What makes rural,traditional, cultures more sustainable? Implications from conservation efforts in mountainous rural communities of Japan

Culture has long been considered one of the key elements characterising rurality and plays a central role in rural development. While the majority of research on cultural sustainability focuses on specific resources such as heritage or arts, few studies exist on the culture of rural production and life. Focusing on rural villages of Northeastern Japan, this study explores the key to conserving traditional, rural Japanese cultures—including slash-and-burn agriculture, using ash in cooking, and weaving cloth from plant fibres—by examining its spatial, gender, and generational variations, with semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. Our analysis clarified that these regional cultures have a varied pattern of regional distribution, associated with various factors such as methods and habits of cultural practice, the state of related industries, and commodification of culture. Furthermore, in response to such factors, the cultures showed gender and generational variations of practice, with the former influenced by the segregation of roles, particularly with regard to household labour. Most cultural practices appear to be undertaken by those of advanced years, so encouraging the maintenance of this culture among the younger generation through conservation organisations is vital to revitalising its economic significance. When examining the maintenance of a culture in a particular region, it is valuable to first understand the regional, gender, and generational differences in cultural practice for the various elements from which the overall culture can be distilled.     

A unified approach for numerical calculation of space-dependent kinetic equation

A unified numerical method based on the factorization approach is developed to solve the space-dependent neutron kinetic equation. Various numerical methods for solving the space-dependent kinetic equation have been developed so far. These methods can be classified into two categories, i.e., the direct and the factorization methods. The factorization method is known as an effective numerical method. In the present study, a new factorization method named the multigrid amplitude function (MAF) method is developed. Unlike the improved quasi-static (IQS) method, an independent amplitude function is assigned for each spatial region and energy group in the MAF method. The MAF method is a generalization of conventional methods, e.g., the frequency transform, IQS, and Theta methods. To evaluate the amplitude function in the MAF method, the time-dependent coarse-mesh finite difference (TCMFD) method is developed. The MAF method is implemented into a space-dependent kinetic code on the basis of the analytical polynomial nodal method. In order to verify the effectiveness of the MAF method, the TWIGL, Langenbuch, Maurer, and Werner (LMW), and Laboratorium für Reaktorregelung and Anlagensicherung (LRA) benchmark problems are analyzed. The calculation results show the effectiveness of the present method.     

Strain-induced martensitic transformation near twin boundaries in a biomedical Co–Cr–Mo alloy with negative stacking fault energy

Biomedical Co–Cr–Mo (CCM) alloys have been commonly used for artificial hip and knee joint prostheses, but a need to improve their biomedical inertness and wear resistance has become widely recognized. The mechanical behavior of CCM alloys is dominated by strain-induced martensitic transformation (SIMT), which causes crack initiation during plastic deformation but dramatically enhances the wear resistance in practical use. To develop more reliable CCM alloys it is essential to clarify the factors affecting the occurrence of SIMT. In the present study we have focused on the effect of annealing twin boundaries (ATBs) on SIMT behavior. We have analyzed in detail the substructures near a parallel pair of ATBs after deformation under a stress preferential for slip parallel to the ATBs. Preferential formation of ε-hexagonal close-packed (HCP) phase at ATBs in metastable γ-face-centered cubic (FCC) phase was found by both scanning electron microscopy with electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). High resolution TEM images indicated that thickening of the ε-HCP phase does not proceed regularly on every second atomic plane, which would form perfect ε-phase HCP structure, but irregularly leaving a high density of stacking faults. Furthermore, the thickness of the ε-HCP phase was found to be different at ATBs on the two sides of the twin. The difference was attributed to the internal stress due to strain incompatibility at the ATBs on the basis of residual stress analysis by the EBSD–Wilkinson method and phase-field simulation of solute segregation at ATBs.     

Extraction of Exotic Fullerenes and Purification of Single-Walled Nanotubes

Abstract

In this report, we presented a novel and simple extraction method, namely Hydrothermally Initiated Dynamic Extraction (HIDE) method, which allows the extraction of exotic fullerenes remaining in the fullerene soot. In the HIDE method, the soot was treated in boiling water that neither dissolved fullerenes nor produced minimal by-products but untangles the fullerenes from the soot, prior to the extraction by organic solvent. As a result, the HIDE method allowed the extraction of exotic fullerenes, such as dimeric fullerene oxides, higher fullerenes having a low symmetry and oxidized higher fullerenes. Accordingly, the single walled nanotubes (SWNTs) with a purity of 99% by wt was achieved for the first time with the application of the HIDE method.     

Water removal from a PEFC during gas purge

Gas purge intended to minimize residual water in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) during shutdown is critically important for cell performance and durability under freeze/thaw and cold-start cycling. This paper presents an experimental study of short-duration gas purge relevant to automotive application. A novel experimental procedure has been devised to achieve excellent reproducibility and consistency of purge data. Using the high-frequency resistance (HFR) of the cell as an indicator of membrane water content and hence of purge effectiveness, it is found that the purge performance can be uniquely described by two characteristic parameters, one representing the diffusive flux of water vapor across the catalyst layer and gas diffusion layer, and the other standing for the convective flux of water vapor down the channel with purge gas. A large set of purge data obtained over a range of purge cell temperature, purge gas flowrate and relative humidity and for two purge gases (N₂ and He) have been organized as function of these two parameters. Due to its threefold higher water diffusivity, Helium gas purge is seen to be superior over N₂, particularly under purge conditions controlled by through-plane vapor diffusion such as lower purge temperatures and shorter purge durations. It is also shown that the HFR after purge typically decreases in a time scale of 1–2 h and that the extent of HFR relaxation generally increases with higher HFR or lower membrane water content after purge.     

Pure red electroluminescence from novel heteroleptic cyclometalated platinum(II) emitters embedded in polyvinylcarbazole

We fabricated molecularly doped, polymer-based light-emitting diodes possessing a single emitting layer containing a hole-transporting host polymer poly(N-vinylcarbazole) and an electron-transporting auxiliary, 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole, doped with novel phosphorescent cyclometalated Pt(II) complexes bearing arylpyridine and 1,3-diketone ligands. These novel cyclometalated Pt(II) complexes emit pure red color both in steady-state emissions (poly(methyl methacrylate) films)) and electrophosphorescence. They exhibited pure red emissions with the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage coordinates (X = ～0.67, Y = ～0.33), which is almost identical to the coordinates of standard red (0.66, 0.34) demanded by the National Television System Committee. The color coordinates remained unchanged over a range of operating voltages, even at luminances greater than 1 × 10⁴ cd/m². The maximum external quantum efficiency of these devices exceeded 3.6% and the maximum brightness was greater than 1 × 10⁴ cd/m².     

Organic field-effect transistors using liquid crystalline compound synthesized to enhance carrier-transport ability

We report the characteristics of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) using the liquid crystalline compound synthesized to enhance carrier-transport ability. Oblique evaporation with a tilt angle of 60° and subsequent thermal annealing at 200 °C yielded anisotropic carrier transport due to the anisotropic molecular alignment. The OFETs fabricated with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) intermediate layers showed mobility up to 2.6 × 10^?2 cm²/V s. The characteristics of OFETs depended on the deposition rate of liquid crystalline materials. The mobilities increased with decrease in the deposition rate. Polarization-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements exhibited that the molecular orientation in liquid crystalline films was improved with decrease in the deposition rate. Therefore it is assumed that the carrier-transport properties were enhanced by improving the molecular orientation in the liquid crystalline films.