Effect of Silicon Dioxide on the Thermal Diffusivity of Aluminum Nitride Ceramics

The thermal diffusivity of AlN ceramics was significantly decreased by the addition of SiO₂. The AlN ceramics with 4 wt% SiO₂ could not be densified by pressureless sintering in the temperature range 1400° to 1800°C. The thermal diffusivity of these samples was very low because of their porous structure. The AlN ceramics containing 2, 4, and 8 wt% SiO₂ were densified by hot-pressing and also had low thermal diffusivity. In these samples, the grains of the 27R polytype that resulted from the reaction between AlN and SiO₂ were dispersed, obstructing the conduction of heat. The relation between the amount of 27R polytype and the thermal diffusivity of the AlN ceramics was determined.     

Fibrous support for immobilization of enzymes

A poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) fiber support incorporating various aminoacetal functional groups has been developed for immobilizing enzymes. The aminated PVA fiber seems to adsorb enzymes with electrostatic force of attraction; thus the immobilization procedure is simple. By the use of this fiber having immobilized enzymes, the reaction between enzymes and substrates is nearly independent of the size of subtstrates. This newly developed type of fiber, which is formed by a mass superfine fibers (SFF), each measuring 1 μm or less in diameter, permits much more increased surface area than the conventional enzyme immobilization supports. Our studies of the properties of the fiber for immobilization of enzymes show the following results: (1) SFF has a greater ability for the immobilization of invertase than ordinary fibers; (2) dimethyl-aminated SFF has the best performance for the immobilization of invertase. From these results, it is concluded that the dimethyl-aminated SFF is an excellent support for the immobilization of invertase.     

Excitations bound to a vortex line in layered superconductors

Using Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation, we study quasiparticle excitations in layered superconductors in the presence of a straight vortex line which is parallel to the layers. The lowest bound state is shown to have energy eigenvalue of the order of magnitude , the energy gap, in contrast to the corresponding value ²/E_F when the line is perpendicular to the layers.     

Detection of environmental changes from network structure

We studied the networks of the temperature record in the atmosphere. They are made by the strength of the synchronization, including the delay between temperatures at locations on Earth. We consider these locations as nodes, and we consider a pair of locations as a link if the synchronization between them is stronger than a threshold. The network is scale-free, which is thought to contribute to the stability of the climate. This work was presented in part at the 12th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 25–27, 2007     

K(Knowledge)-net: building up and its dynamics

The essence of intelligence is to use certain abilities to obtain knowledge, to use that knowledge, and to operate with that knowledge. New knowledge learned by a human is often related to old existing knowledge, and sometimes we could have more conceptual knowledge based on old knowledge. So, the knowledge in the brain exists in a related structural form, and this structure is dynamic, and therefore is evolvable. Based on the understanding of the real process of learning by a human being, we discuss how to make a model to describe the dynamic structure of knowledge. This model is also a principle of artificial brain design. Most of the knowledge a child learns is from natural language and perception information, and we define this as semantic knowledge. The model to describe the process and structure of knowledge growing in a network form is called a K-net. It is a dynamic network with two main dynamics: one is new knowledge added, and the other is aggregating knowledge existing in the network with some probability. Under these very natural conditions, we found that the network is originally a simple random net, and then some characteristics of a complex network gradually appear when more new knowledge is added and aggregated. A more interesting phenomenon is the appearance of a random hierarchical structure. Does this mean emergence?     

A versatile planar QCM-based sensor design for nonlabeling biomolecule detection

Despite high theoretical sensitivity, low-cost manufacture, and compactness potentially amenable to lab-on-a-chip use, practical hurdles have stymied the application of the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) for aqueous applications such as detection of biomolecular interactions. The chief difficulty lies in achieving a sufficiently stable resonance signal in the presence of even minute fluctuations in hydrostatic pressure. In this work, we present a novel versatile planar sensor chip design (QCM chip) for a microliter-scale on-line biosensor. By sealing the quartz resonator along its edges to a flat, solid support, we provide uniform support for the crystal face not exposed to solvent, greatly decreasing deformation of the crystal resonator under hydrostatic pressure. Furthermore, this cassette design obviates the need for direct handling when exchanging the delicate quartz crystal in the flow cell. A prototype 27-MHz sensor signal exhibited very low noise over a range of flow rates up to 100 microL/min. In contrast, signals obtained from a conventional QCM sensor employing an O-ring-based holder were less stable and deteriorated even further with increasing flow rate. Additional control designs with intermediate amounts of unsupported undersurface yielded intermediate levels of stability, consistent with the interpretation that deformation of the crystal resonator under fluctuating hydraulic pressure is the chief source of noise. As a practical demonstration of the design's high effective sensitivity, we readily detected interaction between myoglobin and surface-bound antibody.     

Analytical study of nuclear-coupled density-wave instability in a natural circulation pressure tube type boiling water reactor

An analytical model has been developed to study the nuclear-coupled density-wave instability in the Indian advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) which is a natural circulation pressure tube type boiling water reactor. The model considers a point kinetics model for the neutron dynamics and a lumped parameter model for the fuel thermal dynamics along with the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy and equation of state for the coolant. In addition, to study the effect of neutron interactions between different parts of the core, the model considers a coupled multipoint kinetics equation in place of simple point kinetics equation. Linear stability theory was applied to reveal the instability of in-phase and out-of-phase modes in the boiling channels of the AHWR. The results indicate that the stability behavior of the reactor is greatly influenced by the void reactivity coefficient, fuel time constant, radial power distribution and channel inlet orificing. The delayed neutrons were found to have a strong influence on the Type I and Type II instabilities observed at low and high channel powers, respectively. Also, it was found that the coupled multipoint kinetics model and the modal point kinetics model predict the same threshold power for out-of-phase instability if the coupling coefficient in the former model is half the eigen value separation between the fundamental and the first harmonic mode in the latter model. Decay ratio maps were predicted considering various operating parameters of the reactor, which are useful for its design.     

Human Chorionic Villous Differentiation and Placental Development

In humans, the placenta provides the only fetomaternal connection and is essential for establishing a pregnancy as well as fetal well-being. Additionally, it allows maternal physiological adaptation and embryonic immunological acceptance, support, and nutrition. The placenta is derived from extra-embryonic tissues that develop rapidly and dynamically in the first weeks of pregnancy. It is primarily composed of trophoblasts that differentiate into villi, stromal cells, macrophages, and fetal endothelial cells (FEC). Placental differentiation may be closely related to perinatal diseases, including fetal growth retardation (FGR) and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), and miscarriage. There are limited findings regarding human chorionic villous differentiation and placental development because conducting in vivo studies is extremely difficult. Placental tissue varies widely among species. Thus, experimental animal findings are difficult to apply to humans. Early villous differentiation is difficult to study due to the small tissue size; however, a detailed analysis can potentially elucidate perinatal disease causes or help develop novel therapies. Artificial induction of early villous differentiation using human embryonic stem (ES) cells/induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells was attempted, producing normally differentiated villi that can be used for interventional/invasive research. Here, we summarized and correlated early villous differentiation findings and discussed clinical diseases.     

Uterine Deletion of Bmal1 Impairs Placental Vascularization and Induces Intrauterine Fetal Death in Mice

Recently, it was demonstrated that the expression of BMAL1 was decreased in the endometrium of women suffering from recurrent spontaneous abortion. To investigate the pathological roles of uterine clock genes during pregnancy, we produced conditional deletion of uterine Bmal1 (cKO) mice and found that cKO mice could receive embryo implantation but not sustain pregnancy. Gene ontology analysis of microarray suggested that uterine NK (uNK) cell function was suppressed in cKO mice. Histological examination revealed the poor formation of maternal vascular spaces in the placenta. In contrast to WT mice, uNK cells in the spongiotrophoblast layer, where maternal uNK cells are directly in contact with fetal trophoblast, hardly expressed an immunosuppressive NK marker, CD161, in cKO mice. By progesterone supplementation, pregnancy could be sustained until the end of pregnancy in some cKO mice. Although this treatment did not improve the structural abnormalities of the placenta, it recruited CD161-positive NK cells into the spongiotrophoblast layer in cKO mice. These findings indicate that the uterine clock system may be critical for pregnancy maintenance after embryo implantation.     

Denatured-jacalin derivatives with selective recognition for O-linked glycosides (ST,T, Tn,and STn Type) on IgA1 hinge region

Immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) concentration in the plasma of patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) as the cause of renal failure is higher than that in the plasma of normal controls. IgA1 with abnormal sugars is considered to deposit in the glomerular mesangium, aggravating nephritis in IgAN. Jacalin is a lectin that recognizes sugars on IgA1. However, its selective-recognition for normal-type (ST type, NeuAc-α(2,3)-Gal-β(1,3)-GalNAc) and abnormal-type (T type, Gal-β(1,3)-GalNAc; Tn type, GalNAc; STn type, NeuAc-α(2,6)-GalNAc) sugars α-O-linked to serine/threonine in IgA1 is weak. Therefore, jacalin cannot be used for recognizing specific sugar types on IgA1. We attempted to develop a new recognition method for specific sugar types on IgA1 by utilizing the multirecognition capability of jacalin. Its binding abilities were regulated by heat denaturation with suitable template sugar (galactose or N-acetylgalactosamine). Further, we successfully prepared denatured-jacalin derivatives, which recognized ST-/T-type sugars on IgA1, by sugar-immobilized affinity chromatography. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of denatured-jacalin derivatives, showed the ratios of abnormal sugars on IgA1 in the plasma of IgAN patients and normal controls to be approximately 60% and 20%, respectively. The results proved that profiling of sugar types in IgAN can successfully be performed by solely using jacalin derivatives.