Atomic layer deposition of aluminum phosphate based on the plasma polymerization of trimethyl phosphate

Aluminum phosphate thin films were deposited by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (ALD) using a sequence of trimethyl phosphate (TMP, Me3PO4) plasma, O-2 plasma, and trimethylaluminum (TMA, Me3Al) exposures. In situ characterization was performed, including spectroscopic ellipsometry, optical emission spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and FTIR. In the investigated temperature region between 50 and 320 degrees C, nucleation delays were absent and linear growth was observed, with the growth per cycle (GPC) being strongly dependent on temperature. The plasma polymerization of TMP was found to play an important role in this process, resulting in CVD-like behavior at low temperatures and ALD-like behavior at high temperatures. Films grown at 320 degrees C had a GPC value of 0.37 nm/cycle and consisted of amorphous aluminum pyrophosphate (Al4P6O21). They could be crystallized to triclinic AlPO4 (tridymite) by annealing to 900 degrees C, as evidenced by high-temperature XRD measurements. The use of a TMP plasma might open up the possibility of depositing many other metal phosphates by combining it with appropriate organometallic precursors

Computation of covariant lyapunov vectors using data assimilation

Computing Lyapunov vectors from partial and noisy observations is a challenging problem. We propose a method using data assimilation to approximate the Lyapunov vectors using the estimate of the underlying trajectory obtained from the filter mean. We then extensively study the sensitivity of these approximate Lyapunov vectors and the corresponding Oseledets' subspaces to the perturbations in the underlying true trajectory. We demonstrate that this sensitivity is consistent with and helps explain the errors in the approximate Lyapunov vectors from the estimated trajectory of the filter. Using the idea of principal angles, we demonstrate that the Oseledets' subspaces defined by the LVs computed from the approximate trajectory are less sensitive than the individual vectors.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures and no table

Synthesis and reactivity of a 9-membered azaenediyne: importance of proximity effect in N-alkylation

Synthesis of a 9-membered azaenediyne has been achieved for the first time via intramolecular N-alkylation; the importance of proximity of the reacting centres via cobalt carbonyl complexation of the acetylenic moiety and not the activation of propargylic carbon has been demonstrated

The estimation of genetic variability and genetic divergence of some advance lines of sesame based on morphological traits

In plant breeding research, naturally existing genetic variability has been successfully utilized to some extent for sustainable production of desirable crops and the diversity in plant genetic resources is most useful part to the breeders . The present experimentwas conducted to estimate thegenetic variation as well as divergence also of 29 sesame genotypes based on morphological traits. The high genotypic co-efficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic co-efficient variation (PCV) observed for number of branches / plant and also for no. of capsules / plant. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was estimated against seed yield / plant, number of branches / plant and capsules/ plant and HI indicating predominant role of additive genetic components for their expression and also indicating better scope for utilization of direct selection for those traits. The genotypes are grouped into 5 clusters based on 16 morphological traits i.e. Plant height, root length, vegetative dry weight, leaf-area index, days to 50% flowering, no. of branches per plant, number of capsules per plant, capsule length, number seeds per capsule, 100 seed weight, seed yield per plant. The maximum inter-cluster distance noticed between cluster II and IV indicating their most diverse relationship. Genotypes of two clusters with wider genetic diversity and with desirable agronomic traits were selected as promising genotypes for hybridization programs. Crosses can be made between genotypes of cluster II with genotypes of cluster IV to achieve promising recombinants

A model analysis to measure the adherence of Etanercept and Fezakinumab therapy for the treatment of psoriasis

This article deals with a immunological model, which includes multiple classes of T cells, namely, the naive T cell, type I, type II and type 17 T helper cells (Th1, Th2, Th17), regulatory T cell (Treg) along with the activated natural killer cells (NK cells) and epidermal keratinocytes. In order to describe the etiology of psoriasis development, we have studied the basic mathematical properties of the model, existence and stability of the interior equilibrium. We have also derived the drug-induced mathematical model using impulse differential equation to determine the effects of combined biologics Etanercept (TNF-α inhibitor) and Fezakinumab (IL-22 monoclonal antibody) therapy considering perfect dosing during the inductive phase. We have determined the required dosing interval of both drugs to maintain the keratinocytes concentration below a threshold level. This study shows that Etanercept alone could theoretically maintain the keratinocytes level, whereas frequent dosing of Fezakinumab alone may not be enough to control the hyper-proliferation of keratinocytes. Furthermore, combination of the drugs with perfect dosing has the noticeable effect on keratinocytes dynamics, which may be suitable therapeutic approaches for treatment of psoriasis

Minimizing Weighted lp-Norm of Flow-Time in the Rejection Model

We consider the online scheduling problem to minimize the weighted ell_p-norm of flow-time of jobs. We study this problem under the rejection model introduced by Choudhury et al. (SODA 2015) - here the online algorithm is allowed to not serve an eps-fraction of the requests. We consider the restricted assignments setting where each job can go to a specified subset of machines. Our main result is an immediate dispatch non-migratory 1/eps^{O(1)}-competitive algorithm for this problem when one is allowed to reject at most eps-fraction of the total weight of jobs arriving. This is in contrast with the speed augmentation model under which no online algorithm for this problem can achieve a competitive ratio independent of p