Changes in Fishery Resources in Relation to Water Environments in Osaka Bay

March 15, 2015An attempt was made to analyze the relationship between the change in the quantity of fishery resources and the change of phosphorus load deposited into Osaka Bay. The phosphorus load had steadily increased from 1955 to 1975, then decreased slowly towards the 2000s. The major benthic fishery organisms, such as octopus, shrimp and crab, mantis shrimp, tongue-fish and right-eye flounder, were employed to examine the characteristics of change in fishery resources in relation to water environments of Osaka Bay. Excluding shrimp and crab, catch amounts showed a largely equivalent response to phosphorus load in the bay. The results presented here demonstrate that a close relationship exists between phosphorus emissions and benthic fishery resources in Osaka Bay

Disorder-Enhanced Dimensionless Thermoelectric Figure of Merit zT of Non-stoichiometric Organic Conductor (TTT)2I3+δ (δ ≤ 0.1)

Sample dependence of dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) and power factor (PF) were determined for the non-stoichiometric organic conductor (TTT)2I3+δ (TTT = tetrathiatetracene, δ ≤ 0.1) with the simultaneous measurement of the electrical resistivity (ρ), thermopower (S) and thermal conductivity on small single crystals. Both the zT and PF show large sample dependence between 10 and 310 K, even though all the samples have nearly stoichiometric composition of TTT : I3- ~ 2 : 1 (δ ∼ 0). It was found that both the electrical conductivity (σ = 1/ρ) and S increase at room temperature as disorder — that is phase mismatch among the iodine chains — becomes more pronounced. This behavior contrasts the usual tendency that the S decreases as the σ increases in conventional conductors; and suggests a new strategy to improve the zT and PF by introducing an appropriate type of disorder

Wavefunction Analysis of STM Image: Surface Reconstruction of Organic Charge Transfer Salts

In this chapter, the wavefunction analysis is demonstrated, applied to the organic charge transfer salts composed of electron donor and electron acceptor molecules. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images of the surface donor layers in the three charge transfer salts, α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3, β-(BEDT-TTF)2I3, and (EDO-TTF)2PF6, are analyzed with the atomic π electron orbitals of sulfur, oxygen, and carbon atoms. We have deduced three different kinds of surface molecular reconstructions as follows: (1) charge redistribution in α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3, (2) translational reconstruction up to 0.1 nm in β-(BEDT-TTF)2I3, and (3) rotational reconstruction transforming the 1D axis from the a axis to the b axis in (EDO-TTF)2PF6. Finally, it is concluded that the surface reconstruction is ascribed to the additional gain of the cohesive energy of the π electron system, provoked by the reduced steric hindrance with the anions of the missing outside double layer. The investigations of the surface states provide not only interesting behaviors of the surface cation layer, but also important insights into the electronic states of a lot of similar charge transfer crystals, as demonstrated in α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3

Clinicopathological study on pIgR expression and tumor progression in advanced colorectal cancer

This study is aimed at investigating the relationship between the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor （pIgR） expression and clinicopathological factors in advanced colorectal cancer （CRC） patients. The study involved 47 advanced CRC patients who were surgically resected and underwent KRAS gene test. The pIgR expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and the patients were classified into high and low （pIgR-H and pIgR-L, respectively） groups based on the staining intensity and range. A total of 13 cases was classified under the pIgR-H group, and the remaining 34 were classified under the pIgR-L group. Results suggest no significant differences in most clinicopathological factors between the pIgR-H and pIgR-L groups, although the pIgR-L group had a significantly higher frequency of venous invasion than the pIgR-H group, whereas the frequency of KRAS gene mutation was significantly higher in the pIgR-H group than that in the pIgR-L group. The findings in this study showed little significant correlation between the pIgR expression and clinicopathological factors in advanced CRC patients. Further research on the biological behavior of pIgR as a drug treatment option for KRAS-mutated advanced CRCs is also warranted

Spin frustration in antiperovskite systems: (TTF˙+or TSF˙+)3[(Mo6X14)2−Y−]

Two novel antiperovskite charge-transfer (CT) solids composed of a tetraselenafulvalene radical cation (TSF˙+), a dianionic molybdenum cluster unit [Mo6X14]2−, and a halogen anion (Y−) (X, Y = Cl, Br) were prepared by electrocrystallization. Their crystal structures and magnetic properties with regard to spin frustration are discussed together with those of isostructural tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) CT solids previously reported. Both TSF and TTF salts have an apex sharing distorted octahedral spin lattice with a rhombohedral R[3 with combining macron] space group. The calculated overlap integrals based on the crystal structures and insulating nature of the TSF salts indicate that they are Mott insulators. Their spin susceptibilities obeyed the Curie–Weiss law and exhibited an antiferromagnetic ordering at lower temperatures for the TSF salts (Néel temperature, TN = 3.0 K for X = Y = Cl and 5.5 K for X = Y = Br) than the TTF salts. The Curie–Weiss temperatures (|ΘCW| ∼ 1.6–6.3 K) for the TSF salts are lower than those of the TTF salts. For the TSF salts, spin-flop behavior was detected at 3.2 T for X = Y = Cl and 1.5 T for X = Y = Br at 1.9 K. Due to both the distortion of the octahedral geometry of the spin lattice and the anisotropic molecular orientation, the geometrical spin frustrations in TSF and TTF systems are weakened