Quantitative risk assessment using a Japanese hydrogen refueling station model

Although hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs) are becoming widespread across Japan and are essential for the operation of fuel cell vehicles, they present potential hazards. A large number of accidents such as explosions or fires have been reported, rendering it necessary to conduct a number of qualitative and quantitative risk assessments for HRSs. Current safety codes and technical standards related to Japanese HRSs have been established based on the results of a qualitative risk assessment and quantitative effectiveness validation of safety measures over ten years ago. In the last decade, there has been much development in the technologies of the components or facilities used in domestic HRSs and much operational experience as well as knowledge to use hydrogen in HRSs safely have been gained through years of commercial operation. The purpose of the present study is to conduct a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) of the latest HRS model representing Japanese HRSs with the most current information and to identify the most significant scenarios that pose the greatest risks to the physical surroundings in the HRS model. The results of the QRA show that the risk contours of 10^?3 and 10^?4 per year were confined within the HRS boundaries, whereas the risk contours of 10^?5 and 10^?6 per year are still present outside the HRS. Comparing the breakdown of the individual risks (IRs) at the risk ranking points, we conclude that the risk of jet fire demonstrates the highest contribution to the risks at all of the risk ranking points and outside the station. To reduce these risks and confine the risk contour of 10^?6 per year within the HRS boundaries, it is necessary to consider risk mitigation measures for jet fires.     

Static-state feedback control of discrete-event systems underpartial observation

Studies static-state feedback control of discrete-event systems under partial observation. The authors present a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a static-state feedback controller. A static controller is a special case of a dynamic controller studied by Kumar et al. The authors' condition, however, has computational advantage in contrast to those obtained by Kumar et al. The authors also present a necessary and sufficient condition under which the modular feedback synthesis is possible     

Efficiency of repeated batch penicillin fermentation using two fermentors. Computer simulation and optimisation

Repeated batch operation using two fermentors (RBTF) to penicillin fermentation was demonstrated by computer simulation to improve productivity. Three operation modes were compared: chemostat, repeated batch operation using a single fermentor (RBSF) and RBTF; in each case account was made of the lag period before growth. The simulated fermentor performances were assessed on the basis of the penicillin productivity and concentration; the simulation was based on published batch fermentation data. It was shown that RBTF was superior to RBSF and chemostat. The advantage of RBTF increased as the lag period became greater.     

Pressure anomaly in the paramagnetic region of bcc solid3He

The isochoric pressure of bcc Solid³He in the vicinity of the triple point has been measured by changing the temperature stepwisely and waiting for thermal equilibrium. We observed anomalous pressure kinks of the temperature dependence in the paramagnetic region near the triple point. This anomaly appeared at 0.37 to 0.40 tesla, and disappeared below 0.36 tesla. Moreover, critical phenomena at the transition point from the paramagnetic phase (PP) to the high field phase was observed and the phase line curves toward the PP side.     

Synthesis of maximally permissive and robust supervisors forprefix-closed language specifications

J.E.R. Cury and B.H. Krogh (1999) have formulated a robust supervisory control problem to synthesize a supervisor for the nominal plant which maximizes robustness. They have solved the problem by unnecessarily restricting the upper bound of the legal behavior. We show that the problem can be solved without restricting the upper bound of the legal behavior when the specification is described by prefix-closed languages. We synthesize a maximally permissive supervisor for the nominal plant which maximizes not only robustness, but also permissiveness for the maximal set of admissible plant variations     

Development of enhanced depth-resolution technique for shallow dopant profiles

A rapid shrinkage in the minimum feature size of integrated circuits requires analysis of dopants in their shallow source–drain and their extensions with an enhanced depth resolution. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) combining a medium-energy He ion beam with a detector of improved energy resolution should meet the requirement of a depth resolution better than 5 nm at a depth of 10–20 nm in the next 10 years. A toroidal electrostatic analyzer of 4×10⁻³ energy resolution has been used to detect the scattered ions of a medium-energy He ion beam. Five keV As⁺ implanted Si or SiO₂ samples were measured. Depth profiling results using the above technique are compared with those of glancing-angle RBS by MeV energy He ions. Limitations in the energy resolution due to various energy-spread contributions have been clarified.     

High Mechanical Strength Double‐Network Hydrogel with Bacterial Cellulose

Double‐network (DN) hydrogels with high mechanical strength have been synthesized using the natural polymers bacterial cellulose (BC) and gelatin. As‐prepared BC contains 90 % water that can easily be squeezed out, with no more recovery in its swelling property. Gelatin gel is brittle and is easily broken into fragments under a modest compression. In contrast, the fracture strength and elastic modulus of a BC–gelatin DN gel under compressive stress are on the order of megapascals, which are several orders of magnitude higher than those of gelatin gel, and almost equivalent to those of articular cartilage. A similar enhancement in the mechanical strength was also observed for the combination of BC with polysaccharides, such as sodium alginate, gellan gum, and ι‐carrageenan.