Fusion of Pedigreed Preferential Relations

AbstractBelief fusion, instead of AGM belief revision, was first proposed to solve the problem of inconsistency, that arise from repetitive application of the operation when agents' knowledge were amalgamated. However in the theory, all the sources must be totally ordered and thus applicable area is quite restrictive. In this paper, we realize the belief fusion of multiple agents for partially ordered sources. When we consider such a partial ranking over sources, there is no need to restrict that each agent has total preorders over possible worlds. The preferential model allows each agent to have strict partial orders over possible worlds. Especially, such an order is called a preferential relation, that prescribes a world is more plausible than the other. We introduce an operation which combines multiple preferential relations of agents. In addition, we show that our operation can properly include the ordinary belief fusion

On Hook Formulas for Cylindric Skew Diagrams

We present a conjectual hook formula concerning the number of the standard tableaux on "cylindric" skew diagrams. Our formula can be seen as an extension of Naruse's hook formula for skew diagrams. Moreover, we prove our conjecture in some special cases

Real-Time Measurement of the Viscoelasticity of Green Juvenile Wood of Japanese Cedar at High Temperature

Changes in the viscoelasticity of green juvenile and mature wood during high-temperature drying were measured in real time. For each measurement, a 180-mm-long specimen of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica), its supporting system, a magnetic driver, and a deflection sensor were placed in an electric oven and a free-free flexural vibration test was performed. The temperature was fixed at 120°C. The resonance frequency decreased and the loss tangent increased during heating of the juvenile vs mature wood. These tendencies apparently occurred because the initial moisture content of the juvenile wood was higher than mature wood and because the juvenile wood had the larger number of intercellular layers

EFFECT OF HIGH TEMPERATURE AND HIGH HUMIDITY TREATMENT ON BENDING PROPERTIES OF WOOD

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria Japonica D. Don) 110 110 1000-mm green boxed-heart timbers were dried under high temperature (110-140C) and high humidity (0.01-0.24 MPa gauge pressure) conditions until the weight remained unchanged. Then strength properties were examined. Wood became brittle because of the high temperature and high humidity treatment. We hypothesize that the wood was seriously damaged by hydrolysis because of the long treatment time used in this study and that the large cross-sectional area and high set gauge pressure lengthened the time of water loss from the wood. We considered viscosity and plasticity, rather than elasticity, to be the main factors that contributed to the decrease of work for rupture

Information-seeking behaviour of community pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic: an ecological study

[Objective] To evaluate the information-seeking behaviour of pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relation to COVID-19 and related infections and deaths within the local prefecture. [Design] Ecological study. [Setting] Japan—47 prefectures. [Methods] The number of accesses to a Japanese web page established by the Pharmacy Informatics Group to disseminate information about infection control and the number of infections and deaths in 47 prefectures were investigated from 6 April to 30 September 2020 using the access information on the web page and publicly available information. [Results] During the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of accesses was 226 130 (range: 10 984–138 898 per month), the total number of infections was 78 761 (1738–31 857) and the total number of deaths was 1470 (39–436). The correlation between the total number of accesses and that of infections per 100 000 individuals in 47 prefectures was r=0.72 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.83, p<0.001), and between the total number of accesses and deaths per 100 000 individuals in 47 prefectures was r=0.44 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.65, p=0.002). [Conclusions] The information-seeking behaviour of community pharmacists correlated positively with infection status within the community

DEVELOPMENT OF A RAPID PREDICTION TECHNOLOGY FOR EMERGENCY PROTECTION AREA AT NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS

The authors have developed a rapid prediction model R-cubic that can predict both a release amount of radioactive materials and a probable protective action area against radiological disasters when nuclear accident occurs. R-Cubic predicts conservative release amounts to MAAP4 analysis. Dose predicted by R-cubic is compatible to SPEEDI within a factor of two. R-cubic has a capability to predict conservative radiation protection area by inputting probable range of meteorological conditions

Single-ion anisotropy in Haldane chains and form factor of the O(3) nonlinear sigma model

We consider spin-1 Haldane chains with single-ion anisotropy, which exists in known Haldane chain materials. We develop a perturbation theory in terms of anisotropy, where magnon-magnon interaction is important even in the low temperature limit. The exact two-particle form factor in the O(3) nonlinear sigma model leads to quantitative predictions on several dynamical properties including dynamical structure factor and electron spin resonance frequency shift. These agree very well with numerical results, and with experimental data on the Haldane chain material Ni(C$_5$H$_{14}$N$_2$)$_2$N$_3$(PF$_6$)

Recent Progress in Research on Plant Sexual Reproduction in Arabidopsis thaliana 2003. : An Emerging Network of Plant Meiosis Genes

有性生殖を行う全ての生き物は染色体数が半減した半数体の雌性と雄性の配偶子を作り、この雌雄の配偶子が融合(受精)することによって2倍体に復帰し、次世代の細胞を生み出す。配偶子を作るのに、染色体数を半減させる作業(減数分裂)は避けて通ることはできない。ゲノムの恒常性を維持し、正常な子孫を生み出すのに減数分裂の正確性は非常に重要である。しかし、その正確性を保証する減数分裂のメカニズムの分子レベルでの研究は体細胞分裂のそれに関する詳細な研究と比べると大きな遅れをとってきた。特に植物の分野では減数分裂変異体の原因遺伝子の解析が進まず、停滞していたと言って良い。しかしモデル植物シロイヌナズナでの原因遺伝子の同定を前提とした変異体作出法が開発されて以来、胞子形成、減数分裂、あるいは配偶子形成の変異体単離とそれらの原因遺伝子の解析結果が毎年報告されるようになった。特に2003年にはシロイヌナズナから多くのこれらの減数分裂に関連する変異体が単離され、さらにその原因遺伝子の正体が明らかにされて、植物の減数分裂研究に大きな進歩が見られた。これらの遺伝子には転写調節因子、細胞周期調節因子、相同組換え関連因子、染色体構造調節タンパク質、減数分裂期染色体構成要素などの遺伝子が含まれる。このような生殖に重要な働きをする遺伝子が明らかにされつつあり、植物における生殖過程の全体像が分子のレベルで明らかにされようとしている。シロイヌナズナを用いた花器官形成以降の生殖過程の研究の近年の進歩について、特に減数分裂に関する研究に重点を置きながら、整理する。Gamete generation is prerequisite for all sexual reproductive organisms. Chromosome number of gametes have to be halved in preparation for the union (fertilization) of male and female gametes, which doubles the chromosome number of the fertilized cell. M

Low-density lipoprotein receptors play an important role in the inhibition of prostate cancer cell proliferation by statins

AbstractBackgroundThere are some reports about the antitumor effects of statins in these days. Statins decrease the level of cholesterol in the blood by inhibiting 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase. Inhibition of this enzyme decreases intracellular cholesterol synthesis. Thus, the expression of low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) is increased to import more cholesterol from the bloodstream. In this study, we assessed the effects of statins on the proliferation of prostate cancer cells, and studied the relationship between the expression of LDLr and the effects of statins.MethodsSimvastatin was used in the experiments. We studied the effect of simvastatin on PC-3 and LNCaP cell proliferation using the MTS assay, and evaluated the expression of LDLr after administration of simvastatin by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. Intracellular cholesterol levels in the prostate cancer cells were measured after administration of simvastatin. Furthermore, small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to knockdown the gene expression of LDLr.ResultsIn PC-3 cells, simvastatin inhibited cell proliferation. In LNCaP cells, only a high concentration of simvastatin (100μM) inhibited cell proliferation. In LNCaP cells, the protein level of LDLr was increased by simvastatin. In PC-3 cells, the protein levels of LDLr were unregulated. In PC-3 cells, but not in LNCaP cells, intracellular cholesterol levels were significantly decreased by simvastatin. After knocking down LDLr expression by siRNA, intracellular cholesterol levels were decreased, and cell proliferation was inhibited by simvastatin in LNCaP cells.ConclusionSimvastatin inhibited prostate cancer cell growth by decreasing cellular cholesterol and could be more effective in androgen-independent prostate cancer, where there is loss of regulation of LDLr expression. LDLr was shown to play an important role in the statin-induced inhibition of prostate cancer cell proliferation. These results suggest that future studies evaluating the cholesterol-lowering effects of statin may lead to new approaches to the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer