Incentive‐rewarding mechanism to stimulate activities in social networking services

We have developed an incentive‐rewarding mechanism that stimulates activities in social networking services (SNSs), including content uploading and link establishment. We particularly focus on changing the reward assignment ratio based on the different risks users perceive when uploading content with different privacy settings: public‐open and friend‐limited. Learning‐based simulation allowed us to observe that SNS activity, which we measured as the amount of browsed content within a certain period, can be controlled by a rewarding assignment ratio. We then analyzed how the amount of uploaded content and the increase of established links affect SNS activity. Results suggested that the optimal reward assignment ratio to maximize SNS activity changes depending on the total amount of available reward resources. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Very low output-impedance RF system for a proton synchrotron withlow drive power requirements

In order to solve a power consumption problem of the driver stage in the cathode-follower RF system, a grid-cathode driving scheme is investigated by means of an isolation transformer. A very low output impedance can be realized together with a voltage gain a few tens of times higher than that of a cathode-follower. The model system has been tested under frequency modulation in the 1-3-MHz range at 40-Hz repetition; the output impedance is less than 30 Ω and the driver voltage 62 V to produce a 1.2-kV peak at the cavity gap     

Evaluation of the reduction in CO2 emissions by applying Micro‐Grid to home energy supply system

Dispersed generators such as wind power systems, photovoltaic systems, and cogeneration systems are expected to mitigate the environmental burden of energy consumption, and their installation has been promoted recently. Micro‐Grid is focused on as a method to solve some problems in a commercial electric power line when installing a large number of dispersed generators, and some demonstrative research on Micro‐Grid for large‐scale systems is being carried out now. Also, small cogeneration systems for houses, such as gas engines and fuel cells, are expected to improve CO₂ emissions. However, if the power and heat demand of a family are relatively small or are unbalanced, the cogeneration system does not operate effectively. The authors have studied the application of Micro‐Grid for home energy supply, and have developed a control system to solve this problem. The system achieves a reduction of CO₂ emissions and energy costs by sharing electric power and heat among some houses with cogeneration systems. This paper presents an outline of the newly developed system, and in particular describes the effect of the reduction in CO₂ emissions compared with a conventional energy supply method, and the case in which dispersed generators are installed in some houses and operate independently. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 170(3): 19–27, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20879     

MgB2 Superconducting Tips for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Study

We report a simple method for the fabrication of reproducible, clean, and stable MgB₂ superconducting tips. The quality of these tips has been verified by imaging the surface of a thin Au(111) film sample, using a low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Using the MgB₂ superconducting tip, high-quality semiatomically resolved STM surface images of the thin Au(111) film sample have been observed, which unambiguously indicates that the fabrication of relatively superconducting MgB₂, suitable for use as STM tips, is feasible.     

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.     

Malignant transformation of NIH3T3 cells by overexpression of mot-2 protein

The murine mortalin genes, mot-1 and mot-2, are members of the hsp70 family of proteins and differ from each other by only two amino acid residues. Mot-1 is expressed in normal cells and has pancytosolic cellular distribution whereas mot-2 is found in the perinuclear region of immortal cells. We report here that a high level of expression of mot-2 protein resulted in malignant transformation of cells as analysed by anchorage independent growth and nude mice assays. A high level of protein expression is attributed to the 900 bp 3' untranslated region of the cDNA which does not have any transforming activity per se. Mortalin cDNA clones isolated from human transformed cells were also found to have transforming activity in similar assays and a high level of expression was apparent in some of the human immortalized cells that showed non-pancytosolic mortalin immunofluorescence. Taken together, the data suggest that nonpancytosolic mortalin may have a role in tumorigenesis.     

Rhombencephalosynapsis: cerebellar embryogenesis

We describe two infants in whom rhombencephalosynapsis was diagnosed with MR imaging in vivo. In contrast to Dandy-Walker malformation, the vermian maldevelopment in this anomaly is characterized by an absence of the anterior vermis and a deficiency of the posterior vermis. The cerebellar hemispheres are fused. In an attempt to identify the pathogenesis of these anatomic manifestations, we question the traditional concept of the embryologic development of the cerebellar primordium.     

Low levels of apoptosis and proliferative activity in colorectal villous tumors: comparison with tubular tumors

In order to clarify the cell kinetics of colorectal villous tumors (VT), 21 villous adenomatous areas and 12 carcinomatous areas within villous adenomas were investigated for proliferative activity and apoptosis and compared with a series of 41 tubular tumors (TT), demonstrating elements of intramucosal carcinomas as well as tubular adenomas (so-called carcinoma in tubular adenoma). Proliferation was estimated in terms of Ki-67 labeling indices and mitotic indices, and apoptosis was assessed by DNA nick-end labeling to give apoptotic indices. Apoptotic indices of villous adenomatous and carcinomatous regions were significantly lower than the values for their tubular counterparts. Ki-67 labeling indices were also significantly lower for adenoma components. Apoptotic indices, Ki-67 labeling indices and mitotic indices increased with atypia raised in tubular adenoma components. Correlations of mitotic indices with apoptotic indices, Ki-67 labeling indices with apoptotic indices and mitotic indices with Ki-67 labeling indices were found for each villous tumor group and tubular tumor group, and the apoptosis and proliferation ratios for villous tumors were relatively low, suggesting a tendency for greater growth due to less cell deletion. Although this is only one of the biological features of villous tumor groups, it might play a major role in generation of malignancy.     

Expression of 5-lipoxygenase and 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein mRNAs in the peripheral blood leukocytes of asthmatics

Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) catalyzes the rate-limiting step in adipocyte lipolysis. We have studied the effect of glucose and long chain fatty acids on the HSL mRNA content of 3T3-F442A adipocytes. Exposure of the cells for 32 h to a medium without glucose led to a decrease by a factor of 2.5-3 in the HSL mRNA without a change in C/EBP alpha mRNA or triglyceride content of the adipocytes. The reduction in HSL mRNA level was accompanied by a decrease in HSL total activity. The effect of glucose exposure was observed after 24 h of exposure and was reversible. Treatment of the adipocytes with oleate did not affect HSL expression. These data show that glucose modulates HSL gene expression and hence could participate in the regulation of adipose tissue lipolysis.