Plasma-initiated polymerization and its applications

Plasma initiated polymerization is discussed. Topics include: polymerization of a vinyl monomer, solid phase polymerization, and inorganic ring compound polymers

Review of aspects of auditory signal studies in Japan

Presented at the 8th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), Kyoto, Japan, July 2-5, 2002.Sound is very important in human communication. It evokes an attention and conveys much information even if a listener does not pay attention to the signal. These are very big advantages for information transmission. Information transmission that uses sound in addition to a speech have similar characteristics. Therefore, a lot of auditory auditory signal sounds other than language, such as alarms and warning signals are used frequently. Social conditions surrounding auditory signals and recent researchs are reviewed here

Complete integrability of derivative nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger-type equations

We study matrix generalizations of derivative nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger-type equations, which were shown by Olver and Sokolov to possess a higher symmetry. We prove that two of them are `C-integrable' and the rest of them are `S-integrable' in Calogero's terminology.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX2e (IOP style), to appear in Inverse Problem

Nighttime temperature treatment of fruit clusters of ‘Aki Queen’ grapes during maturation and its effect on the skin color and abscisic acid content

Research Note

Erratum

Nighttime temperature treatment of fruit clusters of 'Ald Queen' grapes during maturation and its effects ofn the sldn color and abscisic acid contentVitis 46 (4), 208-209 (2007

Microscopic Evidence for Evolution of Superconductivity by Effective Carrier Doping in Boron-doped Diamond:11B-NMR study

We have investigated the superconductivity discovered in boron (B)-doped diamonds by means of 11B-NMR on heteroepitaxially grown (111) and (100) films. 11B-NMR spectra for all of the films are identified to arise from the substitutional B(1) site as single occupation and lower symmetric B(2) site substituted as boron+hydrogen(B+H) complex, respectively. A clear evidence is presented that the effective carriers introduced by B(1) substitution are responsible for the superconductivity, whereas the charge neutral B(2) sites does not offer the carriers effectively. The result is also corroborated by the density of states deduced by 1/T1T measurement, indicating that the evolution of superconductivity is driven by the effective carrier introduced by substitution at B(1) site.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. B (Brief report

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

A systematic method for constructing time discretizations of integrable lattice systems: local equations of motion

We propose a new method for discretizing the time variable in integrable lattice systems while maintaining the locality of the equations of motion. The method is based on the zero-curvature (Lax pair) representation and the lowest-order "conservation laws". In contrast to the pioneering work of Ablowitz and Ladik, our method allows the auxiliary dependent variables appearing in the stage of time discretization to be expressed locally in terms of the original dependent variables. The time-discretized lattice systems have the same set of conserved quantities and the same structures of the solutions as the continuous-time lattice systems; only the time evolution of the parameters in the solutions that correspond to the angle variables is discretized. The effectiveness of our method is illustrated using examples such as the Toda lattice, the Volterra lattice, the modified Volterra lattice, the Ablowitz-Ladik lattice (an integrable semi-discrete nonlinear Schroedinger system), and the lattice Heisenberg ferromagnet model. For the Volterra lattice and modified Volterra lattice, we also present their ultradiscrete analogues.Comment: 61 pages; (v2)(v3) many minor correction

FUCA1 is induced by wild-type p53 and expressed at different levels in thyroid cancers depending on p53 status

Fucose residues of cell surface glycans, which play important roles in growth, invasion and metastasis, are added by fucosyltransferases (FUTs) and removed by α-L-fucosidases (FUCAs). By the differential display method, we isolated a 3' non-coding region of α-L-fucosidase-1 (FUCA1) (a gene coding for the lysosomal fucosidase-1 enzyme) as a wild-type p53-inducible gene: 18S and 20S FUCA1 mRNA species were induced in Saos-2 cells transfected with a temperature-sensitive p53 mutant at the permissive temperature. By microarray analyses of thyroid cancer biopsy samples, FUCA1 RNA expression levels were found to be lower in anaplastic thyroid cancer samples (ATCs), while they were higher in papillary thyroid cancer samples (PTCs) and in normal thyroid tissues. Since most ATCs were reported to carry the mutated form of p53, while PTCs carry mostly the wild-type form of p53, it is likely that FUCA1 expression levels are regulated, at least in part, by the p53 status in thyroid cancers. In order to better understand the role played by FUCA genes in thyroid tumorigenesis, we examined the clonogenic potential in vitro of thyroid cell lines transfected with either FUCA1 or FUCA2 (the latter gene coding for a secreted, non-lysosomal enzyme). We found that α-L-fucosidases did not suppress grossly cell growth. Contrary to what we observed with the expression of FUCA1, the FUT8 expression levels were found high in ATCsbut lower in PTCs and normal thyroid tissues. Taken together, these results suggest the possibility that the higher fucose levels on cell surface glycans of aggressive ATCs, compared to those of less aggressive PTCs, may be at least in part responsible for the more aggressive and metastatic phenotype of ATCs compared to PTCs, as the expression levels of FUCA1 and FUT8 were inversely related in these two types of cancers. Fucose residues of cell surface glycans, which play important roles in growth, invasion and metastasis, are added by fucosyltransferases (FUTs) and removed by α-L-fucosidases (FUCAs). By the differential display method, we isolated a 3' non-coding region of α-L-fucosidase-1 (FUCA1) (a gene coding for the lysosomal fucosidase-1 enzyme) as a wild-type p53-inducible gene: 18S and 20S FUCA1 mRNA species were induced in Saos-2 cells transfected with a temperature-sensitive p53 mutant at the permissive temperature. By microarray analyses of thyroid cancer biopsy samples, FUCA1 RNA expression levels were found to be lower in anaplastic thyroid cancer samples (ATCs), while they were higher in papillary thyroid cancer samples (PTCs) and in normal thyroid tissues. Since most ATCs were reported to carry the mutated form of p53, while PTCs carry mostly the wild-type form of p53, it is likely that FUCA1 expression levels are regulated, at least in part, by the p53 status in thyroid cancers. In order to better understand the role played by FUCA genes in thyroid tumorigenesis, we examined the clonogenic potential in vitro of thyroid cell lines transfected with either FUCA1 or FUCA2 (the latter gene coding for a secreted, non-lysosomal enzyme). We found that α-L-fucosidases did not suppress grossly cell growth. Contrary to what we observed with the expression of FUCA1, the FUT8 expression levels were found high in ATCs but lower in PTCs and normal thyroid tissues. Taken together, these results suggest the possibility that the higher fucose levels on cell surface glycans of aggressive ATCs, compared to those of less aggressive PTCs, may be at least in part responsible for the more aggressive and metastatic phenotype of ATCs compared to PTCs, as the expression levels of FUCA1 and FUT8 were inversely related in these two types of cancers