Synthesis and thermal properties of polyamide 6 (A)-polyimide (B) block copolymers of ABA type

Summary Polyimides (PI) having different molecular weights were prepared by condensation of oxydiphthalic anhydride with 9,9-bis-(4-aminophenyl)fluorene in nitrobenzene solution at 180°C. These polyimides carried two amino chain ends which allowed us to fix polycaprolactam chains (PA6) to obtain PA6-PI-PA6 type copolymers. The elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopic determination gave the proportion of PA6 (or PI) in the copolymers. The studies of thermal properties-DSC and TGA-allowed us to characterize the copolymers.     

Improved visible-light responsive photocatalytic activity of N and Si co-doped titanias

Thermal reaction of titanium tetraisopropoxide and tetraethyl orthosilicate in 1,4-butanediol afforded nanocrystalline silica-modified titanias having large surface area and superior thermal stability. In this study, the thus-obtained silica-modified titanias were treated in an NH₃ flow at high temperatures, and their physical and photocatalytic properties were investigated. Compared with NH₃-treated TiO₂ without silica modification, the NH₃-treated silica-modified titanias showed a stronger absorption in the visible region (400–500 nm) and had a larger peak at 396 eV in the N 1s XPS spectrum. These results indicate that a larger amount of nitrogen was stably doped in the silica-modified titania. The obtained products exhibited a high photocatalytic activity for degradation of Rhodamine B and decomposition of acetaldehyde under visible light irradiation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Mobile robot control by neural networks using self-supervisedlearning

A reinforcement learning algorithm based on supervised learning is described. It uses associative search to discover and learn actions that make the system perform a desired task. One problem with associative search is that the system's actions are often inconsistent. In the searching process, the system's actions are always decided stochastically, so the system cannot perform learned actions more than once, even if they have been determined to be suitable actions for the desired task. To solve this problem, a neural network that can predict an evaluation of an action and control the influence of the stochastic element is used. Results from computer simulations using the algorithms to control a mobile robot are described     

Heat transfer and flow of He II in narrow channels

Heat transfer and fluid flow of He II in a long, narrow channel connected to a bath that supplies a constant supply of heat have been investigated by numerical simulations by using the simplified model of Kitamura et al. [Cryogenics 37 (1) (1997) 1]. Such channels are used to cool compact, stable, low-temperature magnets. The fluid flow is driven by natural convection and the mutual friction between the normal fluid and the superfluid.In this model, the thermomechanical effect and the Goter-Mellink mutual friction balance each other. A consequence of this balance is that the velocity and temperature distributions of He II can be characterized by a dimensionless, dependent parameter equal to the ratio of the fluid speeds of internal convection to the total fluid flow. After a sudden application of heat flux, the internal convection dominates over the total fluid flow until the establishment of steady-state temperature gradients. This predicts that the time required to set up the steady-state total fluid flow is proportional to the total heat capacity in the channel.     

SIR and SNR improvement in wideband beamspace array processing

Owing to limitations of frequency resources, advanced sensor array processing techniques are needed in a growing wireless wideband communications market. A beamspace wideband processing technique is proposed and is shown to reduce both signal to interference and SNR ratios. Performances for different array processing algorithms, flexibility and complexity cost are thus improved     

A 1-Gb/s/pin 512-Mb DDRII SDRAM using a digital DLL and a slew-rate-controlled output buffer

A 1-Gb/s/pin 512-Mb DDRII SDRAM has been developed using a digital delay-locked loop (DLL) and a slew-rate-controlled output buffer. The digital DLL has a frequency divider for DLL input, performs at an operating frequency of up to 500 MHz at 1.6 V, and provides internal clocking with 50% duty-cycle correction. The DLL has a current-mirror-type interpolator, which enables a resolution as high as 14 ps, needs no standby current, and can operate at voltages as low as 0.8 V. The slew-rate impedance-controlled output buffer circuit reduces the output skew from 107 to 10 ps. This SDRAM was tested using a 0.13-/spl mu/m 126.5-mm/sup 2/ 512-Mb chip.     

Wheel/rail contact dynamics in turnout negotiations with combined nodal and non-conformal contact approach

In railroad turnouts, geometries of tongue and crossing rails are very complex and their shapes are changing along the track. Therefore, wheels are subjected to not only tread and flange contacts, but also the back-of-flange and top-of-flange contacts in the case of spring switches of tram vehicles. For this reason, one needs to deal with significant jumps in contact points for solving wheel/rail contact problems in turnout, and an accurate prediction of jumps in contact points is one of the most important issues that need to be carefully handled in the dynamic simulation of vehicle/turnout interactions. In this investigation, a numerical procedure that can be used for solving such a complex wheel/rail contact problem in turnout is proposed. In particular, a combined nodal and non-conformal contact approach is developed such that significant jumps in contact points are detected using the nodal search, while the exact location of contact point is then determined with continuous surface parameterizations using non-conformal contact equations. With this combined nodal and non-conformal contact approach for the contact geometry analysis of vehicle/turnout interactions, multiple look-up contact tables can be generated in an efficient way without losing accuracy. Since detailed contact search is performed off-line to obtain look-up contact tables, significant changes in contact points in turnout can be efficiently predicted on-line with tabular data to be interpolated in a standard way. Several numerical examples are presented in order to demonstrate the use of the numerical procedure developed in this investigation.