How Japan's Recently Amended Copyright Law Affects Software

Japan rejected a proposal to adopt a special software protection law and instead modified its copyright law to include software. This change may affect US firms doing business there.     

Self-similarity in diffraction by a self-similar fractal screen

Using the Sierpinski gasket as an example, it has been shown here that the paraxial Fraunhoffer-zone diffracted field of a self-similar fractal screen also exhibits self-similarity. This also establishes that fractal structures can be used with great profit in problems involving array syntheses. Recently, it has been shown that the Sierpinski gasket is itself a member of a much wider class of gaskets, and the potential for the use of fractal structures in electromagnetic (EM) problems may be vast indeed.     

Convergence of genetic algorithms

The mean convergence of various versions of a genetic algorithm are considered. A number of convergence statements are formulated and relevant estimates are obtained. A hypothesis concerning the form of these estimates under variation of the structure of a genetic algorithm is put forward. Roman Riviyanovich Sharapov. Born 1981. Graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Ural State University, in 2003. Presently, a postgraduate at the Department of Mathematical Economics at the same university. Scientific interests: genetic algorithms, neural networks, and financial mathematics. Aleksandr Vyacheslavovich Lapshin. Born 1980. Graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Ural State University, in 2003. Presently, a postgraduate at the Department of Mathematical Economics at the same university. Scientific interests: financial mathematics, genetic algorithms, and neural networks.     

Moral Judgment and Crime Drama: An Integrated Theory of Enjoyment

The article proposes a theoretical framework in which moral reasoning about mediated crime and punishment is defined and combined with existing, affect-driven entertainment theory to yield an integrated theory of enjoyment. The authors analyze how crime dramas serve as statements about justice and then address how moral deliberation about the propriety of those statements impacts enjoyment. The authors report research findings to support the analysis of cognitive processing during crime dramas distinct from affective processing. The article also suggests future means by which the integrated theory of enjoyment can be examined.     

Optimization of Automated Synthesis of 2-[18F]Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose Involving Base Hydrolysis

Synthesis of 2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) involving base hydrolysis was optimized. Fluorine-18 was isolated from irradiated water to more than 90% by sorption of [^{1 8}F]fluoride on QMA anion-exchange resin, which was followed by elution with a 96 : 4 (by volume) acetonitrile-water mixture containing Kryptofix 2.2.2 and potassium carbonate (molar ratio 2 : 1). This composition is the best for preparing the complex [K/K2.2.2]^{+ 18}F^- used in nucleophilic fluorinations. No additional azeotropic drying is required. Base hydrolysis under optimized conditions (40-45°C), followed by neutralization with HCl, removal of traces of the solvent, and purification of the final product on a combined SCX/Alumina N column, yielded [^{1 8}F]FDG of high radiochemical (>99%) and chemical purity with minimal product loss. With an RB-86 robotic system (Anatech, Sweden), the synthesis time was 38 min. The procedure is used in the Institute of Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences for routine synthesis of FDG; the radiochemical yield of the product by the end of synthesis (EOS) is reproducibly high: 63±3% (n = 40).     

Top-Seeded Melt-Growth of YBa2Cus3Ox Crystals for Neutron Diffraction Studies

We have grown cubic centimeter-size crystals of YBa₂Cu₃O _x suitable for neutron studies, by a top-seeded melt-growth technique. Growth conditions were optimized with an eye toward maximizing phase purity. It was found that the addition of 2% Y₂BaCuO₅ and 0.5% Pt (by mass) were required to prevent melt loss and to obtain the highest crystallinity. A neutron diffraction study on a mosaic of six such crystals found that the final Y₂BaCuO₅ concentration was 5%, while other impurity phases comprised less than 1% by volume. The oxygen content was set to x = 6.5, the crystals were detwinned, and then carefully annealed to give the well-ordered ortho-II phase. The neutron study determined that 70% of the mosaic's volume was in the majority orthorhomic domain. The neutron (006) and (110) rocking curve widths were ～1° per crystal and ～2.2° for the mosaic, and the oxygen chain correlation lengths were >100 Å in the a- and b-directions and ～50 Å in the c-direction.     

Synthesis and Structure of Complexes of Np(V) Perchlorate and Np(V) Chloride with Urea

The crystal structure of [NpO₂{OC(NH₂)₂}₅]ClO₄·H₂O and [NpO₂Cl{OC(NH₂)₂}₄] was studied by X-ray diffraction. The electronic absorption spectra of these complexes were recorded. The coordination polyhedron of Np in both complexes is a distorted pentagonal bipyramid. There is no cation-cation interaction of neptunyl cations in these complexes.     

The first accurate measurement of systolic and diastolic bloodpressure

Poiseuille, known for his law of fluid flow, which is the analog of Ohm's law, introduced the units (mmHg) by which we measure blood pressure by using the mercury manometer, which he described in his medical school thesis in 1828. For 50 years, mean blood pressure was all that could be measured because of the long response time of the mercury manometer. It is true that the height of the mercury column displayed pulsatile oscillations, but their amplitude was much less than that of pulse pressure. It is interesting to note that the slowly responding mercury manometer was made to display first systolic then diastolic pressure by means of an ingenious device that contained two oppositely directed check valves. It took from 1828 to 1903 for high-fidelity graphic recordings of blood pressure to appear in which systolic and diastolic pressures were believable. However, systolic and diastolic pressures were measurable since 1878 when Golz and Gaule created their ingenious valved device that permitted use of the slowly responding mercury manometer to display these pressures accurately