Synthesis of poly(hemispherand) via cyclopolymerization of diepoxide

Summary Cyclopolymerization of 2,6-bis[3-(4,5-epoxy-2-oxapentyl)-2-methoxy-5-methylphenyl]-4-methylanisole was carried out with cationic, anionic, and coordination catalysts. The polymers obtained with BF₃·OEt₂ or SnCl₄ in dichloromethane and with t-BuOK in DMSO were soluble in benzene, chloroform, and THF. The mole fractions of the cyclic units in these polymers were from 0.65 to 0.75. The resulting poly(hemispherand) bound alkali metal cations and the selectivity was in the order of Rb⁺>K⁺>Cs⁺>Na⁺>Li⁺.     

Effect of Exhaust Gas Temperature on Oxidation of Marine Diesel Emission Particulates with Nonthermal-Plasma-Induced Ozone

Because the regulations governing diesel engine emissions are becoming more stringent, effective aftertreatment is needed for particulate matter. Although diesel particulate filters (DPFs) are a leading technology used in automobiles, there remains a problem with DPF regeneration for marine diesel engines that use heavy oil fuel. In the present study, pilot-scale experiments were conducted to develop a particulate oxidation technology for marine diesel engine emissions using DPF regeneration by nonthermal-plasma-induced ozone injection. It has been shown that particulate oxidation depends on the exhaust gas temperature, and regeneration can be performed most effectively at a temperature of approximately 300 °C.     

Effect of periodic operation over Pt catalysts in simulated oxidizing exhaust gas

The effect of periodic operation over Pt and Pt/Ba catalysts supported on γ-alumina under oxidizing conditions was investigated using simulated automotive exhaust gas from lean-burn combustion. The conversion of hydrocarbons and NO_x was measured in cycled feedstream and steady feedstream under oxidizing conditions. The activities of the catalysts were improved in the cycled feedstream between oxidizing and reducing atmospheres under average oxidizing conditions. In particular, the NO_x reduction on the Pt/Bt catalyst was higher than that on the Pt catalyst in the cycling operation. From the mass spectral analysis in streams of NOO₂C₃H₆ and NOO₂H₂ (balance He) gas, it was found that NO was oxidized and stored on the Pt/Ba catalyst under oxidizing conditions, and that the stored NO_x on the catalyst was subsequently reduced to N₂ under reducing conditions.     

Highly Stretchable Metallic Nanowire Networks Reinforced by the Underlying Randomly Distributed Elastic Polymer Nanofibers via Interfacial Adhesion Improvement

On‐skin electronics require conductive, porous, and stretchable materials for a stable operation with minimal invasiveness to the human body. However, porous elastic conductors that simultaneously achieve high conductivity, good stretchability, and durability are rare owing to the lack of proper design for good adhesion between porous elastic polymer and conductive metallic networks. Here, a simple fabrication approach for porous nanomesh‐type elastic conductors is shown by designing a layer‐by‐layer structure of nanofibers/nanowires (NFs/NWs) via interfacial hydrogen bonding. The as‐prepared conductors, consisting of Ag NWs and polyurethane (PU) NFs, simultaneously achieve high conductivity (9190 S cm^?1), high stretchability (310%), and good durability (82% resistance increase after 1000 cycles of deformation at 70% tensile strain). The direct contact between the Ag NWs enables the high conductivity. The synergistic effect of the layer‐by‐layer structure and good adhesion between the Ag NWs and the PU NFs enables good mechanical properties. Furthermore, without any adhesive gel/tape, the conductors can be utilized as breathable strain sensors for precise joint motion monitoring, and as breathable sensing electrodes for continuous electrophysiological signal recording.     

Crystal growth and scintillation properties of Ce and Eu doped LiSrAlF6

Ce and Eu doped LiSrAlF₆ (LiSAF) single crystals for the neutron detection with different dopant concentrations were grown by the micro-pulling-down method (μ-PD). In Ce:LiSAF, intense emission peaks due to Ce³⁺ 5d-4f transitions were observed at approximately 315 and 335 nm in photo- and α-ray induced radio-luminescence spectra. In case of Eu:LiSAFs, an intense emission peak at 375 nm due to Eu²⁺ 5d-4f transition was observed in the radio-luminescence spectra. The pulse height spectra and decay time profiles were measured under ²⁵²Cf neutron irradiation to examine the neutron response. The Ce 3% and Eu 2% doped LiSAF showed the highest light yield of 2860 ph/n with 19 ns main decay time component and 24,000 ph/n with 1610 ns.     

Diffusion coefficient of the protein in various crystallization solutions: The key to growing high-quality crystals in space

The diffusion coefficients of lysozyme and alpha-amylase were measured in the various polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions. Obtained diffusion coefficients were studied with the viscosity coefficient of the solution. It was found that the diffusion process of the protein was suppressed with a factor of v^γ, where ν is a relative viscosity coefficient of the PEG solution. The value of γ is ?0.64 at PEG1500 for both proteins. The value increased to ?0.48 at PEG8000 for lysozyme, while decreased to ?0.72 for alpha-amylase. The equation of an approximate diffusion coefficient at certain PEG molecular weight and concentration was roughly obtained.     

Design Estimation of the Hybrid Power Source Railway Vehicle based on the Multiobjective Optimization by the Dynamic Programming

The power source of hybrid railway vehicles consists of both generation and energy storage devices. The hybrid vehicles have a high degree of freedom in the system design because they have different power sources. Therefore, it is difficult to establish generalized design methods of the power system. Various patterns of device capacities of generation and energy storage equipments are available for the hybrid vehicle. And various types of power control strategies are also selectable. With this background, this paper proposes a globally searched design estimation method for hybrid vehicles, which is based on multiobjective optimization by dynamic programming. The proposed method enables us to globally clarify the optimal candidates in accordance with various railway lines from a wide search domain. This results in various design concepts of the hybrid vehicles. Then, this paper confirms that the proposed method provides effective design guidelines for the conceptual design of the hybrid vehicles. Therefore the proposed method is useful for the design problem of hybrid vehicles that have a higher degree of freedom compared to electric railway vehicles. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Image‐Based Crack Detection for Real Concrete Surfaces

In this paper, we introduce a novel image‐based approach to detect cracks in concrete surfaces. Crack detection is important for the inspection, diagnosis, and maintenance of concrete structures. However, conventional image‐based approaches cannot achieve precise detection since the image of the concrete surface contains various types of noise due to different causes such as concrete blebs, stain, insufficient contrast, and shading. In order to detect the cracks with high fidelity, we assume that they are composed of thin interconnected textures and propose an image‐based percolation model that extracts a continuous texture by referring to the connectivity of brightness and the shape of the percolated region, depending on the length criterion of the scalable local image processing techniques. Additionally, noise reduction based on the percolation model is proposed. We evaluated the validity of the proposed technique by using precision recall and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis by means of some experiments with actual concrete surface images. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Model for predicting performance of cooling fans for thermal design of electronic equipment (Modeling and evaluation of effects from electronic enclosure and inlet sizes)

This study describes the performance of cooling fans in terms of the P–Q curve and the maximum flow rate under various environmental conditions. It focuses on the relationship between fan performance and configuration factors such as the electronic enclosure. The presence of an enclosure wall increased the pressure characteristic of the fan performance. The presence of a narrow inlet decreased the flow rate. When the inlet area of the enclosure became smaller than twice the fan flow area, the flow rate was decreased. The maximum flow rate depended on the ratio of the inlet area to the fan flow area. A model for predicting pressure rise and flow rates in the enclosure is proposed. The model is used in a thermal analysis of a PCB model set in an enclosure. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20347     

Thermal conductivity of single and multi-stacked DI-BSCCO tapes

We have measured the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity, κ(T), for DI-BSCCO^® tapes fabricated by Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., which are (Bi,Pb)₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_8+x tapes sheathed with Ag or Ag-Au alloy. The κ(T) of the tape sheathed with Ag (residual resistance ratio (RRR) = 15) decreases with decreasing temperature and starts to increase rapidly below 60 K, with a maximum at around 15 K. On the other hand, the κ(T) of the tape sheathed with Ag-5.4 wt%Au alloy has a very low value that decreases monotonically with decreasing temperature. At around 77 K, the absolute values of κ(T) for both tapes were about and , respectively. The κ(T) of a stacked sample, in which six DI-BSCCO tapes sheathed with Ag are soldered, was also measured. The measured κ(T) was fairly well reproduced by the estimated κ(T), which was calculated using the measured κ(T) of the single tape and solder.