Satellite data visualization system for education

It is important for environment protection to monitor changes in the environment by natural and human causes. It is also important to educate the next generation on the importance of the global environment issues. Recently, it has become possible to continually monitor the global environment using various satellite sensor data. But these satellite data are used for highly specialized analysis by experts in such fields, and the data cannot easily be used by non-experts. In this paper, we propose a satellite data visualization system for educational use. In the proposed system, a gray-scale 2-dimensional image is created from the satellite data. Next, a pseudo-color image is created from the gray-scale image to assist the comprehension of the data. A 3-dimensional data representation of the image is also created, to assist the comparison of the individual data. The aim of the created image is for educational use, and the image is created with emphasis on comprehension of the data, rather than presentation of data details. The aim of the proposed system is presenting the satellite data visually so that non-experts can easily understand. The target of this research is to apply the proposed system for natural science education and to improve the awareness of global environmental issues.     

Solid–Liquid Phase Behaviors of Binary Mixtures of Various Partial Acylglycerols by Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Monoacylglycerol (MAG), diacylglycerol (DAG), and triacylglycerol (TAG) are impurities in biodiesel and a major cause of precipitation. Understanding the behavior of such acylglycerols is essential for predicting biodiesel cold flow properties (CFPs). The previous study on MAG/MAG binary mixtures shows that they tend to solidify by forming molecular compounds. In contrast, TAG/TAG mixtures, which have been studied extensively, are commonly eutectic or monotectic systems, in which each component solidifies separately. The present study focuses on binary mixtures of DAG/DAG and different acylglycerol pairs (MAG/DAG, TAG/MAG, and DAG/TAG), and determination of their solid–liquid phase behavior by differential scanning calorimetry. These mixtures are found to behave as eutectic or monotectic systems with no sign of compound formation. As DAG and TAG have lower contents than MAG in biodiesel and they are unlikely to form molecular compounds with MAG, it is suggested that DAG and TAG have little effect on the biodiesel CFPs. Practical Applications: Biodiesel has attracted much interest because its blending with conventional fossil diesel has become more standard with biofuel mandates. From an energy perspective, the solid–liquid phase behavior of acylglycerols will contribute to building prediction models for biodiesel CFPs.     

Thermal diffusivity and porosity of solid materials by the electromagnetic ultrasonic technique. Part 3—simultaneous measurement of ultrasonic velocity and thermal diffusivity

The objective of this study is to evaluate simultaneously the time dependence of the thermal diffusivity of carbon-carbon composites (C/C composites) and their porosity during heat treatment using the electromagnetic ultrasonic technique. This paper describes two kinds of experiments conducted to confirm the principle for simultaneous measurement of both the ultrasonic velocity (used to evaluate the porosity) and the thermal diffusivity at room temperature. For each material, the samples used in both experiments were identical. The ultrasonic velocity of type 304 stainless steel and its thermal diffusivity were 5.85 km/s and 3.8 mm²/s with precisions of ±1.6 and ±8 percent, respectively. The ultrasonic velocity of a two-dimensional woven C/C composite and its thermal diffusivity were 2.86 km/s and 4.8 mm²/s with precisions of ±5.0 and ±8 percent, respectively. The results appear to indicate that the electromagnetic ultrasonic technique can measure the ultrasonic velocity and the thermal diffusivity simultaneously and that it is also applicable to C/C composites. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Heat Trans Jpn Res, 25(5): 308–322, 1996     

Synthesis and chemical properties of polyethyleneimines crosslinked by penta-2,4-dienylideneammonium unit

The reaction of N-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)pyridinium anion ( salt(A) ; A = Cl⁻, FeCl₄⁻, and (CN)₂N⁻) with linear polyethyleneimine (LPEI; M_n = 20 380) and branched polyethyleneimines (BPEI1; M_n = 600, BPEI2; M_n = 10 000) at various molar feed ratios without using a catalyst resulted in pyridinium ring opening to yield ionic LPEI and BPEIs that were crosslinked by conjugated penta-2,4-dienylideneammonium (PDA) units, LPEI-PDA , BPEI1-PDA , and BPEI2-PDA , respectively. A model compound was synthesized by the reaction of salt(Cl) with diethylamine. The solubilities of BPEI1-PDA and BPEI2-PDA depended on the feed ratios between salt(Cl) and BPEI1 or BPEI2. Dipping LPEI-PDA into water and methanol yielded hydro- and organogels, respectively. UV–vis and reflection measurements revealed an expanded π-conjugation length between the polymer chains due to the through-space orbital interaction of the electrons on the two nitrogen atoms at the crosslinked positions in LPEI-PDA , BPEI1-PDA , and BPEI2-PDA . Cyclic voltammetry analysis suggested that the polymers underwent electrochemical oxidation. Measurement using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) indicated that LPEI-PDA having FeCl₄⁻ anions was paramagnetic. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48712.     

Specification of individual variation in luminous efficiency for brightness

Principal component analysis was applied to spectral luminous efficiencies determined by the heterochromatic brightness matching by 51 and 70 observers for the field size. 2° and 10°, respectively, which were used to derive the CIE V_b,2(Λ) and V_b,10(Λ). Four principal components were found to explain the individual variation. the two deviation indices were introduced by slightly modifying the first and second principal scores and they were effectively used to specify individual variations and to predict the spectral luminous efficiency curve. Equations were derived to predict these two deviation indices as functions of luminous efficiencies at two wavelengths, 460 and 640 nm in the case of 2° field and 470 and 630 mm in 10° field. the luminous efficiency curves thus predicted by the two deviation indices fitted very nicely to the experimentally determined luminous efficiency curves of all the observers. A way to utilize the deviation indices in practice where observers play an important role is proposed to avoid some confusion that may take place because of individual variation.     

Physicochemical properties of monosodium glutamate-compounded tapioca starch exceeds those of simple heat-moisture treated starch

Monosodium glutamate (GluNa)-compounded starch was prepared by heat-moisture treating a mixture of tapioca starch and GluNa. GluNa-compounded starch exhibited a higher gelatinization temperature and reduced swelling and solubility, essentially lower hardness of the granule center, and paste viscosity than those of the heat-moisture treated tapioca starch and the untreated starch. However, its appearance, unit chain length distribution, and α-amylase digestibility were similar to those of the heat-moisture treated tapioca. It is thus concluded that GluNa compounding is useful for providing a unique type of starch that possesses a less swollen and viscous texture than that produced with simple heat-moisture treatment.     

Developmental ability of cloned embryos from neural stem cells

The success rate is generally higher when cloning mice from embryonic stem (ES) cell nuclei than from somatic cell nuclei, suggesting that the embryonic nature or the undifferentiated state of the donor cell increases cloning efficiency. We assessed the developmental ability of cloned embryos derived from cultured neural stem cell (NSC) nuclei and compared the success rate with that of embryos cloned from other donor cells such as differentiated NSCs, cumulus cells, Sertoli cells and ES cells in the mouse. The transfer of two-cell cloned embryos derived from cultured NSC nuclei into surrogate mothers produced five live cloned mice. However, the success rate (0.5%) was higher in embryos cloned from cultured NSC nuclei than from differentiated NSCs (0%), but lower than that obtained by cloning mice from other cell nuclei (2.2-3.5%). Although the in vitro developmental potential to the two-cell stage of the cloned embryos derived from NSC nuclei (73%) was similar to that of the cloned embryos derived from other somatic cell nuclei (e.g., 85% in Sertoli cells and 75% in cumulus cells), the developmental rate to the morula-blastocyst stage was only 7%. This rate is remarkably lower than that produced from other somatic cells (e.g., 50% in Sertoli cells and 54% in cumulus cells). These results indicate that the undifferentiated state of neural cells does not enhance the cloning efficiency in mice and that the arrest point for in vitro development of cloned embryos depends on the donor cell type.     

Catalytic decomposition of biomass tars with iron oxide catalysts

Catalytic gasification of wood (Cedar) biomass was carried out using a specially designed flow-type double beds micro reactor in a two step process: temperature programmed non-catalytic steam gasification of biomass was performed in the first (top) bed at 200–850 °C followed by catalytic decomposition gasification of volatile matters (including tars) in the second (bottom) bed at a constant temperature, mainly 600 °C. Iron oxide catalysts, which transformed to Fe₃O₄ after use possessed catalytic activity in biomass tar decomposition. Above 90% of the volatile matters was gasified by the use of iron oxide catalyst (prepared from FeCl₃ and NH_3aq) at SV of 4.5 × 10³ h^?1. Tar was decomposed over the iron oxide catalysts followed by water gas shift reaction. Surface area of the iron oxide seemed to be an important factor for the catalytic tar decomposition. The activity of the iron oxide catalysts for tar decomposition seemed stable with cyclic use but the activity of the catalysts for the water gas shift reaction decreased with repeated use.