Prevention of vestibular deafferentation-induced spontaneous nystagmus with pretreatment of Ca2+ channel/N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor antagonists in guinea pigs

Involvement of Ca2+ channel and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors with induction of the spontaneous nystagmus (SN) after unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL) was evaluated by examining the effect of verapamil and MK-801 in guinea pigs. An injection of verapamil or MK-801 before the intratympanic application of arsanilate significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed the frequency of the SN towards the arsanilate-applied side. The frequency of the SN towards the intact side in these drug-treated animals was much lower than in the control animals until 36 h after the application of arsanilate. In addition, 60 days subsequent to induction of the UL, application of the drug before we injected the arsanilate into the opposite middle ear suppressed the SN towards the second arsanilate-injected side, but not towards the first injection side. We suggest that Ca2+ channel and NMDA receptor may be involved in the induction of the SN, and that the pretreatment of their antagonists could be applied in preventing the vestibular deafferentation-induced SN.     

Formation of an Orientation Preference Map – Gradual Inhibition Method

Formation of an orientation preference map due to external visual stimuli in the primary visual area of the cerebral cortex is investigated in a two-layered neural network model, where a cluster learning rule is used together with ordinary Hebbian learning rule. We succeed in solving directly a set of simultaneous equations by numerical iterations using a gradual inhibition method. Previously, an alternative solution was found by applying a Self-Consistent Monte Carlo (SCMC) method. The gradual inhibition method in an iterative procedure can give a more precise solution efficiently with fewer computational tasks than the SCMC method.     

Preparation of ultrafine metal particles supported on alumina by pyrolysis of polymer complex/alumina composites

Ultrafine metal particles supported on alumina were prepared by pyrolysis of poly(vinylferrocene) (Poly(VFc))/alumina or sodium polyacrylate-Pd(II) (Poly(AANa)-Pd(II))/alumina precursors at 800 ～ 1200°C. α-Fe particles produced on k-Al₂O₃ was obtained by pyrolysis of the mixture of Poly(VFc)/alumina(5/5) at 1000°C. Crystalline Pd supported on alumina was also obtained from Poly(AANa)-Pd(II)/alumina precursor. The size of metal particles formed increased with increasing mixing ratio of polymer complex with alumina. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A method for selecting similar learning data in the prediction of time series using neural networks

This paper explores a method of improving the predictive performance by the multi-layer feedforward neural network in time series predicting. For the similar data selective learning method, we propose a method of weighting the distance by a power function of correlation coefficients for the time series (CSDS method). The results of numerical experiments show that with the case of a time series whose nature is rather choppy or chaotic, using the CSDS method appropriately is considerably effective to improve the predictive performance and its performance is considerably better than that by the previously proposed other methods.     

Enhanced production of extracellular inulinase by the yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus in xylose catabolic state

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Reassuring evacuation guidance with mobile terminal communication and RFID system in absence of power supply

In this paper, we propose a method which aims to allow people inside a building to evacuate when a disaster occurs. In particular, it is very difficult for them to evacuate safely in blackout conditions with servers down. In the proposed method, passive RFID tags are placed on the walls of the building and each evacuee carries a mobile terminal that is battery‐powered and equipped with an RFID reader‐writer. This device finds evacuation routes based on the information from passive RFID tags touched by the evacuee. The method identifies safety of evacuation routes from the movement of people who have evacuated safely. Mobile terminal communication and RFID tags achieve sharing of information on safe routes among many evacuees. An experiment was conducted, letting people evacuate by two routes in an actual building, and giving about half of them mobile terminals. We easured the increases in the blood pressure and heart rates of the evacuees before and after the evacuation. In both routes, the rates of increase of these two characteristics in the evacuees with terminals were smaller than those in the evacuees without terminals, demonstrating that the proposed method provides assurance to evacuees. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 177(2): 19–31, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21165     

Role of residual transition-metal atoms in oxygen reduction reaction in cobalt phthalocyanine-based carbon cathode catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

The electronic structure of Co atoms in cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc)-based carbon catalysts, which were prepared by pyrolyzing a mixture of CoPc and phenol resin polymer up to 1000 °C, has been investigated using X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analysis and hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HXPES). The CoK XAFS spectra show that most of the Co atoms are in the metallic state and small quantities of oxidized Co components are present in the samples even after acid washing to remove Co atoms. Based on the difference in probing depth between XAFS and HXPES, it was found that after acid washing, the surface region with the aggregated Co clusters observed by transmission electron microscopy is primarily composed of metallic Co. Since the electrochemical properties remain almost unchanged even after the acid washing process, the residual metallic and oxidized Co atoms themselves will hardly contribute to the oxygen reduction reaction activity of the CoPc-based carbon cathode catalysts, implying that the active sites of the CoPc-based catalysts primarily consist of light elements such as C and N.     

Gas transport and optical properties of ABA‐type triblock copolymers designed using fluorine‐containing polyimide macroinitiators with methyl methacrylate

4,4'‐(Hexafluoroisopropylidene) diphthalic anhydride 2,3,5,6‐tetramethyl‐1,4‐phenylenediamine (6FDA‐TeMPD) polyimide macroinitiator was synthesized and reacted with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to form an ABA‐type triblock copolymer by atom transfer radical polymerization. The effect of the ABA‐type triblock copolymer structure on solid, thermal, optical and gas transport properties was systematically investigated and compared with the physical blend polymer. The blend polymer was cloudy, whereas the triblock copolymer was colorless and transparent. The PMMA component decomposition temperature for the triblock copolymer slightly shifted to higher temperature, while its gas barrier property was higher than the blend polymer. The refractive index and the gas permeability decreased while maintaining the heat resistance by a high nanoscale distribution of both polymer components. The 6FDA‐TeMPD/PMMA ABA‐type triblock copolymer can be described as a polymer material with high heat resistance, high gas barrier property and low refractive index amongst existing polymers. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry