Silicon germanium photo-blocking layers for a-IGZO based industrial display

Amorphous indium- gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) has been intensively studied for the application to active matrix flat-panel display because of its superior electrical and optical properties. However, the characteristics of a-IGZO were found to be very sensitive to external circumstance such as light illumination, which dramatically degrades the device performance and stability practically required for display applications. Here, we suggest the use for silicon-germanium (Si-Ge) films grown plasmaenhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) as photo-blocking layers in the a-IGZO thin film transistors (TFTs). The charge mobility and threshold voltage (V-th) of the TFTs depend on the thickness of the Si-Ge films and dielectric buffer layers (SiNX), which were carefully optimized to be similar to 200 nm and similar to 300 nm, respectively. As a result, even after 1,000 s illumination time, the V-th and electron mobility of the TFTs remain unchanged, which was enabled by the photo-blocking effect of the Si-Ge layers for a-IGZO films. Considering the simple fabrication process by PECVD with outstanding scalability, we expect that this method can be widely applied to TFT devices that are sensitive to light illumination.

A Statistical Verification Method of Random Permutations for Hiding Countermeasure Against Side-Channel Attacks

As NIST is putting the final touches on the standardization of PQC (Post Quantum Cryptography) public key algorithms, it is a racing certainty that peskier cryptographic attacks undeterred by those new PQC algorithms will surface. Such a trend in turn will prompt more follow-up studies of attacks and countermeasures. As things stand, from the attackers' perspective, one viable form of attack that can be implemented thereupon is the so-called "side-channel attack". Two best-known countermeasures heralded to be durable against side-channel attacks are: "masking" and "hiding". In that dichotomous picture, of particular note are successful single-trace attacks on some of the NIST's PQC then-candidates, which worked to the detriment of the former: "masking". In this paper, we cast an eye over the latter: "hiding". Hiding proves to be durable against both side-channel attacks and another equally robust type of attacks called "fault injection attacks", and hence is deemed an auspicious countermeasure to be implemented. Mathematically, the hiding method is fundamentally based on random permutations. There has been a cornucopia of studies on generating random permutations. However, those are not tied to implementation of the hiding method. In this paper, we propose a reliable and efficient verification of permutation implementation, through employing Fisher-Yates' shuffling method. We introduce the concept of an n-th order permutation and explain how it can be used to verify that our implementation is more efficient than its previous-gen counterparts for hiding countermeasures.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figure

Aberrant phenotypes of transgenic mice expressing dimeric human erythropoietin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dimeric human erythropoietin (dHuEPO) peptides are reported to exhibit significantly higher biological activity than the monomeric form of recombinant EPO. The objective of this study was to produce transgenic (tg) mice expressing dHuEPO and to investigate the characteristics of these mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A dHuEPO-expressing vector under the control of the goat beta-casein promoter, which produced a dimer of human EPO molecules linked by a 2-amino acid peptide linker (Asp-Ile), was constructed and injected into 1-cell fertilized embryos by microinjection. Mice were screened using genomic DNA samples obtained from tail biopsies. Blood samples were obtained by heart puncture using heparinized tubes, and hematologic parameters were assessed. Using the microarray analysis tool, we analyzed differences in gene expression in the spleens of tg and control mice.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A high rate of spontaneous abortion or death of the offspring was observed in the recipients of dHuEPO embryos. We obtained 3 founder lines (#4, #11, and #47) of tg mice expressing the <it>dHuEPO </it>gene. However, only one founder line showed stable germline integration and transmission, subsequently establishing the only transgenic line (#11). We obtained 2 F1 mice and 3 F2 mice from line #11. The dHuEPO protein could not be obtained because of repeated spontaneous abortions in the tg mice. Tg mice exhibited symptoms such as short lifespan and abnormal blood composition. The red blood cell count, white blood cell count, and hematocrit levels in the tg mice were remarkably higher than those in the control mice. The spleens of the tg mice (F1 and F2 females) were 11- and -21-fold larger than those of the control mice. Microarray analysis revealed 2,672 spleen-derived candidate genes; more genes were downregulated than upregulated (849/764). Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) were used for validating the results of the microarray analysis of mRNA expression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, dHuEPO tg mice caused excessive erythrocytosis that led to abnormal blood composition, short lifespan, and abnormal splenomegaly. Further, we identified 2,672 genes associated with splenomegaly by microarray analysis. These results could be useful in the development of dHuEPO-producing tg animals.</p

Highly Monodispersed PbS Quantum Dots for Outstanding Cascaded-Junction Solar Cells.

High-performance cascaded-junction quantum dot solar cells (CJQDSCs) are fabricated from as-prepared highly monodispersed lead sulfide QDs. The cells have a high power conversion of 9.05% and a short-circuit current density of 32.51 mA cm-2. A reliable and effective stratagem for fabricating high-quality lead sulfide quantum dots (QD) is explored through a "monomer" concentration-controlled experiment. Robust QDSC performances with different band gaps are demonstrated from the as-proposed synthesis and processing stratagems. Various potential CJQDSCs can be envisioned from the band edge evolution of the QDs as a function of size and ligands reported here

Comparative outcomes of the pathogen in cultured Jones tubes used in lacrimal bypass surgery according to follow up periods

AIM: To evaluate the pathogens in cultured Jones tubes used in lacrimal bypass surgery according to the postoperative periods and to obtain data for the prevention of infection of functional lacrimal stent invention. METHODS: Totally 71 patients (81 eyes) who underwent the removal of Jones tubes were enrolled in study. All the removed Jones tubes were cultured for bacterial and fungal identification and tested for bacterial antibiotic sensitivity. The results were analyzed according to the duration of the inserted Jones tube after lacrimal bypass surgery. RESULTS: Of the 81 eyes, bacteria were isolated from 69 eyes (85.2%) and fungi from 6 eyes (7.4%). Among 69 eyes, 40.6% showed Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), 11.6% were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). Gram-positive bacteria were isolated more than Gram-negative bacteria, but Gram-negative bacteria showed a higher incidence in the Jones tube implanted for over 10y (P=0.035). The antibiotic sensitivity test showed that 46.4% of S. aureus were resistant to oxacillin. In terms of antibiotics commonly used in ocular clinical practice, vancomycin was sensitive to S. aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae), amikacin responded to P. aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis (P. mirabilis). Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) was all sensitive to S. aureus, S. pneumoniae and P. mirabilis except P. aeruginosa. CONCLUSION: S. aureus is the most commonly found organism in the Jones tube after lacrimal bypass surgery, and 46.4% of them are methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), sensitive to vancomycin. Especially, P. mirabilis responded with amikacin is dominantly detected in the Jones tubes implanted for more than 10y