Strain state in Mn-implanted silicon annealed at high temperature

In this work an influence of thermal annealing of Mn-implanted silicon on strain state of silicon matrix is presented. During post-implantation annealing, nanocrystalline tetragonal Mn4Si7 compound is formed. A strong correlation between the size of nanoinclusions and the matrix strain state is detected

Drop Traffic in Microfluidic Ladder Networks with Fore-Aft Structural Asymmetry

We investigate the dynamics of pairs of drops in microfluidic ladder networks with slanted bypasses, which break the fore-aft structural symmetry. Our analytical results indicate that unlike symmetric ladder networks, structural asymmetry introduced by a single slanted bypass can be used to modulate the relative drop spacing, enabling them to contract, synchronize, expand, or even flip at the ladder exit. Our experiments confirm all these behaviors predicted by theory. Numerical analysis further shows that while ladder networks containing several identical bypasses are limited to nearly linear transformation of input delay between drops, mixed combination of bypasses can cause significant non-linear transformation enabling coding and decoding of input delays.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

A Diverse Group of Previously Unrecognized Human Rhinoviruses Are Common Causes of Respiratory Illnesses in Infants

Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) are the most prevalent human pathogens, and consist of 101 serotypes that are classified into groups A and B according to sequence variations. HRV infections cause a wide spectrum of clinical outcomes ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe lower respiratory symptoms. Defining the role of specific strains in various HRV illnesses has been difficult because traditional serology, which requires viral culture and neutralization tests using 101 serotype-specific antisera, is insensitive and laborious.To directly type HRVs in nasal secretions of infants with frequent respiratory illnesses, we developed a sensitive molecular typing assay based on phylogenetic comparisons of a 260-bp variable sequence in the 5' noncoding region with homologous sequences of the 101 known serotypes. Nasal samples from 26 infants were first tested with a multiplex PCR assay for respiratory viruses, and HRV was the most common virus found (108 of 181 samples). Typing was completed for 101 samples and 103 HRVs were identified. Surprisingly, 54 (52.4%) HRVs did not match any of the known serotypes and had 12-35% nucleotide divergence from the nearest reference HRVs. Of these novel viruses, 9 strains (17 HRVs) segregated from HRVA, HRVB and human enterovirus into a distinct genetic group ("C"). None of these new strains could be cultured in traditional cell lines.By molecular analysis, over 50% of HRV detected in sick infants were previously unrecognized strains, including 9 strains that may represent a new HRV group. These findings indicate that the number of HRV strains is considerably larger than the 101 serotypes identified with traditional diagnostic techniques, and provide evidence of a new HRV group

ANCA-associated vasculitis.

The anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAVs) are a group of disorders involving severe, systemic, small-vessel vasculitis and are characterized by the development of autoantibodies to the neutrophil proteins leukocyte proteinase 3 (PR3-ANCA) or myeloperoxidase (MPO-ANCA). The three AAV subgroups, namely granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), microscopic polyangiitis and eosinophilic GPA (EGPA), are defined according to clinical features. However, genetic and other clinical findings suggest that these clinical syndromes may be better classified as PR3-positive AAV (PR3-AAV), MPO-positive AAV (MPO-AAV) and, for EGPA, by the presence or absence of ANCA (ANCA+ or ANCA-, respectively). Although any tissue can be involved in AAV, the upper and lower respiratory tract and kidneys are most commonly and severely affected. AAVs have a complex and unique pathogenesis, with evidence for a loss of tolerance to neutrophil proteins, which leads to ANCA-mediated neutrophil activation, recruitment and injury, with effector T cells also involved. Without therapy, prognosis is poor but treatments, typically immunosuppressants, have improved survival, albeit with considerable morbidity from glucocorticoids and other immunosuppressive medications. Current challenges include improving the measures of disease activity and risk of relapse, uncertainty about optimal therapy duration and a need for targeted therapies with fewer adverse effects. Meeting these challenges requires a more detailed knowledge of the fundamental biology of AAV as well as cooperative international research and clinical trials with meaningful input from patients

When Income Depends on Performance and Luck: The Effects of Culture and Information on Giving

We study how giving depends on income and luck, and how culture and information about the determinants of others’ income affect this relationship. Our data come from an experiment conducted in two countries, the US and Spain – each of which have different beliefs about how income inequality arises. We find that when individuals are informed about the determinants of income, there are no cross-cultural differences in giving. When uninformed, however, Americans give less than the Spanish. This difference persists even after controlling for beliefs, personal characteristics, and values

Implant Isolation of Both n-Type InP and InGaAs by Iron Irradiation: Effect of Post-Implant Annealing Temperature

1 MeV Fe+ was implanted into n-type InP and InGaAs layers at different substrate temperatures, -196degreesC, room temperature (RT), 100degreesC and 200degreesC to obtain high-resistivity regions. The sheet resistivity of the InP and InGaAs epilayers; grown on semi-insulating (SI) InP substrates was measured as a function of substrate temperature and post-implantation annealing temperature (100 - 800degreesC). For InP, a maximum sheet resistivity of similar to1x10(7) Omega/rectangle was achieved for samples implanted at -196degreesC, RT and 100degreesC after annealing at 400degreesC. For InGaAs samples, a maximum sheet resistivity of 1x10(7) and 2.3x10(6) Omega/rectangle is obtained for -196degreesC and RT implants respectively after annealing at 650degreesC for 60s. In both InP and InGaAs, the isolated regions exhibit good stability to heat treatment up to 500degreesC for all cases irrespective of the irradiation temperature. The iron depth profile obtained by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) shows that iron does not diffuse up to an annealing temperature of 550degreesC in both InP and InGaAs for all implantation temperatures. These results are novel since high sheet resistivity (similar to5x10(6) Omega/rectangle) is obtained in both InP and InGaAs samples implanted at -196degrees and RT, and annealed at 400degreesC. These data demonstrate the potential usefulness of iron implantation for isolation of InP/InGaAs based devices.</p