Note: Optical filter method for high-resolution magnetostriction measurement using fiber Bragg grating under millisecond-pulsed high magnetic fields at cryogenic temperatures

High-resolution magnetostriction measurement of $\Delta L/L\sim10^{-6}$ at a speed of 5 MHz is performed, using optical filter method as the detection scheme for the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based strain monitor is performed under 35-millisecond pulsed high magnetic fields up to 45 T at 2.2 K. The resolution of magnetostriction is about the same order as the conventionally reported value from FBG based magnetostriction measurement systems for millisecond pulsed magnetic fields. The measurement speed is $\sim$100 times the conventional ones. Present system can be a faster alternative for the conventional FBG based magnetostriction measurement system for millisecond pulsed high magnetic fields.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Phase Structure of Four-dimensional Simplicial Quantum Gravity with a U(1) Gauge Field

The phase structure of four-dimensional simplicial quantum gravity coupled to U(1) gauge fields has been studied using Monte-Carlo simulations. The smooth phase is found in the intermediate region between the crumpled phase and the branched polymer phase. This new phase has a negative string susceptibility exponent, even if the number of vector fields (Nv) is 1. The phase transition between the crumpled phase and the smooth phase has been studied by a finite size scaling method. From the numerical results, we expect that this model (coupled to one gauge field) has a higher order phase transition than first order, which means the possibility to take the continuum limit at the critical point. Furthermore, we consider a modification of the balls-in-boxes model for a clear understanding of the relation between the numerical results and the analytical one.Comment: 18 pages, latex, 6 figures, uses psfig.st

Effects of the increase in co-payments from 20 to 30 percent on the compliance rate of patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus in the Employed Health Insurance System

Objectives: How to contain medical expenditures is a universal problem. The Japanese government has increased patient co-payments to control it. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether the increase in co-payments to 30 percent prevented patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus from receiving necessary care in the Employee Health Insurance System. Methods: The subjects were 211 patients with hypertension and 66 patients with diabetes mellitus who regularly visited physicians from October 2001 to March 2002 and were defined as a cohort that needed health care, and their medical indicators were examined between April and September 2002 (prestage) and between April and September 2003 (poststage). Results: In the hypertensive patients with no complications, the compliance rate was 89.9 percent and 88.0 percent in the prestage, and poststage, respectively, showing no significant change. In the hypertensive patients with complications, the compliance rate was 90.5 percent and 92.1 percent in the prestage and poststage, respectively, showing no significant change. In the diabetic patients with complications, the compliance rate was 77.5 percent and 79.2 percent, in the prestage and poststage, respectively, with no significant change. In the diabetic patients with no complications, however, the compliance rate was 83.7 percent and 66.7 percent, in the prestage and poststage, respectively. A significant decrease was observed among diabetic patients without complications. Conclusions: Increasing co-payments reduced necessary preventive care in diabetic patients without complications.</p

In-Out Intermittency in Gap Junction-Coupled Class I^* Neurons

In a series of papers, we have proposed a dynamical model for gap junction-coupled networks of class I^* neurons, and investigated its dynamic characters. We found various dynamic states in a model neural network with diffusively coupled class I¤ neuron models, called μ-models. Among others, hierarchies of intermittent transitions attracted attention in relation with real brain dynamics. This paper is devoted to report a mechanism of the first transition appeared in the intermittenly transitory dynamics among an all-synchronized state, various metachronal waves and a weakly chaotic state. We clarify that this intermittent transition is described as an in-out intermittency

Mining significant substructure pairs for interpreting polypharmacology in drug-target network.

A current key feature in drug-target network is that drugs often bind to multiple targets, known as polypharmacology or drug promiscuity. Recent literature has indicated that relatively small fragments in both drugs and targets are crucial in forming polypharmacology. We hypothesize that principles behind polypharmacology are embedded in paired fragments in molecular graphs and amino acid sequences of drug-target interactions. We developed a fast, scalable algorithm for mining significantly co-occurring subgraph-subsequence pairs from drug-target interactions. A noteworthy feature of our approach is to capture significant paired patterns of subgraph-subsequence, while patterns of either drugs or targets only have been considered in the literature so far. Significant substructure pairs allow the grouping of drug-target interactions into clusters, covering approximately 75% of interactions containing approved drugs. These clusters were highly exclusive to each other, being statistically significant and logically implying that each cluster corresponds to a distinguished type of polypharmacology. These exclusive clusters cannot be easily obtained by using either drug or target information only but are naturally found by highlighting significant substructure pairs in drug-target interactions. These results confirm the effectiveness of our method for interpreting polypharmacology in drug-target network

TEM Observation of the Ti Interlayer Between SiC Substrates During Diffusion Bonding

Diffusion bonding was carried out to join SiC to SiC substrates using titanium interlayers. In this study, 10 m and 20 m thick physical vapor deposited (PVD) Ti surface coatings, and 10 and 20 m thick Ti foils were used. Diffusion bonding was performed at 1250 C for PVD Ti coatings and 1200 C for Ti foil. This study investigates the microstructures of the phases formed during diffusion bonding through TEM and selected-area diffraction analysis of a sample prepared with an FIB, which allows samples to be taken from the reacted area. In all samples, Ti3SiC2, Ti5Si3Cx and TiSi2 phases were identified. In addition, TiC and unknown phases also appeared in the samples in which Ti foils were used as interlayers. Furthermore, Ti3SiC2 phases show high concentration and Ti5Si3Cx formed less when samples were processed at a higher temperature and thinner interlayer samples were used. It appears that the formation of microcracks is caused by the presence of intermediate phase Ti5Si3Cx, which has anisotropic thermal expansion, and by the presence of an unidentified Ti-Si-C ternary phase with relatively low Si content

Effects of an increase in patient copayments on medical service demands of the insured in japan

Objectives:To examine quantitatively the effects of an increase in patient copayments from 10% to 20% on the demand for medical services in Japan. Methods: The subjects of the study were the employees insured by the 1,797 health insurance societies, belonging to the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, in 1996 and 1998. Indicators of medical service demands analyzed include the inpatient, outpatient, and dental case rates, the number of serviced days per case, the medical cost per day and the medical cost per insured. Results: When the effects of an increase in patient copayments from 10% to 20% were evaluated, taking into account the average age, the average monthly salary, the total number, the gender (male-tofemale) ratio and the dependent ratio of the insured, the estimated change in the case rate was &#8722;6.96% for inpatient, &#8722;4.79% for outpatient, and &#8722;5.77% for dental care. The estimated change in the number of serviced day per case was &#8722;4.66% for inpatient, &#8722;5.67% for outpatient, and &#8722;1.82% for dental care. The estimated change in the medical cost per day was &#8722;3.15% for inpatient, &#8722;13.00% for outpatient, and &#8722;11.48% for dental care. The estimated change in the medical cost per insured was &#8722;14.08% for inpatient, &#8722;21.54% for outpatient, and &#8722;18.11% for dental care. Conclusions: The increase in patient copayments from 10% to 20% enabled insurers to substantially reduce medical costs by cost shifting from the insurer to the insured, with resultant changes in the case rate and the number of service days per case.</p

Height Distribution of Cutting Edges in the Grinding Process

application/pdfArticle大阪府立工業高等専門学校研究紀要, 1971, 5, p.25-34departmental bulletin pape

Effects of a self-management program on antiemetic-induced constipation during chemotherapy among breast cancer patients: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Research on patient-reported outcomes indicates that constipation is a common adverse effect of chemotherapy, and the use of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin; 5HT3) receptor antagonists aggravates this condition. As cancer patients take multiple drugs as a part of their clinical management, a non-pharmacological self-management (SM) of constipation would be recommended. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a SM program on antiemetic-induced constipation in cancer patients. Thirty patients with breast cancer, receiving 5HT3 receptor antagonists to prevent emesis during chemotherapy were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. The SM program consisted of abdominal massage, abdominal muscle stretching, and education on proper defecation position. The intervention group started the program before the first chemotherapy cycle, whereas patients in the wait-list control group received the program on the day before their second chemotherapy cycle. The primary outcome was constipation severity, assessed by the constipation assessment scale (CAS, sum of eight components). The secondary outcome included each CAS component (0-2 points) and mood states. A self-reported assessment of satisfaction with the program was performed. The program produced a statistically and clinically significant alleviation of constipation severity (mean difference in CAS, -3.00; P = 0.02), decrease in the likelihood of a small volume of stool (P = 0.03), and decrease in depression and dejection (P = 0.02). With regards to program satisfaction, 43.6 and 26.4 % patients rated the program as excellent and good, respectively. Our SM program is effective for mitigating the symptoms of antiemetic-induced constipation during chemotherapy