EACLE : Energy-Aware Clustering Scheme with Transmission Power Control for Sensor Networks

In this paper, we propose a new energy efficient clustering scheme with transmission power control named “EACLE” (Energy-Aware CLustering scheme with transmission power control for sEnsor networks) for wireless sensor networks, which are composed of the following three components; “EACLE clustering” is a distributed clustering method by means of transmission power control, “EACLE routing” builds a tree rooted at a sink node and sets the paths from sensor nodes taking energy saving into consideration, and “EACLE transmission timing control” changes the transmission timing with different levels of transmission power to avoid packet collisions and facilitates packet binding. With an indoor wireless channel model which we obtained from channel measurement campaigns in rooms and corridors and an energy consumption model which we obtained from a measurement of a chipset, we performed computer simulations to investigate the performance of EACLE in a realistic environment. Our simulation results indicate that EACLE outperforms a conventional scheme such as EAD (Energy-Aware Data-centric routing) in terms of communication success rate and energy consumption. Furthermore, we fully discuss the impact of transmission power and timing control on the performance of EACLE.     

State difference feedback for stabilizing uncertain steady states of non-linear systems

Supposing a non-linear system is subjected to parametric uncertainties, the present paper aims at stabilizing its unstable steady states. A distinctive feature of the problem is that exact information about the steady state is unavailable. To cope with the difficulty, we have examined the applicability of the state difference feedback which uses the difference between the present state x(t) and the past state x(t-T). A rigorous stability analysis has been executed for the case where state deviations are controllable by a single input variable. The stability analysis has led to a favourable conclusion that if the number of unstable modes is just two, and if they are not associated with the origin in the complex plane, we are always able to find a controller which stabilizes the deviations from the unknown steady state. Design process is illustrated by using two kinds of pendulum systems.     

Metal-Induced Structural Switching of a Folded Quinone-Sandwiched Porphyrin

We report the synthesis of a novel quinone-sandwiched porphyrin in which two benzoquinones are connected oppositely at the meso positions of a porphyrin through rigid 3-amido 2,2′-bipyridine linkers. ¹H-NMR and single crystal X-ray analyses revealed that the quinone-sandwiched porphyrin has a folded structure in which the porphyrin unit was inserted into the two quinone moieties via π-stacking. Insertion of a Zn(II) ion into the porphyrin center induced a drastic conformational change which is resulted in coordination of the oxygen atoms of both benzoquinone moieties to the Zn-porphyrin to afford a 6-coordinated structure.     

Combining linguistic resources to create a machine-tractable Japanese-Malay dictionary

We present a method for combining two bilingual dictionaries to make a third, using one language as a pivot. In this case we combine a Japanese-English dictionary with a Malay-English dictionary, to produce a Japanese-Malay dictionary. Our method differs from previous methods in its improved matching through normalization of the pivot language. We have made a prototype dictionary of around 76,000 Japanese-Malay pairs for 50,000 Japanese head words.     

In Situ Observation of Deformation in Semi-solid Fe-C Alloys at High Shear Rate

Synchrotron X-ray radiography at 125 frames per second was used to study deformation mechanisms in semi-solid Fe-C alloys at high solid fraction and shear strain rates of 10^?1/s. An image correlation approach was also used to quantify the shear strain fields and study shear-induced dilation and the origin of shear cracking. It was shown that, at high solid fraction (90 to 93 pct solid), rearrangement including rotation and translation of solid particles became restricted and shear strain localized into narrow liquid-filled channels/fissures. Shear cracking was shown to originate from inadequate liquid flow into the expanding spaces between solid particles caused by shear-induced dilation. At lower solid fraction (~85 pct solid), solid particles rearranged with a significantly higher component of rotation leading to more shear-induced dilation and a wider shear band.     

Numerical simulations of annular extrudate swell of polymer melts

Numerical viscoelastic simulations were carried out using a K-BKZ type of separable integral constitutive equation. Both reversible and irreversible models were tried for several types of damping functions to calculate the annular extrudate behavior of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). There are two aims in this study; first, to clarify the properties of these dumping functions, and second, to investigate the influence of rheological characteristics on annular extrudate swell. In these numerical simulations, relaxation spectrum and shear viscosity were fixed, and the other characteristics were varied. The reversional response of the damping function mainly has an effect on the magnitude of the area swell even if the die is straight. The irreversible model expresses the experimental results of annular extrudate swell better than the reversible model. The accurate fitting of N1 by the damping model is important for predicting it. The magnitude of N1 predicted from the Wagner exponential model is lower than that of the PSM model, and the area swell shows the same tendency as N1. A modified PSM model that allows the N1 curve to shift can fit the magnitude of area swell. The relationship between the diameter and thickness of the extrudate depends on N2/N1, and it was estimated by simple linear elasticity of solids. The time dependent viscosity varies with the type of damping function, and it influences the time-dependent swell.     

Effect of soybean varieties on the content and composition of isoflavone in rice-koji miso

To clarify the effect of soybean varieties on isoflavone, a useful component for human health, in soybean products, we investigated changes in the isoflavone content and composition in rice-koji miso, after fermentation/aging for 6 or 12 months using varieties of soybeans (Tohoku-126, Tohoku-135, Tohoku-139, Suzuyutaka and Chinese soybeans), by high performance liquid chromatography. In soybeans, the total isoflavone content in Tohoku-126 was 444 mg/100 g, which was 1.2–2.0 times the content in the other soybean varieties. The malonyl glycosides and aglycones in soybeans accounted for more than 60% and only a few percent, respectively. As for rice-koji miso, the total isoflavone and aglycone contents were the highest in miso prepared from Tohoku-126. The ratios of glycosides to aglycones (80.1–92.6%) in miso were higher than those in the original soybeans. The time course of the isoflavone composition during the fermentation/aging process of rice-koji miso indicated that glycosides decreased from 86.4% to 44.9% after 6 months but aglycones increased from 9.6% to 53.3%.     

Functional organization of chromaffin cells and cholinergic synaptic transmission in rat adrenal medulla

Optical recordings of membrane depolarization and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of membrane potentials and currents were obtained from chromaffin cells in slices of rat adrenal medulla. The stimulation of splanchnic nerve fibers caused a discontinuous spread of electrical activity across the slice. Cells in clusters with diameters of about 80 microns were excited simultaneously, suggesting that the adrenal medulla is organized into descrete cell complexes with common innervation. The electrical properties of chromaffin cells in situ were in agreement with previous reports on cultured cells. A fraction of the recorded cells displayed excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) of 0.2-1 nA upon the stimulation of presynaptic nerve fibers. The EPSC was blocked by hexamethonium, suggesting that nicotinic ACh receptors were involved. The decay phase of the EPSC was well fit by the sum of two exponentials with time constants of 6.3 and 57.3 ms. The relative amplitude of the fast component was 84.1%. These two exponentials may reflect activation of both fast and slow time-constant ACh receptor channels by presynaptic release of ACh. There were multiple peaks in the EPSC amplitude histograms in low-[Ca2+] saline, the first peak was at 37 pA. To resolve the quantal size, miniature EPSCs were recorded in a tetrodotoxin-containing high-[K+] solution. The miniature EPSC amplitude histograms were also multimodal with the first peak at 25 pA, which probably represents the quantal size of the synapse. The second and third peaks were at the integer multiples of the first one.     

Relationship between Ba atom emission and electrode temperature in a low-pressure fluorescent lamp

A relationship between emission characteristics of Ba atom as an emitter material and temperature distributions of an electrode in a fluorescent lamp is described, which is measured by using laser-induced fluorescence and black-body radiation method, respectively. In a virgin lamp, a hot spot observed at the electrode edge connected to the power supply is the main source of Ba atom emission. In a long-term-used lamp, it is shown that Ba atom emission, thermionic electron emission in cathode half-cycle and electron collection in anode half-cycle are most active on the hot spot appearing on the center of the electrode.     

Structural analysis of Pareto-optimal solution sets for multi-objective optimization: An application to outer window design problems using Multiple Objective Genetic Algorithms

In single-objective optimization problems, with only one optimal design objective, the absolute optimal solution to maximize/minimize the objective function can be determined. However, in most real design problems, the optimization problems are multi-objective, where two or more independent design objectives must be optimized simultaneously, and no single absolute optimal solution necessarily exists. In these cases, it is helpful for designers to recognize the range of alternative solutions that exist in Pareto-optimal sets and choose an acceptable solution from among them. In this paper, the authors carried out multi-objective optimization using Multiple Objective Genetic Algorithms through a real case study involved in indoor environmental design – the design of outer windows. Then the authors analyzed structure of Pareto-optimal solution sets. Here we present the analysis process as well as the case study details, and show how the method proposed here is effective at finding an acceptable solution for multi-objective optimization problems.