Acetone-assisted deposition of silver films in supercritical carbon dioxide

Growth of silver films was studied by supercritical fluid deposition (SCFD) using H₂ and acetone as reducing agents for (1,5-cyclooctadiene)(hexafluoroacetylacetonato)silver(I) in supercritical CO₂ (scCO₂). H₂ reduction did not yield continuous Ag films, whereas continuous films were deposited on Ru substrates by acetone-assisted reduction of 0.006–0.03 mol% precursor in the temperature range of 150–250 °C. Surface qualities of the Ag films were effectively improved by decreasing water content in acetone reagent, as well as reducing acetone and precursor concentrations in scCO₂. Ultimately, a 50 nm-thick film with shiny surface was obtained in optimized conditions. A possible mechanism for acetone reduction of Ag precursor on Ru surface was also proposed.     

Thermal Conductivity of Standard Sands. Part III. Full Range of Saturation

The thermal conductivity $(\lambda )$ ( λ ) of three unsaturated standard quartz sands (Ottawa C-109 and C-190, and Toyoura) was measured by a transient thermal-conductivity probe, at room temperature of approximately $25\,^{\circ }\text{ C }$ 25 ° C and at loose and tight compactions. The measurements were carried out at different degrees of saturation $(S_\mathrm{r})$ ( S r ) from dryness to full saturation. In general, a sharp $\lambda $ λ increase was observed at low $S_\mathrm{r}$ S r , followed by a moderate rise until full saturation. However, experiments on loosely compacted C-190 samples revealed $\lambda $ λ deviation from a general trend ( $\lambda $ λ vs $S_\mathrm{r})$ S r ) caused by water percolation. Alternatively, successful experiments were carried out on loosely packed unsaturated C-190 samples using 1 % agar gel. For loosely compacted C-109 and Toyoura, $\lambda $ λ data obtained from 1 % agar gel closely agreed with $\lambda $ λ data for water as a saturation medium. The measured data were used to verify a model by de Vries for unsaturated soils. The model largely underestimates experimental data at $S_\mathrm{r}<0.5$ S r < 0.5 and produces an overall root-mean-square error of about $0.2\, \text{ W }~{\cdot }~\text{ m }^{-1}~{\cdot }~\text{ K }^{-1}$ 0.2 W · m ? 1 · K ? 1 . Measured $\lambda $ λ data agreed with data by a steady-state technique (a guarded hot-plate apparatus) at dryness and full saturation and exceeded the steady-state data in the unsaturated region. However, TCP data can be considered more reliable due to a lower temperature increase during $\lambda $ λ measurements and a shorter testing time. Consequently, in the case of unsaturated soils, evaporation and migration of water and steam can be avoided.     

Analysis of lip motion change arising as a result of amusement feeling

This letter develops a novel algorithm for lip motion analysis arising as a result of feeling amused after watching television comedy programs as emotion‐eliciting stimuli. The analysis is based on measuring the variance of new lip motion features extracted from pronouncing some sentences after watching the stimuli. The results of the conducted experiment show that these features can serve as efficient indices for determining the occurrence of amusement feelings. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Remission of Ménétrier's disease after a prolonged period with therapeutic eradication of Helicobacter pylori

We report here a case of Ménétrier's disease (MD) that required a prolonged period for remission after eradication therapy of Helicobacter pylori (HP). The appropriate time needed to judge the efficacy of the eradication therapy for HP infection in an MD case is discussed.     

Undoped epitaxial Si channel n-MOSFET grown by UHV-CVD withpreheating

Undoped epitaxial channel n-MOSFET with high transconductance was developed. In order to obtain a good crystal quality of the epitaxial layer and, thus, to achieve high performance, it is important to reduce the oxygen concentration at the epitaxial Si/Si substrate interface. In this paper, we describe the relationship between the electrical characteristics and the surface density of oxygen at the epitaxial Si/Si substrate. We also describe the dependence of the electrical characteristics on epitaxial Si thickness. The g_m of n-MOSFET with 40-nm epitaxial Si for 0.10-μm gate length was 630 mS/mm at V _d-1.5 V, and the drain current was 0.77 mA/μm. This g_m value in the case of the epitaxial Si channel is about 20% larger than that of bulk the MOSFET. These results show that epitaxial Si channel MOSFET's are useful for future high-speed ULSI devices     

Relief of hemiballism from a basal ganglia arteriovenous malformation after radiosurgery

A patient with a 3-year history of progressive hemiballism presented with an unruptured arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the contralateral caudate nucleus and putamen. PET demonstrated a matched reduction of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) in the basal ganglia and adjacent frontal lobe. The patient underwent radiosurgery for the AVM. After a period of no clinical change for 6 months, the movement disorder resolved by month 7 post-treatment. The AVM was successfully obliterated 2 years after irradiation without any significant change in the regional CBF or CMRO2.     

An 0.18-μm CMOS for mixed digital and analog applications withzero-volt-Vth epitaxial-channel MOSFETs

An 0.18-μm CMOS technology with multi-V_ths for mixed high-speed digital and RF-analog applications has been developed. The V _ths of MOSFETs for digital circuits are 0.4 V for NMOS and -0.4 V for PMOS, respectively. In addition, there are n-MOSFET's with zero-volt-V_th for RF analog circuits. The zero-volt-V_th MOSFETs were made by using undoped epitaxial layer for the channel regions. Though the epitaxial film was grown by reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) at 750°C, the film quality is as good as the bulk silicon because high pre-heating temperature (940°C for 30 s) is used in H₂ atmosphere before the epitaxial growth. The epitaxial channel MOSFET shows higher peak g_m and f_T values than those of bulk cases. Furthermore, the g_m and f_T values of the epitaxial channel MOSFET show significantly improved performances under the lower supply voltage compared with those of bulk. This is very important for RF analog application for low supply voltage. The undoped-epitaxial-channel MOSFETs with zero-V_th will become a key to realize high-performance and low-power CMOS devices for mixed digital and RF-analog applications     

Identification of a structural gene encoding a metallothionein-like domain that includes a putative regulator protein for Streptomyces protease gene expression

An open reading frame (termed ORF-PR) encoding a metallothionein-like domain-including protein was found upstream of a previously identified Streptomyces chymotrypsin-type protease gene (sam-P20). Promoter and terminator activities of ORF-PR were detected using the promoterless Streptomyces tyrosinase gene as a reporter gene and expression of ORF-PR was supposed to occur before that of sam-P20 gene. Frameshift mutation analysis showed that the ORF-PR product might act as a repressive regulator of the sam-P20 gene.     

Doping test for racehorses in Japan]

The doping test method used in a horse race requires the accurate detection of a wide variety of drugs and metabolites as well as the rapidity in order to examine a large number of samples within a limited time. For this purpose, the routine method consists of a preliminary screening and a confirmatory test. In this paper, a historical review for the development of the doping test method in Japan is described. The metabolism and pharmacology of drugs in horses are also discussed.