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Marine ranching systems use radio equipment to provide telemetering-based control of sound emission and bait feeding. In Japan, these systems have passed the phase of test production and have entered the phase of practical use. They are now in operation in six prefectures: Oita, Ishikawa, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Niigata and Miyagi. In the future, similar systems are scheduled to be installed throughout Japan. One of the biggest technical problems in marine ranching systems is how to transmit high-quality signals from fish finder within the signal transmission bandwidth allowed by the radiowave law of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Although the current transmission bandwidth allowed for fisheries is limited to 3 kHz, a transmission bandwidth of 10 kHz is required for transmission of signals from the fish finder contained in marine ranching systems. Therefore, transmission of signals from fish finder within that allowed transmission bandwidth presents the problem that the sizes of schools of fish are overestimated because of significant reductions in the distance resolution of the signals received. For marine ranching systems, since the amounts of feeding are determined according to the measured sizes of schools of fish, over-estimation of the school sizes causes excessive feeding. Excessive feeding not only makes the system less economical, but also creates the big, social problem of marine pollution due to residual baits. The authors have developed a method that enables signals to be transmitted from fish finder without being affected by the legally limited signal transmission bandwidth, and have introduced that method into marine ranching to complete a high accuracy, automatic feeding control system that provides feeding control based on accurate estimations of the sizes of schools of fish. The composition of this system and the results of signal processing are reported below.

Streptozotocin (STZ), a naturally occurring chemical, is toxic to the various kinds of cells such as insulin-producing beta cells. However, the beneficial effect of STZ on neuronal cells such as neurite outgrowth-inducing activity has been unknown. In this study, we examined the effect of STZ on neurite outgrowth in mouse neuronal Neuro2a cells. STZ (0.01 mM~5 mM) exerted remarkable neurite outgrowth-inducing activity in Neuro2a cells in a concentration dependent manner. STZ also had the same neurite outgrowth-inducing activity as that of retinoic acid (RA), which is well known neurite outgrowth inducer. As with the result of RA treatment, STZ administration increased MAP2-positive cells. The MAP2-positive cells reflect neurite outgrowth-induced cells. STZ (0.01 mM~5 mM) did not induce cell death, but significantly decreased cell proliferation. The serine/threonine kinase Akt, a downstream target of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K), was transiently phosphorylated at Ser473 and at Thr303 by STZ (5 mM) administration. Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), which has been reported to be inactivated by Akt, was also transiently phosphorylated at Ser9 by STZ (5 mM) administration. In addition, a blocker of PI3K, LY294002 (10 μM), significantly attenuated STZ-induced neurite outgrowth. These results suggest that STZ induces neurite outgrowth via activation of PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and GSK3β inhibition.

In the coastal areas of Japan, three species of greenling (Hexagrammos spp.) can hybridize. In a natural reef setting we showed that Hexagrammos agrammus and H. octogrammus established their breeding territories in a shallow area where seaweed was abundant, whereas H. otakii established breeding territories in a deep area that was sparsely covered with seaweed. This difference in habitat use resulted in H. otakii being distributed separately from the other two species, thereby reducing the potential for hybridization. However, all the three species co-occurred in an artificial area near a breakwater. This area is characterized by steep slopes and complex stacked concrete structures, which create a mosaic-habitat consisting of a shallow environment with seaweed and a deep environment with sparse seaweed, allowing the three species to breed within a single area. Our results suggest that man-made structures can create an artificial mosaic-habitat that can disrupt habitat isolation and promote hybridization between species.

For fluidized bed drying under a reduced pressure, the effect of the humidity of the drying gas on the drying characteristics of porous materials immersed in the bed was examined experimentally and theoretically. The temperature at the sample center increased with the humidity at relatively high pressures in the drying chamber (101.3 and 50 kPa), and the degree of the increment in the temperature with the humidity increased with the chamber pressure. The effect of the humidity on the temperature at the sample center and the drying time was insignificant at a relatively low chamber pressure (20 kPa).

Hybridization has been frequently observed among 3 species of greenlings (genus Hexagrammos) common in waters off Japan. In order to estimate the frequency of hybridization events from egg masses collected from male territories, efficient maternal identification of numerous egg masses is required. A novel streamlined approach for maternal identification of 3 Hexagrammos spp. was developed using multiplex amplified product length polymorphism (APLP) analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb) and the 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA (12-16S rRNA) regions. Concurrent use of species-specific primer sets permits the amplification of different-sized PCR products, diagnosing each species through one procedure of PCR in a single reaction tube. The APLP method produced more rapid, reliable, and cost-efficient species identifications compared to those from an established restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) protocol.

Recently, the genetic association of human facial morphological variation attracts substantial attention. This study proposes a general framework for analyzing facial morphology variation using scanned 3D landmarks, and explores the phenotype features of facial morphology for identifying population root of Japanese archipelago. After registration for the dense 3D facial points, we investigate both PCA and Mean Hyperplane for exploring the facial morphological variations. Then, in order to reduce the in-population variance of statistical features, we normalize them firstly, and explore the identification of population using the combined phenotype features. Experiments show that our proposed strategy can give promising identification performances between the Mainland Japanese and the Ryukyuan. Keywords-facial morphology; gene; statistical learning; mean hyperplane; normalization

Summary. Background: Protein S (PS) is an anticoagulant protein that functions as a cofactor for activated protein C (APC), and congenital PS deficiency is a well-known risk factor for the development of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Recently, we and others identified the K196E missense mutation in the second epidermal growth factor-like domain of PS as a genetic risk factor for DVT in the Japanese population. The incidence of this mutation is high in the Japanese population. Objectives: In the present study, we investigated the relationship between plasma PS activity and the presence of the K196E mutation. Patients and methods: We measured PS activity as a cofactor activity for APC in 1862 Japanese individuals and determined the PS K196E genotype in this population. Results: Individuals heterozygous for the mutant E-allele had lower plasma PS activity than wildtype subjects (mean ± SD, 71.9 ± 17.6%, n = 34 vs. 87.9 ± 19.8%, n = 1828, P

A new beam line for photonuclear reaction experiments using tagged photons has been constructed to take advantage of the completion of the 1.2-GeV STretcher Booster (STB) ring at the Laboratory of Nuclear Science (LNS), Tohoku University. A photon tagging system was installed at the end of the new beam line. It provides bremsstrahlung tagged photon beams in an energy range from 0.2 E 0 to 0.8 E 0 MeV at the incident electron energy E 0 with an energy resolution of Δ E / E ≈ 10 - 2 . The tagged photon intensity I ⩽ 5 × 10 6 photons / s is available for typical photonuclear reaction experiments. We introduce the basic parameters of the tagged photons by showing the commissioning data.

OL-protocadherin (OL-pc) is a cell adhesion molecule that belongs to the cadherin superfamily. A previous study showed that expression of OL-pc mRNA was specific to certain brain nuclei including those of the olfactory and limbic systems, thus suggesting its involvement in neural circuit formation (Hirano et al., 1999). Here, we examined the distribution of OL-pc protein in the postnatal mouse brain by immunohistochemistry to confirm the possibility of such a role. The results showed that the protein could be mapped to many brain compartments including brain nuclei and higher subdivisions as previously observed for the expression pattern of the mRNA. Sharp boundaries of the distribution were often seen in areas such as the interpedunclar nucleus, cerebellar cortex, and inferior olive. In addition, the protein was detected in some fibers that could not be examined by the previous study using in situ hybridization. For example, prominent staining was noted in the stria medularis, stria terminalis, fasciculus retroflexus, optic tract, and inferior thalamic radiation, structures that seem to connect OL-pc-positive brain regions. These OL-pc-positive brain nuclei and fiber tracts coincide with some local circuits of functional systems such as the olfactory system, nigrostriatal projection, olivo-cerebellar projection, and visual system. These results support the possibility that OL-pc is involved in the formation of specific neural compartments and circuits in the developing brain.

Selenophene (C 4 H 4 Se) monolayers on Au(1 1 1) were prepared by two different methods: ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) and atmospheric vapor adsorption method. Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results clearly indicate that the two monolayers are in different chemical forms; selenophene is molecularly adsorbed under UHV condition, while it is dissociatively chemisorbed via the C–Se bond cleavage under atmospheric condition. The dissociative chemisorption under atmospheric condition is interpreted in terms of the trapping mediated adsorption in the presence of a high-pressure ambient gas phase.

The growth of high quality GaN thin films of both hexagonal (h-GaN) and cubic phase (c-GaN) was achieved by molecular beam epitaxy. An ultra-thin amorphous GaN buffer layer was used to obtain a high quality h-GaN film on Al2O3(0001). Near-band edge emission (I2 and DAP) dominated the observed photoluminescence spectrum, and the full width at half maximum of the X-ray rocking curve was 9.8 arcmin. P-type conductivity was successfully achieved by Mg doping of h-GaN film with a hole concentration of 3 × 1017 cm–3 and a hole mobility of 27 cm2/Vs. With Si doping, it was found that the electron concentration could be controlled between 1019 and 1021 cm–3 by the Si cell temperature. For c-GaN growth on GaAs(100), a high phase purity was realized by using a newly introduced AlGaAs buffer layer technique. It was found that the formation of an AlGaN surface by nitridation of an AlGaAs buffer layer is essential to grow a highly pure cubic phase GaN film. An X-ray diffraction peak attributable to secondary hexagonal GaN could not be observed in reciprocal space area mapping and pole-figure measurements.

Spatial and temporal variations of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene sea levels provide important constraints on the melting history of the major ice sheets. In this study, we have examined the sea-level variations at eight sites along the coast of Antarctica to investigate the melting history of Antarctic ice sheet complexes. Comparisons of sea-level variations between observations and predictions due to glacio-hydro-isostatic adjustment suggest that the ice thicknesses removed from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) around the Weddell Sea are significantly thicker than those around the Ross Embayment. Sea-level observations also indicate that CLIMAP derived models predict too much relative sea-level change and that consequently ice mass change along the coast has to be scaled down. Improvement of the Late Pleistocene Antarctic ice model is required to evaluate more accurate predictions of present-day geophysical observables associated with this history. Thus, these more accurate predictions can then be subtracted from observables, and the residual field can be analyzed to constrain ongoing mass changes from the ice sheet. We therefore predicted present-day geophysical observables such as the rate of change of solid-surface gravity and crustal movement. These geophysical observables based on the ice models constructed from observed sea-level variations are significantly different from those based on previous models. On the other hand, detailed sea-level observations around Syowa indicate the existence of a sea-level highstand of about 10 m around 40 kyr bp . To investigate these sea-level observations, we have performed preliminary numerical calculations. Comparisons between these observations and predictions indicate the synchronous melting of the northern and southern ice sheets, suggesting a strong link between the melting histories of both polar ice sheets.

RNA/DNA ratios and the condition factor, as determined by weight and length of glass-eels, Anguilla japonica, were evaluated for assessment of nutritional status. The negative correlation of RNA/DNA ratios and condition factor between capture months corresponded to an increase in DNA content and to a decrease in dry weight, respectively. These findings indicated that the body material decreased in the later caught glass-eels, but, in contrast, DNA content and ossification increased. These phenomena were explained by such factors as food density and metabolic energy requirements. We concluded that the development of the glass-eel with poor feeding is influenced by differences in ambient water temperature, and that expended endogenous nutrition originates in the leptocephali.

Acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data collected during routine monitoring surveys of the distribution and abundance of Japanese sardine larvae (Sardinops melanostictus) off the Pacific coast of Japan in February 1993 and 1994 were used to construct stationary average flowfields for three levels in the upper 100 m in each year. No large-scale meanders in the path of the Kuroshio Current were present in either year, but the axis of the current was closer to the coast in 1993 than in 1994. The flowfields were used to drive a particle-tracking model representing the dispersal of sardine eggs and larvae. Particles were released in accordance with the observed distribution of eggs, and their positions tracked for up to 40 days. In 1993, the model indicated that ≈ 50% of the egg production was carried north-eastwards out of the survey area into the area of the NW Pacific referred to as the Kuroshio Extension Zone. In contrast, only 5% of the egg production was exported to the Extension Zone in 1994, the remainder being retained in Japanese coastal waters. The consequences of the different dispersal patterns are discussed in relation to subsequent recruitment to the sardine stock. Based on commercial catch data, survival of the 1993 year class was 15% of that for the 1994 class. Hence, the results indicate that export of larvae to the Kuroshio Extension cannot in itself lead to successful recruitment.

Regarding whole rat embryo cultures in vitro, rat serum as a culture medium is known to support the normal growth of rat embryos in the organogenesis phase. The purpose of the present study was to isolate the embryogenesis-promoting factors from rat serum as a first step in the development of a defined serum-free medium for a whole embryo culture system. Pooled rat serum after heat inactivation was fractionated into three major peaks (frA, containing a region of void volume, frB, and frC) by gel filtration. The 9.5-day rat embryos that were cultivated for 48 hr in essential salt medium containing frB (with a molecular size range of 100–500 kDa) revealed normal growth. Three proteins (27 kDa, 76 kDa, and 190 kDa) that had the embryogenesis-promoting effects were isolated from 3-hr delayed centrifuged rat serum by the ion exchange chromatography. The 76-kDa protein was found to be rat transferrin by immunoblotting. The 27-kDa protein was identified as apo-AI (the major apoprotein of high-density lipoprotein) by immunoblotting. High-density lipoprotein obtained from pooled rat serum by a NaBr density gradient ultracentrifugation was found to have a positive effect on embryogenesis. The 10-kDa protein was also identified as α1-inhibitor 3 by immunoblotting. In addition, the embryogenesis-promoting effect of the fraction containing 27-kDa and 190-kDa proteins declined within a short period of storage at –20°C. This decrease was countered by supplementing its fraction (D-2) with albumin isolated from rat serum. These results in the present study suggest that transferrin, high-density lipoprotein, and α1-inhibitor 3 in rat serum may be embryogenesis-promoting factors, and that albumin appeared to play a role in the embryogenesis of rat embryos in whole embryo cultures. J. Exp. Zool. 281:188–200, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Purpose Gait rehabilitation is a fundamental requirement to avoid disuse syndrome for the long-term hospitalized person such as cerebral infarction patient or patient with dementia. In general gait rehabilitation is monotonous and dull, so some entertainment or a sense of achievement is helpful to maintain motivation during the daily exercise. This paper proposes an effective gait-rehabilitation system using a robotic dog supporting individual initiatives of the patient. Method Walking with a living dog is one way to achieve this; however as an intervention it is limited to mildly symptomatic patients because a real dog risks sudden lunging. We used a robotic dog instead of a living dog for relatively critical patients. We have studied robot-assisted activity and therapy using robotic animals in the elderly nursing home in order to improve residents’ quality of life (QOL). In the case of a man-made robot, aforementioned risks can be ignored. Moreover, it is an advantage that an in-house walking exercise with the dog is possible. The basic concept of this proposal is co-creation of steps between the elderly and dog. That is, the real-time stabilometric signal of the elderly was measured and analyzed to extract a single step and forwarded to the robotic dog to make a step. Since commercially available amusement products pass through the safety review of public administration, the proposed system was composed of those products as a hardware tool. More specifically, entertainment robot AIBO of Sony ERC was adopted as the robotic dog and Nintendo’s Wii-balance-board is used as the stabilometric human interface devices. All signals are transmitted by conventional Bluetooth and LAN systems. Results & Discussion Figure 2 shows the block diagram and enforcement scenes of gaiting exercise at standing and sitting positions, respectively. The patients both suffered from dementia and made their own steps in a positive manner shown by arrows in the figure. Such positive attitude was uncommon in the conventional daily exercise. Functions for walking back and forth walk, and turning right and left are installed. It is noteworthy that the standing patient tempts the dog to move toward another patient and the patient calls the robot to her. This means there a co-creation field is created through the robotic dog. This was followed by a chat between the patients. In the case of the sitting patient, although for her it is very hard exercise to raise her foot from the floor, she made several steps on her own initiative successively after the physical therapist guided her how to walk by patting and lifting her right and left knees alternately. The position of the center of gravity and command signal were logged every 0.1 sec in the control PC and available to be analyzed afterward. For example, the change of exhaustion during exercise was estimated from the magnitude and regularity of steps. Since all hardware tools can be packed in a suitcase the proposed gait exercise can be easily done everywhere.

2,3,5- and 2,4,5-trichlorophenyl methyl sulfides, 2,3,5- and 2,4,5-trichlorophenyl methyl sulfoxides, and 2,3,5- and 2,4,5-trichlorophenyl methyl sulfones (TCPSO2Mes) were detected in the urine of rats dosed with 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene (TCB). After the administration of 1,2,4-TCB to rats, swift decreases in concentrations of 1,2,4-TCB in blood, liver, kidneys, and adipose tissue were observed. On the other hand, 2,3,5-TCPSO2Me appeared in blood, liver, kidneys, and adipose tissue and remained detectable in the blood and the three tissues until 120 hr. The increases in the activities of aminopyrine N-demethylase and aniline hydroxylase and the contents of cytochromes P450 and b5 in hepatic microsomes produced by 1,2,4-TCB occurred after increases in the hepatic concentration of 2,3,5-TCSO2Me. 2,3,5- and 2,4,5-TCPSO2Me increased the above four parameters in rat liver microsomes. The inducing intensity of 2,3,5-TCPSO2Me was much higher than that of 2,4,5-TCPSO2Me. 2,3,5-TCPSO2Me was considered to be a potent inducer and to play a principal role in the induction by 1,2,4-TCB. When 1,2,4-TCB was injected ip into bile duct-cannulated rats, little 2,3,5-TCPSO2Me was detected in blood, liver, kidneys, and adipose tissue. In the antibiotic-pretreated rats dosed with 1,2,4-TCB, 2,3,5-TCPSO2Me concentrations in the blood and the three tissues markedly decreased. These findings suggest that the formation of methylsulfonyl metabolites from 1,2,4-TCB depends largely upon the metabolism of some precursor(s) excreted in the bile by intestinal microflora. The increasing effects of 1,2,4-TCB administration on the activities of aminopyrine- and aniline-metabolizing enzymes and the contents of cytochromes P450 and b5 in hepatic microsomes were not observed in the bile duct-cannulated rats. These findings provide evidence that the induction of drug-metabolizing enzymes by 1,2,4-TCB is not due to the action of 1,2,4-TCB itself but is due to its methylsulfonyl metabolite, 2,3,5-TCPSO2Me.

At Keihin Works, NKK, case-based reasoning and explanation based learning has been applied to the online control system of blast furnace, and an automatic knowledge acquisition system is adopted. In this system, features of operation values before and after the manipulation are stored as cases, and the cases are evaluated utilizing the membership functions and processed for a guidance message to the operator. The cases are also used for the control rule acquisition. For the similar cases, causality relationships among the operation values are acquired based on the entropy and static gain calculation. The control rules are generated from each case by means of deductive learning using the causality relationships. Thus, the quantitative knowledge of blast furnace control can be acquired automatically, which is difficult to attain by human operators judgement. >

We report a two-dimensional (2D) pixel block scanning architecture for image segmentation by segment growing. This architecture can optimize processing speed, power consumption, and circuit area by modifying size and shape of the pixel block. Real-time processing can be maintained by using additional the two important techniques of (i) boundary-scan of the grown segment only, (ii) continued block-internal segment growing. We analyze and optimize the size and shape trade-offs for the pixel block, and evaluate the proposed architecture by an FPGA. Altogether, the investigated architecture concepts reduce the area-time product by 52.3 % in comparison to a previously reported one-dimensional (1D) scanning architecture.

A goal of our research is to develop a colonoscopic imaging agent that enables real-time and accurate diagnosis of small-sized colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer first develops in the mucous membrane of the large intestine. We designed an imaging agent that can recognize tumor-derived changes on the mucosal side of epithelial cells in the large intestine with high affinity and specificity. The agent is peanut agglutinin (PNA)-immobilized polystyrene nanospheres with surface poly(N-vinylacetamide) (PNVA) chains encapsulating coumarin 6. PNA is a targeting moiety that binds to β-D-galactosyl-(1-3)-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, which is the terminal sugar of the Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen that is specifically expressed on the mucosal side of colorectal cancer cells. The tumor-derived change in the large intestinal mucosa is very small throughout the entire large intestine. To detect such a small change accurately, the imaging agent should have a strong affinity for targets with minimal nonspecific interactions with nontargets. PNVA is also immobilized on the nanosphere surface to enhance the specificity of PNA by reducing the nonspecific interactions between the imaging agent and normal tissues. Coumarin 6 is used as the fluorescent dye that provides an endoscopically detectable fluorescence intensity. It is anticipated that intracolonic (enema) administration of the imaging agent leads to the specific accumulation on the mucosal surface of tumor tissues in the large intestine with resulting fluorescence. Real-time and accurate diagnosis of small-sized early colorectal cancer can be then achieved through observations of a clear fluorescence contrast between the normal and tumor tissues using the standard fluorescence endoscopy.

Immunohistochemical staining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and BrdU using anti-PCNA and anti-BrdU monoclonal antibodies, respectively, was performed in 16 human brain tumours, including 3 glioblastomas multiforme, 2 anaplastic astrocytomas, 1 cerebellar astrocytoma, 2 recurrent meningiomas, 4 non-recurrent meningiomas, 3 neurinomas and 1 medulloblastoma. Patients with brain tumours received an injection of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) intravenously during surgery, and tumour specimens were fixed in 70% ethanol and embedded in paraffin. The percentage of positive cells for PCNA was compared with a BrdU labelling index using adjacent paraffin-embedded sections. The percentage of PCNA-positive cells was correlated with the BrdU labelling index and the histological malignancy of the brain tumours. The correlation coefficient was 0.84. This suggests that the immunohistochemical staining for PCNA in paraffin sections is a good alternative to the BrdU labelling index.

Our previous studies suggest that a neutrophil-mediated inflammatory injury causes a major fraction of the pulmonary edema that occurs after smoke inhalation. Because activated neutrophils extrude cytotoxic proteases, the current study was conducted to evaluate the role of proteases in the pulmonary microvascular injury. Twelve sheep, instrumented for collection of lung lymph, were insufflated with cotton smoke. The sheep were treated 30 min after smoke inhalation with either gabexate mesilate (an inhibitor of serine proteases) or vehicle. Smoke inhalation resulted in an increased protease activity in the lung interstitium, as evidenced by decreases in both antiprotease activity and immunoreactive alpha 2-macroglobulin. Intravenous infusion of gabexate mesilate prevented the decrease in antiprotease activity. The protease inhibitor significantly attenuated the smoke-induced increase in transvascular fluid and protein flux, with untreated animals exhibiting 460% increases in flux compared with 180% in the inhibitor treated sheep. The protease inhibitor also eliminated the functional degradation in gas exchange that was observed in the untreated sheep. These studies strongly suggest that an increase in pulmonary proteolytic enzyme activity is responsible for a significant fraction of the degradation in microvascular integrity and gas exchange that is associated with smoke inhalation injury.

Precise bathymetric surveys of the world ocean has been made it possible to establish continental drift, sea-floor spearheading and plate tectonics. However the data mostly restricted from the northern hemisphere. The precise submarine bathymetric data from the southern hemisphere are quite scarce because of the long distance from the major countries and of being always severe sea conditions with bad weather for the bathymetric swath mapping. Well-surveyed areas of the southern hemisphere are the Indian triple junction, SW and SE Indian Ridges, Southern East Pacific Rise from 13 to 20 degrees and Scotia arc-trench-backarc system. We had been known about the vast area of the southern hemisphere. We had a bathymetric survey around the southern hemisphere during the cruise of BEAGLE 2003. The project started from Brisbane, 2003 August and ended at Fremantle, February 2004 with a great success. In the South Pacific Ocean the line crosses on the 28-30 degrees S latitude from Brisbane to Valparaiso and in the South Atlantic Ocean on the 30 degrees S latitude from Santos to Cape Town and in the Indian Ocean on the 20 degrees S latitude from Madagascar to Fremantle, respectively. We had a precise bathymetric survey by using the narrow multibeam system (SeaBeam 2112) that is installed in the JAMSTEC R/V Mirai. Bathymetric survey crosses the Tonga-Kermadec Trench, Louisville Ridge, East Pacific Rise, Peru-Chile Trench, southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Central Indian Ridge, Ninety East ridge and many other oceanic plateaus and seamounts. We had obtained a narrow band data on the morphologic features of the ridges, trenches, seamounts and oceanic plateaus and we compared the data with those from ETOPO2 that was distributed by Sandwell and Smith (1996). These data offer significant information on the plate tectonics and plume tectonics if we think about the morphology on the global scale.

We present several methods for simulation of Japanese lacquer ware, a prominent Far East Asian handicraft art. We consider two most popular kinds of Japanese lacquerware made by the makie and nashiji techniques. For rendering makie, we propose a method for preparing RGBA textures from digital photos of art items. The alpha channels of these textures control the weight with which color channels are blended with the measured bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of a metallic finish. Both ray tracing and hardware based rendering are demonstrated. In the latter case, we show how the calculation of a sphere map texture used for BRDF visualization can be accelerated using a special coordinate system for tabulated BRDF.

Vasogenic edema plays an important etiologic role in the pathogenesis of cerebral venous circulation disturbances (CVCDs). Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major mediator in angiogenesis and vascular permeability, including induction of vasogenic edema, the present study was undertaken to investigate whether it has any relevance to CVCDs. Male Wistar rats (n = 15) were used. Two adjacent cortical veins were occluded photochemically using rose bengal dye and fiberoptic illumination, with evaluation 24 hours thereafter by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Each brain was removed from the skull immediately after MRI and processed for hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE staining) of sections for histopathology and comparison with MRI data. VEGF expression as demonstrated immunohistochemically appeared to coincide with vasogenic edema, diagnosed as high intensity areas on apparent diffusion coefficient of water (ADCw) maps. On the basis of these data, we conclude that VEGF is related to formation of vasogenic edema in the acute stage of CVCD.

A varactor tuned oscillator with an external SAW resonator and integrated frequency doubler is developed on a low cost 0.8 /spl mu/m SiGe BiCMOS technology for a DSRC application. The measured phase noise is -95.5 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset on a single-ended 50 /spl Omega/ load. A PMOS accumulation-mode varactor is used for the fine tuning of the oscillation frequency within a tuning range of 800 kHz. Furthermore a 2/sup nd/ not tunable oscillator is fabricated with an improved phase noise of -105.65 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset. Frequency doubling is achieved by using two unbalanced emitter coupled pairs with a fundamental frequency rejection of better than 20 dBc.

The effects of the SDF1-3'A on AIDS progression have been attributed to the altered amount of stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1). However, the contribution of the SDF1-G801A polymorphism to SDF-1 expression is still unclear. In contrast to fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) express the SDF-1 mRNA. Using EBV-transformed LCLs from 42 individuals with different genotypes, we investigated the SDF-1 mRNA levels and methylation status in the SDF1 gene. Both in PBMCs and in EBV-transformed LCLs, CpG dinucleotides in the 5' region of the SDF1 gene were unmethylated. As for the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR), by contrast, CpG dinucleotides were methylated in PBMCs, whereas site-specific demethylation around the polymorphic site was detected in EBV-transformed LCLs. The levels of the demethylation were correlated with the SDF-1 mRNA levels. However, the genotype for the SDF1-G801A polymorphism did not significantly alter the SDF-1 mRNA levels. The allele preferences in transcription and methylation were also absent in the heterozygous cells. In conclusion, this study suggested a contribution of site-specific demethylation in the 3'UTR to the SDF1 gene expression, but did not show any evidence for the contribution of the SDF1-G801A polymorphism to the amount of the SDF-1 mRNA.

In this paper, we evaluate by computer simulations the signal energy per information bit (E/sub b//N/sub 0/) for rate compatible punctured turbo (RCPT) coded hybrid ARQ for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) with antenna diversity reception and Rake combining in a frequency selective Rayleigh fading channel when the number of allowable retransmissions is limited. When the number of allowable retransmissions is unlimited, transmitting the minimum amount of redundancy bits with each retransmission would result in the highest throughput as unnecessary redundancy is avoided. However in a practical system, the number of retransmissions allowed is limited to avoid unacceptable time delay before the successful transmission of a packet. When the number of retransmissions is limited, residual bit error is produced. In this paper, we consider different RCPT hybrid ARQ schemes with limited number of retransmissions. It is found that the type II hybrid ARQ scheme is the most favorable in terms of required E/sub b//N/sub 0/ for a given bit error rate (BER), while the type I hybrid ARQ scheme is the most favorable for delay sensitive systems. For the type II hybrid ARQ schemes, the minimum required E/sub b//N/sub 0/ is attained after all the parity bits are transmitted and hence depends on the puncturing period.

A system that calculates the particle size and fluid area from a blast furnace burden surface image is developed. Off-line test results of the calculation algorithms show that a spatial frequency calculation using the power spectrum of the image is sufficient for the particle size measurement. In addition, a spatial differential of maximum intensity of the sequential image is suitable for fluid area measurement. The system is installed and operating. >

Rapid progress has been made in short wavelength (blue or ultra-violet) semiconductor lasers in recent years. Group II-VI compound semiconductors have been receiving particular attention because of their wide bandgap. Superlattices allow optical and electrical characteristics to be freely set due to the quantum effect, so they are often utilized in the active layer of high performance LD's. ZnS is one of the wide bandgap materials among the II-VI compounds (3.6 eV at R.T.) and the ZnS/ZnSe strained layer superlattice (SLS) has a large band discontinuity so that effective light and carrier confinement are expected. This work fabricates ZnS/ZnSe SLSs on ZnSe buffer layer using GaAs

The purpose of this study is to estimate the elastic- and viscous-like properties of the human upper arm using the pushing method. Healthy male subjects put their upper arms horizontally on a table. Their arms were fixed to the table with tapes. An indenter was placed 1-2 mm over the upper arm. When the indenter was moved vertically with a robot arm, the displacement y of the indenter and the force f was measured. The relationship between the displacement y and the force f was modeled with an elastic component, a viscous component and the friction of the indenter using the simplex method. In the authors' model, an elastic coefficient k and a viscous coefficient d are expressed with a polynomials of the indentation depth x. The elastic coefficient and the viscous coefficient were well modeled with the third and the first order polynomials of the depth, respectively. The relationship between the elastic coefficient and the depth were independent of the indentation velocity. However, the viscous coefficient decreased with increasing indentation velocity.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been linked to extrahepatic manifestations such as oral lichen planus (OLP). In addition, anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and cryoglobulin have been demonstrated in chronic hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to investigate these prevalences in patients with HCV-associated OLP. The prospective study investigated the role of these factors in 133 subjects: 28 with OLP-HCV(+) (group 1), 22 with OLP-HCV(-) (group 2), 33 without OLP-HCV(+) (group 3), and 50 healthy volunteers matched for age and sex served as control group (group 4). Levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM aCL antibodies, and cryoglobulin in serum were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The prevalence of aCL in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 32.1, 18, 36.3, and 8%, respectively. The positive rate of aCL was significantly higher in groups 1 and 3 than that in the control group (group 1; p=0.02 vs. the control group, group 3; p

In vitro Metabolism of 2,4,5,2',3',4'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB138) was studied using liver microsomes from rats, hamsters and guinea pigs. Guinea pig liver microsomes formed four metabolites named as M-1, M-2, M-3 and M-4 and these metabolites were all increased to about 4-5 fold of untreated microsomes by pretreatment of phenobarbital. Liver microsomes of rats and hamsters showed much less activity to metabolize CB138 than those of guinea pigs. Only phenobarbital-treated microsomes produced very small amounts of M-3 in rats and M-1, M-2 and M-3 in hamsters, but untreated and MC-treated microsomes did not. When mass spectra of the methylated derivatives of M-1, M-2, M-3 and M-4 were measured in GC/MS, the former two possess the molecular ion of 354 and the latter two had the molecular ion of 388. In addition, the mass fragmentation pattern indicated that M-1, M-2, M-3 and M-4 are 2-OH-4,5,2',3',4'-pentachlorobiphenyl, 5-OH-2,4,2',3',4'-pentachlorobiphenyl, 3-OH-CB138 and 2-OH-3,4,5,2',3',4'-hexachlorobiphenyl, respectively. Of four metabolites, the chemical structures of M-3 and M-4 were supported by the synthesized authentic compounds. From these results, it is suggested that the metabolism of CB138 in guinea pig liver proceeds mainly via 2,3-epoxide as an intermediate and a PB-inducible P450, CYP2B18, is the most important isozyme in CB138 metabolism.

The present study was performed to characterize the disposition and alpha(1)-adrenoceptor binding of JTH-601, a novel alpha(1L)-adrenoceptor antagonist, and its metabolites (beta-D-glucopyranosyl uronic acid, JTH-601-G1; hydrogen sulfate, JTH-601-S1) in the rat prostate and other tissues. JTH-601, JTH-601-G1, and JTH-601-S1 inhibited competitively specific [(3)H]tamsulosin binding in the prostate, submaxillary gland, and spleen of rats in vitro, and the inhibitory effect of JTH-601 was 2. 5 to 6.4 times more potent than that of its metabolites. JTH-601 and its metabolites inhibited dose dependently in vivo specific [(3)H]tamsulosin binding in the particulate fraction of the prostate, aorta, submaxillary gland, and spleen of rats. Compared with that of JTH-601, the in vivo inhibitory effect of JTH-601-G1 was 1.9 to 2. 9 times more potent, and the effect of JTH-601-S1 was 1.3 to 3.2 times less potent. Based on the ratios of ID(50) values, JTH-601 and JTH-601-G1 appeared to be 4.0 to 6.9 times more selective than prazosin as far as the alpha(1)-adrenoceptors in the prostate and submaxillary gland versus the spleen or aorta were concerned. The total radioactivity in rat tissues after i.v. injection of [(3)H]JTH-601-G1 was considerably lower than that of [(3)H]JTH-601. The plasma concentration of [(3)H]JTH-601-G1 at 10 min after i.v. injection in rats was 3 times higher than that of [(3)H]JTH-601, and conversely, the concentration in the prostate was 3 times lower. Although in vivo [(3)H]JTH-601-G1 binding at 10 min was significantly lower than that of [(3)H]JTH-601 in most rat tissues, there was comparable binding between these radioligands in the prostate and vas deferens. Specific binding of [(3)H]JTH-601, at 60 min after i.v. injection compared with that at 10 min, was considerably reduced in rat tissues except the prostate and vas deferens, both of which showed relatively sustained binding. In conclusion, the present study has shown that JTH-601 and its metabolites bind to alpha(1)-adrenoceptors in rat tissues in vivo and that JTH-601-G1 retains the prostatic alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtype selectivity of its parent compound.