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

In recent years, concerns about animal welfare have accelerated efforts to reduce animal testing in pharmaceutical and cosmetic development, driving a global shift toward in vitro evaluation methods that better replicate the human body. Microphysiological systems (MPS), which combine microfluidic technology with human cells, are attracting significant attention as next‑generation in vitro evaluation methods capable of reproducing organ‑level physiological functions.​ 　The inventors have developed a device capable of independently controlling the two‑dimensional spatial distributions of both oxygen concentration and pH. This invention is expected to facilitate understanding of cellular dynamics in microenvironments with oxygen and pH gradients. For example, by reproducing the hypoxic and low‑pH environment of cancerous tissues, the device enables the evaluation of anticancer drug efficacy and toxicity under conditions that closely mimic the in vivo environment of cancer patients. Beyond these applications, the device is expected to support a broad range of uses as an organ‑on‑a‑chip platform. Since this patent has not yet been published, the specification can be disclosed after the intellectual property agreement is concluded.

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　Piezoelectric sensors made of piezoelectric ceramics and polymers have been developed. Among them, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a semicrystalline polymer composed of (CH2-CF2) repeating structures. It has attracted attention because of its low cost and excellent flexibility. While further improvement of piezoelectric properties is required, improvement of materials without compromising their flexibility has been studied. However, materials that meet the needs of the industry have not been developed. 　As a result of repeated research, we succeeded in developing a modified PVDF with significantly improved piezoelectric properties. The development of a new material was made possible by adding additives to the raw material PVDF. We confirmed that the piezoelectric properties of this material were increased without losing the excellent flexibility of the conventional material. This paves the way for the development of more sensitive sensors, which are expected to be applied in the medical device and robot industries.

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In factories, buildings, hospitals, commercial facilities, and water treatment plants, water is typically pumped to elevated storage tanks, which results in high electricity consumption. To address this issue, the proposed invention introduces a liquid lifting and power generation system that uses high-pressure fluid to increase the internal pressure of a storage chamber, enabling liquid to be transported to higher elevations without conventional pumps. ■Key Features of the Invention ・　Significant reduction in power consumption compared to conventional pumping systems ・　Superior safety and ease of handling compared to methods that use flammable gases

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The inventors have developed a subcritical separation technology, which, combined with a newly established method for estimating phase equilibria in a carbon dioxide–ethanol–water ternary solvent system near room temperature, enables the design of efficient extraction conditions for algal oils. 　This invention proposes a clean extraction technology that mixes subcritical fluids with a feed solution (alcohol–water solution containing algae) to separate a vapor phase enriched in oils and a liquid phase enriched in chlorophyll and pheophorbide. ◎ Enhanced Safety ◎ Suppression of Oxidation and Thermal Degradation ◎ Energy Savings ◎ Low Environmental Impact

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The inventors have developed a unique subcritical solvent separation method using three green solvents—CO₂, ethanol, and water—to enable safe, eco-friendly production of pharmaceutical and food ingredients. Conventional supercritical and subcritical processes often face slurry freezing and clogging due to adiabatic expansion, reducing productivity and increasing maintenance time and cost. The proposed system prevents these issues by creating a controlled pressure difference between gas and liquid phases in the separation column, enabling a safer and more efficient extraction and manufacturing process. ◎High productivity enabled by continuous separation and collection ◎Handles slurry without clogging, reducing pretreatment time 　　　　　　 　　and preventing degradation of target compounds ◎No harmful organic solvents, ensuring safer and cleaner operations

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As semiconductor devices are highly integrated, metal wirings used in semiconductor circuits are becoming hotter and denser. Then, electromigration (EM) damage due to metal fatigue becomes a problem. Conventionally, measures to increase EM strength have been taken by devising wiring structures such as lamination and installation of reservoirs. On the other hand, these measures require many processes and are costly. 　The present invention has developed a method to suppress EM damage only by performing wiring processing which is simpler and less costly than conventional methods. The present invention is a technology to improve reliability against EM damage by reducing current density flowing through wiring. For applications that have not yet been published, information disclosure and other measures will be taken after a contract including a confidentiality clause is concluded. Please feel free to contact us.

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This database includes more than 10,000 motion capture entries from 97 performers, 54 from Japan and 43 from Taiwan. 　It features recordings of 12 emotions-joy, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, disgust, contempt, gratitude, guilt, jealousy, shame, pride, and neutral state. 　Each emotional category comprises 3 self-prepared personalized scenarios by the performers, at 3 intensity levels: low, middle, and high. 　Scenarios are provided in Japanese, English, and Chinese, offering detailed context information that illustrates the cultural nuances behind emotional triggers.

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Patients with severe respiratory failure or low oxygen saturation are currently supported by ECMO, but conventional systems are bulky, highly invasive, and require specialized expertise. This system integrates a miniature axial-flow blood pump and a hollow-fiber oxygenation unit within a dual-lumen cannula, allowing blood pumping, oxygenation, and CO₂ removal in a single device. ・　Integrated pump and oxygenator: No additional artificial lung needed ・　Single-port percutaneous insertion: Femoral or jugular access reaching the right atrium ・　Recirculation control: Flow rate and oxygenation optimized via pump speed ・　Low-flow gas exchange proven: Effective oxygenation and CO₂ removal demonstrated at 0.2 mL/min

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Microneedles deliver drugs by coating or loading therapeutic agents onto fine needles that penetrate tissues and release the drug in a minimally invasive manner. However, pharmacokinetic evaluations have so far relied on the assumption that sufficient drug amounts were successfully administered to achieve therapeutic effect. This has limited the quantitative assessment of safety and efficacy. Our system enables quantitative evaluation of microneedle penetration behavior—such as penetration depth, direction, and the range of affected tissue—within a simulated skin environment that can reproduce mechanical properties like pulsation and viscoelasticity. These features allow realistic replication of the dynamic interactions that occur during microneedle insertion. Using stereo camera–based measurements, the system captures both the physical penetration process and the dynamic deformation of the target with high precision.

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Cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and silver nanoparticle (AgNPs) composites serve as excellent dispersible carriers that maximize silver’s conductivity, catalytic activity, and antimicrobial performance. CNF, being plant-derived and environmentally friendly, also aligns with SDG goals. Conventional wet reduction methods, however, generate wastewater and require washing steps, leading to environmental issues and complex processing. 　This invention introduces an ultrasonication-based method that both disperses CNF uniformly and reduces silver oxide to form CNF/AgNPs composites without harmful reagents. The simple, waste-free process offers higher silver loading and better silver dispersion than conventional methods, enhancing silver’s inherent properties.

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For patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), first-line therapy usually involves pembrolizumab (an immune checkpoint inhibitor; ICI) with chemotherapy (5-FU plus cisplatin/carboplatin), or pembrolizumab alone for PD-L1–positive cases defined by the combined positive score (CPS). As a second-line option, cetuximab (anti-EGFR antibody) plus paclitaxel (CET+PTX) is commonly used. Our study revealed a mutually exclusive correlation between responses to first-line pembrolizumab and second-line CET+PTX. Comprehensive gene expression analyses identified key biomarkers linked to this correlation. This diagnostic approach allows prediction of each therapy’s efficacy in individual patients by measuring these biomarkers.

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In biotechnology and healthcare, it is crucial to detect small temperature changes and heat generation with high sensitivity. This invention achieves remarkable temperature sensitivity by using ionic liquids with a high Seebeck coefficient in thermocouples, far surpassing conventional solid-state materials. The device employs a microfluidic chip, allowing the liquids to be physically separated but electrically connected, enabling flexible sensor structures. This system makes it possible to conduct ultra-sensitive temperature measurements even on curved and irregular surfaces, expanding the practical utility of temperature sensing well beyond what is possible with traditional solid-state sensors.

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Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are regarded as promising materials for next-generation electronics owing to their unique optical, electronic, and mechanical properties. Conventional synthesis methods such as laser ablation and arc discharge create SWCNTs with a broad mixture of chiralities, resulting in inconsistent device performance. Polymer wrapping and density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) are widely used for chirality separation, but polymer wrapping is limited to certain chiralities and DGU tends to shorten nanotube length, increasing resistance in electronic devices. We have developed a new dispersion and purification method that enables efficient separation of a wide variety of SWCNT chiralities—including enantiomers—while preserving tube length. The resulting high-purity, long SWCNTs allow the realization of advanced devices with high speed and sensitivity, expanding the possibilities for practical applications in electronics and sensing technologies.

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Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major global health issue without any drugs that improve kidney function. Previous mouse experiments showed that lubiprostone, a constipation drug, reduces uremic toxin accumulation by improving the intestinal environment altered by kidney decline, thus inhibiting kidney damage progression 1. A phase II clinical trial was conducted to test lubiprostone's effects on kidney function in patients. Results revealed dose-dependent suppression of kidney function decline (eGFR) in lubiprostone-treated patients compared to placebo. Further analysis showed lubiprostone improves kidney mitochondrial function by modulating the gut microbiota and increasing spermidine production, which enhances mitochondrial activity and provides kidney protection.

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Traditionally, a specialist determines the epileptogenic area (EZ) to be removed during epilepsy surgery by comprehensively judging the results of EEG, CT and MRI, SPECT and PET. Conventional methods are challenged by (1) low accuracy, (2) the length of the examination period (which requires at least one week), and (3) the high burden on the patient (two surgeries, the installation of an electroencephalograph and the removal of EZ). 　The present invention can estimate the seizure origin (SOZ) and EZ with high accuracy and speed without waiting for an epileptic seizure by analyzing the high-frequency electroencephalogram during the interictal period. Specifically, since EZ can be precisely determined in about 30 minutes after the installation of the electroencephalograph (electrode), it is theoretically possible to determine and remove EZ in a single operation, greatly reducing the patient's burden. 　It is expected that real-time EEG analysis software based on the present invention will be developed and implemented in EEG equipped with the software.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) offer lasting treatment efficacy and improved survival for cancer patients, but positive responses are limited to select individuals and treatment costs are high, highlighting the need to predict benefit before therapy. Current predictive methods like PD-L1 testing mainly measure local tumor tissue expression and fail to fully assess systemic immunity. Researchers examined blood lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) levels and clinical outcomes after ICI therapy in squamous cell carcinoma patients. They found that those with higher LPC had significantly prolonged survival post-ICI compared to those with lower levels. Because LPC is measurable in blood samples, it reflects systemic immune status and reduces patient burden by eliminating biopsies. This finding supports developing new clinical tests for predicting ICI effectiveness.​

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Chiral materials absorb right- and left-circularly polarized light differently (circular dichroism). Optical vortices, however, carry orbital angular momentum; their topological charge l can take unlimited integer values (±1, ±2, ±3, …). Using this richer degree of freedom enables material characterization, chirality discrimination, and a new measurement modality (“optical-vortex dichroism”) beyond conventional circular dichroism. Conventional vortex generators are limited to low-frequency modulation, leading to high noise and poor S/N. The invention engineers the optical system to achieve left–right vortex modulation at high frequency, reducing noise. We demonstrate detection of the “geometric twist” in twisted gold nanorod dimers (TND: paired, twisted nanoscale rods), suggesting defect detection in fine metallic wiring and applications in semiconductor, MEMS, and metamaterial inspection, as well as discovering new properties and enabling chirality identification.

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Cellulose nanofibril (CNF) is a highly crystalline microfibril derived from wood fiber. It is an environmentally friendly innovative material with excellent mechanical properties such as light weight, high strength, and low thermal expansion. Owing to these characteristics, it is expected to be applied to automotive components, electronic devices, gas barrier materials, and medical materials. A technology to fabricate single filaments composed of CNF has been also developed, and long filaments with high strength have been obtained. 　Based on the previously obtained knowledges and established methodology, functional materials using CNF have been developed in various fields, including the present invention relates to the fabrication of hydrogels. There are several hydrogel fabrication methods such as using electrophoresis and freeze-crosslinking, however, they were not suitable for mass production, and a new method was anticipated. 　As a result of intensive research, a method for precisely controlling the CNF orientation and the internal structure of hydrogels was developed, which realizes the contamination-free and high-strength hydrogels. It was found that the strength of gels can be designed from isotropic to anisotropic by tuning the fabrication conditions.

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Jaw and maxillofacial surgeries require precise alignment of the skull and jawbones, which demands highly accurate support tools. Existing surgical navigation systems (NS) are optical, and while they can display, for example, the name of the area being imaged by an endoscopic camera, they are not suitable for alignment during surgery. On the other hand, there is existing technology for magnetic NS for brain imaging, and it is applied on the premise of obtaining highly accurate CT images. However, in the dental field, issues arise, such as unclear CT images when metal prostheses are present, and difficulty in obtaining CT images during surgery. This invention provides a magnetic surgical NS that can overcome these limitations. 【 Key Features 】 ・Linked to preoperative planning: Target fixture position and orientation can be set on a 3D bone model generated from CT or digital scan data ・Outstanding usability: Real-time tracking, 3D coordinate axes for both target and actual positions, guidance for aligning multiple bone segments ・High accuracy: Overlap-based visualization allows intuitive alignment with submillimeter precision (within 1 mm) (Ref. 1) ・Clear surgical view: Magnetic system avoids light obstruction, with a compact design that doesn’t interfere with the procedure

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金属箔にnmオーダーの気孔を形成したナノ多孔質金属箔が作製されている。このようなナノ多孔質金属箔の表面に吸着させたローダミン6G(R6G)の色素は、ラマン散乱信号測定で著しい表面増強ラマン散乱 (SERS)が測定されており、1分子を測定できる検出感度を有している。しかし、金と銀の合金を用いたナノ多孔質金属箔では、銀コロイドのようなSERSが得られず、R6Gの１分子を測定できないという課題がある。 　本発明によって、R6Gの1分子のSERSスペクトルを測定可能な、しわのよったナノ多孔質金属箔を提供することが可能になった。本発明は、ナノ多孔質金属箔の熱収縮を行なってしわを形成することにより、増強因子が著し く増強されることを特徴とする。本発明は、nmオーダーの気孔が形成されたナノ多孔質金属箔と、ナノ多孔質金属箔に形成されたしわを備え、しわの山にはラマン散乱における表面増強を生起させる複数のホットスポットが形成されている。これによって、従来のナノ多孔質金属箔よりも表面増強ラマン散乱における増強因子をさらに増大させ、再現性よく各種の分子を１分子迄検出することが可能になる。

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従来、電子線ホログラフィーを用いて、各種物質内のナノスケールでの電場や磁場を可視化したり、帯電による電子の動きを可視化したりすることが行われてきた。しかし、試料に印加した磁場が試料表面や試料表面近傍に存在する二次電子に対してどのような影響を与えるかについては、未だ可視化して評価することができないという課題があった。 本発明によって、磁場の印加が試料表面や試料表面近傍に存在する二次電子に対して与える影響を可視化して評価することができる電子線ホログラムの作成方法、磁場情報測定方法および磁場情報測定装置を提供することが可能となった。本発明は、試料に磁場を印加した状態で試料の 影響を受けた電子線からなる物体波と、試料の影響を受けない電子線からなる参照波とを干渉させて電子線ホログラムを作成することを特徴とする。

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本発明者は、化合物スクリーニングにより、歯髄細胞を歯髄幹細胞に誘導できる化合物（BIO）を見出した。更にBIO処理した間葉系幹細胞や歯髄幹細胞をキャリアとともにマウスに移植することで、骨髄様組織が形成されることや、血球細胞が産生されることを見出した。　 　骨髄移植は、他人の骨髄を注入するため、適合性が問題となったり、免疫的な障害を避けるための処置が必要となったり、している。本発明を用いると、自己の歯髄細胞から骨髄組織の作製が可能となり、適合性や免疫的障害の懸念がない治療の実現を期待できる。

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Currently, molybdenum alloys are formed by extrusion of powder sintered bodies due to their high melting point. Therefore, cutting is required in order to form complex shapes, which increases the manufacturing cost. In addition, if a body is formed by the powder sintering, the strength is decreased.　 　In this invention, light / high strength / high heat resistance molybdenum alloys can be easily fabricated by the melting and casting method, which can be applied for complex shapes. New molybdenum alloys with melting point below 2000℃.

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It has been reported that reduction or deletion of Langerhans β cells (hereafter β cells) in pancreatic islet occurs not only in type 1 diabetes but also in type 2 diabetes. Therefore, regeneration or promotion of β cells has been proposed as a promising treatment for diabetes. Recently, it has been shown that the transplantation of bone marrow cells promotes the proliferation of β cells. However, the mechanism is not clear.　 　The present invention relates to nucleic acid molecules that promote the proliferation of β cells. Said molecules increased insulin secretion and decreased blood glucose levels in animal model (right figure and related literature) in vivo. In combination with drug delivery systems, it is expected to establish a novel treatment for diabetes.

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It happens that some food are mistaken by elders and then drop into their lungs. Some times it leads to serious pneumonia and thus becomes to be problematic for home/facility medical care for elders. 　This invention provides a non-contact quantitative analysis device to evaluate the swallowing function of elders by monitoring the movement of neck surface. Also, the device is useful to evaluate objectively if the food is delicious and if elders can swallow the food smoothly.

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Liquid quenching method and atomization method are known as conventional methods of producing amorphous particles. However, the amorphous particle size obtained by these methods is relatively large and it has been difficult to obtain nanometer order amorphous nanoparticles, including amorphous tissue. Although chemical and arc plasma discharge methods are known to produce metal nanoparticles, the application of those methods are not easy due to the formation of secondary particles and segregation. Furthermore, it is also difficult to obtain large quantities of nanoparticles. 　This invention is able to provide amorphous nanoparticles, its production method with excellent dispersibility at relatively low temperatures, and amorphous nanoparticle dispersions. This invention includes the process of obtaining a dispersion with a solid-state metal comprising an alloy and a reducing dispersant, and the process of irradiating the dispersion with ultrasound in order to obtain amorphous nanoparticles containing an amorphous structure from the solid-state metal.

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As a acoustic speaker, a dynamic speaker using electromagnetic force (electrodynamic speaker) is used in many cases. In the dynamic speaker, as strong force is required, regarding a small speaker such as an earphone, in particular, the inertial force of the diaphragm is increased relatively, causing a problem of increased deviation between the electrical signal and the vibration. 　An electrostatic speaker has been used to solve the foregoing problem. However, in the conventional electrostatic speakers, one or a plurality of holes is required to be formed at each fixed electrode in order to transmit an acoustic wave generated by the vibration of the diaphragm to the outside.This causes a problem that dust, water, moisture, etc. are likely to come in. This invention solves mentioned problems by its new structure.

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Conventional Hall sensors (a type of magnetic-field sensors) rely on highly crystalline semiconductors such as GaAs and InSb that show the large ordinary Hall effect. However, the requirements for low carrier density and high mobility impose strong constraints on the fabrication processes and conditions. Also, their strong Tdependent electrical properties must be cancelled out with additional ICs to achieve Hall sensor operation over a wide practical T range. 　This invention describes a ferromagnetic Fe-Sn alloy, which can work as a superior Hall sensor material owing to the large anomalous Hall effect. This novel material offers many technological advantages including cheap and non-toxic ingredients, the roomtemperature growth on various substrates, and high sensitivity and thermal stability.

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Ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) have attracted attention as an industrially acceptable nanofabrication technology from views of cost and throughput; However, the use of spincoated films of photo-curable resin on substrates causes the problems of burr generation arising from mold edges and unleveled residual layers arising from site-selective differences in pattern densities of mold surfaces. The problems make subsequent lithography processes impossible. This optical nanoimprinting method consists of micro-scale laser-drilled screen printing and nano-scale molding. High-viscosity photo-curable resins with 1-300 Pa･s can be placed by screen printing using a polyimide sheet having through poles which are fabricated by laser drilling using a picosecond pulsed laser. The minimum volume of a printed droplet is 5 fL (10-15L). The resist patterns and resultant silicon patterns with 45-nm-linewidths are fabricated.

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PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) particles are industrially important particles used for many purposes. 　They are often used with their surfaces coated with dispersants and dispersed in water. Fluorinated dispersants are used as dispersant, but there is a strong concern about its bioaccumulation and environmental persistence, and it is necessary to find an alternative agent that doesn’t use fluorine. 　This invention is about a non-fluorinated dispersant that can disperse PTFE in water.

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Burkholderia gulmae and B. plantarii are pathogenic bacteria and cause rice seedling rot which is one of the most serious problems in the process of raising seedlings for rice cultivation. The main method for controlling plant diseases is application of chemical pesticides. However, risks for emergence of the drug-resistant bacteria and negative impact of chemicals on the environment should be minimized. The present invention proposes an environmentally friendly method, without chemical pesticides, of plant disease control using novel jumbo phage which is isolated from organically farmed soil.

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Thin-film solar cells using SnS (tin sulfide) offer the following advantages: ・Free of toxic elements such as Cd and Te. ・Composed of abundant and inexpensive elements (Sn and S). ・Efficient light absorption at a thickness of just 2–3 μm (compared to ~500 μm for silicon). ・A conversion efficiency of 25.3% has been reported for homo p-n junctions. However, achieving high-efficiency SnS solar cells with a homo p-n junction requires n-type SnS thin films, which have been technically challenging to fabricate. In this invention, inventor successfully synthesized n-type SnS thin films for the first time using a novel sulfurization technique based on sulfur plasma. This breakthrough is expected to enable the realization of homojunction SnS solar cells in the future.

• Public Testing/Laboratory

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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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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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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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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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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　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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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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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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　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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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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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 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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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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