Yielding Pressure of Spread Footing above Multiple Voids

The effect of multiple voids on the yielding pressure of strip footing was numerically investigated by a two-dimensional plane strain finite-element method analysis. The results indicated that the failure zone developed mainly towards the nearest void from the footing and did not generally extend to the other voids, and the failure zone was narrower and smaller than that of the no-void ground, resulting in smaller yielding pressure. A practical calculation formula was developed for estimating the yielding pressure of strip footing above multiple voids.     

Model Tests and Analyses of Bearing Capacity of Strip Footing on Stiff Ground with Voids

A series of 1G loading tests under the plane-strain condition were conducted on stiff ground with continuous square voids with the view of shallow foundation on calcareous sediment rocks, which contain voids because of their susceptibility to water dissolution. Detailed experimental observation revealed three types of failure modes for a single void: bearing failure without void failure, bearing failure with void failure, and void failure without bearing failure, depending on the location of the void as well as the size of the void. Upper-bound calculations were presented to interpret the changes of bearing capacity observed because of the existence of a void.     

Serum levels of IGF‐1 are related to human skin characteristics including the conspicuousness of facial pores

Conspicuous facial pores are one type of serious aesthetic defects for many women. However, the mechanism(s) that underlie the conspicuousness of facial pores remains unclear. We previously characterized the epidermal architecture around facial pores that correlates with the appearance of those pores in various ethnic groups including Japanese. The goal of this study was to evaluate the possible relationships between facial pore size, the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores and sebum output levels to investigate the possible role of IGF‐1 in the pathogenesis of conspicuous facial pores. The subjects consisted of 38 healthy Japanese women (aged 22–41 years). IGF‐1 was measured using immunoradiometric assay. Surface replicas were collected to compare pore sizes of cheek skin and horizontal cross‐section images of cheek skin were obtained non‐invasively from the same subjects using in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy and the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores was determined. The skin surface lipids of each subject were collected from their cheeks and lipid classes were determined using gas chromatography/flame ionization detection. The serum level of IGF‐1 correlated significantly with total pore area (R = 0.36, P < 0.05), with the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores (R = 0.43, P < 0.05) and with sebum output levels (R = 0.41, P < 0.01). The sebum output levels correlated with total pore area (R = 0.32, P < 0.05). Our study found that serum levels of IGF‐1 are correlated with facial skin characteristics including facial pore size and with the severity of impairment of epidermal architecture around facial pores.     

Synthesis of silica-coated AgI nanoparticles and immobilization of proteins on them

This paper describes a method for preparing silica-coated silver iodide (AgI/SiO2) particles and immobilizing proteins on the AgI/SiO2 particles. Colloid solution of AgI particles was prepared by mixing AgClO4 aqueous solution and KI aqueous solution. Silica-coating of the AgI particles was performed by adding 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane, tetraethylorthosilicate/ethanol solution and NaOH aqueous solution successively to the AgI colloid solution. TEM observation revealed that the AgI nanoparticles were coated with uniform silica shell. The AgI/SiO2 particles were surface-modified with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane and succinic anhydride. It was confirmed by XPS measurement that amino group or carboxyl group was introduced onto the AgI/SiO2 particles. Protein-immobilization was performed in aqueous solution with bovine serum albumin (BSA) in the presence of the surface-modified AgI/SiO2 particles. UV-VIS absorption spectroscopy revealed that the BSA was adsorbed on the surface-modified particles.     

A separation method for DNA computing based on concentration control

A separation method for DNA computing based on concentration control is presented. The concentration control method was earlier developed and has enabled us to use DNA concentrations as input data and as filters to extract target DNA. We have also applied the method to the shortest path problems, and have shown the potential of concentration control to solve large-scale combinatorial optimization problems. However, it is still quite difficult to separate different DNA with the same length and to quantify individual DNA concentrations. To overcome these difficulties, we use DGGE and CDGE in this paper. We demonstrate that the proposed method enables us to separate different DNA with the same length efficiently, and we actually solve an instance of the shortest path problems. Masahito Yamamoto, Ph.D.: He is associate professor of information engineering at Hokkaido University. He received Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University in 1996. His current research interests include DNA computing based the laboratory experiments. He is a member of Operations Research Society of Japan, Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Information Processing Society of Japan etc. Atsushi Kameda, Ph.D.: He is the research staff of Japan Science and Technology Corporation, and has participated in research of DNA computing in Hokkaido University. He received his Ph.D. from Hokkaido University in 2001. For each degree he majored in molecular biology. His research theme is about the role of polyphosphate in the living body. As one of the researches relevant to it, he constructed the ATP regeneration system using two enzyme which makes polyphosphate the phosphagen. Nobuo Matsuura: He is a master course student of Division of Systems and Information Engineering of Hokkaido University. His research interests relate to DNA computing with concentration control for shortest path problems, as a means of solution of optimization problems with bimolecular. Toshikazu Shiba, Ph.D.: He is associate, professor of biochemical engineering at Hokkaido University. He received his Ph.D. from Osaka University in 1991. He majored in molecular genetics and biochemistry. His research has progressed from bacterial molecular biology (regulation of gene expression of bacterial cells) to tissue engineering (bone regeneration). Recently, he is very interested in molecular computation and trying to apply his biochemical idea to information technology. Yumi Kawazoe: She is a master course student of Division of Molecular Chemistry of Hokkaido University. Although her major is molecular biology, she is very interested in molecular computation and bioinformatics. Azuma Ohuchi, Ph.D.: He is professor of Information Engineering at the University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan. He has been developing a new field of complex systems engineering, i.e., Harmonious Systems Engineering since 1995. He has published numerous papers on systems engineering, operations research, and computer science. In addition, he is currently supervising projects on DNA computing, multi-agents based artificial market systems, medical informatics, and autonomous flying objects. He was awarded “The 30th Anniversary Award for Excellent Papers” by the Information Processing Society of Japan. He is a member of Operations Research Society of Japan, Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Information Processing Society of Japan, Japan Association for Medical Informatics, IEEE Computer Society, IEEE System, Man and Cybernetics Society etc. He received PhD from Hokkaido University in 1976.     

The analyses of an SiF4 plasma in an R.F. glow discharge for preparing fluorinated amorphous silicon thin films

The measurements of plasma parameters, such as an electron energy and an electron energy distribution function using a probe method, and of the optical emission spectroscopy for observing the chemical reactions in a plasma were studied for characterizing the glow discharge SiF₄ plasma. The probability of a basic dissociation process of the SiF₄ molecule by the electron impact was supported by the optical emission and also by the electron energy in the plasma. The discussions as to the electron energy distribution function in an r.f. glow discharge plasma suggest that a mean electron energy obtained by a double-probe method may not be very critical.The contribution of atomic hydrogen radicals and the probable reactions responsible for the deposition in the gas phase and/or on the substrate surface are also discussed.     

Single-step single-molecule PCR of DNA with a homo-priming sequence using a single primer and hot-startable DNA polymerase

We have previously reported that a protein library can be constructed by directly combining PCR amplification of a single DNA molecule and cell-free protein synthesis. To specifically amplify single DNA molecules, however, two-step PCR with nested primers was used. Here we describe a simpler method for single-step amplification of a single molecule. The method involves the use of both hot-startable DNA polymerase and a DNA template that has homo-priming sequences at both ends for amplification using a single primer. These two modifications greatly decreased the possibility of formation and subsequent accumulation, respectively, of primer-dimers that inhibit the amplification of target template. In addition, a high-fidelity DNA polymerase was successfully used, resulting in the significant reduction of the accumulation of mutations during amplification.     

Growth of plate-type β-FeSi2 single crystals by optimization of composition ratio of source materials

The importance of the β-FeSi₂ bulk single crystals has increased not only to investigate the intrinsic properties of β-FeSi₂ but also to use it as substrate of β-FeSi₂ thin films for optical devices. Though single crystals of β-FeSi₂ are grown by chemical vapor transport (CVT) method, most of those crystals are needle-like and widths of those flat surfaces are 0.5 mm or less. In order to understand the mechanism of the growth process of β-FeSi₂ by the CVT method and to obtain the conditions for large size crystal growth, we have carried out in-situ observations of the crystal growth by using a transparent electric furnace. Based on the experimental data, we have proposed the most likely reaction process, FeI₂(g) + 2SiI₄(g)→FeSi₂(s) + 5I₂(g), and we found that the crystal growth progresses under the environment where the FeI₂ gas is insufficient compared with a suitable ratio of FeI₂/SiI₄. Then, to raise the partial pressure of FeI₂ gas, the composition ratio of Fe to Si for the source material was increased and we have obtained the plate-type β-FeSi₂ crystals that exceeded a few square millimeters in size.