In general, computer-aided design support systems have got an approach of traditional artificial intelligence, which statistically analyzes data such as the behavior of designer, to extract formal design behavior. This approach, however, can neither deal with continuous change of fashion nor reflect personal taste well, as it just depends on large amount of collected data. To overcome this sort of problem interactive genetic algorithm (IGA) has been recently proposed, as a new trend of evolutionary computation. IGA uses human's response as fitness value when the fitness function cannot be explicitly defined. This enables IGA to be applied to artistic domains, and we propose a fashion design aid system using it. Unlike the previous works that attempt to model the dress design by several spline curves, the proposed system is based on a new encoding scheme that practically describes a dress with three parts: body and neck, sleeve, and skirt. By incorporating the domain-specific knowledge into the genotype, we could develop a more realistic design aid system for women's dress. We have implemented the system with OpenGL and VRML to enhance the system interface. The experiments with several human subjects show that the IGA approach to dress design aid system is promising. #

A thienylene−vinylene−thienylene (TVT) derivative with cyano groups in the 3-and 3′-positions was synthesized as a building block of semiconducting polymers for high mobility organic field effect transistors (OFETs). (E)-1,2-Di-(3-cyanothiophen-2-yl)ethene (2CNTVT) was copolymerized with diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) units via Stille coupling reaction to give 2DPP-2CNTVT and 7DPP-2CNTVT. The properties of these two polymers were compared with those of the corresponding polymers without cyano groups in TVT (2DPP-TVT and 7DPP-TVT). The effects of CN groups and branched alkyl position were found to have a significant influence on the optical, electrochemical, morphological, and charge transporting properties of the polymers. The average hole mobilities of OFETs fabricated with 2DPP-TVT and 7DPP-TVT OFETs were 1.63 and 2.2 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , respectively, and the average electron mobility for both 2DPP-2CNTVT and 7DPP-2CNTVT OFETs was 1.2 cm 2 V −1 s −1 .

The heterotrophic cultivation of microalgae has a number of notable advantages, which include allowing high culture density levels as well as enabling the production of biomass in consistent and predictable quantities. In this study, the full potential of Chlorella sp. HS2 is explored through optimization of the parameters for its heterotrophic cultivation. First, carbon and nitrogen sources were screened in PhotobioBox. Initial screening using the Plackett-Burman design (PBD) was then adopted and the concentrations of the major nutrients (glucose, sodium nitrate, and dipotassium phosphate) were optimized via response surface methodology (RSM) with a central composite design (CCD). Upon validation of the model via flask-scale cultivation, the optimized BG11 medium was found to result in a three-fold improvement in biomass amounts, from 5.85 to 18.13 g/L, in comparison to a non-optimized BG11 medium containing 72 g/L glucose. Scaling up the cultivation to a 5-L fermenter resulted in a greatly improved biomass concentration of 35.3 g/L owing to more efficient oxygenation of the culture. In addition, phosphorus feeding fermentation was employed in an effort to address early depletion of phosphate, and a maximum biomass concentration of 42.95 g/L was achieved, with biomass productivity of 5.37 g/L/D.

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Ceria is a good sulfur sorbent under reducing atmospheres because of its high affinity for sulfide at high temperatures. In this study, to enhance the sulfur tolerances of anodes for solid oxide fuel cells, we have used a dip-coating method to modify the pore wall surfaces of conventional nickel/yttria-stabilized zirconia (Ni/YSZ) anodes by coating them with ceria nanoparticles (10–20nm) . We have monitored the sulfur poisoning process in various normalH2S concentrations at 700°C . Because the ceria reacted with normalH2S to form normalCe2normalO2S , which acted as a sulfur sorbent, normalNi3normalS2 was hardly formed in the ceria-coated Ni/YSZ anode; therefore, its performance dropped to a lesser degree relative to that of the conventional Ni/YSZ anode. Furthermore, impedance spectroscopy revealed that the polarization resistance increased upon increasing the normalH2S concentration. Our results suggest that ceria nanocoatings on Ni–YSZ anodes provide greater sulfur tolerance at higher normalH2S concentrations (⩾200ppm) and lower operating temperatures (700°C) .

The realization of printed organic solar cells (OSCs) as a commercial technology is dependent on the development of high-performance photovoltaic materials suitable for large-scale device manufacture. In this study, the design, synthesis, and characterization of a series of A-D-A′-D-A-type molecular acceptors based on indacenodithienothiophene (IDTT) and thiophene-flanked 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DTBT) are reported. The synthesized molecular acceptors showed broader absorption ranges and narrower band gap energies than those of well-known 3,9-bis­(2-methylene-(3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-indanone))-5,5,11,11-tetrakis­(4-hexylphenyl)-dithieno [2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno­[1,2-b:5,6-b′]­dithiophene (ITIC)-based molecular acceptors. Furthermore, the synthesized acceptors could tune the frontier molecular orbital energy levels, dipole moments, and their crystallinities by introducing fluorine (F) atoms and cyano (CN) groups on DTBT as a core A′ unit. The cyano-substituted DTBT-based molecular acceptor (CNDTBT-IDTT-FINCN) showed a strong molar absorptivity and dipole moment, high hole/electron charge mobilities, and a favorable face-on orientation using films blended with poly­[(2,6-(4,8-bis­(5-(2-ethylhexyl)­thiophen-2-yl)-benzo­[1,2-b:4,5-b′]­dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1′,3′-di-2-thienyl-5′,7′-bis­(2-ethylhexyl)­benzo­[1′,2′-c:4′,5′-c′]­dithiophene-4,8-dione)] (PBDB-T). An inverted organic photovoltaic (OPV) device using CNDTBT-IDTT-FINCN exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.13% when using PBDB-T as a donor material in small cells (0.12 cm2). Sub-module devices with an active area of 55.45 cm2 are fabricated using bar-coating and exhibit PCEs of up to 7.50%. This demonstration of a high-efficiency large-area device makes CNDTBT-IDTT-FINCN a suitable and promising candidate for printed OPV devices.

BackgroundLignocellulosic raw materials have extensively been examined for the production of bio-based fuels, chemicals, and polymers using microbial platforms. Since xylose is one of the major components of the hydrolyzed lignocelluloses, it is being considered a promising substrate in lignocelluloses based fermentation process. Ralstonia eutropha, one of the most powerful and natural producers of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), has extensively been examined for the production of bio-based chemicals, fuels, and polymers. However, to the best of our knowledge, lignocellulosic feedstock has not been employed for R. eutropha probably due to its narrow spectrum of substrate utilization. Thus, R. eutropha engineered to utilize xylose should be useful in the development of microbial process for bio-based products from lignocellulosic feedstock.ResultsRecombinant R. eutropha NCIMB11599 expressing the E. coli xylAB genes encoding xylose isomerase and xylulokinase respectively, was constructed and examined for the synthesis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] using xylose as a sole carbon source. It could produce 2.31 g/L of P(3HB) with a P(3HB) content of 30.95 wt% when it was cultured in a nitrogen limited chemically defined medium containing 20.18 g/L of xylose in a batch fermentation. Also, recombinant R. eutropha NCIMB11599 expressing the E. coli xylAB genes produced 5.71 g/L of P(3HB) with a P(3HB) content of 78.11 wt% from a mixture of 10.05 g/L of glucose and 10.91 g/L of xylose in the same culture condition. The P(3HB) concentration and content could be increased to 8.79 g/L and 88.69 wt%, respectively, when it was cultured in the medium containing 16.74 g/L of glucose and 6.15 g/L of xylose. Further examination of recombinant R. eutropha NCIMB11599 expressing the E. coli xylAB genes by fed-batch fermentation resulted in the production of 33.70 g/L of P(3HB) in 108 h with a P(3HB) content of 79.02 wt%. The concentration of xylose could be maintained as high as 6 g/L, which is similar to the initial concentration of xylose during the fed-batch fermentation suggesting that xylose consumption is not inhibited during fermentation. Finally, recombinant R. eutorpha NCIMB11599 expressing the E. coli xylAB gene was examined for the production of P(3HB) from the hydrolysate solution of sunflower stalk. The hydrolysate solution of sunflower stalk was prepared as a model lignocellulosic biomass, which contains 78.8 g/L of glucose, 26.9 g/L of xylose, and small amount of 4.8 g/L of galactose and mannose. When recombinant R. eutropha NCIMB11599 expressing the E. coli xylAB genes was cultured in a nitrogen limited chemically defined medium containing 23.1 g/L of hydrolysate solution of sunflower stalk, which corresponds to 16.8 g/L of glucose and 5.9 g/L of xylose, it completely consumed glucose and xylose in the sunflower stalk based medium resulting in the production of 7.86 g/L of P(3HB) with a P(3HB) content of 72.53 wt%.ConclusionsRalstonia eutropha was successfully engineered to utilize xylose as a sole carbon source as w...

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