We have investigated the textural properties, electrochemical supercapacitances and vapor sensing performances of bamboo-derived nanoporous carbon materials (NCM). Bamboo, an abundant natural biomaterial, was chemically activated with phosphoric acid at 400 °C and the effect of impregnation ratio of phosphoric acid on the textural properties and electrochemical performances was systematically investigated. Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed the presence of various oxygen-containing surface functional groups (i.e. carboxyl, carboxylate, carbonyl and phenolic groups) in NCM. The prepared NCM are amorphous in nature and contain hierarchical micropores and mesopores. Surface areas and pore volumes were found in the range 218–1431 m2 g−1 and 0.26–1.26 cm3 g−1, respectively, and could be controlled by adjusting the impregnation ratio of phosphoric acid and bamboo cane powder. NCM exhibited electrical double-layer supercapacitor behavior giving a high specific capacitance of c.256 F g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1 together with high cyclic stability with capacitance retention of about 92.6% after 1000 cycles. Furthermore, NCM exhibited excellent vapor sensing performance with high sensitivity for non-aromatic chemicals such as acetic acid. The system would be useful to discriminate C1 and C2 alcohol (methanol and ethanol).

Vesicle and target membrane fusion involves tethering, docking and fusion. The GTPase SECRETORY4 (SEC4) positions the exocyst complex during vesicle membrane tethering, facilitating docking and fusion. Glycine max (soybean) Sec4 functions in the root during its defense against the parasitic nematode Heterodera glycines as it attempts to develop a multinucleate nurse cell (syncytium) serving to nourish the nematode over its 30-day life cycle. Results indicate that other tethering proteins are also important for defense. The G. max exocyst is encoded by 61 genes: 5 EXOC1 (Sec3), 2 EXOC2 (Sec5), 5 EXOC3 (Sec6), 2 EXOC4 (Sec8), 2 EXOC5 (Sec10) 6 EXOC6 (Sec15), 31 EXOC7 (Exo70) and 8 EXOC8 (Exo84) genes. At least one member of each gene family is expressed within the syncytium during the defense response. Syncytium-expressed exocyst genes function in defense while some are under transcriptional regulation by mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). The exocyst component EXOC7-H4-1 is not expressed within the syncytium but functions in defense and is under MAPK regulation. The tethering stage of vesicle transport has been demonstrated to play an important role in defense in the G. max-H. glycines pathosystem, with some of the spatially and temporally regulated exocyst components under transcriptional control by MAPKs.

Nanoporous activated carbons (AC) have been prepared from low-cost agro-waste corncob powder by phosphoric acid activation and investigated for their electrochemical supercapacitor and sensing properties. Surface areas and pore volumes are found in the range of 690–1288 m2 g−1 and 0.49–1.64 cm3 g−1, respectively and could be controlled by adjusting the weight ratio of corncob and phosphorous. The corncob-derived AC showed excellent electrochemical performance giving a maximum specific capacitance ca. 340.8 F g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1. At relatively a high scan rate of 100 mV s−1 the specific capacitance of 133.7 F g−1 was obtained. About 96% capacitance retention rate was achieved even after 1000 cycles demonstrating potential usages of the materials in high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. Furthermore, our AC showed excellent solvent vapor sensing performance with high selectivity for ammonia.

1] The composition of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) was determined by thermal analysis, whereby CCN and aerosol particles were heated to temperatures up to 500°C. The CCN were observed in the urban atmosphere of Nagoya and in the coastal atmosphere of Mikuni, Japan. Automobile exhaust particles were also analyzed to examine the contribution of anthropogenic organic materials to CCN. The thermal analytical behavior of CCN at Nagoya and Mikuni showed that more than 80% of the total number concentration of CCN evaporated at or below 300°C and the concentration of CCN remained almost constant between 300°and 500°C. Thermal curves for inorganic ions such as NH 4 + , NO 3 À , and SO 4 2À were similar to those for CCN, whereas the thermal curve of sea salt particles and total carbon (organic plus soot) particles were different from CCN. The results suggested that inorganic materials such as ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate contributed greatly to the CCN in the urban atmosphere and ammonium sulfate contributed considerably to the CCN in the coastal atmospheres. Anthropogenic organic materials, which evaporated below 300°C, contributed considerably to the CCN, whereas soot particles contributed hardly to the CCN.

[1] Aircraft observations were performed over the sea near the southwest islands of Japan under Asian Atmospheric Particulate Environmental Change Experiment 2/Asian Pacific Regional Aerosol Characterization Experiment (APEX-E2/ACE-Asia) project during the period of 16-28 April 2001. The polluted air mass from east Asia was associated with very high concentrations of SO 2 (1-10 ppb) and aerosol particles (3000-5000 cm À3 ) in the marine boundary layer. The cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration at 0.3% supersaturation was as high as 800-2000 cm À3 during the penetrations of air pollutants from east Asia. The correlation coefficient between SO 2 and aerosol particles was significant in such polluted atmosphere. Concentration of CCN (N CCN ) was linearly related to concentration of aerosol particles (N AP ) according to N CCN $ 0.75N AP . The ratio of CCN to aerosol condensation nuclei particle concentrations was lower than 0.3 in the relatively clean maritime atmosphere, but it was as high as $0.5 in the continentally influenced atmosphere in the boundary layer. These results indicated that the influence of anthropogenic pollutants from east Asia increased the contribution percentage of aerosol particles to CCN in the polluted atmosphere over the observation area. The observational results also indicated that a mean cloud droplet concentration (N C ) in the continentally influenced clouds was $2 times as much as N C in the relatively clean maritime clouds. The slope of log-log relationship between N C and N CCN was $0.39. This study strongly suggests that high CCN concentration formed many cloud droplets and decreased their effective radius at similar liquid water content under the outflow of air pollutants from east Asia.