Submillimeter Array Observation of the Proto-Planetary Nebula CRL 618 in the CO J=6-5 Line

We report on the results of a Submillimeter Array interferometric observation of the proto-planetary nebula CRL 618 in the 12CO J=6-5 line. With the new capability of SMA enabling us to use two receivers at a time, we also observed simultaneously in the 12CO J=2-1 and 13CO J=2-1 lines. The 12CO J=6-5 and 13CO J=2-1 lines were first interferometrically observed toward CRL 618. The flux of the high velocity component of the 12CO J=6-5 line is almost fully recovered, while roughly 80% of the flux of the low velocity component is resolved out. The low recovery rate suggests that the emission region of the low velocity component of the 12CO J=6-5 line is largely extended. Continuum emission is detected both at 230 and 690 GHz. The flux of the 690 GHz continuum emission seems to be partially resolved out, suggesting dust emission partly contaminates the 690 GHz continuum flux. The cavity structure, which has been confirmed in a previous observation in the 12CO J=2-1 line, is not clearly detected in the 12CO J=6-5 line, and only the south wall of the cavity is detected. This result suggests that the physical condition of the molecular envelope of CRL 618 is not exactly axial symmetric.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in AJ. Full resolution version available at http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~junichi/paper

Application of the symbolic regression program AI-Feynman to psychology

The discovery of hidden laws in data is the core challenge in many fields, from the natural sciences to the social sciences. However, this task has historically relied on human intuition and experience in many areas, including psychology. Therefore, discovering laws using artificial intelligence (AI) has two significant advantages. First, it makes it possible to detect laws that humans cannot discover. Second, it will help construct more accurate theories. An AI called AI-Feynman was released in a very different field, and it performed impressively. Although AI-Feynman was initially designed to discover laws in physics, it can also work well in psychology. This research aims to examine whether AI-Feynman can be a new data analysis method for inter-temporal choice experiments by testing whether it can discover the hyperbolic discount model as a discount function. An inter-temporal choice experiment was conducted to accomplish these objectives, and the data were input into AI-Feynman. As a result, seven discount function candidates were proposed by AI-Feynman. One candidate was the hyperbolic discount model, which is currently considered the most accurate. The three functions of the root-mean-squared errors were superior to the hyperbolic discount model. Moreover, one of the three candidates was more “hyperbolic” than the standard hyperbolic discount function. These results indicate two things. One is that AI-Feynman can be a new data analysis method for inter-temporal choice experiments. The other is that AI-Feynman can discover discount functions that humans cannot find

Genetic alteration of penicillin non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae observed throughout recurrence of acute otitis media detected by amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis.

The prevalence of penicillin non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae (PNSSP) is increasing among isolates from acute otitis media (AOM). Repeated episodes of antibiotic exposure are a well-known risk factor for the isolation of PNSSP although otitis-prone or recurrent AOM cases frequently require repeated courses of antibiotic treatment. In order to evaluate the chronological alteration of S. pneumoniae during recurrences of AOM, strains of S. pneumoniae were isolated from 11 patients, each of whom had experienced 2-4 episodes of AOM, were examined. Every bacterial specimen obtained from a single episode of recurrent AOM was examined by PCR-based penicillin-binding protein (PBP) assay, serotyping, and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), then compared to other samples from the same case. Two cases (18.2%) showed strain diversity during repeated antibiotic treatments by serotyping or PBP-assay. By AFLP analysis, 6 cases (54.5%) demonstrated heterogeneous strains during recurrent AOM. Clonal survivors of previous episodes of AOM were not always the cause of subsequent episodes of AOM, even in otitis-prone cases.</p

ミカン科アワダン属植物の成分に関する研究

アワダン属（Melicope）植物は、東南アジア、オセアニア等に約230 種が分布しているミカン科植物（Rutaceae）である。本属植物の一部は皮膚疾患や創傷の治療などの目的で伝承薬として用いられており、過去の研究において、多様で特異的な二次代謝産物が多数報告されている点から成分研究の対象として着目した。そこで我々は、国内外の2 種のアワダン属植物について成分精査を行った。その結果、沖縄県に生育するアワダン（M. triphylla）の果実から、8-geranyloxy-5-methoxypsoralen の酸化代謝産物であり、水酸基あるいはヒドロペルオキシ基を有する4 種の新規フラノクマリン誘導体melicotriphyllin A–D を単離した。また、インドネシア等に生育するM. denhamii の葉部からは、新規化合物として、8 種のキノリノンアルカロイドmelicodenine A – H、2 種のフェニルプロパノイドmelicodin A およびB、クマリノリグノイドmelicodin C を、地下部からは5 種のグアイアン型あるいはジエラン型の骨格を有するセスキテルペノイドmelicodenone A– E を単離した。Melicodenine A – H およびmelicodin C は、Diels–Alder 環化付加反応または［2 + 2］環化付加反応により２分子が重合した過去に報告例のない骨格を有していた。さらに、その構成単位となる分子として、キノリノンアルカロイドであるN-methylflindersine を中心に、アセトフェノン、フェニルプロパノイド、フラノクマリンのように多岐に及ぶ成分が重合に関与しており、非常に稀有な成分であるといえる。また、melicodenone A およびB は、天然から２例目および３例目となるジエラン型セスキテルペノイドであった。Melicope (Rutaceae) consists of approximately 230 species and ranges from the Malagacy region east to the Pacific basinand south to New Zealand. A huge variety of secondary metabolites were isolated from the plants of Melicope genus, acetophenones,quinolinone- and furoquinoline-alkaloids, coumarins, and polymethoxyflavonoids. In the current study, two species of M. triphylla(LAM.) MERR. and M. denhamii (SEEM.) T. G. HARTLEY were investigated to obtain four new furanocoumarins melicotriphyllins A–D,eight novel alkaloids melicodenines A–H, three new phenylpropanoids melicodins A–C, and five new sesquiterpenes melicodenonesA–E. These structures were established by spectroscopic analyses, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR experiments.Melicotriphyllins A–D were linear-types of furanocoumarins bearing a hydroxyl or a hydroperoxy group on the geranyloxy sidechain. Melicodenine A was a bisquinolinone alkaloid comprised of two N-methylflindersine, while melicodenines B–H werecomposed of single molecular N-methylflindersine with acetophenones or furanocoumarin or phenylpropanoids. These novelquinolinone alkaloids were presumed to form through the Diels-Alder or [2+2] cycloaddition. Furthermore, melicodenones A and Bwere the first bicyclic zierane-type sesquiterpenes obtained from plant resources by the isolation of zierane

The Effect of Enzymatically Polymerised Polyphenols on CD4 Binding and Cytokine Production in Murine Splenocytes

High-molecular weight polymerised polyphenols have been shown to exhibit anti-influenza virus, anti-HIV, and anti-cancer activities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulating activities of enzymatically polymerised polyphenols, and to clarify the underlying mechanisms of their effects. The cytokine-inducing activity of the enzymatically polymerised polyphenols derived from caffeic acid (CA), ferulic acid (FA), and p-coumaric acid (CoA) was investigated using murine splenocytes. Polymerised polyphenols, but not non-polymerised polyphenols, induced cytokine synthesis in murine splenocytes. Polymerised polyphenols induced several cytokines in murine splenocytes, with interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) being the most prominent. The underlying mechanisms of the effects of the polymerised polyphenols were then studied using neutralising antibodies and fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. Our results show that polymerised polyphenols increased IFN-γ and GM-CSF production in splenocytes. In addition, the anti-CD4 neutralised monoclonal antibody (mAb) inhibited polymerised polyphenol-induced IFN-γ and GM-CSF secretion. Moreover, polymerised polyphenols bound directly to a recombinant CD4 protein, and FACS analysis confirmed that interaction occurs between polymerised polyphenols and CD4 molecules expressed on the cell surface. In this study, we clearly demonstrated that enzymatic polymerisation confers immunoactivating potential to phenylpropanoic acids, and CD4 plays a key role in their cytokine-inducing activity

Relationship between monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and radiation exposure in Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors.

Radiation exposure is a possible predisposing factor for monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), but the association has been uncertain. We investigated the relationship between radiation exposure and MGUS prevalence by using data from the M-protein screening for Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors between 1988 and 2004. Radiation exposure was assessed by exposure distance from the hypocenter and exposure radiation dose. We computed prevalence ratios (PRs) and the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusting for exposure age and sex. A total of 1082 cases of MGUS were identified from 52 525 participants. MGUS prevalence was significantly higher in people exposed at distance within 1.5 km than beyond 3.0 km (PR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9) among those exposed at age 20 years or younger, but it was not found among those exposed at age 20 years or older. MGUS prevalence was also significantly higher in people exposed to more than 0.1 Gy than those exposed to less than 0.01 Gy (PR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.8) among those exposed at age 20 years or younger. Thus, people exposed at younger age exhibited a significantly high risk of MGUS when exposed to a high radiation dose. There was no clear association between radiation exposure and the malignant progression of MGUS. Further detailed analysis is needed

Research and Design of a Routing Protocol in Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

无线传感器网络，作为全球未来十大技术之一，集成了传感器技术、嵌入式计算技术、分布式信息处理和自组织网技术，可实时感知、采集、处理、传输网络分布区域内的各种信息数据，在军事国防、生物医疗、环境监测、抢险救灾、防恐反恐、危险区域远程控制等领域具有十分广阔的应用前景。 本文研究分析了无线传感器网络的已有路由协议，并针对大规模的无线传感器网络设计了一种树状路由协议，它根据节点地址信息来形成路由，从而简化了复杂繁冗的路由表查找和维护，节省了不必要的开销，提高了路由效率，实现了快速有效的数据传输。 为支持此路由协议本文提出了一种自适应动态地址分配算——ADAR（AdaptiveDynamicAddre...As one of the ten high technologies in the future, wireless sensor network, which is the integration of micro-sensors, embedded computing, modern network and Ad Hoc technologies, can apperceive, collect, process and transmit various information data within the region. It can be used in military defense, biomedical, environmental monitoring, disaster relief, counter-terrorism, remote control of haz...学位：工学硕士院系专业：信息科学与技术学院通信工程系_通信与信息系统学号：2332007115216

Transient Creep in High-Purity Aluminum at Ultra-Low Strain Rate and Room Temperature by Constant Stress and Changing-Stress Experiments

Creep of high-purity aluminum (5N Al) at room temperature and ultra-low strain rate was investigated by a high sensitive helicoid-spring specimen technique under conditions of constant and changing stress. Creep deformation consists of transient creep stages, and no secondary creep stage was observed. Li’s equation showed a good fit to the experimental curves. During nominal steady-state creep, the stress exponent is equal to one regardless of initial state of specimens. However, the nominal steady-state creep rate for water quenched 5N Al is one order less than that for the static recovered specimens due to work hardening. With increase in stress, creep strengthening (the creep rate progressively decreasing in subsequent segments) was observed, which is due to different hardening remains because changing-stress creep experiment was conducted in the transient creep stage. Those phenomena of work hardening indicate creep deformation is controlled by recovery and work-hardening mechanism. During transient creep, every decrease in stress is associated with the large and long anelastic backflow. The anelastic transient strain for stress reduction is equivalent to elastic deformation corresponding to the applied stress, while transient strain is 2.5 times greater than the equivalent elastic deformation regardless of whether stress increases or is constant. The transient effect was suggested to be due to a mix of anelastic behavior caused by the internal redistribution of stress and inelastic behavior

Influence of Purity on the Formation of Cube Texture in Aluminum Foils for Electrolytic Capacitors

In the present study, the crystal orientation and residual strains in hot rolled sheets, cold rolled foils, partially annealed foils, and additionally rolled foils of aluminum of 99.9% (3NAl) and 99.99% (4NAl) purity used for the fabrication of electrolytic capacitors, were evaluated by the SEM/EBSP method. The additionally rolled foils were annealed at 573 K and the behavior of the growth of cube-oriented grains and the grain boundary character were analyzed. In the hot rolled sheets and the partially annealed foils, cube-oriented grains in 4NAl were larger in number and size than those of 3NAl. From the result, it was clarified that purity of the aluminum affected the growth of cubeoriented grains during the thermo-mechanical treatment. In the additionally rolled foils annealed at 573 K, the growth of the cube-oriented grains in 4NAl was faster than that in 3NAl. In both 3NAl and 4NAl, the residual strains and the grain boundary character were similar. Accordingly, it is concluded that impurity in 3NAl could have segregated at the grain boundaries around cube-oriented grains and supressed the growth of cube-oriented grains