Spectrometer for lanthanides' K x-ray fluorescence

X-ray fluorescence analysis is a highly useful technique for determining the chemical composition of matter. The present article describes the successful development of a wavelength-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for a fairly high-energy range, 30-60 keV, that can contribute to studying lanthanides' Kbeta spectra with high-energy resolution. By combining a new high-energy synchrotron light source and the present spectrometer, it has been demonstrated that the full width at half maximum for lanthanum's Kbeta(1) is 32 eV and that all the peaks in the spectra are fully resolved. This corresponds to an energy resolution EDeltaE of 1180, which is ten times better than a conventional system based on a Ge detector, which can detect only two peaks, Kbeta(1) and Kbeta(2), in seven peaks. The present spectrometer can open up a new field in x-ray spectrometry.     

Friction characteristics of inorganic or organic thin coatings on solid surfaces under water lubrication

Water has been considered as an alternative working fluid for hydraulic power systems in order to minimize the consumption of fossil fuels and mineral oils. In spite of the many advantages to this use of water, difficult technical problems remain. The key technology for establishing a water hydraulic system is tribology, because water has a lack of lubricity, and thus some coating is needed to protect the metal surfaces from corrosion and frictional wear when using water as a lubricant. It has already been demonstrated that some Si-containing materials have good lubricity in a water environment. Recently, it has been shown that diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings also have good lubricity with water. In order to clarify the mechanism by which such materials are lubricated with water, and to develop surface coatings that have good lubricity with water, the friction characteristic of several coated metals were investigated in this study. Coatings of CrN, CrSiN, and two types of DLC were applied on an SUS630 stainless steel flat disk substrate. Additive-free distilled water was used as a lubricating fluid. The friction characteristics of these coatings at different sliding speeds were evaluated using a tribometer with two contact configurations in which stainless steel balls and a flat ring without coatings were used as mating specimens.In addition, the lubrication characteristics of organic hydro-gels such as alginic acid or its metal salt were studied by immobilizing them on the surface, and their effects on the lubrication with water were discussed.     

Extraction of a strongly focusing He+ beam from three-stage concave electrodes for alpha particle measurement system in ITER

A strongly focusing He(+) ion beam source equipped with concave multi-aperture electrodes was developed for production of He(-) through a charge exchange cell. The beam was extracted at a voltage less than 20 kV from 301 apertures distributed in an area of 100 mm φ, and focused at 750 mm distance. The beam current and the beam size of 2 A and 20 mm in diameter, respectively, were achieved with an arc power less than 10 kW. The optimum perveance was obtained at 0.02 A∕kV(1.5) at the beam energy less than 20 keV which is suitable for the conversion to He(-) in an alkali vapor cell.     

Hollow target magnetron-sputter-type solid material ion source

A thin-walled aluminum (Al) hollow electrode has been inserted into an ion source to serve as an electrode for a radio frequency magnetron discharge. The produced plasma stabilized by argon (Ar) gas sputters the Al electrode to form a beam of Al(+) and Ar(+) ions. The total beam current extracted through a 3 mm diameter extraction hole has been 50 μA, with the Al(+) ion beam occupying 30% of the total beam current.     

Experimental and numerical investigations of flow fields behind a small wind turbine with a flanged diffuser

Experimental and numerical investigations were carried out for flow fields of a small wind turbine with a flanged diffuser. The present wind-turbine system gave a power coefficient higher than the Betz limit (=16/27) owing to the effect of the flanged diffuser. To elucidate the flow mechanism, mean velocity profiles behind a wind turbine were measured using a hot-wire technique. By processing the obtained data, characteristic values of the flow fields were estimated and compared with those for a bare wind turbine. In addition, computations corresponding to the experimental conditions were made to assess the predictive performance of the simulation model presently used and also to investigate the flow field in more detail. The present experimental and numerical results gave useful information about the flow mechanism behind a wind turbine with a flanged diffuser. In particular, a considerable difference was seen in the destruction process of the tip vortex between the bare wind turbine and the wind turbine with a flanged diffuser.     

Automated identification of partially exposed metal object

This paper describes a method for automated shape and pose (position and orientation) identification of partially exposed metal objects that enables safe and efficient excavation of hazardous materials. The method estimates the object pose by matching a model of the object with the area that is extracted from the range image using the characteristics of metal objects. The paper introduces a method for an initial search area for object matching in order to obtain the accurate shape and pose of the partially exposed objects with reasonable calculation time. The experimental results show feasibility of the shape and pose identification of partially exposed objects.     

A Nifedipine Coground Mixture with Sodium Deoxycholate. I. Colloidal Particle Formation and Solid-State Analysis

Sodium deoxycholate (DCNa) is a bile salt that forms multimolecular inclusion compounds with a variety of organic substances. In this study, complex formulation of DCNa with nifedipine, a poorly water soluble drug, by grinding was investigated. The coground mixture was prepared with a vibration rod mill, and its solid state was characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A laser diffraction particle size analyzer was also used to determine the particle size distribution curve in solution. When a nifedipine-DCNa (1:2 w/w) mixture coground for 30 min was dispersed into water and a pH 6.8 buffer solution, a semitransparent colloidal solution occurred immediately; 90% of the total particles formed in solution had a diameter less than 600 nm. Both powder X-ray diffraction peaks and DSC endothermic peak of nifedipine crystals were not found for the coground mixture, whereas a new exothermic peak was observed on DSC thermograms. The magnitude of this exothermic peak depended on the weight fraction of DCNa and the grinding time, indicating that nifedipine crystals changed into an amorphous state by complex formation with DCNa during the grinding process. In the FTIR spectrum of the coground mixture, the peaks of aromatic CH out-of-plane bend and dihydropyridine NH stretch of nifedipine were considerably weakened, suggesting that van der Waals interaction may be present between the drug and DCNa molecules. From these results, it is clear that the cogrinding method with DCNa is very useful for the formation of amorphous nifedipine in the solid state and the production of colloidal particles of the drug in solution.     

An Algorithm for Connected-Component Labeling, Hole Labeling and Euler Number Computing

Labeling connected components and holes and computing the Euler number in a binary image are necessary for image analysis, pattern recognition, and computer (robot) vision, and are usually made independently of each other in conventional methods. This paper proposes a two-scan algorithm for labeling connected components and holes simultaneously in a binary image by use of the same data structure. With our algorithm, besides labeling, we can also easily calculate the number and the area of connected components and holes, as well as the Euler number. Our method is very simple in principle, and experimental results demonstrate that our method is much more efficient than conventional methods for various kinds of images in cases where both labeling and Euler number computing are necessary.     

Alkyl substituent effects on J- or H-aggregate formation of bisazomethine dyes

Bisazomethine dyes with terminal alkyl substituents of different chain lengths (BAR: R = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) were synthesized and deposited on a glass substrate to investigate the effect of the alkyl chain length on aggregate formation. Methyl- and ethyl-substituted bisazomethine dyes (BA1 and BA2) formed J-aggregates in thin films (ca. 50 nm), whereas, propyl-, butyl-, pentyl- and hexyl-substituted derivatives (BA3, BA4, BA5 and BA6) formed H-aggregates in thin films (ca. 50 nm). The aggregate formation of the BARs changed drastically between ethyl- and propyl-substituents (BA2/BA3). However, no remarkable changes were observed in the surface morphologies of BA2 and BA3 films. It is suggested that the critical determinant of aggregate formation of BAR is the molecular packing in the film, which depends on the chain length of the terminal alkyl substituent.     

Characterization of Bi and Fe co-doped PZT capacitors for FeRAM

Ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) has been in mass production for over 15 years. Higher polarization ferroelectric materials are needed for future devices which can operate above about 100 °C. With this goal in mind, co-doping of thin Pb(Zr₄₀,Ti₆₀)O₃ (PZT) films with 1 at.% Bi and 1 at.% Fe was examined in order to enhance the ferroelectric properties as well as characterize the doped material. The XRD patterns of PZT-5% BiFeO₃ (BF) and PZT 140-nm thick films showed (111) orientation on (111) platinized Si wafers and a 30 °C increase in the tetragonal to cubic phase transition temperature, often called the Curie temperature, from 350 to 380 °C with co-doping, indicating that Bi and Fe are substituting into the PZT lattice. Raman spectra revealed decreased band intensity with Bi and Fe co-doping of PZT compared to PZT. Polarization hysteresis loops show similar values of remanent polarization, but square-shaped voltage pulse-measured net polarization values of PZT-BF were higher and showed higher endurance to repeated cycling up to 10¹⁰ cycles. It is proposed that Bi and Fe are both in the +3 oxidation state and substituting into the perovskite A and B sites, respectively. Substitution of Bi and Fe into the PZT lattice likely creates defect dipoles, which increase the net polarization when measured by the short voltage pulse positive-up-negative-down (PUND) method.