Improvement of the physical properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) by copolymerization with N-pentafluorophenyl maleimide; zero-orientational and photoelastic birefringence polymers with high glass transition temperatures

Copolymers of N-pentafluorophenyl maleimide (PFPMI) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) were synthesized by a free radical initiator, such as AIBN. The refractive indexes of the copolymers remained nearly constant (1.4970 at 532 nm) regardless of the polymer composition. These copolymers also showed high thermal stability. The orientational and photoelastic birefringence of the copolymers obtained were measured. Since both of the orientational and photoelastic birefringences of PMMA are negative whereas poly(PFPMI) exhibits positive, thus we have obtained nearly zero orientational and photoelastic birefringence polymers when the ratios of MMA/PFPMI were 91.8/8.2 and 97.0/3.0 mol%, respectively. Based on the experimental data, the ratios of MMA/PFPMI for zero birefringence were determined to be 88.9/11.1 and 93.8/6.2 mol% for orientational and photoelastic birefringence, respectively. The Tgs of corresponding copolymers were estimated to be 128 and 122 ℃.     

Label-free detection of C-reactive protein using reflectometric interference spectroscopy-based sensing system

Reflectometric interference spectroscopy (RIfS) is a label-free, time-resolved technique, and suitable for detecting antibody–antigen interaction. This work describes a continuous flow biosensor for C-reactive protein (CRP), involving an effective immobilization method of a monoclonal antibody against CRP (anti-CRP) to achieve highly sensitive RIfS-based detection of CRP. The silicon nitride-coated silicon chip (SiN chip) for the RIfS sensing was first treated with trimethylsilylchloride (TMS), followed by UV-light irradiation to in situ generation of homogeneous silanols on the surface. Following amination by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, carboxymethyldextran (CMD) was grafted, and subsequently, protein A was immobilized to create the oriented anti-CRP surface. The immobilization process of protein A and anti-CRP was monitored with the RIfS system by consecutive injections of an amine coupling reagent, protein A and anti-CRP, respectively, to confirm the progress of each step in real time. The sensitivity was enhanced when all of the processes were adopted, suggesting that the oriented immobilization of anti-CRP via protein A that was coupled with the grafted CMD on the aminated surface of TMS-treated SiN chip. The feasibility of the present sensing system was demonstrated on the detection of CRP, where the silicon-based inexpensive chips and the simple optical setup were employed. It can be applied to other target molecules in various fields of life science as a substitute of surface plasmon resonance-based expensive sensors.     

Oxide-ion conductivity of (Ba1−xLax)2In2O5+x system based on brownmillerite structure

(Ba_1−xLa_x)₂In₂O_5+x, whose end member is Ba₂In₂O₅, is an oxygen-deficient perovskite oxide showing high oxide-ion conductivity. In order to clarify the reason why the high oxide ion conductivity appeared in this system, the electrical conductivity was measured as a function of temperature and La content. With an increasing La content, the discontinuous jump of ion conductivity in the Arrhenius plot, which is related to the disordering of the oxygen vacancies, disappeared for the sample with x0.2. Above x=0.12, the ion conductivity linearly increased with La content, while the activation energy remained constant with respect to the La content. Moreover, the conductivity for x=0.6 was 0.042 (S/cm) at 1073 K, which exceeded that of 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia. The higher oxide-ion conductivity of this system could be dominated by the amount of mobile oxygen ions.     

Hydrogen Effects for Propylene Polymerization with Ultra Low TiCl3 Loading MgCl2-Supported Catalyst

Hydrogen effects for propylene polymerization were investigated with ultra low TiCl₃ loading MgCl₂-supported catalysts in which the electric states of Ti species can be almost uniform. Hydrogen did not affect the catalyst activity, while the efficiency of hydrogen as a chain transfer agent was found to depend on the Ti content of the catalyst and the stereospecificity of the polymerization sites: Hydrogen was effective for isospecific sites independent of Ti contents, but inert for aspecific sites only at the extremely low Ti content. These results were explained within the island model, where isospecific sites may be located in the islands with other Ti species in their surroundings acting, as a steric hindrance for isospecific polymerization and as hydrogen dissociation sites after deactivation. Most of the aspecific sites should be isolated only at the extremely low Ti content. These isolated sites have no other Ti species in their surroundings, i.e. no hydrogen dissociation sites, and are inert to hydrogen.     

Development of an experimental database of EUV spectra from highly charged ions of medium to high Z elements in the Large Helical Device plasmas

We are developing an experimental database of extreme ultraviolet spectra from highly charged ions using optically thin high-temperature plasmas produced in the Large Helical Device. Spectra from a variety of elements with atomic numbers ranging from 36 to 83 have been systematically recorded in the range of 1–20 nm by a grazing incidence spectrometer. For higher Z elements from tin onward, discrete or quasicontinuum spectral features from n=4 (N-shell) ions are mainly observed depending upon the plasma temperature, which leads to some new experimental identifications of spectral lines. On the other hand, major emitters are n=3 (M-shell) ions for medium Z elements from krypton to ruthenium. The calculated wavelengths for Δn≠0 transitions agree well with the measurements and the calculated wavelengths are systematically shifted to shorter wavelengths for Δn=0 transitions associated with inner-subshell excited configurations.     

An electron microscopic study of the archaeal feast/famine regulatory protein: 2. Crystal formation by a full length FFRP,pot0434017 (FL11)

In the crystal the archaeal feast/famine regulatory protein pot0434017 (FL11) forms helical cylinders, each extending along the c axis and densely packed with a hexagonal symmetry in the a/b plane. By applying cryo-electron microscopy to protein solutions yielding crystals, with selectively focussing zero-loss electrons accelerated at 200 KV, two types of regular objects were observed, hexagonal (i.e. projections of crystals to their a/b planes) or rectangular (i.e. projections onto planes perpendicular to a/b). The two types of images are different in the ranges of sizes, suggesting that the crystallization might initiate by forming a hexagonal sheet on the a/b plane, subsequently extending along the c axis. Some other images obtained were intermediate between regular and amorphous, suggesting that some crystals were growing inside amorphous precipitates by rearranging the protein molecules, and that some larger crystals were growing by absorbing smaller amorphous precipitates. Tubes running parallel to each other were also observed in pieces of thin films. These tubes have hollows in their centers, and their lateral arrangement with a periodicity of ~150 Å and the presence of a helical component ~50 Å suggest that they are projections of the helical cylinders, forming mono-layers on the a/c or b/c planes.     

A generalization of Lelieuvre’s formula to equiaffine immersions of general codimension

A non-degenerate equiaffine immersion of codimension one into an equiaffine space is locally expressed in terms of its conormal map and its affine fundamental form. The expression is called the Lelieuvre’s formula. We recently defined the notions of an equiaffine immersion of general codimension and its transversal volume element map. In this paper, we locally express a non-degenerate equiaffine immersion of general codimension into an equiaffine space in terms of its transversal volume element map and its affine fundamental form.     

Measurements of analyzing powers Ay, Axx, Ayy and Axz in dp elastic scattering at Ed = 56 MeV

The differential cross section and all components of the analyzing powers A_y, A_xx, A_yy and A_xz have been measured in dp elastic scattering at 56 MeV. This is the first measurement of A_xz in the cyclotron energy region. A_xz has been measured with the beam polarized in the horizontal plane using the polarization tagging method. Faddeev calculations have been performed for four cases of the NN interaction. The Coulomb correction gave smaller effects at the present energy than at lower energies. Three of them reproduce the experimental data well. The agreement between the calculations and data for A_xz was better than that reported at lower energy. The deuteron asymptotic D- to S-state ratio has been obtained and is consistent within the limits of uncertainty with previously obtained values.     

Photoluminescence characterized thermal mismatch of PbTe/CdTe single quantum wells grown on GaAs substrates

This report describes photoluminescence (PL) properties of PbTe/CdTe single quantum wells grown on (1 0 0)-oriented GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Despite the differences in crystal structure and thermal expansion coefficient between PbTe and CdTe, an intense mid-infrared emission was observed even at higher temperatures than 300 K. Multiple peaks, however, were found in the PL spectra, and the analysis of the PL peak energy dependence on temperature revealed an important role of the thermal mismatch.