Conformal-Projective Geometry of Statistical Manifolds

Conformal-projective geometry of statistical manifolds, a natural generalization of conformal geometry of Riemannian manifolds, is studied in this paper. In particular, several fundamental results in the geometry are given: a geometric criterion for two statistical manifolds to be conformally-projectively equivalent; conditions for a statistical manifold to be conformally-projectively flat; properties of umbilical hypersurfaces of a conformally-projectively flat statistical manifold

Efficacy of SSEA-3 Positive Cells Derived from Synovial Tissue in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a refractory systemic autoimmune disease with chronic synovial inflammation. Sustained synovial inflammation leads to progressive destruction of bone and cartilage. Treatment to restore joints that have been destroyed irreversibly is not to be established yet even with the recent development of antirheumatic drugs and biological agents. Stage-specific embryonic antigen-3 (SSEA-3), a marker of human embryonic stem (ES) cell, acts as stem cells in the blood. SSEA-3 positive cells derived from RA synovial tissue have higher differentiating abilities than that of SSEA-3 negative cells and inhibitory effects on arthritis in collagen antibody-induced arthritis mice study. SSEA-3 positive cells derived from RA synovial tissue might have the inhibitory effect on arthritis and would be one of the cell sources for new RA treatment. The present manuscript is a brief review of mesenchymal stem cells in RA and described with the potential of RA cell therapy by SSEA-3 positive cells based on our research

Development of plant fiber sandwich parts contributing to plastic-free

departmental bulletin pape

Influence of the Layer Directions on the Properties of 316L Stainless Steel Parts Fabricated through Fused Deposition of Metals

Metal specimens were fabricated via the fused deposition of metals (FDMet) technique with a filament composed of the 316L stainless steel particles and an organic binder. This process was adopted due to its potential as a low-cost additive manufacturing process. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of the processing conditions—layer directions and layer thicknesses—on the mechanical and shrinkage properties of the metal components. The specimens were printed in three different layer directions. The highest ultimate strength of 453 MPa and strain at break of 48% were obtained in the specimen printed with the layer direction perpendicular to the tensile direction. On the other hand, the specimen printed in the layer direction parallel to the tensile direction exhibited poor mechanical properties. The reason for the anisotropy of the properties was investigated through systematic SEM observations. The observations revealed the presence of segregated binder domains in the filaments. It was deduced that the binder domain was oriented in the direction perpendicular to that of the layer and remained as oriented voids even after sintering. The voids oriented perpendicular to the tensile direction act as defects that could cause stress concentration, thus resulting in poor mechanical properties