Effect of soybean varieties on the content and composition of isoflavone in rice-koji miso

To clarify the effect of soybean varieties on isoflavone, a useful component for human health, in soybean products, we investigated changes in the isoflavone content and composition in rice-koji miso, after fermentation/aging for 6 or 12 months using varieties of soybeans (Tohoku-126, Tohoku-135, Tohoku-139, Suzuyutaka and Chinese soybeans), by high performance liquid chromatography. In soybeans, the total isoflavone content in Tohoku-126 was 444 mg/100 g, which was 1.2–2.0 times the content in the other soybean varieties. The malonyl glycosides and aglycones in soybeans accounted for more than 60% and only a few percent, respectively. As for rice-koji miso, the total isoflavone and aglycone contents were the highest in miso prepared from Tohoku-126. The ratios of glycosides to aglycones (80.1–92.6%) in miso were higher than those in the original soybeans. The time course of the isoflavone composition during the fermentation/aging process of rice-koji miso indicated that glycosides decreased from 86.4% to 44.9% after 6 months but aglycones increased from 9.6% to 53.3%.     

Room temperature continuous wave operation of GaInP/AlInP visible-light laser with GaInP/AlInP superlattice confinement layer grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy

A remarkable threshold current density reduction (from 3.5 kA/cm/sup 2/ to 1.6 kA/cm/sup 2/) of GaInP/AlInP visible light lasers grown by gas source molecular beam epitaxy (GS-MBE) was obtained by introducing 50 pairs of GaInP(7.1 AA)/AlInP(7.1 AA) short period superlattice confinement (SLC) layers. As a result, the room temperature continuous wave (CW) operation was obtained at 669 nm with a minimum threshold current of 50 mA and maximum light output of 10.5 mW.<>     

Vision-based active sensor using a flexible beam

Proposes a vision-based active sensing system, termed vision-based active antenna. This is composed of a camera, a flexible beam whose force-deformation characteristic is known, and an actuator for rotating the beam. The camera observes the beam deformation, including the contact information, while the beam is in contact with an object. By solving a set of equations based on the information acquired through the camera, the sensor can detect the contact location, the contact force, and the stiffness of the object, even though the contact point is hidden by occlusion. For two particular versions, we show some experimental results to verify the basic idea     

Depth Profiling of Hydrogen and Oxygen in Ferroelectric Films Using High-Energy Ion Beam

A characterization technique for oxide ferroelectric materials using high-energy ion beam is presented. In this study, depth profiles of chemical elements are obtained for SBT films grown by MOD method and by MOCVD method respectively. Hydrogen depth profiles are taken by ERD technique with an Al absorber foil. Depth profiles of other elements are determined with RBS technique. For the MOD-grown sample, the elemental amount ratio was determined as Sr1.00Bi2.06 ± 0.03Ta2.02 ± 0.03O8.33 ± 0.17. The oxygen deficiency in the MOD-grown SBT film was uniformly observed at every depths. For the MOCVD-sample and the MOD-sample, the underlying Pt electrode layers contained 4.7 at.% and 3.8 at.% of hydrogen respectively.     

Properties of Injectable Apatite-Forming Premixed Cements

Previous studies reported premixed calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) that were stable in the package and form hydroxyapatite (HA) as the product after exposure to an aqueous environment. These cements had setting times of greater than 60 min, which are too long to be useful for some clinical applications. The present study investigated properties of fast-setting HA-forming premixed CPCs that initially consisted of two separate premixed pastes: (1) finely ground (1.0 μm in median size) dicalcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA) mixed with an aqueous NaH(2)PO(4) solution, 1.5 mol/L or 3.0 mol/L in concentration, and (2) tetracalcium phosphate consisting of combinations of particles of two different size distributions, 5 μm (TTCP5) and 17 μm (TTCP17) in median size, mixed with glycerin. Equal volume of Pastes 1 and 2 were injected with the use of atwo-barrel syringe fitted with a static mixer into sample molds. The molar Ca/P ratio of combined paste was approximately 1.5. Cements were characterized in terms of setting time (Gilmore needle), diametral tensile strength (DTS), and phase composition (powder x-ray diffraction, XRD). Setting times were found to range from (4.3 ± 0.6 to 68 ± 3) min (mean ± sd; n = 3), and 1-d and 7-d DTS values were from (0.89 ± 0.08 to 2.44 ± 0.16) MPa (mean ± sd; n = 5). Both the NaH(2)PO(4) concentration and TTCP particle size distribution had significant (p < 0.01) effects on setting time and DTS. Powder XRD analysis showed that low crystallinity HA and unreacted DCPA were present in the 1-day specimens, and the extent of HA formation increased with increasing amount of TTCP5 in the TTCP paste. CONCLUSION: Injectable HA-forming premixed CPCs with setting times from 4 to 70 min can be prepared by using DCPA and TTCP as the ingredients. Compared to the conventional powder liquid cements, these premixed CPCs have the advantages of being easy to use and having a range of hardening times.     

A 20-ns CMOS micro DSP core for video-signal processing

A programmable 8-b digital signal processor core with an instruction cycle time of 20 ns is developed. A 37.5-mm chip is fabricated by advanced 1.0-μm double-level-metal CMOS technology. This processor has a reconfigurable high-speed data path supporting several multiply/accumulate function, including 16-tap linear-phase transversal filtering, high-speed adaptive filtering, and eight-point discrete cosine transformation. To provide high-speed operation within the chip, a programmable phase-locked loop circuit is built on the chip. This circuit generates a high-speed clock, which is a multiple of the system clock fed from outside, and is synchronized to the system clock     

Void formation in a filled SBR rubber determined by small-angle X-ray scattering

Two commercial styrene-butadiene (SBR) latexes were used to prepare a model filled material consisting of glassy SBR filler particles about 1000 Å in diameter embedded in a rubbery SBR matrix crosslinked by γ-radiation. When transparent specimens of this material were extended, voiding occurred, as evidenced by stress whitening and greatly enhanced X-ray scattering intensity. More voids were formed at higher rates of extension, but voids disappeared when specimens were relaxed. The effects of filler content and cure time of the matrix on the size and number of voids formed were determined by low-angle X-ray scattering for a constant extension rate and a constant extension ratio λ = 1.6. The number of voids measured by X-ray scattering intensity decreased rapidly with time over the 3-h period of measurement. The number of voids remaining 1 h after extension increased about 40 times as filler content was increased from 15% to 50%. Increasing the cure time from 24 to 96 h increased the number of voids about four times. In contrast, the radius of gyration of the voids formed (250–350 Å) did not depend strongly on time, nor did it depend strongly on the filler content or the cure time of the matrix. Stress relaxation measurements made under the same conditions as X-ray scattering measurements showed effects typical of filled materials. However, the relaxation of stress (which followed a power law decay) was much slower than the decay of the number of voids as measured by X-ray scattering intensity.     

Real-time imaging of two-photon-induced fluorescence with a microlens-array scanner and a regenerative amplifier

A real-time two-photon fluorescence microscope with a microlens-array scanner using a regenerative amplifier is presented. The regenerative amplifier generates pulsed laser lights with extremely high peak power and produces brighter two-photon-induced fluorescence compared with that produced without the amplifier. Experimental results obtained from the observation of some biological samples with the proposed microscope are given.     

Pressure dependence of upper critical solution temperatures in the polystyrene - cyclohexane system

The pressure dependence of the upper critical solution temperature $\text{(}\text{d}\text{T}\text{d}\text{p}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ in the polystyrene-cyclohexane system has been measured over the pressure range of 1 to 50 atm. The value of $\text{(}\text{d}\text{T}\text{d}\text{p}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ determined over the molecular weight (M_w) range of 3.7 × 10⁴ to ～145 × 10⁴ greatly depends on the molecular weight of polystyrene. The value of $\text{(}\text{d}\text{T}\text{d}\text{p}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ for a polystyrene solution of low molecular weight (M_w = 3.7 × 10⁴) is positive (3.14 × 10^?3 degree atm^?1), while the values are negative (?0.52 × 10^?3～?5.64 × 10^?3 degree atm^?) for solutions of polystyrene over the high molecular weight range of 11 × 10⁴ to ～145 × 10⁴. The Patterson-Delmas theory of the corresponding state and the newer Flory theory have been used to explain this behaviour.