Thermodynamics of oxygen behaviour in cobalt-nickel alloys

In this study the concentration and chemical potential of oxygen in liquid Co-Ni alloys equilibrated with cobalt-nickel aluminate spinel solid solutions and alumina have been determined at 1773, 1823 and 1873K as a function of nickel concentration. The oxygen content of the melt has been measured by suction sampling and inert gas fusion analysis. The corresponding oxygen potential has been determined with the following solid state cell: Mo, Mo+MoO₂ | (MgO)ZrO₂ | (Co, Ni) melt + AI₂O₃ + (Co, Ni)O·(1+x)Al₂O₃, Mo. The effect of nickel on the activity coefficient of oxygen in Co-Ni alloys has been determined. The results for the activity coefficient have been modelled with Wagner's interaction parameters and also the more recent exponential method of St. Pierre et al. at the three temperatures.     

Realistic image synthesis of a deformable living thing based on motion understanding

This paper describes a system that can synthesize realistic sequential images of moving goldfish based on the image understanding result of real goldfish. To analyze and synthesize images in real-time, we have constructed a hardware system that consists of 32 paralell transputers with a high-speed visual-data interface called VIT (Visual Interface for Transpputer Network). The system is very flexible and powerful for various types of image processing because it can be extended according to the required computational cost. In the understanding process, we assume that the target object, a goldfish in this case, deforms its shape pliably in 3-D space and moves only in a two-dimensional direction. A modeling, called the Bone-Structured Solid Modeler, which is suitable for representing deformable objects such as living things, plays an important role in the understanding and synthesis processes of the deformable object. Three types of constraints for motion, namely, static, dynamic, and object, are utilized to verify the estimated pose and orientation of the object. In the motion synthesis process, realistic moving images are synthesized by controlling the model employing the motion understanding result. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the system. The technology discussed in this paper is expected to play a key role in the realization of future visual human interfaces.     

Development of InxGa1−xAs-based ohmic contacts for p-type GaAs by radio-frequency sputtering

In_xGa_1−xAs-based ohmic contacts which showed excellent contact properties for n-GaAs were demonstrated to be applicable to p-GaAs ohmic contacts. These contacts, prepared by radio-frequency sputtering, provided low contact resistance (0.2 Ω-mm), excellent thermal stability, smooth surface, and good reproducibility. The contact resistances had a weak dependence on the annealing temperatures, which was desirable in a manufacturing view point. This weak temperature dependence was explained to be due to a unique Schottky barrier height at the metal/p-In_xGa_1−xAs interface which does not depend on the In concentration in the In_xGa_1−xAs layer. The present experiment showed the possibility of simultaneous preparation of ohmic contacts for both n and p-GaAs using the same contact materials.     

Reliability consideration on a compound redundant system with repair

This paper considers a standby-redundant system consisting of 2 systems, in which one is main and the other is its standby-redundant system. These systems also consist of 2 subsystems connected in series.A feature of this system is that the system has 2 switching devices connecting subsystems, in addition to one connecting main and standby systems, in order to utilize surviving subsystem. In this consideration it is assumed that all the units are repairable.We shall obtain the system reliability, the mean time to system failure, the steady state availability, and examine numerically the effects of this model to the usual one without particular switching devices.     

Simulated annealing and its application to cobb-douglas economic model

Recently, the simulated annealing has been applied to several combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, the simulated annealing method for continuous functions is reviewed, and it is applied to an economic model having multiple optimal solutions, in which all optimal solutions cannot be simultaneously obtained by Scarf's algorithm.     

Glucose- and phorbol ester-induced insulin secretion in human insulinoma cells--association with protein kinase C activation

To investigate the incidence and demographics of gastric hypoacidity among persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 146 asymptomatic subjects were evaluated with use of a radiotelemetry device (Heidelberg capsule). Gastric hypoacidity (minimum gastric pH of > or = 3) occurred in 24 subjects (17%). Demographic characteristics, CD4 cell counts, and Helicobacter pylori serological status were evaluated for an association with gastric pH. Subjects with hypoacidity were more likely to have positive H. pylori serology than were subjects without hypoacidity (15 of 24 vs. 23 of 74, respectively; P = .004). Multivariate analysis indicated that a positive H. pylori serology was the most significant predictor of hypoacidity, accounting for an increase in gastric pH of 39%. A history of injection drug use, heterosexual transmission of HIV, and male gender were also associated with an elevated gastric pH. CD4 cell counts did not contribute to predictions of gastric pH. A history of H. pylori infection is relatively common in HIV-positive black and Hispanic populations and is a predictor of gastric pH.     

Velocity distribution of RIKEN IGISOL ion beams

The velocity distribution of an ion beam from an IGISOL ion guide isotope separator on-line was measured directly by means of laser spectroscopy and compared with that estimated from the mass spectrum. The latter is found to be more than two times broader than the former. The emittance of the ion beam as well as its velocity spread was also studied with laser beams. It is noted that the emittance affects the mass spectrum considerably, resulting in a poor resolving power for the net velocity spread. Laser spectroscopy of radioactive atoms with the IGISOL, especially of refractory elements, seems promising.     

Optimality conditions and algorithms for parameter design problems with two-level structure

We consider the parameter design problem for a central system coordinating plural semiautonomous subsystems each of which optimizes its own objective under the given parameter from the center. The center makes a decision of the parameter values to be assigned to the subsystems so as to optimize its objective, considering the values of optimized subsystems' performances. Such a parameter design problem is formulated in the framework of a two-level planning problem and becomes an optimization problem including optimal-value functions, and accordingly, a nondifferentiable optimization problem. In this paper, based on Gauvin's studies concerned with the directional derivatives of optimal-value functions, we derive the necessary conditions for the parameter design problem by means of a new theorem of the alternative. The results obtained here are slightly different from the Kuhn-Tucker-like conditions, and are adapted to the structure of the problem. As the computational method for our problem, we propose applying an existing generalized gradient algorithm called the "bundle method" in a class of nondifferentiable optimization methods, and also show a numerical example.