Improvement of green cathodoluminescence of zinc oxide stacked films prepared by high-power excimer laser irradiation of sol-gel-derived precursors

Zinc oxide (ZnO) stacked films were prepared by repeating a procedure involving KrF excimer laser irradiation at various energy fluences (E_f) of sol-gel-derived precursors. All the stacked films are wurtzite-type and highly c-axis oriented on glass substrates. The green cathodoluminescence (CL) efficiency of the films is strongly influenced by the preparation conditions. Especially, laser E_f and stacking number are important control factors. The stacked film prepared under optimized preparation conditions consists of large grains and indicate low electric resistivity. The green CL efficiency of the stacked film is 0.0139 lm/W, which is higher than those of ZnO thin films prepared by a single stacking.     

Hydrocracking of diphenylmethane and tetralin over bifunctional NiW sulfide catalysts supported on three kinds of zeolites

Hydrocracking reactions of diphenylmethane and tetralin were carried out over three kinds of zeolites with or without NiW sulfide to discuss the roles of catalytic bifunctionality in two types of hydrocracking reactions. It was found that strong acid sites were not needed for the hydrocracking of diphenylmethane, while the conversion of tetralin required relatively strong acid sites. Ultra-stable Y zeolite with strong acidity exhibited high hydrocracking activity for both reactions. In contrast, mordenite catalysts did not show high activity for either hydrocracking, though isomerization of tetralin and excess hydrocracking to gaseous products proceeded. The superior performances of ultra-stable Y zeolite in the tetralin hydrocracking were suggested to be related to the hydrogen transfer ability. In most cases, the loading of NiW sulfide enhanced catalytic activity. In the diphenylmethane hydrocracking, the role of NiW sulfide was found to supply active hydrogen to the hydrocracking active sites on zeolite and to prevent polymerization of benzyl cations. In the tetralin hydrocracking, the dehydrogenated products from tetralin were re-hydrogenated over NiW sulfide.     

Risk assessment of airborne fine particles and nanoparticles

Pulmonary health effects of fine particles and nanoparticles are overviewed in this paper, mainly based on the researches conducting in our laboratory. For the hazard assessment, we exposed rats to aerosolized asbestos-substitutes or nanoparticles aerosols (nickel oxide and titanium dioxide), and examined the biological and pathological effects of the particle on lung, a major target organ for the particles, and cytokines which are related to inflammation, fibrosis and carcinogenesis in the lung. It is essential to perform comprehensive evaluation of the toxicity of poorly soluble powder samples using the precise characterization data and exposure methods, such as single instillation or aerosol inhalation.     

Fluctuations in Tracer Amounts in a Compartmental System with a Markovian Transition Process

This communication considers a method for evaluating fluctuations in the integral type output of a linear time-invariant compartmental system with a Markovian transition process. First, we derived a mathematical formula to calculate variances and covariances of integral type. outputs, as with radioisotope data, when transition rates are known. Then, an estimate for the upper limits of variances and covariances, i.e., 1/2?initial dose, when the transition rates are not given beforehand, was introduced.     

Synthesis and Thermal Characterization of Novel Poly(tetramethylsilanthrylenesiloxane) and Poly(tetramethylsilphenanthrylenesiloxane) Derivatives

Summary Novel poly(tetramethylsilarylenesiloxane) derivatives, i.e. poly(tetramethyl-2,6-silanthrylenesiloxane) (P1), poly(tetramethyl-9,10-silanthrylenesiloxane) (P2), and poly(tetramethyl-1,8-silphenanthrylenesiloxane) (P3), were synthesized by polycondensation of novel disilanol monomers, i.e. 2,6-bis(dimethylhydroxysilyl)-anthracene (M1), 9,10-bis(dimethylhydroxysilyl)anthracene (M2), and 1,8-bis(dimethylhydroxysilyl)phenanthrene (M3), respectively. P1 and P3 were soluble in common organic solvents, such as benzene, toluene, chloroform, dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran, etc. whereas P2 was almost insoluble in common organic solvents. It was revealed that P1 and P3 were amorphous and that P2 exhibited the crystallinity, as deduced from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction measurements. The glass transition temperatures (T_g’s) of P1 (118 °C) and P3 (100 °C) were much higher than that of poly(tetramethyl-1,4-silphenylenesiloxane). The temperature at 5% weight loss (T_d5) of P3 was 500 °C, which was higher than those of P1 and P2, and comparable to that of poly(tetramethyl-1,4-silphenylenesiloxane). It would be speculated that the thermostability of the series of poly(tetramethyl-silarylenesiloxane) derivatives is dependent on the stability of arylene moieties incorporated.     

Mechanism of photoconductivity gain and persistent photoconductivity for diamond photodetector

Photoconductivity gain (PG) and persistent photoconductivity (PPC) properties observed in diamond photodetector are theoretically explained by solving rate equations which describe capture and emission processes of photo-generated hole and electron through a boron acceptor and a hole trap in a diamond epilayer and a nitrogen donor in a diamond substrate. Formation of one-sided pn-junction between the epilayer and substrate and slow hole capture rate of acceptor and hole trap levels provide accumulation of photo-generated hole in the epilayer, which produces the PG larger than the ideal responsivity. The PPC current after turning off the deep ultraviolet light is interpreted as due to the slow hole capture rate of the acceptor and trap levels.     

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.     

DIRECT NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF BLUFF BODY FLOWS USING NON-STAGGERED GRIDS

The present authors pointed out in the previous paper [1] that the implicit SMAC scheme is quite efficient and non-staggered grid arrangement can decrease the computational effort and save the storage memory which is very important to the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of complicated 3-D flow fields. But using non-staggered grid arrangement, the pressure field oscillation (PFO) ordinarily occurs and also, the pressure on the solid walls including sharp corners need to be prescribed directly as the pressure boundary conditions.

In this paper, a new interpolation method, which is a modification to Cheng and Armfield's interpolation formulation, is presented in order to completely prevent PFO from occurring, Moreover, a more accurate specification method of wall pressures and special treatment of pressures at sharp corners are proposed. To test the new methods proposed, the DNS of flow past a square cylinder and flows over backward-facing steps, which are typical of the flow fields with sharp corners, is made using the implicit SMAC scheme combined with these methods. The calculated results are compared with the previous experimental and numerical data and show good agreement with them.     

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.