Hybrid PN Research Articles

Focusing Coherent Light through Volume Scattering Phantoms via Wavefront Shaping.

Manipulating the wavefront of coherent light incident on scattering media to enhance the imaging depth, sensitivity, and resolution is a common technique in biomedical applications. Local phase variations cause changes in the interference and can be used to create a focus inside or behind a scattering medium. We use wavefront shaping (WFS) to force constructive interference at an arbitrary location. The amount of light transmitted into a given region strongly depends on the scattering and absorption characteristics. These are described by their respective coefficients μs and μa and the scattering phase function. Controlling the scattering and absorption coefficients, we study the behavior of wavefront shaping and the achievable intensity enhancement behind volume scattering media with well-defined optical properties. The phantoms designed in this publication are made of epoxy resin. Into these epoxy matrices, specific amounts of scattering and absorbing particles, such as titanium dioxide pigments and molecular dyes, are mixed. The mixture obtained is filled into 3D-printed frames of various thicknesses. After a precise fabrication procedure, an integrating sphere-based setup characterizes the phantoms experimentally. It detects the total hemispherical transmission and reflection. Further theoretical characterization is performed with a newly developed hybrid PN method. This method senses the flux of light into a particular angular range at the lower boundary of a slab. The calculations are performed without suffering from ringing and fulfill the exact boundary conditions there. A decoupled two-path detection system allows for fast optimization as well as sensitive detection. The measurements yield results that agree well with the theoretically expected behavior.

Hybrid model of compounded and multichamber bag parenteral nutrition for adults with chronic intestinal failure.

Although international guidelines support the use of commercially available multichamber bags (MCBs), the majority of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) in the United Kingdom has been compounded PN, tailored to the patient. However, national capacity limitations in aseptic facilities have necessitated the increased use of MCBs. There are no studies evaluating the appropriateness or benefits of using a "hybrid" regimen incorporating both MCBs and compounded PN in patients already established on compounded HPN. This was a cross-sectional audit evaluation conducted on September 1, 2021, at a national United Kingdom reference center. All HPN-dependent adults prescribed HPN for chronic intestinal failure were assessed by a multidisciplinary team for their potential of being switched to a "hybrid" regimen of MCBs and compounded PN. Of 180 patients currently receiving compounded HPN that included intravenous nitrogen with glucose ± lipid, 65 (36.1%) were deemed clinically suitable for a hybrid PN regimen, with minimal variance in PN constituents per week (volume 0%, non-nitrogen kilocalories 0%, nitrogen 0%, fat -0.2%, glucose 0%, sodium 0%, potassium 0%, calcium 0%, magnesium 0%, and phosphate -0.1%) and requiring no additional central venous catheter manipulations. The potential reduction in compounded PN would reduce by 3627 bags per year, equating to a cost saving of £141,453 per year (equivalent to $178,885). Wider use of hybrid MCB/compounded HPN regimens could lead to a reduction in the need for compounded PN to be produced by aseptic facilities. Further evaluation of acceptability and tolerance of hybrid regimens by patients already receiving compounded HPN is required.

Direct Laser Patterning of a 2D WSe2 Logic Circuit

AbstractCarrier doping is the basis of the modern semiconductor industry. Great efforts are put into the control of carrier doping for 2D semiconductors, especially the layered transition metal dichalcogenides. Here, the direct laser patterning of WSe2 devices via light‐induced hole doping is systematically studied. By changing the laser power, scan speed, and the number of irradiation times, different levels of hole doping can be achieved in the pristine electron‐transport‐dominated WSe2, without obvious sample thinning. Scanning transmission electron microscopy characterization reveals that the oxidation of the laser‐radiated WSe2 is the origin of the carrier doping. Photocurrent mapping shows that after the same amount of laser irradiation, with increasing thickness, the laser patterned PN junction changes from the pure lateral to the vertical‐lateral hybrid structure, accompanied by the decrease in the open circuit voltage. The vertical‐lateral hybrid PN junction can be tuned to a pure lateral one by further irradiation, showing possibilities to construct complex junction profiles. Moreover, a NOR gate circuit is demonstrated by direct patterning of p‐doped channels using laser irradiation without introducing passive layers and metal electrodes with different work functions. This method simplifies device fabrication procedures and shows a promising future in large scale logic circuit applications.

In-silico modeling and analysis of the therapeutic potential of miRNA-7 on EGFR associated signaling network involved in breast cancer

BackgroundModeling is now increasingly used to get detailed insights into complex biological systems associated with different types of cancers. In order to understand one such complex system of cell signaling networks associated with breast cancer and to determine the potential impact of miRNA-7 inhibitor on breast cancer progression, we have tried to present a rather simple system of formalization by employing hybrid PN modeling, which consists of many important breast cancers associated oncogenes, proto-oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes. The main objective of this study is to establish a model for the ease of understanding the mechanism of breast cancer progression and therapeutic potential of miRNA-7 against breast cancer. MethodologyA stepwise approach has been exploited including modeling of breast cancer-associated network, extraction of miRNA-7 associated inhibitory gene targets, model verification via hybrid petrinet modeling tool and analyses of simulation results. Results and discussionsThe approach was acquired to establish a highly accurate therapeutic potential of miRNA-7 against breast cancer. The results generated correlates with the experimental studies; the data verifies that the model is very useful in predicting the useful therapeutic abilities of different inhibitory agents which in our case was a miRNA. This study specifically analyses the levels of STAT3, RAS ER-alpha, P53, BRCA-1, and AKT, PI3K genes in both the presence and absence of miRNA-7 in breast cancer. Most of these oncogenes and their linked pathways were observed to be down-regulated under the increased activation influence of miRNA-7, contrarily the effect upon tumor-suppressor genes was opposite they were up-regulated under the increased activation of miRNA-7 while under the decreased activity level of miRNA-7 the tumor-suppressor genes were down-regulated accordingly with the normal cancerous mechanism while all the other oncogenes were found to be up-regulated in this case, this approach elaborated and verified the oncogenic potential of miRNA-7 against breast cancer. ConclusionThe hybrid petrinet (HPN) based modeling approach may help the biologists to understand how different inhibitor therapies work against breast cancer progression. The modeling approaches applied here can also provide a new path for scientists to use combination therapies of oncogenic and tumor-suppressor miRNAs against different cancers and other diseases associated with complex integrated cell signaling networks in biological systems.

Hybrid PN Diode and CMOS Inverters Composed of MoTe2 Nanosheet-Amorphous in-Ga-Zn-O Thin Film

We report a hybrid material system which couples a dry-transfer-processed p-type MoTe2 nanosheet and a conventional photolithography-patterned n-type amorphous InGaZnO (IGZO) thin-film. The PN junction diode shows a good ideality factor of 1.57 and a high ON/OFF rectification ratio of ∼3 × 104. Under illumination, our PN diode shows somewhat stable only responding to high-energy photons of blue and ultraviolet. Our CMOS inverter composed of p-MoTe2 bottom-gate field-effect transistor and n-IGZO top-gate field-effect transistors. Our 2D nanosheet – oxide thin film CMOS inverter shows high voltage gains as high as ~40 at 5 V, low power consumption less than ~ a few nW at 1 V, and ~200 μs switching speed. Both hybrid PN junction diode and complementary (CMOS) inverters are realized by such novel hybrid material system that now opens any further possibilities toward practical applications of 2D nanosheets combined with existing technologies. Figure 1

Improved Thermal Stability and Stress Immunity in Highly Scalable Junctionless FETs Using Enhanced-Depletion Channels

In this work, we report a novel multi-PNPN-channel junctionless transistor with short channel length of 60nm. The multi-PNPN junctionless transistor exhibits the larger drive current of >1μA/μm, the steeper turn-on switching of 77 mV/decade, and the higher on/off current ratio of >107 than the hybrid PN channel device under the same gate overdrive. The improved performance is mainly attributed to the enhanced depletion effect of multi-PNPN channel to optimize the electric field modification of surface p-channel. The stronger immunity to constant-voltage stress is also obtained for multi-PNPN channel due to the lower lateral electric field near drain side to reduce the impact ionization ratio.

Coupling Two-Dimensional MoTe2 and InGaZnO Thin-Film Materials for Hybrid PN Junction and CMOS Inverters.

We report the fabrication of hybrid PN junction diode and complementary (CMOS) inverters, where 2D p-type MoTe2 and n-type thin film InGaZnO (IGZO) are coupled for each device process. IGZO thin film was initially patterned by conventional photolithography either for n-type material in a PN diode or for n-channel of top-gate field-effect transistors (FET) in CMOS inverter. The hybrid PN junction diode shows a good ideality factor of 1.57 and quite a high ON/OFF rectification ratio of ∼3 × 104. Under photons, our hybrid PN diode appeared somewhat stable only responding to high-energy photons of blue and ultraviolet. Our 2D nanosheet-oxide film hybrid CMOS inverter exhibits voltage gains as high as ∼40 at 5 V, low power consumption less than around a few nW at 1 V, and ∼200 μs switching dynamics.

Formation of a hybrid pn junction via p-type aluminium induced crystallized polycrystalline silicon on hydrothermally grown n-type zinc oxide nanowires

p-Type silicon coated zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire heterojunction was fabricated using a combination of aluminium induced crystallization (AIC) and hydrothermal growth. The p-type AIC Si/n-type ZnO nanowires stacked layers were extensively characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), UV–vis spectroscopy, XRD, photoluminescence emission spectroscopy and electrical measurements. Photovoltaic measurements indicate that the device is light-sensitive and maybe of potential in sensor applications.

Blending of mesh objects to parametric surface

This paper proposes a blending scheme to blend a triangular mesh and a NURBS surface together. The product is called a Hybrid PN Parametric Surface which is a watertight B-Rep surface model of a complex object. The hybrid surface is a compact model taking advantages of the simplicity of NURBS representation and detail geometric description of the triangular mesh model for sculptured objects. PN-Triangle is adopted in the mesh modeling scheme to facilitate a parametric representation. The compatibility between parametric represented mesh and NURBS surface boundaries is achieved by knot insertion. The proposed method also provides discussion on the relevant constraints in ensuring continuity across the blending boundaries between the mesh and the parametric surface. A correspondence between these boundaries is designated and an initial blending surface is generated as a transition between the boundaries to form a hybrid surface model. Then an energy minimization scheme subjected to the continuity constraints is employed for smoothing the transition such that the result is a geometrically smooth hybrid surface B-Rep.

Does pure robotic partial nephrectomy provide similar perioperative outcomes when compared to the combined laparoscopic-robotic approach?

Laparoscopic and robotic partial nephrectomy have become the preferred option for surgical management of incidentally discovered small renal tumors. Currently there is no consensus on which aspects of the procedure should be performed laparoscopically versus robotically. We believe that combining a laparoscopic exposure and hilar dissection followed by tumor extirpation and renorrhaphy with robotic assistance provides improved perioperative outcomes compared to a pure robotic approach alone. We performed a comparison of perioperative outcomes between combined laparoscopic-robotic partial nephrectomy-or hybrid procedure-and pure robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN). A multi-center retrospective analysis of patients undergoing RPN and hybrid PN using the da Vinci S system(®) was performed. Patient data were reviewed for demographic and perioperative variables. Statistical analysis was performed using the Welch t test and linear regression, and nonparametric tests with similar significance results. Thirty-one patients underwent RPN while 77 patients underwent hybrid PN between 2007 and 2011. Preoperative variables were comparable in both groups with the exception of lesion size and nephrometry score which were significantly higher in patients undergoing hybrid PN. Length of surgery, estimated blood loss and morphine used were significantly less in the hybrid group, while warm ischemia time was significantly longer. The difference in WIT was accounted for in this data by adjusting for nephrometry score. In our multi-center series, the hybrid approach was associated with a shorter operative time, reduced blood loss and lower narcotic usage. We believe this approach is a valid alternative to RPN.

Adaptive Filter Based PN Code Phase Acquisition Under Frequency Selective Rayleigh Fading Channels

A hybrid PN code phase acquisition system based on a least-mean-square adaptive filter, interpreted as a channel estimator is proposed and analyzed for direct-sequence spread-spectrum systems under frequency selective Rayleigh fading channels. Closed form expressions are derived for the filter tap weights and detection/false alarm probabilities. Compared to previously proposed systems, the proposed system achieves smaller mean acquisition times, is more robust to the operating signal-to-noise ratio and allows for multiplication free tap weight updates.

Memory effects in annealed hybrid gold nanoparticles/block copolymer bilayers

We report on the use of the self-organization process of sputtered gold nanoparticles on a self-assembled block copolymer film deposited by horizontal precipitation Langmuir-Blodgett (HP-LB) method. The morphology and the phase-separation of a film of poly-n-butylacrylate-block-polyacrylic acid (PnBuA-b-PAA) were studied at the nanometric scale by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). The templating capability of the PnBuA-b-PAA phase-separated film was studied by sputtering gold nanoparticles (NPs), forming a film of nanometric thickness. The effect of the polymer chain mobility onto the organization of gold nanoparticle layer was assessed by heating the obtained hybrid PnBuA-b-PAA/Au NPs bilayer at T >Tg. The nanoparticles' distribution onto the different copolymer domains was found strongly affected by the annealing treatment, showing a peculiar memory effect, which modifies the AFM phase response of the Au NPs layer onto the polar domains, without affecting their surfacial composition. The effect is discussed in terms of the peculiar morphological features induced by enhanced mobility of polymer chains on the Au NPs layer.

Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/ZnO hybrid pn junctions for microelectronics applications

Hybrid poly(3-hexylthiophene)/ZnO devices are investigated as rectifying heterojunctions for microelectronics applications. A low-temperature atomic layer deposition of ZnO on top of poly(3-hexylthiophene) allows the fabrication of diodes featuring a rectification ratio of nearly 105 at ±4 V and a current density of 104 A/cm2. Electrical characteristics are discussed taking into account the chemical structure of the stack and the energy band diagram.

Combining hybrid Petri nets and hybrid automata

Hybrid systems have received much attention and a number of different models have been proposed in order to establish a mathematical framework which is able to handle both continuous and discrete aspects. Our research is focused on two models: hybrid automata and hybrid Petri nets (hybrid PNs). First, we deal with studying the hybrid PN functioning. An algorithm is proposed for constructing the hybrid automaton associated with a given hybrid PN. Next, we present the quantitative analysis of hybrid systems modeled by hybrid PN. The approach uses the reachability analysis of hybrid automaton to characterize the periodic functioning of a hybrid PN.

Production Lines Modeling by Discrete / Continuous Aspect in Petri Nets

Abstract To analyse and evaluate performances of high throughput production lines, Hybrid Petri nets are a powerful mathematical model. However, they are not accurate enough to represent, the dynamic behavior of the high speed accumulated system and the interaction between the physical part and the supervisory part. Thus, Batches PetrI nets have been proposed as an extension of them. In this paper, a comparison between the Hybrid PN, and Batches PN are shown on a sinale production line. At the end of this study, an extension of Batches Petri nets for the control / supervision is presented by including the captor model.

Photosynthetic Selection of Zea mays L. I. Plant Age and Leaf Position Effects and a Relationship Between Leaf and Canopy Rates1

Leaf apparent photosynthetic (Pn) rates of inbred, hybrid, and open pollinated plants were studied in association with a continuing program of photosynthetic selection and improvement of Zea mays L. Of major interest was the influence of plant age and leaf position on Pn rates and on results of Pn selection. Apparent photosynthetic rates of multiplant canopies (Pc) of hybrid strain combinations of NY821 and C153 were also measured to determine if variation of Pn rates was indicative of variation of Pc rates.ANOVA revealed highly significant variation of Pn rates among pretassel, silk, and dough stages of inbred and open pollinated plants and among stages ranging from silk to late dent for hybrids. Pn rates generally declined as plants aged, but a small increase from dough to early dent was observed for two maize hybrids.Variation of Pn rates among lower, middle, and upper leaf positions was highly significant for three hybrids, but was rarely significant for the inbred and open pollinated plants. Pn rates of the three hybrids were substantially higher at upper positions from blister through early dent. A significant statistical interaction of age and position effects on the hybrid Pn rates alluded to a more marked age effected decline of Pn at upper positions.A simple comparison of mean Pn rates indicated that Pn response to plant aging and leaf position differed among maize genotypes. The differential response was potentially detrimental to Pn selection efforts.The similarity of trends of mean Pn and Pc rates and a highly significant regression relationship between Pn and Pc rates over time and between two hybrids provided evidence that variation of Pn rates was indicative of variation of Pc rates.