A 63-mW H.264/MPEG-4 audio/visual codec LSI with module-wise dynamic Voltage/frequency scaling

A single-chip H.264 and MPEG-4 audio-visual LSI for mobile applications including terrestrial digital broadcasting system (ISDB-T / DVB-H) with a module-wise, dynamic voltage/frequency scaling architecture is presented for the first time. This LSI can keep operating even during the voltage/frequency transition, so there is no performance overhead. It is realized through a dynamic deskewing system and an on-chip voltage regulator with slew rate control. By the combination with traditional low power techniques such as embedded DRAM and clock gating, it consumes only 63 mW in decoding QVGA H.264 video at 15 frames/sec and MPEG-4 AAC LC audio simultaneously.     

Combinatorial pulsed laser deposition and thermoelectricity of (La1−xCax)VO3 composition-spread films

La_1−xCa_xVO₃ composition-spread film library was fabricated by combinatorial pulsed laser deposition and their thermoelectric properties were evaluated paralelly by the multi-channel probes of Seebeck coefficient and electric conductivity. Concurrent X-ray analysis verified the formation of solid soluted films in the full composition range (0x1) as judged from the linear variation of the lattice constants. The Seebeck coefficients of La_1−xCa_xVO₃ changed from a large negative value to almost zero with the increase of x, due presumably to the variation of valence in vanadium ions.The power factor in this library was as high as 0.6 μW/cm K², which was obtained at x=0, i.e. pure LaVO₃ grown at 800 °C.     

Locomotion Control of MEMS Microrobot Using Pulse‐Type Hardware Neural Networks

This paper presents the locomotion control of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microrobot. The MEMS microrobot demonstrates locomotion control by pulse‐type hardware neural networks (P‐HNN). P‐HNN generate oscillatory patterns of electrical activity like those of living organisms. The basic component of P‐HNN is a pulse‐type hardware neuron model (P‐HNM). The P‐HNM has the same basic features as biological neurons, such as the threshold, the refractory period, and spatiotemporal summation characteristics, and allows the generation of continuous action potentials. P‐HNN has been constructed with MOSFETs and can be integrated by CMOS technology. Like living organisms, P‐HNN has realized robot control without using software programs or A/D converters. The size of the microrobot fabricated by MEMS technology was 4 × 4 × 3.5 mm. The frame of the robot was made of a silicon wafer, equipped with rotary actuators, link mechanisms, and six legs. The MEMS microrobot emulated the locomotion method and the neural networks of an insect by rotary actuators, link mechanisms, and the P‐HNN. We show that the P‐HNN can control the forward and backward locomotion of the fabricated MEMS microrobot, and that it is possible to switch its direction by inputting an external trigger pulse. The locomotion speed was 19.5 mm/min and the step size was 1.3 mm. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 186(3): 43–50, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.22473     

Attribute-based quality classification of academic papers

Investigating the relevant literature is very important for research activities. However, it is difficult to select the most appropriate and important academic papers from the enormous number of papers published annually. Researchers search paper databases by combining keywords, and then select papers to read using some evaluation measure—often, citation count. However, the citation count of recently published papers tends to be very small because citation count measures accumulated importance. This paper focuses on the possibility of classifying high-quality papers superficially using attributes such as publication year, publisher, and words in the abstract. To examine this idea, we construct classifiers by applying machine-learning algorithms and evaluate these classifiers using cross-validation. The results show that our approach effectively finds high-quality papers.     

Light-Wavelength-Based Quantitative Control of Dihydrofolate Reductase Activity by Using a Photochromic Isostere of an Inhibitor

Photopharmacology has attracted research attention as a new tool for achieving optical control of biomolecules, following the methods of caged compounds and optogenetics. We have developed an efficient photopharmacological inhibitor—azoMTX—for Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (eDHFR) by replacing some atoms of the original ligand, methotrexate, to achieve photoisomerization properties. This fine molecular design enabled quick structural conversion between the active “bent” Z isomer of azoMTX and the inactive “extended” E isomer, and this property afforded quantitative control over the enzyme activity, depending on the wavelength of irradiating light applied. Real-time photoreversible control over enzyme activity was also achieved.     

Emerging Immunotherapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Several immune checkpoint molecules and immune targets in leukemic cells have been investigated. Recent studies have suggested the potential clinical benefits of immuno-oncology (IO) therapy against acute myeloid leukemia (AML), especially targeting CD33, CD123, and CLL-1, as well as immune checkpoint inhibitors (e.g., anti-PD (programmed cell death)-1 and anti-CTLA4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4) antibodies) with or without conventional chemotherapy. Early-phase clinical trials of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T or natural killer (NK) cells for relapsed/refractory AML showed complete remission (CR) or marked reduction of marrow blasts in a few enrolled patients. Bi-/tri-specific antibodies (e.g., bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) and dual-affinity retargeting (DART)) exhibited 11–67% CR rates with 13–78% risk of cytokine-releasing syndrome (CRS). Conventional chemotherapy in combination with anti-PD-1/anti-CTLA4 antibody for relapsed/refractory AML showed 10–36% CR rates with 7–24 month-long median survival. The current advantages of IO therapy in the field of AML are summarized herein. However, although cancer vaccination should be included in the concept of IO therapy, it is not mentioned in this review because of the paucity of relevant evidence.     

Solid–Liquid Phase Behaviors of Binary Mixtures of Various Partial Acylglycerols by Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Monoacylglycerol (MAG), diacylglycerol (DAG), and triacylglycerol (TAG) are impurities in biodiesel and a major cause of precipitation. Understanding the behavior of such acylglycerols is essential for predicting biodiesel cold flow properties (CFPs). The previous study on MAG/MAG binary mixtures shows that they tend to solidify by forming molecular compounds. In contrast, TAG/TAG mixtures, which have been studied extensively, are commonly eutectic or monotectic systems, in which each component solidifies separately. The present study focuses on binary mixtures of DAG/DAG and different acylglycerol pairs (MAG/DAG, TAG/MAG, and DAG/TAG), and determination of their solid–liquid phase behavior by differential scanning calorimetry. These mixtures are found to behave as eutectic or monotectic systems with no sign of compound formation. As DAG and TAG have lower contents than MAG in biodiesel and they are unlikely to form molecular compounds with MAG, it is suggested that DAG and TAG have little effect on the biodiesel CFPs. Practical Applications: Biodiesel has attracted much interest because its blending with conventional fossil diesel has become more standard with biofuel mandates. From an energy perspective, the solid–liquid phase behavior of acylglycerols will contribute to building prediction models for biodiesel CFPs.     

Experimental analysis of 2D-unsteady temperature field by using Mach-Zehnder interferogram images

A measurement method for an unsteady temperature field by using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and image processing technique is presented. In this study, the results measured by this method were compared with the calculated results under Reynolds numbers (Re = UL/v) ranging to less than 350 in the steady-state. The unsteady characteristics of the local Nusselt numbers (Nu_x = α_xL/λ) around an elastically vibrating plate were investigated under the conditions that the reduced frequency (N = 1/Ro) ranged from 4.8 to 8.6 and the amplitude of vibration was kept small relative to the plate length. In this study it was clarified that the distributions of the Local Nusselt numbers were observed flutteringly, and that the phase of the time-averaged Nusselt number is delayed compared to the phase of the velocity at the trailing edge. These results indicate that the enhancement of the time-averaged heat transfer coefficient around the vibrating plate depended on the Rossby number. © 1997 Scripta Technica. Inc. Heat Trans Jpn Res. 25 (2): 88–102, 1996     

Lubrication Mechanism of Phosphonium Phosphate Ionic Liquid Additive in Alkylborane–Imidazole Complexes

The assessment of ionic liquids (ILs) as lubricants in several tribological systems has shown their ability to provide remarkable reduced friction and protection against wear, whether they are used as additives or in the neat form. However, their corrosion and limited solubility in non-polar hydrocarbon oils represent the bottleneck-limiting factors for the use of ILs as lubricants. Therefore, in order to tackle these problems, mixtures of alkylborane–imidazole complexes with one halogen-free IL as additive were used in this study. The knowledge of the additive–surface interactions and hence the understanding of tribological properties are an important issue for lubricant formulations and were also investigated in this work. Thus, combination effects between two ionic liquid additives, a halogenated and a halogen-free one, were evaluated by a ball-on-disc-type tribometer under boundary lubrication conditions. Effective friction reduction and anti-wear properties have been demonstrated in tribological investigations when adding between 0.7 and 3.4 wt% of the halogen-free IL into base fluid composed of alkylborane–imidazole complexes. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses of the steel specimens were conducted to study the correlation between tribological properties and chemical surface composition of the boundary films formed on the rubbing surface. This work suggests potential applications for using halogen-free ILs as additives for synthetic ionic liquid lubricants.