A body-shadowing model for indoor radio communication environments

Deterministic propagation prediction methods proposed for indoor radio are useful for estimating the average propagation loss in real environments, which usually have complicated geometries. On the other hand, these methods generally fail to accommodate human body shadowing, which is a significant propagation effect in indoor picocells. Several empirical models to describe body shadowing have been reported. However, to our knowledge, no appropriate model that can be used in combination with deterministic propagation prediction methods has been provided in the literature. In this paper, a new practical model is introduced, which provides a way to estimate body-shadowing effects deterministically with the existing ray-determination methods. The detailed procedure to combine our body-shadowing model with the ray-determination methods is described. Several examples are shown applying the procedure to a simple office layout     

Gap symmetry and intrinsic intraplane pinning of untwinned YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals

The interplane (cb) and intraplane (ab) anisotropy of untwinned YBa₂ Cu₃0₇ single crystals has been investigated by means of the torque magnetometry. To extract the reversible and irreversible components, the torque was measured as a function of increasing angle as well as decreasing angle. The interplane irreversible torque _irr shows two-fold peaks at _c =90 ° and270 ° (of half width11 ° at77 K) due to the well-known intrinsic interplane pinning. A novel intrinsic pinning has been discovered in the intraplane irreversible torque, i.e., _irr shows four-fold peaks of half width20° at77 K when _a =0 °, 90 °, 180 ° and270 °. We argue that the intrinsic intraplane pinning comes from the four-fold nature of the gap parameter.     

Adsorption isotherms of pigments from alkali-refined vegetable oils with clay minerals

Adsorption isotherms of pigments from alkali-refined oils (rapeseed, soybean, wheatgerm, safflower, corn, cottonseed and sunflower) were measured to investigate the applicability of the Langmuir and Freundlich equations and to elucidate the adsorption characteristics of pigments on sepiolites and standard activated clay. The Freundlich equation was more applicable to the experimental adsorption isotherms. The equilibrium amount adsorbed, acidity, pore size distribution and inflection of the Freundlich isotherms could be explained by assuming that pigments were adsorbed on the stronger acid sites in smaller pores at low concentration, and then in the larger ones when the concentration increased. The amount adsorbed increased with a rise in adsorption temperatures from 70 to 110°C, and the heat of adsorption was below 10 kcal/mol. The results indicate that pigments were physically adsorbed on the acid sites activated at higher adsorption temperatures.     

L-Ergothioneine scavenges superoxide and singlet oxygen and suppresses TNF-α and MMP-1 expression in UV-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts

The hair lipid composition collected from 44 Japanese females between 1 and 81 years of age was examined for eight lipids including hydrocarbons (HCs), squalene (SQ), wax esters (WEs), triglycerides (TGs), fatty acids (FAs), cholesterol (CH), ceramides (CERs), and 18-methyl eicosanoic acid (MEA). In this study, the 5-cm length from the proximal root end of hair fibers, which had never been exposed to any chemical treatment, was used after 5-min incubation with hexane following shampooing. Hair lipids were extracted with solvent and subsequent alkali-solvent and were then analyzed by a combination of chromatography. Although the average contents of the lipids showed great fluctuations among individuals, there were significant correlations between the levels of each lipid, which allowed for the classification of the hair lipids into four groups: group A: SQ, WEs, TGs, and FAs (designated as endogenous lipids based upon their sebum origin); group B: CH and CERs (designated as endogenous lipids); group C: HC (unknown origin); and group D: MEA (the other endogenous lipid). A principal component analysis for eight lipids revealed that the hair lipid composition was characterized by a predominant negative correlation between each lipid for groups A and B. This negative correlation suggests that the endogenous lipids in group B serve as a barrier against the penetration of predominantly sebum-derived exogenous lipids (group A). Endogenous lipids consisting of CH and CERs (group B) and MEA (group D) should be designated as intrinsic internal lipids of human hair.     

Intense white photoluminescence in ZnO thin film formed by anodization

Intense white photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature has been observed in ZnO thin films formed by anodization at 26? C. The PL depends on the preparation conditions of the films. The PL is attributed to radiative recombination between localized electrons and holes in gap states which are formed by native defects in the films. We suggest that the anodized ZnO films might be useful for optoelectronic devices, since the low temperature anodization process used is inexpensive and fast.     

Illumination control system for adaptive dynamic range control

Abstract— We have developed an illumination control system for adaptive dynamic range control. This system satisfies several performance requirements for image quality and reliability. A projection system using the illumination control system can reproduce images with optimum brightness for each image.     

Perovskite-type compounds as electrode catalysts for cathodic reduction of oxygen

The perovskite-type compounds (Ln, M)M′O₃ (Ln: lanthanoid, M: alkaline earth, M′: transition metal) are synthesized, and the related perovskite formation region is determined. The resistivities of these compounds at 25°C decrease by several orders of magnitude when they are doped with Ca, Sr or Ba. The resistivity minima range from 10^?4 to 10^?1 Ωcm, depending on the composition. The oxygen ion diffusion constants are evaluated from the electrode potentials in a KOH solution. The diffusion constant for Nd_0.8Sr_0.2 CoO₃ is 1.4 × 10^?11 cm²/s at 25°C. These compounds are examined as potential oxygen electrode materials for alkaline solution metal fuel cells, and (Nd, Sr)CoO₃ provides good performance for several hundred hours.     

A dynamic associative memory system by adopting an amygdala model

Although several kinds of computational associative memory models and emotion models have been proposed since the last century, the interaction between memory and emotion is almost always neglected in these conventional models. This study constructs a dynamic memory system, named the amygdala-hippocampus model, which intends to realize dynamic auto-association and the mutual association of time-series patterns more naturally by adopting an emotional factor, i.e., the functional model of the amygdala given by Morén and Balkenius. The output of the amygdala is designed to control the recollection state of multiple chaotic neural networks (MCNN) in CA3 of the hippocampus-neocortex model proposed in our early work. The efficiency of the proposed association system is verified by computer simulation using several benchmark time-series patterns. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

Shorter-wavelength lithography utilizing MRS-type negative resists

New negative photoresists, called MRS-type resists, are successfully applied to deep-UV 1:1 projection printing and 365 nm 10:1 reduction projection printing. The MRS-type resists are characterized by intense absorption of exposure light and absence of swelling in aqueous developer solutions. They resolve steep profile submicron images in a 1.0 μ thick film. They are not adversely affected by reflected light from water surfaces. In order to use MRS-type resists with broader development latitude, optimizing the extent of light absorption is important because the resist profiles strongly depend on development conditions due to increasing solubility towards the resist bottom.     

Multiobjective evolutionary computation for supersonic wing-shapeoptimization

This paper discusses the design optimization of a wing for supersonic transport (SST) using a multiple-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). Three objective functions are used to minimize the drag for supersonic cruise, the drag for transonic cruise, and the bending moment at the wing root for supersonic cruise. The wing shape is defined by 66 design variables. A Euler flow code is used to evaluate supersonic performance, and a potential flow code is used to evaluate transonic performance. To reduce the total computational time, flow calculations are parallelized on an NEC SX-4 computer using 32 processing elements. The detailed analysis of the resulting Pareto front suggests a renewed interest in the arrow wing planform for the supersonic wing