Robust stability—degree assignment and its applications to the control of flexible structures

A new method of robust controller synthesis is introduced which is an extension of robust stabilization to robust stability-degree assignment. This method guarantees a lower bound of stability degree for all uncertainties within a prescribed magnitude band. The method is applied to the control of four types of flexible structures, namely, colocated beam, non-colocated beam, beam with moving base and large scale satellite model. Excellent performances have been obtained experimentally with respect to the response speed and the robustness.     

Tricresyl phosphate residue in garland chrysanthemum and its origin

Unknown peaks were detected in the chromatogram of garland chrysanthemum extract in analysis of organophosphorus pesticide residues. The unknown peaks were identified as isomers of tricresyl phosphate (TCP) by GC/MS. TCP is used as a plasticizer in polyvinyl chloride, and there is no report of its detection in foods. Therefore, we investigated the origin of TCP detected in garland chrysanthemum. We found no effect of contact with packaging film or polyvinyl chloride sheet used in greenhouses. However, TCP was detected at 0.03 microg/g (average) in 16 of 20 samples of garland chrysanthemum that had been in contact with polyvinyl chloride tubing used for warming greenhouses. These results indicate that TCP migrated to the garland chrysanthemum from the tubing used to keep greenhouses warm.     

On the Way to Experimental Test of the Time Reversal Invariance in the Nuclear Reactions

Time (T) violation can be related with charge-parity (CP) violation through the CPT theorem. The CP violation was discovered experimentally in the K₀-meson decays about 35 years ago. The T violating interaction related with the CP violation violates parity as well. However, an extension of the theory beyond the locality of the interactions might violate the CPT theorem. The result of the CPLEAR experiment [1], which has given direct evidence of T violation in the elementary-particle phenomena, could be considered under assumption of the CPT invariance.     

Strategic hope-focused relationship-enrichment counseling with individual couples.

Strategic hope-focused relationship enrichment is a brief, eclectic, research-based program to enhance couples' relationships. Couples (N?=?51; 16 married, 24 cohabiting, 11 engaged) completed 5 sessions of enrichment counseling (n?=?26) or 3 written assessments (n?=?25) from 1 of 12 counselors. Couples receiving enrichment counseling had higher relationship satisfaction and quality-of-couple skills at posttest and at the 3-week follow-up than did written-assessment-only (control) couples. Conditions did not differ in terms of quality of overall attraction or 2 measures of commitment. We concluded that relationship enrichment using this program was effective, powerful, and cost-effective. Future research should focus on testing the effectiveness of the program presented in a group format. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus with ectopic gastrin production. Report of a case and review of the literature

A case of primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus in which extensive hormonal studies could be performed is reported. The tumor was considered as a neuroendocrine tumor because the tumor cells showed intracytoplasmic argyrophilia, neurosecretory granules, and positive stain for neuron-specific enolase with Grimelius stain, electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Furthermore, the tumor was regarded as a gastrin-producing tumor because of positive stain for gastrin in the tumor cells. The present case is the first case of primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus with ectopic gastric production.     

Determination of transmembrane topology of an inward-rectifying potassium channel from Arabidopsis thaliana based on functional expression in Escherichia coli

We report here that the inward-rectifying potassium channels KAT1 and AKT2 were functionally expressed in K+ uptake-deficient Escherichia coli. Immunological assays showed that KAT1 was translocated into the cell membrane of E. coli. Functional assays suggested that KAT1 was inserted topologically correctly into the cell membrane. In control experiments, the inactive point mutation in KAT1, T256R, did not complement for K+ uptake in E. coli. The inward-rectifying K+ channels of plants share a common hydrophobic domain comprising at least six membrane-spanning segments (S1-S6). The finding that a K+ channel can be expressed in bacteria was further exploited to determine the KAT1 membrane topology by a gene fusion approach using the bacterial reporter enzymes, alkaline phosphatase, which is active only in the periplasm, and beta-galactosidase. The enzyme activity from the alkaline phosphatase and beta-galactosidase fusion plasmid showed that the widely predicted S1, S2, S5, and S6 segments were inserted into the membrane. Although the S3 segment in the alkaline phosphatase fusion protein could not function as an export signal, the replacement of a negatively charged residue inside S3 with a neutral amino acid resulted in an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity, which indicates that the alkaline phosphatase was translocated into the periplasm. For membrane translocation of S3, the neutralization of a negatively charged residue in S3 may be required presumably because of pairing with a positively charged residue of S4. These results revealed that KAT1 has the common six transmembrane-spanning membrane topology that has been predicted for the Shaker superfamily of voltage-dependent K+ channels. Furthermore, the functional complementation of a bacterial K+ uptake mutant in this study is shown to be an alternative expression system for plant K+ channel proteins and a potent tool for their topological analysis.     

Mo base superconducting materials prepared by multi-target reactive sputtering

With an aim of developing new types of superconducting materials, Mo-N films and Mo/Si multi-layered films were fabricated by reactive and two-target sputtering methods, respectively. The superconducting properties such as Tc, Hc2and Jcwere examined. The crystal structure of Mo-N films changed from bcc to fcc with increasing N2gas flow rate during sputtering and a homogeneous fcc Mo2N superconductor was obtained. On the other hand, the superconducting characteristics of the Mo/Si multi-layered film with a layer spacing 32.3 Å were confirmed to be similar to those of amorphous Mo-Si alloys except the occurrence of anisotropic vortex pinning.     

Ulcerative colitis with overexpression of p53 preceding overt histological abnormalities of the epithelium

Laser-induced fluorescence of pheophorbide a (Ph-a) was used for in vitro photodynamic imaging (PDI) of a rat pancreatic acinar tumor. A 400 nm excitation induced a 470 nm autofluorescence and a 678 nm dye fluorescence in tumors and their surrounding pancreas 24 h after a 9 mg kg-1 body weight Ph-a intravenous administration. With lower intensities in these blood-rich tumors than in pancreas, Ph-a fluorescence signals are unable to provide tumor images. A dimensionless function (the ratio of Ph-a fluorescence by autofluorescence, called Rt for the tumor and Rp for the pancreas) was used for fluorescence contrast calculation (C = Rt/Rp) between six tumors and their paired pancreas. Among five available laser excitation wave-lengths, only the 355 nm excitation gave a distinctive contrast (C = 1.5). The PDI of six intrapancreatic tumors and their intraperitoneal metastasis and of two control normal pancreas was thus performed ex vivo using a 355 nm excitation source delivered by a tripled Nd:YAG laser and a charged-coupled device camera. Fluorescence images were recorded at 680 nm (dye), 640 nm (background) and 470 nm (autofluorescence) through three corresponding 10 nm width bandpass filters. Computed division for each pixel of Ph-a fluorescence values by autofluorescence generated false color image. In this way, contrasted tumor images were obtained. But in five out of six animals false-positive images were present due to an autofluorescence decrease in some normal pancreatic areas. A 470 nm autofluorescence imaging on the same tumors gave in all cases false-positive image and false-negative in half of the cases. These observations suggest that autofluorescence alone is unable to achieve accurate PDI of pancreatic carcinoma and that using Ph-a as a PDI dye needs strong improvements.