Control of secondary flow in a low solidity circular cascade diffuser

According to the previous experimental works on the low solidity circular cascade diffuser (LSD), a pressure recovery of a centrifugal blower was improved by the LSD significantly in a wide range of flow rate, and the pressure recovery was improved further by the LSD with a tandem cascade in comparison with the LSD with a single- row cascade. In the present study, the flow behavior in the LSD with the tandem cascade has been analyzed numerically by using the commercial CFD code of ANSYS-CFX12. It was shown clearly that the higher pressure recovery was achieved by applying the LSD with the tandem cascade, and the high pressure recovery is based on the high pressure rise in the vaneless space upstream of the LSD and the high blade loading of the front blade of the LSD. The high pressure recovery in the LSD could be achieved by controlling the flow separation on the suction surface of the front blade and also on that of the rear blade due to formation of the favorable secondary flow and due to increase in mass flow passing through the slit section between the front and rear blades

Polyclonal Immunoglobulin Recovery after Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Is an Independent Prognostic Factor for Survival Outcome in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

We retrospectively analyzed multiple myeloma (MM) patients who underwent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) without maintenance therapy to assess the impact of recovery of normal immunoglobulin (Ig) on clinical outcomes. The recovery of polyclonal Ig was defined as normalization of all values of serum IgG, IgA, and IgM 1 year after ASCT. Among 50 patients, 26 patients showed polyclonal Ig recovery; 14 patients were in ≥complete response (CR) and 12 remained in non-CR after ASCT. The patients with Ig recovery exhibited a significantly better progression-free survival (PFS, median, 46.8 vs. 26.7 months, p = 0.0071) and overall survival (OS, median, not reached vs. 65.3 months, p < 0.00001) compared with those without Ig recovery. The survival benefits of Ig recovery were similarly observed in ≥CR patients (median OS, not reached vs. 80.5 months, p = 0.061) and non-CR patients (median OS, not reached vs. 53.2 months, p = 0.00016). Multivariate analysis revealed that non-CR and not all Ig recovery were independent prognostic factors for PFS (HR, 4.284, 95%CI (1.868–9.826), p = 0.00059; and HR, 2.804, 95%CI (1.334–5.896), p = 0.0065, respectively) and also for OS (HR, 8.245, 95%CI (1.528–44.47), p = 0.014; and HR, 36.55, 95%CI (3.942–338.8), p = 0.0015, respectively). Therefore, in addition to the depth of response, the recovery of polyclonal Ig after ASCT is a useful indicator especially for long-term outcome and might be considered to prevent overtreatment with maintenance therapy in transplanted patients with MM

Reliability and validity of the patient disability-oriented diagnostic nomenclature system for prosthetic dentistry

Purpose: The Japan Prosthodontic Society (JPS) has proposed a new diagnostic nomenclature system (DNS), based on pathogenesis and etiology, to facilitate and improve prosthodontic treatment. This systemspecifies patient disability and the causative factor (i.e. ‘‘B (disability) caused by A (causative factor)’’). The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of this DNS. Study selection: The JPS Clinical Guideline Committee assessed mock patient charts and formulated disease names using the new DNS. Fifty validators, comprising prosthodontic specialists and dental residents, made diagnoses using the same patient charts. Reliability was evaluated as the consistency of the disease names among the validators, and validity was evaluated using the concordance rate of the disease names with the reference disease names. Results: Krippendorff’s α was 0.378 among all validators, 0.370 among prosthodontic specialists, and 0.401 among dental hospital residents. Krippendorff’s α for 10 validators (3 specialists and 7 residents) with higher concordance rates was 0.524. Two validators (1 specialist and 1 resident) with the highest concordance rates had a Krippendorff’s α of 0.648. Common disease names had higher concordance rates, while uncommon disease names showed lower concordance rates. These rates did not show correlation with clinical experience of the validator or time taken to devise the disease name. Conclusions: High reliability was not found among all validators; however, validators with higher concordance rates showed better reliability. Furthermore, common disease names had higher concordance rates. These findings indicate that the new DNS for prosthodontic dentistry exhibits clinically acceptable reliability and validity

ジシ イゾク ノ グリーフワーク オ ソクシン スル ミンカン シンコウ ノ ジッタイ

自死遺族のグリーフワークにおいて、青森県の特徴的な民間信仰である「イタコ」の、どのような支えが喪失による悲嘆を乗り越えることができたかを明らかにすることを目的に、イタコを利用したことのある自死遺族で1年以上経過した30歳代～70歳代の女性７名に聞き取り調査を行った。遺族は、イタコの口寄せによって自殺の理由を聞かされたことで、故人の人生に対する価値を見出すことができ癒された。また遺族は、【故人の生き様への共感】、さらに、【故人の加護や繋がりの実感】【相互の赦免の獲得】を経て、【生きることへの託宣】を得て、【心の浄化】ができた。The early detection of relapse in patients with schizophrenia is considered an important objective for psychiatric nurses doing home health visits. In this study, interview surveys of home health psychiatric nurses were conducted to elucidate what they watched for when monitoring these patients for signs of relapse. The results showed that when monitoring for deteriorating health, through experience, they had learned to watch for deviations from usual lifestyle patterns, worsening of patient pathological experience, loss of interest in treatment, and abnormal communication

Thermodynamic and structural properties of ball-milled mixtures composed of nano-structural graphite and alkali(-earth) metal hydride

Hydrogen desorption properties of mechanically milled materials composed of nano-structural hydrogenated-graphite (CnanoHx) and alkali(-earth) metal hydride (MH; M = Na, Mg and Ca) were investigated from the thermodynamic and structural points of view. The hydrogen desorption temperature for all the CnanoHx and MH composites was obviously lower than that of the corresponding each hydride. In addition, the desorption of hydrocarbons from CnanoHx was significantly suppressed by making composite of CnanoHx with MH, even though CnanoHx itself thermally desorbs a considerably large amount of hydrocarbons. These results indicate that an interaction exists between CnanoHx and MH, and hydrogen in both the phases is destabilized by a close contact between polar C-H groups in CnanoHx and the MH solid phase. Moreover, a new type of chemical bonding between the nano-structural carbon (Cnano) and the Li, Ca, or Mg metal atoms may be formed after hydrogen desorption. Thus, the above metal-C-H system would be recognized as a new family of H-storage materials

Catalytic effect of nano-particle 3d-transition metals on hydrogen storage properties in magnesium hydride MgH2 prepared by mechanical milling

We examined the catalytic effect of nano-particle 3d-transition metals on hydrogen desorption (HD) properties of MgH2 prepared by mechanical ball milling method. All the MgH2 composites prepared by adding a small amount of nano-particle Fenano, Conano, Ninano and Cunano metals and by ball milling for 2h showed much better HD properties than the pure ball-milled MgH2 itself. Especially, the 2 mol% Ninano-doped MgH2 composite prepared by soft milling for a short milling time of 15 min under a slow milling revolution speed of 200 rpm shows the most superior hydrogen storage properties: A large amount of hydrogen (~6.5 wt.%) is desorbed in the temperature range from 150 to 250 ºC at a heating rate of 5 ºC /min under He gas flow with no partial pressure of hydrogen. The EDX micrographs corresponding to Mg and Ni elemental profiles indicated that nano-particle Ni metals as catalyst homogeneously dispersed on the surface of MgH2. In addition, it was confirmed that the product revealed good reversible hydriding/dehydriding cycles even at 150 ºC. The hydrogen desorption kinetics of catalyzed and non-catalyzed MgH2 could be understood by a modified first order reaction model, in which the surface condition was taken into account

Rechargeable hydrogen storage in nanostructured mixtures of hydrogenated carbon and lithium hydride

A hydrogen storage ability caused by the interaction between nanostructured carbon sCnanoHxd and lithium hydride sLiHd is demonstrated, which should be recognized as Li-C-H system in the H-storage materials. Especially, the 2:1 mixture of CnanoHx and LiH exhibited promising hydrogen storage properties with a rechargeable hydrogen capacity of more than 4 mass% below 350 °C, preserving the nanostructural feature in the mixture even after hydrogen release. On the other hand, the 1:2 and 1:1 mixtures exhibited the crystal growth of Li2C2 after hydrogen desorption, leading to poorer hydrogen rechargeability

Hydrogen desorption properties of Ca-N-H system

After synthesizing calcium amide (Ca(NH2)2) through the reaction of calcium hydride (CaH2) with ammonia (NH3), the thermal decomposition properties have been examined. The results indicated that Ca(NH2)2 decomposed to calcium imide (CaNH) and NH3 gas with increasing temperature, where the desorption of NH3 started from about 60 °C and peaked around 300 °C in the thermal desorption mass spectra (TDMS). From the X-ray diffraction profiles, the product after heat treatment up to 350 °C was CaNH, but an unknown phase appeared in further heating up to 500 °C. Hydrogen (H2) desorption properties of a mixture of Ca(NH2)2 and CaH2 with 1:3 molar ratio were also examined. The H2 gas of 3.5 wt.% in total was desorbed with two-peak structure in TDMS. The first peak corresponds to the reaction: Ca(NH2)2 + CaH2 → 2CaNH + 2H2, and the second one originates in the reaction: CaNH + CaH2 → Ca2NH + H2. Simultaneously performed differential thermal analysis indicated that the former and the latter reactions were respectively exothermic and endothermic, so that the H2 desorption corresponding to the first peak in TDMS disappeared after long time milling at room temperature

Hydrogen absorption properties of Li-Mg-N-H system

Isothermal hydrogen absorption properties of the ball milled mixture of 3Mg(NH2)2 and 8LiH after dehydrogenation at 200 °C under high vacuum were investigated at two different temperatures of 150 and 200 °C. The pressure –composition isotherm (PCT) curve at 200 °C revealed a two-plateaus-like behavior, while the PCT curve at 150 °C showed a single-plateau-like behavior. The hydrogenated phases were composed of LiH and Mg(NH2)2 under 9 MPa at 200 °C, while those were observed as mixed phases of LiH and LiNH2 at 150 °C without any trace of Mg(NH2)2 in XRD measurements. These results indicate that there are 2 step hydrogenation processes corresponding to high and low pressures at 200 °C, but the kinetics at 150 °C is too slow to proceed with the second hydrogenating step at high pressure region

Lithium nitride for reversible hydrogen storage

In this paper, we examined the basic properties in the 1:1 mixture of lithium amide LiNH2 and lithium hydride LiH as a candidate of reversible hydrogen storage materials. The thermal desorption mass spectra of the ball milled mixture without any catalysts indicated that hydrogen H2 is released in temperature range from 180 to 400 ℃ with emitting a considerable amount of ammonia NH3. On the other hand, the ball milled mixture containing a small amount of TiCl3 as a catalyst showed the most superior hydrogen storage properties among the 1:1 mixtures with a small amount of catalysts, Ni, Fe, Co metals and TiCl3 (1 mol.%). That is, the product desorbs a large amount of hydrogen (~5.5 wt.%) in the temperature from 150 to 250 ℃ under the condition of a heating rate of 5 ℃/min, but it does not desorb ammonia at all within our experimental accuracy. In addition, we confirmed that the product shows an excellent cycle retention with an effective hydrogen capacity of more than 5 wt.% and a high reaction rate until at least 3 cycles