Improved yields of cyclic nigerosylnigerose from starch by pretreatment with a thermostable branching enzyme

Cyclic nigerosylnigerose (CNN) is produced enzymatically from starch by the combined action of 6-α-glucosyltransferase and 3-α-isomaltosyltransferase. In our previous study, α-1,6-branching chains found in the structure of amylopectin and glycogen were shown to be favorable for CNN formation by the two enzymes. Therefore, we examined whether the introduction of α-1,6-branch points into starch using the action of branching enzyme (BE) could improve the yield of CNN from starch. Thermostable BE from Geobacillus stearothermophilus TC-91 was prepared as a purified recombinant protein. Pretreatment of amylose with BE considerably increased the CNN yield from 5% to 38%. When BE acted on tapioca starch, the CNN yield was elevated from 47% to 60%. Conversely, BE treatment of waxy corn starch containing very little amylose resulted in a negligible increase in CNN yield. In addition, BE exerted a beneficial effect when starch with a lower degree of hydrolysis was used as a substrate. The present results indicate that the addition of α-1,6-glucosidic linkages to starch using BE is an effective strategy to improve the yield of CNN from starch.     

Hydrodynamic Behavior of Asymmetric Oscillatory Boundary Layers at Low Reynolds Numbers

An experimental and numerical study has been carried out to study the wave boundary layers under asymmetric waves. The experiments were conducted in an oscillating tunnel using a simple mechanical system to generate an asymmetric oscillatory motion similar to cnoidal waves. The velocities were measured by laser Doppler velocimetry and the bottom shear stress was calculated from the cross-stream velocity profile. A low Reynolds number k–ε model was used to predict the hydrodynamic properties of the cnoidal wave boundary layers. After validating the model with the experimental data, a series of numerical experiments were carried out to study the transitional behavior of these boundary layers by virtue of friction factor and phase difference between mean free-stream velocity and bottom shear stress. Finally a stability diagram was drawn to demarcate the laminar, transition, and fully turbulent regimes using the numerical results. The present study would be useful for the hydraulic and coastal engineers interested in calculating bottom shear stress in order to compute the sediment transport in coastal environments.     

A density functional theory study on the degradation mechanism of thin film of organic semiconductor by water molecules

Hybrid density functional theory calculations have been carried out for the organic-inorganic hybrid complex of 1,4,5,8-naphthalene-tetracarboxylic-dianhydride (NTCDA) with an indium atom (In) to elucidate the degradation mechanism of thin films of molecular organic semiconductors by water molecules. This compound has been used as an organic semiconductor. The band gap of NTCDA was calculated to be as high as 3.39 eV as a single molecule, whereas a new band of NTCDA was formed as low-lying excited state (1.64 eV) after the interaction with the In atom. The water molecule attacked preferentially the In atom of In-NTCDA, and the solvation structure was formed around the In atom (solvation). Further addition of a water molecule to the system, the In atom is stripped off from NTCDA by water molecules, and solvation shell around the In atom is formed (separated solvation). The hydrogen-bond network was broken by the formation of solvation shell. The mechanism of degradation of the electron conductivity has been discussed on the basis of theoretical results.     

Quantitative evaluation of softened regions in weld heat-affected zones of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy—Characterizing of the laser beam welding process

In welding 6061-T6 aluminum alloy, softening caused by the dissolution of strengthening β″ (Mg₂Si) precipitates occurs in heat-affected zones (HAZs). Laser beam welding is advantageous in view of narrower softened regions. The width of the softened region in a laser beam weld with a welding speed of 133 mm/s is 1/7 that of a tungsten inert gas (TIG) weld with a speed of 5 mm/s. The hardness distributions and width of softened regions in the HAZ have been quantitatively predicted to characterize the laser beam welding process. To this end, a kinetic equation describing the dissolution of age precipitates has been established and has been applied to 6061-T6 aluminum weldments. The hardness profiles and the width of softened zones have been successfully predicted in both welding processes. Prediction of the width of softened regions with varying power inputs and welding speeds reveals that a high energy density and a high welding speed in laser beam welding result in significantly narrower softened regions, in which the width is insensitive to variations in welding parameters compared to that of TIG welding.     

Development of SPring-8 vacuum system

SPring-8 storage ring has been available for user operation with low emittance and extreme stability for over 10 years. However there occurred some problems in the components of the storage ring due to high-brightness synchrotron radiation (SR) and low-emittance operation. On the vacuum system of the storage ring, an accurate pressure could not be measured near the photon absorber due to scattered high-energy SR to the gauge head. High-energy SR activated dissolved oxygen in cooling water, and the activated dissolved oxygen corroded the inside of the photon absorbers in SR irradiation part. Air leakage occurred at an injection chamber due to impact by a small-size electron beam produced by low-emittance operation.We investigated the cause of the aforementioned difficulties with the vacuum system and prescribed the treatments described in this paper. In addition, we are making continual efforts at further system upgrades such as developing an RF shield that suppresses temperature increase in the shield in possible high-current operation.     

End effects of Halbach field magnet-type linear motor

A linear motor that uses a finite length Halbach array as its magnetic field causes a thrust force ripple owing to end effects. In this paper, the theoretical and numerical analysis methods of the Halbach array are investigated. The results of the electromagnetic field analysis are compared to confirm the validity of the theoretical and numerical solutions. Moreover, we focus on the magnetic pole period and coil arrangement of the finite length Halbach field type linear motor to eliminate the influence of the end effects, and report the relationship with the end effects.     

Efficient Allylation of Nucleophiles Catalyzed by a Bifunctional Heterogeneous Palladium Complex‐Tertiary Amine System

We demonstrate the synergistic catalysis of a silica‐supported diaminopalladium complex and a tertiary amine (SiO₂/diamine/Pd/NEt₂) as well as synthetic scope of the Tsuji–Trost reaction of 1,3‐dicarbonyls, phenols, and carboxylic acids with allyl carbonate and acetates. The synergistic catalysis of SiO₂/diamine/Pd/NEt₂ exhibited wide applicability and high activity for the Tsuji–Trost reaction. For example, the reaction of ethyl 3‐oxobutanate with allyl methyl carbonate afforded the allylated product in >99% yield at 70 °C for 5 h. The yield of allylated products was 26% for SiO₂/diamine/Pd, without immobilization of the tertiary amine group. In the reaction of 1.0 mmol of ethyl 3‐oxobutanate using 0.60 μmol of Pd in SiO₂/diamine/Pd/NEt₂, the turnover number (TON) of Pd reached up to 1070 within 24 h. Phenols with electron‐withdrawing groups, such as nitro and chloro groups, on the para position resulted in high product yields. The SiO₂/diamine/Pd/NEt₂ catalyst was reusable at least 4 times without appreciable loss of its activity and selectivity in the reaction of p‐chlorophenol.     

Phylogenetic classification of Pseudomonas putida strains by MALDI-MS using ribosomal subunit proteins as biomarkers

A new method for phylogenetic classification of bacterial strains using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) is proposed. This method was developed using a bioinformatics-based approach to the rapid identification of bacteria as previously proposed by Demirev and co-workers, which uses ribosomal proteins composed of approximately 50 subunit proteins as biomarkers. Although the amino acid sequences of ribosomal proteins are highly conserved, slight sequence variations can occur at the strain level. Since ribosomal subunit proteins are a complex of housekeeping proteins that have different phylogenetic evolution rates, sequence variation detected as mass differences by MALDI-MS may be useful for the phylogenetic classification of bacteria at strain level. In our proposed method, the first step is the selection of reliable biomarkers through characterization of the expressed ribosomal subunit proteins of a reference strain (usually a genome-sequenced strain) by MALDI-MS. The observed masses in the MALDI mass spectra of cell lysates of sample strains are then compared with the biomarker masses of the reference strain. The biomarkers for each sample strain were designated as present or absent at the reference masses, indicated by 1 or 0, respectively, which were summarized in a table. This table is processed by cluster analysis, generating a phylogenetic tree. In this study, the success of this approach was confirmed by classification of Pseudomonas putida strains because its classification is much more complicated than that of other bacterial strains. Forty-three reliable biomarkers were selected from ribosomal sub-unit proteins of a genome-sequenced strain, P. putida KT2440. The numbers and kinds of biomarkers observed for 16 strains of P. putida, including different biovars, were markedly different, reflecting the variety of the strains. The classification results by the proposed method were highly comparable to those based on the DNA gyrase subunit B gene (gyrB) sequence analysis, suggesting our proposed method would be a useful high-throughput method for phylogenetic classification of newly isolated bacteria.