Mimicking Nanometer Atomic Processes on a Micrometer Scale via Electrophoretic Deposition

The process of submonolayer formation during the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of colloidal films of micrometer-sized (diameter ∼ 0.5 μm) silica particles on a silicon wafer has been observed as a function of deposition time. The process of nucleation and growth of the silica monolayer is compared with that of atomic film growth (10000 times smaller scale) via molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), and for the first time, a striking similarity between the two growth processes is observed. Likewise in the atomic growth process via MBE, the entire nucleation, growth, and aggregation process during EPD of silica particles can be broadly classified into two regions. At low surface coverage when silica particles are deposited outside of clusters, diffuse randomly, and stick to a cluster on touching them, the mechanism of growth in this region follows diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) and the fractal dimension of the two-dimensional clusters is found to be close to 1.65. Later on, as the clusters grow in size, deposition of particles inside the clusters become important and clusters become more and more compact, resulting in a dense, close-packed, and homogeneous monolayer. This region is termed a consolidation region, and a change in fractal dimension from 1.65 toward 2 with increasing surface coverage has been observed.     

Direct synthesis of well dispersed ZnO nanorods without using additional surfactant

Without using additional surfactant as structure-directing agent, well dispersed ZnO nanorods were directly synthesized in the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and alcohol mixture solution by a one-step wet chemical method. The experiment results demonstrated that alcohol molecular with longer chain is helpful for the growth of ZnO nanorods. The absorption and emission spectra of as-synthesized ZnO nanorods were also presented in this paper.     

Potential evaluation of energy supply system in grid power system,commercial, and residential sectors by minimizing energy cost

If the economic activity in the commercial and residential sector continues to grow, improvements in energy conversion efficiencies of energy supply systems is necessary for CO₂ mitigation. In recent years, the electricity driven hot water heat pump (EDHP) and the solar photovoltaic (PV) have been commercialized. The fuel cell (FC) of co‐generation system (CGS) for the commercial and residential sector will be commercialized in the future. Copyright © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The aim is to indicate the ideal energy supply system of the users sector, which manages both the economical cost and CO₂ mitigation, considering the grid power system. In this paper, cooperative Japanese energy supply systems are modeled by linear programming. It includes the grid power system and energy system of five commercial sectors and a residential sector. The demands of sectors are given by the objective term for 2005 to 2025. Twenty‐four‐hour load for each three annual seasons are considered. The energy systems are simulated to minimize the total cost of energy supply, and to mitigate the CO₂ discharge. As a result, the ideal energy system at 2025 is shown. The CGS capacity grows to 30% (62 GW) of the total power system, and the EDHP capacity is 26 GW, in commercial and residential sectors. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 160(2): 9–19, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/ eej.20361     

Characterization of calcium titanate thin films deposited on titanium with reactive sputtering and pulsed laser depositions

In the present study, characteristics of calcium titanate thin films deposited on titanium by reactive sputtering and pulsed laser deposition techniques were investigated. In both techniques, a calcium titanate target was used as a deposition source, and the titanium substrate was heated at 873 K during the deposition. The oxygen flow for the reactive sputtering was in the range of 1 to 10 sccm, and the oxygen pressure for the pulsed laser deposition was in the range of 0.13 to 13 Pa. The deposited films were crystallized into perovskite-type calcium titanate; furthermore, a titanium-dioxide layer formed in the interface between the film and substrate. In the film deposited by reactive sputtering with low oxygen flow, titanium-to-calcium ratio ([Ti]/[Ca]) is lower than that of stoichiometric calcium titanate due to the formation of calcium hydroxide. The ratio increases with an increase of oxygen flow, and the ratio of the film deposited with a 10-sccm oxygen flow was almost in accordance with that of stoichiometric calcium titanate. On the other hand, in the pulsed laser deposition, [Ti]/[Ca] ratios of the deposited film were almost in accordance with that of stoichiometric calcium titanate at the oxygen pressure under the present experimental condition. In both deposition techniques, the thickness of the titanium-oxide layer increased with an increase of the amount of oxygen gases. The results indicate that the pulsed laser deposition has an advantage for the preparation of the stoichiometric calcium titanate film without formation of a thick titanium-oxide layer.     

Determinants of information systems outsourcing: an empirical investigation in Japan

Two typical but different patterns of information system (IS) outsourcing are considered to be the most effective approaches in supply-chain management. These are conventional outsourcing and quasi-outsourcing. The latter is more generally adopted in large-scale organizations in Japan. In order to design an effective strategy, we will identify the factors which will have an important impact on the performance of IS outsourcing. In this article, we review the relevant literature on IS outsourcing, and propose four hypotheses. We test these four hypotheses by logistic regression analysis based on our original questionnaire survey of Japanese companies in order to find the relationship between IS outsourcing and its determinants. Finally, the implications of this study are discussed. Therefore, this article provides an empirical perspective to identify the determinants of conventional outsourcing versus quasi-outsourcing in Japan.     

Study on the Effect of Melt Convection on Phase Separation Structures in Undercooled CuCo Alloys Using an Electromagnetic Levitator Superimposed with a Static Magnetic Field

We studied the effect of melt convection on phase separation structures in undercooled Cu₈₀Co₂₀ alloys by using an electromagnetic levitator, where a static magnetic field was applied to control convection in the molten alloys. It was found that, when the static magnetic field was relatively small, dispersed structures with relatively fine Co-rich spheres distributed in the matrix of the Cu-rich phase were observed. However, a few large, coalesced Co-rich phases appeared in the Cu-rich matrix when the magnetic field exceeded a certain value, i.e., approximately 1.5 T in this study. The mean diameter of the droplet-shaped Co-rich phases distributed in the matrix of the Cu-rich phase increased gradually with the magnetic field and increased rapidly at approximately 1.5 T. Moreover, it was speculated from the result of periodic laser heating that the marked change in the phase separation structures at approximately 1.5 T might be due to a convective transition from turbulent flow to laminar flow in the molten sample, where the time variation of temperature in the lower part of the electromagnetically levitated molten sample was measured when the upper part of the sample was periodically heated.     

Torsional torque suppression of decentralized generators using H∞ observer

The output power fluctuations of renewable energy plants such as wind turbine generators and photovoltaic systems cause frequency deviations and terminal voltage fluctuations. Furthermore, these power fluctuations also affect the turbine shaft of diesel generator and gas-turbine generators which are usually the main electric power systems in isolated islands. This paper presents a control strategy that achieves torsional torque suppression and power system stabilization. Since the measurement of the torsional torque is technically difficult and there is uncertainty in mechanical constants of the shaft torsional system, the torsional torque is estimated by using a H_∞ observer. The simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed control system.