Utsunomiya University

About: Utsunomiya University is a education organization based out in Utsunomiya, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Holography. The organization has 4139 authors who have published 6812 publications receiving 91975 citations. The organization is also known as: Utsunomiya daigaku.

Temperature Dependence of the Surface Phase Behavior and Micelle Formation of Some Nonionic Surfactants

Abstract: The surface phase behavior and micellar properties of two nonionic surfactants, namely, ethylene glycol mono n-dodecyl ether (EGDE) and ethylene glycol mono n-tetradecyl ether (EGTE), have been investigated at different temperatures. From the study of film balance and Brewster angle microscopy (BAM), it has been observed that both of the amphiphiles show a first-order phase transition indicating conspicuous cusp points in their respective adsorption isotherms. This is further confirmed by the observation of bright 2-D condensed domains at the solution surfaces just after the appearance of the cusp points in the adsorption isotherms. Each of the above amphiphiles has a definite temperature above which they cannot show any indicative feature of phase transition, even with solutions of concentration above the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the amphiphiles. These temperatures are found to be 23 and 37 °C for EGDE and EGTE, respectively. The CMC values of the amphiphiles increase with increasing tempe...

Short pulse laser interaction with micro-structured targets: simulations of laser absorption and ion acceleration

Abstract: The interaction of an ultrashort intense laser pulse with thin foil targets is accompanied by the acceleration of ions from the target surface. To make this ion source suitable for application, it is of particular importance to increase the efficiency of laser energy transformation into accelerated ions and the maximum ion energy. This can be achieved by using a thin foil target with a microscopic structure on the front, laser-irradiated surface. The influence of the microscopic structure on the target surface on the laser target interaction and subsequent ion acceleration is studied here using numerical simulations. The influence of the shape and size of the microstructure, the density profile and the laser pulse incidence angle is also studied. Based on the simulation results, we propose to construct the target for ion acceleration experiments by depositing a monolayer of polystyrene microspheres of a size similar to the laser wavelength on the front surface of a thin foil.

Dynamic control of plant water use using designed ABA receptor agonists

Abstract: Drought causes crop losses worldwide, and its impact is expected to increase as the world warms. This has motivated the development of small-molecule tools for mitigating the effects of drought on agriculture. We show here that current leads are limited by poor bioactivity in wheat, a widely grown staple crop, and in tomato. To address this limitation, we combined virtual screening, x-ray crystallography, and structure-guided design to develop opabactin (OP), an abscisic acid (ABA) mimic with up to an approximately sevenfold increase in receptor affinity relative to ABA and up to 10-fold greater activity in vivo. Studies in Arabidopsis thaliana reveal a role of the type III receptor PYRABACTIN RESISTANCE-LIKE 2 for the antitranspirant efficacy of OP. Thus, virtual screening and structure-guided optimization yielded newly discovered agonists for manipulating crop abiotic stress tolerance and water use.