472 research outputs found
Extracting Important Tweets for News Writers using Recurrent Neural Network with Attention Mechanism and Multi-task Learning
Suzaku and Optical Spectroscopic Observations of SS 433 in the 2006 April Multiwavelength Campaign
We report results of the 2006 April multi-wavelengths campaign of SS 433,
focusing on X-ray data observed with Suzaku at two orbital phases (in- and
out-of- eclipse) and simultaneous optical spectroscopic observations. By
analyzing the Fe25 K_alpha lines originating from the jets, we detect rapid
variability of the Doppler shifts, dz/dt ~ 0.019/0.33 day^-1, which is larger
than those expected from the precession and/or nodding motion. This phenomenon
probably corresponding to "jitter" motions observed for the first time in
X-rays, for which significant variability both in the jet angle and intrinsic
speed is required. From the time lag of optical Doppler curves from those of
X-rays, we estimate the distance of the optical jets from the base to be ~(3-4)
\times 10^14 cm. Based on the radiatively cooling jet model, we determine the
innermost temperature of the jets to be T_0 = 13 +/- 2 keV and 16 +/- 3 keV
(the average of the blue and red jets) for the out-of-eclipse and in-eclipse
phase, respectively, from the line intensity ratio of Fe25 K_alpha and Fe26
K_alpha. While the broad band continuum spectra over the 5--40 keV band in
eclipse is consistent with a multi-temperature bremsstrahlung emission expected
from the jets, and its reflection component from cold matter, the
out-of-eclipse spectrum is harder than the jet emission with the base
temperature determined above, implying the presence of an additional hard
component.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Proposal of air compressing device using walking vibration energy regeneration for pneumatic driven assistive device
Pneumatically driven wearable assistive devices for walking have been developed recently. These devices can achieve flexible assistance without control; however, they require large and heavy air compressors for activation. In this study, a pneumatically driven source using vibration energy regeneration from walking was developed. The aim was to activate the cylinder using vibrations due to walking and compressed air. A mass element, which is connected to a human body via a spring and a cylinder, vibrates along with the human gait cycle. Next, a prototype was developed and tested. In walking experiments, stored pressure was measured at several gait cycles and masses for comparison. Results indicate that the gait cycle period and masses affect the stored pressure; the highest pressure recorded was 0.08 MPa
Vitamin D receptor initiation codon polymorphism influences genetic susceptibility to type 1 diabetes mellitus in the Japanese population
BACKGROUND: Vitamin D has been shown to exert manifold immunomodulatory effects. Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is regarded to be immune-mediated and vitamin D prevents the development of diabetes in the NOD mouse. We studied the association between T1DM and the initiation codon polymorphism in exon 2 of the vitamin D receptor gene in a Japanese population. We also investigated associations between the vitamin D receptor polymorphism and GAD65-antibody (Ab) positivity. We carried out polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis in 110 Japanese T1DM patients and 250 control subjects. GAD65 antibodies were assessed in 78 patients with T1DM. RESULTS: We found a significantly higher prevalence of the F allele / the FF genotype in the patients compared to the controls (P = 0.0069 and P = 0.014, respectively). Genotype and allele frequencies differed significantly between GAD65-Ab-positive patients and controls (P = 0.017 and P = 0.012, respectively), but neither between GAD65-Ab-negative patients and controls (P = 0.68 and P = 0.66, respectively) nor between GAD65-Ab-positive and -negative patients (P = 0.19 and P = 0.16, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the vitamin D receptor initiation codon polymorphism influences genetic susceptibility to T1DM among the Japanese. This polymorphism is also associated with GAD65-Ab-positive T1DM, although the absence of a significant difference between GAD65-Ab-negative patients and controls might be simply due to the small sample size of patients tested for GAD65 antibodies
Experimental Verification of a One-Dimensional Diffraction-Limit Coronagraph
We performed an experimental verification of a coronagraph. As a result, we
confirmed that, at the focal region where the planetary point spread function
exists, the coronagraph system mitigates the raw contrast of a star-planet
system by at least even for the 1- star-planet
separation. In addition, the verified coronagraph keeps the shapes of the
off-axis point spread functions when the setup has the source angular
separation of 1. The low-order wavefront error and the non-zero
extinction ratio of the linear polarizer may affect the currently confirmed
contrast. The sharpness of the off-axis point spread function generated by the
sub- separated sources is promising for the fiber-based observation
of exoplanets. The coupling efficiency with a single mode fiber exceeds 50%
when the angular separation is greater than 3--4. For
sub- separated sources, the peak positions (obtained with Gaussian
fitting) of the output point spread functions are different from the angular
positions of sources; the peak position moved from about to
as the angular separation of the light source varies from
to . The off-axis throughput including the
fiber-coupling efficiency (with respect to no focal plane mask) is about 40%
for 1- separated sources and 10% for 0.5- separated ones
(excluding the factor of the ratio of pupil aperture width and Lyot stop
width), where we assumed a linear-polarized-light injection. In addition,
because this coronagraph can remove point sources on a line in the sky, it has
another promising application for high-contrast imaging of exoplanets in binary
systems.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for the Publications of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacifi
Phase segregated Cu₂₋ₓSe/Ni₃Se₄ bimetallic selenide nanocrystals formed through the cation exchange reaction for active water oxidation precatalysts
Control over the composition and nanostructure of solid electrocatalysts is quite important for drastic improvement of their performance. The cation exchange reaction of nanocrystals (NCs) has been reported as the way to provide metastable crystal structures and complicated functional nanostructures that are not accessible by conventional synthetic methods. Herein we demonstrate the cation exchange-derived formation of metastable spinel Ni₃Se₄NCs (sp-Ni₃Se₄) and phase segregated berzelianite Cu₂₋ₓSe (ber-Cu₂₋ₓSe)/sp-Ni₃Se₄ heterostructured NCs as active oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts. A rare sp-Ni₃Se₄ phase was formed by cation exchange of ber-Cu₂₋ₓSe NCs with Ni²⁺ ions, because both phases have the face-centered cubic (fcc) Se anion sublattice. Tuning the Ni : Cu molar ratio leads to the formation of Janus-type ber-Cu₂₋ₓSe/sp-Ni₃Se₄ heterostructured NCs. The NCs of sp-Ni₃Se₄ and ber-Cu₂₋ₓSe/sp-Ni₃Se₄ heterostructures exhibited high catalytic activities in the OER with small overpotentials of 250 and 230 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² in 0.1 M KOH, respectively. They were electrochemically oxidized during the OER to give hydroxides as the real active species. We anticipate that the cation exchange reaction could have enormous potential for the creation of novel heterostructured NCs showing superior catalytic performance
Elevation of Bombina variegata peptide 8 in mice with collagen-induced arthritis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Bombina variegate </it>peptide 8 (Bv8) is a small protein secreted by frog skin. Recently it has been shown to contribute to tumor angiogenesis in mouse model. The purpose of this study was to investigate Bv8 in mice with type II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We induced CIA in male DBA/1J mice. The severity of arthritis was evaluated based on an arthritis score. RNA was extracted from the joint, and examined for Bv8 mRNA expression by RT-PCR and real-time RT-PCR. Synovial tissue and bone marrow were immunohistochemically examined using anti-Bv8 antibody.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The level of Bv8 mRNA expression in the joint was below the detection limit in the control group, but was elevated in the CIA group, and was correlated with the arthritis score. In addition, an increase in Bv8-positive cells was observed in the synovium and bone marrow in the CIA group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Bv8 was elevated in the synovium and bone marrow of CIA mice, suggesting that Bv8 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of arthritis.</p
Differential expression of nuclear lamin subtypes in the neural cells of the adult rat cerebral cortex
Lamins are type V intermediate filament proteins that are located beneath the inner nuclear membrane. In mammalian somatic cells, LMNB1 and LMNB2 encode somatic lamins B1 and B2, respectively, and the LMNA gene is alternatively spliced to generate somatic lamins A and C. Mutations in lamin genes have been linked to many human hereditary diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders. Knowledge about lamins in the nervous system has been accumulated recently, but a precise analysis of lamin subtypes in glial cells has not yet been reported. In this study we investigated the composition of lamin subtypes in neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocyte-lineage cells, and microglia in the adult rat cerebral cortex using an immunohistochemical staining method. Lamin A was not observed in neurons and glial cells. Lamin C was observed in astrocytes, mature oligodendrocytes and neurons, but not observed in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. Microglia also did not stain positive for lamin C which differed from macrophages, with lamin C positive. Lamin B1 and B2 were observed in all glial cells and neurons. Lamin B1 was intensely positive in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells compared with other glial cells and neurons. Lamin B2 was weakly positive in all glial cells compared to neurons. Our current study might provide useful information to reveal how the onset mechanisms of human neurodegenerative diseases are associated with mutations in genes for nuclear lamin proteins
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