Anisotropic friction model of DNA electrophoresis in polymer solutions: Comparison with direct observations

The electrophoresis of DNA chains in uncrosslinked polymer solutions with a Brownian dynamics simulation with an anisotropic friction tensor was analyzed. According to the degree of anisotropy, three types of migration behavior are obtained: fluctuation without or with periodicity between U‐shaped and compact conformations, or migration with linear conformation. We found good agreement between our simulation results and the direct observations of DNA by fluorescence microscopy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1316–1322, 2003     

Direct observation of chemical oscillation at a water/nitrobenzene interface with a sodium-alkyl-sulfate system.

The oscillation of the interfacial tension and electrical potential at a water/nitrobenzene interface was observed with homologous anionic surfactant molecules, sodium-alkyl-sulfates. Concerning small molecules with a short hydrophobic carbon chain, the oscillation period and amplitude decreased with a decrease of the length of the alkyl chain. On the other hand, when surfactant molecules with a long hydrophobic carbon chain were used, no remarkable periodic oscillation occurred after the first oscillation. In all systems, an interfacial flow by Marangoni convection was observed when the oscillation took place. By monitoring the movement of carbon powder scattered on the liquid/liquid interface with a CCD camera, we could observe that the liquid/liquid interface expanded outward from the area on which the surfactant molecules adsorbed when the oscillation occurred. When the small molecule was used, the speed of expansion of the interface (flow speed) was small and shrinkage followed by expansion of the interface repeatedly occurred. However, when the large molecule was used, the flow speed was large and expansion occurred only one time. These results show that hydrodynamic factors and surface activities are important in chemical oscillation systems.     

Effect of Hydrolysis Conditions on the Direct Formation of Nanoparticles of Ceria–Zirconia Solid Solutions from Acidic Aqueous Solutions

The effect of the cation concentration, hydrolysis temperature, and composition in the CeO₂–ZrO₂ system on the direct precipitation of ceria–zirconia solid solutions and the structure of the precipitates from acidic aqueous solutions of (NH₄)₂Ce(NO₃)₆ and ZrOCl₂ by hydrolysis under hydrothermal conditions were investigated. Nanometer-sized (8–10 nm) ceria–zirconia solid solution particles in a composition range of 0 to 60 mol% ZrO₂ were directly precipitated from the solutions with total metal cation concentration less than 0.2 mol/dm³ by simultaneous thermal hydrolysis at 150–240°C. The crystalline phase of the precipitates gradually changed from cubic and/or tetragonal to monoclinic with increasing the cation concentration of the solution from 0.2 to 0.8 mol/dm³ at the starting composition of 50 mol% ZrO₂ under hydrolysis condition of 150°C for 48 h, which was attributed to decrease in the supply of hydrolyzed Ce component caused by decrease in the hydrolysis ratio of (NH₄)₂Ce(NO₃)₆. Ceria–zirconia solid solutions containing large amount of ZrO₂ maintained high specific surface area and small-sized crystallite after heat-treatment at 900–1000°C for 1 h.     

Arithmetic Hodge Structure and Nonvanishing of the Cycle Class of 0-Cycles

We construct 0-cycles on a self-product of a curve whose cycle classes are linearly independent in the extension group of arithmetic Hodge structure. This is an extended version of Theorem 4.5 of Asakura's contribution to CMR Lecture Notes Ser. 24 ((2000), pp. 133–154).     

Pseudo cyclic ionophores: ‘Binary-effect’ of quinolinyloxy groups at both ends of oligoethylene glycols on the conformational stabilization of their complexes with alkali metal salts

A series of noncyclic neutral ionophores has been synthesized by the reaction of oligoethylene glycol dihalides with 8-quinolinol. Complexation properties for alkali metal picrates were evaluated from solvent extraction and bulk liquid membrane transport experiments. Complexation profiles of the newly synthesized ionophores with a hexyl chain were similar to those of their homologues without the hexyl chain in the extraction experiments. Among them, the pentaethylene glycol derivatives showed the highest extraction efficiency and selectivity towards potassium ion. From the¹H NMR spectra (400 MHz), the change in chemical shifts of the aromatic protons upon the addition of alkali metal thiocyanates suggested the existence of a stabilization effect which is caused by intramolecular stacking conformations between the quinoline rings during complexation. Aryl stacking interactions depend on the size of the cations and on the chain length of the oligoethylene glycol. The relationship between transport ability towards alkali metal cations and lipophilicity of these ionophores is also discussed.     

Synthesis of spherical and hemispherical sugar‐containing poly(ornithine) dendrimers

A novel sugar‐containing poly(ornithine) dendrimer is synthesized for possible antigen delivery and related applications. The dendrimer contains an ornithine dendron as interior scaffolding and oligosaccharides on the periphery, which provide an attachment site for a peptide antigen. Maltose or lactose is bound to both hemispherical and spherical poly(ornithine) dendrimer generation 3 (G3) by reductive amination between its reducing end and the peripheral amino group of the dendrimer using a borane‐pyridine complex in a buffer solution at 50 °C. The degree of substitution of sugar is changed by varying the molar ratio of sugar to dendrimer. When the surface of spherical poly(ornithine) dendrimer G3 is modified by binding β‐alanine to the 16 amino groups, highly substituted maltose‐ or lactose‐β‐alanine‐poly(ornithine) dendrimer G3 is obtained in high yield after 7 days of reaction. The structures of these sugar‐containing dendrimers are characterized by NMR and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry analyses. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 1400–1414, 2004     

Strain analysis of Si by FEM and energy-filtering CBED.

Lattice strains around a platelet oxygen precipitate in Si wafer is studied by energy filtering convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) and calculations based on the finite element method (FEM). Local lattice strains are measured from CBD patterns obtained with a probe size less than 2 nm in a specimen thicker than 450 nm. Strains measured are compressive along a direction normal to a plate of the precipitation and tensile along a direction parallel to the plate. Two-dimensional stress fields near the precipitate are obtained with FEM computer analyses by fitting the measured strains. It appears that shear stresses are concentrated at the end of the precipitate edge and the maximum shear stress at an interface between the precipitate and the Si-matrix is 1.9 GPa. It is demonstrated that a combination of the energy filtering CBED and FEM is very useful for the study of local strains near interfaces in semiconductor devices, in particular for the study of stress fields that are too steep for application of the conventional CBED technique.     

Studies on the antitumor-promoting activity of naturally occurring substances. II. Inhibition of tumor-promoter-enhanced phospholipid metabolism by umbelliferous materials

Ninety-five extracts prepared from 14 kinds of Umbelliferous materials were studied to determine their effects on tumor-promoter-induced phenomena in vitro. Of the materials, 5 Chinese crude drugs, two Bai-Hua Qian-Hu classified as Q-I and Q-II types, the root of Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn., Zi-Hua Qian-Hu, the root of P. decursivum Maxim., Tang-Bai-Zhi, the root of Angelica dahurica Benth, et Hook. var. pai-chi Kimura, Hata et Yen., Dang-Gui, the root of A. acutiloba Kitagawa and 2 Umbelliferous plants, ashita-ba. A. keiskei Koidz., and ama-nyuu, A. edulis Miyabe, showed potent inhibitory effects on 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-stimulated 32Pi incorporation into phospholipids of cultured cells. From the active fraction of the crude drug "Tang-Bai-Zhi," imperation (1), isoimperatoin (2), oxypeucedanin (3), pabulenol (4), neobyakangelicol (5) and byakangelicin (6) were identified as active or inactive principles. Compound 4 had not previously been isolated from Tang-Bai-Zhi, A. dahurica var. pai-chi. We also discuss the structure-activity relationship among the above 6 kinds of linear-type furanocoumarins, together with 3 kinds of antitumor-promoter coumarins having the same skeleton, psoralen (7), bergapten (8) and xanthotoxin (9), obtained from "ashita-ba" (eaten as a vegetable in Japan). Among the compounds in the present experiment, compounds 1 and 2 showed potent inhibitory activity at the concentration of 50 micrograms/ml and 3-9 were found to have less or no activity.