Electrical conductivity and domain structure in ferroelastic Tl2SeO4

We have carried out the optical observation, electrical conductivity and ²⁰⁵Tl NMR measurements, and subsequently investigated the origin of the large conductivity above ferroelastic phase transition temperature T_c (=661 K) on the basis of the domain structure and the crystal structure. Electrical conductivity exhibits the discontinuous increase around T_c with increasing temperature and becomes approximately 5 × 10⁻³ S m⁻¹ above T_c. Moreover, from the ²⁰⁵Tl NMR measurements, it is found that mobile Tl ions exist above T_c. Furthermore, from the analysis of the domain structure based on the crystal structure in the low-temperature ferroelastic phase, it is also found that the anomalously large fluctuations of SeO₄ tetrahedrons exist above T_c. It is deduced from these results that the high electrical conductivity above T_c is caused by the mobile Tl ions closely related to the anomalously large fluctuations of SeO₄ tetrahedrons accompanied by the ferroelastic phase transition.     

A new control strategy for optimum-efficiency operation of asynchronous reluctance motor

In this paper, an optimum-efficiency control scheme of synchronous reluctance motors is presented. There exists a variety of combinations of d- and q-axis current which provides a specific motor torque. The objective of the optimum-efficiency controller is to seek a combination of d- and q-axis current components, which provides minimum input power, that is, minimum losses at a certain operating point in steady state. A small amount of perturbation is added to the d-axis current reference for the purpose of searching a minimum input power operating point     

The evaluation of the emotion by near-infrared spectroscopy

Our purpose is to develop the technology for evaluating emotion objectively from the oxygenated hemoglobin within a brain. Nowadays, Japan is an aging society. The elderly people who need care will increase from now on increasingly. In the case of the person requiring the care who lost the function to convey an intention especially, the objective judgment to a physical and mental pain is required. Persons requiring care will also increase in number with the increase in this population. We gave subject stimulus of a comfortable or an uncomfortable sound and measured concentration of the oxygenated hemoglobin of a frontal lobe part by near-infrared spectroscopy. Based on the experimental result, a comfortable state or an uncomfortable state was distinguished by concentration of the oxygenated hemoglobin using the bayesian network. As a result, we were able to estimate the subject’s psychological condition.     

The effect of initial parameters on particle size distribution inverted using the laser diffraction technique and a non-linear iterative method

The Twomey non-linear iteration (NLI) method is known by the simple algorithm. However, the performance of the inversion is strongly depended on parameters of the NLI algorithm. Major parameters in the algorithm are the initial size distribution, weight parameter, and the number of iteration. In the study, we show how values of initial parameters affect to the result of size distribution in the algorithm by the laser diffraction scattering method. Computer simulations and experimental method are carried out to observe the influence of the parameters in the algorithm. Scattering pattern is calculated by Mie scattering model in the range of 5.0 × 10^?4 ? 2.5 rad. Experimental results were measured mono-distribution polystyrene latex (50 μm) and poly-distribution glass beads (3–30 μm, and 10–100 μm). The number of iteration is a most influence parameter in the NLI algorithm. If the number of iteration is too high for calculation, calculated result will lose the smoothness. We also introduced a new parameter C (combination of the sum of residual squares of scattering signals and sum of secondary differentiation of size distribution) to monitor the suitable stop criterion for the NLI method. The parameter C is a useful index for the poly dispersion sample to find the suitable stop criterion.     

Adaptive backstepping control of wheeled inverted pendulum with velocity estimator

In this paper, we introduce a backstepping control design of a wheeled inverted pendulum. Based on a second-order motion equation of the body angle, an adaptive integral backstepping controller is designed to stabilize the body angle. It is shown that the σ-modification rule in the adaptive update law guarantees the boundedness of the errors in estimating the time-varying signal that is an output of a linear system with every bounded input signal. Then, the stabilizing controller for the wheel angle is constructed by a PD-type positive feedback. The derived controller requires the full-state measurements. In the output feedback case, the K filter or the observer backstepping is needed. However, the structure of the controller becomes complicated. We propose a non-model-based differentiator based on the adaptive update law. Since the non-model-based differentiator does not require any knowledge of the dynamic structure of the signal, we can use it as a velocity estimator for unknown nonlinear systems. Therefore, we replaced the velocity measurement with the estimates by the non-model-based differentiator. Finally, simulation results for the proposed controller are presented.     

Advantage of Sodium Polyoxyethylene Lauryl Ether Carboxylate as a Mild Cleansing Agent

Five anionic surfactants widely used in commercial skin cleansers were studied: sodium polyoxyethylene lauryl ether carboxylate (EC), sodium polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate (ES), sodium dodecyl sulfate, potassium laurate, and N-cocoyl-l-glutamic acid monosodium salt. The amount of surfactant from aqueous solution adsorbed into the stratum corneum (SC), the degree of SC swelling, the change of the secondary structure of SC proteins (denaturation). The surface tension of surfactant–zein mixed solutions, and the solubilization behavior of zein were measured. Results showed that EC had the lowest adsorption into SC, the lowest SC swelling, and lowest denaturation of SC proteins. Low interactions between surfactants and SC proteins were also observed for EC/ES mixture solutions as well as. Mixing EC with ES good foaming performance. The EC/ES mixture, at about 1:1 ratio, is an excellent surfactant system for skin cleanser applications having cleansing characteristics and mildness to the skin.     

Long terminal linear alkyl group as internal crystallization accelerating moiety of poly(l-lactide)

Poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) polymers having terminal n-alkyl groups with a wide variety of lengths (C₀–C₂₂) were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of l-lactide in the presence of coinitiators of l-lactic acid (C₀), 1-hexanol (C₆), 1-dodecanol (C₁₂), and 1-docosanol (C₂₂) and their segmental mobility and non-isothermal and isothermal crystallization behavior were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffractometry (WAXD). Glass transition and cold crystallization temperatures of melt-quenched samples during heating decreased with an increase in the length of terminal n-alkyl groups. The enhanced PLLA segmental mobility and hydrophobic interaction-based accelerated PLLA nucleation by the presence of terminal long n-alkyl groups should have caused the accelerated non-isothermal and isothermal crystallization of PLLA segments traced by cold crystallization temperature during heating and by radial growth rate of spherulites, respectively. The crystallization accelerating effect became higher with the length of terminal n-alkyl groups. The effects of the length of terminal n-alkyl group on the crystalline growth mechanism of PLLA at the lowest crystallizable temperature was insignificant, whereas the effects of the length of terminal n-alkyl group on the nucleation mechanism of PLLA chains were significant and insignificant for PLLA having M_n of 6–7 × 10³ of 2 × 10⁴ g mol⁻¹, respectively. WAXD measurements revealed that the transition crystallization temperature at which crystalline modification changes from δ-form to α-form was affected by the length of terminal n-alkyl group for PLLA having M_n of 6–7 × 10³ g mol⁻¹, but was not altered by the length of terminal n-alkyl group for PLLA having M_n of 2 × 10⁴ g mol⁻¹.