Research on Prevention of Groundwater Flow Blockage by the Detour Permeation Method

With the increase of underground construction in metropolitan areas in recent years, the problem of associated earth retaining works cutting off the natural flow of groundwater has increased in both scale and extent. The authors are proposing a new diaphragm wall method that does not inhibit the flow of groundwater. This paper describes the verification of the detour permeation achieved by the new diaphragm wall method and the experimental results related to the blockage of this groundwater flow

Optical Fiber-Based Sleep Apnea Syndrome Sensor

A noninvasive sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) sensor using optical fibers, the “F-SAS sensor,” has been evaluated in a clinical application ranging in age from 13 to 78 years and with BMIs of 19.2–39.3. The respiratory disturbance index (RDI) from the F-SAS sensor corresponded well with the apnea hypopnea index (AHI) from polysomnography (PSG). Concurrent measurement of the RDI and the AHI had a correlation coefficient of 0.71. This means that the F-SAS is well-suited for preliminary SAS screening. They would also be useful for screening potential SAS sufferers during normal sleep at home. Then, we have succeeded in downsizing F-SAS sensor and have recognized that it is highly correlated with PSG and pulse oximetry. Next, we applied the compact F-SAS sensor to examining SAS diagnosis in a child patient (2–12 years) and report on improved pediatric analysis. The analysis results revealed the correlation value to be R = 0.87 was a significant improvement over the correlation value of R = 0.697 between the AHI obtained by a sleep apnea syndrome examination apparatus (SAS 2100) and RDI obtained by the conventional F-SAS sensor

Dense Plasma Torus in the GPS Galaxy NGC 1052

We report results from nearly simultaneous pentachromatic VLBI observations towa rds a nearby GPS galaxy NGC 1052. The observations at 1.6 and 4.8 GHz with VSOP, and at 2.3, 8.4, and 15.4 GHz wit h VLBA, provide linear resolutions of $\sim 0.1$ pc. Convex spectra of a double-sided jet imply that synchrotron emission is obscured through foreground cold dense plasma, in terms of free--free absorption (FFA). We found a central condensation of the plasma which covers about 0.1 pc and 1 pc of the approaching and receding jets, respectively. A simple model with a geometrically thick plasma torus perpendicular to the jets is established to explain the asymmetric distribution of FFA opacities.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, other comment

Free-Free Absorption and the Unified Scheme

We report Very-Long-Baseline Array (VLBA) observations at 2.3, 8.4, and 15.4 GHz towards nine GHz-Peaked Spectrum (GPS) sources. One Seyfert 1 galaxy, one Seyfert 2 galaxy, three radio galaxies, and four quasars were included in our survey. We obtained spatial distributions of the Free-Free Absorption (FFA) opacity with milliarcsec resolutions for all sources. It is found that type-1 (Seyfert 1 and quasars) and type-2 (Seyfert 2 and radio galaxies) sources showed different distributions of the FFA opacities. The type-1 sources tend to show more asymmetric opacity distributions towards a double lobe, while those of the type-2 sources are rather symmetric. Our results imply that the different viewing angle of the jet causes the difference of FFA opacity along the external absorber. This idea supports the unified scheme between quasars and radio galaxies, proposed by Barthel (1989).Comment: 17 pages, including 8 figures. Proceedings of the 3rd Compact Steep Spectrum and GHz Peaked Spectrum Sources, 2002, Greece. Submitted to the Publications of Astronomical Society of Australi

運動がヒトの褐色脂肪組織に及ぼす影響：MRIによる定量

科学研究費助成事業 研究成果報告書：挑戦的萌芽研究2016-2017課題番号 : 16K1304

New auroral spectrometer using an acousto-optic tunable filter

This paper reports the performance and capability of a newly developed zenith spectrometer (for measurements of airglow and aurora) that uses an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). The AOTF can scan the pass-band of the spectrometer between 450 and 700 nm with a bandwidth of 2-3 nm by changing the RF driver frequency from 180 to 100 MHz. The absolute sensitivity of the spectrometer is ～0.1-1.5 counts/Rayleigh/s per spectral step. The spectrometer is fully automated. The O I (557.7 nm) airglow line can be clearly identified in test observations of midlatitude airglow performed at Shigaraki Observatory, Japan. Based on an estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio, we conclude that the full auroral spectrum (450-700) nm can be measured by the AOTF spectrometer with a time resolution of ～100 s and a signal-to-noise ratio of ～100 for an auroral emission intensity of 10 kR. An example of the auroral spectra is shown for observations made at Syowa Station in Antarctica

Genomic overview of mRNA 5′-leader trans-splicing in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis

Although spliced leader (SL) trans-splicing in the chordates was discovered in the tunicate Ciona intestinalis there has been no genomic overview analysis of the extent of trans-splicing or the make-up of the trans-spliced and non-trans-spliced gene populations of this model organism. Here we report such an analysis for Ciona based on the oligo-capping full-length cDNA approach. We randomly sampled 2078 5′-full-length ESTs representing 668 genes, or 4.2% of the entire genome. Our results indicate that Ciona contains a single major SL, which is efficiently trans-spliced to mRNAs transcribed from a specific set of genes representing ∼50% of the total number of expressed genes, and that individual trans-spliced mRNA species are, on average, 2–3-fold less abundant than non-trans-spliced mRNA species. Our results also identify a relationship between trans-splicing status and gene functional classification; ribosomal protein genes fall predominantly into the non-trans-spliced category. In addition, our data provide the first evidence for the occurrence of polycistronic transcription in Ciona. An interesting feature of the Ciona polycistronic transcription units is that the great majority entirely lack intercistronic sequences

コクサイ コウリュウ ニヨル ショウガイ ガクシュウ ト ダイガク キョウイク ノ ユウゴウ ノ イギ : カンコク チンド ノ デントウ ブンカ オ イカシタ ソウル ダイガク ノ トリクミ カラ ナニ オ マナブ カ

韓国全羅道の離島である珍島において、ソウル大学全京秀教授が中心となって設立された珍島学会の主催により2011 International Academic Conference及びそれに関連した体験型授業が行われた。日本からは、徳島大学の取り組み「地域社会人を活用した教養教育」から発展した全国社会人ネットワークより、ホイスコーレ札幌、筑波大学学生が参加した。ソウル大学、木浦大学、鹿児島大学の学生や教員と共に、諸島における伝統文化とそれを大学教育・研究にどのように活用するのかについて、国際会議「珍島学会」及び実地見学会などを通じて話し合われた。地域社会人の生涯学習と大学教育を一体化すると共に、日常的な伝統文化活動をお互いに披露することと、お互いの文化について対話をするという国際交流により、それぞれの文化について学び合う場が形成された。このような活動は、教養教育の意義を学ぶために貢献するだけでなく、生涯学習と大学の教養教育の融合がお互いの長所を生かすことに繋がっていくことが期待される

モンゴルコク トノ ガクセイ コウリュウ カラ ナニ オ マナブ ノカ : International Student Conference ト イガクケイ ジッシュウ タイケン オ トオシテ

グローバル化の時代を迎えて、これからの時代に必要な国際的な視野を養うため、国際問題に感 心を向けさせる教育への改革が必要になってきている。これまで日本とモンゴル国との大学教育に関わ る交流は、中国や韓国などの近隣諸国と比較すると極めて限定的であった。同国は、伝統的な遊牧生活 を続けている人も多く、西洋医学と共に東洋医学を残しているなど、持続可能な社会を考える教育フィ ールドとして、両国の大学が協力しながら教育プログラムの共同開発することが可能であると考えられ る。今回は徳島大学の学生が、モンゴルビジネス大学の学生と協力する形で、International Student Conferenceを開催し、お互いの文化と環境問題を議論した。また、モンゴル健康科学大学では、生化学 実習を同大学の学生と共にグループを作って取り組んだ。また、東洋医学大学を訪問して、伝統医療を 学ぶ学生と共に授業を受けて交流を深めた。このように、学生交流を通じてお互いの文化を学ぶことを 目的とする取り組みは、体験をしながら様々な分野に勉学の幅を広げて教養を深める効果が期待される