Tensile load and the metabolism of anterior cruciate ligament cells

It generally is recognized that tensile load plays a major role in maintaining the homeostasis of the anterior cruciate ligament fibers, but its detailed mechanism remains a matter of controversy. The effect of cyclic tensile load on the metabolism of the anterior cruciate ligament were investigated experimentally using cultured cells from the anterior cruciate ligament of rabbits. Using culture plates with flexible rubber bases, a cyclic tensile load was applied to the cultured cells for 24 hours, and the changes in shape, alignment, and metabolism of the cells were analyzed. Under the cyclic tensile load, the shape of the cells from the anterior cruciate ligament changed to spindle and aligned perpendicularly to the direction of the tensile load. The cyclic tensile load also caused an increase in collagen synthesis by the cells from the anterior cruciate ligament, which was predominant in Type I. The cells from the synovium showed similar changes in shape and alignment under the cyclic tensile load, but no significant change was observed in cell metabolism. These observations suggest that the application of cyclic tensile load on the anterior cruciate ligament cells is an important factor in the regulation of collagen synthesis in the anterior cruciate ligament.     

Rapid Vapor Grown Carbon Fiber Production Using the Intermittent Liquid Pulse Injection Technique

Three series of experiments were conducted to collect information for the design of a commercial scale reactor for the production of low cost vapor grown carbon fibers (VGCFs). Firstly, the effects of reaction conditions on the yield of vapor grown carbon fibers were investigated using the newly developed liquid pulse injection technique. The examined conditions were the flow rate of the carrier gas, and the amount of the catalyst source injected into the reactor as a liquid pulse. Yields up to 40% were attained under optimized conditions. Secondly, VGCFs were continuously produced by intermittently injecting the catalyst source into the reactor (intermittent liquid pulse injection technique), and the effect of the intervals of the injections on the amount of VGCFs obtained was also investigated. VGCFs were successfully obtained using this method. Finally, the growth sequences of VGCFs were investigated using benzene, toluene and xylene as the carbon source. VGCFs were obtained from each carbon source     

ATM transmissions of microprocessor-based current differentialteleprotection signals

This paper describes prudent considerations for applying asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) transmissions, which can provide broadband and multimedia communications as well as flexible, efficient and wide-area networks, to microprocessor-based current differential teleprotection systems. As both functions of current data transmission and simultaneous sampling among remote terminals are required for the telecommunication systems, measures against cell losses and cell delay variations in ATM network elements such as terminal adapters and switches are proposed for the present delay-sensitive teleprotection systems. Allowable system configurations are examined under severe delay constraints in Japan. A new concept of an ATM-native teleprotection system employing time synchronous systems such as GPS is also proposed     

High Temperature Oxidation Behaviour of High Al Content Ferritic and Austenitic Stainless Steels With and Without Rare-Earth Element Addition

The oxidation behaviour of austenitic and ferritic alloys containing 4% Al and rare-earth element addition of (La?+?Ce) has been investigated, and comparisons made to an austenitic alloy with no such addition. The alloys were all found to exhibit good oxidation resistance; although, such resistance was highest when the alloy contained rare-earth elements. The addition led to a reduction in the amount of scale spalling. The scales formed after 10 and 100?h at 1,000?°C were examined using transmission electron microscopy and found to have bi-layered microstructures. The dislocation density and an amount of distortion in the scale were found to differ, depending on the absence or presence of (La?+?Ce) in the metal. It was observed that the outer-to-inner layer thickness ratio changed with time and the rare-earth element addition promoted growth of the inner layer relative to the outer layer. Analysis of the scale compositions demonstrated an apparent synergistic relationship between the effects of the rare-earth element addition and the degree to which iron is incorporated within the scales. The results are discussed in relation to the relative oxidation performance of the austenitic and ferritic alloys.     

Subboundaries in hcp4He crystals studied by SR X-ray topography

The internal structure of hcp⁴He crystals was studied by SR (synchrotron radiation) X-ray topography. Subboundaries in the crystals appeared as black or white bands in the X-ray topographs. In one of the hcp⁴He crystals, the subboundaries turned out to be flat planes perpendicular to the basal plane. They were small-angle tilt boundaries which consisted of basal edge dislocations. The dislocation spacing in one of the subboundaries was determined to be 800 nm and the total density of the boundary dislocations to be 2.6 × 10⁵ cm^–2. The subboundaries in another hcp⁴He crystal were curved and/or branching, indicating that the crystal was strained.     

Re-evaluation and reconstruction of water purification system using soil. I. Assessment of soil as a sorbent of humic substances and phosphate ion.

The purpose of our study is to develop a treatment procedure for humic substances (HS hereafter) and phosphate ion in wastewater and environmental water by percolation of the water through a constructed soil layer at the hydraulic loading of a few metres per day. In the present work, batch sorption tests were conducted for more than 80 samples of soil, sludge, mineral and organic materials in order to find good sorbents for fulvic acid (FA hereafter) and phosphate ion. The results showed that the sorption of FA was high for some charcoal, and apatite and goethite minerals. Comparatively high sorption of FA was found for some Andosols and volcanic ash soil. Significant sorption of phosphate ion, on the other hand, was found for various types of soil, sludge from water treatment plants and some waste materials. The linear isotherm was obtained for the sorption of FA to a charcoal, apatite and goethite minerals, and Andosols.     

A brushless self-exciting three-phase synchronous generatorutilizing the 5th-space harmonic component of magneto motive forcethrough armature currents

A novel brushless self-exciting three-phase synchronous generator is proposed. It consists of three-phase armature windings on the stator, one field winding and one exciting winding with five times as many poles as that of the armature winding on the rotor, and a three-phase reactor connected to the terminal of the armature windings. By utilizing the 5th-space harmonic component of armature electromotive force, small voltage regulation for various loads and no oscillatory tension occurring at the rotor shaft were realized. The basic constitution, principle of operations, and exciting characteristics are described. The experimental results obtained from using a trial generator demonstrated its practical usefulness