Diffuse Neutron Scattering of KBr at Room Temperature and Its Application as Background Function in Rietveld Analysis

Diffuse neutron scattering from powder KBr was measured at room temperature. The oscillatory diffuse scattering is clearly observed. The diffuse scattering theory including correlation effects among thermal displacements of atoms is applied to background function in the Rietveld analysis. The observed scattering data are analyzed by including the correlation effects among thermal displacements of first, second and third nearest neighboring atoms. The inter-atomic distance and temperature dependence of the values of correlation effects is discussed

Midkine inhibitors: application of a simple assay procedure to screening of inhibitory compounds

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Midkine is a heparin-binding cytokine and is involved in etiology of various diseases. Thus, midkine inhibitors are expected to be helpful in treatment of many diseases.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We developed a simple assay for midkine activity based on midkine-dependent migration of osteblastic cells. Midkine inhibitors were searched as materials that inhibit this midkine activity. To develop peptides that inhibit midkine activity, we constructed models in which C-terminal half of midkine interacted with α₄β₁-integrin. Low molecular weight compounds which are expected to bind to midkine with high affinity were searched by <it>in silico </it>screening with the aid of Presto-X2 program.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among peptides in putative binding sites of midkine and the integrin, a peptide derived from β₁-integrin and that derived from the first β sheet of the C-terminal half of midkine significantly inhibited midkine activity. Two low molecular weight compounds found by <it>in silico </it>screening exhibited no toxicity to target cells, but inhibited midkine activity. They are trifluoro compounds: one (PubChem 4603792) is 2-(2,6-dimethylpiperidin-1-yl)-4-thiophen-2-yl-6-(trifluoromethy)pyrimidine, and the other has a related structure.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The assay procedure is helpful in screening midkine inhibitors. All reagents described here might become mother material to develop clinically effective midkine inhibitors.</p

How to collect balls moving in the Euclidean plane

AbstractIn this paper, we study how to collect n balls moving with a fixed constant velocity in the Euclidean plane by k robots moving on straight track-lines through the origin. Since all the balls might not be caught by robots, differently from Moving-target TSP, we consider the following 3 problems in various situations: (i) deciding if k robots can collect all n balls; (ii) maximizing the number of the balls collected by k robots; (iii) minimizing the number of the robots to collect all n balls. The situations considered in this paper contain the cases in which track-lines are given (or not), and track-lines are identical (or not). For all problems and situations, we provide polynomial time algorithms or proofs of intractability, which clarify the tractability–intractability frontier in the ball collecting problems in the Euclidean plane

Application of the High Early Strength Type Expansive Agent to the Blast Furnace Slag Combination Concrete with GGBFS under Steam Curing

In recent years, the use of blast furnace slag material is being focused as environmental loading reduction and sustainable construction. However, in general, autogeneours shrinkage of the concrete using much amount of GGBFS is large in compared to normal concrete, therefore risk of cracking should be cared. On the other hand, strength development speed of concrete at early stage will be decreasing as the dosage of GGBFS increases, even under steam curing condition. It can be considered these points will be significant disadvantage in both productivity and quality of precast concrete. So in this study, early strength type expansive agent and setting accelerator were used in combination. As a result, it was confirmed that compressive strength at early stage is obviously increased. And steam curing temperature can be reduced about 10 degrees, and also, 600×10-6 of restraint expansion was obtained

Application of Conductive Concrete as a Microbial Fuel Cell to Control H2S Emission for Mitigating Sewer Corrosion

Localized biogenic corrosion and extrication of annoying odors caused by hydrogen sulfide (H2S) have long been a big problem in the management of urban sewer systems. H2S emission control in sewers via chemically or biologically normal oxidation processes has also been investigated extensively and is costly. The objective of this work was to develop a new technology to mitigate the concentration of H2S in sewer pipes using conductive concrete. Experimental results after 66 days show that the concentration of hydrogen sulfide significantly decreased when conductive concrete was used as a microbial fuel cell. Both ordinary Portland cement and conductive concrete were utilized for the target experiment. Elemental sulfur was observed in the coating sludge of conductive concrete, whereas this trend was not observed for ordinary Portland cement. These observations demonstrate that conductive concrete provides an electron pathway from deposited sludge in the bottom of sewer pipes to oxygen dissolved in surface water electrons generated from hydrogen sulfide oxidation in an anaerobic environment via conductive concrete. Finally, regarding the mechanism responsible for hydrogen sulfide oxidation, chemical oxidation was the dominant process, and biological processes did not play a significant role

地域志向商品の開発に向けた3次元プリンタの利用

本研究では，3次元プリンタを利用した地域志向商品の開発に向けた取り組みを報告する。2015年度の「ビジネスアイデアコンテスト」（高崎商科大学主催・しののめ信用金庫共催）におけるエントリーアイデアをコンテンツとして採用し，そのスケッチ画をもとに3D CADでのモデリングから3次元プリンタによる出力までの一連の作業を学生に体験させることにより，コンピテンシーの伸長に繋がると考えている。また，この取り組みを一つのプロジェクトとして捉え，その流れとともに体験的に学習し，ITスキルの技能の習得に結びつけた