Phase transformation and interface segregation behavior in Si3N4 ceramics sintered with La2O3–Lu2O3 mixed additive

Microstructure and mechanical property of silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) ceramic are strongly dependent on the selection of sintering additives. When rare‐earth (RE) oxide is used as the sintering additive, segregation of RE ions at interface between Si₃N₄ grain and intergranular glassy film (IGF) is believed to play a critical role. Although the ionic radius of RE ion is known to be an empirical parameter to modify the mechanical property, the correlation between the segregated ions and their ionic radii is still under controversy. In order to address this issue, (i) rate of α‐β phase transformation and (ii) segregation behavior at the interface were studied for Si₃N₄ ceramics sintered using mixture of La₂O₃ and Lu₂O₃ as additives in this study. Specimens of Lu content 30% and higher exhibited lower activation energies for the α‐β phase transformation as compared with those of Lu content 20% and lower. In terms of the segregation behavior, La was preferably segregated at one site and Lu at the other site along β‐Si₃N₄/IGF interface in the specimens of Lu content 30% and higher. It is understood from these results that Lu segregation site should be more closely related with grain growth.     

Spontaneous hydrolytic degradability of copolyesters having tetrahydropyran rings in their backbones

Homo- and copolyesters, containing 2,5-linked tetrahydropyran rings in their backbones, were prepared by cationic ring-opening polymerization of bicyclic lactones, 2,6-dioxabicyclo [2.2.2] octan-3-one ( 1 ), and its 4-methoxy-carbonyl and 4-methoxy-carbonyl and 4-benzyloxycarbonyl derivatives ( 3 and 4 ). Copolyesters, having pendant carboxyl groups, were derived from the copolymers containing 4 as one of the comonomers by the catalytic hydrogenolysis of the pendant benzyloxy–carbonyl groups. Copolyesters, containing both 2,5-linked and 2,6-linked tetrahydropyran rings in the main chains, were obtained by the copolymerization of 1 with 6,8-dioxabicyclo [3.2.1] octan-7-one ( 13 ), which is a structural isomer of 1 . Spontaneous hydrolytic degradability of these polyesters was investigated in a phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.5) at 27°C. The degradability of the polyesters markedly depended on the molecular structure: hydrophobic pendant groups retarded the hydrolytic degradation, whereas hydrophilic pendant groups accelerated it. In particular, a small amount of pendant carboxyl groups significantly enhanced the hydrolytic degradability of the copolyesters from 1 . Polyesters, containing 2,6-linked tetrahydropyran rings in their backbones, underwent hydrolytic degradation more readily than those entirely consisting of 2,5-linked tetrahydropyran rings. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Improved polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) production in transgenic tobacco by enhancing translation efficiency of bacterial PHB biosynthetic genes

Polyhydroxybutyrate [P(3HB)] was produced in the transgenic tobacco harboring the genes encoding acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (PhaB) and polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase (PhaC) from Ralstonia eutropha (Cupriavidus necator) with optimized codon usage for expression in tobacco. P(3HB) contents in the transformants (0.2mg/g dry cell weight in average) harboring the codon-optimized phaB gene was twofold higher than the control transformants harboring the wild-type phaB gene. The immunodetection revealed an increased production of PhaB in leaves, indicating that the enhanced expression of PhaB was effective to increase P(3HB) production in tobacco. In contrast, codon-optimization of the phaC gene exhibited no apparent effect on P(3HB) production. This result suggests that the efficiency of PhaB-catalyzed reaction contributed to the flux toward P(3HB) biosynthesis in tobacco leaves.     

Investigation of VFT surges propagated into transformer and overvoltages applied to winding

Investigations were conducted on the VFT (Very Fast Transient) surges that propagate into a 500‐kV transformer. The disconnector restriking surge and ground fault surged were discussed. It was regarded that a large part of the surge voltage was applied just at the entrance of the transformer winding for the VFT surges. Thus, an equivalent circuit that models the windings was used for the analysis. The overvoltages that appear between the first winding sections at the entrance of the transformer were computed. The following was established. (1) The overvoltage between the first winding sections becomes greater when the magnitude of the voltage change at the transformer terminal is larger. The overvoltage between the first winding sections is not affected by the magnitude of the transformer terminal voltage. (2) For the disconnectors that are not connected directly to the transformer, the voltage change at the transformer terminal is not so large. (3) In the case of a ground fault at the GIS near the transformer, the voltage change at the transformer terminal is the same as that for a disconnector directly connected to the transformer. (4) In actual GIS, the disconnector that is connected directly to the transformer is not usually used. In this situation, the overvoltages that threaten the transformer insulation will not be generated by the restriking of the disconnectors. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 146(2): 20–26, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10225     

Increased serum levels of monosialo-alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma and other malignancies

Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) from cord blood and from patients with hepatitis, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, gastrointestinal tumors and yolk sac tumor was analyzed by extended agarose gel electrophoresis coupled with our sensitive detection method of antibody-affinity blotting. AFP was separated into AFP-A, AFP-B and AFP-C from the anode to the cathode, corresponding to disialo-, monosialo- and asialo-AFP, respectively, as revealed by the results of neuraminidase digestion of serum AFP. AFP-Af, which migrated ahead of AFP-A as band or leading smear and varied widely in intensity, was eliminated in calculating the proportions of other band intensities. Disialo-AFP was the major component and monosialo-AFP the minor one in benign conditions, the latter being 4.2 +/- 6.0% in chronic hepatitis and 9.0 +/- 8.9% in cirrhosis. Monosialo-AFP in hepatocellular carcinoma was increased significantly, the proportion being 29.9 +/- 11.2%. AFP in other malignancies was further characterized by the appearance of asialo-AFP.     

Fabrication of amorphous bulk and multi-phase ceramics by melting method in the HfO2-Al2O3-Gd2O3-Eu2O3system

Ceramics have generally been fabricated from powders by shape forming & sintering methods except for glasses and glass ceramics. Glasses and glass ceramics can be fabricated by melting methods. The melting method has not only higher productivity but also higher shape forming ability than powder processes via forming & sintering methods. Thus we have reinvestigated melting methods in binary and ternary oxides systems to fabricate amorphous bulk ceramics and bulk nano composites. We have successfully fabricated amorphous phases by simple melt solidification methods in ternary eutectic melts in the HfO₂-Al₂O₃-Gd₂O₃system. The present study demonstrates the formation of the amorphous phases in quaternary systems HfO₂-Al₂O₃-Gd₂O₃-Eu₂O₃. Furthermore, we have also succeeded to fabricate nano-structured bulk ceramics, which consisted of constituent oxide grains with 20–100 nm in size, by post annealing of the amorphous phase.     

A 16-Mbit DRAM with a relaxed sense-amplifier-pitch open-bit-linearchitecture

A 16-Mb dynamic RAM has been designed and fabricated using 0.5-μm CMOS technology with double-level metallization. It uses a novel trench-type surrounding high-capacitance cell (SCC) that measures only 3.3-μm² in cell size with a 63-fF storage capacitance. A novel relaxed sense-amplifier-pitch (RSAP) open-bit-line architecture used on the DRAM achieves a high-density memory cell array, while maintaining a large enough layout pitch for the sense amplifier. These concepts allow the small chip that measures 5.4×17.38 (93.85) mm² to be mounted in a 300-mil dual-in-line package with 65-ns RAS access time and 35-ns column address access time     

Microwave absorption and transmission associated with high-frequency waves in metals

We calculate the absorption and transmission signals due to the ordinary mode (jH ₀ ) high-frequency wave (HFW) propagating in a slab of metal perpendicular to the static field H ₀ which is applied parallel to the slab surfaces. We find that if we neglect the current which is due to electrons reflected by the surface, the absorption maxima for the antisymmetric excitation occur when the conditionL=n,n=1,2,..., is satisfied, as predicted before ( is the wave vector of HFW). The calculated line shapes are in fairly good agreement with experimentally observed ones for both absorption and transmission cases. But the signal magnitudes of the present calculation appear to be one order of magnitude smaller than the observed ones. From this we conclude that there is a mechanism which enhances the excitation of HFW. We also find the reason for the difficulties of observing the Kaner-Skobov mode and suggest possible improvements.Part of the work was carried out while the author was at Institut Max von Laue-Paul Langevin, Garching, West Germany.