BIOMECHANICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF TAKEUMA-WALKING IN WATER

"TAKEUMA" is one of Japanese classic style of playing. Usually it is played on land, but in water, one can easier ambulate with TAKEUMA in water, for buoyancy and resistance force. The purposes of this study were to clarify biomechanical features of TAKEUMA-walking in water and to compare the motion characteristics of skilled TAKEUMA players with those of unskilled. The TAKEUMA-walking motions were recorded both in a water tank and on land. It was revealed that the body inclination to the forward direction would be a key feature of the well-trained TAKEUMA-walking, and even in unskilled subjects the relatively greater forward-inclined posture was preserved in water. It is important to handle and hold a TAKEUMA by using upper limbs, especially forearms, when walking with TAKEUMA in water

Exhaust of turbulence cloud at the tongue shaped deformation event

Exhaust of turbulence cloud at the tongue-shaped deformation which triggers MHD bursts is observed in the Large Helical Device in the low density plasma with significant contribution of trapped particles injected by perpendicular neutral beam injection. The exhaust of turbulence cloud is characterized by the abrupt large increase of turbulence amplitude in the frequency range of 150–500 kHz measured with Doppler reflectometer at the edge region of the plasma (). The increase of turbulence amplitude is significantly large and is by one order of magnitude. This abrupt increase of turbulence level is transient and disappears within one milli-second (typically  ~600 μs). In contrast, the turbulence level slightly inside the plasma edge () decreases by a factor of 2 after the MHD bursts

The Effect of Non-Axisymmetry of Magnetic Configurations on Radial Electric Field Transition Properties in the LHD

Transition property of the radial electric field (Er) in LHD have been theoretically investigated and also applied to explain experimental results. Especially, effects of the helicity of the magnetic configuration on the condition to realize the electron root are examined. Larger helicity makes the threshold collisionality higher. This is attributed to the nonlinear dependence of Γe(Er) in a low collisional regime. This interesting feature predicts that the threshold temperature becomes higher for a case of smaller helicity. The variation of the threshold density anticipated from the analysis for cases with different magnetic axis position is qualitatively verified in the density scan experiment

Isotope effect in transient electron thermal transport property and its impact on the electron internal transport barrier formation in LHD

In this study, we perform a comprehensive comparison of the transport hysteresis width in deuterium (D) plasmas, hydrogen (H) plasmas, and D-H mixed plasmas. The core focused modulation electron cyclotron resonance heating (MECH) is applied as the heat source perturbation, and the heat flux is evaluated using the energy conservation equation with the measured electron temperature response and the ECH deposition profile calculated by the ray-tracing scheme. Systematic density scan in plasmas with different ion mass reveals that there is no significant isotope effect in their hysteresis width. It is found that plasmas with heavier isotope mass can easily form the electron internal transport barrier. As the hysteresis width is insensitive to the isotope mass, the classical part of the diffusivity is considered to be responsible for the isotope effect in the transport barrier formation

Delphi Method Consensus-Based Identification of Primary Trauma Care Skills Required for General Surgeons in Japan

Purpose General surgeons at regional hospitals should have the primary trauma care skills necessary to treat critically ill trauma patients to withstand transfer. This study was conducted to identify a consensus on primary trauma care skills for general surgeons. Methods An initial list of acute care surgical skills was compiled, and revised by six trauma experts (acute care surgeons); 33 skills were nominated for inclusion in the Delphi consensus survey. Participants (councilors of the Japanese Society for Acute Care Surgery) were presented with the list of 33 trauma care skills and were asked (using web-based software) to rate how strongly they agreed or disagreed (using a 5-point Likert scale) with the necessity of each skill for a general surgeon. The reliability of consensus was predefined as Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.8, and trauma care skills were considered as primarily required when rated 4 (agree) or 5 (strongly agree) by ≥ 80% participants. Results There were 117 trauma care specialists contacted to participate in the Delphi consensus survey panel. In the 1st round, 85 specialists participated (response rate: 72.6%). In the 2nd round, 66 specialists participated (response rate: 77.6%). Consensus was achieved after two rounds, reliability using Cronbach’s α was 0.94, and 34 items were identified as primary trauma care skills needed by general surgeons. Conclusion A consensus-based list of trauma care skills required by general surgeons was developed. This list can facilitate the development of a new trauma training course which has been optimized for general surgeons

Recent Results from LHD Experiment with Emphasis on Relation to Theory from Experimentalist’s View

he Large Helical Device (LHD) has been extending an operational regime of net-current free plasmas towardsthe fusion relevant condition with taking advantage of a net current-free heliotron concept and employing a superconducting coil system. Heating capability has exceeded 10 MW and the central ion and electron temperatureshave reached 7 and 10 keV, respectively. The maximum value of β and pulse length have been extended to 3.2% and 150 s, respectively. Many encouraging physical findings have been obtained. Topics from recent experiments, which should be emphasized from the aspect of theoretical approaches, are reviewed. Those are (1) Prominent features in the inward shifted configuration, i.e., mitigation of an ideal interchange mode in the configuration with magnetic hill, and confinement improvement due to suppression of both anomalous and neoclassical transport, (2) Demonstration ofbifurcation of radial electric field and associated formation of an internal transport barrier, and (3) Dynamics of magnetic islands and clarification of the role of separatrix

Laparoscopic transdiaphragmatic RFA for hepatic tumor

Background: It is often difficult to perform percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for hepatic tumors beneath the diaphragm. Diaphragmatic thermal damage is one of the fatal late complications of percutaneous transdiaphragmatic RFA. Our experience with laparoscopic transthoracic transdiaphragmatic intraoperative RFA (LTTI-RFA) for hepatic tumors beneath the diaphragm is reported. Methods: Ten patients who underwent LTTI-RFA from 2009 to 2012 were evaluated. Two cases had concomitant partial hepatectomy, and one underwent RFA for two tumors at the same time. The diagnosis was hepatocellular carcinoma in eight cases and metastatic hepatic tumors in two cases. Nine of eleven tumors were located at segments 7 and 8. Nine tumors were less than 20 mm in diameter. The patients were placed in the half left lateral decubitus position with single-lumen tube intubation. After placement of four abdominal ports, a 12-mm port was inserted in the fourth or fifth intercostal space into the diaphragm. The tumor was ablated by an RFA needle through the port. The routine follow-up consisted of laboratory tests and abdominal imaging every 3-6 months. Results: The median operation time for only one tumor was 137 minutes (range, 105-187 minutes). The median number of times for ablation was three. Severe postoperative complications (>Clavien-Dindo IIIa) were observed in one case (right upper limb paralysis). The median follow-up period was 35 months (range, 11-43 months). There was no local tumor progression. Recurrent hepatic tumor appearance occurred in other parts of the liver in 6 of the 11 patients. Conclusions: Laparoscopic transthoracic transdiaphragmatic RFA is an acceptable procedure with a low rate of local recurrence

Decontamination of Radioactive Cesium Released from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant -13277

ABSTRACT Peculiar binding of Cesium to the soil clay minerals remained the major obstacle for the immediate Cs-decontamination of soil and materials containing clay minerals like sludge. Experiments for the removal of Cesium from soil and ash samples from different materials were performed in the lab scale. For soil and sludge ash formed by the incineration of municipal sewage sludge, acid treatment at high temperature is effective while washing with water removed Cesium from ashes of plants or burnable garbage. Though total removal seems a difficult task, water-washing of wood-ash or garbage-ash at 40 ºC removes >90% radiocesium, while >60% activity can be removed from soil and sludge-ash by acid washing at 95 ºC