Hepta-and nonadecene from marine fish

Two monoalkenes were detected in gizzard shad (Clupanodon punctatus) and sardine (Sardinops melanosticta) by gas chromatography and were identified by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of their cyclic boronate and dioxolane derivatives ascis-6-n-heptadecene andcis-8-n-nonadecene.     

Brilliant cosmetic film for ambient displays,with cholesteric liquid crystal

We have successfully developed a cosmetic film with polymerized cholesteric material. The film features a variety of colors by helical pitch gradients, diffusive texture, and arbitrary color patterns. It hides the display when turned off, and transmits display images when turned on. We believe it could change the display in the OFF‐state from the conventional black wall to specially designed decorations. In addition, they can be applied to hidden sensors.     

Development of a novel system to quantify the spatial–temporal parameters for crutch-assisted quadrupedal gait

Abstract

Patients with gait disorders often use bilateral crutches along with their own two legs. It is a kind of quadrupedalism. Crutch-assisted gait is usually described and evaluated qualitatively. In this study, we developed a system to quantify the spatial and temporal parameters for crutch-assisted quadrupedalism. Our system consists of walkway hardware and our originally developed software. We specifically extended the measurable area to 1200 mm × 4800 mm, large enough to measure crutch gait. Using our system, we could describe crutch gait precisely. Our system has a capability to evaluate differences between patients and changes within a patient.     

Electron-beam-induced-current investigation of GaN/AlGaN/Si heterostructures using scanning transmission electron microscopy

An electron-beam-induced-current technique has been applied to scanning transmission electron microscopy to characterize GaN/AlGaN/n-Si heterostructures. The structure was formed by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy using AlGaN as an intermediate layer. Two samples with nominal intermediate layer thicknesses of 60 and 120 nm were studied. It was found that there is a junction in the n-type Si region underneath the nitride/Si interface irrespective of the intermediate layer thickness, whereas induced current occurred neither in the nitride region nor at the nitride/Si interface. The junction formed was found to be undulated. The sample with the thin intermediate layer had undulations of a shorter periodicity than that with the thick intermediate layer. The formation of the junction is attributed to the diffusion of Al during the nitride growth.     

Large eddy simulation of swirling jet in a bluff-body burner

The large eddy simulation (LES) is applied to an unconfined swirling flow of an air surrounding a bluff-body having a central jet of air, and the complicated flowfield that involves the recirculation and vortex breakdown is investigated. The Smagorinsky model is used as the sub-grid scale model. The results of the present numerical simulation are compared with the experimental data of the mean and stochastic root mean square (RMS) variations of two velocity components. Although the inflow conditions are specified in a simple manner, the obtained numerical results are in reasonable agreement with the experiments, except for a part of RMS variation values near downstream of the bluff body. The present numerical calculations can successfully reproduce the two characteristics of the flow, i.e., an upstream recirculation zone established just downstream of the burner plane and the additional recirculation zone established at the more downstream location.     

Fast drive of displacement magnification mechanism with flexure hinge using loading type impact damper

A displacement magnification mechanism which uses flexure motion guide using elastic hinges can realize smooth frictionless motion but has poor vibration damping capability. An impact damper is a damping mechanism which uses collision energy to dissipate vibration energy. If the damper is used for vibration control of the flexure mechanism, it may be able to dissipate unexpected vibration without killing the merits of the flexure mechanism. In the paper, a loading type impact damper is applied to settle down transient vibration of a displacement magnification mechanism. We investigate differences of damping effect by setting conditions of the damper. It is shown that the impact damper can eliminate residual vibration at step response effectively without steady state error. The experimental displacement magnification mechanism with impact damper can settle down less than 1/5 of the response without the damper under appropriate setting conditions. Influence of natural frequency ratio between damper and displacement magnification mechanism is investigated. Influences of indentation at impact point are also examined.     

Colloidal platinum in hydrogen-rich water exhibits radical-scavenging activity and improves blood fluidity

The 'colloidal platinum' stabilized with polyvinylpyrrolidone (Pt/PVP-colloid) was dispersed in hydrogen-rich water (HW; hydrogen concentration, 0.82 ppm; oxidation-reduction potential, -583 mV) or regular water (RW; <0.01 ppm, +218 mV). And we evaluated the antioxidant activity of Pt/PVP-colloid in HW or RW on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and improvement of blood fluidity under 2,2'-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-induced oxidative stress. When applied with the 0.25-0.5 ppm Pt/PVP-colloid in RW or HW, the level of DPPH radicals decreased to 77.5-59.6% or 16.1-5.6%, in contrast to the level as high as 81.3% for HW alone, respectively, as measured by an electron spin resonance method. The horse blood, which was subjected to AAPH-induced oxidative stress, was incubated for 24 hr with RW or HW, and thereafter required 13.7 sec (100%) or 5.7 sec (42.3%) for passing through the micro-channels in a rheology equipment. When treated with 0.5-1.0 ppm Pt/PVP-colloid in RW or HW, the blood passage time in the micro-channels decreased dose-dependently to 9.7-7.3 sec (71.6-53.8%) or 4.3-1.3 sec (32.8-10.3%), and the rate of micro-channels clogged with erythrocyte aggregates decreased to 23.8-21.0% or 15.8-9.8%, respectively, from 42.8% for no addition of Pt/PVP. By scanning electron microscopy, AAPH-treated erythrocytes lost intact surface morphology on the membrane together with protrusions and without hollows, being indicative of impaired transforming ability, and the rate of erythrocyte agglutination was increased to 46.2%. When treated the horse blood with HW alone significantly decreased the rate of erythrocyte agglutination to 29.6%, whereas 1.0 ppm Pt/PVP-colloid in RW or HW decreased it to 24.1% or 21.1%, respectively. Thus, DPPH-radical-scavenging and erythrocyte-protecting effects of Pt/PVP-colloid in HW were superior to those of Pt/PVP-colloid in RW or Pt/PVP-free HW. The results could be mainly attributed to the enhanced antioxidant activity of Pt/PVP in HW, which may be due to captured-hydrogen on platinum.     

Enhanced radiosensitization by liposome-encapsulated pimonidazole for anticancer effects on human melanoma cells

The nitroimidazole-related hypoxic radiosensitizer, pimonidazole (Pmz) was encapsulated in liposome composed of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, cholesterol and dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (molar ratio = 1:1:0.2; diameter = 112.9 nm), and the radiosensitization was evaluated in human melanoma cells HMV-II. Cell proliferation was examined by WST-8 assay after X-ray irradiation in the presence of liposomal Pmz or free-Pmz under hypoxic conditions. On 7th day after X-ray irradiation of 5 Gy, cell proliferation decreased more markedly in the administration of liposomal Pmz than free-Pmz at equivalent Pmz doses. Chromatin fragmentation or nuclear condensation was observed in liposomal Pmz-treated HMV-II cells. Radiosensitization was enhanced dose-dependently along with Pmz amounts of 250-2000 microM contained in liposomal Pmz. Intracellular uptake was more abundant for liposomal Pmz for 60-240 min than for free-Pmz. Thus liposomal Pmz has a potential to overcome radiation resistance in hypoxia, owing to enhanced intracellular uptake by melanoma cells.     

Large eddy simulation of methane non-premixed flame using the laminar flamelet model

The large eddy simulation (LES) using the steady laminar flamelet model is applied to a simple turbulent jet flame with 33.2% H2, 22.1% CH4 and 44.7% N2 at the Reynolds number of 15,200 in order to validate the numerical methods and to investigate the flame structure. For the validation, the detailed experimental data of DLR-A flame is used. The numerical results are in reasonable agreement with experimental results except mass fractions of minor species. In the flow field, the break-down of the potential core, the vortex structure and the mixing intensity are well captured. In the combustion field, mass fractions of major species (H2O, CO2, CO) are well predicted quantitatively. Minor species are well predicted qualitatively. In the present study, the simulations conducted on the Cartesian and cylindrical grids with approximately 6.6× 10⁵ nodes are compared.     

Effect of Feedback Force Delays on the Operation of Haptic Displays

Recently, Virtual Reality (VR) technology has developed quickly, together with research conducted on various elemental and related technologies and research in various fields of its application. We experimented about delay times. The haptic media is very sensitive to the network delay and its jitter and packet loss. The analytic hierarchy process(AHP) is one of the methods used to evaluate physical phenomena as correctness of the human sensation. In consequence of its application to the present experiment, it was made clear that the haptic media could be estimated from the delay times. In this report, we experimented about the relation between the delay times and haptic sense. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.