The Improvement of Bond Strength Properties and Surface Characteristics of Resinous Woods

Apitong (Dipterocarpus spp.) and Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea Morelet) contain high amounts of extractives that contribute to poor bonding. To reduce, if not to eliminate, the effects of these extraneous substances, surfaces of small wood blocks were Soxhlet-extracted for 8 hours by different solvents. Wettability of the wood surfaces was then measured by droplet and dynamic methods using water and dilute NaOH as liquids. Tensile shear strengths of extracted wood bonded with aqueous vinyl polymer isocyanate (API), resorcinol formaldehyde (RF) and polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) resin adhesives were also measured. Results revealed that although Caribbean pine had much higher resin content than Apitong, the former had better wettability than the latter. Solvent extraction of the adherend with either hexane or ethanol-benzene (1:2) for 8 hours was not enough to improve its wettability but enough to improve its gluability. However, successive extraction with hexane, methanol and ethanol benzene rendered the wood satisfactorily wettable. Generally, a direct relationship between wettability and bond strength could not be observed. In a separate experiment to improve bonding strengths, test specimens were either overheated or autoclaved for 4 minutes at 125°C during the pressing period. Autoclave treatment was found to be useful in increasing the bond strengths of API, RF, PVAc and urea formaldehyde (UF)-bonded Apitong and Caribbean pine.     

DC‐linked hybrid generation system with an energy storage device including photovoltaic generation and gas engine cogeneration for residential houses

For the past few years, hybrid generation systems including solar panel and gas cogeneration have been used for residential houses. Solar panels can generate electronic power at daytime but not at night. But the power consumption of residential houses usually peaks in the evening. The gas engine cogeneration system can generate electronic power without such a restriction, and it also can generate heat power to warm up a house or to produce hot water. In this paper we propose a solar panel and gas engine cogeneration hybrid system with an energy storage device, combined by a DC bus. If a blackout occurs, the system still can supply electronic power for special house loads. We propose a control scheme for the system related to the charging level of the energy storage device and the voltage of the utility grid, which can be applied to both grid‐connected and standalone operation. Finally, we report experiments designed to demonstrate system operation and calculations for loss estimation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 182(4): 29–46, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ).DOI 10.1002/eej.22321     

CRISPR-Cas Controls Cryptic Prophages

The bacterial archetypal adaptive immune system, CRISPR-Cas, is thought to be repressed in the best-studied bacterium, Escherichia coli K-12. We show here that the E. coli CRISPR-Cas system is active and serves to inhibit its nine defective (i.e., cryptic) prophages. Specifically, compared to the wild-type strain, reducing the amounts of specific interfering RNAs (crRNA) decreases growth by 40%, increases cell death by 700%, and prevents persister cell resuscitation. Similar results were obtained by inactivating CRISPR-Cas by deleting the entire 13 spacer region (CRISPR array); hence, CRISPR-Cas serves to inhibit the remaining deleterious effects of these cryptic prophages, most likely through CRISPR array-derived crRNA binding to cryptic prophage mRNA rather than through cleavage of cryptic prophage DNA, i.e., self-targeting. Consistently, four of the 13 E. coli spacers contain complementary regions to the mRNA sequences of seven cryptic prophages, and inactivation of CRISPR-Cas increases the level of mRNA for lysis protein YdfD of cryptic prophage Qin and lysis protein RzoD of cryptic prophage DLP-12. In addition, lysis is clearly seen via transmission electron microscopy when the whole CRISPR-Cas array is deleted, and eliminating spacer #12, which encodes crRNA with complementary regions for DLP-12 (including rzoD), Rac, Qin (including ydfD), and CP4-57 cryptic prophages, also results in growth inhibition and cell lysis. Therefore, we report the novel results that (i) CRISPR-Cas is active in E. coli and (ii) CRISPR-Cas is used to tame cryptic prophages, likely through RNAi, i.e., unlike with active lysogens, active CRISPR-Cas and cryptic prophages may stably co-exist.     

Measurement of pancreatic blood flow to prevent pancreatic juice leakage after pancreas-preserving total gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Disintegration apparatus according to P.Ph was adepted to measure the disintegration rate of tablets. The data obtained for 10 batches of aminophenazone tablets with different content of gelatine (2-20%) showed that there is a linear correlation between the area under non-disintegrated tablets mass curves (AUDC) and the area under release curves (AURC) described by equation: AUDC = bcr AURC - acr.     

Embedded channel polyimide waveguide fabrication by direct electronbeam writing method

A new embedded channel polyimide waveguide fabrication process by a direct electron beam writing method (DEBWM) is described. The new technique uses an electron-beam induced effect to directly alter the refractive indices of the two-layer polyimide. Both the core and the lower cladding have been fabricated at the same time in two-layer polyimides using electron beam with 25 keV energy. The obtained embedded channel waveguide was made of two kinds of polyimides, one for lower cladding and one for core and other claddings. Guide losses are 0.3 dB/cm for both TE and TM polarized incident lights and guiding mode is single-mode for TE. The optical properties of the waveguide and a relationship between the doses of electron beam and optical losses or loss dependence on wavelength are also mentioned     

Design, synthesis and quantitative structure-activity relationship study of N-(3-oxo-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[1,4]oxazine-7-carbonyl)guanidine derivatives as potent Na/H exchange inhibitors

Recent results indicate that a fluoroalumino complex (AlFx) is probably the molecule responsible for the mitogenic effect of fluoride in MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells. Initial analysis suggested that a tyrosine phosphorylation (tyr phos) process similar to that induced by thrombin and activation of the p42 MAP kinase (ERK 2) mediate this cellular response. In the present study, the signaling mechanism activated by AlFx was further investigated. The results indicated that AlFx dose-dependently enhanced the tyr phos of the cell adhesion proteins FAK and paxillin, as well as of the adaptor molecules p46shc, p52shc, and p66shc and their association with GRB2. Pretreatment of MC3T3-E1 cells with cytochalasin D completely prevented FAK and paxillin tyr phos without any alteration in the tyr phos of Shc proteins and activation of ERK2 induced by AlFx. This observation suggests that in confluent MC3T3-E1 cells, there is no link between the activation of FAK induced by AlFx and the stimulation of ERK2. Pretreatment of the cells with pertussis toxin inhibited Shc phosphorylation, activation of ERK2, and markedly reduced cell replication induced by AlFx. This toxin also significantly reduced the stimulation of Pi transport activity induced by AlFx in these cells. Alteration in tyr phos induced by AlFx was not associated with any detectable inhibition of tyrosine phosphatase activity in MC3T3-E1 cell homogenates, suggesting that enhanced tyr phos induced by AlFx probably resulted from activation of a tyrosine kinase. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that the mitogenic effect of fluoride in MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells is mediated by the activation of a pertussis toxin-sensitive Gi/o protein and suggest an important role for these heterotrimeric G proteins in controlling the growth and differentiation of bone-forming cells.     

Computed tomography findings in convergent strabismus fixus

X-ray computed tomography (CT) of the eyeball and orbit revealed the cause of eye movement disorder in convergent strabismus fixus. The findings suggest that the disease can be diagnosed and treated at an early stage. Twelve cases of progressive esotropia with high myopia and 20 cases with normal visual acuity served as subjects in this study. The CT slice was parallel to the German horizontal plane, and the lens and medial and lateral rectus muscles were scanned. The average axial length of the affected eyes was significantly longer than in normal eyes. In progressive esotropia, the characteristic CT findings are an elongated eyeball, mechanical contact between the eyeball and lateral wall of the orbit, and a downward displacement of the lateral rectus muscle. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that eye movement disorder in convergent strabismus fixus results from weakness of the lateral rectus muscle which has been displaced downward due to compression of the eyeball against the orbital wall.     

Sorption behavior of water vapor into polyelectrolyte complex of poly(acrylic acid)/poly(4-vinylpyridine)

The sorption of water vapor into the polyelectrolyte complex of poly(acrylic acid)/poly(4-vinylpyridine) has been investigated. The sorption isotherm was evaluated on the basis of various theories; BET equation, Flory–Huggins interaction parameter χ₁, and cluster function G₁₁/v₁. The behavior of the BET plot, χ₁, and G₁₁/v₁ was considered in terms of the structure of the complex, while the crosslink density and charge density were determined from the carbonyl absorption in IR spectra. The reasonable conclusion drawn from the available data is as follows. The interaction of water with specific polymer sites plays an important role in the sorption. The sorbed water plasticizes this material, and it enables the expansion of the network. The large amounts of water incorporated by the expansion cannot be dispersed homogeneously in the network, and indicate clustering tendency.     

The Improvement of Bond Strength Properties and Surface Characteristics of Resinous Woods

Apitong (Dipterocarpus spp.) and Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea Morelet) contain high amounts of extractives that contribute to poor bonding. To reduce, if not to eliminate, the effects of these extraneous substances, surfaces of small wood blocks were Soxhlet-extracted for 8 hours by different solvents. Wettability of the wood surfaces was then measured by droplet and dynamic methods using water and dilute NaOH as liquids. Tensile shear strengths of extracted wood bonded with aqueous vinyl polymer isocyanate (API), resorcinol formaldehyde (RF) and polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) resin adhesives were also measured. Results revealed that although Caribbean pine had much higher resin content than Apitong, the former had better wettability than the latter. Solvent extraction of the adherend with either hexane or ethanol-benzene (1:2) for 8 hours was not enough to improve its wettability but enough to improve its gluability. However, successive extraction with hexane, methanol and ethanol benzene rendered the wood satisfactorily wettable. Generally, a direct relationship between wettability and bond strength could not be observed. In a separate experiment to improve bonding strengths, test specimens were either overheated or autoclaved for 4 minutes at 125°C during the pressing period. Autoclave treatment was found to be useful in increasing the bond strengths of API, RF, PVAc and urea formaldehyde (UF)-bonded Apitong and Caribbean pine.