Coding scheme for 3D vertical flash memory

Recently introduced 3D vertical flash memory is expected to be a disruptive technology since it overcomes scaling challenges of conventional 2D planar flash memory by stacking up cells in the vertical direction. However, 3D vertical flash memory suffers from a new problem known as fast detrapping, which is a rapid charge loss problem. In this paper, we propose a scheme to compensate the effect of fast detrapping by intentional inter-cell interference (ICI). In order to properly control the intentional ICI, our scheme relies on a coding technique that incorporates the side information of fast detrapping during the encoding stage. This technique is closely connected to the well-known problem of coding in a memory with defective cells. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme can effectively address the problem of fast detrapping.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures. accepted to ICC 2015. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1410.177

Surgical anatomy of the uncinate process and transverse foramen determined by computer tomography

Study Design Computed tomography–based cohort study. Objective Although there are publications concerning the relationship between the vertebral artery and uncinate process, there is no practical guide detailing the dimensions of this region to use during decompression of the intervertebral foramen. The purpose of this study is to determine the anatomic parameters that can be used as a guide for thorough decompression of the intervertebral foramen. Methods Fifty-one patients with three-dimensional computed tomography scans of the cervical spine from 2003 to 2012 were included. On axial views, we measured the distance from the midline to the medial and lateral cortices of the pedicle bilaterally from C3 to C7. On coronal reconstructed views, we measured the minimum height of the uncinate process from the cranial cortex of the pedicle adjacent to the posterior cortex of vertebral body and the maximal height of the uncinate process from the cranial cortex of the pedicle at the midportion of the vertebral body bilaterally from C3 to C7. Results The mean distances from midline to the medial and lateral cortices of the pedicle were 10.1 ± 1.3 mm and 13.9 ± 1.5 mm, respectively. The mean minimum height of the uncinate process from the cranial cortex of the pedicle was 4.6 ± 1.6 mm and the mean maximal height was 6.1 ± 1.7 mm. Conclusions Our results suggest that in most cases, one can thoroughly decompress the intervertebral foramen by removing the uncinate out to 13 mm laterally from the midline and 4 mm above the pedicle without violating the transverse foramen

Age-related changes in cervical sagittal range of motion and alignment

Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Objective To compare sagittal cervical range of motion (ROM) and alignment in young versus middle-aged adults. Methods One hundred four asymptomatic adults were selected randomly out of 791 subjects who underwent lateral cervical radiographs in neutral, flexion, and extension positions. They were divided into two groups: young (age 20 to 29, 52 people) and middle-aged adults (age 50 to 59, 52 people). We determined the ROMs of upper cervical (occipital–C2 angle), midcervical (C2–C7 angle), and cervicothoracic spine (cervicosternal angle). We compared the alignment differences of the two groups by calculating the distances between C2 and C7 plumb lines, and C2 central-offset distance. Results In neutral position, there was no significant difference between young and middle-aged adults. However, in flexion, C2–C7 angle, distance between C2–C7 plumb lines, and C2 central-offset distance decreased with age. In extension, C2–C7 angle and C2 central-offset distance decreased with age. During flexion and extension, midcervical ROM and the range of C2 central-offset distance decreased in the middle-aged group. However, there was no difference between the two age groups in the ROM of the upper cervical and the cervicothoracic regions during flexion and extension. Conclusion We found that, despite of the presence of age-related cervical alignment changes, the only difference between the two groups was in the sagittal ROM of the midcervical spine during flexion and extension. Only the ROM of the midcervical spine appears to change significantly, consistent with findings that these levels are most likely to develop both symptomatic and asymptomatic degenerative changes

Charge Transfer Induced Molecular Hole Doping into Thin Film of Metal-Organic-Frameworks

Despite the highly porous nature with significantly large surface area, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) can be hardly used in electronic, and optoelectronic devices due to their extremely poor electrical conductivity. Therefore, the study of MOF thin films that require electron transport or conductivity in combination with the everlasting porosity is highly desirable. In the present work, thin films of Co3(NDC)3DMF4 MOFs with improved electronic conductivity are synthesized using layer-by-layer and doctor blade coating techniques followed by iodine doping. The as-prepared and doped films are characterized using FE-SEM, EDX, UV/Visible spectroscopy, XPS, current-voltage measurement, photoluminescence spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and incident photon to current efficiency measurements. In addition, the electronic and semiconductor property of the MOF films are characterized using Hall Effect measurement, which reveals that in contrast to the insulator behavior of the as-prepared MOFs, the iodine doped MOFs behave as a p-type semiconductor. This is caused by charge transfer induced hole doping into the frameworks. The observed charge transfer induced hole doping phenomenon is also confirmed by calculating the densities of states of the as-prepared and iodine doped MOFs based on density functional theory. Photoluminescence spectroscopy demonstrate an efficient interfacial charge transfer between TiO2 and iodine doped MOFs, which can be applied to harvest solar radiations.Comment: Main paper (19 pages, 6 figures) and supplementary information (15 pages, 10 figures), accepted in ACS Appl. Materials & Interface

Delayed surgical intervention in central cord syndrome with cervical stenosis

Study Design Review of the literature. Objective It is generally accepted that surgical treatment is necessary for central cord syndrome (CCS) with an underlying cervical stenosis. However, the surgical timing for decompression is controversial in spondylotic cervical CCS. The purpose of this study is to review the results of early and delayed surgery in patients with spondylotic cervical CCS. Methods MEDLINE was searched for English-language articles on CCS. There were 1,653 articles from 1940 to 2012 regarding CCS, 5 of which dealt with the timing of surgery for spondylotic cervical CCS. Results All five reports regarding the surgical timing of spondylotic cervical CCS were retrospective. Motor improvement, functional independence measures, and walking ability showed similar improvement in early and late surgery groups in the studies with follow-up longer than 1 year. However, greater improvement was seen in the early surgery group in the studies with follow-up shorter than 1 year. The complication rates did not show a difference between the early and late surgery groups. However, there are controversies regarding the length of intensive care unit stay or hospital stay for the two groups. Conclusions There was no difference in motor improvement, functional independence, walking ability, and complication rates between early and late surgery for spondylotic cervical CCS

Asymptomatic stenosis in the cervical and thoracic spines of patients with symptomatic lumbar stenosis

Study Design Retrospective study. Objective Studies on age-related degenerative changes causing concurrent stenoses in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spines (triple stenosis) are rare in the literature. Our objectives were to determine: (1) the incidence of asymptomatic radiologic cervical and thoracic stenosis in elderly patients with symptomatic lumbar stenosis, (2) the incidence of concurrent radiologic spinal stenosis in the cervical and thoracic spines, and (3) the radiologic features of cervical stenosis that might predict concurrent thoracic stenosis. Methods Whole-spine T2 sagittal magnetic resonance images of patients older than 80 and diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis between January 2003 and January 2012 were evaluated retrospectively. We included patients with asymptomatic spondylotic cervical and thoracic stenosis. We measured the anteroposterior diameters of the vertebral body, bony spinal canal, and spinal cord, along with the Pavlov ratio and anterior or posterior epidural stenosis at the level of the disk for each cervical and thoracic level. We compared the radiologic parameters between the subgroups of cervical stenosis with and without thoracic stenosis. Results Among the 460 patients with lumbar stenosis, 110 (23.9%) had concurrent radiologic cervical stenosis and 112 (24.3%) had concurrent radiologic thoracic stenosis. Fifty-six patients (12.1%) had combined radiologic cervical and thoracic stenosis in addition to their symptomatic lumbar stenosis (triple stenosis). Anterior epidural stenosis at C7–T1 was associated with a high prevalence of thoracic stenosis. Conclusions It appears that asymptomatic radiologic cervical and thoracic stenosis is common in elderly patients with symptomatic lumbar stenosis

Coulomb oscillations based on band-to-band tunneling in a degenerately doped silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor

The Coulomb oscillations based on band-to-band tunneling through a valence band in silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors were discussed. It was found that the formation of tunnel barries and a quantum dot in a single-electron transistor structure originated from two p+ - p+ tunnel junctions and a p+ -doped channel with mesoscopic dimension, respectively. At liquid nitrogen temperature, the Coulomb-blockade oscillations with multiple peaks were also observed. Analysis shows that the single-electron charging effect based on band-to-band tunneling was confirmed using the electrical and thermal characterization of the quantum dots.open2

Radiographic comparison between cervical spine lateral and whole-spine lateral standing radiographs

Study Design Retrospective radiologic study. Objective The sagittal alignment of the cervical spine can be evaluated using either a lateral cervical radiograph or a whole-spine lateral view on which the cervical spine is included. To our knowledge, however, no report has compared the two. The purpose of this work is to identify the difference in radiographic parameters between the cervical spine lateral view and the whole-spine lateral view. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 59 adult patients suffering from neck pain with cervical spine lateral radiographs and whole-spine lateral radiographs from November 2007 to December 2011. The radiographs were measured using standard techniques to obtain the following parameters from the two different radiographs: occipital–C2 angle, C2–C7 angle, C7–sternal angle, sternal slope, T1 slope, C2 central offset distance, the distance between C2 and C7 plumb lines, C4 anteroposterior (AP) diameter, the ratio of C2 central off distance to C4 AP diameter, the ratio of plumb lines' distance to C4 AP diameter. Results We found that the occipital–C2 angle, sternal slope, and C4 AP diameter were similar, but the C2–C7 angle, C7–sternal angle, T1 slope, C2 central offset distance, distance between C2 and C7 plumb lines, ratio of C2 central off distance to C4 AP diameter, and ratio of plumb lines' distance to C4 AP diameter were different. However, the error of measurement was greater than the small angular and linear differences between the two views. Conclusions Most numerical values of the measured radiographic parameters appear to be different between the two views. However, the two views are comparable because the numerical differences were smaller than the errors of measurement

Identification and analysis of in planta expressed genes of Magnaporthe oryzae

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Infection of plants by pathogens and the subsequent disease development involves substantial changes in the biochemistry and physiology of both partners. Analysis of genes that are expressed during these interactions represents a powerful strategy to obtain insights into the molecular events underlying these changes. We have employed expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis to identify rice genes involved in defense responses against infection by the blast fungus <it>Magnaporthe oryzae </it>and fungal genes involved in infectious growth within the host during a compatible interaction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A cDNA library was constructed with RNA from rice leaves (<it>Oryza sativa </it>cv. Hwacheong) infected with <it>M. oryzae </it>strain KJ201. To enrich for fungal genes, subtraction library using PCR-based suppression subtractive hybridization was constructed with RNA from infected rice leaves as a tester and that from uninfected rice leaves as the driver. A total of 4,148 clones from two libraries were sequenced to generate 2,302 non-redundant ESTs. Of these, 712 and 1,562 ESTs could be identified to encode fungal and rice genes, respectively. To predict gene function, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was applied, with 31% and 32% of rice and fungal ESTs being assigned to GO terms, respectively. One hundred uniESTs were found to be specific to fungal infection EST. More than 80 full-length fungal cDNA sequences were used to validate <it>ab initio</it> annotated gene model of <it>M. oryzae</it> genome sequence.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study shows the power of ESTs to refine genome annotation and functional characterization. Results of this work have advanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning fungal-plant interactions and formed the basis for new hypothesis.</p