Emergence of self-similarity in football dynamics

The multiplayer dynamics of a football game is analyzed to unveil self-similarities in the time evolution of player and ball positioning. Temporal fluctuations in both the team-turf boundary and the ball location are uncovered to follow the rules of fractional Brownian motion with a Hurst exponent of H=0.7. The persistence time below which self-similarity holds is found to be several tens of seconds, implying a characteristic time scale that governs far-from-equilibrium motion on a playing field.Comment: Figures 1 and 2 are blurred due to file-size restriction. Sharply-defined images can be viewed in the final version published by European Physical Journal

Shipper collaboration matching: fast enumeration of triangular transports with high cooperation effects

The logistics industry in Japan is facing a severe shortage of labor. Therefore, there is an increasing need for joint transportation allowing large amounts of cargo to be transported using fewer trucks. In recent years, the use of artificial intelligence and other new technologies has gained wide attention for improving matching efficiency. However, it is difficult to develop a system that can instantly respond to requests because browsing through enormous combinations of two transport lanes is time consuming. In this study, we focus on a form of joint transportation called triangular transportation and enumerate the combinations with high cooperation effects. The proposed algorithm makes good use of hidden inequalities, such as the distance axiom, to narrow down the search range without sacrificing accuracy. Numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithm is thousands of times faster than simple brute force. With this technology as the core engine, we developed a joint transportation matching system. The system has already been in use by over 150 companies as of October 2022, and was featured in a collection of logistics digital transformation cases published by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Effects of spatially limited external magnetic fields on short sample tests of large-scale superconductors

For short sample tests of large-scale superconductor coil conductors, it is difficult to get sufficient spatial uniformity using external magnetic fields because of the size limitations of test facilities. The effects of spatially limited external magnetic fields on short sample tests are discussed by comparing the test results for narrow and broad external magnetic fields. The authors tested short samples of pool-cooled 10 kA class superconductors using two kinds of split coils which are different in bore size. The measured recovery currents for the narrow external field are more than twice those for the broad field. It shows that the insufficient spatial distribution of the external field biases the stability measurements of superconductor

Poorly Differentiated Adenocarcinoma with Signet-ring Cell Carcinoma of the Extrahepatic Bile Duct in a 42-year-old Japanese Female: A Case Report

Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma without papilla or tubule formation of the extrahepatic bile duct is rare. Here we present a case (a 42-year-old Japanese woman) without either pancreatobiliary maljunction or liver disease. The patient had obstructive jaundice. Imaging studies revealed a bile duct tumor obstructing the common bile duct and invading the surrounding tissues. Pathologic examination revealed a dense periductal growth of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma containing signet-ring cells, but without papilla or tubule formation in the extrahepatic bile duct. The tumor cells directly invaded the pancreatic parenchyma and the portal vein. In the extrahepatic bile duct, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma may be established as a distinct clinicopathologic entity if the tumors are characterized by:1) the absence of papilla or tubule formation, 2) Asian preponderance, 3) occurrence at a younger age than is usual for patients with biliary cancers, and 4) an aggressive mural invasiveness.</p

Clinical response in Japanese metastatic melanoma patients treated with peptide cocktail-pulsed dendritic cells

BACKGROUND: Metastatic, chemotherapy-resistant melanoma is an intractable cancer with a very poor prognosis. As to immunotherapy targeting metastatic melanoma, HLA-A2(+ )patients were mainly enrolled in the study in Western countries. However, HLA-A24(+ )melanoma patients-oriented immunotherapy has not been fully investigated. In the present study, we investigated the effect of dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy on metastatic melanoma patients with HLA-A2 or A24 genotype. METHODS: Nine cases of metastatic melanoma were enrolled into a phase I study of monocyte-derived dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy. HLA-genotype analysis revealed 4 cases of HLA-A*0201, 1 of A*0206 and 4 of A*2402. Enriched monocytes were obtained using OptiPrep™ from leukapheresis products, and then incubated with GM-CSF and IL-4 in a closed serum-free system. After pulsing with a cocktail of 5 melanoma-associated synthetic peptides (gp100, tyrosinase, MAGE-2, MAGE-3 and MART-1 or MAGE-1) restricted to HLA-A2 or A24 and KLH, cells were cryopreserved until used. Finally, thawed DCs were washed and injected subcutaneously (s.c.) into the inguinal region in a dose-escalation manner. RESULTS: The mean percentage of DCs rated as lin(-)HLA-DR(+ )in melanoma patients was 46.4 ± 15.6 %. Most of DCs expressed high level of co-stimulatory molecules and type1 phenotype (CD11c(+)HLA-DR(+)), while a moderate number of mature DCs with CD83 and CCR7 positive were contained in DC products. DC injections were well tolerated except for transient liver dysfunction (elevation of transaminases, Grade I-II). All 6 evaluable cases except for early PD showed positive immunological responses to more than 2 melanoma peptides in an ELISPOT assay. Two representative responders demonstrated strong HLA-class I protein expression in the tumor and very high scores of ELISPOT that might correlate to the regression of metastatic tumors. Clinical response through DC injections was as follows : 1CR, 1 PR, 1SD and 6 PD. All 59 DC injections in the phase I study were tolerable in terms of safety, however, the maximal tolerable dose of DCs was not determined. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that peptide cocktail-treated DC-based immunotherapy had the potential for utilizing as one of therapeutic tools against metastatic melanoma in Japan

Stability and safety estimates and tests of a superconducting bus-line for large-scale superconducting coils

We have been developing a flexible superconducting bus-line as a unit electrical feeder between large-scale superconducting coils and their power supplies away from the coils. The designed superconducting bus-line consists of a pair of +/- aluminum stabilized NbTi/Cu compacted strand cables and a coaxial four-channel transfer line. A full-scale model of the SC bus-line (20 m long) has been constructed and tested successfully up to 40 kA without a quench under the short-circuit condition. Stability tests were also done by inducing a forced quench with heaters. A minimum propagation current larger than 32.5 kA was confirmed. Thus, the bus-line was cryogenically stabilized at the rated current of 30 kA. We have examined the test results and evaluated the stability and safety margins of this bus-line. The design criteria for a superconducting bus-line are also shown for large-scale superconducting coils with operating current as a parameter