Modelling of dishing for metal chemical mechanical polishing

In this paper, a physical model for the development of dishing during metal chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is proposed. The main assumption of the model is that material removal occurs predominantly at the pad/wafer contacts. The distribution of pad/wafer contact size is studied first. This distribution is used as an input for a model of the dependence for the material removal rate on the line width. A relation that describes the development of dishing as a function of overpolish time will be presented. The model describes to a great accuracy the observed dishing effects, using one free paramete

Het Nederlandse bos in 2001

De opnamen van de Vierde Bosstatistiek dateren alweer van de periode 1980-1983. Dat betekent dat de resultaten inmiddels aardig zijn verouderd. In de afgelopen 20 jaar is er door allerlei processen veel veranderd in het Nederlandse bos. Ook het bosbeleid en de daaraan gekoppelde informatiebehoefte is sindsdien ingrijpend gewijzigd. Dit heeft ertoe geleid dat is gestart met de ontwikkeling van een nieuwe bosstatistiek. Dit rapport vat de resultaten samen die het Meetnet Functionaliteit (MFV) bos in 2001 behaald

Het EPIPRE - adviesmodel : een kritische analyse

Analyse van de kennis, waarop de huidige modellen zijn gebaseerd. Daarnaast wordt aangegeven waar de knelpunten liggen en zo mogelijk hoe verbeteringen realiseerbaar zijn. Een beschrijving van de relaties met overige projecten en een vooruitblik op mogelijke ontwikkelingen ronden dit verslag af. Niet wordt ingegaan op de organisatorische infrastructuur rond EPIPRE. Voor een uitgebreide beschrijving van de modellen en de systeemprogrammatuur wordt verwezen naar het verslag van het PAGV/NGC (Nederlands Graan Centrum) najaar 198

Image Thresholding Technique Based On Fuzzy Partition And Entropy Maximization

Thresholding is a commonly used technique in image segmentation because of its fast and easy application. For this reason threshold selection is an important issue. There are two general approaches to threshold selection. One approach is based on the histogram of the image while the other is based on the gray scale information located in the local small areas. The histogram of an image contains some statistical data of the grayscale or color ingredients. In this thesis, an adaptive logical thresholding method is proposed for the binarization of blueprint images first. The new method exploits the geometric features of blueprint images. This is implemented by utilizing a robust windows operation, which is based on the assumption that the objects have "e;C"e; shape in a small area. We make use of multiple window sizes in the windows operation. This not only reduces computation time but also separates effectively thin lines from wide lines. Our method can automatically determine the threshold of images. Experiments show that our method is effective for blueprint images and achieves good results over a wide range of images. Second, the fuzzy set theory, along with probability partition and maximum entropy theory, is explored to compute the threshold based on the histogram of the image. Fuzzy set theory has been widely used in many fields where the ambiguous phenomena exist since it was proposed by Zadeh in 1965. And many thresholding methods have also been developed by using this theory. The concept we are using here is called fuzzy partition. Fuzzy partition means that a histogram is parted into several groups by some fuzzy sets which represent the fuzzy membership of each group because our method is based on histogram of the image . Probability partition is associated with fuzzy partition. The probability distribution of each group is derived from the fuzzy partition. Entropy which originates from thermodynamic theory is introduced into communications theory as a commonly used criteria to measure the information transmitted through a channel. It is adopted by image processing as a measurement of the information contained in the processed images. Thus it is applied in our method as a criterion for selecting the optimal fuzzy sets which partition the histogram. To find the threshold, the histogram of the image is partitioned by fuzzy sets which satisfy a certain entropy restriction. The search for the best possible fuzzy sets becomes an important issue. There is no efficient method for the searching procedure. Therefore, expansion to multiple level thresholding with fuzzy partition becomes extremely time consuming or even impossible. In this thesis, the relationship between a probability partition (PP) and a fuzzy C-partition (FP) is studied. This relationship and the entropy approach are used to derive a thresholding technique to select the optimal fuzzy C-partition. The measure of the selection quality is the entropy function defined by the PP and FP. A necessary condition of the entropy function arriving at a maximum is derived. Based on this condition, an efficient search procedure for two-level thresholding is derived, which makes the search so efficient that extension to multilevel thresholding becomes possible. A novel fuzzy membership function is proposed in three-level thresholding which produces a better result because a new relationship among the fuzzy membership functions is presented. This new relationship gives more flexibility in the search for the optimal fuzzy sets, although it also increases the complication in the search for the fuzzy sets in multi-level thresholding. This complication is solved by a new method called the "e;Onion-Peeling"e; method. Because the relationship between the fuzzy membership functions is so complicated it is impossible to obtain the membership functions all at once. The search procedure is decomposed into several layers of three-level partitions except for the last layer which may be a two-level one. So the big problem is simplified to three-level partitions such that we can obtain the two outmost membership functions without worrying too much about the complicated intersections among the membership functions. The method is further revised for images with a dominant area of background or an object which affects the appearance of the histogram of the image. The histogram is the basis of our method as well as of many other methods. A "e;bad"e; shape of the histogram will result in a bad thresholded image. A quadtree scheme is adopted to decompose the image into homogeneous areas and heterogeneous areas. And a multi-resolution thresholding method based on quadtree and fuzzy partition is then devised to deal with these images. Extension of fuzzy partition methods to color images is also examined. An adaptive thresholding method for color images based on fuzzy partition is proposed which can determine the number of thresholding levels automatically. This thesis concludes that the "e;C"e; shape assumption and varying sizes of windows for windows operation contribute to a better segmentation of the blueprint images. The efficient search procedure for the optimal fuzzy sets in the fuzzy-2 partition of the histogram of the image accelerates the process so much that it enables the extension of it to multilevel thresholding. In three-level fuzzy partition the new relationship presentation among the three fuzzy membership functions makes more sense than the conventional assumption and, as a result, performs better. A novel method, the "e;Onion-Peeling"e; method, is devised for dealing with the complexity at the intersection among the multiple membership functions in the multilevel fuzzy partition. It decomposes the multilevel partition into the fuzzy-3 partitions and the fuzzy-2 partitions by transposing the partition space in the histogram. Thus it is efficient in multilevel thresholding. A multi-resolution method which applies the quadtree scheme to distinguish the heterogeneous areas from the homogeneous areas is designed for the images with large homogeneous areas which usually distorts the histogram of the image. The new histogram based on only the heterogeneous area is adopted for partition and outperforms the old one. While validity checks filter out the fragmented points which are only a small portion of the whole image. Thus it gives good thresholded images for human face images

Meetnet functievervulling bos; het Nederlandse bos 2001-2002

Nederland heeft 359845 ha bos. Sinds 1982 nam de oppervlakte bos met gemiddeld 1.434 ha per jaar toe. De grootste bosuitbreiding vond plaats in Zuid Holland. Het Nederlandse bos bestaat uit vele kleine bosjes en enkele aaneengesloten bosgebieden. Er zijn 55.526 bospercelen, waarvan 83% kleiner is dan 5ha. Minder dan 1% is groter dan 100 ha, maar deze boscomplexen beslaan wel 30% van de totale bosoppervlakte. In een vijfde van het bos (20%) hoort men op werkdagen uitsluitend natuurgeluiden. In 53% hoort men op werkdagen geluiden van auto’s, wat in meer dan de helft van de gevallen hinderlijk is

Магніторезистивні властивості плівкових структур на основі Fe та SiO

Мета кваліфікаційної роботи магістра полягає в встановленні закономірностей впливу розмірних і температурних ефектів на магніторезистивні властивості шаруватих структур типу «феромагнітний метал – діелектрик» Під час виконання роботи використовували вакуумну установку для конденсації плівкових зразків ВУП – 5М, установку для дослідження магніторезстивних досліджень, методи осадження тонких плівок у вакуумі. У результаті проведення наукових досліджень установлено, що магніторезистивний ефект для свіжо сконденсованих та відпалених за температури 400 К багатошарових плівок [Fe/SiO]5/П з товщиною феромагнітного матеріалу dFe = 5 – 10 нм та діелектрика dSiO = 1 – 5 нм має анізотропний характер. Величина як поздовжнього так і поперечного магнітоопору в магнітних полях до 0,6 Тл не перевищує 0,053%. Після відпалювання зразків за Твідп=400 К, як характер магнітоопору так і величина поздовжнього та поперечного магнітоопору не змінюється

Population-based screen-detected type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with less need for insulin therapy after 10 years

INTRODUCTION: With increased duration of type 2 diabetes, most people have a growing need of glucose-lowering medication and eventually might require insulin. Presumptive evidence is reported that early detection (eg, by population-based screening) and treatment of hyperglycemia will postpone the indication for insulin treatment. A treatment legacy effect of population-based screening for type 2 diabetes of about 3 years is estimated. Therefore, we aim to compare insulin prescription and glycemic control in people with screen-detected type 2 diabetes after 10 years with data from people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes seven (treatment legacy effect) and 10 years before during care-as-usual. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Three cohorts were compared: one screen-detected cohort with 10 years diabetes duration (Anglo-Danish-Dutch study of Intensive Treatment in People with Screen-Detected Diabetes in Primary care (ADDITION-NL): n=391) and two care-as-usual cohorts, one with 7-year diabetes duration (Groningen Initiative to Analyze Type 2 Diabetes Treatment (GIANTT) and Zwolle Outpatient Diabetes project Integrating Available Care (ZODIAC): n=4473) and one with 10-year diabetes duration (GIANTT and ZODIAC: n=2660). Insulin prescription (primary outcome) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of people with a known diabetes duration of 7 years or 10 years at the index year 2014 were compared using regression analyses. RESULTS: Insulin was prescribed in 10.5% (10-year screen detection), 14.7% (7-year care-as-usual) and 19.0% (10-year care-as-usual). People in the 7-year and 10-year care-as-usual groups had a 1.5 (95% CI 1.0 to 2.1) and 1.8 (95% CI 1.3 to 2.7) higher adjusted odds for getting insulin prescribed than those after screen detection. Lower HbA1c values were found 10 years after screen detection (mean 50.1 mmol/mol (6.7%) vs 51.8 mmol/mol (6.9%) and 52.8 mmol/mol (7.0%)), compared with 7 years and 10 years after care-as-usual (MDadjusted: 1.6 mmol/mol (95% CI 0.6 to 2.6); 0.1% (95% CI 0.1 to 0.2) and 1.8 mmol/mol (95% CI 0.7 to 2.9); and 0.2% (95% CI 0.1 to 0.3)). CONCLUSION: Population-based screen-detected type 2 diabetes is associated with less need for insulin after 10 years compared with people diagnosed during care-as-usual. Glycemic control was better after screen detection but on average good in all groups

Matrisomal components involved in regenerative wound healing in axolotl and acomys: implications for biomaterial development

Achieving regeneration in humans has been a long-standing goal of many researchers. Whereas amphibians like the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) are capable of regenerating whole organs and even limbs, most mammals heal their wounds via fibrotic scarring. Recently, the African spiny mouse (Acomys sp.) has been shown to be injury resistant and capable of regenerating several tissue types. A major focal point of research with Acomys has been the identification of drivers of regeneration. In this search, the matrisome components related to the extracellular matrix (ECM) are often overlooked. In this review, we compare Acomys and axolotl skin wound healing and blastema-mediated regeneration by examining their wound healing responses and comparing the expression pattern of matrisome genes, including glycosaminoglycan (GAG) related genes. The goal of this review is to identify matrisome genes that are upregulated during regeneration and could be potential candidates for inclusion in pro-regenerative biomaterials. Research papers describing transcriptomic or proteomic coverage of either skin regeneration or blastema formation in Acomys and axolotl were selected. Matrisome and GAG related genes were extracted from each dataset and the resulting lists of genes were compared. In our analysis, we found several genes that were consistently upregulated, suggesting possible involvement in regenerative processes. Most of the components have been implicated in regulation of cell behavior, extracellular matrix remodeling and wound healing. Incorporation of such pro-regenerative factors into biomaterials may help to shift pro-fibrotic processes to regenerative responses in treated wounds.European Union’s Horizon 2020 ;Grant Agreement No. 955722info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gene expression profiles in mesenchymal stromal cells from bone marrow, adipose tissue and lung tissue of COPD patients and controls

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by irreversible lung tissue damage. Novel regenerative strategies are urgently awaited. Cultured mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have shown promising results in experimental models of COPD, but differences between sources may impact on their potential use in therapeutic strategies in patients. Aim: To assess the transcriptome of lung-derived MSCs (LMSCs), bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSC) and adipose-derived MSCs (AD-MSCs) from COPD patients and non-COPD controls.Methods: We studied differences in gene expression profiles between the MSC-subtypes, as well as between COPD and control using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq).Results: We show that besides heterogeneity between donors, MSCs from different sources have strongly divergent gene signatures. The growth factors FGF10 and HGF were predominantly expressed in LMSCs. MSCs from all sources displayed altered expression profiles in COPD, with most pronounced significantly up- and downregulated genes in MSCs from adipose tissue. Pathway analysis revealed that the most differentially expressed genes in COPD-derived AD-MSCs are involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) binding and expression. In LMSCs, the gene that differed most strongly between COPD and control was CSGALNACT1, an ECM modulating gene.Conclusion: Autologous MSCs from COPD patients display abnormalities with respect to their transcriptome, which were surprisingly most profound in MSCs from extrapulmonary sources. LMSCs may be optimally equipped for lung tissue repair because of the expression of specific growth factor genes.</p