A note on application of superhomogénéisation factors to integro-differential neutron transport equations

The present article focuses on the application of the SPH factor method to the integro-differential neutron transport equation. While leakage-related parameters are arbitrarily corrected by the SPH factors, the correction procedure for these parameters affects the calculation accuracy. We treat two correction procedures named the simultaneous correction and the direct correction, and compare them with each other in one-dimensional colorset assembly problems. Through numerical testing, we find that the simultaneous SPH correction gives better accuracy than the direct SPH correction, and the higher-order SPH-corrected calculations show better accuracy than the low-order ones. Furthermore, to consider the flux discontinuity between different types of assemblies, the improved SPH method proposed by Yamamoto and the SPH method with the Selengut normalization condition are also tested. Numerical results reveal that the both methods significantly improve the calculation accuracy and that the latter method is more robust than the former method.     

Thermomechanical characterization of P/M Ti-Fe-Mo-Y alloy with a fine lamellar microstructure

Thermomechanical response of a newly designed α + β type Ti-1.5Fe-2.25Mo-0.6Y (wt.%) alloy produced by elemental powder metallurgy (P/M) route was studied using hot compression process. Detailed analyses of the deformation behavior combined with a microstructure observation were carried out to characterize the deformation mechanisms under various conditions. The results indicate that the flow softening of the present alloy is a continuous dynamic-recrystallization (DRX) process. At a given strain, the proportion of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) shows a close affinity to the Zener-Hollomon parameter (Z) and the relation can be expressed as LAGBs% = (−10.2 ± 5) + 4 log Z, which well describes the relation between the deformed microstructure and deformation parameters. The P/M Ti-1.5Fe-2.25Mo-0.6Y alloy is found to possess good workability, based on the compression experiments and the processing map. The good deformation ability is believed to be attributed to the initial fine microstructure derived from the P/M route.     

Opioid antagonist peptides derived from kappa-casein

Opioid antagonists were sought in the fragments of kappa-casein which were obtained by chemical synthesis and enzymic digestion. A synthetic bovine kappa-casein peptide (35-41), Tyr-Pro-Ser-Tyr-Gly-Leu-Asn (casoxin A) showed opioid antagonist activity at 200 microM in the guinea pig ileum assay. A synthetic peptide Tyr-Pro-Tyr-Tyr (casoxin B) which is found in bovine and human kappa-casein, also showed opioid antagonist activity at 100 microM. Another opioid antagonist peptide (casoxin C) was isolated from tryptic digests of bovine kappa-casein by reverse-phase HPLC. The structure of the peptide was Tyr-Ile-Pro-Ile-Gln-Tyr-Val-Leu-Ser-Arg, which corresponded to kappa-casein (25-34). Casoxin C was active at 5 microM in the guinea pig ileum assay. Thus, bovine kappa-casein contains three potential opioid antagonist sequences.     

Effects of different molting procedures on incidence of Salmonella infection in flocks of naturally contaminated laying hens in a commercial egg-producing farm by detection of yolk antibodies to Salmonella in eggs

Indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been applied to detect immunoglobulin Y antibodies to different serotypes of Salmonella in the yolks of chicken eggs with heat-extracted antigens of Salmonella enterica serotypes Agona (SA), Cerro (SC), Enteritidis (SE), Montevideo (SM), and Putten (SP). The egg yolk samples examined were classified as positive if their ELISA absorbance values exceeded the value for eggs from specific-pathogen-free flocks by more than two standard deviations. Of 30 egg yolk samples from three flocks vaccinated with a killed SE vaccine, 29 were antibody positive by the ELISA assay for the SE antigen. Four to 29 of the 29 yolk samples showed positive results for the other serovars, although the absorbance values for SE were higher than those obtained for the other serotypes in each of the yolk samples. All 30 yolks from three flocks that were not administered any SE vaccines were found to be antibody negative for SE, and two samples were determined to be positive for SC. Thirty-nine or 40 eggs were obtained from each of four layer flocks in a commercial egg production farm where the laying houses were naturally contaminated with SA, SC, SM, SP, Salmonella serovar Infantis (SI), and untypeable strains. The ELISA absorbance values for SM in the egg yolks obtained from the two flocks molted through feed withdrawal when the birds restarted laying were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those observed in the yolks obtained before the molt. In egg yolks from the two other flocks that were molted through a wheat bran diet, there was no significant difference between the absorbance values before and after the molt. The observations in the present study provide further evidence to suggest that a molt initiated through the administration of a wheat bran diet can reduce the risk for Salmonella problems in a commercial egg-producing setting.     

Generation of tree movement sound effects

This paper presents a method for automatically generating sound effects for an animation of branches and leaves moving in the wind. Each tree is divided into branches and leaves, and an independent sound effect generation process is employed for each element. The individual results are then compounded into one sound effect. For the branches, we employ an approach based on the frequencies of experimentally obtained Karman vortex streets. For the leaves, we use the leaf blade state as the input and assume a virtual musical instrument that uses wave tables as the sound source. All computations can be performed independently for each frame step. Therefore, each frame step can be executed on completion of the animation step. The results of the implementation of the approach are presented and it is shown that the process offers the possibility of real‐time operation through the use of parallel computing techniques. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

3D surface cellular automata and their applications

This paper describes the generation and rendering of three‐dimensional (3D) surface cellular automata (CA). Our model's main advantage is that it gives direct texturing simulation based on the actual shape of any triangulated input object. We first introduce general CA concepts and summarize works in the literature. We then describe our 3D surface CA method, emphasizing how it avoids potential problems in data structure and rendering steps. We then detail, two examples of specific 3D surface CA with their respective cell structures and corresponding computer graphics images. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.