High‐precision positioning control for hard disk drives: 1st report: High‐precision simulator using differential iteration method

The paper proposes a high‐precision simulator for the following mode system design in hard disk drives (HDDs). The simulator is composed of two models: one is a precise mechanical plant which includes numerous high‐frequency vibration modes, and the other is a disturbance signal model which is separated into various disturbances. In the proposed approach, a differential iteration method is applied to identify the precise mechanical plant, providing accurate experimental model analyses. The effectiveness of the synthesized simulator was verified by the comparative studies for experiments and numerical simulations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 159(1): 54–61, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20457     

Factors Involved in Morphogenesis in the Muscle–Tendon–Bone Complex

A decline in the body’s motor functions has been linked to decreased muscle mass and function in the oral cavity and throat; however, aging of the junctions of the muscles and bones has also been identified as an associated factor. Basic and clinical studies on the muscles, tendons and bones, each considered independently, have been published. In recent years, however, research has focused on muscle attachment as the muscle–tendon–bone complex from various perspectives, and there is a growing body of knowledge on SRY-box9 (Sox9) and Mohawk(Mkx), which has been identified as a common controlling factor and a key element. Myostatin, a factor that inhibits muscle growth, has been identified as a potential key element in the mechanisms of lifetime structural maintenance of the muscle–tendon–bone complex. Findings in recent studies have also uncovered aspects of the mechanisms of motor organ complex morphostasis in the superaged society of today and will lay the groundwork for treatments to prevent motor function decline in older adults.     

A neural network approach to predict tactile comfort of applying cosmetic foundation

An expert system has been developed to predict the degree of tactile comfort during the application of cosmetic foundation. A tribometer using compliant silicone-rubber surfaces was developed to perform 4 sliding tests and an oscillating test. From the tests for 20 different samples, 11 feature quantities were identified. The values of the feature quantities were used as the inputs to an artificial neural network, and the scores of tactile sensations were obtained as the outputs. The neural network, after supervised learning, could predict 5 types of emotional tactile comfort with high accuracy.     

FEM-aided identification of gauge factors of unidirectional CFRP through multi-point potential measurements

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) has electrical conductivity in both the parallel and transverse directions of the fiber. Because an electrical network may be changed with the applied strain, the electrical conductivity of the CFRP will also be changed for the piezoresistivity. Strain monitoring of CFRP can therefore be conducted, not by using an additional sensor, but by measuring the change in electrical resistance. There have been many studies on the gauge factors of unidirectional CFRPs, although significant mutual differences have been determined in the results reported. It is thought that the differences may be caused by the strong electrical anisotropy and inhomogeneity of the unidirectional CFRP. In this study, a new concept was introduced to precisely measure the gauge factors of a unidirectional CFRP. A finite element analysis was utilized to take into consideration a non-uniform electrical potential field in a unidirectional CFRP. The gauge factors were obtained as a result of minimizing the error sum of the squares of the electrical potentials between the experimental and analytical results. The gauge factor in the fiber direction was affected by this factor in the thickness direction depending on the specimen configuration. The results of the finite element analysis showed the possibility of a unidirectional CFRP showing both positive and negative gauge factors in the fiber direction.     

Compression test of a single carbon fiber in a scanning electron microscope and its evaluation via finite element analysis

A longitudinal compression test for a single polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber (T300) was performed using a scanning electron microscope. The compressive stress/strain behavior was initially linear, but subsequently became nonlinear. The longitudinal tangent modulus decreased with increasing compressive strain. A cyclic compression test revealed that the T300 carbon fiber deformed elastically up to ~90% compressive strength. The variability in the compressive strength was evaluated using Weibull analysis. The representative compressive strength of the T300 carbon fiber was nearly the same as the tensile strength. The compressive strength of the T300 carbon fiber was almost same as that of the high-tensile strength T800S carbon fiber. Finite element analysis was performed to investigate the validity of the test method. The results showed that the longitudinal compressive stress on the carbon fiber varied during longitudinal compressive loading. The maximum longitudinal compressive stress in the carbon fiber was slightly higher than the average compressive strength applied at the end. However, the variability in the measured compressive strength was much higher than that in the longitudinal compressive stress on the carbon fiber, which does not affect the former.     

In situ pressure calibration for piston cylinder cells via ruby fluorescence with fiber optics

A fiber-optic measurement technique is developed for estimating the pressure inside a piston cylinder cell up to approximately 4 GPa, based on the pressure-induced R1 fluorescence line shift of ruby (ruby scale). Ruby scale and a conventional technique (calibration on phase transitions of bismuth) were simultaneously applied to the cell filled with a pressure transmitting medium of isopropyl alcohol. The pressure readings of the two methods were consistent with each other, and no pressure gradient was observed. The ruby scale has the advantages of real time estimation and easy installation in a small space. Because of these advantages, three fibers were simultaneously introduced in the sample space at the same time, and pressure distribution was measured for Fluorinert (FC70:FC77=1:1), Daphne oil 7373, and Fomblin oil (YHVAC 13014).     

Behavior emergence of a virtual creature living in complex environments

This study aimed at establishing a new computer-aided animation method using agent-based and physics modeling-based animation. The specific problem we addressed was to install adaptive behavior in a virtual creature placed in a complex environment, and to create its animated behavior automatically. The virtual creature is regarded as an autonomous agent who has sensors, actuators, and controllers. An artificial neural netword (ANN) and a central pattern generator (CPG) were adopted as the controllers. An optimization algorithm was introduced to train the controllers. Numerical experiments proved that the virtual creature acquires effective motions (walking, swimming) to move toward its destination, and to avoid obstacles and other creatures.     

Synthesis and characterization of three-branched star-like poly(γ-benzyl-l-glutamate)

Summary Three branched star-like poly(-benzyl-l-glutamate) was synthesized using three functional amine as an initiator, and characterized through light-scattering, ORD and intrinsic viscosity measurements. Experimental results suggest that the synthesized star-like poly(-benzyl-l-glutamate)s are composed of three branches of equal length.     

An ultrahigh‐definition display using the pixel‐offset method

Abstract— An ultrahigh‐definition display system quadrupling the horizontal and vertical resolution of HDTV has been developed. In order to obtain the ultrahigh definition, four LCD panels (red, green 1, green 2, and blue) are combined using the spatial pixel‐offset method. Therefore, only green images have an ultrahigh resolution of 4096 × 7680 pixels, while red and blue images have 2048 × 3840 pixels. The ultrahigh resolution was confirmed by subjective assessment testing. The scores of the test have the same tendencies as the SQRI values. The necessary accuracy of the convergence correction is calculated to be within 0.3 pixels by the modified s‐CIELAB method.     

Heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of very compact heat sinks

High-performance compact heat sinks have been developed for the effective cooling of high-density LSI packaging. Heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of the heat sinks in both air-cross-flow and air-jet cooling have been experimentally studied. The present heat sinks were of plate-fin and pin-fin arrays with a fin pitch of 0.7 mm. The plate-fin heat sinks had higher cooling performance than the pin-fin heat sinks in the range of large airflow rates both in air-cross-flow and air-jet cooling. The thermal conductance in cross-flow cooling was 20 or 40% larger than that in jet cooling. The correlation of Colburn j-factor/Fanning friction factor versus the Reynolds number for the present heat sinks was found to be very close to that of a conventional large-size heat exchanger. © Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 28(8): 687-705, 1999