On the Feasibility of a Number Concentration Calibration Using a Wafer Surface Scanner

A new primary standard method for calibrating optical particle counters (OPC) has been developed based on quantitative gravitational deposition on a silicon wafer and accurate counting of the particles by a wafer surface scanner (WSS). The test aerosol consists of 3-μm diameter monodisperse polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres at concentrations in the range of 0.1 cm^?3 to 1 cm^?3. A key element to the calibration is the ability to generate monodisperse PSL spheres without residue particles by use of a virtual impactor and differential mobility analyzer. The use of these devices reduced the percentage of residue particles from more than 99.98% to about 5%. The expanded relative uncertainty (95% confidence level) in the number concentration determined with a WSS for a deposition of 200 particles is 17.8%. The major uncertainty component arises from the Poisson fluctuations in the aerosol concentration because of the low concentration. This methodology has advantages of a fast scanning time by the WSS of minutes compared to hours or days by microscopy and of counting every particle deposited compared to often only a small fraction via microscopy.

The WSS was used in the calibration of an OPC based on 12 depositions with concentrations ranging from 0.1 cm^?3 to 1 cm^?3 for each deposition. Make-up air was added to the aerosol entering the OPC so that the lowest achievable concentration for the OPC measurement is about 0.01 cm^?3 in this study. The detection efficiency of the OPC was measured to be 0.984 with an expanded uncertainty of 13.4%.

Copyright 2014 American Association for Aerosol Research     

A METHOD OF SKIN FRICTION DETERMINATION OF A CIRCULAR CYLINDER IN A WATER FLOW FIELD

Using a partially-heated cylinder with a thin heat transfer sensor, it is clarified that the skin friction coefficient of a cylinder in water can be calculated by the Brown's equation, when the profile of its pressure coefficient has been measured. It is also revealed that the separation angles of the boundary layer on the cylinder surface can be determined by the skin friction profiles. These results are ascertained to be reliable by a flow visualization method.     

Antiatherogenic effect of guava leaf extracts inhibiting leucocyte-type 12-lipoxygenase activity

Oxidative modification of low density lipoprotein (LDL) is one of the critical steps for the development of atherosclerosis and leucocyte-type 12-lipoxygenase, highly expressed in macrophages, has been suggested to play an essential role in this process. In the present study, we show that guava leaf extracts inhibited, not only the leucocyte-type 12-lipoxygenase activity, but also LDL oxidation, mediated by the enzyme-overexpressing macrophage-like J774A.1 cells. Oral administration of guava leaf extracts to apoE-knockout mice at 100 mg of dry extracts/kg of body weight, once a day for 16 weeks, significantly reduced the area of atherogenic lesions developed in the aorta and aortic sinus. The major components inhibiting leucocyte-type 12-lipoxygenase contained in guava leaf extracts were identified as ethyl gallate and quercetin. The inhibitory effects of guava leaf extracts on the leucocyte-type 12-lipoxygenase activity, as well as on cell-mediated LDL oxidation, might be involved in the antiatherogenic effect of the extracts.     

A Seepage-Deformation Coupled Analysis of an Unsaturated River Embankment using a Multiphase Elasto-Viscoplastic Theory

A multiphase deformation analysis of a river embankment was carried out using an air-soil-water coupled finite element method capable of considering unsaturated seepage flow. A numerical model for unsaturated soil was constructed based on the mixture theory and an elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model. The theory used in the analysis is a generalization of Biot's two-phase mixture theory for saturated soil. An air-soil-water coupled finite element method was developed using the governing equations for three-phase soil based on the nonlinear finite deformation theory, i.e., the updated Lagrangian method. Two-dimensional numerical analyses of the river embankment under seepage conditions were conducted, and the deformation associated with the seepage flow was studied. We have found that the occurrence of large deformations corresponds to the large values of the hydraulic gradients at the toe of the embankment, and that the overflow of river water makes the embankment more unstable. It has been confirmed that seepage-deformation coupled three-phase behavior can be simulated well with the proposed method.     

Process Model of Design and Construction Activities of a Building

This article presents a new method to represent the design and construction process in a systematic way and to develop a support system of management for concurrent engineering. We define activities included in the total process of a standard project, make an adjacency matrix about the relationship among activities, and structure the activities with a reachability matrix. As a result, the process consisting of several complicated interactions among activities was found. These interactions can be classified into three patterns. We constructed a new process model by dividing the information flow into nine categories. Moreover, the effectiveness of the model as a tool for concurrent engineering is discussed from four points of view, and the rellationship between concurrent engineering and project objectives is analyzed. This article shows the results matrix calculation first and then describes its contribution to concurrent engineering.     

A study of SiC Power BJT performance and robustness

This paper proposes an investigation of 1200 V rated transistors with the twofold purpose of assessing their performance and robustness under representative operational conditions and of extracting guidelines for the design of reliable multi-chip power electronics modules based on SiC technology. It includes a thorough analysis of the devices steady-state and switching characteristics, as well as the investigation of short-circuit events. Taking into account operational conditions of real applications, this study considers the dependence on ambient temperature, bias conditions and driver circuit parameters.     

Formation and Sintering of Yttria-Doped Tetragonal Zirconia with 50 mol% Alumina Prepared by the Hydrazine Method

Al₂O₃/Y₂O₃-doped ZrO₂ composite powders with 50 mol% Al₂O₃ are prepared by the hydrazine method. As-prepared powders are mixtures of AlO(OH) gel and amorphous ZrO₂ solid solutions containing Y₂O₃ and Al₂O₃. The formation process leading to α-Al₂O₃- t -ZrO₂ composite powders is examined. Hot isostatic pressing is performed for 2 h at 1400°C under 196 MPa using θ-Al₂O₃- t -ZrO₂ composite powders. The resulting dense, sintered α-Al₂O₃- t -ZrO₂ composites show excellent mechanical strength.     

Local crystal structure analysis with several picometer precision using scanning transmission electron microscopy

We report a local crystal structure analysis with a high precision of several picometers on the basis of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Advanced annular dark-field (ADF) imaging has been demonstrated using software-based experimental and data-processing techniques, such as the improvement of signal-to-noise ratio, the reduction of image distortion, the quantification of experimental parameters (e.g., thickness and defocus) and the resolution enhancement by maximum-entropy deconvolution. The accuracy in the atom position measurement depends on the validity of the incoherent imaging approximation, in which an ADF image is described as the convolution between the incident probe profile and scattering objects. Although the qualitative interpretation of ADF image contrast is possible for a wide range of specimen thicknesses, the direct observation of a crystal structure with deep-sub-angstrom accuracy requires a thin specimen (e.g., 10 nm), as well as observation of the structure image by conventional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.     

Practical procedure for coma-free alignment using caustic figure

The practical procedure for coma-free alignment using a single defocused transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image is presented. Caustic figures observed in the defocused TEM image of a focused probe are utilized. Coma-free alignment can be carried out by coinciding a bright-field spot with the center of a caustic curve as observed in an underfocus TEM image. With this method, beam tilt misalignment is reduced to the sub-mrad order (e.g. 0.3mrad for 300kV FEG-TEM). This can be done without intentional beam tilting, an amorphous specimen, high-resolution TEM images, or fast Fourier transform for diffractogram or cross-correlation, which are used in previous methods. Residual coma aberration is detected using the multiple Bragg images of a known crystal. Similarity between the present coma-free alignment and well-known STEM alignment using shadow image is discussed.     

Thermal Conductance Study of Thin Superfluid Films Formed in Porous Glass With 1 Micrometer Pore Diameter

It has been shown that the limited solubility at low temperatures in binary system of cryocrystalsis due to the specificity of intermolecular interaction. A simple method which makes it possible to predict a type of a phase diagram has been proposed.