High paraoxon-hydrolyzing activity in organophosphorus insecticide-resistant mosquitoes.

We found a strong paraoxon-hydrolyzing activity (23.4 +/- 8.50 nmol/h/individual and 137 +/- 86.2 nmol/h/mg protein) in the crude extract from larvae of Culex tritaeniorhynchus Toyama 89, which is markedly resistant to organophosphorous insecticides. The activity was higher than those from Cx. tritaeniorhynchus re-e-ae (0.175 +/- 0.0336 and 1.83 +/- 0.651), Anopheles omorii (0.112 +/- 0.0301 and 1.86 +/- 0.746) and An. stephensi (0.0651 +/- 0.0713 and 0.789 +/- 0.910), which are susceptible to organophosphorous insecticides. These facts suggest that the high paraoxon-hydrolyzing activity plays a role in the development of organophosphorous resistance in Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. The enzyme preparation obtained from Toyama 89 showed higher activity in the alkaline pH range and its Km values to paraoxon were 0.67 mM in larvae and 0.50 mM in adults. A calcium ion was strictly required for the hydrolysis of paraoxon. Fenitroxon was also hydrolyzed, in addition to paraoxon. However, it did not degradate parathion and fenitrothion at all. Dichlorvos and phenyl acetate competitively inhibited the enzyme. The phenyl acetate-hydrolyzing activity in the preparation of Toyama 89 was significantly (p less than 0.01) lower than those in susceptible strains, and was irreversibly inhibited by paraoxon. Therefore, the paraoxon-hydrolyzing activity belongs to the class of organophosphate compound hydrolases; it must be thus distinguished from bacterial phosphotriesterase.     

Security Applications of Optical Face Recognition System: Access Control in E-Learning

The educational system has gradually shifted from a face-to-face to an e-learning system, which has become prevalent in advanced countries with the advance of information technology, and connection of global networks. Accordingly, a growing demand is emerging for more reliable individual certification with technical precision in order to measure and record learning achievements and credentials of participants. The present system has a limit in terms of registration capacity, therefore, its accuracy has often been questioned. Against this background, an individual certification system is proposed particularly for access control in e-learning. Under our proposed system, a compact optical correlator for facial recognition is employed. This correlator was previously tested for of biometrics authentication accuracy and proved highly reliable, having recorded remarkably low error rates (below 1%). The recorded error rate is sufficiently robust that the system itself can be regarded as a valid and practical viable attestation system.     

Synthesis and properties of poly(phenylacetylenes) having two polar groups or one cyclic polar group on the phenyl ring

Phenylacetylene (PA) derivatives having two polar groups (ester, 2a – d ; amide, 4) or one cyclic polar group (imide, 5a – c ) were polymerized using (nbd)Rh⁺[(η⁶‐C₆H₅)B^?(C₆H₅)₃] catalyst to afford high molecular weight polymers (～1 × 10⁶ – 4 × 10⁶). The hydrolysis of ester‐containing poly(PA), poly( 2a) , provided poly(3,4‐dicarboxyPA) [poly ( 3 )], which could not be obtained directly by the polymerization of the corresponding monomer. The solubility properties of the present polymers were different from those of poly(PA) having no polar group; that is, poly( 2a )–poly( 2d ) dissolved in ethyl acetate and poly( 4 ) dissolved in N,N‐dimethylformamide, while poly(PA) was insoluble in such solvents. Ester‐group‐containing polymers [poly( 2a )–poly( 2d )] afforded free‐standing membranes by casting from THF solutions. The membrane of poly( 2a ) showed high carbon dioxide permselectivity against nitrogen (PCO₂/PN₂ = 62). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 5943–5953, 2006     

Thermal properties and fracture toughness of a liquid‐crystalline epoxy resin cured with an aromatic diamine crosslinker having a mesogenic group

A mesogenic‐type curing agent was synthesized to introduce a mesogenic group not only into epoxy resin backbones but also into the crosslink units. In the mesogenic curing agent system, the domain size became larger, and the network arrangement in each domain existed to a greater extent than that in a system cured with the ordinary diamine curing system according to the evidence from polarized optical micrographs and polarized Fourier transform infrared mapping measurements. Moreover, the fracture toughness of the system was considerably improved. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2486–2494, 2006     

Noncommutative differential geometry on the quantum SU(2), I: An algebraic viewpoint

We compute the cyclic homology of the coordinate ring A(SL_q(2)) of the quantum algebraic group SL _q (2). We observe a degeneration of the noncommutative de Rham complex. The results are also verified from the point of view of Connes' noncommutative differential geometry.