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Previously, it was shown that the {100}<0vw> texture could be evolved when the specimen is under the appropriate stress during γ → α phase transformation. Here the effect of the various process conditions on the evolution of the {100}<0vw> texture was examined. The texture evolution was affected by the magnitude of tensile stress, the furnace atmosphere, the heat treatment time (or grain size) and the cooling rate. In Fe–1 wt% Si, the {100}<0vw> texture was 78.3% under the H2 atmosphere with a flow rate of 1000 standard cubic centimeter per minute (sccm) whereas it was 16.2% under the N2 atmosphere with a flow rate of 1000 sccm. The marked decrease in the percentage of the {100}<0vw> texture under the N2 atmosphere is believed to be related with the surface oxidation of the specimen. In Fe–2 wt% Si–1 wt% Ni, the {100}< 0vw > texture was 8.9% when the specimen was heat treated at 1100 °C for 5 min whereas it increased to 66.0% when the specimen was heat treated for 6 h. This increase of the {100}<0vw> texture is believed to be related with the increase in the grain size. Under the optimum processing condition, the {100}<0vw> texture could be increased to as high as 92.6% in Fe–2 wt% Si–1 wt% Ni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete genome sequence of Stellaria aquatica virus B (StAVB), a new member of the genus Polerovirus that infects Stellaria aquatica, was determined using high-throughput RNA sequencing with confirmation by Sanger sequencing. The complete StAVB genome (GenBank accession no. OP389993) is 5,900 nucleotide (nt) long with seven open reading frames (ORF0–5 and ORF3a) that encode putative proteins (P0–P5 and P3a) in a similar configuration to that of other typical poleroviruses. Pairwise sequence comparisons with other poleroviruses showed 38–50% nt sequence identity in the complete genome and 13–24%, 36–45%, 7–68%, and 6–50% amino acid sequence identity in (aa), for the P0, P1–2, P3, and P4 protein, respectively. These data, together with the results of phylogenetic analysis, indicate that StAVB should be classified as a new member of the genus Polerovirus, family Solemoviridae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We evaluated whether there is a difference in the local recurrence and survival after pelvic external radiotherapy (ERT) with and without boost vaginal brachytherapy (VB) in cervical cancer patients with positive or close vaginal resected margins (RM). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed FIGO stage IA-IIB cervical cancer patients treated with postoperative ERT between 1997 and 2018. The sixty patients showing close (safety margin < 5 mm) or positive vaginal RM were included. ERT was delivered with median 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions to the pelvis and VB with median 30 Gy in 6 fractions. Results: The median follow-up duration was 46 months. Five out of 30 patients treated with ERT alone experienced vaginal recurrence within 2 years after surgery. The 5-year local control (LC) was 100% in patients receiving ERT + VB compared with 81.3% in patients receiving ERT alone (log rank p = 0.022). The 5-year pelvic control (PC) was 95.8% for patients receiving ERT + VB and 76.8% for ERT alone (p = 0.041). The 5-year overall survival and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were not significantly different between treatment groups. In multivariate analysis, perineural invasion was a significant risk factor for PC (p = 0.024). Parametrial involvement (p = 0.044) and vascular invasion (p = 0.032) were unfavorable prognostic factors for RFS. Late toxicity occurrences were not significant in both groups. Conclusion: VB after ERT improved LC and PC in cervical cancer patients with close or positive RM after hysterectomy. The toxicities were not increased after VB was added to ERT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Penetrating morphologies at the growth front of abnormally-growing Goss grains in Fe–3%Si steel was examined in view of the possibility that they are the two-dimensional section of the solid-state wetting (SSW) along the triple junction line. To obtain the statistically meaningful data, 102 penetrated grain and 204 penetrating abnormally-growing Goss grain morphologies were examined. The misorientation angles of penetrating and penetrated grains were measured by electron backscattered diffraction. Among the 102 examined penetrated grain boundaries, none has low misorientation angles less than 15°, whereas 17.2% of the 204 penetrating grain boundaries have low misorientation angles, and 23.5% of them have coincidence site lattice boundaries. Besides, boundary energies of penetrating Goss grains, which were estimated from misorientation angles of the three grains in the penetrating morphology, satisfied the energetic condition for SSW along the triple junction line. These results imply that the abnormal grain growth of Goss grains in Fe–3%Si steel occurs by the mechanism of sub-boundary enhanced SSW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We investigated the relationship of physical activity with dietary habits and quality of life (QoL) in breast cancer survivors in accordance with the recommendations of the American Cancer Society. Methods: Data of 928 breast cancer survivors were obtained from the KROG 14-09 study to measure QoL in early phase after adjuvant radiotherapy. According to the extent of physical activity, survivors were divided into four groups: inactivity (0–149 min/week, N = 144), regular activity (150–450 min/week, N = 309), moderate activity (451–900 min/week, N = 229), and marked activity (901–1800 min/week, N = 164) excluding hyperactivity (> 1800 min/week, N = 82) as it is a difficult condition to recommend to survivors. Global physical activity questionnaire, 5-dimensional questionnaire by EuroQoL (EQ-5D-3L), QoL Questionnaire–breast cancer (QLQ-BR23) from EORTC, and dietary habits were surveyed. A linear-to-linear association test for EQ-5D-3L and Kruskal–Wallis analysis for QLQ-BR23 and dietary habit were conducted. Results: Overall, 15.5% respondents (144/928) were classified as physically inactive. The trends of frequent intake of fruits (p = 0.001) and vegetable (p = 0.005) and reluctance toward fatty food (p < 0.001) were observed in physically active groups. Mobility (p = 0.021) and anxiety (p = 0.030) of EQ-5D-3L, and systemic therapy side effect (p = 0.027) and future perspective (p = 0.008) of QLQ-BR23 were better in physically active groups besides body image (p = 0.003) for the survivors with breast-conserving surgery. However, moderate and marked activities did not further improve QoL than regular activity. Conclusion: Physicians and care-givers have to pay attention to inactive survivors to boost their physical activity, thereby facilitating a better QoL and dietary habit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolution of abnormally growing Goss grains in Fe–3%Si steel was observed time sequentially by electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD). For example, some specimens were heated at 1080 °C for 5 min, then cooled, polished and observed by EBSD, whose procedure was repeated for 6 times. After each heat treatment at 1080 °C, the abnormal grain growth morphology of Goss grains in Fe–3%Si steel could be observed by polishing away a thin layer of the oxidized surface. Goss grains grew abnormally in a highly irregular way. As a result, some matrix grains were isolated at the growth front, which produced island grains. The irregular growth often resulted in incomplete isolation, which produced peninsular grains. Numerous matrix grains were isolated by the impingement of abnormally growing Goss grains. Once matrix grains became isolated, island or peninsular grains, they shrank much faster than before. If the grain boundary mobility of island and peninsular grains is not low enough, they would shrink in an accelerated way because their local curvature of grain boundary becomes larger as they shrink. Therefore, the high shrinking rate of island and peninsular grains indicates that island and peninsular grains are formed not because of their low grain boundary mobility but because of solid-state wetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) and its copper-doped variants (Cu-doped ZIF-8) were synthesized using a rapid microwave technique. The products were characterized by XRD, NanoSEM, FTIR, Raman spectra, TGA, XPS, and EDX. The gas adsorption properties of samples were performed using C3 and C4 hydrocarbons including propane, propylene, isobutane, and n-butane gases at 25 °C. Both equilibrium adsorption and kinetics were studied. It was found that ZIF-8 and Cu-doped ZIF-8 samples open their nanogates (i.e., six-membered rings) at some threshold pressures when adsorbing different gases, which it is denotes later as the gate-opening pressure (p0). The p0 value for each ZIF toward each gas was evaluated by fitting equilibrium adsorption data against a modified version of the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. It was observed that the value of p0 differs significantly for each gas utilized, and with different extents for ZIF samples. The overall mass transfer coefficient values of adsorption process were estimated. Therefore, it is possible that the distinct values of p0 afford a unique chance to separate and purify these gases at mass production, and the best-studied adsorbent to for this purpose was Cu30%/ZIF-8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthesis of ZIF with zinc, cobalt, or copper was carried out by microwaves. The effect of metal center on morphologies and pores of products was studied. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption onto ZIFs was examined by density functional theory. The micro, meso, and macropores of ZIF-8, Zn/Co-ZIF-8, and Cu/ZIF-8 ranged 99.814–99.969%, 0.055–0%, and 0.031–0.130%, respectively. Average pore sizes of ZIF-8, Zn/Co-ZIF-8, and Cu/ZIF-8 are 1.291, 1.194, and 1.164 nm, respectively. Monolayer saturation limits of nitrogen onto ZIF-8, Zn/Co-ZIF-8, and Cu/ZIF-8 were 21.152, 18.943, and 17.784 mmol/g, respectively. Further, the results included densities, total surface areas, total pore volumes, and average particle sizes of ZIF-8, Zn/Co-ZIF-8, and Cu/ZIF-8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, gas separation using polymeric membranes has received considerable attention and become one of the fastest growing research areas. However, existing polymeric membranes may not be able to keep up with the increasing separation needs for challenging gas mixtures such as N2/CH4 and light olefin/paraffin pairs on industrial scale due to their so-called permeability-selectivity bound. On the other hand, scaling-up issues poise huge challenges for highly permeable and highly selective inorganic membranes. Mixed-matrix membranes, composite membranes, provide an evolutionary solution to debottleneck the permeability-selectivity and scale-up issues currently faced by polymeric and inorganic membranes, respectively. Inorganic fillers in mixed-matrix membranes improve gas permeability and/or selectivity, outperforming polymeric membranes. Combined with relatively economical and simple scaling-up compared to inorganic membranes, mixed-matrix membranes could potentially be a next-generation membrane concept for gas separation applications. This review provides a brief summary on the recent progress in both flat sheet and hollow fiber mixed-matrix membranes with an emphasis on those made over the last five years. A separate section is dedicated to discussing engineering challenges transitioning from laboratory-scale to large-scale synthesis of mixed-matrix membranes. Finally, future prospects and perspectives in mixed-matrix membranes research are briefly outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effects of anthocyanins from the black soybean seed coat against radiation injury in dermal fibroblasts and mouse skin. Dermal fibroblasts treated with 50 and 100 µg/mL anthocyanins were irradiated with single doses of 20 Gy. Cell viability, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and mRNA expression were measured. A total of 60 mice were used for an in vivo study. A dose of 100 µg/mL anthocyanins was administered daily for 5 days before or after radiation therapy. Following irradiation (45 Gy), mice were inspected for gross pathology twice per wk for 8 weeks. At 4 and 8 weeks post-irradiation, dorsal skin was harvested for histopathologic examination and protein isolation. In dermal fibroblasts, treatment with 50 and 100 µg/mL anthocyanins significantly reduced radiation-induced apoptosis at 72 h and intracellular reactive oxygen species generation at 48 h. Furthermore, 100 µg/mL anthocyanins markedly decreased Smad3 mRNA expression and increased Smad7 mRNA expression at 72 h post-irradiation. In mice, treatment with 100 µg/mL anthocyanins resulted in a significant reduction in the level of skin injury, epidermal thickness, and collagen deposition after irradiation. Treatment with 100 µg/mL anthocyanins significantly decreased the number of α-SMA-, TGF-β-, and Smad3-positive cells after irradiation. Our study demonstrated that black soybean anthocyanins inhibited radiation-induced fibrosis by downregulating TGF-β and Smad3 expression. Therefore, anthocyanins may be a safe and effective candidate for the prevention of radiation-induced skin fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In correlation with the nodal status in the era of modern radiotherapy, the chest wall recurrence (CWR) rate was investigated in pT1-2N0-1 breast cancer patients after a mastectomy without post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT).Methods: The data from the patients participating in two South Korean multi-institutional studies (KROG 14-22; N = 1842 and KROG 14-23; N = 1382) were analyzed. In total, 3224 pT1-2N0-1 breast cancer patients who underwent mastectomy without PMRT were analyzed.Results: The median follow-up time was 72.2 months (range 0.8-125.2 months). The overall CWRs during the follow-up period were 1.68% in N0 patients and 2.82% in N1 patients. There was no statistically significant difference in 5-year and 10-year CWR-free survival (CWRFS) between the N0 and N1 patients. Of the 70 patients with CWR, 33 (1% of all the patients) had isolated CWR, and the 10-year overall survival rate in this group was 96.9%. After the propensity score matching of the N0 and N1 groups, there was still no difference in CWRFS by nodal status.Conclusions: The incidence of CWR in pT1-2N0-1 breast cancer patients is very low, especially with isolated recurrence. Also, the obtained data showed that the nodal status had no impact on CWRFS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed patterns of care and outcomes for patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) in this multi-institutional retrospective study. Between January 2000 and December 2011, 220 patients with PCNSL received radiotherapy (RT). Among these patients, 26 patients received RT alone; 179 patients were treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy; the rest of the patients (N = 15) initially underwent chemotherapy alone, then received RT as a salvage treatment. Most of the patients (N = 188) received methotrexate-based chemotherapy. The median follow up duration was 38 months (range 3-179 months). The median RT dose and whole brain RT (WBRT) dose were 45.0 Gy (range 20.0-59.4) and 30.6 Gy (range 18.0-45.0), respectively. Seventy-seven (35%) patients received WBRT alone, and 143 patients (65%) underwent WBRT plus boost RT. Total RT dose and WBRT dose decreased during the study period. The median survival was 64 months and actuarial 5-year overall survival was 51.4%. In multivariate analysis, age ( P < 0.001), ECOG performance status ( P = 0.036), deep structure involvement ( P = 0.011) and treatment response ( P = 0.001) were significant prognosticators. RT combined with chemotherapy is effective modality for treatment of PCNSL. The survival outcome improved in spite of total radiation dose and whole brain RT (WBRT) dose having been decreased over the study period, indicating that low-dose WBRT could be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resorcinol-formaldehyde xerogel was prepared, carbonized and activated in specific conditions to form resorcinol-formaldehyde activated carbon xerogel (RF-ACX) that was to produce microporous nanoparticles. RF-ACX was used in the adsorption of CO, CH, and N gases. Adsorption/desorption isotherms of CO, CH, and N gases onto RF-ACX adsorbent were measured gravimetrically by a magnetic suspension microbalance at five different temperatures (20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 °C) in the pressure range of 0-1 MPa. All adsorption/desorption isotherms were found to be favorable and well correlated with dual site Langmuir's model. The adsorption capacities of the three adsorbates increased with increasing pressure or with decreasing temperature. Nonetheless, the corresponding increase of CO adsorption capacity was much higher than those of CH and N. The fitting parameters deduced from dual site Langmuir's model were used to provide approximate predictions of the adsorption equilibria and selectivities of the corresponding binary mixtures (CO/CH, CH/N and CO/N), which relate to separation processes of high influence to various energy and environmental applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes a new strategy to improve the rotor position estimation of a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) over wide speed range. Rotor position estimation of a PMSM is performed by using sliding mode observer (SMO). An adaptive observer gain was designed based on Lyapunov function and applied to solve the chattering problem caused by the discontinuous function of the SMO in the wide speed range. The cascade low-pass filter (LPF) with variable cut-off frequency was proposed to reduce the chattering problem and to attenuate the filtering capability of the SMO. In addition, the phase shift caused by the filter was counterbalanced by applying the variable phase delay compensation for the whole speed area. High accuracy estimation result of the rotor position was obtained in the experiment by applying the proposed estimation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuzzy logic controller adopting unevenly-distributed membership function was presented with the purpose of enhancing performance of the temperature control precision and robustness for the chamber cooling system. Histogram equalization and noise detection were performed to modify the evenly-distributed membership functions of error and error change rate into unevenly-distributed membership functions. Then, the experimental results with evenly and unevenly distributed membership functions were compared under the same outside environment conditions. The experimental results show that the steady-state error is reduced around 40% and the noise disturbance is rejected successfully even though noise range is 60% of the control precision range. The control precision is improved by reducing the steady-state error and the robustness is enhanced by rejecting noise disturbance through the fuzzy logic controller with unevenly-distributed membership function. Moreover, the system energy efficiency and lifetime of electronic expansion valve (EEV) installed in chamber cooling system are improved by adopting the unevenly-distributed membership function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the system performance for two representative capacity control schemes, hot-gas bypass and variable speed compressor in an oil cooler for machine tools. An empirical linear first-order model of each controlled system was obtained from experiments by imposing a stepwise control signal to each actuator of the system. General proportional-integral controllers are designed based on the empirical transfer function models in order to control the target temperature of the oil cooler system. The experiments of starting and thermal load change were conducted to compare their control performance with each other. Especially, coefficient of performance (COP) of the two control schemes under the partial load state was also analyzed in detail. From the analyses of experimental results, the control performance of the target temperature in the two control schemes had almost the same control accuracy of ±0.1 °C at steady state. However, the COP of a variable speed compressor was as many as five-times greater than that of hot-gas bypass in comparable minimum partial load state of 0.5 kW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple control structure in servo system is occasionally needed for simple industrial application which precise and high control performance is not exessively important so that the cost production can be reduced efficiently. Simplified vector control, which has simple control structure, is utilized as the permanent magnet synchronous motor control algorithm and genetic algorithm is used to tune three PI controllers used in simplified vector control. The control performance is obtained from simulation and investigated to verify the feasibility of the algorithm to be applied in the real application. Simulation results show that the speed and torque responses of the system in both continuous time and discrete time can achieve good performances. Furthermore, simplified vector control combined with genetic algorithm has a similar performance with conventional field oriented control algorithm and possible to be realized into the real simple application in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have proposed roles for hypothalamic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the modulation of circuit activity of the melanocortin system. Here we show that suppression of ROS diminishes pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) cell activation and promotes the activity of neuropeptide Y (NPY)- and agouti-related peptide (AgRP)-co-producing (NPY/AgRP) neurons and feeding, whereas ROS-activates POMC neurons and reduces feeding. The levels of ROS in POMC neurons were positively correlated with those of leptin in lean and ob/ob mice, a relationship that was diminished in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. High-fat feeding resulted in proliferation of peroxisomes and elevated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ? (PPAR-?) mRNA levels within the hypothalamus. The proliferation of peroxisomes in POMC neurons induced by the PPAR-? agonist rosiglitazone decreased ROS levels and increased food intake in lean mice on high-fat diet. Conversely, the suppression of peroxisome proliferation by the PPAR antagonist GW9662 increased ROS concentrations and c-fos expression in POMC neurons. Also, it reversed high-fat feeding-triggered elevated NPY/AgRP and low POMC neuronal firing, and resulted in decreased feeding of DIO mice. Finally, central administration of ROS alone increased c-fos and phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (pStat3) expression in POMC neurons and reduced feeding of DIO mice. These observations unmask a previously unknown hypothalamic cellular process associated with peroxisomes and ROS in the central regulation of energy metabolism in states of leptin resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have demonstrated that frequent, low-dose metronomic (MET) dosing of cytotoxic agents may not only be as efficient as conventional maximum tolerated dose (MTD) chemotherapy but also less toxic. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effect and safety of MET chemotherapy using cyclophosphamide (CTX) in rats with chemically induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Rats received weekly intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of diethylnitrosamine during 16 weeks for induction of HCC. The rats were divided into three groups: MTD group received 40 mg/kg CTX i.p. injection on days 1, 3, and 5 of a 21-day cycle; Control and MET groups received saline and 20 mg/kg CTX i.p. injection twice a week, respectively. The growth-modulating effects and overall survival were compared between the groups. Anti-angiogenic effects were evaluated by a measurement of endothelial cell and VEGFR-2 expression. At 6 weeks of therapy, MTD and MET chemotherapy resulted in a significant reduction in tumor number and size compared with Control group. MET chemotherapy showed more prolonged survival than MTD chemotherapy and Control groups ( P < 0.05). MET chemotherapy resulted in a significant decrease in both the micro-vessel density and endothelial proliferation index ( P < 0.01). Furthermore, MET chemotherapy led to a greater decrease in VEGFR-2 expression at the mRNA and protein levels ( P < 0.01). MET scheduling not only exhibits anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic effects, but also prolongs survival without major toxicities in a rat model of HCC. Our results suggest that MET chemotherapy has a high therapeutic value and should be considered for future clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, sol-gel derived SiO2 fibers were prepared by mixing tetraethyl orthosilicate, ethanol, water and hydrochloric acid. Fibrous SiO2 was drawn by using a viscous solution. Dried gel fibers were final heat-treated at 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1300°C for 1 h in air. Crystallinity of the SiO2 fiber after annealing was measured by X-ray diffraction analysis. A field emission—scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope were used to evaluate surface properties. SiO2 fiber heat-treated at high temperature, i.e., 1300°C, exhibited inhomogeneous surface structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversion of methane to C2/C3 or higher hydrocarbons in a pulsed DC barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure was studied. Non-equilibrium plasma was generated in the barrier discharge reactor. In this plasma, electrons which had sufficient energy collided with the molecules of methane, which were then activated and coupled to C2/C3 or higher hydrocarbons. The effect of the change of applied voltage, pulse frequency and methane flow rate on methane conversion, selectivities and yields of products was studied. Methane conversion to higher hydrocarbons was about 25% as the maximum. Ethane, propane and ethylene were produced as primary products, including a small amount of unidentified C4 hydrocarbons. The selectivity and yield of ethane as a main product came to about 80% and 17% as the highest, respectively. The selectivities of ethane and ethylene were influenced not by the change of pulse frequency but by the change of applied voltage and methane flow rate. However, in case of propane, the selectivity was independent of those condition changes. The effect of the packing materials such as glass and A12O3 bead on methane conversion was also considered, showing that A12O3 played a role in enhancing the selectivity of ethane remarkably as a catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the amount and distribution of δ particles on the low cycle fatigue (LCF) properties of alloy 718 wire were investigated. The amount and distribution of δ particles were controlled by cold drawing followed by a variety of agings. As the cold drawing ratio and aging time at 1116K increased, the well developed granular δ particles increased in amount and their distribution at grain/twin boundaries became more uniform. Regardless of the aging conditions, the LCF life increased as the cold drawing ratio increased. The granular particles precipitated along the grain boundary also improved the LCF life of alloy 718 wire since they inhibited crack propagation. After Merrick heat treatment, 50% of the cold drawn wire displayed lower 698K tensile and yield strength than 30% of the cold drawn wire. This was because the higher strain induced by the cold drawing prior to the first aging at 1116K appeared to promote the precipitation of the δ phase during aging, which has no influence on the strength of the material but has same stoichiometry with the γ phase as Ni3Nb and, as a result, the higher strain precipitated a smaller quantity of γ particles with subsequent aging, which is a major hardening phase of the alloy. Cold drawing also lowered the precipitation temperature of the δ phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 8 phase precipitation behavior of cold drawn alloy 718 has been investigated at 1116 K as a function of cold drawn ratio and aging time. The planar markings formed by cold drawing were identified as deformation twins and developed more clearly as cold drawing ratio increases. The grain boundaries and twins were played as nucleation site of δ precipitation, therefore, cold drawing enhanced the precipitation of δ particles. As the cold drawing ratio and aging time increased the amount of round-shaped δ also increased. In a specimen which was 50% cold drawn and aged for 4 hrs. the finely dispersed δ phase precipitated throughout the material. As aging time increased. The round-shaped δ phase changed to plate-like morphology, and the morphology transformation time was increased with cold drawing ratio. With a 50% cold drawn specimen, the transformation time was 7 hrs. On the other hand, for the 50% cold drawn specimen aged for one hour at 1116 K, nucleation of the strain free grain was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with an efficient mathematical modeling for multiple robot manipulators (or multifingered robot hands) holding and transporting a rigid common object on the constraint surfaces, subject to a set of holonomic (integrable) constraints. First, the kinematics and dynamics of the multiple robot systems are formulated. After a series of model transformations, a combined dynamic model is derived from a unified viewpoint. Then the system dynamics can be decomposed into two orthogonal subsystems the (reduced-order) motion subsystem and the force subsystem. From a practical point of view, the new dynamic model presented in this paper is suitable form for dynamic analysis and hybrid (position/force) control synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the robust nonlinear controller for an uncertain robot system is developed and characterized with a unified method. Based on deterministic approach, the control structure consists of two parts: In the first part, the primary control law is synthesized to precompensate for the nominal system; and in the second part the adaptive version of robust controllers are utilized to postcompensate for the system uncertainties. The uncertainties assumed in this papar are bounded by higher-order polynomials in the Euclidean norms of system states without knowledge of bounding coefficients. Using the Lyapunov stability theory, we can guarantee that all possible responses of the closed-loop system are at least uniformly and ultimately bounded. The tracking properties of the control algorithms are verified through numerical simulations, and the results show that the proposed controllers are proven to be robust enough for any higher-order system uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A genetic algorithm (GA) has control parameters that must be determined before execution. We propose a self-organizing genetic algorithm (SOGA) as a multimodal function optimizer which sets GA parameters such as population size, crossover probability, and mutation probability adaptively during the execution of a genetic algorithm. In SOGA, GA parameters change according to the fitnesses of individuals. SOGA and other approaches for adapting operator probabilities in GAs are discussed. The validity of the proposed algorithm is verified in simulation examples, including system identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We found that leptin receptors were expressed in hypothalamic astrocytes and that their conditional deletion led to altered glial morphology and synaptic inputs onto hypothalamic neurons involved in feeding control. Leptin-regulated feeding was diminished, whereas feeding after fasting or ghrelin administration was elevated in mice with astrocyte-specific leptin receptor deficiency. These data reveal an active role of glial cells in hypothalamic synaptic remodeling and control of feeding by leptin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Peroxisome proliferation-associated control of reactive oxygen species sets melanocortin tone and feeding in diet-induced obesity" that was published in the September 16, 2011 issue is presented.