Microbial sensor for preliminary screening of mutagens utilizing a phage induction test

For the preliminary screening of mutagens, a novel microbial sensor system was developed utilizing a phage induction test. Escherichia coli lysogenic strain GY5027 and nonlysogenic strain GY5026 were used in this study. The number of living cells was determined by measuring the respiration of cells immobilized onto an oxygen electrode. The injection of a mutagen, such as AF-2 and MNNG, caused the phage induction in the lysogenic strain, resulting in the decreased respiration of only the lysogenic strain immobilized onto the oxygen electrode but not of nonlysogenic strain. The rate of current increase correlated well with the concentration of mutagens. The sensor responses to the antibiotics and bactericides were definitely different from those of mutagens. Therefore, utilization of this microbial sensor system makes possible the estimation of a substrate's mutagenicity.     

Influence of initial growth layer and Ti underlayer on magneticproperties and recording characteristics of very thin films ofevaporated Co-Cr media

A Co-Cr film deposited directly on a substrate has an initial growth layer with low coercivity. However, the existence of a Ti underlayer prevents the formation of such a layer. As a result, Co-Cr film deposited on a Ti underlayer has high perpendicular anisotropy and coercivity even in cases of extremely thin film thickness (200 Å). As for the read-write characteristics of Co-Cr thin-film media, the existence of such an initial growth layer greatly improves the reproduced output level. The cause for this is considered to be that the free charges which appear on the back surface of the perpendicular recording layer are reduced and the demagnetization field acting on the recorded magnetization subsequently decreases due to the existence of the initial growth layer     

Decreasing the number of test specimens by utilizing both fracture stress and fracture location for the estimation of Weibull parameter

In a bending load test for brittle materials, such as ceramics for spacecraft and aircraft, decreasing the number of test specimens required is a crucial problem. This paper discusses the effectiveness of using the information of both fracture stress and fracture location to decrease the number of specimens required to obtain the same precision as the Weibull estimator. The following results were obtained: It was found that by adding the fracture location information, the precision of the Weibull parameter estimation under the optimal design became 1.5–1.9 times better compared with the case of using only the fracture stresses. This means the number of samples necessary to attain the same precision becomes 1/1.5–1/1.9. Tables and figures which give information on the number of samples necessary to attain the required precision are given.     

Development of co-continuous structure in liquid crystalline polyester

We investigated liquid crystallization of liquid crystalline polyester BB-5 during isothermal annealing by digital high-fidelity microscope and light scattering. A liquid crystalline spherical domain having a radius of micrometers appeared by annealing at around 180 °C. The domain grew dendritically in all directions. Neighboring liquid crystalline regions coalesced and then interconnected. The interconnected structure changed to a co-continuous two-phase structure with increasing ordering of the liquid crystalline phase, and the interface between the liquid crystalline phase and the isotropic phase became smoother over time. Liquid crystallization stopped before volume filling the whole space, and the liquid crystalline phase and isotropic phase coexisted. The liquid crystalline region became narrower with an increase in the temperature of the liquid crystallization. Such structural development is different from the liquid-liquid phase separation via spinodal decomposition, and it may be attributed to the segregation of non-liquid crystallizable low molecular weight molecules from the growth front by fractionation of the molecular weight distribution during the liquid crystallization in terms of the instability of the diffusion-controlled interface.     

Aging response of the young’s modulus and mechanical properties of Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr for biomedical applications

Alloys for implant devices require improved strength but a reduced Young’s modulus, in order to become mechanically more compatible with adjacent bone tissues. In this study, a new metastable β-type titanium alloy, Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr (wt pct), was subjected to aging treatment to produce different microstructures, and the resulting mechanical properties, including the Young’s modulus, were measured. The Young’s modulus of this alloy is found to be sensitive to microstructures generated by various heat treatments. For microstructures varying from (α + β) to (α + β + ω) and (β + ω), the Young’s modulus increases with an accompanying increase in tensile strength and hardness, but decreases in ductility. The (β + ω) microstructure has a low strength, high modulus, and poor ductility and cannot be used for biomedical applications. For an (α + β) microstructure, the volume fraction of the phases is shown to be the main factor that determines the mechanical properties.     

A cathode readout gas sampling calorimeter with conductive plastic tubes

We constructed and tested a prototype gas sampling electromagnetic calorimeter of the Pb-proportional tube sandwich type. The calorimeter uses conductive plastic tubes and cathode pad readout with a tower structure which resulted in reasonable energy and spatial resolutions for electrons in the momentum range 0.5–4.0 GeV/c; $\text{σ}{}_{\mathrm{E}}\text{E =}\text{21\%}\text{(E(}\text{GeV}\text{)}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{, σ}{}_{\mathrm{x}}\text{= 6}\text{mm}\text{(at 3 GeV}$/c). This paper describes the test and the performance studied under various conditions.     

Fabrication of a poly-Si thin-film transistor with storage capacitor

The fabrication process of a low-temperature poly-Si thin-film transistor (TFT) with a storage capacitor was studied. The atmospheric-pressure chemical-vapour deposited SiO₂ protected the buried indium tin oxide (ITO) from reduction by a pure H₂ plasma treatment that was essential for the effective improvement of the poly-Si TFT characteristics. Thus, a storage capacitor with an ITO (picture electrode)-SiO₂-ITO (buried common electrode) structure was successfully fabricated. The poly-Si TFT with a channel width/length W/L ratio of 5 drove a 3 pF storage capacitor in 2 μs, and it showed superior driverability for LCD use. The TFT also had good hold characteristics under illumination for the realization of grey-scale representation.