To Assess and Compare the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Patients with Diabetes in Control and Intervention Groups.

Diabetes is a combination of heterogeneous disorders presenting with episodes of hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance, as a result of lack of insulin, defective insulin action, or both. There are more than 387 million people with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and the number is likely to reach 592 million by 2035. The prevalence of DM is 9.

Blunt head impact causes a temperature rise in the brain.

A magnetic resonance imaging-based finite-element model is employed to assess the temperature in the human brain due to blunt head trauma. The model is based on a coupled thermoelasticity under small strain and Fourier or Maxwell-Cattaneo heat conduction assumptions, accompanied by a standard coupling of thermal fields to mechanics. It is found that mechanical impacts on the forehead cause a temperature rise of up to 0.

On-chip scalable highly pure and indistinguishable single-photon sources in ordered arrays: Path to quantum optical circuits.

Realization of quantum optical circuits is at the heart of quantum photonic information processing. A long-standing obstacle, however, has been the absence of a suitable platform of single photon sources (SPSs). Such SPSs need to be in spatially ordered arrays and produce, on-demand, highly pure, and indistinguishable single photons with sufficiently uniform emission characteristics to enable controlled interference between photons from distinct sources underpinning functional quantum optical networks.

Heat conduction in porcine muscle and blood: experiments and time-fractional telegraph equation model.

This paper presents experimental evidence for the damped-hyperbolic nature of transient heat conduction in porcine muscle tissue and blood. An examination of integer order and Maxwell-Cattaneo heat conduction models indicates that the latter, in effect resulting in a time-fractional telegraph (TFT) equation, provides the best fit to transient heat phenomena in such materials. The numerical method is verified on Dirichlet and Neumann initial boundary value problems using existing analytical results.

Finite Element Methods in Human Head Impact Simulations: A Review.

Head impacts leading to traumatic brain injury (TBI) present a major health risk today, projected to become the third leading cause of death by 2020. While finite element (FE) models of the human brain are important tools to understand and mitigate TBI, many unresolved issues remain that need to be addressed to improve these models. This work aims to provide readers with background information regarding the current state of research in this field as well as to present recent advancements made possible by improvements to computational resources.

Effect of cerebrospinal fluid modeling on spherically convergent shear waves during blunt head trauma.

The MRI-based computational model, previously validated by tagged MRI and harmonic phase imaging analysis technique on in vivo human brain deformation, is used to study transient wave dynamics during blunt head trauma. Three different constitutive models are used for the cerebrospinal fluid: incompressible solid elastic, viscoelastic, and fluid-like elastic using an equation of state model. Three impact cases are simulated, which indicate that the blunt impacts give rise not only to a fast pressure wave but also to a slow, and potentially much more damaging, shear (distortional) wave that converges spherically towards the brain center.

Triggered single photon emission up to 77K from ordered array of surface curvature-directed mesa-top GaAs/InGaAs single quantum dots.

We demonstrate triggered single photon emission up to 77K from an ordered 5x8 array of InGaAs single quantum dots (SQDs). The SQDs are grown selectively on patterned mesa tops utilizing substrate-encoded size-reducing epitaxy (SESRE). It exploits designed surface-curvature stress gradients to preferentially direct atom migration from mesa sidewalls to the top during growth.

Colloidal Particles that Rapidly Change Shape via Elastic Instabilities.

The fabrication and properties of pH-responsive colloidal particles are reported, which change shape rapidly (less than 200 ms), nearly independent of the diffusion of the pH altering species that trigger their actuation, and far more rapid than their Brownian motion. These particles are mechanically bistable, as revealed by their hysteretic shape response. Finite element analysis (FEA) shows that mechanical hysteresis and bistability derives from the colloids' spherical curvature.

Inducing repetitive action potential firing in neurons via synthesized photoresponsive nanoscale cellular prostheses.

Unlabelled: Recently we reported an analysis that examined the potential of synthesized photovoltaic functional abiotic nanosystems (PVFANs) to modulate membrane potential and activate action potential firing in neurons. Here we extend the analysis to delineate the requirements on the electronic energy levels and the attendant photophysical properties of the PVFANs to induce repetitive action potential under continuous light, a capability essential for the proposed potential application of PVFANs as retinal cellular prostheses to compensate for loss of photoreceptors. We find that repetitive action potential firing demands two basic characteristics in the electronic response of the PVFANs: an exponential dependence of the PVFAN excited state decay rate on the membrane potential and a three-state system such that, following photon absorption, the electron decay from the excited state to the ground state is via intermediate state(s) whose lifetime is comparable to the refractory time following an action potential.

A high quantum efficiency preserving approach to ligand exchange on lead sulfide quantum dots and interdot resonant energy transfer.

We present a new approach to ligand exchange on lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots (QDs) in which the QDs are reacted with preformed Pb cation-ligand exchange units designed to promote reactions that replace surface Pb and oleate groups on the as-grown QDs. This process introduces negligible surface defects as the high quantum efficiency (∼55%) of the as-grown QDs is maintained. Infrared spectroscopy and electron microscopy are used to confirm the replacement of ligands and time-resolved photoluminescence to demonstrate the expected inverse sixth power dependence of the nonradiative resonant energy transfer rate on inter-QD spacing.

Real-Time dynamics of Ca2+, caspase-3/7, and morphological changes in retinal ganglion cell apoptosis under elevated pressure.

Quantitative information on the dynamics of multiple molecular processes in individual live cells under controlled stress is central to the understanding of the cell behavior of interest and the establishment of reliable models. Here, the dynamics of the apoptosis regulator intracellular Ca(2+), apoptosis effector caspase-3/7, and morphological changes, as well as temporal correlation between them at the single cell level, are examined in retinal gangling cell line (differentiated RGC-5 cells) undergoing apoptosis at elevated hydrostatic pressure using a custom-designed imaging platform that allows long-term real-time simultaneous imaging of morphological and molecular-level physiological changes in large numbers of live cells (beyond the field-of-view of typical microscopy) under controlled hydrostatic pressure. This examination revealed intracellular Ca(2+) elevation with transient single or multiple peaks of less than 0.

Cellular prostheses: functional abiotic nanosystems to probe, manipulate, and endow function in live cells.

Unlabelled: A class of nanoscale (approximately 1-10 nm) structures designed to probe, manipulate, or endow function by direct interfacing with live cells is considered. Such a concept of cellular-level prostheses is illustrated via the example of light-activated nanoscale photodiodes capable of creating local electric fields that modulate existing voltage-gated ion channels in excitable cells. The dynamics of the membrane potential modulation by such photovoltaic functional abiotic nanosystems (PV-FANs) is modeled through an appropriate equivalent circuit.

Photocurrent induced by nonradiative energy transfer from nanocrystal quantum dots to adjacent silicon nanowire conducting channels: toward a new solar cell paradigm.

We report the observation of photocurrent in silicon nanowires induced by nonradiative resonant energy transfer (NRET) from adjacent layers of lead sulfide nanocrystal quantum dots using time-resolved photocurrent measurements. This demonstration supports the feasibility of a new solar cell paradigm (Lu, S.; Madhukar, A.

Removal of Pb(II) ions from aqueous solution by adsorption using bael leaves (Aegle marmelos).

Biosorption of Pb(II) on bael leaves (Aegle marmelos) was investigated for the removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution using different doses of adsorbent, initial pH, and contact time. The maximum Pb loading capacity of the bael leaves was 104 mg g(-1) at 50 mg L(-1) initial Pb(II) concentration at pH 5.1.

Nonradiative resonant excitation transfer from nanocrystal quantum dots to adjacent quantum channels.

Evidence is provided for nonradiative resonant energy transfer (NRET) from excitons in nanocrystal quantum dots (NCQDs) to the confined states of an adjacent quantum well (QW) at low excitation power and rate competitive with the quantum dot radiative decay. This indicates that NRET in optimized NCQD-QW/nanowire systems may provide a solar energy conversion approach with a viable tradeoff with the bottlenecks of charge carrier generation and/or transport to/in electrodes faced by excitonic solar cells.

Receptor-ligand-based specific cell adhesion on solid surfaces: hippocampal neuronal cells on bilinker functionalized glass.

Cell adhesion through binding between specific cell membrane receptors and corresponding cell-adhesion-molecule (CAM)-coated solid surfaces is examined. The morphology of surfaces at various modification steps leading to functionalization with cell-binding CAMs is characterized. In one week neuron cultures, enhanced growth on surfaces modified with neuron-binding versus astrocyte-binding CAMs is observed.

Calculation of vertical correlation probability in Ge/Si(001) shallow island quantum dot multilayer systems.

We investigate the behavior of the island vertical pairing probability in multilayer systems of Ge island quantum dots (QDs) in Si(001). By combining a simple kinetic rate model with our previously reported atomistic simulation results on the nature of the stress field from buried shallow Ge islands having {105}-oriented sidewalls, we derive an analytical expression for correlation probability as a function of the parameters characterizing the multi-QD systems. The approach is based upon continuum mechanochemical potential model, which allows one to introduce necessary elements of the kinetics of island formation in a simple way.

Semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots on single crystal semiconductor substrates: high resolution transmission electron microscopy.

We report on high-resolution transmission electron microscope structural studies of InAs colloidal semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots (NCQDs) on ultrathin GaAs (001) semiconductor single-crystal substrates. We employ a benign method for preparing electron transparent specimens that is suitable for the study of such fragile samples. The image contrast comprises contributions from electron scattering from both the NCs and the GaAs substrate.

Integrated semiconductor nanocrystal and epitaxical nanostructure systems: structural and optical behavior.

Integration of semiconductor epitaxical nanostructures and nanocrystals into two classes of quantum structures, uncovered adsorbed nanocrystals or buried via epitaxical overgrowth, is successfully demonstrated through structural and optical studies. The combination InGaAs/GaAs epitaxical structures and InAs nanocrystals is employed as a vehicle with the functional aim of exploiting the well developed optoelectronic communication technology based on the former with the biochemical and biomedical applications for which the latter are well suited.

Simulations of atomic level stresses in systems of buried Ge /Si islands.

Stress distribution in laterally ordered arrays of coherent Ge islands on Si(001) buried in Si cap layers is examined using atomistic simulations. The obtained hydrostatic stress dependence on the spacer layer thickness shows a nearly linear inverse dependence, unlike the commonly used inverse cubic dependence derived in the framework of an isolated embedded force dipole source model. Additionally, the hydrostatic stress on the spacer surface is found to scale more closely with the area of the island rather than its volume as implicit in the use of the force dipole model.

Dislocation emission at the Silicon/Silicon nitride interface: A million atom molecular dynamics simulation on parallel computers.

Mechanical behavior of the Si(111)/Si(3)N4(0001) interface is studied using million atom molecular dynamics simulations. At a critical value of applied strain parallel to the interface, a crack forms on the silicon nitride surface and moves toward the interface. The crack does not propagate into the silicon substrate; instead, dislocations are emitted when the crack reaches the interface.

Stress domains in Si(111)/a-Si3N4 nanopixel: ten-million-atom molecular dynamics simulations on parallel computers.

Parallel molecular dynamics simulations are performed to determine atomic-level stresses in Si(111)/Si(3)N4(0001) and Si(111)/a-Si3N4 nanopixels. Compared to the crystalline case, the stresses in amorphous Si3N4 are highly inhomogeneous in the plane of the interface. In silicon below the interface, for a 25 nm square mesa stress domains with triangular symmetry are observed, whereas for a rectangular, 54 nmx33 nm, mesa tensile stress domains ( approximately 300 A) are separated by Y-shaped compressive domain wall.

Manipulation of gold nanoparticles in liquid environments using scanning force microscopy.

Precise and controlled manipulation of individual gold nanoparticles (deposited on a Si/SiO2 surface) in liquid environments using the tip of a scanning force microscope is reported for the first time. Experiments were performed in deionized water and in ethanol as a prototype for an organic solvent. Analysis of the amplitude signal of the cantilever before and during manipulation reveals that the particles are pushed across the surface, similar to the manipulation of nanoparticles in air.