Search for new physics via photon polarization of b→sγb \rightarrow s \gamma

We suggest a discriminant analysis of new physics beyond the standard model through a detection of photon polarization in a radiative B meson decay. This analysis is investigated in SUSY SU(5) GUT with right-handed neutrino and left-right symmetric models. New physics search via CP asymmetry in the same process are also evaluated in each model for comparison. We show that new physics can be found via detecting the photon polarization in a parameter space of TeV energy scale.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, v2:references added, v3:published versio

Examination of the Robustness of the Resilience Scale Using Multigroup Analysis

This study aimed to investigate the factor invariance and robustness of a resilience scale using multigroup analysis to allow for a relative comparison of models. Participants were 2568 high school students (male: 1211, female: 1357) in Japan. They answered the questionnaire about their respective general attributes (gender, grade) and the resilience scale. The resilience scale included 9 items and 3 factors (building relationship, overcome power, and breakthrough strength). To investigate whether the resilience scale responds appropriately to the participants in this study, a separate confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for each gender. After examining the construct validity of the resilience scale, a multigroup analysis was conducted for groups by gender. The multigroup analysis confirmed configural invariance, measurement invariance, weak factorial invariance, and strong factorial invariance. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis for each gender was a good fit. Configural invariance was adopted for multigroup analysis. The validity of interpreting resilience in male and female participants using the same model was established in this study. We expect that the current findings will help interpret gender differences in resilience in the field of mental health

Protective Actions of 17 β

Steroid hormones synthesized in and secreted from peripheral endocrine glands pass through the blood-brain barrier and play a role in the central nervous system. In addition, the brain possesses an inherent endocrine system and synthesizes steroid hormones known as neurosteroids. Increasing evidence shows that neuroactive steroids protect the central nervous system from various harmful stimuli. Reports show that the neuroprotective actions of steroid hormones attenuate oxidative stress. In this review, we summarize the antioxidative effects of neuroactive steroids, especially 17β-estradiol and progesterone, on neuronal injury in the central nervous system under various pathological conditions, and then describe our recent findings concerning the neuroprotective actions of 17β-estradiol and progesterone on oxidative neuronal injury induced by organometallic compounds, tributyltin, and methylmercury

Dual Role of Superoxide Dismutase 2 Induced in Activated Microglia: OXIDATIVE STRESS TOLERANCE AND CONVERGENCE OF INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES

Microglia are activated quickly in response to external pathogens or cell debris and clear these substances via the inflammatory response. However, excessive activation of microglia can be harmful to host cells due to the increased production of reactive oxygen species and proinflammatory cytokines. Superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) is reportedly induced under various inflammatory conditions in the central nervous system. We herein demonstrated that activated microglia strongly express SOD2 and examined the role of SOD2, focusing on regulation of the microglial activity and the susceptibility of microglia to oxidative stress. When rat primary microglia were treated with LPS, poly(I:C), peptidoglycan, or CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, respectively, the mRNA and protein levels of SOD2 largely increased. However, an increased expression of SOD2 was not detected in the primary neurons or astrocytes, indicating that SOD2 is specifically induced in microglia under inflammatory conditions. The activated microglia showed high tolerance to oxidative stress, whereas SOD2 knockdown conferred vulnerability to oxidative stress. Interestingly, the production of proinflammatory cytokines was increased in the activated microglia treated with SOD2 siRNA compared with that observed in the control siRNA-treated cells. Pretreatment with NADPH oxidase inhibitors, diphenylene iodonium and apocynin, decreased in not only reactive oxygen species generation but also the proinflammatory cytokine expression. Notably, SOD2 knockdown largely potentiated the nuclear factor κB activity in the activated microglia. Taken together, increased SOD2 conferred tolerance to oxidative stress in the microglia and decreased proinflammatory cytokine production by attenuating the nuclear factor κB activity. Therefore, SOD2 might regulate neuroinflammation by controlling the microglial activities.This work was supported in part by KAKENHI Grants 26740024, 30291149, and 22310041 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (to Y. I., K. I., and T. Y.); a grant from the Fujii Foundation (to Y. I.); and a grant from the Hiroshima University Education and Research Support Foundation (to Y. I.)

Ultrafast Feed Drilling of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics

Carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTP) are just beginning to be utilized for various applications such as aerospace, automobiles, and sporting goods in place of CFRPs, and the demand for through-hole drilling of CFRTPs is increasing. In this study, the machinability in drilling of CFRTPs under various conditions was experimentally analyzed in terms of the material properties, and a feasibility study of ultrafast feed drilling was conducted. The results showed that delamination at the outlet surface can be significantly suppressed during high rotational drilling when the feed rate is set to more than 3000 mm/min. By providing appropriate drilling conditions to prevent polymers in CFRTPs from softening, ultra-fast drilling of CFRTPs was successfully achieved under dry conditions

Spreading of Antarctic Bottom Water examined using the CFC-11 distribution simulated by an eddy-resolving OGCM

We have investigated the spreading and pathway of Antarctic Bottom Water(AABW) using the simulated distribution of chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs) in a global eddy-resolving(1/10°) OGCM. Our goal is understanding of the processes and pathways determining the distribution of CFCs in the Southern Ocean, where much of this tracer is entrained by formation of deep and bottom water. The simu- lated high CFC-11 water reveals the newly formed AABW around the Antarctic Continent. The main source regions of AABW in the model are in the Weddell Sea(60°- 30°W ), offshore of Wilkes Land(120°- 160°E ) and in the Ross Sea(170°E -160°W ). In our model, spreading of simulated CFC-11 in the deep Southern Ocean from the newly formed AABW regions is more similar to the observed distribution than in coarse-resolution models. In the Weddell Sea, the high CFC-11 water spreads eastward with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current(ACC) and flows northward to the Argentine Basin. The high CFC-11 water from Wilkes Land joins with the high CFC-11 water from the Ross Sea. Some of the high CFC-11 water from Wilkes Land flows northward toward New Zealand. The high CFC-11 water from the Ross Sea flows eastward with the ACC along the Mid Ocean Ridge and northward to the Southeast Pacific Basin

X-ray Anomalous Scattering of Diluted Magnetic Oxide Semiconductors: Possible Evidence of Lattice Deformation for High Temperature Ferromagnetism

We have examined whether the Co ions crystallographically substitute on the Ti sites in rutile and anatase Ti_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$O$_{2-delta}$thin films that exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism. Intensities of the x-ray Bragg reflection from the films were measured around the$K$-absorption-edge of Co. If the Co ions randomly substitute on the Ti sites, the intensity should exhibit an anomaly due to the anomalous dispersion of the atomic scattering factor of Co. However, none of the anatase and rutile samples did exhibit an anomaly, unambiguously showing that the Co ions in Ti$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$O$_{2-delta}$are not exactly located at the Ti sites of TiO$_2$. The absence of the anomaly is probably caused by a significant deformation of the local structure around Co due to the oxygen vacancy. We have applied the same method to paramagnetic Zn$_{1-x}$Co$_{x}$O thin films and obtained direct evidence that the Co ions are indeed substituted on the Zn sites.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in PR

Molecular characterization of Mybbp1a as a co-repressor on the Period2 promoter

The circadian clock comprises transcriptional feedback loops of clock genes. Cryptochromes are essential components of the negative feedback loop in mammals as they inhibit CLOCK-BMAL1-mediated transcription. We purified mouse CRY1 (mCRY1) protein complexes from Sarcoma 180 cells to determine their roles in circadian gene expression and discovered that Myb-binding protein 1a (Mybbp1a) interacts with mCRY1. Mybbp1a regulates various transcription factors, but its role in circadian gene expression is unknown. We found that Mybbp1a functions as a co-repressor of Per2 expression and repressed Per2 promoter activity in reporter assays. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays revealed endogenous Mybbp1a binding to the Per2 promoter that temporally matched that of mCRY1. Furthermore, Mybbp1a binding to the Per2 promoter correlated with the start of the down-regulation of Per2 expression and with the dimethylation of histone H3 Lys9, to which it could also bind. These findings suggest that Mybbp1a and mCRY1 can form complexes on the Per2 promoter that function as negative regulators of Per2 expression

Reduction of Estimation Time for Disturbance Level Using Majority Decision Considering with Current and Magnetic Current Source

The maximum value of radiated emission must be measured at a distance of 10m for the CISPR publishes. However, the test facilities are too expensive to measure at a distance of 10m. Therefore, the method has been studied to estimate radiated emissions at a distance of 10m from the measured data at a distance of 3 m. The conventional estimation method considered with three components of current vectors and this need much estimation time. In this paper, we propose the estimation method considering with current and magnetic- current sources. The equipment can be modelled by one component of the current vectors using both current and magnetic-current source, and this method can reduce the estimation time because the estimation parameters reduces from nine to five. The electric field radiated from the imitated equipment was estimated by using numerical calculation value. The results indicated that the accuracy of proposed method was almost equal to conventional method for horizontal polarization, and the estimation time decreased two thirds.2009 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC\u2709/Kyoto), July 20-24, 2009, Kyoto International Conference Center, Kyoto, Japa

Prediction of Electric Field Strength at 10m Distance Using Emission Source Finding Method

The equipment under test (EUT) was modeled by current sources. The current positions were estimated using the finding method of radiated emission source by electric field strength data alone. The current vectors were determined by the conditions, where Norm (deviation between the calculated electric field and the measured one) was minimized. Using estimated current sources model, the electric filed strength at 10m distance was predicted. The predicted results were compared with the measured data for an imitated equipment and a personal computer. The results indicate that the radiation patterns were similar to the measured ones, and the maximum electric field strength at10m distance was comparable to the measured value and the calculated value on the assumption where electric field decreases in proportion to distance.2004 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC\u2704/Sendai), June 1-4, 2004, Sendai International Center, Sendai, Japa