Preparation and properties of the biodegradable graded blend of poly(L‐lactic acid) and poly(ethylene oxide)

We prepared biodegradable poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/poly(L ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) graded blends by the dissolution–diffusion process, and discussed the biodegradability and tensile strength of the graded blends by comparing isotropic blend and PLLA only. All the graded blends were degraded more largely than the PLLA only and isotropic blend (PEO: 37.5 wt %), which had the same content as the total content of those graded blends. The graded blend having most excellent wide compositional gradient was degraded most largely with the enzyme. Thus, graded structure of the blends promoted their biodegradabilities large. It was considered that the dissolution of PEO with water increased the surface area attacked by the enzyme, while PEO caught PLLA oligomers to promote the biodegradation of PLLA. Then, the biodegradabilities of the graded blends were suppressed by the increasing crystallinity of PLLA. Furthermore, the strengths of all the graded blends were larger than those of the isotropic blend. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2972–2981, 2007     

Ion-interaction chromatography of several metallocyanide complexes stabilized by adding cyanide in a neutral mobile phase.

Standard solutions (at 10(-5) M levels) of Cu(I)- and Fe(II)-cyanide complexes were stabilized for at least 5 h using 0.5 mM cyanide solution (around pH 9) as a medium. Complexes of Cu(I)- and Fe(III)-cyanide also could be stabilized without any dissociation by adding 1 mM cyanide to an acetonitrile-water (18:82, v/v) mobile phase (pH 7.0) containing 10 mM tetra-n-propylammonium salt (TPA). Under the optimal conditions, the six complexes of Cu(I)-, Ag(I)-, Ni(II)-, Fe(II)-, Fe(III)- and Au(I)-cyanides were resolved from their mixtures within about 45 min, with well-shaped chromatographic peaks.     

Gas Chromatographic Separation of Carbonyl Compounds as Their 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones Using Glass Capillary Columns

The gas chromatographic separation of 22 carbonyl compounds as their 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones was investigated using glass capillary columns. Complete separation of the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones of ten aliphatic aldehydes, eight aliphatic ketones and four aromatic aldehydes was obtained, except for the derivatives of n-valeraldehyde and isobutyl methyl ketone, whose peaks overlapped, and the o- and m-tolualdehyde derivatives, which were poorly separated. The optimum conditions were as follows: stationary phase, SF-96; column size, 20 m × 0.25 mm I.D. ; column temperature, 200-240°; injection and detector temperatures, 280-290°; carrier gas flow-rate, helium 1.0-1.2 ml/min or nitrogen 1.1-1.2 ml/min. The method was applied to the analysis of aliphatic carbonyl compounds in car exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke.     

1H-NMR study of polyisoprenes

¹H-NMR spectra of polyisoprene were assigned using polymers of isoprene-1,1,4,4-d₄, isoprene-1,1,5,5,5-d₅, and isoprene-4,4-d₂ polymerized with various catalysts. The methylene-proton signal at 2.1 ppm in cis-1,4 - and trans-1,4-polyisoprenes was divided into H₄- and H₁-proton signals; H₄ resonated at 2.21 ppm in both cis-1,4 and trans-1,4 units whereas H₁ resonated at 2.05, 2.21, and 2.15 ppm. Splitting due to the dyad sequences of 1,4 and 3,4 units was apparent. The methine-proton (H₃) in a 3,4 unit showed a broad peak centered around 1.5 ppm in C₆D₆. The overlapping of this signal with the methyl-proton signals at 1.73 and 1.63 ppm resulted in some uncertainty in the determination of the microstructure of polyisoprene which contained a considerable amount of 3,4 unit.     

A highly stereoselective synthesis of the C10–C31 (BCDEF ring) portion of pinnatoxin A

An efficient, highly stereoselective synthesis of the C10–C31 (BCDEF ring) portion of pinnatoxin A has been achieved utilizing tandem double hemiketal formation/intramolecular hetero-Michael addition to construct the 6,5,6-dispiroketal (BCD ring) system and subsequent intramolecular ketalization to form the 5,6-bicycloketal (EF ring) system as key steps.     

SSD1, which encodes a plant-specific novel protein,controls plant elongation by regulating cell division in rice

Plant height is one of the most important traits in crop improvement. Therefore revealing the mechanism of plant elongation and controlling plant height in accordance with breeding object is important. In this study we analyzed a novel dwarf mutant, ssd1, of which phenotype is different from typical GA- or BR-related dwarf phenotype. ssd1 exhibits pleiotropic defects in elongation of various organs such as stems, roots, leaves, and flowers. ssd1 also shows abnormal cell files and shapes, which suggests defects of normal cell division in the mutant. Map-based cloning and complementation test demonstrated that the dwarf phenotype in ssd1 mutant was caused by insertion of retrotransposon in a gene, which encodes plant-specific protein with unknown biochemical function. A BLAST search revealed that SSD1-like genes exist in diverse plant species, including monocots and dicots, but not fern and moss. Our results demonstrate that SSD1 controls plant elongation by controlling cell division in higher plants.     

The rheology of suspensions of vinylon fibers in polymer liquids. II. Suspensions in polymer solutions

Summary The rheological properties of vinylon fiber suspensions in polymer solutions were studied in steady shear flow. Shear viscosity, first normal-stress difference, yield stress, relative viscosity, and other properties were discussed. Three kinds of flexible vinylon fibers of uniform length and three kinds of polymer solutions as mediums which exhibited remarkable non-Newtonian behaviors were employed. The shear viscosity and relative viscosity ( _r ) increased with the fiber content and the aspect ratio, and depended upon the shear rate. Shear rate dependence of _r was found only in the low shear rate region. This result was different from that of vinylon fiber suspensions in Newtonian fluids. The first normal-stress difference increased at first slightly with increasing fiber content but rather decreased and showed lower values for high content suspensions than that of the medium. A yield stress could be determined by using a modified equation of Casson type. The flow properties of the fiber suspensions depended on the viscosity of the medium in the suspensions under consideration.With 16 figures and 1 table     

Generalized Longo–Rehren Subfactors and α-Induction

We study the recent construction of subfactors by Rehren which generalizes the Longo–Rehren subfactors. We prove that if we apply this construction to a non-degenerately braided subfactor N⊂M and α^±-induction, then the resulting subfactor is dual to the Longo–Rehren subfactor M⊗M ^opp⊂R arising from the entire system of irreducible endomorphisms of M resulting from α^plusmn;-induction. As a corollary, we solve a problem on existence of braiding raised by Rehren negatively. Furthermore, we generalize our previous study with Longo and Müger on multi-interval subfactors arising from a completely rational conformal net of factors on S ¹ to a net of subfactors and show that the (generalized) Longo–Rehren subfactors and α-induction naturally appear in this context. Received: 11 September 2001 / Accepted: 7 October 2001     

A miniaturization of the multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator using a small cylinder fixed on a substrate

Multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator has been studied for robot arms and multidimensional precision table and so on because of its simple structure, silent operation, and holding force. In this study, we aim to miniaturize multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator for fabrication on a substrate. This actuator consists of a stainless steel cylinder and a PZT ring. The cylinder is fixed on a substrate and the PZT ring is glued to the substrate near the cylinder. The 1st longitudinal vibration and the 2nd bending vibration are simultaneously excited in the cylinder to make elliptical motion at the top of the cylinder and a ball rotor placed on the cylinder rotates because of the friction force. Length of the cylinder was decided so as to tune the resonance frequency of the 1st longitudinal vibration to the 2nd bending one. Actuator performances are evaluated experimentally using a 14 mm height and 7 mm diameter stainless steel cylinder with a 0.5 mm thickness PZT ring. The rotation about the cylinder axis is tested using the two orthogonal bending vibrations with 90 degrees phase difference. Also, the rotation about horizontal axes were investigated using the combination of the longitudinal vibration and one of two bending vibrations. We measured the rotation speed of a steel ball and obtained 15.8 rps using a 6 mm diameter ball rotor.     

Modulational instability and parametric amplification induced by loss dispersion in optical fibers

We show that modulational instability may arise even in the normal group-velocity dispersion regime of an optical fiber when the fiber loss (gain) varies depending on the wavelength. A simple analytical expression for the instability gain is obtained, which reveals that the odd-order terms of the loss dispersion are responsible for this phenomenon. The instability gain is measured experimentally in an optical-parametric-amplification configuration. Large parametric gain is induced in a non-phase-matched regime as we apply narrow band loss at the idler wavelength.