Dismantling of Reinforced Concrete Using Steam Pressure Cracking System: Drilling and Crack Propagation.

This study investigated a new dismantling system for concrete structures using a steam pressure cracking agent. We improved the mechanical systems such that it can drill through reinforcing steel bars. Therefore, the control method of the system and shape of the drill tip were improved.

Cutting of Diamond Substrate Using Fixed Diamond Grain Saw Wire.

This study demonstrates that a single-crystal diamond substrate can be cut along designed lines using the diamond-saw-wire cutting method. We developed an original saw-wire fixed diamond-grain using a bronze solder with a high melting temperature. We created a unique product machine system with a high vacuum furnace and a bronze solder that contains a metallic compound.

fNIRS Assessment during an Emotional Stroop Task among Patients with Depression: Replication and Extension.

Objective: Accumulated evidence collected via functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has been reported with regard to mental disorders. A previous finding revealed that emotional words evoke left frontal cortex activity in patients with depression. The primary aim of the current study was to replicate this finding using an independent dataset and evaluate the brain region associated with the severity of depression using an emotional Stroop task.

Correlation between frontal lobe oxy-hemoglobin and severity of depression assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy.

Introduction: The search for objective biomarkers of psychiatric disorders has a long history. Despite this, no universally accepted instruments or methods to detect biomarkers have been developed. One potential exception is near-infrared spectroscopy, although interpreting the measures of blood flow recorded with this technique remains controversial.

Dynamic state of water molecular displacement of the brain during the cardiac cycle in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.

The predictive accuracy of iNPH diagnoses could be increased using a combination of supplemental tests for iNPH. To evaluate the dynamic state of water displacement during the cardiac cycle in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH), we determined the change in water displacement using q-space analysis of diffusion magnetic resonance image. ECG-triggered single-shot diffusion echo planar imaging was used.

Evaluation of perfusion-related and true diffusion in vertebral bone marrow: a preliminary study.

Our aim in this study was to obtain noninvasively more detailed information on perfusion and diffusion in vertebral bone marrow. We analyzed two diffusion components using a biexponential function. Eleven healthy volunteers were examined.

A method for assessing metabolic information on liver and bone marrow by use of double gradient-echo with spectral fat suppression.

Our aim in this study was to create a noninvasive and practical method for evaluating metabolic information on the liver (iron content and lipid infiltration) and spine (bone mineral density and marrow fat degeneration) using double gradient-echo with and without the spectral fat suppression technique (double-GRE-FS). We arranged phantoms made of various concentrations of superparamagnetic iron oxide solution adjacent to neutral fat to obtain slice planes with various fat fractions using the partial volume effect. We obtained double-GRE-FS images and calculated the T2* values.

Selection of autophagy or apoptosis in cells exposed to ER-stress depends on ATF4 expression pattern with or without CHOP expression.

Cells exposed to ER-stress undergo the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) to avoid apoptosis, but may also activate autophagy. However, the signal for selection of one of these two protective responses is unknown. To clarify the key switch between autophagy and apoptosis, we examined the correlation of UPR-related signals with autophagy and/or apoptosis inductions in HepG2 cells exposed to three ER-stress inducers (NaF, tunicamycin, and thapsigargin) with time, including the effect of small interfering RNA on the cell responses.

Prediction of back-scatter radiations to a beam monitor chamber of medical linear accelerators by use of the digitized target-current-pulse analysis method.

In small-field irradiation, the back-scattered radiation (BSR) affects the counts measured with a beam monitor chamber (BMC). In general, the effect of the BSR depends on the opened-jaw size. The effect is significantly large in small-field irradiation.

Brownian motion-magnetophoresis of nano/micro-particles.

A new magnetophoresis method to determine the magnetic susceptibility of single nano/microparticles was developed by applying Brownian motion analysis to determine the size of the particle. This method could measure simultaneously both the magnetophoretic velocity and the radius of the identical single nano/microparticles, which are necessary for the determination of the magnetic susceptibility of the particle. The advantage of this method was demonstrated by the measurement of the diamagnetic susceptibilities of polystyrene particles 500 nm-3 μm in diameter in a paramagnetic 0.

Two-dimensional flow magnetophoresis of microparticles.

A new two-dimensional micro-flow magnetophoresis device was constructed in a superconducting magnet (10 T) using triangular shaped pole pieces, which could apply a magnetic strength, B(dB/dx), in the range of ca. 0-14,000 T(2) m(-1) across a capillary cell. Polystyrene particles with diameters of 1, 3, and 6 μm were used as test samples in a paramagnetic medium of 1 M MnCl(2) to evaluate the performance of this method.

[Appropriate cardiac phase for measurement of ADC of the brain using ECG-triggered diffusion MRI].

Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) are sometimes overestimated when they are measured in the brain near the basal ganglia because water molecules in brain tissues fluctuate with blood volume loading in the cranium. We determined detailed ADC changes during the cardiac cycle to evaluate the appropriate cardiac phases for accurate measurement of ADC values. Using 1.

Nano-gap magnetophoresis with Raman spectroscopic detection.

As a tool to determine the magnetic susceptibility of a nano/microparticle in a liquid, a nano-gap magnetophoresis device was fabricated using tilted flat glass plates and a permanent magnet. The nano-gap device was not only used to determine the size of particles, but also directly provided measurements of Raman spectra of fractionally trapped particles in the nano-gap device. The performance of the new hyphenated method was demonstrated by an analysis of suspended particle matter in traffic air.

[Analysis of radioactivation induced by high-energy X-rays in medical linear accelerators -estimation of short-lived radioactivated nuclides-].

In medical linear accelerators, radioactivation is induced on the target and neighborhood parts by photoneutrons accompanying a photo-nuclear reaction and leading to higher acceleration energy. We measured the residual radiation from the radioactivated materials according to the time, and tried to identify radioactivated nuclides and their relative quantities by means of measurement results. It was presumed that the main source of residual radiations was the Target, Flattening filter and Primary collimator in the linac head.

[Analysis of photonuclear activation effect of high-energy medical linear accelerators--measurement of spatial dose distribution and temporal decay curve, and assessment of personnel dosimetry].

The characteristics of activation after high-energy X-rays have been generated by medical linear accelerators were measured using an ionization chamber. Radiation doses increased with rising X-ray energy, based on 10 MV, 15 MV, and 18 MVX-ray measurements. When the total irradiation dose was changed, radiation dose increased with total irradiation dose.

[Influence of angle-measurement error on pre-sampled MTF and proposal of an optimal technique of angle measurement].

The presampled modulation transfer function (MTF) is recognized as the established metric for characterizing the resolution performance of a digital imaging system. In the past, the three general approaches for assessing the presampled MTF were using the angulated slit, angulated edge, and angulated square-wave test pattern all of which are tilted slightly against the column direction of the detector. In all methods, it is important to determine the exact angle of the respective test devices.

Significance of asymmetric basal posterior wall thinning in patients with cardiac Fabry's disease.

Although classic Fabry's disease results in multiple causes of death, the cardiac variant of Fabry's disease affects only the cardiac system and results in initial symmetric left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and later LV dysfunction, asymmetric basal posterior LV wall thinning, restrictive mitral flow, and functional mitral regurgitation with end-stage chronic heart failure (CHF), leading to death. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether these findings predict prognoses in patients with cardiac Fabry's disease. In 13 consecutive men with cardiac Fabry's disease, LV wall thickness, the ejection fraction, mitral E-wave deceleration time, the LV Tei index, and functional mitral regurgitation were measured by echocardiography.