Experimental Studies on the Concentrations of Subjectively Equivalent Irritation for Odorants

Discussion of non-olfactory “irritation”, which is caused by the excitement of the trigeminal nerve, has important implications for odor pollution. The main purpose of this study is to work out the mechanisms for the generation of non-olfactory irritation, and the sensory characteristics of the perceived irritation. Concentrations of subjectively equivalent irritation (CE) of 16 odorous compounds were measured by the sensory test. The relations between the CE and the physicochemical properties of the compounds were shown and discussed. It was found that the CE of dissociated compounds is much lower than that of undissociated compounds. And among the dissociated compounds, the acidic ones have a lower CE than the basic compounds. The CE of acrolein, which is an unsaturated compound, was the lowest among all the compounds used in this experiment. The delay time, i.e. time until the sensation of irritation after inhaling, was longer for acrolein gas than for other gases. Therefore, the mechanism for generating sensory irritation by the acrolein gas may be different from that of other gases. From analysis on the basis of relation to some physicochemical properties, it was concluded that the electrophilic reactivity of the acrolein molecule may be related to the generation of sensory irritation. In the case of dissociated compounds, the CE is related to the dissociation constants of the compounds. In other words, the larger the acidic and basic dissociation constants (Ka and Kb) are, the lower the CE becomes. Key Words : Sensory test, Odorous irritant, Concentration for subjectively equivalent irritation, Physicochemical properties, Dissociation constan

ケイリョウ テキスト ブンセキ オ モチイタ AI リテラシー ノ テイギカ

「統合イノベーション戦略2019」において、日本として強化すべき分野の1つにAI技術が挙げられている。AI技術の確立に向け、高等教育において「数理・データサイエンス・AI」に関するリテラシーレベルの習得が目標として掲げられた。数理、データサイエンスについてはリテラシーとしての定義が存在する。一方、AIそのものに確立した定義が無いこともあり、AIリテラシーには様々な定義が存在している。本研究では、高等教育におけるリテラシーレベルのプログラムを対象に、計量テキスト分析を行い、数理・データサイエンス・AIに関するリテラシーレベルを構成する語を抽出した。その後、作成した階層的カテゴリーにおいて、AIに関するカテゴリーにおける文脈・文章に着目しAIリテラシーとは、「AIに関する基礎理論を知り、AIを利用し、活用できる能力」であるとの定義化を行った

International Consensus Diagnostic Criteria for Autoimmune Pancreatitis and Its Japanese Amendment Have Improved Diagnostic Ability over Existing Criteria

Objectives. The recent International Consensus Diagnostic Criteria (ICDC) for autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) and its Japanese amendment developed by the Japanese Pancreas Society (JPS 2011) may have overcome the drawbacks of earlier criteria and achieved a higher diagnostic ability for AIP. The aim of the present study is to evaluate this possibility and identify the underlying causes of this change. Methods. We compared the diagnostic abilities of the ICDC and JPS 2011 with those of the Japanese diagnostic criteria 2006 (JPS 2006), Korean diagnostic criteria (Korean), Asian diagnostic criteria (Asian), and HISORt diagnostic criteria in 110 patients with AIP and 31 patients with malignant pancreatic cancer. Results. The ICDC achieved the highest diagnostic ability in terms of accuracy (95.0%), followed by JPS 2011 (92.9%), Korean (92.2%), HISORt (88.7%), Asian (87.2%), and JPS 2006 (85.1%). Nearly all criteria systems exhibited a high specificity of 100%, indicating that the enhanced diagnostic ability of the ICDC and JPS 2011 likely stemmed from increased sensitivity brought about by inclusion of diagnostic items requiring no endoscopic retrograde pancreatography. The diagnostic ability of JPS 2011 was nearly equivalent to that of the ICDC. Conclusions. The ICDC and JPS 2011 have improved diagnostic ability as compared with earlier criteria sets because of an increase in sensitivity.ArticleGASTROENTEROLOGY RESEARCH AND PRACTICE. 2013:456965 (2013)journal articl

Traumatic Globe Luxation with Complete Optic Nerve Transection Caused by Heavy Object Compression

Traumatic eyeball luxation is a rare clinical condition with a dramatic presentation. Here, we describe a unique case of traumatic globe luxation and complete optic nerve transection caused by heavy object compression. A 45-year-old male automobile mechanic was injured when a truck slipped from its supports, crushing his head and face. On arrival, his right eyeball was obviously displaced anteriorly and he had no light perception. Computed tomography revealed complex frontal bone and facial fractures with underlying brain contusion in addition to complete transection of the right optic nerve. The patient was successfully treated using a multidisciplinary approach

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming. They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes. Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient. It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses. X-rays from the core of the Perseus cluster are emitted by the 50 million K diffuse hot plasma filling its gravitational potential well. The Active Galactic Nucleus of the central galaxy NGC1275 is pumping jetted energy into the surrounding intracluster medium, creating buoyant bubbles filled with relativistic plasma. These likely induce motions in the intracluster medium and heat the inner gas preventing runaway radiative cooling; a process known as Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback. Here we report on Hitomi X-ray observations of the Perseus cluster core, which reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere where the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 164+/-10 km/s in a region 30-60 kpc from the central nucleus. A gradient in the line-of-sight velocity of 150+/-70 km/s is found across the 60 kpc image of the cluster core. Turbulent pressure support in the gas is 4% or less of the thermodynamic pressure, with large scale shear at most doubling that estimate. We infer that total cluster masses determined from hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions need little correction for turbulent pressure.Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figs, published in Nature July