Improved reliability of planar power interconnect with ceramic-based structure

This paper proposes an advanced Si3N4 ceramic-based structure with through vias designed and filled with brazing alloy as a reliable interconnect solution in planar power modules. Finite element (FE) modeling and simulation were first used to predict the potential of using the proposed Si3N4 ceramic-based structure to improve the heat dissipation and reliability of planar interconnects. Power cycling tests and non-destructive microstructural characterization were then performed on Si3N4 ceramic-based structures, flexible printed circuit boards (PCB) and conventional Al wire interconnect samples to evaluate the FE predictions. Both the FE simulations and experimental tests were carried out on single Si diode samples where both the ceramic-based structures and flexible PCBs were bonded on the top sides of Si diodes with eutectic Sn-3.5Ag solder joints. The results obtained demonstrate that Si3N4 ceramic-based structures can significantly improve the reliability of planar interconnects. The experimental average lifetimes and FE simulated maximum creep strain accumulations for the ceramic-based structure and flexible PCB interconnect samples can reasonably be fitted to existing lifetime models for Sn-3.5Ag solder joints. Discrepancies between the models and experimental results can be attributed to defects and poor filling of the brazing alloy in the vias through the Si3N4 ceramic

siAKR1C3@PPA complex nucleic acid nanoparticles inhibit castration-resistant prostate cancer in vitro

IntroductionAKR1C3, as a crucial androgenic enzyme, implicates the androgen biosynthesis and promoting prostate cancer cell growth in vitro. This study provides a new gene therapy strategy for targeting AKR1C3 to treat castration-resistant prostate cancer.MethodssiAKR1C3@PPA is assembled from PEG3500, PAMAM, Aptamer-PSMA, and siRNA for AKR1C3. We analyzed the relationship between AKR1C3 expression and the survival rate of prostate cancer patients based on the GEPIA online database to perform disease-free survival, and found that AKR1C3 may be an important factor leading to poor prognosis in prostate cancer. Considering AKR1C3 as a therapeutic target for castration-resistant prostate cancer, we constructed a complex nucleic acid nanoparticle, siAKR1C3@PPA to investigate the inhibitory effect on castration-resistant prostate cancer.ResultsAptamer-PSMA acts as a target to guide siAKR1C3@PPA into PSMA-positive prostate cancer cells and specifically down regulate AKR1C3. Cyclin D1 was decreased as a result of siAKR1C3@PPA treatment. Changes in Cyclin D1 were consistent with decreased expression of AKR1C3 in LNCaP-AKR1C3 cells and 22RV1 cells. Furthermore, in the LNCaP-AKR1C3 group, 1070 proteins were upregulated and 1015 proteins were downregulated compared to the LNCaP group according to quantitative 4D label-free proteomics. We found 42 proteins involved in cell cycle regulation. In a validated experiment, we demonstrated that PCNP and CINP were up-regulated, and TERF2 and TP53 were down-regulated by western blotting.ConclusionWe concluded that siAKR1C3@PPA may arrest the cell cycle and affect cell proliferation

Canvass: a crowd-sourced, natural-product screening library for exploring biological space

NCATS thanks Dingyin Tao for assistance with compound characterization. This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH). R.B.A. acknowledges support from NSF (CHE-1665145) and NIH (GM126221). M.K.B. acknowledges support from NIH (5R01GM110131). N.Z.B. thanks support from NIGMS, NIH (R01GM114061). J.K.C. acknowledges support from NSF (CHE-1665331). J.C. acknowledges support from the Fogarty International Center, NIH (TW009872). P.A.C. acknowledges support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH (R01 CA158275), and the NIH/National Institute of Aging (P01 AG012411). N.K.G. acknowledges support from NSF (CHE-1464898). B.C.G. thanks the support of NSF (RUI: 213569), the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. C.C.H. thanks the start-up funds from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for support. J.N.J. acknowledges support from NIH (GM 063557, GM 084333). A.D.K. thanks the support from NCI, NIH (P01CA125066). D.G.I.K. acknowledges support from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (1 R01 AT008088) and the Fogarty International Center, NIH (U01 TW00313), and gratefully acknowledges courtesies extended by the Government of Madagascar (Ministere des Eaux et Forets). O.K. thanks NIH (R01GM071779) for financial support. T.J.M. acknowledges support from NIH (GM116952). S.M. acknowledges support from NIH (DA045884-01, DA046487-01, AA026949-01), the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (W81XWH-17-1-0256), and NCI, NIH, through a Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA008748). K.N.M. thanks the California Department of Food and Agriculture Pierce's Disease and Glassy Winged Sharpshooter Board for support. B.T.M. thanks Michael Mullowney for his contribution in the isolation, elucidation, and submission of the compounds in this work. P.N. acknowledges support from NIH (R01 GM111476). L.E.O. acknowledges support from NIH (R01-HL25854, R01-GM30859, R0-1-NS-12389). L.E.B., J.K.S., and J.A.P. thank the NIH (R35 GM-118173, R24 GM-111625) for research support. F.R. thanks the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC) for financial support. I.S. thanks the University of Oklahoma Startup funds for support. J.T.S. acknowledges support from ACS PRF (53767-ND1) and NSF (CHE-1414298), and thanks Drs. Kellan N. Lamb and Michael J. Di Maso for their synthetic contribution. B.S. acknowledges support from NIH (CA78747, CA106150, GM114353, GM115575). W.S. acknowledges support from NIGMS, NIH (R15GM116032, P30 GM103450), and thanks the University of Arkansas for startup funds and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) for seed money. C.R.J.S. acknowledges support from NIH (R01GM121656). D.S.T. thanks the support of NIH (T32 CA062948-Gudas) and PhRMA Foundation to A.L.V., NIH (P41 GM076267) to D.S.T., and CCSG NIH (P30 CA008748) to C.B. Thompson. R.E.T. acknowledges support from NIGMS, NIH (GM129465). R.J.T. thanks the American Cancer Society (RSG-12-253-01-CDD) and NSF (CHE1361173) for support. D.A.V. thanks the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the National Science Foundation (CHE-0353662, CHE-1005253, and CHE-1725142), the Beckman Foundation, the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, the John Stauffer Charitable Trust, and the Christian Scholars Foundation for support. J.W. acknowledges support from the American Cancer Society through the Research Scholar Grant (RSG-13-011-01-CDD). W.M.W.acknowledges support from NIGMS, NIH (GM119426), and NSF (CHE1755698). A.Z. acknowledges support from NSF (CHE-1463819). (Intramural Research Program of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health (NIH); CHE-1665145 - NSF; CHE-1665331 - NSF; CHE-1464898 - NSF; RUI: 213569 - NSF; CHE-1414298 - NSF; CHE1361173 - NSF; CHE1755698 - NSF; CHE-1463819 - NSF; GM126221 - NIH; 5R01GM110131 - NIH; GM 063557 - NIH; GM 084333 - NIH; R01GM071779 - NIH; GM116952 - NIH; DA045884-01 - NIH; DA046487-01 - NIH; AA026949-01 - NIH; R01 GM111476 - NIH; R01-HL25854 - NIH; R01-GM30859 - NIH; R0-1-NS-12389 - NIH; R35 GM-118173 - NIH; R24 GM-111625 - NIH; CA78747 - NIH; CA106150 - NIH; GM114353 - NIH; GM115575 - NIH; R01GM121656 - NIH; T32 CA062948-Gudas - NIH; P41 GM076267 - NIH; R01GM114061 - NIGMS, NIH; R15GM116032 - NIGMS, NIH; P30 GM103450 - NIGMS, NIH; GM129465 - NIGMS, NIH; GM119426 - NIGMS, NIH; TW009872 - Fogarty International Center, NIH; U01 TW00313 - Fogarty International Center, NIH; R01 CA158275 - National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH; P01 AG012411 - NIH/National Institute of Aging; Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation; Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation; Scripps Institution of Oceanography; P01CA125066 - NCI, NIH; 1 R01 AT008088 - National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health; W81XWH-17-1-0256 - Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program; P30 CA008748 - NCI, NIH, through a Cancer Center Support Grant; California Department of Food and Agriculture Pierce's Disease and Glassy Winged Sharpshooter Board; American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC); University of Oklahoma Startup funds; 53767-ND1 - ACS PRF; PhRMA Foundation; P30 CA008748 - CCSG NIH; RSG-12-253-01-CDD - American Cancer Society; RSG-13-011-01-CDD - American Cancer Society; CHE-0353662 - National Science Foundation; CHE-1005253 - National Science Foundation; CHE-1725142 - National Science Foundation; Beckman Foundation; Sherman Fairchild Foundation; John Stauffer Charitable Trust; Christian Scholars Foundation)Published versionSupporting documentatio

Robust subwavelength focusing of surface plasmons on graphene

Graphene plays a substantial role in nano-scale optical engineering and miniature information signal processing systems gradually. In this letter, we propose a pipe-like substrate scheme to achieve the properly designed inhomogeneous, nonuniform conductivity distribution on a single sheet of graphene. The transverse-magnetic surface plasmon polariton wave supported by graphene will oscillate like water running in an inclined pipe and focus onto one point in a deep-subwavelength scale in the graphene sheet. Importantly, we find that this focusing behavior is robust and insensitive to the variance of background Fermi energy and incident frequency based on the analytic analysis. We verify our scheme by exploiting Hamiltonian optics and numerical calculation. This nano-scale optical manipulation will lead to the development of miniature optical system integration on a 1-atom-thick structure

Toroidal dipolar bound state in the continuum and antiferromagnetic in asymmetric metasurface

The toroidal dipole (TD) with weak coupling to the electromagnetic fields promises tremendous capability in sensing, light absorption and optical nonlinearities. Here, we analyze the near-field coupling effects of an asymmetric all-dielectric metasurface with an array of high-index Mie-resonant dielectric tetramer cluster. Two distinct optical toroidal dipolar bound states in the continuum are identified from the asymmetric metasurface. One occurs at the internal gap of the tetramer cluster array (intra-cluster toroidal modes), and the other arises from two neighboring clusters (inter-cluster toroidal modes). Via control of the asymmetry of the cluster, the TD could transform from bound states in the continuum into leaky resonances with high-Q factors. The optical antiferromagnetic response could also be identified from the tetramer cluster arrays. The toroidal and antiferromagnetic effects come from the trapped modes with symmetry breaking. These robust responses of the asymmetric metasurface remain stable as the asymmetry degree increases and the polarization of the incident light changes. The proposed metasurface with efficient light-matter interaction serves as a platform for controlling and exploiting optical toroidal and antiferromagnetic excitations

Effects of Different Water-soluble Fertilizers on Yield and Quality of Strawberry under Integrated Application of Water and Fertilizer

Taking Hongyan strawberry as the material and PE drip irrigation tape and fertilizer applicator as the tool of integrated application of water and fertilizer, this experiment studied the effects of 6 fertilizers including Batian, Jiashili, Wangdefeng, Stanley, Wofute and calcium protein on yield and quality of strawberry. The experimental results showed that different water-soluble fertilizers had different effects on the main economic traits of strawberry. For the maximum single fruit mass, the highest was Wofute treatment (28.72 g), followed by calcium protein treatment, and the lowest was Stanley treatment (23.89 g). The fruit treated with Batian, Wofute and calcium protein was hard in the texture, the fruit treated with Wangdefeng was harder, that of Stanley was softer, and that of Jiashili was soft. The strawberry fruit treated with Wangdefeng and calcium protein was sweet, the fruit treated with Wofute and Batian was sweet, that treated with Jiashili was sour and sweet, and that treated with Stanley was slightly sour. The fruit treated with calcium protein, Wofute and Batian showed strong storage resistance. Strawberry plants treated with Batian, Wangdefeng, Stanley, and calcium protein showed stronger growth, and strawberry plants showed a semi-opening pattern. The yield of strawberry treated with Wofute was highest (17 400 kg/ha), which was significantly increased compared with other treatments, followed by that treated by Stanley (13 140 kg/ha)

Kinetics of Co-Gasification of Low-Quality Lean Coal and Biomass

The co-gasification behaviors of composite samples of biomass and lean coal were investigated under a CO2 atmosphere. The composite behaviors were determined based on thermogravimetric analysis and the Coats-Redfern method. These methods were used to analyze the kinetics of the processes. The results showed that the temperature ranges of the lean coal, biomasses, and the gasification ability of each biomass were different, and the coordination effects of each biomass varied. The addition of alkali metals had little influence on the pyrolysis efficiency and the peak temperature of composite samples of soybean stalk and lean coal, but it did promote gasification. In the processes of pyrolysis and gasification, composite samples of soybean stalk and lean coal exhibited lower activation energies than unmixed samples, but there was no significant enhancement with the extra alkali metal

Recent development of high-entropy transitional carbides: a review

The high-entropy carbides (HECs) are reviewed in terms of the crystal structure, powder synthesis, densification, and mechanisms in this article. The inter-diffusion rate of binary carbide is mainly analyzed and predicted based on lattice parameters. During the solid solution formation progress, the densification methods usually adopted were hot pressing and spark plasma sintering. It was found that the distribution of metal atoms was more uniform in high-entropy powders derived from binary carbide raw materials. HECs displayed higher hardness, elastic modulus, and oxidation resistance, and meanwhile exhibited lower thermal conductivity compared to binary carbides. HECs are expected to be used as high-speed atmospheric re-entry vehicles. (C) 2020 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved

Metasurface lens with angular modulation for extended depth of focus imaging

The depth of focus (DOF) indicates the tolerance of the imaging displacement. The axial long-focal-depth is significant in practical applications, including optical imaging and communication. The importance of extending the DOF is rapidly growing with the advance of metasurface lenses. Angular modulation, as a promising way to extend the DOF, offers an additional degree of freedom to improve the imaging quality. Here we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate an angular modulated metasurface lens for extended DOF imaging by means of applying the geometrical phase. Unlike previous studies of the geometrical phase, which is sensitive to the polarity of circular polarization incidence, the polarity of circular polarization independence and broadband characteristic of angular modulation yield the potential of robust and efficient extension of the DOF imaging, thus providing novel opportunities for highly integrated optical circuits.National Natural Science Foundation of China (11504034, 61640409, 61965006); Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province (2017GXNSFAA198048)