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Practical total syntheses of africane-type sesquiterpenoids were realized by reexamination of a divergent strategy employing optimized three-component coupling followed by ring-closing metathesis and substrate-controlled cyclopropanation. This sequential eight-step conversion provided Δ

It is important to evaluate the safety of bolted joint under a load eccentric to a bolt axis. We examined tapped thread joints, with which a clamped plate is tightened with bolts to a base body, by applying eccentric loads to the bolts. The structural interface opening between the clamped plate and base body occurs due to the eccentric load based on the principle of leverage. During the growth of the interface opening, nonlinearity noticeably appears on the tensional and bending components of bolt stress, and these stress components become larger than expected in an early phase before a fatal bolt pull-out occurs. However, an evaluation method taking into account nonlinearity has not been investigated. We propose a normalized-bolt-stress evaluation method for tapped thread joints that takes into account the effect of the nonlinearity of bolt stress during interface opening. We conducted numerical calculations, experiments, and finite element analyses to quantitatively validate the stress under the following conditions: (i) tapped thread joints with the clamped plate thinner than the bolt diameter and (ii) load eccentric to the bolt axis. We confirmed that the bolt preload and lever ratio should be fixed at an initial phase, in which has no interface openings for the appropriate normalization. By using the normalized-bolt-stress evaluation method, strength evaluation becomes easily applicable to layout changes of bolted joints as a similarity rule.

To investigate the immediate effects of thoracic spine self-mobilization in patients with mechanical neck pain.Randomized, controlled trial.Thoracic spine self-mobilization is performed after thoracic spine thrust manipulation to augment and maintain its effects. To the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated the effects of thoracic spine self-mobilization alone in individuals with mechanical neck pain. The purpose of this randomized, controlled trial was to evaluate the immediate effects of thoracic spine self-mobilization alone without any other intervention on disability, pain, and cervical range of motion in patients with mechanical neck pain.Fifty-two patients (39 females and 13 males) with mechanical neck pain were randomly allocated to either a thoracic spine self-mobilization group that was performing a thoracic spine active flexion and extension activity using two tennis balls fixed by athletic tape or a placebo thoracic spine self-mobilization group. Outcome measures were collected at pre-intervention and immediately after intervention, including the Neck Disability Index, visual analogue scale, and active cervical range of motion (ROM). The immediate effect of the intervention was analyzed using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). If interactions were found, a simple main effect test was performed to compare the pre-post intra-group results.The results of two-way repeated measures ANOVA indicated that the main effect of time was significant (p 0.05) for all measurement outcomes. The main effect of group was not significant for all measurement outcomes (p 0.05). The group × time interactions for cervical flexion active ROM (p = 0.005) and cervical extension active ROM (p = 0.036) were significant. The tests of simple main effect in cervical flexion active ROM (p 0.0001) and cervical extension active ROM (p 0.0001) showed a significant difference before and after intervention in the thoracic spine self-mobilization group.Patients with mechanical neck pain who carried out thoracic spine self-mobilization showed increases in active cervical flexion and extension ROM.

Planning for multi-robot coverage seeks to determine collision-free paths for a fleet of robots, enabling them to collectively observe points of interest in an environment. Persistent coverage is a variant of traditional coverage where coverage levels in the environment decay over time. Thus, robots have to continuously revisit parts of the environment to maintain a desired coverage level. Facilitating this in the real world demands we tackle numerous subproblems. While there exist standard solutions to these subproblems, there is no complete framework that addresses all of their individual challenges as a whole in a practical setting. We adapt and combine these solutions to present a planning framework for persistent coverage with multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Specifically, we run a continuous loop of goal assignment and globally deconflicting, kinodynamic path planning for multiple UAVs. We evaluate our framework in simulation as well as the real world. In particular, we demonstrate that (i) our framework exhibits graceful coverage—given sufficient resources, we maintain persistent coverage; if resources are insufficient (e.g., having too few UAVs for a given size of the environment), coverage levels decay slowly and (ii) planning with global deconfliction in our framework incurs a negligibly higher price compared to other weaker, more local collision-checking schemes (Video: https://youtu.be/aqDs6Wymp5Q).

牧口常三郎の「文型応用主義」の考え方を手掛かりに、投書を利用したアカデミック・ライティングの段階的指導モデル（試案）を提案した。このモデルは、「文章構造」「一貫性と論理性」「結束性」を指導の核として、字数や談話展開の難易度を徐々に上げながら、ディスコース・レベルの文章作成技能を習得させようというものである。また、「文章構造」の指導においては、牧口の「応用範文」による指導を取り入れ、「一貫性と論理性」「結束性」の指導においては、「配列のパターン化」「文構造と結束性の関係」など、従来、あまり取り上げられなかった観点からの指導ポイントを示した。, アカデミック・ライティング

Our objective is to evaluate precisely a life-cycle of bolted joints under an eccentric load against a bolt axis. Many approaches to achieve the objective based on a lot of theories and practices have been proposed so far [1–12]. As we can refer from their approaches, the opening of the structural interface between clamped plates of bolted joints occurs by the eccentric load, which is over a bolt preload, and then the opening gradually propagates as the eccentric load increases. In the case, nonlinearity appears remarkably on the tensional and bending stress of bolts in the axial direction. In addition to the above, the axial bolt stress larger than expected occurs due to the principle of leverage depending on the load position and the bolted joints layout in the early phase of the pull-out action. Accordingly, the stress evaluation of bolted joints under the eccentric load is very important in order to ensure the safety of industrial machines. If dimensionless quantities of the bolt stress are found out considering the influence of the structural opening and the load eccentricity, we can have a few advantages as follows. First, bolt stress evaluations can be conducted by easily converting the dimensionless quantities of the bolt stress to the physical dimension quantities in a lot of cases where the bolt preload and the load eccentricity are different. Second, the number of times of verification tests can be reduced. We are developing a lot of industrial machines which have bolted joints used under eccentric load. In such development [13], bolt stress analyses are usually conducted under the combinations of the following conditions: (i) tapped thread joints, (ii) thin clamped plates than the bolt diameter, (iii) large eccentric loads, (iv) permitting the opening of the structural interface. Therefore, we propose a concept of a normalized bolt stress considering the effect of the structural opening and the load eccentricity. We validated this concept through theoretical studies, finite element analyses, and experiments under the direct load and the centrifugal load. As a result, the dimensionless quantities of the bolt stress caused by the bolt preload and a lever ratio of bolted joints under combined conditions was determined in this study. We can easily evaluate the bolt stress by simple conversions in a lot of cases in which the bolt preload and the load eccentricity differ.

We develop priors for Bayes estimation of quantum states that provide minimax state estimation. The relative entropy from the true density operator to a predictive density operator is adopted as a loss function. The proposed prior maximizes the conditional Holevo mutual information, and it is a quantum version of the latent information prior in classical statistics. For one qubit system, we provide a class of measurements that is optimal from the viewpoint of minimax state estimation.

The aims of this study were to translate and culturally adapt the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) and validate the Japanese version of the PSFS (PSFS-J) in outpatients with neck pain.The PSFS was translated and adapted into Japanese in accordance with the published guidelines. A total of 103 outpatients with neck pain were recruited for this study. Psychometric evaluation included test-retest reliability, convergent validity by comparing the PSFS-J to the Neck Disability Index (NDI), patient's global impression of change (PGIC), and responsiveness (unpaired t test, minimal detectable change).The intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.98 (95% confidence interval = 0.95-0.99). The Pearson correlation coefficient with the NDI was -0.35. The Spearman correlation coefficient showed a strong relationship between the change score in the PSFS-J and PGIC (-0.70). The analysis of responsiveness was calculated with the unpaired t test showing a significant difference between the stable and improved patients (P0.01). The minimal detectable change was calculated as 0.64.The Japanese version of the PSFS is a valid, reliable, and responsive instrument to assess Japanese outpatients with neck pain.

5-exo-Dig versus 6-endo-dig oxycyclizations of alkynols having an internal triple bond catalyzed by PdCl2, followed by methoxycarbonylation of the resulting vinylpalladium intermediates, are described. With an aim toward the total synthesis of polymaxenolides, a hybrid marine natural product containing a dihydropyran substructure, a model alkynol having the africane-type sesquiterpenoid skeleton was treated with PdCl2 and 1,4-benzoquinone in MeOH under an atmosphere of CO (balloon) to afford the desired 6-endo-dig oxycyclization–methoxycarbonylation product.

[Purpose] This study investigated lumbar muscle fatigue before and after maintaining a seated position for one hour, lumbar and pelvic inclination angle change, in subjects with and without active lumber support. [Subjects and Methods] Fourteen healthy subjects randomized into two groups sat on a floor chair, placed on an office chair, that cyclically changed its lumbar supporting shape to provide active lumbar support (ALS) or no ALS for one hour. Before and after, we measured the frequency of muscle waveforms of the trunk extensor muscles when the subjects lifted an object weighing 10% of their body weight, using both hands while seated. In addition, ROMt (Range of motion test) of trunk rotation, degree of fatigue and muscle stiffness were analyzed. [Results] Muscle frequency while lifting the weight decreased significantly without ALS compared to with ALS. Mean muscle stiffness increased, ROMt decreased in desk work task significantly without ALS compared to with ALS. [Conclusion] These results suggest that the lumbar muscles became fatigued, because low frequencies, increased muscle stiffness, and decreased ROMt without ALS. We suggest lumbar muscle fatigue was maintained low for subjects seated in a chair with ALS.

The light oxygen voltage (LOV) domain is a flavin-binding blue-light receptor domain, originally found in a plant photoreceptor phototropin (phot). Recently, LOV domains have been used in optogenetics as the photosensory domain of fusion proteins. Therefore, it is important to understand how LOV domains exhibit light-induced structural changes for the kinase domain regulation, which enables the design of LOV-containing optogenetics tools with higher photoactivation efficiency. In this study, the hydrogen bonding environment of the N3–H group of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) of the LOV2 domain from Adiantum neochrome (neo) 1 was investigated by low-temperature Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Using specifically 15N-labeled FMN, [1,3-15N2]FMN, the N3–H stretch was identified at 2831 cm–1 for the unphotolyzed state at 150 K, indicating that the N3–H group forms a fairly strong hydrogen bond. The N3–H stretch showed temperature dependence, with a shift to lower frequencies at ≤200 K and to higher freque...

With a goal of the total synthesis of polymaxenolide, the first hybrid marine natural product, the model studies for constructing the dihydropyran portion based on the originally proposed biosynthesis (C–C bond formation followed by dehydrative cyclization) and the synthesis of the lower portion (the C1–C3, C7–C17 portion) based on an iodide-induced Morita–Baylis–Hillman type reaction (a three-component assembly) followed by Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling are described.

The aim of this study was to show highly reliable normal values and three-dimensional characteristics for final range of motion during active movements of the upper extremity joints, and to develop a database from healthy participants, with the advantage of this database lying in the methods of defining shoulder axial rotation angle and of compensating for soft tissue artifacts.We used an electromagnetic tracking system (FASTRAK) to measure three-dimensional motions of the shoulder (thoracohumeral), elbow/forearm, and wrist in 20 healthy adults (age range: 18-34 years) during active joint motion tasks of the upper extremity.Joint angles of the upper extremity at the final position of joint motion tasks were determined. Highly reliable data for shoulder axial rotation angle were obtained, using a new definition of joint angle and regression analysis to compensate for estimation errors.These results should be useful in setting goals for the treatment of upper extremity joint functions in the fields of rehabilitation, orthopedics, and sports medicine.

Films were deposited on a glass substrates heated at 100 °C by alternate deposition of ZnO and Mg3N2 films in an atmosphere of N2 + 0.2% O2. p-type ZnO films with the resistivity of 9.9×103 - 4.5×103 Ωcm were grown by Mg3N2 sputtering for 0.2 s at 50-70 W, whereas an n-type ZnO film was grown for 0.2 s at 90 W. Appearance of the n-type ZnO film is caused by a decrease of O2-partial pressure in an atmosphere. The contraction of the c-axis due to the incorporation of Mg atoms is found in these p-type and n-type ZnO films. When the Mg3N2-depostion period was extended to 5 s, p-type ZnO films were grown in the alternate sputtering at 50 W, whereas only insulator films were grown in the alternate sputtering at 70 W. The optical band gap of the films increases with both a RF power and a period of Mg3N2-deposition.

〔目的〕股関節外転筋疲労前後の片脚立位時の重心動揺と中殿筋・脊柱起立筋の活動との関係を明らかにすることを目的とした．〔対象〕神経学・整形外科学的な疾患の既往のない健常成人男性22名（平均年齢21.4歳）とした．〔方法〕股関節外転筋疲労前後で片脚静止立位時の重心動揺と筋活動量の変化を計測した．疲労前後の重心動揺と筋活動量を対応のあるt検定，重心動揺と筋活動の関係をpearsonの相関を用いて求めた．〔結果〕疲労後にX方向の重心動揺が有意に増加し，中殿筋の活動は減少，右脊柱起立筋の活動は有意に高まった．右脊柱起立筋の活動の増加と重心動揺に正の相関がみられた．〔結語〕筋疲労により筋の作用に関連する方向の重心動揺が増大し，代償のための筋活動が増加したと考えられる．

A soft magnetic composite (SMC) has some advantages, namely, three-dimensional magnetic isotropy and low eddy current loss. Thus, it can be used to build a new type of motor with a three-dimensional structure, improved space factor of winding improved the power density. A claw teeth motor is one of the motors that have three-dimensional structure, and it is made of an SMC. Due to its structure, the claw teeth motor has an unbalanced three-phase magnetic circuit, which leads to low-order harmonic components in the torque waveform. For reducing the torque ripple, it is important to estimate the magnetic torque and the cogging torque because the total torque is the sum of these torques. In this study a method for decomposing the total torque under the load condition into the magnetic torque and cogging torque is presented. The proposed method can quantitatively estimate low-order harmonic components of the magnetic torque and cogging torque caused by an unbalanced three-phase magnetic circuit for each phase.

〔目的〕健常成人の頭蓋脊椎角が小さいと，頭頸部屈曲テストの高い段階において胸鎖乳突筋の活動が大きくなるか否かを調べることを目的とした。〔対象〕健常成人男性10名を対象とした。〔方法〕座位での頭部前方位姿勢を評価するために頭蓋脊椎角の測定を行った。また頭頸部屈曲テストでの胸鎖乳突筋の活動を表面筋電計で計測した。〔結果〕頭頸部屈曲テストでの高い圧力段階（30 mmHg）において，胸鎖乳突筋の活動と頭蓋脊椎角との間に有意な負の相関が認められた（r= -0.75）。〔結語〕頭蓋脊椎角が小さい健常成人では，頭頸部屈曲テストの高い圧力段階（30 mmHg）において胸鎖乳突筋の活動が他の段階と比較して有意に大きくなったことから，不良姿勢が頸部表層にある頸部屈筋群の活動に影響を及ぼすことが示唆された。

Centrifugal pendulum vibration absorbers are widely used as a vibration suppression device for helicopters. The vibration characteristics of this absorber have been investigated by utilizing linear anti-resonance theory. However, it has been noted that nonlinear characteristics appear when pendulums swing at large amplitudes. The authors investigated vibration suppression characteristics of pendulum absorbers considering nonlinear characteristics of pendulums. In the first report, we investigated a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) system composed of a rigid blade and a pendulum. In this system, the blade was excited by a harmonic deflection motion of the shaft. In the second report, we investigated a three-degree-of-freedom system composed of a fuselage, a rigid blade and a pendulum. In this third study, the model has 3DOF and is composed of a blade, a pendulum and a rotor mount. The blade is assumed to be flexible and only the first elastic mode is considered. An aerodynamic excitation force is applied to the blade. The vibration suppression characteristics of this system are investigated theoretically and experimentally.

Phototropins (phot) are blue light receptors in plants which are involved in phototropism, stomatal opening, and chloroplast movements. Phototropin has two LOV domains (LOV1 and LOV2), and the LOV2 domain is responsible for activation of Ser/Thr kinase. There is an alpha-helix at the C-terminal side of the LOV2 domain, which is called the Jalpha helix. The functional importance of the Jalpha helix has been established for Arabidopsis phot1, where light-induced structural perturbation takes place in the Jalpha helix during the photocycle of LOV2 domains. However, the present FTIR study reports a different role of the Jalpha helix in light-induced signal transduction of LOV2 domains. Here we construct LOV2 domains with (LOV-Jalpha) and without (LOV-core) the Jalpha helix for Arabidopsis phot1 and phot2 and Adiantum neochrome 1 and compare their light-induced difference FTIR spectra. Light-induced protein structural changes differ significantly between LOV-Jalpha and LOV-core for Arabidopsis phot1 [Yamamoto, A., Iwata, T., Sato, Y., Matsuoka, D., Tokutomi, S., and Kandori, H. (2009) Biophys. J. 96, 2771-2778]. In contrast, the difference spectra are identical between LOV-Jalpha and LOV-core for Adiantum neochrome 1. In Arabidopsis phot2, the protein structural changes are intermediate between Arabidopsis phot1 and Adiantum neochrome 1. These results suggest that the conformational changes of the Jalpha helix and the interaction between the LOV-core and the Jalpha helix are different among phototropins. The role of the Jalpha helix for signal transduction in phototropins is discussed.

A method for obtaining the optimal design of single-phase permanent magnet (PM) synchronous motors was developed. This method is based on 3D electromagnetic field analysis and electrical circuit analysis. Numerical results show that the torque ripple for the motor shape optimized by using the proposed method is half that for the initial motor shape. Thus the proposed method is extremely effective for reducing the torque ripple in the motor. Further, the optimal design can be obtained within an acceptable CPU time by using this method.

Soft magnetic composites (SMCs) have the following advantages: three-dimensional magnetic isotropy, high resistivity, and recyclability. By using SMC, therefore, a new concept motor with a three-dimensional structure can be developed. Its power-to-space ratio and efficiency can be improved since the space factor of winding and the space utilization factor of the motor is increased. This paper describes a design method of a claw teeth motor made of SMC by reluctance network analysis (RNA)-based experimental design. First, a three-dimensional RNA model of the claw teeth motor is presented. Next, the RNA-based experimental design of the claw teeth motor is presented. As a result, the average torque is improved by approximately 50%. In addition, the calculation time required for the design is significantly reduced by the proposed design method.

The vibration suppression of a helicopter is very important to ensure the comfort and the safety. In some kind of helicopters, the pendulum absorbers are adopted for the purposes to reduce vibrations. Present pendulum absorbers are designed based on the anti-resonance concept in the linear theory. However, since the vibration amplitudes of the pendulum are not small, it is considered that the nonlinearity has influence on the vibration characteristics and the best suppression cannot be attained by the linear theory. Also, the characteristics of the pendulum absorbers are not well analyzed even in the linear theory. In a helicopter, periodic forces act on the blades due to the influences of the air thrust. These periodic forces act on the blades with the frequency which is the integer multiple of the rotational speed of the rotor. In our previous report, we proposed a 2-degree-of-freedom model of the rotor blade and the pendulum absorber. The blade is considered as a rigid body and it is excited by giving a sinusoidal deflection at its end. In this paper, we proposed a 3-degree-of-freedom model which is more similar to the real helicopter since the freedom of the fuselage is added and the periodic forces are applied to the blade by air force. The vibration is analyzed considering the nonlinear characteristics. The resonance curves of rotor blades with pendulum absorbers are obtained analytically and experimentally. It is clarified that the most efficient condition is not the exact tuning to the frequency of the external force but slight detuning to it. Various unique nonlinear characteristics, such as bifurcations, are also shown.

The vibration suppression becomes very important for designing the helicopter blades to ensure the comfortability and safety. Now-a-day, the pendulum absorbers and others are adopted for the purposes to reduce the vibration of the rotor blades. But, the drawback is that the dimension of the pendulum absorbers is determined by the anti-resonance concept based on the linear theory, and also its characteristics are not analyzed completely. In a Helicopter, periodic forces act on the blades due to the influences of the air thrust. These periodic forces act on the blades with their integer multiple of the rotational speed of the rotor. We have proposed a two-degree-of-freedom model of the rotor blades and the pendulum absorbers, and it clarifys the vibration-proof effect of the pendulum absorbers on these forces.

Our report discusses a 29 year old female patient with nephrotic syndrome due to lupus nephritis, biopsy-proven World Health Organization classification Types IVb and V that was controlled with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis. She was initially treated with steroid therapy, including methylprednisolone pulse therapy, and the serological activity of her systemic lupus erythematosus was suppressed. However, her nephrotic state, accompanied by severe hyperlipidemia, persisted despite the steroid therapy. Since we could not obtain her consent to administer immunosuppressants such as cyclophosphamide, we tried to treat her using LDL apheresis (LDL-A). We found that her urine protein excretion, hyperlipidemia, hypoalbuminemia, and renal function improved following the initiation of LDL-A. This suggests that LDL-A may be an effective therapy for nephrotic syndrome due to lupus nephritis through short-term amelioration of hyperlipidemia.

The -oriented ZnO vertical nanowires (vnws) have been prepared by electrochemical growth for the electric charge of 0.3, 0.7, and 1.5 Ccm−2 on a -Ga:ZnO/soda-lime glass substrate in an simple aqueous 0.8 mmol L−1 zinc nitrate hydrate solution. All the ZnO-vnws emitted strong ultraviolet light that originated from the recombination of a bound exciton and weak visible light due to native defects. The best performance regarding the intensity ratio and ultraviolet light intensity was obtained for the ZnO-vnws prepared for 0.7 Ccm−2, and the performance changed depending on the electric charge. The ZnO-vnws also showed the best scintillator performance with the luminous efficiency of 8.3% and spatial resolution of 4 μm, and the scintillator performance was closely related to the light-guiding effects originating from the nanowire dimension in addition to the photoluminescence characteristic.

With a goal of the total synthesis of polymaxenolide, the first hybrid marine natural product, the model studies for constructing the dihydropyran portion based on the originally proposed biosynthesis (C–C bond formation followed by dehydrative cyclization) and the synthesis of the lower portion (the C1–C3, C7–C17 portion) based on an iodide-induced Morita–Baylis–Hillman type reaction (a three-component assembly) followed by Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling are described.

Our objective is to develop a long-life rotary machine for synchronous generators and motors. To do this, it is necessary to design a high-strength bolted joint, which is responsible for fixing a salient pole on a rotor shaft. While the rotary machine is in operation, not only centrifugal force but also moment are loaded on a bolted joint, because a point of load is eccentric to a centre of a bolt. We tried to apply the theory proposed in VDI2230-Blatt1 to evaluate the bolted joint under eccentric force, estimate limited centrifugal force, which is the cause of partial separation between the pole and the rotor shaft, and then evaluate additional tension of a bolt after the partial separation has occurred. We analyzed the bolted joint by FEM, and defined load introduction factor in that case. Additionally, we investigated the effect of the variation of bolt preload on the partial separation. We did a full scale experiment with a prototype rotor to reveal the variation of bolt preload against tightening torque. After that, we verified limited centrifugal force and the strength of the bolted joint by the VDI2230-Blatt1 theory and FEM considering the variation of bolt preload. Finally, we could design a high-strength bolted joint verified by the theoretical study and FEM analysis.