To evaluate the effect of fluorescent lamps with a high red:far-red (R:FR) light on the potential photosynthesis of transplants, we investigated the photosynthetic light responses of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) seedlings grown under fluorescent lamps with high R:FR light (FLH) and compared them with the responses of the seedlings grown under metal-halide lamps (ML) that provided a spectrum similar to that of natural light and under a fluorescent lamp with low R:FR light (FLL). The seedlings were grown under FLH (R:FR = 7.0), ML (R:FR = 1.2), or FLL (R:FR = 1.1) at a photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of 350 μmol·m−2·s−1. The gross photosynthetic rate (Pg), quantum yield of photosystem II (ΦPSII), and photosynthetic electron transfer rate (ETR) of the foliage leaves were then evaluated at PPFDs ranging from 0 to 1000 μmol·m−2·s−1. The photosynthetic light response of FLH seedlings was similar to those of sun leaves, and the responses of ML and FLL seedlings were similar to those of shade leaves. The Pg, ETR, and ΦPSII of FLH seedlings at PPFD of 1000 μmol·m−2·s−1 was 1.38, 1.32, and 1.28 times, respectively, those of ML seedlings, and was 1.40, 1.23, and 1.22 times, respectively, those of FLL seedlings. The Pg was closely correlated with ETR in each treatment. FLH seedlings had thicker leaf and greater chlorophyll content per leaf area than ML and FLL seedlings. The greater Pg of FLH seedlings than in the other two groups of seedlings at high PPFD was probably the result of the improved ETR resulting from physiological and morphological changes in response to the high R:FR light.

Phase separation of binary blends composed of a polystyrene derivative (PS) and poly (vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) was experimentally induced by two different methods: heating and UV light irradiation. Using laser light scattering combined with the temperature jump (T-jump) technique, it was demonstrated that in the case of heating, the mixture undergoes phase separation via the nucleation-and-growth (NG) and the spinodal decomposition (SN) processes under shallow and deep quenches, respectively. Particularly, the crossover from the spinodal decomposition to the nucleation-and-growth process was observed at long time under a deep T-jump by light-scattering experiments. On the other hand, in the photo-crosslink case, the PS/PVME blends undergo a nucleation-and-growth process upon irradiation with weak light intensity, whereas the mixture exhibits the spinodal decomposition under irradiation with strong light intensity. From the analysis of the lightscattering data obtained for the blends under the photo-crosslink, the kinetic data reveal the suppression of morphologies having large characteristic length scales. This feature clearly differs from the phase separation induced by heating where no mode-suppression process was observed. It was also found that distribution of the characteristic length scales (the regularity) of the morphology becomes narrow as the phase separation proceeds for reacting blends, whereas it becomes broader as the phase separation proceeds by heating, revealing the important roles of reaction in the suppression of fluctuations with long wavelengths. These experimental results establish a method to control the length scales and the regularity of the morphology of polymer blends by chemical reaction.