Search

Summary: Dexmedetomidine might reduce delirium after cardiac surgery. We allocated 326 participants to an infusion of dexmedetomidine at a rate of 0.6 μg kg−1 for 10 min and then at 0.4 μg.kg−1.h−1 until the end of surgery; 326 control participants received comparable volumes of saline. We detected delirium in 98/652 (15%) participants during the first seven postoperative days: 47/326 after dexmedetomidine vs. 51/326 after placebo, p = 0.62, adjusted relative risk (95%CI) 0.86 (0.56–1.33), p = 0.51. Postoperative renal impairment (Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes stages 1, 2 and 3) was detected in 46, 9 and 2 participants after dexmedetomidine and 25, 7 and 4 control participants, p = 0.040. Intra‐operative dexmedetomidine infusion did not reduce the incidence of delirium after cardiac valve surgery but might impair renal function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ascorbic acid (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) contribute to defense responses under abiotic stresses. The present study explored the ascorbate-glutathione cycle and ascorbate regeneration under high concentration (30 mM) of cadmium in the tea plant (Camellia sinensis L.). The tea leaves showed speckles and necrosis from the third day of Cd treatment. The content of superoxide anion (O2.-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the leaves were significantly higher until the seventh day after Cd treatment. The content of O2.- and H2O2 were the highest on the fifth day (212.7 and 153.6 % of the control, respectively). The AsA content increased (86.9 %) on the first day after Cd treatment and decreased significantly in the subsequent days, while GSH showed a reverse trend. The enzymatic activity assays showed that dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) involved in AsA regeneration were downregulated considerably after Cd foliar application. In contrast, the activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) increased on the first day and then declined. Reverse-transcription quantitative PCR showed upregulation of glutathione synthetase (CsGSHS), γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (Csγ-ECS), and CsMDHAR of the AsA regeneration pathway and downregulation of CsDHAR and CsGR. The expressions of GDP-L-galactose phosphorylase (CsGGP), L-galactose-1-phosphate phosphatase (CsGPP), and L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (CsGaILDH) of the L-galactose pathway were also downregulated. The results indicated that AsA, which can respond to Cd stress of plants by increasing antioxidant ability, was consumed to scavenge ROS; moreover, Cd stress inhibited AsA synthesis and regeneration, which made that tea plants suffering severe damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) crack propagation behavior of nuclear power structural materials in a high temperature water environment can be regarded as oxide film rupture and regeneration under the interaction of material, corrosive environment, and mechanical micro- environment. To understand the influence of the passivation process of the shape around the crack tip over time on the creep field, the change of oxide film curvature value is used to represent the passivation process of the shape around the crack tip. The finite element software ABAQUS is used to simulate and analyze the crack tip creep field and its distribution law of the oxide film at the crack tip under different curvatures. Results show that different oxide film curvatures will affect the size and distribution of stress and strain around the crack tip. With the increase of oxide film curvature, the creep amount, creep rate, and crack growth rate of the base metal all show an increasing trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are quickly becoming an attractive solution for autonomous vehicles, military weapons, and space exploration. Thanks to their reconfiguration ability, design flexibility, and low power consumption, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have become a promising candidate for CNN accelerators. However, FPGAs have been proven to be susceptible to radiation-induced single-event upsets (SEUs). One goal of this article is to analyze the impact of quantization on the reliability of CNNs in FPGAs. Therefore, we performed quantization on ZynqNet without affecting its classification accuracy. Meanwhile, we implemented the triple modular redundancy (TMR) version of ZynqNet and we also evaluated the effects of SEUs on these CNNs through both fault injections and neutron exposures. Fault injection results show that TMRed ZynqNet reduces the soft error rate (SER) by 33.59% with a circuit area increase of 111.92% when compared with the standard ZynqNet. The experimental results demonstrate that the quantized ZynqNet reduces the SER by 71.36% with a circuit area reduction of 44.76% when compared with the standard ZynqNet. These results confirm that quantization does contribute to SER reduction of the neural networks. In addition, the operating system on the processing system (PS) side was also found to be highly sensitive to SEUs, and, thus, mitigation techniques should be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-pressure behavior of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) was investigated by Raman and IR spectroscopy at pressures up to 55 GPa and room temperature, as well as by periodic calculations up to 100 GPa. Experimentally, we find three solid-solid phase transitions at 9, 18, and 39.5 GPa. Vibrational spectroscopy indicates that in all observed phases NF3 remains in the molecular form, in contrast to the behavior of compressed ammonia. This finding is confirmed by density functional theory calculations, which also indicate that the phase transitions of compressed NF3 are governed by the interplay between lone-pair interactions and efficient molecule packing. Although nitrogen trifluoride is molecular in the whole pressure range studied, we show that it can be photodissociated by mid-IR laser radiation. This finding paves the way for the use of NF3 as an oxidizing and fluorinating agent in high-pressure reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neural network (NN) has an advantage in handling the massive real-time monitoring data on discrete manufacturing. Therefore, this paper proposes a production management and control method for discrete manufacturing job-shops based on ant colony optimization (ACO). Firstly, the production management and control problem for discrete manufacturing job-shops was described through the functional analysis on the management and control system, followed by establishing the corresponding mathematical model. After that, the ACO was improved to solve the static multi-objective production management and control problem. Then, the authors set up an NN-based production management and control model for dynamic discrete manufacturing job-shop, and detailed the way to select and transform the judgement result on production state and to set up the training set. Finally, the effectiveness of our algorithm was verified through experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver iodide (AgI-V) is an archetypical ionic compound for studying the formation mechanism of a superionic state. Previous studies have proven that superionic AgI with high ionic conductivity greater than 0.1 Ω-1cm-1 could only be obtained at high temperatures. We show in this paper that high pressure could also induce the superionic state in AgI even at ambient temperature. Using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, we investigated Ag+ ions diffusing in rock-salt structured AgI-III and KOH-type AgI-V under high pressures and directly observed the superionic state in AgI-V. The diffusion coefficient of AgI-V is ∼3.4 × 10-4-8.6 × 10-4 cm²/s in the investigated pressure range of 12-17 GPa, comparable with those of superionic α-AgI and AgI-III′. By analyzing the half infinite length Warburg diffusion process, two parameters α and β, which closely relate to the disordered state of Ag+ ions, have been determined and it was suggested that Ag+ ions in AgI-V become disordered. The ionic conductivity of AgI-V is three orders of magnitude higher than that of AgI-III, and has reached around 0.1 Ω-1cm-1. Evidence for all three, the diffusion coefficient, α and β, and conductivity have proven that AgI-V is a superionic conductor at ambient temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For area and power constraint applications in mission critical systems, the traditional fast Fourier transform (FFT) design requires huge hardware resources for data processing. In this article, we, therefore, present a low-overhead radix-2 FFT design that reduces hardware resources by simplifying the first two stages of the butterfly computations. Both the proposed design and the traditional design have been implemented in the MicroZus-20 (XC7Z020) platform. Their single-event performances have been compared through both fault injections and neutron exposure, and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed design reduces the soft error rate by 53.8%. Also, the proposed FFT reduces the hardware resource consumption and circuit area by 64.8% when compared with the traditional design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The class III PRX family is a class of heme-containing oxidases and plays important roles in response to abiotic stress in plants. The responses to abiotic stresses could be regulated by phytohormones like abscisic acid (ABA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). In this research, 11 CsPRXs genes in tea plant (Camellia sinensis) were cloned and analyzed. Based on the similarity of the sequences, they were classified into 5 sub-groups. According to the results of reverse transcription PCR, CsPRX55 presented the highest expression in roots compared to stems and leaves of both tea cultivars LJ43 and Baiye 1. Besides, the expressions of CsPRX12 and CsPRX73 were highest in roots, while CsPRX4, CsPRX47, and CsPRX72 were highest in stems of 'Baiye 1'. But most of CsPRXs showed the highest expressions in leaves of 'LJ43'. CsPRXs appeared different expression patterns under drought stress of tea plants which were pre-treated with ABA or MeJA for three days. In 'LJ43' and 'Baiye 1', there were 3 CsPRXs and 7 CsPRXs up-regulated by exogenous ABA and MeJA, respectively. However, CsPRX4 and CsPRX16 were down-regulated in 'LJ43' treated with ABA and MeJA. It suggested that CsPRXs possessed diverse functions in response to hormones and abiotic stress. In 'LJ43', the activity of peroxidase (POD) was increased when pre-treated by ABA and MeJA, and the highest activity appeared after 24 and 12 h, respectively. In 'Baiye 1', the activity of POD was also increased, however, when pre-treated by MeJA, the peak-time of POD activity was at 24 h. But the change had no obvious rule after ABA treatment. Exogenous ABA or MeJA may play a role in protecting tea plants suffered from drought stress via regulating some CsPRXs expressions and increasing POD activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the effects of Zn content on the mechanical and damping properties of Mg-0.6%Zr were investigated. The mechanical and damping properties of Mg-0.6%Zr-x%Zn samples were evaluated using tensile testing and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The results showed that the mechanical properties of the alloy could be improved significantly by adding Zn, and that the damping properties of the alloy were high. The as-cast Mg-0.6% Zr-1.0% Zn exhibited excellent mechanical properties, exhibiting σ b = 171 MPa and σ 0.2 = 77 MPa. The alloy also had high damping capacity, with a damping value greater than 0.01. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutron diffraction and χac data show that the first order magnetostructural transition in the Nd5SixGe4-x system takes place over a very narrow composition range (2.25

Nd5Sn4 adopts the orthorhombic Pnma structure, and orders antiferromagnetically below 36(3) K. The neutron diffraction pattern at 4 K reveals that the magnetic space group is Pn'm'a', a complex canted-antiferromagnetic structure. The Nd 4c magnetic mode is AxCz, and the Nd 8d magnetic mode is A-xG-yC-z. The Nd magnetic moments are 1.76(8), 2.44(12), and 2.63(10)μB at 4c, 8d1, and 8d2 sites, respectively. These results are in agreement with our Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure and magnetic properties of Nd[SUB5]Si[SUBx]Sn[SUB4-x] have been investigated using x-ray diffraction, [SUP119]Sn Mössbauer spectroscopy and bulk magnetic techniques. The crystal structure is orthorhombic for x⩽3.5, above which it is tetragonal. The ac-susceptibility shows that the magnetic (ordering temperatures of Nd[SUB5]Si[SUBx]Sn[SUB4-x] increase from 35 to 120 K as x increases. Magnetization data indicate that the Nd moments cannot be ordered ferromagnetically at 5 K and that the magnetic structure must be mixed ferro-antiferromagnetic form as seen in the Nd[SUB5]Si[SUBx]Ge[SUB4-x] system. The [SUP119]Sn Moössbauer spectra of Nd[SUB5]Si[SUBx]Sn[SUB4-x] at 9 K are dominated by two, sharp hyperfine sextets with fields) between 10 and 16 T that increase with x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flip-flop circuit hardened against soft errors is presented in this paper. This design is an improved version of Quatro for further enhanced soft-error resilience by integrating the guard-gate technique. The proposed design, as well as reference Quatro and regular flip-flops, was implemented and manufactured in a 65-nm CMOS bulk technology. Experimental characterization results of their alpha and heavy ions soft-error rates verified the superior hardening performance of the proposed design over the other two circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background We previously demonstrated in mice that airway eosinophils traffic from the airway lumen into lung-draining paratracheal lymph nodes. However, mechanisms whereby eosinophils traverse from the lungs and home to paratracheal lymph nodes remain unclear. We investigated roles of cysteinyl leukotrienes in mediating eosinophil trafficking from lungs to paratracheal lymph nodes. Methods The expression of CCR7 was determined by flow cytometry. Transwell assays were used to test chemotactic responses of leukotriene C4 synthase-deficient and control airway eosinophils to the chemokine CCL19 ex vivo. Eosinophils from the spleens of IL-5 transgenic mice, fluorescently labeled ex vivo, were intratracheally injected into ovalbumin-sensitized and ovalbumin aerosol-challenged leukotriene C4 synthase-deficient and control mice. Eosinophils were identified by microscopy and flow cytometry in the lungs and paratracheal lymph nodes. Results Mouse eosinophils expressed CCR7, the receptor for CCL19, and responded chemotactically to CCL19. Leukotriene C4 synthase-deficient eosinophils exhibited impaired chemotaxis to CCL19 that was restored by exogenous leukotriene C4. The migration of intratracheally injected eosinophils into paratracheal lymph nodes from distal alveolar lung was diminished in leukotriene C4 synthase-deficient mice compared with wild-type mice, with increased retention of eosinophils in the lungs of leukotriene C4 synthase-deficient mice. Exogenous administration of leukotriene C4 restored trafficking of eosinophils to paratracheal lymph nodes in leukotriene C4 synthase-deficient mice. Conclusions Our findings that cysteinyl leukotrienes are involved in regulating airway and lung eosinophil migration into paratracheal lymph nodes identify previously unrecognized roles for the cysteinyl leukotrienes in regulating the pulmonary trafficking of eosinophils in experimental allergic asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a variety of flip-flop (FF) designs fabricated in a commercial 28-nm Fully-Depleted Silicon on Insulator (FDSOI) technology are evaluated for their single-event upset performance with ions and pulsed laser experiments. These FF designs consist of unhardened DFF, hardened DFF with stacked transistors in the inverters, and the layout-optimized DFFs. These DFFs were exposed to alpha particles and heavy ions (HIs). None of the hardened DFFs exhibit any errors up to a Linear Energy Transfer (LET) of 50 MeV*cm2/mg under normal irradiation, and a layout-based hardened DFF started to see errors at a LET of 50 MeV*cm2/mg with the tilt angle of 600. The testing data substantiates effective SEU reduction of these hardened designs. Two-photon absorption (TPA) laser experiments were carried to test these DFF designs, and the results showed that pulsed laser may not be a valid tool to evaluate the FFs designed with nano-scale SOI stacked structures. This brings new challenges in laser hardness assurance for RHBD designs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we present D flip-flop, Quatro, and stacked Quarto flip-flop designs fabricated in a commercial 28-nm CMOS FDSOI technology. Stacked-transistor structures are introduced in the stacked Quatro design to protect the sensitive devices of the original structure. Striking either of the stacked devices will not upset the latch because the conduction path to the supply rail is still cut off by the other off-state device. The irradiation experimental results substantiate that the stacked Quatro design has significantly better SEU tolerance (e.g., higher heavy ion upset Linear Energy Transfer threshold and smaller cross-section data) than the reference designs. It introduces power and area penalties because the proposed design duplicates and stacks two sensitive PMOS devices. Additionally, the impact of technology scaling on Quatro in various technology nodes (130-nm, 65-nm, and 40-nm) has been studied suggesting decreasing upset threshold and decreasing cross-section data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A guard-gate based flip-flop circuit temporally hardened against single-event effects is presented in this paper. Compared to several existed techniques, the organization of components inside the proposed design allows the improved performance– only one $\tau $ (the maximum width of a single-event transient (SET) to tolerate) is added into the setup time. A previously reported low-power delay element is applied, which helps make the proposed design power-efficient. The proposed design was implemented in a 65 nm CMOS bulk technology. Alpha and heavy-ions radiation experiments were performed to characterize its soft-error rates. Experimental results show that the proposed design presents no error with LETs up to 37.3 MeV-cm2/mg. Simulation results from the TFIT further validate the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that observed the harmonic mixing experiments in the waveband. Use of a high temperature superconducting grain boundary Josephson junction; Purpose of the study; Dependencies of intermediate frequency output on direct current bias, harmonic number and frequency of local oscillator.

Two types of clock networks including clock mesh and a buffered clock tree in a daisy-chain style were utilized to synchronize 5 DFF chains and fabricated in a 28 nm bulk CMOS technology. Alpha and proton particles did not trigger any errors indicating the significant single event tolerance of these clock networks. Heavy ion results for the data input pattern of checkerboard (alternate 1 and 0) are presented showing few occurrences of burst errors induced by single event transients (SETs) in the buffered clock tree at relatively high LET values. The same phenomena were observed in laser tests. Clock mesh is therefore proven to be less sensitive to SETs, if pre-mesh drivers do not generate transients. Otherwise, clock mesh possesses lower tolerance, as demonstrated in previous work. Moreover, these burst errors occurred (1) simultaneously in a DFF chain and its subsequent chains, or (2) in a single chain with subsequent chains unaffected. The distinct mechanisms of these burst errors were found to be the electrical masking effect of the daisy-chain clock buffers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and evaluates a new built-in current sensor used to detect n-well single-event transients (SETs) induced by radiation strikes in integrated circuits (IC). A 28 nm bulk CMOS test chip containing the proposed sensor design was irradiated by two-photon absorption lasers. Both simulation and experimental data confirm the validity of the proposed design and demonstrate that it can be used for SET detection in advanced technology nodes. Simulation results also demonstrate that this structure has increased SET detection capability and the capability is more sensitive to voltage and temperature variations when compared to the reference design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an SEU-tolerant Dual Interlocked Storage Cell (DICE) latch design with both PMOS and NMOS transistors in the feedback paths. The feedback transistors improve the SEU tolerance by increasing the feedback loop delay during the hold mode. The latch design was implemented in a shift register fashion at a 130-nm bulk CMOS process node. Exposures to heavy-ions exhibited a significantly higher upset LET threshold and lower cross-section compared with the traditional DICE latch design. Performance penalties in terms of write delay, power, and area are non-significant compared to traditional DICE design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dynamic logic families are commonly used in high speed applications, but they are susceptible to single event errors. This paper presents and evaluates three techniques of hardening dynamic logic-layout manipulation using charge sharing, addition of a feedback capacitor across the static inverter, and dual-rail domino logic with differential keepers. The layout-based design has better single event tolerance by sharing charge between NFET devices of the dynamic and static inverters; the design with a feedback capacitor makes the keeper more effective in recovering the hit node because of the increased propagation delay; the differential-keeper structure shows superior SET performance because the hit node could recover through the restoring path in the case of charge loss. These proposed designs along with the reference traditional keeper-based design were fabricated in a 130 nm technology node as shift register chains and then irradiated by heavy ion particles. Experimental results verified the mechanisms and effectiveness of these proposed designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new SEU-tolerant latch design based on Quatro and NMOS feedback transistors. By using these feedback transistors, the SEU susceptibility is decreased because of the cutoff feedback loop. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed design is immune to static single node upsets. The proposed latch and the reference Quatro were designed and fabricated on a 130 nm process. The test chip was exposed to heavy ions at the TAMU Cyclotron facility. The testing results show that the proposed design has a higher upset LET threshold and lower cross-section when compared to the reference latch. Its lower SEU vulnerability comes with small area penalty. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To analyze the effects of soil acidity on tea quality and the ability of soil nitrogen transformation, the tea leaves and tea tree rhizosphere soils were collected from 26-tea plantations and determined their contents of theanine and amino acids in tea leaves, the number of soil nitrogen transforming microorganisms and soil biochemical intensity. The results showed that the content of theanine and amino acid in tea leaves, the number of aerobic nitrogen-fixing bacteria and ammonifying bacteria in the soil and the nitrogen fixation intensity and ammonification intensity of the soil increased with the increase of pH value of tea tree rhizosphere soil. However, the number of soil nitrifying bacteria and denitrifying bacteria and soil nitrification intensity and denitrification intensity showed a downward trend. The results of principal component analysis showed that the contribution rate of principal component 1 and principal component 2 was 84.97 % and 7.57 %, respectively. In the soil with different acidity, the main contribution to differentiate the amino acid and theanine content in tea leaves came from the ability of soil for nitrogen fixation and ammonification as well as the ability of soil nitrification and denitrification. The results of correlation analysis showed that soil pH value was significantly positively correlated with theanine, amino acid, aerobic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, ammonifying bacteria, nitrogen fixation intensity and ammoniating intensity, while significantly negatively correlated with nitrifying bacteria, denitrifying bacteria, nitrification intensity and denitrification intensity. The intensification of soil acidity decreased the nitrogen fixation and ammonification activities and boosted nitrification and denitrification activities and decreased the quality of tea leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Chemical compositions of three herbal plants from the family Araliaceae genus Panax [ Panax ginseng C. A. Mey, P. quinquefolius L. and P. notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen] are quite similar; however, their medicinal natures vary greatly. The reason for differences has been explained in traditional Chinese medicine theory and partially verified by modern pharmacological investigations, such as antiplatelet aggregation. Aside from platelet aggregation, a variety of plasma coagulation factors are also involved in blood coagulation. The anticoagulation profiles of three herbs have not been investigated. Objective: The current research compared the inhibitory effects of three herbal extracts from Panax spp. and the purified ginsenosides from P. ginseng on blood coagulation. Materials and methods: Human plasma was mixed with the water extracts (0.05 and 0.1 mg/mL) from roots of P. ginseng, P. quinquefolius and P. notoginseng and ginsenosides Rg1 and Rg2 (0.05 and 0.1 mg/mL), the blood clotting time of activated partial thromboplastin, prothrombin and thrombin were measured by a biochemical analyzer. Results: The water extracts (0.05 mg/mL) of P. ginseng, P. quinquefolius and P. notoginseng could significantly extend blood clotting time as compared to the control group. Among three herbal medicines, 0.05 mg/mL of water extract from P. ginseng exhibited the strongest anticoagulation effects, followed by P. notoginseng, while P. quinquefolius presented the weakest effects. Both ginsenosides Rg1 and Rg2 could significantly extend blood clotting time in all three tests; ginsenoside Rg2 exhibited relative stronger anticoagulation effects as compared to ginsenoside Rg1. Discussion and conclusion: Among three herbs tested, P. ginseng as well as its active component ginsenoside Rg2 shows the strongest anticoagulation activity; current results indicate that P. ginseng and ginsenoside Rg2 have great potential to be an anticoagulation drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-uniform distribution of air in radial flow adsorber restricts the development of large-scale air separation units (ASUs). The cross-sectional areas of central and annular channels, bed porosity and structure parameters of distributor in central channel are summarized as the main factors affecting the distribution performance of adsorber. Effects of these three primary factors in flow distribution are investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Considering the coupling relationship between adsorption and regeneration processes of adsorber, a comprehensive optimization scheme is proposed. It concludes that, the optimal design of cross-sectional diameters of central and annular channels is 0.25 and 0.86 m, and the adsorption and regeneration uniformity can reach 95.36 and 94.81%, respectively. Moreover, with the decrease of bed porosity, pressure drop uniformity and static pressure will rise, and the reasonable range of porosity should be between 0.2 and 0.3. Finally, it is proved that the uniformity of adsorption and regeneration can be simultaneously improved by adjusting the structural parameters of the bottom distributor, and results show that the uniformity of adsorption and regeneration can increase by 0.29 and 2.30%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel magnetometer based on the Villari effect of a permalloy rod. The Villari effect describes that the magnetic properties of a ferromagnetic sample change when under mechanical stress. Theoretical analysis indicates that the output voltage amplitude of the pick-up coil is proportional to the magnetic field density B in the direction along the length of a rod. The sensor element is composed of a permalloy rod, a small lead zirconate titanate (PZT) plate, and one pick-up coil. A prototype is fabricated and the basic performance of the magnetometer is measured. We solve problems, such as the unreliable, nonrepeatable performance and complex manufacturing process of previous Villari effect-based magnetometers, and achieve better overall performance. With a sensitivity of 18.8 pTrms/\sqrt\rm Hz at 1 Hz, the magnetometer has a nonlinearity error of less than 0.7% at a wide range of 2 \muT and a total noise of 40.3 pTrms from 0.1 to 10 Hz. A working range of 20 \muT is achieved with a nonlinearity error of less than 2.3%. The proposed magnetometer has low inherent noise, low power consumption (only 3.68 mW), a simple structure and signal processing, good linearity, and high resolution . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a theoretical study on the interfacial electron transport in the ferromagnet/two-dimensional electron gas (FM/2DEG) hybrid junction at zero bias, where the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI) is considered in 2DEG region. It is shown that a nonzero charge current can spontaneously flow in the interface of the junction due to broken time reversal symmetry and spin-dependent scattering of electron at interface. This interfacial charge current can be modulated by system parameters such as the magnetization of FM, RSOI strength, and interface barrier, moreover, it can be optimized as the magnetization of FM in 2DEG plane is perpendicular to interface whereas it can vanish as the FM magnetization is parallel to interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the effect of priming rhesus monkeys with an Ad5/35 vector expressing simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) gag and gp120, and then boosting the animals with an modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) vector encoding the same antigens after a 2-month interval. The animals were intravenously challenged with 100 TCID50 of highly pathogenic SIVmac239 virus 2 months after the booster vaccination. The priming vaccination induced robust SIV-specific cell-mediated and humoral immune responses, and boosting further enhanced the cellular immunity. Vaccination reduced peak and long-term viral loads by 1–2 logs for a period of >6 months, as reflected by a reduction in both the SIV RNA and DNA levels. Of considerable interest, the immunized monkeys did not suffer from loss of CD4 T cells, particularly central memory CD4 T cells. These results demonstrate that prophylactic vaccination with Ad5/35 followed by MVA reduces viral replication and prevents CD4 T-cell loss, and that these effects may decrease the likelihood of disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present the theory and implementation of a novel sensorless control method for the interior permanent magnet (IPM) brushless DC motor (BLDCM). The proposed new sensorless technique can accurately detect the zero-cross point (ZCP) of back electromotive force (BEMF), which is based on a comparison of the terminal voltage of the unconducting phase during the first and second part of a pulse width modulation (PWM) cycle. Compared with the conventional BEMF sensorless approach, the proposed new sensorless method solves the problem of the sensorless BLDCM drives at very low speeds. Experimental results confirm the validity of the new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One objective of allelopathy research is to identify new allelochemicals that can serve as potential reduced-risk herbicides, thereby reducing the use of synthetic herbicides for weed control. Five oxygenic terpenoids, namely (−)-carveol, (+)-carvone, (−)-menthone, (−)-carvyl acetate and (+)-cedrol, were previously identified compounds or their analogues. The optimum combination of the five terpenoids was determined by orthogonal rotatable central composite design for five variables and five concentration levels in the glasshouse. In hydroponic experiments, the optimum combination significantly inhibited root length, plant height and plant dry weight of Echinochloa crus-galli, causing a considerable decline in the superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activities in the root and leaves of E. crus-galli. In paddy soil experiments, the mixture was highly effective in suppressing E. crus-galli development in monoculture and grown with rice. However, the mixture was not harmful to the two rice accessions. Oxygenic terpenoids that show high inhibitory effects at low concentrations may be promising herbicidal candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) effectively slows the progression of AIDS. However, drug resistance and/or toxicity can limit the utility of ART in many patients. In this study, we assessed whether a viral vector-based vaccine can be used as a therapeutic vaccine in simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected monkeys. The effect of vaccinating SIVmac239-infected rhesus monkeys with an SIV gag and gp120-expressing adenovirus (Ad) vector vaccine and a modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine was explored while being treated with ART. Rhesus monkeys were intravenously infected with 10 and 1000 TCID50 (50% tissue culture infectious dose) of SIVmac239. Two months after SIV infection, the monkeys received a 4-month treatment with ART. Some of the monkeys were immunized with adenovirus-based vaccine and MVA-based vaccine with 2 months interval during ART. Viral load, CD4 count and SIV-specific immune responses were observed for 7 months after interruption of ART. The vaccinated animals had higher (i) CD4 counts, (ii) SIV-specific cell-mediated immune responses and (iii) anti-SIV-neutralizing antibody (Ab) titers than monkeys treated with ART alone. More importantly, the vaccination significantly reduced the SIV RNA load from animals infected with a low dose of SIV (10 TCID50). The anti-SIV cell-mediated and humoral responses induced by the vaccination was inversely correlated with a reduction in SIV viral load and positively correlated with an increase in CD4+ T cell counts. These results suggest that vaccination can improve antiviral cell-mediated and humoral immunity, which may contribute to controlling viral replication.Gene Therapy (2009) 16, 218–228; doi:10.1038/gt.2008.152; published online 16 October 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective elastic properties of carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide composite (C/SiC) with multilayered matrix manufactured by chemical vapour infiltration method are studied in the present paper. Based on the material tomography of scanning electron microscopy, distributions of voids and microcracks are identified and taken into account in the finite element model of such C/SiC composite. It is shown the proposed two scale finite element models of multilayered C/SiC composites can characterise physically the real situation of involved voids and microcracks related to the chemical vapour infiltration process. The numerical results of effective moduli and experimental ones have a reasonable agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eosinophils are usually considered as end-stage degranulating effector cells of innate immunity. However, accumulating evidence has revealed additional roles for eosinophils that are immunoregulatory in nature in both the adaptive and innate arms of immunity. Specifically, eosinophils have key immunoregulatory roles as professional antigen-presenting cells and as modulators of CD4+ T cell, dendritic cell, B cell, mast cell, neutrophil, and basophil functions. This review addresses the emerging immunoregulatory roles of eosinophils with a focus on recent data that support this new paradigm. Recognizing both the effector and immunoregulatory functions of eosinophils will enable a fuller understanding of the roles of eosinophils in allergic airways inflammation and may be pertinent to therapies that target eosinophils both for their acute and ongoing immunomodulatory functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructured silver films were deposited at room temperature on polypropylene non-wovens by radio frequency magnetron sputter coating to obtain the antibacterial properties, and the relationship between sputter parameters and antibacterial properties were investigated in this paper. The antibacterial activity of the materials was assessed using shake flask test. The effects of silver film deposition on surface morphology were characterised using SEM and AFM. Surface elemental compositions were also analysed using EDX analysis. The results of antibacterial tests revealed that deposition time was the key parameter affecting the antibacterial properties of the materials, while sputtering power and argon pressure seemed to have a slight effect on antibacterial performance. It is believed that the total amount of silver ions released from the silver coating was increased as the deposition time increased. The AFM images and quantitative analysis by EDX respectively revealed that increase in deposition time led to the increased coverage of silver film and the increased silver weight percentage per unit surface, which provided evidences for the increased release rate of the silver ions from coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the fault detection problem for linear systems with unknown inputs. The H∞ norm and H- index are employed to measure the robustness to unknown inputs and the sensitivity to faults, respectively. By using the pole assignment approach, the fault detection problem is transformed to an unconstrained optimization problem. With the aid of a gradient-based optimization approach, an explicit formula for designing the desirable observer gain is derived. Furthermore, the fault sensitivity over a finite frequency range can also be solved by the proposed method. The methodology proposed is verified through numerical simulation studies performed on the fault detection observer design of a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the geographic variations of carbonate concentrations in last interglacial pedocomplex (S1) profiles along a north west (NW)-southeast (SE) transect across the Chinese Loess Plateau. The average S1 carbonate concentration is the same as that of overlying loess (L1) and underlying loess (L2) at the northwesternmost site (Lanzhou), but variations in carbonate concentration within S1 pedocomplex are greater than the within-loess (L1 and L2) variations, indicating that the carbonate translocation within the S1 pedocomplex had occurred. Carbonate was leached to greater depths to form more pronounced peaks in the three paleosols (S1S1, S1S2, S1S3) within the S1 pedocomplex at the Dingxi section. Farther SE to the Qinan section, the three paleosols (S1S1, S1S2, S1S3) have more distinguishable carbonate leaching and accumulation zones than at the Dingxisection. The S1 carbonate concentration at the Tianshui section suggests that the three paleosols were partially welded, as evidenced by the S1S3 and S1S2 paleosols sharing a major portion of the paleosol profile. Soil-forming events occurred repeatedly in a single paleosol profile and the Ck horizon might have served as the carbonate accumulation zone for all three paleosols (S1S1, S1S2, S1S3) at the southeasternmost site (Lantian). Land surface stability complicated carbonate concentration processes in loessial paleosols and extra caution should be observed when interpreting climate implication of carbonate concentration data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief description of the double-sided fabrication process, we give an example to show that a quite large array of intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) can be made by superconductively connecting 256 stacks of junctions together. Each of these stacks contains only 40 junctions which prevents problems causing by heating. We present a detailed discussion on a new structure we have developed in which an extra electrode can be fabricated in the middle of an array by a slight modification of the double-sided process. Using this middle electrode, we can determine further in- formation on the physical processes inside the stack than is possible without such an electrode. Finally we shall discuss terahertz generation in IJJs when an external magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the width of the junctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superconducting compound La 2 Cu 0.925 V 0.075 O 4 + δ has been studied by electron diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy. The abnormal appearance of forbidden reflections is interpreted in terms of differently oriented microdomains. This is confirmed by the lattice images and their selected-area Fourier transforms. The space group of the crystals was determined to be Bmab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystal structure, phase transitions, and exchange bias (EB) in Al-doped Ni50Mn36Sn14-xAlx Heusler alloys were investigated. With the increase of Al content, the cell volume decreases gradually, and the martensitic transformation temperature shifts to a higher temperature. Due to the positive "chemical pressure" by Al substitution, the antiferromagnetic interaction strengthens, leading to the decrease of magnetization and the ground state evolution from "reentrant" spin glass to spin glass. Zero-field-cooled EB is triggered in samples exhibiting spin-glass ground state. These results suggest a viable way to design Ni-Mn-Z-based alloys showing zero-field-cooled EB by tuning the exchange interactions and ground state via lattice modulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report herein the identification of 23 novel Mafa-B alleles in cynomolgus macaques of Vietnamese origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) with lateral sizes down to submicron have been fabricated in high temperature cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ single crystals. With in-plane magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the short edges, equally spaced current steps with intervals up to millivolts have been observed in current-voltage characteristics, indicating that terahertz oscillation has been excited in the junctions. The one-by-one switching to the same resonance frequency will make possible to employ a submicron sized IJJs stack as a building block for solid state terahertz continuous wave sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With annular intrinsic Josephson junctions structured from a slice of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ single crystal 200 nm thick, we have devised a way to inject fluxons into the junctions only by sweeping the bias current. The stacks have shown typical properties concerning Josephson fluxon conservation. These annular junctions are sensitive to microwave irradiation, and quite sharp Shapiro steps have been observed at ∼20 GHz which is much lower than the plasma frequency of the junctions, indicating many applications can be possible with practically accessible microwave sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modifying the double-sided fabrication method we invented a few years ago, a new type of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 intrinsic Josephson junction (IJJs) array is explored in which, in addition to the indispensable top and bottom electrodes, there is an electrode only 100 nm thick fabricated in the middle of the array. This electrode provides easy access to the inside of the IJJs, enabling us to understand the device physics better than was possible before. As the first application of such a new device, we have clearly shown how “hot” a junction stack can be under various bias conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor regarding the effect of Fe addition on transformation temperatures and hardness of NiMnGa magnetic shape memory alloys.

We have performed a detailed density functional theory study on the structural and electronic properties of NanC60- (n = 1-12) clusters. The calculated vertical detachment energies show good agreement with the experimental data, which confirms the 3p (n = 3p) oscillation rule. The oscillation can be attributed to the combination of the charge depletion distribution induced by removing electrons and the number of the sodium atoms in direct contact with the fullerene. Based on the structural and electronic properties, the Na atoms can be categorized into two groups, one is for the metal atoms directly bonded to the fullerene surface, and the other one is for those without bonding to the fullerene. The Na atoms in group one would donate electrons to both the fullerene and the Na atoms in group two. As the total number of the sodium atoms increases, the number of Na atoms in group one would continue increasing till the size n = 3p - 1 to meet a shoulder from n = 3p - 1 to n = 3p, which accounts for the maximum vertical detachment energy at the size of n = 3p as drawn from the detailed electronic property studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On a slice of 200-300-nm-thick Bi[sub 2]Sr[sub 2]CaCu[sub 2]O[sub 8+x], stacks of intrinsic Josephson junctions are patterned, connected to each other, and integrated with a bow-tie antenna and some chokes. Over an area of 150 µm by 170 µm, we have been able to fabricate up to 256 stacks with over 11 000 junctions. Such three-dimensional arrays of intrinsic Josephson junctions respond sensitively to irradiation at 760 GHz from a far-infrared laser, showing clear zero-crossing Shapiro steps up to 0.75 V. In addition, possible applications in quantum voltage standards are discussed here. The high density of integration of the Josephson junctions is also promising for many other applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]