Histidine 210 mutant of a trypsin-type Achromobacter protease I shows broad optimum pH range

Achromobacter protease I (API), a lysine-specific serine protease, shows one order of magnitude higher activity than bovine trypsin, while its optimum pH is in the alkaline region at about pH 9. To improve the optimum pH range, mutant enzyme His 210 replaced by Ser(H210S), Ala (H210A), and Lys (H210K) were constructed. The optimum pH of H210S shifted from about pH 9 (wild-type enzyme) to about pH 7, retaining its high activity. The putative electrostatic interaction between His 210 and catalytic Asp 113 was elucidated by the optimum-pH shift of H210K and H210A. These results indicate that this unconserved His 210 in API, which plays a key role in generating the useful peptidase, broadened the optimum-pH range without decreasing lysylendo-peptidase activity.     

Multiple fuzzy state-value functions for human evaluation through interactive trajectory planning of a partner robot

The purpose of this study is to develop partner robots that can obtain and accumulate human-friendly behaviors. To achieve this purpose, the entire architecture of the robot is designed, based on a concept of structured learning which emphasizes the importance of interactive learning of several modules through interaction with its environment. This paper deals with a trajectory planning method for generating hand-to-hand behaviors of a partner robot by using multiple fuzzy state-value functions, a self-organizing map, and an interactive genetic algorithm. A trajectory for the behavior is generated by an interactive genetic algorithm using human evaluation. In order to reduce human load, human evaluation is estimated by using the fuzzy state-value function. Furthermore, to cope with various situations, a self-organizing map is used for clustering a given task dependent on a human hand position. And then, a fuzzy state-value function is assigned to each output unit of the self-organizing map. The robot can easily obtain and accumulate human-friendly trajectories using a fuzzy state-value function and a knowledge database corresponding to the unit selected in the self-organizing map. Finally, multiple fuzzy state-value functions can estimate a human evaluation model for the hand-to-hand behaviors. Several experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Application of spline wavelet transformation to the analysis of extended energy-loss fine structure

We propose a new analysis method of the extended energy-loss fine structure (EXELFS), applying the multi-resolution analysis (MRA) in the wavelet transformation. We select the cardinal spline wavelet where the rank-4 cardinal spline function is used as a scaling function to construct the mother wavelet. In contrast with the conventional analysis method, the present method is efficient in filtering out the high-frequency noise and low-frequency components introduced by the numerical analysis process without distorting the original signal components, which promises quantitative analyses with less uncertainties.     

氯丁橡胶辐射硫化工艺的研究

研究了氯丁橡胶的辐射硫化工艺,发现含有４份多官能团单体４Ｇ,４份氧化镁及３０份碳黑的氯丁橡胶试样接受３０￣５０ｋＧｙ电子束辐射后,发生了交联。产品物理性能均达到或超过了化学硫化可达到的数值,因而在某些场合氯丁橡胶辐射硫化法可以取代化学硫化法。     

Multimouth surfaces for synthetic actor animation

Most parts of the human body are cylindrical in shape. Generalized cylinders, with two cross-sectional openings, are a logical choice to represent these cylindrical shapes. However, a variety of human body regions can be visualized as surfaces with multiple openings or multimouth (MM) surfaces. Some examples of such surfaces are the pelvis, the chest, and the palms of the hands. We investigated the suitability of non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) formulation for creating multimouth surfaces. Two techniques, the surface wrapping model and the garland model, are presented.     

Evaluation of a smoking cessation program implemented in the workplace

BACKGROUND: Acute abdominal pain due to complicated Meckel's diverticulum is an unusual event. Even the presence of biliary enterolithiasis at the onset of inflamed congenital diverticulum has rarely been reported previously. RESULTS: Despite this unusual presentation, an episode of gallstone passage through the biliary tract has not yet been described. CONCLUSIONS: Whether the stones were primarily formed in the diverticulum as enterolithiasis, or secondary to gallstone passage is discussed. The complications of Meckel's diverticulum requiring surgical treatment are reviewed, focusing on the unusual finding of biliary stones in Meckel's diverticulum and the etiogenic mechanism of enterolithiasis.     

Solid-state microwave relay systems in Japan

In response to the rapidly increasing demand for communication facilities, microwave relay systems have played an important role in Japan's telecommunications network because of their economy and capability for broadband transmission. Their progress has been marked during the past 20 years and this development has been supported by advances in such diverse fields as radio propagation, antennas, microwave and electronic circuitry, electron devices, and, particularly, in solid-state techniques. This article reviews the history of microwave relay systems and describes the past and expected future contributions of the solid-state technology to these systems.