Effective System for Information Supplements for Food Products : Consideration from the Perspective of Consumer Needs

This paper presents the analysis results of consumer needs concerning food information supplements. Consumer awareness of food safety is recently heightening, and food allergy issues seem to be becoming a greater concern these daystherefore, effective solutions are required. Improving the quality of food might be an important solution, but supplementation with information that consumers really need might also be considered important. In order to contribute to resolving this issue, surveys to general consumers and parents of allergy patients ware conducted, and from their results, a system was designed and developed its prototype proposed in this paper

Optical properties of iron-based superconductor LiFeAs single crystal

We have measured the reflectivity spectra of the iron based superconductor LiFeAs (Tc = 17.6 K) in the temperature range from 4 to 300 K. In the superconducting state (T < Tc), the clear opening of the optical absorption gap was observed below 25 cm-1, indicating an isotropic full gap formation. In the normal state (T > Tc), the optical conductivity spectra display a typical metallic behavior with the Drude type spectra at low frequencies, but we found that the introduction of the two Drude components best fits the data, indicating the multiband nature of this superconductor. A theoretical analysis of the low temperature data (T=4K < Tc) also suggests that two superconducting gaps best fit the data and their values were estimated as {\Delta}1 = 1.59 meV and {\Delta}2 = 3.15 meV, respectively. Using the Ferrell-Glover-Tinkham (FGT) sum rule and dielectric function {\epsilon}1({\omega}), the superconducting plasma frequency ({\omega}ps) is consistently estimated to be 6,665 cm-1, implying that about 59 % of the free carriers in the normal state condenses into the SC condensate. To investigate the various interband transition processes (for {\omega} > 200 cm-1), we have also performed the local-density approximation (LDA) band calculation and calculated the optical spectra of the interband transitions. The theoretical results provided a qualitative agreement with the experimental data below 4000 cm-1Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. This paper has been accepted for publication in New Journal of Physic

Electronic-Structure-Driven Magnetic Ordering in a Kondo Semiconductor CeOs2Al10

We report the anisotropic changes in the electronic structure of a Kondo semiconductor CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ across an anomalous antiferromagnetic ordering temperature ($T_0$) of 29 K, using optical conductivity spectra. The spectra along the $a$- and $c$-axes indicate that a $c$-$f$ hybridization gap emerges from a higher temperature continuously across $T_0$. Along the b-axis, on the other hand, a different energy gap with a peak at 20 meV appears below 39 K, which is higher temperature than $T_0$, because of structural distortion. The onset of the energy gap becomes visible below $T_0$. Our observation reveals that the electronic structure as well as the energy gap opening along the b-axis due to the structural distortion induces antiferromagnetic ordering below $T_0$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Effect of Ethanol in Paclitaxel Injections on the Ethanol Concentration in Exhaled Breath

BACKGROUND: Ethanol is included in certain injectable preparations of anticancer drugs to increase their solubility. Since the volume of ethanol in these preparations is approximately half of the total injection volume, the potential inhibitory effects of ethanol on the central nervous system cannot be disregarded, especially considering that patients may drive immediately after administration of the medication. Therefore, the concentration of ethanol was examined in exhaled breath after administration of paclitaxel, an anticancer medication containing ethanol. METHODS: The ethanol concentration in exhaled breath immediately after an intravenous infusion of paclitaxel was measured in 30 patients, using a balloon-type gas detector tube. Correlations between the concentration of ethanol in exhaled breath and the total amount of ethanol administered or the intravenous infusion speed were calculated. RESULTS: The mean ethanol concentration in exhaled breath was 0.028 ± 0.015 mg/L. The correlation between the ethanol concentration in exhaled breath and the total dose of ethanol was weak (R(2) = 0.25; p = 0.055), while the intravenous infusion speed showed a stronger positive correlation with the concentration of ethanol in the breath (R(2) = 0.49; p = 0.11). The maximum concentration of ethanol measured in exhaled breath (0.06 mg/L) was equivalent to 40% of the threshold for drunk driving, as specified in the Road Traffic Act in Japan. CONCLUSION: In this study, no patient had a breath ethanol concentration exceeding the legal threshold for drunk driving. However, it is still advisable for patients to avoid driving after receiving paclitaxel injections. When driving cannot be avoided, patients should wait for a sufficient time after receiving the injection before driving

Electronic inhomogeneity in EuO: Possibility of magnetic polaron states

We have observed the spatial inhomogeneity of the electronic structure of a single-crystalline electron-doped EuO thin film with ferromagnetic ordering by employing infrared magneto-optical imaging with synchrotron radiation. The uniform paramagnetic electronic structure changes to a uniform ferromagnetic structure via an inhomogeneous state with decreasing temperature and increasing magnetic field slightly above the ordering temperature. One possibility of the origin of the inhomogeneity is the appearance of magnetic polaron states.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Matrix Models for the Black Hole Information Paradox

We study various matrix models with a charge-charge interaction as toy models of the gauge dual of the AdS black hole. These models show a continuous spectrum and power-law decay of correlators at late time and infinite N, implying information loss in this limit. At finite N, the spectrum is discrete and correlators have recurrences, so there is no information loss. We study these models by a variety of techniques, such as Feynman graph expansion, loop equations, and sum over Young tableaux, and we obtain explicitly the leading 1/N^2 corrections for the spectrum and correlators. These techniques are suggestive of possible dual bulk descriptions. At fixed order in 1/N^2 the spectrum remains continuous and no recurrence occurs, so information loss persists. However, the interchange of the long-time and large-N limits is subtle and requires further study.Comment: 35 pages, 11 eps figures; v.2 minor typos fixe

Flavor-Dependence and Higher Orders of Gauge-Independent Solutions in Strong Coupling Gauge Theory

The fermion flavor $N_f$ dependence of non-perturbative solutions in the strong coupling phase of the gauge theory is reexamined based on the interrelation between the inversion method and the Schwinger-Dyson equation approach. Especially we point out that the apparent discrepancy on the value of the critical coupling in QED will be resolved by taking into account the higher order corrections which inevitably lead to the flavor-dependence. In the quenched QED, we conclude that the gauge-independent critical point $\alpha_c=2\pi/3$ obtained by the inversion method to the lowest order will be reduced to the result $\alpha_c=\pi/3$ of the Schwinger-Dyson equation in the infinite order limit, but its convergence is quite slow. This is shown by adding the chiral-invariant four-fermion interaction.Comment: CHIBA-EP-72, 13 pages (including 1 Table), LaTex fil

Dynamical Breakdown of Chirality and Parity in (2+1)-dimensional QED

In the (2+1)-dimensional QED with and without the Chern-Simons term, we find the non-local gauge in which there is no wavefunction renormalization for the fermion in the framework of the Schwinger-Dyson equation. By solving the Schwinger-Dyson equation in the non-local gauge, we find a finite critical value $N_f^c$ for the number of flavors $N_f$ of four-component Dirac fermions, above which the chiral symmetry restores irrespective of presence or absence of the Chern-Simons term. In the same framework, we study the possibility of dynamical breakdown of the parity. It is shown that the parity is not dynamically broken. We discuss this reason from the viewpoint of the Schwinger-Dyson equation.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX, to be published in Nucl. Phys.

Multiple episodes of ice loss from the Wilkes Subglacial Basin during the Last Interglacial

The Last Interglacial (LIG: 130,000–115,000 years ago) was a period of warmer global mean temperatures and higher and more variable sea levels than the Holocene (11,700–0 years ago). Therefore, a better understanding of Antarctic ice-sheet dynamics during this interval would provide valuable insights for projecting sea-level change in future warming scenarios. Here we present a high-resolution record constraining ice-sheet changes in the Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB) of East Antarctica during the LIG, based on analysis of sediment provenance and an ice melt proxy in a marine sediment core retrieved from the Wilkes Land margin. Our sedimentary records, together with existing ice-core records, reveal dynamic fluctuations of the ice sheet in the WSB, with thinning, melting, and potentially retreat leading to ice loss during both early and late stages of the LIG. We suggest that such changes along the East Antarctic Ice Sheet margin may have contributed to fluctuating global sea levels during the LIG