Magnetic order and evolution of the electronic state aroundx=0.12 in La2?xBaxCuO4 and La2?xSrxCuO4

Muon spin rotation ( ⁺SR) measurement provides clear evidence of the antiferromagnetic order of Cu moments below 35 K for La_2–x Ba _x CuO₄ and below 15 K for La_2–x Sr _x CuO₄ in the narrow range ofx where the high-T _c superconductivity (SC) is suppressed remarkably. The results suggest that the change of the electronic state coupled with the lattice instability is relevant to the local suppression of SC and freezing of spin fluctuations of the Cu moment.     

Refined mapping of a gene responsible for Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy: evidence for strong linkage disequilibrium

Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD), the second most common form of childhood muscular dystrophy in Japan, is an autosomal recessive severe muscular dystrophy associated with an anomaly of the brain. After our initial mapping of the FCMD locus to chromosome 9q31-33, we further defined the locus within a region of approximately 5 cM between loci D9S127 and CA246, by homozygosity mapping in patients born to consanguineous marriages and by recombination analyses in other families. We also found evidence for strong linkage disequilibrium between FCMD and a polymorphic microsatellite marker, mfd220, which showed no recombination and a lod score of (Z) 17.49. A "111-bp" allele for the mfd220 locus was observed in 22 (34%) of 64 FCMD chromosomes, but it was present in only 1 of 120 normal chromosomes. This allelic association with FCMD was highly significant (chi 2 = 50.7; P < .0001). Hence, we suspect that the FCMD gene could lie within a few hundred kilobases of the mfd220 locus.     

Highly efficient wideband continuum generation in a single-mode optical fiber by powerful broadband laser pumping

By pumping a single-mode optical fiber with a powerful broadband nonselective dye laser, we obtain a high-efficiency wideband continuum (530-930 nm) with nonlinear conversion efficiency exceeding 90%. Experimental conditions for a coherent regime of broadband stimulated Raman scattering are created, which in combination with the broadband self-phase modulation and the four-photon parametric processes leads to a spectral broadening and to the continuum formation. The influence of the pump laser spectral linewidth on the nonlinear conversion efficiency is analyzed and investigated by comparative experiments at narrow-band and broadband laser excitations.     

NMR study of quaternary superconductor RM2B2C (R = Y,La, Th,and M = Ni,Pd, Pt)

¹⁹⁵Pt-,¹³⁹La- and¹¹B-NMR have been investigated in quaternary RM₂B₂C (R=Y, La, Th and M=Ni, Pd, Pt). The electric quadrupole frequency of¹³⁹La changes more than 5 times in magnitude from M=Ni to Pt, indicating that the hybridization of La-5d and d-electrons of M-element changes largely. The analysis of¹¹B and¹³⁹La spectra shows also the large change of the magnetic anisotropy with R and M element, i.e., _{II c}>_{II ab} in LaNi₂B₂C, but _{II c}>_{II ab} YNi₂B₂C.The data of T₁T and K of¹⁹⁵Pt and¹¹B are consistent with the band effects and with no evidence of strong antiferromagnetic correlation effects.     

Stick-slip motion control based on cutter location data for an orthogonal-type robot

In this article, a new desktop orthogonal-type robot, which has the capacity of stick-slip motion control based on cutter location data, is presented for lapping small metallic molds with a curved surface. The robot consists of three single-axis devices with a high position resolution of 1 μm. A thin wooden stick tool with a ball-end shape is attached to the tip of the z-axis. In order to improve the lapping performance, a novel stick-slip motion control method is developed in the control system. The small stick-slip motion is orthogonally generated in the direction of the tool’s movement. The effectiveness of stick-slip motion control is examined through an actual lapping test of an LED lens cavity.     

iOS application for quadrotor remote control

With the progress of electronics technology, the development of civilian UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) applications becomes possible. In addition, smartphones have rapidly gained popularity and become very important due to the simple operability and mobility. Hence, there is a need to have an easy and flexible way to control a UAV using such technology. In this study, a remote controller using an iOS device is developed for a quadrotor to enable remote control with easy operations. Four basic programs for obtaining compass information, controlling a gimbal, autopilot function for return, and video preview function are developed and implemented for an iOS device. The basic functionalities of the programs are evaluated and confirmed through experiments using a quadrotor and an iOS device.     

Control of three-link underactuated manipulators using a switching method of fuzzy energy regions

In general, manipulators used for industry and in academic laboratories have actuators to drive each joint. On the other hand, underactuated manipulators handled by our research have some passive or free joints without actuators and brakes. We recently developed a switching method of fuzzy energy regions to control such manipulators. In such a method, it is necessary to design parameters related to energy regions and the gains of some partly stable controllers based on the computed torque method. Here, the switching method is applied for a three-link underactuated manipulator. We optimize such design parameters related to fuzzy energy regions by a genetic algorithm. The effectiveness of the present method is illustrated with some simulations. This work was presented in part at the 12th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 25–27, 2007     

Significant prognostic factors in breast cancer of Japanese women: special reference to nuclear grade and sinus histiocytosis

Progress of psychotherapy and of related behaviour sciences makes evident the importance of a better understanding of human relations. But psychoanalysis finds it hard to describe interpersonal processes without transference. In order to remain within the conceptional frame of metapsychology it has to see interaction between individuals as the oral, aggressive or sexual cathexis of an object or as satisfaction or denial of the subject by the object. The structure of the "ego", which--in analogy to medical thinking--is conceived as an organ with its functions, is considered to have no interpersonal activities. The "ego" of the classic psychoanalytic theory is chiefly occupied with itself. It has to care for its egoistical interests and to guarantee its self-preservation. As an auxiliary and meanwhile popular concept the "self" has been introduced to describe object-relations. This concept is not sharply defined. Due to its metapsychological implications it produces additional theoretical difficulties. Linguistic studies show that every inventory of words implies a certain insight into reality. For this reason the metapsychological machine-like concept of psychic structures does not permit new ideas about interpersonal relations. If we leave metapsychology and base on colloquial speech we see that the experience of "I" is much more related to persons than the rather autistic concept of the "ego" shows. Further we learn that self-preservation cannot be an egoistical interest; it depends on the attachment to others. All feelings of self-esteem depend much more on interpersonal relations than on "narcissistic regulations". From these experiences three conclusions are derived: a) One of the main qualities of the ego is the relatedness to persons. b) The concept of narcissistic regulation as a successor of primary narcissism is no longer useful. Narcissistic traits develop as the secundary compensations if the individual failed to build up satisfactory interpersonal relations. c) The revision of (a) ego-psychology and (b) theory of narcissism asks for modifications of the therapeutic technique, where now the interest is especially concentrated on interpersonal problems instead on the pathology of the ego.     

Modular fuzzy-neuro controller driven by spoken language commands.

We present a methodology of controlling machines using spoken language commands. The two major problems relating to the speech interfaces for machines, namely, the interpretation of words with fuzzy implications and the out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words in natural conversation, are investigated. The system proposed in this paper is designed to overcome the above two problems in controlling machines using spoken language commands. The present system consists of a hidden Markov model (HMM) based automatic speech recognizer (ASR), with a keyword spotting system to capture the machine sensitive words from the running utterances and a fuzzy-neural network (FNN) based controller to represent the words with fuzzy implications in spoken language commands. Significance of the words, i.e., the contextual meaning of the words according to the machine's current state, is introduced to the system to obtain more realistic output equivalent to users' desire. Modularity of the system is also considered to provide a generalization of the methodology for systems having heterogeneous functions without diminishing the performance of the system. The proposed system is experimentally tested by navigating a mobile robot in real time using spoken language commands.