Analysis of annotations on documents for recycling of information

In order to make collaborative business activities fruitful, it is essential to know characteristics of organizations and persons in more details and to gather information relevant to the activities. In this paper, we describe a notion of “information recycling” that actualizes these requirements by analyzing documents. The key of recycling information is to utilize annotations on documents as clues for generating user profiles and for weighting contents in the context of the activities. We also propose a method of extracting annotations on paper documents just by pressing one button with the help of techniques of camera‐based document image analysis. Experimental results demonstrate that it is fundamentally capable of acquiring annotations on paper documents on the condition that their electronic versions without annotations are available for the processing. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 165(2): 60–68, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20516     

CRACK PROPAGATION BEHAVIOR AND LIFETIME PREDICTION IN ALUMINA AND ZIRCONIA

The lifetime prediction of ceramics is discussed on the basis of the relationship between stress intensity factorK1 and crack velocity ν. The effects of water environment, the cyclic loading and microstructure of material on K1-ν characteristics are studied by carrying out the crack growth tests by the double torsion (DT) method under the static andcyclic loading in both environments of air and water for alumina and zirconia. K1-ν characteristics determined by the double torsion method are used to predict time-to-failure under the cyclic loading of alumina and zirconia ceramics. The predictions agree qualitatively with the experimental results.     

Synthesis of stereoblock poly(methyl methacrylate) via transformation of isotactic-specific living polymer anion to syndiotactic-specific anion

Polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) by isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) living anion, prepared with t-C₄H₉MgBr in toluene at ?60°C, was carried out at ?78°C in the presence of trialkylaluminiums (R₃Al; R = CH₃, C₂H₅, and n-C₄H₉) to obtain a stereoblock PMMA, isotactic PMMA-block-syndiotactic PMMA. Among the R₃Als, (CH₃)₃Al gave most effectively the steroblock PMMA with narrow molecular weight distribution. The fraction of rr triad in the syndiotactic PMMA block increased with increase in the ratio of Al/Mg and reached about 76% at a ratio of Al/Mg ≥ 6. The method was also used to prepare stereoblock copolymer comprising isotactic PMMA block and syndiotactic block of butyl methacrylate. Stereocomplex formation and solution viscosity of the stereoblock PMMA were also studied.     

Isolation of intact transition protein 2 with three zinc finger motifs from boar late spermatid nuclei

Boar intact transition protein 2, TP2, was isolated from the late spermatid nuclei by chromatography on Fractogel EMD SO3- 650 (M), and HPLCs on Nucleosil 300 7C18, Diol-120 and Chemcosorb 3C18H. CD spectroscopy study showed that TP2 underwent a small but significant zinc dependent secondary structural change. TP2, having three potential zinc finger motifs, was shown to be contain 3 atoms of zinc bound per molecule of the protein by atomic absorption spectroscopy. These results together with the amino acid sequence of TP2 suggest that TP2 is a zinc metalloprotein with three zinc finger structures.     

Late postoperative outcome of plastic operation versus valve replacement for mitral regurgitation]

Between January 1980 and August 1991, 99 patients underwent operation for mitral valve regurgitation (MR). The ages of the patients ranged from 12 to 67 years, (49.4 +/- 11.9 years), and there were 39 males and 60 females. Pathological cause of regurgitation, which was determined by intraoperative inspection and histological findings of excised leaflets, was rheumatic in 46, degenerative in 38, infective endocarditis in 9, ischemic in 4 and unknown in 2 patients. Cardiac rhythm was atrial fibrillation in 73, normal sinus rhythm in 24 and junctional rhythm in 2 patients. Our principles for valve repair were (1) excision of responsible segment and repair for prolapsed leaflet due to torn chordae, (2) shortening of elongated chordae, (3) annuloplasty, and (4) repair of perforated leaflet. Finally, 19 patients endured plastic operation, and 80 patients underwent prosthetic valve replacement. The rate of plastic procedure was 62.5% (10/16) in degenerative MR with mural chordal lesions, 42.9% (3/7) in rheumatic MR without stenosis, 22.2% (2/9) in infective endocarditis and 100% (2/2) in MR with unknown etiology. Mitral valve repair was failed both in rheumatic MR associated with stenosis (39 patients) and in ischemic MR (4 patients). A ten-year survival rate after operation was 92.2 +/- 3.1% in patients with valve replacement and 83.6 +/- 10.0% with valve repair (N.S.), and a proportion of event-free survival in patients with valve replacement was similar to valve. Late postoperative cardiac catheterization revealed decreased left ventricular volume indices and increased left ventricular end-systolic stress/volume ratio in both groups compared to preoperative values, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Stochastic analysis of a U-shaped production line with multiple workers

In a conveyor system for mass production as in the Ford system, each station processes just one item in one cycle time, where the cycle time is the time-interval between two successive outputs. In a Just-In-Time production system, a single-unit production and conveyance system is applied to a part production line without conveyors, and multi-function workers and a U-shaped layout of machines have been introduced. The multi-function worker takes charge of multiple machines. In this paper, we consider a U-shaped line with multiple multi-function workers, each of which is responsible for several machines. We formulate it into a marked Petri net, which has a convex property of a generalized semi-Markov process. This shows that the cycle times of two different systems are comparable in the sense of an increasing convex order. We also show the reversibility of the system, that is, the expected cycle time of the reversed system where each worker operates items and walks in the reversed order of stations is the same as that of the original system.     

Normal predicted values of CT indices reflect emphysematous alterations in the lung

In order to obtain normal values and 95% confidence limits of various CT indices, healthy adult subjects with no history of smoking (n = 36) underwent CT scanning under a variety of conditions. By then applying the normal limits thus obtained to CT images of COPD patients (n = 45), we examined the sensitivity for detecting abnormal emphysematous changes in the lung fields. To measure emphysematous alterations, we used the average value of lung CT densities (ROI), the maximally appearing value in a CT histogram (Hist. Peak), the relative area with low CT densities below -910 HU (%LDA) and the total cross-sectional area (Area) in each lung section. Regardless of the section thickness (10 mm or 1 mm), the lung volume level at which the breath was held or the site from which CT images were taken (upper, middle or lower lung field), no significant correlation was observed between the CT indices associated with emphysematous changes and the subjects' age. This allowed us to define, independently of the subjects' age, normal values and 95% confidence limits for the CT indices. Among the CT indices surveyed, %LDA was found to be the most sensitive indicator for detecting emphysematous abnormalities. In so far as the extent of emphysema may be determined by lung CT density, classical CT images of 10-mm section thickness appear to have a sufficiently high sensitivity for the detection of emphysematous abnormalities, such that high-resolution CT may be unnecessary.     

A concentrator module of spherical Si solar cell

Spherical Si solar cell, which is made up of Si spheres with a diameter of approximately 1.0 mm, is expected to be a promising candidate for low consumption of Si feedstock and simple process technology. This paper describes the formation process and the structure of a concentrator module in detail. The concentrator lens was formed by casting with ultraviolet light hardening resin. The concentration ratio was 4.4 times and the pitch between the spheres was 2.0 mm. By this module design, it was possible to realize a consumption of the Si feedstock of about 3.0 g/W. Conversion efficiencies of 11.3% from single-sphere cell, 8.5% from a 23-spheres module and 5.2% from a 105-spheres module under AM1.5, 100 mW/cm² illumination were achieved.     

Rapid Reconstitution of Biosynthetic Machinery for Fungal Metabolites in Aspergillus oryzae: Total Biosynthesis of Aflatrem

Reconstitution of the biosynthetic machinery for fungal secondary metabolites in Aspergillus oryzae provides an opportunity both for stepwise determination of the biosynthetic pathways and the total biosynthesis of fungal natural products. However, to maximize the utility of the reconstitution system, a simple and rapid strategy for the introduction of heterologous genes into A. oryzae is required. In this study, we demonstrated an effective method for introducing multiple genes involved in the biosynthesis of fungal metabolites by using the expression vectors pUARA2 and pUSA2, each of which contains two cloning sites. The successful introduction of all the aflatrem biosynthetic genes (seven genes in total) after two rounds of transformation enabled the total biosynthesis of aflatrem. This rapid reconstitution strategy will facilitate the functional analysis of the biosynthetic machinery of fungal metabolites.