Pushing exercise program to correct glottal incompetence

A voice therapy program using pushing exercises to correct glottal incompetence is described. The program utilizes various types of instrumentation to determine whether or not a given patient is likely to benefit from the treatment. The program also provides feedback of target voices. Three cases with incomplete glottal closure and subsequent vocal dysphonia characterized by an asthenic breathy quality are used to illustrate the program. Details of the program, termination criteria, and problems and precautions learned from treating 29 patients over a 3-year period are presented.     

Chemical synthesis and application of C-terminally 5-carboxyfluorescein-labelled thymopentin as a fluorescent probe for thymopoietin receptor.

Thymopentin (TP5) is a synthetic pentapeptide fragment, which corresponds to position 32 - 36 of thymic polypeptide thymopoietin. Thymopoietin and TP5 display a variety of biological functions, including phenotypic differentiation of T cells and the regulation of immune systems. Previous chemical modification experiments suggested that there was an absolute requirement for N-terminal amino acids to maintain the biological activity of TP5. On the basis of this structure-activity relationship, we designed and synthesized the C-terminally 5-carboxyfluorescein-coupled TP5 (TP5-FAM) as a fluorescent probe for thymopoietin receptor. TP5-FAM could bind to the membrane of human lymphoid cell lines, MOLT-4 cells, in which the thymopoietin receptor is expressed. The binding is specific and saturable (K(d) = 33 microM). TP5 and human splenopentin are nearly equipotent inhibitors of TP5-FAM binding to the thymopoietin receptor, but porcine secretin did not show any significant inhibition of TP5-FAM binding to MOLT-4 cells. Thus, TP5-FAM is suggested to be a potent and biologically active ligand that would be useful for studying the binding and functional characteristics of the human thymopoietin receptor.     

Synthetic studies on oligomycins. Enantiospecific synthesis of the oligomycin B spiroketal portion and establishment of the absolute stereochemistry of oligomycin B

The enantiospecific synthesis of the oligomycin B degradation product 2, corresponding to the C19–C34 spiroketal portion, has been achieved by sequential coupling of the C19–C21, C22–C27, and C28–C34 subunits, establishing the absolute stereochemistry of oligomycin B.     

Relation between Hall-magnetohydrodynamics and the kinetic Alfvén wave

Effects of a finite ion temperature on the Hall magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which breaks down for a finite ion temperature, are clarified in terms of a rigorous three-field kinetic dispersion relation. The MHD mode equation becomes anisotropic with respect to the ion pressure because of the double adiabaticity in ion dynamics.     

Phase transition in dilute solution of poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) in dichloromethane at a low temperature

The dielectric constant of solutions of poly(γ-benzyl-L -glutamate) (PBLG) in dichloromethane shows a jump near 195°K, irrespective of frequency. Therefore, the discontinuity is not a dispersion phenomenon but a phase transition in the thermodynamic sense. The transition temperature is independent of the concentration in the range from 0.01 to 10% by weight, but it increases linearly with the logarithm of the molecular weight of PBLG. The height of the jump depends strongly on frequency, concentration, and molecular weight. The viscosity also changes abruptly at 195°K. These results suggest that the PBLG molecule forms a cluster like a liquid crystal or is in a random coil state below the transition point.     

Coupling of numerical Green''s matrix and boundary integral equations for the elastodynamic analysis of inhomogeneous bodies on an elastic half-space

A coupled system of integral equations (of the domain and boundary types) is formulated for the elastodynamic response analysis of a locally inhomogeneous body on a homogeneous elastic half-space. The method uses the fundamental solution for homogeneous elastostatics in the inhomogeneous domain owing to the lack of a fundamental solution in inhomogeneous elastodynamics.

The integral representation of displacements in the inhomogeneous domain is formulated with the help of this elastostatic fundamental solution by considering the term induced by the inhomogeneity of materials and the acceleration term as the body force term. Then the Green's matrix is obtained numerically from this integral representation and combined with the ordinary boundary integral equations, which are valid in the exterior homogeneous half-space.

Some numerical examples show the efficiency and the versatility of this coupled method.     

Film growth mechanism of photo-chemical vapor deposition

The photo-chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of SiO₂ and SiN _x were investigated using 185 nm light of a low pressure mercury lamp. The film thickness deposited on the substrate was the function of the distance from the substrate to the light source and its relation was investigated by changing the reaction pressure. From these investigations, the space migration length of the active species was estimated, which was, at the processing pressure of 400 Pa, 10–20 mm. This migration length was confirmed by a model calculation. The step coverage of the film was investigated by the use of a two-dimensional capillary cavity. It was shown that the thickness decayed exponentially with the depth in the cavity. The decay constant did not show temperature dependence. From this result, the surface migration of the active species produced by photo-CVD was reported. To confirm this migration we presented a substrate-size effect of photo-CVD, which became obvious when the substrate size became smaller than the space migration length of the active species. From these results, the film growth mechanism of photo-CVD was discussed.Main parts of this paper were presented at the Material Research Society Fall Meeting at Boston 1987