Abstract: A vehicle control apparatus includes front-wheel and rear-wheel driving systems, and a control system. The front-wheel driving system includes a first travel motor mechanically coupled to a front wheel of a vehicle and a first accumulator electrically coupled to the first travel motor. The rear-wheel driving system includes a second travel motor mechanically coupled to a rear wheel of the vehicle and a second accumulator electrically coupled to the second travel motor. The control system includes one or more processors and one or more memories communicably coupled to the one or more processors, and controls the first and second travel motors. When a difference between an SOC of the first accumulator and an SOC of the second accumulator is greater than a threshold value, the one or more processors change a torque distribution ratio between the first and second travel motors from a reference distribution ratio.

Abstract: A battery management device to be mounted on an electric vehicle including a driving wheel, a traveling motor configured to generate a driving force for the driving wheel, and a battery configured to store electric power to be consumed by the traveling motor. The battery management device includes a detector configured to detect a state of the battery, and a controller configured to calculate a characteristic value indicating performance of the battery based on an output of the detector, and manage charging and discharging of the battery based on the characteristic value. The controller is configured to, when the characteristic value has deterioration, determine whether the deterioration of the characteristic value is reversible deterioration based on the output of the detector. The controller is configured to, upon determining that the deterioration of the characteristic value is the reversible deterioration, return the characteristic value to a value before the deterioration.

Abstract: A vehicle includes a first detector detecting first information related to a condition of a first road surface; a second detector contactlessly detecting second information related to a condition of a second road surface; and a controller controlling a driving force of the vehicle using a friction coefficient estimated based on the first and/or second information. A processor(s) of the controller execute(s) a process including: determining whether the conditions are of a same type based on the first and second information; when the conditions are of different types, controlling the driving force using a friction coefficient estimated based on the second information as a friction coefficient of the second road surface; and based on determining that the conditions are of the same type, controlling the driving force using a friction coefficient estimated based on the first information as the road surface friction coefficient of the second road surface.

Abstract: A drive system for a four-wheel drive vehicle including a friction brake system includes a first motor and a second motor, a propeller shaft for transmitting power between a front-wheel side and a rear-wheel side, a first differential mechanism configured to divide output torque of the first motor between a left wheel on one side of the front-wheel side and the rear-wheel side and the other side, a second differential mechanism configured to divide output torque of the second motor between a right wheel on the one side and the other side, and a control device for controlling regenerative braking force related to the first motor and the second motor and friction braking force related to the friction brake system. The first and second differential mechanisms are configured such that the ratio of output torque allocated to the front-wheel side is 50% or more.

Abstract: An electric vehicle includes a motor and a controller. The controller is configured to; based on determining that the electric motor is in the locked state, set a search target torque greater than a value of torque demanded by a driver, and execute a increase of the motor torque up to the set target torque; upon making a determination that the locked state is ceased, store a value of the target torque at a time of making the determination, and execute a decrease of the target torque; and when a second value of the torque demanded by the driver becomes the value of the target torque or more after the decrease of the target torque, set a second value of the target torque in accordance with the second value of the torque demanded by the driver, and drive the electric motor in accordance with the set target torque.

Abstract: A power distribution apparatus for an electric vehicle includes a power distribution mechanism configured to distribute power output from an electric motor to front and rear wheels, and a controller configured to control the power distribution mechanism. The power distribution mechanism includes a first clutch configured to fix a power distribution ratio during straight traveling to a first distribution ratio at which first power distributed to the rear wheels and second power distributed to the front wheels are nearly same, and a second clutch configured to fix the power distribution ratio during straight traveling to a second distribution ratio at which the first power is larger than the second power. The controller is configured set the second clutch to an engaged state and sets the first clutch to a half-engaged state during regenerative braking.

Abstract: A power source control system for a vehicle is provided, which includes a traction motor, the system including a first battery that is a bipolar battery and is to be used as a power source for the traction motor; a second battery that is a bipolar battery different from the first battery; a mirror current generator circuit configured to generate a mirror current based on a current flowing through the first battery; a mirror current supply source circuit configured to cause the mirror current to flow through the second battery; and a diagnostic circuit configured to perform degradation diagnosis on the second battery on a basis of at least one of a voltage or a temperature of the second battery.

Abstract: A power source control system for a vehicle is provided, which includes a traction motor, the system including a first battery that is a bipolar battery and is to be used as a power source for the traction motor; a second battery that is a bipolar battery different from the first battery; a mirror current generator circuit configured to generate a mirror current based on a current flowing through the first battery; a mirror current supply source circuit configured to cause the mirror current to flow through the second battery; and a diagnostic circuit configured to perform degradation diagnosis on the second battery on a basis of at least one of a voltage or a temperature of the second battery.

Abstract: A composite separating agent which comprises a hydrophilic polymer separating agent showing a degree of swelling in water of 10 to 100 ml/g-dry and having a giant network structure incorporated within pores of an organic polymer substrate showing a degree of swelling in water of 20 ml/g-dry or below and a degree of crosslinking of 4% to 100% by mol and having a porous structure as well as a process for producing the same are disclosed.When packed within a column, this composite separating agent having a high mechanical strength is hardly compacted and exhibits an excellent separation performance. Thus it is highly useful in chromatographic separation of biopolymers including proteins.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an immobilized enzyme inulin-D-fructotransferase carried in a specific anionic exchange resin with pores having a mode radius in the range of 75 to 2,000 angstroms. The immobilized enzyme of the present invention is effective in the production of DFA III from inulin.

Abstract: Improved cell culture microcarriers are disclosed herein. These improved microcarriers consist of water-insoluble polymer particles constituted by (meth)acrylic ester, characterized in that the particles have an average diameter of 110-1,000 .mu.m and a density of 1.00-1.20 g/ml in a culture medium as well as positively chargeable chemical moieties distributed at least thereon, the moieties being introduced into the particles by the reaction between the ester and ammonia or amine having 5 or less carbon atoms.

Abstract: A process for producing crosslinked polymer particles which comprises a first step of polymerizing a polymerizable monomer containing from 0.1 to 2.0% by weight, based on the entire polymerizable monomer, of a crosslinkable monomer in a medium in which the polymerizable monomer is soluble but the resulting polymer is insoluble, to obtain crosslinked polymer particles having a particle size of from 0.8 to 10 .mu.m, and a second step of letting the crosslinked polymer particles absorb from 1 to 50 times by weight of a polymerizable monomer containing from 2 to 100% by weight, based on the entire polymerizable monomer, of a crosslinkable monomer in an aqueous medium, followed by polymerization to obtain crosslinked polymer particles having a particle size of from 1 to 30 .mu.m and a crosslinking degree of from 1.0 to 98%.

Abstract: A process for producing crosslinked polymer particles which comprises a first step of polymerizing a polymerizable monomer containing from 0.1 to 2.0% by weight, based on the entire polymerizable monomer, of a crosslinkable monomer in a medium in which the polymerizable monomer is soluble but the resulting polymer is insoluble, to obtain crosslinked polymer particles having a particle size of from 0.8 to 10 .mu.m, and a second step of letting the crosslinked polymer particles absorb from 1 to 50 times by weight of a polymerizable monomer containing from 2 to 100% by weight, based on the entire polymerizable monomer, of a crosslinkable monomer in an aqueous medium, followed by polymerization to obtain crosslinked polymer particles having a particle size of from 1 to 30 .mu.m and a crosslinking degree of from 1.

Abstract: Porous cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol particles which is used for a chromatographic medium is prepared by:dispersing an aqueous solution of a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol and a salt in an organic solvent;allowing a gel to form spontaneously from the dispersion; andreacting the gel with a cross-linking agent.

Abstract: A separation medium useful as an adsorbent of liquid chromatography for optical resolution of racemic mixtures is disclosed, which comprises a reversed phase support coated with an optically active amino acid derivative represented by formula (I): ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 represents a straight or branched alkyl group having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms; and R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 each represents a straight or branched alkyl group having from 4 to 12 carbon atoms which may contain an aromatic group or an unsaturated alkyl group.The separation medium is applicable to optical resolution of a wide range of DL-amino acids and exhibits excellent durability.

Abstract: A method for producing a separating agent having a fluorine-containing group and a hydrophilic group, wherein a cross-linking component consisting of alkylene di(meth)acrylate and/or glycerine poly(meth)acrylate, and a principal chain component consisting of ester and/or ether having therein a polymerizable vinyl group or isopropenyl group and a functional group are subjected to suspension-polymerization to obtain a cross-linked copolymer, and then the functional group in the copolymer is subjected to chemical modification with a fluorine-containing compound or with both fluorine-containing compound and hydrophilic-group-containing compound. The separating agent of the present invention consists essentially of porous cross-linked copolymer particles having porosity in a range of from 0.5 to 3 ml/g and an average particle size in a range of from 1 to 2,000 .mu.m.

Abstract: In a method of separating phenylalanine and cinnamic acid from a mixed solution containing phenylalanine and cinnamic acid, a method of separating phenylalanine and cinnamic acid which comprises subjecting said mixed solution to chromatographic development using a synthetic adsorbent, such as Diaion, Amberlite etc., in the presence of a salt, such as ammonium halides, ammonium sulfate, alkali metal nitrates, ammonium and alkali metal salts of fatty acids, at a concentration in the range where the salting-out effect on cinnamic acid is greater than that on phenylalanine and also both phenylalanine and cinnamic acid can be dissolved, for example, in the range of 0.2-5N.

Abstract: A process for the purification of riboflavine-5'-monophosphate comprising subjecting crude riboflavine-5'-monophosphate to chromatography using a column packed with a weakly basic anion-exchange resin having a skeleton of a crosslinked polyacrylic acid ester or polymethacrylic acid ester in which at least a part of the ester linkages thereof are converted into amide linkages represented by the following formula (1): ##STR1## to obtain a fraction of riboflavine-5'-monophosphate containing a reduced amount of impurities from an eluate of the column is disclosed.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for the production of flexible pipes having a socket in which a socket element is fixed in overlapping relation to one end portion of a fabricated flexible pipe. The end portion of the pipe is elastically reduced in diameter and the socket element overlapped or telescoped with the reduced end portion. The socket element is then fixed to the reduced end portion of the pipe firmly under elastic stress when the reducing pressure is released. An elastic member may be interposed between the end portion of the pipe and the socket element at the overlap.