Application of Compressive Wood to the Activity of Making-Things

This is a case study on the application of compressive wood by harnessing its hydrothermal characteristic to the activity of making-things (monozukuli) which could be organized in schools. Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don)sapwood was used to produce the samples of compressive wood. The density of sugi sapwood after oven-drying was 0.480 g/cm^3, and the compression ratio in the radial direction was set as two-thirds of its initial dimmension. To ascertain the effectiveness of the application of compressive wood to making-things, three trial examples were made to display the entropy elastisity of wood utilized in commpressive processing to the students in an elementary school of Kumamoto City. The students' interest and concern about compressive processing of wood by using its hydrothermal characteristics were investigated by conducting a questionnaire survey among 27 sixth graders. Based upon the feedback received from the students, it is revealed that they could understood the entropy elasticity of wood,the key mechanism of compressive processing, through displaying samples combined with an explanation by using a model of wood cells. Consequently, a very higher valuation and a keen interest in such an advanced technology of wood processing were acknowledged. Almost all of the students expressed their wills to be eager to enjoy this kind of making-things

Stochastic Acceleration of Cosmic Rays in the Central Molecular Zone of the Galaxy

Particle acceleration in the inner ~ 200 pc of the Galaxy is discussed, where diffuse TeV gamma-rays have been detected by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) observation. The diffuse gamma-ray emission has a strong correlation with molecular clouds with large velocity dispersion, indicating the presence of turbulence. It is argued that the turbulence may contribute to the acceleration of cosmic rays via stochastic acceleration. The stochastic acceleration may energize cosmic-ray protons up to ~ 100 TeV and electrons to ~ 1 TeV in a relatively tenuous medium. The difference in the efficiency between protons and electrons supports the hadronic scenario of the diffuse TeV gamma-ray emission.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted by PASJ Letter

Molecular and Atomic Gas toward HESS J1745-303 in the Galactic Center: Further Support for the Hadronic Scenario

We have compared the TeV gamma-rays with the new 12CO J=2-1 data toward HESS J1745-303 in the Galactic center and confirmed that the molecular gas MG358.9-0.5 toward (l, b)=(358.9, -0.5 at VLSR=-100-0 km s-1 shows a reasonable positional agreement with the primary peak (northern part) of the gamma-ray source. For the southern part of HESS J1745-303, we see no CO counterpart, whereas the HI gas in the Parkes 21 cm HI dataset shows a possible counterpart to the gamma-ray source. This HI gas may be optically thick as supported by the HI line shape similar to the optically thick 12CO. We estimate the total mass of interstellar protons including both the molecular and atomic gas to be 2x10^6 Mo and the cosmic-ray proton energy to be 6x10^{48} ergs in the hadronic scenario. We discuss possible origins of the cosmic-ray protons including the nearby SNR G359.1-0.5. The SNR may be able to explain the northern gamma-ray source but the southern source seems to be too far to be energized by the SNR. As an alternative, we argue that the second-order Fermi acceleration in the inter-clump space surrounded by randomly moving high-velocity clumps may offer a possible mechanism to accelerate protons. The large turbulent motion with velocity dispersion of ~15 km s-1 has energy density two orders of magnitude higher than in the solar vicinity and is viable as the energy source.Comment: To be published in PASJ Vol. 64 No.1 (February 2012

Application of Compressive Wood to the Activity of Making-Things

This is a case study on the application of compressive wood by harnessing its hydrothermal characteristic to the activity of making-things (monozukuli) which could be organized in schools. Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don)sapwood was used to produce the samples of compressive wood. The density of sugi sapwood after oven-drying was 0.480 g/cm^3, and the compression ratio in the radial direction was set as two-thirds of its initial dimmension. To ascertain the effectiveness of the application of compressive wood to making-things, three trial examples were made to display the entropy elastisity of wood utilized in commpressive processing to the students in an elementary school of Kumamoto City. The students\u27 interest and concern about compressive processing of wood by using its hydrothermal characteristics were investigated by conducting a questionnaire survey among 27 sixth graders. Based upon the feedback received from the students, it is revealed that they could understood the entropy elasticity of wood,the key mechanism of compressive processing, through displaying samples combined with an explanation by using a model of wood cells. Consequently, a very higher valuation and a keen interest in such an advanced technology of wood processing were acknowledged. Almost all of the students expressed their wills to be eager to enjoy this kind of making-things

Expression of β-nerve growth factor mRNA in rat glioma cells and astrocytes from rat brain

AbstractA 50-base synthetic oligodeoxynucleotide complementary to a portion of mouse nerve growth factor (NGF) mRNA was used as a probe for analysis of the expression of NGF gene. Northern blot analysis showed the presence of a major 1.3 kb transcript, which was identical in size to mouse NGF mRNA, in both C6Bu1 cells and rat astrocytes cultured from newborn rat brain. Further, the rearrangement of DNA sequence in and around the NGF gene locus of C6Bu1 cells was not detected by Southern blot analysis. These results indicate the expression of NGF mRNA in both C6Bu1 cells and astrocytes from rat brain, suggesting that astrocytes may produce NGF protein in the rat brain, especially in developing rat brain

Comparison of Epirubicin-Iodized Oil Suspension and Emulsion for Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization in VX2 Tumor

To compare the antitumor efficacy and safety of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) by epirubicin suspension (epirubicin suspension: epirubicin-iodized oil mixture without solution) to that by epirubicin emulsion (epirubicin emulsion: epirubicin-iodized oil mixture with solution), the efficacy of treatment by administration of either an epirubicin suspension or emulsion was examined in an animal model. Changes in plasma epirubicin concentration were compared over 24 h immediately after treatment, and enhanced ultrasonographic and histopathological analysis subsequently conducted 7 days after treatment to determine the growth ratio and proportion of viable tumor cells. The growth ratio and proportion of viable tumor cells were found to be significantly lower in the suspension group than in the emulsion group while the plasma epirubicin concentration was found to be significantly higher in the suspension group than in the emulsion group. These results indicate that administration of an epirubicin suspension is a superior form of TACE compared to that of administration of an epirubicin emulsion