Synthesis of β-Si3N4 by Chemical Vapor Deposition

Beta-type CVD-Si₃N₄ plates (up to 1.1 mm thick) have been prepared by adding TiCl₄ vapor to the system SiCl₄-NH₃-H₂ at deposition temperatures of 1350° to 1450°C, while α-type or amorphous CVD-Si₃N₄ was obtained without TiCl₄ vapor at the same deposition temperature. Three to four wt % 777V was included in the β-type CVD-Si₃N₄ matrix. The density, preferred orientation, and lattice parameters of β-type CVD-Si₃N₄ were examined.     

Kinetics of Initial Sintering with Grain Growth

Kinetic equations for initial sintering were obtained by combining the conventional kinetic equation with an empirical expression for grain growth in the initial stage. The equations describe the isothermal shrinkage of ZnO in O₂ at 80 torr and 800° to 950°C. The equation also successfully analyzed the sintering of powder compacts of Al₂O₃ studied by other workers.     

A Flux‐Modulating Synchronous Machine with Permanent Magnet Excitation

This paper presents a novel type of flux‐modulating synchronous machine (FMSM) in which permanent magnets (PMs) are embedded in the stator back‐iron. The rotor has neither windings nor PMs. A prototype machine with an outer‐rotor configuration was designed and manufactured to validate the operating principle of the FMSM. The characteristics in the motor mode of the prototype machine were also investigated with a vector control system. The results of the investigations show that, as in surface‐mounted PM motors, the torque of the FMSM is predominantly generated by the PM flux and can be controlled using the armature current.     

INFORMATION FILTERING FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Information filtering is an intelligent function that selects the relevant messages and items of use or interest to the user from a large amount of incoming information. This function has become very important for the rapid development of network technology. This article focuses on information filtering for the management of emergency situations. We believe that special purpose-built "information filtering systems" should be developed to cope with the problem of information overload in emergency management. In this article, we first investigated features of information in emergent situations and then proposed an information filtering system for emergency management. The proposed system is composed of two parts: causal analysis and information classification. A prototype system has been developed and its effectiveness was evaluated by experiments.     

Active control for the suspension of large-sized buses using fuzzy logic

An active suspension of large-sized buses by using fuzzy logic is considered. The active control for the suspension is determined by minimizing the mean squares of vertical and rotary accelerations of vehicle body subject to the constraints of suspension and tyre deflections. The vehicle model is assumed to be a linear system with six degrees of freedom excited by road profiles. The tuning of fuzzy control rules and associated parameters that characterize the active control is carried out where two kinds of road profiles are considered. In the simulation results, the proposed active suspension shows improved performance over passive suspension     

Entrance effect correction on the flow of moisturized soy protein isolate melt in an extrusion viscometer

A newly developed capillary viscometer, having an airtight sample cell and capillary system, was utilized to determine the flow properties of moisturized [70% dry basis (d.b.)] soy protein isolate (SPI) melt at 140°C. Pressure drop measurement with an orifice die was done to clarify the large end effect. An end effect correction method was performed by subtracting the orifice die data from the capillary tube data, and reasonable results were obtained. The flow properties of the SPI melt were thus elucidated and could be classified as those of a power law fluid with flow behaviour index of 0.35. It was concluded that SPI with 70% d.b. moisture is an extremely high pseudoplastic fluid at 140°C.     

Sensory Analysis of Taste-Active Components in the Extract of Boiled Snow Crab Meat

A synthetic extract, prepared from 44 pure chemicals on the basis of the analytical data on the leg meat extract of the boiled snow crab, Chionoecetes opilio, satisfactorily reproduced the taste of the natural extract except for a slight lack of body and mildness. A series of taste panel assessments on synthetic extracts prepared by omitting or adding extractive component(s) were carried out by a triangle difference test and changes in taste profile were assessed. Only 12 components, Ala, Arg, Glu, Gly, glycine betaine, AMP, CMP, GMP, Na⁺, K⁺, Cl^?, and PO₄^3-, were found to contribute more or less toward producing the characteristic taste of the snow crab.     

Novel Measurement of Hypoxanthine in Fish Using Direct Measurement Probe and Chemiluminescence Flow Injection Analysis

Direct measurements of hypoxanthine (Hx) in fish flesh were carried out using a sardine and a grunt twice with the same fish, and the average of 10 successive measurements (from 120 sec to 480 sec after pressing the probe against fish tissue) was taken as the Hx concentration by direct measurement. Results with two nearby tissues of one sample were 42.9 ± 4.9 μM and 42.6 ± 2.6 μM for the sardine, and 639 ± 33 μM and 598 ± 29 μM for the grunt. For sardine, Hx results from this direct method did not agree well with perchloric acid extraction measurements, but they were much better for grunt.     

Purification of Milk Catalase by Immunoaffinity Chromatography

Antiserum against commercially available bovine liver catalase was prepared in rabbits. Anti-catalase antibody in serum was prepared following 30% ammonium sulfate treatment and Sephacryl S-300 column chromatography. The anti-catalase antibody was coupled to cyanogen bromide-activated Sepharose 4B, and using this immunoadsorbent crude milk catalase was purified. About 7.0 mg pure catalase was produced from 10 kg milk. Activity of the purified products was about 2.58 × 10⁴ times as pure as cows' milk. The purified catalase was electrophoretically homogeneous, appearing as a single band.