In cooking rice, the soaking temperature, the soaking time and the heating speed have great influence on the quality of the cooked rice. But the relationsnip between soaking and heating process have not fully been discussed.
We cooked rice under 30 conditions to make clear the relationship between soaking and heating. We examined the texture property of rice and made microscopic observation of the cross section of the cooked rice grain, determined the amount of reducing sugar and the total amount of sugar and finally had the sensory test.
It was shown that the cooked rice soaked at 20°C had a sticky substance on the surface, while the cooked rice soaked at 60°C had almost no sticky substance on the surface. It was also shown. that the amount of the reducing sugar became greater as the heating speed increased and the soaking time was longer and the soaking temperature higher.
The sensory test showed that the cooked rice soaked at 40 and 60°C was comparatively favorable.

View full abstract

In order to prepare food products suitable for aged and young persons, we added Okara (bean curd refuse) powder to rice-flour steamed sponge cake. Some portion of a basic composition (rice flour : sucrose : egg : water= 1 : 1 : 1.7 : 0.3) was replaced by Okara powder. Furthermore, sucrose and water were replaced by oligosaccharide and Sake, respectively. Physical properties, such as color and texture, preference and keeping qualities of the trial products thus prepared were examined. The results are as follows :
(1) The most suitable additional level of Okara powder was 20% in weight. Compared with a fine Okara powder, a coarse Okara powder showed a high expansion ratio and gave uniform pores, a soft texture, a good color tone and an excellent taste. The coarse Okara powder, which was rich in dietary fiber, protein and fat, was further desirable from a nutritional viewpoint.
(2) When the product contained 20% of Okara, it was the most suitable to replace 25% of sucrose by fructooligosaccharide. The obtained product scarcely differed from a product containing 100% of sucrose in preference.
(3) A product obtained by replacing 100% of water by Sake showed further improved expansion and a good taste. In addition, the replacement by Sake significantly kept the product from getting moldy.

View full abstract

Silk plain fabric Habutae was immersed; for 4 days at room temperature, in the 0.3% solutions of Marseilles soap (MAS), sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and dodecylbenzenesulfonate (ABS), respectively. Dried fabric was then heated at 150°C for 96 hr. The resulting specimens were investigated as to that the changes in mechanical, structural and surface properties have occurred by heat treatment.
After heat treatment, the toughness of the specimen were reduced to 21-29% of their initial values. The decreasing rate of thoughness of the specimen without surfactant was much more than that of the other specimens. The mechanical properties measured with the KES-FB fabric testing system allowed us to conclude that by heat treatment the values of shearing, compression and surface property changed remarkably, and that the changes in the surface property depended especially on the kinds of surfactant. The change in surface color by heat treatment with MAS adhered was the highest. The infra-red absorption spectrum measured by an attenuated total reflection (ATR) method revealed that the peptide-bonds of silk protein molecules were broken by the heat treatment. Addingly, the concentrations of ammonia extracted from the specimen released in the air for more than 2 weeks after heat treatment were measured by the ion meter. The result showed that the degradation of silk molecules seem to be clear.
Although SDS and ABS reduced the degradations by heat treatment, the so-called “change in color by soap” was not directly related to the decrease in strength of silk fabric.

View full abstract

Purpose of this study is to establish improved conditions for PROBAN finish for both cotton and viscose fabrics with a special emphasis on the ammonia cure. The fabrics thus finished were compared with those of Pyrobatex finish in their flame retardancy or other perforamnces.
In this study, the ammonia cure was effected by introducing ammonia gas into the evacuated. curing chamber. Even 10 sec-exposure was found to be enough for the completion of ammonia cure. Cotton and viscose fabrics thus cured showed LOT values above 28, tensile strength as high as those of the unfinished samples and sufficient durability. The molar ratio of nitrogen : phosphorus was 2 : 1 and the critical amount of nitrogen for the flame retardancy was found to be 1.3-1.4 mmol/g. Formaldehyde was under the regulated level (75 μg/g sample). These were similar or better as compared with those finished by Albright & Wilson Co.

View full abstract

In previous papers, desirable conditions for cotton and viscose rayon fabrics were investigated on two representative durable flame retardant finishes, Pyrovatex and Proban finishes. The present paper reports the conditions for and the performance of an alternative durable flame retardant finish, namely heat cure of tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium sulfate (THPS) monomer, for the fabrics.
The most adequate concentrations of THPS were found to be 25% for cotton and 30-32% for viscose, respectively, with some additives included. Effective additives were triethanolamine for pH adjustment, resins, glyoxal type one for cotton and melamine type one for viscose, for fixation of THPS on the fibers, and urea as an additional nitrogen source. As for the heating conditions, relatively long time heating, namely 20 min., at comparatively low temperature, 140°C, was found to be preferable compared with short time heatings, e.g., 5 min. at 150-160°C or higher. LOI values and tensile strengths of the fabrics finished by the three methods mentioned were compared. It was shown that the present finish gave better flame retardancies than Proban finish, and better tensile strengths than Provatex finish.
These results indicate that the heat cure method has certain advantages for practical applications.

View full abstract

In a previous paper, we have reported that the hydrolysis rate of casein by alkali protease is much enhanced by the presence of oxidizing agent. The present paper describes detailed studies of such an enhancement by sodium perborate, sodium percarbonate and hydrogen peroxide in the hydrolysis of casein and its components, α-, β- and κ-casein by two kinds of alkali proteases. The hydrolysis has been followed up with the modified casein-folin method and gel permeation chromatography (GPC).
The results can be summarized as follows.
(1) The oxidizing agents do not reduce the enzyme activities.
(2) The order of the contact of the three components is important for the enhancement; in case that casein comes in contact first with oxidizing agent and then with enzyme, the hydrolysis rate is most enhanced by ca. 60%.
(3) Such an enhancement was found for the casein components, α-, β- and κ-casein, respectively.
(4) Data of GPC showed that casein is degraded by oxidizing agent to fragments with ca. 103 dalton, which are hydrolyzed to smaller fragments by the enzyme, faster than casein itself.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the real state of living and the problem of dwelling environment of high-rise apartment. For this purpose, we conducted a survey among residents in November 1990, and compared the high-rise dwelling (36 stories) with the high-rise dwelling (15 stories) and the walk-ups (5 stories) at the central city of Osaka. In this report, we analyzed the characteristics of residents. The results are as follows.
(1) The characteristics of residents of high-rise apartment (36 stories) are (1) more small families, (2) less families with children, (3) older the age of household head, (4) higher incomes, (5) more self-employed and liberal profession, (6) less double-income families than the others.
(2) The residents of high-rise apartment have positive valuation on living in high-rise apartment. And to live in a high-rise apartment is one of their important reasons of choice of their present dwelling.
(3) The residents of the upper stories (16-36 stories) have more remarkable characteristics as above mentions.
(4) Almost of them will not live as long as possible, and want to move to detached houses in future.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract