Preparation of aminoalkyl celluloses and their adsorption and desorption of heavy metal ions

Aminoalkyl celluloses (AmACs) were prepared from 6-chlorodeoxycellulose and aliphatic diamines H₂N(CH₂)_mNH₂ (m = 2, 4, 6, 8). Their adsorption and desorption of divalent heavy metal ions such as Cu²⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺ and their mixtures were also investigated in detail. Adsorption of metal ions on AmACs was remarkably affected by the pH of the solution, the metal ion and its initial concentration, and also the number of methylene units in the diamines. No adsorption of metal ions occurred on AmACs in strongly acidic solutions. However, metal ions were adsorbed rapidly on AmACs from weakly acidic solutions and the amount of adsorption increased with increasing pH. The effectiveness of AmACs as adsorbents decreased with increasing length of the methylene moiety, and AmACs from ethylenediamine (m = 2) was most effective. The adsorption of metal ions on AmACs was in the order Cu²⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Co²⁺ > Mn²⁺. Accordingly, their behavior followed the Irving-Williams series and Cu²⁺ ions were preferentially adsorbed from solutions containing metal ion mixtures. The adsorbed ions were easily desorbed from the AmACs by stirring in 0.1 M HCl.     

Photocatalytic decomposition of NO on titanium oxide thin film photocatalysts prepared by an ionized cluster beam technique

Transparent TiO₂ thin film photocatalysts were prepared on transparent porous Vycor glass (PVG) by an ionized cluster beam (ICB) method. The UV‐VIS absorption spectra of these films show specific interference fringes, indicating that uniform and transparent TiO₂ thin films are formed. The results of XRD measurements indicate that these TiO₂ thin films consist of both anatase and rutile structures. UV light (λ > 270 nm) irradiation of these TiO₂ thin films in the presence of NO led to the photocatalytic decomposition of NO into N₂, O₂ and N₂O. The reactivity of these TiO₂ thin films for the photocatalytic decomposition of NO is strongly dependent on the film thickness, i.e., the thinner the TiO₂ thin films, the higher the reactivity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A unique phase behavior of random copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide and N,N-diethylacrylamide in water

Thermosensitive phase separation of aqueous solutions of the random copolymers of N-isopropylacrylamide (iPA) and N,N-diethylacrylamide (dEA) (PiPA-dEA) and of iPA and N-isopropylmethacrylamide(iPMA) (PiPA-iPMA) with different compositions has been investigated by using calorimetry, turbidimetry and infrared spectroscopy. Though the phase transition temperature (T_p) of PiPA-iPMA is a linear function of its composition, a deviation from additivity is observed for that of PiPA-dEA, that is, it has a minimum value at iPA/dEA = 1 (mol/mol). IR spectrum at the amide II mode of the copolymer suggests that part of N-H groups of iPA units form a hydrogen bond with CO groups of dEA units at T > T_p as well as with those of the iPA units. Effects of methanol on T_p of these copolymers have also been studied.     

Layered liquid-liquid flow in microchannels having selectively modified hydrophilic and hydrophobic walls

When two immiscible liquids make contact in a microchannel, the flow pattern is affected by the affinity between channel walls and liquids. In this study, microchannels (200 μm in width and 200 μm in depth) having a T-shaped bifurcation point were fabricated on PMMA plates. The inner walls of the microchannels were modified in a zone-selective manner to be either hydrophilic or hydrophobic, based on verification accomplished via a laser interference fringe technique. The microchannel was placed horizontally, and water and octane were introduced into the upper-side channel (hydrophilic) and into the lower-side channel (hydrophobic), respectively. The experimental results showed that water and octane formed a stable layered flow, and the two liquids were virtually completely separated at the T-shaped section, even when static pressure was intentionally applied to the outlets. CFD simulation, using FLUENT 6.3 software, was performed to explain the role of zone-selective modification of microchannel walls.     

On the Potential Instability of an RC Active Filter with Op-amps

When we design a prescribed transfer function T(s) = Q(s)/P(s), the designed circuit surely realize the above T(s) if op-amps are ideal. However due to the above-mentioned frequency characteristics of op-amps there arise higher order terms in the denominator of the transfer function.These parasitic terms have positive or negative sign. Thus in the worst case we cannot cancel a negative term by positive terms because these coefficients are not predictable a priori.When we design the circuit, it is preferable to avoid the circuit which may be potentially unstable. It is therefore preferable to give some criteria for a class of circuit to be potentially unstable.This paper give some topological criteria for an op-amp circuit to be potentially unstable. The criteria is graph-theoretic, but the conclusion is very familiar to active circuit designer.     

Photo-induced magnetism in La0.5Pr0.5CrO3

In a perovskite-type chromite La_0.5Pr_0.5CrO₃, we studied the photo-induced electron-spin resonance (ESR). During the illumination of near-infrared light, the photo-induced and transient magnetization is temperature dependent with the characteristic thermal activation energy of 130 meV below the spin-canted antiferromagnetic transition temperature 261 K. At room temperature the photo-induced ESR intensity is remarkably enhanced. We interpret this is coming from the photo-excited electronic state in chromite. By analogy with the manganites, we suspect that the irradiated photons excite the t_2g electrons to the e_g state in Cr³⁺ (3d³). This kind of excitation may cause a creation of novel transient magnetic order than canted antiferromagnetism. The present results may open up an intriguing collective photo-induced magnetism, the creation and control of spin and spin-polarization dependent transport with near-infrared light illumination.     

Dual-Hop Non-regenerative OFDM Relay Systems with Chunk-Based Power Allocation

In this paper, we propose dual-hop non-regenerative Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) relay systems without signal buffering and processing delay due to Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Inverse FFT (IFFT) at the Relay Node (RN). One scheme uses per subcarrier Power Allocation (PA) at Source Node (SN) and per chunk PA at RN to improve the achievable rate. Another scheme employs per chunk PA at both SN and RN. Numerical results in mobile communication environments show that both schemes improve the achievable rates compared to conventional simple amplify-and-forward relay systems with per subcarrier PA at RN. In particular, the latter scheme can obtain almost the same or slightly higher achievable rates by selecting an appropriate chunk size in severe frequency selective channel and by setting any chunk size in highly frequency-correlated channels. Therefore, chunk-based PA at both SN and RN can be found a beneficial PA for dual-hop OFDM relay systems in terms of competitive achievable rates and relatively small amount of required channel information to calculate allocated power.     

SiC SBDs selection method based on loss analysis of boost converter

Silicon carbide schottky barrier diodes (SiC SBDs) have much better characteristic than Si PiN diode in high voltage applications because SiC SBDs do not have recovery effect. However, simple replacing is not the most effective way. In a boost converter, the power loss caused by the SiC SBD can be divided into the conduction loss of the SiC SBD and the loss caused by the energy stored in the junction capacitance of the SiC SBD. Therefore analysis of not only the conduction loss but also the loss caused by the energy stored in the junction capacitance of the SiC SBD can realize the SiC SBD selection to improve the efficiency of the boost converter. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.