Magnetic properties of ferrocenylmethylacrylate-N-dodecylacryl-amide copolymer Langmuir–Blodgett films

Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films of the copolymer with ferrocenyl-methyl-acrylate (FcMA) and N-dodecyl-acrylamide (DDA) were fabricated. The magnetic moment of these LB films became about twenty times larger than that of the powder. In addition, the LB films had a magnetic anisotropy depending on the dipping direction. The FTIR results suggested that the polymer chains in the LB films were preferably aligned with the perpendicular of the dipping direction. These results were discussed by the intermolecular electron transfer.     

Preservative effect of combined treatment with electrolyzed NaCl solutions and essential oil compounds on carp fillets during convectional air-drying

The antimicrobial and antioxidant effects on carp fillet samples of treatments with alkaline electrolyzed NaCl solution EW (-) prior to treatment with acidic electrolyzed NaCl solution EW (+) and 1% solutions of the essential oils consisting of 0.5% carvacrol and 0.5% thymol (1% Cv+Ty) were tested. First carp fillet samples were treated with EW (-), then EW (+), followed by 1% (C+T), represented as [EW (-)/EW (+)/1% (Cv+Ty)] for 15 min, during drying at 45 degrees C. Samples were subsequently evaluated by microbiological, chemical and sensory analyses. Microbiological analyses indicated that the initial total microbial counts of samples treated with EW (-)/EW (+), 1% (Cv+Ty) or EW (-)/EW (+)/1% (Cv+Ty) were significantly (p< or =0.05) reduced, compared with the control sample. Treatment with EW (-)/EW (+)/1% (Cv+Ty) gave the strongest overall inhibition of microbial growth when compared to all of the other treatments. The volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) value of samples treated with EW (-)/EW (+)/1% (Cv+Ty) was kept at low level (18.46+/-0.45) until the end of drying period (5 days), compared with control samples (40.33+/-0.58). Treatment with EW (-)/EW (+)/1% (Cv+Ty) during drying significantly reduced the peroxide values (PV) and thiobarbituric acid values (TBA). Sensory evaluation indicated that there were significant differences (p< or =0.05) in the color, odor, taste, flavor and texture, on the end of the 5-day drying period between samples treated with EW (-)/EW (+)/1% (Cv+Ty), as compared to all of the other treatments. We conclude that treatment with EW (-)/EW (+)/1% (Cv+Ty) had stronger antimicrobial and antioxidant effects than all of the other treatments on carp fillets during drying, and could be a good alternative to artificial preservatives in food industry.     

10 micrometer-scale SPM local oxidation lithography

10 micrometer-scale scanning probe microscopy (SPM) local oxidation lithography was performed on Si. In order to realize large-scale oxidation, an SPM tip with a contact length of 15 microm was prepared by focused-ion-beam (FIB) etching. The oxidation was carried out in contact mode operation with the contact force ranging from 0.1 to 2.1 microN. The applied bias voltage was 50 V, and scanning speed was varied from 10 to 200 microm/s. The scan length was 15 microm for one cycle. The influence of contact force on the large-scale oxidation was investigated. At high contact force, the Si oxide with good size uniformity was obtained even with high scanning speed. The SPM tip with larger contact length may increase the spatial dimensions of the water meniscus between the SPM tip and sample surface, resulting in the larger dimensions of the fabricated oxide. Furthermore, the throughput of large-scale oxidation reached about 10(3) microm2/s by controlling the scanning speed and contact force of the SPM tip. It is suggested that SPM local oxidation can be upscaled by using a SPM tip with large contact length.     

Nanoindentation Creep Behavior of Nanocomposite Sn-Ag-Cu Solders

High-density, ultrasmall-pitch electronic applications require miniaturized solder bumps with improved thermomechanical performance. In addition, novel techniques which are able to precisely characterize these solder bumps are needed. One approach to meeting both of these requirements is to make use of recently developed nanocomposite solders with enhanced creep resistance, and to characterize these solders using a nanoindentation technique. In the present study, the creep behavior of ceria-reinforced nanocomposite solder foils fabricated by the accumulative roll-bonding process was characterized using a depth-sensing nanoindentation technique. It was found that the creep resistance of the composites increased with increasing volume fraction of CeO₂ reinforcement, and it was deduced that the creep deformation of this nanocomposite proceeded by deformation of the matrix, with the role of the reinforcement being to increase the creep resistance by reducing the effective stress acting on the matrix. The values of the creep exponent suggested that the dominant creep deformation mechanisms involved were diffusion creep and grain boundary sliding.     

Cancer chemopreventive ability of conjugated linolenic acids

Conjugated fatty acids (CFA) have received increased interest because of their beneficial effects on human health, including preventing cancer development. Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) are such CFA, and have been reviewed extensively for their multiple biological activities. In contrast to other types of CFAs including CLA that are found at low concentrations (less than 1%) in natural products, conjugated linolenic acids (CLN) are the only CFAs that occur in higher quantities in natural products. Some plant seeds contain a considerably high concentration of CLN (30 to 70 wt% lipid). Our research group has screened CLN from different plant seed oils to determine their cancer chemopreventive ability. This review describes the physiological functions of CLN isomers that occur in certain plant seeds. CLN are able to induce apoptosis through decrease of Bcl-2 protein in certain human cancer cell lines, increase expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ, and up-regulate gene expression of p53. Findings in our preclinical animal studies have indicated that feeding with CLN resulted in inhibition of colorectal tumorigenesis through modulation of apoptosis and expression of PPARγ and p53. In this review, we summarize chemopreventive efficacy of CLN against cancer development, especially colorectal cancer.     

Chemical and nutritional characteristics of brown seaweed lipids: A review

Several brown seaweeds show high total lipids (TL) contents, ranging from 10 to 20 wt.% per dry weight. The main lipid class is glycoglycerolipids (GL), which are rich in 18:4n?3, 20:5n?3 and 20:4n?6. Brown seaweed TL also contains fucoxanthin as a key functional compound. Despite the high levels of 18:4n?3, 20:5n?3 and 20:4n?6, brown seaweed lipids are stable to oxidation. Their high oxidative stability is partly related to the presence of these polyunsaturated fatty acids in their GL forms. Brown seaweed lipids show anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects, which are mainly due to the up-regulatory effect of fucoxanthin on energy expenditure in abdominal white adipose tissue and glucose utilization in muscle.     

High luminance YAG:Ce nanoparticles fabricated from urea added aqueous precursor by flame process

High luminance Y₃Al₅O₁₂:Ce³⁺ (YAG:Ce) nanoparticles were prepared from urea-added nitrate aqueous precursor by flame-assisted spray pyrolysis (FASP). The addition of urea into nitrate precursor plays an important role in YAG:Ce nanoparticle formation and in improving its optical performance. The decomposition and combustion of urea in the flame zone provides additional heat to the particles, which coupled with the evolution of large volumes of gasses, contributes to nanoparticle formation. The as-prepared nanoparticles are hexagonal YAlO₃, that are nearly spherical, rough on the surface and dense—and they can be converted to YAG:Ce after being annealed at 1200 °C for 4 h. The heat-treated particles are single crystalline, smooth in surface and dense with an average size around 50 nm. The optimum cerium-doping concentration of YAG:Ce nanoparticles is 4.0 at.%, which exhibits quantum efficiency of 45.0%. This quantum efficiency is comparable with that of YAG:Ce nanoparticles produced from other processes. The efficient emission of YAG:Ce nanoparticles also originates from a relatively good distribution of Ce ions incorporated into the host material of YAG as evidenced from the elemental mapping analysis.     

Synthesis of nanocrystalline GaN from Ga2O3 nanoparticles derived from salt-assisted spray pyrolysis

Gallium nitride (GaN) nanoparticles were successfully produced from nano-sized gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) particles under a flow of ammonia gas. The gallium oxide nanoparticles were prepared by salt-assisted spray pyrolysis (SASP). Highly crystalline Ga₂O₃ nanoparticles with an average diameter of approximately 10 nm were obtained at various temperatures when a flux salt (LiCl, 5 mol/l) was added to the precursor solution. The effects of the crystallinity of the Ga₂O₃ particles and nitridation time on transformation to GaN were characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning/transmission electron microscopy. Highly crystalline GaN nanoparticles with a mean size of 23.4 nm and a geometric standard deviation of 1.68 nm were obtained when Ga₂O₃ nanoparticles with relatively low crystallinity were used as the starting material. The resulting GaN nanoparticles showed a photoluminescence peak at 364 nm under UV excitation at 254 nm.     

Reconstructing spatio-temporal activities of neural sources usingan MEG vector beamformer technique

We have developed a method suitable for reconstructing spatio-temporal activities of neural sources by using magnetoencephalogram (MEG) data. The method extends the adaptive beamformer technique originally proposed by Borgiotti and Kaplan to incorporate the vector beamformer formulation in which a set of three weight vectors are used to detect the source activity in three orthogonal directions. The weight vectors of the vector-extended version of the Borgiotti-Kaplan beamformer are then projected onto the signal subspace of the measurement covariance matrix to obtain the final form of the proposed beamformer's weight vectors. Our numerical experiments show that both spatial resolution and output signal-to-noise ratio of the proposed beamformer are significantly higher than those of the minimum-variance-based vector beamformer used in previous investigations. We also applied the proposed beamformer to two sets of auditory-evoked MEG data, and the results clearly demonstrated the method's capability of reconstructing spatio-temporal activities of neural sources.