Strain analysis of moving objects using a Fourier transform grid method

There is no good method to measure the shape and the strain distributions of a structure changing with time. We have previously proposed the Fourier transform grid method (FTGM) to measure the three-dimensional shape and surface strain distributions of stationary objects by analysing the two-dimensional grating images recorded with two cameras. In the stereoscopic method, it is very important to determine the accurate geometric parameters of the camera system. In this paper, the positions and the directions of cameras are accurately determined using the FTGM applied to images of a reference object on which a two-dimensional grating is drawn. Applications for analysing shape and strain distributions of vibrating rubber plates and a moving human skin are shown.     

Granular Reasoning Using Zooming In & Out: Part 2. Aristotle's Categorical Syllogism

The concept of granular computing is applied to Aristotle's categorical syllogism. Such kind of reasoning is called granular reasoning in this paper. For the purpose, two operations called zooming in & out are introduced to reconstruct granules of possible worlds.     

Low-cycle fatigue behavior of Sn-Ag, Sn-Ag-Cu, and Sn-Ag-Cu-Bi lead-free solders

Low-cycle fatigue (LCF) tests on as-cast Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu, Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu-1Bi, and Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu-3Bi solders was carried out using a noncontact strain-controlled system at 20°C with a constant frequency of 0.1 Hz. The addition of Cu does not significantly affect the fatigue life of eutectic Sn-Ag solder. However, the fatigue life was significantly reduced with the addition of Bi. The LCF behavior of all solders followed the Coffin-Manson relationship. The fatigue life of the present solders is dominated by the fracture ductility and can be described by the ductility-modified Coffin-Manson’s relationship. Steps at the boundaries of dendrite phases were the initiation sites for microcracks for Sn-3.5Ag, Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu, and Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu-1Bi solders, while for Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu-3Bi solder, cracks initiated along both the dendrite boundaries and subgrain boundaries in the dendrite phases. The linking of these cracks and the propagation of cracks inside the specimen occurred both transgranularly through eutectic phases and intergranularly along dendrite boundaries or subgrain boundaries.     

A novel spin-finishing method for antistatic modification of polyester fiber. Surface reaction onto amine-containing copoly(amide-ethers) blended with polyester fiber

Copoly(amide-ethers) containing two types of tertiary amine units were made as antistatic modifiers for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers. The filaments of the copolymers were melt-spun and reacted with three alkylating agents in order to quaternize the tertiary amine into a sulfo-betaine, a carbobetaine, and an ammonium ion. The apparent electric resistivity of the filaments was greatly reduced by this reaction, being in the range of 10⁶ to 10⁸ Ω/cm. However, because these quaternized copolymers incurred decomposition during blend spinning with PET, a blend PET fiber containing one type of copoly(amide-ether) was melt-spun and subjected to quaternization of the amino groups as well as to surface crosslinking with various alkylating and epoxy agents. The quaternized blend fibers obtained showed improved antistatic properties compared with the original blend fiber. Particularly, the fibers crosslinked with epoxy compounds were found to have the best antistatic properties that had ever been attained with this type of modification. The antistatic properties were retained even after dyeing, because both hydrophilic and ionic groups had been effectively immobilized on the surface. Since this quaternization and crosslinking could be conducted on-line with spinning and drawing within a short reaction time, this modification technique is called “spin-finishing method”, which should be superior to the conventional methods in terms of cost performance and productivity.     

Polyacrylonitrile/Nylon 6 Blends: Preparation and Characterization

Summary: Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) particles with micro‐size ranges (0.15–2 μm) were prepared by emulsion and dispersion polymerizationa and in supercritical carbon dioxide media. The PAN particles were blended with Nylon 6 (PA6) at 220 °C by using a miniature mixer; it was found that melt‐mixing was possible for PAN‐rich compositions as high as 70 wt.‐%. Blends were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, IR, viscosity measurements, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). The size and shape of original PAN particles were retained in PAN/PA6 blends. The useful range to blend PAN particles size was less than 1 μm in terms of shape retention of the PAN particles in blends. Blends with 40 wt.‐% PAN content were found to be melt‐processable. The elastic modulus was higher for PAN/PA6 blends than pure PA6.

SEM photograph of PAN‐SC/PA6 blend with a 40/60 weight ratio.     

The polymerization and copolymerization of nitroalkyl acrylates and nitroalkyl methacrylates

Nitroalkyl acrylates and methacrylates involving some new compounds were prepared. The homopolymerization of these monomers in toluene and their copolymerization with styrene in acetone were carried out with azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator. The rate of polymerization of the nitroalkyl acrylates showed a correlation with the number of nitro groups situated on the ester side chain. The apparent activation energies of the polymerization were found to be 22.0–27.5 kcal./mole for the nitroalkyl acrylates and about 11.5–13.0 kcal./mole for the nitroalkyl methacrylates. From the reactivity ratios and Q-e values of the copolymerization the following information was obtained. The copolymerization behavior of nitroalkyl acrylates and methacrylates showed an alternating tendency, and these monomers belong to the conjugative monomer groups. On the reactivities of these monomers, the polarity of vinyl group was affected a little by nitro group of ester bond side, and the resonance affected little. These monomers were crosslinked with 2-methyl-2-nitro-1,3-propylene diacrylate. Some of the polymers showed marked improvement in the physical properties of elastomers.     

A facile antistatic modification of polyester fiber based on ion-exchange reaction of sulfonate-modified polyester and various cationic surfactants

A new technique for imparting antistatic properties to poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fiber has been developed. In this technique, blend polyester fibers containing poly(ethylene terephthalate/5-sulfoisophthalate) (SIP-PET) were prepared by blend spinning and then treated with various cationic surfactants in the process of dyeing. The surfactants could effectively be immobilized on the fiber as the counter cations of the sulfonate groups of the 5-sulfoisophthalate (SIP) units and aid the release of static electrons formed in the fiber. Thus, the half-life time (t_1/2) of leakage of static charge and the surface resistivity (Rs) of the blend PET fibers became much lower after treating. The best result was obtained with a methylated quaternary ammonium salt of a stearylamine-ethylene oxide (EO) adduct or hydrochloride of a laurylamine-EO adduct as the surfactant of which the number of EO units was around ten. Even after five washing cycles the t_1/2 value of the fibers treated with these surfactants was kept lower than 30 s with the Rs value maintained in the order of 10¹³ Ω cm^-2. Therefore, the present technique could be useful for practical production of polyester fibers with “semi-permanent” antistatic properties which can be recovered by re-treatment even if they were lost.     

Reliability and mechanical durability tests of flexible OLED with ALD coating

To improve the reliability and mechanical durability of a flexible organic light‐emitting diode display, the entire flexible display is coated with an aluminum oxide film by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Because the step coverage of ALD is excellent, the AlO_x film was deposited not only on the front and back surfaces but also on the side surfaces of the display. A high‐temperature and high‐humidity preservation test, repetitive bending tests, and a pencil hardness test were conducted on the flexible display with ALD‐AlO_x coating. The display survived 500 h of a 65°C, 95% preservation test, endured a 100,000‐time repetitive bending test with a curvature radius of 4 mm, and was found to have a pencil hardness of 4H.     

Reverse direction-based surrounder queries for mobile recommendations

This paper proposes a new spatial query called a reverse direction-based surrounder (RDBS) query, which retrieves a user who is seeing a point of interest (POI) as one of their direction-based surrounders (DBSs). According to a user, one POI can be dominated by a second POI if the POIs are directionally close and the first POI is farther from the user than the second is. Two POIs are directionally close if their included angle with respect to the user is smaller than an angular threshold ??. If a POI cannot be dominated by another POI, it is a DBS of the user. We also propose an extended query called competitor RDBS query. POIs that share the same RDBSs with another POI are defined as competitors of that POI. We design algorithms to answer the RDBS queries and competitor queries. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithms can answer the queries efficiently.     

Traceable P2P record exchange: a database-oriented approach

In recent years, peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies are used for flexible and scalable information exchange in the Internet, but there exist problems to be solved for reliable information exchange. It is important to trace how data circulates between peers and how data modifications are performed during the circulation before reaching the destination for enhancing the reliability of exchanged information. However, such lineage tracing is not easy in current P2P networks, since data replications and modifications are performed independently by autonomous peers—this creates a lack of reliability among the records exchanged. In this paper, we propose a framework for traceable record exchange in a P2P network. By managing historical information in distributed peers, we make the modification and exchange histories of records traceable. One of the features of our work is that the database technologies are utilized for realizing the framework. Histories are maintained in a relational database in each peer, and tracing queries are written in the datalog query language and executed in a P2P network by cooperating peers. This paper describes the concept of the framework and overviews the approach to query processing.