Entropy production per site in (nonreversible) spin-flip processes

Entropy production per site in a (nonreversible) spin-flip process is studied. We give it a useful expression, from which a property stronger than affinity of the entropy production per site follows. Furthermore, quasi-invariance of nonequilibrium measures in the spin-flip processes is discussed via entropy production.     

Development of spatial light modulators with nonlinear organic materials

An electrically addressable spatial light modulator is designed using nonlinear organic materials for optical information processing and display. One candidates for spatial light modulator (SLM) material is a nonlinear organic polymer of poly-methyl-methacrylate doped with disperse red 1. The measured electrooptic coefficient r₃₃ is 2.9 pm/V at the wavelength of 633 nm. Resonator structure for a material is discussed with the goal of increasing electrooptic effects for SLM applications.     

Intra-abdominal fat area is a predictor for new onset of individual components of metabolic syndrome: MEtabolic syndRome and abdominaL ObesiTy (MERLOT study)

Objective: To investigate the significance of intra-abdominal fat area (IAFA) on new onset of individual components of the metabolic syndrome: high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, or hyperglycemia. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal study using checkup data of a hospital from 1994 to 2010. Of 25,255 subjects, we examined 1,380 Japanese, who underwent computed tomography to measure IAFA and had no metabolic syndrome components at baseline. Results: During 3.6 years of the mean follow-up period, one of metabolic syndrome components occurred in 752 subjects. Of three components, high blood pressure was more prevalent. The multiple Cox regression analysis disclosed that IAFA is significantly associated with onset of metabolic syndrome components (HR: 1.05 per 10 cm², 95%CI: 1.03–1.07). This finding was independent of BMI, and significant even in non-obese individuals with body mass index <25 kg/m². Conclusions: MERLOT study demonstrates that IAFA is an independent predictor for new onset of individual components of the metabolic syndrome, even in non-obese healthy Japanese.     

Charmonium spectra at finite temperature from QCD sum rules with the maximum entropy method

Charmonia spectral functions at finite temperature are studied using QCD sum rules in combination with the maximum entropy method. This approach enables us to directly obtain the spectral function from the sum rules, without having to introduce any specific assumption about its functional form. As a result, it is found that while J/ψ and η(c) manifest themselves as significant peaks in the spectral function below the deconfinement temperature T(c), they quickly dissolve into the continuum and almost completely disappear at temperatures between 1.0T(c) and 1.1T(c).     

Data extrapolation method for boundary element method-based near-field acoustical holography

A new data extrapolation method for boundary element method (BEM)-based near-field acoustical holography (NAH) is proposed to reduce an error of the reconstructed result obtained from the pressure measured on an aperture small compared with the structure. The finiteness of the measurement aperture is a serious impediment to actual large-scale implementation of NAH, because NAH requires the measurement of the pressure field over a complete surface of structure. To eliminate the requirement, the wave number-space data extrapolation method for fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based NAH has been proposed. In this paper, the extension of this data extrapolation method to BEM-based NAH is presented. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by experiments. The experiment results confirm that the reconstruction error is sufficiently suppressed by the proposed method.     

Ab initio calculations of transport properties of atomic bridges by the recursion-transfer-matrix method

We present an efficient self-consistent method for approaching quantum transport through atomic-scale structures. Using the recursion-transfer-matrix (RTM) method with a separable form of nonlocal pseudopotentials, scattering waves propagating between metallic electrodes through nano-bridged structures are efficiently calculated on the basis of the density-functional formalism. We performed calculations with this method of the conductance of Al atomic wires with various kinds of single atoms mixed at the contact to one electrode. We found that the transport properties are considerably affected by the bonding nature of the atom at the contact. The conductance is largely determined by the atomic species at the contact and does not change much as the length of the atomic wire increases.     

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.     

The three-dimensional structure of aspergilloglutamic peptidase from Aspergillus niger

Aspergilloglutamic peptidase from Aspergillus niger is a novel pepstatin-insensitive acid endopeptidase distinct from the well-studied aspartic peptidases, and thus is an interesting target for protein structure/function studies. In the present study, we have determined the three-dimensional structure of the enzyme by X-ray crystallography to a 1.4-Å resolution. The results revealed that the enzyme has a unique structure, composed of two seven-stranded anti-parallel β-sheets which form a β-sandwich structure and appear to have a partial two-fold symmetry, suggesting its possible evolution by gene duplication and that the glutamic acid-110 and glutamine-24 in the heavy chain form a catalytic dyad, consistent with our results obtained by site-directed mutagenesis.