Fully methylated oriC with negative superhelicity forms an oriC-membrane complex before initiation of chromosome replication

In an in vitro assay, the oriC DNA has been shown to bind to the outer membrane fraction only when it is hemimethylated (G.B. Ogden et al., Cell, 54, 127-135,1988). In this report, however, we demonstrated that a significant amount of the oriC DNA was recovered from the cells just before initiation with the oriC DNA being fully methylated. Formation of this preinitiation oriC-membrane complex and following initiation of chromosome replication were strongly inhibited by novobiocin, a DNA gyrase B subunit inhibitor, which reduced the superhelicity of the reporter plasmid in the cells. On the other hand, both reactions proceeded in the presence of nalidixic acid, a DNA gyrase A subunit inhibitor, which did not have the effect of reducing the superhelicity. These results suggest that the negative superhelicity of the DNA is required for preinitiation oriC-membrane complex formation and following initiation event of replication.     

Time-space method for multidimensional melting and freezing problems

In this paper, the time–space method (TSM) for multidimensional melting and solidification problems is proposed. In the proposed TSM, the timewise co-ordinate is incorporated into one of the spatial co-ordinates, thereby transforming the usual transient 2-D (or 3-D) problems into steady 3D (or 4-D) boundary-value problems. Since time integration is not necessary, the TSM has a feature that eliminates the so-called numerical instability which has been a great concern in the principal numerical methodologies in the past. That is, no error propagation in the timewise direction occurs in the TSM calculation. The TSM is applicable to almost all transient heat transfer and flow problems. The computer running time will be reduced to only 1/100th–1/1000th of the existing schemes for 2-D or 3-D problems. The sample calculations are presented for a 2-D melting problem in a square cavity and the validity of the present method is examined.     

Systematic analysis of neutron yields from thick targets bombarded by heavy ions and protons with moving source model

A simple phenomenological analysis using the moving source model has been performed on the neutron energy spectra produced by bombarding thick targets with high energy heavy ions which have been systematically measured at the Heavy-Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC) facility (located in Chiba, Japan) of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS). For the bombardment of both heavy ions and protons in the energy region of 100–500 MeV per nucleon, the moving source model incorporating the knock-on process could be generally successful in reproducing the measured neutron spectra within a factor of two margin of accuracy. This phenomenological analytical equation is expressed having several parameters as functions of atomic number Z_p, mass number A_p, energy per nucleon E_p for projectile, and atomic number Z_T, mass number A_T for target. By inputting these basic data for projectile and target into this equation we can easily estimate the secondary neutron energy spectra at an emission angle of 0–90° for bombardment with heavy ions and protons in the aforementioned energy region. This method will be quite useful to estimate the neutron source term in the neutron shielding design of high energy proton and heavy ion accelerators.     

A 220-MHz pipelined 16-Mb BiCMOS SRAM with PLL proportionalself-timing generator

This 512 Kw×8 b×3 way synchronous BiCMOS SRAM uses a 2-stage wave-pipeline scheme, a PLL self-timing generator and a 0.4-μm BiCMOS process to achieve 220 MHz fully-random read/write operations with a GTL I/O interface. Newly developed circuit technologies include: 1) a zig-zag double word-line scheme, 2) a centered bit-line load layout scheme, and 3) a phase-locked-loop (PLL) with a multistage-tapped ring oscillator which generates a clock cycle proportional pulse (CCPP) and a clock edge lookahead pulse (CELP)     

Metallized ultra-shallow-junction device technology for sub-0.1μm gate MOSFET's

This paper describes a new ultra-thin SOI-CMOS structure offering reduced parasitic diffusion-layer resistance. It addresses ways to deal with the ultra-shallow junctions required by sub-0.1 μm MOSFET's. Based on a CVD tungsten process we experimentally investigate the characteristics of selectively grown tungsten used in the source and drain region made in SOI layers of various thicknesses ranging from 10 to 100 nm. We also investigate certain CMOS device characteristics. The SOI-CMOS structure, with low parasitic diffusion-layer resistance and good contact characteristics for ultra-shallow junction devices exhibits superior device performance and high scalability     

Surface Hardening of Carbon Steel Using High Powered YAG Laser

A high powered YAG laser with kaleidoscope for surface modification was applied to the surface hardening of carbon steels containing 0. 18-0.54 wt% C without the absorbents, and the relationships between laser processing and surface hardening were investigated by hardness and microstructure. The structure of the hardened zone underwent complete martensitic transformation in all of the carbon steels tested, and its hardness increased with greater carbon content. Under identical irradiated conditions, the hardened zone expanded with increasing carbon content. A hardened zone extending from the surface to a depth of 1.0 mm was obtained at a laser power of 1.0 kW and a scanning speed of 1 mm/sec. It was found that in the surface hardening of carbon steels, a high powered YAG laser can be used to control the hardened zone by selecting the appropriate irradiation conditions, however, the hardened zone was affected by the assistant gas and the flow rate.     

Analysis of T-cell receptor beta of the T-cell clones reactive to the human PDC-E2 163-176 peptide in the context of HLA-DR53 in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis

T-cell-mediated autoimmune mechanisms are considered to be involved in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). In the previous study, we identified the immunodominant T-cell epitope on the E2 component of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC-E2) in patients with PBC who have HLA-DRB4*0101. In this report, we revealed that the frequency of the T cells reactive to the human PDC-E2 163-176 peptide is significantly increased in the peripheral blood of patients with PBC as compared with healthy subjects. We also confirmed that these T cells were all restricted with HLA-DRB4*01 (DR53) by using HLA-DR-transfected L cells. These results together with the evidence that the immunodominant B-cell epitope overlaps with the human T-cell epitope of the PDC-E2 antigen indicate that the T cells reactive to this epitope are closely associated with the pathogenesis of PBC at least in patients who have HLA-DR53. Therefore, we analyzed the T-cell receptor (TCR) Vbeta sequence of the five different T-cell clones and the three T-cell clones derived from three patients with PBC and healthy subjects, respectively, which are reactive to the human PDC-E2 163-176 peptide in the context of HLA-DR53. The Vbeta- and the Jbeta-gene usages were diverse among the T-cell clones (Vbeta11-Jbeta1.4, Vbeta8-Jbeta1.2, Vbeta12-Jbeta2.1, Vbeta10-Jbeta1.5, and Vbeta20-Jbeta2.1) in patients with PBC. By contrast, in the third complementarity determining region (CDR3), G was frequently found and GXG or GXS motif was identified in all T-cell clones. Moreover, RGXG motif was found in three clones generated from two patients. In healthy subjects, the Vbeta- and the Jbeta-gene usages were also diverse, and GXG and RGXG motif were found. These results indicate that the T cells may recognize the ligand (the human PDC-E2 163-176 peptide/HLA-DR53 complex) using the limited motif in the CDR3 region and that the design of CDR3-specific immunotherapy would be possible using these motifs.     

ESD phenomena in GMR heads in the manufacturing process of HDD and GMR heads

It is well known that giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads used for hard disk drives (HDD) are very sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD). In this paper, we describe a method of categorizing ESD damage modes from a standpoint of magnetic influences on the heads as observed by quasi-static test (QST) characteristics as well as electromagnetic characteristics like off-track profiles. In addition, we report an example of GMR stack interlayer diffusion which is one type of hard ESD damage. We also present an example of ESD damage that happened in an actual production process and its preventive measures as guidelines.