The Function of Sialidase Revealed by Sialidase Activity Imaging Probe

Sialidase cleaves sialic acid residues from glycans such as glycoproteins and glycolipids. In the brain, desorption of the sialic acid by sialidase is essential for synaptic plasticity, learning and memory and synaptic transmission. BTP3-Neu5Ac has been developed for sensitive imaging of sialidase enzyme activity in mammalian tissues. Sialidase activity in the rat hippocampus detected with BTP3-Neu5Ac increases rapidly by neuronal depolarization. It is presumed that an increased sialidase activity in conjunction with neural excitation is involved in the formation of the neural circuit for memory. Since sialidase inhibits the exocytosis of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, the increased sialidase activity by neural excitation might play a role in the negative feedback mechanism against the glutamate release. Mammalian tissues other than the brain have also been stained with BTP3-Neu5Ac. On the basis of information on the sialidase activity imaging in the pancreas, it was found that sialidase inhibitor can be used as an anti-diabetic drug that can avoid hypoglycemia, a serious side effect of insulin secretagogues. In this review, we discuss the role of sialidase in the brain as well as in the pancreas and skin, as revealed by using a sialidase activity imaging probe. We also present the detection of influenza virus with BTP3-Neu5Ac and modification of BTP3-Neu5Ac.     

Minimizing False Positives of a Decision Tree Classifier for Intrusion Detection on the Internet

Machine learning or data mining technologies are often used in network intrusion detection systems. An intrusion detection system based on machine learning utilizes a classifier to infer the current state from the observed traffic attributes. The problem with learning-based intrusion detection is that it leads to false positives and so incurs unnecessary additional operation costs. This paper investigates a method to decrease the false positives generated by an intrusion detection system that employs a decision tree as its classifier. The paper first points out that the information-gain criterion used in previous studies to select the attributes in the tree-constructing algorithm is not effective in achieving low false positive rates. Instead of the information-gain criterion, this paper proposes a new function that evaluates the goodness of an attribute by considering the significance of error types. The proposed function can successfully choose an attribute that suppresses false positives from the given attribute set and the effectiveness of using it is confirmed experimentally. This paper also examines the more trivial leaf rewriting approach to benchmark the proposed method. The comparison shows that the proposed attribute evaluation function yields better solutions than the leaf rewriting approach.

Structural analysis of Ti-Fe thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Titanium iron oxide (Ti-Fe-O) thin films have been successfully deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Experiments were carried out by using some targets. One was a Ti-50 at.% Fe-sintered target, while the others were Ti and Fe plates with various surface area ratio [S_R=S_Fe/(S_Fe+S_Ti)] from 30 to 70%. The thin films were analyzed by X-ray diffractometry, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From XRD analysis, the main phase in the thin films deposited at S_R=30 and 50% was β-Ti (Fe). By increasing S_R to 70%, the main phase of the thin film changed to TiFe. By phase diagram, composition of TiFe must be between Ti-47.5-50.3 at.% Fe at a temperature of 1085 °C. However, the composition of the thin film deposited at S_R=70% was found to be Ti_0.15Fe_0.62O_0.23. Thus, the composition of Fe in the thin film was much greater than the solubility limit. This fact suggests two possibilities. One is that the thin films, which we have deposited, were in a metastable state. The other is that metal oxides of amorphous state could be contained in the thin film.     

Polypropylene plasticization and photodegradation with a TiO2/poly(ethylene oxide)/methyl linoleate paint photocatalyst system

The photodegradation of polypropylene (PP) film was performed by a TiO₂/polyethylene oxide (PEO)/plant oil paint photocatalyst system. The photodegradation underwent two stages of development as follows: Initially PP reacted with linoleic acid radical originated from the photoreaction of plant oil component. Second, the linoleic acid graft‐polymer was decomposed, and then PP chain scission was caused. The process was studied using methyl linoleate (ML) in detail. The melting point of the 24 h‐photodegraded PP slightly decreased, and those of the 48 h‐ and 96 h‐ones drastically did as compared with the pristine PP. The crystallinity (χ_c) decreased at the 48 h photodegradation time and drastically increased at the 96 h one. The 24 h‐photodegraded PP showed the 77% Young's modulus, 88% tensile strength, and 103% strain at break values to those of the pristine PP. The ML graft‐polymerization and decomposition brought about the PP plasticizing and chemi‐crystallization, causing the PP degradation. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 39909.     

Analog Circuit Design Methodology in a Low Power RISC Microprocessor

There are various kinds of analog CMOS circuits in microprocessors. IOs, clock distribution circuits including PLL, memories are the main analog circuits. The circuit techniques to achieve low power dissipation combined with high performance in newest prototype chip in the Super H RISC engines are described. A TLB delay can be decreased by using a CAM with a differential amplifier to generate the match signal. The accelerator circuit also helps to speed up the TLB circuit, enabling single-cycle operation. A fabricated 96-mm² test chip with the super H architecture using 0.35-m four metal CMOS technology is capable of 167-MHz operation at 300 Dhrystone MIPS with 2.0-W power dissipation.     

A comparative study on the thermally enhanced reorientation between random and diblock methacrylate copolymers with photo-cross-linkable mesogenic side groups by irradiating with linearly polarized ultraviolet light

The thermally enhanced photoinduced reorientation behavior of random and diblock copolymer films of methyl methacrylate and methacrylate with a photo-cross-linkable 4-(4-methoxycinnamoyloxy)biphenyl (MCB) side groups was investigated by irradiating with linearly polarized ultraviolet light and subsequently annealing. Random copolymers were synthesized by free radical copolymerization, while diblock ones were obtained by an atom transfer radical polymerization method with a PMMA macroinitiator. The photoinduced optical anisotropy was thermally amplified when the copolymer exhibited a liquid crystalline phase. The random copolymers with a high composition of MCB side groups reverted the orientation direction and inhibited molecular aggregation. For the diblock copolymers, the reorientation behavior was analogous to the methacrylate homopolymer with MCB side groups and transmission electron microscopy revealed a phase separation structure with molecular orientation of the MCB groups.     

跳跃式移动机构的移动机理及实验研究

介绍了一种新型跳跃式移动机构,阐述了该机构的移动机理及其控制方法.跳跃式移动机构采用小型振动电机作为驱动,利用电机内偏心轮的旋转所产生的周期性的向心力及与工作表面的间歇性摩擦力的共同作用,实现机构的跳跃移动,两个不同放置位置的电机的组合运用,可实现机构可调速的直线运动和回转运动,通过一系列实验.验证了跳跃式移动机构可实现二维平面内的自由移动.     

Preparation of Cr(N,O) thin films by RF reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering

Chromium oxynitride thin films were deposited by radio-frequency (RF) reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering at various O₂ flow rates onto Si(100) and glassy carbon substrates. The compositions of the thin films were analyzed by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. The thin films were found to contain up to 44 at.% oxygen. In Fourier-transform infrared spectra, a peak attributed to the Cr-N bond of CrN was observed, but no peak attributable to the Cr-O bond of Cr₂O₃ was found. The textures of the thin films were observed by transmission electron microscopy, which revealed that samples had a columnar structure. The hardness of the thin films was measured by nanoindentation. The hardness increased from 20 GPa to a maximum value of 31 GPa with increasing oxygen content.