Mendeleev's Discovery of the Periodic Law: The Origin and the Reception

This paper addresses the conceptual as well as social origins of Mendeleev’s discovery of the periodic law and its reception by the chemical community by taking account of three factors: Mendeleev’s early research and its relevance to the discovery; his concepts of chemistry, especially that of the chemical elements; and the social context of the discovery and the reception in the chemical community. Mendeleev's clear distinction between abstract elements and simple bodies was a departure from Lavoisier’s famous definition of elements as an endpoint of analysis and originated from his research in indefinite compounds. As a comparison, the paper also analyzes Lothar Meyer’s approach to the classification of the elements. Mendeleev’s new concept of chemical elements and the existence of an audience in the form of the newly established Russian Chemical Society, and his ``German connection', helped Mendeleev in his discovery and its reception. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Epstein-Barr virus upregulates phosphorylated heat shock protein 27 kDa in carcinoma cells using the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathway

Gastric cancer is the most common cancer in Japan and infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is responsible for about 10% of gastric cancers worldwide. Although EBV infection may be involved at an early stage of gastric carcinogenesis, the mechanisms underlying its involvement remain unknown. To investigate the role of EBV in gastric carcinogenesis, we performed proteomic analyses of an EBV-infected gastric carcinoma cell line NU-GC-3 (EBV(+)) and its uninfected control (EBV(-)). 2-DE was combined with MS to identify differentially expressed proteins. We found that EBV infection upregulated one of the phosphorylated heat shock protein 27 kDa (HSP27). The phosphorylated HSP27 isoform which increased in EBV(+) cells can be induced by both heat shock and arsenite. The increase of phosphorylated HSP27 in EBV(+) cells was reduced by treatment with the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors (LY294002 and wortmannin). In addition, we found increased levels of phosphorylated Akt in EBV(+) cells. These findings suggest that EBV infection upregulates the phosphorylation of HSP27 via the PI3K/Akt pathway. Thus, activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway may contribute to the establishment of a malignant phenotype in EBV-infected gastric carcinomas.     

Tuning of RF amplitude and phase for the drift tube linac in J-PARC

The J-PARC linac has three DTL tanks to accelerate the negative hydrogen ions from 3 MeV to 50 MeV. The RF phase and amplitude are adjusted for each cavity with a phase scan method within the accuracy of 1°in phase and 1% in amplitude. The experimental results show a remarkable agreement with the numerical model within a sufficient margin in the tuning of the last two DTL tanks. However, a notable discrepancy between the experiment and the numerical model is seen in the tuning of the first DTL tank. After studying with a three-dimensional multi-particle simulation, the generation of the low energy component and the pronounced filamentation are identified as the main causes of the discrepancy. The optimization of the tuning scheme is also discussed to attain the tuning goal accuracy for the first DTL tank.     

Characterization of a magnetic carrier encapsulating europium and ferrite nanoparticles for biomolecular recognition and imaging

In this study, FG beads (ferrite nanoparticles in the core covered with poly-(styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate)) were made into fluorescent magnetic carriers (FMCs) containing the fluorescent substance, europium ion (Eu³⁺) complex. The developed FMCs showed several notable features such as high fluorescence intensity and high dispersibility in water. More importantly, FMCs did not leak Eu³⁺ complex. It is expected that the FMCs will be a useful tool for biomolecular recognition and imaging and contribute to advancement of a wide range of research fields, including cell biology and molecular imaging.     

Non-Kolmogorovian Approach to the Context-Dependent Systems Breaking the Classical Probability Law

There exist several phenomena breaking the classical probability laws. The systems related to such phenomena are context-dependent, so that they are adaptive to other systems. In this paper, we present a new mathematical formalism to compute the joint probability distribution for two event-systems by using concepts of the adaptive dynamics and quantum information theory, e.g., quantum channels and liftings. In physics the basic example of the context-dependent phenomena is the famous double-slit experiment. Recently similar examples have been found in biological and psychological sciences. Our approach is an extension of traditional quantum probability theory, and it is general enough to describe aforementioned contextual phenomena outside of quantum physics.     

Classical signal model for quantum channels

Recently it was shown that the main distinguishing features of quantum mechanics (QM) can be reproduced by a model based on classical random fields, the so-called prequantum classical statistical field theory (PCSFT). This model provides a possibility to represent averages of quantum observables, including correlations of observables on subsystems of a composite system (e.g., entangled systems), as averages with respect to fluctuations of classical (Gaussian) random fields. We consider some consequences of the PCSFT for quantum information theory. They are based on our previous observation that classical Gaussian channels (important in classical signal theory) can be represented as quantum channels. Now we show that quantum channels can be represented as classical linear transforms of classical Gaussian signals.     

Theoretical realization of holey fiber with flat chromatic dispersion and large mode area: an intriguing defected approach

We present a novel design approach for realizing holey fibers (HFs) with flat dispersion characteristics and large mode area based on the existence of an artificially defected air-hole ring in the cladding, and on the inclusion of additional defected air holes in the core of the fiber. This unique type of HF can be used for achieving remarkable flat dispersion characteristics as well as a large mode area, which are particularly useful for high-speed data transmission. The validation of the proposed design is done by adopting an efficient full-vectorial finite element method for optical characterization of HFs. The proposed fiber can be employed in reconfigurable optical transmission systems for performing wavelength division multiplexing operation. Typical characteristics of the proposed HF are a flattened dispersion of 6.3 +/- 0.5 ps/km/nm from 1.45 to 1.65 microm and an effective mode area as large as 100 microm2 in the same frequency range.     

Orbital order and ferrimagnetic properties of Sr8CaRe3Cu4O24

By means of the LSDA+U (local spin density approximation plus Hubbard U) method and the Green function method, we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of the new material of Sr8CaRe3Cu4O24. Our LSDA+U calculation shows that this system is an insulator of ferrimagnetism with a net magnetic moment of 1.01 micro(B)/f.u., which is in good agreement with the experiment. It is the nonmagnetic Re atoms that induce an orbital order of d electrons of Cu atoms, which is responsible for the strong exchange interaction and the high magnetic transition temperature. Based on the LSDA+U results, we introduce an effective model for the spin degrees of freedom and investigate the finite-temperature properties by the Green function method. The obtained results are consistent with the experimental results, indicating that the spin-alternating Heisenberg model is suitable for this compound.     

Design of ultra compact all-optical XOR and AND logic gates with low power consumption

We propose a novel ultra-compact all-optical XOR and AND logic gates without using nonlinear optics. In order to realize these devices, we adopt photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) based on multi-mode interference devices. Numerical results show that the operating bandwidth of the ON to OFF logic-level contrast ratio of not less than 6.79 dB is 35 nm for XOR logic gate and 9 nm for AND logic gate. Proposed logic gates have the potential to be key components for an optical packet switching system due to their small feature sizes and low power consumption.     

A theoretical study of CO adsorption on gold by Hückel theory and density functional theory calculations

It is crucial to understand the nature of CO adsorption on gold so as to elucidate the mechanism of low-temperature CO oxidation on nanogold catalysts. We performed theoretical analysis of CO adsorption on gold by using Hückel theory and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Hückel theory indicates that CO adsorption on gold is dominated by the electron distribution at the Au atom, which is greatly affected by neighboring Au atoms, coadsorbed or doping species. The increase of σ-bonding electrons should weaken the CO adsorption, while the increase of π-electrons should strengthen the adsorption. DFT calculations proved this prediction quantitatively for various systems, including CO adsorption on a Au(100)-hex surface with locally varying subsurface configurations and CO coadsorption with acceptor or donor species.