Transparent actuator made with few layer graphene electrode and dielectric elastomer, for variable focus lens

A transparent dielectric elastomer actuator driven by few-layer-graphene (FLG) electrode was experimentally investigated. The electrodes were made of graphene, which was dispersed inN-methyl-pyrrolidone. The transparent actuator was fabricated from developed FLG electrodes.The FLG electrode with its sheet resistance of 0.45 kΩ/sq (80 nm thick) was implemented to mask silicone elastomer. The developed FLG-driven actuator exhibited an optical transparency of over 57% at a wavenumber of 600 nm and produced bending displacement performance ranging from 29 to 946 μm as functions of frequency and voltage. The focus variation was clearly demonstrated under actuation to study its application-feasibility in variable focus lens and various opto-electro-mechanical devices

Seismic Monitoring and System Identification of Steel Column Bases Installed in Pendulum-type Observatory

特集2 耐震構造学研究グループ (ERS

Vibration Tests on Steel Column Bases Installed in Pendulum-type Seismic Observatory

特集2 耐震構造学研究グループ (ERS

Direct measurement of mechanical vibrations of the 4-rod RFQ at the HLI

In this paper, we present a new haptic interface, called active skin , which is configured with a tactile sensor and a tactile stimulator in single haptic cell, and multiple haptic cells are embedded in a dielectric elastomer. The active skin generates a wide variety of haptic feel in response to the touch by synchronizing the sensor and the stimulator. In this paper, the design of the haptic cell is derived via iterative analysis and design procedures. A fabrication method dedicated to the proposed device is investigated and a controller to drive multiple haptic cells is developed. In addition, several experiments are performed to evaluate the performance of the active skin

Activation of Astrocytic μ-opioid Receptor Elicits Fast Glutamate Release Through TREK-1-Containing K2P Channel in Hippocampal Astrocytes

Recently, μ-opioid receptor (MOR), one of the well-known Gi-protein coupled receptors (Gi-GPCR), was reported to be highly expressed in the hippocampal astrocytes. However, the role of astrocytic MOR has not been investigated. Here we report that activation of astrocytic MOR by [D-Ala2,N-MePhe4,Gly-ol]-enkephalin (DAMGO), a selective MOR agonist, causes a fast glutamate release using sniffer patch technique. We also found that the DAMGO-induced glutamate release was not observed in the astrocytes from MOR-deficient mice and MOR-short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-expressed astrocytes. In addition, the glutamate release was significantly reduced by gene silencing of the TREK-1-containing two-pore potassium (K2P) channel, which mediates passive conductance in astrocytes. Our findings were consistent with the previous study demonstrating that activation of Gi-GPCR such as cannabinoid receptor CB1 and adenosine receptor A1 causes a glutamate release through TREK-1-containing K2P channel from hippocampal astrocytes. We also demonstrated that MOR and TREK-1 are significantly co-localized in the hippocampal astrocytes. Furthermore, we found that both MOR and TREK-1-containing K2P channels are localized in the same subcellular compartments, soma and processes, of astrocytes. Our study raises a novel possibility that astrocytic MOR may participate in several physiological and pathological actions of opioids, including analgesia and addiction, through astrocytically released glutamate and its signaling pathway

AKAP12 regulates vascular integrity in zebrafish

The integrity of blood vessels controls vascular permeability and extravasation of blood cells, across the endothelium. Thus, the impairment of endothelial integrity leads to hemorrhage, edema, and inflammatory infiltration. However, the molecular mechanism underlying vascular integrity has not been fully understood. Here, we demonstrate an essential role for A-kinase anchoring protein 12 (AKAP12) in the maintenance of endothelial integrity during vascular development. Zebrafish embryos depleted of akap12 (akap12 morphants) exhibited severe hemorrhages. In vivo time-lapse analyses suggested that disorganized interendothelial cell-cell adhesions in akap12 morphants might be the cause of hemorrhage. To clarify the molecular mechanism by which the cell-cell adhesions are impaired, we examined the cell-cell adhesion molecules and their regulators using cultured endothelial cells. The expression of PAK2, an actin cytoskeletal regulator, and AF6, a connector of intercellular adhesion molecules and actin cytoskeleton, was reduced in AKAP12-depleted cells. Depletion of either PAK2 or AF6 phenocopied AKAP12-depleted cells, suggesting the reduction of PAK2 and AF6 results in the loosening of intercellular junctions. Consistent with this, overexpression of PAK2 and AF6 rescued the abnormal hemorrhage in akap12 morphants. We conclude that AKAP12 is essential for integrity of endothelium by maintaining the expression of PAK2 and AF6 during vascular development

Binary Icosahedral Group and 600-Cell

In this article, we have an explicit description of the binary isosahedral group as a 600-cell. We introduce a method to construct binary polyhedral groups as a subset of quaternions H via spin map of SO(3). In addition, we show that the binary icosahedral group in H is the set of vertices of a 600-cell by applying the Coxeter–Dynkin diagram of H4

Development of Fatigue Life Improvement Technology of Butt Joints Using Friction Stir Processing

Burr grinding, tungsten inert gas (TIG) dressing, ultrasonic impact treatment, and peening are used to improve fatigue life in steel structures. These methods improve the fatigue life of weld joints by hardening the weld toe, improving the bead shape, or causing compressive residual stress. This study proposes a new postweld treatment method improving the weld bead shape and metal structure at the welding zone using friction stir processing (FSP) to enhance fatigue life. For that, a pin-shaped tool and processing condition employing FSP has been established through experiment. Experimental results revealed that fatigue life improves by around 42% compared to as-welded fatigue specimens by reducing the stress concentration at the weld toe and generating a metal structure finer than that of flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). Hot-spot stress, structural stress, and simplified calculation methods cannot predict the accurate stress at the weld toe in case the weld toe has a smooth curvature as in the case of the FSP specimen. On the contrary, a finite element calculation could reasonably predict the stress concentration factor for the FSP specimen because it considers not only the bead profile but also the weld toe profile

研究速報 : Interaction surface of plastic resistances for exposed-type steel column base under bi-axial bending

特集2 大正関東地震から80年を経て,地震工学研究の最先端(ERS