Logical interdependencies in infrastructure: What are they, how to identify them, and what do they mean for infrastructure risk analysis?

A useful theoretical lens that has emerged for understanding urban resilience is the four basic types of interdependencies in critical infrastructures: the physical, geographic, cyber, and logical types. This paper is motivated by a conceptual and methodological limitation-although logical interdependencies (where two infrastructures affect the state of each other via human decisions) are regarded as one of the basic types of interdependencies, the question of how to apply the notion and how to quantify logical relations remains under-explored. To overcome this limitation, this study focuses on institutions (rules), for example, rules and planned tasks guiding human interactions with one another and infrastructure. Such rule-mediated interactions, when linguistically expressed, have a syntactic form that can be translated into a network form. We provide a foundation to delineate these two forms to detect logical interdependence. Specifically, we propose an approach to quantify logical interdependence based on the idea that (1) there are certain network motifs indicating logical relations, (2) such network motifs can be discerned from the network form of rules, and that (3) the higher the frequency of these motifs between two infrastructures, the greater the extent of logical interdependency. We develop a set of such motifs and illustrate their usage using an example. We conclude by suggesting a revision to the original definition of logical interdependence. This rule-focused approach is relevant to understanding human error in risk analysis of socio-technical systems, as human error can be seen as deviations from constraints that lead to accidents.

High-quality nuclei isolation from postmortem human heart muscle tissues for single-cell studies.

Single-cell approaches have become an increasingly popular way of understanding the genetic factors behind disease. Isolation of DNA and RNA from human tissues is necessary to analyze multi-omic data sets, providing information on the single-cell genome, transcriptome, and epigenome. Here, we isolated high-quality single-nuclei from postmortem human heart tissues for DNA and RNA analysis. Postmortem human tissues were obtained from 106 individuals, 33 with a history of myocardial disease, diabetes, or smoking, and 73 controls without heart disease. We demonstrated that the Qiagen EZ1 instrument and kit consistently isolated genomic DNA of high yield, which can be used for checking DNA quality before conducting single-cell experiments. Here, we provide a method for single-nuclei isolation from cardiac tissue, otherwise known as the SoNIC method, which allows for the isolation of single cardiomyocyte nuclei from postmortem tissue by nuclear ploidy status. We also provide a detailed quality control measure for single-nuclei whole genome amplification and a pre-amplification method for confirming genomic integrity.

Fragility of the provision of local public goods to private and collective risks.

Smallholder agricultural systems, strongly dependent on water resources and investments in shared infrastructure, make a significant contribution to food security in developing countries. These communities are being increasingly integrated into the global economy and are exposed to new global climate-related risks that may affect their willingness to cooperate in community-level collective action problems. We performed field experiments on public goods with private and collective risks in 118 small-scale rice-producing communities in four countries. Our results indicate that increasing the integration of those communities with the broader economic system is associated with lower investments in public goods when facing collective risks. These findings indicate that local public good provision may be negatively affected by collective risks, especially in communities more integrated with the market economy.

Detection of Amyloid ß Using a Poly-L-Lysine Mediated Nanobiosensor.

Amyloid ß (Aß) peptide is secreted from the outside of neural cell by a neural signal pathway and it accumulated each other results in the highly toxicity amyloid plaque which is a critical causative factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The peptide is considered to be a potential biomarker to diagnose AD. Here we introduce a novel poly-L-lysine (PLL) mediated nanobiosensor to detect Aß in vitro. The PLL molecules were utilized as a signal amplifier of Aß detection. The indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method and the sandwich ELISA method have tried to the detection of Aß. A commercially available ELISA plate was modified by PLL using a chemical agent and the amplified amino groups were activated by a functional group for the binding of Aß. The bound Aß was further modified with a primary antibody and fluorescence molecules conjugated secondary antibody by the traditional immunochemistry. In the result, the fluorescence intensity was increased by the increasing concentration of Aß, and the best Aß detection results were obtained in the PLL mediated indirect ELISA nanobiosensor. We expected that the present method would be optimized and applied for the detection of Aß in human fluid.

Development of Chemically Signal Amplified Nano-Biosensor Mediated by Poly-L-Lysine.

Amyloid ß (Aß) is considered to be one of a potential biomarker to monitor Alzheimer's Disease (AD) not only for diagnostic purposes but for early detection. Here we describe a novel nano-biosensor for Aß mediated by poly-L-lysine (PLL) which was used for the amplification of detection signal for Aß. The indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was modified using PLL for the amplification of the Aß detection signal. A commercially available ELISA plate was modified by PLL using chemical agent and the amplified amino groups were activated by a chemical agent for the detection of Aß. The detection was carried out by the traditional immunochemistry using primary antibody and fluorescence molecules conjugated secondary antibody. In the result, the fluorescence intensity was increased by the increasing treated Aß amount, and the sensitivity was approximately 2 times higher in the concentration of 2 ng/mL Aß treatment, and approximately 4 times higher in the concentration of 200 ng/mL Aß treatment compare with that of indirect ELISA detection method. We suggest our novel signal amplification method for the Aß early detection.

Fast switching, high contrast and high resolution liquid crystal device for virtual reality display.

Virtual reality-head mounted displays require a display with high resolution over 2000 ppi, super-fast response time and high contrast ratio for realizing super image quality at near-eyes. Several liquid crystal devices utilizing fringe-field switching (FFS) mode, having response times less than of half of conventional FFS mode, were proposed for this purpose. However, its contrast ratio is still less than 2000:1 because of intrinsic electro-optic characteristics of homogenous alignment mode and also realizing high resolution like 2000 ppi has some difficulty because twist deformation of liquid crystals can easily affect liquid crystal orientation near pixels. In this paper, we propose a vertically aligned liquid crystal device in which bend deformation occurs in a confined area by an oblique electric field, exhibiting 4 times faster decay response time than that of conventional FFS mode, higher contrast ratio over 5000:1, and pixel pitch less than 4 µm. The proposed liquid crystal device has a strong potential to be the main display for high-resolution virtual reality over 2000 ppi.

Detection of Actin Filament and Cofilin Interaction Change by Actin Filament Curvature Decreasing.

Actin filament senses mechanical forces and it is transduced into biochemical signals during many cellular processes. In the disassembling process of actin filaments, cofilin plays a central role as the actin filament depolymerization. In this study, we evaluated a quantitative analysis of the actin filament-cofilin interaction change dependent upon the actin filament curvature decrease using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and a fabricated wave-like substrate. A wave-like substrate was fabricated by a maskless photo-lithography of a spin coated film on a glass substrate, and graphene oxide sheet was used for the decreasing of non-specific interaction between protein and the substrate. By single-molecule force spectroscopy, we determined rupture force of actin filament-cofilin binding on the wave-like substrate and a flat substrate. The rupture force of actin filament-cofilin binding at the curvature of -1.35 µm-1 showed a value approximately 4 times higher than the rupture force at the curvature of -0.15 µm-1. The present study will provide the possibility and quantitative evidence that mechanical stress on cytoskeletal filaments can modulate how they interact with their binding proteins.

Probing Amyloid ß and the Antibody Interaction Using Atomic Force Microscopy.

Amyloid ß (Aß) peptide is considered to be the critical causative factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) because the hydrophilic molecules accumulated outside of the neural cells and results in the formation of highly toxicity amyloid plaque. In this study, we probed the interaction between Aß and the antibody using atomic force microscopy (AFM). We compared two kinds of antibodies which are the antibody for Aß 1-42 (antibody42) and the antibody for Aß 1-16 (antibody16). To detect the interaction between Aß and the antibodies, the single molecular force spectroscopy was carried out using Aß modified glass substrate and the antibodies modified AFM probes. In the results, the single Aß-antibody42 dissociation constant was estimated to be 5.2 × 10-3 s-1 and the single Aß-antibody16 dissociation constant was 2.8×10-2 s-1. The Aß-antibody42 showed 5.3 times longer bond life time compare with Aß-antibody16. It suggested that antibody42 is better choice for the Aß sensor development.

A 12-Gb/s Stacked Dual-Channel Interface for CMOS Image Sensor Systems.

We propose a dual-channel interface architecture that allocates high and low transition-density bit streams to two separate channels. The transmitter utilizes the stacked drivers with charge-recycling to reduce the power consumption. The direct current (DC)-coupled receiver front-end circuits manage the common-mode level variations and compensate for the channel loss. The tracked oversampling clock and data recovery (CDR), which realizes fast lock acquisition below 1 baud period and low logic latency, is shared by the two channels. Fabricated in a 65-nm low-power complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the dual-channel transceiver achieves 12-Gb/s data rate while the transmitter consumes 20.43 mW from a 1.2-V power supply.

Hybrid Structure White Organic Light Emitting Diode for Enhanced Efficiency by Varied Doping Rate.

Novel materials based on Zn(HPB)2 and Ir-complexes were synthesized as blue or red emitters, respectively. White organic light emitting diodes were fabricated using the Zn(HPB)2 as a blue emitting layer, Ir-complexes as a red emitting layer and Alq3 as a green emitting layer. The obtained experimental results, were based on white OLEDs fabricated using double emission layers of Zn(HPB)2 and Alq3:Ir-complexes. The doping rate of the Ir-complexes was varied at 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1.0%. When the doping rate of the Alq3:Ir-complexes was 0.6%, a white emission was achieved. The Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage coordinates of the device's white emission were (0.316, 0.331) at an applied voltage of 10.75 V.

Electrical characterization of organic monolayers at a nanoscale.

This study investigates the electrical properties of viologen derivatives at a nanoscale and analyzes it using a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) in order to apply viologen molecules that represent a function in electron transfer mediators as a molecular electronic device. In addition, we measure conformational changes in the viologen molecular protrusions using STM and investigate changes in the width and height of the alkyl group that are due to the change in the polarity of viologen molecules by electron charges. In this experiment, high peak current is observed, such as a rectification at +1.14 V. Thus, according to the results of this experiment the rectification ratio [RR = J (at +2.5 V)/J (at -2.5 V)] of the viologen is found by 4.47 (HSC8VC8SH). Similar results are also obtained in some other cases of viologen derivatives.

White organic light-emitting diodes with Zn-complexes.

This paper reviews OLEDs fabricated using Zn-complexes. Zn(HPB)2, Zn(HPB)q, and Zn(phen)q were synthesized as new electroluminescence materials. The electron affinity (EA) and ionization potential (IP) of Zn complexes were also determined and devices were characterized. Zn complexes such as Zn(HPB)2, Zn(HPB)q, and Zn(phen)q were found to exhibit blue and yellow emissions with wavelengths of 455, 532, and 535 nm, respectively. On the other hand, Zn(HPB)2 and Zn(HPB)q were applied as hole-blocking materials. As a result, the OLED efficiency by using Zn(HPB)2 as a hole-blocking material was improved. In particular, the OLED property of Zn(HPB)2 was found to be better than that of Zn(HPB)q. Moreover, Zn(phen)q was used as an electron-transporting material and compared with Alq3. The performance of the device with Zn(phen)q as an electron-transporting material was improved compared with Alq3-based devices. The Zn complexes can possibly be used as hole-blocking and electron-transporting materials in OLED devices. A white emission was ultimately realized from the OLED devices using Zn-complexes as inter-layer components.

Synthesis and electroluminescent properties of a novel electroluminescence material of bis-2-(4-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)benzo[d]oxazole (DPB).

A new light-emissive material, bis-2-(4-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)benzo[d]oxazole (DPB), has been synthesized and characterized by FT-NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis and elemental analysis. DPB has the band gap of 4.3 eV between HOMO and LUMO levels. The photoluminescence (PL) of DPB was measured at 410 nm from the chloroform solution. The electroluminescent (EL) devices with structures of ITO/NPB/DPB/LiF/Al and ITO/NPB/DPB/Alq3/LiF/Al were constructed and showed maximum emission at 540 nm. The device using DPB as emitting material showed the luminance of 1000 cd/m2 at 11 V. The CIE chromaticity of the device showed near the region of white color emission.

High-Quality Nuclei Isolation from Postmortem Human Heart Muscle Tissues for Single-Cell Studies.

Single-cell approaches have become an increasingly popular way of understanding the genetic factors behind disease. Isolation of DNA and RNA from human tissues is necessary to analyze multi-omic data sets, providing information on the single-cell genome, transcriptome, and epigenome. Here, we isolated high-quality single-nuclei from postmortem human heart tissues for DNA and RNA analysis. Postmortem human tissues were obtained from 106 individuals, 33 with a history of myocardial disease, diabetes, or smoking, and 73 controls without heart disease. We demonstrated that the Qiagen EZ1 instrument and kit consistently isolated genomic DNA of high yield, which can be used for checking DNA quality before conducting single-cell experiments. Here, we provide a method for single-nuclei isolation from cardiac tissue, otherwise known as the SoNIC method, which allows for the isolation of single cardiomyocyte nuclei from postmortem tissue by nuclear ploidy status. We also provide a detailed quality control measure for single-nuclei whole genome amplification and a pre-amplification method for confirming genomic integrity.

Joint effects of voluntary participation and group selection on the evolution of altruistic punishment.

It is puzzling how altruistic punishment of defectors can evolve in large groups of nonrelatives, since punishers should voluntarily bear individual costs of punishing to benefit those who do not pay the costs. Although two distinct mechanisms have been proposed to explain the puzzle, namely voluntary participation and group-level competition and selection, insights into their joint effects have been less clear. Here we investigated what could be combined effects of these two mechanisms on the evolution of altruistic punishment and how these effects can vary with nonparticipants' individual payoff and group size. We modelled altruistic punishers as those who contribute to a public good and impose a fine on each defector, i.e., they are neither pure punishers nor excluders. Our simulation results show that voluntary participation has negative effects on the evolution of cooperation in small groups regardless of nonparticipants' payoffs, while in large groups it has positive effects within only a limited range of nonparticipants' payoff. We discuss that such asymmetric effects could be explained by evolutionary forces emerging from voluntary participation. Lastly, we suggest that insights from social science disciplines studying the exit option could enrich voluntary participation models.

Photolysis properties of merocyanine dye LB films by various time of UV irradiation.

We fabricated the merocyanine dye LB films with arachidic acid (MD LB films). We compared absorption peak of before and after added Cd2+. The optical absorption peak of the MD LB films was shifted to 610 nm at 535 nm, when Cd2+ ions were added. We also investigated the optical absorption peak of the LB films by various time at 365 nm UV. We confirmed J-aggregation and photolysis properties. This is that studied the application possibility of the switching device and the nonvolatile memory.

Optical and electrical properties of merocyanine dye LB films by various time of UV irradiation and heat treatment.

The Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique provides many possibilities for the control of film thickness, dimensions, and molecular structures on the nanometer scale. Various kinds of dye molecules have been found to form the J-aggregation which has been used as sensitizers of silver halide photography for long time. In recent years, they attract attention as model systems for investigating the ultra-fast exciton dynamics, materials for ultra-fast nonlinear optical devices, fluorescence probes for mitochondrial membranes. We fabricated the merocyanine dye LB films with arachidic acid (AA). In order to observe the J-aggregation of the merocyanine dye LB films, CdCl2 and KHCO3 solutions were added in subphase. From the optical absorption spectra of the mixed dye LB films (6Me-Ds:AA = 1:2) at different layers, the optical absorption peak was about 520 nm. However, the optical absorption peak of the LB films was shifted to 600 nm, when CdCl2 and KHCO3 solutions were added. This is the consequence result to the J-aggregation of the merocyanine dye. We also investigated the optical absorption peak of the LB films according to various time at 60 degrees C and 275 nm UV. We measured the STM morphology of the merocyanine dye LB film (1 layer) before UV irradiation and heat treatment. The morphology size of the LB film on HOPG was 5 nm. The roughness and molecular size were about 66.163 pm and 0.176 nm, respectively. The J-aggregation of this type was also accompanied by large morphological changes. We analyze the morphology and electrical properties of the LB films by the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).

Relation between work function and structural properties of triangular defects in 4H-SiC epitaxial layer: Kelvin probe force microscopic and spectroscopic analyses.

To understand the relationship between the work function and structural properties of sufficiently expanded triangular defects (size: ∼250 µm) in the 4H-SiC epitaxial layer, Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and spectroscopic [micro-Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL)] analyses were performed. Spectroscopic analysis demonstrated that the triangular defects mostly comprise the 3C polytypes and that it experiences internal stress, defects, and defect-induced carrier generation. The distinguishable areas in the triangular defects had surface potential values different from those of the 4H-SiC matrix; this could be explained by the work function difference, which arises from variations in the electron affinity of the 3C polytype as well as the positional variations of the Fermi energy level in terms of electron concentration. In addition, tensile-stress-induced surface disorder leading to variations in electron affinity was discussed. The mechanical properties of the triangular defects measured by a nanoindenter were significantly deteriorated because of many dislocation arrays and stacking faults with many broken and/or strained bonds.

A Deep Blue Organic Light Emitting Diodes Characteristic of Isomerically-Featured Phosphine Oxides Containing N-Phenyl Benzimidazole.

An isomeric series of phosphine oxides with N-phenyl benzimidazole such as 2-DPPI, 3-DPPI and 4-DPPI were synthesized for organic light emitting diodes (OLED). The thermal properties of DPPI isomers were determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). OLED devices using DPPI isomers as the emitting material were fabricated, which configuration was ITO/MoOx [30 nm]/NPB [500 nm]/DPPI [300 nm]/Alq3 [200 nm]/Liq[10 nm]/Al [120 nm]. The emitting colors of the devices were respectively a deep-blue (430 nm, 4-DPPI) and greenish-yellows (510-580 nm, 3-DPPI and 530 nm, 2-DPPI). In particular, the emitting color of 4-DPPI device was not changed during the alteration of applied voltages (6.5-11.5 V), and the CIE coordinate was a satisfactory deep-blue (0.161, 0.101).

Analysis of Correlation Between Contrast and Component of Polylatic Acid Composite for Fused Deposition Modeling 3D Printing.

Additive manufacturing or three-dimensional (3D) printing is considered a disruptive technology for producing components with topologically optimized complex geometries as well as functionalities that are not achievable by traditional methods. 3D printing is expected to revolutionize the manufacturing of components. While several 3D printing systems are available, printing based on fused-deposition modeling (FDM) using thermoplastics is particularly widespread because of the simplicity and potential applicability of the method. In this study, we report the analysis of correlation between contrast and component of polylactic acid (PLA) based composite for FDM 3D printing. The pre-fabricated white composite and black composite were mixed in the fraction of 100:0, 90:10, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100% (v/v) and the obtained mixture was extruded using HX-35 3D filament extrusion line. The samples in different contrast were printed in disk like shape, and the gray scale filaments and 3D printed samples were measured the morphology and components using a field emission scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The CIE-lab values of the samples were measured using a colorimeter and the correlation between CIE-lab values and the components were analyzed. Although the component of Ti was linearly increased, the CIE-lab values show a clear exponential increase by increasing the white composite.