We looked for polymorphism of the prothoracicotropic hormone gene locus (Ptth) among inbred strains of the silkmoth, Bombyx mori, by in vitro DNA amplification (polymerase chain reaction), and found three alleles, PtthA, PtthB and PtthC. The PtthA allele contained a third intron consisting of 680 bp and a fourth intron of 350 bp. PtthB contained the same size third intron but a longer fourth intron of 490 bp, while Ptthc had a longer third intron of 1080 bp and a shorter fourth intron of 350 bp. In 29 strains which we examined, 9 strains had PtthA, 8 strains had PtthB, and 2 strains had Ptthc. The other 10 strains had heterogeneous genotypes with the same 3 alleles.

Low temperature (150 °C) deposition of doped and undoped polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) as well as SiNX films on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films has been achieved with practical deposition rates by using pulsed-plasma CVD under near-atmospheric pressure. The precursor is SiH4 diluted in H2 for poly-Si while N2 has been additionally used for SiNx. No inert gases such as He was used. A short-pulse based power system has been employed to maintain a stable discharge in the near-atmospheric pressures. With this technique, deposition of poly-Si thin film with virtually no incubation layer is possible, which in the case of P-doped poly-Si shows a Hall mobility (μH) of 1.5 cm2/V·s.

A thin film composed of an ion-exchangeable layered oxide HxTi(2-x/4)⃞x/4O4 (HTiO) (where the open square, ⃞, is vacancy) is studied as an electrode material. The thin film prepared on an indium tin oxide substrate functions as an electrode for the redox reaction of Ru(bpy)32+/Ru(bpy)33+ without noticeable degradation. Lack of reaction in the presence of Fe(CN)64−/Fe(CN)63− indicates that reaction on this electrode occurs in the interlayers between titanate sheets. A Ru(bpy)32+-intercalated form of the electrode generates photocurrent under visible light irradiation.

We introduce III-V nitrides growth including GaN as well as InGaN by a newly developed atmospheric-pressure metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy system with a three layered flow channel which is a promising system for a large scale production. First, we have shown through computer simulation that a laminar flow of gases is maintained at 1000 °C in the three layered flow channel. Second, as a part of epitaxial results, we have found that the surface roughness of a low temperature-grown buffer layer on sapphire substrates, which can be measured by atomic force microscope, should be minimum in order to grow high quality GaN. We also report the growth of a double heterostructure of Ino. 15Gao.85N/GaN which shows a strong near band-edge emission in room temperature photoluminescence.