Structure,Properties and Biodegradation of Some Bacterial Copoly(hydroxyalkanoate)s

This article describes the relationships between not only comonomer-unit compositions but also their distributions and structures as well as properties for bacterial copoly(hydroxyalkanoate)s, including poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxy-propionate), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate), poly(3-hydroxy-butyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-mercapto-propionate). It was found that as-produced copoly(hydroxy-alkanoate)s have broad comonomer-unit compositional distributions, which we can control to some degree. The structure and properties of copoly(hydroxy-alkanoate)s depend not only on the chemical structure and the comonomer-unit composition but also on the comonomer-unit compositional distribution.     

The Rapid Measurement of ABO Blood Type by Using SPR(Surface Prasmon Resonance) Sensor

The conventional measurement of ABO blood-types is visual inspection method based on the aggregation reaction with monoclonal antibody. But, this method takes a long time (one night) and requires the skilled analyzer to decide the blood-types for the saliva and bloodstain sample. Therefore, the rapid and sensitive measurement of ABO blood type has been required for the saliva and bloodstain on the clothes. Surface prasmon resonance (SPR) is an optical technique, which has been applied to biosensing. In this study, the rapid and sensitive measurement of ABO blood-types were investigated by using SPR sensing system.     

Local structure around phosphorus and silicon in the CaO–SiO2–PO2.5 system

The local structure of phosphorus and silicon in the molten CaO–SiO₂–PO_2.5 slag system was investigated by magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR). The ³¹P MAS-NMR spectra revealed that phosphorus was present primarily as the monophosphate complex ion PO₄^3?, with a small amount of diphosphate ion also present. Their relative ratio to total phosphorus was independent of the phosphate concentration of the sample. In the case of the ²⁹Si MAS-NMR, the mean number of the non-bridging oxygen atoms associated with tetrahedrally coordinated silicon decreased as the phosphate concentration increased at a fixed CaO/SiO₂ ratio. This indicates that the nonbridging oxygen atoms around the silicon were replaced by bridging oxygen atoms around the phosphorus as the phosphate concentration in the samples increased.To elucidate the basicity dependence of the structure of slag, the relationship between the structure and optical basicity was also investigated. The relative ratio of Qⁿ (Qⁿ means the silicon atoms tetrahedrally bonded with “n” number of bridging oxygen atoms) strongly depends on the optical basicity. These optical basicity dependencies of the structures of phosphorus and silicon can be explained clearly by the basicity equalization concept (Duffy and Ingram, 1976) [12].     

High performance bioanode based on direct electron transfer of fructose dehydrogenase at gold nanoparticle-modified electrodes

The direct electron transfer reaction of fructose dehydrogenase (FDH) from Gluconobacter sp. on alkanethiol-modified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was examined. AuNP-modified electrodes were simply fabricated by depositing citrate-reduced gold nanoparticles onto a gold electrode and carbon fiber paper and then covering the surface with a self-assembled monolayer of alkanethiols. The immobilization of AuNPs provided a large effective surface area for the adsorption of FDH. Catalytic oxidation currents based on the direct electron transfer reaction of FDH were observed from a potential about ?100 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl, 3 M NaCl) in the presence of d-fructose without a mediator. The current density reached as high as 14.3 ± 0.93 mA/cm² (at +500 mV), which was achieved in the presence of 200 mM d-fructose by immobilization of FDH on 2-mercaptoethanol-modified AuNP/carbon fiber paper electrodes.     

Diphenylprolinol Silyl Ether as a Catalyst in an Enantioselective,Catalytic Michael Reaction for the Formation of α,α‐Disubstituted α‐Amino Acid Derivatives

Direct and enantioselective : Diphenylprolinol silyl ether was found to catalyze the direct, asymmetric Michael reaction of 4‐substituted 2‐aryl‐2‐oxazoline‐5‐one and α,β‐unsaturated aldehydes, affording the chiral α,α‐disubstituted α‐amino acid derivatives with excellent enantioselectivity.

     

Scheduling of corrugated paper production

Corrugated paper is produced by gluing three types of papers of the same breadth. Given a set of orders, we first assign each order to one of the standard breadths, and then sequence those assigned to each standard breadth so that they are continuously manufactured from the three rolls of the specified standard breadth equipped in the machine called corrugator. Here we are asked to achieve multi-goals of minimizing total length of roll papers, total loss of papers caused by the differences between standard breadths and real breadths of the orders, and the number of machine stops needed during production. We use integer programming to assign orders to standard breadths, and then develop a special purpose algorithm to sequence the orders assigned to each standard breadth. This is a first attempt to handle scheduling problems of the corrugator machine.     

Evaluation of intrinsic compressibility of proteins by molecular dynamics simulation

Molecular dynamics simulation has been performed on five native proteins in water to evaluate their intrinsic isothermal compressibilities beta(T,int). To identify physical factors contributing to protein compressibility, a general method is presented for analyzing the compressibility of mechanically inhomogeneous systems. The value of beta(T,int) varies with protein species considerably: beta-lactoglobulin (14.15 x 10(-2) GPa(-1)) is more than twice as compressible as ribonuclease A (6.77 x 10(-2) GPa(-1)). Beta-lactoglobulin and myoglobin (13.95 x 10(-2) GPa(-1)) have similar values of beta(T,int), but the mechanisms responsible for them are significantly different. The volume fluctuations of internal cavities and the magnitudes of the crosscorrelation between them are the key factors determining beta(T,int) of proteins. Though the volume fractions of internal cavity for the five studied proteins are nearly equal to one another, the mean cavity compressibilities beta(T,cav) vary considerably with protein species and range from 0.35 to 0.69 GPa(-1), which are much smaller than those of normal organic liquids such as methanol, ethanol, and benzene and close to that of glycerol (0.55 GPa(-1)), a strongly associated liquid.