Influence of catalyst supporters on catalyst nanoparticles in synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes

It is important to understand catalytic reactions involved in synthesizing carbon nanotubes. Usually, catalysts are used with supporters for better stability and influences of supporters on catalysis is negligible; however, catalysts used for synthesizing single-walled carbon nanotubes are too small to neglect their influence. Here, we experimentally investigated efficiencies of commonly used catalyst supporters such as magnesium oxide, zeolite, and aluminum oxide when they were combined with iron–cobalt, which is a typical catalyst. It was observed that zeolite-supported catalysts could synthesize single-walled carbon nanotubes, while the others could not. Cluster molecular orbital calculations showed that electronic states of catalysts supported by MgO in the boundary layer between catalysts and supporters were restricted due to covalent bonding between cobalt and magnesium. Density functional theory calculations indicated that catalysts on zeolite had enough electrical orbital near Fermi level and they widely spread over catalysts surface, but catalysts on MgO did not. This characteristic can affect catalytic activities.     

Tradeoff Between Complexity and Memory Size in the 3GPP Enhanced aacPlus Decoder: Speed-Conscious and Memory-Conscious Decoders on a 16-Bit Fixed-Point DSP

This paper investigates tradeoff between complexity and memory size (speed-memory tradeoff) in the 3GPP enhanced aacPlus decoder based on a 16-bit fixed-point DSP implementation. In order to investigate this tradeoff, the speed- and the memory-conscious decoders are implemented. The maximum number of operations for the implemented speed-conscious decoder is 29.3 million cycles per second (MCPS) for a 32 kb/s bitstream. The maximum number of operations for the memory-conscious decoder, where 70% of the data are allocated to an external memory area, increases by 5.7 MCPS (19%) for the bitstream. The investigation of this tradeoff provides an actual relationship between the computational complexity and the internal memory size of the 3GPP enhanced aacPlus decoder. This relationship is useful for implementing a decoder with a best speed–memory balance that is determined by each specific application and the user requirements.     

Crystallization of 4He in Aerogels

Static behaviors of crystallization of ⁴He in porous materials, such as the increase of melting pressure, have been studied extensively, but nonequilibrium dynamics of the phase transition is hardly known. Our interest was in how ⁴He crystals grow in a 90.4% porosity aerogel. Aerogels are transparent and the dynamics in them can be studied visually. A Pomeranchuk-type variable-volume cell was used to study crystallization at a fixed temperature with a blocked capillary condition. By continuously compressing a chamber, the pressure rose above the bulk melting pressure and at a pressure 1.7 bar above the bulk melting pressure these crystals began to invade the aerogel. A clear crystal-superfluid interface was moved smoothly by the steady compression. No macroscopic facets were observed in the aerogel well below the bulk roughening transition temperature.      

Carbon black / PTFE composite hydrophobic gas diffusion layers for a water-absorbing porous electrolyte electrolysis cell

The characteristics of a water-absorbing porous electrolyte electrolysis cell, in which pressurized water is injected directly into the electrolyte layer, are investigated. High water support force is required for the gas diffusion layer (GDL) in this novel cell design, and therefore here we report a new type of hydrophobic GDL comprising an acetylene black (AB) and poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) composite film. The method of preparation of the AB/PTFE slurry, film formation methods, and the AB/PTFE weight ratio were investigated and optimized. The ball-milling and transfer method were suitable for preparing uniform AB/PTFE slurry and successfully covering AB/PTFE film without any cracks on micro-porous layer coated carbon paper, respectively. An investigation about different PTFE weight ratios against AB from 0.1 to 6 showed a serious trade-off character between electrical resistance R, gas permeability V′, and water support force P_lim. The 1/2.5 of AB/PTFE weight ratio was most optimal, which showed to have most equivalent R (2.5 Ω cm^?2), V′(136 mL atm^?1 cm^?2 min^?1), and P_lim (0.25 MPa). We also confirmed that fabricated GDL with optimal condition was worked as the blocking layer against water injected through electrolyte layer and pressurized by nitrogen gas, and as gas-permeation layer for generated hydrogen gas in water electrolysis test.     

Immunomodulatory and cytotoxic effects of various Lactococcus strains on the murine macrophage cell line J774.1

In a series of in vitro culture experiments using the murine macrophage-like cell line, J774.1, we investigated the ability of 46 different Lactococcus lactis strains to induce production of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. The extent of induction of IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-alpha was strain-specific and was not related to subspecies, biovariety, or the source of the isolate. When incubated with a high concentration of viable cells of some lactococcal strains, J774.1 cells hardly produced cytokines in which case the percentage of J774.1 cells that were double-stained with the apoptosis probe FITC-labeled annexin V and propidium iodide was significantly increased. This finding suggests that perturbation of cytokine induction is due to the cytotoxic effects of these strains. On the other hand, when incubated with living cells of other strains, even at a high concentration, J774.1 cells produced IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-alpha. In these cases, FITC-labeled annexin V interacted with these cells, suggesting that incubation with these strains causes phosphatidylserine to be exposed at the cell surface. The ability of these strains to induce TNF-alpha, but not IL-6 and IL-12, was lost after heat treatment, suggesting that the stimulus required for TNF-alpha induction is heat sensitive and is different from those required for IL-6 and IL-12 induction. The specificity of cytokine induction by different lactococci is discussed in terms of interaction of non-pathogenic bacteria with macrophages, as well as the implications for the use of lactococci as probiotics.     

Synthesis of hollow silica microparticles from bacterial templates

Hollow inorganic particles have attracted great interest because of their unique physicochemical properties. In this study, hollow silica microparticles were prepared using a rod-shaped gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli (KP7600), as a biological template. Silica nanoparticles were generated in addition to coated biological templates when the reaction rate was increased, so control of reaction rate is important for coating silica smoothly onto the bacterial surface. Silica coating was also carried out using the fixed cells (with and without internal water) using glutaraldehyde as templates. When the fixed cells without internal water were used as templates, no rod-shaped particles were observed after calcination of the synthesized particles. By contrast, silica hollow particles were formed using the fixed cells with internal water as templates. This means that the internal water inside biological cells acts as an initiator for hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and results in the formation of smooth silica shell surface and indicates that the use of dry cultured bacteria templates is not required. Thus, there is a significant benefit in using gram-negative bacteria as templates for producing hollow silica microparticles, compared with the method using dried gram-positive bacteria templates.     

Improved Saunders method for the analysis of lateral shearing interferograms

An interferogram obtained by use of ordinary interferometers, such as Fizeau and Twyman-Green interferometers, will show a contour map of the wave front under test. A lateral-shearing interferogram, however, will show a contour map of the difference between the wave front under test and a sheared wave front, that is, a contour map of the derivative of the wave front under test. Therefore one can reconstruct the shape of the wave front under test by analyzing that difference. Many methods for reconstructing a wave front have been proposed. The Saunders method reconstructs a wave front; rapidly however the wave-front data are reconstructed only at intervals of the amount of shear along the direction of the shear. Therefore the method has low spatial resolution. A method for reconstructing a wave front that is based on the Saunders method and has high spatial resolution is proposed. The method analyzes the differences that are produced by shearing of the wave front under test in many directions. This method requires a large number of interferograms for reconstructing the wave front. Here the method is described, and its validity is confirmed by simulation.