Efficient Excitation of Hybrid Modes in a THz Clinotron

Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves - Various regimes of hybrid, bulk-surface, modes being excited in the clinotron oscillator with a sheet electron beam and nonuniform grating...     

Molecular Targeted Therapy for the Bone Loss Secondary to Pyogenic Spondylodiscitis Using Medications for Osteoporosis: A Literature Review

Pyogenic spondylodiscitis can cause severe osteolytic and destructive lesions in the spine. Elderly or immunocompromised individuals are particularly susceptible to infectious diseases; specifically, infections in the spine can impair the ability of the spine to support the trunk, causing patients to be bedridden, which can also severely affect the physical condition of patients. Although treatments for osteoporosis have been well studied, treatments for bone loss secondary to infection remain to be elucidated because they have pathological manifestations that are similar to but distinct from those of osteoporosis. Recently, we encountered a patient with severely osteolytic pyogenic spondylodiscitis who was treated with romosozumab and exhibited enhanced bone formation. Romosozumab stimulated canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling, causing robust bone formation and the inhibition of bone resorption, which exceeded the bone loss secondary to infection. Bone loss due to infections involves the suppression of osteoblastogenesis by osteoblast apoptosis, which is induced by the nuclear factor-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, and osteoclastogenesis with the receptor activator of the nuclear factor-κB ligand-receptor combination and subsequent activation of the nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1 and c-Fos. In this study, we review and discuss the molecular mechanisms of bone loss secondary to infection and analyze the efficacy of the medications for osteoporosis, focusing on romosozumab, teriparatide, denosumab, and bisphosphonates, in treating this pathological condition.     

Systematic packaging design tools integrating functional and environmental consequences on product life cycle: Case studies on laundry detergent and milk

This study presents systematic packaging design tools integrating functional and environmental consequences on product life cycle. To design packaging for sustainability, the trade-offs between functional and environmental aspects of packaging throughout the product life cycle should be considered. However, it is difficult for packaging designers to understand the overall trade-offs because the extent of the design consequences on the entire life cycle of packaging and its contents is unclear. We developed two tools for packaging design: the Life Cycle Association Matrix (LCAM) and the Function Network Diagram (FND). The following three steps, based on literature reviews and interviews with industrial experts, were applied. Firstly, we listed the product functions and design variables related to the functions as the attributes allocated to the product life cycle. Secondly, the attributes were connected appropriately based on causal relationships. Lastly, we identified the factors to support decision making in the packaging design procedure. As a result, the LCAM depicts the design consequences on the life cycle, and the FND determines the stakeholders affected by the design consequences. Two case studies were demonstrated to analyze the trade-offs by using our tools. In the case studies, a liquid laundry detergent bottle and a milk carton were redesigned. The tools identified the design consequences and stakeholders affected by the redesign of the usability and protective function for the detergent and milk cases, respectively. The results showed the significance of understanding the design consequences on the product life cycle by integrating the functional and environmental aspects.     

Pinpoint injection of microtools for minimally invasive micromanipulation of microbe by laser trap

This paper reports transportation of the target microbe by the laser trapped microtools with minimum laser irradiation to the target. The size of a microtool (MT) is around micrometer. The MTs are manipulated by the focused laser under the microscope to manipulate the target microbe. Here we propose a pinpoint injection method of MTs at the desired location in the microchamber, which is filled with liquid. At first, we classified the injection method of the MTs in four categories. Here we employed a new method to install the MTs inside the microchamber. We developed a MT holding chip to install the MTs. The MTs were injected in the microchamber, and were manipulated successfully by the laser scanning micromanipulator to transport the target microbe for separation. The proposed method is useful for the pinpoint injection of MTs and separation by the indirect micromanipulation.     

Reduction of noise figure in semiconductor laser amplifiers with Ga1-xInxAs/GaInAsP/InP strained quantum wellstructures

The noise characteristics of semiconductor laser amplifiers (SLAs) in the Ga_1-xIn_xAs/GaInAsP/InP strained quantum well (QW) system are theoretically calculated and analyzed using density-matrix theory and taking into account the effects of band mixing on both the valence subbands and the transition dipole moments. The numerical results show that a reduced noise figure can be obtained in both tensile and compressively strained QW structures due to the increase in differential gain and the decrease in transparent carrier density. From a comparison among compressively strained (x=0.70), unstrained (x=0.53), and tensile strained (x=0.40) QW SLAs at a fixed carrier density and optical confinement factor, it is found that the noise figure of the tensile strained QW reaches its lowest value of 3.4 dB at average input optical power of -20 dB     

An Analysis of Scheduling Policies In Multiechelon Production Systems

Results of a simulation study of the economics of frequency of rescheduling Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems are presented for a single-product, two-stage system in which demand is uncertain. The results indicate that for systems with moderate demand uncertainty, frequent rescheduling to maintain customer service may be uneconomical when compared with the alternative of more stable schedules in conjunction with safety stock. This result arises primarily because the cost of “emergency” production setups which occur when rescheduling is frequent exceeds the cost of safety stock required to “protect” stable schedules.     

Passivation effects of deuterium exposure on boron-doped CVD homoepitaxial diamond

The deuterium (hydrogen) passivation effect on acceptors in boron-doped CVD homoepitaxial diamond was studied by electrical (Hall-effect) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements. Deuterium was incorporated into the samples using microwave (MW) deuterium plasma at 673 K for 2–24 h. We observed the progress of acceptor passivation with p-type conduction, which finally resulted in a highly resistive state.     

The small GTP-binding protein Rho1 is a multifunctional protein that regulates actin localization, cell polarity, and septum formation in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

BACKGROUND: The small GTP-binding protein Rho has been shown to regulate the formation of the actin cytoskeleton in animal cells. We have previously isolated two rho genes, rho1+ and rho2+, from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe in order to investigate the function of Rho using genetic techniques. In this paper, we report the cellular function of Rho1. RESULTS: We found that Rho1 is essential for cell viability and cell polarity using gene disruption and by exogenous expression of botulinum C3 ADP-ribosyltransferase. In cells expressing either a constitutively active Rho1 or a dominant-negative Rho1, actin patches were delocalized. Both the cell wall and secondary septum were thick and stratified in cells expressing the constitutively active Rho1, while the cell wall of cells expressing the dominant-negative Rho1 seemed to be loosely organized. Furthermore, inactivation of Rho1 is apparently required for the separation of daughter cells. Cell fractionation studies suggested that Rho1 is predominantly membrane-bound. Moreover, we observed that Rho1 is localized to the cell periphery and to the septum. CONCLUSIONS: Rho1 is involved in actin patch localization, the control of cell polarity, the regulation of septation, and cell wall synthesis.     

HEURISTIC APPROACHES FOR LOADING PROBLEMS IN FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) are able to process a wide variety of operations, but the specific mix of operations that can be performed at any point in time depends upon the combination of tools loaded onto the machines. The machines have tool magazines with finite capacities. We consider the problem of assigning operations and their associated tools to machines (or groups of machines) to maximize the throughput for a specified steady-state mix of orders. Since this objective is difficult to deal with directly, we use an intermediate objective of meeting workload targets for each machine group as closely as possible. A certain form of this intermediate objective has been shown to correlate highly with the original objective.

Since it is computationally intractable to find optimal solutions for problems with more than 20 operations, fast heuristic algorithms are developed. These algorithms are adapted from multi-dimensional bin-packing algorithms. Computational results are reported.