Microbial synthesis,physical properties,and biodegradability of polyhydroxyalkanoates

Poly((R)-3-hydroxybutyrate), P(3HB), is produced by Alcaligenes eutrophus from fructose or butyric acid. The kinetics and mechanism of P(3HB) biosynthesis are presented. Four types of copolymers, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxypropionate), poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate), and poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate), are produced by several bacterial strains from various carbon substrates. These microbial polyesters are biodegradable thermoplastics whose physical properties can be regulated by varying the molecular structure and composition of copolymers.     

Induced pseudoscalar interaction in weak nucleon current and muon capture in hyperfine states of muonic deuterium

Muon capture rate in muonic deuterium can be calculated with less ambiguities in nuclear wave functions, since we know the bound and scattering states of the two nucleons with higher accuracy theoretically. It is, however, dependent on the pion-nucleon-delta coupling constant through the exchange current effect. This dependence is considerably reduced for the ratio of the capture rates from two hyperfine states of muonic deuterium. This ratio is, therefore, useful to study the strength of the induced pseudoscalar term. Several other physical quantities in light nuclei are also introduced here for the same purpose.     

Change of Color Appearance in Photopic,Mesopic and Scotopic Vision

Mesopic vision describes a range of light levels where vision is mediated by both cones and rods. The appearance of color in mesopic vision differs drastically from that in photopic vision, where only cones mediate visual information. We used a haploscopic color matching technique to investigate the color appearance under various illuminance levels, ranging from photopic to scotopic via mesopic levels. The observers did color matching between a test color chip under various illuminance levels and a matching color stimulus presented on the Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) display under the photopic illuminance condition. The results showed that not only chroma and lightness but hue of most color chips changed with illuminance. The manner of the hue changed depended on the color of the test chip, while matching points approached a neutral gray with decrease in illuminance level for all test chips. Chroma reduced continuously with decrease of the illuminance level until 0.1 lx for reddish and yellowish color chips or until 1 lx for greenish and bluish ones. Beyond those illuminance levels, chroma was approximately constant. Lightness decreased with decreasing illuminance level for all test chips except bluish color chips, for which lightness did not decrease much in general and even increased in some cases as predicted by the Purkinje shift. The experimental results obtained in the present study provide critical features that should be considered in predicting the appearance of color at low light levels.     

Color Discrimination Characteristics Depending on the Background Color in the (<Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>) Plane of a Cone Space

We investigated color discriminability on the background color. The measurement was carried out at over 21 background colors in (L, M) plane of a cone space by four observers. We used low temporal stimulus frequency (1 Hz) so that threshold was determined by the red-green opponent mechanism. Results showed that color discriminability depends on the background colors. Threshold was higher with a more saturated background color. This suggests that the sensitivity of the red-green opponent mechanism is high when the mechanism’s output is small and increases with the output levels of the mechanism. To confirm this relationship between the red-green mechanism and color discriminability, color appearance depending the background color was also evaluated. There was a strong correlation between the sensitivity and the perceived whiteness. Both sensitivity and whiteness value were highest at around the equal energy white point and decreased with increase in the difference between background color and equal energy white. This suggests that the adaptation state of the red-green opponent color controls color discrimination.