Preparation of pyrochlores. A1−xHxTaO3·nH2O (A=Na,K)

Pyrochlores of A_1?xH_xTaO₃·nH₂O (A=Na,K) were prepared under the hydrothermal conditions. The values of x for these compounds were increased from 0.3 to 0.5 for A=Na and from 0.2 to 0.5 for A=K by treatment with the distilled water. The compounds with x<0.5 were decomposed to a mixture of NaTaO₃ and Na₂Ta₄O₁₁ for A=Na, or to a mixture of KTaO₃ and a tetragonal tungsten bronze phase, and those with x=0.5 to a single phase of A₂Ta₄O₁₁ at elevated temperatures. Below the decomposition temperatures, defect pyrochlores with oxygen vacancies, $\text{A}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1?</mtext><mtext>x</mtext>}}\text{TaO}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>3?</mtext><mtext>x</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$, were produced. They were hygroscopic, and in the case of A=K and x=0.5 the original phase was recovered by leaving in air for several hours.     

Ion exchange of intercalation compounds from WOP2O7 and intercalation ofn-alkylamines

Ion exchange of Na _x WOP₂O₇ ·nH₂O (x 1.4) prepared from WOP₂O₇ was attempted, using alkaline and alkaline earth ions. The degree of exchange was observed to be >50% at 90° C except for Mg²⁺. The basal spacing of ion-exchanged materials for the hydrated phase were dependent on the number of water molecules in the interlayer spaces, while those for the dehydrated phase increased with the size of ions in the interlayer spaces. The network of water molecules linked by the hydrogen bond in the interlayer spaces seems to determine the basal spacing. By the ion-exchange reaction,n-alkylammonium ions were intercalated into the interlayer spaces of Na _x WOP₂O₇ ·nH₂O (x 1.4) and Sn _x H _y WOP₂O₇ ·nH₂O (2x +y 0.5). In spite of the difference in the charge density of the host layer, a similar arrangement of alkyl chains in the interlayer spaces resulted, and neutral amines were considered to be intercalated as well as ammonium ions. Direct reaction ofn-alkylamine with WOP₂O₇ produced an intercalation compound without reduction of tungsten. The arrangement of the amines in the interlayer spaces is similar to that supposed to the ion-exchanged derivatives when heated at 140° Cin vacuo.     

Development of an epileptic seizure prediction algorithm using R–R intervals with self-attentive autoencoder

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that may affect the autonomic nervous system (ANS) from 15 to 20 min before seizure onset, and disturbances of ANS affect R–R intervals (RRI) on an electrocardiogram (ECG). This study aims to develop a machine learning algorithm for predicting focal epileptic seizures by monitoring R–R interval (RRI) data in real time. The developed algorithm adopts a self-attentive autoencoder (SA-AE), which is a neural network for time-series data. The results of applying the developed seizure prediction algorithm to clinical data demonstrated that it functioned well in most patients; however, false positives (FPs) occurred in specific participants. In a future work, we will investigate the causes of FPs and optimize the developing seizure prediction algorithm to further improve performance using newly added clinical data.

     

Template-free hydrothermal synthesis of hollow hematite microspheres

Hollow hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) microspheres with an average diameter of 3-4 μm and a shell thickness of approximate 150 nm was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal route using FeCl₃·6H₂O solution and acetic acid without using any templates. The hollow microspheres were composed of α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles with the diameter range from 20 to 40 nm. The effects of reaction parameters such as reaction time, temperature, concentration of FeCl₃·6H₂O solution, and initial pH on the morphology of the final products were investigated. A possible formation mechanism of hollow α-Fe₂O₃ microspheres was also proposed, where the acetic acid played a role of etching in the formation of hollow structure.     

Control schemes for auxiliary switches of three‐phase PWM resonant snubber inverters

Control schemes for auxiliary switches of PWM controlled three‐phase resonant snubber inverters (RSIs) are proposed. The control schemes proposed in this paper are based on a conventional PWM technique. To avoid zero voltage switching lost conditions, the conventional PWM technique is modified in the proposed schemes. The proposed control schemes are so simple that they are suitable for digital control. In this paper, a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device)‐based control IC, which realizes the proposed control schemes, for three‐phase auxiliary RSIs is also proposed and implemented. The IC generates gate signals for the main and auxiliary devices of the three‐phase RSI based on the proposed control schemes. The effectiveness of the proposed control schemes was verified through experiments. As a result, ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching) turn‐on at the main devices was achieved and a smooth sinusoidal output current was obtained by use of the control IC. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 152(4): 57–67, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20125     

Synthesis and electronic structure of proton-type partially substituted birnessite by period-four transition metal

Partially substituted proton-type birnessite were prepared by solid state reaction and their structures were refined. The formed birnessite with no substitution is identified to rhombohedral phase. In the case of substitution treatment by V and Cr for Mn, birnessite phase was not formed. On substituting Fe, hexagonal phase increased with increase of the amount of the Fe. For Co and Ni-substitution, monoclinic phase emerged at substitution ratio of around 0.37 and 0.02, respectively. For the substitution of Cu, only the monoclinic birnessite formed irrespective of the ratio. The electric conductivity of the partially substituted birnessites was examined at room temperature. The general trend is lower conductivity with increasing ratio of contained substituents. On several mol% of the substitution by Ni and Cu, the conductivity slightly increased. From DOS calculation of these compounds, the partially substitution for Mn by Fe, Co and Ni in the birnessite poses splitting of crystal field to emerge new bands at around −1 and +1 eV by Mn(IV) 3d orbital.     

Studies of aqueous resins

Summary Polyesters were modified by introducing small amounts of sodium sulfonate groups as hydrophilic groups in their backbones. Stable aqueous dispersions of the polyesters could be obtained by using 2-butoxyethanol (BEA) as a cosolvent. To clarify the role of the cosolvent, they were separated into two layers, polymer and supernatant layers, byultracentrifugation. Cosolvent contents were found to be different in the former and latter layers; i.e., the contents of BEA in the former layer are low in the case of crystalline polyesters and high in the case of noncrystalline ones. Characteristics of the dispersions such as viscosity are strongly affected by the content of the cosolvent.     

Photo-induced electron transfer of a chlorophyll—liquid crystal electrode to water

A platinum plate was coated with a thin layer of chlorophyll and liquid crystal in order to make it photo-excitable. The chlorophyll—liquid crystal electrode immersed in water was found to shift its electrode potential to a more positive value on light irradiation. Furthermore light irradiation increased cathodic current. Liquid crystals such as N-(p-methoxybenzylidene)-p′-butylaniline markedly enhanced a photo-response in electrode potential and current. A prominent photo-response of the electrode appeared in an acidic solution around pH 4. A possibility of a direct electron transfer from a photo-excited chlorophyll—liquid crystal electrode to water, ie, photo-decomposition of water, is suggested.     

New empirical relation for MOSFET noise unified over linear and saturation regions

This paper proposes an empirical relation, which represents noise bias condition dependence for a silicon N-channel MOSFET. No matter whether the MOSFET is operated in linear or saturation region, bias condition dependence is found to be well described by a power function of voltage gain. By introducing a device's intrinsic noise emf v_nc(ƒ), which is independent from bias condition, and empirical parameter β, input-referred noise voltage v_ni(ƒ) is clarified to be a function of v_nc(ƒ), β, and voltage gain , i.e. . This relation implies that noise voltage depends implicitly on bias condition through voltage gain, because transconductance g_m and drain-source differential conductance g_DS depend on bias condition. If β − 1 value is negligible, v_ni(ƒ) = v_nc(ƒ) is almost independent from bias condition, whereas, if β − 1 value is not negligible, bias condition dependence for v_ni(ƒ) appears to be observed. The β deviation from unity, which characterizes bias condition dependence, measures the difference between signal amplification and noise amplification.     

Stabilization of poly(vinyl chloride). III. Synergism between metal soaps and masking agents on the stabilization of poly(vinyl chloride)

The stabilization mechanism by synergetic metal soaps containing complementary colors was previously reported. With increased heating times, the color of heated poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) films containing Cd/Ba and Zn/Ca synergetic soaps markedly deviated from the polyene color. These color deviations usually decreased the thermal stability of PVC. Discoloration from polyene color to blue appeared especially on PVC films containing Zn/Ca synergetic soap and was concomitant with a marked decrease in thermal stability. The stabilization of PVC containing synergetic metal soaps can be improved by masking or removing the excessive color. In this work, the addition of various masking agents, such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, o-phenanthroline, triethanolamine, urea, N,N′ -dimethylolurea, melamine, stearylamide, and lactams, to PVC containing synergetic metal soaps was investigated. It was shown that these masking agents do markedly slow down the discoloration of PVC.