Purification and characterization of an extracellular alpha-neoagarooligosaccharide hydrolase from Bacillus sp. MK03

An agarolytic bacterium was isolated from soil in Gifu prefecture, Japan, and identified as Bacillus sp. strain MK03. The strain secreted neoagarooligosaccharide hydroluse into the culture medium. The enzyme was purified 49.7-fold from the culture fluid by ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange and gel-filtration column chromatographic methods. The purified enzyme appeared as a single band on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-PAGE. Estimations of the molecular mass by gel filtration and SDS-PAGE gave values of 320 kDa and 42 kDa, respectively, indicating that the enzyme is octametric. The enzyme cleaved the alpha-1,3 linkage in neoagarobiose to produce 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose and D-galactose. It also selectively cleaved the alpha-1,3 linkage at the nonreducing end in neoagarotetraose or neoagarohexaose to give 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose and agarotriose or agaropentaose. The optimum temperature and pH for the enzyme were 30 degrees C and 6.1, respectively. The N-terminal amino acid sequence showed no homology to sequences of other known neoagarooligosaccharide hydrolases and agarases.     

Crystal Growth of Thiol-Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles by Heat-Induced Coalescence

A monolayer of dodecanethiol-stabilized gold nanoparticles changed into two-dimensional and three-dimensional self-organized structures by annealing at 323 K. Subsequent crystal growth of gold nanoparticles occurred. Thiol molecules, although chemisorbed, form relatively unstable bonds with the gold surface; a few thiols desorbed from the surface and oxidized to disulfides at 323 K, because the interaction energy between thiol macromolecules is larger than that between a thiol and a nanoparticle. The gold nanoparticles approached each other and grew into large single or twinned crystals because of the van der Waals attraction and the heat generated by the exothermic formation of disulfides.     

Construction of simulation model for spray flash desalination system

This paper describes a simulation model for a spray flash desalination system which makes fresh water from sea water by using the temperature difference between warm surface sea water and cool deep sea water. The spray flash desalination system can be modeled by using the energy conservation law and the mass conservation law. Simulation results of the model are compared with the experimental results and show the accuracy of the proposed simulation model. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 170(4): 9–17, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20975     

Correction of instrument measurement data for improving the visual color match between monitor and hardcopy

Abstract— Soft proofing, which can confirm the color reproduction of printed matter on a monitor, is coming into wide use in the field of graphic arts. However, there is a problem in that the color on the monitor looks different from that of printed matter, even though the L*a*b* value of the monitor's white point has been adjusted to that of the paper by using a spectroradiometer. After the color rendition of an LCD is visually adjusted to that of the paper, the measured color of the LCD shows color with L*a*b* values corresponding to a more greenish‐blue white than that of paper. For CRTs, this corresponds to a more bluish‐white. In this paper, it was assumed that bright lines in the measured spectrums of the monitors and the illuminations spread to the next wavelength band by the optical systems of the spectroradiometer. To solve the problem, a method is proposed to enhance the bright line by using a three‐tap digital filter. The effect of this method on two types of monitors under three types of illumination is also reported. After enhancing the bright lines, ΔE between the monitor and paper becomes smaller than that for the original one.     

Chitosanase activity of the enzyme previously reported as beta-1,3-1,4-glucanase from Bacillus circulans WL-12

Chitosanases 33 kDa and 40 kDa in size were detected in the culture supernatant of Bacillus circulans WL-12. One of the two chitosanases, chitosanse 40 (40-kDa chitosanase) has been shown to be identical to the enzyme which has been reported previously as a beta-1,3-1,4-glucanase by Bueno et al. The enzyme has been classified into family 8 glycosyl hydrolases together with the enzymes formally known as cellulase family D. This enzyme named chitosanase 40/beta-1,3-1,4-glucanase hydrolyzed both chitosan and beta-1,3-1,4-glucan with similar efficiency. However, the production of the enzyme was induced with chitosan but not by beta-1,3-1,4-glucan. Therefore, it seems possible that the major substrate of this enzyme is chitosan rather than beta-1,3-1,4-glucan. Analysis of degradation products generated from partially N-acetylated chitosan showed that chitosanase 40/beta-1,3-1,4-glucanse hydrolyzes GlcN-GlcN and GlcN-GlcNAc linkages but not GlcNAc-GlcNAc nor GlcNAc-GlcN. The specificity for hydrolyzing linkages of this enzyme is similar to that of the chitosanase from S. griseus HUT6037.     

An effective method for coupling single-mode fiber to thin-filmwaveguide

An effective method for coupling optical signals from single-mode fibers to thin-film waveguides is proposed. The authors show that this method provides high coupling efficiency for connecting fibers of different core diameters to thin-film waveguides of different film thicknesses or refractive indexes. The authors summarize the theoretical treatment of the coupler. Examples of couplers designed for SiO₂ -based materials as well as iron garnets are presented. Fabrication of the proposed coupler and its experimental results are described     

Tidal volume effects on surfactant treatment responses with the initiation of ventilation in preterm lambs

We hypothesized that initiation of ventilation in preterm lambs with high volumes would cause lung injury and decrease the subsequent response to surfactant treatment. Preterm lambs were randomized to ventilation for 30 min after birth with 5 ml/kg (VT5), 10 ml/kg (VT10), or 20 ml/kg (VT20) tidal volumes and then ventilated with approximately 10 ml/kg tidal volumes to achieve arterial PCO2 values of approximately 50 Torr to 6 h of age. VT20 lambs had lower compliances, lower ventilatory efficiencies, higher recoveries of protein, and lower recoveries of surfactant in alveolar lavages and in surfactant that had decreased compliances when tested in preterm rabbits than VT5 or VT10 lambs. Other lambs randomized to treatment with surfactant at birth and ventilation with 6, 12, or 20 ml/kg tidal volumes for 30 min had no indicators of lung injury. An initial tidal volume of 20 ml/kg decreased the subsequent response to surfactant treatment, an effect that was prevented with surfactant treatment at birth.