Photocatalytic Property and Electronic Structure of Lanthanide-based Oxysulfides

Lanthanide-based oxysulfides and sulfide, LnTaO_3.5S_0.5, Ln₁₀OS₁₄ (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm) and La₄In₅S₁₃, were successively synthesized by sulfurization in a flowing H₂S. The sulfurization decreased the band-gap energies from >4 eV to <3eV, because of the formation of occupied S3p orbitals on the top of valence band. In accordance with the small band gap, the H₂ evolution from a 0.01 M Na₂S and 0.01 M Na₂SO₃ solution system was observed under irradiation of light up to >500 nm. The rate of H₂ evolution under light irradiation of >500 nm increased in the order of Ni/LaTaO_3.5S_0.5 < Ru/La₁₀OS₁₄ < Pt/La₄In₅S₁₃.     

Crack opening displacement of a through-wall crack in a plate subjected to bending load

This study was performed in order to clarify crack opening displacement (COD) of through-wall cracks in a plate subjected to bending load. The former COD evaluation methods were mainly developed corresponding to tensile load, but there has been nothing that has been developed corresponding to bending load. Therefore, the authors evaluated CODs of the through-wall cracks in plates which were subjected to a bending load using finite element method (FEM) analyses, and proposed a simplified COD evaluation method accounting for both tensile and bending loads. The proposed method is useful for leakage evaluation at a crack opening of an elbow crown or in the vicinity of the coolant surface of a vessel in which the bending stress is relatively large.     

Magnetic breakdown phenomena in quasi-two dimensional organic conductors

Magneto-oscillation phenomena of the magnetization in low dimensional organic conductors (BEDT-TTF)₂X, are investigated theoretically, focusing on the magnetic breakdown (MB) occured in high fields. Our full quantum mechanical theory reproduces various oscillations, including the interference difference oscillation, which is prohibited in the so-called network model of semi-classical theory, and demonstrates a smooth crossover to the MB orbit oscillation, or MB phenomenon. This is interpreted in terms of the recursive band structures.     

Current Understanding of the Structure,Stability and Dynamic Properties of Amyloid Fibrils

Amyloid fibrils are supramolecular protein assemblies represented by a cross-β structure and fibrous morphology, whose structural architecture has been previously investigated. While amyloid fibrils are basically a main-chain-dominated structure consisting of a backbone of hydrogen bonds, side-chain interactions also play an important role in determining their detailed structures and physicochemical properties. In amyloid fibrils comprising short peptide segments, a steric zipper where a pair of β-sheets with side chains interdigitate tightly is found as a fundamental motif. In amyloid fibrils comprising longer polypeptides, each polypeptide chain folds into a planar structure composed of several β-strands linked by turns or loops, and the steric zippers are formed locally to stabilize the structure. Multiple segments capable of forming steric zippers are contained within a single protein molecule in many cases, and polymorphism appears as a result of the diverse regions and counterparts of the steric zippers. Furthermore, the β-solenoid structure, where the polypeptide chain folds in a solenoid shape with side chains packed inside, is recognized as another important amyloid motif. While side-chain interactions are primarily achieved by non-polar residues in disease-related amyloid fibrils, the participation of hydrophilic and charged residues is prominent in functional amyloids, which often leads to spatiotemporally controlled fibrillation, high reversibility, and the formation of labile amyloids with kinked backbone topology. Achieving precise control of the side-chain interactions within amyloid structures will open up a new horizon for designing useful amyloid-based nanomaterials.     

Comparative study of lipogenic enzymes in several vertebrates

The liver lipogenic enzymes are compared among rats, chickens, frogs and fish. Although the apparent Km values of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase for glucose-6-phosphate are not much different among all the species, those of malic enzyme for malate are much higher in chickens and fish than in rats and frogs. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase showed very high activities compared with malic enzyme in fish liver, and malic enzyme showed high activities in chicken liver. Although the apparent Km values of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthetase for substrates are in the same range among all the animals, the activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase seems to be extremely low in fish and frog livers, and that of fatty acid synthetase is low in frog livers only. In addition, the apparent Km values of α-glycerophosphate acyltransferase of fish liver are very high, and the enzyme activity appears to be extremely low compared to the others. Therefore, the enzymes at the first steps of both fatty acid and glycerolipid syntheses of poikilothermos animals appear to be very low. On the other hand, the Ouchterlony double-diffusion patterns showed that the lipogenic enzymes of chickens, frogs and fish are immunologically different from those of rats, with the exception of acetyl-CoA carboxylase in chickens. Therefore, it is suggested that the fatty acid and glycerolipid forming systems of poikilothermos animals are quite different from those of homoiothermos and the lipogenesis is very low in poikilothermos.     

Promotion of hydrogen permeation on metal-dispersed alumina membranes and its application to a membrane reactor for methane steam reforming

A mesoporous membrane for selective separation of hydrogen was prepared usingthe sol-gel method. Some metal salts such as RuCl₃, Pd(NH₃)₄Cl₂, RhCl₃,, and H ₂PtCl₆, were added to the boehmite sol and coated on a porous alumina substrate before firing at 500°C. It was foundthat the permeability of hydrogen and the separation factor for a hydrogen-nitrogen gaseous mixture of these metaldispersed membranes exceeded the limitations of the Knudsen diffusion mechanism. Although the gas permeation through a neat alumina membrane is governed by the Knudsen diffusion, the metals dispersed in alumina membranes were effective in promoting hydrogen permeation. These metaldispersed alumina membranes were also used in a membrane reactor for methane steam reforming at low temperature. In the temperature range of 300 to 500°C, the membrane reactor attained a methane conversion twice as high as the equilibrium value of the packed bed catalytic reactor system as a result of the selective removal of hydrogen from the reaction system.     

Stability analysis of networked control systems subject to packet-dropouts and finite-level quantization

This paper is concerned with the stability analysis of a networked control system, wherein communication from the controller to the plant input is through a digital channel subject to packet-dropouts and finite-level quantization. No acknowledgments of receipt are available to the controller. To alleviate the effect of packet-dropouts, the controller transmits tentative plant input sequences. Within this setup, we derive a sufficient condition for small ?^∞ signal ?^∞ stability of the networked control system. This condition requires the maximum number of consecutive packet-dropouts to be bounded. We also elucidate the trade-off which exists between the disturbance attenuation and the step size of the quantizer and the maximum number of consecutive packet-dropouts.     

Determination of γ-glutamyl-valyl-glycine in raw scallop and processed scallop products using high pressure liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

The determination of the kokumi peptide, γ-glutamyl-valyl-glycine (γ-Glu-Val-Gly) in raw scallop and processed scallop products was carried out using high pressure liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The detection of γ-Glu-Val-Gly was achieved using a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) method. The optimised condition enabled the precise determination of γ-Glu-Val-Gly. Raw scallop contained 0.08 μg/g γ-Glu-Val-Gly, and the γ-Glu-Val-Gly levels in processed scallop products, such as dried-scallop and scallop extract, were measured to be 0.64 and 0.77 μg/g, respectively. This is the first report to confirm the existence of γ-Glu-Val-Gly in foodstuff.     

Determination of atomistic deformation of tricalcium silicate paste with high-volume fly ash

We examined the effect of incorporating high-volume fly ash on the atomic arrangement and interatomic deformation behavior of calcium silicate hydrates in tricalcium silicate paste upon exposure to external forces. The interatomic structural changes and strains under compressive load were assessed using synchrotron in situ high-energy X-ray scattering-based atomic pair distribution function analysis. Three different types of strains, which were (a) macroscopic strains from gauges on the surfaces of specimen, (b) strains in a reciprocal space (Bragg peak shift), and (c) strains in real space (PDF peak shift), were compared to each other. All monitored and calculated strains for tricalcium silicate-fly ash (50 wt% fly ash) paste were compared with the counterparts of the pure tricalcium silicate paste. Pair distribution function analysis in the range of r < 10 Å indicated that the atomic arrangement of tricalcium silicate-fly ash was similar to that of synthetic calcium silicate hydrates followed by that of pure tricalcium silicate paste. Moreover, the pair distribution function refinement results revealed that the calcium silicate hydrate structure in tricalcium silicate-fly ash paste was similar to tobermorite 11 Å, unlike that in pure tricalcium silicate paste. The interatomic strain of tricalcium silicate-fly ash in the real space (r < 20 Å) was smaller than that of tricalcium silicate under compression, which suggested that the incompressibility of calcium silicate hydrates at atomistic scale was enhanced by the incorporation of fly ash into it. This was likely to be caused by the increased silicate polymerization of calcium silicate hydrates, which was attributed to the increase in the amount of silicate in their structure via the addition of fly ash.