Abstract: An alkaline secondary battery comprising an electrolyte such as aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide, at least one cathode electrode, at least one anode electrode having an anode active material layer, and a separator such as non-woven fabric between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, in which the anode active material layer containing an anode active material such as a hydridable alloy or a cadmium alloy, and an anode binder which includes a nonionic polymer produced by emulsion polymerization of a nonionic monomer in the presence of a nonionic surfactant, and in which the electrolyte essentially surrounds the cathode electrode and the anode electrode.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a polymer blend having improved properties comprising: (A) 90 to 10% by weight of a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin; and (B) 10 to 90% by weight of a shear-treated rubber obtained by subjecting a nitrile group-containing highly saturated copolymer rubber to a high-shear treatment in the presence of an anti-oxidant so as to lower the Mooney viscosity of the copolymer rubber by 15 units or more, said shear-treated rubber having a Mooney viscosity of 5 to 135, a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) of 3.0 to 5.0 and a storage stability characterized by that the incremental increase in the Mooney viscosity of said shear-treated rubber during a 30 day storage under an ambient condition in air is not more than 10 units.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a cycloolefin-based polymer with very low content of foreign matters, a molded article obtained by using the cycloolefin-based polymer, and a process for producing the cycloolefin-based polymer. The present invention relates to a cycloolefin-based polymer which has an intrinsic viscosity [&eegr;] of 0.01-20 dl/g as determined in decalin at 80° C. and has a content of foreign matters having a particle diameter of 0.5 &mgr;m or more of 3×104 particles/g or less, a process for producing the cycloolefin-based polymer, and a molded material comprising the cycloolefin-based polymer and a molded article obtained therefrom.

Abstract: A DNA coding for a fusion protein comprising a polypeptide having the antigenicity of Mycoplasma gallisepticum and a polypeptide derived from Herpesvirus outer membrane protein, in which the polypeptide derived from the outer membrane protein has been ligated with the polypeptide having the antigenicity of Mycoplasma gallisepticum at the N terminus thereof, is prepared. The DNA is inserted into a region non-essential to growth of Avipox virus and the resulting recombinant Avipox virus is provided as a more potent recombinant virus as an anti-Mycoplasma vaccine.

Abstract: The present invention provides plant growth promoters each comprising, as an active ingredient, a jasmonic acid derivative represented by the following formula: wherein R1 represents a pentyl group or a pentenyl group and R2 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group. These promoters exhibit excellent growth promotion effects particularly on root vegetables, potatoes (tuber crops), cereals, fruit vegetables, fruit trees, flowers and ornamental plants and industrial crops.

Abstract: A composite film having a layer structure of at least two layers, wherein a film (A) formed from a ring structure-containing polymer comprising a repeating unit derived from ring-opening or addition polymerization of a monomer having a ring structure, and a film (B) formed from a polycondensation polymer adjoin each other directly or through an adhesive layer.

Abstract: A rubber composition is provided, which comprises: (1) 100 parts by mass of a hydrogenated acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber having high rate of hydrogenation; (2) 1 to 10 parts by mass of an organic peroxide; (3) 0.1 to 15 parts by mass of 2,4-dimercapto-6-substituted-1,3,5-triazine; and (4) 1 to 100 parts by mass of an organic peroxide-crosslinkable polymer having an epoxy group. The rubber composition has high adhesiveness to a metal, high modulus, high set resistance and high heat resistance, thereby being capable of suitably utilizing for composites of rubber and metal, such as belts, tires, rolls, and molded goods, particularly, for composite rubber products of the rubber composition and a brass or bronze-plated steel plate.

Abstract: A reinforcing fiber for a rubber product that has excellent heat resistance, water resistance and resistance to flex fatigue without undergoing a complicated production process and a treatment agent therefore. This treatment agent comprises a rubber latex, a resorcin-formaldehyde water-soluble condensate and triazine thiol.

Abstract: The invention provides a rubber composition comprising 100 parts by weight of a diene rubber (i) and 0.1 to 25 parts by weight of a polyether-based polymer (ii).

Abstract: A balloon-tip catheter having a balloon formed from a polymeric material in the vicinity of the tip of a catheter, wherein the polymeric material forming the balloon comprises a polyolefin obtained by polymerization using a metallocene catalyst.

Abstract: Penta-coordinated ruthenium or osmium catalysts for metathesis reactions of olefins, which are cationic complexes represented by formulas I, II or III: wherein M is ruthenium or osmium; each of X1 and X2, which may be the same or different, is an optionally substituted C3-C20 hydrocarbon group having an allyl moiety as an end group bonded to the central metal atom M, or X1 and X2 together form a group, optionally substituted, which results from dimerization of an alkene and has at each end an allyl moiety bonded to the central metal atom M, L1 is a neutral electron donor ligand; L2 is a carbene group; L3 is a neutral electron donor ligand which may be the same as or different from L1, or L3 is a halide group; L11 is a neutral electron donor ligand; L12 is a solvent molecule capable of coordination to the central metal atom M; L13 is an alkyl group; L14 is an alkyl, a carbene, a solvent molecule capable of coordination to the central metal atom M, or a halide; L{circumflex over ( )}L is a bid

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for preparing a fluorinated product that is a first perhalogenated five-membered cyclic compound (e.g., 1,2-dichlorohexafluorocyclopentene and 1,1-dichlorooctafluorocyclopentane). This method includes reacting in a gas phase a starting material that is a second perhalogenated five-membered cyclic compound having at least one unsaturated bond, at substantially the same time with chlorine and hydrogen fluoride, in the presence of a fluorination catalyst containing an activated carbon optionally carrying thereon a metal compound, thereby to decrease the number of the at least one unsaturated bond and to increase the number of fluorine atoms of the second compound. The method is appropriate for the production of the first perhalogenated five-membered cyclic compound in an industrial scale.

Abstract: This invention provides a diene rubber capable of yielding a vulcanized rubber having improved heat build-up, tensile strength and abrasion resistance, processes for preparing the same, and rubber compositions containing the same. The diene rubber is composed of 40 to 99.99% by weight of conjugated diene monomer units, 0 to 50% by weight of aromatic vinyl monomer units, and 0.01 to 20% by weight of vinyl monomer units containing a tertiary amino group which is at least partially quaternized with a hydrocarbon radical, and has a Mooney viscosity (ML1+4, 100° C.) of 10 to 200.

Abstract: A polymerized toner of core-shell structure, comprising core particles composed of colored polymer particles which contain a compound having at least one >C═N+< structure in its molecule and a colorant, and a layer of a polymer having a glass transition temperature higher than that of a polymer component making up the core particles, said polymer layer covering each of the core particles, a production process thereof, an image forming process comprising using the polymerized toner, and an image forming apparatus containing the polymerized toner.

Abstract: The invention relates to polybutadiene rubber wherein a molecular weight distribution curve of the rubber as determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) has 2 peaks attributable to a high molecular weight component and a low molecular weight component, a peak top molecular weight of the high molecular weight component and a peak top molecular weight of the low molecular weight component fall within ranges of from 100,000 to 1,500,000 and from 10,000 to 50,000, respectively, a ratio of the weight average molecular weight (Mw) to the number average molecular weight (Mn), Mw/Mn, falls within a range of from 4.5 to 14.5, and the content of a cis-1,4 structure is at least 80 wt. %, a high-impact aromatic vinyl resin composition comprising the polybutadiene rubber, and a preparation process of the resin composition.

Abstract: There are provided novel jasmonic acid compounds of the following general formula (1) wherein R is a group selected from the group consisting of an alkenyl group of 3 to 6 carbon atoms, an alkynyl group of 3 to 6 carbon atoms, and a hydroxyalkyl group of 2 or 3 carbon atoms, and X is CH2—CH2 or CH═CH. These novel jasmonic acid compounds are prepared by an ester exchange reaction between a corresponding jasmonic acid methyl ester and an alcohol.

Abstract: A vulcanizable dip-forming rubber latex composition comprising an unsaturated nitrile-conjugated diene copolymer rubber latex, a sulfur-containing vulcanizer, and a vulcanization accelerator comprising at least one compound selected from (i) dithiocarbamic acid compounds of the formula: and (ii) zinc dithiocarbamate compounds of the formula: wherein R1 and R2 are hydrocarbon groups having at least 6 carbon atoms which may be the same or different, and an optional thiazole compound. A rubber article dip-formed from the rubber latex composition has no crack occurrence, good surface luster and good vulcanization properties, and does not contain a nitrosamine, and therefore, is suitable for medical use.

Abstract: Bowl-shaped polymer particles characterised by having a bowl-like shape as is formed by partly cutting along a plane each spherical hollow polymer particle having a void in the inside, and in which the cross-section perpendicular to the cut plane and passing through the center of the particle has a shape as is formed by partly cutting a double circle along a straight line, and the lengths H of the perpendiculars from the outer arc of the double circle in the cross-section to the straight line have a maximum value Hmax equal to or larger than the radius of the outer circle of the double circle. The bowl-shaped polymer particles have a multi-layer structure, and are produced by multi-stage polymerization in which monomer mixtures are successively polymerized in a manner such that the proportion of a monomer having an acidic group gradationally decreases and by treating the resultant polymer with a base.

Abstract: A block copolymer (1) containing a polymer block A of a conjugated diene and a random copolymer block B of a conjugated diene and aromatic vinyl compound, (2) having a weight ratio (A:B) of the polymer block A and the copolymer block B of 5:95 to 95:5, (3) having a bound aromatic vinyl compound content in the copolymer block B of 1 to 50% by weight, (4) having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of 100,000 to 5,000,000, and (5) having at least two transition points measured by differential scanning calorimetry in the range of −150° C. to +150° C., a method of production of the same, and a rubber composition and pneumatic tire containing the same.

Abstract: The invention provides a diene polymer composition composed of a branched diene polymer component (A) having at least three branched diene polymer chains through a polyfunctional coupling agent and a linear diene polymer component (B) having a quaternary ammonium group, and having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) within a range of from 100,000 to 2,000,000, a preparation process of the diene polymer composition, and a rubber composition comprising a rubber component containing the diene polymer composition, and a reinforcing agent.