CMOS retinal prosthesis with on-chip electrode impedance measurement

A retinal prosthesis device with built-in self-test capability is proposed and demonstrated. The measurement of electrode impedance as a self-test is achieved without increasing the chip area by employing analogue multiplexers to allow the electrodes to be used for both stimulation of retinal cells and measurement of impedance. Measurement is performed using a four-terminal method to ensure good accuracy. A prototype stimulus chip with 16/spl times/16 channels is fabricated using standard 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS technology, and is demonstrated to provide self-test functionality with error of as little as 0.05% in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 100 kHz.     

Direct Use of Benzylic Alcohols for Gold(III)‐Catalyzed S‐Benzylation of Mercaptobenzoic Acids in Water

We demonstrate the gold(III)‐catalyzed direct substitution of benzylic alcohols in water. These atom economic and environmentally benign protocols afford S‐benzylated products in moderate to excellent yields. In contrast, common Lewis or Brønsted acids as catalyst, and organic solvents such as dichloromethane or toluene were ineffective for the S‐benzylation of mercaptobenzoic acids. Water can be an attractive tool for new transition metal‐catalyzed reactions. A Hammett study for the rate constants with various substituted alcohols shows a good correlation (R²=0.97) between the log(k_X/k_H) and the σ⁺ value of the respective substituents. From the slope negative ρ values of 2.35 are obtained, suggesting that there is a build‐up of positive charge in the transition state. Our catalytic system can be performed with the use of only 2 mol% of gold(III) catalyst without any other additives in water, and scaled up to 10 mmol scale (85% isolated yield). Notably, the present method can accomplish the S‐benzylation of unprotected mercaptobenzoic acids, which is chemoselective and leaves the carboxyl group intact. Furthermore, the direct substitution of allylic and propargylic alcohols also proceeded smoothly in good yields.

     

Compositional analysis of deasphalted oils from Arabian crude and their hydrocracked products

The deasphalted oil (DAO) and its hydrocracked products were analyzed by gas chromatograph with an atomic emission detector (GC-AED), time-of-flight mass spectra (TOF-MS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to evaluate the product quality and reaction progress in addition to the yields of the products. Carbon GC-AED spectra revealed that carbon species distributions in distillate products were almost same regardless of their yields and reaction conditions. No sulfur species were found in gasoline and kerosene, while significant reduction of sulfur contents was found in gas oil (GO) according to the hydrocracking reaction temperature and liquid-volume hourly space velocity (LHSV). Vacuum gas oil (VGO) was also analyzed by GC, but it showed a large lump of low resolution. TOF-MS and XRD results indicated that the resid in the feed was cracked into smaller molecules in the product resid. These comprehensive analyses about feeds and products from various hydrocracking process could offer basic information for optimizing the process in industry.     

Activated carbon nanofiber produced from electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofiber as a highly efficient formaldehyde adsorbent

Electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based nanofiber with a uniform diameter of ca. 800 nm was carbonized and steam-activated to produce activated carbon nanofiber with tailored microporosity and abundant nitrogen-containing functional groups as highly efficient adsorption sites. A remarkable amount of formaldehyde, a typical indoor pollutant, was adsorbed onto the pore surface of the PAN-based activated carbon nanofibers even at a low concentration (ca. 11 ppm), demonstrating more than twice as long as breakthrough time of formaldehyde adsorption as compared to conventional activated carbon fibers of larger fiber diameter. The tailored shallow microporosity was considered to afford the preferential adsorption of formaldehyde also in a humid environment.     

超临界流体技术在苎麻织物中的应用研究

对影响超临界CO2流体处理苎麻纤维的因素，如温度、压力、时间以及助溶剂进行正交试验，对处理后的苎麻纤维的含杂情况、微结构、机械物理性能和热稳定性等性质作了测试分析。结果表明，超临界CO2流体处理苎麻织物的最佳工艺条件为：工作温度120℃、压力25MPa、时间40min、助溶剂0．1％。该处理可改善苎麻纤维的性能，提高其膨胀性，有利于后续加工，并为其进一步改性打下基础。     

Levels of phthalates and adipates in processed foods and migration of di-isononyl adipate from polyvinyl chloride film into foods

The levels of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEPHP), di-isononyl phthalate (DINP), di-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) and di-isononyl adipate (DINA) were determined in 50 processed foods (ham and sausage, fried dumpling and shao-mai, fish paste products, croquette and fried fish, bread, noodle, pickles, etc.). DBP, BBP, DEHP, DINP, DEHA, and DINA were contained at nd approximately 47.7, nd approximately 16.6, nd approximately 749, nd approximately 358, nd approximately 57.2 and nd approximately 20,200 ppb, respectively. High-level contamination of DINA was found in fish paste products, croquette and shao-mai, presumably because of migration from plasticized wrapping film using for food packaging. We studied the relationship between DINA migration from wrapped PVC film into fried croquette and its standing time after frying. When the croquette was wrapped immediately after frying, the migration from wrapping film into the croquette was highest (36,400 ng/g). On wrapping after standing for 5 min and 30 min, the migration level was reduced to 1/3.5 and 1/14 of the highest level, respectively.     

Diffusional behavior of multi-arm star polymers by H pulsed field gradient spin-echo NMR method

The diffusional behavior of multi-arm star-shaped p(tBMA) was investigated in a concentration range from dilute to semidilute region with ¹H pulsed field gradient spin-echo NMR (PFGSE-NMR). An 142-arm star-shaped p(tBMA) showed two diffusional mode, which reflected the coexistence of liquid ordering phase and liquid phase near the ordering transition. On the other hand, for star-shaped p(tBMA) with 55 arms showed a single diffusional relaxation in all concentration ranges during observation time. In the semidilute region, the relationship between the diffusion coefficient against the polymer concentration was affected strongly not only the arm number but also liquid ordering structure.     

Involvement of specific mechanism in plasmid DNA uptake by mouse peritoneal macrophages

Lamina-associated polypeptide (LAP)2, which directly interacts with B-type lamins and chromosomes, is an integral membrane protein specifically distributed along the inner nuclear membrane of the nuclear envelope. Multiple regions of its large nucleoplasmic domain promote this localization, including the first (residues 1-296) and the second (residues 298-409) halves of the LAP2 N terminus. The second half is involved in LAP2 association with the nuclear lamina [Furukawa, K., Panté, N., Aebi, U. & Gerace, L. (1995) EMBO J. 14, 1626-1636]. In this study to further define its role, we examined which domain of B-type lamin interacts with LAP2 by means of a binding assay with bacterially expressed proteins and a yeast two-hybrid system. We found that amino acids in the region of residues 78-258 of the lamin B1 rod domain directly bound with LAP2. The data suggest that LAP2 may modulate the assembly of nuclear lamins.     

Characteristics of porous polymer composite columns prepared by radiation cast-polymerization

Porous polymer composite columns having porous structure were prepared by radiation cast-polymerization of hydrophilic monomers at low temperature and their characteristics were studied. The porosity of the polymer increased with decreasing monomer concentration. The elution time of water in the polymer column increased with increasing monomer concentration and with decreasing irradiation temperature. The elution time was dependent on the degree of hydration of the polymer. The polymer with a degree of hydration of 0.2 to 0.4 gave the minimum elution time. The elution time decreased with the addition of porous inorganic substances.     

Evaluation of the wettability of spherical cement particle surfaces using penetration rate method

The wettability of cement particles is related to the fluidity of cement paste. This paper describes the mechanism of the higher fluidity imparted by the spherical cement particles in light of their wettability. In addition, the effects of gypsum on the wettability were also studied. This study has shown the following: (1) The weight of water and water-reducing agent solution penetrating the spherical cement powder bed is 24-150% higher than that for the ordinary Portland cement powder bed. This results in the improvement of the wettability of the particle surfaces of spherical cement. The high wettability of spherical cement contributes to its high fluidity. (2) The presence of many fine gypsum particles on the spherical cement particle surface reduces the wettability. (3) To prepare spherical cement, the optimum amount of gypsum added is determined by the acceleration of the formation of spherical particles and the wettability of particle surfaces.