Proper acquisition and handling of scanning electron microscopy images using a high-performance personal computer

The modern high-performance personal computer (PC) has very recently expanded the range of utilization of digital scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, and the PC will be used increasingly with SEMs. However, the image quality of digital SEM images may be considerably influenced by scanning and digitization conditions. In particular, the effects of the aliasing error peculiar to digital data are often serious in the low-magnification acquisition (undersampling) of SEM images, and moreover even a high-magnification image (oversampling) is disturbed by the undersampled noise (a sort of aliasing error). Furthermore, the signal-to-noise ratio of a digitized SEM image is closely related to the performance of the analog-to-digital converter. To prevent a flood of low-quality digital images with artifacts by the aliasing and additional noise, we propose a method using very high-density sampling (scanning). In addition, we will discuss how to handle digital SEM images from the point of view of the sampling and quantization.     

Molecular composition of the 16S toxin produced by a Clostridium botulinum type D strain, 1873

The 16S toxin was purified from a Clostridium botulinum type D strain 1873 (D-1873). Furthermore, the entire nucleotide sequences of the genes coding for the 16S toxin were determined. It became clear that the purified D-1873 16S toxin consists of neurotoxin, nontoxic nonhemagglutinin (NTNH), and hemagglutinin (HA), and that HA consists of four subcomponents, HA1, HA2, HA3a, and HA3b, the same as type D strain CB16 (D-CB16) 16S toxin. The nucleotide sequences of the nontoxic components of these two strains were also found to be identical except for several bases. However, the culture supernatant and the purified 16S toxin of D-1873 showed little HA activity, unlike D-CB16, though the fractions successively eluted after the D-1873 16S toxin peak from an SP-Toyopearl 650S column showed a low level of HA activity. The main difference between D-1873 and D-CB16 HA molecules was the mobility of the HA1 on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Therefore it was presumed that the loss of HA activity of D-1873 16S toxin might be caused by the differences of processing HA after the translation.     

Polymerization of 1,3-butadiene with MgCl2-supported cobalt catalysts activated by ordinary alkylaluminums

MgCl₂-supported CoBr₂ catalysts were prepared from mixture of MgCl₂ and CoBr₂L₂ (L = triphenylphosphine or pyridine) in toluene. Polymerization of 1,3-butadiene was conducted over the catalysts combined with ordinary alkylaluminums as cocatalyst. The CoBr₂(PPh₃)₂/MgCl₂ catalyst gave polybutadiene with approximately 80% of 1,2 units, whereas cis-1,4-poly-butadiene was obtained with the CoBr₂(C₅H₅N)₂/MgCl₂ catalyst. Addition of triphenylphospine to the latter catalyst caused a marked increase in the content of 1,2 units. The content of 1,2 units could be thus controlled in the range from 0 to 80% by changing the amount of triphenylphosphine. On the other hand, the CoBr₂(PPh₃)₂/MgCl₂ catalyst with very low content of CoBr₂(PPh₃)₂ hardly displayed any activity. Addition of dimethoxydiphenylsilane to the catalyst gave polybutadiene containing 90 % of 1,2 units with a fairly high activity.     

Estimation of the degradation of amorphous silicon solar cells

A long-term degradation test on amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells was performed under various light intensity and temperature conditions. We derived a basic equation for estimating the degradation of conversion efficiency and clarified the dependence of the level of degradation on these parameters. A unique phenomenon in which degradation was suppressed with increasing temperature was observed, and negative activation energies were obtained. The degraded characteristics of the solar cells recovered upon thermal annealing and the recovery characteristics were approximately using a stretched exponential function. The mechanisms by which degradation and recovery advance simultaneously with time are discussed.     

Ripple compensation of a single-phase rectifier by two-quadrant chopper and auxiliary capacitor

The single-phase converter or rectifier always has a voltage ripple in the output dc voltage because the instantaneous power of the single-phase ac line varies on the double frequency of the line. To obtain a smooth dc voltage, an energy-storing element is necessary. The smoothing capacitor is used to reduce the ripple voltage in the dc output. Usually, it has much larger capacitance than that needed to absorb the ripple energy. This paper discusses the required capacitance to absorb the ripple energy, and represents a ripple-compensation circuit with a small auxiliary capacitor controlled by a 2-quadrant chopper connected in parallel to the smoothing capacitor. The appended capacitor works under large ripple voltage and efficiently absorbs the ripple energy. The ripple-compensation circuit works as an equivalent capacitor with a large capacitance.     

Intra-aortic balloon pump driven by a linear pulse motor

The Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump (IABP) is an effective device in assisting circulation. However, a small-sized IABP is required in related fields. This paper proposes a new small-sized IABP which is driven by a Linear Pulse Motor (LPM) rather than an air-driven motor. In general, the LPM has advantages of high thrust/input power and good controllability. The developed LPM for the IABP drive has high thrust/input power of 19.9 newtons/W. It also has kinetic thrust of 270 newtons at the range of speed from 100 to 140 mm/s. The IABP using the LPM has an extremely simple construction. As the result of mock testing, the IABP using an LPM not only gives the same performance as the ordinary air-driven IABP, but the mass of the IABP will be reduced to half the size of the ordinary one.     

DNA hypermethylation at the D17S5 locus in non-small cell lung cancers: its association with smoking history

The aim of this study was to examine the association between DNA hypermethylation and clinicopathological features of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). The DNA methylation status at the D17S5 loci, at which a candidate tumor suppressor gene, HIC-1 (hypermethylated in cancer), was identified, of 51 paired tumor and nontumorous lung tissue specimens from NSCLC patients was examined by Southern blot analysis, using a methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme. DNA hypermethylation at this locus was found in 17 (33%) tumors and 16 (31%) nontumorous lung tissues. DNA in hypermethylation at this locus occurred more frequently in poorly than in well-differentiated tumors, especially in adenocarcinomas, and correlated significantly with the differentiation grade (P = 0.01). DNA hypermethylation at the D17S5 locus correlated significantly with the loss of heterozygosity at this locus in tumors (P = 0.01). The incidence of DNA hypermethylation was significantly higher in smokers than those who had never smoked in both tumors and nontumorous lung tissues (P = 0.03 and P = 0.01, respectively). These results suggest that DNA hypermethylation at the D17S5 locus may play a role in the development of NSCLCs in cigarette smokers.     

Apatite Coating on Organic Polymers by a Biomimetic Process

Dense and uniform layers of a biologically active carbonate-containing hydroxyapatite can be formed on various kinds of organic polymers by the following biomimetic method. First, a substrate is set in contact with particles of CaO–SiO₂-based glass soaked in a simulated body fluid (SBF) with ion concentrations nearly equal to those of human blood plasma for forming the apatite nuclei on the substrate. Second, the substrate is soaked in another solution highly supersaturated with respect to the apatite, e.g, with ion concentrations 1.5 times those of SBF (1.5SBF) for making the apatite nuclei grow on the substrate in situ. The induction period for the apatite nucleation, which is defined as the time of the first treatment required for forming enough of the apatite nuclei to make the continuous layer after the second treatment, was almost 24 h for most of the examined polymers. The adhesive strength of the formed apatite layer to the polymers was as high as 3 to 4 M Pa for poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly-ether sulfone, and poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogel. This type of apatite–organic polymer composite is expected to be useful for repairing not only living hard tissues but also soft ones.