Formation and evolution of scroll waves in photosensitive excitable media

Experimental and computational studies of the formation and evolution of scroll waves in three-dimensional excitable media are presented. Scroll waves are initiated in the photosensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction by perturbing traveling waves transverse to their direction of propagation. Scroll rings are generated by perturbing circular waves, which expand or contract depending on the strength of an imposed excitability gradient and its direction relative to the rotational direction of the scroll wave. (c) 1998 American Institute of Physics.     

Temperature-induced transformations of peroxide radicals formed in polytetrafluoroethylene with γ-ray irradiation

At 200°C, temperature-induced transformations of peroxide radicals from ? CF₂CF(OO·)CF₂? (radical I) to ? CF₂CFCF₂? (radical 1) and ? CF₂CF₂OO· (radical II) to ? CF₂CF₂ (radical 2) in vacuo, and from I to II in oxygen atmosphere were observed. In these thermal transformations, the evolution of CO₂ with a small amount of CO and CF₂O was observed. Further, measurements of the heat of crystallization of the treated polytetrafluoroethylene suggest that a reduction of polymer molecular weight occurs during the transformations from I to 1 and I to II.     

Molecular geometry of benzosemiquinone radicals: Radicals from resorcinol and its derivatives

The observed proton hyperfine coupling constants of radicals from resorcinol and 2-carboxylic, 5-carboxylic, and 5-methyl resorcinols in acidic and alkaline solution were reproduced by means of the INDO (intermediate neglect of differential overlap) with molecular geometry adjusting method. The bond lengths of C? O were longer in acidic solution than in alkaline solution and the total energies were lower in acidic solution than in alkaline solution. The assignments of the coupling constants of the radicals from resorcinols were |A₂| > |A₅| in alkaline oxidation and |A₂| < |A₅| in acidic oxidation.     

Effect of o-methyl group on rate, mechanism, and resonance contribution: aminolysis of Y-substituted phenyl X-substituted 2-methylbenzoates

Second-order rate constants have been determined spectrophotometrically for the reactions of 4-nitrophenyl X-substituted 2-methylbenzoates (2a-e) and Y-substituted phenyl 2-methylbenzoates (3a-e) with alicyclic secondary amines in 80 mol % H(2)O/20 mol % DMSO at 25.0 +/- 0.1 degrees C. The o-methyl group in the benzoyl moiety of 2a-e retards the reaction rate but does not influence the reaction mechanism. The Hammett plots for the reactions of 2a-e are nonlinear, while the corresponding Yukawa-Tsuno plots are linear with large r values (1.06-1.70). The linear Yukawa-Tsuno plots suggest that stabilization of the ground-state through resonance interaction between the electron donating substituent X and the carbonyl group is responsible for the nonlinear Hammett plots, while the large r values imply that the ground-state resonance interaction is significant. The reactions of 2a-e resulted in smaller rho(X) values but larger r values than the corresponding reactions of 4-nitrophenyl X-substituted benzoates (1a-e). The small rho(X) value for the reactions of 2a-e (e.g., rho(X) = 0.22) is suggested to be responsible for the large r value (e.g., r = 1.70). The reactions of 3a-e with piperidine are proposed to proceed in a stepwise manner with a change in the rate-determining step on the basis of the curved Br?nsted-type plot obtained. Microscopic rate constants associated with the reactions of 3a-e are also consistent with the proposed mechanism.     

‘O-Acyl isopeptide method’: racemization-free segment condensation in solid phase peptide synthesis

We disclosed a novel ‘racemization-free segment condensation’ based on the ‘O-acyl isopeptide method’ in which an N-segment including C-terminal O-acyl isopeptide structure with urethane-protected Ser/Thr residue was employed for the segment condensation, suggesting that the use of this method contributes to the effective convergent synthesis of long peptides/proteins.     

The conversion of methylenomycin A to natural botryodiplodin and their absolute configurations

Natural (?)-botryodiplodin($\text{1}$) has been synthesized from an antibiotic methylenomycin A ($\text{2}$). The absolute configurations of (?)-botryodiplodin($\text{1}$ and methylenomycin A ($\text{2}$) have also been established as shown in $\text{1}$ and $\text{2}$ respectively.     

Probe Method for Measuring the Mach Number and the Flow Vector in Edge Plasma

A planar Mach probe to measure the Mach number and the flow vector with respect to the magnetic field in the edge plasma of e.g. a tokamak is being proposed. The probe is constructed as a double probe and the saturation ion current is measured as function of the angle of rotation of the probe surface normal with respect to the magnetic field. The saturation current as function of the angle is calculated by taking a drifted Maxwellian distribution for ions and an effective size of the probe depending on the angle. From the ratio of the saturation currents for plus and minus biases respectively and from the envelope of the saturation current with respect to the rotation angle, the Mach number and the flow vector can be determined.     

Track sensitivity and the surface roughness measurements of CR-39 with atomic force microscope

Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) has been applied to evaluate the surface roughness and the track sensitivity of CR-39 track detector. We experimentally confirmed the inverse correlation between the track sensitivity and the roughness of the detector surface after etching. The surface of CR-39 (CR-39 doped with antioxidant (HARZLAS (TD-1)) and copolymer of CR-39/NIPAAm (TNF-1)) with high sensitivity becomes rough by the etching, while the pure CR-39 (BARYOTRAK) with low sensitivity keeps its original surface clarity even for the long etching.     

Nonlinear sigma model method for the J1-J2 Heisenberg model: disordered ground state with plaquette symmetry

A novel nonlinear sigma model method is proposed for the two-dimensional J1-J2 model, which is extended to include plaquette-type distortion. The nonlinear sigma model is properly derived without spoiling the original spin degrees of freedom. The method shows that a single disordered phase continuously extends from a frustrated uniform regime to an unfrustrated distorted regime. By the continuity and Oshikawa's commensurability condition, the disordered ground states for the uniform J1-J2 model are plaquette states with fourfold degeneracy.