Effect of Rotational Transform on Thermal Transport in Stellarator–Heliotron Plasmas on LHD

Experimental evidence that indicates a positive effect of rotational transform on thermal transport has been shown for electron cyclotron heated plasmas on large helical device (LHD). Although this positive dependence was suggested by earlier scaling studies on energy confinement time, there was a concern that rotational transform is strongly correlated with another major non-dimensional parameter, that is, aspect ratio, in stellarator–heliotron systems. A careful experiment to exclude correlation between these two non-dimensional parameters was carried out on LHD by means of combining helical coil pitch control and limiter insertion. Plasmas with similar aspect ratio but different rotational transform have been compared in terms of global energy confinement time and local heat diffusivity. Energy confinement time increases with the rotational transform. Also the comparison of plasmas dimensionally similar in terms of normalized gyro-radius, collisionality, normalized pressure and aspect ratio has indicated that thermal transport improves with rotational transform. Since the plasmas studied here are dominated by turbulent transport rather than neoclassical transport, the identified feature, common to toroidal plasmas with tokamak, will stimulate the challenge to resolve the origin of the favorable effect of poloidal field and the compatibility with drift turbulence theory.     

Multiwalled carbon nanotube-coating of 3D collagen scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Surface coating treatment with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was applied to 3D collagen scaffold for bone tissue engineering. Rat primary osteoblasts (ROBs) were cultured on an MWCNT-coated collagen sponge (MWCNT-coated sponge) in a 3D dynamic flow cell culture system and differentiation markers were measured. Alkaline phosphatase activity at 1 day, and calcium and osteopontin contents of the MWCNT-coated sponges at 7 days were significantly higher than those of uncoated sponges. ROBs on the MWCNT-coated sponge differentiated earlier than on the uncoated sponge. In addition, the tissue response to the MWCNT-coated sponge was evaluated. Slight inflammation was observed around MWCNTs at 7 and 28 days after implantation in subcutaneous tissue. Significantly more bone formation was observed around the MWCNT-coated sponges than around the uncoated sponges and new bone attached to MWCNTs directly at 28 and 56 days after implantation in the femur. Moreover, at 28 days after implantation of the MWCNT-coated sponge with osteoblasts cultured for 1 day, bone tissues were successfully formed in the pores according to its honeycomb structure. Therefore, MWCNT coating appears to be effective for bone tissue engineering.     

Electric conductivity of silicone elastomers vulcanized by the hydrosilation reaction

Electrical conductance and hardness of silicone elastomers, prepared by the vulcanization reaction of hydrosilyl groups with vinyl groups in the presence of platinum catalyst, were measured. It is shown that the electric conductivity of the elastomers decreases as hardness increases and as the temperature decreases. An empirical equation is derived expressing electric conductivity σ as a function of hardness H and absolute temperature T, log σ = −0.03H − 3200/T − 3, where σ is S/m and H is Shore A, over the temperature range of 100–150°C.     

Development and Regeneration of Muscle,Tendon, and Myotendinous Junctions in Striated Skeletal Muscle

Owing to a rapid increase in aging population in recent years, the deterioration of motor function in older adults has become an important social problem, and several studies have aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying muscle function decline. Furthermore, structural maintenance of the muscle–tendon–bone complexes in the muscle attachment sites is important for motor function, particularly for joints; however, the development and regeneration of these complexes have not been studied thoroughly and require further elucidation. Recent studies have provided insights into the roles of mesenchymal progenitors in the development and regeneration of muscles and myotendinous junctions. In particular, studies on muscles and myotendinous junctions have—through the use of the recently developed scRNA-seq—reported the presence of syncytia, thereby suggesting that fibroblasts may be transformed into myoblasts in a BMP-dependent manner. In addition, the high mobility group box 1—a DNA-binding protein found in nuclei—is reportedly involved in muscle regeneration. Furthermore, studies have identified several factors required for the formation of locomotor apparatuses, e.g., tenomodulin (Tnmd) and mohawk (Mkx), which are essential for tendon maturation.     

Predicting Service Life of a Bright Ni-Cr Electroplating System on Steel Subjected to the CASS Test

Reliability theory and corrosion life testing techniques were applied to the prediction of the service life of a bright Ni-Cr electroplating system on steel. For three thicknesses of Ni and three temperatures, a set of fifteen panels was subjected to the CASS test. For each panel, the time to failure was estimated from the smoothed curves of the percent area of corrosion. To each sample life distribution, a Weibull distribution was fitted. The failure mode tvas wear-out type of failure. The maximum service life, B₁₀ life, increased linearly with increasing Ni thickness but decreased with increasing the temperature of the CASS test. For each thickness of Ni, the B₁₀ life was related to reciprocal absolute temperature via an Arrhenius model.     

Determination of capsaicinoids in foods using ultra high performance liquid chromatography

A sensitive, precise, and specific ultra high performance liquid chromatographic (u-HPLC) method was developed for the analysis of capsaicin in foods. The method validation parameters yielded good results, including linearity, precision, accuracy, and recovery. The u-HPLC separation was performed on a reversed column C₁₈ (particle size 2 μm, i.d. 2 mm, length 50 mm, followed by fluorescence detection-excitation 280 nm, emission 325 nm). The recovery of capsaicin in gochujang was more than 91%, and the detection limit and lower determination limit of u-HPLC analysis were 0.054 and 0.163 μg/mL for capsaicin and 0.053 and 0.160 μg/mL for dihydrocapsaicin, respectively. The calibration graph for capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin was linear from 0.2 to 10.0 μg/mL for u-HPLC analysis. The inter-day and intra-day precisions (relative standard deviations) were <5.21% for capsaicin and <9.79% for dihydrocapsaicin while the average recoveries obtained were quantitative 91.1–94.8% for capsaicin, 91.4–97.0% for dihydrocapsacin, indicating good accuracy of the u-HPLC method.     

Orientation Control of Linear‐Shaped Molecules in Vacuum‐Deposited Organic Amorphous Films and Its Effect on Carrier Mobilities

The molecular orientation of linear‐shaped molecules in organic amorphous films is demonstrated to be controllable by the substrate temperature. It is also shown that the molecular orientation affects the charge‐transport characteristics of the films. Although linear‐shaped 4,4′‐bis[(N‐carbazole)styryl]biphenyl molecules deposited on substrates at room temperature are horizontally oriented in amorphous films, their orientation when deposited on heated substrates with smooth surfaces becomes more random as the substrate temperature increases, even at temperatures under the glass transition temperature. Another factor dominating the orientation of the molecules deposited on heated substrates is the surface roughness of the substrate. Lower carrier mobilities are observed in films composed of randomly oriented molecules, demonstrating the significant effect of a horizontal molecular orientation on the charge‐transport characteristics of organic amorphous films.     

Sustainable hydrogen production system with sulfur–water–organic materials by hydrothermal reaction

Engineered process for hydrogen generation from hydrogen sulfide ions in aqueous solution using solar energy with photocatalysis has been established. In order to design a complete closed loop of hydrogen production system, reacted sulfide ions have to be reduced to photocatalysis-active hydrogen sulfide ion. We focused on hydrothermal reaction of sulfur for reducing the reacted sulfide ions. But the oxidized sulfur species are occurred inevitably by the reaction. Thus alternative reducers are required to sulfur hydrothermal reaction for a complete closed loop of hydrogen production system. We studied sulfur–water–organic materials interaction, and particularly on the effective utilization of waste elemental sulfur. In this study, hydrothermal experiments of sulfur, water urea, and/or alcohols were carried out under atmospheric constituent condition and hypoxic condition at 200 °C. Experimental results show that maintaining solution in weak alkaline condition is important and alcohol compounds had a great role for reduction of sulfur. Elemental sulfur was completely reduced to hydrogen sulfide by the hydrothermal reaction of sulfur with urea and propanol under hypoxic condition. Those results indicate that it is possible to create sustainable sulfur cycle for hydrogen production system using hydrothermal reaction with organic compounds.