To evaluate the appropriateness of the screening strategy for healthcare personnel (HCP) during a hospital-associated Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, we performed a serologic investigation in 189 rRT-PCR–negative HCP exposed and assigned to MERS patients. Although 20%–25% of HCP experienced MERS-like symptoms, none of them showed seroconversion by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT).

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:234–238

We investigated the pressure dependence of the inductive coupled plasma (ICP) oxidation on the electrical characteristics of the thin oxide films. Activation energies and electron temperatures with different pressures were estimated. To demonstrate the pressure effect on the plasma oxide quality, simple N type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistors were fabricated and investigated in a few electrical properties. At higher pressure than 200mTorr, plasma oxide has a slightly higher on-current and a lower interfacial trap density. The on-current gain seems to be related to the field mobility increase and the lower defective interface to the electron temperature during oxidation.

New curable organic-inorganic hybrid materials with a low internal optical attenuation of <0.35 dB/cm at the telecommunication wavelength and high thermal stability (∼370 °C) were synthesized by a nonhydrolytic reaction using vinyltriiospropenoxysilane (VTIPS) and diphenylsilanediol (DPSD) in which alcohol condensation takes place without hydrolysis of the starting materials. The molecular structure and the reaction mechanism of the synthesized organic-inorganic hybrid materials were investigated. The nonhydrolytic reaction of VTIPS and DPSD represented a high degree of condensation, and the molecules of the organic-inorganic hybrid materials exhibited the structure of an oligosiloxane modified with diphenyl, vinyl, and isopropenoxy. These organic-inorganic hybrid materials cured by polymerization of vinyl and isopropenoxy groups can be promising candidates for optical applications due to their good optical and thermal properties in addition to the availability of soft-lithography.

The thermo-optic coefficient (dn/dT) of inorganic–organic hybrid material films prepared by the sol-gel process of organoalkylsilanes is measured using a prism coupler equipped with a hot stage. The effect of the organic modifier on the variation of dn/dT in inorganic–organic hybrid material films has been investigated. The value of dn/dT becomes more negative with increasing molecular weight of the organic modifier or with an increase in the proportion of modifier in the sample. On the other hand, dn/dT increases with an increase in the degree of organic photopolymerization. From these results, it can be seen that the value of dn/dT in these films can be varied between −0.83 × 10−4/°C to −2.43 × 10−4/°C by changing the organic modifier concentration and type.

The present study was designed to define how dietary fat type regulates body adiposity in dietary obesity-susceptible (DOS) Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats. Eighty-three SD rats received a purified diet containing 50 g maize oil (MO)/kg for 3 weeks and then thirty-nine of the rats, designated as the DOS rats, were allotted to diets containing 160 g MO (DOS-MO), beef tallow (DOS-BT) or fish oil (DOS-FO)/kg for 9 weeks. As a result of the experiment, the DOS-FO rats had significantly (P<0·05) reduced weight gain and abdominal and epididymal fat-pad mass than the DOS-MO and DOS-BT rats. Serum leptin level was also significantly (P<0·05) lower in the DOS-FO rats; however, hypothalamic leptin receptor (a and b) mRNA and neuropeptide Y expressions were not altered by dietary fat sources. A lower acetyl-CoA carboxylase mRNA expression in the liver was observed in the DOS-FO group, whereas hepatic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ mRNA and protein expressions were markedly elevated in the DOS-FO group compared with those in the other groups. We did not observe differences in acetyl-CoA carboxylase and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ expressions in epididymal fat of the DOS rats consuming MO, BT or FO. It is concluded from our present observations that dietary fat type, especially that rich in FO, plays a potential role in down-regulation of adiposity by altering hepatic lipogenic genes, rather than feeding behaviour, in the DOS-SD rats.

Light illumination processing created photoinduced reduction of refractive index as well as volume contraction in an organic-inorganic hybrid material. Whereas both refractive index and film thickness are decreased significantly by the light exposure, transmittance and anti-soiling property of the hybrid film are not affected by the exposure. Direct patterning is possible upon light illumination using the photoinduced change in thickness without any developing process.

RF MEMS(Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System) switch technology is one of powerful solution for future RF systems. This technology provides low insertion loss, High linearity and broad bandwidth. Wide driving membrane used MEMS switch can reduce driving voltage but it is easy to bend because of the stress gradient. In order to solve this problem we fabricated Au cantilever in various sputtering condition and various substrate materials. As a result of this experiment, we fabricated cantilever which was bent within 1 um, with 2 um thickness and 340 um length. We applied this condition to RF MEMS switch and we fabricated switch membrane within 1 um bend, under 10MPa stress gradient.

The effects of anisotropic dielectric properties of ferroelectric Ba1-xSrxTiO3 (BST) films on the characteristics of phase shifter have been studied in microwave regions at room temperature. Ferroelectric BST films with (001) and (011) orientation were epitaxially grown on (001) and (011) MgO substrates, respectively, by pulsed laser deposition method. The structures of BST films were investigated using x-ray diffraction measurement. The microwave properties of orientation engineered BST films were investigated using coplanar waveguide transmission lines that were fabricated on BST films using a thick metal layer by photolithography and etching process. The measured differential phase shift and insertion loss (S21) for (011) BST films are larger than those for (001) BST films. Dielectric constants of the ferroelectric BST films are calculated from the measured S21 using a modified conformal-mapping model.

The ferroelectric (Ba0.6Sr0.4)TiO3 (BST) films were prepared on (001) MgO single crystals by pulsed laser deposition. Coplanar waveguide (CPW) type phase shifters controlled by external dc bias field were fabricated on BST films using a 2 μm thick metal layer to reduce metal loss. Microwave properties of the CPW phase shifter were measured using a HP 8510C vector network analyzer from 0.1 – 20 GHz. The fabricated CPW phase shifters (8 mm long) exhibited differential phase angle of 100 ° at 10 GHz with a dc bias field of less than 80 kV/cm between center and ground conductors. Furthermore, a stable differential phase angle (102 ± 3.5 o) was observed from another CPW while changing the power of incident microwave from -10 to +30 dBm. Gap size dependent dielectric constant of the BST film was observed and a simple correction method was suggested in the paper. These results demonstrate the possible application of ferroelectric tunable devices on a high power tunable wireless telecommunication.