Background: Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a disorder of the elderly with progressive worsening of gait and balance, cognition, and urinary control which requires assessment using criteria recommended by International iNPH guidelines. Methods: Adult Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network (AHCRN) prospective registry data from 5-centers over a 50-month interval included entry criteria; demographics; comorbidities; examination findings using standard AHCRN gait and neuropsychology assessments; shunt procedures, complications of CSF drainage, complications within 30 days of surgery, and 1-year postoperative follow-up. Results: 547 patients were referred for assessment of suspected-iNPH. 123 patients(21.6%) did not meet clinical criteria to proceed with further testing. 424 patients(74.4%;mean age 76.7 ± 6.0 years;males=269) underwent an LP or lumbar drain, and 193(45.6%) underwent insertion of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. By 8-12 months after shunt surgery, gait velocity was 0.96±0.35m/s (54% faster than pre-CSF-drainage). Mean MoCA scores increased from 21.0 ± 5.0(median=22.0) at baseline to 22.6±5.5(median=24) 12-months post-surgery. Gait and cognitive improvements were clinically significant. No deaths occurred. 8% of shunt-surgery patients experienced minor complications. The 30-day reoperation rate was 4.1%. Conclusions: This AHCRN study demonstrated that CSF-drainage testing of patients with suspected-iNPH successfully identified those who could undergo CSF-shunt surgery with a high rate of improvement and a low rate of complications.

Background: Adults with obstructive hydrocephalus often present with cognitive and/or gait dysfunction in addition to symptoms of raised ICP. We previously reported improvement of cognitive and gait function 3 months following primary adult ETV. This abstract presents long-term results in this group. Methods: Obstructive hydrocephalus was identified based on tri-ventriculomegaly on CT and/or MRI. Gait velocity (10 m timed gait) and cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA]) were measured at two timepoints: pre-ETV and ≥9 months post-ETV. Results: Sixteen adults underwent primary ETV and completed a long-term assessment. Mean age was 60 years and 10 (63%) were male. Etiology: 10 (62.5%) congenital and 6 (37.5%) acquired. Mean long-term follow-up time for cognitive and gait assessments was 14.4 and 13.7 months, respectively. The long-term MoCA within patient median change was +2 points (n= 15; p = 0.007). Group medians were 23/30 (pre-ETV) and 26/30 (post-ETV). The long-term gait velocity within patient median change was +0.4 m/s (n= 12; p < 0.001). Group medians were 0.7 m/s (pre-ETV) and 1.3 m/s (post-ETV). Conclusions: ETV in adults with obstructive hydrocephalus results in long-term improvement of cognition and gait velocity when assessed ≥9 months post-ETV. Larger cohorts will determine the generalizability of these results. Hydrocephalus Association supported project.

Background: To describe preliminary results of a multi-center, randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled, pilot trial of shunt surgery in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). Methods: Five sites of the Adult Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network (AHCRN) randomized 18 patients scheduled for ventriculoperitoneal shunting based on CSF-drainage response. Patients were randomized to a Codman® Certas® Plus valve with SiphonGuard at either setting 4 (Active, N=9) or setting 8/”virtual off” (Placebo, N=9). Patients and assessors were blinded to the shunt setting. Outcomes included 10-meter gait velocity, cognitive function, and bladder activity scores. The prespecified primary analysis compared changes in 4-month gait velocity in the Active versus Placebo groups. Placebo-set shunts were then blindly adjusted to the active setting and all patients underwent 8 and 12-month post-surgical assessment. Results: At 4-months, gait velocity increased by 0.28±0.28m/s in the Active Group and 0.04±0.17m/s in the Placebo Group (p=0.071). Overactive Bladder (OAB-q) scores significantly improved in the Active versus Placebo groups (p=0.007). At 8 months, Placebo gait velocity increased by 0.36±0.27m/s and was comparable to the Active Group (0.40±0.20m/s; p=0.56). Conclusions: This AHCRN study shows a trend suggesting gait velocity improves more at an Active shunt setting than a Placebo shunt setting and demonstrates the feasibility of a placebo-controlled trial in iNPH.

The trace of the $n$-framed surgery on a knot in $S^{3}$ is a 4-manifold homotopy equivalent to the 2-sphere. We characterise when a generator of the second homotopy group of such a manifold can be realised by a locally flat embedded $2$-sphere whose complement has abelian fundamental group. Our characterisation is in terms of classical and computable $3$-dimensional knot invariants. For each $n$, this provides conditions that imply a knot is topologically $n$-shake slice, directly analogous to the result of Freedman and Quinn that a knot with trivial Alexander polynomial is topologically slice.

Copper activation was used to characterize high-energy proton beam acceleration from near-critical density plasma targets. An enhancement was observed when decreasing the target density, which is indicative for an increased laser-accelerated hot electron density at the rear target-vacuum boundary. This is due to channel formation and collimation of the hot electrons inside the target. Particle-in-cell simulations support the experimental observations and show the correlation between channel depth and longitudinal electric field strength is directly correlated with the proton acceleration.

Self-modulated wakefield acceleration was investigated at densities down to ~4 × 1018 cm−3 by propagating the 50 TW 300 fs LULI laser in helium gas jets at lengths up to 1 cm. Long interaction lengths were achieved by closer matching of the initial focal spot size to the matched spot size for these densities. Electrons with energies extending to 180 MeV were observed in broad energy spectra which show some evidence for non-Maxwellian features at high energy. Two-dimensional PIC simulations indicate that the intial laser pulse breaks up into small pulselets that are eventually compressed and focused inside the first few plasma periods, leading to a ‘bubble-like’ acceleration of electron bunches.

A 63nm Twin Flash memory cell with a size of 0.0225μm2 per 2 (or 4) bits is presented. To achieve small cell areas, a buried bit line and an aggressive gate length of 100 nm are the key features of this cell together with a minimum thermal budget processing. A novel epitaxial CoSi2 process allows the salicidation of local buried bitlines with only a few tens of nanometer width.

The effect of thin Ti/PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 seed layers on the properties of PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 (PZT) capacitors has been investigated. The seed layer is based on a bi-layer of thin Ti and thin PZT with a total thickness ranging from 10 to 25 nm, which was deposited on Ir/Pt or Ir/IrO2/Pt by sputtering. After crystallization of the seed layers the main 130-nm-thick PZT film was deposited and crystallized. As a result, a highly preferred (111)-orientation of the PZT was obtained on a 10-nm-thick seed layer, where the peak intensity ratios of (111)/{100} and (111)/{110} are about 100 and 20, respectively. The 10-nm-thick seed forms a pyrochlore phase with a very smooth surface, where the formation of the pyrochlore phase is attributed to Pb diffusion, resulting in a Pb deficient stoichiometry. The seed layer transformed to the perovskite phase during the main PZT crystallization. It is shown that an IrO2 layer beneath the Pt can prevent Pt layer degradation related to the volume expansion due to the oxidation of Ir during the main PZT crystallization. Capacitors with the 10-nm-thick seed layer fabricated on the Ir/Pt and Ir/IrO2/Pt substrates showed typical 2 Pr values of 44.0 μC/cm2 and 41.2 μC/cm2, respectively. The voltage found for 90%-polarization saturation is about 3.0 V, and the capacitors are fatigue-free at least up to 1010 switching cycles.

Biomaterials used in some bioreactors are porous and exposed to normal and tangential flow of physiological fluid. Flow-induced forces may influence the morphological and biochemical responses of cells adhering to these materials. The objective of this work is to examine the capacity of mechanical stress to cause changes in cell morphology via the cAMP pathway (cyclic adenosine monophosphate). This second messenger is known to modulate cell morphology in static conditions. In classical flow devices, cells are submitted to only tangential stresses. We designed a new flow system, a Hele-Shaw cell with a porous bottom wall, in order to take into account the influence of a transmural pressure. This flow chamber allows to follow up continuously the shape changes of cells that are adherent to a porous biomaterial (polyacrylonitrile) and are exposed to controlled levels of shear stress or transmural pressure. Mouse Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts exposed to a 1.1-Pa shear stress, as well as those exposed to a 84-mm Hg transmural pressure, round up (up to 50%) in a few minutes. If the cAMP pathway is inhibited when a mechanical stress is applied, cell rounding is significantly prevented. These observations suggest that flow-induced cell shape changes are cAMP-dependent. This conclusion is supported by an increased cAMP accumulation measured in cells under mechanical stress when compared to static experiments. Our in vitro flow system is thus useful to study the influence of transmural pressure or shear stress on the early morphological and biochemical responses of cells in contact with a biomaterial.

For high density FeRAM devices small cell sizes are essential. The combination of the capacitor on plug (COP) structure with the Chain FeRAM™ cell design is used to develop a 32Mb FeRAM. Based on a 0.2 μm standard CMOS process a silicide capped polysilicon plug is used to contact the bottom electrode of the ferroelectric capacitor to the transistor. The barrier contact to the plug is formed by IrO2/Ir and a sputter deposited PZT (40/60) is used as ferroelectric material. The function of SrRuO3 (SRO) layers at the electrode/PZT interfaces is described in more detail. Double sided SRO results in slightly lower coercive voltage and imprint behavior compared to capacitors without SRO. Double sided SRO is essential to achieve excellent fatigue behavior measured up to 1×1011 switching cycles.

The imprint behavior of CSD processed SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) thin films has been investigated as a function of time, applied bias, illumination with band gap light and post anneal under different oxygen partial pressures. Applying a bias in the direction of the polarization enhances the tendency of the capacitor to exhibit a voltage shift as well as illuminating the poled capacitor with band gap light. Post anneal after top electrode deposition and patterning under slightly reducing atmospheres does not affect the imprint rate. From these experimental results, a model is presented which explains the imprint behavior of SBT films by transport of electronic charges from the electrodes into the film and subsequent trapping of these charges near the interface.

Ferroelectric Bi2 SrTa2 O9 thin films were successfully prepared by liquid delivery MOCVD, and structural and electrical properties were investigated. As-deposited films showed sharp distinct peaks, which were indexed assuming a fluorite-type structure. These precursors were transformed to bismuth-layered structures by annealing at 800 °C in flowing oxygen. Reasonable ferroelectric properties were observed in a film with 170 nm-thickness. Remanent polarization and coercive field were estimated to be 5.2 μC/cm2 and 52 kV/cm, respectively, at 5V.

By liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) we have grown silicon layers on silicon and partially masked silicon at temperatures below 450 °C from Ga and Ga-In solutions. Oxidation of the cleaned silicon substrate surfaces before epitaxial growth has been prevented by a buffered hydrofluoric acid treatment. The epitaxial layers reached a thickness of 7 jim and were free of extended defects.

Low growth temperatures make it possible to grow silicon layers also on pre-treated glass substrates. The amorphous glass is first coated with a thin nano-crystalline silicon layer which is deposited by plasma processes from a mixture of SiH4/H2 gas. The grains in the silicon layers grown from Ga solution on glass have reached sizes up to 100 μm.

Defect-free coalescence of Si layers which grow laterally over partially oxidized Si substrates is achieved in liquid phase epitaxy from indium solution. An adequate design of the oxide pattern on (111) substrates ascertains that the growth fronts of the Si layers merge gradually on the SiO2 and avoids the formation of inclusions or crystallographic defects. Electron Microscopy in diffraction contrast and convergent beam electron diffraction reveal that the epitaxial Si layers bend towards the substrate as they grow laterally over the SiO2 film. The layers straighten out again as they merge and form a perfect seam of coalescence.

Silicon lamellae grown laterally over silicon dioxide by liquid phase epitaxy are investigated using X-ray double crystal topography. The lamellae are grown from Indium solution. All of the lamellae show growth striations with indium concentration differences of about 1016...4x1017 cm−3 Overgrowth widths up to 320μm are obtained on sides of the seeding window by growth under conditions of low supersaturation. Facetting of the lamella edges then becomes less pronounced and, therefore,striations are detected farther away from the windows.

About 60% of the lamellae are free of crystallographic defects. In the defective lamellae single dislocations parallel to the sample surface are detected. They extend between seeding window edges and re—entrant corners at the lamella edges. Dislocations probably form during the cooling process due to strains near the edges of the seeding windows, and as a result of indium incorporation in high concentration.

Stress corrosion phenomena, i.e. significant effects of mechanical stresses on the corrosion resistance of materials, have been reported for a large variety of materials, including metals, oxides and halides. Recently it has been shown [1,2] that cementitious materials are also sensitive to stress corrosion. The time dependent decrease in the flexural strength of chemically stressed concrete and mortar depends significantly on the mechanical stress acting simultaneously with the chemical attack.

For cementitious materials a comprehensive study of the stress corrosion phenomena has been started. In this paper the latest results from the current research program are presented and the interrelations between the microstructure of hardened cement mortar and the strength reduction caused by stress corrosion, are briefly discussed.

Practitioners of wavelength-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy are always seeking better dispersing devices. The wavelength-dispersive instrument is called a “crystal spectrometer” because natural or synthetically-grown crystals are most often used. Occasionally, other “manufactured” dispersers are suggested for specific applications: highly oriented polycrystalline graphite provides much higher intensities than the crystals usually used for the K-lines of P, S and Cl; Langmuir-Blodgett films (heavy metal salts of fatty acids) provide 2d-spacings over the range of 70 to 130 A, making soft x-ray spectroscopy practical in a wavelength range for which natural crystals are not available.