Charging damage in floating metal-insulator-metal capacitors

In this paper, charging induced damage (CID) to metal-insulator-metal capacitors (MIMC) is reported. The damage is caused by the build up of a voltage potential difference between the two plates of the capacitor. A simple logarithmic relation is discovered between the damage by this voltage potential and the ratio of the area of the exposed antennas connected to the plates of the MIMC. This function allows anticipation of damage in MIMC devices with long interconnects. The source of the damage is still the subject of further investigatio

Plasma damage in floating metal-insulator-metal capacitors

In this paper, charging induced damage (CID) to metal-insulator-metal capacitors (MIMCs), is reported. CID does not necessarily lead to direct yield loss, but may also induce latent damage leading to reliability losses. The damage is caused by the build up of a voltage potential difference between the two plates of the capacitor. A simple logarithmic relation is discovered between the damage by this voltage potential and the ratio of the area of the exposed antennas connected to the plates of the MIMC. This function allows anticipation of damage in MIMCs with long interconnect

Melanoma mimicking malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with spread to the cerebellopontine angle: Utility of next-generation sequencing in diagnosis

Cutaneous spindle cell malignancy is associated with a broad differential diagnosis, particularly in the absence of a known primary melanocytic lesion. We present an unusually challenging patient who presented with clinical symptoms involving cranial nerves VII and VIII and a parotid-region mass, which was S100-positive while lacking in melanocytic pigment and markers. Over a year after resection of the parotid mass, both a cutaneous primary lentigo maligna melanoma and a metastatic CP angle melanoma were diagnosed in the same patient, prompting reconsideration of the diagnosis in the original parotid-region mass. Next-generation sequencing of a panel of cancer-associated genes demonstrated 19 identical, clinically significant mutations as well as a high tumor mutation burden in both the parotid-region and CP angle tumors, indicating a metastatic relationship between the two and a melanocytic identity of the parotid-region tumor

Surface barriers as dominant mechanism to transport limitations in hierarchically structured catalysts – Application to the zeolite-catalyzed alkylation of benzene with ethylene

The meso-macropore network of a hierarchically structured zeolite catalyst is numerically optimized to maximize the volume-integrated reaction yield in the ethylation of benzene to produce ethylbenzene over zeolite H-ZSM-5. A hierarchical approach is used at multiple length scales to determine the optimal pore network properties. The maximum volume-integrated reaction yield of the hierarchically structured zeolite catalyst containing meso- and macropores is nearly twice the yield of a zeolite pellet containing only macropores, at the same macroporosity. To bridge the gap between modeling and experiments, a series of physical mixtures of ZSM-5 crystals and mesoporous silica, containing different weight fractions of zeolite is synthesized and used in fixed bed reactor experiments to determine the optimal pellet structure to maximize the conversion of ethylene. Comparison with reactor simulations of the zeolite composites shows that the performance of the zeolite composites might be limited by surface barriers at the external surface of the zeolite crystals, rather than by diffusion limitations within the meso-macropore network of the pellets

Economic impact of port activity : a disaggregate analysis. The case of Antwerp

The economic impact of the port sector is usually measured at an aggregate level by indicators such as value added, employment and investment. This paper tries to define the economic relevance for the regional as well as for the national economy at a disaggregate level. It attempts to identify, quantify and locate the mutual relationships between the various port players themselves and between them and other Belgian industries. Due to a lack of information foreign trade is only tackled very briefly but the method outlined in this paper can be used to measure the national effects of changes in port activity at a detailed level. A sector analysis is made by compiling a regional (regional as geographically opposed to national, not to be mistaken for the Belgian Regions Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) input-output table, resorting to microeconomic data: a bottom-up approach. The main customers and suppliers of the port's key players or stakeholders are identified. A geographical analysis can also be carried out by using data at a disaggregate level. Each customer or supplier can be located by means of their postcode. In so doing, the economic impact of the port is quantified, both functionally and geographically. In the case of the port of Antwerp, the results show important links between freight forwarders and agents. The geographical analysis suggests the existence of major agglomerating effects in and around the port of Antwerp, referred to as a major transhipment location point. Key words: port economics, regional input-output table, sector analysis, geographical analysis.port economics, regional input-output table, sector analysis, geographical analysis

A Hydrogel-Integrated Culture Device to Interrogate T Cell Activation with Physicochemical Cues

The recent rise of adoptive T cell therapy (ATCT) as a promising cancer immunotherapy has triggered increased interest in therapeutic T cell bioprocessing. T cell activation is a critical processing step and is known to be modulated by physical parameters, such as substrate stiffness. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about how biophysical factors regulate immune cells, such as T cells. Understanding how T cell activation is modulated by physical and biochemical cues may offer novel methods to control cell behavior for therapeutic cell processing. Inspired by T cell mechanosensitivity, we developed a multiwell, reusable, customizable, two-dimensional (2D) polyacrylamide (PA) hydrogel-integrated culture device to study the physicochemical stimulation of Jurkat T cells. Substrate stiffness and ligand density were tuned by concentrations of the hydrogel cross-linker and antibody in the coating solution, respectively. We cultured Jurkat T cells on 2D hydrogels of different stiffnesses that presented surface-immobilized stimulatory antibodies against CD3 and CD28 and demonstrated that Jurkat T cells stimulated by stiff hydrogels (50.6 ± 15.1 kPa) exhibited significantly higher interleukin-2 (IL-2) secretion, but lower proliferation, than those stimulated by softer hydrogels (7.1 ± 0.4 kPa). In addition, we found that increasing anti-CD3 concentration from 10 to 30 μg/mL led to a significant increase in IL-2 secretion from cells stimulated on 7.1 ± 0.4 and 9.3 ± 2.4 kPa gels. Simultaneous tuning of substrate stiffness and stimulatory ligand density showed that the two parameters synergize (two-way ANOVA interaction effect: p < 0.001) to enhance IL-2 secretion. Our results demonstrate the importance of physical parameters in immune cell stimulation and highlight the potential of designing future immunostimulatory biomaterials that are mechanically tailored to balance stimulatory strength and downstream proliferative capacity of therapeutic T cells

Deformation of canonical morphisms and the moduli of surfaces of general type

In this article we study the deformation of finite maps and show how to use this deformation theory to construct varieties with given invariants in a projective space. Among other things, we prove a criterion that determines when a finite map can be deformed to a one--to--one map. We use this criterion to construct new simple canonical surfaces with different $c_1^2$ and $\chi$. Our general results enable us to describe some new components of the moduli of surfaces of general type. We also find infinitely many moduli spaces $\mathcal M_{(x',0,y)}$ having one component whose general point corresponds to a canonically embedded surface and another component whose general point corresponds to a surface whose canonical map is a degree 2 morphism.Comment: 32 pages. Final version with some simplifications and clarifications in the exposition. To appear in Invent. Math. (the final publication is available at springerlink.com