Surface Morphology And Formation Of Nanostructured Porous GaN By UV-Assisted Electrochemical Etching.

This article reports on the studies of porous GaN .prepared by ultra-violet (UV) assisted electrochemical etching in a solution of 4:1:1 HF: CH30H:H202 under illumination of an UV lamp with 500 W power for 10, 25 and 35 minutes

Metastatic Crohn's Disease of the Ear

Objective. We reported a very rare case of metastatic Crohn's disease involving the retro-auricular region. Method. A case report and a review of literature concerning metastatic Crohn's disease. Results. Metastatic Crohn's disease is an uncommon extraintestinal cutaneous manifestation of Crohn's disease and a very rare case involving the retro-auricular region is reported here. Given the limited existing literature little is known about this condition. The skin lesions appear to have a predilection for the lower trunk and genitalia regions. There is no clear association with the severity of Crohn's disease and in some cases, the cutaneous lesions predate the onset of gastrointestinal Crohn's disease. Treatment with immune-modulating medications together with the antitumour necrosis factor monoclonal antibody therapy appears to offer the best chance of remission. Conclusion. By reporting this interesting and rare condition we also hope to highlight the importance of considering underlying chronic systemic disorders, such as Crohn's disease, when presented with skin lesions resistant to simple local treatments

Consumers’ adoption of mobile payment: comparison between China and Malaysia / S-C Chuah … [et al.]

Mobile payment services has emerged as one of the prominent transaction payment methods. China is leading in mobile payment globally while mobile payment in Malaysia still in its infancy. This paper compares the factors in adoption of mobile payment among consumers’ in Zuhai, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The factors included in the study were perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norms and perceived security risk. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was undertaken on 96 smartphone users from China and 51 users from Malaysia. Inferential statistics Mann-Whitney U test was applied to compare between study variables. Spearman’s ho correlation was used to identify the association between the study variables and behavioral intention to adopt mobile payment services. The study found significant different between users’ perception on subjective norms and perceived security risk in these two city. There was no significant different for perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use between users in Zuhai and Kuala Lumpur. Significant negative linear correlations between perceived security risk and behavioral intention, and significant positive correlations between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and subjective norms and behavioral intention were observed from the study. The findings of this study indicate that the consumers in Kuala Lumpur have higher concern on mobile payment services security and greater social influences to adopt mobile payments

Improving compatibility of Recycled Nitrile Rubber (rNBR) and Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) blends by electron beam irradiation

Blends of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer and recycled nitrile rubber (rNBR) were prepared using an internal mixer. N,N’-m-phenylenedimaleimide (HVA-2) was added into the blend composed of 70 wt % of EVA and 30 wt % of rNBR, and served as a crosslinking agent. The HVA-2 concentration was varied from 0 to 5 phr. The changes in the compatibility of the blends were investigated before and after electron beam irradiation by means of physical and morphological tests. The results obtained from these tests were then analysed, namely tensile strength (TS), modulus 100 (M100), elongation at break, gel content and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the TS and elongation at break had decreased with increasing in HVA-2 concentration and electron beam irradiation dose, while the M100 had increased. It is believed that the blends had undergone early crosslinking reaction during mixing. Hence, the brittleness of the materials had increased upon exposure to electron beam irradiation due to the excessive crosslinking bonds. This observation was supported by the gel content and SEM micrographs

Transplantation of canine olfactory ensheathing cells producing chondroitinase ABC promotes chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan digestion and axonal sprouting following spinal cord injury

Olfactory ensheathing cell (OEC) transplantation is a promising strategy for treating spinal cord injury (SCI), as has been demonstrated in experimental SCI models and naturally occurring SCI in dogs. However, the presence of chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans within the extracellular matrix of the glial scar can inhibit efficient axonal repair and limit the therapeutic potential of OECs. Here we have used lentiviral vectors to genetically modify canine OECs to continuously deliver mammalian chondroitinase ABC at the lesion site in order to degrade the inhibitory chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans in a rodent model of spinal cord injury. We demonstrate that these chondroitinase producing canine OECs survived at 4 weeks following transplantation into the spinal cord lesion and effectively digested chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans at the site of injury. There was evidence of sprouting within the corticospinal tract rostral to the lesion and an increase in the number of corticospinal axons caudal to the lesion, suggestive of axonal regeneration. Our results indicate that delivery of the chondroitinase enzyme can be achieved with the genetically modified OECs to increase axon growth following SCI. The combination of these two promising approaches is a potential strategy for promoting neural regeneration following SCI in veterinary practice and human patients

A high-precision rf trap with minimized micromotion for an In+ multiple-ion clock

We present an experiment to characterize our new linear ion trap designed for the operation of a many-ion optical clock using 115-In^+ as clock ions. For the characterization of the trap as well as the sympathetic cooling of the clock ions we use 172-Yb^+. The trap design has been derived from finite element method (FEM) calculations and a first prototype based on glass-reinforced thermoset laminates was built. This paper details on the trap manufacturing process and micromotion measurement. Excess micromotion is measured using photon-correlation spectroscopy with a resolution of 1.1nm in motional amplitude, and residual axial rf fields in this trap are compared to FEM calculations. With this method, we demonstrate a sensitivity to systematic clock shifts due to excess micromotion of |({\Delta}{\nu}/{\nu})| = 8.5x10^-20. Based on the measurement of axial rf fields of our trap, we estimate a number of twelve ions that can be stored per trapping segment and used as an optical frequency standard with a fractional inaccuracy of \leq 1x10^-18 due to micromotion.Comment: 19 pages with 14 picture