Measurement and compensation of error motions of a diamond turning machine

This paper describes the measurement and compensation of error motions of a diamond turning machine for nanofabrication of large sinusoidal metrology grids. The diamond turning machine has a T-base design, which consists of a spindle with its rotation axis along the Z-direction and a cross-slide with its movement direction along the X-direction. A fast-tool-servo (FTS) unit is mounted on the X-slide to generate sinusoidal microstructures on a flat workpiece surface mounted on the spindle. The error motions of the X-slide and the spindle, which introduce Z-directional profile errors (out-of-flatness) on the grid surface, are measured and compensated. The out-of-straightness of the X-slide is measured to be approximately 60 nm over a travel of 80 mm by using the reversal method. It is also confirmed that the out-of-straightness of the X-slide has a 10-nm periodic component with a period of 11 mm corresponding to the diameter of the needles used in the roller bearing of the X-slide. The angular motion of the spindle is measured to be approximately 0.3″ by using an autocollimator, which can cause a 73-nm out-of-flatness over a workpiece 100 mm in diameter. The axial motion of the spindle is measured to be approximately 5 nm, which is the smallest error motion. The out-of-flatness of the workpiece is reduced from 0.27 to 0.12 μm through compensating for the error motions by utilizing the FTS unit based on the measurement results of error motions.     

Direct measurement of energetic electron flow in Q-shu University experiment with steady-state spherical tokamak

In magnetized plasmas, the presence of a significant number of energetic electrons has been observed but quantitative characteristics of these electrons are proving difficult to investigate. A Langmuir probe offers a means to provide quantitative measurement of these energetic electrons that takes into account electron emissions (secondary electron emission and electron reflection) from the probe tips and sheath expansion around the probe tips caused by a considerable negative potential. In this paper, these effects are experimentally confirmed and an analytical means to measure energetic electron characteristics are proposed. An analysis of plasmas produced by a high frequency wave is then applied leading to the successful detection of an asymmetric flow of energetic electrons. The estimated electron temperature and current density were approximately 4-5 keV and 2-3 kA/m(2).     

Effects of hydrophilic/hydrophobic surfaces on polymer‐complexation kinetics

To establish hydrophilic/hydrophobic effects on polymer‐complexation kinetics, chitosan resins were prepared by radical copolymerization of methacryloyl‐modified chitosans with 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate and/or styrene monomers. The primary particles of the gelled copolymers in the suspensions were nicely solidified by basic coagulation bath to form globular beads. Degree of the hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties was controlled by the copolymerization ratio, and each ion‐adsorption kinetics was evaluated by batch method. The initial rate of adsorption in hydrophilic chitosans was higher than that in hydrophobic chitosans, which was attributed to less thickness of the boundary film. We quantitatively evaluated the rate‐determining steps by the initial‐rate analysis, in which the viscosity of the suspension contributes to the film‐diffusion kinetic resistance. The role of hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties of the resins is reasonably rationalized to the length of the boundary films by considering long‐range interactions between the ion and surface. Our results are robust evidence for the ion‐surface interactions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46493.     

Reinforcement learning for optimum design of a plane frame under static loads

A new method is presented for optimum cross-sectional design of planar frame structures combining reinforcement learning (RL) and metaheuristics. The method starts from RL jointly using artificial neural network so that the action taker, or the agent, can choose a proper action on which members to be increased, reduced or kept their size. The size of the neural network is compressed into small numbers of inputs and outputs utilizing story-wise decomposition of the frame. The trained agent is used in the process of generating a neighborhood solution during optimization with simulated annealing (SA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Because the proposed method is able to explore the solution space efficiently, better optimal solutions can be found with less computational cost compared with those obtained solely by metaheuristics. Utilization of RL agent also leads to high-quality optimal solutions regardless of variation of parameters of SA and PSO or initial solution. Furthermore, once the agent is trained, it can be applied to optimization of other frames with different numbers of stories and spans.

     

Development of a large-capacity static var generator using self-cornmutated inverters for improving power transmission system stability

A Static Var Generator (SVG) based on a self-commutated inverter using GTO thyristors has been newly developed. The size of the SVG used for improving power system stability will be as large as approximately 100 MVA. The technical subjects to be solved for developing such a large SVG are summarized as follows:

• compact design;
• harmonic elimination by means of multiple transformers; and
• large inverter with series connection of GTO thyristors.

This paper describes the solutions to these subjects, especially the application of a large number of multipulse connection and series connection of GTO thyristors, including the analysis of the basic performance of SVG and the multiple transformer. The test results of a 12-pulse partial model (8 MVA) and a 48-pulse miniaturized model prove the solutions proposed in this paper to be effective and reasonable.     

Carbon steel recontamination by Co-60 incorporation into iron (II) oxalate dihydrate formed during chemical decontamination

ABSTRACT

Hitachi has developed the chemical decontamination method to remove radioactive oxides on structural materials by alternately using a mixed solution of oxalic acid and hydrazine for a reductive process and potassium permanganate or permanganic acid solution for an oxidative process. In the decontamination of carbon steel (CS) by applying oxalic acid, a film of iron(II) oxalate dihydrate that has low solubility is formed on the CS surface. During the formation of iron(II) oxalate dihydrate, Co-60 in the reductive decontamination solution may be incorporated into the formed film. This phenomenon may cause a decrease in the decontamination efficiency of the CS. A corrosion test of CS in a reductive decontamination solution containing Co-60 as tracer was carried out in order to evaluate this recontamination. It was confirmed that Co-60 was incorporated into the iron(II) oxalate dihydrate film, and the amount of Co-60 increased with increasing formation of this film. About 50% of the Co-60 added to the reductive decontamination solution was incorporated into iron(II) oxalate dihydrate formed on the CS and the Co-60 incorporation ratio was proportional to the iron(II) oxalate dihydrate formation. This result means that the recontamination during chemical decontamination of CS can be predicted.     

Stacked etched aluminum flow-through membranes for methanol steam reforming

Electrochemical etching has been used to obtain aluminum foil with high surface area for use as electrodes in electrolytic capacitors. In this approach, direct current etching first generates straight penetrating microchannels, and then a second etching step enlarges the microchannel diameter. In the present work, we developed catalyst supports using aluminum etched with microchannels as a microreactor. The metal aluminum foil catalyst support obtained by etching contained microchannels with a diameter of 1.0–3.0 μm (10,000–15,000 microchannels/mm²). We stacked membrane layers and evaluated their performance in methanol steam reforming. The performance of the reactors containing stacked membranes improved as the layer number increased. The microchannels in this catalytic membrane could be used as reaction channels, were easy to fabricate at low cost, and could be mass-produced continuously. This novel catalytic membrane support opens up new possibilities for practical fabrication of industrial materials.     

Sperm Proteases that May Be Involved in the Initiation of Sperm Motility in the Newt,Cynops pyrrhogaster

A protease of sperm in the newt Cynops pyrrhogaster that is released after the acrosome reaction (AR) is proposed to lyse the sheet structure on the outer surface of egg jelly and release sperm motility-initiating substance (SMIS). Here, we found that protease activity in the sperm head was potent to widely digest substrates beneath the sperm. The protease activity measured by fluorescein thiocarbamoyl-casein digestion was detected in the supernatant of the sperm after the AR and the activity was inhibited by 4-(2-aminoethyl) benzenesulfonyl fluoride (AEBSF), an inhibitor for serine or cysteine protease, suggesting the release of serine and/or cysteine proteases by AR. In an in silico analysis of the testes, acrosins and 20S proteasome were identified as possible candidates of the acrosomal proteases. We also detected another AEBSF-sensitive protease activity on the sperm surface. Fluorescence staining with AlexaFluor 488-labeled AEBSF revealed a cysteine protease in the principal piece; it is localized in the joint region between the axial rod and undulating membrane, which includes an axoneme and produces powerful undulation of the membrane for forward sperm motility. These results indicate that AEBSF-sensitive proteases in the acrosome and principal piece may participate in the initiation of sperm motility on the surface of egg jelly.