Preparation of Co-N films by rf-sputtering

Co-N films in the wide compositional range can be prepared by reactive sputtering. Co-N sputtered films consist of one or two phases, such as CoN, Co₂N, Co₃N, Co₄N and -Co. Co₄N phase with a cubic unit cell is observed, and its lattice constant isa = 0.3586 nm. The preferred orientation is observed on the Co-N films, CoN (200) plane, Co₄N (1 1 1) plane and -Co (002) plane parallel to the film surface, respectively. Saturation magnetization _s of Co-N sputtered film decreases from 160 to 1.7 e.m.u. g^–1 with increasing content of N from 0 to 21.7 at%, and coercive force_I H _c is the range of 43 to 5000e at room temperature.     

Different feeding and gustatory responses to ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone by larvae of the silkworm,Bombyx mori

The feeding and gustatory responses to ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone were investigated in the silkworm,Bombyx mori. 20-Hydroxyecdysone reduced feeding response strongly in fourth- and fifth-instar larvae, whereas ecdysone had no effect on feeding response. 20-Hydroxyecdysone stimulated the R receptor, the receptor to feeding deterrents, to a great degree. By contrast, ecdysone was much less effective for stimulating the R receptor. These results indicate that ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone have different effects on feeding response due to different interactions with mouthpart chemoreceptors.     

Fate of the chlorine and fluorine in a sub-bituminous coal during pyrolysis and gasification

The fate of the chlorine and fluorine present in a sub-bituminous coal from Indonesia during pyrolysis and gasification has been studied with fixed and entrained bed reactors. The rate profile for HCl evolved in the temperature programmed pyrolysis exhibits the main and shoulder peaks at 480 and 600 °C, respectively. Model experiments and subsequent Cl 2p XPS measurements show that HCl reacts with metal impurities and carbon active sites at 500 °C to be retained as inorganic and organic chlorine forms, from which HCl evolves again at elevated temperatures. It is suggested that the HCl observed in the coal pyrolysis may originate from the above-mentioned chlorine functionalities formed by secondary reactions involving the nascent char. In the CO₂ gasification of the 900 °C char at 1000 °C and 2.5 MPa, any measurable amounts of HCl and HF could not be detected even at a high conversion of 75 wt% (daf), suggesting the accumulation of these halogens in the residual char. When the coal is injected into an O₂-blown, entrained bed gasifier at 1200-1400 °C under 2.6 MPa, the partial oxidation proceeds to a larger extent at a higher O₂/coal ratio, whereas the chlorine and fluorine are enriched in the remaining char, and the extent of the enrichment at the latter stage of gasification is larger with the fluorine. The XPS measurements of the chars reveal the presence of the broad F 1 s peak, which can cover a wide range of binding energies attributable to inorganic and organic fluorine. The halogen enrichment during gasification is discussed in terms of secondary reactions of HCl and HF with char.     

Preparation of poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide)/poly(vinyl chloride) molecular composite and its thermal and mechanical properties

Poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) was blended with poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) by solution-blending method. PPTA was metalated for dissolving in dimethyl sulfoxide. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used as a common solvent. In PPTA/PVC composite, PPTA accelerated the thermal degradation of PVC. PPTA molecules are aggregated as microfibrillar form in PVC matrix. Such microfibrils are dispersed homogeneously in PVC matrix, according to polarizing microscopic observation. The average diameter of the microfibrils becomes smaller in the composite with lower content of PPTA. In the surface region of PPTA microfibrils the intermolecular hydrogen bonds between C? Cl of PVC and N? H of PPTA are formed. Young's modulus and the yield stress at room temperature were higher in the composites than those in PVC. The modulus of the composites was higher, especially at the high temperatures above their glass transition temperatures, than that in PVC. The temperature dependence of modulus can be calculated by using the mechanical model equivalent to the quasi-3-dimensional microfibrillar model which will be approximately applied to the composite structure. It becomes apparent that the modulus of the PPTA microfibrils evaluated by using the mechanical model is higher in the higher molecular weight PPTA.     

Isotachophoretic analysis of surfactants

The qualitative and quantitative determination of anionic surfactants (sodium and lithium alkylsulfate, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, sodium di-2-ethylhexyl sulfosuccinate, sodium and lithium perfluoroalkylcarboxylate, and lithium perfluorooctanesulfonate) were investigated by a capillary tube isotachophoresis using a potential gradient detector. The leading electrolyte solution was the mixture of acetonitrile and aqueous solution of histidine buffer containing calcium chloride. The terminating electrolyte solution was the aqueous solution of sodium octanoate. These electrolytes were effective for the analysis of the mixtures of strongly acidic surfactants.     

Reliability and mechanical durability tests of flexible OLED with ALD coating

To improve the reliability and mechanical durability of a flexible organic light‐emitting diode display, the entire flexible display is coated with an aluminum oxide film by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Because the step coverage of ALD is excellent, the AlO_x film was deposited not only on the front and back surfaces but also on the side surfaces of the display. A high‐temperature and high‐humidity preservation test, repetitive bending tests, and a pencil hardness test were conducted on the flexible display with ALD‐AlO_x coating. The display survived 500 h of a 65°C, 95% preservation test, endured a 100,000‐time repetitive bending test with a curvature radius of 4 mm, and was found to have a pencil hardness of 4H.     

Fourier-transform speckle profilometry: three-dimensional shape measurements of diffuse objects with large height steps and/or spatially isolated surfaces

An interferometric technique for automated profilometry of diffuse objects has been proposed. It is based on the Fourier-fringe analysis of spatiotemporal specklegrams produced by a wavelength-shift interferometer with a laser diode as a frequency-tunable light source. Unlike conventional moiré techniques the proposed technique permits the objects to have discontinuous height steps and/or surfaces spatially isolated from one another. Experimental results are presented that demonstrate the validity of the principle.     

Generalized multiplicative stochastic processes arising from one-dimensional maps with noise

Artificial Life and Robotics - We propose a class of generalized multiplicative stochastic processes obtained by introducing an endo-perspective into one-dimensional maps with additive noise. We...     

Design of a grid service-based platform for in silico protein-ligand screenings

Grid computing offers the powerful alternative of sharing resources on a worldwide scale, across different institutions to run computationally intensive, scientific applications without the need for a centralized supercomputer. Much effort has been put into development of software that deploys legacy applications on a grid-based infrastructure and efficiently uses available resources. One field that can benefit greatly from the use of grid resources is that of drug discovery since molecular docking simulations are an integral part of the discovery process. In this paper, we present a scalable, reusable platform to choreograph large virtual screening experiments over a computational grid using the molecular docking simulation software DOCK. Software components are applied on multiple levels to create automated workflows consisting of input data delivery, job scheduling, status query, and collection of output to be displayed in a manageable fashion for further analysis. This was achieved using Opal OP to wrap the DOCK application as a grid service and PERL for data manipulation purposes, alleviating the requirement for extensive knowledge of grid infrastructure. With the platform in place, a screening of the ZINC 2,066,906 compound "drug-like" subset database against an enzyme's catalytic site was successfully performed using the MPI version of DOCK 5.4 on the PRAGMA grid testbed. The screening required 11.56 days laboratory time and utilized 200 processors over 7 clusters.