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A new processing method of ground acceleration data is proposed for the fast and accurate evaluation of the maximum seismic structural responses. The proposed method consists of a trimming method and a down‐sampling method. The proposed trimming method is based on ground acceleration power and contains compensation procedures for the trimmed ground acceleration. The proposed down‐sampling method effectively uses FIR filter, whose weight coefficients are derived from the correspondence between the responses under a triangular wave and the equivalent impulse input. It is demonstrated through numerical examples for response spectrums and a full‐scale high‐rise building model that the proposed method enables fast and accurate evaluation of the maximum seismic structural responses. A new processing method of ground acceleration data is proposed for the fast and accurate evaluation of the maximum seismic structural responses. The proposed method consists of a trimming method and a down‐sampling method. It is demonstrated through numerical examples for response spectrums and a full‐scale high‐rise building model that the proposed method enables fast and accurate evaluation of the maximum seismic structural responses.

Graphene has been actively investigated as an electronic material owing to many excellent physical properties, such as high charge mobility and quantum Hall effect, due to the characteristics of a linear band structure and an ideal two-dimensional electron system. However, the correlations between the transport characteristics and the spin states of charge carriers or atomic vacancies in graphene have not yet been fully elucidated. Here, we show the spin states of single-layer graphene to clarify the correlations using electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy as a function of accumulated charge density using transistor structures. Two different electrically induced ESR signals were observed. One is originated from a Fermi-degenerate two-dimensional electron system, demonstrating the first observation of electrically induced Pauli paramagnetism from a microscopic viewpoint, showing a clear contrast to no ESR observation of Pauli paramagnetism in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) due to a one-dimensional electron system. The other is originated from the electrically induced ambipolar spin vanishments due to atomic vacancies in graphene, showing a universal phenomenon for carbon materials including CNTs. The degenerate electron system with the ambipolar spin vanishments would contribute to high charge mobility due to the decrease in spin scatterings in graphene.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relation between the clinical and plasma parameters and the changes in plasma endotoxin activity with 2 hours of endotoxin-adsorbing therapy using polymyxin B (PMX). A total of 88 consecutive patients were admitted for PMX treatment of severe sepsis or septic organ failure. Standard supportive care was continued without alteration during PMX treatment. Endotoxin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) activities and clinical parameters were measured before, immediately after, and the day after PMX treatment. The mean APACHE II and III scores were 24.2 +/- 1.0 and 85.8 +/- 3.0, respectively. The 2-week survival rate was 51.1%. In survivors, TNFalpha, IL-6, IL-10, and PAI-1 activities were significantly decreased during the 2-hour PMX treatment, the following day, or both times. There was no significant change in the parameters, except for TNFalpha, after PMX in nonsurvivors. In the subgroup whose plasma endotoxin decreased more than 30%, IL-6, TNFalpha, and PAI-1 significantly decreased after 2 hours of PMX or the following day (or both), but all four parameters in nonsurvivors showed no significant change. Hence PMX adsorbed plasma endotoxins and contributed to reductions in plasma proinflammatory cytokine levels and to improved clinical parameters during the 2-hour treatment. Changes in these parameters correlated with changes in plasma endotoxin activity in survivors whose plasma endotoxin levels were adequately reduced.

Graphene has been actively investigated as an electronic material owing to many excellent physical properties, such as high charge mobility and quantum Hall effect, due to the characteristics of a linear band structure and an ideal two-dimensional electron system. However, the correlations between the transport characteristics and the spin states of charge carriers or atomic vacancies in graphene have not yet been fully elucidated. Here, we show the spin states of single-layer graphene to clarify the correlations using electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy as a function of accumulated charge density using transistor structures. Two different electrically induced ESR signals were observed. One is originated from a Fermi-degenerate two-dimensional electron system, demonstrating the first observation of electrically induced Pauli paramagnetism from a microscopic viewpoint, showing a clear contrast to no ESR observation of Pauli paramagnetism in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) due to a one-dimensional electron system. The other is originated from the electrically induced ambipolar spin vanishments due to atomic vacancies in graphene, showing a universal phenomenon for carbon materials including CNTs. The degenerate electron system with the ambipolar spin vanishments would contribute to high charge mobility due to the decrease in spin scatterings in graphene.

Quantum physics is based on four fundamental interactions of electromagnetic, weak, gravitational and strong forces. All the interactions are expressed in terms of fermion and boson fields which can describe the quantum states of electrons, nucleons and photons in atoms or nuclei. Correct behaviors of these particles can now be described by the basic field theory terminology, and this textbook explains, for the first time, quantum field theory in a unifying method. At present, modern quantum theory is at a critical junction between different theories, and this textbook presents a clear description of fundamental quantum fields with a sound theoretical framework. No exotic theoretical concepts such as general relativity nor spontaneous symmetry breaking nor quantum anomaly are adopted in this textbook, and indeed all the observed physical quantities can be well understood within the standard field theory framework without introducing any non-physical particles or fields. From this textbook, readers will be guided through a concrete future direction of quantum field theory and will learn how the motion of electrons in any kind of material can be understood in terms of fields or state vectors. Readers will also learn about application of basic field theory in quantum chemistry, quantum biology and so on. Fundamental Problems in Quantum Field Theory is a handy resource for undergraduate and graduate students as well as supervisors involved in advanced courses in quantum physics.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have dramatically changed the strategy used to treat patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, the vast majority of patients eventually develop progressive disease (PD) and acquire resistance to ICIs. Some patients experience oligoprogressive disease. Few retrospective studies have evaluated clinical efficacy in patients with oligometastatic progression who received local therapy after ICI treatment. We conducted a retrospective analysis of advanced NSCLC patients who received PD‐1 inhibitor monotherapy with nivolumab or pembrolizumab to evaluate the effects of ICIs on the patterns of progression and the efficacy of local therapy for oligoprogressive disease. Of the 307 patients treated with ICIs, 148 were evaluated in our study; 42 were treated with pembrolizumab, and 106 were treated with nivolumab. Thirty‐eight patients showed oligoprogression. Male sex, a lack of driver mutations, and smoking history were significantly correlated with the risk of oligoprogression. Primary lesions were most frequently detected at oligoprogression sites (15 patients), and 6 patients experienced abdominal lymph node (LN) oligoprogression. Four patients showed evidence of new abdominal LN oligometastases. There was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) between the local therapy group and the switch therapy group (reached vs. not reached, P = .456). We summarized clinical data on the response of oligoprogressive NSCLC to ICI therapy. The results may help to elucidate the causes of ICI resistance and indicate that the use of local therapy as the initial treatment in this setting is feasible treatment option. This study showed the efficacy of local therapy for oligoprogressive disease after PD‐1 blockade in advanced non‐small‐cell lung cancer.

Dyslipidemia is considered an essential component of the pathological process of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal motor neuron disease. Although TAR DNA Binding Protein 43 kDa (TDP-43) links both familial and sporadic forms of ALS and cytoplasmic aggregates are a hallmark of most cases of ALS, the molecular mechanism and the in vivo relation of ALS dyslipidemia with TDP-43 have been unclear. To analyze the dyslipidemia-related gene expression by TDP-43, we performed expression microarray and RNA deep sequencing (RNA-Seq) using cell lines expressing high levels of TDP-43 and identified 434 significantly altered genes including sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2), a master regulator of cholesterol homeostasis and its downstream genes. Elevated TDP-43 impaired SREBP2 transcriptional activity, leading to inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis. The amount of cholesterol was significantly decreased in the spinal cords of TDP-43-overexpressed ALS model mice and in the cerebrospinal fluids of ALS patients. These results suggested that TDP-43 could play an essential role in cholesterol biosynthesis in relation to ALS dyslipidemia.