Energy on demand: Efficient and versatile energy control system for home energy management

Abstract—We have been proposing the concept of “i-Energy ” as a new energy management scheme to realize efficient and versatile control of e-power flows among decentralized energy generation/storage devices and appliances in homes, offices, and neighboring communities. The i-Energy concept is best characterized by a novel energy control method named “Energy on Demand (EoD). ” The novelties of EoD rest in (1) the explicit demand-based power supply control, (2) the best-effort power distribution based on appliance priorities, and (3) the ceiling control of power consumption. With EoD, people can attain the guaranteed reduction of energy consumption without damaging their quality of lives. Moreover, when utility companies are allowed to set and modify ceiling values based on contracts with consumers, EoD systems work as smart demand response systems. This paper first describes the protocol for EoD: power request demands named "Quality of Energy (QoEn) " and appliance priority descriptions. Then, the demand mediation algorithm based on appliance priorities for a single power source is introduced. Experiments using real world everyday-life data in a smart apartment room demonstrated the effectiveness of EoD

トラウマ ノ コウゾウカ カイジ ガ シンシン ノ キノウ ニ オヨボス エイキョウ : ガイショウゴ ストレス ハンノウ オ イジ サセテイル コジン ト ソノ ヒッキ ナイヨウ ノ ケントウ

The purposes of this study were to examine effects of written disclosure of trauma on physical and mental functions and the written content for the individuals who have maintained posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSR). The written disclosure was structured to take distance from the reactions of the trauma. The participants were randomly assigned to three groups and received three times of writing sessions of 20 minutes once a week: the structured disclosure group(n=6), the free disclosure group(n=4) and the control group(n=4). Although it was found that the degree of the distancing in the structured disclosure group was higher than those of the free disclosure and control groups, these differences were not statistically significant. The changes were not seen in PTSR and other health indexes before and after disclosure. The written content analyses suggested that the more cognitive words increased, the better the health was in only the structured disclosure group. At the same time, the more cognitive words increased, the stronger the subjective degree of the distress was aroused. To summarize the above, it was suggested that the procedures to take the distance from the reactions of the trauma in this study were not enough. Further examination of the instruction of structuring is needed in future. The result of this study was discussed by theoretical framework

Growth Characters and Genetic Inheritance in Tomato cv. 'First' Musant with Short Internodes Induced by Seed Irradiation with Ion Beam

Tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum L.) cv. 'First' mutants with short internodes grew vigorously. The number of leaves slightly increased and the shape of the leaves was similar to wild type. In inflorescence morphology, the number of flowers increased and the length of peduncle and pedicel were shorter. In fruit characteristics, weight per fruit, total yield, sugar and acid contents were similar to wild type. But a lot of malformed fruit set was observed in the mutant line, due to the number of locules and short length of the peduncle and pedisel. The segregation ratio of the short internodes character fitted 3:1 of normal:short ,hence it was considered to be contralled by a single pair of recessive genes. Allelism with alresdy known dwart gene was examined by crossing with 'Alisa Craig', which had a symbolized dwart gene, br or bu. Thereby, it was revealed that bu and short internodes gene ware in the same gene locus. This mutant line has no negative effect on plant growth and fruit yield, but was unsuitable for use as fresh fruit by reason of malformed fruits. These results indicated the possibility of breeding of a new cultivar with bu gene derived from 'First'. Since the mutant with short internodes is derived from 'First', which is already a commercial variety with excellent characteristics, raising a new commercial variety with short internodes trait may not take a long time

PCTK3/CDK18 regulates cell migration and adhesion by negatively modulating FAK activity

PCTAIRE kinase 3 (PCTK3) is a member of the cyclin dependent kinase family, but its physiological function remains unknown. We previously reported that PCTK3-knockdown HEK293T cells showed actin accumulation at the leading edge, suggesting that PCTK3 is involved in the regulation of actin reorganization. In this study, we investigated the physiological function and downstream signal transduction molecules of PCTK3. PCTK3 knockdown in HEK293T cells increased cell motility and RhoA/Rho-associated kinase activity as compared with control cells. We also found that phosphorylation at residue Tyr-397 in focal adhesion kinase (FAK) was increased in PCTK3-knockdown cells. FAK phosphorylation at Tyr-397 was increased in response to fibronectin stimulation, whereas its phosphorylation was suppressed by PCTK3. In addition, excessive expression of PCTK3 led to the formation of filopodia during the early stages of cell adhesion in HeLa cells. These results indicate that PCTK3 controls actin cytoskeleton dynamics by negatively regulating the FAK/Rho signaling pathway

Fibronectin-β1 Integrin Interaction in Teeth

The dental epithelium and extracellular matrix interact to ensure that cell growth and differentiation lead to the formation of teeth of appropriate size and quality. To determine the role of fibronectin in differentiation of the dental epithelium and tooth formation, we analyzed its expression in developing incisors. Fibronectin mRNA was expressed during the presecretory stage in developing dental epithelium, decreased in the secretory and early maturation stages, and then reappeared during the late maturation stage. The binding of dental epithelial cells derived from postnatal day-1 molars to a fibronectin-coated dish was inhibited by the RGD but not RAD peptide, and by a β1 integrin-neutralizing antibody, suggesting that fibronectin-β1 integrin interactions contribute to dental epithelial-cell binding. Because fibronectin and β1 integrin are highly expressed in the dental mesenchyme, it is difficult to determine precisely how their interactions influence dental epithelial differentiation in vivo. Therefore, we analyzed β1 integrin conditional knockout mice (Intβ1lox-/lox-/K14-Cre) and found that they exhibited partial enamel hypoplasia, and delayed eruption of molars and differentiation of ameloblasts, but not of odontoblasts. Furthermore, a cyst-like structure was observed during late ameloblast maturation. Dental epithelial cells from knockout mice did not bind to fibronectin, and induction of ameloblastin expression in these cells by neurotrophic factor-4 was inhibited by treatment with RGD peptide or a fibronectin siRNA, suggesting that the epithelial interaction between fibronectin and β1 integrin is important for ameloblast differentiation and enamel formation

Evaluation of primary care practice in the University of Tokushima

The shortage of medical doctors is now a serious social problem in Japan. There are 2.1 physicians per 1000 residents in Japan, fewer than most other OECD countries. Tokushima Prefecture has the second highest population of medical doctors in Japan, but the shortage of medical doctors in rural areas was observed by an uneven distribution. Primary care practice was started in the education of clinical clerkship for 5th grade medical students of our university since July, 2008. They round a variety of hospitals, clinics and facilities for nursing-care during one week in Kaihu county where has a severe problem in the shortage of medical doctors in Tokushima Prefecture. In order to research the efficacy of the primary care practice, we have administered a questionnaire for medical students before and after the lecture and practice, and the intensity was estimated in each student by using visual analogue scale. The results showed that the practice was more meaningful in increasing the intensity for interest and passion for community medicine and medicine in remote area than the lecture. Our data indicate that it is important to prepare more courses to learn primary care and general medicine in our clinical practice system to continue the interest and passion in community medicine

トラウマ ニ カンレン スル ハンスウ ト シンニュウ シコウ ノ カンレン オヨビ デキゴト カラ ノ キョリカ オ ソクシン スル ヨウ コウゾウカ サレタ ヒッキ ノ コウカ ノ ケントウ

The purposes of this study were to examine the relationship between trauma-related rumination and intrusive thinking, and the effects of structured disclosure to facilitate distancing from the event on the trauma-related rumination, posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSR). In Study I, 38 undergraduates who maintain 9 or more scores of Impact of Event Scale (IES) for one month responded broad-trauma related rumination scale (BTRRS) and IES two times. Regression analysis revealed that there was association with the scores on changes of both factors of BTRRS (broad trauma-related rumination and degree of distancing from the broad trauma) and the scores on changes of intrusion factor of IES（R2=.162，p=.007；R2=.253，p=.001）. In Study II, participants in the Study I were randomly assigned into three groups: the structured disclosure group(n=8), the free disclosure group(n=7) and the control group(n=8). The structured disclosure group was asked to write the event to facilitate distancing from it. In particular, they wrote the event, and after that wrote it again from the other person's perspective. The free disclosure group wrote the event and the event-related emotion freely. The control group wrote their behavior on the day before and before experiment, and the plan after experiment without emotion. Results showed that the structured disclosure increased short-term distancing more than other groups, but did not increase long-term one and decrease the rumination. Although all participants in groups decreased PTSR and the distress about the event after one month of disclosure, the differences on groups were not significant. Results of this study were discussed from the theoretical standpoints

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy with or without Concurrent Hormone Therapy in Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer:NACED-Randomized Multicenter Phase II Trial

Although in the neoadjuvant setting for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers, chemotherapy or hormone therapy alone does not result in satisfactory tumor response, it is unknown whether concurrent chemo-endocrine therapy is superior to chemotherapy alone in clinical outcomes. We conducted a randomized phase II trial to test the responses of ER-positive patients to concurrent administration of chemo-endocrine therapy in the neoadjuvant setting. Women with stage II-III, ER-positive, invasive breast cancer (n=28) received paclitaxel followed by fluorouracil, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide (T-FEC) and were randomized to receive concurrent chemo-endocrine therapy consisting of goserelin administered subcutaneously for premenopausal women or an aromatase inhibitor for postmenopausal women. The primary endpoint was the pathological complete response (pCR) rate after neoadjuvant therapy. Twenty-eight patients were randomized. There were no significant differences in pCR rate between the concurrent group (12.5%;2/16) and the chemotherapy alone group (8.3%;1/12). Tumor size after therapy was significantly reduced in the concurrent therapy group (p=0.035), but not in the chemotherapy-alone group (p=0.622). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with concurrent hormone therapy provided no significant improvement in pCR rate in ER-positive breast cancers. These preliminary results should be followed up by further studies

バッシゴ シュッケツ オ ケイキ ニ シンダン サレタ コウレイシャ ニオケル センテンセイ ケツユウビョウ A ﾉ 1レイ

Hemophilia A is often diagnosed by gingival change, traumatic injuries, or bleeding after extraction in childhood, but rarely in senior age. We experienced that a 66 year-old man was diagnosed as hemophilia A by bleeding after tooth extraction. He was referred to our hospital for control the bleeding after tooth extraction. Although we tried to stop bleeding by local hemostasis, we repeated to bleed several times. Then we examined the level of hemorrhage factors. As a result, the patient was diagnosed as moderate hemophilia A, and he received recombinant factor VIII intravenously. After that, the bleeding had been stopped completely