Finite Size Effects in Highly Scaled Ruthenium Interconnects

Ru has been considered a candidate to replace Cu-based interconnects in VLSI circuits. Here, a methodology is proposed to predict the resistivity of (Ru) interconnects. First, the dependence of the Ru thin film resistivity on the film thickness is modeled by the semiclassical Mayadas-Shatzkes (MS) approach. The fitting parameters thus obtained are then used as input in a modified MS model for nanowires to calculate wire resistivities. Predicted experimental resistivities agreed within about 10%. The results further indicate that grain boundary scattering was the dominant scattering mechanism in scaled Ru interconnects.Comment: 4 pages. 2 figure

The use of navigation systems in naturalistic driving

Objective: In this study, we assessed the use of portable navigation systems in everyday driving by applying in-vehicle naturalistic driving.Method: Experienced users of navigation systems, 7 females and 14 males, were provided with a specially equipped vehicle for approximately 1 month. Their trips were recorded using 4 cameras, Global Positioning System (GPS) data, and other sensor data. The drivers' navigation system use data were coded from the video recordings, which showed how often and for how long the system was activated and how often and for how long a driver operated the system.Results: The system was activated for 23% of trips, predominantly on longer and unique trips. Analyses of the percentage of time for which the speed limit was exceeded showed no evidence of differences between trips for which the navigation system was used or not used. On trips for which the navigation system was activated, participants spent about 5% of trip time interacting with the device. About 40% of interacting behavior took place in the first 10% of the trip time, and about 35% took place while the car was standing still or moving at a very low speed; that is, 0-10km/h.Conclusion: These results shed light on how and when drivers use navigation systems. They suggest that although drivers regulate their use of such systems to some extent, they often perform risky tasks while driving.</p

The HARPS polarimeter

We recently commissioned the polarimetric upgrade of the HARPS spectrograph at ESO's 3.6-m telescope at La Silla, Chile. The HARPS polarimeter is capable of full Stokes spectropolarimetry with large sensitivity and accuracy, taking advantage of the large spectral resolution and stability of HARPS. In this paper we present the instrument design and its polarimetric performance. The first HARPSpol observations show that it can attain a polarimetric sensitivity of ~10^-5 (after addition of many lines) and that no significant instrumental polarization effects are present.Comment: To be published in ASP Conf Series, Solar Polarization Workshop

Detection of Triacetone Triperoxide by High Kinetic Energy Ion Mobility Spectrometry

High Kinetic Energy Ion Mobility Spectrometry (HiKE-IMS) is a versatile technique for the detection of gaseous target molecules that is particularly useful in complex chemical environments, while the instrumental effort is low. Operating HiKE-IMS at reduced pressures from 10 to 60 mbar results in fewer ion-neutral collisions than at ambient pressure, reducing chemical cross-sensitivities and eliminating the need for a preceding separation dimension, e.g., by gas chromatography. In addition, HiKE-IMS allows operation over a wide range of reduced electric field strengths E/N up to 120 Td, allowing separation of ions by low-field ion mobility and exploiting the field dependence of ion mobility, potentially allowing separation of ion species at high E/N despite similar low-field ion mobilities. Given these advantages, HiKE-IMS can be a useful tool for trace gas analysis such as triacetone triperoxide (TATP) detection. In this study, we employed HiKE-IMS to detect TATP. We explore the ionization of TATP and the field-dependent ion mobilities, providing a database of the ion mobilities depending on E/N. Confirming the literature results, ionization of TATP by proton transfer with H3O+ in HiKE-IMS generates fragments, but using NH4+ as the primary reactant ion leads to the TATP·NH4+ adduct. This adduct fragments at high E/N, which could provide additional information for reliable detection of TATP. Thus, operating HiKE-IMS at variable E/N in the drift region generates a unique fingerprint of TATP made of all ion species related to TATP and their ion mobilities depending on E/N, potentially reducing the rate of false positives

Comparing a driving simulator to the real road regarding distracted driving speed

Relative and absolute validity of a driving simulator were assessed regarding effects on mean speed and speed variation during distracting secondary tasks, and normal driving. 16 participants drove the same route four times, twice in a simulator and twice in the real world. They performed way finding tasks, using either a paper map or a route guidance system, and mobile phone conversation tasks. Furthermore, driving without secondary tasks on other road segments in the two methods was compared. As both mean speed and standard deviations of speed were not equivalent, absolute validity could not be established. However, as effects found in the experimental conditions varied in the same directions, evidence for relative validity was provided. It is concluded that driving performance regarding speed under distracting conditions may validly be researched in the driving simulator employed here

Pharmacology of enalapril in children: a review

Enalapril is an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor that is used for the treatment of (paediatric) hypertension, heart failure and chronic kidney diseases. Because its disposition, efficacy and safety differs across the paediatric continuum, data from adults cannot be automatically extrapolated to children. This review highlights paediatric enalapril pharmacokinetic data and demonstrates that these are inadequate to support with certainty an age-related effect on enalapril/enalaprilat pharmacokinetics. In addition, our review shows that evidence to support effective and safe prescribing of enalapril in children is limited, especially in young children and heart failure patients; studies in these groups are either absent or show conflicting results. We provide explanations for observed differences between age groups and indications, and describe areas for future research

Network Farthest-Point Diagrams

Consider the continuum of points along the edges of a network, i.e., an undirected graph with positive edge weights. We measure distance between these points in terms of the shortest path distance along the network, known as the network distance. Within this metric space, we study farthest points. We introduce network farthest-point diagrams, which capture how the farthest points---and the distance to them---change as we traverse the network. We preprocess a network G such that, when given a query point q on G, we can quickly determine the farthest point(s) from q in G as well as the farthest distance from q in G. Furthermore, we introduce a data structure supporting queries for the parts of the network that are farther away from q than some threshold R > 0, where R is part of the query. We also introduce the minimum eccentricity feed-link problem defined as follows. Given a network G with geometric edge weights and a point p that is not on G, connect p to a point q on G with a straight line segment pq, called a feed-link, such that the largest network distance from p to any point in the resulting network is minimized. We solve the minimum eccentricity feed-link problem using eccentricity diagrams. In addition, we provide a data structure for the query version, where the network G is fixed and a query consists of the point p.Comment: A preliminary version of this work was presented at the 24th Canadian Conference on Computational Geometr

Influence of Age, Heart Failure and ACE Inhibitor Treatment on Plasma Renin Activity in Children:Insights from a Systematic Review and the European LENA Project

BACKGROUND: Plasma renin activity (PRA) has gained relevance as prognostic marker in adults with heart failure. The use of PRA as a clinically meaningful parameter in children and children with heart failure requires a thorough knowledge of the factors that influence PRA to correctly assess PRA levels. We aim to evaluate the influence of age, heart failure and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) on PRA levels in children. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature search to identify studies on PRA levels in healthy children and in children with heart failure. In addition, we analysed PRA data measured before (n = 35, aged 25 days-2.1 years), 4 hours after (n = 34) and within the first 8 days of enalapril treatment (n = 29) in children with heart failure from the European project Labeling of Enalapril from Neonates up to Adolescents (LENA). RESULTS: Age has a profound effect on PRA levels in healthy children, as PRA levels in the literature are up to about 7 times higher in neonates than in older children. Children with heart failure younger than 6 months showed 3-4 times higher PRA levels than healthy peers in both the literature and the LENA studies. In the LENA studies, the ACEi enalapril significantly increased median predose PRA by a factor of 4.5 in children with heart failure after 4.7 ± 1.6 days of treatment (n = 29, p &lt; 0.01). Prior to treatment with enalapril, LENA subjects with symptomatic heart failure (Ross score ≥3) had a significantly higher PRA than LENA subjects with asymptomatic heart failure of comparable age (Ross score ≤2, p &lt; 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Age, heart failure and ACEi treatment have a notable influence on PRA and must be considered when assessing PRA as a clinically meaningful parameter. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trials are registered on the EU Clinical Trials Register (https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: EudraCT 2015-002335-17, EudraCT 2015-002396-18.</p