Recent progress of amorphous silicon solar cell applications and systems

Fifteen years have passed since the first industrial use of amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells for consumer products. At present, a-Si solar cells are entering a new age of use in power generating systems at private residences and other outdoor applications. This paper reviews recent advances in amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells and their applications. Technological developments in the field of a-Si solar cells are discussed. Various applications and systems that take advantage of the a-Si solar cell are then introduced. Finally, future prospects are discussed, including a new concept of GENESIS system for worldwide energy generation and transmission.     

Evaluation of transition zone biopsy in systematic prostate biopsy

We evaluated the systematic biopsies performed on 83 patients suspected of having prostate cancer. In the systematic biopsy, 6 cores were from the peripheral zone and 2 cores from the transition zone. Cancer was detected in 25 patients (30.1%). The percentage of patients who had abnormal digital rectal examination and transrectal echo findings, average PSA and PSA density, and the number of examinations which suggested cancer were higher in the cancer group than in the non-cancer group, although the mean prostate volume was smaller. Cancer was more frequently detected in the peripheral zone than in the transition zone. Cancer was detected only in the transition zone in only 1 of the 25 cancer patients. We conclude that biopsy of the transition zone to all the patients is not always needed in systematic biopsy.     

A 1.6 Gbyte/s data transfer rate 8 Mb embedded DRAM

An 8 Mb embedded DRAM has been developed. The salient feature of this embedded DRAM is page fault tolerance. Accessing across different pages can be performed using a minimum column cycle. This feature is achieved by placing a data latch and a transfer gate between the bit line sense amplifier and the column select gate. This DRAM can be reconfigured as separated 2 Mb units when it is embedded as a macro cell of an ASIC library     

Adhesive monomers to dental ceramics. I. Evaluation of N-substituted 3-amino-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylates as adhesives for calcium metaphosphate crystalline glass-ceramic

N-Substituted 3-amino-2-hydroxypropyl methacrylates have been evaluated as adhesives for calcium metaphosphate crystalline glass-ceramic, a potential esthetic dental restoration material. Although the adhesion to the ceramic was found to be much more difficult and dependent on the kinds of substituents than that of tooth enamel, monomers having a carboxyl group showed specifically high adhesive tensile strength. The strength tended to decrease as the hydrophobicity and molecular bulkiness increased. Surface treatment of the ceramic, especially with sodium hydroxide, proved effective in terms of both strength and durability for the carboxyl-containing monomers. Scanning electron microscopy analysis confirmed the importance of surface irregularity due to the alkaline treatment.     

Simultaneous Edge‐on to Face‐on Reorientation and 1D Alignment of Small π‐Conjugated Molecules Using Room‐Temperature Mechanical Rubbing

In this study, room‐temperature mechanical rubbing is used to control the 3D orientation of small π‐conjugated molecular systems in solution‐processed polycrystalline thin films without using any alignment substrate. High absorption dichroic ratio and significant anisotropy in charge carrier mobilities (up to 130) measured in transistor configuration are obtained in rubbed organic films based on the ambipolar quinoidal quaterthiophene (QQT(CN)4). Moreover, a solvent vapor annealing treatment of the rubbed film is found to improve the optical and charge transport anisotropy due to an increased crystallinity. X‐ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy measurements demonstrate that rubbing does not only lead to an excellent 1D orientation of the QQT(CN)4 molecules over large areas but also modifies the orientation of the crystals, moving molecules from an edge‐on to a face‐on configuration. The reasons why a mechanical alignment technique can be used at room temperature for such a polycrystalline film are rationalized, by the plastic characteristics of the QQT(CN)4 layer and the role of the flexible alkyl side chains in the molecular packing. This nearly complete conversion from edge‐on to face‐on orientation by mechanical treatment in polycrystalline small‐molecule‐based thin films opens perspectives in terms of fundamental research and practical applications in organic optoelectronics.     

Effect of strong gravitational field on oriented crystalline perovskite-type manganese oxide La<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Sr<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript>

We report the effect of a strong gravitational field on oriented crystalline perovskite-type manganese oxide La_1?x Sr _x MnO₃ (LSMO). The perovskite-type manganese oxides La_1?x Sr _x MnO₃ (LSMO) have been investigated for giant magnetoresistance (GMR) by controlling the hole-doping level (x). A strong gravitational field can change in crystalline state and the enhancement of usual diffusion. We subjected oriented crystalline La_1?x Sr _x MnO₃ with different grain and grain-boundary (GBs) Sr concentrations to a strong gravitational field and investigated the resulting changes in the A-site cation diffusion and physical properties of the material. Electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) results showed appearance of the GBs where the Sr concentration was quite high compared with in other GBs. The quantitative analysis at the grain and GBs indicated that cation diffusion was more enhanced than the annealed one. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of the gravity samples changed with the Sr concentration in the grains. The temperature dependence of the resistivity curves of the gravity sample showed several abrupt changes, which corresponded to phase transitions at the grains and GBs, which may be caused by composition changes.     

Multiple Scattering Approximation in Heterogeneous Media by Narrow Beam Distributions

Fast realistic rendering of objects in scattering media is still a challenging topic in computer graphics. In presence of participating media, a light beam is repeatedly scattered by media particles, changing direction and getting spread out. Explicitly evaluating this beam distribution would enable efficient simulation of multiple scattering events without involving costly stochastic methods. Narrow beam theory provides explicit equations that approximate light propagation in a narrow incident beam. Based on this theory, we propose a closed‐form distribution function for scattered beams. We successfully apply it to the image synthesis of scenes in which scattering occurs, and show that our proposed estimation method is more accurate than those based on the Wentzel‐Kramers‐Brillouin (WKB) theory.     

Design and synthesis of oligosaccharides that interfere with glycoprotein quality-control systems

Calnexin (CNX) and its soluble homologue calreticulin (CRT) are lectin-like molecular chaperones that help newly synthesized glycoproteins to fold correctly in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER). To investigate the mechanism of glycoprotein-quality control, we have synthesized structurally defined high-mannose-type oligosaccharides related to this system. This paper describes the synthesis of the non-natural undecasaccharide 2 and heptasaccharide 16, designed as potential inhibitors of the ER quality-control system. Each possesses the key tetrasaccharide element (Glc1Man3) critical for the CNX/CRT binding, while lacking the pentamannosyl branch required for glucosidase II recognition. These oligosaccharides were evaluated for their ability to bind CRT by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). As expected, each of them had a significant affinity towards CRT. In addition, these compounds were shown to be resistant to glucosidase II digestion. Their activities in blocking the chaperone function of CRT were next measured by using malate dehydrogenase (MDH) as a substrate. Their inhibitory effects were shown to correlate well with their CRT-binding affinities, both being critically dependent upon the presence of the terminal glucose (Glc) residue.     

Selective photooxidation of methane into methanol by nitric oxide over V-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves

The partial photooxidation of methane by nitric oxide selectively led to methanol formation over the V-MCM-41 catalysts under UV irradiation ( > 270 nm) at room temperature, while only a complete oxidation of methane could occur in the presence of oxygen. The yield of methanol corresponds with the yield of the photoluminescence of the isolated tetrahedrally coordinated V-oxides species, indicating that the charge transfer excited triplet state of these species are active sites in this photooxidation reaction.