Analysis and optimization of a nondissipative LC turn-offsnubber

A nondissipative LC turn-off snubber is used to reduce the voltage stress on a switching transistor, which is caused by the energy stored in the transformer leakage inductance. A detailed analysis of the fundamental characteristics of a buck-boost converter with an LC snubber is given, clarifying the effect of the snubber capacitance. In particular, it is found that the transformer current increases with the snubber capacitance, the transistor surge voltage and power loss are evaluated, and the optimum value of the snubber capacitance is derived. The most effective value of the snubber inductance is also discussed     

Cholecystokinin antagonistic activities of loxiglumide

Cholecystokinin (CCK) antagonistic activities of loxiglumide ((+/-)-4-(3,4-dichlorobenzamido)-N-(3-methoxypropyl)-N-pentylgl utaramic acid, CR1505, CAS 107097-80-3) were investigated in the gastrointestine and gallbladder in vivo. Intravenous administration of loxiglumide antagonized the CCK-induced reduction of gastric emptying in rats, acceleration of intestinal transport in mice, increase in ileal motility in rabbits, gallbladder contraction in guinea pigs and acceleration of gallbladder emptying in mice. Orally administered loxiglumide also antagonized the CCK-induced gallbladder emptying in mice. Furthermore, egg yolk-stimulated gallbladder emptying in mice was also inhibited by loxiglumide, indicating that this agent antagonizes not only exogenous but also endogenous CCK. These results demonstrate that loxiglumide is an intravenously and orally effective, potent CCK antagonist.     

Practical realization of high-speed photodisplacement imaging by use of parallel excitation and parallel heterodyne detection: a numerical study

A new parallel photodisplacement technique that achieves extremely high-throughput imaging is proposed, and its practical realization is studied numerically. In this technique, a linear region of photothermal displacement is excited by use of a line-focusing intensity-modulated laser beam and detected with a parallel heterodyne interferometer in which a charge-coupled device linear image sensor is used. Because of the integration and sampling effects of the sensor, the interference light is spatiotemporally multiplexed. To extract the photodisplacement component from the multiplexed sensor signal, a scheme of phase-shifting light integration under an undersampling condition is proposed for parallel interferometry. The frequencies of several control signals, including the heterodyne beat signal, modulation signal, and sensor gate signal, are optimized so as to eliminate undesirable components, allowing only the displacement component to be extracted. Preliminary numerical simulation results show that the proposed technique has the potential to perform photodisplacement imaging more than 10,000 times faster than conventional photoacoustic microscopy.     

Performance of gain-tuned harmonic drive torque sensor under loadand speed conditions

Addresses the topic of torque sensing by using strain gauges, which are cemented directly onto the flexspline of a harmonic drive gear reducer. Conventionally, two or four strain gauges are used to reduce the ripple signal, which is generated by the gear operation. However, our analysis shows that an odd number of strain gauges is more suitable for the ripple compensation. The method does not need online calculations and reduces the needed accuracy of the strain gauges positioning, so it can be practically implemented. Two techniques to define the gains are presented in the paper. One is based on a mathematical model of the fluctuation signal, and the other employs a heuristic approach. Practical results show effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed method. We present the new method and evaluate its performance under load torque and rotational speed conditions. No significant deterioration of the performance under load torque and at various rotational speeds was confirmed     

Total sputtering yields of solids under MeV-energy Si ion bombardment

Total sputtering yields have been measured for SiO₂ and Cu targets bombarded with Si ions at an incident energy between 500 keV and 5.0 MeV using a quartz crystal microbalance technique. In order to measure total yields accurately, we have developed a beam modulation technique to avoid the effect of thermal drift. In the MeV energy range, an ion penetrates through thin SiO₂ and Cu targets and is implanted into a quartz crystal. Therefore, the thickness of these layers deposited on quartz crystals was carefully controlled to avoid damage of quartz crystal by incident ions. As a result, total sputtering yields of SiO₂ increased with incident Si ion energy, while those of the Cu target decreased. The total yields of the SiO₂ target were represented well by a power low of the electronic stopping power.     

Dietary intake of isoflavones and polyunsaturated fatty acids associated with lung function,breathlessness and the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Possible protective effect of traditional Japanese diet

The Japanese diet is high in soy products and fish. A case–control study was conducted in Japan to investigate the relationship between dietary intake of isoflavones and fatty acids and lung function, breathlessness and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A total of 278 referred patients aged 50–75 years with COPD diagnosed within the past 4 years, and 340 community‐based controls were assessed for respiratory symptoms and undertook spirometric measurements of lung function. A validated food frequency questionnaire was administered face‐to‐face to obtain information on habitual food consumption. Dietary intakes of isoflavones and fatty acids were derived from the Japanese food composition tables. The COPD patients had significantly lower habitual intakes of isoflavones (genistein and daidzein) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; both omega‐3 and omega‐6) than control subjects. Lung function measures were found to be positively associated with isoflavones and PUFA intake. Substantial reductions in prevalence of COPD and breathlessness were observed for isoflavones, the respective adjusted odds ratio being 0.36 (95% confidence interval 0.19–0.68) and 0.60 (95% confidence interval 0.33–1.10) for the highest versus lowest levels of total isoflavone intake. The corresponding tests for linear trend were significant. High intakes of PUFA and omega‐6 fatty acids (derived from foods excluding oils and fats as seasonings) also appeared to reduce the risks of COPD and breathlessness symptom, but no evidence of association was found for other types of fatty acids. The study provided evidence of possible protective effect of traditional Japanese diet against tobacco carcinogens.     

Microaeration enhances productivity of bioethanol from hydrolysate of waste house wood using ethanologenic Escherichia coli KO11

This is the first study showing the successful application of waste house wood (WHW) to the pilot-scale production of bioethanol by hydrolysis using diluted acid and fermentation using the ethanologenic recombinant Escherichia coli KO11. The major sugars in the WHW hydrolysate were glucose, mannose and xylose; the percentages were approximately 35%, 35% and 20% (w/w), respectively. In anaerobic fermentation using a 5-l reactor in which the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) was 0 mmol/(l x h), KO11 consumed only 25% of the xylose in the WHW hydrolysate over the examined fermentation time of 100 h; however, hexoses such as glucose and mannose were consumed completely. Microaeration at an OTR of 4 mmol/(l x h) enhanced the xylose utilization ratio of KO11 to 100%, at which the ethanol concentration was 35.4 g/l and the ethanol yield was 0.42, although the maximum ethanol concentrations were 28.8 and 26.6 g/l at OTRs of 0 mmol/(l x h) and 15 mmol/(l x h), respectively. Moreover, this microaerobic fermentation at OTR of 4 mmol/(l x h) was applied to 1000-l scale bioethanol production using the WHW hydrolysate. The xylose utilization ratio reached 100% and the ethanol yield was determined to be 0.45 for a 63-h fermentation, which were comparable to those obtained from the laboratory-scale fermentation.     

Characterization of miRNAs in Milk Small Extracellular Vesicles from Enzootic Bovine Leukosis Cattle

Enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) is a B-cell lymphosarcoma caused by the bovine leukemia virus (BLV). Most BLV-infected cattle show no clinical signs and only some develop EBL. The pathogenesis of EBL remains unclear and there are no methods for predicting EBL before its onset. Previously, it was reported that miRNA profiles in milk small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) were affected in cattle in the late stage of BLV infection. It raised a possibility that miRNA profile in milk sEVs from EBL cattle could be also affected. To characterize the difference in milk of EBL cattle and healthy cattle, we examined the miRNA profiles in milk sEVs from four EBL and BLV-uninfected cattle each using microarray analysis. Among the detected miRNAs, three miRNAs—bta-miR-1246, hsa-miR-1290, and hsa-miR-424-5p—which were detectable using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and are associated with cancers in humans—were selected as biomarker candidates for EBL. To evaluate the utility of these miRNAs as biomarkers for EBL, their levels were measured using milk that was freshly collected from 13 EBL and seven BLV-uninfected cattle. bta-miR-1246 and hsa-miR-424-5p, but not hsa-miR-1290, were detected using qPCR and their levels in milk sEVs from EBL cattle were significantly higher than those in BLV-uninfected cattle. bta-miR-1246 and hsa-miR-424-5p in sEVs may promote metastasis by targeting tumor suppressor genes, resulting in increased amounts in milk sEVs in EBL cattle. These results suggest that bta-miR-1246 and hsa-miR-424-5p levels in milk sEVs could serve as biomarkers for EBL.     

Accuracy improvement of built-in torque sensing for Harmonic Drives

Built-in torque sensing for Harmonic Drives is attractive since it maintains mechanical characteristics of the gear while providing detection of the transmitted torque. Torque sensing by using strain gauges has been studied, but is not widely used yet due to a relatively high signal fluctuation, which is generated by the gear operation. Characteristics of the signal fluctuation are analyzed in this paper, and a method to effectively compensate the signal fluctuation is proposed. The signal fluctuation is perfectly compensated by adjustment of the strain gauge sensitivities. A minimum number of strain gauges needed to compensate the signal fluctuation is derived. The experimental result with three strain gauges compensating the basic frequency component of the signal fluctuation is shown     

Segmentation of plant hairy roots promotes lateral root emergence and subsequent growth

The influence of root cutting on the emergence of lateral roots was investigated in the cultures of horseradish and madder hairy roots. The original hairy roots prepared for inoculation were cut at various distances from the tips and the resultant segments were cultivated in flasks. It was found that lateral roots very frequently emerged from the segments, depending on the longitudinal positions at which the segments were obtained. To attain the effective growth, cultivation of madder hairy roots with root cutting performed twice at 0 and 360 h was conducted. The emergence of lateral roots facilitated the growth of hairy roots owing to an increase in the number of growing points (GPs). The dry cell mass concentration and the number of GPs were 9.6 kg/m3 and 1.9 x 10(7)/m3 at 672 h of culture time, which were 3.6 and 4.9 times higher, respectively, than those in the control culture without the operation.