Synthesis of EDTA-monoalkylamide chelates and evaluation of the surface-active properties

New chelating agents were synthesized from long-chain amines and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) monoanhydride which was prepared by partial hydrolysis of EDTA anhydride. The equivalent reactions between the chelating agents and several metal ions gave the corresponding 1:1 metal chelates in good yield. These chelates and the sodium salts of the chelating agents were found to have good surface active properties, especially dispersing power and emul-sifying power.     

高功率因数三相软开关PWM变流器

本文提出一种三相软开关PWM变流器,它具有电路结构简单,开关次数较传统变流器少的特点,电路的开关切换是以单纯的ZVS方式进行的,从而可以减少开关损耗和抑制EMI。文章阐述了变流器输入功率因数为1和输出直流电压恒定的控制方法,通过改变调制信号的调制度a和相位角φ,不但可以使输入电流和相电压保持同相位,输入电流波形为正弦波,而且可以使输出直流电压保持恒定。     

Development of a new pH-swing CO2 mineralization process with a recyclable reaction solution

A new CO₂ mineral sequestration process using the pH swing of a weak base–strong acid solution was proposed. In this process, an alkaline-earth metal was extracted selectively from silicate waste material, such as steelmaking slag or waste concrete, in an acidic condition using a weak base–strong acid solution. The reacted solution containing alkaline-earth metal ions and a weak-base, behaves as a CO₂ absorbent. The acidic extraction solution was regenerated from the basic absorbent solution by precipitating the alkaline-earth metal with CO₂ as the carbonate. The thermodynamic analysis of this process shows that a series of reactions proceeds spontaneously and the overall reaction is exothermic. The feasibility of the proposed process was confirmed using steelmaking slag as a silicate material and ammonium chloride solution as a weak base–strong acid solution. It was confirmed that this series of reaction proceeds successfully under mild conditions. Calcium ions were extracted selectively from steelmaking slag using an ammonium chloride solution, and the reacted solution absorbed CO₂ followed by the precipitation of CaCO₃ at 80 °C. On the basis of these experimental analyses, the energy consumption of the proposed process was roughly estimated as 300 kWh/ton-CO₂.     

Evolving an emotion recognition module for an intelligent agent using genetic programming and a genetic algorithm

Most studies use the facial expression to recognize a user’s emotion; however, gestures, such as nodding, shaking the head, or stillness can also be indicators of the user’s emotion. In our research, we use the facial expression and gestures to detect and recognize a user’s emotion. The pervasive Microsoft Kinect sensor captures video data, from which several features representing facial expressions and gestures are extracted. An in-house extensible markup language-based genetic programming engine (XGP) evolves the emotion recognition module of our system. To improve the computational performance of the recognition module, we implemented and compared several approaches, including directed evolution, collaborative filtering via canonical voting, and a genetic algorithm, for an automated voting system. The experimental results indicate that XGP is feasible for evolving emotion classifiers. In addition, the obtained results verify that collaborative filtering improves the generality of recognition. From a psychological viewpoint, the results prove that different people might express their emotions differently, as the emotion classifiers that are evolved for particular users might not be applied successfully to other user(s).     

High-density formation of Ge quantum dots on SiO2

We formed high-density Ge quantum dots (QDs) on an ultrathin SiO₂ layer by controlling the early stages of low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) with a germane gas (GeH₄) assisted by a remote plasma of pure H₂. We then characterized the electronic charged states of the QDs by an AFM/Kelvin probe technique. The formation of single crystalline Ge-QDs with an areal dot density of ∼2.0 × 10¹¹ cm⁻² was confirmed after examining the surface morphology and lattice by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. It has been suggested that an increase in the flux of deposition precursors due to efficient decomposition of GeH₄ by a supply of hydrogen radicals and the dehydration reaction of surface OH bonds plays a role in nucleation of Ge-QDs on SiO₂. Surface passivation with hydrogen may also promote the surface migration of deposition precursors during LPCVD. The surface potential of the dots changed in a stepwise manner with respect to the tip bias due to multistep electron injection into and extraction from the Ge-QDs.     

Flowability measurement of pulverized and granulated materials using vibrating tube method

To develop a method for measuring the flowability of MOX (mixed oxide of uranium and plutonium) particles used in the simplified MOX pellet fabrication process, the flowability of model particles has been investigated by the vibrating tube method. As model particles, pulverized ZrO₂ and granulated WO₃ were used. To prepare a variety of samples, coarse particles of 106–250 μm in diameter were mixed with fine particles smaller than 45 μm in diameter in different concentrations. The prepared particles were put into the vibrating tube and the amplitude of vibration was increased at a constant rate for a period of time and then decreased. The mass of particles discharged from the tube was measured at constant time intervals. From the experimental data, the relationships between the mass flow rate and the vibration acceleration (i.e. flowability profiles) were obtained. Two factors (i.e. ‘critical vibration acceleration’ to make the particles flow and ‘characteristic mass flow rate’) were selected to analyze the flowability profiles. The hysteresis of the flowability between increasing and decreasing vibration accelerations was also evaluated.     

Development of a database of low energy homes around the world and analyses of their trends

This study aims to develop a database of low energy techniques for homes around the world, for use in systematically evaluating the low energy home in each region, where climate, culture and policy differ. First, a database was made for the purpose of the systemizing passive and active techniques. Data were input according to seven chapters and 155 items, and 66 homes in 17 nations have been recorded. Homes adopting super insulation, high airtightness and solar energy utilization are common in the each country. The thermal insulation performance of wall and window of the housing in Japan is somewhat inferior to that overseas. It was shown that exhaust heat recovery is rarely adopted in Japan and that the underground thermal energy utilization was seen in less than 10% of recorded homes. Second, recorded homes were categorized according to characteristics of adopted strategies, and the reduction rate of purchased energy versus the purchased energy for a typical home was calculated. This revealed the purchased energy reduction rate of homes with both solar heat utilization and photovoltaic power generation to be very high.     

Chr4, a Schizosaccharomyces pombe homologue of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Chs4p/Skt5p protein, is related to septum formation and is required for the proper localization of Chs2

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Chs4p directly interacts with chitin synthase III (Chs3p) to act as a post-translational regulator of the Chs3p complex. We identified four Chs4p homologous proteins in Schizosaccharomyces pombe which we named Chr1, Chr2, Chr3 and Chr4 (putative chitin synthase regulatory factor). We assessed the functions of these proteins and found that while overproduction of Chr1, Chr2 or Chr3 did not affect the cellular morphology of wild-type Sz. pombe cells, overproduction of Chr4 caused the cells to form multi-septa and delayed their growth. All multiple disruptants of chr1, chr2, chr3 and chr4 grew normally under a variety of growth conditions. However, while chitin synthase II (Chs2) normally localizes exclusively at the septum, in many chr4-disrupted cells it was found in the cytoplasm and the septa. Chs2 did localize at the abnormal septa caused by the overproduction of chr4+. Chr4-13Myc expression was unaffected by the different media or growth conditions in both wild-type and the chs2 disruptant. Chs2 expression was also unaltered by the absence of Chr4. Moreover, Chr4-13Myc localized mostly at the tips and the septum during vegetative growth in chs2, chr1, chr2 and chr3 disruptants as well as in wild-type. Thus, chr4+ is involved in septum formation and is required for the proper localization of Chs2 at the septum in Sz. pombe.