Phase behavior in liquid crystallization for diblock copolymers consisting of rubbery amorphous and side-chain liquid crystalline components

Phase behavior in liquid crystallization was studied for a series of liquid crystalline (LC) diblock copolymers consisting of rubbery amorphous and side-chain liquid crystalline components, poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PBA) and poly[11-(4′-cyanophenyl-4″-phenoxy)undecyl acrylate] (PLC), respectively, using a time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques, DSC and polarized optical microscopy (POM). The block copolymers used had three kinds of copolymer compositions, 44, 20 and 15 wt% of PLC compositions (BLC44, BLC20 and BLC15, respectively). BLC44 showed a smectic liquid crystalline structure. In the process of liquid crystallization for BLC44, the SAXS peak due to the microphase separation structure existing before liquid crystallization was changed continuously to be at a smaller angular side, and at almost the same time, a new peak appeared at a further smaller angular side and developed. The former peak disappeared with the development of liquid crystallization. The behavior of these SAXS peaks suggests that the microphase separation structure was changed discretely at the transition from isotropic to smectic and that two phases coexist in the early stage of the liquid crystallization. The coexistence of two peaks in the early stage of the liquid crystallization corresponded to the POM observation. In the isotropization process, coexistence of two phases was not observed. For BLC20 exhibiting a cylindrical structure in both isotropic and liquid crystalline states, the liquid crystalline structure was not smectic but probably nematic, and the spacing was changed continuously in liquid crystallization. No liquid crystallization was observed in SAXS, POM and DSC for BLC15. The orientation of smectic layers within lamellar domains was investigated using 2D-SAXS images. The smectic layer was aligned perpendicularly to the lamellar interface.     

Myths, misconceptions, and missed opportunity: Single-case designs and counseling psychology.

The status of single-case designs in counseling psychology is reviewed. Also, reasons for the underuse of these designs by counseling psychologists are discussed. Finally, potential contributions (1) in research linking process and outcome, (2) in group counseling, (3) across a variety of theoretical approaches, and (4) to evaluation and quality assurance in clinical practice are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DNA sequence dependent binding modes of bis(vinylpyridinium)benzene derivatives

The DNA binding selectivity of new dicationic ligands based on the bis(vinylpyridinium)benzene unit has been investigated by means of UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. From the experimental results it is concluded that these extended pi-electron bridged viologens have relatively high affinity to AT base pair sequences whereas the binding to GC pairs is about 10 times lower, and binding affinity depends on minor variation in the ligand structure. Linear type ligand exhibits two binding mode interaction, intercalation at high dye concentration which undergoes switching to groove binding at low ligand concentration.     

Construction of the plasmid PMEX8-HAK1 and random site-directed mutagenesis of human cytosolic adenylate kinase

The pMEX8-hAK1 vector was devised from the pAK plasmid (Kim J. H. et al., 1989, Protein Engineering 5, 379-386), which could directly express human adenylate kinase proteins without recombination and its single strand DNA could be withdrawn with helper phage for random site-directed mutagenesis. The conserved key residues at Lys21, Lys27, and Thr39 were engineered to obtain mutants for kinetic analysis. Three mutants were obtained as K21P, K27R, and T39S, their specific activities were strikingly reduced compared to those of wild type adenylate kinase. This pMEX8-hAK1 will be a powerful tool for site-directed mutagenesis to detect the substrate-enzyme interaction for human adenylate kinase including various other enzymes.     

Cytomegalovirus disease accompanied by severe hypoproteinemia in a patient with adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma

A 62-year-old Japanese man complained of fever, general fatigue, anorexia and watery diarrhea during remission of adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma. Laboratory examinations showed severe hypoproteinemia (2.9 g/dl). However, neither intestinal lesions associated with ATL nor findings suggesting protein losing gastroenteropathy were observed. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigen detection assay using peripheral blood leukocytes revealed that he had an active CMV infection with hemophagocytic syndrome. Treatment with ganciclovir and methylprednisolone led to an improvement of hypoproteinemia. CMV disease and associated hemophagocytic syndrome should be considered as a cause of hypoproteinemia in an immunocompromised host.     

The 100 G capturing robot - too fast to see

This paper discusses the capturing robot with the maximum acceleration of 100 G in design specification. We aim find the combination of the arm with a mass of 0.1 kg and the spring capable of producing the initial compressed force of 100 N, in order to achieve the 100 G. To reduce the total capturing time, we propose an arm/gripper coupling mechanism where the spring energy initially accumulated in the arm is transferred to the kinetic energy of the arm and continuously to the kinetic energy for closing the gripper at the capturing point without any time lag. The experimental results show the maximum acceleration of 91 G and the capturing time of 25 ms were achieved. Experiments on capturing a dropping ball were also executed with the assistance of the 1 ms-vision.     

High resolution solid state 13C n.m.r. of butadiene grafted polypropylene

¹H dipolar decoupled ¹³C n.m.r. experiments with the aid of the magic angle spinning technique have been used to determine the graft content and the isomer content of the polybutadiene grafts in a graft copolymer with isotactic polypropylene.     

新型轮胎气密层材料的优点及工艺改进

无内胎子午线轮胎最常见的损坏是带束层边部脱层,而此损坏可能导致较大的振动,最终导致带束层和胎面剥离。要阻止带束层边部脱层,无内胎子午线轮胎必须经受住以下4种不利因素的综合作用:     

Formation of phase structure and crystallization behavior in blends containing polystyrene–polyethylene block copolymers

The microphase separation structure in the molten state and the structure formation in crystallization from such ordered melt were investigated for the blends of polystyrene–polyethylene block copolymers (SE) with polystyrene homopolymer (PS) and polyethylene homopolymer (PE) and for the blends consisting of two kinds of SE with different copolymer compositions from each other, using synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering techniques (SAXS). The copolymer compositions of SE block copolymers employed were 0.34, 0.58 and 0.73 wt. fraction of PE, and their melt morphologies were cylindrical, lamellar and lamellar, respectively. Macrophase separation or the morphology change in the melt occurred depending on the molecular weight and the blend composition, as reported so far. In crystallization from such macrophase-separated and microphase-separated melts, the melt morphology was completely kept for all the blends. Crystallization behavior was also investigated for the blends. The crystallization within the spherical and cylindrical domains surrounded by glassy PS was not observed for SE/PS blends. In the crystallization from the macrophase-separated melt, two exothermal peaks were observed in the DSC measurements, while a single peak was observed for other blends. For the blends with PS, the degree of crystallinity was depressed and the apparent activation energy of crystallization was high, compared to those for the corresponding neat SE. For SE/PE and SE/SE blends, those were changed depending on the blend composition.