A high sensitive microcalorimeter which is applicable to the detection of small heat effects due to biological process ocurring in plant cells and tissues was constructed and applied to study germination activity of various crops seeds. The germination tests were performed in the calorimetric units and the heat evolution process associated with the budding and rooting was quantitatively determined. The amount of heat evolved was compared with the extent of germination determined by eyeball observations and found to well reflect the viable activity of seeds.
From the result that there is a good correlation between the heat evolution and the extent of germination, we conclude that the calorimetric method employed here can be an analytical tool in checking viability of useful aged crops seeds and therefore valuable in uniformal selection of seedling materials in aged crops seeds.

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In order to improve the quantitative separation of water-content consists in residual water and crystal water in drugs, controlled rate thermogravimetry (CRTG) was applied to determination of dehydration.
The water-content data estimated on the basis of weight loss profile determined by the CRTG, were compared with weight loss values obtained with TG of linear heating rate. Simultaneous Thermogravimetry-Mass spactrometry (TG-MS) was also utilized for identification of chemical speices to confirm if their volatile contaminant is only water or major volatile constitute is water. The results suggest that the CRTG method can be applied to the determination of water-content in drugs, and that the CRTG is especially very effective technique as a substitute for the loss of drying (LOD) test on the Pharmacopoeia of Japan.

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Recently many solid-state reactions were found to proceed with retention of the crystalline lattice. These reactions are called as crystalline-state reaction, in which the structural changes can be observed by X-ray crystal structure analysis. The racemization of the chiral alkyl groups and the β-α isomeriztion of the alkyl groups on exposure to visible light have been extensively studied. The analyses of the intermediate structures and the application of the reaction cavity for the reactive groups made clear the reaction mechanism not only qualitatively but also quantitatively.

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Oxides with brownmillerlite strucutre (A₂B₂O₅) and fluorite structure such as cubic zirconia are known to exhibit high oxygen ion conduction. The oxygen ionic conductivity of these oxides are influenced by defect structure. A role of oxygen vacancy in defect structure is very important factor for the oxygen ion conduction. This report focuses on the relationship between the oxygen ionic conductivity and defect structure. As representative examples, the induction of ionic polarization in brownmillerlite structure, the controlling of order-disorder transition temperature of oxygen vacancy in brownmillerlite related structure and the improvement of ceria (fluorite structure) were introduced from view point of crystallography.

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