National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

About: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology is a government organization based out in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Thin film. The organization has 22114 authors who have published 65856 publications receiving 1669827 citations. The organization is also known as: Sangyō Gijutsu Sōgō Kenkyū-sho.

The NAC Transcription Factors NST1 and NST2 of Arabidopsis Regulate Secondary Wall Thickenings and Are Required for Anther Dehiscence

Abstract: In plants, secondary wall thickenings play important roles in various biological processes, although the factors regulating these processes remain to be characterized. We show that expression of chimeric repressors derived from NAC SECONDARY WALL THICKENING PROMOTING FACTOR1 (NST1) and NST2 in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in an anther dehiscence defect due to loss of secondary wall thickening in anther endothecium. Plants with double, but not single, T-DNA-tagged lines for NST1 and NST2 had the same anther-indehiscent phenotype as transgenic plants that expressed the individual chimeric repressors, indicating that NST1 and NST2 are redundant in regulating secondary wall thickening in anther walls. The activity of the NST2 promoter was particularly strong in anther tissue, while that of the NST1 promoter was detected in various tissues in which lignified secondary walls develop. Ectopic expression of NST1 or NST2 induced ectopic thickening of secondary walls in various aboveground tissues. Epidermal cells with ectopic thickening of secondary walls had structural features similar to those of tracheary elements. However, among genes involved in the differentiation of tracheary elements, only those related to secondary wall synthesis were clearly upregulated. None of the genes involved in programmed cell death were similarly affected. Our results suggest NAC transcription factors as possible regulators of secondary wall thickening in various tissues.

Brønsted acid-base ionic liquids as proton-conducting nonaqueous electrolytes

Abstract: A new series of Bronsted acid−base ionic liquids were derived from the controlled combination of a monoprotonic acid with an organic base under solvent-free conditions. Appropriate amounts of solid bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (HTFSI) and solid imidazole (Im) were mixed at various molar ratios to have compositions varying from an equimolar salt to HTFSI- or Im-rich conditions. The mixture at equivalent molar ratio formed a protic neutral salt with a melting point of 73 °C, which was thermally stable at temperatures even above 300 °C. The melting points of other compositions were lower than those of the equimolar salt and Im or HTFSI, giving eutectics between the equimolar salt and HTFSI or Im. Some of the compositions with certain molar ratios of Im and HTFSI were liquid at room temperature. For Im excess compositions, the conductivity was found to increase with increasing Im mole fraction, and the 1H NMR chemical shift of the proton attached to the nitrogen atom of Im was shifted to a lower magneti...

Scaffold Design for Tissue Engineering

Abstract: Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising alternative approach in the treatment of malfunctioning or lost organs. In this approach, a temporary scaffold is needed to serve as an adhesive substrate for the implanted cells and a physical support to guide the formation of the new organs. In addition to facilitating cell adhesion, promoting cell growth, and allowing the retention of differentiated cell functions, the scaffold should be biocompatible, biodegradable, highly porous with a large surface/volume ratio, mechanically strong, and malleable. A number of three-dimensional porous scaffolds fabricated from various kinds of biodegradable materials have been developed. This paper reviews some of the advances in scaffold design focusing on the hybrid scaffolds recently developed in the authors' laboratory.

Interfacial phase-change memory

Abstract: Phase-change memory technology relies on the electrical and optical properties of certain materials changing substantially when the atomic structure of the material is altered by heating1 or some other excitation process2,3,4,5. For example, switching the composite Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) alloy from its covalently bonded amorphous phase to its resonantly bonded metastable cubic crystalline phase decreases the resistivity by three orders of magnitude6, and also increases reflectivity across the visible spectrum7,8. Moreover, phase-change memory based on GST is scalable9,10,11, and is therefore a candidate to replace Flash memory for non-volatile data storage applications. The energy needed to switch between the two phases depends on the intrinsic properties of the phase-change material and the device architecture; this energy is usually supplied by laser or electrical pulses1,6. The switching energy for GST can be reduced by limiting the movement of the atoms to a single dimension, thus substantially reducing the entropic losses associated with the phase-change process12,13. In particular, aligning the c-axis of a hexagonal Sb2Te3 layer and the 〈111〉 direction of a cubic GeTe layer in a superlattice structure creates a material in which Ge atoms can switch between octahedral sites and lower-coordination sites at the interface of the superlattice layers. Here we demonstrate GeTe/Sb2Te3 interfacial phase-change memory (IPCM) data storage devices with reduced switching energies, improved write-erase cycle lifetimes and faster switching speeds. Limiting the movement of Ge atoms to one dimension improves the performance of data-storage devices based on the Ge–Sb–Te material system.