Measurement of the isotopic abundance of boron-10 by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry

This article describes the method for measuring the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B in nuclear grade boron carbide using inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS). The results of investigation revealed that both the integration time and the dwell time have a major influence on the reproducibility of ICP-QMS measurements. As a result of optimization of the measurement conditions, reproducibility below 0.2% relative standard deviation (RSD) (0.17% RSD maximum) was achieved. In addition, the measured value of the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B for each sample well agreed with the values measured by the TIMS. Thus, the method described in the present investigation was very effective in the analysis of isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B in B₄C or H₃BO₃. The results of this study suggest that ICP-QMS could be applied to the precise analysis of the isotopic abundance of ¹⁰B required in the field of nuclear applications.     

Functionalized Bilayer Membranes as Artificial Transaminase: Modification of the Active Site and Its Consequence in Catalytic Efficiency

The transamination reaction of l-phenylalanine with pyruvate as catalyzed by the artificial transaminase formed with synthetic bilayer aggregates was examined in aqueous media under mild kinetic conditions. Each catalyst system was constructed with a combination of a synthetic peptide lipid, a hydrophobic vitamin B₆ derivative, and metal ions. Modification of the active site in the present artificial transaminase was performed by changing a combination of molecular components constituting the catalytic system. While the catalytic activity was scarcely influenced by differences in aggregate structure, single- or multi-walled bilayer, and in copper-(II) concentration, molecular structures of the hydrophobic vitamin B₆ and an amino acid residue of the peptide lipid had significant effects on the reactivity.     

Numerical investigation of zoomable holographic projection without a zoom lens

Holographic projection is for laser displays and has the merits of being aberration free, producing high‐contrast images, having the ability of color reconstruction with one spatial light modulator, and so on. In this paper, we propose a zoomable holographic projection without using a zoom lens and verify the proposed method by using numerical simulation. Although such a system can be readily realized to use the features of holography, which is capable of recording a large image exceeding the hologram size, the required calculation is very time consuming. For acceleration, we used shifted Fresnel diffraction for setting different sampling rates on a hologram and projected image. The proposed method can project any zoom‐in and zoom‐out image between zeroth‐order and first‐order lights, and the processing time and required memory for the zoom are constant.     

Precise disturbance modeling for improvement of positioning performance

This paper presents a modeling methodology for unknown disturbances in mechatronics systems, based on disturbance estimation using an iterative learning process. In disturbance modeling, nonlinear frictions are specially handled as disturbances in the mechanisms, which mainly degrade trajectory control performance. Friction can be mathematically modeled by using learned estimation data as a function of the displacement, velocity. acceleration, and jerk of the actuator. This model has the distinctive feature that friction compensation can be achieved with a generalization capability for different conditions. The proposed positioning control approach with disturbance modeling and compensation has been verified by experiments using a table drive system on a machine stand. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 171(2): 31–39, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www. interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20928     

A new modeling approach for circuit‐field‐coupled time‐stepping electromagnetic analysis of saturated interior permanent magnet synchronous motors

This paper proposes a new modeling approach for circuit‐field‐coupled time‐stepping electromagnetic analysis of a saturated interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM). To predict the drive performance quickly, the proposed approach consists of a dynamic simulator based on a new analytical model of the d‐ and q‐axis magnetization characteristics (λ‐i_d‐i_q‐θ). The model can take into account not only cross‐saturation but also the harmonics of the inductance distributions and EMF waveforms. The validity of the model is verified from suitable simulation results for the instantaneous current and torque waveforms of the IPMSM. The proposed analysis leads to a dramatic reduction in the computation time compared to circuit‐field‐coupled time‐stepping FEA, while maintaining analytical accuracy. The effectiveness of the proposed method is experimentally verified using a 10‐kW, 15,000‐rpm concentrated‐winding IPM motor. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 174(1): 49–58, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.21024     

Dielectric Dispersion of Polycrystalline Aluminum Nitride at Microwave Frequencies

Complex permittivity of polycrystalline AlN was measured over the frequency range 100 MHz to 13 GHz using reflection coefficient and cavity resonator methods. Dielectric relaxation peaks of loss tangent were observed in the frequency range 200 MHz to 3 GHz. The maximum value of loss tangent was ∼200 × 10⁻⁴. Relative permittivities decreased by ∼4% with increased frequency at the region of relaxation peaks. It was shown that these dispersion frequencies were inversely proportional to the grain sizes of AlN and independent of purities and processes. Model calculations for elastic vibration of a single-crystal grain of AlN were performed to investigate the origin of the dielectric dispersion due to piezoelectric effect. The calculated results of elastic sphere and 14-faced-polyhedron models showed a good quantitative agreement with the observed dispersion frequencies, which suggested that the dispersion was due to a piezoelectric vibration of a single grain of AlN ceramics at microwave frequencies.     

Pore structure of carbons coated on ceramic particles

Pore structure of carbon coated on ceramic particles by carbonization of precursor in a powder mixture at 900 °C was studied by focusing on the effects of substrate ceramics (MgO, TiO₂ and various phases of Al₂O₃) and of carbon precursor (poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and hydroxyl propyl cellulose (HPC)). By dissolving substrate MgO particles, carbon coated was found to have a high BET surface area, more than 1000 m²/g, which was almost the same as the value estimated from apparent surface area measured on carbon-coated MgO particles under the assumption of zero surface area of the substrate. The carbon separated was found to be rich in micropores from the analyses by DFT method and α_s plot. The dependence of the BET surface area on the amount of carbon coated on TiO₂ with a high surface area was the same for three carbon precursors, although the carbon yields from the precursors were slightly different. Porous Al₂O₃ substrates, γ-Al₂O₃as-received and that formed from Al(OH)₃ during carbonization, gave a high BET surface area, but dense Al₂O₃, α-Al₂O₃, gave a low surface area.     

粘弹性流体旋转流实验研究

利用粒子图像测速仪(PIV)对圆筒形容器内有自由表面变形的粘弹性流体旋转流动进行了实验研究.旋转流动由等速旋转的容器底面来驱动.实验工质为CTAC(十六烷基三甲基氯化铵界面活性剂)水溶液.测量了水、40×10-6、60×10-6和200×10-6CTAC水溶液在弗鲁德数为2.59至16.3范围内的旋转流动.PIV用来测量子午面内的二次流场,并从PIV图像中抽取自由面高度.结果表明在相似的弗鲁德数下,相比于水流CTAC水溶液旋转流动自由表面中心处的凹陷深度降低,随着溶液浓度或粘弹性升高,子午面内右上角的惯性涡被压缩且强度变得越来越弱.通过与水流动比较并做力平衡分析,定量估算了CTAC水溶液的第一正应力差或弱粘弹性.     

Self-dissolving micropile array tips for percutaneous administration of insulin

Two kinds of insulin were loaded into self-dissolving micropile array tip (following tip). Fully-loaded tip (f-tip) and partially-loaded tip (p-tip) were prepared using chondroitin sulfate for the percutaneous administration of insulin. One hundred micropiles were constructed on a 1.0 × 1.0 cm tip. The mean length of the micropile in a tip were 483.4 ± 4.7 μm for the f-tip and 492.6 ± 2.4 μm for the p-tip. The insulin content of the p-tip was 28.5% of that of the f-tip. The pharmacological efficiency of insulin loaded tip was evaluated in rat experiments by measuring their hypoglycemic effects. The maximum hypoglycemic effect of insulin was observed at 1.7 ± 0.2 h for the f-tip and 1.5 ± 0.2 h for the p-tip. Good dose-dependency was observed for the plasma glucose level vs. time curves. These results suggest the usefulness of p-tip as a percutaneous DDS of insulin.