Synthesis of polymers bearing azo-dye chromophore with photocrosslinkable moiety for nonlinear optics

Summary Novel photocrosslinkable second-order nonlinear optical(NLO) polymers were synthesized from radical homopolymerization of 4-[N-ethyl-N-(2-methacryloyloxyethyl)]amino-4-(2-cinnamoyloxyethyloxycarbonyl)-2-nitroazobenzene(MACN) or copolymerization of MACN with 2-(cinnamoxyloxy)ethyl methacrylate(CM), and from polycondensation of 4-[N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)]amino-4-(2-cinnamoyloxyethyloxycarbonyl)-2-nitroazobenzene(HACN) with p-phenylenediacyloyl chloride(PD). For the purpose of obtaining an optimized condition of UV irradiation for poling treatment involving photocrosslinking, photoreactivity of these NLO polymer films was investigated. There was observed considerably different photoreaction behavior, especially in photofading of the NLO chromophore, between MACN polymer and HACNPD polycondensate; the latter faded more rapidly than the former. A reason for this phenomenon was considered.     

Generating collective wall-jumping behavior for a robotic swarm with self-teaching automatic curriculum learning

Artificial Life and Robotics - Swarm robotics (SR) is a research field about how to design a large number of robots so that they can generate meaningful collective behaviors. One of the promising...     

Behaviour of gas–liquid mixtures in an unbaffled reactor with unsteadily forward–reverse rotating impellers

The behaviour of gas–liquid mixtures in the vicinity of the blades of an unsteadily rotating impeller in an unbaffled agitated vessel was studied by observations made with a rotating camera. The impellers used were a disk turbine impeller with six flat blades (DT) and a novel cross‐type impeller with four delta blades (CD). The behaviour of gas–liquid mixtures near the blades of the forward–reverse rotating impeller was unsteady in terms of the formation of cavities behind the blades and their dispersion into gas bubbles, and differed from that near the blades of a unidirectionally, steadily rotating impeller. The differences in relative power consumption between the forward–reverse rotating impellers in the unbaffled vessel and the steadily rotating impellers in the baffled vessel are discussed in relation to the differences in the behaviour of gas–liquid mixtures near the blades of each rotating impeller. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Soot combustion activity of NOx-sorbing Cs–MnOx–CeO2 catalysts

Activities of Cs-loaded MnO_x–CeO₂ for combustion of model diesel soot (carbon black) and sorptive NO uptake have been studied. MnO_x–CeO₂ is a pseudo-solid solution having redox properties favorable for soot oxidation. The addition of Cs not only lowered the temperature of soot ignition (T_i), but also increased oxidative NO_x adsorption to form nitrate on the surface. Soot ignition over Cs–MnO_x–CeO₂ was further promoted in a stream of NO/O₂, presumably because nitrate on the surface plays a role of an oxidizing agent. Soot ignition started just before sharp desorption of NO_x, suggesting that adsorbed nitrate species would directly interact with soot.     

Mixed Oxide Capacitor of CuO—BaTiO3 as a New Type CO2 Gas Sensor

An oxide capacitor consisting of BaTiO₃ and an oxide is studied as a new type CO₂ sensor based on capacitance change. Sensitivity to CO₂, as well as the optimum operating temperature, was strongly dependent on the particular oxide mixed with BaTiO₃. Among the elements investigated in this study, CuO–BaTiO₃ exhibited the highest sensitivity to CO₂. In particular, the CuO–BaTiO₃ mixed oxide at the equimolar composition is highly sensitive to CO₂. The optimum operating temperature and frequency for CuO–BaTiO₃ are 729 K and 100 Hz, respectively, and the 80% response time to 2% CO₂ is within 25 s. The equimolar mixture of CuO and BaTiO₃ can measure the CO₂ concentration from 100 to 60 000 ppm. Carbonation of oxide seems to play a key role for the detection of CO₂ on these mixed oxide capacitors. The optimum operating temperature of these mixed oxide capacitors for CO₂ detection, therefore, correlates with the decomposition temperature of the carbonate corresponding to the oxide mixed with BaTiO₃. The capacitance increase of CuO–BaTiO₃ upon exposure to CO₂ seems to result from the elevated height of the potential barrier at the grain boundary between CuO and BaTiO₃. Carbonation of CuO in the element seems to bring about the elevation in the height of the potential barrier.     

Optimization of reaction conditions for the production of DAG using immobilized 1,3-regiospecific lipase lipozyme RM IM

Oils with a high DAG (1,3-DAG) content have attracted considerable attention as a healthful food oil component. In this study, we report on the synthesis of 1,3-DAG from a mixture of FA, constituted largely of oleic and linoleic acids, using an immobilized 1,3-regioselective lipase from Rhizomucor miehei in a solvent-free system. The kinetics of 1,3-DAG production from FA and glycerol were investigated on the basis of a simplified model, taking into consideration the acyl migration reaction, the removal of water, and glycerol dissolution in the oil phase in addition to the esterification reactions. Both the yield of 1,3-DAG and the purity of DAG were evaluated under a variety of experimental conditions, including reaction temperature, pressure, and amount of enzyme present. When either the reaction temperature or the amount of enzyme used was increased, the 1,3-DAG production rate increased, but yield remained relatively constant. The 1,3-DAG yield as well as the purity of DAG gradually decreased because of the enhancement of acyl migration at later stages of the reaction after the 1,3-DAG concentration reached a maximum. Vacuum was important for attaining high yields of 1,3-DAG. Under conditions of a high vacuum (1 mm Hg) at 50°C, 1.09 M 1,3-DAG was produced from 1.29 M glycerol and 2.59 MFA in an 84% yield and in 90% purity.     

Gas hold-up and volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient in an aerated agitated vessel without baffles having forward-reverse rotating impellers

Gas hold-up and volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient were studied in a gas-liquid contactor without baffles, containing multiple impellers with four delta-type blades. The blades of each adjacent impeller were offset by 45° in an alternating manner. The direction of rotation of the impellers periodically was reversed. This new type of agitated gas-liquid contactor was denoted as “AJITER”. The effects of the gas sparging rate, the forward-reverse agitation rate and the number of impellers on the gas hold-up and volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient in the AJITER when different types of gas spargers were used were evaluated experimentally for an air-water system. Empirical relationships are presented to predict the gas hold-up and volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient. The differences in performance between the AJITER and existing types of gas-liquid contactors are discussed in terms of the differences in the gas hold-up and volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient due to changes in the superficial gas velocity.     

Effect of Particle Size Distribution on Isothermal Oxidation Characteristics of Plasma Sprayed CoNi- and CoCrAlY Coatings

The effect of particle size distribution on the degradation behavior of plasma sprayed CoNi- and CoCrAlY coatings during isothermal oxidation was investigated, in terms of the oxygen content, porosity, surface roughness, and oxide scale formation. The results show that the degradation of both coatings was considerably influenced by the starting particle size distribution. It also shows that in the as-sprayed vacuum plasma spray (VPS) coatings the oxygen content on the coating surface increased significantly with decreased average particle size. But after thermal exposure, the difference of the oxygen contents between the coatings with different particle size was decreased. The powder with various particle size resulted in low porosity inside the coatings during the deposition process. The surface roughness of the coatings increased with increased particle size. The small particles produced a relatively smooth surface, and the oxide growth in the coating deposited by small particle was slower than that in the large particle coating. This article is an invited paper selected from presentations at the 2007 International Thermal Spray Conference and has been expanded from the original presentation. It is simultaneously published in Global Coating Solutions, Proceedings of the 2007 International Thermal Spray Conference, Beijing, China, May 14-16, 2007, Basil R. Marple, Margaret M. Hyland, Yuk-Chiu Lau, Chang-Jiu Li, Rogerio S. Lima, and Ghislain Montavon, Ed., ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 2007.     

Realistic Animation of Fluid with Splash and Foam

In this paper we describe a method for modeling and rendering dynamic behavior of fluids withsplashes and foam. A particle system is built into a fluid simulation system to represent an ocean wavecresting and spraying over another object. We use the Cubic Interpolated Propagation (CIP) method asthe fluid solver. The CIP method can solve liquid and gas together in the framework of fluid dynamicsand has high accuracy in the case of relatively coarse grids. This enables us to simulate the fluids in ashort time and describe the motion of splashes in the air that is associated with the liquid motion well.The foam floating on the water also can be described using the particle system. We integrate the rigidbody simulation with the fluid and particle system to create sophisticated scenes including splashes andfoam. We construct state change rules that are used with the particle system. This controls the generation,vanishing and transition rule of splashes and foam. The transition rule makes the seamless connection betweena splash and foam. We employed a fast volume rendering method with scattering effect for particles.One of the important features of our method is the combination of fast simulation and rendering techniques,which provides dynamic and realistic scenes in a short time.     

Super‐short‐focus front projector with aspheric‐mirror projection optical system

Abstract— We have developed a new front projector with a super‐short projection distance of 0.65 m at 100 in. We installed a newly developed reflective‐type projection optical system in this projector, which was composed of only four aspheric mirrors that were free of color aberrations. Using this new system and a single‐chip DMD?, we projected a picture that had excellent sharpness and high contrast from 40 to 100 in. This paper describes the principles, design, and characteristics of the new WT600? front projector.