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Notes: Neural network is considered as a parameter estimation tool in plasma controls for next generation tokamak such as ITER. The neural network has been reported to be so accurate and fast for plasma equilibrium identification that it may be applied to the control of complex tokamak plasmas. For this application, the reliability of the conventional neural network needs to be improved. In this study, a new idea of double neural network is developed to achieve this. The new idea has been applied to simple plasma position identification of KSTAR tokamak for feasibility test. Characteristics of the concept show higher reliability and fault tolerance even in severe faulty conditions, which may make neural network applicable to plasma control reliably and widely in future tokamaks. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: To improve inherent shortcomings of statistical methods and apply them to the extraction of plasma equilibrium parameters in a fast timescale for real-time plasma control, new concepts of statistical methods such as principal component analysis-based neural network (NN), functional parametrization (FP)-based NN and double network are introduced by modifying NN and FP. These new methods are benchmarked and compared with the conventional techniques of NN and FP in a simple single-filament system. As a result of their applications to identification of plasma equilibrium parameters in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research tokamak, particularly, the double network concept among them has successfully achieved the improvement of drawbacks in the conventional methods. It is shown that more reliable results from the double network method can be obtained by combining several different statistical treatments as a primary network. Even in the case of nonoptimized methods united as a primary network, quite acceptable results can be achieved in the double network method. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: A Thomson scattering system on the Hanbit magnetic mirror device has been installed to measure the electron temperature and density of the plasma in the central cell. The configuration is based on a standard 90° scattering scheme. The optical system consists of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser, input optics, collection optics, spectrograph optics, detectors, and a data acquisition system. Although the laser beam path is about 50 m long and the background emissions are not low, the electron temperature measurements have been made at a single point on a shot-by-shot basis, in which the stray light was considerably suppressed by using a beam dump, a viewing dump, and baffles. The measured electron temperature is about 50–70 eV in experiments for plasma production and heating by ICRF of 200-kW-rf power using a slot antenna. A description of the installed system and the experimental results are presented. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Digital alloys of GaSb/Mn have been fabricated by molecular-beam epitaxy. Transmission electron micrographs showed good crystal quality with individual Mn-containing layers well resolved, no evidence of three-dimensional MnSb precipitates was seen in as-grown samples. All samples studied exhibited ferromagnetism with temperature-dependent hysteresis loops in the magnetization accompanied by metallic p-type conductivity with a strong anomalous Hall effect (AHE) up to 400 K (limited by the experimental setup). The anomalous Hall effect shows hysteresis loops at low temperatures and above room temperature very similar to those seen in the magnetization. The strong AHE with hysteresis indicates that the holes interact with the Mn spins above room temperature. All samples are metallic, which is important for spintronics applications. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Interleukin-18 (IL-18) has multiple important pro-inflammatory effects, including the induction of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in various diseases. In this study, we investigated the IL-18-producing activities in human pulmonary and pleural tuberculosis (TB) in response to purified protein derivative (PPD) antigen (Ag) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The most significant IL-18 production was found in chronic refractory TB (CRTB) patients. However, IFN-γ production in CRTB patients was significantly less than that in healthy tuberculin reactors or in patients with tuberculous pleurisy (TBP). Elevated levels of both IL-18 and IFN-γ were found in pleural fluids from TBP patients. In vitro production of IL-18 was dramatically decreased following an 18 h stimulation with PPD. However, IFN-γ was markedly increased in pleural mononuclear cells from TBP patients after in vitro stimulation with PPD. The mesothelial cell type was the main source of pro-IL-18 in pleural cells from TBP patients, suggesting an important role for these cells in TBP. Taken together, these data indicate that IL-18 is elevated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from CRTB patients, as well as at the site of TBP, indicating a possible role for IL-18 in both protective immunity and pathologic responses in human TB.

Notes: SUMMARY: Pharmacokinetic studies were performed in 10 stable kidney transplantation patients who received microemulsion formulation (Neoral®) of cyclosporine A (CsA) twice daily. No agents having pharmacokinetic effects on CsA had been used in these patients. The values of various basic pharmacokinetic parameters were similar to those reported in Western literature. The complete area under the blood concentration–time curve (AUC) of CsA for the duration of 12 h (12-h AUC) was determined using the linear trapezoidal rule from seven concentrations at 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 h after CsA administration. The mean values of 12-h AUC were 4603.63 ± 344.61 ng h/mL. CsA concentrations at 2 h after dosing (not the trough levels) showed the best correlation with the complete AUC (r2 = 0.9322). The abbreviated AUC of CsA was calculated either by stepwise multiple linear regression analysis or by the linear trapezoidal rule from a few sampling time points. Using stepwise multiple linear regression analysis, which was used in calculating abbreviated AUC in all previous studies, the model equation that had the highest correlation and the lowest prediction error with the complete AUC was derived by using CsA concentrations at 2 and 8 h after dosing (12-h AUC = 4.262C2 + 8.390C8− 669.417; r2 = 0.9808, absolute prediction error = 3.97 ± 0.96). Two model equations derived using the linear trapezoidal rule provided the best correlation with the complete AUC: (1) The two time points selected model equation 12-h AUC = 4C2 + 5C8; r2 = 0.9780, absolute prediction error = 6.41 ± 1.22). (2) The three time points selected model equation 12-h AUC = 4C0 + 3C2 + 5C6; r2 = 0.9475, absolute prediction error = 5.00 ± 1.41). When different pharmacokinetic data sets were applied to the model equations derived using regression analysis, the values of coefficients and the constant of the regression equation had changed from the initial equation. Thus, new model equations will emerge every time the new data are applied. In contrast, the values of coefficients in the model equation calculated using trapezoidal rule were unaltered when tested by the new pharmacokinetic data set. Thus, the abbreviated AUC derived using the linear trapezoidal rule would be simpler than and superior to that obtained using stepwise multiple linear regression analysis in prediction of the complete AUC.

Notes: Activated caspase-3 is considered an important enzyme in the cell death pathway. To study the specific role of caspase-3 activation in neuronal cells, we generated a stable tetracycline-regulated SK-N-MC neuroblastoma cell line, which expressed a highly efficient self-activating chimeric␣caspase-3, consisting of the caspase-1 prodomain fused to the caspase-3 catalytic domain. Under expression-inducing conditions, we observed a time-dependent increase of processed caspase-3 by immunostaining for the active form of the enzyme, intracellular caspase-3 enzyme activity, as well as poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage. Induced expression of the caspase fusion protein showed predominantly caspase-3 activity without any apoptotic morphological changes. In contrast, staurosporine treatment of the same cells resulted in activation of multiple caspases and profound apoptotic morphology. Our work provides evidence that auto-activation of caspase-3 can be efficiently achieved with a longer prodomain and that neuronal cell apoptosis may require another caspase or activation of multiple caspase enzymes.

Notes: The present study investigated the money ethic scale among full-time employees, part-time employed students, and non-employed university students. Confirmatory factor analyses results showed that there was a good fit between the three-factor model and research data for full-time employees and non-employed students and a weaker fit for part-time employees and the whole sample. Further, factors success and evil were predictors of income for full-time employees. Money attitudes were not related to pay satisfaction. Factor budget was associated with life satisfaction for full-time employees and non-employed students. Full-time employees in this sample tended to be older, male, and have higher education than part-time employees and students. Non-employed students tended to have higher life satisfaction, lower protestant work ethic, less type A behavior pattern, and think more strongly that money does not represent their success, that they budget money carefully, and that money is not evil than part-time employees.

Notes: An osmosensing mechanism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae involves a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade (HOG pathway). This study aimed to investigate the response of the yeast to osmotic stress. A mutant strain, in which the HOG1 gene was disrupted by TRP1, was constructed. A spontaneous mutant, named YJY45, which suppresses the osmosensitive growth phenotype of the hog1 deletion mutant, was selected and showed a secondary phenotype of temperature sensitivity on YPD containing 0.5 M NaCl at 37°C. Our data indicate that the spontaneous mutation in YJY45 mutant was mapped in KSS1, which is one of the MAPK family. The mutation in KSS1 suppresses the osmolarity-hypersensitive phenotype of the hog1 deletion mutation and restores GPD1 induction.

Notes: Native Thai species of Clarias catfishes and one species introduced from Africa can be easily distinguished by horizontal starch gel electrophoresis of allozymes. An undescribed species of Clarias was collected from Thailand and found to possess several fixed allelic differences from the Clarias previously studied.