The effect of silica–alumina catalysts on degradation of polyolefins by a continuous flow reactor

Catalytic degradation of polyolefins was performed in a continuous flow reactor that allows the study of the degradation processes at steady state, characterized by constant values of reaction parameters and properties of the products. The continuous flow reactor was operated at atmospheric pressure and at feed rate of 0–1.5 kg h^?1 polyolefins over two silica–alumina catalysts having different SiO₂/Al₂O₃ mole ratio. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) were degraded at 420, 380 and 360 °C respectively. The cracking effect of silica–alumina was proved by the increased amount of gaseous products and by the decreased molecular weight of liquid products. The differences in surface area and in concentration and acidic strength of active centers of the two catalysts affected the distribution of degradation products. Molar rate of degradation was increased in the presence of catalysts, however the mass rate of degradation was decreased leading to higher values of the calculated activation energies. These interesting results might open new perspectives in understanding the macroscopic mechanism for catalytic degradation of polyolefins.     

Phase-shifting mask design for interference exposure of chirp blazed grating

An interference exposure system using a phase-shifting mask was proposed for generating periodic sawtooth optical intensity profile with chirp in period. Multiple space-harmonic waves are launched from the mask by diffraction, and the sawtooth optical intensity is formed by interference based on Fourier synthesis after propagation through an air gap. The design concept merely utilizing positive diffraction-order harmonics with tilt illumination of an exposure light and a design algorithm based on time-reversed configuration for calculating required phase shift amount were proposed and discussed. A phase-shifting mask for a blazed grating of very high chirp rate was designed to demonstrate its potential and feasibility. The grating period changes from 2.2 to 3.1 μm gradually within 0.3 mm length. Sawtooth-like optical intensity profile was confirmed by theoretical simulation as well as preliminary experimental results.     

Single-shot polarization-imaging digital holography based on simultaneous phase-shifting interferometry

We propose single-shot digital holography which is capable of simultaneously capturing both the information of multiple phase-shifted holograms and the distribution of the polarization. In this technique, a single image sensor records both the information required for phase-shifting interferometry and that of the polarization states of objects using an array of polarizers. The essence of the technique is the capability of imaging the distribution of the polarization of three-dimensional objects with a single-shot exposure by using the space-division multiplexing of holograms. The validity of the proposed technique was confirmed by the preliminary experiments.     

Corrosion and passivation behavior of Mg-Zn-Y-Al alloys prepared by cooling rate-controlled solidification

Highly corrosion-resistant nanocrystalline Mg-Zn-Y-Al multi-phase alloys have been prepared by consolidation of rapidly solidified (RS) ribbons. The relation between corrosion behavior and microstructure evolution of Mg-Zn-Y-Al alloys with a long period stacking ordered phase has been investigated. In order to clarify the influence of rapid solidification on the occurrence of localized corrosion such as filiform corrosion, several Mg_96.75Zn_0.75Y₂Al_0.5 (at.%) alloys with different cooling rates are fabricated by the gravity casting, copper mould injection casting and melt-spinning techniques and their corrosion behavior and microstructures are examined by the salt water immersion test, electrochemical measurements, GDOES, XRD, SEM and TEM. To clarify the effect of aluminium addition on the improvement in corrosion resistance of the alloys, several Mg_97.25−xZn_0.75Y₂Al_x alloys with different aluminium contents are fabricated by consolidating RS ribbons and the formation of corroded films on the Mg-Zn-Y-Al alloys have been investigated. Rapid solidification brings about the grain refinement and an increase in the solid solubility of zinc, yttrium and aluminium into the magnesium matrix, enhancing microstructural and electrochemical homogeneity, which in turn enhanced corrosion resistance. The addition of aluminium to magnesium can modify the structure and chemical composition of surface films and improves the resistance to local breakdown of the films.     

A Parabolic Approach to Martin Boundaries for Elliptic Equations in Skew Product Form

We consider positive solutions of elliptic partial differential equations on non-compact domains of Riemannian manifolds. We explicitly determine Martin compactifications and Martin kernels for a wide class of elliptic equations in skew product form by exploiting parabolic Martin kernels for associated parabolic equations.     

Synthesis and properties of cross-linkable DNA duplex using 4-amino-2-oxo-6-vinyl-1,3,5-triazine

We synthesized the DNA oligonucleotide containing a new cross-linkable 4-amino-2-oxo-6-vinyltriazine (AOVT) nucleobase analogue (Et-AOVT) and evaluated these properties. Our results of the cross-link assay and thermal denaturing assay of duplexes containing AOVT demonstrated that the additional aza of AOVT has an impact on the duplex stability and crosslink properties. Our data suggests that the additional 5-aza of AOVT is involved in the hydrogen bonding with the complementary guanine, and this hydrogen bonding system successfully flipped the reactive vinyl group out to the major groove of the duplex demonstrating a new paradigm of a “cross-linkable duplex”.     

Piezo electric sensor for endocrine-disrupting chemicals using receptor-co-factor interaction.

In vitro screening assays are useful techniques for the determination of receptor-mediated activities in environmental samples. In order to define whether environmental chemicals act as an agonist or antagonist to the human estrogen receptor (hER), we have constructed a biosensor based on ligand-inducible interactions between hER and relative proteins on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The his-tagged proteins, which were expressed in E. coli by recombinant DNA technology, were immobilized on an Au-electrode with Ni(II)-mediated chemisorption using the histidine tag and thiol-modified iminodiacetic acid. The resonance-frequency change of the protein-modified electrode was caused by association or dissociation with the hER relative proteins on the surface in the presence of estrogen. These results suggest that this sensor is applicable as a large-scale screening tool for estrogenic compounds.     

Copolymerization of ethylene or propylene with α‐olefins containing hydroxyl groups with zirconocene/methylaluminoxane catalyst

Copolymerization of olefins (ethylene and propylene) and 5‐hexen‐1‐ol pretreated with alkylaluminum was performed using [dimethysilylbis(9‐fluorenyl)]zirconium dichloride/methylaluminoxane as the catalyst. The copolymerization required extra addition of alkylaluminum to prevent deactivation of the catalyst when 5‐hexen‐1‐ol was pretreated with trimethylaluminum, whereas the triisobutylaluminum‐treated system did not require any addition of alkylaluminum. The molecular weight of the copolymer depended on the kind of alkylaluminum compound (masking reagent, additive, and cocatalyst). ¹³C NMR analysis proved that poly(ethylene‐co‐5‐hexen‐1‐ol) containing 50 mol % of 5‐hexen‐1‐ol acted as an alternating copolymer, whereas the poly(propylene‐co‐5‐hexen‐1‐ol) acted as a random copolymer. The surface property of the copolymers was simply evaluated by means of water drop contact angle measurement. It was found that the copolymers containing large amounts of 5‐hexen‐1‐ol units showed good hydrophilic properties. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 52–58, 2004     

Frequency-tunable semiconductor lasers

Recent advances in frequency-tunable semiconductor lasers are reviewed. They are classified into hybrid and monolithic tunable lasers. Monolithic tunable lasers based on distributed Bragg reflector or distributed feedback laser structures are most attractive for practical applications. The device structures and the tuning characteristics are described, with emphasis on the tuning range, spectral linewidth and frequency-switching time. Recent system experiments using monolithic tunable lasers in an optical communication area are also described.An Invited Paper     

Development of ion transportation, extraction and neutralization systems for atomic beam resonance method

A device that produces a low-energy and largely spin polarized RI beam based on the atomic beam resonance method (RIABR) has been developed. We have performed measurements of stopping and drifting an incoming RI ion beam in a gas chamber, extraction of the ions into a vacuum region, and neutralization of the extracted low-energy ion beam. The drift efficiency of RI ions in a gas and the extraction efficiency at a Laval-type glass nozzle were found to be 0.72±0.04 and 0.033, respectively. The result of the experiment for the neutralization is also discussed.