Encapsulation of radioactive metals inside multilayered polyhedral shells of carbon as a barrier to radionuclide release

A carbon nanoencapsulate has a polyhedral outer shell of nested, concentric layers of carbon. The shell defines an internal cavity where a metal is encapsulated. Although the rare-earth carbides readily hydrolyze in moist air, the carbides in these carbon shells did not degrade after exposure to air for considerable lengths of time. This means that the carbide particle is physically enclosed within the carbon cavity completely, and the cavity protects it perfectly against attack of water molecules. Considering intrinsic chemical stability of carbon under oxygen free condition, this structure may be a perfect barrier to extremely long-term release of radionuclides. Because encapsulation of LaC₂ within carbon nanoparticles increased drastically from by-product to major product, it would be possible to find the optimized condition that complete encapsulation is achieved. Intrinsic stability of carbon and carbon coated waste nanoparticles may provide an improved barrier to radionuclide release by groundwater.     

Ice clouds and Asian dust studied with lidar measurements of particle extinction-to-backscatter ratio, particle depolarization, and water-vapor mixing ratio over Tsukuba

The tropospheric particle extinction-to-backscatter ratio, the depolarization ratio, and the water-vapor mixing ratio were measured by use of a Raman lidar and a polarization lidar during the Asian dust seasons in 2001 and 2002 in Tsukuba, Japan. The apparent (not corrected for multiple-scattering effects) extinction-to-backscatter ratios (Sp) showed a dependence on the relative humidity with respect to ice (RHice) obtained from the lidar-derived water-vapor mixing ratio and radiosonde-derived temperature; they were mostly higher than 30 sr in dry air (RHice < 50%), whereas they were mostly lower than 30 sr in ice-supersaturated air (RHice > or = 100%), where the apparent extinction coefficients were larger than 0.036 km(-1). Both regions showed mean particle depolarization ratios of 20%-22%. Comparisons with theoretical calculations and the previous experiments suggest that the observed dependence of Sp on RHice is attributed to the difference in the predominant particles: nonspherical aerosols (mainly the Asian dust) in dry air and cloud particles in ice-supersaturated air.     

Physicochemical factors for discriminating between soluble and membrane proteins: hydrophobicity of helical segments and protein length

The average hydrophobicity of a polypeptide segment is consideredto be the most important factor in the formation of transmembranehelices, and the partitioning of the most hydrophobic (MH) segmentinto the alternative nonpolar environment, a membrane or hydrophobiccore of a globular protein may determine the type of proteinproduced. In order to elucidate the importance of the MH segmentin determining which of the two types of protein results froma given amino acid sequence, we statistically studied the characteristicsof MH helices, longer than 19 residues in length, in 97 membraneproteins whose three-dimensional structure or topology is known,as well as 397 soluble proteins selected from the Protein DataBank. The average hydrophobicity of MH helices in membrane proteinshad a characteristic relationship with the length of the protein.All MH helices in membrane proteins that were longer than 500residues had a hydrophobicity greater than 1.75 (Kyte and Doolittlescale), while the MH helices in membrane proteins smaller than100 residues could be as hydrophilic as 0.1. The possibilityof developing a method to discriminate membrane proteins fromsoluble ones, based on the effect of size on the type of proteinproduced, is discussed.     

Estimating the imageability of words by mining visual characteristics from crawled image data

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Natural Language Processing and multi-modal analyses are key elements in many applications. However, the semantic gap is an everlasting problem, leading to...     

Imaging the passage of a single hydrocarbon chain through a nanopore

Molecular transport through nanoscale pores in films, membranes and wall structures is of fundamental importance in a number of physical, chemical and biological processes. However, there is a lack of experimental methods that can obtain information on the structure and orientation of the molecules as they pass through the pore, and their interactions with the pore during passage. Imaging with a transmission electron microscope is a powerful method for studying structural changes in single molecules as they move and for imaging molecules confined inside carbon nanotubes. Here, we report that such imaging can be used to observe the structure and orientation of a hydrocarbon chain as it passes through nanoscale defects in the walls of a single-walled carbon nanotube to the vacuum outside, and also to study the interactions between the chain and the nanopore. Based on experiments at 293 K and 4 K we conclude that the major energy source for the molecular motions observed at 4 K is the electron beam used for the imaging.     

Structure and properties of highly stereoregular isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) and syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) blends treated with supercritical CO2

The structure and properties of highly stereoregular isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (it-PMMA) and syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylate) (st-PMMA) blends with crystalline stereocomplex formed by supercritical CO₂ treatment at temperatures ranging from 35 to 130 °C were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements. The melting temperature, T_m, and the heat of fusion, ΔH_m, had maximum values at about 200 °C and 25 J/g, respectively. The degree of crystallinity evaluated by WAXD ranged in value from 32 to 38%. The fringed-micellar stereocomplex crystallites were formed in case of treatment temperatures below 90 °C, and the orderliness perpendicular to the helix axis of the fringed-micellar crystallites was considered to be increased with increasing treatment temperature. In case of treatment temperature of 130 °C, the fringed-micellar crystallites and the lamellar crystallites with high orderliness parallel to the helix axis coupled with the perpendicular orderliness were formed, and the respective double endothermic peaks, T_m¹ and T_m³, were observed in DSC due to the melting of the two kinds of stereocomplex crystallites. The it-PMMA/st-PMMA blends containing the fringed-micellar crystallites maintained high values of storage modulus, E′, up to higher temperature compared with the amorphous blends. The E′ of the blend treated with CO₂ at 130 °C decreased twice at temperatures corresponding to T_m¹ and T_m³.     

提高富勒烯针状晶体拉伸强度的研究（英文）

采用液-液界面沉积法,以甲苯和丙胺为溶剂,合成C_(60)-C_(70)富勒烯针状晶体固溶体。使用聚焦离子束扫描电子显微镜来测试其力学性能,C_(60)-C_(70)富勒烯针状晶体的拉伸强度为58～71 MPa,断裂韧性为1.1～1.3 MPa m~(1/2)。C_(60)-C_(70)富勒烯针状晶体拉伸强度显著高于C_(60)富勒烯针状晶体,其比强度略大于铝。通过富勒烯分子溶剂化可能改变C_(60)-C_(70)富勒烯针状晶体的塑性和断裂韧性。C_(60)-C_(70)富勒烯针状晶体有望用作电极、锚杆及电动给料机线等材料。     

N@C60 as a structural probe for fullerene nanomaterials

C₆₀ nanowhiskers (NWs) containing N@C₆₀ were prepared by a liquid–liquid interfacial precipitation method. The ESR spectra of N@C₆₀/C₆₀ NWs showed broader lines than N@C₆₀/C₆₀ powder indicating that N@C₆₀ acts as a non-destructive structural probe for fullerene nanomaterials.