Biodiv: Business approach to protect biodiversity in agriculture

To make biodiversity as a standard for selection (purchase), Biodiv Inc. aims at balancing between biodiversity conservation and agricultural productivity that allows farmers to have economic profits

Introduction on atomic layer deposition for high-k dielectric & high mobility oxide semiconductor thin film transistors

Amorphous oxide semiconductors have been widely studied for the potential use in flat panel displays such as active matrix liquid crystal display (LCD) and Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Since reporting amorphous InGaZnO semiconductor thin film transistor (TFT) in 2003 & 2004, many multi-component oxide semiconductors have been intensively investigated and developed by reactive sputtering method. Very recently, the sputtered InGaZnO TFTs are already adopted in mass-production to fabricate AMOLED TVs. However, there remain several problems such as high mobility & stability issues. Also, virtual and argument reality (VR, AR) applications are rapidly emerging in display markets but the main issues are high resolution and low-voltage driving technologies. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Seismic evaluation of asymmetric wall systems using a modified three-dimensional capacity spectrum method

This paper proposes a modified three-dimensional capacity spectrum method to efficiently evaluate the seismic behavior of a building structure with asymmetric walls, where twisting is induced due to lateral loading. This method utilizes the demand surfaces and capacity curves that are created based on the inelastic earthquake response and seismic capacity of the asymmetric wall system, respectively. These two parameters are calculated from the displacement, torsional rotation angle and force coordinates of the structure under seismic loading. The seismic retrofit strategy of existing structures can be effectively determined by applying the proposed three-dimensional capacity spectrum method. In this procedure, a new performance point indicating the enhanced performance of the structure can be easily found by the modification of demand surfaces or capacity curves. The seismic evaluation and retrofitting strategies based on this approach are also discussed

Local Hall effect in hybrid ferromagnetic/semiconductor devices

We have investigated the magnetoresistance of ferromagnet-semiconductor devices in an InAs two-dimensional electron gas system in which the magnetic field has a sinusoidal profile. The magnetoresistance of our device is large. The longitudinal resistance has an additional contribution which is odd in applied magnetic field. It becomes even negative at low temperature where the transport is ballistic. Based on the numerical analysis, we confirmed that our data can be explained in terms of the local Hall effect due to the profile of negative and positive field regions. This device may be useful for future spintronic applications.Comment: 4 pages with 4 fugures. Accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letter

Enzymatic hydrolysate from velvet antler suppresses adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells and attenuates obesity in high-fat diet-fed mice

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the potential anti-obesity activity of an enzymatic hydrolysate of velvet antler in inhibiting adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells and in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice. The enzy- matic hydrolysate was prepared using the commercial food grade protease, Protamex. The velvet antler Protamex hydrolysate (VAPH) indicated profound inhibitory effects on adipogenesis dose-dependently by decreasing the accumulation of triglycerides and down-regulating expression levels of adipogenesis-related proteins C/EBPα, SREBP-1, and PPARγ. In a mouse model of HFD-induced obesity, oral administration of VAPH (100 and 300 mg/kg for 13 weeks) significantly reduced the body weight gain that had resulted from the HFD. VAPH treat- ment also lowered the serum glucose and triglyceride levels, while increasing the HDL-C level. Furthermore, the treatment greatly reduced hepatic lipid droplet accumulation as well as the size of adipocytes. Current findings H has profound anti-obesity effects and could be an effective candidate for preventing obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases