Temperature Dependence of KIC for High-Pressure Hot-Pressed Si3N4 Without Additives

Temperature dependence of K_IC values for Si₃N₄ bodies sintered at high pressures without additives was studied from room temperature to 1400°C. Little change in K_K was found in this range.     

Synthesis and electrode performance of layered nickel dioxide containing alkaline ions

Several polymorphs of layered nickel dioxide were prepared by using the chemical insertion of alkaline ions into Li_0.10NiO₂. We used aqueous AOH (A = Li, Na, K) solutions as reducing agents. Sodium and potassium insertion resulted in hydrated layered compounds that can be classified as γ-NiOOH with high crystallinity, while lithium insertion occurred without hydration. We discuss the coordination environment around the A⁺ ions for these inserted compounds. The thermal behavior, analyzed using high temperature (HT) X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric (TG) measurements, indicated that heating the hydrate at 150 °C yielded its dehydrate. The electrode performance of the nickelate was studied in lithium cells. We discuss the effect of interlayer water on cell rechargeability and the similarity between these nickelate and hydrated manganese dioxide (birnessite).     

Balanced corpus of contemporary written Japanese

The balanced corpus of contemporary written Japanese (BCCWJ) is Japan’s first 100 million words balanced corpus. It consists of three subcorpora (publication subcorpus, library subcorpus, and special-purpose subcorpus) and covers a wide range of text registers including books in general, magazines, newspapers, governmental white papers, best-selling books, an internet bulletin-board, a blog, school textbooks, minutes of the national diet, publicity newsletters of local governments, laws, and poetry verses. A random sampling technique is utilized whenever possible in order to maximize the representativeness of the corpus. The corpus is annotated in terms of dual POS analysis, document structure, and bibliographical information. The BCCWJ is currently accessible in three different ways including Chunagon a web-based interface to the dual POS analysis data. Lastly, results of some pilot evaluation of the corpus with respect to the textual diversity are reported. The analyses include POS distribution, word-class distribution, entropy of orthography, sentence length, and variation of the adjective predicate. High textual diversity is observed in all these analyses.     

Oligomer-Rich Fraction from Polydisperse Sample of Poly(bis(β-phenoxyethoxy)phosphazene)

Poly[bis(-phenoxyethoxy)phosphazene] [PBPEP] had been shown in our previous paper to be a very useful polymer for investigating the crystallization mechanism of polymers, as the crystallization rate of PBPEP is extraordinarily small when isothermally crystallized from the melt. The crystallization of the low molecular weight oligomers of PBPEP was first studied in comparison to the high molecular weight polymers. The oligomer-rich fraction was obtained by fractionation of the as-polymerized sample, which had a broad molecular weight distribution. The fractions thus obtained were characterized by solution viscometry and size exclusion chromatography. The melting temperature and the growth rate of the spherulite from the melt were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy. The growth rate was one or two orders of magnitude smaller in the oligomer-rich fraction than in the other high molecular weight fractions. A collapsed spherulite appeared in the oligomer-rich fraction at high crystallization temperatures. It is speculated that in the oligomer-rich fraction there is an excess free energy due to defects in the crystal phase. This defect is considerably larger in the oligomer-rich fraction than in the other fractions because a large quantity of short length chains is present.     

A new maritime lifesaving multiple-effect solar still design

This paper presents a new maritime lifesaving multiple-effect solar still design where several extended wicks feed seawater to their evaporating areas by capillary force, and the resulting water vapor diffuses and condenses on facing wicks with the condensate flowing through the wicks into storage bags. A theoretical analysis showed that a temperature drop through diffusion layers between evaporating and condensing wicks slowly increases in the main evaporating areas and rapidly near salt depositions whereas the evaporation rate decreases slowly in the main area and rapidly near salt depositions. These changes are caused by increases in salt concentrations and resulting boiling point elevation. With steady-state transfer analysis, the proposed still is predicted to produce about 15 kg m ⁻²d⁻¹ fresh water on a sunny day of 22 MJm⁻²d⁻¹ solar radiation, showing a potential to be a maritime lifesaving desalinator.     

Diffusion/adsorption model of cellulose dyeing. II. Ordinary cellulose–direct dye system

The diffusion and adsorption of C.I. Direct Yellow 12 and Blue 15 in water-swollen ordinary cellophane sheets were examined at various ionic strengths. The concentration dependence of apparent diffusion coefficients, D_c, for these dyes was obtained from the diffusion profiles in the substrate, which were measured by the use of the cylindrical film roll method. The decrease of apparent porosity with an increase in the amounts of adsorption was observed. To explain the diffusion/adsorption behaviors of these systems, a variable porosity model was proposed and was applied to analyze the concentration dependence of D_c's. The diffusion/adsorption behaviors of these dyes could be quantitatively described by this model at relatively low ionic strengths. At higher ionic strengths and/or lower values of C, i.e., at the large values of C_im/C_m, where the C's are the concentrations of immobilized (suffix im) and mobile (suffix m) species, it needed to introduce the concept of dynamic equilibria which occurred simultaneously with diffusion but deviated from the true equiliblia measured by the adsorption experiments.     

Mechanisms of CO2 separation by microporous crystals estimated by computational chemistry

The diffusion and adsorption of CO₂ inside the pores of Li, Na, and K ion-exchanged X-type zeolites were simulated by molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo calculations. Carbon dioxide diffused inside the zeolites pores while it was colliding with pore walls. Then it stayed in a super cage of zeolites. Inside the pore of Li ⁺ ion-exchanged X-type zeolite (Li-X), the electrostatic potential term was −570 kcal/mol, this value was considerably smaller than those of CO₂ inside the pores of Na-X and K-X. On the other hand, from Monte Carlo calculations, CO₂ was found to strongly absorb near the 3B site for Li ⁺ ions. When CO₂ passed through the pores of alkali ion-exchanged X-type zeolites, the interaction between the CO₂ molecule and the 3B site for Li cation was fairly large.     

Glass transition behavior of emulsion-polymerized polymer films containing a surface-active agent

The glass transition behavior of emulsion-polymerized poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene films containing sodium laurylsulfate as emulsifier was studied by measurements of dynamic mechanical properties and thermal depolarization current. The film specimens of the emulsion-polymerized polymers were prepared by casting from their benzene solutions. The glass transition temperatures of the emulsion-polymerized films are higher than those of the bulk-polymerized films. The higher glass transition temperature of the emulsion-polymerized films is attributed to the colloidal properties of sodium laurylsulfate in the process of the film formation. The restriction of the molecular chains in the emulsion-polymerized films is attributed to the interaction between the hydrophobic groups of sodium laurylsulfate and the polymer molecules.     

Hydrophobic effects on protein/nucleic acid interaction: enhancement of substrate binding by mutating tyrosine 45 to tryptophan in ribonuclease Tl

Hydrophobic effects on binding of ribonuclease Tl to guaninebases of several ribonucleotides have been proved by mutatinga hydrophobic residue at the recognition site and by measuringthe effect on binding. Mutation of a hydrophobic surface residueto a more hydrophobic residue (Tyr45 – Trp) enhances thebinding to ribonucleotides, including mononucleotide inhibitorand product, and a synthetic substrate-analog trinudeotide aswell as the binding to dinucleotide substrates and RNA. Enhancementson binding to non-substrate ribonucleotides by the mutationhave been observed with free energy changes ranging from –2.2 to – 3 .9 kJ/mol. These changes are in good agreementwith that of substrate binding, –2.3 kJ/mol, which iscalculated from Michaelis constants obtained from kinetic studies.It is shown, by comparing the observed and calculated changesin binding free energy with differences in the observed transferfree energy changes of the amino acid side chains from organicsolvents to water, that the enhancement observed on guaninebinding comes from the difference in the hydrophobic effectsof the side chains of tyrosine and tryptophan. Furthermore,a linear relationship between nucleolytic activities and hydrophobicityof the residues (Ala, Phe, Tyr, Trp) at position 45 is observed.The mutation could not change substantially the base specificityof RNase Tl, which exhibits a prime requirement for guaninebases of substrates.     

Characterization of alicyclic polyimides based on cyclobutane ring dianhydride and aromatic diamine

Films of alicyclic polyamic acid and polyimide containing cyclobutane ring in dianhydride moiety and aromatic ring with p- or m-linkages in diamine moiety were characterized by infrared (IR) spectroscopy, dynamic viscoelasticity, differential-scanning calorimetry (DSC), density, and wide-angle X-ray diffraction analyses. Partially and fully imidized polyimides were obtained by varying the imidization temperature, e.g., 150°C, 250°C, and 350°C. It was found from the results of IR spectra, dynamic viscoelasticity, and DSC measurements that the imidization of alicyclic polyamic acid was reduced at about 150°C and needed a higher imidization temperature than aromatic polyamic acid. Alicyclic polyimide with m-linkage in the diamine moiety had a higher density and a much more ordered structure than with p-linkage. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.