Frequency range extension of actively mode-locked lasers integratedwith electroabsorption modulators using chirped gratings

We have fabricated actively mode-locked lasers integrated with electroabsorption modulators and chirped gratings. A chirped grating with a large chirp rate of 1.45 Å/μm can be realized by using multiphase-shifted patterns. Short pulses of 4-6 ps were generated over a wide frequency range from 18.9-19.8 GHz. We observed jumps in the wavelength during detuning. These jumps arise from multiple lobes in the reflectivity spectrum. It is found that the wavelength jumps cause increases in the intensity noise. We showed that by reducing the grating length from 150 to 100 μm the sidelobes were suppressed and the detuning frequency range of over 1% could be realized. A smaller pulsewidth was obtained for the negatively-chirped gratings when compared to the positively chirped gratings     

Comprehensive Analysis of Oligo/Polysialylglycoconjugates in Cancer Cell Lines

In cancer cells, cell-surface sialylation is altered, including a change in oligo/polysialic acid (oligo/polySia) structures. Since they are unique and rarely expressed in normal cells, oligo/polySia structures may serve as promising novel biomarkers and targets for therapies. For the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, a precise understanding of the oligo/polySia structures in cancer cells is necessary. In this study, flow cytometric analysis and gene expression datasets were obtained from sixteen different cancer cell lines. These datasets demonstrated the ability to predict glycan structures and their sialylation status. Our results also revealed that sialylation patterns are unique to each cancer cell line. Thus, we can suggest promising combinations of antibody and cancer cell for glycan prediction. However, the precise prediction of minor glycans need to be further explored.     

Bile Acid–Drug Interaction via Organic Anion-Transporting Polypeptide 4C1 Is a Potential Mechanism of Altered Pharmacokinetics of Renally Excreted Drugs

Patients with liver diseases not only experience the adverse effects of liver-metabolized drugs, but also the unexpected adverse effects of renally excreted drugs. Bile acids alter the expression of renal drug transporters, however, the direct effects of bile acids on drug transport remain unknown. Renal drug transporter organic anion-transporting polypeptide 4C1 (OATP4C1) was reported to be inhibited by chenodeoxycholic acid. Therefore, we predicted that the inhibition of OATP4C1-mediated transport by bile acids might be a potential mechanism for the altered pharmacokinetics of renally excreted drugs. We screened 45 types of bile acids and calculated the IC₅₀, K_i values, and bile acid–drug interaction (BDI) indices of bile acids whose inhibitory effect on OATP4C1 was >50%. From the screening results, lithocholic acid (LCA), glycine-conjugated lithocholic acid (GLCA), and taurine-conjugated lithocholic acid (TLCA) were newly identified as inhibitors of OATP4C1. Since the BDI index of LCA was 0.278, LCA is likely to inhibit OATP4C1-mediated transport in clinical settings. Our findings suggest that dose adjustment of renally excreted drugs may be required in patients with renal failure as well as in patients with hepatic failure. We believe that our findings provide essential information for drug development and safe drug treatment in clinics.     

Fabrication of Al matrix composite reinforced with submicrometer-sized Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> particles formed by combustion reaction between HEMM Al and V<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>5</Subscript> composite particles during sintering

To fabricate an Al-V matrix composite reinforced with submicron-sized Al₂O₃ and Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) phases, high energy mechanical milling (HEMM) and sintering were employed. By increasing the milling time, the size of mechanically milled powder was significantly reduced. In this study, the average powder size of 59 μm for Al, and 178 μm for V₂O₅ decreased with the formation of a new product, Al-Al₂O₃-Al_xV_y, with a size range from 1.3 μm to 2.6 μm formed by the in-situ combustion reaction during sintering of HEM milled Al and V₂O₅ composite powders. The in-situ reaction between Al and V₂O₅ during the HEMM and sintering transformed the Al₂O₃ and Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) phases. Most of the reduced V reacted with excess the Al to form Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) with very little V dissolved into Al matrix. By increasing the milling time and weight percentage of V₂O₅, the hardness of the Al-Al₂O₃-Al_xV_y composite sintered at 1173 K increased. The composite fabricated with the HEMM Al-20wt.%V₂O₅ composite powder and sintering at 1173 K for 2 h had the highest hardness.     

An Improvement Method of Matrix Converter Drives Under Input Voltage Disturbances

While the matrix converter has many advantages that include bidirectional power flow, a size reduction, a long lifetime, and sinusoidal input currents, it is vulnerable to the input voltage disturbances, because it directly exchanges the input voltage to the output voltage. The instantaneous effective power control (IEPC) method has been proposed to compensate the input voltage disturbances, in which the instantaneous effective power is kept constant by controlling input current. However, to date, no method has been proposed to maintain the stability of the system with the IEPC. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to control the stability of the system with IEPC. First, this paper explains the IEPC theoretically. Next, a model of the system with the IEPC is developed, and stability analyses are conducted. Then, based on the results of the analyses, a stability control method for the system with the IEPC is proposed. Furthermore, the validities of the proposed method are demonstrated by simulation and experiments. Finally, a restart performance of the system after momentary power interruption is discussed. Because the IEPC does not need phase-locked-loop to detect the phase angle of the input voltage, fast restart is expected     

Penetration and stainability of modified Sato's lead staining solution.

The penetration and stainability of modified Sato's lead staining solution containing calcined lead citrate were studied. Modified Sato's lead solution was preserved for 1 week and for 2 years, each at room temperature and at 4 degrees C. Specimens were stained with these solutions to measure the stainability. After 2-min staining, specimens were stained to the depth of 1.0-1.2 microns even when there had been 2-year preservation of the staining solution. This modified solution could be preserved for a long time and good penetration and stainability could still be obtained. This solution is also suitable for the observation of semithin sections.     

Signal Detection Performance of Overlapped FFT Scheme with Additional Frames Consisting of Non-continuous Samples in Indoor Environment

Overlapped FFT has been proposed as a signal detection scheme in dynamic spectrum access to reduce the variance of the noise and improve the detection probability. However, the improvement of the detection probability in the conventional overlapped FFT is bounded with the upper limit of the overlap ratio. This paper proposes a new overlapped FFT scheme using additional frames. In the proposed scheme, in addition to the original FFT frames, new frames that consist of multiple subframes with non-continuous samples are constructed and included. It can realize the increase of the number of the FFT frames and the improvement of the detection probability compared with the conventional scheme. Numerical results through computer simulation show that the proposed scheme improves the detection probability by up to 0.07. On indoor channel models the proposed scheme also improves the detection probability. In addition, it is clarified that as the delay spread increases the detection probability reduces due to the correlation between the frames.