After effects of57Co EC-decay and radiation damage in6Li(n,α)T reaction in carbonate and oxalate compounds

Chemical effects associated with⁶Li (n,α)T reaction in Lithium compounds were studied by observing a Mössbauer spectrum for the Mössbauer nuclides introduced in the lithium compounds. The large difference between the effects of lithium carbonate and oxalate was compared with the results obtained in the emission Mössbauer spectra of⁵⁷Co-labelled triscarbonatocobaltate(III) and trisoxalatocobaltate(III), in which the former shows much less reducing effect on the produced⁵⁷Fe species than the latter.     

Formation of 1,2-dioxolanes using Mn(III)-based reaction of various arylacetylenes with 2,4-pentanedione and related reaction

The manganese(III)-based aerobic oxidation of arylacetylenes with 2,4-pentanedione at ambient temperature unexpectedly gave the 1,2-dioxolane derivatives in moderate yields together with a small amount of the oxiranes. The 1,2-dioxolanes underwent silica gel-assisted contraction to quantitatively give the oxiranes. The reaction pathway for the formation of the 1,2-dioxolanes and the by-product was discussed.     

Swelling-induced Mechanochromism in Multinetwork Polymers

We report a novel and versatile approach to achieving swelling-induced mechanochemistry using a multinetwork (MN) strategy that enables polymer networks to repeatedly swell with monomers and solvents. The isotropic expansion of the first network (FN) provides sufficient force to drive the mechanochemical scission of a radical-based mechanophore, difluorenylsuccinonitrile (DFSN). Although prompt recombination generally occurs in such highly mobile environments, the resulting pink radicals are kinetically stabilized in the gels, probably due to limited diffusion in the extended polymer chains. Moreover, the DFSN embedded in the isotropically strained chain exhibits increased thermal reactivity, which can be reasonably explained by an entropic contribution of the FN to the dissociation. The utility of the MN polymers is demonstrated not only in terms of swelling-force-induced network modification, but also in the context of tunable reactivity of the dissociative unit through proper design of the hierarchical network architecture.     

High-Quality Protein Crystal Growth of Mouse Lipocalin-Type Prostaglandin D Synthase in Microgravity

Lipocalin-type prostaglandin (PG) D synthase (L-PGDS) catalyzes the isomerization of PGH(2) to PGD(2) and is involved in the regulation of pain and of nonrapid eye movement sleep and the differentiation of male genital organs and adipocytes, etc. L-PGDS is secreted into various body fluids and binds various lipophilic compounds with high affinities, acting also as an extracellular transporter. Mouse L-PGDS with a C65A mutation was previously crystallized with citrate or malonate as a precipitant, and the X-ray crystallographic structure was determined at 2.0 ? resolution. To obtain high-quality crystals, we tried, unsuccessfully, to crystallize the C65A mutant in microgravity under the same conditions used in the previous study. After further purifying the protein and changing the precipitant to polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8000, high-quality crystals were grown in microgravity. The precipitant solution was 40% (w/v) PEG 8000, 100 mM sodium chloride, and 100 mM HEPES-NaOH (pH 7.0). Crystals grew on board the International Space Station for 11 weeks in 2007, yielding single crystals of the wild-type L-PGDS and the C65A mutant, both of which diffracted at around 1.0 ? resolution. The crystal quality was markedly improved through the use of a high-viscosity precipitant solution in microgravity, in combination with the use of a highly purified protein.     

Analysis of Spectral Reflectance Using Normalization Method from Endoscopic Spectroscopy System

Objective assessment of gastrointestinal mucosal color is extremely important in the endoscopic diagnosis of digestive tract disease. In this paper, we propose a method to clarify the spectral characteristics of gastric and colon cancer. A large number of spectral reflectance data of mucous membrane are measured by the endoscopic spectroscopy system (ESS) in the National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan and the Department of Internal Medicine, Self-Defense Force Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. We assume that early cancer appears primarily in the spectral data of short wavelength, because it is usually present in a superficial cell where short wavelength light is scattered more strongly than long wavelength light. To identify the features in the short wavelength components, the spectral reflectance was divided by the reflectance of a long wavelength. We investigated the possibility of distinguishing early cancer from normal spectral data through statistical analysis, employing the projection axis as the mean difference between them. Early cancer and normal spectral data were projected on the projection axis, and the Student’s T-test was applied to evaluate the mean of the distribution between these data.     

Growth of 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA) crystals by the bridgman method

Organic single crystals of 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA) up to 3 mm in diameter and 20 mm in length have been successfully grown by the Bridgman method using the purified reagent by sublimation. The crystals are transparent and yellow in colour by controlling the growth conditions. In the spectra of yellow coloured crystals no absorption peak is observed until about 450 nm. Also, the crystals of MNA have the two cleavage planes (311 ) and (010).     

Modified Vonk's Method to Determine Crystallinity and Crystal Distortion in Polymers

Using a modified method developed from Vonk's method, detailed values of crystallinity and crystal disorder were obtained by wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). In Vonk's method, the crystallinity (w) is determined by extrapolation of the WAXD experimental curve back to zero scattering angle, while the distortion factor (k) is determined by the inclination of the experimental curve at zero scattering angle. In our new method, both w and k are determined at the same time by using the least squares method. In order to show the efficiency of our method, the new fitting procedure was applied to the experimental values of polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate as measured by Vonk, and the values of w and k determined by our new method were compared with those found by Vonk's method. The new fitting method has the advantage that it uses the whole experimental curve. Moreover, our modified Vonk's method enables us to discuss crystal distortions as arising from first-kind (thermal) disorder and second-kind (paracrystalline) disorder.     

Emission Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of57Fe atoms produced in57Co-labelled trinuclear cobalt-iron halogenoacetate complexes

Mixed-valence states of⁵⁷Fe atoms produced after EC-decay of⁵⁷Co in a series of trinuclear cobalt-iron halogenoacetate complexes, [Co^IIFe ₂ ^III O(CH_3?nX_nCO₂)₆(H₂O)₃] (0≤n≤3, X=Cl, Br, and I), were studied by comparing the results obtained by emission Mössbauer spectroscopy with those observed in absorption Mössbauer spectra of analogous trinuclear iron complexes, [Fe^IIFe ₂ ^III O(CH_3?nX_nCO₂)₆(H₂O)₃]. Some of the emission Mössbauer spectra show a temperature-dependent mixed-valence state as found in the absorption Mössbauer spectra. Others show a somewhat different temperature dependence compared with the absorption Mössbauer spectra. The results were interpreted in terms of after-effects of the EC-decay.     

Local Mechanical Behavior of Steel Exposed to Nonlinear Harmonic Oscillation

The local mechanical behavior of fatigued steel specimens was probed using nanoindentation. High-carbon steel cantilevers were exposed to nonlinear harmonic oscillation. The indentation modulus on the beam surface and plastic work during indentation decreased as a function of cycles, which was attributed to grain fragmentation and reorientation as well as the continuous reduction in inherent energy dissipation capacity of the material. X-ray diffraction, electron backscatter diffraction, and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize this microstructural evolution during early stages of the beam fatigue life, which altered 1) the local mechanical properties and 2) the global structural dynamic response. The results provide insight into fatigue damage precursors and provides a framework for connecting materials evolution with nonlinear structural dynamics.