An efficient numerical derivation of group delay characteristic from prescribed characteristic function

This paper proposes an efficient method of deriving the group delay characteristic only from the prescribed characteristic function of a resistively terminated LC 2-port network with the aid of a special numerical integration technique. As a by-product of the method, the transfer function of the network can also be derived. the idea of the method is based on the Hilbert transform relation between the attenuation and phase of the minimum-phase polynomial. A simplified Hilbert transform relation is presented which avoids the improper integral of its original form. the analysis of the error due to the numerical integration applied in the method and the comparison with a conventional method concerning execution time and accuracy are included.     

Androgen Receptor Signaling Induces Cisplatin Resistance via Down-Regulating GULP1 Expression in Bladder Cancer

The underlying molecular mechanisms of resistance to cisplatin-based systemic chemotherapy in bladder cancer patients remain to be elucidated, while the link between androgen receptor (AR) activity and chemosensitivity in urothelial cancer has been implicated. Our DNA microarray analysis in control vs. AR knockdown bladder cancer lines identified GULP1 as a potential target of AR signaling. We herein determined the relationship between AR activity and GULP1 expression in bladder cancer cells and then assessed the functional role of GULP1 in cisplatin sensitivity. Androgen treatment in AR-positive cells or AR overexpression in AR-negative cells considerably reduced the levels of GULP1 expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation further showed direct interaction of AR with the promoter region of GULP1. Meanwhile, GULP1 knockdown sublines were significantly more resistant to cisplatin treatment compared with respective controls. GULP1 knockdown also resulted in a significant decrease in apoptosis, as well as a significant increase in G2/M phases, when treated with cisplatin. In addition, GULP1 was immunoreactive in 74% of muscle-invasive bladder cancers from patients who had subsequently undergone neoadjuvant chemotherapy, including 53% of responders showing moderate (2+)/strong (3+) expression vs. 23% of non-responders showing 2+/3+ expression (P = 0.044). These findings indicate that GULP1 represents a key downstream effector of AR signaling in enhancing sensitivity to cisplatin treatment.     

Genetic and chemical diversity of Eleutherococcus senticosus and molecular identification of Siberian ginseng by PCR-RFLP analysis based on chloroplast trnK intron sequence

Siberian ginseng (SG), the rhizome and root of Eleutherococcus senticosus, has been used as a tonic and anti-fatigue agent in northeastern Asia from ancient time. In recent years, SG has been becoming fairly popular as dietary supplements and health foods worldwide. In order to establish a convenient and sensitive method for authentication, chloroplast trnK intron sequences of 6 Eleutherococcus species were determined and compared. Genetic polymorphism, representing by 14 types of trnK intron sequence, in E. senticosus was observed. However, characteristic nucleotide markers stable within this species enabled clear discrimination of it from other congeners. A PCR-RFLP method was further developed, which was demonstrated to be efficient for authentication of crude drugs as well as health foods. Quantitative evaluation of three main bioactive constituents indicated chemical diversity in E. senticosus collected from northeast China and the results suggested good producing areas of SG. The chemical data clearly revealed that E. sessliflorus was unsuitable to be used as SG.     

Robust Stabilization Control for an Electric Bicycle

Recently, bicycles have gained immense popularity because they have high mobility and are an environmentally friendly means of transport. However, many people tend to avoid riding a bicycle because it is unstable. In order to solve this problem, stabilization control for a bicycle has been investigated. The aim of this study is to improve the robustness of stabilization control. To achieve this goal, control systems that use a camber angle disturbance observer (CADO) are proposed. Two kinds of CADO are proposed in this paper, and the performance of these two observers is compared. The proposed control systems provide higher robustness than does the conventional method. The validity of the proposed methods is confirmed based on the experimental results.     

Equivalent circuit analysis for magnetostatic wave devices

Magnetostatic wave (MSW) devices are potentially very promising for carrying out signal processing directly at microwave frequencies, and recently have been receiving much attention. Although the development of a general design theory is essential for significant progress in the signal processing capabilities of the MSW devices, relatively few design theories have been discussed in the past. This paper extends and improves the general equivalent circuit approach to the magnetostatic wave devices proposed and discussed earlier. Based on the definitions of the purely magnetostatic terminal parameters and the magnetostatic characteristic impedance, the electromagnetostatic energy conversion is discussed and the appropriate general equivalent circuit models for the MSW devices are developed. Calculated insertion losses for various MSW devices are in excellent agreement with experimental results.     

New sensitivity measures for resistively terminated LC filters

Two new sensitivity measures for resistively terminated LC filters with arbitrary network structures are proposed. One gives an upper bound of the absolute sum of the second-order sensitivities of the operating propagation attentuation function with respect to the reactive elements. This measure, however, is based on the supposition of the invariance of the attenuation poles. the other gives an upper bound of the absolute sum of the first-order sensitivities of the group delay characteristic with respect to the reactive elements. Both the measures can be evaluated only from the prescribed characteristic function of the network. Some examples are included which show the utility of these measures for designing filters with favourable statistical tolerance in the passband.     

A detection method for intronic snoRNA genes using extended-weight-updating SOM with appearance probability of bases

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are known that they will participate with RNA modification. However, detail functions of snoRNAs have not been clear still yet. In order to make clear functions of snoRNA, finding more snoRNAs and studying their works in cells are required. In this paper, we propose a method to detect snoRNA genes using extended-weight-updating self-organizing map (eSOM). An input vector to eSOM consists of a feature vector and a target vector. Different from a conventional SOM, a winner node for an input vector is decided by the feature vector only, and all the weights around the winner node are updated to be close to the input vector. We employ bases appearance probabilities and complementary base pair ratio for a feature vector. A target vector is a flag which is 1.0 or 0.0 for a positive or a negative sample, respectively. Experimental results showed our method achieved 91 and 93 % detection ratio for boxC/D and boxH/ACA type snoRNA genes, respectively.     

Elastic behavior of concentrated solutions of acrylonitrile copolymers

The elastic behavior of concentrated solution of acrylonitrile copolymer was investigated by the capillary end correction method. The results were as follows. (1) The shear stress is proportional to recoverable shear strain in accordance with Hooke's law below critical concentration; above a critical concentration, however, the shear modulus depends on shear stress. (2) The log–log plots of zero shear modulus against polymer concentration and molecular weight fall on two straight lines with different slopes. The intersection of lines is considered to be the onset of elastically deformable entanglement network. We denote this inflection point as (C_c)_e or (M_c)_e. (3) The log–log plot of viscosity against polymer concentration does not show a change of slope at the critical concentration (C_c)_e. (4) By the application of the kinetic theory of rubberlike elasticity to the pseudo-network structure of concentrated polymer solution, in the range of C_c < C < (C_c)_e or M_c < M < (M_c)_e, the number of chain entanglement per molecule is kept one; moreover, in the range of C > (C_c)_e, or M > (M_c)_e, the number of chain entanglement increases to three.     

Three-dimensional fine structure of the biliary tract: Scanning electron microscopy of biliary casts

The three-dimensional structure of the biliary tract was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of biliary casts. The replica of the biliary tract was successfully prepared by retrograde injection of low viscosity resin into the common bile duct. Bile canaliculi are intricate networks in which hexagonal and pentagonal meshworks are interconnected. Each hexagonal or pentagonal meshwork is on a plane, but adjoining meshworks are on different planes. Bile canalicular networks connect with bile ductules at the periphery of the portal tract. The intrahepatic bile duct showed considerable interspecies variation. The human bile duct has plexiform side branches and periductal sacculi, which are most numerous near the liver hilum and fewest in the smaller portal tracts. The hilar plexus and sacculi are present on opposite sides of the bile duct. The plexus formed at the bifurcation of the bile ducts exhibits a plane. Periductal sacculi were also observed in the monkey and pig bile ducts, particularly the latter, while rat bile ducts possess a peculiar portal bile ductular plexus situated between the portal tract and the surrounding liver parenchyma. No such structures were observed in either the dog or rabbit bile ducts. SEM of the biliary casts showed that the biliary tract was not a simple draining tube but had additional structures, such as periductal sacculi and plexiform side branches. These structures, together with the peribiliary vascular plexus, may be implicated in the modification of bile.