Immunological properties of Weil-Felix test negative sera from patients with Japanese spotted fever

Sera from 4 out of 19 patients with the Japanese spotted fever were negative to OX2 antigen of Weil-Felix (WF) test. These WF test negative sera were analyzed by ELISA and immunoblot used whole cells and lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of rickettsiae and Proteus strains as antigens. These acute-phase sera have already possessed the IgG antibodies against LPS of Proteus OX2 strain, whereas IgM antibodies in these acute- and convalescent-phase sera did not react with this LPS. On the other hand, the reactivity of IgM antibodies of the convalescent-phase sera in the 2 patients with LPS of Proteus OX19 strain increased as compared with that of the acute-phase sera by ELISA, and these IgM antibodies also showed the reactivity with bands of OX19-LPS in the immunoblot. On the basis of these results, it is interpreted that the WF test negative sera from patients with Japanese spotted fever are due to the presence of IgG antibodies against OX2-LPS in the sera.     

The structure and maximal gain of CW-pumped GaP-AlGaP semiconductor Raman amplifier with tapers on both sides

GaP-AlGaP waveguide semiconductor Raman amplifiers (SRAs) tapered on both sides were fabricated by high-quality GaP-AlGaP liquid phase epitaxial growth using the temperature difference method with controlled vapor pressure (TDM-CVP), photolithography patterning, and reactive ion etching with PCl/sub 3/ gas. Although the finesse of the both-sides-tapered waveguide SRA is lower than previous values for straight or one-side-tapered waveguides, the CW-pumped gain was maximized, and a maximal gain of 4.2 dB was obtained. This letter presents the effect of tapered structures in SRA with CW pumping amplification.     

High performance 35 nm gate length CMOS with NO oxynitride gate dielectric and Ni salicide

The 35 nm gate length CMOS devices with oxynitride gate dielectric and Ni salicide have been fabricated to study the feasibility of higher performance operation. Nitrogen concentration in gate oxynitride was optimized to reduce gate current I/sub g/ and to prevent boron penetration in the pFET. The thermal budget in the middle of the line (MOL) process was reduced enough to realize shallower junction depth in the S/D extension regions and to suppress gate poly-Si depletion. Finally, the current drives of 676 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m in nFET and 272 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m in pFET at V/sub dd/=0.85 V (at I/sub off/=100 nA//spl mu/m) were achieved and they are the best values for 35 nm gate length CMOS reported to date.     

Importance of nuclear generation in the struggles to reduce CO2 emission at Kansai Electric Power Co.

It has been pointed out in recent years that the potential impacts of global warming has been becoming more and more serious because of the rapid increase of anthropogenic CO₂ emission.

Japan's annual CO₂ emissions (fiscal 1994) amounted to 343 million tons of carbon. Although CO₂ emissions caused by fossil-fuel power generation accounted for 29.4% of total, on a sector basis, those directly from the energy conversion sector accounted for only 7.7%. Most CO₂ emissions (21.7% of total) resulted from electric power use in the industrial, commercial and domestic sectors. Thus, the reduction of CO₂ emissions caused by the use of electricity is a nationwide subject.

Understanding that both supply side and demand side approaches are necessary, Kansai Electric has been deploying “New ERA Strategy” as a comprehensive strategy to seek a potential for CO₂ reduction more broadly and deeply. Among a number of action items are the promotion of nuclear power generation, and improvement of overall energy efficiency, besides such demand side measures as leveling off the peak load.

The effectiveness of action items of the New ERA Strategy was evaluated in terms of CO₂ reduction. As a result, estimated CO₂ reduction related to nuclear power amounted to 88% of the total for fiscal 1995 in comparison with 1990, and that expected in 2000 is 84%. These results reconfirm that nuclear power is always the key to practical CO₂ reduction at present and in the future.

Comparison with candidate technology alternatives revealed that photovoltaic power generation needed 7 times greater rated capacity and 280 times larger area than nuclear power, so it is not realistic as a central power station alternative. The comparison also clarified that if wind power stations were constructed at all feasible sites in the Kansai region, they would not be a viable alternative to a single nuclear unit from CO₂ reduction viewpoint.     

Slit flow of molten polyethylene filled with plastic flakes

The processability of polyethylene in sheet-extrusion or calendering may be improved by the addition of plastic flakes. The effects of plastic flake parameters and flow conditions on the viscosity and the die swell of the suspension were determined, and the structure in flow (morphology or dispersion state) and applications were discussed. Flakes of biaxially oriented polystyrene, high-impact polystyrene, polypropylene, polyamide or polypropylene spheres were dry-blended with polyethylene. The viscosity was determined by means of a slit or a capillary rheometer. The quenched extrudate was annealed and its die swell was measured. Flakes of biaxially oriented polystyrene shrunk into rod-like form during heating, but other plastics retained the flake-form. The relative viscosity and the swell ratio of the suspensions depended on the type of plastic and operating conditions. The rheological behavior of suspensions qualitatively suggested that polypropylene flakes deformed or crowded (including stacking), polyamide flakes deformed slightly, and polystyrene flakes were difficult to buckle, but crowded slightly. The thickness of extrudates can be controlled easily by flake addition due to decreased die swell, while the output would be reduced to some extent.     

Recoverable shear strain of liquid crystal‐forming concentrated hydroxypropyl cellulose solutions

The recoverable shear strain (S_R) for the liquid crystal‐forming hydroxypropyl cellulose solutions was determined by means of a concentric cylinder rotational apparatus as functions of shear stress prior to recovery and concentration of the solutions at 30°C. S_R greatly depended on shear stress and concentration; the phase of the solution (the single phase or biphase) governed the dependences of S_R on stress and concentration. S_R increased with increasing stress for the single phase and decreased for the biphase. S_R seemed to be related to the die swell (B): S_R ∝ Bⁿ. S_R exhibited a maximum and a minimum with respect to concentration. S_R for the cellulosic cholesteric liquid crystalline solutions was greater than that for the isotropic solutions. A model was proposed for explaining the greater S_R. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 865–872, 2002     

Computational fluid dynamics simulation and statistical procedure for estimating wide-area distributions of airborne sea salt considering local ground conditions

Steel corrosion under atmospheric conditions is a critical issue in the maintenance of structures such as electric transmission towers and bridges during their long-term operation, which are generally located at many places over a wide area. Since a major factor causing corrosion is airborne salt particles coming from the sea, wide-area distributions of the long-term cumulative amount of sea salt deposited on surfaces are needed. Moreover, since the amount of airborne sea salt varies locally with the topography, it is also important to consider the effects of topography. In this paper, a method combining a computational fluid dynamics model and a statistical procedure is proposed to efficiently estimate wide-area distributions of the cumulative amount of airborne sea salt by considering the local topography. The predicted amount of airborne sea salt decreases with increasing distance from the coast and varies with the topography and the offshore wind. A comparison between predicted and observed amounts revealed that: (1) this method appropriately estimates topographical effects on sea-salt transport and enables the estimation of deposited sea salt on structure surfaces, and (2) consideration of the trapping efficiency of sea-salt particles on structure surfaces improves the prediction accuracy.     

Production of lepidimoide by an endophytic fungus from polysaccharide extracted from Abelmoschus sp.: identification of the product and the organism producing it

A highly potent allelopathic factor, lepidimoide, was initially extracted from mucilage of germinated cress seeds. Polysaccharide extracted from okra (Abelmoschus esculentum Moench) is considered to have a similar structure to lepidimoide as its repeating unit. We therefore initiated the screening of enzymes capable of degrading okra polysaccharide into lepidimoide from endophytes. We discovered an endophytic fungal strain AHU9748 isolated from Coleus galeatus, which produced an oligosaccharide having similar properties to lepidimoide on thin layer chromatography. The physico-chemical data from ESI-MS, NMR spectra and other analyses also showed the purified product to be identical to lepidimoide. The strain AHU9748 was identified as a fungus belonging to the coelomycetes, closely related to the genus Colletotrichum, based on morphological characteristics and sequence analysis of the 18S rDNA and ITS region.