We present a new monthly index of the yields on junk bonds (high risk, high yield bonds) for the period 1910–1955. This index supplements the indexes of government bond yields, and Aaa and Baa corporate bond yields economic historians have relied on previously to describe the long-term risk spectrum. First, we describe our sources and methods. Then we show that our junk bond index contains information that is not in the closest alternative, and suggest some ways that the junk bond index could be used to enrich our understanding of the turbulent middle years of the twentieth century.

Although taxes were raised substantially in the United States during World War I, recourse was had to five bond issues, the famous Liberty loans, to finance the bulk of war expenditures. The Secretary of the Treasury, William Gibbs McAdoo, hoped to create a broad market for the Liberty bonds and to limit their yields by following an aggressive policy of ‘capitalizing patriotism’. He called on everyone from Wall Street bankers to the Boy Scouts to volunteer for campaigns to sell the bonds. The campaigns have become legendary. Some of the nation's best-known artists were recruited to draw posters depicting the contribution to the war effort to be made by buying bonds, and giant bond rallies featuring Hollywood stars were organized. These efforts, however, enjoyed limited success. The yields on the Liberty bonds were kept low mainly by making the bonds tax exempt and by making sure that a large proportion of them were purchased directly or indirectly by the Federal Reserve, turning the Federal Reserve into an engine of inflation. Patriotism proved to be a weak, although not powerless, offset to normal market forces.

We have propsed MgO/AZO bi-layer transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for thin film solar cells. From XRD analysis, it was observed that the full width at half maximum of AZO decreased when it was grown on MgO precursor. The Hall mobility of MgO/AZO bi-layer was 17.5cm2/Vs, whereas that of AZO was 20.8cm2/Vs. These indicated that the crystallinity of AZO decreased by employing MgO precursor. However, the haze (=total diffusive transmittance/total transmittance) characteristics of highly crystalline AZO was significantly improved by MgO precursor. The average haze in the visible region increased from 14.3 to 48.2%, and that in the NIR region increased from 6.3 to 18.9%. The reflectance of microcrystalline silicon solar cell was decreased and external quantum efficiency was significantly improved by applying MgO/AZO bi-layer TCO. The efficiency of microcrystalline silicon solar cell with MgO/AZO bi-layer front TCO was 6.66%, whereas the efficiency of one with AZO single TCO was 5.19%.

Cocoa polyphenols have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that has a vital role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases such as cancer and psoriasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression is associated with tumorigenesis, CVD, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. We tested whether cocoa polyphenol extract (CPE) inhibited TNF-α-induced VEGF expression in promotion-sensitive JB6 mouse epidermal cells. CPE significantly inhibited TNF-α-induced up-regulation of VEGF via reducing TNF-α-induced activation of the nuclear transcription factors activator protein-1 (AP-1) and NF-κB, which are key regulators of VEGF expression. CPE also inhibited TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of protein kinase B (Akt) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase. CPE blocked activation of their downstream kinases, p70 kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase and p90 kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase. CPE suppressed phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activity via binding PI3K directly. CPE did not affect TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase-1 (MEK1) but suppressed TNF-α-induced MEK1 activity. Collectively, these results indicate that CPE reduced TNF-α-induced up-regulation of VEGF by directly inhibiting PI3K and MEK1 activities, which may contribute to its chemopreventive potential.

Human complement regulatory protein hCD46 may reduce the hyperacute rejection (HAR) in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. In this study, an hCD46 gene was introduced into porcine embryonic germ (EG) cells. Treatment of human serum did not affect the survival of hCD46-transgenic EG cells, whereas the treatment significantly reduced the survival of non-transgenic EG cells (p < 0.01). The transgenic EG cells presumably capable of alleviating HAR were transferred into enucleated oocytes. Among 235 reconstituted oocytes, 35 (14.9%) developed to the blastocyst stage. Analysis of individual embryos indicated that 80.0% (28/35) of embryos contained the transgene hCD46. The result of the present study demonstrates resistance of hCD46-transgenic EG cells against HAR, and the usefulness of the transgenic approach may be predicted by this cytolytic assessment prior to actual production of transgenic pigs. Subsequently performed EG cell nuclear transfer gave rise to hCD46-transgenic embryos. Further study on the transfer of these embryos to recipients may produce hCD46-transgenic pigs.

A gold and aluminum layer was investigated as an anode for organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). By pretreating the ultrathin aluminum layer in an oxygen (O2) plasma, the hole injection from the metal anode to the organic layer was greatly enhanced. The fabricated OLEDs demonstrated improved current density and luminance characteristics as compared with other devices using a gold anode and an aluminum layer not treated with an oxygen plasma.

Bonding process using indium-silver alloy which can withstand high temperature was investigated at relatively low temperature. We used a thermal evaporator and vacuum coater for making indium-silver contact. From the result of experiment, we observed that indium and silver films which have good quality are formed. From phase diagram of In-Ag alloy, we can find that melting point of these compounds increases with the silver content, i.e. eutectic (144° C) <AgIn2 (166° C) < (300° C) < (670° C) < (695° C). And these compounds are determined by the composition ratio of the source metal. Now we confirmed the thermal characteristics of Indium-Silver alloy is controlled by silver. Consequently we have developed Ag/In/Ag multi-layer composite which has higher melting point than that of normal contact. The melting point of Ag/In/Ag multi-layer is about 700° C. The joint cross-sections are studied using SEM(scanning electron microscopy) and EDX(Energy Dispersive X-rays). From these data, we observed that the composition and microstructure of Ag/In/Ag multi-layer were reliable and this bonding procedure is a better technique compared to the conventional structure of quantum well LED and GaN/Si LED structure was made by using sapphire for substrate and might be good for high temperature electronic devices in the future.

Proper selection of an osteotome for nasal osteotomy is important for minimizing soft tissue trauma. Radiographic analysis of the facial bony lateral wall thickness was performed to suggest a guideline for an appropriate osteotome size for Asians. Facial bone computed tomography (CT) of 100 patients (50 male, 50 female) were studied. The thickness of the facial bony lateral wall at three points along the track of a lateral osteotomy, and two points along the track of a medial osteotomy and intermediate osteotomy were measured. The average bony thickness along the track of a lateral osteotomy was 2.61 ± 0.66 mm at the low level, 2.75 ± 0.76 mm at the middle level, and 2.72 ± 0.53 mm at the high level in subjects. The average bony thickness along the track of an intermediate osteotomy were 1.26 ± 0.34 mm at the low level, and 1.31 ± 0.32 mm at the high level in the subjects. The average bony thickness along the track of the medial osteotomy were 2.54 ± 0.31 mm at the lowlevel, and 2.77 ± 0.30 mm at the high level in subjects. These results may provide a guideline for choosing an osteotome of appropriate size for the Asian population.

Near-ternary eutectic Sn–Ag–Cu alloys are leading candidates for Pb-free solders. These alloys have three solid phases: β–Sn, Ag3Sn, and Cu6Sn5. Starting from the fully liquid state in solidifying near-eutectic Sn–Ag–Cu alloys, the equilibrium eutectic transformation is kinetically inhibited. The Ag3Sn phase nucleates with minimal undercooling, but the β–Sn phase requires a typical undercooling of 15 to 30 °C for nucleation. Because of this disparity in the required undercooling for nucleation, large, platelike Ag3Sn structures can grow rapidly within the liquid phase, before the final solidification of the solder joints. At lower cooling rates, the large Ag3Sn plates can subtend the entire cross section of solder joints and can significantly influence the mechanical deformation behavior of the solder joints under thermomechanical fatigue conditions. In this paper, it is demonstrated that the Ag3Sn plate formation can be inhibited, an important factor in assuring the reliability of solder joints composed of these alloys.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss that presents as the initial sign of haematological disease is very rare. Chronic myelogenous leukaemia has been implicated as a causative factor of sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

A 49-year-old male presented with unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss. The patient was found to have chronic myelogenous leukaemia during a work-up for his hearing loss. We present a case of a chronic myelogenous leukaemia patient whose first manifestation was sudden sensorineural hearing loss. We presume that cochlear vessel occlusion as a result of elevated blood viscosity was responsible for this patient’s hearing loss. Early onset of sudden deafness in a chronic myelogenous leukaemia patient may be due to the hyperviscosity syndrome and it may be possible to reverse hearing loss through early leukapheresis.

In this letter, we investigated the correlation between as-grown surface morphologies and Mn compositions of Ga1-xMnxAs epilayers - a III-V diluted magnetic semiconductor - grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE). Ga1-xMnxAs epilayers were grown at 595 °C from 50 % Ga + 50 % Bi mixed solvent. The grown layers were characterized by energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDS) and atomic forced microscopy (AFM). The Mn composition measured by EDS after growth process was varied from 1 to 7 %. As increasing Mn composition surface morphologies of as-grown Ga1-xMnxAs epilayers were varied. At higher Mn compositions, the morphology of the surface layers degrades strongly, preventing removal of the solution-melt from it. Key words: LPE, as-grown, surface morphology, Mn composition, Ga1-xMnxAs, energy-dispersive x-ray analysis (EDS), atomic forced microscopy (AFM).

A patient with an arteriovenous fistula that developed after a traffic accident was recently treated. The patient noticed pulsatile tinnitus in the right orbital region two months after the accident. On the first visit, the preliminary clinical impression of this case was a carotid-cavernous fistula, but angiography showed a fistula between the posterior auricular artery and the internal jugular vein. Although rare, this arteriovenous fistula should be included in the differential diagnosis of pusatile tinnitus in the orbit region. The fistula was controlled by embolization with a platinum coil. This is the first report of an arteriovenous fistula between the posterior auricular artery and internal jugular vein.

We synthesized novel cross-linkable fluorinated copoly(arylene ether sulfide)s for optical waveguide applications, which have high thermal stability, high optical transparency in the infrared communication region, and much smaller birefringence than other thermally stable fluorinated polyimides. The refractive index of the material can be easily controlled from 1.515 to 1.587 by changing the copolymer composition in the materials. The birefringence of the cured polymers were 0.0031∼0.0039 at the wavelength of 1.55 μm. This is much lower than those of fluorinated polyimides for optical waveguides. The refractive index of fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfide) (FPAESI) after being stored at 100 °C for 1000 hr remains almost constant demonstrating the thermal stability. The propagation loss of the channel waveguides fabricated using reactive ion etching was less than 0.4 dB/cm at the wavelength of 1.55 μm.