A Note on Non-Closure Property of Sublogarithmic Space-Bounded 1-Inkdot Alternating Pushdown Automata with Only Existential (Universal) States

1-inkdot alternating pushdown automaton is a slightly modified alternating pushdown automaton with the additional power of marking at most 1 tape-cell on the input （with an inkdot） once. This paper investigates the closure property of sublogarithmic space-bounded 1-inkdot alternating pushdown automata with only existential （universal） states, and shows, for example, that for any function L（n） such that L（n） ≥ log logn and L（n） = o（log n）, the class of sets accepted by weakly （strongly） L（n） space-bounded 1-inkdot two-way alternating pushdown automata with only existential （universal） states is not closed under concatenation with regular sets, length-preserving homomorphism, and Kleene closure.     

Penetrating head injury caused by weed--case report

A case of penetrating head injury caused by weed was reported. A 69-year-old man fell from a bicycle and was stuck by the hard stalk of weed through the right nasal cavity. On admission the patient was fully alert and with no neurological deficits. The weed was pulled out at an out-patient department and then he became semicomatose and hemiplegic on the left side together with an occurrence of nasal bleeding. Subsequent computed tomographic (CT) scan showed an intracerebral hematoma in the right frontal lobe. The hematoma was immediately evacuated and the dural defect, lateral to the cribriform plate, was closed. It is stressed that neuroradiological evaluation with CT scan and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is mandatory because an information about an anatomical location of penetrating objects and intracranial complications are essential to a decision-making of surgical strategy. The objects should be urgently removed in a surgical exposure of the intracranial lesion and the contused brain should be debrided with a repair of the lacerated dura mater.     

Trace elements in ribs of elderly people and elemental variation in the presence of chronic diseases

Element concentrations in ribs obtained from elderly Japanese people (17 males and 28 females; mean age, 81.5 years) were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), and ICP mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Nine elements--Na, Mg, P, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Sr, and Pb--were determinable in most of the subjects by a combination of AAS and ICP-AES. The levels of these elements were generally comparable with those obtained in our previous study on ribs from younger Japanese. By the use of ICP-MS, Sn (median, 0.79 micrograms/g dry bone) and Ba (1.3 micrograms/g) were determinable in all of the subjects analysed (n = 35) and 18 other elements at lower concentration levels were also detected in some of the subjects. An exploratory statistical analysis was carried out to find element(s) of which level(s) in rib vary in the presence of degenerative chronic diseases, using information obtained from pathological autopsy reports and medical histories of the present subjects. It indicated that (i) Pb and Zn, (ii) Ba, and (iii) Sr levels in the ribs varied in the presence of cancer, cerebrovascular damage, and bone problems, respectively. The present results were discussed in relation to the results of the previous epidemiologic and experimental studies.     

Influence of stimulated Brillouin scattering on nonlinear distortion in SCM video transmission

It is shown analytically that nonlinear distortions are induced by stimulated Brillouin scattering in subcarrier multiplexed systems. They are expressed as a function of the additional loss of the transmission fibre which is induced by stimulated Brillouin scattering. Experimental results well support the theoretical conclusions.<>     

Mixing mechanism of three‐tip kneading block in twin screw extruders

In recent years, twin screw extruders have been applied to various kinds of polymer processing. It has been important to find their optimum geometrical configurations and operational processing conditions for the best performance of extrusions and products. Many engineers have been evolving numerical and the experimental methods to characterize the mixing performance for twin screw extruders. We have carried out three‐dimensional flow simulations of kneading blocks in intermeshing co‐rotating twin screw extruders by using the finite element method to quantify their ability in distributive and dispersive mixing. We discuss their performance in distributive mixing for three different type of kneading blocks in terms of the residence time distribution and the nearest distance between markers at various periods of time, by using the marker tracking method. Those numerical techniques and applications of mixing indices have enabled us to quantify and evaluate their abilities in distributive mixing of kneading blocks in twin screw extruders.     

Synthesis and characterization of fluorene-carbazole and fluorene-phenothiazine copolymers with carbazole and oxadiazole pendants for organic light emitting diodes

We report the synthesis and characterization of new series of the fluorene based polymers with carbazole and oxadiazole pendants for the generation of the white emission out of the EL device. In the fluorene backbone, hole transporting units such as carbazole or phenothiazine were incorporated to improve the EL brightness and efficiency. The PFCzOxd-co-PCzs and PFCzOxd-co-PPTZs in EL spectra showed maximum peaks at around 430 nm and additional large peaks at around 530 and 500 nm, respectively. In case of PFCzOxd-alt-PCz and PFCzCzPCz-co-PFOxdOxdPCz, the EL spectra of the polymers showed two distinct peaks comprising the maximum at 427 nm, which corresponds to the EL spectra of the conjugated backbone, and additional broad peaks at around 540 and 530 nm, respectively. The CIE coordinates of the devices from PFCzOxd-alt-PCz and PFCzCzPCz-co-PFOxdOxdPCz were (0.28, 0.33) and (0.25, 0.32), respectively, approaching the value of the standard white of National Television System Committee (NTSC) (0.33, 0.33).     

Structural estimation of particle arrays at air–water interface based on silica particles with well‐defined and highly grafted poly(methyl methacrylate)

Silica nanoparticles with well‐defined, highly grafted dense poly(methyl methacrylate) (MMA) were prepared by surface‐initiated activators regenerated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET ATRP) of methyl methacrylate with an initiator‐fixed silica particle in the presence of air. Two different polymerizations of MMA were carried out under the same conditions using tris[2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl]amine (Me₆TREN) and N,N,N′,N′,N″‐pentamethyldiethylene‐triamine (PMDETA) as the ligand, respectively. In the CuCl₂/PMDETA system, polymerization appeared to be more controlled with a lower polydisperisty compared with the CuCl₂/Me₆TREN system. The monolayer of these particles was formed at the air–water interface using Langmuir‐Blodgett (LB) technique. Multilayers of the particles were fabricated by repetition of LB depositing. A surface pressure–area (π–A) measurement and SEM observation were used to characterize the particle arrays. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Effects of secondary electron emission coefficients on Townsend's second ionization coefficient in argon dielectric barrier discharges

One‐dimensional fluid model simulations are performed to investigate how the secondary electron emission arising from ions (γ_i), metastable atoms (γ_m), and photons (γ_p) affect Townsend's second ionization coefficient (γ′) in argon dielectric barrier discharges. Since Townsend's breakdown criterion determines the value of γ′, it is naturally affected by the discharge condition such as the reduced electric field (E/p) as well as the combination of γ_i, γ_m, and γ_p. It also depends on the other contributions from the indirect ionization processes such as cumulative ionizations or metastable–metastable collision ionizations. When the nonionic electron‐yielding processes such as the effects of γ_m, γ_p, and the indirect ionizations are considered, the calculated γ′ increases largely under the higher pd (pressure times distance) branch of the Paschen curve. Since the experimental characteristics of γ′, which decreases with E/p, can hardly be explained without such nonionic processes, the contributions of those processes can be quite important in Townsend discharges especially under high pd conditions. These processes tend not to appear and γ′ tends to converge to γ_i under the lower pd branch of the Paschen curve. The value of γ_i can possibly be estimated by using γ′ under the lower pd condition. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Freeze-dried solid foams prepared from carbon nanotube aqueous suspension: Application to gas diffusion layers of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Freeze-dried macroporous solid foams were prepared from the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) aqueous suspensions dispersed by chitosan. Thin film shaped CNT solid foams were prepared, and applied to the gas diffusion layers (GDLs) of a laboratory scale proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). It was demonstrated that the prepared carbon foams in this study were useful to a fuel cell GDL material. The prepared cell performances were fairly comparable to the cell prepared with conventional carbon paper for GDL material. The microstructures of the prepared carbon foams were found to affect on the PEMFC performances. It was suggested that the interconnected carbon networks formed during the freezing step closely link to the cell performances. Hence, the defection of the interconnected microstructure lead degradation of the GDL quality. The impedance measurement made clear that the prepared foam materials were also advantageous for reducing the ohmic resistance in PEMFC assembly. The kinetic resistance values and the thermal conductive characteristics suggested that the freezing process would also control the degree of overlaps among single CNTs in a freeze-dried bulk that influenced on the electrochemical properties.     

Selectivity and mechanism for skeletal isomerization of alkanes over typical solid acids and their Pt-promoted catalysts

Selectivities for skeletal isomerizations of n-butane and n-pentane catalyzed by typical solid acids such as Cs_2.5H_0.5PW₁₂O₄₀ (Cs2.5), SO₄²⁻/ZrO₂, WO₃/ZrO₂, and H-ZSM-5 and their Pt-promoted catalysts were compared. High selectivities for n-butane and low selectivity for n-pentane were observed over Cs2.5 and SO₄²⁻/ZrO₂, while H-ZSM-5 was much less selective, and WO₃/ZrO₂ was highly selective for both reactions. The Pt-promoted solid acids were usually selective for these reactions in the presence of H₂ except for Pt-H-ZSM-5 for n-butane isomerization. Both the acid strength and pore structure would be factors influencing the selectivity. Mechanism of skeletal isomerization of n-butane was investigated by using 1,4-¹³C₂-n-butane over Cs2.5 and Pt–Cs2.5. It was concluded that n-butane isomerization proceeded mainly via monomolecular pathway with intramolecular rearrangement on Pt–Cs2.5, while it occurred through bimolecular pathway with intermolecular rearrangement on Cs2.5. The higher selectivity on Pt–Cs2.5 would be brought about by the monomolecular mechanism. In the skeletal isomerization of cyclohexane, Pt–Cs2.5/SiO₂ was highly active and selective, while Pt–Cs2.5 was less selective. Control in the acid strength of Cs2.5 by the supporting would be responsible for the high selectivity.