SUMMARYA real-time hybrid experimental method, in which output from an actuator-excited vibration experiment and response calculation are combined on-line and conducted simultaneously in real time, is being developed as a new seismic experimental method for structural systems. In real-time hybrid experiments, however, there is an inevitable actuator-response delay, which has an e!ect equivalent to negative damping. To solve this problem, a real-time hybrid experimental system (including an actuator-delay compensation method) was developed. And seismic experiments were conducted in order to demonstrate the advantages of this system. Experimental results obtained using the developed hybrid experimental system were compared with exact results obtained using shaking-table experiments, and it was found that the two experimental methods gave almost identical results. It can therefore be concluded that the structural response can be obtained precisely by using the developed hybrid experimental system. Comparison of these experiments showed the advantages of the hybrid experiments; that is, they are simple and economical. This is because the hybrid experiment requires only a small structure as the excitation model, while a shaking-table experiment must consider the whole structural system.

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To examine the inter-rater reliability of Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised, Japanese Version (ADI-R-JV), the authors recruited 51 individuals aged 3-19 years, interviewed by two independent raters. Subsequently, to assess the discriminant and diagnostic validity of ADI-R-JV, the authors investigated 317 individuals aged 2-19 years, who were divided into three diagnostic groups as follows: autistic disorder (AD), pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, and other psychiatric diagnosis or no diagnosis, according to the consensus clinical diagnosis. As regards inter-rater reliability, intraclass correlation coefficients of greater than 0.80 were obtained for all three domains of ADI-R-JV. As regards discriminant validity, the mean scores of the three domains was significantly higher in individuals with AD than in those of other diagnostic groups. As regards diagnostic validity, sensitivity and specificity for correctly diagnosing AD were 0.92 and 0.89, respectively, but sensitivity was 0.55 for individuals younger than 5 years. Specificity was consistently high regardless of age and intelligence. ADI-R-JV was shown to be a reliable tool, and has sufficient discriminant validity and satisfactory diagnostic validity for correctly diagnosing AD, although the diagnostic validity appeared to be compromised with respect to the diagnosis of younger individuals.

The reduction in AQP4 in DMD muscles results from decreased levels of AQP4 mRNA in DMD myofibers.

Surface potential and the amount of charging on an insulator surface under electron beam irradiation have been quantitatively measured. For these measurements, a special sample holder was developed. The surface potential was measured using a secondary electron method. The measurement of the surface potential revealed that the sample behaves as a resistor, enabling the present technique to be applied for mapping microarea resistance. The results of measuring the amount of charging revealed that the amounts of charging obtained with different beam currents are the same in spite of different surface potentials. This strongly suggests that the charging phenomenon depends on the distribution of the charge trapping sites.

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We examined whether AQP7 molecules are expressed in the normal skeletal muscle at mRNA and protein levels. Gel electrophoresis of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) product of total RNA samples of normal human or mouse muscles by using oligonucleotide primers for human or mouse AQP7 showed a band of 328 or 369 basepairs, which corresponded to the basepair length between two primers of AQP7. The nucleotide sequence of these RT-PCR products coincided with those of human and mouse AQP7. Immunoblot, immunohistochemical and immunoelectron-microscopic studies of the protein were done by using the rabbit antibody against the synthetic peptide of the N-terminal cytoplasmic domain of the human AQP7 molecule. Immunoblot analysis showed that the rabbit antibody against human AQP7 reacted with a protein of approximately 30 kDa molecular weight in extracts of normal human and mouse skeletal muscles, and normal mouse liver. Immunohistochemistry with our anti-AQP7 antibody showed an immunoreaction at the myofiber surface of type 1 and type 2 fibers in human muscles and of type 2 fibers in mouse muscles.