Scalability of carbon-nanotube-based thin film transistors for flexible electronic devices manufactured using an all roll-to-roll gravure printing system.

To demonstrate that roll-to-roll (R2R) gravure printing is a suitable advanced manufacturing method for flexible thin film transistor (TFT)-based electronic circuits, three different nanomaterial-based inks (silver nanoparticles, BaTiO3 nanoparticles and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs)) were selected and optimized to enable the realization of fully printed SWNT-based TFTs (SWNT-TFTs) on 150-m-long rolls of 0.25-m-wide poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). SWNT-TFTs with 5 different channel lengths, namely, 30, 80, 130, 180, and 230 μm, were fabricated using a printing speed of 8 m/min. These SWNT-TFTs were characterized, and the obtained electrical parameters were related to major mechanical factors such as web tension, registration accuracy, impression roll pressure and printing speed to determine whether these mechanical factors were the sources of the observed device-to-device variations. By utilizing the electrical parameters from the SWNT-TFTs, a Monte Carlo simulation for a 1-bit adder circuit, as a reference, was conducted to demonstrate that functional circuits with reasonable complexity can indeed be manufactured using R2R gravure printing. The simulation results suggest that circuits with complexity, similar to the full adder circuit, can be printed with a 76% circuit yield if threshold voltage (Vth) variations of less than 30% can be maintained

POSITION OF AXIS FOR ROTATION AT THE INTERVERTEBRAL JOINT IN RATS

To elucidate whether the position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint is related to the spinal curvature, the authors investigated the spinal columns of rats. The spinal column of the rat was composed of 7 cervical, 13 thoracic, 6 lumbar, 4 sacral, and 27 coccygeal vertebrae. It was observed that the position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was shifted on the superior and inferior views of the 2nd thoracic vertebra and was next shifted on the superior and inferior views of the 10th thoracic vertebra. X-ray examination demonstrated that lordosis was seen in the cervical and lower 1umbar (L4-L6) spine, whereas kyphosis was seen in the thoracic and upper lumbar (Ll-L3) spine. The present study did not support the possibility that the position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was dorsal in the spinal site of lordosis, whereas it was ventral in the spinal site of kyphosis

SHIFT OF AXIAL POSITION FOR ROTATION AT THE INTERVERTEBRAL JOINT IN DOGS

To elucidate whether the position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint is related with the spinal curvature, the authors investigated the spinal columns of beagles. The spinal column of beagle was composed of 7 cervical, 13 thoracic, 7 lumbar, 3 sacral, and 19 coccygeal vertebrae. It was observed that the position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was shifted on the superior and inferior views of the 2nd thoracic vertebra and was next shifted on the superior and inferior views of the 10th thoracic vertebra. It was suggested that in the case of beagle and Wistar rat with 13 thoracic vertebrae, the upper shift of axial position for rotation at the intervertebral joint occurred on the superior and inferior views of the 2nd thoracic vertebra and the lower shift of axial position for rotation at the intervertebral joint occurred on the superior and inferior views of the 10th thoracic vertebra

母子分離ストレスが報酬探索行動に及ぼす影響と側坐核におけるドーパミンD1受容体のDNAのメチル化機構を介した発現変化について

Early-life stress has long-lasting effects on the stress response, emotions, and behavior throughout an individual’s life. Clinical reports have demonstrated that child abuse victims exhibit impairments in reward-associated behavior; yet, the mechanism for this effect remains unclear. Maternal separation (MS) or MS coupled with social isolation (SI) (MS + SI) is widely used as a model for early-life stress in rodent studies. We employed mice subjected to MS + SI to clarify the long-term effect of early-life stress on reward-seeking involving palatable foods by a conditioned place-preference (CPP) paradigm. Prior MS + SI experience decreased exploration time in a chocolate-paired compartment in adult female mice, but not in male mice. We then focused on the mesolimbic dopamine pathway associated with reward-seeking behavior and measured both mRNA and protein levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). MS + SI female mice had significantly lower D1 receptor mRNA and protein levels than controls, whereas the expression of TH and the D2 receptor was similar in the 2 groups. All mRNA and protein levels were unchanged in MS + SI male mice. When attempting to elucidate the mechanism underlying downregulation of the D1 receptor in the NAc of MS + SI females, we found hypermethylation of the Drd1a promoter region. These results suggest that early-life stress affects reward-seeking behavior in female mice, which may be associated with the downregulation of D1 receptor in the NAc via epigenetic modification of its promoter region.博士（医学）・甲第672号・平成29年6月28日Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Search for Anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with the Telescope Array Experiment

We study the anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) events collected by the Telescope Array (TA) detector in the first 40 months of operation. Following earlier studies, we examine event sets with energy thresholds of 10 EeV, 40 EeV, and 57 EeV. We find that the distributions of the events in right ascension and declination are compatible with an isotropic distribution in all three sets. We then compare with previously reported clustering of the UHECR events at small angular scales. No significant clustering is found in the TA data. We then check the events with E>57 EeV for correlations with nearby active galactic nuclei. No significant correlation is found. Finally, we examine all three sets for correlations with the large-scale structure of the Universe. We find that the two higher-energy sets are compatible with both an isotropic distribution and the hypothesis that UHECR sources follow the matter distribution of the Universe (the LSS hypothesis), while the event set with E>10 EeV is compatible with isotropy and is not compatible with the LSS hypothesis at 95% CL unless large deflection angles are also assumed. We show that accounting for UHECR deflections in a realistic model of the Galactic magnetic field can make this set compatible with the LSS hypothesis.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

CORRELATIONS OF THE ARRIVAL DIRECTIONS OF ULTRA-HIGH ENERGY COSMIC RAYS WITH EXTRAGALACTIC OBJECTS AS OBSERVED BY THE TELESCOPE ARRAY EXPERIMENT

We search for correlations between the positions of extragalactic objects and the arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with primary energy E ??? 40 EeV as observed by the surface detector array of the Telescope Array (TA) experiment during the first 40 months of operation. We examine several public astronomical object catalogs, including the Veron-Cetty and Veron catalog of active galactic nuclei. We count the number of TA events correlated with objects in each catalog as a function of three parameters: the maximum angular separation between a TA event and an object, the minimum energy of the events, and the maximum redshift of the objects. We determine the combination of these parameters that maximizes the correlations, and we calculate the probability of having the same levels of correlations from an isotropic distribution of UHECR arrival directions. No statistically significant correlations are found when penalties for scanning over the above parameters and for searching in several catalogs are taken into account.open4

A NORTHERN SKY SURVEY FOR POINT-LIKE SOURCES OF EeV NEUTRAL PARTICLES WITH THE TELESCOPE ARRAY EXPERIMENT

We report on the search for steady point-like sources of neutral particles around 10(18) eV between 2008 and 2013 May with the scintillator SD of the Telescope Array experiment. We found overall no significant point-like excess above 0.5 EeV in the northern sky. Subsequently, we also searched for coincidence with the Fermi bright Galactic sources. No significant coincidence was found within the statistical uncertainty. Hence, we set an upper limit on the neutron flux that corresponds to an averaged flux of 0.07 km(-2) yr(-1) for E > 1 EeV in the northern sky at the 95% confidence level. This is the most stringent flux upper limit in a northern sky survey assuming point-like sources. The upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the neutron flux from Cygnus X-3 is also set to 0.2 km(-2) yr(-1) for E > 0.5 EeV. This is an order of magnitude lower than previous flux measurementsopen0

AXIS FOR ROTATION AT THE INTERVERTEBRAL JOINT IN JAPANESE MONKEYS

The position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was investigated using ten Japanese monkeys. The position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was shifted from dorsal to ventral direction on the superior and inferior views of the 1st thoracic vertebra and was next shifted from ventral to dorsal direction on the superior and inferior views of the 10th thoracic vertebra, with some exceptions. X-ray examination demonstrated that in the Japanese monkeys, lordosis was seen in both the cervical and lower lumbar(L5-L7) spine, whereas kyphosis was seen in the thoracic and upper lumbar (L1-L4) spine. Therefore, the possibility that the position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was related to the curvature of the spinal column was not supported by the present study

AXIS FOR ROTATION AT THE INTERVERTEBRAL JOINT IN JAPANESE MONKEYS

The position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was investigated using ten Japanese monkeys. The position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was shifted from dorsal to ventral direction on the superior and inferior views of the 1st thoracic vertebra and was next shifted from ventral to dorsal direction on the superior and inferior views of the 10th thoracic vertebra, with some exceptions. X-ray examination demonstrated that in the Japanese monkeys, lordosis was seen in both the cervical and lower lumbar(L5-L7) spine, whereas kyphosis was seen in the thoracic and upper lumbar (L1-L4) spine. Therefore, the possibility that the position of axis for rotation at the intervertebral joint was related to the curvature of the spinal column was not supported by the present study