Improvement in Mechanical Properties of Powder-Processed MoSi2 by the Addition of Sc2O3 and Y2O3

Additions of 1-20 mol% Sc₂O₃ or Y₂O₃ to MoSi₂ eliminate glassy SiO₂, which improves mechanical properties at both ambient and high temperatures. In particular, only 1 mol% ScO₃ additions dramatically enhance three-point bending strength from 521 to 1081 MPa. Vickers hardness, Young's modulus, fracture toughness, and high-temperature strength are also improved by this low level of additive. The improvement of mechanical properties is attributed to the formation of crystalline silicates: Sc₂Si₂O₇, Y₂Si₂O₇, Y₂SiO₅, and Y₄Si₃O₁₂, which are analyzed by XRD, SEM-EDS, and TEM-EDS methods.     

一种微小物体精密定位的直线微工作台

提出了一种基于平滑冲击驱动原理的精密定位直线微工作台.通过采用微小强磁铁作为摩擦元件,减小了由摩擦元件磨损而产生的摩擦力的变化,从而提高了微工作台的稳定性.设计制作了微工作台样机,并对精密定位工作台的动态特性和静态特性进行了实验研究.结果表明,微工作台体积小(20mm×10 mm×3 mm),可实现6 nm的精确定位,最高驱动速度可达5.4 mm/s,最大行程可达20 mm.     

A high-speed bit synchronization circuit by direct control of the oscillation phase of a VCO

In a large-scale broadband communication system, thousands of high-speed serial data interconnections are used and a bit synchronization circuit (a clock and data recovery circuit) is required in each of the receiver side interconnection circuits. In this paper, the requirements and the implementation of a bit synchronization circuit for the interconnection are considered, and one solution is proposed. In the proposed circuit, the oscillation phase of a VCO is directly controlled by the trigger signal extracted from the input data. Synchronization capture is quick and the circuit is applicable to burst signals. The circuit tolerates jitter and phase variation of the incoming data. The circuit requires no external components, and is suitable for an integrated circuit. The circuit was implemented using a 0.5 μm CMOS process and the data recovery operation from a 440 Mbps pseudo-random pattern was confirmed. Data acquisition is accomplished within three clock periods from 440 Mbps burst data. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 125(2): 35–43, 1998     

Equilibrium of one-pot polymerization of polyimide

One-pot polymerization of polyimide from 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA) and 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA) was examined. The equilibrium in the polyimide with water was examined in detail in p-chlorophenol solution during the polymerization. The equilibrium constant was expressed by log K = 1.50 + 1433 (1/T). The polymerization reaction is exothermic. The molecular weight increased with decrease of temperature. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Properties of copolyimides prepared from different tetracarboxylic dianhydrides and diamines

Various copolymides were prepared from two acid dianhydrides (BPDA, 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride; PMDA, pyromelitic dianhydride) and two diamines (PPD, p-phenylene diamine; ODA, 4,4′-oxydianiline). The thermal and mechanical properties of these polyimides were examined in detail. By appropriately selecting the ratios of the acid dianhydride component and the diamine component, polyimide films having desirable mechanical and thermal characteristics can be obtained. Further, it was proved that there is a correlation between the properties and the compositions of the copolyimides and that the properties could be estimated from the compositions by the use of multiple regression analysis. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

MiR-7-5p Is Involved in Ferroptosis Signaling and Radioresistance Thru the Generation of ROS in Radioresistant HeLa and SAS Cell Lines

In cancer therapy, radioresistance or chemoresistance cells are major problems. We established clinically relevant radioresistant (CRR) cells that can survive over 30 days after 2 Gy/day X-ray exposures. These cells also show resistance to anticancer agents and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). We have previously demonstrated that all the CRR cells examined had up-regulated miR-7-5p and after miR-7-5p knockdown, they lost radioresistance. However, the mechanism of losing radioresistance remains to be elucidated. Therefore, we investigated the role of miR-7-5p in radioresistance by knockdown of miR-7-5p using CRR cells. As a result, knockdown of miR-7-5p increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential, and intracellular Fe²⁺ amount. Furthermore, miR-7-5p knockdown results in the down-regulation of the iron storage gene expression such as ferritin, up-regulation of the ferroptosis marker ALOX12 gene expression, and increases of Liperfluo amount. H₂O₂ treatment after ALOX12 overexpression led to the enhancement of intracellular H₂O₂ amount and lipid peroxidation. By contrast, miR-7-5p knockdown seemed not to be involved in COX-2 and glycolysis signaling but affected the morphology of CRR cells. These results indicate that miR-7-5p control radioresistance via ROS generation that leads to ferroptosis.     

Sensitive analyses of neutral N-glycans using anion-doped liquid matrix G3CA by negative-ion matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

Negative-ion fragmentation of N-glycans has been proven to be more informative than that of positive-ion. In particular, it defines structural features such as the specific composition of the two antennae and the location of fucose. However, negative-ion formation of neutral N-glycans by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) remains a challenging task, and the detection limit of N-glycans in negative-ion mode is merely at the subpicomole level. Thus, practical applications are limited. In this study, combinations of five liquid matrices and nine anions were used to ionize N-glycans as anionic adducts, and their performances for sensitive analyses were evaluated. The best results were obtained with anion-doped liquid matrix G(3)CA, which consists of p-coumaric acid and 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine; the detection limits of anion adducted N-glycans were 1 fmol/well for NO(3)(-), and 100 amol/well for BF(4)(-). Negative-ion MS(2) spectra of 1 fmol N-glycans were successfully acquired with a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio and were quite useful for MS-based structural determination. The anion-doped G(3)CA matrix opens the way for sensitive and rapid analysis of neutral N-glycans in negative-ion MALDI at a low femtomole level.     

Synthesis and characterization of TiO2 powders by electrospray pyrolysis method

Electrospray pyrolysis, i.e. combination of electrospray and in-flight thermal treatment, has attracted much attention as a preparation method of functional ceramic particles. In this paper, we report the processing detail of spherical TiO₂ nano- and microparticles by the electrospray pyrolysis method as well as their photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution. Titanium(IV) bis(ammonium lactato)dihydroxide aqueous solutions (TALH aq., 0.2–20 wt%) were injected into a capillary nozzle by a syringe pump (0.15–0.59 mL/min), and were electrosprayed by using DC 4 kV voltage, followed by the pyrolysis at 300–500 °C. Spherical TiO₂ nano- and microparticles were successfully obtained. Effects of precursor-liquid concentration, liquid flow-rate, and pyrolysis temperature on the particle size, microstructure and functions were discussed.     

Preliminary Heat Capacity and Vapor Pressure Measurements of 2D 4He on ZYX Graphite

We report preliminary heat capacity and vapor pressure measurements of the first and second layers of ⁴He adsorbed on ZYX graphite. ZYX is known to have much better crystallinity than Grafoil, the most commonly-used exfoliated graphite substrate, such as a ten-times larger platelet size. This allows us to distinguish different phases in 2D ⁴He much more clearly and may provide qualitatively different insights into this system. We found a significantly asymmetric density-dependence of the heat-capacity peak associated with the $\sqrt{3}\times\sqrt{3}$ phase formation comparing with that obtained with Grafoil. The 2nd-layer promotion density is determined as 11.8±0.3 nm^?2 from the heat-capacity measurement of low density samples in the 2nd layer and vapor pressure measurement.     

Hydrothermal conversion of Mg2TiO4 into brookite-type TiO2 under mild conditions

A simple and mild synthetic route via a hydrothermal treatment of Mg₂TiO₄ has been developed to prepare brookite-type TiO₂. The hydrothermal conversion of Mg₂TiO₄ to brookite proceeded in 1 M HCl solution even at 100 °C. The converted brookite grains were composed of the angular particles covered on the textured surface, leaving the original morphology of Mg₂TiO₄ grains. Compared with the commercially available TiO₂ catalysts (rutile, anatase, and P25), the brookite obtained in this study showed a good photocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde under a simulated sunlight irradiation.