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This paper presents an analysis of antenna performance degradation due to the panel misalignment in a solid surface deployable antenna. The misalignment of the panel causes a phase error at the aperture plane due to path length differences. The radiated field is rapidly calculated using the aperture phase error method with analytic integrations in the case of uniform panel misalignment and quarter-zone uniform misalignment. The effects of the panel misalignment on the co-polarization characteristics of gain and side-lobe level (SLL) are calculated. Beam tilting is observed when the panel misalignment occurs uniformly in the half-zone of the whole panel area.

In the past, there have been a lot of effort to solve gas and shrinkage porosity defects in die casting. The common solutions are vacuum technology, jet cooling technology, and application of squeeze pins. However, these solutions often increase the die casting production costs. A new solution that has recently been introduced worldwide is GISS Technology. This technology applies the superheated slurry casting process. Gas and shrinkage porosity defects can be reduced. Furthermore, the production costs are lowered due to die life extension, cycle time reduction, melting energy reduction, and lubrication usage reduction. This paper describes the principle of GISS Technology, and selected applications and case studies are also be presented.

The effect of the Fe/Co ratio on the catalytic performance of Fe–Co/alumina catalysts has been investigated in the production of high-calorific synthetic natural gas (SNG) from syngas. Fe–Co/alumina catalysts with different Fe/Co molar ratios were synthesized by the co-precipitation method and characterized using XRD, BET, H2-TPR, Raman, XAS, and XPS. At higher Fe/Co ratios (≥2), the calcined Fe–Co/alumina catalysts were mainly composed of α-Fe2O3 and CoFe2O4. The presence of Co improved the dispersion of iron oxides and the catalyst reducibility under H2 atmosphere. The Fe–Co/alumina catalysts partially formed FeCo alloys when they were reduced at 350 °C under H2. The formation of FeCo alloy destabilized the iron carbide phase and suppressed the carbon chain growth. These Fe–Co/alumina catalysts were efficient in producing high calorific SNG with a heating value of over 60 MJ/Nm3.

High pressure die casting (DC) is an effective manufacturing method suitable for high accuracy, mass production. However, its high injection speeds produce an unstable molten metal flow that induces gas porosity; a critical casting defect that limits the application of heat treatment and welding. In this study, we performed casting using conventional DC(CDC), vacuum assisted DC(VDC), pore-free DC(PFDC), as well as a novel vacuum assisted PFDC(VPFDC). We evaluated the gas porosity of the as-cast and heat-treated specimens using computed tomography, microstructure, and mechanical property analysis. The VDC-, PFDC-, and VPFDC-prepared specimens recorded lower inner gas quantities than that the CDC-prepared specimen; the lowest (4.914 cc/100 g) was recorded for the VPFDC-prepared specimen (product section). X-ray diffraction and optical microscopy analysis showed that the specimens all contained α-Al, eutectic Si, θ-Al2Cu, and Al2O3. However, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis indicated a higher oxygen content in the PFDC-prepared specimen than the CDC-prepared specimen. Moreover, the tensile properties of the VDC-, PFDC-, and VPFDC-prepared specimens were better than those of the CDC-prepared specimens, and after heat treatment, the tensile properties of the CDC-prepared specimen deteriorated while those of the VDC-, PFDC-, and VPFDC-prepared specimens improved.

The sclera provides the structural support of the eye and protects the intraocular contents. Since it covers a large portion of the eye surface and has relatively high permeability for most drugs, the sclera has been used as a major pathway for drug administration. Recently, microneedle (MN) technology has shown the possibility of highly local and minimally-invasive drug delivery to the eye by MN insertion through the sclera or the suprachoroidal space. Although ocular MN needs to be inserted through the sclera, there has been no systematic study to understand the mechanical properties of the sclera, which are important to design ocular MNs. In this study, we investigated a MN-based method to measure the puncture resistance and fracture toughness of the sclera. To reflect the conditions of MN insertion into the sclera, force-displacement curves obtained from MN-insertion tests were used to estimate the puncture resistance and fracture toughness of sclera tissue. To understand the effect of the insertion conditions, dependency of the mechanical properties on insertion speeds, pre-strain of the sclera, and MN sizes were analyzed and discussed. Statement of Significance Measurement of mechanical property of soft biological tissue is challenging due to variations between tissue samples or lack of well-defined measurement techniques. Although non-invasive measurement techniques such as nano/micro indentation were employed to locally measure the elastic modulus of soft biological materials, mechanical properties such as puncture resistance or fracture toughness, which requires “invasive” measurement and is important for the application of “microneedles or hypodermic needles”, has not been well studied. In this work, we report minimally-invasive measurement of puncture resistance and fracture toughness of sclera using a double MN insertion method. Parametric studies showed that use of MN proved to be advantageous because of minimally-invasive insertion into tissue as well as higher sensitivity to sub-tissue architecture during the measurement.

Liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) is an attractive method for the scaling-up of exfoliated MoS2 sheets compared to chemical vapor deposition and mechanical cleavage. However, the MoS2 nanosheet yield from LPE is too small for practical applications. We report a facile method for the scaling-up of exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets using freeze-dried silk fibroin powders. Compared to MoS2 dispersion in the absence of silk fibroin powder, sonicated MoS2 dispersions with silk fibroin powder (MoS2/Silk dispersion) show noticeably higher exfoliated MoS2 nanosheet yields, with suspended MoS2 concentrations in MoS2/Silk dispersions sonicated for 2 and 5 h of 1.03 and 1.39 mg·mL–1, respectively. The MoS2 concentration in the MoS2/Silk dispersion after centrifugation above 10,000 rpm is more than four times that without the silk fibroin. The size of the dispersed silk fibroin is controlled by the change of centrifugation rate, showing the removal of silk fibroin above tens of micrometers in size after centrifugation at 2,000 rpm. Size-controlled silk fibroin biomolecules combined with MoS2 nanosheets are expected to increase the practical use of such materials in fields related to tissue engineering, biosensors and electrochemical electrodes. Atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy provide the height of the MoS2 nanosheets spin-cast from MoS2 /Silk dispersions, showing thicknesses of 3–6 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate that the outermost surface layer of the hydrophobic MoS2 crystals interact with oxygen-containing functional groups that exist in the hydrophobic part of silk fibroins. The amphiphilic properties of silk fibroin combined with the MoS2 nanosheets stabilize dispersions by enhancing solvent-material interactions. The large quantities of exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets suspended in the as-synthesized dispersions can be utilized for the fabrication of vapor and electrochemical devices requiring high MoS2 nanosheets contents.

Thermal drawing is a versatile rapid prototyping method that can freely form microneedle (MN) structures with ultra-high aspect ratio without relying on any complex and expensive process. However, it is still challenging to repeatedly produce MNs with identical shapes using this thermal drawing due to small fluctuations in processing conditions such as temperatures, drawing speeds, drawing heights, or parallelism in the drawing setup. In addition, thermal drawing is only applicable to thermoplastic materials and most natural biomaterials are incompatible with this method. Thus, we propose use of thermal drawing to fabricate master molds with high aspect ratios and replicate the shape by micromolding. In this work, high A/R MNs with various body profiles were fabricated by thermal drawing and replicated to silk fibroin (SF) MNs multiple times using micromolding. The original MN shape was precisely copied to the SF MNs. Methanol treatment enhanced the mechanical strength of SF MNs up to about 113% more depending on the treatment duration. We also demonstrated that methanol exposure time could effectively control drug release rates from SF MNs.

It has been challenging for microneedles to deliver drugs effectively to thin tissues with little background support such as the cornea. Herein, we designed a microneedle pen system, a single microneedle with a spring-loaded microneedle applicator to provide impact insertion. To firmly attach solid microneedles with 140 μm in height at the end of macro-scale applicators, a transfer molding process was employed. The fabricated microneedle pens were then applied to mouse corneas. The microneedle pens successfully delivered rhodamine dye deep enough to reach the stromal layer of the cornea with small entry only about 1000 μm(2). When compared with syringes or 30 G needle tips, microneedle pens could achieve more localized and minimally invasive delivery without any chances of perforation. To investigate the efficacy of microneedle pens as a way of drug delivery, sunitinib malate proven to inhibit in vitro angiogenesis, was delivered to suture-induced angiogenesis model. When compared with delivery by a 30 G needle tip dipped with sunitinib malate, only delivery by microneedle pens could effectively inhibit corneal neovascularization in vivo. Microneedle pens could effectively deliver drugs to thin tissues without impairing merits of using microneedles: localized and minimally invasive delivery.

Restenosis at a vascular anastomosis site is a major cause of graft failure and is difficult to prevent by conventional treatment. Perivascular drug delivery has advantages as drugs can be diffused to tunica media and subintima while minimizing the direct effect on endothelium. This in vivo study investigated the comparative effectiveness of paclitaxel, sirolimus, and sunitinib using a perivascular biodegradable microneedle cuff. A total of 31 New Zealand white rabbits were used. Rhodamine was used to visualize drug distribution (n = 3). Sirolimus- (n = 7), sunitinib- (n = 7), and paclitaxel-loaded (n = 7) microneedle cuffs were placed at balloon-injured abdominal aortae and compared to drug-free cuffs (n = 7). Basic histological structures were not affected by microneedle devices, and vascular wall thickness of the device-only group was similar to that of normal artery. Quantitative analysis revealed significantly decreased neointima formation in all drug-treated groups (p < 0.001). However, the tunica media layer of the paclitaxel-treated group was significantly thinner than that of other groups and also showed the highest apoptotic ratio (p < 0.001). Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-positive cells were significantly reduced in all drug-treated groups. Sirolimus or sunitinib appeared to be more appropriate for microneedle devices capable of slow drug release because vascular wall thickness was minimally affected.

Direct carbon fuel cells (DCFCs) have recently attracted great interest because they could provide a considerably more efficient means of power generation in comparison with conventional coal-fired power plants. Among various types of DCFCs under development, a hybrid system offers the combined advantages of solid oxide and molten carbonate electrolytes; however, there is a significant technical challenge in terms of power capability. Here, we report an experimental study demonstrating how anode microstructure influences the power-generating characteristics of hybrid DCFCs. The anode microstructure (pore volume and surface area) is modified by using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) pore-formers. Polarization studies indicate that cell performance is strongly dependent on the anode surface area rather than on the pore volume. The incorporation of PMMA-derived pores into the anode leads to improved power capability at typical operating temperatures, which is attributed to an enlarged active zone for electrochemical CO oxidation.

Solid surface deployable antenna provides reduced volume in the stowage and relatively high surface precision. CFRP(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers) is a composite material that has the properties of light weight and high modulus. The electric characteristic of the layered laminate of the CFRP is investigated. For the incomplete deployment of the panels, the degradation of the antenna characteristics are analyzed.

Self-assembled poly(4-vinylpyridine)-grafted gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) and polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinylpyridine) block copolymers were fabricated by the introduction of a selective solvent to a common solution. The assembled mixtures were spin-coated onto solid substrates to fabricate composite gold/polymer thin films composed of copolymer-hybridized Au NPs and independent copolymer micelles. The obtained composite Au thin films had variable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) bands and microscopic morphologies upon vapor annealing with selective solvents because the adsorption and dissolving of solvent molecules into the films could rearrange the copolymer block. The hybrid nanostructured Au thin films may have potential in vapor sensing and organic assays.

We present a facile strategy for the generation of plasmonic nano-necklace arrays by introducing metallic precursors into strings of reconstructed inverse micelle nanotemplates which are induced by applying sequential selective solvent treatment and solvent vapour annealing for quasi-hexagonal arrays of poly(styrene-block-2-vinyl pyridine) inverse micelles.

We fabricated titanium dioxide (TiO2)-silica (SiO2) nanocomposite structures with controlled morphology by a simple synthetic approach using cooperative sol-gel chemistry and block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly. Mixed TiO2-SiO2 sol-gel precursors were blended with amphiphilic poly(styrene-block-ethylene oxide) (PS-b-PEO) BCPs where the precursors were selectively incorporated into the hydrophilic PEO domains. Changing the volumetric ratio of TiO2-SiO2 sol-gel precursor from 5% to 20%, a stepwise structural inversion occurred from nanodot arrays to discrete nanowires. Template free hybrid inorganic nanostructures were produced after the removal of PS-b-PEO by irradiation of UV light. The morphological evolution and photophysical properties were investigated by microscopic studies, UV-visible absorption and photocatalytic properties.

Dynamic analyses of vibrational motion in cell membranes provide a lot of information on the complex dynamic motilities of a red blood cell (RBC). Here, we present the correlation properties of membrane fluctuation in discocyte and spherocyte RBCs by using quantitative phase microscopy (QPM). Since QPM can provide nanometer sensitivity in thickness measurement within a millisecond time scale, we were able to observe the membrane flicking of an RBC in nanometer resolution up to the bandwidth of 50 Hz. The correlation properties of the vibrational motion were analyzed with the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) method. Fractal scaling exponent α in the DFA method was calculated for the vibrational motion of a cell surface at various surface points for normal discocyte and abnormal spherocyte RBCs. Measured α values for normal RBCs are distributed between 0.7 and 1.0, whereas those for abnormal spherocyte RBCs are within a range from 0.85 to 1.2. We have also verified that the vibrational motion of background fluid outside of a cell has an α value close to 0.5, which is a typical property of an uncorrelated white noise.

We present the study of the correlation properties of RBC flickering using double-path interferometric quantitative phase microscopy (QPM) using detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). For DFA of RBC membrane fluctuations, we have measured time series thickness variations of a normal RBC for 20 seconds. The amplitude of membrane fluctuations in RBC have showed significantly larger than the background noise level without a RBC. We have demonstrated a practical DFA application for QPM by studying the correlation property of RBC membrane fluctuations in a noninvasive manner. By measuring the fractal scaling exponents of the time series RBC thickness variations obtained from QPM, we have analyzed the correlation properties of RBC membrane fluctuations and the background noise without a sample. The exponents for a normal RBC revealed the long-range correlation property in time series during 20 seconds. However, the averaged exponent for background noise outside a cell was close to the exponent of white noise.

A versatile and facile route to control the composition of plasmonic nanoparticles (NP) aligned in a configuration of two dimensional nano-arrays is presented by applying galvanic displacement reactions on a pre-defined noble metal NP arrays which were prepared from diblock copolymer inverse micelles containing metal precursors.

We demonstrated carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters made by a filtration-transfer method. They showed low turn-on and threshold electric fields, which is attributed to the advantages of this method, such as the high density of emission sites, good electrical contact, strong mechanical adhesion, and low contamination of CNTs tips. In addition, the field emitters showed very stable emission stability for long operation time at the acceleration condition. Moreover, we realized flexible CNT emitters using the fabrication technique.

We fabricated the point emitter using a tip-treated carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber. The CNT point emitter showed the high emission current and good emission stability. It is considered that the excellent field emission properties are attributed to a large field enhancement factor caused by a large aspect ratio of the sharp tip of the point emitter and the tight binding of CNTs.

Metal dot-on-ZnO type hierarchical nanostructures composed of ordered arrays of noble metal nanoparticles with controlled areal density, prepared from poly(styrene-block-vinyl pyridine) diblock copolymer inverse micelles loaded with metal precursors, on sol-gel process based approximately 48 nm thick ZnO thin films exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activities compared with pure ZnO thin films in terms of photodegradation of methylene blue.

We present a versatile and accurate chromatic dispersion measurement method for single mode optical fibers over a wide spectral range (200 nm) using a spectral domain white light interferometer. This technique is based on spectral interferometry with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer setup and a broad band light source. It takes less than a second to obtain a spectral interferogram for a few tens of centimeter length fiber sample. We have demonstrated that the relative group velocity, the chromatic dispersion and the dispersion slope of a sample fiber can be obtained very accurately regardless of the zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) of a sample after frequency dependent optical phase was directly retrieved from a spectral interferogram. The measured results with our proposed method were compared with those obtained with a conventional time-domain dispersion measurement method. A good agreement between those results indicates that our proposed method can measure the chromatic dispersion of a short length optical fiber with very high accuracy.

We have analyzed the Solc filtering characteristics in a periodically poled Ti:LiNbO3 (Ti:PPLN) multimode waveguide. The single- and dual-wavelength filtering were achieved under the optimized guiding condition for the TEM(00)-like mode and two mode (TEM(00)- and TEM(01)-like mode), respectively. The full width at half-maximum of the filter was about 0.21 nm at both guiding conditions. We found that the origin of two peaks of the dual-wavelength Solc filter in the two-mode guiding condition is the different effective refractive index between the TEM(00)- and TEM(01)-like modes. The wavelength difference of two peaks is about 0.8 nm at room temperature.

Differential mode delay (DMD), chromatic dispersion, and modal dispersion measurement techniques for a multimode optical fiber based on optical frequency domain reflectometry are presented. We have used the principle of a conventional OFDR with a tunable external cavity laser and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We have compared our measurement results with those obtained using a traditional time-domain measurement method.

The electronic structure of TiO2 doped with Ce was investigated with x-ray absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. Ce doping narrows the band gap of TiO2, as evidenced by a redshift in the absorption edge in the O K-edge spectrum and PL. Narrowing is ascribed to the formation of an impurity band, composed of Ce 4f (Ce3+/Ce4+) and oxygen defect states, that induces tailing of the conduction band. Band gap narrowing extends the photoactivity of TiO2 to visible light. The impurity band located below the minimum of the conduction band traps excited electrons and suppresses recombination, enhancing the photocatalytic activity.

The crystal structure and the electronic and thermal properties of a high-quality polycrystalline TbFeAsO0.85 sample made by a high-pressure technique are investigated. The crystal structure, as determined by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, possesses a tetragonal unit cell (space group: P4/nmm) with lattice parameters of a=b=3.8851 A and c=8.3630 A. In order to elucidate the electronic structure and oxidation states of corresponding elements, X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra are presented. The XANES spectra confirm that the oxidation states of Fe, As, and Tb in the TbFeAsO0.85 sample are ∼Fe2+, ∼As3−, and ∼Tb3+, respectively, which are consistent with the previously reported band structure calculations. The n-type character of the charge carriers as revealed from XANES spectra is corroborated by the negative sign of the Seebeck coefficient (S) in the present study. The heat capacity (CP) measurement shows an anomaly in the vicinity of the superconducting transition temperature (T...

We have proposed and demonstrated a very sensitive volume measurement scheme for a live cell with a quantitative phase microscopy (QPM) utilizing auto-focusing and numerical edge detection schemes. An auto-focusing technique with two different focus measures is applied to find the focus dependent errors in our live cell volume measurement system. The volume of a polystyrene bead sample with 3 mum diameter has been measured for the validity test of our proposed method. We have shown that a small displacement of an object from its focusing position can cause a large volume error. A numerical edge detection technique is also used to accurately resolve the boundary between a cell and its suspension medium. We have applied this method to effectively suppress errors by the surrounding medium of a single red blood cell (RBC).

A new phase-matching condition for a four-wave-mixing (FWM) experiment in an optical fiber is proposed to simultaneously measure the linear and nonlinear optical properties of an optical fiber such as dispersion-zero wavelength, dispersion slop, and nonlinear refractive index. Several different dispersion shifted fibers (DSFs) and nonzero dispersion shifted fibers (NZDSFs) were tested to demonstrate the validity of our proposed method. We have also shown that experimental results are in good agreement with those obtained using a conventional measurement method. We believe that technique is a very powerful and efficient tool for zero-dispersion and dispersion slop mapping for already installed optical fibers.