Online-Religion in Japan: Websites and Religious Counseling from a Comparative Cross-Cultural Perspective

This article considers the nature of online religion by examining the websites and religious counseling activities conducted by new Japanese religions. Beginning with an overview of the widespread use of the Internet in Japan and its use in religion, the article examines the cultural and social factors that keep the religious use of the Internet from becoming as pervasive in Japan as it is in the U.S. The article then describes a website with elements of online religion and the Internet-based religious counseling services being provided by ministers of the new Shintō-derived religions of Konkōkyō and Tenrikyō. These activities have successfully given some people who need religious assistance access to religious teaching. In concluding, the article examines the reasons for the success of these efforts, as well as the reasons why they have not expanded in scope, in light of the cultural and organizational advantages and disadvantages that affect Internet use.     

Distributed architecture for energy management D-structure

Electric power systems are expanding in size and complexity, and the requirement for the energy management system (EMS) is becoming more important. In this computer control system, a single control computer is used mainly as the primary computer and its software is very complicated because of its hugh number of small, quick tasks to obtain high response speed. Therefore, much effort is needed to develop and modify the programs, and the responsiveness of this centralized architecture varies greatly when many faults occur in the power system. This paper describes a new distributed architecture for the EMS. Distributed processors execute the functions cooperatively with periodic access to the common bulletin board database in which information about the power system exist. This architecture facilitates the software development and maintenance, and it also enhances the performance by the parallel processing of the distributed functions.     

Co-crosslinking blend of incompatible polymers VI: Poly(vinyl chloride) toughened with polyethylene via a co-crosslinking technique

A binary blend which consists of two incompatible polymers such as poly(vinyl chloride) and polyethylene has been performed through a partial co-crosslinking reaction with peroxide to give a co-crosslinked blend with a uniform dispersion of small polyethylene particles and with an improved mechanical property. The results are obtained through the formation of a co-crosslinked product which acts as a potential solid phase dispersant as well as a well-bonded reinforcing interlayer on polyethylene particles uniformly dispersed in poly(vinyl chloride) matrix. The resulting blends (PVC/PE=10/90 wt) give carbon spherules of 0.5 to 1m diameter through pressure-carbonization at 650° C for 1 h.     

Shock consolidation of diamond powders

Fine and coarse diamond powders were shock-compacted at peak pressures of 77, 90, and 108 GPa. The densification and consolidation mechanisms of diamond powders under shock compression were investigated. The densification behaviour of the diamond powders depended strongly on the particle size of the starting materials. Fine diamond powders were densified primarily by plastic deformation, while coarse diamond powders were densified mainly by particle fracture. The relative densities of the compacted diamond samples increased with an increase in the initial particle size of the diamond and with shock pressure. The consolidation mechanism of the diamond powders under shock compression was closely related to the densification mechanism, and depended on the initial particle size of the diamond. At a shock pressure of 90 GPa, particle sizes of 2 to 4 m grade and 10 to 20 m grade were desirable as the starting material in order to produce well-bonded diamond compacts. Diamond compacts having microhardness values over 80 GPa were obtained from 2 to 4 m grade and 10 to 20 m grade diamond powders at a shock pressure of 90 G Pa, and their relative densities were 88.5% and 91.0%, respectively.     

Synthesis of tetramethyl-p-silphenylenesiloxanedimethylsiloxane triblock copolymer by employing living anionic polymerization

Dimethylsiloxane-tetramethyl-p-silphenylenesiloxane-dimethylsiloxane (DMS-TMPS-DMS) triblock copolymer was synthesized by employing living anionic polymerization of hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane (D₃). Two synthetic methods were carried out for the polymerization. One of those methods was the anionic polymerization of D₃ initiated at the silanolate anion which was prepared from the terminal hydroxyl group of silanol-terminated TMPS prepolymer by reaction with n-butyllithium (method 1). The other was the coupling reaction of vinyl-terminated TMPS prepolymer with hydrosilyl-terminated DMS prepolymer obtained from the anionic polymerization of D₃ by using diphenylmethylsilanolate anion as initiator (method 2). In method 1, DMS contents of the copolymers ranged from 25.8 to 72.5 wt% and the values agreed with the ratio of D₃ to TMPS prepolymer. The weight-average molecular weights ranged from 1.36×10⁴ to 19.4×10⁴ and were close to the predicted values calculated from the $\text{M}\text{?}{}_{\mathrm{v}}$ of the TMPS prepolymer and the amount of D₃ added. In the case of method 2, weight-average molecular weights ranged from 19.5×10⁴ to 24.2×10⁴. The high molecular weight copolymer could thus be obtained by method 2. Intrinsic viscosity values of the triblock copolymers agreed with calculated values obtained by considering the copolymer as a binary mixture of these homopolymers. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry were carried out on the triblock copolymers. The equilibrium melting temperatures of each of the copolymers were very close to that of poly-TMPS (160°C). The glass transition temperature and heat of fusion were decreased as the DMS content was increased. The thermogravimetric curves for the copolymers indicated that the thermal stability of the triblock copolymer was intermediate between the DMS and TMPS homopolymers.     

Different support effect of M/ZrO2 and M/CeO2 (M = Pd and Pt) catalysts on CO adsorption: A periodic density functional study

CO adsorption over Pd₄ and Pt₄ cluster supported by c-ZrO₂(1 1 1) and CeO₂(1 1 1) catalyst systems was investigated using periodic density functional method in order to clarify the support effect on CO activation. We found that the support increases the CO activation for bridge and three-fold sites but decreases for the atop site. Moreover, it was found that the support changes the site preference for the CO adsorption. Bridge site on both the Pt₄/c-ZrO₂ and Pt₄/CeO₂ show larger CO adsorption energies than those on the other sites while the atop site is energetically preferable on isolated Pt₄ cluster. c-ZrO₂ supported Pd shows the largest CO activation with large charge transfer from the catalyst to the CO molecule. This reveals that ZrO₂ supported Pd can be a good catalyst for CO activation because of its higher probability to the three-fold site CO adsorption. We also found that positively charged M₄ clusters on the support keep their strong electron-donating properties and have enough charge density to contribute to the activation of an adsorbed CO molecule by a charge transfer.     

Free primary alcohols in oils and waxes from germs,kernels and other components of nuts,seeds, fruits and cereals

The composition of free primary alcohols in oils and waxes obtained from the germ, kernel, seed coat, shell and skin (peel) of various nuts, seeds, fruits and cereals and from the chrysalis of silkworm was examined. These alcohols are usually present in small amounts, along with large quantities of hydrocarbons, esters and glycerides in oils and waxes. Thus, it is necessary to remove hydrocarbons, esters and glycerides to analyze the alcohols. We found that preparative reverse-phase thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was the best way to isolate alcohols from oils and waxes. Gas liquid chromatography (GLC) then detected hexacosanol, octacosanol and triacontanol in the oils and waxes. Octacosanol usually was the predominant alcohol. Relationships between the organs from nuts, seeds, fruits and cereals and the contents of octacosanol are suggested. For example, degermed kernels contained two times more octacosanol than the germ, and the skin coat and shell contained one-half and one-fortieth the octacosanol of the germ, respectively.     

Local disturbances preceding a running crack front in a viscoelastic solid

The local disturbances ahead of a running crack front in a viscoelastic solid were measured through noncontact electro-optical tools. It was observed that the very high local strain rate up to 200/sec exists even in the present quasistatic loading case. It may be concluded that the running crack propagation velocities, not the conventional average strain rates ranging from about 10^?4/sec to 10^?2/sec, govern the local disturbances, as the crack propagation velocities always exceed 200m/sec for both average strain rates, while the local strain rates observed do not show much differences between both average strain rate cases.     

Plasma developable photoresist containing electronic excitation energy quenching system

A dry developable negative working resist composition comprised of poly(methyl isopropenyl ketone) (PMIPK) and 4-methyl-2,6-di(4′-azido-benzylidene) cyclohexanone-1 was examined. The main photochemical product formed in the resist pattern was found to be a secondary amine which crosslinks PMIPK. Post-annealing forms a hydrogen-bonded product which shows a powerful electronic excitation energy quenching effect. The quencher is more powerful than the aromatic compound arising from the azide by post-annealing only. The residual resist thickness of the negative pattern is about 80 percent of the initial thickness of the coating in spite of all the azide compound remaining in the resist coating. The obtained dry developed resist pattern has a high dry etch resistance. Etchings of Si and SiO₂ were performed by plasma and reactive ion etching, respectively.