Sarcoidosis-associated hepatocellular carcinoma

Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous inflammation of unknown etiology, and seems to involve the liver parenchyma in most cases. However, sarcoidosis-associated hepatocellular carcinoma is rare. We report here a case in which a hepatocellular carcinoma occurred within the liver, which was probably involved as a result of systemic sarcoidosis. A 57-year-old Japanese man had been followed up for 2 years because of diabetic nephropathy and sarcoidosis. On admission for pneumonia, imaging studies revealed an unexpected hepatic tumor. Histology revealed a hepatocellular carcinoma accompanied by T-lymphocytic infiltration and marked granulomatous inflammation, which was surrounding some tumor nodules. The background liver parenchyma exhibited a moderate degree of fibrosis with granulomatous inflammation. The patient had no other apparent liver disease such as viral hepatitis, steatohepatitis, or primary biliary cirrhosis. Therefore, in the present case, sarcoidosis may be considered the probable background etiology for hepatocarcinogenesis

Soliton Trap in Strained Graphene Nanoribbons

The wavefunction of a massless fermion consists of two chiralities, left-handed and right-handed, which are eigenstates of the chiral operator. The theory of weak interactions of elementally particle physics is not symmetric about the two chiralities, and such a symmetry breaking theory is referred to as a chiral gauge theory. The chiral gauge theory can be applied to the massless Dirac particles of graphene. In this paper we show within the framework of the chiral gauge theory for graphene that a topological soliton exists near the boundary of a graphene nanoribbon in the presence of a strain. This soliton is a zero-energy state connecting two chiralities and is an elementally excitation transporting a pseudospin. The soliton should be observable by means of a scanning tunneling microscopy experiment.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

The University of Tokyo forests and forest science education in Japan

In-forest teaching is a vital element of forest science education at university level, and university forests play a critical role in this. In Japan, the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) owns the oldest university forest, which was established in 1894. This paper outlines how the University of Tokyo Forests (UTF) provide in-forest education for forest science. The UTF consist of seven branch stations with a total area of over 32,000 ha. Third- and fourth-year undergraduate students majoring in forest science attend field courses in these forests. Same undergraduate and graduate students are affiliated with the UTF, where they conduct field studies for their graduate theses. Since 2005, the UTF have expanded their educational activities by offering university-wide hands-on experience seminars with field experience for first- and second-year undergraduate students, although these courses are open to all students studying at UTokyo

Corporate Governance and Employment Adjustments at Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) (Japanese)

This paper examines how the three key characteristics of a corporate governance structure (i.e., the composition of board members, the nature of the largest shareholder, and the background of the representative directors) affect the way companies adjust employment levels. With respect to the manufacturing sector, we have found that the pace of employment adjustment tends to be quicker at companies in which employees are promoted internally to the board of director or to the CEO post. Meanwhile, in the nonmanufacturing sector, the pace of employment adjustment is slower at companies in which founding family members have a greater presence on the board. In nonmanufacturing companies in which a founding family member serves as CEO, the pace of employment adjustment is quicker when such founding family member has been internally promoted to the top post. In contrast, when the CEO is not a member of the founding family, the pace of employment adjustment is slower when the CEO has been promoted internally. These findings show that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the nonmanufacturing sector and their counterparts in the manufacturing sector differ in their attitude toward employees even if they have a similar management structure. Specifically, management practices at nonmanufacturing SMEs with an "employee sovereignty-type" management structure (i.e., those headed by an internally-promoted CEO) tend to attach considerable importance to employees' interests, whereas nonmanufacturing SMEs are less inclined to do so, even if the CEO and directors are appointed from within the company.

Study of Automatic Forest Road Design Model Considering Shallow Landslides with LiDAR Data of Funyu Experimental Forest

In this study, a model to automatically design a forest road considering shallow landslides using LiDAR data was examined. First, in order to develop a shallow landslide risk map of the Funyu Experimental Forest, a slope stability analysis was carried out using the infinite slope stability analysis formula. The soil depth was surveyed at 167 points using simple penetration tests, and the frequency distributions of the soil depth were estimated as logarithmic normal distributions. A soil depth map of the experimental forest was made using the mode values of the lognormal distributions. Then, shallow landslide risk maps were also made for the experimental forest by a slope stability analysis using these soil depth distributions. Finally, an automatic forest road design model was developed with a LiDAR based highly accurate Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and shallow landslide risk map using cubic spline interpolation and dynamic programming. The program has capability of minimizing the earthwork costs while avoiding shallow landslide risk areas. The program can be effectively used to design an environmentally sound low volume road automatically

Simultaneous recovery of high-purity copper and polyvinyl chloride from thin electric cables by plasticizer extraction and ball milling

Herein, we introduce a combination of plasticizer extraction from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and ball milling for the simultaneous, effective recovery of PVC and copper (Cu) from thin electric cables. PVC coverings typically contain plasticizers for flexibility. As such, PVC cables become brittle after plasticizer extraction, causing them to be easily crushed by physical impact. Hence, we extracted the plasticizers from the PVC coverings of electric cables using organic solvents, and then crushed the obtained cable samples by ball milling. The influences of the plasticizer extraction yield and PVC morphologies before and after extraction on separation by ball milling were investigated. After a series of treatments to PVC coverings including quantitatively de-plasticizing for 5 h by Soxhlet-extraction in diethyl ether, 6 h ball milling and 1 h shaking in the sieve shaker, a maximum separation rate of 77% was achieved and the purity of the obtained separated Cu reached >99.8%