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Here we report on a two year continuous survey to examine possible VLF signals associated with meteors brighter than magnitude -5. Our survey allowed both calibrated temporal and spatial correlations between VLF signals and fireball lightcurves. We used continuous observations from the Atmospheric Weather Electromagnetic System for Observation Modeling and Education (AWESOME) VLF receiver system (Cohen et al., 2010) deployed at the Elginfield Observatory near London, Ontario, Canada (43N, 81W) to monitor VLF radio signals and correlate with all-sky video recordings of fireballs. This survey from May 2017 to March 2019 was cued using fireballs detected by the Southern Ontario Meteor Network (Brown et al., 2010; Weryk et al., 2007). The GPS conditioned timing of the AWESOME system was continuously synchronized with video recordings directly in the video stream to ensure sub-frame VLF-optical time calibration. The AWESOME system has two orthogonal VLF antennas which permits directional calculation of incoming VLF signals, which were compared to the apparent optically measured locations of simultaneously detected fireballs. VLF events potentially linked to fireballs were checked against the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) database to remove false positive association with lightning. During the two year survey interval, over 80 bright meteors (apparent magnitude brighter than -5, brightest recorded event -7.8) were detected and compared to VLF signals detected by the AWESOME system. No definitive evidence was found for VLF emission from meteors up to a limiting magnitude of -7.8., Comment: 51 pages; accepted for publication in Planetary and Space Science

Background & Aims Perpetuate liver inflammation is crucial in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Expression of CXCL10, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, correlates positively with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Whether CXCL10 plays a role in NASH was unknown. We aimed to investigate the functional and clinical impact of CXCL10 in NASH. Methods Cxcl10 gene-deleted ( Cxcl10 −/− ) and C57BL/6 wild type (WT) mice were fed a methionine- and choline-deficient (MCD) diet for 4 or 8weeks. In other experiments, we injected neutralizing anti-CXCL10 mAb into MCD-fed WT mice. Human serum was obtained from 147 patients with biopsy-proven non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and 73 control subjects. Results WT mice, fed the MCD diet, developed steatohepatitis with higher hepatic CXCL10 expression. Cxcl10 −/− mice were refractory to MCD-induced steatohepatitis. We further revealed that CXCL10 was associated with the induction of important pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and MCP-1) and activation of the NF-κB pathway. CXCL10 was linked to steatosis through upregulation of the lipogenic factors SREBP-1c and LXR, and also to oxidative stress (upregulation of CYP2E1 and C/EBPβ). Blockade of CXCL10 protected against hepatocyte injury in vitro and against steatohepatitis development in mice. We further investigated the clinical impact of CXCL10 and found circulating and hepatic CXCL10 levels were significantly higher in human NASH. Importantly, the circulating CXCL10 level was correlated with the degree of lobular inflammation and was an independent risk factor for NASH patients. Conclusions We demonstrate for the first time that CXCL10 plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of experimental steatohepatitis. CXCL10 maybe a potential non-invasive biomarker for NASH patients.

This work demonstrates that the ~2times mobility advantage of (110) PMOS over (100) PMOS is maintained down to 190 nm liners poly-pitch for devices under compressive stress. (110) PMOS with 3.5 GPa compressively stressed liners demonstrate strong channel drives with Ion=800 muA/mum at Ioff=100 nA/mum (Vdd=10 V) for 190 nm poly-pitch, the highest reported to date for 45-nm-node (110) PMOS using conventional gate dielectrics without eSiGe stressors. Additionally, (110) PMOS show better scalability, with 15% smaller total Ion degradation than (100) PMOS when poly-pitch scales from 250 nm to 190 nm.

We present a 45-nm SOI CMOS technology that features: i) aggressive ground-rule (GR) scaling enabled by 1.2NA/193nm immersion lithography, ii) high-performance FET response enabled by the integration of multiple advanced strain and activation techniques, iii) a functional SRAM with cell size of 0.37mum2, and iv) a porous low-k (k=2.4) dielectric for minimized back-end wiring delay. The list of FET-specific performance elements includes enhanced dual-stress liner (DSL), advanced eSiGe, stress memorization (SMT), and advanced anneal (AA). The resulting PFET/NFET Idsat values, at Vdd of 1.0V and 45nm GR gate pitch, are 840muA/mum and 1240muA/mum respectively. The global wiring delay achieved with k=2.4 reflects a 20% reduction compared to k=3.0

A key challenge for high performance CMOS devices is the external parasitic resistance. This paper addresses scaling trends of contact level and discusses emerging constraints related to the properties of materials used in the current technology. Experimental and theoretical data presented herein are critical in understanding CA challenges beyond the 45 nm technology node and show great potential for copper as the alternative to tungsten process for CA metallization

The present invention provides an improved amorphization/templated recrystallization (ATR) method for fabricating low-defect-density hybrid orientation substrates. ATR methods for hybrid orientation substrate fabrication generally start with a Si layer having a first orientation bonded to a second Si layer or substrate having a second orientation. Selected regions of the first Si layer are amorphized and then recrystallized into the orientation of the second Si layer by using the second Si layer as a template. The process flow of the present invention solves two major difficulties not disclosed by prior art ATR methods: the creation of “corner defects” at the edges of amorphized Si regions bounded by trenches, and undesired orientation changes during a high temperature post-recrystallization defect-removal annealing of non-ATR'd regions not bounded by trenches. In particular, this invention provides a process flow comprising the steps of (i) amorphization and low-temperature recrystallization performed in substrate regions free of trenches, (ii) formation of trench isolation regions that subsume the defective regions at the edge of the ATR'd regions, and (iii) a high-temperature defect-removal anneal performed with the trench isolation regions in place.

New classes of high dielectric constant materials based on binary and ternary amorphous metal oxides will be discussed. These films are compatible with low temperature processing within the metal layers of a circuit and can therefore be used with conventional metal electrodes like TiN. Different classes of mixed metal oxides will be discussed that are based on alloys of tantalum oxide and titanium oxide.

As the Internet grows quickly, more and more services are available. How to provide high quality, convenient, and personalized services to users are the important issues for Internet service providers to keep customers connected to their Web sites. The directory is an important part of Internet technology used to support such needs. It exists in a multitude of applications ranging from operating systems, asset management systems, security systems, etc. Furthermore, The Gartner Group, a market research firm, predicts that 40% to 90% of new software and hardware will be directory related products, at end of the period 2001 to 2003. In the directory industry, we can divide products into 3 fields: directory server, management system, and directory application. The management system is one of the important parts of directory services. The directory management system is focused on non-Web-based systems. While directory services are applied on Internet services, it is necessary to provide a Web-based management interface. This interface will provide the advantages of ubiquity, cross platform, thin client, and reduced TCO (total cost of ownership). We proposed and implemented a Web-based lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) management architecture to provide such benefits and to manage multiple LDAP servers. We used the standard protocol and popular software of Internet technology usually used to build the system, so the system is easy to be ported and minimized the changes of the original system. In addition, we also considered the security factors while designing and constructing the system.