The Early Japanese Collections in the Museum of Anthoropology and Ethnography <Kunstkamera> of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

国立ロシア人文大学, モスクワ大学, 2007年10月31日-11月2

Comparison of Two Methods for Assaying Reducing Sugars in the Determination of Carbohydrase Activities

The Nelson-Somogyi (NS) and 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) assays for reducing sugars are widely used in measurements of carbohydrase activities against different polysaccharides. Using twelve commercial enzyme preparations, the comparison of the NS and DNS assays in determination of cellulase, β-glucanase, xylanase, and β-mannanase activities was carried out. When cellulase activities against CMC were measured, the DNS assay gave activity values, which were typically 40–50% higher than those obtained with the NS assay. In the analysis of the xylanase, β-mannanase, and β-glucanase activities, the overestimations by the DNS assay were much more pronounced (the observed differences in the activities were 3- to 13-fold). Reasons for preferential use of the NS assay for measuring activities of carbohydrases other than cellulases are discussed

A model of anaerobic digestion for biogas production using Abel equations

Some time ago has been studied mathematical models for biogas production due to its importance in the use of control and optimization of re\-new\-able resources and clean energy. In this paper we combine two algebraic methods to obtain solutions of Abel equation of first kind that arise from a mathematical model to biogas production formulated in France on 2001. The aim of this paper is obtain Liouvillian solutions of Abel's equations through Hamiltonian Algebrization. As an illustration, we present graphics of solutions for Abel equations and solutions for algebrized Abel equations.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Media Distribution in a Pervasive Computing Environment

Distribution of media in the fast growing world of digital stored content and multimedia supporting devices with connectivity, calls for a new media distribution architecture. The user should be provided with the experience of having an overview of his full media collection, regardless of the time, the place, and the connectivity. Transparent distributed data management is crucial to Ambient Intelligent applications. The proposed media distribution architecture offers a possible solution. It provides the user with the experience of having all his media collections available at any time, in any place, and managing them regardless of connection availability in the heterogeneous environment. This experience is enabled in our system by the separation of metadata and content handling. Other features are efficient handling of snapshots, usage of various database technologies, and leveraging device and service discovery mechanisms

A fully automatable enzymatic method for DNA extraction from plant tissues

BACKGROUND: DNA extraction from plant tissues, unlike DNA isolation from mammalian tissues, remains difficult due to the presence of a rigid cell wall around the plant cells. Currently used methods inevitably require a laborious mechanical grinding step, necessary to disrupt the cell wall for the release of DNA. RESULTS: Using a cocktail of different carbohydrases, a method was developed that enables a complete digestion of the plant cell walls and subsequent DNA release. Optimized conditions for the digestion reaction minimize DNA shearing and digestion, and maximize DNA release from the plant cell. The method gave good results in 125 of the 156 tested species. CONCLUSION: In combination with conventional DNA isolation techniques, the new enzymatic method allows to obtain high-yield, high-molecular weight DNA, which can be used for many applications, including genome characterization by AFLP, RAPD and SSR. Automation of the protocol (from leaf disks to DNA) is possible with existing workstations

Existencia de super y sub soluciones en un modelo de acidogénesis para la producción de Biogas

Probamos la existencia de super y sub soluciones en un sistema de ecuaciones diferenciales ordinarias no lineales, que modela la acidogénesis en la digestión anaerobia para la producción de biogás. Las super y sub soluciones son contruidas en forma analítica y se plantea su respectivo teorema de existencia de soluciones