A brief history of meteorological observations in French Indochina

In this study, we attempt to describe a brief history of meteorological observation and data in French Indochina based on materials found in libraries belonging to the national hydro-meteorological services of Japan, Vietnam, and France, and on the websites of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA and the National Library of France. In our search, we found very important publications relating to historical meteorological information in French Indochina for the period from the 1860’s to 1954. Before the establishment of the meteorological service of French Indochina, medical officers in the French Navy conducted meteorological observations. After the establishment of the meteorological service, its observation activities were strongly affected by French Indochina government policies. An image collection of historical meteorological information in French Indochina could potentially contribute to historical meteorological data recovery

Deep intronic GPR143 mutation in a Japanese family with ocular albinism

Deep intronic mutations are often ignored as possible causes of human disease. Using whole-exome sequencing, we analysed genomic DNAs of a Japanese family with two male siblings affected by ocular albinism and congenital nystagmus. Although mutations or copy number alterations of coding regions were not identified in candidate genes, the novel intronic mutation c.659-131 T > G within GPR143 intron 5 was identified as hemizygous in affected siblings and as heterozygous in the unaffected mother. This mutation was predicted to create a cryptic splice donor site within intron 5 and activate a cryptic acceptor site at 41nt upstream, causing the insertion into the coding sequence of an out-of-frame 41-bp pseudoexon with a premature stop codon in the aberrant transcript, which was confirmed by minigene experiments. This result expands the mutational spectrum of GPR143 and suggests the utility of next-generation sequencing integrated with in silico and experimental analyses for improving the molecular diagnosis of this disease

Fragment distribution of thermal decomposition for PS and PET with QMD calculations by considering the excited and charged model molecules

金沢大学理工研究域物質化学系Simulations by a quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) (MD with MO) method were demonstrated on the thermal decomposition of PS and PET polymers using the model molecules at the ground state including excited and positive charged states. For the excited and positive charged model molecules, we adopted CH3CHC6H5CH3 and CH3OCOC6H4COOCH3 of PS and PET monomers, respectively at the singlet and triplet states in single excitation, and at (+2) positive charged state by semiempirical AM1 MO method. Geometry and energy optimized results of the excited and positive charged models by MO calculations were used as the initial MD step of QMD calculations. In the QMD calculations, we controlled the total energy of the system using Nosé-Hoover thermostats in the total energy range of 0.69-0.95 eV, and the sampling position data with a time step of 0.5 fs were carried out up to 5000 steps at 60 different initial conditions. The calculated neutral, positive and negative charged fragment distributions of PS and PET models with 0.82 eV energy control were obtained as (93.5, 2.3, and 4.3%), and (87.8, 5.3, and 6.9%) to the total fragments, respectively. The ratios seem to correspond well to the values observed experimentally in SIMS. Crown Copyright © 2008

Dynamic and static behaviors of CH4 and CO2 in small and large cavities of hydrate

We investigated the static structures and dynamic behaviors for guest molecules (CH4 and CO2) in small and large cavities which are composed of 20 and 24 water molecules, respectively, by B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level calculations in GAUSSIAN 09, and using quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) (NVT MD with semiempirical MO PM3 method). For the static calculations, the guest CO2 and CH4 molecules are around at the center of small and large cavities with weak H-bond formations of HOH⋯O 2C and H2O⋯H4C van der Waals interaction systems. Calculated carbon NMR chemical shifts of the CH4 in the gas-state and in the small and large cavities reflected the C-13 experimental tendency, while the calculated carbon NMR chemical shifts of the CO2 in the three states almost correspond to the experimental value in the gas-state. For QMD calculations, we used a cluster model containing 73 water molecules, and examined dynamic behavior of guest molecules in the shell cluster model of 39 water molecules which own small and large cavities. The dynamic behavior of guest molecules are simulated from the trajectory distribution of molecular center of the mass due to the translational motion, and also analyzed using librational motions of guest molecules in the cavities. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Simulation of SIMS for monomer and dimer of lignin under the assumption of thermal decomposition using QMD method,

金沢大学理工研究域物質化学系The thermal decomposition of the monomer and dimer of lignin has been simulated by a quantum molecular dynamics (DMD) method. In the calculation, we controlled the total energy of the system using Nóse-Hoover thermostats in the total energy range of 0.69-0.95 eV, and the sampling position data with a time step of 0.5 fs were carried out up to 3000 (1.5 ps) or 5000 (2.5 ps) steps in ab initio and semiempirical MO methods, respectively. We obtained the thermally decomposed fragments with positive, neutral and negative charges from SCF MO calculation at each data of the last MD step, and simulated the fragment distribution of the monomer and dimer lignins from the last step in 30-40 runs. Simulated mass numbers of positively and negatively charged fragments for lignin monomer and dimer showed considerably good accordance with the experimental results in TOF-SIMS observed by Saito and co-workers. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Fragment distribution of thermal decomposition for lignin monomer by QMD calculations using the excited and charged model molecules

金沢大学理工研究域物質化学系Simulations with a quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) method (MD with MO) were demonstrated on the thermal decomposition of lignin monomer at the ground state including excited and positive charged states. Geometry and energy optimized results of the lignin monomer at the singlet and triplet states in single excitation, and at (+2) positive charged state by semi-empirical AM1 MO calculations were used as the initial MD step of QMD calculations. In the QMD calculations, we controlled the total energy of the system using Nóse-Hoover thermostats in the total energy range of 0.69-0.95 eV, and the sampling position data with a time step of 0.5 fs were carried out up to 5000 steps at 50 different initial conditions. The calculated neutral, positive and negative charged fragment distributions of the monomer model with 0.82 eV energy control were obtained as 90.6, 3.5, and 5.9% to the total fragments, respectively. The ratios seem to correspond well with to the values observed experimentally in SIMS. Crown Copyright © 2008