Preparation of nanometre size oxide particles using filter expansion aerosol generator

Crystalline zinc oxide particles of nanometre size (< 20 nm) particles were produced from a zinc acetate solution by using a filter expansion aerosol generator (FEAG). The FEAG is an aerosol generator that is operated at 60 torr reactor pressure and produces droplets of around 2 m. The shape of the particles produced by the FEAG were distinctively different from those produced by the ultrasonic spray source (USS). Results from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) indicated that crystalline zinc oxide particles of nanometre size were produced at 600 °C in 0.02 s residence time. Weight loss of these particles, determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), was 3 wt%. Based on the morphology change as a function of the reactor temperature and solute concentration, we proposed that the nanometre particles were formed by uniform precipitation at the drying stage and decomposition followed by disintegration into nanometre particles. It was also shown that exothermic decomposition of the solute was not required for the disintegration of the primary particles in the FEAG process. This result opened up an opportunity for producing carbon-free nanometre particles from nitrate salts by using the FEAG.     

Memory effects of all‐solution‐processed oxide thin‐film transistors using ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract— Non‐volatile memory effects of an all‐solution‐processed oxide thin‐film transistor (TFT) with ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) as the charge‐trapping layer are reported. The device was fabricated by using a soluble MgInZnO active channel on a ZrHfO^x gate dielectric. ZnO NPs were used as the charge‐trapping site at the gate‐insulator—channel interface, and Al was used for source and drain electrodes. Transfer characteristics of the device showed a large clockwise hysteresis, which can be used to demonstrate its memory function due to electron trapping in the ZnO NP charge‐trapping layer. This memory effect has the potential to be utilized as a memory application on displays and disposable electronics.     

Free energy perturbation approach for the rational engineering of the antibody for human hepatitis B virus

HzKR127 is the humanized monoclonal antibody effective for the neutralization of human hepatitis B virus. By means of the free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations based on molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, we examine the mutation-induced variations in the energetic and structural features associated with the interactions between HzKR127 and its antigen. N58A, Y96A, D97A, and D97A/Y102A mutants of HzKR127 are taken in account in this study for which the experimental data for relative efficacies with respect to the wild-type antibody are available. The results of the present MD-FEP simulation studies show that in order to enhance the affinity for the antigen, the engineering of HzKR127 should be made in such a way as to promote the dynamic stability of the overall protein conformation and that of the translational motion of the antigen in the antibody-antigen complex. The relative binding free energies of the four mutant antibodies obtained from MD-FEP calculations compare pretty well with the experimental mutagenesis data with the associated squared correlation coefficient of 0.96. This indicates that MD-FEP calculations may serve as a useful computational tool for rational antibody engineering. Discussed in detail are the differences in the structural features of antibody-antigen interactions between the wild-type and the mutant antibodies that are responsible for the change in binding affinities for the antigen.     

Computational and mutagenesis studies of the streptavidin native dimer interface

Wt streptavidin forms a domain swapped tetramer consisting of two native dimers. The role of tetramerization has been studied previously and is known to contribute to biotin binding by allowing the exchange of W120 between adjacent subunits. However, the role of dimer formation in streptavidin folding and function has been largely overlooked to date, although native dimers are necessary for tetramer formation and thus for high affinity biotin binding. To understand how the side chain interactions at the dimer interface stabilize the subunit association, we studied the structural and functional consequences of introducing interfacial mutations by a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and biochemical characterization. In particular, we introduced rational mutations at the dimer interface to engineer new side chain interactions and measured the stability and function of the resulting mutants. We focused on two residues that form a "knob" and a "hole" pair, G74 and T76, since steric complementarity plays an important role at these positions. We introduced mutations that would change the polarity and side chain packing to test if the interface can be rationally redesigned. Both energy calculation and geometric parameterization were used to interpret the simulated structures and predict how the mutations affect the dimer stability. In this regard, obtaining precise energy estimates was difficult because the simulated structures have large stochastic variations and some mutants did not reach an equilibrium by the end of the simulation. In contrast, comparing the wt and mutants to one another and parameterizing the simulation using a geometric parameter, i.e. the degree of solvation of the buried interface, resulted in a testable prediction regarding which mutations would result in a stable dimer. We present experimental data (denaturation and binding measurements) to show that an intuitive parameter based on physical reasoning can be useful for characterizing simulations that are difficult to analyze quantitatively.     

A centrality analysis of the transaction relationships in Panasonic

Panasonic initiated a reform strategy called “Value Creation 21” in 2001. This strategy had a strong impact on its transaction relationships. This research covers one of the important issues in analyzing how the transaction network in Panasonic has changed during the period of “Value Creation 21.” In order to make Panasonic’s transaction relationships visible and countable, we have introduced graph theory and a measure centrality index from the viewpoints of degree, closeness, and betweenness by using data collected in 2002 and 2005. Our findings are reported here. First, the number of firms in Panasonic’s transaction network in 2005 was smaller than in 2002. Second, not only the degree, but also the closeness and betweenness, of the main firms in the Panasonic Group and their suppliers decreased a little more in 2005. Third, the number of in-degree firms declined, whereas the relative importance of Panasonic in the transaction network was more significant. Fourth, Panasonic’s affiliated firms in components & devices and the digital AVC network domain ranked higher than other firms in the transaction network. Last, its out-degree suppliers dropped more in 2005 than in 2002. With these findings, we finally concluded how Panasonic arranged its transaction relationships during the turnaround.     

Optimization of silicon solar cell fabrication based on neural network and genetic programming modeling

This study describes techniques for the cascade modeling and the optimization that are required to conduct the simulator-based process optimization of solar cell fabrication. Two modeling approaches, neural networks and genetic programming, are employed to model the crucial relation for the consecutively connected two processes in solar cell fabrication. One model (Model 1) is used to map the five inputs (time, amount of nitrogen and DI water in surface texturing and temperature and time in emitter diffusion) to the two outputs (reflectance and sheet resistance) of the first process. The other model (Model 2) is used to connect the two inputs (reflectance and sheet resistance) to the one output (efficiency) of the second process. After modeling of the two processes, genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization were applied to search for the optimal recipe. In the first optimization stage, we searched for the optimal reflectance and sheet resistance that can provide the best efficiency in the fabrication process. The optimized reflectance and sheet resistance found by the particle swarm optimization were better than those found by the genetic algorithm. In the second optimization stage, the five input parameters were searched by using the reflectance and sheet resistance values obtained in the first stage. The found five variables such as the texturing time, amount of nitrogen, DI water, diffusion time, and temperature are used as a recipe for the solar cell fabrication. The amount of nitrogen, DI water, and diffusion time in the optimized recipes showed considerable differences according to the modeling approaches. More importantly, repeated applications of particle swarm optimization yielded process conditions with smaller variations, implying greater consistency in recipe generation.     

Improving traversability of quadruped walking robots using body movement in 3D rough terrains

This paper presents a study on improving the traversability of a quadruped walking robot in 3D rough terrains. The key idea is to exploit body movement of the robot. The position and orientation of the robot are systematically adjusted and the possibility of finding a valid foothold for the next swing is maximized, which makes the robot have more chances to overcome the rough terrains. In addition, a foothold search algorithm that provides the valid foothold while maintaining a high traversability of the robot, is investigated and a gait selection algorithm is developed to help the robot avoid deadlock situations. To explain the algorithms, new concepts such as reachable area, stable area, potential search direction, and complementary kinematic margin are introduced, and the effectiveness of the algorithms is validated via simulations and experiments.     

The election problem in asynchronous distributed systems with bounded faulty processes

Determining the “weakest” failure detectors is a central topic in solving many agreement problems such as Consensus, Non-Blocking Atomic Commit and Election in asynchronous distributed systems. So far, this has been studied extensively for several such fundamental problems. It is stated that Perfect Failure Detector P is the weakest failure detector to solve the Election problem with any number of faulty processes. In this paper, we introduce Modal failure detector M and show that to solve Election, M is the weakest failure detector to solve election when the number of faulty processes is less than ⌈n/2⌉. We also show that it is strictly weaker than P.