Attention/awareness attraction

Stimuli and structures attract or capture attention/awareness. when you are walking down the street, the sound and sight of an accident and a crowd suddenly gathering attract your attention to the incident. This attractive pull of stimuli and activated structures may outweigh volitional attempts to deploy attention/awareness elsewhere. For example, you worry over and over about a particular problem and are told that you are wasting energy by going around in circles and should direct your attention elsewhere, but, in spite of your desire to do so, you may find it almost impossible. 

T o get things done in this world, we need men of action and common sense to see that more good is done than harm, we need men of reflection and uncommon sense. Both types play their role in maintaining the balance between the extremes of recklessness and stagnation. These days both types could hardly avoid being aware of the difficulties and unforeseen consequences resulting from our unprecedented technical achievements. The problems of environmental pollution have attracted attention and concern at all levels of responsibility and from all fields of competence. 

PET is useful polymer used for fiber, film, and plastic containers such as carbonated beverage bottles. Recently, the recycling of polymers such as PET after use is attracting the attention of many researchers aware of environmental problems and wishing to find ways to save earth resources. Previous studies showed that unsaturated polyester resins can be economically prepared from recycled PET and the resins may be useful for resin concretes (1 4). However, there is little information on the molecular features of the UPE resins. Thus, we synthesized various UPE resins from PET. Especially, the PET content, chain flexibility and degree of unsaturation of the resins were systematically varied and the effects of those variables on the mechanical properties of the cured resins and polymer mortars made therefrom were studied. 

Major oil spills attract the attention of the public and the media. In recent years, this attention has created a global awareness of the risks of oil spills and the damage they do to the environment. However, oil is a necessity in our industrial society, and a major sustainer of our lifestyle. Most of the energy used in Canada and the United States is for transportation that runs on oil and petroleum products. According to trends in energy usage, this is not likely to decrease much in the future. Industry uses oil and petroleum derivatives to manufacture such vital products as plastics, fertilizers, and chemical feedstocks, which will still be required in the future. 

Since elsinan has a unique structural feature, its digesta-bility and also methanism of the enzymatic degradation have attracted our attention. In the searches of enzymes capable of degrading this glucan, we became aware of susceptibility of elsinan to particular type of a-amylase, such as salivary and pancreas amylase. This prompted us to examine various amylolytic enzymes, and isolation of the degradation products. 

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