Effects of fermentation conditions and soybean peptide supplementation on hyaluronic acid production by Streptococcus thermophilus strain YIT 2084 in milk

To increase the hyaluronic acid (HA) yield from Streptococcus thermophilus YIT 2084, fermentation conditions (pH, temperature, agitation, aeration) were optimized in milk-based medium, and the effects of supplemental soybean peptides, which have different molecular weight distributions, were determined. HA production was enhanced to approximately 100 mg/l at pH 6.8 and 33–40 °C. Agitation speed and aeration rate slightly affected HA production. Soybean peptides including those of high molecular weight (approximately 27 to 130 kDa) further increased HA production to 208 mg/l under the optimal condition (pH 6.8, 35 °C, 100 rpm), which was 20-fold greater than non-optimal condition. HA production was no longer related to the specific growth rate. The HA produced under the optimal condition included a large amount of high-molecular-weight fraction of 100 to 2000 kDa, compared with under the basal condition without optimization.     

Suppression of inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and amelioration of lipopolysaccharide-induced liver injury by polyphenolic compounds in Eucalyptus globulus leaf extract

Eucalyptus leaf extract (ELE) is rich in hydrolyzable tannins. We examined the effects of ELE and its constituents on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver injury in mice. Mice fed a diet supplemented with 1% ELE were intraperitoneally administered LPS. Six hours later, the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities were significantly lower in the ELE-supplemented mice than in the controls; LPS-induced hepatic inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression was also suppressed. ELE lowered LPS-stimulated iNOS expression in cultured RAW 264.7 macrophages. Furthermore, the aglycones of hydrolyzable tannins, gallic acid (GA) and ellagic acid (EA), inhibited iNOS induction to a greater extent than did ELE (15-fold higher). When mice were fed a 1% GA or EA diet, the increase in the serum ALT and AST activities and hepatic iNOS expression in response to the LPS challenge were significantly attenuated. Thus, hydrolyzable tannins in ELE ameliorate LPS-induced liver injury.     

Mercury oxidation by hydrochloric acid over TiO2 supported metal oxide catalysts in coal combustion flue gas

Mercury oxidation by hydrochloric acid over the metal oxides supported by anatase type TiO₂ catalysts, 1 wt.% MO_x/TiO₂ where M = V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Mo, was investigated by the Hg⁰ oxidation and the NO reduction measurements both in the presence and absence of NH₃. The catalysts were characterized by BET surface area measurement and Raman spectroscopy. The metal oxides added to the catalyst were observed to disperse well on the TiO₂ surface. For all catalysts studied, the Hg⁰ oxidation by hydrochloric acid was confirmed to proceed. The activity of the catalysts was found to follow the trend MoO₃ ~ V₂O₅ > Cr₂O₃ > Mn₂O₃ > Fe₂O₃ > CuO > NiO. The Hg⁰ oxidation activity of all catalysts was depressed considerably by adding NH₃ to the reactant stream. This suggests that the metal oxide catalysts undergo the inhibition effect by NH₃. The activity trend of the Hg⁰ oxidation in the presence of NH₃ was different from that observed in its absence. A good correlation was found between the NO reduction and the Hg⁰ oxidation activities in the NH₃ present condition. The catalyst having high NO reduction activity such as V₂O₅/TiO₂ showed high Hg⁰ oxidation activity. The result obtained in this study suggests that the oxidation of Hg⁰ proceeds through the reaction mechanism, in which HCl competes for the active catalyst sites against NH₃. NH₃ adsorption may predominate over the adsorption of HCl in the presence of NH₃.     

A 65 nm Single-Chip Application and Dual-Mode Baseband Processor With Partial Clock Activation and IP-MMU

Supporting both WCDMA with HSDPA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE, the 9.3 times 9.3 mm² SoC fabricated in triple-Vth 65 nm CMOS, has three CPU cores and 20 separate power domains. Unused power domains can be powered down to reduce the leakage power. Partial clock activation scheme especially focused on music playback scene dynamically stops a PLL and clock trees when not necessary and reduces power consumption from 33.6 mW to 19.6 mW. IP-MMU translates virtual address to physical address for 18 hardware-IPs and virtual address space can be allocated when necessary and can be freed after its operation, reducing external memory by 43 MB. Video performance of D1 (720 times 520) size with 30 frames per second for MPEG/AVC decoding and encoding can be achieved under mixed virtual and physical address usage.     

Lifetime prediction of woven GFRP laminates under constant tensile loading in hydrothermal environment

This study aims to investigate the effects of a hydrothermal environment on the creep behavior of woven glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRPs) and to propose a method for predicting their lifetime. Toward this end, experiments were carried out in air and deionized water at 40, 60, 80 and 95 ^°C. Static tensile tests of woven GFRP were conducted in air and in deionized water to evaluate its mechanical properties and to determine suitable experimental conditions for subsequent constant tensile load tests. The mechanical properties of the woven GFRP decreased with an increase in temperature and with water immersion. Constant tensile load tests were also conducted in air and in deionized water to investigate the creep behavior and fracture time. The fracture time decreased with an increase in stress and water temperature and demonstrated the possibility of a threshold stress for fracturing. In addition, the fracture time during each constant tensile load test was predicted using a modified Reiner–Weissenberg (R-W) criterion, which is a failure criterion for linear viscoelastic materials based on the accumulation of dissolved energy within the GFRP. In this study, the R-W criterion was modified to consider the effects of degradation and its acceleration, which are due to the applied stress and immersion in a solution. The predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental data when considering the effects of hydrothermal aging.     

Effect of polyethyleneimine-fatty acid complex type dispersant structure on the overall processing chain of Si3N4 ceramics using multicomponent non-aqueous slurries

The effect of fatty acid structure of polyethyleneimine (PEI)-fatty acid complex, which was designed as a polymer dispersant for multi-component non-aqueous slurries, on the overall processing chain of Si₃N₄ ceramics involving slurry stabilization, spray drying, compaction, and liquid sintering was investigated using PEI-oleic acid (PEI-OA) and PEI-isostearic (PEI-ISA) complexes. Si₃N₄-Y₂O₃-Al₂O₃-AlN-TiO₂/toluene slurries were selected as a real model for Si₃N₄-based multicomponent slurries. It was observed that both PEI-OA and PEI-ISA can stabilize Si₃N₄-Y₂O₃-Al₂O₃-AlN-TiO₂/toluene slurries; however, the PEI-ISA system tended to have slightly higher slurry viscosity, which was suspected to be due to the interactions between protruded PEI segments among short ISA chains. The spray-dried granules from PEI-ISA-stabilized slurry were observed to have filled structures with higher surface roughness whereas those prepared from PEI-OA-stabilized slurry were observed to have hollow-structured granules. The granules prepared from PEI-OA slurry had improved flow and compaction properties with higher relative density of green compacts compared with those prepared from PEI-ISA-stabilized slurry, whereas the relative density and microstructural homogeneity of S₃N₄ ceramics sintered at 1600?°C for 2?h were observed to be higher for the PEI-ISA system. It is suspected that PEI-OA effectively improved the dispersion stability of multicomponent slurries and flow/compaction properties of granules; however, the inhomogeneous microstructures of green compacts induced by the hollow-structured granules had an adverse effect on the sintering of Si₃N₄ ceramics.     

Combustion characteristics of a hydroxylammonium nitrate based liquid propellant. Combustion mechanism and application to thrusters

A new composition of hydroxylammonium nitrate based solution containing ammonium nitrate, methanol, and water was developed for monopropellant in a reaction control system (RCS) as an alternative to conventional hydrazine. In comparison with hydrazine, this solution has a 20% higher specific impulse, 1.4 times higher density, and lower freezing point and toxicity. The linear burning rate of the solution is moderate at the operating pressures of RCS thrusters. It was found that the linear burning rate had some characteristics whose mechanisms had not been understood. The combustion mechanism of this solution was investigated. The burning behavior was observed using a medium speed camera, and a temperature profile for the combustion wave was measured with a 2.5 μm diameter thermocouple. From these results, the instability of the liquid-gas interface may trigger a sudden increase in the burning rate, and methanol was found to be effective in reducing the bubble growth rate in the solution. The reactivity of several catalysts was evaluated in an open-cup test, and the S405 catalyst for hydrazine showed the best performance among them. Thruster tests were conducted using the S405 catalyst with variation in the propellant mass flow rate, catalyst bed configuration, and length-to-diameter ratio of the combustor. As a result, parameters were determined that ensured long operating time. The model thruster operated stably for up to 100 sec with a specific impulse I _sp = 240 sec, which corresponds to a 90% efficiency. __________ Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 109–120, July–August, 2009. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Travel Time Reliability in Vehicle Routing and Scheduling with Time Windows

This paper presents calibration of the Vehicle Routing and scheduling Problems with Time Windows-Probabilistic (VRPTW-P) model which takes into account the uncertainty of travel times. Probe vehicle data of travel times were obtained from usual operation of pickup-delivery trucks in South Osaka area. The optimal solution of the VRPTW-P model resulted in reducing total cost, running times and CO₂, NOx and Particle Materials (PM) emissions compared with the usual operation. This is attributed to better routing of VRPTW-P to choose more reliable roads. Therefore, VRPTW-P can contribute to establish efficient and environmentally friendly delivery systems in urban area.