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Treatments for paraneoplastic optic neuropathy (PON), a tumor-related autoimmune disease, include immunosuppression, plasma exchange, and immunoglobulin therapies, as well as treatment of the underlying disease. Herein, we describe the clinical course of an older adult patient with PON whose loss of vision improved after switching between epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) treatments for cancer. A 76-year-old woman, who had been treated with gefitinib for lung adenocarcinoma for two years, presented with acute bilateral visual disturbances. Her decimal best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.3 in the right eye (RE) and 0.7 in the left eye (LE). Slit-lamp examination and funduscopy showed no abnormal findings. Two weeks later, her BCVA decreased to 0.2 in the RE and 0.01 in the LE. Goldman’s perimetry showed a defect in the lower nasal RE and extensive visual-field loss in the LE. Single-flash electroretinograms showed normal amplitudes. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed left optic neuritis and showed neither metastatic cancer nor multiple sclerosis. Pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials showed decreased P100 amplitudes in both eyes (BE). Based on a diagnosis of PON from clinical findings, methylprednisolone pulse treatment was administered. However, her BCVA became no light perception in BE two months after the first visit. Because the tumor tissue was found to be positive for the EGFR T790M resistance mutation by bronchoscopy, the EGFR-TKI treatment was changed to osimertinib, decreasing the size of the lung cancer lesions. Her BCVA improved to hand motion in BE. Her final BCVA was 0.01 in the RE, counting fingers 10 cm in the LE. She died at the age of 79 years. To our knowledge, no reports have shown improvement in BCVA in patients with PON after changing EGFR-TKI treatments. This report indicates that some patients may develop severe visual dysfunction without early treatment for the primary tumor.

The mortality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is strongly correlated with pulmonary vascular pathology accompanied by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection–triggered immune dysregulation and aberrant activation of platelets. We combined histological analyses using field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses of the lungs from autopsy samples and single-cell RNA sequencing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to investigate the pathogenesis of vasculitis and immunothrombosis in COVID-19. We found that SARS-CoV-2 accumulated in the pulmonary vessels, causing exudative vasculitis accompanied by the emergence of thrombospondin-1–expressing noncanonical monocytes and the formation of myosin light chain 9 (Myl9)–containing microthrombi in the lung of COVID-19 patients with fatal disease. The amount of plasma Myl9 in COVID-19 was correlated with the clinical severity, and measuring plasma Myl9 together with other markers allowed us to predict the severity of the disease more accurately. This study provides detailed insight into the pathogenesis of vasculitis and immunothrombosis, which may lead to optimal medical treatment for COVID-19.

This study proposes an exosystem-observer approach to an H 2 output feedback problem with an output regulation constraint. The authors analyse the error covariance of a recently proposed exosystem observer and newly derive the degenerate Riccati equation and linear matrix inequalities for designing the optimal and suboptimal exosystem observer gains. Furthermore, they show that the H 2 output feedback controller based on the exosystem observer is equivalently implemented in a Youla-parameter-based structure, where the Youla parameter is realised as an observer for the exosystem state. By utilising the Youla-parameter-based structure, they provide output feedback controller design methods for achieving the optimal and suboptimal H 2 performances.

Charge–discharge schedules of photovoltaic (PV) batteries are planned based on the prediction of solar irradiance, and various methods have been studied to cope with prediction uncertainty. Among them, the switching of charge–discharge schedules could be a measure for keeping supply–demand balance against abrupt weather changes. Those methods motivate a PV battery operation problem to retain the trackability of the secondary reference even when the primary schedule is ongoing. This study addresses the periodic operation of PV battery systems subject to the reference switching, and designs a switching model predictive control (MPC) to track the primary and secondary references with guaranteed feasibility. The proposed MPC design also incorporates the constraint-tightening technique, by which the operational limits are kept under the prediction error associated with each of the schedules. In order to utilise the design freedom in compensating the prediction error, the authors construct the constraint-tightening gain based on economic dispatching control, and discuss the features in terms of design simplicity and fuel cost efficiency.

This paper proposes a novel algorithm that calibrates multiple cameras scattered across a broad area. The key idea of the proposed method is “using the position of an omnidirectional camera as a reference point.” The common approach to calibrating multiple cameras assumes that the cameras capture at least some common points. This means calibration becomes quite difficult if there are no shared points in each camera’s field of view (FOV). The proposed method uses the position of an omnidirectional camera to determine point correspondence. The position of an omnidirectional camera relative to the calibrated camera is estimated by the theory of epipolar geometry, even if the omnidirectional camera is placed outside the camera’s FOV. This property makes our method applicable to multiple cameras scattered across a broad area. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations using synthesized and real data, e.g., a sports field, demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method.

This paper proposes a novel framework for image and video completion that removes and restores unwanted regions inside them. Most existing works fail to carry out the completion processing when similar regions do not exist in undamaged regions. To overcome this, our approach creates similar regions by projecting a low dimensional space from the original space. The approach comprises three stages. First, input images/videos are converted to a lower dimensional feature space. Second, a damaged region is restored in the converted feature space. Finally, inverse conversion is performed from the lower dimensional space to the original space. This generates two advantages: (1) it enhances the possibility of applying patches dissimilar to those in the original color space and (2) it enables the use of many existing restoration methods, each having various advantages, because the feature space for retrieving the similar patches is the only extension. The framework's effectiveness was verified in experiments using various methods, the feature space for restoration in the second stage, and inverse conversion methods.

The Smith predictor and observer-based predictor are received as two typical types of controllers for input-delay systems. For the discrete-time single input-delay systems, the H∞ controller parameterization was obtained in the Smith predictor form. However, the previous solution inherits structural restrictions on the regularity of the system matrix, and it involves difficulties for broader practical applications. This paper provides an alternative H∞ controller implementation in the observer-based predictor form and remove the regularity restrictions.

The $H^{\infty}$ control problem of general preview/delayed systems is solved using analytic solutions of the corresponding operator Riccati equations. The solution to the problem can be applied to a broad range of input/output delayed systems and enables the handling of preview/delayed control problems. The solvability condition is characterized by the roots of the transcendental equations and the control law for the general problem is given based on a predictive compensation with an integro-differential observer. Some interpretations of typical control problems are presented based on the solvability condition and the resulting control law.

Apart from the conventional dry process such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), some electrochemical approaches have been conducted to fabricate thin Si and Ge films. The liquids used to date for electro-deposition of those films are nonaqueous organic electrolytes, 1‐4 tetrachloride solutions (SiCl4, GeCl4), 5,6 ionic liquids, 7‐13 aqueous solutions, 14 and molten salt solutions. 15‐17 In every case, however, deposited films show non-uniform, porous, or contaminant features in structure and composition. Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) diode acts as a planar cold cathode which uniformly emits ballistic hot electrons. 18 The nc-Si emitter is composed of a thin Au (10 nm), an anodized nc-Si layer (∼1 μm), a

In preview control problems, efficient use of future reference or disturbance signals is investigated to improve control performances. This paper addresses a class of H∞ preview control probl...

This paper proposes a control method for a parallelogram linkage robot manipulator. Parallelogram linkage can generate motion control with high precision. However, this technique is geometrically constrained in the task space as a result of its mechanical properties. The proposed method uses a model predictive controller to account for the geometric constraints of the system. The key concept behind the controller developed here is to use manipulability for the cost function and geometric constraints in the model predictive controller. Thus, we can design a trajectory-tracking controller using a manipulator and accounting for the geometric constraints. In the simulation results, the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified using the singularity avoidance problem as an example of geometric constraints.

A quantum confinement effect renders silicon a functional wide-gap material with useful functions. For instance, a diode based on nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) exhibits characteristic quasi-ballistic emission effects in various media. As means for physical excitation and probing, the applicability to parallel electron beam lithography and high-sensitivity image-pickup has been demonstrated in vacuum. The energetic electron incidence into air and Xe ambient induces negative ion generation by electron attachment into oxygen molecules and vacuum ultraviolet light emission by internal excitation of Xe molecules, respectively. Another effect is that the nc-Si ballistic emitter can supply highly reducing electrons into aqueous and metal-salt solutions without the use of counter electrodes. This is an attractive process that will be applicable to hydrogen generation and thin metal film deposition.

This paper considers a control problem of constrained linear systems. By investigating the input-output relation of finite-horizon linear systems, we clarify pairs of input and output signals which...

Open Course Ware (OCW) has been growing up worldwide. Most universities launched OCW-site with text based lecture notes at first, but recently many universities have begun to publish lecture videos as well as lecture notes. We initially propose the ‘Social Curator Collaboration Model’ which creates an environment that general public user other than course lecturer can participate as learning assistant to reply to other learner’ s questions or opinions. We also propose Web-API function mash-up architectural design to realize OCW common platform with typical workflow of ‘Social Curator Collaboration Model’ . We have evaluated the functionality of our proposed model by prototyping the infrastructure and challenged it with real OCW lecture video.

Voltammetric detection of biological molecules was carried out using chopped carbon fibers produced from carbon fiber reinforced plastics that are biocompatible and inexpensive. Because chopped carbon fibers normally are covered with a sizing agent, they are difficult to use as an electrode. However, when the surface of a chopped carbon fiber was treated with ethanol and hydrochloric acid, it became conductive. To evaluate the functioning of chopped carbon fibers, voltammetric measurements of [Fe(CN)(6)](3-) were carried out. Redoxes of FAD, ascorbic acid and NADH as biomolecules were recorded using cyclic voltammetry. The sizing agents used to bundle the fibers were epoxy, polyamide and polyurethane resins. The peak currents were the greatest when using the chopped carbon fibers that were created with epoxy resins. When the electrode response of the chopped carbon fibers was compared with that of a glassy carbon electrode, the peak currents and the reversibility of the electrode reaction were sufficient. Therefore, the chopped carbon fibers will be useful as disposable electrodes for the sensing of biomolecules.

A simulation model of pedestrian flow is introduced based on Mixed Logical Dynamical (MLD) system approach. Typical phenomena in the evacuation flow are generated with the proposed model and, further, it is verified that improved outflows can be reached by obstacles placed asymmetrically in front of the exits. The feature of the congestion in the evacuation is also discussed in terms of the flow coefficient.

肝硬変に筋肉内血腫を合併した2例を経験した．症例1は62歳男性，アルコール性肝硬変で治療を受けていた．咳嗽後に腹痛が出現し，CT検査にて腹直筋血腫が認められた．入院後に施行された中心静脈穿刺により，右大腿部にも血腫が出現した．貧血および肝不全が徐々に進行し，死亡した．症例2は74歳男性．C型肝硬変による肝性昏睡で入院となった．胸水に伴う咳嗽が続いていたが，突然右側腹部の血腫が出現した．全身状態が急速に悪化し死亡．肝硬変での筋肉内血腫は致死的であり，臨床上，示唆に富む症例と思われ報告する．

The coiler system is a final part of hot rolling process. The torque of the mandrel and the force imposed on the pinch roll are cooperatively controlled in order to suppress the tension fluctuation when the steel plate leaves the final stand. In this paper, the coiler system is modeled as a bimodal hybrid system, and two control methods are applied. The effectiveness of the proposed methods are evaluated by simulation.

For multiple input delay systems, a robust stabilization problem in the gap-metric is solved and an observer-based predictive control law is clarified. Based on the control law obtained here, the Hinfin loop-shaping procedure is applied to some numerical examples and the effect of input time delay is discussed. It is also illustrated that the advantage of minimum phase structure in the delay-free plant is vulnerable to the transmission delay.

An off-line controller design method of a tension and looper system is derived based on hybrid systems approach. By employing a multi-parametric programming method, a nonlinear feedback control law, which is equivalent to the model predictive control, is constructively given. The feature of resulting control system is illustrated with numerical example.

Two kinds of multi-layer interlocked fabric with different fabric structures were made of pitch-based carbon fiber, and the fabric was combined with condensed polynuclear aromatic (COPNA) resin to prepare multi-layer interlocked fabric reinforced COPNA resin composites. In addition, a third type of material was prepared by adding graphite to the composite material. The wear resistance of these composite materials was evaluated under both high and low loading conditions by means of the cylinder/flat plate friction tester. The following results were obtained. In case of the composite material including graphite, at low loads the friction coefficient was low, and the wear resistance was high. However, at high loads the strength of the material was reduced due to the presence of graphite, and the sample failed. In case of composite materials made without graphite, the influence of the loading condition was small, and stable, high wear resistance was observed under conditions at both high and low loads. A higher wear resistance was observed in the case where the fibers were homogeneously distributed on the sliding surface of the composite material than in case where they were heterogeneously distributed.

Two kinds of materials, sprayed-on crocidolite and sprayed-on amosite, containing crocidolite and amosite respectively, were treated with aqueous acetic acid solution, the pH of which was adjusted with an ammonium acetate buffer at 5, in order to remove soluble components of cement. The liquids were filtrated with a membrane filter, and the residue collected as crocidolite samples and amosite samples, respectively. The Crocidolite and amosite thus obtained were heated up to 600-1300°C for 1h. Then, power X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiment, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observation, and thermal analysis (TG/DTA) were carried out for these burned specimens in order to observe the change of the burned materials and melting behaviors together with their thermal properties. In addition, CaCO3 and CaCl2 were mixed with the respective sprayed-on asbestos and sprayed-on crocidolite, and a TG/DTA measurement was conducted on these mixtures. Based on the SEM observation and XRD experiment on the specimens used in the TG/DTA measurements, we tried to decompose the crocidolite and amosite, applying the method of low-temperature decomposition, the applicability of which was previously confirmed in the study on the case of chrysolite. The temperature of the TG/DTA measurement could be raised up to 1000°C, and it became evident that in the cases of specimens where CaCl2 was added, all the asbestos fibers had decomposed, but not in any other specimen. The crocidolite specimen became rounded in shape when it was heated up to 1000°C, and it looked as if it was densified due to burning. CaCO3 and CaCl2 were added to this burned crocidolite, and decomposition of the material after burning was examined. In a DTA thermogram, an endothermic peak was recognized, which corresponds to the formation of a melt of CaCO3-CaO-CaCl2 as summarized in the previous report. Thus it is experimentally verified that burned crocidolite decomposes at high temperatures.