Estimation of the deep-drawability of aluminum square cups by fracture forces

Several fracture forces for the evaluation of the forming limit are investigated. The influence of flange lubrication, blank shapes, blank materials and tool shapes on the fracture forces is examined. The increase in the critical fracture force (the ability to sustain deep-drawing forces) is required for the improvement in the deep-drawability of square cups. Constant fracture force and transitional fracture force are used as target values for the increase in the critical fracture force. Both the fracture forces are independent of the blank shapes, and influenced by the flange lubrication, the blank materials and the tool shapes. The deep-drawability of square cups is evaluated by means of the fracture forces.     

Source-Field Relationships for Cardiac Generators on the Heart Surface Based on Their Transfer Coefficients

We consider three different types of equivalent sources over a closed surface enclosing all the electrical cardiac generators: the (in situ) potential, the (in situ) normal current density, and the (macroscopic) transmembrane potential on the heart surface. The last equivalent source, which behaves as a double layer, is derived from the bidomain (bisyncytia) model for anisotropic cardiac muscle. This model predicts that if ratios of intracellular to interstitial conductivity along all directions are equal, field potential can be calculated only using surface integrals. The volume integral arising from the tissue anisotropy of cardiac muscle vanishes in that case. For each type of source under study, we give the field potential in a bounded inhomogeneous volume conductor in the form of an integral equation. We also derive the conditions which the lead field (or the transfer coefficients) must satisfy. The in situ potential and normal current are related to the cardiac sources in a complex way, but their lead fields are independent of conductivity of heart muscle, whereas the transmembrane potential is directly involved as a source term, but the lead field depends on the anisotropy of the heart muscle.     

A real time sectional image measuring system using timesequentially coded grating method

A real-time sectional image measuring system is developed using the time-sequentially-coded grating method, and its application to automatic 3D image data measuring systems is studied. A PLZT electron shutter array is used to project time-sequentially-coded grating patterns on the object. The sectional image is calculated from deformed grating images which are picked up by a TV camera. This system takes about 530 ms to project the 100-slit time-sequentially-coded grating patterns and about 30 ms to calculate one sectional image     

Apatite crystal in hard tissue of conodont fossils

The present study was aimed at examining the nature of apatite crystal in the tooth apparatus of a conodont fossil using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser Raman microprobe spectrometry and electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA). The hard tissue of the condont consisted of 2 layers and the organization varied with the size of the crystal. Higher magnification showed that the crystals were observed in the lattice of (100) and the central dark lines were not present. Ca, P, and F were detected in the crystal using EPMA. Our results indicate that the apatite crystal in conodont fossils is not hydroxyapatite but fluorapatite.     

Determination of the Temperature Coefficient Distribution of Dielectric Ceramics Using Scanning Photothermal Dielectric Microscopy

Two-dimensional images of the distribution showing the temperature coefficient of the dielectric constant for two types of two-phase composite ceramics composed of TiO₂-Bi₂Ti₄O₁₁ and BaTi₄O₉-BaPr₂Ti₄O₁₂ were obtained using scanning photothermal dielectric microscopy. The images of the TiO₂-Bi₂Ti₄O₁₁ ceramic showed that the TiO₂ and Bi₂Ti₄O₁₁ grains had negative and positive temperature coefficients, respectively, and that the macroscopic averaged temperature coefficient of the ceramic was relatively low because of the cancellation of the opposite signs of the coefficients. On the other hand, the images of the BaTi₄O₉-BaPr₂Ti₄O₁₂ ceramic showed that the temperature coefficient of both grains had the same sign (negative), although their absolute values were quite different.     

Hydrostatic Pressure Influences HIF-2 Alpha Expression in Chondrocytes

Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α is considered to play a major role in the progression of osteoarthritis. Recently, it was reported that pressure amplitude influences HIF-2α expression in murine endothelial cells. We examined whether hydrostatic pressure is involved in expression of HIF-2α in articular chondrocytes. Chondrocytes were cultured and stimulated by inflammation or hydrostatic pressure of 0, 5, 10, or 50 MPa. After stimulation, heat shock protein (HSP) 70, HIF-2α, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-13, MMP-3, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene expression were evaluated. The levels of all gene expression were increased by inflammatory stress. When chondrocytes were exposed to a hydrostatic pressure of 5 MPa, HIF-2α, MMP-13, and MMP-3 gene expression increased significantly although those of HSP70 and NF-κB were not significantly different from the control group. In contrast, HIF-2α gene expression did not increase under a hydrostatic pressure of 50 MPa although HSP70 and NF-κB expression increased significantly compared to control. We considered that hydrostatic pressure of 5 MPa could regulate HIF-2α independent of NF-κB, because the level of HIF-2α gene expression increased significantly without upregulation of NF-κB expression at 5 MPa. Hydrostatic pressure may influence cartilage degeneration, inducing MMP-13 and MMP-3 expression through HIF-2α.