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Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is an invasive procedure, globally most often used for the monitoring of heart transplant (HTx) rejection. In addition, EMB can have an important complementary role to the clinical assessment in establishing the diagnosis of diverse cardiac disorders, including myocarditis, cardiomyopathies, drug-related cardiotoxicity, amyloidosis, other infiltrative and storage disorders, and cardiac tumours. Improvements in EMB equipment and the development of new techniques for the analysis of EMB samples have significantly improved diagnostic precision of EMB. The present document is the result of the Trilateral Cooperation Project between the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology, the Heart Failure Society of America, and the Japanese Heart Failure Society. It represents an expert consensus aiming to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date perspective on EMB, with a focus on the following main issues: (i) an overview of the practical approach to EMB, (ii) an update on indications for EMB, (iii) a revised plan for HTx rejection surveillance, (iv) the impact of multimodality imaging on EMB, and (v) the current clinical practice in the worldwide use of EMB. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. and Journal of Cardiac Failure. [Published by Elsevier Inc.] All rights reserved.

Vascular changes at various stages of growth of 7,12-dimethylbenz(alpha)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary adenocarcinomas in 22 female Sprague-Dawley rats were investigated using histology, immunohistochemistry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of corrosion casts. In the early stage of tumour growth, capillaries within the neoplasms were thin, with 8-10 microm diameter, and characterized by rows of vascular sprouts representing extensive neovascularization and formation of a high-density capillary plexus. In the intermediate stage of tumour growth, the growing tumour was multi-nodular and tumour cells were arranged in a tubulopapillary pattern. Capillaries formed spheroid vascular capsules and were characterized by dilation, to a diameter of 10-80 mum, and blind ends. In the late stage of tumour growth, a remarkable reduction in the number of vascular endothelial growth factor-positive cells and Ki-67-stained nuclei was demonstrated. The tunica media of nutritive arteries displayed a tendency to atrophy. Many arteriovenous anastomoses between the major arteries and the veins were found in regions just before their entry into the tumour. The central regions of the tumour were degenerative and necrotic, and vasculature was confined to surface regions of the tumour, forming a basket-like configuration around the avascular central regions. Resin leakages representing haemorrhage or oedema and distortions such as flattening, break-off and strangulations of capillaries were frequently observed, all of which are known as late tumour signs. We concluded that these microvascular alterations might change the homogeneity of tumour perfusion and contribute to necrosis in central portions of the tumour.

The reactions of dimethyl ether (CH3OCH3, DME) with O(3P) and H atoms have been studied at high temperatures by using a shock tube apparatus coupled with atomic resonance absorption spectroscopy (ARAS). The rate coefficients for the reactions CH3OCH3 + O(3P) CH3OCH2 + OH (1) and CH3OCH3 + H CH3OCH2 + H2 (2) were experimentally determined from the decay of O(3P) and H atoms as: These results show that DME can react with O(3P) atoms more easily than with H atoms. By combining these results with the previous lower temperature data, we obtained the following modified Arrhenius expressions applied over the wide temperature range between 300 and 1500 K: Both reactions of DME are faster than those of ethane, because the dissociation energy of the CH bond in DME is smaller. Furthermore, the rate coefficients for reactions (1) and (2) were calculated with the transition-state theory (TST). Structural parameters and vibrational frequencies of the reactants and the transition states required for the TST calculation were obtained from the MP2(full)/6-31G(d) ab initio molecular orbital (MO) calculation. The energy barrier, E‡0, was adjusted until the TST rate coefficient most closely matched the observed one. The fitting results of E(1) = 23 kJ mol−1 and E(2) = 34 kJ mol−1 were in agreement with the G2 energy barriers, within the expected uncertainty, demonstrating that the experimentally determined rate coefficients were theoretically valid. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 39: 97–108, 2007

Oxygen-15 can be roduced using a relatively small cyclotron emitting a deuteron beam with the approximate energy of 3 MeV. However, the neutron emission from the cyclotron itself requires a large scale of shield, causing the total size of the system difficult to be placed at clinical department. We have evaluated a novel idea to reduce the neutron roduction from the cyclotron to a negligible level, and examined if it is applicable to a clinical environment. Systematic physics experiments were carried out using a Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator to validate the feasibility of our approach, in which the neutron production was assessed for realistic energy ranges of deuteron. It was shown that neutron production was reduced dramatically by a factor of 10 to the fourth using our approach, whilst enough amount of oxygen-15 was roduced. This study suggested that a small oxygen-15 generator is possible which could be laced next to existing clinical PET cameras.

Carbon concentration of a polymer film on a silicon wafer has been determined using a 12C(p,p′) reaction. The coincidence detection of a scattered proton and a γ-ray from the first excited state (Ex=4.4 MeV) of 12C yields the selective determination of the abundance of the carbon. A depth profile of the carbon was obtained by analyzing an energy spectrum of the scattered protons. By using a proton beam with an energy of 8 MeV, the carbon located in the depth region of a few tens μm from the surface can be analyzed.

Two microbeam lines for an ion microprobe and a cell irradiation have been installed in a 5 MV tandem accelerator at the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center (WERC), Japan. In the ion microprobe beam line, a magnetic quadrupole doublet is equipped for focus of the ion beam on the target point in a scattering chamber. It is utilized for the ion microprobe analysis such as particle induced X-ray emission and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. The beam spot size was obtained to be 0.8 μm ( x ) × 0.6 μm ( y ) (FWHM) for a beam current of 1 pA, and to be 2.0 μm ( x ) × 2.5 μm ( y ) (FWHM) for a beam current of 140 pA. In the cell irradiation beam line, a beam is extracted in air through a glass capillary with a 10 μm inner diameter in the vertical direction. A total dose to the cell is measured with a silicon surface barrier detector mounted under the sample stage.

Decay via proton emission of isobaric analog states (IAS’s) in 91 Nb was studied using the 90 Zr(α, t) reaction at E�=180 MeV. This study provides information about the damping mechanism of these states. Decay to the ground state and low-lying phonon states in 90 Zr was observed. The experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions wherein the IAS ‘single-particle’ proton escape widths are calculated in a continuum RPA approach. The branching ratios for decay to the phonon states are explained using a simple model.

A candidate for a soft dipole resonance, a dipole oscillation mode between a core cluster and a neutron skin, was observed at ${E}_{x}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1\mathrm{MeV}$ and with a width of $4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1\mathrm{MeV}$ in ${}^{6}\mathrm{He}$ via the ${}^{6}\mathrm{Li}({}^{7}\mathrm{Li},{}^{7}\mathrm{Be})$ reaction at an incident energy of $65A\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$ and forward scattering angles including $0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$. Its cross section is deduced to be $\ensuremath{\sigma}(0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{})\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2\mathrm{mb}/\mathrm{sr}$. This value is comparable to that of the giant dipole resonance simultaneously measured.

Polarization transfer (PT) observables in the 12 C (p,p′) reaction at 0° for 392 MeV protons have been measured. The excitation strengths are decomposed into the spin-flip part and the non-spin-flip part by using the obtained PT observables. The PT observables for excitation of the 1+, T=0 and 1+, T=1 states are compared with distorted wave impulse approximation calculations. The strength ratios of the isoscalar spin-dependent term to the isovector tensor term and the isovector tensor term to the isovector spin-dependent term are reasonably consistent with the Franey and Love interaction.

Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions and $M1$ transitions from or to the ground states are analogous in the pair of $T=1/2$ mirror nuclei, if the excited states hold the mirror-symmetry properties. In order to study the mirror-symmetry structure of the $A=27$ mirror nuclei ${}^{27}\mathrm{Al}$ and ${}^{27}\mathrm{Si},$ experimental data on GT transition strengths obtained from ${}^{27}{\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{Si}}}^{27}\mathrm{Al}$ $\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay and from a good-resolution ${}^{27}\mathrm{Al}{(}^{3}\mathrm{He}{,t)}^{27}\mathrm{Si}$ reaction at 150 MeV/nucleon and 0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} have been compared with $M1$ transition strengths obtained from $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ decay in ${}^{27}\mathrm{Al}$ and ${}^{27}\mathrm{Al}(\ensuremath{\gamma},{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{\ensuremath{'}})$ reaction. Good overall correspondence of transitions is observed for states up to nearly 9 MeV in excitation energy, where the particle-decay channel becomes important. The difference of excitation energies of analog states in the mirror nuclei are about 250 keV at this excitation energy. From a comparison of $B(M1)$ and $B(\mathrm{GT})$ strengths of the analogous transitions, the contribution of the isoscalar and the orbital terms in the $M1$ operator is found to become prominent in weak $M1$ transitions.

The charge-exchange 71Ga(3He,tγ)71Ge reaction was used to study the spin-isospin (Gamow Teller: GT) excitations relevant to the axial-vector charged-weak response for solar neutrinos. High-lying GT states in 71Ge with excitation energies up to one MeV above the neutron threshold were found to have finite γ-decay branches to low-lying states. The GT strengths for relevant states and absorption rates of solar neutrinos through the 71Ga(ν, e)71Ge and 71Ga(ν,eγ)71Ge reactions were derived.

Spin-isospin excitations in ${}^{12}$B and ${}^{12}$N have been studied using the ${}^{12}$C$(d$,${}^{2}$He)${}^{12}$B and ${}^{12}$C${(}^{3}$He,$t)$${}^{12}$N charge-exchange reactions at $\ensuremath{\theta}$ = 0$\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ and at ${E}_{d}$=200 MeV and $E$${(}^{3}$He)=450 MeV, respectively. Neutron decay from ${}^{12}$B to ${}^{11}$B and proton decay from ${}^{12}$N to ${}^{11}$C have been measured with detector arrays consisting of liquid-scintillation counters and silicon detectors, respectively. Microscopic structures of the spin-dipole resonances in ${}^{12}$B and ${}^{12}$N are discussed on the basis of the experimental observations of particle decays and their angular correlations.

A γ-ray detector system “NYMPHS” was built for 7Be-γ coincidence measurements to separate (7Li, 7Beg.s.) and (7Li, 7Be0.43MeV) channels in the (7Li, 7Be) reaction at intermediate energies. NYMPHS is composed of 22 GSO scintillators, each with a volume of about 30 cm3. A typical energy resolution was about 9% at Eγ = 0.66 MeV. The absolute detection efficiency of NYMPHS was 0.200 ± 0.005 for the 0.43 MeV 7Be γ-ray. NYMPHS combined with a magnetic spectrograph showed good performance for 7Be-γ coincidence measurements in the (7Li, 7Be) reactions on 12C and 90Zr targets at EL = 65A MeV.

Gamow-Teller (GT) states excited by a charge-exchange reaction on N = Z nuclei with ground-state isospin T = 0 have isospin T = 1, while M 1 states excited by inelastic scattering of electrons or protons can have either T = 0 or T = 1. The latter are the isobaric analog states of the GT states. By comparing the GT states observed in the good-resolution ( 3 He, t) reaction at 150 MeV/ u with the M 1 states observed in inelastic proton reactions, the isospin of each 1 + state in 28 Si was determined. Furthermore, by comparing results from electron inelastic scattering induced by electro-magnetic M 1 operator, different response of nucleus depending on different interaction is investigated. Based on these comparisons among different probes, we discuss (1) the contribution of the “ Δ - h excitation” mechanism in the quenching of magnetic excitations; (2) the effects of meson exchange currents; and (3) the orbital contribution in the M 1 operator.

Zero-degree cross sections have been measured for (t, 3 He) reactions on the light target nuclei 9 Be, 10 B, 11 B, 12 C, and 13 C at a bombarding energy of 127 MeV/A. The triton beam was produced by ( 4 He,t+p) breakup on a Be production target using a 4 He beam of 155 MeV/A. Dispersion matching was applied to obtain good energy resolution ( Δ E/E=0.002, Δ E=780 keV). The zero-degree (t, 3 He) cross sections are used to discuss Gamow-Teller strengths in 10 Be and 11 Be.

The ( 7 Li, 7 Be) reaction was found to be used to separate ΔS = 0 and ΔS = 1 transitions through the coincidence measurement of the γ-ray from deexcitation of the 0.43 MeV state of 7 Be at an incident energy of 65 A MeV on 6 Li, 7 Li, 12 C and 90 Zr nuclei. The reaction was shown to proceed predominantly via one-step reaction process. Predominance of one-step process means utility for derivation of spin-flip and non spin-flip strengths for isovector excitations in medium heavy nuclei at intermediate incident energies. The relative nuclear spin-strength P sf was deduced for isovector excitations.

Initial experiments were carried out to study spin-isospin transitions in nuclei using (t,3He) measurements. A triton beam was produced from the breakup reaction (4He,t-p) on a 9.25 g/cm2 Be production target using a 4He beam of 620 MeV. With a beam of 70 enA a yield of 381 MeV tritons with 4.5 × 106 particles/s was achieved. The first half of the A1200 beam transport system at NSCL was used to analyze the triton beam. The energy spread at the target position was estimated to be about 23 MeV. The second half of the A1200 was used to analyze the energy of 3He particles from the (t,3He) reaction. The dispersion matching method was applied to obtain good energy resolution despite the significant energy spread of the incident tritons. The achromatic properties of the A1200 system made it possible to obtain high-resolution (t,3He) spectra at θ = 0° with a resolution of ΔEE = 0.002 (ΔE = 780 keV).

Gamow-Teller (GT) states with ${J}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}$ = 1${}^{+}$ excited by a $(p,n)$-type charge-exchange reaction on $N=Z$ nuclei with ground-state isospin $T=0$ have isospin $T=1$, while $M1$ states excited by inelastic scattering of electrons or protons can have either $T=0$ or $T=1$. The latter are the isobaric analog states of the GT states. By comparing the GT states observed in the good-resolution ${(}^{3}\mathrm{He},t)$ reaction at 150 MeV/nucleon with the $M1$ states observed in inelastic electron and proton reactions, the isospin structure of the ${1}^{+}$ states in ${}^{28}\mathrm{Si}$ has been determined. From an analysis of the strengths of corresponding ${1}^{+}$ states observed in the ${(}^{3}\mathrm{He},t)$ and ${(e,e}^{\ensuremath{'}})$ reactions, the spin and orbital contributions to the $M1$ excitations have been deduced.

Low-lying states in {sup 56}Fe, up to an excitation energy of about 4 MeV, have been investigated by means of inelastic proton and deuteron scattering experiments at {ital E}{sub {ital p}}=65 and 400 MeV and at {ital E}{sub {ital d}}=56 MeV, respectively. Measured cross sections and analyzing powers have been compared with coupled-channels calculations using collective form factors; calculations in both the Schr{umlt o}dinger and Dirac formalisms have been carried out for the proton data. For each probe, the matrix elements have been deduced for transitions from the ground state and from the 2{sub 1}{sup +} state to six quadrupole (2{sup +}) states to one octupole (3{sub 1}{sup {minus}}) and two hexadecapole (4{sub 1}{sup +} and 4{sub 2}{sup +}) states. The obtained matrix elements and the previous values from {gamma} decay or electron inelastic scattering have been used to evaluate the isospin character of the transitions. To discuss the quadrupole mixed-symmetry states in {sup 56}Fe, the deduced neutron ({ital M}{sub {ital n}}) and proton ({ital M}{sub {ital p}}) components of the matrix elements, or equivalently the isoscalar ({ital M}{sub {ital s}}) and isovector ({ital M}{sub {ital v}}) parts, have been compared with theoretical calculations based on the neutron-proton interacting bosonmore » model and on the shell model evaluated in a full {ital f}-{ital p} configuration space. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}« less

Spin-isospin excitations in nuclei have been investigated via the (He-3,t) reaction at 450 MeV. The volume integrals of the effective interactions J(sigma tau) and J(tau) for the (He-3,t) reaction at 450 MeV have been empirically determined to be 172+/-17 MeV-fm(3) and 53+/-5 MeV-fm(3), respectively. These values are consistent with those obtained for the (p,n) reaction at the same bombarding energy per nucleon. The Gamow-Teller strength can be deduced with the same reliability as the (p,n) reaction at the bombarding energy above 100 MeV. The neutrino absorption cross sections by Ga-71 is obtained on basis of the present (He-3,t) measurement. The new SNU value obtained for Ga-71 is 130.3+/-1.6(stat.)+/-16.8(syst.). The spin-isospin responses for the Sn isotopes, Cd-116 and Mo-100 are presented and are discussed in relation with double beta-decay. A measurement of decay protons from the spin-isospin resonances in N-13 is presented. A new possibility of studying the spin-isospin responses on the beta(+) side via the (t,He-3) reaction using a dispersion matching technique is discussed.

Spin-isospin excitations in {sup 208}Bi have been investigated using the {sup 208}Pb ({sup 3}He,{ital t}){sup 208}Bi reaction at near {theta}{approx}0{degree} at {ital E}({sup 3}He)=450 MeV. The microscopic structure of the Gamow-Teller resonance (GTR), the isobaric analog state (IAS), and the spin-flip dipole ({Delta}{ital L}=1) resonance (SDR) in {sup 208}Bi has been studied by observing their direct proton decays to the low-lying neutron-hole states in {sup 207}Pb. Decay protons were measured at backward angles in coincidence with tritons detected at and near 0{degree}. The total branching ratio for proton decay from the GTR is determined to be only 4.9{plus_minus}1.3%. The total branching ratio for proton decay from the SDR amounts to 14.1{plus_minus}4.2%. The deduced total widths as well as the total and partial proton escape widths of the GRR and IAS are found to be in reasonable agreement with recent theoretical estimates obtained in the framework of the continuum Tamm-Dancoff approximation.

We have measured the zero-degree cross sections for proton inelastic scattering to the 1{sup +}, {ital T}=0 (12.7 MeV) and 1{sup +}, {ital T}=1 (15.1 MeV) states in {sup 12}C at 65, 100, 200, 300, and 400 MeV. The ratios of cross sections [{ital d}{sigma}/{ital d}{Omega}(1{sup +},{ital T}=0)]/[{ital d}{sigma}/{ital d}{Omega}(1{sup +},{ital T}=1)] at 0 {degree} are compared with the calculations in the distorted wave approximation using various effective nucleon-nucleon interactions. The experimental ratios are found to be smaller than the theoretical predictions. It was found that the experimental results were better described by modifying the isovector tensor terms of the effective interactions.

We have performed the 0 degree measurements of proton inelastic scattering for the 1+, T=0 (12.7 MeV) and 1+, T=1 (15.1 MeV) states in 12C at Ep=100, 200, 300, 400 MeV. The ratio of the excitation cross sections for these two states significantly deviates from the estimation of the distorted wave analysis, suggesting that the effective interactions VτT or Vσ might be modified to reproduce the experimental data.

The microscopic structure of both the Gamow-Teller resonance (GTR) at Eχ = 15.6 MeV and the spin-flip ΔL=1 resonances at higher excitation energies in 208Bi has been investigated by observing their direct proton decay to the 3p12, 2f52, 3p32, 1i32 and 2f72 neutron-hole states in 207Pb, following their excitation via the 208Pb (3He,t) reaction at E(3He) = 450 MeV. Decay protons were measured at backward angles in coincidence with tritons detected at very forward angles including θ = 0°. The total widths of the resonances as well as total and partial proton escape widths were determined and compared to theoretical estimates for the GTR. Using the same experimental set-up and conditions proton decay of the spin-flip ΔL=1 resonances in 12C was also measured.

Spin-isospin excitations in nuclei have been studied by means of the ( 3 He,t) reactions at 450 MeV. The Gamow-Teller (GT) resonances are found to be strongly excited. A fine structure of the giant Gamow Teller resonances in medium-heavy nuclei is observed with an energy resolution of 130 keV. The volume integrals of the effective interactions J στ and J τ have been determined experimentally. The importance of high resolution observation of the ( 3 He,t) reactions at intermediate energies, both, to study the double β decay processes and to measure the detection sensitivities for solar neutrino experiments is discussed.

In order to investigate the mechanism of acid precipitation formation, its relationship with meteorological conditions and the source of pollutants contained in it, it was found to be much more important to know the distribution of the concentrations of various ions such as Cl−, NO3−, SO42- , Na+, K+, NH4+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ than its pH and electrical conductivity that used to be chiefly monitored. A reliable monitoring system for acid precipitation was developed by combining an improved pH electrical conductivity monitor and an ion chromatograph. Chemical data obtained by continuous precipitation monitoring were correlated with meteorological data.

The (Pb(He,t)Bi)-Pb-208-He-3-Bi-208 reaction has been studied with the RCNP ring cyclotron at E(He-3) = 450 MeV using the magnetic spectrometer Grand Raiden at theta = 0-degrees. The Gamow-Teller resonance is strongly excited at this bombarding energy. Its microscopic structure has been investigated by measuring the direct proton decay to the neutron-hole states in Pb-207. The branching ratio for proton emission of a few % is much smaller than that for the decay of the isobaric analog state. The total width of the Gamow-Teller resonance as well as its total and partial escape widths have been determined. Several recent theoretical estimates for the escape width differ from the measured values by factors of approximately 2.5.

Spin-isospin excitations in nuclei have been studied by means of the (3He,t) reactions at 450 MeV on the targets sBe, natC, *%ii, 58Ni, 62Ni, seZr, l18Sn, **OSn, 124Sn, and 154Sm. The new spectrometer “Grand Raiden” was employed for the (3He,t) study for the first time. Observed (3He,t) spectra at 0’ show remarkable similarity with those from the (p,n) results at intermediate energies, suggesting a simple direct reaction mechanism for the (3He,t) reaction at 450 MeV. The GamowTeller (GT) resonances and the spin-flip AL=1 resonances are excited very strongly. A fine structure of the GT resonances in medium-heavy nuclei is observed with an energy resolution of 210 keV. It is demonstrated that the (3He,t) reaction at 450 MeV is a powerful tool to study the spin-isospin excitations in nuclei.

Summary form only given: The anode attachment of the arc plays an important role for the anode erosion characteristics and the anode lifetime. These phenomena are required to prevent the anode erosion. The interaction of the anode attachment with lateral gas forming a cold boundary layer has been researched, previously. The anode attachment stability is applied to the non-transferred torches such as plasma spray, and the quality of the coating depends on these phenomena. However, the reason of anode phenomena has not been elucidate detail. One of the reason of these phenomena is considered to be the ripple of power supply. In this paper, the motion of the anode attachment was taken by using the high speed video camera in order to elucidate the effect of pulse current for fluctuating anode attachment. The plasma gas was argon, and the lateral gases were argon and nitrogen. The arc current is that the base and peak current is to be 20 and 100 A, respectively. The duty ratio is to be 0-100%. The plasma gas flow rate was to be 3 slm of argon, and the lateral gas flow rate was to be 0 to 50 slm, with argon or nitrogen the gases. The exposure time of high speed video camera is 10,000 fps. The fluctuating attachment was occurred by the base and peak current and duty ratio.

International audience; A polarized 3He ion source has been developed at RCNP for intermediate and high energy spin physics. Though we started with an OPPIS (Optical Pumping Polarized Ion Source), it could not provide highly polarized 3He beam because of fundamental difficulties. Subsequently to this unhappy result, we examined novel types of the polarized 3He ion source, i.e., EPPIS (Electron Pumping Polarized Ion Source), and ECRPIS (ECR Polarized Ion Source) experimentally or theoretically, respectively. However, attainable 3He polarization degrees and beam intensities were still insufficient for practical use. A few years later, we proposed a new idea for the polarized 3He ion source, SEPIS (Spin Exchange Polarized Ion Source) which is based on enhanced spin-exchange cross sections at low incident energies for 3He++Rb, and its feasibility was experimentally examined.Recently, we started a project on polarized 3He gas generated by the brute force method with low temperature (~4 mK) and strong magnetic field (~17 T), and rapid melting of highly polarized solid 3He followed by gasification. When this project will be successful, highly polarized 3He gas will hopefully be used for a new type of the polarized 3He ion source.

The response, following rapid compression, of the spontaneous ignition of normal butane to the effect of small additions of isopropyl nitrate and di-t-butyl peroxide was studied. Comparisons were also made with the effects of ethanal and of diethyl ether, which are amongst the most readily oxidisable organic compounds. Compositions of up to 5% of the additive in the fuel were studied, which was itself in stoichiometric proportions in “air”. Supplementary studies were made of the combustion of each of these compounds in the absence of butane, and of other selected compositions in which the “additive” components were more prominent. The results relate to the improvement of cetane numbers of Diesel fuels in response to the inclusion of organic peroxides or nitrates as additives. Ignition delays in gases compressed beyond 750 K became extremely short when the peroxide or nitrate were present at less than 5% of the butane, but the oxygenated organic compounds had hardly any effect on the ignition delay when present in such small amounts, despite their far greater reactivity than normal butane. The distinction in behaviour arose because the thermally unstable compounds were able to undergo oxidative decomposition readily and release heat during the final stages of compression. This led to thermal criticality. By contrast, ethanal and diethyl ether were able only to oxidise via a degenerate chain branching reaction, which did not develop sufficiently rapidly for ignition to take place on a sub-millisecond timescale, and was not enhanced very merkedly by the interaction with normal butane. It appears that the choice of a Diesel fuel additive should be guided by the ability of the additive to maximise the initial reaction rate and overall exothermicity through a kinetic interaction between it and the primary fuel. The type of interation that takes place may be controlled by the numbers of free radicals and the nature of primary products from the additive decomposition or oxidation.

Decay by proton emission from high-lying states in Nb-91, populated in the Zr-90(alpha,t) reaction at E-alpha=180 MeV, has been investigated. Decay to the ground state and semidirect decay to the low-lying (2(+),5(-), and 3(-)) phonon states in Zr-90 were observed. It was found that these phonon states play an important role in the damping process of the single-particle states. An optical-model coupled-channel approach was used successfully to describe the direct and semidirect parts of the decay.

In this paper, the understanding presumption system from the gesture recognition using hidden Markov model (HMM) is proposed. The features of this system are: 1) not limiting the gesture recognized, and 2) automatically extracting the feature points by using HMM without a user's hand. In particular, the time-line pictures of subject's face are first input into the system. Then, the motion of their face region, pupils, and eyebrows are extracted as a feature vector from each still picture. Next, to the feature vector sequence is changed into the symbol sequence, gesture has been recognized by estimating likelihood of HMM which learned gesture beforehand, using Viterbi algorithm. At the end, their degree-of-comprehension is presumed from the appearance probability of the recognized gesture according to their understanding. At the time, we take a video of their solving a problem during the evaluation experiment. And their degree-of-comprehension are presumed for their picture as an input of a system. Consequently, it is shown that understanding presumption by the proposed method is possible

Spin-isospin excitations in N-13 have been studied by means of the (He-3,t) and (He-3,tp) reactions at a bombarding energy of E(He-3)=450 MeV. The zero-degree (He-3,t) spectrum is found to be similar to those from the (p,n) reactions at intermediate energies, suggesting a simple direct reaction mechanism at E(He-3)=450 MeV. The Gamow-Teller (GT) states with J(pi)=1/2(-) and 3/2(-) have been strongly excited at theta(lab)=0degrees. The angular distribution of cross sections for the C-13(He-3,t)N-13 reaction and the elastic He-3 scattering off C-13 were obtained at theta(lab)=0degrees-17degrees and at theta(lab)=2degrees-22degrees, respectively. The obtained experimental results were compared with calculations performed in distorted-wave Born approximation. Microscopic structures of the states in N-13 have further been studied by observing decay protons in coincidence with high-energy tritons measured at theta(lab)=0degrees. The branching ratios for proton decay from the GT states in N-13 to the final low-lying T=0 states in C-12 were obtained. The wave functions of the excited states in N-13 are discussed on the basis of obtained experimental data and relevant theoretical calculations.

At the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center (WERC), we had constructed an accelerator system with a 5 MV tandem accelerator and a 200 MeV proton synchrotron. The tandem machine has 5 beam lines for the MeV order beam experiments. Also the tandem beam is injected to the synchrotron. The beam accelerated by the synchrotron is used at three experimental beam lines. After the completion of the construction in 2000, we have been performing experiments using the system for the ion beam analyses (RBS, ERDA, PIXE) and irradiations for the material and biological sciences. In 2002, the study of the cancer therapy with a proton beam from the synchrotron was started. In this paper, the layout of the accelerator facility, recent development for the accelerators and experiments will be reported.

In this paper, an analytical model of a distributed constant filter (DCF) is proposed and the mechanism of a distributed constant filter that realizes superior characteristics is clarified according to analysis with the proposed model. Finally, the effectiveness of this model to analyze and design DCF is confirmed in comparison of calculated results with experimental results.

This paper clarifies the high-frequency characteristics of parallel wires used for power transmission by means of experiments, tries to calculate their high-frequency impedance, shows techniques to theoretically calculate the frequency-impedance characteristics of parallel wires deeply related to the noise generation mechanism, by taking the frequency characteristics of the leakage conductance into account, and shows a method to estimate the noise waveforms generated on power transmission lines.

We tried to improve the materials and methods of high-dose rate Iridium-192 brachytherapy for localized prostate cancer and evaluated the stress during the treatment in 20 patients with whom the therapy was performed.Rigid applicators made of stainless steel of 1.6 mm in diameter were indwelt with a template as usual for 30 hours in 14 patients (group A). Flexible applicators made of polyoxymethylene rosin (POM) of 2.0 mm in diameter were indwelt without a template for 30 hours after the applicator insertion in 6 patients (group B). We made inquiries about lumbago, inconvenience and necessity of assistant help and sleep in the course of therapy, and urinary incontinence and erectile function after the course of therapy as the QOL.The stress during the course of therapy in the patients of group B was obviously less than that of group A. There were no significant differences in urinary incontinence and erectile function after the course of therapy between group A and B.In this study, our trial successfully reduced the stress during the course of therapy in the patients with localized prostate cancer in the course of high-dose rate Iridium-192 brachytherapy.

Damping of high-lying single-particle states was investigated by the study of decay by proton emission from high-lying states in Nb-91, populated by the Zr-90(alpha, t) reaction at E-alpha = 180 MeV. In addition to decay to the ground state of Zr-90, semi-direct decay was observed to the low-lying (2(+)/5(-) and 3(-)) phonon states, confirming the conclusion from other experiments that phonon states play an important role in the damping process of the single-particle states. Furthermore, the population and decay of isobaric analogue states of Zr-91, which are located at an excitation energy of about 10 - 12 MeV in Nb-91, has been studied in the same reaction.

At Wakasa-wan Energy Research Center, Fukui, Japan, the accelerator system is now under construction. The system consists of a 200 keV ion implanter, a 5 MV Schenckel type tandem accelerator and a 200 MeV proton synchrotron. The ion implanter is for the improvement of the surface of the material. By using the tandem accelerator, we can perform the element analysis, the improvement of the bio-species and ion-implantation into various materials. The tandem accelerator works as an injector for the synchrotron and the synchrotron is for the cancer therapy and also bio and material science.