Mechanism of enhancement effect of dendrimer on transdermal drug permeation through polyhydroxyalkanoate matrix

The possible application of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) in transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDSs) for tamsulosin was previously reported. PHAs containing the drugs, ketoprofen, clonidine and tamsulosin showed good adhesiveness to the skin model used, that is, shed snake skin, and dispersed well all model drugs tested. The model drugs hardly permeated through snake skin in solution form. However, these drugs permeated well through snake skin from the PHA matrix. It was previously reported that the addition of a dendrimer, a polymeric permeation enhancer, is effective for the TDDS for tamsulosin to establish an effective clinical TDDS. The effect of dendrimer addition was examined in TDDSs for ketoprofen and clonidine. The dendrimer added did not show an enhancement effect on the TDDSs for the two drugs. To investigate the mechanism of the enhancement effect of a dendrimer on the tamsulosin TDDS, X-ray analyses were performed. With dendrimer addition, drug crystallization in PHA was promoted. The crystal in PHA had highly ordered and changed its space group. These findings are very important for exploiting high-performance PHA-based TDDSs.     

Improvement of solidification model and analysis of 3D channel blockage with MPS method

In a severe accident of a nuclear power reactor, coolant channel blockage by solidified molten core debris may significantly influence the core degradations that follow. The moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method is one of the Lagrangian-based particle methods for analyzing incompressible flows. In the study described in this paper, a novel solidification model for analyzing melt flowing channel blockage with the MPS method has been developed, which is suitable to attain a sufficient numerical accuracy with a reasonable calculation cost. The prompt velocity diffusion by viscosity is prioritized over the prompt velocity correction by the pressure term (for assuring incompressibility) within each time step over the “mushy zone” (between the solidus and liquidus temperature) for accurate modeling of solidification before fixing the coordinates of the completely solidified particles. To sustain the numerical accuracy and stability, the corrective matrix and particle shifting techniques have been applied to correct the discretization errors from irregular particle arrangements and to recover the regular particle arrangements, respectively. To validate the newly developed algorithm, 2-D benchmark analyses are conducted for steady-state freezing of the water in a laminar flow between two parallel plates. Furthermore, 3-D channel blockage analyses of a boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel support piece have been performed. The results show that a partial channel blockage develops from the vicinity of the speed limiter, which does not fully develop into a complete channel blockage, but still diverts the incoming melt flow that follows to the orifice region.     

Diffusion coefficient analysis method using data statistical processing to reduce interference fringe noise effects

We proposed a simple statistical analysis method of minute concentration changes for measuring diffusion coefficient with reduced interference fringe noise effect. In the “Soret-Facet Mission,” the one-dimensional diffusion equation discretized by the finite difference method was applied for temporal homogenization processes of the minute concentration gradient induced by the Soret effect with random noises. Measured diffusion coefficient D_exp was determined by evaluating the obtained apparent diffusion coefficient distributions D. The measured value D_exp obtained by the proposed processes was found to be valid because the measured value D_exp was close to the theoretical one D_th calculated by the Darken equation and the reference one D_ref calculated in” Facet Mission” in the same solution system, respectively. In addition, by analyzing about 1/16th of the total field of view, it was possible to obtain a diffusion coefficient that are more than 95% convergent for the measured value D_exp obtained from the full field of view analysis.     

Gyrotron FU CW VII for 300 MHz and 600 MHz DNP-NMR Spectroscopy

Gyrotron FU CW VII, one of the FU CW Series Gyrotrons, has been designed, constructed and completed operational tests successfully in the Research Center for Development of Far Infrared Region, University of Fukui (FIR FU). The gyrotron operates at around 200 GHz for the fundamental cyclotron resonances and at around 400 GHz for the second harmonics. These radiation frequencies will be applied to 300 MHz and 600 MHz DNP enhanced NMR spectroscopy.     

一种高铝喷涂料的开发

以铝矾土（3．35mm～0．425mm和≤150μm）为主要原料,铝酸钙水泥为结合剂,制备出了一种氧化铝含量在70％以上的喷涂料。将试样经110％干燥后,每隔100％设置一次烧结试验。测定试样经过不同热处理温度后的体积密度、线性变化率、抗折强度和耐压强度。结果表明,研制出的高铝喷涂料在高温下具有较优良的性能。     

Q-bot: heavy object carriage robot for in-house logistics based on universal vacuum gripper

Q-bot is the human-sized carriage robot for lifting heavy weight objects of in-house logistics, such as storehouse and convenience store. The main feature of Q-bot is the adhesion mechanism beneath the foot, called the turnover prevention Universal Vacuum Gripper (in short TP UVG) that holds its body for turnover prevention and self-weight compensation. Turnover prevention is one of the key technologies of in-house logistic robot for effective use of it. Self-weight compensation is another clue for the robot to achieve the labor work in narrow space. TP UVG is achieved both functions by adhering to uneven ground. The other function of Q-bot is multiple objects graspability based on two-sized Universal Vacuum Gripper by dual-armed manipulation. Q-bot also has omnidirectional movability based on mecanum wheels. In this research, we will report on the development of Q-bot and experiments to prevent the robot from falling when it grabs a heavy object while attached to the ground. We also report Q-bot demonstrations of Future Convenience-Store Challenge in the World Robot Summit 2018.     

Mechanical properties of carbon fiber paper reinforced thermoplastics using mixed discontinuous recycled carbon fibers

Market demand for carbon fiber (CF) increases annually. Therefore, owing to the growing amount of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) waste, CFRP manufacturers are attempting to develop and design materials and products by paying greater attention to ecological and economic factors. In this report, recycled CF (rCF) varieties with differing mechanical properties are mixed to determine the possibility of rCF application in future structural materials. 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10 MPa are investigated for proper compression molding pressure. The range of 5–8 MPa is recommended. Mixing different rCFs can control the mechanical properties of the material, which is valuable for current rCF applications. A modified rule of mixture (ROM) is used to discuss flexural modulus and flexural strength. The coefficients for ROM are given for different rCF.     

Nitrogen fixation in Rhodopseudomonas palustris co-cultured with Bacillus subtilis in the presence of air

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Unstable Head-Flow Characteristic Generation Mechanism of a Low Specific Speed Mixed Flow Pump

This paper treats the flow instabilities in a mixed flow pump with a vaned diffuser. Test pump has a positive slope of a head-flow performance curve at 65% flow rate of BEP (Best Efficiency Point) because of a rotating stall. Dynamic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and pressure fluctuation measurements are used for investigating the propagation mechanism of a rotating stall. It was found that unstable performance was caused by periodical large scale abrupt backflow generated from the vaned diffuser to the outlet of impeller. Further, the relation between the static pressure at the inlet of diffuser vane and the internal flow condition was clarified. From these experimental results, in order to improve the positive slope of a head-flow performance curve, to suppress the growth of strong vortex toward the inlet of diffuser vane was proved to be a key point.     

Development of second harmonic gyrotrons,Gyrotron FU CW GII and Gyrotron FU CW GIII,equipped with internal mode converters

Second harmonic gyrotrons, Gyrotron FU CW GII and Gyrotron FU CW GIII, were developed at the Research Center for Development of Far-Infrared Region, University of Fukui, Japan to achieve two goals. Each gyrotron was equipped with an internal quasi-optical mode converter. Using Gyrotron FU CW GII allowed the design of the cavity and mode converter to be validated, which was the first goal. After that, Gyrotron FU CW GIII, which is an improved version of Gyrotron FU CW GII, allowed us to achieve a high power output of up to 420 W, which was the second goal, with a cathode voltage setting of ?21 kV and a beam current of 0.57 A. This was achieved using a newly developed electron gun and with the careful sitting of the gyrotron on the magnet.