Inclusion of body doping in compact models for fully-depleted common double gate MOSFET adapted to gate-oxide thickness asymmetry

Since it is difficult to find the analytical solution of the governing Poisson equation for double gate MOSFETs with the body doping term included, the majority of the compact models are developed for undoped-body devices for which the analytical solution is available. Proposed is a simple technique to included a body doping term in such surface potential based common double gate MOSFET models also by taking into account any differences between the gate oxide thickness. The proposed technique is validated against TCAD simulation and found to be accurate as long as the channel is fully depleted.

Crystal Engineering in the Desiraju Research Group in Bangalore

Over the years, crystal engineering has transformed into a mature and multidisciplinary subject. New understanding, challenges, and opportunities have emerged in the design of complex structures and structure-property evaluation. Revolutionary pathways adopted by many leaders have shaped and directed this subject. In this short essay to celebrate the 60th birthday of Prof. Gautam R. Desiraju, we, his current research group members, contemplate the development of some of the topics explored by our group in the context of the overall subject. These topics, though not entirely new, are of significant interest to the crystal engineering community.

3-MANIFOLD GROUPS, KÄHLER GROUPS AND COMPLEX SURFACES

Let G be a Kahler group admitting a short exact sequence 1 -> N -> G -> Q -> 1 where N is finitely generated. (i) Then Q cannot be non-nilpotent solvable. (ii) Suppose in addition that Q satisfies one of the following: (a) Q admits a discrete faithful non-elementary action on H-n for some n >= 2. (b) Q admits a discrete faithful non-elementary minimal action on a simplicial tree with more than two ends. (c) Q admits a (strong-stable) cut R such that the intersection of all conjugates of R is trivial. Then G is virtually a surface group. It follows that if Q is infinite, not virtually cyclic, and is the fundamental group of some closed 3-manifold, then Q contains as a finite index subgroup either a finite index subgroup of the three-dimensional Heisenberg group or the fundamental group of the Cartesian product of a closed oriented surface of positive genus and the circle. As a corollary, we obtain a new proof of a theorem of Dimca and Suciu in Which 3-manifold groups are Kahler groups? J. Eur. Math. Soc. 11 (2009) 521-528] by taking N to be the trivial group. If instead, G is the fundamental group of a compact complex surface, and N is finitely presented, then we show that Q must contain the fundamental group of a Seifert-fibered 3-manifold as a finite index subgroup, and G contains as a finite index subgroup the fundamental group of an elliptic fibration. We also give an example showing that the relation of quasi-isometry does not preserve Kahler groups. This gives a negative answer to a question of Gromov which asks whether Kahler groups can be characterized by their asymptotic geometry.

Analyticity of the Schrodinger propagator on the Heisenberg group

We discuss the analytic extension property of the Schrodinger propagator for the Heisenberg sublaplacian and some related operators. The result for the sublaplacian is proved by interpreting the sublaplacian as a direct integral of an one parameter family of dilated special Hermite operators.

Status of supersymmetric type-I seesaw in SO(10) inspired models

We report on the status of supersymmetric seesaw models in the light of recent experimental results on mu -> e + gamma, theta(13) and the light Higgs mass at the LHC. SO(10)-like relations are assumed for neutrino Dirac Yukawa couplings and two cases of mixing, one large, PMNS-like, and another small, CKM-like, are considered. It is shown that for the large mixing case, only a small range of parameter space with moderate tan beta is still allowed. This remaining region can be ruled out by an order of magnitude improvement in the current limit on BR(mu -> e + gamma). We also explore a model with non-universal Higgs mass boundary conditions at the high scale. It is shown that the renormalization group induced flavor violating slepton mass terms are highly sensitive to the Higgs boundary conditions. Depending on the choice of the parameters, they can either lead to strong enhancements or cancellations within the flavor violating terms. Such cancellations might relax the severe constraints imposed by lepton flavor violation compared to mSUGRA. Nevertheless for a large region of parameter space the predicted rates lie within the reach of future experiments once the light Higgs mass constraint is imposed. We also update the potential of the ongoing and future experimental searches for lepton flavor violation in constraining the supersymmetric parameter space.

Perturbative expansion of the QCD Adler function improved by renormalization-group summation and analytic continuation in the Borel plane

We examine the large-order behavior of a recently proposed renormalization-group-improved expansion of the Adler function in perturbative QCD, which sums in an analytically closed form the leading logarithms accessible from renormalization-group invariance. The expansion is first written as an effective series in powers of the one-loop coupling, and its leading singularities in the Borel plane are shown to be identical to those of the standard ``contour-improved'' expansion. Applying the technique of conformal mappings for the analytic continuation in the Borel plane, we define a class of improved expansions, which implement both the renormalization-group invariance and the knowledge about the large-order behavior of the series. Detailed numerical studies of specific models for the Adler function indicate that the new expansions have remarkable convergence properties up to high orders. Using these expansions for the determination of the strong coupling from the hadronic width of the tau lepton we obtain, with a conservative estimate of the uncertainty due to the nonperturbative corrections, alpha(s)(M-tau(2)) = 0.3189(-0.0151)(+0.0173), which translates to alpha(s)(M-Z(2)) = 0.1184(-0.0018)(+0.0021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.014008

A Compact and Compliant External Pipe-Crawling Robot

The focus of this paper is on the practical aspects of design, prototyping, and testing of a compact, compliant external pipe-crawling robot that can inspect a closely spaced bundle of pipes in hazardous environments and areas that are inaccessible to humans. The robot consists of two radially deployable compliant ring actuators that are attached to each other along the longitudinal axis of the pipe by a bidirectional linear actuator. The robot imitates the motion of an inchworm. The novel aspect of the compliant ring actuator is a spring-steel compliant mechanism that converts circumferential motion to radial motion of its multiple gripping pads. Circumferential motion to ring actuators is provided by two shape memory alloy (SMA) wires that are guided by insulating rollers. The design of the compliant mechanism is derived from a radially deployable mechanism. A unique feature of the design is that the compliant mechanism provides the necessary kinematic function within the limited annular space around the pipe and serves as the bias spring for the SMA wires. The robot has a control circuit that sequentially activates the SMA wires and the linear actuator; it also controls the crawling speed. The robot has been fabricated, tested, and automated. Its crawling speed is about 45 mm/min, and the weight is about 150 g. It fits within an annular space of a radial span of 15 mm to crawl on a pipe of 60-mm outer diameter.

Engagement of CF3 Group in N-H center dot center dot center dot F-C Hydrogen Bond in the Solution State: NMR Spectroscopy and MD Simulation Studies

Unambiguous evidence for the engagement of CF3 group in N-H center dot center dot center dot F-C hydrogen bond in a low polarity solvent, the first observation of its kind, is reported. The presence of such weak molecular interactions in the solution state is convincingly established by one and two-dimensional H-1, F-19, and natural abundant N-15 NMR spectroscopic studies. The strong and direct evidence is derived by the observation of through-space couplings, such as, (1h)J(FH), (1h)J(FN), and (2h)J(FF), where the spin polarization is transmitted through hydrogen bond. In an interesting example of a molecule containing two CF3 groups getting simultaneously involved in hydrogen bond, where hydrogen bond mediated couplings are not reflected in the NMR spectrum, F-19-F-19 NOESY experiment yielded confirmatory evidence. Significant deviations in the strengths of (1)J(NH), variable temperature, and the solvent induced perturbations yielded additional support. The NMR results are corroborated by both DFT calculations and MD simulations, where the quantitative information on different ways of involvement of fluorine in two and three centered hydrogen bonds, their percentage of occurrences, and geometries have been obtained. The hydrogen bond interaction energies have also been calculated.

Selective excitation and detection of maximum quantum coherence of a group of scalar coupled protons in chiral molecules: an NMR experiment for enantiodiscrimination

The H-1 NMR spectroscopic discrimination of enantiomers in the solution state and the measurement of enantiomeric composition is most often hindered due to either very small chemical shift differences between the discriminated peaks or severe overlap of transitions from other chemically non-equivalent protons. In addition the use of chiral auxiliaries such as, crown ether and chiral lanthanide shift reagent may often cause enormous line broadening or give little degree of discrimination beyond the crown ether substrate ratio, hampering the discrimination. In circumventing such problems we are proposing the utilization of the difference in the additive values of all the chemical shifts of a scalar coupled spin system. The excitation and detection of appropriate highest quantum coherence yields the measurable difference in the frequencies between two transitions, one pertaining to each enantiomer in the maximum quantum dimension permitting their discrimination and the F-2 cross section at each of these frequencies yields an enantiopure spectrum. The advantage of the utility of the proposed method is demonstrated on several chiral compounds where the conventional one dimensional H-1 NMR spectra fail to differentiate the enantiomers.

Spectral-envelope and group-delay models for transient signals—applications to castanets and stop consonants

We present a novel approach to represent transients using spectral-domain amplitude-modulated/frequency -modulated (AM-FM) functions. The model is applied to the real and imaginary parts of the Fourier transform (FT) of the transient. The suitability of the model lies in the observation that since transients are well-localized in time, the real and imaginary parts of the Fourier spectrum have a modulation structure. The spectral AM is the envelope and the spectral FM is the group delay function. The group delay is estimated using spectral zero-crossings and the spectral envelope is estimated using a coherent demodulator. We show that the proposed technique is robust to additive noise. We present applications of the proposed technique to castanets and stop-consonants in speech.

Mixing enhancement in a compact trapped vortex combustor

Previous studies on a single-cavity, compact trapped vortex combustor concept showed good flame stability for a wide range of flow conditions. However, achieving good mixing between cavity products and mainstream flow was still a major challenge. In the present study, a passive mixing enhancement strategy of using inclined struts along with a flow guide vane is presented and experimentally tested at atmospheric pressure conditions. Results show excellent mixing and consequently low values of the combustor exit pattern factor in the range of 0.1 and small flame lengths (57 times the main-duct depth). The pressure drop is small in the range of 0.35%, and NOx levels of the order of 12ppm are achieved. The flame stability is excellent, and combustion efficiency is reasonable in the range of 96%. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is explained on the basis of in-situ OH chemiluminescence images and prior numerical simulations of the resulting complex flow field. The flow guide vane is observed to lead to a counterclockwise cavity vortex, which is conducive to the rise of cavity combustion products along the inclined struts and subsequent mixing with the mainstream flow.

Spectral-envelope-group-delay models for transients

Transient signals such as plosives in speech or Castanets in audio do not have a specific modulation or periodic structure in time domain. However, in the spectral domain they exhibit a prominent modulation structure, which is a direct consequence of their narrow time localization. Based on this observation, a spectral-domain AM-FM model for transients is proposed. The spectral AM-FM model is built starting from real spectral zero-crossings. The AM and FM correspond to the spectral envelope (SE) and group delay (GD), respectively. Taking into account the modulation structure and spectral continuity, a local polynomial regression technique is proposed to estimate the GD function from the real spectral zeros. The SE is estimated based on the phase function computed from the estimated GD. Since the GD estimation is parametric, the degree of smoothness can be controlled directly. Simulation results based on synthetic transient signals generated using a beta density function are presented to analyze the noise-robustness of the SEGD model. Three specific applications are considered: (1) SEGD based modeling of Castanet sounds; (2) appropriateness of the model for transient compression; and (3) determining glottal closure instants in speech using a short-time SEGD model of the linear prediction residue.

Multiple molecular alterations in phosphodegrons 1-3 within AAV2 capsid demonstrates higher hepatic gene transfer efficiency

The success of AAV2 mediated hepatic gene transfer in human trials for diseases such as hemophilia has been hampered by a combination of low transduction efficiency and a robust immune response directed against these vectors. We have previously shown that AAV2 is targeted for destruction in the cytoplasm by the host-cellular kinase/ubiquitination/proteasomal degradation machinery and modification of the serine(S)/threonine(T) kinase and lysine(K) targets on AAV capsid is beneficial. Thus targeted single mutations of S/T>A(S489A, S498A, T251A) and K>R (K532R) improved the efficiency of gene transfer in vivo as compared to wild type (WT)-AAV2 vectors (∼6-14 fold). In the present study, we evaluated if combined alteration of the phosphodegrons (PD), which are the phosphorylation sites recognized as degradation signals by ubiquitin ligases, improves further the gene transfer efficiency. Thus, we generated four multiple mutant vectors (PD: 1+3, S489A+K532R, PD: 1+3, S489A+K532R together with T251 residue which did not lie in any of the phosphodegrons but had shown increased transduction efficiency compared to the WT-AAV2 vector (∼6 fold) and was also conserved in 9 out of 10 AAV serotypes (AAV 1 to 10), PD: 1+3, S489A+K532R+S498A and a fourth combination of PD: 3, K532R+T251. We then evaluated them in vitro and in vivo and compared their gene transfer efficiency with either the WT-AAV2 or the best single mutant S489A-AAV2 vector. The novel multiple mutations on the AAV2 capsid did not affect the overall vector packaging efficiency. All the multiple AAV2 mutants showed superior transduction efficiency in HeLa cells in vitro when compared to either the WT (62-72% Vs 21%) or the single mutant S489A (62-72% Vs 50%) AAV2 vectors as demonstrated by FACS analysis (Fig. 1A). On hepatic gene transfer with 5x10^10 vgs per animal in C57BL/6 mice, all the multiple mutants showed increased transgene expression compared to either the WT-AAV2 (∼15-23 fold) or the S489A single mutant vector (∼2-3 fold) (Fig.1B and C). These novel multiple mutant AAV2 vectors also showed higher vector copy number in murine hepatocytes 4 weeks post transduction, as compared to the WT-AAV2 (∼5-6 Vs 1.4 vector copies/diploid genome) and further higher when compared to the single mutant S489A(∼5-6 fold Vs 3.8 fold) (Fig.1D). Further ongoing studies will demonstrate the therapeutic benefit of one or more of the multiple mutants vectors in preclinical models of hemophilia.

Fourteen gene GBM prognostic signature identifies association of immune response pathway and mesenchymal subtype with high risk group

Background: Recent research on glioblastoma (GBM) has focused on deducing gene signatures predicting prognosis. The present study evaluated the mRNA expression of selected genes and correlated with outcome to arrive at a prognostic gene signature. Methods: Patients with GBM (n = 123) were prospectively recruited, treated with a uniform protocol and followed up. Expression of 175 genes in GBM tissue was determined using qRT-PCR. A supervised principal component analysis followed by derivation of gene signature was performed. Independent validation of the signature was done using TCGA data. Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway analysis was carried out among patients from TCGA cohort. Results: A 14 gene signature was identified that predicted outcome in GBM. A weighted gene (WG) score was found to be an independent predictor of survival in multivariate analysis in the present cohort (HR = 2.507; B = 0.919; p < 0.001) and in TCGA cohort. Risk stratification by standardized WG score classified patients into low and high risk predicting survival both in our cohort (p = <0.001) and TCGA cohort (p = 0.001). Pathway analysis using the most differentially regulated genes (n = 76) between the low and high risk groups revealed association of activated inflammatory/immune response pathways and mesenchymal subtype in the high risk group. Conclusion: We have identified a 14 gene expression signature that can predict survival in GBM patients. A network analysis revealed activation of inflammatory response pathway specifically in high risk group. These findings may have implications in understanding of gliomagenesis, development of targeted therapies and selection of high risk cancer patients for alternate adjuvant therapies.

Highly regioselective C2-alkenylation of indoles using the N-benzoyl directing group: an efficient Ru-catalyzed coupling reaction

A highly regioselective alkenylation of indole at the C2-position has been achieved using the Ru(II) catalyst by employing a directing group strategy. This strategy offers rare selectivity for the alkenylation N-benzoylindole at the C-2 position in the presence of the more active C3- and C7-position of indole and the ortho-positions of the benzoyl protecting group. A simple deprotection of the benzoyl group has also been exemplified, and the resulting product serves as a useful synthon for natural product syntheses.