Ground state of the spin-1/2 chain of green dioptase at high fields

The gem-stone dioptase Cu6Si6O18.6H2O has a chiral crystal structure of equilateral triangular helices consisting of Cu-3d spins. It shows an antiferromagnetic order with an easy axis along c at TN = 15.5 K under zero field, and a magnetization jump at HC = 13.5 T when the field is applied along c-axis. By 29Si-NMR measurements, we have revealed that the high-field state is essentially the two sub-lattice structure, and that the component within ab-plane is collinear. The result indicates no apparent match with the geometrical pattern of helical spin chain.Comment: SCES2013, Hongo, Toky

Herpes simplex virus type 1 UL14 tegument protein regulates intracellular compartmentalization of major tegument protein VP16

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) has a complicated life-cycle, and its genome encodes many components that can modify the cellular environment to facilitate efficient viral replication. The protein UL14 is likely involved in viral maturation and egress (Cunningham C. et al), and it facilitates the nuclear translocation of viral capsids and the tegument protein VP16 during the immediate-early phase of infection (Yamauchi Y. et al, 2008). UL14 of herpes simplex virus type 2 exhibits multiple functions (Yamauchi Y. et al, 2001, 2002, 2003).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To better understand the function(s) of UL14, we generated VP16-GFP-incorporated UL14-mutant viruses with either single (K51M) or triple (R60A, R64A, E68D) amino acid substitutions in the heat shock protein (HSP)-like sequence of UL14. We observed the morphology of cells infected with UL14-null virus and amino acid-substituted UL14-mutant viruses at different time points after infection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>UL14(3P)-VP16GFP and UL14D-VP16GFP (UL14-null) viruses caused similar defects with respect to growth kinetics, compartmentalization of tegument proteins, and cellular morphology in the late phase. Both the UL14D-VP16GFP and UL14(3P)-VP16GFP viruses led to the formation of an aggresome that incorporated some tegument proteins but did not include nuclear-egressed viral capsids.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings suggest that a cluster of charged residues within the HSP-like sequence of UL14 is important for the molecular chaperone-like functions of UL14, and this activity is required for the acquisition of functionality of VP16 and UL46. In addition, UL14 likely contributes to maintaining cellular homeostasis following infection, including cytoskeletal organization. However, direct interactions between UL14 and VP16, UL46, or other cellular or viral proteins remain unclear.</p

Development of Heated Narrow Channels with Enhanced Liquid Supply in Forced Convective Boiling

Abstract Heat generation density from semiconductor devices increases with the rapid development of electronic technology. The cooling system using boiling two-phase phenomena attracts much attention because of its high heat removal potential. Most of heat transfer researches concerning the development of electronic devices are conducted for the cooling of small semiconductor chips, while there are limited numbers of innovative investigations for the cooling of a large area at extremely high heat flux larger than 2×10 6 W/m 2 . The technology can be applied to the cooling systems in space, e.g., cooling of laser medium in solar power satellites when solar energy is converted to laser power. To develop compact and high-performance cooling systems, a structure of narrow heated channel between parallel plates with auxiliary unheated channel was devised and tested by using water in three different kinds of experimental conditions. One of liquid supply method, where liquid is supplied to both of the main heated and the auxiliary unheated channel keeping the exit of the auxiliary channel closed, gives the highest CHF value at total volumetric flow rates more than 3.0×10 -5 m 3 /s and 2mm gap size of main heated channel

Excretion of Taurine and Sulfate in Rats Fed with a Low Protein Diet

The effects of a low protein diet on the excretion of sulfate and taurine, major metabolites of L-cysteine in mammals, were studied in rats fed with synthetic 10% (group A) and 25% (group B) casein diets. The average excretions of total taurine (taurine plus hypotaurine) and total sulfate (free plus ester sulfate) (mumol/kg of body weight per day after the adaptation to the synthetic diet) in group A were 14.2 +/- 13.4 and 122.3 +/- 39.6, respectively, which were very low compared with 280.4 +/- 93.8 and 943.2 +/- 144.8, respectively, in group B. The taurine/sulfate ratio in group A was 0.12 +/- 0.11, which was significantly lower than that (0.30 +/- 0.08) in group B. A single intraperitoneal injection of 5 mmol of L-cysteine per kg of body weight in group A resulted in an increase in average taurine and sulfate excretion to 693.4 +/- 195.6 and 2440.6 +/- 270.0, respectively, and thus the average taurine/sulfate ratio increased to 0.29. These increases were transient and low taurine excretion resumed again 24 h after the L-cysteine administration. L-Cysteine injection in group B resulted in a similar increase in taurine and sulfate excretion, but the ratio changed only slightly (0.28). The present results suggest that in vivo production of taurine is reduced preferentially over sulfate production when sulfur amino acid supply is limited. </p

Excretion of Sulfate and Taurine in Rats Fed with a High Protein Diet

Sulfate and taurine are the main metabolites of L-cysteine in mammals and are excreted in the urine. The effect of a high protein diet on the ratio of sulfate to taurine excretion was studied in rats using synthetic 25% (standard protein diet group, group A) and 40% (high protein diet group, group B) casein diets. Average taurine and sulfate excretions (mumol/kg of body weight per day) were 280.4 +/- 93.8 and 943.2 +/- 144.8 in group A and 553.4 +/- 124.5 and 2675.0 +/- 390.9 in group B, respectively. Thus, the average taurine/sulfate ratio in group A was 0.30 +/- 0.08. By a single administration of 5 mmol of L-cysteine/kg of body weight in group A, the average taurine and sulfate excretions increased to 1127.5 +/- 120.2 and 4043.0 +/- 305.6, respectively, but the taurine/sulfate ratio changed only slightly (0.28). The average taurine/sulfate ratio in group B was 0.22 +/- 0.07, a significantly lower ratio than that in group A, which means that daily intake of a high protein diet resulted in more sulfate excretion. The taurine/sulfate ratio in group B was affected only slightly (0.19) by the cysteine administration as well. These results suggest that the ratio of taurine and sulfate production was determined by dietary protein content and that the increase in sulfate production is larger than that of taurine production when the intake of dietary protein is increased.</p

Fabrication of GaAs MISFET with nm-thin oxidized layer formed by UV and ozone process

金沢大学工学部A gate insulating layer with single nm-order thickness for suppressing gate leakage current is one of the key factors in extending downsizing limits, based upon the scaling rule, of field-effect-type transistors. We describe the fabrication and characterization of GaAs MISFETs with a nm-thin oxidized layer as the gate insulating layer, which is formed by an ultraviolet (UV) and ozone process. The UV and ozone process forms oxidized GaAs layers near the surface, which effectively suppress the reverse leakage current by several orders of magnitude. The fabricated GaAs MISFET can operate not only in the depletion mode, but also in the accumulation mode up to 3 V gate voltage for 8-nm-thick oxidized layers due to the current blocking effect of the oxidized layer. A current cutoff frequency of 6 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency of 8 GHz are obtained for a GaAs MISFET with 1-/spl mu/m gate length and 8-nm-thick oxidized layers

Quantitative Dynamics of Chromatin Remodeling during Germ Cell Specification from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

SummaryGerm cell specification is accompanied by epigenetic remodeling, the scale and specificity of which are unclear. Here, we quantitatively delineate chromatin dynamics during induction of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs) and from there into primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs), revealing large-scale reorganization of chromatin signatures including H3K27me3 and H3K9me2 patterns. EpiLCs contain abundant bivalent gene promoters characterized by low H3K27me3, indicating a state primed for differentiation. PGCLCs initially lose H3K4me3 from many bivalent genes but subsequently regain this mark with concomitant upregulation of H3K27me3, particularly at developmental regulatory genes. PGCLCs progressively lose H3K9me2, including at lamina-associated perinuclear heterochromatin, resulting in changes in nuclear architecture. T recruits H3K27ac to activate BLIMP1 and early mesodermal programs during PGCLC specification, which is followed by BLIMP1-mediated repression of a broad range of targets, possibly through recruitment and spreading of H3K27me3. These findings provide a foundation for reconstructing regulatory networks of the germline epigenome

Lepton Flavor Violation in Intersecting D-brane Models

We investigate lepton flavor violation in the context of intersecting D-brane models. We point out that these models have a source to generate flavor violation in the trilinear scalar couplings while the geometry of the construction leads to degenerate soft scalar masses for different generations (as in the minimal supergravity model) at the string scale. The trilinear scalar couplings are not proportional to the Yukawa couplings when the F-term of the U-moduli contribution is non-zero. Consequently, the lepton flavor violating decay processes are generated. Only other sources of flavor violations in this model are the Dirac neutrino Yukawa coupling and the Majorana couplings. The observed fermion mixings are realized from the ``almost rank 1" Yukawa matrices, which generate a simple texture for the trilinear scalar terms. We calculate the branching ratios of tau -> mu gamma, mu -> e gamma and the electric dipole moment of the electron in this model. We find that the observation of all the lepton flavor violating decay processes and the electric dipole moment will be able to sort out different flavor violating sources.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

No-Scale Solution to Little Hierarchy

We show that the little hierarchy problem can be solved in the no-scale supergravity framework. In this model the supersymmetry breaking scale is generated when the electroweak symmetry breaking condition is satisfied and therefore, unlike usual supersymmetric models, the correlation between the electroweak symmetry breaking scale and the average stop mass scale can be justified. This correlation solves the little hierarchy puzzle. Using minimal supergravity boundary conditions, we find that the parameter space predicted by no-scale supergravity is allowed by all possible experimental constraints. The predicted values of supersymmetric particle masses are low enough to be very easily accessible at the LHC. This parameter space will also be probed in the upcoming results from the dark matter direct detection experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure