Comparison of flame propagation properties of petroleum coke and coals of different rank

Ignition and flame propagation characteristics of 18 kinds of coal and a petroleum coke were investigated through a laser ignition experiment. Flame stability was strongly influenced by amount of volatile matter and pyrolysis rate. Lean limit of flame propagation was strongly influenced by amount of volatile matter. Flame propagation was observed when pyrolized volatile matter was mixed with surrounding air or oxygen, until the concentration of pyrolized volatile matter reached a constant value. Flame propagation velocity was strongly influenced by pyrolysis rate. As the pyrolysis rate increased, the flame propagation velocity increased. The flame propagation velocity of petroleum coke was higher than that of coal with the same volatile content. The flame propagation of petroleum coke was superior to what was expected based on the volatile content, primarily because the high pyrolysis rate caused a shorter ignition delay than what would be expected given the volatile content. A database for the lean limit of flame propagation was used to develop a flame stability model to estimate lean flammability of a large-scale burner. The model could predict the effect of the coal rank, the particle diameter distribution for lean flammability limit. The estimated lean flammability limit of petroleum coke (volatile content 11.5%) was equal to that of lv bituminous coal with volatile content of about 15%.     

Interleukin-21 in Viral Infections

Interleukin (IL)-21 is a cytokine that affects the differentiation and function of lymphoid and myeloid cells and regulates both innate and adaptive immune responses. In addition to regulating the immune response to tumor and viral infections, IL-21 also has a profound effect on the development of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. IL-21 is produced mainly from CD4⁺ T cells—in particular, follicular helper T (Tfh) cells—which have a great influence on the regulation of antibody production. It is also an important cytokine for the activation of CD8⁺ T cells, and its role in recovering the function of CD8⁺ T cells exhausted by chronic microbial infections and cancer has been clarified. Thus, IL-21 plays an extremely important role in viral infections, especially chronic viral infections. In this review, I will introduce the findings to date on how IL-21 is involved in some typical viral infections and the potential of treating viral diseases with IL-21.     

Limits on the accuracy of 3-D thickness measurement in magnetic resonance images--effects of voxel anisotropy

Measuring the thickness of sheet-like thin anatomical structures, such as articular cartilage and brain cortex, in three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic resonance (MR) images is an important diagnostic procedure. This paper investigates the fundamental limits on the accuracy of thickness determination in MR images. We defined thickness here as the distance between the two sides of boundaries measured at the subvoxel resolution, which are the zero-crossings of the second directional derivatives combined with Gaussian blurring along the normal directions of the sheet surface. Based on MR imaging and computer postprocessing parameters, characteristics for the accuracy of thickness determination were derived by a theoretical simulation. We especially focused on the effects of voxel anisotropy in MR imaging with variable orientation of sheet-like structure. Improved and stable accuracy features were observed when the standard deviation of Gaussian blurring combined with thickness determination processes was around square root of 2/2 times as large as the pixel size. The relation between voxel anisotropy in MR imaging and the range of sheet normal orientation within which acceptable accuracy is attainable was also clarified, based on the dependences of voxel anisotropy and the sheet normal orientation obtained by numerical simulations. Finally, in vitro experiments were conducted using an acrylic plate phantom and a resected femoral head to validate the results of theoretical simulation. The simulated thickness was demonstrated to be well-correlated with the actual in vitro thickness.     

Two-dimensional and axisymmetric unit cell models in the analysis of composite materials

Unit cell models have been widely used for investigating fracture mechanisms and mechanical properties of composite materials assuming periodically arrangement of inclusions in matrix. It is desirable to clarify the geometrical parameters controlling the mechanical properties of composites because they usually contain randomly distributed particulate. To begin with a tractable problem this paper focuses on the effective Young’s modulus E of heterogeneous materials. Then, the effect of shape and arrangement of inclusions on E is considered by the application of FEM through examining three types of unit cell models assuming 2D and 3D arrays of inclusions. It is found that the projected area fraction and volume fraction of inclusions are two major parameters controlling effective elastic modulus of inclusions.     

Measurement of droplet size distribution in core region of high-speed spray by micro-probe L2F

In order to investigate the distribution of droplet sizes in the core region of diesel fuel spray, instantaneous measurement of droplet sizes was conducted by an advanced laser 2-focus velocimeter （L2F）. The micro-scale probe of the L2F is made up of two foci and the distance between them is 36 lain. The tested nozzle had a 0.2 mm diameter single-hole. The measurements of injection pressure, needle lift, and crank angle were synchronized with the measurement by the L2F at the position 10 mm downstream from the nozzle exit. It is clearly shown that the droplet near the spray axis is larger than that in the off-axis region under the needle full lift condition and that the spatial distribution of droplet sizes varies temporally. It is found that the probability density distribution of droplet sizes in the spray core region can be fitted m the Nukiyama-Tanasawa distribution in most injection periods.     

Flexible electrophoretic display driven by solution‐processed organic thin‐film transistors

Abstract— An organic thin‐film‐transistor (OTFT) backplane has been fabricated by using a solution‐processed organic semiconductor (OSC) and organic insulators. The OSC, a peri‐xanthenoxanthene derivative, provides a mobility of 0.5 cm²/V‐sec. These organic materials enhance the mechanical flexibility of the backplane. The developed backplane successfully drives a 13.3‐in. flexible UXGA electrophoretic display that can operate when bent at a radius of 5 mm.     

具有皮肤屏障功能的MPC聚合物

Lipidure的第一个效能是使人的细胞和组织柔软。根据保护人体皮肤的效能介绍了MPC聚合物,该聚合物是Lipidure的主要成分。介绍了用Lipidure改性的纺织品。MPC聚合物不仅具有降低毒性作用和抗刺激效能,而且用Lipidure改性的纺织品提高了皮肤的屏障性能。     

Effect of silane coupling on the joint characteristics of friction lap joined Al alloy/CFRP

Dissimilar materials joining of an A5052 plate and a carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP), which consisted of polyamide 6 (PA6) with 20 wt% carbon fibre addition, was performed using friction lap joining (FLJ) with the Al alloy plate as a top and the CFRTP plate as a bottom. The joint characteristics were evaluated to investigate effects of the surface treatment by the silane coupling treatment for A5052 and the joining speed on the joining properties. The joint strength was increased by inducing the silane coupling treatment for the A5052 plate surface. The tensile shear fracture load of the silane coupling treated FLJ joint increased by increasing the joining speed up to 6.67 mm/s and then decreased. The maximum tensile shear fracture load of 5.0 kN was obtained at the joining speed of 6.67 mm/s, and the fracture occurred at the CFRTP base plate with the joint efficiency of 97%. The shear strength of the joint interface of the joint formed at the joining speed of 1.67 mm/s, which fractured at the joining interface by the tensile shear test, was estimated to be about 19 MPa. The covalent bondings between the A5052 plate and the silane coupling layer, and the silane coupling layer and the CFRTP plate were indicated by inducing the silane coupling treatment.     

Fabrication and Analysis of Three-Layer All-Silicon Interference Optical Filter with Sub-Wavelength Structure toward High Performance Terahertz Optics

We propose an all-silicon multi-layer interference filter composed solely of silicon with sub-wavelength structure (SWS) in order to realize high performance optical filters operating in the THz frequency region with robustness against cryogenic thermal cycling and mechanical damage. We demonstrate fabrication of a three-layer prototype using well-established common micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies as a first step toward developing practical filters. The measured transmittance of the three-layer filter agrees well with the theoretical transmittances calculated by a simple thin-film calculation with effective refractive indices as well as a rigorous coupled-wave analysis simulation. We experimentally show that SWS layers can work as homogeneous thin-film interference layers with effective refractive indices even if there are multiple SWS layers in a filter.