Arteriosclerosis obliterans that was improved by LDL apheresis

An enzyme hydrolyzing flavine-adenine dinucleotide (FAD) to flavine mononucleotide (FMN) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) was purified about 460-fold over the isolated lysosomal membranes with 9% recovery to apparent homogeneity, as determined from the pattern on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence and the absence of SDS. Purification procedures included: preparation of crude lysosomal membranes, solubilization with Triton X-100, WGA-Sepharose, Con A-Sepharose, hydroxylapatite chromatography, gel filtration with Superdex 200, DEAE ion exchange chromatography, and preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme, estimated by gel filtration with Superdex 200, was approximately 560 kDa, and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed the enzyme to be composed of four identical subunits with an apparent molecular weight of 140,000. The pH optimum for FAD hydrolysis was 8.5 with an apparent Km of 0.1 mM and the isoelectric point was pH 7.3. The activity was inhibited by o-phenanthroline, EDTA, DTT, and NEM and was slightly stimulated by Zn ion, but was not affected by Ca or Mg ions. The purified FADase contained N-linked complex type oligosaccharide chains lacking neuraminic acids. The NH2 terminal 21 amino acid residues of the purified FADase were Ser-Pro-Cys-Val-Cys-Asp-Pro-Val-Val-Val-Cys-Lys-Val-Val-Pro-Cys-Thr-Leu- Ala-Leu .     

Simulation for 3-D optical and electrical analysis of CCD

A device simulator, SPECTRA, and an optics simulator, TOCCATA, were developed for three-dimensional (3-D) optical and electrical analysis of a charge-coupled device (CCD). SPECTRA solves Poisson's and time dependent current continuity equations by a novel Gummel's method. Since the basic parameters are potential and exponential functions of the quasi-Fermi level of electrons and holes, the solution can be obtained in a stable and rapid way compared to the conventional method. TOCCATA calculates the shape of layers, which consist of silicon-oxide, silicon-nitride, poly-silicon, light shield metal, micro-lens material, etc., formed on a silicon substrate and performs ray tracing on multiple reflection, refraction, and absorption or executes wave analysis which involves interference and diffraction. The combination of these simulators realizes the optical and electrical analysis for the total design of CCD cell structures on and in a silicon substrate. It is reported that the simulation method successfully analyzes the optical and electrical characteristics of interline-transfer charge-coupled devices (IT-CCD)     

Thermionic-emission-based barrier height analysis for preciseestimation of charge handling capacity in CCD registers

In designing charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors, it is essential to be able to estimate charge handling capacity. Because electrons have thermal energy, storing electrons in a well in a CCD register requires a sufficient potential barrier height to keep them from overflowing. As the quantity of electrons in a well depends on the barrier height, knowledge of this height is indispensable for precise estimation of the charge handling capacity. The authors have derived an expression describing the barrier height on the basis of thermionic emission, assuming current coefficient I₀ and well capacitance C. We derived the current coefficient I₀ and well capacitance C with computer simulations and from the results estimate the magnitude of the barrier height for a typical Vertical-CCD (V-CCD) structure. We have also examined barrier height dependence on structural parameters. Finally, we determined the barrier heights experimentally, and our results support the values obtained in the simulation     

Design and implementation of a digital filter for beat-by-beatimpedance cardiography

A digital filter for thoracic impedance cardiography was developed and implemented on a 16-bit personal computer after examining the effect of respiratory movement on the first derivative of the thoracic impedance signal. Four male subjects exercised with a cycle ergometer at 100 and 150 W successively, after resting for 5 min. Thoracic impedance and its first derivative (dZ/dt) were recorded by a standard four-electrode cardiograph. The peak-power spectral densities of the pneumogenic (P_p,c) and the cardiogenic (P_p,c) components of dZ/dt were separated with a simultaneous recording of the ECG and thoracic circumferences. P_pP_c increased with each increment of work rate: 0.12 (0.05-0.19) at rest, 0.67 (0.49-0.97) at 100 W, and 0.97 (0.58-1.52) at 150 W     

Three-Dimensional Wave Optical Simulation for Image Sensors by Localized Boundary Element Method

A novel wave optical simulation method [a localized boundary element method (BEM)] has been developed. This method enables us to execute 3-D wave optical simulation with much smaller memory space and much shorter calculation time than conventional BEMs or finite-difference time domain methods. The light gathering power dependence on cell size and microlens height and distance, the color shading characteristics of inner lens structures, and the light gathering power and cross talk of light waveguide were analyzed by this method. A smaller cell needs a shorter focal length microlens, which can be realized by inner lens structures in CCD or the waveguide structures in CMOS image sensors. It is shown that this method can optimize these structures by calculating the color shading dependence on the microlens shape and the cross talk dependence on the waveguide materials. This method was found to be powerful and useful for the 3-D wave optical analysis of image sensors.     

Measurement of telescope aberrations through atmospheric turbulence by use of phase diversity

We conduct computer simulations of the reconstruction of a wave front at a telescope pupil with the phase-diversity method. An instantaneous wave front is reconstructed from focused and defocused specklegrams of a point star. In the wave-front reconstruction we do not fit the wave front to Zernike polynomials but retrieve the phase with a phase-unwrapping procedure. Averaging over many atmospherically perturbed wave fronts leads to the residual phase error, namely, the aberration of the telescope. The scintillation effect, nonuniformity of amplitude on a telescope pupil, is also discussed.     

FRETTING FATIGUE AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES IN TWO STEAM TURBINE STEELS

Abstract— —Fatigue tests and fretting fatigue tests of two steam turbine steels at room temperature and 773 K were carried out. The reduction of fatigue life and strength in the fretting test were significant at 773 K as well as at room temperature. The values of the friction coefficient at 773 K was almost equal to those at room temperature. The geometry of the fretting fatigue crack was flat in the early stage of fatigue life where a significant effect of fretting was observed. With increasing crack length and with a reducing effect of fretting, the fatigue crack shape changed to a semi-circular form. The fretting fatigue lives predicted on the basis of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics analysis, with the frictional force between the fretting pad and the specimen taken into consideration, agreed well with experimental results at both temperatures.     

New empirical relation for MOSFET 1/ƒ noise unified over linear and saturation regions

This paper proposes an empirical relation, which represents 1/ƒ noise bias condition dependence for a silicon N-channel MOSFET. No matter whether the MOSFET is operated in linear or saturation region, bias condition dependence is found to be well described by a power function of voltage gain. By introducing a device's intrinsic 1/ƒ noise emf v_nc(ƒ), which is independent from bias condition, and empirical parameter β, input-referred 1/ƒ noise voltage v_ni(ƒ) is clarified to be a function of v_nc(ƒ), β, and voltage gain g_m/g_DS, i.e. v_nc(ƒ)(g_m/g_DS)^β−1. This relation implies that 1/ƒ noise voltage depends implicitly on bias condition through voltage gain, because transconductance g_m and drain-source differential conductance g_DS depend on bias condition. If β − 1 value is negligible, v_ni(ƒ) = v_nc(ƒ) is almost independent from bias condition, whereas, if β − 1 value is not negligible, bias condition dependence for v_ni(ƒ) appears to be observed. The β deviation from unity, which characterizes bias condition dependence, measures the difference between signal amplification and 1/ƒ noise amplification.