Heat Gelling Properties of Hen's Egg Yolk Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) in the Presence of Other Protein

Ovalbumin (OV), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme (Lys) were added to egg yolk low density lipoprotein (LDL) and the heat-induced gel formation of LDL-protein mixture was studied. The gel formation of LDL-protein mixture was different between the acidic and alkaline pH region; fine stable gels were formed in the alkaline pH region, but weak paste-like gels were formed in the acidic pH region. The effect of added BSA or OV on the gel strength of LDL was much larger than that of Lys. Scanning electron micrographic observation showed that the microstructures of both LDL-BSA and LDL-OV gels were more uniform than that of LDL-Lys gel.     

Dependence of Vacuum Electrical Breakdown Field and Field Enhancement Factor on the Number of Apertures Drilled in Small Electrodes

Dark current based on field emission current is considered to be a factor causing the vacuum electrical breakdown between multiaperture acceleration grids in the JT‐60 negative ion source. In this paper, we focus on field enhancement factor, which is a key parameter of field emission from the electrode. Vacuum breakdown testing for small‐sized electrodes simulating the multiaperture acceleration grids of the negative ion source was performed. We found the field enhancement factor and breakdown field for multiaperture electrodes, and we investigated the dependence of each parameter on the number of apertures. The results revealed that an increase in the average field enhancement factor after the end of conditioning resulting from an increase in the number of apertures led to a decrease in the dielectric strength of the multiaperture electrodes.     

Motion Planning by T‐RRT with Potential Function for Vertical Articulated Robots

RRT (rapidly exploring random tree) with random sampling is an effective method for path planning, and is often used for robot manipulators. The RRT has many modified methods for applying various problems and conditions. Particularly, T‐RRT (Transition‐based RRT) one of those has advantage that it is able to adopt arbitrary evaluation function. In this paper, a novel path planning method based on the T‐RRT is proposed for ensuring “quality” of a generated path. Then, its effectiveness is evaluated via comparison with other sampling‐based methods using simulation of the industrial robot having seven DOFs.     

Influence of the microenvironment on gene and protein expression of odontogenic-like and osteogenic-like cells

Progenitor cells play an important biological role in tooth and bone formation, and previous analyses during bone and dentine induction have indicated that they may be a good alternative for tissue engineering. Thus, to clarify the influence of the microenvironment on protein and gene expression, MDPC23 cells (mouse dental papilla cell line) and KUSA/A1 cells (bone marrow stromal cell line) were used, both in vitro cell culture and in intra-abdominal diffusion chambers implanted in 4-week-old male immunodefficient mice (SCID mice). Our results indicate that KUSA/A1 cells differentiated into osteoblast-like cells and induced bone tissue inside the chamber, whereas, MDPC-23 showed odontoblast-like characteristics but with a low ability to induce dentin formation. This study shows that MDPC-23 cells are especial cells, which possess morphological and functional characteristics of odontoblast-like cells expressing dentin sialophosphoprotein in vivo. In contrast, dentin sialophosphoprotein gene and protein expression was not detected in both cell lines in vitro. The intra-abdominal diffusion chamber appears as an interesting experimental model for studying phenotypic expression of dental pulp cells in vivo.     

Study on Improving Precision of Analysis of Boost Ratio and Power Efficiency of Tapped‐Inductor DC–DC Converter Circuit

Analysis precision of boost ratio and power efficiency in boost DC–DC converter circuit is improved by proposing adaptive equivalent circuit of output diode of the circuit. In experiment, boost ratio and power efficiency in high boost ratio circuit were 9.89% and 76.5% respectively with its load resistance of 20 Ω driven by output voltage 10 V. In experimental results, error in theoretical values of boost ratio compared with the measured values of that was reduced to ?3.79% from 57.5% in the conventional circuit. In a tapped‐inductor high boost ratio circuit, error in theoretical values of boost ratio was reduced to 3.54% from 31.8%. Error in theoretical values of power efficiency with the measured values of that was reduced to 5.51% from 33.2% in the conventional circuit. In a high boost ratio circuit, error in theoretical values of power efficiency was reduced to ?3.32% from 17.3%. Power loss of every element in boost DC–DC converter circuits was analyzed with high precision by analysis of inductance current waveforms in those circuits. Error in theoretical values of power loss compared with measured values was reduced to equal or less than 5%.     

Factors Affecting Heat-Induced Gel Formation of Bovine Serum Albumin

Factors affecting heat-induced gel formation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied. In the presence of NaCl (I>0.05), well-developed transparent gels formed on both sides of the isoelectric point (Ip). Addition of CaCl₂ or MgCl₂ greatly suppressed gel formation on the alkaline side of Ip, but increased it a little on the acid side. Intermolecular s-s bonds contributed to the gel formation on the alkaline side of Ip but not on the acid side. From the results of the infrared spectra measurements intermolecular β-structure appears to contribute to gel formation on both sides of the Ip.     

Effects of Ca++, Mg++ and Na+ on Heat Aggregation of Whey Protein Concentrates

Effect of Ca⁺⁺ on the heat aggregation of whey protein concentrates (WPC) was compared with that of Na⁺ and Mg⁺⁺. On the alkaline side of the isoelectric zone, aggregation of WPC was increased by the addition of CaCl₂, MgCl₂ or NaCl, among which CaCl₂ showed the greatest effect. The denaturation temperature of WPC determined by differential scanning calorimetry significantly decreased in the presence of CaCl₂ or MgCl₂, but increased slightly in the presence of NaCl. In the electrophoretic patterns of heated WPC, the most sensitive protein to Ca⁺⁺ was β-lactoglobulin.     

Physical State of the Dispersed Phases of Emulsions Prepared with Egg Yolk Low Density Lipoprotein and Bovine Serum Albumin

Physical state of the dispersed phases of the emulsion prepared with egg yolk low density lipoprotein (LDL-emulsion) was compared with that of bovine serum albumin (BSA-emulsion). Results clearly showed that the mean globule size of LDL-emulsion was much smaller than that of BSA-emulsion and that stability of the LDL-emulsion during storage was much larger than the BSA-emulsion. These properties of LDL-emulsion appeared to be dependent on the high lipid-binding ability of LDL.