THERMAL AND ELECTRO-THERMAL MODELING OF COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS: A REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARMA

This paper reviews the activity carried out at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Parma, Italy, in the field of thermal and electro-thermal modeling of devices, device and package assemblies, circuits, and systems encompassing active boards and heat-sinking elements. This activity includes: (i) Finite-Element 3D simulation for the thermal analysis of a hierarchy of structures ranging from bare device dies to complex systems including active and passive devices, boards, metallizations, and air- and water-cooled heat-sinks, and (ii) Lumped-Element thermal or electro-thermal models of bare and packaged devices, ranging from purely empirical to strictly physics- and geometry-based

Analysis of Ga grading in CIGS absorbers with different Cu content

This work investigates the effect of Cu content and Ga grading on the performance of CIGS cells, by means of numerical simulations and comparison with corresponding experiments. Different Ga profiles and Cu average concentrations are considered. We show that the optical effect of Cu content must be properly taken into account to model NIR absorption. As far as the GGI profile is concerned, we show that the main improvement can be obtained by increasing the GGI ratio toward the back-side; an optimized notch bandgap profile can be designed with the help of these indications

THERMAL AND ELECTRO-THERMAL MODELING OF COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS: A REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARMA

This paper reviews the activity carried out at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Parma, Italy, in the field of thermal and electro-thermal modeling of devices, device and package assemblies, circuits, and systems encompassing active boards and heat-sinking elements. This activity includes: (i) Finite-Element 3D simulation for the thermal analysis of a hierarchy of structures ranging from bare device dies to complex systems including active and passive devices, boards, metallizations, and air- and water-cooled heat-sinks, and (ii) Lumped-Element thermal or electro-thermal models of bare and packaged devices, ranging from purely empirical to strictly physics- and geometry-based

Zotarolimus-Eluting Versus Bare-Metal Stents in Uncertain Drug-Eluting Stent Candidates

BACKGROUND The use of drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients at high risk of bleeding or thrombosis has not been prospectively studied; limited data are available in patients who have a low restenosis risk. OBJECTIVES This study sought to compare a hydrophilic polymer-based, second-generation zotarolimus-eluting stent (ZES) with a unique drug fast-release profile versus bare-metal stents (BMS) under similar durations of dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT). METHODS We randomly assigned 1,606 patients with stable or unstable symptoms, and who on the basis of thrombotic bleeding or restenosis risk criteria, qualified as uncertain candidates for DES, to receive ZES or BMS. DAPT duration was on the basis of patient characteristics, rather than stent characteristics, and allowed for a personalized 1-month dual antiplatelet regimen. The primary endpoint was the risk of 1-year major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), which included death, myocardial infarction (MI), or target vessel revascularization (TVR). RESULTS Median DAPT duration was 32 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 30 to 180 days) and did not differ between the groups. In the ZES group, 140 patients (17.5%) reached the primary endpoint, compared with 178 patients (22.1%) in the BMS group (hazard ratio: 0.76; 95% confidence interval: 0.61 to 0.95; p = 0.011) as a result of lower MI (2.9% vs. 8.1%; p < 0.001) and TVR rates (5.9% vs. 10.7%; p = 0.001) in the ZES group. Definite or probable stent thrombosis was also significantly reduced in ZES recipients (2.0% vs. 4.1%; p = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS Compared with BMS, DES implantation using a stent with a biocompatible polymer and fast drug-eluting characteristics, combined with an abbreviated, tailored DAPT regimen, resulted in a lower risk of 1-year MACE in uncertain candidates for DES implantation. (Zotarolimus-eluting Endeavor Sprint Stent in Uncertain DES Candidates [ZEUS] Study; NCT01385319) (C) 2015 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation

Role of Body Composition in Patients with Resectable Pancreatic Cancer

: This study investigates the role of body composition parameters in patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing surgical treatment. The research involved 88 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer who underwent surgery at the Modena Cancer Center between June 2015 and October 2023. Body composition parameters were obtained from CT scans performed before and after surgery. The percentage of sarcopenic patients at the time of diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is 56.82%. Of the patients who died between the first and second CT evaluated, 58% were sarcopenic, thus confirming the role of sarcopenia on outcome. The study found that all body composition parameters (TAMA, SMI, VFI, and SFI) demonstrated a trend towards reduction between two examinations, indicating an overall depletion in muscle and adipose tissue. We then evaluated the relationships between fat-related parameters (VFI, SFI and VSR) and survival outcomes: overall survival and progression-free survival. Cox univariate regression model show significant parameter related to outcomes was adipose tissue, specifically VFI. The study found that higher VFI levels were associated with greater survival rates. This research holds promise for advancing our understanding of the link between body composition and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients

Alkali treatments of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin‐film absorbers and their impact on transport barriers

We study the impact of different alkali post-deposition treatments by thermal admittance spectroscopy and temperature-dependent current-voltage (IVT) characteristics of high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se2thin-film solar cells fabricated from low-temperature and high-temperature co-evaporated absorbers. Capacitance steps observed by admittance spectroscopy for all samples agree with the widely observed N1 signature and show a clear correlation to a transport barrier evident from IVT characteristics measured in the dark, indicating that defects are likely not responsible for these capacitance steps. Activation energies extracted from capacitance spectra and IVT characteristics vary considerably between different samples but show no concise correlation to the alkali species used in the post-deposition treatments. Numerical device simulations show that the transport barrier in our devices might be related to conduction band offsets in the absorber/buffer/window stack

Theoretical and practical aspects of the design and production of synthetic holograms for transmission electron microscopy

Beam shaping-the ability to engineer the phase and the amplitude of massive and massless particles-has long interested scientists working on communication, imaging, and the foundations of quantum mechanics. In light optics, the shaping of electromagnetic waves (photons) can be achieved using techniques that include, but are not limited to, direct manipulation of the beam source (as in X-ray free electron lasers and synchrotrons), deformable mirrors, spatial light modulators, mode converters, and holograms. The recent introduction of holographic masks for electrons provides new possibilities for electron beam shaping. Their fabrication has been made possible by advances in micrometric and nanometric device production using lithography and focused on ion beam patterning. This article provides a tutorial on the generation, production, and analysis of synthetic holograms for transmission electron microscopy. It begins with an introduction to synthetic holograms, outlining why they are useful for beam shaping to study material properties. It then focuses on the fabrication of the required devices from theoretical and experimental perspectives, with examples taken from both simulations and experimental results. Applications of synthetic electron holograms as aberration correctors, electron vortex generators, and spatial mode sorters are then presented

COVID-19-associated vasculitis and thrombotic complications: from pathological findings to multidisciplinary discussion

Neutrophilic arterial vasculitis in COVID-19 represents a novel finding and could be responsible for thrombotic complications