Thermal stability of reinforced Nb3Sn composite superconductor under cryocooled conditions

Several types of reinforced Nb₃Sn wires have been developed to prevent reduction of superconducting properties by applying a strong electromagnetic force. To fabricate a cryocooled magnet using those reinforced wires, we experimentally measured the minimum quench energy (MQE) under cryocooled conditions of some reinforced Nb₃Sn wires. As a result, it became clear that thermal stability expressed as MQE was controlled by the temperature margin between the temperature of the operating condition and the transition temperature from superconductivity to normal. Using the FEM analysis, it was realized that the cause of the decline in thermal stability for the reinforced wires was the low thermal conductivity of the reinforced materials.     

Effect of the Treatment Temperature on the Surface Drying Set of Sugi Boxed-Heart Square Timber

High-temperature and controlled humidity treatment before drying has proven to be highly effective in preventing surface checks by forming drying sets in the surface layer of boxed-heart square timber in Japan. In this study, we examined the differences of the surface drying sets on sugi timber under different treatment temperatures. As a result, the width of a surface check after drying was much smaller at a treatment temperature of 120°C than at 80°C, and this indicates that the drying set with 120°C treatment would be larger than that with 80°C treatment. Also we observed that treatment temperature had a greater effect on the drying set as the drying advanced.     

Effect of hydrogen charging on dislocation behavior in Ni-Cr and Ni<Subscript>2</Subscript>Cr alloys

The effects of hydrogen charging on the dislocation behaviour in Ni-Cr binary alloys have been investigated by means of transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations using single-crystalline specimens. The deformation mode of Ni-Cr alloys in the absence of hydrogen is characterized by planar dislocations. However, hydrogen charging changed the dislocation configurations to promote curved dislocations, such as dislocation loops and dipoles. The hydrogen-affected dislocation configurations are enhanced with increasing Ni content and reducing Cr content. Weak-beam images show that the Shockley partials of the hydrogen-affected dislocations frequently constrict to make kinks and cross-slip, as if the dislocations were generated by a thermally activated process. The effect of hydrogen charging on superdislocations of a Ni₂Cr superstructure has been also investigated using an aged 70Ni-30Cr alloy. While the deformation mode in the Ni₂Cr superlattice is classified as five variants of superdislocation triplets and one variant of ordinary dislocations, the hydrogen charging has preferred the ordinary dislocations to the superdislocation triplets. The results suggest that the charged hydrogen changes the local plasticity to affect the deformation dynamics in Ni-Cr alloys, where the influence of hydrogen on the plasticity is sensitive to the Ni/Cr concentration and the symmetry of atomic arrangement.     

EXPANSION AND STRESS RELAXATION OF EXPRESSED CAKE

Expansion and stress relaxation of expressed cake are discussed.

The expansion process of expressed cake after release of load is very similar to consolidation of solidndashliquid mixtures, although a liquid flow in the expansion process is opposite in direction to that in consolidalion. This process can be analyzed well by use of the Terzaghi Voigt combined model. It is shown that the rate of primary deformation in expansion is much smaller than that in consolidation under the same change in compressive pressure. It is also found that the ratio of secondary deformation to total deformation in expansion is much larger than that in consolidation.

Stress relaxation of expressed cake, which is observed when expression is stopped before attaining an equilibrium compression state of a material, can be explained by use of a consolidation and expansion theory. In the relaxation process, local expansion appears near the drainage surface while local consolndash idation appears near the center of the cake. The equilibrium cake stress is uniquely determined by the average consolidation ratio when the expression is interrupted.     

Partial eigenvalue decomposition of large images using spatialtemporal adaptive method

Finding eigenvectors of a sequence of real images has usually been considered to require too much computation to be practical. Our spatial temporal adaptive (STA) method reduces the computational complexity of the approximate partial eigenvalue decomposition based on image encoding. Spatial temporal encoding is used to reduce storage and computation, and then, singular value decomposition (SVD) is applied. After the adaptive discrete cosine transform (DCT) encoding, blocks that are similar in consecutive images are consolidated. The computational economy of our method was verified by tests on different large sets of images. The results show that this method is 6 to 10 times faster than the traditional SVD method for several kinds of real images. The economy of this algorithm increases with increasing correlation within the image and with increasing correlation between consecutive images within a set. This algorithm is useful for pattern recognition using eigenvectors, which is a research field that has been active recently.     

Characterization of C-S-H from Highly Reactive β-Dicalcium Silicate Prepared from Hillebrandite

β-dicalcium silicate synthesized by thermal dissociation of hydrothermally prepared hillebrandite (Ca₂(SiO₃)(OH)₂) exhibits extremely high hydration activity. Characterization of the hydrates obtained and investigation of the hydration mechanism was carried out with the aid of trimethylsilylation analysis, ²⁹Si magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, transmission electron microscopy selected area electron diffraction, and XRD. The silicate anion structure of C-S-H consisted mainly of a dimer and a single-chain polymer. Polymerization advances with increasing curing temperature and curing time. The C-S-H has an oriented fibrous structure and exhibits a 0.73-nm dreierketten in the longitudinal direction. On heating, the C-S-H dissociates to form β-C₂S. The temperature at which βC₂S begins to form decreases with increasing chain length of the C-S-H or as the Ca/Si ratio becomes higher. The high activity of β-C₂S is due to its large specific surface area and the fact that the hydration is chemical-reaction-rate-controlled until its completion. As a result, the hydration progresses in situ and C-S-H with a high Ca/Si ratio is formed.     

Hereditarily elongated carotid sinus nerve in a rat colony

A specific colony of Wistar rats was found in which the common carotid artery bifurcates at an unusually caudal position, thereby the carotid sinus nerve that originates from the bifurcation is elongated. The present study was done to determine whether this elongated nerve carries baro- and chemosensations in the same manner as the carotid sinus nerve of conventional rats or of other species. In chloralose-urethane anesthetized rats of this specific colony, the afferent discharges were recorded from the elongated carotid sinus nerve in response to a phenylephrine-induced rise in blood pressure and a fall in oxygen tension, as well as an increase in carbon dioxide tension in the respiratory gas. Reflex effects of electrical stimulation of the nerve were also examined. In nerve recording, the afferent discharges of the elongated carotid sinus nerve were increased by any of the perturbations, hypertensive, hypoxic or hypercapnic. Electrical stimulation of the elongated carotid sinus nerve caused an initial rise and a subsequent fall in blood pressure, bradycardia, and an increase of respiratory volume and rate. These results confirmed that the elongated carotid sinus nerve of rats in this colony contains both baroreceptor and chemoreceptor afferent fibers. It seems that this colony of rats proffers a beneficial material which will facilitate the studies to analyze the features and reflex functions of carotid body chemoreceptors and/or carotid sinus baroreceptors.     

Motivational bases of the public goods problem.

Compared 2 motivational bases for not contributing to a public good, desire to "free ride" (or greed) and fear of being a "sucker," among 110 Japanese undergraduates. It was hypothesized that these 2 types of motivation would be activated under different situations. When a public good was provided conjunctively, fear would have a strong effect but greed would not; when a public good was disjunctively provided, greed would have a strong effect but fear would not. In addition, it was predicted that the greater mutual trust existing among friends would make them contribute more than strangers would in the conjunctive condition but would make no difference in the disjunctive condition. Three types of production rules, in which a public good was conjunctively, disjunctively, or additively produced on the basis of members' contributions, were experimentally created. Half of the groups in each condition consisted of total strangers, and the other half consisted of friends. The hypotheses were supported when the size of the public good (bonus points) was relatively large. Also, Ss responded similarly in the conjunctive condition and in the additive condition. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phase structure in the blend of atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) with atactic poly(vinyl alcohol‐block‐vinyl acetate)

An almost fully saponified atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) and an atactic poly(vinyl alcohol‐block‐vinyl acetate) of which degree of saponification is 89 mol % were blended by a solution casting method. The phase structure of the blend film was analyzed by optical microscopy, ¹³C‐NMR, and differential scanning calorimetry. The most remarkable structure of the blend was composed of cylindrical domains penetrating the film. The swelling behavior of the blend films was also investigated in the dimethylsulfoxide and water mixed solvents to find differences in solubility and diffusion behavior between the matrix and the domain. The cylindrical domains could be selectively dissolved away in water and the film became porous. We tried to change the size of the cylindrical domain with various film preparation conditions. This aimed to turn the film into the useful filter membrane. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 1807–1815, 2002