Isolation and characterization of an insertion element-like repetitive sequence specific for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex

We report the characterization of an insertion-like repetitive sequence containing the clone of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This repetitive sequence contains seven inverted repeats. Restriction fragment length polymorphism studies using this probe have shown that it is not a highly polymorphic probe but rather shows conservative fingerprint pattern. Out of the 150 strains tested, only three showed different fingerprint patterns. It has several direct and inverted repeats. Homology studies of the putative protein coding region show that this repeat element might code for a metalloproteinase of M. tuberculosis. Homology studies also implicate this repeat element to be from a very essential region of the M. tuberculosis genome participating in recombination. This repeat has been found to be an ideal target for polymerase chain reaction to detect M. tuberculosis

Development of DNA probes for M. tuberculosis

Attempts were made to develop DNA probes for M. tuberculosis. Random library of M. tuberculosis was constructed in plasmid pGEM -4. Selection of recombinant clones was made by hybridisation with 32P labelled M. tuberculosis probe. Ten recombinant clones were selected on the basis of strong signals from the random library. These 10 clones named pTRC1-10 were subjected to tests for specificity and sensitivity. On this basis, pTRC4 was chosen and this is also, useful in restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) studies

Symmetrically coupled higher-order nonlinear Schroedinger equations: singularity analysis and integrability

The integrability of a system of two symmetrically coupled higher-order nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equations with parameter coefficients is tested by means of the singularity analysis. It is proven that the system passes the Painlev\'{e} test for integrability only in ten distinct cases, of which two are new. For one of the new cases, a Lax pair and a multi-field generalization are obtained; for the other one, the equations of the system are uncoupled by a nonlinear transformation.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX2e, IOP style, final version, to appear in J.Phys.A:Math.Ge

Restriction fragment length polymorphism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from various regions of India, using direct repeat probe

Intraspecies differentiation was studied on 68 M. tuberculosis strains obtained from 6 states of India by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using a direct repeat probe (DR probe) hybridised with Alu I digest of DNA. Most strains showed polymorphism based patterns that comprised between 2 to 7 bands and were grouped into 26 RFLP types. Of the 11 strains tested from Amritsar, 8 were RFLP type 5; the remaining 3 were of type 11 and were exclusively confined to this region. The strains from other regions were more heterogeneous. We confirm that DR-associated RFLP can be an excellent tool for the differentiation of M. tuberculosis strains. Depending on their geographical origin, these strains can be differentiated to a large extent by DR fingerprinting

Using the Hadamard and related transforms for simplifying the spectrum of the quantum baker's map

We rationalize the somewhat surprising efficacy of the Hadamard transform in simplifying the eigenstates of the quantum baker's map, a paradigmatic model of quantum chaos. This allows us to construct closely related, but new, transforms that do significantly better, thus nearly solving for many states of the quantum baker's map. These new transforms, which combine the standard Fourier and Hadamard transforms in an interesting manner, are constructed from eigenvectors of the shift permutation operator that are also simultaneous eigenvectors of bit-flip (parity) and possess bit-reversal (time-reversal) symmetry.Comment: Version to appear in J. Phys. A. Added discussions; modified title; corrected minor error

Matter-Wave Solitons in an F=1 Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

Following our previous work [J. Ieda, T. Miyakawa, M. Wadati, cond-mat/0404569] on a novel integrable model describing soliton dynamics of an F=1 spinor Bose--Einstein condensate, we discuss in detail the properties of the multi-component system with spin-exchange interactions. The exact multiple bright soliton solutions are obtained for the system where the mean-field interaction is attractive (c_0 < 0) and the spin-exchange interaction is ferromagnetic (c_2 < 0). A complete classification of the one-soliton solution with respect to the spin states and an explicit formula of the two-soliton solution are presented. For solitons in polar state, there exists a variety of different shaped solutions including twin peaks. We show that a "singlet pair" density can be used to distinguish those energetically degenerate solitons. We also analyze collisional effects between solitons in the same or different spin state(s) by computing the asymptotic forms of their initial and final states. The result reveals that it is possible to manipulate the spin dynamics by controlling the parameters of colliding solitons.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.73 No.11 (2004

Continuous Symmetries of Difference Equations

Lie group theory was originally created more than 100 years ago as a tool for solving ordinary and partial differential equations. In this article we review the results of a much more recent program: the use of Lie groups to study difference equations. We show that the mismatch between continuous symmetries and discrete equations can be resolved in at least two manners. One is to use generalized symmetries acting on solutions of difference equations, but leaving the lattice invariant. The other is to restrict to point symmetries, but to allow them to also transform the lattice.Comment: Review articl

Redox activity as a powerful strategy to tune magnetic and/or conducting properties in benzoquinone-based metal-organic frameworks

Multifunctional molecular materials have attracted material scientists for several years as they are promising materials for the future generation of electronic devices. Careful selection of their molecular building blocks allows for the combination and/or even interplay of different physical properties in the same crystal lattice. Incorporation of redox activity in these networks is one of the most appealing and recent synthetic strategies used to enhance magnetic and/or conducting and/or optical properties. Quinone derivatives are excellent redox-active linkers, widely used for various applications such as electrode materials, flow batteries, pseudo-capacitors, etc. Quinones undergo a reversible two-electron redox reaction to form hydroquinone dianions via intermediate semiquinone radical formation. Moreover, the possibility to functionalize the six-membered ring of the quinone by various substituents/functional groups make them excellent molecular building blocks for the construction of multifunctional tunable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). An overview of the recent advances on benzoquinone-based MOFs, with a particular focus on key examples where magnetic and/or conducting properties are tuned/switched, even simultaneously, by playing with redox activity, is herein envisioned

Optimisation of Bifacial Photovoltaics Module with Reflective Layer in Outdoor Performance

While the improvements of STC maximum power point (Pmpp) and current from inserting reflective layers in the inter-cell gap of bifacial modules have been reported, there are many additional factors that contribute to the module outdoor performance in addition to the module STC performance. This paper presents the analysis and optimisation of bifacial PV modules with reflective layer at the inter-cell gap for outdoor performance. Bifacial module with reflective layer was studied where the reflective surfaces are inserted behind the rear glass. Normal glass/glass bifacial modules were compared to the proposed bifacial modules with reflective layers that were fabricated with the same cell type. A numerical model was created to simulate the current gain from each configuration with varying outdoor conditions. The numerical model was verified with an outdoor performance set-up that was experimentally constructed