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The fundamental pursuit to complete the human proteome atlas and the unmet clinical needs in lung adenocarcinoma have prompted us to study the functional role of uncharacterized proteins and explore their implications in cancer biology. In this study, we characterized SEL1L3, a previously uncharacterized protein encoded from chromosome 4 as a dysregulated protein in lung adenocarcinoma from the large-scale tissue proteogenomics data set established using the cohort of Taiwan Cancer Moonshot. SEL1L3 was expressed in abundance in the tumor parts compared with paired adjacent normal tissues in 90% of the lung adenocarcinoma patients in our cohorts. Moreover, survival analysis revealed the association of SEL1L3 with better clinical outcomes. Intriguingly, silencing of SEL1L3 imposed a reduction in cell viability and activation of ER stress response pathways, indicating a role of SEL1L3 in the regulation of cell stress. Furthermore, the immune profiles of patients with higher SEL1L3 expression were corroborated with its active role in immunophenotype and favorable clinical outcomes in lung adenocarcinoma. Taken together, our study revealed that SEL1L3 might play a vital role in the regulation of cell stress, interaction with cancer cells and the immune microenvironment. Our research findings provide promising insights for further investigation of its molecular signaling network and also suggest SEL1L3 as a potential emerging adjuvant for immunotherapy in lung adenocarcinoma.

Studies have reported negative effects of self-control demands on the service-oriented physical and mental well-being of employees. Based on the stressor-detachment model and conservation of resources theory, the present study examined how and when the interplay between leisure crafting and perceived supervisor recreational sports support can lead self-control demands employees to exhibit proactive vitality management. A total of 212 employees completed surveys at three time points over six months. The results indicated that leisure crafting mediated the relationship between employees’ self-control demands and proactive vitality management. Perceived supervisor recreational sports support was shown to strengthen the relationship between leisure crafting and proactive vitality management. Furthermore, we demonstrated a moderated mediation model in which self-control demands, under employees’ perceived supervisor recreational sports support, did not motivate employees to engage in additional leisure crafting; rather, these demands enhanced employees’ leisure resources, which in turn promoted their proactive vitality management.

Supplementary Figure 1 from Amiloride Modulates Alternative Splicing in Leukemic Cells and Resensitizes Bcr-AblT315I Mutant Cells to Imatinib

PurposeRegulatory focus theory suggests that regulatory fit influences individuals' decisions. However, little is known regarding the effect of regulatory fit on sports consumers' purchase intention. Accordingly, the authors extend the concept of regulatory fit to the sports context to understand how advertising claims affect amateur badminton players' purchase intention of badminton rackets.Design/methodology/approachA total of 200 amateur badminton players participated in this study. These participants were randomly assigned to the promotion-prime advertising claim or prevention-prime advertising claim condition.FindingsAuthors’ findings demonstrate that the experience fit between personal regulatory focus in the sports context and advertising claims induces higher purchase intention. This finding corresponds with expectations based on regulatory focus theory.Originality/valueThe present study extends and strengthens knowledge of personal regulatory focus in the sports context and thus shows marketers how to communicate with target customers to precisely sell sports products using the regulatory fit strategy.

Here, we report on the growth of GeTe2 thin films, a metastable phase. The GeTe2 film was found to be a semiconductor with a layered structure.

Background: Sweating and increased skin temperature caused by exercise can reduce physical activity and the willingness to exercise in adolescents with atopic dermatitis. This study was conducted to investigate the exercise load capacity of adolescents with atopic dermatitis and analyzed their exercise behavior and motivation. Methods: Adolescents with and without atopic dermatitis were assigned to the atopic dermatitis group and control group (n = 27 each). Both groups completed a cardiopulmonary exercise test and questionnaires to assess their exercise capacity, weekly exercise volume, exercise motivation, and self-efficacy, respectively. Results: The ratio of measured forced vital capacity to the predicted forced vital capacity and the peak oxygen consumption of the atopic dermatitis group were significantly lower than those of the control group. The Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire scores of the atopic dermatitis group were significantly lower than those of the control group. As for the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire 2, the scores for the introjected and identified regulations of the atopic dermatitis group were significantly lower than those of the control group. Regarding the Multidimensional Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale, the scheduling efficacy and total scores of the atopic dermatitis group were significantly lower than those of the control group. Conclusions: Adolescents with atopic dermatitis had lower peak exercise capacity and lower weekly exercise volume. Furthermore, they lacked the negative feelings toward inactivity and the self-confidence to plan regular exercise independently. The results of this study suggest that adolescents with atopic dermatitis should be encouraged to engage in regular indoor exercise.

Tobacco smoking is a well-known risk factor for both fibrogenesis and fibrotic progression; however, the mechanisms behind these processes remain enigmatic. RTKs (receptor tyrosine kinases) have recently been reported to drive profibrotic phenotypes in fibroblasts during pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Using a phospho-RTK array screen, we identified the RTK AXL as a top upregulated RTK in response to smoke. Both expression and signaling activity of AXL were indeed elevated in lung fibroblasts exposed to tobacco smoke, whereas no significant change to the levels of a canonical AXL ligand, Gas6 (growth arrest–specific 6), was seen upon smoke treatment. Notably, we found that smoke-exposed human lung fibroblasts exhibited highly proliferative and invasive activities and were capable of inducing fibrotic lung lesions in mice. Conversely, genetic suppression of AXL in smoke-exposed fibroblasts cells led to suppression of AXL downstream pathways and aggressive phenotypes. We further demonstrated that AXL interacted with MARCKS (myristoylated alanine-rich C kinase substrate) and cooperated with MARCKS in regulating downstream signaling activity and fibroblast invasiveness. Pharmacological inhibition of AXL with AXL-specific inhibitor R428 showed selectivity for smoke-exposed fibroblasts. In all, our data suggest that AXL is a potential marker for smoke-associated PF and that targeting of the AXL pathway is a potential therapeutic strategy in treating tobacco smoking–related PF.

Continuous scaling of device dimension pushed Si channel to its physical limit, alternative high mobility channels such as (Si)Ge and (In)GaAs have been considered to replace Si to further enhance CMOS performance. In the meantime, ultrathin body (UTB) semiconductor-on-insulator is compulsory structure for improved gate control and immunity against short channel effects in the ultimately scaled high performance and low power dissipation CMOS. To realize stacked multi- channel semiconductor-on-insulator platform on current mainstream Si wafers, layer transfer technology [1-3] utilizing direct bonding and selective etching was developed to integrate (Si)Ge or (In)GaAs channels on Si, showing great potential for ultimate device structures with heterogeneous integration. Figure 1(a) is the process flow for integrating InGaAs channel onto SiGe-on-insulator (SGOI) structure utilizing layer transfer technology [4]. It started with bottom SGOI pMOSFET fabrication. The SGOI structure was realized by 2-step Ge condensation technique, resulting in Ge content of 70%. After high k metal gate process, self-aligned Ni-SiGe alloy was formed as S/D metal. Subsequently, SiO2 interlayer was deposited by CVD, followed by CMP planarization. Then, InGaAs grown on InP was directly bonded onto SiO2 and InP substrates were selectively etched away. Finally, the top InGaAsOI nMOSFET fabrication and metal interconnection completed the CMOS fabrication. Fig. 1(b) shows the cross-sectional TEM images of fabricated InGaAs/SiGe channel stacked CMOS. Well aligned top and bottom devices are seen without any distinct defects. Figures 2 is a schematic flow for fabricating Ge/Si double channel-on-insulator structure by low temperature hetero-layer bonding technology (LT-HBT). The technology starts with the preparation of donor wafers (Fig. 2(a)) for the top Ge channel layer and host wafers (Fig. 2(b)) for the bottom Si channel layer. For donor wafers, a 200-nm-thick Ge was epitaxially grown on SOI wafer by reduced pressure CVD. After CMP planarization, ALD SiO2 is deposited onto Ge. For host wafers, implantation and dopant activation were carried out, followed by chemical treatment for Si oxidation. After surface activation by room temperature chemical treatment (Fig. 2(c)), the direct wafer bonding of both SiO2 surface was performed at 200 °C in a press machine (Fig. 2(d)). Then, the Si substrate of the donor wafer was removed with deep RIE. At this time, the BOX layer of the donor wafer serves as an etch-stop layer. Subsequently, the BOX layer and thin Si layer of the donor wafer were removed selectively in HF and TMAH solution, respectively (Fig. 2(f)). To precise control the top Ge channel thickness, a series of low damage etching process was adapted to thin down Ge (Fig. 2(g)). The realized double channel structure is fully isolated with an insulating insertion layer,[5] which is very promising for realizing novel complementary FET (CFET) with minimum process steps. The cross-sectional TEM image of Ge/Si stacked channel of CFET after high k metal gate process is demonstrated in Fig. 2(h). Even more multiple stacks can be realized by using LT-HBT. A vertically stacked three-layer structure with 2 bottom Si layers and 1 top Ge layers is also demonstrated using SOI-based donor wafers in Fig. 3, indicating the highly integrated density channel structure is possible. The feasibility of layer transfer technology has been proved for multi-channel structure with high mobility channels for N2 node and beyond. Acknowledgement This work was supported by JST Japan-Taiwan Collaborative Research Program, Grant Number JPMJKB1902, Japan and the Ministry of Science and Technology under Grant Number MOST-109-2628-E-492-001-MY3, 109-2923-E-492-001-MY3, 107-2221-E-492-016-MY3. References [1] T. Maeda et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 109, 262104 (2016). [2] W. H. Chang et al., Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process 70, 123 (2017). [3]W. H. Chang et al., IEEE Trans. Electron Device 64, 4615 (2017). [4] T. Irisawa et al., VLSI 146 (2014). [5] T. Z. Hong et al., IEDM (2020) Figure 1

The control of crystal polymorphism and exploration of metastable, two-dimensional, 1T'-phase, transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have received considerable research attention. 1T'-phase TMDs are expected to offer various opportunities for the study of basic condensed matter physics and for its use in important applications, such as devices with topological states for quantum computing, low-resistance contact for semiconducting TMDs, energy storage devices, and as hydrogen evolution catalysts. However, due to the high energy difference and phase change barrier between 1T' and the more stable 2H-phase, there are few methods that can be used to obtain monolayer 1T'-phase TMDs. Here, we report on the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of 1T'-phase WS

A method for the synthesis of DNA-based acrylamide hydrogel microcapsules loaded with quantum dots as a readout signal is introduced. The shell of DNA-acrylamide hydrogel microcapsules is encoded with microRNA-responsive functionalities, being capable of the detection of cancer-associated microRNA. The microRNA-141 (miR-141), a potential biomarker in prostate cancer, was employed as a model target in the microcapsular biosensor. The sensing principle of the microcapsular biosensor is based on the competitive sequence displacement of target miR-141 with the bridging DNA in the microcapsule's shell, leading to the unlocking of DNA-acrylamide hydrogel microcapsules and the release of the readout signal provided by fluorescent quantum dots. The readout signal is intensified as the concentration of miR-141 increases. While miR-141 was directly measured by DNA-acrylamide hydrogel microcapsules, the linear range for the detection of miR-141 is 2.5 to 50 μM and the limit of detection is 1.69 μM. To improve the sensitivity of the microcapsular biosensor for clinical needs, the isothermal strand displacement polymerization/nicking amplification machinery (SDP/NA) process was coupled to the DNA-acrylamide hydrogel microcapsule sensor for the microRNA detection. The linear range for the detection of miR-141 is improved to the range of 102 to 105 pM and the limit of detection is 44.9 pM. Compared to direct microcapsular biosensing, the detection limit for miR-141 by microcapsules coupled with strand-displacement amplification is enhanced by four orders of magnitude.

Microphthalamia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is a critical mediator in melanocyte differentiation and exerts oncogenic functions in melanoma progression. However, the role of MITF in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still unknown. We found that MITF is dominantly expressed in the low-invasive CL1-0 lung adenocarcinoma cells and paired adjacent normal lung tissues. MITF expression is significantly associated with better overall survival and disease-free survival in NSCLC and serves as an independent prognostic marker. Silencing MITF promotes tumor cell migration, invasion and colony formation in lung adenocarcinoma cells. In xenograft mouse model, MITF knockdown enhances metastasis and tumorigenesis, but decreases angiogenesis in the Matrigel plug assay. Whole transcriptome profiling of the landscape of MITF regulation in lung adenocarcinoma indicates that MITF is involved in cell development, cell cycle, inflammation and WNT signaling pathways. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that MITF targets the promoters of FZD7, PTGR1 and ANXA1. Moreover, silencing FZD7 reduces the invasiveness that is promoted by silencing MITF. Strikingly, MITF has significantly inverse correlations with the expression of its downstream genes in lung adenocarcinoma. In summary, we demonstrate the suppressive role of MITF in lung cancer progression, which is opposite to the canonical oncogenic function of MITF in melanoma.

Monolithic 3D (M3D) integration has been thought of as an attractive idea to realize multi-functional heterogeneous integration devices. M3D integration enables us to combine logic devices with different functional devices such as memory, sensor, or optics to create extremely compact and efficient system-on-chips. Ge and III-V compound semiconductors are expected to be implemented as high mobility channel materials and optical components which cannot be realized with Si. The layer transfer technique with low processing temperature has great potential for stacking non-lattice-matched crystalline materials for M3D ICs. Here, we discuss the layer transfer technology utilizing high quality epitaxial growth, low-temperature direct bonding and advanced epitaxial lift-off (ELO) process, which reveals the applicability of transferred layers for heterogeneous integration. The low temperature ELO process is essential for realizing reliable layer transfer with different materials because the process is almost free from the issues of thermal expansion mismatch. Process flow of GaAs or Ge layer transfer with ELO process is described in Fig. 1. First of all, a lattice-matched single crystal GaAs or Ge layer is epitaxially grown on GaAs substrate with an AlAs release layer by MOCVD. Subsequently, Al2O3 layer is deposited on the epitaxial layer by atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD Al2O3 layer serves as the buried oxide (BOX) and the passivation layer for Ge or GaAs surface. Then, Ge or GaAs layer is patterned using photolithography. The patterned GaAs or Ge/AlAs/GaAs donor wafer is then bonded on host substrate by direct bonding technique with wet activation process. Finally, the epitaxial GaAs or Ge layer is transferred on host substrates by splitting GaAs donor wafer from AlAs layer with HCl side etching thanks to extremely high etching selectivity. Note that the fabrication of patterned transfer layer is effective in shortening the required time of ELO process. In this ELO process, the thickness of a transferred layer can be control by epitaxial layer thickness. After the layer transfer process, the released donor GaAs wafer can be reclaimed and reused for the subsequent re-epitaxial growth to reduce the process cost. Figs. 2 (a) and (b) show cross-sectional SEM and TEM images of fabricated GeOI substrate with different BOX structures. Ge pattern edge shows no peeling from SiO2(100nm)/Si substrate, indicating strong bonding strength at the pattern edge. In Fig. 2 (b), the bonding interface is clearly observed at Al2O3(5nm)/SiO2(50nm) interface formed by the wet activation process. The bonding interface exhibits very smooth and no defect. There is no observable defect in transferred Ge layer, suggesting dislocation density is below TEM detection limit. Compared to Smart-CutTM technique, ELO process has significant advantages in terms of crystal quality, thickness control and the surface flatness thanks to totally low temperature processing. To reduce wafer-scale thickness variation, etching stopper (ES) technique with high etching selectivity is quite useful. As a donor wafer, we prepare Ge active layer (20nm)/SiGe ES layer (5nm)/Ge buffer layer/AlAs/GaAs structures. Here, the SiGe layer serves as ES against the etching of Ge buffer layer to control the final GeOI thickness and attain the wafer-scale thickness uniformity. In addition, Si passivation on Ge surface was performed during initial epitaxial growth of donor wafer since Si passivation was proved to be effective in reducing interfacial trap density (D it) between Ge and oxide. After ELO process, Ge buffer layer /SiGe ES layer/Ge active layer / Al2O3 /SiO2/Si heterostructure was obtained. Then, the top Ge buffer layer was removed in HCl/H2O2 solution. We found the etching selectivity was more than 30 between Ge and SiGe layer, which is high enough to yield very smooth SiGe surface. Finally, SiGe layer was removed by TMAH preferentially. Further conformal thinning of Ge active layer was performed by the cyclic dry oxidation/wet digital etching (DE) at room temperature. In addition to thickness control with the etching rate of about 0.8 nm/cycle, it is found that dozens digital etching (DDE) process is effective for reducing Ge surface roughness. Finally, UTB GeOI substrates with high crystal quality down to 3 nm have been successfully fabricated through SiGe ES and DDE processes. Ultra-smooth GeOI surface with reduced thickness fluctuation was confirmed after DDE by TEM cross-sectional images, resulting in significant improvement of device performances. Figure 1

Methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) deficiency occurs in various malignancies and is associated with poor survival in cancer patients. However, the mechanisms underlying tumour progression due to MTAP loss are yet to be elucidated. Utilizing integrated analyses of the transcriptome, proteome and secretome, we demonstrated that MTAP deficiency alters tumour-intrinsic, immune-related pathways and reprograms cytokine profiles towards a tumour-favourable environment. Additionally, MTAP-knockout cells exhibited a marked increase in the immune checkpoint protein PD-L1. Upon co-culturing primary T cells with cancer cells, MTAP loss-mediated PD-L1 upregulation inhibited T cell-mediated killing activity and induced several T cell exhaustion markers. In two xenograft tumour models, we showed a modest increase in average volume of tumours derived from MTAP-deficient cells than that of MTAP-proficient tumours. Surprisingly, a remarkable increase in tumour size was observed in humanized mice bearing MTAP-deficient tumours, as compared to their MTAP-expressing counterparts. Following immunophenotypic characterization of tumour-infiltrating leukocytes by mass cytometry analysis, MTAP-deficient tumours were found to display decreased immune infiltrates with lower proportions of both T lymphocytes and natural killer cells and higher proportions of immunosuppressive cells as compared to MTAP-expressing tumour xenografts. Taken together, our results suggest that MTAP deficiency restructures the tumour immune microenvironment, promoting tumour progression and immune evasion.

Mislabelling the geographic origin of same-species aquaculture products is difficult to identify. This study applied untargeted small-molecule fingerprinting to discriminating between Atlantic salmon originating from Chile and Norway. The acquired liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry data from Chilean (n = 32) and Norwegian (n = 29) salmon were chemometrically processed. The partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models successfully discriminated between Chilean and Norwegian salmon at both positive and negative ionisation modes (R

Second harmonic generation (SHG) intensity, Raman scattering stress, photoluminescence and reflected interference pattern are used to determine the distributions of threading dislocations (TDs) and horizontal dislocations (HDs) in the c-plane GaN epitaxial layers on 6 inch Si wafer which is a structure of high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). The Raman scattering spectra show that the TD and HD result in the tensile stress and compressive stress in the GaN epitaxial layers, respectively. Besides, the SHG intensity is confirmed that to be proportional to the stress value of GaN epitaxial layers, which explains the spatial distribution of SHG intensity for the first time. It is noted that the dislocation-mediated SHG intensity mapping image of the GaN epitaxial layers on 6 inch Si wafer can be obtained within 2 h, which can be used in the optimization of high-performance GaN based HEMTs.

We simulate the static behavior of Ge-p/Si-n nanosheet complementary FETs (CFETs), where p-type FETs containing Ge nanosheet channels are stacked on top of n-type FETs containing Si nanosheet channels, and we investigate its relation to temperature while comparing it with that of Si-p/Si-n nanosheet CFETs, whose p-type FETs contain Si nanosheet channels. It is found that temperature rise has similar effects on the static characteristics of the two CFETs operating as inverters, although the variations in threshold voltage and noise margin with rising temperature are slightly smaller in the Ge-p/Si-n CFET inverter than in the Si-p/Si-n CFET inverter. The temperature rise effects are fully explained by the temperature dependence of material and carrier properties of Ge and Si.

In this study, we fabricate and investigate Schottky barrier contact on n- and p-type In0.53Ga0.47As with transparent conductive oxide (TCO) that transmits light from the visible to short-wave infrared (SWIR) region. The TCO/p-In0.53Ga0.47As contact exhibits explicit rectifying behavior in current–voltage measurement, with an effective Schottky barrier height of 0.587 eV ( I– V) and 0.567 eV ( C– V). Conversely, the TCO/n-In0.53Ga0.47As exhibits the Ohmic behavior. From high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations, we identified two types of interfacial layers between TCO and InGaAs: an In/Ga-rich InGaAs oxide layer and an In/Ga-deficient InGaAs layer. These interfacial layers may have a significant impact on the performance of the Schottky barrier contact. An ultra-thin Ni-layer insertion at the TCO/n+-InGaAs interface reduces the contact resistivity by more than an order of magnitude while maintaining high transparency. The TCO/p-InGaAs Schottky barrier contact also performs broadband light detection from the visible to SWIR region in a front-side illumination manner, which is highly promising for detecting wavelengths covering the optical communication band.

Alternative splicing (AS) is a process that enables the generation of multiple protein isoforms with different biological properties from a single mRNA. Cancer cells often use the maneuverability conferred by AS to produce proteins that contribute to growth and survival. In our previous studies, we identified that amiloride modulates AS in cancer cells. However, the effective concentration of amiloride required to modulate AS is too high for use in cancer treatment. In this study, we used computational algorithms to screen potential amiloride derivatives for their ability to regulate AS in cancer cells. We found that 3,5‐diamino‐6‐chloro‐N‐(N‐(2,6‐dichlorobenzoyl)carbamimidoyl)pyrazine‐2‐carboxamide (BS008) can regulate AS of apoptotic gene transcripts, including HIPK3, SMAC, and BCL‐X, at a lower concentration than amiloride. This splicing regulation involved various splicing factors, and it was accompanied by a change in the phosphorylation state of serine/arginine‐rich proteins (SR proteins). RNA sequencing was performed to reveal that AS of many other apoptotic gene transcripts, such as AATF, ATM, AIFM1, NFKB1, and API5, was also modulated by BS008. In vivo experiments further indicated that treatment of tumor‐bearing mice with BS008 resulted in a marked decrease in tumor size. BS008 also had inhibitory effects in vitro, either alone or in a synergistic combination with the cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents sorafenib and nilotinib. BS008 enabled sorafenib dose reduction without compromising antitumor activity. These findings suggest that BS008 may possess therapeutic potential for cancer treatment.

Advanced channel formation technologies called HEtero-layer-lift-off utilizing SiGe heteroepitaxy have been realized for fabricating ultrathin body (UTB) Ge-on-insulator (GeOI) structures. Insertion of SiGe etching stop layer was found to be effective for reducing GeOI body thickness ( $T_{\mathrm {body}}$ ) fluctuation. Backside Si passivation for Ge/buried oxide interface has been verified to suppress backside Coulomb scattering and help to induce volume inversion effect. With improvement of backside interfacial quality and precise control of GeOI $T_{\mathrm {body}}$ , primary carrier scattering factors in GeOI channel have been effectively reduced, resulting in significant improvement of hole mobility. High hole mobility of ~150 cm2/Vs in UTB GeOI pMOSFETs without strain technology has been demonstrated, which also outperformed Si universal mobility by 1.5 times even under $T_{\mathrm {body}}$ of 9 nm. With low-thermal-budget process compatibility, UTB GeOI platform is very promising for future Ge large-scale integrated circuits devices used in monolithic 3-D integration scheme.

Nanoelectronics require semiconductor nanomaterials with high electron mobility like Ge nanolayers. Phonon and electron states in nanolayers undergo size-dependent changes induced by confinement and surface effects. Confined electrons and acoustic phonons determine layer optical, electric and thermal properties. Despite scientific and practical significance, their experimental studies in individual nanolayers are still lacking. Thanks to recent progress in the fabrication of high-quality nanolayers, here, we report the thickness dependencies of Raman spectra of acoustic phonons and optical spectra of electrons confined in germanium-on-insulator (GeOI) nanolayers with thicknesses TGeOI = 1–20 nm. We show that for TGeOI > 5 nm, both GeOI acoustic phonon Raman spectra and the E1 electron energy gap display dependencies on TGeOI which are reasonably described by the corresponding phonon and electron confinement theories. Accordingly, TGeOI can be probed using acoustic phonon Raman spectra at TGeOI > 5 nm. However, both confinement theories fail to describe GeOI thickness dependencies at TGeOI < 5 nm. We attribute this discrepancy to an increased influence of the Ge–GeO2 interface disorder with TGeOI reduction. The acoustic phonon data suggest a decrease of Ge normal-to-the-layer longitudinal sound velocity. Generation of interface-disorder-induced dispersionless phonons might contribute to this. The change in GeOI phonon properties at TGeOI < 5 nm might influence E1(TGeOI) dependence via a change in the GeOI electron–phonon interaction. We demonstrate that the Al2O3 coating improves the agreement between experimental and confinement theories, probably, via reduction of disorder at the Ge–GeOx–Al2O3-interface. Our results are important for control of nanolayer-confined electrons and phonons with benefits for modern and future nanoelectronic devices.

The effect of HI and O2 plasma treatments on a Ge surface is studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Ge oxide on a Ge surface can be effectively removed at room temperature by remote HI plasma in inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching system without substrate bias. The re-oxidation of oxide-free HI plasma-treated Ge has been performed sequentially by O2 plasma. By utilizing HI and O2 plasma treatment cyclically, we have proved the viability of Ge digital dry etching. Ge digital dry etching by controlling the plasma power and the processing time of HI and O2 plasma treatments will be the building block for achieving Ge atomic layer etching.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in Taiwan for years. Besides the currently used chemotherapy, herbal medicine may play a role in the treatment of lung cancer.We used A549 cells in the evaluation of anticancer activity. Cell viability, cell cycle, cell apoptosis and apoptosis related protein expression were studied.Active compounds from HC significantly inhibited A549 cell viability and induced accumulation of cell cycle at S or G2/M phase on A549 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, and induced A549 arrest at S or G2/M phase via increasing p21, p27, p53 and reducing cyclin-E, -A, cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), cdc-2 (CDK1) protein expression. Additionally, HC induced A549 cell late apoptosis by up-regulating caspase-3, -8, Bax and decreasing Bcl-2 protein expression.The anti-tumor effects of aristolactam BII, aristolactam AII, and noraristolodione on human lung carcinoma A549 cells were via cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.

Graphene (Gr)/gold (Au) and graphene-oxide (GO)/Au nanocomposites (NCPs) were synthesized by performing pulsed-laser-induced photolysis (PLIP) on hydrogen peroxide and chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) that coexisted with Gr or GO in an aqueous solution. A 3-month-long aqueous solution stability was observed in the NCPs synthesized without using surfactants and additional processing. The synthesized NCPs were characterized using absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction to prove the existence of hybrid Gr/Au or GO/Au NCPs. The synthesized NCPs were further evaluated using the photocatalytic reaction of methylene blue (MB), a synthetic dye, under UV radiation, visible light (central wavelength of 470 nm), and full spectrum of solar light. Both Gr/Au and GO/Au NCPs exhibited photocatalytic degradation of MB under solar light illumination with removal efficiencies of 92.1% and 94.5%, respectively.

The electromagnetic wave of 1.0 terahertz (THz) was detected using a square law detector made of InAs quantum-well (QW) metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) fabricated on quartz. The voltage responsivity of 1.7 kV/W was achieved at room temperature. The noise equivalent power (NEP) was evaluated to be below $\mathbf{2\ pW}/\mathbf{Hz}^{\mathbf{0.5}}$ . A new circuit model which well explains the detection characteristic and dependence of the sensitivity on physical parameters of MOSFETs is proposed. These results prove the high potential of InAs QW MOSFETs on quartz for implementation of THz imaging.

The impact of channel flattening process, dozen digital etching (DDE), on device performance and reliability of Ge nMOSFETs with different surfaces of (100), (110) and (111) has been systematically investigated. It was found, for the first time, that DDE improves not only electron mobility but also gate oxide reliability, especially on Ge (100). Decrease of surface roughness, as well as interfacial/bulk trap densities in gate oxide could explain these phenomena. Thanks to DDE, the electron mobility of Ge (100) devices can compete with those of Ge (111) devices while possessing higher reliability.

Germanium-on-insulator (GeOI) structures with a surface orientation of (111) have been successfully fabricated by using low thermal budget epitaxial-lift-off (ELO) technology via direct bonding and selective etching. The material characteristics and transport properties of the Ge(111)OI structure have been systematically investigated through secondary-ion mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, and Hall measurement. The transferred Ge (111) layer remained almost intact from the as-grown epitaxial layers, indicating the benefits of ELO technology. The low thermal budget ELO technology demonstrated in this work is promising to integrate Ge channels with different surface orientations on Si (100) substrates for future monolithic 3D applications.

Inconsistent findings have been reported regarding the association between athletic identity and emotional exhaustion, a key dimension of athlete burnout, indicating a need to identify boundary conditions that shape the role of athletic identity in the development of emotional exhaustion. To reconcile the mixed findings, the authors propose that psychological flexibility, identified as “the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being and to change or persist in behavior when doing so serves valued ends” (Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Misuka, & Lillis, 2006, p. 8), can moderate the association between athletic identity and the development of emotional exhaustion. Using a two-wave, time-lagged survey, a total of 132 college athletes (mean age = 19.97 years) completed assessments of athletic identity at Time 1, psychological flexibility at Time 1, and emotional exhaustion at Time 1 and at Time 2 three months later. The results indicated that athletic identity is positively associated with the development of emotional exhaustion over time among individuals with low psychological flexibility but is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion for individuals with high levels of psychological flexibility. This study suggests that the association of athletic identity with increased or decreased emotional exhaustion over time depends on the athlete's attributes. Practically, our findings highlight the importance of understanding athletes' levels of psychological flexibility to prevent emotional exhaustion.