The Application of VDM to the Industrial Development of Firmware for a Smart Card IC Chip

We have applied the formal speci.cation language in the development of the .rmware of the smart card IC chip for embedding in mobile phone. We report on an in-dustrial application of formal methods to the development of a complex system, namely the .rmware for the “Mobile FeliCa” smart card IC chip. The use of formal techniques, specif-ically the Vienna Development Method (VDM), was aimed at raising the quality of system speci.cations by reducing ambiguity and improving communications between engineers. De-velopment data gathered during the life cycle con.rm the e.ectiveness of a lightweight formal method in contributing to the quality of the deliverables in early development stages. No software speci.cation problems have, to date, been reported since .rst release (over 100 million mobile phones have the chip embedded).     

Towards the improvement of thermal efficiency in lignite‐fired power generation: Concerning the utilization of Polish lignite deposits in state‐of‐the‐art IGCC technology

Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) is the most advanced technology for coal‐fired power generation. The two‐stage entrained flow gasification process allows for the use of a wide range of coal, as long as the gasification temperature is above the ash melting point of a used fuel. In this gasification technology, lignite, which often has a low ash melting point, can be preferably utilized. However, ash fluidity is also another importance, because the behaviour of molten slag can diminish a stable ash discharge from a gasifier. As the eligibility of coal ash properties is a considerable factor, water physically and chemically kept in lignite (30 – 60% in mass) attributes to deteriorating gasification efficiency, because it causes significant heat loss and increasing oxygen consumption. Developing a thermal evaporative lignite drying method will be a necessary attempt to apply lignite to the coal gasification process. For those preceded objectives, coal and ash properties and drying characteristics of several grades of Polish lignite, extracted from Belchatow and Turow deposits, have been experimentally investigated in a preliminary study evaluating the applicability and consideration for its utilization in state‐of‐the‐art clean coal technology, IGCC. This paper particularly discusses the eligibility of Polish lignite from the perspective of the fusibility and fluidity of ash melts and the fundamental drying kinetics of lignite in superheated steam in the light of water removal. The viscosity of ash melts is measured at high temperature up to 1700 °C. In the drying tests, the significant influence of structural issues, because of the provenance and origin of lignite on the drying characteristics, was found by applying the method of sensitivity analysis of physical propensity. This paper concludes that the investigated Polish lignite has characteristics favourable for utilization in IGCC technology, once the precautions related to its high moisture have been carefully addressed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three-dimensional rainbow schlieren measurements in underexpanded sonic jets from axisymmetric convergent nozzles

The rainbow schlieren deflectometry has been combined with the computed tomography to obtain three-dimensional density fields of shock containing free jets and we call the method the schlieren CT. Experiments on the schlieren CT have been performed at a nozzle pressure ratio of 4.0 by using an axisymmetric convergent nozzle with an inner diameter of 10 mm at the exit where the nozzle was operated at an underexpanded condition. Multidirectional rainbow schlieren pictures of an underexpanded sonic jet can be acquired by rotating the nozzle about its longitudinal axis in equal angular intervals and the three-dimensional density fields are reconstructed by the schlieren CT. The validity of the schlieren CT is verified by a comparison with the density fields reconstructed by the Abel inversion method. As a result, it is found that excellent quantitative agreement is reached between the three-dimensional jet density fields reconstructed from both methods.     

Dietary supplement of isohumulones inhibits the formation of aberrant crypt foci with a concomitant decrease in prostaglandin E2 level in rat colon

Male Fischer 344 rats were subcutaneously injected with azoxymethane (AOM) twice weekly at a dose of 15 mg/kg and were fed with freeze-dried (FD) samples of beer brewed without hops (non-hops beer), beer with hops at 4 times the amount of regular lager beer (x 4-hops beer), and isomerized hop extract (IHE) for the whole experimental period (I/PI) or for the post-initiation period (PI) only. Feeding FD beer samples at a dose of 1% significantly decreased the number of aberrant cryp foci (ACF) in the PI protocol over five weeks.x4-hops beer showed stronger inhibitory effects on the development of the numbers of aberrant crypts per focus and large ACF with four or more crypts than non-hops beer. Feeding IHE to rats at a dose of 0.01% or 0.05% in either the I/PI or PI experiment significantly reduced the numbers of ACF. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels in colonic mucosa of AOM-treated rats were significantly reduced by feeding of IHE. PGE2 production induced by lipopolysaccharide/interferon-gamma (LPS/IFN-gamma) in RAW264.7 cells was also reduced by treatment with IHE and isohumulone in a dose-dependent manner. These observations suggest that isohumulones show chemopreventive effects on ACF formation in rat colon by inhibiting the production of PGE2.     

Use of the nuclear reaction for diagnostics of energetic particles in burning plasmas

Application of reaction-produced γ-rays to diagnostics of energetic particles in burning plasmas is analyzed. Particularly, we focus on 0.981 MeV γ-rays emitted in the nuclear reaction solely governed in the plasmas by energetic tritons. It is shown that these γ quanta can serve as a promising tool to diagnose α knock-on tritons and α-particles confined in burning DT plasmas. Key parameters of the α knock-on triton population and the α-particle confinement property can be obtained by comparing the experimental γ-ray yield and spectrum with theoretical slowing-down calculations. Even if the γ-ray spectral shape cannot be acquired, one can monitor densities of these tritons and α-particles at energies of 0.6–1.8 MeV and 2.0–3.5 MeV, respectively, in a nearly steady-state plasma. The 0.981-MeV photons also would help to display time evolution of the α-particle population in experiments of deuterium plasmas with pulsed tritium beam shots.     

Feedback position control apparatus of tokamak plasma horizontal position with a digital drive

A plasma horizontal position feedback control system (PHPFCS) and a digital current drive (DCD) for controlling vertical magnetic field are made on an experimental base, and the horizontal position of a plasma in a small tokamak (HAMANA‐T) is controlled by PID operations from the initial phase of plasma generation. The DCD consists of constant‐current discharge units for multiple condensers and drives a digital current analogous as a whole to the control signal of PHPFCS in the range of ±90 A. The maximum value of the digital current increases in proportion to the number of units. This PHPFCS elongates plasma duration from 1.3 ms to 2.1 ms, smooths the waveform of plasma current, and reduces the plasma loop voltage from 25 V to 20 V. Furthermore, PHPFCS reduces the range of variation in plasma horizontal displacement from 3.5 cm to within 0.5 cm and makes it possible to set accurately the horizontal position from the initial phase in the inner region of a vacuum chamber. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(4): 26–34, 2000     

Propagation characteristics of impulse creepage discharge in perfluorocarbon liquid

In this paper, the propagation characteristics of a creepage discharge on the surface of a solid insulator with a back electrode in perfluorocarbon liquid under an impulse voltage application are investigated. The propagation process is observed in detail by means of a high‐speed schlieren optical technique, and simultaneously waveforms of a current and a charge are also measured. Consequently, the polarity effect of the streamer propagation and the positive streamer which propagates stepwise can be seen. The latter is concurrent with the sparse current pulse which corresponds to the charge step‐variation. These results are compared with ones obtained in transformer oil. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 131(4): 19–28, 2000     

Nanogrinding of multi-layered thin film amorphous Si solar panels

Nanogrinding was performed on the cross-sections of amorphous Si thin film solar panels, which are nanoscale multi-layer structures consisting of hard and brittle materials. The deformed structures of the panel cross-sectional surfaces after grinding were investigated using electron and atomic force microscopy. The nanogrinding results were compared with those obtained from polishing and nanoscratching, demonstrating that the three processes had produced consistent surface characteristics. Though nanogrinding produced nanometric surface roughness with ductile material removal, but could cause cracking, edge chipping and delamination at thin film interfaces. The results of this work are of value for developing the efficient machining process for thin film solar panels and other brittle multi-layer materials.     

Dry Machining Tool Design via Chlorine Ion Implantation

DRY MACHINING is a keyword for manufacturingand production science in the twenty-first century,which requires significant reduction of environmentalburden and COi emission11.In the modern high-speedwet and semi-dry machining processes,huge amountsof lubricants and cleansing agents are wasted in dailyproduction2).Among various proposals aiming at thedry machining3"5>,in-situ formation of tribo-filrns mustbe an important concept to make dry machining tools.Authors have pointed out the impor…