PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THE START PHASE OF SKELETON ATHLETES AT INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS

The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of the skeleton start motion from the viewpoint of step frequency and step length. Twenty-six male and twenty female skeleton athletes at international competitions were videotaped and analysed their start motion with the three-dimensional DLT method. There were high significant correlations between the start time and the goal time in both men (r = 0.947, p \u3c 0.001) and women (r = 0.741, p \u3c 0.001). As for the start time, men showed a significant correlation with the step length at the 1st step (r = -0.606, p \u3c 0.01) while women showed significant correlations with the step frequency at the 1st (r = -0.475, p \u3c 0.05), 3rd (r = -0.497, p \u3c 0.05) and 5th (r = -0.471, p \u3c 0.05) step. These result indicated that men emphasized step length at the 1st step, while women relied more on step frequency

Microbiome composition comparison in oral and atherosclerotic plaque from patients with and without periodontitis

There is no conclusive evidence regarding a causal relationship between periodontitis and atherosclerosis. In this study, we examined the microbiome in the oral cavity and atheromatous plaques from atherosclerosis patients with or without periodontitis to investigate the role of oral bacteria in the formation of atheromatous plaques. We chose four patients with and without periodontitis, who had undergone carotid endarterectomy. Bacterial samples were extracted from the tongue surface, from periodontal pocket (during the oral examination), and from the atheromatous plaques (APs). We investigated the general and oral conditions from each patient and performed next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis for all bacterial samples. There were no significant differences between both groups concerning general conditions. However, the microbiome patterns of the gingival pocket showed differences depending on the absence or presence of periodontitis, while those of the tongue surface were relatively similar. The microbiome pattern of the atheromatous plaques was entirely different from that on the tongue surface and gingival pocket, and oral bacteria were seldom detected. However, the microbiome pattern in atheromatous plaques was different in the presence or absence of periodontitis. These results suggested that oral bacteria did not affect the formation of atheromatous plaques directly

Observations of hard X-rays of auroral origin with Polar Patrol Balloons No. 8 and 10

In the Polar Patrol Balloon (PPB) project, two balloons named PPB-8 and -10 were launched in rapid succession to form a cluster of balloons during their flight on January 13, 2003, from Syowa Station, Antarctica. In order to make the two-dimensional images for auroral X-rays and to obtain the energy spectra of auroras with energy range from 30 keV to 778 keV, the same instruments for hard X-rays were installed on PPB-8 and -10, respectively. These detection systems observed several auroral X-ray events during the flight. In particularly on January 25, 2003, strong auroral events were detected at about 0919 UT by PPB-10 and at 0927 UT by PPB-8. The aurora observed by PPB-10 was observed after about 8 min by PPB-8 located a 650 km west of PPB-10. The energy spectra of the bright aurora at 0919 UT and 0927 UT for PPB-10 and -8 is obtained as E0 = (78+-5) keV and (70+-5) keV, respectively

PVP-Vol. 480, Pressure Vessel and Piping Codes and Standards --2 0 0 4

ABSTRACT Fatigue tests in simulated LWR environment of carbon and stainless steels were performed under high water flow rates between 7 to 10 rrds. For carbon steel, high flow rate of water clearly mitigated the environmental effect on a fatigue life at the high sulfur concentration of 0.016 wt% which caused high environmental effect on a fatigue life. On the contrary, high flow rate of water slightly enhanced the environmental effect at the low sulfur concentration at or less than 0.008 wt% which caused very low environmental effect. These results suggested that the environmental fatigue life under various flow rate conditions should be determined by the combination between the mitigating effect caused by flushing of locally severe environment and the enhancing effect caused by increase in corrosion potential. To understand those effects, effects of sulfur concentration on fatigue life for various DO condition were formulated. And corrosion potential under low and h i g h flow rate condition was measured during the fatigue test. Environmental correction factor, F~, which is the ratio of fatigue lives derived from the fatigue life at room temperature in air divided by that in water to be used for the fatigue life prediction at high flow rate condition was assumed based on the MITI guideline equation and considering the hypothetical fatigue life under sulfur free condition and high corrosion potential condition. This assumption was agreed very well with the test data. For stainless steel, flow rate had little effect on a fatigue life of type 316 stainless steel. It suggested that there was no role of water flushing. For type 304 stainless steel, fatigue life has a tendency to decrease with increase in water flow rate. Fatigue lives of type 304 stainless steel under high flow rate of 7 to 10 m/s were shorter than those predicted by MITI guideline equation. This effect should he considered in an evaluation of environmental fatigue. NOMENCLATURE Nleak : The definition N25 : of fatigue life for a hollow cylindrical specimen used in this study: the number of cycles at which the deepest crack penetrates the wall thickness of a hollow cylindrical specimen (cycles) Fatigue life obtained with a solid cylindrical specimen. Number of cycles at which the tensile load decreased by 25% from the value at a cycle of Nz42 (cycles) Environmental correction factor (Ratio of fatigue lives derived from the fatigue life at room temperature in air divided by that in ware0 Ratio of fatigue lives derived from the fatigue life at a water flow rate of 7 m/s divided by that in stagnant water Dissolved oxygen content (ppm) 109 Copyright © 2004 by ASME Reynolds number INTRODUCTION For ferritic and austenitic steels used for primary structures of Light Water Reactor (LWR) plants, the corrosion fatigue behavior must be considered because these steels are exposed to high-temperature oxygenated water, which is known to reduce the fatigue life of these steels [l, 2, 7]. Several equations for evaluating the fatigue life of these steels have been proposed Although there have been many studies on fatigue life in high-temperature-pure-water environments, the effect of water flow rate on fatigue life has not been adequately discussed. Hirano et al. The effects of water flow rate on fatigue life were strongly dependent on DO level in water. Hirano et al. In the present paper, the effects of water flow rate on fatigue life in view of corrosion potential are also discussed. Results are also reported for fatigue testing of austenitic stainless steel performed in a simulated LWR environment under several water flow rat

Effects of Water Flow Rate on Fatigue Life of Ferritic and Austenitic

ABSTRACT The flow rate of water flowing over a steel surface is considered to be one of the most important factors influencing the fatigue life of the steel, because the water flow produces differences in the local environment. The effect of the water flow rate on the fatigue life of carbon, low alloy, and austenitic stainless steels was therefore investigated experimentally. Fatigue testing of low (S = 0.008 wt%) and high (S = 0.016 wt%) sulfur content carbon steels and a low alloy steel was performed at 289"C for various dissolved oxygen concentrations (DO) of less than 0.01 and 0.05, 0.2, and 1 ppm, and at various water flow rates. Three different strain rates of 0.4, 0.01, and 0.001%/s were used in the fatigue tests. For high sulfur carbon steel (S = 0.016 wt%), the effect of a high water flow rate on mitigating fatigue life reduction was more clearly observed at a lower strain rate, irrespective of the DO. This effect of high water flow rate was most notable at a DO of 0.2 ppm, which was the DO level that produced a significant sulfur effect. This indicates that the mechanism responsible for the mitigation of fatigue life reduction is the flushing effect of the water, which eliminates the locally corrosive environment. For high sulfur carbon steel (S = 0.016 wt%), no benefit of a high water flow rate was found at a DO of 0.01 ppm. This was because the environmental effect is insignificant at this low DO level. For low sulfur carbon steel (S = 0.008 wt%) and low alloy steel (S = 0.008 wt%), a high water flow rate had little effect on mitigating fatigue life reduction even at a DO of 0.2 ppm. This indicates that the sulfur is much less influential in low sulfur steel than in high sulfur steel. Fatigue testing of Type 316 nuclear grade stainless steel (316NG) and Type 316 stainless steel (SUS316) was performed at 289°C and 320 °C for DO levels of less than 0.01 and 0.05, and 0.2. For austenitic stainless steel, no mitigating effect at a high water flow rate was found. It should be noted rather that there is a possibility that a high water flow rate decreases the fatigue life because a tendency to a slight decrease in fatigue life with an increasing flow rate was observed. NOMENCLATURE Nteak : The definition of fatigue life for a hollow cylindrical specimen used in this study: the number of cycles at which the deepest crack penetrates the wall thickness of a hollow cylindrical specimen (cycles) N25 : Fatigue life obtained with a solid cylindrical specimen

Two Distinctive Binding Modes of Endonuclease Inhibitors to the N‑Terminal Region of Influenza Virus Polymerase Acidic Subunit

Influenza viruses are global threat to humans, and the development of new antiviral agents are still demanded to prepare for pandemics and to overcome the emerging resistance to the current drugs. Influenza polymerase acidic protein N-terminal domain (PA_N) has endonuclease activity and is one of the appropriate targets for novel antiviral agents. First, we performed X-ray cocrystal analysis on the complex structures of PA_N with two endonuclease inhibitors. The protein crystallization and the inhibitor soaking were done at pH 5.8. The binding modes of the two inhibitors were different from a common binding mode previously reported for the other influenza virus endonuclease inhibitors. We additionally clarified the complex structures of PA_N with the same two endonuclease inhibitors at pH 7.0. In one of the crystal structures, an additional inhibitor molecule, which chelated to the two metal ions in the active site, was observed. On the basis of the crystal structures at pH 7.0, we carried out 100 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for both of the complexes. The analysis of simulation results suggested that the binding mode of each inhibitor to PA_N was stable in spite of the partial deviation of the simulation structure from the crystal one. Furthermore, crystal structure analysis and MD simulation were performed for PA_N in complex with an inhibitor, which was already reported to have a high compound potency for comparison. The findings on the presence of multiple binding sites at around the PA_N substrate-binding pocket will provide a hint for enhancing the binding affinity of inhibitors