Studies on tack of pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes: On the surface contamination by adhesive mass after peeling

The presence of adhesive residue on the surface of various adherends after peeling has been confirmed using a tracer technique. Adhesive bonding is found to break by a cohesive mechanism, although the unbonding process seems apparently to be due to intersurface failure. This result supports the concept for adhesive bond breaking proposed in the preceding paper: The unbonding proceeds from the viscoelastic deformation of the adhesive mass around the wetted spots on the surface. As the number of spots in a unit area is controlled by surface energy, the tack value is dependent on the critical surface tension of the adherends.     

Pressure–Sensitive Adhesives

Pressure-sensitive adhesives require a properly cohesive strength and viscoelastic nature so that they can spread over the surface by mere pressure to make an adhesive bond and can be removed from the surface without leaving an adhesive residue. Therefore, pressure-sensitive adhesives have a rather weak cohesive strength as compared with structural adhesives, and relaxation of concentrated stress is fairly quick.     

A novel polysaccharide involved in the pellicle formation of Acetobacter aceti

Acetobacter aceti IFO 3284 has been shown to have two types of strains: one forms a smooth-surfaced colony (S strain) and the other forms a rough-surfaced colony (R strain) (Matsushita et al., 1992). In this study, both S and R strains were isolated and characterized. The S strain grew well in submerged culture but very poorly in static culture. In contrast, the R strain grew well in static culture by floating on the surface of the culture medium, as well as in shaking submerged culture. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the R strain was covered by some amorphous materials that were not seen in the S strain. The R strain produced 5-fold higher levels of sugars related to polysaccharides responsible for pellicle formation than the S strain did. Unlike cellulose of Acetobacter xylinum, the polysaccharides of the R strain were cellulase-resistant and alkaline-sensitive. The polysaccharides were not secreted into the culture medium, and more than 90% of them were retained in the membrane fraction when the cells were disrupted under mild conditions by lysozyme treatment. Furthermore, the polysaccharides were shown to be mainly attached to the outer membrane when separated. After solubilization with beta-octylglucoside, the membrane-attached polysaccharides were purified by several steps including enzyme treatment, column chromatography and alcohol precipitation. The purified polysaccharide was estimated to have an apparent molecular mass of 700-kDa based on Sephacryl S-500 column chromatography, and to be composed of two monosaccharides, glucose and rhamnose, at an approximately equimolar ratio. Thus, in this study, we clarified that the A. aceti R strain produced a polysaccharide associated with the flotation of the cells on the medium surface, like A. xylinum, and that the polysaccharide was a novel one consisting of glucose and rhamnose.     

Formaldehyde elimination with formaldehyde and formate oxidase in membrane of acetic acid bacteria

Formaldehyde elimination was successfully carried out with Acetobacter sp. SKU 14, having strong formaldehyde-oxidizing activity in the cytoplasmic membrane. Formaldehyde was decomposed via formate to carbon dioxide by formaldehyde- and formate-oxidizing activities. A resting-cell suspension of the organism was more convenient for practical purposes than the isolated membrane fraction. In Gluconobacter suboxydans IFO 12528, formaldehyde elimination was not so prominent when compared with that in Acetobacter sp. SKU 14.     

Generation of pseudo‐random numbers by chaos‐type function and its application to cryptosystems

The logistic map is known to be one of the nonlinear difference equations as a chaos map, and to generate pseudo‐random numbers. However, since the chaos has a highly sensitive dependence on initial conditions and accumulates inevitable round‐off errors caused by iterating the map, the numerical generation of exact chaotic time series is said to be impossible. The aim of this paper is, first, to propose an algorithm to generate exact chaotic time series of a chaos‐type function derived from the exact chaos solution. Next, the pseudo‐random numbers are evaluated by four tests and the accumulation of chi‐square values. Also, an application to cryptosystems, which do not need the synchronization in usual computer environments, is considered. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 163(2): 67–74, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20436     

Characteristic fungi observed in the fermentation process for Puer tea

The fermentation process for Puer tea, a unique Chinese tea produced by microbial activities, was investigated by physicochemical and microbial analyses. The temperature of a windrow-shaped pile of tea leaves increased instantly at the beginning of fermentation and stayed at around 50 degrees C until day 35, then decreased gradually to room temperature at the end of fermentation, at day 50. Water content was approximately 30% or less, and pH value was maintained at a weakly acidic level of 5 to 6 throughout the fermentation, conditions that are favorable for propagation of fungi including yeasts. Polyphenol, the characteristic component of tea leaves, decreased continually from day 10 to day 50 of fermentation, corresponding well with the fact that the total concentration of fungi steadily increased during the same period. PCR followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that there were at least two major fungi: Aspergillus niger, which has been well known among Puer tea manufacturers, and Blastobotrys adeninivorans, which is newly recognized in the present study. Furthermore, both of these fungi were observed in the DGGE fingerprint when other commercial Puer tea products were analyzed. These results prompted us to deduce that both A. niger and B. adeninivorans play important roles in the nutritional enhancement of tea leaves during Puer tea fermentation.     

Regulation of palmitoyl-CoA chain elongation by clofibric acid in the liver of Zucker fa/fa rats

The regulation of palmitoyl-CoA chain elongation (PCE) by clofibric acid [2-(4-chlorophenoxy)-2-methylpropionic acid] was investigated in comparison with stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) in the liver of obese Zucker fa/fa rats. The proportion of oleic acid in the hepatic lipids of Zucker obese rats is 2.7 times higher than that of lean littermates. The activities of PCE and SCD in the liver of Zucker obese rats were markedly higher than in lean rats, and the hepatic uptake of 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) was also higher in Zucker obese rats compared with lean rats. The increased activities of SCD and PCE in Zucker obese rats were due to the enhanced expression of mRNA of rELO1. The proportion of oleic acid in the liver was significantly increased by the administration of clofibric acid to Zucker obese rats, and the hepatic PCE activity and rELO2 mRNA expression, but not the SCD activity or SCD1 mRNA expression, were increased in response to clofibric acid treatment. By contrast, the activities of both PCE and SCD and the mRNA expression of SCD1 and rELO2 in the liver were increased by the treatment of Zucker lean rats with clofibric acid. Multiple regression analysis, which was performed to determine the relationships involving PCE activity, SCD activity, and the proportion of oleic acid, revealed that the three parameters were significantly correlated and that the standardized partial regression coefficient of PCE was higher than that of SCD. These results indicate that oleic acid is synthesized by the concerted action of PCE and SCD and that PCE plays a crucial role in the formation of oleic acid when Zucker fa/fa rats are given clofibric acid.     

A firm as a knowledge-creating entity: a new perspective on the theory of the firm

The knowledge-based view of the firm views a firm as a knowledge-creatingentity, and argues that knowledge and the capability to createand utilize such knowledge are the most important source ofa firm's sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge and skillsgive a firm a competitive advantage because it is through thisset of knowledge and skills that a firm is able to innovatenew products/processes/services, or improve existing ones moreefficiently and/or effectively. The raison d'être of afirm is to continuously create knowledge.     

Acetylated Xylan Degradation by Glycoside Hydrolase Family 10 and 11 Xylanases from the White-rot Fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium

Endo-type xylanases are key enzymes in microbial xylanolytic systems, and xylanases belonging to glycoside hydrolase (GH) families 10 or 11 are the major enzymes degrading xylan in nature. These enzymes have typically been characterized using xylan prepared by alkaline extraction, which removes acetyl sidechains from the substrate, and thus the effect of acetyl groups on xylan degradation remains unclear. Here, we compare the ability of GH10 and 11 xylanases, PcXyn10A and PcXyn11B, from the white-rot basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium to degrade acetylated and deacetylated xylan from various plants. Product quantification revealed that PcXyn10A effectively degraded both acetylated xylan extracted from Arabidopsis thaliana and the deacetylated xylan obtained by alkaline treatment, generating xylooligosaccharides. In contrast, PcXyn11B showed limited activity towards acetyl xylan, but showed significantly increased activity after deacetylation of the xylan. Polysaccharide analysis using carbohydrate gel electrophoresis showed that PcXyn11B generated a broad range of products from native acetylated xylans extracted from birch wood and rice straw, including large residual xylooligosaccharides, while non-acetylated xylan from Japanese cedar was readily degraded into xylooligosaccharides. These results suggest that the degradability of native xylan by GH11 xylanases is highly dependent on the extent of acetyl group substitution. Analysis of 31 fungal genomes in the Carbohydrate-Active enZymes database indicated that the presence of GH11 xylanases is correlated to that of carbohydrate esterase (CE) family 1 acetyl xylan esterases (AXEs), while this is not the case for GH10 xylanases. These findings may imply co-evolution of GH11 xylanases and CE1 AXEs.     

A comparative study of food habits and body shape perception of university students in Japan and Korea

Background  

Abnormal body weight, dietary concerns, and unhealthy weight loss behaviors are increasingly being observed in young females in Japan. Our previous research has shown that the irregular lifestyles of female Japanese and Chinese students are significantly related to their desire to be thinner. In the present study, we compare the food habits and body shape preferences of female university students in South Korea and Japan to explore body shape perceptions in those populations.