Improved performance for OTFT with HfTiO2 as gate dielectric by N2O annealing

OTFTs with HfTiO 2 as gate dielectric have been successfully fabricated. The devices show small threshold voltage and subthreshold slope, and thus are suitable for low-voltage and low-power applications. This work also finds that OTFT with gate dielectric annealed in N 2O has larger dielectric constant, smaller threshold voltage, smaller subthreshold slope and larger on/off ratio than the N 2-annealed sample. This demonstrates that the N 2O annealing is an important surface treatment for preparing a high-quality insulator/organic interface. © 2007 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Gold nanoparticle sensor for the visual detection of pork adulteration in meatball formulation.

We visually identify pork adulteration in beef and chicken meatball preparations using 20 nm gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as colorimetric sensors. Meatball is a popular food in certain Asian and European countries. Verification of pork adulteration in meatball is necessary to meet the Halal and Kosher food standards. Twenty nm GNPs change color from pinkish-red to gray-purple, and their absorption peak at 525 nm is red-shifted by 30–50 nm in 3 mM phosphate buffer saline (PBS). Adsorption of single-stranded DNA protects the particles against salt-induced aggregation. Mixing and annealing of a 25-nucleotide (nt) single-stranded (ss) DNA probe with denatured DNA of different meatballs differentiated well between perfectly matched and mismatch hybridization at a critical annealing temperature. The probes become available in nonpork DNA containing vials due to mismatches and interact with GNPs to protect them from salt-induced aggregation. Whereas, all the pork containing vials, either in pure and mixed forms, consumed the probes totally by perfect hybridization and turned into grey, indicating aggregation. This is clearly reflected by a well-defined red-shift of the absorption peak and significantly increased absorbance in 550–800 nm regimes. This label-free low-cost assay should find applications in food analysis, genetic screening, and homology studies

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Heat Transfer Augmentation Using Al2o3-Ethylene Glycol Nanofluids Under Turbulent Flows in a Flat Tube

A study of computational fluid dynamics has been conducted to study the characteristics of the heat transfer and friction factor of Al2O3/Ethylene glycol-water nanofluid flowing inside flat tube. The three dimensional realizable k?e turbulent model with an enhanced wall treatment was utilized. The evaluation of the overall performance of the tested tube was predicated on the thermo-hydrodynamic performance index. The obtained results showed that the difference in behaviour depending on the parameter that has been selected to compare the nanofluid with the base fluid. In addition, the friction factor and the heat transfer coefficient increases with an increase of the nanoparticles volume concentration at the same Reynolds number. The penalty of pressure drop is negligible with an increase of the volume concentration of nanoparticles. Conventional correlations that have been used in turbulent flow regime to predict average heat transfer and friction factor are Dittus-Boelter and Blasius correlations, for tubes are also valid for the tested nanofluids which consider that the nanofluids have a homogeneous fluid behaviour

Preventive maintenance for effective operation of boilers in Kuwait industry

In this research study, preventive maintenance technique for improving the boiler efficiency is analysed with help of specific methodology. High efficiency can be achieved with the help of an optimal approach of the preventive method. In Kuwait. Among (80) participants, 62.5% of the participants were technical while 37.5% were engineers, the highest group 51.3% were 45 to 55 years old, 51% had master’s degree, 42.5% had more than 10 years as experience and 28.8% working in steel industry. The participants' responses towards the preventive maintenance for efficient operation of boilers had high level with mean score > (3.57) out of (5) according to Likert scale; indicate a high level of agreements. The first rank was (It is required to clean the water side surfaces under preventive maintenance) with the highest mean score 3.9250, indicate that 78.5% of the total participants agreed about it. Last rank is observed (It is required to check the efficiency of boiler routinely by inspecting all major components) with the lowest mean score 3.2500, indicating that only 65% of the total participants agreed about it. Result show that there is a significant difference in the degree of responds towards the preventive maintenance for efficient operation of boilers according to job in favor of engineers group. There is a significant association between job and the following issues which concerned preventive maintenance for efficient operation of boilers, the higher the job as an engineer, the higher the approval score in the following issues: Preventive maintenance is more useful than other maintenance program. It is required to purpose an efficient plan/ schedule for preventive maintenance of boile

Nanoparticle sensor for label free detection of swine DNA in mixed biological samples

We used 40 ± 5 nm gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as colorimetric sensor to visually detect swine-specific conserved sequence and nucleotide mismatch in PCR-amplified and non-amplified mitochondrial DNA mixtures to authenticate species. Colloidal GNPs changed color from pinkish-red to gray-purple in 2 mM PBS. Visually observed results were clearly reflected by the dramatic reduction of surface plasmon resonance peak at 530 nm and the appearance of new features in the 620–800 nm regions in their absorption spectra. The particles were stabilized against salt-induced aggregation upon the adsorption of single-stranded DNA. The PCR products, without any additional processing, were hybridized with a 17-base probe prior to exposure to GNPs. At a critical annealing temperature (55 °C) that differentiated matched and mismatched base pairing, the probe was hybridized to pig PCR product and dehybridized from the deer product. The dehybridized probe stuck to GNPs to prevent them from salt-induced aggregation and retained their characteristic red color. Hybridization of a 27-nucleotide probe to swine mitochondrial DNA identified them in pork–venison, pork–shad and venison–shad binary admixtures, eliminating the need of PCR amplification. Thus the assay was applied to authenticate species both in PCR-amplified and non-amplified heterogeneous biological samples. The results were determined visually and validated by absorption spectroscopy. The entire assay (hybridization plus visual detection) was performed in less than 10 min. The LOD (for genomic DNA) of the assay was 6 µg ml − 1 swine DNA in mixed meat samples. We believe the assay can be applied for species assignment in food analysis, mismatch detection in genetic screening and homology studies between closely related species

A patient with asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and antigenemia from the 2003-2004 community outbreak of SARS in Guangzhou, China.

An asymptomatic case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred early in 2004, during a community outbreak of SARS in Guangzhou, China. This was the first time that a case of asymptomatic SARS was noted in an individual with antigenemia and seroconversion. The asymptomatic case patient and the second index case patient with SARS in the 2003-2004 outbreak both worked in the same restaurant, where they served palm civets, which were found to carry SARS-associated coronaviruses. Epidemiological information and laboratory findings suggested that the findings for the patient with asymptomatic infection, together with the findings from previously reported serological analyses of handlers of wild animals and the 4 index case patients from the 2004 community outbreak, reflected a likely intermediate phase of animal-to-human transmission of infection, rather than a case of human-to-human transmission. This intermediate phase may be a critical stage for virus evolution and disease prevention.published_or_final_versio

Best-shot versus weakest-link in political lobbying: an application of group all-pay auction

We analyze a group political lobbying all-pay auction with a group specific public good prize, in which one group follows a weakest-link and the other group follows a best-shot impact function. We completely characterize all semi-symmetric equilibria. There are two types of equilibria: (1) each player in the best-shot group puts mass at the upper bound of the support, whereas each player in the other group puts mass at the lower bound of the support; (2) players in the best-shot group put masses at both the lower and the upper bounds, while the other group randomizes without a mass point. An earlier and longer version of this study was circulated under the title “The Group All-pay Auction with Heterogeneous Impact Functions.” We appreciate the comments of an Associate Editor and two anonymous referees, Kyung Hwan Baik, Walter Enders, Matt Van Essen, Paan Jindapon, David Malueg, Paul Pecorino, Seth Streitmatter, Ted Turocy, the participants at the 2015 conference of ‘Contest: Theory and Evidence’ at the University of East Anglia, and the seminar participants at the University of Alabama and Korea University. Iryna Topolyan gratefully acknowledges the support from the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center. Any remaining errors are our own

cis-Oxoruthenium complexes supported by chiral tetradentate amine (N4) ligands for hydrocarbon oxidations

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Enzyme‐assisted aqueous extraction of Kalahari melon seed oil: optimization using response surface methodology

Enzymatic extraction of oil from Kalahari melon seeds was investigated and evaluated by response surface methodology (RSM). Two commercial protease enzyme products were used separately: Neutrase® 0.8 L and Flavourzyme® 1000 L from Novozymes (Bagsvaerd, Denmark). RSM was applied to model and optimize the reaction conditions namely concentration of enzyme (20–50 g kg−1 of seed mass), initial pH of mixture (pH 5–9), incubation temperature (40–60 °C), and incubation time (12–36 h). Well fitting models were successfully established for both enzymes: Neutrase 0.8 L (R 2 = 0.9410) and Flavourzyme 1000 L (R 2 = 0.9574) through multiple linear regressions with backward elimination. Incubation time was the most significant reaction factor on oil yield for both enzymes. The optimal conditions for Neutrase 0.8 L were: an enzyme concentration of 25 g kg−1, an initial pH of 7, a temperature at 58 °C and an incubation time of 31 h with constant shaking at 100 rpm. Centrifuging the mixture at 8,000g for 20 min separated the oil with a recovery of 68.58 ± 3.39%. The optimal conditions for Flavourzyme 1000 L were enzyme concentration of 21 g kg−1, initial pH of 6, temperature at 50 °C and incubation time of 36 h. These optimum conditions yielded a 71.55 ± 1.28% oil recovery

Polymorphic Allele of Human IRGM1 Is Associated with Susceptibility to Tuberculosis in African Americans

An ancestral polymorphic allele of the human autophagy-related gene IRGM1 is associated with altered gene expression and a genetic risk for Crohn's Disease (CD). We used the single nucleotide polymorphism rs10065172C/T as a marker of this polymorphic allele and genotyped 370 African American and 177 Caucasian tuberculosis (TB) cases and 180 African American and 110 Caucasian controls. Among African Americans, the TB cases were more likely to carry the CD-related T allele of rs10065172 (odds ratio of 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–2.02; P<0.01) compared to controls. Our finding suggests that this CD-related IRGM1 polymorphic allele is also associated with human susceptibility to TB disease among African Americans