Relativistic Chiral Mean Field Model for Finite Nuclei

We present a relativistic chiral mean field (RCMF) model, which is a method for the proper treatment of pion-exchange interaction in the nuclear many-body problem. There the dominant term of the pionic correlation is expressed in two-particle two-hole (2p-2h) states with particle-holes having pionic quantum number, J^{pi}. The charge-and-parity-projected relativistic mean field (CPPRMF) model developed so far treats surface properties of pionic correlation in 2p-2h states with J^{pi} = 0^{-} (spherical ansatz). We extend the CPPRMF model by taking 2p-2h states with higher spin quantum numbers, J^{pi} = 1^{+}, 2^{-}, 3^{+}, ... to describe the full strength of the pionic correlation in the intermediate range (r > 0.5 fm). We apply the RCMF model to the ^{4}He nucleus as a pilot calculation for the study of medium and heavy nuclei. We study the behavior of energy convergence with the pionic quantum number, J^{pi}, and find convergence around J^{pi}_{max} = 6^{-}. We include further the effect of the short-range repulsion in terms of the unitary correlation operator method (UCOM) for the central part of the pion-exchange interaction. The energy contribution of about 50% of the net two-body interaction comes from the tensor part and 20% comes from the spin-spin central part of the pion-exchange interaction.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figure

Social Capital, Rehabilitation, Tradition: Support for Restorative Justice in Japan and Australia

This paper investigates the attitudes and beliefs that the public hold about criminal behaviour in Japanese and Australian society, with a view to uncovering sources of resistance to, and support for, restorative justice. The study draws on a survey of 1,544 respondents from Japan and 1,967 respondents from Australia. In both societies, restorative justice met with greater acceptance among those who were (1) strong in social capital, (2) believed in offender reintegration and rehabilitation, (3) saw benefits for victims in forgiveness, and (4) were advocates for victims' voices being heard and amends made. The alternative 'just deserts' and deterrence models for dealing with crime were grounded in attitudes of punitiveness and fear of moral decay, and reservations about the value of reintegrating and rehabilitating offenders. Like restorative justice supporters, 'just deserts' and deterrence supporters expressed concern that victims' voices be heard and amends made. Winning public support for competing institutional arrangements may depend on who does best in meeting expectations for meeting the needs of victims

The S₄ and Few-Group Diffusion Calculations of Fast Reactors

To economize a large amount of numerical work in the calculation of fast breeders, the present work has been done in the hope that few-group diffusion theory might give acceptable results in some cases. A hypothetic 233TJ-232Th system with large core size (～670/) as well as a hypothetic 239Pu-238U fast reactor with small core size (～50l) are adopted. These systems are assumed to be of spherically symmetric geometry. One dimensional calculations are applied to obtain the static characteristics of the systems. The results from few-group S4 and diffusion method are investigated. These results seem to indicate that fouror three-group diffusion calculation might at least be used in place of three-group S4 computation for both large and small fast reactors. A new convergence criterion imposed upon the static parameters is proposed. The leakage rate of neutrons from the blanket is selected as the sensitive measure of convergence. This rate is estimated in two ways, i.e. with the aid of neutron current and by neutron inventory. The sufficiently converged state can be reached when these two values coincide with each other. One is also able to infer the necessary number of spatial mesh points by comparing these two values

Construction of Artificial Viral Capsids Encapsulating Short DNAs via Disulfide Bonds and Controlled Release of DNAs by Reduction

To construct an artificial viral capsid encapsulated short single-stranded DNA, a β-annulus peptide conjugated with ssDNA through a disulfide bond at the N-terminus (DNA-SS-β-Annulus) was synthesized. The DNA-SS-β-Annulus conjugate self-assembled into spherical structures ranging in the size of 36–60 nm. ssDNA was released from the capsids via the reduction of disulfide bonds

Herpes simplex virus type 2 tegument protein UL56 relocalizes ubiquitin ligase Nedd4 and has a role in transport and/or release of virions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The ubiquitin system functions in a variety of cellular processes including protein turnover, protein sorting and trafficking. Many viruses exploit the cellular ubiquitin system to facilitate viral replication. In fact, herpes simplex virus (HSV) encodes a ubiquitin ligase (E3) and a de-ubiquitinating enzyme to modify the host's ubiquitin system. We have previously reported HSV type 2 (HSV-2) tegument protein UL56 as a putative adaptor protein of neuronal precursor cell-expressed developmentally down-regulated 4 (Nedd4) E3 ligase, which has been shown to be involved in protein sorting and trafficking.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we visualized and characterized the dynamic intracellular localization of UL56 and Nedd4 using live-cell imaging and immunofluorescence analysis. UL56 was distributed to cytoplasmic vesicles, primarily to the trans-Golgi network (TGN), and trafficked actively throughout the cytoplasm. Moreover, UL56 relocalized Nedd4 to the vesicles in cells transiently expressing UL56 and in cells infected with HSV-2. We also investigated whether UL56 influenced the efficiency of viral replication, and found that extracellular infectious viruses were reduced in the absence of UL56.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that UL56 regulates Nedd4 and functions to facilitate the cytoplasmic transport of virions from TGN to the plasma membrane and/or release of virions from the cell surface.</p

Encapsulation of mRNA into Artificial Viral Capsids via Hybridization of a β-Annulus-dT20 Conjugate and the Poly(A) Tail of mRNA

Messenger RNA (mRNA) drugs have attracted considerable attention as promising tools with many therapeutic applications. The efficient delivery of mRNA drugs using non-viral materials is currently being explored. We demonstrate a novel concept where mCherry mRNA bearing a poly(A) tail is encapsulated into capsids co-assembled from viral β-annulus peptides bearing a 20-mer oligothymine (dT20) at the N-terminus and unmodified peptides via hybridization of dT20 and poly(A). Dynamic light scattering measurements and transmission electron microscopy images of the mRNA-encapsulated capsids show the formation of spherical assemblies of approximately 50 nm. The encapsulated mRNA shows remarkable ribonuclease resistance. Further, modification by a cell-penetrating peptide (His16) on the capsid enables the intracellular expression of mCherry of encapsulated mRNA

The Electrical Characteristics of Anodic Oxidized Ta₂O₅ Films

The dielectric constant, the dielectric　loss, the breakdown voltage and the current at high electric fields of Ta₂O₅ 1ayers have been measured using Ta-Ta₂O₅-Au devices with various thicknesses. The Ta₂O₅ layer is prepared by anodizing sputtered Ta films. The rate of anodic oxidation is about 16-18Å/V. The Ta-Ta₂O₅-Au devices with the Ta₂O₅ layers more than 1500Å thick are electrically stable and show the dielectric constants of 20-25, which are slightly smaIIer than those of bulk (25-27). The current at high electric fields depends strongly upon temperature and therefore is considered to be the Schottky current. The breakdown electric field is about 5x10⁶V/cm. A few of the Ta-Ta₂O₅-Au devices studied show the remarkable rectifying characteristics, which may be due to the n― i―p junction of the Ta₂O₅ 1ayer