Risk hedging against the fuel price fluctuation in energy service business

Energy service business, or energy service company (ESCO), is expanding among industrial users as a means of energy saving. The ESCO business normally tends to become a long-term operation. During the operation, fluctuations of fuel and electricity costs significantly impact on the stability of the profit from ESCO business. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the risk of fuel and electricity cost fluctuations. Generally, a transaction called “financial derivative” is used as a measure of hedging against the fuel price fluctuation. In the case of ESCO business, it is necessary to manage the risk of both electricity and fuel price fluctuations because the variation in electricity price strongly affects the profit from ESCO as that in fuel price does.     

A 5 in. Si(Li)/Pb sampling calorimeter telescope for observation of cosmic gamma rays in the GeV region

A 5 in. diameter Si(Li)/Pb sampling calorimeter with a depth of 28 radiation lengths (30 unit cells × 0.93 radiation lengths) has been constructed. The energy and angular resolutions of the calorimeter have been investigated using CERN SPS positron beams with energies of 10 to 147.8 GeV. The calorimeter shows good linearity over this energy region and the energy resolution is expressed well by σ_E (rms)/E = (16.9 ± 0.9)%/ √E[GeV], where E represents the incident beam energy. The angular resolution of the calorimeter for a single event is 0.3° (rms) at 80 GeV/c. The agreement between these results and Monte Carlo simulations is good.

We are showing a new design of the Si(Li)/Pb sampling calorimeter telescope (SSCT) with an angular resolution (point source localization capability) of about 0.04° (rms) for bright galactic gamma-ray sources. We believe that this telescope is a suitable detector for future observations of cosmic gamma rays in the GeV region, especially when used to search for point sources.     

Studies on social learning in Japan.

An increasing concern in contemporary psychology in Japan is the study of observational learning and imitation in the social learning, personality, and clinical fields. The literature in these fields from 1964 to 1975 is reviewed, including learning-by-observing vs learning-by-performing, observer learning, the process of observational learning, mediational processes, effects of motivation on observational learning, effects of various reinforcement factors underlying modeling, the relationship between model and observer, observational learning studies unique to Japan, application of modeling to clinical fields, and self-reinforcement. (1? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fibrinogen/fibrin degradation products in serum of patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura: elevated levels during severe thrombocytopenic phase of the disease

Sera from 23 patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), 14 patients with aplastic anemia with severe thrombocytopenia and healthy control subjects were tested for the presence of fibrinogen/fibrin degradation products (FDP), using the tanned red cell hemagglutination inhibition immunoaassay. The concentrations of circulating FDP of ITP patients (mean 12.01 mug/ml) were significantly higher than those of the patients with aplastic anemia (mean 4.01 mug/ml, p less than 0.05) or normal controls (mean 3.10 mug/ml, p less than 0.001). The patients with untreated ITP with very low platelet counts had higher levels of FDP than those of the treated group (p less than 0.01). Serum FDP and a battery of other coagulation-fibrinolysis tests were serially carried out over a period of 10 weeks in two patients with ITP. The initially high FDP promptly decreased as circulating platelets increased in response to steroid in both patients, while plasma fibrinogen, euglobulin lysis time, prothrombin time and partial thromboplastin time remained essentially normal during the course of observation. The exact source of the increased serum FDP in ITP was not established, but a few possible mechanisms responsible for this abnormality were discussed.     

Amplification characteristics of an efficient discharge-pumped KrF laser

The significant increase of output energy of a UV-preionized KrF laser has been obtained by a change of electrode separation. This fact is explained by the measured impedance and deposit energy in a discharge. The efficient amplification has been performed by using a exactly synchronized amplification system. The maximum output energy was 0.75 J/pulse with a pulsewidth of 40 ns and a total efficiency of 0.8 percent. The saturation intensity and small-signal gain coefficient for KrF laser have been measured. The saturation intensity was 1.7 MW/cm²and the small-signal gain coefficient reached 4.7 percent/cm at a charging voltage of 35 kV.     

A case report of mitral valve repair of broad posterior leaflet prolapse due to ruptured chordae tendinea by replacement of chordae tendineae with EPTFE sutured and Carpentier-Edwards ring techniques]

A 68-year-old woman with mitral valve regurgitation due to ruptured chordae tendineae of posterior leaflet underwent mitral valve repair by replacement of chordae tendineae with EPTFE sutures and Carpentier-Edwards ring techniques. Preoperative study showed massive mitral regurgitation and moderate tricuspid regurgitation with CTR 54% of chest X-ray. The postoperative course was not eventful. Postoperative study showed trivial mitral and trivial tricuspid regurgitation. Postoperative CTR was 45%. Mitral valve repair by these techniques could be modified and applicable to mitral valve regurgitation due to ruptured chordae tendineae of posterior leaflet. There was no complication during follow-up period of 8 months.     

Mechanism of production of midsystolic click in a prolapsed mitral valve

In order to examine the production mechanism of the midsystolic click in cases of a midsystolic click and a late systolic murmur, the relationship between the click and the motion of the mitral apparatus was studied by means of ultrasono-cardiotomography and the simultaneous recording of phonocardiograms and ultrasono-cardiograms (UCGs). It was found that the systolic click occurred in exact coincidence with the time at which the hump of the echo of the unusual early systolic anterior motion (early SAM) took its backmost position. This coincidence was found when the click was shifted either by postural changes or inhalation of amyl nitrite. The present ultrasono-cardiotomographic study demonstrated that the echo source of the early SAM could be attributed to the protrusion into the left ventricular outflow tract of the slackened elongated chordae tendineae in systole. The anterior leaflet moved suddenly to the position of maximal prolapse when the slackened chordae tendineae were stretched taut in midsystole. In other words, the midsystolic click occurred when the anterior leaflet prolapsed and the tension exerted on the chordae tendineae was at its maximum.     

Characterization of Aspergillus oryzae glycoside hydrolase family 43 β-xylosidase expressed in Escherichia coli

This is the first report of glycoside hydrolase family 43 β-xylosidase from Aspergillus oryzae. To characterize this enzyme, the recombinant enzyme was expressed in Escherichia coli. Unlike known β-xylosidases from fungal origins, the enzyme did not show substrate ambiguity and was stable at alkaline pH.     

Designed RNAs with Two Peptide‐Binding Units as Artificial Templates for Native Chemical Ligation of RNA‐Binding Peptides

The template effect plays important roles not only in modern synthetic and enzymatic catalysis but also in the ancient “RNA‐polypeptide (RNP) world,” which has been postulated to be a crucial stage in the origin of life. To mimic primitive template catalysis of peptide ligations by RNAs, we previously reported the design and synthesis of a ternary RNP complex in which the ligation of two peptides was significantly facilitated by a template RNA with two peptide‐binding units. However, RNA molecules also promoted the ligation reaction in a nonspecific manner through electrostatic interactions between RNA and basic peptides. In this study, we suppressed this effect by reducing the length of the original template derived from the Tetrahymena intron RNA. This modification, however, decreased the template ability for the specific reaction. As an alternative RNA that was as effective as the original template, we found that a self‐dimerizing RNA was a promising template for peptide ligation without a nonspecific effect.     

Ethylene vinyl acetate/layered silicate nanocomposites prepared by a surfactant-free method: Enhanced flame retardant and mechanical properties

Exfoliated EVA/layered silicate nanocomposites were prepared by a masterbatch process using polymer-modified layered silicate instead of small molecule surfactant-modified clays. The nanocomposites exhibited improved mechanical properties and flame retardancy. Microscale flammability test showed that the heat release capacity (HRC) and total heat release (THR) were reduced by 21-24% and 16%, respectively. Radiant gasification studies revealed that the exfoliated EVA nanocomposites exhibited better improvements in flame retardant properties of EVA than did the corresponding intercalated nanocomposites. The peak mass loss rate of the exfoliated EVA nanocomposite containing about 5 wt% clay was reduced by 80% and the mass loss rate plot was spread over a much longer period of time. The mechanical and flammability tests revealed that the observed improvements in all the desirable properties were due to the presence of both the incorporated polymeric surfactant and the nanoclay.