Stability of the TAR RNA and its complex with arginine

Most stable secondary structures and their stabilization energies of the TAR RNA with +1 to +104 nucleotide-sequence region were calculated at different temperatures by using thermodynamic parameters for RNA structure prediction. The most stable secondary structure has one bulge and one loop within the region of +20 to +40 nucleotide sequence, and its stabilization energy at 37 degrees C was -46.3 kcal mol-1. The interaction of a TAR bulge oligomer (TARBO) with arginine (Arg) which was in the binding site of a Tat protein was also investigated by CD measurements. The addition of Arg did not affect the CD spectrum of TARBO. The result was different from that of the RNA oligomer with both bulge and loop.     

Mean molal activity coefficients of aqueous scandium chloride, nitrate, bromide and perchlorate solutions at 25.0°

The mean molal activity coefficients of aqueous scandium chloride, nitrate, bromide and perchlorate solutions were determined at 25.0° for dilute to saturated concentrations, together with the activities of water. In the dilute solutions of scandium halides, the activity coefficients were obtained from electromotive force measurements on galvanic cells, and the osmotic coefficients of all four solutions above 0.1 mol kg⁻¹ were determined from the isopiestic measurements. Least-squares equations were fitted to these coefficients, which were then used to calculate the mean molal activity coefficients and water activities. The relationships between these results and the corresponding activity data for other rare earth salts, and to the cation hydration and ionic interactions, are discussed. The results on scandium perchlorate solutions suggested that the inner-sphere hydration number of tervalent scandium ion may be seven.     

Detection of hepatitis C virus RNA in the liver by in situ hybridization

To examine HCV infection histologically, we attempted non-radioactive in situ hybridization of HCV-RNA in the liver. We amplified cDNA probe (360 base pairs) by PCR using the primers deduced from the core region of the HCV genome. The probe was labelled with digoxigenin by PCR and used for in situ hybridization on paraformaldehyde-fixed frozen liver sections. The hybrids were visualized immunohistochemically with alkaline-phosphatase-conjugated anti-digoxigenin and alkaline-phosphatase substrates. HCV-RNA-cDNA hybrids were detected in 21 of 24 patients with positive serum HCV markers, whereas there were no positive signals in the liver of 12 cases without HCV infection. The signal intensity of HCV-RNA-cDNA hybrids was abolished after RNase treatment. Various other specificity experiments also verified specific hybridization of HCV-RNA-cDNA. HCV-RNA was visualized in liver cells and most of them were regarded as hepatocytes from their characteristic features. The infected hepatocytes were frequently associated with mononuclear cell infiltration. Hepatocytes positive for HCV-RNA were sometimes binuclear and distributed in various patterns among cases tested. The present in situ hybridization of HCV RNA is highly sensitive and specific and the results suggest the host immune response to HCV-infected cells.     

Thiamine pyrophosphatase activity in the Golgi apparatus of calcitonin-treated osteoclasts.

The thiamine pyrophosphatase (TPPase) activity described by Novikoff and Goldfisher was examined in osteoclasts affected by calcitonin in order to elucidate whether the morphological and functional changes of the osteoclasts have an influence over the secretion function of their Golgi apparatus. The Golgi apparatus of osteoclasts of which the ruffled border had disappeared and bone resorption discontinued as the result of treatment with calcitonin showed a slight TPPase activity. The reaction products of the enzyme in these inactive osteoclasts were distinctly fewer than that of control osteoclasts, which were not affected by calcitonin. From these results, it is suggested that there may be a connection between the morphological and functional changes of osteoclasts and the secretion function of the Golgi apparatus.     

Enhancing heat transfer ability of drag reducing surfactant solutions with static mixers and honeycombs

Solutions containing drag reducing additives also show reduced heat transfer which limits their use in district heating and cooling recirculation systems where heat exchange is critical. In this study, static mixers A and B and honeycombs were installed at the entrance to a heat exchanger to break the solution microstructure temporarily and thereby enhancing their heat transfer ability when passing through the heat exchanger. The effectiveness of the destructive devices in enhancing the heat transfer ability of drag reducing cationic and mixed zwitterionic/anionic surfactant solutions was investigated together with the microstructure recovery time and pressure drop penalty paid for the heat transfer enhancement.     

Effects of weak shear on hyperswollen lyotropic smectic liquid crystals

We have developed a Zimm-type viscometer specially designed for the simultaneous measurements of the structure factor and the viscosity of hyperswollen lyotropic liquid crystals under a very weak shear. We have investigated the shear effects on the layer undulation fluctuation in the lamellar structure and the transition from the anisotropic lamellar to the isotropic sponge phase. We have found a significant difference in the rheological properties between the lamellar and the sponge phase: The former exhibits non-Newtonian flow behavior, while the latter exhibits Newtonian behavior.Paper presented at the Twelfth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 19–24, 1994, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.     

Application of boundary element method to 3-D problems of coupled thermoelasticity

This paper deals with a new boundary element method for analysis of the quasistatic problems in coupled thermoelasticity. Through some mathematical manipulation of the Navier equation in elasticity, the heat conduction equation is transformed into a simpler form, similar to the uncoupled-type equation with the modified thermal conductivity which shows the coupling effects. This procedure enables us to treat the coupled thermoelastic problems as an uncoupled one, A few examples are computed by the proposed BEM, and the results obtained are compared with the analytical ones available in the literature, whereby the accuracy and versatility of the proposed method are demonstrated.     

Multichannel fiber ferrule for a stable laser-diode array module

We developed a multichannel fiber ferrule for a stable laser-diode array module. To apply YAG laser welding to parallel butt couple between the laser-diode and the single-mode fiber arrays, hermetically sealed and precisely aligned equi-interval fibers are required. We describe a V-grooved ceramic ferrule for embedding fibers. Fibers are fixed by soldering, using a flat ceramic lid and aligned with a 250 μm pitch. Our ferrule allowed a metallic, stem mounting laser-diode, to be fixed by YAG laser welding. All 30 samples tested have a leak rate of less than 1×10^-10 atm·cc/s. Optical coupling of fabricated modules was 9.7±0.2 dB and coupling loss change from 25°C to 115°C was within 0.5 dB     

Dielectric properties above the glass transition for a series of epoxide prepolymers

Dielectric properties above the glass transition have been investigated for a series of bisphenol-A type epoxide prepolymers (388 ≤ M?_w ≤ 2640). Dielectric measurements were performed over a frequency range of 50 Hz–1 MHz using a vertical parallel plate cell which was constructed in the laboratory. The dielectric α-relaxation for each prepolymer fits the empirical model of the Havriliak–Negami equation. The temperature dependence of the dielectric relaxation time τ is described by the Williams–Landel–Ferry (WLF) equation as well as that of the direct current conductivity σ, which can be measured using the same cell. The relationship between τ and σ, σ^· τ^m = const, is derived from experimental results. The exponent m, which depends on the molecular weight of the prepolymer, is considered to correspond to the ratio of the segmental mobility to ionic mobility. The dielectric loss ε″ can be used as an indicator of the direct current conduction in the temperatures where the ionic component in ε″ becomes much larger than the dipole one.     

A study of uncertain state estimation

In this paper, we present results of uncertain state estimation of systems that are monitored with limited accuracy. For these systems, the representation of state uncertainty as confidence intervals offers significant advantages over the more traditional approaches with probabilistic representation of noise. While the filtered-white-Gaussian noise model can be defined on grounds of mathematical convenience, its use is necessarily coupled with a hope that an estimator with good properties in idealised noise will still perform well in real noise. In this study we propose a more realistic approach of matching the noise representation to the extent of prior knowledge. Both interval and ellipsoidal representation of noise illustrate the principle of keeping the noise model simple while allowing for iterative refinement of the noise as we proceed. We evaluate one nonlinear and three linear state estimation technique both in terms of computational efficiency and the cardinality of the state uncertainty sets. The techniques are illustrated on a synthetic and a real-life system.