Rolls and Effects of Small-Scale Events in a Shopping Street - in the Case of Research Atelier in Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street -

本研究は，天神橋筋3丁目商店街内の関西大学リサーチ・アトリエ「楽歳天三・楽市楽座」を拠点とし，小規模なイベントをいくつか実施し，その効果，位置付け，他の取り組みとの関係性などを明らかにすることを目的として，アンケート調査を実施した.その結果，参加者の半数以上が「たまたま通りかかった」人であることから，事前の告知や広告が高い効果を示さなかったものの，「初めて」あるいは「滅多に来ない」層も，「週1回以上来る」層に対してもイベント内容は好評であり，次回イベント参加意向も高い比率を得た．そして，手軽に高頻度で行える小イベントのメリットを活かし，大規模イベントと役割分担を明確にしながら，常連客には商店街の活気を印象づける参加容易なイベントを，通りすがり客には次回の参加を印象づけるインパクトのあるイベントをそれぞれ実施し，商店街の持続性と顧客開拓に貢献するシナリオを描くことが重要であることを指摘した．The purpose of this study is to investigate rolls, effects of some small-scale events carried out in the Research Atelier in Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street and to understand relationship with other relatively large-scale events. The results of questionnaire surveys carried out show that more than half of attendances of the events are shoppers by chance on the street so that advertisements of the events beforehand have few effects. On the other hand, the contents of events are popular with not only first comers but also usual consumers. The small-scale events have merits that they are easily and frequently carried out. Therefore, it is important that the small-scale events, keeping the share of rolls with other large-scale events, gives impressions of revitalization of the shopping street on the usual consumers and, on the other hand, ones of inviting to the next events on the shoppers by chance

Reduced non-Gaussianity by 30s rapid update in convective-scale numerical weather prediction

Non-Gaussian forecast error is a challenge for ensemble-based data assimilation (DA), particularly for more nonlinear convective dynamics. In this study, we investigate the degree of the non-Gaussianity of forecast error distributions at 1km resolution using a 1000-member ensemble Kalman filter, and how it is affected by the DA update frequency and observation number. Regional numerical weather prediction experiments are performed with the SCALE (Scalable Computing for Advanced Library and Environment) model and the LETKF (local ensemble transform Kalman filter) assimilating phased array radar observations every 30s. The results show that non-Gaussianity develops rapidly within convective clouds and is sensitive to the DA frequency and the number of assimilated observations. The non-Gaussianity is reduced by up to 40% when the assimilation window is shortened from 5min to 30s, particularly for vertical velocity and radar reflectivity.Fil: Ruiz, Juan Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; Argentina. Instituto Franco-Argentino sobre Estudios del Clima y sus Impactos; Argentina. Rikagaku Kenkyujo; JapónFil: Lien, Guo-Yuan. Central Weather Bureau, Taiwan; ArgentinaFil: Kondo, Keiichi. Meteorological Research Institute; JapónFil: Otsuka, Shigenori. Rikagaku Kenkyujo; JapónFil: Miyoshi, Takemasa. Rikagaku Kenkyujo; Japón. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology; Japó

B/TI multilayer reactive igniter for micro solid rocket array thruster

MEMS 2007, Kobe, Japan, 21-25 January 200

A local particle filter and its Gaussian mixture extension implemented with minor modifications to the LETKF

A particle filter (PF) is an ensemble data assimilation method that does not assume Gaussian error distributions. Recent studies proposed local PFs (LPFs), which use localization, as in the ensemble Kalman filter, to apply the PF efficiently for high-dimensional dynamics. Among others, Penny and Miyoshi (2016) developed an LPF in the form of the ensemble transform matrix of the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF). The LETKF has been widely accepted for various geophysical systems, including numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Therefore, implementing the LPF consistently with an existing LETKF code is useful. This study develops a software platform for the LPF and its Gaussian mixture extension (LPFGM) by making slight modifications to the LETKF code with a simplified global climate model known as Simplified Parameterizations, Primitive Equation Dynamics (SPEEDY). A series of idealized twin experiments were accomplished under the ideal-model assumption. With large inflation by the relaxation to prior spread, the LPF showed stable filter performance with dense observations but became unstable with sparse observations. The LPFGM showed a more accurate and stable performance than the LPF with both dense and sparse observations. In addition to the relaxation parameter, regulating the resampling frequency and the amplitude of Gaussian kernels was important for the LPFGM. With a spatially inhomogeneous observing network, the LPFGM was superior to the LETKF in sparsely observed regions, where the background ensemble spread and non-Gaussianity were larger. The SPEEDY-based LETKF, LPF, and LPFGM systems are available as open-source software on GitHub (https://github.com/skotsuki/speedy-lpf, last access: 16 November 2022) and can be adapted to various models relatively easily, as in the case of the LETKF

Pollution of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons in the Airborne Particles in the Developing Countries in Asia Region

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Alopecia Diffusa while Using Interleukin-17 Inhibitors against Psoriasis Vulgaris

We report two cases of alopecia diffusa during the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris with interleukin (IL)-17 inhibitors. Psoriasis is one of the most common immune-mediated chronic skin diseases, strongly associated with IL-17A. Clinically, the monoclonal antibodies to IL-17A or its receptor, IL-17R, show a dramatic effect against psoriasis. Alopecia is also an IL-17-mediated autoimmune disease, and IL-17 inhibitors have been expected to be the gold standard for the treatment of alopecia; therefore, the complication of alopecia while using IL-17 may be regarded as an unexpected “paradoxical reaction.” T helper (Th)17 cells are not cytotoxic enough by themselves to undermine the hair follicle under normal circumstances, they need the coexistence of CD8+ cytotoxic Th1 cells. Th17 cells may be the initiator of the damage of the hair follicle, but CD8 T cells or more powerful Th1 cells are required as followers. The Th17/Th1 axis might convert into a Th1-dominant immune status using IL-17 inhibitors, and the destruction of the hair follicle might result in alopecia. An accumulation of cases is to be expected

Plasma L-Cystine/L-Glutamate Imbalance Increases Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha from CD14+ Circulating Monocytes in Patients with Advanced Cirrhosis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The innate immune cells can not normally respond to the pathogen in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Previous studies reported that antigen-presenting cells take up L-Cystine (L-Cys) and secrete substantial amounts of L-Glutamate (L-Glu) via the transport system Xc- (4F2hc+xCT), and that this exchange influences the immune responses. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of the plasma L-Cys/L-Glu imbalance observed in patients with advanced cirrhosis on the function of circulating monocytes. METHODS: We used a serum-free culture medium consistent with the average concentrations of plasma amino acids from patients with advanced cirrhosis (ACM), and examined the function of CD14+ monocytes or THP-1 under ACM that contained 0-300 nmol/mL L-Cys with LPS. In patients with advanced cirrhosis, we actually determined the TNF-alpha and xCT mRNA of monocytes, and evaluated the correlation between the plasma L-Cys/L-Glu ratio and TNF-alpha. RESULTS: The addition of L-Cys significantly increased the production of TNF alpha from monocytes under ACM. Monocytes with LPS and THP-1 expressed xCT and a high level of extracellular L-Cys enhanced L-Cys/L-Glu antiport, and the intracellular GSH/GSSG ratio was decreased. The L-Cys transport was inhibited by excess L-Glu. In patients with advanced cirrhosis (n = 19), the TNF-alpha and xCT mRNA of monocytes were increased according to the Child-Pugh grade. The TNF-alpha mRNA of monocytes was significantly higher in the high L-Cys/L-Glu ratio group than in the low ratio group, and the plasma TNF-alpha was significantly correlated with the L-Cys/L-Glu ratio. CONCLUSIONS: A plasma L-Cys/L-Glu imbalance, which appears in patients with advanced cirrhosis, increased the TNF-alpha from circulating monocytes via increasing the intracellular oxidative stress. These results may reflect the immune abnormality that appears in patients with decompensated cirrhosis