Relaxable Damage in Hot-Carrier Stressing of n

A method for device characterization is experimented to qualify the relaxable damage in hot-carrier stressing of n-MOS transistors. The degradation of physical parameters of the body-drain junction of power HEXFETs is presented for applied stress condition Vg= Vd/2. Large decrease of the resistance series, of the ideality factor, and of the reverse recombination current are shown to be related to relaxation time, and are significant at Vg=–Vd. These effects are discussed and explained by the evolution of the interface states

Bethe Subalgebras in Twisted Yangians

We study analogues of the Yangian of the Lie algebra $gl_N$ for the other classical Lie algebras $so_N$ and $sp_N$. We call them twisted Yangians. They are coideal subalgebras in the Yangian $Y(gl_N)$ of $gl_N$ and admit homomorphisms onto the universal enveloping algebras $U(so_N)$ and $U(sp_N)$ respectively. In every twisted Yangian we construct a family of maximal commutative subalgebras parametrized by the regular semisimple elements of the corresponding classical Lie algebra. The images in $U(so_N)$ and $U(sp_N)$ of these subalgebras are also maximal commutative.Comment: 26 pages, amstex, misprints correcte

Sub-femto-g free fall for space-based gravitational wave observatories: LISA pathfinder results

We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2 ± 0.1 fm s−2/√Hz or (0.54 ± 0.01) × 10−15 g/√Hz, with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8 ± 0.3) fm/√Hz, about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f ≤ 0.5 mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12 fm s−2/√Hz down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA

Microbiological quality improvement of secondary effluent by reservoir storage

Storing secondary effluents is of particular interest for water resource management. It constitutes further treatment which reduces the microbial contamination of water to a level where it can be used for the irrigation of all crops, without restriction. The storage of treated wastewater takes place during the winter, ensuring that such a resource is not lost and enabling a larger area to be irrigated during the dry season, thereby increasing agricultural production. Storage trials in reservoirs were conducted in north-east Tunisia. Their objective was to determine the length and conditions of secondary effluent decontamination as well as the impact of seasonal storage on water quality. The results indicate that the decontamination of effluents slows down with increased reservoir depth. For a depth of less than 150 cm, a reduction of fecal coliforms in the order of 3 log units is attained in 3 days when the average temperature of the water ranges from 22 to 25°C; when this temperature is between 25.5 and 28°C, the same reduction takes 8 days. Below 20°C, decontamination is considerably reduced: for a mean water temperature ranging from 12.5 to 18°C, the reduction of fecal coliforms reaches 3 log units only after a retention time of 17 days in the reservoir. Seasonal storage from 2 to 7 months does not affect the bacteriological quality of water: after decontamination, no proliferation of bacterial indicators occurs during storage. © 1999 FAC UNIV SCIENCES AGRONOMIQUES GEMBLOUX. All rights reserved

Internationale Tagung 'Windenergie'

SIGLECopy held by FIZ Karlsruhe; available from UB/TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Alteration of de novo glucose production contributes to fasting hypoglycaemia in fyn deficient mice

Previous studies have demonstrated that glucose disposal is increased in the Fyn knockout (FynKO) mice due to increased insulin sensitivity. FynKO mice also display fasting hypoglycaemia despite decreased insulin levels, which suggested that hepatic glucose production was unable to compensate for the increased basal glucose utilization. The present study investigates the basis for the reduction in plasma glucose levels and the reduced ability for the liver to produce glucose in response to gluconeogenic substrates. FynKO mice had a 5-fold reduction in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) gene and protein expression and a marked reduction in pyruvate, pyruvate/lactate-stimulated glucose output. Remarkably, de novo glucose production was also blunted using gluconeogenic substrates that bypass the PEPCK step. Impaired conversion of glycerol to glucose was observed in both glycerol tolerance test and determination of the conversion of 13C-glycerol to glucose in the fasted state. α-glycerol phosphate levels were reduced but glycerol kinase protein expression levels were not changed. Fructose-driven glucose production was also diminished without alteration of fructokinase expression levels. The normal levels of dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate observed in the FynKO liver extracts suggested normal triose kinase function. Fructose-bisphosphate aldolase (aldolase) mRNA or protein levels were normal in the Fyn-deficient livers, however, there was a large reduction in liver fructose-6-phosphate (30-fold) and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (7-fold) levels as well as a reduction in glucose-6-phosphate (2-fold) levels. These data suggest a mechanistic defect in the allosteric regulation of aldolase activity