Analysis of Technological Portfolios for CO2 stabilizations and Effects of Technological Changes

In this study, cost-effective technological options to stabilize CO2 concentrations at 550, 500, and 450 ppmv are evaluated using a world energy systems model of linear programming with a high regional resolution. This model treats technological change endogenously for wind power, photovoltaics, and fuel-cell vehicles, which are technologies of mass production and are considered to follow the “learning by doing” process. Technological changes induced by climate policies are evaluated by maintaining the technological changes at the levels of the base case wherein there is no climate policy. The results achieved through model analyses include 1) cost-effective technological portfolios, including carbon capture and storage, marginal CO2 reduction costs, and increases in energy system cost for three levels of stabilization and 2) the effect of the induced technological change on the above mentioned factors. A sensitivity analysis is conducted with respect to the learning rate.Energy systems model, Global warming, Technological portfolios, Technological changes

Search for sub-eV scalar and pseudoscalar resonances via four-wave mixing with a laser collider

The quasi-parallel photon-photon scattering by combining two-color laser fields is an approach to produce resonant states of low-mass fields in laboratory. In this system resonances can be probed via the four-wave mixing process in the vacuum. A search for scalar and pseudoscalar fields was performed by combining 9.3 $\mu$J/0.9 ps Ti-Sapphire laser and 100 $\mu$J/9 ns Nd:YAG laser. No significant signal of four-wave mixing was observed. We provide the upper limits on the coupling-mass relation for scalar and pseudoscalar fields, respectively, at a 95\% confidence level in the mass region below 0.15~eV.Comment: Accepted by Prog. Theor. Exp. Phy

Raman spectroscopic thermometer for carbonaceous material in chondrites

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OA] 南極隕石11月16日（月）　国立国語研究所 2階 講

Intrapulmonary venous anastomosis after PV obstraction

Pulmonary venous (PV) obstruction is associated with a poor prognosis, as well as a high risk of recurrence, following surgical treatment. It can also interfere with the successful completion of Fontan circulation in patients with complex congenital heart disease. A case of a patient who had right isomerism (also known as asplenia syndrome), total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC), and a single right ventricle is presented. Although bilateral total occlusion of the inferior PVs was identified postoperatively, the formation of the anastomosis and collateral vessels into the superior and middle PVs enabled successful completion of Fontan circulation. Anastomoses and collateral flow of the PVs were found largely in the interlobar pleura and not in the lung parenchyma

Development of an accurate classification system of proteins into structured and unstructured regions that uncovers novel structural domains: its application to human transcription factors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In addition to structural domains, most eukaryotic proteins possess intrinsically disordered (ID) regions. Although ID regions often play important functional roles, their accurate identification is difficult. As human transcription factors (TFs) constitute a typical group of proteins with long ID regions, we regarded them as a model of all proteins and attempted to accurately classify TFs into structural domains and ID regions. Although an extremely high fraction of ID regions besides DNA binding and/or other domains was detected in human TFs in our previous investigation, 20% of the residues were left unassigned. In this report, we exploit the generally higher sequence divergence in ID regions than in structural regions to completely divide proteins into structural domains and ID regions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The new dichotomic system first identifies domains of known structures, followed by assignment of structural domains and ID regions with a combination of pre-existing tools and a newly developed program based on sequence divergence, taking un-aligned regions into consideration. The system was found to be highly accurate: its application to a set of proteins with experimentally verified ID regions had an error rate as low as 2%. Application of this system to human TFs (401 proteins) showed that 38% of the residues were in structural domains, while 62% were in ID regions. The preponderance of ID regions makes a sharp contrast to TFs of <it>Escherichia coli </it>(229 proteins), in which only 5% fell in ID regions. The method also revealed that 4.0% and 11.8% of the total length in human and <it>E. coli </it>TFs, respectively, are comprised of structural domains whose structures have not been determined.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present system verifies that sequence divergence including information of unaligned regions is a good indicator of ID regions. The system for the first time estimates the complete fractioning of structured/un-structured regions in human TFs, also revealing structural domains without homology to known structures. These predicted novel structural domains are good targets of structural genomics. When applied to other proteins, the system is expected to uncover more novel structural domains.</p

Spermatic Cord Lymphoma: A Case Report and Literature Review

Spermatic cord lymphoma is a rare lethal disease. It has a poor prognosis even in stage I or II disease when treated locally, therefore, multidisciplinary treatment for early stage is recommended. On the other hand, the treatment of choice for stage III or IV spermatic cord lymphoma remains to be determined. It is said that spermatic cord lymphoma is clinicopathologically similar to primary testicular lymphoma, therefore the treatment of spermatic cord lymphoma has often been determined by reference to the recommended treatment for primary testicular lymphoma. Here we report a new case of spermatic cord lymphoma, which was found in stage IV disease. We also review thirty-three cases which have been reported as spermatic cord lymphoma to date, and discuss treatment options