Quantitative Estimate of CO2 Emission Reduction from Reuse of Automobile Parts in Japan

In general, reusing automobile parts reduces not only the cost of replacing the failed parts but also the environmental load of manufacturing new parts. However, these effects have not yet been quantified. The present study focuses on determining the emitted CO2 during production and quantitatively evaluating its reduction by the reuse of automobile parts. First, CO2 emissions are calculated during the reused parts production process at the factory site. Thirty-nine automobiles from 27 models prepared in Japan are examined to measure the amount of CO2 emitted in the production of new parts. Furthermore, the CO2 emission reduction effect for different automobile models is estimated through multiple regression analysis. The CO2 emissions are assumed to be the objective variable, whereas the explanatory variables are derived from the data provided in the automobile inspection certificates. The presented quantitative estimate of CO2 emission reduction owing to the exploitation of reused parts is expected to promote policies for further reducing CO2 emissions and arouse public awareness regarding the benefits of recycling automobile parts

Imprinting spatial helicity structure of vector vortex beam on spin texture in semiconductors

We present the transfer of the spatially variant polarization of topologically structured light to the spatial spin texture in a semiconductor quantum well. The electron spin texture, which is a circular pattern with repeating spin-up and spin-down states whose repetition rate is determined by the topological charge, is directly excited by a vector vortex beam with a spatial helicity structure. The generated spin texture efficiently evolves into a helical spin wave pattern owing to the spin-orbit effective magnetic fields in the persistent spin helix state by controlling the spatial wave number of the excited spin mode. By tuning the repetition length and azimuthal angle, we simultaneously generate helical spin waves with opposite phases by a single beam.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Transcriptome map of plant mitochondria reveals islands of unexpected transcribed regions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Plant mitochondria contain a relatively large amount of genetic information, suggesting that their functional regulation may not be as straightforward as that of metazoans. We used a genomic tiling array to draw a transcriptomic atlas of <it>Oryza sativa japonica </it>(rice) mitochondria, which was predicted to be approximately 490-kb long.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Whereas statistical analysis verified the transcription of all previously known functional genes such as the ones related to oxidative phosphorylation, a similar extent of RNA expression was frequently observed in the inter-genic regions where none of the previously annotated genes are located. The newly identified open reading frames (ORFs) predicted in these transcribed inter-genic regions were generally not conserved among flowering plant species, suggesting that these ORFs did not play a role in mitochondrial principal functions. We also identified two partial fragments of retrotransposon sequences as being transcribed in rice mitochondria.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study indicated the previously unexpected complexity of plant mitochondrial RNA metabolism. Our transcriptomic data (<it>Oryza sativa </it>Mitochondrial rna Expression Server: OsMES) is publicly accessible at [<url>http://bioinf.mind.meiji.ac.jp/cgi-bin/gbrowse/OsMes/#search</url>].</p

17β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 2 Expression Is Induced by Androgen Signaling in Endometrial Cancer.

Endometrial cancer is one of the most common female pelvic cancers and has been considered an androgen-related malignancy. Several studies have demonstrated the anti-cell proliferative effect of androgen on endometrial cancer cells; however, the mechanisms of the anti-cancer effect of androgen remain largely unclear. 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (17β-HSD2), which catalyzes the conversion of E2 to E1, is known to be upregulated by androgen treatment in breast cancer cells. In this study, we therefore focused on the role of androgen on estrogen dependence in endometrial cancer. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) was found to induce 17β-HSD2 mRNA and protein expression in HEC-1B endometrial cancer cells. DHT could also inhibit cell proliferation of HEC-1B when induced by estradiol treatment. In 19 endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma (EEA) tissues, intratumoral DHT concentration was measured by liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry and was found to be significantly correlated with 17β-HSD2 immunohistochemical status. We further examined the correlations between 17β-HSD2 immunoreactivity and clinicopathological parameters in 53 EEA tissues. 17β-HSD2 status was inversely associated with the histological grade, clinical stage, and cell proliferation marker Ki-67, and positively correlated with progesterone receptor expression. 17β-HSD2 status tended to be positively associated with androgen receptor status. In 53 EEA cases, the 17β-HSD2-positive group tended to have better prognosis than that for the negative group with respect to progression-free survival and endometrial cancer-specific survival. These findings suggest that androgen suppresses the estrogen dependence of endometrial cancer through the induction of 17β-HSD2 in endometrial cancer

Chaos in Static Axisymmetric Spacetimes I : Vacuum Case

We study the motion of test particle in static axisymmetric vacuum spacetimes and discuss two criteria for strong chaos to occur: (1) a local instability measured by the Weyl curvature, and (2) a tangle of a homoclinic orbit, which is closely related to an unstable periodic orbit in general relativity. We analyze several static axisymmetric spacetimes and find that the first criterion is a sufficient condition for chaos, at least qualitatively. Although some test particles which do not satisfy the first criterion show chaotic behavior in some spacetimes, these can be accounted for the second criterion.Comment: More comments for the quantitative estimation of chaos are added, and some inappropriate terms are changed. This will appear on Class. Quant. Gra

Detection of a bright burst from the repeating FRB 20201124A at 2 GHz

We present a detection of a bright burst from FRB 20201124A, which is one of the most active repeating FRBs, based on S-band observations with the 64-m radio telescope at the Usuda Deep Space Center/JAXA. This is the first FRB observed by using a Japanese facility. Our detection at 2 GHz in February 2022 is the highest frequency for this FRB and the fluence of $>$ 189 Jy ms is one of the brightest bursts from this FRB source. We place an upper limit on the spectral index $\alpha$ = -2.14 from the detection of the S band and non-detection of the X band at the same time. We compare an event rate of the detected burst with ones of the previous research, and suggest that the power-law of the luminosity function might be broken at lower fluence, and the fluences of bright FRBs distribute up to over 2 GHz with the power-law against frequency. In addition, we show the energy density of the burst detected in this work was comparable to the bright population of one-off FRBs. We propose that repeating FRBs can be as bright as one-off FRBs, and only their brightest bursts could be detected so some of repeating FRBs intrinsically might have been classified as one-off FRBs.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ

Space Demonstration of Two-Layer Pop-Up Origami Deployable Membrane Reflectarray Antenna by 3U CubeSat OrigamiSat-2

3U CubeSat OrigamiSat-2 demonstrates a 50-cm × 50-cm two-layer pop-up Origami deployable membrane reflectarray antenna in space. The membrane has small stowage volume and high gain even though it has low flatness because of a large enough antenna area to cover its un-flatness. C-band transmitter is equipped in the CubeSat and offers 20-Mbps amateur satellite communication. In 3U size, a 1-m length deployable gravity gradient mast and magnetic torquer are equipped to stabilize and control its attitude. A camera is attached to the satellite to measure the shape of the membrane antenna. OrigamiSat-2 was selected as the Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4 by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and is going to be launched in 2024 by Epsilon Launch Vehicle

The Interleukin-6 inflammation pathway from cholesterol to aging – Role of statins, bisphosphonates and plant polyphenols in aging and age-related diseases

We describe the inflammation pathway from Cholesterol to Aging. Interleukin 6 mediated inflammation is implicated in age-related disorders including Atherosclerosis, Peripheral Vascular Disease, Coronary Artery Disease, Osteoporosis, Type 2 Diabetes, Dementia and Alzheimer's disease and some forms of Arthritis and Cancer. Statins and Bisphosphonates inhibit Interleukin 6 mediated inflammation indirectly through regulation of endogenous cholesterol synthesis and isoprenoid depletion. Polyphenolic compounds found in plants, fruits and vegetables inhibit Interleukin 6 mediated inflammation by direct inhibition of the signal transduction pathway. Therapeutic targets for the control of all the above diseases should include inhibition of Interleukin-6 mediated inflammation