Efficient Installation of Gravel Drains

The gravel drain system aims to avert liquefaction in a sandy soil by quickly dissipating excess pore water pressure. We have developed a compaction-rod type machine which allows efficient construction of gravel drains. Main attributes of this machine are: (1) extremely fast installation of gravel drains, (2) low noise, (3) low level of vibration, (4) virtually no ground deformation during construction, and (5) densification of the surrounding soil. Large-scale model tests demonstrated that a cone-type compaction rod is most effective in densifying the surrounding soil when installing gravel drains with our machine

Visualizing an Execution Trace as a Compact Sequence Diagram Using Dominance Algorithms

Visualizing an execution trace of an object-oriented system as sequence diagrams is effective to understand the behavior of the system. However, sequence diagrams extracted from an execution trace are too large for developers to inspect since a trace involves a large number of objects and method calls. To support developers to understand extracted sequence diagrams, it is necessary to remove the less important details of the diagrams. In this paper, we apply a dominance algorithm to a dynamic call graph among objects in order to detect and remove local objects contributing to internal behavior of dominator objects. The case study shows our approach automatically removed about 40 percent of the objects from execution traces on average.4th International Workshop on Program Comprehension through Dynamic Analysis(PCODA'08)co-located with the 15th International Working Conference on Reverse Engineering (WCRE’08)October 16th, 2008 – Antwerp, BelgiumAndy Zaidman, Abdelwahab Hamou-Lhadj, Orla Greevy, David Röthlisberger(editors)刊行年月日は会議開催日を参考にし

慢性期末梢前庭障害に対する前庭リハビリテーションの身体活動量と主観的なめまい感に対する効果：6カ月間のランダム化比較試験

Introduction: The present study aimed to determine whether supervised vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) by physical therapists (PTs) affects subjective dizziness in patients with chronic vestibular disorders, and whether supervised VRT-induced changes in subjective dizziness are related to the changes in physical activity levels in daily life. Methods: Patients (n = 47) with chronic peripheral vestibular disorders were randomly divided into the VRT group (n = 25) and control group (n = 22). Patients in the VRT group received weekly supervised visits from PTs for a period of 6 months. Every other month, both groups were advised by neuro-otologists to increase the amount of activity in their daily life. All patients wore an accelerometer device, which recorded their physical activity for seven successive days before the end of the intervention. Patients also completed the dizziness and unsteadiness questionnaires before and after the intervention. Results: Subjective dizziness decreased significantly regardless of whether supervised VRT was administered; however, dizziness evoked by social activity and head and body movements improved more significantly in the VRT group than in the control group. In the VRT group, there was a significant negative correlation between the increase in sedentary behavior and improvement in subjective dizziness, and a significant positive correlation between the increase in light physical activity and improvement in subjective dizziness at the second month of intervention. The VRT group showed a significantly higher rate of increase in light physical activity than the control group, after 6 months of intervention. Conclusion: Supervised VRT could be highly effective in treating subjective dizziness in patients with chronic peripheral vestibular disorders. We believe frequent (weekly) and medium-term (6 months) PT-guided interventions may be highly effective in enhancing physical activity in daily life, and may subsequently improve subjective dizziness in these patients. Trial registration: This clinical study was registered with University hospital Medical Information Network (identification number: 000028832). https://www.umin.ac.jp/博士（医学）・甲第878号・令和5年3月15

A New Find of a Prboscidean Fossil from Nagano Prefecture, Central Japan

Article信州大学理学部紀要 6(1): 37-44(1971)departmental bulletin pape

難治性の良性発作性頭位めまい症はヘッドアップした姿勢で就寝することにより治り得る：6ヶ月間のランダム化比較試験

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess head-position management for intractable idiopathic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) when lying down. We hypothesized that head-up sleep (HUS) could prevent free-floating otoliths from entering the semicircular canals. Study design: A prospective two-arm multicenter randomized controlled trial. Methods: BPPV was diagnosed in 611 patients (611/1,520; 40.2%) according to the 2015 diagnostic guidelines issued by the International Classification of Vestibular Disorders. Among them, 201 patients were intractable (201/611; 32.9%), 88 of whom were idiopathic and subsequently enrolled in the study. Patients randomly received intervention with HUS at greater than 45° (n = 44) or head-down sleep (HDS; n = 44) when lying down. Before treatment, they completed several examinations, including subjective visual vertical (SVV). The specific diagnoses for the 88 patients with BPPV included horizontal type cupula (n = 40), horizontal type canal (n = 13), posterior type (n = 26), and probable and/or atypical BPPV (n = 9). Results: Patient backgrounds did not differ significantly between the HUS and HDS groups. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores of vertiginous sensation were significantly lower in the HUS group than in the HDS group at both the third month and sixth month post-treatment. Positional/positioning nystagmus observed just before treatment disappeared significantly more often in the HUS group than in the HDS group until the sixth post-treatment month. Further, especially in HUS group, VAS scores in SVV- group (n = 24) were significantly lower than those in the SVV+ group (n = 20) sixth month post-treatment. Conclusions: Controlling free-floating otoliths is not easy due to aging of the otolith organs. Repeatedly returning the endless free-floating debris from the canals to the utricle through physical means is not a good strategy. Therefore, HUS when lying down at home could be recommended as an initial treatment for patients with intractable idiopathic BPPV. Level of evidence: 1b.博士（医学）・甲第764号・令和3年3月15日© 2019 The Authors. Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Triological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made

Effect of Impeller Agitation on Preparation of Tetra- n

The slurries-containing tetra-n-butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) solution and its semiclathrate hydrate have attracted a lot of interest as latent heat transport media. These hydrate slurries contain some microparticles of crystal, and the size and shape of these hydrate particles could affect the mobility of slurries. Hence, it is essential to investigate the efficient hydrate-slurry preparation methods and the effect of hydrate particles on the fluid property of slurries for the application to latent heat transport media. In the present study, the effect of agitation on particle size distribution and aggregation of particles was studied to prepare easily flowing TBAB hydrate slurries that were suitable for fluid transport. First of all, the effects of impeller rotational speed and impeller type on the particle size and frequency of aggregation were investigated. The results suggested that the particle size distribution and the frequency of particle aggregation are strongly affected by the intensity of shear rate and its uniformity, which was controllable with impeller type and its rotation speed

女子大学生の食品群摂取量の季節変動 : COVID-19流行による緊急事態宣言の期間を含む解析

　食品摂取の季節変動を明らかにすることは，季節ごとの栄養素不足のリスクや研究結果の検討において役立つ可能性がある。本研究では，緊急事態宣言が発令された2020年の春の調査を含む，女子大学生における食品群摂取量の季節変動について検討した。　20～21歳の管理栄養士養成課程の女子大学生35名を対象に， 4 季節で簡易式自記式食事歴法質問票（BDHQ）による食事調査を実施した。食品群摂取量は密度法により1,000 kcal当たりに調整して，線形混合モデル（ランダム切片・傾きモデル）による反復測定分散分析を実施した。さらに，居住形態と季節との交互作用項を含めたモデルにより，独居と同居により冬（初回調査）の摂取量および冬からの変化量に差があるのかを検討した。　対象者のBMIおよびエネルギー摂取量は，冬（20.6 kg/m2および1,652.5 kcal）を基準にして夏と秋で有意に低下していた（全てp＜0.05）。砂糖・菓子類（p＝0.05），魚介類（p＝0.09），肉類（p＝0.08），乳類（p＝0.008）の摂取量に季節変動が観察された。季節と居住形態による交互作用は，いも類（p＝0.02），果実類（p＜0.001），きのこ（p＝0.01），非アルコール飲料類（p＜0.001），魚介類（p＜0.001），卵類（p＝0.02）に観察された。　女子大学生の食品群摂取量には季節変動があり，独居か同居かにより変動の程度と方向性が異なる可能性が示唆された。さらなる研究でデータを蓄積していく必要がある

Tazobactam/piperacillin for moderate-to-severe pneumonia in patients with risk for aspiration: comparison with imipenem/cilastatin.

BACKGROUND: Treatment of aspiration pneumonia is becoming an important issue due to aging of populations worldwide. Effectiveness of tazobactam/piperacillin (TAZ/PIPC) in aspiration pneumonia is not clear. PURPOSE: To compare clinical efficacy between TAZ/PIPC (1:4 compound) and imipenem/cilastatin (IPM/CS) in patients with moderate-to-severe aspiration pneumonia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this open-label, randomized study either TAZ/PIPC 5 g or IPM/CS 1 g was intravenously administered every 12 h to patients with moderate-to-severe community-acquired aspiration pneumonia or nursing home-acquired pneumonia with risk for aspiration pneumonia for average 11 days. The primary outcome was clinical response rate at the end of treatment (EOT) in validated per-protocol (VPP) population. Secondary outcomes were clinical response during treatment (days 4 and 7) and at the end of study (EOS) in VPP population, and survival at day 30 in modified intention-to-treat (MITT) population. RESULTS: There was no difference between the groups in primary or secondary outcome. However, significantly faster improvement as measured by axillary temperature (p < 0.05) and WBC count (p = 0.01) was observed under TAZ/PIPC treatment. In patients with gram-positive bacterial infection, TAZ/PIPC was more effective at EOT in VPP population (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: TAZ/PIPC is as effective and safe as IPM/CS in the treatment of moderate- to-severe aspiration pneumonia

Protein C activity as a potential prognostic factor for nursing home-acquired pneumonia

[Introduction] Despite the poor prognosis for nursing home acquired pneumonia (NHAP), a useful prognostic factor is lacking. We evaluated protein C (PC) activity as a predictor of in-hospital death in patients with NHAP and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). [Methods] This prospective, observational study included all patients hospitalized with pneumonia between July 2007 and December 2012 in a single hospital. We measured PC activity at admission and investigated whether it was different between survivors and non-survivors. We also examined whether PC activity 20 mg/dL, respiratory rate >30/min, and blood pressure 65). When it was a useful prognostic factor for pneumonia, we combined PC activity with the existing prognostic scores, the pneumonia severity index (PSI) and CURB-65, and analyzed its additional effect by comparing the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of the modified and original scores. [Results] Participants comprised 75 NHAP and 315 CAP patients. PC activity was lower among non-survivors than among survivors in NHAP and all-pneumonia (CAP+NHAP). PC activity <55% was a useful prognostic predictor for NHAP (Odds ratio 7.39 (95% CI; 1.59–34.38), and when PSI or CURB-65 was combined with PC activity, the AUC improved (from 0.712 to 0.820 for PSI, and 0.657 to 0.734 for CURB-65). [Conclusions] PC activity was useful for predicting in-hospital death of pneumonia, especially in NHAP, and became more useful when combined with the PSI or CURB-65