Cover Image,Volume 69, Issue 3

The cover image is based on the Mini‐Review Well‐defined, environment‐friendly synthesis of polypeptides based on phosgene‐free transformation of amino acids into urethane derivatives and their applications by Takeshi Endo et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.5952 . Cover image © Takeshi Endo Images.

     

EFFECT OF DEVELOPER PROPERTIES ON PRINT QUALITY

We investigated the dependence of the toner charge-to-mass ratio (q/m) in a two-component electrophotographic developer on the shaking time, toner concentration (T/C), carrier sizes, and the carrier core and the coating materials, as well as the resulting print qualities in terms of print density, background density, tone reproduction, resolution, and dot gain. Four different sizes of spherical ferrite carriers, four different carrier coating materials, and an irregular iron carrier were used with two types of toner: 14 um red toner (NP-4080) and 8 um cyan toner (CLC-500). The q/m measurement by the blow-off method showed that the red toner charge was positive while the cyan toner charge was negative with these carriers. The toner q/m values, which depended on the shaking time and decreased with the increasing T/C were much more affected by the larger carrier and the smaller toner. The carriers which yielded charges in the proper range produced better print qualities than did the other carriers that yielded a toner q/m     

A method of identifying latent human errors in work systems

Work system improvements are implemented in various manufacturing processes to prevent problems caused by human errors. However, they are almost always applied to problems which have already occurred. This paper examines a method of identifying latent human errors existing within the work systems beforehand. A procedure for applying failure mode and effect analysis to this identification problem was defined based on over 1000 empirical errors: a work system decomposition criterion and fundamental error modes for listing latent human errors, and then applied to three practical manufacturing processes in order to evaluate its effectiveness.     

Efficiency of repeated batch penicillin fermentation using two fermentors. Computer simulation and optimisation

Repeated batch operation using two fermentors (RBTF) to penicillin fermentation was demonstrated by computer simulation to improve productivity. Three operation modes were compared: chemostat, repeated batch operation using a single fermentor (RBSF) and RBTF; in each case account was made of the lag period before growth. The simulated fermentor performances were assessed on the basis of the penicillin productivity and concentration; the simulation was based on published batch fermentation data. It was shown that RBTF was superior to RBSF and chemostat. The advantage of RBTF increased as the lag period became greater.     

Operation of superconducting fault current limiter using vacuum interrupter driven by electromagnetic repulsion force for commutating switch

Using conventional high‐temperature superconducting wire, a model superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is made and tested. Solenoid coil using Bi2223 silver sheath wire is so made that inductance is as small as possible and a vacuum interrupter is connected in series to it. A conventional reactor coil is connected in parallel. When the fault current flows in this equipment, superconducting wire is quenched and current is transferred into the parallel coil because of voltage drop of superconducting wire. This large current in parallel coil actuates magnetic repulsion mechanism of vacuum interrupter. Due to opening of vacuum interrupter, the current in superconducting wire is broken. By using this equipment, current flow time in superconducting wire can be easily minimized. On the other hand, the fault current is also easily limited by large reactance of parallel coil. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 164(1): 52–61, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20315     

Characterization and electrochemical properties of CF4 plasma-treated boron-doped diamond surfaces

The effect of CF₄ plasma etching on diamond surfaces, with respect to treatment time, was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electrochemical measurements. SEM observations and Raman spectra indicated an increase in surface roughening on a scale of 10–20 nm, and an increase in crystal defect density was apparent with treatment time in the range of 10 s to 30 min. In contrast, alteration of the diamond surface terminations from oxygen to fluorine was found to be rather rapid, with saturation of the F/C atomic ratio estimated from XPS analysis after treatment durations of 1 min and more. The redox kinetics of Fe(CN)₆^3−/4− was also found to be significantly modified after 10 s of CF₄ plasma treatment. This behavior shows that C–F terminations predominantly affect the redox kinetics compared to the effect on the surface roughness and crystal defects. The double-layer capacitance (C_dl) of the electrolyte/CF₄ plasma-treated boron-doped diamond interface was found to show a minimum value at 1 min of treatment. These results indicate that a short-duration CF₄ plasma treatment is effective for the fabrication of fluorine-terminated diamond surfaces without undesirable surface damage.     

A Nonvolatile Organic Memory Device Using ITO Surfaces Modified by Ag‐Nanodots

We report on a single‐layer organic memory device made of poly(N‐vinylcarbazole) embedded between an Al electrode and ITO modified with Ag nanodots (Ag‐NDs). Devices exhibit high ON/OFF switching ratios of 10⁴. This level of performance could be achieved by modifying the ITO electrodes with some Ag‐NDs that act as trapping sites, reducing the current in the OFF state. Temperature dependence of the electrical characteristics suggest that the current of the low‐resistance state can be attributed to Schottky charge tunnelling through low‐resistance pathways of Al particles in the polymer layer and that the high‐resistance state can be controlled by charge trapping by the Al particles and Ag‐NDs.     

Real-time measurement of pointing action by using DSP

This paper presents an approach of measuring in real-time the vector of finger that is pointing to an object. DSP is used in the operation processing unit in order to do the real-time processing. The steps include the extraction of flesh-colored regions from an image, the labeling of the flesh-colored regions, and the detection of two characteristic positions on the finger so that the direction that the finger is pointing at will be calculated. The entire process takes about 29 msec, which makes it possible to have the frame rate of 34 fps. With this frame rate, this measurement approach is considered real-time and promising to be merged into other application systems. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

New balance ground relay for parallel four-circuit transmission lines

A 66-kV network generally is grounded through a neutral grounding resistor. In this network a single-phase ground-fault current is limited to as small as 100 to 400 A. There are parallel four-circuit transmission lines mounted on the same tower in the 66-kV network. In such transmission lines, the load and the fault currents could induce circulating current that flows through the lines. Since the circulating current has zero-phase-sequence and negative-phase-sequence components, it could cause unwanted operation of a balance ground relay using zero-phase-sequence current. However, it is difficult to compensate for the circulating current by the conventional vector compensation scheme. This paper presents a new balance ground relay to deal with the circulating current. In the relay from the ground-fault inception until first tripping, the difference current Δ3I_2d of negative-phase-sequence current 3I_2d of the differential current between two protected lines is used as an input current. The Δ3I_2d is the difference current of 3I_2d between, before and during faults. After the first tripping, the difference current of positive-phase-sequence load current and zero-phase-sequence current of the forementioned differential current are used as an input current. Consequently, a higher sensitivity of the ground-fault protection for these lines has been achieved. The correct operation of the new balance ground relay was confirmed when a single-phase-ground-fault occurred in the parallel four-circuit transmission lines, to which the relay is applied.     

Use of a YAP1 overexpression cassette conferring specific resistance to cerulenin and cycloheximide as an efficient selectable marker in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Drug-resistance markers for yeast transformation are useful because they can be applied to strains without auxotrophic mutations. However, they are susceptible to technical difficulties, namely lower transformation efficiency and the appearance of drug-resistant mutants without the marker. To avoid these problems, we have constructed a phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) promoter-driven YAP1 expression cassette, called PGKp-YAP1. Yeast cells containing PGKp-YAP1 were resistant to cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, and also to cerulenin, a fatty acid synthesis inhibitor, but not to other drugs tested. The transformation efficiency of PGKp-YAP1 using cerulenin selection was comparable to that using a URA3 auxotrophic marker when low concentrations of cerulenin were used. Non-transformed drug-resistant colonies did appear on the low-concentration cerulenin plates. However, these non-transformed colonies could easily be identified, based on their cycloheximide sensitivity and/or their resistance to aureobasidin A to which the transformants were sensitive. Therefore, the dual drug resistance of PGKp-YAP1 could be used as an effective selection for PGKp-YAP1 recipient cells. The PGKp-YAP1 marker was used to disrupt the LYS2 gene and to transform an industrial yeast strain, indicating that this marker can be used for efficient and reliable gene manipulations in any Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain.