Lattice misorientation at domain boundaries in β-Ga2O3 single-crystal substrates observed via synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction imaging and X-ray reticulography

To evaluate the lattice misorientation at domain boundaries (DBs) in β-Ga₂O₃, we performed X-ray diffraction imaging (XRDI), X-ray reticulography (XRR), and X-ray topography (XRT) using a synchrotron radiation light source. Four reciprocal lattice vectors ( g -vectors) were applied, and the DBs showed different visibilities in the XRDI maps depending on the g -vector. By analyzing possible characteristics of the misorientation, the XRDI results suggested that the DB being investigated was associated with a misorientation on the () plane and contained twist and tilt components. The apparent peak change in XRDI caused by the two components was calculated. We further succeeded in separating the tilt and twist components using XRR images in conjunction with simulation. Dislocation arrays at the DBs were observed using XRT, and the average distance between the dislocations in the array was consistent with the misorientation obtained using XRDI and XRR. The distribution of DBs across a wide area was acquired by a combination of XRR images recorded on a charge-coupled device camera and X-ray films. The fringe-patterned XRR on X-ray films provided a powerful and nondestructive tool to characterize DBs distributed across a large-diameter wafer with an angular resolution on the order of several arc sec (low 10⁻⁵ rad).     

Tribo-electrification of particles under sudden change of fluid flow in the junction between branch pipe and straight pipe

An experimental investigation of the tribo-electrification of glass beads fed by an ejector has been conducted by measuring both the current generated at the pipe wall and the specific-charge measured by a Faraday cage under sudden change of fluid flow in the junction between a stainless-steel branch pipe and a stainless-steel straight pipe. In measuring a current per unit mass, for D_p,50 ? 206 μm at the branch pipe section the current has a positive value as expected by the contact potential difference between glass beads and stainless-steel. On the other hand, for D_p,50 ? 105 μm at the branch and straight pipe section, the current has a negative value couldn’t be explained solely by the contact potential difference. In measuring a specific-charge by the Faraday cage, the specific-charge has a negative highest value at the ejector. The negative specific-charge decreases along the particle flow direction. Therefore, an “unusual” charge-transfer, which couldn’t be explained solely by the contact potential difference, was confirmed also by the Faraday cage. Although the charge-transfer between the beads and the inclined stainless plate with high impact speed has been examined, the sign of the current is positive for all data. It was found that the “unusual” charge-transfer in this study couldn’t be caused by the high speed impaction. An negative current in air by using a stainless steel needle detected at the ejector for D_p,50 = 51 μm while an positive current in air detected at the branch and straight pipe. The reason is suggested that the ion balance in the air does not keep between the ejector and the branch pipe due to both the adsorption of some negative ions on the pipe wall and the decrement of negative charge of particles. Therefore the “unusual” charge-transfer consists of not only the ionization caused by the self-discharge but also an adsorption of ions on the inner wall of the pipe.     

Synthesis, characterization, and high gas permeability of poly(diarylacetylene)s having fluorenyl groups

Diarylacetylenes having fluorenyl groups and other substituents (trimethylsilyl, t-butyl, bromine, fluorine) (1a-1) were polymerized with TaCl₅-n-Bu₄Sn. Monomers 1a-l produced high molecular weight polymers 2a-l (M_w 5.1 × 10⁵-1.3 × 10⁶) in 12-59% yields. All of the polymers were soluble in common organic solvents, and gave tough free-standing membranes by the solution casting method. The onset temperatures of weight loss of polymers 2a-l in air were over 400 °C, indicating considerably high thermal stability. All the polymer membranes showed high gas permeability; e.g., the oxygen permeability coefficient (PO₂) of 2a was as large as 4800 barrers. Membrane 2d possessing two fluorine atoms at meta and para positions of the phenyl ring showed the highest oxygen permeability (PO₂ = 6600 barrers) among the present polymers.     

Preparation of various DLC films by T-shaped filtered arc deposition and the effect of heat treatment on film properties

Different types of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films (ta-C, a-C, ta-C:H and a-C:H) were prepared on super hard alloy (WC-Co) substrate using a T-shape filtered arc deposition (T-FAD) system. At first, the film properties, such as structure, hydrogen content, density, hardness, elastic modulus, were measured. Ta-C prepared with a DC bias of −100 V showed the highest density (3.1 g/cm³) and hardness (70-80 GPa), and the lowest hydrogen content (less than 0.1 at. %). It was found that the hardness of the DLC film is proportional to approximately the third power of film density. The DLC films were then heated for 60 min in an electric furnace at 550 °C in N₂. Only the ta-C film hardly change its structure, although other films were graphitized. The 200-nm thick ta-C film was then heated for 60 min through the temperature range from 400 to 800 °C in N₂ with 2 vol.% of O₂ and the film structure found to be stable up to 700 °C. The substrate was oxidized at 800 °C, indicating the ta-C film had a thermal barrier function up to that temperature.     

A study of sialylated carbohydrate antigen in patients with benign bronchopulmonary disease

We studied the levels of carbohydrate antigen (CA 19-9, SLX, CA 50, Span-1, and Dupan-2) in serum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and tissue from patients with benign bronchopulmonary disease. Patients had bronchiectasis, healed pulmonary tuberculosis, pulmonary fibrosis, or other diseases. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid levels and immunohistochemical findings for lung tissue samples, in the absence of digestive and other diseases, suggested that elevated serum sialylated Lewis(A) (CA 19-9, CA 50, and Span-1) and Lewis(X) (SLX) antigen in patients with benign broncho-pulmonary disease are due to marked production of sialylated carbohydrate antigen in respiratory bronchioles. Common features of patients with benign bronchopulmonary disease include elevated serum carbohydrate antigen levels and bronchiectasis.     

Absence of nonpercutaneous transmission of hepatitis C virus in a colony of chimpanzees

Transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was studied in a colony of 85 chimpanzees using assays for anti-HCV and HCV-RNA. Thirteen of the 85 sera were positive for anti-HCV, and 12 of the 13 were also positive for HCV-RNA. All of the anti-HCV positive sera except one were obtained from chimpanzees which had been inoculated with non-A, non-B hepatitis virus. On the other hand, only one of 63 sera of chimpanzees without history of experimental infection of the virus was positive for anti-HCV. Transmission to this chimpanzee was thought to be a needle contaminated with HCV. All 39 samples of chimpanzees born in the center were negative for both anti-HCV and HCV-RNA. Sixteen of their mothers had undergone experimental infection, and 6 of them were positive for both anti-HCV and HCV-RNA. These results suggest that nonpercutaneous transmission, including sexual and mother-to-infant transmissions, is not an important mode of transmission. If these findings apply to humans, definition of inapparent sources of the infection is needed.     

On a serendipity-oriented recommender system based on folksonomy

This paper proposes a recommendation method that focuses on not only predictive accuracy but also serendipity. On many of the conventional recommendation methods, items are categorized according to their attributes (a genre, an authors, etc.) by the recommender in advance, and recommendation is made using the results of the categorization. In this study, impressions of users to items are adopted as a feature of the items, and each item is categorized according to the feature. Impressions used in such categorization are prepared using folksonomy, which classifies items using tags given by users. Next, the idea of “concepts” was introduced to avoid synonym and polysemy problems of tags. “Concepts” are impressions of users on items inferred from attached tags of folksonomy. The inferring method was also devised. A recommender system based on the method was developed in java language, and the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified through recommender experiments.     

R‐learning with multiple state‐action value tables

We propose a method to improve the performance of R‐learning, a reinforcement learning algorithm, by using multiple state‐action value tables. Unlike Q‐ or Sarsa learning, R‐learning learns a policy to maximize undiscounted rewards. Multiple state‐action value tables cause substantial explorations as needed and make R‐learning work well. Efficiency of the proposed method is verified through experiments in a simulated environment. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 159(3): 34– 47, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience. wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20473     

Ultrathin channel vertical DG MOSFET fabricated by using ion-bombardment-retarded etching

A vertical ultrathin channel formation process for a vertical type double-gate (DG) MOSFET is proposed. Si wet etching using an alkaline solution has newly been found to be significantly retarded by introducing ion bombardment damage. We have also found that the ion-bombardment-retarded etching (IBRE) is independent of ion species and the implanted impurities can easily be transferred to be the dopants for source and drain regions of MOSFETs. By utilizing the IBRE, vertical type DG MOSFETs with a 12-nm-thick vertical channel were fabricated successfully. The fabricated vertical DG MOSFETs clearly exhibit the unique advantage of DG MOSFETs, i.e., high improvement of short-channel effect immunity by reducing the channel thickness. Thanks to the ultrathin channel, very low subthreshold slopes of 69.8 mV/dec. for a p-channel and 71.6 mV/dec for an n-channel vertical DG MOSFET are successfully achieved with the gate length of 100 nm.     

High-intensity laser-driven particle and electromagnetic wave sources for science, industry, and medicine

We simultaneously observed both the fast proton generation and terahertz (THz) radiation in the laser pulse interaction with a thin-foil target.The maximum proton energy of ～2.3 MeV and an intense THz radiation were observed at the pulse duration of ～30fs.We also measured the proton beam and UV harmonics from a thin-foil target by changing the laser pulse duration.In the case of the ～500 fs, peaks of UV harmonics up to fourth order appeared.This unique combination of the multiple beams will provide useful applications such as pump-probe experiments.