Study of a high-dimensional chaotic attractor

The nature of a very high-dimensional chaotic attractor in an infinite-dimensional phase space is examined for the purpose of studying the relationships between the physical processes occurring in the real space and the characteristics of high-dimensional attractor in the phase space. We introduce two complementary bases from which the attractor is observed, one the Lyapunov basis composed of the Lyapunov vectors and the another the Fourier basis composed of the Fourier modes. We introduce the exterior subspaces on the basis of the Lyapunov vectors and observe the chaotic motion projected onto these exteriors. It is shown that a certain statistical property of the projected motion changes markedly as the exterior subspace goes out of the attractor. The origin of such a phenomenon is attributed to more fundamental features of our attractor, which become manifest when the attractor is observed from the Lyapunov basis. A counterpart of the phenomenon can be observed also on the Fourier basis because there is a statistical one-to-one correspondence between the Lyapunov vectors and the Fourier modes. In particular, a statistical property of the high-pass filtered time series reflects clearly the difference between the interior and the exterior of the attractor.     

Effects of low-LET radiations on CR-39 track detector

The effects of Co-60 gamma-rays and about 25-MeV pulsed electrons have been investigated on CR-39 plastic nuclear track detector. The bulk etch rate was measured as a function of the absorbed dose under three different irradiation conditions; gamma-ray exposure in air at the dose rate of 6 kGy/h, that in vacuum and electron shower in air at 126 kGy/h on average. It was found that the bulk etch rate (V) increased nearly exponentially with the dose (D); V=V₀exp(kD), and the characteristic parameter (k) was 35, 9 and 12 MGy⁻¹, respectively. It is considered that a lack of oxygen in damage formation processes could occur momentarily during a short electron pulse, just similarly to the vacuum effect of reduction in track etch rates in outgassed CR-39 plastic.     

Size Effect of the Immediate Surround for the Border between the Natural and Unnatural Object Color Appearance

The border luminance of the test stimulus between the natural and unnatural object color, y_ynB_u was obtained for different spatial sizes of the immediate surround to prove that _nB_u can be determined based on a new recognized visual space of illumination (RVSI) that is assumed to be constructed for the immediate surround separately from the RVSI for the subjects room itself. The _nB_u of five test stimuli were determined for six different sizes covering from zero to 1866 cm² with four different lightnesses, N4, N6 and N8, while keeping the room illuminance constant at 100 or 600 lx. The results showed that luminance of the border _nB_u gradually decreased as the size of the immediate surround was increased and that the decrease was larger for immediate surround with lower lightness. The results were interpreted as showing a new RVSI constructed for the spatial extent of the immediate surround of the test stimulus, and the RVSI was more completely constructed for larger spatial size of the immediate surround. © 2005 The Optical Society of Japan     

Rhodium‐Catalyzed Stitching Polymerization of 1,5‐Hexadiynes and Related Oligoalkynes

A new mode of polymerization, rhodium‐catalyzed stitching polymerization, has been developed for the synthesis of π‐conjugated polymers with bridged repeating units from nonconjugated 1,5‐hexadiynes containing both terminal and internal alkyne moieties as monomers. The polymerization proceeded smoothly with a high degree of stitching efficiency under mild conditions, and 1,5,9‐decatriyne and 1,5,9,13‐tetradecatetrayne monomers could also be employed. The present polymerization strategy would be particularly beneficial for the synthesis of polymers consisting of a repeating unit that is difficult to prepare as a stable monomer because it does not require the use of a preformed bridged π‐conjugated monomer.     

Solvation dynamics of coumarin 153 in alcohols confined in silica nanochannels

Solvation dynamics in alcohols confined in silica nanochannels was examined by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy using coumarin 153 (C153) as a fluorescent probe. Surfactant-templated mesoporous silica was fabricated inside the pores of an anodic alumina membrane. The surfactant was removed by calcination to give mesoporous silica (Cal-NAM) containing one-dimensional (1D) silica nanochannels (diameter, 3.1 nm) whose inner surface was covered with silanol groups. By treating Cal-NAM with trimethylchlorosilane, trimethylsilyl (TMS) groups were formed on the inner surface of the silica nanochannels (TMS-NAM). Fluorescence dynamic Stokes shifts of C153 were measured in alcohols (ethanol, butanol, hexanol, and decanol) confined in the silica nanochannels of Cal- and TMS-NAMs, and the time-dependent fluorescence decay profiles could be best fitted by a biexponential function. The estimated solvent relaxation times were much larger than those observed in bulk alcohols for both Cal- and TMS-NAMs when ethanol or butanol was used as a solvent, indicating that the mobility of these alcohol molecules was restricted within the silica nanochannels. However, hexanol or decanol in Cal- and TMS-NAMs did not cause a remarkable increase in the solvent relaxation time in contrast to ethanol or butanol. Therefore, it was concluded that a relatively rigid assembly of alcohols (an alcohol chain) was formed within the silica nanochannels by hydrogen bonding interaction and van der Waals force between the surface functional groups of the silica nanochannels and alcohol molecules and by the successive interaction between alcohol molecules when alcohol with a short alkyl chain (ethanol or butanol) was used as a solvent.     

Analytical separation of tea catechins and food-related polyphenols by high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) using the type-J coil planet centrifuge was applied to compositional analysis of tea catechins and separation of other food-related polyphenols. The HSCCC separation of nine different standard compounds and those from extracts of commercial tea leaves was performed with a two-phase solvent system composed of tert-butyl methyl ether-acetonitrile-0.1% aqueous trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) (2:2:3, v/v/v) by eluting the upper organic phase at a flow rate of 2 ml/min. The main compounds in the extract of non-fermented green tea were found to be monomeric catechins, their galloylated esters and caffeine. In addition to these compounds, oxidized pigments, such as hydrophobic theaflavins (TFs) and polar thearubigins (TRs) were also separated and detected from the extracts of semi-fermented oolong tea and fermented black tea. Furthermore, several food-related polyphenols, such as condensed catechin oligomers (procyanidins), phenolic acids and flavonol glycosides were clearly separated under the same HSCCC condition. These separation profiles of HSCCC provide useful information about the hydrophobic diversity of these bioactive polyphenols present in various types of teas and food products.     

Adsorption and micelle formation of alkylammonium chloride-alkyltrimethylammonium chloride mixtures

The surface tension of the aqueous solutions of binary cationic surfactant mixtures of (1) dodecylammnonium chloride (DAC)-tetradecyltrimethylammonium chloride (TTAC), (2) decylammonium chloride (DeAC)-dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC), and (3) DAC-DTAC was measured as a function of the total molality and composition of surfactants at 298.15 K. The compositions of surfactants in the adsorbed film and micelle were evaluated and the phase diagram of adsorption and that of micelle formation were constructed. Furthermore the excess Gibbs energies of adsorption and micelle formation were calculated to estimate the deviation from the corresponding ideal mixing. It was found that the surface and micelle are enriched in trimethylammonium salts in (1) and (2), while in ammonium salt in (3) compared to the bulk solution. On the other hand, the micelle is enriched in trimethylammonium salts compared to the surface at the critical micelle concentration (CMC) in all the systems. The miscibility of the surfactants was clarified from the standpoints of the structure of the head group and of the matching between the size of polar head group of surfactants and the difference in hydrocarbon chain length.