Charge disproportionation in the spin-liquid candidate κ − (ET)2Cu2(CN)3 at 6 K revealed by 63Cu NQR measurements

The spin-liquid candidate κ−(ET)2Cu2(CN)3 [ET: bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene] does not exhibit magnetic ordering down to a very low temperature, but shows a mysterious anomaly at 6 K. The origin of the so-called 6-K anomaly is still under debate. We carried out nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements on the copper sites of the insulating layers, which are sensitive to the charge dynamics unlike conventional spin-1/2 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The main finding of this Rapid Communication is that the observation of a sharp peak behavior in the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate T−11 of 63Cu NQR at 6 K while T−11 of both 13C and 1H NMR show no clear anomaly. This behavior can be understood as a second-order phase transition related to charge disproportionation in the ET layers

Gas Diffusivity and Thermal Properties of Compost-mixed Soils under Variable Water Saturation

Gas and heat transport through compostmixed landfill cover soils affect the emission of toxic gases and methane oxidization processes. In this study, we mixed soils with three different composts in the ratio of either 1:5 or 1:10 (compost:soil) to understand the effect of compost mixing for gas diffusivity and thermal properties. The gas diffusion coefficient (Dp), thermal conductivity ( ), and heat capacity (HC) were measured for soils, composts, and compost-mixed soils at different soil-water matric potentials ( ) starting from nearly saturated to = -10,000 cm H2O and dry conditions. Data were fitted to the Brooks-Corey soil-water retention curve model to estimate the bubbling pressure ( b). For all materials, Dp increased linearly with increased air content ( ), and the Penman-Call linear Dp( ) model with the model slope (C) and threshold soil-air content ( th) fitted the data well. The th values increased with increasing compost content, relating non-linearly to the Brooks-Corey b but highly linearly to the soil macroporosity. Analogous to the Dp( ) model, Penman-Call type linear ( ), and HC( ) models with slopes (C′ and C′′) and intercepts ( 0 and HC0, thermal conductivity and heat capacity at a volumetric water content of = 0) captured reasonably well the data measured from dry to wet conditions. The C′ for varied depending on the compost ratio and decreased with increasing compost ratio. The C′′ for HC, on the other hand, had less effect on the compost mix. The thermal properties under the dry condition, 0 and HC0, were well correlated to the volumetric solid content. The results from this study will be helpful towards designing compost-mixed landfill cover soils with optimal heat and gas transport characteristics

Effect of Cooling Rate on the Mechanical Strength of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastic Sheets in Press Forming

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the effect of the cooling rate of the carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) sheets on the mechanical property in the press forming within 1 min cycle time. In order to pay attention only to the compression stage after the deformation stage in press forming, a flat sheet of dimensions 200 mm × 100 mm × 3 mm was produced. It was fabricated by stacking 15 CFRTP sheets of 0.2-mm-thick plain woven fabric impregnated with PA6, preheating them to 280 °C and pressing them at 5 MPa using a die cooled from near the melting temperature of PA6 with various cooling rates. Cooling rate of −26 °C/s with pressure holding time (defined in this study as the period that the pressure sensor detects high pressure) of 7 s and that of −4.4 °C/s with pressure holding time of 18 s gave a flexural strength of 536 and 733 MPa, respectively. It was found that the cooling rate during pressure holding is related to the mechanical property of press-formed CFRTP part. © 2017 ASM InternationalEmbargo Period 12 month

Effect of press slide speed and stroke on cup forming using a plain-woven carbon fiber thermoplastic composite sheet

Carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) is viewed as a prospective material for high-cycle production of CFRP parts. This paper deals with a process whereby a preheated thermoplastic plain-woven carbon fiber fabric sheet is formed into a circular cup by a mechanical servo-press. The effects of press parameters, specifically the bottom dead center and slide speed in the forming of CFRTP cup, on the press load, pressure, internal temperature, shape accuracy, and internal structure have been investigated. A plain-woven carbon-fiber-reinforced PA6 thermoplastic sheet was used. The sheet consisted of four layers of woven 3K carbon and had a thickness of 1 mm. The sheet was heated to 320°C under a halogen heater so that it would be around the recommended temperature for forming 260°C after transfer to the mold. The sheet was pressed into a circular cup shape by a cold mold while the periphery was cramped by a heated holder so as not to cool the sheet before it was pulled into the mold cave. Die clearance was designed considering the thickness increase due to the fiber concentration during the forming. By increasing the slide stroke to the bottom dead center, the applied press load was increased and the internal structure was improved, showing no voids. By increasing the slide speed, the final press load was reduced and shape accuracy was improved through a good pressure distribution on the mold. Measurement of the surface temperature of the sheet during the forming revealed that it remained in the melting region of the resin in the case of fast slide speed, but dropped below the melting temperature in the case of low slide speed. This difference apparently led to spring-in or spring-back after the forming. The experimental results indicate that appropriate balance among press speed, bottom dead center, and sheet temperature is important in the high-cycle forming of CFRTP. © 2016, Fuji Technology Press. All rights reserved

Deficiency of the basic helix‐loop‐helix transcription factor DEC1 prevents obesity induced by a high‐fat diet in mice

Obesity is a major public health problem in developed countries resulting from increased food intake and decreased energy consumption and usually associated with abnormal lipid metabolism. Here, we show that DEC1, a basic helix‐loop‐helix transcription factor, plays an important role in the regulation of lipid consumption in mouse brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is the major site of thermogenesis. Homozygous Dec1 deletion attenuated high‐fat‐diet‐induced obesity, adipocyte hypertrophy, fat volume and hepatic steatosis. Furthermore, DEC1 deficiency increased body temperature during daytime and enhanced the expression of uncoupler protein 1, a key factor of thermogenesis, and various lipolysis‐related genes in interscapular BAT. In vitro experiments suggested that DEC1 suppresses the expression of various lipolysis‐related genes induced by the heterodimer of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ and retinoid X receptor α (RXRα) through direct binding to RXRα. These observations suggest that enhanced lipolysis in BAT caused by DEC1 deficiency leads to an increase in lipid consumption, thereby decreasing lipid accumulation in adipose tissues and the liver. Thus, DEC1 may serve as an energy‐saving factor that suppresses lipid consumption, which may be relevant to managing obesity.This work was supported by Grants‐in‐Aid for Science from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant numbers 22590223 and 2339042351)

Potentiation of 17 beta-estradiol synthesis in the brain and elongation of seizure latency through dietary supplementation with docosahexaenoic acid

Several studies have shown that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) attenuates epileptic seizures; however, the molecular mechanism by which it achieves this effect is still largely unknown. DHA stimulates the retinoid X receptor, which reportedly regulates the expression of cytochrome P450 aromatase (P450arom). This study aimed to clarify how DHA suppresses seizures, focusing on the regulation of 17β-estradiol synthesis in the brain. Dietary supplementation with DHA increased not only the expression of P450arom, but also 17β-estradiol in the cerebral cortex. While DHA did not affect the duration or scores of the seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole, DHA significantly prolonged the seizure latency. A P450arom inhibitor, letrozole, reduced 17β-estradiol levels and completely suppressed the elongation of seizure latency elicited by DHA. These results suggest that DHA delays the onset of seizures by promoting the synthesis of 17β-estradiol in the brain. DHA upregulated the expression of anti-oxidative enzymes in the cerebral cortex. The oxidation in the cerebral cortex induced by pentylenetetrazole was significantly attenuated by DHA, and letrozole completely inhibited this suppressive action. Thus, the anti-oxidative effects of 17β-estradiol may be involved in the prevention of seizures mediated by DHA. This study revealed that 17β-estradiol in the brain mediated the physiological actions of DHA.This work was partially supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, KAKENHI for Y.I., K.I. and T.Y. (Nos. 26740024, 26460139 and 25340047), a grant from the Mishima Kaiun Memorial Foundation for Y.I. and a grant from the SKYLARK Food Science Institute for Y.I. This work was also financially supported in part by Tokushima Bunri University. We thank Y. Kamihashi, Y. Utagawa, and K. Kojima for their technical assistance. We also acknowledge S. Smiley-Jewell and M. Paz Prada for editing the manuscript. This manuscript has been checked by a professional language editing service, American Journal Experts

Optimum back-pressure forging using servo die cushion

This study focused on utilizing a servo die cushion (in conjunction with a servo press) as a "back-pressure load generator," to determine its effect on shape accuracy of the formed part and total forming load in forward extrusion during cold forging. The effect of back-pressure load application was confirmed in experiments, and the optimum setting pattern of back-pressure load was considered to minimize both shape accuracy of the formed part and back-pressure energy, which was representative of forming energy using a sequential approximate optimization. The precise back-pressure load control by the servo die cushion enabled the ideal load-pattern setting for optimization to be achieved

Cloning of cDNA and genomic DNA for human cytochrome P-45011β

AbstractA full-length cDNA clone encoding steroid 11β-hydroxylase (P-45011β) has been isolated from a cDNA library derived from human adrenal tumor. The insert of the clone contains an open reading frame encoding a protein of 503 amino acid residues together with a 4 bp 5'-untranslated region and a 576 bp 3'-untranslated region to which a poly(A) tract is attached. The promoter region of the P-45011β gene has also been isolated from a genomic library derived from human pre-B cells. It contains a TATA box, a putative cAMP-responsive element, several repeated sequences and two sequence elements similar to the consensus sequence for binding of AP-1. A transient expression assay in Y-1 adrenal tumor cells demonstrates that the promoter activity is remarkably enhanced by treatment of the cells with cAMP. In addition, analysis using deletion mutants containing various lengths of the 5'-flanking region of the gene suggests that several cis-acting elements participate in transcriptional regulation of human P-45011β gene

日本の大学における英語アカデミックライティング教育の可能性と課題

Today, whether English's dominance as a global lingua franca benefits higher education, more and more universities around the world have made efforts to integrate English academic writing education into their institutional policies and strategies. This trend has been observed particularly against the background where, with the increased internationalization of higher education, the imperative for universities globally to focus on maintaining or improving their international reputation and rankings has grown significantly. Indeed, such prestige tends to be assessed largely in terms of publications in English. With this in mind, we are concerned with how higher education institutions address these efforts toward promoting English academic writing in a specific non-English L1 context, namely Japan. English academic writing in university contexts where English is an additional language exists where the fields of language education, higher education administration, research methodology, and cultural socialization converge. Therefore, this volume brings together scholarship that aims to examine the different ways in which academic writing education shapes and is shaped by students, faculty and other stakeholders in Japanese universities. This volume’s eight chapters, by authors with diverse backgrounds, ranging from administrators to researchers, and from humanities and social sciences to medical studies, explore the opportunities and challenges of English academic writing education in Japanese universities by looking at related topics, including writing centers, faculty members, genre-specific education, and technology development. Together, the discussions in the individual chapters can contribute profoundly to theory, policy, and practice in the domains of curriculum, research, and administration in university contexts.Introduction… Norifumi Miyokawa 1 Part I: A writing center in Japan: Hiroshima University Chapter One: Development of the Hiroshima University Writing Center －From an administrative perspective－… Hiroko Araki & Norifumi Miyokawa 3 Chapter Two: Perceptions of academic writing support －A needs analysis of the Hiroshima University Writing Center－… Roehl Sybing & Norifumi Miyokawa 17 Part II: Faculty development for academic writing Chapter Three: Potential roles of writing centers for writing related Faculty Development… Machi Sato & Shinichi Cho 31 Chapter Four: Academic writing support for faculty members －Writing Groups and Writing Retreats－… Adina Staicov 45 Part III: Genre-specific education: Cases in the medical field Chapter Five: How to write the Introduction of biomedical research articles －Move analysis of the first and last sentences－… Takeshi Kawamoto & Tatsuya Ishii 57 Chapter Six: Error analysis of overt lexicogrammatical errors in the prepublication English-language manuscripts of Japanese biomedical researchers －With implications for the teaching of writing for biomedical research –… Flaminia Miyamasu 67 Part IV: Theoretical and practical approaches to academic writing Chapter Seven: Language socialization and writing centers… Akiko Katayama 81 Chapter Eight: Socialization into integrity －Using plagiarism software to teach L2 writing－… Gavin Furukawa 95 Acknowledgements… Norifumi Miyokawa 10

Production system to form, cut, and join by using a press machine for continuous carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic sheets

To build a processing method for textile carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) sheets, a production system to form, cut, and join the sheets by using a mechanical servo press machine was developed and examined. The system\u27s problems were analyzed, and attempts were made to solve them through a series of processes. In press forming, the effects of sheet geometry, fiber orientation, and slide motion on the forming of the variant-cross-sectional-beam, which has a narrow and wide part, were investigated. In addition, the shear-cutting method was chosen trimming the unnecessary region of the variant-cross-sectional-beam. For the joining process, a thermal welding method that uses a heating-plate was chosen. The closed-sectional-beam was fabricated by thermally welding a pair of the variant-cross-sectional-beams. Finally, the potential of the production system for textile CFRTP sheets using the mechanical servo press machine was discussed. © 2016 The Authors Polymer Composites published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Plastics Engineers.Embargo Period 12 month