On properties of circuit for circuit evaluation as a parallelization procedure

It is shown here that if NC = P , the NC hierarchy collapses. We give two proofs for this. From the point of view of a circuit for circuit evaluation, the assumption that NC = P implies that any polynomial size circuit can be transduced into a polynomial size and poly‐log depth circuit. Such a parallelization property can be applied not only for uniform circuits but also for nonuniform circuits. This interesting property suggests that the assumption NC = P would be false. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 162(2): 46–50, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20488     

An EDTA-associated anti-B agglutinin: the role of ionized calcium

BACKGROUND: It is believed that EDTA-dependent panagglutination is associated with free carboxylic acids that support reactions of rare autoagglutinins. CASE REPORT: An ABO typing discrepancy occurred in an 88-year-old patient. The specificity of his autoagglutinin was demonstrated by panel cell study and absorption tests using normal donors' red cells or immunoadsorbents coated with A, B, or O substances. Inhibition assays were performed to determine whether the autoagglutinin was inhibited by ionized calcium or carboxylic acids. The autoagglutinin had anti-B specificity when tested in the presence of EDTA. It was neutralized by group B secretor saliva and adsorbed by crystalline silica coated with simple B substances with or without EDTA, although it was absorbed by group B red cells only in the presence of EDTA. The agglutinating activity was stronger at 25 degrees C (titer 64) than at 37 degrees C (titer 16) and was destroyed by treatment of the serum with dithiothreitol, which suggests that the autoagglutinin is IgM. This activity also appeared in the patient's serum after dialysis and in an eluate obtained after adsorption with simple B substances, and it was inhibited by the addition of CaCl2 at 0.5 mM or higher concentrations. This suggests that the agglutination is not dependent on EDTA but, rather, on the concentration of ionized calcium. The autoagglutinin failed to react with group B red cells treated with glutaraldehyde for 10 minutes. CONCLUSION: An anti-B autoagglutinin was shown to have caused an ABO typing discrepancy in the presence of EDTA. These results suggest that autoagglutination requires an environment with low levels of ionized calcium, but not the presence of carboxyl groups.     

PZT-Polymer 1-3 Composite for High Resolution Ultrasonic Imaging

A novel process has been developed to construct PZT-polymer 1-3 micro composites for high-resolution ultrasonic imaging for medical diagnosis. The key technology is the lost silicon (Si) mold process, by which PZT micro-rod arrays have been successfully fabricated with the finest rod size being 7 μm, the highest aspect ratio exceeding 15. Such fine-scale high-aspect-ratio PZT structures, which are essential for realizing high imaging performance, have never been realized by any conventional technique.     

On the pseudo-freeness and the CDH assumption

The notion of pseudo-free group was first introduced by Hohenberger (Master’s thesis, EECS Dept., MIT, 2003). Rivest (TCC 2004. LNCS 2951, 505–521, 2004) formalized it and showed that several standard cryptographic assumptions hold on pseudo-free groups, such as the RSA assumption, the strong RSA assumption and the discrete logarithm assumption. Rivest (TCC 2004. LNCS 2951, 505–521, 2004) also proposed some variations of pseudo-free group, and those were formalized by Hirano and Tanaka (Research Reports, Series C: Computer Science, C-239, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2007). In this paper, we study the relationships among such variations of pseudo-free group. We show that the pseudo-freeness implies the weak pseudo-freeness, and that the pseudo-freeness is equivalent to the pseudo-freeness with generalized exponential expressions. We also show that the computational Diffie-Hellman assumption holds on pseudo-free groups in a slightly varied form.     

Frenkel pair accumulation induced crystallization of amorphous MgAl2O4

The epitaxial and homogeneous irradiation induced re-crystallization of amorphous MgAl₂O₄ was studied by means of continuous Frenkel pair accumulation in the molecular dynamics framework. Present results point out that the re-crystallization induced by Frenkel pair accumulation appears in both cases to be thermally enhanced but non diffusive. It is governed by a local rearrangement of each point defect in the homogeneous case, while spontaneous Frenkel pair recombination process in the crystalline part or at the interface drives the re-crystallization in the epitaxial case.     

Oxidation and stress relief in air at room temperature of amorphous silicon hydrogenated in a glow discharge

Glow-discharge-hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si : H) was found to be oxidized in the following two ways after exposing to air at room temperature; first, thin oxide films grew uniformly on the a-Si : H, slowly with increase of exposure time; secondly, oxide with a columnar morphology grew rapidly with the increase of exposure time and the cross section of the columnar oxide was small. Mechanical stress caused by the differences of the thermal expansion coefficient and the crystallographical structure between the a-Si : H and substrates was relieved with the increase in the amount of the columnar oxide.     

Interface state generation mechanism in n-MOSFET's

Uniform carrier injection into the channel of n-MOSFETs generates two types of interface states, depending on the oxide electric field: One is linearly proportional to the injected electron density (Type I), while the other shows a half-power dependence (Type II). Charge-pumping measurements in the temperature range of 77K and 263K show that the type I interface states are located in the mid-gap, while the type II interface states are uniformly distributed in wide energy range. Holes generated at the gate/SiO₂ interface or in the oxide are found to be responsible for the type I interface states, while hydrogen or hydrogen compounds diffusing from the interface cause the type II interface states.     

Three-Dimensional Stress Analysis of Adhesive Butt Joints of Solid Cylinders Subjected to External Tensile Loads

This paper deals with a three-dimensional stress analysis of adhesive butt joints of similar solid cylinders subjected to external tensile loads. Similar adherends and an adhesive bond are replaced with finite solid cylinders in the analysis. Stress distributions on adhesive joints are analyzed strictly by using the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The effects of stiffness, thickness and Poisson's ratio of the adhesive bonds and of external load distribution on the normal and the shear stress distributions are shown by numerical calculations. In addition, the analytical result is compared with the result obtained by F.E.M. It is seen that they are in fairly good agreement.     

Antioxidant Effects of Herbal Tea Leaves from Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) on Multiple Free Radical and Reducing Power Assays,Especially on Different Superoxide Anion Radical Generation Systems

Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius), a native Andean plant, has been cultivated as a crop and locally used as a traditional folk medicine for the people suffering from diabetes and digestive/renal disorders. However, the medicinal properties of this plant and its processed foods have not been completely established. This study investigates the potent antioxidative effects of herbal tea leaves from yacon in different free radical models and a ferric reducing model. A hot‐water extract exhibited the highest yield of total polyphenol and scavenging effect on 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical among four extracts prepared with hot water, methanol, ethanol, and ethylacetate. In addition, a higher reducing power of the hot‐water extract was similarly demonstrated among these extracts. Varying concentrations of the hot‐water extract resulted in different scavenging activities in four synthetic free radical models: DPPH radical (EC₅₀ 28.1 μg/mL), 2,2′‐azinobis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) cation radical (EC₅₀ 23.7 μg/mL), galvinoxyl radical (EC₅₀ 3.06 μg/mL), and chlorpromazine cation radical (EC₅₀ 475 μg/mL). The yacon tea‐leaf extract further demonstrated superoxide anion (O₂^?) radical scavenging effects in the phenazine methosulfate‐NADH‐nitroblue tetrazolium (EC₅₀ 64.5 μg/mL) and xanthine oxidase assay systems (EC₅₀ 20.7 μg/mL). Subsequently, incubating human neutrophilic cells in the presence of the tea‐leaf extract could suppress the cellular O₂^? radical generation (IC₅₀ 65.7 μg/mL) in a phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate‐activated cell model. These results support yacon tea leaves may be a good source of natural antioxidants for preventing O₂^? radical‐mediated disorders.