Dye-sensitized solar cell based on nanocrystalline TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> with 3–10 nm in diameter

Nanocrystalline TiO₂ with 3–10 nm in diameter was prepared with a surfactant-template method. Dye-sensitized solar cells were assembled using the prepared nanocrystalline TiO₂ with large surface area and high crystallinity, which achieved significant higher Jsc when compared to cells fabricated with bigger particles of 25 nm in diameter. In the cells with nanocrystalline TiO₂, the sintering temperature drastically affected the conversion performance of the cells.     

表面活性剂辅助水热法中TiO2的形状控制

By hydrolysing titanium isopropoxide in a long hydrocarbon chain surfactant-containing solution, TiO2 fine particles with a diversity of well-defined morphologies was synthesized in this study by a hydrothermal route. The structural change during the formation process was monitored by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. TiO2 with various morphologies such as particle, sheet, rod, tube and flower-like shape was obtained by carefully controlling the preparation conditions. The experimental results show that the pH value is crucial for shape control of the produced TiO2 because it can change the charge state of the surfactant in the solution and the adsorption potential of the surfactant on the TiO2 surface. The shape evolvement of anatase TiO2 was elucidated by quenching the reaction at different stage and the formation mechanism of different shaped TiO2 was suggested.     

Life cycle inventory for base metal ingots production in Japan including mining and mineral processing processes by cost estimating system database

CO2 emission levels of copper and zinc mines from which Japanese smelters import ore concentrates into Japan, were estimated by using a database called MLED. Eleven copper mines selected from data availability of mine site covered 84% of the total imported concentrates. Adding inventories of sea transportation and smelting processes to mine development process, total CO2 emission level for copper and zinc ingots produced in Japan were calculated. The results show that the emission share of mining and mineral processing processes for each mine is indicated around 30%-70% of total emission for ingots, which implies the importance of including the mining activities to the inventory of upper stream products.     

1,6-Anhydro-3,4-O-Fururylidene-β-D-Galactopyranose, A New Furfurylidene Derivative Formed from Lactose During Pyrolysis

A new fufurylidene derivative which tastes bitter was separated from lactose heated at 200°C for 20 hr by ethyl acetate extraction and preparative thin-layer chromatography. The compound was identified as the trans isomer of 1,6-anhydro-3,4-O-furfurylidene-β-D-galactopyranose by ultraviolet, infrared, mass and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. The compound and its cis isomer were identified in the reaction mixture of furfural and levogalactosan heated at 175°C for 2 hr with nitric acid.     

High pressure synthesis of HgBa2Ca2Cu3Oy without a precursor

Abstracts are not published in this journal     

Gel-Forming Characteristics and Rheological Properties of Kefiran

A water soluble polysaccharide “kefiran” produced by Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens was examined for its gel-forming and rheological properties. Kefiran (3%) formed gel in the presence of ethanol (4–10%). The gel strength in 8% ethanol was comparable to that of 3% gelatin gel in water. Addition of casein (3%) increased gel strength 1.5–2.0 fold. The unique properties of kefiran may make it a useful food additive.     

Structural and mechanistic roles of three consecutive Pro residues of porcine NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase for the binding of β-NADH

Well-conserved three consecutive Pro residues (Pro247–249) in the NADH-binding subdomain of NADH-cytochrome b₅ reductase were proposed to form a basal part of the NADH-binding site. To investigate the structural and mechanistic roles of these residues, we expressed site-directed mutants for a soluble domain of the porcine enzyme where each of the residues was replaced with either Ala or Leu residue, respectively, using a heterologous expression system in Escherichia coli. Six mutants (P247A, P247L, P248A, P248L, P249A, and P249L) were produced as a fusion protein containing a 6×His-tag sequence at the NH₂-terminus and were purified to homogeneity with a stoichiometric amount of bound FAD. Mutations were each confirmed for the purified proteins by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Steady-state kinetic analyses for NADH:ferricyanide reductase and NADH:cytochrome b₅ reductase acitivities were conducted for all the mutants. Substitution of Pro247 with Leu residue was found to significantly decrease k_cat with slight increase in K_m for the physiological electron donor NADH. However, K_m values for the electron acceptors (both cytochrome b₅ and ferricyanide) of P247L were found to be decreased significantly. Such changes were not observed for P247A or other four mutants. These results suggested that Pro247 among the three consecutive Pro residues has the most important role for the formation of a binding site cavity and that only a slight change in the side-chain volume at this residue from Ala to Leu residue affected the electron transfer reaction from NADH and, further, on the recognition of ferricytochrome b₅.     

Interaction of modified tail-anchored proteins with liposomes: effect of extensions of hydrophilic segment at the COOH-terminus of holo-cytochromes b₅

A group of membrane proteins having a single COOH-terminal hydrophobic domain capable of post-translational insertion into lipid bilayer is known as tail-anchored (TA) proteins. To clarify the insertion mechanism of the TA-domain of human cytochrome b(5) (Hcytb5) into ER membranes, we produced and purified various membrane-bound forms of Hcytb5 with their heme b-bound, in which various truncated forms of NH(2)-terminal bovine opsin sequence were appended at the COOH-terminus of the native form. We analyzed the integration of the TA-domains of these forms onto protein-free liposomes. The integration occurred efficiently even in the presence of a small amount of sodium cholate and, once incorporated, such proteoliposomes were very stable. The mode of the integration was further analyzed by treatment of the proteoliposomes with trypsin either on the extravesicular side or on the luminal side. LC-MS analyses of the trypsin digests obtained from the proteoliposomes indicated that most of the C-terminal hydrophilic segment of the native Hcytb5 were exposed towards the lumen of the vesicles and, further, a significant part of the population of the extended C-terminal hydrophilic segments of the modified Hcytb5 were exposed in the lumen as well, suggesting efficient translocation ability of the TA-domain without any assistance from other protein factors. Present results opened a route for the use of the C-terminal TA-domain as a convenient tool for the transport of proteins as well as short peptides into artificial liposomes.     

Chaos and bifurcation in numerical computation by the Runge-Kutta method

In this paper the chaotic phenomenon and bifurcation in numerical computation using the Runge-Kutta method to discretize the nonlinear differential equation are investigated. It is shown that the bifurcation condition in the discretized equation is given by the eigenvalue of the jacobian matrix of the original differential equation. As an example, the bifurcation and chaos when a second-order nonlinear equation is discretized by the Runge-Kutta method is investigated and it is shown that the scenario from a stable fixed point to chaos when the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method is applied is quite different from those of the second-order Runge-Kutta method