In-situ gamma-ray measurement to estimate depth distribution of Cs in farmland in Fukushima Prefecture.

Radioactive cesium released into the atmosphere caused by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011 has contaminated the surrounding area. We confirmed the applicability of in-situ methods to evaluate the depth distribution of Cs by employing the ratio of Compton-scattering and photo-peak components (r) obtained from measured gamma-ray spectra. In the present study, we applied the in-situ method to farmlands in Fukushima Prefecture whose sites were disturbed by decontamination and plowing operations.

Sestrin-2 and BNIP3 regulate autophagy and mitophagy in renal tubular cells in acute kidney injury.

Autophagy is a cellular recycling process induced in response to many types of stress. However, little is known of the signaling pathways that regulate autophagy during acute kidney injury (AKI). Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa-interacting protein (BNIP)3 and sestrin-2 are the target proteins of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and p53, respectively.

Function approximation based on fuzzy rules extracted from partitioned numerical data.

We present an efficient method for extracting fuzzy rules directly from numerical input-output data for function approximation problems. First, we convert a given function approximation problem into a pattern classification problem. This is done by dividing the universe of discourse of the output variable into multiple intervals, each regarded as a class, and then by assigning a class to each of the training data according to the desired value of the output variable.