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.

New Evidence for a Physical Link between Asteroids (155140) 2005 UD and (3200) Phaethon

Abstract: In 2018, the near-Earth object (155140) 2005 UD (hereafter UD) experienced a close fly by of the Earth. We present results from an observational campaign involving photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric observations carried out across a wide range of phase angles (0°.7–88°). We also analyze archival NEOWISE observations. We report an absolute magnitude of HV=17.51±0.02 mag and an albedo of pV=0.10±0.02. UD has been dynamically linked to Phaethon due their similar orbital configurations. Assuming similar surface properties, we derived new estimates for the diameters of Phaethon and UD of D=5.4±0.5 km and D=1.3±0.1 km, respectively. Thermophysical modeling of NEOWISE data suggests a surface thermal inertia of G = + 300 110 120 and regolith grain size in the range of 0.9–10 mm for UD and grain sizes of 3–30 mm for Phaethon. The light curve of UD displays a symmetric shape with a reduced amplitude of Am(0)=0.29 mag and increasing at a linear rate of 0.017 mag/° between phase angles of 0° and ∼25°. Little variation in light-curve morphology was observed throughout the apparition. Using light-curve inversion techniques, we obtained a sidereal rotation period P=5.235±0.005 hr. A search for rotational variation in spectroscopic and polarimetric properties yielded negative results within observational uncertainties of ∼10% μm and ∼16%, respectively. In this work, we present new evidence that Phaethon and UD are similar in composition and surface properties, strengthening the arguments for a genetic relationship between these two objects. Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Near-Earth objects (1092); CCD observation (207); Astronomical techniques (1684); Photometry (1234); Polarimetry (1278); Spectroscopy (1558)

Lentiviral-mediated delivery of combined HIV-1 decoy TAR and Vif siRNA as a single RNA molecule that cleaves to inhibit HIV-1 in transduced cells.

Abstract: RNA interference (RNAi) silences gene expression via short interfering 21–23 mer double-stranded RNA (siRNA) segments that guide cognate mRNA degradation in a sequence-specific manner. On the other hand, HIV-1 decoy TAR RNA are known to competitively interact with the HIV-1 Tat protein, to downregulate the enhanced gene expression from the long terminal repeat (LTR) promoters. Here we report that a novel expression construct, encoding both HIV-1 decoy TAR and Vif siRNA, as a single RNA substrate, was expressed under the control of the human U6 promoter, and later the TAR and siRNA were cleaved into their respective separate RNA by the endogenous RNase III-like enzyme. Each of the cleaved HIV-1 anti-genes then synergistically contributed toward enhancing the inhibition efficacy (> 80%) of HIV-1 replication in transduced Jurkat cells. These results suggest that targeting HIV-1 mRNA with simultaneously expressed intracellular decoy TAR and Vif-siRNA could lead to an effective gene therapy strategy for the co...

Image velocimetry for clouds with relaxation labeling based on deformation consistency

Abstract: Correlation-based cloud tracking has been extensively used to measure atmospheric winds, but still difficulty remains. In this study, aiming at developing a cloud tracking system for Akatsuki, an artificial satellite orbiting Venus, a formulation is developed for improving the relaxation labeling technique to select appropriate peaks of cross-correlation surfaces which tend to have multiple peaks. The formulation makes an explicit use of consistency inherent in the type of cross-correlation method where template sub-images are slid without deformation; if the resultant motion vectors indicate a too-large deformation, it is contradictory to the assumption of the method. The deformation consistency is exploited further to develop two post processes; one clusters the motion vectors into groups within each of which the consistency is perfect, and the other extends the groups using the original candidate lists. These processes are useful to eliminate erroneous vectors, distinguish motion vectors at different altitudes, and detect phase velocities of waves in fluids such as atmospheric gravity waves. As a basis of the relaxation labeling and the post processes as well as uncertainty estimation, the necessity to find isolated (well-separated) peaks of cross-correlation surfaces is argued, and an algorithm to realize it is presented. All the methods are implemented, and their effectiveness is demonstrated with initial images obtained by the ultraviolet imager onboard Akatsuki. Since the deformation consistency regards the logical consistency inherent in template matching methods, it should have broad application beyond cloud tracking.