High-order spectral- multimode codes

A new class of codes with high-order spectral s at zero frequency is introduced. The codes, called high-order spectral- multimode codes, are constructed through state-dependent encoding by use of the guided-scrambling coding technique, and result in efficiently coded sequences with good low-frequency characteristics.     

Early prostate cancer detection and potential for surgical cure in men with poorly differentiated tumors

Postgastrectomy osteopenia is observed generally in humans. Fructooligosaccharides increase the absorption of calcium from the large intestine of healthy rats. Thus, we have examined whether they stimulate calcium absorption and prevent osteopenia in rats following total gastrectomy. Rats were subjected to either a sham surgical operation or Billoth II gastrectomy. Seven rats from each surgical treatment group were fed a control diet, and another seven rats of each treatment group were fed a diet containing fructooligosaccharides (75 g/kg diet) for 4 wk. For 5 d each week, feces were collected, and the calcium and phosphorus contents were measured for calculation of the absorption of these minerals. At the end of the experiment, the rats were killed and bones were collected. The net calcium absorption, calcium content and bone mineral density of the femur and tibia in gastrectomized rats fed the control diet were significantly less than those in sham-operated rats fed control diet. The net calcium absorption in rats fed the fructooligosaccharides diet was greater than that in rats fed control diet. Moreover, dietary fructooligosaccharides prevented the decrease in the calcium content and bone mineral density in gastrectomized rats. Dietary fructooligosaccharides enhanced calcium absorption and prevented the changes indicative of postgastrectomy osteopenia such as decreases in bone calcium content and bone mineral density in gastrectomized rats.     

Mutational analysis of the Drosophila sister-chromatid cohesion protein ORD and its role in the maintenance of centromeric cohesion

The ord gene is required for proper segregation of all chromosomes in both male and female Drosophila meiosis. Here we describe the isolation of a null ord allele and examine the consequences of ablating ord function. Cytologically, meiotic sister-chromatid cohesion is severely disrupted in flies lacking ORD protein. Moreover, the frequency of missegregation in genetic tests is consistent with random segregation of chromosomes through both meiotic divisions, suggesting that sister cohesion may be completely abolished. However, only a slight decrease in viability is observed for ord null flies, indicating that ORD function is not essential for cohesion during somatic mitosis. In addition, we do not observe perturbation of germ-line mitotic divisions in flies lacking ORD activity. Our analysis of weaker ord alleles suggests that ORD is required for proper centromeric cohesion after arm cohesion is released at the metaphase I/anaphase I transition. Finally, although meiotic cohesion is abolished in the ord null fly, chromosome loss is not appreciable. Therefore, ORD activity appears to promote centromeric cohesion during meiosis II but is not essential for kinetochore function during anaphase.     

A performance metric for codes with a high-order spectral at zero frequency

Sum-variance is a well-known metric for assessing the performance of dc-free codes (first-order spectral- codes), however, as we show in this paper, it is unsuitable for comparing the magnitude of spectral components of high-order spectral- (HOSN) codes at low frequencies. In this paper, we introduce a new performance metric for evaluating the spectrum compression of arbitrarily HOSN codes around zero frequency; we call this metric the low-frequency spectrum weight (LFSW). We show that the asymptotic low-frequency spectral components of Kth-order spectral- codes (K/spl ges/1) are exclusively determined by the order K and the LFSW, and that the LFSW equals the zero-frequency value in the spectrum of the corresponding sequence of Kth-order running digital sum values. We derive this result for symbol-by-symbol encoding, and then extend it to block HOSN codes. We then derive a closed-form expression for the LFSW of HOSN codes constructed through state-independent encoding. Closed-form expressions for LFSW of first-order zero-disparity codes and for the asymptotic LSFW of maxentropic dc-free sequences are also given.     

Incidence and clinical significance of false-negative sextant prostate biopsies

PURPOSE: Since most patients do not undergo repeat sextant prostate biopsies after a biopsy is positive for prostate cancer, the true incidence of false-negative biopsies is not well defined. We assess the incidence and clinical significance of false-negative sextant prostate biopsies in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 118 patients with biopsy proved prostate cancer underwent repeat sextant prostate biopsy before enrollment in a prospective randomized trial of radical prostatectomy with or without neoadjuvant hormonal therapy. Clinical parameters were assessed to determine potential sources of bias. Pathological parameters and prostate specific antigen relapse-free survival rates were compared to determine the clinical significance of false-negative biopsies. RESULTS: Of the 118 patients 27 (23%) had a negative repeat sextant biopsy. Except for initial clinical stage, no differences were noted in the clinical or pathological parameters, or prostate specific antigen relapse rates in patients with negative versus positive repeat biopsies. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that this 23% incidence of false-negative biopsies represents significant cancer. This relatively high incidence is important to consider in treatment modalities in which prostate biopsy may be performed to determine response to therapy.     

Low-thermal-budget process modeling with the PREDICT computerprogram

Low-thermal-budget processing models have been developed that are applicable to a broad range of ion-implantation and annealing conditions. The cases discussed here include low-temperature furnace annealing of B implants, preamorphization or postamorphization using Si ⁺ or Ge⁺ implants, and rapid thermal annealing of low-dose and high-dose implants. Annihilation of implant damage is accounted for through activated annealing models. Damage type and location in depth are important in understanding enhanced or retarded diffusion of dopants. Damage and diffusion models have been incorporated in the PREDICT program, and example calculations are compared with measurements     

Theoretical model for intermeshing twin screw extruders: Axial velocity profile for shallow channels

Positive displacement intermeshing twin screw extruders have been analyzed by a simple model for flow in the channel formed by the screw root and screw flights. The model considers the down channel flow to be a combination of drage flow resulting from the relative motion of the barrel and screw and pressure flow resulting from the positive displacement action of the device. The pressure flow in this situation is distinguished from pressure flow in a single screw extruder in that the pressure forces induce flow toward the die for the twin screw model rather than away from the die as in a single screw extruder. Comparison of the down channel shear rate profile of apositive displacement twin screw extruder with that of a single screw extruder with no net flow reveals that they are identical but inverted with respect to channel depth. The model presented does not consider leakage between the twin screws or the rotational motion of the second screw.     

Dynamic compensation and decoupling for systems of uniform index 2

The design of ann-dimensional dynamic compensator for arbitrary pole placement for systems of dimension2nand uniform controllability and observability indexes 2 is considered in state space representation and frequency domain.