Synthesis of nano-polycrystalline diamond from glassy carbon at pressures up to 25 GPa

ABSTRACT

Nano-polycrystalline diamond (NPD) with various grain sizes has been synthesized from glassy carbon at pressures 15–25?GPa and temperatures 1700–2300°C using multianvil apparatus. The minimum temperature for the synthesis of pure NPD, below which a small amount of compressed graphite was formed, significantly increased with pressure from ～1700°C at 15?GPa to ～1900°C at 25?GPa. The NPD having grain sizes less than ～50?nm was synthesized at temperatures below ～2000°C at 15?GPa and ～2300°C at 25?GPa, above which significant grain growth was observed. The grain size of NPD decreases with increasing pressure and decreasing temperature, and the pure NPD with grain sizes less than 10?nm is obtained in a limited temperature range around 1800–2000°C, depending on pressure. The pure NPD from glassy carbon is highly transparent and exhibits a granular nano-texture, whose grain size is tunable by selecting adequate pressure and temperature conditions.     

Unsteady and chaotic characteristics of natural convection field in vertical slots at large Prandtl number

In this study we examined the unsteady and chaotic characteristics of the natural convection field in vertical slots at large Prandtl number. In the computation, temperature dependence of viscosity was partially taken into consideration. As a result we discovered that the spatial region where a significant temperature fluctuation is detected corresponds to the spatial region where the secondary cells exist. The largest Lyapunov exponents calculated from the temperature on the center line have a local maximum at the lower region of the enclosure when the viscosity change was considered. These characteristics agree well with the experimental ones that have been observed by authors (Ishida, Kure and Kimoto 2001).     

Study on crystalline properties of Er-Si-O compounds in relation to Er-related 1.54 μm photoluminescence and electrical properties

Er-Si-O crystalline compounds, which exhibit superlattice structures and sharp and strong Er-related 1.54 μm photoluminescence (PL) spectra at room temperature have been formed by self-assembling growth mechanism. Oxidation of the starting materials which have Si and Er at an atomic ratio of 2:1 are prepared and then oxidation and succeeding high-temperature annealing in Ar above 1250 °C cause a self-assembled superlattice-structured Er-Si-O crystalline compounds. The control of the ratio of Si and Er, as well as the following oxidation and annealing processes, is found to be sensitive to the crystalline properties, PL spectra and electrical properties. In this study, Er-Si-O crystalline thin films are formed on Si substrates by sol-gel and MOMBE methods, and their crystalline properties such as crystalline orientation and concentration ratio of Er, Si and O are investigated. Crystalline Er-Si-O films of high orientation are successfully grown on Si(1 0 0) and its inclined surface. The PL and excitation spectra, fluorescence decay and the electrical properties are found to be strongly related to the crystalline properties. Excess O causes a broader 1.54 μm PL spectra, slower fluorescence decay, lower carrier-mediated excitation and higher resistivity. A precise control of O is found to be necessary to grow superlattice-structured Er-Si-O compounds, which are semiconducting and are excitable via carrier-mediated excitation mechanism.     

Studies on glycolipids. III. Glyceroglycolipids from an axenically cultured cyanobacterium, Phormidium tenue.

Seven new monogalactosyl diacylglycerols (1-7) and six new digalactosyl diacylglycerols (11-16) were isolated from an axenically cultured cyanobacterium, P. tenue. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of physicochemical evidence and the results of enzymatic hydrolysis using a lipase (from Rhizopus arrhizus). Comparison of antialgal activity for P. tenue between monogalactosyl diacylglycerols (1-8) and digalactosyl diacylglycerols (11-19) revealed that the former showed more potent activity than the latter.     

Anisotropic friction model of DNA electrophoresis in polymer solutions: Comparison with direct observations

The electrophoresis of DNA chains in uncrosslinked polymer solutions with a Brownian dynamics simulation with an anisotropic friction tensor was analyzed. According to the degree of anisotropy, three types of migration behavior are obtained: fluctuation without or with periodicity between U‐shaped and compact conformations, or migration with linear conformation. We found good agreement between our simulation results and the direct observations of DNA by fluorescence microscopy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1316–1322, 2003     

Light Diffraction of Aligned Polymer Fibers Periodically Dispersed by Phase Separation of Liquid Crystal and Polymer

We have confirmed light diffraction of aligned polymer fibers obtained by a phase separation of an anisotropic-phase solution of liquid crystal and polymer. He—Ne laser light passing through the polymer fibers was scattered in the axis vertical to the fibers, and had two peaks of light intensity symmetrical to the center of the transmitting laser spot. The two peaks were found to be caused by light diffraction due to the periodic polymer-fiber dispersion because the peaks corresponded to values calculated by intervals between the fibers. The periodical fiber networks are considered to be formed by anisotropic spinodal decomposition. This effect can be used to measure the dispersion order of the polymer fibers. © 2004 The Optical Society of Japan     

Classification for dimethylarsenate-decomposing bacteria using a restrict fragment length polymorphism analysis of 16S rRNA genes.

A new monitoring system for bacterial communities involving dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA) decomposition was provided by combining the MPN (Most Probable Number) method and RFLP (restriction-fragment-length polymorphism analysis). The abundance of DMAA decomposing bacteria was estimated by the MPN method using a bacterial culture medium, which included DMAA as the sole carbon source, indicating bacterial cell densities of 1700 cells/ml in Lake Kahokugata and 330 cells/ml in Lake Kibagata. After isolating the dominant bacteria using agar plates, the isolates were classified into some genotype groups by RFLP analysis using 16S rDNA sequences. Classification of the RFLP analysis indicated that 14 isolates of Lake Kahokugata were classified into 6 types, which included 2 dominant types related to genus Pseudomonas, while 8 isolates of Lake Kibagata displayed 6 types including one or two isolates. Moreover, the RFLP types were unique for each lake, suggesting that DMAA decomposing bacteria were specific for the aquatic environment related to the arsenic cycle. The activities of DMAA decomposition mostly matched with the RFLP type category of the isolates. Accordingly, combining the MPN method with the RFLP analysis will play an important role in elucidating the distributions and dynamics of the DMAA-decomposing bacterial community.     

Basic Properties of the (t, n)-Threshold Visual Secret Sharing Scheme with Perfect Reconstruction of Black Pixels

In this paper we consider the (t, n)-threshold visual secret sharing scheme (VSSS) in which black pixels in a secret black-white images is reproduced perfectly as black pixels when we stack arbitrary t shares. This paper provides a new characterization of the (t, n)-threshold visual secret sharing scheme with such a property (hereafter, we call such a VSSS the (t, n)-PBVSSS for short). We use an algebraic method to characterize basis matrices of the (t, n)-PBVSSS in a certain class of matrices. We show that the set of all homogeneous polynomials each element of which yields basis matrices of the (t, n)-PBVSSS becomes a set of lattice points in an (n−t+1)-dimensional linear space. In addition, we prove that the optimal basis matrices in the sense of maximizing the relative difference among all the basis matrices in the class coincides with the basis matrices given by Blundo, Bonis and De Santis [3] for all n≥ t ≥ 2.