Acid–base disequilibrium is a contributor to cancer development because it affects molecular activities such as insulin-like growth factor 1 levels and adiponectin production. However, evidence of an association of diet-induced acid–base imbalance with colorectal cancer (CRC) is limited. We examined whether colorectal carcinogenesis is attributable to a diet with a high acid load. We recruited a total of 923 CRC cases and 1846 controls at the National Cancer Center in Korea for inclusion in a case–control study. We collected information on nutrient intake and specific clinical parameters of CRC by using a semiquantitative FFQ and medical records, respectively. Potential renal acid load (PRAL) and net endogenous acid production (NEAP) were used to estimate diet-dependent acid load. We used an unconditional logistic regression model to analyse the association. Dietary acid load scores had a positive association with the odds of CRC (OR = 2·31 (95 % CI 1·79, 2·99) and OR = 2·14 (95 % CI 1·66, 2·76) for PRAL and NEAP, respectively, Pfor trend < 0·001). A stronger positive association was observed for females (OR = 3·09, 95 % CI 1·93, 4·94) than for males (OR = 1·71, 95 % CI 1·27, 2·31). Furthermore, acidogenic diets appeared to affect rectal cancer more strongly than colon cancer in females. Our study contributes to reinforcing epidemiological evidence regarding a detrimental effect of acidogenic diets on colorectal carcinogenesis. Thus, it is important to pay attention to the balance of acidogenic (e.g. poultry and red meat) and alkalinogenic foods (e.g. fruits and vegetables) in CRC prevention, especially for females.

The aim of this study is to examine the empirical insulinemic potential consisting of dietary and lifestyle factors and the interactive effect with the common genetic susceptibility locus rs2423279 on the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). This case–control study was conducted with 923 CRC patients and 1846 controls. The empirical measures for assessing the insulinemic potential, namely, the empirical dietary index for hyperinsulinemia (EDIH), for insulin resistance (EDIR), the empirical lifestyle index for hyperinsulinemia (ELIH), and for insulin resistance (ELIR), were calculated based on semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and lifestyle questionnaire. A genetic variant of rs2423279 was genotyped. The CRC patients were more likely to score in the highest quartile for the ELIH (OR 2·90, Q4 v. Q1, 95 % CI (2·01, 4·19), P for trend < 0·001), EDIR (OR 3·32, Q4 v. Q1, 95 % CI (2·32, 4·74), P < 0·001) and ELIR (OR 2·79, Q4 v. Q1, 95 % CI (1·96, 3·97), P < 0·001) than the controls. The significant effect between the ELIR, which assesses dietary and lifestyle patterns related to insulin resistance, and C allele carriers of rs2423279 was stronger than that for homozygous T allele carriers (OR 2·50, 95 % CI (1·78, 3·51), P for interaction = 0·034). The empirical insulinemic potential for insulin resistance might have interactive effects with the rs2423279 polymorphism on the risk of CRC. The results of this study suggest the basis of the metabolic impact of the insulin response on colorectal carcinogenesis.

We present a new photometric reduction method for precise time-series photometry of non-crowded fields that does not need to involve relatively complicated and CPU intensive techniques such as point-spread-function (PSF) fitting or difference image analysis. This method, which combines multi-aperture index photometry and a spatio-temporal de-trending algorithm, gives much superior performance in data recovery and light-curve precision. In practice, the brutal filtering that is often applied to remove outlying data points can result in the loss of vital data, with seriously negative impacts on short-term variations such as flares. Our method utilizes nearly 100% of available data and reduces the rms scatter to several times smaller than that for archived light curves for brighter stars. We outline the details of our new method, and apply it to cases of sample data from the MMT survey of the M37 field, and the HAT-South survey.

When a drop is deposited on a superhydrophilic micropillar array, the upper part of the drop (referred to as the bulk) collapses while the bottom part penetrates into the gaps of the array, forming a fringe film. Here we quantify the early stage dynamics of this process using a combination of experiment and theory. We show that the circular front of the fringe film spreads like t1/2, t being time, when coupled to the bulk flow. However, the film is found to advance like t1/3 through faceted zippering in the absence of the bulk. We then show that the spreading of the bulk and the entire drop footprint follows a power law (t1/4) that is different from Washburn's law. This work can be a starting point to completely understand the spreading of liquids on superhydrophilic surfaces and opens questions specific to superwetting behaviour including the criteria to determine whether the fringe film will expand through lateral zipping or advance radially outwards.

We evaluated the effects of the two main kiwifruit cultivars (gold kiwifruit (GOK) and green kiwifruit (GRK)) and their active phenolic compound, quercetin, on H2O2-induced inhibition of gap-junction intercellular communication (GJIC) in WB-F344 rat liver epithelial cells. We found that both GOK and GRK protect WB-F344 cells from H2O2-induced inhibition of GJIC. The extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2)–connexin 43 (Cx43) signalling pathway is crucial for the regulation of GJIC, and both GOK and GRK blocked the H2O2-induced phosphorylation of Cx43 and ERK1/2 in WB-F344 cells. Quercetin alone attenuated the H2O2-mediated ERK1/2–Cx43 signalling pathway and consequently reversed H2O2-mediated inhibition of GJIC in WB-F344 cells. A free radical-scavenging assay using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl showed that the scavenging activity of quercetin was higher than that of a synthetic antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene, per mol, suggesting that the chemopreventive effect of quercetin on H2O2-mediated inhibition of ERK1/2–Cx43 signalling and GJIC may be mediated through its free radical-scavenging activity. Since the carcinogenicity of reactive oxygen species such as H2O2 is attributable to the inhibition of GJIC, GOK, GRK and quercetin may have chemopreventive potential by preventing the inhibition of GJIC.

The structural properties of GaN epitaxial layers grown on patterned sapphire substrates by MOCVD have been investigated using HRXRD(high-resolution X-ray diffraction), GIXRD(grazing incidence X-ray diffraction) and PL(photoluminescence). For X-ray characterizations rocking curves for GaN (10·5), (00·2), (11·4) and (11·0) reflections for which incidence angles of X-rays are 32.0°, 17.3°, 11.0° and 0.34°, respectively, were measured. For (10·5), (00·2) and (11·4) reflections FWHMs of the rocking curves for a patterned substrate were broader than those for a unpatterned substrate, for (11·0) reflection, however, FWHM for a patterned substrate was much narrower than that for a unpatterned substrate. The normalized FWHM for all reflections decreases as the incidence angle of X-ray decreases. The results indicate that the crystalline quality in the surface region of the epilayer on a patterned substrate was especially improved because the penetration depth of X-ray depends on the incidence angle. The intensity of PL peak of the epilayer for a patterned substrate increased compared to that for a unpatterned substrate, and the increase in PL intensity is attributed to the reduction in dislocation density at the surface region revealed the by X-ray results.

The electrical characteristics of SiH4-based PECVD gate oxide have been investigated with respect to gate oxide integrity (GOI) and its reliability. It was found that the GOI of poly-Si TFT integrated on glass substrate strongly depended on the charge trapping and deep level interface states generation under Fowler-Nordheim stress (FNS). By applying elevated temperature postanneal without vacuum break after the gate oxide deposition, highly reliable gate oxide was obtained. Under FNS, ID-VG curve showed severe shift and degradation of subthreshold slope, which were reduced by adopting post-annealed gate oxide. Besides, the TFT with post-annealed gate oxide showed around 10 times higher charge to breakdown than that of as-deposited gate oxide. Charge to breakdown of MOS capacitors were also studied. By applying post-annealed gate oxide, charge to breakdown drastically improved, which could be explained by reduced charge trapping under FNS.

The classical electron–ion Coulomb bremsstrahlung process is investigated in a nonideal plasma. An effective pseudopotential model taking into account plasma-screening and collective effects is applied to describe the electron-ion interaction potential in a nonideal plasma. The screened hyperbolic-orbit trajectory method is applied to the motion of the projectile electron in order to investigate the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section as a function of the scaled impact parameter, eccentricity, nonideal-plasma parameter, Debye length, projectile energy, and photon energy. It is found that the collective effect reduces the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section on both the soft- and hard-photon cases. For small impact parameters, the nonideal-plasma effect on the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section is found to be quite small. It is also found that the maximum position of the bremsstrahlung radiation cross-section gets closer to the target ion with increasing nonideal-plasma effect.

Undoped and Sm3+-doped BaAl2S4 and BaAl2Se4 single crystals were grown by the chemical transport reaction method. The optical energy band gaps of the BaAl2S4 and BaAl2Se4 were found to be 4.10 and 3.47 eV, respectively, at 5 K. In their photoluminescence spectra measured at 5 K, broad emission peaks at 459 and 601 nm appeared in the BaAl2S4 and at 486 and 652 nm in the BaAl2Se4. These emissions are assigned to donor–acceptor pair recombinations. Sharp emission peaks were observed in the Sm3+-doped BaAl2S4 and BaAl2Se4 single crystals at 5 K. Taking into account the ionic radii of the cations and Sm3+, these sharp emission peaks are attributed to the electron transitions between the energy levels of Sm3+ substituting with the Ba site.

We investigated the photoluminescence as well as the crystal structure and optical energy gaps of the Zn1-xCdxAl2Se4-4xS4x solid solution system based on the Al-related compounds of ZnAl2Se4, ZnAl2S4, CdAl2Se4, and CdAl2S4. The single crystals of the system with 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0 were grown by the chemical transport reaction technique. The Zn1-xCdxAl2Se4-4xS4x crystallizes in a defect chalcopyrite structure for a whole composition and has an optical energy gap ranging from 3.525 to 3.577 eV at 13 K. The photoluminescence spectra at 13 K showed a strong emission band in the blue spectral region and a weak broad emission band in the visible region due to donor–acceptor pair recombination. The composition and temperature dependence of these bands were examined in the investigated regions. The simple energy band scheme for the radiative mechanisms of the Zn1-xCdxAl2Se4-4xS4x is proposed on the basis of our experimental results along with photo-induced current transient spectroscopy measurements.

We investigated the photoluminescence spectra as well as the crystal structure and optical energy gaps of the Zn1-xCdxAl2Se4 single crystals grown by the chemical transport reaction method. It was shown from the analysis of the observed x-ray diffraction patterns that these crystals have a defect chalcopyrite structure for a whole composition. The lattice constant a increases from 5.5561 A for x = 0.0 (ZnAl2Se4) to 5.6361 A for x = 1.0 (CdAl2Se4) with increasing x, whereas the lattice constant c decreases from 10.8890 A for x = 0.0 to 10.7194 A for x = 1.0. The optical energy gaps at 13 K were found to range from 3.082 eV (x = 1.0) to 3.525 eV (x = 0.0). The temperature dependence of the optical energy gaps was well fitted with the Varshni equation. We observed two emission bands consisting of a strong blue emission band and a weak broad emission band due to donor–acceptor pair recombination in the Zn1-xCdxAl2Se4 for 0.0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1.0. These emission bands showed a red shift with increasing x. The energy band scheme for the radiative mechanism of the Zn1-xCdxAl2Se4 was proposed on the basis of the photoluminescence thermal quenching analysis along with the measurements of photo-induced current transient spectroscopy. The proposed energy band model permits us to assign the observed emission bands.

We have investigated surface treatment effect on the interfacial reaction of Pd/p-GaN interface and also room temperature ohmic contact formation mechanism of Pd-based ohmic contact. In order to examine room temperature ohmic behavior, various metal contact systems were deposited and current-voltage measurements were carried out. In spite of large theoretical Schottky barrier height between Pd and p-GaN, Pd-based contact showed perfect ohmic characteristic even before annealing. According to the results of synchrotron X-ray radiation, the closed-packed atomic planes (111) of the Pd film were quite well ordered in surface normal direction as well as in the in-plane direction. The effective Schottky barrier height of Au/Pd/Mg/Pd/p-GaN was 0.47eV, which was estimated by Norde method. This discrepancy between theoretical barrier height and the measured one might be due to the epitaxial growth of Pd contact metal and so the room-temperature ohmic characteristic of Pd-based ohmic contact was related strongly to the in-plane epitaxial quality of metal on p-GaN.

MgxZn1-xSi: Ho3+, MgxZn1-xSe: Er3+, and MgxZn1-xSe: Tm3+ single crystals were grown by the closed-tube sublimation method. The single crystals crystallized into a zincblende structure at the composition x = 0.11 and a wurtzite structure at the composition x = 0.25, 0.32, and 0.41. The trivalent ions (Ho3+, Er3+, and Tm3+) of the rare-earth elements Ho, Er, and Tm site in Td and C3v symmetries in the single crystals with zincblende and wurtzite structures, respectively. Sharp emission peaks appeared in the photoluminescence spectra of the single crystals. These emission peaks are identified to originate from the radiation recombination between the energy levels of the trivalent ions sited in Td and C3v symmetries.

Ammonia gas was blown into the solution of zirconium ion to induce homogeneous precipitation of supersaturated zirconium ion at gas-liquid interface with increase in pH. The precipitates formed using interface of gas-liquid phase were decomposed into fine spherical zirconia powder of high purity. As Concentration increase, mean diameter of particles increases to 140, 180, 240, 290 and 630nm. At pH of 4.5, maximum yield of 98.7% was obtained. From the above pH of 4.5, yield has been kept constant. Above pH of 5.0, large aggregates of precipitate consisting of primary particles were formed, and this may have been caused due to the existence of isoelectric point. Below pH of 4.5, almost aggregate-free fine spherical powders with particle size of below 100nm were produced.

The lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films were fabricated using sol-gel spin coating onto Pt/Ti/glass substrates. Effects of the holding time for pyrolysis and the coating cycle on the preferred orientation of the PZT thin films were studied. The films were fabricated with different coating cycles (3, 5, 7, 9, 11), dried at 330 °C for different holding times (5, 30, 60 min), and then annealed at the same temperature of 650 °C using rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The preferred orientations of the films were investigated using x-ray diffraction and glancing angle x-ray diffraction. The microstructure and the selected area diffraction pattern of the PZT thin films were also investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively.

We investigated the electrical properties and interfacial reactions of the Si/Ti based ohmic contacts to n-GaN grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition and the electrical properties were related to the material reactions. The perfect ohmic characteristics were obtained after annealing at 700 °C for 3 min under N2 ambient, and Ti silicide was formed in Ti-Si based contact systems. The lowest value for the specific contact resistance of 3.86×10-6 Ωcm2 was obtained for Au(1000 Å)/Ni(400 Å)/Ti(400 Å)/Si(1460 Å)/Ti(150 Å) after annealing at 900 °C for 3min. It could be concluded from the material analyses that the ohmic characteristics of Ti-Si based contact systems were due to the low barrier height by the formation of Ti silicides with a low work function

Epitaxial lead lanthanum zirconate titanate [PLZT(9/50/50)] thin films were fabricated on various single crystal substrates using the spin coating of metallo-organic solutions. The films were heat-treated at 700 °C for 1 h using the direct insertion method. The films were epitaxially grown with (100), (100), and (110) being parallel to the SrTiO3(100), the MgO(100), and the sapphire (0112) substrates, respectively. The epitaxy of the films was investigated using x-ray diffraction, pole figures, rocking curves, and scanning electron microscopy.