Underactuated miniature bending joint composed of serial pulleyless rolling joints

This paper proposes a miniature bending joint composed of serial rolling joints; it refers to the classification of small joints of other products and studies on surgical applications according to the structures and transmissions. To achieve this, a pulleyless rolling joint is introduced as a unit component and the basic design principle is established for the joint. A simple mechanism guarantees a smooth rolling contact using elastic fixtures. Underactuation, which prevents S-shaped curvature similar to buckling, is applied to drive the bending joint with a limited number of wire cables. Using a 1-DOF real-sized prototype, experiments were performed to measure the motion accuracy and payload capacity from various angles to evaluate the efficacy of an improved design that enhances the payload on the distal end. This novel joint is applicable to a wider variety of surgical tools and catheters relative to other candidates owing to its small constant curvature, reasonable payload capacity, and miniature size.     

Converting random bits into random numbers

Converting random bits into random numbers is necessary for cryptographic protocols such as key agreements, public key encryptions, digital signatures and so on. In this paper, we propose the simple partial discard method and the complex partial discard method that convert random bits into random numbers. They are up to two times more efficient than standardized techniques.     

Contraction stress build‐up of anisotropic conductive films (ACFs) for flip‐chip interconnection: Effect of thermal and mechanical properties of ACFs

The important mechanical mechanism for the electrical conduction of anisotropic conductive films (ACFs) is the joint clamping force after the curing and cooling processes of ACFs. In this study, the mechanism of shrinkage and contraction stress and the relationship between these mechanisms and the thermomechanical properties of ACFs were investigated in detail. Both thickness shrinkages and modulus changes of four kinds of ACFs with different thermomechanical properties were experimentally investigated with thermomechanical and dynamic mechanical analysis. Based on the incremental approach to linear elasticity, contraction stresses of ACFs developed along the thickness direction were estimated. Contraction stresses in ACFs were found to be significantly developed by the cooling process from the glass‐transition temperature to room temperature. Moreover, electrical characteristics of ACF contact during the cooling process indicate that the electrical conduction of ACF joint is robustly maintained by substantial contraction stress below T_g. The increasing rate of contraction stresses below T_g was strongly dependent on both thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) and elastic modulus (E) of ACFs. A linear relationship between the experimental increasing rate and E × CTE reveals that the build‐up behavior of contraction stress is closely correlated with the ACF material properties: thermal expansion coefficient, glassy modulus, and T_g. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 2634–2641, 2004     

Feasibility of Sludge Ozonation for Stabilization and Conditioning

A pilot-scale sludge treatment plant was built to investigate the feasibility of ozonation processes for waste activated sludge treatment. Ozonation of wastewater sludge resulted in mass reduction by mineralization as well as by supernatant and filtrate recycle. Another advantage of sludge ozonation is a significant improvement of settleability and dewaterability. Experimental results showed that mass reduction of 70% and volume reduction of 85% compared with the control sludge was achieved through the sludge ozonation at a dose of 0.5?gO₃/gDS. It is also interesting to note that the filterability deteriorates up to ozone dose of 0.2?gO₃/gDS and then improves considerably at a higher ozone dose. The filterability could be improved by chemical conditioning even at a low ozone dose. The economic feasibility by cost analysis reveals that ozonation processes can be more economical than other alternative processes for sludge treatment and disposal at small-sized wastewater treatment plants.     

Enhanced surface morphologies of screen-printed carbon nanotube films by heat treatment and their field-emission properties

A heating process for obtaining free-standing carbon nanotube emitters is presented with the aim of improving field-emission properties from the screen-printed multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) films. Using an atmosphere with an optimum combination of nitrogen and air for heat treatment of CNT films, the CNT emitters can be made to protrude from the surface. This allows for a high emission current and the formation of very uniform emission sites without special surface treatment. The morphological change of the CNT film by this technique has eliminated additional processing steps, such as surface treatment which may result in secondary contamination and damage to the film. Despite its simplicity the process provides a high reproducibility in emission current density which makes the films suitable for practical applications.     

Microwave Dielectric Properties and Low-Temperature Cofiring of BaTe4O9 with Aluminum Metal Electrode

Polycrystalline BaTe₄O₉ ceramic compound was investigated as a promising microwave dielectric compound for low-temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC) applications. The binary phase BaTe₄O₉ was synthesized and subsequently densified over the temperature range of only 500°–550°C, which allows for low-temperature cofiring with aluminum metal. The dielectric properties of BaTe₄O₉ ceramics sintered at 550°C for 2 h were determined in the microwave region of 12–14 GHz. The dielectric constant and Q × f product obtained were 17.5 and 54 700 GHz at 12 GHz, respectively. The temperature coefficient of resonance frequency showed a negative value of −90 ppm/°C. In terms of its evaluation for LTCC, the BaTe₄O₉ composition was found to be chemically compatible and successfully cofired with highly conductive aluminum electrode, while maintaining good electrical performance.     

A visual study on flame behavior in tone-excited non-premixed jet flames

A visualization study on the effect of forcing amplitude in tone-excited jet diffusion flames has been conducted. Visualization techniques are employed using optical schemes, which are a light scattering photography. Flame stability curve is attained according to Reynolds number and forcing amplitude at a fuel tube resonant frequency. Flame behavior is globally grouped into two from attached flame to blown-out flame according to forcing amplitude; one sticks the tradition flame behavior which has been observed in general jet diffusion flames and the other shows a variety of flame modes such as the flame of a feeble forcing amplitude where traditionally well-organized vortex motion evolves, a fat flame, an elongated flame, and an in-burning flame. Particular attention is focused on an elongation flame, which is associated with a turnabout phenomenon of vortex motion, and on a reversal of the direction of vortex roll-up. It is found that the flame length with forcing amplitude is the direct outcome of the evolution process of the formed inner flow structure. Especially the negative part of the acoustic cycle under the influence of a strong positive pressure gradient causes the shapes of the fuel stem and fuel branch part and even the direction of vortex roll-up to dramatically change.     

Living cationic polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether (II): Photoinduced living cationic polymerization in a mixed solvent of toluene and diethyl ether

A new method of preparation of living cationic polymer of isobutyl vinyl ether via photoinduced polymerization in the presence of diphenyliodonium iodide (DPII, initiator) and zinc iodide in a mixed solvent of toluene/diethyl ether, which was irradiated at ?78°C for short period, was completed within 15 min. The reaction was allowed for further reaction in the dark until monomer was fully consumed. It was found that increase in the conversion of monomer to polymer during the irradiation is very limited. Confirmation of the linear dependence of number‐average molar mass of resulting polymer on % conversion together with the fact that polymerization proceeds until monomer consumption, and controllability of number‐average molar mass of resulting polymer, depending on the molar ratio of monomer and initiator, strongly suggests the living nature of this polymerization, unless reaction temperature becomes higher than 0°C, i.e., the absence of chain breaking process. The narrow molar mass distribution, whose polydispersity index values are less than 1.2, reveals that the rate of initiation where irradiation is usually completed within 15 min is much faster than that of propagation in cationic nature in this system. Effect of some major factors, such as solvent polarity and temperature, on the living nature of the polymerization was also investigated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 3581–3586, 2006     

Editing and Synthesizing Two‐Character Motions using a Coupled Inverted Pendulum Model

This study aims to develop a controller for use in the online simulation of two interacting characters. This controller is capable of generalizing two sets of interaction motions of the two characters based on the relationships between the characters. The controller can exhibit similar motions to a captured human motion while reacting in a natural way to the opponent character in real time. To achieve this, we propose a new type of physical model called a coupled inverted pendulum on carts that comprises two inverted pendulum on a cart models, one for each individual, which are coupled by a relationship model. The proposed framework is divided into two steps: motion analysis and motion synthesis. Motion analysis is an offline preprocessing step, which optimizes the control parameters to move the proposed model along a motion capture trajectory of two interacting humans. The optimization procedure generates a coupled pendulum trajectory which represents the relationship between two characters for each frame, and is used as a reference in the synthesis step. In the motion synthesis step, a new coupled pendulum trajectory is planned reflecting the effects of the physical interaction, and the captured reference motions are edited based on the planned trajectory produced by the coupled pendulum trajectory generator. To validate the proposed framework, we used a motion capture data set showing two people performing kickboxing. The proposed controller is able to generalize the behaviors of two humans to different situations such as different speeds and turning speeds in a realistic way in real time.     

Microstructural Evidence for Diffusion-Driven Tetragonal-to-Orthorhombic Phase Transformation in Y-Ba-Cu-O Superconductor

Microstructures of Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductor were observed using a polarized microscope. Orthorhombic and tetragonal phases were easily distinguished by the optical etching with cross-polarized light. In the specimen cooled rapidly in oxygen, it was possible to see the path of oxygen diffusion by observing the variation of the twin concentration. At the boundary between transformed and untransformed materials, evidence for diffusion-driven transformation could be clearly seen.