Deuterium trapping by irradiation damage in tungsten induced by different displacement processes

The deuterium trapping behaviors in tungsten damaged by light ions with lower energy (10 keV C⁺ and 3 keV He⁺) or a heavy ion with higher energy (2.8 MeV Fe²⁺) were compared by means of TDS to understand the effects of cascade collisions on deuterium retention in tungsten. By light ion irradiation, most of deuterium was trapped by vacancies, whose retention was almost saturated at the damage level of 0.2 dpa. For the heavy ion irradiation, the deuterium trapping by voids was found, indicating that cascade collisions by the heavy ion irradiation would create the voids in tungsten. Most of deuterium trapped by the voids was desorbed in higher temperature region compared to that trapped by vacancies. It was also found that deuterium could accumulate in the voids, resulting in the formation of blisters in tungsten.     

Development of a simple method for fabrication of transparent conductive films with high mechanical strength

We have developed a simple method of fabricating transparent conductive films with a high mechanical strength on glass and indium tin oxide substrates. It does not require a large excess of organic solvents and polymerization catalysts and can yield smooth films by spin-coating of a mixture of a commercially available aqueous dispersion of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(4-styrene sulfonate) and a neat liquid of tetraethyl orthosilicate. Preparation conditions such as feed ratio, kinds of additives, and annealing temperature and time were optimized to give highly conductive, transparent and mechanically strong films.     

Fabrication of alumina films with laminated structures by ac anodization

Anodization techniques by alternating current (ac) are introduced in this review. By using ac anodization, laminated alumina films are fabricated. Different types of alumina films consisting of 50–200 nm layers were obtained by varying both the ac power supply and the electrolyte. The total film thickness increased with an increase in the total charge transferred. The thickness of the individual layers increased with the ac voltage; however, the anodization time had little effect on the film thickness. The laminated alumina films resembled the nacre structure of shells, and the different morphologies exhibited by bivalves and spiral shells could be replicated by controlling the rate of increase of the applied potentials.     

Heavy metal precipitation by polycation-polyanion complex of PEI and its phosphonomethylated derivative

The removal of various heavy metal ions such as Cu2+, Co2+, Zn2+, Ni2+ and Pb2+ from aqueous solutions by precipitation with polyelectrolyte complex of PPEI and PEI was conducted. Heavy metal binding with PPEI was initially allowed to occur and then upon equilibration, PEI was added to initiate precipitation of the polyelectrolyte complex together with the heavy metal ion. The PPEI-PEI system was found effective for heavy metal scavenging purposes even in the presence of high concentrations of non-transition metal ions like Na+. Heavy metal concentration may be reduced beyond emission standards for industrial wastewaters. The PPEI-PEI polyelectrolyte complex was found to be more effective than traditional precipitation methods for the treatment of a representative electroless Ni plating waste solution.     

Self-assembly of three dimensional micro mechanisms using thermal shrinkage of polyimide

This paper describes three-dimensional microstructures fabricated using a simple self-assembly process involving the thermal shrinkage of polyimide. The proposed method enables hinged structures to be automatically rotated out of the wafer plane and to remain bent without the need to use any interlocking mechanisms. The hinged structures were fabricated using surface micromachining techniques involving heating in a furnace. An increase in the bending angle due to the shrinkage of polyimide was observed with increasing heating temperature, heating time, and length of the polyimide hinge. Of these three parameters, the heating time was found to be the most suitable for precise control of the bending angle. Furthermore, microcubes were fabricated by this method and the self-assembly process was successfully visualized using a CCD camera.     

Accelerator-driven system for transmutation of high-level waste

The accelerator-driven transmutation system has been studied at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. This system is a hydrid system which consists of a high intensity accelerator, a spallation target and a subcritical core region. In the conceptual design study, two types of system concepts, sodium cooled and lead-bismuth cooled system, are being studied. In this study, we fucus on our lead-bismuth cooled accelerator-driven transmutation system to investigate basic characteristics. The fuel compositions were optimized for efficient transmutation of minor actinide. The transmutation of long-lived fission products was also considered.     

Comparative immunohistological study on using capsaicin,piperine, and okadaic acid for the transepithelial passage of the inactivated viral and bacterial vaccines in fish

The practical difficulty of parenteral application of fish vaccines against devastating fish diseases diverted the interest toward oral vaccination. Search for effective methods to enhance the oral uptake of viral and bacterial vaccines is continuing. The current research focus on a new role of mucosal fish vaccine adjuvants inducing the antigen uptake by enhancing vascularity or increasing intestinal permeability. Some inflammatory substances cause reversible pathology to the intestinal epithelium, which could be employed for the transepithelial passage of vaccine particles. The natural inflammatory substances used were capsaicin, piperine, and okadaic acid as 1 mg, 2 mg, and 1 μg/fish, respectively. Two inactivated vaccines were used as antigens to test the effect of these inflammatory substances in two different fish hosts. Tested vaccines were inactivated redspotted grouper nervous necrosis virus vaccine in sevenband grouper (Epinephelus septemfasciatus) and inactivated Edwardsiella tarda vaccine in red sea bream (Pagrus major) fish models. The inflammatory substances and each vaccine were anally intubated to fish. Capsaicin proved to be effectively aiding the transepithelial passage of vaccine particles more than piperine, while okadaic acid had no detectable effect.     

Experimental Evaluation of Characteristics of SR Motor Made of Permendur

A switched reluctance (SR) motor has a doubly salient pole structure. The performance of the SR motor strongly depends on the magnetic properties of the core material, since it consists only of an iron core and copper windings. This study experimentally evaluates the performance of an SR motor made of permendur (Fe–49% Co alloy), which has very high saturation flux density and low core loss. Two types of SR motors that have the same dimensions but different core materials are used: one motor is made of the conventional nonoriented Si steel, and the other is made of permendur. Comparison of the characteristics of the two motors shows that the performance of the permendur SR motor surpasses that of the conventional one in terms of output power and efficiency. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 187(1): 51–57, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.22431     

Reduction of Vibration in Concentrated Winding Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor by Means of Skew Effects of Rotor

Global warming and the problem of successfully incorporating environmental safeguards are promoting the need for a more power‐efficient motor. Therefore, as a driving source, permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) with concentrated winding are widely used in a variety of fields. However, a PMSM with a concentrated winding generates more vibration than one with a distributed winding because of the radial electromagnetic force. This paper describes the effect of a new skewed rotor on the characteristics of a concentrated winding PMSM. We investigated this effect by three‐dimensional finite element method (3D FEM) analysis and measurement. We also demonstrate that the proposed rotor is effective in reducing the radial electromagnetic force without decreasing motor efficiency. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 187(2): 33–43, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.22400     

Risk assessment for gas pipelines using fuzzy sets

Most gas pipelines have been buried for many years and it is hard to assess their safety. In some locations, gas pipeline breaks have resulted in severe economic and social consequences. The severity of such consequences increases with the number of people exposed. For these reasons, risk assessment for gas pipeline systems should consider both the prediction of damage occurrence and the estimation of the economic and social impacts. In this paper, a new measure denoted H. Index is introduced to assess the magnitude of gas accidents. In order to examine the correlation between the magnitude of accidents and the pipeline attributes, including the environment, fuzzy component analysis is developed. This paper presents a procedure based on linguistic variables to evaluate the main characteristics for each accident. Actual accidents data in Japan are used to illustrate the approach.