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The energy distribution of an electron gun is one of the most important characteristics determining the performance of electron beam-based instruments, such as electron microscopes and electron energy loss spectroscopes. For accurate measurements of the energy distribution, this study presents a novel retarding field energy analyzer (RFEA) with the feature of an additional integrated pre-lens, which enables an adjustment of beam trajectory into the analyzer. The advantages of this analyzer are its compact size and simple electrode configuration. According to trajectory simulation theories, the optimum condition arises when the incident electron beam inside the RFEA is focused on the center of a retarding electrode. Comparing I–V curves depending on whether the pre-lens working or not, it is confirmed that the use of the pre-lens dramatically improves the energy resolution and efficiency of the signal acquisition process. The pre-lens RFEA was applied to characterize a Schottky electron gun under various temperatures and extraction voltages as operational conditions. When the tip temperature was increased by 50 K, we were able to measure an energy distribution broadening of 13.8 meV with the proposed pre-lens RFEA. The relative standard deviation of energy distribution was 0.7% for each working condition.
Low-voltage scanning electron microscopes (LV-SEMs) are widely used in nanoscience. However, image resolution for SEMs is restricted by chromatic aberration due to energy spread of the electron beam at low acceleration voltage. This study introduces a new monochromator (MC) with offset cylindrical lenses (CLs) as one solution for LV-SEMs. The MC optics, with highly excited CLs in offset layouts, has advantageous high performance and simple experimental setup, making it suitable for field emission LV-SEMs. In a preliminary evaluation, our MC reduced the energy spread from 770 to 67 meV. The MC was integrated into a commercial SEM equipped with an out-lens (a conventional objective lens without immersion magnetic or retarding electric fields) and an Everhart–Thornley detector. Comparing SEM images under two conditions with the MC turned on or off, the spatial resolution was improved by 58% at 0.5 and 1 keV. The filtering effect of the MC decreased the probe current with a ratio (i.e., transmittance) of 5.7%, which was consistent with estimations based on measured energy spreads. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on an effective MC with higher-energy resolution than 100 meV and the results offer encouraging prospects for LV-SEM technology.
The unidentified infrared (UIR) bands, whose carriers are thought to be organics, have been widely observed in various astrophysical environments. However, our knowledge of the detailed chemical composition and formation process of the carriers is still limited. We have synthesized laboratory organics named Quenched Nitrogen-included Carbonaceous Composite (QNCC) by quenching plasma produced from nitrogen gas and hydrocarbon solids. Infrared and X-ray analyses of QNCC showed that infrared properties of QNCC well reproduce the UIR bands observed in novae and amine structures contained in QNCC play an important role in the origin of the broad 8 m feature, which characterizes the UIR bands in novae. QNCC is at present the best laboratory analog of organic dust formed around dusty classical novae, which carries the UIR bands in novae via thermal emission process [Endo et al.(2021)].
We have succeeded in synthesizing organics, ‘Quenched Nitrogen-included Carbonaceous Composite (QNCC)’, via plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, whose infrared spectral properties reproduce the characteristics of the unidentified infrared (UIR) bands observed around classical novae. Past studies have shown that the UIR bands observed around novae appear somewhat differently from those observed in other astrophysical environment and are predominantly characterized by the presence of a broad 8μm feature. The remarkable similarity between the infrared properties of QNCC and the UIR bands in novae indicates that QNCC should be considered as a strong candidate of the carriers of the UIR bands in novae. Finally, we have started a space exposure experiment of QNCC aiming to explore the evolutional link between the QNCC and the insoluble organic molecule (IOM) in carbonaceous condrite and, thus, to infer the origins of organics in our solar system.
The unidentified infrared (UIR) bands have been ubiquitously observed in various astrophysical environments and consist of a series of emission features arising from aromatic and/or aliphatic C-C and C-H bonds [1]. Therefore, their carriers are thought to be related to interstellar organics. However, our knowledge on the true carriers of the UIR bands is still limited. Recently [4] has proposed Mixed Aromatic Aliphatic Organic Nanoparticles, which contains hetero atoms in addition to conventional hydrocarbon models, as a more realistic interpretation of the band carriers. The challenges toward identifying the carriers of the UIR bands are still ongoing. Past studies have shown that the UIR bands observed around classical novae, which characterized by the presence of broad feature around 8μm[2], are somewhat different from those observed in other astrophysical environment. Here we report the success of experimentally synthesizing the organics called Nitrogen-included Carbonaceous Compounds (NCC; [7]) whose infrared properties can reproduce the UIR bands observed in classical novae.
We perform simulations of the interplanetary coronal mass ejections relating to the magnetic storm on 17 March 2015. A hierarchical mesh structure is used, which is controlled by an adaptive mesh refinement technique, with fine-scale cells where it matters, the structure of the running shock waves of the coronal mass ejections and co-rotating interactive regions. The initial and the inner-boundary conditions are derived from another simulation, which uses a split dodecahedron grid. The resulting shock-wave with the models adjusted to the observed ejection speed on the sky plane show delays by 20% in the arrival time at the Earth from the observed data. By contrast, the model adjusted to the observed arrival time at the Earth needs the ejection speed 30% higher than that in the above models.
Consumption of fermented milk (FM) containing a probiotic, Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 (LG2055), previously showed a reduction in abdominal adiposity in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) using FM with 108 colony-forming units (cfu) of LG2055/g. However, whether the effectiveness is observed at lower concentrations, the recommended minimum or intermediate levels of probiotics (106 or 107cfu/g, respectively), remains to be examined. A multi-centre, double-blind, parallel-group RCT was conducted using 210 healthy Japanese adults with large visceral fat areas (80·2–187·8 cm2). They were balanced for their baseline characteristics and randomly assigned to three groups receiving FM containing 107, 106 or 0 (control) cfu LG2055/g of FM, and were asked to consume 200 g FM/d for 12 weeks. Abdominal visceral fat areas, which were determined by computed tomography, at week 12, changed from baseline by an average of − 8·5 % (95 % CI − 11·9, − 5·1; P< 0·01) in the 107 dose group, and by − 8·2 % (95 % CI − 10·8, − 5·7; P< 0·01) in the 106 dose group. Other measures including BMI, waist and hip circumferences, and body fat mass were also significantly decreased from baseline at week 12 in both groups; interestingly, the cessation of taking FM for 4 weeks attenuated these effects. In the control group, none of these parameters significantly decreased from baseline. These findings demonstrate that consumption of LG2055 at doses as low as the order of 108cfu/d exhibited a significant lowering effect on abdominal adiposity, and suggest that constant consumption might be needed to maintain the effect.
We describe the case of a 9-year-old girl demonstrating isolated absence of the coronary sinus with abnormal coronary venous drainage into the main pulmonary artery. Coronary angiography showed normal coronary arterial trees and contrast medium from both coronary arteries drained into the main pulmonary artery via an abnormal cardiac vein on the anterior wall of the right ventricle.
An approach to control the tensile stress and Q factor of thin Si film beams in MEMS resonators was investigated. Metal-induced lateral crystallization (MILC) using Ni nanoparticles that were synthesized within a cage-shaped protein, apoferritin, was applied to a thin morphous Si film for making a MEMS resonator with thin film beams. The MILC produced a thin polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) film with large crystallized domain (50-60 μm) with nearly the same crystalline orientation, whereas the poly-Si film obtained by conventional annealing (without MILC) consisted of small grains (less than 1 μm) with random orientation. The MEMS resonator with a beam made of poly-Si film by MILC was fabricated. The large domain size and the improved crystallinity increased the tensile stress, and resulted in 20% increase in Q factor in the resonant characteristics.
Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is widely used to treat psychiatric disorders such as depression, its precise neural mechanisms remain unknown.
Aims
To investigate the time course of changes in cerebral blood flow during acute ECT.
Method
Cerebral blood flow was quantified serially prior to, during and after acute ECT in six patients with depression under anaesthesia using[15O]H2O positron emission tomography (PET).
Results
Cerebral blood flow during ECT increased particularly in the basal ganglia, brain-stem, diencephalon, amygdala, vermis and the frontal, temporal and parietal cortices compared with that before ECT. The flow increased in the thalamus and decreased in the anterior cingulate and medial frontal cortex soon after ECT compared with that before ECT.
Conclusions
These results suggest a relationship between the centrencephalic system and seizure generalisation. Further, they suggest that some neural mechanisms of action of ECT are mediated via brain regions including the anterior cingulate and medial frontal cortex and thalamus.
We have developed a glassless stereoscopic visualization system for the real-time numerical simulator of the interplanetary space–magnetosphere– ionosphere coupling system, adopting the three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulation code. Our real-time Earth's magnetosphere simulator numerically reproduces the global response of the magnetosphere and the ionosphere at the same time with the real world by using the real-time Solar wind data, and has shown two-dimensional (2D) figures of the global magnetosphere of about 1 hour in advance in virtual reality at every minute on Web since November 2003. We implemented 3D graphical techniques such as volume and iso-surface rendering for visualizing scalar variables and also colored 3D streamlines for representing the magnetic field for standard and glassless stereo-displays. A real-time interpolation method mapping the simulated data to structured uniform rectilinear grids commonly utilized in computer graphics was developed, so that this 3D visualization system is capable of monitoring the real-time Earth's magnetosphere simulated data in on-line mode.
Two male patients (a child and an adult) with congenital mirror movement were studied using functional MRI (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Bilateral primary sensorimotor cortices were activated during unilateral hand gripping on fMRI when the child patient was 8 years old and the adult was 37 years old. Bilateral motor evoked potentials were induced from the hand and forearm muscles after TMS of each hemisphere. Bilateral motor responses were also induced from the arm muscles in the adult patient. Bilateral motor responses had short and similar latencies. Contralateral motor responses to TMS were smaller than ipsilateral ones in the hand muscles, while contralateral responses were larger than ipsilateral ones in the arm muscles. Contralateral hand motor responses reduced in amplitude or disappeared with increasing age while in the child patient, mirror movements decreased gradually. Our results suggest that bilateral activation of the primary sensorimotor cortices during intended unilateral hand movement and bilateral motor responses to TMS account, at least in part, for the pathophysiology of congenital mirror movement. Reduction of contralateral hand motor responses may be related to the decrease in mirror movements during development.
The incidence and circumstances of colonization by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were prospectively investigated. Among 404 patients, 15 (3.7%) were carriers on admission, and 43 (10.6%) became colonized, mainly after surgical operation. A different mode of transmission was suggested in each ward.
CoSi2 was formed by annealing a multilayer strucure of sputter deposited Co / Ti / Si. The Ti was 1, 2 or 5 nm thick and the Co was 15 nm thick. The morphology of both the surface and the CoSi2 / Si interface was examined. For the sample that had 2 nm Ti layer, an epitaxial CoSi2 was formed with both a planar surface and a planar CoSi2 / Si interface. An amorphous Ti-Si-O layer was initially formed between the Co and the Si. Co then diffused through this layer and directly formed epitaxial CoSi2 on the Si<100>. No intermediate silicide phases of Co were observed.
Direct epitaxial CoSi2 formation from Co, which is contrary to the reported silicidation process : Co→Co2 Si→CoSi→CoSi2, has been found during anneal of Co / Ti / (100) Si system. 2 nm thick Ti and 15 nm thick Co films were sputter deposited, and then annealed for 30 min at temperatures between 375°C and 900°C. At room temperature, the 2 nrm Ti immediately forms an amorphous Ti-Si-Co layer between the Co and Si. Epitaxial CoSi2 begins to form at 400°C, while the amorphous layer continues to act as both a Co diffusion retardant and Si diffusion suppressant even at 900°C. This retarded diffusion of Co reduces the growth rate of the CoSi2 over the entire temperature range studied. Superiority of the epitaxial to polycrystalline silicide has been demonstrated. In self aligned structures, an epitaxial CoSi2 film is formed by a single-step anneal without any overgrowth onto adjacent field oxide areas utilizing the amorphous diffusion controlling layer. A p+/n junction of 40 nm depth with reduced leakage and low ideality factor has been obtained by impurity diffusion from epitaxial CoSi2.
In the optical reflectance spectrum of the random multilayers of a-Si:H/a-Si3N4+x:H, it is observed an anomalous peak which is explained by the classical localization of light propagation. The following two subjects are discussed in this report; (a). The Kramers-Kronig transformation is done including the anomalous disorder-related reflectance peak. Extra absorption coefficients Δα are obtained by this analysis. Energy dependence of the localization length 1(hv) of light propagation are obtained by 1(hv)=1/Δα(hv). (b). The other is the experiment on scaling where the ratio of the disorder and the average layer thickness is kept constant but the size of each layer is changed in each experiment