Crystal structure, mesomorphic and emission properties of liquid crystals having a 7-(diethylamino)-3-phenylcoumarin core

Cholesteryl 4-(7-diethylamino-2-oxo-2H-1-benzopyran-3-yl)benzoate (1) had an enantiotropic cholesteric phase. The crystal structure of 1 has been determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis. The crystals of 1 had intermolecular CH...pi and CH...O interactions. 7-(Diethylamino)-3-phenylcoumarin derivatives (1) gave a strong emission band at 500 nm in the solid state when excited at 440 nm.     

Effect of operation conditions on biological Fe oxidation with rotating biological contactors

Oxidation of ferrous iron (Fe²⁺) by acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria was conducted with a laboratory-scale rotating biological contactor (RBC) in order to investigate the effects of Fe²⁺ concentration, pH, temperature and rotation rate. Fe²⁺ oxidation rate on RBC was expressed as a first-order reaction with respect to Fe²⁺ concentration when it was below 150 mg 1⁻¹. Fe²⁺ oxidation rate was not affected by pH from 1.0 to 2.6 nor by temperatures from 10 to 40°C but was accelerated by increasing peripheral disk velocity from 4.7 to 28.2 m min⁻¹.     

Gelation of poly(vinyl alcohol) in dimethyl sulfoxide/water solvent

Summary Gelation of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/water was observed at 23°C with viscometry, spectrophotometry, wide angle X-ray scattering and light scattering. Here transparent gel formation was found to take place prior to being turbid in some cases, whereas the solution became turbid prior to gelation in other cases. Whether transparent gel is formed at first or solution becomes turbid, depends on DMSO composition. PVA solution forms gel in the DMSO composition range from 20 to 80 wt.%. Below the boundary DMSO composition of 60–70 wt.%, gelation takes place at first (i.e. transparent gel is formed) and then becomes turbid eventually, while beyond this DMSO composition the solution becomes turbid and then opaque gel is formed.     

Structural Characterization and Protein Adsorption Property of Hydroxyapatite Particles Modified With Zinc Ions

Zinc-containing hydroxyapatite particles (Zn/HAp) were prepared by an ion exchange reaction process involving hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles with aqueous solutions containing various amounts of zinc nitrate. The Zn²⁺ ion was partially substituted for the Ca²⁺ ion position in the HAp lattice, and hence, the obtained samples had changed little in crystallinity, particle size, and specific surface area. Adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and β₂-microglobulin (β₂-MG) in solutions containing both BSA and β₂-MG was examined. As the Zn²⁺ ion content in the apatites increased, the adsorbed amount of BSA was almost constant, whereas that of β₂-MG increased.     

Printed silver nanowire antennas with low signal loss at high-frequency radio

Silver nanowires are printable and conductive, and are believed to be promising materials in the field of printed electronics. However, the resistivity of silver nanowire printed lines is higher than that of metallic particles or flakes even when sintered at high temperatures of 100-400 °C. Therefore, their applications have been limited to the replacement of transparent electrodes made from high-resistivity materials, such as doped metallic oxides, conductive polymers, carbon nanotubes, or graphenes. Here we report that using printed silver nanowire lines, signal losses obtained in the high-frequency radio were lower than those obtained using etched copper foil antennas, because their surfaces were much smoother than those of etched copper foil antennas. This was the case even though the resistivity of silver nanowire lines was 43-71 μΩ cm, which is much higher than that of etched copper foil (2 μΩ cm). When printed silver nanowire antennas were heated at 100 °C, they achieved signal losses that were much lower than those of silver paste antennas comprising microparticles, nanoparticles, and flakes. Furthermore, using a low temperature process, we succeeded in remotely controlling a commercialized radio-controlled car by transmitting a 2.45 GHz signal via a silver nanowire antenna printed on a polyethylene terephthalate film.     

Electron microscopy of pathogenic yeasts Cryptococcus neoformans and Exophiala dermatitidis by high-pressure freezing

A high-pressure freezing method was used to observe the ultrastructure of pathogenic yeasts, Cryptococcus neoformans and Exophiala dermatitidis, after freeze-substitution and ultrathin sectioning. The method well preserved the cell structure in its natural state, since the capsule, cell wall, plasma membrane, nucleus, outer and inner nuclear membranes, nuclear pores, nucleolus, mitochondria, mitochondrial membrane and cristae, vacuoles, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, spindle pole body, ribosomes, lipid droplets, microtubules, actin filaments, and glycogen granules were clearly visible. The method was shown to freeze cells as deep as 0.1 mm by sectioning the sample perpendicular to specimen surface. The quality of the cell image was similar to that obtained by a rapid freezing method when compared using the same materials. Thus, high-pressure freezing would be useful for making serial ultrathin sections for three-dimensional analysis of cells, which should give basic information of structure and function of pathogenic yeast cells necessary for finding an effective therapy for mycoses.     

Delay fault simulation of sequential circuits

This article proposes a 7-valued logic appropriate for test generation and fault simulation, in the area of robust tests for gate delay faults, and a straightforward simulation strategy for sequential circuits. It is shown that a purely qualitative logic of robust testing is inadequate for circuits with edge-triggered flip-flops. The relation between the 7-valued logic and the similar logic proposed before by Smith, Schulz et al., and Lin and Reddy are discussed.     

Test generation by activation and defect-drive (TEGAD)

This paper describes an efficient test generation method based on activation and defect-drive using random patterns. The activation process generates patterns to control any circuit node to 0 and 1. After the activation process, the defect-drive propagates the faulted signal, step by step, towards the external output by using parallel fault simulation. The applications are discussed for several gate arrays and micro-processors. The computer run time for the test generation was observed to be proportional to the number of nodes to the power of 1.7 in the case of bit-slice microprocessors. The improvement in manual patterns by the addition of the generated ones was also demonstrated.     

Similarity study of ROSA-III and fist large break cuonterpart tests to BWR large break LOCA

A large break test in a recirculation pump suction line with the assumption of LPCI-diesel generator failure was conducted at the ROSA-III test facility of Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. A counterpart test was also performed at the FIST test facility of General Electric Company. The objective of the tests was to develop common understanding and interpretation of the controlling thermal-hydraulic phenomena during a large break LOCA of a BWR. The fundamental thermal-hydraulic phenomena in the ROSA-III and FIST tests such as the system pressure, mixture level and fuel rod surface temperatures agreed well. The FIST test had more bundle uncovery than that in ROSA-III since lower plenum steam in the FIST test flowed out of the jet pumps when they uncovered allowing more liquid to drain from the bundle. The ROSA-III and FIST tests and a BWR counterpart were analyzed with the RELAP5/MODI (cycle 018) code. The similarity of the ROSA-III and FIST large break tests to a BWR large break LOCA has been confirmed through comparison of calculated results though they are slightly different in details. It is perhaps desirable to reexamine the DNB and interphase drag correlations and the jet pump models usedin the code.     

Important acts,laws, and decrees on weights and measures

History of Metrology

Important acts, laws, and decrees on weights and measures