Enzyme immunoassay of thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH).

A sensitive and specific double-antibody enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for a thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH)-like immunoreactive substance has been developed. In order to synthesize TRH-labeled beta-D-galactosidase (beta-gal), a newly devised TRH derivative, pGlu-His-Pro-NH-(CH2)6-NH2 (TRH-Hex), was employed. TRH-Hex was linked to beta-gal by the N-(epsilon-maleimidocaproyloxy) succinimide coupling procedure. For competitive reactions, the TRH antibody was incubated with standard TRH and TRH-Hex-beta-gal (delayed addition). Free and antibody-bound enzyme hapten were separated by using an anti-rabbit immunoglobulin G coated immunoplate. Activity of the enzyme on the plate was fluorometrically determined. The present immunoassay allows detection of 0.8 to 100 pmol/well of TRH.     

Electromagnetic moments of the doubly closed shell ±1 nucleon nuclei and on-line nuclear polarization

Electromagnetic moments of doubly closed shell ±1 nucleon nuclei were studied. Recent technical developments of the β-NMR was shown that was applicable for the polarized β emitters. Also, the implication of those new moments were discussed especially on the nuclear interactions and non nucleonic degrees of freedom.     

Oblique interactions of weakly nonlinear long waves in dispersive systems

Studies on the oblique interactions of weakly nonlinear long waves in dispersive systems are surveyed. We focus mainly our concentration on the two-dimensional interaction between solitary waves. Two-dimensional Benjamin–Ono (2DBO) equation, modified Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (MKP) equation and extended Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (EKP) equation as well as the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (KP) equation are treated. It turns out that a large-amplitude wave can be generated due to the oblique interaction of two identical solitary waves in the 2DBO and the MKP equations as well as in the KP-II equation. Recent studies on exact solutions of the KP equation are also surveyed briefly.     

Vibrational properties of noble gas endohedral fullerenes

Analysis of IR and Raman spectra of Ar@C(60) and Kr@C(60) shows that the incorporation of noble gas atoms causes a blue shift of low energy vibrations, which have radial character, and a red shift of higher energy ones which have a tangential character movement. The mechanism of these phenomena is explained on the basis of ab initio numerical experiments with DFT and MP2 procedures. Methodological discussions are advanced, altogether with a scheme for the estimation of the van der Waals interaction between fullerene and noble gas, based on the frequency shifts.     

Multiple gamma functions,multiple sine functions,and Appell’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis>-functions

Kurokawa introduced q-multiple gamma functions and q-multiple sine functions. We show that the Appell’s O-function is expressed via the q-multiple gamma function. We also give some applications of this result. For example, we obtain a formula for the “Stirling modular form” and calculate special values of the q-multiple sine function. Moreover, we give some formulas of Eisenstein series and double cotangent functions and its generalization. Then the former gives an infinite product expression of the double sine function explicitly and a result of Kurokawa.     

Cost‐efficient monitoring of continuous‐time stochastic processes based on discrete observations

Planning a cost‐efficient monitoring policy of stochastic processes arises from many industrial problems. We formulate a simple discrete‐time monitoring problem of continuous‐time stochastic processes with its applications to several industrial problems. A key in our model is a doubling trick of the variables, with which we can construct an algorithm to solve the problem. The cost‐efficient monitoring policy balancing between the observation cost and information loss is governed by an optimality equation of a fixed point type, which is solvable with an iterative algorithm based on the Feynman‐Kac formula. This is a new linkage between monitoring problems and mathematical sciences. We show regularity results of the optimization problem and present a numerical algorithm for its approximation. A problem having model ambiguity is presented as well. The presented model is applied to problems of environment, ecology, and energy, having qualitatively different target stochastic processes with each other.     

Cadmium recovery by a sulfate-reducing magnetotactic bacterium,Desulfovibrio magneticus RS-1, using magnetic separation

Cadmium recovery by a sulfate-reducing magnetotactic bacterium, Desulfovibrio magneticus strain RS-1, was investigated. D. magneticus precipitated >95% of cadmium at an initial concentration of 1.3 ppm in the growth medium. Electron microscopic analysis revealed that D. magneticus formed electron-dense particles on its surface when cultivated in the presence of cadmium ions (Cd²⁺). Sulfide was also found in the precipitate, and the composition ratio of sulfide/cadmium was 0.7. Sixty percent of viable RS-1 cells was recovered by a simple magnetic separation revealing the removal of 58% cadmium from the culture medium.     

Synthesis of glycosaminoglycans via enzymatic polymerization

Hyaluronic acid and chondroitin were successfully synthesized as representative molecules of glucosaminoglycans and galactosaminoglycans found in a glycosaminoglycan family via enzymatic polymerization catalyzed by testicular hyaluronidases. A newly designed N-acetylhyalobiuronate oxazoline derivative with a β-D -glucuronyl-(1→3)-N-acetyl-D -glucosamine disaccharide structure served as a transition-state analogue substrate monomer for the enzyme, giving rise to artificial hyaluronic acid in 52% yields with a number-average molecular weight of 1.35 × 10⁴ through ring-opening polyaddition in a perfect regioselective and stereoselective manner. A novel N-acetylchondrosine oxazoline derivative with a β-D -glucuronyl-(1→3)-N-acetyl-D -galactosamine disaccharide structure also acted as a transition-state analogue substrate monomer for the enzyme, yielding artificial chondroitin in 35% yields with a number-average molecular weight of 2.5 × 10³. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3541–3548, 2003     

Tests of the homogeneous nucleation theory with molecular-dynamics simulations. I. Lennard-Jones molecules

Two kinds of the homogeneous nucleation theory exist at the present: the classical nucleation theory and the semiphenomenological model. To test them, we performed molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of nucleation from vapor to liquid with 5000-20,000 Lennard-Jones-type molecules. Simulations were done for various values of supersaturation ratios (from 2 to 10) and temperatures (from 80 to 120 K). We compared the size distribution of clusters in MD simulations with those in the theoretical models because the number density of critical clusters governs the nucleation rate. We found that the semiphenomenological model achieves excellent agreements in size distributions of the clusters with all MD simulations we done. The classical theory underestimates the number density of the clusters in the temperature range of 80-100 K, but overestimates in 100-120 K. The semiphenomenological model also predicts well the nucleation rate in MD simulations, while the classical nucleation theory does not. Our results confirmed the validity of the semiphenomenological model for Lennard-Jones-type molecules.     

Spectroscopic study of a brush cathode plasma in a magnetic field

The brush cathode helium discharge in the magnetic field has been operated stably at discharge currents larger than those without magnetic field. The diameter of the plasma column has been determined by the configuration of the magnetic field. The measurements of the spectral intensities of the recombination continuum followed by the 2³S-n³P series reveals that the electron density is 1·8 × 10¹³ cm^-3 and the electron temperature is 0·17 eV at a discharge current of 500 mA and a pressure of 0·9 torr for a magnetic flux density of 1·3 kG. The principal quantum number for line merging is 20.