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High-mass protostars (M$_{\star} >$ 8 M$_{\odot}$) are thought to gain the majority of their mass via short, intense bursts of growth. This episodic accretion is thought to be facilitated by gravitationally unstable and subsequently inhomogeneous accretion disks. Limitations of observational capabilities, paired with a lack of observed accretion burst events has withheld affirmative confirmation of the association between disk accretion, instability and the accretion burst phenomenon in high-mass protostars. Following its 2019 accretion burst, a heat-wave driven by a burst of radiation propagated outward from the high-mass protostar G358.93-0.03-MM1. Six VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) observations of the raditively pumped 6.7 GHz methanol maser were conducted during this period, tracing ever increasing disk radii as the heat-wave propagated outward. Concatenating the VLBI maps provided a sparsely sampled, milliarcsecond view of the spatio-kinematics of the accretion disk covering a physical range of $\sim$ 50 - 900 AU. We term this observational approach `heat-wave mapping'. We report the discovery of a Keplerian accretion disk with a spatially resolved four-arm spiral pattern around G358.93-0.03-MM1. This result positively implicates disk accretion and spiral arm instabilities into the episodic accretion high-mass star formation paradigm., Published in Nature Astronomy in 2023

For $$\theta \in (-\infty , -1)\cup (1, \infty )$$ and for almost every x, it is known that the sequence $$\{\theta ^k x\}$$ is uniformly distributed modulo 1. The speed of convergence sensitively depends on the algebraic nature of $${\theta}$$. In this paper we prove that such dependence vanishes if we perturb the sequence by adding the irrational rotation $$\{\kappa\gamma\}$$. The speed becomes identical with that of the sequence of uniformly distributed independent random variables.

The results of studying the La2–xSrxCuO4 (x = 0.077−0.195) crystals with the microwave absorption, direct current resistance and magnetic susceptibility measurements are presented. The doping-temperature phase diagram with the boundaries of the areas with charge density waves, superconducting fluctuation and the bulk superconductivity state is plotted. The doping range of the charge density wave existence is found to be broader than that obtained from the X-Ray Diffraction study. It spreads at least down to x = 0.077.

A simple and efficient numerical model to solve the dynamic interaction of a high-speed train and railway structure including derailment and post-derailment during an earthquake is given. Mechanical model to express contact-impact behaviours between wheel and rail before derailment and between wheel and track structure after derailment is discussed. A contact model based on multipoint contact springs on the contact surface between wheel and the track structure after derailment is given. An efficient contact element to express contact-impact behaviour between the car body of the train and the railway structure during and after derailment is also given where the contact stiffness is described as a nonlinear function of the contact displacement. The motion of the train with nonlinear springs and dampers is modelled in multibody dynamics. The railway structure is modelled with various finite elements. The modal reduction is applied to equations of motion of the train and railway structure. A robust time integration using the exact time integration has been developed in the modal coordinate to solve the radical dynamic interaction including derailment during an earthquake to avoid the round-off error which normally appears in the numerical time integration for very small time increments. Numerical example is demonstrated.

Fluctuations of various order parameters are considered as the significant components of understanding the mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity. To study these fluctuations in the cuprate and Fe-based superconductors we use the joint measurements of direct current resistivity and non-resonant microwave absorption. Comparing data obtained with both methods allowed us to extract the contribution of dynamic charge density waves in La2−xSrxCuO4, superconducting fluctuations in Bi2Sr2Ca1−xYxCu2O8 and nematic fluctuations in FeTe1−xSex. © Kazan Federal University (KFU). Government Council on Grants, Russian Federation Government Council on Grants, Russian Federation Russian Academy of Sciences, RAS Kazan Federal University This work was supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences via the grant of Program 1.12 “Fundamental Problems of High-Temperature Superconductivity”. The work of D.Ch. is supported by the program 211 of the Russian Federation Government, agreement No. 02.A03.21.0006 and by the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University. The work of A.V. has been supported by Act 211 of the Government of Russian Federation, Contracts No. 02.A03.21.0006 and No. 02.A03.21.0011.

Background Patients with sensitive gene mutations could achieve better overall survival by taking targeted drugs. Many trials have shown that non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EFGR) mutation responded to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors worse than EGFR wild-type. And subgroups of trials have also reported the efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in the treatment of NSCLC patients with other sensitive gene mutations. So, we conducted a complementary systematic review and meta-analysis to compare efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors for NSCLC patients with sensitive gene mutations. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central) databases were searched for all clinical trials in NSCLC until 5th of January 2019. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors with chemotherapy in NSCLC patients with sensitive gene mutations. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS) were used. Results We analyzed 193 patients in this study. Among cumulative total of 210 patients, 197 were treated with PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors. Another 8 and 5 patients were treated with CTLA-4 inhibitor alone and combination with PD-1 inhibitor, respectively. This study included non-small cell lung cancer (n = 106; 50.5%), kidney (n = 23; 10.9%), melanoma (n = 30; 14.3%), gastric (n = 19; 9.0%), Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 11; 5.2%), urothelial carcinoma (n = 10; 4.8%) and others (n = 10; 4.8%). Any grade of irAEs occurred in 73 (34.8%) cumulative patients, and among them, 28 (13.3%) were classified as grade 3-5. The most common irAEs in any grade were skin disorders (n = 29) and endocrine disorders including thyroid dysfunction and adrenal insufficiency (n = 28). Eosinophilia occurred in 57 cumulative patients (27.1%), and 21 patients out of them had eosinophilia from baseline. Among the clinical and laboratory factors, only eosinophilia was significantly associated with the occurrence of any grade of irAEs in both univariate (p = 0.010) and multivariate (p = 0.0463) analyses. Notably, endocrine irAEs were significantly related to eosinophilia (p = 0.0287). Conclusions Eosinophilia after the initiation of treatment with ICIs predicts succeeding onset of irAEs. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure Y. Miura: Honoraria (self): Ono; Honoraria (self): Bristol-Myers Squibb Japan; Honoraria (self): Chugai. T. Takano: Honoraria (self): Daiichi Sankyo; Honoraria (self): Kyowa Hakko Kirin; Honoraria (self): Eisai; Research grant / Funding (self): MSD; Research grant / Funding (self): Ono; Research grant / Funding (self): Merck Serono; Research grant / Funding (self): Taiho; Research grant / Funding (self): Novartis; Research grant / Funding (self): Chugai. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

It is inferred from bulk-sensitive muon Knight shift measurement for a ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{1.76}{\mathrm{Pb}}_{0.35}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{1.89}{\mathrm{CuO}}_{6+\ensuremath{\delta}}$ single-layer cuprate that the metal-insulator (MI) transition (in the low-temperature limit, $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$) occurs at the critical hole concentration $p={p}_{\mathrm{MI}}=0.09(1)$, where the electronic density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level is reduced to zero by the pseudogap irrespective of the N\'eel order or spin glass magnetism. Superconductivity also appears for $pg{p}_{\mathrm{MI}}$, suggesting that this feature is controlled by the MI transition. More interestingly, the magnitude of the DOS reduction induced by the pseudogap remains unchanged over a wide doping range ($0.1\ensuremath{\le}p\ensuremath{\le}0.2$), indicating that the pseudogap remains as a hallmark of the MI transition for $pg{p}_{\mathrm{MI}}$.

We have investigated the low-frequency Cu-spin dynamics of partially Fe-substituted La 2−x SrxCu 1−y FeyO4 with x = 0.06 – 0.235 and y = 0.01 from zero-field muon-spin-relaxation measurements. We find that the magnetic transition temperature, T mid N , is enhanced through the 1% Fe substitution in a wide range of hole concentration per Cu, N p, where superconductivity appears in La 2−x Sr x CuO 4 . The T mid N exhibits a local maximum at p ∼ 0.115 and exists even in the overdoped regime of p > 0.15. To the surprise, T mid N in the overdoped regime of 0.15 p ≤ 0.225 is larger than in the underdoped regime of 0.05 ≤ p ≤ 0.09. These results suggest that the substitution of Fe as a magnetic impurity is effective for the stabilization of the so-called stripe order in high- T c cuprates in the underdoped regime and that the nature of the magnetic order induced through the Fe substitution in the overdoped regime might be different from that in the underdoped regime.

The performance of La(1−y)SryNixCo(1−x)O3 perovskites for the water gas shift reaction (WGSR) was investigated. The samples were prepared by the co- precipitation method and were performed by the BET method, XRD, TPR, and XPS. The catalytic tests were performed at 300 and 400 °C and H2Ov/CO = 2.3/1 (molar ratio). The sample with the highest surface area is La0.70Sr0.30NiO3. The XRD results showed the formation of perovskite structure for all samples, and the La0.70Sr0.30NiO3 sample also presented peaks corresponding to La2NiO4 and NiO, indicating that the solubility limit of Sr in the perovskite lattice was surpassed. The replacement of Co by Ni favored the reduction of the species at lower temperatures, and the sample containing Sr presented the highest amount of reducible species, as identified by TPR results. All samples were active, the Sr containing perovskite appearing the most active due to the highest surface area, presence of the La2NiO4 phase, and higher content of Cu in the surface, as detected by XPS. Among the samples containing Co, the most active one was that with x = 0.70 (60% of CO conversion).

Structural change in Bi2Te3 under high pressure up to 16.6 GPa has been studied by powder x-ray diffraction. We observed two times of phase transitions at room temperature at the pressures of 8 and 14 GPa, respectively. According to our preliminary result on electrical resistance, it is reasonable to suppose that superconducting transition with T c =2.8 K at the pressures of 10.2 GPa is observed in phase II. On the other hand, we found anomalies of the pressure dependences of lattice parameters and volume at around 2 GPa, which probably means the change in electrical structure on the Fermi surface. †This paper was presented at the XLVIth European High Pressure Research Group (EHPRG 46) Meeting, Valencia (Spain), 7–12 September, 2008.

For the purpose of a nationwide surveillance of the antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens in patients in Japan, the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy conducted their second year survey, during the period from January to August, 2007. A total of 1178 strains were collected from clinical specimens obtained from adult patients with well-diagnosed respiratory tract infections. Susceptibility testing was evaluable for 1108 strains (226 Staphylococcus aureus, 257 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 6 Streptococcus pyogenes, 206 Haemophilus influenzae, 120 Moraxella catarrhalis, 122 Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 171 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). A total of 44 antibacterial agents, including 26 beta-lactams (four penicillins, three penicillins in combination with beta-lactamase inhibitors, four oral cephems, eight parenteral cephems, one monobactam, five carbapenems, and one penem), three aminoglycosides, four macrolides (including ketolide), one lincosamide, one tetracycline, two glycopeptides, six fluoroquinolones, and one oxazolidinone were used for the study. Analysis was conducted at the central reference laboratory according to the method recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). The incidence of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was high, at 59.7%, and the incidences of penicillin-intermediateresistant and -resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (PISP and PRSP) were 30.4% and 5.1%, respectively. Among Haemophilus influenzae strains, 19.9% of them were found to be beta-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin (ABPC)-intermediately-resistant (BLNAI), 29.1% to be beta-lactamasenon-producing ABPC-resistant (BLNAR), and 6.7% to be beta-lactamase-producing ABPC-resistant (BLPAR) strains. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae was not isolated. Two isolates (1.2%) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were found to be metallo-beta-lactamase-producing strains, including one (0.6%) suspected multidrug-resistant strain showing resistance to imipenem, amikacin, and ciprofloxacin. These data will be a useful reference for future periodic surveillance studies and for investigations to control resistant infections as well. Continued surveillance is required to prevent the further spread of these antimicrobial resistances.

In this work, the perovskite-type oxides LaNiO3, LaMnO3, La0,7Sr0,3NiO3 and La0,7Sr0,3MnO3 were prepared by co-precipitation and tested in the NO reduction with CO at 400 and 500 ºC for 10 h. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, temperature programmed reduction with hydrogen, nitrogen adsorption and chemical analysis. The nonstoichiometric oxygen was quantified by temperature programmed reduction, and the catalytic tests showed that the La0,7Sr0,3MnO3 catalyst presented the higher performance for the reduction reaction of NO with CO. The partial substitution of lanthanum by strontium increased the NO conversion and the N2 yield.

Summary Renal lesions of the type usually found in claudin-16 (CL-16) defective Japanese Black cattle (homozygous for CL-16 deficiency) were identified in six animals of this breed, aged 28–59 months, which were either heterozygous for CL-16 deficiency (type 1) or normal, as judged by a DNA-based test associated with the CL-16 gene. Histopathologically, all six cases showed elongated focal lesions which ran through the cortex to terminate in the outer zone of the medulla. The lesions contained components that included: (1) immature tubules, (2) small irregularly shaped tubules with thickening of the basement membrane, (3) mesenchymal cells in an increased interstitium, (4) small atrophic glomeruli, and (5) immature glomeruli. The glomeruli were noticeably reduced in number, and large glomeruli with an increased number of mesangial cells were observed throughout the entire cortical area. Cystic dilation of tubules and flattening of the epithelium were noted in all areas of the kidney. Histopathologically, the renal lesions in the six cases were indistinguishable from those reported previously in cattle homozygous for CL-16 deficiency. These findings demonstrate that such renal lesions in Japanese Black cattle are not necessarily associated with homozygous deletion of the CL-16 gene.

A robust and efficient computational method to solve the dynamic interaction of a high-speed train and railway structure including derailment during an earthquake is given. Mechanical models to express contact–impact behaviors during and after derailment are described. A modal reduction has been developed to solve nonlinear equations of motions of the train and railway structure effectively. The exact time integration in the modal coordinate is given that is free from the round-off error normally appeared in the numerical time integration for very small time increments to solve the interaction including derailment during an earthquake. Some examples are demonstrated.

In Fe pnictide (Pn) superconducting materials, neither Mn nor Cr doping to the Fe site induces superconductivity, even though hole carriers are generated. This is in strong contrast with the superconductivity appearing when holes are introduced by alkali-metal substitution on the insulating blocking layers. We investigate in detail the effects of Mn doping on magnetotransport properties in $\mathrm{Ba}({\mathrm{Fe}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{x}\mathrm{As}{)}_{2}$ for elucidating the intrinsic reason. The negative Hall coefficient for $x\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}0$ estimated in the low magnetic field $(B)$ regime gradually increases as $x$ increases, and its sign changes to a positive one at $x\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}0.020$. Hall resistivities as well as simultaneous interpretation using the magnetoconductivity tensor including both longitudinal and transverse transport components clarify that minority holes with high mobility are generated by the Mn doping via spin-density wave transition at low temperatures, while original majority electrons and holes residing in the paraboliclike Fermi surfaces of the semimetallic $\mathrm{Ba}(\mathrm{FeAs}{)}_{2}$ are negligibly affected. Present results indicate that the mechanism of hole doping in $\mathrm{Ba}({\mathrm{Fe}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{x}\mathrm{As}{)}_{2}$ is greatly different from that of the other superconducting FePn family.

Using cotton swab specimens of dental plaque from children aged 6–36 months, four commercial chairside tests for oral bacteria were evaluated by comparison with conventional selective culture: mitis salivarius kanamycin bacitracin agar for mutans streptococci and Rogosa SL agar for lactobacilli. Representative colonies of all isolates were identified by commercial identification kits. According to qualitative evaluations, all chairside tests for mutans streptococci were effective in our population. Those for lactobacilli were not as effective, due mainly to a high recovery of yeast contaminants.

This paper proposes a novel spatiotemporal equalizer using a cascaded connection of multibeam adaptive array and multi-input maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) based on single-user detection. The computational load for the proposed method is much lower than that of the optimal method, and computer simulations revealed that its bit-error-rate (BER) performance is identical to that of the optimal method. Theoretical analysis also supports equivalency between these methods.

Direct excitation of two and three magnons is observed in mid-infrared absorption and Raman scattering spectra of α-Fe2O3 crystals. These polarization characteristics and the spectra themselves are shown to be understood from group-theoretical point of view. The microscopic mechanism of three-magnon excitation is proposed in addition to that of well-known two-magnon excitation process.

Summary. Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate dental fear and cooperation during dental treatment using the Children's Fear Survey Schedule – Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS). Methods. From the behaviour assessment of regular patients of the Pediatric Dental Clinic in Niigata University Dental Hospital (aged 5–12 years old), the patients were classified into two groups: uncooperative and cooperative. CFSS-DS questionnaires were sent to a total of 295 patients, 186 of which were returned, 61 from the uncooperative group and 125 from the cooperative group. Results. In the uncooperative and the cooperative groups, the CFSS-DS mean total scores were 31·79 and 24·02 (P

First-in-first-out (FIFO) data storages are in great demand for telecommunication LSIs. This paper presents high-speed and low-power CMOS memory techniques specialized for FIFO operation. A size-configurable architecture using the tile methodology is employed to customize the word counts and/or data bits with a. short time of less than 30 min. Four flag bits are introduced to inform the internal state of FIFO memories. To obtain a higher operating speed, an SRAM-like memory cell with current-sense readout is used. The critical-path delay of the Gray-code up/down counter, indicating the stored data volume, is shortened to 6.0 ns (66%) by using a double-rail single-stage XOR circuit. As to the low-power techniques, a wordline/bitline-swapped dual-port memory-cell architecture is proposed to cut off the static power-supply current of unselected columns. By using the hidden blanket-precharged bitline scheme, the power dissipation of the writing circuitry is minimized without degrading the operating speed. A new data-driven gated-shift-pulse architecture is also proposed to reduce the power dissipation of shift-register-type address pointers (1.5 mW at 100 MHz). A 2K-words /spl times/ 8-bits FIFO memory test chip, fabricated with a 0.6-/spl mu/m CMOS process (a short effective channel length of 0.35 /spl mu/m is available for both the nMOS and pMOS), has demonstrated the 140-MHz operation at a typical 3.3-V power supply. The power dissipation in standby is less than 0.1 /spl mu/W and that at 100-MHz dual-port operation with single fan-out loads is in the range from 28 mW (in the best case with the M-scan test pattern) to 46 mW (in the worst case with the checkerboard test pattern).

160 non-English major students studying at a four-year university and 193 English major students studying at a career college of foreign language in Japan completed a questionnaire regarding instruction and instructor personality. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether the students’ instructional and personality ratings predicted their general evaluation of course. This study also investigated whether the relations between instructional and personality ratings and the general course evaluation varied by major. A significant correlation was found between the instructional scale and the overall evaluation of the course regardless of students’ majors: The more the students found the class interesting and was appropriately managed, the higher the overall evaluation. However, the findings indicate that while teacher’s extroversion, thoughtfulness and neuroticism mattered to the non-English major group when evaluating the overall effectiveness of the class, teacher personality did not influence the English major group. The authors believe the findings of the present study could contribute to a better understanding of the nature of student evaluations that have always been a source of controversy, and sometimes discontent during their history.

The effect of Mn substitution, acting as a magnetic impurity for Fe, on the Dirac cone was investigated in Ba(Fe${}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$Mn${}_{x}$As)${}_{2}$. Both magnetoresistance and Hall resistivity studies clearly indicate that the cyclotron effective mass (${m}^{*}$) of the Dirac cone is anomalously enhanced at low temperatures by the impurity, although its evolution as a function of carrier number proceeds in a conventional manner at higher temperatures. Kondo-like band renormalization induced by the magnetic impurity scattering is suggested as the most plausible explanation for this, and the anomalous mass enhancement of the Dirac fermions is discussed.

We have evaluated the polarity of single-crystalline InN using coaxial impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy (CAICISS). The polarity of rf-MBE grown InN on sapphire was found to depend on growth temperature. Nitrogen polarity was observed for low temperature grown InN at 300 °C. On the other hand, high temperature grown InN at 550 °C showed primarily indium polarity. Furthermore, a mixture of indium polarity and nitrogen polarity was observed for two-step grown InN. A GaN cap layer was grown on InN to infer the polarity of InN. From reflection high-energy electron diffraction observations, GaN grown on low temperature grown InN showed a (3 x 3) reconstruction pattern, whereas GaN grown on high temperature grown InN showed a (2 x 2) reconstruction pattern. These results suggest that the polarity of InN is much more sensitive to growth temperature compared with other nitride semiconductors.

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) has been studied for ErCo2 single crystals and Er(Co1−xNix)2 polycrystalline samples with x≤0.10 by means of specific heat measurements and magnetization measurements. The magnetocaloric properties estimated from the calorimetric study are in agreement with those from the magnetization measurements for ErCo2 which undergoes a first-order magnetic transition at 32 K. The substitution of 10% Ni for Co lowers the Curie temperature from 32 to 13 K. Although the first-order transition vanishes at around x=0.05, the large MCE is retained for x=0.10. The results suggest a high potential of Er(Co1−xNix)2 as active magnetic regenerative materials.

Simultaneous biaxial stretching was carried out by using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gel films which were prepared by crystallization from solutions in dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO) and water (H2O) mixtures. The Me2SO/H2O composition was set to be 70:30. The maximum biaxially draw ratio, 3×3, is much lower than 8.7×8.7 of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) dry gel films. Even so, Young's modulus of the PVA film was almost equal to that of the UHMWPE. To address this problem, theoretical analysis was carried out using a three-dimensional model, in which the oriented crystalline layers are surrounded by an anisotropic amorphous phase and the strains of the two phases at the boundary are identical. Young's modulus was calculated by using the generalized orientation factors of crystallites and amorphous chain segments estimated from the orientation functions of crystallites and amorphous chain segments. The experimental values were lower than the calculated one. Such a disagreement between the experimental and calculated values was discussed in relation to the morphology estimated by high-resolution solid state 13C NMR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the ultimate value of Young's modulus was estimated theoretically by assuming an ideal simultaneous biaxially stretched film with 100% crystallinity and the perfect orientation of the c-axes parallel to the film surface. The predicted value at absolute temperature was less than 13.5 GPa, suggesting the impossibility to produce high-modulus and high-strength PVA sheets. Incidentally, the stress–strain curves repeated up to 40 times of swollen gels with large amount of solvents >80% passed through the same hysteresis route indicating rubber elasticity. Such an interesting phenomenon was investigated in relation to crystallization by small angle light scattering under Hv polarization condition and X-ray diffraction.

A single-dispersed oligosilane with a mesophase (smectic B) was utilized for fabricating molecularly ordered films. Their carrier transport properties were examined by the time-of-flight (TOF) transient photocurrent technique. In polycrystalline films of permethyldecasilane, molecular orientation almost parallel to bias electric field and a multi-layered structure were found, possessing large domain size (> 20 μ m). This unique molecular order resulted in non-dispersive TOF photocurrent with a clear plateau, whose hole mobility exceeded 1×10 −3 cm 2 /V s at 293 K, 1×10 5 V/cm. The high carrier mobility with small distribution can be ascribed to their well-ordered hopping sites. The unprecedented structure together with possible control of hopping sites makes oligosilanes a new class of hole transport materials.

We examined magnetocaloric effects of DyMn 2 Ge 2 , which shows two successive first-order phase transitions at 36 and 40 K. Above 40 K, DyMn 2 Ge 2 shows the metamagnetic transition in an appropriate magnetic field and large magnetocaloric effects were observed. The magnetization measurements for single crystals have revealed that the intermediate state appearing between 36 and 40 K in zero field is essentially the same as the high-field phase, which is induced by a magnetic field of 7 T at 4.2 K. Anomalous field dependence of isothermal magnetic entropy change was observed. We discuss the origin of anomalous entropy change as well as that of large magnetocaloric effects in connection with the magnetic structure of DyMn 2 Ge 2 .

An experiment was performed to investigate the influence of sparkling luminous elements on overall brightness impressions. Evaluations of overall brightness impressions were carried out under various lighting conditions in which the luminance, size, shape and background luminance of the luminous element were varied. Subjective appraisals of the impression (sparkling, glaring or merely bright) of luminous elements were also carried out. The results suggested that the overall brightness impression of a room with a sparkling luminous element is often about 1.2-1.3 times higher than that without a luminous element The optimum lighting conditions that increased the overall brightness impression were elucidated.

The intermolecular energy transfer was studied in a bilayer film of polysilanes. The highly oriented films of poly(diethylsilylene) (PDES) were prepared by the mechanical deposition technique, whic...

In the title compounds, [Co(C 2 O 4 )(CH 5 N)) 4 ]ClO 4 (1), and [Co(C 2 O 4 )(C 2 H 7 N) 4 ]ClO 4 .H 2 O, (2), the Co atom has a distorted octahedral coordination composed of four amine ligands and one oxalato ligand. The coordination and oxalato bond distances in (1) and (2) are similar to the corresponding distances in [Co(C 2 O 4 )(NH 3 ) 4 ] + . The Co-N-C angles are in the range 117.1 (4)-123.2 (2)°.