Improvement of Coffee Aroma by Removal of Pungent Volatiles Using A-Type Zeolite

Experimental studies were conducted using molecular sieve zeolites to remove pungent smell components from a coffee aroma-containing gas evolved from roasted and ground coffee packed in a percolation vessel. The components such as methyl mercaptan or acetaldehyde were selectively adsorbed from coffee volatiles, and a decrease of pungent odor was recognized on sensory evaluation. The adsorption selectivity was based on pore sizes of adsorbents and molecular sizes of adsorbates. Zeolite 5Å was preferable to 4Å for separation efficiency of methyl mercaptan and recovery yield of residual volatile compounds.     

Decomposition of Mullite by Silica Volatilization

Thermal decomposition of mullite into corundum was investigated using a high-temperature X-ray single-crystal camera equipped with a gas-flame furnace and by scanning electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). When heated to ∼1750°C, mullite decomposed to corundum by the liberation of the SiO₂ component with topotaxial relations of:

• (1) 

  (310)_mull∥(001)_cor; [001]_mull∥[110]_cor
• (2) 

  (130)_mull∥(001)_cor; [001]_mull∥[110]_cor
• (3) 

  (110)_mull∥(001)_cor; [001]_mull∥[110]_cor

Thus, it was considered that, when mullite decomposed into corundum, their oxygen close-packed planes were almost preserved. The SEM photographs showed that the crystals of the developed corundum are prismatic and ∼5 μm wide. The EPMA showed that the phase boundary between mullite and developed corundum is discontinuous.     

The Influence Analysis that a Phase Characteristic of the High‐Level Earthquake Gives to Vibration Response Characteristic of the 550‐kV Disconnectors

We developed the 550‐kV disconnectors that strengthened earthquake proofing by the addition of the damper unit and weight reduction of conductive part based on the damage of the 550‐kV disconnectors by the Great East Japan earthquake (March 11, 2011) and inspected the earthquake proofing performance by shake table test. In shake table test, we performed the test by the artificial seismic wave that varied in phase characteristic in addition to the test by resonance method. And, in a high‐level earthquake area, we analyzed it about the influence that a phase characteristic of the artificial seismic wave gave to stress to occur in disconnectors. As a result, it is thought that the stress to occur in disconnectors is decided by a primary natural frequency basically because a bending strain to occur to the disconnectors in the time when the resonance frequency ingredient becomes the big acceleration response value grows big. But, on a particular phase condition, it was confirmed that the bending strain to occur in disconnectors might grow big conspicuously. As for this, the possibility is thought about by influence of higher natural frequency doing superposition.     

植物分离蛋白对卵巢切除大鼠血脂代谢的影响

目的:研究大米分离蛋白和大豆分离蛋白对因雌性激素缺乏引起的高胆固醇血症的影响.方法:将24只Wistar成年雌鼠随机分为4组.3组大鼠进行双侧卵巢切除手术,分别喂食添加20%酪蛋白(对照组)、大米分离蛋白或大豆分离蛋白的饲料.另1组进行卵巢伪切除手术,喂食添加20%酪蛋白的对照饲料,喂养4周后解剖,测定血清和肝脏中胆固醇、甘油三酯浓度以及粪中胆汁酸排泄量和蛋白表观消化率等指标.结果:卵巢切除明显增加成年雌鼠血清和肝脏中胆固醇和甘油三酯浓度.与酪蛋白组相比,饲料中添加大豆分离蛋白能显著降低卵巢切除大鼠血浆总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白及胆固醇浓度(p＜0.05),但对血浆甘油三酯浓度无显著影响,同时明显降低肝重、肝脏中总脂、总胆固醇、游离胆固醇及甘油三酯总量,以及增加排粪量和胆汁酸排泄量,大豆分离蛋白表观消化率也明显比酪蛋白和大米分离蛋白高.大米分离蛋白对血脂没有明显降低效果,但肝脏总脂、总胆固醇、游离胆固醇和甘油三酯浓度明显低于酪蛋白饲料组,而排粪量、粪中胆汁酸排泄量和蛋白表观消化率则与酪蛋白组无显著差异.结论:抗消化蛋白对因雌性激素缺乏引起的高胆固醇血症有明显降低效果,可能的作用机制是由于该蛋白的低消化性干扰,肠道中胆汁酸代谢,增加粪中胆汁酸的排泄量来降低肝脏和血浆中胆固醇浓度.     

Parameter identification of distributed parameter systems in the presence of measurement noise

A new approach to recursive parameter identification of second-order distributed parameter systems in the presence of measurement noise under unknown initial and boundary conditions is proposed. A two-dimensional low-pass filter is introduced to pre-filter the observed data corrupted by measurement noise. The low-pass filter is designed in the continuous time-space domain and discretized by bilinear transformation. Thus a discrete estimation model of the system under study is easily constructed with filtered input-output data for recursive identification algorithms. The recursive least squares method is still efficient in the presence of low measurement noise if the filter parameters are designed so that the noise effects are reduced sufficiently. Using filtered input data as instrumental variables, a recursive instrumental variable method is also presented to obtain consistent estimates when the digital low-pass filters are not designed successfully or when the output data is corrupted by high measurement noise. Illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methods.     

Investigation of Water Tree Degradation in Dry‐Cured and Extruded Three‐Layer (E‐E Type) 6.6‐kV Removed XLPE Cables

Dry‐cured and extruded three‐layer (E‐E type) 6.6‐kV cross‐linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables were introduced into electric power systems more than 30 years ago, but they do not experience failures because of water tree degradation. Also, the degradation index of water treeing for these cables has not been established. Therefore, investigating results of residual breakdown voltage and water tree degradation of these cables will help us plan for cable replacement and determine water tree degradation diagnosis scheduling, and will be fundamental data for cable lifetime evaluation. In this study, the authors measured the ac breakdown voltages of dry‐cured and E‐E type 6.6‐kV XLPE cables removed after 18 to 25 years of operation and observed the water trees in their XLPE insulation. As a result, it was observed that breakdown voltages were larger than the maximum operating voltage (6.9 kV) and the ac voltage for the dielectric withstanding test (10.3 kV). Water trees were mainly bow‐tie water trees and their maximum length was approximately 1 mm. Although the number of measured cables was limited, the lifetime of this type of cable was estimated to be approximately 40 years, even experiencing water immersion.     

Effects of Microwave Heating on Lipoxygenase and Trypsin Inhibitor Activities, and Water Absorption of Winged Bean Seeds

Lipoxygenase and trypsin inhibitors in dry whole winged bean seeds were completely inactivated after microwave heating for 3.0 and 5.0 min, respectively. The soaking of the seeds, prior to microwave heating, considerably decreased the heating times needed to inactivate lipoxygenase and trypsin inhibitor. Furthermore, microwave heating was effective in increasing the rate of water absorption of the seeds.     

Crystal Structure and Defects of Ordered (Pb1-xCax)TiO3

Crystal structure and defects of ordered ((Pb_{1- x} Ca _x )TiO₃ ceramics have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The structure is determined to be tetragonal, belonging to point group 4 mm . Pb and Ca are in an ordered fcc arrangement on the A sites. In addition to the chemical ordering, there is ordering due to atomic shuffling or what has been referred to as electrical ordering. Two distinct sets of planar defects are observed in the same region. One set of planar defects are identified as antiphase boundaries that are the results of chemical ordering and the other set are displacement boundaries that are the results of electrical ordering.     

Structural Analysis of Metadickite

The structure of metadickite, which was a dehydration phase of a dickite from Shokozan mine, Hiroshima, Japan calcined at 600°C for 24 h, was investigated by X-ray radial distribution function (RDF) analysis and the correlation method. The RDF curve showed the coordination numbers of both Si and Al atoms to be four and the structural regularity was observed up to ∼0.8 nm. Several structural models for metadickite were examined by the correlation method and the most likely model is considered to be the arrangement built up of SiO₄ tet-rahedral sheets, similar to the original dickite, and an adjacent edge-shared AlO₄ tetrahedral chain, with a 6-4-4 type oxygen atom distribution.