New prediction algorithms by covariance information based on innovation theory

This paper states a new design method of recursive predictor and filter based on the innovations theory, using signal and noise covariance information, for white Gaussian and white Gaussian + coloured observation noises. The derived prediction and filtering algorithms estimate stationary stochastic signal processes.The digital simulation results indicate that the algorithms presented are feasible.     

Distribution of Glycolipid and Unsaturated Fatty Acids in Human Hair

It has been recognized that human hair lipids play crucial roles in the integrity of cells and matrices, while the details of distribution and structure of the minor lipids are hardly known. Here we investigated the lipids at the hair surface, at the interface between cuticle and cortex and in the interior of hair (cortex, medulla and melanin granules). Hair lipids and fatty acids and their metabolites were detected and characterized by using infrared spectroscopy and several mass spectrometry techniques (FTIR, ToF–SIMS, GCMS, and ESI–MS). As a result, it was found that unsaturated fatty acids were present more in the cortex of hair than at the hair surface. At the interface between cuticle and cortex, it is suggested that steryl glycoside‐like lipids containing N‐acetylglucosamine were present, and contributing to the adhesion between the cuticle and cortex of hair. Oxidative metabolites derived from integral fatty acids such as linoleic and alpha‐linolenic acids were found in the hair bulb and melanin granules. Especially the oxidative metabolites of alpha‐linolenic acid were integrated into the lipids non‐covalently and tightly bound to melanin granules (namely, melanin lipids) and suggested as being involved in the biosynthetic processes of melanosome.     

Improvements in performance of focused ion beam cross-sectioning: aspects of ion-sample interaction

A gallium (Ga) focused ion beam (FIB) has been applied increasingly to 'site-specific' preparation of cross-sectional samples for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning TEM, scanning electron microscopy and scanning ion microscopy. It is absolutely required for FIB cross-sectioning to prepare higher-quality samples in a shorter time without sacrificing the site specificity. The present paper clarifies the parameters that impose limitation on the following performances of the FIB cross-sectioning: milling rate, cross-sectioning at a right angle with respect to the sample surface, curtain structures formed on the cross sections, ion implantation and ion damage. All of these are discussed from the viewpoint of ion-sample interaction. Improvements for these performances achieved by diminishing their limiting origins or by correcting the resultants are described. Especially, the FIB scanning speed is significantly utilizable to improve the milling rate. A microsampling method, which allows the FIB incidence in a sidewards or upwards direction as well as downwards with respect to the microsample surface, is very effective to minimize the curtain structures.     

Multiple-attribute decision making under uncertainty: the evidential reasoning approach revisited

In multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) problems, one often needs to deal with decision information with uncertainty. During the last decade, Yang and Singh (1994) have proposed and developed an evidential reasoning (ER) approach to deal with such MADM problems. Essentially, this approach is based on an evaluation analysis model and Dempster's rule of combination in the Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory of evidence. This paper reanalyzes the ER approach explicitly in terms of D-S theory and then proposes a general scheme of attribute aggregation in MADM under uncertainty. In the spirit of such a reanalysis, previous ER algorithms are reviewed and two other aggregation schemes are discussed. Theoretically, it is shown that new aggregation schemes also satisfy the synthesis axioms, which have been recently proposed by Yang and Xu (2002) for which any rational aggregation process should grant. A numerical example traditionally examined in published sources on the ER approach is used to illustrate the discussed techniques.     

A satisfactory-oriented approach to multiexpert decision-making with linguistic assessments.

This paper proposes a multiexpert decision-making (MEDM) method with linguistic assessments, making use of the notion of random preferences and a so-called satisfactory principle. It is well known that decision-making problems that manage preferences from different experts follow a common resolution scheme composed of two phases: an aggregation phase that combines the individual preferences to obtain a collective preference value for each alternative; and an exploitation phase that orders the collective preferences according to a given criterion, to select the best alternative/s. For our method, instead of using an aggregation operator to obtain a collective preference value, a random preference is defined for each alternative in the aggregation phase. Then, based on a satisfactory principle defined in this paper, that says that it is perfectly satisfactory to select an alternative as the best if its performance is as at least "good" as all the others under the same evaluation scheme, we propose a linguistic choice function to establish a rank ordering among the alternatives. Moreover, we also discuss how this linguistic decision rule can be applied to the MEDM problem in multigranular linguistic contexts. Two application examples taken from the literature are used to illuminate the proposed techniques.     

Development of gene delivery systems for the epsilon-poly-L-lysine producer, Streptomyces albulus

Streptomyces albulus IFO14147 produces epsilon-poly-L-lysine (epsilon-PL), an amino acid homopolymer antibiotic that is used as a food preservative in many countries, including Japan, South Korea, and the United States. To construct an overproducer of the industrially important epsilon-PL and to develop a deeper understanding of its biosynthetic mechanism, we developed systems for DNA delivery into the S. albulus strain based on both polyethylene glycol-mediated protoplast transformation and intergeneric conjugation from Escherichia coli. The successes of these transformations in particular were accomplished by employing the new cryptic-plasmid-based shuttle vectors constructed in this study. The genetic systems developed here should facilitate a molecular genetic approach to S. albulus.     

Development of a gas injection/specimen heating holder for use with transmission electron microscope

A new gas injection/specimen heating holder is developed for the purpose of in situ observation of gas reaction of materials at high temperatures in a transmission electron microscope at near-atomic resolution. A fine tungsten wire is employed as a heating element of the holder and a battery is used as the power source. Gas was injected onto specimens in the form of particles lying on the heating element via a nozzle. The maximum pressure near specimens was middle of 10(-2) Pa, while the pressure in the electron-gun chamber was kept to 2 x 10(-4) Pa. This gas injection/specimen heating holder was applied to observe solid-gas reactions. The reactions observed include oxidation of pure In into In2O3, reduction of SiO2 into Si and re-oxidation of Si into SiO2.     

Stability of the crystal structures of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) by CNDO/2 calculations

CNDO/2 calculations using the tight-binding approximation for polymers was applied to poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The calculations were performed assuming several crystal structures. The stability among the structures was explained by using the calculated results in connection with the hydrogen bonding involved.     

Study on the detection of implantation site in rabbits

In this study, an alkaline treatment was applied to the observation of implantation site in rabbits. Embryos in pregnant rabbits were stabbed to death on days 7, 8, 9, 10 and 18 of gestation. These animals were sacrificed on day 29. The uteri were removed, immersed in 2% sodium hydroxide and fixed with 10% buffered formalin. After the alkaline treatment, all of the implantation sites were clearly recognizable as white tissue since the other parts became fairly transparent. Even after the formalin fixation, all the implantation sites were similarly detectable. The mean area of implantation sites visibly increased after day 10. From all the results, the simple and accurate procedure including alkaline treatment was concluded to be useful for estimating implantation and pregnancy conditions in rabbits.