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Ayako Saito,1 Shigeko Kojima,2 Fumihiko Sasaki,3 Masamichi Hayashi,4 Yuki Mieno,4 Hiroki Sakakibara,5 Shuji Hashimoto1 1Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan; 2Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nihon Fukushi University, Handa, Japan; 3SDB Research Laboratory, Takaoka Clinic, Nagoya, Japan; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Allergy, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan; 5Tokushige Kokyuki Clinic, Nagoya, Japan Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a self-efficacy instrument for Japanese obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Analyzed subjects were 653 Japanese OSA patients (619 males and 34 females) treated with CPAP at a sleep laboratory in a respiratory clinic in a Japanese city. Based on Bandura's social cognitive theory, the CPAP Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Sleep Apnea in Japanese (CSESA-J) was developed by a focus group of experts, using a group interview of OSA patients for the items of two previous self-efficacy scales for Western sleep apnea patients receiving CPAP treatment. CSESA-J has two subscales, one for self-efficacy and the other for outcome expectancy, and consists of a total of 15 items. Content validity was confirmed by the focus group. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loadings of self-efficacy and outcome expectancy were 0.47–0.76 and 0.41–0.92, respectively, for the corresponding items. CSESA-J had a significant but weak positive association with the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and a strong positive association with “Self-efficacy scale on health behavior in patients with chronic disease.” Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.85 for the self-efficacy subscale and 0.89 for the outcome expectancy subscale. The intraclass correlation coefficient using data from the first and second measurements with CSESA-J for a subset of 130 subjects was 0.93 for the self-efficacy and outcome expectancy subscales. These results support CSESA-J as a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the self-efficacy of Japanese OSA patients treated with CPAP. Further studies are warranted to confirm validity for female OSA patients and generalizability. Keywords: scale development, obstructive sleep apnea, continuous positive airway pressure, social cognitive theory

We performed X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) photoemission electron microscopy imaging to reveal the magnetic domain structure of anti-perovskite nitride Co3FeN exhibiting a negative spin polarization. In square and disc patterns, we systematically and quantitatively determined the statistics of the stable states as a function of geometry. By direct imaging during the application of a magnetic field, we revealed the magnetic reversal process in a spatially resolved manner. We compared the hysteresis on the continuous area and the square patterns from the magnetic field-dependent XMCD ratio, which can be explained as resulting from the effect of the shape anisotropy, present in nanostructured thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the area and volume effects on the breakdown strength in liquid nitrogen (L[N.sub.2]) to discuss breakdown mechanism in cryogenic liquids for superconducting power apparatus. We measured breakdown voltages in L[N.sub.2] with and without thermal bubbles over a very wide range of the electrode size. Experimental results revealed that breakdown mechanism changed from area dominant to volume effective region at the larger electrode configurations in L[N.sub.2]. Moreover, we discussed the contribution rate of area and volume effects to the breakdown strength in L[N.sub.2]. It was suggested that mutual contribution of area and volume effects appeared in breakdown characteristics in L[N.sub.2] under thermal bubble condition, as a phenomenon peculiar to cryogenic liquids. Consequently, we pointed out that it is very important to consider both thermal bubbles and electrode surface condition for HV insulation of superconducting power apparatus.

This paper describes high voltage insulation technology of cryogenic liquids for superconducting power apparatus. The insulation of a superconducting transformer is classified into several insulation components. Moreover, we investigate fundamental insulation characteristics peculiar to the superconducting and cryogenic circumstances: area and volume effects on breakdown strength, V-t characteristics, quench-induced dynamic breakdown characteristics and so on. Finally, we systematize the electrical insulation of cryogenic liquids, and propose the flow chart for the practical insulation design of superconducting power apparatus.

Epitaxial bilayers of antiferromagnetic Mn3GaN/ferromagnetic Co3FeN with an antiperovskite structure were grown by reactive magnetron sputtering, and their structural, magnetic, and electrical properties were investigated. Exchange coupling with an exchange field Hex of 0.4 kOe at 4K was observed for Mn3GaN (20 nm)/Co3FeN (5 nm) bilayers. Negative anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) effect in Co3FeN was observed and utilized to detect magnetization reversal in exchangecoupled Mn3GaN/Co3FeN bilayers. The AMR results showed evidence for current-induced spin transfer torque in antiferromagnetic Mn3GaN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]