Preparation of nano‐ and microparticles through self‐assembly of azobenzene‐pendent ionomers

The particle formation of azobenzene‐containing ionomers, through self‐assembly, in aqueous media (THF/H₂O solvent) was studied. The ionomers were synthesized by copolymerization between azobenzene‐pendent methacrylate and methacrylic acid. It was revealed by UV–vis spectra and light scattering measurements that the extent of H‐aggregation of the azobenzene units first decreased, and then increased with increasing volume fraction of H₂O of the solvent. The H₂O fraction at which the extent of H‐aggregation began to increase became lower, when the copolymers contained more azobenzene units. Colloidal particles were prepared by slow addition of various concentrations of aqueous NaOH to the copolymer THF solutions. The hydrodynamic diameters of the particles obtained by the procedures were several hundreds of nanometer. When the azobenzene unit content in the copolymer was smaller, the diameters of the particles became smaller. When the colloidal particles dispersions were cast on a carbon sheet and dried, the particles aggregated and formed larger spherical particles, with diameters of several micrometers. The size of the particles obtained by the drying process became smaller, when higher concentrations of aqueous NaOH solutions were used. Therefore, the particle sizes were controlled by the azobenzene units content in the copolymers and the concentration of aqueous NaOH solutions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 3913–3918, 2006     

Melt film formation and disintegration during novel atomization process

Hybrid atomization is a new powder-making method and can produce economically very fine, clean, spherical tin alloy powders with average particle size about 10μm and narrow size distributions. The key concept of hybrid atomization is to control the liquid film formation on disk for fine powder production. Low-pressure gas atomization was utilized to promote the formation of a very thin stable liquid film before centrifugal breakup and give a better preparation for the final disintegration of melts. Besides the breakup ability of the rotating atomizer, the characteristics of liquid film on rotating disk affect the atomization mechanism and results remarkably. The main disintegration mode of melt is the breakup type of liquid film, which depends on the film instability and the atomization ability of the rotating disk. On the other hand, the mean powder size relates closely to the film thickness. The powder size distribution is mainly controlled by the atomization mode and the stability, flow type of liquid film on the rotating disk. A very thin, stable liquid film with long ligaments and a small pitch in LF mode results in very fine uniform tin alloy powders.     

Amorphous reprecipitated chitosan as a novel morphological form

In order to overcome the intractable nature of chitosan, which has delayed the basic and utilization research of this biopolymer having remarkable biological activities, destruction of the crystalline structure was studied. Chitosan was dissolved in aqueous acid, reprecipitated in alkali, and freeze-dried under appropriate conditions to prepare a fluffy cotton-like material, which was amorphous and had almost the same molecular weight as the original chitosan. It exhibited highly improved chemical reactivity as confirmed by the acetylation and enhanced adsorption capability toward copper ion. Full N-acetylation of the reprecipitated chitosan afforded structurally uniform chitin, which was also found to be amorphous. These results indicate the high potential of this new morphological form of chitosan possibly leading to a wide range of utilizations of this under-utilized biological resource.     

Electron transfer between QA and QB in photosystem II is thermodynamically perturbed in phototolerant mutants of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Several random mutations have been generated in the psbA2 gene of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 [Narusaka, Y., Murakami, A., Saeki, J., Kobayashi, H., and Satoh, K. (1996) Plant Sci. 115, 261-266]. The phototolerant mutant (I6) carrying all the amino acid substitutions in the lumenal side of D1 protein (S322I, I326F, and F328S) and a site-directed mutant of the same phenotype (NDFS) substituted in the stromal side of the protein (N234D and F260S) were characterized by thermoluminescence measurements. We observed (1) no significant differences in their growth rates at either low or high light irradiance, (2) a downshifted B-band in the NDFS mutant, (3) an upshifted Q-band in the I6 mutant, and (4) a damped period four oscillation of thermoluminescence in the B-band of both mutants. By examining the possible implications of these results on the redox properties of the PS II components in the mutants, we concluded that equilibrium constants for sharing an electron between the primary (QA) and secondary acceptor plastoquinones (QB) are decreased in both mutants.     

The classification and analysis of the blood pathway in left ventricular cavity observed by left ventricular contrast echocardiography

We can observe and analyse the blood pathway in left ventricular cavity by contrast echocardiography using sonicated albumin, because it can be through the pulmonary capillaries. I. The observational classification of the blood pathway in left ventricular cavity. Group I: The contrast medium comes to the apex directly from the mitral orifice. Group II: The contrast medium comes to the apex along the posterior wall forming the spiral flow and turns back to the outflow tract. Group III: The contrast medium is found like a fireworks only at the apex. II. The factors associated with the blood pathway in left ventricular cavity. 1. Abnormality of left ventricular wall motion, 2. The form of left ventricular cavity, 3. Early diastolic peak velocity of the transmitral flow, 4. A/E, 5. Left ventricular function.     

Top-down process based on electrospinning, twisting, and heating for producing one-dimensional carbon nanotube assembly

Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT)/poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) composite nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning, successive twisting and heat treatment. The MWNTs were highly oriented in an electrified thin jet during electrospinning. The heat treatment of the twisted electrospun nanofiber yarns produced the characteristics of the CNT in the composite nanofiber yarns and enhanced their electrical properties, mechanical properties, and thermal properties. The electrical conductivity of the heated yarn was significantly enhanced and showed the maximum value of 154 S cm(-1) for the yarn heated at 400 °C. It is an order of magnitude higher than other electrospun CNT composite materials. These results demonstrated that the novel top-down process based on electrospinning, twisting, and heat treatment provide a promising option for simple and large-scale manufacture of CNT assemblies.     

Effect of substrate orientation on Zn-doping of AIGalnP grown by atmospheric pressure orgamometallic vapor phase epitaxy

Dependence of hole concentration ofp(Zn) — (Al_0.6Ga_0.4In_0.5P on substrate orientation was examined. It increases with tilting the substrate from (100) towards (511)A. Addition of ann-GaAs cap layer on top of the quaternary increases hole concentration while ap-GaAs cap shows little effect.