Chemical and genetic diversity of Ligularia virgaurea collected in northern Sichuan and adjacent areas of China. Isolation of 13 new compounds

Root chemicals and DNA sequences were analyzed for Ligularia virgaurea collected in the northern Sichuan Province and adjacent areas of China. Thirty-eight samples were found to contain five chemotypes, two known and three new ones. From samples of the new chemotypes, 13 new compounds were isolated, including 3 sesquiterpene dimers and some rearranged eremophilanes. The DNA sequences suggested that the chemotype differentiation had a genetic origin.     

Color removal method considering perceived lightness

Optical Review - A novel color removal method for digital color images is proposed. In this method, differences of colors in an input color image are reflected effectively, and the perceived...     

Observation of the fast potential change at L-H transition by a heavy-ion-beam probe on JFT-2M

The fast potential change near the separatrix is measured directly at the L-H transition by a heavy-ion-beam probe. The potential changes with two different time scales at the L-H transition triggered by a sawtooth crash: it drops at first with the time scale of 10--100 mus just after the arrival of the heat pulse due to the sawtooth crash. Then, it decreases again at a few 100 mus after the first drop at a time scale of about 200 mus.     

Achievement of a 920-MHz high resolution NMR

We have developed a 920-MHz NMR system and performed the proton NMR measurement of H(2)O and ethylbenzene using the superconducting magnet operating at 21.6 T (920 MHz for proton), which is the highest field produced by a superconducting NMR magnet in the persistent mode. From the NMR measurements, it is verified that both homogeneity and stability of the magnet have a specification sufficient for a high resolution NMR.     

Dynamic analysis of a beam under a moving force: A double Laplace transform solution

The response problem of a simply supported and damped Bernoulli-Euler uniform beam of finite length traversed by a constant force moving at a uniform speed is solved by applying the double Laplace transformation with respect both to time and to the length co-ordinate along the beam. This leads to obtaining the sum of the Fourier series which represents the forced vibration part of the transient response in closed form. The solution thus obtained is effective for computing beam stresses. It is also shown that the forced vibration part can be expanded in a double power series, and that the coefficients of the series at the point of application of the moving force can be readily obtained by making use of Bernoulli polynomials. As a numerical example, simple approximate formulae obtained from the series are used to compute the forced vibration parts of the deflection and the beam stresses at the mid-span of the beam when a moving load is exactly at the mid-point of the beam, and their truncation errors are calculated.     

A fluorimetric determination of lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase in blood plasma

A fluorimetric assay for lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase in human plasma (normal and pathological) is described. The lowered cholesterol concentration in the enzyme reaction is determined fluorimetrically by using the cholesterol oxidase—peroxidase —tyramine system. The assay requires only 10 μl of plasma.     

Thin-layer chromatographic separation of rhodium(III) and iridium(III, IV) by anion exchange

Summary The TLC behaviour of Rh(III), Ir(III) and Ir(IV) has been investigated in the two systems consisting of DEAE-cellulose or ECTEOLA-cellulose and 5 M HCl media containing H₂O₂. These systems, especially in combination with a simple chemical pretreatment of samples (with LiCl, HCl and H₂O₂), can effectively be applied to the complete separation of mixtures of Rh(III) and Ir(III) or Ir(IV) in a wide range of ratios and amounts (Rh: Ir=1100 to 1001).

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Dünnschicht-chromatographische Trennung von Rhodium(III) und Iridium(III, IV) durch Anionenaustausch

Zusammenfassung Das dünnschicht-chromatographische Verhalten von Rh(III), Ir(III) und Ir(IV) wurde in H₂O₂-haltiger 5 M salzsaurer Lösung auf DEAE-sowie ECTEOLA-Cellulose untersucht. In Kombination mit einer einfachen chemischen Vorbehandlung der Probe (mit LiCl, HCl, H₂O₂) kann eine wirkungsvolle Trennung von Rh(III) und Ir(III) oder Ir(IV) über einen weiten Konzentrationsbereich erzielt werden (Rh: Ir=1100 bis 1001).

     

Stability of charged metal clusters in the vicinity of an ionic charge

Stability of highly charged metal clusters in the electric field of an external ion is investigated with the classical liquid drop model. We study the optimum shape of the cluster which has a local minimum of the total energy, taking account of the effects of the surface charge polarization on the Coulomb energy and the cluster deformation on the surface energy. We find that the cluster deformation greatly affects the total energy of the system and that a cluster with a fissility larger than some critical value 0.7-0.8 can become unstable against deformation. We investigate the local competition between the Coulomb force and the surface tension at the cluster surface and show that the surface charge polarization which is induced by the external electric field significantly affects the shape of the cluster and its stability. Received 5 November 2002 / Received in final form 27 January 2003 Published online 11 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: hamada@konan-u.ac.jp     

Robustness to head misalignment of virtual sound imaging systems

When binaural sound signals are presented with two loudspeakers, the listener's ears are required to be in the relatively small region which is under control of the system. Misalignment of the head results in inaccurate synthesis of the binaural signals. Consequently, directional information associated with the acoustic signals is inaccurately reproduced. When the two loudspeakers are placed close together, the spatial rate of change of the generated sound field is much smaller than that generated by two loudspeakers spaced apart. Therefore, the performance of such a system is expected to be more robust to misalignment of the listener's head. Robustness of performance is investigated here with respect to head displacement in three translational and three rotational directions. A comparison is given between systems consisting of two loudspeakers either placed close together or spaced apart. The extent of effective control with head displacement and the resulting deterioration in directional information is investigated in the temporal and spectral domain by analyzing synthesized binaural signals. Subjective localization experiments are performed for cases in which notable differences in performance are expected from the previous analysis. It is shown that the system comprising two loudspeakers that are close together is very robust to misalignment of the listener's head.     

Rotational Analyses of Several Infrared Bands of NH(2)Cl

The high-resolution absorption spectra of several infrared bands of NH(2)Cl molecule have been observed and analyzed. Rotational lines of amino wagging and scissoring fundamental bands are split by about 0.2 cm(-1) through the amino inversion motion. The shape of the inversion potential and the barrier height are considered by comparing the results of the experimental observations and an ab initio MO calculation. The amino twisting band of amine molecule has been observed for the first time in the gas phase. The intensity of the transition seems to be induced through a Coriolis interaction with the intense amino wagging band. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.