Electron emission suppression from hydrogen-terminated n-type diamond

By total photoelectron yield spectroscopy (TPYS), we have found a thermal instability of a negative electron affinity in hydrogen-terminated n-type diamond films, which has never been observed for intrinsic and p-type diamond films. Experimentally, we have succeeded in detecting surface defect states and surface valence band extended states on the same n-type sample after soft annealing from 100 to 300 °C, which allowed us to evaluate the surface Fermi level and surface band bending using phosphorus doping parameters. Our results show that “quasi-positive” electron affinity prevents electron emission from an n-type diamond film even though its surface has a negative electron affinity.     

Mixed Alkali Effect in Noncoventional Alkali Gallotitanate Glasses

The mixed alkali effect on electrical conductivity, that is, the reduction of conductivity due to alkali mixing, was observed in Na₂O–K₂O–Ga₂O₃–TiO₂ glasses, which are nonconventional in the sense that glass-forming oxides defined by Zachariasen are not involved. The magnitude of the reduction in conductivity of the present glasses due to alkali mixing was similar to that of corresponding mixed alkali silicate and phosphate glasses. The activation energy for electrical conduction showed a maximum around the composition Na/(Na + K) = 0.5, where the conductivity was at a minimum.     

Existence of an iron-oxidizing bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans resistant to organomercurial compounds

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans MON-1 which is highly resistant to Hg2+ could grow in a ferrous sulfate medium (pH 2.5) with 0.1 microM p-chloromercuribenzoic acid (PCMB) with a lag time of 2 d. In contrast, A. ferrooxidans AP19-3 which is sensitive to Hg2+ did not grow in the medium. Nine strains of A. ferrooxidans, including seven strains of the American Type Culture Collection grew in the medium with a lag time ranging from 5 to 12 d. The resting cells of MON-1, which has NADPH-dependent mercuric reductase activity, could volatilize Hg0 when incubated in acidic water (pH 3.0) containing 0.1 microM PCMB. However, the resting cells of AP19-3, which has a similar level of NADPH-dependent mercuric reductase activity compared with MON-1, did not volatilize Hg0 from the reaction mixture with 0.1 microM PCMB. The activity level of the 11 strains of A. ferrooxidans to volatilize Hg0 from PCMB corresponded well with the level of growth inhibition by PCMB observed in the growth experiments. The resting cells of MON-1 volatilized Hg0 from phenylmercury acetate (PMA) and methylmercury chloride (MMC) as well as PCMB. The cytosol prepared from MON-1 could volatilize Hg0 from PCMB (0.015 nmol mg(-1) h(-1)), PMA (0.33 nmol mg(-1) h(-1)) and MMC (0.005 nmol mg(-1) h(-1)) in the presence of NADPH and beta-mercaptoethanol.     

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Rock Block Stability Using a Remotely Positioned Laser Doppler Vibrometer

This paper examines a new method of evaluating the stability of a rock slope using a remotely positioned LDV （laser Doppler vibrometer）. We conducted an experiment using physical models and performed a numerical analysis to evaluate the new method. The physical model included： （l） concrete blocks on an artificial soil slope with two block sizes and three slopes; （2） concrete blocks bonded to the concrete base with different contact area. The LDV measurements agreed with conventional seismometer measurements. The dominant frequency of the blocks varied with the stability and dominant frequency and the amplitude varied with the block size. The numerical model was used to examine a concrete block adhered to a concrete base with different contact areas. The dominant frequency of the blocks determined using the numerical model agreed with those obtained from the physical experiments. We analyzed different sized blocks to examine the scaling effects. The dominant frequency of the blocks was inversely related to the block size. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of LDV for evaluating the stability of rock slopes and cleared the block size scaling effects.     

Fracture analysis of ceramic femoral head in hip arthroplasty based on microdamage monitoring using acoustic emission

Damage accumulation during compression testing of the alumina femoral head used in hip arthroplasty was monitored using an acoustic emission (AE) technique. Because a number of mechanical noises due to friction disturbed the AE measurement during the test using a conventional testing configuration standardized in ISO 7206, the testing apparatus was modified so that AE signals from microdamage were detected successfully. During the compression tests of femoral heads, a rapid increase in AE energy was observed before the final fracture. Dye penetration observations demonstrated that the rapid increase in AE energy correlated with the formation of maincrack which leads to the final fracture. The stress distribution in femoral heads was analyzed using finite element analysis (FEA). The critical stress for maincrack formation and the final fracture strength were determined. Finally, fundamental insights into the development of a technique for assessing the long-term reliability of ceramic femoral heads were obtained.     

The allenic carotenoid fucoxanthin, a novel marine nutraceutical from brown seaweeds

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are pathologies with rapidly growing prevalence throughout the world. A few molecular targets offer the most hope for anti-obesity and anti-diabetic therapeutics. One of the keys to success will be the induction of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in abdominal white adipose tissue (WAT) and the regulation of cytokine secretions from both abdominal adipose cells and macrophage cells infiltrated into adipose tissue. Anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects of fucoxanthin, a characteristic carotenoid found in brown seaweeds, have been reported. Nutrigenomic studies reveal that fucoxanthin induces UCP1 in abdominal WAT mitochondria, leading to the oxidation of fatty acids and heat production in WAT. Fucoxanthin improves insulin resistance and decreases blood glucose levels through the regulation of cytokine secretions from WAT. The key structure of carotenoids for the expression of anti-obesity effect is suggested to be the carotenoid end of the polyene chromophore, which contains an allenic bond and two hydroxyl groups.     

Hall effect of photocurrent in CVD diamond film

Transient Hall voltage of photocurrent excited by the modulated light with photon energies near bandgap is observed in undoped and B-doped CVD diamond films. It is seen that photo-carriers created in the films by the band-to-band excitation higher than 5.5 eV are almost holes and the contribution of electrons is about 7% in the undoped film and 0% in the B-doped film. Photo-carriers excited by the light with photon energies 4.7 to 5.5 eV, in which the step-like absorption band is observed, are holes, which agrees with the result of the temperature dependence of the photocurrent excited by the light with the photon energies.     

Bioactivity of Na2O-CaO-SiO2 Glasses

Bioactivities of Na₂O-CaO-SiO₂ glasses were evaluated by examining the formation of bonelike apatite, which is responsible for their bonding to living bone, on their surfaces in a simulated body fluid, using thin-film X-ray diffraction and Fourier-transform infrared reflection spectroscopy. It was found that glasses in a wide compositional region in the P₂O₅-free Na₂O-CaO-SiO₂ system can show bioactivity, as those in the P₂O₅-containing system. The rate of apatite formation on the surfaces of glasses varied largely with the composition of the glasses. Under a constant SiO₂ content of 50 mol%, a glass containing equimole of Na₂O and CaO showed the highest rate of the apatite formation. Variation in the rate of apatite formation with the glass composition corresponded well with the rate of increase in the degree of the supersaturation of the simulated body fluid with respect to the apatite due to dissolution of sodium and calcium ions from the glasses. Little difference was observed in the rates of ion dissolution and of apatite formation between P₂O₅-containing Bioglass 45S5-type and a corresponding P₂O₅-free Na₂O-CaO-SiO₂ glass. It is believed that P₂O_s-free Na₂O-CaO-SiO₂ glasses also show bioactivity as high as that of Bioglass.     

Comparative longitudinal structural analyses of the growth and decline of multiple intellectual abilities over the life span.

Latent growth curve techniques and longitudinal data are used to examine predictions from the theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence (Gf-Gc theory; J. L. Horn & R. B. Cattell, 1966, 1967). The data examined are from a sample (N?–?1,200) measured on the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised (WJ-R). The longitudinal structural equation models used are based on latent growth models of age using two-occasion "accelerated" data (e.g., J. J. McArdle & R. Q. Bell, 2000; J. J. McArdle & R. W. Woodcock, 1997). Nonlinear mixed-effects growth models based on a dual exponential rate yield a reasonable fit to all life span cognitive data. These results suggest that most broad cognitive functions fit a generalized curve that rises and falls. Novel multilevel models directly comparing growth curves show that broad fluid reasoning (Gf) and acculturated crystallized knowledge (Gc) have different growth patterns. In all comparisons, any model of cognitive age changes with only a single g factor yields an overly simplistic view of growth and change over age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)