Very Low Nucleation Rates of Glucose Isomerase Crystals under Microgravity in the International Space Station

In situ observation of the nucleation and growth of glucose isomerase (GI) crystals under microgravity was conducted using an optical microscope during the first flight of the Advanced Nano Step project undertaken in the International Space Station (ISS). Very low apparent nucleation rates (J’) of GI crystals in the solution and on the substrate of the growth container were confirmed compared with those on the ground. In particular, J’ of GI crystals in the solution were a few times lower than that on the substrate. The growth rates (R) of the {101} faces of GI crystals on the substrate and the apparent growth rates (R’) in the solution were measured. The very low nucleation rates allowed us to successfully measure R at a very high supersaturation region (up to ln(C/Ce) = 6), at which R cannot be measured on the ground

泉北ニュータウンにおける独居高齢者の孤立と人的ネットワーク : H台住区における事例調査

This study is a part of the lifestyle fact-finding for elderly residents living alone in the Senboku-New Town in Osaka. This report seeks to clarify what forms of economic poverty and isolation are actually being experienced, with particular reference to the influence of human networks. We report interviews with 10 elderly residents living alone, performed in August 2008, together with our analysis and consideration of the results. The results revealed the following: 1) the construction of human networks was greatly influenced by status, previous occupation, gender and other factors, 2)economic resources can become network resources, but these tend to promote network construction in other, more distant, areas rather than among neighboring acquaintances, and 3) there was a tendency for women than for men to have more local acquaintances and to make networks among neighbors more easily. The future problem is how to promote discussion as to how best to support the elderly living alone

日本における家族パラダイムの変容と高齢者の孤立

The purposes of this study were to clarify changes in Japanese family relationships and family paradigms and to identify future issues through analysis of the social isolation among elderly people that was identified in previous studies on family sociology after World War II. After World War II, modern nuclear families with gender-based role division were considered the norm in Japan. The eldest son and his family had a duty to live with the aging parents,and it was considered desirable to take care of them at home. However, parents and their offspring are now more reluctant to live together due to the advancement of today\u27s aging society and the personalization of lifestyles, and the number of elderly-couple and single households has increased sharply. Elderly single householders not engaged in a network become isolated, and the sudden increase of deaths in social isolation seen in the 21st century has become a social issue. The number of elderly single households is expected to continue increasing. Against such a background, there is a need to review family paradigms in modern families and to discuss ways for elderly people to establish and maintain human relationships with people other than family members from the perspective of selfhelp, cooperation from the community and public assistance

Three-dimensional angle-resolved photoemission study of bulk SiGe single crystals

The composition- and structure-dependent electronic band structure of SiGe alloys facilitates a rich variety of its application in various fields. In this study, we performed high-resolution core-level and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) of unstrained SiGe single crystals with the (001) surface. Thermally cleaned surfaces of the single crystals of SiGe alloys exhibited double domain (2 × 1) reconstruction, wherein the asymmetric dimer was composed of Ge atoms, and Si atoms were located below the subsurface region. The compositional dependence of three valence bands and their constant energy contours were clearly resolved by three-dimensional ARPES measurements using the high-intensity synchrotron radiation. The valence bands of unstrained SiGe alloys could be well described by the composition-based interpolation of the band parameters of pristine Si and Ge crystals