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Mo0.67W0.33Se2 devices show gate-voltage-induced electrical phase transitions.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate ichroma™ IGRA-TB, a novel point-of-care platform for assaying IFN-γ release, and to compare it with QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited 60 healthy subjects, and blood samples were obtained in QFT-GIT blood collection tubes. The blood collection tubes were incubated at 37°C, and culture supernatant was harvested after 18-24 hours. IFN-γ responses were assessed by the ichroma™ IGRA-TB cartridge and the QFT-GIT IFN-γ enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Three active TB patients were recruited as a positive control for M. tb infection. RESULTS: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the ichroma™ IGRA-TB test for differentiating between infected and non-infected individuals was 0.9706 (p

Various intriguing quantum transport measurements for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based on their unique electronic band structures have been performed adopting a field-effect transistor (FET), where the contact resistance represents the interaction between the one-dimensional and three-dimensional systems. Recently, van der Waals (vdW) gap tunneling spectroscopy for single-walled CNTs with indium–metal contacts was performed adopting an FET device, providing the direct assignment of the subband location in terms of the current–voltage characteristic. Here, we extend the vdW gap tunneling spectroscopy to multi-walled CNTs, which provides transport spectroscopy in a tunneling regime of ~1 eV, directly reflecting the electronic density of states. This new quantum transport regime may allow the development of novel quantum devices by selective electron (or hole) injection to specific subbands.

We compared the performance of a fluorescence lateral flow assay (ichroma™ IGRA-TB) with the QuantiFERON-TB Gold PLUS (QFT-PLUS) for the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) prior to receiving biologics therapy.The comparability of the ichroma™ IGRA-TB assay with the QFT-PLUS assay for the diagnosis of LTBI was determined in prospectively enrolled patients with IMID prior to receiving biologics between August 2018 and October 2019. To determine the best cut-off value of the ichroma™ IGRA-TB, an ROC curve analysis was performed.Patients with IMID (n = 145) had inflammatory bowel disease (n = 83; 57.2%), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 44; 30.3%), or spondyloarthropathy (n = 18; 12.4%). The median age was 40.5 (interquartile range: 27.0-56.0), 72 (49.7%) were men, and 140 (96.6%) received BCG vaccination. With the manufacturer-recommended cut-off values, 11 (7.6%) and 20 (13.8%) patients showed positive results with the ichroma™ IGRA-TB and QFT-PLUS tests, respectively. The overall agreement between the two tests was 91.0% with a Cohen's kappa value of 0.535 (95% confidence interval: 0.317-0.754). ROC curve analysis of the QFT-PLUS results showed that a cut-off value of0.21 IU/mL would improve the performance of the ichroma™ IGRA-TB. Using the new cut-off value, the concordance rate was improved to 93.1% with a Cohen's kappa value of 0.668 (95% confidence interval: 0.478-0.858).The ichroma™ IGRA-TB could be used as a point-of-care test for LTBI screening in IMID patients before starting biologics, especially in resource-limited settings. Key Points • The ichroma™ IGRA-TB is an automated fluorescence lateral flow assay-based IGRA. • The test has advantages like short turn-around time, low-cost, and ease of use. • The ichroma™ IGRA-TB showed high agreement with the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube in patients with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases before starting biologics.

We demonstrate a gate-tunable quantum dot (QD) located between two potential barriers defined in a few-layer MoS

The achievement of ultraclean Ohmic van der Waals (vdW) contacts at metal/transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) interfaces would represent a critical step for the development of high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. Herein, we report the fabrication of ultraclean vdW contacts between indium (In) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and the clarification of the atomistic origins of its Ohmic-like transport properties. Atomically clean In/MoS2 vdW contacts are achieved by evaporating In with a relatively low thermal energy and subsequently cooling the substrate holder down to ~100 K by liquid nitrogen. We reveal that the high-quality In/MoS2 vdW contacts are characterized by a small interfacial charge transfer and the Ohmic-like transport based on the field-emission mechanism over a wide temperature range from 2.4 to 300 K. Accordingly, the contact resistance reaches ~600 Ω μm and ~1000 Ω μm at cryogenic temperatures for the few-layer and monolayer MoS2 cases, respectively. Density functional calculations show that the formation of large in-gap states due to the hybridization between In and MoS2 conduction band edge states is the microscopic origins of the Ohmic charge injection. We suggest that seeking a mechanism to generate strong density of in-gap states while maintaining the pristine contact geometry with marginal interfacial charge transfer could be a general strategy to simultaneously avoid Fermi-level pinning and minimize contact resistance for 2D vdW materials.

The present study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes between pregnant women and non-pregnant women of childbearing age (20–49 years old) diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Korea. This nationwide observational study included the information of COVID-19 patients collected by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency from January 2020 to April 2021. Among 5,647 COVID-19 patients, 2,444 (43.3%) were women of childbearing age and 19 were pregnant. None of the pregnant women died. However, 4 deaths occurred among non-pregnant women aged 20–49 years. None of the 19 pregnant women with COVID-19 were admitted to the intensive care unit: they were admitted to the general ward, and none of them required supplemental oxygen. In conclusion, none of the pregnant women with COVID-19 experienced severe infection or death, unlike non-pregnant women of childbearing age., Graphical Abstract

An inability to precisely control doping has hindered the development of electrically reliable and predictable low-dimensional devices. Here, we demonstrated a modulation of electronic bands of one-dimensional carbon nanotubes (CNTs) over a wide range by using metal electrodes having almost the same work function as the CNT in a dual-gate mode. Gate-response curves obtained from Ti versus In metal-contacted devices showed opposite behaviors in shape and magnitude in an ambipolar state, which was shown to be due to the difference between the pinned positions of their Fermi levels in the band gap of the CNT with different work functions of the metals. By varying the gate-bias voltages of the dual gates, we successfully demonstrated that the electronic band profile of the CNT can be modulated precisely and over a wide range to higher and lower energy levels, resulting in the ability to have it form p-metal, p-type semiconductor, ambipolar, n-type semiconductor, and n-metallic electronic states.

As a consequence of their unique electronic band structures, low-dimensional materials such as one-dimensional (1D) single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), 2D graphene and various 2D transition-metal dichalcogenides have exhibited intriguing electrical transport properties when incorporated into field-effect transistors. Meanwhile, the van-der-Waals (vdW) interfaces between top-contacted metals and low-dimensional materials have become a challenging issue for future high-performance electronics. Here, we report a new aspect of vdW interface that offers vdW-gap tunneling spectroscopy by adopting indium (In) as a top-contacted metal on SWCNTs without an artificial insulating tunnel barrier. We show that multiple differential conductance peaks for varying bias voltages correspond to the van Hove singularities existing in the electronic density of states of SWCNTs. Our first-principles calculations reveal that In forms a physisorption interface with a considerable vdW gap, which causes little disruption to the density of states of the SWCNTs near the metal interface and which thus allows vdW-gap tunneling spectroscopy.

We demonstrate a gate-tunable quantum dot (QD) located between two potential barriers defined in a few-layer MoS2. Although both local gates used to tune the potential barriers have disorder-induced QDs, we observe diagonal current stripes in current resonant islands formed by the alignment of the Fermi levels of the electrodes and the energy levels of the disorder-induced QDs, as evidence of the gate-tunable QD. We demonstrate that the charging energy of the designed QD can be tuned in the range of 2–6 meV by changing the local-gate voltages in ∼1 V.

The user increases around the WiBro and in which the mobile broad band service is the wireless internet base technology HSDPA, that is the cellular phone foundation technique, and moreover the issue about the user effective quality guarantee emerges but the quality control of the wireless network is the incomplete actual condition. Therefore, the reliability verification according to the development of the system for the performance measure for the continued wireless data service and it and evaluation are needed for the quality control. In this paper, the wireless data service quality measurement system was implemented with the design. The same test environment as the existing network performance measurement program was built for the reliability verification of the embodied device for measuring quality and evaluation and the cost performance was performed. It could confirm that design and embodied wireless data service quality measurement system operated accurately in this paper through the quality measure result value analysis.

The brake system is very important part of the machine working. The mooring winch brake holds the ship on the harbor. But sometimes it appeared the excessive stress and brake lining would be broken. So it is necessary to change the shape of brake system with improve the durability of brake band. In this research, three models, such as a single brake shoe with a uniform thickness, a dual brake shoe with a uniform thickness, and a dual brake shoe with different thickness, are adopted as analytic model. In order to evaluate the strength of band brake according to the shape of brake shoe, the finite element analysis for three models is carried out by using ANSYS Workbench.

For signal amplification without an additional operation step in a gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based lateral flow assay (LFA), a new and simple method utilizing two AuNP-antibody conjugates was developed. The 1st conjugate was the AuNP immobilized with an anti-troponin I antibody and blocked with bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the 2nd conjugate was the AuNP immobilized with an anti-BSA antibody and blocked with human serum albumin. The two conjugates were encapsulated in different pads, respectively. A scheme of the LFA system is described in the part A of first figure. The size of the two conjugates was very critical in the detection sensitivity of troponin I. When 10nm for the 1st and 40 nm for the 2nd were used, the detection sensitivity increased about a 100-fold compared to the conventional LFA. We could detect as low as 0.01 ng/mL troponin I in 10 min using the dual AuNP conjugate-based LFA, which was successfully applied in the analysis of serum samples of patients with myocardial infarction.

A rational strategy for the rapid establishment of a sensitive sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbant assay was developed. The kinetic properties required for the solid-phase and enzyme-conjugated antibodies of sandwich ELISA were determined rationally on the basis of a kinetic model describing antibody-antigen interaction. Some antibodies possessing the required kinetic properties against a model antigen, C-reactive protein (CRP), were successfully isolated from a phage antibody library under the screening conditions that were designed on the basis of simulation results. The best combination of solid-phase and enzyme-conjugated antibodies that gives the most sensitive sandwich ELISA was determined by simulation on the basis of the apparent association and dissociation rate constants of the isolated antibodies. It was confirmed by experiment that the sandwich ELISA using the best combination of antibodies was actually the most sensitive one. Our strategy would be useful for the rapid establishment of sensitive sandwich ELISAs compared with the traditional hybridoma method in which the best condition is determined by trial and error.

The limit of detection (LOD) and range of quantitation (ROQ) of competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were determined from a model describing the calibration curve and precision profile of the assay. The calibration curve is given by solving the differential equations describing the change in the concentrations of an antigen-antibody complex and an enzyme-conjugated antigen-antibody complex by a Runge-Kutta method. The precision profile is described in terms of possible error sources such as the pipetting volumes of the analyte, enzyme-conjugated antigen, antibody and substrate solutions, calibration curve and inherent absorbances between the wells in an ELISA plate. An appropriate concentration of the enzyme-conjugated antigen that balances a low detection limit and sufficient color development was found to be in a narrow range, which is consistent with the empirical rule. The optimum conditions for competitive ELISA using an antibody with a kinetic property can be designed from our model.

The mathematical model for predicting the precision, limit of detection (LOD) and range of quantitation (ROQ) in a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) proposed by Hayashi et al. (Anal. Chem., 2004, 76, 1295) was validated. The model describes the relative standard deviation (RSD) of concentration estimates by the RSDs of pipetting volumes of analyte, enzyme-conjugated antigen, antibody and substrate solutions, and the standard deviation (SD) of inherent absorbances between the wells in an ELISA plate. For 6 kinds of direct competitive ELISA kits, the LOD and ROQ predicted by the model agreed well with those obtained by experiments with real samples. It was also confirmed that the model is applicable to the prediction of uncertainty that depends on the pipetting error of the viscous antiserum solution. The model was demonstrated to be useful for estimating the LOD and ROQ of competitive ELISA.

Tolerance analysis method for natural frequencies of multi-body systems having a equilibrium position is suggested in this paper. To perform the tolerance analysis, the Monte-Carlo Method is conventionally employed. However, the Monte-Carlo Method has some weakness; spending too much time for analysis and having a low accuracy and hard to converge in the dynamical unstable area. To resolve these problems, a tolerance analysis method is suggested in this paper. Sensitivity equations of natural frequencies are derived at the equilibrium position. By employing the sensitivity information of mass, damping and stiffness matrices, the sensitivity of natural frequencies can be calculated.

The operation error of a robot that occurs inevitably due to the manufacturing tolerance needs to be controlled within a certain range to achieve proper performance of the robot system. The reduction of manufacturing tolerance, however, increases the manufacturing cost in return. Therefore, design engineers try to solve the problem of maximizing the tolerance to reduce the manufacturing cost while minimizing the operation error to satisfy the performance requirement. In the present study, a revolute joint model considering uncertainties due to joint clearance is employed to perform a reliability analysis of the robot manipulator operation. The reliability analysis procedure employs single Monte-Carlo simulation and a statistical relation between the tolerance and the operation error. Significant reduction of computing time can be achieved with the proposed method. The present method is especially effective if sensitivity information is hard to be obtained for the analysis.

Nowadays, digital manufacturing has been known to be very effective method in manufacturing fields. It is aimed to estimate process time, to improve operation efficiency, and to prevent bottleneck processes in advance of real manufacturing. This paper addresses a scheduling support system for panel hues in a shipyard through digital manufacturing simulation. The proposed system supports operators to make better decisions on the shop-floor scheduling in panel lines. It ,would provide a complete schedule that is at least as good as any schedule currently obtained. Furthermore, it can evaluate the operator`s schedule by simulating it with 3-dimensional models before the work orders and schedules are released.

The modal characteristics of constrained multibody systems undergoing rotational motion are investigated in this paper. Relative co-ordinates are employed to derive the equations of motion, which are generally non-linear in terms of the co-ordinates. The dynamic equilibrium position of a constrained multibody system needs to be obtained from the non-linear equations of motion, which are then linearized at the dynamic equilibrium position. The mass and the stiffness matrices for the modal analysis can be obtained from the linearized equations of motion. To verify the effectiveness and the accuracy of the proposed method, numerical examples are solved and the results obtained by using the proposed method are compared with analytical and numerical results obtained by other methods. The proposed method can be used effectively for the design of constrained multibody systems undergoing rotational motion.

A method of dynamic analysis of mechanical systems considering probabilistic properties is proposed in this paper Probabilistic properties that result from manufacturing tolerances can be represented by means and standard deviations (or variances) The probabilistic characteristics of dynamic responses of constrained multi-body systems are obtained by two ways the proposed analytical approach and the Monte Carlo simulation The former necessitates sensitivity information to calculate the standard deviations In this paper, a direct differentiation method is employed to find the sensitivities of constrained multi-body systems To verify the accuracy of the proposed method, numerical examples are solved and the results obtained by using the proposed method are compared to those obtained by Monte Carlo simulation

The modal characteristics of constrained multibody systems undergoing constant accelerated motions are investigated in this paper. Relative coordinates are employed to derive the equations of motion, which are generally nonlinear in terms of the coordinates. The dynamic equilibrium position of a constrained multibody system needs to be obtained from the nonlinear equations of motion, which are then linearized at the dynamic equilibrium position. The mass and the stiffness matrices for the modal analysis can be obtained from the linearized equations of motion. To verify the effectiveness and the accuracy of the proposed method, two numerical examples are solved and the results obtained by using the proposed method are compared with those obtained by analytical and other numerical methods. The proposed method is found to be accurate as well as effective in predicting the modal characteristics of constrained multibody systems undergoing constant accelerated motions.

A formulation which seeks steady-state equilibrium positions of constrained multibody systems driven by constant generalized speeds is presented in this paper. Since the relative coordinates are employed, constraint equations at cut joints are incorporated into the formulation. To obtain the steady-state equilibrium position of a multibody system, nonlinear equations are derived and solved iteratively. The nonlinear equations consist of the force equilibrium equations and the kinematic constraint equations. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed formulation, two numerical examples are solved and the results are compared with those of a commercial program.

A gold nanorod (GNR) based LSPR sensor has been developed for label-free detection of C-reactive protein (CRP). The sensor utilizes a single chain variable fragment (scFv) as a receptor to bind CRP. The results of this effort show that CRP in human serum can be quantitatively detected at lower than 1 ng mL(-1).

Single-chain Fv antibodies (scFv) genetically fused with polystyrene-binding peptides (PS-tags, (PS19-1; RAFIASRRIRRP, PS19-6; RIIIRRIRR)) were generated by recombinant Escherichia coli for direct and site-specific immobilization of scFv on polystyrene supports with high antigen-binding activity. PS-tag-fused scFvs (scFv-PS-tags) specific for human C-reactive protein (CRP) were successfully over-expressed as an inclusion body and were refolded using the batch-dilution method. When scFv-PS-tags were immobilized on a hydrophilic PS (phi-PS) plate in the presence of Tween 20, they showed high antigen-binding activity comparable to, or greater than, that of a whole monoclonal antibody (mAb) on a hydrophobic PS (pho-PS) plate, which has been the exclusive method for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Furthermore, when a scFv-PS-tag was used as a ligand antibody in one- and two-step ELISA, the assay time was reduced without loss of sensitivity. These results indicate that strong and specific attachment of PS-tags onto the phi-PS surface prevented scFv conformational changes and consequently, the high antigen-binding activities of scFvs were preserved. Nearly identical results were obtained by use of PS-tag-fused scFvs with different VH/VL pairs. Therefore, a variety of scFvs could be functionalized onto phi-PS plates by genetic fusion of PS-tags. ScFv-PS-tags, which possess high antigen-binding activity on the phi-PS plate, are more useful ligand antibodies than whole mAbs. Thus, scFv-PS-tags are applicable in both clinical diagnosis and proteomic research.

The operating positional error of a robot manipulator, which develops inevitably because of manufacturing tolerances and assembly clearances, is preferentially maintained within a certain range in order to achieve an acceptable level of performance and accuracy. Because additional cost is incurred when manufacturing tolerances are tightened, an alternative design strategy maximizes the tolerances (so as to reduce the cost) while minimizing positioning error (to satisfy a performance requirement). In this paper, a new joint clearance model is developed for spatial mechanisms that incorporate revolute joints, which in turn are subjected to specified tolerance or uncertainty in the orientation of their axes. Statistical design parameters related to variations of link length and joint axis orientation are identified from the clearance model. The statistical influence of the design parameters on the robot manipulator’s response is investigated through a general multibody dynamics sensitivity formulation. The method offers substantial improvement in computational efficiency when compared to the Monte Carlo procedure. The uncertainty in orientation of a revolute joint’s axis influences the positioning accuracy of the robot manipulator’s response to a greater degree than does uncertainty in the length of a link.Copyright © 2007 by ASME

A general formulation for the tolerance analysis of dynamic equilibria in multibody systems having prescribed rotational motion is developed. In a state of dynamic equilibrium, a subset of generalized coordinates assume constant values, while the remaining coordinates vary and respond in time. Applications in which multibody systems exhibit dynamic equilibria include robots, spacecraft, propulsion and power generation systems, and some sensor devices. In the derived approach, manufacturing tolerances are mathematically modeled by probabilistic and statistical variables, through an analytical approach and through Monte Carlo simulation. An efficient computational method based upon direct differentiation is developed to calculate the first order sensitivity of the equilibria with respect to the design and manufacturing variables. To verify the accuracy and effectiveness of the present method, the present analytical method and the companion Monte Carlo approach are applied in examples to a rotating pendulum, a mechanical speed governor, and a model of a rate gyroscope sensor.Copyright © 2007 by ASME

Multibody systems that undergo a prescribed rotational motion arise in such engineered systems as robots, spacecraft, propulsion and power generation systems, and certain sensors and actuators. The sensitivity of the system’s response to changes in the design variables is important for optimization and trade-off studies, as well as for understanding the implications of manufacturing tolerances. A general formulation is developed for analytically calculating the first-order design sensitivities of coordinate values for a multibody system’s dynamic equilibrium state during prescribed rotational motions. The method is based upon the use of relative coordinates, and a velocity transformation technique, and it is applicable to multibody systems having open or closed loop configurations. To illustrate effectiveness, accuracy, and computational efficiency, the present method is applied in three examples, and the sensitivities obtained analytically are compared with those obtained by the standard finite difference method. The finite difference approach is particularly sensitive to the choice of step size near a critical speed, and its implementation is generally more costly that the present method. In particular, there is a zero-sensitivity point at which the equilibrium configuration is insensitive to small perturbations in the design parameter’s value. That condition can be a useful design point to the extent that manufacturing tolerance and variation in design parameter’s values have no effect on dynamic equilibrium positions.Copyright © 2007 by ASME

The operation error of a robot manipulator that occurs inevitably due to the manufacturing tolerance needs to be controlled within a certain range to achieve proper performance. The reduction of manufacturing tolerance, however, increases the manufacturing cost in return. Therefore, system design engineers try to solve the problem of maximizing the tolerance to reduce the manufacturing cost while minimizing the operation error to satisfy the performance requirement. In the present study, a revolute joint model considering the variation of joint axis orientation due to joint clearance is employed to perform a tolerance analysis of the robot manipulator operation. This paper presents a hybrid method which employs the sensitivity-based analytic method and the single Monte-Carlo simulation. The proposed method provides rapid implementation and the accurate statistical properties using the only single integration or single iteration for one sample set, whereas the Monte-Carlo method necessitates integrations as the number of samples and cases. Significant reduction of computing time can be achieved with the proposed method. The present method is especially effective if sensitivity information is hard to be obtained for the analysis.Copyright © 2006 by ASME