Potassiation and Depotassioation Properties of Sn4P3 Electrode in an Ionic-Liquid Electrolyte

K-ion battery is a potential candidate as a next-generation battery with a high energy density, long cycle life, and high safety. To commercialize the battery, the improvement of safety is absolutely essential. We apply a nonflammable ionic-liquid electrolyte to a Sn4P3 electrode as negative-electrode for K-ion battery. The electrode achieves the excellent cycling performance with a discharge capacity of 365 mA h g−1 over 100 cycles in the ionic-liquid electrolyte. Rate capability in the ionic-liquid electrolyte is almost the same as that in the organic-liquid electrolyte

Loss of NSD2 causes dysregulation of synaptic genes and altered H3K36 dimethylation in mice

Background: Epigenetic disruptions have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. NSD2 is associated with developmental delay/intellectual disability; however, its role in brain development and function remains unclear.Methods: We performed transcriptomic and epigenetic analyses using Nsd2 knockout mice to better understand the role of NSD2 in the brain.Results and discussion: Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the loss of NSD2 caused dysregulation of genes related to synaptic transmission and formation. By analyzing changes in H3 lysine 36 dimethylation (H3K36me2), NSD2-mediated H3K36me2 mainly marked quiescent state regions and the redistribution of H3K36me2 occurred at transcribed genes and enhancers. By integrating transcriptomic and epigenetic data, we observed that H3K36me2 changes in a subset of dysregulated genes related to synaptic transmission and formation. These results suggest that NSD2 is involved in the regulation of genes important for neural function through H3K36me2. Our findings provide insights into the role of NSD2 and improve our understanding of epigenetic regulation in the brain

Status Report of Neutral Kaon photo-production study using Neutral Kaon Spectrometer 2 (NKS2) at LNS-Tohoku(I. Nuclear Physics)

The approach described in this paper uses an array of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices to implement a fault tolerant hardware system that can be compared to the running of fault tolerant software on a traditional processor. Fault tolerance is achieved is achieved by using FPGA with on the fly partial programmability feature. Major considerations while mapping to the FPGA includes the size of the area to be mapped and communication issues related to their communication. Area size selection is compared to the page size selection in Operating System Design. Communication issues between modules are compared to the software engineering paradigms dealing with module coupling, fan-in, fan-out and cohesiveness. Finally, the overhead associated with the downloading of the reconfiguration files is discussed

Current Status on Reprocessing Technology of Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Technology Development (FaCT) Project in Japan.

Japan Atomic Energy Agency launched the "Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Technology Development (FaCT)" Project in cooperation with the Japanese electric utilities in 2006. In the FaCT project, the decision about innovative technologies would be made by 2010, and the conceptual design of demonstration and/or commercial facilities based on the results of research and development of innovative technologies by 2015, which would be possible to achieve the development target (Safety and Reliability, Sustainability Economic Competitiveness and Nuclear Non-proliferation). Pertaining to reprocessing technologies, the advanced aqueous reprocessing system (NEXT: New Extraction System for TRU Recovery) was selected as the most promising concept for commercialization. The NEXT process is composed of several processes and technologies, and six issues have been identified as the innovative technologies to be developed. Currently, the development of these issues has been conducted toward 2010. In addition, it is very important to consider the transition from LWR cycle to FBR cycle, because the FBR will be deployed by replacing LWR with FBR from around 2050. In Japan, the discussion of the next reprocessing plant will be started from around 2010. So, the preliminary study and examination for transition is conducted in cooperation with the related parties in Japan

Shortening Stabilization Time Using Pressurized Air Flow in Manufacturing Mesophase Pitch-Based Carbon Fiber

Oxidation–stabilization using pressurized air flows of 0.5 and 1.0 MPa could successfully shorten the total stabilization time to less than 60 min for manufacturing mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers without deteriorating mechanical performance. Notably, the carbonized fiber heat-treated at 1000 °C for 30 min, which was oxidative–stabilized at 260 °C without soaking time with a heating rate of 2.0 °C/min using 100 mL/min of pressurized air flow of 0.5 MPa (total stabilization time: 55 min), showed excellent tensile strength and Young′s modulus of 3.4 and 177 GPa, respectively, which were higher than those of carbonized fiber oxidation–stabilized at 270 °C without soaking time with a heating rate of 0.5 °C/min using 100 mL/min of atmospheric air flow (total stabilization time: 300 min). Activation energies for oxidation reactions in stabilization using pressurized air flows were much lower than those of oxidation reactions using atmospheric air flow because of the higher oxidation diffusion from the outer surface into the center part of pitch fibers for the use of the pressurized air flows of 0.5 and 1.0 MPa than the atmospheric one. The higher oxygen diffusivities resulted in a more homogeneous distribution of oxygen weight uptake across the transverse section of mesophase pitch fibers, and allowed the improvement of the mechanical properties

Biotype identification of Bemisia tabaci by acoustical method

Bemisia tabaci has two major biotypes: B and Q. Biotype identification is necessary for whitefly control, since different biotypes have different pesticide resistance. However, slow and expensive techniques are needed for accurate biotype classification. In this paper, we propose a whitefly biotype identification scheme using an acoustic signature, and evaluate its performance. The proposed scheme achieves biotype identification by three steps: signal detection, frequency-domain matching, and classification of biotypes. We evaluated the performance of the proposed scheme by processing actual whitefly sounds obtained in a recording experiment, and calculated the accuracy of the classification.Results showed the proposed biotype identification method achieved a correct detection rate of 92% in Bemisia tabaci. This result suggests that the proposed scheme is a viable alternative for biotype identification of whitefly