Biodegradable blends of poly(ε‐caprolactone) with α‐chitin and chitosan: specific interactions,thermal properties and crystallization behavior

Films of poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) blends with α‐chitin and chitosan were prepared as completely biodegradable polyester/polysaccharide composites. DSC thermal analysis revealed that the crystallization of PCL was suppressed by blending with α‐chitin and chitosan. The specific interaction between PCL and polysaccharides was investigated by FTIR spectroscopy. The PCL carbonyl vibration bands could be resolved into three components: crystalline, amorphous and interacting. The FTIR spectra indicated that there were hydrogen bonding interactions between PCL and polysaccharides, and that polysaccharides suppressed the crystallization of PCL, consistent with the results obtained by DSC. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Changes in hydrolysis specificities of lipase from Rhizomucor miehei to polyunsaturated fatty acyl ethyl esters in different aggregation states

Hydrolysis specificities of lipase from Rhizomucor miehei were compared for various fatty acyl ethyl esters. Activity yields of immobilized lipases, measured with 1 mM substrate, were more than 100%. Differences in hydrolysis rate and affinity for the substrates between lipase preparations were also typically higher during hydrolysis of substrates at 100 mM than at 1 mM, indicating better mass transfer effects for 1-mM substrates. The native lipase showed higher affinity for polyunsaturated fatty acid substrates at 1 mM than at 100 mM. Hydrolysis rates for 1-mM substrates were observed with immobilized lipases, fixed on anion exchange resin with glutaraldehyde and on cation exchange carrier with carbodiimide, and suggested some modification of the basic amino acid related to the lid of R. miehei lipase. Activation with these bifunctional reagents was not observed for 100-mM substrates, indicating that interfacial activation always occurred because of aggregation of 100-mM substrates. These results show that lipase from R. miehei recognizes molecular aggregation of lipids, and that various changes occur in the hydrolysis specificities for fatty acids.     

Growth rate dependence of enzyme synthesis in chemostat cultures: α-amylase, β-galactosidase,acid phosphatase and β-fructosidase

Specific rate of enzyme synthesis in microbial cells was correlated to specific growth rate in chemostat culture using three strains of microorganism. α-Amylase production by Bacillus subtilis was linearly associated with growth rate in a glucose-limited chemostat culture. β-Galactosidase production by Saccharomyces fragilis was rather invariable with growth rate in a galactose medium. β-Fructosidase production by Saccharomyces carlsbergensis in a phosphate-poor glucose medium was independent on growth rate, except at low dilution rates where it increased with growth rate. Production of acid phosphatase by the same microbe showed a maximum at a particular intermediate dilution rate. These relationships were summarised with an equation of induction—repression model. Comparison of the chemostat results with those of batch fermentation provided some enhancement factors of a continuous fermentation: 1.23–9.82 regarding enzyme productivity and 0.53–2.88 regarding enzyme concentration. The production of β-fructosidase was much improved among the enzymes tested when continuous culture methods were used.     

A new current balancer in single‐phase three‐wire secondary distribution feeders using the correlation coefficients

This paper proposes a new current balancer in single‐phase three‐wire secondary distribution systems using the correlation coefficients. The components of the load currents correlative to the primary side voltage waveform, which correspond to the active currents, are detected in each feeder, then the nonactive and unbalanced‐active components are compensated on the source side. The balanced currents with unity power factor are obtained in each feeder. The basic principle of the proposed method is discussed in detail, and then confirmed by digital computer simulation. A prototype experimental system is constructed and tested. Experimental results demonstrate that the balanced source currents with unity power factor are obtained in spite of unbalanced load currents. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 169(1): 50–58, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20843     

The use of change detection as a method of objectively evaluating labels

This study introduces the use of change detection, a technique used in cognitive psychology to measure attentional scan paths, as a way to objectively evaluate the prominence of varied label elements. There are two major objectives related to this work: (a) to develop change detection software and methodology for label use; and (b) to compare the relative prominence of different label elements on a beverage container. Six label elements (i.e. treatments) were analysed, namely: the manufacturer name, the product name and a warning dot with text in three colours. Study results suggest that experimental set‐up can significantly impact results, specifically the position of the change (p = 0.0078) and the order of appearance (p = 0.069). This is not only important from an experimental design perspective, but also could lead to insights regarding the attentive behaviours of people as they purchase, select and use products. With regard to the elements of the labels tested, we identified a significant difference on time to detect a change (p < 0.0001). Time required for the manufacturer's name, Asahi Breweries, was significantly longer than for any of the other label elements (p < 0.0001). Pairwise comparisons indicated that for the warning dot, red text was located marginally faster than the warning printed in black (p = 0.0566). Change detection offers the promise to objectively evaluate the relative prominence of a label (or a scene) but is quicker and cheaper than other methods, such as eye tracking, that are currently utilized for this purpose. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dietary cyanidin 3-O-β-d-glucoside increases ex vivo oxidation resistance of serum in rats

The effect of dietary cyanidin 3-O-β-d-glucoside (C3G), a typical anthocyanin pigment, on the generation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) during serum formation ex vivo and susceptibility of serum to further lipid peroxidation was studied in rats. Rats were fed a diet containing C3G (2 g/kg) for 14 d. Feeding C3G resulted in a significant decrease in generation of TBARS during serum formation. The serum from the C3G-fed group showed a significantly lower susceptibility to further lipid peroxidation provoked by 2,2′-azobis (2-amidinopropane)hydrochloride or Cu²⁺ than that of the control group. No significant differences were observed in serum phospholipid, triglyceride, esterified cholesterol, and free fatty acid concentrations between the control and the C3G-fed groups. Concentrations of endogenous antioxidants remaining in the serum after blood coagulation were not affected by the C3G feeding. These results demonstrate that feeding C3G increases the ex vivo oxidation resistance of the serum without affecting serum endogeneous antioxidant levels, and reduces the TBARS generated during serum formation without changing the concentrations of serum lipids.     

A low-power switched-current CDMA matched filter employing MOS linear matching cell with on-chip A/D converter

A low-power switched-current matched filter (MF) for code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems has been developed. The front-end voltage-to-current (V/I) converter has been eliminated by merging the function into each matching cell utilizing the MOS linear I-V characteristics. A low-power analog-to-digital (A/D) converter has also been developed to establish smooth interfacing to digital back-end processing for a delayed locked loop (DLL) and a RAKE receiver. A proof-of-concept chip was fabricated in a 0.35-μm standard CMOS technology with a measured power consumption of 1.65 mW at 11 Mchip/s with 2-V power supply including the A/D converter.     

Impact Strength of Continuous-Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Silicon Nitride Measured by Using the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar

Three-point impact bending tests, using the split Hopkinson pressure bar method, were performed to evaluate the fracture resistance of monolithic silicon nitride (SN) and carbon-fiber-reinforced silicon nitride (CFRSN) ceramics. By applying ramped incident-stress waves in the split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus, relatively smooth stress-time curves could be recorded without using any artificial filtering process. The maximum load in the load-deflection curve of the CFRSN material increased, in comparison to its static value, when impact testing was applied. Such behavior was substantially different from that of the monolithic SN material, for which the maximum load values from impact and static testing were almost the same. The time dependence of strength in the CFRSN ceramic was then investigated by using relaxation tests, and the impact strength behavior could be explained by these results. Also, the shear strength was significantly dependent on the deformation rate, whereas the tensile strength was almost independent of it. The experimental results were compared with the numerical predictions of the stress distribution that were obtained by using finite-element analysis.     

Hadamard-based image decomposition and compression

We develop a general algorithm for decomposition and compression of grayscale images. The decomposition can be expressed as a functional relation between the original image and the Hadamard waveforms. The dynamic adaptive clustering procedure incorporates potential functions as a similarity measure for clustering as well as a reclustering phase. The latter is a multi-iteration, convergent procedure which divides the inputs into nonoverlapping clusters. These two techniques allow us to efficiently store and transmit a class of half-tone medical images such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the human brain. Due to the redundant image structure of MRI, obtained after the decomposition and clustering, almost half of the image can be omitted all together. Naturally, the compression rates for this specific type of grayscale image are increased greatly. A run-length coding is performed in order to compress further the retained information from the first two steps. Although all the techniques applied are simple, they represent an efficient way to compress grayscale images. The algorithm exhibits a performance which is competitive and often outperforming some of the methods reported in the literature     

Improvement of thermal stability of alumina by addition of zirconia

To maintain a large surface area at elevated temperatures, zirconia was added to transition alumina. The addition of a small amount of zirconia resulted in a marked suppression of phase transformation from θ- to α-alumina. After heating at 1200°C, ZrO₂‐containing alumina exhibited a large surface area of 50 m₂/g. UV‐VIS and XRD measurements indicated that zirconia existed in a high dispersion state after calcining at 800°C. XPS measurement also showed that zirconia existed as monolayer. Zirconia monolayers are concluded to cover the alumina surface and the interaction between them may be the cause for the suppression of phase transformation and also for the maintenance of the large surface area at elevated temperatures. The interaction remains up to 1200°C, therefore, θ phase remained at 1200°C. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.