Residual Stress in Siliceous Glass Between Mullite Crystals

A birefringence of siliceous glass, which is coexisting with mullite crystals, was studied by an optical polarizing microscope. The cause of the birefringence was assumed to be the residual stress induced by a large contraction difference between the mullite and glass on cooling. The stress has been evaluated to be as high as—0.3 GPa, and to correspond to the elastic one which began to develop at the glass transition point.     

Smoking and small, dense low-density lipoprotein particles: cross-sectional study

All forms of tobacco cause cardiovascular disease, and tobacco-related disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. Smoking oxidizes low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles, and oxidized LDL particles are thought to play an early and critical role in atherosclerogenesis. Hyper-low-density lipoproteinemia is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, but small, dense LDL particles have been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Small, dense LDL correlates with some cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, hypo-high-density lipoproteinemia, and hypertension. Although smoking is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the relationship between smoking and small, dense LDL particles has not been described previously. Our cross-sectional study examined this relationship in a population of 18 healthy young adult men (9 smokers and 9 never-smokers, aged 21-24 years) from the same college. Concentrations of blood lipids and the LDL migration index (LDL-MI) were examined. Although concentrations of blood lipids did not differ between smokers and never-smokers, the LDL-MI had a strong tendency to be lower in smokers. The LDL-MI is larger in the presence of a greater proportion of small, dense LDL particles. These results indicate that tobacco smoking is associated with a decrease in the proportion of small, dense LDL particles. Regardless of these surprising results, we do not recommend smoking, given that it is a major cause of cardiovascular disease.     

Effect of Interlayers in Ceramic-Metal Joints with Thermal Expansion Mismatches

The internal stress resulting from the thermal expansion mismatch between alumina and steel with and without an interlayer was evaluated. On the basis of the calculation, alumina and steel were bonded using the interlayer method and hot isostatic pressing at 1273 to 1573 K under 100 MPa for 30 min. When a laminated interlayer (niobiumlmolybdenum) was used, a joint with high bonding strength was obtained.     

Analytical method for beta-amyloid fibrils using CE-laser induced fluorescence and its application to screening for inhibitors of beta-amyloid protein aggregation

More than 20 million people are suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and the number of patients will dramatically increase with the arrival of an aging society unless preventive or curative medications are discovered. A fast and sensitive analytical method for beta-amyloid (Abeta) aggregates was developed by the combination of CE-laser induced fluorescence and the fluorescence reagent, thioflavine T. The developed method separates two different fibrils within 5 min. The first peak, which migrated at approximately 4 min, was supposed to be derived from a precursor of a fibril that migrated at approximately 3.5 min. The developed method was also applicable to the high-throughput screening of the Abeta aggregation inhibitors, which was expected to be an effective therapeutic agent candidate of Alzheimer's disease. Three compounds (daunomycin, 3-indolepropionic acid (3-IPA), melatonin) were used for the assay. The order of the antiaggregation activity of these compounds was daunomycin > 3-IPA > melatonin, which was the same as that of the reported one. These results suggest that this analytical method may be used to analyze the Abeta fibrils and identify potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.     

About the Method of Thermoreactive Electrospark Surface Strengthening

The method of Thermoreactive Electrospark Surface Strengthening (TRESS) is presented in this work. Thus the process of coating formation becomes a less energy consuming one as compared to the basic technology of the electrospark alloying. The additional heat of the chemical reaction of the synthesis final products formation on the substrate contribute to the increase of thickness and continuity of the coating, to the diminution of the inner tension due to the smoother concentration gradients through the coating thickness. The opportunities of TRESS method are exposed with the example of the FGM wear- and heat-resistant coating formation on the base of NiAl, TiAl. FGM diamond containing coatings production by the said method is presented. Optimal conditions and technological parameters for diamond containing coatings deposition is found. The masstransfer kinetics, the coating structure and properties were studied.     

Fatigue life estimation of steel using laser speckle sensor

We investigated a method to evaluate fatigue damage of steels without contact using a laser speckle sensor. In the earlier stage of fatigue in steels, slipbands are produced on the surface and the slipband density increases as fatigue damage progresses. When a laser illuminates the surface of the fatigued steel, light intensity distribution of the laser speckle pattern caused by the reflected light changes depending on the change of surface properties caused by slipbands. Width of the speckle pattern broadens correspondingly to spatial frequency distribution of the surface and thus it is presumed that speckle pattern broadens with increase of slipband density. The method presented in this paper is based on this phenomenon. In this study, we observed change of the speckle pattern during fatigue loading. We propose a method to estimate fatigue life by observing change in the speckle pattern depending on number of loading cycles in the earlier stage of fatigue before crack initiation.     

Effect of leakage current through ferroelectric and insulator on retention characteristics of metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor structure

Abstract

Retention characteristics of MFIS (metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor) structures have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. The simulated retention characteristics have indicated that reducing current through the ferroelectric layer is very effective to make the retention time long. In order to reduce the current through the ferroelectric layer, an MFIS with an improved ferroelectric layer and an M-I-FIS (metal-insulator-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor) have been investigated theoretically. Both of them have given good retention characteristics. Experimentally, retention characteristics of MFIS have been much improved by annealing, which is considered to suppress the current density in the ferroelectric layer, although those of M-I-FIS have been improved a little.     

Combustion Synthesis of Silicon Carbide in Nitrogen Atmosphere

Fine SiC powders were synthesized by burning the mixed reactionts Si and C in a nitrogen atmosphere of 3 to 10 MPa. The exothermic synthesis reaction propagated spontaneously after igniting the reactants at room temperature. The SiC powders obtained had a uniform size distribution of about 0.2 μm. The combustion velocity was 0.8 to 1.5 mm / s. The maximum temperature measured at the reaction was 2500 K, which was higher than the adiabatic combustion temperature of SiC, but slightly lower than the decomposition temperature of Si₃N₄ under nitrogen pressure.     

Diffusional Reaction-Bonding of Si3N4 Ceramics Under High Pressure

Diffusional reaction-bonding of Si₃N₄ ceramics was accomplished by maintaining surnples at 3.0 GPa and 1800°C for 1 h. Interfaces of bonded samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy, Vickers microhardness measurements, and electron probe microanalysis. These results indicate that strong bonding between sintered ceramic bodies is achieved by a diffusional reaction at high temperature and pressure .