In order to investigate the nuclear activity of galaxies residing in compact groups of galaxies, we present results of our optical spectroscopic program made at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. We have performed optical spectroscopy of 69 galaxies which belong to 31 Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) of Galaxies.Among them, three galaxies have discordant redshifts. Further, spectral quality is too poor to classify other three galaxies. Therefore, we describe our results for the remaining 63 galaxies.Our main results are summarized below. (1) We have found in our sample; 28 AGN, 16 H II nuclei, and 19 normal galaxies which show no emission line.We used this HCG sample for statistical analyses.(2) Comparing the frequency distributions of activity types between the HCGs and the field galaxies whose data are taken from Ho, Filippenko, & Sargent (382 field galaxies), we find that the frequency of H II nuclei in the HCGs is significantly less than that in the field. However, this difference may be due to selection bias that our HCG sample contains more early-type galaxies than the field, because it is known that H II nuclei are rarer in early-type galaxies than in later ones.(3) Applying correction this morphological bias to the HCG sample, we find that there is no statistically significant difference in the frequency of occurrence of emission-line galaxies between the HCGs and the field. This implies that the dense galaxy environment in the HCGs does not affect triggering both the AGN activity and the nuclear starburst. We discuss some implications on the nuclear activity in the HCG galaxies.

Block copolymers were synthesized by a coupling reaction of hydrophilic chains of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) with hydrophobic chains of polystyrene (PSt), or poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS). Microstructures of films of the block copolymers exhibited a hydrophilic-hydrophobic microphase separated structure. For evaluation of in vivo antithrombogenicity, small diameter tubes (1.5 mm I.D. and 20 cm length) coated by the copolymers on their internal surfaces were implanted in rabbits as arteriovenous shunts. Occlusion times of the tubes, measured by formation of thrombus, were three days for PHEMA, two days for PSt, and three days for PDMS. The block copolymers showed excellent antithrombogenic properties: occlusion times were 20 days for HEMA-St block copolymer and 12 days for HEMA-DMS block copolymers. In vitro examination of polymer-platelet interaction in terms of platelet adhesion and aggregation, which are important initial processes of blood coagulation, demonstrated suppressed adhesion and aggregation on microdomain surfaces constructed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic block copolymers. From both in vivo and in vitro examination, it was concluded that HEMA-St and HEMA-DMS block copolymers showed promising antithrombogenic activities by suppressing activation and aggregation of platelets.

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In order to investigate dynamical properties of spiral galaxies in the Hickson compact groups (HCGs), we present rotation curves of 30 galaxies in 20 HCGs. We found as follows. 1) There is not significant relation between dynamical peculiarity and morphological peculiarity in HCG spirals. 2) There is no significant relation between the dynamical properties and the frequency distribution of nuclear activities in HCG spirals. 3) There are no significant correlations between the dynamical properties of HCG spirals and any group properties (i.e., the size, the velocity dispersion, the galaxy number density, and the crossing time). 4) Asymmetric and peculiar rotation curves are more frequently seen in the HCG spirals than in field spirals and in cluster ones. However, this tendency is more obviously seen in late-type HCG spirals. These results suggest that the dynamical properties of HCG spirals do not strongly correlate with the morphology, the nuclear activity, and the group properties. Our results also suggest that more frequent galaxy collisions occur in the HCGs than in the field and in the clusters.Comment: 24 pages test (aasms4 LaTeX), 50 page tables (aasms4 LaTeX), and 16 Postscript figures, Accepted for The Astronomical Journa

Block copolymers constructed from chains of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) and either poly-ethyleneoxide (PEO) or poly-propyleneoxide (PPO) were synthesized. These block copolymers exhibited microdomain structure. Platelet adhesion on their surfaces was investigated by a column elution method to examine the effect of microdomain structure. The number of platelets adhered from whole blood was smaller for the block copolymer systems than for the homopolymers. Minimum points of platelet adhesion appeared at approximately 0.38 mol fraction of HEMA in the HEMA-PO system. Both block copolymer surfaces showed microdomains of alternate lamellar structure. Furthermore, the percent of platelets released from the column after incubation was investigated using PRP. In the case of homopolymers, released platelet percentages decreased with an increase of incubation time. Released platelet percentages from the block copolymers, however, were nearly constant with changing incubation time. These results show that HEMA-EO and HEMA-PO block copolymers had the ability to suppress both reversible and irreversible adhesion of platelets to their respective microdomain surfaces.