Overproduction of Mpd2p suppresses the lethality of protein disulfide isomerase depletion in a CXXC sequence dependent manner

The third multicopy suppressor gene of the PDI1 deletion from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, MPD2, was isolated and characterized. The MPD2 gene encodes a protein with a putative signal sequence, ER retention signal, and a disulfide isomerase active site like sequence. The amino acid sequence around the active site like sequence is similar to the thioredoxin-like domains of PDI and PDI related proteins, although the similarity is comparatively low. A delta-pdi1 strain over-producing Mpd2p showed slow growth and was sensitive to 1 mM dithiothreitol. Mpd2p can be detected in wild type cells and is a glycoprotein. Although the MPD2 gene was not essential for growth, overexpression of the gene partially restored the maturation defect of carboxypeptidase Y caused by the PDI1 deletion. Mutagenesis analysis revealed that Mpd2p can compensate for the loss of PDI with its CXXC sequence.     

Autonomous robot navigation in outdoor cluttered pedestrian walkways

This paper describes an implementation of a mobile robot system for autonomous navigation in outdoor concurred walkways. The task was to navigate through nonmodified pedestrian paths with people and bicycles passing by. The robot has multiple redundant sensors, which include wheel encoders, an inertial measurement unit, a differential global positioning system, and four laser scanner sensors. All the computation was done on a single laptop computer. A previously constructed map containing waypoints and landmarks for position correction is given to the robot. The robot system's perception, road extraction, and motion planning are detailed. The system was used and tested in a 1‐km autonomous robot navigation challenge held in the City of Tsukuba, Japan, named “Tsukuba Challenge 2007.” The proposed approach proved to be robust for outdoor navigation in cluttered and crowded walkways, first on campus paths and then running the challenge course multiple times between trials and the challenge final. The paper reports experimental results and overall performance of the system. Finally the lessons learned are discussed. The main contribution of this work is the report of a system integration approach for autonomous outdoor navigation and its evaluation. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High-speed InGaAlAs-InAlAs MQW directional coupler waveguide switchmodules integrated with a spotsize converter having a lateral taper,thin-film core, and ridge

Fully packaged 2×2 and 4×4 semiconductor optical switch modules are successfully developed by integrating spotsize converters (SSCs) consisting of lateral tapers, thin-film cores, and ridges in InGaAlAs-InAlAs multiple quantum-well (MQW) directional coupler waveguide switches in the 1.55-μm wavelength region. Good reproducibility is obtained for the perfect coupling length of the directional coupler by appropriately designing the ridge width and gap of strip-loaded optical waveguides and by making use of the Cl₂ reactive-ion-beam-etching and successive wet-etching. Since the switching time is sufficiently short (<70 ps, which is limited by the driver speed) for the 4×4 switch module, no bits are lost during a 10-Gb/s switching experiment at a wavelength of 1.55 μm     

Development of a new sensorless vector‐controlled and transmissionless electric vehicle using a permanent‐magnet synchronous motor

One of the most important technologies for electric vehicles (EVs) will be drive control technology for the main motor. It is desired that the drive control technology have the following characteristics. (1) It does not require a position/speed sensor for controlling motor drive, which has been mounted on the rotor shaft. (2) It has vector controls that can produce torque quickly, efficiently, and/or precisely. (3) It has wide driving‐range and allows developing EVs with no variable transmission. This paper proposes new drive control technologies for such EVs using a permanent‐magnet synchronous motor as a main motor, and verifies its usefulness through development of an actual EV that can drive on public roads. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 165(3): 83–94, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20459     

Predictors of help seeking for emotional distress among Chinese Americans: Family matters.

Using data from the Chinese American Psychiatric Epidemiological Study, the authors examined longitudinal predictors of help seeking for emotional distress in a community sample of 1,503 Chinese Americans. Specifically, they assessed the relative contribution of family relational variables (e.g., levels of family support and family conflict) in predicting help seeking for medical, mental health, and informal services. After traditional need, predisposing, and enabling factors were controlled for in hierarchical logistic regression analyses, family conflict predicted both mental health and medical service use, whereas family support was not predictive of help seeking. In addition to family conflict, mental health service use was predicted by negative life events, emotional distress, and insurance coverage. Implications of the findings for assessing and treating Asian American clients are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structurally Diverse Polyamines: Solid‐Phase Synthesis and Interaction with DNA

A versatile solid‐phase approach based on peptide chemistry was used to construct four classes of structurally diverse polyamines with modified backbones: linear, partially constrained, branched, and cyclic. Their effects on DNA duplex stability and structure were examined. The polyamines showed distinct activities, thus highlighting the importance of polyamine backbone structure. Interestingly, the rank order of polyamine ability for DNA compaction was different to that for their effects on circular dichroism and melting temperature, thus indicating that these polyamines have distinct effects on secondary and higher‐order structures of DNA.