Objective specification of food flavour. Analysis of gas chromatographic profiles of soy sauce flavour by stepwise regression analysis

The relationship between gas chromatographic profiles and sensory tests, which were carried out by an ordering method, was investigated by stepwise regression analysis. The, results indicated that sensory qualities were linearly related to gas chromatographic profiles. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) increased with the increase of step number, and exceeded 0·9 at step 10. R reached 0·968 at the last step number, 43. On the other hand, the standard error of estimate reached a minimum value at step 28 and then began to increase gradually. The most predictive regression model for sensory test panel acceptability was calculated for each step and the resulting calculated models were tested by substituting the gas chromatographic data. The results showed good accuracy for the estimation of sensory quality.     

Synthesis of 5-cyclohexadecenone from cyclododecanone

5-Cyclohexadecenone is prepared from cyclododecanone via four new steps: chlorination, Grignard reaction with vinylmagnesium chloride and rearrangement with aluminium isopropoxide, revinylation with vinylmagnesium chloride and oxy-Cope rearrangement.     

A humanoid robot that pretends to listen to route guidance from a human

This paper reports the findings for a humanoid robot that expresses its listening attitude and understanding to humans by effectively using its body properties in a route guidance situation. A human teaches a route to the robot, and the developed robot behaves similar to a human listener by utilizing both temporal and spatial cooperative behaviors to demonstrate that it is indeed listening to its human counterpart. The robot's software consists of many communicative units and rules for selecting appropriate communicative units. A communicative unit realizes a particular cooperative behavior such as eye-contact and nodding, found through previous research in HRI. The rules for selecting communicative units were retrieved through our preliminary experiments with a WOZ method. An experiment was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the robot, with the results revealing that a robot displaying cooperative behavior received the highest subjective evaluation, which is rather similar to a human listener. A detailed analysis showed that this evaluation was mainly due to body movements as well as utterances. On the other hand, subjects' utterance to the robot was encouraged by the robot's utterances but not by its body movements.     

Improvement of mechanical properties of Poly (<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-lactic acid) by blending of lysine triisocyanate

LTI was attempted to modify the microstructure of poly (l-lactic acid) (PLLA) and to improve its mechanical properties in this study. Bending modulus, strength and fracture toughness of PLLA/LTI were evaluated, and compared to those of the base PLLA to assess the effectiveness of LTI blending. Effect of LTI addition on fracture micromechanism was also investigated by observing and comparing the fracture surfaces of PLLA/LTI and PLLA using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Experimental results showed that the bending properties such as the bending modulus and the strength are effectively improved due to polymerization of PLLA molecules by LTI blending. The fracture toughness value was also improved due to increase of ductile deformation, i.e., energy dissipation in the crack-tip region.     

数学表达式树和DOM之间的转换研究与实现

讨论了树型数学数式对象和DOM之间的转换问题 ,提出了一个数型数式通用的相互转换的方法 ,即基于函数转换表的转化方法 ,说明了这种方法的通用性和灵活性 .对函数转换表的设计进行了讨论 .介绍了使用Java实现的转换器的类库构造和主要的接口设计 .并且介绍了这个实现在筑波大学开发的分布计算系统OpenCFLP中的应用情况 .     

Reverse Monte Carlo analysis of extended energy-loss fine structure for disordered structures of tetrahedrally coordinated materials: its applicability

Capabilities of the reverse Monte Carlo method for characterizing the short-range structural correlations of solids were examined in the analysis of extended energy-loss fine structure (EXELFS). Since this method gives a three-dimensional atomic configuration consistent with the experimental EXELFS spectra, one can extract the statistical distributions of bond lengths, coordination numbers and bond angles of atom species of interest, which have been hard to achieve by conventional EXELFS analysis. The method was applied for the determination of amorphous Si structures and the damaged structure of an electron-irradiated SiC crystal. Advantages and disadvantages of the present method over the precise diffraction intensity measurement are discussed.     

Stable expression and characterization of human PN1 and PN3 sodium channels

Nociceptive transduction in inflammatory and neuropathic pain involves peripherally expressed voltage-gated sodium channels, such as tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive PN1 and TTX-resistant PN3. We generated recombinant cell lines stably expressing the human PN1 and PN3 sodium channels in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells using inducible expression vectors. The PN1 and PN3 cDNAs were isolated from human adrenal gland and heart poly(A)+ RNAs, respectively. The recombinant human PN1 currents exhibited rapid activation and inactivation kinetics and were blocked by TTX with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 32.6 nM. The human PN3 channel expressed in stable transfectants showed TTX-resistant inward currents with slow inactivation kinetics. The IC50 value for TTX was 73.3 microM. The voltage-dependence of activation of the PN3 channel was shifted to the depolarizing direction, compared to that of the PN1 channel. Lidocaine and mexiletine exhibited tonic and use-dependent block of PN1 and PN3 channels. The PN1 channel was more susceptible to inhibition by mexiletine than PN3. These results suggest that stable transfectants expressing the human PN1 and PN3 sodium channels will be useful tools to define subtype selectivity for sodium channel blockers.     

Effect of Particle Size Distribution on Isothermal Oxidation Characteristics of Plasma Sprayed CoNi- and CoCrAlY Coatings

The effect of particle size distribution on the degradation behavior of plasma sprayed CoNi- and CoCrAlY coatings during isothermal oxidation was investigated, in terms of the oxygen content, porosity, surface roughness, and oxide scale formation. The results show that the degradation of both coatings was considerably influenced by the starting particle size distribution. It also shows that in the as-sprayed vacuum plasma spray (VPS) coatings the oxygen content on the coating surface increased significantly with decreased average particle size. But after thermal exposure, the difference of the oxygen contents between the coatings with different particle size was decreased. The powder with various particle size resulted in low porosity inside the coatings during the deposition process. The surface roughness of the coatings increased with increased particle size. The small particles produced a relatively smooth surface, and the oxide growth in the coating deposited by small particle was slower than that in the large particle coating. This article is an invited paper selected from presentations at the 2007 International Thermal Spray Conference and has been expanded from the original presentation. It is simultaneously published in Global Coating Solutions, Proceedings of the 2007 International Thermal Spray Conference, Beijing, China, May 14-16, 2007, Basil R. Marple, Margaret M. Hyland, Yuk-Chiu Lau, Chang-Jiu Li, Rogerio S. Lima, and Ghislain Montavon, Ed., ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 2007.     

Origami fold as algebraic graph rewriting

We formalize paper fold (origami) by graph rewriting. Origami construction is abstractly described by a rewriting system (O,?)$(\mathbb{O},?)$, where O$\mathbb{O}$ is the set of abstract origamis and ?$?$ is a binary relation on O$\mathbb{O}$, that models fold  . An abstract origami is a structure (Π,∽,?)$(\Pi ,\backsim ,?)$, where Π$\Pi$ is a set of faces constituting an origami, and ∽$\backsim$ and ?$?$ are binary relations on Π$\Pi$, each representing adjacency and superposition relations between the faces.     

Structural strain in pyrites evaluated by X-ray powder diffraction

Two parameters for measuring the structural strain, the effective Debye-Waller parameter, B _eff, and lattice strain, , were evaluated on a natural pyrite (FeS₂) after grinding. The effective Debye-Waller parameter, B _eff, which depends on the displacement of atoms in the crystal, was calculated for the overall crystal, B _eff(FeS₂), and for sulphur, B _eff(S), from the intensities of the X-ray diffraction lines. The B _eff(S) increased markedly with increasing grinding time, while B _eff(FeS₂) did not change significantly. The lattice strain, , was not recognized. These observations suggest that the displacement of sulphur atoms preferentially takes place by grinding. The relations between these B _eff values and crystallite size, L, were observed to be common for two different methods of grinding. This tendency was considered to be an inherent property of pyrite. The value of B _eff(S) is a useful index to estimate mechanically caused strain in pyrite.