthracite is blended with another kind of anthracite. The operation mode of the coal-mills affect the furnace temperature field clearly and it could decrease coking tendency when the coal which is prone to be coked and so it is arranged far from the side wall of furnace.Copyright © 2011 by ASME

This paper summarizes our recent investigations of nano-wire n type tunneling field effect transistor (n-TFET) reliability by experimental measurements and physical analysis [1–3]. Large PBTI and HC degradations which are very different from those in conventional n-MOSFETs were observed. The results are interpreted by different degradation mechanism in TFET.

Tunneling n-FET reliability performance is studied for the first time by physical analysis and experimental measurements. (1) A new degradation mechanism by interface trap induced change of tunneling field and current I d is demonstrated. (2) Under PBTI or HC stress, there is a strong peak of vertical electric field E x at the gate/source overlapping region due to the P+ doping of the source, inducing high interface trap degradation. These explain the large PBTI and HC degradation, very different from those observed in conventional n-MOSFETs.

Numerical simulation had become an attractive method to carry out researches on structure design and aerodynamic performance prediction of straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine, while the prediction accuracy was the major concern of CFD. Based on the present two-dimensional CFD model, a series of systematic investigations were conducted to analyze the effects of computational domain, grid number, near-wall grid, and time step on prediction accuracy. And then efforts were devoted into prediction and analysis of the overall flow field, dynamic performance of blades, and its aerodynamic forces. The calculated results agree well with experimental data, and it demonstrates that RNG k-ε turbulent model is great to predict the tendency of aerodynamic forces but with a high estimate value of turbulence viscosity coefficient. Furthermore, the calculated tangential force is more dependent on near-wall grid and prediction accuracy is poor within the region with serious dynamic stall. In addition, blades experience mild and deep stalls at low tip speed ratio, and thus the leading edge separation vortex and its movement on the airfoil surface have a significant impact on the aerodynamic performance.

Because of its high machining efficiency and good machining quality, ultrasonic hone-lapping with fixed abrasive material is regarded as a good method of cylindrical machining for hard-brittle materials. But it is relatively difficult to design the acoustic system in ultrasonic hone-lapping tool due to the complicated shape of hone-lapping segment. In this paper, allowing for the advantages of finite element method in vibration analysis, the vibration characteristics of hone-lapping segment were studied by means of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software. Through the modal analysis and harmonic analysis, the optimum installation position of hone-lapping oilstone and the optimal exciting frequency were confirmed. Finally, contrast experiments of ultrasonic and conventional hone-lapping were carried out to validate the grinding performance of the tool designed in the paper.