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Currently, no pharmacotherapy has been proven effective in treating photoreceptor degeneration in patients. Discovering readily available and safe neuroprotectants is therefore highly sought after. Here, we investigated nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a precursor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), in a retinal detachment (RD) induced photoreceptor degeneration. NMN administration after RD resulted in a significant reduction of TUNEL+ photoreceptors, CD11b+ macrophages, and GFAP labeled glial activation; a normalization of protein carbonyl content (PCC), and a preservation of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) thickness. NMN administration significantly increased NAD+ levels, SIRT1 protein expression, and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression. Delayed NMN administration still exerted protective effects after RD. Mechanistic in vitro studies using 661W cells revealed a SIRT1/HO-1 signaling as a downstream effector of NMN-mediated protection under oxidative stress and LPS stimulation. In conclusion, NMN administration exerts neuroprotective effects on photoreceptors after RD and oxidative injury, suggesting a therapeutic avenue to treating photoreceptor degeneration.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy has improved patient survival in advanced cancers; however, the efficacy of ICIs in elderly patients is still elusive. This study assessed the efficacy of ICIs in elderly patients with advanced cancer in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).We carried out a systematic review and identified 30 head-to-head phase II/III randomized controlled trials that compared immunotherapy with the standard of care in advanced solid tumor patients. The data on patients younger or over 65 years of age were indexed from PubMed-Medline, Embase, and Scopus and obtained for meta-analysis. The subgroup analyses were stratified by primary tumor type, line of treatment, or type of immunotherapy, and a meta-regression analysis was carried out after adjusting for all other variables.The study included 17 476 patients, comprising 58% (10 119) younger (65 years old) and 42% (7357) elderly (≥65 years old) patients. The hazard ratio (HR) for OS was 0.77 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-0.85] and 0.77 (95% CI 0.70-0.85) in the younger and elderly groups, respectively, suggesting similar efficacies of ICIs in these two age groups. The subgroup analyses revealed no significant relationship between age and treatment outcomes, except for the PFS benefit in younger patients with melanoma than in elderly patients (HR 0.44 in younger patients versus 0.65 in elderly patients, P = 0.04). These results were further supported by meta-regression analysis, which showed no statistically significant difference in OS (P = 0.954) and PFS (P = 0.555) between the two age groups.The findings suggest that age-associated impairments of the immune system did not affect the efficacy of ICIs in elderly patients compared to younger patients. Therefore, the choice of ICIs for elderly patients can be considered, regardless of chronological age.

Background: Efforts to establish the 2015 baseline and monitor early implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight both great potential for and threats to improving health by 2030. To fully deliver on the SDG aim of “leaving no one behind”, it is increasingly important to examine the health-related SDGs beyond national-level estimates. As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017), we measured progress on 41 of 52 health-related SDG indicators and estimated the health-related SDG index for 195 countries and territories for the period 1990–2017, projected indicators to 2030, and analysed global attainment. Methods: We measured progress on 41 health-related SDG indicators from 1990 to 2017, an increase of four indicators since GBD 2016 (new indicators were health worker density, sexual violence by non-intimate partners, population census status, and prevalence of physical and sexual violence [reported separately]). We also improved the measurement of several previously reported indicators. We constructed national-level estimates and, for a subset of health-related SDGs, examined indicator-level differences by sex and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile. We also did subnational assessments of performance for selected countries. To construct the health-related SDG index, we transformed the value for each indicator on a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the 2·5th percentile and 100 as the 97·5th percentile of 1000 draws calculated from 1990 to 2030, and took the geometric mean of the scaled indicators by target. To generate projections through 2030, we used a forecasting framework that drew estimates from the broader GBD study and used weighted averages of indicator-specific and country-specific annualised rates of change from 1990 to 2017 to inform future estimates. We assessed attainment of indicators with defined targets in two ways: first, using mean values projected for 2030, and then using the probability of attainment in 2030 calculated from 1000 draws. We also did a global attainment analysis of the feasibility of attaining SDG targets on the basis of past trends. Using 2015 global averages of indicators with defined SDG targets, we calculated the global annualised rates of change required from 2015 to 2030 to meet these targets, and then identified in what percentiles the required global annualised rates of change fell in the distribution of country-level rates of change from 1990 to 2015. We took the mean of these global percentile values across indicators and applied the past rate of change at this mean global percentile to all health-related SDG indicators, irrespective of target definition, to estimate the equivalent 2030 global average value and percentage change from 2015 to 2030 for each indicator. Findings: The global median health-related SDG index in 2017 was 59·4 (IQR 35·4–67·3), ranging from a low of 11·6 (95% uncertainty interval 9·6–14·0) to a high of 84·9 (83·1–86·7). SDG index values in countries assessed at the subnational level varied substantially, particularly in China and India, although scores in Japan and the UK were more homogeneous. Indicators also varied by SDI quintile and sex, with males having worse outcomes than females for non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality, alcohol use, and smoking, among others. Most countries were projected to have a higher health-related SDG index in 2030 than in 2017, while country-level probabilities of attainment by 2030 varied widely by indicator. Under-5 mortality, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality ratio, and malaria indicators had the most countries with at least 95% probability of target attainment. Other indicators, including NCD mortality and suicide mortality, had no countries projected to meet corresponding SDG targets on the basis of projected mean values for 2030 but showed some probability of attainment by 2030. For some indicators, including child malnutrition, several infectious diseases, and most violence measures, the annualised rates of change required to meet SDG targets far exceeded the pace of progress achieved by any country in the recent past. We found that applying the mean global annualised rate of change to indicators without defined targets would equate to about 19% and 22% reductions in global smoking and alcohol consumption, respectively; a 47% decline in adolescent birth rates; and a more than 85% increase in health worker density per 1000 population by 2030. Interpretation: The GBD study offers a unique, robust platform for monitoring the health-related SDGs across demographic and geographic dimensions. Our findings underscore the importance of increased collection and analysis of disaggregated data and highlight where more deliberate design or targeting of interventions could accelerate progress in attaining the SDGs. Current projections show that many health-related SDG indicators, NCDs, NCD-related risks, and violence-related indicators will require a concerted shift away from what might have driven past gains—curative interventions in the case of NCDs—towards multisectoral, prevention-oriented policy action and investments to achieve SDG aims. Notably, several targets, if they are to be met by 2030, demand a pace of progress that no country has achieved in the recent past. The future is fundamentally uncertain, and no model can fully predict what breakthroughs or events might alter the course of the SDGs. What is clear is that our actions—or inaction—today will ultimately dictate how close the world, collectively, can get to leaving no one behind by 2030. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license

Background: Population estimates underpin demographic and epidemiological research and are used to track progress on numerous international indicators of health and development. To date, internationally available estimates of population and fertility, although useful, have not been produced with transparent and replicable methods and do not use standardised estimates of mortality. We present single-calendar year and single-year of age estimates of fertility and population by sex with standardised and replicable methods. Methods: We estimated population in 195 locations by single year of age and single calendar year from 1950 to 2017 with standardised and replicable methods. We based the estimates on the demographic balancing equation, with inputs of fertility, mortality, population, and migration data. Fertility data came from 7817 location-years of vital registration data, 429 surveys reporting complete birth histories, and 977 surveys and censuses reporting summary birth histories. We estimated age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs; the annual number of livebirths to women of a specified age group per 1000 women in that age group) by use of spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression and used the ASFRs to estimate total fertility rates (TFRs; the average number of children a woman would bear if she survived through the end of the reproductive age span [age 10–54 years] and experienced at each age a particular set of ASFRs observed in the year of interest). Because of sparse data, fertility at ages 10–14 years and 50–54 years was estimated from data on fertility in women aged 15–19 years and 45–49 years, through use of linear regression. Age-specific mortality data came from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 estimates. Data on population came from 1257 censuses and 761 population registry location-years and were adjusted for underenumeration and age misreporting with standard demographic methods. Migration was estimated with the GBD Bayesian demographic balancing model, after incorporating information about refugee migration into the model prior. Final population estimates used the cohort-component method of population projection, with inputs of fertility, mortality, and migration data. Population uncertainty was estimated by use of out-of-sample predictive validity testing. With these data, we estimated the trends in population by age and sex and in fertility by age between 1950 and 2017 in 195 countries and territories. Findings: From 1950 to 2017, TFRs decreased by 49·4% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 46·4–52·0). The TFR decreased from 4·7 livebirths (4·5–4·9) to 2·4 livebirths (2·2–2·5), and the ASFR of mothers aged 10–19 years decreased from 37 livebirths (34–40) to 22 livebirths (19–24) per 1000 women. Despite reductions in the TFR, the global population has been increasing by an average of 83·8 million people per year since 1985. The global population increased by 197·2% (193·3–200·8) since 1950, from 2·6 billion (2·5–2·6) to 7·6 billion (7·4–7·9) people in 2017; much of this increase was in the proportion of the global population in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The global annual rate of population growth increased between 1950 and 1964, when it peaked at 2·0%; this rate then remained nearly constant until 1970 and then decreased to 1·1% in 2017. Population growth rates in the southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania GBD super-region decreased from 2·5% in 1963 to 0·7% in 2017, whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, population growth rates were almost at the highest reported levels ever in 2017, when they were at 2·7%. The global average age increased from 26·6 years in 1950 to 32·1 years in 2017, and the proportion of the population that is of working age (age 15–64 years) increased from 59·9% to 65·3%. At the national level, the TFR decreased in all countries and territories between 1950 and 2017; in 2017, TFRs ranged from a low of 1·0 livebirths (95% UI 0·9–1·2) in Cyprus to a high of 7·1 livebirths (6·8–7·4) in Niger. The TFR under age 25 years (TFU25; number of livebirths expected by age 25 years for a hypothetical woman who survived the age group and was exposed to current ASFRs) in 2017 ranged from 0·08 livebirths (0·07–0·09) in South Korea to 2·4 livebirths (2·2–2·6) in Niger, and the TFR over age 30 years (TFO30; number of livebirths expected for a hypothetical woman ageing from 30 to 54 years who survived the age group and was exposed to current ASFRs) ranged from a low of 0·3 livebirths (0·3–0·4) in Puerto Rico to a high of 3·1 livebirths (3·0–3·2) in Niger. TFO30 was higher than TFU25 in 145 countries and territories in 2017. 33 countries had a negative population growth rate from 2010 to 2017, most of which were located in central, eastern, and western Europe, whereas population growth rates of more than 2·0% were seen in 33 of 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, less than 65% of the national population was of working age in 12 of 34 high-income countries, and less than 50% of the national population was of working age in Mali, Chad, and Niger. Interpretation: Population trends create demographic dividends and headwinds (ie, economic benefits and detriments) that affect national economies and determine national planning needs. Although TFRs are decreasing, the global population continues to grow as mortality declines, with diverse patterns at the national level and across age groups. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide transparent and replicable estimates of population and fertility, which can be used to inform decision making and to monitor progress. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license

Sound scattering in 3D complex geometry is difficult to model with body-fitted grid. Thus Brinkman Penalization method is used to compute sound scattering in 3D complex geometry. Sound propagation of monitor/TV is studied. The sound field for monitor/TV is simulated by applying Brinkman Penalization method to Linearized Euler Equation. Solid Structure and ambient air are represented as penalty terms in Linearized Euler Equation.

We report the micro-scaled forming of Zr 62.6 Ti 11 Cu 13.2 Ni 9.8 Be 3.4 bulk metallic glass (BMG) as a function of the forging pressure within super-cooled liquid region (SLR), and its effects on the transition to crystallization. The morphology after micro-scaled forming was examined by using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Thermal behavior of the forged samples was analyzed by using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). It was found for perfect forming of the alloy BMG sheets that the temperature of 703 K and the pressure of 20 MPa are required in the present study. The compressibility and the volume fraction of crystalline phase increase with an increase of the forging pressure and temperature, and they are sensitive to temperature more than pressure within SLR.

We report the first microscopic observation of complex precipitates coexisting with LPS phases in Mg 97 Zn 1 Y 1.5 Nd 0.5 (at %) alloy formed by aging at 473 K, and their effects on mechanical properties. It was found that the β’ [space group Cmc 2 1 , a = 0.68 nm], β 1 [space group F m 3 ¯ m , a = 0.77 nm] phases and GP zones in α-Mg matrix are responsible for the peak hardness; which appeared after 30 h of annealing at 473 K, while large β 1 precipitates and GP zones appeared in an over-aged specimen. With the increase of the annealing temperature from 473 K to 523 K, stacking faults, together with GP zones appeared. It is proposed that the precipitates and GP-zones contribute simultaneously to the age-hardening process, and that GP zones are more stable at 473 K than 523 K.

The effect of the roll speed ratio (SR) on the microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of commercially pure Ti during differential speed rolling was examined at 673 K in a wide range of SRs between 1 and 5 to produce Ti sheets with an ultrafine-grained microstructure exhibiting high strength. At an SR of 5, a defect-free sheet with shear bands and ultrafine grains homogeneously distributed over the entire thickness of the sheet could be fabricated through a single rolling pass.

The present study numerically investigates two-dimensional laminar fluid flow and heat transfer past a circular cylinder near a moving wall. Numerical simulations to calculate the fluid flow and heat transfer past a circular cylinder are performed for different Reynolds numbers varying in the range of 60–200 and a fixed Prandtl numbers of 0.7 (air) in the range of 0.1 ⩽ G/D ⩽ 4, where G/D is the ratio of the gap between the cylinder and a moving wall, G and the cylinder diameter, D . The flow and thermal fields become the steady state below the critical gap ratios of 0.8, 0.4 and 0.2 for the Reynolds numbers of 60, 80 and 100, respectively. As the gap ratio decreases, the magnitude of lift coefficient for all Reynolds numbers increased significantly with diminishing G/D due to the ground effect. The cases of Reynolds numbers of 60, 80 and 100 revealed the sharp slope of drag coefficient in the range of the gap ratio where the flow transfers from the unsteady state to the steady state. As the Reynolds number decreases, the variation of Nusselt is much significant and increases considerably with decreasing G / D .

A method for fabricating high-strain-rate superplastic Mg alloys in sheet form by using a high-ratio differential speed rolling process is described. The ingot-metallurgy processed Mg alloy exhibited a superplastic performance comparable to that of powder-metallurgy counterparts. By optimizing the controlling parameters in the rolling process, an ultrafine-grained microstructure with good thermal stability, which is the desired microstructure for achieving high-strain-rate superplasticity, could be obtained using only a few processing steps.

We herein report a significant improvement of the ductility of AZ31 (Al: 3 wt%, Zn: 1 wt%, balance Mg) sheets processed by differential speed rolling (DSR). The DSR sheets under tension in the rolling direction exhibited a plastic strain more than 1.5 times larger than the sheets prepared by conventional rolling (CR), and simultaneous improvements of in-plane isotropy. The origin of these changes has been examined by texture and structural characterizations. The (0 0 0 2) pole intensity of the as-rolled DSR sheet is strongly accumulated in the normal direction, which is preserved after deformation regardless of tensile directions; while that of as-rolled CR sheet show clear splitting, which further broadens after tensile tests. It is suggested that these changes are brought about by the application of a large shear strain to DSR sheets, which resulted in the clear (0 0 0 2) texture, and subsequent ease of the activation of prismatic slip during the deformation.

High-strength Ti sheets could be fabricated by effective grain-refinement through high-ratio differential speed rolling for a thickness reduction of 63% in a single rolling pass at room temperature. Formation of narrowly spaced shear bands distributed uniformly over the entire thickness section of the sheet and a high temperature rise by intensive shear banding during rolling resulted in the formation of ultrafine grains with the size of 0.1–0.3 μm. The rolled Ti sheet exhibited an ultimate tensile strength of 895–915 MPa.

The shape of edge cracking in rolling process generally occurred "V" shape. This cracking is successively generated at width edge of strip. The edge cracking is developed to center of strip during rolling process. In the results, the strip is occurred fracture, and the productivity is gone down because of the extensive production time. Accordingly, we need to control crack propagation during rolling process. But, the control of cracking is very difficult in rolling process. Previously the studies of edge cracking were mainly performed on hot rolling process. In this paper, the shape of the edge cracking in rolling was estimated according to process conditions such as initial edge crack size, reduction ratio and tension using FE-simulation and the simplicity experiments on cold rolling process.

Consumer electronics are becoming more feature rich. Embedded system developers use design and testing tools to make their products faster. However, tool improvements have not kept pace with the rapid development of customized hardware parts. The simulation of target system or virtual platform helps developers of embedded software for consumer electronics work without having to wait for the physical hardware to be available. In this work, we designed and implemented a virtual development environment for embedded software (VDEES). This environment provides the tools to build a virtual platform according to a given target hardware specification and to develop software to run on the target hardware with the virtual platform. VDEES is implemented at low cost by exploiting open source software packages and extended or customized them to meet our requirements. VDEES provides a configuration tool for composing a virtual target, a code editor for writing simulated components, software to be run on the target, building tools for binary images, a debugger for investigation of the software running on the virtual target, and a system monitor for the investigation of the virtual target.

In AZ31 (Mg–3Al–1wt% Zn) magnesium alloy sheets rolled by differential speed rolling (DSR) at 423 K, many twins appeared at a low reduction rate of 25%, and fine grains (∼1 μm) having approximately the same size dominate at a high reduction rate of 55%. In addition to these microstructural changes, the rolled sheets showed a strong texture characterized by (0 0 0 2) pole tilting about 7 degree from the normal direction (ND) towards the rolling direction (RD) throughout the whole thickness of the DSR sheets. The ( 1 0 1 ¯ 1 ) pole figure as well as TEM images of the specimen prepared at a reduction rate of 55% indicated that the activation of a prismatic slip played an important role in bringing about dynamical re-crystallization.

Generally, a vertical rolling process is used to achieve extensive width reduction in hot strip mill. However, it is impossible to avoid the defects such as dog-bone and edge-seam defect. The sizing press process has been developed in response to the defects mentioned above. Especially, this study is carried out to investigate the deformation of slab by two-step sizing press. The deformation behavior of slab in the sizing press process is more favorable than that in conventional vertical rolling edger. The FE-simulation is applied to predict the deformation behavior of the slab. In this paper, the several causes of the asymmetrical deformation are mentioned for the purpose of understanding of the anvil shape. Load, dog-bone and edge-seam defect are discussed in width sizing process considering the anvil shape. And to reduce the problems generated at rougher mill just after sizing press, these are studied in this paper. The deformation behavior of slabs and optimum anvil shape are obtained by rigid-plastic finite element analyses and neural network.

In this study, design methodology to determine optimal shape of the anvil in sizing press process has been proposed to minimize crop length of the AISI 1010 slab in horizontal rolling after width reduction. Shape of anvil were selected to 12 cases by design of experiment, and the dog-bone shapes and the crop length were determined by FE-analysis. Also, the anvil shape, which has minimum crop length, were determined by artificial neural network(ANN). As a result of FE-analysis, it can be seen that the crop length was increased with increasing center thickness in the dog-bone shape after width reduction. The anvil shape which has minimum crop length, was estimated to ${\theta}_{1}

Rare earth ion-doped calcium aluminate (CaAl 2 O 4 ) is an efficient blue phosphor. The compositions in the series Mg x Ca 1− x Al 2 O 4 : Eu 2+ , Nd 3+ ( x =0.05–0.25) codoped with 1 mol% Eu and 3 mol% Nd were prepared by the solid state synthesis method. Crystalline phase, morphology and structural details were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Effect of Mg substitution on structure and photoluminescence characteristics was investigated. Photoluminescence characteristics show the intense emission for MgCaAl 2 O 4 : Eu 2+ , Nd 3+ in the blue region ( λ max =440 nm) with long persistence. The blue emission corresponds to transitions from 4f 6 5d 1 to 4f 7 of Eu 2+ ion.

The present study numerically investigates two-dimensional laminar fluid flow and heat transfer past a circular cylinder near a moving wall. For the purpose of a careful analysis of the modification of flow and thermal fields around a cylinder by a moving wall, numerical simulations to calculate the fluid flow and heat transfer past a circular cylinder are performed for different Reynolds numbers of 100, 140 and 180 and a fixed Prandtl numbers of 0.7 (air) in the range of 0:1 6 G=D 6 4, where G/D is the ratio of the gap between the cylinder and a moving wall, G and the cylinder diameter, D. The present study reports the detailed information of flow and thermal quantities on the cylinder surface at different gap ratios. As the gap ratio decreases, the vortex shedding formed in the wake is suppressed and the oscillating amplitude of lift coefficient decreases. Thus the drag, lift coefficients and Nusselt number representing the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics also vary as a function of the gap ratio with the dependence of Reynolds number. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Porous concretes with continuous voids have been gaining more interest as an ecological material because of their useful functions such as water permeability and adsorption ability. So pore size distribution and the shape of especially open pores are the key point to permeability. In this study, the size and shape of pores of water permeable concrete were primary controlled by the size and shape of aggregates and secondly by the expanding agents to the cement pastes. 2 types of raw coase aggregate, type I and type C which mean fabricated by impact crusher and concrusher, were taken into uses and 3 sizes of aggregate were used, namely 3 to 5mm, 5 to 13 mm, and 13 to 20 mm. The compressive strength was found to be higher when using impact crushed aggregate. And the smaller size of aggregate was used, the higher compressive strength was achieved.

Superplastic deformation and crystallization behavior of a Cu 54 Ni 6 Zr 22 Ti 18 metallic glass were investigated. A maximum elongation of 650% was obtained at 733 K at 1 × 10 −2 s −1 from the sheet fabricated by squeeze copper-mold casting method. At low strain rates, the strain-rate-sensitivity exponent value was close to 1, suggesting that Newtonian-like behavior governed the plastic flow. At a high strain rate around 10 −2 s −1 , a transition from Newtonian to non-Newtonian behavior took place with decrease in m value. Large strain hardening by crystallization occurred during the course of deformation. The strain hardening was found to be caused by crystallization according to the analyses of the relation of true stress vs. testing time, T-T-T diagram and DSC characteristics. The time periods up to the strain before strain hardening at 733 K for the Cu 54 Ni 6 Zr 22 Ti 18 metallic glass were similar to that of the Zr 65 Al 10 Ni 10 Cu 15 metallic glass at 696 K as 180–300 s (3–5 min). This coincidence could be explained by comparison of their T-T-T diagrams showing that the incubation times for crystallization of the Cu BMG at 733 K and for Zr BMG at 696 K are similar.

Traditional unicast VOD systems require huge amounts of the server network's bandwidth, so near-VOD systems using broadcast protocols have been proposed to reduce the bandwidth requirement. Such systems have not been able to allocate channels dynamically to adapt to environments where the popularity distribution of videos changes, because of the essential inflexibility of existing broadcasting protocols. We address dynamic channel allocation for video broadcasting services, and propose a channel management technique that can adapt well to the dynamic environment, using a flexible broadcasting scheme presented in our previous work (2005). Our channel management scheme decides how many channels should be allocated to each video to maximize the system throughput, based on the video's popularity and reneging probability. The proposed scheme has been verified using extensive simulation.

The Zr 65 Al 10 Ni 10 Cu 15 alloy sheet produced by squeeze copper-mold casting method exhibited excellent superplasticity (a maximum elongation of 1350%) at a relatively high strain rate (2×10 –2 s –1 ) at 696 K. This achievement was made despite the occurrence of crystallization in the middle of deformation. Time for the onset of strain hardening could be related to the T.T.T. diagram for crystallization. Effect of holding time on flow stress was examined. As the holding time was longer, strain hardening took place earlier and the resulted fracture strain was smaller. Bulging test showed that the Zr 65 Al 10 Ni 10 Cu 15 alloy sheet could be deformed to near-net-shape by avoiding crystallization when fast heating rate and short holding time were applied.

Organic thin-film transitors (OTFTs) were fabricated with channel lengths as small as 10 nm and an operating voltage of V/sub DD/=-0.3 V using e-beam lithography. For sub-200-nm channel lengths, scaling L downwards resulted in increased on-current, decreased I/sub on//I/sub off/ ratio, V/sub T/-rolloff, and drain-induced barrier lowering. These trends are correlated with device topology, electrostatics, and thin-film morphology. Nanoscale OTFT are interesting both as a means of studying intrinsic electrical properties of organic materials and as a possible route toward increasing on-current in organic devices. This paper sheds light on many of the issues encountered when shrinking organic devices, providing insight into approaches for optimizing nanoscaled OTFT.

Printed electronics provides a promising potential pathway toward the realization of ultralow-cost RFID tags for item-level tracking of consumer goods. Here, we report on our progress in developing materials, processes, and devices for the realization of ultralow-cost printed RFID tags. Using printed nanoparticle patterns that are subsequently sintered at plastic-compatible temperatures, low-resistance interconnects and passive components have been realized. Simultaneously, printed transistors with mobilities >10/sup -1/ cm/sup 2//V-s have been realized using novel pentacene and oligothiophene precursors for pMOS and ZnO nanoparticles for nMOS. AC performance of these devices is adequate for 135-kHz RFID, though significant work remains to be done to achieve 13.56-MHz operation.

Much of the study has been done on the design of dual controller that guarantee the stability and improvement of the system performance. A dual controller concept is proposed to consist of first controller estimates the control law and second controller suppresses the combined noises due to numerical error and internal noise as well. These Irregular disturbances are not only increasing the fatigue but also destabilize the system because of unwanted output Performance. The `stochastic controller` is used to suppress the irregular random disturbance. Simulation is conducted to reveal that the proposed dual stochastic controller is highly efficient one to control a system hybrid noises.

Flexible transistors were formed directly on fibers in a novel weave-masking fabrication process. Pentacene fiber transistors exhibit mobilities of >0.5 cm/sup 2//V-s measured at 20 V V/sub DD/ and operate stably under a wide range of flexion stress. Devices are defined and positioned solely by a weaving pattern, meaning that simple circuits could potentially be directly built into fabric during manufacturing. This development offers a novel approach for providing information routing within fabric, which is currently a major hurdle in electronic textile development.