Evaluation of two-dimensional strain distribution by STEM/NBD

We proposed a strain mapping technique by Nano Beam electron Diffraction (NBD) combined with an energy filter (EF) and a scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) function. The STEM function improves the accuracy of a position where a diffraction pattern is acquired. The EF excludes inelastic scattering and enables novel numerical processing for the appropriate measurement of distances between diffraction disks. Using this technique, strain distributions were measured for two different types of p-MOSFETs, i.e., source/drain regions of each MOSFET is composed of different types of silicide, and the difference of their strain distributions in the channel region was confirmed. The proposed method was able to clarify that the strain distributions are quite different depending on the silicide materials even if the exterior of the MOSFETs was almost identical.     

Quantitative Determination of Neonicotinoid Insecticide Thiamethoxam in Agricultural Samples: a Comparative Verification Between High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Monoclonal Antibody-Based Immunoassay

This work describes the analytical performance of the newly developed kit-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam to effectively exploit as a rapid and simple detection system for pesticide residue on the scenes of the agricultural production and distribution. The ELISA represents the satisfactory analytical characteristics (IC₅₀ value, 0.72 ng mL^?1; limit of detection, 0.1 ng mL^?1) to detect thiamethoxam at the maximum residue limits or thereabout in samples. For the ELISA analysis, methanol that showed the lowest influence on the assay performance was selected as the best extractant, and the final concentration in the well could be up to 5 % (v/v) without any negative influence on the ELISA. Dilution of sample extracts with water was effective in eliminating matrix interference. Average recoveries from thiamethoxam-spiked agricultural samples were >88 % using a rapid and simple extraction method with hand shaking for 5 min. Analytical results obtained from the ELISA were comparable to those obtained from the conventional HPLC method. These findings strongly indicate that the proposed kit-based ELISA for determination of thiamethoxam residue in agricultural samples may be routinely employed as a rapid, simple, and quantitative preliminary screening method for the monitoring of safety of agricultural products.     

Temperature dependence of open-circuit voltage in dye-sensitized solar cells

Temperature, T, dependence of open-circuit voltage, V_oc, was investigated in home-assembled and maker-trial dye-sensitized solar cells, which had wide variety in V_oc, i.e. 600–800 mV. A linear decrease of V_oc was observed with increasing T; all these cells had a slope of about ?2.5 mV/°C, irrespective of the V_ocs in the STC. The mechanism of the T dependence of V_oc was discussed with the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, EIS. Analyses of EIS data with a newly derived model revealed that this dependence is primarily ascribed to a shift of the TiO₂ conduction band.     

Analysis based evaluation for buckling loads of two-way elliptic paraboloidal single layer lattice domes

The present paper proposes an efficient method for evaluating elasto-plastic buckling loads of two-way elliptic paraboloidal lattice domes of single layer under vertical loads. The procedure is composed of the following steps: linear buckling analysis to find the generalized slenderness ratio of the specific member that is the most relevant to their loading capacities; the generalized slenderness ratio is applied to obtain the axial strength for the specific member, based on which elasto-plastic buckling load is evaluated. The comparison of the evaluated buckling loads with those obtained from FEM elasto-plastic buckling analyses proves that the procedure is valid and efficient enough to be applied in design practice. Based on safety factors, given in some recommendations, the allowable column strength is also proposed for proportioning the members of elliptic single layer paraboloidal lattice domes.     

Structural relaxation and electrical conductivity of molybdovanadate glass

⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectrum of conductive barium iron vanadate glass with a composition of 20BaO·10Fe₂O₃·70V₂O₅ (in mol%) showed paramagnetic doublet peak due to distorted Fe^IIIO₄ tetrahedra with isomer shift (δ) value of 0.37 (±?0.01) mm s^?1. Mössbauer spectra of 20BaO·10Fe₂O₃·xMoO₃·(70???x)V₂O₅ glasses (x?=?20–50) showed paramagnetic doublet peaks due to distorted Fe^IIIO₆ octahedra with δ’s of 0.40–0.41 (±?0.01) mm s^?1. These results evidently show a composition-dependent change of the 3D-skeleton structure from “vanadate glass” phase, composed of distorted VO₄ tetrahedra and VO₅ pyramids, to “molybdate glass” composed of distorted MoO₆ octahedra. After isothermal annealing at 500 °C for 60 min, Mössbauer spectra also showed a marked decrease in the quadrupole splitting (Δ) of Fe^III from 0.70 to 0.77 to 0.58–0.62 (±?0.02) mm s^?1, which proved “structural relaxation” of distorted VO₄ tetrahedra which were randomly connected to FeO₄, VO₅, MoO₆, FeO₆ and MoO₄ units by sharing corner oxygen atoms or edges. DC-conductivity (σ) of barium iron vanadate glass (x?=?0) measured at room temperature was 3.2?×?10^?6 S cm^?1, which increased to 3.4?×?10^?1 S cm^?1 after the annealing at 500 °C for 60 min. The σ’s of as-cast molybdovanadate glasses with x’s of 20–50 were ca. 1.1?×?10^?7 or 1.2?×?10^?7S cm^?1, which increased to 2.1?×?10^?2 (x?=?20), 6.7?×?10^?3 (x?=?35) and 1.9?×?10^?4 S cm^?1 (x?=?50) after the annealing at 500 °C for 60 min. It was concluded that the structural relaxation of distorted VO₄ tetrahedra was directly related to the marked increase in the σ, as generally observed in several vanadate glasses.     

2005 EXPO-JAPAN"爱·地球博"之风景园林新领域

世博会的历史可以追溯到150年以前,每一次的风景园林设计都在其中大放光彩.但是,2005年的"爱·地球博"中风景园林设计所起到的作用,与以往的世博会完全不同.经过长达5年对环境的评估及其保全方法的探讨后,才正式确立了这些方案.配套于会场建设"3R"方针(Reduce,Reuse,Recycle)的造园设计、为了充分体现世博会主题"自然之睿智"而进行了会场用材的研发.在此之上,在"生物肺"和"日本庭园"等会场的重要设施中,提案、设计、施工监理、运营等处也考虑到了上述要点.这样的尝试是21世纪风景园林设计的前沿所在,预示了在科学技术领域中"生物模仿技术"和"生物应用技术"的重要地位,如果将这种技术运用到空间设计中,这样的空间会引导市民产生一种自我参与的共鸣.基于这种观点,"爱·地球博"会场设计概念定义为"从工业博览会到体验".     

Design, Synthesis, and Catalysis of Bio-inspired Immobilized Metallocomplex Catalyst

Novel immobilized metallocomplex catalyst based on bio-inspired concept has been developed. The allyl functional group in the anionic chelating ligand reacts with thiols to give the linker for immobilization. The immobilization of the chelating ligand onto amorphous silica supports results in the isolated metal-binding sites giving the coordinatively unsaturated metal center. The biomimetic iron complex-immobilized silica exhibits the catalysis for olefin epoxidation with aqueous H₂O₂ at ambient temperature.