NMR measurement system including two synchronized ring buffers, with 128 rf coils for in situ water monitoring in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell.

A small radio-frequency (rf) coil inserted into a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) can be used to acquire nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals from the water in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) or in oxygen gas channels in the PEFC. Measuring the spatial distribution of the water in a large PEFC requires using many rf probes, so an NMR measurement system which acquires NMR signals from 128 rf probes at intervals of 0.5 s was manufactured. The system has eight rf transceiver units with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for modulation of the excitation pulse and quadrature phase detection of the NMR signal, and one control unit with two ring buffers for data control. The sequence data required for the NMR measurement were written into one ring buffer. The acquired NMR signal data were then written temporarily into the other ring buffer and then were transmitted to a personal computer (PC). A total of 98 rf probes were inserted into the PEFC that had an electrical generation area of 16 cm × 14 cm, and the water generated in the PEFC was measured when the PEFC operated at 100 A. As a result, time-dependent changes in the spatial distribution of the water content in the MEA and the water in the oxygen gas channels were obtained.

Breeding of a xylose-fermenting hybrid strain by mating genetically engineered haploid strains derived from industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae IR-2 is a promising host strain to genetically engineer xylose-utilizing yeasts for ethanol fermentation from lignocellulosic hydrolysates. Two IR-2-based haploid strains were selected based upon the rate of xylulose fermentation, and hybrids were obtained by mating recombinant haploid strains harboring heterogeneous xylose dehydrogenase (XDH) (wild-type NAD(+)-dependent XDH or engineered NADP(+)-dependent XDH, ARSdR), xylose reductase (XR) and xylulose kinase (XK) genes. ARSdR in the hybrids selected for growth rates on yeast extract-peptone-dextrose (YPD) agar and YP-xylose agar plates typically had a higher activity than NAD(+)-dependent XDH. Furthermore, the xylose-fermenting performance of the hybrid strain SE12 with the same level of heterogeneous XDH activity was similar to that of a recombinant strain of IR-2 harboring a single set of genes, XR/ARSdR/XK. These results suggest not only that the recombinant haploid strains retain the appropriate genetic background of IR-2 for ethanol production from xylose but also that ARSdR is preferable for xylose fermentation.

Comparison of analog and digital transceiver systems for MR imaging.

We critically evaluated analog and digital transceivers for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging systems under identical experimental conditions to identify and compare their advantages and disadvantages. MR imaging experiments were performed using a 4.74-tesla vertical-bore superconducting magnet and a high sensitivity gradient coil probe. We acquired 3-dimensional spin echo images of a kumquat with and without using a gain-stepping scan technique to extend the dynamic range of the receiver systems. The acquired MR images clearly demonstrated nearly identical image quality for both transceiver systems, but DC and ghosting artifacts were obtained for the analog transceiver system. We therefore concluded that digital transceivers have several advantages over the analog transceivers.

Development of a pulse programmer for magnetic resonance imaging using a personal computer and a high-speed digital input-output board.

We have developed a pulse programmer for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a personal computer and a commercially available high-speed digital input-output board. The software for the pulse programmer was developed using C∕C++ and .NET Framework 2.0 running under the Windows 7 operating system. The pulse programmer was connected to a digital MRI transceiver using a 32-bit parallel interface, and 128-bit data (16 bits × 8 words) for the pulse sequence and the digitally detected MRI signal were transferred bi-directionally every 1 µs. The performance of the pulse programmer was evaluated using a 1.0 T permanent magnet MRI system. The acquired MR images demonstrated the usefulness of the pulse programmer. Although our pulse programmer was developed for a specially designed digital MRI transceiver, our approach can be used for any MRI system if the interface for the transceiver is properly designed. Therefore, we have concluded that our approach is promising for MRI pulse programmers.