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To observe supernova relic neutrino events, 13 tons of gadolinium sulfate octahydrate (Gd2(SO4)3·8H2O), corresponding to 0.01% Gd solution, was dissolved in the Super-Kamiokande water Cherenkov detector in 2020. The aim is to improve the detection efficiency of neutrons from inverse β decay involving electron antineutrinos. However, Gd3+ ions can be excited by the Cherenkov light from cosmic muons, and the subsequent emission at 312 nm is a possible background (BG) source for Cherenkov signal detection. In this work, we constructed an experimental setup based on time-resolved laser-induced luminescence spectroscopy to investigate the emission characteristics of Gd3+ ions in water. The excitation laser wavelength was tuned in the range of 245–255 nm, and large resonant peaks were observed at 246.2 nm and 252.3 nm with measured emission lifetimes of around 3 ms. Good linearity was observed between Gd concentration and emission intensity for these two wavelengths, indicating that our setup is useful for remote monitoring of Gd concentration. According to the simulation results using our spectroscopic data and reference values, the Gd3+ emission BG rate from cosmic muons is expected to be 10−1 counts/μs or less, which seems small but not negligible.

The nuclear matrix element (NME) of the neutrinoless double-$\beta$ ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay is an essential input for determining the neutrino effective mass, if the half-life of this decay is measured. The reliable calculation of this NME has been a long-standing problem because of the diversity of the predicted values of the NME depending on the calculation method. In this paper, we focus on the shell model and the QRPA. The shell model have a rich amount of the many-particle many-hole correlations, and the QRPA can obtain the convergence of the result of calculation with respect to the extension of the single-particle space. It is difficult for the shell model to obtain the convergence of the $0\nu\beta\beta$ NME with respect to the valence single-particle space. The many-body correlations of the QRPA are insufficient depending on nuclei. We propose a new method to modify phenomenologically the results of the shell model and the QRPA compensating the insufficient point of each method by using the information of other method complementarily. Extrapolations of the components of the $0\nu\beta\beta$ NME of the shell model are made toward a very large valence single-particle space. We introduce a modification factor to the components of the $0\nu\beta\beta$ NME of the QRPA. Our modification method gives similar values of the $0\nu\beta\beta$ NME of the two methods for $^{48}$Ca. The NME of the two-neutrino double-$\beta$ decay is also modified in a similar but simpler manner, and the consistency of the two methods is improved., Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, section VII was modified

The formation of nanosized porous oxide layers on titanium (Ti) by asymmetric alternating current anodizing in sulfuric acid has been studied using electrochemical techniques. In order to prevent spark discharge at Ti electrode upon its anodization in 1.0 M H2S04 solution, the magnitude of the cathodic current is reduced using a special electrical circuit consisting of a variable resistor and two diodes. The unique surface treatment approach gives rise to the formation of nanosized porous layer in a very short period of time and without spark discharge. The surface of porous layers thus obtained has in vitro apatite-forming ability.

The performance of a newly-developed 1D-long atmospheric-pressure microwave plasma, i.e. atmospheric-pressure microwave line plasma (APMLP), is demonstrated. Using vacuum ultraviolet atomic absorption spectroscopy, spatially uniform oxygen radical density along a 50 cm length is observed. With the APMLP using Ar/O2 gas, very fast hydrophilic treatment of polyimide (PI) film within 20 ms is obtained. Using looped-waveguide-type APMLP, fast ashing treatment of PI film at an ashing rate of 20 μm min−1 is demonstrated.

A terpolymer, poly(ethylene oxide-co-propylene oxide-co-allyl glycidyl ether) (P(EO/PO/AGE)), was reacted with linear mono-functional hydride-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-SiH) to obtain PDMS-grafted-polyether (PDMS-g-P(EO/PO/AGE)) by hydrosilylation. Three polyelectrolytes were prepared based on PDMS-g-P(EO/PO/AGE). Best result was obtained when 8wt% of PDMS was introduced onto polyether. Cyclic voltammetry measurement of the PDMS-g-P(EO/PO/AGE polyelectrolytes showed improvement of oxidative stability.

Background Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR) has been increasingly recognized in patients with degenerative aortic stenosis (AS). In some reports, the uptake of Tc-99m labeled bone radiotracers in cardiac amyloidosis has been documented. Tc-99m pyrophosphate (PYP) scintigraphy in the absence of evidence of a monoclonal gammopathy was diagnostic for transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis, providing a cost-effective and non-invasive technique with a specificity and positive predictive value of nearly 100%. We sought to determine the prevalence of ATTR as detected by the bone scan tracer among the patients with severe AS requiring surgical valve replacement. Methods We retrospectively analyzed clinical and echocardiographical data for 44 patients with severe AS requiring surgical valve replacement between Jan. 2009 and Dec. 2016. All eligible patients were offered Tc-99m PYP scintigraphy. Retention of Tc-99m PYP in the heart was assessed using both a semiquantitative visual score (range, 0 [no uptake] to 3 [uptake greater than bone]). Positive uptake was defined score 2 and 3. Results Myocardial deposition of Tc-99m PYP (Score 2–3) was identified in 4 of 44 patients (9%), all >70 years and 75% male. Patients with myocardial deposition of the tracer were older (78±8 years vs. 70±12 years), and had more mean interventricular septum thickness (18±3 mm vs. 14±5 mm). Both groups had at least ejection fraction and abnormal global longitudinal strain with no significant difference between groups. Pre-operative serum median NT-pro BNP level was similar between two groups, but post-operative improvement of NT-pro BNP was larger in non-deposition of the tracer group. During the post operative follow-up, survival was significantly worse if patients had amyloid deposition compared with no deposition subjects (25% vs. 7.5%). Conclusion Incidental transthyretin cardiac amyroidosis had a prevelance of 9% among patients undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement and was associated with a poor outcome. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Background Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome with multiple underlying causes. Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is an underdiagnosed cause of HFpEF. Extraosseous uptake, in particular, myocardial uptake, was observed in a number of ATTR patients examined with the bone scan tracers. Objectives We sought to determine the prevalence of ATTR as detected by the bone scan among the patients admitted due to HFpEF. Methods We screened all consecutive patients ≥60 years old admitted due to HFpEF (left ventricular ejection fraction ≥50%). All eligible patients were offered an echocardiogram and a bone scan (a 99mTc-DPD/MDP/HMDP scintigraphy). Echocardiographic and clinical variables were gathered in all the subjects. The intensity of the myocardial uptake was graded according to a visual scale ranging from 0 to 3 points, in which the absence of uptake was assigned a score of 0 points; uptake less than that of bone (referred to as the adjacent rib), 1 point; uptake similar to that of bone, 2 points; and uptake greater than that of bone, 3 points. The distribution of the uptake in myocardium was defined as focal uptake, diffuse uptake, uptake in a ventricular wall segment, diffuse ventricular uptake, or diffuse biventricular uptake. Results The study included 62 HFpEF patients (52% women, 73±9 years). The bone scintigraphic analysis revealed relatively intense myocardial uptake in 7 of 62 patients (11.2%). 7 patients had intense Tc-99m uptake (score of 2–3) in the cardiac region, showing deposition in both right and left ventricles in every case. Patients with amyloid deposition were older (78±6 vs. 70±12 years, p Conclusion ATTR is an underdiagnosed disease that accounts for a significant number (11.2%) of HFpEF cases. These findings create an opportunity for further investigation in the targeted therapy of patients with HFpEF.

ODS ferritic steels were produced by mechanical alloying (MA) in either attritor or planetary ball mills under argon atmosphere and hot extrusion. Milling in argon with controlling excess oxygen (Ex.O) and nitrogen was effective to reduce the particle size of MA powders. Coarse Al2O3 particles and fine AlN precipitates were found to be formed in an Al added steel when the Ex.O and nitrogen concentrations are increased. Lowering the Ex.O and nitrogen concentrations in ODS ferritic steels acted as a key parameter for enhancing their impact properties.

Daptomycin (DAP) is widely used in the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. The emergence of DAP non-susceptible MRSA strains during therapy is a major concern in clinical settings. Recent studies revealed that MRSA spontaneously reverts to a subsequent methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) strain. However, it is not clear whether DAP non-susceptible MRSA has the ability to revert to a susceptible strain. We obtained an MRSA strain pair, DAP non-susceptible strain and subsequent DAP susceptible strain, from a patient. To understand the underlying mechanism by which DAP non-susceptible MRSA reverts to a susceptible strain, we performed genetic and phenotypic analysis in the strain pair. Although whole-genome analysis revealed four missense mutations, including L826F in mprF, in both strains, the net cell-surface charge was similar between the DAP non-susceptible and susceptible strains. However, the thickness of the cell wall was higher in the DAP non-susceptible strain, which was decreased to the same level as the control after reversion to the DAP susceptible strain. Moreover, the non-susceptible strain showed higher mRNA expression of the two-component system (TCS), such as VraSR, yycG and GraS, with the up-regulated transcription levels of cell-wall biosynthesis-related genes. The expression levels of those genes were decreased after reversion to the susceptible strain. These results indicated that DAP non-susceptibility due to up-regulation of the TCS and cell-wall biosynthesis-related genes may be reversible by the discontinuation of DAP, leading to reversion to the DAP susceptible phenotype.

We have proposed in a series of previous papers a method to determine the effective axial-vector current coupling and the strength of the isoscalar proton-neutron pairing interaction for calculating the nuclear matrix elements of the neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay by the quasiparticle random-phase approximation. The combination of these two parameters have had an uncertainty in this approach, but now this uncertainty is removed. In this paper, we apply our method to the neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decays of $^{136}$Xe and $^{130}$Te and predict the nuclear matrix elements and reduced half-lives. Our calculation is tested first by a self-check method using the two-neutrino double-$\beta$ decay, and this test ensures the application of our method to $^{136}$Xe. It turns out, however, that our method is not successful in $^{130}$Te. Further test is made for our calculation of the $\beta$ decay of $^{138}$Xe, and a satisfactory result is obtained.

We investigate the reliability of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) in application to the nuclear matrix element (NME) of the double-β decay of 136Xe. We examine the dependence of the NME of the two-neutrino double-β (2νββ) decay on the choice of the set of the intermediate-state energies, spectrum of the intermediate nucleus, the Gamow-Teller (GT) strength distribution, the GT strengths of the β decays of a nearby nucleus, and a higher-order term of the 2νββ NME recently proposed. The QRPA approach is a good approximation to the decay instance of 136Xe → 136Ba.We investigate the reliability of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) in application to the nuclear matrix element (NME) of the double-β decay of 136Xe. We examine the dependence of the NME of the two-neutrino double-β (2νββ) decay on the choice of the set of the intermediate-state energies, spectrum of the intermediate nucleus, the Gamow-Teller (GT) strength distribution, the GT strengths of the β decays of a nearby nucleus, and a higher-order term of the 2νββ NME recently proposed. The QRPA approach is a good approximation to the decay instance of 136Xe → 136Ba.

Objectives:To verify the effectiveness and safety of the addition of adipose-derived regenerative cells to autologous fat injection therapy.Methods:Unilateral vocal fold paralysis models were made by cutting the right recurrent laryngeal nerve in two pigs. At day 30, 0.5 ml adipose-derived regenerative cells mixed with 1 ml autologous fat was injected into the right vocal fold of one pig, with the other receiving 0.5 ml Ringer's solution mixed with 1 ml autologous fat. At day 120, fibrescopy, laser Doppler flowmeter, computed tomography, vocal function evaluation and histological assessment were conducted.Results:Although histological assessment revealed atrophy of the thyroarytenoid muscle fibre in both pigs, there was remarkable hypertrophy of the thyroarytenoid muscle fibre in the area surrounding the adipose-derived regenerative cells injection site.Conclusion:The addition of a high concentration of adipose-derived regenerative cells to autologous fat injection therapy has the potential to improve the treatment outcome for unilateral vocal fold paralysis.

In this study, we used a flexible array transducer to obtain images of flaws in materials with irregular surfaces. The transducer was manufactured from a 1–3 composite made of piezoelectric zirconate titanate and epoxy resin, and covered with neoprene rubber layers. An approach that involved combining a flexible array transducer and full matrix capture (FMC) is effective, because the surface geometry and flaw signal data can be separately measured and merged during post-processing. The disadvantage of the flexible array transducer is its narrow frequency band due to the thin damping material. To enhance the spatial resolution, we used the scattering amplitude extracted from raw signal data. We also introduced a numerical apodization technique to suppress the influence of side lobe. We validated the performance of the proposed method by measuring the signals from artificial flaws in aluminum specimens, performing high-speed FMC imaging using graphic processing unit computation.

An ultrasensitive resonance ionization mass spectrometer that can be applied to evaluate krypton (Kr) contamination in xenon (Xe) dark matter detectors has been developed for measuring Kr at the parts-per-trillion (ppt) or sub-ppt level in Xe. The gas sample is introduced without any condensation into a time-of-flight mass spectrometer through a pulsed supersonic valve. Using a nanosecond pulsed laser at 212.6 nm, 84Kr atoms in the sample are resonantly ionized along with other Kr isotopes. 84Kr ions are then mass separated and detected by the mass spectrometer in order to measure the Kr impurity concentration. With our current setup, approximately 0.4 ppt of Kr impurities contained in pure argon (Ar) gas are detectable with a measurement time of 1000 s. Although Kr detection sensitivity in Xe is expected to be approximately half of that in Ar, our spectrometer can evaluate Kr contamination in Xe to the sub-ppt level.

Feedback-controlled electromigration (FCE) has been employed to control atomic junctions with quantized conductance. An FCE scheme is controlled by many parameters, such as the threshold differential conductance GTH, feedback voltage VFB, and voltage step VSTEP. It is considered possible to achieve a precise and stable control of the quantized conductance by automatically optimizing the FCE parameters. This motivated us to develop an approach based on machine learning (ML) to tune the feedback parameters of FCE. The ML system is composed of three kinds of engines, namely, learning, evaluation, and inference. The learning engine performs the FCE procedure with random parameters, collects various experimental data, and updates the database. Subsequently, four variables and a cost function are defined to evaluate the controllability of the quantized conductance. The evaluation engine scores the experimental data by using the defined cost function. Then, the control quality is evaluated in real time during the FCE procedure. The inference engine selects the new FCE parameter according to the evaluated data. These engines determine the optimal parameters without human intervention and according to the situation. Finally, we actually applied this system to the FCE procedure. The parameter is selected from sample data in the database according to the variation in controllability. As a result, the controllability gradually improves during the FCE procedure that uses the ML system. The results indicate that the proposed ML system can evaluate the controllability of the FCE procedure and change the VFB parameter in real time according to the situation.

Flooding imposes a severe selection pressure on plants principally because excess water in their surroundings can deprive them of certain basic needs, notably of oxygen and of carbon dioxide and light for photosynthesis. It is one of the major abiotic influences on species’ distribution and agricultural productivity world-wide. A cultivated species, O. glaberrima is origin from Africa that spread to floodplains area along river. Work to develop more tolerant crops or manage flood-prone environments more effectively is also included. Here, recent progress in elucidating the mechanisms determining tolerance versus intolerance to anaerobic stress caused by flooding in higher plants is discussed. This work integrates various specialized approaches ranging from morphology to physiology, and demonstrates how plant biology can be harnessed to improve stress tolerance in an important crop species. Materials and Methods: The research is conducted in various place of fields. As materials of rice and sugarcane, and chilli pepper are used in the experiments. Results and Discussion: We emphasize that Sub1A is not appropriate when selecting and breeding rice cultivars of O. glaberrima for resilience to longer-term submergence. Under these circumstances, a vigorous ethylene-mediated underwater elongation response by leaves is needed to return leaves to air-contact and full photosynthetic activity. Root aerenchyma is formed in waterlogged condition to on the genotype of sugarcane and oxygen in the air is supplied to the root system thorough aerenchyma. The supplied oxygen is used for root system respiration.

We experimentally investigate the relationship between the electromechanical coupling states, and the optimal resistive load, output power, and harvester’s displacement in the high output autoparametric excitation harvester connecting to the self-powered series and parallel synchronized switch harvesting on inductor (SSHI) interfaces. The piezoelectric coupling force increases as the acceleration and the resistive load increases, because the electromechanical coupling states enhances, as well as the piezoelectric voltage increases by the SSHI technique. The increased piezoelectric coupling force suppresses the harvester’s displacement, which leads to the shift in the optimal resistive load and the decrease in the output power. In our autoparametric excitation harvester, the parallel SSHI interface can achieve high output power at low acceleration, while the series SSHI can achieve high output power at high acceleration. The maximum output power of 3.1 mW was obtained at acceleration of 2.4 m/s2 (0.24G) by the series SSHI interface, from the overall harvester’s size 56×56×70 mm3.

© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. In aiming to increase output power for piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters, a self-powered synchronized switch harvesting on inductor (SSHI) using an electrical or mechanical switch has considerable attention. However, the advantages and disadvantages of the two switching technique for the self-powered SSHIs remains unclear. In addition, for a harvester with a high electromechanical coupling coefficient k, the piezoelectric damping force, which enhances by the SSHI's voltage increase, is likely to reduce the harvester's displacement and thus lower the output power. We developed simulation technique, and numerically investigated the performance for the electrical switch SSHI (ESS) and for the mechanical switch SSHI (MSS) harvester, considering the feedback of the piezoelectric damping force. The numerical investigation revealed that, for the ESS, the piezoelectric damping force reduces the displacement every switching on at the maximum/minimum displacement, and thus lowers the output power. In contrast, the MSS, in which the switch turns on only when the displacement exceeds the gap distance, achieved a higher output power, and exhibited intriguing phenomena that the output power continues to increase, whereas the displacement is held constant. Therefore, for a harvester with high k, the MSS can outweigh the ESS.

Poster: "EANM 17 / E-PW095 / Myocardial uptake of bone scintigraphic agents associated with cardiac amyloidosis in daily practice" by: "S. Fukuzawa, S. Okino, T. Uchiyama, N. Kuroiwa, Y. Iwata, M. Inagaki; Funabashi Municipal Medical Center, Chiba, JAPAN"

Feedback-controlled electromigration (FCE) has been employed to control metal nanowires with quantized conductance and to create nanogaps. The setting of the experimental parameters based on experiences is a common practice in FCE. However, tuning the optimization of parameters is intractable because trying all different combinations systematically is practically impossible. Therefore, we proposed an optimization process of the FCE parameters using Ising spin model, which can search for the global optimum in a multidimensional solution space within short calculation time. The FCE parameters were determined through a convergence property of the Ising spin model. This result implies that the proposed method is an effective tool for the process optimization of FCE.

A δ-Zr-hydride was irradiated with 6.4 MeV Fe3+ ions to clarify the relationship between hardening and microstructural changes of bulk Zr-hydrides under neutron irradiation. Irradiation hardening was measured by nanoindentation tests. Transmission electron microscope cross-sectional observations showed that the deformation mechanism of the δ-Zr-hydride was both slip and twinning. Dislocation loops were observed in the irradiated hydride matrix. These irradiation-induced defects make slip deformation difficult and consequently promote the twin deformation of δ-Zr-hydride. This work is a continuation of the previous our work (J. Nucl. Mater. 419 (2011) 366–370) focused upon e-Zr-hydride and we discuss a comparison between the two Zr-hydrides.

The oxidation of six oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic alloys was investigated at 1050 °C in air up to 200 h. Al plays the dominant role in improving the oxidation resistance of the ODS alloys. Cr and Y are of importance in forming the stable Al2O3 scale. To produce the dense alumina layer with enhanced adherence to the metal substrate, the concentrations of Al and Cr should be larger than 2 and 14 wt.%, respectively.

The effect of the thermal cycle during friction stir welding (FSW) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a Ti–6Al–4V alloy joint was investigated by welding 2-mm-thick alloy plates together under various conditions. When the joints were welded above the β-transus temperature, the prior β-grain size in the stir zone depended on the peak temperature, and the size of the lamellar structure depended on the cooling rate. The strength of the joints welded above the β-transus temperature increased with the welding speed because the lamellar structure was smaller. When the welding was performed below the β-transus temperature, the stir zone consisted of the fully equiaxed primary α phase. The tensile strength of the stir zone obtained below the β-transus temperature exceeded that of the base metal.

Female rats show a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH)/luteinising hormone (LH) surge in the presence of a preovulatory level of oestrogen, whereas males do not because of brain defeminisation during the developmental period by perinatal oestrogen converted from androgen. The present study aimed to identify the site(s) of oestrogen action and the critical period for defeminising the mechanism regulating the GnRH/LH surge. Animals given perinatal treatments, such as steroidal manipulations, brain local implantation of oestradiol (E(2) ) or administration of an NMDA antagonist, were examined for their ability to show an E(2) -induced LH surge at adulthood. Lordosis behaviour was examined to compare the mechanisms defeminising the GnRH/LH surge and sexual behaviour. A single s.c. oestradiol-benzoate administration on either the day before birth (E21), the day of birth (D0) or day 5 (D5) postpartum completely abolished the E(2) -induced LH surge at adulthood in female rats, although the same treatment did not inhibit lordosis. Perinatal castration on E21 or D0 partially rescued the E2-induced LH surge in genetically male rats, whereas castration from E21 to D5 totally rescued lordosis. Neonatal E(2) implantation in the anterior hypothalamus including the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV)/preoptic area (POA) abolished the E(2) -induced LH surge in female rats, whereas E(2) implantation in the mid and posterior hypothalamic regions had no inhibitory effect on the LH surge. Lordosis was not affected by neonatal E(2) implantation in any hypothalamic regions. In male rats, neonatal NMDA antagonist treatment rescued lordosis but not the LH surge. Taken together, these results suggest that an anterior hypothalamic region such as the AVPV/POA region is a perinatal site of oestrogen action where the GnRH/LH regulating system is defeminised to abolish the oestrogen-induced surge. The mechanism for defeminisation of the GnRH/LH surge system might be different from that of sexual behaviour, in terms of the site(s) of oestrogen action and critical period, as well as the neurotransmitter system involved.

The ABCD3TA is a 128-channel ASIC with binary architecture for the readout of silicon strip particle detectors in the Semiconductor Tracker of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The chip comprises fast front-end and amplitude discriminator circuits using bipolar devices, a binary pipeline for first level trigger latency, a second level derandomising buffer and data compression circuitry based on CMOS devices. It has been designed and fabricated in a BiCMOS radiation resistant process. Extensive testing of the ABCD3TA chips assembled into detector modules show that the design meets the specifications and maintains the required performance after irradiation up to a total ionising dose of 10 Mrad and a 1-MeV neutron equivalent fluence of 2×10 14 n/cm2, corresponding to 10 years of operation of the LHC at its design luminosity. Wafer screening and quality assurance procedures have been developed and implemented in large volume production to ensure that the chips assembled into modules meet the rigorous acceptance criteria. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.