Terpolymer films having semipolar structure: Preparation,wettability, and mechanical properties

A terpolymer, obtained by the free‐radical terpolymerization of 2‐(N,N‐dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMMA), methyl methacrylate(MMA), and isobutyl methacrylate (IBMA), was allowed to react with hydrogen peroxide, chloroacetic acid, and diethyl sulfate to form the corresponding modified terpolymers: (1) N,N‐dimethyl‐N‐(2‐methacryloyloxyethyl)amine N‐oxide, MMA and IBMA (DMANO series); (2) N‐(carboxymethyl)‐N,N‐dimethyl‐ N‐(2‐methacryloyloxyethyl)ethyl ammonium, MMA and IBMA (CDME series); and (3) N‐(ethyl)‐N,N‐dimethyl‐N‐(2‐methacryloyloxyethyl)ethyl ammonium ethylsulfonate, MMA and IBMA (EDMEES series), respectively. The terpolymer compositions were determined using ¹³C NMR spectrometry. Surface free energies of the terpolymers were estimated by measuring the contact angles of water and methylene iodide on the three series films (DMANO, CDME, and EDMEES), and the effect of the N‐oxide group on wettability was discussed. It was found that the upper surface of the films for the DMANO and CDME series are more hydrophobic than that for the EDMEES series. Notably, elongation to break for the DMANO series was relatively larger than that for the CDME series because of the water bound to the N‐oxide functional group. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 1235–1243, 2005     

Temperature dependence of open-circuit voltage in dye-sensitized solar cells

Temperature, T, dependence of open-circuit voltage, V_oc, was investigated in home-assembled and maker-trial dye-sensitized solar cells, which had wide variety in V_oc, i.e. 600–800 mV. A linear decrease of V_oc was observed with increasing T; all these cells had a slope of about ?2.5 mV/°C, irrespective of the V_ocs in the STC. The mechanism of the T dependence of V_oc was discussed with the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, EIS. Analyses of EIS data with a newly derived model revealed that this dependence is primarily ascribed to a shift of the TiO₂ conduction band.     

Electric Ejection of Viscous Inks From MEMS Capillary Array Head for Direct Drawing of Fine Patterns

Free-space microink streams are realized by an array of microcapillaries. Ink is ejected from capillaries accelerated by an electric field with low or no back pressure applied. The capillaries are 20 mum in diameter, whereas the microstreams are only a few micrometers thick due to the Taylor cone effect. This method enables one to draw very fine lines down to 1 mum without lithographical techniques. With a pulsed-field application, dotted lines can also be drawn. Direct drawing of both solid and dotted lines has successfully been demonstrated by applying dc and 500-Hz ac fields, respectively.     

Persulfate-induced photochemical decomposition of a fluorotelomer unsaturated carboxylic acid in water

The persulfate (S(2)O(8)(2-))-induced photochemical decomposition of C(3)F(7)CF=CHCOOH in water was investigated to develop a method to neutralize stationary sources of fluorotelomer unsaturated carboxylic acids (FTUCAs), which have recently been detected in the environment, and are considered to be more toxic than the environmentally persistent perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs). Photolysis of S(2)O(8)(2-) produced highly oxidative sulfate radical anions (SO(4)(-)), which efficiently decomposed C(3)F(7)CF=CHCOOH to F(-) and CO(2) via C(3)F(7)COOH. With an initial S(2)O(8)(2-) concentration of 12.5mM and irradiation from a 200-W xenon-mercury lamp, C(3)F(7)CF=CHCOOH at a concentration of 680muM was completely decomposed within 5min. When 8.00mM S(2)O(8)(2-) was used, the initial rate of C(3)F(7)CF=CHCOOH decomposition induced by 254-nm light irradiation was 45 times as high as that with photolysis alone. The apparent quantum yield for the C(3)F(7)CF=CHCOOH decomposition with 6.25mM S(2)O(8)(2-) and 254-nm light was 2.4, indicating that virtually all SO(4)(-) anions produced by the photolysis of S(2)O(8)(2-) contribute to the decomposition of C(3)F(7)CF=CHCOOH.     

Oxidative stability of Echium plantagineum seed oil bodies

Echium plantagineum seed contains a highly polyunsaturated oil (approximately 14% linoleic acid, 10% γ‐linolenic acid, 33% α‐linolenic acid and 14% stearidonic acid); almost half of the fatty acids are omega‐3 fatty acids, so there is an interest in the possible health benefits of this oil, which, once extracted, is prone to oxidation. For the first time in reported literature, oil bodies (OBs), the organelles that store the oil in mature seed, were recovered from E. plantagineum seeds. The oxidative stability of these organelles ex vivo, dispersed in an aqueous continuous phase, was tested against processed E. plantagineum oil emulsions stabilised with either SDS or Tween 20. For both primary and secondary oxidation products the OBs were the most stable form of dispersed oil, and the dispersed systems were all more stable than bulk E. plantagineum oil after incubating at 40°C for 7 days. The possible reasons for the enhanced chemical stability of E. plantagineum OBs are explored in this paper. Practical applications: OBs, the natural store of oil in oilseeds, can be recovered from seeds intact and are relatively stable to oxidation ex vivo. Echium seed OBs, enriched in physiologically active omega‐3 fatty acids, therefore offer an attractive alternative to traditional oil extraction methods and overcome the need to encapsulate the omega‐3 rich oil.     

Low-voltage high-drive CMOS current feedback op-amp

A novel CMOS current feedback op-amp is presented. The solution works using a low supply voltage and provides a wide input/output swing as well as a high current driving capability. Experimental results from a prototype implemented in a 0.35-/spl mu/m technology and powered with 1.5 V are also given. The circuit exhibits a better than 500 kHz closed-loop bandwidth and a /spl plusmn/1 mA current drive capability.     

Endeavor for ITS in Japan

Traffic infrastructure and vehicles provide fundamental support for diverse economic activities in Japan and spur further progress. Nevertheless, they also take a heavy toll in the form of traffic accidents and congestion, despite the various countermeasures we have taken. Intelligent Transportation Systems (its), drawing upon information technology to allow the systems to integrate “human”, “roads” and “vehicles”, offers enormous potential to give solutions to these perennial problems. The emerging integrated infrastructure can sustain industrial developments as well as stimulate innovation for social reengineering in the 21^st century. This paper reports the status of its applications research, development efforts, and system introductions, as well as the developments of GIS data to lay the groundwork for the systems platform     

Tracking Control of Multiple Mobile Robots: A Case Study of Inter‐Robot Collision‐Free Problem

ABSTRACT Tracking control problem of multiple mobile robots is considered. Our system is composed of a reference and two follower robots of unicycle type, which have their own priority numbers. The purpose is to control the two followers so that the reference is tracked with arbitrary desired clearance and also to avoid an inter‐robot collision, which can occur randomly during the control process subjected to communication range limitation. We introduce two switching controllers and appropriately using their convergence properties leading to the collision‐free movement. Simulation results prove efficiency of our control techniques.     

中国东北土壤甲烷散发量综述

为了加深对全球空气中甲烷含量的理解，甲烷散发量的个别源和空间变量做为影响大气的温室气体需要调查研究。将甲烷散发量在中国东北部的研究做为一个合作项目由日本长冈工业高等专门学校和黑龙江水利高等专科学校共同完成。考察全球的甲烷散发量，在考虑各国对此量的影响及一个甲烷散发源的基础上，把中国东北土壤做为大气甲烷的散发源，在中国东北土壤中的甲烷散发量占全区甲烷全部散发量的大部分，因为该处存在大面积的湿地和水田、本文指出需进一步加强土壤甲烷散发量的测定和计算工作。