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.     

Studies on the biaxial stretching of polypropylene film. III. Electron microscopic observation of the one-step biaxial stretching of isotactic polypropylene spherulites

Polypropylene films of various isotacticities and crystallinities were stretched biaxially in one step in air at 140–152°C or polyaxially in poly(ethylene glycol) at 130–160°C, and the morphological changes were studied by electron microscopy (replica). In the initial stage of stretching, with v_A = 1.4, the spherulites of one of the films used for the experiment were broken both from the centers and boundaries, and those of another film were broken mainly from the center. This difference in the deformation behavior seems to be characteristic of the film properties and independent of the method of stretching, although the factors involved are still unknown. On further stretching (v_A = 22), well annealed spherulites were broken into many small blocklike fragments with unfolded fibrils running among them, particularly at the low stretching temperature (140°C), and fibrillation proceeded at the expense of the residual fragments. In the case of quenched or slightly crystallized material, the fragments were dendritic and divided into finer and finer fibrils on stretching. At elevated temperature, however, even for well annealed spherulites, the deformation behavior resembles that of the quenched material, and at a high degree of stretching the spherulites take on the fibrillar net structure in every case. In films containing a high amount of atactic fraction, radial, tangential, and boundary cracking occurred more easily, and broad fibrils were observed across the cracks.     

Interferometers for displacement-noise-free gravitational-wave detection

We propose a class of displacement- and laser-noise-free gravitational-wave-interferometer configurations, which does not sense nongeodesic mirror motion and laser noise, but provides a nonvanishing gravitational-wave signal. Our interferometers consist of four mirrors and two beam splitters, which form four Mach-Zehnder interferometers. By contrast to previous works, no composite mirrors with multiple reflective surfaces are required. Each mirror in our configuration is sensed redundantly, by at least two pairs of incident and reflected beams. Displacement- and laser-noise-free detection is achieved when output signals from these four interferometers are combined appropriately. Our 3-dimensional interferometer configuration has a low-frequency response proportional to f2, which is better than the f3 achievable by previous 2-dimensional configurations.     

Moduli space of non-abelian vortices

We completely determine the moduli space M(N,k) of k vortices in U(N) gauge theory with N Higgs fields in the fundamental representation. Its open subset for separated vortices is found as the symmetric product (CxCP(N-1))k/(see text)k. Orbifold singularities of this space correspond to coincident vortices and are resolved resulting in a smooth moduli manifold. The relation to K?hler quotient construction is discussed.     

Skyrmions from instantons inside domain walls

Some years ago, Atiyah and Manton described a method to construct approximate Skyrmion solutions from Yang-Mills instantons. Here we present a dynamical realization of this construction using domain walls in a five-dimensional gauge theory. The non-Abelian gauge symmetry is broken in each vacuum but restored in the core of the domain wall, allowing instantons to nestle inside the wall. We show that the world volume dynamics of the wall is given by the Skyrme model, including the four-derivative term, and the instantons appear as domain wall Skyrmions.     

Optical time-domain analog pattern correlator for high-speed real-time image recognition

The speed of image processing is limited by image acquisition circuitry. While optical pattern recognition techniques can reduce the computational burden on digital image processing, their image correlation rates are typically low due to the use of spatial optical elements. Here we report a method that overcomes this limitation and enables fast real-time analog image recognition at a record correlation rate of 36.7 MHz--1000 times higher rates than conventional methods. This technique seamlessly performs image acquisition, correlation, and signal integration all optically in the time domain before analog-to-digital conversion by virtue of optical space-to-time mapping.     

Status of heavy element research using a gas-filled recoil separator at RIKEN

A gas-filled type of recoil separator for heavy element research was installed at an experimental hall of RIKEN Linear Accelerator facility to realize getting higher intensity of primary beam and long beam time. Performance of the separator was studied using target recoils and various nuclear reactions. The results show the high performance of the separator for heave element research. As an application of the GARIS, production and identification of an isotope of the 110th element ²⁷¹[110] have been performed using the ²⁰⁸Pb(⁶⁴Ni,1n)²⁷¹[110] reaction. Three decay chains coincide well both in decay times and energies with the ones reported by the group of SHIP experiment at GSI, Germany. Our results provide a confirmation of the synthesis of an isotope ²⁷¹[110] of element 110.     

Blue emission from InGaN/GaN hexagonal pyramid structures

Cathodoluminescence (CL) from InGaN grown on GaN hexagonal pyramid structures has been investigated. The facet structure can be controlled by the growth temperature and reactor pressure. GaN pyramid structures surrounded with facets were grown at 1020 C at a pressure of 500 Torr by low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (LP-MOVPE). The indium mole fraction in the InGaN film depends on the facet structure. The thickness of the InGaN and the peak wavelength and intensity of the CL from the InGaN gradually increased from the bottom to the top of the facets.     

Third-order aberration analysis of an off-axial optical system

The aberration theory applied to co-axial optical systems is extended to off-axial systems, for which third-order aberration coefficients are considered. The derived aberrations are analyzed using three-dimensional ray bundles, spot diagrams, and image charts, and classified in relation to the system symmetry. This theory is very useful for optical designers, allowing them to clarify the relationship between the structures of off-axial optical systems and the corresponding off-axial aberrations.