Predictions of Munsell values with the same perceived lightness at any specified chroma irrespective of hues—Determination of any tonal colors

Simple formulas are proposed for predicting the Munsell value of colors with the same tone (the same values for whiteness‐blackness, perceived lightness, and chroma irrespective of hue). The formulas can be used for any tone. In other words, the method can determine the Munsell value with the same perceived lightness at any specified chroma irrespective of hue. The chromatic strength (CS) function is only used for the derivations. The formulas are very simple, and can be used not only in the colorimetry but also in the color design field. The concept described in this study is that a common CS function can be used for transforming each of the three color attributes (hue, lightness, and chroma) from their uniform color space metric to their corresponding color appearance space attribute. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011     

高性能粉末冶金材料与其制造工艺的开发

随着常规粉末冶金产业发展，像锻轧粉末冶金铝合金、超塑性高温合金、机械合金化氧化物弥散强化（ODS）合金之类的先进粉末冶金工艺，引起了人们的注意。受先进粉末冶金工艺启发，开发了适应日本汽车与家电产业的新材料与生产工艺，开发了适合于钢铁结构的粉末冶金Al-Si-X合金。为了改进经济性与近终形（NNS）成形性，开发了无包套粉末挤压工艺与精压式粉末锻造工艺。基于这些工艺，还开发了比单一结构材料具有较多功能的新材料，诸如轻量散热器（heat sink）与高性能发动机气缸内衬。     

OPTIMIZATION OF MATERIAL COMPOSITION OF FUNCTIONALLY GRADED PLATE FOR THERMAL STRESS RELAXATION USING A GENETIC ALGORITHM

In this article, a genetic algorithm is applied to an optimization problem of material composition for a plate of step-formed functionally graded materials. The step-formed functionally graded plate is analyzed as a laminated composite plate made of numerous layers with homogeneous and different isotropic material properties. First, the onedimensional transient temperature distribution for a laminated plate is analyzed theoret ically. In addition, the thermal stress components for such an infinitely long plate are formulated under the mechanical condition of being traction-free. As a numerical example, a plate composed of zirconium oxide and titanium alloy is considered. In addition, for the optimization problem of minimizing the thermal stress distribution, the numerical calculations are made using a genetic algorithm without supposing a distribution function of material composition and the optimal material composition of each layer is determined taking into account the effect of the temperature dependency of material properties. Furthermore, the results obtained when a distribution function isn't specified and the results found when a distribution function is specified are compared.     

Wide Color Variation in SiNO Thin Films Dispersed with Precipitated TiN Nano Particles

Amorphous thin films of Ti_1?ySi_y(N,O) with y ≥ 0.38 were prepared by reactive sputter deposition in a nitrogen atmosphere. Thermal annealing of the films in an ammonia flow above 800°C yielded Si(N,O) amorphous thin films dispersed with precipitated TiN nanosized particles. The film color changed with Si content y and the annealing conditions, from carrot orange to cream yellow in the as‐deposited films due to their oxynitride nature, and from dark green to canary yellow and from iron blue to horizon blue at respective annealing temperatures of 800°C and 900°C due to metallic nature of the TiN nanosized particles precipitated in the annealing.     

Facile one-step route to polyaniline–silver nanocomposite particles and their application as a colored particulate emulsifier

Polyaniline–silver nanocomposites were synthesized in the form of colloidal particles by the facile one-step aqueous chemical oxidative dispersion polymerization of aniline using silver nitrate as an oxidant and poly(vinyl alcohol) as a colloidal stabilizer. Aniline monomer was oxidized by silver ions, yielding polyaniline and elemental Ag simultaneously. The synthesized nanocomposite particles were colloidally stable over 2 years and transmission electron microscopy studies indicated the production of spherical, plate and rod-shaped polyaniline–silver nanocomposite particles with a silver core–polyaniline shell morphology. The conductivity of a pressed pellet of the nanocomposite particles using the conventional four-point probe technique was 1.4 × 10^?2 S/cm at 25 °C. The nanocomposite particles behaved as a ‘colored’ particulate emulsifier for the stabilization of transparent oil-in-water emulsions.     

Genomics of industrial Aspergilli and comparison with toxigenic relatives

Aspergillus oryzae has been used in Japanese fermentation industries for more than a thousand years. The species produces large amounts of various hydrolytic enzymes and has been successfully applied to modern biotechnology. The size of the A. oryzae genome (37.5 Mb) is very close to that of A. flavus and A. niger, and 20-30% larger than that of either A. nidulans or A. fumigatus. A. oryzae and A. flavus have exactly the same number of aspartic proteinase genes, of which each orthologous pair shares highly conserved amino acid sequences. Synteny analysis with A. fumigatus and A. nidulans showed that the A. oryzae genome has a mosaic structure consisting of syntenic and non-syntenic blocks. In the microorganisms to be compared, the density of the genes having homologs was obviously higher on the syntenic than on the non-syntenic blocks. Expression analysis by the DNA microarray supported the significantly lower expression of genes on the non-syntenic than on the syntenic blocks.     

An extreame disposition method for low-level radioactive wastes using supercritical water (3)

Disposition of low-level radioactive wastes has been performed in supercritical water with RuO₂ as a catalyst without the addition of any oxidizing materials. These wastes arose from nuclear power plants etc., constituting of nonflammable organic materials, such as fire resistant sheeting and rubber gloves. We investigated the distribution behavior of iron and cobalt attached to nonflammable organic materials, in solid, liquid and gas phases during the decomposition of this method. The distributions of these elements under various conditions (initial amounts) were determined by using their radioisotopes as simulated low-level radioactive wastes in order to ease the detection of trace amounts of elements even in solid and gas phases. Iron and cobalt were found only in the solid phase when non-radioactive iron hydroxide was added as a precipitation reagent before the supercritical-water reaction.     

Improved Filtration Performance of Continuous Alumina-fiber-reinforced Mullite Composites for Hot-Gas Cleaning

The effect of filtration layer morphology on filtration performance at 673 K was investigated for continuous alumina-fiber-reinforced mullite composite filters that capture fly ash on their outer surfaces. Two types of filtration layers were prepared on the outer surfaces: a mono-layer consisting of mullite agglomerated particulates and a bi-layer, with mullite whiskers formed by a vapor-phase reaction and strongly adhered to the particulates exposed on the outer surfaces. For filters with mono-filtration layers, the filtration efficiency was improved slightly by increasing the filtration layer thickness. However, the maximum differential pressure increased during the filtration tests. Adhesion of whiskers to the outer surface decreased the maximum differential pressure to about one-third less than that with the mono-filtration layer. This low differential pressure remained constant throughout the duration of the test, with corresponding increases in filtration efficiency.     

Niobium–aluminum oxynitride prepared by ammonolysis of oxide precursor obtained through the citrate route

Oxynitrides in the (Nb_1−xAl_x)(O,N) quaternary system were prepared by ammonolysis of oxide precursor obtained through the citrate route. The products at 1000 °C were a mixture of Nb(N,O) and NbN_0.95 at the niobium end (x = 0) and amorphous Al(O,N) at the aluminum end (x = 1). A new cubic compound (A) appeared mixed with Nb(N,O) in the compositional range 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.4. Its almost pure product was obtained at x = 0.5. The X-ray diffraction pattern was rock salt type (Nb_0.56Al_0.44)(O_0.38N_0.37□₀₂₅) in F_m−3m with a = 0.43481(1) nm. The product showed superconductivity with T_c = 15 K. Its crystallinity was much improved and its superconducting volume fraction increased to 32% after its thermal annealing at 1100 °C in evacuated sealed tube. A second cubic compound (B), rock salt type Nb[(O,N)_0.85□_0.15] with a = 0.434 nm, was observed mixed with amorphous Al(O,N) in the as-prepared products of the range 0.6 ≤ x ≤ 0.9.     

Comparison of methods for assessing observer metamerism

Studies on observer metamerism reported so far are classified into two series. One is studies based on the color-matching functions of Stiles's 20 observers. The other is experimental studies by using the Davidson and Hemmendinger (D-H) Color Rule and color-normal actual observers. The large discrepancy of the degree of observer metamerism between the above two series of studies was analyzed by using the color-matching functions of Stiles's 20 observers and the D–H Color Rule. The results confirmed that the discrepancy in the observer-metamerism indices was caused by different computational procedures used for deriving the indices.