Extremely low recombination velocity on crystalline silicon surfaces realized by low-temperature impurity doping in Cat-CVD technology

To reduce surface recombination velocity (SRV) at the interface between amorphous Si (a-Si) and crystalline silicon (c-Si), we particularly investigated the treatment of c-Si surface prior to a-Si deposition using decomposed radicals of hydrogen (H₂) and phosphine (PH₃). The SRV can be reduced dramatically to 1.6 cm/s only for n-type c-Si, while no such reduction is observed in p-type c-Si. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and the Hall effect measurement actually reveal the existence of phosphorus (P) atoms in c-Si near the surface.     

Dietary Glucosylceramide Enhances Cornified Envelope Formation via Transglutaminase Expression and Involucrin Production

In this study, we investigated whether dietary glucosylceramide (GlcCer) and its metabolite sphingoid bases, sphingosine (SS), phytosphingosine (PS), sphingadienine (SD) and 4-hydroxysphingenine (4HS), influence cornified envelope (CE) formation. CE is formed during terminal differentiation of the epidermis through crosslinking of specific precursor proteins by transglutaminases (TGases), and is essential for the skin's barrier function. Oral administration of GlcCer (0.25 mg/day) for 14 consecutive days dramatically reduced transepidermal water loss, an indicator of the skin barrier condition, in hairless mice with barrier perturbation induced by single-dose ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation. The GlcCer treatment also increased the level of TGase-1 mRNA in UVB-irradiated murine epidermis approximately 1.6-fold compared with the control. Further, all four sphingoid bases at 1 μM concentration enhanced CE formation of cultured normal human keratinocyte cells. Among them, SS, PS and SD, but not 4HS, stimulated production of involucrin, one of the CE major precursor proteins. SD increased the expression of TGase-1 mRNA, while SS increased the expression of TGase-3 mRNA. These results indicate that the skin barrier improvement induced by oral GlcCer treatment might be at least partly due to a reinforcement of CE formation in the epidermis mediated by sphingoid bases metabolically derived from GlcCer.     

Aggregated transfer function for smart grid FastADR feedback control of wide area distributed building facilities

Feedback control of fast automated demand response (FastADR) is gaining much attention for load frequency control (LFC) of the future smart grids. We propose a single aggregated transfer function for feedback control of power consumption of a cluster of wide‐area‐distributed building air‐conditioner facilities. An example of aggregated transfer function is derived from the measured step responses of the loads, and the effectiveness of the approximation for control properties is confirmed by simulations. © 2015 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Adenylate Kinase Isozyme 3 Regulates Mitochondrial Energy Metabolism and Knockout Alters HeLa Cell Metabolism

The balance between oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis is important for cancer cell growth and survival, and changes in energy metabolism are an emerging therapeutic target. Adenylate kinase (AK) regulates adenine nucleotide metabolism, maintaining intracellular nucleotide metabolic homeostasis. In this study, we focused on AK3, the isozyme localized in the mitochondrial matrix that reversibly mediates the following reaction: Mg²⁺ GTP + AMP ⇌ Mg²⁺ GDP + ADP. Additionally, we analyzed AK3-knockout (KO) HeLa cells, which showed reduced proliferation and were detected at an increased number in the G1 phase. A metabolomic analysis showed decreased ATP; increased glycolytic metabolites such as glucose 6 phosphate (G6P), fructose 6 phosphate (F6P), and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP); and decreased levels of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites in AK3KO cells. An intracellular ATP evaluation of AK3KO HeLa cells transfected with ATeam plasmid, an ATP sensor, showed decreased whole cell levels. Levels of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), a complementary response to mitochondrial failure, were increased in AK3KO HeLa cells. Oxidative stress levels increased with changes in gene expression, evidenced as an increase in related enzymes such as superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and SOD3. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 2 (PCK2) expression and PEP levels increased, whereas PCK2 inhibition affected AK3KO HeLa cells more than wild-type (WT) cells. Therefore, we concluded that increased PCK2 expression may be complementary to increased GDP, which was found to be deficient through AK3KO. This study demonstrated the importance of AK3 in mitochondrial matrix energy metabolism.     

Influence of pulsed electric field on enzymes,bacteria and volatile flavor compounds of unpasteurized sake

A pulsed electric field(PEF) was applied to unpasteurized sake at constant temperatures, at which α-amylase was not inactivated. We adjusted the input energy to be identical for the temperatures by changing the number of PEF application, because the current significantly increased with the temperature, even the amplitude of the applied voltage was identical. As a result, the α-amylase was seemed to be inactivated by PEF application, not due to thermal effect.The glucoamylase was significantly inactivated by PEF. Moreover, the acid carboxypeptidase was inactivated by PEF at 4 °C but significantly activated at 25 °C. These results show that the sensitivity of enzyme to PEF application differs depending on the types of enzyme and treatment temperature. On the other hand, the colony number of bacteria was remarkably decreased, but the amount of the volatile flavor compounds was not decreased by PEF application.     

Empirical research on religion and psychotherapeutic processes and outcomes: A 10-year review and research prospectus.

A decade of research on religion and counseling, consisting of 148 empirical articles, was reviewed. Methodological sophistication, poor a decade ago, has approached current secular standards, except in outcome research. Religious people cannot be assumed to be mentally unhealthy. Nonreligious and religious counselors share most counseling-relevant values but differ in the value they place on religion. Those religious differences affect clinical judgment and behavior, especially with religious clients. Religious interventions have been techniques imported from formal religious traditions and used as adjuncts to counseling or traditional theories of counseling adapted to religious clients. The authors suggest a research agenda and speculate about future mental health practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensitivity-enhanced dry development process for VUV and EUV lithography using graft-polymerization

The proposed dry development process uses the graft-polymerization of Si-containing monomers to silylate the resist surface, thus enhancing oxygen plasma etching durability. Single-layer and negative-tone resist patterns can thus be delineated with very high sensitivity. Grafting sensitivity higher than that of wet-developed chemical-amplification resist is obtained by using a Si-containing monomer having acrylic acid ester. This is confirmed through experiments using PMMA as the resist, 3-acryloxypropylmethyldimethoxysilane (APMS) as the monomer, and a laser-plasma X-ray source for exposure. The dry-etching durability of PMMA grafted using APMS is about four times that of ungrafted PMMA. FT-IR measurements show that this is due to the resist-surface silylation caused by the grafting. These results indicate the applicability of this process to VUV and EUV lithographies.     

Direct Patterning of Silver Circuit Using Surface- modification and UV Irradiation on Polyimide Resin

A simplified method is proposed for the formation of a silver circuit pattern on a polyimide resin substrate through modification of the resin surface followed by adsorption of silver(l) ion and UV photoreduction to form patterns. The amide bond and carboxyl group, as a cation exchange group, were formed on the polyimide resin surface by a potassium hydroxide treatment. UV irradiation of the adsorbed silver(I) ion results in the formation of a silver thin film. Silver circuit patterns are easily formed on the modified polyimide resin substrates without using a plating resist by use of a metal-on-quart: mask