• Energy Research

Pion absorption is not well understood. Cross section data alone does not provide a complete description since the cross section tends to be sensitive only to the spin-independent terms in the transition amplitude. Polarization observables are thus necessary to complete the picture. In this experiment, analyzing powers for the reaction 7→Li(π+,pp)5He at Tπ = 165 MeV were measured at the Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland. The emitted protons were detected with the SUSI spectrometer at 38° in coincidence with an array of five scintillator telescopes centered around the quasi-free angle for absorption on a nucleon pair. Theoretical predictions were made using a Distorted Wave Impulse Approximation (DWIA) and assuming that the absorption occurs on deuteron-like nucleon pairs. The measured analyzing powers were found to be consistent with zero in complete disagreement with the DWIA predictions. The reason for the discrepancy may be attributed to the reaction mechanism and the nuclear structure input to the DWIA, indicating a need for a more microscopic calculation.

4 ".opj" files created and edited by OriginLab 2018 SR1, corresponding to the script of 4 figures in NST-2022-0094.R1.The Data calculated by ImQMD-shaw code. 4 ".opj" files created and edited by OriginLab 2018 SR1, corresponding to the script of 4 figures in NST-2022-0094.R1.The Data calculated by ImQMD-shaw code.

Most proteins spend the majority of their time in their folded native state. Adopting this conformation, however, involves passing through various partially folded forms, including transition states and potentially kinetic intermediates. Furthermore, even under conditions favoring the folded conformation, a protein will take excursions away from the native state, populating partially and fully unfolded conformations. All of these states together constitute the protein energy landscape, and exploration of this complete landscape is crucial for a complete understanding of protein folding behavior, as well as potentially function. This work discusses a variety of methods applied to various model proteins, elucidating novel details about the folding landscapes.Kinetic investigations were conducted with both T4 lysozyme and E. coli ribonuclease H (RNase H). The lysozyme study revealed a "hidden" unfolding intermediate in addition to the previously characterized folding intermediate, resolving a long-standing discrepancy between kinetic and native-state hydrogen exchange experiments. The RNase H study, on the other hand, focused on the nature of the transition state. This protein is known to fold through an intermediate, which has been investigated by various methods, including kinetic hydrogen exchange and kinetic analysis; however, the post-intermediate transition state had not previously been thoroughly investigated. The results from the study in this thesis suggest that the protein traverses the rate-limiting transition state through a highly localized nucleation-condensation process involving part of the protein that is unfolded in the kinetic intermediate.E. coli RNase H was further investigated using a novel technique called native-state thiol alkyl-proton exchange (NSSX), a method analogous to native-state hydrogen exchange that takes advantage of the unique reactivity of cysteine to monitor exchange at the side chain, rather than the amide position of the backbone that is the target of hydrogen exchange experiments. Initial studies indicated that the wild-type protein was not amenable for these studies, but introduction of a stabilizing mutation allowed for investigation of the folding landscape under native conditions, with probes exposed on the folded and unfolded sides of the rate-limiting barrier exchanging in different kinetic regimes. This kinetic partitioning allowed for identification and characterization of novel partially folded species on the native side of the barrier and revealed structural and kinetic data for probes that are only exposed on unfolded side of the barrier. Interestingly, some of the probes involved in the rate-limiting nucleation step, as identified in the kinetic analysis, are also shown to be structured in the transition state by the NSSX experiments. These in vitro studies are complemented by in vivo translational misincorporation experiments with two pairs of homologous proteins. A library of mutant tRNAs was developed for NSSX to introduce cysteines in the place of a given amino acid during translation; however, it was found that E. coli RNase H was refractory to the misincorporation method. A highly similar protein from a thermophilic organism, Thermus thermophilus, on the other hand, shows robust misincorporation. Similarly, E. coli phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) shows essentially no misincorporation, while yeast PGK misincorporates well. There is some in vitro evidence that those proteins that show significant misincorporate - T. thermophilus RNase H and yeast PGK - adopt partially folded conformations that are not accessible to their homologs. Therefore, it is plausible that misincorporation efficiency may report on the existence of partially folded forms in vivo; specifically, the absence of such conformations may result in degradation of the nascent chain on the ribosome, while adopting a protected conformation may allow for translation of the full-length misincorporated protein. While these results are preliminary and the hypothesis must be verified by further experiments, they provide an intriguing suggestion for a new in vivo probe of partially folded structure.

In this paper, I tried to consider "Sustainability for Society" based on renewable energy resources at the rural community. I've re-constituted the E. F. Schumacher's "Intermediate Technology" as a practical social theory. "Small is Beautiful; a study of economics as if people mattered"(1973) is the text book. At first, I showed the current condition of typical rural village in Japan, which was developed by modernity over 80 years. Second, I examined some internal problems inside technology and the results of joining the power of technology to human wants. In addition, I pointed out the essence of human nature, the system of production by the masses mobilized clear brains and skillful hands, the land where intermediate technologies are grown up together with E. F. Schumacher. At the result, I found that intra-constructing relationships between natural resource and social system through intermediate technologies, which can control and manage technologies for the purpose of social sustainability.

Student Number : 0000713F - PhD thesis - School of Physics - Faculty of Science ; The Doppler shift and the Doppler broadening of prompt gamma emissions were measured for some residues formed in the interaction of 33 A MeV 12C ions with a 63Cu target using the AFRODITE detector array at Faure, Cape Town. This is a potentially new technique to carry out nuclear interaction studies. Coincident gamma rays emitted by the residues are used in their identification. Detection at angles other than 90◦ with respect to the beam axis gives the magnitude of the mean Doppler shifts and the average linear momentum transfer. The Doppler broadening of the detected gamma lines at 90 ◦ with respect to the beam axis could give the residue recoil angular distribution. The precise shapes of the Doppler shifted and broadened gamma lines for each of the residues extracted, reveals the distribution, in magnitude and angle, of the momentum transferred in the interaction process. In addition, characteristic gamma energy transitions of each residue populated carry additional information on angular momentum (spin) transfer, production cross-section and nuclear excitation states. The measured residues show a unique distribution of momentum ranging from single nucleon transfer to complete damping of the projectile momentum. The measured observables are consistent with the existing data from other techniques, making the new technique viable option for studying nuclear interaction kinematics. A comparison of the experimental measurements with the predictions of the model developed in Milano 1 and GEANT4 calculations shows that the model developed in Milano model give a much better agreement compared to the GEANT4 calculations, attributed to the assumption of projectile break-up and re-emission process of some of the fragments during the first step of the nuclear interaction process.

Wind energy continues to grow as a valuable source of renewable energy due to the reduction in the levelized cost of energy over time. To achieve this growth, wind turbine sizes are growing beyond those predicted by conventional rotor designs. The increased turbine size allows for higher tower heights, accessing higher atmospheric wind speeds, and larger rotor diameters, allowing for more power capture. Such turbines are considered extreme-scale turbines (greater than 10 MW rated power) and consist of blades in excess of 100 meters in length. To reduce the gravitational loadings on blades of such sizes, the blades are designed to be lightweight which leads to highly flexible rotors as compared to conventional wind turbine blade designs. While computational methods have been developed and verified for conventional rotors, it is unknown if they are capable of capturing the dynamics of the highly-flexible, extreme-scale turbines. Experimental testing of the rotors can alleviate any uncertainties with simulations in fully understanding the interaction of gravitational, aerodynamic and elastic loads. While full-scale rotor testing is ideal to capture these dynamics, it can be prohibitively expensive in terms of both time and cost. Therefore, a sub-scaling method which captures the full-scale dynamics can prove beneficial to the development of novel extreme-scale designs. In this study, a method for sub-scaling these ‘extreme-scale’ rotors is developed, applied, and verified through three different sub-scale turbine model designs. The scaling methods are based on a gravo-aeroelastic scaling (GAS) method which ensures the gravitational, aerodynamic, and elastic interactions of the full-scale blades are captured at a fraction of the cost in terms of time to build and materials needed. The following study begins with outlining the requirements of a computationally ideally-scaled turbine and describing the desired results of a sub-scale model based upon an extreme-scale rotor. This leads to a 1% additively manufactured blade model utilizing a bio-inspired designs in order to maintain the defined scaling requirements and is verified through structural testing. Finally, this study concludes with a 20% scale manufactured model based on the gravo-aeroelastic scaling method for experimental testing at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Flatirons Campus. This model is then verified and compared against computational results for both parked and operational conditions.

Recently, we have reported the metabolic disturbance of carbohydrate in the liver which appears in septic shock due to peritonitis. The change of glycolytic intermediates and energy metabolism on rat liver, kidney and heart in septic shock was studied in this paper. Liver, kidney and heart tissues were collected 5 hours after induction of peritonitis by cecal incision in fasted male rats. These glycolytic intermediates and adenine nucleotides were assayed by UV-spectrophotometry. The results were summarized as follows; 1. Peritonitis rat group seemed to have coagulopathy and showed slight liver dysfunction and hypoglycemia in chemical blood analysis. 2. Plasma endotoxin concentration was 117.86±62.59ng/ml in the peritonitis rat group. 3. An anaerobic glycolysis increased in the peritonitis rat liver. It was speculated that phosphofructokinase, i. e. glycolytic key enzyme, was activated and fructose-1, 6-diphosphatase, i. e. gluconeogenetic key enzyme, was inhibited. These results suggest that metabolic failure of glucose in septic shock attributed not only to circulatory insufficiency like hemorrhagic shock but also additional reactions. 4. The glycolytic intermediates were not significant in the peritonitis rat kidney. But the energy charge level was significantly lowered compared to the control and it seems that these results were due to cellular hypoxia from a circulatory deficit. 5. The ATP and energy charge level were significantly elevated with increasing glycolysis, which indicated the coronary flow and mitochondrial function maintained in the peritonitis rat heart. They were different from the anoxic and ischemic heart.

Prototypes based on InAs/GaAs QDs have been manufactured in order to realize the theoretically predicted high efficiency intermediate band solar cells (IBSCs). Unfortunately, until now, these prototypes have not yet demonstrated the expected increase in efficiency when compared with reference samples without IB material. One of the main arguments explaining this performance is the weak photon absorption in the QD-IB material, arising from a low density of QDs. In this work, we have analyzed the absorption coefficient of the IB material by developing a sample in an optical wave-guided configuration. This configuration allows us to illuminate the QDs laterally, increasing the path length for photon absorption. Using a multi-section metal contact device design, we were able to measure an absorption coefficient of ∼100 cm−1 around the band edge (∼1 eV ) defined by the transition in InAs/GaAs QD-IB materials. This figure, and its influence on the IBSC concept, is analyzed for this system.