title: Analytical and computational techniques for exogenous depolymerization of xenobiotic polymers.
abstract: We analyze a mathematical model for exogenous depolymerization of xenobiotic polymers. We derive a sufficient condition for the solvability of its inverse problem to determine degradation rates. We also introduce a numerical technique to solve the inverse problem with an example to show how our numerical technique is applied to gel permeation chromatography data of polyethylene wax obtained before and after three-week cultivation of a fungus Aspergillus sp. AK-3. In addition, we present a numerical result which we obtained by applying the degradation rate based on the three week cultivation to simulate the transition of the weight distribution after cultivation of the fungus for five weeks.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environmental Science and Technology, Okayama University, 1-1 Naka 3-chome, Tsushima, Okayama 700-8530, Japan. watanabe@ems.okayama-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masaji
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Fusako
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sudate
authors.forename: Shizue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayashi
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007700:Kinetics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D011095:Polyethylenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D015262:Xenobiotics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011095:Polyethylenes; D011108:Polymers; D015262:Xenobiotics