Porous Glass-Ceramics with a Skeleton of the Fast-Lithium-Conducting Crystal Li1+xTi2−xAlx(PO4)3

Porous glass-ceramics with a skeleton of the fast-lithium-conducting crystal Li_{1+ x} Ti_{2− x} Al _x (PO₄)₃ (where x = 0.3–0.5) were prepared by crystallization of glasses in the Li₂O─CaO─TiO₂─Al₂O₃–P₂O₅ system and subsequent acid leaching of the resulting dense glass-ceramics composed of the interlocking of Li_{1+ x} Ti_{2− x} Al _x (PO₄)₃ and β-Ca₃(PO₄)₂ phases. The median pore diameter and surface area of the resulting porous Li_{1+ x} Ti_{2− x} Al _x (PO₄)₃ glass-ceramics were approximately 0.2 μm and 50 m²/g, respectively. The electrical conductivity of the porous glass-ceramics after heating in LiNO₃ aqueous solution was 8 × 10⁻⁵ S/cm at 300 K or 2 × 10⁻² S/cm at 600 K.     

Cloning, sequencing and expression of an alpha-L-arabinofuranosidase from Aspergillus sojae

The arabinofuranosidase gene was cloned from the cDNA of Aspergillus sojae. It was found to contain an open reading frame composed of 984 base pairs (bp) and to encode 328 amino acid residues (aa). The cDNA sequence suggested that the mature enzyme is preceded by a 26-aa signal sequence and the molecular mass was predicted to be 32,749 Da. The A. sojae arabinofuranosidase consists of a single catalytic domain; it does not have a specific substrate-binding domain such as the xylan-binding domain reported in an arabinofuranosidase from Streptomyces lividans (Vincent, P. et al.: Biochem. J., 322, 845-852, 1997). The deduced amino acid sequence of the catalytic domain of the mature enzyme exhibits extensive identity with the catalytic domains of Streptomyces coelicolor (74%), Aspergillus niger (75%), S. lividans (74%), and Aspergillus tubingensis (75%), which are enzymes that belong to family 62 of the glycosyl hydrolases. The cloned AFdase gene was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS as a cellulose-binding domain tag fusion protein. The specific activity of the purified recombinant enzyme was 18.6 units/mg protein, which is one-fourth that of the enzyme purified from a solid-state culture of A. sojae.     

Photoluminescence Analysis of Iron Contamination Effect in Multicrystalline Silicon Wafers for Solar Cells

We investigated the effect of Fe contamination on the electronic properties of dislocation clusters in relation to oxygen precipitation in multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si). Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and mapping were performed at room and liquid-He temperatures on mc-Si wafers before and after Fe contamination. PL spectra consisted of the band-edge emission, the 0.78-eV emission associated with oxygen precipitates, and the dislocation-related D-lines. The Fe contamination increased the electrically active dislocation clusters. Part of these clusters acted as preferential oxygen precipitation sites, and their electronic properties were not further influenced by the Fe contamination.     

Extraction of lanthanide ions from aqueous solution by bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid with room-temperature ionic liquids

Extractions of five kinds of lanthanide metal ions by bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (DEHPA) with [1-Cn-3-methylimidazolium][PF₆](Cn = C₂, C₄) or [1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium][PF₆] were carried out under various DEHPA and HNO₃ concentrations from 0 to 1 M and under different temperature conditions from 298 to 333 K. These results were compared with those using the conventional organic solvent, hexane, in terms of their distribution coefficient values. Under all of the conditions in this study, the ionic liquid system shows more than three times greater extractability for lanthanide compared to when hexane was used. The distribution coefficient of lanthanide ions decreased as the length of the alkyl chain increased from the ethyl to the butyl. In addition, the imidazolium cation generally shows a higher distribution coefficient compared to the pyridinium cation in an ionic liquid. The concentration ratio of lanthanides and DEHPA resulted in an extraction affinity transition for lanthanides. Also evaluated in this study were issues related to the selectivity associated with the lanthanide mixture and the dependency of the ionic radius during lanthanide extraction.     

Size adjustment of spherical temperature-sensitive hydrogel beads by liquid–liquid dispersion using a Kenics static mixer

Temperature-sensitive hydrogel beads were prepared by Kenics static mixer technology. The temperature-sensitive monomer N,N-diethylacrylamide and photo-crosslinkable pre-polymer ENT were used as model hydrogel materials. Drop dispersion of high viscosity polymer material in low viscosity hexadecane was made using the static mixer. Drops of a solution of the mixed materials were rapidly photo-crosslinked by UV irradiation after mixing in the static mixer, and spherical hydrogel beads with narrow, normal size distribution were thus prepared. The Kenics static mixer is a useful device for the preparation of spherical beads of temperature-sensitive hydrogels. The Sauter Mean Diameter of the hydrogel beads swollen in deionized water at 293 K was measured. The experimentally determined dimensionless swollen hydrogel bead diameter was well correlated with the Weber number, degree of swelling and viscosity ratio. The effects of gelation and ENT addition on the bead size were evaluated from the degree of swelling. The correlation equation can be used for size adjustment of temperature-sensitive spherical hydrogel beads.     

Timing-Error-Detecting Dual-Edge-Triggered Flip-Flop

This paper presents a construction of timing-error-detecting dual-edge-triggered flip-flops (DET-FFs). The proposed FF is based on a conventional DET-FF and a conventional timing error detection method. While the conventional timing error detection uses a transition detector with relatively large area, the proposed FF uses internal signals in a DET-FF as as an alternative to the transition detector. This paper also shows an evaluation result indicating that the proposed FF has smaller area overhead than the simple combination of the conventional DET-FF and timing error detection methods.     

Antioxidant property of polyhydroxylated naphthoquinone pigments from shells of purple sea urchin Anthocidaris crassispina

Sea urchin gonads are highly priced sushi foodstuff “Uni” in Japanese traditional food, but after removal of them the residual shells with spines are dumped as waste. However, sea urchin shells contain naphthoquinone pigments with several phenolic hydroxyl groups, which were expected to act as potent antioxidant substances by donating hydrogens. Our previous study has evaluated their antioxidant ability to depress lipid peroxidation. This study examined other antioxidant property of the pigments from purple sea urchin shells, which possess larger amount of pigments than those of red and green sea urchins. The pigments as well as known antioxidant, α-tocopherol, exhibited 1,1-diphenyl 2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging ability. Superoxide anion radical and hydrogen peroxide were also scavenged while hydroxyl radical, one of the most reactive oxygen species, was not significantly inhibited. However, because the pigments had significant activity to scavenge hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion radical that could be in vivo precursors of hydroxyl radical, sea urchin pigments would be able to depress the generation of its related active oxygen radical species. These results suggested that sea urchin shells, which are still regarded as food waste, would be a new bio-resource for obtaining natural antioxidant.