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The atomic masses of $^{55}$Sc, $^{56,58}$Ti, and $^{56-59}$V have been determined using the high-precision multi-reflection time-of-flight technique. The radioisotopes have been produced at RIKEN's RIBF facility and delivered to the novel designed gas cell and multi-reflection system (ZD MRTOF), which has been recently commissioned downstream of the ZeroDegree spectrometer following the BigRIPS separator. For $^{56,58}$Ti and $^{56-59}$V the mass uncertainties have been reduced down to the order of $10\,\mathrm{keV}$, shedding new light on the $N=34$ shell effect in Ti and V isotopes by the first high-precision mass measurements of the critical species $^{58}$Ti and $^{59}$V. With the new precision achieved, we reveal the non-existence of the $N=34$ empirical two-neutron shell gaps for Ti and V, and the enhanced energy gap above the occupied $\nu p_{3/2}$ orbit is identified as a feature unique to Ca. We perform new Monte Carlo shell model calculations including the $\nu d_{5/2}$ and $\nu g_{9/2}$ orbits and compare the results with conventional shell model calculations, which exclude the $\nu g_{9/2}$ and the $\nu d_{5/2}$ orbits. The comparison indicates that the shell gap reduction in Ti is related to a partial occupation of the higher orbitals for the outer two valence neutrons at $N=34$.

著者人数: 49名, Accepted: 2003-08-14, 資料番号: SA1003542000

We have used multiple-amino acid replacement mutagenesis to examine the roles of the TCR homologues of Ig complementarity-determining regions (CDR) and framework sequences in Ag-MHC and Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin reactivity. In the three cases examined, transplantation of Ig CDR3 homologues between I-Ek-restricted TCR that recognize distinct peptides did not result in transfer of peptide reactivity. Thus the structural context of the CDR3 loops, e.g., both neighboring CDR and the V beta structure, must play a crucial, albeit supporting, role in ligand recognition. The extreme lability of this context was also shown by the fact that transplantation of the CDR1, -2, and -3 loops from the beta chain of 5C.C7 onto a V beta 1 framework failed to transfer MHC-peptide specificity even when the TCR-alpha chains were identical. In contrast, superantigen reactivity was readily transferred in several cases, with CDR2 transplants conferring strong staphylococcal enterotoxin B and A reactivity and CDR1 transplants yielding weak reactivities. This suggests that bacterial (and perhaps other) superantigens bind to many of the same regions of the TCR V beta that are believed to interact with MHC molecules. These regions of V beta may be ideal targets for superantigen binding precisely because they interact with MHC molecules and thus may be relatively conserved.

Nuclides in the vicinity of 94Ag have been studied with the Penning trap mass spectrometer JYFLTRAP at the Ion-Guide Separator On-Line. The masses of the two-proton-decay daughter 92Rh and the beta-decay daughter 94Pd of the high-spin isomer in 94Ag have been measured, and the masses of 93Pd and 94Ag have been deduced. When combined with the data from the one-proton or two-proton-decay experiments, the results lead to contradictory mass excess values for the high-spin isomer in 94Ag, -46370(170) or -44970(100) keV, corresponding to excitation energies of 6960(400) or 8360(370) keV, respectively., 4 pages, 3 figures and 3 tables; v2: updated figures and references, published in Physical Review Letters

The masses of very neutron-deficient nuclides close to the astrophysical rp- and nu p-process paths have been determined with the Penning trap facilities JYFLTRAP at JYFL/Jyv\"askyl\"a and SHIPTRAP at GSI/Darmstadt. Isotopes from yttrium (Z = 39) to palladium (Z = 46) have been produced in heavy-ion fusion-evaporation reactions. In total 21 nuclides were studied and almost half of the mass values were experimentally determined for the first time: 88Tc, 90-92Ru, 92-94Rh, and 94,95Pd. For the 95Pdm, (21/2^+) high-spin state, a first direct mass determination was performed. Relative mass uncertainties of typically $\delta m / m = 5 \times 10^{-8}$ were obtained. The impact of the new mass values has been studied in nu p-process nucleosynthesis calculations. The resulting reaction flow and the final abundances are compared to those obtained with the data of the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2003., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. C

Using a new fast cleaning procedure to prepare isomerically pure ion samples, we have measured the beta-decay Q_EC values of the superallowed beta-emitters 50Mn and 54Co to be 7634.48(7) keV and 8244.54(10) keV, respectively, results which differ significantly from the previously accepted values. The corrected Ft values derived from our results strongly support new isospin-symmetry-breaking corrections that lead to a higher value of the up-down quark mixing element, Vud, and improved confirmation of the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

The gas-phase acidities of 1-adamantanol and perfluoro1-adamantanol were determined by means of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance spectrometry (FT-ICR). The acidity of perfluoro1-adamantanol seems to be the highest ever reported for an alcohol. A computational study of these species and their anions at both the MP2/6-311 + G(d,p) and B3LYP/6-311 + G(d,p) levels was performed. Also studied were the tertiary alcohols (including their perfluorinated forms) derived from norbornane, bicyclo[2.2.2]octane and cubane. It was found that: (i) the intrinsic acidity of non-fluorinated bridgehead alcohols increases with the strain of the hydrocarbon framework and, (ii) perfluorination of these compounds strongly increases their acidity and, likely, significantly modifies their internal strain. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Serial determinations of plasma carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were assayed for 34 patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer undergoing 5-fluorouracil and mitomycin C combination chemotherapy. 21 patients (62%) had an objective response and the CEA level was decreased in 12. After chemotherapy was initiated a rise in CEA level occurred on the average 6.5 months later, while the mean time to clinical relapse was 8 months. 5 patients (15%) had stable disease; the CEA level was decreased in 2. In 8 patients (24%) with progressive disease, the mean time for a rising CEA level was 3 months. In our view, a change in the CEA level reflects the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer.

Detailed immunologic studies were done on 29 patients with colorectal cancer. The plasma level of circulating carcinoembryonic antigen, the in vitro reactivity of the peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) to colorectal-tumor-associated antigens (CTAA), and the competence of the T cell population were determined. The in vitro reactivity of the PBL to CTAA was determined by a lymphoblastic response and leukocyte migration inhibition. The competent T cell population was determined by enumerating the T and B cells, the rosette-inhibiting titer of antithymocyte globulin, and the reactivity to skin test antigens. An arbitrary score ranging from 0 (low immunocompetence) to 100 (high) was assigned to the results of each test. The mean score on the immunocompetence quotient (ICQ) which ranged from 22 to 100 was judged to reflect the immunocompetence. The sequential ICQ of individual patients strongly suggested that this information reflected the immunocompetence of patients with cancer of the colon.

The development of high performance turbine airfoils has been investigated under the condition of a supersonic exit Mach number. In order to obtain a new aerodynamic design concept for a high loaded turbine rotor blade, we employed an evolutionary algorithm for numerical optimization. The target of the optimization method, which is called evolution strategy (ES), was the minimization of the total pressure loss and the deviation angle. The optimization process includes the representation of the airfoil geometry, the generation of the grid for a blade-to-blade CFD analysis, and a 2D Navier-Stokes solver with a low-Re k-ε turbulence model in order to evaluate the performance. Some interesting aspects, for example, a double shock system, an early transition and a re-distribution of aerodynamic loading on blade surface, observed in the optimized airfoil, are discussed. The increased performance of the optimized blade has been confirmed by detailed experimental investigation, using conventional probes, hot-films and L2F system.