Fabrication of A1050-A6061 Functionally Graded Aluminum Foam by Friction Stir Processing Route

Functionally graded (FG) aluminum foam consisting of A1050 and A6061 aluminum alloy was fabricated by using friction stir processing (FSP). The fabrication of the precursor and the bonding of the A1050 precursor to the A6061 precursor can both be conducted by FSP. According to the results of point analysis, the Mg content gradually changed in the bonding region, and it was shown that seamless FG aluminum foam can be fabricated by the FSP route.     

Influence of the surface free energy of silane-coupled mica substrate on the fixing and straightening of DNA

Methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS)-coupled mica substrate is reportedly suitable for fixing and straightening of DNA, but 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)-coupled mica substrate has been found less suitable. On MTMS-coupled mica substrate, the straightness of fixed DNA was sufficient, and the adsorption of contaminants was not observed using fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy. For the APTES-coupled mica substrate, however, aggregated or curved DNA and adsorption of contaminants were observed. To clarify the surface factors that are responsible for this suitability, we analyzed the surface free energies of these substrates using the extended Fowkes theory. In each of the surface free energy components, the dispersion force component in the MTMS-coupled mica substrate was lower than that in the APTES-coupled mica substrate. The ratio of the polar force component on the MTMS-coupled mica substrate was about one order of magnitude on the APTES-coupled mica substrate. In addition, the ratio of the hydrogen-bonding force component for the MTMS-coupled mica substrate was about two times larger than that of the APTES-coupled mica substrate. These results suggest that the polar force and hydrogen-bonding force components are important factors for the fixation and straightening of DNA and that the dispersion force components influence the production and adsorption of contaminants.     

Discovering the efficient organization structure: horizontal versus vertical

Structure analysis is one of the most important issues in corporate management. The pyramid structure, which is a well-known vertical structure, plays an important part in corporate organizations. Most structures of traditional organizations, such as the functional structure and the divisional structure, are vertical. Recently, owing to the development of information technology, a new horizontal structure instead of the vertical one has received considerable attention. In this article, we review organizational structures and find that there are two efficient structures, a vertical structure and a horizontal structure, depending on the different abilities of each member in any organization with a comprehensive evaluation measurement. The line structure of a vertical organization is efficient when the ability of all members is small. While if the ability of all members is large, the star structure of a horizontal organization will be efficient. Therefore, this article provides a theoretical proof of the efficiency of the structures of organizations and their required conditions.     

SUCCESSIVE DEFORMATION OF A VISCOELASTIC-PLASTIC TUBE SUBJECTED TO INTERNAL PRESSURE UNDER TEMPERATURE CYCLING

A constitutive relation for a viscoelastic-plastic body is derived by employing a scalar and a tensorial internal variable that include viscous effects as well as plastic strain and the heardening parameter. Emphasis is placed on the characterization of the variables, which are closely related to creep strain, and the material parameters are determined from data from conventional tension and creep tests. The model is applied to the analysis of successive deformation of a thin-walled tube subjected to internal pressure under cyclic temperature variations. The correlation between the analytical and experimental results is discussed.     

Serviceability of earthquake-damaged water systems: Effects of electrical power availability and power backup systems on system vulnerability

Civil infrastructure systems, such as water, electrical power, natural gas, and transportation systems, are essential to the smooth functioning of modern society. Because of their inter-connected nature, once one infrastructure system is damaged by an earthquake or other natural hazard, other infrastructure systems may malfunction as well. A number of previous studies have assessed vulnerability of infrastructure systems to earthquakes, but seldom have failures due to infrastructure system interactions been considered. In its assessment of the earthquake-induced damage of a municipal water system, this paper includes the impact of damage to the supporting electrical power system using a fault tree analysis and a shortest-path algorithm. The effect of uncertainty of seismic intensity and component fragility on network integrity is evaluated. A case study involving a simple model of the electrical power system and water system in Shelby County, TN, which includes the city of Memphis, demonstrates the importance of taking infrastructure interactions into account when evaluating the seismic vulnerability and risk to a networked system, as well as the utility of back-up power systems in electric power facilities.     

The Development of Intelligent Beamforming Antenna Systems for Stratospheric Platforms in the Millimeter-Wave Band

In this paper, we describe intelligent beamforming antenna systems that can be used in the millimeter-wave band for High-altitude platform systems. We have developed two antenna systems for the millimeter-wave band and have designed experiments to test the efficiency of the developed systems. One is a multi-beam-horn antenna that enables high-speed transmission, and the other is an array antenna that digitally controls antenna beams. These antenna systems are also designed to work in the stratosphere. We also describe our solutions to the problems of low temperature and low pressure and show that the two antenna systems can function well in the stratosphere through tests conducted on the ground.On April 1, 2004, the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) and the Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan (TAO) merged to create NICT.Hiroyuki Tsuji received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Keio University in 1987, 1989, and 1992, respectively. Since 1992, he has been working in the Communications Research Laboratory, Independent Administrative Institution, Japan. In 1999, he was a visiting researcher at University of Minnesota. He is now a senior researcher of Wireless Innovation Systems Group in the Yokosuka Radio Communications Research Center of NICT (National Institute on Information and Communications Technology, reorganized from CRL in April 2004). His research interests are in array signal processing, particularly as applied to communications. He received the IEICE 1996 Young Engineer Award. He is a member of IEICE and IEEE.Masayuki Oodo was born in Osaka, Japan, on February 1, 1969. He received B.E., M.E. and D.E. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan in 1992, 1994 and 1997, respectively. In 1997, he joined the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL, now part of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, or NICT), where he has been researching array antennas for wireless communication and frequency-sharing issues between HAPS and other systems. Dr. Oodo received the Paper Presentation Award from IEICE Japan in 1995, the Young Scientist Award from URSI in 1996, the Young Engineer Award from IEICE Japan in 1997, and the Young Engineer Award from IEEE AP-S, Tokyo Chapter in 1998. He is a member of IEEE.Ryu Miura received the B.E., M.E., and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan, in 1982, 1984, and 2000, respectively. He joined Communications Research Lab (CRL), Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Tokyo, Japan in 1984, where he worked for research on mobile satellite communication systems using the Engineering Test Satellite, ETS-V. During 1991–1992, he was a visiting researcher in AUSSAT, Pty. Ltd. (now Optus, Pty. Ltd.), Sydney, Australia. During 1993–1996, he was a senior researcher in ATR Optical and Radio Communications Research Labs, Kyoto, Japan, where he worked for research on digital beamforming antennas for mobile communications. He is now a group leader of Wireless Innovation Systems Group in the Yokosuka Radio Communications Research Center of NICT (National Institute on Information and Communications Technology, reorganized from CRL in April 2004), where he works for R&D on wireless communication systems using stratospheric platforms. Dr. Miura is a member of IEEE and IEICE.Mikio Suzuki received a B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Keio University in 1970. He joined Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in 1970, where he researched and developed microwave integrated circuits and waveguide array antennas for defense radars and missiles. He is now at the NICT Yokosuka Stratospheric Platform Research Center, and his current research interests lie in the system design of applications for wireless communication systems using a stratospheric platform and the development of related communication equipment. He is a member of the IEICE of Japan.     

Non-slip-type restoring force characteristics of an exposed-type column base

This paper describes an experimental study on exposed-type column bases with new restoring force characteristics. Generally, an exposed-type column base consists of elastic/plastic anchor bolts and an elastic thick base plate. The restoring force characteristics of these column bases are observed to be slip-type due to the gap between the nut of the anchor bolt and the base plate, caused by the plastic elongation of the anchor bolt. These restoring force characteristics can be governed by elastic/plastic anchor bolts, an elastic/plastic base plate and/or a gap between the nut and the base plate. In particular, the gap between the nut and the base plate can be eliminated by means of a new device consisting of a wedge compressed by a spring and a counter-wedge. To show the fundamental characteristics of the new column base, two kinds of specimens were tested. The conclusions obtained are as follows. (1) The cyclic characteristics of conventional column bases with elastic/plastic anchor bolts and an elastic base plate became slip-type. (2) The cyclic characteristics of column bases with the gap between nut and base plate eliminated by use of the device became non-slip-type, that is, linear from the origin at each loading step.     

Development of ZnSe‐based white light emitting diodes with longer lifetimes of over 10,000 hr

We have demonstrated ZnSe‐based white light emitting diodes (LEDs) with longer lifetimes of over 10,000 hr at 14.5A/cm² by introducing an i‐ZnMgBeSe/p‐ZnMgSe double cladding structure, which includes a very thin i‐ZnMgBeSe layer for suppressing electron overflow and a p‐ZnMgSSe layer for efficient p‐type carrier concentration. By adopting the double cladding layer instead of only the conventional p‐ZnMgSSe cladding layer, rapid degradation is suppressed and the lifetime tendency becomes similar to that of the LEDs consisting of a III‐V semiconductor system. The device simulation and the temperature dependence of optical power showed that the i‐ZnMgBeSe layer played the main role in increasing electron confinement. Our experimental data and reliability test results indicate that the suppression of the electron overflow is essential to achieve a long lifetime acceptable for practical use. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 154(4): 42–48, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20285