Effects of Ozonated Water Application on the Population Density of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici in Soil Columns

The potential of ozonated water was investigated as an alternative to soil disinfectants in reducing the population densities of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici in artificially infested quartz sand and Kuroboku soil columns. Significant reductions in the population density were observed with dissolved ozone concentrations (DOCs) of 6 and 12 mg L^?1 in infested quartz sand but not in infested Kuroboku soil. The results indicate that repetitive application of ozonated water with higher DOCs should be required for reducing the population density of F. oxysporum in soils with high content of organic substances and large surface area.     

The state of adsorbed oxygen species formed in the decomposition of N2O on CaO

Temperature programmed desorption, FT-IR spectra and hydrolysis of adsorbed oxygen species revealed that a considerable amount of adsorbed peroxide species were formed on CaO by decomposition of N₂O, whereas no adsorbed species were formed by molecular oxygen.     

Convenient synthesis of poly(2,6-dihydroxy-1,5-naphthylene) by Cu(II)-amine catalyzed oxidative coupling polymerization

A convenient synthesis of regiocontrolled poly(2,6-dihydroxy-1,5-naphthylene) (PDHN) with high molecular weights by oxidative coupling polymerization of 2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene (2,6-DHN) has been developed. Polymerizations were conducted in 2-methoxyethanol in the presence of di-μ-hydroxo-bis[(N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine)copper (II)] chloride (CuCl(OH)TMEDA) as the catalyst under air at 25 °C. To determine the optimum conditions, the effects of the amounts of the catalysts and the solvents were investigated. In the presence of 5 mol% of the catalyst to the monomer in 2-methoxyethanol, polymerization proceeded smoothly, giving PDHN with a number average molecular weight (M_n) of 52,000. PDHN was converted to poly(2,6-dibutoxy-1,5-naphthylene) (PDBN) to improve the solubility. The structure of PDBN was characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and was estimated to consist completely of the 1,5-linkage. The average refractive indices (n_AV) of the PDHN and PDBN films were 1.6003 and 1.5815, respectively, and the dielectric constants (ε) estimated from the refractive indices were 2.82 and 2.75, respectively.     

Purification and characterization of alcohol dehydrogenase reducing N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone from Geotrichum capitatum

(S)-N-Benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol is widely used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals as a chiral building block. We produced 30 mM (S)-N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol (enantiometric excess > 99.9%) from the corresponding ketone N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone with more than 99.9% yield in 28 h of the resting-cell reaction of Geotrichum capitatum JCM 3908. NAD(+)-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase reducing N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone from G. capitatum JCM 3908 was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation and a series of DEAE-Toyopearl, Butyl-Toyopearl, Superdex 200, and Hydroxyapatite column chromatographies. The results of SDS-PAGE and HPLC showed the enzyme to be a dimer with a molecular mass of 78 kDa. The purified enzyme produced (S)-N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol (e.e.>99.9%) from N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone. The enzyme reduced 2,3-butanedione, 2-hexanone, cyclohexanone, propionaldehyde, n-butylaldehyde, n-hexylaldehyde, n-octylaldehyde, n-valeraldehyde, and benzylacetone more effectively than it did N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone. No activity was detected towards N-benzyl-2-pyrrolidinone or 2-pyrrolidinone. The activity towards (R)-N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol was not detected under the assay conditions employed. The oxidizing activity of the enzyme was higher towards 2-propanol, 2-butanol, 2-pentanol, 2-hexanol, 3-hexanol, and 1-phenyl-2-propanol than towards (S)-N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol. The K(m) values for N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone reduction and (S)-N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol oxidation were 0.13 and 8.47 mM, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first time that an N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol/N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone oxidoreductase was purified from a eukaryote; moreover, this is the first report of (S)-N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinol dehydrogenase activity in microorganisms. This enzyme showed features different from those of known prokaryotic N-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinone reductases. This enzyme will be very useful for the production of chiral compounds.     

Sintering mechanism of fine zirconia powders with alumina added by powder mixing and chemical processes

The present study examined the sintering behavior of fine zirconia powders (containing 2.9 mol% Y₂O₃) with and without small amounts of Al₂O₃ added by different ways: powder mixing (PM), homogeneous precipitation (HP), and hydrolysis of alkoxide (HA). The initial sintering behavior was examined by both measurement methods of a constant rate of heating and isothermal shrinkage. In the PM process, Al₂O₃ particles pinned the shrinkage of zirconia powder compact at the initial stage and diffuse toward zirconia surface to enhance the sintering. This initial sintering mechanism was explained by the grain-boundary diffusion for the Al₂O₃-free powder and the volume diffusion for Al₂O₃-added powder. When Al₂O₃ was added to zirconia powder by HP and HA processes, the densification rate was more stimulated compared to the PM process. The initial sintering mechanism did not change by the way for Al₂O₃ addition. The Al₂O₃ addition by chemical processes of HP and HA tended to enhance the grain growth of zirconia, while the uniform microstructure was achieved because of homogeneous addition of Al₂O₃ by those processes.     

Ozonation combined with electrolysis of 1,4-dioxane using a two-compartment electrolytic flow cell with solid electrolyte

Ozonation combined with electrolysis (ozone-electrolysis) is a new advanced oxidation process for water treatment. The advantages of ozone-electrolysis are (1) that reagents such as hydrogen peroxide or ferrous salts are unnecessary, (2) there is less influence from chromaticity, and (3) electric power is only required for operation. However, electrolysis has a serious limitation, in that it requires electrical conductivity (EC). This research is aimed at developing an ozone-electrolysis reactor that is applicable to wastewater with low EC using a cation exchange membrane as solid electrolyte. Moreover, experimental evidence of hydroxyl radical (.OH) generation via the cathodic reduction of ozone was obtained. Competitive kinetics analysis, based on the experimental data from the ozone-electrolysis of a mixed solution of 1,4-dioxane and tert-butyl alcohol, revealed that .OH contributed to 1,4-dioxane degradation. The ozone-electrolysis reactor was successfully applicable to degradation of 1,4-dioxane in both 1,4-dioxane solution (EC: less than 0.30 microS/cm) and a landfill leachate treated by a low-pressure reverse osmosis membrane (EC: 0.06 mS/cm). The use of a solid electrolyte was also very effective in reducing the electric power required for electrolysis.     

Determination of fluorescence-labeled asparaginyl-oligosaccharide in glycoprotein by reversed-phase ultraperformance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Eight fluorescence reagents, i.e., DBD-F, NBD-F, DNS-Cl, NDA, PSC, FITC, Fmoc-Cl, and DMEQ-COCl, which are reactive to an amino functional group, were tested for the labeling of asparaginyl-oligosaccharides in a glycoprotein. Although the optimal reaction conditions and the fluorescence maximal wavelengths were different for each reagent, the highly sensitive fluorescence detection at the femtomole level of Disialo-Asn (a representative asparaginyl-oligosaccharide) was obtained from the labeling utilizing these reagents. Among them, PSC was the most reliable reagent in terms of detection sensitivity (approximately 3 fmol, signal-to-noise ratio of 5 (S/N = 5) on the chromatogram). However, the structural information could not be obtained from the fluorescence detection. Thus, the on-line determination of a real sample was carried out by UPLC-ESI-TOF-MS. The detection limit of the PSC-labeled Disialo-Asn by selected-ion chromatography was 58 fmol (S/N = 5). When the proposed procedure was applied to the determination of oligosaccharides in ovalbumin, 15 species of PSC-labeled oligosaccharides possessing Man, GlcNAc, and Gal units were identified from the UPLC-ESI-TOF-MS. The number of identified oligosaccharides was relatively greater than the method using Fmoc-Cl. Based on the ovalbumin results, the proposed labeling with PSC followed by UPLC-ESI-TOF-MS detection seems to be useful for the on-line asparaginyl-oligosaccharide analysis.     

Fabrication and evaluation of a wideband multilayer laminar-type holographic grating for use with a soft-x-ray flat-field spectrograph in the region of 1.7 keV

A multilayer laminar-type holographic grating having an average groove density of 2400 lines/mm is designed and fabricated for use with a soft-x-ray flat-field spectrograph covering the 0.70-0.75 nm region. A varied-line-spaced groove pattern is generated by the use of an aspheric wavefront recording system, and laminar-type grooves are formed by a reactive ion-etching method. Mo/SiO2 multilayers optimized for the emission lines of Hf-M, Si-K, and W-M are deposited on one of the three designated areas on the grating surface in tandem. The measured first-order diffraction efficiencies at the respective centers of the areas are 18%-20%. The flat-field spectrograph equipped with the grating indicates a spectral linewidth of 8-14 eV for the emission spectra generated from electron-impact x-ray sources.     

Practical action levels for chelation therapy in plutonium inhalation using nose swab

The aim of this study is to propose action levels for chelation therapy in the case of inhalation of plutonium compounds using nose swabs. The relationship between the activity found in the nose swabs and early faecal excretion was investigated using actual cases at JAEA-NFCEL. The ratio was found to be in log-normal distribution. The action levels based on the activity of nose swab corresponding to 10 ALI (=200 mSv) are determined for the facilities at JAEA-NFCEL by using the relationship and specific information such as isotopic ratio and physicochemical characteristics of plutonium compounds.     

Characteristics of pure-shear mode BAW resonators consisting of (1120) textured ZnO films

Thickness pure-shear mode film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBARs) made of (1120) textured ZnO films have been fabricated. We also have fabricated FBAR structure consisting of two layers of the (1120) textured ZnO film with opposite polarization directions. This FBAR structure operated in second overtone pure-shear mode and allowed shear-mode FBARs at higher frequency. The effective electromechanical coupling coefficients k2 of pure-shear mode FBAR and second overtone pure-shear mode FBAR in this study were found to be 3.3% and 0.8%, respectively. The temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of thickness extensional mode FBAR, pure-shear mode FBAR, and second overtone pure-shear mode FBAR were measured in the temperature range of 10-60 degrees C. TCF values of -63.1 ppm/degrees C, -34.7 ppm/degrees C, and -35.6 ppm/degrees C were found for the thickness extensional mode FBAR, the pure-shear mode FBAR, and the second overtone pure-shear mode FBAR, respectively. These results demonstrated that pure-shear mode ZnO FBARs have more stable temperature characteristics than the conventional thickness extensional mode ZnO FBARs.