A general theory on media with randomly distributed inclusions .1. The average field behaviors

In this paper, a theory is developed to calculate the average strain field in the materials with randomly distributed inclusions. Many previous researches investigating the average field behaviors were based upon Mori and Tanaka's idea. Since they were restricted to studying those materials with uniform distributions of inclusions they did not need detailed statistical information of random microstructures, and could use the volume average to replace the ensemble average. To study more general materials with randomly distributed inclusions, the number density function is introduced in formulating the average field equation in this research. Both uniform and nonuniform distributions of inclusions are taken into account in detail.

Differential amplitude modulation of auditory evoked cortical potentials associated with brain state in the freely moving rhesus monkey

We simultaneously recorded auditory evoked potentials (AEP) from the temporal cortex (TCx), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dPFCx) and the parietal cortex (PCx) in the freely moving rhesus monkey to investigate state-dependent changes of the AEP. AEPs obtained during passive wakefulness, active wakefulness (AW), slow wave sleep and rapid-eye-movement sleep (REM) were compared. Results showed that AEP from all three cerebral areas were modulated by brain states. However, the amplitude of AEP from dPFCx and PCx significantly appeared greater attenuation than that from the TCx during AW and REM. These results indicate that the modulation of brain state on AEP from all three cerebral areas investigated is not uniform, which suggests that different cerebral areas have differential functional contributions during sleep-wake cycle. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Migration of mouse antibody-secreting hybridoma cells from blood to genital tract and its regulation by sex hormones are associated with the differential expression patterns of adhesion molecules and chemokines in the tract rather than in the antibody-secreting cells

To understand better the molecular mechanisms of differential migration of antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) into mouse genital tracts, and regulation by sex hormones, surface markers, hormone receptors and adhesion molecules in mouse SG2 and PA4 hybridoma cells, respectively, secreting IgG2b and polymeric IgA antibody were detected by flow cytometry or RT-PCR. Semiquantitative RT-PCR was also used for measuring mRNA expression of adhesion molecules and chemokines (VCAM-1, ICAM-1, P-selectin, JAM-1 and CXCL12) in genital tracts of various adult mouse groups. The mRNAs of androgen receptor, estrogen receptor beta and CXCR4 were expressed in the ASCs. Sex hormones had no effect on expression of these molecules in ASCs. Except for VCAM-1, mRNA of all examined genes was expressed in normal mouse genital tracts. The mean of relative amounts of ICAM-1 and CXCL12 mRNA in all examined organs of females were higher (2.1- and 1.9-fold) than those in males. After orchiectomy or ovariectomy, the expression of ICAM-1, CXCL12 and P-selectin mRNA in the examined organs increased, except JAM-1 in male and CXCL12 in female. Sex hormone treatment recovered the changes to normal levels of mRNA expression in many examined genital tissues. In combination with our previous work, preferential migration of ASCs into female genital tract and regulation of migration by sex hormones are associated with expression patterns of adhesion molecules and chemokines in genital tract rather than in ASCs. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variation patterns of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene with secondary structure constraints and their application to phylogeny of cyprinine fishes (Teleostei : Cypriniformes)

The mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences from 93 cyprinid fishes were examined to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships within the diverse and economically important subfamily Cyprininae. Within the subfamily a biased nucleotide composition (A > T, C > G) was observed in the loop regions of the gene, and in stem regions apparent selective pressures of base pairing showed a bias in favor of G over C and T over A. The bias may be associated with transition-transversion bias. Rates of nucleotide substitution were lower in stems than in loops. Analysis of compensatory substitutions across these taxa demonstrates 68% covariation in the gene and a logical weighting factor to account for dependence in mutations for phylogenetic inference should be 0.66. Comparisons of varied stem-loop weighting schemes indicate that the down-weightings for stem regions could improve the phylogenetic analysis and the degree of non-independence of stem substitutions was not as important as expected. Bayesian inference under four models of nucleotide substitution indicated that likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses were more effective in improving the phylogenetic performance than was weighted parsimony analysis. In Bayesian analyses, the resolution of phylogenies under the 16-state models for paired regions, incorporating GTR + G + I models for unpaired regions was better than those under other models. The subfamily Cyprininae was resolved as a monophyletic group, as well as tribe Labein and several genera. However, the monophyly of the currently recognized tribes, such as Schizothoracin, Barbin, Cyprinion + Onychostoma lineages, and some genera was rejected. Furthermore, comparisons of the parsimony and Bayesian analyses and results of variable length bootstrap analysis indicates that the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene should contain important character variation to recover well-supported phylogeny of cyprinid taxa whose divergences occurred within the recent 8 MY, but could not provide resolution power for deep phylogenies spanning 10-19 MYA. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Differential expression and characterization analysis of a new gene with WD domains in fish oogenesis

A new gene with WD domains is cloned and characterized according to its differential transcription and expression between previtellogenic oocytes (phase I oocytes) and fully-grown oocytes (phase V oocytes) from natural gynogenetic silver crucian carp (Carassius auratus gibelio) by using the combinative methods of suppressive subtraction hybridization, SMART cDNA synthesis and RACE-PCR. The full-length cDNA is 1870 bp. Its 5 ' untranslated region is 210 bp, followed by an open reading frame of 990 bp, which has the typical vertebrate initiator codon of ANNATG. The open reading frame encodes a protein with 329 amino acids. It has 670 bp of 3 ' untranslated region and an AATAAA polyadenylation signal. Because it has 92% homology to STRAP (serine-threonine kinase receptor-associated protein), a recently reported gene, we named it FSTRAP (fish STRAP). Virtual Northern blotting indicated that the FSTRAP was transcribed in fully-grown oocytes (phase V oocytes), but not in previtellogenic oocytes (phase I oocytes). RT-PCR analysis showed that FSTRAP was transcribed in brain, heart, kidney, muscle, ovary, spleen and testis, but not in liver. And its mRNA could be detected in the oocytes from phase II to phase V. Western blotting also showed that FSTRAP protein could be detected in brain, heart, kidney, muscle, ovary, spleen and testis except liver. Results of Western blotting on various oocytes were also similar to the RT-PCR data. FSTRAP protein was not expressed in the previtellogenic oocytes. Its expression initiated from phase II oocytes after vitellogenesis, and was consistent with the mRNA transcription.

Observation of N-Shaped Negative Differential Resistance in GaAs-Based Modulation-Doped Field Effect Transistor with InAs Quantum Dots

N-shaped negative differential resistance (NDR) with a high peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) is observed in a GaAs-based modulation-doped field effect transistor (MODFET) with InAs quantum dots (QDs) in the barrier layer (QDFET) compared with a GaAs MODFET. The NDR is explained as the real-space transfer (RST) of high-mobility electrons in a channel into nearby barrier layers with low mobility, and the PVR is enhanced dramatically upon inserting the QD layer. It is also revealed that the QD layer traps holes and acts as a positively charged nano-floating gate after a brief optical illumination, while it acts as a negatively charged nano-floating gate and depletes the adjacent channel when charged by the electrons. The NDR suggests a promising application in memory or high-speed logic devices for the QDFET structure.

Sensitive determination of Cd and Pb by differential pulse stripping voltammetry with in situ bismuth-modified zeolite doped carbon paste electrodes

Here we investigated the analytical performances of the bismuth-modified zeolite doped carbon paste electrode (BiF-ZDCPE) for trace Cd and Pb analysis. The characteristics of bismuth-modified electrodes were improved greatly via addition of synthetic zeolite into carbon paste. To obtain high reproducibility and sensitivity, optimum experimental conditions for bismuth deposition Were Studied.

Studies on the interaction of porphyrin with antibody with fluorescent spectrum and UV-Vis differential spectra

After meso-tetra (alpha, alpha, alpha, alpha-O-phenylacetyl benzene)porphyrin combined with McAb 1F2, there was a significant hyperchromic effect, indicating that the combination of porphyrin and antibody is rigid and compact, aromatic amino acids exist at the combining sites of antigen in antibody. These aromatic amino acids are Trys and Trps, but the numbers of Trp are more than that found for Trys. The stochiometric ratio of porphyrin to 1F2 is 1:1, the disassociation constant was determined as(2.084+/-0.216) x 10(-10) mol/L by a method of fluorescence quenching, showing that both have a high affinity.

Effective dielectric responses of graded composites of the particles with a general power-law gradation profile

The effective dielectric response of graded spherical composites having general power-law gradient inclusions is investigated under a uniform applied electric field, where the dielectric gradation profile of the spherical inclusions is modeled by the equation epsilon(i) (r) = c(b+r)(k). Analytical solutions of the local electrical potentials are derived in terms of hyper-geometric function and the effective dielectric response of the graded composites is predicted in the dilute limit. From our result, the local potentials of graded spherical composites having both simple power-law dielectric profile epsilon(i)(r) = cr(k) and linear dielectric profile epsilon(i) (r) = c(b+r) are derived exactly by taking the limits b --> 0 and k --> 1, respectively. In the dilute limit, our exact result is used to test the validity of differential effective dipole approximation (DEDA) for estimating the effective response of graded spherical composites, and it is shown that the DEDA is in excellent agreement with exact result. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.