Infectious acute gastroenteritis is an important public health problem worldwide. A total of 639 stool specimens were tested for the presence of diarrhea pathogens. The specimens were from outpatients with acute gastroenteritis who consulted the pediatric clinic in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, from June 2002 to December 2007. Of these, 421 (65.9%) were positive for diarrhea pathogens. Among them were norovirus (NoV) in 260 (61.8%), sapovirus (SaV) in 81 (19.2%), rotavirus in 49 (11.6%), adenovirus in 19 (4.5%), enterovirus in 13 (3.1%), astrovirus in 9 (2.1%), kobuvirus in 1 (0.2%), and bacterial pathogens in 11 (2.6%). Mixed infection (co-infection of viruses) was found in 22 (5.2%) of the 421 pathogen-positive stool samples. NoV was the most prevalent pathogen throughout the study period; however, the SaV detection rate was unexpectedly high and was found to be the secondary pathogen from 2005 to 2007. Genetic analysis of SaV with 81 strains demonstrated that SaV strains belonging to genogroup IV emerged in 2007, and dynamic genogroup changes occurred in a restricted geographic area. This study showed that SaV infection is not as rare as thought previously.

Crystalline poly(arylene ether nitrile) could be prepared by the polycondensation of 2,6‐dihalobenzonitrile with resorcinol at 200°C in N‐methylpyrrolidone in the presence of sodium carbonate. A reaction temperature of at least 200°C was necessary to attain high molecular weight polymer. Spectral data indicated that the polymer had the structure of a poly(meta‐phenylene ether) with pendent nitrile groups on every other phenylene unit. Despite this structure, the crystallinity and the crystallization rate of the polymer were greater than those of the corresponding polymer with a para‐linked structure. The glass transition temperature and the melting temperature of the polymer were almost the same as those of poly(etheretherketone) (PEEKTM). A series of other new poly(arylene ether nitriles) were also examined. The polymers derived from 4,4′‐biphenol, dihydroxytetra‐phenylmethane, dihydroxydiphenylsulfone, and 1,5‐isoquinolinediol had high glass transition temperatures. The poly(arylene ether nitriles) exhibited excellent tensile strength compared with the corresponding ketone‐ or sulfone‐containing polymers. Comparing the three different kinds of polymers containing the same bisphenol units, the order of glass transition temperature was found to be sulfone‐ > nitrile‐ > ketone‐containing polymers, while the order of tensile strength was nitrile‐ > ketone‐ > sulfone‐containing polymers. The excellent mechanical properties are attributable to dipole‐dipole interactions of nitrile groups. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Dual throat nozzle (DTN) is fast becoming a popular technique for thrust vectoring. The DTN is designed with two throats, an upstream minimum and a downstream minimum at the nozzle exit, with a cavity in between the upstream throat and exit. In the present study, a computational work has been carried out to analyze the performance of a dual throat nozzle at various mass flow rates of secondary flow and nozzle pressure ratios (NPR).Two-dimensional, steady, compressible Navier-Stokes equations were solved using a fully implicit finite volume scheme. The present computational results were validated with available experimental data. Based on the present results, the control effectiveness of thrust-vectoring is discussed in terms of the thrust coefficient and the coefficient of discharge.

The Coanda effect has long been employed in the aerospace applications to improve the performances of various devices. This effect is the ability of a flow to follow a curved contour without separation and has well been utilized in ejectors where a high speed jet of fluid emerges from a nozzle in the ejector body, follows a curved surface and drags the secondary flow into the ejector. In Coanda ejectors, the secondary flow is dragged in the ejector due to the primary flow momentum. The transfer of momentum from the primary flow to the secondary flow takes place through turbulent mixing and viscous effects. The secondary flow is then dragged by turbulent shear force of the ejector while being mixed with the primary flow by the persistence of a large turbulent intensity throughout the ejector. The performance of a Coanda ejector is studied mainly based on how well it drags the secondary flow and the amount of mixing between the two flows at the ejector exit. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of various geometric parameters and pressure ratios on the Coanda ejector performance. The effect of various factors, such as, the pressure ratio, primary nozzle and ejector configurations on the system performance has been evaluated based on a performance parameter defined elsewhere. The performance of the Coanda ejector strongly depends on the primary nozzle configuration and the pressure ratio. The mixing layer growth plays a major role in optimizing the performance of the Coanda ejector as it decides the ratio of secondary mass flow rate to primary mass flow rate and the mixing length.

A series of new poly(arylene ether phenyl‐s‐triazine)s was prepared by the nucleophilic aromatic substitution polymerization of the potassium salt of bisphenols with 2,4‐bis (halophenyl)‐6‐phenyl‐s‐triazine in N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone at elevated temperature. The polymers with inherent viscosities exceeding 0.5 were obtained after polymerization for 1 h using 2,4‐bis(fluorophenyl)‐6‐phenyl‐s‐triazine as a monomer. The glass transition temperatures of the resulting polymers ranged from 200 to 260°C depending on the bisphenol used in the polymer synthesis. The poly(arylene ether phenyl‐s‐triazine)s demonstrated excellent thermal stabilities in excess of 490°C (5% weight loss in air). The isothermal TGA measurements (400°C under air or nitrogen atmosphere) revealed that the 4,4'‐biphenol‐ and hydroquinone‐based poly(arylene ether phenyl‐s‐triazine)s belong to the most superior class of heat resistant polymers, such as polyimide Kapton™. The mechanical properties of these polymers are also described. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The critical nozzle is defined as a device to measure the mass flow with only the nozzle supply conditions making use of the flow choking phenomenon at the nozzle throat. The discharge coefficient and critical pressure ratio of the gas flow through the critical nozzle are strongly dependent on the Reynolds number, based on the diameter of the nozzle throat and nozzle supply conditions. Recently a critical nozzle with a small diameter has been extensively used to measure mass flow in a variety of industrial fields. For low Reynolds numbers, prediction of the discharge coefficient and critical pressure is very important since the viscous effects near walls significantly affect the mass flow through the critical nozzle, which is associated with working gas consumption and operation conditions of the critical nozzle. In the present study, computational work using the axisymmetric, compressible, Navier-Stokes equations is carried out to predict the discharge coefficient and critical pressure ratio of gas flow through the critical nozzle. In order to investigate the effect of the working gas and turbulence model on the discharge coefficient, several kinds of gases and several turbulence models are employed. The Reynolds number effects are investigated with several nozzles with different throat diameters. The diffuser angle is varied in order to investigate the effects on the discharge coefficient and critical pressure ratio. The computational results are compared with the previous experimental ones. It is known that the standard k-ε turbulence model with the standard wall function gives the best prediction of the discharge coefficient. The discharge coefficient and critical pressure ratio are given by functions of the Reynolds number and boundary layer integral properties. It is also found that the diffuser angle affects the critical pressure ratio.

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