Crosslinking of amidated polybutadiene with resole. I

Various liquid polybutadiene derivatives were examined as modifiers to improve the brittleness of phenolic resins. Amidated polybutadienes obtained from a maleinated polybutadiene and ammonia had the highest curing tendency when they were reacted with resole under mild conditions. The cured resins were homogeneous and the brittleness of the phenolic resins was remarkably improved. Crosslinking efficiency was closely related to the succinamic acid group of the amidated polybutadiene. Thermal behavior of the succinamic acid group was also related to the effects of curing temperature and curing time on crosslinking. From these observations, cross-condensation between the succinamic acid group of an amidated polybutadiene and resole seemed to have occurred to a great extent than the self-condensation of resole itself and oxidative crosslinking of the amidated polybutadiene.     

The association of anxiety and depressive symptoms with cognitive performance in community-dwelling older adults.

The authors examined the association of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and their co-occurrence on cognitive processes in 102 community-dwelling older adults. Participants completed anxiety and depression questionnaires as well as measures of episodic and semantic memory, word fluency, processing speed/shifting attention, and inhibition. Participants with only increased anxiety had poorer processing speed/shifting attention and inhibition, but depressive symptoms alone were not associated with any cognitive deficits. Although coexisting anxiety and depressive symptoms were associated with deficits in 3 cognitive domains, reductions in inhibition were solely attributed to anxiety. Findings suggest an excess cognitive load on inhibitory ability in normal older adults reporting mild anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preparation and mesostructure control of highly ordered zirconia particles having crystalline walls

Mesostructured zirconia particles having monoclinic-type crystalline walls were prepared using a low-temperature crystallization technique. Crystalline zirconia particles with highly-ordered mesostructures were obtained through the sol–gel process of zirconium sulfate tetrahydrate at 333 K in the presence of molecular self-assemblies of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or mixtures of CTAB and anionic molecules such as sodium dodecyl sulfate and sodium p-toluenesulfonate. Variations in the molar ratios of CTAB and the chemical species of anionic molecules led to the variations in the periods of highly-ordered zirconia having crystalline walls. Calcination of the mesostructured zirconia particles prepared using templates consisting solely of CTAB yielded crystalline mesoporous zirconia particles.     

Preparation of polyunsaturated phospholipids by lipase-catalyzed transesterification

Transesterifications were investigated to determine a means for preparing polyunsaturated phospholipids simply from soy phospholipid, sardine oil, and two kinds of microbial lipases originating fromCandida cylindracea andRhizopus delemar. The optimum reaction conditions forCandida cylindracea lipase were: 4 g of sardine oil, 10 mL of water, 0.7 g of lipase, 10 mL of hexane, 48 hr of reaction time at 37°C for 3 g of soy phospholipid, for which the transesterification ratio reached approximately 45%. Recovery of phospholipid was low, because hydrolysis also occurred under these reaction conditions. However, hydrolysis could be suppressed by using glycerine instead of water, and the recovery of phospholipid increased to 47%, although the transesterification ratio was reduced to 32%. Rhizopus delemar lipase has 1,3-specificity for triglycerides, and the transesterification ratio was approximately 37% in the 1-position of phospholipid. The resulting phospholipid was rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and linoleic acid, while the total percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids incorporated was 18.4%. Therefore, polyunsaturated phospholipids can be prepared easily by transesterification of soy phospholipid with fish oil by means of commercial lipases.     

Proposal and development of radial air‐gap coreless generator suitable for small wind turbine used in urban area

Independent distributed power generation using small wind turbines is becoming more widespread as wind power generation increases. Installation of small wind turbines in densely populated urban areas is not only useful from the viewpoint of extracting wind power sources in weak‐wind areas but also for making renewable energy easier to access when power supplies are closer to consumers. It is from this point of view that the authors proposed “urban wind power generation” using a collective system with a number of small vertical wind turbines, and have developed a suitable generator for low‐speed vertical wind turbines such as a Savonius windmill. Based on a standard coreless generator, the proposed generator is designed to make the direction of the magnetic flux radial in order to install the magnets and coils on the outer end of the generator. The change of magnet composition and flux direction maximizes the speed of the flux change and output voltage within a limited space. With the above configuration, the power of the proposed generator is independent of the diameter. In this report, the authors describe and evaluate the fundamental performance of a prototype of the proposed generator. Based on the experiments, a maximum output power of 283 W was obtained. The obtained starting torque is small enough to begin rotation under weak wind conditions of no more than 1 m/s. Therefore, it is clear that the proposed “radial” coreless generator is suitable for self‐starting and producing high power at low wind speed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 167(1): 26– 34, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20695     

Altered mucosa-associated microbiota in the ileum and colon of neonatal calves in response to delayed first colostrum feeding

The present study investigated whether delaying the first feeding of colostrum affected ileum and colon mucosa-associated microbiota in calves. Twenty-seven male Holstein calves were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups, fed colostrum at 45 min, 6 h, and 12 h after birth, respectively. Ileum and colon mucosa were collected at 51 h after birth, and their associated microbial profiles were assessed using amplicon sequencing. Both ileum and colon mucosa-associated microbiota were predominated by genus Escherichia-Shigella. The negative correlation between the molar proportion of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and ileum mucosa-associated opportunistic pathogens, and the positive correlation between the molar proportion of SCFA and colon mucosa-associated beneficial bacteria, suggest that SCFA might play an important role in maintaining the gut health of 2-d-old calves. A higher relative abundance of ileum mucosa-associated Enterococcus and Streptococcus was detected when the first colostrum feeding was delayed for 12 h. The relative abundance of colon mucosa-associated Lactobacillus tended to be lower in calves fed colostrum 12 h than those under the other 2 treatments, whereas that of Faecalibacterium tended to be lower in calves fed colostrum immediately after birth than those fed colostrum 6 and 12 h after birth, respectively. Our findings suggest that delayed first colostrum feeding affects the establishment of ileum and colon mucosa-associated bacteria, which may have long-term effects on gut health of calves.     

On site experiments of the slanted soil treatment systems for domestic gray water.

In order to make a breakthrough for the acute problem of water shortage in the world, the key words "decentralization and re-use" are very important for new sustainable sanitation systems that will be developed. Therefore, we focused on a new treatments system called "a slanted soil treatment system" which combines a biotoilet system with a domestic grey water treatment system. Because this system is a low cost and compact system, the system can be easily introduced to homes in urban areas or in the suburbs of cities in many developing countries. In this study, we performed on site experiments carried out on Shikoku Island, Japan, for several years. We obtained the following results. The slanted soil treatment system could remove organic pollutants and total nitrogen and total phosphorus in grey water effectively. Furthermore, the system performance became high in the case of the high concentration of the influent water. The nitrification reaction and denitrification reaction were speculated to exist due to aerobic zones and anaerobic zones present in the slanted soil treatment system. The slanted soil treatment system could perform for approximately 3 years with zero maintenance. The plug flow model of 1st order reaction kinetics could describe the reaction in the slanted soil treatment system. However, it is necessary to improve the system to maintain the performance in all seasons.