Three-dimensional Mid-air Acoustic Manipulation by Ultrasonic Phased Arrays

The essence of levitation technology is the countervailing of gravity. It is known that an ultrasound standing wave is capable of suspending small particles at its sound pressure nodes. The acoustic axis of the ultrasound beam in conventional studies was parallel to the gravitational force, and the levitated objects were manipulated along the fixed axis (i.e. one-dimensionally) by controlling the phases or frequencies of bolted Langevin-type transducers. In the present study, we considered extended acoustic manipulation whereby millimetre-sized particles were levitated and moved three-dimensionally by localised ultrasonic standing waves, which were generated by ultrasonic phased arrays. Our manipulation system has two original features. One is the direction of the ultrasound beam, which is arbitrary because the force acting toward its centre is also utilised. The other is the manipulation principle by which a localised standing wave is generated at an arbitrary position and moved three-dimensionally by opposed and ultrasonic phased arrays. We experimentally confirmed that expanded-polystyrene particles of 0.6 mm and 2 mm in diameter could be manipulated by our proposed method.Comment: 5pages, 4figure

Height Constitutes an Important Predictor of Mortality in End-Stage Renal Disease

Aim. Height is an important determinant of augmentation index (AI) that anticipates cardiovascular prognosis. There is a scanty of the data whether short height predicts survival in patients with end-stage renal diseases, a high risk population. Methods. Fifty two hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy receiving hemodialysis and 52 patients with nondiabetic nephropathy were enrolled. In addition to AI estimated with radial artery tonometry, classical cardiovascular risk factors were considered. Patients were followed for 2 years to assess cardiovascular prognosis. Results. Cox hazards regression revealed that both smoking and shortness in height independently contributed to total mortality and indicated that smoking as well as the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy predicted cardiovascular mortality. Our findings implicated that high AI, the presence of diabetes, and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significant contributors to cardiovascular events. Conclusions. Our findings provide new evidence that shortness in height independently contributes to total mortality in hemodialysis patients

Prudential Regulation, the “Credit Crunch” and the Ineffectiveness of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Japan

Abstract The underlying causes of sharp declines in bank lending during recessions in large developed economies, as exemplified by the U.S. in the early 1990s and Japan in the late 1990s, are still being debated due to a lack of any convincing identification strategy of the supply side capital-lending relationship with lending demand. This paper is a first attempt to construct a strong instrument for bank capital from empirical observation of the banks' behavioral changes in the past and to estimate the impact of capital adequacy on the lending supply. The implications of prudential regulation and the ineffectiveness of a loose monetary policy are discussed based on the micro evidence presented

Changes in conditional net survival and dynamic prognostic factors in patients with newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer initially treated with androgen deprivation therapy

Background The purpose of this study was to identify predictive factors associated with conditional net survival in patients with metastatic hormone-naive prostate cancer (mHNPC) initially treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Methods At nine hospitals in Tohoku, Japan, the medical records of 605 consecutive patients with mHNPC who initially received ADT were retrospectively reviewed. The Pohar Perme estimator was used to calculate conditional net cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) for up to 5 years subsequent to the diagnosis. Using multiple imputation, proportional hazard ratios for conditional CSS and OS were calculated with adjusted Cox regression models. Results During a median follow up of 2.95 years, 208 patients died, of which 169 died due to progressive prostate cancer. At baseline, the 5-year CSS and OS rates were 65.5% and 58.2%, respectively. Conditional 5-year net CSS and OS survival gradually increased for all the patients. In patients given a 5-year survivorship, the conditional 5-year net CSS and OS rates improved to 0.906 and 0.811, respectively. Only the extent of disease score (EOD) >= 2 remained a prognostic factor for CSS and OS up to 5 years; as survival time increased, other variables were no longer independent prognostic factors. Conclusions The conditional 5-year net CSS and OS in patients with mHNPC gradually increased; thus, the risk of mortality decreased with increasing survival. The patient\u27s risk profile changed over time. EOD remained an independent prognostic factor for CSS and OS after 5-year follow-up. Conditional net survival can play a role in clinical decision-making, providing intriguing information for cancer survivors

Prognostic significance of early changes in serum biomarker levels in patients with newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer

We evaluated the impact of early changes in serum biomarker levels on the survival of patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) who were initially treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). We retrospectively investigated 330 patients with mHSPC whose serum maker levels were at baseline and at 2-4 months. An optimal Cox regression model was established with the highest optimism-corrected concordance index based on 10-fold cross-validation. The median cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) were 7.08 and 6.47 years (median follow-up, 2.53 years), respectively. In the final optimal Cox model with serum biomarker levels treated as time-varying covariates, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), hemoglobin (Hb), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) significantly increased the risk of poor survival in the context of both CSS and OS. Kaplan-Meier curves stratified by the three risk factors of high PSA, low Hb and high ALP desmondtated that median OS were not reached with none of these factors, 6.47 years with one or two factors, and 1.76 years with all three factors. Early changes in serum biomarker levels after ADT may be good prognostic markers for the survival of patients with mHSPC

ロッポウショウ バリウムフェライト ハクマクヨウ ZnOシタジマク ノ コウゾウセイギョ

We attempted to reduce the crystallite size of a ZnO underlayer to make it possible to deposit hexagonal barium ferrite (BaM) thin film magnetic recording media with a crystallite size of less than 30 nm by using a facing targets sputtering system. The ZnO undrlayer was deposited at a substrate temperature of 250℃, since the crystallite size of ZnO films deposited at this temperature are changed little by annealing at temperatures as high as 600℃. The crystallite size of the ZnO underlayer decreased monotonically as the film thickness decreased, and was less than 20 nm in the film that was less than 20 nm thick. A 30 nm thick BaM film deposited on a 20 nm thick ZnO underlayer had a crystallite size of about 30 nm. The ZnO underlayer not only limits the crystallite size of the BaM film deposited on it,but also promotes crystallization in the film. Our findings indicate that by depositing a BaM film on a ZnO underlayer that is less than 20 nm thick, we can obtain a BaM thin film with a small crystallite size

タイコウターゲットシキ スパッタホウ ニヨリ エラレル ハクマク ノ ビサイコウゾウ ノ ケイサンキ シミュレーション

In order to clarify the changes in film structure in relation to the sputtering conditions in a facing target sputtering system, we carried out three dimensional computer simulation based on Monte Carlo method. This simulation model includes Motohiro\u27s model and Turner\u27s model. First, distribution of the incidence angles of depositing particles to the substrate plane and deposition rate of the film were calculated for various sputtering gas pressure. The calculated distribution of the incidence angles and deposition rate were cioncident well with experimental results. Then, according to the calculated angular distribution, atoms assumed to be hard spheres were deposited on substrate by using Henderson\u27s model. This simulation showed that film density decreases and film roughness increases as the sputtering gas pressure increases since the self shadowing effect becomes more prominent at a higher gas pressure. When surface migration of the deposited atoms due to thermal stimulation through lattice vibration was took into the simulation, the surface migration causes a significant increase in film density and leads to a decrease in film roughness

テツ－コバルト タソウマク ノ ジキトクセイ

Fe-Co multilayered films with about 3000Å thick have been deposited by an opposed targets type of high rate sputtering apparatus. The low angle X-ray diffraction diagram shows that the films with layer period d_ above 10Å have layered structure. However, the film with d_ below 45Å has only bcc crystal structure in the film. But as d_ increases above 70Å, hcp and fcc phase along with bcc phase can be detected in the film. While, the mean crystallite size decreases steeply with an increase of d_, which suggests that the layered structure suppresses the crystal growth in the film. The film have large saturation magnetization 1800 emu/cc, which depends little on the d_. 0n the other hand, the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy energy Ku induced in the film by a magnetic field during deposition and coercive force Hc of the film with t_/t_ of 1/3 and l decreases steeply with an increase of d_. And the film with d_ about 60Å has the lowest value of Hc of 8 0e