The optimization of the filler composition and nanostructuring is crucial for improving the thermoelectric properties of filled skutterudite compounds. Nevertheless, their simultaneous optimization ...is often difficult. In this study, group IIIB elements, which were not systematically investigated before as filler elements, were emphasized. Results revealed that group IIIB elements, particularly Al, effectively enhanced the electrical conductivity and decreased the lattice thermal conductivity. Nanostructured samples exhibited an ∼20% enhancement of the thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT, whereas the effects of the Al filler were not tangible in ZT because of the low solubility limit of Al and the high thermal conductivity of electron carriers.
•Al doping is effective for improvement of thermoelectric properties in filled CoSb.•An amount of Al doping, limited by its low solubility, should be carefully optimized.•The ZT value is enhanced about 20% with nanostructure engineering.•Further improvement should be achieved by optimization of the carrier concentration.
The radioactive noble gas radon can be a serious background source in the underground particle physics experiments studying processes that deposit energy comparable to its decay products. Low energy ...solar neutrino measurements at Super-Kamiokande suffer from these backgrounds and therefore require precise characterization of the radon concentration in the detector’s ultra-pure water. For this purpose, we have developed a measurement system consisting of a radon extraction column, a charcoal trap, and a radon detector. In this article we discuss the design, calibration, and performance of the radon extraction column. We also describe the design of the measurement system and evaluate its performance, including its background. Using this system we measured the radon concentration in Super-Kamiokande’s water between May 2014 and October 2015. The measured radon concentration in the supply lines of the water circulation system was 1.74±0.14mBq∕m3 and in the return line was 9.06±0.58mBq∕m3. Water sampled from the center region of the detector itself had a concentration of <0.23mBq∕m3 (95% C.L.) and water sampled from the bottom region of the detector had a concentration of 2.63±0.22mBq∕m3.
Adiponectin, a novel adipocyte-derived collagen-like protein, is the gene product of the adipose most-abundant gene transcript 1 (apM1), which has been considered to have anti-inflammatory and ...anti-atherogenic effects.
To characterize the relationship between adiponectin and leptin, the ob gene product, in normal-weight and obese women.
In this cross-sectional study, we measured fasting plasma adiponectin by ELISA, leptin concentrations by RIA, and related parameters such as blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), body fat mass, lipids, fasting blood glucose and insulin in 353 non-diabetic adult women with a wide range of BMI values.
Plasma adiponectin concentrations in women with the highest tertile of BMI (at least 25.0 kg/m(2)) were decreased compared with those in the middle (22.0-25.0 kg/m(2)) or lowest (<or=22.0 kg/m(2)) tertile of BMI (means+/-s.e.m.: 6.7+/-0.3 microg/ml compared with 8.6+/-0.4 microg/ml and 9.2+/-0.3 microg/ml; both P<0.0001). Serum leptin concentrations in women with the highest tertile of BMI were increased compared with those in women in the middle or lowest tertile of BMI (13.2+/-0.4 ng/ml compared with 8.1+/-0.2 ng/ml and 5.2+/-0.2 ng/ml; both P<0.0001). These relationships were similar after adjustment for BMI or body fat mass. Adiponectin was negatively correlated with serum leptin concentration, fasting immunoreactive insulin, calculated insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment), BMI and body fat mass. These negative relationships became stronger after adjustment for BMI or body fat mass. In stepwise regression analyses, leptin was the significant independent variable for adiponectin, and adiponectin was also the significant independent variable for leptin before and after adjustment for BMI or body fat mass.
In this study, we found an inverse correlation between adiponectin and leptin in vivo.
Introduction
Short femoral hip stems with a metaphyseal anchoring concept have been designed to treat younger patients with good bone quality. The aim of this study was to reconstruct the centre of ...rotation and soft tissue balancing and preserve bone in the long-term perspective.
Materials and methods
Eighteen human femurs were randomised into three groups: (1) metaphyseal anchoring short stem, (2) shortened straight stem, (3) straight stem). Prior to the implantation of the hip stems, a computed tomography (CT) of the bones was performed and the femoral ante-torsion and ante-tilt was measured and compared to the results of the post-implantation CT. This could be calculated based on the 3D coordinates taken from the pre- and post-op CT scans, which were transformed into the same coordinate systems.
Results
The mean preoperative caput–collum–diaphyseal (CCD) angle for the three groups was 126.87° ± 3.50° (Group 3: 129.64° ± 3.53°, Group 1: 123.76° ± 5.56°, Group 2: 127.53° ± 1.42°) and was consistent with published reports. The postoperative CCD angles with 126.85° ± 3.43° were within a very good reconstruction range for all three groups.
The anterior offset comparison among these three groups showed significant difference in reconstruction. The smallest difference between the anatomical (preoperative) and postoperative condition was seen in Group 1 (1.47° ± 0.60°), followed by Group 2 (3.60° ± 0.23°) and Group 3 (8.00° ± 0.70°) groups. The horizontal offset showed no significant difference among the groups and was within the window of ± 5 mm.
Conclusion
In this cadaver study, we found that the metaphyseal anchoring, partially neck-preserving short hip stem best reconstructs the ante-torsion and the ante-tilt of the femoral neck. Therefore, it can be a useful stem in younger or active middle-aged patients.
The vibration damping appears as a macroscopic material property due to the energy dissipation caused by the plastic deformation of the microstructure in the material, but the detailed mechanism is ...still unknown. This study prepared a damping material based on natural rubber (NR) and investigated its deformation behavior with/without fiber-shaped particles using synchrotron X-ray computed tomography (CT). High-resolution submicron X-ray CT was performed to evaluate the local strain in the microstructure from feature points scattered inside the NR. When the strain distribution changed under stepwise tensile loading, the NR-alone material deformed uniformly at the microscale, whereas the fiber composite rubber deformed nonuniformly. Furthermore, the number and volume of voids increased significantly with the compounding of fiber particles, and their values continued to increase depending on the strain amplitude and the loss factor. Controlling of non-uniform local strain and void formation will enable the design of damping characteristics.
•Damping characteristics of natural rubber (NR) and NR-based composite damping material was Investigated.•Its deformation behavior at the microscale was examined using X-ray computed tomography (CT).•Compositing the NR with fiber particles caused nonuniform deformation.•Number and volume of voids increased with compounding of fiber particles.
Bone quality is defined by structural and material characteristics. Most studies on the mandible have focused on the analysis of structural characteristics, with insufficient investigation of ...material characteristics. This study tested whether zoledronate affects the material characteristics of newly formed mandibular bone. Thirty-six female Wistar rats were assigned to three groups: sham-ovariectomized rats (SHAM, n=12), ovariectomized rats (OVX, n=12), and ovariectomized rats treated with zoledronate (ZOL, n=12). The left side of the mandibular ramus of all rats was drilled bicortically. Twenty-eight days after surgery, all surviving rats were euthanized and all mandibles were removed. Raman microspectroscopy was performed, and five spectra per specimen of newly formed mandibular bone were analysed. Compared with OVX rats, the mineral/matrix ratio in ZOL rats was significantly increased (5.43±1.88 vs. 7.86±2.05), while crystallinity (0.055±0.002 vs. 0.050±0.002), relative proteoglycan content (0.43±0.10 vs. 0.31±0.05), and collagen structural integrity (1.16±0.21 vs. 0.72±0.06) were significantly decreased. These changes in material characteristics may explain why rats that received zoledronate exhibited peculiar biological phenomena such as bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw.
The electrode of a PEM fuel cell is a porous medium generally made of carbon cloth or paper. Such a porous electrode has been widely modeled as a homogeneous porous medium with a constant ...permeability in the literature of PEM fuel cell. In fact, most of gas diffusion media are not homogeneous having non-isotropic permeability. In case of carbon cloth, the porous structure consists of carbon fiber tows, the bundles of carbon fiber, and void spaces among tows. The combinational effect of the void space and tow permeability results in the effective permeability of the porous electrode. In this work, the lattice Boltzmann method is applied to the simulation of the flow in the electrode of a PEM fuel cell. The electrode is modeled as void space and porous region which has certain permeability and the Stokes and Brinkman equations are solved in the flow field using the lattice Boltzmann model. The effective permeability of the porous medium is calculated and compared to an analytical calculation showing a good agreement. It has been shown that the permeability of porous medium is strongly dependant on the fiber tow orientation in three-dimensional simulations. The lattice Boltzmann method is an efficient and effective numerical scheme to analyze the flow in a complicated geometry such as the porous medium.
Abstract Objective Lymphoedema is a common complication after cancer treatment. We have reported that low-energy extracorporeal shock wave (SW) therapy up-regulates vascular endothelial growth factor ...(VEGF) in ischaemic myocardium. As VEGF plays an important role in lymphangiogenesis, we investigated whether our low-energy SW therapy enhances lymphangiogenesis in rats. Methods We created a tail model of lymphoedema in rats. The tail was treated with or without low-energy SW therapy (0.25 mJ mm−2 , 500 impulses) four times (days 3, 5, 7, and 9). The tail volume and the fluorescence intensity of indocyanine green (ICG) were measured. The expression of VEGF-C and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) were evaluated by RT-PCR, and the lymphatic vessel density was assessed histochemically. Results The tail volume increased significantly in the control group and was significantly improved in the SW group. The lymphatic system function (evaluated with fluorescence intensity of ICG), the lymphatic vessel density, and the expression of VEGF-C and bFGF were all enhanced by the SW therapy (all P < 0.05). Conclusions The low-energy SW therapy induces therapeutic lymphangiogenesis by up-regulating VEGF-C and bFGF, and improves lymphoedema in a rat-tail model, suggesting that low-energy SW therapy could be a non-invasive and effective strategy for lymphoedema in humans.
The calculation of defect levels in semiconductors within a density functional theory approach suffers greatly from the band gap problem. We propose a band gap correction scheme that is based on the ...separation of energy differences in electron addition and relaxation energies. We show that it can predict defect levels with a reasonable accuracy, particularly in the case of defects with conduction band character, and yet is simple and computationally economical. We apply this method to ZnO doped with group III elements (Al, Ga, In). As expected from experiment, the results indicate that Zn substitutional doping is preferred over interstitial doping in Al, Ga, and In-doped ZnO, under both zinc-rich and oxygen-rich conditions. Further, all three dopants act as shallow donors, with the +1 charge state having the most advantageous formation energy. Also, doping effects on the electronic structure of ZnO are sufficiently mild so as to affect little the fundamental band gap and lowest conduction bands dispersion, which secures their n-type transparent conducting behavior. A comparison with the extrapolation method based on LDA+U calculations and with the Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof hybrid functional (HSE) shows the reliability of the proposed scheme in predicting the thermodynamic transition levels in shallow donor systems.
► We introduce a new scheme to calculate the formation energies of defect systems. ► Our method compares very well with proven, but computationally heavier, methods. ► We investigate systematically ZnO doped with group III elements (Al, Ga, In). ► All three dopants are shallow donors, with a preferred charge state is +1. ► Substitutional doping is energetically favorable, compared to interstitial doping.
We have investigated the ultrafast spin and charge dynamics in the course of a photoinduced phase transition from an insulator with short-range charge order and orbital order (OO) to a ferromagnetic ...metal in perovskite-type Gd0.55Sr0.45MnO3. Transient reflectivity changes suggest that the metallic state is formed just after the photoirradiation and decays within approximately 1 ps. The magnetization, however, increases with the time constant of 0.5 ps and decays in approximately 10 ps. The relatively slow increase of the magnetization is attributable to the magnetic-field-induced alignment of ferromagnetic domains in the initially produced metallic state and its slow decay to the partial recovery of the OO.
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