Various quantities of an attractively interacting fermion system at the unitary limit are determined by extrapolating Monte Carlo results of low-density neutron matter. Smooth extrapolation in terms of 1/(k F a 0 ) (k F is the Fermi momentum, and a 0 is the 1 S 0 scattering length) is found with the quantities examined: the ground-state energy, the pairing gap at T ≈ 0, and the critical temperature of the normal-to-superfluid phase transition. We emphasize proximity of the physics of low-density neutron matter to that at the unitary limit. The extrapolated quantities are in a reasonable agreement with those in the literature.

A method to produce coke in 'lump' form with high strength and reactivity through the addition of a catalyst was investigated in order to improve blast furnace reaction efficiency. The addition of Ca compounds to coal before carbonization was found to considerably increase the reactivity of the coke at a low temperature range in the thermal reserve zone of a blast furnace. Furthermore it was proved that strong, highly reactive 'lump' form coke could be produced by adding a Ca-rich non-caking coal and adjusting the coal blend composition. Based on this fundamental study, the Ca-rich coke was successfully produced in coke ovens on a commercial scale, both at Kimitsu and Muroran works. The use of the Ca-rich coke in the Muroran No. 2 blast furnace was found to cause a decrease in the reducing agent rate by 10 kg/t-p. This technology, producing coke of high reactivity and strength through catalyst addition, is promising as a means of improving the reaction efficiency of a blast furnace.

No abstract

Abstract. We give a method for obtaining infinitely many framed knots which represent a diffeomorphic 4-manifold. We also study a relationship between the n-shake genus and the 4-ball genus of a knot. Furthermore we give a construction of homotopy 4-spheres from a slice knot with unknotting number one.

Small heat shock proteins (sHsps) play a role in preventing the fatal aggregation of denatured proteins in the presence of stresses. The sHsps exist as monodisperse oligomers in their resting state. Because the hydrophobic N-terminal regions of sHsps are possible interaction sites for denatured proteins, the manner of assembly of the oligomer is critical for the activation and inactivation mechanisms. Here, we report the oligomer architecture of SpHsp16.0 from Schizosaccharomyces pombe determined with X-ray crystallography and small angle X-ray scattering. Both results indicate that eight dimers of SpHsp16.0 form an elongated sphere with 422 symmetry. The monomers show nonequivalence in the interaction with neighboring monomers and conformations of the N- and C-terminal regions. Variants for the N-terminal phenylalanine residues indicate that the oligomer formation ability is highly correlated with chaperone activity. Structural and biophysical results are discussed in terms of their possible relevance to the activation mechanism of SpHsp16.0.