Determination of unsaturation in ethylene-propylene terpolymers and butyl rubber by time-averaged 1H n.m.r. measurements

The time-averaged ¹H n.m.r. spectra of ethylene-propylene-dicyclopentadiene, ethylene-propylene-ethylidene norbornene and isobutylene-isoprene copolymers were measured. Assignments of the olefinic resonances were carried out by comparing the spectra with those of each homopolymer and strarting monomers. The concentration of the olefinic unit in copolymer was determined by measuring the intensity ratio between the olefinic proton signal and the signal of trichloroethylene which was added as an internal standard of intensity measurements. The concentrations of unsaturation in copolymers determined by using the iodine-mercuric acetate method were proportional to those determined by the n.m.r. method. The accuracy and precision of the n.m.r. measurements were shown to be better than 10% for a mixture of polyisobutylene and polyisoprene containing 1.24 mol % of unsaturation as a model compound of isobutylene-isoprene copolymer.     

Purification, characterization, and primary structure of a novel N-acyl-d-amino acid amidohydrolase from Microbacterium natoriense TNJL143-2

A novel N-acyl-d-amino acid amidohydrolase (DAA) was purified from the cells of a novel species of the genus Microbacterium. The purified enzyme, termed AcyM, was a monomeric protein with an apparent molecular weight of 56,000. It acted on N-acylated hydrophobic d-amino acids with the highest preference for N-acetyl-d-phenylalanine (NADF). Optimum temperature and pH for the hydrolysis of NADF were 45°C and pH 8.5, respectively. The k(cat) and K(m) values for NADF were 41?s(-1) and 2.5?mM at 37°C and pH 8.0, although the enzyme activity was inhibited by high concentrations of NADF. Although many known DAAs are inhibited by 1?mM EDTA, AcyM displayed a 65% level of its full activity even in the presence of 20?mM EDTA. Based on partial amino acid sequences of the purified enzyme, the full-length AcyM gene was cloned and sequenced. It encoded a protein of 495 amino acids with a relatively low sequence similarity to a DAA from Alcaligenes faecalis DA1 (termed AFD), a binuclear zinc enzyme of the α/β-barrel amidohydrolase superfamily. The unique cysteine residue that serves as a ligand to the active-site zinc ions in AFD and other DAAs was not conserved in AcyM and was replaced by alanine. AcyM was the most closely related to a DAA of Gluconobacter oxydans (termed Gox1177) and phylogenetically distant from AFD and all other DAAs that have been biochemically characterized thus far. AcyM, along with Gox1177, appears to represent a new phylogenetic subcluster of DAAs.     

Polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of microbial community structure in landfill leachate

The structures of microbial communities in water samples obtained from a landfill site that had been a source of environmental pollution by emitting hydrogen sulfide were elucidated using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. The microbial communities, which consisted of a limited number of major microorganisms, were stable for several months. Microorganisms capable of degrading such chemical compounds as 2-hydroxybenzothiazole and bisphenol A were observed in landfill leachate. Microorganisms responsible for the production of hydrogen sulfide were not the primary microbes detected, even in water samples obtained from the site of gas emission.     

Anomalous Mixing State in Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid-Water Mixtures: <Emphasis Type=Italic>N,N</Emphasis>-diethyl-<Emphasis Type=Italic>N</Emphasis>-methyl-<Emphasis Type=Italic>N</Emphasis>-(2-methoxyethyl) Ammonium Tetrafluoroborate

The mixing states of room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) H₂O mixtures (x = 0.0 mol pct to 99.5 mol pct H₂O) were investigated using wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and optical absorption in an ultraviolet and visible (UV-vis) region. The RTIL is N, N-diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl) ammonium tetrafluoroborate, [DEME][BF₄]. In a “prepeak” region of the WAXS, the scattered intensities increased at 85 mol pct to 95 mol pct. A medium-range order (MRO) in the liquid structure as observed in network-forming materials developed markedly. In the SAXS experiments, we can detect nanoscale fluctuations relating to polar and nonpolar regions. At 65 mol pct to 85 mol pct, the SAXS intensity increased unexpectedly. Furthermore, entirely different optical absorption spectra in the UV-vis region were observed as a macroscopic property from 90 mol pct to 95 mol pct. We suppose that these anomalies relate to the MRO of the liquid structure. All anomalies probably are induced by an intrinsic property in [DEME][BF₄]-H₂O mixtures.     

An implicit curve-fitting method for fast calculation of thermal properties of pure and mixed refrigerants

Calculations of refrigerant thermal properties are desired to be very fast and stable in cases of simulation of refrigeration system, etc. The traditional method based on equation of state cannot meet such requirement because of unavoidable iterations in calculation. In this paper, a new calculation method for refrigerant thermal properties is presented. Low order implicit polynomial equations are got by using curve-fitting method at first, and then explicit formulae for calculating refrigerant thermal properties quickly are obtained by getting the analytical solution of these implicit equations. Explicit fast calculation formulae for thermal properties of R22 and R407C, covering the saturated temperature of −6080 °C and superheat of 0–65 °C, are presented as examples. The calculation speeds of the formulae of R22 are about 140 times faster than those of REFPROP 6.01 while the formulae of R407C are about 1000 times faster. The total mean relative deviations of the fast calculation formulae for R22 and R407C are less than 0.02%.     

Tools for constructing pseudo-3D space on the WWW using images

Recently, due to advancements in virtual reality and computer graphics technologies, a virtual space that looks as real as a real space has been constructed. Accordingly, there are many studies that employ virtual spaces to support human communication and remote working. Until now, the virtual space employed by these studies has been composed of geometric models. Since the real space is very large and there are a lot of objects in the real world, the cost of modeling the real space is very high. In our previous paper,¹⁰⁾ we proposed a method for building a virtual space using image data, named theimage based non-rendering (IBNR), in order to cut down the cost. In this paper, we explain the design and implementation of the tools which we implemented to construct virtual spaces based on IBNR. With these tools, it is easy to construct and renew a large-scaled virtual space based on the real space. Takefumi Ogawa: He received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in Information Systems Engineering from Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, in 1997 and 1999, respectively. Currently, he is a Research Associate of the Infomedia Education Division, Cybermedia Center, Osaka University. He is a member of IEEE, IEICE, IPSJ, and VRSJ. His research interests include virtual reality systems and augmented reality systems. Masahiko Tsukamoto, Ph.D.: He received his B.E., M.E., and Dr.E. degrees from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, in 1987, 1989, and 1994, respectively. From 1989 to February 1995, he was a research engineer of Sharp Corporation. Since March 1995, he has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems Engineering of Osaka University and since October 1996, he has been an Associate Professor at the same department. He is a member of seven learned societies, including ACM and IEEE. His current research interests include database systems, knowledge-base systems, and distributed computing systems.     

Enhancement of the adhesive force of metal films on PTFE surface achieved by fast-atom-beam surface modification

We tried the method to increase the peel strength between thin film metals and various substrate materials using saddle field fast atom beam (FAB) sources. It is notable that the peel strength was increased more than several times for all substrates than those who were not modified by surface activation using FAB irradiation. Highest peel strength was observed at the coupling of Si and metals in both case of Ar irradiation and SF₆ reactive etching by FAB. This surface activation technique was applied to the fabrication of microelectrodes for the detection of mouse nerve signals. The process is expected as one of the available techniques for pre-treatment of the film deposition for several electrical devices.     

Studies on the Dehydrogenative Polymerizations of Monolignol β‐Glycosides. Part 1. Syntheses of Monolignol β‐glycosides, (E)‐Isoconiferin, (E)‐Isosyringin,and (E)‐Triandrin

Abstract

(E)‐4‐O‐Acetyl coniferyl alcohol was synthesized by the reduction of (E)‐4‐O‐acetyl ferulic acid with sodium borohydride and N,N‐dimethylchloromethylenium chloride in 80.2% yield. The glycosylation of (E)‐4‐O‐acetyl coniferyl alcohol with trichloroacetimidoyl 2,3,4,6‐tetra‐O‐pivaloyl‐α‐D‐glucopyranoside in the presence of BF₃-Et₂O in anhydrous CH₂Cl₂, followed by deacylation gave (E)‐isoconiferin in high yield. This synthetic method could be applied to the syntheses of other monolignol β‐glycosides. As a result, (E)‐isoconiferin, (E)‐isosyringin, and (E)‐triandrin were synthesized from vanillin, syringaldehyde, and p‐hydroxybenzaldehyde, respectively, by five reaction steps in high overall yield.