Debugging methods in recursive structured FORTRAN

A version of structured FORTRAN named STAR is introduced. STAR allows recursive subroutines. Implementation problems such as parameter passing by value and local variable stacking are discussed. The major difficulty in the preprocessor approach is debugging. We claim that execution profiles are strong debugging aids, and demonstrate how to debug a STAR program at source language level with the clue in the profiles plus assertion statements. We make use of a quicksort program as an example.     

Surface structures of synthetic diamonds

Diamond crystals of about 2 mm in size were grown by the temperature gradient method using Ni, Ni-Fe alloy and Fe as solvent metals. Several characteristic patterns were seen on the surfaces of the grown diamonds and were found to correspond to the texture of the quenched solvent metals. A vague vein-like pattern appeared when Ni was used. The surface patterns became finer with the increase of the content of Fe in Ni-Fe alloy, and when 70 wt% Fe-30 wt% Ni alloy was used, very fine dendritic patterns were seen on all of the faces of diamond in accordance with the symmetries of the lattice. The patterns are formed by the precipitation of carbon atoms in the space of the dendrites of the solvent metals during the quenching process. Lamellar patterns and etch pits were seen when Fe was used. The patterns are formed when Fe dissolves the diamond surfaces to produce Fe₃C during the quenching process.     

Spectral switches of partially coherent light focused by a filter-lens system with chromatic aberration

It is shown that when partially coherent polychromatic light is focused by a filter-lens system with chromatic aberration, a spectral shift exists in the focused field, and a spectral switch that is defined as a sharp transition of the spectral shift also takes place at some positions of the focused field. The influence of the chromatic aberration of the lens, the coherence of the partially coherent light in the filter (a circular aperture), the radius of the aperture, and the spectral width of the partially coherent light in the aperture on the spectral shift and the spectral switch are investigated in detail. The numerical results show that these parameters affect the spectral shift and the spectral switch significantly. Potential applications of the spectral shift and the spectral switch of the partially coherent light are discussed.     

Nanoliter-sized liquid dispenser array for multiple biochemical analysis in microfluidic devices

We have developed a microdispenser array made of PDMS, in which a number of nanoliter-sized droplets can be accurately dispensed and mixed with the aid of specific channels under pneumatic pressure. In this system, hydrophobic and narrow channels act as a kind of valve and help structural liquid manipulation. Also, by arranging multiple dispensers in parallel, a single injection of liquid becomes sufficient for the preparation of multiple nanoliter-sized aliquots for different reactions. We designed two kinds of microdevices for multiple liquid dispensing and mixing and evaluated their performance and reproducibility, proving them sufficient for quantitative reactions. As a practical application, biochemical analysis of glucose was performed using enzymatic reactions. This liquid dispensing technology can be widely applied in the field of microscale analysis due to its low consumption, small dead volume of reagents and samples, and ease of operation.     

Controlled release of biofunctional substances by radiation-induced polymerization: 1. Release of potassium chloride by polymerization of various vinyl monomers

The release behaviour of a drug from flat circular capsules obtained by radiation-induced polymerization at low temperatures and with different hydrophilic properties has been studied. The effect of various factors on release property was investigated. The release process could be divided into three parts, an initial quick release stage, stationary state release stage and a retarded release stage. Release behaviour in the stationary state was examined using Noyes-Whitney and Higuchi equations. It was shown that the hydrophilic property of polymer matrix expressed by water content was the most important effect on diffusion and release rate. Rigidity of the polymer may also affect diffusivity. The first quick release step could be attributed to rapid dissolution of drug in the matrix surface due to polymer swelling.     

Fourier synthesis image reconstruction by use of one-dimensional position-sensitive detectors

An improvement of Fourier synthesis optics for hard x-ray imaging is described, and the basic performance of the new optics is confirmed through numerical simulations. The original concept of the Fourier synthesis imager utilizes nonposition-sensitive hard x-ray detectors coupled to individual bigrid modulation collimators. The improved concept employs a one-dimensional position-sensitive detector (such as a CdTe strip detector) instead of the second grid layer of each bigrid modulation collimator. This improves the imaging performance in several respects over the original design. One performance improvement is a two-fold increase in the average transmission, from 1/4 to 1/2. The second merit is that both the sine and cosine components can be derived from a single grid-detector module, and hence the number of imaging modules can be halved. Furthermore, it provides information along the depth direction simultaneously. This in turn enables a three-dimensional imaging hard x-ray microscope for medical diagnostics, incorporating radioactive tracers. A conceptual design of such a microscope is presented, designed to provide a field of view of 4 mm and a spatial resolution of 400 microm.     

Efficient frequency doubling of 1-W continuous-wave Ti:sapphire laser with a robust high-finesse external cavity

We demonstrated an intrinsic conversion efficiency of 56% from the input fundamental power to the generated second-harmonic power. The second-harmonic power of 581 mW was obtained from the external cavity with a LiB3O5 crystal through the frequency doubling of a 1.17-W Ti:sapphire laser at 746 nm, when the finesse of the robust external cavity was 260.