Measurement of Train Driver’s Brain Activity by Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)

This paper describes development of a train simulator for human factors, and application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to estimation of drivers’ brain activities during train operation. One of the characteristics of train operation is that the driving tasks tend to be more monotonous than automobile driving. Therefore, train drivers are more strongly urged to avoid human errors. In order to avoid human errors in train operation, it is considered that driving support systems or the like should be developed in consideration of human properties. In developing such systems, it is necessary to identify the relation between train operation and brain activity of the driver. A train simulator designed to evaluate the human factors was developed and cerebral blood flow during train operation was measured using fNIRS. The experiment confirms the difference in drivers’ brain activities between manual and automatic operations. The results suggest that fNIRS can observe brain activation caused by train operation     

Study on the valence fluctuation and the magnetism of an iron mixed-valence complex, (n-C4H9)4N[FeIIFeIII(mto)3](mto = C2O3S)

In the case of iron mixed-valence complexes whose spin states are situated in the spin-crossover region, conjugated phenomena coupled with spin and charge are expected. In general, the Fe site coordinated by six S atoms is in the low-spin state, while the Fe site coordinated by six O atoms is in the high-spin state. From this viewpoint, we have synthesized and investigated physical properties for an monothiooxalato-bridged (mto = C₂O₃S) iron mixed-valence complex, (n-C₄H₉)₄N[Fe^IIFe^III(mto)₃], consisting of Fe^IIIO₃S₃ and Fe^IIO₆ octahedra, which behaves as a ferrimagnet with its magnetic transition temperature of T_N = 38 K and Weiss temperature of θ = ?93 K. From the analysis of ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectra of ⁵⁷Fe enriched complexes, (n-C₄H₉)₄N[⁵⁷Fe^IIFe^III(mto)₃] and (n-C₄H₉)₄N[Fe^II57Fe^III(mto)₃], the charge transfer between Fe^II and Fe^III exists in the paramagnetic phase. Considering the time window of ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, the time scale of the valence fluctuation is at least slower than 10^?7 s. In order to confirm the valence fluctuation between Fe^II and Fe^III, we investigated the dielectric constant and found an anomalous enhancement attributed to the Fe valence fluctuation between 170 and 250 K.     

Exact Solutions of Some Nonconvex Quadratic Optimization Problems via SDP and SOCP Relaxations

We show that SDP (semidefinite programming) and SOCP (second order cone programming) relaxations provide exact optimal solutions for a class of nonconvex quadratic optimization problems. It is a generalization of the results by S. Zhang for a subclass of quadratic maximization problems that have nonnegative off-diagonal coefficient matrices of quadratic objective functions and diagonal coefficient matrices of quadratic constraint functions. A new SOCP relaxation is proposed for the class of nonconvex quadratic optimization problems by extracting valid quadratic inequalities for positive semidefinite cones. Its effectiveness to obtain optimal values is shown to be the same as the SDP relaxation theoretically. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate that the SOCP relaxation is much more efficient than the SDP relaxation.     

Evaluation of in vivo acute immunotoxicity of arsenocholine,a trimethyl arsenic compound in seafood

In this study, we observed the first in vivo acute immunotoxicity of a trimethyl(2‐hydroxyethyl)arsonium cation, namely arsenocholine (AsCho), which is present in marine animals that are ingested daily as seafood in many countries. It has been reported that AsCho has significant acute in vivo toxicity. A high dose of the synthetic pure AsCho was administered to CDF₁ mice intraperitoneally (0.1 g kg^?1 mouse weight) or orally (a total of 10.0 g kg^?1 mouse weight); its effect on the immune organs and immune effector cells was assessed. Administered AsCho, especially via the oral route, showed weak and partial, but significant, in vivo immunotoxicity in mice, although it did not cause any severe acute inflammatory responses. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bandwidth of the composition of two graphs

The bandwidth B(G) of a graph G is the minimum of the quantity max{|f(x)−f(y)| : xyE(G)} taken over all proper numberings f of G. The composition of two graphs G and H, written as G[H], is the graph with vertex set V(G)×V(H) and with (u₁,v₁) is adjacent to (u₂,v₂) if either u₁ is adjacent to u₂ in G or u₁=u₂ and v₁ is adjacent to v₂ in H. In this paper, we investigate the bandwidth of the composition of two graphs. Let G be a connected graph. We denote the diameter of G by D(G). For two distinct vertices x,yV(G), we define w_G(x,y) as the maximum number of internally vertex-disjoint (x,y)-paths whose lengths are the distance between x and y. We define w(G) as the minimum of w_G(x,y) over all pairs of vertices x,y of G with the distance between x and y is equal to D(G). Let G be a non-complete connected graph and let H be any graph. Among other results, we prove that if |V(G)|=B(G)D(G)−w(G)+2, then B(G[H])=(B(G)+1)|V(H)|−1. Moreover, we show that this result determines the bandwidth of the composition of some classes of graphs composed with any graph.     

A Ruthenium(III)–Oxyl Complex Bearing Strong Radical Character

Proton‐coupled electron‐transfer oxidation of a Ru^II?OH₂ complex, having an N‐heterocyclic carbene ligand, gives a Ru^III?O^. species, which has an electronically equivalent structure of the Ru^IV=O species, in an acidic aqueous solution. The Ru^III?O^. complex was characterized by spectroscopic methods and DFT calculations. The oxidation state of the Ru center was shown to be close to +3; the Ru?O bond showed a lower‐energy Raman scattering at 732 cm^?1 and the Ru?O bond length was estimated to be 1.77(1) Å. The Ru^III?O^. complex exhibits high reactivity in substrate oxidation under catalytic conditions; particularly, benzaldehyde and the derivatives are oxidized to the corresponding benzoic acid through C?H abstraction from the formyl group by the Ru^III?O^. complex bearing a strong radical character as the active species.     

Ligand‐Controlled Synthesis of [3]‐ and [4]Cyclo‐9,9‐dimethyl‐2,7‐fluorenes through Triangle‐ and Square‐Shaped Platinum Intermediates

The syntheses of [3]‐ and [4]cyclo‐9,9‐dimethyl‐2,7‐fluorenes ([3] and [4]CFRs), cyclic trimer, and tetramers of 9,9‐dimethyl‐2,7‐fluorene (FR), respectively, were achieved by the platinum‐mediated assembly of FR units and subsequent reductive elimination of platinum. A triangle‐shaped tris‐platinum complex and a square‐shaped tetra‐platinum complex were obtained by changing the platinum ligand. The structure of the triangle complex was unambiguously determined by X‐ray crystallographic analysis. Reductive elimination of each complex gave [3] and [4]CFRs. Two rotamers of [3]CFR were sufficiently stable at room temperature and were separated by chromatography. The physical properties of the CFRs were also investigated theoretically and experimentally.     

Dynamic Chirality Control of tropos DPCB‐digold Skeleton by Chiral Binaphthyldicarboxylate

The planar 3,4‐diphosphinidenecyclobutene (DPCB) can be remarkably twisted into a C₂‐type helical structure by dual coordination of a AuCl moiety. A prompt chirality control of the twisted DPCB skeleton ligated by the digold units affords the enantiopure structure by exchanging the chloride ligands for chiral [1,1′‐binaphthalene]‐2,2′‐dicarboxylate. The chirality of the diaurated 2,2′‐bis(diphenylphosphanyl)‐1,1′‐biphenyl (BIPHEP) system can be controlled prior to that of DPCB. Mixing of a DPCB‐bis(chlorogold) complex with the chiral silver salt dynamically leads to a single diastereomer, which was characterized by the ³¹P NMR spectrum and the CD couplet patterns in the visible (DPCB) area. The absolute configuration of the singly induced helical structure was assigned by the theoretical CD spectra determined by TD‐DFT calculations. Intramolecular alkoxycyclization of hexa‐4,5‐dien‐1‐ol catalyzed by the asymmetric DPCB‐digold structure were also attempted.     

Broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and low-frequency Raman scattering of glassy polymers: Boson peak of PMMA

The low-energy vibrational properties of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were studied by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and Raman scattering. The real and imaginary parts of a complex dielectric constant were accurately determined in the frequency range from 0.2 to 5.0 THz. The imaginary part of the dielectric constant shows a line-shape similar to the imaginary part of the Raman susceptibility measured by Raman scattering. These two spectra show broad peaks at about 2.3 THz. We also separately determined the Raman and far-infrared light-vibration coupling constants of the PMMA using the vibrational density of states determined by cold neutron inelastic scattering in the literature.