Bending properties and cell wall structure of alkali-treated wood

Bending tests and X-ray diffraction studies were conducted on oven-dried wood samples (Picea jezoensis Carr.) treated with various concentrations of aqueous NaOH solution to investigate the influence of alkali treatment on the longitudinal contraction, bending properties, and cellulose structure. The length of the wood samples decreased and the density increased at NaOH concentrations greater than 10%. The Young’s modulus and the specific Young’s modulus decreased and the strain at yield increased for the same concentration range. However, the stress at yield was almost constant for all concentration ranges. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that lattice transformation from cellulose I to cellulose II did not occur during alkali treatment and the crystallinity index decreased at NaOH concentrations greater than 10%. The crystallinity index was linearly correlated with the changes in longitudinal contraction and the bending properties, which indicates that the increase in the proportion of amorphous components of the cellulose influences the longitudinal contraction and the bending properties of wood samples during alkali treatment.     

Comparison of the characteristics of cellulose microfibril aggregates isolated from fiber and parenchyma cells of Moso bamboo (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phyllostachys pubescens)</Emphasis>

This study examined the relationship between the functions of plant cells and the characteristics of cellulose microfibril aggregates in the cell walls. For this purpose, the mature bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) culm was separated into fiber and parenchyma cells, and then the morphological and physical properties of the cellulose microfibril aggregates isolated from both cells were compared. SEM observations revealed that both fiber and parenchyma cells consist of similar microfibril aggregates approximately 15–20 nm in width. Moreover, X-ray analysis and the tensile tests of the sheets prepared from the microfibril aggregates showed that the cellulose microfibrils isolated from fiber and parenchyma cells had almost the same cellulose crystallinity and longitudinal Young’s modulus in the dry state. These results suggest that all the cellulose microfibrils synthesized in the same individual exhibit the same characteristics in the dry state regardless of cell function.     

A maximal domain for strategy-proof and no-vetoer rules in the multi-object choice model

Following “Barberà et al. (1991, Econometrica 59:595–609)”, we study rules (or social choice functions) through which agents select a subset from a set of objects. We investigate domains on which there exist nontrivial strategy-proof rules. We establish that the set of separable preferences is a maximal domain for the existence of rules satisfying strategy-proofness and no-vetoer.     

From hierarchies to well-foundedness

We highlight that the connection of well-foundedness and recursive definitions is more than just convenience. While the consequences of making well-foundedness a sufficient condition for the existence of hierarchies (of various complexity) have been extensively studied, we point out that (if parameters are allowed) well-foundedness is a necessary condition for the existence of hierarchies e.g. that even in an intuitionistic setting \({(\Pi_1^0-\mathsf{CA}_0)_\alpha \vdash \mathsf{wf}(\alpha)\, {\rm where}\, (\Pi_1^0-\mathsf{CA}_0)_\alpha}\) stands for the iteration of \({\Pi^0_1}\) comprehension (with parameters) along some ordinal \({\alpha}\) and \({\mathsf{wf}(\alpha)}\) stands for the well-foundedness of \({\alpha}\) .     

Methods for comparison of coalition influence on games in characteristic function form and their interrelationships

This paper extends two existent methods, called the blockability relation and the viability relation, for simple games to compare influence of coalitions, to those for games in characteristic function form, and shows that the newly defined relations satisfy transitivity and completeness. It is shown in this paper that for every game in characteristic function form the blockability relation and the viability relation have a complementary interrelationship.     

Large‐scale SPH simulations of droplet impact onto a liquid surface up to the consequent formation of Worthington jet

In this study, the whole process of liquid droplet impact onto a liquid surface up to the consequent formation of the central column was simulated using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method (SPH), and compared with an experiment using a high‐speed video camera. The surface tension tensor for the particle‐based expression was adequately included as the gradient of the surface tension and that enabled the simulation leading to the formations of crater and crown as well as the consequent central column. The simulated time series of the crater depth and diameter and crown height corresponded quantitatively well with the experimental result up to the rebound motion while discrepancies remained as a lower central column height in the simulation, and this seemed to be ascribed to the difficulty in realizing the complex surface structure that inevitably appeared in the fast rebound motion. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

N-D-labeled ionic probes for mass spectrometry

An effective ¹⁵N- and deuterium (D)-labeled 2,6-bis(oxazolin-2-yl)pyridine (pybox)-La complex based probe ionization method that produces a distinct isotopic shift was developed. The distinct isotopic shift was detected by using the newly synthesized ¹⁵N-D-labeled pybox complexes. Moreover, O-[3-(tetramethylpybox)-propyl]-hydroxylamine (oxime-TMpybox) was prepared for attachment to the carbonyl group of the target molecule. Distinct isotopic shifts and multiple charged ions were detected for various compounds having amino, thiol, carboxyl, and carbonyl groups and fullerenes, using the TMpybox ionic probe series in cold-spray ionization mass spectrometry.     

Bit-rate Flexible Picosecond Pulse Width Conversion with All-optical Mono-stable Multivibrator Laser Diode

An optical mono-stable multivibrator laser diode (MM-LD) is realized by using a multi-electrode distributed feedback laser diode. All-optical pulse-width conversion of ultra-short pulses to non-return-to-zero (NRZ) is achieved using an MM-LD. The MM-LD is adopted for a wide range of bit-rates between 2-10 Gbit/s by tuning the DC bias. Data format transformation from 10-Gbit/s return-to-zero optical signals to NRZ optical-signals is achieved with error free operation. Converted optical signals, which have a narrower spectral bandwidth and lower peak power than when input, are transmitted using a 1.3-μm zero dispersion fiber (1.3Aλ₀-SMF).     

Piezo electric sensor for endocrine-disrupting chemicals using receptor-co-factor interaction.

In vitro screening assays are useful techniques for the determination of receptor-mediated activities in environmental samples. In order to define whether environmental chemicals act as an agonist or antagonist to the human estrogen receptor (hER), we have constructed a biosensor based on ligand-inducible interactions between hER and relative proteins on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The his-tagged proteins, which were expressed in E. coli by recombinant DNA technology, were immobilized on an Au-electrode with Ni(II)-mediated chemisorption using the histidine tag and thiol-modified iminodiacetic acid. The resonance-frequency change of the protein-modified electrode was caused by association or dissociation with the hER relative proteins on the surface in the presence of estrogen. These results suggest that this sensor is applicable as a large-scale screening tool for estrogenic compounds.