Sex and age-level differences of walking time in preschool children on an obstacle frame

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stepping over an obstacle is a kind of compound movement that makes walking more difficult, especially for preschool children. This study examines sex and age-level differences in walking time in preschool children on an obstacle frame.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The participants included 324 healthy preschool children: four-year-old boys (51) and girls (51), five-year-old boys (50) and girls (60), and six-year-old boys (62) and girls (50). A 5 cm- or 10 cm-high obstacle (depth 11.5 cm, width 23.5 cm) was set at the halfway point of a 200 cm × 10 cm walking course.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The participants walked to the end of the course and back as fast as possible under three conditions: no obstacle, low obstacle and high obstacle. Walking time showed age-level differences in all conditions, but there were no differences in sex. Age levels were divided into two groups, with one group within the first six months of their birthday, and the second group within the last six months of that year. Walking time for children in the first half of their fourth year was longer than that of the five- and six-year-old children. In addition, for children in the last half of their fourth year, walking time was longer than both sexes in the last half of their fifth and sixth years. The children in the latter half of their fifth year had a longer walking time in the high obstacle condition than those in the last half of their sixth year. In the four-year-old participants, walking time was shorter with no obstacles than with a high obstacle frame.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In the above data, obstacle course walking time does not show a gender difference, except that the four-year-old participants needed longer than the five- and six-year-old children. Setting the obstacle 10 cm high also produced a different walking time in the five- and six-year-old participants. The high obstacle step test (10 cm) best evaluated the dynamic balance of preschool children.</p

Temperature-dependent Color Change of Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Core-shell Microspheres

We have fabricated water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double emulsion droplets with a cholesteric liquid crystalline (CLC) material, which is a mixture of a nematic liquid crystalline compound, 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl (5CB), and a chiral dopant, cholesteryl oleyl carbonate (COC), as the middle phase and an aqueous poly(vinylalcohol) (PVA) solution as the inner and outer phases (CLC core-shell microspheres). Here we report the strongly temperature-dependent color change of CLC core-shell microsphere.This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals on 3 July 2015, available at https://doi.org/10.1080/15421406.2015.1066548

An Optimal Design Method for CMOS Even-Stage Ring Oscillators Containing Plural Latches

2009 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials (SSDM 2009), October 7-9, 2009, Sendai, Miyagi, Japa

Further Evidence for the ~ 9 s Pulsation in LS 5039 from NuSTAR and ASCA

The present study aims to reinforce the evidence for the ~9 s pulsation in the gamma-ray binary LS 5039, derived with a Suzaku observation in 2007 and that with NuSTAR in 2016 (Yoneda et al 2000). Through a reanalysis of the NuSTAR data incorporating the orbital Doppler correction, the 9.0538 s pulsation was confirmed successfully even in the 3--10 keV range, where it was undetectable previously. This was attained by perceiving an energy-dependent drift in the pulse phase below 10 keV, and correcting the pulse timing of individual photons for that effect. Similarly, an archival 0.7--12 keV data set of LS 5039, taken with the ASCA GIS in 1999 October, was analyzed. The data showed possible periodicity at about 8.882 s, but again the energy-dependent phase drift was noticed below 10 keV. By correcting for this effect, and for the orbital Doppler delays in the LS 5039 system, the 2.8--12 keV periodicity became statistically significant at 8.891+- 0.001 s. The periods measured with ASCA, Suzaku, and NuSTAR approximately follow an average period derivative of dP/dt = 3.0 e-10 s/s. These results provide further evidence for the pulsation in this object, and strengthen the scenario by (Yoneda et al 2000), that the compact object in LS 5039 is a strongly magnetized neutron star.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw

Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is a common side effect of antiresorptive drugs that are administered to cancer patients for bone metastasis, multiple myeloma, and osteoporosis. Since both bisphosphonate (BP) and denosumab show anti-bone resorption effects with ONJ, antiresorptive agent-related ONJ (ARONJ) has been suggested as a comprehensive term encompassing both BP-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) and denosumab-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (DRONJ). The term medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is proposed as ARONJ with the antiangiogenic inhibitors or molecularly targeted drugs-related ONJ. Suppression of bone remodeling may contribute to the development of osteonecrosis and results in inadequate osteoclast activity to allow healing of the extraction socket. Infection is a major factor in the development of MRONJ. The major treatment goals for patients at risk of developing or who have MRONJ are prioritization and support of continued oncologic treatment in patients receiving antiresorptive and antiangiogenic therapy. To minimize the development of MRONJ in patients at risk, regular dental examinations are encouraged. Oral hygiene should be improved and local infection is managed as early as possible. The use of antibiotics before and after oral surgical procedures has been demonstrated to lower the risk of MRONJ

An Optimal Design Method for CMOS Even-Stage Ring Oscillators Containing Latches

This paper describes a design method for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) ring oscillators composed of even-stage inverters. First, we propose a quantitative method to evaluate oscillation stability for an even-stage ring oscillator with a CMOS latch. The method uses static noise margin analysis to evaluate the static random access memory (SRAM) cell\u27s data storage stability, by observing the similarity between the oscillator and SRAM cell circuitry. Next, the method is extended to oscillators with multiple latches. Finally, by analyzing oscillation stability using this method, we find that the range of stable oscillation conditions can be drastically widened by adding multiple single-channel latch circuits, and also by an appropriate design of their polarities and insertion positions. We also clarify through Monte Carlo simulations, that the optimized oscillator circuit is robust under process, voltage and temperature fluctuations and device characteristic variations

Microdosimetric quantities of an accelerator-based neutron source used for boron neutron capture therapy measured using a gas-filled proportional counter

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is an emerging radiation treatment modality, exhibiting the potential to selectively destroy cancer cells. Currently, BNCT is conducted using a nuclear reactor. However, the future trend is to move toward an accelerator-based system for use in hospital environments. A typical BNCT radiation field has several different types of radiation. The beam quality should be quantified to accurately determine the dose to be delivered to the target. This study utilized a tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) to measure microdosimetric and macrodosimetric quantities of an accelerator-based neutron source. The micro- and macro-dosimetric quantities measured with the TEPC were compared with those obtained via the the particle and heavy ion transport code system (PHITS) Monte Carlo simulation. The absorbed dose from events >20 keV/μm measured free in air for a 1-h irradiation was calculated as 1.31 ± 0.02 Gy. The simulated result was 1.41 ± 0.07 Gy. The measured and calculated values exhibit good agreement. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) that was evaluated from the measured microdosimetric spectrum was calculated as 3.7 ± 0.02, similar to the simulated value of 3.8 ± 0.1. These results showed the PHITS Monte Carlo simulation can simulate both micro- and macro-dosimetric quantities accurately. The RBE was calculated using a single-response function, and the results were compared with those of several other institutes that used a similar method. However, care must be taken when using such a single-response function for clinical application, as it is only valid for low doses. For clinical dose ranges (i.e., high doses), multievent distribution inside the target needs to be considered

Improved anode performance of Ni-P-coated Si thick-film electrodes for Li-ion battery

To improve the deviation of cycling performances as Li-ion battery anode, we controlled the morphology of Ni–P layers deposited on Si particles in thick-film electrodes prepared by a gas-deposition method. The spotty Ni–P layers were uniformly coated on Si particles by an electroless deposition in a neutral bath. The resulting electrodes using Ni–P-coated Si exhibited excellent cycling performances and their good reproducibility. The reason for the improvement of performances is probably that the Ni–P layers can effectively release a stress generated by alloying/dealloying reactions of Li with Si

Influence of order in stepwise electroless deposition on anode properties of thick-film electrodes consisting of Si particles coated with Ni and Cu

Nickel and copper were coated on Si particles by a stepwise electroless deposition technique in which the coating orders of the metals were exchanged. Thick-film electrodes for Li-ion batteries were prepared by a gas-deposition method using the coated Si particles, and the anode performance of these electrodes was investigated. For (Cu, Ni)-coated Si particles obtained by primary Cu deposition and successive Ni deposition, Cu and Ni metal layers were individually deposited on the Si particles. In contrast, in case of (Ni, Cu)-coated Si particles prepared by primary Ni deposition, Cu layer stacked on Ni layer owing to a high catalytic activity of Ni, forming a thicker coated layer. The latter electrode exhibited notably improved performance with the discharge capacities over 1000 mA h g-1 maintained until 400th cycle. The layer stack of Cu on Ni is probably effective for a release of a stress from the Si particles during charge–discharge reactions