Analysis of Gibbs monolayer adsorbed at the toluene/water interface by UV-visible partial internal reflection spectrometry

Gibbs monolayers of lipophilic tetraphenylporphyrinatomanganese(III) and hydrophilic diacid of meso-tetrakis(4-sulfonatopheny)porphyrin adsorbed at the liquid-liquid interface have been analyzed by UV-visible external reflection (ER) and partial internal reflection (PIR) spectra measured at different angles of incidence. The angle-dependent ER and PIR spectra over the Brewster angles (thetaERB and thetaIRB) have readily been measured at the toluene/water interface. As preliminarily expected in our previous study, the present study has first proved that the reflection-absorbance of UV-visible PIR spectra quantitatively agrees with the theoretical calculations for the Gibbs monolayer over thetaIRB. In addition, it has also been proved that the absorbance of the PIR spectra is greatly enhanced in comparison to that of the ATR spectra. The enhancement is caused by an optical effect in the monolayer sandwiched between two phases of toluene and water that have different but refractive indices close to each other. This optical enhancement requires an optically perfect contact between the phases, which is difficult to prepare for a solid-solid contact. At the liquid/liquid interface, however, an ideal optical contact is easily realized, which makes the enhancement as much as the theoretical expectation. The PIR spectrometry will be recognized to be a new high-sensitive analytical tool to study Gibbs monolayer at the liquid/liquid interface.     

Aerodynamic stabilization of a flexible optical disk with an asymmetrically and triangularly arranged stabilizer

We studied a flexible optical disk (FOD) system comprising a flexible disk and stabilizer. We improved the stabilizer system based on our previous design: a triangularlly arranged stabilizer system. The part that was improved was the arrangement of the stabilizers; we made them asymmetrically. We experimentally demonstrated that the asymmetrical design effectively controls the aerodynamic stabilization at a pickup focal point. The suppressed axial runout we actually evaluated at the focal point was less than 10 µm at a rotational speed from 1,000 to 7,000 and at radii from 35 to 50 mm. The asymmetrical effect corresponded well with the pressure field calculated using a coupled analysis, which combined a fluid and structural analysis.     

Region-of-interest visualization by CAVE VR system with automatic control of level-of-detail

To specify the region of interest (ROI) is an effective approach to visualize large scale simulation data. We have developed a three-dimensional visualization software with ROI function for the CAVE virtual reality systems. This software enables the user to perform fully three-dimensional and interactive visualization of large scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data. The user specifies a ROI in the CAVE room by a three-dimensional “mouse-drag”. The data in the specified ROI is automatically extracted from the original CFD data. This ROI procedure can be repeated recursively. The resolution in each ROI is kept approximately constant. A data set of three vector fields and eight scalar fields whose size is about 1 GB each was successfully analyzed.     

Dual‐lenticular‐lens‐based 2‐D/3‐D convertible autostereoscopic display

Abstract— A 2‐D/3‐D convertible display using two lenticular lenses has been developed. It shows 2‐D pictures in full resolution and 3‐D autostereoscopic pictures in half resolution by moving one lens relative to the other. The lens assembly consists of thin metal frames, two lenticular lenses, and two shape‐memory‐alloy (SMA) wires used as actuators. While this assembly is applicable to flat‐panel displays of any kind, its simple structure and low power consumption make it best suited to mobile terminals, such as PDAs and mobile phones. Here, we describe its structure and present evaluation results.     

A retinal scanning display with a wavefront curvature modulator

Abstract— A retinal scanning display with a wavefront curvature modulator (WCM) has been developed and demonstrated. The WCM dynamically modulates the divergence of laser beams to produce multiple focal planes in synchronization with 2‐D laser scanning. The produced images have given real stereoscopic feelings to observers because two focal planes are created in a frame. In addition, a motion parallax has been also observed. It has greatly emphasized stereoscopic effects.     

Design and operation of gas–liquid slug flow in miniaturized channels for rapid mass transfer

The influences of operating parameters such as channel size, flow rate, and void fraction on the mass transfer rate in the gas–liquid slug flow are investigated to establish a design method to determine the parameters for rapid mass transfer. From the experimental results, the turnover index, including the slug linear velocity, its length, and the channel size that represents the turnover frequency of the internal circulation flow, is proposed. For PTFE tube in which no liquid film exists in slug flow, a master curve is derived from the relationship between the mass transfer coefficient and the turnover index. For each channel material, the Sherwood number is also roughly correlated with the Peclet number. These correlations make it possible to arbitrarily determine a set of operating parameters to achieve the desired mass transfer rate. However, the turnover index and the Peclet number include the slug length, which cannot be controlled directly. The relationship between the slug length and the operating parameters is also investigated. The slug volume mainly depends on the inner diameter (i.d.) of a union tee. At a fixed union tee i.d., the slug length is controlled through the exit i.d. of the channel connected to the union tee and the void fraction. Thus, the final slug length depends on the union tee and exit channel inner diameters. At low flow rates, the gas and liquid collision angle is significant in determining the slug length.     

Purification and characterization of an alkaline lipase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from putrid mineral cutting oil as component of metalworking fluid

Extracellular lipase was isolated and purified from the culture broth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an extremophile which naturally grows in water-soluble mineral cutting oil (pH 10) used as metalworking fluid (MWF) for cooling and lubrication in industrial metalworking processes. The molecular mass of the purified lipase was estimated by SDS-PAGE to be 54 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature were 11 and 70 degrees C, respectively. The enzyme is stabile over a broad pH range (pH 4-11.5). The lipase preferably acted on triacylglycerols with medium-chain fatty acids. The lipase was inhibited strongly by Zn(2+), Hg(2+), Cu(2+) and slightly by Ca(2+) and Mg(2+). Non-ionic detergents and sodiumdeoxycholate enhanced lipase activity. Alkaline lipase from P. aeruginosa, capable of growing in a water-restricted medium has excellent properties and good potential for biotechnological applications in the metal industry. Its marked stability and activity in organic solvents suggest that this lipase is highly suitable as a biotechnological tool in a water-restricted medium with a variety of applications including organosynthetic reactions and the control and prevention of MWF putrification in the metal industry.     

Single microparticle launching method using two-stage light-gas gun for simulating hypervelocity impacts of micrometeoroids and space debris

A single microparticle launching method is described to simulate the hypervelocity impacts of micrometeoroids and microdebris on space structures at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. A microparticle placed in a sabot with slits is accelerated using a rifled two-stage light-gas gun. The centrifugal force provided by the rifling in the launch tube separates the sabot. The sabot-separation distance and the impact-point deviation are strongly affected by the combination of the sabot diameter and the bore diameter, and by the projectile diameter. Using this method, spherical projectiles of 1.0-0.1 mm diameter were launched at up to 7 km/s.     

A framework for simulation-optimization software

Research on the optimization of stochastic systems via simulation often centers on the development of algorithms for which global convergence can be guaranteed. On the other hand, commercial software applications that perform optimation via simulation typically employ search heuristics that have been successful in deterministic settings. Such search heuristics give up on global convergence in order to be more generally applicable and to yield rapid progress towards good solutions. Unfortunately, commercial applications do not always formally account for the randomness in simulation responses, meaning that their progress may be no better than a random search if the variability of the outputs is high. In addition, they do not provide statistical guarantees about the "goodness" of the final results. In practice, simulation studies often rely heavily on engineers who, in addition to developing the simulation model and generating the alternatives to be compared, must also perform the statistical analyses off-line. This is a time- and labor-consuming process. In this paper, we report on the work we have done to implement statistical error control within a heuristic search procedure, and on our automated procedure to deliver a statistical guarantee after the search procedure is finished. We describe how we implemented these techniques in software developed for JGC Corporation of Japan.