90 research outputs found
Application of the powder of porous titanium carbide ceramics to a reusable adsorbent for environmental pollutants
The aim of this study is to investigate the utilization of the powder of porous titanium carbide (TiC) ceramics as a novel adsorbent or a material for solid-phase extraction (SPE). The adsorption and elution of inorganic and organic pollutants, Pb(II), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), to the material were evaluated. The cartridge packed with TiC ceramics powder was used for the extraction test of pollutants. The solution containing pollutants at 1.0 mu g mL(-1) was passed through the TiC cartridge, and the substances were almost quantitatively removed. Furthermore, the pollutants retained in the cartridge were eluted with 3 N HCl for Pb(II) and with methanol for organic pollutants. The recoveries of pollutants were over 80%. In addition, we used the TiC cartridge for the solid-phase extraction of water samples (500 mL each of the distilled water and the river water) by adding pollutants at determined concentrations. Every pollutant was adsorbed almost quantitatively, and eluted by 3 N HCl or methanol. From these results, we concluded that the powder of porous TiC ceramics is a useful reusable adsorbent for the water cleanup and solid-phase extraction.ArticleJOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. 185(2-3):725-731 (2011)journal articl
A Transponder Aggregator with Efficient Use of Filtering Function for Transponder Noise Suppression
Colorless, directionless, and contentionless reconfigurable optical add/drop
multiplexing (CDC-ROADM) provides highly flexible physical layer network
configuration. Such CDC-ROADM must operate in multiple wavelength bands which
are being increasingly implemented in optical transmission systems. The
operation in C+L bands requires switch devices used in CDC-ROADM to also be
capable of multiband operation. Recent studies on wavelength division
multiplexing (WDM) systems have pointed out the impact of amplified spontaneous
emission (ASE) noise generated by signals of different wavelengths, which
causes OSNR degradation. Therefore, it is desirable to filter out the ASE noise
from different transponders when multiplexing multiple wavelengths at the
transmitter side, especially in a system with non-wavelength selective
combiners such as directional couplers and multicast switches. The use of
transponder aggregators with filtering functions, such as the M x N wavelength
selective switch (WSS), is preferable for this filtering. However, the downside
of these devices is that it is difficult to provide economical multiband
support. Therefore, we propose an economical transponder aggregator
configuration by allowing a certain amount of ASE superposition and reducing
the number of filtering functions. In this paper, we fabricated a prototype of
the proposed transponder aggregator by combining silica-based planar lightwave
circuit technology and C+L band WSS, both commercially available, and verified
its feasibility through transmission experiments. The novel transponder
aggregator is a practical solution for a multiband CDC-ROADM system with
improved OSNR performance.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to IEEE Journal of Lightwave
Technology for possible publicatio
Inhibition of Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase enhances the activation of epidermal growth factor receptor in pancreatic cancer cells
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase (Rho-kinase/ROCK) is involved in various cellular functions including cell proliferation, and is generally considered to be oncogenic, while some studies show that ROCK functions as a negative regulator of cancer progression. As a result, the precise role of ROCK remains controversial. We have previously reported that Rho-kinase/ROCK negatively regulates epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced cell proliferation in SW480 colon cancer cells. In the present study, we investigated the role of ROCK in EGF receptor (EGFR) signaling in the pancreatic cancer cell lines, Panc1, KP3 and AsPc1.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In these cells, Y27632, a specific ROCK inhibitor, enhanced EGF-induced BrdU incorporation. The blockade of EGF stimulation utilizing anti-EGFR-neutralizing antibodies suppressed Panc1 cell proliferation. EGF induced RhoA activity, as well as the phosphorylation of cofilin and myosin light chain (MLC), both targets of ROCK signaling, and Y27632 suppressed both of these processes, indicating that the phosphorylation of cofilin and MLC by EGF occurs through ROCK in Panc1 cells. EGF-induced phosphorylation of EGFR at tyrosine residues was augmented when the cells were pretreated with Y27632 or were subjected to gene silencing using ROCK-siRNA. We also obtained similar results using transforming growth factor-α. In addition, EGF-induced phosphorylation of p44/p42 mitogen-activated protein kinase and Akt were also enhanced by Y27632 or ROCK-siRNA. Moreover, an immunofluorescence microscope study revealed that pretreatment with Y27632 delayed EGF-induced internalization of EGFR. Taken together, these data indicate that ROCK functions to switch off EGFR signaling by promoting the internalization of the EGFR.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>While EGF first stimulates the activation of the EGFR and subsequently increases cancer cell proliferation, EGF concurrently induces the activation of ROCK, which then turns off the activated EGFR pathway via a negative feedback system.</p
Coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries using TAMA300 and LISM data
Japanese laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors, TAMA300 and
LISM, performed a coincident observation during 2001. We perform a coincidence
analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries. The length of data used
for the coincidence analysis is 275 hours when both TAMA300 and LISM detectors
are operated simultaneously. TAMA300 and LISM data are analyzed by matched
filtering, and candidates for gravitational wave events are obtained. If there
is a true gravitational wave signal, it should appear in both data of detectors
with consistent waveforms characterized by masses of stars, amplitude of the
signal, the coalescence time and so on. We introduce a set of coincidence
conditions of the parameters, and search for coincident events. This procedure
reduces the number of fake events considerably, by a factor
compared with the number of fake events in single detector analysis. We find
that the number of events after imposing the coincidence conditions is
consistent with the number of accidental coincidences produced purely by noise.
We thus find no evidence of gravitational wave signals. We obtain an upper
limit of 0.046 /hours (CL ) to the Galactic event rate within 1kpc from
the Earth. The method used in this paper can be applied straightforwardly to
the case of coincidence observations with more than two detectors with
arbitrary arm directions.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, Replaced with the version to be published in
Physical Review
Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004
We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves
from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in
the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the
years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of
different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of
the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90%
confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors
such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of
the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was
correcte
The Japanese space gravitational wave antenna; DECIGO
DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future
Japanese space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to open a new window of
observation for gravitational wave astronomy especially between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz, revealing
various mysteries of the universe such as dark energy, formation mechanism of supermassive
black holes, and inflation of the universe. The pre-conceptual design of DECIGO consists of
three drag-free spacecraft, whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry–
Perot Michelson interferometer. We plan to launch two missions, DECIGO pathfinder and pre-
DECIGO first and finally DECIGO in 2024
DECIGO pathfinder
DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide us fruitful insights into the universe, in particular about dark energy, a formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely large mission which will formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000m separation, it is significant to gain the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. The conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF, are reviewed in this article
Guideline on the use of new anticancer drugs for the treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma 2010 update
The "Guideline on the Use of New Anticancer Drugs for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma" was prepared by the Study Group on New Liver Cancer Therapies established by the "Research Project on Emergency Measures to Overcome Hepatitis" under the auspices of the Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant. The Guideline brings together data collected by the Study Group on the use and incidence of adverse events in 264 patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated using sorafenib and in 535 patients with advanced HCC treated using miriplatin at 16 participating institutions up until 22 December 2010, as well as referring to the published studies, academic presentations, and reports from the private sector. The aim of this Guideline is to facilitate understanding and current thinking regarding the proper usage of new anticancer drugs towards actual use in therapy. In terms of the format, the Guideline presents "clinical questions" on issues pertaining to medical care, makes "recommendations" on diagnosis and treatment in response to each of these clinical questions, and provides a rationale for these recommendations in the form of "scientific statements". © 2012 The Japan Society of Hepatology
Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses
We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300
gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse
events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and
fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a
chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We
used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave
candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused
by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied
to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a
result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases.
The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint.
We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave
event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a
milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by
establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an
interferometric gravitational wave detector
Stable Operation of a 300-m Laser Interferometer with Sufficient Sensitivity to Detect Gravitational-Wave Events within our Galaxy
TAMA300, an interferometric gravitational-wave detector with 300-m baseline
length, has been developed and operated with sufficient sensitivity to detect
gravitational-wave events within our galaxy and sufficient stability for
observations; the interferometer was operated for over 10 hours stably and
continuously. With a strain-equivalent noise level of , a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 30 is expected for
gravitational waves generated by a coalescence of 1.4 -1.4
binary neutron stars at 10 kpc distance. %In addition, almost all noise sources
which limit the sensitivity and which %disturb the stable operation have been
identified. We evaluated the stability of the detector sensitivity with a
2-week data-taking run, collecting 160 hours of data to be analyzed in the
search for gravitational waves.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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