Search

The purpose of this study is to put the /sup 37/Ni--/sup 6/Mn--/sup 10/Cr type weld metal to practical application for the gas metal arc (MIG) welding of /sup 9/Ni steel. The effect of molybdenum, tungsten, and nitrogen on the strength and notch toughness of weld metal and the effect of silicon and sulfur on the hot crack sensitivity were examined. Then the joint efficiencies of MIG weldments made with an optimum level of filler wire chemical composition were examined varying heat input of welding and plate thickness. The center-notched wide plate tension test was conducted in order to ascertain the satisfactory performance of this filler wire in comparison with the conventional /sup 70/Ni type filler wire. This filler wire is applicable for Ar--Co/sub 2/ gas shielded arc welding which produces stable arc and good penetration, thus preventing from occurrence of lack of fusion.

Soft x-ray emission spectroscopy was used for elucidating the electronic structure of ionic liquids [C(4)mim](+)PF(6)(-) and [C(4)mim](+)OTf(-), where [C(4)mim](+) stands for methylbutylimidazolium cation and OTf(-) for the trifluoromethanesulfonate anion. Nonresonant spectra measured above N, O, and F 1s edges selectively probed the molecular orbitals (MOs) of the cation and anions. They give a clear evidence that the highest occupied molecular orbital of the [C(4)mim](+) cation contributes to the topmost occupied states of the ionic liquids [C(4)mim](+)PF(6)(-), while both cationic and anionic MOs contribute for the case of [C(4)mim](+)OTf(-). Resonant soft x-ray emission spectra at the N 1s edge of these ionic liquids revealed that the energy gap of [C(4)mim](+)PF(6)(-) is solely determined by the [C(4)mim](+) cation, in contrast to usual ionic crystals. The ionic liquids form a new class of the ionic materials from the viewpoint of the electronic structure.

We have performed a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for a protein in a reverse micelle. Absorption of terahertz wave due to solvent is greatly reduced in this sample, compared with in protein in aqueous solution. Absorption spectra due to the protein molecule have been derived.

The perioperative period is psychologically as well as physically stressful for patients. Although music and sound are known to reduce patients' psychological stress, a few previous studies showed an objective outcome of music. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relaxing effect of music during epidural anesthesia, using patients' salivary amylase activity.Thirty-two American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I or II patients presenting for inguinal hernia repair under epidural anesthesia were randomly assigned to listen to sounds of a soft wind and a twitter (S group) or to have no sounds (N group). Patients' salivary amylase activity was evaluated on arrival to the operating room and at wound closure.Intra-operative music significantly decreased salivary amylase activity at wound closure in the S group and the activity at wound closure of the S group was significantly smaller than that of the N group.Intra-operative natural sound significantly decreased salivary amylase activity of patients undergoing inguinal hernia repair under epidural anesthesia.

The efficiency of heart pump function greatly depends on synchronized contraction of myocardial muscle. In this work, contraction simulation of an excitable ventricular tissue cable was constructed to study the influence of excitation patterns on tissue contraction. The tissue cable is composed of elements which contract when excited by an external stimulus. In each calculation step, contraction force of each element is determined by a ventricular cell model. The mechanical deformation is then solved by finite element method and states of cells are updated accordingly. Several factors such as the starting position of the stimulation signal and the conduction velocity of gap-junctions affect contraction behavior. Simulation results show that the activation time, i.e. the time period the stimulation signal needs to spread over the tissue, is a dominant parameter for determining tissue contraction force. Contraction force of myocardial tissue increases monotonically with a de- crease in activation time. This result suggests that minimization of activation time might be important for achieving effective tissue contraction. Index Terms— myocardial tissue contraction, activation time, heart simulation, bio-simulation

have studied about assessment for ICT environmental impact and finally developed an assessment logic named SI-LCA1 (system integration LCA) that quantitatively evaluates whole life cycle environmental impact with CO2 emission for ICT solutions. SI-LCA is not only compliant with "guideline for information and communication technology (ICT) Eco-Efficiency Evaluation" instituted by The Japan Forum on eco-efficiency in 2006 but also one of the most important basic logics for the guideline. In this paper, we show a case example of SI-LCA assessment and then show evaluation of ICT eco-efficiency and factor.

The magnetic field-induced superconductor-insulator-metal transition (SIMT) in partially deuterated $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br, which is just on the Mott boundary, has been observed using the infrared magneto-optical imaging spectroscopy. The infrared reflectivity image on the sample surface revealed that the metallic (or superconducting) and insulating phases coexist and they have different magnetic field dependences. One of the magnetic field dependence is SIMT that appeared on part of the sample surface. The SIMT was concluded to originate from the balance of the inhomogenity in the sample itself and the disorder of the ethylene end groups resulting from fast cooling., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B

We propose a reference picture selection scheme in H.264/AVC interlaced coding. Only two reference fields for one B-field are adaptively selected depending on the scene characteristics. The proposed method provides 10% coding efficiency gain over non-adaptive selection methods with the same number of reference pictures.

A novel hydrophilic method of the polyurea film surface at room temperature was developed using vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light 172 nm in wavelength. The treated film has highly hydrophilic surface for long time (~ 2 months). Hydrophilic surface is stable and is kept even after very hard condition of ultrasonic cleaning in de-ionized water. The polyurea film was applied for PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) blood analysis chip. The performance of the surface treatment was evaluated by actual human blood measurements. The new chip can reduce the adhesion of platelets and white blood cells, even after ultrasonic cleaning in surfactant induced water. This result indicates that this chip can be reused after washing.

The most advanced ICT companies in Japan have started to apply the eco-efficiency concept as their performance evaluation and/or sales and marketing tools. In this paper, the concept of eco-efficiency applied for ICT is described firstly. Second, an overview of joint activities led by those ICT companies is explained, which is a project to develop eco-efficiency evaluations that can help companies to measure environmental reduction and impact caused by ICT services. Finally, an ICT eco-efficiency guideline that has been developed recently is introduced. The guideline is intended to assist companies in explaining their environmental activities connected to ICT introduction strategically. It explains the possibilities in a practical way and looks at simple and effective services that can be used in their environmental management activities and ICT adoption. It describes methodologies and calculation processes based on life cycle analysis (LCA)

We constructed an efficient expression cloning system and isolated a novel α2,3- sialyltransferase (ST3Gal IV) and a novel α1,3-fucosyltransferase (Fuc-TVII). Enzymatic properties and expression patterns of ST3Gal IV and Fuc-TVII indicated that these enzymes were most likely to be involved in the biosynthesis of selectin ligands. ST3Gal IV and Fuc-TVII were produced as secretable forms fused with protein A in a large quantity in Namalwa KJM-1 cells or in Sf9 insect cells. These enzymes are useful for synthesis of sLe x oligosaccharides and their derivatives, which should have therapeutic value as selectin antagonists. In addition, compounds inhibiting enzymatic activity or expression of these enzymes are expected to have therapeutic potential as anti-inflammatory drugs. These enzymes may be also useful for modifying sugar chains of therapeutic glycoproteins.

Progresses in development of a metastable helium atomic beam injector as a beam prove for electric field diagnoses are described, which is applicable to a high electric potential region in inertial electrostatic confinement plasmas where a solid probe can hardly be utilized. Configuration refinement of setup of a skimmer to take a collimated diagnostic beam out of the gas jet resulted in a drastic enhancement of the beam density because of reduced scattering effect by reflected atoms. Also a magnetron-discharge system has been developed which can produce a race-track-shaped plasma with a 5 cm long straight section capable of strong interaction with the injected beam. In preliminary d.c. experiments the present system shows an extremely low accessible operating helium gas pressure of less than 2 mPa

This is a new proposal to evaluate sound fields systematically. Seven physical parameters are extracted from the echo time pattern at every measuring point and utilized as the fundamental data for the multidimensional analysis. In the same sound field, dissimilarity data between each measuring point are processed by the principal axis method using a dummy head-headphone system. According to the physical and psychological results, not only their inter-relations have been explained, but also the assignment of seat positions has become clear. It has also been made clear that more than 80 percent of the factor loading is obtained with, at most, three principal axes based upon both physical and psychological data.

The direct observation of the phase separation between the metallic and insulating states of 75 %-deuterated $\kappa$-(ET)$_2$Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br ($d33$) using infrared magneto-optical imaging spectroscopy is reported, as well as the associated temperature, cooling rate, and magnetic field dependencies of the separation. The distribution of the center of spectral weight ($< \omega >$) of $d33$ did not change under any of the conditions in which data were taken and was wider than that of the non-deuterated material. This result indicates that the inhomogenity of the sample itself is important as part of the origin of the metal - insulator phase separation., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Solid State Commun

This work presents our new coding tools adopted by the latest MPEG-4 AVC standard, i.e., the fidelity range extensions amendment. These tools have significantly improved subjective picture quality especially for HD applications, e.g., the next-generation optical disc packaged media such as the Blu-ray disc (BD) ROM.

The left ventricular mechanical model and the circulation model are important for the cardiovascular dynamics simulation that consider the characteristics of the ventricular cells and the structure of left ventricle (LV). Due to the fact that the cardiovascular dynamics is the result of nonlinear interactions between these two models, simultaneous consideration of both models using a strong coupling method is necessary for an accurate simulation. In this paper, we propose a simulation algorithm that is capable of calculating cardiovascular dynamics model by strong coupling of the left ventricular mechanical model and the circulation model.

Infrared reflectivity measurements of CeSb under multi-extreme conditions (low temperatures, high pressures and high magnetic fields) were performed. A pseudo gap structure, which originates from the magnetic band folding effect, responsible for the large enhancement in the electrical resistivity in the single-layered antiferromagnetic structure (AF-1 phase) was found at a pressure of 4 GPa and at temperatures of 35 - 50 K. The optical spectrum of the pseudo gap changes to that of a metallic structure with increasing magnetic field strength and increasing temperature. This change is the result of the magnetic phase transition from the AF-1 phase to other phases as a function of the magnetic field strength and temperature. This result is the first optical observation of the formation and collapse of a pseudo gap under multi-extreme conditions., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

A whole cell simulation model is constructed of various functional elements such as ion channels, transporters and mitochondria. Because so many theoretical models for each functional element are proposed, we should evaluate and select one model for each element in order to construct a whole cell simulation model. For the purpose of constructing accurate simulation model, we need to evaluate each theoretical model for that purpose. In this paper, we propose the "contextual evaluation" method which evaluates each model by the simulation result of the whole cell model containing the evaluating model. We performed this evaluation on the two contraction models of cardiac cell. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our method.

To investigate the possibility of in vivo gene transfer by attempting to transfer the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene into rat bladder using electroporation.The bladder was exposed through an abdominal midline incision in 8-week-old male rats. Plasmid DNA of the marker genes green fluorescent protein (GFP) and luciferase, and the nNOS gene, was then injected into the subserosal space of the bladder and electroporation applied. At 72 h after gene transfer, GFP and luciferase were assayed in the isolated bladder and immunohistochemical staining used to detect nNOS; NO(x) released from isolated bladder strips was also assessed using microdialysis and high-performance liquid chromatography.From the luciferase assay, 45 V, 1 Hz, 50 ms and eight pulses were selected as the optimum conditions for electroporation. Bladder specimens with GFP genes injected by electroporation showed bright and numerous sites of GFP expression in the smooth muscle layer. In rats with the nNOS gene injected by electroporation there was marked nNOS immunoreactivity, and NO(x) released from bladder strips was significantly greater than in the control groups.These results suggest that electroporation is a useful technique for in vivo gene transfer into rat bladder smooth muscles, and that the nNOS gene transferred by this procedure functionally expresses and contributes to NO production.

Stereo vision systems have been proposed and used in various fields. They require cameras to synchronize with each other for tracking objects. In this paper, we present a vision system, which uses two normal, unsynchronized cameras for calculating the 3D position of objects. The unsynchronization in shutter timing of cameras is used to process more images per second than a synchronized camera system. 3D positions of an object are measured as a crossing point of lines in 3D through the detected position on the latest frame and estimated 3D position calculated by fast frames. This makes it possible for our system to consist of two unsynchronized cameras and allows for a PC to calculate the 3D position of the moving object at 60 fps. This can be useful for controlling a robot as a fast visual feedback system.

We have designed a new infrared beam line BL6B at UVSOR for infrared and terahertz spectroscopies including microspectroscopy with high brilliance and high flux. The beam line will be replaced in the spring of 2004 from the infrared beam line, BL6A1, at UVSOR. The beam line has a large acceptance angle of 215(H) × 80(V) mrad2 and a so‐called “magic mirror” is adopted to get the perfect focusing of the bending magnet radiation. The optics and expected performance (focus size, photon flux and brilliance) are reported.

We propose an intelligent easy-operating human-machine interface incorporating face detection technology for a mobile multimedia terminal. We have developed a face detection algorithm which works on the resources of a mobile phone. This algorithm is robust in outside fields, and simultaneously works with MPEG-4 Simple Profile Level 1 encoding and decoding on an MPEG-4 codec LSI for a mobile videophone. This enables more intelligent interfaces in visual communication such as IMT-2000 videophone services.

The off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) has been prevalent around the world. However the most optimal selection of graft conduits has still been controversial.Between January 2002 and April 2003, 126 consecutive isolated coronary artery bypass procedures were attempted to performed without cardiopulmonary bypass. A mean age of the patients was 69.3 (47-90). Fifteen patients were operated on emergently and 16 were urgently, including 15 patients requiring preoperative intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP). Five patients underwent reoperative coronary bypass.All procedures were completed without cardiopulmonary bypass. The mean number of grafts per patient was 3.23 (range, 1 to 6). The skeletonized arterial conduits were aggressively used [117 left internal mammary artery (LIMA) to 155 sites, 70 right internal mammary artery (RIMA) to 79 sites, 57 right gastro-epiploic artery (RGEA) to 82 sites and 49 saphenous vein (SV) to 91 sites]. Cardiac-related hospital mortality was none. Angiographic assessment of grafts demonstrated that patency of LIMA, RIMA, RGEA and SV were 98.6%, 100%, 100%, and 97.6% respectively.OPCAB with skeletonized in situ arterial conduits is secure and feasible.

A single-chip MPEG-4 video decoder LSI with integrated 896 kb embedded SRAM frame buffer and embedded video display engine consumes 11.1 mW at 27 MHz operation. The chip achieves QCIF 15 Hz H.263 and Simple@L1 decoding capability on a 37.26 mm/sup 2/ die using 0.18 μm 1.5 V quad-metal CMOS technology.

A 57-year-old man presented with the chief complaint of left shoulder pain in June 2001, and paridrosis of left upper trunk and left upper limb in July 2001. Head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed 8 mm sized unrupture aneurysm of left middle cerebral artery, and chest computed tomography (CT) showed the lung tumor invaded thoracic vertebral bodies. The local advanced lung carcinoma (cT4N0M0) and unrupture aneurysm of left middle cerebral artery was diagnosed. The prevented clipping of unrupture aneurysm was performed at 11th September 2001, and left upper lobectomy, hemivertebrectomy and reconstruction of thoracic vertebral body (Th 3-5) with Modul' ICS at 12th October 2001. The pathological findings revealed squamous cell carcinoma. The staging was pT4N0M0, IIIB. The postoperative course was uneventful. After the radiotherapy (50 Gy), chemotherapy (gemcitabine and vinorelbine) was performed. But the radiation pneumonia was occurred and chemotherapy was intermitted. The steroid was administrated due to the radiation pneumonia, and the complication was improved. He discharged at 17th April 2002 and had no recurrence. The prevented clipping of unrupture cerebral aneurysm and the reconstruction of thoracic vertebral body (Th 3-5) with Modul' ICS were useful for the radical operation of the local advanced lung cancer.

A new operational scenario of advanced tokamak formation was demonstrated in the JT-60U tokamak. This was accomplished by electron cyclotron and lower hybrid waves, neutral beam injection, and the loop voltage supplied by the vertical field and shaping coils. The Ohmic heating (OH) solenoid was not used but a small inboard coil (part of the shaping coil), providing less than $20%$ of total poloidal flux, was used. The plasma thus obtained had both internal and edge transport barriers, with an energy confinement time of 1.6 times H-mode scaling, a poloidal beta of 3.6, and a normalized beta of 1.6, and a large bootstrap current fraction ($g90%$). This result opens up a possibility to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the OH solenoid from a tokamak reactor, which will greatly improve its economic competitiveness.

Gas-puff z-pinch plasmas are driven by an inductive voltage adder-inductive energy storage pulsed power generator "ASO-X" and the behavior of the plasma column and the spatial distribution of hot spots are investigated. ASO-X has a maximum output voltage and current of 180 kV and 400 kA respectively and can provide a fast current rise rate with the plasma opening switch (POS). By using ASO-X with POS operation, the stability of the plasma column and the spatial distribution of hot spots are improved.

Spatial distribution of the incident gas significantly influences the pinch process in gas-puff Z pinch schemes. This paper shows the dependence of the plasma formation on the distribution of the gas puffed into the discharge region. Temporary and spatially resolved gas density between the Z-pinch electrodes was measured by using a high-sensitive multi-channel laser interferometer. Also, plasma density distribution was measured by using a pulsed laser interferometer. The gas, which was puffed from the anode nozzle toward the center axis, quickly spread out to the radial direction and formed a conical shape. This resulted in the significant gas density gradient along z-axis. The pulsed laser interferometer showed a discharge took place at the contour of the gas distribution. The pinch process was significantly influenced by the initial gas distribution. In addition, the double layer structure was observed before implosion.

J. Benesty et al. (1995, 1996) pointed out that if we apply the affine projection method directly to a multichannel adaptive echo cancelling algorithm, the convergence characteristics are not necessarily good because of the lack of correlation between the multichannel signals. They then proposed a new algorithm called "MC-APA". However it has drawbacks in that the correction vectors of echo cancellers are confined to the orthogonal subspace of input signals and that its mathematical meaning is not so clear. This paper proposes a new algorithm to improve their method by choosing correction vectors from the entire input signal space for echo-cancelling and show good convergence characteristics in comparison with other methods.

A second-generation three-dimensional stacked capacitor cell has been developed. This cell has two significant features. One is that the three-dimensional feature of the storage capacitor has been considerably enhanced by means of a fine structure. The other is that bit lines have been formed before storage capacitor formation. Either of these features will lead to the realization of 16 M DRAMs (dynamic random-access memories), and both will be necessary to realize 64 M DRAMs. >

Conduction current and liquid motion under divergent electric fields in transformer oil were measured, and the effect of polarity on the DC breakdown voltage was clarified. Electric field and space charge density distributions near the breakdown were computed, taking the liquid motion into account. It was deduced that the breakdown occurred due to the field enhancement in front of the plane electrode, and it was demonstrated that the breakdown voltage in the case of the negative sharp electrode was much higher than in the case of the positive one. >

The critical anomaly in the complex shear modulus of an entangled polymer solution and a gel was studied. A system was constructed for measuring a complex shear modulus in the low-frequency range from 1 Hz to 500 Hz. Near the binodal line, the anomaly increases in both the real and the imaginary part of the complex shear modulus were observed in a concentrated solution of polymer. The elasticity is a result of strong entanglement. The critical anomaly in an entangled system may have a unique nature because of the elastic energy of the network. The temporal change of the complex shear modulus during phase separation can be measured using this system, since the time required for measuring the frequency spectrum is drastically shortened by applying the multifrequency excitation method. >

An optical path cross-connect (OPXC) system is an essential component for creating photonic transport networks. This paper classifies various schemes used to restore link failures in optical path networks according to restoration methods and rerouting location. We then describe the common OPXC structure and their required functions as related to each restoration scheme. Next, we evaluate the number of optical fibers required in these restoration schemes when using a VWP (virtual wavelength path) network model with a single link failure. Finally, this paper presents an OPXC node architecture based on a restoration scheme which can reduce the total number of fibers the most. The OPXC node, which accommodates 64 optical paths and uses our 8/spl times/8 PI-LOSS (Path-independent Insertion LOSS) switches, will then be evaluated in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and coherent crosstalk.

A chip-to-chip signaling scheme employs partial response detection (PRD) combined with the zero-delay time delivery of a global timing reference, or global mean time (GMT). High-output-impedance drivers and higher termination resistances for signal transmission reduce driver power to the 10 mW range while maintaining a data rate of 500Mb/s. The resulting intersymbol interference (ISI) is eliminated by the PRD receivers, a type of auto-zero-comparator. Signal lines are segmented and pipelined by PRD buffers to limit the segment lengths to below Lmax=cT/2, where c is the effective velocity of signal propagation and T is the bit time. Segmentation reduces the driver power considerably.

We have manufactured a prototype WP-based optical path cross-connect node, using 8/spl times/8 "PI-LOSS" optical switches. The prototype node successfully performed the high-speed switching of 10 and 2.5 Gb/s WDM signals and provided the low power variations between optical paths.

The mouse for a personal computer is now replacing the keyboard for computer input devices, due to it's ease of use and the progress of operation systems. A mouse is easy for a nondisabled person to operate, however not so easy for a handicapped person. In particular, a cerebral paralyzed person and a proximal spine injured person often have much difficulty in dealing with a mouse or can't use it at all. However, a person with a C4 injured spinal nerve is able to bend, stretch and rotate his neck and also able to raise his shoulders because the functions of his sternodeidomastoid and trapezius muscles remain. For those people, the authors have developed an input system using neck and shoulder motions instead of manual input by a mouse. In this study, two kinds of devices using limit switches and linear potentiometers were developed and both of the results were compared. As operability has to be improved, practical usefulness for the handicapped person was confirmed. Finally, the feasibility of such systems being used for the driving wheel-chairs was examined.

This paper investigates the properties of a lossless bandpass ladder network composed of only two kinds of resonant sections consisting of lumped- and distributed-elements and gives the necessary and sufficient conditions for realization. These conditions can be regarded as a direct generalization of the necessary and sufficient conditions for LC bandpass ladder networks proposed previously.

A switch architecture based on a sub-grouped wavelength conversion (SGWC) routing scheme is described. This switch architecture is both scalable and suitable for a large-capacity node. Moreover, it is more effective than conventional switch architecture.

A power-on reset pulse generation (POR-PG) circuit for low voltage application is proposed. This circuit improves pulse height and noise immunity compared with prior circuits considering process, temperature, and voltage variations. The circuit is implemented in small area in the input/output buffer area of an integrated LSI of a microprocessor and a hard-disk controller for the internal power supply voltage of 2.5 V and 1.8 V with 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. According to the simulation, by tuning the "Charge Clamp" circuit, this POR-PG in 0.18-/spl mu/m, 1.35-V V/sub dd-target/ CMOS technology also operates correctly.

We propose a collision avoidance algorithm for a driving support system. This algorithm always observes whether a vehicle is inside the safety limit, and starts controlling the vehicle in the place of the human driver just before going into the dangerous zone where even the system cannot avoid collision. The inputs to the vehicle are the accelerator, the brakes and the steering wheel. The system controls the vehicle by three inputs. The vehicles communicate the three state data, the speed, the position of the coordinates and the direction, with each other. The algorithm derives the best movement to avoid a collision without control data of the other vehicle. In the end, the vehicles avoid collision at the limit of the safety distance and time. In this paper, we give explanations of the algorithm process, and inspection results with a simulator.

We propose a driving support system which compensates human error to provide safety in driving. The system confirms safety depending upon the following two-layered support to reduce the control by the system to a minimum. i) Predictive compensation; let a driver realize danger based on intention reasoning when miss-recognition or miss-decision happens. ii) Fail safe intervention; control by support system at a safety limit. Intention reasoning is associative memories, which consists of driving cases agreeing with intentions and sub-goals. Occurrence of the sub-goals is observed and a case which has maximum activation degree results. We also show the simulation of intention reasoning using illustrative examples.