Effects of disorder on lattice Ginzburg-Landau model of d-wave superconductors and superfluids

We study the effects of quenched disorder on the two-dimensional d-wave superconductors (SC's) at zero temperature by Monte-Carlo simulations. The model is defined on the three-dimesional (3D) lattice and the SC pair field is put on each spatial link as motivated in the resonating-valence-bond theory of the high-$T_{\rm c}$ SC's. For the nonrandom case, the model exhibits a second-order phase transition to a SC state as density of charge carriers is increased. It belongs to the universality class {\it different from} that of the 3D XY model. Quenched disorders (impurities) are introduced both in the hopping amplitude and the plaquette term of pair fields. Then the second-order transition disappears at a critical concentration of quenched disorder, $p_c\simeq 15$. Implication of the results to cold atomic systems in optical lattices is also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

An Analysis of Effects of Boredom on Revisit Intention – A Case in Japanese Popular Tourism Destinations

This study focuses on the effects of visitors’ boredom of a destination on their intention to revisit it, using two Japanese popular tourism destinations as the cases. Relationships between three factors, which are satisfaction, boredom and revisit intention, were examined. In addition to the subjective index of visitors’ boredom based on ratings on a scale, the rate of remaining facilities (RoRF), which was the objective index of visitors’ boredom, is also employed. A questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain data related to the five factors. We conclude that subjective index of visitors’ boredom may not be effective for understanding of their revisit intention, while their revisit intention can arguably be relevant to the RoRF

Generating reliable tourist accommodation statistics: Bootstrapping regression model for overdispersed long-tailed data

Purpose: Few studies have applied count data analysis to tourist accommodation data. This study was undertaken to investigate the characteristics and to seek for the most fitting models for population total estimation in relation to tourist accommodation data. Methods: Based on the data of 10,503 hotels, obtained from by a nationwide Japanese survey, the bootstrap resampling method was applied for re-randomisation of the data. Training and test sets were derived by randomly splitting each of the bootstrap samples. Six count models were fitted to the training set and validated with the test set. Bootstrap distributions for parameters of significance were used for model evaluation. Results: The outcome variable (number of guests), was found to be heterogenous, over dispersed and long-tailed, with excessive zero counts. The hurdle negative binomial and zero-inflated negative binomial models outperformed the other models. The accuracy (se) of the estimation of total guests with training sets that ranged from 5% to 85%, was from 3.7 to 0.4 respectively. Results appear little overestimated. Implications: Findings indicated that the integration of the bootstrap resampling method and count regression provide a statistical tool for generating reliable tourist accommodation statistics. The use of bootstrap would help to detect and correct the bias of the estimation

Malignant transformation of human cell in vitro by the SV 40 DNA and related alteration in biological activity of cell membranes

In vitro cell transformation of human embryonic cells could be induced by DNA extracted from virions of SV 40 purified by density gradient centrifugation. The result shows clearly that cell transformation is in· duced by incorporation ofa part of viral DNA into the genome. In addition, for the purpose of clarifing the biological differences between the normal and transformant, the alteration of the cell membrane structures of transformants was observed from the mechanism of phagocytosis. The iron colloid particles are taken up by normal diploid fibroblasts but not by the human and hamster transformants. This fact suggests a difference in the molecular arrangement of the cell membranes between the normal and transformants. In the presence of histones, however, the transformants phagocytize the colloid particles very actively. The results show cell membranes of transformants are altered in the molecular structure responsible for the surface charge.</p

Vector Mesons in Nuclear Medium

We summarize the current theoretical and experimental status of the spectral change of the vector mesons in dense matter.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, talk at Quark Matter '9

Effects of Orally Administered Lactoferrin and Lactoperoxidase-Containing Tablets on Clinical and Bacteriological Profiles in Chronic Periodontitis Patients

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of oral administration of lactoferrin (LF) and lactoperoxidase-(LPO-)containing tablet on periodontal condition. Seventy-two individuals with chronic periodontitis were randomly assigned to take either bovine LF and LPO-containing tablets (test group, n = 37) or control tablets (control group, n = 35) every day for 12 weeks. Periodontal parameters and levels of subgingival plaque bacteria, human and bovine LF, and endotoxin in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) were evaluated at baseline, 1 week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks. Significant differences were observed in GCF levels of bovine LF between the test and control groups throughout the study (P < .05). However, clinical and bacteriological parameter values proved comparable between the two groups at 1 week to 12 weeks. Therefore, the effect of oral administration of LF and LPO-containing tablets might be weak on periodontal and bacteriological profile in this study

Mobile Application to Provide Traffic Congestion Estimates and Tourism Spots to Promote Additional Stopovers

In Japan, traffic congestions often occur on the expressways connecting tourism areas with the Tokyo metropolitan area. This congestion can be mitigated if tourists delayed their departure of homeward trips to avoid peak traffic hours. A potential method to promote staggered departure times is providing the estimates of near-future traffic congestion. This study hypothesized and experimentally confirmed that some tourists would delay their departure to avoid traffic based on near-future traffic estimates. The experiment was conducted in the Yatsugatake area using a mobile application that provided this information to tourists. The results suggest that approximately 40% of self-driving tourists will perform an additional stopover if the returning route is congested and near-future traffic congestion estimate is provided. Document type: Articl

Assessment of Growth Disturbance in Japanese Children with IBD

In Japan, there is as yet no report on growth retardation in children with IBD. We therefore investigated the cause of growth retardation in Japanese children with IBD. We investigated the height, body weight, serum levels of albumin, IGF-I, CRP, and cytokines, and the amount of corticosteroid administered in children with Crohn's disease (CD, n = 15) and ulcerative colitis (UC, n = 18). Our results suggest that growth retardation is already present before the initial visit in children with CD, and chronic inflammation may be responsible this growth disturbance. Moreover, the amount of PSL used may contribute to growth retardation by decreasing the serum levels of IGF-I in children with IBD