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Objectives The aim of this AFIRE (Atrial Fibrillation and Ischemic Events With Rivaroxaban in Patients With Stable Coronary Artery Disease) trial subgroup analysis was to examine rivaroxaban monotherapy benefits and their relation to the time between stenting and enrollment among patients after coronary stenting. Background Of 2,215 patients with atrial fibrillation and stable coronary artery disease in the AFIRE trial, rivaroxaban monotherapy was noninferior to rivaroxaban plus antiplatelet therapy (combination therapy) in terms of efficacy and superior for safety endpoints. However, thrombotic risk after antiplatelet therapy cessation remained a concern among 1,444 patients who had undergone coronary stenting >1 year before enrollment. Methods The benefits of rivaroxaban monotherapy in coronary stenting subgroups were assessed for efficacy (a composite of stroke, systemic embolism, myocardial infarction, unstable angina requiring revascularization, or death of any cause), safety (major bleeding defined according to International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis criteria), ischemic endpoints, net adverse clinical event, and time between stenting and enrollment. Results Efficacy and safety endpoints for monotherapy were superior to combination therapy, with HRs of 0.70 for efficacy (95% CI: 0.50-0.98; P = 0.036) and 0.55 for safety (95% CI: 0.33-0.92; P = 0.019). For ischemic endpoints, the HR was 0.82 (95% CI: 0.58-1.15; P = 0.240). The HR became smaller with longer time between stenting and enrollment (efficacy, P for interaction = 0.158; safety, P = 0.097). Conclusions In patients with atrial fibrillation after coronary stenting, the benefits of rivaroxaban monotherapy for efficacy and safety endpoints were consistent with those in the whole AFIRE trial population. The benefits became apparent with longer time between stenting and enrollment. (Atrial Fibrillation and Ischemic Events With Rivaroxaban in Patients With Stable Coronary Artery Disease Study [AFIRE]; UMIN000016612 , NCT02642419 )

To realize safe mobile sensing in spaces around people, a flapping-wing robot with a weight of 1.15 g, wingspan of 115 mm, and three paired actuators is designed and fabricated in this study. The paired-wing actuators enable the suppression of wing–body and wing–wing coupling vibrations, as well as enhance the lift force. A model-based design of a stable flight controller was considered, where the lift force was assumed to work at an acting point on spatio-temporal average. Furthermore, an adaptive control law was employed for parameters that could not be measured. The effectiveness of the proposed controller was demonstrated through flight experiments.

The γ-ray detector CATANA (CAesium iodide array for γ-ray Transitions in Atomic Nuclei at high isospin Asymmetry) has been constructed to detect γ-rays from nuclear reaction with radioactive ion beams at RIKEN RIBF. CATANA consists of 100 square frustum-shaped CsI(Na) crystals coupled with photomultiplier tubes. The crystal shapes and positions are arranged to minimize the distance between the crystals so as to have better calorimetric properties and Doppler-shift correction capability. The CATANA array was employed to measure the dipole response of the neutron-rich calcium isotopes 50,52Ca, and the γ-rays from several known transitions were observed.

Summary Objective FGFR3 chondrodysplasia is caused by a gain-of-function mutation of the FGFR3 gene. The disease causes abnormal growth plate cartilage and lacks effective drug treatment. We sought to establish an in vivo model for the study of FGFR3 chondrodysplasia pathology and drug testing. Design We created cartilage from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and transplanted the cartilage into the subcutaneous spaces of immunodeficient mice. We then created cartilage from the hiPSCs of patients with FGFR3 chondrodysplasia and transplanted them into immunodeficient mice. We treated some mice with a FGFR inhibitor after the transplantation. Results Xenografting the hiPSC-derived cartilage reproduced human growth plate cartilage consisting of zones of resting, proliferating, prehypertrophic and hypertrophic chondrocytes and bone in immunodeficient mice. Immunohistochemistry of xenografts using anti-human nuclear antigen antibody indicated that all chondrocytes in growth plate cartilage were human, whereas bone was composed of human and mouse cells. The pathology of small hypertrophic chondrocytes due to up-regulated FGFR3 signaling in FGFR3 skeletal dysplasia was recapitulated in growth plate cartilage formed in the xenografts of patient-specific hiPSC-derived cartilage. The mean diameters of hypertrophic chondrocytes between wild type and thanatophoric dysplasia were significantly different (95% CI: 13.2–26.9; n = 4 mice, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)). The pathology was corrected by systemic administration of a FGFR inhibitor to the mice. Conclusion The patient-specific growth plate cartilage xenograft model for FGFR3 skeletal dysplasia indicated recapitulation of pathology and effectiveness of a FGFR inhibitor for treatment and warrants more study for its usefulness to study disease pathology and drug testing.

Spallation reaction study has been performed for the long-lived fission products 137Cs, 90Sr and 107Pd. Isotopic cross sections on proton and deuteron were obtained by using the inverse kinematics technique at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. It was found that the deuteron-induced cross sections are larger than the proton-induced ones for the light-mass products. The experimental data were compared with the SPACS semi-empirical parameterization and a theoretical calculation including both the intra-nuclear cascade and evaporation models by the PHITS transport code. It was found that the spallation reaction could be a promising mechanism for the transmutation of 137Cs and 90Sr due to the large total cross section.

The isospin characters of low-energy dipole excitations in neutron-rich unstable nucleus 20O were investigated, for the first time in unstable nuclei. Two spectra obtained from a dominant isovector probe (View the MathML sourceO20+Au) and a dominant isoscalar probe (View the MathML sourceO20+α) were compared and analyzed by the distorted-wave Born approximation to extract independently the isovector and isoscalar dipole strengths. Two known 1−1− states with large isovector dipole strengths at energies of 5.36(5) MeV (View the MathML source11−) and 6.84(7) MeV (View the MathML source12−) were also excited by the isoscalar probe. These two states were found to have different isoscalar dipole strengths, 2.70(32)% (View the MathML source11−) and 0.67(12)% (View the MathML source12−), respectively, in exhaustion of the isoscalar dipole-energy-weighted sum rule. The difference in isoscalar strength indicated that they have different underlying structures. ispartof: Physics Letters B vol:768 pages:387-392 status: published

We conducted fast heating of a core plasma produced by counter-illumination of two beam bundles of implosion lasers for two incident directions of the heating laser. For the axial heating configuration, wherein the heating laser was incident along the coaxial direction of the implosion lasers, the size and density of the counter-imploded core plasma were estimated. The incident timing of the heating laser was determined. Although the heating laser was incident during the stagnation of the core plasma, there were no considerable increases in the intensity of X-rays with energies beyond 1 keV and the yield of the thermonuclear fusion neutrons. Effective core heating did not occur due to the interaction of the heating laser with the low-density ablated plasma far from the core. On the other hand, for the transverse heating configuration, wherein the heating laser was incident from the transverse direction of the implosion laser axis, optimization of the incident timing of the heating laser was not achieved. However, two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulation revealed that a heating laser can directly interact with a core plasma and effective heating is expected. In our scheme, transverse heating configuration appears to be significant.

A Monte Carlo (MC) code simulating the kinetics of two-particle collisions has shown to have certain advantages in the spectral analysis of neutrons from fast-ignition inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The MC code quickly displays neutron spectra produced in the expected fusion plasma kinetics (incl. ion energy spectrum, anisotropy, and collision geometry). This allows to explore various potential mechanisms of neutron production without using time-consuming hydrodynamic or particle simulations and makes it possible to give a feedback to ongoing experiments. The validity of this model was demonstrated in the ”cone-free-shell” fast ignition experiment at the GEKKO-XII - LFEX laser facility, where the model provided a clear explanation for the significant spectral modulation of D(d, n)3He neutrons generated through the interaction between a high-power laser and a long-scale plasma.

Quantitative high-energy X-ray spectroscopy is applied for the laser plasma interaction in the fast ignition scheme. A double tracer layer target is designed for the absolute measurement of hot electron temperature and laser energy transfer efficiency. The hot electron temperature is determined from the ratio of the number of K α photons from the first and second tracers. Consequently, the energy transfer efficiency from incident laser beams to hot electrons, as the energy transfer mechanism, is derived. In a cone-guide geometry, we simultaneously measured the hot electron temperature and the energy transfer efficiency from the incident LFEX, a kJ-class PW laser, which were measured to be 5.3 MeV and 37%, respectively.

Background Medial meniscus posterior root tear (MMPRT) results in joint overloading and degenerative changes in the knee. Favorable clinical outcomes have been reported after transtibial pullout repair of MMPRT. To date, however, in vivo tibial rotational changes before and after root repair remain poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate postoperative changes in tibial rotation following MMPRT pullout repair. Hypothesis Pathological external rotation in the knee-flexed position is caused by MMPRT and is reduced after transtibial pullout repair. Patients and methods Fifteen patients who underwent MMPRT pullout repair and 7 healthy volunteers were included. Magnetic resonance imaging examinations were performed in the 10° and 90° knee-flexed positions. The angles between the surgical epicondylar axis and a line between the medial border of the patellar tendon and the apex of the medial tibial spine were measured. Baseline was defined as a line lying at a right angle to the other, and a value was positive and negative when the tibia rotated internally and externally, respectively. Results In the volunteer's normal knees, tibial internal rotation was +1.00° ± 3.27° at 10° flexion and +4.14° ± 3.46° at 90° flexion. In the MMPRT preoperative knees, tibial internal rotation was +1.07° ± 3.01° at 10° flexion and +1.27° ± 2.96° at 90° flexion. In the postoperative knees, tibial internal rotation was +1.60° ± 2.85° at 10° flexion and +4.33° ± 2.89° at 90° flexion. Discussion This study demonstrates discontinuity of the MM posterior root may induce a pathological external rotation of the tibia during knee flexion and that MMPRT pullout repair reduces the pathological external rotation of the tibia in the knee-flexed position. Level of evidence III, comparative retrospective study.

Absolute Kα line spectroscopy is proposed for studying laser–plasma interactions taking place in the Au cone-guided fast ignition targets. X-ray spectra ranging from 20 to 100 keV were quantitatively measured with a Laue spectrometer composed of a cylindrically curved crystal and a filter-absorption method for Bremsstrahlung continuum emission. The absolute sensitivities of the Laue spectrometer systems were calibrated using pre-characterized laser-produced X-ray sources and radioisotopes. The integrated reflectivity for the crystal is in good agreement with predictions by an X-ray diffraction code. The energy transfer efficiency from incident laser beams to hot electrons, as the energy transfer mechanism, is derived from this work. The absolute yield of Au and Ta Kα lines were measured in the fast ignition experimental campaign performed at Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University. Applying the hot electron spectrum information from electron spectrometer and scaling laws, the energy transfer efficiency from the incident LFEX, a kJ-class PW laser, to hot electrons was derived for the first time.

Implosion and heating experiments at the Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University on Fast Ignition (FI) targets for the FIREX-1 project have been performed with Gekko-XII laser for implosions and LFEX laser for heating. We tried to reduce the prepulse level in the LFEX laser system and have improved the plasma diagnostics to observe the plasma in the harsh hard X-ray environment. A plastic (CD) shell target, 7-μm thick and 500 μm in diameter with a hollow gold cone was used in this experiment to guide the short-pulse laser at the time of the maximum compression. The shell target was imploded with 9 or 12 beams of Gekko-XII laser (527 nm) with energy of 300 J/beam in a 1.5 ns pulse. Two of the four LFEX laser (1053 nm) beams were injected into the inside bottom of the cone with an energy up to 0.7 kJ/beam in a 1.5 ps pulse at the time around the maximum implosion. We have observed neutron enhancement up to 3.5 × 107 with total heating energy of 300 J, which is higher than the yield obtained in the previous experiment in 2002 [R. Kodama et al. Nature 418, 933 (2002)]. We found the estimated heating efficiency is at a level of 10–20%. Fuel heating to 5 keV is expected when the full output of LFEX is used.

The fast ignition realization experiment (FIREX) project is progressing. The new short pulse laser system, LFEX laser, has been completely assembled and one of the four beamlets is now in operation. A fast-ignition experiment was performed using this single short pulse combined with the Gekko XII implosion laser. The energy of the GXII implosion laser was about 2 kJ and the pulse width was 1.5 ns. The energy of the LFEX laser was increased upto 800 J and two pulse durations 5 and 1.6 ps were compared. Targets were deuterated plastic shells with gold cones. It was found that the neutron yield was increased by a factor of 30 as a result of the fast electron-induced heating in LFEX 1.6 ps shot. The estimated coupling efficiency between the LFEX laser pulse and the compressed fuel was low (less than 5%). This may be due to pre-plasma formed by light arriving at the target before the main laser pulse. Further investigations and attempts to overcome these problems are now in progress. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

The quantification of spontaneous calcium (Ca(2+)) oscillations (SCOs) in astrocytes presents a challenge because of the large irregularities in the amplitudes, durations, and initiation times of the underlying events. In this article, we use a stochastic context to account for such SCO variability, which is based on previous models for cellular Ca(2+) signaling. First, we found that passive Ca(2+) influx from the extracellular space determine the basal concentration of this ion in the cytosol. Second, we demonstrated the feasibility of estimating both the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP(3)) production levels and the average number of IP(3) receptor channels in the somatic clusters from epifluorescent Ca(2+) imaging through the combination of a filtering strategy and a maximum-likelihood criterion. We estimated these two biophysical parameters using data from wild-type adult mice and age-matched transgenic mice overexpressing the 695-amino-acid isoform of human Alzheimer β-amyloid precursor protein. We found that, together with an increase in the passive Ca(2+) influx, a significant reduction in the sensitivity of G protein-coupled receptors might lie beneath the abnormalities in the astrocytic Ca(2+) signaling, as was observed in rodent models of Alzheimer's disease. This study provides new, to our knowledge, indices for a quantitative analysis of SCOs in normal and pathological astrocytes.

Ulnar neuropathy is one of complications of TEA (total elbow arthroplasty, incidence; 5 to 10%), yet there are not many evaluations and clinical course reports. Out of 117 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who underwent TEA, 8 patients showed numbness and muscle weakness of the ulnar nerve region after surgery, and received electromyography (EMG). EMG examinations revealed ulnar neuropathy at the elbow in 6 subjects, 5 of whom performed neurolysis. Two patients were diagnosed with cervical spondylosis. A 50-year-old female developed RA in 1998. She underwent left TEA (JACE) in June 2014. As numbness appeared, we performed EMG to her in October 2014. Delay of sensory nerve conduction velocity (SCV) was observed at cubital tunnel. In April 2015 left ulnar nerve neurolysis was performed. After that, both EMG finding and symptoms were improved. However, EMG in June 2016 again confirmed a delay in SCV and we performed a second ulnar nerve neurolysis in September 2016. Evaluations of ulnar neuropathy are important because RA also causes cervical spinal lesions such as atlantoaxial subluxation. Adhesion and scars are recognized at the elbow joint in the five patients who underwent neurolysis. Thus, it is necessary to follow up with electromyogram examination, for diagnosis of neuropathy and postoperative evaluation.

The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements were performed on In 1 - x Ga x Sb mixed polycrystals in the whole x range, and the former indicates Vegard's law, i.e., the lattice constant linearly changes with varying the concentration x , while the latter reveals a Pauling's bond length, i.e., an almost constant In–Sb or Ga–Sb interatomic distance is preserved all over the concentration range. In order to clarify the lattice distortions by adding the Ga atoms, Ga K α X-ray fluorescence holography (XFH) experiment was carried out on In 0.995 Ga 0.005 Sb mixed single crystal, and a three-dimensional atomic image around the Ga atoms was constructed. Although the atomic images locate almost on the atomic positions of the InSb crystal, some deviations (distortions from the lattice) can be observed, in particular for the first-, and second-nearest-neighboring atoms. We found that the lattice distortion by the Ga atoms is induced within the fifth neighbor atoms. From the XFH result, we discuss how the small GaSb 4 tetrahedra can be stably located in the InSb lattice with the larger lattice constant.

The local linearization (LL) method for the integration of ordinary differential equations is an explicit one-step method that has a number of suitable dynamical properties. However, a major drawback of the LL integrator is that its order of convergence is only two. The present paper overcomes this limitation by introducing a new class of numerical integrators, called the LLT method, that is based on the addition of a correction term to the LL approximation. In this way an arbitrary order of convergence can be achieved while retaining the dynamic properties of the LL method. In particular, it is proved that the LLT method reproduces correctly the phase portrait of a dynamical system near hyperbolic stationary points to the order of convergence. The performance of the introduced method is further illustrated through computer simulations.

A damage-robust SrRuO 3 /IrO 2 top electrode FeRAM with Cu BEOL process is demonstrated for the first time as a promising device for 130 nm CMOS embedded non-volatile memory. The ferroelectric capacitor with SrRuO 3 /IrO 2 top electrode has no degradation during Cu metallization to suppress oxygen and lead vacancies at a top electrode interface. Switching charge ( Q sw ) of 40 μC/cm 2 is achieved for 0.45 × 0.45 μm 2 top electrode (TE) size capacitor. Ninety percent saturation of Q sw is obtained at 1.1 V that is low enough to drive ferroelectric capacitors at 1.8 V for 130 nm CMOS. Opposite state polarization margin more than 90% is retained against imprint after the high temperature storage at 150 °C for 70 h. The combination of this high reliable capacitor with large Q sw and Chain FeRAM™ architecture with a small bit line capacitance [Ozaki T, Iba J, Yamada Y, Kanaya H, Morimoto T, Hidaka O, et al. In: Symposium on VLSI technologies technical digest; 2001. p. 113] drastically increases signal window for 1T1 C operation. A sharp signal distribution and a large peak-to-peak signal window of 730 mV at 1.8 V on the test device with 0.20 μm 2 area capacitors using three-level Cu metallization on 32 Mb Chain FeRAM™ are obtained. This technology realizes reliable embedded FeRAM of 130 nm generation and beyond.

We have measured the spontaneous strain of a zone boundary mode phase transition in strontium titanate by using the X-ray topographic contrast produced by the lamellar domain structure. The hill and valley structure of the lattice planes intersecting the domain walls leads to the orientation contrast consisting of pairs of a bright stripe and a dark stripe. The linear relation between the splitting of the pairing stripes and a camera distance gives the temperature dependence of the spontaneous strain, which is in the order of 10−4 at 4.8 K, as well as the critical index of order parameter β = 0.32.

Polarization characteristics of harmonic generation from solid surface plasma were studied using a femtosecond CPA Ti:S–Nd:glass laser. The ratios between the harmonics intensities produced by p-polarized and s-polarized pump were 25 and 6 for the second and fifth harmonics, respectively, at pump intensities ( I ) below 10 17 W cm −2 . The same ratios decreased to 2.4 and 1.5 for I >2×10 17 W cm −2 . This decrease was explained by the rippling caused by Rayleigh–Taylor-like instability at the critical density surface, and Faraday rotation effect due to the influence of the spontaneous magnetic fields generated in plasma. Theoretical analysis of s- and p-polarization-induced harmonic generation was presented using LPIC code. The blueshift of the harmonics has been also observed. It was found that the blueshift increases with the harmonic order.

Hydrogen permeation and transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations were performed for V–Al alloys (10–40 mol% Al). Hydrogen permeability of V–Al alloys decreased with aluminum content, but not in a monotonous manner. Below 20 mol% of aluminum, hydrogen permeability of V–Al alloys decreased linearly with aluminum content. From 20 to 30 mol% of aluminum, hydrogen permeability decreased abruptly. A15 phase which is shown in the V–Al phase diagram was not observed in any samples, quenched from 1373 K or aged at 853 K for 100–350 h. Instead, some precipitates of 200 nm to 1 μm were observed at grain boundaries, sub-boundaries and inside the grains. The amount of the precipitates, however, was too small to explain the significant drop of hydrogen permeability observed in the alloys with more than 20 mol% Al. The long-time permeation test showed that V–10Al sample possessed satisfactory durability to be used as hydrogen purification materials.

We investigated the guiding of femtosecond laser pulses with an intensity of ∼10 16 W/cm 2 in evacuated and gas-filled glass capillaries. We measured the laser transmission versus length of two capillaries with different inner cores in a vacuum, and also the laser propagation modes in these two capillaries. We succeeded in generating an extended plasma column that was ten times longer than the Rayleigh range by propagating high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses in a gas-filled capillary. We obtained a spectral blue shift in the transmitted femtosecond laser pulses with a 5 Torr nitrogen-filled capillary and used this shift to demonstrate extended plasma column formation in a gas-filled capillary. We also measured axial soft X-ray spectra from this laser-pumped, nitrogen-filled capillary and obtained an anomalously strong emission at 45.2 nm.

We performed the X-ray Laue topography of strontium titanate from 300 K down to 4 K through the cubic-tetragonal phase transition temperature Ta=105 K. We found that the {1 1 0} domain boundaries formed below Ta clearly showed the bright and dark stripe contrasts. The appearance of the contrasts depends on the diffraction vector g. The boundaries parallel to g show the strongest contrasts, while those normal to g show no contrasts. This proves the spontaneous deformation around the boundaries. The difference between the X-ray intensities of the adjacent bright and dark stripes shows the same temperature dependence as the order parameter. The present X-ray topography provides a new method of studying order parameters in structural phase transitions.

Current activities on our research of soft X-ray lasers and higher harmonic generations using intense, subpicosecond lasers are reviewed. Especially for soft X-ray lasers we experimentally demonstrate that by longitudinally pumping 2-mm-long molybdenum preformed plasma with high-intensity 475 fs duration laser pulse, a highly directive soft-X-ray laser at 18.9 nm wavelength is generated. The divergence of the beam is evaluated to be of the submilliradian order, and only requires pump laser energy of 150 mJ . Simulations show that the pedestal in the main pump pulse can generate electron density and gain profiles with large spatial gradients, which result in the selective amplification of low-order transverse modes. The present result is the demonstration of an efficient and alternative method of improving the spatial coherence of X-ray lasers with amplified spontaneous emission medium, with possibilities of becoming an excellent tool to explore various application experiments. In higher harmonic generation, topics related to observation of blue shift due to collisionless absorption process is described.

Hydrogen permeation characteristics of V–Al alloys (0.1–40 at.% Al) were investigated using the gas permeation technique in the temperature range of 523–673 K. The hydrogen permeability of V–Al alloys decreased considerably when the Al content exceeded 20 at.%.

Electron spin resonance (ESR) studies of photogenerated polarons in composite of regioregular poly(3-octylthiophene) (PAT8) and fullerene (C60) using variable photoexcitation energy up to 4.1 eV are reported. Two transient light-induced ESR (LESR) signals of photogenerated positive and negative polarons on PAT8 (g1=2.002) and C60 (g2=1.999), respectively, are observed below 200 K, which are caused by photoinduced electron transfer between PAT8 and C60. A remarkable enhancement of the LESR signals in excitation spectrum at around 1.8 eV is observed compared with the case of pure regioregular PAT8, which is consistent with the enhancement of the photoconductivity at around 1.8 eV where optically forbidden transition of C60 occurs. Spin–lattice relaxation time of the polaron spins of PAT8 is obtained considering inhomogeneous broadening of the ESR linewidth due to the hyperfine interactions, which is at least approximately 18 times longer than that of C60. Prompt and persistent LESR signal components are observed by transient response of the LESR signal. The prompt contribution shows a monotonic increase with increasing excitation-light intensity, while the persistent contribution is found to be excitation intensity independent due to deep traps of the photogenerated polarons.

Infrared absorption e ″/ ν of vitreous silica is calculated from the dielectric dispersion measured at low frequencies. The calculated e ″/ ν shows a peak around 1 THz above 450 K. The peak height increases as the temperature rises. These indicate that the thermally activated relaxation mode turns to an anharmonic vibration mode. The calculated e ″/ ν is compared with the measured one at 11 and 297 K.

A structured nonlinear parameter optimization method (SNPOM) used to RBF network and RBF-ARX model parameter estimation is presented. This is an off-line nonlinear model parameter optimization method, which is developed based on the Levenberg-Marquardt method (LMM) for nonlinear parameter optimization and the Least Squares method (LSM) for linear parameter estimation. The SNPOM can accelerate the computational convergence of parameter optimization search process of the RBF-based models comparing with other algorithms. Some applications illustrate the usefulness.

In this paper the present status of the smallest synchrotron (orbit radius is 0.156 m) for hard X-ray generation is reported. We have succeeded in the 2 3 resonance beam injection, and the 109 order X-ray productions.

For nonlinear thermal power plants whose dynamics vary with load demand, a load-dependent exponential ARX (Exp-ARX) model which can exactly describes the nonlinear properties of the plants is presented. The Exp-ARX model requires only offline identification. Based on the model, a constrained multivariable generalized predictive control (CMGPC) strategy is designed and implemented in a simulation of 375 MW thermal power plants. This CMGPC algorithm do not resort to on-line parameter estimation and can exactly predict the future outputs of the nonlinear plants, so it shown far better realizability and control performance than the usual GPC algorithm

Electric power companies in Japan will pay their attention to the economical operation of a power plant Especially in a fossil power plant, reconstruction of instruments and DCSs greatly affects on the efficiency on a plant operation. However, conventional PID controllers on DCSs can not always give the optimum solution for the problem on the economical operation. Considering this background the authors developed the nonlinear identification method based on the amplitude-dependent ARX model and also developed the model-based real-time optimization control strategy with various constraints.

As a promising wall-conditioning technique in LHD under steady-state high magnetic fields with superconducting magnets, real time boronization (RTB) by puffing decaborane B 10 H 14 into the main NBI-heated plasma has been first examined in CHS. It is shown that, as compared with the usual glow discharge method, only the 2 orders smaller amount of decaborane is efficient to reduce plasma impurities such as oxygen and metals, resulting in expansion of the operating region of the plasma density and stored energy. The puffing at the inside of the LCFS gives better results on RTB than the outer. Even after RTB on the wall at the room temperature, hydrogen recycling does not increase probably due to the small consumed amount with a high plasma heating power used. The operative RTB parameters expected in LHD are estimated using the first scaling of boronization on the device size.

We have observed the domain structure of strontium titanate by using white microbeam X-ray spectro-scattering topography. We have determined the domain structure from the undistorted images of intensity and energy of X-rays diffracted from a (1 0 0) plate. We also have obtained the lattice parameters a = 0.3791 nm and c = 0.3794 nm and the spontaneous strain c/a − 1 = 7.9 × 10−4 at 30 K from the energy images.

In order to decrease the leakage current of In/CdTe/Au radiation detectors, thermal treatment of the CdTe wafers was introduced into the detector fabrication process. Detectors were fabricated from Cl-doped THM-grown high-resistivity wafers. The thermal treatment was carried out in a vacuum evaporator at 200–300°C before deposition of the In electrode. An Au electrode was formed by electroless plating. The thermal treatment remarkably decreased the leakage current and improved its stability. The lowest leakage current was obtained when an In electrode was formed on the (111)B surface. AES analysis and RHEED observation showed that the thermal treatment removes an amorphous Te-rich layer. The output current stability could be remarkably improved by thermal treatment when the CdTe detector was operated in current mode.

Differential screening-selected gene aberrative in neuroblastoma (DAN) encodes a protein which possesses metal binding motifs. Glutathione S-transferase DAN fusion protein had an ability to bind to Ni2+-immobilized affinity resin. Truncation of the C-terminal region including a (HX)n repeat of DAN caused a loss of binding ability to the affinity resin, suggesting that this region is essential for Ni2+-binding. DAN produced in cultured rat cells also had an affinity for Ni2+. Cross-linking experiments demonstrated that the C-terminal region might function as a protein-protein interacting domain.

A volume-averaged equilibrium β value 〈βeq〉 of 2.14% is achieved in a compact helical system using two neutral beam lines with balanced injection and intense wall conditioning with Ti gettering. This value is the highest β value realized so far in helical systems. Reheat mode, where the stored energy increases after turn-off of a strong gas puff, is employed in the experiment. Discharge conditions are as follows: Bt = 0.61 T; beam power through the port, 1.1 MW (coinjection) and 0.8 MW (counterinjection); line-averaged electron density n e = 6.5 × 10 13 cm −3 . Amplitudes of magnetic fluctuations integrated over the frequency range from 3 kHz to 100 kHz become saturated at 〈βeq〉 higher than 1%. Dominant coherent modes are m n = 2 1 and 1 1 when 〈βeq〉 is lower and higher respectively than 1%. Dependence of the energy confinement time τE on n e (up to 8 × 1013 cm−3) and Bt (from 0.6 to 1.8T) is also studied in this high β experiment. When the density increases τE degrades compared with the LHD scaling; the density dependence exhibits Bohm-like behaviour. On the contrary, τE scales as Bt≈0.75, which is rather close to the LHD scaling (gyro-Bohm-like behaviour).

An approximation formula for parasitic aberrations due to mechanical defects of an electrostatic deflector is derived in the case that parasitic fields can be regarded as uniform throughout the deflection field. Furthermore, the procedure to obtain the worst defects, which introduce the maximum aberrations, is described. In assembling electrodes having circular cross-section into a deflector, the calculation requires numerical calculation of only four fundamental parasitic fields and algebric calculation of linear combination of them. The procedure leads the formula into a practical equation to evaluate the tolerance limit of mechanical defects.

Complex dielectric constants e ∗ of SiO2 glass were measured at frequencies of 10, 100 Hz, 1 and 10 kHz at temperatures from 3 to 100 K. They were best described by the relaxation time τ which obeys the Vogel–Fulcher law τ=τ 0 exp [E/(T−T 0 )] with T0=−0.5±0.5 K, τ0=(1.9±0.7)×10−13 s and E distributed below 3000 K. This shows that τ substantially obeys the Arrhenius law τ=τ 0 exp (E/T) , and hence the cooperative interaction between relaxators is too weak to cause a dipole glass transition. An additional contribution of phonon-assisted tunneling to e ∗ is estimated by normalizing the distribution function of E.

A movable graphite limiter with an internal heater has been installed in the heliotron/torsatron type compact helical system (CHS). Comparing discharges with and without the limiter the origin of major impurities and the role of the limiter are discussed. Infrared TV measurements reveal that there are two hot spots on the limiter due to heat loading and their temperatures depend on the electron density and/or the magnetic field direction. Limiter temperature dependence of measured CH/Hγ, CI, CII, OII, CH+3, OV and total radiation loss is compared. From these experiments it is concluded that CH4 molecules produced chemically on the limiter are presumed to recycle rapidly near the limiter and both carbon and oxygen impurities result probably from CO produced chemically on the limiter with oxygen which is predominant in CHS and originates mostly from the first wall. At surface temperatures above 900 ° C the limiter effect on impurities is observable in the main plasma.

In order to investigate the characteristics of particle confinement in compact helical system (CHS) plasmas, temporal evolutions of electron density profiles during gas puff modulation are measured using an HCN laser interferometer. Two different magnetic configurations are studied.

Background The prognosis of gastric cancer with peritoneal metastasis is extremely poor. Neither systemic chemotherapy nor surgery alone prolongs survival of patients significantly. Methods Patients diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer underwent staging laparoscopy and received chemotherapy when peritoneal dissemination and/or cancer cells on peritoneal cytology were confirmed. The chemotherapy regimen consisted of S-1, weekly intravenous and intraperitoneal paclitaxel, which was verified in our phase II trial (Ann Oncol 2009). S-1 was administered at 80 mg/m2/day for 14 consecutive days, followed by 7 days rest. Paclitaxel was administered intravenously at 50 mg/m2 and intraperitoneally at 20 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8. Clinical response of chemotherapy was assessed by computed tomography, gastroendoscopy, peritoneal cytology and second-look laparoscopy. Radical gastrectomy was carried out when macroscopic curative resection was made achievable by chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was restarted after operation as soon as possible. Overall survival, relapse free survival, morbidity and mortality of gastrectomy were evaluated. Results Out of 100 patients with peritoneal metastasis who received chemotherapy, 60 patients underwent gastrectomy after response to chemotherapy, including 54 with macroscopic metastasis and 6 with positive peritoneal cytology only. A median of three courses were administered preoperatively (range 1–16). Total or distal gastrectomy with lymphnode dissection was carried out in 54 or 6 patients, respectively. The median survival time was 34.5 months. The median relapse-free survival was 16.7 months. The first site of relapse was the peritoneum in 24 patients and the other organ site in 17 patients. Postoperative complications included anastomotic leakage and pancreatic fistula in two patients each, which were healed conservatively. There were no treatment-related deaths. Conclusions Gastrectomy combined with S-1, intravenous and intraperitoneal paclitaxel is safe and active for gastric cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis.