Self-Assembling Lectin Nano-Block Oligomers Enhance Binding Avidity to Glycans

Lectins, carbohydrate-binding proteins, are attractive biomolecules for medical and biotechnological applications. Many lectins have multiple carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) and strongly bind to specific glycans through multivalent binding effect. In our previous study, protein nano-building blocks (PN-blocks) were developed to construct self-assembling supramolecular nanostructures by linking two oligomeric proteins. A PN-block, WA20-foldon, constructed by fusing a dimeric four-helix bundle de novo protein WA20 to a trimeric foldon domain of T4 phage fibritin, self-assembled into several types of polyhedral nanoarchitectures in multiples of 6-mer. Another PN-block, the extender PN-block (ePN-block), constructed by tandemly joining two copies of WA20, self-assembled into cyclized and extended chain-type nanostructures. This study developed novel functional protein nano-building blocks (lectin nano-blocks) by fusing WA20 to a dimeric lectin, Agrocybe cylindracea galectin (ACG). The lectin nano-blocks self-assembled into various oligomers in multiples of 2-mer (dimer, tetramer, hexamer, octamer, etc.). The mass fractions of each oligomer were changed by the length of the linkers between WA20 and ACG. The binding avidity of the lectin nano-block oligomers to glycans was significantly increased through multivalent effects compared with that of the original ACG dimer. Lectin nano-blocks with high avidity will be useful for various applications, such as specific cell labeling.     

Novel High‐Temperature Antiferroelectric‐Based Dielectric NaNbO3–NaTaO3 Solid Solutions Processed in Low Oxygen Partial Pressures

The (1?x)NaNbO₃–(x)NaTaO₃ solid solution was investigated for x ≤ 0.4 in terms of new high‐temperature and high‐permittivity dielectric system that is suitable for base metal inner electrode capacitor applications. The addition of Ta significantly enhanced the resistivity of the dielectric, resulting in superior resistivity than the dielectrics‐formulated BaTiO₃ systems that dominate the multilayer ceramic capacitor dielectric devices. The voltage dependence of the permittivity was also superior to BaTiO₃‐based materials, providing higher capacitance at higher temperatures. A transmission electron microscopy study illustrated that the grains had so‐called core‐shell structure. According to the electron diffraction analysis, the core region had an inhomogeneous structure between antiferroelectric and ferroelectric phases, and shell region had an incommensurate ferroelectric‐like structure. The core and shell region had Nb‐ and Ta‐rich composition, respectively, and their interface was compositionally sharp, implying that shell region was formed via a liquid phase during the sintering process with an incongruent Ta dissolution reprecipitation. We anticipate that these or similar materials based on the alkali‐niobate perovskites can be further enhanced to provide capacitor solutions from 150°C to 250°C, which is an important range for a number of new AC–DC invertor and engine control units.     

Oxygen potential measurements of Am0.5Pu0.5O2−x by EMF method

The dependence of the oxygen potentials on oxygen non-stoichiometry and temperature of Am_0.5Pu_0.5O_2−x has been obtained by the electromotive force (EMF) method with the cell: (Pt) air |Zr(Ca)O_2−x| Am_0.5Pu_0.5O_2−x (Pt). The x value of Am_0.5Pu_0.5O_2−x was changed at 1333 K over 0.02 < x ? 0.25 by the coulomb titration method. The temperature dependence of the oxygen potential was also measured over the range of 1173-1333 K. It was found that the oxygen potential decreased from −80 to −360 kJ mol⁻¹ with increasing x from 0.021 to 0.22 at 1333 K and that it remained almost constant at −360 kJmol⁻¹ around x = 0.23. It was concluded that Am_0.5Pu_0.5O_2−x should be composed of the single fluorite-type phase over 0.02 < x ? 0.22 and the mixed phases of fluorite-type and (Am, Pu)₉O₁₆ at around x = 0.23.     

Micromechanical Investigation of the Fatigue Crack Propagation and Damage Development in Al/Al2O3/SiC Hybrid Metal Matrix Composite

Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals - In this study, the micro-mechanisms involved in fatigue crack propagation are investigated qualitatively in a Al/Al2O3/SiC hybrid metal matrix composite...     

Overexpression and purification of Aspergillus aculeatus beta-mannosidase and analysis of the integrated gene in Aspergillus oryzae

An expression plasmid for the manB gene encoding Aspergillus aculeatus beta-d-mannosidase (MANB) was constructed by using an expression vector carrying an improved promoter. After transformation of A. oryzae by the plasmid, several transformants formed colonies emitting fluorescence on a plate containing 4-methylumbelliferyl beta-d-mannopyranoside (MU-Man) under UV-irradiation. The transformant that displayed the strongest fluorescence, named A. oryzae BMN1, produced about 270 mg MANB/l in liquid culture. Recombinant MANB overproduced in BMN1 was purified by two steps of column chromatography to a single protein band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and had a molecular weight of 130,000. Analyses by Southern blotting and genomic PCR demonstrated that a single copy of the plasmid was integrated into the chromosome by recombination at the niaD locus.     

Sonochemical decomposition of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are shown to be globally distributed, environmentally persistent, and bioaccumulative. Although the toxicities of these compounds were reported, the cleanup procedure from the environment is not developed because of their inertness. In this report the sonochemical degradations of PFOS and PFOA to the products through the fission of the perfluorocarbon chains were observed and the half-life times of the PFOS and PFOA degradations under an argon atmosphere determined to be 43 and 22 min, respectively. The shortening of perfluorocarbon chain of PFOS and PFOA leads to the lowering of the toxicity in view of the decrease of the persistence, and the technique would contribute to the remediation of the environmental pollution by these compounds.     

Far infrared optical properties of amorphous semiconductors As−S systems

Far infrared reflection, Raman, and Brillouin spectra of amorphous semiconductor As?S systems are measured. From the reflection spectra, the optical constants are calculatured by the Kramers Kronig analysis. The existence of some intermediate range interaction among molecular units AsS₃ is suggested. From the analysis of the Boson peak at low frequency region in Raman scattering, the correlation length is obtained to be ca. 6 Å. From the absorption coefficient in the low frequency region about 3% fluctuation of charge is suggested for As₂S₃ by schlömann theory.     

大船渡市民文化会馆暨市立图书馆,岩手,日本

<正>大船渡市属于日本西北部的岩手县,位于颇具特色的三陆海岸线上。大船渡市民文化会馆暨市立图书馆作为一个文化建筑综合体,包含了一个容纳1100个座位的大剧场、图书室、多功能剧场、画室、茶室以及工作室。工程在进展过程中组织了超过50次的各种区域性研     

Component-based robot system design for grasping tasks

The paper presents a robot system design with highly reusable components for a component-based robot system for manipulation tasks. The robot system is designed based on the analysis of manipulation tasks using a unified modeling language use case diagram. For a service robot with locomotion and manipulation mechanisms, reusability of robot system components is improved by adopting the proposed design. Our structure consists of scenario, task, robot information management server, data analyzer, sensor hardware controller, skill, and motion hardware controller on a component-based robot system. Based on the proposed robot system, we implemented a component-based robot system and subsequently realized a grasping motion by a service robot.     

A Comparison of Equating Methods and Linking Designs for Developing an Item Pool under Item Response Theory

The existence of an item pool can bring out the various merits of using item response theory (IRT). This study considered the case where the development of an item pool is in progress. We examined the robustness of four calibration methods in three linking designs using simulated data. The data were generated assuming that a small-sized item pool had already been developed and new items were to be added to that item pool. The results suggested that the item characteristic curve method generally performed well. The performance of the fixed common item parameter calibration method and the concurrent calibration method worsened in one of the linking designs where the number of common items was small. The results also suggested that performance was better when the sample size per form and the number of common items were large.