Free volume,excess entropy and mechanical behavior of polymeric glasses

Free volume fraction of the Williams-Landel-Ferry(WLF)-Doolittle type has been applied to the analysis of the nonequilibrium state for the glassy polymers. The free volume fraction is a two parameter variable since it depends on the free volume and the occupied volume. The excess entropy is derived from the mixing of vacant and occupied sites, and for polymers a factor is added which corresponds to disordering the molecular segments. A relationship between the excess entropy and enthalpy is derived. For a given level of fractional free volume, there is a unique rate constant associated with changing that level of the fractional free volume. The reciprocal of this rate constant, which depends on the exponential order of the fractional free volume, can be considered as a time constant for changing the molecular conformational probability, and its value is in the order of the average dielectric relaxation time in the corresponding state. When mechanical deformation is. imposed with a rate which is too fast as compared to this time constant, the deformation without a change in the conformational probability, i.e., the reversible elastic deformation, will ensue. In contrast, a sufficiently slow deformation will be accompanied by a change in fractional free volume and the excess entropy, and the above-mentioned time constant will change with deformation. Since dilation will tend to shorten this time constant, tensile deformation will result in reducing the modulus accompanied by the increase in entropy. Shear deformation is considered as a mixture of compression and tension, where only tension contributes to a change in entropy, and the net result is the strain softening which can be predicted from the tensile behavior. Uniaxial compression is controlled by the shear behavior, and the excess entropy and the fractional free volume increase, while the occupied volume decreases with strain. A constitutive relationship has been proposed which accounts for the effects of temperature, pressure, strain rates and thermal history on nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of polymeric glass.     

Fatigue limit of carbon and CrMo steels as a small fatigue crack threshold in high-pressure hydrogen gas

The fatigue limit properties of a carbon steel and a low-alloy CrMo steel were investigated via fully-reversed tension-compression tests, using smooth specimens in air and in 115-MPa hydrogen gas. With respect to the CrMo steel, specimens with sharp notches were also tested in order to investigate the threshold behavior of small cracks. The obtained SN data inferred that the fatigue limit was not negatively affected by hydrogen in either of the steels. Observation of fatigue cracks in the unbroken specimens revealed that non-propagating cracks can exist even in 115-MPa hydrogen gas, and that the crack growth threshold is not degraded by hydrogen. The experimental results provide justification for the fatigue limit design of components that are to be exposed to high-pressure hydrogen gas.     

Process variation compensation technique for voltage‐controlled ring oscillator

A voltage‐controlled ring oscillator with process variation compensation circuits is designed using 0.25 µm CMOS technology. The simulation results show that the proposed ring oscillator increases the guaranteed frequency tuning range by 12% compared to a conventional ring oscillator. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

ε-Entropy and Fractal Dimension of a State for a Gaussian Measure

Kolmogorov introduced the concept of -entropy to analyze information in classical continuous systems. The fractal dimension of a geometric set was introduced by Mandelbrot as a new criterion to analyze the geometric complexity of the set. The -entropy and the fractal dimension of a state in a general quantum system were introduced by one of the present authors (MO) in order to characterize chaotic properties of general states.In this paper, we show that -entropy of a state includes Kolmogorov's -entropy, and that the fractal dimension of a state describes fractal structure of Gaussian measures.     

Nanosecond and femtosecond mass spectroscopic analysis of a molecular beam produced by the spray-jet technique

The spray-jet molecular beam apparatus enabled us to produce a molecular beam of non-volatile molecules under high vacuum from a sprayed mist of sample solutions. The apparatus has been used in spectroscopic studies and as a means of molecular beam deposition. We analyzed the molecular beam, consisting of non-volatile, solvent, and carrier-gas molecules, by using femtosecond- and nanosecond- laser mass spectroscopy. The information thus obtained provided insight into the molecular beam produced by the spray-jet technique.     

Analysis of indoor PM2.5 exposure in Asian countries using time use survey

Most household fuels used in Asian countries are solid fuels such as coal and biomass (firewood, crop residue and animal dung). The particulate matter (PM), CO, NOx and SOx produced through the combustion of these fuels inside the residence for cooking and heating has an adverse impact on people's health. PM 2.5 in particular, consisting of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less, penetrates deep into the lungs and causes respiratory system and circulatory system diseases and so on. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) established guideline values for this type of particulate matter in 2005. In this study, the authors focused on PM 2.5 and estimated indoor exposure concentrations for PM 2.5 in 15 Asian countries. For each environment used for cooking, eating, heating and illumination in which people are present temporarily (microenvironment), exposure concentrations were estimated for individual cohorts categorized according to sex, age and occupation status. To establish the residence time in each microenvironment for each of the cohorts, data from time use surveys conducted in individual countries were used. China had the highest estimate for average exposure concentration in microenvironment used for cooking at 427.5 μg/m³ , followed by Nepal, Laos and India at 285.2 μg/m³, 266.3 μg/m³ and 205.7 μg/m³ , respectively. The study found that, in each country, the PM2.5 exposure concentration was highest for children and unemployed women between the ages of 35 and 64. The study also found that the exposure concentration for individual cohorts in each country was greatly affected by people's use of time indoors. Because differences in individual daily life activities were reflected in the use of time and linked to an assessment of exposure to indoor air-polluting substances, the study enabled detailed assessment of the impact of exposure.     

Eutrophication process recorded in dinoflagellate cyst assemblages--a case of Yokohama Port, Tokyo Bay, Japan.

To investigate temporal changes of water quality, a role of dinoflagellate cysts preserved in surface sediments was examined in Yokohama Port in Tokyo Bay, Japan. Two cores were collected, and sedimentation rates and ages of both were dated as approximately 1900 years or slightly older on the basis of 210Pb and 137Cs concentrations. The temporal change in dinoflagellate cyst assemblages in the two cores reflects eutrophication in Yokohama Port in the 1960s. Abrupt increases in the cysts of Gyrodinium instriatum cysts strongly suggests that a red tide was caused by this species around 1985. Dinoflagellate cyst assemblages in surface sediments appear to be good biomarkers of changes in the water quality of enclosed seas.     

Behavior of insoluble materials in artificial contamination tests

It was reported that the dc flashover voltage under an artificial contamination test sometimes was affected considerably by the type of insoluble materials in the contaminant. To clarify the cause of this phenomenon, the physical characteristics of some contamination slurries and the conductivity of the artificially contaminated insulator surfaces are investigated experimentally. The test results lead to the conclusion that the variation in the flashover voltage is caused mainly by the characteristics of conductive films formed on the insulator surface in the clean fog test