Comparative studies on activities of antimicrobial agents against causative organisms isolated from patients with urinary tract infections (1996), III. Secular changes in susceptibility]

Susceptibilities to various antimicrobial agents were examined for Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that were isolated from patients with urinary tract infections (UTIs) in 10 hospitals during June 1996 to May 1997, and the results were compared with those obtained during the same period in earlier years. 1. E. faecalis Among E. faecalis strains, those with high susceptibilities to ampicillin and minocycline appeared to have decreased in the latest study period. 2. S. aureus To almost antimicrobial agents, S. aureus isolated from uncomplicated UTIs showed low susceptibilities. But the MIC50s of those agents for S. aureus from complicated UTIs have changed better state. Particularly, the MIC50s of imipenem and clindamycin were 0.125 microgram/ml or below in the latest period for the first time in our history. 3. E. coli The susceptibilities to piperacillin and quinolones of E. coli isolated from uncomplicated UTIs were better than those isolated from complicated UTIs. 4. Klebsiella spp. The susceptibilities to almost antimicrobial agents of Klebsiella spp. have been better during the latest period, compared to those during period of 1995-1996, but to ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin have appeared to have been lower. 5. P. aeruginosa The susceptibilities to quinolones of P. aeruginosa have been better during the latest period compared those during periods of 1995-1996. But, the susceptibilities to cefozopran, carbapenems and monobactams of P. aeruginosa isolated from complicated UTIs appeared to have been lower. These susceptibility changes should be utilized in determining clinical treatments.     

Phonon Dispersion Measurements of YBa2Cu3O6.15 and YBa2Cu3O6.95 by Time-of-Flight Neutron Spectroscopy

We measured the phonon dispersions of YBa₂Cu₃O_6.15 and YBa₂Cu₃O_6.95 by time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering. The in-plane bond-stretching modes in the metallic phase showed a distinct a-b plane anisotropy beyond what is expected for structural origin. Such anisotropy in the longitudinal optical modes, which is absent in the TO, suggests strong in-plane anisotropy in the underlying electronic structure. Apical oxygen bond-stretching modes showed a large frequency change between the insulating and the metallic phases. This large softening also is beyond structural origin, and suggests the effect of local electronic environment.     

DNA adsorption characteristics of hollow spherule allophane nano-particles

To understand the propensity of natural allophane to adsorb the DNA molecules, the adsorption characteristics were assessed against natural allophane (AK70), using single-stranded DNA (ss-DNA) and adenosine 5′-monophosphate (5′-AMP) as a reference molecule. The adsorption capacity of ss-DNA on AK70 exhibited one order of magnitude lower value as compared with that of 5′-AMP. The adsorption capacity of ss-DNA decreased with increasing pH due to the interaction generated between phosphate groups of ss-DNA and functional Al–OH groups on the wall perforations through deprotonating, associated with higher energy barrier for the adsorption of ss-DNA. The adsorption morphologies consisting of the individual ss-DNA with mono-layer coverage of the clustered allophane particle were observed successfully through transmission electron microscopy analysis.     

Auto-resonant eniotron oscillator using a magnetron type cavity

In an ideal auto-resonant eniotron oscillator (ARPO), all the electrons are able to give almost all their kinetic energy to an electromagnetic wave, resulting in a conversion efficiency of nearly 100%. However, the electric field strength required to drive a highly efficient interaction is difficult to achieve in an ordinary rectangular or circular waveguide cavity because of the low interaction coupling between electrons and the electromagnetic wave in the cavity. In this aper, we describe our investigation of an ARPO with a magnetron type cavity in lace of that above. In this cavity, the coupling becomes sufficiently strong to confirm experimentally the romising features of an ARPO. Additionally, the experiments should be useful for developing highly efficient medium-power oscillators in the microwave region. Here we resent our rocedure for designing such an experimental tube and our computer simulation results for its operational characteristics     

Improvement of Li-ion conductivity in A-site disordering lithium-lanthanum-titanate perovskite oxides by adding LiF in synthesis

La_0.56−yLi_0.33TiO_3−3yF_3y (y = 0.017, 0.05) were prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction from a mixture of La₂O₃, LiCO₃, TiO_2, and 10% excess LiF. The variation of the lattice parameter with increase of y value in La_0.56−yLi_0.33TiO_3−3yF_3y was different from that in conventional lithium-lanthanum-titanate series perovskite oxides, La_0.56−yLi_0.33+3yTiO₃. Bulk Li-ion conductivities of the La_0.56−yLi_0.33TiO_3−3yF_3y are higher than those of La_0.56-yLi_0.33+3yTiO₃. Li-ion conductivity of La_0.56−yLi_0.33TiO_3−3yF_3y (y = 0.017) was 2.30 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at 30 °C, which is, to our knowledge, one of the highest Li-ion conductivities in the oxide compounds.     

Space harmonic peniotron in a magnetron waveguide resonator

The paper describes both simulated and experimental results observed in high cyclotron harmonic peniotron oscillators with magnetron waveguide resonators and discusses the operation modes of the oscillation. We made the modes clear by considering interactions between an axis encircling electron beam and the space harmonic components of the respective modes generated in the magnetron waveguides. To make it possible to operated at higher frequencies, we introduced a new concept for designing high cyclotron harmonic tubes based on a space harmonic of the 2 π mode interaction. We then presented design parameters for a number of peniotron tubes operable up to 300 GHz with relatively low magnetic field     

Prophylactic perioperative treatment in a patient with colon carcinoma complicated by polycythemia vera

A patient with colon carcinoma complicated by polycythemia vera (PV) who underwent a partial colectomy concomitant with prophylactic perioperative treatment resulting in successful outcome is herein described. Seven weeks after the cessation of the latest exacerbation of PV, a partial colectomy was performed. In order to prevent the development of disseminated intravascular coagulation and thrombotic complications, the following perioperative treatment was performed: administration of gabexate mesilate (2,000 mg/day), fresh frozen plasma (300 ml/day), heparin (5,000 IU/day) for 7 days and anti-thrombin-III for 4 days, and a potent antibiotic therapy for 12 days and graded elastic bandages around the bilateral lower extremities for 14 days. As a result, an uneventful postoperative course was achieved. The present case suggests that these treatments are useful in the perioperative management of PV patients.     

Coalition structure generation in cooperative games with compact representations

This paper presents a new way of formalizing the coalition structure generation problem (CSG) so that we can apply constraint optimization techniques to it. Forming effective coalitions is a major research challenge in AI and multi-agent systems. CSG involves partitioning a set of agents into coalitions to maximize social surplus. Traditionally, the input of the CSG problem is a black-box function called a characteristic function, which takes a coalition as input and returns the value of the coalition. As a result, applying constraint optimization techniques to this problem has been infeasible. However, characteristic functions that appear in practice often can be represented concisely by a set of rules, rather than treating the function as a black box. Then we can solve the CSG problem more efficiently by directly applying constraint optimization techniques to this compact representation. We present new formalizations of the CSG problem by utilizing recently developed compact representation schemes for characteristic functions. We first characterize the complexity of CSG under these representation schemes. In this context, the complexity is driven more by the number of rules than by the number of agents. As an initial step toward developing efficient constraint optimization algorithms for solving the CSG problem, we also develop mixed integer programming formulations and show that an off-the-shelf optimization package can perform reasonably well.     

Leximin Asymmetric Multiple Objective Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem

The Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem (DCOP) lies at the foundations of multiagent cooperation. With DCOPs, the optimization in distributed resource allocation problems is formalized using constraint optimization problems. The solvers for the problem are designed based on decentralized cooperative algorithms that are performed by multiple agents. In a conventional DCOP, a single objective is considered. The Multiple Objective Distributed Constraint Optimization Problem (MODCOP) is an extension of the DCOP framework, where agents cooperatively have to optimize simultaneously multiple objective functions. In the conventional MODCOPs, a few objectives are globally defined and agents cooperate to find the Pareto optimal solution. However, such models do not capture the interests of each agent. On the other hand, in several practical problems, the share of each agent is important. Such shares are modeled as preference values of agents. This class of problems can be defined using the MODCOP on the preferences of agents. In particular, we define optimization problems based on leximin ordering and Asymmetric DCOPs (Leximin AMODCOPs). The leximin defines an ordering among vectors of objective values. In addition, Asymmetric DCOPs capture the preferences of agents. Because the optimization based on the leximin ordering improves the equality among the satisfied preferences of the agents, this class of problems is important. We propose several solution methods for Leximin AMODCOPs generalizing traditional operators into the operators on sorted objective vectors and leximin. The solution methods applied to the Leximin AMODCOPs are based on pseudo trees. Also, the investigated search methods employ the concept of boundaries of the sorted vectors.