Thermosensitive dielectric properties in polyamide–phenol hybrid compounds and their application to the temperature-sensing wire

Thermosensitive dielectric properteis in polyamide–phenol hybrid compounds have been studied. The polyamide–phenol hybrid compounds are constituted of p-hydroxybenzoate–formaldehyde condensation oligomer dispersed molecularly in nylon 12 and polyamide copolymer. These materials are less hygroscopic than nylon 12 which is the least hygroscopic among polyamide homopolymers. It will be because the phenol group coordinates to amide group as the less hygroscopic “pseudo-water” instead of water. One of these materials has also shown an intrinsic hydrophobic effect of hydrogen bond segment due to the “hybrid effect” between polyamide and phenol. The thermosensitive dielectric properties are based on the temperature dependence of intermolecular hydrogen bond behaviors by amide and phenol groups, which have been discussed in relation with the molecular behaviors. The relationship with polarizations constituting dielectric constant and hydrogen bonding molecular segments, and ac hopping conduction behaviors by proton carriers have also been discussed. These materials are applied as a temperature-sensing material in a flexible thermosensing heater wire, which has three functions, that is, thermosensing, heating, and fusing for safe in the case of an abnormal overheat. As the features for a sensing material, these materials show the humidity low-dependence and highly thermal stability, and will be situated as one of the high-performance sensing material useful for the electric warmer such as an electric blanket.     

Computer-assisted automatic synthesis II. Development of a fully automated apparatus for preparing substituted N–(carboxyalkyl)amino acids

A versatile automated apparatus, equipped with an artificial intelligence has been developed which may be used to prepare and isolate a wide variety of compounds. The prediction of the optimum reaction conditions and the reaction control in real time, are accomplished using novel kinetic equations and substituent effects in an artificial intelligence software which has already reported [1]. This paper deals with the design and construction of the fully automated system, and its application to the synthesis of a substituted N-(carboxyalkyl)amino acid. The apparatus is composed of units for perfoming various tasks, e.g. reagent supply, reaction, purification and separation, each linked to a control system. All synthetic processes including washing and drying of the apparatus after each synthetic run were automatically performed from the mixing of the reactants to the isolation of the products as powders with purities of greater than 98%. The automated apparatus has been able to run for 24 hours per day, and the average rate of synthesis of substituted N-(carboxyalkyl)amino acids has been three compounds daily. The apparatus is extremely valuable for synthesizing many derivatives of one particular compound structure. Even if the chemical yields are low under the optimum conditions, it is still possible to obtain a sufficient amount of the desired product by repetition of the reaction. Moreover it was possible to greatly reduce the manual involvement of the many syntheses which are a necessary part of pharmaceutical research.     

STDP provides the substrate for igniting synfire chains by spatiotemporal input patterns

Spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity (STDP), which depends on the temporal difference between pre- and postsynaptic action potentials, is observed in the cortices and hippocampus. Although several theoretical and experimental studies have revealed its fundamental aspects, its functional role remains unclear. To examine how an input spatiotemporal spike pattern is altered by STDP, we observed the output spike patterns of a spiking neural network model with an asymmetrical STDP rule when the input spatiotemporal pattern is repeatedly applied. The spiking neural network comprises excitatory and inhibitory neurons that exhibit local interactions. Numerical experiments show that the spiking neural network generates a single global synchrony whose relative timing depends on the input spatiotemporal pattern and the neural network structure. This result implies that the spiking neural network learns the transformation from spatiotemporal to temporal information. In the literature, the origin of the synfire chain has not been sufficiently focused on. Our results indicate that spiking neural networks with STDP can ignite synfire chains in the cortices.     

On Taxonomies for Multi-class Image Categorization

We study the problem of classifying images into a given, pre-determined taxonomy. This task can be elegantly translated into the structured learning framework. However, despite its power, structured learning has known limits in scalability due to its high memory requirements and slow training process. We propose an efficient approximation of the structured learning approach by an ensemble of local support vector machines (SVMs) that can be trained efficiently with standard techniques. A?first theoretical discussion and experiments on toy-data allow to shed light onto why taxonomy-based classification can outperform taxonomy-free approaches and why an appropriately combined ensemble of local SVMs might be of high practical use. Further empirical results on subsets of Caltech256 and VOC2006 data indeed show that our local SVM formulation can effectively exploit the taxonomy structure and thus outperforms standard multi-class classification algorithms while it achieves on par results with taxonomy-based structured algorithms at a significantly decreased computing time.     

Polyimide-based X-ray masks with advanced performance of pattern accuracy and thermal stability

Polyimide-based X-ray masks which are generated by optical lithography and electroplating of gold absorbers on a polyimide mask membrane gain attention as low cost masks. The organic membranes generally have problem of (1) pattern edge sharpness, (2) miniaturization of pattern and (3) thermal stability. To make the masks commodity in deep and accurate lithography area, Optnics Precision, Japan, has overcome the above difficulties and realized the masks with advanced performance of pattern accuracy and thermal stability by improving the making process and the material. Good results were obtained in the exposure experiment that used this mask. When this X-ray mask is combined with the electroforming technique and the material development technique that Optnics has, the application to various fields like an industrial field and medical field can be expected.     

天边一朵云 HOTO FUDO餐厅

HOTO FUDO坐落在富士山下一个道路交叉口,两个面都朝向公路。这是一间山梨县传统面食＂乌冬＂餐厅,其设计极具创意,极富美感,且具有独特的亚洲风味。建筑设计的灵感取自山峦和云端等大自然景物,没有方形和圆形的外观,     

Review of Topographic and Soil Conditions for Liquefaction-Related Damage Induced by the 2007 Off Mid-Niigata Earthquake

The 2007 Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki (Off Mid-Niigata) earthquake caused the liquefaction of the sandy soil distributed near the coast of the Japan Sea in the middle of Niigata Prefecture. The liquefaction-induced damage occurring in many residential areas was investigated in detail by means of victim interviews, visual inspections, Swedish Weight Sounding tests, Standard Penetration Tests, old topographical map examinations, etc. Based on in situ soil investigations, the liquefied soil layers were estimated for each area. As a result, it was confirmed that the liquefied areas were mainly sand dune hinterlands, flood plains, reclaimed old river channels and sandy fills with high groundwater table. Among them, damage was especially serious on land having an inclined ground surface due to the flow of foundations, on the cut-fill borders of artificially developed land due to landslides and at the toes of sand dune slopes due to the thrust of the sliding soil and/or the collision of the sliding soil with objects. These investigation results also revealed that soil improvement by cement mixed columns is an effective countermeasure against liquefaction-induced damage unless lateral spreading of the subsoil arises.     

Adhesion properties of swollen hydrogels evaluated by a point‐contact method

The adhesion of swollen hydrogels was studied with the use of a simple tack‐evaluation technique using a point contact in the air at room temperature. The hydrogels used here were poly(sodium acrylate) gel physically crosslinked by aluminum ions. The adhesion properties were examined under different experimental parameters, i.e., separation velocities, normal loads, and waiting periods prior to separation. The effects of the material parameters resulting from the different degrees of the crosslinking on the adhesive properties were also examined. As a result, the adhesion force and the separation energy showed a power‐law behavior with different powers, which depended on the experimental and material parameters. The adhesion properties were determined by the bulk viscoelasticity as well as the surface physical and chemical properties. The results were discussed in terms of the surface molecular interaction and the bulk viscoelastic and viscous properties on the basis of the measurements of the apparent contact area, the ATR FTIR spectrum, and the dynamic viscoelasticity. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Differential expression of protooncogenes in human germ cell tumors of the testis

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that tumorigenesis of the germ cell tumor of the testis includes abnormal and developmentlike differentiation of primordial germ cells to several mature type tumors. METHODS: To clarify roles of protooncogenes in the unique tumorigenic mechanism in the human germ cell tumor, the authors examined the expression of 15 protooncogenes in human primary germ cell tumors of the testis with Northern blot analyses. RESULTS: Fifteen (94%) of 16 seminomas and 5 (83%) of 6 embryonal carcinomas had a significant levels of N-myc expression, whereas they did not express two receptor type protooncogenes, c-erbB-1 and c-erbB-2. In contrast, some immature teratomas had a high level of c-erbB-1 expression, and an advanced case showed a significant level of c-erbB-2 expression. Immature teratomas did not show N-myc expression. Higher levels of c-mos expression were observed in several cases of seminomas and embryonal carcinomas. Expression of c-Ki-ras or N-ras was observed in all histologic subgroups and normal testes. CONCLUSION: A significant level of N-myc expression may be essential for undifferentiated tumors including seminoma and embryonal carcinoma, whereas c-erbB-1 and possibly c-erbB-2 may have important roles in the differentiated tumors such as immature teratoma. These results suggest that some of the protooncogene expression may be switched critically during the differentiation from seminomas or embryonal carcinomas to the more differentiated-type tumor.     

Modification of the surgical strategy based on intraoperative echographic findings of atherosclerotic ascending aorta

To prevent the atheroembolic complications such as brain infarction due to the manipulation of atherosclerotic ascending aorta during cardiac surgery, the ascending aorta of 55 patients including 6 emergencies (mean age: 67.7 +/- 6.9 years, valvular disease: n = 12, ischemic heart disease only or combined with valvular disease: n = 43) were evaluated with intraoperative echography as a routine, to enable a proper placement of the cannulae, clamp etc. Irregular elevated lesions into the aortic lumen from the intima were identified in 7 patients (13%, mean age: 71.0 +/- 6.9 years) of ischemic heart disease, which included 2 emergent cases. Arch cannulation was employed in 3 patients with wide-spread lesions on the posterior wall and femoral cannulation was done in 1 patient with wide-spread lesions on the anterior wall. Two of these patients received CABG with in situ arterial conduits under ventricular fibrillation, and the other 2 patients received CABG with aortic cross clamping at the lesion-free site during proximal anastomosis of vein grafts (single clamp technique). Two patients with localized lesion were done CABG with partial aortic clamping and one of them had cerebral infarction during the operation. We recognized that manipulation of the ascending aorta has to be done with a meticulous care and well away from the diseased site. In another patient with localized lesion, the arch cannulation and the single clamp technique were used 2 cm away from that lesion. The brain infarcted patient completely recovered without any sequelae and the others also had no atheroembolic complications. Although calcified lesions on CT were correlated with atheromatous lesions on echogram (p = 0.004), these atheromatous plaques were not detected by enhanced CT, except in only one patient. For screening of the atherosclerosis of ascending aorta, the CT examination was not so effective and the intraoperative echography was the most sensitive and could be easily accomplished. In conclusion, in order to prevent the atheroembolism that might occur due to the improper manipulation of the diseased ascending aorta during usual procedures, surgical strategies have to be modified according to the position, extent and quality of the atherosclerotic lesions, diagnosed by intraoperative echoscanning of the aorta.