Spin-freezing processes around the tricritical point in Mn1−xTixSb

Transitions related to the spin-glass phase in Mn_1−xTi_xSb are revisited from the nonlinear ac susceptibility. Near the tricritical point (x≈0.8), the transition between ferromagnetic and reentrant spin-glass states is sharp. At x0.8, an anomally is found slightly above the temperature of usual spin-glass freezing.     

Domain growth in systems with multiple-degenerate ground states

We develop a statistical theory of growing domain structures in quenched systems with multiple-degenerate ground states where the order parameter is not conserved. Exact formulas are derived for the non-equilibrium structure functions for growing domains. As concrete examples the theory is applied to the p-state Johnson-Mehl model and the p-state cell model where the structure functions of the growing domains and the volume fraction of the metastable domain are calculated explicitly.     

Fundamental imaging properties of transillumination laser computed tomography based on coherent detection imaging method.

The coherent detection imaging (CDI) method uses the optical heterodyne detection technique. CW and single frequency lasers having long coherence lengths are used to exploit the maximum advantages of heterodyne detection, such as high directionality, selectivity and sensitivity. The CDI method based on optical heterodyne detection enables selective filtering of the directional coherence-retaining emergent photons, which leads to image reconstruction from projections, similar to X-ray computed tomography (CT). So far we have demonstrated the advantages and capabilities of the measurement technique for transillumination optical computed tomography in biomedicine. Here, we investigate the fundamental imaging properties of CDI method, such as its high directionality and quantitativeness, with preliminary physical phantom experiments. The results show that the CDI method satisfies the requirements for CT reconstruction under the first order approximation, and enables quantitative measurements in the sense that the relationship between estimated and actual concentration retains a satisfactory linearity.     

Measurement of adenine nucleotide levels with an adenine analyser as an index of freshness of porgy

In a prototype of an adenine analyser, adenosine and adenine nucleotides were derivatized with a fluorescent reagent, bromoacetaldehyde, after separation on a Hitachi gel No. 3012-N column by high-performance liquid chromatography. The previous analyser was improved by using a shorter reaction coil and by introduction of a Hitachi gel No. 3013-N with 5-microns particles of porous polystyrene-divinylbenzene, and applied to estimate the freshness of porgy. Total amounts of ATP, ADP and AMP in an isolated muscle just after death gradually decreased to 60% of the original amount after 5 h, and the ATP content rapidly decreased to 20% after 1 h. A good correlation was found between the levels of total adenine compounds and the energy charge values obtained from nineteen porgies frozen at a prerigour state. On the other hand, there existed no relationship between total adenine levels and the K values, which were indices for estimating freshness of fish. The analyser will be useful to evaluate the freshness of tissues and cells based on the higher contents of total adenine compounds, especially ATP.     

Synthesis and structural revision of marine eicosanoid agardhilactone

Synthesis of the marine eicosanoid agardhilactone has been achieved. The relative and absolute configuration of agardhilactone was successfully determined.     

An Enhanced Arimoto Theorem on Threshold Transformations

It is proved that there exists a threshold transformation of {0,1} ⁿ such that for any 1≤k≤2 ⁿ , its graph has a k-cycle that is the only cycle or loop. Implications on dynamical systems of neural networks are also discussed. Received: September 24, 1997 Final version received: September 21, 1998