Dispersive Modeling of Normal and Cancerous Cervical Cell Responses to Nanosecond Electric Fields in Reversible Electroporation Using a Drift-Step Rectifier Diode Generator

This paper creates an approximate three-dimensional model for normal and cancerous cervical cells using image processing and computer-aided design (CAD) tools. The model is then exposed to low-frequency electric pulses to verify the work with experimental data. The transmembrane potential, pore density, and pore radius evolution are analyzed. This work adds a study of the electrodeformation of cells under an electric field to investigate cytoskeleton integrity. The Maxwell stress tensor is calculated for the dispersive bi-lipid layer plasma membrane. The solid displacement is calculated under electric stress to observe cytoskeleton integrity. After verifying the results with previous experiments, the cells are exposed to a nanosecond pulsed electric field. The nanosecond pulse is applied using a drift-step rectifier diode (DSRD)-based generator circuit. The cells' transmembrane voltage (TMV), pore density, pore radius evolution, displacement of the membrane under electric stress, and strain energy are calculated. A thermal analysis of the cells under a nanosecond pulse is also carried out to prove that it constitutes a non-thermal process. The results showed differences in normal and cancerous cell responses to electric pulses due to changes in morphology and differences in the cells' electrical and mechanical properties. This work is a model-driven microdosimetry method that could be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Versatility Investigation of Grown Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles and Their Comparative Charge Storage for Memristor Devices

Memristive devices have garnered significant attention in the field of electronics over the past few decades. The reason behind this immense interest lies in the ubiquitous nature of memristive dynamics within nanoscale devices, offering the potential for revolutionary applications. These applications span from energy-efficient memories to the development of physical neural networks and neuromorphic computing platforms. In this research article, the angle toppling technique (ATT) was employed to fabricate titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles with an estimated size of around 10 nm. The nanoparticles were deposited onto a 50 nm SiOx thin film (TF), which was situated on an n-type Si substrate. Subsequently, the samples underwent annealing processes at temperatures of 550 °C and 950 °C. The structural studies of the sample were done by field emission gun-scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM) (JEOL, JSM-7600F). The as-fabricated sample exhibited noticeable clusters of nanoparticles, which were less prominent in the samples annealed at 550 °C and 950 °C. The element composition revealed the presence of titanium (Ti), oxygen (O2), and silicon (Si) from the substrate within the samples. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed that the as-fabricated sample predominantly consisted of the rutile phase. The comparative studies of charge storage and endurance measurements of as-deposited, 550 °C, and 950 °C annealed devices were carried out, where as-grown device showed promising responses towards brain computing applications. Furthermore, the teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) technique was used to conduct further comparisons of results.

Design and Development of a Triple-Band Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output Antenna for Sensing Applications

In this article, a triple-band quad-element stacked multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna is proposed for sensing applications. Each radiating element of the presented MIMO antenna consists of a diagonally truncated square patch, which is proximity coupled to the elliptical radiating patch. The proposed MIMO antenna is designed to resonate for three frequencies (4.2, 4.8, and 5.8 GHz) in the C-band range. The antenna shows circular polarization characteristics at 4.2 and 4.8 GHz frequencies. Each stacked element of the proposed antenna is excited independently through a 50 Ω coaxial feed. The Rogers RT Duroid/5880 dielectric substrate is used for the fabrication of two layers of the stacked MIMO antenna. The presented stacked MIMO antenna simulation and experimental outcomes are in good agreement.

Two-stage artificial intelligence model for jointly measurement of atherosclerotic wall thickness and plaque burden in carotid ultrasound: A screening tool for cardiovascular/stroke risk assessment

MOTIVATION

The early screening of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) can lead to effective treatment. Thus, accurate and reliable atherosclerotic carotid wall detection and plaque measurements are crucial. Current measurement methods are time-consuming and do not utilize the power of knowledge-based paradigms such as artificial intelligence (AI). We present an AI-based methodology for the joint automated detection and measurement of wall thickness and carotid plaque (CP) in the form of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and total plaque area (TPA), a class of AtheroEdge™ system (AtheroPoint™, CA, USA).

METHOD

The novel system consists of two stages, and each stage comprises an independent deep learning (DL) model. In Stage I, the first DL model segregates the common carotid artery (CCA) patches from ultrasound (US) images into the rectangular wall and non-wall patches. The characterized wall patches are integrated to form the region of interest (ROI), which is then fed into Stage II. In Stage II, the second DL model segments the far wall region. Lumen-intima (LI) and media-adventitial (MA) boundaries are then extracted from the wall region, which is then used for cIMT and PA measurement.

RESULTS

Using the database of 250 carotid scans, the cIMT error using the AI model is 0.0935±0.0637 mm, which is lower than those of all previous methods. The PA error is found to be 2.7939±2.3702 mm². The system's correlation coefficient (CC) between AI and ground truth (GT) values for cIMT is 0.99 (p < 0.0001), which is higher compared with the CC of 0.96 (p < 0.0001) shown by the earlier DL method. The CC for PA between AI and GT values is 0.89 (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

A novel AI-based strategy was applied to carotid US images for the joint detection of carotid wall thickness (cWT) and plaque area (PA), followed by cIMT and PA measurement. This AI-based strategy shows improved performance using the patch technique compared with previous methods using full carotid scans.

A Novel Characterization and Performance Measurement of Memristor Devices for Synaptic Emulators in Advanced Neuro-Computing

The advanced neuro-computing field requires new memristor devices with great potential as synaptic emulators between pre- and postsynaptic neurons. This paper presents memristor devices with TiO2 Nanoparticles (NPs)/Ag(Silver) and Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Nanoparticles (NPs)/Au(Gold) electrodes for synaptic emulators in an advanced neurocomputing application. A comparative study between Ag(Silver)- and Au(Gold)-based memristor devices is presented where the Ag electrode provides the improved performance, as compared to the Au electrode. Device characterization is observed by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image, which displays the grown electrode, while the morphology of nanoparticles (NPs) is verified by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The resistive switching (RS) phenomena observed in Ag/TiO2 and Au/TiO2 shows the sweeping mechanism for low resistance and high resistance states. The resistive switching time of Au/TiO2 NPs and Ag/TiO2 NPs is calculated, while the theoretical validation of the memory window demonstrates memristor behavior as a synaptic emulator. Measurement of the capacitor-voltage curve shows that the memristor with Ag contact is a good candidate for charge storage as compared to Au. The classification of 3 × 3 pixel black/white image is demonstrated by the 3 × 3 cross bar memristor with pre- and post-neuron system. The proposed memristor devices with the Ag electrode demonstrate the adequate performance compared to the Au electrode, and may present noteworthy advantages in the field of neuromorphic computing.

Improved UV Photodetection by Indium Doped TiO₂ Thin Film Based Photodetector

Indium (In) was doped into TiO2 thin film (TF) using the electron beam evaporation technique followed by an annealing process. The high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) analysis revealed lower angle diffraction peak (2) shifting of Rutile (002) phases of TiO2 from 61.9 to 61.56 for an increased In doped samples. Calculated average grain size from FESEM (field emission scanning electron microscope) gradually decreased from 21.12 nm to 17.03 mm with an increase in In content ranging from 1.45~17.30 at%. HRXRD data revealed that crystallite sizes also reduced from 21.79 nm to 16.93 nm with an increased In doping concentration. Doping of In leads to the formation of inhomogeneous InxTiy O2 alloy that enhances the transition between 3.3-3.42 eV energy levels with variation in doping concentration. The photo-efficiencies for increased doping concentration of In with 3.47 at% and 17.30 at% were enhanced by 2.56 and 2.76 times, respectively, compared to the undoped TiO2 TF detector and both were larger than low doped In with 1.45 at% sample. The ratio of main band detection intensity to oxygen defect level was also increased from 0.22 to 2.22 with the gradual increase in In content.

Effect of Annealing on Optical, Electrical and Charge Trapping Properties of TiO₂ NPs Arrays

Glancing angle deposition technique has been carried out to synthesize TiO₂ nanoparticles over SiO(x) thin film. The samples were annealed at different temperatures 550 °C and 950 °C. The average grain sizes and surface RMS roughness have been increased from 9 nm, 0.62 nm (as deposited); 21 nm, 2.47 nm (550 °C annealed) to 37 nm, 4.2 nm (950 °C annealed). Fivefold maximum increase in optical absorption has been recorded for the 950 °C annealed sample as compared to that of the as grown. The absorption and photoluminescence peaks show the red shift with an increase in annealing temperature and grain sizes. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to investigate phases of nanoparticles. The junction capacitance of the Au/TiO₂ NPs device was observed to decrease with an increase in frequency. A minimum change in junction capacitance of 1 pF was calculated for 950 °C annealed device for the variation of frequency from 500 Hz to 1 MHz. The results are used to simulate the capacitance as a function of frequency and voltage characteristic of TiO₂ NPs based device in different temperature. Simulated results are exceptionally close to experimental results. The TiO₂ NPs based device annealed at 950 °C possessed higher impedance and lower conductance among all three type of devices. The sample annealed at 950 °C showed the maximum capacitance (0.09 pF at 0 V) as well as charge (˜0.6 Coulomb at +8 V) retention compared to that of the 550 °C annealed and as deposited samples.

Improved Photo-Detection Using Zigzag TiO2 Nanostructures as an Active Medium

Zigzag TiO2 nanostructures were fabricated using oblique angle deposition technique. The field emission gun-scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM) image shows that the TiO2 zigzag nanostructures were ~500 nm in length. Averagely two times enhanced UV-Vis absorption was recorded for zigzag structure compared to perpendicular TiO2 nanowires. The main band transition was observed at ~3.4 eV. The zigzag TiO2 exhibited high turn on voltage (+11 V) than that of nanowire (+2 V) detector under dark which were reduced to +0.2 V and +1.0 V under white light illumination, respectively. A maximum ~6 fold photo-responsivity was observed for the zigzag TiO2 compared with nanowire device at + 1.0 V applied potential. The maximum photo-responsivity of 0.36 A/W at 370 nm was measured for the zigzag TiO2 detector. The TiO2 zigzag detector showed slow response with rise time of 10.2 s and fall time of 10.3 s respectively. The UV (370 nm) to visible (450 nm) wavelength rejection ratio of photo-responsivity was recorded ~4 times for the detector.

Factor graph-based biomolecular circuit analysis for designing forward error correcting biosensors

We previously reported the fabrication and the verification of novel biomolecular transistors where electrical conductivity of a ldquopolyaniline nanowiresrdquo channel is controlled by antigen-antibody interactions. In this paper, we present a simulation framework for analyzing the reliability of biosensor circuits constructed by using these biomolecular transistors. At the core of the proposed framework is a library of electrical circuit models that capture the stochastic interaction between biomolecules and their variability to environmental conditions and experimental protocols. Reliability analysis is then performed by exploiting probabilistic dependencies between multiple circuit elements by using a factor graph-based decoding technique. The proposed computational approach facilitates rapid evaluation of forward error correction (FEC) strategies for biosensors without resorting to painstaking and time-consuming experimental procedures. The analysis presented in this paper shows that an asymmetric FEC biosensor code outperforms a repetition FEC biosensor code which has been proposed for microarray technology. In addition, we also show that the proposed analysis leads to a novel ldquoco-detectionrdquo protocol that could be used for reliable detection of trace quantities of pathogens.

A piezo-powered floating-gate sensor array for long-term fatigue monitoring in biomechanical implants

Measurement of the cumulative loading statistics experienced by an implant is essential for prediction of long-term fatigue failure. However, the total power that can be harvested using typical in-vivo strain levels is less than 1 muW. In this paper, we present a novel method for long-term, battery-less fatigue monitoring by integrating piezoelectric transduction with hot-electron injection on a floating-gate transistor array. Measured results from a fabricated prototype in a 0.5-mum CMOS process demonstrate that the array can sense, compute, and store loading statistics for over 70000 stress-strain cycles which can be extended to beyond 107 cycles. The measured response also shows excellent agreement with a theoretical model and the nominal power dissipation of the array has been measured to be less than 800 nW.

Treating congenital hypothyroidism: maximum age limit up to which a socially compatible child is expected

It is has been known that the treatment with thyroxine in hypothyroid children results in normal physical growth, but mental development is less predictable. A comparative study of developmental milestones, anthropometry and intelligence quotient (IQ) in congenital hypothyroid children starting thyroxine therapy before and after 6 months of age was done. Forty-eight congenital hypothyroid children were enrolled. They were given thyroxine and were followed up. In 18 cases who received thyroxine at or before 6 months of age their anthropometric measurements in majority were 50th percentile or above. Their mental age was deficient on an average by 5 months as compared to chronological age and their IQ was above 85. In rest of 30 cases where thyroxine was started after 6 months of age anthropometric measurements in majority were less than 50th percentile. Their mental age was deficient on an average by 14 months with IQ ranging between 50 and 70. Thyroxine therapy before 6 months of age considerably improved mental function so that they are educable. On the contrary those with late thyroxine therapy showed mild to moderate mental retardation and need special care. In developing country like ours if treatment of hypothyroidism can be started even by 6 months of age considerable brain function can be salvaged so that they can attain a self supportive life.