Anodic polarization of aluminium in organic electrolytes

The polarization characteristics of aluminium anodes have been studied in various organic electrolytes containing aluminium chloride. The small amount of oxide present on the metal was dissolved by an anodic pre-treatment. The charge transfer number of the overall reaction was three. The current density supported by the electrolytes decreased in the order nitromethane>acetonitrile >propylene carbonate, formamide>tetrahydrofuran. The rest potential increased in the order formamide     

Living activity recognition using off-the-shelf sensors on mobile phones

In aging societies, such as that of Japan, there is growing awareness that robotic technology has the potential to help both physical and mental labor. To take an example of mental labor, the robotic technology can contribute as an interface to home electric appliances and a conversation partner with interactive communication. In this case, it is important to recognize the elderly user’s activities for not only watching-over services but also improving the quality of the conversation. We propose a low-throughput recognition method for in-home living activity recognition using only off-the-shelf sensors, namely an accelerometer and a microphone, which are commonly applied in mobile phones. The system can determine whether the user is walking, quiet, or performing a task by acceleration sensing, and then in the latter case, acoustic sensing can be used to classify the nature of the task that the user is performing. We conducted two experiments to confirm the feasibility of the proposed method. As a result of the first experiment, three movement conditions are classified with more than 95?% accuracy by acceleration sensing: walking, quiet, or performing a task. And it classified the nature of the task into brushing teeth, shaving, drying the hair with a hairdryer, flushing the toilet, vacuuming, washing the dishes, and ironing with 75.8?% accuracy by acoustic sensing and improved the accuracy to 85.9?% by training with only the subject’s own data. Moreover, the result of the second experiment shows that it is effective to adopt instance-based recognition which is an additional recognition scheme per each continuous task, according to the assumed application.     

Dependence of SAR azimuth image displacement of range movingscatterers on processor focal setting

Reappraises the principal theory on the azimuth displacement of the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image of a point scatterer moving in the range direction with a constant velocity. New results are presented which describe the dependence of the image shift on the processor focal setting. It is shown that, provided the bandwidth of the processor is greater than or comparable to the bandwidth of the signal, there is a strong dependence of the azimuth image shift on the processor focusing. Simple geometric illustrations based on the optical processor are provided to interpret the effects     

Energy-level alignment at model interfaces of organic electroluminescent devices studied by UV photoemission: trend in the deviation from the traditional way of estimating the interfacial electronic structures

The electronic structures of model interfaces of organic electroluminescent (EL) devices were investigated with UV photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). Interfaces of TTN (tetrathianaphthacene) and TCNQ (tetracyanoquinodimethane) were also studied as extreme cases for hole transport and electron transport material, respectively. For all organic/metal interfaces studied, the work function of metal electrode was changed by deposition of organic layer, i.e., the vacuum level was shifted at the interface, indicating the invalidity of the traditional energy level alignment model where a common vacuum level was assumed at organic/metal interface. At TCNQ/Au, DP-NTCI/Al, which are acceptor/metal interfaces, upward shift of the vacuum level of organic layer relative to that of metal was observed, suggesting the formation of interfacial dipole due to electron-transfer from metal to acceptor. At other organic/metal interfaces, TPD(N, N'-diphenyl-N, N'-(3-methylphenyl)-1, 1'-biphenyl-4, 4'-diamine)/Au or ITO (indium tin oxide), ALq/sub 3/ (tris(8-hydroxyquinolino) aluminum)/Al, DP-NTCl(N, N'-diphenyl-1,4,5,8- naphthyltetracarboxylimide)/Al or Au, downward shift of the vacuum level was observed. Such downward shift has been also observed in our previous study for porphyrin/metal interfaces, and seems to be a trend for organic/metal interfaces at which no electron-transfer from metal to organic layer occurs. This trend suggests that the traditional model tends to underestimate (overestimate) the barrier height for hole (electron) injection. On the other hand, the vacuum level shift at ALq/sub 3//TPD interface was less than 0.1 eV, leading to an apparent applicability of the traditional model. However, it is not always the case for organic/organic interfaces: finite shift of 0.2 eV was observed at TTN/TCNQ interface due to electron-transfer from TTN to TCNQ. Possible origins of vacuum level shift at organic/metal interfaces were also discussed.     

Lateral Inhomogeneity in the Electronic Structure of a Conjugated Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) Thin Film

How annealing influences the morphology of a highly regioregular poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (RR‐P3HT) film at the substrate interface as well as the lateral inhomogeneity in the electronic structure of the film are elucidated. Whereas previous studies have reported that high‐molecular‐weight (MW) RR‐P3HT films tend to show low crystallinity even after annealing, it is found that high‐MW RR‐P3HT does show high crystallinity after annealing at high temperature for a long time. Photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy, and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy results clearly resolve a considerable lateral inhomogeneity in the morphology of RR‐P3HT film, which results in a variation of the electronic structure depending on the local crystallinity. The PEEM results show how annealing facilitates crystal growth in a high‐MW RR‐P3HT film.     

Cross-layer selective routing for cost and delay minimization in IEEE 802.11ac wireless mesh network

Wireless Networks - A Wireless Internet-access Mesh NETwork (WIMNET) provides scalable and reliable internet access through the deployment of multiple access points (APs) and gateways (GWs). In...     

Effect of blending on liquefaction of coals

After solvent extraction of Taiheiyo, Miike and Balmer coals using wash oil under nitrogen atmosphere at 370 °C for 30 min, the extraction yield is always within the additivity law. Further studies used Yallourn, Soyakoishi, Taiheiyo, Horonai, Miike, Shin Yubari, Balmer coals and their blends which were hydrogenated in tetralin, wash oil or creosote oil, with or without catalyst, at 400–450 °C under 10 or 3 MPa of initial hydrogen pressure. When hydrogen is available, the additivity law exists for blended coals, but when the hydrogen supply is deficient, the experimental conversion of blended coals is always lower than calculated conversions. This may be due to the faster consumption of the hydrogen by more reactive coals and thus the less reactive coals were unable to react with hydrogen.     

Coal liquefaction by in-situ hydrogen generation.: 2. Zinc-water model compound reactions

Model compound studies were carried out to elucidate the reaction mechanisms taking place during the liquefaction of coal with the hydrogen produced from the reaction of zinc and water. In compounds of the type Ph-(CH₂)_n-Ph the splitting of the aliphatic bridge was easier with higher n values. Ether type compounds such as diphenylether were unreactive although the C-O bond in dibenzylether was easily cleaved. Condensed ring aromatic compounds gave low conversion with hydrogenation being facilitated by an increase in ring number. Phenolic compounds such as phenol did not react well, but the reactivity increased with increase in aromatic ring size. The cleavage of the aliphatic bridge was accelerated by the OH group, for example, in the case of 4-hydroxydiphenylmethane bond scission was about 15 times higher than that of diphenylmethane. Heterocyclic compounds were unreactive.     

A New Lead Identification Strategy: Screening an sp3-rich and Lead-like Compound Library Composed of 7-Azanorbornane Derivatives

Although the advantages of sp³-rich, sterically complicated molecules in drug development have been pointed out, modern screening libraries are filled with planar, sp²-rich components. Compounds that are sp³-rich are difficult to synthesize, and thus we aimed to invent an efficient method to construct sp³-rich libraries. By modifying sp³-rich 7-azanorbornane scaffolds through click chemistry, we efficiently prepared a small set of compounds. These compounds were not only sp³-rich, but also had sufficient “lead-like” properties in view of molecular weights and hydrophobicity. Screening assays of this library provided weak κ opioid receptor agonists and growth hormone secretagogue receptor agonists with high hit rates. These results indicate that the 7-azanorbornane scaffold may be a “privileged structure” for lead identification in drug discovery.     

Kinetic Study of the Prooxidant Effect of α-Tocopherol. Hydrogen Abstraction from Lipids by α-Tocopheroxyl Radical

A kinetic study of the prooxidant effect of α-tocopherol was performed. The rates of allylic hydrogen abstraction from various unsaturated fatty acid esters (ethyl stearate 1, ethyl oleate 2, ethyl linoleate 3, ethyl linolenate 4, and ethyl arachidonate 5) by α-tocopheroxyl radical in toluene were determined, using a double-mixing stopped-flow spectrophotometer. The second-order rate constants (k _p) obtained are <1 × 10⁻² M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 1, 1.90 × 10⁻² M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 2, 8.33 × 10⁻² M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 3, 1.92 × 10⁻¹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 4, and 2.43 × 10⁻¹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 5 at 25.0 °C. Fatty acid esters 3, 4, and 5 contain two, four, and six –CH₂– hydrogen atoms activated by two π-electron systems (–C=C–CH₂–C=C–). On the other hand, fatty acid ester 2 has four –CH₂– hydrogen atoms activated by a single π-electron system (–CH₂–C=C–CH₂–). Thus, the rate constants, k _abstr/H, given on an available hydrogen basis are k _p/4 = 4.75 × 10⁻³ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 2, k _p/2 = 4.16 × 10⁻² M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 3, k _p/4 = 4.79 × 10⁻² M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 4, and k _p/6 = 4.05 × 10⁻² M⁻¹ s⁻¹ for 5. The k _abstr/H values obtained for 3, 4, and 5 are similar to each other, and are by about one order of magnitude higher than that for 2. From these results, it is suggested that the prooxidant effect of α-tocopherol in edible oils, fats, and low-density lipoproteins may be induced by the above hydrogen abstraction reaction.