Recently, the issue of sustainable resource management has been increasingly recognized.Economic growth of human activity is associated with a rapid rise in the use of resourcesin our economy, and society has a potential environmental impact. The UNEP InternationalResource Panel (IRP) pointed out the importance of decoupling resource use and negativeenvironmental impacts from economic activity (UNEP IRP 2011). In order tooptimize the material cycles and increase resource efficiency, material flow analysis(MFA) is a powerful tool to understand the resource consumption and material cycle in thenational economy. In this study, we present the results of global material flow analysisof nickel, which is one of the important resources for reducing energy use andCO2 emission inour society, and discuss the importance and possibility of controlling its resourcelogistics. This study also introduces the challenge of identifying the land-use changes innickel mining sites by a remote-sensing technique, and knowledge to increase the resourceefficiency in metal recycling based on the metallurgical thermodynamic approach. Theresults indicated the importance of recovery of nickel in recycling policies forend-of-life (EoL) vehicles and constructions. Improvement in EoL sorting technologies andimplementation of designs for recycling/disassembly at the manufacturing phase are needed.Possible solutions include development of sorting processes for steel scrap andintroduction of easier methods for identifying the composition of secondary resources.Recovery of steel scrap with a high alloy content will reduce primary inputs of alloyingelements and contribute to more efficient resource use.

El blefaroespasmo, el parpadeo involuntario e incontrolable, inducido por neurolépticos puede interferir, cuando es grave, la capacidad para caminar, conducir o trabajar. Sin embargo, la incidencia de blefaroespasmo o síndrome de Meige (distonía blefaroespasmoromandibular) asociado con los antipsicóticos atípicos es infrecuente. Por el contrario, la sustitución por clozapina u olanzapina se ha considerado como una opción de tratamiento del blefaroespasmo inducido por otros neurolépticos, Que sepamos, no había informes de blefaroespasmo inducido por olanzapina, sino algunas descripciones de blefaroespasmo asociado con risperidona. Describimos aquí el caso de un varón joven al que se diagnosticó esquizofrenia que había desarrollado un blefaroespasmo después de nueve meses de terapia de olanzapina (10 mg/día), y su desaparición después de la interrupción de los neurolépticos.

This study compares the management performance of timber production among three management systems in Nepal: private forestry, community forestry with collective management, and community forestry with centralized management. While collective management relies entirely on community labor for the whole management, centralized management uses community labor for the protection of forests and hired labor for silvicultural operations, for example weeding, pruning, and thinning. We found that collective community management is less costly for the protection of planted trees but allocates less labor for the management of trees than private management. We also found that centralized management of natural forests leads to higher revenue and profit than collective management. These findings support the hypothesis that, while collective management is more efficient than private management for the protection of trees due to effective mutual supervision, profit-seeking private management or centralized management is more efficient than collective management for silvicultural operations due to superior work incentives. This study, however, failed to compare efficiency of private and centralized management.

Adhesion strength in sputter-deposited Cu thin films on various types of barrier layers was investigated by scratch test. The barrier layers were Ta1-xNx with varied nitrogen concentration of 0, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5. Microstructure observation by TEM indicated that each layer consists of mixed phases of β;-Ta, bcc-TaN0.1, hexagonal-TaN, and fcc-TaN, depending on the nitrogen concentration. A sulfur- containing amorphous phase was also present discontinuously at the Cu/barrier interfaces in all samples. Scratch test showed that delamination occurred at the Cu/barrier interface and that the overall adhesion strength increased with increasing the nitrogen concentration. A good correlation was found between the measured adhesion strength and the composing phases in the barrier layer.

Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) has a crucial role for host defence against parasite infection. It is not clear, however, how IFN-γ affects the parasite-infected host cells. The effect of IFN-γ on Neospora caninum-infected cells was investigated in murine fibroblasts and canine kidney cells in vitro. In the presence of IFN-γ, the viability of the infected host cell was decreased and apoptotic cell death occurred, as analysed by DNA stainings with propidium iodide and a terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labelling (TUNEL) and DNA fragmentation. The percentage of apoptotic cells depended on the dose of IFN-γ. Flow cytometric analysis indicated a significant increase of FasL expression on the IFN-γ-treated cells following N. caninum infection. Moreover, IFN-γ treatment down-regulated Bcl-2 expression in the cells cultured with N. caninum while parasite infection up-regulated Bcl-2 expression. The present study suggests that the IFN-γ induced increases of FasL expression and down-regulated Bcl-2 expression in N. caninum-infected cells are associated with apoptosis in vitro.

A series of experiments were performed to explore the growth of InN by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). The growth conditions were optimized based on the study of RHEED during growth and InN dissociation experiments. Characterization of the InN thin films were performed by various techniques such as TEM and XRD.

A series of experiments were performed to explore the growth of InN by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). The growth conditions were optimized based on the study of RHEED during growth and InN dissociation experiments. Characterization of the InN thin films were performed by various techniques such as TEM and XRD.

Solid charge transfer (CT) complexes of C60 with TSeC1-TTF, EDT-TTF, EOET-TTF, and TDAP (1, 3, 6, 8-tetrakis(dimethylamino)pyrene) were newly prepared. All the obtained black crystals were proved to be neutral despite of their rather strong electron donor ability. Lattice parameters of them except for EOET-TTF complex were determined together with those of HMTTeF·C60, which had been reported with different values. Rubidium doping under a mild condition was examined on the complexes of TDAP, EOET-TTF, HMTTeF, BEDT-TTF, hydroquinone and ferrocene to search for the superconductors of new crystal and electronic structures. Among them, the rubidium-doped ferrocene complex easily showed an apparent superconducting signal in SQUID magnetization measurements. The doping effect on these CT complexes is compared to that on OMTTF complex.

AuCd alloy is a typical martensitic alloy. The crystal structural of the ζ2' (trogonal) martensite was recently determined and the analysis indicated the possibility of phonon softening. Despite a large absorption coefficient of Cd phonon softening was actually observed by using an isotope 114Cd. In the present study, precise x-ray scattering studies were performed with a rotating anode x-ray source and synchrotron radiation at Photon Factory in KEK, using small crystals. The structure factors of the parent phase and the diffraction profiles along <110> direction were measured with four circle diffractometers. The structure factors decrease when approaching the transformation temperature. Superstructure reflections were observed prior to the onset of the transformation. They are very weak and rather sharp and appear at q = (1/3,1/3,0) within the experimental error, i. e. at the commensurate position.

Growth kinetics on non-singular surfaces were studied by Monte Carlo simulations. In contrast to the growth on singular and vicinal surfaces, the sticking coefficient on the non-singular surfaces was found to decrease with increase of the surface roughness. Simulations of annealing processes showed that surface diffusion of atoms leads to a stationary surface roughness, which is explained by multiple configurations having the lowest energy in the non-singular surface.