Sensing of Vaporous Organic Compounds by TiO2 Porous Films Covered with Polythiophene Layers

This paper describes the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through analyses of two output signals from integrated microcantilever sensor arrays coated with organic‐inorganic hybrid sensing layers. The surface of TiO₂ porous films was modified by amphiphilic terthiophene monomers and the adsorbed monomers were polymerized at the surface of TiO₂ nanoparticles. The TiO₂ porous films covered with polythiophene layers worked as highly sensitive sensing interfaces to provide two output signals for weight and resistance changes during exposure to VOC vapor. When the TiO₂ porous films onto the sensor arrays were dyed with various kinds of amphiphilic monomers with different substituents, the resulting films provide exact information on VOC concentration from the mass changes as well as VOC classification from the analyses of response patterns.     

Micropore x-ray optics using anisotropic wet etching of (110) silicon wafers

To develop x-ray mirrors for micropore optics, smooth silicon (111) sidewalls obtained after anisotropic wet etching of a silicon (110) wafer were studied. A sample device with 19 microm wide (111) sidewalls was fabricated using a 220 microm thick silicon (110) wafer and potassium hydroxide solution. For what we believe to be the first time, x-ray reflection on the (111) sidewalls was detected in the angular response measurement. Compared to ray-tracing simulations, the surface roughness of the sidewalls was estimated to be 3-5 nm, which is consistent with the atomic force microscope and the surface profiler measurements.     

Water flow experiments and analyses on the cross-flow type mercury target model with the flow guide plates

A mercury target is used in the spallation neutron source driven by a high-intensity proton accelerator. In this study, the effectiveness of the cross-flow type mercury target structure was evaluated experimentally and analytically. Prior to the experiment, the mercury flow field and the temperature distribution in the target container were analyzed assuming a proton beam energy and power of 1.5 GeV and 5 MW, respectively, and the feasibility of the cross-flow type target was evaluated. Then the average water flow velocity field in the target mock-up model, which was fabricated from Plexiglass for a water experiment, was measured at room temperature using the PIV technique. Water flow analyses were conducted and the analytical results were compared with the experimental results. The experimental results showed that the cross-flow could be realized in most of the proton beam path area and the analytical result of the water flow velocity field showed good correspondence to the experimental results in the case when the Reynolds number was more than 4.83×10⁵ at the model inlet. With these results, the effectiveness of the cross-flow type mercury target structure and the present analysis code system was demonstrated.     

Design and calibration of curved and see-through integral imaging 3D display

Virtual Reality - Heads-up displays that are ‘see-through’ and ‘curved’ and capable of displaying 3D contents are considered crucial for augmented reality-based navigation...     

Point cloud data map creation from factory design drawing for LiDAR localization of an autonomous mobile robot

Artificial Life and Robotics - When using an autonomous mobile robot, an environmental map should be created in advance. In this study, we propose a method for creating a point cloud data (PCD) map...