Gadolinium oxide nanocrystal nonvolatile memory with HfO2/Al2O3 nanostructure tunneling layers

In this study, Gd2O3 nanocrystal (Gd2O3-NC) memories with nanostructure tunneling layers are fabricated to examine their performance. A higher programming speed for Gd2O3-NC memories with nanostructure tunneling layers is obtained when compared with that of memories using a single tunneling layer. A longer data retention (< 15% charge loss after 104 s) is also observed. This is due to the increased physical thickness of the nanostructure tunneling layer. The activation energy of charge loss at different temperatures is estimated. The higher activation energy value (0.13 to 0.17 eV) observed at the initial charge loss stage is attributed to the thermionic emission mechanism, while the lower one (0.07 to 0.08 eV) observed at the later charge loss stage is attributed to the direct tunneling mechanism. Gd2O3-NC memories with nanostructure tunneling layers can be operated without degradation over several operation cycles. Such NC structures could potentially be used in future nonvolatile memory applications

Psychological Disorders, Cognitive Dysfunction and Quality of Life in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients with Radiation-Induced Brain Injury

PURPOSE:To evaluate factors affecting psychology, cognitive function and quality of life (QOL) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients with radiation-induced brain injury (RI). METHODS AND MATERIALS:46 recurrence-free NPC patients with RI and 46 matched control patients without RI were recruited in our study. Subjective and objective symptoms of RI were evaluated with the LENT/SOMA systems. Psychological assessment was measured with Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was carried out in these patients for assessing their cognitive function. QOL was evaluated by means of WHOQOL BREF. RESULTS:Of the patients with RI, 39(84.8%) had depression and 40(87.0%) had anxiety. The patients with RI got higher scores both in SDS and SAS than those without RI (SDS, 63.48±8.11 vs. 58.67±7.52, p = 0.008; SAS, 67.36±10.41 vs. 60.34±9.76, p = 0.005). Score in MoCA of patients with RI was significantly lower than that of patients without RI (21.32±2.45 vs. 25.98±1.73, p<0.001). SAS was positive correlated with post-radiotherapy interval. Both SAS and SDS had a significantly positive correlation with the rank of SOMA, while MoCA had a significantly negative correlation with SOMA. Chemotherapy was a risk factor for cognitive dysfunction. In addition, patients with RI got significantly lower scores in physical health (16.50±11.05 vs. 35.02±10.43, p<0.001), psychological health (17.70±10.33 vs. 39.48±12.00, p<0.001) and social relationship (48.00±18.65 vs. 67.15±19.70, p<0.001) compared with those in patients without RI. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that anxiety and cognitive impairment were significant predictors of global QOL. CONCLUSIONS:NPC patients with RI exhibit negative emotions, impaired cognitive function and QOL. The severity of clinical symptoms of RI plays an important role in both emotions and cognitive function. Anxiety and cognitive impairment are associated with decreased QOL

Thresholds for thermal damage to normal tissues: An update

The purpose of this review is to summarise a literature survey on thermal thresholds for tissue damage. This review covers published literature for the consecutive years from 2002–2009. The first review on this subject was published in 2003. It included an extensive discussion of how to use thermal dosimetric principles to normalise all time-temperature data histories to a common format. This review utilises those same principles to address sensitivity of a variety of tissues, but with particular emphasis on brain and testis. The review includes new data on tissues that were not included in the original review. Several important observations have come from this review. First, a large proportion of the papers examined for this review were discarded because time–temperature history at the site of thermal damage assessment was not recorded. It is strongly recommended that future research on this subject include such data. Second, very little data is available examining chronic consequences of thermal exposure. On a related point, the time of assessment of damage after exposure is critically important for assessing whether damage is transient or permanent. Additionally, virtually no data are available for repeated thermal exposures which may occur in certain recreational or occupational activities. For purposes of regulatory guidelines, both acute and lasting effects of thermal damage should be considered

Electroweak parameters of the z0 resonance and the standard model

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