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Hydrogen plasma effects on ultralow-k porous SiCOH dielectrics J. Appl. Phys. 98, 074502 (2005); 10.1063/1.2060935Effect of plasma interactions with low-κ films as a function of porosity, plasma chemistry, and temperature J.Hydrogen-methyl-siloxane-based porous spin-on-glass films were exposed to an oxidative plasma. The plasma exposure resulted in the loss of hydrophobic groups such as Si-H and Si-CH 3 . The formation of silanole groups, the decrease in film thickness, and moisture uptake were also observed. When the substrate was biased during exposure, these tendencies were found to be suppressed.

Blastocyst transfer was associated with an increased MZT incidence. We have to be aware of the potential risk of MZT caused by blastocyst transfer. However, further studies are required to assess the correlation among specific AH types, embryo culture conditions, and MZT incidence.

Purpose To evaluate the cystectomy-induced damage on the follicular growth and ovulation of an affected ovary during natural cycles. Methods Twenty-eight infertile patients with unilateral ovarian endometriomas who underwent laparoscopic cystectomy were retrospectively evaluated. The ovulation rate of an affected ovary during natural cycles was compared before and after cystectomy in each patient, and it was also determined if ovulation from the affected ovaries resulted in pregnancy.Results After surgery, the ovulation rate was significantly lower than that before cystectomy (16.9±4.5% vs. 34.4± 6.6%, P= 0.013). After surgery, 14 pregnancies were achieved without IVF treatment, and only 2 of them (14.3%) were achieved from an operated-side ovary. However, the pregnancy rate per ovulatory cycle of the operated-side ovary was not different from that of the intact ovary (8.8% vs. 5.8%, P=0.750). Conclusions Laparoscopic cystectomy is an invasive treatment in that it reduces the frequency of ovulation; however the pregnancy rate per ovulation did not deteriorate.

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We consider whether the non-Gaussian scale-dependent halo bias can be used not only to constrain the local form of non-Gaussianity but also to distinguish among different shapes. In particular, we ask whether it can constrain the behavior of the primordial threepoint function in the squeezed limit where one of the momenta is much smaller than the other two. This is potentially interesting since the observation of a three-point function with a squeezed limit that does not go like the local nor equilateral templates would be a signal of non-trivial dynamics during inflation. To this end we use the quasi-single field inflation model of Chen & Wang [1, 2] as a representative two-parameter model, where one parameter governs the amplitude of non-Gaussianity and the other the shape. We also perform a model-independent analysis by parametrizing the scale-dependent bias as a power-law on large scales, where the power is to be constrained from observations. We find that proposed large-scale structure surveys (with characteristics similar to the dark energy task force stage IV surveys) have the potential to distinguish among the squeezed limit behavior of different bispectrum shapes for a wide range of fiducial model parameters. Thus the halo bias can help discriminate between different models of inflation.

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