Sashimi bōchō
Tako hiki (タコ引, literally, octopus-puller), yanagi ba (柳刃, literally, willow blade), and fugu hiki (ふぐ引き, literally, pufferfish-puller) are long thin knives used in the Japanese kitchen, belonging to the group of Sashimi bōchō (Japanese: 刺身包丁Sashimi [raw fish] bōchō [knife]) to prepare sashimi, sliced raw fish and seafood.
Similar to the nakiri bocho, the style differs slightly between Tokyo and Osaka. In Osaka, the yanagi ba has a pointed end, whereas in Tokyo the tako hiki has a rectangular end. The tako hiki is usually used to prepare octopus. A fugu hiki is similar to the yanagi ba, except that the blade is thinner and more flexible. As the name indicates, the fugu hiki is traditionally used to slice very thin fugu sashimi.
The length of the knife is suitable to fillet medium-sized fish. Specialized knives exist for processing longer fish, such as American tuna. Such knives include the almost two-meter long oroshi hocho, or the slightly shorter hancho hocho.
See also
Quasigroup
In mathematics, especially in abstract algebra, a quasigroup is an algebraic structure resembling a group in the sense that "division" is always possible. Quasigroups differ from groups mainly in that they need not be associative.
A quasigroup with an identity element is called a loop.
Definitions
There are at least two equivalent formal definitions of quasigroup. One defines a quasigroup as a set with one binary operation, and the other, from universal algebra, defines a quasigroup as having three primitive operations. We begin with the first definition.
A quasigroup (Q, ∗) is a set, Q, with a binary operation, ∗, (that is, a magma), obeying the Latin square property. This states that, for each a and b in Q, there exist unique elements x and y in Q such that both
hold. (In other words: Each element of the set occurs exactly once in each row and exactly once in each column of the quasigroup's multiplication table, or Cayley table. This property ensures that the Cayley table of a finite quasigroup is a Latin square.)
Turn (biochemistry)
A turn is an element of secondary structure in proteins where the polypeptide chain reverses its overall direction. For beta turns go to Beta turn.
Definition
According to one definition, a turn is a structural motif where the Cα atoms of two residues separated by few (usually 1 to 5) peptide bonds are close (< 7 Å), while the residues do not form a secondary structure element such as an alpha helix or beta sheet with regularly repeating backbone dihedral angles. Although the proximity of the terminal Cα atoms usually correlates with formation of a hydrogen bond between the corresponding residues, a hydrogen bond is not a requirement in this turn definition. That said, in many cases the H-bonding and Cα-distance definitions are equivalent.
Types of turns
Turns are classified according to the separation between the two end residues:
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