Phase II study of 3-hour infusion of paclitaxel in previously untreated non-small cell lung cancer

Paclitaxel has clinical activity in non-small cell lung cancer, with response rates of 21 and 24% in a 24-h infusion. Recent clinical studies have shown that a 3-h infusion of the drug with premedication did not result in hypersensitivity reactions, and that neutropenia was milder in the 3-h than in the 24-h schedule. In this Phase II study, we tried to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of paclitaxel given over 3 h in patients with previously untreated, unresectable stage III or IV non-small cell lung cancer. In addition, we attempted to investigate the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the drug. Paclitaxel was administered i.v. over 3 h at a dose of 210 mg/m2 every 3 weeks with premedication of dexamethasone, ranitidine, and diphenhydramine. Heparinized blood samples were obtained from 12 patients for pharmacokinetic studies. Twenty-three (38%) of 60 assessable patients achieved a partial response, with a median duration of 3.2 (range, 2.3-11.1) months. The median survival for all patients was 11.2 months, and the 1-year survival rate was 48%. Thirty (50%) patients developed grade 4 neutropenia. Nonhematological toxicities were mild, except for pulmonary toxicity in one (1.7%) patient who required mechanical ventilatory support for 4 days. The duration of the paclitaxel concentration above 0.1 microM correlated well with the percentage of decrease in the absolute neutrophil count. In conclusion, a 3-h infusion of paclitaxel was safe and probably not less effective than a 24-h infusion.     

Operating Conditions for High Production Rates of Ethanol in a Continuous Two‐Stage Fermenter with Cell Recycle

A continuous two‐stage fermenter with cell recycle at each stage is studied numerically for efficient production of ethanol. In this system, both filtrate and bleed from the first stage are provided to the second fermenter. Using a product‐inhibition kinetic model with different saturation constants, operating conditions giving the maximum ethanol productivity attainable at high substrate conversions are examined. For high substrate conversions close to complete consumption, the ethanol productivities predicted for this system are found to be higher than those for a single‐stage system and a previous two‐stage configuration at the same bleed ratios.     

Effects of hot SF/sub 6/ on post-arc circuit breaker design

SF/sub 6/ is blown through the arc during interruption of an SF/sub 6/ puffer circuit breaker. This hot gas flows down an exhaust tube into the chamber of a dead tank circuit breaker where it can lower the dielectric withstand between the exhaust tube and the tank of the circuit breaker, leading to dielectric breakdown during the transient recovery voltage after clearing. This paper presents experimental evidence that any such breakdown is controlled by the hot gas near the exhaust tube, with cold gas in the remainder of gap having little effect on the breakdown voltage. This experimental conclusion is supported by a detailed theory for conditions under which breakdown can occur.     

Development of an ultralight, flexible a-Si solar cell submodule

An ultralight, flexible a-Si solar cell fabricated on a polyimide film substrate has been developed. It was found that prebaking the polyimide film substrate improved the output performance of the cell by reducing the amount of H₂0 and polymers released from the substrate. Also, using an i-layer fabricated at high temperature (250°C) and a p-layer fabricated at low temperature (80°C) improved the cell's output performance to a level of over 10%. A maximum output of 782.4 mW and a power-to-weight ratio of 340 mW/g were obtained for an integrated-type flexible a-Si solar cell submodule with a size of 113 mm × 120 mm.     

STEADY-STATE PERFORMANCE OF A MULTI-STAGE BUBBLE COLUMN BIOREACTOR WITH SUBSTRATE LIMITED MICROBIAL GROWTH

The steady-state performance of a multi-stage bubble column bioreactor in which substrate limited microbial growth proceeds is investigated numerically. The back-flow model for representing longitudinal mixing of the liquid phase and the Monod kinetic equation for cell growth are employed here. The influence of the endogenous metabolism of cells is also taken into account. The concentration profiles of substrate and cells, the substrate conversion, the washout condition and the cell productivity are discussed. The effects of various model parameters, especially the back-flow ratio, on such reactor characteristics are presented as equations or figures. Optimal reactor conditions are determined.     

Automatic analysis of geologic structure from dip-strike data

A new technique for structural analysis is described. From dip-strike data, a dip—strike distribution map, structure contour map, and block diagram are automatically prepared on an X-Y plotter by using four computer programs. Three test examples of theoretical data are treated as well as an actual example. The Izumi Group (Upper Cretaceous) is revealed to have a more complicated structure than previously recognized.     

Influence of high growth rates on evaporated Cu(In,Ga)Se2 layers and solar cells

Thin film solar cells based on polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ were prepared by elemental co‐evaporation using modified three‐stage processes on soda lime glass substrates at a low substrate temperature of 450°C intended for application on polyimide foils. The growth rates in the different stages of the growth process were varied, and it was observed that the final composition profile and structural quality of the film are mainly determined by the growth rate in the third stage. Application of high growth rates in the second stage was found to have no significant impact on layer morphology and gallium grading profile, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and x‐ray diffraction measurements. On the other hand, scanning electron microscopy cross sections revealed that high growth rates in the third stage lead to a fine‐grained structure toward the surface as well as smaller grains toward the back contact. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy and x‐ray diffraction measurements of such layers revealed a pronounced gallium grading profile, while Raman spectroscopy showed strong occurrence of group III‐rich phases in the near‐surface region. The final device performance was found to deteriorate by about 10% relative to the baseline process efficiency when growth rates of up to 500 nm min⁻¹ were applied in the second stage or 600 nm min⁻¹ in the third stage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Switchgear component commonality design based on trade-off analysis among inventory level,delivery lead-time and product performance

The shortening of product delivery lead-times can usually be achieved by keeping high-level components in inventory, however in small-volume production systems, maintaining such inventories is often a costly as well as a risky business strategy. If the risk of maintaining unsold inventory can be decreased, even small-volume manufacturers may be able to justify holding more significant quantities of versatile inventory. This paper discusses a component commonality effect to breakthrough the trade-off relationship between inventory levels and delivery lead-times for such small-volume production systems. By using the same component in different products, inventory maintenance costs can be dramatically reduced, but component commonality design problems are inherently complex, since excessive module commonality may lead to lower product performances, and there are trade-off relationships between product performance and cost reductions obtained through component commonality. In this paper, such a design problem is formulated as a multiobjective component commonality design optimisation problem considering inventory level, delivery lead-time and product performance, and the optimal solutions are obtained as a Pareto optimal solution set. Detailed procedures concerning the proposed design method, including inventory simulation, are discussed and developed for a switchgear design problem. Finally, an example switchgear design problem is solved to illustrate that optimal use of component commonalities across different modules can significantly reduce inventory costs, while also shortening product delivery lead-times.     

Effect of Ba deoxidation on oxygen content in NiTi alloys and non-metallic inclusions

The effect of Ba deoxidation on the oxygen content and non-metallic inclusions in NiTi alloys was investigated. The NiTi alloy melt was held in a CaO crucible at 1673 K under Ar gas flow for 0–600 s. Metallic Ba (0.5–1.5 mass% with respect to NiTi alloy melt) was added to the melt. After melting, oxygen content of 710 and 330 mass ppm decreased to 210 and 130 mass ppm, respectively, after a holding time of 300 s after the addition of Ba. The oxygen in the melts was reduced to as low as 64 mass ppm after a second Ba deoxidation. The non-metallic inclusions observed in the NiTi alloys were the Ti₄Ni₂O _X and Ti(C,N,O) _X types. Decreased oxygen content through Ba deoxidation caused a change in the main phase of the non-metallic inclusions from the Ti₄Ni₂O _X type to the Ti(C,N,O) _X type, and a decrease in the area percents of the non-metallic inclusions.     

A confidence value estimation method for handwritten Kanji character recognition and its application to candidate reduction

This paper describes a method for estimating a confidence value (CV) by which we can express the potential correctness of handwritten Kanji character recognition candidates. An accumulated confidence value (ACV), calculated as the sum of CVs, is also applied to reduce the number of candidates. Such reduction is vital to increasing the speed of such applications as Kanji address recognition, and it also reduces the probability of misreadings in linguistic postprocessing. Sorted sets of character candidates, ranked in increasing order of each candidates distance value, are used as feature vectors. A CV is defined as the a posteriori probability with respect to each rank. To obtain good quality approximations of probability density functions (PDFs), we introduce a subspace within which correct data can easily be separated from erroneous data and then estimate PDF parameters over this subspace. Next, we use an ACV as a measure for expressing a threshold for candidate acceptance in Kanji character recognition. The efficiency of the proposed method is evaluated in an experiment using IPTP CD-ROM2 Japanese address images, and a comparison with the results for a conventional method shows that a roughly 35% reduction in the number of candidates is obtained without reducing the number of correct candidates.Received: 29 October 2001, Accepted: 30 September 2003, Published online: 1 April 2004Correspondence to: Eiki Ishidera