Ferromagnetism in Mn-doped Chalcopyrite AlGaP2 Semiconductor

The electronic property and the magnetism of AlGaMnP2 compound by 3.125 %, 6.25 %, and 9.375 % Mn concentrations were investigated using the first-principles calculations. The Mn-doped AlGaP2 chalcopyrite with or without defect of Al, Ga, or P atom yields a strong half-metallic ground state. The ferromagnetic state is the most energetically favorable one. The spin-polarization of Mn dopant is stable with a magnetic moment close to 4μB due to intra-atomic exchange coupling. The states of host Al, Ga, or P atoms at the Fermi level are mainly a P-3p character, which mediates a strong interaction between the Mn-3d and P-3p states. The ferromagnetic state with high magnetic moment is originated from the hybridized P(3p)-Mn(3d)-P(3p) interaction formed through the p-d coupling without the defects. It is noted that the ferromagnetism arises from two distinguishing characteristics by polarons and by holes-mediated exchange-coupling

Miniaturized ISFET Glucose Sensor Including a New Structure Actuation System

A new principle of an amperometric actuation technique was incorporated in the ISFET glucose sensor. The ISFET is fabricated by the CMOS process and the platinum working electrode is deposited by the lift-off process. A sensor with a specially designed ladder type working electrode exhibits improved operation in response time, response magnitude and detection range. An expectation concerning the reduction of sensor size is also discussed

Acupuncture Muscle Channel in the Subcutaneous Layer of Rat Skin

AbstractUsing a mixed-dye injection technique, we found a novel kind of muscle fiber with a lumen, established its precise location in the subcutaneous muscle layer along the acupuncture muscle of the bladder line, and determined its detailed ultrastructure. The channels with flowing liquid were a novel kind of muscle fibers with lumens and they were located in the subcutaneous muscle layer of rat. Their detection was realized by using chrome-hematoxylin and a mixture of fluorescent nanoparticles and commercial Pelikan ink. These acupuncture muscle channels were hidden among the neighboring skin skeletal muscle fibers and were barely distinguishable from them with light microscopes. Only with a transmission electron microscope were their characteristic features shown to be different from normal skin skeletal muscle. These features included undifferentiated muscle fibers that resembled immature myofibrils without Z-lines and reassembled telophase nuclei

Configuration for Micro pH Sensor

A fully integrated pH sensor with a built-in reference electrode is proposed. An iridium oxide microelectrode and a pH-insensitive field-effect transistor are used as a pH sensor and a reference electrode, respectively. The sensitivity of the proposed device matches well with the estimated value to within 0.3 mV/pH deviation

Overexpression of alfalfa mitochondrial HSP23 in prokaryotic and eukaryotic model systems confers enhanced tolerance to salinity and arsenic stress

The cloning and characterization of a gene (MsHSP23) coding for a heat shock protein in alfalfa in a prokaryotic and model plant system is described. MsHSP23 contains a 633 bp ORF encoding a polypeptide of 213 amino acids and exhibits greater sequence similarity to mitochondrial sHSPs from dicotyledons than to those from monocotyledons. When expressed in bacteria, recombinant MsHSP23 conferred tolerance to salinity and arsenic stress. Furthermore, MsHSP23 was cloned in a plant expressing vector and transformed into tobacco, a eukaryotic model organism. The transgenic plants exhibited enhanced tolerance to salinity and arsenic stress under ex vitro conditions. In comparison to wild type plants, the transgenic plants exhibited significantly lower electrolyte leakage. Moreover, the transgenic plants had superior germination rates when placed on medium containing arsenic. Taken together, these overexpression results imply that MsHSP23 plays an important role in salinity and arsenic stress tolerance in transgenic tobacco. This approach could be useful to develop stress tolerant crops including forage crops

Simultaneous fabrication of line defects-embedded periodic lattice by topographically assisted holographic lithography

We have demonstrated simultaneous fabrication of designed defects within a periodic structure. For rapid fabrication of periodic structures incorporating nanoscale line-defects at large area, topographically assisted holographic lithography (TAHL) technique, combining the strength of hologram lithography and phase-shift interference, was proposed. Hot-embossing method generated the photoresist patterns with vertical side walls which enabled phase-shift mask effect at the edge of patterns. Embossing temperature and relief height were crucial parameters for the successful TAHL process. Periodic holes with a diameter of 600 nm at a 1 μm-pitch incorporating 250 nm wide line-defects were obtained simultaneously

Packaging Determines Color and Odor of Irradiated Ground Beef

Irradiation of ground beef under aerobic conditions oxidized myoglobin and drastically reduced color a*-values. Under vacuum or non-oxygen conditions, however, irradiation did not influence the redness of ground beef. Also, the red color of ground beef was maintained even after the irradiated beef was exposed to aerobic conditions. Vacuum-packaged irradiated ground beef had lower metmyoglobin content and lower oxidation-reduction potential than the aerobically packaged ones. Irradiating ground beef under vacuum-packaging conditions was also advantageous in preventing lipid oxidation and aldehydes production. Vacuum-packaged irradiated beef, however, produced high levels of sulfur volatiles during irradiation and maintained their levels during storage, which resulted in the production of characteristic irradiation off-odor. Double-packaging (V3/A3: vacuum-packaging during irradiation and the first 3 days of storage and then aerobic-packaging for the remaining 3 days) was an effective alternative in maintaining original beef color (red), and minimizing lipid oxidation and irradiation off-odor. The levels of off-odor volatiles in double-packaged irradiated ground beef were comparable to that of aerobically packaged ones, and the degree of lipid oxidation and color changes were close to those of vacuum-packaged ones. Ascorbic acid at 200 ppm level was not effective in preventing color changes and lipid oxidation in irradiated ground beef under aerobic conditions, but was helpful in minimizing quality changes in doublepackaged irradiated ground beef. This suggested that preventing oxygen contact from meat during irradiation and early storage period (V3/A3 double-packaging) and doublepackaging+ascorbic acid combination are excellent strategies to prevent off-odor production and color changes in irradiated ground beef. Developing methods that can prevent quality changes of irradiated beef is important for the implication of irradiation, which will improve the safety of beef

Electromagnet Weight Reduction in a Magnetic Levitation System for Contactless Delivery Applications

This paper presents an optimum design of a lightweight vehicle levitation electromagnet, which also provides a passive guide force in a magnetic levitation system for contactless delivery applications. The split alignment of C-shaped electromagnets about C-shaped rails has a bad effect on the lateral deviation force, therefore, no-split positioning of electromagnets is better for lateral performance. This is verified by simulations and experiments. This paper presents a statistically optimized design with a high number of the design variables to reduce the weight of the electromagnet under the constraint of normal force using response surface methodology (RSM) and the kriging interpolation method. 2D and 3D magnetostatic analysis of the electromagnet are performed using ANSYS. The most effective design variables are extracted by a Pareto chart. The most desirable set is determined and the influence of each design variable on the objective function can be obtained. The generalized reduced gradient (GRG) algorithm is adopted in the kriging model. This paper’s procedure is validated by a comparison between experimental and calculation results, which shows that the predicted performance of the electromagnet designed by RSM is in good agreement with the simulation results