Virtual Reality Visualization by CAVE with VFIVE and VTK

The CAVE-type virtual reality (VR) system was introduced for scientific visualization of large scale data in the plasma simulation community about a decade ago. Since then, we have been developing a VR visualization software, VFIVE, for general CAVE systems. Recently, we have integrated an open source visualization library, the Visualization Toolkit (VTK), into VFIVE. Various visualization methods of VTK can be incorporated and used interactively in VFIVE.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, submitted to J. Plasma Physcs (special issue for 19th ICNSP

MovieMaker: A Parallel Movie-Making Software for Large Scale Simulations

We have developed a parallel rendering software for scientific visualization of large-scale, three-dimensional, time development simulations. The goal of this software, MovieMaker, is to generate a movie, or a series of visualization images from totally one TB-scale data within one night (or less than 12 hours). The isocontouring, volume rendering, and streamlines are implemented. MovieMaker is a parallel program for the shared memory architecture with dynamic load balancing and overlapped disk I/O.Comment: 3pages, 5figures, submitted to J. Plasma Physcs (special issue for 19th ICNSP

Calcium channel blocker in patients with chronic kidney disease

[Background] Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is involved in a progressive deterioration in renal function over the years and is now a global public health problem. Currently, reducing the number of patients progressing to end-stage renal failure is urgently necessary. Hypertension and CKD interact with each other, and good control of blood pressure (BP) can improve CKD patients’ prognosis. With the current global trend for more strict BP control, the importance of BP management and the need for medication to achieve this strict goal are increasing. Calcium channel blockers (CCBs), which target voltage-dependent calcium channels, are frequently used in combination with renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitors for CKD patients because of their strong BP-lowering properties and relatively few adverse side effects. Calcium channels have several subtypes, including L, N, T, P/Q, and R, and three types of CCBs, L-type CCBs, L-/T-type CCBs, and L-/N-type CCBs, that are available. Nowadays, the new functions and effects of the CCBs are being elucidated. [Conclusion] We should use different types of CCBs properly depending on their pharmacological effects, such as the strength of antihypertensive effects and the organ protection effects, taking into account the pathophysiology of the patients. In this article, the role and the use of CCBs in CKD patients are reviewed

Blue light-emitting diode based on ZnO

A near-band-edge bluish electroluminescence (EL) band centered at around 440 nm was observed from ZnO p-i-n homojunction diodes through a semi-transparent electrode deposited on the p-type ZnO top layer. The EL peak energy coincided with the photoluminescence peak energy of an equivalent p-type ZnO layer, indicating that the electron injection from the n-type layer to the p-type layer dominates the current, giving rise to the radiative recombination in the p-type layer. The imbalance in charge injection is considered to originate from the lower majority carrier concentration in the p-type layer, which is one or two orders of magnitude lower than that in the n-type one. The current-voltage characteristics showed the presence of series resistance of several hundreds ohms, corresponding to the current spread resistance within the bottom n-type ZnO. The employment of conducting ZnO substrates may solve the latter problem.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. in pres

Bathymetric Changes along Tottori Sand Dune Coast

The present study deals with a short-term change of an offshore bar topology along Tottori coast during 5 years (2004-2009). This coast has a multiple offshore bar system. An inner bar lies around 100m offshore and an outer bar lies between 250m and 500m offshore. The outer bars have crescentic feature with an offshore convexity. Wave lengths of the outer bar are 500m ~ 1000m and shows small yearly change. The shore line has a cusping feature. Their wave lengths are 300m ~ 450m. Inner bars also show crescentic feature in winter. The wave length ratio of cusp and inner bar to outer bar is roughly 1: 1:2. In early winter, amplitude of the outer bar reduces and in the late winter, it grows again. The difference reaches to 100m. This change seems corresponding to the integrated incident wave energy

NHC-catalyzed cleavage of vicinal diketones and triketones followed by insertion of enones and ynones

Thiazolium carbene-catalyzed reactions of 1,2-diketones and 1,2,3-triketones with enones and ynones have been investigated. The diketones gave α,β-double acylation products via unique Breslow intermediates isolable as acid salts, whereas the triketones formed stable adducts with the NHC instead of the coupling products

Interaction between anti-Alzheimer and antipsychotic drugs in modulating extrapyramidal motor disorders in mice

AbstractAntipsychotics are often used in conjunction with anti-Alzheimer drugs to treat the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Here, we examined the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), donepezil and galantamine, on antipsychotic-induced extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) in mice. The effects of serotonergic agents on the EPS drug interaction were also evaluated. Donepezil (0.3–3 mg/kg) did not induce EPS signs by itself; however, it significantly potentiated bradykinesia induction with a low dose of haloperidol (0.5 mg/kg) in dose-dependent and synergistic manners. Galantamine (0.3–3 mg/kg) elicited mild bradykinesia at a high dose and dose-dependently augmented haloperidol-induced bradykinesia. The EPS potentiation by galantamine was blocked by trihexyphenidyl (a muscarinic antagonist), but not by mecamylamine (a nicotinic antagonist). In addition, the bradykinesia potentiation by galantamine was significantly reduced by (±)-8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)-tetralin (a 5-HT1A agonist), ritanserin (a 5-HT2 antagonist), and SB-258585 (a 5-HT6 antagonist). The present results give us a caution for the antipsychotics and ChEIs interaction in inducing EPS in the treatment of BPSD. In addition, second generation antipsychotics, which can stimulate 5-HT1A receptors or antagonize 5-HT2 and 5-HT6 receptors, seem to be favorable as an adjunctive therapy for BPSD

Transient IR absorption study of charge carriers photogenerated in sulfur-doped TiO2

Sulfur-doped TiO2 was prepared by two methods; one was simple oxidation annealing of TiS2, the other was mixing of titanium isopropoxide and thiourea. These two sulfur-doped TiO2 preparations showed fairly different photocatalytic activity under visible light. The dynamics of photogenerated charge carriers were studied by the transient absorption measurement in the region of mid-IR. In both samples, excitation by 532 nm pulse led to photocarrier generation to the same extent. Nevertheless, the reactivity of the photocarriers was totally different. Photogenerated electrons and holes transferred to reactant gas in the latter sample, whereas they did not in the former sample. We attributed the different carrier behavior to the difference in the distribution of S atoms or particle size. These observations can explain the difference in capability of photocatalysis under visible light