Establishing norms for age-related changes in proton T1 of human brain tissue in vivo

The goal of this study was to determine the expected normal range of variation in spin-lattice relaxation time (T₁) of brain tissue in vivo, as a function of age. A previously validated precise and accurate inversion recovery method was used to map T₁ transversely, at the level of the basal ganglia, in a study population of 115 healthy subjects (ages 4 to 72; 57 male and 58 female). Least-squares regression analysis shows that T₁ varied as a function of age in pulvinar nucleus (R² = 56%), anterior thalamus (R² = 51%), caudate (R² = 50%), frontal white matter (R² = 47%), optic radiation (R² = 39%), putamen (R² = 36%), genu (R² = 22%), occipital white matter (R² = 20%) (all p < 0.0001), and cortical gray matter (R² = 53%) (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in T₁ between men and women. T₁ declines throughout adolescence and early adulthood, to achieve a minimum value in the fourth to sixth decade of life, then T₁ begins to increase. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging provides evidence that brain tissue continues to change throughout the lifespan among healthy subjects with no neurologic deficits. Age-related changes follow a strikingly different schedule in different brain tissues; white matter tracts tend to reach a minimum T₁ value, and to increase again, sooner than do gray matter tracts. Such normative data may prove useful for the early detection of brain pathology in patients.     

Investigation of the Li1+xV3O8 electrode–organic electrolyte interface by scanning photoelectron microscopy

To investigate the formation of a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on the Li_1+xV₃O₈ electrode surface in the thermodynamic stability range of the organic electrolyte, we applied scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM) to a pristine electrode and to an electrode after ten cycles. The F K-edge absorption spectrum of the cycled electrode showed that LiF forms on the electrode surface during the lithium insertion–extraction process in the Li_1+xV₃O₈/Li cell. The photoelectron spectrum for the cycled electrode showed intense spectral features corresponding to Li 1s, F 2s, F 2p, and P 2p electron signals, whereas these spectral features were of negligible intensity for the pristine electrode. The above results give strong support for the formation of an SEI that consists of LiF and compounds containing phosphorus during operation of the battery. The SPEM images also revealed that the fluorine distribution on the surface of the cycled electrode was inhomogeneous.     

In situ observation of dynamics of plasma self-channeling and bulk modification in silica glasses induced by a high-intensity femtosecond laser

The time-resolved dynamics of plasma self-channeling and refractive index bulk modification in silica glasses were first observed in situ using a high-intensity femtosecond (110 fs) Ti:sapphire laser (λ_p=790 nm). Plasma channeling is induced in silica glass at an irradiation higher than an input intensity of 1.5×10¹² W/cm² and photoinduces either the refractive-index modification or optical crack modification. In the domain of refractive-index modification, the lifetime of induced plasma self-channeling was 20 ps and the structural transition time for forming the refractive-index change was 10 ps. In the domain of optical cracks, however, the lifetime of induced plasma formation was 30 ps and the structural transition time for forming the optical cracks was 40 ps. According to electron spin resonance spectroscopic (ESP) measurement, it was found that the defect concentration of the SiE^′ center increased significantly in the refractive index modification region. A maximum value of the refractive-index change Δn was measured to be 1.6×10^-2. The intensity profile of the output beam transmitted through the refractive-index modification showed that the bulk modification produced a permanent optical waveguide. Received: 8 April 2002 / Accepted: 12 April 2002 / Published online: 22 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +81-48/462-4682, E-mail: shcho@riken.go.jp     

Effect of fluorine in Li1.27Cr0.2Mn0.53O2 cathode for secondary lithium batteries

Fluorine substituted Li_1.27Cr_0.2Mn_0.53O₂ electrode, prepared by sol–gel method, was investigated in the present work. Thermal analysis was done on this cathode material and found to be thermally stable with a loss of weight near 300 °C. Influence of fluorine substitution on the structural and electrochemical properties of the Li_1.27Cr_0.2Mn_0.53O₂ electrode was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope. XRD pattern of the fluorine-doped Li_1.27Cr_0.2Mn_0.53O₂ cathode material quenched at 900 °C indicates a phase pure material. The charge–discharge profile of the prepared cathode material showed that the fluorine substitution for oxygen in the cathode material resulted in improved capacity retention. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Ionic Devices (ICID 2006), Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, December 7–9, 2006.     

Bandgap engineering of self-assembled InAs quantum dots with a thin AlAs barrier

We investigate the effects of a thin AlAs layer with different position and thickness on the optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) by using transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence (PL). The energy level shift of InAs QD samples is observed by introducing the thin AlAs layer without any significant loss of the QD qualities. The emission peak from InAs QDs directly grown on the 4 monolayer (ML) AlAs layer is blueshifted from that of reference sample by 219 meV with a little increase in FWHM from 42–47 meV for ground state. In contrast, InAs QDs grown under the 4 ML AlAs layer have PL peak a little redshifted to lower energy by 17 meV. This result is related to the interdiffusion of Al atom at the InAs QDs caused by the annealing effect during growing of InAs QDs on AlAs layer.     

Fringe contrast-based 3D profilometry using fringe projection

Quality-guided algorithm is a widely used method in phase unwrapping. This paper shows an accurate quality map based on fringe contrast for 3D shape measurement. Phase-shifted fringe patterns are projected onto an object surface by a programmable liquid crystal projector and recorded by a CCD camera. A wrapped phase map and a fringe contrast map are extracted from the deformed fringe patterns by the phase-shifting technique. Guided by the contrast map, the quality-guided unwrapping algorithm minimizes unwanted shadow and non-uniform surface reflectance effects and is able to retrieve a correct surface profile. Validity of the proposed method is tested on a fish model and a cutting tool specimen.     

Observation of transverse polarization asymmetries of charged pion pairs in e+e- annihilation near √s = 10.58 GeV

The interference fragmentation function translates the fragmentation of a quark with a transverse projection of the spin into an azimuthal asymmetry of two final-state hadrons. In e(+)e(-) annihilation the product of two interference fragmentation functions is measured. We report nonzero asymmetries for pairs of charge-ordered π(+)π(-) pairs, which indicate a significant interference fragmentation function in this channel. The results are obtained from a 672 fb(-1) data sample that contains 711 × 10(6) π(+)π(-) pairs and was collected at and near the Υ(4S) resonance, with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider.