Search

Background We aimed to evaluate the early clinical results of the reconstruction of problematic elbow joints due to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using a PROSNAP linked elbow prosthesis (Kyocera Medical, Osaka, Japan) for total elbow arthroplasty. Methods Seventeen elbows in 14 RA patients were replaced with a PROSNAP elbow with cement fixation. The patients comprised 1 man and 13 women, with a mean age of 63.9 years (range, 52-83 years) at the time of surgery. The preoperative conditions of the elbows were arthritis mutilans (n = 10), an ankylosed or stiff elbow with a preoperative range of motion of 45° or less (n = 4), and loosening of a primary total elbow arthroplasty (n = 3). The mean follow-up period was 47.7 months (range, 32-69 months), with a 100% follow-up rate. The clinical outcome of the elbows was evaluated by the Mayo Elbow Performance Index (maximum, 100 points). Results The mean postoperative Mayo Elbow Performance Index score improved from 57.6 points to 97.1 points. Preoperatively, 3 of the 17 elbows were judged as good, 7 as fair, and 7 as poor; at final follow-up, 16 elbows were judged as excellent and 1 as good. Complications were noted in 1 elbow (6%), which had undergone a postoperative fracture. Conclusions The PROSNAP elbow prosthesis can be safely implanted through a relatively easy procedure and provides satisfactory short-term clinical outcomes for the reconstruction of severely damaged RA elbows.

One of the most advanced fast ignition programmes is the fast ignition realization experiment (FIREX). The goal of its first phase is to demonstrate ignition temperature of 5 keV, followed by the second phase to demonstrate ignition-and-burn. The second series experiment of FIREX-I, from late 2010 to early 2011, has demonstrated a high (>10%) coupling efficiency from laser to thermal energy of the compressed core, suggesting that the ignition temperature can be achieved at laser energy below 10 kJ. Further improvement of the coupling efficiency is expected by introducing laser-driven magnetic fields. © 2013 IAEA, Vienna.

Selective area growth of GaN nanocolumn arrays on Si substrates was developed. Orange-emitting nanocolumns on GaN/Al2O3 templates were optically characterized, fabricating red-color InGaN-based nanocolumn LEDs. Successful monolithic integration of four emission-colors nanocolumn LEDs was demonstrated.

To clarify lattice distortions induced by adding Ga atoms in the InSb crystal, Ga Kα x-ray fluorescence holography (XFH) experiments were carried out on an In0.995Ga0.005Sb diluted mixed single crystal, and three-dimensional atomic images around the Ga atoms were reconstructed. Although the atomic images are located almost at ideal positions of the InSb crystal, some differences can be observed for only the first- and second-neighboring atoms. By combining them with x-ray absorption fine structure data, large spatial fluctuations of the first-neighboring atoms appear in the angular direction, which can be clarified from the present XFH results. From the XFH results, it is concluded that lattice distortions are limited within the second neighbors in this diluted mixed crystal, in contrast to five chemical bonds in a heavily doped mixed crystal of Zn0.4Mn0.6Te reported previously.

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.

The H-mode initiated by the control of the rotational transform profile in CHS exhibits a very rapid transition (in 100 s or less) in NBI heated plasmas. There is no obvious difference in transition behaviour between hydrogen and deuterium. Langmuir probe measurement has revealed that the rapid change in floating potential occurs at the transition, but the change follows the formation of an edge transport barrier. The presence of an surface just inside the last closed flux surface and a sawtooth crash triggered by internal modes play an important role in the H-mode transition of CHS.

The monolithic ceramic capacitor (MLC) is small and has good high frequency performance. It is used in various high frequency circuits for impedance matching, DC block, filter and bypass functions. For the best performance in these applications, low equivalent series resistance (ESR) and equivalent series inductance (ESL) is required. We have developed the testing method to compare the performance of different MLC designs to find out the effect on the ESR and ESL. In order to measure the high frequency performance accurately, we have developed a test fixture using the microstrip design. The fixture has a return loss of greater than 30 dB and the insertion loss is less than 0.5 dB. The MLC is mounted on the microstrip fixture and the return loss (RL) and the insertion loss (IL) is measured. A network analyzer is used to compensate for the fixture to obtain good data up to 15 GHz. Using this method, we compare two designs for microwave power applications and two designs for high speed digital applications. We have developed the ultra small capacitor that has good performance in high speed digital circuits.

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.

Ferroelectric 180[ddot] domain structure periodic along the domain wall normal is formed in pyramidal growth sectors less strained in KH2PO4 (KDP) crystal. Each half period of the domain patterns optically observed between parallel polarizers is characterized by the first four prefractals of the pentad Cantor sets. It has been found that the averaged half period of these prefractal domain patterns is proportional to the square root of the thickness of the c plate. This verifies that the electrostatic energy originating from the depolarization field, as well as the wall energy, plays an important role in the prefractal domain formation. The prefractal domain patterns have been reproduced in the secondary electron images of a SEM. This verifies that the depolarization field also plays an important role in the secondary electron image formation. It is predicted, from the standpoint of the equilibrium internal energy, that a derivative of the 3rd prefractal domain pattern will correspond to one of ul...

With a brother and sister, osteosarcoma developed at the age of 11 and 14 respectively. With both there was no previous retinoblastoma or other bone disease with a proclivity to develop osteosarcoma. We discuss possible explanations for familial aggregation of osteosarcoma, citing external or genetic factors. We suggest that it is the retinoblastoma gene RB and the tumor suppressor gene p53 which play an important part in the development of osteosarcoma.

Background The goal of treat to target (T2T) is the clinical remission in patients with early disease, but it is difficult to achieve the functional remission. Although patient9s subjective evaluation is important for the assessment of postoperative functions of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, there are few reports examined the patients-reported functions after upper extremity surgery for RA. Objectives Between 2011 and 2014, 158 RA patients underwent the surgical treatment on upper extremities, and all patients were available for detailed clinical review over a 1-year follow-up period. There were 144 females and 14 males with a mean age at surgery of 59.7 (range, 18–85) years. The average disease duration at the surgery was 19.6 (range, 1–59) years. Methods The clinical outcome of the surgery was assessed by the disease activity (DAS28-CRP), Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI), Disability of Arm Shoulder and Hand (DASH), Hand20 questionnaire (Hand20). The patients were divided by surgical site into 3 groups (elbow, wrist and finger groups) and by the use of biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) into 2 groups (bDMARDs and non-bDMARDs groups) to compare and evaluate the outcomes. Results The mean of preoperative/postoperative DAS28-CRP, HAQ-DI, DASH and Hand20 were 2.9/2.3, 0.88/0.94, 46.4/39.1 and 59.1/47.6, respectively. All outcomes except for HAQ-DI significantly improved after the surgery. All outcomes improved significantly in the elbow group, but could not reach significant improvement in the finger group. We further examined the postoperative change in each items of DASH and Hand20, and found the significant improvements in items about pain and weakness in elbow group, pain and rotation of forearm in wrist group, and delicate movement and cosmetic factor in finger group. Postoperative DASH and Hand20 scores were tend to improve in the both bDMARDs and non-bDMARDs group. Conclusions Our results confirmed the surgery on upper extremity of RA improved the patient9s reported function, as well as the disease activity. There were surgical site-specific pattern of improvement of DASH and Hand20, such as that gross movement and pain significantly improved in larger joints, and dexterity movement and cosmetic factor in smaller joints. Postoperative upper extremity function was tend to improve, but more significantly in non-bDMARDs group, probably because the patients might had relatively better baseline function in the bDMARDs group. Understanding of site-specific patterns of improvement after surgery might be useful to achieve the functional remission, and may contribute to decision making of surgical indication, priority of surgical site on upper extremity, and prospection of surgical outcome. References Moromoto H, et al. Reliability of the Hand20 questionnaire: comparison with the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. Hand Surg. 2014;19(1):1–6 Hudak PL, et al. Development of an upper extremity outcome measure: the DASH (disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand) [corrected]. The Upper Extremity Collaborative Group (UECG). Am J Ind Med. 1996 Jun;29(6):602–8. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background Patient self-administered questionnaires remove the possibility of observer bias, and are important instruments for the assessment of clinical outcome. The patient-rated elbow evaluation (PREE) is a joint-specific, self-administered questionnaires. Objectives We aimed to investigate the correlation between the Japanese version of PREE (PREE-J) and other clinical parameters in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients before and after total elbow arthroplasty (TEA). Methods Thirty-five elbows in 32 RA patients (M/F: 3/29) were replaced by TEA. The mean age was 62.1 (range 41–79) years at the time of surgery, the mean follow-up period was 21.5 (range 12–36) months. All patients were assessed pre- and post-operatively by PREE-J, elbow and forearm range of motion (ROM), Disease Activity Score with 28 joint using CRP (DAS28-CRP), Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS), Japanese version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and HAND (DASH-JSSH) and Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI). The changes of parameters after surgery were examined by Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and the correlation between PREE-J and other parameters was examined using Spearman9s correlation coefficients. Results Both pre- and post-operative PREE-J significantly correlated with DAS28-CRP, DASH-JSSH, and HAQ-DI. Significant improvement was observed after surgery in all parameters except for HAQ-DI. The mean postoperative MEPS improved from 50.3±16.4 points to 98.1±3.2 points, the average postoperative PREE-J improved from 54.7±19.3 points to 27.1±24.4 points. The correlation between PREE-J and MEPS was significant preoperatively (p Conclusions The current study indicated that elbow evaluation by patients who underwent TEA showed significant correlation with disease activity, upper limb function and disability in daily life. It was revealed preoperative PREE-J also well correlated with MEPS, which is widely accepted evaluation system by elbow surgeons. Interestingly, PREE-J did not correlate with MEPS and ROM postoperatively. As PREE-J contains many questions about complex motions required the multiple joint function of upper extremity, it is possible PREE-J might be influenced by other joints affected by RA. MEPS (up to 100 points) evaluates pain (45), ROM (20), function (25) and instability (10) of the elbow, and reached almost perfect score by TEA. PREE-J evaluates pain and function with more detailed questionnaires than MEPS, some of them cannot be solved by a single joint surgery. Our results suggested PREE-J might be useful and wide range evaluation instrument for functional improvement of upper extremity after TEA. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background Recent effective treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) including biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs) improved the disease control of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and the change of body image of the patients might influenced the surgical indication. Body image assessment tool (BIAT) has been reported to be a reliable and valid tool1). Patients with RA had a worse body image than individuals without RA2), however, there are no evidence showed the body image of patients who requires surgical intervention. Objectives The current study aimed to investigate the body image of patients who requires surgical intervention and to examine the correlation with depressive condition. Methods 163 patients (16 male, 147 female) with RA were divided into two groups of patients who didn9t require the surgical intervention (non-operative group) and who underwent surgery (operative group). The non-operative group and operative group included 88 and 75 patients, respectively. The mean age of the non-operative and operative group were 64.8 and 64.4 years, and the mean disease duration were 17.5 and 22.7 years, respectively. The clinical evaluation included the use of bDMARDs, pain VAS (0–100mm), Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI), disease activity (DAS28-CRP), depression assessed by Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and body image assessed by BIAT. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, and Fisher9s exact test. Results The rate of use of bDMARDs was not significant between non-operative and operative group. In the operative group, pain VAS, HAQ-DI, DAS28-CRP and BDI-II were significantly higher (p Conclusions The result of this survey found the body image of patients in operative group was disturbed than that of non-operative patients. Body image disturbance was highly correlated with depressive condition in both operative and non-operative patients. To assess the body image might be useful to understand the patients9 expectation and proper indication of the surgery. References Fujisaki K. Issues in nursing research of body image. Kango Kenkyu, 1996; 29 (4):307–319. Jorge RT, et al. Body image in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Mod Rhematol, 2010; 20(5): 491–495. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Particle confinement time {tau}{sub p} has been obtained from measurements of poloidal and toroidal distributions of H{alpha} and Lyman {alpha} emissions in CHS. These particle confinement times range between 1.5 and 4ms at a constant line-averaged density of 3 x 10{sup 13}cm{sup -3} for both cases of limiter- and divertor-dominated NBI plasmas with Ti-gettering. In these cases the energy confinement time {tau}{sub E} were between 2 and 3ms. The density decay characteristic time {tau}{sub p}{sup *} and global recycling coefficient R have been also measured for Ti-gettered plasmas and large {tau}{sub p}{sup *} values were observed. As a result high recycling rates (R>0.92) are obtained for a wide density range. For a limiter-dominated case of boronized plasmas (R{sub ax}=92.1cm) values of {tau}{sub p} were correlated with {tau}{sub E} and a linear correlation between them was found for normalized {tau}{sub E} to P{sup -0.58} which is a power degradation term in LHD empirical scaling. 6 refs., 9 figs.

The ratio of hydrogen (minority) to deuterium in the ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating experiment has been measured using visible spectroscopy. The large increase in the stored energy during ICRF heating is observed with boronization, compared with titanium gettering, mainly because of the reduction of impurity radiation. The minority ratio, however, is not controllable due to the increase in hydrogen amount. After the electron cyclotron resonance discharge cleaning using deuterium gas the hydrogen amount has been successfully reduced. As a result it has been more effective than He-glow discharge cleaning. When the hydrogen minority decreases, the ion heating is expected. The maximum stored energy is obtained with the minority ration of 30% at a line-averaged density of 3.3 x 10{sup 13} cm{sup -3}. 4 refs., 7 figs.

An accepted method of tracheal reintubation is to pass an endotracheal tube (ETT) over a jet stylet (JS). It is desirable to confirm tracheal reintubation prior to removing the JS from its known intratracheal location. The purpose of this study was to determine the functional size equivalent of the annular space between the JS and ETT for all combinations of variously sized ETTs and JSs and to determine whether this annular space will permit detection of exhaled carbon dioxide (CO2). Our experiment consisted of two parts. One model measured the airflow resistance of variously sized test catheters (14- to 18-gauge intravenous catheters and ETT sizes 2.5-9.0 mm inside diameter (ID)) and all of the possible combinations of small, medium, and large Sheridan JSs within 4.9-9.0-mm ID ETTs (ETT/JS) by determining pressure versus annular space flow curves. The other model measured the times to first detection of CO2, to 70% maximum (max) [CO2] detection, and from first detection to 70% max [CO2] through empty 4.0- to 9.0-mm ID ETTs and through the annular space between all possible ETT/JS combinations at lung driving pressures of 5-10 mm Hg. The resistance of the catheters and ETT/JS combinations increased as the flow rate increased and/or the net conducting area of the conduit decreased. Some ETT/JS had an annular space < a 4.0 mm ID ETT. All three CO2 detection times increased with decreasing size of the net conducting area and with decreasing driving pressure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

High beta plasmas with a volume averaged equilibrium beta value of 2.1% were produced in CHS using tangential neutral beam injection. This beta value was achieved with the confinement improvement (reheat mode) observed after turning off strong gas puffing. Wall conditioning with titanium gettering was used to make high density operation (ne ? 8 ? 1019 m-3) possible for low magnetic fields (Bt = 0.6 T). The discharges start with the magnetic hill configuration (in vacuum) and finally achieve Mercier stable equilibrium owing to the self-stabilization effect given by the magnetic well which is produced by the plasma pressure. The Shafranov shift was about 40% of a plasma minor radius. Magnetic fluctuations did not increase with increasing plasma pressure when the beta value exceeded 1%. Dynamic poloidal field control was applied to suppress the outward plasma shift with increasing plasma pressure. Such operation gave an additional increase of beta value compared with the constant poloidal field operation

The laminated ferroelectric 180 degrees domain structure optically observed in uniaxial ferroelectric KDP is periodic along the normal to the domain walls. Each half-period of the domain structure is characterized by the first four pre-fractals of the pentad Cantor sets. In order to investigate the thermodynamic stability of these pre-fractal domain structures, the electrostatic energy UE(n) and the wall energy UW(n) of the nth pre-fractal domain structure have been formulated as functions of the period in the framework of the Kittel theory. It is shown that under a constant period the electrostatic energy UE(3) of the third pre-fractal domain structure takes the least value while the wall energy UW(n) increases monotonically with increasing ordinal number n of the pre-fractal domain structure. The equilibrium half-period minimizing the internal energy including UE(n) and UW(n) is proportional to the square root of the thickness of a crystal plate. The equilibrium half-period increases monotonically with increasing ordinal number n of the pre-fractal domain structure. The equilibrium internal energy takes the least value in the zeroth pre-fractal domain structure and the second-least value in the second prefractal domain structure. The ratio of the latter to the former is nearly equal to unity, with the value of 1.10.

A set of experiments has been performed exploring unique characteristics of pair jets and plasmas at several energetic short-pulse laser facilities including Titan at Livermore and OMEGA EP in Rochester, as well as the Osaka LFEX and AWE Orion lasers. New results are summarized, including positron beam emittance, scaling of pair production vs. laser energy, and initial results on the pair jet collimation using electromagnetic fields.

Absolute Ka line spectroscopy is proposed for studying laser-plasma interactions taking place in the cone-guided fast ignition targets. X-ray spectra ranging from 20 to 100 keV were quantitatively measured with a Laue spectrometer. The absolute sensitivities of the Laue spectrometer system 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 open code for x-ray diffraction. The energy transfer efficiency from incident laser beams to hot electrons, as the energy transfer agency, is derived as a consequence of this work. The absolute yield of Au and Ta Ka lines were measured in the fast ignition experimental campaign performed at Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University. Applying the hot electron spectrum information from the electron spectrometer, an energy transfer efficiency of the incident LFEX [1], a kJ-class PW laser, to hot electrons was derived for a planar and cone-guided geometry.

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).

Laser-induced ionization is a fundamental tool for the frequency conversion of lasers into spectral regions so far inaccessible, including both extreme ultraviolet and terahertz. The low-frequency currents induced by laser-driven ionization generate extremely broadband, single-cycle terahertz pulses, with applications ranging from remote sensing to optical pulse diagnostic, yet strong limitations arise from the low conversion efficiencies of this mechanism. We show a remarkable increase of the radiated terahertz energy with the laser wavelength and we relate this observation to the stronger action of long-wavelength fields on ionization-induced free-carriers. Ultimately, the use of mid-infrared pulses instead of the near-infrared ones employed so far enables the unprecedented table-top generation of the extremely high terahertz fields (>4 MV/cm) required for, e.g. the optical manipulation of quantum states, attosecond pulse synthesis and time-resolved studies of ultrafast electron dynamics. Furthermore, such high fields allowed us to perform space-time resolved terahertz diagnostics exploiting standard optical components.

Summary form only given. Generation of intense isolated attosecond pulses is of significant importance to explore new domains in attosecond science. Recently, we have demonstrated high-order harmonic generation (HHG) with high conversion efficiency using low-density plasma as the nonlinear medium [1,2], instead of gas. However, isolated attosecond pulses have yet to be demonstrated from plasma. In this work, we apply the Double Optical Gating (DOG) [3] method to generate continuum high-order harmonics from lowly ionized carbon plasma, which is the first step toward the generation of intense attosecond pulses.

The statistical analysis of spatial and temporal data is discussed from the viewpoint of an fMRI connectivity study. The limitations of the well-known SPM method for the characterization of fMRI connectivity study are pointed out. The use of an innovation approach with NN-ARX is suggested to overcome the limitations of the SPM modeling. The maximum likelihood method is presented for the NN-ARX model estimation. The exploratory use of innovations for the identification of brain connectivity between remote voxels is discussed.

We report a measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance in the T2K experiment. The 295-km muon-neutrino beam from Tokai to Kamioka is the first implementation of the off-axis technique in a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. With data corresponding to 1.43 × 10(20) protons on target, we observe 31 fully-contained single μ-like ring events in Super-Kamiokande, compared with an expectation of 104 ± 14(syst) events without neutrino oscillations. The best-fit point for two-flavor νμ → ντ oscillations is sin 2(2θ(23)) = 0.98 and |Δm(2)(32)| = 2.65 × 10(−3) eV2. The boundary of the 90% confidence region includes the points (sin2 (2θ(23)), |Δm(2)(32)|) = (1.0, 3.1 × 10(−3) eV2), (0.84, 2.65 × 10(−3) eV2) and (1.0, 2.2 × 10(−3) eV2)., Physical Review D, 85 (3), ISSN:1550-7998, ISSN:0556-2821, ISSN:1550-2368

This paper describes a very high speed coding and decoding processor, ImPC (image pipeline codec), which can be applied to an image document retrieval system and a facsimile apparatus because it includes the redundancy reduction coding algorithms: MH (modified Huffman), MR (modified Read), and MMR (modified MR). The ImPC architecture combines pipeline and parallel processing. The ImPC contains a resolution conversion unit, a DMA controller, a 1636/spl times/16-bit data RAM, and a microprogram controller with a 3 K/spl times/48-bit program ROM, as well as a specific encoder and decoder for MH, MR, and MMR. The ImPC chip is fabricated using 1.2 micron CMOS technology, integrating about 480,000 transistors on a 9.69 mm/spl times/10.15 mm die. Experimental results show that the ImPC processes black and white bi-level image data within 2 cycles/pixel. A typical A4 size office document is processed in 0.22 sec including resolution conversion. >

In this paper, we deal with an optimal control problem for nonholonomic systems. We would be confronted with the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation, whenever we try to obtain the feedback solution. Moreover, it is well known that a viscosity solution is necessary for the HJB equations in the case of nonholonomic systems. Generally, it is very difficult to obtain a standard solution for the HJB equations and so it is much more difficult to obtain a viscosity solution. Therefore, in the design methodology for the nonholonomic systems, little research has been reported so far. We introduce an approximation technique for the nonholonomic problems and construct a feedback controller based on the standard solution of the HJB equation, instead of the viscosity solution. Therefore, the existing research results to obtain the standard solution of the HJB equations is usable in our approach. Our control design consists of two steps. First step is to construct a controller using this standard solution. However, it should be noted that the trajectories do not converge to the origin because of the approximation error. Second step is to design a control strategy without performance index in order to let the trajectories converge to the origin from the neighborhood using a characteristic of nonholonomic systems.

In this paper, a foamed polyimide which has a feature of light-weight and heat-resistance have been focused attention on using in the way of a lossy dielectric material. As an expression of heat-resistance, relative permittivity of respective heating temperature was measured. As the results, both real and imaginary part of relative permittivity decreased by 5.0 and 6.4 % compared to non-heating at 300 °C, but each of them decreased by 22.1 and 45.3 % at 400 °C. An empirical formula was calculated using the measured results when the content rate of carbon black changed. Then a two-layered type wave absorber was designed based on genetic algorithm. Its characteristics indicated the center frequency of 38 GHz, 20 dB fractional bandwidth of 51.3 %, and measurements of absorption characteristics gave close agreement with designed ones.

The T2K experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Its main goal is to measure the last unknown lepton sector mixing angle {\theta}_{13} by observing {\nu}_e appearance in a {\nu}_{\mu} beam. It also aims to make a precision measurement of the known oscillation parameters, {\Delta}m^{2}_{23} and sin^{2} 2{\theta}_{23}, via {\nu}_{\mu} disappearance studies. Other goals of the experiment include various neutrino cross section measurements and sterile neutrino searches. The experiment uses an intense proton beam generated by the J-PARC accelerator in Tokai, Japan, and is composed of a neutrino beamline, a near detector complex (ND280), and a far detector (Super-Kamiokande) located 295 km away from J-PARC. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the instrumentation aspect of the T2K experiment and a summary of the vital information for each subsystem., Comment: 33 pages, 32 figures, Submitted and accepted by NIM A. Editor: Prof. Chang Kee Jung, Department of Physics and Astronomy, SUNY Stony Brook, chang.jung@sunysb.edu, 631-632-8108 Submit Edited to remove line numbers

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.

An abrupt decrease of the anomalously large dielectric constant at about 100 K in the ferroelectric phase, called domain freezing, was observed in monoclinic CsH2PO4 in compatible with tetragonal KH2PO4. It was found that the low frequency relaxational dispersion plays a major role in the domain freezing of CsH2PO4.

The paper presents laser holography and photoelastic image methods for studying local stress conditions inside materials especially composite materials. A new experimental method was presented to obtain isochromatics (σ1-σ2) in photoelasticity and isopachics (σ1+σ2) in holographic interferometry, which allows easy separation of principal stress σ1, σ2. The proposed method was applied to quantitative evaluation both in epoxy materials and in glass fiber-reinforced epoxy composites. The effect of a single fiber on the principal stress distribution in the epoxy was studied.

T cell activation occurs early in the inflammatory process of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [1]. Abatacept is a fusion protein of T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and immunoglobulin and suppr...

This article describes the design and performance of the muon monitor for the T2K (Tokaito-Kamioka) long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. The muon monitor consists of two types of detector arrays: ionization chambers and silicon PIN photodiodes. It measures the intensity and profile of muons produced, along with neutrinos, in the decay of pions. The measurement is sensitive to the intensity and direction of the neutrino beam. The linearity and stability of the detectors were measured in beam tests to be within 2.4% and 1.5%, respectively. Based on the test results, the precision of the beam direction measured by the muon monitor is expected to be 0.25 mrad., 22 pages

(2010). Time–concentration profile of serum etanercept in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis after treatment discontinuation before orthopedic surgery. Modern Rheumatology: Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 637-639.

Decomposition of multivariate time series data into independent source components forms an important part of preprocessing and analysis of time-resolved data in neuroscience. We briefly review the available tools for this purpose, such as Factor Analysis (FA) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA), then we show how linear state space modelling, a methodology from statistical time series analysis, can be employed for the same purpose. State space modelling, a generalization of classical ARMA modelling, is well suited for exploiting the dynamical information encoded in the temporal ordering of time series data, while this information remains inaccessible to FA and most ICA algorithms. As a result, much more detailed decompositions become possible, and both components with sharp power spectrum, such as alpha components, sinusoidal artifacts, or sleep spindles, and with broad power spectrum, such as FMRI scanner artifacts or epileptic spiking components, can be separated, even in the absence of prior information. In addition, three generalizations are discussed, the first relaxing the independence assumption, the second introducing non-stationarity of the covariance of the noise driving the dynamics, and the third allowing for non-Gaussianity of the data through a non-linear observation function. Three application examples are presented, one electrocardigram time series and two electroencephalogram (EEG) time series. The two EEG examples, both from epilepsy patients, demonstrate the separation and removal of various artifacts, including hum noise and FMRI scanner artifacts, and the identification of sleep spindles, epileptic foci, and spiking components. Decompositions obtained by two ICA algorithms are shown for comparison.

Thermonuclear ignition and subsequent burn are key physics for achieving laser fusion. In fast ignition, a highly compressed fusion fuel generated with multiple ns‐laser beams is rapidly heated with a large energy, ps‐laser pulse in prior to core disassembly. This scheme has a high potential to achieve ignition and burn since driver energy required for high fusion gain is predicted to be about one tenth of that needed for the central ignition scheme. In Japan, Fast Ignition Realization Experiment (FIREX) project has been started to clarify the physics of energy transport and deposition in the core plasma and to demonstrate fuel temperature of above 5 keV. After the success, FIREX‐I will be followed by the second phase of the project (FIREX‐II) to demonstrate ignition and burn. LFEX laser, designed to deliver a laser pulse of 10 kJ in 10 ps, are operational and the first phase of FIREX experiments has been stated. A new target is proposed to attain dense compression of fuel and improve laser‐core coupling efficiency by adopting double‐cone structure, a low‐density inner liner, low‐Z outer coating, and Br‐doped fuel shell. In this paper, present status and near term prospects of the FIREX‐I project will be reported together with activities on target designing, laser development, and plasma diagnostics.

In general, the ferroelectric properties, such as a piezoelectricity, a permittivity and an electro-optic function, are controlled by external electrical field. To keep these properties, a contentious voltage-supply has been indispensable. On the contrary, this study proposes to realize memory effects on the ferroelectric materials. As one of the examples, the shape memory effect was demonstrated using the imprint electrical field. Control of the imprint was performed under the severe conditions of a very high electrical field and high temperature. After applying a pulse shaped voltage, the piezoelectric shape was kept under zero electric field. With the opposite pulse voltage, it was confirmed that the shape returned to the initial one. In addition to this shape memory effect, the optical transmittance memory effect and the magnetic force memory were also realized.

An experiment in a new regime of ion Bernstein wave (IBW) heating was carried out using 130 MHz high power transmitters in the JIPP T-IIU tokamak. The heating regime utilized the IBW branch between the 3rd and 4th harmonics of the hydrogen ion cyclotron frequencies. This harmonic number is the highest one used in IBW experiments conducted previously. The net radiofrequency (RF) power injected into the plasma is around 400 kW and is limited by the transmitter output power. Core heating of ions and electrons was confirmed in the experiment and density profile peaking was found to be a special feature of IBW heating. Peaking of the density profile was also found when IBWs were injected into neutral beam heated discharges. An analysis, using a transport code with these experimental data, indicates that particle and energy confinement should be improved in the plasma core region upon application of IBW heating. It is also found that the ion energy distribution function observed during IBW heating has a smaller high energy tail than those observed in conventional fast magnetosonic wave ICRF heating regimes. The ion energy distribution function obtained during IBW heating is in reasonable agreement with that calculated using the quasi-linear RF diffusion/Fokker-Planck model

We compared gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) enhanced T1-weighted images (T1-Gd) with the histopathological findings in 13 patients with bone or soft tissue sarcomas. Signal intensity of the viable tumor tissue was increased in T1-Gd in 92% of the patients. The necrotic or cystic areas in the tumor were not enhanced, rendering them distinctly. The degree of enhancement of the edematous area around the tumor was similar to or more marked than that of the tumor in 54% of the patients. Area showing inflammatory cells infiltration and edematous areas in the tumor tissue were also enhanced. Thus, the effect of preoperative chemotherapy in tumor tissues other than necrotic and cystic areas tended to be underestimated in T1-Gd. Its effect should be comprehensively evaluated based on not only T1-Gd but also T2-weighted images and findings of other imaging techniques.

This paper reviews recent experimental results from compact helical system (CHS), a heliotron/torsatron type device with a low aspect ratio of 5. Transport phenomena are discussed through analyses of MHD equilibrium, thermal/particle diffusivity and viscosity. It is seen that transport is dominated by anomalous processes which are thought to be due to electrostatic fluctuations. On the basis of these results, optimization of confinement by shifting the vacuum magnetic axis is briefly discussed.

There is widespread agreement that transtracheal jet ventilation (TTJV) using a percutaneously inserted intravenous (iv) catheter through the cricothyroid membrane is a simple, quick, relatively safe, and extremely effective treatment for the situation in which neither ventilation nor intubation can be achieved. No study has reported whether a low-flow pressure-reducing regulator (LFR) can provide enough driving pressure and flow under a variety of clinical circumstances for adequate TTJV. We determined, using a high-flow regulator (HFR) as our control, the tidal volume (VT) (measured by integrating a pneumotachograph signal) that a LFR could deliver via a Carden jet injector through 14- and 20-G iv catheters initially at an inspiratory:expiratory ratio (I:E) = 1:1 (unit of time = 1 s) in a mechanical model that had varying lung compliance (Cset, 10-100 ml/cmH2O) and airway diameters (proximal trachea 15.0, 4.5, or 3.0 mm ID and distal mainstem bronchi 9.0 or 4.5 mm ID). The lowest Cset (10 ml/cmH2O) and smallest airway diameter (tracheal diameter = 3.0 mm, bronchial diameter = 9.0 mm) resulted in the lowest VT (220 and 320 ml for the 20- and 14-G iv catheters, respectively, with the LFR), and the highest Cset (100 ml/cmH2O) and largest airway diameter (tracheal diameter = 15 mm, bronchial diameter = 9.0 mm) resulted in the highest VT (780 and 1040 ml for the 20- and 14-G iv catheters, respectively, with the LFR). The VT produced during TTJV was greatly dependent on air entrainment (measured by a second pneumotachograph), with the contribution to total VT ranging from 15 to 74%; the amount of air entrainment was independently confirmed by excellent agreement between measured and calculated alveolar oxygen concentrations. Decreasing Cset (with the largest airway diameter) and decreasing airway diameter (at Cset = 50 ml/cmH2O) over the full range studied resulted in approximately a 45-80% decrease in VT for all iv catheter/regulator combinations. Increasing Cset and narrowing airway diameter over the full range studied resulted in a progressive increase in end-expiratory volume (EEV) for all iv catheter/regulator combinations. The I:E ratio was also varied from 1:3 to 3:1 (unit of time = 1 s) using the 14-G catheter at Cset = 50 ml/cmH2O with both regulators at the extremes of the proximal tracheal diameters (15.0 and 3.0 mm ID), and we found that jet ventilation through a proximal tracheal diameter of 3.0 mm with the HFR at I:E ratios = 1:1 and 3:1, EEV exceeded the capacity of the mechanical lung (4,000 ml).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Radiological findings on the fate of grafted Kiel bone implants for the treatment of bone tumors were evaluated in 25 lesions. The mean follow-up period was 14.8 years, ranging from 5 to 21.8 years. We classified the radiological findings into 4 grades; Excellent (4 lesions), Good (14 lesions), Fair (2 lesions), and Poor (5 lesions). All cases of the Poor grade were polyostotic fibrous dysplasia. The younger the patient at the time of the operation, the more rapidly Kiel bone grafts tended to be incorporated. The grafted bone can become enmeshed in the structure of the recipient bed (Good or Excellent grades) within 10 years in most cases, except in polyostotic fibrous dysplasia.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) source localization is an important tool for noninvasive study of brain dynamics, due to its ability to probe neural activity more directly, with better temporal resolution than other imaging modalities. One promising technique for solving the EEG inverse problem is Kalman filtering, because it provides a natural framework for incorporating dynamic EEG generation models in source localization. Here, a recently developed inverse solution is introduced, which uses spatiotemporal Kalman filtering tuned through likelihood maximization. Standard diagnostic tests for objectively evaluating Kalman filter performance are then described and applied to inverse solutions for simulated and clinical EEG data. These tests, employed for the first time in Kalman-filter-based source localization, check the statistical properties of the innovation and validate the use of likelihood maximization for filter tuning. However, this analysis also reveals that the filter's existing space- and time-invariant process model, which contains a single fixed-frequency resonance, is unable to completely model the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of EEG data. This finding indicates that the algorithm could be improved by allowing the process model parameters to vary in space.