All-digital network transmission planning and terminal requirements

The development of a proposed transmission plan for an all-digital network is described. The main objectives of the plan are to obtain optimum end-to-end loudness grade-of-service, bit transparency, and echo control on all-digital connections and to ensure adequate transmission performance on hybrid connections, i.e. mixed analog/digital. These objectives are met by migrating connection loss, traditionally applied in the network, to the analog side of the digital/analog interface in the digital terminal. Thus the network transmission plan and digital access terminal characteristics are strongly interrelated. The proposed plan provides additional advantages including elimination of switched losses in the network when digital terminals are used and easy interconnection between networks (public and private)     

Internal-surface reversed-phase silica support for direct injection determination of drugs in biological fluids by liquid chromatography

A new internal-surface reversed-phase (ISRP) silica support has been designed for direct injection analysis of drugs in biological fluids by liquid chromatography. The support, prepared by using a new enzyme, polymyxin acylase, has N-octanoylaminopropyl phases, bound only to the internal surfaces of the porous silica, and N-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)-aminopropyl phases on the external surfaces in order to be nonadsorptive to proteins. The average pore diameter of the prepared ISRP silica support was 50 A, which is small enough to exclude macromolecules such as serum proteins from the pores. The new ISRP support can be used for the direct injection analysis of hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs in serum or plasma without destructive accumulation of proteins over the eluent pH range of 3 to 7. The recovery of drugs from serum was almost 100%, regardless of the difference in their protein bindings.     

The substituent effect on nonlinear current voltage characteristics in a two-terminal molecular electronic device

We present a quantum mechanical tunneling model for electron transport through a molecular junction and address the model with the results of quantum chemical electronic structure calculations. The model gives insight into the origin of the substituent effect on the current versus applied voltage characteristics of molecular junctions.     

Mechanical properties of Si-T-C-O fibre-bonded ceramic using satin weave

Tensile and compressive properties of fibre-bonded ceramic (Tyrannohex) are reported along with the relationship between fibre orientation and flexural strength. In this study, Satin-Tyrannohex was produced by hot-pressing an oxidized satin-woven Tyranno fibre. The Satin-Tyrannohex showed the most well-balanced mechanical properties in all directions from the fibre axis at room temperature compared with crossplied- or 0 °/±45 °/90 °-Tyrannohex. The Satin-Tyrannohex maintained excellent strength up to 1400°C, which is comparable to or greater than the strength at room temperature. Decreases in tensile and compressive strengths at 1500°C could be due to an increase in the critical length of the fracture fibre and a decrease in the capability to support the fibre, respectively, because of the slight softening of the matrix.     

A wall boundary treatment using analytical volume integrations in a particle method

Numerical treatment of complicated wall geometry has been one of the most important challenges in particle methods for computational fluid dynamics. In this study, a novel wall boundary treatment using analytical volume integrations has been developed for two-dimensional (2D) incompressible flow simulations with the moving particle semi-implicit method. In our approach, wall geometry is represented by a set of line segments in 2D space. Thus, arbitrary-shaped boundaries can easily be handled without auxiliary boundary particles. The wall's contributions to the spatial derivatives as well as the particle number density are formulated based on volume integrations over the solid domain. These volume integrations are analytically solved. Therefore, it does not entail an expensive calculation cost nor compromise accuracy. Numerical simulations have been carried out for several test cases including the plane Poiseuille flow, a hydrostatic pressure problem with complicated shape, a high viscous flow driven by a rotating screw, a free-surface flow driven by a rotating cylinder and a dam break in a tank with a wedge. The results obtained using the proposed method agreed well with analytical solutions, experimental observations or calculation results obtained using finite volume method (FVM), which confirms that the proposed wall boundary treatment is accurate and robust.     

An investigation of kinetic reaction and decomposition of sodium uranate

For the management of severe accidents of sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor, the coolability of the fuel debris bed on a core support plate is a key concern during the post-accident heat removal phase. In an air ingress scenario, the reactions between the fuel and highly oxidized sodium are likely to form sodium uranoplutonate. This would negatively influence the coolability of the fuel debris bed due to a lowering of the thermal conductivity and density. This study has focused on the formation kinetics of sodium uranate from UO₂ and liquid sodium including oxygen at a high concentration. In this paper, the experiments on reaction initiation temperatures, reaction rates, and the decomposition of sodium uranate are reported.     

Development of a novel method for operating magnetic particles, Magtration Technology, and its use for automating nucleic acid purification

Magnetic particles are useful for simple and efficient nucleic acid extraction. To achieve fully automated nucleic acid extraction and purification using magnetic particles, a new method for operating magnetic particles, Magtration Technology, was developed. In this method, magnetic separation is performed in a specially designed disposable tip. This enables high recovery of magnetic particles with high reproducibility. The features of this technology are (i) a simple mechanism for process control and (ii) flexible software to enable adaptation to commercially available reagents. Automated instruments based on Magtration Technology were developed and used for nucleic acid extraction. Total DNA, total RNA and plasmids were purified by Magtration Technology at an efficiency comparable to that of manual methods.     

Water balance and fecal moisture content in suckling calves as influenced by free access to dry feed

Holstein bull calves were used to examine the effect of dry feed on water balance and fecal moisture content during the suckling period. In Experiment 1 (n = 20 calves), free access to concentrate and timothy hay decreased urine volume and increased apparent water retention, fecal water excretion, and fecal moisture content by 2 wk, although daily amounts of milk replacer also affected water balance when DMI from dry feed was low. In Experiment 2 (n = 20 calves), free access to concentrate and hay from wk 1 increased reabsorption of water from renal tubules during wk 2, resulting in reduced urine volume and increased plasma volume. In Experiment 3 (n = 10 calves), supplementation of 500 g/d of milk replacer plus free access to concentrate and hay from wk 1 increased plasma antidiuretic hormone by 2 wk compared with the concentration in calves receiving 200 g/d of milk replacer alone. Plasma antidiuretic hormone concentrations were highly correlated with plasma concentrations of acetate and ketone bodies but not with glucose and urea. In Experiment 4 (n = 16 calves), apparent water retention and fecal moisture content during wk 2 were increased by free access to concentrate from wk 1 but were not affected by rice straw as an inert bulk source.