Photochemical Reaction of Furans in the Presence of [60] Fullerene

The first evidence was presented which supports a photochemical pathway during the reaction of furan derivatives in the presence of C₆₀, which was formerly believed to proceed via a thermal [2+4]-concerted cycloaddition reaction of furans with C₆₀. LD-TOF-MS, UV-vis, FT-IR and ¹H-, ¹³C-NMR spectra showed that     

Nano-abrasion machining of brittle materials and its application to corrective figuring

A method of ultraprecision abrasion machining named “Nano-abrasion machining” is proposed for optical finishing of brittle materials. The fundamental characteristics and its applicability for corrective figuring to improve form accuracy of optics of brittle materials are investigated. It is experimentally ascertained that the material removal rate and surface roughness are suitable for optical finishing. However, the cross-sectional profile of the machined spot that is dependent on the collision angle is a combination of V- and W-shape, which is unsuitable for the corrective figuring. Therefore, circular motion machining is introduced and a preferable profile with an axis-symmetric V-shape is realized. The machining method is applied to corrective figuring of optical glass of BK7. The NC program is generated with a computer program developed by modifying the scanning motion and the form accuracy is predicted. According to the simulation results, corrective figuring is performed. The flatness is improved from PV = 151 to 29 nm. From the experimental results, it is clarified that the nano-abrasion machining is applicable to corrective figuring of brittle materials.     

Symbol emergence in robotics: a survey

Humans can learn a language through physical interaction with their environment and semiotic communication with other people. It is very important to obtain a computational understanding of how humans can form symbol systems and obtain semiotic skills through their autonomous mental development. Recently, many studies have been conducted regarding the construction of robotic systems and machine learning methods that can learn a language through embodied multimodal interaction with their environment and other systems. Understanding human?-social interactions and developing a robot that can smoothly communicate with human users in the long term require an understanding of the dynamics of symbol systems. The embodied cognition and social interaction of participants gradually alter a symbol system in a constructive manner. In this paper, we introduce a field of research called symbol emergence in robotics (SER). SER represents a constructive approach towards a symbol emergence system. The symbol emergence system is socially self-organized through both semiotic communications and physical interactions with autonomous cognitive developmental agents, i.e. humans and developmental robots. In this paper, specifically, we describe some state-of-art research topics concerning SER, such as multimodal categorization, word discovery, and double articulation analysis. They enable robots to discover words and their embodied meanings from raw sensory-motor information, including visual information, haptic information, auditory information, and acoustic speech signals, in a totally unsupervised manner. Finally, we suggest future directions for research in SER.     

Enhancing Effect of H2 on the Selective Reduction of NO with CO over Ba-doped Ir/WO3/SiO2 Catalyst

In order to improve the catalytic performance of supported-Ir catalysts for the selective reduction of NO with CO, the effect of H₂ was investigated. While adding H₂ showed no or negative effect on NO conversion on Ir/SiO₂, Ba/Ir/SiO₂ and Ir/WO₃/SiO₂ catalysts, the activity of Ba-doped Ir/WO₃/SiO₂ catalyst for NO reduction was significantly increased by H₂ addition. The role of H₂ was found to stabilize the catalytically active Ir-WO _x sites during the reaction.     

Modeling and scale-up simulation of U-tube ozone oxidation reactor for treating drinking water

In the present study, we developed a novel simulation model of the U-tube reactor for treating drinking water, which is composed of a coaxial inner tube serving as an efficient concurrent down-flow ozone dissolver and an outer column carrying out reactions between ozone and organic substances including odorous materials (2-methylisoborneol: 2-MIB) dissolved in the raw water. We assume that the U-tube is composed of a plug flow section (inner tube) followed by a tanks-in-series section (outer bubble column) and take into account the effect of the hydrostatic pressurization on the flow and absorption equilibrium for the gaseous components including ozone and other inactive species in developing the mass balance models. An algorithm is constructed of the differential multiple mass balance equations for the inner tube sections and multiple difference mass balance equations in the series tanks in the outer column section to enable the scale-up from a pilot plant to a full-scale plant. The gas holdup and gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient were measured in a model reactor and correlated for the use of the simulation calculation. Available literature data and correlations on the rates of reactions between ozone and organic substances including odorous material 2-MIB, gas-liquid equilibrium for active and inactive gases and axial fluid mixing properties are also incorporated in the simulation calculation. The simulation results well explained the available data of the ozone absorption efficiency and the removal efficiency of the odorous material in a pilot U-tube reactor. The simulation procedure was also successfully extended to verify the performance of a full-scale U-tube reactor. It is shown that the ozone absorption is practically a single function of the gas/liquid ratio while the removal efficiency of the odorous material is a single function of the ozone dose for a specified U-tube configuration.     

Phase transition and the packing structure of the side mesogenic groups of liquid crystalline side-chain copolymers

Summary Copolymers consisting of cholesteryl 11-methacryloyloxy-undecanoate (ChMO-10) and t-buthyl methacrylate (t-BMA) were studied by DSC method and by small angle X-ray scattering method (SAXS). Although homopolymer (pChMO-10) has two different packing structures which are a single-layer packing structure and a two-layer packing one, copolymers (co-pChMO-10-t-BMA) have only the single layer packing one in their mesophase. Furthermore, transition entropy at a clearing point of co-pChMO-10-t-BMA (80/20) is larger than that of pChMO-10. Adequate distance of the mesogenic groups in the direction of a short axis of the mesogenic groups, produced by introduction of non-mesogenic units, seems to stabilize the single-layer packing structure.     

Sugar-binding property of magnetite particles modified with dihydroxyborylphenyl groups via graft polymerization of acrylic acid

In order to combine sugar-binding property and magnetism, dihydroxyborylphenyl (DHBP) groups were attached to magnetite particles via graft polymerization of acrylic acid. The graft polymerization was carried out in a redox system consisting of mercapto groups introduced onto the surfaces of magnetite particles and ceric ions. DHBP groups were attached through amide linkages by the condensation reaction of 3-aminophenylboronic acid with carboxyl groups of the grafted poly(acrylic acid). Complexation of the attached DHBP groups was examined with various sugars and compared with that of the free phenylboronic acid. The attached DHBP groups gave a large value of binding constant K for the complexation with adenosine having a pair of cis-OH groups, whereas the K values for the DHBP groups with adenosine phosphates were extremely small. With respect to the complexation with 2′-deoxyadenosine, cooperative interaction of neighboring DHBP groups was suggested. Although the value of acidity index pK_a of the attached DHBP was larger than that of free phenylboronic acid, the pK_a value was decreased by coexistent basic groups.     

Simulation of a hollow cone-shaped probe in aberration-corrected STEM for high-resolution tomography

In a simulation study, we found that focal depth extension using a hollow cone-shaped probe with an annular aperture is useful for three-dimension (3D) tomography of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Our calculations showed that, for 200 kV STEM, a sub-angstrom sized probe could extend the focal depth from a few to more than several tens nm. We also examined the influence of obstructing bridges, including actual fabricated annular apertures, on focused probe intensity distribution. We found that, to avoid any distortion of probe intensity, the width of the bridges should be narrow. Quantitative evaluation showed that the ratio of obstructing area of the bridges to the area of the annular slit should be less than 0.11.     

Synthesis of Lanthanofullerenes by Laser Ablation Using Pulsed and CW-Nd:YAG Lasers

Endohedral lanthanum fullerenes, La@C₆₀, La@C₈₂ and La₂C₈₀, were synthesized by ablation of graphite and La₂O₃ in flowing Ar buffer gas with a 1064 nm beam from a pulsed-Nd: YAG laser in which the graphite was heated by the CW-Nd:YAG laser up to 2500 °C. The La-fullerenes were also prepared by laser ablation of a lanthanum-graphite composite rod. The extractant fullerenes from the carbon soot were analyzed by laser-desorption time of flight mass spectrometry (LD-TOF MS). The relative yield of La@C₈₂, increased with increasing temperature of the rod in the range of 700-2300 °C.     

Reconstructing clusters for preconditioned short‐term load forecasting

This paper presents a new preconditioned method for short‐term load forecasting that focuses on more accurate predicted value. In recent years, the deregulated and competitive power market increases the degree of uncertainty. As a result, more sophisticated short‐term load forecasting techniques are required to deal with more complicated load behavior. To alleviate the complexity of load behavior, this paper presents a new preconditioned model. In this paper, clustering results are reconstructed to equalize the number of learning data after clustering with the Kohonen‐based neural network. That enhances a short‐term load forecasting model at each reconstructed cluster. The proposed method is successfully applied to real data of one‐step ahead daily maximum load forecasting. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 161(1): 26–33, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20300