Asymptotic Formulas for Two Continued Fractions in Ramanujan's Lost Notebook

On page 45 of his lost notebook, Ramanujan recorded two asymptoticformulas for two continued fractions involving the Riemann zeta-functionand Dirichlet L-functions. The paper proves a more general theoremand derives Ramanujan's claims as a corollary of the theorem.     

Mass spring lattice modeling of the scanning laser source technique

The scanning laser source (SLS) technique is a promising new laser ultrasonic tool for the detection of small surface-breaking defects. The SLS approach is based on monitoring the changes in laser generated ultrasound as a laser source is scanned over a defect. Changes in amplitude and frequency content have been observed for ultrasound generated by the laser over uniform and defective areas. In this paper, the SLS technique is simulated numerically using the mass spring lattice model. Thermoelastic laser generation of ultrasound in an elastic material is modeled using a shear dipole distribution. The spatial and temporal energy distribution profiles of typical pulsed laser sources are used to model the laser source. The amplitude and spectral variations in the laser generated ultrasound as the SLS scans over a large aluminum block containing a small surface-breaking crack are observed. The experimentally observed SLS amplitude and spectral signatures are shown to be captured very well by the model. In addition, the possibility of utilizing the SLS technique to size surface-breaking cracks that are sub-wavelength in depth is explored.     

Scanning electron microscopic observation on the equatorial region of the rat intrafusal muscle fibres, especially on the subsarcolemmal sarcoplasmic reticulum

We examined intracellular structures in the equatorial region of the muscle spindles of rat soleus muscles by scanning electron microscopy, paying particular attention to the ultrastructure of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) beneath the sarcolemma. The subsarcolemmal SR was more developed in nuclear chain fibres than in nuclear bag fibres as was reported in the sleeve and extracapsular regions. In addition, the subsarcolemmal SR of the chain fibre formed a fenestrated sheet, whereas that of the bag fibre organized a layer of fenestrated bands beneath the sarcolemma where the sensory nerve endings are associated. No T-tubules were discerned in the subsarcolemmal SR of both fibres, which may be concerned with the little contraction of the equatorial region.     

Two-phase partition chromatography using soybean oil eliminates pesticide residues in aqueous ginseng extract

This study was carried out to develop a cost-, labor- and efficiency-effective elimination method of pesticide residues in ginseng extract. A two-phase partition method between soybean oil and distilled water or aqueous ginseng extract was employed for the elimination of pesticide residues. Content of the pesticides was determined by gas chromatography with electron capture or nitrogen phosphorus detector. A total of 15 pesticides representing four categories (organochlorine, organophosphorus, carbamate, pyrethroid) were spiked (ca. 2 ppm) to 2 ml soybean oil in a test tube and the oil was mixed with 6 ml distilled water or 10% aqueous ginseng extract. The test tubes were then vortexed (2 min) and centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 15 min to separate the oil and aqueous layers. Each layer was harvested and subjected to quantitative analysis of pesticides. The average distribution ratio of the pesticides to the oil layer was 94.4 +/- 6.7% in the mixture of the oil and distilled water, and 105.5 +/- 6.6% in the mixture of the oil and ginseng extract. No significant qualitative and quantitative change of ginsenosides, the active ingredients of Panax ginseng, was observed in the ginseng extract before and after the oil treatment. These results suggest that two-phase partition chromatography between soybean oil and the aqueous phase is a cost-, labor- and efficiency-effective reliable method for the elimination of pesticide residues in ginseng extract.     

Parametric GLRT for Multichannel Adaptive Signal Detection

This paper considers the problem of detecting a multichannel signal in the presence of spatially and temporally colored disturbance. A parametric generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) is developed by modeling the disturbance as a multichannel autoregressive (AR) process. Maximum likelihood (ML) parameter estimation underlying the parametric GLRT is examined. It is shown that the ML estimator for the alternative hypothesis is nonlinear and there exists no closed-form expression. To address this issue, an asymptotic ML (AML) estimator is presented, which yields asymptotically optimum parameter estimates at reduced complexity. The performance of the parametric GLRT is studied by considering challenging cases with limited or no training signals for parameter estimation. Such cases (especially when training is unavailable) are of great interest in detecting signals in heterogeneous, fast changing, or dense-target environments, but generally cannot be handled by most existing multichannel detectors which rely more heavily on training at an adequate level. Compared with the recently introduced parametric adaptive matched filter (PAMF) and parametric Rao detectors, the parametric GLRT achieves higher data efficiency, offering improved detection performance in general.     

A Structural Solution to Communication Dilemmas in a Virtual Community

In a many-to-many communication setting like a virtual community, individuals may be strongly tempted to free-ride on others' contributions, which would eventually lead to the collapse of the community. To find a structural solution to the "communication dilemma," this study compared the performances of 2 communication structures—one based on the interpersonal networks (network-generalized exchange: N_EX; e.g., blogs) and the other based on a public electronic bulletin board (group-generalized exchange: G_EX). In a 2 × 2 × 2 longitudinal between-subject experiment, it was found that changing G_EX to N_EX could increase the contributions made by individuals. Furthermore, N_EX was found to be an effective structure for N-person communication particularly when a large number of individuals were involved. The findings imply that an individual's cooperative motivation is a function of the incentive structure of a particular form of information exchange, which means that altering the exchange form may be a possible solution to the communication dilemmas in virtual communities.     

Mechanically formed loss-tunable long-period fiber gratings realized on the periodic arrayed metal wires

A new method to tune the peak loss of mechanically formed long-period fiber gratings (MLPFGs) is proposed. Periodic arrayed metal wires are used to obtain the gratings along a single mode fiber (SMF). Self-maintaining gratings are achieved by the bonding force of an UV-adhesive between two glass plates. The initial index modulation formed at room temperature creates a maximum attenuation of −9 dB and −12 dB for coated and uncoated SMF, respectively. By changing the temperature, the peak loss is tuned due to the large thermal expansion of the UV-adhesive. Thermally tunable characteristics caused by the coating layer of the SMF are also described and compared with the results of the device with an uncoated SMF.     

Expression, purification, crystallization, and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of OXA-17, an extended-spectrum β-lactamase conferring severe antibiotic resistance

OXA-17, an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) conferring severe antibiotic resistance, hydrolytically inactivates β-lactam antibiotics, inducing a lack of eradication of pathogenic bacteria by oxyimino β-lactams and not helping hospital infection control. Thus, the enzyme is a potential target for developing antimicrobial agents against pathogens producing ESBLs. OXA-17 was purified and crystallized at 298 K. X-ray diffraction data from OXA-17 crystal have been collected to 1.85 Å resolution using synchrotron radiation. The crystal of OXA-17 belongs to space group P2₁2₁2₁, with unit-cell parameters a = 48.37, b = 101.12, and c = 126.07 Å. Analysis of the packing density shows that the asymmetric unit probably contains two molecules with a solvent content of 54.6%.     

Low-power 3D graphics processors for mobile terminals

A full 3D graphics pipeline is investigated, and optimizations of graphics architecture are assessed for satisfying the performance requirements and overcoming the limited system resources found in mobile terminals. Two mobile 3D graphics processor architectures, RAMP and DigiAcc, are proposed based on the analysis, and a prototype development platform (REMY) is implemented. REMY includes a software graphics library and simulation environment developed for more flexible realization of mobile 3D graphics. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of mobile 3D graphics with 3.6 Mpolygons/s at 155 mW power consumption for full 3D operation.     

Visual Cryptography Based on an Interferometric Encryption Technique

This paper presents a new method for a visual cryptography scheme that uses phase masks and an interferometer. To encrypt a binary image, we divided it into an arbitrary number of slides and encrypted them using an XOR process with a random key or keys. The phase mask for each encrypted image was fabricated under the proposed phase‐assignment rule. For decryption, phase masks were placed on any path of the Mach‐Zehnder interferometer. Through optical experiments, we confirmed that a secret binary image that was sliced could be recovered by the proposed method.