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The method of ground improvement using lime or cement is popular because of the speed, adaptability, and profitability of this method. However, pollution due to alkaline water from lime or hexavalent chromium from cement may occur as a result. To avoid this issue, molasses has been used for the improvement of clay in several studies. However, a satisfactory value indicating ground improvement has not been achieved yet. In this study, surfactant has been added to molasses based soil solidification material previously studied by the authors. The Brazilian test was used to obtain tensile strength value for evaluation of the mechanical properties of the specimens. The tensile strength at seven days of this material obtained through this procedure is compared with that of specimens using distilled water, 10% molasses solution or the specimens used in the authors’ former study. Four types of curing condition combined with air drying and moist curing were adopted. The highest average value of the tensile strength appeared during 7-day air curing and was 1.3 times that in the authors’ former study.

In general, governments used to increase the number of public works for their economic recovery. In United State, huge number of bridges, roads and tunnels were constructed in 1920’s. The lifetime of infrastructures is regarded as fifty years in general. In addition, the budget for maintenance of infrastructure had been decreased from the latter half of 1960s to 1970s. Therefore, most of these infrastructures were decayed in 1980’s and this period is called as ‘America in Ruins’. In Japan, enough number of power generators were required to launch heavy industries after World War II. To export these products, ports and highways were constructed. Furthermore, the bullet train ‘Shinkansen’ and urban expressways in Tokyo were constructed for Olympic game held in 1964. In 2010’s, most of these infrastructures seem to reach their life time. However, government doesn’t have enough budget for renovations. Therefore, new standards and technologies for repair and inspections are being required. Nowadays, huge number of infrastructures are under construction in Malaysia. Similar issues of United States or Japan may be occurred in this fifty years. In this paper, recent policy of government and new technologies including methods and equipment for maintenance of infrastructures in southern part of Japan are shown.

Integrated dynamic bandwidth allocation with an overlap scheme that improves the bandwidth efficiency of aggregated access networks is implemented and demonstrated on the 10 G Ethernet passive optical network (EPON)-based prototype system for the first time. Experiments revealed that the prototype system can achieve more than 99% bandwidth efficiency with only 150 kB aggregation buffers in each optical subscriber unit.

Energy spectra of fast electrons, generated when high-intensity laser pulses irradiated hollow conical targets, have been measured experimentally. It is shown here that the slope temperature of the fast electrons is strongly dependent on the opening angle of the cone, and has a maximum value at 25°. The data confirms optical guiding of the laser pulse, by comparison of the measured electron temperature with ray-tracing calculations that include absorption in plasmas. The enhanced energy flow and intensity induced by optical guiding of the laser pulse inside the cone as a function of the opening angle as well as the f -number of the focusing optics is discussed. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

内空幅5m以上の大型のボックスカルバート（以下，ボックス）は，現場の多くが斜角であるが，経済性の観点から場所打ちコンクリート施工が一般的であり，工期短縮，品質安定性などの観点からプレキャスト製品化が望まれている。筆者らは，斜角に対応した経済的なプレキャストボックスの開発にあたって，ボックスを頂版部材と側壁部材にセグメント化し，頂版と側壁の接合隅角部にループ継手構造を適用して，剛接合として一体化することを試みた。隅角部ループ継手構造の基礎実験を行い，その後実物大供試体を作製し，施工性や構造性能の検証試験を行い，想定どおりの施工が可能であること，一体型と同等の構造性能を有していること等を確認した。また，大型のボックスの断面力の算出方法は，弾性床上のラーメン構造として計算する方法が適切であることも明らかとなった。

Background and Objective: In the present study, micro-channel arrays were fabricated on the surface of plastic-based disposable chips. The cell adhesion process and the detection of plaque-forming macrophages were observed. Further, we evaluated cell adhesion in a fluid system in vitro. Material and Methods: Features of the micro-channel (1.4 mm wide and 10 mm long) included twenty micro-pillars (with a projection of 200 μm diameter and 250 μm high) coated in a 50 μm thick silicon rubber layer, which were regularly arranged at the bottom of each channel. The efficiency of cell capture was expected to increase by arrangement of micro-pillars in a micro-channel. Mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells, stimulated for 24 h with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derived from periodontopathic bacteria, were circulated continuously for 2 h at room temperature by the pump in a chip. Results: Control cells had not formed plaques on micro-pillars 20 min into the experiment. By contrast, LPS-activated macrophages produced plaques at the side walls of micro-pillars after 20 min. The plaques grew during the flow test, and image shading became clearer with increasing flow time for 120 min. The maximal adhesion rate per unit area appeared at 20% for control cells, whereas the peak was shifted to 30% for LPS-activated macrophages (n = 20). The average adhesion rate was 3.0 ± 2.0% for control cells and 5.0 ± 3.9% for LPS-activated macrophages (n = 100). Conclusion: These findings indicate that LPS-activated macrophages accumulate in micro-channel arrays, and suggest that macrophage plaque formation is a two-step procedure: (1) LPS-activated macrophages adhere physically to the silicon rubber layer on micro-pillars; and (2) consequently, the cells adhere to the activated macrophage layer.

Mandarin translation of abstract Background and purpose: The voltage-gated Na+ channels (Nav) and their corresponding current (INa) are involved in several cellular processes, crucial to metastasis of cancer cells. We investigated the effects of eicosapentaenoic (EPA), an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, on INa and metastatic functions (cell proliferation, endocytosis and invasion) in human and rat prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and Mat-LyLu cells). Experimental approach: The whole-cell voltage clamp technique and conventional/quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis were used. The presence of Nav proteins was shown by immunohistochemical methods. Alterations in the fatty acid composition of phospholipids after treatment with EPA and metastatic functions were also examined. Key results: A transient inward Na+ current (INa), highly sensitive to tetrodotoxin, and NaV proteins were found in these cells. Expression of NaV1.6 and NaV1.7 transcripts (SCN8A and SCN9A) was predominant in PC-3 cells, while NaV1.7 transcript (SCN9A) was the major component in Mat-LyLu cells. Tetrodotoxin or synthetic small interfering RNA targeted for SCN8A and SCN9A inhibited metastatic functions (endocytosis and invasion), but failed to inhibit proliferation in PC-3 cells. Exposure to EPA produced a rapid and concentration-dependent suppression of INa. In cells chronically treated (up to 72h) with EPA, the EPA content of cell lipids increased time-dependently, while arachidonic acid content decreased. Treatment of PC-3 cells with EPA decreased levels of mRNA for SCN9A and SCN8A, cell proliferation, invasion and endocytosis. Conclusion and implications: Treatment with EPA inhibited INa directly and also indirectly, by down-regulation of Nav mRNA expression in prostate cancer cells, thus inhibiting their metastatic potential. Mandarin translation of abstract

The application of a gravity-specific stress (e.g. LBNP), in combination with exercise, prevents cardiovascular deconditioning in space flight. KAATSU training is a method to induce blood pooling in capacitance vessels by restricting venous return (as with LBNP) and which when combined with low-intensity resistance (RE) exercise produces remarkable muscle mass and muscle strength gains. The purpose of this study was to investigate the hemodynamic and neurohumonal responses induced by KAATSU in combination with leg RE (30 % 1 RM), during simulated weightlessness (6°head-down tilt for 24 h, n=7). Following 24 h bed rest 6° head-down tilt, body mass was decreased from 75.3 ± 3.9 to 73.3 ± 3.8 Kg (P

The triple band MIMO antenna composed of the unbalanced fed ultra low profile inverted L antenna and a parasitic element on the rectangular conducting plane is proposed for Wi-Fi application of 2.45 GHz to 2.497 GHz, 5.15 GHz to 5.35 GHz, and 5.47 GHz to 5.725 GHz. The size of conducting plane is 45 mm by 61 mm. Although the distance between two antenna elements is 44 mm, the mutual coupling between two antenna elements is very weak.

著者人数: 248名, Accepted: 2015-04-10, 資料番号: SA1150145000

The magnetic and transport properties of YbIrGe and LuIrGe have been investigated. YbIrGe with the TiNiSi-type orthorhombic structure is an antiferromagnet with T N = 2.4 K . Magnetic susceptibility χ(T) of YbIrGe shows a strong anisotropy which changes from the easy-plane type within the ab-plane above 100 K to the easy-axis type along the b-axis at lower temperatures. χ(T) along the a-axis makes a kink at TN in contrast to T-independence of χ(T) along b- and c-axis below TN. We propose that the Yb magnetic moments couple antiparallel in the direction of the a-axis as a magnetic structure below TN. The magnetic entropy gain at TN was released by 85% of the expected value of Rln 2 at the maximum. Therefore, YbIrGe may not be classified as a typical heavy fermion compound.

It is suggested that bulk acceleration of ions can occur in a target with density discontinuities when hot electrons are transported through the target. A foam target just belongs to such a kind of target, which is composed of irregular lamellar layers distributed randomly. To simplify the problem, we study the interaction of a high intensity laser pulse with a target consisting of regular micro-thin layers separated with a thickness of around a micrometre. Particle-in-cell simulations suggest that localized electrostatic fields with multi-peaks around the surfaces of the thin layers inside are induced when fast electrons produced are transported through such a target. These fields inhibit hot electron transport and simultaneously accelerate ions from the thin layers inside the target, forming a bulk acceleration in contrast to the surface acceleration at the front and rear sides of a thin solid target. Bulk acceleration can produce a large number of ions of moderate energy, which may be useful for applications such as fast ignition by fast protons. Experimental evidence of bulk acceleration is found with low-density foams irradiated by ultra-intense laser pulses.

Since it has recently become an important subject to study the interrelation between a dislocation loop and a straight edge dislocation because of dynamic behaviors of small dislocation loops under irradiation condition, the simulation studies were made in model Fe lattice. It was found that dislocation cores both for a loop and a dislocation can be expressed by the regular array of three types of crowdions and have stable positions of b/3 periodicity, but this regularity and periodicity are disturbed as the decrease of the loop size. The relation between a dislocation core and crowdion types are also studied. Furthermore, this change gives rise to the increase of the inherent lattice resistance (Peierls stress) for the dislocation loops.

Using the computer simulation technique various properties of interstitial clusters (bundle of crowdions) in Fe has been investigated. The actual shapes of the hexagonal loops were studied in detail and it was found that the direction of each segment of a loop depends upon the loop size; that is, in smaller loops 〈1 1 1〉 direction is preferred and in larger loops 〈1 1 2〉 direction is realized, resulting in the higher Peierls stress for smaller loops and lower Peierls stress for larger loops. The behavior of the thermally activated motion of loops has been studied by the MD method, showing that the small loop I19 moved along 〈1 1 1〉 direction at 100 K under the aid of energy deposition 10 eV in a rather uniform way without clear kink formation.

In order to obtain the better understanding for bias effects under irradiation computer simulation was made and the basic view for the dislocation bias was presented from the formation energy of radiation induced defects. It was shown that the difference of the formation energy between a self-interstitial atom and a vacancy is the most basic origin for the dislocation bias. On the other hand, for the production bias the detailed information on interstitial clusters is required and it was found in Fe model lattice that the edge dislocation line has a special character, i.e., a periodicity of b/3, but in the case of dislocation loops these stable positions distributed with a periodicity b/3 diffuse out with decreasing loop size and tend to have a periodicity of nearly b in the smaller limit of loop size. This behavior suggests that Peierls potentials which dislocation loops must overcome depend upon the loop size, and smaller Peierls stress can be expected for larger loops and an edge dislocation line probably because of finer periodicity b/3. But at finite temperatures small clusters of crowdions easily tend to have a rather loose coupling structure of composing crowdions, and slip motion as a whole cluster is not well defined, and the diffusion process as a whole might be better to represent the motion of small clusters at high temperatures.

The possible presence of anticipation in bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia has led to the hypothesis that repeat expansion mutations could contribute to the genetic etiology of these diseases. Using the repeat expansion detection (RED) assay, we have systematically examined genomic DNA from 100 unrelated probands with schizophrenia and 68 unrelated probands with bipolar affective disorder for the presence of CAG/CTG repeat expansions. Our results show that 28% of the probands with schizophrenia and 30% of probands with bipolar disorder have a CAG/CTG repeat in the expanded range, but that each expansion could be explained by one of three nonpathogenic repeat expansions known to exist in the general population. We conclude that novel CAG/CTG repeat expansions are not a common genetic risk factor for bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

Studies on bias mechanisms, such as the dislocation bias and production bias have so far been made in the Fe and Ni model crystals. In the present work the interaction between an edge dislocation and interstitial clusters has been mainly studied by computer simulation from the viewpoint of the production bias for Fe and Ni. Capture zones for interstitial clusters In (bundles of n crowdions, n=1, 2, 3, 5) to an edge dislocation line have been obtained, with the definition of the capture zone as the region where the binding energy is larger than kT=0.067 eV (T=500 °C). This shows increasing capture areas on the expansion side of the edge dislocation line with increasing size of interstitial clusters both in Fe and Ni. The energy change from the as-trapped state of the interstitial cluster to the absorbed state into the edge dislocation core was also calculated. This showed that the final stable configuration is a jogged state in Fe. This is also correct in Ni but only when the size of the interstitial cluster is larger than a certain value. These results give a confirmed basis to the production bias mechanism.

A high-spin isomeric beam line has been constructed at RIKEN based on the inverse kinematics of fusion–evaporation reactions. The beam line provides high-spin isomers as secondary beams, whose intensity is more than 10 5 sec −1 . The characteristics and the present status of the beam line are described.

Evidence-based psychopharmacological algorithms for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia have been developed in many countries in the last decade. While it would be of interest to consider a common algorithm based on international consensus, algorithms and information on antipsychotics available in each country are limited. Inspired by the algorithm generated by the International Psychopharmacology Algorithm (IPA) Project, this algorithm for the treatment of schizophrenia has been developed by the Japan Psychophamacology Algorithm (JPA) Project. New antipsychotics, such as clozapine, olanzapine and quetiapine, are excluded from this algorithm, being currently unavailable in Japan. In the end there was no essential difference between the algorithms for the treatment of acute schizophrenic episodes. However, combined use of antipsychotics appears to be more common in Japan and the adjunctive use of L-DOPS or thyrotropin-releasing hormone is included in the JPA algorithm for the treatment of drug-refractory schizophrenia.

In order to investigate the fundamental aspects of damage evolution under irradiation computer simulations of the interaction between a dislocation and point defects such as a self-interstitial atom (SIA), a vacancy and interstitial clusters have been performed for various configurations. It is found both in Fe and Ni that a crowdion with axis parallel to the Burgers vector of an edge dislocation interacts more strongly than those with other axis orientations. The same tendency was seen for the dumbbell. The capture range (capture area) within which SIAs are trapped by an edge dislocation is larger for Ni than for Fe, and that for vacancies is much smaller than that for SIAs, suggesting that the bias factor in Ni is larger than that in Fe.

We developed an anti-immune complex (IC) ELISA applicable to direct determination of trace amounts of microcystins (MCs) in tap water. Comparison of two assay formats revealed that the use of anti-immune complex monoclonal antibody (MAB) in the coating step to trap anti-MC MAB–MC complexes improved the sensitivity as well as precision. The detection limit and quantitative range of the IC ELISA was 2 pg ml−1 and 2–100 pg ml−1 of microcystinLR (MCLR), respectively, indicating the most sensitive of all the methods for detecting MCs reported to date. Additionally, the IC ELISA maintained good reliability through its quantitative range, as evidenced by low coefficients of variation (5.0–10.8 and 4.9–10.2% for intra- and interassay, respectively). The IC ELISA showed good cross-reactivity to microcystin-RR and microcystin-YR, suggesting major MCs found in the environment can be detected by this method. Recovery tests in which quantitative range of MCLR were added to tap water resulted in a mean recovery of 99%,...

In order to examine the involvement of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRF) receptor in the formation of anxiety, we investigated whether CRF receptor antagonist CP-154,526 suppressed conditioned fear stress. First, rats were individually subjected to 30 min of footshock. Twenty-four hours after footshock, the rats were again placed in the chamber and observed for 5 min without shock. CP-154,526 was administered 30 min before placing the rats in the chamber again. After that, CP-154,526 was once more administered 30 min before applying footshock. Administration of CP-154,526 30 min both before conditioned fear stress (placing the rats inside the cage but not applying footshock) and before actual footshock significantly reduced freezing behavior. These results show that CP-154,526 blocked both the acquisition and expression of conditioned fear, thus suggesting that the CRF receptor might be related to anxiety.

The dispersion of latent image specks (LISs) on reduction-sensitized octahedral grain (Oct) and cubic grain (Cub) emulsions that were exposed to light of various intensity levels or to a radiation was studied. The number and distribution of LISs on a grain were determined with arrested development or gold deposition techniques. The sensitized Oct emulsions were sensitive to extra-low-intensity (24 or 48 h) exposure. This exposure displayed a narrow distribution with a one-speck-per-grain pattern. This changed to a broad distribution for 1 s exposure, which obeyed the Poisson distribution law at the highest sensitization level. These suggested that there were P centres present acting as precursors of LISs and inducing dispersion. The distribution for high-intensity (10−4 s) exposure obeyed the Poisson law for sensitized Oct and Cub emulsions. This dispersion of LISs occurred even in absence of the effective electron traps, when the supply rate of photoelectrons was high.The distribution of LISs was...

The atomic structure and dynamic behavior of interstitial clusters, i.e., a bundle of crowdions, have been investigated in a model Ni lattice. An extended dislocation loop was obtained after full relaxation of a loop of hexagonal shape, consisting of four dislocation segments lying on {111} slip planes and two dislocation segments on {100} slip planes. The dislocation segments on {111} slip planes are extended, but the segments on {100} slip planes are not extended. By observing the motion of a dislocation loop under axially symmetrical shear stress, the Peierls stress for the dislocation loop was obtained. Also, a diamond-shaped dislocation loop was constructed in the model lattice, consisting of four dislocation segments on {111} slip planes and no segments on {100} slip planes. The Peierls stress for this diamond-shaped dislocation loop was found to be less than that for the hexagonal-shaped dislocation loop.

Urinary trypsin inhibitor (UTI) is a physiological protease inhibitor produced in the liver and excreted into urine. Urinary trypsin inhibitor-like antigen has been demonstrated on glial cells in the brain. This study measured cerebrospinal UTI levels in various conditions. Seven subjects in each of the following groups were studied: patients undergoing spinal anesthesia for minor surgery, spinal anesthesia for cesarean section, removal of meningioma, or at postoperative day 3 after ruptured intracranial aneurysm clipping. Cerebrospinal fluid was collected from a spinal needle, a needle puncturing the sylvian fissure, or a drainage tube from the optical carotid cistern. Urine was collected from a urinary catheter. Cerebrospinal and urinary UTI concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay, and the urinary UTI concentration was divided by urinary creatinine concentration to give the systemic UTI concentration. The cerebrospinal UTI concentration in the brain tumor and postoperative state groups was significantly higher than in the spinal anesthesia and cesarean section groups. The systemic UTI concentration in the cesarean section and postoperative state groups was significantly higher than in the spinal anesthesia and brain tumor groups. The present results demonstrate that UTI can be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid, and suggest that cerebrospinal UTI increases in patients with a brain tumor or inflammation and is not affected by systemic UTI.

We studied 40 anaesthetised and paralysed patients, in a randomised manner, to compare the ease of tracheal intubation either using a Macintosh laryngoscope and gum elastic bougie (group C) with the ease of tracheal intubation through the intubating laryngeal mask using a fibreoptic bronchoscope (group L), during manual in-line stabilisation of the patient's head and neck. In both groups, a maximum of 120 s was allowed for attempts at tracheal intubation. The ease of placement of the intubating laryngeal mask or tracheal intubation was assessed using a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS). In patients in whom tracheal intubation succeeded, time for intubation was measured. The intubating laryngeal mask was placed successfully in 19 of 20 patients, with the median VAS of 18 mm (95% CI: 13–32 mm). The success rate of tracheal intubation in group L (17 patients) was significantly higher than in group C (nine patients) (p

High-spin states of 155Gd were populated by using the 154Sm(α,3nγ)155Gd reaction at E α= 33 MeV. γ-γ coincidence, E γ singles, excitation function, and the DCO ratios were measured. we have identified three intermediate bands with ΔI= 2 feeding the positive yrast band. The bands are interpreted as such candidate bands that are mixed with the negative-parity ground state band. This observation can provide a plausible explanation for unusually large population of the positive-parity yrast band observed in a recent Coulomb excitation.

We have investigated short-channel effects of ultrathin (4-18-nm thick) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) n-channel MOSFET's in the 40-135 nm gate length regime. It is experimentally and systematically found that the threshold voltage (V/sub th/) roll-off and subthreshold slope (S-slope) are highly suppressed as the channel SOI thickness is reduced. The experimental 40-nm gate length, 4-nm thick ultrathin SOI n-MOSFET shows the S-slope of only 75 mV and the /spl Delta/V/sub th/ of only 0.07 V as compared to the value in the case of the long gate-length (135 nm) device. Based on these experimental results, the remarkable advantage of an ultrathin SOI channel in suppressing the short-channel effects is confirmed for future MOS devices.

Atomic structures of interstitial type dislocation loops and the interaction between these loops and an edge dislocation have been investigated for Fe and Ni by means of computer simulation in order to understand the basic feature of the damage structure evolution during irradiation which provides cascade formation of defects. Clusters of crowdions or dumbbells were placed in the model lattices and final structures were observed after full relaxation. It is found that in the case of clusters of crowdions, relaxation of the structure, namely, split of strain concentration for each crowdion in the cluster occurs with increasing the number of crowdions in one cluster, i.e., beyond about ten, and this split structure indicates the transition to dislocation loops, because a straight edge dislocation has the same split nature both in Fe and Ni. In the study of the interaction between an initial cluster and an edge dislocation it is found that a stacking fault of an extended edge dislocation is heavily deformed by the presence of an interstitial cluster just below the slip plane. Finally the critical stress for the motion of an interstitial loop, that is, Peierls stress, for the dislocation loop was investigated and it is found that as the loop size increases, Peierls stress decreases and approaches the level for a straight edge dislocation.

Positron lifetime calculations have been performed on vacancy clusters (stacking fault tetrahedra (SFT), vacancy loops), such clusters on dislocation line, interstitial clusters, such clusters on a dislocation line and dislocation line itself in order to investigate the so-called intermediate lifetimes observed in the experiments, namely, positron lifetimes between that at a matrix and that at a single vacancy. Before lifetime calculations, various defects were constructed in the model lattices and were relaxed completely to obtain the stable atomic structure by using N -body potentials. Then positron lifetime calculation was carried out for each defect. It was shown that positron lifetime for a SFT in Ni dependes on its size and becomes smaller with increasing the size. The positron wave function is mainly localized at the corner of a SFT, which gives rather lifetime, e.g., 130 ps for V 28 , but when the cluster size is small, e.g., less than 10 vacancies, it gives a rather longer lifetime, e.g., 177 ps for V 6 because of the wave function localized at the inner space of a cluster. These behaviours are consistent with the experimental results. It was also found that the positron lifetime on a dislocation line and that at a jog are short (113 and 119 ps, respectively for Ni, 117 and 117 ps, respectively for Fe), close to the lifetime at matrix (110 ps for both Ni and Fe) and in these cases trapping potentials for a positron are shallow both for Ni and Fe.

Atomic structure and dynamic behavior of small interstitial clusters (dislocation loops) in Fe and Ni have been studied by means of both the static relaxation method and the molecular dynamics (MD) method in order to clarify their role in the evolution of damage structure during irradiation, especially in the so-called production bias effect through one-dimensional migration and sink efficiency to dislocations. Model crystals were constructed by using N-body potentials and stable atomic structures of small interstitial clusters, i.e., bundle of crowdions were obtained. It was found that each crowdion in the cluster has a split structure when the number of crowdions in the cluster is larger than 10. Dynamic behavior of the loop, e.g., the interaction with a crowdion on a (I I 1 loop axis was also investigated as a function of time by the MD method. It was shown that a small interstitial cluster, e.g., I 19 in Fe is very mobile under the interaction with a crowdion, which shows that this interstitial cluster I 19 has already the property of a dislocation loop of edge character and low Peierls potential for the motion of this loop, which is consistent with the straight edge dislocation in Fe.

If the chloride concentration at the surface of a concrete structure is known, the chloride concentration around reinforcements at year t can be estimated and the initiation time of reinforcement corrosion obtained from the concentration and some associated critical value. The accumulating corrosion products then causes the volume of reinforcement to expand, leading to cracking of the concrete surface. Provided that the structure reaches its critical state when surface cracks appear, the time tL is obtained from when the cracks appear. Taking the parameters associated with deterioration to be random variables, the occurrence probability of deterioration is evaluated. Then the optimum concrete cover thickness is obtained based on the concept of least expected cost.

To clarify `medium' lifetimes of ∼150 ps in deformed iron, we calculate the positron lifetimes at the core of dislocations and related defects in iron. The calculations are based on an empirical N-body interatomic potential by Finnis and Sinclair for the atomic arrangements and the local-density approximation for the positron–electron correlation. We find the positron lifetime for vacancies associated with edge dislocation to be the medium lifetime, while that for vacancies associated with screw dislocation is almost the same as the single-vacancy value. The positron lifetimes for pure dislocations and for jogged dislocations are close to the perfect-lattice value.

From the seeds of Trichilia elegans ssp. elegans , six new limonoids, four of which possess the uncommon seco -A, B and D carbocyclic rings, have been isolated, together with two known limonoids-kihadanin A and B and 3-O-β- d -glucopyranosyl-sitosterol . The structures of these compounds have been established on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques.

The IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol Version 2 (PTP v2) standard was developed to establish precise synchronization protocols for distributed nodes, and thus facilitate the development of distributed time-based systems. As an example of an applied system, we developed a distributed wireless network emulator that permits precise and stable synchronized time-based wireless link scheduling. In our system, each agent node simply emulates schedule-based wireless links without exchanging control messages with any other nodes. This emulator is designed to test IP-based protocols for high scalability and high-speed mobility while maintaining high accuracy levels over extended periods of time. In our previous work, we showed the existence of a relationship between packet handling size and accuracy in a developed emulator system. In this study, we evaluate the performance of agent node loads, and their relationship to processing time accuracy, by obtaining time information from PTP v2. These factors are important when deciding future extension policy. From our experimental results, we determined that performance has two kind of influence. Specifically, processing time increases as loading increases, and some processing elements become excessively long under high load conditions. These factors have a significant influence on time-based distributed systems, such as our distributed mobile network emulator, which is designed to handle processes at microsecond speeds.

Oxygen adsorption on a W(100) surface has been investigated by the method consisting of surface photoabsorption measurement and analysis in terms of surface dielectric function. Reflectance variation of p-polarized light incident near the Brewster angle was measured in the photon-energy range from 1.6 to 5.0 eV, from which variation of the surface dielectric function for electric field tangential to the surface is then derived. The result indicates that optical transitions above 4.5 eV and below 2.0 eV are suppressed, and two optical transitions appear around 2.5 and 4.0 eV when coverage is less than 0.7 ML, whereas the transitions below 2.6 eV decreases above 0.9 ML. The electronic states relevant to these transitions are reasonably interpreted with the existing results of ultraviolet photoemission and inverse photoemission studies, which demonstrates the validity of this method.

Using the embedded atom type many body potentials for iron and copper, the lattice relaxation around copper impurity atoms in iron has been performed. The stable configuration of atoms around copper and copper vacancy complexes in FeCu alloy was simulated. By introducing a positron into the relaxed lattice of FeCu binary alloy with and without a vacancy, positron lifetimes have been calculated. The positron lifetime in a relaxed FeCu matrix was 119 ps, while in a relaxed Cu-vacancy pair it was 168 ps. The latter, which is shorter than the positron lifetime in a single vacancy, is in good agreement with the experimental lifetime observed in FeCu alloy irradiated with electrons at low temperature.