Neural mechanism of pupillary dilation elicited by electro-acupuncture stimulation in anesthetized rats

The neural mechanisms to reflex dilation elicited by electro-acupuncture stimulation were investigated in anesthetized rats. Two needles, with 160 microns diameter and about 5 mm apart, were inserted into the skin and underlying muscle of a hindpaw. Repetitive 20 Hz, 0.5 ms electrical pulses at various intensities were used for stimulation for 30s. The pupil size was magnified about 44 times via a microscope and was continuously recorded on a videotape. Electro-acupuncture stimulation at more than 0.5 up to 6 mA induced stimulus intensity-dependent pupil dilation. These responses were abolished by the severance of the sciatic and saphenous nerve of the stimulated hindlimb. Compound action potentials were recorded from the distal cut end of the tibial of a saphenous nerve following electro-acupuncture stimulation of the hindpaw. The mean threshold of the compound action potentials of the myelinated fibers in saphenous nerves was 0.18 mA, while that of unmyelinated fibers was 3.0 mA. The mean threshold of the compound action potentials of the myelinated fibers in the tibial nerve was 0.20 mA of unmyelinated fibers was 3.3 mA. Severance of bilateral trunks did not affect the response, while severance of the third cranial nerves abolished the responses. In conclusion, electro-acupuncture stimulation applied to the hindpaws of the anesthetized rats induced excitation of myelinated or of both myelinated and unmyelinated afferent fibers of the tibial and saphenous nerve, and involved a reflex response of pupil dilation through the third cranial parasympathetic efferent nerve.     

遥操作工程机器人系统临场感技术研究-6自由度临场运动感觉反馈技术的研究进展

 研究开发出一种遥操作工程机器人系统，可以应用于诸如火灾现场的修复作业等广阔的领域．该系统由伺服控制的工程机器人、2根从远处操纵工程机器人的操纵杆、视频系统和6自由度运动模拟器组成．操作者坐于座椅上，座椅固定于运动模拟器的上方． 该系统需要解决的一个关键问题是如何使操纵者高质量地获得工作现场的临场运动感觉． 提出了一种6自由度临场运动感觉反馈方法，其信号源来自工程机器人上安装的6个加速度传感器． 该方法的有效性已为实验所证明，即应用6自由度运动模拟器不但可以高质量地模拟工程机器人单个自由度的运动：滚动、俯仰、转动以及前后、左右、上下的平移，而且可以高质量地模拟工程机器人的各种复合运动．     

Geochemical characteristics of the Yufuin outflow plume, Beppu hydrothermal system, Japan

Thermal water at Yufuin (Kyushu Island, Japan) is tapped through about 820 shallow wells and used mainly for hot-spring bathing purposes. Chemical and isotopic data for fluids from wells and fumaroles in Yufuin and Beppu indicate that the thermal activity at Yufuin represents a dilute, westward-flowing hydrothermal outflow plume from the Beppu hydrothermal system. Two other (eastward-flowing) outflow plumes have long been recognized at Beppu, but the Yufuin outflow plume is first recognized here. The Yufuin outflow plume is apparently a mixture of two end-member fluids: (1) deep high-temperature (250–300°C) fluid from the Beppu system having high chloride concentration (1400–1600 mg/L) and a δ¹⁸O value near −6.0%, and (2) meteoric water having low chloride concentration (≤7 mg/L) and a δ¹⁸O value near −9.2%.A permeable conduit for the vertical and lateral transport of deep fluid from the Beppu system is provided by the Yufuin Fault zone, which extends westward from the southern flank of Mt. Tsurumi volcano to the town of Yufuin. Stable isotope ratios and chloride concentrations for shallow groundwaters near the eastern end of the fault, at an elevation near 700 m, are consistent with those required for the low-chloride meteoric end-member of the Yufuin thermal waters. Recharge of this meteoric water, as well as mixing with the Beppu deep fluid, may occur along the Yufuin Fault. Enthalpy-chloride relations indicate additional conductive heating of the Yufuin waters, in the amount of 350–500 kJ/kg beyond that which can be accounted for by mixing between Beppu deep fluid and meteoric water. This could be a result of conductive heating with convection to a depth of 1–2 km. Estimates of the magnitude of the heat source for the Beppu hydrothermal system should take into account the heat being discharged at Yufuin.     

A feasibility study of a direct-mapping parallel processing method to solve linear equations in load-flow calculation

With the growing size and complexity of power systems, system analysis—such as transients calculation—takes much time. Hence, fast calculation methods are required. Although parallel processing is a hopeful method, there have been difficulties in the parallel solution of linear equations which appear in power-flow calculations by the Newton-Raphson method. This paper aims at the fast calculation of the power-flow problem by means of parallel processing. In order to improve the suitability to the parallel solution of the differential equation in transients calculation, we assume the use of a direct-mapping parallel processing machine to map directly the network of a power system onto a network of processors. Under this assumption, we propose a new parallel-processing-oriented method in which the linear equation is solved by linear iterations between nodes with Aitken acceleration. We simulate the method on three model power systems and compare this Parallel Iterative Method (PIN) with a Parallel Direct Method (PDM) which uses the banded matrix according to the number of operations required. As a result, we can expect that PIM may solve linear equations faster than PDM with m processors, although the PIM might be inferior to the PDM with m × m processors, where m denotes the half-band width of the banded matrix.     

CREEP-FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH AND FRACTOGRAPHY OF A TYPE 304 STAINLESS STEEL AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURE

Abstract— Creep-fatigue crack growth behaviour of a Type 304 stainless steel under four types of reversed loading patterns (P-P, P-C, C-P and C-C) was investigated and the results are discussed in the light of fracture mechanics and fractography. The crack growth rate for all of the four types of loading was successfully correlated in terms of the cyclic integral range λ J. It was unnecessary, for practical purpose, to divide Ay into a fatigue component, λ J _f, and a creep component, λ J _c, as has been done elsewhere. The transition of the correlating fracture mechanics parameter from fatigue to creep was not necessarily associated with the fracture morphology. This was related to the longer transition hold time in morphology in C-C type loading compared to C-P type loading, and was attributed to recovery of grain boundary sliding during the compression hold in the C-C type loading.     

Carcinosarcoma of the rectosigmoid colon: report of a case

We report an unusual case of carcinosarcoma of the colon. An 80-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with lower abdominal pain. Computed tomography showed a large pelvic mass, 18cm in maximal diameter, and barium enema and colonoscopy both showed a type-2 tumor in the sigmoid colon. We performed Hartmann's procedure with resection of the ileocolic segment. Immunohistochemical stains of the resected specimen revealed that most of the tumor consisted of spindle cell sarcoma with neural and muscle differentiation, while only the superficial area of an ulcerated lesion contained adenocarcinoma positive for carcinoembryonic antigen. The patient died of a fast-growing recurrent pelvic tumor 6 months postoperatively. Our experience of this case and our review of eight other cases in the English literature indicate that wide resection provides the best chance of cure, but careful postoperative follow-up is essential.     

Heavy arsenic doping of silicon grown by atmospheric pressure selective epitaxial chemical vapor deposition

Selective epitaxial Si with a high arsenic concentration of 2.2×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³ was deposited at a high growth rate of 3.3 nm/min under atmospheric pressure. It was confirmed that this method had excellent selectivity and produced films having good crystalline quality, abrupt dopant profiles at the interfaces, and smooth surfaces. The growth mechanism is discussed in terms of the relationship between the effects of arsenic surface segregation and etching by hydrogen chloride.     

Investigation of the effect of surface phosphate ester dispersant on viscosity by coarse-grain modeling of BaTiO slurry

To understand the role of phosphate ester dispersant, we investigated the rheology of a BaTiO slurry. For the model case, a coarse-grain molecular dynamics (CGMD) simulation was performed with the butyral polymer didodecyl hydrogen phosphate (DHP) in the toluene/ethanol solvent. By systematically analyzing the effect of DHP from an atomic-scale first principle and from all-atom MD to microscale CGMD simulation, we investigated how the adsorption of a DHP dispersant on a BaTiO surface affects the microstructure rheology of a BaTiO slurry. The first-principle and all-atom MD simulation suggests that DHP molecules prefer to locate near the BaTiO surface. CGMD simulation shows a reduction in viscosity with an increase in dispersants, suggesting that the dispersant population near the BaTiO surface plays a key role in controlling the rheology of the BaTiO slurry. In this study, we propose an approach for understanding the BaTiO slurry with molecular-level simulations, which would be a useful tool for efficient optimization of slurry preparation.     

Development of a high‐resolution RGBW flexible display using a white organic light‐emitting diode with microcavity structure and that of a side‐roll touch panel

In this study, white organic electroluminescent devices with microcavity structures were developed. A flexible high‐resolution active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode display with low power consumption using red, green, blue, and white sub‐pixels formed by a color‐filter method was fabricated. In addition, a side‐roll touch display was developed in combination with a capacitive flexible touch screen.