Interfacing Modbus Plus to EPICS for KEKB Accelerator Control System

The KEKB Accelerator control system[1] is based on EPICS(Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System)[2] and uses many PLCs in the magnet protec-tion systems and the radiation safety system. In order to monitor the interlock status, Modbus Plus[3] is adopted as the protocol between an IOC(Input/Output Controller) and PLCs. For this purpose, a device support and a driver support for Modbus Plus have been developed. The device/driver support modules allow an IOC to communicate with PLC-s by asynchronous I/O transactions, in such a manner that the GPIB devices do. With the software modules, an IOC works always as a master device on the Modbus Plus net-work to read the status of controlled devices from PLC memory. While the main use of the software is to read the interlock status, it is also used to reset the interlock sys-tems. Details of the software structure are described. An ap-plication of this software in the KEKB accelerator control system is also presented.

Re-Entrant Quantum Phase Transitions in Antiferromagnetic Spin-1 Ladders

In response to recent chemical attempts to construct higher-spin ladder materials from organic polyradicals, we study the ground-state properties of a wide class of antiferromagnetic spin-1 ladders. Employing various numerical tools, we reveal the rich phase diagram and correct a preceding nonlinear-sigma-model prediction. A variational analysis well interprets the phase competition with particular emphasis on the {\it re-entrant phase boundary} as a function of the rung interaction.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures embedded, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol. 71, No. 5, 1250 (2002

Elucidation of the liquid-liquid distribution behavior of ion associates of metal-halogeno complex anions with quaternary ammonium counter cations and its application to separation and analysis

第四級アンモニウムイオンを対イオンとする一価, 二価金属ハロゲノ錯陰イオンのイオン会合抽出挙動を把握し, 分離・分析的応用を図るために, 炭素数及び形状の異なる第四級アンモニウム陽イオンを用いて, 水-各種抽出溶媒 {1,2-ジクロロエタン, クロロホルム (CF), クロロベンゼン (Cl-B), ベンゼン (B), トルエン (T) 及び四塩化炭素 (CTC)} 系での抽出定数を求めた. 得られた抽出定数から次の知見を得た. (1) 配位子の抽出性に及ぼす影響 : 配位子がCl-, Br-, I-と変わるにつれ, この順に抽出性は良くなる. (2) 配位子数の影響 : 配位子数が多くなるに従い, 抽出性も良くなる. (3) 中心金属の影響 : 配位子数が同じ場合には, 抽出性はほぼ中心金属イオンの大きさの順となる. (4) 金属錯陰イオンの電荷の影響 : 一般に二価陰イオンよりも一価陰イオンのほうが抽出されやすい. (5) 対陽イオンのアルキル鎖のメチレン基の寄与 : メチレン基一つ当たり, 大体0.4～0.8の抽出定数 (log K(ex)) の増大となる. (6) 抽出溶媒の影響 : 抽出溶媒の抽出能は次の順となる : CTC<T<B<Cl-B<CF. (7) 金属ハロゲノ錯陰イオンの配位子の違いによる抽出定数の差 (Δlog K(ex)) は溶媒によらず, ほぼ一定である. これらの知見を基に, 金属ハロゲノ錯陰イオンと疎水性陽イオンとのイオン会合抽出を利用する幾つかの金属の分離・定量法を開発した.The distribution behavior of ion associates of both monovalent and divalent metal-halogeno complex anions with various quaternary ammonium cations between the aqueous phase and several organic phases {1,2-dichloroethane, chloroform (CF), chlorobenzene (Cl-B), benzene (B), toluene (T) and carbon tetrachloride (CTC)} was examined, and the extraction constants (log Kex) were determined. The larger is the size of the ligand (Cl-<Br-<I-) and the coordination number, the greater is the ion associability. For the same coordination number, in general, the larger is the size of the metal ion, the greater is the ion associability. In general, the extractability of monovalent metal-halogeno complex anions is larger than that of divalent metal-halogeno complex anions. A linear relationship was obtained between log Kex and the number of carbon atoms in quaternary ammonium ion, and the contribution of a methylene group to the extraction constant (Δlog K(ex)/-CH(2-)) was found to be about 0.4∼0.8. Among the ion associates examined, the order of the extractability of the extracting solvent was generally CTC<T<B<Cl-B<CF. Also, the order of the extractability of the ion associates for dihalogenocuprate (I), tetrahalogenoaurate (III) and tetrahalogenothallate (III) complex ions was as follows, respectively : CuCl(2)-<CuBr(2)-<CuI(2)- ; AuCl(4)-<AuBr(4)- ; TlCl(4)-<TlBr(4)-<TlI(4-). The values of Δlog K(ex) between the complex anions were almost equal, even though the extracting solvents were changed. From these results, several extraction-spectrophotometric methods for the determination of metal based on the formation of an ion associate of metal-halogeno complex anion with hydrophobic cations were developed

Pink-Colored Grape Berry Is the Result of Short Insertion in Intron of Color Regulatory Gene

We report here that pink grape berries were obtained by a short insertion in the intron of the MybA1 gene, a gene that regulates grape berry color. Genetic variation was detected among the MybA1 genes from grapes cultivated worldwide. PCR analysis of the MybA1 gene demonstrated that the size of the MybA1 gene in the red allele differs among grapes. Oriental V. vinifera bearing pink berries has the longest MybA1 gene among grapes, whereas the shortest MybA1 gene was detected in occidental V. vinifera grapes. The nucleotide sequences of the MybA1 genes demonstrated that oriental V. vinifera has two additional gene fragments (44 bp and 111 bp) in the promoter region of the MybA1 gene in the red allele and another 33 bp fragment in the second intron of the MybA1 gene in the red allele. The short insertion in the intron decreased the transcription activity in the model system and retained MybA1 transcripts with unspliced intron in the total RNA. From the experiments using deletion mutants of the 33 bp short insertion, 16 bp of the 3′ end in the insertion is a key structure for a defect in splicing of MybA1 transcripts. Thus, a weakly colored grape berry might be a result of the short insertion in the intron of a color regulatory gene. This is new evidence concerning the molecular mechanism of the fate of grape berry color. These findings are expected to contribute to the further understanding of the color variation in grape berries, which is correlated with the evolutional events occurring in the MybA1 gene of grapes

A Meta-Analysis of Array-CGH Studies Implicates Antiviral Immunity Pathways in the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is significantly correlated to the accumulation of genomic alterations. Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) has been applied to a wide range of tumors including HCCs for the genome-wide high resolution screening of DNA copy number changes. However, the relevant chromosomal variations that play a central role in the development of HCC still are not fully elucidated. METHODS: In present study, in order to further characterize the copy number alterations (CNAs) important to HCC development, we conducted a meta-analysis of four published independent array-CGH datasets including total 159 samples. RESULTS: Eighty five significant gains (frequency ≥ 25%) were mostly mapped to five broad chromosomal regions including 1q, 6p, 8q, 17q and 20p, as well as two narrow regions 5p15.33 and 9q34.2-34.3. Eighty eight significant losses (frequency ≥ 25%) were most frequently present in 4q, 6q, 8p, 9p, 13q, 14q, 16q, and 17p. Significant correlations existed between chromosomal aberrations either located on the same chromosome or the different chromosomes. HCCs with different etiologies largely exhibited surprisingly similar profiles of chromosomal aberrations with only a few exceptions. Furthermore, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis indicated that the genes affected by these chromosomal aberrations were significantly enriched in 31 canonical pathways with the highest enrichment observed for antiviral immunity pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings provide novel and important clues for the implications of antiviral immunity-related gene pathways in the pathogenesis and progression of HCC

Conditional Wwox Deletion in Mouse Mammary Gland by Means of Two Cre Recombinase Approaches

Loss of WWOX expression has been reported in many different cancers including breast cancer. Elucidating the function of this gene in adult tissues has not been possible with full Wwox knockout models. Here we characterize the first conditional models of Wwox ablation in mouse mammary epithelium utilizing two transgenic lines expressing Cre recombinase, keratin 5-Cre (BK5-Cre) and MMTV-Cre. In the BK5-Cre model we observed very efficient Wwox ablation in KO mammary glands. However, BK5-Cre Wwox KO animals die prematurely for unknown reasons. In the MMTV-Cre model we observed significant ablation of Wwox in mammary epithelium with no effect on survival. In both of these models we found that Wwox deletion resulted in impaired mammary branching morphogenesis. We demonstrate that loss of Wwox is not carcinogenic in our KO models. Furthermore, no evidence of increase proliferation or development of premalignant lesions was observed. In none of the models did loss of a single Wwox allele (i.e. haploinsufficiency) have any observable phenotypic effect in mammary gland. To better understand the function of Wwox in the mammary gland, transcriptome profiling was performed. We observed that Wwox ablation results in the deregulation of genes involved in various cellular processes. We found that expression of the non-canonical Wnt ligand, Wnt5a, was significantly upregulated in Wwox KO mammary epithelium. Interestingly, we also determined that components of the Jak/Stat3 signaling pathway were upregulated in KO mice and this correlated with a very robust increase in phospho-Stat3 signaling, which warrants further testing. Even though the loss of Wwox expression in breast and other cancers is very well documented, our findings suggest that Wwox does not act as a classical tumor suppressor as previously thought