Fast and Almost Complete Nitridation of Mesoporous Silica MCM-41 with Ammonia in a Plug-Flow Reactor

The title reaction proceeded well to yield silicon (oxy)nitride at 973–1323 K using a plug-flow reactor. The degree of nitridation was studied as a function of temperature and time of nitridation, the sample weight, and the flow rate of ammonia. It was dependent on the reaction temperature and the amount of ammonia supplied per sample weight. The nitridation at 1273 K for 10–25 h yielded the oxynitride with 36–39 wt% nitrogen, which was very close to 40 wt% of Si₃N₄. Characterization with X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements, and nitrogen adsorption revealed the conversion of MCM-41 to the corresponding oxynitride without essential loss of the mesoporous structure, the decrements of the lattice constant and the pore diameter by 20–35%, and the increments of the wall thickness by ca. 45%. Solid-state ²⁹Si nuclear magnetic resonance spectra during the nitridation clearly showed fast decrease in SiO₄ species and slow in SiO₃(OH). Various intermediate species, SiO _x N _y (NH₂ or NH) _z , were observed to be formed and finally, ca. 70% SiN₄ species, ca. 20% SiN₃(NH₂ or NH), and ca. 10% SiON₂(NH₂ or NH) were produced, being consistent with the results of the above mentioned elemental analysis.     

Decomposition of Carbon Dioxide to Carbon with Active Wustite at 300°C

Active wustite (FeδO, with a δ value of 0.98) was prepared by keeping normal wustite (δ value of 0.94) in a N₂ atmosphere at 300°C for 10 min. This reaction is given by (4δ₂–3)Fe_δ1O→(4δ₁–3)Fe_δ2O + (δ₂–δ₁)Fe₃O₄ where δ₁= 0.94 and δ₂= 0.98. The equation indicates that the normal wustite undergoes eutectoid decomposition into active wustite and stoichiometric magnetite (Fe₃O₄). Carbon dioxide (1.013 × 10⁵ Pa) was almost completely (100%) decomposed into carbon (zero valence) by the active wustite at the low temperature of 300°C, which was associated with the transformation of the active wustite into the stoichiometric magnetite. The internal pressure of the reaction cell eventually became a vacuum.     

A Knowledge-Based Software Process Simulation Model

In this paper we propose a new software development process simulation model. The model can predict variations of productivity based on dynamic changes in the developer's knowledge structure. An important concept of the model is that a developer's productivity is influenced by the developer's knowledge. Moreover, a developer can acquire new knowledge by executing activities of a project. In other words, the developer's knowledge structure changes during the project. The knowledge structure is defined using a cognitive map that consists of knowledge elements and prerequisite relationships among the knowledge elements. By adding the specific developer's knowledge and the specific project workload to the knowledge structure, an increment of the developer's knowledge and the project progress are calculated into the model. The simulation results are useful for making project plans including technical reviews, which are an efficient technique for acquiring new knowledge. The simulation model can predict what knowledge should be discussed in the technical review, when the review should be held, and who the members of the review should be. The simulation results help managers make the most appropriate and executable project plan.     

Semi-globalization of stochastic spectral synthesis

This paper describes a new approach to stochastic modeling for natural objects that provides a unified model for describing terrains, clouds, sea waves and many other shapes. The geometrical data of the model can be created or modified without undue computational time, simply by specifying several parameters. In addition, these parameters have intuitive meanings, which make it easy to control the model's geometry. Then the models for different natural objects can be effectively combined through some functional operations, which makes the method more flexible for acquiring realistic images of complex three-dimensional scenes.     

High-Accuracy Analysis of Beams of Bimodulus Materials

Recently, several authors have treated the problems of bending of beams of bimodulus materials. The present paper, applies Levinson beam theory, which includes shear deformation and warping of the cross section, to bending analysis of thick rectangular beams with bimodulus materials. Many numerical results are obtained by use of the transfer matrix approach and compared with the methods of Bernoulli-Euler beam theory, Timoshenko beam theory, and Levinson beam theory with various boundaries. Also, the neutral-surface location and displacements for beams of bimodulus materials are calculated.     

Three-dimensional measurement of ice crystals in frozen beef with a micro-slicer image processing system

A novel technique has been developed for measuring the three-dimensional (3-D) structure and distribution of ice crystals formed in frozen beef by using a micro-slicer image processing system (MSIPS). The system has functions to reconstruct the 3-D image based on the image data of exposed cross-sections obtained by multi-slicing of a frozen sample with the minimum thickness of 1 μm and to display the internal structure as well as an arbitrary cross-section of the sample choosing observation angles. The size and distribution of ice crystals can be determined from the 2-D quantitative information, such as the periphery and area of the crystals. The effects of freezing conditions on the morphology and distribution of the ice crystals were demonstrated quantitatively from the observations of raw beef stained by fluorescent indicator. For the samples frozen at −15 °C, the network structure of ice crystals were observed mainly at intercellular space, having approximately 100 μm in cross-sectional size, while that prepared at −120 °C showed the spherical crystals of 10–20 μm in diameter within the cells. The 3-D image of the sample demonstrated that the growth of ice columns was restricted by the intrinsic structure of muscle fibers. The proposed method provided a new tool to investigate the effects of freezing conditions on the size, morphology and distribution of ice crystals.     

High-Speed TDM–WDM Techniques for Long-Haul Submarine Optical Amplifier Systems

Optical amplifier techniques have led to the installation of large-capacity submarine systems and further capacity increases seem likely. This paper reviews the FSA submarine system, which flexibly operates at both 2.5 and 10 Gb/s and offers maximum transmission capacity of 60 Gb/s for commercial use. The system configuration as well as its characteristics and upgradability will be introduced, including measurement results on time-division-multiplexing/wavelength-division-multiplexing (TDM–WDM) transmission at bit rates of 10 and 20 Gb/s using non-return-to-zero or soliton pulses. To further increase transmission capacity, TDM–WDM techniques that permit more than 10 Gb/s signal transmission in each data channel should be developed. Thus, pulse formats, which include non-return-to-zero, return-to-zero, or soliton pulses, and dispersion allocation in transmission fibers are significant issues. We introduce and discuss our recent results from high-speed (10 to 40 Gb/s) TDM–WDM signal transmission experiments with regard to the above aspects.     

Thermoelectric Properties of Rare Earth-Doped SrTiO3 Nanocubes

A giant Seebeck coefficient of ?890 μV/K at 500 °C has been observed in Y_0.2Sr_0.8TiO₃ prepared using nanocubes. Doping rare earth elements, RE, has revealed that small RE is effective to enhance the Seebeck coefficient. Through soft mode observations by Raman spectroscopy and structural calculations based on density functional theory, it has been found that the breakdown of inversion symmetry of the perovskite structure near the surface of nanocubes can be recovered by doping with small RE. Because the dielectric constant is strongly related to the surface structure in this compound, we suggest that RE doping modulates the potential barrier at the grain boundary, resulting in a pronounced energy filtering effect in Y doped SrTiO₃.     

A Method to Identify Steady Creep Strain from Indentation Creep Using a New Reference Area of Indentation

For the design of high-density electronic packages, finite element method (FEM) analyses to evaluate strength reliabilities of solder joints should be conducted by employing the material parameters which can precisely reflect the creep properties of solder joints in actual electronic equipment. To obtain accurate results of the structural analyses of the solder joints, a method to evaluate the steady-state creep deformation in situ must be developed. The indentation creep test is an effective method to evaluate the creep properties of the solder joints in situ; however, the creep properties obtained by this method do not give the same results as those obtained by tensile creep tests using bulk specimens. In this paper, the indentation creep test at 1 N loading for 9,000 s duration was experimentally conducted to confirm that the steady-state creep deformation obtained by the indentation creep test did not coincide with that by the tensile creep tests using bulk specimens. To identify the reason, the indentation creep simulation was conducted by FEM analysis. As a result, it was found that the reference area used to obtain the creep strain from the indentation creep test should be modified. A method to obtain the new reference area is proposed from comparisons of experiments with simulations. Finally, this paper shows that the creep properties obtained by the indentation creep test using the new reference area coincided with those obtained by tensile creep tests using bulk specimens.