Identification of chemical oviposition stimulants from rice grain forSitophilus zeamais motschulsky (Coleoptera,Curculionidae)

Chemical components stimulating oviposition bySitophilus zeamais in rice grain were isolated from rice bran and were found to be a mixture of ferulates, diglycerides, and free sterols. Oviposition preference of the species can be induced by synergistic action of these compounds.     

Purification and some properties of a chitinase from Xanthomonas sp. strain AK

Chitinase B (ChiB) was purified from the culture supernatant of Xanthomonas sp. strain AK by Phenyl-Toyopearl 650M and DEAE-Toyopearl 650M column chromatographies. The purified enzyme preparation gave a single band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the molecular weight of ChiB was estimated to be 48,000. The enzyme was optimally active at pH 6.0 and 60 degrees C. N-Terminal amino acid sequence analysis suggested that ChiB is a member of glycosyl hydrolase family 18 and that it is genetically different from ChiA recently reported (Sakka et al., J. Ferment. Bioeng., 86, 527-533, 1998). Immunological analysis suggested that ChiB was the major chitinase species in the culture supernatant of Xanthomonas sp. strain AK and that production of the enzyme was induced by the presence of chitin.     

Monitoring Myosin Degradation During Conditioning in Chicken Meat Using an Immunological Method

ABSTRACT: Changes of chicken breast myosin during storage at 2°C and 37°C were monitored immunochemically. Anti-myosin subfragment-1 (S-1) monoclonal antibody, which recognized epitopes within the 27 kDa fragment of S-1, and the anti-myosin rod polyclonal antiserum, were prepared. Myosin degradation products were not detected in muscle extracts stored for 3 weeks at 2°C. In contrast, storage at 37°C brought about the degradation of myosin heavy chain to immunologically detectable small fragments. While, myosin rod produced during the conditioning period was not decomposed into any small filaments. Namely, storage of muscle at 37°C resulted in minor amounts of myosin heavy chain degradation, with initial conversion to rod and S-1 fragments, and subsequent breakdown occurred in the S-1 region only. Immunoblot assay also suggested that the pattern of changes in myosin heavy chain in muscle incubated at 37°C was similar to that produced by in vitro digestion with cathepsin D.     

Bit-dependent degradation caused by stimulated Brillouin scatteringin CPFSK coherent optical repeaterless systems with booster amplifiers

An interesting phenomenon due to stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is experimentally found in a CPFSK heterodyne system with a booster amplifier. We find that the demodulated waveform amplitudes of just a few distinguished bits are strongly suppressed leading to a significant increase in BER. It is confirmed that the BER degradation can be reduced by adjusting the threshold voltage bias of the receiver decision circuit     

CONTINUOUS VACUUM DRYER FOR ENERGY SAVING

A continuous vacuum dryer for energy saving has been developed in order to produce dried foods without heat denaturation in the products. This drying method is suitable for heat sensitive I and highly viscous foods and can dry to 1 to 4% in moisture content with good quality at around 40°C in product temperature andin 5 -10 min a drying time. Feed material with high viscosity has to I have uniform distribution on the belt in the vacuum chamber to I keep a constant drying for which a special feed nozzle has been developed after considerabl~ testing. Heat transfer on the wet material in the dryer has occurred by both conduction and radiation because of the design so that the thermal efficiency in     

Polymer film-type channel electron multipliers: Their characteristics and comparison with bulk-type flexible multipliers

Polymer film-type channel electron multipliers (CEMs) were developed and their characteristics investigated in comparison with bulk-type flexible CEM. As film-type CEMs, a paint-coating-type CEM and a solvent-etching-type CEM were fabricated. The paint-coating-type CEM is made by coating a “paint” which is prepared by dissolving in a solvent an electronically conductive polymeric composition having a high secondary electron emission yield. Up to the present study the mean gain of the film-type CEM, in spite of the lower resistivity of the dynode, seems to be slightly more dependent on the count rate than that of the bulk-type CEM made of the same material. However, the convenience of fabricating the dynode film by coating the dynode-forming paint on the internal surface of any shaped tube or a flexible polymer tube would overcome the slight disadvantage mentioned above.