誘導結合プラズマ質量分析法を用いた難分解性セラミックス中の微量元素定量のための液中レーザーアブレーション法の開発

【学位授与の要件】中央大学学位規則第4条第1項【論文審査委員主査】古田　直紀（中央大学理工学部教授）【論文審査委員副査】船造　俊孝（中央大学理工学部教授）、片山　建二（中央大学理工学部教授）、庄司　一郎（中央大学理工学部教授）、平田　岳史（京都大学大学院理学研究科教授）博士（工学）中央大

Intermittent Beginning to the Formation of Hydrogenous Ferromanganese Nodules in the Vast Field: Insights from Multi-Element Chemostratigraphy Using Microfocus X-ray Fluorescence

南極からの海洋深層水が「国産コバルト資源」を生み出した --南鳥島周辺に広大なマンガンノジュール密集域が形成された原因を特定--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-01-12.Vast ferromanganese nodule fields have been found on the deep-sea floor of all oceans worldwide. They have received attention because they potentially provide high-grade metal resources to develop future high- and green-technology. However, how these vast nodule fields were formed and developed owing to their widespread nature or tendency to be denser with an increasing number of nodules has not yet been established. In this study, the fine-scale inner structure of nodules of various sizes was analyzed on the basis of chemical mapping using microfocus X-ray fluorescence. We found that nodules distributed in the vast field around Minamitorishima (Marcus) Island have several types of innermost layers, which correspond to different chemostratigraphic layers of nodules that have been previously reported by us in this region. As nodules grow in order from the center to the outside, the different types in the innermost layer indicate a difference in the timing of the beginning of their growth. Moreover, because the differences in the chemical features of each layer reflect differences in the composition of the original deep-sea water, our results imply that the beginning of nodule formation occurred intermittently at each time of a water mass replacement due to new deep-sea currents flowing into this region. We recognized that the northern part of the study area was dominated by large nodules that started to grow in relatively earlier times, while the southern part tended to have many nodules that grew in relatively later times. Based on these observations, we hypothesize that the intermittent beginning of nodule formation is governed by the northward inflow of the deep-sea current that originated from the Lower Circumpolar Deep Water for an extended time to form the vast nodule field. Because patterns in the timing of nodule formation were different in the eastern and western regions, we thus further propose that the topographic framework, i.e., the arrangement of individual large seamounts and the cluster of small knolls and petit-spot volcanoes, strongly regulates the flow path of the deep-sea current, even if the position of the entire seamount changes owing to plate motion. The deep-sea current might supply some materials to be nuclei, resulting in the nodule formation at the beginning of the process

Giant Hysteretic Single‐Molecule Electric Polarisation Switching above Room Temperature

Continual progress has been achieved in information technology through unrelenting miniaturisation of the single memory bit in integrated ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, optical, and related circuits. However, as miniaturisation approaches its theoretical limit, new memory materials are being sought. Herein, we report a unique material exhibiting single‐molecule electric polarisation switching that can operate above room temperature. The phenomenon occurs in a Preyssler‐type polyoxometalate (POM) cluster we call a single‐molecule electret (SME). It exhibits all the characteristics of ferroelectricity but without long‐range dipole ordering. The SME affords bi‐stability as a result of the two potential positions of localisation of a Tb3+ ion trapped in the POM, resulting in extremely slow relaxation of the polarisation and electric hysteresis with high spontaneous polarisation and coercive electric fields. Our findings suggest that SMEs can potentially be applied to ultrahigh‐density memory and other molecular‐level electronic devices operating above room temperature.This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP16H04223, JP16K14101, JP24350095, and JP25220803;the Joint Research Project between JSPS and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC);and JSPS Core-to-Core Program, A. Advanced Research Networks. This work was also performed under the aegis of the Canon Science Promotion Foundation, Murata Science Foundation, Casio Science Promotion Foundation, and the Cooperative Research Program of “Network Joint Research Centre for Materials and Devices”. M.K. is also funded by CNRS, France.アクセプト後にキーワード・アブストラクト等変更あり

Aggregation of scaffolding protein DISC1 dysregulates phosphodiesterase 4 in Huntington’s disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a polyglutamine (polyQ) disease caused by aberrant expansion of the polyQ tract in Huntingtin (HTT). While motor impairment mediated by polyQ-expanded HTT has been intensively studied, molecular mechanisms for nonmotor symptoms in HD, such as psychiatric manifestations, remain elusive. Here we have demonstrated that HTT forms a ternary protein complex with the scaffolding protein DISC1 and cAMP-degrading phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) to regulate PDE4 activity. We observed pathological cross-seeding between DISC1 and mutant HTT aggregates in the brains of HD patients as well as in a murine model that recapitulates the polyQ pathology of HD (R6/2 mice). In R6/2 mice, consequent reductions in soluble DISC1 led to dysregulation of DISC1-PDE4 complexes, aberrantly increasing the activity of PDE4. Importantly, exogenous expression of a modified DISC1, which binds to PDE4 but not mutant HTT, normalized PDE4 activity and ameliorated anhedonia in the R6/2 mice. We propose that cross-seeding of mutant HTT and DISC1 and the resultant changes in PDE4 activity may underlie the pathology of a specific subset of mental manifestations of HD, which may provide an insight into molecular signaling in mental illness in general

Ground-state properties of the one-dimensional attractive Hubbard model with confinement: a comparative study

We revisit the one-dimensional attractive Hubbard model by using the Bethe-ansatz based density-functional theory and density-matrix renormalization method. The ground-state properties of this model are discussed in details for different fillings and different confining conditions in weak-to-intermediate coupling regime. We investigate the ground-state energy, energy gap, and pair-binding energy and compare them with those calculated from the canonical Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer approximation. We find that the Bethe-ansatz based density-functional theory is computationally easy and yields an accurate description of the ground-state properties for weak-to-intermediate interaction strength, different fillings, and confinements. In order to characterize the quantum phase transition in the presence of a harmonic confinement, we calculate the thermodynamic stiffness, the density-functional fidelity, and fidelity susceptibility, respectively. It is shown that with the increase of the number of particles or attractive interaction strength, the system can be driven from the Luther-Emery-type phase to the composite phase of Luther-Emery-like in the wings and insulating-like in the center.Comment: 13 pages with 10 figures and 2 table

Optical pumping NMR in the compensated semiconductor InP:Fe

The optical pumping NMR effect in the compensated semiconductor InP:Fe has been investigated in terms of the dependences of photon energy (E_p), helicity (sigma+-), and exposure time (tau_L) of infrared lights. The {31}P and {115}In signal enhancements show large sigma+- asymmetries and anomalous oscillations as a function of E_p. We find that (i) the oscillation period as a function of E_p is similar for {31}P and {115}In and almost field independent in spite of significant reduction of the enhancement in higher fields. (ii) A characteristic time for buildup of the {31}P polarization under the light exposure shows strong E_p-dependence, but is almost independent of sigma+-. (iii) The buildup times for {31}P and {115}In are of the same order (10^3 s), although the spin-lattice relaxation times (T_1) are different by more than three orders of magnitude between them. The results are discussed in terms of (1) discrete energy spectra due to donor-acceptor pairs (DAPs) in compensated semiconductors, and (2) interplay between {31}P and dipolar ordered indium nuclei, which are optically induced.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Physical Review