Environmental effect on mechanical properties of recrystallized L12-type Ni3(Si,Ti) intermetallics

The environmental effect on the mechanical properties of boron-doped and undoped Ni₃(Si, Ti) polycrystals was investigated by tensile testing in air from room temperature to 1073 K, and the results were compared with those obtained previously by tensile testing in vacuum. The environmental effect for the Ni₃(Si, Ti) alloys was significant at ambient temperatures whereas that for the boron-doped Ni₃(Si, Ti) alloys was considerable at elevated temperatures. When these samples at associated temperatures were tensile tested in air and also at low strain rate, intergranular fracture was dominant. It was suggested that the environmental embrittlements at low and high temperatures were due to hydrogen and oxygen absorbed from the air, respectively, and were caused by the weakening of the grain-boundary cohesion. It was proposed that boron competing with hydrogen, for site occupation or for its effectiveness at grain boundaries, has the effect of suppressing hydrogen embrittlement, whereas it was suggested that the low-melting phases, consisting of boron and oxygen (and/or constituent atoms), may be responsible for the ductility loss in the boron-doped Ni₃(Si, Ti) alloys.     

Locally parallel cache design based on KL1 memory access characteristics

The parallel inference machine (PIM) is now being developed at ICOT. It consists of a dozen or more clusters, each of which is a tightly coupled multiprocessor (comprising about eight processing elements) with shared global memory and a common bus. Kernel language 1 (KL1), a parallel logic programming language based on Guarded Horn Clauses (GHC), is executed on each PIM cluster. This paper describes the memory access characteristics in KL1 parallel execution and a locally parallel cache mechanism with hardware lock. The most important issue of locally parallel cache design is how to reduce common bus traffic. A write-back cache protocol having five cache states specially optimized for KL1 execution on each PIM cluster is described. We introduced new software controlled memory access commands, named DW, ER, and RP. A hardware lock mechanism is attached to the cache on each processor. This lock mechanism enables efficient word-by-word locking, reducing common bus traffic by using the cache states.     

Low-Temperature Electrochemical Synthesis of ZrO2 Films on Zirconium Substrates: Deposition of Thick Amorphous Films and in situ Crystallization on Zirconium Anode

The feasibility of synthesizing crystalline ZrO₂ films at low temperatures was evaluated using an electrochemical method. Anodization of zirconium-metal substrates in tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide (TEAOH) solutions under constant applied voltage conditions at ∼25° and ∼100°C was investigated. The chemistry and microstructure of the anodic oxide films deposited on the zirconium-metal substrates under the above conditions were characterized using X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that, with sufficiently high applied voltages (in the range of 300 V) at pH ∼9.5, the initial dissolution of the zirconium anode resulted in the local saturation of the electrolyte solution with Zr⁴⁺, forming Zr(OH)⁻₅, which deposited electrophoretically on the anode as a thick, gelatinous film at 25°C. Similar treatments at 100°C resulted in an in situ crystallization of Zr(OH)₄ gel to monoclinic ZrO₂.     

Transmittance and cathodoluminescence of AlN ceramics sintered with Ca3Al2O6 as sintering additive

Aluminum nitride ceramics were prepared by sintering with 0–4.8 mass% of Ca₃Al₂O₆ (C₃A) as a sintering additive. The transmittance in the range of 260–550 nm increased with increasing amount of C₃A. The cathodoluminescence intensity attributed to oxygen-induced defects decreased with increasing amount of C₃A. From the results, the increase of the transmittance in the range of 260–550 nm was considered to be related to the decrease of the oxygen-induced defect density.     

Multiple‐valued immune network with apoptosis system

In this paper, we describe a new model of immune network based on biological immune response network. We propose an immunity like multiple‐valued network with apoptosis mechanism. The model is based on the interaction between B cells and T cells and the biological apoptosis mechanism in the human body. With the mechanism, a naturally immune system can be reproduced. The model is also applied to pattern recognition. It becomes possible with a conventional model to restrict the category increase of memory patterns. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 162(3): 51– 57, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20320     

Formulation of Gmax from Reconstituted Clayey Soils and its Application to Gmax Measured in the Field

The elastic shear modulus of natural sedimentary clay ground, G_max, is estimated based on laboratory tests for fifteen different reconstituted clays. Two types of tests were performed, i.e., Bender Element and Cyclic Triaxial tests. The proposed formulation is not based on void ratio, e, but consists of only three parameters: w_L (liquid limit), p′ (the current mean effective stress) and p′_max (the maximum mean consolidation pressure). To apply it to the field, this equation is modified for using σ′_v0 (the in situ effective overburden pressure) and OCR, instead of p′ and p′_max. Since existing formulae for G_max are mostly based on e, they are not able to apply to both reconstituted soil and field, without considering the correction factor for structure. This is because e in the field is much larger than that for reconstituted soil even though their consolidation pressures and OCR are the same for these clays. The applicability of the proposed formula was examined by using investigated results from the in-situ seismic surveys performed at eleven worldwide sites. It is well demonstrated that the proposed equation in this paper is capable of predicting G_max of natural sedimentary clay deposits with higher accuracy than the existing empirical formulae using a function of e.     

Preparation of long sticky ends for universal ligation-independent cloning: Sequential T4 DNA polymerase treatments

Ligation-independent cloning (LIC) is a useful method for efficient directional cloning of a PCR product. LIC requires a specially designed vector containing a long stretch of sequence that is missing any one of the four nucleotides. When the linearized vector is treated with T4 DNA polymerase, in the presence of the absent base, long single-stranded overhangs are generated that are suitable for cloning. In this study, long and efficient sticky ends for LIC were produced by sequential T4 DNA polymerase treatments at non-specific sequences on a commercially available vector. All restriction enzyme sites become available in the current LIC.     

Lithium Phenolate Complexes with a Pyridine‐Containing Polymer for Solution‐Processable Electron Injection Layers in PLEDs

A series of (vinylphenyl)pyridine‐based polymer binders, PVPh2Py, PVPh3Py, and PVPh4Py, are designed and synthesized and it is found that mixtures of Liq and the polymers exhibit superior electron injection characteristics as ultrathin (1.6 nm) electron injection layer (EIL) films. They are comparable to those of EILs composed only of Liq. The addition of the polymers does not deteriorate the performance of Liq EILs. Additionally, when the EIL thickness is increased from 1.6 nm to 16 nm, the driving voltages increase and the external quantum efficiencies decrease. The increase in the voltage and decrease in the EQE are suppressed in the device with mixed EILs compared to those observed for the device composed of 100 wt% Liq. Furthermore, the position of the nitrogen in the pyridine ring is considered to influence the electron transport properties of the EILs. The mixing PVPh4Py with Liq improves the driving voltage of the fabricated devices, even with a thick mixed EIL. This reduced dependence of the performance of EILs on their thickness will be advantageous for the coating of large areas using solution processes.