Increase of static electrification in an aged oil‐immersed transformer

Increase of static electrification activity and discharge generation was experienced during the service operation of an aged power transformer. The transformer oil had high sulfide and sulfoxide contents and was liable to show high ECT value after aging. However, there was no apparent increase in standard ECT (electrostatic charging tendency) measurement of the insulating oil and, therefore, deterioration of pressboard was suspected as the cause of the increase. The ECT tests with aged oil and pressboard sampled from the aged transformer were insufficient to demonstrate the increase in static electrification for the aged transformer. On the other hand, the results suggested a possibility that increase in static electrification can be caused by adsorption of some deterioration compound in the aged oil to the pressboard. In order to make more effective evaluation to the transformer insulation, potential measurement on the pressboard in the oil duct was carried out. The experimental results demonstrated strong increase of the accumulated charge by the aged pressboard, which suggested effectiveness of potential measurement for the assessment of static electrification in transformers. The device of potential measurement for practical use was designed by reducing the necessary amount of oil sampling. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 167(3): 10–19, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20789     

Comparative antioxidant activity of edible Japanese brown seaweeds

Japanese edible brown seaweeds, Eisenia bicyclis (Arame), Kjellmaniella crassifolia (Gagome), Alaria crassifolia (Chigaiso), Sargassum horneri (Akamoku), and Cystoseira hakodatensis (Uganomoku) were assayed for total phenolic content (TPC), fucoxanthin content, radical scavenging activities (DPPH, peroxyl radical, ABTS, and nitric oxide), and antioxidant activity in a liposome system. Among the solvents used for extraction, methanol was the most effective to extract total phenolics (TPC) from brown seaweeds. Among 5 kinds of brown seaweeds analyzed, methanol extract from C. hakodatensis was the best source for antioxidants. The high antioxidant activity of the extract was based not only on the high content of phenolics, but on the presence of fucoxanthin. No significant correlation (P > 0.05) was observed between TPC per gram extract with DPPH radical scavenging activity of the methanol extracts. These observed discrepancy would be due to structural variations in the phenolic compounds, and different levels of fucoxanthin in the extracts. The present study also demonstrated the synergy in the antioxidant activity of the combination of brown seaweed phenolics and fucoxanthin.     

Estimation of respiratory muscle endurance using an inspiratory threshold loading device in patients with chronic pulmonary emphysema and in elderly subjects

We studied respiratory muscle endurance with an inspiratory threshold loading (ITL) device using Martyn's method (2-min incremental loading test) in 9 patients with chronic pulmonary emphysema (CPE patients) and in 9 elderly subjects with no lung disease (NE subjects), and their endurance was compared with that of 9 normal young subjects (NY subjects). In 11 cases (8 CPE patients and 3 NE subjects) a treadmill exercise test was performed and cardiopulmonary parameters obtained from the ITL and treadmill tests were compared. The maximum weight tolerated for 2 minutes (Wmax) and the mean peak inspiratory mouth pressure/maximum inspiratory mouth pressure ratio at the maximum load (Ppk/MIP at Max Load) were used as indices of respiratory muscle endurance. CPE patients had significantly decreased Wmax compared with those of NE and NY subjects. Wmax in all cases positively correlated with Ppk/MIP at Max Load, and endurance time of both the ITL and treadmill tests. During both tests, SaO2 significantly decreased, and heart rate and mean blood pressure significantly increased. There was less change in SaO2 and heart rate during the ITL test than during the treadmill test, and neither arrhythmias nor ST changes on ECG were observed during the ITL test. These results indicate that the ITL test can be easily and safely employed in CPE patients and elderly subjects to estimate respiratory muscle endurance.     

Braess-like paradoxes in distributed computer systems

We consider optimal distributed decisions in distributed computer systems. We identify a Braess like paradox in which adding capacity to the system may degrade the performance of all users. Unlike the original Braess paradox, we show that this behavior occurs only in the case of finitely many users and not in the case of infinite number of users     

Electrochemical oxidation of cholesterol in acetonitrile leads to the formation of cholesta-4,6-dien-3-one

Cholesterol was shown to be oxidized at the glassy carbon electrode in an acetonitrile–2-propanol mixture and this oxidation reaction was applied to the determination of serum total cholesterol by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (K. Hojo, H. Hakamata, A. Ito, A. Kotani, C. Furukawa, Y.Y. Hosokawa, F. Kusu, J. Chromatogr. A 1166 (2007) 135–141). To gain insight into the detection mechanisms of cholesterol, an electrolytic product of cholesterol was collected and characterized by infrared spectroscopy, one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The three techniques, together with comparisons of literature spectral data, confirmed the formation of cholesta-4,6-dien-3-one. The conversion of cholesterol to cholesta-4,6-dien-3-one, a four-electron, four-proton electrochemical process, has been proposed as an electrochemical oxidation mechanism of cholesterol in acetonitrile.     

Materials design for industrial forming process in high-strain-rate superplastic Al-Si alloy

The optimum materials design in microstructural control could be developed for the high-strain-rate superplastic materials in the industrial scale. In the present work, it is reported that the high-performance-engine pistons with near-net-shape can be fabricated by the superplastic forging technology in the high-strain-rate superplastic PM Al-Si based alloy, which is produced by using this optimum materials design. Received: 8 February 2000 / Reviewed and accepted: 13 September 2000     

Right ventricular strain and volume analyses through deep learning-based fully automatic segmentation based on radial long-axis reconstruction of short-axis cine magnetic resonance images

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - We propose a deep learning-based fully automatic right ventricle (RV) segmentation technique that targets radially reconstructed...     

Selective photo-oxidation of various hydrocarbons in the liquid phase over V2O5/Al2O3

More than 0.22 mmol of isolated VO₄ species of V₂O₅/Al₂O₃ exhibited the highest evolution of the partial oxidation products (alcohol and ketone) in the oxidation of cyclohexane and cyclopentane. The conversion of cyclohexane and the selectivity of the partial oxidation products were achieved to be 0.49% and 85% over 0.8 g of 3.5 wt.% V₂O₅/Al₂O₃, respectively, where the K/A ratio was 6.2. In addition, V₂O₅/Al₂O₃ can selectively oxidize various hydrocarbons in the liquid phase by the one-step oxygen atom insertion to CH bond. The order of priority was tertiary carbon > secondary carbon > primary carbon > benzene ring.