WATER SOLUBLE VEGETABLE OLIGOPEPTIDES: COMPARATIVE STUDY ON ALCOHOL METABOLISM AND PLASMA AMINO ACID CONCENTRATIONS IN STROKE-PRONE SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE RATS

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of vegetable oligopeptides on the reduction of blood ethanol. Studies were done after intragastric ethanol intake of 1 g/kg body weight ethanol in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats. Intragastric administered corn peptide caused a significant attenuation of the increase in blood ethanol levels. However, pea peptide did not influence blood ethanol levels. Pea peptide has a similar molecular weight as corn peptide. In the plasma, alanine, branched-chain amino acids, and proline concentrations were significantly elevated by the administrations of all oligopeptides as compared to the control group, but the leucine level was elevated more so by the corn peptide compared to wheat peptide or pea peptide. Consequently, these results suggested that corn peptide may lower the increase in blood ethanol levels after ethanol intake by the marked elevation of plasma alanine and leucine, especially leucine.     

Design of optimal strongly stable digital control systems and application to output feedback control of mechanical systems

A new design method for an optimal digital series compensator is considered that is not produced by an optimal regulator incorporated with a state observer, but employs a new idea that assures total closed system optimality in one design step. However, the compensator so designed is not always stable, i.e. strong stability of the closed-loop system is not always guaranteed. For this case, the authors propose to use the inter-sample response to realize an optimal stable compensator and/or optimal output feedback control system. Especially when the given plant is a linearized mechanical system, such a strongly stable system can always be designed using only output data two samples prior to the current sample regardless of the system order and the parity interlacing property condition.     

Cold-spray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Characterization of Biomolecules in Solution

A direct solution analysis method, coldspray ionization (CSI) mass spectrometry (MS)[1], a variant of electrospray (ESI) MS operating at low temperature (ca. - 80 ～ 10℃), allows facile and precise characterization of labile organic species, especially those in which non-covalent bonding interactions are prominent. We have applies this method to investigations of the solution structures of many labile organic species, including unstable reagents and reaction intermediates, asymmetric catalysts, supramolecules, and even primary biomolecules.     

22Na次级束的产生与应用

在日本东京大学核研究中心的放射性离子束分离器上,利用逆运动学反应¹H(²²Ne,²²Na)n产生了²²Na次级束。经分离器电磁系统的分离提纯后,获得了能量为（78.3±1.0） MeV的²²Na次级束。实验靶站处次级束的强度达2.5×10⁵ s^-1,其中²²Na的纯度好于90%。²²Na次级束已应用于与核天体物理Ne丰度异常问题相关的²²Na+α共振散射实验研究。     

Preparation and Structure of Lithium-Ion-Conducting Mixed-Anion Glasses in the System LiBO2–LiBS2

Oxysulfide glasses were prepared in a wide range of compositions in the system LiBO₂-LiBS₂. Temperatures of glass transition ( T_g ), crystallization ( T_c ), and liquidus ( T_l ) were determined; a maximum of T_g was observed near the composition with 20 mol% LiBS₂. The electrical conductivity at 500 K ranges from 5×10⁻⁴ to 5×10⁻³ S·cm⁻¹ with the maxima in conductivity observed near the composition 55LiBO₂·45LiBS₂. This conductivity enhancement with a mixing of two components, which can be called the mixed-anion effect, is accompanied by a decrease in the degree of undercooling of glass expressed by the ratio ( T_l - T_g )/ T_l . The infrared and Raman spectra showed that the structural units with bridging oxygens B-O-B and nonbridging sulfurs B-S⁻ predominated rather than those with nonbridging oxygens B-O⁻ and bridging sulfurs B-S-B in these glasses.     

Approximation of cascade connected and feedback structured systems by Mullis-Roberts approximation

A method for constructing a reduced-order model retaining the internal structure of original high-order cascade connected and feedback structured systems is derived by the Mullis-Roberts algorithm. The reduced-order model obtained here is the optimal approximation in the sense that it minimizes the curvilinear integral of the squared norm of an approximation error at the unit circle of the 2-plane. The algorithm for obtaining the reduced-order models is described. One feature of the proposed algorithm is that it is possible to compute reduced-order models of each subsystem independently. The stability of the reduced-order model is not always guaranteed. However, the results of numerical computations show that the reduced-order systems remain stable for almost all randomly selected examples and approximate the input-output behaviour of original systems fairly well.     

Mechanism of Ni-Zn Ferrite Formation in the Presence of Molten Li2SO4-Na2SO4

Nickel-zinc ferrite powder was prepared from the constituent oxides in the presence of molten Li₂SO₄-Na₂SO₄. The effect of ZnO on the reactivity of NiO was studied. The process of Ni-Zn ferrite formation was followed by X-ray diffraction and thermomagnetic analyses. Particle size and shape of the product were determined by scanning electron microscopy. In the presence of molten salt, ZnO enhances the reactivity of NiO, and Ni-Zn-ferrite formation is completed at lower temperature than Ni ferrite formation. In the reaction for the formation of Ni-Zn ferrite, Zn ferrite forms before NiO is incorporated into the ferrite phase. The reaction between the initially formed Zn ferrite and NiO leads to a rate of Ni-Zn ferrite formation higher than that of Ni ferrite formation from NiO and Fe₂O₃.     

接枝量对等离子体接枝聚异丙基丙烯酰胺开关的多孔膜的温度感应透过性的影响

The effect of graft yield on both the thermo-responsive hydraulic permeability and the thermo-respousive diffusional permeability through porous membranes with plasma-grafted poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)gates was investigated. Both thermo-respousive flat membranes and core-shell microcapsule membranes with a wide range of graft yield of PNIPAM were prepared using a plasma-graft pore-filling polymerization method. The grafted PNIPAM was formed homogeneously throughout the entire thickness of both the fiat polyethylene membranes andthe microcapsule polyamide membranes. Both the hydraulic permeability and the diffusional permeability were heavily dependent on the PNIPAM graft yield. With increasing the graft yield, the hydraulic permeability (water flux) decreases rapidly at 25℃ because of the decrease of the pore size; however, the water flux at 40℃ increases firstly to a peak because of the increase of hydrophobicity of the pore surface, and then decreases and finally tends to zero because of the pore size becoming smaller and smaller. For the diffusional permeability, the temperature shows different effects on the diffusional permeability coefficients of solutes across the membranes. When the graft yield was low, the diffusional coefficient of solute across the membrane was higher at temperature above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) than that below the LCST; however, when the graft yield was high, the diffusional coefficient was lower at temperature above the LCST than that below the LCST. It is very important to choose or design a proper graft yield of PNIPAM for obtaining a desired thermo-respousive “on/off“ hydraulic or ditfusional permeability.