Representation of nonequilibrium steady states in large mechanical systems

Recently a novel concise representation of the probability distribution of heat conducting nonequilibrium steady states was derived. The representation is valid to the second order in the ``degree of nonequilibrium'', and has a very suggestive form where the effective Hamiltonian is determined by the excess entropy production. Here we extend the representation to a wide class of nonequilibrium steady states realized in classical mechanical systems where baths (reservoirs) are also defined in terms of deterministic mechanics. The present extension covers such nonequilibrium steady states with a heat conduction, with particle flow (maintained either by external field or by particle reservoirs), and under an oscillating external field. We also simplify the derivation and discuss the corresponding representation to the full order.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figure

O-methylated catechin content of \u27Benihuuki\u27 tea harvested in Wazuka Town (Soraku, Kyoto) and effects of green tea on enterobacterial growth in vitro

\u27Benihuuki\u27, a green tea cultivar, has recently attracted particular attention for its health benefits, including pollinosis-preventing effects, which have been attributed mainly to (−) -epigallocatechin-3-O- (3-O-methyl) -gallate (EGCG3" Me). In this study, Benihuuki tea leaves grown without shading in Wazuka Town (Soraku, Kyoto) and their boiled-water extract were evaluated for their EGCG3" Me content in comparison with Yabukita tea leaves harvested from the same tea garden in the same season (August 2011). The results show that, EGCG3" Me was only found in the Benihuuki samples, with an amount (per 100g of dry material) of 2.97g for the leaf and 2.30g for the extract (extraction rate, 77.4%), respectively. When examined for their effects on the growth of five major strains of enterobacteria in vitro, these extracts of the two cultivars showed antibacterial activities against E. coli, C. clostridioforme, B. vulgatus, and L. acidophilus, while exerting a growth-promoting effect on B. bifidum. This growth-promoting effect tended to be greater with the Yabukita sample.原著論

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

Characterization of pullulanase (PUL)-deficient mutants of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and the function of PUL on starch biosynthesis in the developing rice endosperm

Rice (Oryza sativa) allelic sugary1 (sug1) mutants defective in isoamylase 1 (ISA1) accumulate varying levels of starch and phytoglycogen in their endosperm, and the activity of a pullulanase-type of a debranching enzyme (PUL) was found to correlate closely with the severity of the sug1 phenotype. Thus, three PUL-deficient mutants were generated to investigate the function of PUL in starch biosynthesis. The reduction of PUL activity had no pleiotropic effects on the other enzymes involved in starch biosynthesis. The short chains (DP ≤13) of amylopectin in PUL mutants were increased compared with that of the wild type, but the extent of the changes was much smaller than that of sug1 mutants. The α-glucan composition [amylose, amylopectin, water-soluble polysaccharide (WSP)] and the structure of the starch components (amylose and amylopectin) of the PUL mutants were essentially the same, although the average chain length of the B2-3 chains of amylopectin in the PUL mutant was ∼3 residues longer than that of the wild type. The double mutants between the PUL-null and mild sug1 mutants still retained starch in the outer layer of endosperm tissue, while the amounts of WSP and short chains (DP ≤7) of amylopectin were higher than those of the sug1 mutant; this indicates that the PUL function partially overlaps with that of ISA1 and its deficiency has a much smaller effect on the synthesis of amylopectin than ISA1 deficiency and the variation of the sug1 phenotype is not significantly dependent on the PUL activities

妊娠中イベントの世代間継承についての検討-妊娠高血圧症候群について-

第3回日本DOHaD研究会学術集会　抄録集　【ポスター発表