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With the increasing cost of setting up a semiconductor fabrication facility, coupled with significant costs of developing a leading nanotechnology process, aggressive outsourcing (asset-light business models) via working more closely with foundry companies is how semiconductor manufacturing firms are looking to strengthen their sustainable competitive advantages. This study aims to construct a market intelligence framework for developing a wafer demand forecasting model based on long-term trend detection to facilitate decision makers in capacity planning. The proposed framework modifies market variables by employing inventory factors and uses a top-down forecasting approach with nonlinear least square method to estimate the forecast parameters. The nonlinear mathematical approaches could not only be used to examine forecasting performance, but also to anticipate future growth of the semiconductor industry. The results demonstrated the practical viability of this long-term demand forecast framework.

Electrical and electronic equipment are popular in recent world. In Japan, although the ratio of the recycled material of the collected amount of product is high, the collected rate is not sufficient. The rest of the e-wastes are often exported. This outflow causes some serious problems to environment. The paper first assumes models of global e-waste flows among Asian countries. Then, the paper carries out analyses of the environmental impact and the cost-profit. The paper tries to propose proper strategies to globalize the inverse supply chain which can be helpful in reducing environmental impact and enhancing business activities.

Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) are popular in recent world and have large impacts on environment. In Japan, there are legislations for designated products. But, collected amount comparing to produced amount is not sufficient. Whatever the proper end-of-life strategies is, the first step is to collect the used product as much as we can. This paper discusses the key factor to enhance collection rate and to prolong product life based on sensitivity analysis and tries to figure out what can be proper strategies to reduce environmental impact of e-waste with high technology progress speed.

Some Ki-1 lymphomas carry a specific chromosomal translocation, t(2;5)(p23;q35). We have recently found a novel hyperphosphorylated 80- kD protein tyrosine kinase, p80, in a human Ki-1 lymphoma with this translocation. Subsequent cDNA cloning showed that p80 is a fusion protein of two different genes on chromosome 2p23 and 5q35, the novel tyrosine kinase gene and nucleophosmin gene, respectively. In this study, we intended to detect p80 on lymphoma tissues with immunologic methods. Thus, we developed rabbit polyclonal antibody using a synthetic peptide corresponding to a part of its kinase domain. The antibody (anti-p80) immunoprecipitated and immunoblotted p80 specifically from AMS3. Then, to examine whether t(2;5)(p23;q35) was present on biopsied lymphomas, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) covering the fusion junction of p80 mRNA was performed. Among 10 Ki-1 lymphomas and 10 additional lymphomas other than the Ki-1 lymphomas, expression of p80 mRNA was detected in three cases exclusively. When these 20 cases and additional 30 lymphomas were immunostained with anti-p80, positive staining was noted exclusively in the three cases found by PCR to have harbored the p80 mRNA. Thus, the present immunostaining, as well as PCR, was shown to be efficient for detecting lymphomas producing this chimeric protein/mRNA.

Genetically transformed roots and calli were induced from leaf segments of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Koshusanjaku) after co-cultivation with wild-type Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains, but plant regeneration from them was not achieved. On the other hand, transgenic grapevine plants were obtained via somatic embryogenesis after co-cultivation of embryogenic calli with an engineered A. rhizogenes strain including both the neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II) and the β-glucuronidase (GUS) genes, followed by selection of secondary embryos for kanamycin resistance. All these plants showed GUS gene expression revealed by histochemical assay. Southern blot analysis revealed the stable integration of the GUS cording region in their genome

This paper considers challenges related to promoting new technologies for manufacturing clean energy vehicles (CEVs) such as electric vehicles for a sustainable green society. In order to promote the use of CEVs, manufacturing technology that overcomes high costs and material constraints is essential. This paper presents the challenges in the manufacturing of CEVs by considering constraints related to global warming, energy security, material exhaustion and an ageing society. The concept discussed is based on a socio-technical approach and comes from the necessity for a proactive design for the future. Two cases are illustrated to demonstrate the proposed methods and its benefits. A risk analysis of raw materials can help auto industries make a decision about until when they should develop substitution technology for the raw materials. An analysis based on life cycle assessment provides useful information about impact of carbon taxation and technology innovation such as battery cost reduction to policy makers and the manufacturers.

A 26-year-old Japanese woman was admitted to the hospital because of fever and general fatigue. A diagnosis of acute hepatitis B was given because of high levels of transaminase and positivity for HBs-Ag, HBe-Ag and HBc-IgM. On the 2nd day progression to fulminant hepatitis was suspected, and steroid pulse therapy, cyclosporin, entecavir, and interferon-β were started. Her laboratory data improved until transaminase showed an increase on 18th day, and steroid was once again administered. Abdominal CT scan and plain abdominal X-ray showed pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) mainly along the ascending colon without any symptoms. After discontinuation of steroid therapy, abnormal gas gradually disappeared. This is a very rare case of PCI, which may have been caused by short-term steroid pulse therapy.

Summary A range of antibiotics were screened for their ability to induce somatic embryogenesis from leaf explants in several Dianthus cultivars. Among the antibiotics tested, cefotaxime was most efficient for inducing somatic embryogenesis. Penicillin G and carbenicillin also induced somatic embryogenesis, but with lower frequencies. Auxins such as NAA, 2,4-D, and picloram had no effect on somatic embryogenesis. Somatic embryos transferred to a medium without both antibiotics and plant growth regulators developed into plantlets that could be grown to maturity following transfer to the green house.

症例は45歳, 男性. 7年間の血液透析後, 1983年10月17日に母親をドナーとして生体腎移植術を受けた. 1990年5月頃より慢性拒絶反応のため, 移植腎機能は徐々に低下した. 1990年9月28日に動悸, 起座呼吸が出現し, 緊急入院した. 入院時, 血圧は170/110mmHg, 心胸郭比は68%, 血清クレアチニン値は4.8mg/dlであった. うっ血性心不全, 慢性腎不全と診断し, 血液濾過 (HF) を施行した. 呼吸状態は改善したが心胸郭比の減少はみられなかった. 10月10日, HF中, 突然, 血圧が低下し, 意識消失, 全身痙攣が出現し, 同日死亡した. 剖検の結果, 心臓重量は820gで著明な心筋肥大を呈し, 左室壁の厚さは4cmであった. 大動脈弁には石灰沈着が高度で, 大動脈弁狭窄による心不全が死因と考えられた. また最大φ 15mmまでの上皮小体過形成が認められた. 大動脈弁の石灰沈着の機序において, 上皮小体機能亢進症が関与した可能性が考えられた.

Protoplasts isolated from cell suspension cultures of two caryophyllaceous species, Dianthus caryophyllus L. and Gypsophila paniculata L., were fused using polyethylene glycol and cultured in Murashige and Skoog (1962) (MS) medium containing 1 mg l −1 picloram and 0.7 M sorbitol. Among the calli produced, one showing green coloration and vigorous growth was identified as an intergeneric somatic hybrid based on isozyme analyses for esterase and glutamate dehydrogenase. Hybridity of this callus was also confirmed by Southern hybridization analysis using a rice rDNA probe. This somatic hybrid callus regenerated roots after 2 months of culture on MS medium containg 1 mg l −1 picloram, but shoot regeneration was not observed on any of the media tested.

Metastatic lesions from renal cell carcinoma are commonly recognized in the lung and bone, however, thyroid metastasis has rarely been reported in the literature. We present herein a case of a man with lung and thyroid metastatic tumors from renal cell carcinoma. Although making a preoperative diagnosis of thyroid metastasis is difficult because there is no established diagnostic criteria, we were able to identify this thyroid lesion as a metastatic tumor from renal cell carcinoma by the pathological findings. Interestingly, hypercalcemia was recognized in this patient whose serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) level was not increased. Moreover, this patient also had early gastric cancer simultaneously, being a so-called 'double cancer'. After surgical resection of the right kidney and stomach, interferon was administered without any efficacy against the metastatic lesions of the lung and thyroid gland.

A review of 611 cases of renal pelvic or ureter tumor registered in Tokai Urological Tumor Registry for the past 10 years from 1980 and comparison of results between the first and latter half was made. The number of renal pelvis tumor was 347 and that of ureter tumors was 264. Clinical stages and pathological grades of the tumor were as follows; Ta, 11.9; T1, 31.8; T2, 14.4; T3, 24.3; T4, 17.6% and G1, 10.5; G2, 49.3; G3, 33.0%. Higher stages and grades were observed in the recent 5 years. Of 409 cases (66.9% in total cases) treated by total nephroureterectomy, 28.3% of the first and 49.0% of the latter half were treated adjunctively by chemotherapy. Five years relative survival rates of these two groups were 49.4 and 47.3%, respectively, suggesting no improved results. A new treatment strategy such as neoadjuvant chemotherapy or lymphadenectomy is expected to improve the prognosis.

Cell division of suspension cultures of Hemerocallis hybrida was partially synchronized by treating with hydroxyurea (HU), a DNA synthesis inhibitor, followed by treatment with colchicine (COL), a spindle toxin, as the first step toward an efficient preparation of microprotoplasts. During COL treatment, suspension cells were analyzed for relative DNA contents using flow cytometry (FCM) as well as mitotic index (MI) under microscopy. MI reached a peak after 20h of COL treatment. In FCM analyses, histogram of asynchronous cultures showed three peaks (2C, 4C and 8C nuclei), and the numbers of both 4C and 8C nuclei gradually increased until 18h after the initiation of COL treatment. After 20h of COL treatment, the numbers of 4C and 8C nuclei transiently decreased, indicating that a large number of cells were at the prometaphase to metaphase stages. These results indicate that FCM analyses offer a simple and rapid means of preliminary examination for arresting cell-cycle at metaphase in partially synchronized suspension cultures of H. hybrida.

Due to rapid economic growth, Indonesia's energy needs is rapidly increasing. Indonesia-s primary energy consumption has doubled in 2007 compared to 2003. Indonesia's status change from oil net-exporter to oil net-importer country recently has increased Indonesia's concern over energy security. Due to this, oil import becomes center of attention in the dynamics of Indonesia's energy security. Conventional studies addressing Indonesia's energy security have focused on energy production sector. This study explores Indonesia-s energy security considering energy import sector by modeling and simulating Indonesia-s energy-related policies using system dynamics. Simulation result of Indonesia's energy security in 2020 in Business-As-Usual scenario shows that in term of supply demand ratio, energy security will be very high, but also it poses high dependence on energy import. The Alternative scenario result shows lower energy security in term of supply demand ratio and much lower dependence on energy import. It is also found that the Alternative scenario produce lower GDP growth., {"references":["ADB, 2009a. Asian Development Outlook 2009 Update: Broadening\nOpenness for a Resilient Asia.","ADB, 2009b, Energy Statistics in Asia and the Pacific.","Affeldt J.F., Hamilton B.A., 2006, The application of system dynamics\n(SD) simulation to volatile system management, Proceeding: The 24th\nInternational Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Nijmegen.","Alhajji, A.F., James L. Williams, 2003. Measures of Petroleum\nDependence and Vulnerability in OECD Countries. Middle East\nEconomic Survey, 46:16, http://www.wtrg.com/oecd/OECD0304.html\naccessed: 20 February 2010.","APERC, 2009, APEC Energy Overview 2008.","APO, 2009, APO Productivity Databook 2009.","Atje, R and Hapsari, I., 2008, Energy Security: An Indonesian\nPerspective, Vision from Asia and Europe.","BP. 2008. BP Statistical Review of World Energy.","Chester, L., 2009, Conceptualising energy security and making explicit its\npolysemic nature. Energy Policy.\n[10] EU Commision Council Directive 2006/67/EC retrieved from http://ec.\neuropa.eu/energy/security/oil_en. Htm\n[11] Kruyt, B., van Vuuren, D.P., de Vries, H.J.M., Groenenberg H., 2009,\nIndicators for energy security .Energy Policy, 37 (2009) 2166-2181\n[12] Lardic, S., Mignon, V, 2006, The impact of oil prices on GDP in\nEuropean countries An empirical investigation based on asymmetric\ncointegration, Energy Policy Vol.34.\n[13] Lee, C, 2005, Energy consumption and GDP in developingcountries: A\ncointegrated panel analysis, Energy Economics.\n[14] Lee, C, Chang C, 2008, Energy consumption and economic growth in\nAsian economies: A more comprehensive\nanalysis using panel data, Resource and Energy Economics.\n[15] Radzicki M.J., Taylor R.A., 2010, \"Origin of System Dynamics: Jay W.\nForrester and the History of System Dynamics\". In: U.S. Department of\nEnergy's Introduction to System Dynamics. accessed 19 June 2010.\n[16] Sovacool, Benjamin K., Brown, Marilyn A., 2009, Competing\nDimensions of Energy Security: An International Perspective. Working\nPaper #45, Ivan Allen College School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute\nof Technology, Atlanta.\n[17] Scheepers, M.J.J., Seebregts, A.J., de Jong, J.J., Maters, J.M., 2007. EU\nStandards for Energy Security of Supply-Updates on the Crisis Capability\nIndex and the Supply/Demand Index Quantification for EU-27.\nECN-E-07-004.\n[18] The Central Bank of Republic of Indonesia, 2006, Oil Dependency and\nEnergy Policy in Indonesia, Working Paper WP/10/2006.\n[19] United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), 2005,\nCapability Building For Catching-Up: Historical, Empirical And Policy\nDimensions. Industrial Development Report. United Nations\n[20] Von Hippel D., Suzuki T., Williams J.H., Savage T., Hayes P., 2009,\nEnergy security and sustainability in Northeast Asia. Energy Policy,.\n[21] Winz I., Brierley G., Trowsdale S., 20069, The Use of System Dynamics\nSimulation in Water Resource Management. Water Resource\nManagement."]}

Clean energy vehicles (CEVs) produce less CO 2 emissions in the utilization phase and reduce total emissions overall. However, the ratio of emissions in the manufacturing phase becomes larger. This paper evaluates CEVs and compares the popularization policies used to promote CEVs using life cycle assessment (LCA). The authors use major criteria: life cycle CO 2 emissions to be considered not only in the utilization phase but also in the manufacturing phase. In the simulation of the LCCO 2 of CEVs, total driving distances affect total CO 2 emissions. The LCCO 2 of EVs decrease as total driving distance increases compared with other vehicles. The simulation results show that the LCCO 2 of EVs are the lowest when the CEVs are driven for more than 35,700 km in Japan, more than 40,300 km in France, more than 78,400 km in the Netherlands, more than 72,200 km in Germany, more than 38,400 km in Iceland, more than 81,400 km in United States, more than 124,000 km in China and more than 193,000 km in India. This is caused by the differences between the CO 2 emission consumption rates, since electrical power sources are different. The simulation results suggest that EVs are not always best suited for all drivers considered LCCO 2 including the manufacturing phase, and the LCCO 2 of vehicles are affected by total driving distances and the situation of countries' electric power sources.

[1] We systematically used two approaches to analyze broadband seismic signals for monitoring active volcanoes: one is waveform inversion of very-long-period (VLP) signals assuming possible source mechanisms; the other is a source location method of long-period (LP) events and tremor using their amplitudes. The deterministic approach of the waveform inversion is useful to constrain the source mechanism and location but is basically only applicable to VLP signals with periods longer than a few seconds. The source location method assumes isotropic radiation of S waves and uses seismic amplitudes corrected for site amplifications. This simple approach provides reasonable source locations for various seismic signals such as a VLP event accompanying LP signals, an explosion event, and tremor associated with lahars and pyroclastic flows observed at five or fewer stations. Our results indicate that a frequency band of about 5–12 Hz and a Q factor of about 60 are appropriate for the determination of the source locations. In this frequency band the assumption of isotropic radiation may become valid because of the path effect caused by the scattering of seismic waves. The source location method may be categorized as a stochastic approach based on the nature of scattering waves. Systematic use of these two approaches provides a way to better utilize broadband seismic signals observed at a limited number of stations for improved monitoring of active volcanoes.

Primary tumor in the ureteral stump is rare. A 66-year-old woman visited our hospital because of microscopic hematuria. She had undergone right nephrectomy for the contracted kidney 36 years ago. Intravenous pyelography and cystoscopy showed no positive findings for hematuria. But urine cytology indicated class V. The flexible ureterorenoscopy disclosed a nonpapillary sessile tumor in the ureteral stump. We also did the biopsy of the tumor under the direct vision before open surgery. The specimen showed transitional cell carcinoma, grade 3. The ureteral stump was successfully removed. The flexible ureterorenoscopy was most useful for the diagnosis in this case.

Various human bone marrow stromal cell lines were established from the adherent cell populations by introduction of the recombinant SV40-adenovirus vector with an infection or electric poration procedure. As compared with DNA transfection, the vector introduction was able to immortalize the cells with more than 100 times higher efficiency. Morphological and cytochemical analyses indicated that various cloned cell lines with different properties were isolated by the vector introduction. All the established cell lines expressed SV40 large T antigen. These results provided the evidence indicating that the recombinant SV40-adenovirus vector was a useful tool to establish a variety of cell lines with different biological activities from human bone marrow stroma.

To elucidate the relationship between Cyclosporine (Cs) induced nephrotoxicity and juxtaglomerular (JG) apparatus, we carried out biochemical and morphological experiments using mice. Adult male ICR strain mice weighing about 40 g were used. The mice were divided into 2 groups: the Cs group (Cs 50 mg/kg/day was orally given for 14 consecutive days) and the control group (olive oil for 14 days). Urine was stored for 24 hours on the day 0, 7 and 14 and urine volume and concentrations of urinary creatinine (u-Cr) and urinary potassium (u-K) were measured in each group. All the mice were sacrificed and examined on the 15th day. Concentrations of serum creatinine (s-Cr), serum potassium (s-K), plasma renin activity (PRA), plasma aldosterone (Ald) were noted in each group. The kidneys were also examined histologically with light and electron microscopes. The Cs group showed significant increases of s-K, PRA and Ald and a significant decrease of creatinine clearance compared with the control group. Histologically, the Cs group demonstrated focal vacuolar changes in the proximal tubular cells and an increase in the number of granules in the JG cells. Each granule of the Cs group was larger than that of the control group. Cs certainly stimulates the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and causes consequently a secondary aldosteronism.

Liver injury results in the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which in turn produce matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines for tissue remodelling. This study explored the transcriptional induction of the MMP-1 gene by tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in HSCs.The LI90 human HSC line was used in the present study. Gelatin zymography, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Northern blotting and gene promoter-reporter assays were used to analyse the induction of MMP-1 protein, mRNA expression and gene transcription respectively. Deletional or site-directed mutations were introduced into the promoter region and transiently transfected into LI90 cells to determine the cis-acting elements necessary for TNF-alpha inducibility. Gel shift mobility assays were used to determine the transcriptional factors involved in the TNF-alpha responsiveness.TNF-alpha upregulated MMP-1 protein and mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner. A time-course experiment revealed a rapid induction of MMP-1 mRNA expression after TNF-alpha treatment. Mutation in a putative nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB-binding site at -2541 bp almost completely abolished the TNF-alpha response to MMP-1 gene-promoter activity, suggesting transcriptional regulation of MMP-1 expression by TNF-alpha via this site. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and supershift assays indicated that this transcriptional regulation was regulated via the p50/p50 homodimer of NF-kappaB.MMP-1 gene expression might be induced by TNF-alpha via the p50/p50 homodimer of NF-kappaB in activated human HSCs.

The prediction of market behavior is helpful for a manufacturing enterprise to build efficient production systems, but unfortunately these predictions are usually not very reliable. Subsequently, development of more flexible production systems is important to adapt to changing markets but basically cause a higher cost than less flexible ones. This paper proposes a lifecycle simulation framework for production systems by combining the two topics. The simulation structure has several template libraries consisting of many scenarios or patterns of market behaviors, product lineups, production lines, and reconfiguration policies. The framework is initially described for a factory, and afterwards expanded for a global production network.

[1] We propose a method to investigate the dimensions and oscillation characteristics of the source of volcano-seismic signals based on waveform inversion for an extended source. An extended source is realized by a set of point sources distributed on a grid surrounding the centroid of the source in accordance with the source geometry and orientation. The source-time functions for all point sources are estimated simultaneously by waveform inversion carried out in the frequency domain. We apply a smoothing constraint to suppress short-scale noisy fluctuations of source-time functions between adjacent sources. The strength of the smoothing constraint we select is that which minimizes the Akaike Bayesian Information Criterion (ABIC). We perform a series of numerical tests to investigate the capability of our method to recover the dimensions of the source and reconstruct its oscillation characteristics. First, we use synthesized waveforms radiated by a kinematic source model that mimics the radiation from an oscillating crack. Our results demonstrate almost complete recovery of the input source dimensions and source-time function of each point source, but also point to a weaker resolution of the higher modes of crack oscillation. Second, we use synthetic waveforms generated by the acoustic resonance of a fluid-filled crack, and consider two sets of waveforms dominated by the modes with wavelengths 2L/3 and 2W/3, or L and 2L/5, where W and L are the crack width and length, respectively. Results from these tests indicate that the oscillating signature of the 2L/3 and 2W/3 modes are successfully reconstructed. The oscillating signature of the L mode is also well recovered, in contrast to results obtained for a point source for which the moment tensor description is inadequate. However, the oscillating signature of the 2L/5 mode is poorly recovered owing to weaker resolution of short-scale crack wall motions. The triggering excitations of the oscillating cracks are successfully reconstructed.

This paper proposes the method for the optimization of the production preparation processes for factories in oversea. The method does not use the existing tasks, but the relations between physical designed and measured variables written in a relation diagram. The relation diagram is one of the seven new tools for quality control. The new method can optimize the process based on the physical relations and the essential constraints on the task order with the genetic algorithm. The new technique was evaluated using a hot forging trial process and a 40% improvement of the lead time can be seen in comparison with the sequential trial.

To evaluate the effect of first line esomeprazole (EPZ)-based triple therapy on Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication.A total of 80 Japanese patients with gastritis who were diagnosed as positive for H. pylori infection by endoscopic biopsy-based or (13)C-urea breath tests were included in this study. The average age of the patients was 57.2 years (male/female, 42/38). These patients were treated by first-line eradication therapy with EPZ 40 mg/d, amoxicillin 1500 mg/d, and clarithromycin 400 mg/d for 7 d. All drugs were given twice per day. Correlations between H. pylori eradication, CYP2C19 genotype, and serum pepsinogen (PG) level were analyzed. This study was registered with the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000009642).The H. pylori eradication rates by EPZ-based triple therapy evaluated by intention-to-treat and per protocol were 67.5% and 68.4%, respectively, which were similar to triple therapies with other first-generation proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). The eradication rates in three different CYP2C19 genotypes, described as extensive metabolizer (EM), intermediate metabolizer, and poor metabolizer, were 52.2%, 72.1%, and 84.6%, respectively. The H. pylori eradication rate was significantly lower in EM than non-EM (P0.05). The serum PG I level and PG I/II ratio were significantly increased after eradication of H. pylori (P0.01), suggesting that gastric atrophy was improved by H. pylori eradication. Thus, first-line eradication by EPZ-based triple therapy for patients with H. pylori-positive gastritis was influenced by CYP2C19 genotype, and the eradication rate was on the same level with other first-generation PPIs in the Japanese population.The results from this study suggest that there is no advantage to EPZ-based triple therapy on H. pylori eradication compared to other first-generation PPIs.

The hepatic blood flow decreases with the decrease of blood cell velocity in the sinusoids and portal blood flow in acute cholestasis. This microcirculatory change precedes the biochemical and histological changes in the liver.

[1] We present a model of gas exsolution and bubble expansion in a melt supersaturated in response to a sudden pressure drop. In our model, the melt contains a suspension of gas bubbles of identical sizes and is encased in a penny-shaped crack embedded in an elastic solid. The suspension is modeled as a three-dimensional lattice of spherical cells with slight overlap, where each elementary cell consists of a gas bubble surrounded by a shell of volatile-rich melt. The melt is then subjected to a step drop in pressure, which induces gas exsolution and bubble expansion, resulting in the compression of the melt and volumetric expansion of the crack. The dynamics of diffusion-driven bubble growth and volumetric crack expansion span 9 decades in time. The model demonstrates that the speed of the crack response depends strongly on volatile diffusivity in the melt and bubble number density and is markedly sensitive to the ratio of crack thickness to crack radius and initial bubble radius but is relatively insensitive to melt viscosity. The net drop in gas concentration in the melt after pressure recovery represents only a small fraction of the initial concentration prior to the drop, suggesting the melt may undergo numerous pressure transients before becoming significantly depleted of gases. The magnitude of pressure and volume recovery in the crack depends sensitively on the size of the input-pressure transient, becoming relatively larger for smaller-size transients in a melt containing bubbles with initial radii less than 10−5 m. Amplification of the input transient may be large enough to disrupt the crack wall and induce brittle failure in the rock matrix surrounding the crack. Our results provide additional basis for the interpretation of volume changes in the magma conduit under Popocatepetl Volcano during Vulcanian degassing bursts in its eruptive activity in April–May 2000.

[1] We propose an approach to quantify the source of volcano-seismic signals assuming possible source geometries. Such an assumption reduces the number of free parameters in a waveform inversion, so we can quantify the source of these signals observed by a small number of seismic stations. We test this method by using the synthesized waveforms radiated by a fluid-filled crack and with seismic data observed at Kusatsu-Shirane Volcano. We find that waveform data from 2 to 3 three-component seismic stations surrounding the source enable us to estimate the source mechanism and location in the present approach.

A special purpose image preprocessor for the visual system of assembly robots has been developed. The main function unit is composed of look-up tables to utilize the advantage of semiconductor memory for large scale integration, high speed and low price. More than one units may be operated in parallel since it is designed on the standard IEEE 796 bus. The operation time of the preprocessor in line segment extraction is usually 200 ms per 500 segments, though it differs according to the complexity of scene image. The gray-scale visual system supported by the model-based analysis program using the extracted line segments recognizes partially visible or overlapping industrial workpieces, and detects these locations and orientations. In recognition test using plastic workpieces, the recognition time was about 9 seconds for five pieces. In most of conventional model-based vision systems, the feature extraction time was extremely longer than that of the model-based analysis. The image preprocessor we have developed reduces the time ratio of feature extraction and model-based analysis to about 1/10.

Male Wister rats fasted overnight were anesthetized with 50 mg/kg sodium pentobarbital i.p. A fine vinyl tube and polyethylene tube were utilized to make a small circle around the portal vein at the porta hepatis for partial ligation of the portal vein. The pressure was increased in a stepwise manner from the control up to +5 cmH2O, +10 cmH2O, +15 cmH2O, and +20 cmH2O. The aimed pressure (±10%) was maintained for 2 min at each level. Duodenal blood flow, 1–3 cm anal to the pyloric ring, was measured from the mucosal side with a laser-Doppler flowmeter (ALF 2100, Advance, Japan). An in vivo

Hypocotyl-derived protoplasts of Dianthus barbatus that had been pretreated with iodoacetamide were fused electrically with cell suspension culture-derived protoplasts of Gypsophila paniculata that could divide to form callus but could not regenerate shoots under the culture conditions used in this study. Electrofusion-derived calli which produced shoots were selected as putative somatic hybrids, and plantlets were subsequently regenerated from 2 of these selected calli. These plantlets, which in vitro produced flowers precociously, were identified as intergeneric somatic hybrids by nuclear ribosomal DNA analysis. Normal plants have not been established up to the present.

This paper provides a novel method for detecting bottlenecks in manufacturing systems and the shifting of these bottlenecks. All manufacturing systems are constrained by one or more bottlenecks. Improving the bottleneck will improve the whole system. Yet, finding the bottleneck is no trivial task. Furthermore, the system may change over time or due to random events, and subsequently the bottleneck may shift from one machine to another machine. The shifting bottleneck detection method determines the bottleneck based on the duration a machine is active without interruption. The method is very robust, easy to apply and able to detect the primary and secondary bottlenecks in a wide range of production systems. This allows the use of simulation to predict bottlenecks for both steady state and variable systems. The measurement of the likelihood of a machine being the bottleneck aids in the decision-making regarding the allocation of the available resources.

This paper describes a novel method for calculating the sensitivity of the manufacturing system throughput to the variables of the machines. The sensitivity analysis needs only a single simulation, yet is easy to use and provides accurate results. This sensitivity analysis is then used to predict the change in the system throughput due to a change of the variables of the machines provided that the system change does not significantly change the bottleneck. These predictions can be used for a local optimization, allowing the use of a steepest descent optimization algorithm. The method is based on improving the momentary shifting bottlenecks. The shifting bottlenecks are detected using the shifting bottleneck detection method based on the active duration, i.e., the time a machine is active without interruption. The method is easy to understand and easy to implement in existing simulation software.

Flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase (F3′5′H) is the key enzyme for the expression of blue or purple flower color. A full-length cDNA for the F3′5′H gene was cloned from petals of Vinca major, and its genomic clone, designated VmFH1 (accession number AB078781 in the GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ databases), was isolated from leaves by a PCR-based strategy. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that VmFH1 contains one intron and an open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 506 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence shows between 51% and 83% identity with those of previously reported F3′5′H genes. Southern blot analysis showed that there are 3–4 copies of the F3′5′H gene in the genome of V. major. Transcripts of the F3′5′H gene were detected in young flower petals but not in leaves as revealed by RT-PCR analysis. When VmFH1 was expressed in transgenic Petunia hybrida under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter, some transgenic plants showed drastic flower color alteration from red to deep red with deep purple sectors. These transgenic plants accumulated 3′,5′-hydroxylated anthocyanins in their petals, which were never detected in non-transgenic plants by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. These results indicate that VmFH1 isolated from V. major encodes F3′5′H and is active in a heterologous plant species.

In this paper, we propose enterprise modeling and simulation platform integrating manufacturing system design and supply chain. Through the analysis of an enterprise model integrating them, we have found that an enterprise is too complicated to simulate because there are various execution frequency and many types of information flow. We have overcome the difficulty of simulating a complicated enterprise model by using the agent-oriented language, "ROPL". This platform has three features. 1) It realizes a suitable design of an enterprise model under the interaction between manufacturing system design and supply chain. 2) Users can evaluate a design result by simulating an enterprise model. 3) By adapting CORBA, it enables a communication environment, which makes this platform practical. The simulation experiments demonstrate that our developed platform can be employed in complicated enterprise simulation. This paper describes the details of new enterprise modeling and simulation methodology on this platform. After the details, we discuss applicability of simulation integration methodology through an application example.