Hofer’s metric on the space of Lagrangian submanifolds and wrapped Floer homology

In this paper, we study the relationship between wrapped Floer homology and displaceability of a Lagrangian submanifold which we call vanishing theorem of wrapped Floer homology. We also use this theorem to study Hofer’s pseudometric on the space of Lagrangian submanifolds. We prove an inequality, the Lagrangian version of the inequality of Gromov width and displacement energy, which is called energy-capacity inequality.     

Stability of stationary solutions for the non-isentropic Euler-Maxwell system in the whole space

In this paper we discuss the asymptotic stability of stationary solutions for the non-isentropic Euler-Maxwell system in R³. It is known in the authors’ previous works [17, 18, 19] that the Euler-Maxwell system verifies the decay property of the regularity-loss type. In this paper we first prove the existence and uniqueness of a small stationary solution. Then we show that the non-stationary problemhas a global solution in a neighborhood of the stationary solution under smallness condition on the initial perturbation. Moreover, we show the asymptotic convergence of the solution toward the stationary solution as time tends to infinity. The crucial point of the proof is to derive a priori estimates by using the energy method.     

Effects of oligoDNA template length and sequence on binary self-assembly of a nucleotide bolaamphiphile

Templated self-assembly of nucleotide bolaamphiphile 1 (in which a 3'-phosphorylated thymidine moiety is connected to each end of a long oligomethylene chain) with a 10-, 20-, 30-, or 40-meric single-stranded oligoadenylic acid (2, 3, 4, or 5) led to the formation of right-handed helical nanofibers in 0.1x Tris/EDTA (TE) buffer solutions. The helical pitch increased as the length of the oligoadenylic acid template increased. DNA composed of oligoadenylic and oligocytidylic acid sequences (6, 7, and 8) also acted as templates to induce the formation of helical nanofiber structures. The diameter of the nanofibers remained constant (6-6.6 nm) irrespective of the template used. The binary self-assembly of 1 with 4 also produced higher-order, double-stranded nanofibers.     

Stabilization of methane hydrate by pressurization with He or N2 gas

The behavior of methane hydrate was investigated after it was pressurized with helium or nitrogen gas in a test system by monitoring the gas compositions. The results obtained indicate that even when the partial pressure of methane gas in such a system is lower than the equilibrium pressure at a certain temperature, the dissociation rate of methane hydrate is greatly depressed by pressurization with helium or nitrogen gas. This phenomenon is only observed when the total pressure of methane and helium (or nitrogen) gas in the system is greater than the equilibrium pressure required to stabilize methane hydrate with just methane gas. The following model has been proposed to explain the observed phenomenon: (1) Gas bubbles develop at the hydrate surface during hydrate dissociation, and there is a pressure balance between the methane gas inside the gas bubbles and the external pressurizing gas (methane and helium or nitrogen), as transmitted through the water film; as a result the methane gas in the gas bubbles stabilizes the hydrate surface covered with bubbles when the total gas pressure is greater than the equilibrium pressure of the methane hydrate at that temperature; this situation persists until the gas in the bubbles becomes sufficiently dilute in methane or until the surface becomes bubble-free. (2) In case of direct contact of methane hydrate with water, the water surrounding the hydrate is supersaturated with methane released upon hydrate dissociation; consequently, methane hydrate is stabilized when the hydrostatic pressure is above the equilibrium pressure of methane hydrate at a certain temperature, again until the dissolved gas at the surface becomes sufficiently dilute in methane. In essence, the phenomenon is due to the presence of a nonequilibrium state where there is a chemical potential gradient from the solid hydrate particles to the bulk solution that exists as long as solid hydrate remains.     

Elongation factor Tu mutants expand amino acid tolerance of protein biosynthesis system

Nonnatural amino acids have been introduced into proteins using expanded protein biosynthesis systems. However, some nonnatural amino acids, especially those containing large aromatic groups, are not efficiently incorporated into proteins. Reduced binding efficiency of aminoacylated tRNAs to elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) is likely to limit incorporation of large amino acids. Our previous studies suggested that tRNAs carrying large nonnatural amino acids are bound less tightly to EF-Tu than natural amino acids. To expand the availability of nonnatural mutagenesis, EF-Tu from the E. coli translation system was improved to accept such large amino acids. We synthesized EF-Tu mutants, in which the binding pocket of the aminoacyl moiety of aminoacyl-tRNA was enlarged. L-1-Pyrenylalanine, L-2-pyrenylalanine, and DL-2-anthraquinonylalanine, which are hardly or only slightly incorporated with the wild-type EF-Tu, were successfully incorporated into a protein using these EF-Tu mutants.     

Novel unsymmetrically pi-elongated porphyrin for dye-sensitized TiO2 cells

A novel naphthyl-fused zinc porphyrin carboxylic acid has been synthesized and employed successfully in a dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cell, with a power conversion efficiency of 4.1%, which is improved by 50% relative to the unfused porphyrin reference cell.