EVALUATION OF VISCOSITY OF MOLTEN SLAGS IN BLAST FURNACE OPRATION

Science and Technology of Innovative Ironmaking for aiming at Energy Half ConsumptionNovember 27 to 28, 2003　Tokyo, JapanMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology（MEXT

Growth-associated emergence of spontaneous magnetization in Al-doped Cr2O3 thin film

Tada T., Sakurai H., Toyoki K., et al. Growth-associated emergence of spontaneous magnetization in Al-doped Cr2O3 thin film. Acta Materialia 274, 120027 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2024.120027.Development of antiferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic materials has been an area of active pursuit to advance the antiferromagnetic/ferrimagnetic spintronics. In this paper, we investigated the emergence of the spontaneous magnetization MS in the antiferromagnetic Cr2O3 thin film by the Al substitution. In the case of the (Cr1-xAlx)2O3(0001) thin films, MS increases with increasing Al composition x up to x ∼0.21. The magnitude of MS decreases abruptly for x > 0.22, accompanied with the collapse of the crystal formation. We found that the induction of the spontaneous magnetization was highly associated with the growth process. The magnitude of MS depends on the growth direction of the film: MS at 10 K for x = 0.13±0.01 is 80 kA/m, 30 kA/m and 0 kA/m for (0001), (011¯2) and (112¯0) films, respectively. The difference in MS with the growth direction is relevant to the magnetic sublattice selective substitution of Al during the thin film growth. This specific substitution occurs in the growth plane having the layer-by-layer stacking of the magnetic sublattice, which was verified by the direct observations using the scanning transmission electron microscope

Dietary Pattern and Metabolic Syndrome

Background: Nutrients have been proposed to be related to metabolic syndrome (MetS). The aims of this study were to identify dietary patterns that correlated with several nutrients using reduced rank regression (RRR) and to examine the association between extracted dietary patterns and prevalence of MetS in a Japanese population. Methods: The study population comprised 1,092 Japanese men and women (35–69 years old) who had participated in the baseline survey of the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study in Tokushima Prefecture. Dietary patterns were derived with RRR using 46 food items as predictors and six established nutrients (potassium, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin C, insoluble dietary fiber, and carotene) as response variables. Associations between extracted dietary patterns and MetS were then examined with logistic regression models. Results: Among the six dietary patterns, dietary pattern 1 (DP1) explained the largest proportion (60.1%) of variance in the six nutrients. Therefore, only DP1 was selected for further analysis. DP1 was characterized by high intake frequency of vegetables, fruits, fish and small fish, natto (fermented soybeans), and deep-fried tofu. After adjustment for potential confounders, significant inverse associations were found between DP1 score and MetS (odds ratio [OR] for each quartile: 1.00, 0.58, 0.60, 0.52; Ptrend = 0.02); DP1 and high blood pressure (Ptrend = 0.0002); and DP1 and high blood glucose (Ptrend = 0.02). Conclusion: A dietary pattern characterized by high intake of vegetables, fruits, fish and small fish, natto, and deep-fried tofu was associated with reduced prevalence of MetS in a Japanese population

Neural mechanisms of interstimulus interval-dependent responses in the primary auditory cortex of awake cats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Primary auditory cortex (AI) neurons show qualitatively distinct response features to successive acoustic signals depending on the inter-stimulus intervals (ISI). Such ISI-dependent AI responses are believed to underlie, at least partially, categorical perception of click trains (elemental vs. fused quality) and stop consonant-vowel syllables (eg.,/da/-/ta/continuum).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Single unit recordings were conducted on 116 AI neurons in awake cats. Rectangular clicks were presented either alone (single click paradigm) or in a train fashion with variable ISI (2–480 ms) (click-train paradigm). Response features of AI neurons were quantified as a function of ISI: one measure was related to the degree of stimulus locking (temporal modulation transfer function [tMTF]) and another measure was based on firing rate (rate modulation transfer function [rMTF]). An additional modeling study was performed to gain insight into neurophysiological bases of the observed responses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the click-train paradigm, the majority of the AI neurons ("synchronization type"; <it>n </it>= 72) showed stimulus-locking responses at long ISIs. The shorter cutoff ISI for stimulus-locking responses was on average ~30 ms and was level tolerant in accordance with the perceptual boundary of click trains and of consonant-vowel syllables. The shape of tMTF of those neurons was either band-pass or low-pass. The single click paradigm revealed, at maximum, four response periods in the following order: 1st excitation, 1st suppression, 2nd excitation then 2nd suppression. The 1st excitation and 1st suppression was found exclusively in the synchronization type, implying that the temporal interplay between excitation and suppression underlies stimulus-locking responses. Among these neurons, those showing the 2nd suppression had band-pass tMTF whereas those with low-pass tMTF never showed the 2nd suppression, implying that tMTF shape is mediated through the 2nd suppression. The recovery time course of excitability suggested the involvement of short-term plasticity. The observed phenomena were well captured by a single cell model which incorporated AMPA, GABA_A, NMDA and GABA_Breceptors as well as short-term plasticity of thalamocortical synaptic connections.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, it was suggested that ISI-dependent responses of the majority of AI neurons are configured through the temporal interplay of excitation and suppression (inhibition) along with short-term plasticity.</p