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Background/Aim: It has been reported previously in cases of adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung in Okinawa, a subtropical island 2000 km south of mainland Japan, that the squamous cell carcinoma [...]

Nippon Steel Yawata Works operates with only one blast furnace in service. BF No. 1 (inner volume : 4407 m3) was blown off on January 31, 1998 after operating for thirteen years. The third campaign of BF No. 4 (inner volume : 4250 m3) was started the following day and productivity reached 2.0 t/d.m3IV after fifteen days of operation. This paper describes the characteristics of the relining of No. 4 furnace. Also presented is the background of the speedy switchover of large blast furnace operation and the rapid increase in productivity without any reduction in output.

Weld decay, a severe type of intergranular corrosion in the heat affected zone (HAZ), is a common and serious problem during welding of austenitic stainless steels. Grain boundary engineering (GBE) has been attracting attention as an effective method to prevent weld decay. Remarkably high resistance to weld decay has been reported for grain boundary engineered (GBEed) austenitic stainless steels. In practical applications, however, deformation and welding after the GBE process during manufacturing may alter the grain boundary character distribution and the resistance to weld decay. This study examined the effect of strain plus welding on the intergranular corrosion resistance in the weld HAZ of GBEed 304 austenitic stainless steel. The results show that the GBEed steel retained a much higher corrosion resistance than as received and non-GBEed steel during the same strain plus welding process, even though for both steels the corrosion resistance exhibited a gradual decrease with increasing strain.

Although hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) is very common in various laparoscopic procedures, it is rarely used for retroperitoneal endoscopic adrenalectomy because of the small working area. The authors evaluate HALS in endoscopic adrenalectomy with respect to its use as a rescue procedure in complicated cases. In their department, 47 patients underwent endoscopic adrenalectomies between 1998 and 2004. Mainly because of complicated anatomy, three primary aldosteronism cases were converted to retroperitoneal HALS. This involved making an additional 6 cm skin incision, into which the surgeon’s left hand was inserted, with the palm used to create a sufficient visual field and working area. The fingers were used for tactile sensation and blunt resection. For these three cases, successful retroperitoneal HALS in endoscopic adrenalectomy resulted in no mortality or morbidity. These findings indicate that this procedure is a feasible technique for complicated benign adrenal tumor cases.Although hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) is very common in various laparoscopic procedures, it is rarely used for retroperitoneal endoscopic adrenalectomy because of the small working area. The authors evaluate HALS in endoscopic adrenalectomy with respect to its use as a rescue procedure in complicated cases. In their department, 47 patients underwent endoscopic adrenalectomies between 1998 and 2004. Mainly because of complicated anatomy, three primary aldosteronism cases were converted to retroperitoneal HALS. This involved making an additional 6 cm skin incision, into which the surgeon’s left hand was inserted, with the palm used to create a sufficient visual field and working area. The fingers were used for tactile sensation and blunt resection. For these three cases, successful retroperitoneal HALS in endoscopic adrenalectomy resulted in no mortality or morbidity. These findings indicate that this procedure is a feasible technique for complicated benign adrenal tumor cases.

An overview is given of the National Centralized Tokamak (NCT) programme as a research programme for advanced tokamak research to succeed JT-60U. The mission of NCT is to establish high beta steady-state operation for DEMO and to contribute to ITER. The machine flexibility is pursued in aspect ratio and shape controllability for the demonstration of the high-? steady-state, feedback control of resistive wall modes, wide current and pressure profile control capability and also very long pulse steady-state operation. Existing JT-60 infrastructure such as the heating and current drive system, power supplies and cooling systems will be best utilized for this modification.

Recently, we have succeeded in identifying the structure of the adsorption layer of ethanol on a silica surface in cyclohexane to be a hydrogen-bonded linear aggregate (polymer), which we call a surface molecular macrocluster. In this work, we studied the effect of the miscibility of liquids on the formation of the surface molecular macroclusters for confirming that this is a surface induced phenomenon. We investigated the interaction and the structure of methanol adsorbed on a silica surface in methanol−cyclohexane binary liquids by a combination of colloidal probe atomic force microscopy, adsorption excess isotherm measurement, and FTIR spectroscopy using the attenuated total reflection (ATR) mode, and compared the results with those of the ethanol−cyclohexane and 1-propanol−cyclohexane binary liquids. The former system is immiscible at methanol concentrations of ca. 8−90 mol %, and the latter two are miscible at any composition. At 0.03 mol % methanol, which is far from the critical concentration for the phase separation, the contact of the methanol macrocluster layers formed on the silica surface brought about the attraction from a distance of 42 ± 5 nm which was similar to that observed in ethanol−cyclohexane. At a methanol concentration of 9.0 mol %, above bulk phase separation, completely different force profiles were observed. These results demonstrated that the molecular macrocluster formation was different from the wetting induced by the bulk.

Isobaric vapor−liquid equilibria were measured for the four binary systems of decafluoropentane (HFC-43-10meec) + heptane, decafluoropentane + butyl ethyl ether, octafluorobutane (HFC-338pcc) + butyl ethyl ether, and heptafluoro propyl methyl ether (HFE-347mcc) + HFC-338pcc systems at atmospheric pressure. The HFC-43-10meec + heptane system formed a minimum-boiling azeotrope. The experimental data were correlated by the Wilson and NRTL models. The Wilson and NRTL equations gave similar results.

Abstract Thin films made of (100)/(001)-oriented Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 (PZT) were deposited by liquid-delivery metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on Ir/MgAl2O4/SiO2/Si(100) substrates. For comparison, PZT thin films were also deposited on Ir/MgO(100) substrates. The X-ray F scan spectra for the (202) reflections revealed that the PZT films have four-fold symmetry. It indicates that the PZT films were epitaxially grown as a cube-on-cube structure on both substrates. The switchable polarization (Qsw) of the PZT capacitors on the silicon substrate was only 23 µ C/cm2 at 1.8 V; however, Qsw of PZT capacitors on MgO was 99 µ C/cm2. In the case of PZT films deposited on silicon, the volume fraction of (001)-oriented domains (which contribute to polarization switching) was 15.1% (calculated from an XRD pattern). This result is due to the lower Qsw of PZT capacitors on silicon. By piezoresponse-force microscopy, switchable and unswitchable domains could be identified by imaging color contrast, namely, (001) and (100) domains, respectively. Consequently, domain distribution of the PZT film on a silicon substrate indicates that the (001) domain exists in the (100) domain matrix.

Electron beam-sensitive spin-coatable Al2O3resists were prepared by chemically modifying aluminium tri-sec-butoxide with various β-ketoesters (R-acetoacetates, R= methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, isobutyl, isoamyl, heptyl, benzyl and 2-[methacryloyloxy] ethyl) in isopropyl alcohol. The reaction product was a chelated complex. With increasing molecular weight of R, there was an increase in electron beam sensitivity of spin-coatable Al2O3resists. This appears to be due to decreased stability of the chelated complex formed by higher molecular weight R-acetoacetates. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy studies indicate that exposure to an electron beam results in the breakdown of chelate rings, making the exposed area insoluble during development. Electron beam nanolithography produced 8 nm wide lines. These are the smallest oxide lines written using a sol-gel-based resist.

Neutron diffraction provides an experimental method of directly locating hydrogen atoms in proteins, and the development of the neutron imaging plate (NIP) became a breakthrough event in neutron protein crystallography. The general features of the NIP are reviewed. A high resolution neutron diffractometer dedicated to biological macromolecules (BIX-3) with the NIP has been constructed at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute and this has enabled 1.5 Å resolution structural analyses of several proteins to be carried out. The specifications of BIX-3 and LADI (a quasi-Laue type diffractometer installed in the Institut Laue-Langevin) are compared. The crystal structures of myoglobin, wild type rubredoxin and a mutant of rubredoxin have been carried out using BIX-3. From these studies, several topics, such as the location of hydrogen bonds and certain acidic hydrogen atoms, the identification of methyl hydrogen atoms, details of H/D exchange and dynamical behavior of hydration structures have been investigated, and important information has been extracted from the structural results. Finally, a systematic procedure to grow large single crystals of proteins or nucleic acids is described.

Isobaric vapor−liquid equilibria were measured at atmospheric pressure for the ternary system methanol + 1,3-dioxolane + water and its constituent binary systems methanol + 1,3-dioxolane and 1,3-dioxolane + water. Parameters for the Wilson and NRTL equations were determined from binary data, and the prediction for the ternary system was compared with experimental results. For this ternary system, the NRTL equation gave better results than the Wilson equation.

The present status of the JT-60U control system is reported including its original design concept, the progress of the system, and various modifications since the JT-60 upgrade. This control system has features of a functionally distributed and hierarchical structure, using CAMAC interfaces initially, which have been replaced by versatile module Europe (VME)-bus interfaces, and a protective interlock system composed of both software and hard-wired interlock logics. Plant monitoring and control are performed by efficient data communication through CAMAC highways and Ethernet with TCP/IP protocols. Sequential control of plasma discharges is executed by a combination of a remodeled VME-bus system and a timing system. A real-time plasma control system and a human interface system have been continuously modified corresponding to the progress of JT-60U experiments.

The significance of real-time feedback control is emphasized in this paper as an indispensable method to improve and sustain the improved plasma characteristics in JT-60U high fusion performance discharges as well as to operate the fusion reactor under the optimal divertor conditions with respect to the heat load and exhaust pumping. In accordance, substantial improvement in the equivalent fusion amplification gain of over unity has been reproducibly achieved at the JT-60U tokamak in the reversed shear mode of operation with the robust feedback controls, where the value of target density was deliberately optimized for the reliable internal transport barrier formation, and the magneto-hydrodynamic stability control was performed with the stored energy feedback. The feedback control techniques also demonstrated the effectiveness to produce quasi-steady-state high-performance plasmas. In addition, three major parameters associated with the fusion reactor instrumentations, namely the neutron production rate, operating density, and divertor radiation power, were simultaneously feedback controlled in the ELMy H-mode plasmas. Here, the matrix response function was evaluated to identify the limitations involved with the linear combination of independent controls. Other advanced feedback schemes, such as the feedback suppression of the neoclassical tearing mode required to sustain high plasma pressure in a steady-state, are also described. Finally, the controversial issues for the future intelligent plasma control necessary for the advanced steady-stated tokamak reactor are addressed.

Isobaric vapor−liquid equilibria were measured for the six binary systems heptafluoropropyl methyl ether (HFE-347mcc) or 1,1,1,2,3,3-hexafluoro-3-propane (HFE-449mec-f) with 1-propanol, 2-butanone, or ethyl acetate at atmospheric pressure. The mixtures HFE-347mcc and HFE-449mec-f with 1-propanol both formed a minimum boiling azeotrope. The mixtures HFE-449mec-f with 2-butanone and with ethyl acetate formed maximum boiling azeotropes. The experimental data were correlated by the Wilson and NRTL activity coefficient models. The Wilson and NRTL equations gave similar results.

Interactions between opposed brush layers of polyelectrolytes ionized poly(l-glutamic acid) (PLGA) or poly(l-lysine) (PLL) in water were directly investigated using surface forces measurement. The brush layers were prepared by the Langmuir−Blodgett deposition of amphiphiles bearing PLGA (degree of polymerization n = 21, 44, and 48) or PLL (n = 41 and 52) as hydrophilic groups. The density of polyelectrolyte chains was around 0.4 chain/nm². Surface force profiles, consisting of a long-range electrical double layer repulsion and a short-range steric repulsion, were measured and analyzed with varying pH, salt concentration, and polyelectrolyte chain length. The surface potential obtained from the double layer repulsion indicated that nearly all of the ionized groups in the brush layers were neutralized by counterions. In the case of PLGA, the steric repulsion of the brush layer increased with increasing pH from 9 to 10, reflecting the increase in the ionization degree of the carboxylic groups, and then decreased above pH 10 due to salt effect. Similar behavior was also observed for PLL:  the steric repulsion increased when the pH was changed from 4 to 3 and decreased at pH 2. In the cases of both PLGA and PLL, the steric repulsion decreased with increasing salt concentration (0.43−10 mM) at a fixed pH, which was likely due to a decrease in the osmotic pressure of the counterions. The distance at which the steric repulsion appeared (D0) corresponded to twice the length of an extended polyelectrolyte molecule. This distance D0 remained practically the same under the pH and salt conditions studied for the brush of an identical polymerization degree. Twice the length of polyelectrolyte chains L0 was defined as D0 − 6 (nm), where 6 nm was twice the length of the long alkyl chains in polyelectrolyte amphiphiles, and was found to be proportional to the polymerization degree of polyelectrolyte n. The stress profiles, obtained by differentiating the force profiles, were scaled according to the distance to provide identical profiles for different polymer chain lengths. An equation describing the stress profiles was derived based on a model that attributed the steric force to the osmotic pressure of the counterions. The equation reproduced well the stress profiles of PLGA and PLL brushes, where the osmotic coefficient was a variable parameter. The osmotic coefficient was estimated to be 0.004 for both PLGA and PLL and much less than the value determined in solution (~0.2), indicating that the counterions bound more strongly to the polyelectrolytes in the brush layer than to isolated polyelectrolytes in solution. The advantage of characterizing polyelectrolytes by surface forces measurement was discussed.

For the Sako−Wu−Prausnitz (SWP) cubic equation of state, parameters were determined for 10 polymers [low-density polyethylene, poly(ε-caprolactone), poly(epichlorohydrin), poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(o-methylstyrene), polypropylene, poly(isobutylene), polystyrene, poly(vinyl acetate), and poly(vinyl chloride)] using literature PVT data ranging from the ambient conditions up to 470 K and 200 MPa. The correlated results of relative volume agreed with average deviations of 0.06% and were better than those of the original SWP equation (Sako et al. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 1989, 38, 1839−1858). When the SWP equation is combined with the G^E mixing rule and the ASOG-FV group contribution method, the solvent activities for polymer solutions composed of 4 polymers and 13 solvents (benzene, toluene, cyclohexane, acetone, butyl acetate, etc.) could be predicted. The prediction accuracy was somewhat better than that of PRASOG-FV although the accuracy of the PVT calculation for polymers did not almost influence the prediction accuracy of the vapor−liquid equilibria for binary solutions at normal pressure.

The electrical and microstructural properties of (Ba x Sr 1 m x )Ti 1+y O 3+z (BST) thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering were investigated as a function of deposition temperature over the range of 100 C to 650 C. Films deposited above approximately 350 C on Pt/TiO 2 /SiO 2 /Si substrates were polycrystalline with relative permittivites of 100 nm thick BST thin films varying from 100 at 350 C to 600 at 650 C. For deposition temperatures below approximately 350 C, the electrical properties were strongly influenced by the presence of a less crystalline BST layer. Films deposited at 250 C were comprised of a multilayer polycrystalline/less crystalline BST structure. The less crystalline BST layer strongly affected both measured dielectric permittivity and leakage properties. Leakage characteristics of Pt/BST(250C)/Pt capacitors exhibited a power law dependence on voltage or an exponential dependence on square root of the applied voltage depending on whether the top Pt electrode adjacent ot the polycrystalline BST layer was biased at a high or low electric potential, respectively. Mechanisms for the observed leakage behavior are discussed.

Isobaric vapor−liquid equilibria were measured for the four binary systems of perfluoro-2-methylpentane (FC-5114mmyc2) + perfluorooctane (FC-7118mc6), 1,1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4-nonafluorohexane (HFC-569mccf) + octane, 2,2,2-trifluorodiethyl ether (HFE-356mf-f) + butyl ethyl ether, and methylperfluoroisopropyl ether (HFE-347 mmy) + heptane at atmospheric pressure. The HFE-356mf-f + butyl ethyl ether system formed a minimum boiling azeotrope. The experimental data except for those for the FC-5114mmyc2 + FC-7118mc6 system were correlated by the Wilson and NRTL activity coefficient models. The Wilson and NRTL equations gave similar results. The VLE for the FC-5114mmyc2 + FC-7118mc6 system was predicted to be an ideal solution.

Spontaneous chiral asymmetry generation, which is the preferential production of one enantiomer in a non‐chiral environment by chiral autocatalysis, could be observed in a preparation of a octahedral cobalt complex, cis‐[CoBr(NH3)(en)2]Br2. A concentration fluctuation in a far‐from‐equilibrium chemical system will grow if the rate of local autocatalytic production of a compound in a small volume overcomes its loss due to diffusion. In a chirally autocatalytic system, this phenomenon could produce a large variation in the enantiomeric excess. In a reaction that produces the cobalt complex, the reaction rate was found to increase in the highly supersaturated solution of the product. In supersaturated solutions, before crystals of the solute have nucleated, embryos, which are the clusters of the solute, are formed. Ternary water‐solubility isotherm of each enantiomer of the cobalt complex suggests that each embryo consists of one exclusive enantiomer. Each chiral cluster, which could be regarded as polymeric material, thus formed in a highly supersaturated solution, may act as catalyst for the production of the same enantiomer. Life is a far‐from‐equilibrium self‐organized polymeric system in which chiral symmetry is broken. This reaction system is thus a model for the generation and amplification of chiral asymmetry in polymeric materials; it provides some insight in to the mechanisms that might have produced the observed biomolecular homochirality.

Isobaric vapor−liquid equilibria were measured for the quaternary system acetone + chloroform + methanol + benzene at atmospheric pressure. No literature VLE data were available for this system. The parameters of the Wilson, NRTL, and UNIQUAC equations were determined from the vapor−liquid equilibrium data of the constituent six binary systems, and the predictions for this quaternary system were compared with experiments.

With continuing proliferation of human influences on landscapes, there is mounting incentive to undertake quantification of relationships between spatial patterns of human populations and vegetation. In considering such quantification, it is apparent that investigations must be conducted at different scales and in a comparative manner across regions. At the broader scales it becomes necessary to utilize remote sensing of vegetation for comparative studies against map referenced census data. This paper explores such an approach for the urbanized area in the Tokyo vicinity. Vegetation is represented by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as determined from data acquired by the thematic mapper (TM) sensor of the Landsat satellite. Sparseness of vegetation is analyzed in relation to density of human residence, first by regression analysis involving stratified distance zones and then by the recent echelon approach for characterization of surfaces. Echelons reveal structural organization of surfaces in an objective and explicit manner. The virtual surface determined by census data collected on a grid is shown to have structural correspondence with the surface representing vegetation greenness as reflected in magnitude of NDVI values computed from red and infrared bands of image data.

If the growth in a local concentration due to an autocatalytic process overcomes diffusion, a concentration fluctuation in a small volume will grow. In a chirally autocatalytic system, this phenomenon could produce a large variation in the enantiomeric excess (ee). Here we report kinetic studies that show such stochastic behavior in the synthesis of an autocatalytic chiral cobalt complex. The established values of the kinetic parameters indicate that temperature inhomogeneities in the form of local hot spots can have a significant effect on the progress of the reaction as well as the ee of the final product. Stochastic kinetics of this type are in stark contrast to deterministic kinetics that are usually encountered in chemistry; in these systems random fluctuations play an important role in determining the product distribution. In the present case we find large random fluctuations in the ee.

The amount of long-lived radioiodine, 129I (half-life 1.57·107y) in the Japanese environment has been studied by measuring thyroids of humans and animals. The collected samples were thyroids of (1) humans in Ibaraki Prefecture, in Kanto district, the central part of Japan, (2) cattle in Aomori Prefecture, north part of Japan, and (3) wild deer in Chiba Prefecture, in Kanto district. The measured mean isotopic ratio 129I/127I for thyroids of cattle in Aomori Prefecture is 3.5±1.8·10-9. A higher value of 14±5·10-9has been obtained for thyroids of wild deer in Kanto district. On the other hand, the measured ratio for human thyroids in Kanto district is 1±0.2·10-9. This value is significantly lower than that of cattle thyroids in Aomori and also those reported for human thyroids in Europe and USA. The higher mean ratio for cattle thyroid in Kanto district is possibly explained by the influence of nuclear reprocessing plant. Lower mean ratio for human thyroid might be due to higher dietary intake of algae.

Background The sensitivity of biopsy in the diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma using percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy is not well defined. Methods: Patients with a biliary tract malignancy (n=52) underwent directed biopsy during percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy using a 1.8 mm diameter forceps. Histologic findings were correlated with endoscopic appearance. Results: A diagnosis of carcinoma was made in all four patients with a tumor of the major duodenal papilla and in all 15 patients with a polypoid bile duct tumor with two biopsies from the mass. In 19 patients with stenotic bile duct cancer, a positive diagnosis was made in 95% of cases when three biopsies were taken from the margin of the stenotic area. When cholangioscopy showed a tortuous, dilated vessel (n=10), the diagnosis of cancer was made with two biopsies taken from the margin of the stenosis. In 14 patients with metastatic bile duct cancer, the diagnosis was made in only 43% of cases when three biopsies were taken from the margin of the stenosis. When combined with results from the three biopsies taken from within the area of stenosis, the sensitivity for diagnosing pancreatic cancer improved from 20% to 60%. Conclusions: Directed cholangioscopic biopsies are highly sensitive for the diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma but less sensitive for cancer metastatic to the bile duct. The numbers and locations of the biopsies required to make a diagnosis of carcinoma depend on the origin and cholangioscopic appearance of the tumor.

Interactions between apposed brush layers of polyelectrolytes ionized poly(l-glutamic acid) (polymerization degree n = 21, 44, 48) were investigated in water at pH 10 by the direct surface forces measurement. Brush layers were prepared by the Langmuir−Blodgett (LB) deposition of amphiphiles bearing a poly(l-glutamic acid) chain and two octadecyl groups. The obtained surface force and stress profiles consisted of a long-range electrostatic repulsion and a short-range steric repulsion. The distance where the steric repulsion appeared was in good agreement with twice the length of the polyelectrolyte chains in the extended form. The stress profiles of the polyelectrolyte brushes at n = 21, 44, and 48 produced the identical curve when the distance was scaled by the length corresponding to twice the thickness of an undeformed polyelectrolyte layer. Interactions between the layers of a poly(l-glutamic acid) (n = 48) were also studied as a function of the polyelectrolyte chain density in the brush layers. The density was varied by mixing the poly(l-glutamic acid) amphiphile with dioctadecylphosphoric acid. The sudden increase in the short-range repulsion attributed to the steric component was found at the critical density of 0.20 ± 0.07 chain/nm² with decreasing chain density in the brush layers, indicating the existence of the transition in the interaction mode of polyelectrolytes. The steric repulsion was quantitatively analyzed to provide the elastic compressibility modulus of the polyelectrolyte brushes. The obtained modulus of 0.6 ± 0.1 pN/chain was in the high-density region, and 4.4 ± 0.7 pN/chain was in the low-density region. The transition in the counterion binding to polyelectrolytes may account for the density-dependent change in the interactions of the polyelectrolyte chains.

Abstract: · Background: We retrospectively observed idiopathic macular holes in 63 eyes using a scanning laser ophthalmoscope, in order to study the relation between postoperative epiretinal membranes and closure of macular holes following vitrectomy. · Methods: The eyes were classified into three groups based on the degree of the postoperative epiretinal membranes. Group I consisted of 23 eyes with no epiretinal membrane remaining on the retina after vitrectomy. Group II consisted of 20 eyes in which epiretinal membranes were observed on the retina, but separate from the edge of the macular hole. Group III consisted of 20 eyes in which epiretinal membranes were observed at the edge of the macular hole. Using these three groups, we studied how postoperative epiretinal membranes were related to the closure of macular holes. · Results: All macular holes (100%) in groups I and II were closed following vitrectomy. In group III, 5 (25.0%) of 20 eyes had complete closure and 13 eyes (65.0%) had incomplete closure of the macular hole, while 2 eyes (10.0%) had re-opening of initially closed macular holes several months after vitrectomy. · Conclusion: Residual postoperative epiretinal membranes at the edge of macular hole are responsible for primary failure of vitrectomy. Removal of epiretinal tissues around the macular hole is important for macular hole to be closed following vitrectomy.