In situ preparation of nano ZnO/hyperbranched polyimide hybrid film and their optical properties

Novel hybrid films of fluorinated hyperbranched polyimide (HBPI) and zinc oxide (ZnO) were prepared via the in situ sol-gel polymerization technique, in which mono-ethanolamine (MEA) was used as the coupling agent between the termini of HBPI and the precursor of ZnO. The hybrid films were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) absorption, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption, and fluorescent excitation/emission spectroscopy. The films, which originated from the colourless fluorinated HBPI structure and homogeneously dispersed ZnO nanoparticles, exhibited good optical transparency. Furthermore, two kinds of model compounds with and without ZnO and a HBPI film blended with ZnO microparticles were prepared to clarify the fluorescence mechanism in the pristine HBPI and in situ hybrid films. Efficient energy transfer from the ZnO nanoparticles to the aromatic HBPI main chains was observed in the in situ hybrid films, whereas energy transfer occurred only from the locally excited (LE) states to the charge-transfer (CT) state in the HBPI film. These facts demonstrate that the peripheral termini of HBPI are covalently bonded to ZnO particles via the MEA function, which operates as an effective pathway for energy transfer to give intense fluorescent emission.     

环介导等温核酸扩增技术快速检测产毒亚历山大藻

DNA环介导等温扩增(LAMP)方法是一种新型的核酸扩增技术,该方法是在等温的条件下进行的,具有反应时间短、灵敏度高、特异性强的特点.本文以产麻痹性贝毒(PSP)的亚历山大藻为研究对象,采用简易法提取DNA模板,设计特异性LAMP引物,利用LAMP技术进行产毒藻种的快速检测,同时,着重对LAMP技术与PCR技术在检测微小亚历山大藻细胞的灵敏度方面做了比较.向LAMP终产物中加入SYBR Green I 染料后可直接用肉眼观察结果而不需要通过凝胶电泳来观察.结果表明,LAMP技术在恒温65℃,1h内就可以检测到产毒藻种;LAMP技术检测微小亚历山大藻的最低检测限为200个/ml,而PCR技术的最低检测限为1000个/ml,LAMP扩增方法比PCR扩增方法的程序简单、反应时间短、灵敏度高;LAMP技术不需要精密的温度循环装置,有恒温加热设备就可以满足检测条件,可用于野外检测.     

Refinement of inverter model considering dead‐time for performance improvement in predictive instantaneous current control

Model predictive instantaneous‐current control (MPIC), which was proposed in our earlier works, enables us to achieve better instantaneous current control using mathematical models of an inverter and permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). However, dead‐time to avoid short breakdown in the inverter is not usually considered in a general inverter model. Such an unmodeled part in the inverter model prevents accurate prediction of current evolution in motor systems based on the model predictive control. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze current response resulting from the dead‐time in the MPIC, and propose a refined inverter model considering the dead‐time so that control performance is improved. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through simulation and experiments. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Biosynthesis of p-anisaldehyde by the white-rot basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus

The white-rot basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus produced sweet flavor compounds on a liquid medium. The major and minor compounds identified by GC-MS analysis were p-anisaldehyde (4-methoxybenzaldehyde) and 3-chloro-p-anisaldehyde (3-chloro-4-methoxybenzaldehyde), respectively. p-Anisaldehyde was only produced under static culture conditions. Differences in the type and quantity of flavor compounds produced among wild strains of P. ostreatus were observed. Aryl alcohol oxidase and manganese peroxidase activities increased parallel to the production of p-anisaldehyde. These results indicated that the biosynthesis of p-anisaldehyde is concerned in generating H2O2-activated peroxidase in the lignin-degradation system. Addition of L-tyrosine to the culture led to higher production of p-anisaldehyde. The flavor extract, which contains p-anisaldehyde, exhibited antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum.     

Corrosion resistance of structural materials in high-temperature aqueous sulfuric acids in thermochemical water-splitting iodine–sulfur process

Very harsh environments exist in the iodine–sulfur process for hydrogen production. Structural materials for sulfuric acid vaporizers and concentrators are exposed to high-temperature corrosive environments. Immersion tests were carried out to evaluate the corrosion resistance of ceramics and to evaluate corrosion-resistant metals exposed to environments of aqueous sulfuric acids at temperatures of 320, 380, and 460 °C, and pressure of 2 MPa. The aqueous sulfuric acid concentrations for the temperatures were 75, 85, and 95 wt%, respectively. Ceramic specimens of silicon carbides (SiC), silicon-impregnated silicon carbides (Si–SiC), and silicon nitrides (Si₃N₄) showed excellent corrosion resistance from weight loss measurements after exposure to 75, 85, and 95 wt% sulfuric acid. High-silicon irons with silicon content of 20 wt% showed a fair measure of corrosion resistance. However, evidence of crack formation was detected via microscopy. Silicon enriched steels severely suffered from uniform corrosion with a corrosion rate in 95 wt% sulfuric acid of approximately 1 g m⁻² h⁻¹. Among the tested materials, the ceramics SiC, Si–SiC, and Si₃N₄ were found to be suitable candidates for structural materials in direct contact with the considered environments.     

An observer design for linear systems with unknown inputs

A method is presented for designing an observer for the state of a linear time-invariant system with unknown inputs. The structure algorithm developed by Silverman is applied to obtain the observer which estimates the maximum estimable subspace of the state. It is shown that the observer equation can be derived from the maximum uncontrollable subspace of the original system with the aid of a left inverse for a transposed linear system. This leads us to the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a state observer. An application to the insensitivity observer synthesis is also included.     

A Basic Study of User Utility Maximizing Content Retrieval from Information Networks

This paper proposes some basic methods of content search yielding high user utility or user's satisfaction from numerous information sources scattered over large‐scale networks. In these methods, the search policy is decided by the estimated user utility gain and/or current user utility for each search action, and the most favorable combination of information sources and search content items is selected so as to enlarge the total user utility of the entire search activity. In addition, we evaluate the efficiency of the methods by computer simulations, in which we specify the network topology, user utility functions, probabilities of existence of the search content items in each information source, and so on, apply the proposed methods and other methods for comparison, and compare their aggregate utility gains as an estimation index. The proposed methods are found to achieve good performance in general and an index value about 2.45 times that of ordinary search is observed in an extreme simulation scenario. We discuss the pros and cons of the proposed methods for all the simulation scenarios.     

Influence of quadrature‐axis reactance of large turbine generator on operation

Two‐pole large generators are extensively used in power utilities. Growing demand for electric power in recent years has led to substantial increases in the capacity of generators. In line with this trend, our company has manufactured two‐pole turbine generators in the 900,000‐kVA to 1,200,000‐kVA classes. As the capacity of generators becomes larger, equivalent circuits are increasingly expected to improve their precision in estimating operation characteristics. The Park model has been widely used as an equivalent circuit model. The Park model with quadrature axis transient reactance $x_{q}^{\prime}$ is claimed to be useful for accurately estimating the load rejection characteristics of turbine generators. However, it is difficult to measure $x_{q}^{\prime}$, few studies based on measured data have appeared. As one of the few examples, we have conducted a measured data on a 500,000‐kVA‐class generator. Recently, the authors obtained test data on $x_{q}^{\prime}$ of a 900,000‐kVA‐class generator. In this study, based on these data, we studied the effect of $x_{q}^{\prime}$ using the finite element method and a transient analysis program (EMTP‐ATP). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 177(3): 17–27, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21099     

New monitoring approach for metabolic dynamics in microbial ecosystems using stable-isotope-labeling technologies

We have developed a new approach for monitoring the metabolic dynamics in microbial ecosystems using a combination of DNA fingerprinting and metabolome analysis based on stable-isotope-labeling technologies. Stable-isotope probing of DNA (DNA-SIP) has been used previously for the evaluation of cross-feeding in microbial communities. For the development and validation of our monitoring approach, fecal microbiota were analyzed with stable-isotope-labeled glucose used as the sole carbon source. In order to link the metabolic information and the microbial variability, we performed metabolic–microbial correlation analysis based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) profiles and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprints, which successfully identified the glucose-utilizing bacteria and their related extracellular metabolites. Moreover, our approach revealed information regarding the carbon flux, in that the “first” wave of extracellular metabolites secreted by the glucose-utilizing bacteria were incorporated into the “secondary” group of substrate-utilizing bacteria, and that this “secondary” group further produced their own secondary metabolized substrates. Thus, this approach is a powerful tool for monitoring the metabolic dynamics in microbial ecosystems and allows for the tracking of the carbon flux within a microbial community.     

Tofu: A 6D Mesh/Torus Interconnect for Exascale Computers

A new architecture with a six-dimensional mesh/torus topology achieves highly scalable and fault-tolerant interconnection networks for large-scale supercomputers that can exceed 10 petaflops.