Sophia University

About: Sophia University is a education organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Nonlinear system & Catalysis. The organization has 4986 authors who have published 7657 publications receiving 106567 citations. The organization is also known as: Jōchi Daigaku.

Isolation of H-SF substances, the high-molecular-weight precursors of egg envelope proteins, from the ascites accumulated in the oestrogen-treated fish, Oryzias latipes.

Abstract: High- and low-molecular weight spawning-female-specific (H-SF and L-SF) substances are liver-derived putative precursors of the inner layer of egg envelope of the medaka Oryzias latipes, and are also found in the ascites which are accumulated in the male fish on prolonged treatment with oestrogen. In the present study, the H-SF substances purified from the ascites of the oestrogen-treated male medaka were found to consist of three proteins. Their molecular weights ranged from 74 000 to 76 000, which corresponds to those of ZI-1 and ZI-2, the major components of medaka egg envelope. The amino acid composition of the H-SF substances was characterised by high contents of proline (17.58 mol%) and glutamic acid/glutamine (13.34 mol%). The characteristics were almost identical to those of ZI-1 and ZI-2 but differed from those of L-SF substance, a precursor of ZI-3, another major component of the egg envelope. These results confirm our view that H-SF substances are the precursors of ZI-1 and ZI-2. The average amino acid compositions of H-SF substances and L-SF subsatance coincided with the amino acid composition of whole egg envelope. This result strongly suggests that an equal amount of H-SF substances and L-SF substance would construct the inner layer of egg envelope after a little modification.

Selective separation of water–alcohol binary mixture through poly(maleimide‐co‐acrylonitrile) membrane

Abstract: Separation of various alcohols and water through a membrane was carried out by means of a hydrogen-bonding interaction. A membrane obtained from poly(maleimide-co-acrylonitrile) was effective for a selective separation of water from aqueous alcohol solution by pervaporation technique. Spectroscopic analyses verified that this high selectivity was attributed to the hydrogen-bonding interaction between water and maleimide units in the membrane.

Improved Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Fabricating AlGaN/GaN Heterojunction Devices

Abstract: The polarity-control technology for Ga-polar GaN with rf plasma nitrogen-source molecular beam epitaxy (RF-MBE) was established. Inserting high-temperature grown AlN multiple intermediate layers (HT-AlN-MIL) into MBE-grown GaN at 750 °C suppressed the propagation of dislocations into upper GaN, and the electrical and optical properties were improved. The HT-AlN-MIL was deposited on GaN templates grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), followed by GaN grown by MBE. The dislocations with screw character in MBE-grown GaN were reduced by about two orders of magnitude compared to those of the bottom GaN template, which produced the step-like surface morphology for MBE-grown GaN. To demonstrate the capability of MBE in heterojunction control, GaN/AlN double barrier resonant tunneling diode (RTD) structures were fabricated to show the negative differential resistance with a peak-valley ratio of 3.1.

Shared somatosensory and motor functions in musicians.

Abstract: Skilled individuals are characterized by fine-tuned perceptual and motor functions. Here, we tested the idea that the sensory and motor functions of highly-trained individuals are coupled. We assessed the relationships among multifaceted somatosensory and motor functions of expert pianists. The results demonstrated a positive covariation between the acuity of weight discrimination and the precision of force control during piano keystrokes among the pianists but not among the non-musicians. However, neither the age of starting musical training nor the total amount of life-long piano practice was correlated with these sensory-motor functions in the pianists. Furthermore, a difference between the pianists and non-musicians was absent for the weight discrimination acuity but present for precise force control during keystrokes. The results suggest that individuals with innately superior sensory function had finer motor control only in a case of having undergone musical training. Intriguingly, the tactile spatial acuity of the fingertip was superior in the pianists compared with the non-musicians but was not correlated with any functions representing fine motor control among the pianists. The findings implicate the presence of two distinct mechanisms of sensorimotor learning elicited by musical training, which occur either independently in individual sensorimotor modalities or through interacting between modalities.