Fabrication of minority-carrier-limited n-Si/insulator/metal diodes

A photoelectrochemical anodization technique has been used to fabricate n-Si/insulator/metal (MIS) diodes with improved electrical properties. MIS structures fabricated with Au have provided the first experimental observation of a solid-state n-Si surface barrier device whose open circuit voltage Voc is controlled by minority-carrier bulk diffusion/recombination processes. For these diodes, variation of the minority-carrier diffusion length and majority-carrier dopant density produced changes in Voc that were in accord with bulk diffusion/recombination theory. Additionally, the variation in Voc in response to changes in the work function of the metal overlayer indicated that these MIS devices were not subject to the Fermi level pinning restrictions observed for n-Si Schottky structures. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic characterization of the anodically grown insulator indicated 8.2±0.9 Å of a strained SiO2 layer as the interfacial insulator resulting from the photoanodization process

Infinite S-expansion with ideal subtraction and some applications

According to the literature, the S-expansion procedure involving a finite semigroup is valid no matter what the structure of the original Lie (super)algebra is; however, when something about the structure of the starting (super)algebra is known and when certain particular conditions are met, the S-expansion method (with its features of resonance and reduction) is able not only to lead to several kinds of expanded (super)algebras but also to reproduce the effects of the standard as well as the generalized Inönü-Wigner contraction. In the present paper, we propose a new prescription for S-expansion, involving an infinite abelian semigroup S^(∞) and the subtraction of an infinite ideal subalgebra. We show that the subtraction of the infinite ideal subalgebra corresponds to a reduction. Our approach is a generalization of the finite S-expansion procedure presented in the literature, and it offers an alternative view of the generalized Inönü-Wigner contraction. We then show how to write the invariant tensors of the target (super)algebras in terms of those of the starting ones in the infinite S-expansion context presented in this work. We also give some interesting examples of application on algebras and superalgebras

An ABC Transporter Is Required for Secretion of Peptide Sex Pheromones in Enterococcus faecalis

ABSTRACT Enterococci are leading causes of hospital-acquired infection in the United States and continue to develop resistances to new antibiotics. Many Enterococcus faecalis isolates harbor pheromone-responsive plasmids that mediate horizontal transfer of even large blocks of chromosomal genes, resulting in hospital-adapted strains over a quarter of whose genomes consist of mobile elements. Pheromones to which the donor cells respond derive from lipoprotein signal peptides. Using a novel bacterial killing assay dependent on the presence of sex pheromones, we screened a transposon mutant library for functions that relate to the production and/or activity of the effector pheromone. Here we describe a previously uncharacterized, but well-conserved, ABC transporter that contributes to pheromone production. Using three distinct pheromone-dependent mating systems, we show that mutants defective in expressing this transporter display a 5- to 6-order-of-magnitude reduction in conjugation efficiency. In addition, we demonstrate that the ABC transporter mutant displays an altered biofilm architecture, with a significant reduction in biofilm biomass compared to that of its isogenic parent, suggesting that pheromone activity also influences biofilm development. The conservation of this peptide transporter across the Firmicutes suggests that it may also play an important role in cell-cell communication in other species within this important phylum

Terrain Park Injuries

Background: This study examined demographics, injury pattern, and hospital outcome in patients injured in winter resort terrain parks.Methods: The study included patients >12 years of age who presented to a regional trauma center with an acute injury sustained at a winter resort. Emergency department (ED) research assistants collected patient injury and helmet use information using a prospectively designed questionnaire. ED and hospital data were obtained from trauma registry and hospital records.Results: Seventy-two patients were injured in a terrain park, and 263 patients were injured on non-terrain park slopes. Patients injured in terrain parks were more likely to be male [68/72 (94%) vs. 176/263 (67%), p<0.0001], younger in age [23 ± 7 vs. 36 ± 17, p<0.0001], live locally [47/72 (65%) vs. 124/263 (47%), p=0.006], use a snowboard [50/72 (69%) vs. 91/263 (35%), p<0.0001], hold a season pass [46/66 (70%) vs. 98/253 (39%), p<0.0001], and sustain an upper extremity injury [29/72 (40%) vs. 52/263 (20%), p<0.001] when compared to patients injured on non-terrain park slopes. There were no differences between the groups in terms of EMS transport to hospital, helmet use, admission rate, hospital length of stay, and patients requiring specialty consultation in the ED.Conclusions: Patients injured in terrain parks represent a unique demographic within winter resort patrons. Injury severity appears to be similar to those patients injured on non-terrain park slopes.[West J Emerg Med. 2009;10(4):257-262.

Fiction Fix 04

https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/fiction_fix/1013/thumbnail.jp

Multi-unit operations considerations.

Several nuclear weapons programs have or are pursuing the implementation of multi-unit operations for tasks such as disassembly and inspection, and rebuild. A multi-unit operation is interpreted to mean the execution of nuclear explosive operating procedures in a single facility by two separate teams of technicians. The institution of a multi-unit operations program requires careful consideration of the tools, resources, and environment provided to the technicians carrying out the work. Therefore, a systematic approach is necessary to produce safe, secure, and reliable processes. In order to facilitate development of a more comprehensive multi-unit operations program, the current work details categorized issues that should be addressed prior to the implementation of multi-unit operations in a given weapons program. The issues have been organized into the following categories: local organizational conditions, work process flow/material handling/workplace configuration, ambient environmental conditions, documented safety analysis, and training

Targeted proteomic quantitation of NRF2 signaling and predictive biomarkers in HNSCC

The NFE2L2 (NRF2) oncogene and transcription factor drives a gene expression program that promotes cancer progression, metabolic reprogramming, immune evasion, and chemoradiation resistance. Patient stratification by NRF2 activity may guide treatment decisions to improve outcome. Here, we developed a mass spectrometry-based targeted proteomics assay based on internal standard-triggered parallel reaction monitoring to quantify 69 NRF2 pathway components and targets, as well as 21 proteins of broad clinical significance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We improved an existing internal standard-triggered parallel reaction monitoring acquisition algorithm, called SureQuant, to increase throughput, sensitivity, and precision. Testing the optimized platform on 27 lung and upper aerodigestive cancer cell models revealed 35 NRF2 responsive proteins. In formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded HNSCCs, NRF2 signaling intensity positively correlated with NRF2-activating mutations and with SOX2 protein expression. Protein markers of T-cell infiltration correlated positively with one another and with human papilloma virus infection status. CDKN2A (p16) protein expression positively correlated with the human papilloma virus oncogenic E7 protein and confirmed the presence of translationally active virus. This work establishes a clinically actionable HNSCC protein biomarker assay capable of quantifying over 600 peptides from frozen or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded archived tissues in under 90 min

Baroque Music Ensemble

Program listing performers and works performed

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo