Surface treatment of titanium dioxide nanopowder using rotary electrode dielectric barrier discharge reactor

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanopowder (P-25;Degussa AG) was treated using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in a rotary electrode DBD (RE-DBD) reactor.Its electrical and optical characteristics were investigated during RE-DBD generation.The treated TiO2 nanopowder properties and structures were analyzed using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).After RE-DBD treatment,XRD measurements indicated that the anatase peak theta positions shifted from 25.3° to 25.1°,which can be attributed to the substitution of new functional groups in the TiO2 lattice.The FTIR results show that hydroxyl groups (OH) at 3400 cm-1 increased considerably.The mechanism used to modify the TiO2 nanopowder surface by air DBD treatment was confirmed from optical emission spectrum measurements.Reactive species,such as OH radical,ozone and atomic oxygen can play key roles in hydroxyl formation on the TiO2 nanopowder surface.     

Heat Gelling Properties of Hen's Egg Yolk Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) in the Presence of Other Protein

Ovalbumin (OV), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme (Lys) were added to egg yolk low density lipoprotein (LDL) and the heat-induced gel formation of LDL-protein mixture was studied. The gel formation of LDL-protein mixture was different between the acidic and alkaline pH region; fine stable gels were formed in the alkaline pH region, but weak paste-like gels were formed in the acidic pH region. The effect of added BSA or OV on the gel strength of LDL was much larger than that of Lys. Scanning electron micrographic observation showed that the microstructures of both LDL-BSA and LDL-OV gels were more uniform than that of LDL-Lys gel.     

语料资源缺乏的连续语音识别方法的研究

由于少数民族语言有其本身的特点, 不能简单地套用现有的连续语音识别的方法. 本文以蒙古语为例, 研讨了声学和语言模型的建立, 并在日本国际电气通信基础技术研究所的连续语音识别器上实现了蒙古语的语音识别系统. 本文侧重于语言模型的建立, 基于蒙古语黏着性语言特点, 提出用相似词聚类方法建立多类N-gram模型. 实验结果显示, 应用我们提出的语言模型, 识别精度比用传统的词的N-gram识别法提高了5.5%.     

污水处理排放水对小流量河流水体生态的影响

针对日本国鬼怒河流域小流量河流,通过对河床上附着生物膜的组成、底栖生物、细菌活性分析和AGP试验,研究了污水厂二级处理排放水对小流量河流生态的影响.研究表明,当污水厂二级处理排放水占河流流量比例较大时(研究河流所占比例为35%),同样会引发河流富营养化和影响河流水体的生态.因此,从保护水环境及其生态考虑,有必要对污水进行深度处理.     

Advanced resonant ultrasound spectroscopy for measuring anisotropic elastic constants of thin films

This paper presents an advanced resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) method to determine the elastic constants C_ij of thin films. Polycrystalline thin films often exhibit elastic anisotropy between the film growth direction and the in‐plane direction, and they macroscopically show five independent elastic constants. Because all of the C_ij of a deposited thin film affect the mechanical resonance frequencies of the film/substrate layer specimen, measuring resonance frequencies enables one to determine the C_ij of the film with known density, dimensions and the C_ij of the substrate. Resonance frequencies have to be measured accurately because of low sensitivity of the C_ij of films to them. We achieved this by a piezoelectric tripod. Mode identification has to be made unambiguously. We made this measuring displacement–amplitude distributions on the resonated specimen surface by laser Doppler interferometry. We applied our technique to copper thin film and diamond thin film. They show elastic anisotropy and the C_ij smaller than bulk values of C_ij. Micromechanics calculations indicate the presence of incohesive bonded regions.     

The effects of compressive and tensile prestrain on ductile fracture initiation in steels

It has been recognized that ductility of prestrained steel is inferior to that without prestrain, and the critical equivalent plastic strain of ductile fracture initiation is inversely related to stress triaxiality. In this paper, the effects of compressive and tensile prestrain on ductile fracture initiation in steels are investigated quantitatively by adopting the relationship between stress triaxiality and critical equivalent plastic strain. It is found that compressive prestrain leads to cleavage cracking and reduces ductility. In the case of the TMCP steel, compressive prestrain up to 30% does not decrease the ductility, accompanied by no evidence of cleavage cracks. However, in the case of SM490B steel, 30% compressive prestrain leads to cleavage cracking and reduces ductility significantly.     

Accelerated Discovery of Potent Bioactive anti-TNFα Aptamers by Microbead-Assisted Capillary Electrophoresis (MACE)-SELEX

Dysregulation of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, causes several diseases, making it an important therapeutic target. Here, we identified a novel DNA aptamer against human TNFα using in vitro selection, which included a high exclusion pressure process against non-binding and weak binders through microbead-assisted capillary electrophoresis (MACE) in only three rounds. Among the 15 most enriched aptamers, Apt14 exhibited the highest inhibitory activity for the interaction between TNFα and its cognate receptor in mouse L929 cells. For further improving the bioactivity of the aptamer, dimerization programed by hybridization was evaluated, resulting in the Apt14 dimer exhibited a twofold higher binding affinity and stronger inhibition compared to the monomer counterpart. Rapid identification of bioactive aptamers using MACE in combination with facile dimerization by hybridization accelerates the discovery of novel bioactive aptamers, paving the way toward replacing current monoclonal antibody therapy with the less expensive and non-immunogenic aptamer therapy.     

Present Status of the Nd:YAG Thomson Scattering System Development for Time Evolution Measurement of Plasma Profile on Heliotron J

A new high repetition rate Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system is developed for the Heliotron J helical device.A main purpose of installing the new system is the temporal evolution measurement of a plasma profile for improved confinement physics such as the edge transport barrier (H-mode) or the internal transport barrier of the helical plasma.The system has 25 spatial points with ～10mm resolution.Two high repetition Nd:YAG lasers (>550mJ@ 50Hz) realize the measurement of the time evolution of the plasma profile with ～10ms time intervals.Scattered light is collected by a large concave mirror (D=800 mm,f/2.25) with a solid angle of ～100 mstr and transferred to interference filter polychromators by optical fiber bundles in a staircase form.The signal is amplified by newly designed fast preamplifiers with DC and AC output,which reduces the low frequency background noise.The signals are digitized with a multi-event QDC,fast gated integrators.The data acquisition is performed by a VME-based system operated by the CINOS.     

Computed tomographic evaluation of gas hole formation and structural quality in Gouda‐type cheese

Computed tomography (CT) was performed on Gouda‐type cheese during ripening to evaluate gas hole formation and structural quality. The cheese was exposed to different ripening conditions, including variations in ripening temperature and concentration of butyric acid bacteria. Computed tomography images were obtained every 2 weeks for 16 weeks to assess the volume, shape and location of gas holes. The results demonstrate that CT makes the nondestructive monitoring of cheese gas hole formation and evaluation of the structural features of cheese possible throughout the ripening period.