Isolation and Characterization of Two Types of Xyloglucanases from a Phytopathogenic Fungus,Verticillium dahliae

Xyloglucan is a major hemicellulosic component in plant cell walls. Phytopathogenic fungi secrete cell wall-degrading enzymes on their infection to hosts, while the nature of the cell wall-lytic enzymes of such fungi are yet to be fully understood. Verticillium dahliae is a soil-borne fungus that causes vascular wilt diseases in a variety of commercially important crops worldwide. We purified two types of xyloglucanases, XEG12A and XEG74B, from the culture of naturally isolated Verticillium dahliae strain 2148. XEG12A showed a molecular size of 23 kDa with its maximal activity at pH 7.5. XEG12A specifically hydrolyzed xyloglucan with no activity on other β-glucans. XEG74B had a molecular size of 110 kDa with its optimum pH at 6.0. XEG74B primarily hydrolyzed xyloglucan, with a slight activity on β-1,3-1,4-glucan. Analysis of hydrolytic products of xyloglucanooligasaccharide (XXXGXXXG) by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) revealed that the both enzymes cleaved β-1,4-glucosidic linkage at the position of unbranched chain, while XEG74B showed a little fluctuation with the cleavage site. Both enzymes did not hydrolyzed xyloglucanoheptasaccharide (XXXG) at all. N-Terminal and internal amino acid sequencing of the enzymes revealed that XEG12A and XEG74B belonged to Glycoside Hydrolase (GH) Families 12 and 74, respectively. Based on these results we concluded that V. dahliae XEG12A and XEG74B were xyloglucan-specific endo-β-1,4-glucanases (EC 3.2.1.151).     

Nonlinear Earthquake Response Characteristics of a Central Clay Core Rockfill Dam

The effect of the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku earthquake (M_J 7.2), Japan on the Aratozawa dam, which is a 74.4 m high rockfill dam with a central clay core located in the area, was studied with a main focus on the change in the vibration period, shear wave velocity, shear modulus, and pore-water pressure. In a vertical section of the central part of the dam, three sets of 3-component accelerometers and 15 pore water pressure meters were installed. During the main shock, the acceleration exceeded 10 m/s² at the gallery, inducing large shear strains in excess of 10^-3 and a sudden build-up of the excess pore water pressure in the core. Due to the large strains, the shear wave velocity and shear modulus showed a significant decrease from their initial values and the vibration period was elongated. The decreased shear wave velocity gradually recovered toward the end of the main shock, and continued to recover with the passage of time. The full recovery of the wave velocity was found to take at least one year, while the dissipation of the excess pore water pressure proceeded more quickly than the recovery of the wave velocity.     

Dislocation reduction in gaas grown on Si by MOMBE using multiple indium atomic plane structures

This paper investigates the effectiveness of multiple indium atomic planes in reducing the dislocation density in GaAs epitaxial layers grown by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs-coated Si substrates prepared by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition.In situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns show that, during the growth of multiple indium atomic-plane structures, two-dimensional growth takes place. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscope observation shows that InAs sublayers are commensurate; hence the critical thickness of the InAs layer in this structure is more than one-monolayer. Cathodoluminescence examination indicates that the defect density decreases as the number (<60) of indium atomic planes increases. This new structure is more effective in dislocation reduction than conventional In_0.1Ga_0.9As/GaAs strained-layer superlattices.     

Identification of Fuzzy Relations with Multiple Hyperplanes by Genetic Algorithm in Structural Design

Abstract: This paper proposes a method for formulation and quantification of human subjective evaluations and uncertain numerical values by using multiple hyperplanes based on the results of questionnaires distributed to structural designers that are composed of four questions about structural design and planning, i.e., ( Q 1) structural damage , ( Q 2) structural economy in a macroscopic sense , ( Q 3) structural safety, and ( Q 4) opening patterns in facade. In this paper, some hyperplanes in multidimensional spaces are used as a method to identify fuzzy relations (states) in intelligent fuzzy networks for seismic structural planning. A genetic algorithm is employed as a search method for optimal formulations and is proved to be very effective as a method for such an identification.     

Monolithic SMPTE Time Code Reader LSI using Gate Array

This paper describes an SMPTE time code reader LSI using gate arrays. The reader consists of two chips, i.e., a bit clock extracting chip, and a display interface chip. All circuits are designed with random logic gates.     

General View on the Hi－Tech Industrial Applications of Rare Earths in Japan－Present and Future

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LiNbO3TE-TM mode converter using collinear acoustooptic interaction

A highly efficient TE-TM mode conversion device utilizing the acoustooptic effect has been demonstrated. Mode conversion has been made by an acoustic surface wave propagating collinearly with an optical guided wave. The maximum mode conversion, although the fraction was restricted to 70 percent, has been obtained with an acoustic power of only 55 mW (electrical input 0.55 W). Effective interaction length of the present device is limited to 5 mm due to optical and/or acoustic inhomogeneity of the waveguides. For selecting TE and TM waves, a polarizer is constructed monolithically and the extinction ratio is improved by up to 21 dB. Performance characteristics of a tunable optical filter of this type of the mode conversion are also discussed.     

High-gain GaAs avalanche photodiodes with proton-implanted guard ring

A GaAs avalanche photodiode with a multiplication factor as high as 8000 was prepared by Zn diffusion and proton double implantation. The proton-implanted guard ring completely prevented edge breakdown, and multiplication occurred uniformly over the junction area. Dark current was proved to be due to a leakage current at the periphery between junction and implanted layer.     

Ohmic contacts to Si-implanted InP

Ohmic contacts to Si-implanted, n⁺ layers on semi-insulating InP are investigated on the basis of the transmission line model. It is found that Au/Ni/AuGeNi/InP system shows a good ohmic behaviour with the specific contact resistance $\text{ρ}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{of}\text{2 × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?5}}\text{Ω}\text{cm}{}^2$ and the minimum contact resistance $\text{Z}{}_{\mathrm{c}}\text{of}\text{～ 2 × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}\text{Ω}\text{cm}$ for a Si-dose higher than 2 × 10¹⁴ cm^?2 at 100 or 200 keV. The results indicate that, in the FET fabrication, at least 120 μm in length is necessary in order to obtain source and drain electrodes with the minimized resistance.     

The characterization of two Dictyostelium discoideum genes encoding ribosomal proteins with sequence similarity to rat L27a and L37a

Two Dictyostelium discoideum ribosomal protein genes, denoted DdL27a and DdL37a, were isolated and sequenced. The DdL27a gene contained an open reading frame of 148 amino acids coding for a putative 16,407 Da protein, which was similar to rat L27a (82.6% similarity) and to ribosomal proteins from other species. The gene contained a 311-bp intron downstream from the ATG initiation codon with an A+T content of 75%. The DdL37a gene encoded a 9,999 Da protein consisting of 91 amino acids, which had high sequence similarity to rat, human, and chicken ribosomal protein L37a, and was interrupted by two introns of 254 bp and 75 bp in length. The DdL37a protein contained a typical zinc finger motif (Cys-X2-Cys-X14-Cys-X2-Cys), which may be involved in the interaction of proteins with nucleic acids. Genomic DNA blot analysis indicated that the DdL27a and DdL37a genes are present in single copies in the Dictyostelium haploid genome. The DdL27a and DdL37a mRNA were expressed maximally in growing amoebae, and their levels decreased during multicellular development, coordinately with the observed decrease in ribosome accumulation during later development.