In vitro production of mammalian embryos has been achieved with the oocytes derived from middle-size follicles (MF, mainly 3-6 mm in diameter) in many species including domestic animals. In the ovaries, however, there are more small-size follicles with less than 3 mm in diameter (SF). If we can develop an efficient system to produce embryos in vitro from the oocytes from SF. In this presentation, I would like to review about embryo production in vitro from the oocytes derived from SF. As well as the diameter of oocytes, the number of cumulus cells surrounding the oocyte derived from SF is significantly smaller those of oocytes from MF. The comparative analysis in electrophoresis about secretions of cumulus-oocyte complexes derived from SF and MF demonstrated a significant difference in the proteins with a molecular weight. Proteins secreted from cumulus cells, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), are 34- to 42-kDa proteins, including seven family members. The molecular weight of VEGF was similar with the secretion we observed. Supplementation of medium for in vitro maturation with VEGF significantly improved the oocytes competence not only to complete the meiosis in vitro but also to develop to the blastocyst stage following parthenogenetical activation. Removing cumulus cells 20 h after the start of culture for in vitro maturation also significantly improved the competence of oocytes derived from SF to achieve the meiosis. A combination of these new techniques may improve more the meiotic and developmental competences.

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of Ba Stearate as a reducing agent on the magnetic and physical properties of anisotropic type ferrite magnets. It was found that the magnetic properties of were improved by adding 0.3 wt% of Ba Stearate, 0.5 wt% of , and 0.5 wt% of CaO together. The optimum conditions for making magnets were as follows; semisintering condition: h in nitrogen gas atmosphere, drying condition: h in air, sintering condition: h in nitrogen gas atmosphere. Magnetic and physical properties of a typical sample were = 0.46 T, = 0.43 T, = 182.3 kA/m, = 177.2 kA/m, = 33.8 kJ/, = and = and = 1332 kA/m.

In order to overcome the recrystallization embrittlement and irradiation embrittlement of Mo, which are major problems for its fusion applications, internally nitrided Mo alloys were prepared by a novel multi-step internal nitriding. Neutron irradiation was performed in the Japan Material Testing Reactor (JMTR). After irradiation, nitrided Mo alloys exhibited ower ductile-brittle transition temperature than irradiated TZM. These results suggested that multi-step internal nitriding was effective to the improvement in the embrittlement by irradiation. Transmission electron microscope observation revealed that TiN particles precipitated by nitriding acted as a sink for irradiation-induced defects.

Lanthanide tantalite (Ln= La, Nd, Sm, Dy, Er and Tm) was synthesized by a solid state reaction between mixed powders of and . The single-phase was prepared by sintering at temperatures of 1423-1673 K in air. The SEM observation showed that the particles were provided with the growth steps and the depeloped facets. The photocatalytic activity for water splitting of prepared was measured under UV light irradiation. The activity obtained was higher than that previously reported. These results suggested the crystallinity of photocatalysts correlates closely with the efficiency of water splitting.

The preparation of single-phase with delafossite-type structure by means of the solid-state reaction method was investigated using X-ray diffraction. The results showed that notwhistanding the fact that there was a trace of metallic copper, nearly single-phase was obtained by using as a lanthanum source and by firing the mixed powder with nonstoichiometric composition ratio of in a vacuum at 1273 K for 10 h. The measurement of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient showed that thus obtained was a p-type semiconductor and had a Seebeck coefficient of approximately .

We show that next-generation galaxy surveys such as KAOS (the Kilo-Aperture Optical Spectro-graph)will constrain dark energy even if the baryon oscillations are missing from the monopole power spectrum and the bias is scale- and time-dependent KAOS will accurately measure the quadrupole power spectrum which gives the leading anisotropies in the power spectrum in redshift space due to peculiar velocities, the finger of God effect, as well as the Alcock-Paczynski effect. The combination of monopole and quadrupole power spectra powerfully breaks the degeneracy between the bias parameters and dark energy and, in the complete absence of baryon oscillations (Ωb = 0), leads to a roughly 500% improvement in constraints on dark energy compared with the monopole spectrum alone. As a result, for KAOS the worst case with no oscillations has dark energy errors only mildly degraded relative to the ideal case, providing insurance on the robustness of KAOS constraints on dark energy. We show that nonlinear effects are crucial in correctly evaluating the quadrupole and significantly improving the constraints on dark energy when we allow for multi-parameter scale-dependent bias.

One-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling of a protostellar flare loop is presented. The model consists of thermally isolated loop connecting the central core and the accretion disk. We found that the conductive heat flux of a flare heated the accretion disk up to coronal temperature and consequently the disk is evaporated and disappeard. This effect may explain the ovserved feature of the repeated flare from the young stellar object YLW 15.

This study aims to identify the degree of safety when mariners take their actions in several different situations. We have carried out many experiments to observe mariners' behavior and then measured the safety level based on their actions to avoid dangerous situations of ships collision. One of the most important actions that mariners have to take, either as their daily routine or when they are in a collision situation and then want to avoid that situation is the lookout. In this paper, behaviors on the lookout have been defined as a standard sequence of three steps which are "time of first detection", "time of recognition as risky vessel" and "time of starting avoiding action", and the suitability and applicability of the definition have been shown. And also we propose the risk assessment on ships collision and the recommendation for reducing ships collision at sea. Some analyzing results and the application of the results are reported. By combining these knowledge and some systematic studies, we propose the risk assessment on ships collision and the recommendation for reducing ships collision at sea.

We have proposed modeling methods of mariners' standard behavior for collision avoidance by analyzing mariners' recognition process in a previous study. As a subsequent study, the aim of this study is to build a model of mariners' execution process which is one of six processes in the condition of collision avoidance. In this study, thus, the structure of mariners' information processing on the process of taking avoiding actions is described and the relation between mariners' behavior and necessary factors in the process is analyzed. And then we have built a model of mariners' standard behavior for execution process based on the characteristics of mariners in ship-handling, which are obtained from the international collaborative research on human factors. It is tried to define the contents of execution process based on the standard behavior of mariners for collision avoidance and to formulate information processing of mariners.

We've investigated the characteristics on mariner's behavior in the collision situation through a full-mission ship handling simulator and considered that it's necessary to model the standard avoiding behavior of mariners in order to apply the obtained results more widely and effectively. Thus we described the contents of standard avoiding behavior taken by mariners in the collision situation and established the concept of the standard model based on human factors for collision avoidance in a previous study. As a following study, this paper is to propose the method of modeling on mariners' standard behavior for collision avoidance by analyzing the contents of mariner's information processing and the related factors using regression analysis. As a result, we confirmed the influence of relating factors to avoiding behavior in mariner's deciding decisions and proposed the modeling method of mariners' standard behavior for collision avoidance with a example of recognition model.

Human factors have been considered the primary reason of marine accidents. Especially, the collision between vessels is mostly mused by human behavior. However, there have not been many researches to clarify the reason of marine accidents mused by human factors quantitatively. In order to understand human factors and to enhance safe navigation systematically, using a full mission ship-handling simulator, we've investigated the characteristics of avoiding behavior taken by mariners. Further in order to apply the characteristics more widely and effectively, it's necessary to formulate the standard behavior for ship-handling in the condition of collision avoidance. Is this study, therefore, we intended to propose the concept to model the mariner's standard behavior on the handling of collision avoidance as the first step. As a result, we confirmed the contents of information processing in ship-handling that mariner's generally taking to avoid collision.

It can be said that the relationship between the maneuvering ability of operators and the navigational environment affects the safe degree of navigation in the collision avoidance situation. In order to reduce the occurrence probability of accident and to maintain the safety, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between human behavior and navigational environment. In this study, therefore, we analyzed and discussed the relationship between the maneuvering characteristics and the safety focused on human behavior as a fundamental factor of marine accidents using ship handling simulator and questionnaire. As a result, we concluded that navigational environment changes variously and the maneuvering ability of operators also varies with the navigational environment, and the ship handling characteristics strongly affect the occurrence probability of accident.