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Silicon-on-insulator devices are widely utilized in high-performance and high-reliability fields, facing challenges from self-heating effects (SHEs). However, research on the heat dissipation path closely related to SHEs remains incomplete. This paper initiates an in-depth analysis of thermal effects involving the fine structures within the heat dissipation path, using ultrafast pulse I–V measurements combined with thermal simulations. It is found in practical processes that the SHEs of scaled-down devices decreased by 40% rather than increased. Research shows the improvement is attributed to the reduction in the thickness of the buried oxide layer between different generations of processes, and the decrease in thermal sensitivity. Based on the two-stage SHE mechanism, the study clarifies for the first time that the box layer mainly affects first-stage heat dissipation, and the main timescale of impact is about the first 100 ns. In addition, the heat dissipation contact capability can effectively affect the temperature rise of first-stage SHEs. For the first time, we reveal that the TiN barrier layer with low thermal conductivity is the key factor limiting heat dissipation through contact. This study represents the crucial step toward a comprehensive investigation of SHEs, offering substantial support for device modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All living organisms require thiamine, a water-soluble vitamin, which is also reported to play a role in response to various abiotic stresses. However, the impact of thiamine on the growth of Wickerhamomyces anomalus under ethanol stress is still not completely understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of exogenous thiamine application on the growth of W. anomalus under ethanol stress. We also investigated how thiamine affected the differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) using a non-targeted metabolomics approach. The results showed that exogenous thiamine application improved the growth of ethanol-stressed W. anomalus. The DEMs affected by exogenous thiamine application were significantly enriched as ABC transporters process, glycerophospholipid metabolism, purine metabolism, and one carbon pool via folate and sulfur relay system using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomics (KEGG) enrichment analysis. Several pathways, such as arginine biosynthesis, cell cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, etc., were also regulated by thiamine because they were not enriched after exogenous thiamine application. Therefore, thiamine helped to protect W. anomalus from the effects of ethanol stress. These findings offer a theoretical basis for further understanding the regulatory mechanism of thiamine-mediated ethanol stress tolerance in W. anomalus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interval-valued fuzzy logical connectives are extensions of fuzzy logical connectives to the interval-valued framework. The extensions require linear orders to define the monotonicity between intervals. As a significant linear order, the admissible order is introduced to compare any interval in interval-valued fuzzy logic. In this work, we examine several widely-used interval-valued fuzzy logical connectives with respect to admissible orders. We are concerned with interval- valued fuzzy negations, automorphisms, fuzzy implications and aggregation functions with respect to Kα,β orders and arbitrary intervals on L([0, 1]). We also make a discussion of width-preserving interval-valued fuzzy equivalence functions and dissimilarity functions with respect to arbitrary admissible orders and the intervals with the same width on L([0, 1]). Then we bring some approaches to constructing the proposed interval-valued fuzzy logical connectives with respect to admissible orders. The introduced interval-valued fuzzy logical connectives with respect to admissible orders may have a deep impact on some fields exploiting fuzzy methods dealing with intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of the Gallium Anomaly, from the BEST, GALLEX, and SAGE radioactive source experiments, is quantified using different theoretical calculations of the neutrino detection cross section, and its explanation due to neutrino oscillations is compared with the bounds from the analyses of reactor rate and spectral ratio data, β-decay data, and solar neutrino data. In the 3+1 active-sterile neutrino mixing scheme, the Gallium Anomaly is in strong tension with the individual and combined bounds of these data sets. In the combined scenario with all available data, the parameter goodness of fit is below 0.042%, corresponding to a severe tension of 4–5σ, or stronger. Therefore, we conclude that one should pursue other possible solutions beyond short-baseline oscillations for the Gallium Anomaly. We also present a new global fit of νe and ν ¯ e disappearance data, showing that there is a 2.6–3.3σ preference in favor of short-baseline oscillations, which is driven by an updated analysis of reactor spectral ratio data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topographic variables derived from digital elevation models (DEM) are the most commonly used predictor in soil organic carbon (SOC) prediction. The predictability of these variates for the spatial heterogenity of SOC is influenced by the size of DEM resolution. This paper aimed to investigate the resolution effect of the topography at multiple DEM resolutions and select the most important predictors and the optimal resolution for SOC prediction in a large-scale and morphologically complex area. The study area, covering 15 600 km2, was located in a mountainous province in China. A total of 3901 soil samples and three machine learning algorithms including random forest, gradient boosted regression tree, and artificial neural network were used to construct the SOC predictive models at resolutions of 30, 90, 150, 210, 270, 330, and 390 m. Topographic factors were derived from the DEM with an original resolution of 30 m and were subsequently resampled to varying resolutions by using the bilinear interpolation algorithm. The importance of each variate in each predictive model was computed for the most important predictor selection, and the determination coefficient (R2) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of each predictive model were computed for the accuracy evaluation. Comparative analysis on point-based topographic representation, the accuracy of predictive models, and the variable importance was conducted among different resolutions to investigate the resolution effect on the SOC prediction and to select the optimal resolution for this study area. The results showed that topography was the key factor influencing the SOC distribution in this large-scale area due to the region's mountainous nature, and the relative contribution of the topography to predict SOC distribution varied with DEM resolutions. Elevation was the most important topographic factor at all DEM resolutions. Accuracies of predictive models built on the three machine learning algorithms were all dependent on DEM resolution, indicating that DEM resolution had an important effect on SOC prediction. Overall, the random forest predictive models outperformed the other two algorithms, and its most accurate result was obtained at the 210-m resolution with an R2 of 0.25 and an RMSE of 4.77 g kg–1. In conclusion, we found that finer resolutions did not necessarily produce more accurate SOC predictions even in a large-scale and morphologically complex area. Therefore, investigating the resolution effect is suggested to select an optimal resolution for the SOC prediction in other regions characterized by similar geomorphological conditions as this study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prediction smoke back-layering length and critical velocity in the event of a fire in a utility tunnel are studied. In this paper, the method of numerical simulation is used to study the combustion characteristics of the cable tray in a utility tunnel. The prediction of smoke back-layering length is related to factors such as heat release rate, longitudinal ventilation velocity, and fire source location. The smoke back-layering length is determined by the temperature record. The temperature measurement is made by thermocouple tree in the utility tunnel. Results show that the dimensionless critical velocity has a certain influence on the dimensionless heat release rate in utility tunnel. The numerical simulation results show that there is an exponential relationship between the dimensionless smoke back-layering length with two fire locations (locations A and C) in the utility tunnel. This paper proposes a method for predicting the smoke back-layering length based on the correlation of numerical simulation data. In two fire locations (locations A and C), the numerical simulation data of the smoke back-layering length has a good correlation with the results of the Li model. The main contribution of this paper is to prevent the smoke propagation in utility tunnels and provide technical guidance. Therefore, this paper has certain guiding significance for the smoke propagation below the ceiling of the electric compartment in utility tunnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utility tunnels are widely builtin many cities. When an unexpected fire occurs in the electrical compartment of utility tunnel, the smoke temperature below the utility tunnel ceiling is one of the most important factors for thermal detection and alarm. In this paper, the smoke temperature distribution under the longitudinal ventilation in a utility tunnel fire accident is studied by combining experiment and numerical simulation. The main purpose of this paper is to study the smoke temperature distribution below the ceiling under the effect of longitudinal ventilation in a utility tunnel, and provide guidance for the installation of detector in case of fire. In addition, three important factors such as ventilation velocity, heat release rate and vertical position of fire source are considered respectively. The thermocouple trees are used to measure the temperature along the longitudinal direction of utility tunnel. Results show that the maximum temperature of the utility tunnel is directly above the fire source without longitudinal ventilation. What’s more, with the ventilation velocity increases, the maximum temperature below the ceiling gradually moves to the downstream of the fire source in utility tunnel. Finally, a new correlation formula is proposed to predict the temperature distribution of smoke in utility tunnels on the basis of theoretical analysis. The longitudinal temperature distribution obtained by numerical simulation is in good agreement with the experimental tests. Therefore, the research in this paper is helpful to prevent utility tunnel fire and reduce people's property loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport properties of B-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are studied from both experimental and theoretical standpoints. Experimentally, it is found that the semiconducting behavior of SWNTs is drastically changed after B-doping, and the unusual abrupt current drops are observed at low temperatures, which may imply the possibility of superconducting transition in B-doped SWNTs. Using the density-functional tight-binding calculation, it is observed that B-doping induces the presence of density of state peaks near the Fermi level which shifts toward the valence band region, showing a clear charge-transfer characteristic, which agrees well with the experimental observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cystic echinococcosis (CE), caused by the cestode Echinococcus granulosus, is a worldwide chronic zoonosis. Albendazole (ABZ) and mebendazole are effective against CE, but a high dosage in a long-term period is usually required. In this study, we evaluate the effects of DNA damage repair inhibitor (i.e., Veliparib) in combination with artesunate (AS) on hydatid cysts. For the in vitro assay, protoscoleces of E. granulosus (E.g PSCs) were incubated with low AS (AS-L, 65 μM), moderate AS (AS-M, 130 μM), and high AS (AS-H, 325 μM), AS-L/M/H+Veliparib (10 μM), and ABZ (25 μM), respectively. The AS-H+Veliparib group showed the maximal protoscolicidal effects. Ultrastructural change revealed that germinal layer (GL) cells were reduced, and lipid droplets appeared. AS could induce DNA injuries in PSCs. The 8-OHdG was expressed in the PSCs and GL of the cysts in mice, especially in the presence of Veliparib. The most severe DNA damages were observed in the AS-H+Veliparib group. Meanwhile, the expression of ribosomal protein S9 (RPS9) gene in the AS-H+Veliparib group was significantly lower than that in the AS-H group. The in vivo chemotherapeutic effects of AS-L (50 mg/kg), AS-H (200 mg/kg), and AS-H+Veliparib (25 mg/kg) were assessed in experimentally infected mice. Upon 6 weeks of oral administration, ultrasonography was used to monitor the volume change of vesicles. Maximum potentiation was seen on day 15 with values (versus AS) of 34 (P < 0.05) for AS-H + Veliparib. It led to the reduction of cyst weight (55.40%) compared with the model group (P < 0.01), which was better than AS alone (52.84%) and ABZ-treated mice (55.35%). Analysis of cysts collected from AS-H+Veliparib-treated mice by transmission electron microscopy revealed a drug-induced structural destruction. The structural integrity of the germinal layer was lost, and the majority of the microtriches disappeared. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that AS or AS in combination with Veliparib is effective for treating CE, especially the combination group. On this basis, AS represented promising drug candidates in anti-CE chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The method of constructing a 2D simulation model based on the real microstructure is developed to simulate the microstructural evolution of materials. Microstructure photographs of two typical metallic materials, 40Cr and TC4, are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy-electron backscattering diffraction. Then, the photographs are converted into digital images and the grain topology information in the photographs is reserved. Based on this information, the true microstructure of materials is rebuilt with the finite element software ABAQUS using the PYTHON rogramming language. The 2D model the true microstructure will be of importance for improving the accuracy of elastoplastic finite element simulation for polycrystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the fire spread in horizontal long and narrow space with urban tunnels as the background. The length of the near-fire source area is a key factor to study tunnel fire with hybrid field-network simulation method. The length is influenced by the temperature difference in the cross section and the rate of temperature difference in long and narrow space with different tunnel widths and heat release rates. The theoretical analysis and numerical simulation methods are used to consider the influence of long and narrow space's width, heat release rate, effective ceiling height and the distance from fire source on the smoke propagation. The results show that the length of the near-fire source area are basically affected by the cross-sectional area of the long and narrow space and the heat release rate. For the type t2 ultra-fast fire model, when the heat release rate is 15MW and the length of the near-fire source area is 115m, the smoke flow can be fully developed. Finally, this paper proposes a prediction model for estimating the length of the near-fire source area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The autoionization mechanisms of dense nP3/2 (n = 20–97) Rydberg gases of 87Rb atoms in the spontaneous evolution were investigated for the first time. By observing the characteristic time of the electrons generated through autoionization process, the dependence of autoionization mechanisms (black‐body radiation, electron–Rydberg collision, and Penning ionization) on the principal quantum number n of initial nP states was demonstrated. The dependence on the number n in nP Rydberg atoms is similar to those in nD Rydberg atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overflow of the flame plume from the window is the main cause of the vertical spread of the fire on the facade of the building. This paper considers the geometry of the window by taking measures to prevent the flame from propagating along the vertical wall. In this paper, a residential building is taken as an example to evaluate the flame plume characteristics through experimental tests and numerical simulations. The objective of the present study is to study the flame plume characteristics under the air blow on the outer window side of the building. The theoretical equations of the flame tilt angle, non-dimensional temperature and non-dimensional velocity are derived. A series of experimental tests were carried out in a reduced-scale building model corresponding to the changes of lateral blow ventilation velocity. Reduced scale numerical simulations were conducted to verify the experiments. Results showed that the flame tilt angle increases with ventilation velocity increases. Meanwhile, the experimental results were compared with the reduced-scale tests and numerical simulations. These showed a good agreement between experimental results and numerical simulations. All these findings provide theoretical basis for building fire prevention outside window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interfacial stress transfer of single-walled carbon nanotube-reinforced polymer composites subjected to uniaxial tension was investigated by a newly developed shear-lag model integrated with a spring layer model. A linear relationship between the tangential relative displacement and the interfacial shear stress was assumed for the interface which is determined by van der Waals forces. The interface stiffness parameter was determined through comparing the stress distribution of the shear-lag model with multiscale simulation results. The effect of the interface stiffness and the nanotube's aspect ratios on the distribution of stress in CNT-reinforced composites was studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crystal growth of liquid silicon on the heterogeneous surfaces of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is simulated. Silicon atoms are concentrated to form perfect coaxial cylindrical configurations around CNT cores. The heredity effect makes silicon imprint cylindrical shapes of CNTs during the solidification. The CNTs have a great influence on the stacking sequence of silicon atoms. Growth competition between CNT cores is clearly observed, which results in defects at the shared interface. The internal potential field around CNTs is responsible for growth competition and the heredity effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report negative differential resistance (NDR) characteristics observed in nanodevices constructed using three types of fullerenes (C60, C70, and C84) encapsulated metallic double-walled carbon nanotubes. The NDR behavior persists from room temperature (300 K) to lower temperatures, and a significantly high on-off peak-to-valley current ratio is observed for many of the devices examined. The fullerene species exerts a strong influence on the peak voltage of the NDR, which exhibits a linear decrease with increasing fullerene size. The observed current-voltage curves are highly reproducible during measurements, and fully reversible upon change in the bias sweep direction. In addition, the peak current of the NDR is found to increase significantly under light illumination and is recoverable in the absence of light, which indicates potential for applications such as logic optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between band gap and biaxial stress in wurtzite ZnO thin films has been investigated by side-inclination x-ray diffraction technique and optical absorbance spectrum as well as ab initio calculation. The experimental result shows that differing from other semiconductor thin films with hexagonal structure, such as GaN, the band gap of ZnO thin films increases with the increase in biaxial tensile stress. For explaining the difference, ab initio calculation is performed to simulate the relationship between band gap and biaxial stress of wurtzite ZnO and GaN. The calculated result indicates that the band gap of ZnO increases under biaxial tensile stress but GaN is opposite, supporting our experimental result. The band offset calculation shows that the conduction-band minimum (CBM) and the valence-band maximum (VBM) of ZnO and GaN offset to low energy under biaxial tensile stress. The VBM offset of ZnO is larger than the CBM, responsible for the increase in band gap. The VBM offset of GaN is smaller than the CBM, responsible for the decrease in band gap. The difference between ZnO and GaN is attributed to the strong p-d coupling in valence band of ZnO, but strong p-p coupling in valence band of GaN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using density functional theory (DFT) computations, we investigated pyridinelike structures in a series of single-walled CNx nanotubes and found that tube chirality and diameter play important roles in the formation of pyridinelike structures. Not pyridinelike structures but more NC defects (N atoms substituting for C atoms) should be responsible for the experimentally observed donor states of CNx nanotubes. The adsorption energies of Li at the pyridinelike defect are so large and the energy barrier for lithium penetrating the defect is so low that CNx nanotubes with pyridinelike structures have enhanced capability for lithium storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of Cs-encapsulated single-walled carbon nanotubes (Cs@SWNTs) and double-walled carbon nanotubes (Cs@DWNTs) is realized by a plasma ion-irradiation method. Transmission electron microscopy observations confirm that chainlike and amorphous Cs fill SWNTs and DWNTs, respectively. The electronic transport properties of Cs@SWNTs and Cs@DWNTs are experimentally investigated at both room and low temperatures by fabricating them as the channels of field-effect transistor devices. Our results reveal that both Cs@SWNTs and Cs@DWNTs exhibit n-type semiconducting behavior at room temperature. The electronic properties of the Cs-encapsulated nanotubes can be controlled by adjusting the Cs filling levels during the plasma ion irritation process. At low temperatures, Coulomb blockade transport characteristics are observed for both encapsulated nanotubes, and the size of quantum dots formed in Cs@DWNTs is much smaller than that formed in Cs@SWNTs. More importantly, the n-type characteristics of Cs@SWNTs and Cs@DWNTs are found to remain stable, even in air, owing to Cs encapsulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular magnetization process of FeSiBCuNb amorphous and nanocrystalline wires has been followed by the impedance measurements as a function of the amplitude and the frequency of driving current. The domain structure and consequently, the magnetization process have been tailored by suitable thermal processing. The different circular coercivity mechanisms are deduced by analyzing the magnetic losses. We find that the coercivity is due to domain-wall pinning for wire with axial domain, while the coercivity is from domain nucleation for one with transverse domain structure. In addition, the influence of axially applied field H is different for wires with different domain structure. The application of tensile stress to a wire with positive magnetostriction can be taken as an axial induced anisotropy, which makes the circular permeability decrease and the coercivity increase. Finally, the influence of driving current frequency on the circular magnetization process has been also studied for the wire with transverse domain structure. The results indicate that the frequency effect is from the eddy-current damping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two pieces of Fe[SUB73.5] Cu[SUB1] Nb[SUB3] Si[SUB13.5] B[SUB9] amorphous wires were submitted to thermal treatment without (S1) or under (S2) applied tensile stress, so inducing nanocrystalline structure characterized by two different types of magnetic anisotropy. Sample S1 exhibits longitudinal domain structure with small anisotropy constant, while a transverse domain structure with large transverse anisotropy is induced by stress annealing for sample S2. The specific magnetoimpedance response of each nanocrystalline wire has been studied as a function of the applied torsion, &Xgr;. Both samples show the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect, with GMI ratios of 190% and 145% at &Xgr; = 0 for wires S1 and S2, respectively. Applied torsion modifies the form as well as the amplitude of magnetoimpedance, which is discussed in terms of the competition between the magnetoelastic anisotropy induced by the processing and the helical anisotropy induced by the torsion. The torsion impedance has been modeled for the case of sample S1 under large enough helical anisotropy. The observed giant torsion-impedance effect of 320% and 235% for samples S1 and S2, respectively, is proposed to be employed in magnetoelastic torsion sensors. The use of the GMI effect is further emphasized to be a powerful tool to explore the magnetic structure and the magnetic anisotropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetoimpedance (MI) effect has been investigateded in Fe[sub 63.5]Cr[sub 10]Si[sub 13.5]B[sub 9]Cu[sub 1]Nb[sub 3] alloy wire exhibiting an ultrasoft magnetic character after suitable thermal treatment at 525 °C. It has been measured as a function of the sample length and of the distance to the ends of the wire (MI profile). The observed dependence on both parameters is correlated with the local particularities of the magnetization process: complex domain structures emerging near the ends to decrease the magnetostatic energy modify the local magnetic susceptibility and consequently the MI response. The present study points out the importance of geometrical dimensions of samples and measuring conditions when reporting numerical values in MI studies. This wire, showing large magnetoimpedance together with optimized soft magnetic behavior and improved corrosion properties seems to be indicated as a sensing element in GMI based sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which analyzed the temperature behavior and memory effect in standard spin valves with synthetic antiferromagnetic subsystems. Development of spin-valve structures; Details on the memory effect phenomenon.

Srivastava and Maheshwari (Iranian Journal of Fuzzy Systems 13(1) (2016) 25-44) introduced a new divergence measure for intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs). The properties of the proposed divergence measure were studied and the efficiency of the proposed divergence measure in the context of medical diagnosis was also demonstrated. In this note, we point out some errors in the proving process of two properties of the proposed divergence measure. Then we give a modification of the proving process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shape instability belongs to one of significant types of violation for disposable structural elements under high-stress levels. Due to lack of fundamental data on materials, it is quite problematic to consider the shape instability in the design of disposable structural elements. The crystal plastic finite element method is proposed to investigate the dispersion of shape instability life data. It allows these data to be obtained from traditional material parameters. The shape instability behavior is described with the constitutive crystal model of plastic damage accumulation. Then, to improve the accuracy of life prediction, the new method is developed to construct the simulation model of true microstructure. A modeling algorithm based on the image processing technology is provided to reduce the virtual stresses from the transient crystal plastic modeling method. Comparison of experimental and predicted results shows good agreement at high stresses close to the elastic limit of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative pharmacokinetic profiles of diaveridine following single intravenous and oral dose of 10 mg/kg body weight in healthy pigs and chickens were investigated, respectively. Concentrations of diaveridine in plasma samples were determined using a validated high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet ( HPLC- UV) method. The concentration-time data were subjected to noncompartmental kinetic analysis by WinNonlin program. The corresponding pharmacokinetic parameters in pigs or chickens after single intravenous administration were as follows, respectively: t1/2 β (elimination half-life) 0.74 ± 0.28 and 3.44 ± 1.07 h; V d (apparent volume of distribution) 2.70 ± 0.99 and 3.86 ± 0.92 L/kg; ClB (body clearance) 2.59 ± 0.62 and 0.80 ± 0.14 L/h/kg; and AUC0-∞ (area under the blood concentration vs. time curve) 4.11 ± 1.13 and 12.87 ± 2.60 μg∙h/mL. The corresponding pharmacokinetic parameters in pigs or chickens after oral administration were as follows, respectively: t1/2 β 1.78 ± 0.41 and 2.91 ± 0.57 h; Cmax (maximum concentration) 0.43 ± 0.24 and 1.45 ± 0.57 μg/ mL; Tmax (time to reach Cmax) 1.04 ± 0.67 and 3.25 ± 0.71 h; and AUC0-∞1.33 ± 0.55 and 9.28 ± 2.69 μg∙h/ mL. The oral bioavailability (F) of diaveridine in pigs or chickens was determined to be 34.6% and 72.2%, respectively. There were significant differences between the pharmacokinetics profiles in these two species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical and thermodynamic properties of intermetallic compounds in the Ni-Ti system are studied by first-principles calculations. All phases show anisotropic elasticity in different crystallographic directions, in which Ni3Ti and NiTi2 are approaching the isotropy structure. The elastic moduli and Vicker's hardness of Ni-Ti system intermetallic compounds decrease in the following order: Ni3Ti B2_NiTi B19_NiTi NiTi2, and Ni3Ti shows the best mechanical properties. The intrinsic ductile nature of Ni-Ti compounds is confirmed by the obtained / ratio. The temperature dependence of linear thermal expansion coefficients (LTECs) of the compounds is estimated by the quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) method. Ni3Ti shows the largest values among all Ni-Ti intermetallic compounds. At room temperature, the LTEC for Ni3Ti is 8.92 × 10 K, which falls in between the LTEC of zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) (7.0-9.5 × 106 K) and iron matrix (9.2-16.9 × 106 K); i.e., the thermal matching of the ZTA/iron composite will be improved by introducing Ni3Ti intermetallic compound into their interface. Other thermodynamic properties such as sound velocity and Debye temperature are also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport eddy-current loss of a nearly nonmagnetostrictive CoFeSiB amorphous wire under a large longitudinal bias field can be several times greater than the value commonly expected by the classical model. Related to the overlarge circular susceptibility under the same condition, this is attributed to the formation of disklike soft-magnetic microstructures around hard magnetic inclusions randomly embedded in a soft magnetic matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By incorporating magnetic particles into elevated temperature-curing adhesives, or hot-meltable thermoplastics, induction fields can be used to heat bondlines and join composite adherends. In this article we investigate the fundamental heating behaviors of such magnetic particles in order to aid in the design and selection of improved magnetic materials. Magnetic inductive heating tests were performed on two types of magnetic materials: Co[SUB2]Ba[SUB2]Fe[SUB12]O[SUB2] semihard ferrites and NiFe[SUB2]O[SUB4] soft ferrites. The Curie temperatures of these ferrites were also varied through Zn substitution. All of the samples clearly demonstrated Curie temperature-controlled final heating behavior. The magnitude of heat generation has been related to dc magnetic hysteresis measurements, with reasonable agreement. Deviations are theorized to be due to domain wall resonance effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

dc, ac field cool, and their various combinations were applied to standard top and bottom spin valves. While dc field cool from the above blocking temperatures helps to align the antiferromagnetic (AFM) spins, therefore introducing exchange bias, ac field cool statistically randomizes the AFM spins, thus effectively erasing it. The various combinations of these two processes help to separate the contribution to the total exchange bias from different AFM grain sizes. It is found that, compared to the smaller grains, the local exchange bias for larger AFM grains is smaller, but with better temperature stability. More detailed analysis of the temperature dependence of the exchange bias reveals that it is influenced not only by the exchange coupling between FM and AFM layers, but also the interaction among different AFM grains. Such interactions include the direct antiferromagnetic interactions among AFM grains, and the indirect ferromagnetic interaction through the adjacent FM layer. The net interaction is the result of the competition of both, which can be either antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory effect has been observed in both standard top and bottom spin valves. The change of the magnetization state in the pinned FM layer, below the blocking temperature, reverses the direction of the exchange bias and destroys the magnetoresistance properties. This reversed exchange bias is much weaker, causing severe consequences in SV applications. This behavior can be explained in terms of blocking temperature distribution in the AFM layer perhaps due to the structural randomness. By varying cooling procedures, the exchange coupling in regions with different blocking temperatures can be separated. It is found that the maximum exchange bias is very close to the sum of the exchange biases in different regions. The domain wall energy in the FM layer has to be taken into account in order to explain the behavior of the reversed bias. The insertion of a synthetic antiferromagnetic subsystem (Co/Ru/Co) stabilizes the magnetization state in the pinned layer because of the additional interlayer coupling through the Ru layer. This suppresses the memory effect. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(LWFA) with a charge of 620 pC and a maximum energy up to 0.6 GeV by irradiating 80 TW laser pulses at a 3 mm Helium gas jet. The charge of injected electrons is much larger than the normal scaling laws of LWFA in bubble regime. We also got a quasi-monoenergetic electron beam with energy peaked at 249 MeV and a charge of 68 pC with the similar laser conditions but lower plasma density. As confirmed by 2D particle-in-cell simulations, the boosted bunch charge is due to the continuous injection caused by the self-steepening and self-compression of a laser pulse. During the nonlinear evolution of the laser pulse, the bubble structure broadens and stretches, leading to a longer dephasing length and larger beam charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RuPeng15 Powder (RPP15) is a herbal multicompound remedy that originates from traditional Tibetan medicine and possesses antigout, anti-inflammatory, and antihyperuricemic properties based on the traditional conceptions. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the therapeutic effect of PRP15 in rat gouty arthritis induced by monosodium urate (MSU) crystals. In the present study, we found that treatment with RPP15 (0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 g/kg) in rats with gouty arthritis induced by MSU crystals significantly attenuated the knee swelling. Histomorphometric and immunohistochemistry analyses revealed that MSU-induced inflammatory cell infiltration and the elevated expressions of nuclear transcription factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65) in synovial tissues were significantly inhibited, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) result showed that MSU-induced high levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in synovial fluid were reduced by treatment with RPP15 (0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 g/kg). We conclude that RPP15 may be a promising candidate for the development of a new treatment for gout and its activity of antigout may be partially related to inhibiting TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, and NF-κB p65 expression in the synovial tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RuPeng15 Powder (RPP15) is a herbal multicompound remedy that originates from traditional Tibetan medicine and possesses antigout, anti-inflammatory, and antihyperuricemic properties based on the traditional conceptions. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the therapeutic effect of PRP15 in rat gouty arthritis induced by monosodium urate (MSU) crystals. In the present study, we found that treatment with RPP15 (0.4, 0.8, and 1.2g/kg) in rats with gouty arthritis induced by MSU crystals significantly attenuated the knee swelling. Histomorphometric and immunohistochemistry analyses revealed that MSU-induced inflammatory cell infiltration and the elevated expressions of nuclear transcription factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65) in synovial tissues were significantly inhibited, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) result showed that MSU-induced high levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in synovial fluid were reduced by treatment with RPP15 (0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 g/kg). We conclude that RPP15 may be a promising candidate for the development of a new treatment for gout and its activity of antigout may be partially related to inhibiting TNF-α, IL-1/5, IL-8, and NF-κB p65 expression in the synovial tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to study the initial roll guided structural transition of graphene. The flat graphene is thermodynamic metastable and small disturbance can strike its balance and lead to fold. An initial roll at one end causes the graphene layer to transform into double-fold, multi-fold and scroll spontaneously, depending on the size of the initial roll. This unique phenomenon results from the combined action of the van der Waals interaction and the π-π stacking effect. The potential energy of the final structures decreases with the increase of compact level. This study provides crucial simulation input to help guide to designing the required graphene-based nanostructures. The flat graphene is thermodynamic metastable and an initial roll at one end can cause the graphene layer to transform into double-fold, multi-fold and scroll spontaneously, depending on the size of the initial roll. The suggested mechanism is that the vdW force among graphene layers induced by the initial roll provides sufficient attractive force to overcome the energy barrier, the π-π stacking effect between graphene layers cause the structure of graphene to transform spontaneously and stabilizes two parallel graphene walls to achieve the lowest energy AB stacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes in the microstructure of ZnO nanowire were studied after exposure to different radiation doses of energetic x-rays. Detailed structural, composition and optical analyses were carried out. It was found that the surface composition changed and defects were formed in the irradiated ZnO nanowires. The structural change of ZnO nanowires after thermal treatment was also studied and similar defects were observed. It is proposed that phonon-induced localized heating is the main reason for the observed changes in microstructure. Finally, the field emission properties of ZnO nanowires before and after x-ray radiation were studied. It was found that the increase of work function and change in morphology induced by the irradiation were the reasons for the observed change in field emission properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the origin crystalnucleation and driving force iscritical for the synthesis of one-dimensional nanomaterials with controllablesize, morphology, and crystal structure. The growth behavior of ZnOnanowires prepared by thermal oxidation of zinc film is studied. Itis found that the grown nanowires have a bicrystalline structure andgrowth direction significantly different from the commonly observed[0001] direction. On the basis of detailed high resolution morphologyand structural analysis, we propose the origin of the initial growthsite, as well as the driving force for formation of the bicrystallinestructure of aligned ZnO nanowires. The initial zinc film plays animportant role in the growth of nanowire. The edge-enhanced oxidationeffect of zinc grain initiates the ZnO nanowire nucleation. The strainwithin the ZnO layer drives and stimulates the nanowire growth. Thepresent study provides insight into the growth mechanism of ZnO nanowiresgrown from thermal oxidation of zinc film. Field emission measurementresults show that the prepared ZnO nanowires have excellent fieldemission properties. Uniform emission can be obtained and the turn-onfield is 7.8 V/μm. The results indicate that the method is advantageousfor large-scale synthesis of ZnO nanowires for field emission applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a global analysis of latest solar and reactor neutrino data in the three-neutrino mixing scheme by using both the simple grid scanning and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling methods. Accuracy and efficiency of the two sampling methods are compared and advantages of the latter are discussed. The fitting results of three oscillation parameters θ12, θ13 and are provided with both old and new evaluations of the reactor antineutrino flux. Possible correlation between the fitting parameters is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. Portal hypertension and splenomegaly are common in patients with cirrhosis. However, there is limited previous in vivo research on the correlation between spleen stiffness and stages of liver fibrosis. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of spleen stiffness measurement (SSM), using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) technology, for liver fibrosis assessment. Eligible patients with chronic hepatitis B or C ( n = 163) underwent concurrent liver stiffness measurement (LSM), SSM and percutaneous liver biopsy. Receiver operating characteristic curves estimated the diagnostic performance of SSM, with multiple linear regression models for LSM and SSM determining the significance of explanatory factors. Results indicated significant correlation between LSM and SSM ( R2 = 0.574, P < 0.0001). Using SSM to classify METAVIR fibrosis (METAVIR F) scores, the areas under curves were 0.839 (95% CI: 0.780-0.898) for METAVIR F1 vs F2-4, 0.936 (95% CI: 0.898-0.975) for F1-2 vs F3-4 and 0.932 (95% CI: 0.893-0.971) for F1-3 vs F4, all P < 0.001. Multiple linear regression models identified BMI, spleen stiffness, METAVIR F3 and F4, serum alanine aminotransferase, international normalized ratio of prothrombin time, sodium and platelet count as significant independent explanatory factors for liver stiffness (adjusted R2 = 0.724, P < 0.001). Male gender, liver stiffness, METAVIR F2, F3 and F4 also significantly and independently explained spleen stiffness (adjusted R2 = 0.647, P < 0.001). ARFI SSM is potentially useful as a single or adjunct predictor of stages of liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motion trajectory contains plentiful motion information of moving objects, for example, human gestures and robot actions. Motion perception and recognition via trajectory are useful for characterizing them and a flexible descriptor of motion trajectory plays important role in motion analysis. However, in the existing tasks, trajectories were mostly used in raw data and effective descriptor is lacking. In this paper, we present a mixed invariant signature descriptor with global invariants for motion perception and recognition. The mixed signature is viewpoint invariant for local and global features. A reliable approximation of the mixed signature is proposed to reduce the noise in high- order derivatives.We use this descriptor for motion trajectory description and explore the motion perception with DTW algorithm for salient motion features. To achieve better accuracy, we modified the CDTW algorithm for trajectory matching in motion recognition. Furthermore, a controllable weight parameter is introduced to adjust the global features for tasks in different circumstances. The conducted experiments validated the proposed-method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An automated flow is described for total-ionizing dose (TID)-aware SPICE model generation that includes TID response and its dependence on process variability and layout. A memetic algorithm that balances multiple objectives, subject to realistic constraints, is introduced for global optimization of the flow. A differential evolution algorithm is adapted for global exploration, and a modified random pattern search strategy is introduced for local exploitation. The optimizer efficiently reduces the value of different kinds of objective functions in the extraction at reasonable cost and avoids premature convergence in most practical cases. The model is implemented in Verilog-A, can be applied to all foundry model formats, and supports all popular SPICE simulators. To validate the flow, simulations from models extracted from specific targets are compared with measured current-voltage characteristics under various irradiation conditions for 0.35 \mu\ m, 0.18 \mu\ m, and 90 nm bulk CMOS processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Both active and sterile sub-eV neutrinos can serve as hot dark matter (DM). On the other hand, keV sterile neutrinos could be a good candidate for warm DM. The beta-decaying (e.g., ³H and 106Ru) and EC-decaying (e.g., 163Ho) nuclei are considered as the most promising targets to capture those extremely low energy neutrinos and antineutrinos, respectively. We calculate the capture rates of relic electron neutrinos and antineutrinos against the corresponding beta-decay or EC-decay backgrounds in different flavor mixing schemes. We stress that such direct laboratory measurements of hot or warm DM might not be hopeless in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular dynamics simulation is used to observe the traveling behavior of a water cluster released from the interior of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) to a graphite sheet. The simulation results reveal that there is a need for the water cluster overcoming the energy barrier of the binding energy between the water cluster and the SWCNT to escape from the tube. The water cluster undergoes a three-dimensional motion when released from the SWCNT, due to the effect of the thermal velocity. When encountering the graphite sheet in the forward direction, the x axis impact velocity has much effect on the delivery of the water cluster. The fact that the water cluster is bounced back reduces the possibility of being captured by the graphite sheet, resulting in a decrease in the delivery efficiency of the water cluster. The presence of the electric charges can help the graphite sheet to effectively trap the water cluster. These results have implications for the design and fabrication of novel drug delivery devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]