A video DSP with a macroblock-level-pipeline and a SIMD typevector-pipeline architecture for MPEG2 CODEC

A video DSP with macroblock-level-pipeline and a SIMD type vector-pipeline architecture (VDSP2) has been developed, using 0.5 μm triple-layer-metal CMOS technology. This 17.00 mm×15.00 mm chip consists of 2.5 M transistors, and operates at 100 MHz. The real-time encoder and decoder specified in the MPEG2 main profile at the main level can be realized with two VDSP2's and a motion estimation (ME) unit, and one VDSP2 respectively, at an 80 MHz clock rate, with a total power dissipation of 4.2 W at 3.3 V     

Pulmonary sequestration receiving arterial supply from the right coronary artery. A case report

Pulmonary sequestration is a relatively rare anomaly. The arterial supply usually is derived from the aorta or its major branches. We present a 65-year-old female patient with pulmonary sequestration receiving arterial supply from the right coronary artery, complicated with sick sinus syndrome.     

Regulation of Kv4.2 and Kv1.4 K+ channel expression by myocardial hypertrophic factors in cultured newborn rat ventricular cells

Postnatal development and myocardial hypertrophy are associated with alterations in cardiac voltage-gated K+ channels. To investigate mechanisms underlying this K+ channel remodeling, expression of Kv4.2 and Kv1.4 K+ channel alpha-subunits was examined in cultured newborn rat ventricular myocytes by Western blot analysis using polyclonal antibodies against each of the subunits. At day 5 of cell culture, Kv1.4 protein was expressed at higher level than Kv4.2; as the age of culture progressed, Kv1.4 was significantly diminished while Kv4.2 increased with time in culture and became the predominant K+ channel protein. Such K+ channel isoform switch from Kv1.4 to Kv4.2 resembles that of the development in vivo. A 72-h treatment with exogenous triiodothyronine (T3, 0.1 microM) to cultured neonatal myocytes enhanced the expression of Kv4.2 by 73% and decreased the Kv1.4 expression by 22%. The effects of T3 were associated with an increase in the protein-to-DNA ratio indicating myocyte hypertrophy. On the other hand, a 72-h treatment with cardiac non-myocyte cell (NMC)-conditioned growth medium (NCGM) or phenylephrine (20 microM) induced similar cell hypertrophy, but in sharp contrast to T3, both markedly suppressed the Kv4.2 channel protein level. In addition, the trophic and the Kv4.2-downregulating effects of NCGM could be mimicked by exogenous endothelin-1 (0.1 microM), a paracrine factor secreted from cardiac NMCs. Our observations for the first time suggest that cardiac Kv4.2 and Kv1.4 K+ channel alpha-subunits are differentially regulated by a variety of myocardial hypertrophic factors. That T3 accelerated the developmental K+ channel isoform switch from Kv1.4 to Kv4.2 in vitro indicates the critical importance of thyroid hormone in postnatal K+ channel remodeling. Cardiac NMCs and alpha-adrenoceptor activation may contribute to the reduced outward K+ channel density in hypertrophied cardiomyocytes.     

Wide gamut LCD using locally dimmable four‐primary‐color LED backlight

This paper proposes a wide gamut LCD using locally dimmable four‐primary‐color (4PC) LED backlight. Although the color gamut of LCDs has been improved in recent years, it is insufficient to reproduce all the colors in the real world. The objective of this paper is to propose a wide gamut LCD that reproduces all the colors in the real world while keeping the cost increases to a minimum. We evaluated the color gamut reproduced by LEDs of multiple primary colors and selected cyan as the optimal color to be added to the three primary colors to reproduce all the colors in the real world. Therefore, we designed an LED backlight consisting of an additional only‐cyan LED with three‐primary‐color LEDs and developed a prototype LCD with 4PC LED backlight. Furthermore, we developed a local dimming algorithm for the 4PC LED backlight. As a result, we confirmed that the prototype LCD with the 4PC LED backlight is able to cover almost all the colors in the real world and also able to display natural images with highly saturated colors by local dimming.     

Wheel/rail contact dynamics in turnout negotiations with combined nodal and non-conformal contact approach

In railroad turnouts, geometries of tongue and crossing rails are very complex and their shapes are changing along the track. Therefore, wheels are subjected to not only tread and flange contacts, but also the back-of-flange and top-of-flange contacts in the case of spring switches of tram vehicles. For this reason, one needs to deal with significant jumps in contact points for solving wheel/rail contact problems in turnout, and an accurate prediction of jumps in contact points is one of the most important issues that need to be carefully handled in the dynamic simulation of vehicle/turnout interactions. In this investigation, a numerical procedure that can be used for solving such a complex wheel/rail contact problem in turnout is proposed. In particular, a combined nodal and non-conformal contact approach is developed such that significant jumps in contact points are detected using the nodal search, while the exact location of contact point is then determined with continuous surface parameterizations using non-conformal contact equations. With this combined nodal and non-conformal contact approach for the contact geometry analysis of vehicle/turnout interactions, multiple look-up contact tables can be generated in an efficient way without losing accuracy. Since detailed contact search is performed off-line to obtain look-up contact tables, significant changes in contact points in turnout can be efficiently predicted on-line with tabular data to be interpolated in a standard way. Several numerical examples are presented in order to demonstrate the use of the numerical procedure developed in this investigation.     

Synthesis of Sn-Incorporated Folded Sheets Mesoporous Materials (Sn-FSM-16)

Sn-incorporated folded sheets mesoporous materials (Sn-FSM-16) with various contents of Sn were synthesized by using a mixture of water glass, SnCl₄ and NaOH as starting materials. Hexadecyltrimethyl-ammonium chloride (surfactant) was used to intercalate into the layered silicate. The reaction process was followed by measurements of XRD patterns of intermediates. The Sn-FSM-16 was formed via the following mechanism: (1) layered silicates such as - - and -Na₂Si₂O₅ were formed as intermediates by the calcination of the mixture of the starting materials; (2) the surfactant was intercalated into the layered silicates; (3) the surfactant-silicate complex with hexagonal structure was obtained as a precursor of Sn-FSM-16; (4) the precursor was calcined to decompose the surfactant in the interlayer and was changed to Sn-FSM-16. The structural aspect of Sn in Sn-FSM-16 was studied by XPS profiles of Sn 3d _5/2 and Si_2p, ²⁹ Si MAS NMR and FTIR. The content of Sn in Sn-FSM increased with increasing concentrations of both Sn and NaOH in the starting materials. The surface area of Sn-FSM-16 decreased with an increase of Sn content in Sn-FSM (1160–620 m²/g).     

Effects of thermal modification on the structural properties of thermotropic liquid crystalline copolyester and phenoxy resin blends

The effects of thermal modification on the structural properties were studied for a poly(ethylene terephthalate-co-p-hydroxybenzoic acid) liquid crystal bended with phenoxy resin. Poor miscibility and phase separation between the blend components are observed by the temperature dependence of dynamic mechanical properties of sample molded at 260°C, over the composition range studied. The miscibility of the blends is increased by molding at 280°C, and the blends molded by increasing the processing time show a dynamic mechanical transition to a homogeneous blend. These changes are the result of an interchange reaction between the blend components. A rubbery modulus has been observed for such blends. This implies the formation of cross-linked structures that accompany the interchange reactions.     

Mechanical dispersion of crosslinked polymers reinforced with randomly distributed short fiber

The dynamic viscoelastic properties of composites reinforced with randomly distributed short glass and carbon fibers were studied in relation to the dependence on the fiber length, the mixing ratio of glass fibers of different length, and the kind of polymer matrix. Although the composite reinforced with glass fiber of 0.05 mm in length shows only one dispersion (α) corresponding to the primary transition of polymer matrix, those reinforced with 3- and 10-mm glass fibers, and those reinforced with the mixture of 10- and 0.05-mm glass fibers are characterized by two additional dispersions (α′ and α″) which appear on the lower frequency side or higher temperature side of the α-dispersion. The composite reinforced with 3-mm carbon fiber does not show the additional dispersions. The α′- and α″-dispersions appear irrespective of the kind of matrix polymer.     

Decomposition of Carbon Dioxide to Carbon with Active Wustite at 300°C

Active wustite (FeδO, with a δ value of 0.98) was prepared by keeping normal wustite (δ value of 0.94) in a N₂ atmosphere at 300°C for 10 min. This reaction is given by (4δ₂–3)Fe_δ1O→(4δ₁–3)Fe_δ2O + (δ₂–δ₁)Fe₃O₄ where δ₁= 0.94 and δ₂= 0.98. The equation indicates that the normal wustite undergoes eutectoid decomposition into active wustite and stoichiometric magnetite (Fe₃O₄). Carbon dioxide (1.013 × 10⁵ Pa) was almost completely (100%) decomposed into carbon (zero valence) by the active wustite at the low temperature of 300°C, which was associated with the transformation of the active wustite into the stoichiometric magnetite. The internal pressure of the reaction cell eventually became a vacuum.