Attitude control system design of a helicopter experimental system

In this paper, we consider the problem of attitude control of a helicopter experimental system. We design a nonlinear controller which combines nonlinear adaptive robust control and nonlinear feedback controls. Simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.</p

Relationship Between Impaired Microvascular Function in the Non-Infarct-Related Area and Left Ventricular Remodeling in Patients With Myocardial Infarction

Background. Myocardial flow reserve (MFR) in the non-infarct-related area (NIRA) has been reported to be impaired after the onset of myocardial infarction (MI). The aim of this study was to determine whether microvascular dysfunction in the NIRA is related to left-ventricular remodeling after MI. Methods. We prospectively studied 17 patients who suffered their first single-vessel MI, and who underwent successful revascularization. The MFR in the NIRA was assessed quantitatively using ^13N-ammonia positron emission tomography within 2 weeks after the onset. Peak creatinine kinase and the defect score on ^<99m>Tc-tetrofosmin myocardial perfusion imaging were used as an index of the severity of MI. The left-ventricular end-diastolic volume index (LVEDVI) was calculated using left ventriculography at 1 month and 6 months after the onset. Results. Patients with severely impaired MFR (< 2.09) had higher peak creatinine kinase values (6,000 ± 5,485 IU/L vs. 2,250 ± 1,950 IU/L, p = 0.0081), defect scores (16.3 ± 5.9 vs. 7.9 ± 6.5, p = 0.0404), and LVEDVI at 1 month (125.6 ± 34.4 mL/m^2 vs. 82.8 ± 17.7 mL/m^2, p = 0.0036) than those with mildly impaired MFR (≥ 2.09). Moreover, the differences of LVEDVI between the 2 groups persisted over 6 months (133.3 ± 43.6 mL/m^2 vs. 89.5 ± 17.3 mL/m^2, p = 0.0078). The MFR in the NIRA correlated inversely with the LVEDVI at 1 month and 6 months (r = -0.590, p = 0.0127 and r = -0.729, p = 0.0031, respectively). Conclusions. These data indicate that microvascular impairment in the NIRA might have contributed to left-ventricular remodeling after MI

Use of FDG-PET in Radiation Treatment Planning for Thoracic Cancers

Radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment for thoracic cancers. Accurate diagnosis is essential to correctly perform curative radiotherapy. Tumor delineation is also important to prevent geographic misses in radiotherapy planning. Currently, planning is based on computed tomography (CT) imaging when radiation oncologists manually contour the tumor, and this practice often induces interobserver variability. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) has been reported to enable accurate staging and detect tumor extension in several thoracic cancers, such as lung cancer and esophageal cancer. FDG-PET imaging has many potential advantages in radiotherapy planning for these cancers, because it can add biological information to conventional anatomical images and decrease the inter-observer variability. FDG-PET improves radiotherapy volume and enables dose escalation without causing severe side effects, especially in lung cancer patients. The main advantage of FDG-PET for esophageal cancer patients is the detection of unrecognized lymph node or distal metastases. However, automatic delineation by FDG-PET is still controversial in these tumors, despite the initial expectations. We will review the role of FDG-PET in radiotherapy for thoracic cancers, including lung cancer and esophageal cancer

Reverse evolution of armor plates in the threespine stickleback.

Faced with sudden environmental changes, animals must either adapt to novel environments or go extinct. Thus, study of the mechanisms underlying rapid adaptation is crucial not only for the understanding of natural evolutionary processes but also for the understanding of human-induced evolutionary change, which is an increasingly important problem [1-8]. In the present study, we demonstrate that the frequency of completely plated threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) has increased in an urban freshwater lake (Lake Washington, Seattle, Washington) within the last 40 years. This is a dramatic example of "reverse evolution,"[9] because the general evolutionary trajectory is toward armor-plate reduction in freshwater sticklebacks [10]. On the basis of our genetic studies and simulations, we propose that the most likely cause of reverse evolution is increased selection for the completely plated morph, which we suggest could result from higher levels of trout predation after a sudden increase in water transparency during the early 1970s. Rapid evolution was facilitated by the existence of standing allelic variation in Ectodysplasin (Eda), the gene that underlies the major plate-morph locus [11]. The Lake Washington stickleback thus provides a novel example of reverse evolution, which is probably caused by a change in allele frequency at the major plate locus in response to a changing predation regime

Rocca: An Efficient AES-based Encryption Scheme for Beyond 5G

In this paper, we present an AES-based authenticated-encryption with associated-data scheme called Rocca, with the purpose to reach the requirements on the speed and security in 6G systems. To achieve ultra-fast software implementations, the basic design strategy is to take full advantage of the AES-NI and SIMD instructions as that of the AEGIS family and Tiaoxin-346. Although Jean and Nikolić have generalized the way to construct efficient round functions using only one round of AES (aesenc) and 128-bit XOR operation and have found several efficient candidates, there still seems to exist potential to further improve it regarding speed and state size. In order to minimize the critical path of one round, we remove the case of applying both aesenc and XOR in a cascade way for one round. By introducing a cost-free block permutation in the round function, we are able to search for candidates in a larger space without sacrificing the performance. Consequently, we obtain more efficient constructions with a smaller state size than candidates by Jean and Nikolić. Based on the newly-discovered round function, we carefully design the corresponding AEAD scheme with 256-bit security by taking several reported attacks on the AEGIS family and Tiaxion-346 into account. Our AEAD scheme can reach 138Gbps which is 4 times faster than the AEAD scheme of SNOW-V. Rocca is also much faster than other efficient schemes with 256-bit key length, e.g. AEGIS-256 and AES-256-GCM. As far as we know, Rocca is the first dedicated cryptographic algorithm targeting 6 systems, i.e., 256-bit key length and the speed of more than 100 Gbps

Field-induced quantum phase in a frustrated zigzag-square lattice

This study presents the experimental realization of a spin-1/2 zigzag-square lattice in a verdazyl-based complex, namely ($m$-Py-V-2,6-F$_2$)$[$Cu(hfac)$_2]$. Molecular orbital calculations suggest the presence of five types of frustrated exchange couplings. Our observations reveal an incremental increase in the magnetization curve beyond a critical field, signifying a phase transition from the antiferromagnetic ordered state to a quantum state characterized by a 1/2 plateau. This intriguing behavior arises from the effective stabilization of a zigzag chain by the external fields. These results provide evidence for field-induced dimensional reduction in a zigzag-square lattice attributed to the effects of frustration.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Utility of Nd isotope ratio as a tracer of marine animals : regional variation in coastal seas and causal factors

Isotopic compositions of animal tissue are an intrinsic marker commonly used to trace animal origins and migrations; however, few isotopes are effective for this purpose in marine environments, especially on a local scale. The isotope ratio of the lanthanoid element neodymium (Nd) is a promising tracer for coastal animal migrations. Neodymium derives from the same geologic materials as strontium, well known as an isotopic tracer (87Sr/86Sr) for terrestrial and anadromous animals. The advantage of the Nd isotope ratio (143Nd/144Nd, expressed as εNd) is that it varies greatly in the ocean according to the geology of the neighboring continents, whereas oceanic 87Sr/86Sr is highly uniform. This study explored the utility of the Nd isotope ratio as a marine tracer by investigating the variation of εNd preserved in tissues of coastal species, and the causes of that variation, in a region of northeastern Japan where the bedrock geology is highly variable. We measured εNd and 87Sr/86Sr in seawater, river water, and soft tissues of sedentary suspension feeders: the mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis and Mytilus coruscus and the oyster Crassostrea gigas. We also measured concentrations of three lanthanoids (La, Ce, and Pr) in shellfish bodies to determine whether the Nd in shellfish tissue was derived from solution in seawater or from suspended particulates. The εNd values in shellfish tissue varied regionally (−6 to +1), matching the ambient seawater, whereas all 87Sr/86Sr values were homogeneous and typical of seawater (0.7091–0.7092). The seawater εNd values were in turn correlated with those in the adjacent rivers, linking shellfish εNd to the geology of river catchments. The depletion of Ce compared to La and Pr (negative Ce anomaly) suggested that the Nd in shellfish was derived from the dissolved phase in seawater. Our results indicate that the distinct Nd isotope ratio derived from local geology is imprinted, through seawater, on the soft tissues of shellfish. This result underscores the potential of εNd as a tracer of coastal marine animals

トクシマ シミン ビョウイン ダイキボ ビョウイン ニオケル ソシキテキ Safety Management

Numerous medical errors have been reported on mass media recently. It is a regret that people have become less confident in medicine and have a great deal of skepticism in medical service. Medical profession is now committing to do everything possible to remove their skepticism and restore the confidence in medicine. However, increasing complexity in medical technologies and diversified medical services have made it difficult to eradicate medical errors completely. Nevertheless, we must do everything possible to reduce medical mistakes to an acceptable level. This can be only achieved by the all-out effort of the entire hospital staffs, not by the vigilance of the individual doctor, nurse or technician. We have to face a challenge to improve patient safety and build safer system by the joint effort of all the members of the hospital staffs. We have just initiated the systematic safety programs for the patients, though there are still many problems remaining to be solved. We documented and discussed our concept of informed consent at Tokushima Municipal Hospital, how it is practiced in our daily medical service