Optimal Pricing and Planning of Urban Expressway System

A transportation planning way of approach is applied to optimal pricing and planning of urban expressway network. Two kinds of network are investigated ; four radials with one ring system and four radials with two rings system. The model is composed of three submodels ; road systell, trip generation-attraction and traffic diversion. Some iaplicative aspects are shown of the optimal solutions that maximize the aggregate number of the trips diverted to expressway under constraints ; equilibrium of revenue and expenditure and traffic capacity constraint. (1) traffic flow has the peaks at junctions on radial expressway that are adjusted to be equal to the traffic capacity. (2) two rings system realizes the larger aggregate number of diverted trips by lower toll rate than one ring system does. (3) well-located second ring has a remarkable effect on improvement in accessibility to expressway and (4) some parameters in the model have curious effects on the optimal system

An Applicability of Aggregate and Disaggregate Estimations to Mode Choice by Inter-regional Occupational Person Trips

Diversion model and disaggregate behavioral model of logit type are adopted as aggregate and disaggregate estimates, respectively. Diversion model is assumed as a binary choice process including diversion ratio function at each step in the process. Diversion ratio is assumed as a function of generalized-travel-time ratio. The function is identified with each of the two steps of diversion; diverson from rail and bus to car at first and from the rest undiverted to bus at second. The data used are those on inter-regional occupational person trips. Each function are found enough and/or critically significant in the statistical sense. At the begginning, sixteen characteristics variables are enrolled in disaggregate model, which are identified by use of the above data. Six variables are reached finally and are all reasonable. A brief comparison of goodness of fit to the data are made between two models

An Applicability of Aggregate and Disaggregate Estimations to Mode Choice by Inter-regional Occupational Person Trips

Diversion model and disaggregate behavioral model of logit type are adopted as aggregate and disaggregate estimates, respectively. Diversion model is assumed as a binary choice process including diversion ratio function at each step in the process. Diversion ratio is assumed as a function of generalized-travel-time ratio. The function is identified with each of the two steps of diversion; diverson from rail and bus to car at first and from the rest undiverted to bus at second. The data used are those on inter-regional occupational person trips. Each function are found enough and/or critically significant in the statistical sense. At the begginning, sixteen characteristics variables are enrolled in disaggregate model, which are identified by use of the above data. Six variables are reached finally and are all reasonable. A brief comparison of goodness of fit to the data are made between two models

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and Japanese-Style Mediation

Just as Online Dispute Resolution is progressing in other countries around the world, the digitisation of Japanese-style mediation is also underway in Japan. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the ongoing digitalisation of Japanese-style mediation and to identify its challenges. In civil court proceedings, three distinct phases for the realisation of the system have been determined and are being systematically implemented. Mediation in domestic affairs is moving ahead to revise the system, and the realisation of its implementation is also in sight. The role of third parties in Japanese mediation differs significantly from that in Anglo-American law and elsewhere in that the role of the third party was more focused on the guardian role of the mediator than on the formation of an agreement between the parties. A characteristic feature of Japanese-style mediation is the emphasis on the role of the third-party guardian, who is the mediator. These characteristics of Japanese-style mediation are important factors to be taken into account when considering the digitalisation of mediation

Carcinosarcoma of the Uterine Corpus with Alpha-Fetoprotein-Producing Hepatoid Adenocarcinoma: A Report of Two Cases

We report two cases of uterine carcinosarcoma associated with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing hepatoid adenocarcinoma. Samples were obtained from two women aged 63 and 82 years. Serum AFP levels of the two samples were 10,131 and 401 ng/ml, respectively. Histologically, in both cases the tumor cells were composed of hepatoid adenocarcinoma component and sarcoma component including rhabdomyosarcoma. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that AFP was expressed in the cytoplasm of the carcinomatous component. After surgery, the patients received six courses of carboplatin/paclitaxel chemotherapy, and the serum levels of AFP decreased to normal range. The first patient is alive and well at the 2-year follow-up, while the second patient died of disease 1 year after initial operative treatment. This is, to our knowledge, the second report of carcinosarcoma of the uterine corpus with AFP-producing hepatoid adenocarcinoma, as proven by immunohistochemical analyses

Molecular Characterization of a Fully Human Chimeric T-Cell Antigen Receptor for Tumor-Associated Antigen EpCAM

The transduction of T cells to express chimeric T-cell antigen receptor (CAR) is an attractive strategy for adaptive immunotherapy for cancer, because the CAR can redirect the recognition specificity of T cells to tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) on the surface of target cells, thereby avoiding the limitations of HLA restriction. However, there are considerable problems with the clinical application of CAR, mostly due to its xenogeneic components, which could be immunogenic in humans. Moreover, while extensive studies on the CARs have been performed, the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying the activation of CAR-grafted T cells remain unclear. In order to eliminate potential immunogenicity and investigate the molecular basis of the CAR-mediated T-cell activation, we constructed a novel CAR (CAR57-28ζ) specific for one of the most important TAAs, epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), using only human-derived genes. We revealed that in Jurkat T cells, lentivirally expressed CAR57-28ζ can transmit the T-cell-activating signals sufficient to induce IL-2 production upon EpCAM stimulation. An immunofluorescent analysis clearly showed that the CAR57-28ζ induces the formation of signaling clusters containing endogenous CD3ζ at the CAR/EpCAM interaction interface. These results suggest that this CAR gene may be safely and effectively applied for adaptive T-cell immunotherapy

Development of a system for the assessment of a dual-task performance based on a motion-capture device

The authors produced a dual task (DT) that provided a dynamic balance task and a cognitive task in a game system using motion sensors and virtual images. There had been no DT where a cognitive task needs a dynamic balance task that requires full-body motions. We developed and evaluated a game system to assess the performance of the DT. The DT was to solve a Sudoku puzzle using full-body motions like Tái Chi. An ability to perform a DT is intimately related to risk of falls. To evaluate the developed system, we compared the performance of elderly people and young people. Generally, elderly people are at a higher risk of falls. Twenty elderly community-dwelling adults (mean age, 73.0±6.2 years) and 16 young adults (mean age, 21.8±1.0 years) participated in this study. To compare the two groups, we applied an independent-samples t-test. The time taken for the elderly people was 60.6±43.2 s, whereas the time taken for the young people was 16.0±4.8 s. The difference is statistically significant (p<0.05). This result suggests that the developed game system is useful for the evaluation of the DT performance

Intraday Activity Levels May Better Reflect the Differences Between Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder Than Average Daily Activity Levels

It is important to establish an objective index to differentiate mood disorders (i.e., bipolar disorder; BD and major depressive disorder; MDD). The present study focused on the pattern of changes of physical activity in the amount of activity intraday, and examined the relationship between activity patterns and mood disorders. One hundred and eighteen inpatients with MDD or BD in a depressive state provided the activity data by using wearable activity trackers for 3 weeks. In order to illuminate the characteristic patterns of intraday activities, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was adopted to extract the main components of intraday activity changes. We found that some of the PCs reflected the differences between the types of mood disorder. BD participants showed high activity pattern in the morning and low activity pattern in evenings. However, MDD showed the opposite. Our results suggest that activity tracking focused on daytime activity patterns may provide objective auxiliary diagnostic information

The Influence of Chlorella

A self-control, randomized, and open-label clinical trial was performed to test the effects of the unicellular green algae Chlorella and hot water extract supplementation on quality of life (QOL) in patients with breast cancer. Forty-five female patients with breast cancer who were living at home and not hospitalized were randomly assigned to 3 groups receiving vitamin mix tablet (control), Chlorella granules (test food-1), or Chlorella extract drink (test food-2) daily for one month. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), the Izumo scale for abdominal symptom-specific QOL, and a narrative-form questionnaire were used to determine outcomes. Data of thirty-six subjects were included for final analysis. FACT-B scores at presupplementation found no significant group differences in all subscales. Scores on the breast cancer subscale in the Chlorella granule group significantly increased during the supplementation period (P=0.042). Fifty percent of the Chlorella extract group reported positive effects by the test food such as reduction of fatigue and improvements of dry skin (P<0.01 versus control group). The findings suggested the beneficial effects of Chlorella on breast cancer-related QOL and of Chlorella extract on vitality status in breast cancer patients. These findings need to be confirmed in a larger study