“Media for Capability” of Children with Disabilities: Development of the Japanese Augmentative Alternative Communication App by Tablet for Persons with Hard of Hearing

Over the past few decades, a considerable number of studies have been conducted on the communication for persons with Hard of hearing and Deaf in Japan. But little attention has been given to the take advantage of Information Technology devices to support the communication for Hard of hearing children. \ \ By the way, the present study analyses in greater detail the survey results summarized in the importance of the “Tablet-Media”. We discuss our communication assist software to express texts and images by Android application for children with Hard of hearing. In this paper, this app is analyzed using the “Capability theory” with emphasis on the power of self-expression and the right to self-determination of persons with disabilities. \ \ The results of our performance tests showed that our system was very helpful in order to provide their “Capability” for Hard of hearing children. We suggest the potential to combine our App is what we should call “Media for Capability” of communication in children with hard of hearing

Crystal Growth of Bi2_{2}Sr2_{2}CaCu2_{2}O8+δ_{8+{\delta}} Whiskers from Pulverized Amorphous Precursors

High-transition temperature superconducting whiskers of Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+{\delta}}$ were successfully grown from pulverized amorphous precursors. The obtained whiskers revealed a typical composition and diffraction patterns of a superconducting Bi-2212 phase. The whiskers from tiny precursors exhibit a spiral feature, suggesting a contribution from the growth mechanism of both vapor-liquid-solid and compressive stress models. The proposed method provides longer whiskers against the growth period, compared with that from conventional root-growth method

Data-driven Exploration of New Pressure-induced Superconductivity in PbBi2_2Te4_4 with Two Transition Temperatures

Candidates compounds for new thermoelectric and superconducting materials, which have narrow band gap and flat bands near band edges, were exhaustively searched by the high-throughput first-principles calculation from an inorganic materials database named AtomWork. We focused on PbBi$_2$Te$_4$ which has the similar electronic band structure and the same crystal structure with those of a pressure-induced superconductor SnBi2Se4 explored by the same data-driven approach. The PbBi$_2$Te$_4$ was successfully synthesized as single crystals using a melt and slow cooling method. The core level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed Pb2+, Bi3+ and Te2- valence states in PbBi$_2$Te$_4$. The thermoelectric properties of the PbBi$_2$Te$_4$ sample were measured at ambient pressure and the electrical resistivity was also evaluated under high pressure using a diamond anvil cell with boron-doped diamond electrodes. The resistivity decreased with increase of the pressure, and two pressure-induced superconducting transitions were discovered at 3.4 K under 13.3 GPa and at 8.4 K under 21.7 GPa. The data-driven approach shows promising power to accelerate the discovery of new thermoelectric and superconducting materials

Direct Patterning of Boron-doped Amorphous Carbon Using Focused Ion Beam-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition

The deposition of boron-doped amorphous carbon thin films on SiO2 substrate was achieved via a focused ion beam-assisted chemical vapor deposition of triphenyl borane (C18H15B) and triphenyl borate (C18H15BO3). The existence of boron in the deposited film from triphenyl borane, with a precursor temperature of 90 {\deg}C, was confirmed by a core level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The film exhibited a semiconducting behavior with a band gap of 285 meV. Although the band gap was decreased to 197 meV after an annealing process, the film was still semiconductor. Additionally, a drastic reduction of the resistance on the deposited film by applying pressures was observed from an in-situ electrical transport measurements using a diamond anvil cell