Phase Structure of a Compact U(1) Gauge Theory from the Viewpoint of a Sine-Gordon Model

We discuss the phase structure of the four-dimensional compact U(1) gauge theory at finite temperature using a deformation of the topological model. Its phase structure can be determined by the behavior of the Coulomb gas (CG) system on the cylinder. We utilize the relation between the CG system and the sine-Gordon (SG) model, and investigate the phase structure of the gauge theory in terms of the SG model. Especially, the critical-line equation of the gauge theory in the strong-coupling and high-temperature region is obtained by calculating the one-loop effective potential of the SG model.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, REVTeX4, typos corrected, reference added; to appear in Phys.Rev.

Polymer field-effect transistors by a drawing method

We demonstrated the polymer field-effect transistors (FETs) utilizing regioregular poly(3-alkylthiophene)s (P3AT) films prepared by a drawing method. The P3AT film exhibited large optical dichroic ratio, which originated in the polymer backbones aligned to the drawing direction. In-plane anisotropy and enhancement of FET characteristics have been observed that are caused by molecular alignment. In the case of poly(3-dodecylthiophene), the hole mobility along the drawing direction was enhanced by a factor of 25 compared with that of spin-coated film

Carbon Deposition Assisting the Enhancement of Catalytic Activity with Time-on-Stream in the Dehydrogenation of Isobutane on NiO/Al2O3

In the transformation reaction of alkanes to alkenes via catalytic dehydrogenation, it is generally accepted that the so-called catalytic deactivation behavior will occur. This phenomenon causes a drastic reduction in activity with time-on-stream. It is understood that carbon deposition generated during the reaction then covers the surface of the catalyst, and this leads to a drastic decrease in activity. However, contrary to this common wisdom, our laboratory reported that the dehydrogenation of isobutane to isobutene on NiO/γ-Al2O3 within a specific range of NiO loading in the presence of CO2 actually improved the yield of isobutene with time-on-stream. Since few such cases have been reported, in this study, isobutane was dehydrogenated in the presence of CO2 using NiO/α-Al2O3 as the catalyst with 20% NiO loading and improvement was again observed. In order to investigate the cause of the improvement, both NiO/γ-Al2O3 and NiO/α-Al2O3 with 20% NiO loading were examined in detail following the reaction. According to TEM analysis, both catalysts were covered with a large amount of carbon deposition after the reaction, but there was a difference in the types. The carbon deposition on NiO/γ-Al2O3 had a fibrous nature while that on NiO/α-Al2O3 appeared to be a type of nanowire. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the carbonaceous crystal growth properties of two forms differed depending on the support. In particular, a catalytically active species of metallic nickel was formed in a high degree of dispersion in and on the above two forms of carbon deposition during the reaction, and this resulted in high activity even if the catalyst was covered with a carbon deposition

Polymer field-effect transistors by a drawing method

We demonstrated the polymer field-effect transistors (FETs) utilizing regioregular poly(3-alkylthiophene)s (P3AT) films prepared by a drawing method. The P3AT film exhibited large optical dichroic ratio, which originated in the polymer backbones aligned to the drawing direction. In-plane anisotropy and enhancement of FET characteristics have been observed that are caused by molecular alignment. In the case of poly(3-dodecylthiophene), the hole mobility along the drawing direction was enhanced by a factor of 25 compared with that of spin-coated film

Adenine-and-Uridine-rich element RNA-binding factor 1 (AUF1) as an additional marker in human gliomas

AUF1 is one of Adenine-and-Uridine-rich elements binding protein which regulates the mRNA stability of many genes related to growth regulation, cytokines, and cell cycle-regulatory genes. There was no report about the expression of AUF1 in gliomas. Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from 71 gliomas were stained immunohistochemically using a polyclonal antibody against the adenine-and-uridine-rich element RNA-Binding factor 1 (AUF1) oncoprotein. Positive staining, which is known to correlate with gene amplification, was not associated with patients\u27 sex, age, Karnofsky performance status scores (KPS), tumor size, Bcl-2 expression, or longer overall survival. However, positive staining was negatively correlated with the MIB-1 labeling index, while it was positively correlated with the lower grade group of WHO classification. Expression of the AUF1 oncoprotein appears to be an important additional indicator in human gliomas

Enhancement of Catalytic Activity Associated with Carbon Deposits Formed on NiO/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts during Direct Dehydrogenation of Isobutane

The dehydrogenation of isobutane in the presence of CO2 over NiO supported on γ-Al2O3 was examined. For comparison, Cr2O3 supported on γ-Al2O3 was also used. It is generally accepted that a catalyst used for the dehydrogenation of various alkanes will suffer catalyst deactivation due to the formation of carbon deposits. In the present study, the yield of isobutene was significantly decreased with time-on-stream due to carbon deposition when using Cr2O3(x)/γ-Al2O3, in which x indicates the loading of a corresponding oxide by weight %. However, carbon deposits also were evident on NiO(x)/γ-Al2O3, but the yield of isobutene was enhanced with time-on-stream depending on the loading (x). This indicates that the contribution of the carbon deposition in the dehydrogenation on NiO(x)/γ-Al2O3 definitely differed from that on an ordinary catalyst system such as Cr2O3(x)/γ-Al2O3. In order to confirm the advantageous effect that carbon deposition exerted on the yield of isobutene, NiO(x)/γ-Al2O3 was first treated with isobutane and then the catalytic activity was examined. As expected, it became clear that the carbon deposits formed during the pretreatment contributed to the enhancement of the yield of isobutene. The presence of a Ni-carbide species together with the metallic Ni that was converted from NiO during dehydrogenation definitely enhanced of the yield of isobutene. Although carbon deposition is generally recognized as the main cause of catalyst deactivation, the results of the present study reveal that carbon deposition is not necessarily the cause of this phenomenon