New catalytic functions of Pd–Zn, Pd–Ga, Pd–In, Pt–Zn, Pt–Ga and Pt–In alloys in the conversions of methanol

Pd and Pt supported on ZnO, Ga₂O₃ and In₂O₃ exhibit high catalytic performance for the steam reforming of methanol, CH₃OH+H₂OCO₂+3HH₂, and the dehydrogenation of methanol to HCOOCH₃, 2CH₃OHHCOOCH₃+2HH₂. Combined results with temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and XRD method revealed that Pd–Zn, Pd–Ga, Pd–In, Pt–Zn, Pt–Ga and Pt–In alloys were produced upon reduction. Over the catalysts having the alloy phase, the reactions proceeded selectively, whereas the catalysts having metallic phase exhibited poor selectivities.     

Design methodology of piezoelectric energy-harvesting skin using topology optimization

This paper describes a design methodology for piezoelectric energy harvesters that thinly encapsulate the mechanical devices and exploit resonances from higher-order vibrational modes. The direction of polarization determines the sign of the piezoelectric tensor to avoid cancellations of electric fields from opposite polarizations in the same circuit. The resultant modified equations of state are solved by finite element method (FEM). Combining this method with the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method for piezoelectric material, we have developed an optimization methodology that optimizes the piezoelectric material layout and polarization direction. Updating the density function of the SIMP method is performed based on sensitivity analysis, the sequential linear programming on the early stage of the optimization, and the phase field method on the latter stage of the optimization to obtain clear optimal shapes without intermediate density. Numerical examples are provided that illustrate the validity and utility of the proposed method.     

Immobilization of multicopper oxidase from Pyrobaculum aerophilum onto an electrospun-aligned single-walled carbon nanotube surface via a carbon-nanotube-binding peptide for biocathode

Biofuel cells (BFCs) that produce electrical energy from organic resources through enzymatic reactions have been attracting significant attention. Owing to the high electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), their modification on the electrode surface of a BFC is expected to increase the current, and their high specific surface area may be useful in increasing the power output. Previously, we constructed a biocathode by immobilizing multicopper oxidase from Pyrobaculum aerophilum (McoP) with a carbon nanotube binding peptide (CBP) sequence on the CNTs. This resulted in higher current densities than when using enzymes without CBP sequences. However, owing to the randomly stacked CNTs on the surface of the electrodes, their conductive properties were impaired and performance as biocathodes was poor. Herein, we constructed a biocathode in which single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) were oriented one-dimensionally and McoP is immobilized on the surface of an SWNCT via CBP. The current density was successfully increased by two-fold by orienting the CNTs and orienting and immobilizing McoP on their surfaces. This technology provides insights into the development of biodevices with controlled orientation of both the SWCNTs and enzymes immobilized on their surfaces.     

Highly anisotropic thermal conductivity of mesogenic epoxy resin film through orientation control

To develop insulating materials with a high thermally conductive anisotropy, planarly aligned mesogenic epoxy (ME) resin film was fabricated by uniaxial coating on a hydrophobic polyethylene terephthalate substrate. Grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and transmission SAXS measurements exhibited that the films spontaneously formed uniaxially aligned monodomain-like smectic structures by curing on the hydrophobic substrate. Then, an in- and out-of-plane thermal conductivity of 10 and 0.048 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ and outstanding thermal conductivity anisotropy of 208 have been confirmed, respectively. The ME resin films with high thermal conductivity can be applied as insulating materials for multiple-layer electrical and electronic devices.     

Design methodology of magnetic fields and structures for magneto-mechanical resonator based on topology optimization

Magneto-mechanical resonators—magnetically-driven vibration devices—are used in many mechanical and electrical devices. We develop topology optimization (TO) to configure the magnetic fields of such resonators to enable large vibrations under specified current input to be attained. A dynamic magneto-mechanical analysis in the frequency domain is considered where we introduce the surface magnetic force calculated from the Maxwell stress tensor. The optimization problem is then formulated involving specifically the maximization of the dynamic compliance. This formulation is implemented using the solid-isotropic-material-with-penalization method for TO by taking into account the relative permeability, Young’s modulus, and the mass density of the magnetic material as functions of the density function. Through the 2D numerical studies, we confirm that this TO method works well in designing magnetic field patterns and providing matching between the external current frequency and eigenfrequency of the vibrating structure.     

The effect of small dose of topiroxostat on serum uric acid in patients receiving hemodialysis

Introduction : Topiroxostat, a recently developed xanthine oxidase inhibitor, is expected to have fewer adverse effects than allopurinol because it has different mechanism of action from alloprinol. However, its dosage, usage and safety have not been established in patients with impaired renal function or those undergoing dialysis at the development since no studies was conducted in these patients. Methods : Cross over clinical trial using 3 months of allopurinol and topiroxostat on 27 maintain Japanese HD patients were carried out. The effects on oxidative stress status of both drugs were also evaluated by measuring oxidation reduction potential. Findings : Twenty‐five of twenty‐seven patients completed study. The mean serum uric acid levels in the topiroxostat‐treated arm was significantly lower than it in the allopurinol‐treated arm time‐dependently (P < 0.0001). Corrected oxidative stress ratio defined as biological antioxidant potential/diacron reactive oxygen metabolites was significantly increased in topiroxostat‐arm (*P = 0.0035), but not in allopurinol‐arm (P = 0.1429). No significant difference was seen in diacron reactive oxygen metabolites, biological antioxidant potential, static oxidation‐reduction potential, and capacity oxidation‐reduction potential between pre and post treatment of both drugs. Discussion : It is suggested that a low dose of topiroxostat decreased serum uric acid sufficiently to maintain it below 7.0 mg/dL in patients receiving hemodialysis.     

Colorless polyimides derived from 1S,2S,4R,5R-cyclohexanetetracarboxylic dianhydride,self-orientation behavior during solution casting,and their optoelectronic applications

A novel cycloaliphatic monomer for polyimides (PI), 1S,2S,4R,5R-cyclohexanetetracarboxylic dianhydride (H′-PMDA) is proposed in this work. H′-PMDA shows high polymerizability with various diamines in contrast to its isomer, i.e., conventional hydrogenated pyromellitic dianhydride (H-PMDA) and leads to highly flexible and colorless PI films with very high T_g's. In particular, the combinations with rigid structures of diamines give rise to PIs with significantly decreased coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) owing to high extents of in-plane chain orientation induced by thermal imidization, whereas the H-PMDA-based counterparts do not. The decreased CTE reflects structural rigidity/linearity of the H′-PMDA-based diimide units as supported by liquid crystallinity observed in the corresponding model compound. Solution casting of a chemically imidized PI derived from H′-PMDA and 2,2′-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzidine (TFMB) results in a lower CTE than that of the thermally imidized counterpart, suggesting the presence of a self-orientation phenomenon during solvent evaporation. The mechanism is proposed in this work. H′-PMDA/TFMB and its copolymer systems can be useful as plastic substrates in image display devices and/or novel coating-type optical compensation films.     

Growth and differentiation potentials in confluent state of culture of human skeletal muscle myoblasts

The transitional behaviors of myoblasts toward differentiation were investigated in the cultures at the low and high seeding densities (respectively, X₀ = 1.0 × 10³ and 2.0 × 10⁵ cells/cm²). In the culture at the low seeding density, an increase in confluence degree accompanied a decrease in growth potential (R_p), being R_p = 0.85 and 0.11 at t = 48 and 672 h, respectively. Myoblasts seeded at the high density resulted in the immediate cessation of growth with keeping the low range of R_p = 0.02–0.09 throughout the culture. The reduction of R_p led to the generation of three subpopulations of cells in proliferative, quiescent and differentiated states. Close cell contacts in the confluent state of high seeding culture induced cell quiescence to a higher extent with suppressing differentiation.     

RSA-OAEP Is Secure under the RSA Assumption

Recently Victor Shoup noted that there is a gap in the widely believed security result of OAEP against adaptive chosen-ciphertext attacks. Moreover, he showed that, presumably, OAEP cannot be proven secure from the one-wayness of the underlying trapdoor permutation. This paper establishes another result on the security of OAEP. It proves that OAEP offers semantic security against adaptive chosen-ciphertext attacks, in the random oracle model, under the partial-domain one-wayness of the underlying permutation. Therefore, this uses a formally stronger assumption. Nevertheless, since partial-domain one-wayness of the RSA function is equivalent to its (full-domain) onewayness, it follows that the security of RSA-OAEP can actually be proven under the sole RSA assumption, although the reduction is not tight.