Infrared (IR) light, which occupies almost half of all solar energy has been an untapped energy source up to date. The solar fuel production using the IR region of light hold the key to full utilization of solar energy. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), which is tunable by the size, composition, doping ratios, is a promising phenomenon realizing the light-harvesting ability in the IR region. Here, we report the IR-responsive photocatalyst composed of CdS and plasmonic Cu9S5, which break the record of IR-light induced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (apparent quantum yield = 4.4 % at 1100 nm). Based on the simulation of the energy band at the p−n junction between plasmonic Cu9S5 and CdS, the careful tuning of the CdS domain size archived the record-breaking photocatalytic activity. The optimization of the “plasmonic” p–n junction is a key for a highly efficient IR-responsive photocatalyst.
This paper presents a neural network parallel algorithm with SDNN/V (strictly digital neural networks with virtual slacks) enhanced with "virtual slack-neurons" for solving bipartite subgraph problems of combinatorial optimization problems, and the method to improve the quality of solutions by CS (constraint sets) programming based on SDNN/V. This problem is to divide a graph into two clusters so as to minimize the number of removed edges where edges in the same cluster are only removed from the given graph. Note that edges bridging between two clusters are not removed. This problem can be defined as a "set selection problem" with the "between-l-and-k-out-of-n" design rule in SDNN/V algorithm. The number of required neurons to solve this problem using SDNN/V algorithm is V, where V is the number of vertices, and the number of required sets is V+E, where E is the number of edges in a given graph as a bipartite subgraph problem. The 30-vertex with 50-edge graph problem used by other algorithm has been simulated to compare the authors' algorithm with other algorithms. The results of solving the bipartite subgraph problem using the authors' SDNN/V algorithm show that the computation steps in parallel execution is only 2 steps within O(1) time to converge to one of the solutions regardless of the problem size, and that the numbering order of each neuron such as sorted according to the number of sets assigned it has an effect on the quality of solutions in SDNN/V algorithm.
Although robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy are the leading respective techniques of prostatectomy and radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer, almost no study has directly compared their outcomes; none have compared mortality outcomes.
Metastases from renal cell carcinoma develop in various organs. However, the breadth of discrepancy in response to immune checkpoint inhibitors across tumor sites within the same individual remains unclear.We reviewed 50 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who had target lesions at multiple sites and received nivolumab monotherapy (n = 36) or nivolumab plus ipilimumab (n = 14). When the best overall response in tumor burden increased at one site but decreased at other sites, the response was defined as a dissociated response. The response was evaluated according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1, and patients who met the definition of dissociated response were categorized as dissociated response. The rate of dissociated response and prognosis were evaluated.Eight of 36 (22%) and 4 of 14 (29%) patients treated with nivolumab and nivolumab plus ipilimumab were categorized as having dissociated response, respectively. The median overall survival of the patients treated with nivolumab was 20.2 months for those with a partial response, 6.8 months for those with stable disease, and 13.2 months for those with progressive disease, while dissociated response was not reached. There was no significant difference in the median overall survival between patients categorized as having progressive disease and those with dissociates response (P = 0.224).A certain proportion of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma show dissociated response when treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. The prognosis of patients with dissociated response and progressive disease was not shown to be significantly different.
We are developing a thin and lightweight CPV module using small size lens system made from poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) with a short focal length and micro-solar cells to decrease the transporting and the installing costs of CPV systems. In order to achieve high conversion efficiency in CPV modules using micro-solar cells, the micro-solar cells need to be mounted accurately to the irradiated region of the concentrated sunlight. In this study, we have successfully developed self-align method thanks to the surface tension of the melted solder even utilizing commercially available surface-mounting technology (SMT). Solar cells were self-aligned to the specified positions of the circuit board by this self-align method with accuracy within ±10 µm. We actually fabricated CPV modules using this self-align method and demonstrated high conversion efficiency of our CPV module.
This paper describes the framework for a new abstraction method that utilizes event-units written in sentences. Event-units are expressed in Language Information Structure (LIS) form and the projection of LIS from a sentence is performed by a semantic engine. ABEX (ABstraction EXtraction system) utilizes the LIS output of the semantic engine. ABEX can extract events from sentences and classify them. Since ABEX and the LIS form use only limited knowledge, the system need not construct or maintain a large amount of knowledge.
