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Rising global temperatures are accelerating the rate of thaw in permafrost soils, resulting in losses of soil volume and shear strength. For tunneling in freezing climates, examination of tunnel structure interactions with permafrost is pertinent. This research analyzes a tunneling scenario in Anchorage, Alaska. A tunnel with precast concrete liner is created to serve as a mode of transportation underneath Elmendorf Air Force Base. Alaska is chosen due to the freezing temperatures that facilitate permafrost soil and its proximity to the Ring of Fire where seismic waves originate. Methodology entails gathering relevant soil properties of the Anchorage region to examine changes in displacement and stress of the tunnel. Static analysis using Finite Element Method (FEM) is performed using RS2 software by Rocscience for frozen and thawed conditions in pursuance of identifying the impacts of melting permafrost on tunnels.

The abnormal phosphorylations of tau, GSK3beta, and beta-catenin have been shown to perform a crucial function in the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The primary objective of the current study was to determine the manner in which overexpressed htau23 interacts and regulates the behavior and phosphorylation characteristics of tau, GSK3beta, and beta-catenin. In order to accomplish this, transgenic mice expressing neuron-specific enolase (NSE)-controlled human wild-type tau (NSE/htau23) were created. Transgenic mice evidenced the following: (i) tendency toward memory impairments at later stages, (ii) dramatic overexpression of the tau transgene, coupled with increased tau phosphorylation and paired helical filaments (PHFs), (iii) high levels of GSK3beta phosphorylation with advanced age, resulting in increases in the phosphorylations of tau and beta-catenin, (iv) an inhibitory effect of lithium on the phosphorylations of tau, GSK3beta, and beta-catenin, but not in the non-transgenic littermate group. Therefore, the overexpression of NSE/htau23 in the brains of transgenic mice induces abnormal phosphorylations of tau, GSK3beta, and beta-catenin, which are ultimately linked to neuronal degeneration in cases of AD. These transgenic mice are expected to prove useful for the development of new drugs for the treatment of AD.

To treat cutting oil wastewater produced in metal surface treatment industry, Ultrasonication (US)-Fenton process, which is one of the advanced oxidation processes, was used. The optimum conditions to treat non-biodegradable pollutants using the US-Fenton process were that the application rates of H2O2 and FeSO4 were 10% and 3 g/L, respectively, the value of pH was 3, and the ultrasonication time was 30 min. It identified non-degradable pollutants such as ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) and Triethanolamine (TEA) in the cutting oil wastewater. TLC analysis of two compounds of treated water by the coagulation process was similar to that of raw water. However, TLC analysis of two compounds of US-Fenton process was different from that of raw water, meaning that US-Fenton process decomposed the EDTA and TEA. To study the possibility of application with the US-Fenton process to pilot plant, the pollutants treatment efficiency of three different methods, such as US-Fenton process, activated sludge process and coagulation process, in continuous experiments were compared. The removal rate of pollutants by the US-Fenton process according to the effluent time was higher than any other processes. The removal rates of COD, SS, T-N and T-P by US-Fenton process were 98, 93, 75 and 95%, respectively.

This paper deals with a new surface modification technique of polymers, the so-called ion-assisted reaction (IAR) to improve the surface properties of polymers and provides outstanding experimental results regarding wettability and adhesion of various polymers. In the IAR, polymer surfaces were subjected to low energy ion irradiation at different dosage in reactive gas environment. Dramatic improvements in wettability and surface energy are observed for the IAR-treated polymer surfaces and can be explained by the addition of functional groups, responsible for the increase of polar component in surface energy. The formation of functional groups results from the interaction among ion, reactive gas and polymer chain involved in IAR treatment, depending on the reactive ion species, the flow rate of the reactive gas and the irradiating ion fluence. The improvement in adhesion between the IAR-treated polymers and coating materials was explained in terms of the increased surface energy as well as surface roughness in the polymers modified by the IAR and possible adhesion enhancement mechanism is to be discussed.

Endoglucanase A from Clostridium thermocellum which is resistant to pancreatic proteinase was selected out of numbers cellulases then were expressed in lactobacilli. Recombinant lactobacilli expression vector, pSD1, harboring the endoglucanase gene from C. thermocellum under the control of its own promoter, was constructed. Both L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum were electrotransformed with pSD1. The endoglucanase activities of 0.120 and 0.144 U/ml were found in culture media of L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum containing pSD1, respectively. In vitro survival characteristics of the transformed lactobacilli were tested. Both L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum showed a similar resistance to low pH 3. Moreover, L. plantarum was bile-salt resistant in the presence of 0.3 and 1% oxgall. L. bulgaricus and L. plantarum showed a rather homogenous resistant pattern against the tested antibiotics. Both of the strains were resistant to amikacin, gentamicin, streptomycin, kanamycin, and colistin.

Two major flavonols (FI and FII) in onion skin were isolated. According to the ultraviolet–visible absorption spectra, FI and FII fractions were thought to be 3,5,7,3′-OH and 3 (5),7,3′,4′-OH of flavonol, respectively. After acid hydrolysis of the two fractions, FI was found to consist of quercetin and glucose, but FII only contained quercetin. FI and FII were confirmed by fast atom bombardment as quercetin 4′-glucoside and quercetin, respectively. The FI and FII fractions exhibited potent radical scavenging activity against DPPH, superoxide anion (O2·-) , and hydroxyl (·OH) radicals.

Various organic and inorganic compounds at different concentrations were added to ground garlic as a means of controlling changes in color. Among the compounds tested, cysteine (C), ascorbic acid (A), sodium metabisulfite (S) and trisodium phosphate (P) were found effective in preventing a change in color towards greening. When these compounds were mixed at 0.1 M level, their binary mixtures (CS, AS, SP, AC) and ternary/quaternary mixtures (CAP, CAS, CSP, CASP) turned out to be even more effective for sustaining the original color values (L = 45, a = -2, b = 10) of ground garlic. Although the controlling effect was somewhat decreased with a reduction in mixture concentration from 0.1 to 0.03 M, the majority of mixtures (CS, SP, CAP, CAS, CSP and CASP) still maintained their effectiveness in color control.

We have performed 11B nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements to investigate vortex dynamics in the polycrystalline MgB 2 superconductor. 11B NMR spectrum, shift and transverse relaxation rate 1 / T 2 were measured down to 4.3 K at ∼ 1.8 T . The spectrum below T c exhibits a typical local field distribution for a vortex lattice under magnetic field. The peak point of the spectrum shifts toward low magnetic field due to incomplete field penetration. Below the irreversibility temperature T irr , 1 / T 2 data, probing the slow motion of vortices, shows a single peak with a small change of the rate, contrary to the results of nickel borocarbides. Also, the relaxation profile changes from Lorentzian decay below T c to Gaussian decay at lower temperature. It strongly suggests that thermal fluctuation of vortices is reduced at low temperature and the vortex motion is much weaker compared with nickel borocarbides.

All-optical flip-flops (AOFFs) using optical bistability of injection-locked Fabry-Perot laser diodes (FP-LDs) are demonstrated. To increase performance of the AOFF, single-mode FP-LDs are introduced. The single-mode FP-LD is used as an auxiliary beam source that sustains the state of AOFF or it is used as a state memory component itself to increase an on-off contrast ratio up to 35 dB.

We have performed 27Al and 55Mn nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on a single crystal of YMn4Al3 at 8 T. The 27Al NMR spectrum showed two sets of five satellites from two different Al sites. Based on the difference in NMR shift, linewidth and relaxation rates, two sets of NMR resonance peaks are assigned to the respective Al sites. The NMR shift and spin‐lattice and transverse relaxation rates, 1 T1 and 1 T2, were measured down to 4 K at 8 T. The shift and linewidth for the 27Al and 55Mn NMR followed the temperature dependence of the susceptibility, confirming that the hyperfine field from the Mn 3d spins dominates the local electronic structures at both the Al and Mn sites. The 1 T1 of the 27Al and 55Mn NMR rapidly decrease at low temperature, which is indicative of a gap opening.

We demonstrate experimentally an OB-ADM node for WDM ring network applications. Burst identifiers control add/drop multiplexing of 10- to 100-/spl mu/sec optical data bursts. Optical burst amplification and transmission at 9.953 Gbit/s are implemented in a 3-node testbed.

Summary form only given, as follows. Ion Assisted Reaction (IAR) is the unique surface modification technology, which could change almost all polymer surface into hydrophilic one. Recently, new application fields using IAR technology are developed, which are medical, electronic, and packaging applications. Firstly, there is Petri-dish for cell culturing as the medical application of IAR. From the results of PC12 cell culturing, the cells on IAR-treated polystyrene (PS) Petri-dishes remain and grow well, while for the groups of untreated Petri-dishes, after one day of seeding, most of the cells are not attached to the surface and a few cells survive. Secondly, IAR technology can be applicable to adhesiveless flexible copper clad laminate(FCCL) for electronic application. Adhesion between Cu layer and polyimide (PI) in adhesiveless FCCL is the most important property and need tobe improved. XPS analysis of the surface of PI treated by IAR shows that the hydrophilic groups are newly created, resulting in increasing the surface energy and the adhesion between overlayer and treated PI. Third application of IAR to describe in this paper is gas diffusion layer for flexible packaging. The adhesion and permeability are strongly depends on the structure of the interface between the polymer and the barrier. In addition, two types of mass production system using IAR modification are introduced in this paper, which are in-line continuous system and cassette feed-in system. Characteristics of these systems are discussed in terms of efficiency and productivity.

We have performed 27Al and 55Mn nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on a single crystal of YMn4Al3 at 8 T. 27Al NMR spectrum shows two sets of satellites from two different Al sites. Based on the difference in NMR shift, linewidth and relaxation rates, two sets of NMR resonance peaks were assigned to the respective Al sites. NMR shift and spin–lattice and transverse relaxation rates, 1 / T 1 and 1 / T 2 , were measured down to 4 K at 8 T. Shift and linewidth for 27Al and 55Mn NMR follow temperature dependence of the susceptibility, confirming that the hyperfine field from Mn 3d spins dominates local electronic structures at both Al and Mn sites.

Local field distribution in the mixed state of type II superconductors is numerically calculated and compared with 11 B NMR spectrum of YNi 2 B 2 C single crystal. We find that just small distortion of vortex positions severely distorts and broadens the line shape. Thus the NMR linewidth is susceptible to a small degree of vortex distortion. Also, since NMR signals are usually very weak due to significant line broadening in the vortex state, only a limited range of the full distribution around the saddle-point tends to be observed. Therefore, unless the characteristic edges of field distribution at the minimum field and the maximum field values are observed confirming that the full NMR line in the vortex state is securely measured, then analysis based only on the limited part of the full spectrum may lead to erroneous conclusions regarding vortex structure and dynamics.

63,65Cu NQR measurements have been performed on Zn and Ni doped YBCO (YBa2Cu3−xMxO7, MZn or Ni, x=0.0 ∼ 0.09). Distinctive differences due to the nonmagnetic Zn and the magnetic Ni dopants substituted for copper are compared microscopically based on the plane and the chain 63,65Cu NQR data. Both spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation rates decrease for Zn doped YBCO whereas they increase for Ni doped YBCO. From the isotopic ratio of 63,65Cu spin-lattice relaxation rate, a dominant relaxation mechanism is determined as a function of concentration and discussed in conjunction with magnetic moments of the dopants.