A round-robin project in Japan for the evaluation of nondestructive responses of natural flaws

This paper introduces the current status of a round-robin project aiming at gathering non-destructive data of natural flaws. The project, which was launched in 2009, prepared specimens containing artificial stress corrosion cracks and thermal fatigue cracks, and served the specimens to a round-robin test to gather non-destructive data. A total of 12 universities and research institutes have participated to the round-robin test. Some of the specimens are already destroyed to confirm the true profiles of the cracks, whereas others remain undestroyed. All the data are presented at a dedicated webpage, together with the results of the destructive tests, so that they are freely available for anybody. Keywords: thermal fatigue crack, stress corrosion cracking, electromagnetic nondestructive testing, ultrasonic testing, numerical modelin

Fabrication of imitative cracks by 3D printing for electromagnetic nondestructive testing and evaluations

AbstractThis study demonstrates that 3D printing technology offers a simple, easy, and cost-effective method to fabricate artificial flaws simulating real cracks from the viewpoint of eddy current testing. The method does not attempt to produce a flaw whose morphology mirrors that of a real crack but instead produces a relatively simple artificial flaw. The parameters of this flaw that have dominant effects on eddy current signals can be quantitatively controlled. Three artificial flaws in type 316L austenitic stainless steel plates were fabricated using a powderbed-based laser metal additive manufacturing machine. The three artificial flaws were designed to have the same length, depth, and opening but different branching and electrical contacts between flaw surfaces. The flaws were measured by eddy current testing using an absolute type pancake probe. The signals due to the three flaws clearly differed from each other although the flaws had the same length and depth. These results were supported by subsequent destructive tests and finite element analyses

Raman spectroscopy on carbon nanotubes at high pressure

Raman spectroscopy has been the most extensively employed method to study carbon nanotubes at high pressures. This review covers reversible pressure-induced changes of the lattice dynamics and structure of single- and multi-wall carbon nanotubes as well as irreversible transformations induced by high pressures. The interplay of covalent and van-der-Waals bonding in single-wall nanotube bundles and a structural distortion near 2 GPa are discussed in detail. Attempts of transforming carbon nanotubes into diamond and other "superhard" phases are reviewed critically.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figures, review article, to appear in J. Raman Spectroscop

Self-consistent Coulomb effects and charge distribution of quantum dot arrays

This paper considers the self-consistent Coulomb interaction within arrays of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) which are embedded in a pn structure. Strong emphasis is being put on the statistical occupation of the electronic QD states which has to be solved self-consistently with the actual three-dimensional potential distribution. A model which is based on a Green's function formalism including screening effects is used to calculate the interaction of QD carriers within an array of QDs, where screening due to the inhomogeneous bulk charge distribution is taken into acount. We apply our model to simulate capacitance-voltage (CV) characteristics of a pn structure with embedded QDs. Different size distributions of QDs and ensembles of spatially perodic and randomly distributed arrays of QDs are investigated.Comment: submitted to pr

Deprojection technique for galaxy cluster considering point spread function

We present a new method for the analysis of Abell 1835 observed by XMM-Newton. The method is a combination of the Direct Demodulation technique and deprojection. We eliminate the effects of the point spread function (PSF) with the Direct Demodulation technique. We then use a traditional depro-jection technique to study the properties of Abell 1835. Compared to that of deprojection method only, the central electron density derived from this method increases by 30%, while the temperature profile is similar.Comment: accepted for publication in Sciences in China -- G, the Black Hole special issu

Probing lepton flavor violation signal via e+ e- (gamma gamma) ---> l(i) anti-l(j) in the littlest Higgs model with T-parity at the ILC

In the littlest Higgs model with T-parity, the new interactions between the mirror leptons and the Standard Model leptons can induce some lepton flavor violation (LFV) processes at loop level. We study the possibility of the ILC to probe the LFV production processes $e^+e^-(\gamma\gamma)\rightarrow l_{i}\bar{l}_{j}$. Our results show that the rates of $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow l_{i}\bar{l}_{j}$ can reach 1 fb in optimal cases after reasonable kinematical cuts, which implies that these processes may be observed at the ILC

Resonant Enhancement of Inelastic Light Scattering in the Fractional Quantum Hall Regime at ν=1/3\nu=1/3

Strong resonant enhancements of inelastic light scattering from the long wavelength inter-Landau level magnetoplasmon and the intra-Landau level spin wave excitations are seen for the fractional quantum Hall state at $\nu = 1/3$. The energies of the sharp peaks (FWHM $\lesssim 0.2meV$) in the profiles of resonant enhancement of inelastic light scattering intensities coincide with the energies of photoluminescence bands assigned to negatively charged exciton recombination. To interpret the observed enhancement profiles, we propose three-step light scattering mechanisms in which the intermediate resonant transitions are to states with charged excitonic excitations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Slingshot: a PiggyBac based transposon system for tamoxifen-inducible ‘self-inactivating’ insertional mutagenesis

We have developed a self-inactivating PiggyBac transposon system for tamoxifen inducible insertional mutagenesis from a stably integrated chromosomal donor. This system, which we have named ‘Slingshot’, utilizes a transposon carrying elements for both gain- and loss-of-function screens in vitro. We show that the Slingshot transposon can be efficiently mobilized from a range of chromosomal loci with high inducibility and low background generating insertions that are randomly dispersed throughout the genome. Furthermore, we show that once the Slingshot transposon has been mobilized it is not remobilized producing stable clonal integrants in all daughter cells. To illustrate the efficacy of Slingshot as a screening tool we set out to identify mediators of resistance to puromycin and the chemotherapeutic drug vincristine by performing genetrap screens in mouse embryonic stem cells. From these genome-wide screens we identified multiple independent insertions in the multidrug resistance transporter genes Abcb1a/b and Abcg2 conferring resistance to drug treatment. Importantly, we also show that the Slingshot transposon system is functional in other mammalian cell lines such as human HEK293, OVCAR-3 and PE01 cells suggesting that it may be used in a range of cell culture systems. Slingshot represents a flexible and potent system for genome-wide transposon-mediated mutagenesis with many potential applications

A genetic screen for components of the mammalian RNA interference pathway in Bloom-deficient mouse embryonic stem cells

Genetic screens performed in model organisms have helped identify key components of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. Recessive genetic screens have recently become feasible through the use of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells that are Bloom's syndrome protein (Blm) deficient. Here, we developed and performed a recessive genetic screen to identify components of the mammalian RNAi pathway in Blm-deficient ES cells. Genome-wide mutagenesis using a retroviral gene trap strategy resulted in the isolation of putative homozygous RNAi mutant cells. Candidate clones were confirmed by an independent RNAi-based reporter assay and the causative gene trap integration site was identified using molecular techniques. Our screen identified multiple mutant cell lines of Argonaute 2 (Ago2), a known essential component of the RNAi pathway. This result demonstrates that true RNAi components can be isolated by this screening strategy. Furthermore, Ago2 homozygous mutant ES cells provide a null genetic background to perform mutational analyses of the Ago2 protein. Using genetic rescue, we resolve an important controversy regarding the role of two phenylalanine residues in Ago2 activity