Charge storage characteristics of ultra-small Pt nanoparticle embedded GaAs based non-volatile memory

Charge storage characteristics of ultra-small Pt nanoparticle embedded devices were characterized by capacitance-voltage measurements. A unique tilt target sputtering configuration was employed to produce highly homogenous nanoparticle arrays. Pt nanoparticle devices with sizes ranging from ∼0.7 to 1.34 nm and particle densities of ∼3.3–5.9 × 1012 cm−2 were embedded between atomic layer deposited and e-beam evaporated tunneling and blocking Al2O3 layers. These GaAs-based non-volatile memory devices demonstrate maximum memory windows equivalent to 6.5 V. Retention characteristics show that over 80% charged electrons were retained after 105 s, which is promising for device applications

Emotional Reactions to the Perception of Risk in the Pompeii Archaeological Park

The assessment of perceived risk by people is extremely important for safety and security management. Each person is based on the opinion of others to make a choice and the Internet represents the place where these opinions are mostly researched, found and reviewed. Social networks have a decisive impact: 92% of consumers say they have more trust in social media reviews than in any other form of advertising. For this reason, Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis have found interesting applications in the most diverse context, among which the most innovative is certainly represented by public safety and security. Security managers can use the perceptions expressed by people to discover the unexpected and potential weaknesses of a controlled environment or otherwise the risk and security perception of people that sometimes can be very different from real level of risk and security of a given site. Since the perceptions are the result of mostly unconscious elaborations, it is necessary to go deeper and to search for the emotions, triggered by the sensorial stimuli, that determine them. The objective of this paper is to study the perception of risk within the Pompeii Archaeological Park, giving emphasis to the emotional components, using the semantic analysis of the textual contents present in Twitter.Peer reviewe

IN VITRO EVALUATION OF THE ANTIOXIDANT, ANTI-INFLAMMATORY AND ANTIPROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITIES OF THE LEAF EXTRACTS OF EXCOECARIA AGALLOCHA L.

Objective: To evaluate the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative activities of the leaf extracts of Excoecaria agallocha L.Methods: To estimate the antioxidant effect of the extract from Excoecaria agallocha, various assays were carried out. Estimation of total phenolics was done by Folin–Ciocalteu micro-method, total antioxidant capacity was determined by sulphuric acid-ammonium molybdate method, reducing power assay was carried out by FRAP (Ferric cyanide (Fe3+) Reducing Antioxidant Power) assay method and free radical-scavenging activity was estimated by DPPH (diphenyl-picrylhydrazine) and ABTS methods. Bovine serum denaturation inhibition assay was performed to test the in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of the extract, MTT assay was carried out to find out the antiproliferative effect of the extract against SKMEL 28 skin cancer cell lines The crude ethyl acetate fraction was finally analyzed by thin layer chromatography to reveal 8 bands indicating presence of various compounds that probably contributed to the various biological activities.Results: The total antioxidant activity, total phenolics content and reducing power assay tested with various solvent fractions of Excoecaria agallocha leaf extract showed that ethyl acetate fraction had the highest antioxidant activity, reducing power and phenolics content among other fractions. The scavenging effect of extracts and standards on ABTS•+decreased in the order: ethyl acetate>n Butanol>Water>petroleum ether>Gallic acid. The relative percentage of inhibition of BSA denaturation by the ethyl acetate extract was found to be 85.38% at a concentration of 100 µg/ml in comparison to the standard diclofenac sodium which brought about 13.65% of inhibition of BSA denaturation at the same concentration. The GI50 was found to be 19.02 µg/ml for DMSO and 39.2 µg/ml for ethyl acetate fraction against SKMEL 28 skin cancer cell lines.Conclusion: These results suggest that the extracts of Excoecaria agallocha possess significant antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative activities.Â

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of antibody response in childhood tuberculosis against antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Purpose: Serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in children, using available crude antigens, has been difficult. The tests lack sufficient sensitivity and/or specificity. In this study, western blot analysis of M. tuberculosis H37Rv culture filtrate antigen (CFA) was carried out, to identify diagnostically useful antigens. In addition, the CFA was also used in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), to measure antibodies of multiple isotypes. Methods: Specific IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies were estimated in the sera from 26 clinically/ bacteriologically diagnosed cases of childhood tuberculosis (CTB) and 61 normal children (CNHS), using culture filtrate antigen. Western blot analysis with culture filtrate antigen was carried out to qualitatively compare the antibody profile among the CTB, with childhood normal controls and adult TB. Results: IgG positivity was only 7.6% with culture filtrate antigen in the CTB group, while 3.2% among the controls were also positive. However, the results of IgA and IgM isotypes were better. By combination of all the three isotypes an increased sensitivity of 57.7% with a specificity of 93.5%, was obtained. Immunoblot analysis revealed marked difference among antibodies in the region of 16, 19, 38 and 45kDa between CTB and CNHS. Conclusions: Our findings point to a limited sensitivity of 57.7% in ELISA with culture filtrate antigen. However, antibodies around 16, 19,38 and 45kDa region may be useful in differentiating the CTB patients from CNHS by immunoblot assay

Armodafinil-induced wakefulness in animals with ventrolateral preoptic lesions

Armodafinil is the pharmacologically active R-enantiomer of modafinil, a widely prescribed wake-promoting agent used to treat several sleep-related disorders including excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome. Remarkably, however, the neuronal circuitry through which modafinil exerts its wake-promoting effects remains unresolved. In the present study, we sought to determine if the wake-promoting effects of armodafinil are mediated, at least in part, by inhibiting the sleep-promoting neurons of the ventrolateral preoptic (VLPO) nucleus. To do so, we measured changes in waking following intraperitoneal administration of armodafinil (200 mg/kg) or the psychostimulant methamphetamine (1 mg/kg) in rats with cell-body specific lesion of the VLPO. Rats with histologically confirmed lesions of the VLPO demonstrated a sustained increase in wakefulness at baseline, but the increase in wakefulness following administration of both armodafinil and methamphetamine was similar to that of intact animals. These data suggest that armodafinil increases wakefulness by mechanisms that extend beyond inhibition of VLPO neurons

Aggregation and biofilm formation of bacteria isolated from domestic drinking water

The objective of this study was to investigate the autoaggregation, coaggregation and biofilm formation of four bacteria namely Sphingobium, Xenophilus, Methylobacterium and Rhodococcus isolated from drinking water. Auto and coaggregation studies were performed by both qualitative (DAPI staining) and semi-quantitative (visual coaggregation) methods and biofilms produced by either pure or dual-cultures were quantified by crystal violet method. Results from the semi-quantitative visual aggregation method did not show any immediate auto or coaggregation, which was confirmed by the 40 ,6 diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining method. However, after 2 hours, Methylobacterium showed the highest autoaggregation of all four isolates. The Methylobacterium combinations showed highest coaggregation between dual species at extended period of times (72 hours). Biofilm formation by pure cultures was negligible in comparison to the quantity of biofilm produced by dual-species biofilms. The overall results show that coaggregation of bacteria isolated from drinking water was mediated by species-specific and time-dependent interactions with a synergistic type of biofilm formation. The results of this study are therefore a useful step in assisting the development of potential control strategies by identifying specific bacteria that promote aggregation or biofilm formation in drinking water distribution systems

SVtL: System Verification through Logic: tool support for verifying sliced hierarchical statecharts

SVtL is the core of a slicing-based verification environment for UML statechart models. We present an overview of the SVtL software architecture. Special attention is paid to the slicing approach. Slicing reduces the complexity of the verification approach, based on removing pieces of the model that are not of interest during verification. In [18] a slicing algorithm has been proposed for statecharts, but it was not able to handle orthogonal regions efficiently. We optimize this algorithm by removing false dependencies, relying on the broadcasting mechanism between different parts of the statechart model

Population genetics of Drosophila nasuta nasuta, Drosophila nasuta albomicana and their hybrids. I. Karyotypic mosaicism in the hybrid populations

D. n. nasuta and D. n. albomicana constitute a pair of chromosomal races with 2n=8 and 2n=6, respectively. The F1 of these has 2n=7 and it is fertile. There exists a state of karyotypic mosaicism as evidenced by the presence of 26 types of chromosome combinations in F2, F3 and F10 populations. In the midst of this karyotypic noise, the karyotype similar to that of F1 reached 51% of the population. Implications of these findings are discussed

Emotional reactions to the perception of risk in the Pompeii Archaeological Park

The assessment of perceived risk by people is extremely important for safety and security management. Each person is based on the opinion of others to make a choice and the Internet represents the place where these opinions are mostly researched, found and reviewed. Social networks have a decisive impact: 92% of consumers say they have more trust in social media reviews than in any other form of advertising. For this reason, Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis have found interesting applications in the most diverse context, among which the most innovative is certainly represented by public safety and security. Security managers can use the perceptions expressed by people to discover the unexpected and potential weaknesses of a controlled environment or otherwise the risk and security perception of people that sometimes can be very different from real level of risk and security of a given site. Since the perceptions are the result of mostly unconscious elaborations, it is necessary to go deeper and to search for the emotions, triggered by the sensorial stimuli, that determine them. The objective of this paper is to study the perception of risk within the Pompeii Archaeological Park, giving emphasis to the emotional components, using the semantic analysis of the textual contents present in Twitter

Blood Loss through AV Fistula: A Case Report and Literature Review

Little has been written about acute blood loss from hemodialysis vascular access. We describe a 57-year-old Caucasian male with an approximately 7 gm/dL drop in hemoglobin due to bleeding from a ruptured aneurysm in his right brachiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (AVF). There was no evidence of fistula infection. The patient was successfully managed by blood transfusions and insertion of a tunneled dialysis catheter for dialysis access. Later, the fistula was ligated and a new fistula was constructed in the opposite arm. Aneurysm should be considered in cases of acute vascular access bleeding in chronic dialysis patients