The fabrication method of unsubstituted planar phthalocyanine thin films by a spin-coating technique

We have successfully obtained spin-coated films of unsubstituted planar phthalocyanines (free-base and copper phthalocyanine) from trifluoroacetic acid and chlorobenzene mixed solutions for the first time. The pre-annealed films did not consist of pure phthalocyanines; these films contained the solvent molecules. However, the residual solvent molecules could be removed by annealing at 425 K for 2 h in vacuum. This technique is useful for fabricating unsubstituted planar phthalocyanine thin films.     

Production of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC)-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) nanocomposites from sheets obtained by a papermaking-like process

The fabrication of cellulose nanofiber-reinforced composites has been so far problematic due to difficulties in obtaining good dispersion of hydrophilic cellulose fibers in a hydrophobic polymer matrix. A new manufacturing process similar to papermaking, which enables the production of thin sheets made of uniformly dispersed microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) with polylactic acid (PLA) fibers was devised, and the composites were obtained by compression molding of the stacked sheets. The process is suitable for adoption at an industrial scale owing to the high yields and fast dewatering times. The measurement of tensile properties revealed that the modulus, strength, and strain at fracture increased linearly with the MFC content. The improvement in toughness was considered one of the key benefits brought by MFC reinforcement.     

Hidden Markov model-based prediction of antigenic peptides that interact with MHC class II molecules

Elucidating the interaction between major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules and antigenic peptides is fundamental to better understanding of the processes involved in immune responses and for the development of innovative immunotherapies. In the present study, hidden Markov models (HMM) were combined with the successive state splitting (SSS) algorithm for optimization of the HMM structure, to predict peptide binders to the human MHC class II molecule HLA-DRB1*0101. The predictive performance of our model (S-HMM) was compared with fully connected HMM and artificial neural network (ANN) methods using the relative operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The S-HMM predictions had values of ROC > or = 0.85 which was at least as good, or better than the comparison methods. In addition, S-HMM is trained on positive data only and does not require exhaustive data preprocessing, such as peptide alignment. Our results demonstrated that S-HMM combines the high accuracy of predictions with the simplicity of implementation and is therefore useful for analyzing MHC class II binding peptides. In particular the S-HMM may be trained using only positive data and, the preprocessing of training data, such as peptide alignment and the selection of binding cores, is not required in this method.     

An application of thermal microscopes to the measurement of thermal effusivity of films

The application of thermal microscopes to the measurement of local thermal properties has drawn considerable scientific interest. We report on the application of a thermal microscope to the measurement of thermal effusivity for films comprising alumina deposited on a substrate, which were fabricated by an electrophoretic deposition method. The measured data was analyzed to consider the undulations on the sample surface The thermal effusivity of these samples was approximately 1×10³ Js^?0.5m^?2K^?1; this value is smaller than that for dense alumina because the alumina grain makes contact with a point. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20227     

Study on heat transfer characteristics of reservoir embedded loop heat pipe (Influence of condenser cooling method on heat transfer characteristics)

As heat generation in satellites increases, securing sufficient radiator panel area is an important problem. Deployable radiators, whose radiator panels are deployed post‐launch in space to increase the effective radiator panel area of the satellite, is becoming an important thermal control technology. A reservoir embedded loop heat pipe (RELHP) is applied to the deployable radiator for a thermal transport device. This paper presents the heat transport dynamic characteristics of a RELHP using a radiant cooling condenser and liquid forced convection cooling condenser by an experimental study. It was found that heat leak into the liquid line, flexible line, and reservoir increases the length of the sub‐cooling region in the condenser. In the case of the radiant cooling condenser, the sub‐cooling region length is shorter than that of a liquid forced convection cooling condenser. Furthermore, vapor temperature is mainly decided by the radiation capacity of the radiator panel, because liquid temperature returned into the evaporator rises with an increase in radiator panel temperature. In addition, time length from start‐up until steady state is greater than the liquid forced convection cooling condenser case, because the radiator panel has a large heat capacity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20229     

Effects of a transverse,horizontal magnetic field on natural convection of a paramagnetic fluid in a cube

The present work is concerned with magnetic convection of a paramagnetic fluid in a cubic enclosure heated and cooled from the sidewalls. The influence of a 10-T transverse magnetic field on the convection mode of a paramagnetic fluid and the heat transfer rate was investigated numerically and experimentally, and compared with gravitational natural convection. The present study clearly shows that natural convection can be enhanced and the direction of the convective flow can be changed when using a strong magnetic field in terrestrial conditions.     

Antenna Performance of a Directly Dug Corrugated Feedhorn for the 150-GHz Band

We have developed a 150 GHz band corrugated feed horn. These corrugated feed horns have been established by a new machining method, which involves digging corrugations through a metal material. We were able to realize E plane and H plane symmetry, low side lobe level, and low cross-polarization level. Measured co-polarization beam patterns above ??35 dB were consistent with the simulated patterns within a designed frequency range. The peak levels of cross-polarization beam patterns were less than ??30 dB. And, the performances were uniform in several horns. In the present paper, we describe the corrugated horn produced by this methods.     

Fine structure and development of the collar enamel in gars, Lepisosteus oculatus, Actinopterygii

The fine structure of collar enamel and the cells constituting the enamel organ during amelogenesis in Lepisosteus oculatus was observed by light, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy. In the enamel, slender crystals were arranged perpendicular to the surface and the stripes that were parallel to the surface were observed, suggesting that the enamel in Lepisosteus shares common morphological features with that in sarcopterygian fish and amphibians. Ameloblasts containing developed Golgi apparatus, rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) and secretory granules were found in the secretory stage. In the maturation stage, a ruffled border was not seen at the distal end of the ameloblasts, while many mitochondria and lysosome-like granules were obvious in the distal cytoplasm. The enamel organ consisted of the outer dental epithelial cells, stratum reticulum cells and ameloblasts, but there was no stratum intermedium. It is likely that the ameloblasts have less absorptive function in comparison with the inner dental epithelial cells facing cap enameloid.     

Consultation system with contact person through on‐demand calling of a proper expert for a problem

Local branches of financial institutions offer to their customers a wide spectrum of advisory services which must be upgraded from time to time to keep up with changes in the mix of financial products offered and with the growing sophistication of the customers' inquiries. However, keeping the full staff of experts trained in various aspects of banking business is not practical from the standpoint of cost‐effectiveness, while without them it is difficult to provide high‐quality services. In this paper we propose a window consultation system for customers at the branch office using the on‐demand calling of an expert specializing in the subject related to the inquiry. The proposed system is based on the multimedia network technology and it has two main functions: selection of an on‐line expert and tele‐consultation providing the replies or expert advises to the inquiries. A customer visiting his branch office is interviewed by a clerk who determines the contents of the request and, if he is unable to give the customer satisfactory advice, contacts through the proposed system an appropriate expert. This system makes it possible to provide high‐quality services and to avoid mistakes, which can be made by customers if they operate the consultation systems on their own. The proposed system has a three‐layered structure: application component layer, middleware component layer, and fundamental component layer. This structure allows for an easy installation and modifications depending on the scale of specific branch offices of financial institutions and the mix of financial products offered by them. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 163(2): 57–66, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20518     

Thermoelectric properties of porous SiC/C composites

We developed a porous SiC/C composite by oxidizing a SiC/C composite made from a mixed powder of wood charcoal and SiO₂ (32–45 μm) by pulse current sintering at 1600 and 1800 °C under a N₂ atmosphere. The microstructures of the porous SiC/C composites with oxidation and the SiC/C composites without oxidation were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Raman spectra revealed the disappearance of excess carbon and the presence of β-SiC. The porous microstructure was monitored by SEM observation as a function of the heat treatment temperature. The thermoelectric properties of porous SiC/C composites with oxidation and SiC/C composites without oxidation were investigated by measuring the Seebeck coefficient, the electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. The Seebeck coefficient of all samples revealed n-type conduction, and the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient for the porous SiC/C samples with oxidation was much larger than that for the SiC/C samples without oxidation. For the electrical conductivity the reverse is true. Only the thermal conductivity of the SiC/C sample heated to 1800 °C without oxidation was high initially and stayed rather high. In general, the thermoelectric properties improved at higher measurement temperatures indicating their suitability for high-temperature thermoelectric conversion. A maximum figure of merit of 2.01×10⁻⁵ K⁻¹ was obtained at 700 °C in porous SiC/C samples sintered at 1800 °C with oxidation.