Significant improvement of luminance and stability of a red electroluminescent device using nanocrystalline silicon

An electroluminescent (EL) device using nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) was fabricated by annealing after cosputtering of Si chips and silicon dioxide target and subsequent hydrofluoric acid solution treatment. The device emitted a red light with a peak at 670 nm by applying a low direct current (DC) operating voltage of 4.5 V. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) of red luminescence at 4.5 V was 0.35%. Moreover, the intensity of red luminescence was very stable for an operating time of 15000 min. These results are a strong indication that the HF-treated device can be adapted to future light-related devices.     

亲肿瘤显像剂5-18F-Fluorouracil(18F-FU)的标记合成研究

用^18/F2Uracil直接标记法合成了5－^18F-Fluorouracil,探索^18F-FU-PET显像对结肠直肠肝转移病人化疗前后疗效评价的意义。产品的放射化学纯＞95％,放射性得率为60％,pH值为7,无菌性试验和热源性试验为阴性,这一结果为临床应用提供了保证。     

Cytochrome P450-Dependent Metabolism of Vitamin E Isoforms is a Critical Determinant of Their Tissue Concentrations in Rats

The aim of this study was to clarify the contribution of cytochrome P450 (CYP)-dependent metabolism of vitamin E isoforms to their tissue concentrations. We studied the effect of ketoconazole, a potent inhibitor of CYP-dependent vitamin E metabolism in cultured cells, on vitamin E concentration in rats. Vitamin E-deficient rats fed a vitamin E-free diet for 4 weeks were administered by oral gavage a vitamin E-free emulsion, an emulsion containing α-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol or a tocotrienol mixture with or without ketoconazole. α-Tocopherol was detected in the serum and various tissues of the vitamin E-deficient rats, but γ-tocopherol, α- and γ-tocotrienol were not detected. Ketoconazole decreased urinary excretion of 2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2(2′-carboxyethyl)-6-hydroxychroman after α-tocopherol or a tocotrienol mixture administration, and that of 2,7,8-trimethyl-2(2′-carboxyethyl)-6-hydroxychroman (γ-CEHC) after γ-tocopherol or a tocotrienol mixture administration. The γ-tocopherol, α- and γ-tocotrienol concentrations in the serum and various tissues at 24 h after their administration were elevated by ketoconazole, while the α-tocopherol concentration was not affected. The γ-tocopherol or γ-tocotrienol concentration in the jejunum at 3 h after each administration was also elevated by ketoconazole. In addition, significant amount of γ-CEHC was in the jejunum at 3 h after γ-tocopherol or γ-tocotrienol administration, and ketoconazole inhibited γ-tocopherol metabolism to γ-CEHC in the jejunum. These results showed that CYP-dependent metabolism of γ-tocopherol and tocotrienol is a critical determinant of their concentrations in the serum and tissues. The data also suggest that some amount of dietary vitamin E isoform is metabolized by a CYP-mediated pathway in the intestine during absorption.     

Four‐segment oscillator circuit for piezoelectric sensing devices

Novel circuit design is proposed for a low‐frequency quartz crystal oscillator circuit that consists of four segments. The characteristics of the negative resistance in a low‐frequency Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)‐inverter quartz oscillator were reviewed for the two modes of SC (stress‐compensated) cut mode and the overtone of low‐frequency mode; separation of two modes and suppression of overtone oscillation were demonstrated successfully. Experimental results and an estimate of the absolute value of the negative resistance are presented for the four‐segment oscillator circuit and the conventional Colpitts circuit and two new types of oscillator circuits. © 2011 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Contribution of brominated organic disinfection by-products to the mutagenicity of drinking water.

The activity inducing chromosomal aberrations of the mixture of brominated disinfection by-products (DBPs) was approximately three times higher than that of the chlorinated counterparts for the same hypohalous acid dose. With the combination of chromosomal aberration test and a new analytical technique to differentiate total organic chlorine (TOCl) and total organic bromine (TOBr), it was found that TOBr was correlated to the mutagenicity of chlorinated waters. It was also implied that for a bromide-to-TOC ratio of 0.1 (mg/mg C), brominated DBPs could account for at least 29% of the total toxicity of DBPs formed during chlorination. On the other hand, bromate ion, a major ozonation DBP, was not a major contributor to the activity inducing chromosomal aberrations of the water treated with an ozone/chlorine sequential process. Therefore, ozonation is one possible option to reduce the health risk caused by DBPs even in the presence of bromide.     

Numerical verification of a simplified model for vapor bubble lift-off from a hydrophilic heated flat-wall

Three-dimensional interface tracking simulations were carried out to investigate the role of surface tension force in the process of vapor bubble lift-off from a hydrophilic heated surface in nucleate boiling. Since bubbles are frequently flattened along the heated surface in photographic experiments reported in literature, a bubble was assumed to be spheroidal in shape in the initial condition. The effect of phase change at the bubble interface was not taken into consideration for the sake of simplicity. In the present numerical simulations, the initially spheroidal bubble approached the spherical shape due to the surface tension force and was eventually lifted off the surface. The change in bubble shape induced local liquid flow directing toward the bubble base, that was the direct cause of the occurrence of the bubble lift-off. The dependence of the bubble migration velocity on several important parameters including the bubble size, surface tension coefficient and the density of surrounding liquid was also investigated. The change in bubble shape from flattened to more rounded causes the reduction of the surface energy, while the formation of local liquid flow leads to an increase in the kinetic energy. It was demonstrated that the bubble migration velocity after the lift-off can successfully be interpreted from the standpoint of energy conservation during the lift-off process.     

Development of residential PEFC cogeneration systems: Ru catalyst for CO preferential oxidation in reformed gas

The performance of the novel Ru catalyst in a single-stage CO preferential oxidation removal reactor was investigated for residential polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) cogeneration systems. The outlet CO concentration of the CO removal reactor was reduced to less than 1 ppm even at [O₂]/[CO]=1.5. The natural gas fuel processor equipped with the CO removal reactor achieved the target thermal efficiency of 77% (LHV). Moreover, the durability of the Ru catalyst has been confirmed for more than 16,000 h at a micro-reactor and for more than 8000 h at an actual CO removal reactor. Because of the low O₂/CO molar ratio, the high CO removal conversion and the long-term durability, the Ru catalyst contributes to the development of residential PEFC cogeneration systems.     

A multi-modal dialogue analysis method for medical interviews based on design of interaction corpus

We propose a multi-modal dialogue analysis method for medical interviews that hierarchically interprets nonverbal interaction patterns in a bottom-up manner and simultaneously visualizes the topic structure. Our method aims to provide physicians with the clues generally overlooked by conventional dialogue analysis to form a cycle of dialogue practice and analysis. We introduce a motif and a pattern cluster in the designs of the hierarchical indices of interaction and exploit the Jensen–Shannon divergence (JSD) metric to reduce the number of usable indices. We applied the proposed interpretation method of interaction patterns to develop a corpus of interviews. The results of a summary reading experiment confirmed the validity of the developed indices. Finally, we discussed the integrated analysis of the topic structure and a nonverbal summary.