Proton conduction at the surface of Y-doped BaCeO3 and its application to an air/fuel sensor

25 mol% Y³⁺-doped BaCeO₃ (BCY25) showed an extremely low activation energy of 0.3 eV for proton conduction at the surface. The resulting overall conductivity at the surface reached 8.24 × 10^–3 S cm^–1 at 400°C, which was 3, 8, and 28 times higher than those in the bulk of BCY25, 20 mol% Sm³⁺-doped ceria, and 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia, respectively. Such fast proton conduction enabled an air/fuel (A/F ) sensor using BCY25 as the solid electrolyte to work above 150°C for H₂ and above 250°C for C₂H₄.     

Relationship between transition of fracture mode of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic and glass transition temperature of its resin

In this study, the correlation between the stress–strain behavior of a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) and the temperature at which the heat-affected zone (HAZ) is generated is investigated. First, CFRP ([?45/45]_2s laminate) specimens were heated at several temperatures to induce thermal damage, i.e. a HAZ. Subsequently, tensile tests were conducted on the specimens with thermal damage. Then, microscopy and X-ray measurements were carried out to discuss the stress–strain responses from a microscopic viewpoint. The results of strain measurement during thermal treatment indicated that the strain increases with increasing temperature. The tensile tests showed that the CFRP specimens subjected to thermal damage during heating at a high temperature fractured in the ductile mode, whereas the fracture mode of the CFRP specimens with low-temperature thermal damage was discontinuous. Microstructure observation using X-ray tomography showed that the debonding between the carbon fibers and the resin matrix induced by heating to above the glass transition temperature was responsible for the continuous fracture mode.     

Bone Tissue Engineering in Rat Calvarial Defects Using Induced Bone-like Tissue by rhBMPs from Immature Muscular Tissues In Vitro

This study aimed to induce bone-like tissue from immature muscular tissue (IMT) in vitro using commercially available recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP)-2, rhBMP-4, and rhBMP-7, and then implanting this tissue into a calvarial defect in rats to assess healing. IMTs were extracted from 20-day-old Sprague-Dawley (SD) fetal rats, placed on expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) with 10 ng/μL each of rhBMP-2, BMP-4, and BMP-7, and cultured for two weeks. The specimens were implanted into calvarial defects in 3-week-old SD rats for up to three weeks. Relatively strong radiopacity was observed on micro-CT two weeks after culture, and bone-like tissue, comprising osteoblastic cells and osteoids, was partially observed by H&E staining. Calcium, phosphorus, and oxygen were detected in the extracellular matrix using an electron probe micro analyzer, and X-ray diffraction patterns and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra of the specimen were found to have typical apatite crystal peaks and spectra, respectively. Furthermore, partial strong radiopacity and ossification were confirmed one week after implantation, and a dominant novel bone was observed after two weeks in the defect site. Thus, rhBMP-2, BMP-4, and BMP-7 differentiated IMT into bone-like tissue in vitro, and this induced bone-like tissue has ossification potential and promotes the healing of calvarial defects. Our results suggest that IMT is an effective tissue source for bone tissue engineering.     

Calculation of photogenerated carrier escape rates from GaAs/AlGa1-xAs quantum wells

We present a new theory for photogenerated carrier escape rates from single quantum wells, as a function of an applied electric field, that includes thermionic emission, direct tunneling, and tunneling via thermal occupation of upper subbands, and compare the results for GaAs/Al_xGa_1-xAs quantum wells with recent experiments. We account for the two dimensional (2D) density of states below the barrier, assume thermal equilibrium of carriers within the well, allow for the possibility of strain in the well and/or barrier, and include the contribution to electron thermionic emission from indirect conduction band minima. Our expressions for thermionic emission reduce, in the limit of large well width, to those derived by assuming a three-dimensional (3D) density of states. The results for electron emission from GaAs/Al_xGa_1-xAs quantum wells with x=0.2 and x=0.4 barriers at room temperature agree well with experiment. For wells with x=0.2 barriers, thermally assisted tunneling overtakes thermionic emission around 40 kV/cm, while for wells with x=0.4 barriers thermionic emission from the L valley conduction band minima dominates for fields less than 70 kV/cm. For holes we show that the escape rates are very sensitive to the in-plane effective masses, and results using simple expressions for the in-plane masses that do not include light/heavy-hole mixing agree poorly with experiment. The agreement with experiment is improved using in-plane masses that include light/heavy-hole mixing, particularly for wells with high barriers. We suggest that agreement with experiment would be improved by using more accurate in-plane hole masses for all of the subbands     

Serum Amyloid A3 Promoter-Driven Luciferase Activity Enables Visualization of Diabetic Kidney Disease

The early detection of diabetic nephropathy (DN) in mice is necessary for the development of drugs and functional foods. The purpose of this study was to identify genes that are significantly upregulated in the early stage of DN progression and develop a novel model to non-invasively monitor disease progression within living animals using in vivo imaging technology. Streptozotocin (STZ) treatment has been widely used as a DN model; however, it also exhibits direct cytotoxicity to the kidneys. As it is important to distinguish between DN-related and STZ-induced nephropathy, in this study, we compared renal responses induced by the diabetic milieu with two types of STZ models: multiple low-dose STZ injections with a high-fat diet and two moderate-dose STZ injections to induce DN. We found 221 genes whose expression was significantly altered during DN development in both models and identified serum amyloid A3 (Saa3) as a candidate gene. Next, we applied the Saa3 promoter-driven luciferase reporter (Saa3-promoter luc mice) to these two STZ models and performed in vivo bioluminescent imaging to monitor the progression of renal pathology. In this study, to further exclude the possibility that the in vivo bioluminescence signal is related to renal cytotoxicity by STZ treatment, we injected insulin into Saa3-promoter luc mice and showed that insulin treatment could downregulate renal inflammatory responses with a decreased signal intensity of in vivo bioluminescence imaging. These results strongly suggest that Saa3 promoter activity is a potent non-invasive indicator that can be used to monitor DN progression and explore therapeutic agents and functional foods.     

Catalytic combustion of hydrogen—IV. Fabrication of prototype catalytic heaters and their operating properties

Two prototypes of catalytic heaters operating on hydrogen were fabricated and their performances were tested for combustion efficiency and temperature distribution over the catalyst surface. A heater in which hydrogen was mostly introduced from the bottom of a catalyst body exhibited substantial temperature uniformity and achieved a high combustion efficiency. The hydrogen fuelled catalytic heater offers an adjustable heat output ranging from 0 to 1.5 kcal cm^?2 h^?1 with Pt-impregnated nickel foam as a catalyst. The composite oxide of Co, Mn and Ag yielded slightly inferior results but sustained smooth hydrogen combustion. Detailed experiments were conducted for the investigation of changes in local combustion efficiency, local amount of air entrained from the ambience, and local surface temperature with the vertical position from the catalyst bottom.     

Hourly care received by people with Alzheimer's disease: results from an urban, community survey

People with Alzheimer's disease living in a defined community in New York City were identified and assessed on two occasions to determine the number of hours of activities of daily living (ADL) care they received. Nearly half received all care hours from informal sources; however, a quarter received all ADL care hours from formal sources. The mean number of daily ADL hours in the sample was 9.7, of which 4.2 came from formal sources. This reflects the extensive use of Medicaid-based home care services in New York City. As dementia worsened, substitution of formal for informal care was rare, but formal care assumed a greater proportion of total care hours.     

Hearing recovery in sudden deafness with profound hearing loss

To more completely describe acromion morphology and its relationship to impingement syndrome, we performed three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (N = 111) or computed tomography (N = 27) on 132 symptomatic shoulders. The mean patient age was 46.2 years (range, 14 to 86). Four parameters were evaluated: the angle of anterior slope of the acromion in the midsagittal and lateral-sagittal planes, lateral acromial angulation in the coronal plane, and the presence or absence of medial encroachment in the acromioclavicular joint. Twenty-five asymptomatic age-matched shoulders were used as controls. All imaging data were combined because no significant differences existed between the two imaging techniques. The mean acromion angle was 19.4 degrees in the midsagittal plane and 20 degrees in the lateral-sagittal plane. In the coronal plane, 97 (73%) acromions were neutral and 35 (27%) were downward sloping. Medial encroachment was present in 31 (24%) shoulders. Age distribution from the 2nd to 8th decade demonstrated a consistent and gradual transition from a flat acromion in the younger decades to a more hooked acromion in the older decades that was significant in both the midsagittal and lateral-sagittal planes. Furthermore, a greater percentage of patients were found to have downward angulating acromions with increasing age. Ninety-eight patients (74%) had stage II or III impingement. Of these shoulders, 39 (40%) had type I acromions, 51 (52%) type II, and 8 (8%) type III. Twenty-eight of 33 acromions with coronal lateral downward sloping had impingement, and all 31 shoulders with medial encroachment had impingement.     

Decremental oscillation curve fitting of heart rate response following face immersion into cold water

Sociodemographic differences between rural and urban clients with severe mental illness (SMI) are explored using approaches which extend research in this area beyond limitations found in the few existing studies. Sixteen hundred adult clients from 18 Wisconsin counties are classified according to the degree of rurality of their counties of residence, using two definitions: a dichotomous metropolitan-non-metropolitan grouping and population density. There are significant differences between rural and urban clients for age, gender, and marital status, but not education or income. Young (18-35 years), unmarried males are more likely to live in more densely populated counties. Older (65 and older) women who are currently or previously married are more likely to live in less densely populated counties.