Performance of Ni‐based Anode‐Supported SOFCs with Doped Ceria Electrolyte at Low Temperatures Between 294 and 542°C

The performance of a conventional anode‐supported microtubular SOFC using doped ceria as an electrolyte and Ni‐based cermet as an anode is evaluated at low operating temperature between 294 and 542°C. An open‐circuit voltage (OCV) of >0.9 V is obtained at all measured operating temperatures, and power generation is observed at temperatures as low as 294°C. The power density of the cell is 0.6 W/cm² at 542°C operating temperature with 47% fuel utilization and is 5 mW/cm² at 294°C operating temperature with an open‐circuit voltage of 0.95 V. According to impedance spectroscopy, a greater influence of gas flow rate, on the cell performance, is observed at higher operating temperature.     

Relation between molecular structure and flow instability for ethylene/α-olefin copolymers

Surface instabilities in a capillary extrusion have been studied for various ethylene/α-olefin copolymers. It is found that the onset stress of shark-skin failure for ethylene/1-hexene copolymer (EHR) decreases rapidly with increasing 1-hexene content, whereas that of ethylene/propylene copolymer (EPR) is independent of propylene content in the experimental region. Consequently, EHR with high 1-hexene content exhibits shark-skin at low stress level compared to EPR. Lower rubbery plateau modulus, leading to higher Deborah number at the same stress level, is attributed to the lower onset stress. Further, the low entanglement density will cause cracks at lower stress level like glassy polymers, which is also responsible for the low onset stress for shark-skin.     

Synthesis of high molecular weight copolymer of styrene and butadiene bearing high 1,4‐cis butadiene unit from copolymerization with CpTiCl3/methylaluminoxane catalyst

Copolymerization of styrene (St) and butadiene (Bd) with CpTiCl₃/methylaluminoxane (MAO) catalyst in the presence or absence of chloranil (CA) was investigated. The CpTiCl₃/MAO catalyst showed a high activity for the copolymerization of St with Bd. The 1,4‐cis contents in the Bd units for the copolymerization of St and Bd with the CpTiCl₃/MAO catalyst was observed, and the 1,4‐cis content was optimum at a MAO/Ti mole ratio of around 225. The effect of the polymerization temperature on the copolymerization was noted, as was the effect of the 1,4‐cis microstructure in the Bd units for the copolymerization of St and Bd. The addition of CA to the CpTiCl₃/MAO catalyst was found to influence the molecular weight of the copolymer. The high weight‐average molecular weight copolymer (M_w = ca. 50 × 10⁴) consisting of mainly a 1,4‐cis microstructure of Bd units (1,4‐cis = 80.0%) was obtained from the copolymerization with the CpTiCl₃/MAO catalyst in the presence of CA (CA/Ti mole ratio = 1) at 0°C. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 2942–2946, 2003     

Pheromone Analysis of Wild Female Moths with a PBAN C-Terminal Peptide Injection for an Estimation of Assortative Mating in Adzuki Bean Borer, Ostrinia scapulalis

The adzuki bean borer, Ostrinia scapulalis, has distinct genetic variation in the blend of two sex pheromone components, (E)- and (Z)-11-tetradecenyl acetates. This variation is largely controlled by a single autosomal locus with two alleles, E and Z. E-type (EE) females produce a pheromone with a mean E:Z ratio at 99:1 whereas Z-type (ZZ) and I-type (ZE) produce pheromones with mean of 3:97 and 64:36, respectively. Interestingly, in many natural populations of O. scapulalis in Japan, this pheromone polymorphism appears to be stably maintained. We tried to predict the changes in relative abundance of each pheromone type by estimating the pheromone production genotype of wild females and their male mates. The pheromone titer in the wild, mated females was increased without changing the blend ratio by an injection of a peptide with pheromone biosynthesis activating activity (TKYFSPRL-NH2). The frequencies of E-, I-, and Z-types at Matsudo were 15, 52, and 33%, respectively, and did not deviate from the Hardy-Weinberg expectations. The estimated mating patterns were concordant with the assumption that no assortative mating was occurring in this population, and this is suggested as a cause of sustained polymorphism at Matsudo.     

Biochemical properties of acid-soluble collagens extracted from the skins of underutilised fishes

Acid-soluble collagens (ASCs) were extracted from the skins of several underutilised fishes, namely dusky spinefoot (Siganus fuscescens), sea chub (Kyphosus bigibbus), eagle ray (Myliobatis tobijei), red stingray (Dasyatis akajei) and yantai stingray (Dasyatis laevigata). The yields of the ASCs from skins of dusky spinefoot and sea chub were about 3.4–3.9%, and from ray species were about 5.3–5.7%, on a dry weight basis. According to the electrophoretic pattern, ASCs consisted of two different α-chains (α1 and α2) and were classified as type I collagen. However, the molecular weights of α2-chain for ray species were lower than those of bony fishes. ASC from ray species contained a higher content of imino acids than those from dusky spinefoot and sea chub. The denaturation temperatures (T_d) of ray species were about 33 °C, which was about 5 °C higher than those of dusky spinefoot and sea chub. The high T_d of ray species suggested the possibility of its utilisation as a substitute for mammalian collagen.     

Investigation of shrinkage behavior of Ni-Fe bimetallic anode tube support and the densification of electrolyte using co-sintering temperature

NiO-Fe₂O₃/gadolinium-doped CeO₂ (GDC), NiO-Fe₂O₃/yttria-stabilized ZrO₂ (YSZ) anode supported fuel cells were fabricated at co-sintering temperatures of anode-electrolyte from 1250 °C to 1400 °C. The volumetric shrinkage of the anode-electrolytes and the porosity of the anode tube were studied systematically at different temperatures. 1300 °C is the marginal temperature to obtain sufficient electrocatalytic activity of electrodes, and a higher temperature is needed to suppress gas leakage through the scandia-stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) electrolyte. At each co-sintering temperature from 1250 °C to 1400 °C, the porosity of NiO-Fe₂O₃/GDC anode tubes is nearly 10% higher than that of NiO-Fe₂O₃/YSZ anode tubes. SEM results exhibited the anode-supported electrolyte tends to be more dense as co-sintering temperature increasing to 1400 °C from 1250 °C. However, the high co-sintering temperature of 1400 °C will result in low porosity of anode which negatively affected the power density.     

Grouping and representation of odorant receptors in domains of the olfactory bulb sensory map

Individual glomeruli in the mammalian main olfactory bulb represent a single or at most a few types of odorant receptors. Thus the physical arrangement of glomeruli at the surface of the olfactory bulb can be viewed as a sensory map representing approximately 1,000 types of odorant receptors. This review summarizes the recent advance of the knowledge regarding the spatial organization of the sensory map in the main olfactory bulb. Recent studies show that individual olfactory bulbs contain dual sensory maps, one in the lateral hemisphere and the other in the medial hemisphere of the bulb. The tracings of selective subsets of olfactory axons to their target glomeruli in the olfactory bulb show that glomeruli are parceled into large zones or bands. The spatial arrangement of these zones and bands are stereotypical and conserved across individual mice. Optical imaging studies show that glomeruli in the most rostrodosal zone, zone I, are further parceled into smaller functional domains, and suggest that odorant receptors having a common or similar molecular feature receptive site are grouped together and represented by glomeruli within the functional domain. The possible relation between the functional domain organization and the subjectively perceived odor quality (olfactory submodality) is reviewed.     

Fire resistance test for fire protection materials with high water content

It is known that moist fire protection materials show good fire resistance characteristics. For this reason, these materials are usually made of mixtures of cement mortar and high water content materials such as silica gels or moist perlites. The latent heat of water plays an important role in the resistance of heat propagation in these materials. In this study, a fire resistance test of a material with high water content is conducted and the temperature response of the test is obtained. Also, the water content of the test materials is measured. The test material consists of a mixture of perlite mortar and gel. The gel absorbs the aqueous solution of calcium chloride, which serves as a water storage mechanism. The numerical predictions to simulate the fire resistance test were conducted and the results were compared with the experimentally obtained temperature responses.     

Three-layer organic solar cell with high-power conversion efficiency of 3.5%

To prepare organic solar cells with practical level of energy-conversion efficiency, the following strategies were adopted. By using HD as the photosensitizer, which is heterodimer consisting of a weak electron-donating 5, 10, 15, 20-tetra(2, 5-dimethoxyphenyl)porphyrinatozinc and a weak electron-accepting 5, 10, 15-triphenyl-20-(3-pyridyl)porphyrin, intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer is promoted resulting in effective charge separation. To create an energetically well-arranged system, the HD was placed between an electron-acceptor layer of PV (perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxyl-bis-benzimidazole) and strong electron-donor layer of MC (3-carboxymethyl-5-[(3-ethyl-2(3H)-benzothiazolylidine)ethylidene]-2-thioxo-4-thiazolidinone), where photoinduced intermolecular electron transfer from HD to PV and rapid injection of electrons from MC to HD suppress back electron transfer in the charge-separated HD. As a result of this, the three-layer solar cell Al/PV/HD/MC/Au showed fairly good photovoltaic properties, short-circuit photocurrent quantum yield of 49.2%, open-circuit photovoltage of 0.39 V, fill factor of 0.51, and energy conversion yield of 3.51% when irradiated with 445 nm monochromatic light of 12 μW cm⁻² intensity transmitted through the Al/PV interface. Since the photocurrent hardly decreased with age, the photocurrent observed here is really from energy conversion and not from photocorrosion of Al electrode being occasionally responsible for the photocurrent.     

Numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer in a rotating cylindrical container with a counter-rotating disk at the fluid surface

Fluid flow and heat transfer in a rotating cylindrical container with a counterrotating disk at the fluid surface are numerically investigated. The effects of disk rotation and of Prandtl numbers on the fluid flow and heat transfer in the container are discussed. Flow and temperature fields are obtained for various rotational Reynolds numbers of the disk and for Prandtl numbers of the fluid. Nusselt numbers on the walls are calculated for the temperature fields and are compared with available experimental data. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 28(3): 172–182, 1999