Interference from irrelevant features on visual discrimination by macaques (Macaca fuscata): A behavioral analogue of the human Stroop effect.

To study the operation of selective attention in a conflict situation with automatic processes, we trained 4 Japanese macaques; (Macaca fuscata) extensively on a manual go/no-go task. The monkey had to discriminate either the color, shape, motion direction, or location of a visual stimulus. In each trial, the behavioral meaning of the relevant feature (go or no-go) could either be congruent or incongruent with irrelevant features of the same stimulus. Reaction times were slowed, and error rates increased when irrelevant stimulus features were incongruent with the required response. The effects were obtained when the monkey attended to the color, shape, or motion direction, but not when it attended to the location of the stimulus. The effects were cumulative so that the interference from 1 incongruent feature was smaller than that from 2 incongruent features. We propose that the present paradigm provides a behavioral analogue of the human Stroop effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nontrivial quantum effect of defect-induced magnetic moments in spin chains

Low dimensional strongly correlated systems have great potential for new quantum devices. Among them, quantum wires are actively investigated with development of new methods based on self-organized formation. For magnetic wires (chains), impurity doping, which causes inhomogeneity of magnetic interaction, can bring new magnetic properties to the systems. In the present study, the effect of inhomogeneity (defect) on magnetic chains with bond alternation is focused on. Defects induce local moments in the magnetic chains at low temperatures. However, depending on the relation of the distance between the defects, the magnetic profile is found to be drastically changed.     

Microbial communities in the garbage composting with rice hull as an amendment revealed by culture-dependent and -independent approaches

The diversity and succession of microbial communities during the garbage composting with rice hull as an amendment were studied by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and clone library analysis of PCR-amplified 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) with universal primers. Based on temperature changes, the composting process could be divided into thermophilic, cooling-down, and maturing stages. The DGGE profiles and clone library analysis revealed that the microbial community drastically changed during the composting process from the thermophilic to the maturing stages. The dominant bacterial group changed from the phylum Firmicutes in the thermophilic stage to the phylum Bacteroidetes in the maturing stage. This change in microbial communities may be significant for the composting process. The diversity of cultivated bacteria isolated from samples taken at various stages of the composting process was low. A total of 87 isolates were classified as belonging to only four different groups. These groups were also detected in the DGGE profiles and by the clone library analysis. Our study indicated that a combination of culture-dependent and -independent approaches could be very useful for monitoring both bacterial diversity and the succession of communities during the composting process. This study would be beneficial for assessing the ecological consequences of disposal of organic waste.     

Molecular basis of human complement C1s deficiency

This is the first report on the molecular basis of human complement C1s deficiency. Two abnormalities in the C1s gene were identified in a Japanese family, including one patient, by using exon-specific PCR, single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis, and nucleotide sequencing. A deletion of 4 bp, TTTG, was identified in exon X when using genomic DNA from the patient, his father, and his paternal grandmother. They were all heterozygous for the mutation. The mutant gene encodes a truncated C1s from the N terminus to the short consensus repeat domain. By further sequencing the PCR products, a nonsense mutation from G to T was identified at codon 608 in exon XII in the patient, his mother, and his sister. They were all heterozygous for the nonsense mutation. The mutant gene encodes a truncated form of C1s that lacks the C-terminal 80 amino acids. These results indicate that the patient was a compound heterozygote with the 4-bp deletion on the paternal allele and the nonsense mutation on the maternal allele. The levels of serum C1s seem to be correlated to the genotypes of the C1s gene in which no C1s was detected in the patient, and one-half of the normal level in the family members who are heterozygous for either mutation. The present study demonstrates that the disease is inherited in an autosomal recessive mode.     

Solidification by Convective Drying of Particle Layer Wetted with Dilute Agar Gel

Solidified porous slab is formed through convective drying of glass particle layer wetted with aqueous dilute agar gel. Measured critical mean moisture content increases with increasing initial moisture or agar content. The agar gel moves in viscous flow caused by capillary pressure during drying. A new drying model based on the receding evaporation plane model is proposed. Drying period is divided into surface and internal evaporation periods. Wet slab consists of dried and wet zones during the internal evaporation period, while the wet slab consists of wet zone only during the surface evaporation period. In the new model, the evaporation rate from the wet zone in the internal drying period is estimated with the linear driving force (LDF) approximation in the field of adsorption engineering. Critical moisture content, that is, mean moisture content between the surface and internal periods, is estimated with a mass balance on the surface. Simulated results by the new drying model with reasonable fitting parameters agree very well with measured drying data.     

A New Space-Time Multiple Trellis Coded Modulation Scheme Using Transmit Symbol Phase Rotation

Space-time multiple trellis coded modulation (ST-MTCM) has been introduced in order to achieve maximum transmit diversity gain and larger coding gain with the existence of parallel paths. In our previous research, we designed a new coded modulation scheme for ST-MTCM which simultaneously maximizes the coding gain and diversity gain utilizing Hadamard Matrix giving the maximum determinant. This scheme, however, cannot achieve full transmit rate. In this paper, we extend our research so as to achieve full rate transmission as well as maximum coding and diversity gain. In addition, Super-Orthogonal Space-Time Trellis Code (SO-STTC) is well known for its high coding gain, full diversity gain and full transmit rate. Even though our proposed scheme is essentially the same as SO-STTC, we show in this paper that our proposed code design is different from SO-STTC, and achieves better performance. Our proposed code design utilizes transmit symbol phase rotation at a certain time slot so as to avoid same path transition in trellis, which occurs with conventional SO-STTC scheme. We design codes with different way of phase rotation for different MPSK modulation scheme, and simulation results show the improvements of our proposed codes for MPSK modulation with different number of states. Susu Jiang was born in Jilin, China, in 1979. She received the B.E. and M.S. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan, in 2001 and 2003, respectively. She is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering at Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan. Her research interests include space-time coding, channel coding in wireless communications, and information theory. She is a student member of the IEICE and IEEE. Ryuji Kohno received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo in 1984. Dr. Kohno is currently a Professor of the Division of Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Yokohama National University. In his currier he was a director of Advanced Telecommunications Laboratory of SONY CSL during 1998–2002 and currently a director of UWB Technology institute of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). In his academic activities, he was elected as a member of the Board of Governors of IEEE Information Theory (IT) Society in 2000 and 2003. He has played a role of an editor of the IEEE Transactions on IT, Communications, and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). He is a fellow of IEICE, vice-president of Engineering Sciences Society of IEICE and has been the Chairman of the IEICE Technical Committee on Spread Spectrum Technology, that on ITS, and that on Software Defined Radio (SDR). Prof. Kohno has contributed for organizing many international conferences, such as an chair-in honor of 2002 & 2003 International Conference of SDR (SDR'02 & SDR'03), a TPC co-chair of 2003 International Workshop on UWB Systems (IWUWBS'03), and a general co-chair of 2003 IEEE International Symposium on IT (ISIT'03), that of Joint UWBST&IWUWB'04 and so on. He was awarded IEICE Greatest Contribution Award and NTT DoCoMo Mobile Science Award in 1999 and 2002, respectively.     

Changes in contributions of matrix and block boundary strengths to macroscopic hardness of high Cr ferritic steel during creep

The instrumented indentation test was applied to the interrupted creep specimens of turbine rotor steel (Fe-10Cr-1Mo-1W-VNbN) to investigate the changes in contributions of matrix and block boundary strengths to macroscopic hardness during creep. The indentation tests were performed under the loads of 1 and 10 mN to determine the matrix strength and the block boundary strength, respectively. The matrix strength of the grip portion decreased gradually with increasing life fraction and, for the gauge portion, the decrease was more pronounced, particularly, at the latter half of the life. On the other hand, the experimental results revealed that the block boundary strength decreased significantly at the early stage of the creep life, but this decrease was no longer pronounced when the creep life fraction exceeded 20%. Additionally, there was a good correlation between the block boundary strength and the width of block boundary carbide and the carbide coarsening was considered to be closely associated with the decrease in block boundary strength.     

Experimental study on the effect of surface conditions on evaporation of sprayed liquid droplet

The present study investigates experimentally the effects of thermal properties of the hot surface and droplet characteristics on the droplet evaporation. Cylindrical blocks made of Stainless Steel, Aluminum and Brass with different degrees of surface roughness were used. The droplet diameter and velocity were controlled independently. The behavior of droplet during the collision with hot surface was observed with a high-speed camera. The results presented the effect of the thermal properties of the hot surface, droplet Weber number, droplet velocity, droplet size, hot surface conditions; surface superheat and degree of surface roughness on the solid–liquid contact time and the maximum spread of droplet over the surface. Empirical correlations have been deduced describing the relationship between the hydrodynamic characteristics of an individual droplet impinging on a heated surface and concealing the affecting parameters in such process. Also, the comparison between the current results and the results due to others investigators shows good agreement in which the difference between them ranged from 5% to 25%.     

Thermal stabilization of penicillolysin, a thermolabile 19 kDa Zn2+-protease, obtained by site-directed mutagenesis

Penicillolysin is a member of the clan MX and the family of M35 proteases. The enzyme is a thermolabile Zn(2+)- protease from Penicillium citrinum with a unique substrate profile. We expressed recombinant penicillolysin in Aspergillus oryzae and generated several site-directed mutants, R33E/E60R, A167E and T81P, with the intention of exploring thermal stabilization of this protein. We based our choice of mutations on the structures of homologous thermally stable enzymes, deuterolysin (EC 3.4.24.39) from A.oryzae and a peptidyl-Lys metallopeptidase (GfMEP) from the edible mushroom Grifora frondsa. The resulting mutant proteins exhibited comparable catalytic efficiency to the wild-type enzyme and some showed a higher tolerance to temperature.     

Security and Privacy for Implantable Medical Devices

Protecting implantable medical devices against attack without compromising patient health requires balancing security and privacy goals with traditional goals such as safety and utility. Implantable medical devices monitor and treat physiological conditions within the body. These devices - including pacemakers, implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs), drug delivery systems, and neurostimulators - can help manage a broad range of ailments, such as cardiac arrhythmia, diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. IMDs' pervasiveness continues to swell, with upward of 25 million US citizens currently reliant on them for life-critical functions. Growth is spurred by geriatric care of the aging baby-boomer generation, and new therapies continually emerge for chronic conditions ranging from pediatric type 1 diabetes to anorgasmia and other sexual dysfunctions. Moreover, the latest IMDs support delivery of telemetry for remote monitoring over long-range, high-bandwidth wireless links, and emerging devices will communicate with other interoperating IMDs.