Performance of a new low‐cost laser disdrometer with rainfall intensity correction in heavy rainfall

Recently, a new low‐cost disposable laser disdrometer with the capacity for hydrometeor imaging was proposed by the authors. The laser disdrometer has the drawback of detecting false raindrops, which are splashed droplets and pooled water drops on the housing. Actual raindrops can be sorted from false raindrops by their different fall speeds, but the large size and slow falling speed of false raindrops induce significant observational dead time, affecting the raindrop capture rate and the number density of the raindrops. The ratio between the actual number of raindrops and the total number of drops including the false raindrops provides a reasonable rain intensity correction. This report describes the performance of a laser disdrometer with rain intensity correction in heavy rainfall. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Evaluation of use of the optional unit QA-810V for the determination of five-part leukocyte differentials

The newly developed QA-810V is an optional unit for the determination of five-part white blood cell differentials. It can be used together with the same manufacturer's haematology analyser which has been used in relatively small-sized laboratories. The present study evaluates the basic performance of the QA-810V and the MEK-8118 haematology analyser using routinely obtained blood specimens treated with ethylenedioaminetetraacetic acid-2K. In this evaluation, reproducibility was good and little carryover was found. Accurate measurements were possible for up to 24h of storage. Storage at 4 ( degrees )C yielded more stable measurements of complete blood counts and five-part differentials than storage at room temperature. A good correlation between findings with the MEK-8118 haematology analyser and those with the SE-9000 haematology analyser was found for complete blood counts. The leukocyte differential obtained with the QA-810V correlated well with eye counts, with r > 0.9 for percentages of neutrophils, lymphocytes and eosinophils. Scattergrams obtained with the QA-810V reflected the presence of abnormal cells. The performance of the QA-810V was excellent and it can improve the quality of testing in clinical laboratories.     

The Gyricon rotating ball display

Abstract— The Gyricon display consists of hemispherical black and white (bichromal) balls contained in individual liquid-filled cavities and disposed to orient in an electrical field. This bistable reflective light display currently has a diffuse reflectance of more than 18% and a contrast ratio of more than 6:1. The viewing angle approaches that of paper. A new method of fabricating the bichromal balls has enabled practical realization of large-area high-quality displays.     

Molecular mechanism of regulation of pentylenetetrazol-induced calcium entry by 3'-untranslated region of a seizure-related cDNA, PTZ-17, in Xenopus oocytes

To determine the molecular mechanism of regulation of pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced calcium entry by the seizure-related gene, PTZ-17, the role of the 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) and also interaction between 3'UTR and intracellular factors were investigated. PTZ-induced calcium inward current in Xenopus oocytes injected with PTZ-17 RNA varied in magnitude among strains of mice: RNA derived from the DBA/2 mouse, which has a high susceptibility to convulsions, showed the largest current and that from the BALB/c mouse with a low susceptibility to convulsions showed no PTZ response. The sequence of 3'UTR showed alterations among mouse strains: 3'UTR of BALB/c showed a sequence alteration from T to G and that of DBA/2 showed a GTG insertion compared with that of B6. The 3'UTR also regulated the translation of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) RNA depending on its sequence. A particular region within the 3'UTR demonstrated interaction with 60- and 47-kDa proteins. Sequence alterations in this region corresponded to disappearance or increase in PTZ-induced calcium entry. These findings suggest that a particular region within 3'UTR of the seizure-related gene, PTZ-17, is involved in PTZ-induced calcium entry via interaction between mRNA and specific RNA-binding proteins.     

Osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor (OCIF)/OPG

A novel cytokine termed osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor (OCIF) was purified to homogeneity from conditioned medium of human embryonic lung fibroblasts. OCIF is a heparin-binding basic glycoprotein with Mr of 60 kDa for a monomer and 120 kDa for a homodimer. OCIF specifically inhibits osteoclastogenesis in vitro and increases bone mineral density and bone volume in normal rats. The cloning of OCIF cDNA revealed that OCIF is a soluble member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily consisting of four cystein-rich domains, two death domain homologous regions (DDHs), and C-terminal basic domain. Mutational analysis of OCIF revealed that N-terminal portion of OCIF consisting of four cystein-rich domains is sufficient to inhibit osteoclastogenesis. OCIF inhibits osteoclastogenesis by binding to the sites expressed on osteoblastic cells and interrupting cell-to-cell signaling between osteoblastic cells and osteoclast progenitors.     

Tunable light source using a liquid-crystal Fabry-Perot interferometer

A tunable light source with a liquid-crystal Fabry-Perot interferometer (LC-FPI) tuning element that emits a laser beam with a tuning range of 41 nm has been constructed. Incorporating a multiple quantum well (MQW) laser diode with a phase control (PC) section enables the selection of almost all external modes. Stable single-mode emission is obtained for the region, except where the slope of the lasing wavelength versus applied voltage to the liquid crystal is quite large.<>     

Ruptured thymic cysts with mediastinal hemorrhage and hemothorax--a case report and reviews of the literature

We report a rare case with rupture of thymic cyst including mediastinal hemorrhage and hemothorax. A 68-year-old man was referred to our hospital for the treatment of right hemothorax. A chest roentgenogram following thoracentesis demonstrated a widened mediastinum. Chest computed tomograms revealed a large anterior mediastinal mass extending to the right pleural cavity and bilateral pleural effusion. Digital subtraction angiography showed a normal aorta and great vessels. A median stenotomy revealed a large encysted hematoma along the thymic cyst extending from the right anterior mediastinum into the right pleural cavity and ending with rupture. Pathological examination demonstrated that the largest thymic cyst was continued to the hematoma resulting from partial destruction of its epithelial lining. To our knowledge, only five cases including our's with ruptured thymic tumors were reported, and this is the first report of ruptured thymic cyst resulting in mediastinal hemorrhage and hemothorax.     

Effect of Raman amplification on stimulated Brillouin scatteringthreshold in dispersion compensating fibres

An investigation of how the stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold of dispersion compensating fibres is affected by Raman amplification is presented. Experimental data is in good agreement with the threshold values predicted by the theoretical approach     

Development of solar total energy system in Japan

To clarify the feasibility of introducing solar total energy system into various factories, an experimental facility was constructed at Tsukuba Second Research Center on March 1982. Long-term experimental studies are presently being continued to determine the operating characteristic of the facility. This facility is constructed to improve the system availability and to collect effectively solar energy under fairly bad weather conditions as experienced in Japan. To accomplish this purpose, it is operated by selecting one of three operating modes according to the intensity of insolation and the thermal condition of the heat storage unit. In this paper, the outline of the facility is described. Experimental results show that in this facility the operating rate increases and useful energy, such as electricity, can be obtained from solar energy if the operating mode is selected according to the weather condition at 8:00 a.m.     

Effects of Particle Strength of Feedstock Powders on Properties of Warm-Sprayed WC-Co Coatings

Warm spray (WS) process, which can control the temperature of a combustion gas jet used to propel powder, has been successfully applied to deposit WC-Co coatings. Detrimental reactions resulting from dissolution of WC into Co binder and decarburization were suppressed effectively by keeping the WC-Co particles’ temperature below the m.p. of the binder phase. In this study, three nano-structured WC-12Co powders with different particle strengths were prepared by changing the sintering conditions of spray-dried powder and were deposited by WS. The deposition efficiency and porosity of the coatings decreased with increasing the particle strength. The coating deposited from the powder with very low particle strength showed significant phase changes, while those deposited from the higher particle strengths showed almost no change. Particle Image Velocimetry revealed significant disintegration of the weakest powder, which explains the changes observed. The hardness and wear properties of the former coating, therefore, were inferior to the other two.