Development of miniature hydrophone with PZT flim deposited by hydrothermal method

Abstract -A needle type miniature hydrophone was developed by hydrothermally depositing PZT poly-crystal film with thickness of about 10µm on an end of a titanium wire with diameter of 0.3mm in this study. It is desirable that hydrophone should have as small shape as possible in order to avoid from disturbance in acoustic field by itself. Since the body of hydrophone developed in this study is a titanium wire with diameter of 0.3mm, disturbance in acoustic field measurement by our hydrophone can be reduced remarkably. It was confirmed that receiving sensitivity of our hydrophone was about -280 dB (0dB=1V/µPa) in frequency range from 1 MHz to 10 MHz

ひのき木綿と間伐材を用いた製品の開発に関する研究

兵庫県北播磨地域の代表的地場産業である先染綿織物（播州織）は外国製品との価格競争に巻き込まれて規模を大巾に削減している。また、北播磨は中国山地の東端に位置し、森林が多く林業が盛んであるが、安価な輸入木材との競争に立たされ、林業は停滞している。その結果、間伐がされず不健全な森林が増加し、間伐材の有効利用が求められている。本研究は、先染綿織物と林業という異なる地場産業を結びつけて、檜の間伐材のおが粉などを原綿に練り込んで「ひのき木綿」を開発し、檜の間伐材を利用した木工と融合させた地域の特色ある商品を開発し、「ひのき木綿」を地域の独自な商品として発信するためのブランディングを行ったものである。The traditional cotton textile industry (Bansyuori) ofthe Kita-Harima area in Hyogo markedly reducedproduction as a result of price competition with foreignproducts. In addition, Taka Town in the Kita-Harima area ? which is located at the eastern end of theChugoku mountain district and has many forests ?was prosperous in forestry, but the forestry industryhas stagnated from competition with low-pricedlumber imports. As a result, the amount of unhealthyforest has increased without lumbering and theutilization of lumbered wood is required.This study connected forestry as a local industry withthe cotton textile industry to develop “hinoki cotton” bymixing sawdust from lumbered hinoki wood with rawcotton. We planned to brand the “hinoki cotton” as alocal original product by fusing “hinoki” lumber withcotton

Optimization of prediction methods for risk assessment of pathogenic germline variants in the Japanese population

Predicting pathogenic germline variants (PGVs) in breast cancer patients is important for selecting optimal therapeutics and implementing risk reduction strategies. However, PGV risk factors and the performance of prediction methods in the Japanese population remain unclear. We investigated clinicopathological risk factors using the Tyrer-Cuzick (TC) breast cancer risk evaluation tool to predict BRCA PGVs in unselected Japanese breast cancer patients (n = 1, 995). Eleven breast cancer susceptibility genes were analyzed using target-capture sequencing in a previous study; the PGV prevalence in BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 was 0.75%, 3.1%, and 0.45%, respectively. Significant associations were found between the presence of BRCA PGVs and early disease onset, number of familial cancer cases (up to third-degree relatives), triple-negative breast cancer patients under the age of 60, and ovarian cancer history (all P < .0001). In total, 816 patients (40.9%) satisfied the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for recommending multigene testing. The sensitivity and specificity of the NCCN criteria for discriminating PGV carriers from noncarriers were 71.3% and 60.7%, respectively. The TC model showed good discrimination for predicting BRCA PGVs (area under the curve, 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.81). Furthermore, use of the TC model with an optimized cutoff of TC score ≥0.16% in addition to the NCCN guidelines improved the predictive efficiency for high-risk groups (sensitivity, 77.2%; specificity, 54.8%; about 11 genes). Given the influence of ethnic differences on prediction, we consider that further studies are warranted to elucidate the role of environmental and genetic factors for realizing precise prediction

Stability of O/W Emulsion with Synthetic Perfumes Oxidized by Singlet Oxygen

We prepared O/W emulsion composed of a synthetic perfume, n-dodecane, protoporphyrin IX disodium salt (PpIX-2Na), sodium dodecyl sulfate, and water and investigated oxidative decomposition of the synthetic perfume in the emulsion and change in the stability of the emulsion by singlet oxygen (1O2) generated by photosensitization of PpIX-2Na. We used eugenol, linalool, benzyl acetate, α-ionone, α-hexylcinnamaldehyde, and d-limonene as a synthetic perfume. The stability of the O/W emulation including eugenol and linalool significantly decreased with increasing light irradiation time. The decrease in the emulsion stability may be attributable to oxidative decomposition of eugenol and linalool by 1O2 and enlargement of the oil droplet size