Neutron-absorption deformable boron-rich ferrous alloys

The structure of the eutectic-type iron-boron alloys (up to 3.5 wt% B) crystallized at various velocities has been studied. It was established that due to temperature increase a coarse structure of the eutectic Fe+Fe₂B transforms into a fine dendritic structure. High-temperature annealing leads to the destruction of columnar construction of the eutectic phase and boride dendrites subsequently transform into the inclusions of spherical shape. These processes are more active at high velocities leading to decrease of strength properties and increase of elasticity of the alloys. Such treatment makes possible hot repartition of the ingots from the alloys Fe+3%B through their forging so that the ingots can be rolled into 3-5 mm thick platelets. The obtained product may serve as a material applicable for the preparation of neutron-absorption protective constructions.     

Complete thermal-unfolding profiles of oxidized and reduced cytochromes C

The complete thermal-unfolding profiles of both oxidized and reduced forms of cytochrome c551 (PA) from mesophilic Pseudomonas aeruginosa and cytochrome c552 (HT) from thermophilic Hydrogenobacter thermophilus were obtained by the newly developed pressure-proof cell compartment installed in a circular dichroic spectrometer, which facilitates protein thermal-unfolding experiments up to 180 degrees C. The thermodynamic cycle, which relates protein stability and redox function, indicated that the redox potentials of PA and HT in the native state are regulated by the stability of the oxidized proteins rather than by that of the reduced ones.     

Sparse non-smooth atomic decomposition of Morrey spaces

Recently, a non-smooth atomic decomposition in Morrey spaces was obtained by the author, Iida and Tanaka. This note refines the above existing result using the notion of sparse families. As an application, we prove the equivalence between fractional integral operators and fractional maximal operators under the Morrey norm.     

Cleavage of a P=P Double Bond Mediated by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes

The reaction of the bulky diphosphenes (Rind)P=P(Rind) ( 1 ; Rind=1,1,3,3,5,5,7,7-octa-R-substituted s-hydrindacen-4-yl) with two molecules of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC; 1,3,4,5-tetramethylimidazol-2-ylidene) resulted in the quantitative formation of the NHC-bound phosphinidenes NHC→P(Rind) ( 2 ), along with the cleavage of the P=P double bond. The reaction times are dependent on the steric size of the Rind groups (11 days for 2 a (R=Et) and 2 h for 2 b (R=Et, Me) at room temperature). The mechanism for the double bond-breaking is proposed to proceed via the formation of the NHC-coordinated, highly polarized diphospehenes 3 as an intermediate. Approach of a second NHC to 3 induces P−P bond cleavage and P−C bond formation, which proceeds through a transition state with a large negative Gibbs energy change to afford the two molecules of 2 , thus being the rate-determining step of the overall reaction with the activation barriers of 80.4 for 2 a and 29.1 kJ mol⁻¹ for 2 b .     

Trajectory of the spectral/structural rearrangements for photo-oxidative reaction of neat ketoprofen and its cyclodextrin complex

Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Macrocyclic Chemistry - Ketoprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used as mohrus tape which causes unwanted photosensitivity due to UV irradiation. In...     

Selective fabrication of n‐ and p‐type SnO films without doping

Undoped n‐ and p‐type tin monoxide (SnO) films have been selectively fabricated by pulsed laser deposition with a Sn target and careful control of oxygen partial pressure. The films are epitaxially grown in optimal growth conditions on yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrates with out‐of‐plane and in‐plane orientation relationships of (001)_SnO//(001)_YSZ and [110]_SnO//[100]_YSZ, respectively. Both Seebeck and Hall measurements show consistent results on the carrier types of the films. The electron Hall mobility is approximately 11 cm²/Vs at room temperature and the carrier activation energy is 0.14 eV for the n‐type film. The growth at increased oxygen partial pressure yields p‐type films, demonstrating the selective fabrication of both n‐ and p‐type SnO films without doping. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Chosen ciphertext secure keyed-homomorphic public-key cryptosystems

In homomorphic encryption schemes, anyone can perform homomorphic operations, and therefore, it is difficult to manage when, where and by whom they are performed. In addition, the property that anyone can “freely” perform the operation inevitably means that ciphertexts are malleable, and it is well-known that adaptive chosen ciphertext (CCA) security and the homomorphic property can never be achieved simultaneously. In this paper, we show that CCA security and the homomorphic property can be simultaneously handled in situations that the user(s) who can perform homomorphic operations on encrypted data should be controlled/limited, and propose a new concept of homomorphic public-key encryption, which we call keyed-homomorphic public-key encryption (KH-PKE). By introducing a secret key for homomorphic operations, we can control who is allowed to perform the homomorphic operation. To construct KH-PKE schemes, we introduce a new concept, transitional universal property, and present a practical KH-PKE scheme with multiplicative homomorphic operations from the decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assumption. For \(\ell \)-bit security, our DDH-based KH-PKE scheme yields only \(\ell \)-bit longer ciphertext size than that of the Cramer–Shoup PKE scheme. Finally, we consider an identity-based analogue of KH-PKE, called keyed-homomorphic identity-based encryption and give its concrete construction from the Gentry IBE scheme.     

Eicosapentaenoic acid release from the red alga Pachymeniopsis lanceolata by enzymatic degradation

Forty-eight species of seaweeds from Japanese waters were screened for the valuable polyunsaturated fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The eight species that contained the highest levels of these compounds were analyzed in detail. Of all species tested the red alga Pachymeniopsis lanceolata contained the highest EPA concentration, and it was present as both the free and bound forms. EPA constituted 38.7% of total fatty acids, and polar lipids were the main constituent of the total lipids in P. lanceolata. EPA was obtained from the marine algae P. lanceolata by enzymatic hydrolysis of the total lipids extract using phospholipase A₂(PLA₂). The release of EPA reached a plateau after 10 min of enzymatic treatment. These results suggest that P. lanceolata is a useful natural source of EPA and that PLA₂ treatment is a convenient method for obtaining EPA from the red alga.