Spectral switches of partially coherent light focused by a filter-lens system with chromatic aberration

It is shown that when partially coherent polychromatic light is focused by a filter-lens system with chromatic aberration, a spectral shift exists in the focused field, and a spectral switch that is defined as a sharp transition of the spectral shift also takes place at some positions of the focused field. The influence of the chromatic aberration of the lens, the coherence of the partially coherent light in the filter (a circular aperture), the radius of the aperture, and the spectral width of the partially coherent light in the aperture on the spectral shift and the spectral switch are investigated in detail. The numerical results show that these parameters affect the spectral shift and the spectral switch significantly. Potential applications of the spectral shift and the spectral switch of the partially coherent light are discussed.     

A Broadcasting Scheme Considering Units to Play Continuous Media Data

Due to the recent proliferation of digital broadcasting systems, various schemes for broadcasting continuous media data such as music or movies have been studied. In general broadcasting systems, since clients have to wait until their desired data are broadcast, these schemes reduce the waiting time by dividing the data into several segments of equal size. However, continuous media data often have units for playing portions of the data. For example, data encoded by MPEG2 can be played every GOP (group of pictures). In this paper, we propose a scheme to reduce the waiting time considering the units. Our proposed scheme divides a continuous media data at every unit. By scheduling divided data so that clients finish receiving a unit before starting to play the unit, waiting time is effectively reduced.     

A lossless handover method for video transmission in mobile ATMnetworks and its subjective quality assessment

Cell loss is one of the major causes of degradation in quality of service in ATM mobile communication systems. It can be suppressed by employing buffer memories in the network; however, cell delay occurs as a consequence. This article proposes a lossless handover method for mobile ATM communication networks that both prevents cell loss and can suppress cell delay variation. The method was simulated on an experimental system to subjectively evaluate MPEG2 images relative to buffer memory size and the results obtained are presented     

On the efficiency of cautious schedulers for database concurrency control—Why insist on two-phase locking?

Thecautious scheduler, recently proposed for the concurrency control of database systems, never resorts to abortions or rollbacks for the purpose of concurrency control. The comprehensive performance evaluation study among different cautious schedulers and conventional non-cautious schedulers, however, has not yet been attempted. In this paper, we consider five scheduling algorithms and investigate their performance by means of simulation studies. Two of these algorithms are non-cautious; that is, thetwo-phase locking algorithm (2PL) (the most popular transaction scheduling algorithm in practical systems) and theconflict serializable algorithm (CSR) (a typical scheduling algorithm among those not using a locking mechanism; also calledD-serializable algorithm, conflict preserving serializable algorithm, orWW-serializable algorithm). The others are cautious scheduling algorithms modified from the above2PL andCSR; that is,cautious two-phase locking algorithm (C2PL), exclusive preclaimed two-phase locking algorithm (EP2PL), andcautious conflict serializable algoritm (CCSR). The results demonstrate the superiority of the cautious conflict serializable algorithm over the conventional two-phase locking algorithm, especially in the on-line system environment.This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan under Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid and in part by the Advancd Systems Foundations of British Columbia, Canada.     

Stress disturbance due to broken fibres in metal matrix composites with non-uniform fibre spacing

Premature fracture of weaker fibres causes stress disturbances in composites. These disturbances are affected by non-uniformity of fibre spacing. In order to evaluate quantitatively how the disturbances in metal matrix composites are affected by the extent of non-uniformity of fibre spacing, a method of calculation is presented on the basis of two-dimensional shear lag analysis. Static tensile stress concentrations in the intact fibres to broken fibres, tensile stress distribution along the fibre axis in the broken and intact fibres and shear stresses between broken and intact fibres were calculated by the method presented, using some examples. It is shown quantitatively that the spacing between broken and intact fibres and that between intact and next fibres has a significant influence on tensile stress concentrations in intact fibres and also on the shear stresses between broken and intact fibres: the narrower the former spacing and the wider the latter spacing, the higher become both tensile and shear stress concentrations. This tendency is enhanced when the number of broken fibres is large and when the strain hardening of the matrix is high.     

High Field ESR System and Its Application to the Study of Quantum Spin Systems

Developments of the high field ESR system in Kobe University is presented. Using Gunn oscillators and backward traveling oscillators (BWO), we can cover the frequency region from 30 to 1183.6 GHz with the use of InSb detector. Pulsed magnetic field up to 30 T is available and we are now trying to extend the field up to 40 T. Temperature range is from 1.8 to 300 K. Using this system, we studied S=1/2 ladder like system Cu₂(C₅H₁₂N₂)₂Cl₄, and found a new magnetic transition at 10.1 T at 1.8 K. The temperature dependence of ESR in Cu₂(C₅H₁₂N₂)₂CI₄ shows g-shift below 8 K which corresponds to the maximum of the magnetic susceptibility. The g-shift below 8 K suggests the increase of the quantum fluctuation in the system, and the role of the quantum fluctuation in Cu₂(C₅H₁₂N₂)₂CI₄ is discussed.     

Rheological properties of ethylene ionomer neutralized with binary metal cation

The roles of ionic bonding in molten ethylene ionomers without ionic aggregates were rheologically characterized in linear regions under shear. We have measured melt viscosities of ethylene-methacrylic acid (EMAA) ionomers by means of dynamic shear experiment. The samples used in this study were binary mixtures selected from Na, Mg and Zn salts of EMAA (MAA=5.4 mol%). The dynamic shear properties revealed that the time-material superposition is applicable to these ionomer blends in a temperature range from 140 to 200 °C. It was also found that these binary mixtures unexpectedly give decreases of zero shear viscosities obtained from a time-material superposition, if the cations were selected from different metal groups such as alkali, alkaline earth and transition metals. This behavior can be explained by the acid-cation exchange mechanism.     

Condensation enhancement on a vertical plate (1st report,heat transfer characteristic on a dispersed finned surface)

In this study, a condensation heat transfer experiment on vertical continuous and dispersed finned surfaces using FC5312 was carried out. Experimental parameters were the pitch and height of the fin, and the dispersed fin length. In the results, the phenomena of condensate retention were observed in the bottom of each row of the dispersed fin. The condensate flow from the upper row was concentrated into the valley of the fin and then flowed down into the valley of the next fin. Moreover, it was found from the experiment that the heat transfer coefficient on the dispersed finned surface was lower than the one on the continuous finned surface as the fin pitch was smaller, but was larger than that of the continued finned surface for a larger fin pitch. Furthermore, the heat transfer enhancing effect became more significant for the higher fin with the larger fin pitch, and the heat transfer reducing effect became more significant for the lower fin with the smaller fin pitch. These special characteristics of condensation mentioned above were caused by the phenomena of condensate retention in each row of the fin and the flow pattern of the condensate between two adjacent fins on the dispersed finned surface based on experimental observations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20221     

Possibilities of the Formation of Enol-Ethers in Lignin by Soda Pulping

In the alkaline decomposition of a β-O-4 type lignin model compound (erythro-guaiacylglycerol-β-guaiacyl ether, compound 1), an isomeric pair of C₆C₂ enol-ether (2-methoxy-4-[2-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-vinyl]-phenol, compound 2) was detected as the main decomposition product with no trace of C₆C₃ enol-ether (4-[3-hydroxy-1-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-propenyl]-2-methoxy-phenol, compound 3) or other dimers. In contrast, compound 2 was not detected in the alkaline decomposition products of compound 3. Under alkaline conditions, the γ-hydroxymethyl group of compound 3 was reduced to form 2-methoxy-4-[1-(2-methoxyphenoxy)-propenyl]-phenol (compound 4). In the HSQC analysis of soda lignin, the formation of substructures of C₆C₂ type enol-ether (related to compound 2) was confirmed. However, no substructures related to compound 4, which could be formed if a substructure of C₆C₃ type enol-ether was formed under alkaline conditions, were detected. Therefore, it could be concluded that C₆C₃ type enol-ethers could not be intermediates of alkaline decomposition products of lignin.     

Disorders and oxygen vacancies in p-type Sn2B2O7 (B = Nb,Ta): Role of the B-site element

Sn₂Nb_2−xTa_xO₇ (x = 0.0–2.0) with pyrochlore structure is a promising material for p-type oxide semiconductors. A systematic study of its Nb/Ta ratio indicated that the hole–generation efficiency of the Nb end (Sn₂Nb₂O₇) was an order of magnitude lower than that of the Ta end (Sn₂Ta₂O₇). Although this occurs due to differences in oxygen-vacancy formation, the origins of the hole–generation efficiencies remain unclear due to limited information on local and global crystal-structure disorders in pyrochlore Sn₂Nb₂O₇ and Sn₂Ta₂O₇. In this study, the crystal structures of Sn₂B₂O₇ (B = Nb, Ta), composed of BO₆ octahedra and Sn₄O tetrahedra, were investigated using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. A detailed investigation of the local and global crystal structures indicated a larger amount of disorder in the Sn₄O tetrahedra in Sn₂Nb₂O₇ compared to Sn₂Ta₂O₇; disorder in the BO₆ octahedra occurred only in Sn₂Ta₂O₇. This study indicates that an appropriate selection of the B-site element is vital for suppressing defect and disorder formation in Sn₄O tetrahedra and subsequently improving the hole–carrier–generation efficiency.