Selective gas transport in miscible PPO-PS blends

The permeation rates of He, CO₂ and CH₄ though miscible blends of polystyrene and poly(phenylene oxide) at 35°C are reported as a function of pressure. Sorption isotherms for CO₂ and CH₄ are also presented. By using ratios of the permeabilities of the pure gases the separation factors for the gas pairs He---CH₄ and CO₂---CH₄ can be estimated. For both pairs the estimated separation factor goes through a prominent maximum, thus indicating that these blends are more permselective than expected from the behaviour of polystyrene and poly(phenylene oxide). This stems from mobility considerations rather than solubility effects and a qualitative free volume argument is proposed as an explanation. The sorption and transport data have been interpreted and correlated using the dual sorption-mobility models developed previously for glassy polymers. Since the commercial polystyrene used contained a small amount of mineral oil to improve flow behaviour, the effect of this additive on polystyrene properties was explored in some detail.     

1-O-alkyl-2,3-diacylglycerols in the skin surface lipids of the hairless mouse

A neutral lipid class was isolated by thin-layer chromatography from the skin surface lipids of the hairless mouse. The fraction migrated faster than triglycerides and had a migration rate similar to that of diacyl alkanediols (diester wax). Upon deacylation, however, the long-chain diols were identified as 1-alkylglycerol ethers based on their chromatographic properties and on the mass spectra of their nicotinylidene derivatives. Thus, the skin lipid fraction was identified as 1-O-alkyl-diacylglycerol. The alkyl moieties were all saturated and even-numbered and ranged in chainlength from C₁₆ to C₂₂ with 1-O-hexadecylglycerol amounting to 34% of the total glycerol ether moieties. The fatty acids derived from this lipid fraction were mostly monoenoic with chainlengths ranging from C₁₆ to C₂₄. The major acyl component was eicosenoic acid (20∶1) representing 61% of the total fatty acids.     

Effect of Microstructural Control on Thermoelectric Properties of Hot-Pressed Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide

The thermal conductivity of polycrystalline Al-doped ZnO was controlled through the fabrication of nanostructured polycrystalline materials, by hot-pressing nanosized Zn_{1– x} Al _x O ( x = 0.01, 0.02) particles, which were synthesized by a coprecipitation and spray-drying method. This process resulted in an improved thermoelectric power factor because of the nanosized Zn_0.99Al_0.01O particles of the polycrystalline products. The thermal conductivity also was decreased as a result of the formation of nanocrystalline Zn_0.99Al_0.01O.     

New type of tin support for hydroprocessing catalyst

TiN supported molybdenum sulfide catalysts showed much higher activity for cleavage of C-C bonds than oxide supported molybdenum sulfide catalysts, indicating the possibility of a new generation of supports for hydroprocessing catalysts.     

A novel architecture of dynamically reconfigurable fused multiply–adder for digital signal processing

Introduction

Multiply-accumulate operation is the most fundamental operation in digital signal processing for image processing, robotics and automatic control. In this paper, a novel architecture of dynamically reconfigurable fused multiply-adder (FMA) is proposed.

Methods

Dynamic reconfiguration is a method that can change the circuit configuration without stop of operation. The proposed circuit provides the following four calculation modes by dynamic reconfiguration: (1) complex number FMA mode, (2) real number FMA mode, (3) complex number parallel calculation mode, and (4) real number parallel calculation mode.  The data format is single precision floating point format based on IEEE754. The proposed circuit was designed using Verilog-HDL. It was simulated by logic circuit simulator, and implemented on FPGA.

Result

As a result of circuit synthesis, we confirmed the reduction of resource in the proposed circuit. Furthermore, we confirmed proper result for each calculation mode by logic simulation and experiment on FPGA.

Conclusion

The proposed circuit provides the four calculation modes by dynamic reconfiguration. We confirmed the reduction of resource and proper result for each calculation mode.     

Enhanced strain hardening in elongational viscosity for HDPE/crosslinked HDPE blend. I. Characteristics of crosslinked HDPE

Blending a crosslinked high‐density polyethylene (xHDPE) enhances melt strength and strain hardening behavior in elongational viscosity of high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) to a great degree. Gel fraction of xHDPE has a stronger effect on the strain hardening than sol fraction, although sol fraction also enhances the strain hardening to some degree. Further, the xHDPE crosslinked by peroxide in a compression mold exhibits more pronounced effect than xHDPE by radiation, which is attributed to the difference in the amount of the gel fraction. The xHDPE, which enhances the strain hardening, has sparse crosslink points in the network. Moreover, it was found from linear viscoelastic measurements, such as oscillatory modulus and relaxation modulus, that the xHDPE is characterized as a critical gel, which was also supported by the result of tensile testing. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 73–78, 2002     

Structure and viscoelastic properties of epoxy resins prepared from four-nuclei novolacs

The relation between the structure and the viscoelastic properties of seven kinds of epoxy resins was studied. Seven tetraglycidylethers were synthesized from four-nuclei novolacs in which the positions of methylene linkage or number of kind of substituents were different. These epoxy compounds were cured with diaminodiphenylmethane as a hardener. From the viscoelastic properties of the fully cured resins with the hardener, characteristic properties such as glass transition temperature (T_g), average molecular weight between crosslinking points (M̄_c), and front factor (ϕ) were obtained. It was concluded that higher linearity in the main chain of epoxy resins gave a cured resin with a higher T_g, a smaller M̄_c, and a larger ϕ.     

Gas and vapor sorption in polymers just below Tg

Generally, sorption isotherms for gases like CO₂ in glassy polymers are concave to the pressure axis, whereas in the rubbery state these isotherms are linear for gases or sometimes convex to the pressure axis for more condensable vapors. Examples of CO₂ isotherms are reported here that show at low pressure the curvature characteristic of glasses and then become linear at higher pressures. This is observed when the glass transition temperature T_g is not much greater than the observation temperature T, and plasticization of the polymer by sorbed CO₂ causes T_g to become equal to T within the range of pressures employed in the isotherm measurement. For the sorption of vapors in glassy polymers, this can lead to sigmoidal isotherms, as discussed using an illustration from the literature.     

Effective renaturation of reduced lysozyme by gentle removal of urea

To increase the folding yield of concentrated reduced lysozyme,we developed a renaturation method by means of dialysis fromconcentrated urea with redox agents. After lysozyme was incubatedin the reducing buffer (8 M urea solution) with oxidized glutathione,renaturation of reduced lysozyme was started by dialysis againstthe dialyzing buffer containing 8 M urea with redox agents.The urea concentration of the dialyzing bottle was graduallydiluted with dialyzing buffer without urea at a flow rate of0.1 ml/min by high pressure pump. Using this systematic dialysis,a concentration as high as 5 mg/ml of reduced lysozyme couldbe renaturated in 80% yield, while the folding yield was <5%even at a concentration of 1 mg/ml using a conventional rapiddilution method [Goldberg et al. (1991) Biochemistry, 30, 2790–2797].Therefore, it was concluded that gentle removal of urea fromdenatured proteins, dissolved in concentrated urea solution,by means of dialysis should be useful to renature denaturedproteins effectively.     

Increasing Efficiency of Force-Controlled Robotic Assembly: -Design of Damping Control Parameters Considering Cycle Time-

Parameter tuning of force control to achieve operations efficiently in robotic assembly is essential but time-consuming. In this paper, an optimal set of parameters for damping control is computed, which can reduce the cycle time of an assembly operation. The proposed method is formulated as a nonlinear optimization using a dynamic simulator based on 3D geometric model of assembled parts. The method is applied to clutch assembly for practical use. The results verify how the operations can be sped up using the obtained parameters. The proposed method enables users to introduce force control agilely.