Approximating the Mean Waiting Time in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">GI/G/s</Emphasis> Queue

We provide two distribution-dependent approximations for the mean waiting time in a GI/G/s queue. Both approximations are weighted combinations of the exact mean waiting times for the GI/M/s and M/D/s queues each of which has the same mean service time and traffic intensity as in the approximating GI/G/s queue. The weights in the approximations are expressed by the service-time c.d.f. and the first two moments of interarrival and service times. To examine the performance of our approximations, they are numerically compared with exact solutions and previous two-moment approximations for various cases. Extensive numerical comparisons indicate that the relative percentage errors of the approximations are of the order of 5% in moderate traffic and 1% in heavy traffic, except for extreme cases.     

Acridine derivatives. V. Synthesis and P388 antitumor activity of the novel 9-anilino-2,3-ethylenedioxyacridines

A new class of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-intercalating antitumor agents, novel 9-anilino-2,3-ethylenedioxyacridines (five compounds) have been synthesized and evaluated for activity against P388 leukemia in vivo. A few of them possessed the same potency of antitumor activity as amsacrine (m-AMSA) which is an important antitumor agent in clinical use.     

Microchip-based immunoassay system with branching multichannels for simultaneous determination of interferon-gamma

A bead-bed immunoassay system suitable for simultaneous assay of multiple samples was constructed on a microchip. The chip had branching multichannels and four reaction and detection regions; the constructed system could process four samples at a time with only one pump unit. Interferon gamma was assayed by a 3-step sandwich immunoassay with the system coupled to a thermal lens microscope as a detector. The biases of the signal intensities obtained from each channel were within 10%, and coefficients of variation were almost the same level as the single straight channel assay. The assay time for four samples was 50 min instead of 35 min for one sample in the single-channel assay; hence higher throughput was realized with the branching structure chip.     

Positron binding energies for alkali hydrides

Ab initio multireference single- and double-excitation configuration interaction (MRD-CI) calculations are carried out to study the interactions of positrons with the members of the alkali hydride class of molecules. A new computer program has been constructed for this purpose that makes use of the Table-Direct-CI method for construction of the required Hamiltonian matrixes and electronic/positronic wave functions. The calculations indicate that the binding energy (positron affinity PA) of a single positron to these systems increases by an increment of 0.2-0.3 eV as the atomic number of the alkali atom is increased. It is found that the positron prefers a location in the more electronegative regions of such molecules, similarly as has been found in earlier calculations for the urea and acetone molecules. The positron orbital itself possesses a diffuse charge distribution with relatively small expectation values of the kinetic energy in all four systems considered. Each of the four positronic molecules is stable with respect to formation of either positronium (Ps) or HPs according to the present calculations. Relatively large changes in the equilibrium bond distance of the hydrides occur as a result of the positron interaction. The importance of bond dipole moments in producing the binding of positrons to molecules is discussed, as well as the role that the electronegativity of the constituent atoms plays in determining the magnitude of the PA for a given system.     

Analyses of structure of photoreceptor organelle and blepharismin-associated protein in unicellular eukaryote Blepharisma

In the ciliated protozoan Blepharisma, step-up photophobic response is believed to be mediated by a novel type of photosensory pigment known as "blepharismins" (BL) that are contained in the pigment granules located just beneath the plasma membrane. We examined the ultrastructure of the pigment granules by freeze-fracture and thin-section electron microscopy and proposed a schematic diagram showing the granules' three-dimensional inner membranous structure. Some of the BL are suggested to be associated with 200 kDa membrane protein. High-pressure liquid chromatography analysis of pigment species associated with 200 kDa protein obtained from blue forms of Blepharisma (oxyblepharisma) revealed that the 200 kDa protein was associated with five types of oxyblepharismin. The fluorescence intensity was increased when the pigments were dissociated from the 200 kDa protein. The result supports the hypothesis that the pigment-200 kDa complex is able to transduce light energy into signals mediating the photobehavior of Blepharisma.     

Extraction Equilibria between Benzene and Water of Uni- and Bivalent Metal Picrates with Lariat 16-Crown-5: Effect of the Side Arms on the Extraction Ability and Selectivity

The overall extraction constants (K_ex) of uni- andbivalent metal picrates with 15-(2,5-dioxahexyl)-15-methyl-16-crown-5(L16C5) were determined between benzene and water at 25°C. TheK_ex values were analyzed into the constituent equilibriumconstants, i.e., the extraction constant of picric acid, the distributionconstant of the crown ether, the stability constant of the metalion–crown ether complex in water, and the ion-pair extraction constantof the complex cation with the picrate anion. The K_ex valuedecreases in the orders Ag⁺ > Na⁺ >Tl⁺ > K⁺ > Li⁺ andPb²⁺ > Ba²⁺ > Sr²⁺ for theuni- and bivalent metals, respectively, which are the same as those observedfor 16C5. The extraction selectivity was found to be governed by theselectivity of the ion-pair extraction of the L16C5–metal picratecomplex rather than by that of the complex formation in water. Theextraction ability of L16C5 is smaller for all the metals than that of 16C5,which is mostly attributed to the higher lipophilicity of L16C5. Differencesin the extraction selectivity between L16C5 and 16C5 were observed for thebivalent metals but little for the univalent metals. The side-arm effect onthe extraction selectivity was interpreted on the basis of the negativecorrelation between the effect on the complex stability constant in waterand that on the ion-pair extraction constant.     

Origin of low melting point of ionic liquids: dominant role of entropy

Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts with an extremely low melting point. Substantial efforts have been made to address their low melting point from the enthalpic standpoint (i.e. interionic interactions). However, this question is still open. In this study, we report our findings that entropic (large fusion entropy), rather than enthalpic, contributions are primarily responsible for lowering the melting point in many cases, based on a large thermodynamic dataset. We have established a computational protocol using molecular dynamics simulations to decompose fusion entropy into kinetic (translational, rotational, and intramolecular vibrational) and structural (conformational and configurational) terms and successfully applied this approach for two representatives of ILs and NaCl. It is revealed that large structural contribution, particularly configurational entropy in the liquid state, plays a deterministic role in the large fusion entropy and consequently the low melting point of the ILs.

Large structural entropy makes salts liquid at room temperature.     

Phenomenon of labyrinth seal with low static pressure difference and large clearance

This paper discusses the straight-through type labyrinth seal. This labyrinth seal is used for axial flow fans, which h ave an outer ring at the blade tip to seal the clearance between the ring tip and the fan shroud, in order to prevent the reverse flow or leakage. These fans are used for the cooling of automobile radiators . In these cases, the labyrinth seal is used in an extremely low static pressure difference and a large clearance . A significant decrease of the leakage rate was reported even when the labyrinth seal rotated in comparatively low speed in this unique condition according to the authors’ former report. However, this phenomen on is differ ent from past research. Further more the cause of th is phenomenon has not been determined. Therefore, the internal flow was depicted with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in or der to clarify the ca use of this phenomenon. The results of CFD show that the leakage rate decreases significantly because the carry -over flow is intercepted in the expansion groove. This is the newly discovered phenomenon which occurs under the unique condition of an extremely low differential pressure. It has not been pointed out before as the reason why the rotation decreases the leakage rate.