Occurrence of plant sterols in aquatic vertebrates

Plant sterols were found by gas liquid chromatography in the sterols of five species of aquatic vertebrates; mackerel (Scomber japonicus), rainbow trout (Salmo gairdnerii), smelt (Osmerus dentex), sardine (Sardinops melanosticta) and chimera (Chimera phantasma). The sterols of chimera liver, sardine flesh and sardine viscera contained 9.0, 2.4 and 3.1% of C₂₈ and C₂₉ sterols in addition to 86.7, 96.6 and 95.2% of cholesterol. The occurrence of norcholestandienol, campesterol, β-sitosterol and C₂₈ stanol was shown by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Sperm whale (Physeter catodon) sterols consisted of more than 99% cholesterol with only traces of 22-dehydrocholesterol.     

Bimodal fingerprint capturing system based on compound-eye imaging module

A compact imaging system called TOMBO (Thin Observation Module by Bound Optics) is proposed in which a microlens array is used for thin hardware configuration. This paper describes a fingerprint-capturing module as an application of the TOMBO. Experimental results by the TOMBO prototype system are shown to clarify the applicability of the TOMBO to the fingerprint capturing. Different types of biometrics, i.e., fingerprint and face images, are captured by the same hardware, which shows the extendability of the system for multimodal identification.     

Microstructure of metal-filled carbon nanotubes

Catalysts are usually required to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and play important roles during the growth process. Any catalysts that remain after processing are expected to add extra properties and removal of the catalysts is usually required to achieve the original properties of CNTs. Recently, CNTs have been filled incidentally by catalysts, such as Pb, Sn, Ni and Bi. This has led to success in obtaining additional properties and a few models have been proposed to describe the encapsulating mechanisms. In the present study, CNTs were filled with palladium by a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition method. Detailed structural and compositional investigations of these metal-filled CNTs were carried out by transmission electron microscopy to elucidate the growth mechanisms.     

Cyberworlds: architecture and modeling by an incrementally modular abstraction hierarchy

An incrementally modular abstraction hierarchy, which specifies, models and visualizes the architecture of cyberworlds from general to specific, is presented. The hierarchy, consisting of a homotopy level with fiber bundles, a set theoretical space level, a topological space level, an adjunction space level, a cellular space level, and presentation and view-levels, is described theoretically with examples of online book shopping such as e-commerce, seat assembling as such e-manufacturing, and accounting such as e-economy. Sharing invariants defined at each level contributes to robust architecture and modeling for designing, analyzing, implementing and visualizing cyberworlds, which results in a fault-free reduction of time and cost.     

Separation of Am(III) from Eu(III) by extraction based on in situ extractant formation of dithiocarbamate derivatives

A new solvent-extraction technique based on in situ formation of dithiocarbamate derivatives in order to separate Am(III) from Eu(III) was carried out. In this technique, the extractant is formed during the extraction course by the reaction between the organic materials, which are needed to synthesize the extractant. The synthesis of extractant in in situ extractant-formation method was carried out as follows. Di-substituted amine, such as dioctylamine (DOA), dibenzylamine (DBzA) and so on, and carbon disulfide (CS₂) were mixed in organic solvents, such as nitrobenzene, to produce dioctylammonium dioctyldithiocarbamate (DOA⁺·DODTC⁻), dibenzylammonium dibenzyldithiocarbamate (DBzA⁺·DODTC⁻), or so on. These organic solutions are also the organic phase in the solvent extraction, whereas the aqueous phase is 1.00 mol/dm³ (H, Na)NO₃ solution. The elements of Am(III) and Eu(III) were extracted into organic phase from different hydrogen ion concentrations of aqueous phase. The SF of Am(III)/Eu(III) is 3.2 × 10⁴ at pH_eq = 6.25 in DOA–CS₂/nitrobenzene system. This separation technique of Am(III) from Eu(III) by extraction based on in situ extractant formation has the following advantages. (a) It is unnecessary to take the chemical stability of extractant into account for storage purpose, and (b) Am(III) can be completely separated from Eu(III) by a single extraction procedure.     

Distribution equilibria of Pb and Cu between CaO-SiO2-Al2O3 melts and liquid copper

The distribution equilibria of lead and copper between CaO-SiO₂-Al₂O₃ melts and liquid copper were measured at 1623 K under a controlled H₂-CO₂ atmosphere. The distribution ratios were plotted against the oxygen partial pressure, and reasonable oxide forms dissolved in the melts were estimated from the slopes of the plots. The activity coefficients of lead oxide (PbO) and cuprous oxide (CuO_0.5) increased with increasing slag basicity, defined by X _CaO/X _SiO2. The temperature dependence of the activity coefficients of lead oxide and cuprous oxide was also measured.     

High pressure vapor-liquid equilibria and critical loci for the HFC125-HFC134a system

We measured vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) ranging from 303.75 to 363.15 K and the critical locus for the system of pentafluoroethane (HFC125)-1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (HFC134a). The critical locus exhibited type I behavior by van Konynenberg and Sccot. Correlating the VLE data with an extended BWR equation of state, we found the optimum binary interaction parameter for this system 1.0081 and estimated coefficients of performance (C.O.P.) as a mixture refrigerant. As a result of the correlation, we found that the HFC125-HFC134a system is a potential alternative refrigerant when mole fraction of HFC125 is lower than 0.6. Calculations showed a 4.9% saving energy in the cycle compared with chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC22), for a composition of 30 mole percent HFC125. This paper was presented at The 5th International Symposium on Separation Technology-Korea and Japan held at Seoul between August 19 and 21, 1999.