Chemical modification of rigid poly(vinyl chloride) by the substitution with nucleophiles

The reaction of rigid poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) with iodide, hydroxide, azide, and thiocyanate as nucleophiles (Nu) in ethylene glycol (EG) resulted in the substitution of Cl by Nu additional to the elimination of HCl, leading to the dehydrochlorination of the rigid PVC. High substitution rates were observed for hydroxide, azide and thiocyanate, while the addition of iodide accelerated predominately the elimination of HCl. The substitution by thiocyanate resulted at 150°C in both thiocyanate and isothiocyanate structures, whereas at 190°C, only isothiocyanate was observed in the polymer. The dehydrochlorination yield increased with an increasing molar SCN/Cl ratio, resulting in a maximum substitution at high molar SCN/Cl ratios. When EG was replaced by diethylene glycol (DEG) as solvent, the dehydrochlorination was found to be accelerated. It was assumed that DEG has a higher compatibility with PVC, making it easier to penetrate the rigid PVC particle. For triethylene glycol (TEG), the rapid dehydrochlorination resulted probably in the coverage of the surface of the PVC particle by methyl methacrylate/butadiene/styrene (MBS), preventing the penetration by the solution. The substitution/dehydrochlorination ratio decreased in the order of EG > DEG > TEG because of the declining polarity of the solvent, stabilizing the activated S_N2 complex. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Interoperable vision component for object detection and 3D pose estimation for modularized robot control

Finding objects and tracking their poses are essential functions for service robots, in order to manipulate objects and interact with humans. We present novel algorithms for local feature matching for object detection, and 3D pose estimation. Our feature matching algorithm takes advantage of local geometric consistency for better performance, and the new 3D pose estimation algorithm solves the pose in a closed-form using homography, followed by a non-linear optimization step for stability. Advantages of our approach include better performance, minimal prior knowledge for the target pattern, and easy implementation and portability as a modularized software component. We have implemented our approach along with both CPU and GPU-based feature extraction, and built an interoperable component that can be used in any Robot Technology (RT)-based control system. Experiment shows that our approach produces very robust results for the estimated 3D pose, and maintain very low false positive rate. It is also fast enough to be used in on-line applications. We integrated our vision component in an autonomous robot system with a search-and-grasp task, and tested it with several objects that are found in ordinary domestic environment. We present the details of our approach, the design of our modular component design, and the results of the experiments in this paper.     

Size control and vacuum-ultraviolet fluorescence of nanosized KMgF3 single crystals prepared using femtosecond laser pulses

We fabricated nanosized KMgF₃ single crystals via a dry pulsed laser ablation process using femtosecond laser pulses. The sizes, shapes, and crystallographic properties of the crystals were evaluated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Almost all of the particles were spherical with diameters of less than 100 nm, and they were not highly agglomerated. Selected-area electron diffraction and high-resolution TEM analyses showed that the particles were single crystals. Particle diameter was controlled within a wide range by adjusting the Ar ambient gas pressure. Under low gas pressures (1 and 10 Pa), relatively small particles (primarily 10 nm or less) were observed with a high number density. With increasing pressure, the mean diameter increased and the number density drastically decreased. Vacuum-ultraviolet cathodoluminescence was observed at 140–230 nm with blue shift and broadening of spectrum.     

A novel water-repellent o/w emulsion using a new water-soluble amphiphilic polymer

A novel O/W (oil-in-water) emulsion cosmetic that has strong water repellency and a >>water-splash feel« was prepared using the amphiphilic polymer hydrophilic-hydrophobic modified polysaccharide (INCI/Sodium Stearoxy PG-Hydroxyethylcellulose Sulfonate). This emulsion is composed of a hydrophobic–hydrophilic modified polysaccharide/water/oil system with a small amount of lipophilic non-ionic surfactant (hydrophilic–lipophilic balance<5) added to obtain finely emulsified oil particles. Hydrophilic–hydrophobic modified polysaccharide was used as a thickener and polymer surfactant, and it produced a stable O/W emulsion without the addition of a hydrophilic surfactant. Several types of oil droplets decrease in size upon addition of various kinds of lipophilic surfactant due to the lowering of tension at the water/oil interface. Rheological measurements revealed that the strong network structure of hydrophilic–hydrophobic modified polysaccharide retained oil droplets without occurrence of phase inversion. Such an emulsion is very different from those made using conventional hydrophilic surfactants, and it is water repellent. This system was characterized by the presence of hydrophilic–hydrophobic modified polysaccharide, and the state of the emulsion could be controlled by the ratio of hydrophobic/hydrophilic moieties introduced into the polysaccharide.     

Future forecast for life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of LNG and city gas 13A

The objective of this paper is to analyze the most up-to-date data available on total greenhouse-gas emissions of a LNG fuel supply chain and life-cycle of city gas 13A¹ based on surveys of the LNG projects delivering to Japan, which should provide useful basic-data for conducting life-cycle analyses of other product systems as well as future alternative energy systems, because of highly reliable data qualified in terms of its source and representativeness. In addition, the life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of LNG and city-gas 13A in 2010 were also predicted, taking into account not only the improvement of technologies, but also the change of composition of LNG projects. As a result of this analysis, the total amount of greenhouse-gas emissions of the whole city-gas 13A chain at present was calculated to be 61.91 g-CO₂/MJ, and the life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions of LNG and city-gas 13A in 2010 could be expected to decrease by about 1.1% of the current emissions.     

Electron transport behaviors across single grain boundaries in <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-type BaTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript>, SrTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> and ZnO

In some electroceramic materials, their unique electrical properties are due to potential barriers, i.e., double Schottky barriers (DSBs), formed at grain boundaries. So far, some researchers have revealed that the electrical properties of DSB are closely related to grain boundary characters, especially grain boundary coherency. For example, highly coherent boundary does not give PTCR or varistic property, while random types exhibit clear resistivity jump or abrupt current increment. Therefore, a concept of grain boundary design will be required for future device manufacturing, even in bulk materials. But it has not been clarified yet why the electron transport behaviors depend on them. In order to address this question, it is necessary to carry out a systematic experiment focusing on single grain boundaries using well-defined bicrystals.In the present study, we have summarized our studies with a special interest in electron transport behavior across single grain boundaries for n-type BaTiO₃, SrTiO₃ and ZnO.     

A 32-bank 256-Mb DRAM with cache and TAG

A 125 megabyte/s synchronous 32-bank 256-Mb DRAM has been developed by a bank-interleaving oriented multibank architecture including a shared-sense amplifier cache with an overlapped bank control for hidden precharge, phase-aligned timing pulse transmission, and voltage controlled negative conductance (VCNC) data-bus current sense amplifier     

Dehydrochlorination of poly(vinyl chloride) with Ca(OH)2 in ethylene glycol and the effect of ball milling

The dehydrochlorination behavior of pure and flexible PVC in ethylene glycol was studied in the presence of Ca(OH)₂ at temperatures between 170 °C and 190 °C. Although the dehydrochlorination proceeded slower in Ca(OH)₂ than in NaOH, similar dehydrochlorination yields were obtained. It was assumed that the slower reaction rate was a result of the low solubility of Ca(OH)₂ and the larger solvation shell of the Ca²⁺ ion. The dehydrochlorination rate and yield were improved by employing a ball mill. Additionally, diisononyl phthalate and CaCO₃ were quantitatively separated from flexible PVC during the ball-milling process. The maximum dehydrochlorination yield of pure PVC after 7 h at 190 °C was 74%. After 8 h at the same temperature, a comparable dehydrochlorination yield of 77% was achieved for flexible PVC, which could be increased by ball milling to 86%.     

Effect of nitrogen-hydrogen mixed plasma on nitridation process of iron nanoparticles

Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles coated with an oleic acid as a surfactant were reduced and nitrided by hydrogen plasma and nitrogen-hydrogen mixed plasma generated by 13.56 MHz Radio-Frequency. Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles could be reduced to α-Fe nanoparticles with small average grain size about 35 nm and with little carbonization by hydrogen plasma treatment. In the nitrogen-hydrogen mixed plasma treatment, it was clarified that the mixture of hydrogen with ratio of 10-30% to nitrogen accelerated nitridation of α-Fe nanoparticles. This effect was derived by generating exited species with higher activity such as NH ions and its radicals. Furthermore, it was also revealed that nitridation behavior strongly depended on average grain size of as-prepared α-Fe nanoparticles. In the plasma nitridation of α-Fe nanoparticles with average grain size of 35 nm, the nitridation was easily promoted with lower input power. This could be attributed to large surface energy of nanoparticles because nanoparticles had wide surface area than bulk materials.