On Wave Equations with Dissipation II

Our recent results on wave equations with dissipation are surveyed and resolvent estimates for stationary dissipative wave equations in an exterior domain are also proved

Effects of Aquatic Pole Walking on the Reduction of Spastic Hypertonia in a Patient with Hemiplegia: A Case Study

Here we report an acute effect of aquatic pole walking (PW) training intervention on a 64-year-old male patient with chronic hemiparesis and symptoms of spasticity in the right lower limb. A comparison of over ground walking before and after 20 minutes of aquatic PW training revealed a significant improvement in gait performance. As a main result, the average speed of walking after the intervention was 0.16 m/s after the intervention as compared to 0.04 m/s in the initial condition. The time taken for each stride cycle was drastically decreased, mainly due to shortening of the stance time. Underlying the improved gait performance was the emergence of functional muscle activity in the paralyzed and spastic leg muscles. The result observed in this patient should be further tested among a large population of patients presenting similar symptoms. Moreover, the basic mechanisms underlying aquatic PW intervention should be further elucidated

Superconductivity and spin correlation in organic conductors: a quantum Monte Carlo study

The d-wave pairing correlations along with spin correlation are calculated with quantum Monte Carlo method for the two-dimensional Hubbard model on lattice structures representing organic superconductors $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$X and (TMTSF)$_2$X. In both cases the pairing correlations for superconducting order parameters with nodes are found to be enhanced. The symmetry and the enhancement of the pairing is systematically correlated with the spin structure factor, suggesting a spin-fluctuation mediated pairing. We have further found that, as we deform the Fermi surface to make the system approach the half-filled square lattice, the coherence of the pairing saturates while the local pairing amplitude continues to increase.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, uses epsf.sty and multicol.st

A Sociological Study on School Life of Japanese High School Students Focuising on Club Activities : Based on a Questionnaire Survey in two Prefectures and the Tokyo Metropolitan Area

In this research, we will endeavour to illuminate the factors that affect high school students\u27commitment to their schools; their future educational goals and career trajectories. Examining how they have been involved in various club activities at school will provide the basis for this evaluation. In doing so, we will propose "a plural model of school culture." The research is being carried out within a context of significant educational change. The implementation of the new national curriculum (course of study), a five-day week school system, and the co-operative linkage of schools, homes, and communities are likely to have some form of impact that will need to be assessed. This leads us to adopt a methodological approach that makes extensive use of a series of research surveys. These will seek to identify the effects which the new national curriculum will have upon students\u27school lives, especially in relation to club activities. So far, we have carried out two extensive questionnaires in 1999 and 2001 along with additional participant observation in a limited number of schools. Our target group has been junior high school students. In light of the above and in view of our proposed new series of research surveys for high school students we will construct a hypothetical analysis in order to prepare a survey for use in the reinvestigation of the matter in 2004. This series of research surveys on high school students aims to propose an agenda for school education which should take account of what form club activities should take in the future. To date, we have analysed data stemming from 4,500 questionnaires. These have been collected from high-school students in two (Shizuoka and Niigata) different prefectures and the Tokyo metropolitan area in March 2002. In this paper we will deal with the following four issues. 1, Using four clusters which based on the levels of commitment to their various aspects of the school life, classes, official events, and club activities, we discuss the students\u27adaptability to school life. 2, Focusing on the differences of the opportunities in sports/culture activities being influenced by the students\u27family backgrounds, we argue the significance of club-activities for students in their junior high school days. Besides we explore the issues so as to realize "the lifelong sports-society", focusing on the sports club-activities. 3, We examine students\u27behaviours from the viewpoint of whether they are an active club member or whether they have withdrawn from such activities. This will be used, in part, as a predictor for the various path-ways that students take as they adapt themselves to the changing nature of life during their high school experiences

A Kinematic Approach for Efficient and Robust Simulation of the Cardiac Beating Motion

Computer simulation techniques for cardiac beating motions potentially have many applications and a broad audience. However, most existing methods require enormous computational costs and often show unstable behavior for extreme parameter sets, which interrupts smooth simulation study and make it difficult to apply them to interactive applications. To address this issue, we present an efficient and robust framework for simulating the cardiac beating motion. The global cardiac motion is generated by the accumulation of local myocardial fiber contractions. We compute such local-to-global deformations using a kinematic approach; we divide a heart mesh model into overlapping local regions, contract them independently according to fiber orientation, and compute a global shape that satisfies contracted shapes of all local regions as much as possible. A comparison between our method and a physics-based method showed that our method can generate motion very close to that of a physics-based simulation. Our kinematic method has high controllability; the simulated ventricle-wall-contraction speed can be easily adjusted to that of a real heart by controlling local contraction timing. We demonstrate that our method achieves a highly realistic beating motion of a whole heart in real time on a consumer-level computer. Our method provides an important step to bridge a gap between cardiac simulations and interactive applications