High-quality software development system-AYUMI

AYUMI, a mechanism that improves software quality and productivity and by which the development process is refined, is described. A series of methods which span activities from data evaluation to the feedback of findings has been developed. This methodology has approximately 100 evaluation items, including both quantitative and qualitative types. These items are categorized into about 40 groups and scored on a scale from one to five. The evaluation results are compiled into tables and reported to the project team. Work in the field is monitored, and feedback improves the development process. The operation of AYUMI is described, and some possible applications are discussed     

The Methods of Measuring Tackiness of Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Tapes

Tackiness of adhesive tapes has been measured by many investigators using many different methods. Therefore, the tackiness of the same sample may vary widely, depending on the test method used. In general, the tackiness is measured by the finger test. Since the finger test involves many complicated factors such as psychological factors and individual differences, etc., it is difficult to quantitize the results of the finger test. The authors measured the tackiness of commercial plastic film adhesive tapes and cloth adhesive tapes by the use of several tack test methods. The results were compared with those obtained from the finger test. It was found that the rolling ball tack tester with a sine curved surface of y = 86.7 cos (π/300 x x) + 86.7 and an average slope of 30° gave results closest to those obtained by the finger test.     

Single shaped reflector antennas for broadcasting satellites

For future direct broadcasting satellites in Japan, precisely contoured beam antennas will be required for onboard antennas. Single shaped-reflector antennas are suitable for that purpose, since they do not need complex feed networks. However, in a previous study, discontinuities in the reflector surface were observed. The problem of the discontinuity was circumvented in this work and the shaped reflectors were successfully designed to produce contoured beams for covering the Japanese islands for the downlink and feederlink antennas. The downlink antenna was fabricated, and the radiation pattern was verified by measurement. The radiation pattern meets the radio regulations imposed on the onboard antenna, such as sidelobe and cross-polarization characteristics     

A comparative study of food habits and body shape perception of university students in Japan and Korea

Background  

Abnormal body weight, dietary concerns, and unhealthy weight loss behaviors are increasingly being observed in young females in Japan. Our previous research has shown that the irregular lifestyles of female Japanese and Chinese students are significantly related to their desire to be thinner. In the present study, we compare the food habits and body shape preferences of female university students in South Korea and Japan to explore body shape perceptions in those populations.     

Photoenhancement of biogas production from thermophilic anaerobic digestion

After 46 d of anaerobic digestion at 55 degrees C, the volume of methane produced from an illuminated reactor was 2.2 times as high as that from a dark reactor. Light at a wavelength of 390-540 nm enhanced the methane production.     

Evaluation of a Lightly Scratched Amorphous Carbon Surface by Contact Resistance of a Conductive Diamond Tip and the Carbon Surface

An electron-cyclotron-resonance-sputtered amorphous carbon film is scratch-scanned by an AFM and a conductive diamond tip at small contact loads (2N). The electrical contact resistance between the tip and the scratched carbon surface increases upon increasing the scratching load and the number of scratching scans and decreases with increasing scratching velocity. The wear depth is less than 0.6 nm in all scratching experiments and is almost independent of the scratching load, the number of scratching scans and the scratching velocity. The change in contact resistance caused by the scratching is affected by environmental humidity. The magnitude of the change in the contact resistance is almost the same at 20 and 50% RH and increases with increasing relative humidity at humidities higher than 50% RH. The contact resistance also increases upon scratching in vacuum. The change in contact resistance is thought to be caused by tribochemical oxidation of the rubbed surface by humid air and also destruction of the graphite structure of the ECR-sputtered carbon surface.     

Chronic myelogenous leukemia received unrelated bone marrow transplantation following surgical resection of cerebral arteriovenous malformation--first case report

We report a 15-year-old boy with chronic myelogenous leukemia who received unrelated bone marrow transplantation (uBMT) after surgical resection of cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM). The incidence of cerebral hemorrhage caused by rupture of cerebral ABM in cases of BMT is uncertain. However, since the risk of rupture of AVM was supposed to increase due to both severe thrombocytopenia after intensive chemotherapy and increased intracranical pressure because of total body irradiation (TBI) as preconditioning therapy for BMT, we have first carried out surgical resection of the cerebral AVM, and subsequently performed uBMT. This resulted in a favorable clinical course without serious complications.     

Electrical properties of TiO2 thin films prepared by the sol-gel method

A TiO₂ thin film was prepared by the sol-gel method using a metal alkoxide [Ti(O-i-Pr)₄ tetrasopropoxy titanium: TIPT]. The crystalline form of the film depends on the preparation conditions and the heat treatment temperature. When the ratio (γ) of H₂O to TIPT is 7, the crystalline phase is formed at 400°C; when γ = 2 it is formed at 500°C. The anatase crystal structure was obtained for both γ = 2 and γ = 7. The electrical conductivity of the TiO₂ film increased with the heat treatment temperature.