Parasitic Effects Reduction for Wafer-Level Packaging of RF-Mems

In RF-MEMS packaging, next to the protection of movable structures, optimization of package electrical performance plays a very important role. In this work, a wafer-level packaging process has been investigated and optimized in order to minimize electrical parasitic effects. The RF-MEMS package concept used is based on a wafer-level bonding of a capping silicon substrate to an RF-MEMS wafer. The capping silicon substrate resistivity, substrate thickness and the geometry of through-substrate electrical interconnect vias have been optimized using finite-element electromagnetic simulations (Ansoft HFSS). Test structures for electrical characterization have been designed and after their fabrication, measurement results will be compared with simulations.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

An investigation of performance limits of conventional and tunneling graphene-based transistors

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Wolbachia, doxycycline and macrocyclic lactones: New prospects in the treatment of canine heartworm disease

Abstract Melarsomine dihydrochloride (Immiticide®, Merial) is the only approved adulticidal drug for the treatment of canine heartworm disease (HWD). However, in cases where arsenical therapy is not possible or is contraindicated, a monthly heartworm preventive along with doxycycline for a 4-week period, which targets the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia, might be considered. There are published reports on the efficacy of ivermectin and doxycycline in both experimentally and naturally infected dogs, but no data on the use of other macrocyclic lactones (MLs) with a similar treatment regime. Preliminary results of studies in dogs show that a topical formulation of moxidectin, the only ML currently registered as a microfilaricide, is also adulticidal when combined with doxycycline. It is not yet known if the efficacy of these combination therapies is due to pharmacokinetic synergism. A recent study showed that serum levels of doxycycline in dogs treated with the combination protocol were not statistically different compared to dogs treated with doxycycline alone. However, lungs from dogs treated with the combination therapy showed a marked reduction in T regulatory cells, indicating that treatment efficacy may be due to a heightened immune response against the parasite. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the long-term clinical outcome of combination protocols and to establish the most efficient treatment for HWD in dogs

Novel TCAD Approach for the Investigation of Charge Transport in Thick Amorphous SiO2 Insulators

A TCAD approach for the investigation of charge transport in thick amorphous silicon dioxide is presented for the first time. Thick oxides are investigated representing the best candidates for integrated galvanic insulators in future power applications. The large electric fields, such devices experience and the preexisting defects in the amorphous material, give rise to a leakage current, which leads to degradation and failure. Hence, it is crucial to have a complete understanding of the main physical mechanisms responsible for the charge transport in amorphous silicon oxide. For this reason, metal-insulator-metal structures have been experimentally characterized at different high-field stress conditions and a TCAD approach has been implemented in order to gain insight into the microscopic physical mechanisms responsible for the leakage current. In particular, the role of charge injection at contacts and charge build-up due to trapping-detrapping mechanisms in the bulk of the oxide layer has been investigated and modeled to the purpose of understanding the oxide behavior under dc- and ac-stress conditions. Numerical simulations have been compared against experiments to quantitatively validate the proposed approach

Gauss-Seidel method for multi-valued inclusions with Z mappings

We consider a problem of solution of a multi-valued inclusion on a cone segment. In the case where the underlying mapping possesses Z type properties we suggest an extension of Gauss-Seidel algorithms from nonlinear equations. We prove convergence of a modified double iteration process under rather mild additional assumptions. Some results of numerical experiments are also presented. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Noncooperative games with vector payoffs under relative pseudomonotonicity

We consider the Nash equilibrium problem with vector payoffs in a topological vector space. By employing the recent concept of relative (pseudo) monotonicity, we establish several existence results for vector Nash equilibria and vector equilibria. The results strengthen in a major way existence results for vector equilibrium problems which were based on the usual (generalized) monotonicity concepts

Gauss-Seidel method for multi-valued inclusions with Z mappings

We consider a problem of solution of a multi-valued inclusion on a cone segment. In the case where the underlying mapping possesses Z type properties we suggest an extension of Gauss-Seidel algorithms from nonlinear equations. We prove convergence of a modified double iteration process under rather mild additional assumptions. Some results of numerical experiments are also presented. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Characterizations of relatively generalized monotone maps

New concepts of relative monotonicity were introduced in Konnov (Oper Res Lett 28:21-26, 2001a) which extend the usual ones. These concepts enable us to establish new existence and uniqueness results for variational inequality problems over product sets. This paper presents first-order characterizations of new (generalized) monotonicity concepts. Specialized results are obtained for the affine case. © Springer-Verlag 2007

A low-field mobility model for bulk, ultrathin body SOI and double-gate n-MOSFETs with different surface and channel orientations part I: Fundamental principles

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Plasma and PBMC miRNA profile in sexually HIV-1 exposed seronegative individuals

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small 20- to 24-nt non-coding RNAs involved in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression which play important defensive roles in several viral infections. Global expression profiles of cellular miRNAs have identified alterations of specific miRNAs post-HIV-1 infection both in vitro and in different patient cohorts suggesting potential roles for miRNA in pathogenesis and disease progression. We therefore decided to verify if natural resistance to HIV-1 infection observed in seronegative individuals repeatedly exposed to HIV-1 (HESN) through unprotected sexual intercourse could be secondary to a different expression of their miRNA profile. Methods: Expression levels of 25 miRNAs selected according to their proven anti-HIV-1 properties were analyzed in plasma, basal PBMC and in in vitro HIV-1 infected macrophages isolated from 30 HESN, 30 HIV seropositive subjects (HIV + ) and 30 healthy controls (HC).Results: In plasma the expression of mir-155, mir-382, mir-28 and mir-198 was significantly augmented in both HIV + and HESN compared to HC probably as a consequence of viral exposure. Conversely the expression of mir-223 and mir-150 in plasma was significantly increased only in HESN and this result was also confirmed in basal PBMC suggesting a protective effect for these miRNAs in resistance to HIV-1 infection. Furthermore, the expression of mir-150 was significantly increased in HESN macrophages following HIV-1 infection. Conclusions: mir-223 and mir-150 can target the 3\ua2UTR of HIV-1 transcripts, and they have already been identified as anti-HIV-1 miRNAs. The higher expression of these miRNA in HESN samples could therefore represent a key protection mechanism against HIV infection