Mid-infrared spectroscopic measurement of ionic dissociative materials in the metabolic pathway

We determine the pH dependency of the mid-infrared spectra in aqueous solution of the organic dissociative materials in the metabolic pathway: saccharide phosphates (G6P, F6P), adenosine, and its phosphates (ATP, ADP, AMP). The series of molar absorbance spectra for these reagents were obtained in a pH range of about 2 to 11 with a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer equipped with a horizontal diamond attenuated total reflection (ATR) sampling accessory. We also provide a method of infrared spectral extraction of ionic dissociative materials by performing a linear least-square fitting utilizing the formulas of ionic dissociation equilibrium shift, and we obtain the infrared spectrum of each ionic species of the dissociative materials: G6P-, G6P2-; F6P-, F6P2-; ATP2-, ATP3-, ATP4-; ADP-, ADP2-, ADP3-; AMP, AMP-, AMP2-; and adenosine+, adenosine0. The infrared spectral structure of each ionic species of the dissociative materials in the metabolic pathway are discussed. Additionally, the possibility for a quantification system of the concentrations of the organic dissociative materials in varying pH is suggested.     

Formation of Ti<Subscript>3</Subscript>SiC<Subscript>2</Subscript> from Ti-Si-TiC powders by pulse discharge sintering (PDS) technique

Ti/Si/TiC powder mixture with molar ratios of 2:2:3 were sintered at various temperatures from 700–1300 °C for 15 min by PDS technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for the evaluation of phase composition in different samples for the understanding of the sintering mechanism for this system. Results showed that Ti₅Si₃ formed as the intermediate phase during sintering. The reaction between Ti₅Si₃ and TiC as well as Si induces the formation of Ti₃SiC₂, and TiSi₂ appears as the byproduct in this process. At temperature above 1000 °C, TiSi₂ reacts with TiC to form Ti₃SiC₂. High Ti₃SiC₂ phase content bulk material can be synthesized at 1300 °C for 15 min.     

Excitation and propagation of shear-horizontal-type surface and bulk acoustic waves

This paper reviews the basic properties of shear-horizontal (SH)-type surface acoustic waves (SAWs) and bulk acoustic waves (BAWs). As one of the simplest cases, the structure supporting Bleustein-Gulyaev-Shimizu waves is considered, and their excitation and propagation are discussed from various view points. First, the formalism based on the complex integral theory is presented, where the surface is assumed to be covered with an infinitesimally thin metallic film, and it is shown how the excitation and propagation of SH-type waves are affected by the surface perturbation. Then, the analysis is extended to a periodic grating structure, and the behavior of SH-type SAWs under the grating structure is discussed. Finally, the origin of the leaky nature is explained     

Switching Phenomena between Laminar and Turbulent Flows of Superfluid 4He Generated by a Vibrating Wire

We have investigated the turbulence transition of the superfluid ⁴He flow generated by a vibrating wire. For a 1.2-kHz vibrating wire, we observed intermittent switchings between laminar and turbulent flows. The switching rate decreases with increasing temperature above 100 mK, until no occurrence of the switchings at 350 mK. For a 2.4-kHz vibrating wire, we find that the switching rate is much lower than that of the 1.2-kHz vibrating wire even at low temperatures. This result indicates that a mechanism causing the switchings is influenced by the temperature and the oscillation frequency of the superfluid flow.     

Thermal Degradation Under Pulse Operation in Low-Temperature p-Channel Poly-Si Thin-Film Transistors

We analyzed the heat generation of a low-temperature polycrystalline thin-film transistor in pulse operation and proposed a technique for accurately measuring its thermal temperature in high-frequency operation. From this measurement, we were able to calculate the time constants for heating and radiation for the first time. At a low frequency, the temperature difference between when the pulse was on and off was remarkable. As the frequency was increased, the maximum and minimum temperatures approached each other and became equal at a frequency of approximately 1 kHz. We also measured the degradation in pulse operation and discussed the relationship between the thermal temperature and the degradation in the pulse operation     

COMPLEXITY RELAXATION OF THE TENSOR PRODUCT MODEL TRANSFORMATION FOR HIGHER DIMENSIONAL PROBLEMS

The Tensor Product (TP) model transformation method was proposed recently as an automated gateway between a class of non‐linear models and linear matrix inequality based control design. The core of the TP model transformation is the higher order singular value decomposition of a large sized tensor, which requires high computational power that is usually outside of a regular computer capacity in cases of higher dimensionality. This disadvantage restricts the utilization of the TP model transformation to models having smaller dimensionality. The aim of this paper is to propose a computationally relaxed version of the TP model transformation. The paper also presents a 6 dimensional example to show the effectiveness of the modified transformation.     

Trunk motion control during the flight phase while hopping considering angular momentum of a humanoid

In previous studies, various stabilizing control methods for humanoids during the stance phase while hopping and running were proposed. Although these methods contribute to stability while hopping and running, it is possibility that the control during the flight phase could also affect the stability. In this study, we investigated whether the control during the flight phase can affect the stability of a humanoid while running. To achieve stable hopping, we developed a control system that accounts for the angular momentum of the whole body during the flight phase. In this system, the angular momentum generated by the motion of the lower body in each time interval is calculated during the flight phase, and the trunk joints are controlled to generate the angular momentum necessary to compensate for the deviation of the waist posture, which is used as the reference point for the motion coordinate system of the robot. Once the proposed control system was developed and simulated, we found that the hopping duration in the unconstrained state was extended.     

EFFECT OF INFRARED IRRADIATION ON DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF WET POROUS MATERIALS

ABSTRACT

We studied infrared drying characteristics of wet porous materials by comparison with the convective drying characteristics, and our attention was focused on the factors influencing their characteristics. By selecting three kinds of membrane filters, we examined the influences of the mean pore diameter and the spectral distribution of irradiation power as variables using a far-infrared heater and a near-infrared heater. The differences between the infrared and convective drying characteristics (drying rate, sample temperature, water content distribution) were experimentally obtained, and the influence of mean pore diameter of the sample on its drying characteristics was observed only in infrared drying but in convective drying. By measuring the diffuse transmittance of the membrane filter in consideration of the drying process, we deliberated that infrared radiation penetrating into the drying sample was absorbed directly by the water in the voids, and that the water vaporized there.     

The influence of matrix on the quantum size effect of CdSe microcrystals-doped thin films

CdSe microcrystals were successfully dispersed in GeO₂ glass andCaF₂ crystal thin films by rf-sputtering. All films preparedshowed the blue shift of absorption edge in visible spectra due toquantum size effect. The amount of the blue shift of the filmsincreased with decreasing the size of the microcrystals. Comparingthe amount of the particle size–depending blue shift of CdSemicrocrystals dispersed in between the GeO₂, CaF₂ and SiO₂ matricies, the influence of the matrix on the shift was found.Therefore, it can be said that there is an influence of the matrix onthe quantum size effect. From the modified theoretical calculation,the influence of matrix was considered to appear through Coulombinteraction between electrons and holes.