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We developed a web-based learning system for healthcare workers to learn the skills for removing personal protective equipment for highly infectious diseases. The system was implemented on a trial basis and healthcare workers evaluated its usability and their motivation to learn. Usability was similar to that of typical systems. Motivation scores were high, indicating confidence and satisfaction with the system.

Poly-γ-glutamic acid (PGA) is a promising polymer that comprises d- and l-glutamic acid (Glu) connected via an amide bond. PGA is biosynthesized by a transmembrane enzyme complex composed of PgsB, PgsC, and PgsA. However, the detailed reaction, especially the mechanism for introducing d-Glu residues into PGA, remains elusive. We herein report isotope tracer experiments with deuterated l- and d-Glu and demonstrate that epimerization of a growing peptide is involved in PGA biosynthesis.

Standard initial treatment for acute empyema involves antibiotic administration and chest tube drainage; however, pleural lavage with saline is another treatment that mitigates the need for surgical drainage. Although this treatment is recognised as non-invasive and safe, the complications of cerebral air embolism are less recognised.In this case, a man in his late 40s was diagnosed with acute empyema and treated with chest tube (28 Fr) drainage and antibiotics. Empyema remained on follow-up chest imaging; thus intrapleural fibrinolytic therapy (urokinase 120 000 units/day for a total of 3 days) and pleural lavage (0.9% saline 1000 mL/day daily) were administered. During the 10th pleural lavage, the patient suddenly became unconscious. Head imaging revealed a cerebral air embolism. Consequently, he received urgent hyperbaric oxygen therapy and improved without any neurological sequelae.Clinicians should be aware of the complications of sudden cerebral air embolism due to pleural lavage for empyema.

α-1,6-Glucosidase (isomaltase) belongs to glycoside hydrolase (GH) families 13 and 31. Genes encoding 3 isomaltases belonging to GH family 13 were cloned from filamentous fungi, Aspergillus oryzae (agl1), A. niger (agdC),and Fusarium oxysporum (foagl1), and expressed in Escherichia coli. The enzymes hydrolyzed isomaltose and α-glucosides preferentially at a neutral pH, but did not recognize maltose, trehalose, and dextran. The activity of AgdC and Agl1 was inhibited in the presence of 1 % glucose, while Foagl1 was more tolerant to glucose than the other two enzymes were. The three fungal isomaltases did not show transglycosylation when isomaltose was used as the substrate and a similar result was observed for AgdC and Agl1 when p-nitrophenyl-α-glucoside was used as the substrate.

A third generation mist chemical vapor deposition (3rd G mist CVD) system was used to grow six single-layer and two heterostructure α-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 buffers on c-plane sapphire substrates for the subsequent deposition of conductive Sn-doped α-Ga2O3 (Sn:α-Ga2O3) thin films. In the six single-layer buffers, the Al contents x increased from 0 to 0.66. The two heterostructure buffers consisted of six ∼20-nm- and ∼100-nm-thick layers laying on top of each other. The 3rd G mist CVD system enabled the growth of these complicated multi-layer heterostructures in a single run, while mono-crystallinity was still maintained in all grown layers. Strain was observed in the 20-nm heterostructure, while the layers in the 100-nm heterostructure almost fully relaxed and the Vegard’s law was followed even when the α-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 layers were stacked on each other. Transmission electron microscopy analyses show that the dislocation densities remained high in the order of 1010 cm−2 despite the employment of the buffers. PtOx and AgOx Schottky diodes (SDs) were fabricated on the Sn:α-Ga2O3 films. The barrier height vs ideality factor plots could be fitted by linear dependences, indicating that the large ideality factors observed in α-Ga2O3 SDs could be explained by the inhomogeneity of the SDs. The extrapolation of the dependences for the PtOx and AgOx SDs yielded homogeneous Schottky barrier heights of ∼1.60 eV and 1.62 eV, respectively, suggesting that the Fermi level was pinned at the Ec − 1.6 eV level. The Sn:α-Ga2O3 film grown on the strained 20-nm heterostructure buffer showed best characteristics overall.

Xyloglucan is a major hemicellulosic component in plant cell walls. Phytopathogenic fungi secrete cell wall-degrading enzymes on their infection to hosts, while the nature of the cell wall-lytic enzymes of such fungi are yet to be fully understood. Verticillium dahliae is a soil-borne fungus that causes vascular wilt diseases in a variety of commercially important crops worldwide. We purified two types of xyloglucanases, XEG12A and XEG74B, from the culture of naturally isolated Verticillium dahliae strain 2148. XEG12A showed a molecular size of 23 kDa with its maximal activity at pH 7.5. XEG12A specifically hydrolyzed xyloglucan with no activity on other β-glucans. XEG74B had a molecular size of 110 kDa with its optimum pH at 6.0. XEG74B primarily hydrolyzed xyloglucan, with a slight activity on β-1,3-1,4-glucan. Analysis of hydrolytic products of xyloglucanooligasaccharide (XXXGXXXG) by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) revealed that the both enzymes cleaved β-1,4-glucosidic linkage at the position of unbranched chain, while XEG74B showed a little fluctuation with the cleavage site. Both enzymes did not hydrolyzed xyloglucanoheptasaccharide (XXXG) at all. N-Terminal and internal amino acid sequencing of the enzymes revealed that XEG12A and XEG74B belonged to Glycoside Hydrolase (GH) Families 12 and 74, respectively. Based on these results we concluded that V. dahliae XEG12A and XEG74B were xyloglucan-specific endo-β-1,4-glucanases (EC 3.2.1.151).

With respect to generalized trigonometric functions, since the discovery of double-angle formula for a special case by Edmunds, Gurka and Lang in 2012, no double-angle formulas have been found. In this paper, we will establish new double-angle formulas of generalized trigonometric functions in two special cases., Comment: 7 pages

In automotive drive systems, differential gear backlash degrades the control performance. Specifically, a shock torque, which is generated when the gear runs freely and collides with the backlash, increases the vibration amplitude. Consequently, it is important to develop a vibration control method to suppress the adverse effect of nonlinearity due to backlash. Furthermore, considering implementations on actual vehicles, design at the development site, and mass production, a simple and practical control method is necessary. This paper describes the configuration of a basic experimental device, which abstracts an actual vehicle to focus on the influence due to backlash while reflecting the basic structure of an automotive drive system. Next, a basic controller is designed using a mixed H2/H∞ control theory, and a servo system is constructed to track the target value. A simple control mode switching algorithm is proposed for backlash compensation. This algorithm is suited to practical applications because it uses only an output without a state estimation and it compensates for performance deteriorations due to the nonlinearity by operating a single linear controller. Finally, simulations and experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed control system.

α-1,6-Glucosidase (isomaltase) belongs to glycoside hydrolase (GH) families 13 and 31. Genes encoding 3 isomaltases belonging to GH family 13 were cloned from filamentous fungi, Aspergillus oryzae (agl1), A. niger (agdC),and Fusarium oxysporum (foagl1), and expressed in Escherichia coli. The enzymes hydrolyzed isomaltose and α-glucosides preferentially at a neutral pH, but did not recognize maltose, trehalose, and dextran. The activity of AgdC and Agl1 was inhibited in the presence of 1 % glucose, while Foagl1 was more tolerant to glucose than the other two enzymes were. The three fungal isomaltases did not show transglycosylation when isomaltose was used as the substrate and a similar result was observed for AgdC and Agl1 when p-nitrophenyl-α-glucoside was used as the substrate.

The Cauchy problem for a parabolic partial differential equation with a power nonlinearity is studied. It is known that in some parameter range, there exists a time-local solution whose singularity has the same asymptotics as that of a singular steady state. In this paper, a sufficient condition for initial data is given for the existence of a solution with a moving singularity that becomes anomalous in finite time.

We investigate the initial–boundary value problem{ut=Δu+vpin Ω×(0,T),vt=Δv+uqin Ω×(0,T),u(x,t)=v(x,t)=0on ∂Ω×(0,T),u(x,0)=ρφ(x),v(x,0)=ρψ(x)in Ω, where p,q⩾1 and pq>1, Ω is a bounded domain in RN with a smooth boundary ∂Ω, ρ>0 is a parameter, φ(x) and ψ(x) are nonnegative continuous functions on Ω¯. We show that the life span (or blow-up time) of the solution of this problem approaches the life span of the solution of the ODE system obtained when dropping the diffusion terms as ρ→∞. The proof is based on the comparison principle and Kaplanʼs method.

We consider a parabolic partial differential equation with power nonlinearity. Our concern is the existence of a singular solution whose singularity becomes anomalous in finite time. First we study the structure of singular radial solutions for an equation derived by backward self-similar variables. Using this, we obtain a singular backward self-similar solution whose singularity becomes stronger or weaker than that of a singular steady state.

Prokaryotic community structures in the anoxic sediment of the Antarctic meromictic Lake Nurume-Ike were revealed by sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene clones. The archaeal clones obtained (205 total) consisted of only three phylotypes, and were dominantly affiliated with uncultured euryarchaeotes. Specifically, 93% of the clones were identified as marine benthic group-D archaeal phylotype. In contrast to the limited archaeal diversity, 53 phylotypes were detected within 312 bacterial clones. Major bacterial phylotypes were affiliated with α-Proteobacteria (20% of clones), d-Proteobacteria (9%), Planctmycetales (7%), and Cyanobacteria (7%). A small numbers of clones belonging to γ-Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Spirochaetes, Flavobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia were also found. A total of 53% of the bacterial clones, consisting of 13 phylotypes, could not be classified into any known group. These results indicated that the bacterial community of Lake Nurume-Ike sediment consisted of numerous phylogenetic groups and had a diversity comparable to the diversity of other Antarctic lakes communities previously reported. Interestingly, however, there were very few phylotypes shared between the communities of lakes Nurume-Ike and five other lakes located in the Vestfold Hills area. This is the first comprehensive study to analyze more than 500 16S rDNA clones for microbial community analysis of an Antarctic lake sediment sample, and the results significantly expand current views of bacterial diversity in Antarctic lakes.

We study the Cauchy problem for a parabolic partial differential equation with a power nonlinearity. It was shown in our previous paper that in some parameter range, the problem has a time-local solution with prescribed moving singularities. Our concern in this paper is the existence of a time-global solution. By using a perturbed Haraux-Weissler equation, it is shown that there exists a forward self-similar solution with a moving singularity. Using this result, we also obtain a sufficient condition for the global existence of solutions with a moving singularity.

β-1,4-Endoglucanase of glycosyl hydrolase family (GHF) 7 from a fungus Aspergillus oryzae catalyzed the condensation between lactose (Lac) and alkanols. With Lac as a glycosyl donor, methanol, ethanol, 1-butanol and 1-hexanol and 1,6-hexanediol (HD) could be aglycons. The maximal condensation was observed between 250 mM Lac and 1.5 M HD at 30°C, pH 5.0. Transglycosylation to HD occurred to a similar extent with Lac-β-pNP or with cellobiose-β-pNP as the sugar donors, while the condensation between N-acetyllactosamine and HD was negative. Lac-condensation activity was also observed with the cellulase from Fusarium oxysporum, which belongs to GHF7. These suggested that fungal cellulases belonging to GHF7 should possess an ability to perform the condensation using Lac as a glycosyl donor.

We consider the Cauchy problem for a semilinear heat equation with power nonlinearity. It is known that the equation has a singular steady state in some parameter range. Our concern is a solution with a moving singularity that is obtained by perturbing the singular steady state. By formal expansion, it turns out that the remainder term must satisfy a certain parabolic equation with inverse-square potential. From the well-posedness of this equation, we see that there appears a critical exponent. Paying attention to this exponent, for a prescribed motion of the singular point and suitable initial data, we establish the time-local existence, uniqueness and comparison principle for such singular solutions. We also consider solutions with multiple singularities.

The second generation total synthesis of the neo-clerodane diterpenoid, methyl barbascoate, was accomplished in seven or nine linear steps via double enol triflation and subsequent palladium catalyzed double carbonylation, followed by regioselective samarium diiodide mediated conjugate reduction.

Recently, layered transitional metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials which are bound by vdW forces between the layers have received much attention owing to their excellent properties. In this study, we focused on layered molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) thin film fabrication by mist CVD. MoS2 is a semiconductor with a non-zero energy band gap of 1.8 eV which is close to the typical band gap energy of a-Si:H (1.7 eV), contrary to graphene with a zero energy band gap [1]. The fabrication of MoS2 layered thin film by mechanical exfoliation (ME), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been previously studied and reported in literatures. However, there are some problems to be solved for scaling up those processes to industrial level. In ME, size of layered MoS2 thin films are smaller than 1×1 mm2. In CVD and MBE, large amount of energy is consumed by the heater set at 700-1000°C and the vacuum pump keeping the low pressure of 10-5 Pa. [2-5]. Therefore, the development of a new method which is suitable for industrial expansion is very important. Thus, in this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of MoS2 by mist CVD. mist CVD is one of functional thin-film fabrication methods carried out under open-air atmospheric-pressure, which is developed for advanced control of precursor streams in order to achieve the fabrication of uniform thin films. In the experiment, MoS2 was fabricated by a homemade fine-channel type mist CVD system, which was designed to achieve the uniform flow and homogeneous temperature in the reactor, details of which were reported elsewhere [6]. The quartz substrates were used. Prior to the thin-film growth, substrates were cleaned by acetone, isopropanol, and deionized water each for 2 min. Thin films were fabricated by using a precursor solution containing a mixture of (NH4)6Mo7O24・4H2O and thiourea dissolved in methanol. The growth temperature was varied from 200 to 450°C at 25°C intervals. Raman spectra of samples were evaluated using a micro-Raman system with incident laser wavelengths of 532 nm (2.33 eV). The binding states of the samples were investigated by X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) operated at 15 kV and 26.7 mA with the unmonochromated Al Kα source. The crystal structure of the samples was identified by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD). In this paper, results of Raman spectroscopy and XPS are shown and discussed. In the results, the slight change of the color on the substrate surfaces of some samples was seen after fabrication of the MoS2 thin film and was seemed that uniform thin films were obtained on 30×30 mm2 square substrate. Raman peaks around 380 cm-1 (E1 2g) and 410 cm-1 (A1g) were observed from the samples prepared at 300 - 450°C, except the samples prepared at temperature lower than 300°C. Raman peaks around 383.0 cm-1 (E1 2g) and 407.8 cm-1 (A1g) in bulk MoS2 are reported in the references [7]. XPS analysis of the samples prepared at 350°C shows binding energies corresponding to Mo3d (229.25, 232.58, and 235.48 eV) and S2p (162.22 and 162.96 eV) levels in Fig.2. According to the literature, binding energy peaks corresponding to Mo-S bonds; Mo3d5/2 (229.25 eV), Mo3d3/2 (232.2 eV), S2p3/2 (162.1 eV), and S2p1/2 (163.1 eV) as well as corresponding to Mo-O bonds; Mo3d5/2 (232.8 eV) and Mo3d3/2 (235.5 eV) has been observed in the case of XPS analysis of bulk MoS2 powders [8]. A small amount of MoO3 is included in MoS2 powder, as evident from low intensity of those binding energy peaks corresponding Mo-O bonds compared with that of Mo-S bonds in this literature. Similar results were obtained in XPS analysis of MoS2 thin film prepared by mist CVD at 350°C. From these results, it is suggested that layered MoS2 thin films with high quality were successfully fabricated by mist CVD. Remarkably, the growth temperature of MoS2thin-films by mist CVD is comparatively lower temperature than that of the traditional CVD. In summary, we have demonstrated the successful fabrication of MoS2 thin-film at atmospheric pressure and relatively low growth temperature by mist CVD. Reference [1] K. Ueno and K. Tsukagoshi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 83 (2014) 274 [2] H. Li, et. al., Acc. Chem. Res., 47 (2014) 1067 [3] Yi-H. Lee, et. al., Adv. Mater., 24 (2012) 2320 [4] M.R. Laskar, et. al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 102 (2013) 252108 [5] H.F. Liu, et. al., Chem. Vap. Deposition, 21 (2015) 241 [6] T. Kawaharamura, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 53 (2014) 05FF08 [7] H. Li, et. al., Adv. Funct. Mater, 22 (2012) 1385 [8] M.A. Baker, et. al., Appl. Surface Sci., 150 (1999) 255

Recently, the e-commerce sites market in Japan is growing. Many companies in e-commerce sites compete for customers each other. Therefore, e-commerce managers need to find good customers who may benefit before these customers purchase at rivals. Some preceding studies discuss which visits lead to purchase. However, it is unclear when a customer visits. In our approach, we predict the day a customer will purchase. As a result, we found some customers who tend to purchase on the day after they viewed many product pages. We also found that product page viewing before purchasing may be one of good predictors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i6.1816

Accelerating fracture healing during bed rest allows early mobilization and avoids prolonged fracture healing times. We tested the hypothesis that stimulating angiogenesis with deferoxamine (DFO) mitigates the unloading-induced reduction in early-stage bone repair. Rats aged 12 weeks were subjected to cortical drilling on their tibial diaphysis under anesthesia and treated with hindlimb unloading (HU), HU and DFO administration (DFOHU), or weight bearing (WB) for 5 or 10 days (HU5/10, DFOHU5/10, WB5/10; n = 8 per groups) until sacrifice for vascular casting with a zirconium dioxide-based contrast agent. Taking advantage of its absorption discontinuity at the K-absorption edge, vascular and bone images in the drill-hole defects were acquired by synchrotron radiation subtraction CT. Bone repair was reduced in HU rats. The bone volume fraction (B.Vf) was 88% smaller in HU5 and 42% smaller in HU10 than in WB5/10. The bone segment densities (B.Seg) were 97% smaller in HU5 and 141% larger in HU10 than in WB5/10, and bone thickness (B.Th) was 38% smaller in HU10 than in WB10. The vascular volume fraction (V.Vf) was 35% and the mean vessel diameter (V.D) was 13% smaller in HU10 than in WB10. When compared according to categorized vessel sizes, V.Vf in the diameter ranges 20–30, 30–40, and >40 μm were smaller in HU10 than in WB10, and V.Seg in the diameter range >40 μm was smaller in HU10 than in WB10. In contrast, there was no difference in B.Vf between DFOHU5/10 and WB5/10 and in V.Vf between DFOHU10 and WB10, though B.Seg remained 86% smaller in DFOHU5 and 94% larger in DFOHU10 than in WB5/10, and B.Th and V.D were 23% and 14% lower in DFOHU10 than in WB10. Vessel size-specific V.Vf in the diameter ranges 10–20 and 20–30 μm was larger in DFOHU5 than in HU5. In conclusion, the enhanced angiogenic ingrowth mitigates the reduction in bone repair during mechanical unloading.

We investigate the initial-boundary problem { u t = Δ u + f ( u ) in Ω × ( 0 , ∞ ) , u = 0 on ∂ Ω × ( 0 , ∞ ) , u ( x , 0 ) = ρ φ ( x ) in Ω , where Ω is a bounded domain in R N with a smooth boundary ∂Ω, ρ > 0 , φ ( x ) is a nonnegative continuous function on Ω ¯ , f ( u ) is a nonnegative superlinear continuous function on [ 0 , ∞ ) . We show that the life span (or blow-up time) of the solution of this problem, denoted by T ( ρ ) , satisfies T ( ρ ) = ∫ ρ ‖ φ ‖ ∞ ∞ d u f ( u ) + h.o.t. as ρ → ∞ . Moreover, when the maximum of φ is attained at a finite number of points in Ω, we can determine the higher-order term of T ( ρ ) which depends on the minimal value of | Δ φ | at the maximal points of φ. The proof is based on a careful construction of a supersolution and a subsolution.