A Statistical Study of Resistive Switching Parameters in Au/Ta/ZrO2(Y)/Ta2O5/TiN/Ti Memristive Devices

The authors acknowledge the Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidad, Junta de Andalucía (Spain), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under projects A-TIC-117-UGR18, B-TIC-624-UGR20, and IE2017-5414. Support from the Government of the Russian Federation under Megagrant Program (agreement no. 074-02-2018-330 (2)) and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under “Priority-2030” Academic Excellence Program of the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (N-466-99_2021- 2023) is also acknowledged. Memristive devices were designed in the frame of the scientific program of the National Center for Physics and Mathematics (project “Artificial intelligence and big data in technical, industrial, natural and social systems”).Variability is an inherent property of memristive devices based on the switching of resistance in a simple metal–oxide–metal structure compatible with the standard complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor fabrication process. For each specific structure, the variability should be measured and assessed as both the negative and positive factors for different applications of memristive devices. In this report, it is shown how this variability can be extracted and analyzed for such main parameters of resistive switching as the set and reset voltages/cur- rents and how it depends on the methodology used and experimental conditions. The obtained results should be taken into account in the design and predictive simulation of memristive devices and circuits.Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidad, Junta de Andalucía (Spain), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under projects A-TIC-117-UGR18, B-TIC-624-UGR20, and IE2017-5414Government of the Russian Federation under Megagrant Program (agreement no. 074-02-2018-330 (2))Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under “Priority-2030” Academic Excellence Program of the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (N-466-99_2021- 2023

Nonlocal effective medium model for multilayered metal-dielectric metamaterials

We study layered metal-dielectric structures, which can be considered as a simple example of nanostructured metamaterials. We analyze the dispersion properties of such structures and demonstrate that they show strong optical nonlocality due to excitatio

Prothymosin α fragmentation in apoptosis

AbstractWe observed fragmentation of an essential proliferation-related human nuclear protein prothymosin α in the course of apoptosis induced by various stimuli. Prothymosin α cleavage occurred at the DDVD99 motif. In vitro, prothymosin α could be cleaved at D99 by caspase-3 and -7. Caspase hydrolysis disrupted the nuclear localization signal of prothymosin α and abrogated the ability of the truncated protein to accumulate inside the nucleus. Prothymosin α fragmentation may therefore be proposed to disable intranuclear proliferation-related function of prothymosin α in two ways: by cleaving off a short peptide containing important determinants, and by preventing active nuclear uptake of the truncated protein

Прогностические возможности КТ в диагностике хронических воспалительных осложнений дивертикулярной болезни ободочной кишки

Objective: to determine the diagnostic effectiveness of computed tomography (CT) in predicting the course of the disease in patients with chronic inflammatory complications of diverticular disease (DD).Material and methods. The study included 70 patients with a complicated course of colon diverticular disease in the phase of exacerbation of the chronic inflammatory process. All patients underwent CT of the abdominal cavity with intravenous contrast to assess the type and severity of inflammatory changes in the colon and surrounding tissues in the area of localization of diverticula. All patients received conservative treatment and were monitored as part of the ongoing study for 12 months from the moment of initial treatment at the Center. Surgical intervention due to the ineffectiveness of conservative therapy or the recurrence of the inflammatory process during the established follow-up period was considered as an unfavorable outcome of the disease (42/60%). The positive effect of drug therapy without signs of a return of the clinical picture of inflammation within 12 months was considered as a favorable outcome (28/40%). A statistical analysis of CT signs of inflammatory changes in various DD outcomes was performed to identify prognostic CT parameters.Results. Statistically significant differences were revealed between the severity of inflammatory changes according to CT data for different outcomes of the disease. In the favorable outcome group, the main part (23/28.82%) were patients with diverticulitis, in the unfavorable outcome group, 2/3 of patients (29/42.64%) were diagnosed with pericolic infiltrates, including abscesses/cavities, and colon fistulas. It was found that the thickness of the intestinal wall, the extent of inflammatory changes in the intestinal wall, the extent of inflammatory infiltration of pericolic fiber, the symptom of “centipede”, the accumulation of fluid in the pericolic region statistically significantly differed with different outcomes of chronic inflammatory complications of diverticular disease. Мultivariate Cox proportional hazard model revealed two main predictors of the onset of an unfavorable outcome – thickening of the intestinal wall and the presence of fluid in the pericolic region. Thickening of the intestinal wall at values equal to or greater than 0,6 cm increased the risk of an unfavorable outcome by 4.69 times, and the presence of fluid by 4.52 times.Conclusion. The use in clinical practice of the revealed CT predictors of the onset of an unfavorable outcome in chronic inflammatory complications of DB can serve as one of the factors for deciding on elective surgery in this category of patients. Цель исследования: определить диагностическую эффективность компьютерной томографии (КТ) в прогнозировании течения заболевания у больных с хроническими воспалительными осложнениями дивертикулярной болезни (ДБ).Материал и методы. В исследование включено 70 пациентов с осложненным течением ДБ ободочной кишки в фазу обострения хронического воспалительного процесса. Всем пациентам выполнена КТ брюшной полости с внутривенным контрастированием для оценки вида и тяжести воспалительных изменений ободочной кишки и окружающих тканей в области локализации дивертикулов. Все пациенты получили консервативное лечение и находились под наблюдением в рамках проводимого исследования в течении 12 мес с момента первичного обращения в Центр. Оперативное вмешательство в связи с неэффективностью консервативной терапии или рецидивом воспалительного процесса в установленный период наблюдения рассматривалось как неблагоприятный исход заболевания (42/60%). Положительный эффект лекарственной терапии без признаков возврата клинической картины воспаления в течение 12 мес рассматривался как благоприятный исход (28/40%). Проведен статистический анализ КТ-признаков воспалительных изменений при различных исходах ДБ для выявления прогностических КТ-параметров.Результаты. Выявлены статистически значимые различия между выраженностью воспалительных изменений по данным КТ при различных исходах заболевания. В группе благоприятного исхода основную часть (23/28,82%) составили пациенты с дивертикулитом,  в группе неблагоприятного исхода у 2/3 больных (29/42,64%) диагностированы паракишечные инфильтраты, в том числе с абсцессами/полостями, и свищи ободочной кишки. Установлено, что толщина кишечной стенки, протяженность воспалительных изменений кишечной стенки, протяженность воспалительной инфильтрации периколической клетчатки, симптом “сороконожки”, скопление жидкости в периколической области статистически значимо различались при разных исходах хронических воспалительных осложнений ДБ. Многофакторный Кокс-регрессионный анализ выявил два основных предиктора  наступления неблагоприятного исхода – утолщение кишечной стенки и наличие жидкости в периколической области. Утолщение кишечной стенки при значениях, равных или более 0,6 см, в 4,69 раза увеличивало риск наступления неблагоприятного исхода, а наличие жидкости в 4,52 раза.Заключение. Применение в клинической практике выявленных КТ-предикторов наступления неблагоприятного исхода при хронических воспалительных осложнениях ДБ может послужить одним из факторов для принятия решения о плановом хирургическом вмешательстве у этой категории пациентов

Analysis of scalar perturbations in cosmological models with a non-local scalar field

We develop the cosmological perturbations formalism in models with a single non-local scalar field originating from the string field theory description of the rolling tachyon dynamics. We construct the equation for the energy density perturbations of the non-local scalar field in the presence of the arbitrary potential and formulate the local system of equations for perturbations in the linearized model when both simple and double roots of the characteristic equation are present. We carry out the general analysis related to the curvature and entropy perturbations and consider the most specific example of perturbations when important quantities in the model become complex.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages, 1 figure, v2: Subsection 3.2 and Section 5 added, references added, accepted for publication in Class. Quant. Grav. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0903.517