High-speed deformation of aluminum by cold rolling

High-speed deformation of aluminum was carried out by use of a high-speed rolling machine, and the results were compared with those of impact compression. The rolled specimens were electro-polished and observed under an electron microscope. As compared with the microstructures observed in the impact compression specimens, the microstructures observed in the rolled specimens showed almost the same tendency as impact compression for vacancy loop formation, but a different tendency for dislocation cell formations. The difference in the results is explained by the variation in strain rate during deformation in rolling. The results indicate that in high-speed rolling, vacancies and dislocations are produced independently during different periods. Specifically, in the high-strain period, during which dislocations are not generated, deformation proceeds without dislocations.     

Investigation of Brain Function-Related Myokine Secretion by Using Contractile 3D-Engineered Muscle

Brain function-related myokines, such as lactate, irisin, and cathepsin B (CTSB), are upstream factors that control brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression and are secreted from skeletal muscle by exercise. However, whether irisin and CTSB are secreted by muscle contraction remains controversial. Three-dimensional (3D)-engineered muscle (3D-EM) may help determine whether skeletal muscle contraction leads to the secretion of irisin and CTSB, which has never been identified with the addition of drugs in conventional 2D muscle cell cultures. We aimed to investigate the effects of electrical pulse stimulation (EPS)-evoked muscle contraction on irisin and CTSB secretion in 3D-EM. The 3D-EM, which consisted of C2C12 myoblasts and type-1 collagen gel, was allowed to differentiate for 2 weeks and divided into the control and EPS groups. EPS was applied at 13 V, 66 Hz, and 2 msec for 3 h (on: 5 s/off: 5 s). Irisin and CTSB secretion into the culture medium was measured by Western blotting. Irisin secretion was significantly increased following EPS (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in CTSB secretion between the two groups. The present study suggests that irisin may be a contractile muscle-derived myokine, but CTSB is not secreted by EPS-evoked muscle contractile stimulation in 3D-EM.     

Thermostable farnesyl diphosphate synthase of Bacillus stearothermophilus: molecular cloning, sequence determination, overproduction, and purification

The structural gene for thermostable farnesyl diphosphate synthase from Bacillus stearothermophilus was cloned, sequenced, and overexpressed in Escherichia coli cells. A 1,260-nucleotide sequence of the cloned fragment was determined. This sequence specifies an open reading frame of 891 nucleotides for farnesyl diphosphate synthase. The deduced amino acid sequence shows a 42% similarity with that of E. coli FPP synthase [Fujisaki et al. (1990) J. Biochem. 108, 995-1000]. Comparison with prenyltransferases from a wide range of organisms, from bacteria to human, revealed the presence of seven highly conserved regions. In contrast to thermolabile prenyltransferases, which have four to six cysteine residues, the thermostable farnesyl diphosphate synthase carries only two cysteine residues. This enzyme is also unique in that some of the amino acids that are fully conserved in equivalents from other sources are replaced by functionally different amino acids. Construction of an overproducing strain provided a sufficient supply of this enzyme and it was purified to homogeneity. The purified recombinant enzyme is immunochemically identical with the native B. stearothermophilus enzyme, and it is not inactivated even after treatment at 65 degrees C for 70 min.     

Development of versatile nuclear heating calculation system in MARBLE

A versatile nuclear heating calculation system is developed in MARBLE, a neutronics calculation platform based on the object-oriented language. The system provides a variety of heating calculation methods, from the conventional simple methods based on energy-independent Q-values to a detailed method based on NJOY/HEATR. A particular feature is in hybrid methods that consider energy dependence employed in NJOY/HEATR in the system. The hybrid methods provide tools to assess errors in the simple methods and to evaluate the heat transport property by neutrons and photons precisely. The accuracy of the hybrid methods and the errors in the simple methods are investigated in a Monju design calculation. It is confirmed that the hybrid methods realize the nuclear heating by the detailed method within an accuracy of 0.1%. The neglect of incident energy dependence of the fission Q-value in the simple methods causes clear overestimation in the Q-value but its influence on the total heating is less than 1%. In the heat transport evaluation, it is observed that the heat transported from the fuel regions mainly appears in the blanket regions and the contribution by neutrons is larger than that by photons.     

Reachability of the sliding mode control for multimachine power systems

This paper presents conditions of reachability of a switching plane for the sliding mode control of phase shifters in multimachine power systems. Sliding mode controllers are usually synthesized so as to satisfy only the existence condition of a sliding mode. However, there is the border of an asymptotically stable region and a system state cannot reach a switching plane unless a state at the beginning of control (initial state) exists in that region. Hence, reachability is defined as an asymptotic stability of the initial state. A sufficient condition to reach onto a switching plane is given by an energy‐type Lyapunov function. It is described by control parameters that are introduced to find required control gains rather than feedback gains themselves. This allows us to straightforwardly evaluate an asymptotic stability. A phase‐shift control system is numerically tested in a 2‐machine 1‐infinite‐bus power system. The simulation results show that the improved control system offers faster transient stability and achieves the reachability of a switching plane. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 131(3): 43–50, 2000     

Simulation study of unified power flow controller

The increasing complexity of ac power networks requires a high‐performance power flow control system in order to obtain the desired power flow and enhance static and dynamic stability. One of the most effective power electronic systems to satisfy these requirements is a UPFC (Unified Power Flow Controller) employing self‐commutated converters. This paper presents basic control strategies and simulation results for the UPFC using the EMTP (Electromagnetic Transient Program). The simulations were carried out for start and stop operations, power flow change operations in normal system conditions, as well as operations during system fault conditions. Thyristor‐based bypass switches are used for the protection of the series compensator of the UPFC from system fault currents, and satisfactory protection capability was confirmed. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 127(1): 23–30, 1999     

Elimination of floating nodes for load flow calculation

Most approaches aiming at reduction of the power flow computation time approximate the Jacobian matrix. Thus, the convergence is degraded compared to the conventional Newton method. This paper proposes a new approach for reducing the processing time by considering the fact that half of the nodes in real power systems are floating nodes that can be removed. In the conventional reduced matrix approach where the floating nodes are removed, the sparsity is lost. The method in this paper does not remove all of the floating nodes but keeps some nodes by using an optimal criterion for keeping the sparsity. The criterion is to indicate the minimum number of elements in the reduced matrix. This method has been applied to a 1000‐node test system. It was verified that the number of elements of the Jacobian has been reduced to about one‐half that of the conventional matrix. And computation time has been remarkably improved without sacrificing the convergence characteristics for the power flow computation. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 129(2): 22–30, 1999     

Genericity for Non-Wandering Surface Flows

Consider the set \(\chi ^{0}_{\text {nw}}\) of non-wandering continuous flows on a closed surface M. Then we show that such a flow can be approximated by a non-wandering flow v such that the complement M?Per(v) of the set of periodic points is the union of finitely many centers and finitely many homoclinic saddle connections. Using the approximation, the following are equivalent for a continuous non-wandering flow v on a closed connected surface M: (1) the non-wandering flow v is topologically stable in \(\chi ^{0}_{\text {nw}}\); (2) the orbit space M/v is homeomorphic to a closed interval; (3) the closed connected surface M is not homeomorphic to a torus but consists of periodic orbits and at most two centers. Moreover, we show that a closed connected surface has a topologically stable continuous non-wandering flow in \(\chi ^{0}_{\text {nw}}\) if and only if the surface is homeomorphic to either the sphere \(\mathbb {S}^{2}\), the projective plane \(\mathbb {P}^{2}\), or the Klein bottle \(\mathbb {K}^{2}\).     

1.3-μm CW lasing of InGaAs-GaAs quantum dots at room temperaturewith a threshold current of 8 mA

We demonstrate the first 1.3-μm continuous-wave (CW) lasing at room temperature of self-assembled InGaAs-GaAs quantum dots. High-density 1.3-μm emission dots were successfully formed by the combination of low-rate growth and InGaAs-layer overgrowth methods of molecular beam epitaxy. The 1.3-μm ground-level CW lasing occurred at up to 40°C, and the threshold current of 8 mA at 25°C is less than one thirtieth of values ever reported for 1.3-μm dot pulse lasers. The achievement represents a milestone for creating quantum-dot lasers applicable to fiber-optic communication system     

Concept and Performance of a Non-Azide Propellant for Automotive Airbag Inflators

A university laboratory and three companies have collaborated to develop a non-azide propellant for automotive airbag inflators which is composed of azodicarbonamide(ADCA), potassium perchlorate(KClO₄), and additives such as burning catalyst, binder and others. The new propellant aims at low cost, small size of inflators, featuring low toxicity of not only raw materials of the propellant but also effluent gases, particulates and residues generated on deployment of an airbag. No hygroscopicity and low hazard of the propellant will make manufacturing, transportation, and handling easy. The performances of the propellant were evaluated by strand test, pressure chamber test, 7.5 l tank test, 60 l tank test, and airbag deployment test. The strength of the pellet of the new propellant was evaluated by a small ball drop test.