Total Synthesis of Proposed Structure of Yuremamine and All Diastereomers Using [3+2]‐Cycloaddition of Platinum‐Containing Azomethine Ylide

Total synthesis of the proposed structure of yuremamine has been achieved for the first time based on the intermolecular [3+2]‐cycloaddition reaction of the platinum‐containing azomethine ylide. All the possible diastereomers of yuremamine were also synthesized via the common intermediate. Through these syntheses, it was confirmed that the proposed structure of yuremamine and the diastereomers differ from the natural product.     

Feasibility of using [18O2]11-dehydrothromboxane B2 as an internal standard of immunoaffinity purification followed by gas chromatography/selected ion monitoring

[1,1-18O2]11-Dehydrothromboxane B2 (11-dehydro-TXB2) was prepared by repetitive base-catalyzed hydrolysis of the lactone ring of its [1,1,11-18O3]-analogue, and evaluated for its suitability as an internal standard in gas chromatography/selected ion monitoring (GC/SIM) of 11-dehydro-TXB2. Use of the present [18O2]-analogue as an internal standard may make it a suitable candidate for specific immunoaffinity purification followed by GC/SIM.     

Endoscopic Observation of Tissue by Narrowband Illumination

We propose a new illumination method for a medical endoscope: narrow band imaging (NBI), in which the spectral bandwidth of the filtered light is narrowed. To confirm how the spectral specifications of the filtered light influence a reproduced image, an experiment was conducted observing the endoscopic images of the back mucosa of a human tongue. In addition, the effect of NBI on endoscopic images was investigated through preliminary clinical tests in colonoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. It has been shown that NBI can enhance the capillary pattern and the crypt pattern on the mucosa. These patterns are useful features for diagnosing an early cancer.     

Radiation damage in Si photodiodes by high-temperature irradiation

Results are presented of a detailed study of the effects of high-temperature 4-MeV neutron irradiation on the performance degradation of Si pin photodiodes together with the radiation-induced defects, observed by deep level transient spectroscopy. The degradation of the device performance and the introduction rate of the lattice defects decrease with increasing sample temperature during irradiation. For a 250°C irradiation, the reduction of the reverse current is only 20% of the starting value. This result suggests that the creation and recovery of the radiation damage proceeds simultaneously at high temperatures. Carbon-related complex as hole capture levels is also mainly responsible for the device degradation for high-temperature neutron irradiation.     

Ring-transformation equilibrium with participation of π-bonded S in an isothiazole system. Synthesis of non-ring-transformed 5-(2-aminovinyl)isothiazole derivative via 1,3-silyl group shift

Substituents at 5-position of 5-amino-3-methyl- and 3-p-chlorophenyl-5-methylisothiazoles (7 and 8) were silylated and then lithiated to couple with aromatic nitriles in order to afford the adducts (4 and 5) via 1,3-silyl group shift. Desilylation of 5 with TBAF gave solely non-ring-transformed product (3-α-form). By using the pure sample of 3-α-form, the reversible ring-trans- formation (bond switch) was observed $\text{under neutral conditions}$ for the first time.     

Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata for Pseudo-Random Pattern Generators and for Highly Secure Stream Ciphers

Pseudo-random properties of a class of two-dimensional (2-D) 5-neighborhood cellular automata (CA), built around nonlinear (OR, AND) and linear (XOR) Boolean functions are studied. The site values at each step of the 2-D CA evolution are taken in parallel and form pseudo-random sequences, which satisfy the criteria established for pseudo random number generator (PRNG): long period, excellent random qualities, single bit error propagation (avalanche criteria), easy and fast generation of the random bits. A block-scheme for secure Stream Cipher based on 2-D CA is proposed. The 2-D CA based PRNG algorithm has simple structure, use space-invariant and local interconnections and can be easily realized in very large scale integration or parallel optoelectronic architectures.     

Integrated Image Associative Memory and Its Optical Implementation

We present the concept of integrated processing to combine intuitive processing of neural networks with logical processing of the conventional digital computer. We investigate a way to embody the concept in the neural network system by introducing external constraints in terms of external input. The effect of the external input is analyzed using the generalized projection method. The concept of integrated processing is applied to an image associative memory system, and the system is optically implemented for high-speed parallel processing incorporating it with the computer. The experimental result is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the external input to control the output of the image associative memory.     

Dehydrogenation of methanol to methyl formate over supported Ni, Pd and Pt catalysts. Anomalous catalytic functions of PdZn and PtZn alloys

Pd/ZnO and Pt/ZnO exhibited high catalytic performance for the dehydrogenation of methanol to methyl formate upon the formation of PdZn and PtZn alloys.     

Correction for Shift-variant Characteristics of Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography Acquisition System Using Sensitivity Functions

The single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging system has shift-variant characteristics due to non-uniform attenuation of gamma-ray, collimator design, scattered photons, etc. In order to provide quantitatively accurate SPECT images, these characteristics should be compensated in the reconstruction. This paper presents a new method to correct the shift-variant characteristics, which is based on a continuous-discrete mapping model and filtered backprojection (FBP) method, in which the projection data are assumed to be acquired by narrow ray sum beams in the FBP method and the assumed data set is expressed as a linear combination of the actual projection data. Narrow ray sum beams are approximated by a weighted sum of the original sensitivity functions. Thus, at the reconstruction the projection data are first modified using an approximation and the FBP method is then applied to the corrected projection data and a SPECT image is reconstructed. We further propose a technique that requires the inversion of smaller matrices than the conventional algebraic method; the amount of calculation and memory space become smaller and the stability of the calculation is greatly improved as well. The results of the numerical simulations are also demonstrated.     

Analysis of Spectral Reflectance Using Normalization Method from Endoscopic Spectroscopy System

Objective assessment of gastrointestinal mucosal color is extremely important in the endoscopic diagnosis of digestive tract disease. In this paper, we propose a method to clarify the spectral characteristics of gastric and colon cancer. A large number of spectral reflectance data of mucous membrane are measured by the endoscopic spectroscopy system (ESS) in the National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan and the Department of Internal Medicine, Self-Defense Force Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. We assume that early cancer appears primarily in the spectral data of short wavelength, because it is usually present in a superficial cell where short wavelength light is scattered more strongly than long wavelength light. To identify the features in the short wavelength components, the spectral reflectance was divided by the reflectance of a long wavelength. We investigated the possibility of distinguishing early cancer from normal spectral data through statistical analysis, employing the projection axis as the mean difference between them. Early cancer and normal spectral data were projected on the projection axis, and the Student’s T-test was applied to evaluate the mean of the distribution between these data.