Periodic Accumulation of Voids Observed in Calcium Phosphate Glass-Ceramics

After the crystallization of calcium phosphate glass, a pattern of stripes like the rings of a tree is observed in the glass-ceramic. The pattern of stripes, formed only from a particular glass composition and under specific crystallization conditions, is made up of voids resulting from a difference in density between the original glass and the resulting glass-ceramic. The size and distribution pattern of these voids must be controlled to achieve maximum mechanical properties.     

Design and performance of a multifiber backpanel type connector

A compact multifiber backpanel type connector has been constructed by applying backpanel housings to multifiber push-on (MPO) type plugs. Fabricated backpanel type connectors for 8-fiber ribbons exhibit a low insertion loss of 0.2 dB and a high return loss of 60 dB.     

A juxtaglomerular cell tumor. Analysis of immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy and in situ hybridization

We investigated the prognosis of completely resected 119 non-small cell lung cancer patients according to the invaded organs. There was no significant difference in prognosis between T3N0M0 and T3N1M0 patients (5-year survival rate: 34% vs. 38%). However, the prognosis of T3N2M0 patients (5-year survival rate: 11%) was too poor to be regarded as the same category. Therefore, we investigated only T3N0M0 and T3N1M0 patients to assess the contribution of the invaded organs to prognosis. Of the 5 patients with diaphragm invasion, there was no 3-year survivor, and the prognosis of patients with diaphragm invasion was very poor. The chest wall invasion was divided into three parts: parietal pleural invasion, subpleural tissue invasion and intercostal muscular invasion. The 5-year survival rates of patients with such invasion was 35%, 29% and 27%, respectively. The patients with Pancoast tumor had very poor prognosis. T3 factor was heterogeneous, and the prognosis of the patients with T3 tumor was various according to invaded organs.     

Radioactivity confinement capability of “PARC” concept for the future reprocessing

Aiming at TRU waste arising reduction and economical competitiveness for the future reprocessing, is proposed an advanced process concept which is named PARC (Partitioning Conundrum Key) process. Enhancement of confinement capability for long-lived nuclides in a simplified Purex process is the primary subject of this R&D project. Technologies for long-lived nuclide recovery are under development, focused on ¹⁴C and ¹²⁹I in head end, ²³⁷Np and ⁹⁹Tc in extraction, and ²⁴¹Am the daughter of ²⁴¹Pu in effluents. Those nuclides focused here are mobile in the environment and highly concerned as potential hazardous among the long-lived nuclides in spent fuels. New functions in PARC process concept are designed to mitigate the environmental impacts of reprocessing wastes and also to improve economy of reprocessing in the future.     

Surface induction motor for two‐dimensional drive

In this paper, the authors propose an induction type surface or planar motor for smooth two‐dimensional drive including rotating operation. The secondary member is composed of the flat conducting plate without directional qualities and the back‐iron plate as secondary yoke. The primary member is composed of the torodial core and the armature winding which can supply the current in every coil embedded in a slot. For the rotating drive, all the coils are used and the same rotating magnetic field as an ordinary rotating motor is generated. For the linear drive, a partial rotating field is generated in the direction of movement in each region separated into two groups every half of toroidal core. For the armature winding, two types of methods are used which are a ring‐winding supplied current at each slot and a double‐layer‐winding supplied current to each coil. The two‐dimensional electromagnetic analysis in Cartesian coordinate system is shown for the analysis, in which an effect of circular shape is considered as an edge effect. The thrust and normal force characteristics at standstill were confirmed practically by using test machine. It was cleared that the surface motor had high transformation rate of about 79% for thrust in spite of the circular shape. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(4): 107–115, 2000     

Effect of interleukin 1 beta-induced fever on hepatic drug metabolism in rat

In stratified squamous epithelia a critical balance among cell proliferation, differentiation, and death must be maintained in order for these tissues to fulfill their barrier function. Previous studies have demonstrated that plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 (PAI-2) is a product of differentiating epidermal keratinocytes, suggesting a role for this inhibitor during squamous differentiation. Furthermore, in certain tumor cell lines, overexpression of PAI-2 confers resistance to the induction of programmed cell death, suggesting cytoprotective function(s). In the present study we demonstrate that PAI-2 mRNA and protein are constitutively and uniquely expressed in differentiating cells of murine stratified squamous epithelia, including epidermis, esophagus, vagina, oral mucosa, and tongue. PAI-2 immunohistochemical localization patterns suggest a predominantly cytosolic distribution, consistent with biochemical identification of the major PAI-2 species as a 43-kDa, presumably non-glycosylated protein. Functional analysis shows that the majority of epithelial PAI-2 is active. In contrast to the high levels of PAI-2 expression in stratified squamous epithelia, little or no PAI-2 is detectable in simple epithelia. These findings suggest that epithelial PAI-2 may mediate inhibition of intracellular proteinases associated with events during terminal differentiation and death that are unique to stratified squamous epithelia.     

Preparation of Void-Free Calcium Phosphate Glass-Ceramics

Voids frequently form on crystallization of calcium phosphate glasses because of the density difference between the original glass and the resulting glass-ceramic. However, the calcium phosphate glass-ceramic with a composition of 40CaO · 50P₂O₅· 10Al₂O₃ (mol%) has a density nearly equal to that of the original glass; this is caused by the formation of AlPO₄, which has a lower density than Ca(PO₃)₂. The glass-ceramic, being void-free, shows improved mechanical properties.     

Partial balance of nitrogen in a maize cropping system in humic nitisol of Central Kenya

The application of nitrogen in a soil under agricultural production is subject to several pathways including de-nitrification, leaching and recovery by an annual crop. This is as well greatly influenced by the management practices, nitrogen source and soil conditions. The main objective of this study was to investigate the loss of nitrogen (N) through nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions and mineral N leaching and uptake by annual crop as influenced by the N source. The study was carried out at Kabete in Central Kenya. Measurements were taken during the second season after two seasons of repeated application of N as urea and Tithonia diversifolia (tithonia) leaves. Results obtained indicated that nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions at 4 weeks after planting were as high as 12.3 μg N m ⁻² h⁻¹ for tithonia treatment and 2.9 μg N m⁻² h⁻¹ for urea treatment. Tithonia green biomass treatment was found to emit N₂O at relatively higher rate compared to urea treatment. This was only evident during the fourth week after treatment application.Soil mineral N content at the end of the season increased down the profile. This was evident in the three treatments (urea, tithonia and control) investigated in the study. Urea treatment exhibited significantly higher mineral N content down the soil profile (9% of the applied N) compared to tithonia (0.6% of the applied N). This was attributed to the washing down of the nitrate-N from the topsoil accumulating in the lower layers of the soil profile. However, there was no significant difference in N content down the soil profile between tithonia treatment and the control. It could be concluded that there was no nitrate leaching in the tithonia treatment. Nitrogen recovery by the maize crop was higher in the urea treatment (76% of the applied N) as compared to tithonia treatment (55.5% of the applied N). This was also true for the residual mineral N in the soil at the end of the season which was about 7.8% of the applied N in the urea treatment and 5.2% in the tithonia treatment.From this study, it was therefore evident that although there is relatively lower N recovery by maize supplied with tithonia green biomass compared to maize supplied with urea, more nitrogen is being lost (through leaching) from the soil–plant system in the urea applied plots than in tithonia applied plots. However, a greater percentage (37.8%) of the tithonia-applied N could not be accounted for and might have been entrapped in the soil organic matter unlike urea-applied N whose greater percentage (92%) could be accounted for.