Effect of α-substituents on molecular motion and wetting behaviors of poly(fluoroalkyl acrylate) thin films with short fluoroalkyl side chains

The effect of α-substituent on the molecular motion and wetting behavior of poly{2-(perfluorobutyl)ethyl acrylate} [PFA-C₄], poly{2-(perfluorobutyl)ethyl methacrylate} [PFMA-C₄], poly{2-(perfluorobutyl)ethyl α-fluoroacrylate} [PFFA-C₄], and poly{2-(perfluorobutyl)ethyl α-chloroacrylate} [PFClA-C₄] films were characterized by dynamic contact angle measurement, lateral force microscopy (LFM), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). WAXD of oriented PFClA-C₄ fiber suggested the presence of rod-like chain due to the presence of bulky α-substituent. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of PFFA-C₄ and PFClA-C₄ were well above the room temperature. The water repellencies of PFFA-C₄ and PFClA-C₄ were as high as that of PFMA-C₄ and their oil repellency of PFFA-C₄ and PFClA-C₄ was higher than the PFMA-C_4. This result was originated from the low main chain mobility of PFFA-C₄ and PFClA-C₄ due to the presence of bulky α-substituents. The effect of molecular motion on water repellency was clarified by the results of temperature dependence studies of dynamic contact angle, LFM, and surface chemical composition measured by XPS.     

Porous poly(L‐lactic acid)/poly(ethylene glycol) blend films

Poly(L ‐lactic acid) (PLLA: M_w = 19.4 × 10⁴)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG: M_w = 400) blend films were formed by use of a solvent‐cast technique. The properties and structures of these blend films were investigated. The Young's modulus of the PLLA decreased from 1220 to 417 MPa with the addition of PEG 5 wt %, but the elongation at break increased from 19 to 126%. The melting point of PLLA linearly decreased with increases in the PEG content (i.e., pure PLLA: 172.5°C, PLLA/PEG = 60/40 wt %: 159.6°C). The PEG 20 wt % blend film had a porous structure. The pore diameter was 3–5 μm. The alkali hydrolysis rate of this blend film was accelerated due to its porous structure. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 965–970, 2004     

Time flexibility to reduce climate change mitigation costs for Japanese electricity supply sector

The idea of greenhouse‐gas credit borrowing in global or national context faces severe problems such as international and intergenerational equity issues. Though the merit of cost reduction is obvious, the possibility is small for such a scheme to be massively allowed in future international negotiations. Still, there is a good chance for each specific player to use the idea of time flexibility. Through analytic and numerical model analysis, this paper demonstrates the merits of time flexibility on a sector base. First, the derived analytic solution for time paths of marginal mitigation costs gives an insight to the relation between timing and costs of mitigation action. Second, the numerical model analysis for the Japanese electricity supply sector shows that time flexibility can drastically reduce costs for mitigation in the sector. Time flexibility is important specifically to the Japanese electricity supply sector because (1) the sector is capital intensive and has long capital turnover time and (2) available mitigation option is limited for the near future. A sector like the Japanese utility sector needs some kind of mechanism to virtually realize the merits of using time flexibility. Domestic and international emission trading systems are the most promising candidate to date. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 131(1): 68–77, 2000     

Reduced Thermal Budget Process for SBT Thin Film in Planer Type Stack Cell FeRAMs

In order to reduce the thermal budget for SBT crystallization process in planer type stack cell FeRAMs, Rapid Thermal Anneal (RTA) based process for SBT thin film was investigated. Our new process is characterized by crystallization in RTA without any furnace annealing process, and includes a low temperature recovery annealing process (hereafter RTB (Reduced Thermal Budget) process). As a result of only 750C RTA for accumulated time of 60s without furnace annealing process, the sufficient ferroelectric properties were derived in comparison with that of conventional SBT thin film. In the RTB process, two approaches to improve the break down voltage were carried out. First, we used UV exposure during the baking process. By optimizing the UV assisted baking process, a high break down field due to smooth surface morphology was successfully obtained, resulting in break down field of more than 1.2 MV/cm. Secondly, ultra thin SBT films as a top few layer on the base SBT thin film were employed. After optimization of the ultra thin SBT layer thickness, a very smooth SBT surface was successfully achieved, resulting in improvement of the break down field of more than 1.1 MV/cm.     

Basic study of a ship navigator's mental workload using salivary NO\documentclass{article}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{amsfonts}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$_{3}^{-}$ \end{document}

Evaluation of the mental workload during training for ship handling has usually depended on professionals (captain, pilot) who have lots of experience on board. We are attempting to evaluate a ship navigator's mental workload based on a physiological index. The physiological indices, namely heart rate variability (R–R interval), nasal temperature, and salivary amylase, are good indices for reading the mental workload during ship handling. Moreover, we find the possibility of using salivary NO$_{3}^{-}$ as a good index for evaluating the ship navigator's mental workload. Salivary NO$_{3}^{-}$ is expected to have a specific characteristic to represent quick response on the spot and the trend. We confirmed the response of students during simulator training, and then carried out the experiment on professionals on a real ship. We propose that salivary NO$_{3}^{-}$ can show a ship navigator's stress for ship handling in the simulator and on a real ship. This work to evaluate the ship navigator's mental workload using salivary NO$_{3}^{-}$ is the first attempt worldwide. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Advantage of Sodium Polyoxyethylene Lauryl Ether Carboxylate as a Mild Cleansing Agent

Five anionic surfactants widely used in commercial skin cleansers were studied: sodium polyoxyethylene lauryl ether carboxylate (EC), sodium polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate (ES), sodium dodecyl sulfate, potassium laurate, and N-cocoyl-l-glutamic acid monosodium salt. The amount of surfactant from aqueous solution adsorbed into the stratum corneum (SC), the degree of SC swelling, the change of the secondary structure of SC proteins (denaturation). The surface tension of surfactant–zein mixed solutions, and the solubilization behavior of zein were measured. Results showed that EC had the lowest adsorption into SC, the lowest SC swelling, and lowest denaturation of SC proteins. Low interactions between surfactants and SC proteins were also observed for EC/ES mixture solutions as well as. Mixing EC with ES good foaming performance. The EC/ES mixture, at about 1:1 ratio, is an excellent surfactant system for skin cleanser applications having cleansing characteristics and mildness to the skin.     

Effectiveness of spatial representation in the formation of network communities: experimental study on community organizer

In this paper, we present and discuss Community Organizer, a system designed to support network communities. The main characteristic of Community Organizer is the use of spatial representations for the relationships among community members including the communications exchanged among these members. These spatial representations reflect the degree of closeness of interests and concerns among the members, and are intended to provide users with clues on how to form network communities. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed spatial representations, we conducted experiments with two different versions of the software. One version offered meaningful spatial representations while the other version did not. The subjects who used the former software version felt a greater sense of ‘community’, enjoyed using the software more, and actively used it longer than the subjects using the latter software version (control condition). These results indicated that the proposed spatial representations are effective in supporting network community formation.     

A Knowledge-Based Software Process Simulation Model

In this paper we propose a new software development process simulation model. The model can predict variations of productivity based on dynamic changes in the developer's knowledge structure. An important concept of the model is that a developer's productivity is influenced by the developer's knowledge. Moreover, a developer can acquire new knowledge by executing activities of a project. In other words, the developer's knowledge structure changes during the project. The knowledge structure is defined using a cognitive map that consists of knowledge elements and prerequisite relationships among the knowledge elements. By adding the specific developer's knowledge and the specific project workload to the knowledge structure, an increment of the developer's knowledge and the project progress are calculated into the model. The simulation results are useful for making project plans including technical reviews, which are an efficient technique for acquiring new knowledge. The simulation model can predict what knowledge should be discussed in the technical review, when the review should be held, and who the members of the review should be. The simulation results help managers make the most appropriate and executable project plan.     

Deformation characteristics of ultra-thin liquid film considering temperature and film thickness dependence of surface tension

Thermocapillary deformations of an ultra-thin liquid film caused by temperature distribution were three-dimensionally analyzed using the unsteady and linearized long wave equation considering the temperature and film thickness dependence of surface tension. The temperature and film thickness dependence equation for the surface tension of a liquid was firstly established. The temperature dependence of the surface tension was obtained experimentally using a surface tensiometer and the film thickness dependence was obtained theoretically from the corrected van der Waals pressure equation for a symmetric multilayer system. Time evolutions of depression and groove of the ultra-thin liquid film caused by local heating were obtained quantitatively.     

Parallelized fusion visualization system

The speed-up of supercomputers has increased the complexity of simulations. To analyze such kind of data, we believe that new types of visualization software are needed. Therefore, we have been developing a visualization system called “Fusion Visualization”, and the progresses were reported in the AROB 18th and 19th International Symposiums. We introduced the overall concept at the AROB 18th International Symposium, and then demonstrated a sample of flow visualization in a blood vessel in the AROB 19th International Symposium. To extend our system to enable the handling of larger data, we have implemented the proposed system on a parallelized visualization system; AVS/Express PCE (Parallel Cluster Edition). This paper describes the implementation and the benchmark results.