Development of compact CW-IR laser deposition system for high-throughput growth of organic single crystals

We developed a compact continuous-wave infrared (CW-IR) laser deposition system for the high-throughput growth of organic single crystals. In this system, two CW-IR lasers are used for the sample heating and thermal evaporation of materials. The CW-IR laser heating is simple and allows good control of the deposition rate and growth temperature, in response to the on/off laser switching. Six samples can be loaded simultaneously in a chamber, which allows one-by-one sequential deposition for high-throughput experiments, without breaking the vacuum. Using this setup, we studied the effect of ionic liquids on the growth of C₆₀ crystals in vacuum.     

Genetic relation algorithm with guided mutation for the large-scale portfolio optimization

The survey of the relevant literatures shows that there have been many studies for portfolio optimization problems and that the number of studies which have investigated the optimum portfolio using evolutionary computation is quite large. But, almost none of these studies deals with genetic relation algorithm (GRA), where GRA is one of the evolutionary methods with graph structure. This study presents an approach to large-scale portfolio optimization problems using GRA with a new operator, called guided mutation. In order to pick up the most efficient portfolio, GRA considers the correlation coefficient between stock brands as strength, which indicates the relation between nodes in each individual of GRA. Guided mutation generates offspring according to the average value of correlation coefficients in each individual, which means to enhance the exploitation ability of evolution of GRA. A genetic relation algorithm with guided mutation (GRA/G) for the portfolio optimization is proposed in this paper. Genetic network programming (GNP), which was proposed in our previous research, is used to validate the performance of the portfolio generated with GRA/G. The results show that GRA/G approach is successful in portfolio optimization.     

Synthesis and bio-applications of carbohydrate–gold nanoconjugates with nanoparticle and nanolayer forms

Carbohydrate-conjugated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and gold nanolayers (GNLs), which have recently attracted increasing attention as innovative nano-biomaterials, were successfully synthesized using carbohydrate thiosemicarbazones in an aqueous N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) system. This system can dissolve various types of carbohydrates including structural polysaccharides, e.g., cellulose. We observed that oxidative NMMO solvent unexpectedly promoted the immediate reduction of [Au^IIICl₄]^– species to nanosized metallic Au⁰, that is GNP. One possible mechanism is that the chloride ligand was oxidized to chlorate via the formation of a hypochlorite intermediate. Site-selective S-labeling of sugar reducing ends with thiosemicarbazide may have enabled regulated self-assembly immobilization to the surfaces of GNPs and GNLs. The carbohydrate–gold nanoconjugates possess unique nanoarchitectures and biofunctions for carbohydrate–cell interactions. Novel and simple approaches for the structural design of carbohydrate-decorated GNPs and GNLs in the NMMO system have potential to inspire a new phase in glyco-biomaterials engineering.     

Phase and Formation/Dissolution of Precipitates in Biomedical Co-Cr-Mo Alloys with Nitrogen Addition

The precipitates in as-cast and heat-treated biomedical Co-28Cr-6Mo-(0 to 0.35)C-(0.15 to 0.25)N alloys (mass pct) were investigated. Heat treatment was carried out at temperatures of 1473?K to 1573?K (1200???C to 1300???C) for holding periods of 0 to 43.2?ks. In the as-cast and heat-treated Co-Cr-Mo-N alloys, no precipitates were detected; nitrogen effectively inhibited the formation of the ??-phase and stabilized the face-centered cubic (fcc) metallic ??-phase. The precipitates observed in the as-cast and heat-treated Co-Cr-Mo-C-N alloys were of the M₂₃X₆ type, M₂X type, ??-phase (M₂T₃X type with a ??-Mn structure), and ??-phase (M₆X-M₁₂X type). Complete precipitate dissolution was detected in the alloys with carbon contents of less than 0.3 mass pct regardless of the nitrogen content. The main precipitates were of the M₂X and M₂₃X₆ types after heat treatment for 1.8 to 43.2?ks. The ??-phase precipitate was detected in the early stage of heat treatment at high temperatures. The formation of the M₂X-type precipitate was enhanced by the addition of nitrogen, although the constitution of the precipitates depended on the balance between the nitrogen and carbon contents and the heat-treatment conditions.     

Reliability design of structural system with cost effectiveness during life cycle

This study deals with an economic analysis of structural systems using a reliability-based design method. In this paper, a new expected total cost concept, which includes initial cost, cost of reliability test, annual maintenance cost, penalty cost for designer's faults and losses by structural failure is proposed. In the proposed formulation, the minimum expected total cost during the life duration with the capital rate of interest and rate of price fluctuations could be evaluated by calculating the present currency and annual prediction procedure.     

Chemical State of Vanadium in Tin-Based Yellow Pigment

Physicochemical states of vanadium in V-doped SnO₂ were studied to clarify the origin of the color of vanadium-tin yellow pigment and its color instability when fired with glaze material. Precision measurements of lattice parameters of V-doped SnO₂ revealed that vanadium was dissolved as V⁴⁺ and its solubility limit was 0.9 wt% as V₂O₅. It was found that the color of vanadium–tin yellow was produced by two types of undissolved vanadium on SnO₂ grains. One is poorly crystallized vandium oxide (v), (V₂O₅)', having a yellow color, and the other is orange-colored crystalline V₂O₅. The structure of (V₂O₅)' was discussed in connection with its color.