Median raphe (parameatal) cysts of the penis

PURPOSE: Although median raphe cysts of the penis have been widely reported the pathogenesis is obscure. We describe the microstructural detection of 3 cases of median raphe to study the true pathogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three patients presented to our clinic of plastic surgery complaining of abnormal shape of the penis or mass recurrence. High magnification light microscopy and electron microscopy were performed. RESULTS: Microstructural study revealed that all 3 cases had similar findings to those of the common urethral mucosa. CONCLUSIONS: Median raphe cysts are derived from the external paraurethral ducts and contain features that to our knowledge have not been previously reported.     

Effects of ultrasonic vibration on the wear characteristics of a carbon steel: Analysis of the wear mechanism

To explain the fact that the wear rate of a carbon steel subjected to ultrasonic vibration decreases with an increase in the amplitude of vibration, a simple equation for the wear rate was derived using the theories of adhesive wear and analytical results of vibration. Analytical predictions were in good agreement with experimental results. One of the main factors affecting the wear behaviour under vibration is the contact time between specimens during 1 cycle of vibration. The amount of oxygen adsorbed on rubbing surfaces with repeated dynamic contact loading also affects the wear rate. The activation energy of oxygen adsorption with vibration is considered to be lower than that found in the process of ordinary wear without vibration. The variation in hardness of worn surfaces due to repeated friction passes has little effect on the wear rate with vibration.     

Fatigue crack separation and merging simulation using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics

International Journal of Fracture - The present paper proposes a new computational method for the fatigue crack propagation in a metallic structure using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH)....     

High energy-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy study of the dielectric properties of bulk and nanoparticle LaB6 in the near-infrared region

The dielectric properties of LaB₆ crystals and the plasmonic behavior of LaB₆ nanoparticles, which have been applied to solar heat-shielding filters, were studied by high energy-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy (HR-EELS). An EELS spectrum of a LaB₆ crystal showed a peak at 2.0 eV, which was attributed to volume plasmon excitation of carrier electrons. EELS spectra of single LaB₆ nanoparticles showed peaks at 1.1-1.4 eV depending on the dielectric effect from the substrates. The peaks were assigned to dipole oscillation excitations. These peak energies almost coincided with the peak energy of optical absorption of a heat-shielding filter with LaB₆ nanoparticles. On the other hand, those energies were a smaller than a dipole oscillation energy predicted using the dielectric function of bulk LaB₆ crystal. It is suggested that the lower energy than expected is due to an excitation at 1.2 eV, which was observed for oxidized LaB₆ area.     

Strain analysis of arsenic-doped silicon using CBED rocking curves of low-order reflections

Local lattice strains of semiconductor devices have been so far examined using higher order Laue zone (HOLZ) line patterns of convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED). Recently, strain analyses in highly strained regions near interfaces have been reported using split HOLZ line patterns. In the present paper, it is demonstrated for arsenic-doped silicon that the use of CBED rocking curves of low-order reflections provides a promising new tool for the determination of strain distributions of highly strained specimen areas. That is, the anomalous intensity increase in the CBED rocking curves of low-order reflections is explained using a model structure with a strain gradient in the electron beam direction, which is similar to the models used for the split HOLZ line patterns.     

Hysteresis loops of polarization and magnetization in (BiNd0.05)(Fe0.97Mn0.03)O3/Pt/CoFe2O4 layered epitaxial thin film grown by pulsed laser deposition

(BiNd_0.05)(Fe_0.97Mn_0.03)O₃ (BNFM)/Pt/CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) layered thin film was fabricated on (100) SrTiO₃ substrate by pulsed laser deposition. BNFM, Pt, and CFO layers were epitaxially grown on the substrate. Almost no increase of leakage current due to the formation of heteroepitaxial structure was found, and well-saturated hysteresis loops in the polarization vs electric field and magnetization vs magnetic field curves coexist at room temperature. The remnant polarization and remnant magnetization values were 55 μC/cm², and 70-145 mA/m, respectively.     

Improvement in output power of vibration generators based on piezoelectric elements by using internal capacitor cancel control rectifier

Recently, energy harvesting has attracted increasing attention. The present study focuses on vibration generators based on piezoelectric elements by proposing an internal capacitor cancel control (ICCC) rectifier to improve the output power. The proposed rectifier cancels the internal capacitor to improve the output power while retaining the maximum output power. Accordingly, this paper experimentally demonstrates the improvement in output power by using the ICCC rectifier compared to conventional circuits and the previous proposed circuit.