Superfluid transition in4He in gravity and heat flow

When⁴He in a normal fluid state near the superfluid transition is cooled from the bottom below the transition, a superfluid region appears at the bottom and slowly expands in the upward direction. We performed simulations for this case in one dimension fixing the temperature T_b at the bottom and the heat flux at the top Q. We find densely distributed phase slip centers rapidly oscillating in time in the expanding superfluid region. Their role is to produce a temperature gradient compensating the transition temperature gradient (dT(p)/dp) pg in gravity and to produce a constant negative reduced temperature T-T(p) with small fluctuations superposed. The superfluid velocity multiplied by the correlation length is found to be violently fluctuating around /3m.     

Two-step design of critical control systems using disturbance cancellation integral controllers

An efficient critical control system design is proposed in this paper. The key idea is to decompose the design problem into two simpler design steps by the technique used in the classical loop transfer recovery method (LTR). The disturbance cancellation integral controller is used as a basic controller. Since the standard loop transfer recovery method cannot be applied to the disturbance cancellation controller, the nonstandard version recently found is used for the decomposition. Exogenous inputs with constraints both on the amplitude and rate of change are considered. The majorant approach is taken to obtain the analytical sufficient matching conditions. A numerical design example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design.     

Virtual segment: Store–carry–forward relay-based support for wide-area non-real-time data exchange

We have proposed the concept of the virtual segment (VS), in which a global communication service is provided by combining a store–carry–forward scheme using vehicles with broadband wireless/wired network infrastructures along roads connected to the Internet. The VS can be a practical framework for non-real-time, asynchronous message transfer (especially for large messages) in a cost-effective manner. In this study, a critical implementation design issue, the message forward scheduling, in the VS approach is discussed and investigated through computer simulation by our developed VS simulator that has reflected the results of the field experiment for realistic performance evaluation.     

Robust stability of nonlinear plants with a non-symmetric Prandtl-Ishlinskii hysteresis model

In this paper, robust stability of nonlinear plants represented by non-symmetric Prandtl-Ishlinskii (PI) hysteresis model is studied. In general, PI hysteresis model is the weighted superposition of play or stop hysteresis operators, and the slopes of the operators are considered to be the same. In order to make a hysteresis model, a modified form of non-symmetric play hysteresis operator with unknown slopes is given. The hysteresis model is described by a generalized Lipschitz operator term and a bounded parasitic term. Since the generalized Lipschitz operator is unknown, a new condition using robust right coprime factorization is proposed to guarantee robust stability of the controlled plant with the hysteresis nonlinearity. As a result, based on the proposed robust condition, a stabilized plant is obtained. A numerical example is presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Peroxiredoxin 2 as a chemotherapy responsiveness biomarker candidate in osteosarcoma revealed by proteomics

Purpose : We aimed to identify novel chemotherapy responsiveness biomarkers for osteosarcoma (OS) by investigating the global protein expression profile of 12 biopsy samples from OS patients. Experimental design : Six patients were classified as good responders and six as poor responders, according to the Huvos grading system. The protein expression profiles obtained by 2‐D DIGE consisted of 2250 protein spots. Results : Among them, we identified 55 protein spots whose intensity was significantly different (Bonferroni adjusted p‐value<0.01) between the two patient groups. Mass spectrometric protein identification demonstrated that the 55 spots corresponded to 38 distinct gene products including peroxiredoxin 2 (PRDX 2). Use of a specific antibody against PRDX 2 confirmed the differential expression of PRDX 2 between good and poor responders, while PRDX 2 levels as measured by Western blotting correlated highly with their corresponding 2‐D DIGE values. The predictive value of PRDX 2 expression was further confirmed by examining an additional four OS cases using Western blotting. Conclusions and clinical relevance : These results establish PRDX 2 as a candidate for chemotherapy responsiveness marker in OS. Measuring PRDX 2 in biopsy samples before treatment may contribute to more effective management of OS.     

Nanoparticle‐embedded polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal for paper‐like displays

Abstract— A polymer‐dispersed liquid‐crystal (PDLC) matrix template embedded with nano/microparticles can be backfilled/infiltrated with a dye‐doped liquid crystal for a paper‐like reflective display. In this way, a desirable degree of diffusion can be realized to reduce the viewing‐angle dependency of a gain reflector and metallic glare without changing other electro‐optical properties.     

A study on a quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm based on pair swap

A quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm (QEA) is proposed as a stochastic algorithm to perform combinatorial optimization problems. The QEA is evolutionary computation that uses quantum bits and superposition states in quantum computation. Although the QEA is a coarse-grained parallel algorithm, it involves many parameters that must be adjusted manually. This paper proposes a new method, named pair swap, which exchanges each best solution information between two individuals instead of migration in the QEA. Experimental results show that our proposed method is a simpler algorithm and can find a high quality solution in the 0-1 knapsack problem. This work was presented in part at the 12th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 25–27, 2007     

Decentralized PD control for non-uniform motion of a Hamiltonian hybrid system

In this paper, a decentralized proportional-derivative （PD） controller design for non-uniform motion of a Hamiltonian hybrid system is considered. A Hamiltonian hybrid system with the capability of producing a non-uniform motion is developed. The structural properties of the system are investigated by means of the theory of Hamiltonian systems. A relationship between the parameters of the system and the parameters of the proposed decentralized PD controller is shown to ensure local stability and tracking performance. Simulation results are included to show the obtained non-uniform motion.