Waseda University

About: Waseda University is a education organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Large Hadron Collider & Catalysis. The organization has 24220 authors who have published 46859 publications receiving 837855 citations. The organization is also known as: Waseda daigaku & Sōdai.

Progress in thermal comfort research over the last twenty years

Abstract: Climate change and the urgency of decarbonizing the built environment are driving technological innovation in the way we deliver thermal comfort to occupants. These changes, in turn, seem to be setting the directions for contemporary thermal comfort research. This article presents a literature review of major changes, developments, and trends in the field of thermal comfort research over the last 20 years. One of the main paradigm shift was the fundamental conceptual reorientation that has taken place in thermal comfort thinking over the last 20 years; a shift away from the physically based determinism of Fanger's comfort model toward the mainstream and acceptance of the adaptive comfort model. Another noticeable shift has been from the undesirable toward the desirable qualities of air movement. Additionally, sophisticated models covering the physics and physiology of the human body were developed, driven by the continuous challenge to model thermal comfort at the same anatomical resolution and to combine these localized signals into a coherent, global thermal perception. Finally, the demand for ever increasing building energy efficiency is pushing technological innovation in the way we deliver comfortable indoor environments. These trends, in turn, continue setting the directions for contemporary thermal comfort research for the next decades.

Photoluminescence from defect centers in high-purity silica glasses observed under 7.9-eV excitation

Abstract: Photoluminescence under 7.9-eV excimer-laser excitation was measured at room temperature on various types of high-purity silica glasses, which were classified based on the oxygen stoichiometry and OH concentrations. Several luminescence bands with different peak energies from 1.9 to 4.3 eV and decay constants were observed in different types of silicas. The 1.9-eV band was observed in low-OH oxygen-surplus and high-OH silicas. The 2.7-eV band was observed only in low-OH oxygen-deficient silicas. The 3.1- and the 4.2-eV bands were observed in a particular type of silica, which has a characteristic absorption band at 5.1 eV (referred to as the ${\mathit{B}}_{2}$\ensuremath{\beta} band). The 4.3-eV band was observed in all types of silicas but the oxygen-surplus type. These results indicate that defects responsible for these luminescence bands are diamagnetic defects introduced during preparation or paramagnetic species induced during excitation.

Ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 binds to and stabilizes monoubiquitin in neuron

Abstract: Mammalian neuronal cells abundantly express a deubiquitylating enzyme, ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase 1 (UCH L1). Mutations in UCH L1 are linked to Parkinson's disease as well as gracile axonal dystrophy (gad) in mice. In contrast to the UCH L3 isozyme that is universally expressed in all tissues, UCH L1 is expressed exclusively in neurons and testis/ovary. We found that UCH L1 associates and colocalizes with monoubiquitin and elongates ubiquitin half-life. The gad mouse, in which the function of UCH L1 is lost, exhibited a reduced level of monoubiquitin in neurons. In contrast, overexpression of UCH L1 caused an increase in the level of ubiquitin in both cultured cells and mice. These data suggest that UCH L1, with avidity and affinity for ubiquitin, insures ubiquitin stability within neurons. This study is the first to show the function of UCH L1 in vivo.