Effect of stress on the law of approach to saturation magnetizationin carbon steels

In high fields where the magnetization is approaching saturation, the resolved magnetic polarization I can be expressed by a power series of the inverse of external field H as: I=I_s-b/H ²-c/H³ . . ., or alternatively in terms of the reversible permeability μ_rev=1+(2b/H³+3c/H⁴+ . . .)/μ₀ where I_s is the spontaneous magnetic polarization and b, c, are constants. These equations express the law of approach to saturation magnetization. The coefficient b for a cubic crystal has been deduced as b=0.0762/I_s[K+1.5(λ₁₀₀-λ ₁₁₁)σ]², where σ is the applied stress and others are magnetic constants. The values of reversible permeability μ_rev under biasing field H were measured for carbon steels with applied stresses. The results showed that the square root of 2b changed linearly with the applied stress, The values of magnetic constant K andλ₁₀₀ -λ₁₁₁ were calculated, They agreed with the standard values, but were affected by chemical composition and heat treatment of materials, especially in λ₁₀₀-λ₁₁₁     

An Arabidopsis mutant hypersensitive to red and far-red light signals

A new mutant called psi2 (for phytochrome signaling) was isolated by screening for elevated activity of a chlorophyll a/b binding protein-luciferase (CAB2-LUC) transgene in Arabidopsis. This mutant exhibited hypersensitive induction of CAB1, CAB2, and the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RBCS) promoters in the very low fluence range of red light and a hypersensitive response in hypocotyl growth in continuous red light of higher fluences. In addition, at high- but not low-light fluence rates, the mutant showed light-dependent superinduction of the pathogen-related protein gene PR-1a and developed spontaneous necrotic lesions in the absence of any pathogen. Expression of genes responding to various hormone and environmental stress pathways in the mutant was not significantly different from that of the wild type. Analysis of double mutants demonstrated that the effects of the psi2 mutation are dependent on both phytochromes phyA and phyB. The mutation is recessive and maps to the bottom of chromosome 5. Together, our results suggest that PSI2 specifically and negatively regulates both phyA and phyB phototransduction pathways. The induction of cell death by deregulated signaling pathways observed in psi2 is reminiscent of retinal degenerative diseases in animals and humans.     

Right ventricular function after aorto-coronary bypass surgery: with relation to the site of right coronary artery occlusion

Postoperative right ventricular function was evaluated serially by thermodilution techniques (REF-1, Edwards Laboratories) in patients who underwent aorto-coronary bypass surgery with uneventful postoperative recovery. The patients were divided into three groups depending on the location of critical stenosis of the right coronary artery. The stenosis was proximal to the right ventricular branch in group I (n = 13), distal to the right ventricular branch but proximal to the acute marginal branch in group II (n = 13) and distal to the acute marginal branch in group III (n = 11). Control (n = 20) consisted of the patients with no significant stenosis of the right coronary artery. Cardiac index, intracardiac pressures and amount of cathecolamin used during postoperative course showed no significant differences among the groups including control. With the use of cathecolamine after surgery, right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) rose and right ventricular volumes (RVEDV and RVESV) decreased in all the groups except for group I. These values in group I were unchanged. Thus, there were significant differences in RVEF, RVEDV and RVESV between group I and control. These results mean that right ventricular dysfunction may remain even long after occlusion of the proximal right coronary artery.     

Behavioral recovery in 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats by cotransduction of striatum with tyrosine hydroxylase and aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase genes using two separate adeno-associated virus vectors

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the progressive loss of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and a severe decrease in dopamine in the striatum. A promising approach to the gene therapy of PD is intrastriatal expression of enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway for dopamine. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) catalyzes the synthesis of L-dopa, which must be converted to dopamine by aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC). Since the endogenous AADC activity in the striatum is considered to be low, coexpression of both TH and AADC in the same striatal cells would increase the dopamine production and thereby augment the therapeutic effects. In the present study, the TH gene and also the AADC gene were simultaneously transduced into rat striatal cells, using two separate adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, AAV-TH and AAV-AADC. Immunostaining showed that TH and AADC were coexpressed efficiently in the same striatal cells in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, cotransduction with these two AAV vectors resulted in more effective dopamine production and more remarkable behavioral recovery in 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned rats, compared with rats receiving AAV-TH alone (p < 0.01). These findings suggest an alternative strategy for gene therapy of PD and indicate that the simultaneous transduction with two AAV vectors can extend their utility for potential gene therapy applications.     

The control of polarization of laser diodes

The mode-competition phenomena are studied through three experiments. At first, in double-heterostructure laser diodes with thick active layers, TE and TM modes tend to coexist and the mode competition between these two modes is observed from the correlation of the light outputs of these two modes where the increase of light output of one mode tends to decrease the light output of other mode. In a laser diode operating with an external reflector, the increase of light output for the TE mode leads to the decrease of light output for the TM mode. In case the external reflector is set to deviate from the parallel plane to the cleaved surface of the laser diode, the TM-mode component tends to its magnitude, even if the inherent mode of this diode is TE. In the experiment of external light-beam irradiation onto a laser diode, the light intensity of one mode is decreased by an incidence of light beam having another mode from the other laser diode. In this experiment, the significance of a gap distance between the two laser diodes is confirmed clearly, where the two laser diodes interact with each other through the light beam.     

Role of alloying elements in phase decomposition in alnico magnet alloys

Partition of alloying elements between the Fe-rich disordered a, and NiAl-rich ordered α₂ phases in Fe-Ni-Al base systems has been studied by the diffusion couple technique. It has been revealed that Ti, Cu, Mn, and Co are distributed to the α₂ phase rather than the α₁ phase, while Si, V, Nb, Cr, and Mo are mostly distributed to the α₁ phase. Ti remarkably narrows the miscibility gap between the α₁ and α₂ phases and shifts the summit point to the Fe-rich side. Cu promotes the diffusion rate of atoms in the α₂ phase. On the basis of these experimental results, the role of alloying elements in the spinodal decomposition of Alnico magnets has been discussed.     

High-frequency high-power static induction transistor

This article demonstrates the characteristics, physical construction, and application for a newly commercialized high-frequency static induction transistor (SIT). The main features of this device are a lowering in the gate-to-source and gate-to-drain capacitances and an increase in the breakdown voltage and power rating. These enhancements were brought about as a result of the introduction of new and refined manufacturing technologies. The new high-frequency SIT device is being applied in applications such as medium wavelength radio transmitters and induction heaters     

Automated smear counting and data processing using a notebook computer in a biomedical research facility

An automated smear counting and data processing system for a life science laboratory was developed to facilitate routine surveys and eliminate human errors by using a notebook computer. This system was composed of a personal computer, a liquid scintillation counter and a well-type NaI(Tl) scintillation counter. The radioactivity of smear samples was automatically measured by these counters. The personal computer received raw signals from the counters through an interface of RS-232C. The software for the computer evaluated the surface density of each radioisotope and printed out that value along with other items as a report. The software was programmed in Pascal language. This system was successfully applied to routine surveys for contamination in our facility.