Molecular dynamics simulations of oxide memristors: crystal field effects

We present molecular-dynamic simulations of memory resistors (memristors) including the crystal field effects on mobile ionic species such as oxygen vacancies appearing during operation of the device. Vacancy distributions show different patterns depending on the ratio of a spatial period of the crystal field to a characteristic radius of the vacancy-vacancy interaction. There are signatures of the orientational order and of spatial voids in the vacancy distributions for some crystal field potentials. The crystal field stabilizes the patterns after they are formed, resulting in a non-volatile switching of the simulated devices.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Differential Kinetics of Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus Phagocytosis

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge Fraser P. Coxon and Ian Ganley for providing LC3-GFP-mCherry BMDMs. M.S.G. was supported by an FEMS research grant and F.L.v.d.V. was supported by ZonMW under the name EURO-CMC frame of E-Rare-2, the ERA-Net for Research on Rare Diseases.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Heat transfer enhancement in micro-channels caused by vortex promoters

This paper presents a systematic numerical study of the effects of heat transfer and pressure drop produced by vortex promoters of various shapes in a 2D, laminar flow in a micro-channel. The liquid is assumed to be water, with temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity. It is intended to obtain useful design criteria of micro-cooling systems, taking into account that practical solutions should be both thermally efficient and not expensive in terms of the pumping power. Three reference cross sections, namely circular/elliptical, rectangular, and triangular, at various aspect ratios are considered. The effect of the blockage ratio, the Reynolds number, and the relative position and orientation of the obstacle are also studied. Some design guidelines based on two figures of merit (related to thermal efficiency and pressure drop, respectively), which could be used in an engineering environment are provided

Assessing the responses of aquatic macrophytes to the application of a lanthanum modified bentonite clay, at Loch Flemington, Scotland, UK

Loch Flemington is a shallow lake of international conservation and scientific importance. In recent decades, its status has declined as a result of eutrophication and the establishment of non-native invasive aquatic macrophytes. As previous research had identified the lake bed sediments as an important source of phosphorus (P), the P-capping material Phoslock® was applied to improve water quality. This article documents the responses of the aquatic macrophyte community by comparing data collected between 1988 and 2011. Summer water-column total P concentrations decreased significantly and water clarity increased following treatment. Aquatic plant colonisation depth increased and plant coverage of the lake bed extended. However, the submerged vegetation remained dominated by the non-native Elodea canadensis Michx. Aquatic macrophyte community metrics indicated no significant change in trophic status. Species richness and the number of ‘natural’ eutrophic characteristic species remained broadly similar with no records of rare species of conservation interest. Loch Flemington is still classified as being in ‘unfavourable no change’ condition based on its aquatic macrophytes despite the water quality improvements. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the future management of Loch Flemington and in the wider context of trying to improve our understanding of lake restoration processes

Television Viewing Does Not Have to Be Sedentary: Motivation to Participate in a TV Exercise Program

The present study explored which underlying motivations induced people to participate in a television exercise program called “The Netherlands on the Move!-television” (NOM-tv). A cross-sectional study was carried out among 1,349 viewers of NOM-tv. The respondents completed the intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI), assessing their levels of intrinsic motivation towards participating in the NOM-tv exercises. The results showed that higher levels of intrinsic motivation (i.e. enjoying the NOM-tv exercises, feeling competent to perform this activity, and willingness to put effort into the exercises) were the most important predictive factors of more frequent participation in the NOM-tv exercises. Future screen-based interventions to reduce sedentary behavior should aim especially at encouraging people's intrinsic orientations towards physical activity in an autonomy-supportive way

Evaluation of Microsatellite Typing, ITS Sequencing, AFLP Fingerprinting, MALDI-TOF MS, and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Analysis of<i> Candida auris</i>

Candida auris is an emerging opportunistic yeast species causing nosocomial outbreaks at a global scale. A few studies have focused on the C. auris genotypic structure. Here, we compared five epidemiological typing tools using a set of 96 C. auris isolates from 14 geographical areas. Isolates were analyzed by microsatellite typing, ITS sequencing, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprint analysis, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy methods. Microsatellite typing grouped the isolates into four main clusters, corresponding to the four known clades in concordance with whole genome sequencing studies. The other investigated typing tools showed poor performance compared with microsatellite typing. A comparison between the five methods showed the highest agreement between microsatellite typing and ITS sequencing with 45% similarity, followed by microsatellite typing and the FTIR method with 33% similarity. The lowest agreement was observed between FTIR spectroscopy, MALDI-TOF MS, and ITS sequencing. This study indicates that microsatellite typing is the tool of choice for C. auris outbreak investigations. Additionally, FTIR spectroscopy requires further optimization and evaluation before it can be used as an epidemiological typing method, comparable with microsatellite typing, as a rapid method for tracing nosocomial fungal outbreaks

Molecular dynamics simulations of oxide memristors: thermal effects

We have extended our recent molecular-dynamic simulations of memristors to include the effect of thermal inhomogeneities on mobile ionic species appearing during operation of the device. Simulations show a competition between an attractive short-ranged interaction between oxygen vacancies and an enhanced local temperature in creating/destroying the conducting oxygen channels. Such a competition would strongly affect the performance of the memristive devices.Comment: submit/0169777; 6 pages, 4 figure

Molecular dynamics simulations of oxide memory resistors (memristors)

Reversible bipolar nano-switches that can be set and read electronically in a solid-state two-terminal device are very promising for applications. We have performed molecular-dynamics simulations that mimic systems with oxygen vacancies interacting via realistic potentials and driven by an external bias voltage. The competing short- and long-range interactions among charged mobile vacancies lead to density fluctuations and short-range ordering, while illustrating some aspects of observed experimental behavior, such as memristor polarity inversion.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure