Development of a new model for representing elastoplastic deformation and fracture behaviors of solid fats

A new simulation model, namely, ADEM Ductile Fracture model (ADF model) is developed to represent elastoplastic deformation and fracture behaviors of solid fats. Experimental measurement of the coefficient of plastic starting distance and the yield point affecting the deformation behavior has been obtained by compression test. The fracture distance affecting the fracture behavior has been measured by cutting test. The ADF model shows a good match with the experimentally determined compression and cutting behaviors of the solid fats, and load–strain curves as a function of plate thickness. This confirms that the ADF model could represent the elastoplastic deformation and fracture behaviors of the solid fats.     

A single oral administration of conjugated linoleic acid enhanced energy metabolism in mice

We investigated the effect of a single oral administration of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on energy metabolism in mice. Male Std ddY mice were orally administered CLA (5 mL/kg weight) or linoleic acid (5 mL/kg weight) (both solutions at concentrations of 73.5%) as a control. Oxygen consumption was significantly greater in the CLA-administered mice than in the control mice. Respiratory quotient was slightly lower in the CLA-administered mice than in the control mice. We calculated fat and carbohydrate oxidation from oxygen consumption and respiratory quotient. Fat oxidation in the CLA-administered mice was significantly higher than in the control mice, and there was no difference in carbohydrate oxidation. Serum concentrations of noradrenalin and adrenalin in the CLA administered mice were significantly higher than in the control mice. These results suggested that CLA enhanced sympathetic nervous activity and energy metabolism.     

Functional glucosylation of kojic acid and daidzein with the Eucalyptus membrane-associated UDP-glucosyltransferase reaction system

Kojic acid was glucosylated to kojic acid 5- and 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranosides by cultured cells of Eucalyptus perriniana. The glucosylation was also performed effectively by the enzymatic reaction system using membrane-associated UDP-glucosyltransferase from the cells with addition of UDP-glucose. The production of the 5-O-D-glucoside occurred exclusively prior to that of the 7-O-glucoside in both systems. In the same manner, daidzein was converted to daidzin (daidzein 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside) by the enzymatic system. Here, we propose methods for the structural modification of phytoestrogen-related substances by enzymatic beta-glucosylation.     

Verb generation in Japanese--A multicenter PET activation study

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) during silent verb generation was measured at four Japanese PET centers. To minimize the variance of the measurement, speakers of a single language (Japanese) served as subjects and experimental conditions at the four PET centers were controlled as much as possible. Two types of activation patterns were observed: activations in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and the medial frontal cortex (at the two centers with a 2D PET scanner) and additional activation in the left posterior temporal cortex (at the two centers with a 3D scanner). This suggests either a difference in the sensitivity of the two types of PET scanners (viz., a 3D scanner is generally more sensitive than a 2D scanner) and/or subject bias due to the small number of subjects at the individual centers. The pooled activation pattern was fundamentally similar to activation patterns obtained in the previous studies for verb generation in English and other European languages, suggesting that regions for verb generation are independent of particular languages. Regions relevant to verb generation are discussed.     

On one- and two-parameter analyses of short fatigue crack growth

Recent data on short fatigue crack growth in two cast and hot isostatically pressed (hipped) aluminum alloys obtained by Shyam, Allison and Jones have been analyzed in terms of a previously proposed one-parameter short crack model which includes consideration of elastic–plastic effects, the Kitagawa effect and the development of crack closure in the wake of a newly formed crack. The material constants obtained in a prior investigation of short crack growth behavior in a cast aluminum alloy tested under fully reversed loading were used as a basis for the present analysis. The predicted rates of fatigue crack propagation are in accord with the experimental results. In the discussion, aspects of the two-parameter approach presented by Shyam et al. are compared with those of the one-parameter method of analysis used herein.     

Prediction-based Iterative Learning Control (PILC) for Uncertain Dynamic Nonlinear Systems Using System Identification Technique

Prediction-based Iterative Learning Control (PILC) is proposed in this paper for a class of time varying nonlinear uncertain systems. Convergence of PILC is analyzed and the uniform boundedness of tracking error is obtained in the presence of uncertainty and disturbances. It is shown that the learning algorithm not only guarantees the robustness, but also improves the learning rate despite the presence of disturbances and slowly varying desired trajectories in succeeding iterations. The effectiveness of the proposed PILC is presented by simulations.     

Effects of photo-induced graft polymerization of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine on physical properties of cross-linked polyethylene in artificial hip joints

Osteolysis caused by wear particles from polyethylene in the artificial hip joints is a serious issue. We have used photo-induced radical graft polymerization to graft 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) polymer onto the surface of cross-linked polyethylene (CLPE-g-MPC) in order to reduce friction and wear at the bearing surface of the joint. The physical and mechanical properties of CLPE and CLPE-g-MPC were not significantly different, expect that the friction coefficient of untreated CLPE cups was 0.0075, compared with 0.0009 for CLPE-g-MPC cup, an 88% reduction. After 3.0 × 10⁶ cycles in the hip joint simulator test, we could not observe any wear of CLPE-g-MPC cups. We concluded that the advantage of photo-induced radical graft polymerization technique was that the grafted MPC polymer gave a high lubricity only on the surface and has no effect on the bulk properties of the CLPE substrate.     

Reliability of AllnAs/lnGaAs/lnP HEMT with WSi ohmic contacts

We have investigated the degradation mechanism of Al_0.48In_0.52As/In_0.53Ga_0.47As/ InP high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) using WSi ohmic electrodes. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation and en-ergy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis reveal impurities diffusion of gate electrode (titanium: Ti) and fluorine (F) in the AlInAs layer after a high temperature (T_a = 170°C operating life test for 500 h. The decrease of drain current (I_ds) during life test shows linear dependence on square root of aging time. It suggests that the degradation is controlled by a diffusion mechanism. Hence, the estimated degradation mechanism of this device is related with decrease of carrier concentration in the epitaxial layer by these diffused impurities. On the other hand, TEM and EDX show no degradation of WSi/InGaAs interface after aging. Therefore, the WSi electrode for this type of HEMT demonstrates excellent high stability under the accelerated operating life test.     

Explicit monotone iterations providing upper and lower bounds for finite element solution with nonlinear radiation boundary conditions

In this paper we consider explicit monotone iterations of the finite element solutions for the radiation cooling problem with the nonlinear boundary conditions. These iterations provide upper and lower bounds, and convergence proofs are given. Finally, we give some numerical examples to demonstrate the effectiveness.