Interferometer design of the KAGRA gravitational wave detector

KAGRA is a cryogenic interferometric gravitational-wave detector being constructed at the underground site of Kamioka mine in Gifu prefecture, Japan. We performed an optimization of the interferomter design, to achieve the best sensitivity and a stable operation, with boundary conditions of classical noises and under various practical constraints, such as the size of the tunnel or the mirror cooling capacity. Length and alignment sensing schemes for the robust control of the interferometer are developed. In this paper, we describe the detailed design of the KAGRA interferometer as well as the reasoning behind design choices

The Function of β2-glycoprotein I in Angiogenesis and Its in Vivo Distribution in Tumor Xenografts

Intact β2-glycoprotein I (iβ2GPI) is a glycoprotein that regulates coagulation and fibrinolysis. Nicked β2GPI (nβ2GPI) possesses an angiogenic property at a relatively low concentration, and an antiangiogenic property at a high concentration. Here we investigated the functions of βi 2GPI and nβ2GPI in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A-induced endothelial cell proliferation and tube formation. We used noninvasive PET imaging to analyze the in vivo distribution of intravenously injected β2GPI variants in tumor lesions in mice. iβ2GPI was incubated with plasmin to obtain nβ2GPI, and its N-terminal sequence was analyzed. nβ2GPI had at least one other cleavage site upstream of the β2GPIʼs domain V, whereas the former plasmin-cleavage site locates between K317 and T318. Both of intact and nicked β2GPI significantly inhibited the VEGF-A-induced cell proliferation and the tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). PET imaging visualized considerably distributed intensities of all tested β2GPI variants in tumor lesions of pancreatic tumor cell-xenografts. These results indicate that β2GPI may be physiologically and pathophysiologically important in the regulation of not only coagulation and fibrinolysis, but also angiogenesis

Embedded DRAM using c-axis-aligned crystalline In-Ga-Zn oxide FET with 1.8V-power-supply voltage

An embedded memory using c-axis aligned crystalline In-Ga-Zn oxide (CAAC-IGZO) FETs with an extremely low off-state current on the order of yoctoamperes (yA) (yocto- is a metric prefix denoting a factor of 10-24) is known as a potential next-generation memory [1][2]. A dynamic oxide semiconductor RAM (DOSRAM), where each memory cell is composed of one CAAC-IGZO FET and one capacitor, enables long data retention and long interval of refresh operations with an advantage of extremely low off-state current of the CAAC-IGZO FET. However, negative backgate voltage (Vbg) and word-line driving voltages of 0/3.3 V (VSSL/VDDH) had been required for an access transistor of the memory cell to satisfy high on-state current and low off-state current. This work shows that DOSRAM operates with 1.8 V-power supply voltage by using a novel driving method. Figure 1 shows Vg-Id performance of a CAAC-IGZO FET used as a cell transistor. The threshold voltage (Vth) of the CAAC-IGZO FET is controlled by changing a level of Vbg, whereas Vth of the Si FET is controlled by channel doping. Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a prototyped DOSRAM. The refresh rate in DOSRAM mainly depends on the leakage current of cell transistors. To reduce the refresh rate to once an hour, the off-state current of the cell transistors on a non-selected word line needs to be reduced to 200 zeptoamperes (zA) per FET (zepto- is a metric prefix denoting a factor of 10-21) or lower at 85C. The required Vbg is -7.0 V to achieve such an off-state current at Vg 0 V, for example. To obtain approx. 100 MHz-driving frequency, the required on-state current is at least several microamperes. The voltage level difference in the word line, VDDH VSSL, is a factor that determines the on-state current, and in this work is fixed to 3.3 V so that the combination of Vbg and the word line voltage is optimized. The application of negative voltage to the word line enables the leakage current of the cell transistor to be maintained low even when Vbg is increased. For example, whereas the existing driving method meets the above off-state current value with Vbg -7.0 V and the VSSL 0 V, the novel driving method meets the value with Vbg 0 V and VSSL -1.5 V. In the novel driving method, VDDH 1.8 V. There has been a report of a reduction in leakage current of a memory cell by application of negative voltage to a top gate in DRAM using Si CMOS [3]. In contrast to it, DOSRAM including CAAC-IGZO FETs with L 60 nm has a leakage current of 200 zA or lower, which is 7-digit lower than that of the DRAM using Si CMOS, and enables longer data retention. The evaluation results of the prototyped DOSRAM verify that a reduction in power-supply voltage from 3.3 V to 1.8 V is possible in terms of operation and data retention. This suggests a highly compatible and efficient configuration of an embedded DRAM and a logic circuit where signals can be transmitted with low VDD. References [1] S. H. Wu, et al., IEEE Symp. VLSI Tech., pp. 166-167, 2017. [2] T. Ishizu, et al., IEEE Symp. VLSI Cir., pp. 162-163, 2017. [3] F. Hamzaoglu et al., IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 150-157, Jan. 2015

Novel, Objective, Multivariate Biomarkers Composed of Plasma Amino Acid Profiles for the Diagnosis and Assessment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic intestinal disorder that is associated with a limited number of clinical biomarkers. In order to facilitate the diagnosis of IBD and assess its disease activity, we investigated the potential of novel multivariate indexes using statistical modeling of plasma amino acid concentrations (aminogram). METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We measured fasting plasma aminograms in 387 IBD patients (Crohn's disease (CD), n = 165; ulcerative colitis (UC), n = 222) and 210 healthy controls. Based on Fisher linear classifiers, multivariate indexes were developed from the aminogram in discovery samples (CD, n = 102; UC, n = 102; age and sex-matched healthy controls, n = 102) and internally validated. The indexes were used to discriminate between CD or UC patients and healthy controls, as well as between patients with active disease and those in remission. We assessed index performances using the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC AUC). We observed significant alterations to the plasma aminogram, including histidine and tryptophan. The multivariate indexes established from plasma aminograms were able to distinguish CD or UC patients from healthy controls with ROC AUCs of 0.940 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.898-0.983) and 0.894 (95%CI: 0.853-0.935), respectively in validation samples (CD, n = 63; UC, n = 120; healthy controls, n = 108). In addition, other indexes appeared to be a measure of disease activity. These indexes distinguished active CD or UC patients from each remission patients with ROC AUCs of 0.894 (95%CI: 0.853-0.935) and 0.849 (95%CI: 0.770-0.928), and correlated with clinical disease activity indexes for CD (r(s) = 0.592, 95%CI: 0.385-0.742, p<0.001) or UC (r(s) = 0.598, 95%CI: 0.452-0.713, p<0.001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: In this study, we demonstrated that established multivariate indexes composed of plasma amino acid profiles can serve as novel, non-invasive, objective biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of IBD, providing us with new insights into the pathophysiology of the disease