Fine and hyperfine structures of heavy quarkonia and perturbative quantum chromodynamics

Spectroscopies of the heavy quarkonia, \(c\bar c\) , \(b\bar b\) and \(t\bar t\) , are analysed with a potential model. Relativistic effects are taken into account and spin dependent interactions are investigated in detail. We propose a flavor independent potential which has a Lorentz vector term determined by the perturbative QCD at short distances and a Lorentz scalar term confining quarks at large distances. It is stressed that the short range attenuation of the vector Coulomb potential has significant effects on the fine and hyperfine structures of the \(c\bar c\) and \(b\bar b\) systems, and also on the \(t\bar t\) level structure. We study the decay property of the \(t\bar t\) system using the calculated wave functions.     

UV exposure of elementary school children in five Japanese cities

A 1 week UV‐exposure measurement and outdoor‐activity pattern survey was conducted for elementary school children for four seasons at five sites in Japan, i.e. Sapporo (43°05′N, altitude 40 m), Tsukuba (36°05′N, 20 m), Tokyo (35°40′N, 45 m), Miyazaki (31°60′N, 40 m) and Naha (26°10′N, 5 m), and UV exposure was measured directly and estimated using outdoor‐activity records. The study site with largest UV exposure was Miyazaki, a southern rural area. Comparing the results for boys and girls, UV exposure was larger in boys. UV exposure was large in spring and summer and small in winter. The total amount of UV exposure in spring and summer contributed 57.7–73.4% of total exposure for the year. As a whole, 8.1% and 1.8% of the schoolchildren were exposed to more than 1 minimum erythemal dose (MED) and 2 MED of solar UV in a day, respectively. The estimated yearly UV exposure ranged from 49 207 J/m² in Miyazaki to 31 520 J/m² in Tsukuba. The actual UV exposure correlated to potential UV exposure, estimated using outdoor‐activity records and ambient UV irradiance, but the ratio differed by season and site. The yearly average of percent UV exposure to ambient UV on a horizontal plane ranged from 9.9% in Tokyo to 4.0% in Naha. In the questionnaire survey on outdoor‐activity pattern, a short question “How long did you spend time outdoors between 0900 and 1500 h?” gives the best estimates of UV exposure.     

INACTIVATION ACTION SPECTRA OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS SPORES IN EXTENDED ULTRAVIOLET WAVELENGTHS (50–300nm) OBTAINED WITH SYNCHROTRON RADIATION

Five types of Bacillus subtilis spores (UVR, UVS, UVP, RCE, and RCF) differing in repair and/or recombinational capabilities were exposed to monochromatic radiations at 13 wavelengths from 50 to 300 nm in vacuum. An improved biological irradiation system connected to a synchrotron radiation source was used to produce monochromatic UV radiation in this extended wavelength range with sufficient fluence to inactivate bacterial spores. From the survival curves obtained, the action spectra for the inactivation of the spores were depicted. Recombination-deficient RCE (recE) and RCF (recF) spores were more sensitive than the wild-type UVR spores in the entire range of wavelengths. This was considered to mean that DNA was the major target for the inactivation of the spores. Vacuum-UV radiations of 125-175 nm were effective in killing the spores, and distinct peaks of the sensitivity were seen with all types of the spores. Insensitivities at 190 and 100 nm were common to all five types of spores, indicating that these wavelengths were particularly impenetrant and absorbed by the outer layer materials. The vacuum-UV peaks centering at 150 nm were prominent in the spores defective in recombinational repair, while the far-UV peaks at around 235 and 270 nm were prominent in the UVS (uvrA ssp) and UVP (uvrA ssp polA) spores deficient in removal mechanisms of spore photoproducts. Thus, the profiles of the action spectra were explained by three factors; the penetration depth of each radiation in a spore, the efficiency of producing DNA damage that could cause inactivation, and the repair capacity of each type of spore.     

Ferromagnetic interaction in iron(II)–bis-Schiff base complexes

The preparation and magnetic properties of three Fe(II)–bis-Schiff base complexes, [Fe₂(L1)2(4,4′-bpy)] · MeOH (1), [Fe(L2)(EtOH)] (2) and [Fe(L3)(MeOH)] (3) (L1 = N,N′-bis(2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde)-1,2-phenylenediimine; L2 = N,N′-bis(salicylidene)-1,2-phenylenediamine; L3 = N,N′-bis(5-Cl-salicylidene)-1,2-phenylenediamine; 4,4′-bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine) are reported. X-ray single crystal structure analyses for 1–3 reveal that 1 shows a dinuclear Fe(II)–bis-Schiff base complex bridged by 4,4′-bpy, while 2 and 3 show mononuclear structures. Molecular packing of 2 shows a uniform one-dimensional chain structure through hydrogen bonds and Fe?π interaction and that of 3 indicates significant π–π interaction to form a dimmer structure. The χT–T plots of 1–3 show all ferromagnetic interaction at low temperature. The origin of the ferromagnetic interaction observed in 2 is tentatively ascribed to the dimer formation through Fe?π interaction at low temperature.     

Hot atom chemical behavior of tritium in neutron-irradiated Li<Subscript>2</Subscript>TiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> and Li<Subscript>2</Subscript>ZrO<Subscript>3</Subscript>

The annihilation behavior of irradiation defects induced in neutron-irradiated Li₂TiO₃ and Li₂ZrO₃ were investigated with the tritium release behavior. It was revealed that the common characteristics in both samples were that the annihilation process of irradiation defects consisted of two first-order processes and E’-center could act as tritium trapping site, and otherwise was the way how the E’-center annihilated. The difference was suggested to attribute to the mobility of M as M⁴⁺ (or M³⁺, etc.).     

Water-soluble porphyrins appending platinum(II) complexes as binders for synthetic nucleic acid polymers

Water-soluble porphyrins containing four platinum(II) complexes per molecule, [5alpha,10beta,15alpha,20beta-tetrakis(2-trans-(alpha,beta,alpha,beta-trans-Pt) and cis-(alpha,beta,alpha,beta-cis-Pt) [PtCl(NH(3))(2)]N-2-aminophenylporphyrin)], were synthesized and characterized. The binding of synthetic nucleotide polymers (poly(dG)-poly(dC), poly(dA)-poly(dT)) to the porphyrins was examined spectrophotometrically in aqueous solution. UV-vis spectral data suggested that these porphyrins bind to the nucleic acids by coordinative and Coulomb interactions.     

Thermoelectric Properties (Resistivity and Thermopower) in (Bi1.5Pb0.5Ca2−xMxCo2O8−δ (M=Sc, Y, or La)

In order to understand the origin of good thermoelectric (TE) properties in the transition metal oxides with the lattice structure isomorphous to the 232-structure, the bond nature between Co and O ions in Bi_1.5Pb_0.5Ca_2−xM_xCo₂O_8−δ-system has been tried to vary by replacing M with Sc³⁺, Y³⁺ or La³⁺ and by changing x from 0 to 0.3. The resistivity is minimum at x = 0.1 in Sc- and Y-systems, but very high in La-system. The large thermopower is obtained in every compound. The experimental TE properties have been discussed mainly within the framework of the charge-transfer scheme in which the ionic radii of Sc³⁺ and Y³⁺ smaller than Ca²⁺ reduce the energy between O 2p levels and Co e_g parentages but the large ionic radius of La³⁺ expands it. The oxygen solubility in the compounds and the lattice distortion peculiar to the 232-structure are also likely to contribute somewhat to the experimental results.     

Microstructural control of b-silicon nitride ceramics to improve thermal conductivity

An advanced silicon nitride material with high isotropic thermal conductivity (149 W m^-1 K^-1) has been developed. This high thermal conductivity was achieved with a process that combines high-quality seed crystals with a suitable additive system to promote grain growth. In this process, the addition of β-Si₃N₄ seed crystals was found to be effective in improving thermal conductivity due to their low defect and impurity concentrations. The seed crystals seem to work as nuclei for controlling grain growth during the sintering process. Controlling the growth of elongated grains so that they do not interact with each other seems important for suppressing the generation of new defects inside the grains. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.