Table of contents

The Irago Conference 2012 – 360 degree outlook on critical scientific and technological challenges for a sustainable society

Organized by the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS) at Toyohashi University of Technology, the Irago Conference, held recently (15–16 November) in Aichi, Japan, aimed to enhance mutual understanding between scientists, engineers and policymakers. Over 180 participants tackled topics ranging from energy and natural resources to public health and disaster prevention.

The 360-degree outlook of the conference impressed speakers and guests. ''This conference has been extremely informative,'' noted Robert Gellar from the University of Tokyo. ''A unique conference with experts from a range of backgrounds,'' agreed Uracha Ruktanonchai from the National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) in Thailand.

Similarly, G P Li, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California Irvine commented that he had been ''able to think the unthinkable'' as a range of topics came together. The conference was streamed live on Ustream to ensure that researchers from across the world could benefit from thought-provoking presentations examining global issues such as energy, disaster mitigation and nanotechnology.

''This was wonderful,'' said Oussama Khatib from Stanford University, ''A good recipe of speakers from such a range of backgrounds.'' Manuscripts submitted to the organizers were peer-reviewed, and the papers in this proceedings were accepted for Journal of Physics: Conference Series.

In addition to the formal speaker programme, graduate-student sessions provided a platform for graduate students to describe their latest findings as oral presentations. A series of excursions to relevant locations, such as the Tahara megasolar region under construction and a local car-manufacturing factory, gave participants the opportunity to further consider practical applications of their research in industry.

Irago Conference 2013 is scheduled to be held in October 2013 as a platform for participants from a wide range of backgrounds and specialities to interact and discuss solutions to increasingly important environmental, social, and technological challenges people of the 21st century.

All papers published in this volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the proceedings Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.

The study of new materials for transparent electrodes or new heterojunctions made of 2D materials combinations is a very active research topic. Challenges to overcome are the modulation of the optoelectronic properties of such materials to achieve competitive photovoltaic devices. In this work, graphene oxide was reduced into graphene through different chemical (hydrazine, ultraviolet photocatalysis) and biological (microorganisms) processes. W e benchmarked the reduction efficiency by probing materials characteristics using various physical characterization techniques. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses were carried out to observe the effectiveness of the reduction processes through the sp²/sp³ content. In addition, the homogeneity of the reduction is investigated on micrometer scale sample with micro Raman mapping and extraction of the I_D/I_G ratio. Conductive-probe atomic force microscopy (CP-AFM) was employed to investigate the longitudinal conductivity of the different samples. The results show that hydrazine based reduction remains the most efficient. However, the bacterial procedure demonstrated partial reconstruction of the carbon network and reduced the amount of oxygenated functional groups.

Graphene shows promise for applications in flexible electronics. Here, we describe our procedure to transfer graphene grown on copper substrates by chemical vapor deposition to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and SiO₂/Si surfaces. The transfer of graphene was achieved by a simple, etching-free method onto flexible PDMS substrates.

We report a facile method for the synthesis of graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) from a carbon rod. GNPs were produced by vacuum filtration of a suspension obtained from electrochemically exfoliated carbon rods. The resulting GNPs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. GNPs had sizes of 40–170 nm, thickness of 2.8–5.8 nm and were well dispersed in dimethyl sulfoxide. We discuss a possible mechanism for the formation of GNPs in our experiments.

Endohedral metallofullerenes based on encapsulated nitride scandium cluster within C₈₀ fullerene cage with trifluoromethyl group of CF₃ were characterized as a candidate model for controlling nuclear spin gate in NMR quantum computers. Effects of yttrium in nitride scandium cluster of Sc₃N within the fullerene cage with trifluoromethyl group on electronic structures and magnetic properties were investigated. Electronic structure and chemical shifts in ⁴⁵Sc, ⁸⁹Y, ¹⁹F, ¹³C and ¹⁴N atoms were calculated by quantum calculation using density functional theory. Addition of yttrium in nitride scandium cluster of Sc₃N within the fullerene cage provided a different position of chemical shift in ⁴⁵Sc, ⁸⁹Y, ¹⁹F, ¹³C and ¹⁴N atoms. This result was originated in magnetic interaction with spin-local interaction, dipole-dipole interaction and nuclear quadrupole interaction based on nuclear quadrupole moment and asymmetry of electron field gradient with a bias value of charge and spin density distribution of spd-hybrid orbital by inductive effect.

Magnetic properties of endohedral metallofullerene based on asymmetric triyttrium cluster of Y₃N within azafullerene cage of C₇₉N were studied to control spin-flop of nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computer. Difference of nuclear magnetic resonance peaks were exerted by symmetry of structure, electron density distribution and magnetic interaction. In the present calculation, magnetic properties of Y₃N@C₈₀, (Y₃N@C₈₀)⁻¹, Y₃N@C₈₀ (CF₃)₂, Y₃N@C₇₉N and (C₇₉N)⁺¹ were compared for spin controlling in nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computers. The chemical shift of Y₃N@C₇₉N appeared the highest magnetic field side. Difference of electron density and magnetic parameters are cause of this result. The chemical shift of Y₃N@C₈₀ (CF₃)₂ had the widest peak in all of samples. Substituent groups of (CF₃)₂ caused the wide peaks by breaking symmetry of the an fullerene cages. The effect of difference of fullerene cage was shown in NMR chemical shift.

Optical waveguides with nanometer diameters are needed to realize nanometer-scaled optical circuits, which promise high-speed and high-capacity information processing. In this work, we fabricate polymer nanofibers with uniform diameters, containing an organic dye. Fluorescence microscopy observations and photoluminescence measurements demonstrate optical waveguiding in the nanofiber.

Fullerene C₆₀ thin films were successfully fabricated on the surface of amino-substituted substrates via a reaction between C₆₀ and an NH₂ group of 1,2-diaminoethane (DAE) using simple immersion processes. The maximum thicknesses of the fullerene assembled films increased with the number of immersions into the fullerene solution. Layered fullerenes were obtained by a series of repeated processes. The aggregated C₆₀ thin films were evaluated using transmission absorption measurements, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. These analyses suggest the presence of C₆₀-DAE aggregates on the substrates.

PtRu catalysts were supported on five types of carbon nanomaterials of various shapes, sizes, and graphitic properties and the catalyst supports evaluated. The carbon nanomaterial used included three types of nanoparticles: Arc Black (AcB), Vulcan XC-72 (Vulcan) and graphene oxide (GO), and two types of nanofibers: carbon nanocoil (CNC) and carbon nanotube (CNT). Pt and Ru were supported by the reduction method using sodium borohydride. The metal catalyst loading was confirmed by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and XRD revealed that the diameter of PtRu catalyst nanoparticles loaded on reduced GO (rGO) and AcB were ~2 nm and was the smallest among all the samples. Shifts in Pt (111) XRD peaks of CNC and CNT were larger than those of AcB, Vulcan, and rGO. These results suggest that the diameters of catalyst nanoparticles became smaller by loading on the carbon nanoparticles with a large surface area including rGO, AcB, and Vulcan. Loading onto the carbon nanofibers enhanced the degree of PtRu alloying.

This paper describes the evaluation method of the mechanical properties of the materials constituting organic semiconductor, and the test result of the relation between applied strain and the fracture of thin films. The final target of this work is the improvement of flexibility of organic light emitting diode(OLED), the tensile test of the thin films coated on flexible substrate is conducted, and the vulnerable parts of the constituent material of the OLED is quantitatively understood, further the guideline for designing OLED structure will be obtained. In the present paper, tensile test of an aluminium oxide thin films deposited on a poly-ethylene-tere-phtalate (PET) substrate was carried out under constant conditions, the following results were obtained:(1)Cracking of the aluminium oxide thin films was observed using an optical transparent formula microscope at more than 40 times magnification; (2)Cracking was initiated at a strain of about 3%; (3)the number of cracks increased proportional to the strain, and saturated at about 9% strain; (4)Organic thin films α-NPD caused the same cracking as oxide thin films.

In this study, C₆₀ fullerene–ethylenediamine adduct microparticles were prepared. Mixture films of these microparticles and polythiophene were fabricated on indium–tin-oxide transparent electrodes by spin-coating. Incorporation of C₆₀–ethylenediamine microparticles was verified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. The coverage values of these microparticles were approximately 3–17%, which were calculated from SEM images of modified electrodes. Fluorescence spectra of modified electrodes indicated that the emission intensity of polythiophene in these mixture films was apparently quenched by these C₆₀–ethylenediamine microparticles as compared with a polythiophene film without these microparticles. In the presence of methylviologen, these modified electrodes generated stable photocurrent. The photoexciting species was polythiophene, which was verified by profiles of photocurrent action spectra. The C₆₀–ethylenediamine microparticles substantially enhanced the photocurrent signals generated by the polythiophene-modified electrode.

Low temperature Hall effect measurements were carried on AlGaN/GaN micro-Hall effect sensors before and after irradiation with 380 keV and fluence of 10¹⁴ protons/cm² protons. The sheet electron density after irradiation did not show significant changes but there was a dramatic decrease in the electron mobility of the heterostructures. Prior to irradiation, the observation of well-defined Landau plateaus in the Hall resistance and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations (SdH) at 4.5 T was indicative of the high quality the heterojunction confining the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the AlGaN/GaN interface of micro-Hall effect sensors. In contrast, the Landau plateaus disappeared after irradiation and the threshold magnetic field required for the observation of the SdH increased, which was accompanied by a decrease of the electron mobility. Temperature dependent magnetoresistance measurements were used to deduce the effective mass and the quantum scattering time before irradiation. A negative magnetoresistance was observed at low magnetic fields which is related to weak localization and parabolic negative magnetoresistance attributed to electron-electron interaction in both samples.

A tactile sensor called Carbon Micro Coil (CMC) touch sensor was developed by CMC Technology Development Co., Ltd. The sensor's elements used in the experiments of this paper are made of silicon rubber containing CMCs several micrometers in diameter. One of the elements is molded into a square 30 mm on a side and 3 mm thick; the other is a dome 16 mm in diameter and 2 mm height. CMCs in the sensor element contribute to the electrical conductivity and the sensor element is considered to constitute an LCR circuit. When an object approaches to the sensor element or the sensor element is deformed mechanically, the impedance changes, and the CMC sensor detects the impedance changes by measuring the modulation of amplitude and phase of an input excitation signal to the sensor element. The CMC sensor also creates voltage signals of the R- and LC-components separately according to the amplitude and phase modulation. In this paper, the characteristics of the CMC sensor with respect to its proximity and force senses are investigated. First, the output of the CMC sensor with the square-shaped sensor element is measured when an object approaches to the sensor element. Next, the output of the CMC sensor with the dome-shaped sensor element is measured when fine deformations of 1 to 5 μm are applied to the sensor element under variable compression force. The results suggest that the CMC sensor can measure the force variance applied to the sensor element as well as the distance between the sensor element and an object.

In this paper, visualization of flowing current in various braided carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) was demonstrated using high-temperature superconductor (HTS) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) gradiometer, in order to study electrical properties and integrity of the braided CFRP samples. Step-by-step tensile loading was also applied to the samples, in order to study their mechanical properties and destructive mechanism. Experimental results indicated that the addition of carbon nano fibers and middle-end carbon fiber bundles attributed to modify not only the mechanical properties, but also the electrical properties of the samples. Combining the results by the both methods, a scenario of the destructive mechanism of one sample was estimated.

Bioactuators are an attractive alternative for mechanical components of MEMS devices. We propose a flow-switching device active to calcium ion based on bioactuator of Vorticella. We develop a fundamental procedure for immobilization of Vorticella in a microfluidic chamber and control of contraction and extension of stalks. Cells were trapped in microfluidic chambers and allowed to adhere. After treatment of cells, stalks were contracted and extended by injecting solutions. Flow speed changed during the motion. Our developed method presents a strategy for application of bioactuator.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake, the saving energy became the one of the most important issues. Especially, saving the electrical power for air-conditioning at summer time is a problem of great urgency. We have been developing the ejector refrigeration system which can improve coefficient of performance of refrigeration systems by converting exhausted expansion energy into useful pressure energy. The performance of the ejector is greatly affected by the pressure recovery at the mixing section in the ejector. It is elucidated by our recent research on the carbon dioxide refrigeration cycle that the pressure recovery at the ejector is performed by oblique shock waves appeared in the mixing section. The purpose of this research is to clarify the characteristics of the two-phase flow oblique shock waves in the supersonic carbon dioxide two-phase flow. It is shown by the theoretical analyses that the two types of oblique shock waves occur on the supersonic two-phase flow. One is the week shock wave behind of which the flow is still a subsonic state. The other is the strong oblique shock wave which has a large pressure recovery. And the experimental research also carried out by using the carbon dioxide two-phase flow channel. The theoretical results are compared with the experiment.

In this paper, in order to optimize the heat transfer structure of LED light bulb, the effects of various parameters on the temperature of the LED device were systematically analyzed, and a design guideline was shown. Although LED device has become popular due to its high-efficiency and long life, the design issues on the heat transfer structure of LED light bulbs has still remained. Because the original efficiency and life of the LED device can not be obtained due to the local temperature rise of LED element and the surrounding polymer molding material. Therefore, heat transfer analysis by finite element method was conducted systematically by changing parameters such as the shape, number and thickness of the radiating fin of the LED. As a result, advantage of open type structure was shown, and the proper design guidance for the structure of the fin shape was obtained.

In this study, we report ferroelectric and pyroelectric properties of (Na_0.5Bi_0.5)TiO₃-BaTiO₃ (NBT-BT) thin films on Si substrates using chemical solution deposition for the first time. The NBT-BT thin films deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates have exhibited a typical hysteresis loop with remnant polarization of 5 μC/cm² and coercive field of 80 kV/cm. Furthermore NBT-BT films showed pyroelectricity with pyroelectric coefficient of 0.6×10⁻⁸ C/cm²K. Monolithic-integration of Si electronics and lead-free ferroelectric NBT thin films has been archived using SiN passivation layer. It was previously believed that LSI processes could not incorporate any sodium-containing material which would cause characteristic degradation, such as threshold voltage shift. In this work, no threshold voltage shift in MOS characteristics was observed using this SiN layer. The SiN layer not only blocked diffusion from NBT chemistry, but also from crystallized NBT films during NBT formation process.

Energy saving and the use of clean energy sources have recently become significant issues. It is expected that clean energy sources such as solar panels and fuel cells will be installed in many private dwellings. However, when electrical power is generated, exhaust heat is simultaneously produced. Especially for the summer season, the development of refrigeration systems that can use this waste heat is highly desirable. One approach is an ejector that can reduce the mechanical compression work required in a normal refrigeration cycle.

We focus on the use of water as a refrigerant, since this can be safely implemented in private dwellings. Although the energy conversion efficiency is low, it is promising because it can use heat that would otherwise be discarded. However, a steam ejector refrigeration cycle requires a large amount of energy to change saturated water into vapour. Thus, we propose a more efficient two-phase flow ejector cycle.

Experiments were carried out in which the quality of the two-phase flow from a tank was varied, and the efficiency of the ejector and nozzle was determined. The results show that a vacuum state can be achieved and suction exerted with a two-phase flow state at the ejector nozzle inlet.

Anatase phase Ti_0.97Co_0.03O₂ nanoparticles were synthesized using two different preparation methods. The prepared samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, and magnetization measurements. The particle diameters were controlled by adjusting the annealing temperature, and they ranged from 4.2–7.0 nm for Ti_0.97Co_0.03O₂ encapsulated in amorphous SiO₂, and from 14–61 nm for Ti_0.97Co_0.03O₂ that was not encapsulated in amorphous SiO₂. Magnetization measurements were performed on the 7.0-nm sample from the former sample set, and on the 14-nm sample from the latter sample set, and both these samples exhibited an identical crystal structure and an equal number of magnetic ions, as confirmed by XRF and XRD measurements. The magnetization curves for the two samples indicated their ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. However, the magnetic parameters of saturation magnetization M_S and coercive force H_C were clearly different for these two samples. We attribute this difference in magnetic properties between these samples to magnetic impurities present due to the different degrees of solubility of Co ions in the TiO₂ lattice.

Optical monitoring the behaviour of magnetically induced self-assembled chains of superparamagnetic beads (SPBs) are of interest for biomedical applications such as biosensors. However, it is difficult to directly monitor magnetically induced self-assembly of sub-micron nano-beads with conventional optical microscopes. Here, we describe the optical observation of the dynamics of magnetically induced self-assembled rotating chains of 130 nm SPBs in aqueous solutions by laser light scattering. Magnetic fields of ~1 kOe were applied to control the self-assembly chains of SPBs and their behaviour analyzed by monitoring the intensity of laser light scattered from the chain structures. We compared the light scattering from chains that were formed only by the application of external fields with chains formed by beads functionalized by EDC, where chemical reactions lead to the bonding of individual beads to form chains. The EDC experiments are a precursor to experiments on molecular recognition applications for biomedical diagnostics.

In the present study, the distribution of water content in the membrane of PEFC was analyzed by using a numerical simulation as well as understanding the behavior of internal moisture of PEFC. Eight parameters were selected for the simulation then 18 combinations of the parameters were allocated by design of experiments, thus the data obtained were analyzed by multiple regression analysis to understand the influence factor of operating conditions quantitatively. As a result, the influence of the operating parameters on the dryness of the membrane for the anode side and the cathode side of PEFC was quantitatively shown by using the method of the multiple regression analysis. Further it was found that the area where cerium carbonate ought to be coated for preventing the degradation without decreasing performance.

It is important for practical use of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to not only develop new materials including electrodes and proton exchange membranes but also to understand the bacterial community structure related to electricity generation. Here, four kinds of novel membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) were made. Four lactate fed MFCs equipped with the membranes were characterized by electrochemical, molecular-dependent and molecular-independent methods. MFC1 equipped with Nafion 117-type MEA (18 μm thickness) exhibited the highest performance. Although the other MEAs with different configurations of three kinds of polymers; poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride), polyallylamine hydrochloride and poly (2-acrylamino-2-methyl -1-propanesulfonic acid) had thicknesses of about 0.3 μm (MEA 2 and 3) and 1.0 μm (MEA4), their power densities were lower. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and phylogenetic analyses showed that anaerobic bacteria dominated in anode biofilms of MFC1. A bacterium completely corresponding to nucleotide sequence of one of the DGGE bands was isolated from the anode biofilm in MFC1. Interestingly, BLAST search indicated that the bacterium (named strain RO1) belonged to the genus of gram positive bacterium, Propioniferax. It was confirmed that strain RO1 was capable of producing electricity and constructing biofilm on the anode surface in pure culture MFC. These results suggested that the property of MEA affects significantly the bacterial community structure, thereby influencing the MFC-performance.

Polymer tandem solar cells were fabricated and characterized. Copolymer poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) and poly((4,4-octyldithieno(3,2-b:20,30-d)silole)-2,6-diyl-alt-(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)-4,7-diyl) (PSBTBT) were used as p-type semiconductors, and [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) was used as an n-type semiconductor. The open circuit voltage was improved up to 0.69 V by using the tandem structure of P3HT:PCBM and PSBTBT:PCBM layers as compared with those of P3HT:PCBM and PSBTBT:PCBM single cell of 0.53 V and 0.10 V, respectively. Absorption of the tandem cell was in the range of 400 to 800 nm, which corresponded to a sum of those in P3HT:PCBM and PSBTBT:PCBM single cells.

Copper oxide-based heterojunction solar cells were fabricated by electrodeposition, and the electronic and optical properties were investigated. ZnO was used as an n-type semiconductor, and copper oxides were used as p-type semiconductors. A photovoltaic device based on an FTO/ZnO/Cu₂O heterojunction structure provided short-circuit current density of 2.7 mAcm⁻² and open circuit voltage of 0.28 V under an air mass 1.5 illumination. Microstructures of the solar cells were investigated by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction, which indicated formation of copper oxides and ZnO. Energy levels of the solar cells were discussed.

Fullerene/phthalocyanine solar cells with inverted structures were fabricated, and the photovoltaic properties, optical absorption and microstructrues were investigated. Silicon naphthalocyanine, gallium phthalocyanine, and poly(3-hexylthiophene) were used for donor materials, and 6,6-phenyl C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester was also used as an acceptor material. The solar cells with the inverted structure provided higher conversion efficiencies by addition of silicon naphthalocyanine, and had more stability compared to that with normal structure in the air. Nanostructures of the solar cells were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, which indicated the dispersion of nanocrystals in the active layers. Energy levels of the molecules were calculated, and a carrier transport mechanism was proposed.

Effects of phosphorus bromine (PBr₃) doping to polysilane were investigated for spin-coating thin films. Phosphorus doped poly (methylphenyl silane) (PMPS) provided n-type semiconductor behavior, which was confirmed by Hall effect measurements. Desorption of phenyl and methyl groups in doped PMPS thin films was observed after annealing at 300 °C from Raman scattering measurements and theoretical calculations. The band gap energy of PMPS was measured to be 3.2 eV. Decrease of photoluminescence intensity of PMPS was observed by phosphorus doping. Microstructures of the doped PMPS thin films were investigated by using X-ray diffraction, which indicated doped PMPS had an amorphous structure after annealing. A solar cell with PMPS(PBr₃):poly[3-hexylthiophene] bulk-heterojunction structure was fabricated, and provided a photovoltaic behavior. Formation mechanism and carrier transport mechanism of the doped PMPS thin films were proposed.

Cu₂O/ZnO heterojucntion solar cells were successfully obtained by a magnetron-sputter deposition method. The Cu₂O thin film was deposited by the method using a sintered Cu₂O ceramics target. Crystalline phases of the films were controlled by adjusting an O₂ flow rate ratio (O₂/(Ar+O₂)) precisely during the sputtering process and Cu₂O single phase polycrystalline films were obtained at room temperature. The Cu₂O films qualities were improved by a rapid thermal annealing for 30 s in an Ar atmosphere of 1 atm. Hall mobility, carrier density, and resistivity of annealed films reached the values of 16.6 cm²/V/s, 3.5×10¹⁵ cm⁻³, and 107 Ωcm at 600 °C, respectively. The conversion efficiency of the Cu₂O/ZnO heterojucntion solar cell was 0.24 % with the open circuit voltage of 0.69 V.

We proposed Common Path Optical Coherence Tomography (CPOCT) using gold coated conical tip lens fiber with a central wavelength of 1310 nm SLD to improve lateral resolution under the water. We already verified that conical tip lens fiber was good to improve the lateral resolution in CPOCT in air. However, CPOCT using conical tip lens fiber could not be functioning under the water solution because the value of back-reflected light field from the conical tip was too low. For this reason, we had to set reference intensity at a high level by coating the tip with a thin layer of gold. Then, we could have the right balance of reference intensity and sample intensity with gold coated conical tip lens fiber. Furthermore, the results of beam diameter, SNR, lateral resolution show that gold coated conical tip lens fiber is better than cleaved fiber. Then, we could observe two dimensional cross sectional scan of samples, for example, fresh leaves under the water by CPOCT using gold coated conical tip lens fiber.

Tele-Robotics system using bilateral control is an effective tool for task in disaster scenes, and also in extreme environments. The conventional systems are equipped with a few color video cameras captures view of the task field, and their video images are sent to the operator via some network. Usually, the images are captured only from some fixed angles. So the operator cannot obtain intuitively 3D-sense of the task field. In our previous study, we proposed a construction tele-robotics system based on VR presentation. The operator intuits the geometrical states of the robot presented by CG, but the information of the surrounding environment is not included like a video image. So we thought that the task efficiency could be improved by appending the CG image to the video image. In this study, we developed a new presentation system based on augmented reality (AR). In this system, the CG image, which represents 3D geometric information for the task, is overlaid on the video image. In this study, we confirmed the effectiveness of the system experimentally. Additionally, we verified its usefulness to reduction of the communication delay associated with a tele-robotics system.

In the present paper, the design and prototyping of a telemetry system, in which GPS, camera, and scintillation counter were mounted on a crawler type traveling vehicle, were conducted for targeting outdoor usage such as school playground. As a result, the crawler type traveling vehicle can be operated smoothly in the school grounds of brick and asphalt. The results were as follows: (1) It was confirmed that the crawler type traveling vehicle can be operated smoothly in the school grounds of brick and asphalt (running speed: 17[m/min]). (2) It was confirmed that the location information captured by GPS is visible on the Google map, and that the incorporation of video information is also possible to play. (3)A radiation dose rate of 0.09[μSv / h] was obtained in the ground. The value is less than the 1/40 ([3.8μSv / h]) allowable radiation dose rate for children in Fukushima Prefecture.(4)As a further work, modifying to program traveling, the measurement of the distribution of the radiation dose rate in a school of Fukushima Prefecture, and class delivery on radiation measurement will be carried out.

Biofilm is a kind of thin film on solidified matters, being derived from bacteria. Generally, planktonic bacteria float in aqueous environments, soil or air, most of which can be regarded as oligotrophic environments. Since they have to survive by instinct, they seek for nutrients that would exist on materials surfaces as organic matters. Therefore, bacteria attach materials surfaces reversibly. The attachment and detachment repeat for a while and finally, they attach on them irreversibly and the number of bacteria on them increases. At a threshold number, bacteria produce polymeric matters at the same time by quorum sensing mechanism and the biofilm produces on material surfaces. The biofilm produced in that way generally contains water (more than 80%), EPS (Exopolymeric Substance) and bacteria themselves. And they might bring about many industrial problems, fouling, corrosion etc. Therefore, it is very important for us to control and prevent the biofilm formation properly. However, it is generally very hard to produce biofilm experimentally and constantly in ambient atmosphere on labo scale. The authors invented an apparatus where biofilm could form on specimen's surfaces from house germs in the ambient air. In this experiment, we investigated the basic characteristics of the apparatus, reproducibility, the change of biofilm with experimental time, the quality change of water for biofilm formation and their significance for biofilm research.

This study emphasis the requirement of integrated approach for regulate the global temperature rises to protect the planet form climate changes and other system changes. It is clear that effect of global temperature increases, have already affected many physical and biological and human systems, This unbalances of global systems is more rapid after 1950' s increases of using environmental polluting energy sources with releasing the pollutants to global systems together with extra solar energy accumulation. How ever as a solution it is require to reduce pollutants and balance the energy level to optimum within the caring capacity. To protect the planet as a sustainable system with controlling temperature rises and other unbalances it is important to keep and protect the interrelationship of each and every system with protecting mechanisms. Therefore it is require integrated approach to establish protective mechanisms for each and every sectors of badly effecting with considering regional, national. international and global level.

Aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides is believed to play a key role in the mechanism of molecular pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To inhibit the aggregation and prevent AD, numerous compounds have been synthesized. A previous experimental study elucidated that a triazine derivative AA3E2 has anti-amyloidogenic ability, while a triazine derivative AA3D2 having a different substituent has no inhibitory effect. However, the reason for this remarkable difference in the ability cannot be explained by the chemical structures of these derivatives. In the present study, we present stable structures of the solvated complexes with Aβ and AA3E2/AA3D2 obtained by classical molecular mechanics method. The specific interactions between Aβ and AA3E2/AA3D2 in the complexes are investigated by ab initio fragment molecular orbital calculations. Based on the results obtained, we attempt to propose new potent inhibitors for the Aβ aggregation.

Recent biochemical experiments have elucidated that a variety of proteases play important roles in cancer invasion and metastasis. In particular, binding of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) to uPA receptor (uPAR) existing on the surface of a cancer cell is considered to be a trigger for cancer invasions. Therefore, the blocking of the binding is expected to inhibit cancer invasion. In previous experiments, several peptides of amino acids were proposed as a potent inhibitor for blocking the binding. In the present study, we obtained stable structures of the solvated complexes with uPAR and the peptides and investigated the specific interactions between uPAR and the peptides by ab initio molecular simulations. Base on these results, we clarified which peptide can bind more strongly to uPAR and proposed a novel potent peptide which can inhibit the uPAR-uPA binding efficiently.

We investigated transition states (TS) between wobble Guanine-Thymine (wG-T) and tautomeric G-T base-pair as well as Br-containing base-pairs by MP2 and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The obtained TS between wG-T and G*-T (asterisk is an enol-form of base) is different from TS got by the previous DFT calculation. The activation energy (17.9 kcal/mol) evaluated by our calculation is significantly smaller than that (39.21 kcal/mol) obtained by the previous calculation, indicating that our TS is more preferable. In contrast, the obtained TS and activation energy between wG-T and G-T* are similar to those obtained by the previous DFT calculation. We furthermore found that the activation energy between wG-BrU and tautomeric G-BrU is smaller than that between wG-T and tautomeric G-T. This result elucidates that the replacement of CH₃ group of T by Br increases the probability of the transition reaction producing the enol-form G* and T* bases. Because G* prefers to bind to T rather than to C, and T* to G not A, our calculated results reveal that the spontaneous mutation from C to T or from A to G base is accelerated by the introduction of wG-BrU base-pair.

The large amount of waste that is discharged along with the diffusion of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) articles in use is persistent concern. Previously, we studied solid-phase denitrification (SPD) processes using PLLA to establish an effective re-use of PLLA waste. We found that PLLA with a weight-average molecular weight (M_w) of approximately 10,000 was suitable for SPD processes; however, the recycling of PLLA waste consumes a high energy. A new PLLA plastic including 5% poly(ethylene oxalate) (PEOxPLLA) as a blend material has attracted attention because recycling of PEOxPLLA consumes less electricity than that of PLLA. In this study, our main objectives were to evaluate whether PEOxPLLA can be used for SPD processes by changing its M_w and to investigate the bioavailability for denitrification of hydrolysates released from PEOxPLLA. The predicted hydrolysates, including oxalic acid, ethylene glycol, and lactate, are abiotically released, leading to different biological nitrate removal rates. Consequently, the nitrate removal rate of PEOxPLLA ranged from 0.9–4.1 mg-NO₃⁻-N·g-MLSS·h⁻¹ by changing the M_w in the range of 8,500–238,000. In culture-dependent approaches, denitrifying bacteria using each substrate as an electron donor are found in activated sludge, suggesting that all hydrolysates functioned in the SPD processes using PEOxPLLA.

Rapid and accurate identification of microbial species is essential task in microbiology and biotechnology. In prokaryotic systematics, genomic DNA-DNA hybridization is the ultimate tool to determine genetic relationships among bacterial strains at the species level. However, a practical problem in this assay is that the experimental procedure is laborious and time-consuming. In recent years, information on the 16S-23S rRNA gene internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region has been used to classify bacterial strains at the species and intraspecies levels. It is unclear how much information on the ITS region can reflect the genome that contain it. In this study, therefore, we evaluate the quantitative relationship between ITS DNA and entire genomic DNA similarities. For this, we determined ITS sequences of several species of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria belonging to the order Rhizobiales, and compared with DNA-DNA relatedness among these species. There was a high correlation between the two genetic markers. Based on the regression analysis of this relationship, 70% DNA-DNA relatedness corresponded to 92% ITS sequence similarity. This suggests the usefulness of the ITS sequence similarity as a criterion for determining the genospecies of the phototrophic bacteria. To avoid the effects of polymorphism bias of ITS on similarities, PCR products from all loci of ITS were used directly as genetic probes for comparison. The results of ITS DNA-DNA hybridization coincided well with those of genomic DNA-DNA relatedness. These collective data indicate that the whole ITS DNA-DNA similarity can be used as an alternative to genomic DNA-DNA similarity.

The purpose of this lecture is to discuss about the "Future". How our business will change in the next 10 years? I believe the key is 3 mega-trends "Sustainability", "Cloud Computing" and "Life Innovation". With the development of social environment, the required business will change, too. The future would be invisible if you shut yourself up in your single industry. It is important to see various business fields horizontally, and recognize various key changes stereoscopically such as demographics, economy, technology, sense of value and lifestyle, when you develop mid-and-long term strategy. "Cloud" is silent, but the revolution of personal computing. It will bring the drastic changes in every industry. It will make "voice" and "moving image" possible to use as the interface to access your computer. Cloud computing will also make the client device more diversified and spread the application range widely. 15 years ago, the term "IT" was equivalent to "personal computer". Recently, it rather means to use smartphone and tablet device. In the next several years, TV and car-navigation system will be connected to broadband and it will become a part of personal computing. The meaning of personal computing is changing essentially year by year. In near future, the universe of computing will expand to the energy, medical and health-care, and agriculture etc. It passed only 20 years since we use "Computer" in a full scale operation. Recently, computer has start understanding our few words and talking in babble like a baby. The history of computing has just started.

Before the occurrence of disastrous Kobe earthquake in 1995, the number of high sensitivity seismograph stations operated in Japan was nearly 550 and was concentrated in the Kanto and Tokai districts, central Japan. In the wake of the Kobe earthquake, Japanese government has newly established the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion and started the reconstruction of seismic networks to evenly cover the whole Japan. The basic network is composed of three seismographs, i.e. high sensitivity seismograph (Hi-net), broadband seismograph (F-net), and strong motion seismograph (K-NET). A large majority of Hi-net stations are also equipped with a pair of strong motion sensors at the bottom of borehole and the ground surface (KiK-net). A plenty of high quality data obtained from these networks are circulated at once and is producing several new seismological findings as well as providing the basis for the Earthquake Early Warning system. In March 11, 2011, "Off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake" was generated with magnitude 9.0, which records the largest in the history of seismic observation in Japan. The greatest disaster on record was brought by huge tsunami with nearly 20 thousand killed or missing people. We are again noticed that seismic observation system is quite poor in the oceanic region compared to the richness of it in the inland region. In 2012, NIED has started the construction of ocean bottom seismic and tsunami observation network along the Japan Trench. It is planned to layout 154 stations with an average spacing of 30km, each of which is equipped with an accelerometer for seismic observation and a water pressure gauge for tsunami observation. We are expecting that more rapid and accurate warning of earthquake and tsunami becomes possible by this observing network.