Benchmark experiment of large-angle scattering reaction cross section of iron at 14 MeV using two shadow bars – Comparison of experimental results with ENDF/B-VIII –

ABSTRACT

It is important to perform neutron transport simulations with accurate nuclear data in the neutronics design of a fusion reactor. However, absolute values of large-angle scattering cross sections vary among nuclear data libraries even for well-examined nuclide of iron. Benchmark experiments focusing on large-angle scattering cross sections were thus performed to confirm the correctness of nuclear data libraries. The series benchmark experiments were performed at a DT neutron source facility, OKTAVIAN of Osaka University, Japan, by the unique experimental system established by the authors’ group, which can extract only the contribution of large-angle scattering reactions. This system consists of two shadow bars, target plate (iron), and neutron detector (niobium). Two types of shadow bars were used and four irradiations were conducted for one experiment, so that contribution of room-return neutrons was effectively removed and only large-angle scattering neutrons were extracted from the measured four Nb reaction rates. The obtained experimental results were compared with calculations for five nuclear data libraries including JENDL-4.0, JEFF.-3.3, FENDL-3.1, ENDF/B- VII, and recently released ENDF/B-VIII. It was found from the comparison that ENDF/B-VIII showed the best result, though ENDF/B-VII showed overestimation and others are in large underestimation at 14 MeV.     

Fundamental Evaluation of Power Supply and Rectifiers for Wireless Power Transfer Using Magnetic Resonant Coupling

This paper provides a fundamental analysis of a power supply and rectifiers for wireless power transfer using magnetic resonant coupling (MRC). MRC enables efficient wireless power transfer over middle‐range transfer distances. MRC for wireless power transfer should operate at a high frequency in the industry science medical band, such as 13.56 MHz, because the size of the transfer device decreases at higher transfer frequencies. Therefore, the output frequency of the power supply on the transmitting side should be 13.56 MHz. In addition, the rectifier on the receiving side is operated at a high frequency. This paper focuses on the reflected power in the power supply and rectifiers. Thus, the parametric design method is clarified for the power supply, including a low‐pass filter to match the output, the impedance of the power supply with the characteristic impedance of the transmission line. In addition, the effects on the rectifiers of silicon carbide and gallium nitride diodes are confirmed by performing an experiment and a loss analysis.     

Dynamic Power Integrity Control of ATE for Eliminating Overkills and Underkills in Device Testing

This paper proposes a power integrity control technique for dynamically controlling power supply voltage fluctuations for a device under test (DUT), and demonstrates its effectiveness for eliminating the overkills/underkills due to the difference of power supply impedance between an automatic test equipment (ATE) and a practical operating environment of the DUT. The proposed method injects compensation currents into the power supply nodes on the ATE system in a feed-forward manner such that the ATE power supply waveform matches with the one on the customer’s operating environment of the DUT. A method for calculating the compensation current is also described. Experimental results show that the proposed method can emulate the power supply voltage waveform under a customer’s operating condition and eliminate 95 % of overkills/underkills in the maximum operating frequency testing with 105 real silicon devices. Limitations and applications of the proposed method are also discussed.     

Strength enhancement of autocompleting medium and high carbon steels friction welded joints

An autocompleting friction welding method, which was developed by the authors, is to weld with using a rotating insert piece set between fixed workpieces. The conditions to enhance the strength of the welded joint in an autocompleting friction welding method which involves a rotating insert between the fixed workpieces were determined. The weld faying surface of the fixed specimen had a 10 mm diameter. When MCS joint was made at an insert thickness of 4 mm through a friction pressure of 36 MPa, it did not achieve 100% joint efficiency because the weld interfaces were not completely joined. MCS joint had 100% joint efficiency and fractured on the MCS base metal although the crack was generated at the weld interface, when that was made at an inner groove diameter of 11 mm with the bottom of the grooves for the insert piece (groove bottom thickness) of 0.9 mm or more through a friction pressure of 90 MPa. To obtain a joint with no cracks, MCS joint was made with an inner groove diameter of 12 mm at a friction pressure of 90 MPa. When the groove bottom thickness was 0.75 mm, MCS joint had 100% joint efficiency and the MCS base metal fracture with no crack at the weld interface. When HCS joint was made with an inner groove diameter of 11 mm at friction pressures of 90 and 150 MPa, it did not achieve 100% joint efficiency because the weld interfaces were not joined completely. The weld interfaces of HCS joint at a friction pressure of 120 MPa were completely joined although it did not achieve 100% joint efficiency. To improve the joint efficiency, HCS joint was made with an insert thickness of 5 mm, a groove bottom thickness of 0.64 mm, and an inner groove diameter of 12 mm with a friction pressure of 120 MPa. HCS joint had 100% joint efficiency and fractured on the HCS base metal with no crack at the weld interface.     

Determination of Ethyl Carbamate in Sake Using Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction

An analytical method for the determination of ethyl carbamate in alcoholic beverages has been developed and optimized. A combination of headspace solid phase microextraction (HS‐SPME), as the extraction technique, and GC/MS, as the determination technique, was utilized. Analytical grade ethyl carbamate dissolved in ethanol solution was analyzed to determine the optimum analytical conditions. Ethyl carbamate‐d₅ was added as an internal standard. The following HS‐SPME conditions were investigated: type of stationary phase of the fibre, ethanol content, sample volume and extraction time. The optimized procedure showed that the detection limit, relative standard deviation, and recovery were 6.7 μg/L, 0.4–2.0%, and 103.6–107.6%, respectively. The precision of this new method was equivalent to previous analyses. Finally, the developed method was applied to the analysis of ethyl carbamate in sake.     

Measurement of liver volume and hepatic functional reserve as a guide to decision-making in resectional surgery for hepatic tumors

The respective volumes of hepatic tumors and nontumorous parenchyma of 50 patients requiring hepatectomy of more than one segment of Healey for tumor removal were measured using computed tomography (Vol-CT). The volume estimated by Vol-CT was found to correlate with the real weight resected (P < .0001) with a mean absolute error of 64.9 mL. The ratio of the nontumorous parenchymal volume of the resected liver to that of the whole liver (R2) in 15 patients who underwent right or extended right hepatic lobectomy was 43% +/- 15%. Eight of 15 patients with R2s < 60% underwent the procedures without right portal vein embolization (PE). The other seven with R2s exceeding 60% or an indocyanine green retention rate after 15 minutes (ICG15) of 10% to 20% underwent PE: in six of seven, the nontumorous parenchyma of the right hepatic lobe became atrophic and in all seven, the volume of the remaining left hepatic lobe increased with a decrease in the mean R2 from 62% +/- 14% to 55% +/- 8% (P = .0006). In the remaining 35 who underwent other hepatectomy procedures, R2s also remained <60%. Overall, at surgery, in 27 with normal liver function (ICG15 < 10%), R2s exceeded 60% in one, remained at 50% to 60% in five, and <50% in 21, whereas 23 patients except for one with an ICG15 exceeding 10%, had R2s of <50%. The postoperative serum total bilirubin levels in 84% of the patients remained within the normal range and there was no surgery-related mortality. In conclusion, 1) Vol-CT can accurately assess the extent of liver resection, 2) individuals with normal liver function can undergo resection of up to 60% of the nontumorous parenchyma without the need for PE, and 3) PE can be used to reduce the size of the resected tissue and increase the volume of the remnant liver to approximate the target limits in individuals with large tumors or minimally abnormal liver function.     

Effect of inner diameter on friction torque in the friction welding of pipes

To clarify the joining mechanism of friction welding, the authors have previously investigated joining phenomena in the first phase of friction welding using solid round bars.^1-5 The results obtained in these studies have led to the proposal of a method for simulation of friction torque in the first phase of friction welding with the friction welding conditions and the physical values of the base metals adopted as key parameters of interest. Results have also led to the development of a method for simple estimation of the initial torque based on the base metal yield strength at the seizure temperature of the faying surfaces.⁶     

Exaggerated urinary excretion of aquaporin-2 in the pathological state of impaired water excretion dependent upon arginine vasopressin

The present study was undertaken to determine whether urinary excretion of aquaporin-2 (UAQP-2) is of value to diagnose the pathological state of water retention and hyponatremia. UAQP-2 under ad libitum water drinking was 429 fmol/mg creatinine in the patients with water retention, a value significantly greater than that of 153 fmol/mg creatinine in the normal subjects. An acute oral water load test (20 mL/kg BW) was performed in 7 normal subjects (22-25 yr old) and 10 patients with water retention and hyponatremia (55-75 yr old). The percent excretion of the water load was only 30% in the patient group compared with 70% in the control group (P < 0.01). In the control group, minimal urinary osmolality was as low as 131 mosmol/kg H2O, which was responsible for the decrease in plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels after the reduction in plasma osmolality. In the patient group, minimal urinary osmolality was 320 mosmol/kg H2O, and free water clearance remained below 0.6 mL/min after the water load. This impaired water excretion was consistent with the nonsuppressible levels of plasma AVP despite hypoosmolality. The nadir of UAQP-2 was obtained at 60-90 min. The minimal UAQP-2 was reduced to 284 fmol/mg creatinine, a value significantly greater than that of 76 fmol/mg creatinine in the control group. Similar results were obtained in the 6 patients with hypopituitarism, who had impaired water excretion and marked hyponatremia. Water excretion was totally normalized after the replacement of hydrocortisone (excretion of water load, 31% vs. 102%; P < 0.01). Hydrocortisone replacement also significantly reduced the minimal UAQP-2 from 225 to 49 fmol/mg creatinine after the acute oral water load, a value comparable to that in the control subjects. These results indicate that UAQP-2 is a potent marker to diagnose the pathological state of impaired water excretion and hyponatremia, dependent upon AVP, in patients with water retention and hypopituitarism.