Three sample preparation methods for the electron microscopy (EM) analysis of the morphology of polymeric materials were evaluated: (1) the ion-etching sample method, (2) the RuO₄-staining method, and (3) the newly developed deeply etched section (DES) method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses of samples prepared by these three methods revealed different aspects of the morphologies of the polymers. Ion etching was carried out in an AC glow discharge under low vacuum. The high-order structure of multiphase polymer systems and polymer-filler composites was clearly revealed through SEM analysis of ion-etched samples. The crystalline structure of RuO₄- stained samples was observable through TEM analysis, because RuO₄ selectively stained the amorphous chain. The three-dimensional morphological structure of the polymer was revealed by TEM analysis of stained ultra-thin sections of polymer samples prepared by the DES method. We believe these techniques will be useful in designing new morphologies in polymers as well as in revealing the higher order structure of polymers in general.

View full abstract

  The effect of pH on color development was examined in detail to detect higher sensitivity of ABO blood groups substances in saliva and semen by means of an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using secondly antibody conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. The use of McIlvaine buffer was the most effective for color development. Deep color was observed at pH 5.0, and intensity was about 32 times stronger than that obtained with the Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.6) that was widely used in the Japanese Criminal Investigation Laboratories. Owing to the increased sensitivity, B-type and O-type blood of non-secretors semen, which could not be detected by ELISA, were successfully determined under the present conditions. Through this study, we found the interesting fact that commercially available monoclonal antibodies can be divided into two groups: One group reacts with secretor sample alone and the other reacts with both secretor and non-secretor samples. Using these two classified antibodies, we were able to discriminate between secretor and non-secretor and to speculate the blood type of one sample from two mixed samples.

View full abstract

  A capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry (CE/MS) for the simultaneous analysis of methamphetamine (MA) and related compounds has been developed. The compounds are MA, amphetamine, dimethylamphetamine, ephedrine, norephedrine, methylephedrine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine. The CE/MS system used in this study is a CE with a quadrupole MS detector. Several volatile acids and salts were examined as electrolytes, and 100 mM ammonium acetate (pH 7.0) gave the best CE separation and MS sensitivity. The detection limit of MA was 0.03 μg/ml using the SIM mode. The compounds, which were not separated by CE, could be identified by a CE with an ion trap MS/MS detector using MS/MS measurement.

View full abstract

  Previous studies on changes of respiration during detection of deception revealed that decreases in respiration line length (RLL) (Timm, 1982) and decreases in respiration speed (Adachi & Suzuki, 1994) were the most sensitive markers of deception. Those studies also suggested that typical changes during deception are inhibitory breathing. However, because most of previous studies only analyzed respiratory movements and did not measure ventilation, it is still unclear whether these two indices, RLL and respiration speed, reflect the aspects of ventilation. In this study, therefore, we continuously monitored ventilation by using pneumotachograph under a mock crime situation to clarify the relationship between the two indices of respiratory movements and ventilation. Analyses of ventilatory data obtained from thirty male and female undergraduate subjects revealed that both RLL and respiratory speed reflect respiratory flow rate. Further analysis showed that expiratory flow rate is more sensitive to deception than inspiratory flow rate. Decreases in expiratory flow rates to critical items in the guilty knowledge test were significantly larger than that to non-critical items. Results obtained in this study clearly suggested that effects of deception are revealed in the expiratory phase of breathing, and that they inhibit expiratory flow rate.

View full abstract

  Kerosene heaters have been improved and are equipped with safety devices, such as a safety shutoff device. However, fires caused by misfueling with gasoline still occur frequently. In previous works, it was reported that the major causes of the fires were fuel overflow, resulting from the expansion of the gaseous phase in a fuel tank caused by the high vapor pressure of gasoline. The amount of overflowing gasoline was calculated from the vapor pressure of the fuel and the initial volume of the gaseous phase in the fuel tank. In this work, we directly measured the expanding volume using an experimental device simulating kerosene heaters without measuring the vapor pressure of the fuel. Then, we measured the expanding volume using a real cartridge fuel tank type kerosene heater, and compared the results of the simulating device and the real kerosene heater.
  The expanding behavior obtained from the simulating device was the same as the result of the real kerosene heater. The result shows we can predict the temperature where the fuel will start to overflow from the initial volume of the gaseous phase in the fuel tank using the kerosene heater simulator. Furthermore, it is clarified that in the case of misfueling the possibility of fuel overflow remarkably increases at more than 30 degrees.

View full abstract

  DNA typing of MCT118 (D1S80) locus has been performed with polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using D1S80 allelic ladder. However, some off-ladder variants, which showed different electrophoretic mobility compared with the allelic ladder, were observed frequently in MCT118 typing. Five variants from five previously typed individuals were selected for sequence analysis. The sequence of the variants were determined to ascertain whether sequence variation or size variation is the cause of altered migration of the off-ladder variants. All of the variants have nucleotide substitutions resulting in different sequences of some repeat units and do not have insertions or deletions. Consequently, the MCT118 allelic polymorphism is due to variation in the number of repeat units and to sequence variation among repeats. Furthermore, we examined electrophoresis conditions in order to accurately determine the type of MCT118. Under suitable electrophoresis conditions, all of the variants were typed as corresponding alleles within ±0.15 repeats.

View full abstract

  The optimum elution temperature and optimum elution time of absorption-elution test for ABO blood-typing from hair samples using commercially available monoclonal antibody were examined. Elution temperature was examined in the range of 51-57°C and elution time was examined in the range of 2-15 min. The eluting antibodies were semi-quantitatively analyzed by ELISA using synthetic blood group antigens. The optimum elution temperature and optimum elution time were determined for each monoclonal antibody. The procedure of absorption-elution method for hair samples was improved and the improved procedure was evaluated by a blind test. The improved procedure of the absorption-elution test gave a satisfactory result.

View full abstract

  Numerous kinds of fingerprint powder such as aluminum flake have been successfully used for latent fingerprint detection in crime scene investigation. These fingerprint powders are hazardous to human health, especially for crime scene investigators, and sometimes seriously damage valuable furniture, electronic devices and precision instruments.
  In this paper, dogtooth violet starch, wheat flour, black tea, green tea, green laver were ground into fine particles less than 80 micrometers using a ball mill grinder. The shape of these fine powders were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and their adherence to the skin ridge deposits was evaluated. Each powder detected a latent fingerprint 4 hours after imprinting on a glass plate, but they did not give good results for older or weaker fingerprints.
  Green laver, which is a marine plant of the green algae family, has a single cell layer structure. An improved green laver powder, produced by freeze-drying followed by grinding, contains a remarkable amount of thin plate particles. This characteristic feature of the improved green laver powder made it more adhesive, revealing even weak latent fingerprints 3 days after imprinting on a glass plate. The quality of lifted fingerprints was good enough to be used for fingerprint identification.

View full abstract