Heat Gelling Properties of Hen's Egg Yolk Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) in the Presence of Other Protein

Ovalbumin (OV), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme (Lys) were added to egg yolk low density lipoprotein (LDL) and the heat-induced gel formation of LDL-protein mixture was studied. The gel formation of LDL-protein mixture was different between the acidic and alkaline pH region; fine stable gels were formed in the alkaline pH region, but weak paste-like gels were formed in the acidic pH region. The effect of added BSA or OV on the gel strength of LDL was much larger than that of Lys. Scanning electron micrographic observation showed that the microstructures of both LDL-BSA and LDL-OV gels were more uniform than that of LDL-Lys gel.     

Dependence of Vacuum Electrical Breakdown Field and Field Enhancement Factor on the Number of Apertures Drilled in Small Electrodes

Dark current based on field emission current is considered to be a factor causing the vacuum electrical breakdown between multiaperture acceleration grids in the JT‐60 negative ion source. In this paper, we focus on field enhancement factor, which is a key parameter of field emission from the electrode. Vacuum breakdown testing for small‐sized electrodes simulating the multiaperture acceleration grids of the negative ion source was performed. We found the field enhancement factor and breakdown field for multiaperture electrodes, and we investigated the dependence of each parameter on the number of apertures. The results revealed that an increase in the average field enhancement factor after the end of conditioning resulting from an increase in the number of apertures led to a decrease in the dielectric strength of the multiaperture electrodes.     

Simple evaluation of aortic arch calcification by chest radiography in hemodialysis patients

Vascular calcification is associated with a poor prognosis in dialysis patients. It can be assessed with computed tomography but simple inoffice techniques may provide useful information. We compared the results obtained with a simple noninvasive technique with those obtained using multidetector computed tomography for aortic arch calcification volume (AoACV) in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. The enrolled study subjects were 63 (32 men and 31 women) maintenance HD patients. Calcification of the aortic arch was semiquantitatively estimated with a AoAC score (AoACS) on plain chest radiology. The AoACV was increased, with a mean value of 6.6 ranging from 0% to 36.5%. The coefficient of intraobserver variation was less than 2.5%. Aortic arch calcification score was highly correlated with AoACV (r=0.635, P<0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed age (F value=12.62, P<0.001) and pulse pressure (F value=4.54, P=0.037) to be significant independent determinants of AoACS. In conclusion, a simple measurement of AoACS may be useful for inoffice imaging to choose a therapeutic regimen in HD patients.     

Syndrome-decoding algorithms for static-diagnosis models

The problem of finding fault patterns consistent with a given syndrome is discussed for graph-theoretical diagnosis models such as the fault-diagnosis and self-diagnosis models. The fault-diagnosis model consists of two types of vertices, fault units and measurements, and is expressed by a bipartite graph. Faulty states of a fault unit always imply abnormal states of all the measurements which are adjacent to the unit, otherwise a measurement remains normal. A self-diagnosis model consists of one type of unit which has the capability of testing other units and being tested itself. The testing relation is represented by a directed arc; this produces test outcomes which are invalid if the testing unit is faulty. The inverse system which yields a fault pattern from a corresponding syndrome for fault-diagnosis models is studied and a syndrome-decoding algorithm is proposed which works for some class of diagnosis models with observation noise. The algorithm uses a similar measure to the syndrome-decoding algorithm of error-correcting codes which use the Hamming distance. Another measure is presented for the self-diagnosis model expressed by a directed graph and this measure is characterized by a ranking method.     

Novel active-R synthesis of a driving-point impedance

A novel active-R synthesis baaed on the single-pole rolloff characteristics of operational amplifiers is described. Various types of driving-point impedance, such as an inductance, frequency-dependent negative-resistance and frequency-dependent negative-inductance are systematically derived by the suitable choice of the amplifier transfer function. It is shown by experiments that the inductance simulator presents reliable high frequency performance.     

Motion Planning by T‐RRT with Potential Function for Vertical Articulated Robots

RRT (rapidly exploring random tree) with random sampling is an effective method for path planning, and is often used for robot manipulators. The RRT has many modified methods for applying various problems and conditions. Particularly, T‐RRT (Transition‐based RRT) one of those has advantage that it is able to adopt arbitrary evaluation function. In this paper, a novel path planning method based on the T‐RRT is proposed for ensuring “quality” of a generated path. Then, its effectiveness is evaluated via comparison with other sampling‐based methods using simulation of the industrial robot having seven DOFs.     

Influence of the microenvironment on gene and protein expression of odontogenic-like and osteogenic-like cells

Progenitor cells play an important biological role in tooth and bone formation, and previous analyses during bone and dentine induction have indicated that they may be a good alternative for tissue engineering. Thus, to clarify the influence of the microenvironment on protein and gene expression, MDPC23 cells (mouse dental papilla cell line) and KUSA/A1 cells (bone marrow stromal cell line) were used, both in vitro cell culture and in intra-abdominal diffusion chambers implanted in 4-week-old male immunodefficient mice (SCID mice). Our results indicate that KUSA/A1 cells differentiated into osteoblast-like cells and induced bone tissue inside the chamber, whereas, MDPC-23 showed odontoblast-like characteristics but with a low ability to induce dentin formation. This study shows that MDPC-23 cells are especial cells, which possess morphological and functional characteristics of odontoblast-like cells expressing dentin sialophosphoprotein in vivo. In contrast, dentin sialophosphoprotein gene and protein expression was not detected in both cell lines in vitro. The intra-abdominal diffusion chamber appears as an interesting experimental model for studying phenotypic expression of dental pulp cells in vivo.     

Study on Improving Precision of Analysis of Boost Ratio and Power Efficiency of Tapped‐Inductor DC–DC Converter Circuit

Analysis precision of boost ratio and power efficiency in boost DC–DC converter circuit is improved by proposing adaptive equivalent circuit of output diode of the circuit. In experiment, boost ratio and power efficiency in high boost ratio circuit were 9.89% and 76.5% respectively with its load resistance of 20 Ω driven by output voltage 10 V. In experimental results, error in theoretical values of boost ratio compared with the measured values of that was reduced to ?3.79% from 57.5% in the conventional circuit. In a tapped‐inductor high boost ratio circuit, error in theoretical values of boost ratio was reduced to 3.54% from 31.8%. Error in theoretical values of power efficiency with the measured values of that was reduced to 5.51% from 33.2% in the conventional circuit. In a high boost ratio circuit, error in theoretical values of power efficiency was reduced to ?3.32% from 17.3%. Power loss of every element in boost DC–DC converter circuits was analyzed with high precision by analysis of inductance current waveforms in those circuits. Error in theoretical values of power loss compared with measured values was reduced to equal or less than 5%.     

Thermostable Proteinase in Salted Anchovy Muscle

Salted anchovy fillets produced in Japan were severely degraded above 35°C and were solubilized completely in a few hours at 55°C. In contrast, raw anchovy fillets were not solubilized, but the solubility of fillets gradually increased during the salting process. In contrast, salted and raw anchovy fillets from southern Europe were relatively stable. Proteolytic activity that digested myosin heavy chain in vitro was found in muscle extracts from both types of salted fillets. Enzymes with activity were high-temperature-active serine proteinases with substrate specificities similar to trypsin. Optimal pH was 7.4 (Japan) and >8.5 (Europe). Neither enzyme showed collagen-degrading activity.