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Photovoltac (PV) models play an important role in the simulation analysis and fault diagnosis of PV systems. Thesingle diode model (SDM) is the most frequently used model in research and applications. There are numerous proposed methods to identify the SDM parameters. However, the characteristics of PV cells alter during the lifetime in normal operating environments; these variations may be due to degradation, faults, dust, weed, and so on. Therefore, it is crucial to estimate the actual parameters of the PV cells that represent those present state. The contribution of this study is to propose a method to estimate PV cell parameters on the basis of the measurement data regarding the currents and voltages of the PV module strings. A PV string model is described on the basis of the adaptive SDM for the PV cells in the system, and the parameters of each cell model are obtained by minimizing the difference between the measured string voltages and the string voltages computed by the model. The application of the proposed method to real data measured in a PV power plant is also presented to evaluate the proposed method.

We report a case of a 60-year-old man who presented with symptoms of memory loss, gait disorder, and sluggish movement. We considered both Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy as possible diagnoses and consequently hospitalized the patient owing to the worsening symptoms and the development of consciousness disorder. During the course of the disease, dementia, loss of consciousness, and movement disorders worsened rapidly within one year after admission, and the patient eventually developed mutism. The significant clinical characteristics of our case included no myoclonus and involuntary tremors in the extremities. There was no periodic synchronous discharge on electro-encephalography and cranial MRI with diffusion-weighted images showed no high-intensity findings in cortex. Prion protein genetic analysis identified four repeated insertional mutations in the octapeptide repeat (OPR) region, and the patient was diagnosed with inherited Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Cases of OPR insertional mutations are a few in Japan and occur in about 10% of population in Europe. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with OPR insertional mutation shows various clinical manifestations and atypical findings on electroencephalography and cranial MRI. Diagnosing for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with OPR insertional mutation is important in Prion protein genetic analysis.

Vulvar lymphatic leakage is a severe complication associated with gynecological cancer treatments. However, standard treatment strategies have not yet been determined. We encountered a rare case of a 76-year-old multiparous woman suffering from massive lymphatic fluid leakage from the entire vulva, and papules developed and were identified as lymphangiomas. A large amount of straw-colored discharge continued from all vulvar papules, which extended over the mons pubis. Nine years ago, the patient had undergone a radical hysterectomy with concurrent chemoradiation for uterine cervical cancer treatment. Her serum albumin level was 1.9 mg/dl, which was attributed to the loss of a large amount of lymph fluid due to leakage from the vulva. Her quality of life gradually decreased because of general fatigue and the need for frequent diaper exchanges every 2 h. The patient received a less-invasive treatment with cryotherapy using liquid nitrogen. She also received a multimodality treatment consisting of the intravenous administration of albumin, massage of the lower limbs and intensive rehabilitation. Cryotherapy was administered once a week for 3 months. Her discharge almost stopped and vulvar lymphangiomas decreased without any major complications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of massive lymphatic leakage complicated with vulvar lymphangiomas. Additionally, this case may represent the first successful treatment of vulva lymph leakage by cryotherapy without recurrence. Cryotherapy may have the potential to improve the quality of life as a less-invasive treatment for gynecological cancer survivors without serious complications.

Atypical genital bleeding due to gynecologic cancer not only impairs patients' quality of life (QOL), but also becomes a major causative factor of death. We report the clinical usefulness of Mohs' paste for genital bleeding from the uterine cervix or vaginal stump in patients with recurrent gynecologic cancer.Eight patients with gynecologic cancer were enrolled between January 2010 and March 2012. Mohs' paste was directly applied to the bleeding tumor. In patients with recurrent genital bleeding after the application of Mohs' paste, the technique was repeated. The effect of this procedure continued for 4 days to 1 year. The effect of Mohs' paste continued for 3 months or more in three patients. None of the eight patients have died of genital bleeding.The use of Mohs' paste is safe and convenient for massive genital bleeding from the uterine cervix or vaginal stump due to recurrent gynecologic cancer. However, our study does have some limitations including the small number of enrolled subjects and heterogeneous cancer types.

暗期における短時間昇温処理が, アフリカンマリーゴールドの開花反応に及ぼす影響について調べた. 12時間日長, 温度22℃/14℃(明期/暗期)の制御環境下で, 時間帯を変えて3時間30℃の昇温処理を行った結果, 暗期開始時の処理で特異的に発蕾までの日数が短くなった. 続いて, 処理時間および処理温度を変えて, 暗期開始時の昇温処理を行った結果, 0.5時間30℃および3時間22℃の昇温処理でも明らかに発蕾までの日数が短くなった. 以上のように, 暗期開始時の短時間昇温処理によりアフリカンマリーゴールドの開花反応が促進することを初めて見出した.

SummaryThe transition from vegetative to reproductive growth is marked by the termination of vegetative development and adoption of a floral identity by the shoot apical meristem. This process is called the floral transition. To elucidate the molecular determinants involved in this process in chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.), we isolated the following three floral identity and/or integrator genes from plants: CmFL, a homologue of FLORICAULA (FLO)/LEAFY (LFY); CmAFL1, a member of the APETALA1 (AP1)/FRUITFULL (FUL) sub-family; and CmSOC1, a member of the SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO 1 (SOC1) sub-family. Up-regulated expression of CmFL in Arabidopsis resulted in an early-flowering phenotype. Our data show significant up-regulation of expression of all three of the above-mentioned genes and a strong correlation between the floral transition and gene expression under three different photoperiodic conditions. This study strongly suggests that CmFL, CmAFL1, and CmSOC1 are involved in the tra...

The authors developed a compact vacuum- and hydrogen-annealing machine to transform and smooth silicon surfaces for silicon microoptical devices. Two kinds of configurations, named sealing type and flowing type, were evaluated. The sealing type configuration was designed to anneal a sample inside a H2 gas environment contained within a quartz tube. On the other hand, the flowing type configuration was designed to anneal the sample using a flowing H2 gas environment. The machine sizes were 1.6 m in width, 0.55 m in depth, and 1.3 m in height. Control ranges of temperature and pressure were between 20 °C and 1300 °C and between 4.1×10−7 and 760 Torr, respectively. Using the flowing type configuration, the samples were successfully smoothed at conditions of H2 partial pressure of 50 Torr, temperature of 1230 °C, H2 gas flow rate of 1 slm, and annealing time of 11 min. By transforming the surface, microlenslike structures with the size of the order of several micrometers and a sinusoidal grating were also fab...

SummaryEthephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid), an ethylene-releasing agent, is used in the production of Summer-to-Autumn-flowering chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.) to avoid early budding under long-day conditions. This study was carried out to show the variation in response to ethephon due to temperature, season, and cultivar. The seasonality of growth and flowering capacities, growing temperatures, and the genetic background of chrysanthemum make the effects of ethephon unstable and variable. The most important factor modifying the effect was the response to temperature, which showed seasonal variation. Ethephon briefly suppressed extension growth and flowering after chilling and at high growing temperatures. On the other hand, it induced dormancy and rosette formation, and suppressed flowering after Summer, and at lower temperatures. This suggests that ethylene is involved in the induction of dormancy.

The effect of light quality, light intensity and photoperiod on stem elongation of chrysanthemum was studied using an image processing technique. The plant stem and internode elongation was higher in the dark than in the light, and the growth of chrysanthemum was promoted in dark period. The effect of light quality was more significant than that of light intensity and photoperiod on the growth of chrysanthemum. The growth of chrysanthemum was inhibited under blue light, and the relative elongation rate of internodes decreased with increasing intensity of blue light and irradiation duration. Chrysanthemum growth is regulated by the light condition during irradiation. This system is useful to build a model to describe the stem elongation relative to light condition for chrysanthemum, and to suggest effective production method with substitutes for chemical growth regulators.

本研究では, キク (Dendranthema × grandiflorum cv. “Reagan”) を対象として, 光環境の変化が節間伸長量に与える影響について調べた結果, 以下の知見を得た.1. 一日あたりの節間伸長量を100%とし, 明期, 暗期, 光中断期のそれぞれの時間帯での成長量を時間当たりに変換した相対伸長速度(%/hour)という概念を導入して, 一日のプロフィールを調べたところ, 暗期は約6%/hour, 明期および光中断期は約3%/hourという値となり, 供試植物では暗期に伸長成長が促進されることが明らかとなった.2. 暗期に節間伸長が促進されるという傾向は, 20%L (節間成長が停止した時点を100%Lとした指標) ステージを除いたほとんどのステージにおいて, この傾向が変わらないことが判明した.3. これらの知見より, 光中断期(22:20～2:20)とそれに続く暗期(2:20～6:20)の長さの調節による光環境制御によって, 伸長成長量をコントロールできる可能性が示唆された.

Atypical genital bleeding is the most common and serious manifestation in patients with advanced gynecologic malignancies. In the 1930s, Frederic F Mohs originated a method for the chemical fixation of a cutaneous tumor using 20% of zinc chloride (Mohs' paste), which causes necrosis, but preserves microscopic details of the tissue (Mohs et al., 1941). He developed a technique of micrographic tumor serial excision as a chemosurgery technique (Mohs et al., 1941; Swanson, 1983). Nowadays, such a technique has become widely accepted as the treatment option for primary or recurrent cutaneous neoplasms (Swanson, 1983). Recent reports show that hemostasis could be achieved using Mohs' paste in a malignant wound including unresectable breast cancer and skin metastasis of various kinds of cancer (Kakimoto et al., 2010). We describe a successful treatment using Mohs' paste for life-threatening genital bleeding in a patient with recurrent cervical cancer. This is an important case report with promising results for future patients and this clearly provides evidence that Mohs' paste can save a patient's life from fatal genital bleeding of the uterine cervix.

Material & methods (Surgical Procedure) There are two major unique points in our technique; (1) Curve correction is always started from convex side with derotation maneuver and in-situ bending followed by concave rod application. (2) 6.35mm diameter pure titanium rod is used in convex side and the same diameter of titanium alloy rod is used in concave side. Other detailed techniques such as in-situ bending, compressiondistraction, derotation maneuver, osteotomies and bone grafting are used in the same manner as previously described. (Study methods) Forty two patients treated surgically from 2008 to 2012 were included in this study and divided into 2 groups; 40 patients (3 men and 37 women, the average age was 15.9) treated with new technique using 6.35mm diameter of different stiffness titanium rods during August 2008 to July 2012 (Group N) and 12 patients (12 women, the average age was 18.8) treated with conventional methods using 5.5mm diameter titanium alloy rods since July 2008 through July 2009 (Group C). All patients had a minimum follow-up of 2 years. Radiographical parameters and peri-operative data were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Results Preoperative main Cobb angles were 56.8° / 60° (Group N/Group C) which improved to 15.2° / 17.1° at the latest follow-up. Correction rates were 73.2% / 71.7% respectively. Thoracic kyphosis increased from 16.8°/16° to 21.3° / 23.4°. There were not significant differences in each parameter. However, mean operating time in Group N (364 min.) was significantly shorter than those of Group C (456 min.).