The creep behavior of a commercial grade of Si 3 N 4 was studied at 1350°and 1400°C. Stresses ranged from 10 to 200 MPa in tension and from 30 to 300 MPa in compression. In tension, the creep rate increased linearly with stress at low stresses and exponentially at high stresses. By contrast, the creep rate in compression increased linearly with stress over the entire stress range. Although compressive and tensile data exhibited an Arrhenius dependence on temperature, the activation energies for creep in tension, 715.3 ؎ 22.9 kJ/mol, and compression, 489.2 ؎ 62.0 kJ/mol, were not the same. These differences in creep behavior suggests that mechanisms of creep in tension and compression are different. Creep in tension is controlled by the formation of cavities. The cavity volume fraction increased linearly with increased tensile creep strain with a slope of unity. A cavitation model of creep, developed for materials that contain a triple-junction network of second phase, rationalizes the observed creep behavior at high and low stresses. In compression, cavitation plays a less important role in the creep process. The volume fraction of cavities in compression was ϳ18% of that in tension at 1.8% axial strain and approached zero at strains <1%. The linear dependence of creep rate on applied stress is consistent with a model for compressive creep involving solution-precipitation of Si 3 N 4 . Although the tensile and compressive creep rates overlapped at the lowest stresses, cavity volume fraction measurements showed that solution-precipitation creep of Si 3 N 4 did not contribute substantially to the tensile creep rate. Instead, cavitation creep dominated at high and low stresses.

We demonstrate the possible application of the sandwich type surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) immunoassay using antigen-antibody binding for detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in cancer cells. In this sandwich type of SERS immunoassay, to capture antigens onto the immobilized layer of antibodies on the gold substrate we prepared the monolayer of gold nanoparticles on the APTMS-derivatized surface of a glass slide by using the SAM technique. This sandwich type of SERS immunoassay in which antigens on the substrate specifically capture antibodies on a Raman reporter (DSNB coated gold nanoparticles with R6G) could successfully detect PSA at low levels. A strong SERS spectrum of Raman reporter was observed only with a substrate in which PSA is present.

The effect of grain size on the tensile creep of silicon nitride was investigated on two materials, one containing 5% by volume Yb2O3, the other containing 5% by volume Yb2O3 and 0.5% by mass Al2O3. Annealing of the Al2O3‐free silicon nitride for a longer period during processing increased the grain size by a factor of 2. This increase did not affect the tensile creep rate; the grain size exponent of the creep rate differed little from zero, p=−0.20 ± 1.37 (95% confidence level). This finding supports the more recent theories of tensile creep for which p= 0 or −1 and rejects the more classical theory of solution‐precipitation. In compression, a more limited data set showed p=−1.89 ± 1.72 (95% confidence level). In contrast to the Al2O3‐free material, a longer term anneal of the Al2O3‐containing material during processing did not increase its grain size. Despite this, the longer‐annealed Al2O3‐containing material crept 10 to 100 times slower than the short‐annealed material. The enhancement of creep resistance may be a consequence of SiAlON formation during the additional annealing, which reduces the Al content in the amorphous phase and increases its viscosity. Such changes in chemical composition of the grain boundaries are more effective in controlling tensile creep rate than is the grain size.

[Purpose] Recent studies have shown that glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI)—which is a glycolysis interconversion enzyme—reduces oxidative stress. However, these studies are limited to tumors such as fibrosarcoma, and there are no studies that have examined the effects of exercise on GPI expression in mice skeletal muscle. Furthermore, GPI acts in an autocrine manner thorough its receptor, autocrine motility factor receptor (AMFR); therefore, we investigated expression level changes of secreted GPI from skeletal muscle in in vitro study to examine the potential role of GPI on skeletal muscle. [Methods] First, we performed an in vitro study, to identify the condition that upregulates GPI levels in skeletal muscle cells; we treated C2C12 muscle cells with an exercise-mimicking chemical, AICAR. AICAR treatment upregulated GPI expression level in C2C12 cell and its secretomes. To confirm the direct effect of GPI on skeletal muscle cells, we treated C2C12 cells with GPI recombinant protein. [Results] We found that GPI improved the viability of C2C12 cells. In the in vivo study, the exercise-treated mice group showed upregulated GPI expression in skeletal muscle. Based on the in vitro study results, we speculated that expression level of GPI in skeletal muscle might be associated with muscle function. We analyzed the association between GPI expression level and the grip strength of the all mice group. The mice group’s grip strengths were upregulated after 2 weeks of treadmill exercise, and GPI expression level positively correlated with the grip strength. [Conclusion] These results suggested that the exercise-induced GPI expression in skeletal muscle might have a positive effect on skeletal muscle function.