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Active aging programs are seen as an important strategy for the long-term sustainability of Japan given population aging and fertility decline trends. This paper reviews Japan’s commitment to active aging initiatives since the 1960s with a focus on the development of senior clubs, welfare centers for the elderly and senior colleges. The changing patterns of their popularity are discussed in relation to the increased options available today and the changes taking place in the family structure with both a macro historical review and a case study to demonstrate how programs have been implemented with national and local funding support. A description of the U.S. experience is used to demonstrate the comparative level of commitment that Japan has made to support healthy aging. The recrafting of the active aging motif as shogai gen’eki, with its emphasis on continued employment, may suggest a redirection of the preferred role of Japan’s older adults in the future.

Ferroaxial materials that exhibit spontaneous ordering of a rotational structural distortion with an axial vector symmetry have gained growing interest, motivated by recent extensive studies on ferroic materials. As in conventional ferroics (e.g., ferroelectrics and ferromagnetics), domain states will be present in the ferroaxial materials. However, the observation of ferroaxial domains is non-trivial due to the nature of the order parameter, which is invariant under both time-reversal and space-inversion operations. Here we propose that NiTiO3 is an order-disorder type ferroaxial material, and spatially resolve its ferroaxial domains by using linear electrogyration effect: optical rotation in proportion to an applied electric field. To detect small signals of electrogyration (order of 10−5 deg V−1), we adopt a recently developed difference image-sensing technique. Furthermore, the ferroaxial domains are confirmed on nano-scale spatial resolution with a combined use of scanning transmission electron microscopy and convergent-beam electron diffraction. Our success of the domain visualization will promote the study of ferroaxial materials as a new ferroic state of matter., The presence of ferroaxial domain states is recently experimentally demonstrated by a nonlinear optical technique, which lacks high spatial resolution to visualize ferroaxial domains. Here, the authors visualize spatial distributions of ferroaxial domains in NiTiO3 showing an order-disorder type ferroaxial transition.

An extrinsic electron induced by a dielectric (EID) AlGaN/GaN MOS high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) on Si substrate was designed and investigated. The EID structure with SiO2 deposition and subsequent high-temperature annealing, which induces two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) on fully depleted AlGaN/GaN hetero-epitaxial layers with thin AlGaN barrier layer, was applied to access and drift regions in the HEMT. The fabricated HEMT exhibited enhancement-mode operation with a specific on-resistance of 7.6 mΩ cm2 and a breakdown voltage of over 1 kV. In addition, electron state analysis using hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that changes in the chemical states of Al and energy level lowering at the SiO2/AlGaN interface affect the induction of 2DEG in the EID structure. The proposed HEMTs should become a strong candidate for highly reliable high-power switching devices due to the damage-less fabrication without dry etching or fluorine plasma exposure processes on the semiconductor layers.

LAMB1 gene analysis should be considered for intellectually disabled patients with cerebellar cysts, white matter signal change, and cortical malformation. Muscular involvement is absent, in contrast to the α-dystroglycanopathy types of congenital muscular dystrophies.

In order to realize future hydrogen society, hydrogen production systems must meet the large demand of hydrogen usage. Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) would be one of the candidate technologies to produce hydrogen on a large scale from renewable energy. We have conducted basic research into AWE, trying to reveal technical issues under zero gap system in new cell technology. The zero gap system contributes lower cell voltage without causing any major operating problems compared with conventional finite gap cell. However, it was observed that Ni base electrodes showed corrosion phenomena in a number of test trials including steady operating conditions and several shut-downs. Activated Raney Ni alloy coating for anode material had an advantage for oxygen overvoltage. It showed a saving of around 100 mV at 40 A/dm 2 (0.4 A/cm 2 ) against Ni bare anodes. In the Chlor–Alkali (C/A) industry, thermal decomposition coating of mixed noble metal on Ni substrate is commonly used for advanced activated cathodes. It showed very low hydrogen over-potential of around 100 mV in AWE. To achieve better cell performance, separator selection is very important. We evaluated several separators including ion exchange membrane (IEM) to understand the basic function in AWE. IEM for C/A electrolysis showed high cell voltage (over 2.2 V) but low O 2 impurity in H 2 gas. Hydrogen purity was over 99.95%. Porous separators made of polypropylene showed 1.76 V at 40 A/dm 2 (0.4 A/cm 2 ), 80 °C. But there was a weakness on the durability for continuous operation. Proper selection of separator is important in an actual plant for effective and safe cell operation. The concept of safety operation is referred to by diffusion coefficient of hydrogen.

Elution of bisphenol A (BPA), chlorinated BPAs (i.e., 3-chlorobisphenol A, sum of 3,5-dichlorobisphenol A and 3,3′-dichlorobisphenol A, 3,3′,5-trichlorobisphenol A, and 3,3′,5,5′-tetrachlorobisphenol A) and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) from lined pipes coated with two epoxy resins were investigated in a 24-month continuous test passing tap water. BPA, chlorinated BPAs, and TCP were not detected in the tap water at the outlet of lined pipes in most cases. However, all of these chemicals were detected in the tap water after 16 h of retention. The sums of BPA and chlorinated BPAs in the retained tap water were usually high when the residual chlorine levels were low. The residual chlorine was related to temperature, residual chlorine in the tap water at the inlet of lined pipes, and the elapsed time. From the results of leach tests, it was indicated that no marked changes in BPA concentration over the 24 months of the continuous test. Chlorinated BPAs and TCP were accumulated on the surface of lined pipes during the continuous test.

The crystal-Si and poly-Si fin-channel flash memories with a thin n+-poly-Si floating-gate (FG) layer have successfully been fabricated, and their electrical characteristics have systematically been investigated. It was experimentally found that the better short-channel effect (SCE) immunity, the smaller threshold voltage (Vt) variations and a higher program speed are obtained in the crystal-Si fin-channel tri-gate (TG)-type flash memories than in the double-gate (DG)-type ones. It was also confirmed that split-gate crystal-Si fin-channel flash memories show highly suppressed over-erase as compared to that in stack-gate memories. Moreover, it was found that Vt variation in the poly-Si fin-channel flash memories after a program/erase (P/E) cycle became comparable to that in the crystal-Si fin-channel memories. The measured source-drain breakdown voltage (BVDS) was higher than 3.2 V even the gate length (Lg) was down to 76 nm. The developed technology is very useful for the fabrication of scaled NOR-type flash memory.

We compared the electrical characteristics, including mobility and on -state current Ion, of n+-poly-Si/PVD-TiN stacked-gate FinFETs with different fin heights Hfin. The mobility was enhanced in devices with taller fins due to increased tensile stress. However, as gate length Lg decreases, Ion for devices with tall fins becomes worse, probably due to a high parasitic resistance Rp. Furthermore, Vth variation increased with increasing Hfin due to rough etching of the fin sidewall. Process technologies for reducing Rp and etching technology that yields smooth precise profiles are essential to exploit the high performance of tall FinFETs.

The threshold voltage Vt variability in the scaled crystal channel and poly-Si channel double-gate fin-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (FinFETs) with different gate oxide thicknesses Tox has been systematically analyzed. By investigating the Tox dependence of Vt variations in crystal channel FinFETs, the gate-stack origin sources, i.e., work function (φm) variation and gate oxide charge (Qox) variation sources, were successfully separated. It was found that the atomically flat Si-fin sidewall channels fabricated by the orientation-dependent wet etching contribute to the reduction of gate-stack origin Vt variations. Moreover, it was experimentally found that the standard Vt deviation (σVt) of poly-Si channel FinFETs is three times higher than that of crystal channel ones, and a good subthreshold slope in the poly-Si channel FinFETs was obtained with gate length Lg down to poly-Si grain size.

Background: High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a monocyte-derived late-acting inflammatory mediator, which is released in conditions such as shock, tissue injury and endotoxin-induced lethality. In this study, we determined the plasma and hepatic tissue levels of HMGB1 in patients with acute liver failure (ALF). Patients and Methods: We determined the plasma levels of HMGB1 and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in 7 healthy volunteers (HVs), 40 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC), 37 patients with chronic hepatitis (CH), 18 patients with severe acute hepatitis (AH), and 14 patients with fulminant hepatitis (FH). The 14 patients with FH were divided into two subgroups depending upon the history of plasma exchange (PE) before their plasma sample collection. The hepatic levels of HMGB1 were measured in tissue samples from 3 patients with FH who underwent living-donor liver transplantation and from 3 healthy living donors. Hepatic tissue samples were also subjected to immunohistochemical examination for HMGB1. Results: The plasma levels of HMGB1 (ng/ml) were higher in patients with liver diseases, especially in FH patients with no history of PE, than in HVs (0.3 ± 0.3 in HVs, 4.0 ± 2.0 in LC, 5.2 ± 2.6 in CH, 8.6 ± 4.8 in severe AH, 7.8 ± 2.7 in FH with a history of PE, and 12.5 ± 2.6 in FH with no history of PE, p < 0.05 in each comparison). There was a strong and statistically significant relationship between the mean plasma HMGB1 level and the logarithm of the mean AST level (R = 0.900, p < 0.05). The hepatic tissue levels of HMGB1 (ng/mg tissue protein) were lower in patients with FH than in healthy donors (539 ± 116 in FH vs. 874 ± 81 in healthy donors, p < 0.05). Immunohistochemical staining for HMGB1 was strong and clear in the nuclei of hepatocytes in liver sections from healthy donors, but little staining in either nuclei or cytoplasm was evident in specimens from patients with FH. Conclusion: We confirmed that plasma HMGB1 levels were increased in patients with ALF. Based on a comparison between HMGB1 contents in normal and ALF livers, it is very likely that HMGB1 is released from injured liver tissue.

We have studied a hot-wall heating system to produce GdBa 2 Cu 3 O y (GdBCO) films with large critical currents ( I c ) at a high production rate by a pulsed-laser-deposition (PLD) method. GdBCO films fabricated at a production rate of 30 m/h under the optimized conditions, especially a distance of 95 mm between the target and the substrate (T–S), exhibited high critical current densities ( J c ) of about 3 MA/cm 2 and I c over 300 A at a thickness of 1–2 μm. Furthermore, long GdBCO tapes prepared by repeated depositions at each tape-passing speed of 80 m/h showed uniform I c distribution along the longitudinal direction, because the hot-wall system enabled to stabilize temperature within a few degrees at 800 °C. A 170 m long tape with I c over 600 A was successfully fabricated at a production rate of 16 m/h using a laser power of 360 W.

[Background] Axilla surgery in node-positive breast cancer is dramatically changing from axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) to sentinel node biopsy (SNB). From the results of ACOSOG Z0011, IBCSG23-01 and AMAROS trials, adjuvant therapy and regional node irradiation could reduce regional lymph node recurrence for sentinel node-positive breast cancer patients. However, optimal indication of SNB alone remains uncertain. Trial design: To evaluate the outcome of sentinel node-positive breast cancer patients, the Japanese Society for Sentinel Node Navigation Surgery (SNNS) conducted a prospective cohort study in 2013 (UMIN000011782, Jpn J Clin Oncol, p.876-9, 2014). [Eligibility criteria] For eligible patients, SNB was performed or scheduled after 1 January 2012. Then 1 to 3 positive micrometastases or macrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes are confirmed by histological or molecular diagnosis. Primary chemotherapy before or after SNB is also acceptable for registration. [Specific aims] The primary endpoint is the 5-year recurrence rate of regional lymph node in patients treated with SNB alone. The secondary endpoint is the 5-year overall survival rate of this cohort. Patients treated with SNB followed by ALND are also registered simultaneously to compare the prognosis. The propensity score matching (PSM) is used to make the distributions of baseline risk factors comparable. [Statistical method] Based on an estimated recurrence rate of 5% at 5 years among patients treated with SNB alone, 240 patients are needed to give a 80% power to reject the null hypothesis that the recurrence rate is 10% with a one-sided type I error rate of 2.5%. If we consider that some patients will be lost to follow-up or become ineligible, a total of 250 patients will be needed to comprise the sample. [Present accrual] Eight hundred and eighty patients who underwent SNB alone or SNB followed by ALND were registered from 27 participating institutes between 2013 and 2016. Data cleaning is being performed. Patient's background and PSM will be reported. Citation Format: Imoto S, Saito Oba M, Masuda N, Nagashima T, Wada N, Takashima T, Kitada M, Kawada M, Hayashida T, Taguchi T, Aihara T, Miura D, Toh U, Yoshida M, Sugae S, Yoneyama K, Matsumoto H, Jinno H, Sakamoto J. Observational study of axilla treatment for breast cancer patients with 1 to 3 positive micrometastases or macrometastases in sentinel lymph nodes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr OT2-01-01.

We have studied two types of heating systems to produce thick GdBa2Cu3O7−X (Gd123) films with high critical current (Ic) stably at a high speed by the PLD method. Material yields of both PLD systems reached about 50–60% by optimization of evaporation condition. Hot-wall heating type (type 2) could fabricate the thicker Gd123 film with the higher Ic compared to contact heating type (type 1) and maximum Ic reached 1040 A at about 6 μm thick. Furthermore, it was estimated that type 2 could fabricate Gd123 film with an Ic of about 700 A at about twice speed compared to type 1. Finally, it was considered that the hot-wall heating type was very advantageous to prepare thick Gd123 film with high Ic at a high speed from the system structure.

This paper describes a process for the fabrication of coated conductor (CC) wires, which is developed by Fujikura, and discusses their properties. These wires are composed of a buffer layer, which is formed by the ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) technique, and a superconducting layer, which is formed by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process. In order to increase the I c × L which means the product of critical current ( I c ) and the length ( L ) of the CC wires the I c value and I c distribution along the length of CC wires have been improved by using a new PLD pilot plant. The I c value increases approximately linearly with the thickness of the superconducting layer, and it continues to increase up to a thickness of approximately 4 μm or 5 μm. The I c × L value of our fabricated CC wire is 176,023 Am. The I c value of a short sample is 972 A/cm. The process rate of IBAD is enhanced up to 100 m/h and that of PLD is enhanced up to 20 m/h. A 40-m long CC tape, which has an average I c of 300 A, is fabricated by the improved IBAD and PLD techniques.

By an IBAD/PLD method, a 500 m-length high-performance GdBa2Cu3Ox (GdBCO) coated conductor with BaZrO3 (BZO) was fabricated. End-to-end Ic of the 503.5 m tape was 349.6 A/cm at 77 K, corresponding Ic times L value of 176,023 Am. New approaches to decrease the thickness of IBAD buffer layers were developed by combination of IBAD-MgO(111) and IBAD-Gd2Zr2O7 (GZO). The maximum Jc of the GdBCO on the buffer layer was 550 A/cm. We also started to investigate IBAD-MgO(OOl) by using a large IBAD system with a 110 cm times 15 cm ion source. A 50 m-length IBAD-MgO tape with DeltaPhi of 13deg was fabricated at a 100 m/h-1 pass. Insulated REBCO wires with Cu or Ni-Cr lamination were developed using 5 mm-wide conductors sliced from 10 mm-wide IBAD/PLD tapes. Practical long insulated wires were supplied for several prototypes of motors, transformers and fault current limiters in fiscal 2007.

A sputtered titanium nitride (TiN) metal gate has systematically been investigated, and the dependences of TiN work function (TiN) and device performance on nitrogen gas flow ratio [RN=N2/(N2+Ar)] in sputtering and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) temperature (TR) are clarified. It is experimentally found that TiN slightly decreases from 4.87 to 4.78 eV with increasing RN from 17 to 83%, and it markedly decreases with increasing TR. The analysis of the electrical characteristics of fabricated metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) shows that the optimal RN range is 17–50%, and a higher RN offers a lower Vth owing to the lower TiN. The origin of TiN decrease with increasing RN and TR is discussed. The obtained results indicate that TiN can be controlled by sputtering and RTA conditions, and are very useful for setting the appropriate Vth for lightly doped channel devices such as a FinFET.

The functional split-gate type trigate flash memory cell transistors have successfully been fabricated for the first time, and their threshold voltage (Vt) variations before and after NOR-mode program/erase cycle have systematically been compared with the stack-gate ones. It was experimentally found that split-gate type cell transistors with the same control gate length (LCG) of 176 nm show much smaller Vt distribution after erase compared to those of stack-gate ones. Moreover, the measured source-drain breakdown voltage (BVDS) is higher than 3.1 V even the LCG was down to 76 nm. This indicates that the developed split-gate type trigate flash memory is very effective for scaled NOR-type flash memory with highly suppressed over-erase.

We have developed long RE 1 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7− X (RE123) coated conductors with large current capacity by the ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) and the pulsed laser deposition using hot wall heating (HW-PLD) technique. As a result, we could fabricate an 8 m-long Gd 1 Ba 2 Cu 3 O 7− X (Gd123) coated wire with the minimum and maximum critical current ( I c ) of 951 A/cm-w and 1003 A/cm-w at 77 K, 0 T, respectively, measured in 0.7 m-long sections by the standard 4-probe technique. Furthermore, we succeeded in preparation of over 600 m-long Gd123 coated wire with the uniform I c distribution over 600 A/cm-w. It had average, maximum and minimum I c of 665, 698, 609 A/cm-w, respectively. The n -values of the sample showed the maximum I c and minimum I c were 40 and 36, respectively. As a result, we set the new world record of I c × L value as 374535 A m (= 609 A × 615 m). The in-field performance of this long wire was quite high as well; the minimum I c exceeded 50 A/cm-w at 77 K, 3 T.

The objective of this study was to confirm electrophysiologically both the presence and course of uraemic neuropathy in haemodialysis patients. Nerve conduction studies of the lower extremities were done in 70 haemodialysis patients and 20 normal volunteers. Compared with that in normal volunteers, the distal motor latency in the tibial nerve of patients was prolonged significantly (p

Red sprites and elves were observed in Japan during the winter of 1998/99 in Hokuriku region by the group of Tohoku Univ. [Fukunishi et al., EOS, 80(46), F217, 1999]. We analyze quantitatively the results from coordinated measurement consisting of ELF transients, VLF subionopheric disturbances and lightning discharges associated with the optical events. We find the clear straightforward relationship between charge transfer of the parent discharge calculated from ELF (f < 15 Hz) and the ionospheric disturbances regardless of the types of optical events indicating significant atmosphere-mesosphere-ionosphere coupling. Sprites tend to associate with a large ionospheric disturbance (−13 ∼ + 4.6 dB) with a large charge transfer (52 ∼ 175 C), whereas a large lightning peak current (+223 ∼ + 470 kA) (or slow-tail amplitude) leading to the strong EMP is necessary to initiate elves, but with rather small ionospheric disturbances.

In Fujikura, a large-scale ion-beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) system with a large ion source has been employed to fabricate biaxially textured MgO films. The large-scale IBAD system has multiple deposition lanes where substrate tapes move, and therefore we have to optimize experimental conditions at each lane. We selected an appropriate deposition area and, finally, we successfully fabricated a 1 km-length IBAD-MgO film at a production rate of 1 km/h. We also studied pulsed-laser-deposited (PLD) CeO 2 films directly on the IBAD-MgO films in spite of a large lattice mismatch between CeO 2 and MgO. From transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations at an interface between MgO and CeO 2 films, it is revealed that there is domain-matching-epitaxy relationship between MgO and CeO 2 films. We also fabricated thin (1.0 μm) and thick (3.7 μm) PLD – GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− x (GdBCO) film on the long-length CeO 2 /MgO substrate (over 150 m). Critical currents ( I c ) and current density ( J c ) were over 300 A and 3 MA/cm 2 respectively for the thin GdBCO film and were about 645 A and 1.7 MA/cm 2 for the thick GdBCO film at 77 K in self-field.

For practical applications of high-temperature superconductor tape, the high production rate of tapes is needed to reduce its cost. Recently, the long-length coated conductor with high performance has been fabricated by an ion beam assisted deposition/pulsed laser deposition (IBAD/PLD) method in Fujikura. In IBAD process, we adopted IBAD–Gd2Zr2O7 (GZO) film. The process speed of IBAD–GZO film was increased up to 5 m/h using a polished metal substrate tape. To fabricate biaxially-textured buffer layers at a higher rate, we have started to develop another structures such as (a) IBAD–GZO/IBAD–MgO (3-fold symmetry) and (b) IBAD–MgO (4-fold symmetry). In the case (a), we fabricated GdBCO/CeO2/IBAD–GZO/IBAD–MgO tape and the critical current was Ic = 550 A/cm (2.46 MA/cm2) and throughput of IBAD processes were 20 m/h. In the case (b), IBAD–MgO short samples with ΔΦ of 9°–11° were obtained at 500 m/h. The 500 m/h (10 mm width) is extremely high rate in IBAD process in the world. As long-length IBAD layer 10 m, 50 m and 100 m IBAD–MgO films were fabricated at the speed of 100 m/h. After CeO2 deposition, in-plane textures of these samples were ΔΦ of 3.7°–3.7°, 4.1°–4.9° and 4.2°–4.8°. Using some of these buffer layers, we have obtained GdBCO film with Ic = 400 A/cm (2 MA/cm2, 10 m) and Ic = 550 A/cm (2.7 MA/cm2, short sample).

Spinal cord compression is an extremely serious complication of hereditary multiple exostoses (HME). A case of HME with compression of the cervical spinal cord is reported. Complete recovery following surgery was achieved. A review of the relevant literature revealed 51 previous cases of HME with cord/cauda equina compression. Most patients were under 30 years of age with more men affected than women. The family history was positive in 60%. The cervical and thoracic areas were predominantly affected, with the symptoms usually developing slowly. Recovery following surgery is to be expected in the majority of cases. In patients with HME and suffering from neurological symptoms, the possibility of spinal cord compression should be considered. Prompt diagnosis and surgical excision provide the best prognosis.

A bench scale test at ambient pressure has been performed for carbon recycling system using a ferrite process in LNG power plant. The chemical reaction consists of two steps; (i) adsorptive separation and decomposition of CO 2 to carbon on oxygen-deficient Ni ferrite and (ii) methanation of deposited carbon. CO 2 decomposition and methanation reactivities were much improved when the honeycomb support was used instead of a packed-bed-type reactor. The overall methanation rate of CO 2 in flue gas from LNG power plant could achieve 1,000 Nm 3 h -1 when 12,000 kg Ni ferrite loaded on a honeycomb support was used. The present methanation and carbon recycling system could be extended to other CO 2 sources such as IGCC power plant and depleted natural gas plant.

OBJECTIVE--To examine mechanisms controlling the stapedial reflex in patients with amyotrophic sclerosis (ALS). METHODS--The stapedial reflex was examined using impedance audiometry in 38 patients with sporadic ALS and in 25 age matched controls. RESULTS--All patients showed normal reflex decay test results. There were no significant differences between patients with ALS and control subjects in reflex threshold, latency, amplitude, or contraction time (C50). Although each reflex variable in the patients with classic or progressive muscular atrophy types of ALS showed no significant difference from that in control subjects, the patients with bulbar type ALS showed significantly longer latency, C50, and retraction time (D50), and significantly lower amplitude than control subjects. Three types of abnormal reflex waveforms (polyphasic, abnormally delayed retraction, and abnormally early retraction) were noted in six patients. CONCLUSION--The subclinical involvement of the stapedius motor neurons or of the supranuclear stapedius motor system might be responsible for the abnormalities of the stapedial reflex in ALS.

OBJECTIVES: Vocal cord abductor paralysis (VCAP) is a life threatening complication which may cause nocturnal sudden death in patients with multiple system atrophy. However, the early diagnosis of VCAP is often difficult to make on routine laryngoscopy performed during wakefulness, as stridor, which is the sole symptom of VCAP in the early stage, develops only during sleep. The aim was to investigate laryngeal dysfunction in patients with multiple system atrophy while awake and asleep. METHODS: Seven patients with multiple system atrophy with nocturnal stridor and five control patients were studied. Vocal cord movement was analysed by laryngoscopy while the patients were awake and also during sleep induced by intravenous diazepam. RESULTS: When awake, for the seven patients with multiple system atrophy normal movement of the vocal cords occurred in three, mild abduction restriction in three, and paradoxical movement in one. When asleep, however, all showed obvious paradoxical movement with high pitched inspiratory stridor. In controls, there were no differences in the vocal cord movement between wakefulness and sleep. From these findings, VCAP could be divided into four stages: stage 0 (normal) with normal vocal cord movement during both wakefulness and sleep, stage 1 (mild VCAP) with normal movement during wakefulness and paradoxical movement during sleep, stage 2 (moderately severe VCAP) with abduction restriction during wakefulness and paradoxical movement during sleep, and stage 3 (severe VCAP) with an almost midline position for the vocal cords during both wakefulness and sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Laryngoscopy during sleep can disclose subclinical VCAP, making an early diagnosis of VCAP in patients with multiple system atrophy. Stage 2 of VCAP seems to be a suitable stage for tracheostomy in patients with multiple system atrophy.

The reinforced-concrete column damage pattern differences between static cyclic loading tests and dynamic shaking-table tests were observed. In this study, the spacings of shear reinforcement bars in columns were variable. Four types of shear reinforcement bar spacing are used. As a result of the tests, it was verified that the maximum horizontal strengths of columns, the deformation capacities and the damage patterns were changed with the shear reinforcement bar spacings, and also with testing method differences between statics and dynamics. Furthermore, P-δ effects were discussed.

In type B double-barrel aortic dissection (AD), the fate of the affected aorta, causes of death, and very long-term clinical outcomes have not been completely elucidated. The purpose of this study was to clarify the fate of the affected aorta and long-term clinical outcomes in patients with type B AD during the chronic phase.One hundred and four patients were entered into this study, and regular follow-up CT studies (mean; 87.6 months) were performed. Also, clinical data including AD-related events (including aneurysm formation, rupture, ischemia, and re-dissection), AD-related deaths, and long-term survival were retrospectively reviewed.Forty-six of 104 patients (44.2%) had one more AD-related event during the follow-up period. The actuarial event-free rates for any AD-related events of all patients were 95±2%, 75±5%, 53±6%, and 13±7% at 1, 5, 10, and 20 years, respectively. Initial aortic diameter ≥40 mm and blood flow in the false lumen were significant risk factors for AD-related events in univariate and multivariate analysis.In type B chronic aortic dissection, the affected aortas have a high incidence of AD-related events during the follow-up period. Prophylactic surgery or endovascular treatment for patients at high risk may reduce the AD-related events.

It is well known that 3D channel devices, such as double-gate (DG) and tri-gate (TG) FinFETs, provide excellent short-channel effect (SCE) immunity. Thus, the scaled 3D channel FinFET flash memories with oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) charge trapping layers have actively been developed [1–3]. Very recently, we have also developed floating-gate (FG) type SOI-FinFET flash memories [4–7]. In this paper, we report the experimental results of the FG type SOI-FinFET flash memories including gate structure dependent of V t variability and SCE immunity. We also report the FinFET flash memories with split-gate and with an improved inter-poly dielectric (IPD) layer.

The tri-gate (TG)- and double-gate (DG)-type poly-Si fin-channel split-gate flash memories with a thin n+-poly-Si floating-gate (FG) have successfully been fabricated, and their electrical characteristics including the variations of threshold voltage (Vt) and S-slope have been comparatively investigated. It was experimentally found that better short-channel effect (SCE) immunity, smaller V t variations, and a higher program speed are obtained in the TG-type flash memories than in the DG-type memories. Moreover, it was also confirmed that over-erase is effectively suppressed by split-gate structure.

We investigated the postcaloric nystagmus that is related to positional change in 24 patients with spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD) and compared it with that in normal subjects. Six ears of 3 patients exhibited no evaluable caloric response. In 42 ears of 21 patients, the primary phase of caloric nystagmus was definitely observed. In 37 of 42 (88%) ears, postcaloric nystagmus was observed. The postcaloric nystagmus from a positional change in patients with SCD was significantly larger than that in control subjects. Furthermore, it was significantly exaggerated in patients with brainstem and cerebellar lesions in comparison with patients with pure cerebellar lesions. The degree of disturbance coming from visual suppression had only a limited correlation with the exaggerated postcaloric nystagmus. Also discussed are possible other factors affecting the exaggerated postcaloric nystagmus.

The purpose of this work is to analyze the steady state performance of an inverter-fed high-speed induction motor with trapezoidal rotor bars taking into account crosspath resistance between adjacent rotor bars. The performance of the induction motor drives for various crosspath resistances of two kinds of rotor slot shapes, a rectangular bar and a trapezoidal bar, is discussed on the basis of theoretical and experimental results of a 2.2 kW 500 Hz 15000 rev/min three-phase induction motor. It is also shown that the equivalent rotor resistance and leakage reactance change with crosspath resistance between adjacent rotor bars for various values of the fundamental supply frequency, the rotor slip, and the harmonics. The results of this research will be applied for design consideration of a high-speed induction motor with uninsulated rotor bars. >

The functional tri-gate flash memories with splitgate have been demonstrated for the first time, and its V t variabilities before and after one P/E cycle have be systimetically compared with stack-gate ones. It was confirmed that split-gate shows smaller V t distribution after erase and excellent over-erase immunity compared to those of stack-gate. Moreover, it was found that BV DS is higher than 3.2 V even L gc was down to 76 nm. This indictes that tri-gate is useful for scaled NOR flash.

We experimentally investigated the device performance of n+- poly-Si/PVD-TiN stacked gate FinFETs with different H fin 's. It was found that mobility enhances in the tall H fin devices due to the increased tensile stress. However, as L g decreases, I on for tall H fin case becomes worse probably due to high R sp . It was also confirmed that V th variation increases with increasing H fin due to the rough etcing of fin sidewall.