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Based on the customer’s product recognition, sustainability and environmental protection become key sales arguments within the automotive industry. The customer expects reduced resource consumptions, environmental friendly manufacturing and a long usage phase. Especially product reliability saves resources in many ways. Manufacturer product reliability is associated with higher development and production costs, but, especially in industries with high innovation rates, customer usage is limited to the product actuality, which leads to two key questions: a) How much product reliability makes sense out of the view of manufacturers, customers and environmental protection? b) What is the impact of reliable products regarding the reduction of resources? This paper outlines the ‘Collaborative development, manufacturing and field verification for higher product reliability towards sustainability (CDMF-RELSUS) concept’ focusing on influences and interdependences of product development, manufacturing planning and field observation regarding the successor development including the combination of reliable and sustainable product characteristics.

Intermittency effects basically limited to the viscous subrange contaminate the Gabor filtering analysis in the inertial subrange. The contamination decreases with an increase in the quality factor of the filter, and the Gabor transform coefficients of turbulent velocity have scaling properties approaching the Kolmogorov scaling. In the limit of an infinitely long inertial range, there is no anomalous scaling, i.e., no non-Gaussianity. The wavelet transform coefficients of turbulent velocity and its structure functions follow probability rules depending on the scales extracted by analyzing wavelet functions. This anomalous scaling property is produced by the intermittency effects inherent in the viscous subrange. The structure functions cannot extract properties in a pure inertial subrange.

Background We report herein a case of cavernous sinus (CS)-dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) with brainstem venous congestion that was successfully treated by transarterial embolization, followed by radiotherapy. Case description An 80-year-old woman presented with right eye chemosis and left hemiparesis. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging showed hyperintensity of the pons. Diagnostic cerebral angiography demonstrated CS-DAVF draining into the right superior orbital vein and petrosal vein, and fed by bilateral internal and external carotid arteries. Transarterial embolization was performed and followed by radiotherapy, resulting in resolution of the pontine lesion and neurological and ophthalmological symptoms within 5 months. Conclusions We also review the literature regarding therapy for CS-DAVF with brainstem venous congestion. Once CS-DAVF with venous congestion of the brainstem has been definitively diagnosed, immediate therapy is warranted. Treatment with transarterial embolization followed by radiation may be an important option for elderly patients when transvenous or transarterial embolization is not an option.

We study the process of growth of graphene by the SiC surface decomposition method to improve the technique of growing graphene. In this study, the initial stage of the graphitization process on a periodically faceted SiC surface is investigated by the Naval Research Laboratory tight-binding approach. The results suggest that the decomposition of the SiC surface started by the desorption of Si atoms at the step edge. It is also found that released C atoms are trapped at the step-edge sites and that neighboring Si atoms are subsequently desorbed. These results suggest that graphene nucleation on the SiC surface proceeds in a negative step-flow mode.

To investigate how prefrontal neurons store multiple spatial locations simultaneously, neuronal activity during delay was analyzed while a monkey performed a delayed sequential reaching (DSR) task, in which the monkey was required to store both locations and the order of two sequentially presented targets during delay, and a delayed reaching (DR) task with single target. 38 out of 61 task-related neurons showed delay-related activity and were classified into three types. Type 1 (58%) showed delay-related activity depending upon the direction of the first reaching movement. Type 2 (21%) showed delay-related activity depending upon whether the reaching cue was presented at either left or right. Type 3 (21%) showed delay-related activity nonspecifically during all trials of both DSR and DR. Neurons with delay-related activity only in DSR trials were not observed. These results suggest that each prefrontal neuron may not hold information for the whole sequence of a complex movement during delay, but may hold partial information of that movement, such as one target location or one movement direction.

Statistical haplotype inference is an indispensable technique in the field of medical science. The method usually has two steps: inference of haplotype frequencies and inference of diplotype for each subject. The first step can be done by using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, but it incurs an unreasonably large calculation cost when the number of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci of concern is large. In this article, we describe an approximate probabilistic model of haplotype frequencies. The model is constructed by using several distributions of nearby local SNPs. This approximation seems good because SNPs are generally more strongly correlated when they are close to one another on a chromosome. To implement this approach, we use a log linear model, the Walsh-Hadamard transform, and a combinatorial optimization method. Artificial data suggested that the overall haplotype inference of our method is good if there are nine or more local consecutive SNPs. Some minor problems should be dealt with before this method can be applied to real data.

We investigated the thermal properties of a single-walled carbon nanotube with vacancy defects to determine its applicability to solid-state thermal rectification. Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation of a nanotube with randomly located defects only along half the length revealed asymmetric heat conduction at room temperature. The direction of rectification is in good agreement with that obtained in a past experiment in which C9H16Pt was asymmetrically deposited on a nanotube, as far as the local deposition is supposed to cause defects in the nanotube lattice. The mechanism underlying the current thermal rectification effect is discussed considering the temperature dependence of the local thermal conductivity and the phonon filtering effect. The calculated phonon density of states shows larger overlapping when heat flows from the defective part to the pristine part and intermediate-frequency phonons are mainly responsible for rectification.

The method of statistical haplotype inference is an indispensable technique in the field of medical science. The authors previously reported Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium-based haplotype inference that could manage single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. We recently extended the method to cover copy number variation (CNV) data. Haplotype inference from mixed data is important because SNPs and CNVs are occasionally in linkage disequilibrium. The idea underlying the proposed method is simple, but the algorithm for it needs to be quite elaborate to reduce the calculation cost. Consequently, we have focused on the details on the algorithm in this study. Although the main advantage of the method is accuracy, in that it does not use any approximation, its main disadvantage is still the calculation cost, which is sometimes intractable for large data sets with missing values.

Statistical mechanical informatics (SMI) is an approach that applies statistical-mechanics techniques developed for many-body problems in natural science to information sciences. SMI has been extensively applied to various research fields of information sciences, including in particular information and communication theory, probabilistic inference, and combinatorial optimization problems, and has brought about novel advances in these fields. From a formal point of view, the most significant advantage of the SMI approach would be that it facilitates our look at hierarchical organization of a complex system, on the basis of which reduction of many `microscopic' degrees of freedom is performed to obtain a `macroscopic' description of the system with a small number of parameters, which is in turn utilized to analyze the system microscopically. Hierarchy, reduction, and macroscopic description should also be essential in order to understand biological systems. These observations imply that the conceptual framework of SMI should be extensible to various research fields in bioinformatics, and new theoretical frameworks for bioinformatics will be established from the system science viewpoint. To advance research activities in these directions, however, interactions between SMI and bioinformatics are needed. The International Workshop on Statistical-Mechanical Informatics has been organized in order to explore such new directions for SMI and bioinformatics through interactions between various research disciplines, and to incubate joint research initiatives. This workshop, held at Mielparque-Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan, 13–16 September 2009, and sponsored by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas `Deepening and Expansion of Statistical Mechanical Informatics (DEX-SMI)' (Head investigator: Yoshiyuki Kabashima, Tokyo Institute of Technology) (Project http://dex-smi.sp.dis.titech.ac.jp/DEX-SMI), was intended to provide leading researchers in the fields of DNA microarray analysis, brain science, medical engineering and mathematical biology, to exchange advanced findings on and to detail achievements in bioinformatics and statistical mechanics. We would like to thank the contributors of the workshop as well as all the participants, who have enjoyed the workshop as well as their stay in Kyoto. This successful workshop will stimulate further development of the interdisciplinary research field of bioinformatics and SMI. Editors Masato Inoue Shin Ishii Yoshiyuki Kabashima Masato Okada The IW-SMI 2009 Organizing Committee Masato Okada, General Chair (University of Tokyo) Yoshiyuki Kabashima, Vice-General Chair (Tokyo Institute of Technology) Shin Ishii, Program Chair (Kyoto University) Masato Inoue, Publications Chair (Waseda University) Kazuyuki Tanaka (Tohoku University) Toshiyuki Tanaka (Kyoto University)

Coping efforts to subjectively experienced basic disorders were investigated by self-report in 60 chronic schizophrenics in Japan, and the relationships to clinical and demographic variables, intelligence, personality, and attitude toward their illness were analyzed. Self-reports on coping efforts were obtained for more than half of all subjectively experienced basic disorders, and the predominant technique was reported to be the approach oriented towards problem-solving. Within each coping style, the behavioral change, divertive problem-solving approach correlated negatively with hospitalization and symptoms, and the struggle, problem-solving efforts without any effective results correlated positively with symptoms. Suggestions regarding integration of these self-efforts into psychosocial treatment of schizophrenia are discussed.

The replica method (RM) provides an accurate evaluation of a class of mean-field (MF) models in the thermodynamic limit. It is, however, not straightforward to extend its application to a class of non-MF models and finite-size models with sufficient accuracy. We previously proposed a numerical approach as an alternative, in which principal component analysis (PCA) is employed to analyze configurations sampled through Monte Carlo simulations. Using this method, we examine both two- and three-body mean-field Sourlas codes as a test board and compare our results with those of the RM. We confirm that the spin distribution map constructed using PCA axes has specific characteristics approximately corresponding to the phases given by RM. This result suggests that the PCA approach will be effective even with general non-MF finite-size models.

If is argued that there exists an ambiguity in the definition of the effective potential for bilocal composite fields. The ambiguity stems from arbitrariness of adding a polynomial of the source function. Physically meaningful predictions are deduced from the effective potential only when the source function vanishes. The above statement is examined in quantum electrodynamics and the Yukawa theory. A possibility of having a convenient expression of the effective potential is discussed.

Experimental conditions were established for an investigation of the sperm binding characteristics of the mouse zona pellucida. Fresh epididymal sperm binding to zonae of unfertilized eggs was a time-dependent process, reflecting the occurrence of sperm capacitation under in vitro incubation conditions. In contrast, capacitated sperm binding in large numbers to zonae of unfertilized ova occurred independently of temporal considerations. A dramatic difference was apparent in the binding of capacitated sperm to zonae of unfertilized eggs (>100 per zona) and to in vivo produced 2-cell embryos (0-5 per zona), providing a basis for assessing the occurrence of a zona reaction. Under comparable conditions, capacitated sperm bound in large numbers to zonae of in vitro produced 2-cell embryos. Possible reasons for a subnormal or inadequate zona reaction in eggs inseminated in vitro have been discussed.

A cytological analysis of serially sectioned unpenetrated and penetrated mouse eggs revealed the existence of a marked polarity in the distribution of cortical granules and of microvilli in the egg cortex. Approximately 20% of the total cortex homolateral to the meiotic spindle was totally devoid of cortical granules and was covered by a smooth oolemma which appeared uncapable of binding capacitated epididymal spermatozoa. In the remaining 80% of the egg, the cortex contained a heterogeneous population of cortical granules and was covered by short microvilli; sperm penetration of the mouse vitellus was restricted to this area. Quantitative estimates of cortical granule complements in eggs before (0 and 30 min), during (60 min), and after (60 and 120 min) sperm-egg fusion indicated that approximately 25% of the granules were released by exocytosis within the initial 30 min of insemination. No functional significance could, however, be attributed to such a premature release, since the fertilizability of eggs with reduced cortical granule complements was not affected.

The solubility properties of the zona pellucida surrounding the intact unfertilized murine egg have been investigated. The structural integrity of the zona was shown to be disrupted by several disuffide-bond reducing agents. A correlation was established between the rate of zonae dissolution in mercaptoethanol and the concentration of the sulfhydsyl anion. It was possible to conclude, therefore, that disulfide bonds play a role in maintaining the structural integrity of the murine zona pellucida. The effect of pH on zonae solubility was reinvestigated. Removal of cumulus cells with unbuffered solutions of hyaluronidase or exposure of ova to low pH led to dramatic alterations in the physicochernical properties of the resultant zonae. This study provides the basis for evaluating possible relationships between the occurrence of a zona reaction and changes in the physicochemical properties of the zona pellucida

The amount of CO 2 emissions in production and logistics has been increasing in not only developed countries but also emerging countries, especially Asian countries such as Malaysia and China which have been achieved remarkable economic growth. For global warming, these emerging countries also play an important role to reduce the CO 2 volumes, therefore, it has been more important to design a low-carbon supply chain including the Asian countries by balancing not only costs but also the CO 2 volumes. This study models and designs a global supply chain network including these Asian countries for balancing the costs and the CO 2 volumes in production and logistics. The research defines a mixed integer programming (MIP) problem to satisfy not only the demand of the market for finished products but also the reduction ratio of the environmental impact by determining the supplier and factory location between developed and emerging countries.