Abstract: Provided is a method for producing 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC) by culturing a microorganism that produces PDC. The present invention provides a method of producing PDC by culturing a microorganism that produces 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC), wherein the method comprises: dissolving the starting substance for production of PDC in a buffer solution that contains no alkali metals, and adjusting the pH of a culture solution with a buffer solution that contains no alkali metals.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which has a large discharge capacity and is superior in charge-discharge cycle performance, initial efficiency and high rate discharge performance, and a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using the positive active material. The present invention pertains to a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery containing a lithium transition metal composite oxide which has a crystal structure of an ?-NaFeO2 type, is represented by a compositional formula Li1+?Me1??O2 (Me is a transition metal element including Co, Ni and Mn, ?>0), and has a molar ratio Li/Me of Li to the transition metal element Me of 1.2 to 1.6, wherein a molar ratio Co/Me of Co in the transition metal element Me is 0.02 to 0.23, a molar ratio Mn/Me of Mn in the transition metal element Me is 0.62 to 0.

Abstract: A lithium secondary battery is produced by employing a charging method where a positive electrode upon charging has a maximum achieved potential of 4.3 V (vs. Li/Li+) or lower. The lithium secondary battery contains an active material including a solid solution of a lithium transition metal composite oxide having an ?-NaFeO2-type crystal structure. The solid solution has a diffraction peak observed near 20 to 30° in X-ray diffractometry using CuK? radiation for a monoclinic Li[Li1/3Mn2/3]O2-type before charge-discharge. The lithium secondary battery is charged to reach at least a region with substantially flat fluctuation of potential appearing in a positive electrode potential region exceeding 4.3 V (vs. Li/Li+) and 4.8 V (vs. Li/Li+) or lower. A dischargeable electric quantity in a potential region of 4.3 V (vs. Li/Li+) or lower is 177 mAh/g or higher.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which has a large discharge capacity and is superior in charge-discharge cycle performance, initial efficiency and high rate discharge performance, and a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using the positive active material. The present invention pertains to a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery containing a lithium transition metal composite oxide which has a crystal structure of an ?-NaFeO2 type, is represented by a compositional formula Li1+?Me1??O2 (Me is a transition metal element including Co, Ni and Mn, ?>0), and has a molar ratio Li/Me of Li to the transition metal element Me of 1.2 to 1.6, wherein a molar ratio Co/Me of Co in the transition metal element Me is 0.02 to 0.23, a molar ratio Mn/Me of Mn in the transition metal element Me is 0.62 to 0.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which has a large discharge capacity and is superior in charge-discharge cycle performance, initial efficiency and high rate discharge performance, and a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using the positive active material. The present invention pertains to a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery containing a lithium transition metal composite oxide which has a crystal structure of an ?-NaFeO2 type, is represented by a compositional formula Li1+?Me1??O2 (Me is a transition metal element including Co, Ni and Mn, ?>0), and has a molar ratio Li/Me of Li to the transition metal element Me of 1.2 to 1.6, wherein a molar ratio Co/Me of Co in the transition metal element Me is 0.02 to 0.23, a molar ratio Mn/Me of Mn in the transition metal element Me is 0.62 to 0.

Abstract: An electric storage device includes a negative electrode, a positive electrode, and a separator interposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, the negative electrode including a negative electrode layer including an active material including an amorphous carbon particle capable of occluding and releasing at least one of an alkali metal and an alkaline earth metal, and a binder. The negative electrode layer includes a plurality of pores, and a ratio S1/S2 of a specific surface area (S1) of micropores having a pore diameter of 1 nm or more and 3 nm or less in the pores to a specific surface area (S2) of mesopores having a pore diameter of 20 nm or more and 100 nm or less therein is 0.3 or more and 0.9 or less.

Abstract: [Object]; There is provided an active material for a lithium secondary battery, which has a high initial efficiency and a high discharge capacity, and particularly has a high discharge capacity at a low temperature (excellent low-temperature characteristic), and a lithium secondary battery using the active material. [Solution]; An active material for a lithium secondary battery, which contains a solid solution of a lithium transition metal composite oxide having an ?-NaFeO2 crystal structure, wherein the composition ratio of metal elements contained in the solid solution satisfies, Li1+x?yNayCoaNibMncO2+d (0<y?0.1, 0.4?c?0.7, x+a+b+c=1, 0.1?x?0.25, ?0.2?d?0.2), the active material has an X-ray diffraction pattern attributable to a space group R3-m (P3112), and in the Miller index hkl, the half width of the diffraction peak of the (003) is 0.30° or less and the half width of the diffraction peak of the (114) plane is 0.50° or less.

Abstract: An electric storage device includes a negative electrode, a positive electrode, and a separator interposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, the negative electrode including a negative electrode layer including an active material including an amorphous carbon particle capable of occluding and releasing at least one of an alkali metal and an alkaline earth metal, and a binder. The negative electrode layer includes a plurality of pores, and a ratio S1/S2 of a specific surface area (S1) of micropores having a pore diameter of 1 nm or more and 3 nm or less in the pores to a specific surface area (S2) of mesopores having a pore diameter of 20 nm or more and 100 nm or less therein is 0.3 or more and 0.9 or less.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a negative electrode, an electrode assembly and an electric storage device. The negative electrode has a negative electrode layer containing: an active material containing an amorphous carbon particle capable of occluding and releasing at least one of an alkali metal and an alkaline earth metal; and a binder, the negative electrode layer having a plurality of pores; and the ratio S1/S2 of the specific surface area (S1) of micropores having a pore diameter of 1 nm or larger and 3 nm or smaller in the pores to the specific surface area (S2) of mesopores having a pore diameter of 20 nm or larger and 100 nm or smaller therein being 0.3 or higher and 0.9 or lower.

Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present invention, a moving picture playback equipment includes a disk drive section which reads out video information containing voice streams, subtitle streams and menu information items of a plurality of languages and management information thereof, a decode stream setting information management section, a decode stream setting information management table which stores setting information set by the decode stream setting information management section, and a separating section which extracts a stream of a language set under control of the decode stream setting information management section, wherein the decode stream setting information management section includes means for making playback settings of disks of plural types of formats by use of setting information recorded in the decode stream setting information management table.

Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide an active material for a lithium secondary battery having high discharge capacity and excellent in high rate discharge characteristics and a lithium secondary battery using the same. The active material for a lithium secondary battery containing a solid solution of a lithium-transition metal composite oxide having an ?-NaFeO2 type crystal structure and the lithium secondary battery using the same have features that the composition ratios of the metal elements contained in the solid solution satisfy Li1+(x/3)Co1?x?y?zNiy/2Mgz/2Mn(2x/3)+(y/2)+(z/2) (x>0; y>0; z>0; x+y+z<1); the active material has an X-ray diffraction pattern capable of belonging to space group P3112; and the active material has discharge capacity exceeding 200 mAh/g.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which has a large discharge capacity and is superior in charge-discharge cycle performance, initial efficiency and high rate discharge performance, and a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery using the positive active material. The present invention pertains to a positive active material for a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery containing a lithium transition metal composite oxide which has a crystal structure of an ?-NaFeO2 type, is represented by a compositional formula Li1+?Me1??O2 (Me is a transition metal element including Co, Ni and Mn, ?>0), and has a molar ratio Li/Me of Li to the transition metal element Me of 1.2 to 1.6, wherein a molar ratio Co/Me of Co in the transition metal element Me is 0.02 to 0.23, a molar ratio Mn/Me of Mn in the transition metal element Me is 0.62 to 0.

Abstract: The active material for a lithium secondary battery includes a solid solution of a lithium transition metal composite oxide having an ?-NaFeO2 type crystal structure, in which the composition ratio of Li, Co, Ni, and Mn contained in the solid solution satisfies Li1+(1/3)xCo1?x?yNi(1/2)yMn(2/3)x+(1/2)y (x+y?1, 0?y and 1?x?y=z); in an Li[Li1/3Mn2/3]O2(x)-LiNi1/2Mn1/2O2(y)-LiCoO2(z) type ternary phase diagram, (x, y, z) is represented by values in a range present on or within a line of a heptagon (ABCDEFG) defined by the vertexes; point A(0.45, 0.55, 0), point B(0.63, 0.37, 0), point C(0.7, 0.25, 0.05), point D(0.67, 0.18, 0.15), point E(0.75, 0, 0.25), point F(0.55, 0, 0.45), and point G(0.45, 0.2, 0.35); and the intensity ratio between the diffraction peaks on (003) plane and (104) plane measured by X-ray diffractometry before charge-discharge is I(003)/I(104)?1.56 and at the end of discharge is I(003)/I(104)>1.

Abstract: An additive typified by tris(trimethylsilyl)phosphate, tris(trimethylsilyl)borate, and tetrakis(trimethylsiloxy)titanium (Chem. 3) are applied to a nonaqueous electrolyte containing a chain carbonate and/or a chain carboxylate as a main solvent (contained at a ratio of 70 volume % or higher). It is preferable that 0?a<30 is satisfied, in which “a” denotes the volume of a cyclic carbonate among carbonates having no carbon-carbon double bond in the entire volume, defined as 100, of the carbonates having no carbon-carbon double bond and chain carboxylates in a nonaqueous solvent contained in the nonaqueous electrolyte (0<a<30 in the case no chain carboxylate is contained).

Abstract: [Object] There is provided an active material for a lithium secondary battery, which has a high initial efficiency and a high discharge capacity, and particularly has a high discharge capacity at a low temperature (excellent low-temperature characteristic), and a lithium secondary battery using the active material. [Solution] An active material for a lithium secondary battery, which contains a solid solution of a lithium transition metal composite oxide having an ?-NaFeO2 crystal structure, wherein the composition ratio of metal elements contained in the solid solution satisfies, Li1+x?yNayCoaNibMncO2+d (0<y?0.1, 0.4?c?0.7, x+a+b+c=1, 0.1?x?0.25, ?0.2?d?0.2), the active material has an X-ray diffraction pattern attributable to a space group R3-m (P3112), and in the Miller index hkl, the half width of the diffraction peak of the (003) is 0.30° or less and the half width of the diffraction peak of the (114) plane is 0.50° or less.

Abstract: A process for producing a lithium secondary battery employs a charging method where a positive electrode upon charging has a maximum achieved potential of 4.3 V (vs. Li/Li+) or lower. The process includes charging the lithium secondary battery to reach at least a region with relatively flat fluctuation of potential appearing in a positive electrode potential region exceeding 4.3 V (vs. Li/Li+) and 4.8V (vs. Li/Li+) or lower. The lithium secondary battery includes an active material having a solid solution of a lithium transition metal composite oxide having an ?-NaFeO2 type crystal structure. The composition ratio of Li, Co, Ni, and Mn contained in the solid solution satisfies Li1+1/3xCo1?x?yNiy/2Mn2x/3+y/2(x+y?1, 0?y and 1?x?y=z).

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a negative electrode, an electrode assembly and an electric storage device. The negative electrode has a negative electrode layer containing: an active material containing an amorphous carbon particle capable of occluding and releasing at least one of an alkali metal and an alkaline earth metal; and a binder, the negative electrode layer having a plurality of pores; and the ratio S1/S2 of the specific surface area (S1) of micropores having a pore diameter of 1 nm or larger and 3 nm or smaller in the pores to the specific surface area (S2) of mesopores having a pore diameter of 20 nm or larger and 100 nm or smaller therein being 0.3 or higher and 0.9 or lower.

Abstract: There is provided a process for industrial production of simple 3-carboxy-cis,cis-muconic acid and/or 3-carboxymuconolactone from low molecular mixtures derived from plant components such as vanillin, vanillic acid and protocatechuic acid, via a multistage enzyme reaction. A recombinant plasmid containing a vanillate demethylase gene (vanAB genes), benzaldehyde dehydrogenase gene (ligV gene) and protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase gene (pcaHG genes); transformants incorporating the plasmid; and a process for production of 3-carboxy-cis,cis-muconic acid and/or 3-carboxymuconolactone characterized by culturing the transformants in the presence of vanillin, vanillic acid, protocatechuic acid or a mixture of two or more thereof.

Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide an active material for a lithium secondary battery having high discharge capacity and excellent in high rate discharge characteristics and a lithium secondary battery using the same. The active material for a lithium secondary battery containing a solid solution of a lithium-transition metal composite oxide having an ?-NaFeO2 type crystal structure and the lithium secondary battery using the same have features that the composition ratios of the metal elements contained in the solid solution satisfy Li1+(x/3)Co1?x?y?zNiy/2Mgz/2Mn(2x/3)+(y/2)+(z/2) (x>0; y>0; z>0; x+y+z<1); the active material has an X-ray diffraction pattern capable of belonging to space group P3112; and the active material has discharge capacity exceeding 200 mAh/g.

Abstract: Gas generation of a non-aqueous electrolyte battery having a negative active material that intercalates/deintercalates lithium ions at a potential not lower than 1.2 V relative to the potential of lithium as negative electrode is suppressed. A non-aqueous electrolyte battery comprising a non-aqueous electrolyte containing an electrolyte salt and a non-aqueous solvent, a positive electrode and a negative electrode is characterized in that the main active material of said negative electrode is an active material that intercalates/deintercalates lithium ions at a potential not lower than 1.2 V relative to the potential of lithium and the auxiliary active material of said negative electrode is an active material that at least intercalates lithium ions at a potential lower than 1.