A Standard CMOS Humidity Sensor without Post-Processing

A 2 μW power dissipation, voltage-output, humidity sensor accurate to 5% relative humidity was developed using the LFoundry 0.15 μm CMOS technology without post-processing. The sensor consists of a woven lateral array of electrodes implemented in CMOS top metal, a Intervia Photodielectric 8023–10 humidity-sensitive layer, and a CMOS capacitance to voltage converter

Self-Calibrated Humidity Sensor in CMOS without Post-Processing

A 1.1 μW power dissipation, voltage-output humidity sensor with 10% relative humidity accuracy was developed in the LFoundry 0.15 μm CMOS technology without post-processing. The sensor consists of a woven lateral array of electrodes implemented in CMOS top metal, a humidity-sensitive layer of Intervia Photodielectric 8023D-10, a CMOS capacitance to voltage converter, and the self-calibration circuitry

A tri-axial accelerometer with structure-based voltage operation by using series-connected piezoelectric elements

AbstractOutput-voltage operation on a sensor structure is proposed and a tri-axial accelerometer with low cross-axis sensitivities is designed. The output voltage between the electrodes sandwiching piezoelectric thin-films on a deforming structure is proportional to the in-plane stress of the piezoelectric thin-film. If the piezoelectric thin-film is processed to separated elements and the electrodes of the elements are connected in series, the output voltages from the series-connected piezoelectric elements are multiplied or canceled depending on the situations of the internal-stresses (i.e. compressive or tensile) of the elements. Proper design of the electrode connections by taking the deformation shape of structures into consideration can realize expected outputvoltage operations on the device structure. The principle of structure-based output-voltage operation is applied to the design of a tri-axial accelerometer with low cross-axes sensitivities. Finite-element-method (FEM) simulations of the tri-axial accelerometer revealed the cross-axis sensitivity of less than 1.5%

Development of a novel artificial intelligence algorithm to detect pulmonary nodules on chest radiography

Background: In this study, we aimed to develop a novel artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to support pulmonary nodule detection, which will enable physicians to efficiently interpret chest radiographs for lung cancer diagnosis. Methods: We analyzed chest X-ray images obtained from a health examination center in Fukushima and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chest X-ray 14 dataset. We categorized these data into two types: type A included both Fukushima and NIH datasets, and type B included only the Fukushima dataset. We also demonstrated pulmonary nodules in the form of a heatmap display on each chest radiograph and calculated the positive probability score as an index value. Results: Our novel AI algorithms had a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.74, a sensitivity of 0.75, and a specificity of 0.60 for the type A dataset. For the type B dataset, the respective values were 0.79, 0.72, and 0.74. The algorithms in both the type A and B datasets were superior to the accuracy of radiologists and similar to previous studies. Conclusions: The proprietary AI algorithms had a similar accuracy for interpreting chest radiographs when compared with previous studies and radiologists. Especially, we could train a high quality AI algorithm, even with our small type B data set. However, further studies are needed to improve and further validate the accuracy of our AI algorithm

Characterization of sulfur-compound metabolism underlying wax-ester fermentation in Euglena gracilis

Euglena gracilis is a microalga, which has been used as a model organism for decades. Recent technological advances have enabled mass cultivation of this species for industrial applications such as feedstock in nutritional foods and cosmetics. E. gracilis degrades its storage polysaccharide (paramylon) under hypoxic conditions for energy acquisition by an oxygen-independent process and accumulates high amount of wax-ester as a by-product. Using this sequence of reactions referred to as wax-ester fermentation, E. gracilis is studied for its application in biofuel production. Although the wax-ester production pathway is well characterized, little is known regarding the biochemical reactions underlying the main metabolic route, especially, the existence of an unknown sulfur-compound metabolism implied by the nasty odor generation accompanying the wax-ester fermentation. In this study, we show sulfur-metabolomics of E. gracilis in aerobic and hypoxic conditions, to reveal the biochemical reactions that occur during wax-ester synthesis. Our results helped us in identifying hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as the nasty odor-producing component in wax-ester fermentation. In addition, the results indicate that glutathione and protein degrades during hypoxia, whereas cysteine, methionine, and their metabolites increase in the cells. This indicates that this shift of abundance in sulfur compounds is the cause of H2S synthesis

The Hayabusa Spacecraft Asteroid Multi-Band Imaging Camera: AMICA

The Hayabusa Spacecraft Asteroid Multiband Imaging Camera (AMICA) has acquired more than 1400 multispectral and high-resolution images of its target asteroid, 25143 Itokawa, since late August 2005. In this paper, we summarize the design and performance of AMICA. In addition, we describe the calibration methods, assumptions, and models, based on measurements. Major calibration steps include corrections for linearity and modeling and subtraction of bias, dark current, read-out smear, and pixel-to-pixel responsivity variations. AMICA v-band data were calibrated to radiance using in-flight stellar observations. The other band data were calibrated to reflectance by comparing them to ground-based observations to avoid the uncertainty of the solar irradiation in those bands. We found that the AMICA signal was linear with respect to the input signal to an accuracy of << 1% when the signal level was < 3800 DN. We verified that the absolute radiance calibration of the AMICA v-band (0.55 micron) was accurate to 4% or less, the accuracy of the disk-integrated spectra with respect to the AMICA v-band was about 1%, and the pixel-to-pixel responsivity (flatfield) variation was 3% or less. The uncertainty in background zero-level was 5 DN. From wide-band observations of star clusters, we found that the AMICA optics have an effective focal length of 120.80 \pm 0.03 mm, yielding a field-of-view (FOV) of 5.83 deg x 5.69 deg. The resulting geometric distortion model was accurate to within a third of a pixel. We demonstrated an image-restoration technique using the point-spread functions of stars, and confirmed that the technique functions well in all loss-less images. An artifact not corrected by this calibration is scattered light associated with bright disks in the FOV.Comment: 107 pages, 22 figures, 9 tables. will appear in Icaru

100m疾走の後半における走スピード, ピッチおよびストライドの変化

本研究では, 成人男子7名を被験者にして, 100m疾走中の後半における走スピード, ピッチ数およびストライド長の変化を明らかにした。本研究で得られた結果は, 次のように要約できる。1) 100m疾走後半の50mから100mまで, 走スピードは減少し続けた。2) 100m疾走後半の50mから100mまで, ピッチ数は減少し続けた。3) 100m疾走後半の50mから90mまでストライド長はほぼ一定を保ったが, 90mから100mまでの区間ではストライド長は急激に増加した。The purpose of this study was to measure running speed, stride length and step frequecny in the latter half of 100m sprint running. The subjects used in this study were four collegiate jumpers, 2 graduate students and an assistant of Chukyo University. All were healthy males. Each run was filmed at 50 frames/sec with Photosonics and Bolex 16mm cameras. Stride length and step frequency was measured from film analysis. Resultes obtanied from this study were summarized as follows. 1. Running speed and step frquency were gradually decreased in the latter half 50m of 100m sprint running. 2. Stride length was almost constant from 50m to 90m. After that, however, it was significantly decreased

Outcome of hematopoietic cell transplantation for DNA double-strand break repair disorders

Background: Rare DNA breakage repair disorders predispose to infection and lymphoreticular malignancies. Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is curative, but coadministered chemotherapy or radiotherapy is damaging because of systemic radiosensitivity. We collected HCT outcome data for Nijmegen breakage syndrome, DNA ligase IV deficiency, Cernunnos-XRCC4-like factor (Cernunnos-XLF) deficiency, and ataxia-telangiectasia (AT). Methods: Data from 38 centers worldwide, including indication, donor, conditioning regimen, graft-versus-host disease, and outcome, were analyzed. Conditioning was classified as myeloablative conditioning (MAC) if it contained radiotherapy or alkylators and reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) if no alkylators and/or 150 mg/m(2) fludarabine or less and 40 mg/kg cyclophosphamide or less were used. Results: Fifty-five new, 14 updated, and 18 previously published patients were analyzed. Median age at HCT was 48 months (range, 1.5-552 months). Twenty-nine patients underwent transplantation for infection, 21 had malignancy, 13 had bone marrow failure, 13 received pre-emptive transplantation, 5 had multiple indications, and 6 had no information. Twenty-two received MAC, 59 received RIC, and 4 were infused; information was unavailable for 2 patients. Seventy-three of 77 patients with DNA ligase IV deficiency, Cernunnos-XLF deficiency, or Nijmegen breakage syndrome received conditioning. Survival was 53 (69%) of 77 and was worse for those receiving MAC than for those receiving RIC (P=.006). Most deaths occurred early after transplantation, suggesting poor tolerance of conditioning. Survival in patients with AT was 25%. Forty-one (49%) of 83 patients experienced acute GvHD, which was less frequent in those receiving RIC compared with those receiving MAC (26/56 [46%] vs 12/21 [57%], P=.45). Median follow-up was 35 months (range, 2-168 months). No secondary malignancies were reported during 15 years of follow-up. Growth and developmental delay remained after HCT; immune-mediated complications resolved. Conclusion: RIC HCT resolves DNA repair disorder associated immunodeficiency. Long-term follow-up is required for secondary malignancy surveillance. Routine HCT for AT is not recommended.Peer reviewe