Facile fabrication of lateral nanowire wrap-gate devices with improved performance

We present a simple fabrication technique for lateral nanowire wrap-gate devices with high capacitive coupling and field-effect mobility. Our process uses e-beam lithography with a single resist-spinning step, and does not require chemical etching. We measure, in the temperature range 1.5-250 K, a subthreshold slope of 5-54 mV/decade and mobility of 2800-2500 $cm^2/Vs$ -- significantly larger than previously reported lateral wrap-gate devices. At depletion, the barrier height due to the gated region is proportional to applied wrap-gate voltage.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Diabetic nephropathy: early markers for monitoring and prevention

Background: Type 2 diabetes, with its complications is perpetually on the rise more so in India .Diabetic Nephropathy progresses silently, and manifests at a stage where, patient can be offered only renal replacement. This study was undertaken to detect early markers of Diabetic Nephropathy. Aims and objective of the study was to study early nephropathy by UACR (urinary albumin/creatinine ratio), RFT (renal function test) and e-GFR in Type 2 diabetic patients of more than 2 years duration, with and without hypertension.Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional observational study, of 100 patients, 18-60 years of age, of type 2 Diabetes of 2 year duration and above, of which 50 were only diabetic and 50 had diabetes and hypertension. Patients who had an established renal disease were excluded from study.Results: Our study of 100 patients, 18-60 years of age, had 23 male and 77 female patients. Maximum patients were in age group 41-50 years, and 52% had diabetes of 2-4 years duration. Of the renal parameters studied, BUN was normal in 72% and S. Creatinine normal in 67%. UACR was normal in only 38%, and e-GFR was normal in 49%.Conclusions: In our study age and sex, duration of Diabetes and HbA1c did not have any bearing on renal parameters. UACR followed by e-GFR, were deranged early. UACR was more deranged in diabetics with hypertension.

Studies on factors influencing conception rate in rural cattle

The data of 14,937 farmers spread over 29 tehsils in 15 districts of six Indian states revealed mean conception rate as 55.96±0.31 %. State wise conception rate recorded in Bihar was 51.08±0.73%; Jharkhand; 62.03±0.63%; Maharashtra, 56.64±0.74%; Odisha, 59.24±0.91%; Punjab, 47.11±1.03%; Uttar Pradesh, 54.70±0.77% respectively, which was highly significant between the states. The education level of center in-charge, economic status of farmers, animal breed, animal parity, AI sequence and sire breed had significant effect on conception rate while effect of AI season did not significantly affect conception rate in rural animals across the states studied. It was recommended that due consideration need be given to consider effect of significant factors affecting conception rates while planning for improving conception rate in rural animals

Two functionally distinctive phosphopantetheinyl transferases from amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum

The life cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum is proposed to be regulated by expression of small metabolites. Genome sequencing studies have revealed a remarkable array of genes homologous to polyketide synthases (PKSs) that are known to synthesize secondary metabolites in bacteria and fungi. A crucial step in functional activation of PKSs involves their post-translational modification catalyzed by phosphopantetheinyl transferases (PPTases). PPTases have been recently characterized from several bacteria; however, their relevance in complex life cycle of protozoa remains largely unexplored. Here we have identified and characterized two phosphopantetheinyl transferases from D. discoideum that exhibit distinct functional specificity. DiAcpS specifically modifies a stand-alone acyl carrier protein (ACP) that possesses a mitochondrial import signal. DiSfp in contrast is specific to Type I multifunctional PKS/fatty acid synthase proteins and cannot modify the stand-alone ACP. The mRNA of two PPTases can be detected during the vegetative as well as starvation-induced developmental pathway and the disruption of either of these genes results in non-viable amoebae. Our studies show that both PPTases play an important role in Dictyostelium biology and provide insight into the importance of PPTases in lower eukaryotes

Designing user models in a virtual cave environment

In this paper, the results of a first study into the use of virtual reality for human factor studies and design of simple and complex models of control systems, components, and processes are described. The objective was to design a model in a virtual environment that would reflect more characteristics of the user`s mental model of a system and fewer of the designer`s. The technology of a CAVE{trademark} virtual environment and the methodology of Neuro Linguistic Programming were employed in this study

Stochastic slowdown in evolutionary processes

We examine birth--death processes with state dependent transition probabilities and at least one absorbing boundary. In evolution, this describes selection acting on two different types in a finite population where reproductive events occur successively. If the two types have equal fitness the system performs a random walk. If one type has a fitness advantage it is favored by selection, which introduces a bias (asymmetry) in the transition probabilities. How long does it take until advantageous mutants have invaded and taken over? Surprisingly, we find that the average time of such a process can increase, even if the mutant type always has a fitness advantage. We discuss this finding for the Moran process and develop a simplified model which allows a more intuitive understanding. We show that this effect can occur for weak but non--vanishing bias (selection) in the state dependent transition rates and infer the scaling with system size. We also address the Wright-Fisher model commonly used in population genetics, which shows that this stochastic slowdown is not restricted to birth-death processes.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publicatio

Microwave Spectroscopy

Contains reports on five research projects.United States Army Signal Corps (Contract DA36-039-sc-87376