Asymmetric addition of thiol to diene polymer in the presence of optically active amines as catalyst

The asymmetric addition reaction of thiolacetic acid or benzylmercaptan to diene polymer (natural rubber, cis- and trans-1,4-polyisoprene, _cis-1,4-polybutadiene, various styrenebutadiene copolymers and alternating acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer) by optically active catalysts such as d-bornylamine ([α]d?45.2°), l-aspartic diethyl ester (?11.2°), l-aspartic dibutyl ester (?5.3°) were carried out in benzene at room temperature to 90°C. The optically active polymers were obtained from natural rubber and cis-1,4- and trans-1,4-polyisoprene, but were not obtained from cis-1,4-polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene copolymers, and butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer. The [α]²⁵_D value of optically active derivatives was ?0.1° ～ ?1.0° (in benzene), and the optical rotatory dispersion curves were found to fit the simple Drude equation.     

Preparation and Properties of Bi4 − x Nd x Ti3O12 Thin Films by Chemical Solution Deposition

Neodymium-modified Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂, (Bi, Nd)₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BNT) ferroelectric thin films have been prepared on Pt/TiO_x/SiO₂/Si substrates using metal-organic precursor solutions by the chemical solution deposition method. The BNT precursor films crystallized into the Bi layered perovskite Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BIT) as a single-phase above 600C. The synthesized BNT films revealed a random orientation having a strong 117 reflection, whereas non-substituted BIT thin films exhibited a random orientation with strong 00l diffractions. Among Bi_{4 – x}Nd_xTi₃O₁₂ [x = 0.0, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0] thin films, Bi_3.25Nd_0.75Ti₃O₁₂ thin films showed a well-saturated P-E hysteresis loop with the highest P_r (22 C/cm²) and a low E_c (69 kV/cm) at an applied voltage of 5 V. The Nd-substitution with the optimum amount for the Bi site in the BIT structure was effective not only for promoting the 117 preferred orientation but also for improving the microstructure and ferroelectric properties of the resultant films.     

Reports of the DAS02 working groups

This document is a collection of four working group reports in the areas of digital libraries, document image retrieval, layout analysis, and Web document analysis. These reports were the outcome of discussions by participants at the Fifth IAPR International Workshop on Document Analysis Systems held in Princeton, NJ on 19-21 August 2002.Published online: 16 March 2004     

Temperature-dependent near-infrared spectra of bovine serum albumin in aqueous solutions: spectral analysis by principal component analysis and evolving factor analysis

Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectra have been measured for bovine serum albumin (BSA) in an aqueous solution (pH 6.8) with a concentration of 5.0 wt% over a temperature range of 45-85 degrees C. Not only conventional spectral analysis methods, such as second-derivative spectra and difference spectra, but also chemometrics, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and evolving factor analysis (EFA), have been employed to analyze the temperature-dependent NIR spectra in the 7500-5500 and 4900-4200 cm-1 regions of the BSA aqueous solution. Intensity changes of bands in the 7200-6600 cm-1 and 4650-4500 cm-1 regions in the difference spectra indicate variations of the hydration and secondary structure of BSA in the aqueous solution, respectively. The plot of a band intensity at 7080 cm-1 in the different spectra shows a clear turning point at 63 degrees C, revealing that a significant change in the hydration occurs at about 63 degrees C. The forward and backward eigenvalues (EVs) from EFA suggest that marked changes in the hydration and secondary structure of BSA take place in the temperature ranges of 61-65 degrees C and 59-63 degrees C, respectively. In addition, the temperature of 71 degrees C marked in the EFA plots may correspond to the onset temperature of increase in the intermolecular beta-sheet structure.     

Nonintrusive appliance load monitoring based on integer programming

This paper presents a new nonintrusive appliance load monitoring technique based on integer programming. Nonintrusive appliance load monitoring is the problem of identifying the operating conditions of electric appliances in a house by observing only the overall load current and voltage. Since the overall load current is expressed as a superposition of the currents of the operating appliances, the monitoring problem can be formulated as an integer quadratic programming problem by expressing the operating conditions as integer variables. This problem is solvable with a sufficiently small computational burden thanks to the recent development of commercial software. The proposed method does not require relearning even when a new appliance is installed in the house. Furthermore, the proposed formulation is applicable to cases in which some appliance has multiple modes, and cases in which some appliances of the same type are operating simultaneously. The usefulness of the proposed technique is verified by experimental results. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 174(2): 18–25, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21040     

Location of the egocenter in kinesthetic space.

The location of the egocenter in kinesthetic space was investigated in 4 experiments. Participants, with their eyes closed, adjusted a comparison stimulus after or while touching a standard in a transverse plane at the belly or shoulder level so that they perceived the line joining the comparison and the fixed standard as pointing directly at themselves. The mean location of the intersections of the obtained lines was taken as the location of the egocenter. The main results showed that the location of the kinesthetic egocenter depended on the hand or hands used for touching, the timing of touching, and the distance of the standard from the participant. Implications of these results were discussed in relation to models of the kinesthetic egocenter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)