High resolution front-side visualization of charge stored in EEPROM with scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy (SNDM).

By exposing floating gates of EEPROM memory cells with frontside sample preparation, scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy (SNDM) succeeded in reading back the data stored in the memory cells with a 250 nm node size. At an optimized voltage bias of AC = 3 V and DC = 1 V, a clear signal contrast between programmed and erased cells is obtained. The high resolution SNDM signal reveals the details of bowling-pin shape structure of memory cells, providing high confidence in data assignment during forensic applications. Such high resolution also makes SNDM a promising technique for newer generation devices with smaller node size.

The role of acute internal medicine service in handling burden of medical access block in a tertiary hospital, Hospital Melaka experience.

INTRODUCTION: Access block is a major problem faced by most hospitals. It has led to congestions in emergency departments (ED) leading to sub-optimal or delayed treatment. Inevitably the spotlight falls on medical department, being accountable for the highest proportion of access block in ED. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study looking at data collected during office hours on 79 working days, excluding weekends and public holidays in Hospital Melaka, Malaysia. Details on all medical access block cases that were reviewed were recorded including their locations, diagnosis, disposition decisions and if they received specialist input at the time of their initial assessment by the medical team in ED. The aim is to revolutionise patient admission flow by offering early specialist care with rapid assessment, investigation and treatment. Hence, improving the overall treatment efficiency and reduce medical access block. RESULTS: There were 1321 admissions. A total of 82% of the patients were admitted to the medical wards while 13% of them were given acute treatment in ED and discharged home with appropriate follow ups. We managed to resolve 18% of medical access block by re-triaging our cases and offering timely acute medical treatment. Nearly 90% of patients received first hand medical specialist input during the initial assessment by the Acute Internal Medicine (AIM) team in ED. CONCLUSION: The significant resolution in medical access block with active screening, re-triaging and management of patients by the AIM team allows a more optimal hospital bed management. Patients also receive timely access to medical intervention with specialist care and stable patients can benefit from early supported discharge.

A single-centre experience and literature review of Flow Re-Directional Endoluminal Device (FRED) in endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms.

AIM: To present initial single-centre experience with the Flow Re-Direction Endoluminal Device, FRED. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study. All patients treated with FRED from October 2015 to April 2017 were included in the study. Details of the aneurysms, complications as well as follow-up results were recorded. A PubMed search was performed using the keywords "Flow Re-Direction Endoluminal Device", "FRED", "flow diverter", "FD", "FD Stent", "flow re-direction" and "flow redirection" and the results were reviewed and compared to the present authors. RESULTS: A total of 21 patients with 25 aneurysms were analysed. No patient was lost to follow-up. At 6 months follow-up, 17 aneurysms (68%) were completely occluded, five had reduced flow, two had persistent flow and the remaining one showed increased flow. Two aneurysms from the reduced flow at 6 months had achieved complete occlusion at 1 year, raising the complete occlusion rate to 76%. Overall, 22/25 (88%) aneurysms were either occluded completely or had reduced flow at 1 year. The appearances of the other aneurysms were stable in subsequent follow-ups. Three complications were recorded (one haemorrhagic, two occlusive/thromboembolic). There was no mortality in the present study. The occlusion rate at University Hospital of Wales as well as the complication rate was comparable to other centres on published data. CONCLUSION: FRED is a safe and effective flow diverter, which can be used to treat complex aneurysms that would have been of higher risk and for which for conventional coiling would be ineffective or unsuitable.

Association of imaging abnormalities of the subcallosal septal area with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

AIM: To evaluate the use the distance between the adjacent septal nuclei as a surrogate marker of septal area atrophy seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD). MATERIALS & METHODS: Interseptal distance (ISD) was measured, blind to clinical details, in 250 patients who underwent computed tomography (CT) of the brain at University Hospital of Wales. Clinical details including memory problem history were retrieved. An ISD cut-off value that discriminated those with and without memory symptoms was sought. ISD measurements were also made in 20 AD patients. To test both the method and the defined cut-off, measurements were then made in an independent cohort of 21 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and 45 age-matched healthy controls, in a randomised and blinded fashion. RESULTS: ISD measurement was achieved in all patients. In 28 patients with memory symptoms, the mean ISD was 5.9 mm compared with 2.3 mm in those without overt symptoms (p=0.001). The optimum ISD cut-off value was 4 mm (sensitivity 85.7% and specificity 85.8%). All AD patients had an ISD of >4 mm (mean ISD= 6.1 mm). The mean ISD for MCI patients was 3.84 mm compared with 2.18 mm in age-matched healthy controls (p=0.001). Using a 4 mm cut-off correctly categorised 10 mild cognitive impairment patients (47.6%) and 38 healthy controls (84.4%). CONCLUSION: ISD is a simple and reliable surrogate measurement for septal area atrophy, applicable to CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It can be used to help select patients for further investigation.

Reliability Assessment and Activation Energy Study of Au and Pd-Coated Cu Wires Post High Temperature Aging in Nanoscale Semiconductor Packaging.

Wearout reliability and high temperature storage life (HTSL) activation energy of Au and Pd-coated Cu (PdCu) ball bonds are useful technical information for Cu wire deployment in nanoscale semiconductor device packaging. This paper discusses the influence of wire type on the wearout reliability performance of Au and PdCu wire used in fine pitch BGA package after HTSL stress at various aging temperatures. Failure analysis has been conducted to identify the failure mechanism after HTSL wearout conditions for Au and PdCu ball bonds. Apparent activation energies (Eaa) of both wire types are investigated after HTSL test at 150 °C, 175 °C and 200 °C aging temperatures. Arrhenius plot has been plotted for each ball bond types and the calculated Eaa of PdCu ball bond is 0.85 eV and 1.10 eV for Au ball bond in 110 nm semiconductor device. Obviously Au ball bond is identified with faster IMC formation rate with IMC Kirkendall voiding while PdCu wire exhibits equivalent wearout and or better wearout reliability margin compare to conventional Au wirebond. Lognormal plots have been established and its mean to failure (t50) have been discussed in this paper.

An economic analysis of fertility, market participation and marriage behaviour in recent Japan.

PIP: This is the 1st attempt in modelling fertility, labor force participation and marriage rate using Japanese data. The authors use Butz and Ward's model and extend it to a simultaneous equation system as in the case of Winegarden. Although the estimates obtained by Full Information Maximum Likelihood and Three Stage Least Squares of the model are statistically significant, some of the signs of the estimates are not consistent to a priori predictions. The crux of the model is that an increase in the wages of men has an unambiguous positive effect on fertility, whereas an increase in wages of women may not lead to higher fertility due to the dominance of substitution effect. But the issue of whether there are discriminatory employment practices and cultural pressures on the participation of women in the labor force, raised by the results obtained can only be answered using a larger set of data or with the help of panel data.^ieng