Analysis of labor productivity using large-scale data of firm’s financial statements

We investigated labor productivity distribution by analyzing large-scale financial statement data consisting of listed and unlisted Japanese firms to clarify the characteristics of the Japanese labor market. Both high and low productivity sides of the labor productivity distribution follows the power-law distribution. Large inequality in the low productivity side was observed only for the manufacturing sectors in Japan fiscal year (JFY) 1999 and observed for both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors in JFY 2002. The decline in the Japanese GDP in JFY 1999 and JFY 2002 were coincided with the large inequality in the low productivity side of the distribution. A lower peak was found for all non-manufacturing sectors. This might be the origin of the low productivity of the non-manufacturing sectors reported in recent economic studies.     

Mobility performance of a rigid wheel in low gravity environments

To investigate influences of gravity on mobility of wheeled rovers for future lunar/planetary exploration missions, model experiments of a soil-wheel system were performed on an aircraft during variable gravity maneuvers. The experimental set-up consists of a single rigid wheel and a soil bed with two kinds of dry sands: lunar soil simulant and Toyoura sand. The experimental results revealed that a lower gravity environment yields higher wheel slippage in variable gravity conditions. In addition to the partial gravity experiments, the same experiments with variable wheel load levels were also performed on ground (1 g conditions). The on-ground experiments produced opposite results to those obtained in the partial gravity experiments, where a lower wheel load yields lower slippage in a constant gravity environment. In low gravity environments, fluidity (flowability) of soil increases due to the confining stress reduction in the soil, while the effect of the wheel load on sinkage decreases. As a result, both of these effects are canceled out, and gravity seemingly has no effect on the wheel sinkage. In the meantime, in addition to the effect of wheel load reduction, the increase of the soil flowability lessens the shear resistance to the wheel rotation, as a result of which the wheel is unable to hold sufficient traction in low gravity environments. This suggests that the mobility of the wheel is governed concurrently by two mechanisms: the bearing characteristics to the wheel load, and the shearing characteristics to the wheel rotation. It appears that, in low gravity, the wheel mobility deteriorates due to the relative decrease in the driving force while the wheel sinkage remains constant. Thus, it can be concluded that the lunar and/or Mars’ gravity environments will be unfavorable in terms of the mobility performance of wheels as compared to the earth’s gravity condition.     

Recent progress of high-power negative ion beam development for fusion plasma heating

A negative-ion-based neutral beam injector (N-NBI) has been constructed for JT-60U. The N-NBI is designed to inject 500 keV, 10 MW neutral beams using two ion sources, each producing a 500 keV, 22 A D⁻ ion beam. In the preliminary experiment using one ion source, a D⁻ ion beam of 13.5 A has been successfully accelerated with an energy of 400 keV (5.4 MW) for 0.12 s at an operating pressure of 0.22 Pa. This is the highest D⁻ beam current and power in the world. Co-extracted electron current was effectively suppressed to the ratio of Ie/I_D⁻ < 1. The highest energy beam of 460 keV, 2.4 A, 0.44 s has also been obtained. To realize 1 MeV class NBI system for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), demonstration of ampere class negative ion beam acceleration up to 1 MeV is an important mile stone. To achieve the mile stone, a prototype accelerator and a 1 MV, 1 A test facility called MeV Test Facility (MTF) were constructed. Up to now, an H⁻ ion beam was accelerated up to the energy of 805 keV with an acceleration drain current of 150 mA for 1 s in a five stage electrostatic multi-aperture accelerator.     

A temperature study on critical micellization concentration (CMC), solubility, and degree of counterion binding of α-sulfonatomyristic acid methyl ester in water by electroconductivity measurements

 For a sodium salt of α-sulfonatomyristic acid methyl ester (14SFNa), one of the α-SFMe series surfactants, critical micellization concentration (CMC), solubility and degree of counterion binding (β) were determined by means of electrocon-ductivity measurements at different temperatures (at every 5 °C) ranging from 15 to 50 °C. The phase diagram of 14SFNa in pure water was constructed from the CMC- and solubility-temperature data, in which the Krafft temperature (critical solution temperature) was found around 0 °C. The changes in the Gibbs energy, ΔG ⁰ _m, enthalpy, ΔH ⁰ _m, and entropy, ΔS ⁰ _m, upon micelle formation as a function of temperature were evaluated taking βvalues into calculation. Received: 28 August 1996 Accepted: 5 November 1996     

Practical Synthesis of 2-Iodosobenzoic Acid (IBA) without Contamination by Hazardous 2-Iodoxybenzoic Acid (IBX) under Mild Conditions

We report a convenient and practical method for the preparation of nonexplosive cyclic hypervalent iodine(III) oxidants as efficient organocatalysts and reagents for various reactions using Oxone^® in aqueous solution under mild conditions at room temperature. The thus obtained 2-iodosobenzoic acids (IBAs) could be used as precursors of other cyclic organoiodine(III) derivatives by the solvolytic derivatization of the hydroxy group under mild conditions of 80 °C or lower temperature. These sequential procedures are highly reliable to selectively afford cyclic hypervalent iodine compounds in excellent yields without contamination by hazardous pentavalent iodine(III) compound.     

Quantification of Intracellular Thiols by HPLC-Fluorescence Detection

Biothiols, such as cysteine and glutathione, play important roles in various intracellular reactions represented by the redox equilibrium against oxidative stress. In this study, a method for intracellular thiol quantification using HPLC-fluorescence detection was developed. Thiols were derivatized with a thiol-specific fluorescence derivatization reagent, viz. ammonium 7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole-4-sulfonate (SBD-F), followed by reversed-phase separation on an InertSustain AQ-C18 column. Six different SBD-thiols (homocysteine, cysteine, cysteinylglycine, γ-glutamylcysteine, glutathione, and N-acetylcysteine as an internal standard) were separated within 30 min using a citric buffer (pH 3.0)/MeOH mobile phase. The calibration curves of all the SBD-thiols had strong linearity (R² > 0.999). Using this developed method, the thiol concentrations of human chronic myelogenous leukemia K562 cell samples were found to be 5.5–153 pmol/1 × 10⁶ cells. The time-dependent effect of a thiol scavenger, viz. N-ethyl maleimide, on intracellular thiol concentrations was also quantified. This method is useful for elucidating the role of intracellular sulfur metabolism.     

An indication of magnetic-field-induced superconductivity in a bifunctional layered organic conductor,kappa-(BETS)(2)FeBr(4)

Hybrid systems consisting of the conducting layers of organic donor molecules and the magnetic layers of inorganic anions have been focused on as possible bifunctional materials, whose conducting properties can be tuned by controlling the magnetic state of the anion layers on an application of magnetic field. Here we report the magnetoresistance of the antiferromagnetic organic superconductor, kappa-(BETS)2FeBr4 [BETS = bis(ethylenedithio)tetraselenafulvalene], consisting of the two-dimensional superconducting layers of the BETS semications and the insulating layers of the FeBr4- anions. Due to the metamagnetic nature of the Fe3+ spin system, characteristic resistivity decrease was observed just below the antiferromagnetic superconductor-to-ferromagnetic metal transition at 1.6 T. Furthermore, an indication of the onsets of the magnetic-field-induced superconductivity was discovered around 12.5 T.     

Arylpyrrolyldiketone Boron Complexes Exhibiting Various Anion‐Binding Modes Based on Dynamic Conformation Changes

Arylpyrrolyldiketone boron complexes as anion‐responsive π‐electronic molecules were synthesized by Claisen condensations of acetylpyrrole and corresponding aryl esters. The synthesized π‐electronic molecules exhibited anion‐binding behavior with various binding modes including pyrrole‐inverted and non‐inverted [1+1]‐type anion complexes as well as [2+1]‐type complexes owing to the presence of only a single pyrrole ring. Furthermore, solid‐state ion‐pairing assemblies, comprising receptor–anion complexes and countercations, were constructed based on fairly planar [2+1]‐type complexes.     

Disulfide‐Unit Conjugation Enables Ultrafast Cytosolic Internalization of Antisense DNA and siRNA

Development of intracellular delivery methods for antisense DNA and siRNA is important. Previously reported methods using liposomes or receptor‐ligands take several hours or more to deliver oligonucleotides to the cytoplasm due to their retention in endosomes. Oligonucleotides modified with low molecular weight disulfide units at a terminus reach the cytoplasm 10 minutes after administration to cultured cells. This rapid cytoplasmic internalization of disulfide‐modified oligonucleotides suggests the existence of an uptake pathway other than endocytosis. Mechanistic analysis revealed that the modified oligonucleotides are efficiently internalized into the cytoplasm through disulfide exchange reactions with the thiol groups on the cellular surface. This approach solves several critical problems with the currently available methods for enhancing cellular uptake of oligonucleotides and may be an effective approach in the medicinal application of antisense DNA and siRNA.