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The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and the biomarkers of the CHP-NY-ESO-1 vaccine complexed with full-length NY-ESO-1 protein and a cholesteryl pullulan (CHP) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after surgery. We conducted a randomized phase II trial. Fifty-four patients with NY-ESO-1-expressing ESCC who underwent radical surgery following cisplatin/5-fluorouracil-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy were assigned to receive either CHP-NY-ESO-1 vaccination or observation as control. Six doses of CHP-NY-ESO-1 were administered subcutaneously once every two weeks, followed by nine more doses once every four weeks. The endpoints were disease-free survival (DFS) and safety. Exploratory analysis of tumor tissues using gene-expression profiles was also performed to seek the biomarker. As there were no serious adverse events in 27 vaccinated patients, we verified the safety of the vaccine. DFS in 2 years were 56.0% and 58.3% in the vaccine arm and in the control, respectively. Twenty-four of 25 patients showed NY-ESO-1-specific IgG responses after vaccination. Analysis of intra-cohort correlations among vaccinated patients revealed that 5% or greater expression of NY-ESO-1 was a favorable factor. Comprehensive analysis of gene expression profiles revealed that the expression of the gene encoding polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR) in tumors had a significantly favorable impact on outcomes in the vaccinated cohort. The high PIGR-expressing tumors that had higher NY-ESO-1-specific IgA response tended to have favorable prognosis. These results suggest that PIGR would play a major role in tumor immunity in an antigen-specific manner during NY-ESO-1 vaccinations. The IgA response may be relevant.

TRA98 is a rat monoclonal antibody (mAb) which recognizes a specific antigen in the nuclei of germ cells. mAb TRA98 has been used to understand the mechanism of germ cell development and differentiation in many studies. In mice, the antigen recognized by mAb TRA98 or GCNA1 has been reported to be a GCNA gene product, but despite the demonstration of the immunoreactivity of this mAb in human testis and sperm in 1997, the antigen in humans remains unknown, as of date. To identify the human antigen recognized by mAb TRA98, a human comprehensive wet protein array was developed containing 19,446 proteins derived from human cDNAs. Using this array, it was found that the antigen of mAb TRA98 is not a GCNA gene product, but nuclear factor-κB activating protein (NKAP). In mice, mAb TRA98 recognized both the GCNA gene product and NKAP. Furthermore, conditional knockout of Nkap in mice revealed a phenotype of Sertoli cell-only syndrome. Although NKAP is a ubiquitously expressed protein, NKAP recognized by mAb TRA98 in mouse testis was SUMOylated. These results suggest that NKAP undergoes modifications, such as SUMOylation in the testis, and plays an important role in spermatogenesis.

Metabolic reprogramming, including the Warburg effect, is a hallmark of cancer. Indeed, the diversity of cancer metabolism leads to cancer heterogeneity, but accurate assessment of metabolic properties in tumors has not yet been undertaken. Here, we performed absolute quantification of the expression levels of 113 proteins related to carbohydrate metabolism and antioxidant pathways, in stage III colorectal cancer surgical specimens from 70 patients. The Warburg effect appeared in absolute protein levels between tumor and normal mucosa specimens demonstrated. Notably, the levels of proteins associated with the tricarboxylic citric acid cycle were remarkably reduced in the malignant tumors which had relapsed after surgery and treatment with 5‐fluorouracil‐based adjuvant therapy. In addition, the efficacy of 5‐fluorouracil also decreased in the cultured cancer cell lines with promotion of the Warburg effect. We further identified nine and eight important proteins, which are closely related to the Warburg effect, for relapse risk and 5‐fluorouracil benefit, respectively, using a biomarker exploration procedure. These results provide us a clue for bridging between metabolic protein expression profiles and benefit from 5‐fluorouracil adjuvant chemotherapy., Using absolute quantification of protein levels, we identified that the behavior of Warburg effect‐related proteins was strongly associated with relapse prediction and the therapeutic indication of uracil‐tegafur (UFT)‐adjuvant therapy.

We revisit the merits of the retrospective pretest–posttest (RPP) design for repeated-measures research. The underutilized RPP method asks respondents to rate survey items twice during the same posttest measurement occasion from two specific frames of reference: “now” and “then.” Individuals first report their current attitudes or beliefs following a given intervention, and next they are prompted to think back to a specific time prior to the given intervention and rate the item again retrospectively. The design addresses many of the validity concerns that plague the traditional pretest–posttest design. Particularly when measuring noncognitive constructs, the RPP design allows participants to gauge the degree of change that they experience with greater awareness and precision than a traditional approach. We review the undesirable features of traditional designs and highlight the benefits of the retrospective approach. We offer examples from two recent, original studies and conclude with the recommendation that the RPP design be employed more broadly. We also conclude with a discussion of important directions for future examination of this design.

The debate of whether bilingualism provides a cognitive and or linguistic advantage is a lasting one. Underlying this debate is the idea that an additional language shapes cognition and linguistic processing. The current research analyzes a behavioral dataset containing individuals’ performance in different general cognitive and linguistic tests using a machine learning approach to classify individuals as bilinguals or multilinguals based on their performance. Using an extreme gradient boosting model, we were able to achieve a balanced accuracy of 77%. High scores on a prescriptive grammar test, a verbal fluency test, and a picture naming test were predictive for multilingualism. The implications of the reported results for the field and future research are discussed.

Thrombopoietin (THPO) is a circulatory cytokine that plays an important role in platelet production. The presence of anti-THPO antibody relates to thrombocytopenia and is rarely seen in hematopoietic and autoimmune diseases. To date, there had been no reports that focused on the anti-THPO antibody in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). To evaluate prevalence of the anti-THPO antibody in patients with T2DM and the relationship between anti-THPO antibody and platelet count, a cross-sectional study was performed on 82 patients with T2DM. The anti-THPO antibody was measured by ELISA using preserved sera and detected in 13 patients. The average platelet count was significantly lower in patients with the anti-THPO antibody than in those without the anti-THPO antibody. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed a significant relationship between the anti-THPO antibody and platelet count, after adjusting for other variables. To our best knowledge, this was the first report on the effect of the anti-THPO antibody on platelet count in patients with T2DM. Further investigation is needed to validate the prevalence and pathological significance of the anti-THPO antibody in patients with T2DM.

Our aim was to develop a serodiagnostic marker for lung cancer. Monoclonal antibodies were generated, and one antibody designated as KU-Lu-1, recognizing cytoskeleton-associated protein 4 (CKAP4), was studied further. To evaluate the utility of KU-Lu-1 antibody as a serodiagnostic marker for lung cancer, reverse-phase protein array analysis was performed with sera of 271 lung cancer patients and 100 healthy controls. CKAP4 was detected in lung cancer cells and tissues, and its secretion into the culture supernatant was also confirmed. The serum CKAP4 levels of lung cancer patients were significantly higher than those of healthy controls (P 0.0001), and the area under the curve of receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis was 0.890, with 81.1% sensitivity and 86.0% specificity. Furthermore, the serum CKAP4 levels were also higher in patients with stage I adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma than in healthy controls (P 0.0001). Serum CKAP4 levels may differentiate lung cancer patients from healthy controls, and they may be detected early even in stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Serum CKAP4 levels were also significantly higher in lung cancer patients than in healthy controls in the validation set (P 0.0001). The present results provide evidence that CKAP4 may be a novel early serodiagnostic marker for lung cancer.

We established the KU-Lu-8 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) using a lung cancer cell line as an antigen and a random immunization method. The KU-Lu-8 MoAb recognizes basigin (BSG), which is a transmembrane-type glycoprotein that is strongly expressed on the cell membranes of lung cancer cells. This study aimed to clarify the relationships between BSG expression and clinicopathological parameters and determine the prognostic significance of BSG expression in pulmonary adenocarcinoma (AC) patients. To evaluate the significance of BSG expression in lung cancer, we immunohistochemically analyzed 113 surgically resected pulmonary adenocarcinomas, and the associations between BSG expression and various clinicopathological parameters were evaluated. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the effects of BSG expression on survival. Clinicopathologically, BSG expression was significantly associated with tumor differentiation, vascular invasion, lymphatic invasion, and a poor prognosis. In particular, BSG expression was significantly correlated with poorer survival in patients with stage I AC. The high BSG expression group (compared with the low BSG expression group) exhibited adjusted hazard ratios for mortality of 4.694. BSG expression is indicative of a poor prognosis in AC patients, particularly in those with stage I disease.

Background Antibody production is one of the primary mechanisms for recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is speculated that massive clonal expansion of B cells, which can produce clinically meaningful neutralizing antibodies, occurs in patients who recover on the timing of acquiring adaptive immunity. Methods To evaluate fluctuations in clonal B cells and the size of the clones, we chronologically assessed the B-cell receptor (BCR) repertoire in three patients with COVID-19 who recovered around 10 days after symptom onset. Results We focused on the three dominant clonotypes (top 3) in each individual. The percentage frequencies of the top 3 clonotypes increased rapidly and accounted for 27.8 % on day 9 in patient 1, 10.4 % on day 12 in patient 2, and 10.8 % on day 11 in patient 3, respectively. The frequencies of these top 3 clonotypes rapidly decreased as the patients’ clinical symptoms improved. Furthermore, BCR network analysis revealed that accumulation of clusters composed of similar complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) sequences were rapidly formed, grew, and reached their maximum size around 10 days after symptom onset. Conclusions BCR repertoire analysis revealed that a massive surge of some unique BCRs occurs during the acquisition of adaptive immunity and recovery. The peaks were more prominent than expected. These results provide insight into the important role of BCRs in the recovery from COVID-19 and raise the possibility of developing neutralizing antibodies as COVID-19 immunotherapy., Coronavirus disease 2019; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; B-cell receptor; Repertoire assay.

This paper introduces a small-world (SW) network with a power-law distance distribution that differs from conventional models in that it uses completely random shortcuts. By incorporating spatial constraints, we analyze the divergence of the proposed model from conventional models in terms of fundamental network properties such as clustering coefficient, average path length, and degree distribution. We find that when the spatial constraint more strongly prohibits a long shortcut, the clustering coefficient is improved and the average path length increases. We also analyze the spatial prisoner’s dilemma (SPD) games played on our new SW network in order to understand its dynamical characteristics. Depending on the basis graph, i.e., whether it is a one-dimensional ring or a two-dimensional lattice, and the parameter controlling the prohibition of long-distance shortcuts, the emergent results can vastly differ.

Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays important roles in both ontogenesis and development. In the absence of a Wnt stimulus, β-catenin is degraded by a multiprotein "destruction complex" that includes Axin, APC, GSK3B, and FBXW11. Although the key molecules required for transducing Wnt signals have been identified, a quantitative understanding of this pathway has been lacking. Here, we calculated the absolute number of β-catenin destruction complexes by absolute protein quantification using LC-MS/MS. Similar amounts of destruction complex-constituting proteins and β-catenin interacted, and the number of destruction complexes was calculated to be about 1468 molecules/cell. We demonstrated that the calculated number of destruction complexes was valid for control of the β-catenin destruction rate under steady-state conditions. Interestingly, APC had the minimum expression level among the destruction complex components at about 2233 molecules/cell, and this number approximately corresponded to the calculated number of destruction complexes. Decreased APC expression by siRNA transfection decreased the number of destruction complexes, resulting in β-catenin accumulation and stimulation of the transcriptional activity of T-cell factor. Taken together, our results suggest that the amount of APC expression is the rate-limiting factor for the constitution of β-catenin destruction complexes.

Targeted proteomics approaches are of value for deep and accurate quantification of protein abundance. Extending such methods to quantify large numbers of proteins requires the construction of predefined targeted assays. We developed a targeted proteomics platform-in vitro proteome-assisted multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) for protein absolute quantification (iMPAQT)-by using >18,000 human recombinant proteins, thus enabling protein absolute quantification on a genome-wide scale. Our platform comprises experimentally confirmed MRM assays of mass tag (mTRAQ)-labeled peptides to allow for rapid and straightforward measurement of the absolute abundance of predefined sets of proteins by mass spectrometry. We applied iMPAQT to delineate the quantitative metabolic landscape of normal and transformed human fibroblasts. Oncogenic transformation gave rise to relatively small but global changes in metabolic pathways resulting in aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect) and increased rates of macromolecule synthesis. iMPAQT should facilitate quantitative biology studies based on protein abundance measurements.

BackgroundState afterschool networks across the US are engaged in system-building efforts to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-focused afterschool programming. This study examined national trends in STEM program quality, youth outcomes, and the connections between these two data sources.MethodsOne thousand five hundred ninety-nine youths (grades 4–12) enrolled in 158 STEM-focused afterschool programs across 11 state networks completed a retrospective self-assessment measuring STEM attitudes and social-emotional learning (SEL)/twenty-first-century skills. Two hundred fifty standardized observations of STEM activities were performed to measure STEM program quality.Results(1) Most youth (65–85%) reported increases in STEM engagement, identity, career interest, career knowledge, relationships, critical thinking, and perseverance, with the largest gains reported by those engaging with STEM activities for 4 weeks or more; (2) there were significant, strong correlations between STEM and SEL/twenty-first-century outcomes reported by youth; and (3) youth participating in higher-quality STEM programming reported more growth than peers participating in lower-quality programs.ConclusionThis effort demonstrates how investments in STEM program quality yield high returns for programs and youth and how collaborations between research and practice can track successes and challenges, determine investments in program management, and expand advocacy and policy efforts. Additionally, this study supports a growing body of literature that suggests a synergy between youth development and STEM learning approaches that can improve outcomes for youth.

The roots and stolons of some Glycyrrhiza species are used worldwide for traditional folk medicines and commercial pharmaceuticals. Phenolic constituents such as flavonoids and coumarins are medicinal and vary according to species. Therefore, species identification is important for quality analysis. In order to identify Glycyrrhiza species by chemical fingerprinting, methanol extracts of the root bark of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer and G. glabra Linn6 were analyzed using EI-MS. Differences in kinds and quantity of components are reflected in complex EI-MS data and determining characteristic peaks for each species is straightforward.. The chaiacteristic peaks were determined statistically by volcano plot, a multivariate analysis method. EI-MS data of G. uralensis and G. glabra showed differential patterns, and the notable peaks in each pattern were identified. Peaks at m/z 153 and 221 are signature peaks of G. uralensis, and at 11/z 173, 309, and 324 are those of G. glabra. In conclusion, we found species-specific patterns by EI-MS that distinguish G. uralensis and G. glabra. This method based on chemical constituent patterns can be applied to identify other Glycyrrhiza species and similar natural products.

A method that exploits an overdrive technique is demonstrated to realize fast rise times in devices using the polymer-stabilized blue phase (PSBP). The results indicated that the rise time of such devices can be improved dramatically by increasing the overdrive voltage because the double cylinder structure of PSBP in the device undergoes a strong torque from this voltage. However, a stable transmittance was not obtained when the overdrive voltage was applied for durations exceeding the time required to reach maximum transmittance. By optimizing the overdrive waveform, the rise time of the PSBP device was 80 μs, which was nine times faster than that with a pulse waveform. This result is expected to find use in liquid crystal display applications and phase shifter applications in which high responses are wanted.

In previous epidemiological studies that address adaptive vaccination decisions, individuals generally act within a single network, which models the population structure. However, in reality, people are typically members of multiplex networks, which have various community structures. For example, a disease transmission network, which directly transmits infectious diseases, does not necessarily correspond with an information propagation network, in which individuals directly or indirectly exchange information concerning health conditions and vaccination strategies. The latter network may also be used for strategic interaction (strategy adaptation) concerning vaccination. Therefore, in order to reflect this feature, we consider the vaccination dynamics of structured populations whose members simultaneously belong to two types of networks: disease transmission and information propagation. Applying intensive numerical calculations, we determine that if the disease transmission network is modeled using a regular graph, such as a lattice population or random regular graph containing individuals of equivalent degrees, individuals should base their vaccination decisions on a different type of network. However, if the disease transmission network is a degree-heterogeneous graph, such as the Barabasi–Albert scale-free network, which has a heterogeneous degree according to power low, then using the same network for information propagation more effectively prevents the spread of epidemics. Furthermore, our conclusions are unaffected by the relative cost of vaccination.

BACKGROUND/AIM Bladder cancer (BC) has a high recurrence rate and may progress to being a muscle-invasive lesion, that is potentially associated with a poor prognosis. We identified tumor-associated proteins that were recognized by autoantibodies in sera from patients with high-grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (HG-NMIBC) by proteomic analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS The serum levels of these autoantibodies against identified proteins were validated by dot blot analysis with sera from 95 patients with BC and 35 healthy controls. The expression of identified proteins was immunohistochemically analyzed in 115 BC tissues. RESULTS Autoantibody against protein phosphatase 1, catalytic subunit, alpha isoform (PPP1CA) protein was detected in pretreated sera from patients with HG-NMIBC who showed progression. The serum IgG level of anti-PPP1CA autoantibody was significantly correlated with pathological stage, grade, lymphovascular invasion, and prognosis. The immunoreactions for PPP1CA protein in BC was significantly correlated with pathological stage, grade, and lymphovascular invasion. CONCLUSION PPP1CA is a candidate sero-diagnostic and prognostic marker for patients with BC.

We established the KU-Lu-8 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) using a lung cancer cell line as an antigen and a random immunization method. The KU-Lu-8 MoAb recognizes basigin (BSG), which is a transmembrane-type glycoprotein that is strongly expressed on the cell membranes of lung cancer cells. This study aimed to clarify the relationships between BSG expression and clinicopathological parameters and determine the prognostic significance of BSG expression in pulmonary adenocarcinoma (AC) patients. To evaluate the significance of BSG expression in lung cancer, we immunohistochemically analyzed 113 surgically resected pulmonary adenocarcinomas, and the associations between BSG expression and various clinicopathological parameters were evaluated. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the effects of BSG expression on survival. Clinicopathologically, BSG expression was significantly associated with tumor differentiation, vascular invasion, lymphatic invasion, and a poor prognosis. In particular, BSG expression was significantly correlated with poorer survival in patients with stage I AC. The high BSG expression group (compared with the low BSG expression group) exhibited adjusted hazard ratios for mortality of 4.694. BSG expression is indicative of a poor prognosis in AC patients, particularly in those with stage I disease.

Motivation is one of the most important factors that influences how students will approach learning. This chapter introduces the importance of autonomy-supportive classrooms, and why it is important to promote students’ autonomy in learning. First, we describe how students can be motivated to learn from the viewpoint of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the factors that may support students’ motivation in learning. Second, we present five practical guidelines on how to promote student-centered teaching practices that support student’s autonomy: (a) communication of teacher’s expectations and acknowledgement of student’s feelings; (b) provision of more choices and removal of controlling events for learning; (c) student’s active participation; (d) positive and informational feedback, and (e) structured guidance. Finally, the factors negatively contribute to insufficiency of teacher’s autonomy are also examined.

Introduction: Randomized usual-case controlled studies on Japanese dementia patients with behavioral and psychological symptoms were conducted to examine the effects of Kampo medicine Yokukan-San (YKS) on the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). These studies showed that YKS is effective in treating BPSD. Yokukan-San-Ka-Chimpi-Hange is a Kampo medicine made by adding dried citrus peel and pinellia tuber to YKS. In Japan, we usually administer Yokukan-San-Ka-Chimpi-Hange as Kracie Yokukan-San-Ka-Chimpi-Hange extract granules (KB-83), produced by Kracie Pharma, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan). Methods: We investigated 3 trials carried out on the use of KB-83 for the treatment of severe dementia in elderly. Results: KB-83 showed no change in core symptoms after administration in cases of dementia, but significant improvements in BPSD were reported. KB-83 was particularly effective in treating aggressive symptoms such as restlessness or abusive language. Conclusion: In the treatment of dementia, we think that the administration of KB-83 is effective in mitigating the BPSD, and that further studies are need to investigate the effects of EK-83.

Achievement of the herd immunity is essential for preventing the periodic spreading of an infectious disease such as the flu. If vaccination is voluntary, as vaccination coverage approaches the critical level required for herd immunity, there is less incentive for individuals to be vaccinated; this results in an increase in the number of so-called “free-riders” who craftily avoid infection via the herd immunity and avoid paying any cost. We use a framework originating in evolutionary game theory to investigate this type of social dilemma with respect to epidemiology and the decision of whether to be vaccinated. For each individual in a population, the decision on vaccination is associated with how one assesses the risk of infection. In this study, we propose a new risk-assessment model in a vaccination game when an individual updates her strategy, she compares her own payoff to a net payoff obtained by averaging a collective payoff over individuals who adopt the same strategy as that of a randomly selected neighbor. In previous studies of vaccination games, when an individual updates her strategy, she typically compares her payoff to the payoff of a randomly selected neighbor, indicating that the risk for changing her strategy is largely based on the behavior of one other individual, i.e., this is an individual-based risk assessment. However, in our proposed model, risk assessment by any individual is based on the collective success of a strategy and not on the behavior of any one other individual. For strategy adaptation, each individual always takes a survey of the degree of success of a certain strategy that one of her neighbors has adopted, i.e., this is a strategy-based risk assessment. Using computer simulations, we determine how these two different risk-assessment methods affect the spread of an infectious disease over a social network. The proposed model is found to benefit the population, depending on the structure of the social network and cost of vaccination. Our results suggest that individuals (or governments) should understand the structure of their social networks at the regional level, and accordingly, they should adopt an appropriate risk-assessment methodology as per the demands of the situation.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that explain immigrant housing vulnerability, thereby contributing to the growth of a more substantial knowledge base on the intersection between immigration, housing and homelessness. Administrative data on housing support service recipients (n = 4168) in Alberta, Canada, were analysed to determine the varied demographic, socio-economic and health-related factors that contribute to living in a precarious housing situation (such as homelessness, couch surfing, staying with friends or family etc.). Logistic regression analysis shows that being an immigrant is a protective factor from living in a precarious housing situation. For the immigrant subsample (n = 525), logistic regression analysis demonstrates that living in a larger city, having a mental illness and being married were protective factors from living in a precarious housing situation. However, having an addiction and being precariously employed (such as only working part-time, having temporary employment or being unemployed) were risk factors for living in a precarious housing situation. Shared and distinctive vulnerabilities among the immigrant subsample and the full study sample are discussed, along with implications for specific policy and programmes that aim to address the housing needs of immigrants.

In recent years, emotion−related characteristics are hot research topics in the domains of psychology and brain science. Especially in brain science, it is underscored by some innovative hypotheses that unconscious functions of emotions that mostly consist of physiological body reactions play crucial roles in determining human judgements and behaviors. Nevertheless, the methods to measure judgements and behaviors along with various personality characteristics are in most cases self−report measures in which questions directly asking about target characteristics are answered through conscious thoughts regarding the characteristics. However, in recent years, an increasing number of studies have started to measure implicit characteristcts that are mostly preconscious. Also in emotion−related characteristics, the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT) to assess implicit affect in adults was developed by Quirin et al.(2009). The current study aimed to develop the IPANAT for children (IPANAT−C) based on the original adult version. After developing the first version of the test, it was administered to 106 elementary school children from the 4th to 6th grades. The first version has diffenent adjectives to measure affect from IPANAT and utilizes line drawings instead of nonsense artificial words in the adult verson. Furthermore, the children were given writing tasks to write sentences about themselves and their best friend for 15 minutes. The contents of the written sentences were analyzed by counting the words representing positive and negative emotions and affect, giving evidence on the construct validy for the IPANAT−C. Results showed that the test consists of two subscales, positive and negative affect, but that the subscale for negative affect only has a low alpha coefficient whereas the one for positive affect has a high alpha coefficient suggesting high internal consisitency. In addition, the subscale of positive affect had a significantly positive association with the positive words in the written sentences in girls. Limitations are disscussed alongside future research to revise the test and examine more precisely the reliablity and validity.

In the present study, we analyzed field measurement data obtained for a Japanese expressway and used it as a data set for the validation of microscopic simulation models. Consequently, in accordance with previous studies, we confirmed the common features depicted by the fundamental diagram (flux vs density relation) and lane-usage ratio vs density diagram. We found two things regarding lane-changing behavior: (1) a lane change occurs asymmetrically, where a lane change from a slow to a fast lane differs from that from a fast to a slow lane; and (2) the so-called incentive criterion in the case of small gaps between the preceding vehicles in both slow and fast lanes refers to the velocities and /or the relative velocities with respect to the preceding vehicles, whereas that for relatively large gaps refers to the distances to the preceding vehicles is cast into the above incentive criterion in addition to the two factors mentioned above.

The existence of a zealot who stays a cooperator irrespective of the result of an interaction has been reported to add "social viscosity" to a population and thereby helps increase the cooperation level in prisoner's dilemma games, which premises the so-called well-mixed situation of a population. We found that this is not always true when a spatial structure, i.e., connecting agent, is introduced. Deploying zealots is counterproductive, especially when the underlying topology is homogenous, similar to that of a lattice. Our simulation reveals how the existence of never-converting cooperators destroys rather than boosts cooperation. We explain detailed mechanisms behind this interesting finding by referring to our previously presented concepts with respect to evolutionary dynamic processes for spatial games under the names enduring and expanding periods.

Social workers in northern Canada were surveyed about work and professional satisfaction. Career commitment, turnover, and organizational citizenship predicted organizational satisfaction. Total satisfaction was associated with turnover. Research and theory in social work on remote communities should extend beyond characteristics of work, profession, and environment to include personal life factors.

The authors have studied the current density and voltage at which electrical pitting occurs in a small ball bearing. Some current-applying bearing tests in previous studies showed an interesting tendency for the vibration of bearings to increase when they were lubricated with a thicker oil film. In this study, the oil film parameter is intentionally changed, and its effects on the generation of pitting and vibration acceleration are experimentally investigated. Ball bearing endurance tests involving 500 h of operation were performed by applying a direct electric current with various rotational speeds, and with various base oil viscosities of grease and surface roughness of the raceway. The test results clarified that electrical pitting appeared more clearly and the vibration due to damage became severer with increasing oil film parameter. Although a larger oil film parameter is generally advantageous for increasing bearing life, it is undesirable from the standpoint of preventing electrical pitting.