We describe critical processing issues in our development of single-atom devices for solid-state quantum information processing. Integration of single 31P atoms with control gates and single electron transistor (SET) readout structures is addressed in a silicon-based approach. Results on electrical activation of low-energy (15 keV) P implants in silicon show a strong dose effect on the electrical activation fractions. We identify dopant segregation to the SiO2/Si interface during rapid thermal annealing as a dopant loss mechanism and discuss means to minimize it. Silicon nanowire SET pairs with nanowire width of 10-20 nm are formed by electron-beam lithography in SOI. We present initial results from Coulomb blockade experiments and discuss issues of control gate integration for sub-40 nm gate pitches. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Objective: To summarize significant contributions to sensor, signal, and imaging informatics published in 2016. Methods: We conducted an extensive search using PubMed® and Web of Science® to identify the scientific contributions published in 2016 that addressed sensors, signals, and imaging in medical informatics. The three section editors selected 15 candidate best papers by consensus. Each candidate article was reviewed by the section editors and at least two other external reviewers. The final selection of the six best papers was conducted by the editorial board of the Yearbook. Results: The selected papers of 2016 demonstrate the important scientific advances in management and analysis of sensor, signal, and imaging information. Conclusion: The growing volume of signal and imaging data provides exciting new challenges and opportunities for research in medical informatics. Evolving technologies provide faster and more effective approaches for pattern recognition and diagnostic evaluation. The papers selected here offer a small glimpse of the high-quality scientific work published in 2016 in the domain of sensor, signal, and imaging informatics.

A 12-year-old spayed female miniature Poodle presented for coughing, respiratory distress, and anorexia. After thoracentesis for pleural effusion, radiography revealed an enlarged cardiac silhouette with a bulge in the area of the body of the right atrium. Echocardiography revealed an anechoic chamber-like cavity lateral to the right atrium that communicated with the right atrium through a 13 mm defect in the right atrial free wall. Contrast echocardiography and color flow Doppler were used to prove that the cavity communicated with the right atrium. The cavity was diagnosed as a giant right atrial diverticulum.

Type 1 diabetes is a proinflammatory state characterised by increased levels of circulating biomarkers of inflammation and monocyte activity. We have shown increased Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR4 expression and signalling in monocytes from type 1 diabetic patients. Several endogenous ligands of TLR2 and TLR4 have been identified; however, there is a paucity of data on levels of these endogenous ligands in diabetes. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine circulating levels of exogenous/endogenous ligands of TLR2 and TLR4 in type 1 diabetic patients and to compare these with the levels in matched healthy controls. Healthy controls (n = 37) and type 1 diabetic patients (n = 34) were recruited, and a fasting blood sample was obtained. Circulating levels of endotoxin, heat-shock protein 60 (Hsp60), high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and growth arrest-specific 6 (GAS6) proteins were assessed by ELISA, and TLR2 and TLR4 expression was determined by flow cytometry. Levels of the classical TLR4 ligand, endotoxin, were significantly elevated in type 1 diabetic patients compared with those in matched controls. Hsp60 and HMGB1 concentrations were also significantly increased in the patients (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). No significant differences were observed in GAS6. We report the novel observation that levels of ligands of TLR2 and TLR4 are significantly elevated in type 1 diabetes, and this, in concert with hyperglycaemia, accounts for the increase in TLR2 and TLR4 activity, underscoring the proinflammatory state of type 1 diabetes.

We have developed an advanced process for blaze angle reduction of x-ray gratings for the soft, tender, and EUV spectral ranges. The process is based on planarization of an anisotropically etched Si blazed grating followed by a chemically selective plasma etch. This provides a way to adjust the blaze angle to any lower value with high accuracy. Here we demonstrate the reduction of the blaze angle to an extremely low value of 0.04°±0.004°. For a 100 lines/mm grating with a Mo/Si multilayer coating, the grating exhibits diffraction efficiency of 58% in the 1^st diffraction order at a wavelength of 13.3 nm. This technique will be applicable to a wide range of uses of high efficiency gratings for synchrotron sources, as well as for Free Electron Lasers (FEL).

We have designed and fabricated a high groove density blazed grating for a Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering spectrometer for the new Qerlin beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) synchrotron facility. The gratings were fabricated using a set of nanofabrication techniques including e-beam lithography, nanoimprint, plasma etch, and anisotropic wet etching. Two gratings with groove density of 6000 lines/mm and 3000 lines/mm and optimized for operation in the 1^st and 2^nd negative diffraction order respectively were fabricated and tested. We report on fabrication details and characterization of the gratings at beamline 6.3.2 of the ALS.