Relations between the ionization or recombination flux and the emission radiation for hydrogen and helium in plasma

On the basis of the collisional-radiative models for neutral hydrogen, and neutral and ionized helium, the relationship between the ionization flux or the recombination flux and the photon emission rate of a representative visible line of each species is investigated. It is found that both fluxes are proportional to the photon emission rate and that the proportionality factor depends rather weakly on the plasma parameters in the ranges of practical interest. This implies that the observed emission line intensity can be a good measure of the ionization flux or the recombination flux. The relation between the total radiation power rate and the ionization or recombination flux is also considered. For a hydrogen plasma in ionization balance the Balmer-alpha line intensity takes the maximum value near the optimum temperature of 1.3 eV, while for plasmas out of ionization balance it takes the minimum near that temperature. This latter characteristic corresponds to the recently observed "inverse edge-localized mode" in divertor plasmas. For neutral hydrogen and ionized helium, it is found that in the recombining plasma of low electron temperature, T_e, and density, n_e, the radiation energy close to the ionization potential of the ground state is emitted during one recombination event. In the ionizing plasma of high Te and low n_e, a similar amount of energy is emitted during one ionization event. Emission line intensities of hydrogen and helium were measured in the Large Helical Device, and the time variation of n_e at the initial and final phases of a discharge was estimated. The results agreed well with the interferometer measurement, and this indicated that the variation of n_e was dominated by their ionization or recombination processes rather than by diffusion. The total radiation energy of hydrogen and helium in the recombining phase was found to be less than 1% of the stored energy of the plasma

肢体不自由教育におけるAIスピーカー・IoT機器の活用についての調査研究 : ICT活用を推進する校内研修の在り方を中心に

本研究は、肢体不自由のある児童生徒を対象としたICT 機器（AI スピーカー・IoT 機器）を活用した教育実践に対する教師へのアンケート調査から、活用を推進するための校内研修の在り方について検討することを目的とした。教師40名に対してICT 機器の活用状況や研修後のアンケートを行った。ICT 機器の活用状況については、活用の満足度、活用した授業や活用例、活用時の児童生徒の様子等について調査し、教育実践における活用の成果と課題について分析した。研修後のアンケートについては、研修内容に対する満足度・理解度について把握し、受講者の実態やニーズに沿った研修会となっているかについて検討した。研修後のアンケート結果は、肯定的評価の割合が５月の80％から、７月では95％に増加した。教師のAI スピーカー・IoT 機器の活用経験に沿った活用例の提案、校内での活用状況を調査して好事例を共有するといった研修会の実施は、新しい機器の活用推進に寄与するとともに、教育的効果を検証する上での基盤となると考えられた。This study analyzed the results of questionnaires for teachers regarding teaching practices that use ICT equipment (AI speakers/IoT devices) for students with physical disabilities and considered how to construct teaching training sessions in schools to promote the use of the equipment. The study surveyed 40 teachers regarding their usage of ICT equipment and conducted questionnaires after they finished the training. The study investigated the teachers’ usage of ICT equipment in terms of the following metrics, analyzing its effectiveness in teaching practices and the issues it may present: how satisfied the teachers were with the use of the equipment; lessons they used the equipment for (examples of how they used it) ; how pupils and students responded to the use of the equipment. The post-training questionnaires were used to ascertain the teachers’ levels of satisfaction with the training and their understanding of the content, and considered whether the training sessions suited the teachers’ situations and needs. The results of the questionnaires showed that the proportion of positive evaluations of the training sessions increased from 80% in May to 95% in July. The study concluded that constructing training sessions according to the following would not only contribute to promoting the use of new equipment but also form a basis for assessing its educational effects, suggesting how to use ICT equipment in line with teachers’ experience of using AI speakers/IoT devices and sharing examples of good practice by surveying how teachers are using the equipment in schools.本研究は、公益財団法人 博報堂教育財団による第16回児童教育実践についての研究助成をうけて実施したものです（助成番号2021－002

Magnetic characterization change by solvents of magnetic nanoparticles in liquid-phase magnetic immunoassay

Liquid-phase magnetic immunoassay (MIA) using magnetic nano-particles (MNPs) has been studied as a more rapid method compared to optical methods for inspecting proteins and viruses. MIA can estimate the number of conjugated antibodies without being washed differently from conventional optical immunoassay. However, in the case of the liquid phase, it is considered that the magnetic properties of MNPs are affected by physical properties such as viscosity and impurity substances such as biological substances contained in the blood. In this study, the effect of sodium chloride (NaCl) in buffer and serum solution was evaluated to reveal the effect of serum because the sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) ions in the serum dominate ion balance of blood. The measurement results of AC magnetic susceptibility and a dynamic light scattering (DLS) showed that the aggregation of MNPs was largely affected by the concentration of NaCl. This effect of the NaCl could be explained by shielding of the surface charge of MNPs by ions in the solution. Although the concentrations of NaCl in the buffer and serum solution were almost same, we found that MNPs were aggregated more in their size for those in the serum solution because of other impurities, such as proteins. These results suggest evaluation of effects of the contaminants in serum and optimization of polymer coatings of MNPs could be important factors to realize measurements of magnetic immunoassay with high accuracy. (C) 2019 Author(s)

Laser monitoring of dynamic behavior of magnetic nanoparticles in magnetic field gradient

Manipulation of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) by an external magnetic field has been widely studied in the fields of biotechnology and medicine for collecting and/or reacting biomaterials in the solutions. Here, dynamic behaviors of MNP in solution under changing gradient magnetic field were investigated using our newly developed laser transmission system (LTS) with a variable magnetic field manipulator. The manipulator consists of a moving permanent magnet placed beside the optical cell filled with MNP solution. A laser beam was focused on the cell and the transmitted laser beam was detected by a silicon photodiode, so that the localized concentration of the MNP at the focused area could be evaluated by the intensity of transmitted laser beam. In this study, the LTS was applied to evaluate dynamic behaviors of MNP in serum solution. Dispersion and aggregation of MNP in the solution were evaluated. While time evolution of dispersion depends on the serum concentration, the behavior during aggregation by the magnetic field was independent of the serum concentration. A series of measurements for zeta-potentials, distributions of particle size, and magnetization distributions was carried out to understand this difference in the behavior. The results indicated that a Brownian motion was main force to distribute the MNP in the solution; on the other hand, the magnetic force to the MNP mainly affected the behavior during aggregation of the MNP in the solution

Calculated Tumor Volume Is an Independent Predictor of Biochemical Recurrence in Patients Who Underwent Retropubic Radical Prostatectomy

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the clinicopathological biopsy findings can predict the oncological outcome in patients who undergo radical prostatectomy. Materials and Methods. Between January 1997 and March 2006, 255 patients with clinically localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate (clinical T1-3N0M0) who had undergone retropubic radical prostatectomy were enrolled in this study. None of the patients received neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy. Clinicopathological parameters were assessed to determine a predictive parameter of biochemical recurrence. Results. Of the total 255 patients, 77 showed biochemical recurrence during the follow-up period. The estimated 5-year overall survival, 5-year cause-specific survival, and 5-year biochemical recurrence-free survival rates were 97.7%, 99.5%, and 67.3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model showed that calculated cancer volume was an independent predictor among the preoperative clinicopathological parameters (P < 0.05). SVI and PSM were independent predictors among the postoperative parameters (SVI; P < 0.001, PSM; P = 0.049). Among the significant preoperative and postoperative parameters, calculated cancer volume remained an independent predictive parameter in multivariate analysis (P < 0.01). Conclusions. Tumor volume, as calculated by preoperative parameters, is an independent predictor of biochemical recurrence in patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy