Spatially dispersive displacement sensor utilizing a semiconductor gain chip

We demonstrate the development of a simply equipped displacement sensor utilizing spatially dispersive confocal technology. It feeds the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of a laser diode to a wavelength-selective feedback structure that corresponds to the position of a measured surface. The displacement sensor has a detecting range of 4 microm and precision of less than 2 nm, as proven by the analysis of the spectral shifts of the multipassed amplified output ASE. As compared with traditional sensors, the displacement sensor presented in our study requires fewer components and has as high precision as complex systems and a higher measurement rate due to the simpler strategy of displacement determination.     

Illumination system for wire bonding inspection

A novel lighting system was devised for 3D defect inspection in the wire bonding process. Gold wires of 20 microm in diameter were bonded to connect the integrated circuit (IC) chip with the substrate. Bonding wire defects can be classified as 2D type and 3D type. The 2D-type defects include missed, shifted, or shorted wires. These defects can be inspected from a 2D top-view image of the wire. The 3D-type bonding wire defects are sagging wires, and are difficult to inspect from a 2D top-view image. A structured lighting system was designed and developed to facilitate all 2D-type and 3D-type defect inspection. The devised lighting system can be programmed to turn the structured LEDs on or off independently. Experiments show that the devised illumination system is effective for wire bonding inspection and will be valuable for further applications.     

Determination of retardation parameters of multiple-order wave plate using a phase-sensitive heterodyne ellipsometer

To characterize the linear birefringence of a multiple-order wave plate (MWP), an oblique incidence is one of the methods available. Multiple reflections in the MWP are produced, and oscillations in the phase retardation measurement versus the oblique incident angle are then measured. Therefore, an antireflection coated MWP is required to avoid oscillation of the phase retardation measurement. In this study, we set up a phase-sensitive heterodyne ellipsometer to measure the phase retardations of an uncoated MWP versus the oblique incident angle, which was scanned in the x-z plane and y-z plane independently. Thus, the effect on multiple reflections by the MWP is reduced by means of subtracting the two measured phase retardations from each other. As a result, a highly sensitive and accurate measurement of retardation parameters (RPs), which includes the refractive indices of the extraordinary ray n(e) and ordinary ray n(o), is obtained by this method. On measurement, a sensitivity (n(e),n(o)) of 10(-6) was achieved by this experiment setup. At the same time, the spatial shifting of the P and S waves emerging from the MWP introduced a deviation between experimental results and the theoretical calculation.     

数控曲轴旋转感应淬火机床的控制系统

介绍数控曲轴旋转感应淬火机床控制系统的软、硬件组成和系统设计中主要难点问题的解决方法。     

Dopamine-induced endocytosis of Na+,K+-ATPase is initiated by phosphorylation of Ser-18 in the rat alpha subunit and Is responsible for the decreased activity in epithelial cells

Dopamine inhibits Na+,K+-ATPase activity in renal tubule cells. This inhibition is associated with phosphorylation and internalization of the alpha subunit, both events being protein kinase C-dependent. Studies of purified preparations, fusion proteins with site-directed mutagenesis, and heterologous expression systems have identified two major protein kinase C phosphorylation residues (Ser-11 and Ser-18) in the rat alpha1 subunit isoform. To identify the phosphorylation site(s) that mediates endocytosis of the subunit in response to dopamine, we have performed site-directed mutagenesis of these residues in the rat alpha1 subunit and expressed the mutated forms in a renal epithelial cell line. Dopamine inhibited Na+,K+-ATPase activity and increased alpha subunit phosphorylation and clathrin-dependent endocytosis into endosomes in cells expressing the wild type alpha1 subunit or the S11A alpha1 mutant, and both effects were blocked by protein kinase C inhibition. In contrast, dopamine did not elicit any of these effects in cells expressing the S18A alpha1 mutant. While Ser-18 phosphorylation is necessary for endocytosis, it does not affect per se the enzymatic activity: preventing endocytosis with wortmannin or LY294009 blocked the inhibitory effect of dopamine on Na+,K+-ATPase activity, although it did not alter the increased alpha subunit phosphorylation induced by this agonist. We conclude that dopamine-induced inhibition of Na+, K+-ATPase activity in rat renal tubule cells requires endocytosis of the alpha subunit into defined intracellular compartments and that phosphorylation of Ser-18 is essential for this process.     

cAMP mediates transepithelial K+ and Na+ transport in a strial marginal cell line

The recently described gastrointestinal glutathione peroxidase (GI-GPx) is the fourth member of the family of the selenoenzymes glutathione peroxidases (GPx). In contrast to the more uniform distribution of, for example, the classical glutathione peroxidase (cGPx), it is expressed exclusively in the gastrointestinal tract and has, therefore, been suggested to function as a primary barrier against alimentary hydroperoxides. In order to get an idea of its relative importance we investigated its position in the hierarchy of selenoprotein expression. The selenium-dependent expression of GI-GPx was analyzed in comparison with that of other GPx types at the level of mRNA and protein in HepG2 and CaCo-2 cells. Furthermore, the selenocysteine insertion sequence (SECIS) efficiencies of GI-GPx, phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) and cGPx in response to selenium were determined by a reporter-gene assay in human hepatoma cells and baby hamster kidney cells. GI-GPx mRNA levels increased during selenium deficiency, whereas cGPx mRNA levels decreased and PHGPx mRNA levels remained almost unaffected. In cells grown in selenium-poor media, all GPx-types were low in both activity and immunochemical reactivity. Upon selenium repletion immunoreactive GI-GPx protein reached a plateau after 10 h, whereas cGPx started to be expressed at 24 h and did not reach its maximum level before 3 days. SECIS efficiencies decreased in the order PHGPx > cGPx > GI-GPx. The augmentation of SECIS efficiencies by selenium was highest for cGPx and intermediate for PHGPx, whereas it was marginal for GI-GPx. The high mRNA stability under selenium restriction, the speed of biosynthesis upon selenium repletion and the marginal effect of selenium on the SECIS efficiency indicate that of the GPx isotypes, GI-GPx ranks highest in the hierarchy of selenoproteins and point to a vital role of GI-GPx in the gastrointestinal tract.     

Hypoxia-mediated stimulation of carcinoma cell invasiveness via upregulation of urokinase receptor expression

Tumor hypoxia and high levels of expression of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) receptor (uPAR) represent a poor clinical outcome for patients with various cancers. Here, we examined the effect of hypoxia on in vitro invasion of extracellular matrix and uPAR expression by human carcinoma cells. Compared with culture under 20% O2, culture for up to 24 hr under 1% or 4% O2 resulted in increased cell surface uPAR. However, the highest uPAR levels were observed in cells cultured under 1% O2. Culture of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells under hypoxia also resulted in increased uPAR mRNA levels. Furthermore, incubation with cobalt chloride or with an iron chelator also resulted in elevated uPAR expression, while presence of 30% carbon monoxide in the hypoxic atmosphere reduced the hypoxia-mediated uPAR mRNA upregulation. Increased uPAR expression was paralleled by higher cell-associated uPA levels and lower levels of secreted uPA as determined by gel zymography performed on cell extracts and culture-conditioned media. In addition, the in vitro invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells was significantly higher when the invasion assay was performed under hypoxic conditions. This effect of hypoxia on invasion was abrogated by including in the assay a monoclonal, function-blocking anti-u PAR antibody or by the presence of 30% carbon monoxide in the hypoxic atmosphere. Our findings indicate that hypoxia stimulates carcinoma cell invasiveness by upregulating uPAR expression on the cell surface through a mechanism that requires a putative heme protein. Through a similar mechanism, hypoxia may stimulate tumor invasion and metastasis in vivo.     

Electrochemical promotion of IrO2 catalyst activity for the gas phase combustion of ethylene

The catalytic activity for the gas phase combustion of ethylene of an IrO2 film, used as electrode in a solid electrolyte cell, can be increased by polarizing the metal–solid electrolyte interface. The catalytic activity remains higher even after current interruption. To explain the increase in the open circuit rate after polarization we speculate that the IrO2 catalyst is oxidized at the catalyst–solid electrolyte interface, forming IrO2+delta, which is transported by surface and/or bulk diffusion to the gas exposed catalyst, thus modifying its catalytic activity.     

Robust observer-based OMF vibration control of flexible linkage mechanisms using piezoelectric films

Based on the state-space model of the flexible linkage mechanism equipped with piezoelectric films, a robust control methodology for actively suppressing the elastodynamic responses of the high-speed flexible linkage mechanism with linear structured time-varying parameter perturbations by employing an observer-based optimal model-following (OMF) controller is presented. The advantage of the proposed robust observer-based OMF control methodology is that it not only can avoid the problem of how to choose the appropriate weighting matrices in the quadratic cost function of the linear-quadratic/linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQ/LQG) control method but also can make the controlled closed-loop system to have the specified system response characteristics. Besides, in order to guarantee that the designed observer-based OMF controller can make the controlled flexible linkage mechanism system to avoid the possibilities of both spillover-induced instability and time-varying-parameter-perturbation-induced instability, a robust stability criterion is also presented in this paper. The control method, presented in this paper, can not only make the controlled closed-loop system to have the specified system response characteristics, but also guarantee the controlled closed-loop system to have robust stability properties by using the proposed robust stability criterion; while those control methods reported recently do not have these above-mentioned merits. Finally, an active robust vibration control problem of a slider-crank mechanism is provided for illustrating the applicability of the proposed method.     

Weighted universal image compression

We describe a general coding strategy leading to a family of universal image compression systems designed to give good performance in applications where the statistics of the source to be compressed are not available at design time or vary over time or space. The basic approach considered uses a two-stage structure in which the single source code of traditional image compression systems is replaced with a family of codes designed to cover a large class of possible sources. To illustrate this approach, we consider the optimal design and use of two-stage codes containing collections of vector quantizers (weighted universal vector quantization), bit allocations for JPEG-style coding (weighted universal bit allocation), and transform codes (weighted universal transform coding). Further, we demonstrate the benefits to be gained from the inclusion of perceptual distortion measures and optimal parsing. The strategy yields two-stage codes that significantly outperform their single-stage predecessors. On a sequence of medical images, weighted universal vector quantization outperforms entropy coded vector quantization by over 9 dB. On the same data sequence, weighted universal bit allocation outperforms a JPEG-style code by over 2.5 dB. On a collection of mixed test and image data, weighted universal transform coding outperforms a single, data-optimized transform code (which gives performance almost identical to that of JPEG) by over 6 dB.