Upper and lower critical solution temperatures in poly (ethylene glycol) solutions

Upper and lower critical solution temperatures have been determined for solutions of poly(ethylene glycol) in t-butyl acetate and water over the molecular weight range of M_η = 2.18 × 10³ to ～1020 × 10³. The phase diagram for solutions of poly(ethylene glycol) (M_η = 719 × 10³) in t-butyl acetate was expressed as the ‘hour glass’ type, while the phase diagram for solution of poly(ethylene glycol) (M_η = 2.18 × 10³ to ～2.29 × 10³) in water was expressed as the ‘closed loop’ type. The value of the pressure dependence of the lower critical solution temperature $\text{(}\text{d}\text{T}\text{d}\text{P}\text{)}{}_{\mathrm{c}}$ in the poly(ethylene glycol) (M_η = 1020 × 10³)/water system over the pressure range of 0 to ～50 atm was negligibly small and positive.     

Synthesis of functional π-conjugated polymers from aromatic acetylenes

Because of their unique structures and properties, π-conjugated polymers have attracted the attention of scientists and engineers. The authors have studied the synthesis of two kinds of π-conjugated poly(aromatic acetylene)s, i.e. poly(arylacetylene)s and poly(aryleneethynylene)s with the aim of obtaining new polymers having novel functions or higher performances. This review mainly concerns the authors' results, as follows: first, we describe the synthesis and properties of achiral poly(arylacetylene)s, containing trimethylsilyl groups, oligodimethylsiloxanyl groups, dendritic groups, and glavinoxyl groups, for application as oxygen permselective membrane materials. Their self-membrane-forming abilities and high oxygen permeabilities are presented. Second, the synthesis by asymmetric-induced polymerization of chiral poly(arylacetylene)s having both a main-chain chirality and chiral pendant groups and their application as optical resolution membranes are described. Third, two new synthetic methods for preparing chiral helical poly(phenylacetylene)s without the coexistence of any other chiral moieties are presented. One is helix-sense-selective addition polymerization and the other is in situ removal of chiral pendant groups from membranes of poly(arylacetylene)s that also contain a main-chain chirality. The chiral helical poly(arylacetylene)s were tested as optical resolution membranes. The chiral and achiral poly(arylacetylene)s were synthesized by addition polymerization using metathesis catalysts or rhodium complexes. Finally, the synthesis of regiospecific poly(aryleneethynylene)s bearing stable radicals by the polycondensation of bromoethynylanthracene derivatives using a Pd(0) complex is described. The magnetization and the static magnetic susceptibility of the polyradicals are explained.     

Bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate and acyl phosphatidylglycerol isolated from human livers of lipidosis induced by 4,4′-diethylaminoethoxyhexesterol

Bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate and acyl phosphatidylglycerol were isolated from the liver of two patients with lipidosis induced by 4,4′-diethylaminoethoxyhexesterol. Identification was based upon the results of alkaline hydrolysis, acetolysis, IR spectrometry, and upon the determination of molar ratio of phosphorus-glycerol-ester. The contents of the bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate were 10 and 16% total phospholipid phosphorus in them. The bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate contained mainly docosahexaenoic (42%), oleic (29%), and linoleic acid (14%) and had the hemolytic activity of ca. one-eighth lysolecithin from egg yolk. Acidic lipids from the liver also were found to contain a lipid which is less polar than bis-(monoacylglyceryl) phosphate. The results of lipid analysis showed that the lipid possessed the structure of an acyl phosphatidylglycerol, and its content was ca. 2% total phospholipid phosphorus. Accumulation of 4,4′-diethylaminoethoxyhexesterol and its derivatives was found in clinical cases by thin layer chromatography and IR spectrometry. This fact suggested that human liver has an ability to metabolize the drug.     

Back‐channel‐etched thin‐film transistor using c‐axis‐aligned crystal In–Ga–Zn oxide

Our crystalline In–Ga–Zn oxide (IGZO) thin film has a c‐axis‐aligned crystal (CAAC) structure and maintains crystallinity even on an amorphous base layer. Although the crystal has c‐axis alignment, its a‐axis and b‐axis have random arrangement; moreover, a clear grain boundary is not observed. We fabricated a back‐channel‐etched thin‐film transistor (TFT) using the CAAC‐IGZO film. Using the CAAC‐IGZO film, more stable TFT characteristics, even with a short channel length, can be obtained, and the instability of the back channel, which is one of the biggest problems of IGZO TFTs, is solved. As a result, we improved the process of manufacturing back‐channel‐etched TFTs.     

Effect of alloying elements on response of nonoriented electrical steels to stamping operations

A suitable alloying design for improving the punchability of nonoriented electrical steels containing 0.1 % Si was investigated. The appropriate addition of sulfur to steels containing relatively high manganese content is very useful in obtaining good punchability without detrimental effects on magnetic properties.     

Lyapunov-based feedback design and experimental verification of IC engine speed control

In this paper, the speed control problem of internal combustion engines is investigated based on mean-value engine models. The dynamics of internal combustion engines is a complicated nonlinear system, and usually, it is difficult to know the exact values of the physical parameters. First, a Lyapunov-based design method is shown without requiring the full information of the physical parameters. Then, to improve transient performance, the design method is extended to several cases under different operation conditions. Numerical simulation results are presented for comparing the proposed design methods. Finally, experiments are conducted on an engine test bench and the results demonstrate the validity of the proposed design methods. Recommended by Editorial Board member Myotaeg Lim under the direction of Editor Hyun Seok Yang. The authors are grateful to Kai Zheng for his assistance of the model identification experiments. Jiangyan Zhang received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, China, in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Now, she is a Ph.D. candidate with the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. Her current research interests include nonlinear system control theory and applications to powertrain system control. Tielong Shen received the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, March, 1992. From April 1992, he has been a faculty member of the Chair of Control Engineering in Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sophia University, where he currently serves as professor of the Department of Engineering and Applied Science. His research interests include control theory and application in mechanical systems, power systems, and automotive powertrain. Currently, he is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Control System Society Conference Editorial Board, and is serving as Associate Editor of Journal of Control Theory and Applications, and the Regional Editor Asia-Pacific for International Journal of Modeling, Identification and Control etc. Junichi Kako received the B.E. degree from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan. He joined Toyota Motor Corporation, Tokyo, Japan in 1989. He worked on various aspects of automotive powertrain control. From 1989 to 1994, he took part in the team for the development of Laboratory Automation (LA) system, Engineering Office Automation (EOD) system, and embedded system of powertrain control. During 1995–2001, he focused on the engine control systems in Powertrain Management Engineering Division. In 2002, he was with Future Project Division in which he was responsible for the R&D of model-based engine control system. Currently, he is developing engine control systems in the Powertrain Management Engineering Division, Toyota Motor Corporation. Shozo Yoshida received the M.S. degree in Engineering from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. He joined Toyota Motor Corporation, Tokyo, Japan in 2000. From 2000 to 2004, he was with Future Project Division and worked on physical combustion modeling for Model-based Control Development. Since 2005, he has been with the Powertrain Management Engineering Division Toyota Motor Corporation, and is a member of the R&D of Model-based Engine Calibration.     

An optimum design of robotic food handling by using Burger model

This paper discusses an optimum design approach on robotic food handling by considering the characteristics of viscoelasticity of object. We pick up a traditional Japanese food, “Norimaki” as a typical example with the viscoelastic characteristics. We first show that the dynamic characteristics of Norimaki can be expressed by utilizing the Burger model. After testing the parameter sensitivity, we show an example of the optimum design for determining the combination of the hand stiffness and the operating velocity. We further show that the resultant plastic deformation can be formulated with the exact solution.     

TEM characterization of Ge precipitates in an Al-1.6at% Ge alloy

The growth mechanism and morphology of Ge precipitates in an Al-Ge alloy was characterized by a combination of in-situ transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and three-dimensional electron tomography. Anisotropic growth of rod-shaped Ge precipitates was observed by in-situ transmission electron microscopy over different time periods, and faceting of the precipitates was clearly seen using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and three-dimensional electron tomography. This anisotropic growth of rod-shaped Ge precipitates was enhanced by vacancy concentration as proposed previously, but also by surface diffusion as observed during the in-situ experiment. Furthermore, a variety of precipitate morphologies was identified by three-dimensional electron tomography.     

Recurrent infomax generates cell assemblies, neuronal avalanches, and simple cell-like selectivity

Recently multineuronal recording has allowed us to observe patterned firings, synchronization, oscillation, and global state transitions in the recurrent networks of central nervous systems. We propose a learning algorithm based on the process of information maximization in a recurrent network, which we call recurrent infomax (RI). RI maximizes information retention and thereby minimizes information loss through time in a network. We find that feeding in external inputs consisting of information obtained from photographs of natural scenes into an RI-based model of a recurrent network results in the appearance of Gabor-like selectivity quite similar to that existing in simple cells of the primary visual cortex. We find that without external input, this network exhibits cell assembly-like and synfire chain-like spontaneous activity as well as a critical neuronal avalanche. In addition, we find that RI embeds externally input temporal firing patterns to the network so that it spontaneously reproduces these patterns after learning. RI provides a simple framework to explain a wide range of phenomena observed in in vivo and in vitro neuronal networks, and it will provide a novel understanding of experimental results for multineuronal activity and plasticity from an information-theoretic point of view.     

Multi-contact vertical ladder climbing with an HRP-2 humanoid

We describe the research and the integration methods we developed to make the HRP-2 humanoid robot climb vertical industrial-norm ladders. We use our multi-contact planner and multi-objective closed-loop control formulated as a QP (quadratic program). First, a set of contacts to climb the ladder is planned off-line (automatically or by the user). These contacts are provided as an input for a finite state machine. The latter builds supplementary tasks that account for geometric uncertainties and specific grasps procedures to be added to the QP controller. The latter provides instant desired states in terms of joint accelerations and contact forces to be tracked by the embedded low-level motor controllers. Our trials revealed that hardware changes are necessary, and parts of software must be made more robust. Yet, we confirmed that HRP-2 has the kinematic and power capabilities to climb real industrial ladders, such as those found in nuclear power plants and large scale manufacturing factories (e.g. aircraft, shipyard) and construction sites.