Interaction of two close quantized vortices in superfluid4He

The three-dimensional dynamics of two interacting quantized vortex filaments is studied. The equations of motion and the method of numerical calculation follow Schwarz. Whether two approaching filaments reconnect or not depends on their arrangement before approach. When a ring moves toward a line from a distance, only within a critical initial distance they can reconnect. The critical distance is minimized when their circulations are parallel at the closest place, while it increases as their circulations begin to deviate from being parallel. Hence the reconnection probability can be less than unity.     

Synthesis and surface properties of novel fluoroalkyl end-capped amphiphilic fullerene cooligomers

New fluoroalkyl end-capped fullerene cooligomers were prepared by the reactions of fluoroalkanoyl peroxides with fullerene and comonomers such as acryloylmorpholine, N,N-dimethylacrylamide and acrylic acid. These fluorinated fullerene cooligomers were easily soluble in water and common organic solvents, and were able to reduce the surface tensions of both water and benzene, quite effectively. Additionally, these fullerene cooligomers were found to form a stable monomolecular film at the air-water interface, and the modified polystyrene surface treated with these cooligomers was shown to have a strong hydrophilicity with good oil repellency.     

Surface Hardening of Carbon Steel Using High Powered YAG Laser

A high powered YAG laser with kaleidoscope for surface modification was applied to the surface hardening of carbon steels containing 0. 18-0.54 wt% C without the absorbents, and the relationships between laser processing and surface hardening were investigated by hardness and microstructure. The structure of the hardened zone underwent complete martensitic transformation in all of the carbon steels tested, and its hardness increased with greater carbon content. Under identical irradiated conditions, the hardened zone expanded with increasing carbon content. A hardened zone extending from the surface to a depth of 1.0 mm was obtained at a laser power of 1.0 kW and a scanning speed of 1 mm/sec. It was found that in the surface hardening of carbon steels, a high powered YAG laser can be used to control the hardened zone by selecting the appropriate irradiation conditions, however, the hardened zone was affected by the assistant gas and the flow rate.     

Rheological properties of polypropylene/high-density polyethylene blend melts. II. Dynamic viscoelastic properties

Three kinds of isotactic polypropylenes with different MFI were melt-blended with three kinds of high-density polyethylenes with different MFI using a screw extruder and the dynamic viscoelastic properties were studied. The storage moduli G′(ω) of the blends showed second plateaus and the dynamic viscosities η′(ω) of the blends showed two-step drops with increasing angular frequency ω. Such phenomenon was particularly notable for blend systems in which particles of lower viscosity were suspended in the disperse medium of higher viscosity and is considered to be the cause of abnormally large die swell.     

Applications of the 4×4 determinant method and the POLYGON ENGINE

In the first half of the paper, various types of processing pertaining to a polygon, using the 4×4 determinant theories are explained along with a new containment test algorithm of a point in a polygon. In the latter half of the paper, a general-purpose geometric processor, the POLYGON ENGINE, is presented which can deal with various types of interference problems, such as Boolean operations in solid modelling, hidden line and surface eliminations, ray tracing and so on. It is, a successor of the TRIANGLE PROCESSOR and is also based upon the 4×4 determinant theories [4–6]. While the TRIANGLE PROCESSOR processes a triangulated polygon on a triangle-by-triangle basis, the POLYGON ENGINE can treat a polygon without triangulation. The latter is expected to be more functional, more efficient and easier to use.     

Reexamination of grain-boundary sliding by diffusion

Steady-state sliding of grain boundaries is discussed by taking into account the change in the potential energy of an applied stress, when the sliding occurs by diffusional accommodation. The present analysis enables us to derive the sliding rates at boundaries of various shapes in a simple manner without knowing local stress fields. Sliding rate of a boundary containing second phase particles is also derived by similar calculations. The results are compared with previous calculations by other investigators, and it is found that the resultant expressions for the sliding rates are essentially identical to those derived from more complex analyses.     

STM tunneling spectroscopy on high Tc superconductors

STM tunneling spectroscopy has been performed on the bulk single crystals of BiSrCaCuO (BSCCO) and the epitaxial thin films of YBaCuO (YBCO) at cryogenic temperatures. The STM images and tunneling spectra observed on the (001) surfaces can be classified into three cases; 1) Atomic image is visible. However, the tunneling spectrum shows semiconducting or smeared superconducting gap structures, depending on the tip-sample distance. 2) Clear atomic image can not be obtained. But, the tunneling spectrum shows flat bottom region with quite low zero bias conductance. 3) Tunneling spectra demonstrate gapless behavior, independent of the tip-sample separation. These observations support the quasi-2D electronic picture in whichs-wave like 2D superconducting layers are coupled with each other through the Josephson effect.     

Fate of the human liver after hemihepatic portal vein embolization: cell kinetic and morphometric study

The favorable therapeutic effect of preoperative portal vein embolization (PVE) was analyzed by assessing various volumetric, cell kinetic and morphometric parameters and examining histologically the embolized and nonembolized lobes of 15 patients who underwent extended right lobectomy 2 to 3 weeks after PVE. Each lobar volume was calculated from computed tomography (CT) images, hepatocyte proliferation was evaluated by assessing proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression and mitosis, hepatocyte apoptosis was evaluated by the terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, and the hepatocyte numerical density as well as the sinusoidal volumetric ratio (Vvs) and the mean hepatocyte volume (Cv) were calculated using morphometric methods. PVE induced hepatocyte apoptosis and atrophy of the embolized lobe (from 798 +/- 213 to 708 +/- 222 cm3; P < .05). The increased sinusoidal volume in this lobe (17.7% +/- 4.5% and 21.7% +/- 5.7%, periportal and pericentral area, respectively) may have been attributable to hepatocyte deletion. Cells in the nonembolized lobe entered a highly active phase of proliferation within 2 weeks after PVE. Further evidence of cellular proliferation was provided by the increased nonembolized lobar volume (from 379 +/- 132 to 545 +/- 130 cm3; P < .01) and numerical density of hepatocyte nuclei (Nv) (5.38 +/- 1.26 vs. 3.11 +/- 0.85 x 10(5)/mm3; P < .01, nonembolized vs. embolized lobe, respectively). In conclusion, these results indicate that the favorable effect of PVE is attributable to a net gain of functional hepatocyte mass and/or early induction of hepatocyte proliferation following hepatectomy.     

Oligosaccharide structures formed during the hydrolysis of lactose by Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase

Di-, tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexasaccharides were formed during the hydrolysis of lactose by transgalactosylation reaction of Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase. In this study the isolation and characterization of the major constituents of tri-, tetra- and pentasaccharides are described. The structure elucidation of 3 tri-, 2 tetra- and 1 pentasaccharides was carried out by methylation analysis, mass spectrometry and ¹³C-nmr spectrometry. The trisaccharides are $\text{O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 3)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 4)-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{glucose}\text{(3′-}\text{galactosyl-lactose}\text{)}$, $\text{O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 4)-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{glucose}\text{(6′-}\text{galactosyl-lactose}\text{)}$ and $\text{O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 4)-O-[β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)]-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{glucose}\text{(4,6-}\text{digalactosyl-glucose}\text{)}$. Tetrasaccharides are $\text{O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 4)-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{glucose}$ and $\text{O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 3)}$ [or $\text{O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 3)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)]-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 4)-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{glucose}$. Pentasaccharide is $\text{O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 6)-O-β-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{galactopyranosyl}\text{-(1 → 4)-}\text{d}\text{-}\text{glucose}$.     

Bonding silicon wafer to silicon nitride with spin-on glass as adhesive

Using spin-on glass (SOG) as an adhesive, an Si wafer with thermal oxide was successfully bonded to one with an RF-sputtered Si3N4 film. This ensures that SOG films are effective in bonding Si wafers to less reactive surfaces than Si or SiO2 such as silicon nitride. It was also found that the previously reported bonding procedure can be simplified by suppressing the spin-induced radial striations of the SOG films.