Compact and miniature snapshot imaging polarimeter

We present and demonstrate a compact and miniature snapshot imaging polarimeter camera; it is anticipated that such a camera can be scaled down to less than 1.5 cm. Two Savart plates are used at the pupil plane to generate multiple fringes to encode the full Stokes vector in a single image. A geometric ray model is developed to explain the system. The numerical simulation based on this model is presented. Finally, the validity of the device is demonstrated by showing experimental results.     

Synthesis of the Optically Active Polymer Consisting of Chiral Phosphorus Atoms and <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Phenylene-ethynylene Units

Summary We successfully synthesized optically active polymer 4 by using chiral bisphosphine, (S,S)-1,2-bis(boranato(t-butyl)methylphosphino)ethane (S,S)-1, as a key building block. The structure of the polymer was characterized by ¹H, ¹³C, and ³¹P NMR spectra. According to the CD spectra, the p-phenylene-ethynylene unit in the polymer main chain exhibited Cotton signals around the area of π-π^* transition band.     

Effects of a silane coupling agent on the tensile adhesive strength between resin and titanium

Adhesion of a cured dental opaquer, which masks metallic appearance and color, to sandblasted Ti aided by 3‐methacryloyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTS) is investigated. The tensile bond strengths of Ti and the opaquer are 43.3 and 45.9 MPa, respectively, when MPTS dissolved in ethanol (6 wt %) and premixed with the opaquer (3 wt %) are applied to the sandblasted Ti surface. Mirror finishing alone and sandblasting alone result in the bond strengths of 1.8 and 21.3 MPa, respectively. After thermal cycling (4 and 60°C for 5000 cycles), the bond strengths of the Ti with sandblasting and the MPTS treatment remain higher than that of the Ti with sandblasting only. Sandblasting and the MPTS treatment effectively promote the adhesion of the opaquer to Ti that rapidly forms an oxide surface layer. The silane‐aided adhesion of the opaquer to the sandblasted Ni? Cr, Co? Cr, and Au? Ag? Pd alloys attain adhesive strengths of 33.2, 31.9, and 31.6 MPa, respectively. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Thermophilic phospholipase A2 in the cytosolic fraction from the archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii

Hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii produced phospholipase A² in a cytosolic fraction. The enzyme displayed optimal activity at 90°C and pH 7 and preferentially hydrolyzed sn-2 fatty acids in the following order: linoleoyl> oleoyl>arachidoyl phosphatidylcholine. Phospholipase A₂ had similar activities toward l-α-1-palmitoyl-2-arachidoyl derivatives of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Phospholipase A₂ activity was unaffected by the addition of 0.0001–1 mM calcium, but was inhibited slightly by the addition of 2–10 mM calcium. The activity was enhanced more than 5–18-fold in the presence of 3–20% (vol/vol) glycerol. The activity was unaffected by the addition of 1–5 mM EDTA or 0.01–20 mM dithiothreitol. A caldarchaetidic acid derivative having a molecular weight of 1544 disappeared upon incubation of the cytosolic fraction with total lipid. The phospholipase A₂ was difficult to purify by general chromatography because it existed as an aggregate. Electrophoresis was carried out using 10–15% polyacrylamide gels containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS-PAGE). No activity of phospholipase A₂ activity was observed in the absence of proteins less than 19 kD in size, as fractionated by SDS-PAGE. Portions of this article were presented at the Biocatalysis Symposium at the 91st Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists’ Society in San Diego, CA, April, 2000.     

Development of a simple reprocessing process using selective precipitant for uranylions — Engineering studies on systems for precipitating and separating

The simple reprocessing method based on precipitation using N-cyclohexyl-2- pyrrolidone (NCP) as a selective precipitant for U and Pu ions from dissolved solutions of spent FBR fuels has been developed. On the basis of fundamental studies on precipitation behaviors, we designed and built up the scaled-up laboratory equipments (1/20-scale of future plant capacity of 200 tHM/y) to evaluate technological and economical feasibility. This system, which mainly consists of a precipitator and a precipitate separator, should be operated continuously from economical reasons. From the experimental results, it was confirmed that the precipitator is capable of producing UO₂²⁺-NCP precipitate stably with stipulated residence time (approximately 30 min), and the precipitate separator has the highly efficient separation of precipitate from the slurry. Furthermore, the parametric experiments indicated that the rinsing operation increased the efficiency in decontamination of FP elements.