Nanotechnology is an exciting field of investigation for the development of new treatments for many human diseases. However, it is necessary to assess the biocompatibility of nanoparticles in vitro and in vivo before considering clinical applications. Our characterization of polyol-produced maghemite γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles showed high structural quality. The particles showed a homogeneous spherical size around 10 nm and could form aggregates depending on the dispersion conditions. Such nanoparticles were efficiently taken up in vitro by human endothelial cells, which represent the first biological barrier to nanoparticles in vivo. However, γ-Fe 2 O 3 can cause cell death within 24 hours of exposure, most likely through oxidative stress. Further in vivo exploration suggests that although γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles are rapidly cleared through the urine, they can lead to toxicity in the liver, kidneys and lungs, while the brain and heart remain unaffected. In conclusion, γ-Fe 2 O 3 could exhibit harmful properties and therefore surface coating, cellular targeting, and local exposure should be considered before developing clinical applications.

No abstract

We simulated plasma etch induced gate charging by using a Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) stress, and compared the resulting degradation with end-of-line (EOL) antenna transistors on a triple-layer metal CMOS technology. Our studies show good agreement between the effects of F-N current stress and plasma processing induced device deterioration very well. This is also the first known work to explain the effects of inprocess plasma charging on pchannel hot-electron reliability.

We describe an approach to automate certain high-level implementation decisions in a pervasive application, allowing them to be postponed until run time. Our system enables a model in which an application programmer can specify the behavior of an adaptive application as a set of open-ended decision points. We formalize decision points as Goals, each of which may be satisfied by a set of scripts called Techniques. The set of Techniques vying to satisfy any Goal is additive and may be extended at runtime without needing to modify or remove any existing Techniques. Our system provides a framework in which Techniques may compete and interoperate at runtime in order to maintain an adaptive application. Technique development may be distributed and incremental, providing a path for the decentralized evolution of applications. Benchmarks show that our system imposes reasonable overhead during application startup and adaptation.

No abstract