‘Human Security’ in EU-Japan Security Relations from a Japanese Perspective

Human security was adopted by Japan as a main goal of foreign and defence policy. Japan’s efforts to put human security on the agenda, especially at the UN, led to discussion and adoption in the communiqués within EU-Japan summit meetings. The apex of the concept in Japanese policy may have passed, becoming a subject of development cooperation policy rather than a fundamental guiding principle of Japanese foreign policy

Stochastic Quantization and Casimir Forces: Pistons of Arbitrary Cross Section

Recently, a method based on stochastic quantization has been proposed to compute the Casimir force and its fluctuations in arbitrary geometries. It relies on the spectral decomposition of the Laplacian operator in the given geometry. Both quantum and thermal fluctuations are considered. Here we use such method to compute the Casimir force on the plates of a finite piston of arbitrary cross section. Asymptotic expressions valid at low and high temperatures and short and long distances are obtained. The case of a piston with triangular cross section is analysed in detail. The regularization of the divergent stress tensor is described.Comment: 10 pages and 4 figures. Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the tenth conference on Quantum Field Theory under the influence of external conditions - QFEXT'1

Impurity and quaternions in nonrelativistic scattering from a quantum memory

Models of quantum computing rely on transformations of the states of a quantum memory. We study mathematical aspects of a model proposed by Wu in which the memory state is changed via the scattering of incoming particles. This operation causes the memory content to deviate from a pure state, i.e. induces impurity. For nonrelativistic particles scattered from a two-state memory and sufficiently general interaction potentials in 1+1 dimensions, we express impurity in terms of quaternionic commutators. In this context, pure memory states correspond to null hyperbolic quaternions. In the case with point interactions, the scattering process amounts to appropriate rotations of quaternions in the frequency domain. Our work complements a previous analysis by Margetis and Myers (2006 J. Phys. A 39 11567--11581).Comment: 16 pages, no figure

The rise of policy coherence for development: a multi-causal approach

In recent years policy coherence for development (PCD) has become a key principle in international development debates, and it is likely to become even more relevant in the discussions on the post-2015 sustainable development goals. This article addresses the rise of PCD on the Western donors’ aid agenda. While the concept already appeared in the work of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the early 1990s, it took until 2007 before PCD became one of the Organisation’s key priorities. We adopt a complexity-sensitive perspective, involving a process-tracing analysis and a multi-causal explanatory framework. We argue that the rise of PCD is not as contingent as it looks. While actors such as the EU, the DAC and OECD Secretariat were the ‘active causes’ of the rise of PCD, it is equally important to look at the underlying ‘constitutive causes’ which enabled policy coherence to thrive well

Exact propagators for SUSY partners

Pairs of SUSY partner Hamiltonians are studied which are interrelated by usual (linear) or polynomial supersymmetry. Assuming the model of one of the Hamiltonians as exactly solvable with known propagator, expressions for propagators of partner models are derived. The corresponding general results are applied to "a particle in a box", the Harmonic oscillator and a free particle (i.e. to transparent potentials).Comment: 31 page

Stochastic Quantization and Casimir Forces

In this paper we show how the stochastic quantization method developed by Parisi and Wu can be used to obtain Casimir forces. Both quantum and thermal fluctuations are taken into account by a Langevin equation for the field. The method allows the Casimir force to be obtained directly, derived from the stress tensor instead of the free energy. It only requires the spectral decomposition of the Laplacian operator in the given geometry. The formalism provides also an expression for the fluctuations of the force. As an application we compute the Casimir force on the plates of a finite piston of arbitrary cross section. Fluctuations of the force are also directly obtained, and it is shown that, in the piston case, the variance of the force is twice the force squared.Comment: Submitted to EP

Medium-chain fatty acids suppress lipotoxicity-induced hepatic fibrosis via the immunomodulating receptor GPR84

食事性肥満から肝炎発症に関わる制御因子の同定 --中鎖脂肪酸油による予防・GPR84標的NASH治療薬の可能性--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-01-18.Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which consist of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), are unique forms of dietary fat with various health benefits. G protein–coupled 84 (GPR84) acts as a receptor for MCFAs (especially C10:0 and C12:0); however, GPR84 is still considered an orphan receptor, and the nutritional signaling of endogenous and dietary MCFAs via GPR84 remains unclear. Here, we showed that endogenous MCFA-mediated GPR84 signaling protected hepatic functions from diet-induced lipotoxicity. Under high-fat diet (HFD) conditions, GPR84-deficient mice exhibited nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and the progression of hepatic fibrosis but not steatosis. With markedly increased hepatic MCFA levels under HFD, GPR84 suppressed lipotoxicity-induced macrophage overactivation. Thus, GPR84 is an immunomodulating receptor that suppresses excessive dietary fat intake–induced toxicity by sensing increases in MCFAs. Additionally, administering MCTs, MCFAs (C10:0 or C12:0, but not C8:0), or GPR84 agonists effectively improved NASH in mouse models. Therefore, exogenous GPR84 stimulation is a potential strategy for treating NASH

イオウ セッカイセキフン コンゴウ ゾウリュウブツ オ モチイタ ハタチ アンキョ ハイスイ ノ ダッチツ ショリ

固体硫黄を用いた独立栄養脱窒(SLAD)法の問題点を改善した新しい脱窒資材である硫黄-石灰石粉混合造粒物(SC11)について脱窒温度特性の測定と畑地暗渠排水における現地脱窒実験を行い,次の結果を得た。1)SC11を用いた脱窒反応の温度特性では,15℃以上で脱窒が確認された。しかし20℃以下での脱窒能力の低下は著しく,実用には20℃以上が望ましい。2)SC11(2～50mm)を用いた暗渠排水脱窒実験では,硝酸性窒素の平均濃度75mg/lに対し,1日資材重量当たり2倍量(v/w)以下の流速,または1日資材1kg量当たり160mg以下の硝酸性窒素負荷量では99%以上の除去率が得られ,処理水中に亜硝酸性窒素は認められなかった。3)1日資材重量当たり2倍量以上の流速では,不完全な脱窒により処理水中に亜硝酸性窒素が残存した。このときの脱窒速度は,流速にかかわらずほぼ一定の値を示し,生成する硫酸の総量も一定であった。したがって流速を増すほど除去率は低下した。このことから硫黄を用いた脱窒処理は最適な流速の制御が重要であることが示された。4)処理水のpHはほぼ7.0±0.5の範囲に保たれ,生成する硫酸濃度に関係なく優れた中和応答を持続した。To improve the problem of the sulfur-limestone autotrophic denitrification (SLAD) process for treatment of nitrate-nitrogen contaminated water, novel material for denitrification bed was developed such as granulated sulfur-limestone mixture (SC11) which was made from sulfur and limestone of equal quantity in weight. The feasibility of the denitrification treatment by SC11 for underdrainage was studied. In batch experiments, the influence of temperature over the capacity of denitrification was examined with feed solution, SC11 and seed sediment. That capacity increased with the temperature in a range from 15℃ to 30℃. The decline of the denitrification ability was serious at lower temperatures. Therefore, the desirable temperature condition for SLAD process was higher than 20℃. In field experiment, nearly 100% of removal efficiency of NOx (NO_3^-+NO_2^-) was observed in the flow rate of twice as large as amount of SC11 (v/w) per day, on the effluent of the tile drain system, which contained approximately 75mg/l of NO_3^--N in average concentration. In this case, the maximum denitrification rate was 207mg of N per kilogram of SC11 per day. When the flow rate exceeded the level above, NO_2^- of the intermediate product was accumulated in the treated water, so that the removal efficiency of NOx decreased. Although the flow rate fluctuated, the pH level of the treated water was approximately neutral throughout the experiment period. The neutralization capacity of SC11 performed high responsibility independent of the concentration of SO_4^ which was produced in the process

Subcellular peptide localization in single identified neurons by capillary microsampling mass spectrometry

Single cell mass spectrometry (MS) is uniquely positioned for the sequencing and identification of peptides in rare cells. Small peptides can take on different roles in subcellular compartments. Whereas some peptides serve as neurotransmitters in the cytoplasm, they can also function as transcription factors in the nucleus. Thus, there is a need to analyze the subcellular peptide compositions in identified single cells. Here, we apply capillary microsampling MS with ion mobility separation for the sequencing of peptides in single neurons of the mollusk Lymnaea stagnalis, and the analysis of peptide distributions between the cytoplasm and nucleus of identified single neurons that are known to express cardioactive Phe-Met-Arg-Phe amide-like (FMRFamide-like) neuropeptides. Nuclei and cytoplasm of Type 1 and Type 2 F group (Fgp) neurons were analyzed for neuropeptides cleaved from the protein precursors encoded by alternative splicing products of the FMRFamide gene. Relative abundances of nine neuropeptides were determined in the cytoplasm. The nuclei contained six of these peptides at different abundances. Enabled by its relative enrichment in Fgp neurons, a new 28-residue neuropeptide was sequenced by tandem MS