Electro-mechanical coupling in ionic gels

An ionic-polymer–metal-composite film shows electro-mechanical coupling. When the film is bent, electric current is induced. Measurement of the induced current indicates that the current depends on the speed of bending, but the total amount of the charge transferred across the film is independent of the speed, and depends only on the magnitude of the bending. The result indicates that in addition to previously proposed dynamical coupling effect, there is a static electro-mechanical coupling effect. Mathematical model is proposed to describe this phenomena.     

Predictive factors of psychological disorder development during recovery following SARS outbreak.

Objective: To investigate strategies for broad mass isolation during outbreaks of infectious diseases. Design: A survey using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted on 300 printing company workers in Beijing, China, which was under mass isolation following the 2003 SARS outbreak, in the 7-8 months after the isolation was lifted. Main Outcome Measures: Individuals with psychological disorders were classified on the basis of scores on the 30-item General Health Questionnaire during the recovery period. Psychological disorders were observed in 49 of 187 respondents (26.2%; 95% CI = 20.2, 32.7). Results: The predicting factor with the highest correlation was income reduction, with an odds ratio of 25.0. Other items obtained were gender, range of activities, eating restrictions, restrictions in going out, disinfection of clothing, and infection control, with odds ratios of 3.2, 5.5, 3.9, 3.2, 0.2, and 0.1, respectively, and the contribution ratio was 87.7%. Conclusion: Securing income is suggested to be important in future strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cylindrical linear pulse motor with interior permanent magnet mover

The advantages of the conventional cylindrical linear pulse motor (C-LPM), which has a ring permanent magnet between the A- and B-phase stators, are its simple magnet shape and small motor diameter; the disadvantages are the thrust imbalance resulting from the magnetic flux path of the outer poles being longer than that of the inner poles. This thrust imbalance decreases the pull-in thrust and increases the positioning error. In this paper, a new C-LPM with an interior permanent magnet mover which reduces this thrust imbalance is proposed. Steady and dynamic thrust are also examined and a magnetic equivalent circuit is discussed. It is shown that a C-LPM with an interior permanent magnet mover effectively improves the thrust imbalance and the dynamic thrust     

Wide-speed operation of interior permanent magnet synchronousmotors with high-performance current regulator

Interior permanent magnet synchronous motors can be applied to applications requiring wide-speed operation. The current vector control algorithm of an interior permanent magnet synchronous (IPM) motor for constant power operation over the base speed is proposed. As the available voltage controlling the armature current vector is small in the flux-weakening constant power region, the current vector sometimes becomes uncontrollable in transient operations because of the current regulator saturation. The high-performance current regulator is also proposed to improve the current responses in the flux-weakening region, which includes the decoupling current controller and the voltage command compensator. The control performances are confirmed by several drive tests with respect to the prototype IPM motor     

User Modeling in Spoken Dialogue Systems to Generate Flexible Guidance

We address the issue of appropriate user modeling to generate cooperative responses to users in spoken dialogue systems. Unlike previous studies that have focused on a user’s knowledge, we propose more generalized modeling. We specifically set up three dimensions for user models: the skill level in use of the system, the knowledge level about the target domain, and the degree of urgency. Moreover, the models are automatically derived by decision tree learning using actual dialogue data collected by the system. We obtained reasonable accuracy in classification for all dimensions. Dialogue strategies based on user modeling were implemented on the Kyoto City Bus Information System that was developed at our laboratory. Experimental evaluations revealed that the cooperative responses adapted to each subject type served as good guides for novices without increasing the duration dialogue lasted for skilled users.     

Flexible microelectronics: New application for thin‐film transistors in fingerprint sensors

Abstract— Thin‐film transistors (TFTs) are field‐effect transistors that can be used to create large‐scale‐integrated (LSI) circuits. The combination of high‐performance TFTs and transfer technology of the TFTs has the potential to foster the rise of a new flexible microelectronics industry. This paper discusses the current status of flexible microelectronics, using a TFT fingerprint sensor (FPS) as an example. Technology used in active‐matrix displays can easily be applied to the TFT FPS. TFT technology should not be confined to the display industry; its use should be expanded into the semiconductor industry. With the result presented in this paper, we declare a new era of flexible microelectronics open.     

A relation between edit distance for ordered trees and edit distance for Euler strings

We consider a relationship between the unit cost edit distance for two rooted ordered trees and the unit cost edit distance for the corresponding Euler strings. We show that the edit distance between trees is at least half of the edit distance between the Euler strings and is at most 2h+1 times the edit distance between the Euler strings, where h is the minimum height of two trees. The result can be extended for more general cost functions.     

Rabies virus quasispecies: implications for pathogenesis

Passage of the mouse-adapted rabies virus strain CVS-24 (where CVS is challenge virus standard) in BHK cells results in the rapid selection of a dominant variant designated CVS-B2c that differs genotypically and phenotypically from the dominant variant CVS-N2c present in mouse-brain- or neuroblastoma-cell-passaged CVS-24. The glycoprotein of CVS-B2c has 10 amino acid substitutions compared with that of CVS-N2c. Because CVS-B2c can be reproducibly selected in BHK cells, it is likely to be a conserved minor subpopulation of CVS-24. CVS-N2c is more neurotropic in vitro and in vivo than CVS-B2c, which replicates more readily in nonneuronal cells in vitro and in vivo. These characteristics appear to be relevant to the pathogenicity of the two variants. CVS-N2c is more pathogenic for adult mice than CVS-B2c. In contrast, CVS-B2c is more pathogenic for neonatal mice. These differences in pathogenicity are reflected in the selection pattern when mixtures of CVS-N2c and CVS-B2c were used to infect neonatal and adult mice. Although CVS-N2c was highly selected in adult mice, no selection for either variant was seen in neonates, suggesting that certain aspects of development, such as maturation of the nervous and immune systems, may contribute to the selection process. We speculate that the existence of different variants within a rabies virus strain may facilitate the virus in overcoming barriers to its spread, both within the host and between species.     

Endothelin-1 secretion from cultured vascular endothelial cells of DOCA-salt hypertensive rats

The profile of endothelin-1 (ET-1) release from cultured vascular endothelial cells (ECs) obtained from deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive rats, was examined and compared with that from normotensive sham rats. ET-1 release from ECs was increased in a time-dependent manner, and the level of DOCA-salt hypertensive rats was higher than that of sham rats. Incubation of ECs with transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 or thrombin resulted in a significant increase in the ET-1 release, while FK409, a novel nitric oxide donor, produced a dose-dependent decrease in the release. In the case of ECs from DOCA-salt hypertensive rats, the potencies of TGF-beta 1- or thrombin-induced action was much less than that seen with sham rats, while the difference of reactivity to FK409 was not observed between ECs of DOCA-salt rats and sham rats. Thus, ET-1 production in ECs appears to be up-regulated in DOCA-salt hypertensive rats. In addition, there seems to be an abnormalities in the signaling pathway via TGF-beta 1- or thrombin-induced enhancement of ET-1 production in ECs of DOCA-salt hypertensive rats.