The Empirical Research of Rural Health Inequalities in Human Capital and Poverty?

This paper reports a fabrication approach for very high aspect ratio through silicon vias (TSVs). The metal filling of the through via holes is implemented by adapting standard wire bonding technology. TSVs with a diameter of 30 μm and aspect ratios between 10:1 and 20:1 have been fabricated. Basic electrical characterization and optical inspection have been conducted to verify the resistance and integrity of the metal and insulator filling of the TSV.QC 20131007</p

Single-Voxel Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Thalamus in Idiopathic Epileptic Dogs and in Healthy Control Dogs

The role of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in the investigation of brain metabolites in epileptic syndromes in dogs has not been explored systematically to date. The aim of this study was to investigate metabolites in the thalamus in dogs affected by idiopathic epilepsy (IE) with and without antiepileptic drug treatment (AEDT) and to compare them to unaffected controls. Our hypothesis is that similar to humans with generalized epilepsy and loss of consciousness, N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) would be reduced, and glutamate-glutamine (Glx) would be increased in treated and untreated IE in comparison with the control group. In this prospective case-control study, Border Collie (BC) and Greater Swiss Mountain dog (GSMD) were divided into three groups: (1) healthy controls, IE with generalized tonic-clonic seizures with (2) and without (3) AEDT. A total of 41 BC and GSMD were included using 3 Tesla single-voxel proton MRS of the thalamus (PRESS localization, shortest TE, TR = 2000 ms, NSA = 240). After exclusion of 11 dogs, 30 dogs (18 IE and 12 healthy controls) remained available for analysis. Metabolite concentrations were estimated with LCModel using creatine as reference and compared using Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed significant differences in the NAA-to-creatine (p = 0.04) and Glx-to-creatine (p = 0.03) ratios between the three groups. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test further showed significant reduction in the NAA/creatine ratio in idiopathic epileptic dogs under AEDT compared to epileptic dogs without AEDT (p = 0.03) and compared to healthy controls (p = 0.03). In opposite to humans, Glx/creatine ratio was significantly reduced in dogs with IE under AEDT compared to epileptic dogs without AEDT (p = 0.03) and controls (p = 0.02). IE without AEDT and healthy controls did not show significant difference, neither in NAA/creatine (p = 0.60), nor in Glx-to-creatine (p = 0.55) ratio. In conclusion, MRS showed changes in dogs with IE and generalized seizures under AEDT, but not in those without AEDT. Based upon these results, MRS can be considered a useful advanced imaging technique for the evaluation of dogs with IE in the clinical and research settings

Неинвазивный метод выявления патогенетически значимых антигенов Helicobacter pylori в биологических жидкостях организма

HELICOBACTER PYLORIБИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ МАРКЕРЫЖИДКОСТИ ТЕЛААНТИГЕНЫИММУНОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ФАКТОР

Journeys in the Palimpsest : British women's travel to Greece,1840-1914

Discussions of British travel to Greece in the nineteenth century have been dominated by the work of Lord Byron. Byron’s contemporary Greeks were Orientalised, while antique Greece was personified as a captive Greek woman on the brink of compromise by the Ottomans, or a cadaver. Throughout the nineteenth century this antique vista was employed by the tourist industry. This thesis offers a consideration of the visions and vistas of Greece encountered by British women who travelled to Greece in the subsequent years, especially in the light of how commercial tourism limited or constructed their access to Greece. Commercial tourist structures were in place in Athens and other major sites of antiquity, but the majority of the women considered here travelled through a terrain that went beyond a narrow and museum staged experience of Greece. Three paradigms have been established for women travelling in Greece: the professional archaeologist, the ethnographer, and the tourist. The women archaeologist combated the patriarchal domination of the classics, not only to posit a female intellectual who could master Greece, but also reveal how antique Greece was used to underwrite patriarchal British ideologies. The ethnographers in Greece are a mixed collection of semi-professional and professional ethnographers, considered alongside more conventional travel narratives, all of which offer discussions of the modern Greek psyche trapped at a series of liminal fissures (East/West, antique/modern). Concentrating on women and geography, they subtly conflate the two to read nation in gender. However, without the sexualised aspect of their male counterparts, they read Greek women through a series of diverse practices that they identify through a close contact that could only be established between women. The modern tourist in Greece offers the most enduring and lasting type of traveller in Greece. Travelling with and against guidebooks, the discussion considers the visual technologies that helped to codify the way Greece is still seen as a tourist destination. In conjunction with this, the popular discourses denigrating women’s travel are also discussed, which offers a key reason for the dismissal of their literary output.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Insights into evolving global populations of Phytophthora infestans via new complementary mtDNA haplotype markers and nuclear SSRs

<div><p>In many parts of the world the damaging potato late blight pathogen, <i>Phytophthora infestans</i>, is spread as a succession of clonal lineages. The discrimination of genetic diversity within such evolving populations provides insights into the processes generating novel lineages and the pathways and drivers of pathogen evolution and dissemination at local and global scales. This knowledge, in turn, helps optimise management practices. Here we combine two key methods for dissecting mitochondrial and nuclear diversity and resolve intra and inter-lineage diversity of over 100 <i>P</i>. <i>infestans</i> isolates representative of key clonal lineages found globally. A novel set of PCR primers that amplify five target regions are provided for mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis. These five loci increased the number of mtDNA haplotypes resolved from four with the PCR RFLP method to 37 (17, 6, 8 and 4 for Ia, Ib, IIa, and IIb haplotypes, respectively, plus 2 Herb-1 haplotypes). As with the PCR RFLP method, two main lineages, I and II were defined. Group I contained 25 mtDNA haplotypes that grouped broadly according to the Ia and Ib types and resolved several sub-clades amongst the global sample. Group II comprised two distinct clusters with four haplotypes corresponding to the RFLP type IIb and eight haplotypes resolved within type IIa. The 12-plex SSR assay revealed 90 multilocus genotypes providing accurate discrimination of dominant clonal lineages and other genetically diverse isolates. Some association of genetic diversity and geographic region of contemporary isolates was observed; US and Mexican isolates formed a loose grouping, distinct from isolates from Europe, South America and other regions. Diversity within clonal lineages was observed that varied according to the age of the clone. In combination, these fine-scale nuclear and maternally inherited mitochondrial markers enabled a greater level of discrimination among isolates than previously available and provided complementary perspectives on evolutionary questions relating to the diversity, phylogeography and the origins and spread of clonal lineages of <i>P</i>. <i>infestans</i>.</p></div

Nanoelectromechanical relay without pull-in instability for high-temperature non-volatile memory

Emerging applications such as the Internet-of-Things and more-electric aircraft require electronics with integrated data storage that can operate in extreme temperatures with high energy efficiency. As transistor leakage current increases with temperature, nanoelectromechanical relays have emerged as a promising alternative. However, a reliable and scalable non-volatile relay that retains its state when powered off has not been demonstrated. Part of the challenge is electromechanical pull-in instability, causing the beam to snap in after traversing a section of the airgap. Here we demonstrate an electrostatically actuated nanoelectromechanical relay that eliminates electromechanical pull-in instability without restricting the dynamic range of motion. It has several advantages over conventional electrostatic relays, including low actuation voltages without extreme reduction in critical dimensions and near constant actuation airgap while the device moves, for improved electrostatic control. With this nanoelectromechanical relay we demonstrate the first high-temperature non-volatile relay operation, with over 40 non-volatile cycles at 200 ∘C

Measuring the weak mixing angle with the P2 experiment at MESA

The P2 experiment in Mainz aims to measure the weak mixing angle in electron- proton scattering to a precision of 0.13 %. In order to suppress uncertainties due to proton structure and contributions from box graphs, both a low average momentum transfer $Q^2$ of $4.5\cdot 10^{-3}$ GeV$^2/c^2$ and a low beam energy of 155 MeV are chosen. In order to collect the enormous statistics required for this measurement, the new Mainz Energy Recovery Superconducting Accelerator (MESA) is being constructed. These proceedings describe the motivation for the measurement, the experimental and accelerator challenges and how we plan to tackle them.Comment: Proceedings of the PhiPsi15, Sep. 23-26, 2015, Hefei, Chin

A Resonant Graphene NEMS Vibrometer

Measuring vibrations is essential to ensuring building structural safety and machine stability. Predictive maintenance is a central internet of things (IoT) application within the new industrial revolution, where sustainability and performance increase over time are going to be paramount. To reduce the footprint and cost of vibration sensors while improving their performance, new sensor concepts are needed. Here, double-layer graphene membranes are utilized with a suspended silicon proof demonstrating their operation as resonant vibration sensors that show outstanding performance for a given footprint and proof mass. The unveiled sensing effect is based on resonant transduction and has important implications for experimental studies involving thin nano and micro mechanical resonators that are excited by an external shaker

Digital Nanoelectromechanical Non-Volatile Memory Cell

Nanoelectromechanical relays are inherently radiation hard and can operate at high temperatures. Thus, they have potential to serve as the building blocks in nonvolatile memory that can be used in harsh environments with zero standby power. However, a reprogrammable memory cell built entirely from relays that can be operated with a digital protocol has not yet been demonstrated. Here, we demonstrate a fully mechanical digital non-volatile memory cell built from in-plane silicon nanoelectromechanical relays; a 7-terminal bistable relay utilizes surface adhesion forces to store binary data without consuming any energy, while 3-terminal relays are used for read and write access without the need for CMOS. We have optimized the designs to prevent collapse to the substrate under actuation and recorded voltages of 13, 13.2 and 27V for programming, read and reprogramming operations. This non-volatile memory cell can potentially be used to build embedded memories for edge applications that have stringent temperature, radiation and energy constraints