Microscopic and Spectroscopic Characterization of Stacking‐Sequence Disordered SiC

Nanometric silicon carbide (SiC) powder (~5 nm) with a stacking‐sequence disordered structure (SD‐SiC), synthesized from elemental powders of Si and C, was investigated by microscopic and several spectroscopic methods. The structure of SD‐SiC was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ¹³C, and ²⁹Si‐NMR, and by infrared (IR), Raman, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) methods. TEM characterizations showed relatively large deviations of the lattice parameters in the as‐synthesized SiC, indicative of the presence of stacking‐sequence disorder. IR analysis showed a weaker Si‐C bond in the SD‐SiC than in the 3C‐SiC. XPS determinations showed that C and Si in SD‐SiC are similar to those in 3C‐SiC. Broader peaks of ²⁹Si and ¹³C MAS‐NMR also indicate that the structure of SD‐SiC is different from that of 3C‐SiC. Raman spectroscopy exhibited activities for the crystalline polytypes and the amorphous of SiC but lack of them for the SD‐SiC. The inactivity of Raman spectroscopy for the SD‐SiC along with large deviation of the lattice constant and the extremely broad X‐ray diffraction peaks would indicate that SD‐SiC is a possible intermediate state between conventional polytype SiC and amorphous SiC, that is, a possible new type of SiC.     

Oriented Growth of Gold Nanowires on MoS2

Layered 2D materials serve as a new class of substrates for templated synthesis of various nanomaterials even with highly dissimilar crystal structures; thus overcoming the lattice constraints of conventional epitaxial processes. Here, molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is used as a prototypical model substrate for oriented growth of in‐plane Au nanowires (NWs) despite the nearly 8% lattice mismatch between MoS₂ and Au. Au NWs on the MoS₂ surface are oriented along three symmetrically equivalent directions within the substrate arising from the strong Au–S binding that templates the oriented growth. The kinetics of the growth process are explored through experiments and modeling. Strong charge transfer is observed between Au NWs and MoS₂, resulting in degenerate p‐doping of MoS₂.     

Reversible Control of Radius and Morphology of Fluorene‐Azobenzene Copolymer Nanowires by Light Exposure

The preparation of photoresponsive polymer nanowires comprising photochromic azobenzene (Azo) and π‐conjugated fluorene (FO) units is reported. Well‐defined and uniform nanowires of the copolymer (PFOAzo) were successfully fabricated by the single particle nanofabrication technique after optimizing the FO:Azo ratio and the development conditions. Azo units in the PFOAzo nanowires underwent reversible trans–cis–trans isomerization upon exposure to ultraviolet or visible light, leading to changes in the radius (between ca. 6 and 8 nm) and morphology (straight or wavy) of the nanowires. The oligo(alkylfluorene) units in the backbone are found to profit the crosslinking efficiency upon high‐energy ion beam irradiation, and more importantly, provide sufficient flexibility to allow reversible photoswitching. This demonstration of the photoluminescence, semiconducting, and mechanical properties of the PFOAzo nanowires is an important advance in the evolution of electro‐mechanical nanomaterials.     

Activities of lysozyme complexed with polysaccharides and potassium poly(vinyl alcohol sulfate) with various degrees of esterification

Enzymatic activities of complexes of lysozyme (Lyz) with polysaccharides and potassium poly(vinyl alcohol sulfate) (KPVS) with different degrees of esterification (D _e) were studied as a function of pH, substrate concentration, and temperature. Molar masses and radii of polyelectrolytes and complexes and fluorescence spectra of Lyz molecules after complexation were examined by means of dynamic and static light scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy measurements. The relative activities of KPVS–Lyz complexes toward Micrococcus lysodeikticus and the number of hydroxyl groups in the formed complex increased with the decrease in D _e in KPVS molecules, whereas molar masses and radii of the complexes decreased. Moreover, kinetic parameters and fluorescence spectral data analysis indicate that activities and microenvironments around the active sites in Lyz complexed with KPVS with low D _e (0.130) and chondroitin sulfate C were nearly equal to that of native Lyz. These results indicate that the decrease in activities through complexation is mainly caused by the steric hindrance between Lyz and substrate due to aggregation of complexes, not by conformational change in Lyz molecules. Therefore, polyelectrolytes with hydroxyl groups have great potential as enzyme immobilization matrixes.     

Accelerator-based neutron tomography cooperating with X-ray radiography

Neutron resonance absorption spectroscopy (N-RAS) using a pulsed neutron source can be applied to time-of-flight (TOF) radiography, and the obtained parameters from the peak shape analysis can be reconstructed as the tomograms of nuclide distributions using computed tomography (CT). The problem is that the available spatial resolution is not sufficient for radiography imaging. In this study, we combined neutron and X-ray radiographies to improve the quantitative reconstruction of the neutron tomogram. The accelerator-based neutron source emits X-rays (or gamma-rays) at the same time the neutron pulse is emitted. We utilized the X-ray beam from the neutron source to obtain X-ray radiogram on the same beam line with neutron radiography and then reconstructed the neutron tomogram quantitatively with the help of a detailed sample internal structure obtained from the X-ray radiogram. We calculated the nuclide number density distribution tomogram using a statistical reconstruction procedure, which was easy to include in the structure model during the reconstruction. The obtained result of nuclide number density distribution showed good coincidence with the original object number density.     

Surface-retained organic matter of Microcystis aeruginosa inhibiting coagulation with polyaluminum chloride in drinking water treatment

Algogenic organic matter produced by the excess growth of cyanobacteria in semi-closed water areas causes coagulation inhibition in drinking water production. In this study, hydrophilic substances of Microcystis aeruginosa, which were mainly composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and RNA, were prepared, and the involvement of these cyanobacterial hydrophilic substances in coagulation inhibition was investigated. As a result, it was found that the negatively charged hydrophilic substances with a molecular weight higher than 10 kDa have a significant role in coagulation inhibition. Further fractionation of cyanobacterial hydrophilic substances revealed that surface-retained organic matter (SOM), including LPS, could exhibit a potent inhibitory effect on the coagulation using polyaluminum chloride (PACl), presumably because of the direct interaction of hydrophilic SOM with cations originated from PACl, which could impede the hydrolysis of the coagulant.     

Risk quantification for ANN based short‐term load forecasting

A new risk assessment method for short‐term load forecasting is proposed. The proposed method makes use of an artificial neural network (ANN) to forecast one‐step‐ahead daily maximum loads and evaluate uncertainty of load forecasting. With ANN as the model, the radial basis function (RBF) network is employed to forecast loads due to its good performance. Sufficient realistic pseudo‐scenarios are required to carry out quantitative risk analysis. The multivariate normal distribution with the correlation between input variables is used to give more realistic results to ANN. In addition, the method of moment matching is used to improve the accuracy of the multivariate normal distribution. The peak over threshold (POT) approach is used to evaluate risk that exceeds the upper bounds of generation capacity. The proposed method is successfully applied to real data of daily maximum load forecasting. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 166(2): 54– 62, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20464     

Artificial compressibility method and lattice Boltzmann method: Similarities and differences

The artificial compressibility method and the lattice Boltzmann method yield the solutions of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in the limit of the vanishing Mach number. The inclusion of the bulk viscosity is considered to be one of the reasons for the success of the lattice Boltzmann method at least in the 2D case. In the present paper, the robustness of the artificial compressibility method is enhanced by introducing a new dissipation term, which makes high cell-Reynolds number computation possible. The increase of the stability is also confirmed in the linear stability analysis; the magnitude of the eigenvalues are drastically reduced for low resolution. Comparisons are made with the lattice Boltzmann method. It is confirmed that the fortified ACM is more robust as well as more accurate than the lattice Boltzmann method.     

Volumetric properties of carbon dioxide + 2-butanol mixtures at 313.15 K

Volumetric properties were measured of carbon dioxide + 2-butanol mixtures at 313.15 K, using the vibrating tube Anton Paar DMA 512P density meter. In the present experiments, no analytical instrument was required. The saturated pressures were also measured of carbon dioxide + 2-butanol mixtures at 313.15 K by the synthetic method. The experimental data obtained were correlated with the density equation, Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation of state, and the pseudocubic equation of state.