The earliest colonisation of oceanic islands by Homo sapiens occurred ~50 000–30 000 years ago in the Western Pacific, yet how this was achieved remains a matter of debate. With a focus on East Asia, the research presented here tests the hypothesis that bamboo rafts were used for these early maritime migrations. The authors review the evidence for Palaeolithic seafaring in East Asia as the context for an experimental archaeology project to build two bamboo watercraft. Sea trials demonstrate the unsuitability of bamboo, at least in East Asia, indicating that more sophisticated and durable vessels would have been required to traverse the Kuroshio Current.

Eosinophilic myocarditis is rare in children, and consequently, it is difficult to diagnose eosinophilic myocarditis rapidly. We report the clinical course of acute eosinophilic myocarditis with pericarditis in two adolescent boys and their associated electrocardiograms. The two patients, 13- and 14-year-old boys, developed cardiomegaly and chest pain with vomiting. On examination by two-dimensional echocardiography, thickening of the ventricular septum and a pericardial effusion were detected. The eosinophil count had increased by the pericardial effusion. Acute eosinophilic myocarditis often complicates a moderate to severe pericardial effusion owing to acute pericarditis. A cellular fraction analysis of the pericardial effusion is easy and useful for the diagnosis of eosinophilic myocarditis. Some serial changes in the electrocardiogram occur during each stage of acute eosinophilic myocarditis. They are induced by eosinophilic granules, which are capable of inducing tissue damage and dysfunction, and those changes in the electrocardiogram resemble the changes after an acute myocardial infarction. It is important to know the characteristics of eosinophilic myocarditis in order to prevent lethal complications.

Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 (PCMO) films were deposited on LaAlO3 (100) substrates under pressure from 1.33 to 5.33 Pa by RF magnetron sputtering. Resistance switching and dielectric functions of PCMO films were studied by DC current-voltage characteristic measurements and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurements. Resistance switching was observed in the devices composed of PCMO films deposited under low pressures of 1.33 and 2.67 Pa. SE measurements revealed that dielectric functions also depended on deposition pressure. PCMO films deposited under lower pressure had larger high-frequency dielectric constant, larger oscillator strength of the electric dipole charge transitions in MnO6 octahedral complexes, and lower oscillator strength of d-d transitions in Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions. SE measurements suggested that oxygen vacancies and MnO6 octahedral complexes play an important role in resistance switching in PCMO films.

We analyzed retrospectively the relationship between coagulation profile, and either hepatic function or hemodynamics, in patients who had undergone a Fontan-type procedure, comparing them, first, with a control group of 12 patients without significant hemodynamic abnormality, and, second, with a group of 14 patients who had not undergone a Fontan procedure, but whose mean right atrial pressure exceeded 8 mmHg. Follow-up catheterization had been performed in all 30 patients submitted to the Fontan-type operation. Prothrombin time, and factor XIII, were significantly lower in those who had undergone the Fontan procedure than in the other groups. Those submitted to the Fontan operation also had lower levels of protein C than controls, and their levels of plasminogen were lower than the patients with high right atrial pressure. Both aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were higher in those undergoing the Fontan procedure than in the other groups, while gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase in these patients was higher than in the control group. Mean right atrial pressure was highest in those under-going the Fontan procedure, while cardiac index was lowest. Prothrombin time was correlated to some extent with aspartate aminotransferase, mean right atrial pressure, and cardiac index. Protein C correlated with both aspartate aminotransferase and mean right atrial pressure, while factor XIII correlated with alanine aminotransferase, mean right atrial pressure, and cardiac index. Aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, parameters of hepatic function, correlated significantly with mean right atrial pressure. In those who had undergone the Fontan procedure, decreased synthesis of pro-and anti-coagulant factors is a risk factor for both thrombosis and bleeding. Abnormal hemodynamics, in the absence of a right sided pumping chamber, may predispose to subclinical hepatic dysfunction, leading to selective disturbances of protein synthesis.

We evaluated the effects of the edge degradation of diamonds in terms of their cutting ability from the viewpoint of mechanical, chemical and chemical-mechanical wear in chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) systems for high-volume manufacturing. The results showed that both micro-chipping on the cutting edges of diamonds caused by a mechanical shock test and the rounding off of the sharp edges of diamonds in a marathon wear test degraded the pad cut rate, while no adverse effects on the cutting ability were observed during an acidic slurry immersion test. We also examined in situ coefficient of friction (COF) monitoring for use in identifying the tribology of the pad conditioning. Furthermore, we demonstrated the usefulness of measuring the height ratio of the asperity called “top surface area (TSA) ratio” as an appropriate topographical parameter to study the dependence of COF during conditioning on the decay of the tungsten removal rate. We presented a clear correlation between the pad cut rate degradation and the TSA ratio after CMP in order to elucidate an increase in the conditioning COF related to truncation of the asperity tip by wear and plastic deformation.

A 3D packaging technology for 4 Gbit DRAM has been developed. It is targeting to realize 4Gb density DRAM by stacking 8-DRAM chips into one package. Interconnect between stacked chips will be done by through-silicon-via for the requirement of 3Gbps operation. Key process technologies for chip stacking are through-silicon-via formation, wafer back side process and micro-bump bonding. These chip-stacking processes have been developing using TEG, which can evaluate electrical characteristics.

This date list mainly reports on samples processed from 1982 to 1991. Each sample is converted to methanol. Radiocarbon is measured in a Teflon™ vial containing a mixture of 40 g of methanol and 50 cc of xylene, 1% Butyl PBD and 0.1% PBBO using low-background scintillation counters Aloka LSC-800, LB-I and LB-III. The background of LB-III is ca. 8 cpm and counting efficiency is ca. 70%. The recent 14C standard used is 95% of NBS oxalic acid; 5568 yr is used as the half-life of 14C.

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), also called combustion synthesis, is useful for fabricating numerous ceramics. In the case of SiC, heat released from the exothermic reaction is not sufficient to completely convert the mixed reactants of constituent elements into SiC in the usual nonadiabatic experimental system. This disadvantage could be overcome by a new ignition process called, the “direct passing method of electric current.” By using this method, stoichiometric fine SiC powder could be obtained rapidly and efficiently with low electric power. This paper also involves the effect of particle size of Si and C initial reactant powders on conversion efficiency into SiC and also on particle size of SiC powder fabricated by this method.

A new method of ceramic-to-metal welding has been developed using a pressurized combustion reaction to form Mo—TiB2—Mo and Mo—TiC—Mo couples. Mixtures of Ti powder with B or C between Mo disks were electrically ignited under 3 GPa pressure. The exothermic reaction of the powders resulted in the formation of TiB2 and TiC and reaction with Mo at the metal interface. Weld strengths of the Mo—TiB2—Mo and Mo—TiC—Mo couples were 20—40 MPa and ∼ 10 MPa, respectively.

It was T Higashimura of Kyoto University who did the first liquid scintillation measurement for 14C in Japan. The External Standard Method (Higashimura et al, 1962) has been accepted the world over as an efficient method of measuring low-level radiation.