2022 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials ,Importance of dissolving source precursor of Ga(C<sub>5</sub>H<sub>7</sub>O<sub>2</sub>)<sub>3</sub> with HCl in mist CVD for α-Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> growth
A system for photochemical analysis of F2-excimer laser lithography processes has been developed. The system, VUVES- 4500, consists of 3 units: (1) an exposure and bake unit that uses the F2-excimer laser to carry out a flood exposure and then post-exposure bake (PEB) of a resist coated wafer, (2) a unit for the measurement of development rate of photoresists, and (3) a simulation unit that utilizes PROLITH to calculate the resist profiles and process latitude using the measured development rate data. With this system, preliminary evaluation of the performance of F2 excimer laser lithography can be performed without a lithography tool that is capable of imaging and alignment. Profiles for 100 nm lines are simulated for the PAR-101 resist (manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical) and the SAL-601 resist (manufactured by Shipley), a chemically amplified resist that has sensitivity at the F2 excimer laser wavelength. The simulation successfully predicts the resist behavior. Thus, it is confirmed that the system enables efficient evaluation of the performance of F2 excimer laser lithography processes.
Individual face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy is known to be effective for bulimia nervosa (BN). Since foods vary considerably between regions and cultures in which patients live, cultural adaptation of the treatment program is particularly important in cognitive behavioral therapy for BN. Recently, an internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) program was developed for Japanese women with BN, adapted to the Japanese food culture. However, no previous randomized controlled trial has examined the effectiveness of ICBT.This paper presents a research protocol for strategies to examine the effects of guided ICBT.This study is designed as a multicenter, prospective, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial. The treatment groups will be divided into treatment as usual (TAU) alone as the control group and ICBT combined with TAU as the intervention group. The primary outcome is the total of binge eating and purging behaviors assessed before and after treatment by an independent assessor. Secondary outcomes will include measures of eating disorder severity, depression, anxiety, quality of life, treatment satisfaction, and working alliances. Treatment satisfaction and working alliances will be measured post assessment only. Other measures will be assessed at baseline, post intervention, and follow-up, and the outcomes will be analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis.This study will be conducted at 7 different medical institutions in Japan from August 2022 to October 2026. Recruitment of participants began on August 19, 2022, and recruitment is scheduled to continue until July 2024. The first participants were registered on September 8, 2022.This is the first multicenter randomized controlled trial in Japan comparing the effectiveness of ICBT and TAU in patients with BN.University Hospital Medical Information Network UMIN000048732; https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000055522.DERR1-10.2196/49828.
Polarization modulation infrared spectroscopy has been successfully applied for in situ observations of a-Si:H films growing under photo-chemical vapor deposition conditions. The thin films exhibited absorption bands arising from SiH 3 or SiH 2 species, depending upon the substrate temperature. Whereas the mass thickness of the film deposited at 293 K increased in proportion to the deposition time, the IR absorption intensity of SiH 3 species decreased in rate when the film grew beyond 15 Å in thickness, showing that the concentration of the SiH 3 species becomes reduced with the deposition time. Although the band ascribable to the Si-O stretching vibration could not be observed during the deposition, it grew when the film was exposed to air. This fact suggests that the origin of the oxygen incorporated in the film is mainly atmospheric oxidizing agents.
Training working memory (WM) improves performance on untrained cognitive tasks and alters functional activity. However, WM training's effects on gray matter morphology and a wide range of cognitive tasks are still unknown. We investigated this issue using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), various psychological measures, such as non-trained WM tasks and a creativity task, and intensive adaptive training of WM using mental calculations (IATWMMC), all of which are typical WM tasks. IATWMMC was associated with reduced regional gray matter volume in the bilateral fronto-parietal regions and the left superior temporal gyrus. It improved verbal letter span and complex arithmetic ability, but deteriorated creativity. These results confirm the training-induced plasticity in psychological mechanisms and the plasticity of gray matter structures in regions that have been assumed to be under strong genetic control.
The detrimental effects of high-level mercury exposure on the central nervous system as well as effects of low-level exposure during early development have been established. However, no previous studies have investigated the effects of mercury level on brain morphometry using advance imaging techniques in young adults. Here, utilizing hair analysis which has been advocated as a method for biological monitoring, data of regional gray matter volume (rGMV), regional white matter volume (rWMV), fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), cognitive functions, and depression among 920 healthy young adults in Japan, we showed that greater hair mercury levels were weakly but significantly associated with diminished cognitive performance, particularly on tasks requiring rapid processing (speed measures), lower depressive tendency, lower rGMV in areas of the thalamus and hippocampus, lower rWMV in widespread areas, greater FA in bilaterally distributed white matter areas overlapping with areas of significant rWMV reductions and lower MD of the widely distributed gray and white matter areas particularly in the bilateral frontal lobe and the right basal ganglia. These results suggest that even normal mercury exposure levels in Japan are weakly associated with differences of brain structures and lower neurobehavioral performance and altered mood among young adults.
Abstract Memory for person identity information consists of three main components: face-related information, name-related information, and person-related semantic information, such as the person's job title. Although previous studies have demonstrated the importance of the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in the retrieval of associations between these kinds of information, there is no evidence concerning whether the ATL region contributes to the encoding of this memory, and whether ATL roles are dissociable between different levels of association in this memory. Using fMRI, we investigated dissociable roles within the ATL during successful encoding of this memory. During encoding, participants viewed unfamiliar faces, each paired with a job title and name. During retrieval, each learned face was presented with two job titles or two names, and participants were required to choose the correct job title or name. Successful encoding conditions were categorized by subsequent retrieval conditions: successful encoding of names and job titles (HNJ), names (HN), and job titles (HJ). The study yielded three main findings. First, the dorsal ATL showed greater activations in HNJ than in HN or HJ. Second, ventral ATL activity was greater in HNJ and HJ than in HN. Third, functional connectivity between these regions was significant during successful encoding. The results are the first to demonstrate that the dorsal and ventral ATL roles are dissociable between two steps of association, associations of person-related semantics with name and with face, and a dorsal–ventral ATL interaction predicts subsequent retrieval success of memory for person identity information.
