High-brightness 138-W green laser based on an intracavity-frequency-doubled diode-side-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

Green power of 138 W was generated at an estimated beam quality of M(2) = 11 by intracavity frequency doubling of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. The laser employs a diffusive close-coupled diode-pumping design and a bifocusing-compensation resonator design to ensure stable operation.     

Physical and chemical changes of medicinals in mixtures with adsorbents in the solid state. IV. Study on reduced-pressure mixing for practical use of amorphous mixtures of flufenamic acid

Flufenamic acid (FFA) was mixed with magnesium aluminum silicate (MAS) at a reduced pressure of about 10 to 50 mmHg employing a commercial mixer for pharmaceutical production. An amorphous state of FFA in the mixture was efficiently achieved with this equipment, and the dissolution of FFA was enhanced in comparison with that of the physical mixture. Effects of the conditions of mixing, such as pressure, temperature and rotating speed, on dissolution of FFA were determined. Through stability tests at 40 degrees C under both dry and humid conditions, no change in dissolution profiles was recognized in a 5% FFA mixture stored under any conditions. On the other hand, decreases in dissolution behavior were observed in 10% and 20% FFA mixtures when they were stored under humid conditions. These results suggested that humidity should be avoided during the storage of amorphous mixtures of FFA with MAS for production purposes.     

Coalescence process of monodispersed Co cluster assemblies

Cluster-cluster coalescence process of monodispersed Co clusters with mean diameter d = 8.5 and 13 nm deposited a plasma-gas-condensation-type cluster beam deposition system was investigated by in situ electrical conductivity measurements and ex situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and analyzed by percolation concept. The electrical conductivity measurement and TEM observation indicated that, below temperature T≈ 100^°C, the Co clusters in the assemblies maintain their original structure as deposited at room temperature, while that the inter-cluster coalescence takes place at T > 100^°C, although the size distribution and the interface morphology of the clusters showed no marked change at substrate temperatures T _s≤200^°C. Received 29 November 2000     

Estimating the covariance matrix and the generalized variance under a symmetric loss

For estimating the power of a generalized variance under a multivariate normal distribution with unknown means, the inadmissibility of the best affine equivariant estimator relative to the symmetric loss is shown, and a class of improved estimators is given. The problem of estimating the covariance matrix is also discussed.     

Synthesis of a secretoglobin 3A2 type C (98–139) fragment by Dawson’s native chemical ligation

A secretoglobin 3A2 type C (98–139) peptide was synthesized by native chemical ligation between ¹¹⁵Ile and ¹¹⁶Cys residues using Dawson’s linker. The peptide-N-acyl-benzimidazolinone-glycine amide, a C-terminal thioesters precursor, was provided from 3-amino-4-(methylamino)benzoic acid. In addition, an N-terminal cysteine fragment, the (116–139) peptide, was prepared by ordinary Fmoc-solid phase peptide synthesis. Native chemical ligation of the (98–115) fragment with the Dawson’s linker and the (116–139) peptide smoothly proceeded to give SCGB3A2 type C (98–139) peptide.     

Electrophilic glycosidation employing 3,5-O-(di-tert-butylsilylene)-erythro-furanoid glycal leads to exclusive formation of the β-anomer: synthesis of 2′-deoxynucleosides and its 1′-branched analogues

Stereoselectivity in N-iodosuccimide (NIS)-mediated electrophilic glycosidation was examined by employing 2,4-bis-O-(trimethylsilyl)thymine and three different silyl-protected erythro-furanoid glycals 12, 16, and 18. As a result, it was found that 3,5-O-(di-t-butylsilylene)-protected 18 gave only the β-anomer (21). The remarkable stereoselectivity observed by employing 18 is discussed on the basis of its X-ray crystallographic analysis. 1-Substituted glycals gave the corresponding β-anomer, again exclusively, to provide access to 1′-branched 2′-deoxynucleosides.     

A parametric successive underestimation method for convex multiplicative programming problems

This paper addresses itself to the algorithm for minimizing the product of two nonnegative convex functions over a convex set. It is shown that the global minimum of this nonconvex problem can be obtained by solving a sequence of convex programming problems. The basic idea of this algorithm is to embed the original problem into a problem in a higher dimensional space and to apply a branch-and-bound algorithm using an underestimating function. Computational results indicate that our algorithm is efficient when the objective function is the product of a linear and a quadratic functions and the constraints are linear. An extension of our algorithm for minimizing the sum of a convex function and a product of two convex functions is also discussed.     

Survival Probabilities for Discrete-Time Models in One Dimension

We consider survival probabilities for the discrete-time process in one dimension, which is known as the Domany–Kinzel model. A convergence theorem for infinite systems can be obtained in the nonattractive case.