x-RAY PHOTOELECTRON VALENCE BAND STUDIES ON FIREFLY D-(-)-LUCIFERIN

Abstract— The valence band spectrum of firefly D-(-)-luciferin (Ln) was measured for the first time by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Since the conversion of Ln to decarboxydehydroluciferin (dcrL) by x-ray irradiation occurred even within ∼30 min, the effect of the irradiation on the valence band spectrum of Ln was investigated quantitatively. We found that the XPS valence band spectrum of Ln during irradiation for 3 h corresponds to the state density of Ln calculated by the LCAO-ASMO-SCF-CI method for π-electrons. Moreover, the weak coupling model for π-electron transfer between Ln and oxygen was proposed for the primary electronic process in Ln chemiluminescence, assuming that the calculated π-electron state densities of Ln in acidic and basic solutions reflect the characteristics of their XPS valence band spectra.     

A note on the uniqueness and the non-degeneracy of positive radial solutions for semilinear elliptic problems and its application

In this paper, we are concerned with the uniqueness and the non-degeneracy of positive radial solutions for a class of semilinear elliptic equations. Using detailed ODE analysis, we extend previous results to cases where nonlinear terms may have sublinear growth.As an application, we obtain the uniqueness and the non-degeneracy of ground states for modified Schr¨odinger equations.     

Pyrochemical treatment of spent nitride fuels for MA transmutation

Nitride fuels have several advantages including high thermal conductivity and high metal density(like metallic fuels) and high melting point and isotropic crystal structure(like oxide fuels). Since the late 1990 s, the partitioning and transmutation of minor actinides(MA) has been studied to decrease the long-term radio-toxicity of high-level waste and to mitigate the burden of final disposal. Japan Atomic Energy Agency(JAEA) has proposed a dedicated transmutation cycle using an accelerator-driven system(ADS) with nitride fuels containing MA. The nitride fuel cycle we have developed includes a pyrochemical process. Our focus is on the electrolysis of nitride fuels and their refabrication from the recovered actinides; other processes are similar to the technology for metal fuel treatment and have been studied elsewhere. Here, we summarize our activity on the development of the pyrochemical treatment of spent nitride fuels.     

Application of the GSMAC-CIP Method to Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations at High Reynolds Numbers

The conventional shape function for the finite-element method (FEM) is linear, and it is thus inadequate for analyzing numerically complex flows at high Reynolds numbers. In this study, we propose a new scheme, GSMAC-CIP, using the third-order shape function, which requires continuity of the value of the function and its first space derivative in the whole space and is formulated by a finite element method for the cubic interpolated pseudo-particle (CIP) method. We verified the effectiveness of this new scheme by analyzing the forced-driven convection in a square cavity at Re = 1000, 5000 and 10000. The numerical results obtained by the present scheme are compared with those of GSMAC-FEM using coarser meshes, and it is shown that the present scheme is superior to GSMAC-FEM in terms of space accuracy. Moreover, it is shown that the numerical results obtained by the present scheme using fine meshes were in precise agreement with those obtained by Ghia et al.