The preparation of curdlan gel containing hydrophobic substance like oil has been achieved by the following process. First, the emulsified substance is added to the homogenized aqueous suspension of curdlan and then the mixture is homogenized with blender and heated. When the resultant gel is pressed between the two boards with weight, water in the gel is removed, but the hydrophobic substance remains in it. The dried matter can absorb water to become a firm gel like the original gel, when immersed in water. For example, the preparation of 3% curdlan gel can contain about 24% oil, homogeneously. The dried matter obtained from the above gel contains about 85% oil. The gel strength and syneresis of the original gels decrease depending upon the concentration of hydrophobic substance added. The gel strength of the regenerated gel becomes higher than that of the original gel. These gels may be important and interesting from the view of their utilization to food and industry.

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The changes of contents of L-ascorbic acid, sugar and carbohydrate metabolic enzyme activities in cotyledon during germination of black matpe and those in soaked seeds were examined.
1) Contents of L-ascorbic acid in cotyledon increased rapidly by germination. The increase of L-ascorbic acid reached a maximum at 13 hr after imbibition and thereafter decreased slowly.
2) The activity of pyruvate kinase increased in 1 day after seed imbibition and those of G6Pdehydrogenase and isocitrate dehydrogenase increased in 3 and 4 days, respectively.
3) Glucose and fructose could not be detected in germinating black matpe cotyledon, but large amounts of them were detected in seedling.
4) The weight of seeds did not change during the first 2 hr of soaking.
During 23 hr-soaking, carbohydrate metabolic enzymes (PK, phosphofructokinase, G6PDH, ICDH) activities and contents of sugars increased in 1 hr after seed soaking. Then content of sucrose decreased.

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In order to investigate the effects of added NaCl on softening cooked Japanese radish root and also to clarify its softening mechanism, slices 1 cm thick were heated in solutions with several different NaCl concentrations, at various temperatures, for 5-120 min. Firmness of xylem parenchyma of cooked samples was measured by Rheometer. And morphological changes in the same tissues were also observed by means of light and electron microscopes.
The results obtained were as follows :
1) Softening effect was observed by soaking the slices at higher temperatures than 70 t in both deionized water and NaCl solution. The slices cooked in NaCl solutions were softened remarkably faster than those in deionized water. In 0.5-5.0% NaCl solutions, the higher the concentration of NaCl was, the greater the loss of firmness was. Even the addition of 0.5% NaCl in cooking media, showed an obvious softening effect. By adding NaCl after cooking in deionized water for 5-25 min, the firmness was markedly decreased thereafter, and the loss of firmness was almost the same as that of the samples where NaCl was added at the initial cooking stage. The slices cooked in sodium acetate solutions showed the same tendency as those cooked in NaCl solutions; Na ⁺ is thought to be the cause of softening.
2) When the slices were cooked in deionized water for 20 min, the cell walls of the xylem parenchyma were separated in the region of middle lamella, whereas when cooked in 2% NaCl solution for 20 min, the cell walls were not separated and the matrix of primary cell walls disappeared resulting in swollen cell walls as a whole.

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Luster and bursting strength of materials of school uniforms worn for 3 years were measured and classified. Followings were ascertained.
1) Most of the polyester blended uniforms worn for 3 years still have kept bigger bursting strength than unworn all-wool uniforms, but hem edges of the sleeves and of the skirt have been worn out. Therefore the polyester blended fabrics showed more wide distribution of the bursting strength than all-wool fabrics.
2) Smaller bursting strength was obtained at the part where higher luster was measured by gonio-photometer.
3) The distribution of the luster estimated by the naked eyes showed a similar feature to one of the luster by gonio-photometer.
4) The distribution of the strength of worn fabrics could be told by the distribution of the luster estimated by the naked eyes of several persons.

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In order to investigate dynamic drape behavior of silk fabric, vibrational properties in shear deformation were analyzed for women's thin dress fabrics. Buckled-shaped and plate-shaped fabric was substituted to a rigid body rod and its motion was analyzed using differential equation. Vibration damping of plate-shaped fabric was measured by vibration tester which was a modified KES-LABO-MODEL shear tester. Amplitude angles of fabrics examined here decreased linearly with time in the small shear angle (<0.03 rad) region. This means that fabric vibration damps by frictional effect between yarns and/or fibers in the fabric and that viscostic effect of fabric and air are neglected in the range observed. Damping rate of shear vibration was in proportion to 2HG₀/√G₀; which were characteristic values of fabric shear property measured by KESF system, and 2HG₀/√G₀ could be regarded as one of the characteristic values of fabric dynamic drape behavior. The damping rate had no correlation with drape coefficient and cover factor of the fabric. Vibration of silk fabric continued longer than that of so-called silk-like polyester fabric, and this might be one of the reason for good appearance of silk fabric especially in dynamic drape behavior.

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The uptake efficiency of fluorescent brightening agents (FBAs) built in detergents onto household textile materials in practical washing under controlled conditions of multicycle bundle testing and coin laundry testing were investigated.
Quantitative determination of the FBAs in residual liquor of sudsing and rinsing baths after washing were performed by fluorometric analysis and high performance liquid chromatography.
Following results were obtained :
1) The average of the discharge ratio of FBA reaches a steady state of about 50% after 8 cycles of washing, although it is about 90% at 1-2 cycles.
2) The discharge ratio of FBAs in the coin laundry testing differs from the type of washing machines.
3) The discharge ratio of FBAs depends on the type of FBAs built in a commercial detergent.
4) The uptake efficiency of FBAs built in commercial detergent on practical washing is estimated to be about 50% of the applied FBAs.

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An apparatus has been designed and constructed to evaluate the insulation characteristics of hair of head from a physical viewpoint. The main points of the apparatus are as follows :
1) The apparatus consisted of the thermal life size manikin of head and neck, the heating element, the temperature sensor and the box to hold the manikin.
2) The manikin was divided into 7 parts (i.e., frontal, vertex, left and right temples, occiput, face, and neck), which were necessary to express characteristics of hair style classified by two factors (the symmetrical characteristic and the vertical one) extracted by factor analysis of hair style. And this was adequate to the range of skin temperature of 10 parts of head and neck selected from anatomical surface division.
3) Each part was constructed using the embossed and thermally isolated blade of aluminum plate to be insulated.
4) The surface temperature of each part was controlled by the separated thermoregulator.
The stability and the uniformity of the surface temperature of each part were observed and it was concluded that the apparatus could simulate the human thermal characteristics well.

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It is widely accepted that the parent-child tie is still closer than the marital tie in Japan. It is important in family studies to clarify the process and causes on which such marital relationship is formed. The purpose of this study is to examine changes and problems of the marital relationship across the transition to parenthood. The samples were parents of 270 kindergarten children and 195 nursery school ones.
The results are as follows :
Less than half of husbands and wives married with intense love for the spouse but 78% of husbands and 74% of wives were delighted with the first-pregnancy. Many of them wanted to have children and came to be child-centered after the child-birth. Though most of them were satisfied with their marital relationship before and after the first-birth and at present respectively, their satisfaction with companionship was rather low. It is assumed that they put much more importance on the earning and parental roles than the marital role.

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