354 research outputs found
Non-abelian U-duality at work
Non-abelian U-duality originates from the construction of exceptional
Drinfel'd algebra (EDA), which extends the constriction of the classical
Drinfel'd double. This symmetry is a natural extension of Poisson--Lie
T-duality and is believed to be a symmetry of Type II string/M-theory or their
low-energy effective theories. In this paper, we consider non-abelian
U-dualities of 11- or 10-dimensional backgrounds starting with
EDA with with vanishing trombone gauging. The
latter guarantees that all dual backgrounds satisfy the standard supergravity
equations of motion. In particular, when the duality includes a timelike
T-duality, we obtain solutions of M-theory or Type II background
equations, as expected. Also starting with coboundary EDA's we provide examples
of generalised Yang--Baxter deformations of M-theory and Type IIB backgrounds.
The obtained results provide explicit examples when non-abelian U-duality works
well as a solution generating transformation.Comment: 38
Transformation in Lotus Corniculatus: Towards Low-Lignin Pasture Through Antisense RNA
We have developed a rapid and reproducible transformation system for bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) by using Agrobacterium-mediated T-DNA transfer and the incorporation of the antisense gene for cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) from Aralia cordata into Lotus for lignin reduction. The presence of the transferred antisense gene in regenerated plants has been confirmed by PCR analysis
Relativistic viscoelastic fluid mechanics
A detailed study is carried out for the relativistic theory of
viscoelasticity which was recently constructed on the basis of Onsager's linear
nonequilibrium thermodynamics. After rederiving the theory using a local
argument with the entropy current, we show that this theory universally reduces
to the standard relativistic Navier-Stokes fluid mechanics in the long time
limit. Since effects of elasticity are taken into account, the dynamics at
short time scales is modified from that given by the Navier-Stokes equations,
so that acausal problems intrinsic to relativistic Navier-Stokes fluids are
significantly remedied. We in particular show that the wave equations for the
propagation of disturbance around a hydrostatic equilibrium in Minkowski
spacetime become symmetric hyperbolic for some range of parameters, so that the
model is free of acausality problems. This observation suggests that the
relativistic viscoelastic model with such parameters can be regarded as a
causal completion of relativistic Navier-Stokes fluid mechanics. By adjusting
parameters to various values, this theory can treat a wide variety of materials
including elastic materials, Maxwell materials, Kelvin-Voigt materials, and (a
nonlinearly generalized version of) simplified Israel-Stewart fluids, and thus
we expect the theory to be the most universal description of single-component
relativistic continuum materials. We also show that the presence of strains and
the corresponding change in temperature are naturally unified through the
Tolman law in a generally covariant description of continuum mechanics.Comment: 52pages, 11figures; v2: minor corrections; v3: minor corrections, to
appear in Physical Review E; v4: minor change
Conformal higher-order viscoelastic fluid mechanics
We present a generally covariant formulation of conformal higher-order
viscoelastic fluid mechanics with strain allowed to take arbitrarily large
values. We give a general prescription to determine the dynamics of a
relativistic viscoelastic fluid in a way consistent with the hypothesis of
local thermodynamic equilibrium and the second law of thermodynamics. We then
elaborately study the transient time scales at which the strain almost relaxes
and becomes proportional to the gradients of velocity. We particularly show
that a conformal second-order fluid with all possible parameters in the
constitutive equations can be obtained without breaking the hypothesis of local
thermodynamic equilibrium, if the conformal fluid is defined as the long time
limit of a conformal second-order viscoelastic system. We also discuss how
local thermodynamic equilibrium could be understood in the context of the
fluid/gravity correspondence.Comment: 26 pages; v2: minor corrections; v3: minor corrections, to appear in
JHE
Thermal Infrared Imaging Experiments of C-Type Asteroid 162173 Ryugu on Hayabusa2
The thermal infrared imager TIR onboard Hayabusa2 has been developed to investigate thermo-physical properties of C-type, near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu. TIR is one of the remote science instruments on Hayabusa2 designed to understand the nature of a volatile-rich solar system small body, but it also has significant mission objectives to provide information on surface physical properties and conditions for sampling site selection as well as the assessment of safe landing operations. TIR is based on a two-dimensional uncooled micro-bolometer array inherited from the Longwave Infrared Camera LIR on Akatsuki (Fukuhara et al., 2011). TIR takes images of thermal infrared emission in 8 to 12 μm with a field of view of 16×12∘ and a spatial resolution of 0.05∘ per pixel. TIR covers the temperature range from 150 to 460 K, including the well calibrated range from 230 to 420 K. Temperature accuracy is within 2 K or better for summed images, and the relative accuracy or noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) at each of pixels is 0.4 K or lower for the well-calibrated temperature range. TIR takes a couple of images with shutter open and closed, the corresponding dark frame, and provides a true thermal image by dark frame subtraction. Data processing involves summation of multiple images, image processing including the StarPixel compression (Hihara et al., 2014), and transfer to the data recorder in the spacecraft digital electronics (DE). We report the scientific and mission objectives of TIR, the requirements and constraints for the instrument specifications, the designed instrumentation and the pre-flight and in-flight performances of TIR, as well as its observation plan during the Hayabusa2 mission
A Novel Therapeutic and Prophylactic Vaccine (HVJ-Envelope / Hsp65 DNA + IL-12 DNA) against Tuberculosis Using the Cynomolgus Monkey Model
AbstractWe have developed a novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine; a combination of the DNA vaccines expressing mycobacterial heat shock protein 65 (HSP65) and interleukin 12 (IL-12) delivered by the hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ)-envelope and –liposome (HSP65 + IL-12/HVJ). An IL-12 expression vector (IL-12DNA) encoding single-chain IL-12 proteins comprised of p40 and p35 subunits were constructed. This vaccine provided remarkable protective efficacy in mouse and guinea pig models compared to the BCG vaccine on the basis of C.F.U of number of TB, survival, an induction of the CD8 positive CTL activity and improvement of the histopathological tuberculosis lesions. This vaccine also provided therapeutic efficacy against multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extremely drug resistant TB (XDR-TB) (prolongation of survival time and the decrease in the number of TB in the lung) in murine models. Furthermore, we extended our studies to a cynomolgus monkey model, which is currently the best animal model of human tuberculosis. This novel vaccine provided a higher level of the protective efficacy than BCG based upon the assessment of mortality, the ESR, body weight, chest X-ray findings and immune responses. All monkeys in the control group (saline) died within 8 months, while 50% of monkeys in the HSP65+hIL-12/HVJ group survived more than 14 months post-infection (the termination period of the experiment). Furthermore, the BCG priming and HSP65 + IL-12/HVJ vaccine (booster) by the priming-booster method showed a synergistic effect in the TB-infected cynomolgus monkey (100% survival). In contrast, 33% of monkeys from BCG Tokyo alone group were alive (33% survival). Furthermore, this vaccine exerted therapeutic efficacy (100% survival) and augmentation of immune responses in the TB-infected monkeys. These data indicate that our novel DNA vaccine might be useful against Mycobacterium tuberculosis including XDR-TB and MDR-TB for human therapeutic clinical trials
Cross calibration between Hayabusa2/ONC-T and OSIRIS-REx/MapCam for comparative analyses between asteroids Ryugu and Bennu
Proximity observations of (162173) Ryugu by the telescopic Optical Navigation
Camera onboard Hayabusa2 and (101955) Bennu by MapCam onboard Origins, Spectral
Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer found
opposite spectral trends of space weathering on these carbonaceous asteroids.
Whether the space weathering trends on these asteroids evolved from the same
starting spectra would place an important constraint for understanding their
relation. However, systematic error between data obtained by the two imagers
needed to be reduced for accurate comparison. To resolve this problem, we cross
calibrated albedo and color data using the Moon as the common standard. We show
that the cross-calibrated reflectance can be obtained by upscaling the
pre-cross-calibrated reflectance of Bennu by 12 +/- 2% at v-band, reducing the
systematic errors down to 2%. The cross-calibrated data show that Bennu is
brighter by 16 +/- 2% at v-band and bluer in spectral slope by 0.19 +/- 0.05
(/um) than Ryugu. The spectra of fresh craters on Ryugu and Bennu before cross
calibration appeared to follow two parallel trend lines with offset, but they
converged to a single trend after cross calibration. Such a
post-cross-calibration perspective raise the possibility that Ryugu and Bennu
evolved from materials with similar visible spectra but evolved in diverging
directions by space weathering. The divergent evolution can be caused by the
difference in space weathering dose/process and/or composition of the starting
material. Thus, comparing the composition of samples returned from Ryugu and
Bennu may change the way we interpret the spectral variation of C-complex
asteroids
The Optokinetic Reflex as a Tool for Quantitative Analyses of Nervous System Function in Mice: Application to Genetic and Drug-Induced Variation
The optokinetic reflex (OKR), which serves to stabilize a moving image on the retina, is a behavioral response that has many favorable attributes as a test of CNS function. The OKR requires no training, assesses the function of diverse CNS circuits, can be induced repeatedly with minimal fatigue or adaptation, and produces an electronic record that is readily and objectively quantifiable
Expression of p53, inducible nitric oxide synthase and vascular endothelial growth factor in gastric precancerous and cancerous lesions: correlation with clinical features
BACKGROUND: The growth and metastasis of tumors depend on the development of an adequate blood supply via angiogenesis. Recent studies indicate that the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the tumor suppressor p53 are fundamental play-markers of the angiogenic process. Overexpression of iNOS and VEGF has been shown to induce angiogenesis in tumors. P53 suppresses angiogenesis by down-regulating VEGF and iNOS. The correlation of expression of p53, VEGF and iNOS and clinical features in gastric carcinogenesis, however, has not been well characterized. METHODS: The expression of p53, iNOS and VEGF in gastric precancerous and cancerous lesions and its relation with the clinical features was determined with immunohistochemistry (avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method) on 55 randomly selected GC patients and 60 symptom-free subjects from the mass survey in the high-incidence area for GC in Henan, northern China. RESULTS: The positive immunostainig rates for p53, iNOS and VEGF in gastric carcinomas were 51%, 44% and 51%, respectively, and correlated well with TNM stages, but did not show significant difference among the groups with different degrees of gastric wall invasion depth by GC. A positive immunostaining reaction for the iNOS protein was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.019; Spearman correlation coefficient). P53 protein accumulation was higher in the poorly-differentiated gastric carcinoma than in well-differentiated one. In gastric biopsies, no positive immunosatining was observed for p53, iNOS and VEGF in the histologically normal tissue and chronic superficial gastritis (CSG). However, p53, iNOS and VEGF positive immunostaining was observed in the tissues with different severities of lesions of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), intestinal metaplasia (IM) and dysplasia (DYS), and the positive rates increased with the lesion progression from CAG to IM to DYS. A high coincidental positive and negative immunostaining rate for p53, iNOS and VEGF was observed both in biopsy samples with CAG, IM and DYS from the symptom-free subjects and in gastric cancer tissue from the GC patients. CONCLUSIONS: The present results indicated that p53 protein accumulation and increased expression of iNOS and VEGF might be responsible for gastric carcinogenesis and tumor aggressiveness of gastric cancer
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