Surface morphology and electrical properties of pulse electrodeposition of NiFe films on copper substrates in ultrasonic field

NiFe films were pulse electrodeposited on conductive copper substrates under galvanostatic mode with and without the presence of an ultrasonic field at different pulse current magnitudes and duty cycles. The optimum deposition condition was found to be at a current magnitude of 40 mA and a duty cycle of 50.00% under ultrasonic treatment. This deposition condition has significantly reduced the surface roughness from 39.01 ±1.1 nm to 6.96 ±1.1 nm and the spherical grain size in the range from 579.40 nm - 623.30 nm to 29.00 nm - 46.90 nm. On the other hand, the resistivity was reduced to 19.86 µωcm from 54.00 µωcm as the Ni content increased from 76.08% to 80.12 % for achieving good stoichiometry for NiFe thin films. Through the optimization study, the deposition current is observed to be the dominant factor in determining the single phase deposition of NiFe film whereas ultrasonic field and duty cycle significantly reduces the surface roughness and the spherical grain size, all of which combine to reduce film resistivity

Physical and electrical characteristics of NiFe thin films using ultrasonic assisted pulse electrodeposition

Nickel iron (NiFe) thin films were prepared on the copper substrate by ultrasonic assisted pulse electrodeposition under galvanostatic mode. Careful control of the thin films deposition is essential as the electrical properties of the films could be greatly affected, particularly if low quality films are produced. The preparation of NiFe/Cu thin films was aimed to reduce the grain size of NiFe particles, surface roughness and electrical resistivity of the copper substrates. Various parameters were systematically studied including current magnitude, deposition time and ultrasonic bath temperature. The optimized conditions to obtain NiFe permalloy, which subsequently applied to all investigated samples, were found at a current magnitude of 70 mA deposited for a duration of 2 min under ultrasonic bath temperature of 27 °C. The composition of NiFe permalloy was as close as Ni 80.71% and Fe 19.29% and the surface roughness was reduced from 12.76 nm to 2.25 nm. The films electrical resistivity was decreased nearly sevenfold from an initial value of 67.32 μΩ cm to 9.46 μΩ cm

Structural and dielectric properties of iron doped barium strontium titanate for storage applications

Barium strontium titanate (BST) and iron doped barium strontium titanate (BSTF) ceramics with general formula (Ba0.5Sr0.5Ti1−yFeyO3) and different iron (Fe) contents were prepared by slow rate injection sol–gel technique. The phase analysis, morphology and dielectric properties of BSTFs were investigated. The phase analysis was carried out using XRD which revealed the crystallization of BSTF in perovskite structure with single phase. The Fe doped BST peaks shifted toward higher angles and the calculated crystallite size was 19 nm on average. The BSTF morphology was studied using TEM which showed that the particle size was affected by Fe content. The average particle size was found to be 37 nm for (Ba0.5Sr0.5Ti1−yFeyO3) with Fe concentration of (y = 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1) calcined at (600, 800 and 1000 °C). The dielectric measurements were carried out using impedance analyzer at room temperature as a function of frequency in the range of 10 Hz to 1 MHz. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the 1 mol% Fe-doped Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 at 1 kHz were 1453.69 and 0.0063, respectively. The BSTF ceramics with high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss were obtained for the application DRAM cell capacitor

Microstructure and dielectric properties of nickel-doped Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 ceramics fabricated by solgel method

A study of phase transition, microstructure, and dielectric properties of Ba0.7Sr0.3Ti1–xNixO3 (BSTN) ceramics prepared by slow-injection solgel technique with x ranging from 0 to 1 mol% is reported in this article. The as-prepared BSTN material was calcined at 800 and 1000°C and subsequently sintered at 1100 and 1200°C, respectively. The optimized condition was found to be Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 doped with 1 mol% nickel calcined at 1000°C and sintered at 1200°C having the lowest dielectric loss of 0.02 with a dielectric constant of 1603 which was measured at a frequency of 1 kHz at room temperature

Improved dielectric performance of barium strontium titanate multilayered capacitor by means of pulsed laser deposition and slow injection sol-gel methods

A Pt/BST/NiFe/Cu multilayered capacitor was fabricated incorporating a polycrystalline Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (BST) film deposited using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Qualitative X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed a perovskite structure for the deposited BST dielectric films which were fired at various temperatures. No intermediate phase was discernable with a post-annealing temperature of 750°C and highly crystallized thin film was obtained at a post-annealing temperature of 800°C. The fabricated capacitor with a BST film thickness of 665 nm exhibited respectable electrical performance with a dielectric constant, k of 657 and a dielectric loss, tan δ = 0.0137 at room temperature at an applied frequency of 1 MHz. The recorded charge storage density and leakage current density were 4.6 μC cm-2 and 33 nA cm-2, respectively, with ±5 V bias

Structural and electrical properties of nickel–iron thin film on copper substrate for dynamic random access memory applications

Using pulse electrodeposition technique, nano crystalline NiFe films were deposited on conductive copper substrates, under galvanostatic mode in an ultrasonic field at different conditions such as pulse current magnitude, deposition time and ultrasonic bath temperature. As-prepared NiFe/Cu thin films were characterized for phase analysis, surface morphology, surface roughness and resistivity measurements. The results show that the use of ultrasonic bath at room temperature has reduced the surface roughness, resistivity, average grain size and crystallite size of NiFe/Cu thin films. The resistivity is reduced with increasing deposition current from 44.2 µΩ cm at 40 mA to 33.0 µΩ cm at 100 mA. On the other hand, a significant drop of the resistivity from 35.7 to 9.4 µΩ cm is observed if the deposition time was reduced from 5 to 3 min

Prototype Foamy Virus Integrase Displays Unique Biochemical Activities among Retroviral Integrases

Integrases of different retroviruses assemble as functional complexes with varying multimers of the protein. Retroviral integrases require a divalent metal cation to perform one-step transesterification catalysis. Tetrameric prototype foamy virus (PFV) intasomes assembled from purified integrase and viral DNA oligonucleotides were characterized for their activity in the presence of different cations. While most retroviral integrases are inactive in calcium, PFV intasomes appear to be uniquely capable of catalysis in calcium. The PFV intasomes also contrast with other retroviral integrases by displaying an inverse correlation of activity with increasing manganese beginning at relatively low concentrations. The intasomes were found to be significantly more active in the presence of chloride co-ions compared to acetate. While HIV-1 integrase appears to commit to a target DNA within 20 s, PFV intasomes do not commit to target DNA during their reaction lifetime. Together, these data highlight the unique biochemical activities of PFV integrase compared to other retroviral integrases

Rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of recent dengue infections: An evaluation of six kits on clinical specimens.

IntroductionEarly and rapid confirmation of dengue infections strengthens disease surveillance program and are critical to the success of vector control measures. Rapid diagnostics tests (RDTs) are increasingly used to confirm recent dengue infections due to their ease of use and short turnaround time for results. Several studies undertaken in dengue-endemic Southeast Asia have reported the performance of RDTs against enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and virus isolation methods. However, few studies have compared multiple RDTs for the detection of dengue NS1 antigen and IgM antibody in a single combo cassette. We evaluated six RDTs in Singapore for their utility in routine clinical testing to detect recent dengue infections.MethodsThe evaluation comprised two phases. The first phase sought to determine each RDT's specificity to dengue NS1 and IgM using zika and chikungunya virus supernatant and zika convalescent samples. RDTs that cross-reacted with zika or chikungunya were not further tested in phase 2. The second phase sought to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the remaining RDTs to dengue NS1 and IgM using pre-characterised dengue specimens and non-dengue/chikungunya febrile clinical specimens.ResultsNone of the RDTs cross-reacted with zika IgM in Phase 1. Truquick and Quickprofile cross reacted with zika and chikungunya viruses and were not evaluated thereafter. Standard Q had the highest dengue NS1 and IgM sensitivity at 87.0% and 84.3% respectively whereas Bioline (68.5%) and Multisure (58.3%) had the lowest dengue NS1 and IgM sensitivity respectively. Combining dengue NS1/IgM detection results greatly improved the RDT ability to detect recent dengue infection; Standard Q had the highest sensitivity at 99.1% while Multisure had the lowest at 92.6%. All the RDTs were highly specific for dengue NS1 and IgM (96.7% to 100%). All the RDTs had high positive predictive values (98.4% to 100%) for NS1, IgM and combined NS1/IgM parameters whereas Standard Q had the highest negative predictive values at 68.2% (NS1), 63.8% (IgM) and 96.8% (NS1/IgM). For the RDTs, detection of NS1 declined from acute to convalescent phase of illness whereas IgM detection rate gradually increased over time.ConclusionIn our study, several RDTs were evaluated for their diagnostic accuracy and capability in detecting recent dengue infection. Standard Q demonstrated a high degree of diagnostic accuracy and capability in the detection of NS1 and IgM biomarkers. RDTs can provide rapid and accurate confirmation of recent dengue infections and augment dengue surveillance and control programmes. Further studies are required to assess the usefulness of these RDTs in other epidemiology settings

ApoE maintains neuronal integrity via microRNA and H3K27me3-mediated repression

Summary: ApoE regulates neurogenesis, although how it influences genetic programs remains elusive. Cortical neurons induced from isogenic control and ApoE−/− human neural stem cells (NSCs) recapitulated key transcriptomic signatures of in vivo counterparts identified from single-cell human midbrain. Surprisingly, ApoE expression in NSC and neural progenitor cells (NPCs) is not required for differentiation. Instead, ApoE prevents the over-proliferation of non-neuronal cells during extended neuronal culture when it is not expressed. Elevated miR-199a-5p level in ApoE−/− cells lowers the EZH1 protein and the repressive H3K27me3 mark, a phenotype rescued by miR-199a-5p steric inhibitor. Reduced H3K27me3 at genes linked to extracellular matrix organization and angiogenesis in ApoE−/− NPC correlates with their aberrant expression and phenotypes in neurons. Interestingly, the ApoE coding sequence, which contains many predicted miR-199a-5p binding sites, can repress miR-199a-5p without translating into protein. This suggests that ApoE maintains neurons integrity through the target-directed miRNA degradation of miR-199a-5p, imparting the H3K27me3-mediated repression of non-neuronal genes during differentiation

A scaffolded approach to unearth potential antibacterial components from epicarp of Malaysian <i>Nephelium lappaceum</i> L.

The emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance have been of serious concern to human health and the management of bacterial infectious diseases. Effective treatment of these diseases requires the development of novel therapeutics, preferably free of side effects. In this regard, natural products are frequently conceived to be potential alternative sources for novel antibacterial compounds. Herein, we have evaluated the antibacterial activity of the epicarp extracts of the Malaysian cultivar of yellow rambutan fruit (Nephelium lappaceum L.) against six pathogens namely, Bacillus subtilis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella enterica. Among a series of solvent extracts, fractions of ethyl acetate and acetone have revealed significant activity towards all tested strains. Chemical profiling of these fractions, via HPLC, LC–MS and GC–MS, has generated a library of potentially bioactive compounds. Downstream virtual screening, pharmacological prediction, and receptor-ligand molecular dynamics simulation have eventually unveiled novel potential antibacterial compounds, which can be extracted for medicinal use. We report compounds like catechin, eplerenone and oritin-4-beta-ol to be computationally inhibiting the ATP-binding domain of the chaperone, DnaK of P. aeruginosa and MRSA. Thus, our work follows the objective to propose new antimicrobials capable of perforating the barrier of resistance posed by both the gram positives and the negatives