In addition to SNP and SIN-1, SNAP suppresses AMPA responses. This suppression is antagonized by carboxy-PTIO in cultured chick cerebellar Purkinje neurons. Intracellular application of cGMP shows a long-lasting suppression of AMPA responses mimicking the cerebellar LTD. These recent results demonstrate that NO can induce LTD-like suppression of AMPA responses and intracellular cGMP and cGMP-dependent protein kinase participate in this suppression. [CRÉPEL et al.; LINDEN; VINCENT]

Surface plasmon coupling technique was performed to enhanced green light emissions from InGaN/GaN quantum well. We found that photoluminescence intensities were increased by fabricated nano-grating structures on the gold layers and enhancement ratios depend on the grating periods. We also simulated the localized SP modes by 3D-finite difference time domain (FDTD) calculation. The experimental results were well correlated to the calculated results, and we found that the both exciton-SP coupling and light extraction process can be controlled by the nano-structures of the interfaces. This suggests that even more efficient emission should be obtainable by optimizing the nanostructure geometries.

A chemical modification exploiting functional groups such as ether and methylene as bridges between high-spin assemblies has been carried out as a usable method to increase dimensionality of spin structure. Exchange interaction via an ether or a methylene bridge between two high-spin assemblies has been studied by single-crystal ESR spectroscopy. Whether it is ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic depends upon the substituted position of the bridge, demonstrating the important role of the topological nature in spin alignment. It turns out that superexchange interaction or hyperconjugation mechanism can dominate spin alignment between high-spin assemblies. Using the criteria obtained, model compounds for units of organic ferrimagnets have been synthesized. They possess antiferromagnetically-exchange coupled heterospins and the salient features of their spin structures are characterized in terms of the spin density distribution as determined by single-crystal 1H-ENDOR (Electron-Nuclear-DOuble Resonance) spectroscopy.

A new solidification technique using cement-glass, which is a mixture of sodium silicate, cement, additives, and initiator of the solidification reaction, was developed for sodium borate liquid waste generated from pressurized water reactor (PWR) plants. The cement-glass could solidify eight times as much sodium borate as cement could, because the solidifying reaction of the cement-glass is not hindered by borate ions.

The reaction mechanism of sodium silicate and phosphoric silicate (initiator), the main components of cement-glass, was studied through X-ray diffraction and compressive strength measurements. It was found that three- dimensionally bonded silicon dioxide was produced by polymerization of the two silicates. The leaching ratio of cesium from the cement-glass package was one-tenth that of the cement one. This low value was attributed to a high cesium adsorption ability of the cement-glass and it could be theoretically predicted accordingly.