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

Chemically strengthened glass has become very popular as the cover glass for smartphones. This glass is made by immersing the glass in the potassium nitrate melt and exchanging ions between the sodium ions in the glass and the potassium ions in the potassium nitrate melt. Conventional methods to evaluate the chemically strengthened glass strength are the bending method and the optical waveguide method. However, these methods are not suitable for measuring locally the residual stress, and there is a limit in the glass samples that can be measured.　 　This invention is able to evaluate the residual stresses of the chemically strengthened glass in a non-contact, non-destructive and position-selective manner. In this invention, the residual stress is calculated from the volume variation ratio which increases with ion exchange, obtained by the microscopic Raman scattering spectrum.

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So far, the laser doppler vibrometer or the accelerometer using microelectromechanical system is known to be the most high sensitive vibrometer with actual technology. However, many vibrometers can’t be used in one object due to its high cost. On the other hand, the strain gauge is known to be cheap but the sensitivity is not enough high in order to detect abnormal vibration. 　This invention has focus on bending a magnetic material can generate a high sensitive permeability variation where it can be detected as HF impedance variation, and the shape of cantilever. This invention can provide high-sensitivity vibration sensor at low cost.

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In conventional magnetic AC susceptibility measurement to measure magnetic material property, the susceptibility is detected by AC frequency. This disable to measure small amount of sample such as thin film and nanoparticle at low frequency (< 1 kHz) due to crowding of unbalanced voltage and detected voltage. Therefore, it is not possible to apply it to biomagnetic sensing.　 　DC / AC susceptibility is measured by different methods, and although measuring equipment with both measurement modes exists, simultaneous measurement is not possible. 　This invention combines magnetic AC susceptibility measurement and new analysis method based on Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM), a method to measure DC susceptibility. 　This enables AC susceptibility detection in sideband frequency, improving detection sensitivity and enabling AC susceptibility measurement of small amount of sample that could not be measured so far. Moreover, simultaneous measurement of DC and AC susceptibility is also possible. Another major advantage is that it could be simply producedd by combining analysis method with conventional measurement equipment.

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For non destructive inspection of defect such as inner surface of piping, etc., conventional percussion method has the disadvantage of being week to noise and having low spatial resolution (difficult to determine exact location). The magnetic leakage flux testing method being also a conventional method, overcomes the previous disadvantage, but it is not suitable for underground piping due to its difficulty to detect small defect, cost & time required to magnetize inspection object, and the large unit size that incorporates a permanent magnet. 　The percussion testing method proposed in this invention uses a TMR sensor to measure and analyze the natural frequency of a structure made of magnetic material from micro vibration to diagnose deterioration. The advantage of this method is "high spatial resolution and noise immunity because the magnetic field is measured at a short distance (2-3 cm) instead of acquiring sound wave at a long distance“, "suitable for underground piping because it targets demagnetized magnetic material" and "low sensor and calculation cost". In addition, facility that is constantly undergoing micro vibration may be able to perform the magnetic hammer testing without applying an external force.

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Conventionally, drive mechanism such as conical gear has been developed for robot arm joint to enable driving in multiple directions with a single joint. The joint of the robot arm can be made smaller and more sophisticated by using such driving device. However, since the gear is used to convert the rotation direction, backlash is generated and causes output error. Moreover, the smaller the size, the more difficult it becomes to transmit a large amount of torque.　　 　This invention is able to reduce backlash and increase output precision, and to provide a 2 directional driving device that can transmit a relatively large amount of torque even when downsized. This invention is composed of a support, a rotating support, and a plurality of protruding parts, wherein the extremity of each protruding part is configured to rotate the inner rotating body by the sliding movement. This structure reduces backlash, improves output precision, and provides a 2 directional driving device that can transmit a relatively large amount of torque even when downsized.

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Silicon (Si) has been attracting attention as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries and as an electrode material for next-generation batteries because its weight capacity density is more than 10 times that of graphite. However, there are problems such as the volume expansion of about four times during charging, which causes the electrode to break down and prevents excellent cycle performance, and this is an obstacle to its practical use as an anode material. 　In all-solid-state batteries, thin-film amorphous silicon is used as an anode material, and although excellent cycle characteristics have been reported, it is fabricated by vacuum evaporation or vapor-phase growth methods, which poses a problem for mass production. 　The present invention solves the above problem and relates to a method for mass production of amorphous silicon having a porous structure.

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　In recent years, the research field to decode the biological characteristics of lesion (radiomics) by analyzing in global a large number of images extracted from medical image database has attracted attention. One potential application of radiomics is to predict the patient prognosis with tumor disease. However, it is difficult to represent phenotypic information of tumor and local information inside tumor with accuracy, so further progress of this research is required.　 　In this invention, inventors have developed a new radiomic feature based on graph theory. Medical image processed by graph theory feature, and tumor image with relatively good prognosis have a smaller line density than those with poor prognosis. Moreover, the rad score calculated by graph theory feature can clearly indicate the tumor status change compared to the value calculated by conventional feature. Therefore, this invention is able to predict the cancer treatment prognosis with higher accuracy than conventional method.

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Hydraulic fracturing method is widely used in underground resource development to create fractures in the rock by injecting high pressure fluid into a borehole. The direction of fractures created by hydraulic fracturing method is limited to the direction of the maximum principal stress of the formation, so it may not create fractures in the desired resource storage area direction. In this case, several boreholes need to be drilled, but drilling requires high cost. The underground resource storage area is nonuniformly distributed, and the possibility of connecting to the resource storage area by hydraulic fracturing method is not necessarily high.　 　One of the conventional hydraulic fracturing method is to use a low viscosity fluid to create reticulated microfractures. However, its permeability is significantly small. 　This invention is about a hydraulic fracturing method that creates several fractures in the rock, and it is able to create fractures in directions other than the direction of the maximum principal stress of the rock. This invention can considerably improve the probability of creating fractures which reach the resource storage area. In addition, in carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), it is expected to increase the amount of carbon dioxide stored.

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　Synchrotron radiation analysis (X-ray CT) using a single X-ray beam is a nondestructive analysis used in many fields such as food, medicine and chemical industry. In the food industry, it is used to improve taste and texture, as well as to develop preservation and transportation methods that maintain quality.　 　This invention is about a method to analyze (evaluate) a sample based on the proof that the contrast of image appearing in X-ray CT image is due to the distribution and migration of medium element such as Na and Cl, which are contained in the sample and can easily affect the food product quality. 　The right figure shows an example of proving that the contrast on the X-ray CT image of a frozen and thawed pollock surimi gel (kamaboko) is due to the migration of the middle element by analyzing the linear absorption coefficient of each element. This invention and the CT image taken at the next-generation synchrotron radiation facility "NanoTerasu" which is scheduled to be operational in 2024 are expected to accelerate the development of processing, preservation and transportation technologies in the food industry, as well as the material analysis other than food product that contain medium element (mineral).

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　During sarcolemma repair process, dysferlin protein accumulates at injury part. Dysferlin gene mutation is found in dysferlinopathy, which is a type of muscular dystrophy. Inventors have shown that AMPK, which regulates energy metabolism, binds membrane repair protein dysferlin. Administration of metformin, one of the AMPK activator, improves cell membrane repair in dysferlinopathy.　 　This invention proposes to use metformin, well known therapeutic drug for diabete, as an activator of sarcolemma repair, and to use it as a therapeutic drug for muscular disease such as muscular dystrophy and various diseases that present cell membrane fragility.

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This technology is a decryption-free processing method for encrypted data by probability arithmetic way. Conventional FHE (Fully Homomorphic Encryption) method is able to deal with encrypted data, however, the extremely time-consuming computation makes it problematic. This invention utilizes probability arithmetic way for unlimited times of additions and multiplications. Accordingly, the costing time for computation is much decreased compared with conventional methods.

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　Dinitrogen monoxide (N2O) is an intense greenhouse gas having about 300 times greater effect than carbon dioxide (CO2). It is said that 59% of anthropogenic emission comes from agriculture.　　 　In particular, chemical fertilizer overuse in large scale agriculture is a cause of N2O emission from the soil since more chemical fertilizers are applied than the absorption by plant. A certain rhizobia (Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens USDA110) is known to reduce N2O to harmless nitrogen (N2), but the bacteria are not effective enough to solve the problem. In the context that non GMO rhizobia usage with high N2O reductase activity is expected from the viewpoint of global warming control and soil ecosystem, this invention proposes a natural rhizobia (Bradyrhizobium ottawaense SG09, etc.) with stronger N2O reductase activity than the conventional rhizobia, and its application.

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Currently, robots are being introduced in many industrial fields to solve the problem of the working population decrease. In order for robots to perform the same tasks as human in the future, it is important for them to have sensors for senses other than vision (force, pressure, temperature, cold, etc.). For this reason, the development of compact and high-sensitivity sensor using microelectromechanical system technology is underway as sensor for force measurement acting on object. However, the current technology is unable to adequately detect the applied force depending on the direction of the external force. 　 This invention is able to provide a sensor unit and a sensor which detect externally applied force from various directions. It can also provide sensor unit that can obtain a variety of information with a single element. This invention uses a continuous magneto strictive film with many convex 3D shape sensors projecting in the 1st direction relative to the reference plane, which enable the force detection from various directions applied from the exterior.

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　RDB (Relational Data Base) and KVS (Key‐Value Store) are commonly known database technologies, but they are inconvenient to use across multiple systems.　 　To provide a name collecting system capable of performing robust data management without requiring complicated table design and management, and performing efficient operation even for unrelated data managed by multiple systems.

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　In line with the introduction and promotion of renewable energy, the use of agricultural land for solar power generation projects is permitted, but there is a requirement that the simple yield of agricultural land below which solar panels are installed must be at least 80% of the average in the same region in the same year. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to secure the amount of light to plants by spacing the panels, but there is a problem that the amount of electricity generated by these panels decreases. On the other hand, the installation of the panels reduces the amount of light to plants, which adversely affects the yield.　 　To solve these problems, the present invention provides a method for complementing the amount of light with an LED irradiator installed on the back side of the panels. The inventors completed and patented the present invention by obtaining detailed data on grass (Orchard glass, perennial ryegrass) growth and the amount of LED light. With the present invention, it is possible to secure the yield of agricultural products while contributing to the spread of solar power generation. 　On the other hand, in recent years, mountainous areas have been rapidly cleared and the installation of solar panels has been progressing, which is considered to be one of the causes of frequent natural disasters. By using the present invention, it is possible to install solar power generation facilities while maintaining farmland, which can contribute to the prevention of natural disasters.

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　Current development efforts focus on a cord-like device, able to vary its rigidity to any given shape. These cord-like structures are specifically designed to operate effectively in biological, natural, and artificial environments where access can be challenging due to their narrow or obstacle-filled nature. They are frequently used in tools such as medical endoscopes and industrial videoscopes.　 　Conventional cord-like bodies include structures in which wires are threaded through beads, jamming mechanisms, mechanical methods, or structures that control rigidity by pressurizing a tube. However, none of these methods could fulfill all the required performance characteristics such as holding force, restoring force, a continuous structure, lightweight and thin design, and capability for long-distance deployment. 　This invention addresses all these requirements by introducing a novel type of cord-like continuum body. Specifically, it employs an innovative combination of wire and rubber materials, thereby creating a structure capable of achieving a high level of holding strength through air pressure.

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　Rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease are known to cause bone resorption due to inflammation. Although various drugs have been administered, it is desirable to inhibit and prevent bone resorption through food intake, which is easier and more convenient.　 　In this invention, we found that two-step fermented rice bran (FRB) inhibits the formation of osteoclasts caused by inflammation and suppresses bone resorption. Furthermore, the mechanism of the suppression was confirmed, and the route to directly and indirectly suppress the formation of osteoclasts was elucidated.

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Recently, amyloid fibrils, which relate to various diseases (Alzheimer’s diseases, ALS, etc.), is considered to generate in liquid-like droplets of amyloid precursor proteins (APP).　 　The quantitative and high-throughput analysis of the amyloid nucleation from the droplets is important for finding inhibitors of amyloid formation. However, there was only qualitative discussion on nucleation process from droplets so far. 　This invention provides the method of calculating the quantitative nucleation rate J in a short time by a fluorescence dye and statistical image analysis. The thermodynamic parameter J makes it possible to evaluate amyloid nucleation inhibition capacity of drug candidates regardless of the experimental system, so, this indicator is superior to conventional indicator (lag time).

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Amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation is a key driver of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs) have long been pursued as therapeutics, safety issues have prevented their clinical adoption. Using AlphaFold2–based in-silico screening, the inventors discovered that Three-Finger Toxins (3FTXs)—disulfide-rich peptides from snake venom—potently block γ-secretase–mediated APP processing. Strong inhibitory activity was confirmed in both yeast-based assays and a β-galactosidase reporter system. Brain-targeted AAV vectors for 3FTX expression are currently under development, with evaluation in AD model mice planned. Acting at sites distinct from traditional GSIs, 3FTXs offer a novel and promising approach for AD prevention and treatment.

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Extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) produced by some of the dominant bifidobacteria in the infant intestine are expected to improve intestinal immune resistance and protect against infection. However, mass cultivation of bifidobacteria, which are obligate anaerobes, is expensive, and it is difficult to extract only the useful EPS in large quantities. 　The present invention relates to a method for promoting the EPS production of a specific bifidobacterium by the addition of L-fucose, which is abundant in marine algae and the like. Bifidobacterium breve strain AT-APC-FucE1, which was selected and isolated from infant feces on the basis of L-fucose utilization, exhibits a characteristic that the EPS production is stimulated inducibly when L-fucose is added compared with normal culture conditions (right panel). 　Examples of applications of the present invention include the use as a research tool for the analysis of the EPS production mechanism of bifidobacteria in addition to the development of functional fermented foods, intestinal control agents, and supplements that promote the intestinal EPS production.

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Soluble Aβ oligomers are known to cause Alzheimer's disease (AD). Soluble Aβ oligomers suppress CRE-dependent transcriptional activity essential for memory formation in the hippocampus, resulting in early AD symptoms such as forgetfulness. Neprilysin (NEP) and somatostatin (SST) neurons cooperate to degrade soluble Aβ oligomers. Therefore, if the function of this Aβ oligomer degradation system can be restored and strengthened, it may lead to the prevention of AD.　 Previously, it was known that royal jelly (RJ) promotes CRE-dependent transcriptional activity, but the effect of RJ on the degradation system in vivo and which fraction of RJ is effective were not known. The inventors demonstrated the following in an in vivo study. ・RJ reverses the decreased expression of NEP and SST that occurs with brain aging and enhances the function of the soluble Aβ oligomer degradation system ・Establish a method for extracting high concentrations of components from RJ that contribute to the enhancement of the defense system against this Aβ oligomer

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CNS degenerative disorders, including AD and PD, are increasingly believed to be caused due to mitochondrial disability leading to neuronal death. This inventor recently identified a novel intracellular regulatory factor XXX in the CNS neurons that contributes to mitochondrial homeostasis, and the inventor further developed a method for screening beneficial ability of chemicals to enhance mitochondrial function due to elevation of the XXX level.

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Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are used in many fields because of its light weight, high strength and corrosion resistance. However, CFRP is known to have low electrical conductivity. So when it is used in aircraft fuselage as example, there is a risk of damage due to lightning strike. Therefore, increase conductivity by forming a metallic film on the CFRP surface (metallization) is expected as a method to solve this issue.　 　The cold spray method, which can be applied at low temperature with only little damage to CFRP, is attracting attention as a metallization method. Preliminary study has examined a method of forming metallic coating consisting of tin [1][2]. However, tin/CFRP interface has low adhesion strength. The methods to improve adhesion strength have been developed, such as the use of additive or surface treatment of CFRP, but they are not industrially ideal due to cost. 　This invention is about metal-coated CFRP with improved adhesion strength by using a simple method that does not require pre-treatment or post-treatment, and its manufacturing method.

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Calcium phosphate, which has long been used as a vector to transfer genes into cells, is easy to prepare and has a good shelf life, but has a problem of low gene transfer efficiency. On the other hand, it has recently been reported that gene transfer efficiency is improved by modifying oligoarginine in the vector. In the gene transfer using calcium phosphate vector modified with oligoarginine, we found that the gene transfer efficiency was improved by pre-treating target cells with a potassium-sparing diuretic. ・The present invention is cheaper and simpler than gene transfer methods such as lipofection, electroporation, microinjection, and viral vectors. ・It is less cytotoxic than non-viral gene transfer agents. ・Treatment of target cells with potassium-sparing diuretics improved gene transfer efficiency up to 10 fold.

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Plasma actuator is an element that generates airflow using the electric current force generated by the electrical discharge. It is attracting attention as the next generation of airflow control device because it can actively control the flow with a simple configuration that does not use moving parts.　 　However, the conventional plasma actuator needs a large quantity of high-voltage power supply because it requires a drive voltage of over 10000V. The development of multi-electrode plasma actuator with multiple elements lined up for low-voltage drive has been done, but it has not yet been put to a real practical use due to a number of issues, such as arc discharge between multiple electrodes and interference between electrodes that causes electric current force in the opposite direction of the main flow, which reduces performance. 　This invention is about a multi-electrode plasma actuator that can prevent arc discharge between electrodes and that do not generate backflow. Unlike conventional method, it is possible to reduce the driving voltage of the plasma actuator to a few hundred volts in principle because the performance is improved by increasing the number of electrodes.

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Conventional method of producing hydrogen gas from organic matters such as biomass or plastics, is composed of mixing calcium hydroxide and nickel hydroxide, applying mechanochemical processing (grinding), and then heating. However, since the pulverization process requires energy and equipment, technology development with further cost reduction was expected.　 　This invention is about a method of producing hydrogen gas from organic materials such as biomass and plastics at low cost without requiring a grinding process. 　Organic materials such as biomass and plastics are pyrolyzed in a lumpy state to generate pyrolysis gas, and then this gas is heated with an aqueous solution containing nickel to generate hydrogen gas. In addition, the nickel added during heating can be recovered and reused.

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When multiple vision sensors are used to acquire images of a scene from multiple points of view to achieve, for example, cooperative tracking, wide area monitoring or 3D motion measurement, the image sequences given by the sensors should be synchronized. 　Many of industrial vision sensors are equipped with dedicated electrical inputs/outputs, or wireless network for synchronization trigger signals. But the problem of the former is physical limitation and the latter is network delay is critical for high speed use cases. 　In this invention, Incident light to a vision sensor from an intensity-modulated illumination source serves as the reference signal for synchronization. It enables concise set up compare to existing technologies.

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In order to prevent hydrogen embrittlement in which hydrogen penetrates into a material and degrades its mechanical property such as strength, it is effective to visualize distribution of hydrogen penetrated into the material. Silver decoration method and hydrogen microprint technique are known as conventional hydrogen observation methods, but these methods are not able to detect the time variation of the hydrogen distribution in real-time. In the past, Tohoku University made the real-time detection possible by using metallic oxide, but the sensitivity was low and could not detect the small amount of hydrogen atoms that migrate into the material due to corrosion. 　This system is able to detect the hydrogen in real time with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution in an actual environment. This technology is effective for example to visually judge hydrogen permeation into plant equipment.

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Dielectrics are used in various electronic devices. Due to the miniaturization of electronic devic　Dielectric materials are used in various electronic devices. Due to the recent miniaturization of electronic devices, dielectric materials used in electronic devices tend to become smaller. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a technology that can accurately measure the permittivity of a fine capacitor structure. In addition, even in cases where the capacitor structure is not fine, it may be difficult to determine the permittivity through impedance measurement of a capacitor structure composed of a conventional electrode pair (e.g., a diameter of 100 μm or more) due to the existence of a region of locally high conductivity, called a leak path, in some dielectrics. 　As one method to enable measurement of the permittivity even for dielectrics having such a leak path, it may be considered that the electrode size is extremely small (For example, 1 μm or less) and capacitance measurement is performed while avoiding the existence of the leak path. However, when the capacitor structure becomes small, the influence of parasitic capacitance becomes relatively large, and it becomes difficult to accurately measure the capacitance of the dielectric, so that it becomes difficult to accurately measure the permittivity. The present invention is made in view of the above problems, and relates to a method for measuring the permittivity which can accurately measure the permittivity of a small region.

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As represented by smartphone, PC, etc., the number of devices equipped with lithium-ion battery is increasing day by day. This is supported by the battery high capacity, but the use of metallic lithium is required to have even higher capacity, so research & development are underway. Up to now, one of the factors that prevented the practical use of metallic lithium was the formation of dendrite by metallic lithium due to the diffusion control during charge/discharge, which led to a decrease in battery performance. 　This invention is about an electrolyte that solves the above issues. It has demonstrated that the smooth surface is maintained even after many charge/discharge cycles by controlling the rate-determining process. The same effect has been confirmed for sodium-ion battery, so the applicability of this invention is not limited to lithium-ion battery.

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Conventional neutron beam detector has several issues such as the detection unit size is large, the power source is necessary, the device is complicated so the design becomes costly, the noise is included in the signal current, an expensive gas is required, and lastly the detector is expensive due to the design & manufacturing cost. 　This invention is about a low cost high accurate compact neutron beam detector that doesn’t require power source, and has a simple structure by using a commercially available ■■. Since the highly radiation-resistant semiconductor has been used as an element, it is expected to be used in high neutron flux environment such as neutron flux measurement, for example the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) which is a next generation cancer treatment.

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Thermoelectric (TE) materials, which have the ability to convert heat into electricity, play a significant role in the utilization and management of thermal energy. Mg2Sn is a potential thermoelectric (TE) material that exhibits environmental compatibility since it is not-toxic and .not contains rare materials. However, as existing Mg2Sn materials have low electric conductivity and high thermal conductivity, it results in low zT value. 　This invention is related to Mg2Sn material contains Sb and B as doping materials, and Mg vacancies with high Power Factor and low thermal conductivity, which contribute to improve zT value. zT > 0.8 are achieved by our materials mentioned above.

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Time-Series data such as motion data has several types of noise in general. 　Various nonlinear filters have been proposed in image processing for noise reduction. However, still it is difficult to balance both high precise noise reduction and not disrupting data portion which is important to keep original data structure. 　This invention is a kind of non-linear special filtering, named Structure-aware Temporal Bilateral Filter(SATBF). SATBF enables highly precise noise reduction without disrupting essential structure of the original data.

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Magnesium battery has being researched and developed as a promising candidate for post lithium ion battery due to its abundant reserve and high capacity per volume. Up to now, a material with chevrel structure was almost the only known positive electrode material for practical magnesium battery. However, the electromotive force is about 1 V which is low, and a material that can generate high electromotive force has been searched. 　This invention is about a material based on a spinel structure that solves above issues. By employing a defective spinel type oxide that contains defect in the cation site, this invention has succeeded to suppress the crystal structure change due to insertion and desorption of magnesium. As a result, it offers a positive electrode material with higher working potential and improved cycle characteristic than conventional material.

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Recently, projectors are widely used to various applications such as projection mapping, exhibition, games etc. 　However, still physical setup of projectors and screens are one major factor which limits projector application. 　This invention enables projected contents to precisely stick on screen or object even if screen and/or projector itself is moving in high speed. 　This invention is expected to be adopted to various applications with projectors.

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Magnesium battery has being researched and developed as a promising candidate for post lithium ion battery due to its abundant reserve and high capacity per volume. Up to now, a material with chevrel structure was almost the only known positive electrode material for practical magnesium battery. However, the electromotive force is about 1 V which is low, and a material that can generate high electromotive force has been searched. 　This invention is about a sulfur-based positive electrode material made by electrochemical desorption from sulfide, which can solve above issues. Based on the invention concept, it is able to fabricate a "porous frame + active substance" composite material, and to provide a cathode material with a higher working potential and improved cycle characteristic than conventional material.

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For Japan, where the natural resources are poor, the technology to collect and reuse rare metal is extremely important. In particular, with the increasing demand for electric vehicle, the collection of rare metal from the cathode material of lithium-ion battery has become a major industrial issue. Currently, the collection is done by extracting each metal species with various solvents. However, this method requires the waste liquid treatment of various acid solutions generated during the collecting process. 　This invention is about a rare metal collecting method using a single organic solvent. The most important feature of this rare metal collecting method is that the waste liquid treatment issue does not occur since it does not generate any acid solutions, so it realizes a rare metal collecting process with low environmental load. The right figure shows an example of the collecting device of this invention. The acetylacetone vapor reacts with waste containing rare metal to become an organometallic gas. The organometallic gas enters into the separator then it is collected by metal species using the difference in boiling point. The recovered organic metal is recycled in the form of metal or metal compound through reactions such as hydrogen reduction, hydrolysis and carbonation. In the mentioned reaction, acetylacetone is necessarily obtained after the reaction, allowing the solvent to recycle. 　Currently, 80% of the metal can be collected between the separator and the collector.

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This technology realizes a wide dynamic range CMOS image sensor by employing Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor (LOFIC) in a pixel. The LOFIC technology can solve the tradeoff between high sensitivity and high saturation signal. This technology has been ready to the market.

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Transition metal dichalcogenide (hereinafter “TMD”) is an atomic material layer with thickness of an atom, which has a bandgap in the visible range and behaves as a semiconductor. The conventional synthesis method is the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) where TMD is synthesized at random position on the circuit board. The position control of the synthesis is essential in order to apply TMD on different devices but the conventional synthesis method doesn’t allow that. The synthesis method with controlled position is also proposed but a polycrystalline TMD is synthesized and it is not convenient to apply to different devices. 　This invention solves above issues and can provide a synthesis method of monocrystalline TMD or heterojunction TMD by controlling its position using micro dots as a growing core while limiting the size dispersion.

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Precious metals are used as catalysts in various reaction systems, but their high price and scarcity have reduced their usage. Therefore, catalysts loaded with precious metals are generally prepared by dispersing and carrying noble metal particles in a nanoparticulate state on a support such as an oxide to maximize the surface area per amount of precious metal used. Conventional methods for producing noble metal catalysts have a problem that the dispersion of noble metal particles is poor and the particle size is uneven because the noble metal particles agglomerate during the heating process during metallization. Even if a method for producing a metal catalyst that can obtain highly dispersed particles is used, there is also a problem that the support is limited.　 　The present invention has made it possible to provide a method for producing a metal catalyst that can uniformly and highly disperse metal particles on various supports.

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Filamentous fungi have an advantage to produce a wide variety of useful substances in industry. However, it is well-known that hyphal aggregation during the liquid culture often prevents fungi to grow with high density, resulting in low productivity of useful substances. 　This invention discloses a mutant strain of a filamentous fungi, in which α-1,3-glucan synthase (AGS) gene is deficient, for high productivity of substances. 　The α-1,3-glucan in the cell wall in AGS deficient mutant (AGΔ) is significantly reduced. The AGΔ cells are dispersed well in a liquid medium and cultured with higher density compared with that of wild type. Such phenotype of AGΔ results in an increasing productivity of useful substances per unit.

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Fuel cells are attracting attention as an environmentally friendly energy, and various forms are being researched and developed. Solid oxide fuel cells are focused from the energy efficiency perspective. 　For a solid oxide fuel cell containing multi-cells, fuel and air are supplied separately from the same direction to the anode and cathode of each cell, which requires a fuel and an air supply unit, respectively. In addition, since the solid oxide fuel cells have a structure in which a solid electrolyte is sandwiched between an anode and a cathode, the fuel and air supply system becomes complicated in order to supply them separately to the anode and cathode which are close to each other. This is the reason why the full cell miniaturization was difficult. 　This invention is based on the structure of the electrode layer. By separating the fuel and air input & output respectively, a smooth flow can be achieved and the power generation efficiency can be improved.

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Various 3D imaging methods including X-ray CT, ultrasonography,and confocal laser scanning microscopy are employed in industrial applications, depending on its usage. However, X-ray CT requires the rotation of a light source or the irradiation area to acquire 3D images, which makes rapid imaging difficult. Ultrasonographyenables 3D measurement using 2D array elements but suffers from limited spatial resolution. In addition, confocal laser scanning microscopy requires the sequential acquisition of 2D images while moving the observation plane, which makes 3D observation at video rate impossible. 　In recent years, 3D cameras and OCT are known as emerging 3D image acquisition techniques. However, the camera-based technique exploiting patterned- or line-illuminations provides limited spatial resolution, and it cannot visualize the internal information of samples. Besides, OCT is, in principle, applicable to reflected light signals only and impossible to measure fluorescence signals.A series of inventions solves the above issues and provides an imaging method with a simple implementation that enables the acquisition of precise 3D images in real-time.

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Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a graphene cylindrical sheet consisting of six-membered ring of carbon. It is known that the CNT axial winding of graphene (chirality) determines the electronic state, such as metallicity, semiconductivity and band gap (BG). 　The production of CNT with high chiral purity requires a complex process that includes the wet process such as separation and impurity removal. 　This invention is about a simple method for synthesizing semiconductor type (BG>1eV) single layer CNT with extremely high chiral purity (over 90%), which does not require a process to increase chiral purity and which has low production cost.

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　The CO2 fixation technologies so far typically employ alkaline earth metals to fix CO2 by converting it into chemically stable carbonate minerals. However, the conventional technologies are difficult to apply on a large scale because of its slow reaction rate, high cost and potential environmental concerns due to the use of a large amount of pH adjusters. 　This invention discloses a novel CO2 fixation process that enables to run under 100°C and ambient pressure without using large amounts of pH adjusters. It can run continuously at low cost by regenerating and recycling of the chelating agent (e.g., GLDA) solution within the process. This invention also enables the production of high-purity carbonates, such as CaCO3, and oxides, such as silica, by using Ca/Mg-containing wastes, including combustion ash, waste concrete, and slag, as Ca/Mg sources. The chemicals obtained in this sustainable CO2 fixation technology, such as CaCO3, are expected to be used in industries such as pigments, rubber, and desiccants.

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