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Fluorine is a unique atom that imparts distinct properties to bioactive molecules upon incorporation. Herein, we prepare and study fluorinated derivatives of the nanomolar affine peripherally restricted dual CB1R/CB2R agonist; CRA13 and its analogs. Binding affinity evaluation relative to CRA13 proved the stronger binding affinity of compound 7c to CB1R and CB2R by 6.95 and 5.64 folds. Physicochemical properties evaluation proved compound 7c improved lipophilicity profile suggesting some enhanced BBB penetration relative to CRA13. Radiosynthesis of 18F-labeled compound 7c was conducted conveniently affording pure hot ligand. In vivo PET study investigation demonstrated efficient distribution of 18F-labeled compound 7c in peripheral tissues visualizing peripheral CB1R/CB2R generating time-activity-curves showing good standard uptake values. Despite enhanced BBB penetration and increased cannabinoid receptors binding affinity, low brain uptake of 7c was observed. In silico docking study explained the measured binding affinities of compounds 7a-d to CB1R. While most of previous efforts aimed to develop central cannabinoid PET imaging agents, 18F-labeled compound 7c might be a promising agent serving as a universal CB1R/CB2R PET imaging agents for diagnosis and therapy of various diseases correlated with peripheral cannabinoid system. It might also serve as a lead compound for development of PET imaging of peripheral and central cannabinoid systems.

IntroductionChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells have been developed recently, producing impressive outcomes in patients with hematologic malignancies. However, there is no standardized method for cell trafficking and in vivo CAR T-cell monitoring. We assessed the feasibility of real-time in vivo89Zr-p-Isothiocyanatobenzyl-desferrioxamine (Df-Bz-NCS, DFO) labeled CAR T-cell trafficking using positron emission tomography (PET).ResultsThe 89Zr-DFO radiolabeling efficiency of Jurkat/CAR and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMC)/CAR T-cells was 70–79%, and cell radiolabeling activity was 98.1–103.6 kBq/106 cells. Cell viability after radiolabeling was >95%. Compared with unlabeled cells, cell proliferation was not significantly different during the early period after injection; however, the proliferative capacity decreased over time (p = 0.02, day 7 after labeling). IL-2 or IFN-γ secretion was not significantly different between unlabeled and labeled CAR T-cells. PET/magnetic resonance images in the xenograft model showed that most of the 89Zr-DFO-labeled Jurkat/CAR T-cells were distributed in the lung (24.4% ± 3.4%ID) and liver (22.9% ± 5.6%ID) by 1 hour after injection. The cells gradually migrated from lung to the liver and spleen by day 1, and remained stably until day 7 (on day 7: lung 3.9% ± 0.3%ID, liver 36.4% ± 2.7%ID, spleen 1.4% ± 0.3%ID). No significant accumulation of labeled cells was identified in tumors. A similar pattern was observed in ex vivo biodistributions on day 7 (lung 3.0% ± 1.0%ID, liver 19.8% ± 2.2%ID, spleen 2.3% ± 1.7%ID). 89Zr-DFO-labeled hPBMC/CAR T-cells showed the similar distribution on serial PET images as Jurkat/CAR T-cells. The distribution of CAR T-cells was cross-confirmed by flow cytometry, Alu polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry.ConclusionUsing PET imaging of 89Zr-DFO-labeled CAR T-cells, real time in vivo cell trafficking is feasible. It can be used to investigate cellular kinetics, initial in vivo biodistribution, and the safety profile in future CAR T-cell development.

The cell proliferation process of aerial lateral organs, such as leaves and flowers, is coordinated by complex genetic networks that, in general, converge on the cell cycle. The Arabidopsis thaliana NGATHA (AtNGA) family comprises four members that belong to the B3-type transcription factor superfamily, and has been suggested to be involved in growth and development of aerial lateral organs, although its role in the cell proliferation and expansion processes remains to be resolved in more detail. In order to clarify the role of AtNGAs in lateral organ growth, we took a systematic approach using both the loss- and gain-of-functional mutants of all four members. Our results showed that overexpressors of AtNGA1 to AtNGA4 developed small, narrow lateral organs, whereas the nga1 nga2 nga3 nga4 quadruple mutant produced large, wide lateral organs. We found that cell numbers of the lateral organs were significantly affected: a decrease in overexpressors and, inversely, an increase in the quadruple mutant. Kinematic analyses on leaf growth revealed that, compared with the wild type, the overexpressors displayed a lower activity of cell proliferation and yet the mutant a higher activity. Changes in expression of cell cycle-regulating genes were well in accordance with the cell proliferation activities, establishing that the AtNGA transcription factors act as bona fide negative regulators of the cell proliferation of aerial lateral organs.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) loss as measured by (18)F-fluorinated-N-3-fluoropropyl-2-b-carboxymethoxy-3-b-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane ([(18)F]FP-CIT) PET differs according to the metabolic subtype of multiple system atrophy (MSA) as assessed by [(18)F]FDG PET.This retrospective study included 50 patients with clinically diagnosed MSA who underwent [(18)F]FP-CIT and [(18)F]FDG brain PET scans. The PET images were analysed using 12 striatal subregional volume-of-interest templates (bilateral ventral striatum, anterior caudate, posterior caudate, anterior putamen, posterior putamen, and ventral putamen). The patients were classified into three metabolic subtypes according to the [(18)F]FDG PET findings: MSA-Pm (striatal hypometabolism only), MSA-mixedm (both striatal and cerebellar hypometabolism), and MSA-Cm (cerebellar hypometabolism only). The subregional glucose metabolic ratio (MRgluc), subregional DAT binding ratio (BRDAT), and intersubregional ratio (ISRDAT; defined as the BRDAT ratio of one striatal subregion to that of another striatal subregion) were compared according to metabolic subtype.Of the 50 patients, 13 presented with MSA-Pm, 16 presented with MSA-mixedm, and 21 presented with MSA-Cm. The BRDAT of all striatal subregions in the MSA-Pm and MSA-mixedm groups were significantly lower than those in the MSA-Cm group. The posterior putamen/anterior putamen ISRDAT and anterior putamen/ventral striatum ISRDAT in the MSA-Pm and MSA-mixedm groups were significantly lower than those in the MSA-Cm group.Patients with MSA-Pm and MSA-mixedm showed more severe DAT loss in the striatum than patients with MSA-Cm. Patients with MSA-Cm had more diffuse DAT loss than patients with MSA-Pm and MSA-mixedm.

Background Although acne scar is a permanent sequela that may be induced by improper management of active acne lesion, patient behavior patterns and awareness regarding acne are unclear. The aim of this study was to identify awareness and behavioral patterns concerning acne and acne scar of people having acne and differences between those with and without acne scars. Methods The survey was performed via smartphone application for 900 participants in their second to fourth decade having current or previous acne lesions. They were further categorized into two groups based on the presence of acne scar (scar and scarless groups) with no statistical difference in demographic composition. Results The mean age of all participants was 24.6 ± 5.3. The scar group had a longer disease duration (4.9 years) than those of the scarless group (2.2 years). Participants in the scar group thought that acne scarring affected psychosocial aspects more negatively compared with those in the scarless group. Participants in the scarless group visited dermatology clinics earlier than those in the scar group. In the scar group, 62.1% of participants have never had their acne scars treated medically. Most (88.6%) participants from both groups believed that non-dermatologic treatment caused side effects or aggravated their acne. Conclusions Participants with acne scars tended to treat their acne and acne scars improperly, which could negatively affect their daily lives. Acne scars are sequelae of acne and should be regarded as a distinct disease entity, requiring a patient's early visit to dermatologic clinics.

While cells attach, spread, migrate, proliferate, and differentiate in three-dimensional (3D) micromechanical environments, the mechanical factors of these environments influence the shapes, sizes, and adhesion forces of the cells. Here, the authors culture human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) on a unique class of curvature-defined substrates, micro glass ball embedded polyacrylamide gels, prepared with an improved protocol, and investigate the spreading responses of the hMSCs on the glass balls to study the effects of substrate curvature on the spreading of hMSCs. The authors find that, among the used diameters of glass balls, the minimum diameter of a glass ball on which an hMSC can attach and spread is 500 μm. In contrast to the well-spread morphologies with randomly-multiple lamellipodia for the hMSCs growing on the flat glass plates, the morphologies of the hMSCs growing on the glass balls are almost uniformly spindle-shaped with two lamellipodia. The sensitivities of the attachment and spreading morphology of an hMSC to substrate curvature are very different from those of a fibroblast. The RT-PCR analysis reveals that the substrate curvature alone can induce adipogenesis of the hMSCs. These findings imply that substrate curvature has profound effects on stem cell behaviors, and detailed and in-depth studies on these effects and their underlying biophysical mechanisms are necessary.

Seoul in South Korea is once again a maritime port. The Korean War effectively severed the city's connection with the Yellow Sea in 1953 when the Han River estuary became part of the military demarcation line between North and South Korea. However, through some inspired planning and innovative engineering, a recently built flood-diversion channel has just been converted into an 18 km navigable shipping route from Incheon on the coast to the heart of the capital – complete with significant port and warehousing facilities at each end. This paper describes the evolution of Gyeong-in Waterway from a minor drainage channel to a major multi-purpose waterway.

The design method for a standing-wave series slot array antenna with 45°-inclined linear polarization in the Ka-band is presented. The proposed 16 × 8 planar slot array antenna consisted of arrays with alternating reactance slot pairs that could achieve impedance matching and uniform field ex- citation, simultaneously. Furthermore, the grating lobes were effectively suppressed with the help of these radiating units due to the one-half guided wavelength slot spacing. An equivalent circuit analysis was done to evaluate the input impedances of the radiating and feeding lines with the impedance recursive formulas as well as the mode voltages of the radiating slot elements. In addition, a wideband transition with a 30.13% bandwidth under the criteria of less than VSWR 1.5:1 was presented to provide the necessary power with the minimal reflection and to prevent the distortion of the radiation patterns. The proposed planar slot array antenna occupied an aperture area of 57.4× 51.6 mm. The measured bandwidth, gain, and efficiency were 990 MHz (2.88%), 24.3 dBi, and 53.7%, respectively. Furthermore, the side lobe levels (SLLs) were verified for each cutting plane with -13.57 dB and -13.17 dB, respectively. The proposed antenna structure was achieved with a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) with the low costs and lightweight features.

A Lightly Doped Drain (LDD) structure is known to be very effective in preventing hot electrons in modern NMOS transistors. In this work, the lightly doped region was formed in poly TFT by using a separate LDD mask aligned to a gate mask. The misalignment can be calculated to be about 1.5 microm, and depending on the location of the V(d) application between the source and drain, an LDD or Lightly Doped Source (LDS) structure can be realized on the same TFT. In this way, we can make a perfect comparison between these two structures. It turned out that the LDD is mainly responsible for the low leakage current, and no more than 0.5 microm of the lightly doped region is necessary to lower the leakage current down to less than 5 x 10(-11) amps at V(d) = 10 volts. Typically, the on-current of MILC TFT is more than 10(-4) amps, but 2.5 microm LDS decreases it to below 10(-7) amps.

A p-type polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) was fabricated using the metal-induced lateral crystallization (MILC) technique at 550 degrees C. To reduce the leakage current in the MILC TFT, electrical stress (ES), newly developed in this work, was applied prior to the I(D)-V(G) measurements. It was found that ES is effective only when the TFT is under off-state. The stress gate voltage is related to the leakage current at high gate voltages and the electric field between the source and the drain to the leakage current at low gate voltages. The leakage current of the MILC TFT could be lowered to 10(-11) A for width/length ratios of 1/2 measured at the drain voltage of 3 V. A new plausible model has been suggested to explain the ES effect on the leakage current behavior in low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFTs.

A high-isolation Ka-band WR-28 waveguide power combiner is designed and implemented using a resistive septum. The waveguide power combiner developed here is an E-plane T-junction type with a TaN resistive septum inserted in a slit of waveguide junction. The fabricated waveguide power combiner shows a return loss better than -20 dB and an insertion loss less than 0.1 dB. Also the measurement shows isolation levels of 20 dB or more almost all over the band and in particular 25 dB or more below 37 GHz. The amplitude and phase imbalance are measured to be less than 0.1 dB and , respectively.

In this paper, a Ka-band 8 W power amplifier module with WR-28 waveguide input and output ports is implemented and measured using four 2 W power amplifier modules and 4:1 waveguide power combiners with high isolation of 25 dB at 35 GHz. The 2 W power amplifier modules are fabricated using waveguide-to-microstrip transitions and show output power of 32.5~33.3 dBm and power gain of 26.9~28.7 dB at 35 GHz. Four 2 W power amplifier modules are combined through 4:1 waveguide power combiners with resistive septum and the combined power shows 39.0 dBm(8 W) under 6 V drain bias and 39.6 dBm(9.1 W) under 6.5 V drain bias at 35 GHz.

Ka-band low noise amplifier (LNA) module with wide dynamic range is presented using 0.15-μm pseudo-morphic high electron mobility transistors for radar applications.Two of attenuator-combined low-gain LNA microwave monolithic integrated circuits are cascaded to increase the gain without degrading input power handling capability. There exist two operating modes depending on the level of input power, that is, low power and high power modes. The measurement shows a high gain of 21.9 dB and low noise figure of 2.7 dB at 35 GHz in low power mode at which two attenuators are off. At high input power, the attenuators are turned on to handle high power, and the module presents an attenuation of 6.4 dB with a high input 1-dB gain compression point (P1dB,in) of 6.5 dBm. The module shows good input and output return losses better than 9.1 dB in both modes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:1031–1035, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26675

In this paper, two kinds of E-plane microstrip-to-waveguide transitions are optimally designed and fabricated for combining output power from multiple small-power amplifiers in a WR-28 waveguide because conventional K connectors cause unnecessary insertion loss and adaptor loss. The transition design is based on target specifications such as a center frequency of 35 GHz, bandwidth of , 0.1 dB insertion loss and 20 dB return loss. Performance variation caused by mechanical tolerance and assembly deviation is fully evaluated by three dimensional electromagnetic simulation. The fabricated back-to-back transitions with 16 mm and 26.57 mm interstage microstrip lines show insertion loss per transition of ~0.1 dB at 35 GHz and average 0.2 dB over full Ka band. Also the back-to-back transition shows return loss greater than 15 dB, which implies that the transition itself has return loss better than 20 dB.

In this study, a low temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistor (TFT) was fabricated by self-aligned silicide seed induced lateral crystallization (SA-SILC). In comparison with a self-aligned metal induced lateral crystallization (SA-MILC) TFT, the SA-SILC TFT showed better electrical properties. In particular, the leakage current was decreased by SA-SILC at high drain voltages. It was found that the Ni rich phase between the channel and drain junction region acted as trapping sites to generate leakage current by thermionic field emission. After applying the SA-SILC process, the p-channel polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) TFT exhibited a mobility of 67 cm 2/V·s, a minimum leakage current of 2.6 × 10−11 A at V D = −5 V, a subthreshold slope of 0.8 V/dec, and a maximum on/off ratio of 7.0 × 10 6, together resulting in a high-performance device that surpasses the conventional SA-MILC poly-Si TFT.

The crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) film and the electrical activation of dopants have been systematically studied. The crystallization of a-Si was realized by depositing an a-Si film of 800 A thickness on a glass substrate using a Ni phase transformation catalyst, followed by annealing at 550 °C. Electrical activation and crystallization were accomplished at the same time and the effect has been compared with the normal process. Resistance changes with respect to the doses in three different crystalline structures, amorphous, poly and single crystalline silicon, have been compared to find the optimum saturation dose and annealing temperature. The grain boundary effect on the resistance at different doses was intensively studied in this work. The minimum resistance of 224 Ω/□ in a boron-doped poly-silicon thin film was obtained by annealing in a furnace at 550 °C, and 177 Ω/□ was obtained in boron-doped amorphous silicon thin film annealed by RTA for 1 min.

In this paper, the design and fabrication of a transmit/receive(T/R) module for Ka-band phased array radar is presented. A 5bit digital phase shifter and digital attenuator were used in common for both transmitter and receiver considering unique Ka-band characteristic. The circulator was excluded in the T/R module and was placed outside T/R module. The transmitting power per element antenna is designed to be about 1 W and the noise figure is designed to be below 8 dB. The designed T/R module RF part has a compact size of . In order to implement the T/R module, MMICs used in T/R module was separately assessed before assembly of the designed T/R module. The transmitter of the fabricated T/R module shows about 1 W at 5 dBm unit module input power and the receiver shows a gain of about 20 dB and a noise figure of below 8 dB as expected in the design stage.

The phase transformation in steels has been widely measured by dilatometer using the lever rule. However, the concept of lever rule is no longer applied in case of multi-phase present. Furthermore, it is quite difficult to differentiate a low temperature phase from the others due to the small fraction change (10-3 - 10-4 fraction of original length) and the plastic deformation during transformation. The overlapping of first derivatives of LVDT of several continuous cooling dilatations could be better way to identify and to analyze low temperature phases. In addition, the length change is simulated by considering the lattice parameter changes due to the temperature, composition and phase as well as decomposition kinetics of austenite in order to verify the method suggested. By comparing the simulated length change with the measured, the first derivative of dilatation interfered could be separated for each phase. As a result, the start, finish and peak temperature and the amount of each phase are determined. The method is also confirmed by OM and SEM.

In this paper, in order to improve a service quality and to broaden the service coverage in the mobile communication system a study on a digital RF repeater employed with an Interference Cancellation System(ICS) is performed. The digital RF repeater employed with an ICS is implemented to remove interference and feedback signals which are disadvantages of a conventional(or general) RF repeater. This thesis presents the design and experiments of the new wireless repeater. The proposed wireless repeater consists of a RF repeater mounted with digital engine. The digital ICS engine consists of a DSP and FPGA. The digital engine and RF circuit are designed into a one-piece. After developing hardware through the digital platform they are also designed and fabricated into a one-piece in order to apply a best performance repeater system. The method of removing interference and feedback signals is an adaptive IF technique employed with a LMS algorithm. The powerful performance and fast convergence speed is obtained by using this method.

We investigated the binding nature of the 1,2,3-alternate calix[6]arene with one piperidine, two piperidines, and two triethyl amines with a special emphasis on the hydrogen bonding networks by density functional theory calculations. The 1,2,3-alternate calix[6]arene strongly binds with piperidines and triethylamines at two different binding sites, exo and endo sites. In the two binding sites, the hydrogen bonding nature shows a characteristic difference. In the exo site, there formed only one hydrogen bond, while in the endo site, two hydrogen bonds except for the triethylamine. The proton transfer within the hydrogen bonding and the hydrogen bonding types, normal hydrogen bonding (NHB), short strong hydrogen bond (SSHB), and low barrier hydrogen bonding (LBHB), will be discussed in detail.

The variations in geometry structure, IR spectra, as well as the molecular orbitals upon anion recognition for polyamide cryptand are explored with the hybrid density functional theory. The cavity generated by six amide NH groups shrinks upon F − recognition because of the strong hydrogen bonds between the amide protons and F − , while the cavity expands upon Cl − binding because of the strong electron repulsion between the p electron of Cl − and the lone pair electrons of the nitrogen atom of the pyridine moieties. The “electropositive field space” …Cl − coupling exists when Cl − is recognized. The strong anion binding energy with F − indicates that the polyamide cryptand prefers F − to Cl − .

Mechanical behavior of small size materials has been explored due to many industry applications such as MEMs and semiconductors. The accurate measurements for mechanical properties of thin films are very challenge due to several technical difficulties. The proposed solution is the Visual Image Tracing (VIT) strain measurement system coupled with a micro tensile testing unit, which consists of a piezoelectric actuator, load cell, microscope and CCD cameras. This system has shown advantages of real time strain monitoring during the test and ability to measure the Young’s modulus, yiled strength and Poisson’s ratio of the material. Free standing Au films 0.5, 1 and 2 μm thick with average grain sizes of 104, 148 and 219 nm prepared by sputtering were studied using VIT system. The yield stresses of the films are dependent on film thickness and grain size.

In the semiconductor inspection, number of pads at unit area is increasing and pad array have become irregular 2-dimensional. So we develop a bellows type micro contact probe. Our micro contact probe is a vertical-type micro contact probe for area arrays and narrow pitch electrode pads. We choose bellows type micro contact probe to prevent stress concentration. Our design targets are 120 um pad pitch, 20-50 um OD(over drive) and over 5 mN reaction force. In this research, micro contact probe is made by electroplating(Ni-Co). structural analysis is accomplished by FEM. And characterization of micro contact probe is done by our own mechanical tester. So material property is measured for structural analysis and structural analysis result will be compared with experimental result.

The benzene complexes with dimethyl sulfur (DMS) and fluorinated DMS (FDMS) have been investigated using ab initio calculations. The natural bond orbital (NBO) charge population on S atom varies remarkably for different conformations of DMS and FDMS, which determines the possible binding modes for their benzene complexes. The electronegative substituent at the methyl group of DMS causes a significant change in the molecular electrostatic potential around the sulfur atom and changes the interaction mode with aromatic ring. It was found that the sulfur ···π interaction mode does not occur in the DMS-benzene complex, while it does in the FDMS-benzene complex. Both B3LYP and MP2 methods provide reliable structures, while the interaction energy obtained by B3LYP is unreliable.

It is quite difficult to accurately measure the mechanical properties of thin films. Currently, there are several methods (or application) available for measuring mechanical properties of thin films. Their properties, however, have been determined by indirect methods such as cantilever beam test and diaphragm bulge test. This paper reports the efforts to develop a direct strain measurement system for micro/nano scale thin film materials. The proposed solution is the Visual Image Tracing (VIT) strain measurement system coupled with a micro tensile testing unit, which consists of a piezoelectric actuator, load cell, microscope and CCD cameras. The advantage of this system is the ability to monitor the real time images of specimen during the test in order to determine its Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio at the same time. Stress-strain curve, Young’s modulus, yield strength and Poisson’s ratio of copper thin film measured using VIT system are presented.

Korean Society for Bioinformatics was founded on November 27, 1998 with a mission to improve the competitiveness of South Korea through bioinformatics. More specific missions are to establish bioinformatics infrastructure in South Korea, advance bioinformatics research, contribute the advancement of bioindustry using bioinformatics, and develop basic and advanced bioinformatics education system. The founding president of the KSBI was Dr Moon-Hee Han, and the current president is Dr Kwang Hyung Lee. The KSBI carries out the following tasks: 1. Annual international conference in a series called BIOINFO 2. Many symposia on specific topics such as proteome informatics, DNA chip informatics, systems biology and biotechnology, microbial genomics, etc. 3. Publishing an official journal and bioinformatics books 4. Carrying out government and industry-funded research projects 5. Developing educational programs and international collaboration schemes 6. Supporting industries with bioinformatics 7. Offering educational bioinformatics courses

Molecular visualization software has the common objective of manipulation and interpretation of data from numerical simulations. They visualize many complicated molecular structures with personal computer and workstation, to help analyze a large quantity of data produced by various computational methods. However, users are often discouraged from using these tools for visualization and analysis due to the difficult and complicated user interface. In this regard, we have developed an easy-to-use three-dimensional molecular visualization and analysis program named POSMOL. This has been developed on the Microsoft Windows platform for the easy and convenient user environment, as a compact program which reads outputs from various computational chemistry software without editing or changing data. The program animates vibration modes which are needed for locating minima and transition states in computational chemistry, draws two and three dimensional (2D and 3D) views of molecular orbitals (including their atomic orbital components and these partial sums) together with molecular systems, measur es various geometrical parameters, and edits molecules and molecular structures.

Among various methods to achieve high strength in plain carbon steel, the method of grain refinement by controlling thermo-mechanical processing parameters has gained a great attention in steel rolling industries. In the present study, three different rolling pass schedules for thick plates are proposed to obtain fine and uniform grains through thickness, based on combined analyses of recrystallization modeling, finite element analysis and experiments. Since meta-dynamic and dynamic recrystallization have been found to be effective in producing fine grains, the reduction ratio and the interpass time were carefully considered in the proposed rolling pass schedules.

In the present study, hot forging process for a lower arm connector of an automobile was investigated. An FEM code, DEFORM-3D, was used to analyze the process and the process parameters, such as temperature, strain and strain rate, were obtained. The microstructure of the connector was predicted by applying the Sellars and Yada microstructure evolution models to the process parameters. The method of microstructure prediction used in the present study seems to be effective for the quality assurance of a forged automotive product.

A search for particle cold dark matter with CsIðTcÞ crystal is being prepared at the Cheong-Pyeong underground laboratory in Korea. The background spectra ofCsI ðTcÞ crystal detectors in a prototype shield were obtained. The lowest background count rate ofthe test sample ofcrystals is measured to be 64 :775:1 counts/keV/kg/day in the energy range of5–20 keV : Quantitative estimation ofresidual radioactive isotope in CsI ðTcÞ was made using the GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation. Analysis results show that CsIðTcÞ crystal could be a good candidate for direct detection of WIMPs when the contamination level ofcesium radioisotopes is reduced to under a f mBq/kg. r 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Ni was deposited on amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD), using MABON as a precursor. The amount of Ni deposited on a-Si was controlled by the deposition time. It has been found that nickel does not form a continuous film on top of a-Si thin film. Crystallization was carried out at 570 °C in hydrogen ambient. Partial crystallization occurs first and then the phase transformation spreads throughout the surface. 4 h is required for full crystallization, where the rate for Metal-Induced Lateral Crystallization (MILC) at this temperature is typically 20 um/hr. The electrical properties of such prepared poly Thin Film Transistors (TFTs) are quite acceptable for an active matrix. Raman spectrum analysis indicates that MABON Low Temperature Poly Silicon (LTPS) is suitable for a high efficiency solar cell because of its high crystalline quality.

Ginseng saponins exert various important pharmacological effects with regard to the control of many diseases including cancer. The novel intestinal bacterial metabolites of ginseng protopanaxadiol saponins have recently been found and isolated after the oral administration of ginseng extract in human and rats. 20-O-(beta-D-Glucopyranosyl)-20(S)-protopanaxadiol (IH-901) formed from ginsenosides Rb1, Rb2, and Rc is of particular interest in cancer chemoprevention and treatment. We investigated the effects of IH-901 on the human myeloid leukemia cell line HL-60 in terms of inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis. IH-901 showed a significant cytotoxic activity in HL-60 cells (IC(50) = 24. 3 microM) following a 96-hr incubation. Treatment of HL-60 cells with IH-901 resulted in the formation of internucleosomal DNA fragments. The dose- and time-dependent induction of apoptosis by IH-901 was demonstrated in sandwich enzyme immunoassay and the results were confirmed by flow cytometric analysis. Morphological examination of IH-901-treated samples showed cells with chromatin condensation, cell shrinkage, and nuclear fragmentation, all typical characteristics of apoptotic cells. The treatment of HL-60 cells with IH-901 caused activation of caspase-3 protease and subsequent proteolytic cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. IH-901 did not affect the expression of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 but did cause a release of mitochondrial cytochrome c into cytosol. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that IH-901 dramatically suppresses HL-60 cell growth by inducing programed cell death through activation of caspase-3 protease, which occurs via mitochondrial cytochrome c release independently of Bcl-2 modulation. These results may provide a pivotal mechanism for the use of IH-901 in the prevention and treatment of leukemia.

We have carried out a detailed investigation of the nature of the π-H interaction in the ethene–H2O, benzene–H2O, and benzene–(H2O)2 complexes using large basis sets (ranging from 6-31+G* to TZ2P++) and high levels of theory. The minimum geometries, and hence the vibrational frequencies, of all the complexes have been obtained at the second order Mo/ller–Plesset (MP2) level of theory. The binding energy of the ethene–H2O complex is only about 1 kcal/mol lower than that of the benzene–H2O complex. In the benzene–(H2O)2 complex, the interaction of benzene with the π-bonded water to that with the second water is nearly equivalent. In order to explain the above interesting facets of the interaction of water with benzene and ethene, the interaction energies were decomposed into the individual interaction energy components using the recently developed symmetry adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) program. The SAPT results indicate that the repulsive exchange energies play a crucial role in governing the energies ...

The in vitro antitumor activity of a novel ginseng saponin metabolite, 20-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-20(S)-protopanaxadiol (IH-901), was examined against four human cancer cell lines and one subline resistant to cisplatin (CDDP). The growth inhibitory activity of the compound was estimated by MTT tetrazolium assay. The mean concentrations of IH-901 needed to inhibit the proliferation of the cells by 50% (IC50) were 24.3, 25.9, 56.6 and 24.9 microM against human myeloid leukemia (HL-60), pulmonary adenocarcinoma (PC-14), gastric adenocarcinoma (MKN-45) and hepatoma (HepG2) cell lines, respectively. These values are higher than that of CDDP. In the CDDP-resistant PC/DDP cell line, the IC50 values of IH-901 and CDDP were 20.3 and 60.8 microM, respectively. These results suggest that IH-901 is not cross-resistant to CDDP in this cell line and could be a candidate for the treatment of CDDP resistant pulmonary cancer.

Quantum mechanical ab initio calculations at the MP2/6-311++G** level of theory have been used to predict the binding energies and geometries of benzene−BX3 and ethene−BX3 (X = H, F, Cl) complexes. Single point calculations at a much higher level of correlation (MP4) and larger basis sets (6-311++G(2df,p) + diffuse(d,p)) have also been carried out. The calculations reveal interesting trends in their binding energies and geometries. The binding energies indicate that all of them are weakly bound van der Waals complexes with the exception of the C2H4−BH3 complex. While complexes involving BF3 are the weakest (binding energies) in cases of both ethene and benzene, there is a reversal in the relative order of the binding energies as one moves from ethene to benzene. Thus C6H6−BCl3 is more tightly bound than C6H6−BH3. The geometry exhibited by the lowest energy conformer in cases of complexes involving benzene is different from those involving ethene. In contrast to most weak van der Waals interactions involvi...

High level ab initio calculations have been performed on the benzene-HCl and benzene-HF systems using the second-order Mo/ller-Plesset perturbation theory. In contrast to existing theoretical studies, the calculated binding energies indicate that HCl binds more strongly to benzene than HF. This is in accordance with the limited experimental data available on these systems. An explanation has been forwarded for the above observation by performing a molecular orbital analysis of both C6H6⋯HF and C6H6⋯HCl. In the global minimum of C6H6⋯HF, HF lies inclined to the benzene ring with the hydrogen atom pointing either towards a benzene carbon or the center of carbon-carbon bond. In the C6H6⋯HCl complex, HCl is found to lie along the C6 axis of the benzene ring for smaller basis sets, but it also tends to lie inclined to the benzene ring for a very large basis set. The quantum mechanical probabilistic characterization of the structure of the C6H6⋯HCl complex provides a more realistic description of the experiment...

The geometrical and electronic structures of partially hydrated electron systems, in particular, the water hexamer, which have been controversial for decades, have been clarified by an exhaustive search for possible low-lying energy structures. Several competing interaction forces governing the conformation have been examined for the first time. The low-lying energy structures are hybrid (or partially internal and partially surface) excess electron states. Our prediction is evidenced from excellent agreements with available experimental data. The vertical electron-detachment energies are mainly determined by the number of dangling H atoms $({\mathrm{H}}_{d})$.

Understanding the origin of the regioselectivity of inositol derivatives is essential to the synthetic design of these biologically important molecules. We have undertaken a study of the regioselectivities displayed by the myo-inositol derivatives toward electrophiles using various levels of quantum mechanical calculation: Hartree−Fock (HF) theory, Moller-Plesset second-order perturbation (MP2) theory, density functional theory (DFT), and self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) theory. Various basis sets were also tested. The systems investigated here are 1,2:4,5-di-O-methylidene-myo-inositol and its probable intermediates (deprotonated and sodium-chelated species). In experiments the O3 position was the major site for derivatization of the molecule. However, the MP2 and DFT results could not explain the experiments. Taking into account that the myo-inositol derivatives were highly insoluble with the exception of some polar solvents, we performed the SCRF calculations using the dielectric constant (e) of 4...