A cathode readout gas sampling calorimeter with conductive plastic tubes

We constructed and tested a prototype gas sampling electromagnetic calorimeter of the Pb-proportional tube sandwich type. The calorimeter uses conductive plastic tubes and cathode pad readout with a tower structure which resulted in reasonable energy and spatial resolutions for electrons in the momentum range 0.5–4.0 GeV/c; $\text{σ}{}_{\mathrm{E}}\text{E =}\text{21\%}\text{(E(}\text{GeV}\text{)}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{, σ}{}_{\mathrm{x}}\text{= 6}\text{mm}\text{(at 3 GeV}$/c). This paper describes the test and the performance studied under various conditions.     

Iodine reaction of vinyl acetate/vinyl propionate copolymers. III. Iodine affinities of the radically polymerized copolymers and the copolymers derived from partially saponified polyvinyl acetate

The minimum sequence lengths (n_c) of vinyl acetate (VAc) units necessary to form a colored iodine complex were determined to be 4 and 17 for radically polymerized VAc/vinyl propionate (VPr) and VAc/isopropenyl acetate (IPAc) copolymers, respectively. The iodine affinities (I/VAc) of VAc/VPr copolymers (SP-series) obtained by propionylation of partially saponified polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) were remarkably affected by the saponification conditions. An increase of the water content in acetone/water mixture as saponification solvent brought about a decrease of the iodine affinities of the SP-series. The dependence of the iodine affinity on the saponification of monomer units in the SP-series was compared with that in the radically polymerized VAc/VPr copolymers by taking the sequence probability as the measure of monomer unit distribution. The results strongly supported an occurence of the slide fastener reaction at high degrees of saponification, which was well-known in the saponification of PVAc. Furthermore, it was found that the saponification mode of PVAc at low degrees of saponification was influenced uniquely by the water content in saponification solvents and the saponification temperature.     

Current control of a PWM power amplifier by an approximate 2-degree-of-freedom digital controller

There is a need for robust current control of a pulse width modulation (PWM) power amplifier whose transient response characteristics do not deteriorate with extensive load changes and/or direct-current power supply voltage changes. In this article, we propose a digital robust controller with bumpless mode switching to control the current of a PWM power amplifier to satisfy the demands and extend the range of an inductive load width. It is necessary to measure the value of the load in order to implement this bumpless mode switching automatically depending on the load range. Therefore, a method of estimating the inductive load is shown. The bumpless mode switching is automatically performed by estimating an inductive value without specifying the value of the inductive load beforehand. That is, the value of the inductive load is estimated during the DDC execution, and the control mode is automatically switched bumplessly according to this estimated value. A digital controller equipped with inductance estimation and bumpless mode switching is realized by a DSP. Some experiments show that the digital controller with the proposed bumpless mode switching can satisfy larger specifications.     

Sensitive Label-Free Immunoassay by Colorimetric Plasmonic Biosensors Using Silver Nanodome Arrays

The sensitive direct detection of biomolecules is demonstrated by a colorimetric plasmonic biosensor utilizing the surface colors of plasmonic metasurfaces named Ag nanodome arrays. The Ag nanodome arrays consist of polystyrene bead monolayers coated with Ag thin films whose surface colors are optimized by changing the size of the polystyrene beads. The bulk refractive index sensitivity of colorimetric detection evaluated using the hue angle is 590° RIU⁻¹ (RIU: refractive index unit). For selected geometry, the refractive index resolution (5.0 × 10⁻⁵ RIU) obtained by colorimetric detection surpasses that of spectroscopic detection evaluated via the dip wavelength in the reflection spectrum. The numerical simulations predict an enhanced sensing performance when the hue angle of the surface colors of the Ag nanodome arrays changes from 300° to 200°, corresponding to changes in the dip wavelength from 570 to 600 nm in the reflection spectra. Furthermore, the detection sensitivity of the biomolecules is characterized using a direct IgG immunoassay format. The detection limit of the IgG concentration is as low as 134 pM using simple colorimetric detection. The feasibility of sensitive label-free immunoassays using a colorimetric plasmonic biosensor is expected to accelerate the development of highly sensitive and reliable smartphone-based plasmonic biosensors.     

Detection method of emerging leading papers using time transition

To survive worldwide competitions of research and development in the current rapid increase of information, decision-makers and researchers need to be supported to find promising research fields and papers. But finding those fields from an available data in too much heavy flood of information becomes difficult. We aim to develop a methodology supporting to find emerging leading papers with a bibliometric approach. The analyses in this work are about four academic domains using our time transition analysis. In the time transition analysis, after citation networks are constructed, centralities of each paper are calculated and their changes are tracked. Then, the centralities are plotted, and the features of the leading papers are extracted. Based on the features, we proposed ways to detect the leading papers by focusing on in-degree centrality and its transition. This work will contribute to finding the leading paper, and it is useful for decision-makers and researchers to decide the worthy research topic to invest their resources.     

Approach to the Practical Use of Thermoelectric Power Generation

The results of research and development in the Japanese national project “Development for Advanced Thermoelectric Conversion Systems” are summarized, and the approaches to practical use of advanced thermoelectric modules and power generation systems are presented. The 5-year national project was successfully completed in March 2007. Three kinds of high- efficiency cascaded thermoelectric modules and two kinds of innovative Bi-Te thermoelectric modules were successfully developed. Heat cycle tests for three types of modules were also completed. Moreover, four types of advanced thermoelectric power generation systems were experimentally demonstrated for recovery of waste heat from the industrial and private sectors. In order to proceed further, thermoelectric power generation systems using practical heat sources were followed after installation of the developed modules. In parallel, various approaches for practical use by private companies, as well as plans for the next-phase project by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the Engineering Advancement Association (ENAA), were also followed. The scenarios to proceed to the commercial phase of thermoelectric power generation are discussed on the basis of the results of the national project.