Phonon emission from a discrete sine-Gordon breather

Phonon emission from a large-amplitude discrete sine-Gordon breather was studied numerically for a small degree of discreteness. In contrast to the case of highly discrete system investigated by Boesch and Peyrard (Phys. Rev. B 43 (1991) 8491), it was found that the resonance between the breather's oscillation and the phonons of the lower phonon band edge (κ=0) takes place for a small degree of discreteness.     

Migration to broadband ISDN

The current state of telecommunications in Japan is briefly discussed, with particular reference to broadband services. Experience with the migration from the analog telephone network to the present narrowband integrated services digital networks (ISDN) is described. Three strategies for the transition from narrowband ISDN to broadband ISDN are examined. The market-driven strategy is to replace existing metallic subscriber loops with optical media, wherever possible, even if only narrowband services are required, with the expectation that these subscribers will eventually use broadband services. The service-oriented strategy entails putting into place a flexible and multipurpose platform that would also allow HDTV distribution and bidirectional communications. Early installation of such a platform would allow for the early announcement of broadband services, which would in turn stimulate demand. The benefits and drawbacks of each of these strategies are discussed. The advance-investment strategy is to press ahead with the introduction of optical subscriber loops to accelerate technological innovation, even if the cost is somewhat high. Other issues that are important to the migration of broadband ISDN are noted     

Residual Stress in Siliceous Glass Between Mullite Crystals

A birefringence of siliceous glass, which is coexisting with mullite crystals, was studied by an optical polarizing microscope. The cause of the birefringence was assumed to be the residual stress induced by a large contraction difference between the mullite and glass on cooling. The stress has been evaluated to be as high as—0.3 GPa, and to correspond to the elastic one which began to develop at the glass transition point.     

Influence of tungsten–carbon mixed layer and irradiation defects on deuterium retention behavior in tungsten

The D₂⁺ fluence dependence on deuterium (D) retention was studied to clarify the D retention mechanism in tungsten. The additional D desorption stage was observed around 660 K in the TDS spectrum for a sample implanted with D₂⁺ up to the fluence of 10²³ D⁺ m^?2, which desorption stage was not observed the D₂⁺ implanted sample with the fluence less than 10²² D⁺ m^?2. The TEM observation showed that the highly dense voids were formed in tungsten by D₂⁺ implantation with the fluence of 10²³ D⁺ m^?2, considering that the D would be trapped by voids. To understand the D trapping by voids in C⁺ implanted tungsten, C⁺–D₂⁺ sequential implantation experiments at various C⁺ implantation temperatures were performed. It was found that the amount of D desorbed around 560 K was increased by increasing the C⁺ implantation temperature. The formation of the voids was observed with increasing the C⁺ implantation temperature by TEM, indicating that the increase of D desorption around 560 K was caused by the formation of voids. However, the desorption temperature of D trapped by voids in C⁺ implanted sample was lower than that in D₂⁺ implanted one. TEM observation and XPS measurement indicated that this difference was caused by the increase of void size and/or the presence of implanted carbon.     

Dynamics of autowaves in a one-dimensional crystal model

A mechanism of the phase transition between two modulated structures with different wave vectors was proposed and investigated numerically. The phase transition occurs through the mechanism of nucleation and growth of the new phase. The role of the nucleus is played by an unstable domain wall and the domain of a new low energy phase grows due to the motion of autowaves.     

Impact of systemic depulsation on tissue perfusion and sympathetic nerve activity

BACKGROUND: We postulated that pathophysiologic processes under nonpulsatile circulation are related to the behavior of the sympathetic nerve activity that regulates tissue perfusion. METHODS: Pulsatile and nonpulsatile pumps were installed in parallel in the left heart bypass circuit of anesthetized goats (n = 9) so that pulsatile circulation could be converted to nonpulsatile circulation instantly. At 5 minutes before and after systemic depulsation, we measured hemodynamic indices, renal nerve activity, and regional blood flow of the brain, heart, and renal cortex. RESULTS: Renal nerve activity was significantly elevated after systemic depulsation (15.6 +/- 9.3 versus 19.4 +/- 9.8 microV), when mean aortic pressure remained almost constant. The renal cortical flow was significantly reduced after depulsation (3.61 +/- 1.23 versus 2.93 +/- 1.19 mL.min-1.g-1), whereas no significant difference was found in the regional blood flow of the brain or the heart. CONCLUSIONS: The significant reduction of renal cortical blood flow after systemic depulsation is associated with a significant increase in renal nerve activity. Our results suggest that increased renal nerve activity plays an important role in the reduction of renal function after systemic depulsation.     

Numerical simulation of fracture of model Al-Si alloys

Hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys consist of primary α-Al and Al-Si eutectic phases and show typical elasticplastic fracture. To understand their fracture behavior, fracture processes were simulated using an elastic-plastic finite-element method. The validity of the J-integral-based criterion was verified and applied to the simulations. A complicated model was used to simulate the fracture in an idealized dendritic microstructure, and four simplified models were intended to more clearly understand the interaction between a crack and individual α phases. Results show that the crack is attracted to the soft α phase when passing by the α phase, whereas it is repelled when the α phase is close in front of or behind the crack tip. The presence of α phase close in front of or behind the crack tip leads to an amplification of the driving force. However, the α phase beside the tip reduces the driving force. Furthermore, the fracture behavior is mainly affected by the adjacent α phase on one side around the crack tip, while the remote α phase on the opposite side has an offsetting effect. The local stress-strain fields were examined to analyze the simulated behavior. The simulated crack-growth path in the dendritic model was compared and verified with the experimentally observed path.     

Inhibition by angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist of cardiac phenotypic modulation after myocardial infarction

The purpose of this study was to examine the cardiac phenotype and remodeling after myocardial infarction and the effect of the angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist (TCV-116) on the gene expression. Myocardial infarction in rats was produced by ligation of the coronary artery. TCV-116 (10 mg/kg/day) was administered orally to rats from 1 day after myocardial infarction. At 1, 2 and 3 weeks after myocardial infarction, blood pressure and heart rate were measured, and the heart was removed. The left ventricle was measured for infarct size and weight, and then the total RNA from the non-ischemic left ventricle was extracted. mRNAs in the non-ischemic left ventricle were measured by Northern blot analysis. The weight of the non-ischemic left ventricle was significantly increased 3 weeks after infarction. This was completely prevented by TCV-116 treatment. mRNA levels for beta-myosin heavy chain (beta-MHC), atrial natriuretic polypeptide (ANP), collagen types I and III and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) in the non-ischemic left ventricle were increased by a factor of 3.0, 6.7, 7.9, 4.0 and 1.4 (P < 0.01), respectively, 1 week after infarction. There was no increase in alpha-skeletal actin mRNA at 1 and 2 weeks, but it was increased by a factor of 2.9 (P < 0.05) at 3 weeks. On the other hand, there was no change in alpha-MHC mRNA during the 3 weeks. TCV-116 significantly suppressed the increased gene expression of beta-MHC and alpha-skeletal actin in the non-ischemic myocardium at all time points, and also suppressed the expression of ANP at 2 and 3 weeks. However, TCV-116 failed to inhibit the expression of collagen I and III mRNAs at 1 and 3 weeks. These results show that myocardial infarction causes a rapid shift of myocytes to fetal phenotype and a rapid activation of collagen genes in the non-ischemic myocardium. AT1 receptor may be responsible for the phenotypic modulation of myocytes following myocardial infarction.