Thermobalance hydropyrolysis of a bituminous coal sample and its macerals vitrinite and exinite: structural analysis of the relevant tars

Thermobalance hydropyrolysis experiments are carried out on a highly volatile coal sample and its main macerals, vitrinite and exinite. The results are discussed according to the characterization of the tars using ultrasound solvent extractions, extrography, liquid chromatography, capillary gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.     

Palladium‐Catalyzed Hydroxymethylation of Aryl‐ and Heteroarylboronic Acids using Aqueous Formaldehyde

Cyclometallated NHC palladium complexes prepared from palladium(II) acetate [Pd(OAc)₂] and unsymmetrical 1,3‐diarylimidazolinium salts catalyzed the hydroxymethylation of (hetero)arylboronic acids using an excess amount of formalin to afford (hetero)arylmethanols in good to satisfactory yields.

     

Characterization of electrode/electrolyte interface for lithium batteries using in situ synchrotron X-ray reflectometry—A new experimental technique for LiCoO2 model electrode

A new experimental technique was developed for detecting structure changes at electrode/electrolyte interface of lithium cell using X-ray reflectometry and two-dimensional model electrodes with a restricted lattice-plane. The electrodes were constructed with an epitaxial film of LiCoO₂ synthesized by pulsed laser deposition method. The orientation of the epitaxial film depends on the substrate plane; the 2D layer of LiCoO₂ is parallel to the SrTiO₃ (1 1 1) substrate (_(0 0 3)LiCoO₂//_(1 1 1)SrTiO₃)$({(003)}_{\text{LiCo}{\text{O}}_2}//{(111)}_{\text{SrTi}{\text{O}}_3})$, while the 2D layer is perpendicular to the SrTiO₃ (1 1 0) substrate (_(1 1 0)LiCoO₂//_(1 1 0)SrTiO₃)$({(110)}_{\text{LiCo}{\text{O}}_2}//{(110)}_{\text{SrTi}{\text{O}}_3})$. The anisotropic properties were confirmed by electrochemical measurements. Ex situ X-ray reflectivity measurements indicated that the impurity layer existed on the as-grown LiCoO₂ was dissolved and a new SEI layer with lower density was formed after soaking into the electrolyte. In situ X-ray reflectivity measurements indicated that the surface roughness of the intercalation (1 1 0) plane increased with applying voltages, while no significant changes in surface morphology were observed for the intercalation non-active (0 0 3) plane during the pristine stage of the charge–discharge process.     

Bone metastasis from colorectal cancer in autopsy cases

The incidence of bone metastasis from colorectal cancer is reported to be 10.7% in autopsy cases. However, the characteristics of the primary cancers, as well as the patterns of bone metastasis, remain unclear. We analyzed the clinical and autopsy records of 118 patients with primary colorectal cancer treated either surgically or conservatively and eventually autopsied between 1970 and 1987 at Toranomon Hospital in Tokyo. Bone metastasis was detected in 23.7% (28/118). The average age of patients with bone metastasis was lower than that in patients without bone metastasis (P < 0.02). Cancers to the rectum and cecum were accompanied by bone metastasis more frequently than cancers of other portions of the colon. Signet-ring cell carcinoma showed a high incidence of bone metastasis (P = 0.041). Bone metastasis from colorectal cancer was associated with liver or lung metastases (P < 0.0001). These results indicated that bone metastasis from colorectal cancer is not as infrequent as previously described.     

Differential diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Differential diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis is discussed. Chest X-ray findings of pulmonary tuberculosis may be greatly varied, because tuberculosis may cause three different lesions: an exudative lesion, a proliferative lesion, and a fibrotic lesion, and because it may invade all the structure. Thus, the differential diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis includes very many diseases. The most important differential diagnosis of nodule is tuberculoma and lung cancer. The clue of the diagnosis is the feature of the nodule and surrounding structure, such as pleural indentation, or knotching. There is, however, the limitation of the diagnosis by imaging: some tuberculoma may show the identical feature with the pulmonary adenocarcinoma. It is important to gather the pathological or bacteriological evidences by means of suitable procedures.     

Design, synthesis and evaluation of transition-state analogue inhibitors of Escherichia coli gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase

Phosphinic acid-, sulfoximine- and sulfone-based transition-state analogues were synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of Escherichia coli gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase. These compounds have a carboxyl function at the beta-carbon to the tetrahedral central hetero atom so as to mimic the carboxyl group of the attacking cysteine in the transition state. The phosphinic acid- and the sulfoximine-based compounds were found to be potent ATP-dependent inactivators, both showing a slow-binding kinetics with overall affinities and second-order inactivation rates of one to two orders of magnitude greater than those of L-buthionine (SR)-sulfoximine (L-BSO). The sulfone was a simple reversible inhibitor without causing ATP-dependent enzyme inactivation, but its affinity toward the enzyme was still five times greater than that of L-BSO, indicating that the beta-carboxyl function plays a key role in the recognition of the inhibitors by the enzyme. The sulfoximine with (S)-beta-carbon to the sulfur was synthesized stereoselectively, and the two diastereomers with respect to the chiral sulfur atom were separated as a cyclic sulfoximine derivative. The sulfoximine with R-configuration around the sulfur served as an extremely powerful ATP-dependent inactivator with an overall inhibition constant of 39 nM and an inactivation rate of 6750 M-1 s-1, which correspond to 1260-fold higher affinity and almost 1400-fold greater inactivation rate as compared with L-BSO. The sulfoximine with (S)-sulfur was a simple reversible inhibitor with an inhibition potency comparable to that of the sulfone. The synthesis and inhibition profile of the N-phosphoryl sulfoximine is also described.     

Optical heterodyne receiver for selecting densely frequencydivision multiplexed signals

An optical heterodyne receiver that can select any channel out of 2.5 Gbit/s frequency division multiplexed (FDM) signals with spacing as narrow as 5 GHz has been developed. Sharp filtering characteristics of the heterodyne receiver at the intermediate frequency stage enable FDM signals with such narrow channel spacing to be demultiplexed     

Comparison of carbohydrate structures of serum alpha-fetoprotein by sequential glycosidase digestion and lectin affinity electrophoresis

Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a glycoprotein of which the sugar chain is considered to show structural changes with malignancies. Microheterogeneity of the serum AFP carbohydrate structure was studied in samples from 35 patients with benign and malignant diseases. Sera were digested directly, extensively, and sequentially with sialidase. beta-galactosidase and beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase. Before and after digestion, sera were examined by means of lectin affinity electrophoresis using eight lectins. Relationships between AFP carbohydrate structures and liver diseases were elucidated by the lectin-reactive profiles and the effect of glycosidase digestion. More than 94% of the AFP carbohydrate structures found in patients with benign and malignant liver diseases were biantennary complex-type oligosaccharides. Changes in the AFP carbohydrate structures at the early stage of hepatocellular carcinoma revealed the addition of alpha 1-->6 fucose to the reducing terminal N-acetylglucosamine and monosialylated AFPs. In both advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and AFP producing extrahepatic malignancies, AFP carbohydrate structures were characterized as the further addition of beta 1-->4 N-acetylglucosamine and heterogeneity in the galactose and N-acetylglucosamine residues. Sequential glycosidase digestion and lectin affinity electrophoresis is useful for analysing the carbohydrate structures of serum glycoprotein.     

Multicomponent zone melting growth of ternary InGaAs bulk crystal

In_xGa_1-x As crystals with x = 0.25-0.08 have been successfully grown on GaAs seeds by a method of multicomponent zone melting growth. Its alloy composition is found to be controlled by the growth temperature. Within an ingot, a good uniformity in the alloy composition along the direction normal to the growth is also achieved. The alloy composition gradually changes along the growth direction in the ingot, and this change is well explained by a temperature profile in the growth furnace.     

A cautious scheduler for multistep transactions

Given a classC of serializable schedules, a cautiousC-scheduler is an on-line transaction scheduler that outputs schedules in classC and never resorts to rollbacks. Such a scheduler grants the current request if and only if the partial schedule it has granted so far, followed by the current request, can be extended to a schedule inC. A suitable extension is searched among the set of all possible sequences of the pending steps, which are predeclared by the transactions whose first requests have already arrived. If the partial schedule cannot be extended to a schedule inC, then the current request is delayed. An efficient cautiousCPSR-scheduler has been proposed by Casanova and Bernstein. This paper discusses cautiousWRW-scheduling, whereWRW is the largest polynomially recognizable subclass of serializable schedules currently known. Since cautiousWRW-scheduling is, in general, NP-complete as shown in this paper, we introduce, a subclass (namedWRW ^#) ofWRW and discuss an efficient cautiousWRW ^#-scheduler. We also show that the fixed point set of the cautiousWRW ^#-scheduler properly containsCPSR. Therefore, ourWRW ^#-scheduler allows more concurrency than anyCPSR- scheduler.