Excitation of Single Quasiparticles in a Small Superconducting Al Island Connected to Normal-Metal Leads by Tunnel Junctions

We investigate the dynamics of individual quasiparticle excitations on a small superconducting aluminum island connected to normal metallic leads by tunnel junctions. We find the island to be free of excitations within the measurement resolution. This allows us to show that the residual heating, which typically limits experiments on superconductors, has an ultralow value of less than 0.1 aW. By injecting electrons with a periodic gate voltage, we probe electron-phonon interaction and relaxation down to a single quasiparticle excitation pair, with a measured recombination rate of 16 kHz. Our experiment yields a strong test of BCS theory in aluminum as the results are consistent with it without free parameters.Peer reviewe

HALT Evaluation of SJ BIST Technology for Electronic Prognostics

Abstract-This At the end of the three-month HALT, selected FPGAs were subjected to die-and-pry and cross-section examination and comparison to the collected data. Analysis confirmed that SJ BIST did report the occurrence of faults on damaged pins, and SJ BIST did not report any false negatives. The HALT confirmed the efficacy, accuracy, and reliability of SJ BIST as both a prognostic and diagnostic tool for FPGAs in BGA type of packages

A systematic review of comorbidities and outcomes of adult patients with pleural infection

BACKGROUND: Pleural infection remains an important cause of mortality. This study aimed to investigate worldwide patterns of pre-existing comorbidities and clinical outcomes of patients with pleural infection. METHODS: Studies reporting on adults with pleural infection between 2000 and 2017 were identified from a search of Embase and Medline. Papers reporting exclusively on tuberculous, fungal or post pneumonectomy infection were excluded. Two reviewers assessed 20 980 records for eligibility. RESULTS: 211 studies met the inclusion criteria. 134 papers (227 898 patients, mean age 52.8 years) reported comorbidity and/or outcome data. The majority of studies were retrospective observational cohorts (n=104, 78%) and the most common region of reporting was East Asia (n=33, 24%) followed by North America (n=27, 20%).85 papers (50 756 patients) reported comorbidity. The median percentage prevalence of any comorbidity was 72% (IQR 58-83%), with respiratory illness (20%, 16-32%) and cardiac illness (19%, 15-27%) most commonly reported. 125 papers (192 298 patients) reported outcome data. The median length of stay was 19 days (IQR 13-27) and median in-hospital or 30-day mortality was 4% (IQR 1-11%).In regions with high-income economies (n=100, 74%) patients were older (mean 56.5 versus 42.5 years, p<0.0001), but there were no significant differences in prevalence of pre-existing comorbidity nor in length of hospital stay or mortality. CONCLUSION: Patients with pleural infection have high levels of comorbidity and long hospital stays. Most reported data are from high-income economy settings. Data from lower-income regions is needed to better understand regional trends and enable optimal resource provision going forward

Determinantes y efectos de la inversión extranjera directa: revisión de literatura

En este trabajo se presentan los determinantes y el impacto de los flujos de Inversión ExtranjeraDirecta. Entre los determinantes se consideran el tamaño del mercado, los costos salariales, losacuerdos de integración de las economías receptoras y los impuestos a las utilidades de las firmasmultinacionales. Luego se consideran los efectos directos e indirectos en la economía receptora dela Inversión Extrajera Directa

Gründe für Therapieverzögerung und -abbruch bei altersabhängiger Makuladegeneration

Background. Critical prerequisites for successful therapy of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nvAMD) are an early initiation and continuous monitoring; however, delays in starting therapy and non-medically indicated discontinuation of therapy are frequent, which limits therapy efficacy and, thus, visual outcomes. Objective. To identify the reasons for delay in therapy and non-medically indicated termination of therapy. Material and methods. Patients who had started a new therapy (starters) and those who independently terminated therapy (dropouts) were interviewed by telephone with a specific, standardized questionnaire. Results were summarized descriptively. Results. A total of 100 starters and 55 dropouts were interviewed. The mean therapy delay was 22 (+/- 28 SD) days. This was mainly due to the time until the decision to see an ophthalmologist was made. Main reasons for dropping out were: transportation issues (27%), poor general health (25%) and the assumption that there is no benefit from therapy (11%). Of the patients who dropped out 63% would have liked to continue therapy. Conclusion. There is potential for improvement in nvAMD management regarding therapy start as well as therapy maintenance. Sensitizing for initial nvAMD symptoms is important as is reduction of barriers to therapy maintenance, since most therapy dropouts would like to continue the therapy