Measurement of the angular distribution of -rays after neutron capture by La for a T-violation search

Okudaira, Takuya; Shimizu, Hirohiko*; Kitaguchi, Masaaki*; Hirota, Katsuya*; Haddock, C. C.*; Ito, Ikuya*; Yamamoto, Tomoki*; Endo, Shunsuke*; Ishizaki, Kohei*; Sato, Takumi*; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 219, p.09001_1 - 09001_6, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201921909001

Parity violating effects enhanced by up to 10 times have been observed in several neutron induced compound nuclei. There is a theoretical prediction that time reversal (T) violating effects can also be enhanced in these nuclei implying that T-violation can be searched for by making very sensitive measurements. However, the enhancement factor has not yet been measured in all nuclei. The angular distribution of the (n,) reaction was measured with La by using a germanium detector assembly at J-PARC, and the enhancement factor was obtained. From the result, the measurement time to achieve the most sensitive T-violation search was estimated as 1.4 days, and a 40% polarized La target and a 70% polarized He spin filter whose thickness is 70 atmcm are needed. Therefore high quality He spin filter is developed in JAEA. The measurement result of the (n,) reaction at J-PARC and the development status of the He spin filter will be presented.

Tuning of ultra-slow muon transport system

Adachi, Taihei*; Ikedo, Yutaka*; Nishiyama, Kusuo*; Yabuuchi, Atsushi*; Nagatomo, Takashi*; Strasser, P.*; Ito, Takashi; Higemoto, Wataru; Kojima, Kenji*; Makimura, Shunsuke*; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 8, p.036017_1 - 036017_4, 2015/09

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.8.036017

Development of non-destructive inspection method for on-site observation; Preliminary examination for internal visualization of HTTR

Takegami, Hiroaki; Terada, Atsuhiko; Noguchi, Hiroki; Kamiji, Yu; Ono, Masato; Takamatsu, Kuniyoshi; Ito, Chikara; Hino, Ryutaro; Suzuki, Keiichi*; Onuma, Hiroshi*; et al.

JAEA-Research 2013-032, 25 Pages, 2013/12

JAEA-Research-2013-032.pdf:3.56MB

We focused on a non-destructive inspection method using cosmic-ray muons as a candidate method for observation of internal the reactor from the outside of a reactor building. In this study, the applicability of this method for the reactor investigation was confirmed by a preliminary examination with High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). From the results of this examination, it appears that high density structures, such as the core and concrete walls, were able to observe by using muon telescope with coincidence method from the outside of the pressure vessel. Furthermore, we proposed some improvements of this muon inspection system for on-site investigation at the Fukushima Daiichi NPS.

Induction of DNA DSB and its rejoining in clamped and non-clamped tumours after exposure to carbon ion beams in comparison to X-rays

Hirayama, Ryoichi*; Uzawa, Akiko*; Matsumoto, Yoshitaka*; Noguchi, Miho; Kase, Yuki*; Takase, Nobuhiro*; Ito, Atsushi*; Koike, Sachiko*; Ando, Koichi*; Okayasu, Ryuichi*; et al.

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 143(2-4), p.508 - 512, 2011/02

https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncq478

We studied double-strand breaks (DSB) induction and rejoining in clamped and non-clamped transplanted tumours in mice leg after exposure to 80 keV/m carbon ions and X-rays. The yields of DSB in the tumours were analysed by a static-field gel electrophoresis. The OER of DSB after X-rays was 1.68, and this value was not changed after 1 h rejoining time (1.40). These damages in oxygenated conditions were rejoined 60-70% within 1 h in situ. No difference was found between the exposure to X-rays and carbon ions for the induction and rejoining of DSB. Thus, the values of OER and rejoined fraction after exposure to carbon ions were similar to those after X-rays, and the calculated relative biological effectivenesses of carbon ion were around 1 under both oxygen conditions. The yields of DSB in vivo depend on exposure doses, oxygen conditions and rejoining time, but not on the types of radiation quality.

Development and installation of neutron detectors for engineering materials diffractometer at J-PARC

Sakasai, Kaoru; To, Kentaro; Nakamura, Tatsuya; Harjo, S.; Moriai, Atsushi; Ito, Takayoshi; Abe, Jun; Aizawa, Kazuya; Soyama, Kazuhiko; Katagiri, Masaki*; et al.

Proceedings of 19th Meeting of the International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources (ICANS-19) (CD-ROM), 5 Pages, 2010/07

Neutron detectors for Engineering Materials Diffractometer, named TAKUMI, at J-PARC have been developed under international cooperation between Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), and installed successfully at the end of March 2009. The detector size was 8051370217 mm which was about 1.5 times larger than those installed in ENGIN-X, ISIS facility, RAL. Neutrons are detected based on a nuclear reaction of Li(n, )H using ZnS/LiF scintillator. The data acquisition electronics and decoding module were also manufactured. The overall performances of the detectors have been tested using various sources. The results showed that the detectors had good performances such as a position resolution of 3 mm, a neutron detection efficiency of more than 50% at 1 -neutrons, and a -ray sensitivity of less than 10 at 1.3 MeV--ray by Co source, which met the requirements of TAKUMI, and they will be presented at the meeting.

A Cubic-anvil high-pressure device for pulsed neutron powder diffraction

Abe, Jun; Arakawa, Masashi*; Hattori, Takanori; Arima, Hiroshi; Kagi, Hiroyuki; Komatsu, Kazuki*; Sano, Asami; Uwatoko, Yoshiya*; Matsubayashi, Kazuyuki*; Harjo, S.; et al.

Review of Scientific Instruments, 81(4), p.043910_1 - 043910_5, 2010/04

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3384238

A compact cubic-anvil high-pressure device was developed for in situ neutron powder diffraction studies. In this device, a cubic shaped pressure medium is compressed by six anvils, and neutron beam pass through gaps between the anvils. The first high-pressure experiment using this device was conducted at J-PARC and clearly showed the neutron diffraction patterns of Pb. Combining the cubic-anvil high-pressure device with a pulsed neutron source will prove to be a useful tool for neutron diffraction experiments.

High-temperature pyrolysis of ceramic fibers derived from polycarbosilane-polymethylhydrosiloxane polymer blends with porous structures

Kita, Kenichiro; Narisawa, Masaki*; Nakahira, Atsushi*; Mabuchi, Hiroshi*; Ito, Masayoshi*; Sugimoto, Masaki; Yoshikawa, Masahito

Journal of Materials Science, 45(1), p.139 - 145, 2010/01

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-009-3905-x

The polymer blends of polycarbosilane (PCS) and polymethylohydrosiloxane with high molecular weight (PMHS-h) were prepared by freeze-drying process. Melt viscosity, themogravimetric analysis, and gas evolution from the polymer blends were analyzed. The polymer blend of HSah15 (15 mass% PMHS-h to PCS) was melt-spun to fiber form, curing by thermal oxidation and pyrolyzed at various temperatures up to 1773 K. The fibers were investigated by tensile tests, FE-SEM observation, and XRD (X-ray diffraction) analysis. After pyrolysis at 1273 K, there were amounts of pores in the cross sections of the fiber derived from HSah15, and after pyrolysis at 1773 K, no remarkable -SiC crystal were formed on the outside surface of the fiber derived from HSah15.

Contributions of direct and indirect actions in cell killing by high-LET radiations

Hirayama, Ryoichi*; Ito, Atsushi*; Tomita, Masanori*; Tsukada, Teruyo*; Yatagai, Fumio*; Noguchi, Miho; Matsumoto, Yoshitaka*; Kase, Yuki*; Ando, Koichi*; Okayasu, Ryuichi*; et al.

Radiation Research, 171(2), p.212 - 218, 2009/02

https://doi.org/10.1667/RR1490.1

The biological effects of radiation originate principally in damages to DNA. DNA damages by X-rays as well as heavy ions are induced by a combination of direct and indirect actions. The contribution of indirect action in cell killing can be estimated from the maximum degree of protection by dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), which suppresses indirect action without affecting direct action. Exponentially growing Chinese hamster V79 cells were exposed to high-LET radiations of 20 to 2106 keV/m in the presence or absence of DMSO and their survival was determined using a colony formation assay. The contribution of indirect action to cell killing decreased with increasing LET. However, the contribution did not reach zero even at very high LETs and was estimated to be 32% at an LET of 2106 keV/m. Therefore, even though the radiochemically estimated G value of OH radicals was nearly zero at an LET of 1000 keV/m, indirect action by OH radicals contributed to a substantial fraction of the biological effects of high-LET radiations. The RBE determined at a survival level of 10% increased with LET, reaching a maximum value of 2.88 at 200 keV/m, and decreased thereafter. When the RBE was estimated separately for direct action (RBE(D)) and indirect action (RBE(I)); both exhibited an LET dependence similar to that of the RBE, peaking at 200 keV/m. However, the peak value was much higher for RBE(D) (5.99) than RBE(I) (1.89). Thus direct action contributes more to the high RBE of high-LET radiations than indirect action does.

Laser prepulse dependency of proton-energy distributions in ultraintense laser-foil interactions with an online time-of-flight technique

Yogo, Akifumi; Daido, Hiroyuki; Fukumi, Atsushi*; Li, Z.*; Ogura, Koichi; Sagisaka, Akito; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Nakamura, Shu*; Iwashita, Yoshihisa*; Shirai, Toshiyuki*; et al.

Physics of Plasmas, 14(4), p.043104_1 - 043104_6, 2007/04

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2721066

Fast protons are observed by a newly-developed time-of-flight spectrometer, which provides proton-energy distributions immediately after the irradiation of a laser pulse having an intensity of W/cm onto a 5-m-thick copper foil. The maximum proton energy is found to increase when the intensity of a fs-prepulse arriving 9 ns before the main pulse increases from 10 to 10 W/cm. Interferometric measurement indicates that the preformed-plasma expansion at the front surface is smaller than 15 m, which corresponds to the spatial resolution of the diagnostics. This sharp gradient of the plasma makes a beneficial effect on increasing the absorption efficiency of the main-pulse energy, resulting in the increase in the proton energy. This is supported by the result that the X-ray intensity from the laser plasma clearly increases with the prepulse intensity.

Alternative splicing in human transcriptome; Functional and structural influence on proteins

Yura, Kei; Shionyu, Masafumi*; Hagino, Kei*; Hijikata, Atsushi*; Hirashima, Yoshinori*; Nakahara, Taku*; Eguchi, Tatsuya*; Shinoda, Kazuki*; Yamaguchi, Akihiro*; Takahashi, Kenichi*; et al.

Gene, 380(2), p.63 - 71, 2006/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2006.05.015

Alternative splicing is a molecular mechanism that produces multiple proteins from a single gene, and is thought to produce variety in proteins translated from a limited number of genes. Here we analyzed how alternative splicing produced variety in protein structure and function, by using human full-length cDNAs, on the assumption that all of the alternatively spliced mRNAs were translated to proteins. We found that the length of alternatively spliced amino acid sequences, in most cases, fell into a size shorter than that of average protein domain. We evaluated comprehensively the presumptive three-dimensional structures of the alternatively spliced products to assess the impact of alternative splicing on gene function. We found that more than half of the products encoded proteins which were involved in signal transduction, transcription and translation, and more than half of alternatively spliced regions comprised interaction sites between proteins and their binding partners, including substrates, DNA/RNA, and other proteins. Intriguingly, 67% of the alternatively spliced isoforms showed significant alterations to regions of the protein structural core, which likely resulted in large conformational change. Based on those findings, we speculate that there are a large number of cases that alternative splicing modulates protein networks through significant alteration in protein conformation.