[en] In a calculation controlling device for a plant monitoring system, concentrations of materials concerning reaction materials in a certain state of a reaction process, and an actually measured value for the potential of a material in this state are substituted into a reaction rate equation obtained in accordance with a reaction process model. With such procedures, a relation between the reaction rate (current value) and the potential of the material can be obtained. A potential at which the reaction rates of an anode reaction and a cathode reaction contained in a corrosion reaction are made equal is determined by a numerical value calculation, based on an electrochemical hybrid potential logic by using the reaction rate equation, the reaction rate information relative to the corrosion reaction of the material and the concentration of the material concerning the corrosion reaction is obtained by a numerical value calculation. Then, simulation for the corrosion potential is enabled based on the handling corresponding to the actual reaction. Further, even for a portion which can not be measured actually, the corrosion potential can be recognized by simulation. (N.H.)

[en] Next generation high performance electronics requires high-speed, high-density and low power consumption signal transmission. The optical interconnection is one of the best promising solutions and the optical waveguide technology is a key driver. This paper presents photosensitive polymer film materials with high optical transparency and thermal properties. The materials are designed to fabricate high density multimode optical interconnections, using lamination and exposure development processes. The authors report design of the materials, process, and properties of optical waveguides, as well as future aspects of applications. (Author)

[en] The objective of this report is to present a summary of progress of the Marshall Islands Nationwide Thyroid Study. As well known, the US atomic weapons testing program in the Pacific was conducted primarily between 1946 and 1958 in the Marshall Islands. The nuclear tests resulted in radioactive contamination of a number of atolls and resulted in exposure of Marshallese to undefined levels before our study. Little information has been paid to health consequences among residents of the nearly twenty inhibited atolls except for some information about nodular thyroid disease which was reported on by an US group. In a cooperative agreement with the Government of the Marshall Islands, between 1993 and 1997 we studied the prevalence of both thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer among 4766 Marshallese potentially exposed to radioiodines from bomb test fallout. That group represents more than 65% of the population at risk. We diagnosed 45 thyroid cancers and 1398 benign thyroid nodules. In addition, 23 study participants had been operated on prior to our study for thyroid cancer. Presently, we are developing a database of information to estimate radiation doses and planning a statistical analysis to determine if a dose-response relationship exists. These data will be important for the health promotion of exposed people all over the world including Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Semipalatinsk, Chernobyl and other locations. A timely completion is important for purpose of assisting Marshallese as well as to add the global understanding of radiation induced thyroid cancer. (author)

[en] The interaction of intense laser pulses with overdense plasmas has attracted much interest for the fast igniter concept in inertial fusion energy. Hot electron temperatures and electron energy spectra in the course of interaction between intense laser pulse and overdense plasmas are reexamined from a viewpoint of the difference in laser wavelength. The hot electron temperature measured by a particle-in-cell simulation is scaled by I rather than Iλ² at the interaction with overdense plasmas with fixed ions, where I and λ are the laser intensity and wavelength, respectively. (authors)

[en] The US nuclear weapons testing program in the Pacific conducted between 1946 and 1958 resulted in radiation exposure in the Marshall Islands. The potentially widespread radiation exposure from radioiodines of fallout has raised concerns about the risk of thyroid cancer in the Marshallese population. The most serious exposures and its health hazards resulted from the hydrogen-thermonuclear bomb test, the Castle BRAVO, on March 1, 1954. Between 1993 and 1997, we screened 3,709 Marshallese for thyroid disease who were born before the BRAVO test. It was 60% of the entire population at risk and who were still alive at the time of our examinations. We diagnosed 30 thyroid cancers and found 27 other study participants who had been operated for thyroid cancer before our screening in this group. Fifty-seven Marshallese born before 1954 (1.5%) had thyroid cancer or had been operated for thyroid cancer. Nearly all (92%) of these cancers were papillary carcinoma. We derived estimates of individual thyroid dose proxy from the BRAVO test in 1954 on the basis of published age-specific doses estimated on Utirik atoll and ¹³⁷Cs deposition levels on the atolls where the participants came from. There was suggestive evidence that the prevalence of thyroid cancer increased with category of estimated dose to the thyroid. (author)