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In Japan, dental charting following a disaster is performed by handwriting the information on a paper-based dental chart before manual input into a computer database. Even if available, radiographic facial or intraoral images, regardless of whether they are analogue or digital, must be stored separately from the dental chart. To create a comprehensive and more permanent database accessible worldwide, we developed a system employing digital pens with image microprocessors. This system digitizes and records characters and drawings as they are being handwritten on a microdotted-paper-based post-mortem dental chart. Data stored in the built-in memory of the digital pen are transferred to a computer or tablet via Bluetooth. Using a cognitive wireless router, the information is relayed to a remote data centre. Radiographic and other images are also transferred into the same folder under a unique ID number. After several practical field tests, the system was employed at a landslide disaster in Hiroshima ...

Cu is gaining a lot of attention as the main wiring material for next generation devices. However, Cu oxidizes in high-temperature heat treatments. For heat-proofing considerations, a Cr/Cu/Cr system is widely used. Currently, the required Cr layer is too thick and Cr is environmentally problematic. Therefore, we focused on the stable oxide, SnO2, and were able to increase heat proofing by covering Cr/Cu/Cr with SnO2. This was able to tolerate a heat treatment of 873 K for 1800 s in air. 873 K is the highest temperature in the PDP manufacturing process, which has an especially severe heat treatment for various devices. However, some oxidization along the grain boundary was observed. In order to further increase reliability, we then investigated the elucidation of an oxidation mechanism. We show clearly that Cu crystal grain growth is the most important factor for the oxidation. Based on this fact, we tried to control grain growth and improve heat proofing by inserting one or more Cr layers into the Cu layer. The result looks like a mille-feuille or Napoleon pastry. As a result, grain growth was controlled and heat proofing greatly improved.

This paper aims to develop the next-generation manufacturing method of plasma display panels (PDPs) which is superior in cost-performance and environmental damage to current methods, by introducing the lift-off process in place of the etching process. The lift-off process, which has been applied in the LSI fields, has been faced problems caused by inappropriate resist profiles, such as difficulty in resist removal and low pattern accuracy. Moreover, in PDP processes, inappropriate profiles cause more serious problems. In this paper, the inversely tapered and T-shaped resist profile is proposed, and its feasibility is experimentally proved. for proper design of the proposed profile, deposition model onto the profile is discussed, and a method based on the model is given.

BackgroundThe interactions between endogenous cytokine antagonists, surgical injury and perioperative infection are poorly understood.MethodsPerioperative plasma concentrations of soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor p55 (STNFR p55), interleukin (IL) 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) and IL-6 were measured by immunoassay in 29 consecutive patients undergoing liver resection.ResultsPlasma concentrations of STNFR p55, IL-1ra and IL-6 showed a striking increase immediately after operation (day 0) and on postoperative day 1. STNFR p55 concentrations correlated significantly with operating time (P < 0·05); IL-1ra levels with operating time, blood loss and weight of resected liver (P < 0·05); and IL-6 concentrations with operating time and blood loss (P < 0·05). Eight of the 29 subjects developed postoperative infections, of whom four had positive cultures of enteric organisms. Plasma STNFR p55 and IL-6 concentrations were significantly higher in the infected group than in the uninfected group (P < 0·05). STNFR p55 and IL-6 concentrations on day 0 differentiated between the two groups with a diagnostic accuracy of 79 and 83 per cent respectively.ConclusionThese results suggest that STNFR p55, IL-1ra and IL-6 are produced during operation in response to surgical stress. This production of STNFR p55 and IL-6 may be enhanced further by intraoperative bacterial translocation. Measurement of plasma STNFR and IL-6 concentrations may predict the development of postoperative infectious complications.

A solid-state heterogeneous membrane electrode that is selective to sulfate ions was prepared from a poly(vinyl chloride) membrane impregnated with barium chloranilate. Although the electrode response was under Nernstian (16mV/pSO42-) it was applicable to a sulfate concentration range of 10-1.5 to 10-4mol dm-3. The preferable pH range was 6-11 and the response time was about 30s. Sulfate ions in organic compounds and polymers can be assayed with this electrode without serious errors at low concentrations of various interfering anions. The electrode remained activefor at least 300 measurements, or 3 months.

For realization of the next generation thin-film pattern formation technology by the lift-off method, the inversely-tapered resist profile with interstice has been proposed, and its fundamental effectiveness was shown. Furthermore, a method was given, for calculation of thickness distribution of the film pattern formed with the proposed resist profile, and a design method of the proposed resist profile. However, in these methods, there are some problems in identification of process parameters and definition of proper resist profile. This paper proposes a systematic method for identification of the parameters and a design method of proper resist profile.

Recently, it becomes important to improve transportation capability to attain high productivity of manufacturing. One of the necessary scheme to attain the purpose is that the floor layout is initially to be optimized. After the floor layout is determined, reasonable route position for transportation is decided. Then the transportation route scheduling is determined. In this paper, design support system for transportation routing, based on agent method is proposed. To optimize the transportation route positions, the working space by the side of the equipment is to be considered. In this paper, starting from given floor layout of a factory, an appropriate transportation route is generated using Ant algorithm. To check the applicability of the proposed method, case studies are carried out changing constraints and objective functions, and its effects were analized.

The relation of interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in serum to the postoperative complications was assessed in 50 patients following an extensive hepatectomy. In addition, the postoperative levels of IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-1β in peritoneal exudative fluid were determined in 22 patients. The patients with preoperative biliary obstruction showed a higher incidence of postoperative infection compared to those without (44 vs. 12%, p = 0.043). The postoperative serum IL-6 levels on day 1 were significantly higher in patients with postoperative infection than in those without (p < 0.01). Biliary obstruction and intraoperative blood loss contributed to the increase in the serum IL-6 levels in a multiple regression analysis (p = 0.01 and p = 0.044, respectively). Further, the fluid levels of inflammatory cytokines were significantly higher in patients with biliary obstruction than in those without (p < 0.05). These results suggest that in patients with biliary obstructions a hyperactive cytokine response occurs after an extensive hepatectomy and results in a high incidence of postoperative infection.

Amine additive compounds play an important role in obtaining high sensitivity and low line edge roughness (LER) in photoacid generator (PAG)-bonded resists. It was confirmed that the PAG-bonded resist improved sensitivity and LER simultaneously with an amine additive. High sensitivity and low LER can be achieved simultaneously by optimizing the amine compound ratio in a PAG-bonded resist system. By optimizing the contents of the PAG and the amine compound ratio, the resolution was improved up to 40 nm. The sensitivity and LER of a 40 nm line/space (L/S) pattern of the PAG-bonded resist were 26 µC/cm2 and 4.9 nm (3σ), respectively. Furthermore, by loading the PAG, a sensitivity of 16 µC/cm2 was achieved for a 60 nm L/S pattern. The E0 sensitivity was 1.75 mJ/cm2 under extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure. It was also confirmed that the PAG-bonded resist has high sensitivity under EUV exposure.

— SnO2 is considered to be a promising alternative material for indium tin oxide (ITO), which is used for thin-film transparent electrodes in flat-panel displays (FPDs) and is facing a serious indium depletion problem. However, annealing processes in the manufacture of plasma-display panels (PDPs), which are major FPDs, cause high resistivity in SnO2 films. To obtain lower resistivity after the annealing processes, the relationship between deposition conditions and resistivity and the influences of annealing on resistivity, both theoretically and experimentally, were investigated. As a solution, a method involving the formation of a coating of SiO2 on SnO2 is proposed, and a SnO2 resistivity as low as 6.60 × 10−5 Ω-m was obtained after annealing.

The density of gap states in hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe:H) alloys deposited at temperatures of 150–250°C has been evaluated by using a capacitance–voltage (C–V ) method. It was found that the gap-state distribution for a-SiGe:H deposited at 150°C has a broad bump around 0.6 eV below the conduction band edge E c which is associated with Ge dangling bonds. In contrast, a 250°C-deposited film exhibits a peak density of 8×1018 cm-3·eV-1 around 0.75 eV below the conduction band edge E c, which might originate from Ge and/or Si dangling bond states. After AM1 (200 mW/cm2) light soaking, the gap-state density above the midgap is increased for films deposited below 200°C, while at 250°C deposition, defect states near the midgap are increased.