Temperature Dependence of the Raman Spectrum in Lithium Oxide Single Crystal

Temperature dependence of the Raman spectrum of lithium oxide single crystal has been measured over a temperature range of 80 to 1073 K. The frequency shift and the line width of the Raman spectrum in lithium oxide were about 531 and 4.5 cm^-1 at 80 K, respectively. At 1073 K, the frequency shift and the line width attained the values of 464 and 112 cm^-1, respectively. The strong temperature dependence of the frequency shift and line width was compared with data from some crystals with a fluorite structure.     

On the role of anxiety in decisions under possiblistic uncertainty.

We focus on situations in which we must decide on what time to take an action. The action is not in question it is the time of action. We call these "time for action decisions," a prototypical example being deciding when to leave on a journey. We point out that during this type of decision process, the decision-maker recognizes two groups of forces acting on him: one that pushes him to act now and other that pushes him act later. We note that the strength of these forces depends on the information available about various uncertainties associated with the situation. It also strongly depends upon the personality of the decision-maker. We observe that as time passes these conflicting forces tend to build up an anxiety in the decision-maker resulting in an action being taken at a time of most intense anxiety. In this paper using the ideas of possibility and necessity measures to enable different interpretations of uncertain information we investigate the temporal profile of the decision-maker's anxiety as a function of their decision attitude. We investigate the role of maximization of anxiety as decision paradigm. One of our goals here is to try to understand role of the nature and the quality information plays in these types of decisions as well as its interaction with anxiety.     

Polarizer with Nonrectangular Grooves in the HE11 Mode Transmission Line

This paper presents experimental results on polarizers with nonrectangular grooves to be used in high power millimeter wave transmission lines for electron cyclotron heating (ECH) of fusion plasmas. A low-power test at a frequency of 106.4 GHz has been carried out for several polarizers with different groove depths. The polarization characteristics experimentally measured are in good agreement with numerical results in which the actual groove shape functions are taken into account. This confirms the design optimization for future polarizer. Favorable results have also been obtained in a 400 kW-level high-power test for the polarizer installed in an ECH transmission line of the Heliotron-E plasma device.     

Effects of Solvents in the Polyethylene Glycol Series on the Bonding of Copper Joints Using Ag2O Paste

The effects of reducing solvents on the bonding process using silver oxide paste in a copper joint were investigated. Three solvent types were tested: diethylene glycol (DEG), triethylene glycol (TEG), and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The strength of the joints was assessed by fracturing, which occurred at the interface of the copper oxide layer and the copper substrate in DEG and TEG samples and at the bonded interface in the PEG sample. Analysis of the samples revealed that, in the DEG and TEG samples, the copper substrate was oxidized during the bonding process, which compromised the shear strength of the joints. In contrast, the PEG sample exhibited nonuniform sintering of the silver layer while retaining good shear strength. It was found that the combination of DEG and PEG produced optimum shear strength in the copper joint, as PEG suppressed the growth of copper oxide and DEG promoted the formation of a dense sintered silver layer. The bonding strength achieved was higher than that of the gold-to-gold joint made using standard Pb-5Sn solder.     

Successive changes in community structure of an ethylbenzene-degrading sulfate-reducing consortium

The microbial community structure and successive changes in a mesophilic ethylbenzene-degrading sulfate-reducing consortium were for the first time clarified by the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of the PCR amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments. At least ten bands on the DGGE gel were detected in the stationary phase. Phylogenetic analysis of the DGGE bands revealed that the consortium consisted of different eubacterial phyla including the delta subgroup of Proteobacteria, the order Sphingobacteriales, the order Spirochaetales, and the unknown bacterium. The most abundant band C was closely related to strain mXyS1, an m-xylene-degrading sulfate-reducing bacterium (SRB), and occurred as a sole band on DGGE gels in the logarithmic growth phase that 40% ethylbenzene was consumed accompanied by sulfide production. During further prolonged incubation, the dominancy of band C did not change. These results suggest that SRB corresponds to the most abundant band C and contributes mainly to the degradation of ethylbenzene coupled with sulfate reduction.     

Effect of anisotropic scattering in neutronics analysis of BWR assembly

The anisotropic scattering effect to keff is studied for UO₂ and MOX fueled BWR assemblies. The anisotropic scattering effect increases the assembly k_∞ by 0.44% Δk for the UO₂ assembly with 0% void fraction, and by 0.21% Δk for the MOX assembly with 0% void fraction. This is because the anisotropic scattering effect flattens the intra-assembly thermal flux, and the absorption rate in the surrounding water gap is decreased, but the absorption rates in the MOX fuel rods are increased compared to the UO₂ rods. Therefore, the total decrease in absorption rates in the UO₂ assembly is relatively large, and the k_∞ is increased in the UO₂ assembly. The dependence of the anisotropic scattering effect on the void fraction is investigated, and the significant difference of 0.62% Δk/k is found for the 0% and the 80% void fractions. The BWR assemblies with Gd rods are also considered. Furthermore, the usefulness of the transport cross section is investigated, and it is found that the transport cross section gives reasonable anisotropic scattering effect, though not satisfactory.     

Oral Secretions Affect HIPVs Induced by Generalist (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Mythimna loreyi</Emphasis>) and Specialist (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Parnara guttata</Emphasis>) Herbivores in Rice

Plants synthesize variable mixtures of herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) as part of their evolutionary conserved defense. To elucidate the impact of chewing herbivores with different level of adaptation on HIPV profiles in rice, we measured HIPVs released from rice seedlings challenged by either the generalist herbivore Mythimna loreyi (MYL) or the specialist Parnara guttata (PAG). Both herbivores markedly elicited the emission of HIPVs, mainly on the second and third days after attack compared to control plants. In addition, side-by-side HIPV comparisons using MYL and PAG caterpillars revealed that generalist feeding induced comparably more HIPVs relative to specialist, particularly on day two as highlighted by multivariate analysis (PLS-DA) of emitted HIPVs, and further confirmed in mimicked herbivory experiments. Here, mechanically wounded plants treated with water (WW) released more VOCs than untreated controls, and on top of this, oral secretions (OS) from both herbivores showed differential effects on volatile emissions from the wounded plants. Similar to actual herbivory, MYL OS promoted higher amounts of HIPVs relative to PAG OS, thus supporting disparate induction of rice indirect defenses in response to generalist and specialist herbivores, which could be due to the differential composition of their OS. (196 words).     

An absolute requirement of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate for the Lactobacillus caseiL-lactate dehydrogenase activity induced by a single amino acid substitution

Lactobacillus casei allosteric L-lactate dehydrogenase (L-LDH)absolutely requires fructose 1,6-bisphosphate [Fru(1,6)P2] forits catalytic activity under neutral conditions, but exhibitsmarked catalytic activity in the absence of Fru(1,6)P₂ underacidic conditions through the homotropic activation effect ofsubstrate pyruvate. In this enzyme, a single amino acid replacement,i.e. that of His205 conserved in the Fru(1,6)P₂-binding siteof certain allosteric L-LDHs of lactic acid bacteria with Thr,did not induce a marked loss of the activation effect of Fru(1,6)P₂or divalent metal ions, which are potent activators that improvethe activation function of Fru(1,6)P₂ under neutral conditions.However, this replacement induced a great loss of the Fru(1,6)P₂-independentactivation effect of pyruvate or pyruvate analogs under acidicconditions, consequently indicating an absolute Fru(1,6)P₂ requirementfor the enzyme activity. The replacement also induced a significantreduction in the pH-dependent sensitivity of the enzyme to Fru(1,6)P₂,through a slight decrease and increase of the Fru(1,6)P₂ sensitivityunder acidic and neutral conditions, respectively, indicatingthat His205 is also largely involved in the pH-dependent sensitivityof L.casei L-LDH to Fru(1,6)P₂. The role of His205 in the allostericregulation of the enzyme is discussed on the basis of the knowncrystal structures of L-LDHs.     

MiR-10a in Pancreatic Juice as a Biomarker for Invasive Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm by miRNA Sequencing

New biomarkers are needed to further stratify the risk of malignancy in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN). Although microRNAs (miRNAs) are expected to be stable biomarkers, they can vary owing to a lack of definite internal controls. To identify universal biomarkers for invasive IPMN, we performed miRNA sequencing using tumor-normal paired samples. A total of 19 resected tissues and 13 pancreatic juice samples from 32 IPMN patients were analyzed for miRNA expression by next-generation sequencing with a two-step normalization of miRNA sequence data. The miRNAs involved in IPMN associated with invasive carcinoma were identified from this tissue analysis and further verified with the pancreatic juice samples. From the tumor-normal paired tissue analysis of the expression levels of 2792 miRNAs, 20 upregulated and 17 downregulated miRNAs were identified. In IPMN associated with invasive carcinoma (INV), miR-10a-5p and miR-221-3p were upregulated and miR-148a-3p was downregulated when compared with noninvasive IPMN. When these findings were further validated with pancreatic juice samples, miR-10a-5p was found to be elevated in INV (p = 0.002). Therefore, three differentially expressed miRNAs were identified in tissues with INV, and the expression of miR-10a-5p was also elevated in pancreatic juice samples with INV. MiR-10a-5p is a promising additional biomarker for invasive IPMN.     

Ultra light-weight and high-resolution X-ray mirrors using DRIE and X-ray LIGA techniques for space X-ray telescopes

We are developing novel ultra light-weight and high-resolution X-ray micro pore optics for space X-ray telescopes. In our method, curvilinear micro pore structures are firstly fabricated by silicon deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) or X-ray LIGA processes. Secondly, side walls of the micro structures are smoothed by magnetic field assisted finishing and/or hydrogen annealing techniques for high reflectivity mirrors. Thirdly, to focus parallel X-ray lights from astronomical objects, these structures are elastically or plastically bent into a spherical shape. Fourthly, the bent structures are stacked to form a multi-stage X-ray telescope. In this paper, we report on fabrication and X-ray reflection tests of silicon and nickel X-ray mirrors using the DRIE and LIGA processes, respectively. For the first time, X-ray reflections were confirmed on both of the mirrors. Estimated rms roughnesses were 5 nm and 3 nm for the silicon and nickel mirrors, respectively.