Effects of low- or medium-pressure ultraviolet lamp irradiation on Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena variabilis

A pure culture of Microcystis aeruginosa or Anabaena variabilis, the representatives of water blooming algae, was exposed to low-pressure (LP) or medium-pressure (MP) UV lamps. Irradiated pure culture suspension was subsequently incubated for 7d under white light fluorescent lamps. During incubation, profiles of the number of cells, DNA damage and photosynthetic activity were determined. When UV fluence was 600mJ/cm(2), M. aeruginosa cell numbers decreased throughout the 7-d incubation period, to produce 1.5log reduction (LP) or 1.2log reduction (MP) compared with control. The amount of DNA damage was 2.02x10(-4) ESS/base (LP) and 3.42x10(-4) ESS/base (MP) just after UV irradiation, which became 0.05x10(-4) ESS/base and 0.23x10(-4) ESS/base, respectively, after 3d incubation. However, cell number kept decreasing, even after DNA repair. Photosynthetic activity decreased by 1.5log within 1d (LP) or 3d (MP). Thus, reduction in photosynthetic activity could contribute to the reduction in M. aeruginosa cell numbers. A. variabilis cell numbers reduced by 2.3log (LP) or 2.2log (MP) during the 7-d incubation period; however, after DNA damage repair, cell number began to increase. The amount of DNA damage was 6.07x10(-4) ESS/base (LP) and 4.48x10(-4) ESS/base (MP) just after UV irradiation, which became 0.23x10(-4) ESS/base and 0.40x10(-4) ESS/base, respectively, after 3d incubation. No reduction was observed in photosynthetic activity/cell. Therefore, DNA damage is the main contributor of the reduction in cell number of A. variabilis.     

Weighting matrix of quadratic performance index and design method of optimal deadbeat control system

A method of determination of the weighting matrix of the quadratic performance index and a method of design of an optimal deadbeat control system are discussed. First, the relationship between the weighting matrix of the quadratic performance index and the extra poles of the overparametrized pulse transfer function model is indicated. Next, a method of design of an optimal deadbeat control system is explained. Lastly, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, some numerical examples are presented. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 133(1): 53–63, 2000     

Hydrogen incorporation in tungsten deposits growing by deuterium plasma sputtering

Tungsten deposits were produced by sputtering method using hydrogen isotope RF plasma, and the density and the incorporated components in the deposits were investigated. The density changed in the range from 14.2 g/cm³ to 6.1 g/cm³, and hydrogen isotope retention changed in the range from 0.25 to 0.05 as (H + D)/W by the difference of deposition conditions. Both the density and hydrogen isotope retention tended to decrease with an increase of pressure. Even though a deuterium gas was used for producing tungsten deposits, not only deuterium but also hydrogen, oxygen and water vapor were incorporated in the deposits. It is considered that the incorporation of these components originated in water vapor unintentionally existing in the vacuum chamber.     

Effect of intensified discharge in the vicinity of ribs on PDP performance

It was determined that the discharge in the vicinity of ribs should be intensified to obtain low‐voltage, high‐luminous efficacy, and high module efficiency. One possible way is to increase the space between ribs and the discharge surface. Even if the amount of space increases by only 2 or 3 µm, it still results in low discharge voltage, large discharge current, and high luminous efficacy. For that reason it might be important to control the micron‐sized particles included in the MgO crystal dispersed layers. Another preferable way is to use ribs with a low electric permittivity (ε) that are represented by porous ribs. Moreover, low‐ε ribs diffuses the high‐energy spots in plasma, resulting in a high luminous efficacy. They feature a significantly lower sustain voltage and a smaller parasitic capacitance as well to facilitate a help high module efficiency. Also, highly porous ribs are expected to increase their practical use in aspects of mechanical strength and impurity gas exhaustion.     

Functional analysis of Gscl in the pathogenesis of the DiGeorge and velocardiofacial syndromes

Gscl encodes a Goosecoid-related homeodomain protein that is expressed during mouse embryogenesis. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry studies show that Gscl is expressed in the pons region of the developing central nervous system and primordial germ cells. Gscl expression is also detected in a subset of adult tissues, including brain, eye, thymus, thyroid region, stomach, bladder and testis. Gscl is located within a region of the mouse genome that is syntenic with the region commonly deleted in DiGeorge and velocardiofacial syndrome (DGS/VCFS) patients. DGS/VCFS patients have craniofacial abnormalities, cardiac outflow defects and hypoplasia of the parathyroid gland and thymus due to haploinsufficiency of a gene or genes located within the deleted region. Thus, the genomic location of Gscl and its expression in a subset of the tissues affected in DGS/VCFS patients suggest that Gscl may contribute to the pathogenesis of DGS/VCFS. To determine the role of Gscl during mouse embryogenesis and in DGS/VCFS, we have deleted Gscl by gene targeting in mouse embryonic stem cells. Both Gscl heterozygous and Gscl null mice were normal and fertile, suggesting that Gscl is not a major factor in DGS/VCFS. Interestingly, expression of the adjacent Es2 gene in the pons region of Gscl null fetuses was absent, suggesting that mutations within the DGS/VCFS region can influence expression of adjacent genes. In addition, embryos that lacked both Gscl and the related Gsc gene appeared normal. These studies represent the first functional analysis of a DGS/VCFS candidate gene in vivo. These Gscl null mice will be an important genetic resource for crosses with other mouse models of the DGS/VCFS.     

Three-dimensional rainbow schlieren measurements in underexpanded sonic jets from axisymmetric convergent nozzles

The rainbow schlieren deflectometry has been combined with the computed tomography to obtain three-dimensional density fields of shock containing free jets and we call the method the schlieren CT. Experiments on the schlieren CT have been performed at a nozzle pressure ratio of 4.0 by using an axisymmetric convergent nozzle with an inner diameter of 10 mm at the exit where the nozzle was operated at an underexpanded condition. Multidirectional rainbow schlieren pictures of an underexpanded sonic jet can be acquired by rotating the nozzle about its longitudinal axis in equal angular intervals and the three-dimensional density fields are reconstructed by the schlieren CT. The validity of the schlieren CT is verified by a comparison with the density fields reconstructed by the Abel inversion method. As a result, it is found that excellent quantitative agreement is reached between the three-dimensional jet density fields reconstructed from both methods.     

Effects of aspect ratio in a transonic shock tube airfoil flow

In the present study, the flow visualizations were performed around the NACA 0012 models which differ in aspect ratios. We discussed the effects of the aspect ratio in the test models. Additionally the unsteady, two-dimensional, compressible Euler equations were solved for the NACA 0012 airfoil. Experiments were performed utilizing the conventional gas driven shock tube as the intermittent transonic wind tunnel. The aspect ratios of the models are about 0.86 and 1.5, respectively. The Mach numbers M 2 are about 0.84. The Reynolds numbers of the present experimental conditions were constant that Re based on chord length is about 4.0×10 5 . The results are as follows: in different aspect ratios, the difference of the shock wave location is confirmed though the Mach number and Reynolds number are same. It indicates the different correction Mach number by the effects of the side wall boundary layer though the nominal Mach number measured the same value. Also, on the difference of shock wave location for the effects of the aspect ratio, the tend of CFD shows the qualitative agreement with the result of an experiment.     

Applicability of DNA barcode for identification of fish species

DNA barcoding is a species identification technique, which uses a very short DNA sequence from a region of approximately 650 base-pairs in the 5'-end of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene as a marker to identify species of mammals and fishes. The applicability of DNA barcoding for identification of fish species consumed in Japan was studied. Among thirty-one fresh or processed fishes were obtained from the market, two samples could not be identified due to lack of data in the Barcode of Life Data (BOLD) database. However, BLAST-search of 16S rRNA genes in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database and the PCR-RFLP method published by the Food and Agricultural Materials Inspection Center (FAMIC) were found to be applicable to identify these 2 fishes. The results show that the DNA barcoding technique is potentially useful as a tool for confirming the proper labeling of fish species in the Japanese market.     

A wide view auto‐stereoscopic 3D display with an eye‐tracking system for enhanced horizontal viewing position and viewing distance

This paper describes the development of auto‐stereoscopic three‐dimensional (3D) display with an eye‐tracking system for not only the X‐axis (right–left) and Y‐axis (up–down) plane directions but also the Z‐axis (forward–backward) direction. In the past, the eye‐tracking 3D system for the XY‐axes plane directions that we had developed had a narrow 3D viewing space in the Z‐axis direction because of occurrence of 3D crosstalk variation on screen. The 3D crosstalk variation on screen was occurred when the viewer's eye position moved back and forth along the Z‐axis direction. The reason was that the liquid crystal (LC) barrier pitch was fixed and the LC barrier was able to control the only barrier aperture position. To solve this problem, we developed the LC barrier that is able to control the barrier pitch as well as the barrier aperture position in real time, corresponding to the viewer's eye position. As a result, the 3D viewing space has achieved to expand up to 320–1016 mm from the display surface in the Z‐axis direction and within a range of ±267 mm in the X‐axis direction. In terms of the Y‐axis direction, the viewing space is not necessary to be considered, because of a stripe‐shaped parallax barrier.