A DC‐side damping control method for power converters to suppress resonance in DC power network

This paper describes a damping control method of power converters for suppression of resonance in DC power network. The resonance occurs when a resonant frequency of the DC distribution line coincides with the frequency of the harmonic or interharmonic components generated by the power converters. For detailed investigation, a combined system which consists of a pulse‐width modulated (PWM) rectifier and a PWM inverter is treated as the simplest example. To suppress the resonance, a DC‐side damping control method is proposed and its implementation and design method are discussed in detail. Then, the proposed damping control method is applied to the combined system of a PWM rectifier and a PWM inverter. Experimental results verify the validity and practicability of the proposed damping control method. © 2012 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Spectroscopic Study on Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics and Terahertz Amplified Stimulated Emission in Optically Pumped Graphene

This paper reviews recent advances in spectroscopic study on ultrafast carrier dynamics and terahertz (THz) stimulated emission in optically pumped graphene. The gapless and linear energy spectra of electrons and holes in graphene can lead to nontrivial features such as negative dynamic conductivity in the THz spectral range, which may lead to the development of new types of THz lasers. First, the non-equilibrium carrier relaxation/recombination dynamics is formulated to show how photoexcited carriers equilibrate their energy and temperature via carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon scatterings and in what photon energies and in what time duration the dynamic conductivity can take negative values as functions of temperature, pumping photon energy/intensity, and carrier relaxation rates. Second, we conduct time-domain spectroscopic studies using an optical pump and a terahertz probe with an optical probe technique at room temperature and show that graphene sheets amplify an incoming terahertz field. Two different types of samples are prepared for the measurement; one is an exfoliated monolayer graphene on SiO₂/Si substrate and the other is a heteroepitaxially grown non-Bernal stacked multilayer graphene on a 3C-SiC/Si epi-wafer.     

EFFECT OF HEATING RATE OF BIOMASS FEEDSTOCK ON CARBON GASIFICATION EFFICIENCY IN SUPERCRITICAL WATER GASIFICATION

The effect of feedstock heating rate on the efficiency of gasification of a biomass in supercritical water was investigated using a continuous bench-scale reactor. A glucose solution (biomass model compound) and a cabbage slurry were gasified in supercritical water at various heating rates in a preheater. The results show that in the range of 10–30 K/s, carbon gasification efficiency improved as the heating rate increased.     

Fluorine uptake into human enamel around fluoride-containing dental materials during cariogenic pH cycling

Using PIGE (Proton Induced Gamma Emission) technique at TARRI (Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute), Japan, we measured fluorine (F) uptake into the tooth enamel around two fluoride-containing materials during caries progression using pH cycling. Class V cavities in extracted human teeth were drilled and filled with fluoride-containing materials (i.e. “Fuji IX” (FN) and “UniFil flow with MEGA bond” (UF)) and a non-fluoride-containing material (i.e. “SOLARE with MEGA bond” (SO)). Three 120 μm longitudinal sections including the filling material were obtained from each tooth. In order to simulate daily acid attack occurring in the oral cavity, the pH cycling (pH 6.8–4.5) was carried out for 1, 3 and 5 weeks, separately. After pH cycling, the caries progression in all specimens was observed using transverse microradiography (TMR). The F and calcium distributions of the specimens were evaluated using PIGE and PIXE techniques. The F distribution of the specimens clearly showed the F uptake from FN into enamel adjacent to the filling material, while the F uptakes from UF and SO were not detected. For UF, the MEGA bond (non-fluoride-containing) between the tooth and UniFil flow interfered with the F absorption into the tooth. For FN, the amount of F uptake into the subsurface enamel increased during pH cycling. The amount of F uptake in 5-week pH cycling had significantly higher value compared to those in 1- and 3-week pH cycling. For UF and SO, there were no significant differences between the different durations of pH cycling.Among fluoride-containing materials, there were some differences in the F uptake with increased pH cycling, which could possibly lead to obtaining difference in clinical performance. The data obtained using PIGE and PIXE techniques were useful in understanding the benefit of fluorine by means of fluoride-containing material for preventing caries.     

New steroidal constituents from the bulbs of Lilium candidum

Eight spirostanol saponins, including four new compounds, and two known furostanol saponins were isolated from the fresh bulbs of Lilium candidum. The structures of new compounds were determined to be (25R,26R)-26-methoxyspirost-5-ene-3 beta,17 alpha-diol 3-O-?O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)-O-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)] -beta-D-glucopyranoside?, (25R,26R)-26-methoxyspirost-5-ene-3 beta,17 alpha-diol 3-O-?O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)-O-[6-O-acetyl-beta-D-glucopyranos yl- (1-->4)]-beta-D-glucopyranoside?, (25R,26R)-26-methoxyspirost-5-ene-3 beta,17 alpha-diol 3-O-?O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)-beta-D-glucopyranoside? and (25S)-spirost-5-ene-3 beta,27-diol 3-O-?O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->3)-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)-O - [beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)]-beta-D-glucopyranoside?, respectively, on the basis of spectroscopic analysis, including two-dimensional NMR techniques, and the result of hydrolysis. The inhibitory activity of the isolated saponins on Na+/K+ ATPase was evaluated.     

A new subculture and nematocidal assay using a species of diplogastridae

A new subculture method and a novel microplate assay for nematocidal activity using a species of Diplogastridae have been developed. The assay gives results rapidly, with high sensitivity in 4 h, and indicated good correlation between action mechanism and the nematode shape when examining 15 known compounds, including the antiparasitic avermectin, antimalarial quinine, and the gamma-amino-n-butyric acidA (GABAA) activated Cl- channel antagonist picrotoxinin. Thus new assay could be used as a primary screening method for new nematocidal compounds.     

Surface characteristics and staining of experimental visible light-cured unfilled resins

This experiment was designed to study the internal colour change of five experimental visible light-cured (VLC) resins and to deduce the relationship between staining and the physicochemical properties of the resins and a glass. The staining of the materials was measured colorimetrically, with immersion in two types of staining solution (Oil Orange or Food Red 3) for 70 days at 37°C. The water sorption, contact angle and zeta-potential of these samples were also measured. With the Oil Orange dye a positive relationship was observed only between staining and the contact angles, whereas with Food Red 3 dye a positive relationship was observed between staining and the zeta-potential and between staining and the water sorption. The results could allow a comparison of the relative contributions to staining made by physicochemical forces for the samples tested.     

Giant multiferroic effects in topological GeTe-Sb2Te3 superlattices

Multiferroics, materials in which both magnetic and electric fields can induce each other, resulting in a magnetoelectric response, have been attracting increasing attention, although the induced magnetic susceptibility and dielectric constant are usually small and have typically been reported for low temperatures. The magnetoelectric response usually depends on d-electrons of transition metals. Here we report that in [(GeTe)₂(Sb₂Te₃)_l]_m superlattice films (where l and m are integers) with topological phase transition, strong magnetoelectric response may be induced at temperatures above room temperature when the external fields are applied normal to the film surface. By ab initio computer simulations, it is revealed that the multiferroic properties are induced due to the breaking of spatial inversion symmetry when the p-electrons of Ge atoms change their bonding geometry from octahedral to tetrahedral. Finally, we demonstrate the existence in such structures of spin memory, which paves the way for a future hybrid device combining nonvolatile phase-change memory and magnetic spin memory.