Partially-disordered photonic-crystal thin films for enhanced and robust photovoltaics

We present a general framework for the design of thin-film photovoltaics based on a partially-disordered photonic crystal that has both enhanced absorption for light trapping and reduced sensitivity to the angle and polarization of incident radiation. The absorption characteristics of different lattice structures are investigated as an initial periodic structure is gradually perturbed. We find that an optimal amount of disorder controllably introduced into a multi-lattice photonic crystal causes the characteristic narrow-band, resonant peaks to be broadened resulting in a device with enhanced and robust performance ideal for typical operating conditions of photovoltaic applications.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Upper Bound Theory for Deformation of Porous Materials

A porous material is idealized in such a way that it possesses an identical yield surface for any volume element throughout the material during a deformation processing. This makes it possible to derive an upper bound theorem on the basis of the plasticity theory for porous metals already proposed by the authors. The theorem is utilized to estimate extrusion pressures and the final density ratios for given initial densities. The estimated values agree well with experimental data. An alternative way of deriving an upper bound to the load is also presented on a modified yield criterion for porous metals

Ultra‐Narrowband Blue Multi‐Resonance Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials

Ultra-narrowband blue multi-resonance-induced thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) materials (V-DABNA and V-DABNA-F), consisting of three DABNA subunits possessing phenyl or 2, 6-difluorophenyl substituents on the peripheral nitrogen atoms are synthesized by one-shot triple borylation. Benefiting from the inductive effect of fluorine atoms, the emission maximum of V-DABNA-F (464 nm) is blueshifted from that of the parent V-DABNA (481 nm), while maintaining a small full width at half maximum (FWHM, 16 nm) and a high rate constant for reverse intersystem crossing (6.5 × 10⁵ s⁻¹). The organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using V-DABNA and V-DABNA-F as emitters are fabricated by vapor deposition and exhibit blue emission at 483 and 468 nm with small FWHMs of 17 and 15 nm, corresponding to Commission Internationale d’Éclairage coordinates of (0.09, 0.27) and (0.12, 0.10), respectively. Both devices achieve high external quantum efficiencies of 26.2% and 26.6% at the maximum with minimum efficiency roll-offs of 0.9% and 3.2%, respectively, even at 1000 cd m⁻², which are record-setting values for blue MR-TADF OLEDs

MT neurons in the macaque exhibited two types of bimodal direction tuning as predicted by a model for visual motion detection

AbstractWe previously proposed a model for detecting local image velocity on the magnocellular visual pathway (Kawakami & Okamoto (1996) Vision Research, 36, 117–147). The model detects visual motion in two stages using the hierarchical network that includes component and pattern cells in area MT. To validate the model, we predicted two types of bimodal direction tuning for MT neurons. The first type is characteristic of component cells. The tuning is bimodal when stimulated with high-speed spots, but unimodal for low-speed spots or for bars. The interval between the two peaks widens as the spot’s speed increases. The second type is characteristic of pattern cells. The tuning is bimodal when stimulated with low-speed bars, but unimodal for high-speed bars or for spots. The interval widens as the bar’s speed decreases. To confirm this prediction, we studied the change of direction tuning curves for moving spots and bars in area MT of macaque monkeys. Out of 35 neurons measured at various speeds, six component cells and four pattern cells revealed the predicted bimodal tunings. This result provided neurophysiological support for the validity of the model. We believe ours is the first systematic study that records the two types of bimodality in MT neurons

Somatotopic distortion of tactile temporal interval estimation

Abstract: Tactile timing mechanism, which is essential for accurate response to the external environment, has to compensate for the distortions of neural timing signals. Specifically, signals come from the distributed peripheral receptors and the body parts move dynamically in a space. Since an accurate visual timing encoding lacks the precision when using two widely separated photoreceptors, here we studied on how the tactile timing is encoded in relation to two distance; somatotopic representation, defined by cortical topography, and spatiotopic representation, defined in the physical world. We performed 1 second tactile interval estimation experiments, in which the spatial distance of the two stimuli was systematically changed in somatotopic and spatiotopic representations and compared. Our results showed that somatotopic nerve distance, not real-world physical distance, plays a dominant role in the tactile timing estimations

Is it practical to determine the therapeutic strategy for breast cancer by evaluating pathological findings in core needle biopsy specimens?

Background; Core needle biopsy (CNB) specimens have been widely used not only for the diagnosis of breast cancer, but also for assessing biomarkers, including lymphovascular invasion (ly and v), nuclear grading, the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) and Ki-67. We herein compared the pathological biomarkers of ER+/HER2- invasive breast cancers in CNB with those in the subsequent surgical specimens.　Methods; Patients with ER+/HER2- invasive breast cancer who presented to our department from August 2011 to July 2013 who had CNB and subsequent surgery were included. Lymphovascular invasion (ly, v) and nuclear grading were determined by hematoxylin and eosin staining, and the ER, PgR, HER-2, and Ki-67 status were evaluated by immunohistochemistry.　Results; The concordance rates between CNB and surgical specimens for the ly, v, nuclear grading, ER and PgR were 2.4%, 2.9%, 63.0%, 96.4% and 82.1%, respectively. Lymphovascular invasion and nuclear grading tended to be underestimated with CNB in discordant cases. The Ki-67 labeling index in CNB specimens was strongly correlated with that in surgical specimens (correlation coefficient 0.75, p<0.0001). Consequently, there was a reasonable level of agreement between CNB and surgical specimens for surrogate subtyping (82.1%).　Conclusions; CNB provided reliable information on the expression of hormone receptors, Ki-67 in ER+/HER2- invasive breast cancers. However, because of the substantial discordance between CNB and surgical specimens, the status of lymphovascular invasion and nuclear grading should not be concluded based on CNB specimens

Macrophage-dominant sialadenitis in human T-cell leukemia virus type I-associated myelopathy after living-donor liver transplantation.

A 64-year-old man who suffered from human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated myelopathy (HAM) after living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus infection complained of xerostomia. Although exocrine function test results were positive, autoantibodies including anti-SS-A/SS-B antibodies and sialography showed negative findings. Labial salivary gland biopsy revealing infiltration of 60 counts of mononuclear cells (MNCs) in minor salivary glands led to a diagnosis of Sjögren\u27s syndrome-like sialadenitis. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated dominant CD68 staining and major histocompatibility complex class II on the surface of infiltrating MNCs. Herein we have reported a rare condition of macrophage-dominant sialadenitis in a patient with HAM after LDLT

病原性 Candida 酵母から調製した粗抽出物の 1H-NMR 分析によって得られる細胞壁ﾏﾝﾅﾝの構造情報について

病原性 Candida 酵母の乾燥菌体から精製されたﾏﾝﾅﾝのﾌﾟﾛﾄﾝ核磁気共鳴(1H-NMR)分析(測定温度45℃)において､ﾏﾝﾉｰｽ残基に基づくｱﾉﾒﾘｯｸﾌﾟﾛﾄﾝｼｸﾞﾅﾙ領域(4.5～6.0ppm)に観察されるｼｸﾞﾅﾙは極めて明瞭であった｡一方､同一酵母の粗抽出物の 1H-NMR 分析(測定温度70℃)におけるこの領域のｼｸﾞﾅﾙは､僅かに不明瞭な部分が観察されるものの､ほぼ精製ﾏﾝﾅﾝに匹敵するｼｸﾞﾅﾙﾊﾟﾀｰﾝを観察することができた｡従って､酵母細胞壁ﾏﾝﾅﾝの化学構造に関して､ﾏﾝﾅﾝを精製する前段階である粗抽出物の NMR 分析によって､精製ﾏﾝﾅﾝの NMR 分析とほぼ同等の情報が得られることが明らかになった｡In the measurement of 1H-NMR of purified mannan obtained from dried cells of pathogenic Candida yeast, the extremely clear signal is observed anomeric proton region(4.5～6.0ppm)based on mannose residues. On the other hand, in the 1H-NMR analysis of the crude extract obtained from the same yeast, part obscured slightly observed, but the signal pattern equivalent to purified mannan substantially was observed. Therefore, it was demonstrated that 1H-NMR analysis of the crude extract obtained in the previous step of purification of mannan give the rough information for the chemical structure of the yeast cell wall mannan