Characterization of random and multiblock copolymers of highly sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) for a proton‐exchange membrane

Random and multiblock copolymers of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) were synthesized and characterized to compare the differences in the properties of proton‐exchange membranes made with random and multiblock SPAES copolymers. Atomic force microscopy observations and small‐angle X‐ray scattering measurements suggested the presence of nanoscale, clusterlike structures in the multiblock SPAES copolymers but not in the random SPAES copolymers. Proton‐exchange membranes were prepared from random and multiblock copolymers with various ion‐exchange capacities (IECs). The water uptake, proton conductivity, and methanol permeability of the SPAES membranes depended on the IECs of the random and multiblock SPAES copolymers. At the same IEC, the multiblock SPAES copolymers exhibited higher performances with respect to proton conductivity and proton/methanol permeation selectivity than the random SPAES copolymers. The higher performances of the multiblock SPAES copolymers were thought to be due to their clusterlike structure, which was similar to the ionic cluster of a Nafion membrane. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Metal-free isotactic-specific radical polymerization of N-alkylacrylamides with 3,5-dimethylpyridine N-oxide: The effect of the N-substituent and solvent on the isotactic specificity

Radical polymerization of N-methylacrylamide (NMAAm), N-n-propylacrylamide, N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and N-benzylacrylamide was investigated in CHCl₃, CH₂Cl₂ and CH₃CN, in the presence of 3,5-dimethylpyridine N-oxide (35DMPNO) to examine the effects of the N-substituent and the solvent on the isotactic specificity induced by 35DMPNO. With addition of 35DMPNO to radical polymerization of N-alkylacrylamides in CHCl₃, isotactic specificity was significantly induced in NIPAAm polymerization but only slightly induced in NMAAm polymerization. Furthermore, mixed solvents of CH₃CN and halomethanes such as CHCl₃ and CH₂Cl₂ enhanced the ability of 35DMPNO to induce isotactic specificity, and poly(NIPAAm) with 74% meso dyad was obtained.     

Development of a large‐current high‐precision pulse power supply

JAEA and KEK are jointly constructing a high‐intensity proton accelerator project J‐PARC. Its main accelerator is a 3‐GeV synchrotron. Its injection bump magnets, especially horizontal paint bump magnets, are excited by large pulse currents. Their rated currents are over 10 kA and pulse widths are about 1 ms. Tracking errors are required to be less than 1%. Multiple connected two‐quadrant IGBT choppers are adopted for their power supplies. Their output currents are controlled by feedback control with minor loop voltage control (m‐AVR). When output current of a chopper intermits at small current, its output voltage rises and current control becomes difficult. In this paper, response of m‐AVR and output voltage characteristics at current intermittent region are studied and an improved control scheme is proposed. The performance is confirmed by a test. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 166(3): 62– 72, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20783     

Phase behavior and mechanical properties of poly-p-phenylene terephthalamide/amorphous nylon molecular composites

Poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA)/amorphous nylon (AN) molecular composites were prepared from sulfuric acid solution by rapidly coagulating in distilled water. The regenerated films appear homogeneous and transparent. However, the rod-like and flexible macromolecules are probably entrapped in a single phase during rapid coagulation, thus thermodynamically unstable and undergoing phase segregation upon thermal treatment. The miscibility between PPTA/AN was identified by a dielectric relaxation method. Phase behavior and kinetics of phase separation in PPTA/AN mixtures were thoroughly investigated by time-resolved light scattering as well as optical microscope. A pseudo phase diagram reminiscent of a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) was established by a cloud point measurement. Several temperature-jump experiments were undertaken from ambient to a two-phase temperature region. The low PPTA content molecular composites were prepared by coagulating in a non-solvent, then by compression molding below the phase separation temperatures. The 30 wt% PPTA molecular composite exhibits over three-fold increase in tensile modulus relative to that of the neat AN, however, there is little or no improvement in the tensile strength. On the other hand, by a slight addition of AN into PPTA, the tensile and compressive failures of spun fibers may be improved.     

A novel method of direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from methanol and carbon dioxide catalyzed by zirconia

Dimethyl carbonate was synthesized from methanol and CO₂ with high selectivity using ZrO₂ catalysts. In this reaction, the amount of dimethyl ether and CO was below the detection limit. The catalytic activity seems to be related to acid–base pair sites of the ZrO₂ surface from the results of temperature‐programmed desorption of NH₃ and CO₂. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Semi‐blind source separation using binary masking and independent vector analysis

Recent prevalence of speech recognition system increases the opportunity of simultaneous recognition of multiple speakers' utterances. There are two types of source separation methods: physical and statistical. The former is based on the physical information such as a direction of arrival of sound sources. The latter only uses statistical independence. The advantage of the former is fast computation and effectiveness with precise information; and that of the latter is no need for physical information, which leads to the robustness of measurement errors. In this paper, we propose to combine these approaches effectively. Experiments on a speech recognition task show that the proposed method can achieve the upper limit performance of the two approaches. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The effects of assistive walking robots for health care support on older persons: a preliminary field experiment in an elder care facility

Intelligent Service Robotics - In the present research, we prepared a human-size humanoid that autonomously navigates alongside with a walking person. Its utterances were controlled by Wizard-of-Oz...     

Effect of sludge retention time on inclined plate function,treatment performance and sludge characteristics of inclined plate membrane bioreactors treating municipal wastewater

Two identical bench scale inclined plate membrane bioreactors (ip‐MBRs) were operated for the treatment of real municipal wastewater for 1 year. Sludge retention time (SRT) was varied over the course of operation to investigate the effects on inclined plate function, treatment performance and sludge characteristic. Removal rates of chemical oxygen demand and ammonia over 90% and of total nitrogen (TN) more than 70% were achieved when ip‐MBRs were operated under SRTs between infinite and 40 days while short SRT (20 days) negatively affected TN removal. When the sludge concentration in anoxic tank exceeded 15 g/L, the failure of the inclined plate function was observed, resulting in no difference in sludge concentrations between aerobic and anoxic tanks. To avoid severe effects on inclined plate function and treatment performance, an SRT range of 40–80 days was recommended for ip‐MBRs. Moreover, sludge floc size under prolonged SRT became smaller than that under short SRT due to increased attrition among the sludge floc particles caused by strong aeration needed for keeping a sufficient dissolved oxygen level.     

Ligand‐Free and Heterogeneous Palladium on Carbon‐Catalyzed Hetero‐Suzuki–Miyaura Cross‐Coupling

A ligand‐free and heterogeneous palladium on carbon (Pd/C)‐catalyzed hetero‐Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction has been developed. The protocol enables the construction of both heterocyclic‐alicyclic and heterocyclic‐heterocyclic biaryl derivatives in good to excellent yields. Furthermore, Pd/C could be reused. The time‐course study clarified that palladium was leached into the reaction media as the reaction proceeded and then completely deposited on the carbon support.