Comparison Between Treatment Outcomes in Ischaemic Heart Disease Using Surveys of Medical Care in Japan,

Objective The treatments of ischaemic heart disease have drastically changed due to the developments in coronary-anterial bypass graft operations and coronary intervention procedures. The treatment outcomes of these procedures are compared using observational data. Method The data used are microdata from Surveys of Medical Care (SMC) in Japan from 1992 to 1998, which are claim data, not using a randomized controlled trial. Hence, endogeneity in the choice of treatment should be important and thus both the instrumental variables method and the nonparametric propensity score matching method are adopted for estimation. Result Although the instrumental variables method and nonparametric propensity score matching method produce different results in many cases, predominance of the latter over the instrumental method is confirmed. Although claimed with some reservations, patients treated with precutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) have significantly lower possibility of severe heart failure than those treated with coronary artery by-pass grafting (CABG). The results of comparing invasive procedures with preserving treatment depend on the existence of constraints. In data for more acute situations, invasive procedures have a significantly higher possibility of severe heart failure than preserving treatment.

ラバーウッド : その供給特性と利用の発展

While the sustainability of timber production in natural forests in Southeast Asia has seemed to be in peril, rubberwood, a by-product of natural rubber production, has attracted more interest and its utilization steadily developed through the 1980's. In the 1990's, however, especially in countries like Malaysia where utilization expanded intensively, a shortage problem has emerged and prices have increased. Since rubberwood production is a secondary concern for farmers, even when there is increased demand the supply doesn't respond to it. This is a problem for rubberwood supply as an industrial resource, differing from other timbers.天然林からの持続的な木材生産が危ぶまれている東南アジアにおいて、天然ゴム(ラテックス)を産出するパラゴムノキの木部ラバーウッドが、1980年代から着実に需要を伸ばしている。資源量が豊富で価格が安いことに加え、あくまでもラテックスを採取した後の廃材を有効に利用しているがゆえに、ラバーウッドは理想的な木材として期待を集め、特に木製家具産業において大量に利用されている。ところが、ラバーウッドは、現時点では価格が低すぎ、生産者は積極的な生産意欲を持たないため、廃材として供給される以上の量が市場に出てこない。つまり、ラバーウッドの供給は、需要の増減に弾力的に反応しないという特性を持つために、需要が拡大したマレーシアでは不足状況が生じ、利用者にとって価格上昇が深刻な問題となりつつある

Imaging of emission patterns in a T-shaped quantum wire laser

Spatially and spectrally resolved microscopic images of spontaneous and stimulated emissions are imaged at the mirror facets of a GaAs T-shaped quantum wire laser with high uniformity. Laser emission from the one-dimensional ground state reveals a circular image located at the core of a T-shaped optical waveguide but significantly smaller in area than the low power spontaneous emission from the same waveguide. These images unambiguously allow assignment of all spontaneous and laser emissions to the wire ground state and respective intersecting wells in the structure.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Duelling Timber Floats of Japan's Fushiki Hikiyama Festival

Each spring the town of Fushiki in Japan's Toyama prefecture plays host to a unique cultural event - the Fushiki Hikiyama festival. Timber engineers will find interest in the culmination of the festival: a series of duels in which predominantly wooden festival floats armed with what can only be described as battering-rams, are brought together at speed in a series of spectacular collisions. The authors were brought together by the Civic Cultural Heritage Network Tottori, a Japanese cultural organisation, to carry out a preliminary investigation of the festival floats; both for engineering and cultural interest, and as a possible exemplar of the behaviour of traditionally carpentered structures subject to high dynamic loads. The second, third and fourth authors travelled to Fushiki to observe the May 2016 festival and to carry out an after-the-battle inspection of one of these unique duelling floats. High-speed and high-resolution video was used for digital image correlation measurement of the collisions, to quantify the magnitude of the impact