Binding TiO nanoparticles to forward osmosis membranes MEMO-PMMA-Br monomer chains for enhanced filtration and antifouling performance.

Forward osmosis (FO) has attracted increasing interest in various applications for water and wastewater treatment and reuse. However, drawbacks caused by its lower-than-expected flux performance and fouling issues remain bottlenecks that limit the wider applications of FO technology. In this research, titanium dioxide (TiO) nanoparticles were grafted onto two commercially available FO membranes, a cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane and an aquaporin (AqP) membrane, through a specially designed 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate-polymethyl methacrylate-bromide (MEMO-PMMA-Br) monomer chain, to improve the filtration performance with regard to pure water flux and organic fouling resistance.

Molecular dynamics simulation of potentiometric sensor response: the effect of biomolecules, surface morphology and surface charge.

The silica-water interface is critical to many modern technologies in chemical engineering and biosensing. One technology used commonly in biosensors, the potentiometric sensor, operates by measuring the changes in electric potential due to changes in the interfacial electric field. Predictive modelling of this response caused by surface binding of biomolecules remains highly challenging.

Photocurable ABA triblock copolymer-based ion gels utilizing photodimerization of coumarin.

Herein, we develop a photocurable ABA triblock copolymer-based ion gel, which can be converted from a thermally processable, physically crosslinked ion gel to a thermally and mechanically stable, chemically crosslinked ion gel photoinduced dimerization. The A block consists of a random copolymer of -isopropylacrylamide and a coumarin-containing acrylate monomer, while the B block consists of an ionic liquid-philic poly(ethylene oxide). Due to the upper critical solution temperature-type phase behavior of the A block, the ABA triblock copolymer undergoes gel-to-sol transitions in a hydrophobic ionic liquid as the temperature is increased.

Citric Acid Modulated Growth of Oriented Lead Perovskite Crystals for Efficient Solar Cells.

Solar cells made of lead perovskite crystals have attracted much attention for their high performance, but far less attention as a subject of crystal engineering. Here, we report that citric acid (CA) and chloride anion, working together, modulate crystal growth of CHNHPbI, producing sub-mm-sized cuboid crystals-a morphology more suitable for close packing in a thin film than the commonly observed elongated dodecahedral morphology. By using a 15 wt % CA-doped precursor solution, we formed a single layer of large, flat, and oriented cuboid crystals with minimum crystal domain boundaries and maximum contact with neighboring layers, and fabricated an archetypal inverted-structured device of 4 mm area, which showed, reproducibly and with little hysteresis, 16.

Different regulation of limb development by p63 transcript variants.

The apical ectodermal ridge (AER), located at the distal end of each limb bud, is a key signaling center which controls outgrowth and patterning of the proximal-distal axis of the limb through secretion of various molecules. Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), particularly Fgf8 and Fgf4, are representative molecules produced by AER cells, and essential to maintain the AER and cell proliferation in the underlying mesenchyme, meanwhile Jag2-Notch pathway negatively regulates the AER and limb development. p63, a transcription factor of the p53 family, is expressed in the AER and indispensable for limb formation.

Direct numerical simulation of gas-solid-liquid flows with capillary effects: An application to liquid bridge forces between spherical particles.

In this study, a numerical method is developed to perform the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of gas-solid-liquid flows involving capillary effects. The volume-of-fluid method employed to track the free surface and the immersed boundary method is adopted for the fluid-particle coupling in three-phase flows. This numerical method is able to fully resolve the hydrodynamic force and capillary force as well as the particle motions arising from complicated gas-solid-liquid interactions.

Construction of the Fused Pentacycle of Talatisamine via a Combination of Radical and Cationic Cyclizations.

The fused 6/7/5/6/6-membered (ABCDE) ring system of talatisamine was synthesized in 22 steps. After preparation of the AE-ring structure from 2-(ethoxycarbonyl)cyclohexanone, elaboration of the carboskeleton was realized by sequential additions of allyl magnesium bromide and the lithiated C-ring. The C11-bridgehead radical derived from the ACE-ring underwent the 7-endo cyclization with the enone moiety to form the B-ring in C10-stereoselective and C11-stereospecific manners.

Developing an instrument to self-evaluate the Discharge Planning of Ward Nurses.

Aims: To develop the Discharge Planning of Ward Nurses (DPWN), a Japanese self-evaluation instrument for ward nurses' discharge planning practices.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Methods: Participants were 624 ward nurses from six hospitals in Japan with a discharge planning department.

The experiences of husbands of primiparas with depressive or anxiety disorders during the perinatal period.

Objectives: During the perinatal period, husbands take the key role as essential supporter of wives with mental illness. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of husbands of primiparas with depressive or anxiety disorders.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used in the study.

Corticostriatal circuit mechanisms of value-based action selection: Implementation of reinforcement learning algorithms and beyond.

Value-based action selection has been suggested to be realized in the corticostriatal local circuits through competition among neural populations. In this article, we review theoretical and experimental studies that have constructed and verified this notion, and provide new perspectives on how the local-circuit selection mechanisms implement reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms and computations beyond them. The striatal neurons are mostly inhibitory, and lateral inhibition among them has been classically proposed to realize "Winner-Take-All (WTA)" selection of the maximum-valued action (i.

Population Code Dynamics in Categorical Perception.

Categorical perception is a ubiquitous function in sensory information processing, and is reported to have important influences on the recognition of presented and/or memorized stimuli. However, such complex interactions among categorical perception and other aspects of sensory processing have not been explained well in a unified manner. Here, we propose a recurrent neural network model to process categorical information of stimuli, which approximately realizes a hierarchical Bayesian estimation on stimuli.

Control of antiferromagnetic domain distribution via polarization-dependent optical annealing.

The absence of net magnetization inside antiferromagnetic domains has made the control of their spatial distribution quite challenging. Here we experimentally demonstrate an optical method for controlling antiferromagnetic domain distributions in MnF2. Reduced crystalline symmetry can couple an order parameter with non-conjugate external stimuli.

Systematic review of diplommatinid land snails (Caenogastropoda, Diplommatinidae) endemic to the Palau Islands. (3) Description of eight new species and two new subspecies of Hungerfordia.

Hungerfordia Beddome, 1889 is a land snail genus of the family Diplommatinidae, which shows extensive endemic radiation in the Palau (Belau) islands. Although 42 species or subspecies of the genus have been named to date, many species remain to be described. In this article, we describe ten new taxa of the genus: H.

Chemical Pathways Connecting Lead(II) Iodide and Perovskite via Polymeric Plumbate(II) Fiber.

Despite tremendous progress in optoelectronic devices using lead perovskite (CH3NH3(+)PbI3(-)), there has been a paucity of mechanistic information on how photoactive micron-sized crystals of lead perovskite grow from a mixture of a layered crystal of lead(II) iodide and methylammonium iodide mediated by a polar solvent, DMSO or DMF. We report here that the whole process of the lead perovskite synthesis consists of a series of equilibria driven by reversible solvent participation involving a polymeric strip of plumbate(II) oligomer as a key intermediate. A significant finding includes quick decomposition of perovskite crystal upon exposure to DMSO or DMF at room temperature, where the solvent molecules act as a base to remove acidic ammonium iodide from the perovskite crystal.

Development of waist circumference percentiles for Japanese children and an examination of their screening utility for childhood metabolic syndrome: a population-based cross-sectional study.

Background: In Japan, waist circumference (WC) percentiles to screen for childhood metabolic syndrome (MetS) are unavailable. The objectives of this study were to develop WC and WC-to-height ratio (WC/Ht) percentile curves by age and sex for Japanese children, and to test their utility in screening for MetS in children with obesity who are otherwise healthy.

Methods: The WC and WC/Ht percentiles were developed using the LMS method of summarizing growth standards, which monitors changing skewness (L), medians (M), and coefficients of variation (S) in childhood distributions.

Multigene panel analysis identified germline mutations of DNA repair genes in breast and ovarian cancer.

Approximately 5-10% of all breast and/or ovarian cancer cases are considered as inherited. BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumor suppressor genes account for a high penetrance of hereditary cases, but familial cases without mutations in these genes can also occur. Despite their low penetrance, other hereditary cancer-related genes are known to be associated with breast and ovarian cancer risk.

Rod-to-Globule Transition of pDNA/PEG-Poly(l-Lysine) Polyplex Micelles Induced by a Collapsed Balance Between DNA Rigidity and PEG Crowdedness.

The role of poly(ethylene-glycol) (PEG) in rod-shaped polyplex micelle structures, having a characteristic core of folded plasmid DNA (pDNA) and a shell of tethered PEG chains, is investigated using PEG-detachable polyplex micelles. Rod shapes undergo change to compacted globule shapes by removal of PEG from polyplex micelles prepared from block copolymer with acid-labile linkage between PEG and poly(l-lysine) (PLys) through exposure to acidic milieu. This structural change supports the previous investigation on the rod shapes that PEG shell prevents the DNA structure from being globule shaped as the most favored structure in minimizing surface area.

Systematic review of diplommatinid land snails (Caenogastropoda, Diplommatinidae) endemic to the Palau Islands. (2) Taxonomic revision of Hungerfordia species with low axial ribs.

Hungerfordia Beddome, 1889 is a terrestrial caenogastropod genus of the family Diplommatinidae endemic to the Palau (Belau) islands. Hungerfordia is radiated within the Palau islands and exhibits substantial morphological diversity. In this paper, the taxonomy of Hungerfordia species with low axial ribs is revised.

Intraventricular cerebrospinal fluid temperature analysis using MR diffusion-weighted imaging thermometry in Parkinson's disease patients, multiple system atrophy patients, and healthy subjects.

Purpose: We examined the temperature of the intraventricular cerebrospinal fluid (Tv) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and those with multiple system atrophy (MSA) in comparison with healthy subjects, and we examined normal changes in this temperature with aging.

Methods: Tv was estimated by magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) thermometry in 36 PD patients (19 males, 17 females), 34 MSA patients (17 males, 17 females), 64 age-matched controls (27 men, 37 women), and 114 all-age adult controls (47 men, 67 women; 28-89 years old). The volume of lateral ventricles was also estimated using FreeSurfer in all subjects.

Macroscopic Evidence for the Hibernating Behavior of Materials Stock.

Hibernating stock is defined as material stock that is no longer used, but is not yet recovered. Although hibernating stock plays a role in materials recoverability, its contribution to the overall material cycle is not clearly understood. Therefore, an analysis of the time-series potential generation of steel scrap in Japan was performed and compared against the actual recovery, proving that the steel scrap recovered each year exceeds the annual generation potential and providing the first macroscopic evidence of hibernating stock recovery.

Locomotion pattern and trunk musculoskeletal architecture among Urodela.

We comparatively examined the trunk musculature and prezygapophyseal angle of mid-trunk vertebra in eight urodele species with different locomotive modes (aquatic , , and ; semi-aquatic ; and terrestrial , and ). We found that the more terrestrial species were characterized by larger dorsal and abdominal muscle weight ratios compared with those of the more aquatic species, whereas muscle ratios of the lateral hypaxial musculature were larger in the more aquatic species. The lateral hypaxial muscles were thicker in the more aquatic species, whereas the was more differentiated in the more terrestrial species.

Autoimmune neutropenia preceding Helicobacter pylori-negative MALT lymphoma with nodal dissemination.

Autoimmune neutropenia (AIN), resulting from granulocyte-specific autoantibodies, is much less frequent than other autoimmune hematologic disorders including autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). These autoimmune disorders may precede, synchronize, or follow collagen disorders, viral infections, and lymphoid neoplasms. Herein we present the first case of AIN in association with Helicobacter pylori-negative mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma with nodal dissemination.

Estimation of intakes of copper, zinc, and manganese in Japanese adults using 16-day semi-weighed diet records.

Data for the intake of copper, zinc, and manganese in Japanese populations obtained by detailed diet assessment methods and the most recent version of the food composition database in Japan are scarce. Moreover, data on food sources which contribute to the intake of these nutrients in Asian countries, including Japan, are not available. Here, we estimated copper, zinc, and manganese intake and elucidated major food sources of these nutrients in a Japanese population.

Facile estimation of catalytic activity and selectivities in copolymerization of propylene oxide with carbon dioxide mediated by metal complexes with planar tetradentate ligand.

Mechanistic studies were conducted to estimate (1) catalytic activity for PPC, (2) PPC/CPC selectivity, and (3) PPC/PPO selectivity for the metal-catalyzed copolymerization of propylene oxide with carbon dioxide [PPC: poly(propylene carbonate); CPC = cyclic propylene carbonate; PPO: poly(propylene oxide)]. Density functional theory (DFT) studies demonstrated that the ΔG(crb) - ΔG(epx) value should be an effective indicator for the catalytic activities [ΔG(epx): dissociation energy of ethylene oxide from the epoxide-coordinating metal complex; ΔG(crb): dissociation energy of methyl carbonate from the metal-carbonate complex]. In addition, metal complexes with a subthreshold ΔG(epx) value were found to show low PPC/CPC selectivity.

New constraint on the existence of the μ+ → e+ γ decay.

The analysis of a combined data set, totaling 3.6 × 10(14) stopped muons on target, in the search for the lepton flavor violating decay μ(+) → e(+)γ is presented. The data collected by the MEG experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institut show no excess of events compared to background expectations and yield a new upper limit on the branching ratio of this decay of 5.