Surface Shape Measurement by Wavelength Scanning Interferometry Using an Electronically Tuned Ti:sapphire Laser

We developed a high speed and high resolution surface shape measurement system based on wavelength scanning interferometry with an electronically tuned Ti:sapphire laser. This laser emits pulses and the wavelength of each pulse can be tuned arbitrarily within 680 nm and 1056 nm. We also designed a high speed multiport CCD camera as a detector. This camera is synchronized with wavelength scanning of the laser at the frequency of 250 Hz. We could measure the object shape with a height resolution of 3.05 μm at the tuning range from 740.0 nm to 842.3 nm. By simple parabolic curve fitting to the Fourier peak of interference signals from each CCD pixel, the height resolution has been improved to the order of submicrometers.     

Testing CIELAB-based color-difference formulae using large color differences

Three advanced CIELAB-based color-difference formulae, CMC, CIE94, and CIEDE2000, together with the basic CIELAB equation, were tested using large color-difference visual data (maximum average size was 12 CIELAB ΔE units) produced in this study. The color-difference comparison experiment was carried out at CIE Gray and Blue centers by a panel of 6 normal color-vision observers using CRT-generated stimuli based on the psychophysical method of constant stimuli. The experimental data, processed via probit analysis, were well fitted to chromaticity ellipses with a high reliance according to the observer accuracy in terms ofPF/3 measure. A detailed comparison was performed to analyze the agreement between predicted color differences from all formulae and their corresponding visual scales in all measurement planes of CIELAB space. The results show that the CIEDE2000 marginally outperformed the others at all color centers while CIE94 was the worst in original formulae or with optimizedk _L value, but the CIELAB performed worst when the parametric factors ofk _L,k_c, andk _H were all optimized, with the CMC always lying between these extremes.     

Steam Reforming of Methanol Over Pd-Zn Catalysts

Heating the physical mixtures of Pd and Zn selectively yielded PdZn or Pd_3.9Zn_6.1 alloy. These alloys were highly selective for the steam reforming of methanol.     

Prediction of the layered ink layout for 3D printers considering a desired skin color and line spread function

Optical Review - We propose a layout estimation method for multi-layered ink using a measurement of the line spread function (LSF) and machine learning. The three-dimensional printing market for...     

A theoretical study on the alkali metal carboxylate-promoted L-Lactide polymerization

Sodium acetate-catalyzed L-lactide polymerization reaction is a simple yet efficient reaction. It provides a robust system to produce poly(L-lactide) in industrial scale. In this study, the mechanism of this reaction has been studied by means of computational chemistry tools based on the experimental results. Basically, the mechanism consists of two steps: lactide coordination and ring opening through O-Acyl bond cleavage. Additionally, the effect of cation size and substituent on carboxylate moiety have been evaluated. The calculations indicate that the larger cation leads to faster reactions. Moreover, the stronger electron-donating group on carboxylate moiety accelerates the reaction rates. To obtain further insights, an orbital analysis has been also carried out. Our calculations are consistent with experimental findings and clarify underlying mechanistic features of the present reaction.     

Optical,Electrochemical, and Magnetic Properties of Pyrrole‐ and Thiophene‐Bridged 5,15‐Diazaporphyrin Dimers

The first examples of pyrrole‐ and thiophene‐bridged 5,15‐diazaporphyrin (DAP) dimers are prepared through Stille coupling reactions of nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes of 3‐bromo‐10,20‐dimesityl‐5,15‐diazaporphyrin (mesityl=2,4,6‐trimethylphenyl) with the respective 2,5‐bis(tributylstannyl)heteroles. The effects of the heterole spacers and meso nitrogen atoms on the optical, electrochemical, and magnetic properties of the DAP dimers are investigated by UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, density functional theory calculations, magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and EPR spectroscopy. The heterole spacers are found to have a significant impact on the electronic transitions over the entire π‐system. In particular, the pyrrole‐bridged DAP dimers exhibit high light‐harvesting potential in the low‐energy visible/near‐infrared region owing to the intrinsic charge‐transfer character of the lowest excitation.     

Improvement of Li+ conductivity in ball-milled LiI and the local structure analysis by pair distribution function based on X-ray total scattering

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The effects of ball milling on the ionic conduction properties of LiI are investigated. It is found that ball milling drastically increased the...     

Photo-Degradable Protein-Polymer Hybrid Shells for Caging Living Cells

There is growing demand for the precise remote control of cellular functions in various fields. Herein, a method for caging mammalian cells by coating with photodegradable protein-polymer hybrid shells to photo-control their functions without genetic engineering is reported. A layer-by-layer assembly of photocleavable synthetic materials through biotin-streptavidin (SA) binding was employed for cell coating. The cell surfaces were first biotinylated with photocleavable biotinylated poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)-lipid and then coated by repeatedly layering SA and micelles of the PEG-lipid and photocleavable biotinylated four-arm PEG. The cell extension and adhesion were suppressed with the shells and then triggered with the degradation of the shells by light exposure. Macrophage phagocytosis was also stopped by caging with the shells and restarted by light-guided uncaging. This study provides the first proof of principle that cellular functions can be remotely controlled by steric hinderance of cell surfaces with photodegradable materials.