Electromagnetic interference risk analysis

Electromagnetic interference (EMI), whether intentional or not, causes a wide spectrum of difficulties including momentary, minor inconveniences to system failures in electronic devices [7], [26]. Within a hospital environment, electronic devices must reliably perform or fail gracefully, including telecommunications infrastructure through basic instrumentation [1]. Lack of comprehensive EMI risk data has caused some facilities to ban wireless devices altogether for reducing risk from inadvertent emitters and yet relinquishing the possible lifesaving benefits [2], [3]. Often, the bans rely heavily on good-faith compliance with minimal or no detection and mitigation strategy. With increasing reliance on electronic medical records, timely access to patients' treatments, medications, and allergens, and timely communications with medical personnel can be critical, especially during disaster events [3].     

RTCB Complex Regulates Stress-Induced tRNA Cleavage

Under stress conditions, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are cleaved by stress-responsive RNases such as angiogenin, generating tRNA-derived RNAs called tiRNAs. As tiRNAs contribute to cytoprotection through inhibition of translation and prevention of apoptosis, the regulation of tiRNA production is critical for cellular stress response. Here, we show that RTCB ligase complex (RTCB-LC), an RNA ligase complex involved in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response and precursor tRNA splicing, negatively regulates stress-induced tiRNA production. Knockdown of RTCB significantly increased stress-induced tiRNA production, suggesting that RTCB-LC negatively regulates tiRNA production. Gel-purified tiRNAs were repaired to full-length tRNAs by RtcB in vitro, suggesting that RTCB-LC can generate full length tRNAs from tiRNAs. As RTCB-LC is inhibited under oxidative stress, we further investigated whether tiRNA production is promoted through the inhibition of RTCB-LC under oxidative stress. Although hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) itself did not induce tiRNA production, it rapidly boosted tiRNA production under the condition where stress-responsive RNases are activated. We propose a model of stress-induced tiRNA production consisting of two factors, a trigger and booster. This RTCB-LC-mediated boosting mechanism may contribute to the effective stress response in the cell.     

Increased Synovial CD14 mRNA Expression and Proportion of CD14high Subsets in Early-Stage Hip Osteoarthritis: Propensity Matched Score Analysis

The pathophysiology of early-stage hip osteoarthritis (EOA) is not fully understood. Although a previous study in an age-unmatched cohort reported that the number of macrophages was increased in knee EOA compared to late OA (LOA), it remained unclear whether increased macrophages in EOA accurately reflect EOA pathology. We investigated the differences in CD14 expression levels between EOA and LOA using age-unmatched and -matched cohorts. Synovial tissues were obtained from 34 EOA (Tönnis grades 0 and 1) and 80 LOA (Tönnis grades 2 and 3) patients. To correct for differences in demographics between patients with LOA and EOA, we also created propensity score-matched cohorts (16 EOA and 16 LOA). CD14 expression and its association with pain was estimated in LOA and EOA before and after propensity matching. We performed flow cytometry on tissues from the 16 patients, with 8 from each group, to assess for CD14+ subsets in the cells. The CD14 expression in EOA was higher than that in LOA both before and after propensity matching. The proportion of CD14^high subsets in EOA was higher than that in LOA. The CD14 expression was associated with pain in EOA before matching. However, no difference was observed between the pain and CD14 expression after matching in EOA. The increased CD14 expression and the proportion of CD14^high subsets may be important features associated with hip EOA pathology. To accurately compare early and late OA, the analysis of a propensity score-matched cohort is necessary.     

Contributions of generators for power flow and loads in a power system

Because of the introduction of deregulation and competition in the electricity supply industry, large numbers of IPPs (Independent Power Producers) will get into the market. It has become much more important to be able to determine which generators are supplying a particular load, which generator is responsible for transmission line congestion, and what is each generator's contribution to the system losses. In this paper, we propose a way to calculate these contributions automatically. The applicability of the proposed technique is demonstrated using the EAST 10 47‐bus power system. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 144(3): 28–35, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10181     

A new programming environment with a multi-display terminal and early experiences with it

The authors have developed an extended intelligent terminal system MDPS with four CRT displays controlled by microprocessors and with useful programming tools in order to achieve a high-level programming environment. The system is based on the fact that reference to, comparison among, and utilization of various kinds of information are the basic but essential actions in the programming environment. Users can arrange various kinds of information spatially using simple concepts “text” and “page” of MDPS. MDPS has several advantages over conventional terminal systems.     

Economical preventive control of power flow after disturbances in the decentralized power system

This paper discusses the preventive controls of the generator outputs to improve security in the decentralized power system. Preventive controls of the power system can improve security level. However, the preventive control requires too much computation time because of too many considerable faults in the power system. Multiarea decentralization can be considered to reduce computation time of the power flow calculation. It is assumed that the effects of disturbances in the external systems are relatively smaller than the effects of disturbances in the study area. Linearized sensitivity analysis is used to evaluate the effects of the external systems to reduce computation time. Linear programming is used to determine the control signals of generators considering the incremental cost of generators. The New England 38 buses system is used as an example system to check the validity of the algorithm in this paper. The calculations of the example system show satisfactory results.     

Influence of residual stresses and loading frequencies on corrosion fatigue crack growth behavior of weldments

The effect of residual stresses and loading frequencies on corrosion fatigue crack growth behavior under synthetic seawater with a free corrosion potential was examined using center-cracked tension (CCT) and single edge-cracked tension (SECT) specimens machined from mild steel butt-welded joints and the parent material. A series of fatigue crack growth tests were carried out with a sinusoidal loading wave form at a stress ratio of 0.05 with a loading frequency of 0.017 to 6.7 Hz. The results show that the crack growth resistance of a weld metal in the SECT specimen is higher than that in the CCT specimen regardless of testing conditions. The discrepancy is attributed to the differences in residual stress distribution at the crack tip in the two specimen geometries. The crack growth rate of the weld metal in the CCT specimen in seawater increased with decreasing loading frequency. The acceleration of the crack growth rate may be related to the occurrence of brittle striation or cleavage due to hydrogen embrittlement. It was found that the corrosion fatigue crack growth rate of a welded joint with tensile residual stress can be predicted using the effective stress intensity factor range, which takes into account both the residual stress and the loading frequency effects.     

Novel method for site-controlled surface nanodot fabrication by ion beam synthesis

By using a Ga FIB system to spatially control the implantation of Ga into SiO(2) followed by vacuum annealing, we have fabricated self-assembled surface Ga nanodots with a high degree of control of nucleation location. The morphology of the Ga nanodots is closely related to Ga dose, showing a critical dose needed for nucleation that results in Ga nanodot formation just below the surface, while at higher doses Ga nanodots form on the surface as metallic Ga droplets. Possible applications include defining nucleation sites for subsequent growth, use as Ga source for GaN or GaAs quantum dots, or as catalyst for nanowire growth.     

Characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in different size fractions in deposited road particles (DRPs) from Lake Biwa area, Japan

Deposited road particles (DRPs) collected from 13 heavily traveled roadways in an urban area of Southern Lake Biwa, Japan, were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in seven different particle size fractions (< or = 20 to 1000-2000 microm) and evaluated for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligand activity by using a yeast bioassay. The mean compositions of individual PAHs to total PAH concentrations in different particle size fractions were 19-21% for pyrene, which was the most dominant component, 14-16% for fluoranthene, and 7-13% for benzo[g,h,i]perylene, which were the next dominant components. The total PAH distribution pattern in different particle size fractions of DRPs was different from the organic matter distribution pattern which increased with decreasing particle size of DRPs, and could be explained by the differences in their sources. Moreover, AhR ligand activities were observed in the DRP extracts of all size fractions. The activity of the DRP extracts from the smallest size fraction was approximately 5 times more potent than that of the largest size fraction in a yeast AhR ligand activity assay. The mean contribution (%) of benzo[k]-fluoranthene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, and benzo[a]pyrene to the AhR activity of DRP extracts in all size fractions was 1.43-4.11%, 1.63-3.53%, 0.63-1.69%, and 0.31-1.42%, respectively. Although the contribution of PAHs to AhR ligand activity presented in the DRP extracts was relatively low (below 10%), it may be best to remove these DRPs before discharge to receiving water environments.