Photocatalytic Property and Electronic Structure of Lanthanide-based Oxysulfides

Lanthanide-based oxysulfides and sulfide, LnTaO_3.5S_0.5, Ln₁₀OS₁₄ (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm) and La₄In₅S₁₃, were successively synthesized by sulfurization in a flowing H₂S. The sulfurization decreased the band-gap energies from >4 eV to <3eV, because of the formation of occupied S3p orbitals on the top of valence band. In accordance with the small band gap, the H₂ evolution from a 0.01 M Na₂S and 0.01 M Na₂SO₃ solution system was observed under irradiation of light up to >500 nm. The rate of H₂ evolution under light irradiation of >500 nm increased in the order of Ni/LaTaO_3.5S_0.5 < Ru/La₁₀OS₁₄ < Pt/La₄In₅S₁₃.     

Dynamic bandwidth control of the virtual path in an asynchronoustransfer mode network

The virtual path concept has several valuable features to construct an economical and efficient asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network. One of them is bandwidth control which affords transmission efficiency improvement through statistical sharing of capacity. An effective bandwidth control algorithm and its calculated performance are described. Network performance with the algorithm is evaluated, and the bandwidth control is shown to successfully improve network transmission efficiency with only a slight increase in processing load compared to the fixed bandwidth scheme. A method is also proposed to equalize call loss probability for each virtual path. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by analysis     

Development of 170 GHz/500 kW gyrotron

A development of 170GHz/500kW level gyrotron was carried out as R&D work of ITER. The oscillation mode is TE_31,8. In a short pulse experiment, the maximum power of 750kW was achieved at 85kV/40A. The efficiency was 22%. In the depressed collector operation, 500kW/36%/50ms was obtained. The maximum efficiency of 40% was obtained at P_RF=470kW whereas the power decrease by the electron trapping was observed. Pulse extension was done up to 10s at P_RF=170kW with the depressed collector operation. The power was limited by the temperature increase of the output window.     

Development of a Trans-Mucosal Controlled-Release Device for Systemic Delivery of Antianginal Drugs Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics

Oral mucosa is well-known to be one of the best routes for drug absorption. But very few R & D works have been initiated to investigate the feasibility of using this site to control drug delivery. A transmucosal controlled-release device, which is capable of achieving excellent absorption and controlled release of drugs, has been developed. The device is a tabletshaped mucoadhesive system which is composed of two layers. The upper layer is a fast-release layer and the lower layer is a sustained-release layer, and designed to be applied between buccal and gingival mucosae. Both layers are formulated from synthetic polymers to control the release of drugs.

Isosorbide dinitrate(ISDN), a well-documented antianginal drug, is known to be susceptible to extensive presystemic elimination when taken orally. It was used as the candidate drug and the systemic bioavailability was studied in human and observed to be improved by as much as 5 fold when compared to a marketed oral sustained-release tablet; On the other hand, much smaller amount of metabolites was formed. The plasma profile of ISDN has also been observed to be substantially prolonged (12 hrs as compared to less than 1 hr for sublingual tablet and spray product on the market). These observations have demonstrated that this device is capable of not only bypassing hepatic “first-pass” metabolism but also having a sustainedrelease property of prolonging the release of ISDN.

Clinical studies performed in the anginal patients for up to one year have demonstrated the therapeutic benefits of this device in achieving a substantial reduction in the frequency of anginal attacks.

This type of device was also applied to the systemic delivery of another antianginal drug, Nifedipine, by employing a formulation with longer sustained drug release property. Again, the clinical results demonstrated that a prolonged duration of therapeutic plasma concentration has also been accomplished.     

Mechanical stress control in a VLSI-fabrication process: a method for obtaining the relation between stress levels and stress-induced failures

An ideal fabrication process is designed to minimize mechanical stress in semiconductor devices and to improve device reliability. Mechanical stress levels were predicted by in-house simulations supported by a thin-film database. These stress levels were correlated with stress-induced defects by TEM analysis supported by fail bit addressing on matured megabit SRAMs. Amorphous-doped silicon film with various annealing temperatures were used for the gate electrode to change the mechanical stress in devices and to get the direct relationship between predicted stress levels and stress related defects. The authors describe brief guidelines for suppressing dislocations in the small geometry shallow-trench isolation process utilizing this system. Polysilicon thickness in the W-polycide gate electrode is designed to minimize mechanical stress in the gate oxide and to suppress the gate oxide failure in probe and class tests. Moreover, critical stress generates dislocations during post source/drain ion implantation anneal obtained by a ball indentation method. This indicated that lower temperature anneal is effective in suppressing the dislocations. A two-step anneal was introduced to suppress dislocations and to enable higher ion activation.     

REM sleep deprivation potentiates the effects of imipramine and desipramine but not that of clomipramine in the forced swimming test

The human amnestic syndrome associated with lesions of the hippocampus and amygdala is characterized by a selective impairment of recent (explicit, episodic) memory. Benzodiazepine (BZ) treated normal subjects demonstrate similar, marked impairments in episodic memory, but in addition, BZ also induces sedation and inattention. Thus, the amnestic effects of BZ may be secondary to drug-induced sedation. However, when subjects were pretreated with the specific BZ receptor antagonist, flumazenil, the sedative and attentional effects of diazepam were blocked, but a marked impairment in episodic memory still occurred. This demonstrates that, using neuropharmacological methods, it is possible to produce a dissociation of memory impairment from inattention and sedation. Such distinct patterns of cognitive dysfunction may serve as models for clinical cognitive syndromes.