Production of nonequilibrium plasma and MHD interaction in disk MHD channel

The production of nonequilibrium plasma and the fluid flow with the MHD interaction are examined experimentally with a shock‐tube driven disk channel with no loading electrodes. For low magnetic flux density and low seed fraction, where nonuniform and unsteady plasma is generated, the static pressure decreases monotonically in the radial direction, although the pressure increases in the entire region of the channel in comparison with the value under no MHD interaction. For magnetic flux density and seed fraction above some critical values, a fairly uniform plasma is produced. The static pressure, however, is found to increase abruptly in the channel and the total pressure is considerably reduced at the location, where the abrupt pressure increase occurs. These facts imply that steady and uniform plasma should be produced without locally constricted strong Lorentz force to improve the adiabatic efficiency of a disk MHD generator. © 2002 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 138(4): 42–49, 2002; DOI 10.1002/eej.1137     

Peritoneal cytology and its prognostic value in endometrial carcinoma

A dome-shaped bioresorbable membrane was fixed to the wounded rabbit calvaria and filled with a bioresorbable fibre conglomerate. After 4 weeks, the histologic preparation revealed an intimate spatial and temporal correlation between newly formed blood vessels and de novo extraskeletal bone formation. These observations emphasize the significance of angiogenesis in guided bone generation.     

Morphology Change of Undoped and Sulfate-Ion-Doped Yttria Powders during Firing

Morphologic changes that occurred during firing in undoped and sulfate-ion-doped yttria powders were examined in the present study. Clear scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of uncoated insulators were achieved and charging of electrons was avoided by observing small samples, throughout which most of the electrons of the incident beam penetrated. SEM observation and firing of the samples were repeated several times. Searching the observed areas or particles started at low magnification, with the aid of photographs taken earlier. The sulfate-ion dopant inhibited volume diffusion and/or grain-boundary diffusion, and then particle growth of the sulfate-ion-doped yttria proceeded by surface diffusion or evaporation–condensation along with pore growth, which resulted in collapse of the agglomerates of primary particles. Although most of the other particles exhibited slight pore growth along with particle growth at temperatures as low as 800°C, a hardening of the agglomerated particles, because of pore elimination by volume diffusion and/or grain-boundary diffusion, occurred at temperatures >850°C.     

Frontonasal flap for reconstruction of complete alar defects

BACKGROUND: It is difficult to reconstruct a satisfactory ala. Axial frontonasal flap has been common in reconstruction of nasal tip. We modified this flap to reconstruct nasal ala. OBJECTIVE: A modified axial frontonasal flap was applied for reconstruction of complete unilateral alar defects in two patients. METHODS: Skin from an intact nasal tip covered the alar defect. The resulting defect in the nasal tip was covered with dorsal skin from the nose. Extended mucosa or a hinged nasolabial flap was used to line the mucosal side of the reconstructed ala. RESULTS: The outcome judged by shape, and texture, was satisfactory. This technique can be employed under field block. CONCLUSION: The modified frontonasal flap is one of the ideal techniques to reconstruct an entire nasal ala.     

Strange hemodynamic attractor parameter with 1/R total artificial heart automatic control algorithm

OBJECTIVES: To determine the modulation transfer function (MTF) and noise equivalent passband (NE) values for a newly revised rotational panoramic X-ray machine, the PC-1000 (Panoramic Corp., Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA). METHODS: Images of a 10 microns test slit were taken at various locations along the X-ray beam projection path using a Lanex Regular/T-Mat G image receptor. Line spread functions were obtained at specific beam paths by scanning slit images with a microdensitometer. RESULTS: MTF values were highest around the central plane of the image layer, with a maximum near the centre of 0.25 at 4 cycles/mm. The NE values near the central plane of image layer were 1.4 cycles/mm. MTF and NE values in the anterior region were low, 0.2 and 1.2, respectively. The width of the image layer was narrower in the anterior and wider in the posterior segments. Rapid decreases in MTF and NE values were found on the X-ray tube side compared with the receptor side of the central plane. Using a spatial frequency of 0.25 MTF the shape of the image layer was coincident with that determined visually. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the MTF and NE values the image resolution produced by this machine is considered acceptable for panoramic dental radiography.     

Shared computer-aided structural design model for construction industry (infrastructure)

The current interaction between participants in a construction project requires much time and is often a cause of mistakes and misunderstandings. Improvement of this interaction may therefore contribute to an improvement of the construction process as a whole. The lack of interoperability is the main problem behind such interaction drawbacks. In this paper, an infrastructure for a technology transfer model, namely Shared Computer-Aided Structural Design (sCAsD) model, is developed. It is built upon three basic building blocks: the Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP, ISO-10303) Parts 104 and 107, the CIMsteel Integration Standard (CIS/2.0) resources, and the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard that is being developed by the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI). The sCAsD model is an extension for the structural domain/view of the IFC model, providing professional standardization within the synergy effect of the IFC. The model infrastructure is explained and discussed in terms of model schemata. In addition, model feasibility is studied within two assessments for model schemata and model realization in the construction industry. The former assessment has verified the robustness and effectiveness of the model through using a model interface in data handling within an application of an integrated earthquake simulation. Meanwhile, the assessment of model realization has validated the roadmap of model implementation in the construction industry through IAI. The model has been accepted as a formal IAI project, namely ST-7, and is being supported by IAI Japan chapter.     

Semisupervised learning for a hybrid generative/discriminative classifier based on the maximum entropy principle

This paper presents a method for designing semi-supervised classifiers trained on labeled and unlabeled samples. We focus on probabilistic semi-supervised classifier design for multi-class and single-labeled classification problems, and propose a hybrid approach that takes advantage of generative and discriminative approaches. In our approach, we first consider a generative model trained by using labeled samples and introduce a bias correction model, where these models belong to the same model family, but have different parameters. Then, we construct a hybrid classifier by combining these models based on the maximum entropy principle. To enable us to apply our hybrid approach to text classification problems, we employed naive Bayes models as the generative and bias correction models. Our experimental results for four text data sets confirmed that the generalization ability of our hybrid classifier was much improved by using a large number of unlabeled samples for training when there were too few labeled samples to obtain good performance. We also confirmed that our hybrid approach significantly outperformed generative and discriminative approaches when the performance of the generative and discriminative approaches was comparable. Moreover, we examined the performance of our hybrid classifier when the labeled and unlabeled data distributions were different.     

Sc2O3 Nanopowders via Hydroxyl Precipitation: Effects of Sulfate Ions on Powder Properties

Hydroxyl-type Sc₂O₃ precursors have been synthesized via precipitation at 80°C with hexamethylenetetramine as the precipitant. The effects of starting salts (scandium nitrate and sulfate) on powder properties are investigated. Characterizations of the powders are achieved by elemental analysis, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), differential thermal analysis/thermogravimetry (DTA/TG), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. Hard-aggregated precursors (γ-ScOOH·0.6H₂O) are formed with scandium nitrate, which convert to Sc₂O₃ at temperatures ≥400°C, yielding nanocrystalline oxides of low surface area. The use of sulfate leads to a loosely agglomerated basic sulfate powder having an approximate composition of Sc(OH)_2.6(SO₄)_0.2·H₂O. The powder transforms to Sc₂O₃ via dehydroxylization and desulfurization at temperatures up to 1000°C. Well-dispersed Sc₂O₃ nanopowders (∼64.3 nm) of high purity have been obtained by calcining the basic sulfate at 1000°C for 4 h. The effects of SO₄²⁻ on powder properties are discussed.     

Studies on syntheses and permeabilities of special polymer membranes. V. Effect of casting solution composition on permeation characteristics of cellulose acetate membranes in separation of aqueous polymer solutions

The permeation characteristics of cellulose acetate membranes in separation of polymers from their aqueous solutions were investigated by changing the preparation conditions of the membranes, that are the solvent evaporation period and the casting solution composition consisting of a mixture of cellulose acetate (CA), acetone (A), and formamide (FA). The rates of pure water permeability were influenced remarkably by the solvent evaporation period and the casting solution composition. When the solvent evaporation period was short, the rates of pure water permeability increased with a decrease in A/CA, increase in FA/A, and increase in FA/CA in the casting solution. From the experimental results using poly(vinyl alcohol) as poly(ethylene glycol) as feed solute, it was seen that the changes of solvent evaporation period and casting solution composition related to the change of microporous structure of the resulting membranes. The effect of feed concentration and operating pressure on the permeation characteristics were also studied. There was found a concentration polarization of poly(vinyl alcohol) molecules on the surface of the membrane, and a compaction of the membrane occurred under pressure.