Hydrogel photocatalysts for efficient energy conversion and environmental treatment

Photocatalysts have attracted great research interest owing to their excellent properties and potential for simultaneously addressing challenges related to energy needs and environmental pollution. Photocatalytic particles need to be in contact with their respective media to exhibit efficient photocatalytic performances. However, it is difficult to separate nanometer-sized photocatalytic materials from reaction media later, which may lead to secondary pollution and a poor recycling performance. Hydrogel photocatalysts with a three-dimensional (3D) network structures are promising support materials for photocatalysts based on features such as high specific surface areas and adsorption capacities and good environmental compatibility. In this review, hydrogel photocatalysts are classified into two different categories depending on their elemental composition and recent progresses in the methods for preparing hydrogel photocatalysts are summarized. Moreover, current applications of hydrogel photocatalysts in energy conversion and environmental remediation are reviewed. Furthermore, a comprehensive outlook and highlight future challenges in the development of hydrogel photocatalysts are presented.     

Glycoconjugated polymer 6. Synthesis of poly[styrene-<Emphasis Type="Italic">block</Emphasis>-(styrene-<Emphasis Type="Italic">graft</Emphasis>-amylose)] via potato phosphorylase-catalyzed polymerization

Summary The potato phosphorylase-catalyzed polymerization of α-D-glucose-1-phosphate (G-1-P) onto poly[styrene-block-(4-vinylbenzyl maltohexaoside)] (1) was performed at the molar ratios of [G-l-P]₀ and [maltohexaose]₀ of 35, 80, and 250. The product was found to be soluble in dimethyl sulfoxide, which was a good solvent for amylose, and showed the complex-formation with iodine, indicating that the product was assignable to poly[styrene-block-(styrene-graft-amylose)] (2). The quantitative analysis of the liberated phosphoric acid gave the average degree of polymerization o f the glucose unit (n) as 27, 5 1, and 180 for 2-I, 2-II, and 2-III, respectively. Received: 29 November 2002/Accepted: 22 December 2002 Correspondence to Toyoji Kakuchi     

Relation between encoder and syndrome former variables and symbol reliability estimation using a syndrome trellis

We derive a linear correspondence between the variables of an encoder and those of a corresponding syndrome former. Using the derived correspondence, we show that the log-likelihood ratio of an information bit conditioned on a received sequence can be equally calculated using the syndrome trellis. It is shown that the proposed method also applies to recursive systematic convolutional codes which are typical constituent codes for turbo codes. Moreover, we show that soft-in syndrome decoding considering a priori probabilities of information bits is possible in the same way as for Viterbi decoding based on the code trellis. Hence, the proposed method can be applied to iterative decoding such as turbo decoding. We also show that the proposed method is effective for high-rate codes by making use of trellis modification.     

Changes in the gaseous H2S barrier properties of damaged silicate coated nylon 6 films

The damage imposed on SiO _x deposited nylon 6 films as a result of abrasion with a cotton cloth and Gelboflex testing was examined by evaluating the rate at which copper plates, which were enveloped by the damaged films, were corroded by H₂S. Abrasion with a cotton cloth caused some micro-cracking of the SiO _x layer and the permeation rate of H₂S approached that of the uncoated nylon 6 film. Damage to the SiO _x layer by twisting and crushing progressed gradually with the number of Gelboflex test cycles and correspondingly the corrosion rate of the copper plates increased. Comparison of the corrosion rates of the copper plates kept in the pouches made of various commercial films with those obtained for the damaged SiO _x deposited nylon 6 films showed a clear relationship between the H₂ permeation rate of the films and the corrosion rate of the copper plates by H₂S.     

Real-time measurement of pointing action by using DSP

This paper presents an approach of measuring in real-time the vector of finger that is pointing to an object. DSP is used in the operation processing unit in order to do the real-time processing. The steps include the extraction of flesh-colored regions from an image, the labeling of the flesh-colored regions, and the detection of two characteristic positions on the finger so that the direction that the finger is pointing at will be calculated. The entire process takes about 29 msec, which makes it possible to have the frame rate of 34 fps. With this frame rate, this measurement approach is considered real-time and promising to be merged into other application systems. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

Kripke Semantics for Modal Substructural Logics

We introduce Kripke semantics for modal substructural logics, and provethe completeness theorems with respect to the semantics. Thecompleteness theorems are proved using an extended Ishihara's method ofcanonical model construction (Ishihara, 2000). The framework presentedcan deal with a broad range of modal substructural logics, including afragment of modal intuitionistic linear logic, and modal versions ofCorsi's logics, Visser's logic, Méndez's logics and relevant logics.     

Synthesis and surface properties of novel fluoroalkyl end-capped amphiphilic fullerene cooligomers

New fluoroalkyl end-capped fullerene cooligomers were prepared by the reactions of fluoroalkanoyl peroxides with fullerene and comonomers such as acryloylmorpholine, N,N-dimethylacrylamide and acrylic acid. These fluorinated fullerene cooligomers were easily soluble in water and common organic solvents, and were able to reduce the surface tensions of both water and benzene, quite effectively. Additionally, these fullerene cooligomers were found to form a stable monomolecular film at the air-water interface, and the modified polystyrene surface treated with these cooligomers was shown to have a strong hydrophilicity with good oil repellency.     

Surface Hardening of Carbon Steel Using High Powered YAG Laser

A high powered YAG laser with kaleidoscope for surface modification was applied to the surface hardening of carbon steels containing 0. 18-0.54 wt% C without the absorbents, and the relationships between laser processing and surface hardening were investigated by hardness and microstructure. The structure of the hardened zone underwent complete martensitic transformation in all of the carbon steels tested, and its hardness increased with greater carbon content. Under identical irradiated conditions, the hardened zone expanded with increasing carbon content. A hardened zone extending from the surface to a depth of 1.0 mm was obtained at a laser power of 1.0 kW and a scanning speed of 1 mm/sec. It was found that in the surface hardening of carbon steels, a high powered YAG laser can be used to control the hardened zone by selecting the appropriate irradiation conditions, however, the hardened zone was affected by the assistant gas and the flow rate.     

Rheological properties of polypropylene/high-density polyethylene blend melts. II. Dynamic viscoelastic properties

Three kinds of isotactic polypropylenes with different MFI were melt-blended with three kinds of high-density polyethylenes with different MFI using a screw extruder and the dynamic viscoelastic properties were studied. The storage moduli G′(ω) of the blends showed second plateaus and the dynamic viscosities η′(ω) of the blends showed two-step drops with increasing angular frequency ω. Such phenomenon was particularly notable for blend systems in which particles of lower viscosity were suspended in the disperse medium of higher viscosity and is considered to be the cause of abnormally large die swell.     

STM tunneling spectroscopy on high Tc superconductors

STM tunneling spectroscopy has been performed on the bulk single crystals of BiSrCaCuO (BSCCO) and the epitaxial thin films of YBaCuO (YBCO) at cryogenic temperatures. The STM images and tunneling spectra observed on the (001) surfaces can be classified into three cases; 1) Atomic image is visible. However, the tunneling spectrum shows semiconducting or smeared superconducting gap structures, depending on the tip-sample distance. 2) Clear atomic image can not be obtained. But, the tunneling spectrum shows flat bottom region with quite low zero bias conductance. 3) Tunneling spectra demonstrate gapless behavior, independent of the tip-sample separation. These observations support the quasi-2D electronic picture in whichs-wave like 2D superconducting layers are coupled with each other through the Josephson effect.