Search

A video camera signal-processing IC that includes CCD (charge coupled device) delay lines (DLs) and lowpass filters has been developed using a Bi-CMOS/CCD process. The IC greatly contributes to reduced size and improved reliability in video movie circuits. The IC incorporates four 1H CCD-DLs and five lowpass filters, thereby making the circuit board space more compact. Automatic adjustment of CCD-DL output signal level, DC bias, and lowpass filter cutoff frequency greatly reduces adjustment points and IC pins. >

In order to investigate whether or not checkpoints of features surrounding the eye are suitable for eye tracking, we evaluated the checkpoints using statistical hypothesis testing. By combining the checkpoints of features surrounding the eye, the eye tracking system using the template matching was effective for the eye detection. The parameters of the checkpoints were empirically determined to detect the eye in any individual. The statistical hypothesis testing revealed that the empirical setting values of the checkpoints were significantly different from actual facial features obtained using face images. We investigated suitable parameters of the checkpoints derived from actual facial features obtained with facial images. It was revealed that new checkpoint setting's were effective in drastically reducing the possibility of incorrect eye detection, although the correct detection rate was slightly decreased.

In this paper we consider methods of applying shortened code techniques to turbo codes (Berrou, 1993) in order to construct codes with a lower code rate than the original turbo codes. As long as the difference of the code rates is not so large, the methods can provide some coding gain compared with bit repetition schemes. For turbo codes, we can consider two types of shortened codes that we term the "outer method" and "inner method." For the UTRA turbo code, which has a code rate of 1/3, simulations show that the performance gain is about 0.2 dB for the outer method and about 0.4 dB for the inner method, and the performance is degraded at most by about 0.1 dB even compared with a dedicated turbo code with a rate of 1/5 for rates of between 1/9 and 1/7. The complexities of the decoder for the methods are also considered. The complexities slightly increase compared with the bit repetition schemes based on the same code formats but are similar to the dedicated code.

Strong emission bands in the visible region are observed in $\mathrm{Mg}{\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ crystals doped with transition-metal ions under excitation at the band-to-band transitions. We report optical responses of Cr-, Co-, and Ni-doped $\mathrm{Mg}{\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ and present optical models for $M$-doped $\mathrm{Mg}{\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ ($M=\mathrm{Ti}$, V, Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni) to describe the charge-transfer transitions and the transitions between multiplet levels of $3d$ electrons, which are observed competitively or coexisting, depending on the number of $3d$ electrons. While the optical responses of Cr- and Ni-doped $\mathrm{Mg}{\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ are dominated by the multiplet-multiplet transitions, those of Ti- and V-doped $\mathrm{Mg}{\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ are governed by the charge-transfer transitions. The two kinds of transitions coexist in the Mn- and Co-doped $\mathrm{Mg}{\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$. These behaviors are well understood based on the numerical results of unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation.

Suppression of transverse proton beam divergence is demonstrated by a tailored thin foil target with a hole at the opposite side of laser illumination. When an intense short pulse laser illuminates the thin foil target with the hole, transverse edge effects of an accelerated electron cloud and an ion cloud are eliminated by a protuberant part of the hole: the edge effects of the electron cloud and the ion cloud induce the proton beam divergence. Therefore the transverse proton beam divergence is suppressed well. Firstly this paper presents the robustness of the hole target against laser parameter changes in a laser spot size and in a laser pulse length, and against a contaminated proton source layer. It may be also difficult to make the laser axis coincide with the target hole-center line in realistic experiments and uses, when the target has only one hole. 2.5-dimensional PIC (particle-in-eell) simulations also present that a multiple-hole target is robust against the laser alignment error and the target positioning error. The multi-hole target may serve a robust target for practical uses to produce a collimated proton beam. Recent researches have demonstrated acceleration of ions to high energies (>MeV) in an interaction between an intense laser pulse and a thin foil target. These ion beams are expected to be useful for basic particle physics, medical therapies, controlled nuclear fusion, high-energy sources, and so on. One of the important issues of ion beam parameters is a quality of the ion beam. When an intense laser illuminates a thin foil, electrons obtain energies from the laser pulse and cause an electric charge separation. These electrons, accelerated by the laser, form an electron cloud, and ions are accelerated by the strong electric field, which is produced by the electric charge separation. Ion energies of a few MeV or more have been already observed in recent experiments and numerical calculations. The quality of an ion beam is one of the critical issues in the ion beam generation. Mono-energetic ion beams are also generated in recent studies. On the other hand, a suppression of the transverse ion beam is also important. We propose a thin foil target with multiple holes at the opposite side of the laser illumination, in order to eliminate the transverse edge fields of the ion cloud and the electron cloud.

Quantitative measurement of hepatic perfusion has the potential to provide important information in the assessment and management of various liver diseases. The utility of hepatic perfusion characterization relies on the resolution of each component of its dual blood supply, i.e. the hepatic artery and portal vein. In this study, a linear equation was derived by integrating the differential equation describing the kinetic behaviour of contrast agent (CA) in a dual-input single-compartment model, from which the kinetic parameters can be easily obtained using the linear least-squares method. The usefulness of this method was investigated using computer simulations, in comparison with the non-linear least-squares (NLSQ) method. This method calculated the kinetic parameters faster than the NLSQ method by a factor of approximately 10, with almost the same accuracy as the NLSQ method. This method will be useful for analysing the kinetic behaviour of CA in the unique liver environment, especially by generating the functional images of kinetic parameters.

This study was designed to elucidate the toxicity of the widely used plant Aegle marmelos in rats. We have taken total alcoholic, total aqueous, whole aqueous and methanolic extracts isolated from the leaves of A. marmelos and studied their toxic effects. Acute, subacute and LD(50) values were determined in experimental rats. The dead animals were obtained from primary screening studies, LD(50) value determination experiments and acute studies subjected to postmortem studies. The external appearance of the dead animals, the appearance of the viscera, heart, lungs, stomach, intestine, liver, kidney, spleen and brain were carefully noted and any apparent and significant features or differences from the norm were recorded. Following the chronic administration of A. marmelos for 14 days, the vital organs such as heart, liver, kidney, testis, spleen and brain were carefully evaluated by histopathological studies and any apparent and significant changes or differences from the norm were studied. From the acute administration of A. marmelos, the LD(50) values were determined using graphical method. The hearts stopped in systolic stand-still in the acute experiments. There were no remarkable changes noticed in the histopathological studies after 50 mg/kg body wt of the extracts of A. marmelos when administered intraperitoneally for 14 days successively. Pathologically, neither gross abnormalities nor histopathological changes were observed. After calculation of LD(50) values using graphical methods, we found a broad therapeutic window and a high therapeutic index value for A. marmelos extracts. Intraperitoneal administration of the extracts of the leaves of A. marmelos at doses of 50, 70, 90 and 100 mg/kg body wt for 14 consecutive days to male and female Wistar rats did not induce any short-term toxicity. Collectively, these data demonstrate that the extracts of the leaves of A. marmelos have a high margin of drug safety.

We identify 17 possible 8.0 micron-selected counterparts to the submillimeter galaxies in the CUDSS 14-hour field, derived from deep imaging carried out with the IRAC and MIPS instruments aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. Ten of the 17 counterparts are not the same as those previously identified at shorter wavelengths. We argue that 8.0 micron selection offers a better means for identifying counterparts to submillimeter galaxies than near-infrared or optical selection. Based on the panchromatic SEDs, most counterparts appear to be powered by ongoing star formation. Power-law fits to the SEDs suggest that five objects in the 8.0 micron-selected counterpart sample harbor dominant AGNs; a sixth object is identified as a possible AGN. The 3.6 to 8.0 micron colors of the infrared-selected counterparts are significantly redder than the general IRAC galaxy population in the CUDSS 14-hour field., 36 pages, 9 figures, accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. This version corrects the bibliography and typographical errors in the text and table 1

Features of the crystal structure in Sr1−xLaxVO3 was investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy. The crystal structure in room temperature was determined to change with increasing the La content x as follows; Pm3m (0≤x≤0.1), \( R\bar 3c\) (0.1≤x≤0.6), and Pbnm (0.8≤x≤1.0). There coexist the \( R\bar 3c\) and Pbnm phases in 0.6

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement of Sb-doped fully-silicided (FUSI) NiSi/SiO2 interface has been carried out to evaluate location of Sb pileup and to discuss its role for workfunction shift. The XPS result revealed Sb encroachment into SiO2. Workfunction characterization by XPS implied that NiSi workfunction was identical to its original value without Sb pileup located inside the gate oxide. The impact of predoping on silicidation reaction was also investigated.

Mobile phone e-mail messaging is increasingly being chosen by consumers as their primary communication tool. Messages exchanged among mobile phone users frequently contain “emojis (pictograms)”. Some consumers have started to use services which add a relevant animated image to a message. Consumers will start to exchange animated messages if they are able. This paper proposes a method of generating animations from text messages without an authoring process. This method utilizes information available in the consumer’s ubiquitous computing environment to supply the information needed to make animations which are not included in the original e-mail message.

The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) was initiated with an extensive allocation (590 orbits in Cycles 12-13) using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for high resolution imaging. Here we review the characteristics of the HST imaging with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and parallel observations with NICMOS and WFPC2. A square field (1.8$\sq$\deg) has been imaged with single-orbit ACS I-F814W exposures with 50% completeness for sources 0.5\arcsec in diameter at I$_{AB} $ = 26.0 mag. The ACS imaging is a key part of the COSMOS survey, providing very high sensitivity and high resolution (0.09\arcsec FWHM, 0.05\arcsec pixels) imaging and detecting 1.2 million objects to a limiting magnitude of 26.5 (AB). These images yield resolved morphologies for several hundred thousand galaxies. The small HST PSF also provides greatly enhanced sensitivity for weak lensing investigations of the dark matter distribution., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures -- to appear in COSMOS ApJ Suppl. special issue

PHB with a high molecular weight (Mw) was obtained from fermentor cultures of Azotobacter chroococcum 6B. Mw was significantly affected by aeration rate, being reduced from 2900 to 110 kDa at 0.25 and 2.5 vvm, respectively. Temperature at which maximal weight loss was obtained (decomposition temperature) markedly depended on Mw, obtaining a 40°C span between 100 and 1400 kDa. Tensile strength σ) reached a value of 215 MPa at a Mw of 1240 kDa, being reduced to nearly 40 MPa at the lower tested Mw of 445 kDa.

* This paper is funded by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China(40202031), and the Key Innovation Projection of CAS(KZCX3-SW-338-1) † State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, CAS. P. O. Box 9718, Beijing 100101, China. Tel: +86-10-60892893, Email: yczhao@lab.irsa.ac.cn ‡ Shaoxing Bureau of Land and Resources, No.108 Longshanhoujie, Shaoxing 312000, P. R. China. Tel:+86-575-5128397, Email:zjsxmzj@sohu.com § China Telecom Beijing Research Institute, Guanhua Bldg., Rm. 118, Xizhimenneidajie, Beijing 100035, China. Email: wanglin@ctbri.com.cn ** Image Information Base Group, Research and Development Headquarters, NTT Data Corporation, Japan †† State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, Tel: 13810380409, Email: gengxr@sina.com.cn, Abstract-A low-frequency but complex cross-track radiometric variation is found in OMIS hyperspectral images, which can't be corrected well by the general tool as CTIC in ENVI. Therefore a new correction method named as VRadCor is suggested in this paper, and good effect is obtained in some verification examples both for OMIS and HYMAP. It shows that VRadCor adequately considers and uses the spectral features of hyperspectral image on the base of some reasonable supposes. Therefore it can keep the spectral shape well after correction. And furthermore, it can not only obtain both the multiplicative and additive correction factors, but also provide a possibility to locate the optimized base spectra for correcting reference. A contrast between VRadCor and CTIC is also suggested.

The Strain Sensitive Resonant Gate Transistor (SSRGT) working as a strain gauge has been developed. The device is fabricated by using surface micromachining techniques. It consists of a n-type silicon substrate in which two p+ regions, the source and drain, are formed. The gate electrode is a poly-Si beam whose edges are clamped on a silicon diaphragm. The beam is encapsulated by a poly-Si cell in order to keep it inside the vacuum. It is driven by an electrostatic force and its resonant frequency is detected by an insulated gate field effect transistor (IGFET) underneath the beam. The resonant frequency shifts when the diaphragm is bent by applying pressure. Characterization of the sensor has been

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) recently accepted Endornavirus as a new genus of plant dsRNA virus. We have determined the partial nucleotide sequences of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase regions from the large dsRNAs (about 14 kbp) isolated from barley (Hordeum vulgare), kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), melon (Cucumis melo), bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), Malabar spinach (Basella alba), seagrass (Zostera marina), and the fungus Helicobasidium mompa. Phylogenetic analyses of these seven dsRNAs indicate that these dsRNAs are new members of the genus Endornavirus that are widely distributed over the plant and fungal kingdoms.

Summary form only given. In this paper, we focused on an enhancement of proton beam quality in laser-foil interactions. Recently, a generation of a high-energy proton beam has been explored, and many interesting results have been reported. It is important to enhance the beam energy and also to improve the beam quality. Our research shows a suppression mechanism of a transverse proton divergence by a localization of electrons. When an ultra-intense laser illuminates a foil target, foil electrons are accelerated strongly by the ponderomotive pressure and high energy electron bunches are locally generated in the foil target. The electron bunches accelerated propagate to the opposite side of the laser illumination and produce a local negative potential. Consequently the transverse proton divergence is suppressed by the local potential and the high energy and the low emittance proton beam is generated. In our simulations, we calculated six combinations of the laser intensity and pulse duration for a fixed laser input energy by using 2.5-dimensional PIC (particle-in-cell) simulations. The simulation results show that the average energy of the protons accelerated is about 3 MeV for all the cases. However, a remarkable difference appears in the transverse beam emittance. For the laser intensity of I=1020 W/cm2 and the pulse duration of tau = 25 fast, the normalized transverse ms emittance reaches 0.92times10-2 Pi mm mrad and it is 45.2% compared with that in the case of I=1019 W/cm2 and tau = 250 fs

Summary form only given. A purpose of this study is the generation of a high energy density and short size electron bunch by a focused intense short pulse laser of a TEM(1,0)+TEM(0,1) mode in vacuum. In our previous research, we presented that the TEM(1,0)+TEM(0,1) mode laser has a potential well in transverse and suppresses a transverse electron divergence by the transverse ponderomotive force. Therefore a low emittance electron bunch is produced near the laser axis after the interaction between the laser and the electrons. In this paper, we clarify the detail of the acceleration mechanism of the electrons and also present the electron bunch compression effect in our acceleration mechanism. The acceleration of the electron bunch confined comes from not the longitudinal ponderomotive force but the longitudinal electric field. In the case of the focused TEM(1,0)+TEM(0,1) mode laser, the longitudinal electric field has the maximum at the central axis. Consequently the electrons confined are mainly accelerated and compressed by the longitudinal electric field in the longitudinal direction. In our 3-dimensional particle simulations, the electrons are accelerated to the order of 0.5 GeV, and the normalized rms emittance is about 10-6 pimrad at the following parameter values: a0 = 10 (here, a0 is the dimensionless parameter of the laser intensity), the wavelength of lambda = 0.8 mum, the pulse length of 5lambda, the minimal spot size of 20lambda, and the initial energy of the electrons is 3.62 MeV. The electron bunch accelerated and confined is also compressed to the order of a few femtoseconds in the longitudinal direction. In this paper, we also found a scaling law for the maximum electron energy. Both the simulation and analytical estimation results show that the maximum electron energy is proportional to a0 in a relativistic region

A suppression of a transverse divergence of high-energy protons generated by an interaction of a laser with a thin slab foil is investigated in this paper by 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When an intense $(\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{24}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{W}∕{\mathrm{m}}^{2})$ short-pulse (a few ten femtoseconds) laser illuminates a thin foil target of a hydrogen, foil electrons are accelerated and compressed longitudinally by a laser light pressure and fast electron bunches are produced in the thin foil target. The fast electron bunches pass through the foil target, and a strong magnetic field is produced near the opposite side of the foil target. Because the strong magnetic field confines the electrons, a localization of the electrons is observed at the opposite side of a laser illumination surface. The local electron bunch produces not only a longitudinal electric field, but also a transverse electric field, which is directed toward the laser axis. Protons are accelerated and extracted from the foil, and the proton bunch divergence is successfully suppressed by the transverse electric field.

The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) treasury project.The COSMOS aims to perform a 2 square degree imaging survey of an equatorial field in $I$(F814W) band, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Such a wide field survey, combined with ground-based photometric and spectroscopic data, is essential to understand the interplay between large scale structure, evolution and formation of galaxies and dark matter. In 2004, we have obtained high-quality, broad band images of the COSMOS field ($B, V, r^\prime, i^\prime,$ and $ z^\prime$) using Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope, and we have started our new optical multi-band program, COSMOS-21 in 2005. Here, we present a brief summary of the current status of the COSMOS project together with contributions from the Subaru Telescope. Our future Subaru program, COSMOS-21, is also discussed briefly., 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the 6th East Asian Meeting on Astronomy, JKAS, 39, in press

A nonreciprocal light coupler without anisotropic crystal is analysed. An oblique magnetic field application causes nonreciprocal coupling between two dielectric waveguides through the magnetooptical medium between the guides. In principle, an optical isolator may be realizable which is-tunable after fabrication.

Using Si, an excellent performances, 0.5-2.6GHz bandwidth and 23dB gain, monolithic wideband amplifier IC has been developed, of which input and output impedances are matched to 50 Omega. The f/sub T/=10GHz DNP-11 manufacturing process with optimization for microwave analog ICs has been developed for this IC. And a single-ended three stages circuit with local feedback adopted for this monolithic amplifier loops is circuit.

Electron ponderomotive acceleration in a vacuum by a short-pulsed laser of TEM (1, 0) + TEM (0, 1) mode is studied in this paper using a 3-dimensional (3D) particle simulation. It was found that the laser can trap electrons in transverse and accelerate them with the longitudinal ponderomotive force at the same time. Through this electron trapping and acceleration scheme of TEM (1, 0) + TEM (0, 1) mode laser, the electron bunch is confined well in transverse and compressed remarkably in longitudinal. Therefore, a high energy, high density, and low emittances electron bunch is generated. For example, the result shows that for a laser with intensity of a0 = eE0 /mωc = 10, the laser spot size of w0 = 15λ, and the laser pulse length of Lz = 10λ, the maximum energy gain reaches 301 MeV and the average energy 57.7 MeV. The electron bunch transverse radius is about 350λ and the longitudinal size about 20λ. The property of this accelerated bunch is improved compared with that generated by the laser of TEM (0, 0) mode.

In the present work, the effect of the alcoholic extract of the leaves of Aegle marmelos Corr. on guinea pig isolated ileum and tracheal chain was investigated, as this plant is used traditionally to treat asthma and related afflictions. These effects were investigated using the isolated organ bath method. 1 mg/ml and 2mg/ml doses of the alcoholic extract of this plant produced a positive relaxant effect in isolated guinea pig ileum and tracheal chain, respectively. In addition, they antagonized the contractions, which are produced by histamine. Because the alcoholic extracts elicited the antagonistic effect against histamine and also relaxed the histamine-induced contractions, it can be concluded that relaxations induced by A. marmelos in both guinea pig ileum and tracheal chain were due to the depression of H1-receptors. Since we observed a complete relaxation of the guinea pig ileum and tracheal chain produced by the extract, we investigated its antagonistic effect against histamine. These results were due to the presence of one or more anti-histaminic constituents present in the alcoholic extract of this plant, therefore supporting to the traditional use of A. marmelos in asthmatic complaints.

A new data fusion method, which combines all-weather monitoring ability of SAR imagery and multispectral and 3D mapping abilities of high-resolution optical imagery, were proposed to monitor the debris hazard in mountain area. In this study, the large hazard caused by slope failures in Taiwan on September 2001 was studied using the data fusion method of RADARSAT1 SAR images and SPOT5 optical images. The slope failure area was detected and the failure volume (i.e. elevation change) was measured. Our results were compared with the ground truth data obtained from the photo-interpretation and the ground measurement, and were in good agreement with those truth data. This study indicated that the fusion techniques of recent satellite technologies are highly suitable and efficient for hazard monitorings

The breakdown characteristics of HfAlOx/SiON layered gate dielectrics were investigated. In the case of nCap accumulation or pFET inversion, the majority carrier type is hole and the time to breakdown (T/sub BD/) under constant voltage stress (CVS) is determined by the SiON breakdown. In the case of pCap accumulation or nFET inversion, the gate current and breakdown voltage is limited by the SiON, while the T/sub BD/ is determined by the HfAlOx breakdown. The incident electron energy is found to be an important factor on the T/sub BD/ distribution.

The metabolic effects of a biguanide, metformin, on glycemic control and eating behavior were investigated in 16 type 2 diabetic subjects with mental retardation who were habitual overeaters and had difficulty in controlling their appetites. The subjects (n = 16) received metformin (750 mg/day) for 6 months and body weight, body mass index (BMI) were measured monthly. They had repetitive metabolic and hormonal studies. Their eating behavior was analyzed by questionnaires given by their guardians before and after treatment. Metformin treatment significantly reduced their body weights (p < 0.01), body mass index (BMI) (p < 0.01), the levels of HbA1c (p < 0.001), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (p < 0.05), serum insulin (p < 0.05), C-peptide (p < 0.01), triglyceride (p < 0.01), and total cholesterol (p < 0.05). Insulin resistance index (FBG (mg/dl) x serum insulin levels ( micro U/ml) x 1/405) was significantly reduced after 1-month treatment. The serum leptin levels were significantly decreased after 4 month's treatment and thereafter (p < 0.05). Analysis of the questionnaires before and after treatment showed that the daily intake of regular and additional foods significantly decreased after treatment (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively) with improvements of eating behavior. We conclude that metformin may have beneficial effects not only to control glycemia but also to correct eating behavior in obese type 2 diabetic patients with the difficulty in controlling their appetites. The improvement was related to the reduction of insulin resistance and serum leptin levels.

In this report, we present the composition, chemical structure and electronic band structure of three kinds of ultrathin rare earth oxide (La/sub 2/O/sub 3/, Gd/sub 2/O/sub 3/, Lu/sub 2/O/sub 3/) films formed on Si(100).

This paper discusses effective configuration methods for peer-to-peer (P2P) network topologies within a mobile ad-hoc network. With recent progress in mobile ad-hoc network technology promoting the creation of new and attractive services, we are examining and developing P2P network systems for operation within ad-hoc networks. Our focus is on identifying methods of network-topology control that provide the best balance between performance and availability. We evaluated three methods through computer simulation from the viewpoints of resource consumption and network integrity and clarified their domains of applicability. The results is useful in the design of future P2P networks for operation within mobile ad-hoc networks.

We propose to use an intense short pulse laser of the TEM(1,O)+TEM(O,1) mode in vacuum in order to trapand accelerate an electron bunch. The laser intensity distribution serves a confinement effect for electrons inthe transverse direction by a transverse ponderomotive force. The electrons are accelerated longitudinally bya longitudinal ponderomotive force. In our computations, we employ a three-dimensional laser field and the relativistic equation of motion including a relativistic radiation damping effect. The maximum electron energy isabout 195 [MeV} with an acceleration gradient of 5.25 [GeV/mJ at the laser intensity of 1.23x 1018 [W/cml. Anemittance of the electron bunch accelerated is small and the spatial size in the radial and longitudinal directionsare about 1000 [,um] and 10 [pm], respectively. Such the electron bunch may have potentials for nano-technologyapplications, cancer treatment, a new point light source and so on.keywords: laser acceleration, electron trapping, electron beam, ponderomotive force

A focused short-pulse laser of TEM (1,0)+TEM (0,1) mode has two intensity peaks in the radial direction, so that the transverse ponderomotive force may trap electrons between the two peaks. At the same time the longitudinal ponderomotive force may accelerate electrons at the head of the laser pulse, when the laser is focused. When the electrons move to the laser tail, the laser may diverge and the electron deceleration becomes relatively weak. Our numerical analyses demonstrate that electrons are trapped well by the laser potential well, and that at the same time the acceleration by the longitudinal ponderomotive force induces the electron bunch compression. This trapping and compression mechanism is unique: the electron bunch can be compressed to the scale of the laser pulse length.

Implementation of a turbo decoder for high-speed application in W-CDMA (wideband-code division multiple access) systems and its performance are described As an implementation of the max-log-MAP (maximum a posteriori) algorithm for the turbo decoder, we propose what we call a "stepping-stone-max-log-MAP" (SS-max-log-MAP) algorithm that reduces memory size in the turbo decoder without loss of performance compared to the ordinal max-log-MAP algorithm, even when bit puncturing is used to adjust transmission data rate. Performance evaluation of the SS-max-log-MAP turbo decoder is also described when applied to a high-speed data channel in W-CDMA.

Human pregnancy represents a situation of semiallograft to maternal host. Therefore, it has been reported that tolerance to the fetal allograft represents a mechanism for maintaining a pregnancy. CD4 + CD25 bright regulatory T cells are known to play an important role in the development and maintenance of tolerance in peripheral tissues. However, the potential role of CD4 + CD25 bright T cells in maintaining human pregnancy has not been reported. In this study, we show that early human pregnancy decidua contains an abundance of CD4 + CD25 bright T cells, which express CD152(CTLA-4) at a high level. CD4 + CD25 bright T cells mediate potent inhibition of autologous T-cell proliferation by anti-CD3 stimulation. Furthermore, these cells inhibit the proliferation of autologous CD4 + CD25 - T cells in a dose-dependent fashion. This suppressive function of decidual CD4 + CD25 + T cells required cell-to-cell contact. The proportion of decidual CD4 + CD25 bright T cells was significantly lower in specimens from spontaneous abortion compared to those from specimens from induced abortions. These results suggest that decidual CD4 + CD25 bright T cells contribute to the mechanisms mediating maternal immune tolerance of conceptus antigens and therefore might contribute to the maintenance of pregnancy.

Recently, the new memory structures, those FG and AA are completely self aligned, are qualified for 4Gb NAND flash memory in 90 nm technology node. This paper describes that the new structures and these electrical characteristics and also peripheral transistors' performances.

The characteristics of the rice grain, particularly its hard, tight husk and nutrient content, make it an ideal grain to accompany migrating people. This paper discusses rice diversity and movement from a historical perspective by providing contrasting examples from the homeland of Asian rice, Madagascar and West Africa. The value of modern analytical techniques to understand the origin, diversification and movement of rice is discussed. The following points emerge: 1. No evidence exists to support the center of origin and the center of diversity of rice being the same area, and molecular studies support multiple domestication events probably over a wide area. 2. Inter-subspecific hybridization and diversification after a genetic bottleneck account for much of the traditional rice diversity of Madagascar. 3. Introduction of Asian rice (O. sativa) to West Africa has resulted in partial replacement of indigenous African rice, O. glaberrima, introgression has occurred from Asian into African rice, and recently a new interspecific genepool has been developed by researchers with the aim of combining the best characters of both rice species.

We report on the discovery of a star-forming galaxy at z=6.33 in the Subaru Deep Field. This object is selected as a candidate of an i'-dropout, high-redshift galaxy around z=6 because of its red i'-z' color in our deep optical imaging survey in the Subaru Deep Field. Our follow up optical spectroscopy reveals that this object is a strong Ly-alpha emitter with only very faint ultraviolet continuum. The rest-frame equivalent width of the detected Ly-alpha emission is as much as 130 A. Thus the light detected in our z' image is largely attributed to the Ly-alpha emission, i.e., ~40% of the z'-band flux is the strong Ly-alpha emission, giving a very red i'-z' color. This is consistent with the photometric property of this object because the narrow-band data obtained with the NB921 filter shows a significant depression, z'-NB921 = -0.54 mag. By using the photometric data, we show that some other objects among the 48 i'-dropout high-redshift galaxy candidates found in the Subaru Deep Field also show a significant NB921 depression. We briefly discuss the nature of these NB921-depressed objects., Comment: 13 pages including 3 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

This paper describes P2P platform implementation on PDAs. Recent progress of P2P and mobile technologies is promoting P2P platform on mobile devices which enables mobile devices to behave autonomously as peers within either hotspot or ad hoc wireless network. The implementation on PDAs requires new techniques quite different from those on PCs because of so poor resources. In view of this, we describe issues, solutions and evaluation results on the implementation of P2P platform on PDAs based on actual development. This result is expected to be useful for the implementation of P2P platforms on mobile devices hereafter.

Hydrogen‐terminated Si(100) surfaces were patterned on the nanometer scale using a conducting‐probe scanning force microscope (SFM) operating in air ambient. To generate the nanostructures, negative voltages were applied to the conductive SFM tip with respect to the sample while scanning in contact mode. After structuring, the same SFM tip was used to measure simultaneously the sample topography and the friction force between tip and sample. An increase in height by about three nanometers resulting from field‐enhanced oxidation is observed in areas where the tip had been negatively biased with constant voltages above 7 V. The topographical change is accompanied by a relative increase of the friction force of about 20% over the structured areas.

BACKGROUND: In normal pregnancy, predominant type 2 cytokines help maintain pregnancy, and a T-helper (Th)1 type response is associated with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). However, Th2 and T-cytotoxic (Tc)2 cells have not been localized at the implantation site in RSA. METHODS: Twenty-one cases with RSA were classified into RSA with normal chromosomal content (RSA-N, n = 10) and RSA with abnormal chromosomal content (RSA-A, n = 11). As a control, we selected 15 gestational age-matched cases of induced abortion with no history of spontaneous abortion. We immunostained paraffin-embedded decidual sections for a specific Th2 and Tc2 cell marker termed 'chemo-attractant receptor-homologous molecule expressed on Th2 cells (CRTH2)' and T-cell markers CD3 and CD8. The numbers and percentages of Th2 (CRTH2 + CD8 - CD3 + ) and Tc2 (CRTH2 + CD8 + ) cells were compared between the decidua basalis and decidua parietalis. RESULTS: Th2 and Tc2 cells accumulated in the decidua basalis in normal pregnancy. Accumulation of Tc2 cells and both Th2 and Tc2 cells decreased in the decidua basalis in RSA-A and RSA-N respectively. The number and percentage of Th2, and Tc2 cells in the decidua parietalis were similar in normal pregnancy, RSA-A and RSA-N. CONCLUSION: Decreased Th2 and Tc2 cells at the implantation site may contribute to RSA-N.

We propose a new vegetation index using TIR (thermal infrared) to estimate green coverage of vegetable crops from an airborne hyperspectral image, which is affected by their background of plastic film covering the ground. The amount of water content is different from green coverage of vegetables, and it leads to difference of temperature correlated with TIR. We propose a new vegetation index TIR expanded NDVI (TENDVI) and evaluate its effectiveness to estimate green coverage of vegetables. The evaluation result using an airborne hyperspectral image and ground truth data shows that TENDVI can estimate green coverage more preciously than NDVI.

In Vitro and in vivo antibacterial activities of azithromycin were compared with those of macrolides and other antimicrobial agents. In the in vitro activity azithromycin has a potent activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, but against the latter organisms the other macrolides have little potent activity. The in vitro results demonstrate that azithromycin has a high potent activity against respiratory pathogens such as erythromycin-susceptible staphylococci, streptococci (except for organisms possessing erm gene), H, influenzae, B. prtussis, Legionella spp., M. pneumoniae, C. trachomatis. In the pharmacokinetic of azithromycin in mice, it is found that its half life is longer than the other macrolides and the concentration of it in polymorphonuclear leukocytes and lung tissues is higher than the other macrolides. These specific properties in the pharmacodynamic and the in vitro antibacterial activities reflect the therapeutic efficacies in experimental infection models. Finally, the therapeutic efficacies of azithromycin in various infection models better than those of the other macrolides.

Although metal contacts to oxidized n-InP show relatively high Schottky-barrier height, they will not be stable upon thermal annealing since the interfacial reaction might dissociate the oxides. The authors present the change in electrical properties of Al/n-InP contacts upon the rapid thermal annealing in relation to the interfacial reaction. In a certain range of the annealing temperature, a rectifying contact was obtained with a high Schottky-barrier height close to 0.7 eV, for which compositional and electrical microanalysis were carried out by means of the electron-probe microanalysis and the scanning internal-photoemission microscopy. The results are discussed. >

Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators can produce large displacement/force and are robust against external overload. Their structure is simple because an SMA element serves as both structural and functional (actuation) parts. One drawback has been the difficulty in micromachining of SMA. This paper deals with the deposition of thin films, heat treatment and patterning of TiNi SMA. Microactuators were fabricated by the process. Typical dimensions of the actuator were 10 /spl mu/m in thickness, 30 /spl mu/m in width and 800 /spl mu/m in length. They produced large displacement of more than a few hundred micrometers and large force of more than 5 mN. Repeatable motion up to 20 Hz was observed for the loop actuator composed of two SMA cantilevers.

Nineteen-nm depth ultra shallow and 1.7 k/spl Omega//sq. low resistive junctions were fabricated by Sb implantation. The shallowness of the junction is attributed to the low diffusive nature of Sb. The junction was applied to 0.15 /spl mu/m MOSFETs, and excellent suppression of short channel effect and G/sub m/ improvement were confirmed.