Superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic micropatterning on a carbon nanotube film using a laser plasma-type hyperthermal atom beam facility

Superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic micropatterning on a carbon nanotube (CNT) film has been achieved using a laser plasma-type hyperthermal atom beam facility, which produces a small amount of damage and generates a highly anisotropic beam. Fluorination and oxidation on CNT films by exposure to fluorine-atom and oxygen-atom beams caused superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces, respectively, while maintaining the as-grown fibrous forms of the CNT films. Micropatterned oxidation on CNT films without using photoresists created superhydrophilic microdots and microchannels.     

Model analysis on dispersion characteristics of fine particles in Newtonian molten polymer

In this paper, a model estimating the time-dependent distribution of cluster size consisting of fine particles in Newtonian molten polymer was proposed. The present model for agglomerative suspension was developed based on Usui’s thixotropy model, derived by taking the balance between shear breakup, shear coagulation and Brownian coagulation processes. The analysis was applied to the experimental results for silica/(ethylene methyl-meta acrylate copolymer) suspensions. The time variations of cluster size distributions, of viscosities and of the mean numbers of particles in a cluster were calculated and the results were compared with experimental results for the cases of shear rates from 0.2 to 10 s^?1 when the solid volume fraction was set at 0.15. From the results, it was found that the present model can estimated the steady state values of the slurry viscosity and the mean particle numbers in a cluster as well as Usui’s original model. However, the model could not sufficiently express the time variation of rheological characteristics due to the over-estimation of the contribution of shear rate when the cluster size is small.     

Lipid components,fatty acid distributions of triacylglycerols and phospholipids in rice brans

Endogenous tocochromanols in extracted lipids from rice brans of the five cultivars were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography, and were investigated in relation to the fatty acid (FA) distribution of triacylglycerols (TAG) and phospholipids (PL). The dominant tocols were α-tocopherol and γ-tocotrienol, followed by α-tocotrienol and with much smaller amounts of γ-tocopherol and δ-tocotrienol. The lipids of these rice brans comprised mainly TAG (80.6–86.0 wt.%), free FA (4.2–9.0 wt.%), and phospholipids (5.5–6.7 wt.%), whilst other components were also detected in minor proportions (0.2–2.1 wt.%). The PL components included phosphatidyl choline (31.8–46.8 wt.%), phosphatidyl ethanolamine (25.0–38.9 wt.%) and phosphatidyl inositol (20.2–23.2 wt.%). Comparison of these different cultivars showed, with a few exceptions, no significant differences (P > 0.05) in FA distribution. FA distribution of TAG among the five cultivars was evident in the rice brans: unsaturated FA were predominantly concentrated at the sn-2 position and saturated FA primarily occupying the sn-1 or sn-3 position. These results suggest that the tocopherol content, lipid component, and FA distribution in rice brans are not dependent on the cultivation areas during the growing season.     

Antifungal activity of the fermentation product of herbs by lactic acid bacteria against tinea

The fermentation product of herbs by lactic acid bacteria (FHL), in which Enterococcus faecalis TH10 predominated, was assayed for antifungal activity against tinea. The antifungal activity of FHL was as high as that of a synthetic fungicide. Autoclaving FHL did not reduce its antifungal activity, whereas neutralizing it did. The results suggested that nonproteinaceous compounds or organic acids in FHL could inhibit the growth of the dermatophyte tinea under low-pH conditions, and that malonic acid and acetic acid could have especially high antifungal activity against tinea.     

Behavior of Buried Flexible Pipe under High Fills and Design Implications

The existing design guidelines for buried flexible pipes are limited to depth up to 10?m. The increasing use of difficult terrains for infrastructure, landfills, and residential and industrial developments has prompted installation of drainage pipelines under 20–30?m high fills. This paper presents the behavior of an instrumented flexible pipe buried under a 47.1?m deep fill. For filling above 20?m, the measured vertical stress above the pipe exhibited a concave distribution, corresponding to 90 and 110% of the average vertical pressure at the center and edges of the pipe, respectively. The measured results suggest that a triangular lateral pressure distribution can lead to overly conservative and uneconomical results for high fills while Spangler’s analysis is unconservative. Based on the measured results, a revised vertical and lateral earth pressure diagram was proposed for the design of flexible pipe under high fills >20?m. This paper proposes closed-form analyses for estimating the moments and displacements of the pipe subjected to high fill earth pressures. These closed-form solutions agree well with the measured pipe displacements and strains.     

Studies on dry spinning. I. Fundamental equations

One difficulty in analyzing the state of filament in the dry spinning process is that in the boundary conditions required to solve the equations of mass, momentum and energy which are derived on the consideration of balance with respect to infinitesimally small element are not given a priori. The equations which include these boundary conditions in themselves are derived by considering mass, momentum, and energy balances with respect to the entire cross section of filament. These additional macroscopic equations are simplified to a great extent by assuming the flat velocity profile through the cross section of filament. Besides, in the steady state, these macroscopic equations are modified to give the equations of average solvent content, spinning tension, cross-sectional area, and average temperature. When the spinning conditions are given and the physical constants are measured for a given polymer and solvent system, it becomes possible to calculate the state of filament by solving these microscopic and macroscopic equations simultaneously without resorting to actual spinning.     

Chromosome translocation induced by the insertion of the URA blaster into the major repeat sequence (MRS) in Candida albicans

Electrophoretic karyotype studies have shown that clinical isolates of Candida albicans have extensive chromosome length polymorphisms. Chromosome translocation is one of the causes of karyotypic variation. Chromosome translocation events have been shown to occur very frequently at or near the major repeat sequence (MRS) on chromosomes. The MRS consists of the repeated sequences RB2, RPS and HOK, and the repeated sequences are considered to be the template for recombination. To investigate which element of the MRS is important for chromosome translocation, we constructed three cassettes, each containing a URA blaster and sequences homologous to one of the repeats, for insertion into the MRS region on the chromosomes. The ura3 strain STN22u2, which shows a stable, standard karyotype, was transformed with each construct. Insertion events with each cassette occurred at almost all chromosomes. Insertion into the RB2 repeat, but not into the RPS repeat, was accompanied by chromosome translocation in some transformants: chromosome translocations between chromosomes R and 7 and chromosomes 1 and 7 were found, as well as deletions of 7A and 7C from chromosome 7. We conclude that the insertion at the RB2 region may initiate chromosome translocation in C. albicans.     

Diversity control in ant colony optimization

Optimization inspired by cooperative food retrieval in ants has been unexpectedly successful and has been known as ant colony optimization (ACO) in recent years. One of the most important factors to improve the performance of the ACO algorithms is the complex trade-off between intensification and diversification. This article investigates the effects of controlling the diversity by adopting a simple mechanism for random selection in ACO. The results of computer experiments have shown that it can generate better solutions stably for the traveling salesmen problem than AS_rank which is known as one of the newest and best ACO algorithms by utilizing two types of diversity.     

Roasting effects on the distribution of tocopherols and phospholipids within each structural part and section of soybeans

To clarify the effects of microwave roasting on the distribution of tocopherols and FA of phospholipids within soybeans, whole soybeans (Glycine max) were treated by microwave and further evaluted as compared to a raw sample. Tocopherol homologs, measured using HPLC, and phospholipid profiles, quantified with GC, were determined in the seed coat, the embryonic axis, and selections of cotyledons separated from three cultivars. The tocopherols were predominantly detected in the axis, followed by the cotyledons, and then very little in the coat. As much as 25% of the individual tocopherols originally present in the coat were lost at 12 min of roasting, whereas <25% was lost in the cotyledons and the axis after 20 min of roasting. The greatest rate of phospholipid loss (P<0.05) was observed in PE, followed by PC and PI, and their changing patterns were more pronounced in the coat than in the cotyledons or the axis. Thus, tocopherol content and phospholipid profiles change with microwave roasting according to tissue.