Live E! Project: Establishment of Infrastructure Sharing Environmental Information

The Live E! project is an open research consortium among industry and academia to explore the platform to share the digital information related with the earth and our living environment. We have getting a lot of low cost sensor nodes with Internet connectivity. The deployment of broad-band and ubiquitous networks will enable autonomous and global digital information sharing over the globe. In this paper, we describe the technical and operational overview of Live E! project, while discussing the objective, such as education, disaster protection/reduction/recovery or busi-ness cases, and goal of this project activity. 1

Efficient ultrashort-pulse generation of Yb:YAG laser overcoming the fluorescence spectrum limit by using nonlinear medium

One-hundred-ten-fs and 72-fs pulse-widths were obtained directly from a mode-locked Yb:YAG laser with SESAM and without SESAM, respectively. The laser-spectrum-center and the fluorescence-center were almost same. The oscillation-spectra were much broader than the fluorescence

The estimated GFR, but not the stage of diabetic nephropathy graded by the urinary albumin excretion, is associated with the carotid intima-media thickness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To study the relationship between the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery and the stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) based on the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and diabetic nephropathy graded by the urinary albumin excretion (UAE) in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was performed in 338 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The carotid IMT was measured using an ultrasonographic examination.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean carotid IMT was 1.06 ± 0.27 mm, and 42% of the subjects showed IMT thickening (≥ 1.1 mm). Cerebrovascular disease and coronary heart disease were frequent in the patients with IMT thickening. The carotid IMT elevated significantly with the stage progression of CKD (0.87 ± 0.19 mm in stage 1, 1.02 ± 0.26 mm in stage 2, 1.11 ± 0.26 mm in stage 3, and 1.11 ± 0.27 mm in stage 4+5). However, the IMT was not significantly different among the various stages of diabetic nephropathy. The IMT was significantly greater in the diabetic patients with hypertension compared to those without hypertension. The IMT positively correlated with the age, the duration of diabetes mellitus, and the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocities (baPWV), and negatively correlated with the eGFR. In a stepwise multivariate regression analysis, the eGFR and the baPWV were independently associated with the carotid IMT.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study is the first report showing a relationship between the carotid IMT and the renal parameters including eGFR and the stages of diabetic nephropathy with a confirmed association between the IMT and diabetic macroangiopathy. Our study further confirms the importance of intensive examinations for the early detection of atherosclerosis and positive treatments for hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obesity, as well as hyperglycaemia are necessary when a reduced eGFR is found in diabetic patients.</p

Long-term effect of metformin on blood glucose control in non-obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We aimed to investigate the long-term effect of metformin on the blood glucose control in non-obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective study was performed in 213 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus under the administration of metformin for more than one year. The clinical parameters were investigated for 3 years. The obese and non-obese individuals were defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m²or over (<it>n </it>= 105) and a BMI of less than 25 kg/m²(<it>n </it>= 108), respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HbA1c levels were significantly decreased compared with those at the baseline time. The course of HbA1c was similar between the non-obese and the obese groups, while the dose of metformin required to control blood glucose was significantly lower in the non-obese group than in the obese group. The reductions in HbA1c were 1.2% and 1.1% at 12 months, 0.9% and 0.9% at 24 months, and 0.8% and 1.0% at 36 months in the non-obese and obese groups, respectively. BMI did not change during the observation periods. Approximately half of all patients required no additional antidiabetic agents or a reduction in other treatments after the initiation of metformin in either of the two groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study demonstrated the long-term beneficial effect of metformin in non-obese (BMI < 25 kg/m²) diabetic patients. This effect appears to be maintained even after the observation period of this study, because metformin was limited to a relatively low dose in the non-obese group and the observed worsening in glycemic control over time can probably be attenuated by increasing the dose of metformin.</p

Effect of current waveform in MIG arc on weld bead formation in plasma-MIG hybrid welding

The version of record of this article, first published in International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, is available online at Publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-024-13684-8.Plasma-metal inert gas (MIG) hybrid welding enables to join thick steel plates in single pass. However, arc coupling occurring between the plasma and MIG arcs disturbs its heat source characteristics, lowering the welding quality. This arc coupling phenomenon is not yet understood due to the complexity. This study aims to clarify the effect of current waveform of arc on weld bead formation according to the arc coupling in plasma-MIG hybrid welding. The metal transfer characteristics and bottom side weld pool were observed for direct current (DC) and pulse-MIG current waveforms. In addition, Ni element was used for visualizing the transport process of high-temperature molten metal provided by MIG welding within the weld pool. From these results, the effects of differences in MIG arc current waveforms on heat and mass transport processes within the weld pool and also on weld bead formation on the bottom side through changes in the occurrence of arc coupling were discussed. As a result, it was clarified that the droplets after detachment from the wire were transferred to the weld pool surface under the wire tip for DC MIG current, while those were transferred along the wire axis to the weld pool surface behind the keyhole for pulse-MIG current. When the droplet was transferred to the weld pool region with the forward flow such as the pulse-MIG current case, the heat was transported to the bottom side together with the counter-clockwise eddy behind the keyhole, strongly contributing to increasing the penetration depth. In the case of pulse-MIG current, the plasma arc is oscillated due to the arc coupling. According to this oscillation, the accumulation of molten metal behind the keyhole is prevented to suppress the humping bead formation. Consequently, pulse-MIG current was found to be suitable for increasing the penetration depth and suppressing humping bead formation on the bottom side comparing with DC MIG current