Realizing lateral wrap-gated nanowire FETs: Controlling gate length with chemistry rather than lithography

An important consideration in miniaturizing transistors is maximizing the coupling between the gate and the semiconductor channel. A nanowire with a coaxial metal gate provides optimal gate-channel coupling, but has only been realized for vertically oriented nanowire transistors. We report a method for producing laterally oriented wrap-gated nanowire field-effect transistors that provides exquisite control over the gate length via a single wet etch step, eliminating the need for additional lithography beyond that required to define the source/drain contacts and gate lead. It allows the contacts and nanowire segments extending beyond the wrap-gate to be controlled independently by biasing the doped substrate, significantly improving the sub-threshold electrical characteristics. Our devices provide stronger, more symmetric gating of the nanowire, operate at temperatures between 300 to 4 Kelvin, and offer new opportunities in applications ranging from studies of one-dimensional quantum transport through to chemical and biological sensing.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. Submitted version, published version available at http://http://pubs.acs.org/journal/nalef

Empathize with Whom? Adopting a Design Thinking Mind-Set to Stimulate Sustainability Initiatives in Chinese SMEs

The APC was partially funded by the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Shamanism, Imagery Cultivation, and Psi-Signal Detection: A Theoretical Model, Experimental Protocol, and Preliminary Data

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Shamanism, Imagery Cultivation, and Psi-Signal Detection: A Theoretical Model, Experimental Protocol, and Preliminary Data

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On the correspondence between dream content and target material under laboratory conditions: a meta-analysis of dream-ESP studies, 1966-2016

In order to further our understanding about the limits of human consciousness and the dream state, we report meta-analytic results on experimental dream-ESP studies for the period 1966 to 2016. Dream-ESP can be defined as a form of extra-sensory perception (ESP) in which a dreaming perceiver ostensibly gains information about a randomly selected target without using the normal sensory modalities or logical inference. Studies fell into two categories: the Maimonides Dream Lab (MDL) studies (n = 14), and independent (non-MDL) studies (n = 36). The MDL dataset yielded mean ES = .33 (SD = 0.37); the non-MDL studies yielded mean ES = .14 (SD = 0.27). The difference between the two mean values was not significant. A homogeneous dataset (N = 50) yielded a mean z of 0.75 (ES = .20, SD = 0.31), with corresponding significant Stouffer Z = 5.32, p = 5.19 × 10-8, suggesting that dream content can be used to identify target materials correctly and more often than would be expected by chance. No significant differences were found between: (a) three modes of ESP (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition), (b) senders, (c) perceivers, or (d) REM/non-REM monitoring. The ES difference between dynamic targets (e.g., movie-film) and static (e.g., photographs) targets was not significant. We also found that significant improvements in the quality of the studies was not related to ES, but ES did decline over the 51-year period. Bayesian analysis of the same homogeneous dataset yielded results supporting the ‘frequentist’ finding that the null hypothesis should be rejected. We conclude that the dream-ESP paradigm in parapsychology is worthy of continued investigation, but we recommend design improvements

Dietary Restriction Induced Longevity is Mediated by Nuclear Receptor NHR-62 in Caenorhabditis elegans

Dietary restriction (DR) extends lifespan in a wide variety of species, yet the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here we show that the C. elegans HNF4a- related nuclear hormone receptor NHR-62 is required for metabolic and physiologic responses associated with DR-induced longevity. nhr-62 mediates the longevity of eat- 2 mutants, a genetic mimetic of dietary restriction, and blunts the longevity response of DR induced by bacterial food dilution at low nutrient levels. Metabolic changes associated with DR, including decreased Oil Red O staining, increased autophagy, and changes in fatty acid composition are partly reversed by mutation of nhr-62. Expression profiles reveal that several hundred genes induced by DR depend on the activity of NHR-62, including a putative lipase required for the DR response. This study provides critical evidence that nuclear hormone receptors regulate the DR response, suggesting hormonal and metabolic control of life span

Rice (Oryza sativa) TIR1 and 5′adamantyl-IAA significantly improve the auxin-inducible degron system in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The auxin-inducible degron (AID) system is a powerful tool to induce targeted degradation of proteins in eukaryotic model organisms. The efficiency of the existing Schizosaccharomyces pombe AID system is limited due to the fusion of the F-box protein TIR1 protein to the SCF component, Skp1 (Skp1-TIR1). Here, we report an improved AID system for S. pombe that uses the TIR1 from Oryza sativa (OsTIR1) not fused to Skp1. Furthermore, we demonstrate that degradation efficiency can be improved by pairing an OsTIR1 auxin-binding site mutant, OsTIR1, with an auxin analogue, 5′adamantyl-IAA (AID2). We provide evidence for the enhanced functionality of the OsTIR1 AID and AID2 systems by application to the essential DNA replication factor Mcm4 and to a non-essential recombination protein, Rad52. Unlike AID, no detectable auxin-independent depletion of AID-tagged proteins was observed using AID

Screening for colorectal cancer. Collaboration among politicians and scientists is necessary

Hægt er að lesa greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenColorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the western world. It is especially common in the Nordic countries. In many of the European countries and in the United States colonoscopy is recommended as a screening procedure for CRC. However, there are no randomized studies of the effects of the method on incidence, mortality, possible complications or negative effects on the population. Public pressure to have screening for CRC with colonoscopy will probably increase heavily in the next years to come. We fear that colonoscopy will be introduced as a screening method without proper scientific support. Therefore we want to argue for a common Nordic randomized study on population screening with colonoscopy.Krabbamein í ristli og endaþarmi er eitt af algengustu krabbameinum í hinum vestræna heimi, og sérstaklega er það algengt á Norðurlöndum. Í mörgum Evrópulöndum og Bandaríkjunum er ristilspeglun ráðlögð sem skimunaraðferð fyrir þessu krabbameini. Það hafa samt ekki verið gerðar slembirannsóknir á áhrifum aðferðarinnar á nýgengi, dánartíðni, mögulega fylgikvilla eða neikvæð áhrif á almenning. Þrýstingur almennings á að fá skimun fyrir meininu með ristilspeglun mun líklega aukast mikið á næstu árum. Það er hætta á því að ristilspeglun sem skimunaraðferð verði innleidd án nægilegrar vísindalegrar undirstöðu. Þess vegna viljum við færa rök fyrir mikilvægi þess að gerð verði samnorræn slembirannsókn á skimun með ristilspeglun meðal almennings