Chiba Institute of Technology

About: Chiba Institute of Technology is a education organization based out in Narashino, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: RNA & Magnet. The organization has 2663 authors who have published 4999 publications receiving 56870 citations. The organization is also known as: Chiba kōgyō daigaku & Kōa Institute of Technology.

Preparation and properties of biocomposites composed of sorbitol‐based epoxy resin, pyrogallol–vanillin calixarene, and wood flour

Abstract: The reaction of pyrogallol (PG) and vanillin (VN), both of which are derived from plant resources, in the presence of p-toluenesulfonic acid gave PG–VN calixarene (PGVNC) mainly composed of guaiacyl pyrogallol[4]arene. After sorbitol polyglycidyl ether (SPE) was mixed with PGVNC in tetrahydrofuran at an optimized epoxy/hydroxy ratio 1/2.65, the obtained SPE/PGVNC solution was mixed with wood flour (WF), prepolymerized at 150°C, and subsequently compressed at 190°C for 3 h to give SPE–PGVNC/WF biocomposites with WF content 0–20 wt%. The tan δ peak temperature of SPE–PGVNC was 148.1°C, which was much higher than that of the SPE cured with petroleum-based phenol novolac (SPE–PN) at an optimized epoxy/hydroxy ratio 1/1. Although tan δ peak temperature slightly decreased with increasing WF content, the storage moduli of the SPE–PGVNC/WF biocomposites in the rubbery state at more than 150°C were much higher than those of SPE–PGVNC and SPE–PN. Also, the tensile modulus and strength for SPE–PGVNC/WF increased with increasing WF content. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy analysis of the biocomposites revealed that WF is tightly incorporated into the crosslinked epoxy resins. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers

Chemical characteristics of pond waters in the Labyrinth of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

Abstract: A large number of fresh water and saline ponds are located in the Labyrinth (77° 33′ S, 160° 50′ E) of the upper Wright Valley in the Dry Valleys region of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is situated near the terminus of the Wright Upper Glacier between 800–1000 m above sea level. From a limnological point of view, the most interesting problems concerning these saline ponds are the origin of their salts and their evolutional history.

Simulation/gaming as an essential enabler of organizational change

Abstract: To cope with drastic changes and ambiguity, many companies are now trying toflatten their organizational structures, because aflat organization can sense its customers'needs and respond quickly to changes in the markets. To flatten its organizational structure, a company has to loosen its couplings, giving its subsystems autonomy, and let them make their own decisions. However, autonomy without a clear central direction will only result in chaos. Commensurability provides central direction indispensable to a loosely coupled organization. Simulating/gaming can facilitate organizational change by improving the commensurability of interpretative frameworks.

Induction of antitumor immunity against mouse carcinoma by baculovirus-infected dendritic cells.

Abstract: A dendritic cell (DC) vaccine strategy has been developed as a new cancer immunotherapy, but the goal of complete tumor eradication has not yet been achieved. We have previously shown that baculoviruses potently infect DCs and induce antitumor immunity against hepatomas in a mouse model. Baculovirus-infected, bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) display increased surface expression of costimulatory molecules, such as CD80, CD86 and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) classes I and II, and secrete interferons and other proinflammatory cytokines. In this study, we evaluated the induction of antitumor immunity in mice by baculovirus-infected BMDCs against lung cancer and melanoma. After treatment with baculovirus-infected BMDCs, murine lung tumors caused by Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells were significantly reduced in size, and the survival of the mice was improved. In addition, experiments using a melanoma mouse model showed that baculovirus-infected BMDCs inhibited tumor growth and improved survival compared with controls. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and creatinine levels remained normal in baculovirus-infected BMDC-treated mice. Our findings show that baculovirus-infected DCs induce antitumor immunity and pave the way for the use of this technique as an effective tool for DC immunotherapy against malignancies.