A total resistance slope-based effective channel mobilityextraction method for deep submicrometer CMOS technology

A simple yet effective total resistance slope-based method for extracting the effective channel mobility in deep submicrometer CMOS technology is developed. Using the slope of the measured total resistance versus mask length, the series resistance is removed from the measured total resistance, and mobility is extracted without involving the effective channel length. The new method facilitates mobility extraction in situations where the effective channel length is difficult to extract, such as in lightly-doped-drain (LDD) devices or at low temperatures. The new method also allows the series resistance to be any function of the gate bias, making the mobility extraction in LDD devices easier and more accurate     

High-order Asymptotic Analysis for the V-notch in a Power-law Hardening Material

The aim of this study is to determine the complete elastic-plastic stress asymp-totic solutions at the plane V-notch tip with the two edges being clamped-clampe...     

Comparative Evaluation of the Phytochemical Profiles and Antioxidant Potentials of Olive Leaves from 32 Cultivars Grown in China

Olives (Olea europaea L.) are a significant part of the agroindustry in China. Olive leaves, the most abundant by-products of the olive and olive oil industry, contain bioactive compounds that are beneficial to human health. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the phytochemical profiles and antioxidant capacities of olive leaves from 32 cultivars grown in China. A total of 32 phytochemical compounds were identified using high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry, including 17 flavonoids, five iridoids, two hydroxycinnamic acids, six triterpenic acids, one simple phenol, and one coumarin. Specifically, olive leaves were found to be excellent sources of flavonoids (4.92–18.29 mg/g dw), iridoids (5.75–33.73 mg/g dw), and triterpenic acids (15.72–35.75 mg/g dw), and considerable variations in phytochemical content were detected among the different cultivars. All tested cultivars were classified into three categories according to their oil contents for further comparative phytochemicals assessment. Principal component analysis indicated that the investigated olive cultivars could be distinguished based upon their phytochemical profiles and antioxidant capacities. The olive leaves obtained from the low-oil-content (<16%) cultivars exhibited higher levels of glycosylated flavonoids and iridoids, while those obtained from high-oil-content (>20%) cultivars contained mainly triterpenic acids in their compositions. Correspondingly, the low-oil-content cultivars (OL3, Frantoio selection and OL14, Huaou 5) exhibited the highest ABTS antioxidant activities (758.01 ± 16.54 and 710.64 ± 14.58 mg TE/g dw, respectively), and OL9 (Olea europaea subsp. Cuspidata isolate Yunnan) and OL3 exhibited the highest ferric reducing/antioxidant power assay values (1228.29 ± 23.95 mg TE/g dw and 1099.99 ± 14.30 mg TE/g dw, respectively). The results from this study may be beneficial to the comprehensive evaluation and utilization of bioactive compounds in olive leaves.     

Detecting Aflatoxin B1 in Peanuts by Fourier Transform Near-Infrared Transmission and Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy

Aflatioxin B₁ (AFB₁) has been recognized by the International Agency of Research on Cancer as a group 1 carcinogen in animals and humans. A fast, batch, and real-time control and no chemical pollution method was developed for the discrimination and quantification prediction of AFB₁-infected peanuts by applying Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) coupled with chemometrics. Initially, the near-infrared transmission (NIRT) and diffuse reflection (NIRR) modules were applied to collect spectra of the samples. The principal component analysis (PCA) method was employed to extract the characteristic wavelength, followed by different preprocessing methods (seven methods) to build an effective linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classification and partial least squares (PLS) quantification models. The results showed that, for both the NIRT or NIRR modules, the LDA classification models satisfactorily distinguished peanuts infected with AFB₁ or from those not infected, with external validation showing a 100% correct identification rate and a 0% misjudgment rate. In addition, combined with the concentration of AFB₁ in peanuts determined by enzyme-linked immunoassay assay, the best partial least squares (PLS) models were established, with a combination of the first derivative and the Norris derivative filter smoothing pretreatment (R_c² = 0.937 and 0.984, RMSECV = 3.92% and 2.22%, RPD = 3.98 and 7.91 for NIRR and NIRT, respectively). The correlation coefficient between the predicted value and the reference value in the external verification was 0.998 and 0.917, respectively. This study highlights that both spectral acquisition modules meet the requirements of online, rapid, and accurate identification of peanut AFB₁ infection in the early stages.     

A Water-Soluble Epoxy-Based Green Crosslinking System for Stabilizing PVA Nanofibers

With the ever-growing concern about environmental conservation, green production and water-based nanofibers have attracted more and more interest from both academic and industrial fields; nevertheless, the stabilization process of water-based nanofibers is primarily relying on the application of organic solvent-based crosslinking agents. In this work, we develop a green approach to fabricate water-resistant polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers by using a water-based epoxy compound, N¹, N⁶-bis(oxiran-2-ylmethyl) hexane-1,6-diamine (EH), as the crosslinker. This EH/sodium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate (CBS) solution system can break down large aggregates of PVA molecules into small ones and promote the uniform distribution of EH in the solution, resulting in the improved stability of crosslinked PVA nanofibers. We firstly report that the uniform dispersion of crosslinking agents in the electrospinning solution plays a vital role in improving the stability of spinning solutions and the water resistance of crosslinked PVA nanofibers by comparing crosslinking performances between water-based epoxy and conventional water-based blocked isocyanate (BI). This work could open up a novel strategy and green approach for the stabilization of water-based nanofibers.     

Shifted LT Code Security Scheme for Partial Information Encryption

The existing physical layer security technology based on fountain codes needs to ensure that the legal channel is superior to the eavesdropping channel; when the quality of the legal channel and the eavesdropping channel are close, the information security cannot be guaranteed. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes a shifted Luby transform (SLT) code security scheme for partial information encryption, which is mainly divided into two stages, partial information encryption transfer and degree distribution adjustment. The main idea is that the source randomly extracts part of the information symbols, and performs XOR encryption with the random sequence containing the main channel noise sent by the legitimate receiver. Afterward, the degree distribution is adjusted using the number of transfer information symbols received by the legitimate receiver to improve the average degree of the encoded codewords. Since the eavesdropper can only obtain fewer information symbols in the initial stage, it is difficult to decode the generated coded symbols after the degree distribution adjustment, thereby ensuring the safe transmission of information. The experimental results show that, compared with other LT anti-eavesdropping schemes, even if the legitimate channel is not dominant, the proposed scheme still has better security performance and less decoding overhead.     

Synthesis of siloxane-based PAMAM dendrimers and luminescent properties of their lanthanide complexes

The 0.5-2 generations of siloxane-based PAMAM dendrimers with 1, 3-bis(3-aminopropyl) tetramethyldisiloxane (G0) as core unit were synthesized by two different methods. Their structures were characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, LC/MS, TGA, and DSC. Results show that method two is more suitable as its synthetic procedure is simple and it provides higher yield than method one. DSC analysis indicates that the introduction of the siloxane linkage into the interior of the dendrimers has significant effect on the flexibility of the dendrimer structures. Lanthanide complexes of the newly designed siloxane-based PAMAM dendrimers were obtained by complexing with Eu(III) and Tb(III), respectively. The luminescent properties of the complexes in the solution were investigated. Narrow-width red and green emissions were observed from the complexes of G0.5, G1.5, and G2.0, indicating intramolecular energy transfer process takes place between ligands and lanthanide ions.     

Octathienyl/phenyl-substituted zinc phthalocyanines J-aggregated through conformational planarization

A novel family of thiophene-decorated phthalocyanines (M-TPcs) was efficiently synthesized, during which the key intermediate of these compounds was purified through a chemical approach. In the optimized geometries of M-TPcs, the peripherally linked thiophene rings are tilted from the Pc core, which oppose aggregation considering the mutual steric hindrance. However, Zn-TPc formed J-aggregates in many solvents while Ni-TPc and Cu-TPc did not. Octaphenyl-substituted zinc Pc (Zn-PPc) showed similar J-aggregation behavior as Zn-TPc. This unusual J-aggregation was attributed to the conformational planarization of the corresponding molecules.     

High-yield synthesis of silicon nanoparticles via the perpendicular pulsed laser ablation in the inert gas

Si nanoparticles are synthesized at a high rate(400-500 mg/h) using the perpendicular pulsed laser ablation(PPLA) on the silicon target at room temperature in Ar atmosphere.The PPLA method can also be used to obtain Si nanocrystal films with large areas on the glass substrate.These particles are etched with a mixture of hydrofluoric acid(HF) and nitric acid(HNO3) to reduce their sizes and the surfaces of these particles are passivated by the high-pressure water vapor annealing(HWA).After treatin...