Porous carbons as electrode materials are highly desired for use in energy storage/conversion devices. Herein, the development of a series of highly porous nitrogen and oxygen co-doped carbons by ...using pea protein (PP) as a cost-effective, sustainable and nitrogen-rich precursor is reported. Pea protein derived carbons (PPDCs) have been prepared by applying a straightforward two-step synthetic route including pyrolysis and KOH-chemical activation. Potassium hydroxide has been employed to generate porosity and introduce oxygen functionalities into the framework of carbon. The heteroatoms doping content and porosity parameters have been tuned by varying the synthesis temperature and activator to precursor ratio. The carbon obtained with optimal synthetic parameters (T = 800 °C and KOH/Precursor = 4) featured the highest surface area, the maximal pore volume and N-/O doping level of 3500 m2 g−1, 1.76 cm3 g−1, and 2.5-/17.9 at%, respectively. PPDC-4-800 as supercapacitor presented a very high specific capacitance (413 F g−1 at 1.0 A g−1 in 1 M KOH), remarkable cycling stability (92% retention after 20000 cycles) and outstanding rate capability (210 F g−1 at 30 A g−1). The cooperative effects of the well-developed porous architecture and surface modification of PPDCs resulted in enhanced electrochemical performances, suggesting their potential application for energy storage devices.
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•Carbon electrode material from pea protein.•Carbonization and activation.•Duel doping of nitrogen and oxygen.•High surface area and high electrical capacitance.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Background We assessed the impact of preoperative Staphylococcus aureus screening and targeted decolonization on the incidence of postoperative methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA) colonization, ...intensive care unit MRSA transmission, and surgical site infections in cardiac surgery patients. Methods We reviewed medical records for all adult patients during two periods: preintervention (January 2007 to April 2010) and intervention (January 2011 to December 2014). In the intervention period, we performed nasal screening for methicillin-sensitive S aureus and MRSA using polymerase chain reaction within 30 days of the operation. Colonized patients received intranasal mupirocin twice daily and chlorhexidine baths daily for 5 days; patients colonized with MRSA also received prophylactic vancomycin plus cefazolin with contact isolation precautions. Nasal surveillance for MRSA was performed on intensive care unit admission and weekly thereafter. Multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to determine risk factors for postoperative MRSA colonization, and surgical site infections and the impact of our screening program was assessed in these models. Poisson regression was used to assess MRSA transmission. Results Comparing 2,826 preintervention and 4,038 intervention patients, cases differed in age, diabetes mellitus, preoperative infection, preoperative length of stay, and bypass time (all p ≤ 0.03). Intervention patients had risk-adjusted reductions in MRSA colonization (odds ratio 0.53, 95% confidence interval CI: 0.37 to 0.76, p < 0.001), transmission (incidence rate ratio 0.29, 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.65, p = 0.002), and surgical site infections (odds ratio 0.58, 95% CI: 0.40 to 0.86, p = 0.007). Increased duration of preoperative decolonization therapy was associated with decreased postoperative MRSA colonization (odds ratio 0.73, 95% CI: 0.53 to 1.00, p = 0.05). Conclusions Preoperative S aureus screening with targeted decolonization was associated with reduced MRSA colonization, transmission, and surgical site infections. Duration of preoperative therapy correlated with decreased frequency of postoperative MRSA colonization.
Summary
The presented work deals with the synthesis and thermal characterization of TiO2 filled Polycarbonate/Polystyrene (PC/PS) blend nanocomposites. Nanoparticles of Titanium‐dioxide have been ...synthesized by simple chemical method. Average grain size of as prepared nanoparticles have been determined by both TEM and XRD. Titanium‐dioxide Filled Polycarbonate/Polystyrene blend nanocomposites have been prepared by solution casting method. The XRD pattern and FTIR spectrum confirm the formation of blend nanocomposites. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) has been used to study thermal properties. The DSC thermograms indicate that the glass transition temperature and hence thermal stability of nanocomposites enhances with addition of filler content.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
ldquoConventionalrdquo techniques and related capacitance-voltage characteristic interpretation were established to evaluate interface trap density on Si substrates. We show that blindly applying ...these techniques on alternative substrates can lead to incorrect conclusions. It is possible to both under- and overestimate the interface trap density by more than an order of magnitude. Pitfalls jeopardizing capacitance-and conductance-voltage characteristic interpretation for alternative semiconductor MOS are elaborated. We show how the conductance method, the most reliable and widely used interface trap density extraction method for Si, can be adapted and made reliable for alternative semiconductors while maintaining its simplicity.
Abstract The zinc-finger SWIM domain-containing protein 6 (ZSWIM6) is a protein of unknown function that has been associated with schizophrenia and limited educational attainment by three independent ...genome-wide association studies. Additionally, a putatively causal point mutation in ZSWIM6 has been identified in several cases of acromelic frontonasal dysostosis with severe intellectual disability. Despite the growing number of studies implicating ZSWIM6 as an important regulator of brain development, its role in this process has never been examined. Here, we report the generation of Zswim6 knockout mice and provide a detailed anatomical and behavioral characterization of the resulting phenotype. We show that Zswim6 is initially expressed widely during embryonic brain development but becomes restricted to the striatum postnatally. Loss of Zswim6 causes a reduction in striatal volume and changes in medium spiny neuron morphology. These changes are associated with alterations in motor control, including hyperactivity, impaired rotarod performance, repetitive movements, and behavioral hyperresponsiveness to amphetamine. Together, our results show that Zswim6 is indispensable to normal brain function and support the notion that Zswim6 might serve as an important contributor to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering (νAel) provides a unique laboratory to study the quantum-mechanical (QM) coherency effects in electroweak interactions. The deviations of the cross sections from ...those of completely coherent systems can be quantitatively characterized through a coherency parameter α (q2). The relations between α and the underlying nuclear physics in terms of nuclear form factors are derived. The dependence of cross section on α (q2) for the various neutrino sources is presented. The α (q2) values are evaluated from the measured data of the COHERENT CsI and Ar experiments. Complete coherency and decoherency conditions are excluded by the CsI data with p = 0.004 at q2 = 3.1 × 103 MeV2 and p = 0.016 at q2 = 2.3 × 103 MeV2, respectively, verifying that both QM superpositions and nuclear many-body effects contribute to νAel interactions.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
In the present communication glass stability (GS) and glass forming ability (GFA) of Ge25−xSe75Sbx (x = 12, 15, and 18) chalcogenide glasses have been calculated in terms of certain thermal ...parameters, i.e., reduced glass transition temperature (Trg), Hruby number (H), S‐parameter (S), and ΔT. The glassy samples have been prepared by quenching of melt technique. For structure characterization, XRD technique has been used. For thermal analysis Differential Scanning Calorimetery (DSC) has been used. DSC scans have been recorded at different heating rates, i.e., 5, 10, 15, and 20 K min−1. Stability of glassy samples has also been confirmed in terms of activation energy of glass transition calculated by Kissinger relation. All these parameters indicate that GS and GFA both decrease with increase of Sb content in Ge25−xSe75Sbx (x = 12, 15, and 18) glassy series.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Performance of deep-submicrometer very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits is being increasingly dominated by the interconnects due to decreasing wire pitch and increasing die size. Additionally, ...heterogeneous integration of different technologies in one single chip is becoming increasingly desirable, for which planar (two-dimensional) ICs may not be suitable. This paper analyzes the limitations of the existing interconnect technologies and design methodologies and presents a novel three-dimensional (3-D) chip design strategy that exploits the vertical dimension to alleviate the interconnect related problems and to facilitate heterogeneous integration of technologies to realize a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design. A comprehensive analytical treatment of these 3-D ICs has been presented and it has been shown that by simply dividing a planar chip into separate blocks, each occurring a separate physical level interconnected by short and vertical interlayer interconnects (VILICs), significant improvement in performance and reduction in wire-limited chip area can be achieved, without the aid of any other circuit or design innovations. A scheme to optimize the interconnect distribution among different interconnect tiers is presented and the effect of transferring the repeaters to upper Si layers has been quantified in this analysis for a two-layer 3-D chip. Furthermore, one of the major concerns in 3-D ICs arising due to power dissipation problems has been analyzed and an analytical model has been presented to estimate the temperatures of the different active layers. It is demonstrated that advancement in heat sinking technology will be necessary in order to extract maximum performance from these chips. Implications of 3-D device architecture on several design issues have also been discussed with special attention to SoC design strategies. Finally some of the promising technologies for manufacturing 3-D ICs have been outlined.
Present article embodies the design and analysis of slotted circular shape metamaterial loaded multiband antenna for wireless applications with declination of SAR. The electrical dimension is 0.260 λ ...× 0.253 λ × 0.0059 λ (35 × 34 × 0.8 mm3) of proposed design, at lower frequency of 2.23 GHz. The antenna consists of circular shape rectangular slot as the radiation element loaded with metamaterial split ring resonator (SRR) and two parallel rectangular stubs, etched rectangular single complementary split‐ring resonator (CSRR) and reclined T‐shaped slot as ground plane. Antenna achieves hepta bands for wireless standards WLAN (2.4/5.0/5.8 GHz), WiMAX (3.5 GHz), radio frequency identification (RFID) services (3.0 GHz), Upper X band (11.8 GHz—for space communication) and Lower KU band (13.1 GHz—for satellite communication systems operating band). Stable radiation patterns are observed for the operating bands with low cross polarization. The SRR is responsible for creating an additional resonating mode for wireless application as well as provide the declination in SAR about 13.3%. Experimental characteristic of antenna shows close agreement with those obtained by simulation of the proposed antenna.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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