Bioconversion of D-psicose to D-tagatose and D-talitol by Mucoraceae fungi

Rhizopus oryzae MYA-2483, which cannot utilize D-psicose as a sole source of carbon, converted D-psicose to two other compounds. These compounds were identified by NMR and IR as D-tagatose and D-talitol. In this study, we describe for the first time the bioconversion of D-psicose to D-tagatose. Various strains of Mucoraceae fungi, to which R. oryzae MYA-2483 belongs, exhibited conversion activity similar to that of R. oryzae MYA-2483. There is the possibility that a considerable number of fungi belonging to Mucoraceae possess such D-psicose conversion activity.     

Influence of electron beam welding parameters and metallurgical factors on intergranular liquation cracking susceptibility of cast alloy 718

The factors affecting intergranular liquation cracking susceptibility in electron beam welds were investigated for cast alloy 718. The materials used were as-received plates and heat-treated plates with three different levels of grain size. Liquation cracking susceptibility in HAZ was evaluated by a bead-on-plate test and a restraint/relaxation U-type hot cracking test. The penetrated shapes in the welds were classified into wine cup-like Type W and nail head-like Type N. For a given beam current, Type w and Type N were observed at the lower and higher welding speeds, respectively. Welding defects, i.e., underfills and microcracks were seen in the electron beam welds. Compared with Type W, the liquation cracking was more sensitive for the Type N bead cross sectional shape. Furthermore, it easily occurred at grain boundaries in Region II, i.e., very near the nail head necked part. According to the restraint/relaxation U-type hot cracking test, the liquation cracking susceptibility decreased with decreasing grain size or with homogenization heat treatment. These results suggested that the liquation cracking susceptibility in cast alloy 718 electron beam welds could be improved by using the Type W bead cross sectional shape, a decreasing the grain size and using appropriate heat treatment before welding.     

Model of physico-chemical effect on flow accelerated corrosion in power plant

Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) is caused by the accelerated dissolution of protective oxide film under the condition of high flow rate and has been one of the most important subjects in fossil and nuclear power plants. The dominant factors of FAC are water chemistry, material, and fluid dynamics. Understanding of the thinning mechanism is very important to estimate the quantitative effects of the dominant factors on FAC. In this study, a novel model of chemical effect on FAC under the steady-state condition was developed in consideration of the diffusion of soluble iron and chromium species, dissolved hydrogen, and dissolved oxygen. The formula to evaluate the critical concentration of dissolved oxygen for FAC suppression was derived. The present model reproduced qualitatively the effect of major environmental parameters on FAC rate. The model could explain the following facts. (1) The FAC rate shows a peak around 413 K. (2) The FAC rate decreases with an increase in Cr content. (3) The FAC rate decreases with an increase in pH. (4) The FAC rate decreases with an increase in dissolved oxygen concentration. (5) The maximum of critical dissolved oxygen concentration is observed around 353 K. (6) The critical dissolved oxygen concentration decreases with an increase in pH. We conclude that the diffusion of soluble species from the saturated layer under the steady-state condition well reproduces the unique FAC behavior with variation of water chemistry parameters.     

Visualizing Collective Attention Using Association Networks

The socialization of the Web changes the ways we behave both online and offline, leading to a novel emergent phenomenon called “collective attention” in which people’s attention is suddenly concentrated on a particular real-life event. Visualizing collective attention is fundamental to understand human behavior in the digital age. Here we propose “association networks” to visualize usage-based, term-association patterns in a large dataset of tweets (short text messages) during collective attention events. First, we train the word2vec model to obtain vector representations of terms (words) based on semantic similarities, and then construct association networks: given some terms as seeds, the associated terms are linked with each other using the trained word2vec model, and considering the resulting terms as new seeds, the same procedure is repeated. Using two sets of Twitter data—the 2011 Japan earthquake and the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup—we demonstrate how association networks visualize collective attention on these events. Provided the Japan earthquake dataset, the association networks that emerged from the most frequently used terms exhibit distinct network structure related to people’s attention during the earthquake, whereas one that emerged from emotion-related terms, such as great and terrible, shows a large connected cluster of negative terms and small clusters of positive terms. Furthermore, we compare association networks in different datasets, using the same seed terms. These results indicate the proposed method to be a useful tool for visualizing the implicit nature of collective attention that is otherwise invisible.     

Preparation of a mesoporous ceria–zirconia supported Ni–Fe catalyst for the high temperature water–gas shift reaction

A Ni–Fe/ceria–zirconia catalyst with ordered mesostructure was prepared by the hard-template method employing mesoporous silica (KIT-6) as a template to impart its highly ordered structure to the ceria–zirconia mixed oxide support. Catalytic activities of the Ni–Fe/CeO₂–ZrO₂ catalyst for the water–gas shift reaction were superior to those of a commercial Fe–Cr-based catalyst. The ordered structure of Ni–Fe/CeO₂–ZrO₂ catalyst became more stable compared to one prepared without zirconia due to structural stabilization of the mixed oxide by added zirconia in the framework. Alloying of Ni and Fe and enhanced mobility of lattice oxygen in the oxide support may promote its catalytic activity and selectivity for the water–gas shift reaction.     

TLR ligands of Lactobacillus sakei LK-117 isolated from seed mash for brewing sake are potent inducers of IL-12

Many studies have investigated the immunostimulatory effects of bacteria, such as the anti-allergic effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and LAB-fermented milk. Importantly, these anti-allergic effects have been observed for both viable and nonviable bacteria. However, there are no reported immunological effects of LAB isolated from kimoto, the traditional yeast starter culture used for brewing sake, which also involves spontaneous lactate fermentation. In this study, we determined whether the Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus sakei bacterial strains obtained from kimoto affected the production of interleukin-12 (IL-12), an inducer of the T-helper type-1 immune response. By incubating autoclaved bacteria with J774.1 macrophage-like cells, we found that L. sakei LK-117 induced a sustained increase in IL-12p40 production. The IL-12-inducing ability of LK-117 was unaffected by anti-TLR2 neutralization and was entirely inhibited when the LK-117 cells were treated with RNase. When LK-117 cells were treated with M-1, an N-acetylmuramidase, at varying concentrations and for different periods of time, the ability of the bacteria to induce IL-12 decreased quickly. Although an active fraction could be prepared by chromatography from the soluble products of enzymolysis, the fraction's induction ability was <2% of that of intact organisms, and induction ability disappeared completely upon anti-TLR2 neutralization after treating the active fraction with RNase. These results suggest that single-stranded RNA released from cells that were disrupted by autoclaving might act as a TLR ligand and provide a novel mechanism in which heat-killed LAB could be used to regulate immune activity.     

Tuning of tunnel resistance of nanogaps by field-emission-induced electromigration using current source mode

A newly investigated technique for the tuning of the tunnel resistance of nanogaps using electromigration method induced by a field emission current is presented to reduce the power consumption during the process. The method is called "activation" and is demonstrated with a current source. Planar-type initial nanogaps of Ni separated by 20-80 nm were defined on SiO2/Si substrates via electron-beam lithography and the lift-off process. Then, a bias current was applied to the initial nanogaps at room temperature, using a current source. The applied current was slowly ramped up until it reached the preset value. As a result, the process time of the current-source-based activation was 16 times shorter than activation using a voltage source. Furthermore, the tunnel resistance of the nanogaps was reduced from 100 T ohms to 70 M ohms by increasing preset current I(s) from 1 nA to 3.5 microA. Regarding the average power required for current-source-based activation, it can be successfully suppressed compared with that of voltage-source-based activation. These results imply that the current source directly and precisely tunes the field emission current passing through the nanogaps, and effectively causes the migration of atoms across the nanogaps, resulting in the successful control of the tunnel resistance of the nanogaps.     

Integration of single-electron transistors using field-emission-induced electromigration

A novel technique for the integration of planar-type single-electron transistors (SETs) composed of nanogaps is presented. This technique is based on the electromigration procedure, which is caused by a field emission current. The technique is called "activation." By applying the activation to the nanogaps, SETs can be easily obtained. Furthermore, the charging energy of the SETs can be controlled by adjusting the magnitude of the applied current during the activation process. The integration of two SETs was achieved by passing a field emission current through two series-connected initial nanogaps. The current-voltage (I(D)-V(D)) curves of the simultaneously activated devices exhibited clear electrical-current suppression at a low-bias voltage at 16 K, which is known as the Coulomb blockade. The Coulomb blockade voltage of each device was also obviously modulated by the gate voltage. In addition, the two SETs, which were integrated by the activation procedure, exhibited similar electrical properties, and their charging energy decreased uniformly with increasing the preset current during the activation. These results indicate that the activation procedure allows the simple and easy integration of planar-type SETs.     

Relationship Between Proteinase Activity During Malting and Malt Quality

Proteinase activity was investigated in malt from various barley lines. Results indicated that the total activity and the activity of each class of proteinase varied among the barley lines tested. Cysteine proteinase activity most closely correlated to the malting quality factors such as content of soluble nitrogen and Kolbach index, which shows the important role of cysteine proteinase in the degradation of storage protein in germinating barley. The zymogram pattern was examined by SDS‐PAGE in the pedigree ‘Hokuiku 27’. The results suggest that the activities of low molecular weight cysteine proteinase have a strong influence on the content of soluble nitrogen and Kolbach index in this pedigree.