Tohoku Techno Arch Co., Ltd. List of Products and Services

　To get robots to do their jobs just like people do, it is important for the robot to install a sensor that can sense the same sense as humans. 　Conventionally, various types of sensors have been proposed, but they have problems such as a complicated structure and a complicated fabrication process. 　In the invention, a transducer is fabricated by forming a magnetic foam to cover a coil that provided on an electric substrate. 　Since the transducer is simple to fabricate and can sense a force from inductance displacement even with a small compressive stress, the invention is expected to solve the above problems.　

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・ Conventional N2O5 generator is difficult to handle because of the need for hazardous raw materials and complicated equipment, which makes industrial N2O5 utilization difficult. ・ Since the invention succeeded in using Air as the raw material gas, it became possible to generate N2O5 reasonable and safety. ・ It is expected to solve the problems of conventional light and heat sterilization methods and virus inactivation methods, so on. Enhancement of plant immunity ⇒ Expression of disease resistance genes in plants Application of fertilizer components ⇒ Promotion of plant growth by supplying nitrogen components Sterilization and virus removal ⇒ Sterilization and virus removal by N2O5

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Previous studies have shown that several uremic substances, which cause exacerbation of diabetic nephropathy, are produced by intestinal bacteria. On the other hand, identification of intestinal bacterial species involved in the production of uremic substances has been difficult due to confounding factors such as renal function. The inventors identified intestinal bacteria involved in the reduction of uremic substances by analyzing them without confounding factors of renal function. The present invention relates to an agent for inhibiting the production of uremic toxins and a functional food containing these bacteria. Sesamol has also been proposed as a functional ingredient for reducing uremic substances by Professor Abe et al., one of the present inventors. (Uremic substance reducing agent containing sesame lignan (ttechnoarch.co.jp)) It is expected that the bacteria of the present invention will not be used as a single agent but will be commercialized aiming at a synergistic effect by combining with the above functional ingredients.

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　The amount of electricity generated by renewable energy varies a lot on climate, etc. Therefore, it is preferable to use it in combination with storage battery in order to supply stable electric power. Redox flow battery (RFB), which charges and discharges by ion redox reaction, is highly valued for its safety due to its nonflammability, its high durability as the electrolyte & electrode hardly deteriorate, and its low running cost. Vanadium RFB is in practical use but in recent years, the resource price of vanadium active material has jumped, resulting in high initial cost.　 This invention uses only titanium as active material for both cathode / anode chambers, which significantly reduces the initial cost. There is existing RFB technology that combines titanium and manganese, but using different elements in the cathode / anode chambers risks contamination due to its principle, so a premature battery degradation could be expected. This invention has an advantage in this field and it is also expected to realize more efficient RFB because of its higher electromotive force and current density that can be extracted compared to conventional vanadium ion RFB.

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　Conventional pearl pigments were created by coating mica substrates with metal oxides, such as TiO₂. The traditional production process involved two main steps: preparation of the mica substrate and coating with metal oxides. This conventional method made it challenging to control the thickness of the metal oxide layer precisely, making it difficult to achieve stable pearlescent properties and control the hue. As a result, the process was often costly.　 　This patent introduces a method for producing pearl pigments that exhibit pearlescent properties through a simple and cost-effective process. The pigments comprise vanadium phosphate hydrates and possesses a substrate-free colored plate-like particles. It is possible to provide a strong glossy effect using the pigment with large particle sizes.

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This IP is about a sensor system for measuring tactile sensation considering tactile movement. The relationship between the tactile sensation for samples and the sensor output of the tactile sensor system controlled with various pushing forces was investigated. As a result, it was found that the developed tactile sensor system considering pushing force is available to evaluate touch feeling. The sensor system which can control its height to get a desired initial pushing force and the pushing force during sensor scanning was developed. The sensor system describes “Rough-Smooth” tactile sensations when pressing force is decreased gradually. The sensor system describes “Hard-Soft” tactile sensations when pressing force is increased gradually.

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　Tertiary alcohols, such as tert-butyl alcohol (TBA), are useful as starting materials for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and resins because they have higher oxidation resistance and hydroxyl group reactivity than primary/secandary alcohols. As an industrial process, there is a method of radical oxidation of isobutane under high pressure or without catalyst, but this process has problems of high energy load and low selectivity. As a solution, selective oxidation at ambient pressure using gold nanoparticle catalyst in the presence of hydrogen has been reported. However, there is concern about the risk of explosion because hydrogen and oxygen coexist in this method. 　As a result of repeated studies to solve the above problem, the inventor found that isoparaffins can be selectively oxidized using molecular oxygen as an oxidant to produce the corresponding tertiary alcohols with high selectivity and high production rate by using a solid catalyst containing a transition metal oxide of periodic table group 6~9, which does not support gold, and using water instead of conventional hydrogen. In particular, when Co3O4 was used as a catalyst, the selectivity (STAB) of TBA in the product was as high as 99%.

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The steel industry, which emits the largest amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), is required to reduce its CO2 emissions as soon as possible. 　A process for recovering and recycling solid carbon from gases containing CO2 and carbon monoxide (CO) is known. This process uses water gas shift reaction (CO2+H2→CO+H2O) and carbon deposition reaction (2CO→C+CO2, CO+H2→C+H2O). However, there has been concern that the precipitated carbon is fine and difficult to recover. 　This invention enables carbon recovery from CO2 and CO in gas by using porous fibrous iron (iron whisker) as a carbon deposition site. Furthermore, iron raw materials containing carbon could be used directly in the ironmaking process. This may lead to the carbon cycle process in the ironmaking process.

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Measurement of shear stress and contact stress provides important information in various fields such as robotics, medical, digital, and direct skin contact product development Conventional triaxial stress sensors have thick and rigid shapes, so it has been difficult to directly measure shear stress and contact stress in vivo, for example. 　In order to solve the above problems, the inventor has developed the following sensors. 1. Patent No. JP5688792 * Related Patent (2/4) 　Thin sensor capable of measuring shear stress and contact stress simultaneously 2. Patent No. JP6753615 * Related Patent (3/4) 　Highly integrated sensor technology 3. Patent No. JP7466214 * Related Patent (4/4) 　A laminated sensor capable of measuring even in a low stress range based on the principle of 1. The present invention is a thin, highly integrated sensor combining the above technologies. Demonstration experiments for various applications have been conducted, and the practical application of this technology is expected.

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　With the high integration of electronic devices, high temperature of metal wiring and high current density used in circuits are increasing. Then, electromigration (EM) damage due to metal fatigue becomes a problem, which may cause disconnection failure. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the reliability of wiring. 　Conventional reliability evaluation methods include empirical equations (Black's equation), but tests for each wiring structure are necessary, and evaluation accuracy is also problematic. Since threshold current density of EM damage exists in multilayer wiring with via connections, evaluation studies of threshold current density have conventionally been conducted. However, evaluation of the EM damage process leading to the generation and growth of voids and disconnection has not been achieved, and a highly accurate evaluation method has been required. 　In order to solve the above problems, we have developed a method for evaluating wire life and allowable current with high accuracy and simplicity. In the present invention, the parameters controlling EM damage can be specified and the atomic concentration distribution inside the wiring can be simulated. By utilizing this method, it is also possible to design an effective reservoir structure to improve the threshold current density.

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The thermoelectric effect has been applied in a wide range of fields such as thermoelectric power generation and thermoelectric cooling. However, high thermoelectric performance is required for industrial use, and research for the development of new thermoelectric materials is actively carried out. 　The influence of the thermoelectric effect by electromigration (EM) has been studied in semiconductor thin films. It is also known that the stress state after the introduction of EM changes depending on the presence or absence of a protective film in metal wiring.　 　From the above findings, it was found that the thermoelectric performance is improved by introducing EM into metal wiring with a protective film. Metal atoms are moved by the introduction of EM, and by covering the metal wiring with a protective film and introducing EM, the stress distribution is generated inside the wiring, which enables the production of thermoelectric semiconductors with high thermoelectric performance

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Vascular embolization treatment, a minimally invasive surgery for various blood vessel‐related conditions, has emerged as a crucial method in treating such as hemorrhage, arteriovenous malformation, aneurysms, and hypervascular tumors. Liquid agents present unique advantages, penetrating distal peripheral vasculature inaccessible to solid counterparts while allowing modulation of penetration depth through compositional adjustments. Conventionally used liquid embolic substances include N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA) and ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (Onyx ). NBCA embolizes blood vessels by polymerization reaction with blood, and Onyx embolizes blood vessels by precipitation and aggregation in blood. However, in NBCA and Onyx , there is a problem that the embolic substances may stick to the tip of the catheter, injure the inner wall of the blood vessel and the catheter insertion site, and cause bleeding. According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an embolic agent and a kit for blood vessel embolization comprising the embolic agent and the embolic agent having excellent injectability with a syringe and safety and stability in vivo while having blood vessel embolization properties equivalent to those of conventional embolic agents. The present invention comprises as an active ingredient a copolymer of a monomer containing a cationic functional group and a monomer containing an aromatic group, wherein at least a part of the copolymer has a structure represented by general formula.

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　With the spread of contact lenses (CLs), the number of patients suffering from dry eye is increasing. In addition, the spread of smart CLs with biomonitoring, communication and display functions is expected in the future, and effective measures against dry eye are required. 　The present inventors have developed a CL-type device capable of preventing dry eye based on their long accumulated "hydrogel synthesis and molding technology" and "biocompatible battery power generation technology". Specifically, they developed a hydrogel material with high electroosmotic flow generation efficiency and excellent moldability. They found that when applied to CLs, water flow is generated in the lens by energization, which can maintain the wet state of the CL and stabilize the tear film on the cornea. Furthermore, they have succeeded in mounting a bio-battery on a contact lens to drive it as a self-standing device that does not require external power supply (right figure). 　The present invention is important not only for the prevention of dry eye, but also for the controlled release of eyedrops and the control of intraocular pressure by inducing aqueous humor drainage. It is expected to develop as a method for injecting and injecting eyedrops into and out of eye holes, which is similar to eye drops and syringes.

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　Mastitis in dairy cattle is considered to be one of the most intractable diseases in livestock, and it is known that it leads to a decrease in milk production and an increase in treatment costs, resulting in a large economic loss. In order to reduce the economic loss, early detection of mastitis is essential. However, the PL test, which is an existing mastitis detection method, does not lead to early detection because mastitis already showing degeneration is used as a sample. Therefore, a Chemical Luminescence measurement method is regarded as promising. However, a special apparatus is required to measure the Chemical Luminescence ability, and from the viewpoint of economy and difficulty, it is not suitable as a routine method for each dairy farmer. 　The present invention makes it possible to provide a method and a biomarker that contribute to the early detection of mastitis in a simple and rapid manner. The present invention is characterized by comprising a step of detecting cyclophilin A in milk collected from the udder of a subject and a step of determining the occurrence or possibility of occurrence of a mammary gland disease based on the amount of cyclophilin A. When the amount of cyclophilin A in milk is larger than that collected from a healthy udder, it is determined that a mammary gland disease has occurred or is likely to occur in the udder of the subject.

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　Water pollution is a serious problem on a global scale, and it is required to develop environmentally friendly technologies for the recovery and removal of pollutants with low energy consumption and without the use of large amounts of chemicals. One method of wastewater treatment is to remove pollutants using adsorbents. However, existing adsorbents have a problem that their adsorption capacity is lost due to the Debye shielding effect caused by salts contained in wastewater. 　The present invention relates to a novel adsorbent consisting of a copolymer of a monomer containing a cationic or anionic functional group and a monomer containing an aromatic group, which exhibits good adsorption performance even in wastewater with a high salt concentration. By using this adsorbent, it is expected to more efficiently and inexpensively remove chemical substances in industrial wastewater, especially ionic dyes contained in wastewater from textile dyeing factories, ink factories, etc.

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・In a conventional liquid crystal display(LCD), when a large pressure is applied from the outside or a steep bending deformation is forced, the display image is disorderd cause of thickness variation of the liquid crystal layers, and the substrate spacer is damaged. ・Therefore, liquid crystals are difficult to apply to flexible displays because of such problems. ・The invention packs a liquid crystal material into robust microtubes and arranges them in a plurality to form a liquid crystal layer. ・Using such a structure, pressure force can be dispersed even when pressure is applied from the outside. ・It is expected to be applied to a robust and flexibile liquid crystal display.

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　Photocatalysts are materials that induce redox reactions under illumination. In particular, it is effective for downhill reactions (oxidative degradation of hazardous and pollutants) and titanium oxide (TiO2) which is UV light responsive, is already in practical use. However, TiO2 photocatalytic technology is limited to small amounts and low concentrations of substances based on the solar light spectrum, and there is a problem that oxidation degradation treatment similar to that under illumination is never induced in the dark conditions. 　In his research for application as a photoelectrode and photocatalyst for organic p-n junctions, the inventor found that organic p-n junctions can catalyze (= dual catalysis) the oxidation of thiols even in the dark conditions [1]. In addition, as a result of his intensive research, he succeeded in expanding the target of dual catalysis to formic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and hydrazine by supporting a cocatalyst on organic p-n junctions. 　Dual catalysis is a new type of catalysis that TiO2 does not have. The selection of organic p-n junctions and co-catalysts is expected to expand the application range and market size of catalysts for environmental purification applications.

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Photocatalysts are materials that induce redox reactions under illumination. In particular, it is effective for downhill reactions (oxidative degradation of hazardous and pollutants) and titanium oxide (TiO2) which is UV light responsive, is already in practical use. However, TiO2 photocatalytic technology is limited to small amounts and low concentrations of substances based on the solar light spectrum, and there is a problem that oxidation degradation treatment similar to that under illumination is never induced in the dark conditions. 　In his research for application as a photoelectrode and photocatalyst for organic p-n junctions, the inventor found that organic p-n junctions can catalyze (= dual catalysis) the oxidation of thiols even in the dark conditions [1]. In addition, as a result of the intensive research, it was found that the p-type semiconductor (FePc) in the organic p-n junction was oxidized and decomposed in the presence of hydrogen peroxide to produce a cocatalyst for hydrogen peroxide in situ, and as a result, dual catalysis by the organic n-type semiconductor occurred. 　Dual catalysis is a new type of catalysis that TiO2 does not have. The selection of organic p-n junctions and co-catalysts is expected to expand the application range and market size of catalysts for environmental purification applications.

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　Photocatalysts are materials that induce redox reactions under illumination. In particular, it is effective for downhill reactions (oxidative degradation of hazardous and pollutants) and titanium oxide (TiO2) which is UV light responsive, is already in practical use. However, TiO2 photocatalytic technology is limited to small amounts and low concentrations of substances based on the solar light spectrum, and there is a problem that oxidation degradation treatment similar to that under illumination is never induced in the dark conditions. 　In his research for application as a photoelectrode and photocatalyst for organic p-n junctions, the inventor found that organic p-n junctions can catalyze (= dual catalysis) the oxidation of thiols even in the dark conditions [1]. In addition, as a result of his intensive research, he succeeded in expanding the target of dual catalysis to formic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and hydrazine by supporting a cocatalyst on organic p-n junctions. 　Dual catalysis is a new type of catalysis that TiO2 does not have. The selection of organic p-n junctions and co-catalysts is expected to expand the application range and market size of catalysts for environmental purification applications.

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Mo material is excellent in heat resistance. Since Mo material is easily oxidized at high temperature, it is indispensable to form MoSi2 protective film to prevent it. As a conventional method, the pack cementation method is known. Although this method can stably form MoSi2 films, it requires processing conditions of 1000 ℃ or more and 10 hours or more, leading to high costs. The present invention relates to a method of forming a MoSi2/WSi2 film (e.g., 30 μm) on the surface of a Mo/W material by simply immersing a base material in a bath (e.g., 800 ℃. for 15 min.). According to this method, the largest advantage is that there is no restriction on the shape that can be treated. The base material processed into a product shape can be subjected to silicification treatment. The Mo material having the present invention has been confirmed to exhibit excellent oxidation resistance (see right table), and is useful as a more convenient silicification method.

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SAS can lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases and other complications, resulting in severe symptoms. However, the symptoms of SAS are challenging to recognize, and it is estimated that 1 in 20 people in Japan are potential sufferers. Patients with glaucoma are known to have a higher probability of concurrent SAS, making it beneficial to recommend SAS testing for these individuals to identify undetected cases. However, conducting tests on all glaucoma patients is not practical. This invention introduces a machine learning model and an app that incorporates this model, designed for ophthalmologists to easily assess the likelihood of glaucoma patients having SAS. More than 500 glaucoma patients were recruited and underwent basic ophthalmic examinations, along with the collection of age, gender, BMI information, and home sleep SAS testing for nocturnal oxygen saturation measurements. Patients whose nocturnal oxygen saturation dips below the baseline exceeded a specified threshold were defined as having SAS. The machine learning approach combines systemic and ophthalmic parameters to predict the occurrence of SAS. The app facilitates the input of systemic parameters, including responses to medical inquiries, and ophthalmic parameters, including visual field test results, thus enabling the calculation of the likelihood of having SAS with high accuracy.

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Titanium material is widely used in artificial tooth roots and artificial bones as a lightweight material exhibiting high fracture toughness, but it does not bond with bone. Therefore, a hydroxyapatite coating used as an artificial bone has been investigated on titanium material, and various coating methods such as plasma coating and chemical coating have been investigated as techniques for this purpose. The present invention relates to a nanosurfaced titanium substrate and a method for producing the same, which can induce self-assembly of nano-needle-like crystals of hydroxyapatite on the titanium substrate more efficiently than conventional methods.

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　Wire harnesses (WHs), the main target of this technology, are mainly used in automobiles and consist of bundles of thin wires that connect each component and are responsible for transmitting electrical signals and supplying power. Increased demand is expected with the rapid growth of electric vehicles in the future, and the development of efficient recycling technology for used WHs is strongly desired. To secure domestic resources and realize a decarbonized society, it is vital to recycle not only metal wires but also plastic coating materials. Chopping or comminution treatment is a common separation technology for treating used WHs, while it has limitations for mechanically recycling recovered plastic coating because it contains fine copper particles that are impurities for recycling.　This invention enables the separation,　sorting,and simultaneous recovery of copper wires and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating without the formation of fine particles by applying moderate impact in the ball mill equipment after swelling the coating material with organic solvent.

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　Medical images are complicated and noisy. Device manufacturers are conducting R&D on denoising technologies using deep learning (DL). Unet is a popular model developed for medical image segmentation and has been used for image denoising. Unet as well as other DL models with higher prediction accuracies require large computational resources and have become a barrier to use in standalone devices for remote diagnosis or deployment of AI-solutions in mobile devices for smart digital medicine.　 　The "LWBNA-unet" of the present invention was designed with a focus on efficiency and reduction of computational resources. It succeeded in reducing weight by about 10 times as compared to the conventional Unet model. Similar to controlling the flow of information through a channel by changing its width, the LWBNA-Unet performs channel control by gradually decreasing the number of filters with attention to discriminate unnecessary features, which enables highly accurate segmentation of image features in complex and noisy images. The method is also capable of detecting and classifying diseases automatically with high accuracy under low computational resource environments. It is shown that the model has better capabilities of learning in terms of reproducibility and accuracy with smaller datasets as compared to conventional Unet and DeepLabv3+, models under same conditions.

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In optical quantum computation, a computation method called Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) is used, and light with the property of quantum superposition called single-mode squeezed vacuum(SMSV) is used as input light. In order to realize a large-scale GBS system, the silicon photonic wire waveguides are expected as a highly integrated platform. However, there are few examples of SMSV generation in the silicon photonic wire waveguides.　 　Generation of SMSV requires two-wavelength excitation light pulses, and there are prior technologies that synthesize the first and second optical pulses. However, the phase difference between the first and second optical pulses changes over time, makes accurate measurement of the SMSV impossible. Temporal fluctuations of noise photons mixed into the SMSV also inhibit accurate measurement. 　A special optical wavelength filter outputs the first and second optical pulses to a coaxial path, and by eliminating the temporal fluctuation of the phase difference, a stabilized SMSV is obtained by the present invention.

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In a high-speed rotary pump such as used in a turbo pump for a rocket engine, cavitation occurs at the pump inlet. Therefore, a spiral auxiliary impeller with excellent suction performance called an inducer is installed in front of the pump main impeller to boost and transport stable liquid. Various techniques have been proposed to suppress unstable and asymmetric phenomena associated with cavitation in the inducer. However, conventional techniques have problems such as difficulty in machining, increased axial vibration and weight.　 The present invention has attempted to solve the above problems by providing a slit (notch) in the inducer and optimizing the conditions of the position, depth and width of the slit. Specifically, it has the following features. ・ Provide axisymmetric slits on each blade of the inducer ・ A slit is provided upstream from the throat entrance on the outer peripheral side of the blade. ・ The inside length of the slit in the radial direction is shorter than the opening width, and the shape is wider. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress the instability phenomenon while maintaining the step-up performance of the inducer.

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Genome editing technology is attracting attention for the creation of new crop varieties, but until now, genome editing technology has produced only one stage phenotype mainly due to the loss of function of known genes. 　In this study, we propose a concept to control crop phenotypes in a multistage manner by precisely modifying the Conserved Noncoding Sequence(CNS). 　By taking advantage of CNS editing, we expect to produce cultivars with optimal traits.

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　Rechargeable magnesium batteries (RMBs) have been developed as post lithium-ion batteries. Previously, only the Chevrel compounds were known to be available as a cathode material for RMBs. However, practical RMBs require cathode materials, which could deliver high capacity with higher electrochemical potential. 　The present invention provides cathode materials with a disordered rocksalt structure for RMBs. The novel chemical composition of the present material successfully enables reversible and substantial Mg intercalation, which has been previously believed to be difficult, especially in the rocksalt structure. The materials of this patent will expectedly yield cathode materials with higher capacity and electrode potential.

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・ By combining nanobubbles and manganese ion, we succeeded in producing a sterilization and deodorant based on strong oxidizing power. ・ Ozone water has a sterilization and deodorization effect, but the effect disappears within a few hours. The inventor succeeded in producing a new type of ozone nanobubble by combining ozone-containing microbubbles with manganese. This water has the same effect as ordinary ozone water, but it has very low cytotoxicity. Therefore, it can be used directly for living organisms. ・ In addition, by adjusting the pH and changing the raw materials of the above nanobubbles in the manufacturing process, we succeeded in greatly reducing the generation of precipitates . ・ It has also been confirmed that the nanobubble water containing permanganate ions produced by the invention has long-term stability, bactericidal effect, and no oral or cellular toxicity, high throughput manufacturing process. 　It is expected to be widely applied to deodorants and disinfectants.

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・ The water containing nanobubbles is expected to have practical effects. The combination with various reagents has also been shown to produce unique effects. In addition to washing, sterilization, and antiviral effects, attention has been focused on plant and animal cell activities. Applications in various fields such as environment, medicine, and engineering are being investigated.　 ・ In the invention, nanobubbles with a particle size of about 10 nm were successfully produced iron ions in the production process. The surface of the nanobubbles has an uneven structure of less than 2 nm as a nanoparticle (hollow nanoshell). ・ The hollow nanoshell is dispersed in an aqueous solution at a concentration of tens of billions/mL or more. Unlike other nanoparticles and quantum dots, no stabilizer is required. Since there is almost no cytotoxicity, it can also be applied in bio-medical fields for bioactive effects.

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　Recently, methane hydrate (MH) has attracted attention as an energy resource to replace conventional fossil fuels. Heating and decompression methods have been proposed to dissociate and recover methane gas from MH by heating or decompressing the MH layer. However, the heating method consumes more energy to heat water than the energy produced by the recovered methane gas. On the other hand, the decompression method has the problem that the MH layer freezes due to the endothermic reaction when the methane gas dissociates, and the methane gas cannot be recovered efficiently. 　In the present invention, we developed a system for recovering methane gas by drilling multiple wells, dissolving carbon dioxide, injecting heated seawater, and using the preheated injection well as a production well. In addition, by converting methane gas into electric energy and using the heat energy released at the time to recover methane gas, the system can be operated as a more efficient and environmentally friendly system.

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In recent years, the development of lightweight and strong spherical graphite cast iron (ductile cast iron) has been promoted from the viewpoint of CO2 emission reduction and fuel efficiency reduction for automotive parts. In addition, efforts have been made to make ductile cast iron with highly productive die casting from the viewpoint of manufacturing cost reduction. In conventional die casting, heat treatment is necessary to suppress the generation of chill. In addition, the number of spheroidal graphite cast iron produced was small, and the mechanical properties such as strength and elongation were not sufficiently obtained. The ductile cast iron in which the spheroidal graphite is further refined and made uniform in the as-cast state without heat treatment can be obtained by combining a technique for suppressing chilling by free nitrogen with a semi-solidification casting technique.

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In recent years, the international market price of neodymium has skyrocketed. This is believed to be due to the increasing demand for wind power generation and electric vehicle motors in China, which is promoting decarbonization as a national policy. Additionally, discussions regarding economic security within Japan are becoming active, leading to a strong demand for magnetic materials that do not contain rare earth elements. Among these, there is significant expectation for inexpensive Fe-N based magnetic materials composed solely of iron and nitrogen. In particular, α“-Fe16N2, which is predicted to have a bct structure and high saturation magnetization, is attracting considerable attention. However, α“-Fe16N2 itself is a metastable compound that crystallizes when Fe-N based compounds are annealed, and there are very few reports of it being isolated as a bulk material. The few existing reports involve eutectics of α“-Fe16N2 with stable phases or instances where it only exists for ten days at 100°C, and there are no examples of α“-Fe16N2 being stably isolated as a single phase in bulk form. This invention relates to the stable isolation of α“-Fe16N2 powder.

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IRS (Intelligent Reflecting Surface) is known as a means to improve network performance. IRS is a device with integrated metamaterial element. Electromagnetic wave incident on the device can be reflected in any direction by controlling metamaterial element. Normally, CSI (Channel State Information) is required to control IRS. However, IRS is a passive device and cannot send nor receive information. Therefore, a device to collect CSI must be installed separately from IRS and connected to IRS, which requires cost and technical burden.　 　This invention is able to provide a controller that can control IRS without the need of CSI. This invention has a control pattern selection unit that determines a control pattern corresponding to representative value that is in the same cluster as reference value based on reflection target and codebook that show correspondence between representative value and IRS control pattern, and a control unit that controls IRS based on pattern. The codebook classifies reference value into cluster, generates representative value in each cluster, and generates control pattern corresponding to the representative value.

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Conventional superelastic and shape-memory alloys are generally composed of elements having high specific gravity, and the ones composed of lightweight elements have not been reported yet. Although superelastic and shape-memory alloys for medical applications are being intensely investigated, a typical TiNi alloy (Nitinol) is still difficult to apply to patients owing to allergic effect caused by nickel. 　The present invention provides superelastic and shape-memory alloy having the specific gravity less than one third of Nitinol by using magnesium. As well known as the good biocompatibility of magnesium, the alloy is expected to be applied to medical field.

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It is ready to provide the technology package for Micro- and Nano-satellites around the earth, including know-how of hardware, operation software, evaluation technique, man-made satellite launching system, (a part of IP right of) termination control technique (de-orbit from orbit when missions finished). It is also possible to provide unique service by using the small satellite technologies to conduct customer designated missions.

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Superelastic alloy can instantly return to its original state after plastic deformation when the force is removed. However, a repeated plastic deformation leaves a residual strain that cannot be ignored. This invention is about an elastic alloy having a large elastic strain over 4% and Young's modulus less than 25 Gpa, which remains in the elastic range even a stress up to 600 Mpa is applied.

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In recent years, with the diffusion of the wireless Internet of Things (IoT), interference between different IoT systems are reported. In order to avoid those interferences, real-time frequency detection techniques are used to monitor signals and noise in the IoT frequency band in milliseconds level. However, monitoring these bands in real time all at once using Nyquist sampling is not easy because the high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that exceeds 12 Ghz is necessary. This invention made possible to monitor in real-time several different frequency bands with a real-time frequency monitor using an undersampling reception method by following steps: the step of obtaining a frequency spectrum from 0 to the Nyquist frequency, the step of generating a frequency spectrum by reversing the data at each Nyquist frequency, and the step of performing a minimum value calculation on each of the obtained above data to generate a single frequency spectrum which reproduces the received frequency spectrum.

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Recently, in the field of quantum computation for the selection of optimal routes for navigation, disaster evacuation, production lines, logistics, etc., the conventional method needed first to specify a cost function, then was able to obtain the optimal solution by ordinary computers and quantum annealing. However, the optimal solution at a given cost function was difficult to adapt to the ever-changing situation and to extract the optimal route. This invention is about a technique to solve the aforementioned issues by a mechanism that allows the cost function to be flexibly changed.

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The development of thermoelectric conversion technology to extract electricity from waste heat is being actively pursued. Mg2Si is a thermoelectric conversion material suitable for the use of industrial waste heat since the thermoelectric conversion efficiency achieves its maximum value at around 300ºC environment. 　However, the heat is often leaked due to its high thermal conductivity so the conversion efficiency is not as high as expected (cf. right formula). There is a report that the thermal conductivity was decreased by compacting Mg2Si powder into pellet and making it porous, but since the electrical conductivity was also reduced due the grain boundary, the conversion efficiency was not increased. 　This invention is about a Mg2Si porous film that solves the above issue.

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In recent years, the data traffic on internet around the world has been increasing rapidly and there is a strong need to innovate the non-volatile memory for data storage. In particular, phase-change memory (PRAM) has been attracting attention since the practical use in storage class memory has already begun. In general, PRAM records ON/OFF at 2 states: crystal phase with low electrical resistance and amorphous phase with high electrical resistance. 　However, the operation requires the use of amorphous phase so the heat resistance is poor and generates high power consumption during melting to the amorphous phase. Actually, there is a high expectation for creating a non-volatile memory element which solve these issues. 　The most important feature of this invention is that the non-volatile memory material is in crystal phase for both ON/OFF status. Since this material does not require melting to the amorphous phase, it is thermally stable and has low power consumption. Therefore, a significant operating energy reduction can be realized. Moreover, it has excellent high-speed property because a large resistance variation can be obtained through phase change between the crystal phases. Tohoku University proposes 3 types of non-volatile memory material : 1 MnTe, 2 Nitride-based material, 3 Rare-earth material.

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The Ca-rechargeable battery is expected to replace the Lirechargeable battery in the future, but there is no electrolyte having the essential characteristics for a rechargeable battery. 　This invention solves above problems and realizes an electrolyte solution for Ca-rechargeable battery with high Ca-ion conductivity, large potential window, and high stability of metal dissolution & precipitation against Ca with limited property degradation, using a novel composition halogen-free Ca salt.

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During spectroscopy, various stray light over a wide wavelength range is generated due to the effect of the 0th order reflected light, the 2nd order diffracted light and other scattered light generated in the spectrometer, in addition to the 1st order reflected light of the input light. In particular, for a measurement where a strong input light such as laser is used as a light source to detect weak signal light from sample, the signal light is difficult to detect due to stray light. 　In order to reduce stray light in spectrometer, cut filter using dielectric film and double monochromator-type spectrometer with monochromators connected in series have been developed. However, those methods cannot remove stray light over wide wavelength range at once. 　This invention is about a spectrometer equipped with a mechanism that can eliminate stray light in a wide wavelength range (from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared). The right figure shows the observed higher harmonics from the superconductor using this invention. Among the superconductor higher harmonics, the 3rd harmonic (around 2.1 eV = 590 nm) can be clearly observed with any spectrometer, but the 5th harmonic (around 3.4 eV = 360 nm) can be observed with good S/N ratio only with this invention. In particular, the noise of this invention is reduced by more than 3 orders of magnitude compared to the other spectrometers.

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The measurement of elastic modulus, which is a fundamental parameter, is essential to characterize the material property. As an example of object with a simple linear shape, such as a stick, the elastic modulus can be obtained experimentally by tensile testing. 　Today, a wide variety of object with complex shape can be formed due to the recent development of 3D printer technology. On the other hand, the elastic modulus of such object with complex shape having mechanical anisotropy, was difficult to simply measure by the conventional method. 　This invention is about a simple method for measuring elastic modulus of object with complex shape having mechanical anisotropy. This invention compares at first the vibration mode obtained experimentally by the object resonance frequency using ultrasonic resonance method, with the estimated vibration mode. Then, the elastic modulus is determined after the inverse analysis so that the estimated vibration mode matches the experimental value. The elastic modulus is determined with high precision by applying an algorithmic tip to this comparison. The most significant feature of this measurement method is its simplicity since it requires only one vibration experiment and analysis to measure the 9 independent elastic modulus.

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Cavitation is a phenomenon where a liquid becomes an air bubble due to the decrease of saturated steam pressure of the liquid caused by pressure decrease occurred by the velocity increase of a liquid. In particular, group-row cavitation consisting of microbubbles produces a large impact force. Cavitation shotless peening which uses this phenomenon, has a smoother machined surface and higher fatigue strength than the method which uses steel balls (shot peening).　 　Operation in air is also possible without using a water tank, by injecting a high speed water jet into a low speed water jet.

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