Increased Lipid Synthesis and Decreased β-Oxidation in the Liver of SHR/NDmcr-cp (cp/cp) Rats, an Animal Model of Metabolic Syndrome

SHR/NDmcr-cp (cp/cp) rats (SHR/NDcp) are an animal model of metabolic syndrome. A previous study of ours revealed drastic increases in the mass of palmitic (16:0), oleic (18:1n-9), palmitoleic (16:1n-7), cis-vaccenic (18:1n-7) and 5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acids in the liver of SHR/NDcp. However, detailed information on the class of lipid accumulated and the mechanism responsible for the overproduction of the accumulated lipid in the liver was not obtained. This study aimed to characterize the class of lipid accumulated and to explore the mechanism underlying the lipid accumulation in the liver of SHR/NDcp, in comparison with SHR/NDmcr-cp (+/+) (lean hypertensive littermates of SHR/NDcp) and Wistar Kyoto rats. In the liver of SHR/NDcp, de novo synthesis of fatty acids (16:0, 18:1n-9 and 16:1n-7) and triacylglycerol (TAG) synthesis were up-regulated and fatty acid β-oxidation was down-regulated. These perturbations of lipid metabolism caused fat accumulation in hepatocytes and accumulation of TAG, which were enriched with 16:0, 18:1n-9 and 16:1n-7, in the liver of SHR/NDcp. On the other hand, no changes were found in hepatic contents of diacylglycerol and unesterified fatty acid (FFA); among FFA, there were no differences in the hepatic concentrations of unesterified 16:0 and stearic acid between SHR/NDcp and two other groups of rats. Moreover, little change was brought about in the expression of genes responsive to endoplasmic reticulum stress in the liver of SHR/NDcp. These results may reinforce the pathophysiological role of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 and fatty acid elongase 6 in the liver of SHR/NDcp.     

Polarization dependent optical absorption properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes and methodology for the evaluation of their morphology

Polarization dependence of the optical absorption properties of SWNTs is presented and investigated in detail for the energy range 0.5-6 eV. We found that the absorption peaks in the UV region at approximately 4.5 and 5.25 eV exhibit remarkable and different dependencies on the morphology of the SWNT film, or equivalently, on the incident light polarization relative to the SWNT axis. An analytical pathway to evaluate the physical degree of SWNT alignment for a vertically aligned SWNT film is developed with both transition dipoles parallel and perpendicular to the SWNT axis taken into account. This analytical procedure, coupled with polarized optical absorption measurements performed on the vertically aligned SWNT film grown on substrates, leads to the determination of the bare optical absorption cross-section of SWNTs for both parallel and perpendicular to SWNT axis. In the end, the proposed methodology for evaluating the SWNT film morphology is applied to investigate the transient change of the degree of alignment in the growth process of our vertically aligned SWNT films.     

Ion-conductive properties of mesoporous silica-filled composite polymer electrolytes

We have synthesized mesoporous silica (MPSi) as a novel type of inorganic filler for polyether-based electrolytes and have characterized the effect of addition on ionic conduction. Both poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and PMEO composites filled with MPSi showed higher ionic conductivity than the original and the composites filled with particle silica (pSiO₂). It was considered that the increase is caused by the difference in the surface area between MPSi and pSiO₂. In the PEO composites, the addition of MPSi gave rise to the reduction of crystal PEO and crystalline complex domains. The glass transition temperature of the PMEO composites increased with the addition of the MPSi, in spite that the conductivity increased with increasing the filler contents. It has been suggested that the Lewis acid-base interactions between ions, ether chains and filler surface strongly affect on the ionic conduction in the composite electrolytes.     

Microstructure and stress corrosion cracking of the fusion boundary region in an alloy 182-A533B low alloy steel dissimilar weld joint

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in the fusion boundary (FB) region of an Alloy 182-A533B low alloy steel (LAS) dissimilar weld joint in high temperature water doped with sulfate was studied following a microstructure characterization of the FB region. The microstructure characterization suggested the type-II and type-I boundaries in the dilution zone (DZ) adjacent to the FB had lower resistance to SCC growth than the FB. Crack propagating perpendicular to the FB in the DZ was observed to be blunted by pitting at the FB, followed by the reactivation from the pitting by localized oxidation along the grain boundary in LAS.     

Flow fields with vortex in a small semi-open axial fan

In order to clarify the effect of tip clearance (TC) size on fan performance and the flow field at rotor outlet in a small semi-open axial fan, the experimental investigation was carried out. The tip diameter of test fan rotor was 180mm and test TC sizes were 1mm (TC=1mm) and 4mm (TC=4mm). Fan characteristics tests were carried out for two cases of TC size and three-dimensional velocity fields at rotor outlet were measured using a single slant hot-wire probe at four flow-rate conditions. As a result, it was found that the pressure — flow-rate characteristics curves for two cases showed almost the same tendency. However, the ensemble averaged velocity profiles along radial measurement stations of TC=4mm largely changed compared with that of TC=1mm in cases of small flow-rate condition. From the phase-locked averaging results, it was also found that the vortex existed in the rotor outlet flow field of high flow-rate condition for each TC case. Compared with the vortices for TC=1mm and TC=4mm, the vortex for TC=4mm was stronger than that for TC=1mm.     

Understanding consumer heterogeneity: A business intelligence application of neural networks

This paper describes a business intelligence application of neural networks in analyzing consumer heterogeneity in the context of eating-out behavior in Taiwan. We apply a neural network rule extraction algorithm which automatically groups the consumers into identifiable segments according to their socio-demographic information. Within each of these segments, the consumers are distinguished between those who eat-out frequently from those who do not based on their psychological traits and eat-out considerations. The data set for this study has been collected through a survey of 800 Taiwanese consumers. Demographic information such as gender, age and income were recorded. In addition, information about their psychological traits and eating-out considerations that might influence the frequency of eating-out were obtained. The results of our data analysis show that the neural network rule extraction algorithm is able to find distinct consumer segments and predict the consumers within each segment with good accuracy.     

Heat capacity of metallic uranium and thorium from 80 to 1000 k

The heat capacities of metallic uranium and thorium from 80 to 1000 K have been determined by laser-flash calorimetry. The results on uranium agree very well with those in the literature over the temperature range investigated. The results on thorium are several percent lower than the heat-capacity values hitherto reported, while the enthalpy data at high temperatures in the literature are in good agreement with the present results. Shomate's analysis showed that the present results are the most consistent through the temperature range from 80 to 1000 K. On this, a revised table of thermodynamic functions of thorium from 80 to 1000 K is presented. The excess heat capacity on thorium has been found to be not appreciable up to 1000 K, in contrast with the large excess heat capacity above 300 K for uranium.     

Characteristics of a nitrogen-jet system in KUR-ISOL

The basic characteristics of a N₂-jet system coupled with a surface-ionization type ion source have been investigated at KUR-ISOL. The yields of transported activities and ionized ions have been measured under various conditions for both the He- and N₂-jets. The effects of N₂ gas upon the ionization and skimmer efficiency have been investigated. It was found that N₂ gas has almost no effect upon the ionization efficiency, but causes poorer skimmer efficiency than He gas owing to the large opening angle of aerosol particles at the outlet of a capillary. A mixture of He and N₂ gases was also tested.