International Trade and Industry (MITI) through the period of

Abstract Advanced technologies in Ceramics Gas Turbine (COT) are expected to make a great progress in energy conservation, anti-pollution, and fuel-diversification. In Japan, R&D's in industrial usage 300 kW class COT have been advanced under a national project entitled Over the last six years, the basic designs have been completed and the ceramic elements such as turbine rotors, scrolls, and combustors were successfully • fabricated. To check up the whole progress of the project, an interim evaluation is scheduled by the end of FY1993. Toward this evaluation, each prototype has been programmed to demonstrate 1200°C of Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT) and prove more than 30% of thermal efficiency. (The ultimate target in the project is 42% of thermal efficiency at 1350°C TIT.) They would also show enough environmental adaptability. In this paper, overall status of the development in the 300kW COT project is reviewed and the items in the interim evaluation are explained

Decadal–centennial-scale solar-linked climate variations and millennial-scale internal oscillations during the Early Cretaceous

Understanding climate variability and stability under extremely warm ‘greenhouse’ conditions in the past is essential for future climate predictions. However, information on millennial-scale (and shorter) climate variability during such periods is scarce, owing to a lack of suitable high-resolution, deep-time archives. Here we present a continuous record of decadal- to orbital-scale continental climate variability from annually laminated lacustrine deposits formed during the late Early Cretaceous (123–120 Ma: late Barremian–early Aptian) in southeastern Mongolia. Inter-annual changes in lake algal productivity for a 1091-year interval reveal a pronounced solar influence on decadal- to centennial-scale climatic variations (including the ~ 11-year Schwabe cycle). Decadally-resolved Ca/Ti ratios (proxy for evaporation/precipitation changes) for a ~ 355-kyr long interval further indicate millennial-scale (~ 1000–2000-yr) extreme drought events in inner-continental areas of mid-latitude palaeo-Asia during the Cretaceous. Millennial-scale oscillations in Ca/Ti ratio show distinct amplitude modulation (AM) induced by the precession, obliquity and short eccentricity cycles. Similar millennial-scale AM by Milankovitch cycle band was also previously observed in the abrupt climatic oscillations (known as Dansgaard–Oeschger events) in the ‘intermediate glacial’ state of the late Pleistocene, and in their potential analogues in the Jurassic ‘greenhouse’. Our findings indicate that external solar activity forcing was effective on decadal–centennial timescales, whilst the millennial-scale variations were likely amplified by internal process such as changes in deep-water formation strength, even during the Cretaceous ‘greenhouse’ period

Verification of the Addiction Severity Index Japanese Version (ASI-J) as a Treatment-Customization, Prediction, and Comparison Tool for Alcohol-Dependent Individuals

Objective: To demonstrate the usefulness of the Addiction Severity Index Japanese Version (ASI-J) in Japanese alcohol-dependent individuals. The ASI is a frequently used clinical and research instrument that measures severities in seven functional domains in people with substance abuse disorders. Methods: A total of 370 male inpatients with a history of alcohol dependence participated in the study. Forty-nine participants were excluded in the final analysis due to lack of reliability (i.e., patient misrepresentation or inability to understand). We used the ASI-J and a series of indexes that determined patient states during and post-treatment. Results: The correlations between ASI Composite Scores (CSs), which were calculated through a weighted formula and indicated the severity of each problem area, were significant but low in eight relations and not significant in 13 relations, indicating substantial independence of the problem areas. Significant differences were found in Family/Social CSs between abstinent and relapsed alcohol-dependent individuals. The questions of undesirable attitude were significantly related to the CSs of Employment, Drug use, Family/Social, and Psychiatric sections. Significant differences were observed in patient demographics, CS, and ASI Severity Rating (SR) and interviewer’s subjective scoring between alcohol-dependent individuals and drug abusers. CSs in Japanese alcohol-dependent individuals were generally similar to corresponding CSs in individuals from other countries, with the exception of The Netherlands. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the ASI-J is useful for understanding individual profiles of problems for each patient and planning customized treatment. The ASI-J served as a predictive tool for relapse and compliance to treatment afterward and was shown to be useful as a comparison tool in clarifying similarities and differences between substance abuser groups

主観的健康感と社会とのかかわりに関する研究

【目的】主観的健康感と社会とのかかわりとの関連を詳細に検討した.【方法】新潟県粟島浦村および山形県酒田市飛島において実施した調査結果をメタ・アナリシス的に検討した.主観的健康感の回答内容から,対象者を「健康群」「非健康群」の2群に分け,Fisherの直接法を用いて各項目間との関連の有意性を検討した.さらに,有意差が確認された項目から,多変量ロジスティック回帰分析により独立性の高い変量を検出した.【結果】1)主観的健康感の分布に地域差がみられた.2)主観的健康感には,「職業の有無」「病院にかかるような病気の有無」「地域活動への参加機会の有無」「趣味の有無」の項目が関連していた.【結論】主観的健康感には「社会的な活動への参加」「役割の保持」「生きがい活動の実践」が関連していることが明らかとなった.島嶼地域高齢者の主観的健康感の維持および向上には,以上に配慮した介護予防実践の励行が求められる.Purpose : Investigation of the relationship between self-rerated health and social interactions. Methods : Employing meta-analyses, we reexamined the findings obtained in the two investigations, performed in Awashima village (Niigata Prefecture) and in Tobishima village (Yamagata Prefecture). The subjects were divided into the"healthy"group and the"unhealthy"group, on the basis of their answers to the questions concerning self-related health. The relationship between self-related health and various factors including social interactions was examined, using Fisher\u27s exact method. Independent factors were extracted out of the significant factors by means of the logistic regression analysis. Results : 1) There are regional differences in the distribution of self-related health. 2) Self-related health is affected by the factors of having a job","having a disease for which he/she must visit hospital","having opportunities to take part in local activities", and"having a hobby". Conclusions : Our investigation shows that participation in social activities and having social roles are significantly related to self-related health. In order to maintain and improve self-related health of the elderly people in islands, it is necessary to take the preventive care from the viewpoint of these factors

Stimulatory effect of hydrothermally synthesized biodegradable hydroxyapatite granules on osteogenesis and direct association with osteoclasts.

Calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite (HA) granules with a unique spherical shape were prepared using an applied hydrothermal method. Spherical stoichiometric HA granules were also prepared by normal sintering and both granules were used for implantation into rat tibiae to compare the biological responses to each implant. Twelve and 24 weeks after implantation, the volume of calcium-deficient HA granules was significantly less than that of stoichiometric HA granules, and the biodegradability of calcium-deficient HA granules was confirmed. The larger number of osteoclasts, larger osteoblast surface and larger bone volume in the implanted area of calcium-deficient HA than those of stoichiometric HA suggested that osteoclastic resorption of calcium-deficient HA affected osteogenesis in that area. To analyze the direct contribution of osteoclasts to osteogenesis, C2C12 multipotent myoblastic cells, which have the potential to differentiate into osteoblasts in the presence of bone morphogenetic protein 2, were cultured with supernatants of osteoclasts cultured on calcium-deficient HA, stoichiometric HA, beta-tricalcium phosphate disks or plastic dishes, or bone marrow macrophages cultured on plastic dishes. Supernatants of osteoclasts but not bone marrow macrophages stimulated the expression of Runx2 and osteocalcin in C2C12 cells in concert with bone morphogenetic protein 2. The expression of alkaline phosphatase was stimulated with supernatants of osteoclasts cultured on ceramic disks. These results suggested that osteoclasts produced certain soluble factors which stimulated osteoblastic differentiation and they were thought to be associated with the induction of a larger osteoblast surface and bone volume in the animals implanted with calcium-deficient HA granules

Computer simulation of four layer depth of interaction detector for PET.

Medical Imaging Conferenc

Computer simulation of four layer depth of interaction detector for PET.

Medical Imaging Conferenc

Simplified simulation of four-layer depth of interaction detector for PET

A four-layer depth-of-interaction (DOI) detector was proposed from and developed at the research project at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Japan, with the aim of achieving high resolution and high spatial sensitivity. Previously, we had developed a Monte Carlo simulation for a DOI detector with 2 x 2 x 4 crystal elements. In this study, in order to simulate the final version of the DOI detector of the project, which uses a larger number of crystal elements, we have developed a much faster and simpler simulator. In this paper the algorithm of the simplified simulator as well as the previously proposed Monte Carlo method is presented and the validation of the simplified simulator through comparisons with the full Monte Carlo simulation and with some experimental results is described