Synthesis of submicron metastable phase of silicon using femtosecond laser-driven shock wave

We measured the grain size of metastable phase of Si synthesized by shock compression. We analyzed the crystalline structures of the femtosecond laser-driven shock compressed silicon with x-ray diffraction measurements. We found that submicron grains of metastable Si-VIII exist in the silicon. We suggest that the pressure loading time is too short for the nucleated high-pressure phases to grow in case of the femtosecond laser-driven shock compression, therefore Si-VIII grains of submicron size are obtained. We are expecting to discover other unique crystalline structures induced by the femtosecond laser-driven shock wave. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.Tsujino M., Sano T., Sakata O., et al, Journal of Applied Physics, 110, 12, 126103 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3673591

Low-Dose Intravenous Alteplase in Wake-Up Stroke

Background and Purpose—We assessed whether lower-dose alteplase at 0.6 mg/kg is efficacious and safe for acute fluid-attenuated inversion recovery-negative stroke with unknown time of onset. Methods—This was an investigator-initiated, multicenter, randomized, open-label, blinded-end point trial. Patients met the standard indication criteria for intravenous thrombolysis other than a time last-known-well >4.5 hours (eg, wake-up stroke). Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive alteplase at 0.6 mg/kg or standard medical treatment if magnetic resonance imaging showed acute ischemic lesion on diffusion-weighted imaging and no marked corresponding hyperintensity on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery. The primary outcome was a favorable outcome (90-day modified Rankin Scale score of 0–1). Results—Following the early stop and positive results of the WAKE-UP trial (Efficacy and Safety of MRI-Based Thrombolysis in Wake-Up Stroke), this trial was prematurely terminated with 131 of the anticipated 300 patients (55 women; mean age, 74.4±12.2 years). Favorable outcome was comparable between the alteplase group (32/68, 47.1%) and the control group (28/58, 48.3%; relative risk [RR], 0.97 [95% CI, 0.68–1.41]; P=0.892). Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 22 to 36 hours occurred in 1/71 and 0/60 (RR, infinity [95% CI, 0.06 to infinity]; P>0.999), respectively. Death at 90 days occurred in 2/71 and 2/60 (RR, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.06–12.58]; P>0.999), respectively. Conclusions—No difference in favorable outcome was seen between alteplase and control groups among patients with ischemic stroke with unknown time of onset. The safety of alteplase at 0.6 mg/kg was comparable to that of standard treatment. Early study termination precludes any definitive conclusions

Phase transition boundary between fcc and hcp structures in Fe-Si alloy and its implications for terrestrial planetary cores

International audienc

Dance Dance Gradation: A Generation of Fine-Tuned Dance Charts

Part 1: Full PapersInternational audienceThis paper proposes a system to automatically generate dance charts with fine-tuned difficulty levels: Dance Dance Gradation (DDG). The system learns the relationships between difficult and easy charts based on the deep neural network using a dataset of dance charts with different difficulty levels as the training data. The difficulty chart automatically would be adapted to easier charts through the learned model. As mixing multiple difficulty levels for the training data, the generated charts should have each characteristic of difficulty level. The user can obtain the charts with intermediate difficulty level between two different levels. Through the objective evaluation and the discussions for the output results, it was suggested that the proposed system generated the charts with each characteristic of the difficulty level in the training dataset

Impact of anthropogenic disturbance on the density and activity pattern of deer evaluated with respect to spatial scale-dependency

This study examined the influence of anthropogenic disturbance (agriculture, forestry, hunting and feral domestic dogs) on the population density and daily activity pattern of deer. We quantified the effects of land use (broad-leaved forest, mixed coniferous/broad-leaved forest, natural grassland, subalpine vegetation, forestry area, and agricultural land), along with hunting pressure, and densities of feral domestic dogs and wild macaques on deer. The effects of land use were analyzed at various spatial scales and a model selection procedure (generalized mixed model) was used to examine the effects of factors on density and daily activity pattern of deer at each spatial scale. The combinations of influential factors differed between density and daily activity pattern and changed with spatial scale. The spatial scale with the smallest Akaike's Information Criterion value was defined as the effective spatial scale for each of density and daily activity pattern. Deer density was affected positively by the percentage of area covered by broad-leaved forest, natural grassland and macaque density, and negatively by percentage of area covered by agricultural land and mixed forest at the effective spatial scales. For the daily activity pattern of deer, agricultural land, forestry area, natural grassland, subalpine vegetation and dog density reduced diurnal and increased nocturnal activity. Crepuscular activity increased with hunting pressure and subalpine vegetation, and decreased with agricultural land. Thus, daily activity pattern was sensitive to more types of anthropogenic disturbance than density. Detecting the appropriate spatial scales at which significant anthropogenic disturbance should be managed is essential for effective wildlife conservation

Effective spatial scales for evaluating environmental determinants of population density in Yakushima macaques

Population densities of wildlife species tend to be correlated with resource productivity of habitats. However, wildlife density has been greatly modified by increasing human influences. For effective conservation, we must first identify the significant factors that affect wildlife density, and then determine the extent of the areas in which the factors should be managed. Here, we propose a protocol that accomplishes these two tasks. The main threats to wildlife are thought to be habitat alteration and hunting, with increases in alien carnivores being a concern that has arisen recently. Here, we examined the effect of these anthropogenic disturbances, as well as natural factors, on the local density of Yakushima macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui). We surveyed macaque densities at 30 sites across their habitat using data from 403 automatic cameras. We quantified the effect of natural vegetation (broad-leaved forest, mixed coniferous/broad-leaved forest, etc.), altered vegetation (forestry area and agricultural land), hunting pressure, and density of feral domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). The effect of each vegetation type was analyzed at numerous spatial scales (between 150 and 3,600-m radii from the camera locations) to determine the best scale for explaining macaque density (effective spatial scale). A model-selection procedure (generalized linear mixed model) was used to detect significant factors affecting macaque density. We detected that the most effective spatial scale was 400 m in radius, a scale that corresponded to group range size of the macaques. At this scale, the amount of broad-leaved forest was selected as a positive factor, whereas mixed forest and forestry area were selected as negative factors for macaque density. This study demonstrated the importance of the simultaneous evaluation of all possible factors of wildlife population density at the appropriate spatial scale