Dose-dependent inhibition of ultrasound-induced cell killing and free radical production by carbon dioxide

Previous studies have shown that if a solution for cell suspension is saturated with CO(2), ultrasound-induced in vitro cell killing and free-radical production are inhibited. However, the dose dependency of this observation has not been explored. Here, we used NaHCO(3) and HCl to produce a predictable concentration of CO(2) within the culture medium. Using 1 MHz continuous wave 4 W/cm(2) ultrasound, we sonicated U937 cells suspension for 1 min at 37 degrees C with CO(2) at different concentrations. At 2 mM, reduced cell killing was observed that further decreased with increasing CO(2) concentration until 100% protection was attained at 20 mM. Ultrasound-induced free-radical production was significantly decreased at 1 mM and became undetectable at 2 mM CO(2). This finding shows that CO(2)-mediated inhibition is concentration dependent and that the threshold for free-radical production is one order of magnitude higher than the threshold for cell killing induced by ultrasound. In addition, it also cautions researchers when adding acids and acid-based agents to a culture medium, which almost always contains NaHCO(3), in experiments related to the bioeffects of ultrasound.     

Performance Test of CW 300?GHz Gyrotron FU CW I

A 300 GHz CW gyrotron FU CW I has been developed and installed in the Research Center for Development of Far-Infrared Region, University of Fukui as a power source of a high frequency material processing system. Its performance was tested and the maximum power of 1.75 kW / CW has been attained at the beam voltage of 15 kV and the beam current of 1A. The maximum window power efficiency of 15.5% has been obtained at the cathode voltage slightly lower than 15 kV. This gyrotron is designed to deliver a Gaussian beam after mode conversion from the oscillation mode TE_22,8 in the cavity with a complex of an internal radiator and beam shaping mirrors. The detailed measurement with an infrared camera has confirmed that a Gaussian beam is radiated when the magnetic field strength B _c at the cavity is adjusted at a proper value. However, within a range of B _c , the output power is emerged into multiple directions, which suggests simultaneous oscillation of competing cavity modes.     

Anomalous thermochromic transition of poly(di‐n‐octylsilane)

The thermochromic behavior of poly(di‐n‐octylsilane) {[Si(C₈H₁₇)₂]_n; PDOS} was studied by ultraviolet (UV) absorption, differential scanning calorimetry, and X‐ray diffraction measurements. The structure of PDOS in the low‐temperature phase strongly depended on not only the temperature but also the rate of cooling, that is, the thermal history. Temperature‐dependent UV absorption spectra were highly dependent on thermal hysteresis. Cooled rapidly (10 K/min), PDOS showed two absorption peaks at 3.32 and 3.51 eV in low‐temperature‐ordered phases, whereas a single absorption peak at 3.32 eV became predominant with slow cooling (0.3 K/min). The appearance of the two peaks at low temperatures suggested that a mixture of different conformations was introduced by rapid cooling. A fiber diffraction pattern measured at 240 K after rapid cooling also showed evidence of the existence of novel conformation. A temperature‐dependent powder X‐ray diffraction pattern changed significantly between 270 and 280 K. Rapid cooling reduced the intensity of the X‐ray diffraction peak in this temperature region. This intensity change was explained by the conformational mixture in the polymer. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 39: 1085–1092, 2001     

Liquid scintillation measurement of40K for the education on radioactivity

Liquid scintillation counting of⁴⁰K in ordinary potassium propionate is a highly suitable experimental task in the general education on radioactivity. The counting efficiency is about 90%, depending little on the measurement conditions. Potassium propionate is of suitable properties and can be easily obtained commercially or by conversion from other compounds. The result of counting, about 1,700 cpm/g, is highly impressive to many students, indicating the existence of⁴⁰K radioactivity unexpectedly high in the normal nature, and can be used for the exercise of calculating our internal radiation exposure.     

Yellow luminescence from precipitates in GaN epilayers

In this work, the excimer-laser-induced crystallization of a-Si films on SiO₂ was investigated using a long-pulse-duration (200 ns) XeCl source. The microstructural analysis of the laser-irradiated area, for incident energy densities comprised between the thresholds corresponding to the surface and full melting, respectively, of the Si layer, was performed by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. A super-lateral-growth regime was evidenced quite comparable to that which occurs when classical excimer laser pulses of short duration (≈20 ns) are used. A numerical simulation of the surface melt dynamics was also performed and compared to the experimental observations. Received: 8 February 1999 / Accepted: 15 February 1999 / Published online: 5 May 1999     

1,21‐Henicosanediol

In the molecular structure of the title compound, C₂₁H₄₄O₂, the hydro­carbon skeleton has an all‐trans conformation. One of the terminal hydroxyl groups is also trans with respect to the skeleton, while the other is gauche. In the crystal structure, the mol­ecules lie parallel to the b axis, forming layers with a thickness of b/2. The packing is similar to that in the smectic A phase of liquid crystals. These features are similar to those of the homologues with an odd number of C atoms, but different from those with an even number.     

A note on chordal bound graphs and posets

We study relations between induced subgraphs and (n,m)-subposets. Using properties of (n,m)-subposets, we consider a characterization of chordal double bound graphs in terms of forbidden subposets. Furthermore, we deal with properties of a poset whose double bound graph is isomorphic to its upper bound graph or its comparability graph, etc.     

An improvement of discrete Tardos fingerprinting codes

It has been proven that the code lengths of Tardos’s collusion-secure fingerprinting codes are of theoretically minimal order with respect to the number of adversarial users (pirates). However, the code lengths can be further reduced as some preceding studies have revealed. In this article we improve a recent discrete variant of Tardos’s codes, and give a security proof of our codes under an assumption weaker than the original Marking Assumption. Our analysis shows that our codes have significantly shorter lengths than Tardos’s codes. For example, when c = 8, our code length is about 4.94% of Tardos’s code in a practical setting and about 4.62% in a certain limit case. Our code lengths for large c are asymptotically about 5.35% of Tardos’s codes. A part of this work was presented at 17th Applied Algebra, Algebraic Algorithms, and Error Correcting Codes (AAECC-17), Bangalore, India, December 16–20, 2007.