Fiber-optic devices for local area network application

Recent developments on fiber-optic devices are reviewed from the local area network (LAN) application viewpoint. Future technical trends are also discussed, along with current research activities. In local area network systems, low device cost and easy maintenance or maintenance-free devices are especially required. Light sources and photodetectors suitable for the systems are described. InGaAsP/InP light emitting diodes can cover a broad application field, up to a gigabits per second super high-speed network region. Optical passive devices, which include branching couplers, switches and connectors, are mentioned as essential components. Compact transmitter/receiver module technology is a key factor in realizing optical-fiber local area network systems. An example of 200-Mbit/s transmitter/receiver module is reported.     

Use of a YAP1 overexpression cassette conferring specific resistance to cerulenin and cycloheximide as an efficient selectable marker in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Drug-resistance markers for yeast transformation are useful because they can be applied to strains without auxotrophic mutations. However, they are susceptible to technical difficulties, namely lower transformation efficiency and the appearance of drug-resistant mutants without the marker. To avoid these problems, we have constructed a phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) promoter-driven YAP1 expression cassette, called PGKp-YAP1. Yeast cells containing PGKp-YAP1 were resistant to cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, and also to cerulenin, a fatty acid synthesis inhibitor, but not to other drugs tested. The transformation efficiency of PGKp-YAP1 using cerulenin selection was comparable to that using a URA3 auxotrophic marker when low concentrations of cerulenin were used. Non-transformed drug-resistant colonies did appear on the low-concentration cerulenin plates. However, these non-transformed colonies could easily be identified, based on their cycloheximide sensitivity and/or their resistance to aureobasidin A to which the transformants were sensitive. Therefore, the dual drug resistance of PGKp-YAP1 could be used as an effective selection for PGKp-YAP1 recipient cells. The PGKp-YAP1 marker was used to disrupt the LYS2 gene and to transform an industrial yeast strain, indicating that this marker can be used for efficient and reliable gene manipulations in any Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain.     

Using precise data sets on farming and pesticide properties to verify a diffuse pollution hydrological model for predicting pesticide concentration.

Verification of a diffuse pollution model involves comparing results actually observed with those predicted by precise model inputs. Acquisition of precise model inputs is, however, problematic. In particular, when the target catchment is large and substantial estimation uncertainty exists, not only model verification but also prediction is difficult. Therefore, in this study, rice-farming data were collected for all paddy fields from all farmers in a catchment and pesticide adsorption and degradation rates in paddy field soil samples were measured to obtain precise model inputs. The model inputs successfully verified the model's capability to predict pesticide concentrations in river water. Sensitivity analyses of the model inputs elucidated the processes significantly affecting pesticide runoff from rice farms. Pesticide adsorption and degradation rates of the soil did not significantly affect pesticide concentrations, although pesticide discharge to river water accounted for less than 50% of the total quantity of pesticide applied to fields, possibly owing to pesticide adsorption and degradation. The timing of increases in pesticide concentrations in river water was affected mostly by the farming schedule, including the time of pesticide application and irrigation, and secondarily by rainfall events.     

Detection of environmental changes from network structure

We studied the networks of the temperature record in the atmosphere. They are made by the strength of the synchronization, including the delay between temperatures at locations on Earth. We consider these locations as nodes, and we consider a pair of locations as a link if the synchronization between them is stronger than a threshold. The network is scale-free, which is thought to contribute to the stability of the climate. This work was presented in part at the 12th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 25–27, 2007     

Depth from Refraction Using a Transparent Medium with Unknown Pose and Refractive Index

In this paper, we introduce a novel method for depth acquisition based on refraction of light. A scene is captured directly by a camera and by placing a transparent medium between the scene and the camera. A depth map of the scene is then recovered from the displacements of scene points in the images. Unlike other existing depth from refraction methods, our method does not require prior knowledge of the pose and refractive index of the transparent medium, but instead can recover them directly from the input images. By analyzing the displacements of corresponding scene points in the images, we derive closed form solutions for recovering the pose of the transparent medium and develop an iterative method for estimating the refractive index of the medium. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world data are presented, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Moving pick‐up‐type contactless power transfer systems and their efficiency using series and parallel resonant capacitors

The equivalent circuit, the efficiency, and the important characteristics of moving pick‐up type contactless power transfer systems are described. If the primary series capacitor and the secondary parallel capacitors are chosen correctly and the winding resistances are ignored, the equivalent circuit of the transformer with these capacitors becomes the same as an ideal transformer at the resonant frequency. This simple approximation helps to understand the phenomena occurring with load changes. Because the circuit analysis becomes simple, the approximate value of the power transfer efficiency can be derived. This paper describes the determination of the capacitor values, the derivation of the equivalent circuit and the efficiency, and test results. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 172(2): 47–54, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20970     

自组织InAs/GaAs量子点的表面氮化研究

用低温光荧光(PL)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)研究了表面氮化自组织InAs/GaAs量子点的光学性能和微观结构。结果表明氮化后形成薄层的InAsN薄膜作为应变缓和层覆盖在量子点的表面,使得随着氮化时间的增加,InAs量子点的位错密度提高、尺寸变大、纵横比提高、发光波长变长、强度变低。     

A surge-free intelligent power device specific to automotive highside switches

A novel type of intelligent power device (IPD), which is suitable for automotive monolithic high side switch with high current capability, is presented. An integration of a vertical-power DMOSFET and planar MOS IC devices is performed by the newly developed junction-isolation technique using only one epitaxial growth. The isolation voltage of 80 V has been obtained, which is large enough for automotive IPDs if they are protected against high voltage transients on the battery line. A rugged vertical DMOSFET (VDMOS) has also been developed for this IPD. It has a cellular Zener diode between its source and drain, which prevents the secondary breakdown of parasitic bipolar transistor, and the resulting avalanche capability enhancement is more than an order of magnitude. This VDMOS is used for both output power device and protection device for low-voltage MOS circuitry, which makes the IPD free from any transients in the automobile without the need for external protection