Formation of the spore clumps during heat treatment increases the heat resistance of bacterial spores

Effects of the clumping of bacterial spores on their heat resistance as a result of heat treatment were investigated. Spore suspensions of Bacillus cereus, Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus licheniformis were heated at 85 degrees C. Survivor curves of the three strains showed tailing in all treatments after 30 min. As the treatment time increased, the formation of spore clumps increased in all strains after 20 min. Relative hydrophobicity of the spore surface increased as a result of heat treatment. The effect of spore concentration on the inactivation of the B. licheniformis spores was investigated, and surviving curves showed no tailing below a concentration of 4.9 log CFU/ml.     

Return Link Systems for Wireless Mobile Camera Using 42 GHz-Band with Frequency and Space Diversity Techniques

In this paper, return link systems for wireless mobile camera using 42 GHz-band in multipath fading environments are proposed. The return link systems for wireless mobile camera require wireless transmission with high reliability as same as the conventional wired camera systems. The proposed return link systems achieve transmission with high reliability by taking into consideration frequency and space diversity techniques. The proposed systems can be classified as 3 three types of return link systems according to diversity techniques： FD （frequency diversity） systems, SD （space diversity） systems and FD＋SD system （frequency and space diversity）. Computer simulations are carried out in order to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed return link systems. It is confirmed that the proposed three types of return link systems have an advantage about BER performances and effectively exploit frequency and space resources.     

Effect of the t–m transformation morphology and stress distribution around the crack path on the measured toughness of zirconia ceramics: A case study on Ce-TZP/alumina nanocomposite

The t–m transformation zone and related residual stress fields around two types of crack used for toughness measurements, i.e. SEVNB (arrested crack induced by a V-notch) and IF methods (indentation crack induced by a Vickers impression), are reported for a Ce-TZP/Al₂O₃ nanocomposite, in comparison with 3Y-TZP. The fact that Ce-TZP/Al₂O₃ exhibits significant high toughness value on occasions when evaluated by the IF method was determined to be clearly linked to the presence of wide ranged three-dimensional transformation configuration and resulting substantial compressive residual stress fields. In contrast, for 3Y-TZP, transformation behaviors around the two types of crack were quite similar, which proves that 3Y-TZP shows near toughness values for both SEVNB and IF methods.     

Organic–Inorganic Nanohybrids as Novel Thermoelectric Materials: Hybrids of Polyaniline and Bismuth(III) Telluride Nanoparticles

Thermoelectric materials have received much attention recently from the viewpoint of global environmental issues and effective utilization of energy resources. Especially those effective at relatively low temperature, such as below 100°C, which are usually abandoned without use, have become noteworthy recently. From this point of view, organic thermoelectric materials are most attractive, because they could be prepared at low cost and applied in various locations due to their flexibility. We have investigated the thermoelectric properties of organic conducting polymers such as polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polyphenylenevinylene, and succeeded in increasing the thermoelectric performance by selecting dopants, stretching conducting films, etc. Recently we have focused on new systems of organic–inorganic hybrid thermoelectric materials. Herein we present the preparation of a novel system of hybrids of polyaniline and bismuth(III) telluride nanoparticles, starting from bismuth(III) chloride and tetrachlorotellurium by using polyvinylpyrrolidone as a protecting reagent, as well as their thermoelectric properties. The hybrids prepared by this particular method showed much higher thermoelectric performance than the starting organic conducting polymer.     

Visible Light Irradiation of [60]Fullerene Causes Killing and Initiation of Transformation in Balb/3T3 Cells

Cell transformation in vitro is a model of carcinogenesis in vivo. Two-stage transformation assay increases the sensitivity of cells to chemicals and permits detection of carcinogens acting as initiating agents. [60]Fullerene (C₆₀) was cytotoxic in BALB/3T3 cells when it was irradiated by visible light, but not without light irradiation. Under conditions when C₆₀ was cytotoxic, it acted as an initiating agent for cell transformation, but it did not act as a complete transforming agent. the initiating activity of visible-light-irradiated C₆₀ was statistically significant in a modified two-stage transformation assay including a procedure for replating cells treated by C₆₀ and light, but it was equivocal in the standard two-stage transformation assay.     

Improvement of polymer/fullerene solar cells by controlling geometry of the ITO substrate surface

We have found that the short-circuit current, J_sc, of polymer/fullerene [RR-P3HT/C₆₀] solar cells has a clear dependence on the surface roughness of the ITO/glass substrate. We prepared an ITO surface with an average roughness, R_a, of 0.7–11 nm by chemical etching. At first J_sc increases with the increase in ITO surface roughness and then gradually decreases. The maximum performance was obtained at R_a≈4 nm. J_sc is also high with a very flat surface of R_a=0.7 nm. This feature can be attributed to the trade-off between the increase in absorption light path length and film-quality deterioration.     

Application of a thin intermediate cathode layer prepared by inkjet printing for SOFCs

The application of an inkjet printing process for fabricating solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathodes was investigated. Stably-dispersed LSCF–GDC inks were prepared by ball milling, and the composition was easily controlled by the preparation process. Fabrication of an LSCF–GDC layer was successfully carried out by depositing dots and the thickness was easily controlled by repeating printing process. A planar SOFC single cell with a double-layered cathode (comprised of a paste painted cathode layer and an inkjet printed interlayer) achieved a maximum power density of 0.71 W/cm² at 600 °C. This is the preliminary work for fabricating the cathode layer of a SOFC single cell via inkjet printing.     

Bulk heterojunction organic solar cells utilizing 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octahexylphthalocyanine

Bulk heterojunction solar cells utilizing soluble phthalocyanine derivative, 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octahexylphthalocyanine (C6PcH₂) have been investigated. The active layer was fabricated by spin-coating the mixed solution of C6PcH₂ and 1-(3-methoxy-carbonyl)-propyl-1-1-phenyl-(6,6)C61 (PCBM). The photovoltaic properties of the solar cell with bulk heterojunction of C6PcH₂ and PCBM demonstrated the strong dependence of active layer thickness, and the optimized active layer thickness was clarified to be 120 nm. By inserting MoO₃ hole transport buffer layer between the positive electrode and active layer, the FF and energy conversion efficiency were improved to be 0.50 and 3.2%, respectively. The tandem organic thin-film solar cell has also been studied by utilizing active layer materials of C6PcH₂ and poly(3-hexylthiophene) and the interlayer of LiF/Al/MoO₃ structure, and a high V_oc of 1.27 V has been achieved.     

An innovative modularity of heat circulation for fractional distillation

A novel modularity of heat circulation for distillation process, which reduces the energy consumption, is proposed. By incorporating compressors and heat exchangers, the heat of the distillate is recuperated and exchanged with the heat of the feed streams. The proposed technology achieves the reduction in the required energy more than 75% as compared with a benchmark process which uses external heat source for heating. This shows the proposed modularity of heat circulation for distillation process is very promising technology to drastically reduce energy demand for distillation.     

Limiting current density in bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide-based ionic liquid for lithium batteries

The physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the binary ionic liquid (IL), lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (LiTFSA) dissolved in N,N-diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl)ammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (DEMETFSA), were investigated. The ionic conductivity of the binary IL decreased with an increase in LiTFSA concentration. The self-diffusion coefficients of Li⁺, DEME⁺, and TFSA⁻ dissolved in the IL were measured by using the pulsed-field-gradient spin-echo (PGSE) NMR method. The self-diffusion coefficient of each ionic species was also found to decrease with increasing concentration of LiTFSA. The limiting current density in the IL electrolyte was evaluated by chronoamperometry using symmetric Li|IL|Li cell. The results suggest that the diffusion process of Li(I) in the IL dominates the limiting current density in the cell. The highest limiting current density is achieved at a concentration of 0.64 mol dm⁻³ of LiTFSA.