Water-floatable organosilica particles for TiO2 photocatalysis

A water-floatable TiO2 photocatalyst support was successfully produced from organosilica via sol-gel reactions of organosilanes (octyl- and methyl-silyl trichlorides and 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane). 3-Aminopropyltrimethoxysilane in silane coupling agents was shown to have an important role in depositing highly dispersed TiO2 nanocrystals onto organosilica particles. Calcination of the as-made sample at 400 degrees C in an airflow resulted in the loss of octyl- and 3-aminopropyl groups, modifying polymethylsiloxane while maintaining water floatability. Calcination led to an increase in the specific surface area from 88 to 230 m(2)/g and the growth of anatase crystallites. Floatability was not observed when the as-made sample was calcined at 600 degrees C, showing that methyl groups acted as surfactants at the air-water interface. Formic acid in water was catalytically oxidized over the water-floatable sample upon irradiation by a solar simulator. The evolved CO2 became saturated when the surface of the aqueous solution was filled with the floating particles. We demonstrated the importance of the floating photocatalyst with respect to the efficiency of light receipt and facile recovery from liquid media. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.ArticleCHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL. 299: 367-372 (2016)journal articl

Proposal of a new equation to estimate globe temperature in an urban park environment

Globe temperature is one element of the heat stress index, the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, which is used to evaluate how radiation adds to thermal discomfort in the workplace. As the measurement of globe temperature is not standardized, empirical equations were introduced to estimate the globe temperature from weather factors, including air temperature, solar radiation and wind speed. As it was not known whether these equations were applicable in an urban park environment with vegetation, we observed the globe temperature using a set of instruments in three parks. The observation along with the heat balance analysis of the globe revealed that the globe temperature depended curvilinearly on solar radiation and that wind speed influenced this dependence. We compared two previously proposed empirical equations to the observed globe temperature and found both equations had systematic estimation errors. Although the errors were reduced by fitting the equations to the observed data and reevaluating their numerical constants, the equations still had shortcomings, as one did not consider wind speed and the other included a discontinuity. We therefore derived a new equation based on the heat balance equations of the globe with its numerical constants experimentally determined. This equation was able to predict the curvilinear dependence of the globe temperature on global solar radiation without any discontinuity, and it also showed the globe temperature response to wind speed

Multi-cue 3D Object Recognition in Knowledge-based Vision-guided Humanoid Robot System

Abstract — A vision based object recognition subsystem on knowledge-based humanoid robot system is presented. Humanoid robot system for real world service application must integrate an object recognition subsystem and a motion planning subsystem in both mobility and manipulation tasks. These requirements involve the vision system capable of self-localization for navigation tasks and object recognition for manipulation tasks, while communicating with the motion planning subsystem. In this paper, we describe a design and implementation of knowledge based visual 3D object recognition system with multi-cue integration using particle filter technique. The particle filter provides very robust object recognition performance and knowledge based approach enables robot to perform both object localization and self localization with movable/fixed information. Since this object recognition subsystem share knowledge with a motion planning subsystem, we are able to generate vision-guided humanoid behaviors without considering visual processing functions. Finally, in order to demonstrate the generality of the system, we demonstrated several vision-based humanoid behavior experiments in a daily life environment. Fig. 1. system Behavior example of knowledge based vision guided humanoid I

Penetration of the Optic Nerve or Chiasm by Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysms: Three Case Reports

Although large and giant aneurysms can induce visual disturbance by compression of the anterior visual pathway, splitting and penetration of the optic apparatus are extremely rare. The authors describe three patients who underwent clipping surgery for anterior communicating artery aneurysm infiltrating into the optic nerve or chiasm. These findings were suspected on preoperative magnetic resonance imaging and confirmed at surgery. Two aneurysms were ruptured and one unruptured. The authors review the literature and discuss the mechanism of cranial nerve penetration by an aneurysm.ArticleNEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGY. 35(3):128-132 (2011)journal articl

Spontaneous Bilateral Pneumothorax in a Patient with Anorexia Nervosa: The Management of Prolonged Postoperative Air Leakage

A 24-year-old Japanese female with anorexia nervosa presented to our hospital for bilateral pneumothorax, and 12-Fr thoracostomy catheters were inserted into the bilateral pleural cavities. On hospital day 9, a thoracoscopic bullectomy was performed. However, air leakage relapsed on both sides on postoperative day 1. The air leakage on the right side was particularly persistent, and we switched the drainage to a Heimlich valve. Both lungs expanded gradually and the chest tube was removed on postoperative day 19. Passive pleural drainage might be an option for prolonged air leakage after a bullectomy in patients with anorexia nervosa

Correlation between fabrication factor and superconducting properties of the Tl-and-Bi-based high-Tc superconductor

Large critical current densities (J(sub c)) were obtained in c axis oriented Tl-1 223/Ag composite tapes fabricated by spraying methods without a vacuum. Transport measurements at 77K under a zero field indicated a J(sub c) of 9 x 10(exp 4) A/sq cm and 7 x 10(exp 3) A/sq cm at 1T for the tapes fabricated by spray pyrolysis. The novel GPM method was also applied for Bi-2212/Ag PIT composite wire, and found to be very effective for improving the distribution of voids, which caused from the melt-solidifying process. The GPM showed a marked effect for obtaining homogeneous long wire. A 1 T class coil was successfully fabricated with monocore wire

Versatile Multilinked Aerial Robot with Tilting Propellers: Design, Modeling, Control and State Estimation for Autonomous Flight and Manipulation

Multilinked aerial robot is one of the state-of-the-art works in aerial robotics, which demonstrates the deformability benefiting both maneuvering and manipulation. However, the performance in outdoor physical world has not yet been evaluated because of the weakness in the controllability and the lack of the state estimation for autonomous flight. Thus we adopt tilting propellers to enhance the controllability. The related design, modeling and control method are developed in this work to enable the stable hovering and deformation. Furthermore, the state estimation which involves the time synchronization between sensors and the multilinked kinematics is also presented in this work to enable the fully autonomous flight in the outdoor environment. Various autonomous outdoor experiments, including the fast maneuvering for interception with target, object grasping for delivery, and blanket manipulation for firefighting are performed to evaluate the feasibility and versatility of the proposed robot platform. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study for the multilinked aerial robot to achieve the fully autonomous flight and the manipulation task in outdoor environment. We also applied our platform in all challenges of the 2020 Mohammed Bin Zayed International Robotics Competition, and ranked third place in Challenge 1 and sixth place in Challenge 3 internationally, demonstrating the reliable flight performance in the fields