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The reliability of neutron resonance thermometry was discussed based on measurements of neutrons transmitted through tantalum (0.1 mm thick) and tungsten (1 mm thick) indicators at 26, 96, 189, and 285 degrees Celsius using the energy-resolved neutron imaging system, RADEN, at the Japan Proton Accelerator Complex (J-PARC). The intensity of transmitted neutrons at the sides of resonance dips were found to decrease with increasing temperature. Sensitivity coefficients to convert this decrease to temperature were derived, and two-dimensional distributions of the decreasing rates, being proportional to the temperature distribution, were obtained. The reliability of estimated temperature was calculated as a function of temporal and spatial resolution assuming that the dominant factor of the reliability was the uncertainty in the neutron counts. The authors set a target of neutron resonance thermometry for practical applications, and found a required efficiency of the neutron detector for resonance thermometry.

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to investigate the spheroidization of cementite in pearlite upon annealing. Globally averaged information on the shape and size of cementite particles was collected by using the SANS profile analysis of 0.8 mass pct C pearlitic steel (0.8C) samples annealed at 973 K (700 °C) for 3.6 to 86.4 ks. The change in the total area of the ferrite–cementite interface or aspect ratio determined by ex situ SANS exhibits excellent correspondence with scanning electron microscopy observations. Then, in situ SANS data were collected during isothermal annealing of the 0.8C steel and the commercially available 0.45C carbon steel (JIS-S45C). The shape change of the cementite plate was monitored, and the spheroidization rate of the 0.8C steel was found to be faster than that of the 0.45C steel.

Energy-resolved neutron imaging at a pulsed source utilizes the energy-dependent neutron transmission, measured via time-of-flight, to extract quantitative information on the internal microstructure of an object in situ. These techniques, however, are currently limited by the count-rate capability of available imaging detector systems, resulting in long measurement times and reduced spatial resolution. At RADEN, we are building on our previous detector development work to provide nearly three times improvement in rate performance of our micro-pixel chamber based neutron imaging detector $(_{\mu }$ NID) by changing from 3 He to a boron-based neutron converter and optimizing the shape for a much reduced event size and maximized detection efficiency. We are also designing a new micro-pattern readout element with an additional readout axis to facilitate clean event separation under high-rate conditions. Proof-of-principle testing at RADEN of the $_{\mu }$ NID with a flat, $1.2{\mu }m$ thick $^{10}B$ conversion layer confirmed a spatial resolution of 0.45 to 0.5 mm and indicated an improvement in rate capacity up to 22 Mcps or more. Once the boron converter is optimized for detection efficiency, this detector will help to unlock the full potential of these energyresolved neutron imaging techniques at pulsed sources.

The behavior of hydrogen in an ultrafine-grained electrodeposited pure iron with Lankford (r) value larger than 7.0 was studied by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). Nano-sized inhomogeneity consisting of hydrogen bubble exists in the deposited specimen. The bubble size increases a little by 673 K annealing and then all the bubbles disappear after 973 K annealing. With rolling at room temperature (RT), the bubble size and number density are found to decrease, which must be caused by the change in the status of hydrogen location during plastic deformation. Crystal rotation and grain coalescence are revealed to occur after rolling deformation from electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) results.

We examine here the electropolymerization of electrochemically or chemically preoxidized catecholamines in glucose oxidase (GOx)-containing neutral solutions to efficiently immobilize the enzyme at Prussian blue-modified Au electrodes for sensitive amperometric biosensing of glucose. The electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) was used to track various electrode-modification processes. The optimized poly(dopamine)-based glucose biosensor displayed a sensitivity of 35 mu A mM(-1) cm(-2) and a limit of detection of 0.3 mu M at 0.7 V vs. SCE, and similar results were obtained at -0.05 V vs. SCE, which are obviously better than those from preoxidation-free conventional electropolymerization. The immobilized Cox retained high enzymatic specific activity, as quantified by UV-vis spectrophotometry and EQCM. L-Noradrenalin could similarly electropolymerize and the resultant enzyme film gave equivalent biosensing characteristics, but the electropolymerization of EP was less efficient and the resultant enzyme film showed notably poorer performance. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) technique was utilized to monitor in situ the adsorption of glucose oxidase (GOD) and the mixture of GOD and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) onto Au electrodes with and without modification of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) or SDBS/MWCNTs composite, and the relationship between enzymatic specific activity (ESA) and direct electrochemistry of the immobilized GOD was quantitatively evaluated for the first time. Compared with the bare gold electrode at which a little GOD was adsorbed and the direct electrochemistry of the adsorbed GOD was negligible, the amount and electroactivity of adsorbed GOD were greatly enhanced when the GOD was mixed with SDBS and then adsorbed onto the SDBS/MWCNTs modified Au electrode. However, the ESA of the adsorbed GOD was fiercely decreased to only 16.1% of the value obtained on the bare gold electrode, and the portion of adsorbed GOD showing electrochemical activity exhibited very low enzymatic activity, demonstrating that the electroactivity and ESA of immobilized GOD responded oppositely to the presence of MWCNTs and SDBS. The ESA results obtained from the EQCM method were well supported by conventional UV-vis spectrophotometry. The direct electrochemistry of redox proteins including enzymes as a function of their biological activities is an important concern in biotechnology, and this work may have presented a new and useful protocol to quantitatively evaluate both the electroactivity and ESA of trace immobilized enzymes, which is expected to find wider applications in biocatalysis and biosensing fields.

Electrochemical quartz crystal impedance (QCI) technique was utilized to monitor in situ the adsorption of rutin (RT) onto a carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-modified gold electrode and to study the binding process of solution hemoglobin (Hb) to RT immobilized on the electrode. Time courses of the QCI parameters including crystal resonant frequency were simultaneously obtained during the RT adsorption and Hb-RT binding. In contrast to the negligible RT adsorption at a bare gold electrode, the modification by CNTs notably enhanced the amount of adsorption, and almost all of the adsorbed RT molecules were found to be electroactive. On the basis of the frequency response from the binding of adsorbed RT to solution Hb and the diminished electroactivity of adsorbed RT after the formation of the electrochemically inactive RT-Hb adduct, the average binding molar ratio of adsorbed RT to Hb was estimated to be 23.9:1, and the association constant (Ka) for the binding was estimated to be 2.87 x 106 (frequency) and 3.92 x 106 (charge) L mol-1, respectively. Comparable results were obtained from fluorescence quenching measurements in mixed solutions containing RT of fixed concentration and Hb of varying concentrations, demonstrating that the interfacial RT here behaved equivalently in the RT-Hb binding activity compared to that in solution. This work may have presented a new and general protocol involving CNTs to study many other electroactive natural antioxidants or drugs that are at the interface or in solution, their binding with proteins or other biomolecules, and changes of their antioxidant activity after the binding.

We report for the first time the effective catalytic electrooxidation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) on the pencil 8B-scrawled gold electrode of an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). The EQCM allowed us to quantitatively evaluate the catalytic activity of the pencil-scrawled Au electrode. With increasing the mass of modified pencil powders, the peak potential for NADH oxidation shifted negatively, with maximum shift of −0.35 V at saturated pencil modification; the NADH-oxidation peak current density (jp) was also notably increased, and the jp at saturated pencil modification was found to be larger than those at conventional pencil 8B and bare Au electrodes. Sensitive amperometric detection of NADH was achieved at the gold electrode with saturated pencil modification, with low detection potential (0.4 V versus SCE), low detection limit (0.08 μmol L−1) and wide linear range (0.2–710 μmol L−1). The fluoroelectrochemical measurements of NADH at bare and pencil-modified gold electrodes were also conducted with satisfactory results. The convenient and low-cost modification of pencil powders on the Au electrode may have presented a new functional surface of the EQCM, which is recommended for wider applications to bioelectrochemical studies, especially in view of the EQCM's capability of providing abundant in situ information in relevant processes.

In this work, the anion exchange resin (AER) was modified with a layer of glucose oxidase (GOD) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA), respectively, via layer-by-layer electrostatic self-assembling strategy. The PDDA and GOD modified AER (PDDA/GOD/AER) was then packed into a home-made amperometric cell for flow injection analysis (FIA) of glucose. This design simplified the setup by integrating the enzyme reactor into the amperometric cell. And the AER in the cell behaved bifunctional, it was not only the support of enzymes, but also an anti-interference tool due to its retention effect toward ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA). A platinum modified porous titanium (Pt/PTi) electrode was utilized in the cell as the working electrode (WE), due to its large effective surface area it could increase the response by 8.3 times as compared with the planar pure platinum electrode. The proposed biosensor was very sensitive (22.4 microA cm(-2) mM(-1)) in glucose quantification, and the linear range was from 1 micromol L(-1) to 2 mmol L(-1) with the detection limit of 0.8 micromol L(-1). The biosensor was used for serum glucose determination, and the result obtained was satisfying. This work may have provided a reference design of the amperometric cell which could be adopted in other enzymatic-FIA biosensors.

We report a random disruption in the mouse genome that resulted in lethal paralysis in homozygous newborns. The disruption blocked expression of neurobeachin, a protein containing a BEACH (beigeandChediak-Higashi) domain implicated in synaptic vesicle trafficking and an AKAP (A-kinase anchor protein) domain linked to localization of cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity.nbea-null mice demonstrated a complete block of evoked synaptic transmission at neuromuscular junctions, whereas nerve conduction, synaptic structure, and spontaneous synaptic vesicle release were completely normal. These findings support an essential role for neurobeachin in evoked neurotransmitter release at neuromuscular junctions and suggest that it plays an important role in synaptic transmission.