Analysis method of the angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitory activity based on micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method was developed for estimating the angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity by separating the hippuric acid liberated in the ACE reaction mixture in the presence of an inhibitor, captopril. The hippuric acid was successfully separated and detected by MEKC with a 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate solution in a 25 mM phosphate-50 mM borate buffer at pH 7.0; the total analysis took about 5 min. A good linear relationship was observed between the inhibitor and the peak area of hippuric acid release. No significant difference in the ACE inhibitory activity (IC50) of captopril (an antihypertensive medicine) or autolyzed-mushrooms (functional foods) was observed between the conventional method and the MEKC method. The MEKC method was found to be a useful technique for a rapid assay of the ACE inhibitory activity.     

Preparation of benzoylchitosans and their chiroptical properties in dilute solutions

Two benzoyl substituted chitosan derivatives, 3,6‐O‐dibenzoylchitosan (DBC) and 2‐N‐3,6‐O‐tribenzoylchitosan (TBC), were prepared, and their optical activities in organic solvent were investigated by circular dichroism (CD). For TBC, two splitting bands (a negative one at 288 nm and a positive one at 274 nm) corresponding to the ¹L_b transition of the benzoyl group were observed in chloroform and dichloromethane, while only a negative CD band was recorded in N, N‐dimethylformamide (DMF). These results indicated that the transition moments of benzoyl groups were orderly arranged along the helical polymer chain when TBC was dissolved in a solvent with low polarity, but the same ordered structure did not appear in a polar solvent of DMF. For DBC, only negative CD signals corresponding to the ¹L_b transition of the benzoyl group were observed, regardless of the solvent property, which indicated that the chromophores were not arranged in an ordered fashion with appropriate geometry to interact with one another to induce bi‐signate CD signals. Adding methanol or DMF to the solution of TBC/chloroform resulted in a progressive decrease of the intensity of the positive split band at 274 nm. The intensity of the positive band was weakened upon heating a solution of TBC/chloroform from 20 to 60 °C. The results suggested that the ordered arrangement of the chromophores in the TBC system was dependent on solvent and sensitive to temperature. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4107–4115, 2004     

Buchsbaum homogeneous algebras with minimal multiplicity

In this paper we first give a lower bound on multiplicities for Buchsbaum homogeneous k-algebras A in terms of the dimension d, the codimension c, the initial degree q, and the length of the local cohomology modules of A. Next, we introduce the notion of Buchsbaum k-algebras with minimal multiplicity of degree q, and give several characterizations for those rings. In particular, we will show that those algebras have linear free resolutions. Further, we will give many examples of those algebras.     

Composition spread metal thin film fabrication technique based on ion beam sputter deposition

A composition spread metal thin film fabrication technique based on ion beam sputter deposition method was developed. The technique enables us to fabricate any desired part or a complete binary/ternary composition spread metal thin films onto a single substrate by sequentially sputtering different target materials. Composition spread metal thin films can be deposited directly on a dielectric film in patterned electrode shape for C-V and I-V measurements. The system could be especially useful in the search for new multi-component metal gate materials.     

Schottky metal library for ZNO-based UV photodiode fabricated by the combinatorial ion beam-assisted deposition

A binary alloy Schottky barrier diode on zinc oxide (ZnO) was developed using the combinatorial ion beam-assisted deposition system. The compositional fraction of the binary alloy was continuously varied using the composition-spread technique, to control the Schottky barrier height. After metal deposition, patterned Schottky diodes were fabricated on a ZnO single-crystal substrate. Pt-Ru alloy was selected from the work function viewpoint. Our experiments showed that the compositional fraction of the Schottky binary alloys changed continuously as designed and the Schottky barrier heights measured by current-voltage (I-V) measurements increased with increasing Pt content. Maximum barrier height difference for ZnO was 137 meV. Using ion beam deposition in parallel with the combinatorial system showed that the Schottky barrier heights for ZnO can be controlled by binary metal alloying.     

Peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence detection of condensates of malondialdehyde with thiobarbituric acids using a flow system.

The peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence(CL) detection method for the evaluation of the CL intensity of malondialdehyde(MDA) condensates with seven 2-thiobarbituric acid derivatives is described. The method consists of a flow injection technique together with a CL detection system using bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate(TCPO) and hydrogen peroxide as chemiluminogenic reagents. Linear correlations between CL intensity and concentration are obtained for pmol levels of condensates. Among the condensates, 1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid(DETBA)-MDA shows the largest CL intensity. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/CL detection of DETBA-MDA and 1,3-diphenyl-2-thiobarbituric acid(DPTBA)-MDA using a mixture of TCPO and hydrogen peroxide in acetonitrile as a postcolumn reagent solution is also described. The detection limits for DETBA-MDA and DPTBA-MDA are 20 and 200 fmol, respectively, per 20 microL injection at a signal-to-noise ratio of 2. This HPLC/CL detection system was applied to the determination of MDA in rat brains by using DETBA as a fluorescent derivatizing reagent.     

Application of Automatic Chromatic Dispersion Compensation for Realization of All-Optical Network

We have studied the algorithm for the automatic chromatic dispersion compensation using bit error rate (BER) and Q-factor optimization for realization of dynamically reconfigurable all-optical network. We have made sure good performance using the compensation system by laboratory experiments.     

ICTS measurements for p-GaN Schottky contacts

High-temperature isothermal capacitance transient spectroscopy (H-ICTS) measurements were conducted to characterize near mid-gap defects, which are the origin of the memory effect in Ni/p-GaN Schottky contacts. A large single peak was detected only under the forward bias conditions. This indicates that the defects were located in the vicinity of the interface. The change of the peak height and position of the ICTS curves under various bias conditions were qualitatively interpreted by the distribution of the defects and the current flow effect.