Catalytic graphitization of a phenolic resin carbon by nickel (~100 μm): Selective gasification of three resultant components as studied by SEM

A phenolic resin carbon containing nickel particles, ~100 μm diam., was graphitized to 2773K for 1 h. This treatment created within the specimen three structural components known as graphitic (G), turbostratic (T_s) and matrix (A). The graphitized carbon was oxidized by carbon dioxide, HNO₃-H₂SO₄ mixed acid and Simon's reagent and topographical changes were monitored by SEM. The CO₂ gasified preferentially the T_s-component to produce fissures mainly at the interface with the A- andG-component. The mixed acid reacted preferentially with the G- andT_s-components, the Simon's reagent reacting significantly only with the G-component. The mineral matter of metallurgical coke can act as a graphitization catalyst similar to nickel particles. Hence, the development of structural components within the metallurgical coke followed by gasification by carbon dioxide may cause weakening of the coke at the interfaces of components.     

Preparation of pitch-based antibacterial activated carbon fiber

Silver acetate dissolved in quinoline was mixed thoroughly with the spinnable isotropic petroleum pitch dissolved in the same solvent. After removing the quinoline, the resulting pitch was spun, stabilized, carbonized, and finally activated at 900°C under a stream of steam. The fiber with 33 wt% yield after activation contained 0.63 wt% of fine silver particles and showed N₂-BET specific surface area of 740 m²/g. It showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, before and after soaking in flowing tap water for 20 days. How to improve spinnability of the pitch containing silver acetate and how to increase the specific surface area effectively by the activation process are problems remaining to be solved.     

A New Formulation Approach for Location-Routing Problems

A Location-Routing Problem (LRP) combines two difficult problems, facility location and vehicle routing, and as such it is inherently hard to solve. In this paper, we propose a different formulation approach than the common arc-based product-flow (Arc-BPF) approach in the literature. We associate product amounts to the nodes of the network resulting in a node-based product-flow (Node-BPF) formulation. Our main objective is to develop LRP models with fewer constraints and variables, which can be solved more efficiently. To introduce the proposed approach, we reformulate a complex four-index Arc-BPF LRP model from the literature as a three-index Node-BPF model, which computationally outperforms the former. We then introduce a heuristic method.     

Development of robust braking controller for autonomous vehicles to achieve any ride comfort performance

Artificial Life and Robotics - The number of automobile accidents still exceeds 300,000 as of 2020 in Japan. People have paid attention to the automatic driving technology as one technology for...     

Study on the retention behavior of hydrogen isotopes and the change of chemical states of boron film exposed to hydrogen plasma in LHD

The behavior of hydrogen retention and the change of chemical states of boron film exposed to hydrogen plasma in LHD were investigated. The sample was prepared in LHD, and atomic concentrations for the boron film after hydrogen plasma exposure were changed from 75% for boron, 15% for carbon and 8% for oxygen to 53%, 18% and 22%, respectively. BC bond was a major chemical state of the boron film after hydrogen plasma exposure, although abundance of BB bond was the highest before the plasma exposure. Total hydrogen retention measured by TDS was evaluated to be 1.7 × 10²⁰ H m^?2, and the retentions of hydrogen as BHB, BH and BCH bonds were, respectively, 4.8 × 10¹⁹, 7.2 × 10¹⁹ and 5.2 × 10¹⁹ H m^?2. It was concluded that the hydrogen retention could be estimated by taking account not only of chemical states of impurities, but also of hydrogen depth profile.     

Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency: In Vitro and In Silico Characterization of a Novel Pathogenic Missense Variant and Analysis of the Mutational Spectrum of ALDH5A1

Succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency (SSADHD) is a rare, monogenic disorder affecting the degradation of the main inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-amino butyric acid (GABA). Pathogenic variants in the ALDH5A1 gene that cause an enzymatic dysfunction of succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase (SSADH) lead to an accumulation of potentially toxic metabolites, including γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB). Here, we present a patient with a severe phenotype of SSADHD caused by a novel genetic variant c.728T > C that leads to an exchange of leucine to proline at residue 243, located within the highly conserved nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)⁺ binding domain of SSADH. Proline harbors a pyrrolidine within its side chain known for its conformational rigidity and disruption of protein secondary structures. We investigate the effect of this novel variant in vivo, in vitro, and in silico. We furthermore examine the mutational spectrum of all previously described disease-causing variants and computationally assess all biologically possible missense variants of ALDH5A1 to identify mutational hotspots.     

A thermally-stable self-mending polymer networked by Diels-Alder cycloaddition

A novel self-mending polymer with high thermal stability is developed based on the DA reaction between anthracene and maleimide. A network polymer, PEAA₂M₃ is prepared by the DA reaction of anthryl-telechelic poly(ethylene adipate) and a tris-maleimide. While the forward DA (addition) reaction is favored at room temperature, the reverse DA (dissociation) reaction is induced by mechanical stress. This mechanochemical reversibility allows the autonomous mending of cracks in PEAA₂M₃ at room temperature. It is well known that the thermal dissociation of the DA reaction occurs only at very high temperatures at which organic polymers degrades significantly. Therefore, thermal stability is successfully combined with self-mending ability in PEAA₂M₃.     

K-band 3-D MMIC low noise amplifier and mixer using TFMS lines with ground slit

Three-dimensional (3-D) microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) technology, that incorporates slits in the ground metal, was applied to K-band low noise amplifier (LNA) and I/Q mixer to provide a low cost solution for various K-band receivers such as for P-to-P radio, WLAN, and UWB sensors. The LNA incorporates a quasicoplanar stub in the input-matching network, improving the noise figure by 1 dB. This low-noise amplifier (LNA) exhibits a noise figure of 2.5 dB with an associated gain of 16 dB and an area of 0.75/spl times/0.65 mm/sup 2/. The I/Q resistive mixer incorporates a broadside 3-dB coupler with a 22-/spl mu/m-wide slit in the ground metal beneath the coupled thin-film micro-strip (TFMS) lines (patent pending). The insertion loss of the 3 dB coupler is 0.75 dB. The I/Q mixer exhibits a conversion loss of less than 14 dB at 0.1-2.0GHz IF frequencies for 2-dBm local input power. These LNA and mixer potentially make it easier to integrate receiver functions in a die.     

Axial compressive behaviour of reinforcing fibres and interphase in glass/epoxy composite materials

Axial compressive behaviour of reinforcing fibres and interphase in glass fibre/epoxy resin composites were examined. Axial compressive strengths of glass fibres were evaluated by the tensile recoil method. The effects of silane-based coupling surface treatment agent on the fibre compressive strengths were investigated. The glass fibres showed higher compressive strengths when coated by the surface treatment. Interphase behaviour was also investigated by means of the single-fibre embedded compressive test. The particular stress and strain distributions inside the specimen were examined by a three-dimensional finite element analysis. The parameter interfacial transmissibility instead of the conventional critical fibre length theory was introduced as an index of interfacial properties. This parameter was useful to estimate the interfacial properties at the elastic state apart from the complicated critical state. It was confirmed that the surface treatment improved the glass/epoxy interphase under axial compressive load.     

Bicriteria robotic cell scheduling

This paper considers the scheduling problems arising in two- and three-machine manufacturing cells configured in a flowshop which repeatedly produces one type of product and where transportation of the parts between the machines is performed by a robot. The cycle time of the cell is affected by the robot move sequence as well as the processing times of the parts on the machines. For highly flexible CNC machines, the processing times can be changed by altering the machining conditions at the expense of increasing the manufacturing cost. As a result, we try to find the robot move sequence as well as the processing times of the parts on each machine that not only minimize the cycle time but, for the first time in robotic cell scheduling literature, also minimize the manufacturing cost. For each 1-unit cycle in two- and three-machine cells, we determine the efficient set of processing time vectors such that no other processing time vector gives both a smaller cycle time and a smaller cost value. We also compare these cycles with each other to determine the sufficient conditions under which each of the cycles dominates the rest. Finally, we show how different assumptions on cost structures affect the results.