A performance evaluation of disassembly systems with reverse blocking

For sustainable manufacturing, manufacturers should construct and design inverse manufacturing systems consisting of assembly and disassembly systems. The sorting process in the disassembly system is the first process of the whole inverse manufacturing system. Therefore, it can become a bottleneck and decrease the productivity of the whole inverse manufacturing systems.This study focuses on a disassembly system with reverse blocking in a sorting process [Yamada, T., & Matsui, M. (2003). Disassembly production systems and its design issues. Reprints of Japan Industrial Management Association, Spring meeting, Chofu, Japan, May, 144–145 (in Japanese)]. It generalizes the queuing model and discusses the performance of the disassembly system by mathematical and numerical analysis. First, the sorting process with reverse blocking is generally modeled as a queuing system. Next, the stationary state equations of the system are formulated, and the objective function is set as the throughput. Finally, the system performance is discussed by mathematical and numerical analysis in cases of a different number of stations and buffers, and also an example of the system design is shown and discussed in view of the busy rate, blocking probability and throughput.     

Theoretical and experimental study of 10 Gb/s transmissionperformance using 1.55 μm LiNbO3-based transmitters withadjustable extinction ratio and chirp

This paper has experimentally and theoretically investigated transmission performance depending on chirping and extinction ratio for a 10 Gb/s transmission system with the standard single-mode fiber. The transmission performance can be dramatically degraded or improved by adjusting chirp and extinction ratio in a 1.55 μm LiNbO₃ modulator-based transmitter and erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)-pin diode receiver configuration. To estimate the transmission performance, bit error rate (BER) characteristics rather than eye-opening penalty (EOP) have been calculated by solving the nonlinear Schrodinger equation with including the model of chirping and extinction ratio for the transmitter, and noise and intersymbol interference for the receiver. This simulation can predict the measured BER characteristics well enough to see interplaying between chirping and extinction ratio     

Strain difference in the induction of T-cell activation-associated, interferon gamma-dependent hepatic injury in mice

A single intravenous injection of concanavalin A (Con A) induces T-cell activation-associated inflammatory injury selectively in the liver. This study investigated the strain difference in the development of Con A-induced hepatic injury. Normal C57BL/6 and BALB/c spleen cells produced comparable levels of T-cell-derived lymphokines (interferon gamma [IFN-gamma], tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-alpha], and interleukin-2 [IL-2]) following in vitro stimulation with Con A. A single intravenous injection of Con A to C57BL/6 mice induced the plasma levels of TNF-alpha and IL-2 comparable with or slightly higher than those observed in BALB/c mice, whereas the same treatment resulted in an apparently lower level of IFN-gamma production in C57BL/6 mice. RNA from livers of Con A-treated C57BL/6 mice exhibited lower levels of IFN-gamma mRNA than RNA of BALB/c livers. Unexpectedly, a dramatic difference in the severity of hepatic injury was observed between C57BL/6 and BALB/c. Namely, the peak alanine transaminase (ALT) level was more than 15,000 U/L and inducible as early as 8 hours after injection of 0.2 mg Con A per mouse in the C57BL/6 strain, whereas the peak was approximately 3,000 U/L and induced as late as 24 hours after Con A injection in the BALB/c strain. The increase in plasma ALT levels was limited to less than 10% by injection of anti-IFN-gamma monoclonal antibody (mAb) in both strains. The C57BL/6 strain inducing lower levels of IFN-gamma exhibited higher IFN-gamma responsiveness as exemplified by the intrahepatic expression of an IFN-gamma-inducible gene, an inducible type of nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS). These results indicate that, while IFN-gamma produced in vivo by activated T cells induces hepatic injury, there exists a striking strain difference in the induction of IFN-gamma-dependent hepatic injury.     

Evaluation of the antithrombogenicity of a new microdomain structured copolymer

A new antithrombogenic material was studied, fluorine-acryl-styrene-urethane-silicone (FASUS) copolymer, the theoretical basis of which attributed to its hydrophilic and hydrophobic microdomain structure. In this series of experiments, the blood compatibility of this copolymer was evaluated in vitro and ex vivo. For the in vitro evaluation, a whole blood clotting test and the microsphere column test were performed. For the ex vivo evaluation, two series of shunt tests in rabbits were performed, one was the arterioartery (A-A) shunt model, and the other was the arteriovenous (A-V) shunt model. The antithrombogenicity was assessed by measuring the shunt obstructive time in the A-A shunt experiment. The A-V shunt experiment was assessed by measuring the circulating platelet counts, platelet aggregability, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and prothrombin time (PT). In the whole blood clotting test, FASUS revealed the significantly longer blood clotting time than that of the control glass tubings (19.7 +/- 1.0 versus 6.5 +/- 0.7 min, p < 0.001). In the microsphere column test, the coated group had a 30% reduction of the platelet number in the eluted blood in contrast with a marked decrease of 70% in the control group (p < 0.05). In the ex vivo A-A shunt experiment, the occlusion time for the FASUS-coated group was significantly longer than that of the control (109.7 +/- 17.3 versus 3.0 +/- 0.4 min, p < 0.05). The A-V shunt experiment showed that the FASUS copolymer suppressed the decrease in platelet counts and tended to improve prolonged APTT compared with that of the control. Clinically, in 25 patients, we placed coated FASUS copolymer into the cannulas for use in percutaneous cardiopulmonary support (PCPS) procedures. There was no evidence of thrombus on the blood contacting surface and no thromboembolism in major organs clinically or upon postmortem examination. In summary, this new copolymer may be effective in preventing thrombus formation in vitro, ex vivo, and in clinical situations.     

Transmission Characteristics of Hybrid Modes in Corrugated Waveguides Above the Bragg Frequency

We studied the transmission characteristics of hybrid modes in a corrugated circular waveguide above the Bragg frequency to develop a broad-band transmission line for millimeter waves. Millimeter waves at 294 GHz were transmitted into a straight waveguide. From observed power profiles in waveguide cross-sections, a high attenuation rate of 0.13 dB/m was obtained. To match a theoretical attenuation constant with the experimental one, we introduced an ad hoc coefficient of conventional surface reactance in the waveguide wall. This was necessary because the wall began to look like the surface with a decreasing anisotropic reactance owing to the frequency above the Bragg frequency. Using nonlinear optimization for mode content analysis, the observed power profiles in the waveguide cross-section were matched with theoretical profiles. There was good agreement between the calculated and observed centers of power profiles and attenuation rate along the waveguide. The theoretical analysis showed that the magnetic field at the waveguide wall increases and the substantial attenuation takes place. Above the Bragg frequency coupling to backwards propagating modes is a point of consideration. A combination of the backwards propagating EH_1,26 and the forward propagating HE₁₁ modes satisfied the Bragg condition at 294.7 GHz which was the nearest frequency of operating frequency. A strong attenuation of the incoming HE₁₁ mode by Bragg resonance was not expected due to large difference of 0.7 GHz. It becomes clear that the observed high transmission loss outside of the Bragg resonance can be explained by a decrease in anisotropic surface reactance at the wall.     

Flexural strength,fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth behaviour of chromium alloyed γ-base TiAl

Mechanical properties of -base titanium aluminides strongly depend on microstructural parameters. Flexural strength, fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth properties were estimated for the cast and heat-treated (HT-TiAlCr) and cast, heat treated and isothermal forged (ITF-TiAlCr) chromium alloyed -base titanium aluminides at room temperature. HT-TiAlCr possessed superior fracture properties compared to ITF-TiAlCr. Toughening due to microcracks, and crack bridging by uncracked ligaments were observed in the test materials. Presence of lamellar grains in HT-TiAlCr increased the crack growth resistance and contributed positively to fracture properties. The coarse grain size promoted large crack deflection and fracture surface mismatch and caused high levels of crack closure in HT-TiAlCr. Combined crack-tip blunting and bridging by ductile -phase was significant in the case of ITF-TiAlCr. Fracture mechanisms of test materials were investigated and correlated to the fracture properties.     

40 Gbit/s×35 ch (1.4 Tbit/s aggregate capacity) WDMtransmission over 85 km standard singlemode fibre

The first successful transmission of 35 channels each at 40 Gbit/s line rate (1.4 Tbit/s aggregate capacity) over 85 km of standard singlemode fibre is reported. Error-free transmission was achieved using a dispersion compensation technique     

REAP: recycled erbium amplifier pump

We report a novel erbium doped fiber preamplifier design with a combination of high gain (>40 dB) and low noise figure (3 dB) at 1556 nm for 80 mW of 980 nm pump power. The co-directional single pumped amplifier employs a composite two stage arrangement in which the second stage is pumped with recycled pump not used in the first stage. In addition, we contrast the amplifier performance trade-offs with the insertions of an isolator or a band pass filter or both in between the two amplifier sections. Finally, we demonstrate a receiver sensitivity of -37 dBm (156 photons/bit) with a 10 Gb/s optical preamplifier regenerator