Measurement of concrete strength using the emission intensity ratio between Ca(II) 396.8 nm and Ca(I) 422.6 nm in a Nd:YAG laser-induced plasma

An experiment to investigate the potential of a laser-induced plasma method for determining concrete compressive strength was conducted by focusing a Nd:YAG laser on concrete samples with different degrees of compressive strength. This technique was developed in light of the role of the shock wave in the generation of a laser-induced plasma. It was found that the speed of the shock front depends on the hardness of the sample. It was also found that a positive relationship exists between the speed of the shock front and the ionization rate of the ablated atoms. Hence, the ratio of the intensity between the Ca(II) 396.8 nm and Ca(I) 422.6 nm emission lines detected from the laser-induced plasma can be used to examine the hardness of the material. In fact, it was observed that the ratio changes with respect to the change in the concrete compressive strength. The findings also show that the ratio increases with time after the cement is mixed with water.     

Quantitative analysis of deuterium in zircaloy using double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) and helium gas plasma without a sample chamber

A crucial safety measure to be strictly observed in the operation of heavy-water nuclear power plants is the mandatory regular inspection of the concentration of deuterium penetrated into the zircaloy fuel vessels. The existing standard method requires a tedious, destructive, and costly sample preparation process involving the removal of the remaining fuel in the vessel and melting away part of the zircaloy pipe. An alternative method of orthogonal dual-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectrometry (LIBS) is proposed by employing flowing atmospheric helium gas without the use of a sample chamber. The special setup of ps and ns laser systems, operated for the separate ablation of the sample target and the generation of helium gas plasma, respectively, with properly controlled relative timing, has succeeded in producing the desired sharp D I 656.10 nm emission line with effective suppression of the interfering H I 656.28 nm emission by operating the ps ablation laser at very low output energy of 26 mJ and 1 μs ahead of the helium plasma generation. Under this optimal experimental condition, a linear calibration line is attained with practically zero intercept and a 20 μg/g detection limit for D analysis of zircaloy sample while creating a crater only 10 μm in diameter. Therefore, this method promises its potential application for the practical, in situ, and virtually nondestructive quantitative microarea analysis of D, thereby supporting the more-efficient operation and maintenance of heavy-water nuclear power plants. Furthermore, it will also meet the anticipated needs of future nuclear fusion power plants, as well as other important fields of application in the foreseeable future.     

Measurement of Liquid Film Thickness by a Fringe Method

A technique was developed and tested to measure the local thickness of a droplet or a liquid film on a surface of an opaque or thick single transparent plate by an interference fringe pattern that was easily formed by reflecting laser lights. Monochromatic epi-illumination through an objective lens of a conventional microscope was provided by a 5 mW or 300 mW laser and a filter to remove the noise caused by laser speckle. The incremental height difference of the liquid layer between neighboring maxima or minima of fringes was evaluated from the wavelength of the laser light and the refractive index of the liquid. Estimation error of a local inclination angle was discussed using ray tracing under parallel illumination approximation. Droplet profiles evaluated from the interferogram that were obtained by the present fringe method agreed well with those by Laser Focus Displacement Meter. Measurement was made to ensure the usefulness of the present technique. It was made clear that the contact angle of a liquid droplet could be obtained precisely and swiftly, even in small size or small contact angle, and that instantaneous three-dimensional profile of a liquid film on a bubble moving in a microchannel could be measured. The fringe method had sufficient potential to obtain more detailed information about three-dimensional characteristics of liquid film in flows such as the generation, breakdown, and growth of waves and the liquid film on a bubble at the beginning of movement.     

Tensile properties of ultrahigh strength PAN-based, ultrahigh modulus pitch-based and high ductility pitch-based carbon fibers

The tensile properties and fracture behavior of ultrahigh tensile strength PAN-based (T1000GB), ultrahigh modulus pitch-based (K13D) and high ductility pitch-based (XN-05) carbon fibers have been investigated. The statistical distributions of the tensile strength were characterized. The Weibull modulus for the T1000GB, K13D and XN-05 fibers were calculated to be 5.9, 4.2 and 7.9, respectively. The results clearly show that for PAN- and pitch-based carbon fibers, the Weibull modulus decreases with an increase in the tensile modulus and the mean tensile strength.     

Study of hydrogen and deuterium emission characteristics in laser-induced low-pressure helium plasma for the suppression of surface water contamination

An experimental study was conducted in search of the experimental condition required for the much needed suppression of spectral interference caused by surface water in hydrogen analysis using laser-induced low-pressure helium plasma spectroscopy. The problem arising from the difficulty in distinguishing hydrogen emission from hydrogen impurity inside the sample and that coming from the water molecules was overcome by taking advantage of similar emission characteristics shared by hydrogen and deuterium demonstrated in this experiment by the distinct time-dependent and pressure-dependent variations of the D and H emission intensities from the D-doped zircaloy-4 samples. This similarity allows the study of H impurity emission in terms of D emission from the D-doped samples and thereby separating it from the H emission originating from the water molecules. Employing this strategy has allowed us to achieve the large suppression of water induced spectral interference from the previous minimum of 400 microg/g to the current value of 30 microg/g when a laser beam of 34 mJ under tight focusing condition was employed. Along with this favorable result, this experimental condition has also provided a much better (about 6-fold higher) spatial resolution, although these results were achieved at the expense of reducing the linear calibration range from the previous 4 300 microg/g to the present 200 microg/g.     

Estimates of embodied global energy and air-emission intensities of Japanese products for building a Japanese input-output life cycle assessment database with a global system boundary

To build a life cycle assessment (LCA) database of Japanese products embracing their global supply chains in a manner requiring lower time and labor burdens, this study estimates the intensity of embodied global environmental burden for commodities produced in Japan. The intensity of embodied global environmental burden is a measure of the environmental burden generated globally by unit production of the commodity and can be used as life cycle inventory data in LCA. The calculation employs an input-output LCA method with a global link input-output model that defines a global system boundary grounded in a simplified multiregional input-output framework. As results, the intensities of embodied global environmental burden for 406 Japanese commodities are determined in terms of energy consumption, greenhouse-gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and their summation), and air-pollutant emissions (nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide). The uncertainties in the intensities of embodied global environmental burden attributable to the simplified structure of the global link input-output model are quantified using Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, by analyzing the structure of the embodied global greenhouse-gas intensities we characterize Japanese commodities in the context of LCA embracing global supply chains.     

Identification of a methanol-inducible promoter from Rhodococcus erythropolis PR4 and its use as an expression vector

The genus Rhodococcus exhibits a broad range of catalytic activity and is tolerant to various kinds of organic solvents. This property makes rhodococci suitable for use as a whole-cell catalyst. Various tools for genetic engineering have been developed to use Rhodococcus erythropolis as a host for bioconversion. In this study, we investigated the protein expression responses of R. erythropolis strains and found that isocitrate lyase production in R. erythropolis PR4 (ICL(Re)) was induced by methanol. By analyzing the regulation mechanisms of icl(Re) expression, the ~200-bp upstream region from the first nucleotide of the translation initiation codon of icl(Re) was shown to be sufficient for the methanol-inducible expression. Also, the ~100-bp upstream region exhibited strong constitutive promoter activity by an unknown mechanism(s). By investigating proteins that bound to the upstream region of icl(Re)in vitro, a RamB homologue of R. erythropolis PR4 (RamB(Re)) was identified. Moreover, 2 putative RamB(Re) binding sites were identified in the upstream region of icl(Re) through pull-down assays. A ramB(Re) knockout experiment suggested that RamB(Re) negatively controlled the expression of icl(Re) and that RamB(Re) regulation was dependent on the availability of a carbon source. On the basis of these findings, we were able to create novel methanol-inducible and strong constitutive expression vectors.     

Control design of a pneumatic cylinder with distributed model of pipelines

In this paper, the control design with distributed model of pipelines is proposed to make the cylinder side be free of pressure sensors. In this research, long connected pipelines are used. The pipeline is designed as a one dimensional distributed model. The model of pipelines is based on the discretization of four equations, as state equation of air, motion equation, continuity equation, and energy equation. The distributed model estimates the pressure losses and time delay through long connected pipelines in real time. To confirm the control method with distributed model of pipelines, a simulation model of the whole system is designed. Compared simulation and experimental results, it has been found that the model represents the real system well. In the experiments, the pressure values in the cylinder chambers estimated by the distributed model in real time played as control signals. Compared with the estimated and measured pressure values in the cylinder chambers, it is found that with this distributed model, the pressure values in the cylinder chambers is precisely estimated in real time using the measured values at the control ports of the servo valve. The experimental results demonstrate that the position accuracy is almost the same with that of using the measured pressure signals in the cylinder chambers. The cylinder side is free of pressure sensors with the proposed control method.