The kinetics of granule growth in fluidized bed granulation with moisture control was theoretically investigated. A population balance equation, in which moisture content was taken into consideration for the coalescence probability of two colliding granules, was proposed. The effects of damping speed and operation tiem on granule growth during moisture fixed control were numerically examined. It was found that an increase in operation time resulted in an enlargement of granule diameter and a narrow size distribution during the damping process, but no significant growth was observed in the moisture fixed control process. By contrast, a decrease in the operation time (large damping speed) caused small granule growth in the damping process, but a large growth in the moisture control process. The theory also showed good agreement with experimental granulation data for pharmaceutical powders.

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This paper proposes a new algorithm of generating pulse sequence for numerical controllers. Different from the existing algorithms using which the generated pulse frequency is fixed at one displacement increment, the proposed algorithm can generate pulse sequence with real-time changing frequency following the reference displacement , so that fast-changing velocity requirements in machining can be satisfied. Moreover, by adopting the proposed algorithm, the generated velocity and acceleration can be also controlled within the range of the motor system to achieve better performance. Structure and parameters of the numerical controller which adopts the proposed algorithm are thoroughly discussed in this paper, and methods of adjusting the controller parameters to adapt to the servo system's torque-frequency characteristic are also introduced. At last, effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and effectiveness of the proposed methods for velocity and acceleration control are demonstrated by simulations.

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This paper presents two things, design of a menu system generator and its implementation in a system theoretic approach. First, we specify functions of a menu system for task manipulation (model integration approach) and define a menu statement description language (MSDL) for it and introduce a concept of task execution flow diagram (TEFD), show that the MSDL is powerful enough to describe any kind of TEFD. Second, we formulize a menu system generator (MSG), which can address the above mentioned menu system, as a push down automaton, and implement the MSG to demonstrate that a information system specified in the theoretic way has a direct implementation in extProlog.

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Aim: Immunologic dysfunction was recently found to be one of the most important mechanisms underlying the initiation and development of atherosclerosis. Thymus involution can contribute to immune disturbance and disequilibrium of T-cell subsets. This study aimed to explore whether recent thymic emigration (RTE) is impaired in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).
Methods: Content of signal-joint T cell receptor excision circles (sj-TREC) in T lymphocytes, a molecular marker of RTE, was assessed among CAD patients and age-matched controls. Monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR method was used to assess the samples' telomere length in order to exclude the potential influence of T cell proliferation on the dilution of sj-TREC. Patients were grouped according to Gensini score (GS) (low, GS ＜18; intermediate, GS 18–41; high, GS ＞41). Ordinary logistic regression models were used to determine potential risk factors for CAD and GS tertiles.
Results: Average copy numbers of sj-TREC per 10⁶ T lymphocytes among patients with unstable angina, stable angina, and controls were 726±429, 1213±465, and 1795±838, respectively (P＜0.001). However, there was no significant difference in telomere length among groups. Moreover, the content of sj-TREC in the high GS group was most significantly reduced than the low GS group (P＜0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that lower sj-TREC was independently associated with the progression of CAD (OR=0.44, P＜0.001) and higher GS (OR=0.4, P＜0.001).
Conclusion: Impaired RTE could be partly responsible for CAD development. Mechanisms may be involved in the disturbance of T lymphocyte compartment and interruption of maintained immune tolerance resulting from thymus involution.

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Generally, vector controllers in induction motors tend to suffer from the influence of rotor resistance variation caused by temperature and load torque conditions. Several rotor resistance identification methods have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, a novel rotor resistance identification technique is proposed based on variables in the magnetic suspension control loops. When static force, for example, a shaft weight is applied, force commands are automatically generated in the opposite direction to satisfy the force equilibrium. However, the amplitude and direction of the force vary in accordance with the rotor resistance variation. Thus, the rotor resistance can be identified from the suspension force . In addition, influence of temperature drift in gap sensors is investigated. The effectiveness is confirmed experimentally.

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Clock synchronization represents an essential necessity for EtherCAT networks. This letter proposes a practical and efficient clock drift compensation scheme for the master-slave clock synchronization in EtherCAT networks, which decouples and then minimizes the adverse effect of master jitters for synchronization without degrading the clock synchronization performance between slave devices. Moreover, our method requires no modifications to the original EtherCAT protocol, nor does it introduce any additional bandwidth overhead. Comparative experimental results demonstrate the performance enhancement of the proposed approach over existing methods.

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Multiple electrostatic suspension suspends multiple floators with a single power amplifier. The controllability of double parallel suspension was previously analyzed and the conditions to be controllable were shown. To ensure the analytical results, single-DOF suspension systems were fabricated, and a double parallel electrostatic suspension system consisted of these systems. The feasibility of double parallel electrostatic suspension was demonstrated experimentally. Dynamic characteristics of double parallel electrostatic suspension were studied based on step responses and frequency responses.

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　深い地盤構造を知りたいといった目的で行われる微動探査において必要とされる長周期領域の微動の振幅は短周期領域のそれに比べて非常に小さい。しかも，長周期領域ではアナログ回路が持つ1/f ノイズの影響を大きくうけるため，高価で高性能な機器を用いてさえも十分なS/N(信号ノイズ比) をもって観測することが困難な場合もある。
　このような問題を解決するために，長周期領域でも十分な分解能およびS/N を有する超低ノイズフロア，超高分解能のデータロガーを開発した。A/D コンバータ(以下，ADC)には近年低コスト化が著しい24bit のΔΣ 型を採用した。また，1 成分あたり3 チャンネルのADC を用いて，1 倍ゲイン(利得)，256 倍ゲインの信号を並行して記録するとともに，同時に入力を短絡してデータロガーの電源リップルノイズも記録する，というハイブリッド方式を採用した。1 倍ゲインおよび256 倍ゲインの記録を組み合わせることで小さな入力信号から大振幅までADC の変換ノイズの少ない部分だけを用いて理論上で32bit相当の広ダイナミックレンジと高い分解能を確保しつつ，長周期領域における大幅なノイズ低減を目指した。特に，電源リップルノイズを信号から減算するという処理を行うことで，ノイズフロアの大幅な低下に成功した。
　データロガーの試作機を作成し，微動レベルが低い地域で実際にセンサーを接続してデータを取得し，開発したデータロガーの性能について検討した。その結果，単なる256倍ゲインの場合に比べて，本研究で提案するシステムでは長周期領域で30 倍以上S/N が拡大し，実効値で5 bit 程度ものダイナミックレンジの拡大を実現した。

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Interfaces based on surface electromyography (sEMG) signals are one of the important methods for non-invasively extracting the intention of a severely disabled person and supporting environmental control of wheelchairs and personal computers. However, sEMG-based interfaces generally have a common and maximum disadvantage of vulnerability to changes in electrode position. In this study, we aimed to develop a robust oral motion classification method that is robust to change in electrode position. Five healthy adult male subjects participated in this experiment. sEMG signals of the suprahyoid muscles during five oral motions (right, left, up tongue motion, jaw opening, and clenching) were measured using a boomerang-shaped 22-channel electrode adhered to the underside of the jaw. Oral motion classification from sEMG signals was performed using a support vector machine (SVM). When sEMG signals measured at a position different from the 22-channnel electrode position where the training data for SVM classifier was obtained were used as the test data, the classification accuracy of five oral motions sharply decreased from 92.0% to 72.8%. In contrast, when the 10 trials of sEMG signals obtained in advance at different electrode positions on different days were used as training data, the robustness against electrode position change was improved drastically and the mean classification accuracy of all subjects reached 90.4%. Furthermore, we developed an electric wheelchair control system that can operate based on classified motions and verified its usefulness for wheelchair operability and driving performance thorough the experiment. The results showed that the proposed method can omit the SVM training process required every time after the electrode is attached and can operate the wheelchair immediately after electrode attachment. Such advancement of interfaces eliminates the annoyance caused to the user who uses the interface on a daily basis and is expected to lead to an improvement in the quality of life.

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牧草サイレージ主体飼養で魚粉を利用して，乳生産を低下させずにどの程度窒素排泄量を低減できるか検討した．供試牛は泌乳中期の2産以上の乳牛6頭を用い，3×3ラテン方格法で窒素出納試験を実施した．供試飼料は混合飼料とし，牧草サイレージ，加熱圧ぺんとうもろこし，大豆粕および魚粉の乾物比率は，13％CP区で55 : 39 : 4 : 2，15％CP区で55 : 34.6 : 8.4 : 2，17CP％区で55 : 30 : 17 : 0とした．全飼料中の実測CP含量は各々13.2，15.1，16.7％であったが，TDN含量はいずれも76％であった．試験は1期18日間とし，糞尿は各期の最後の4日間全量採取し，採血は各期の最終日に行った．乾物摂取量，乳量，乳タンパク質量および乳脂肪量は処理間に差がなかった．窒素排泄量では，糞窒素量は処理間に差がなかったが，尿窒素量は17％CP区が125g/日，15％CP区が98g/日，13％CP区が69g/日と，飼料中CP含量の低下とともに著しい減少がみられた（いずれもP＜0.05）．乳中尿素窒素（MUN）濃度は17％CP区が14.3mg/dl，15％CP区が10.6mg/dl，13％CP区が7.3mg/dlと，飼料中のCP含量とともに低くなり（いずれもP＜0.01），血清尿素窒素（SUN）濃度とも高い相関がみられた．また，MUN濃度およびSUN濃度は，尿窒素量とも相関が高く，尿窒素量低減の指標として有用と考えられた．血清遊離メチオニンおよびリジン濃度は，魚粉を添加した13％CP区および15％CP区が，動脈血および動静脈差ともにやや高い傾向にあった．これらから，魚粉添加により乳合成の制限アミノ酸となるメチオニンおよびリジンが補給され，飼料中CP含量を低く設定しても，乳生産を低下させずに，尿窒素量を低減できることが示唆された．

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Spacecraft drag-free control is an effective way to make satellite orbit only shaped by gravity and to achieve accurate and quiet alignment of the spacecraft axes to their reference. Essential measurements come from fine accelerometers. Exploiting the experience of the GOCE satellite drag-free and attitude control, the paper provides an integrated modelling and control design procedure which encompasses accelerometer and spacecraft control. Essential to this framework is the stochastic modelling and prediction of the unknown disturbance class to be counteracted. Stochastic modelling of disturbance is the key asset of the Embedded Model Control methodology. Among other advantages it allows robust decoupling of state prediction and control for complex dynamic systems.

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A Direct Current excited Reluctance Motor (DCRM) powered by three-phase sinusoidal currents is expected to have a higher torque density than a Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) powered by unipolar currents because they can achieve a greater angular variation of magnetic co-energy even in the magnetic saturation region. In this study, a non-sinusoidal current drive method for DCRM is proposed to increase torque. The non-sinusoidal current waveform is defined by a Fourier series function, and the optimum coefficients of the current function are solved using nonlinear programming. According to simulation results, the average torque of a DCRM driven by optimized non-sinusoidal current waveform is increased. Furthermore, the current balance between the armature coil and the excitation coil is investigated. As a result, the average torque is increased by up to about 25% when compared to conventinal sinusoidal current drive.

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The demand for community wind turbines is increasing to fulfill local requirements and make the grid more stable. A turbine with a hydrostatic transmission is more reliable and cost effective than a conventional gearbox turbine making it an attractive alternative for community wind turbines. A power regenerative test platform has been built at the University of Minnesota to understand the performance of a hydrostatic transmission in a wind turbine. The design of the test bed is described in detail in this paper. The testbed emulates the rotor torque including the effects of the blade dynamics and pitch in a hardware-in-the-loop configuration. This test platform provides a powerful tool to investigate the performance of new components, controllers, fluids and energy storage methods on the hydrostatic wind turbine transmission.

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[Purpose] The sagittal shape of the spine is associated with back-pain, balance and quality of life. We developed, evaluated and report the responses of a graphical tool to assess sagittal spine shape knowledge (literacy). [Participants and Methods] Two hundred and fifty adults were randomly assigned, in a cross-sectional crossover study, to free-hand draw and select the “ideal” sagittal spine shape. We evaluated the inter and intra-rater reliability and agreement between tests and the sagittal and lordotic spine literacy between the drawing and selection test versions. [Results] Drawing test inter- and intra-rater agreement was 79% and 80% respectively. Drawing vs. selection agreement was 43%. More participants drew than selected the correct spine (30% vs. 21%) (p<0.001) and lumbar lordosis shape (56% vs. 42%) (p<0.001). Test order did not affect spine shape literacy scores. A significantly poorer literacy trend was observed with spine pain presence (p=0.02). [Conclusion] We developed a reliable method to evaluate spine shape literacy and established that only 21% and 42% of our sample demonstrated correct sagittal spine and lordotic spine shape literacy, respectively. The low literacy scores suggests that consideration of including spine shape literacy in health literacy and self-management programs may be warranted, especially in ageing populations.

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Mammalian thioredoxin reductases (TrxRs) contain selenium as selenocysteine (Sec) in the C-terminal redox center –Gly-Cys-Sec-Gly-OH to reduce Trx and other substrates; a Sec-to-Cys substitution in mammalian TrxR yields an almost inactive enzyme. The corresponding tetrapeptide sequence in Drosophila melanogaster TrxR (-TrxR), –Ser-Cys-Cys-Ser-OH, endows the orthologous enzyme with a catalytic competence similar to mammalian selenoenzymes, but implementation of the Ser-containing tetrapeptide sequence SCCS into the mammalian enzyme does not restore the activity of the Sec-to-Cys mutant form (turnover number <2/min). MOPAC calculation suggested that the C-terminal hexapeptide Pro-Ala-Ser-Cys-Cys-Ser-OH functions as a redox center that alleviates the necessity for selenium in -TrxR, and a mutant form of human lung TrxR that mimics this hexapeptide sequence showed improved catalytic turnover (17.4/min for DTNB and 13.2/min for E. coli trx) compared to the Sec-to-Cys mutant. MOPAC calculation also suggested that the dominant form of the Pro-containing hexapeptide is a C+ conformation, which perhaps has a catalytic advantage in facile reduction of the intramolecular disulfide bond between Cys497 and Cys498 by the N-terminal redox center in the neighboring subunit.

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Insufficient bone mass is still a difficult point to be solved in oral implantation, so new bone graft materials are continuously researched and discussed in clinical practice in order to obtain better bone augmentation. In order to explore whether platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) can promote the formation of new bone in mineralized collagen (MC), MC/PRF and pure MC were implanted into the bilateral mandibular defect model in rabbits, respectively. Micro-CT scan and histological evaluation of the target area at 4, 8, and 12 weeks after operation. The results of Micro-CT three-dimensional reconstruction analysis showed that the ratio of bone volume to total volume (BV/TV), trabecular bone number (Tb.N), trabecular bone thickness (Tb.Th) and trabecular bone separation (Tb.Sp) and residual material volume fraction (RMVF) in the MC/PRF group were better than those in the MC group (p<0.05). The results of HE and Masson staining showed that the new bone formation and material degradation rate of the MC/PRF group were better than those of the MC group. The results suggest that PRF can accelerate the formation of new bone in MC, and provide new ideas for the clinical application of new bone graft materials.

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Visualizing genotypic data is essential in genetic research and breeding programs as it offers clear representations of genomic information, enhancing understanding of genetic architecture. This becomes especially critical with the emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, which generate vast datasets necessitating effective visualization tools. While traditional tools for graphical genotypes have been groundbreaking, they often lack flexibility and universal applicability. These tools encounter limitations such as user-customized visualization and compatibility issues across different operating systems. In this study, I introduce GenoSee, a novel visualization tool designed to address these shortcomings. GenoSee can handle phased and non-phased variant calling data, offering extensive customization to suit diverse research requirements. It operates seamlessly across multiple platforms, ensuring compatibility, and provides high-quality graphical genotypes. GenoSee facilitates deeper insights into genomic structures, thereby advancing genetic and genomic research, and breeding programs by enhancing accessibility to genetic data visualization.

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Free-running model tests and captive model tests were conducted using a ship model under full- and trial-load conditions to capture the maneuverability of a 498-GT cargo ship ''Jinmon-maru'' equipped with rudders on both sides of the propeller. In this paper, the rudder is called a side rudder (SD-rudder). Similar model tests were conducted using an another identical model, in which only the rudder was changed from a side rudder to a fishtail rudder, to evaluate the model test results. Thus, a quantitative evaluation of the difference in the performance of a ship with a side rudder (SD-rudder ship) and that with a fishtail rudder (FT-rudder ship) was realized. The model tests showed that the turning performance of the SD-rudder ship was inferior to that of the FT-rudder ship. It was revealed that the deterioration of the turning performance of the SD-rudder ship can be attributed to a rudder-angle limitation applied to prevent the hull from touching the rudder.

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Previous studies have investigated the relationship between prefrontal cortex activation and perceived exertion during prolonged exercise. However, the effect of perceived exertion on prefrontal cortex activity is confounded by exercise intensity. Therefore, the changes in prefrontal cortex activity in response to perceived exertion remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the activation (oxygenation) of the prefrontal cortex and perceived exertion during constant work-rate elbow-flexion exercise with or without muscle-spindle stimulation. Ten healthy, right-handed subjects participated in the study. Near-infrared spectroscopy with probes positioned over the prefrontal cortex measured its activation throughout elbow-flexion exercise. Subjects performed sustained elbow-flexion exercise at 25–35% of the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) with or without muscle-spindle stimulation (vibration), which can decrease perceived exertion. The ratings of perceived exertion were significantly lower during exercise with vibration (Ex-Vib) than during exercise without vibration (Ex) (p<0.05). The oxygenation of the prefrontal cortex during Ex-Vib did not significantly differ from that during Ex (p>0.05). These results indicated that perceived exertion was not necessarily associated with prefrontal cortex activation during exercise.

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