The aim of this review study is to elucidate the effects that phosphodiesterase 5 （PDE5） inhibitors exert on spermatozoa motility, capacitation process and on their ability to fertilize the oocyte. Second messenger ...The aim of this review study is to elucidate the effects that phosphodiesterase 5 （PDE5） inhibitors exert on spermatozoa motility, capacitation process and on their ability to fertilize the oocyte. Second messenger systems such as the cAMP/adenylate cyclase （AC） system and the cGMP/guanylate cyclase （GC） system appear to regulate sperm functions. Increased levels of intracytosolic cAMP result in an enhancement of sperm motility and viability. The stimulation of GC by low doses of nitric oxide （NO） leads to an improvement or maintenance of sperm motility, whereas higher concentrations have an adverse effect on sperm parameters. Several in vivo and in vitro studies have been carried out in order to examine whether PDE5 inhibitors affect positively or negatively sperm parameters and sperm fertilizing capacity. The results of these studies are controversial. Some of these studies demonstrate no significant effects of PDE5 inhibitors on the motility, viability, and morphology of spermatozoa collected from men that have been treated with PDE5 inhibitors. On the other hand, several studies demonstrate a positive effect of PDE5 inhibitors on sperm motility both in vivo and in vitro. In vitro studies of sildenafil citrate demonstrate a stimulatory effect on sperm motility with an increase in intracellular cAMP suggesting an inhibitory action of sildenafil citrate on a PDE isoform other than the PDE5. On the other hand, tadalafil＇s actions appear to be associated with the inhibitory effect of this compound on PDE11. In vivo studies in men treated with vardenafil in a daily basis demonstrated a significantly larger total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate, quantitative sperm motility, and qualitative sperm motility; it has been suggested that vardenafil administration enhances the secretory function of the prostate and subsequently increases the qualitative and quantitative motility of spermatozoa. The effect that PDE5 inhibitors exert on sperm parameters may lead to the improvement of the outcome of assisted reproductive technology （ART） programs. In the future PDE5 inhibitors might serve as adjunct therapeutical agents for the alleviation of male infertility.展开更多
Creep lives of high Cr ferritic heat resisting steel weldments decrease due to Type Ⅳ fracture, which occurs as a result of formation and growth of creep voids and cracks on grain boundaries in fine-grained heat affe...Creep lives of high Cr ferritic heat resisting steel weldments decrease due to Type Ⅳ fracture, which occurs as a result of formation and growth of creep voids and cracks on grain boundaries in fine-grained heat affected zone (HAZ). Because boron is considered to suppress the coarsening of grain boundary precipitates and growth of creep voids, we have investigated the effect of boron addition on the creep properties of 9Cr steel weldments. Four kinds of 9Cr3WSCoVNb steels with boron content varying from 4.7×10-5 to 1.8×10-4 and with nitrogen as low as 2.0×10-5 were prepared. The steel plates were welded by gas tungsten arc welding and crept at 923K. It was found that the microstructures of HAZ were quite different from those of conventional high Cr steels such as P91 and P92, namely the fine-grained HAZ did not exist in the present steel weldments. Boron addition also has the effect to suppress coarsening of grain boundary carbides in HAZ during creep. As a result of these phenomena, the welded joints of present steels showed no Type Ⅳ fractures and much better creep lives than those of conventional steels.展开更多
Evaluation of creep properties of the welded joint through taking local fluctuation of the mechanical properties into consideration is experimentally or analytically seldom carried out. The purposes of the present stu...Evaluation of creep properties of the welded joint through taking local fluctuation of the mechanical properties into consideration is experimentally or analytically seldom carried out. The purposes of the present study are to examine the surface strain distribution in the weld metal of a full thickness welded joint specimen and subsequently to investigate the local variation in the properties of the all-weld metal part of the joint using miniature specimens. A welded joint was prepared for 316FR steel plates by gas tungsten arc welding process using Mod. 316L filler wire. Creep tests were conducted at 823K in air using full thickness large welded joint specimens, HAZ and all-weld metal miniature specimens. From the results obtained, it is concluded that the creep properties of multi-layer welded joints strongly depend on the location of specimen sampling.展开更多
Effects of magnetic field strength on the evolution of recrystallization microstructure and recrystallization texture in cold-rolled interstitial-flee steel were investigated after annealing at 660℃ in a magnetic fie...Effects of magnetic field strength on the evolution of recrystallization microstructure and recrystallization texture in cold-rolled interstitial-flee steel were investigated after annealing at 660℃ in a magnetic field up to 12 T. Magnetic annealing was found to retard recrystallization and induce recrystallized grains elongated along the magnetic field direction. An interesting phenomenon is that the magnetic field shows the strongest effect at 1 T.展开更多
An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with a multi-phase AC arc plasma was developed to save energy and reduce emissions for the glass industry. The effect of the injection position on the in-flight melting...An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with a multi-phase AC arc plasma was developed to save energy and reduce emissions for the glass industry. The effect of the injection position on the in-flight melting behavior of granulated powders was investigated. Results show that the injection position has a strong effect on the melting behavior of alkali-free glass raw material. With the increase in injection distance, the vitrification, decomposition, and particle shrinkage of initial powders are improved. Longer injection distance causes much energy to transfer to particles due to a longer residence time of powder in the high temperature zone. The high vitrification and decomposition degrees indicate that the new in-flight melting technology with 12-phase AC arc can substantially reduce the melting and refining time for glass production.展开更多
An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with thermal plasmas was developed for the purpose of energy conservation and environment protection. In this study, modelling and experiments of argon-oxygen induction...An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with thermal plasmas was developed for the purpose of energy conservation and environment protection. In this study, modelling and experiments of argon-oxygen induction thermal plasmas were conducted to investigate the melting behaviour of granulated soda-lime glass powders injected into the plasma. A two-dimensional local thermodynamic equilibrium （LTE） model was performed to simulate the heat and momentum transfer between plasma and particle. Results showed that the particle temperature was strongly affected by the flow rate of carrier gas and the particle size of raw material. A higher flow rate of carrier gas led to lower particle temperature and less energy transferred to particles which resulted in lower vitrification. The incomplete melting of large particles was attributed to the lower central temperature of the particle caused by a larger heat capacity. The numerical analysis explained well the experimental results, which can provide valuable practical guidelines for the process control in the melting process for the glass industry.展开更多
An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with induced thermal plasmas was developed for the purpose of energy conservation and environmental protection. Two-dimensional modeling was used to simulate the thermo...An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with induced thermal plasmas was developed for the purpose of energy conservation and environmental protection. Two-dimensional modeling was used to simulate the thermofluid fields in the plasma torch. The in-flight melting behavior of glass raw material was investigated by various analysis methods. Results showed that the plasma temperature was up to 10000 K with a maximum velocity over 30 m/s, which made it possible to melt the granulated glass raw material within milliseconds. The carbonates in the raw material decomposed completely and the compounds in the raw material attainted 100% vitrification during the in-flight time from the nozzle exit to substrate. The particle melting process is similar to the unreacted-core shrinking model.展开更多
A fully coherent free electron laser(FEL) seeded with a higher-order harmonic(HH) pulse from high-order harmonic generation(HHG) is successfully operated for a sufficiently prolonged time in pilot user experiments by ...A fully coherent free electron laser(FEL) seeded with a higher-order harmonic(HH) pulse from high-order harmonic generation(HHG) is successfully operated for a sufficiently prolonged time in pilot user experiments by using a timing drift feedback. For HHG-seeded FELs, the seeding laser pulses have to be synchronized with electron bunches. Despite seeded FELs being non-chaotic light sources in principle, external laser-seeded FELs are often unstable in practice because of a timing jitter and a drift between the seeding laser pulses and the accelerated electron bunches. Accordingly,we constructed a relative arrival-timing monitor based on non-invasive electro-optic sampling(EOS). The EOS monitor made uninterrupted shot-to-shot monitoring possible even during the seeded FEL operation. The EOS system was then used for arrival-timing feedback with an adjustability of 100 fs for continual operation of the HHG-seeded FEL. Using the EOS-based beam drift controlling system, the HHG-seeded FEL was operated over half a day with an effective hit rate of 20%–30%. The output pulse energy was 20 μJ at the 61.2 nm wavelength. Towards seeded FELs in the water window region, we investigated our upgrade plan to seed high-power FELs with HH photon energy of 30–100 e V and lase at shorter wavelengths of up to 2 nm through high-gain harmonic generation(HGHG) at the energy-upgraded SPring-8Compact SASE Source(SCSS) accelerator. We studied a benefit as well as the feasibility of the next HHG-seeded FEL machine with single-stage HGHG with tunability of a lasing wavelength.展开更多
文摘The aim of this review study is to elucidate the effects that phosphodiesterase 5 （PDE5） inhibitors exert on spermatozoa motility, capacitation process and on their ability to fertilize the oocyte. Second messenger systems such as the cAMP/adenylate cyclase （AC） system and the cGMP/guanylate cyclase （GC） system appear to regulate sperm functions. Increased levels of intracytosolic cAMP result in an enhancement of sperm motility and viability. The stimulation of GC by low doses of nitric oxide （NO） leads to an improvement or maintenance of sperm motility, whereas higher concentrations have an adverse effect on sperm parameters. Several in vivo and in vitro studies have been carried out in order to examine whether PDE5 inhibitors affect positively or negatively sperm parameters and sperm fertilizing capacity. The results of these studies are controversial. Some of these studies demonstrate no significant effects of PDE5 inhibitors on the motility, viability, and morphology of spermatozoa collected from men that have been treated with PDE5 inhibitors. On the other hand, several studies demonstrate a positive effect of PDE5 inhibitors on sperm motility both in vivo and in vitro. In vitro studies of sildenafil citrate demonstrate a stimulatory effect on sperm motility with an increase in intracellular cAMP suggesting an inhibitory action of sildenafil citrate on a PDE isoform other than the PDE5. On the other hand, tadalafil＇s actions appear to be associated with the inhibitory effect of this compound on PDE11. In vivo studies in men treated with vardenafil in a daily basis demonstrated a significantly larger total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate, quantitative sperm motility, and qualitative sperm motility; it has been suggested that vardenafil administration enhances the secretory function of the prostate and subsequently increases the qualitative and quantitative motility of spermatozoa. The effect that PDE5 inhibitors exert on sperm parameters may lead to the improvement of the outcome of assisted reproductive technology （ART） programs. In the future PDE5 inhibitors might serve as adjunct therapeutical agents for the alleviation of male infertility.
文摘Creep lives of high Cr ferritic heat resisting steel weldments decrease due to Type Ⅳ fracture, which occurs as a result of formation and growth of creep voids and cracks on grain boundaries in fine-grained heat affected zone (HAZ). Because boron is considered to suppress the coarsening of grain boundary precipitates and growth of creep voids, we have investigated the effect of boron addition on the creep properties of 9Cr steel weldments. Four kinds of 9Cr3WSCoVNb steels with boron content varying from 4.7×10-5 to 1.8×10-4 and with nitrogen as low as 2.0×10-5 were prepared. The steel plates were welded by gas tungsten arc welding and crept at 923K. It was found that the microstructures of HAZ were quite different from those of conventional high Cr steels such as P91 and P92, namely the fine-grained HAZ did not exist in the present steel weldments. Boron addition also has the effect to suppress coarsening of grain boundary carbides in HAZ during creep. As a result of these phenomena, the welded joints of present steels showed no Type Ⅳ fractures and much better creep lives than those of conventional steels.
基金supported by the Budget for Nuclear Research of the Ministry of Education,Culture,Sports,Science and Technology,Japan,based on the screening and counselling by the Atomic Energy Commission.
文摘Evaluation of creep properties of the welded joint through taking local fluctuation of the mechanical properties into consideration is experimentally or analytically seldom carried out. The purposes of the present study are to examine the surface strain distribution in the weld metal of a full thickness welded joint specimen and subsequently to investigate the local variation in the properties of the all-weld metal part of the joint using miniature specimens. A welded joint was prepared for 316FR steel plates by gas tungsten arc welding process using Mod. 316L filler wire. Creep tests were conducted at 823K in air using full thickness large welded joint specimens, HAZ and all-weld metal miniature specimens. From the results obtained, it is concluded that the creep properties of multi-layer welded joints strongly depend on the location of specimen sampling.
文摘Effects of magnetic field strength on the evolution of recrystallization microstructure and recrystallization texture in cold-rolled interstitial-flee steel were investigated after annealing at 660℃ in a magnetic field up to 12 T. Magnetic annealing was found to retard recrystallization and induce recrystallized grains elongated along the magnetic field direction. An interesting phenomenon is that the magnetic field shows the strongest effect at 1 T.
基金supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars,State Education Ministry of China
文摘An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with a multi-phase AC arc plasma was developed to save energy and reduce emissions for the glass industry. The effect of the injection position on the in-flight melting behavior of granulated powders was investigated. Results show that the injection position has a strong effect on the melting behavior of alkali-free glass raw material. With the increase in injection distance, the vitrification, decomposition, and particle shrinkage of initial powders are improved. Longer injection distance causes much energy to transfer to particles due to a longer residence time of powder in the high temperature zone. The high vitrification and decomposition degrees indicate that the new in-flight melting technology with 12-phase AC arc can substantially reduce the melting and refining time for glass production.
基金supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan(No.A0006)
文摘An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with thermal plasmas was developed for the purpose of energy conservation and environment protection. In this study, modelling and experiments of argon-oxygen induction thermal plasmas were conducted to investigate the melting behaviour of granulated soda-lime glass powders injected into the plasma. A two-dimensional local thermodynamic equilibrium （LTE） model was performed to simulate the heat and momentum transfer between plasma and particle. Results showed that the particle temperature was strongly affected by the flow rate of carrier gas and the particle size of raw material. A higher flow rate of carrier gas led to lower particle temperature and less energy transferred to particles which resulted in lower vitrification. The incomplete melting of large particles was attributed to the lower central temperature of the particle caused by a larger heat capacity. The numerical analysis explained well the experimental results, which can provide valuable practical guidelines for the process control in the melting process for the glass industry.
基金the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan(No.A0006)
文摘An innovative in-flight glass melting technology with induced thermal plasmas was developed for the purpose of energy conservation and environmental protection. Two-dimensional modeling was used to simulate the thermofluid fields in the plasma torch. The in-flight melting behavior of glass raw material was investigated by various analysis methods. Results showed that the plasma temperature was up to 10000 K with a maximum velocity over 30 m/s, which made it possible to melt the granulated glass raw material within milliseconds. The carbonates in the raw material decomposed completely and the compounds in the raw material attainted 100% vitrification during the in-flight time from the nozzle exit to substrate. The particle melting process is similar to the unreacted-core shrinking model.
文摘A fully coherent free electron laser(FEL) seeded with a higher-order harmonic(HH) pulse from high-order harmonic generation(HHG) is successfully operated for a sufficiently prolonged time in pilot user experiments by using a timing drift feedback. For HHG-seeded FELs, the seeding laser pulses have to be synchronized with electron bunches. Despite seeded FELs being non-chaotic light sources in principle, external laser-seeded FELs are often unstable in practice because of a timing jitter and a drift between the seeding laser pulses and the accelerated electron bunches. Accordingly,we constructed a relative arrival-timing monitor based on non-invasive electro-optic sampling(EOS). The EOS monitor made uninterrupted shot-to-shot monitoring possible even during the seeded FEL operation. The EOS system was then used for arrival-timing feedback with an adjustability of 100 fs for continual operation of the HHG-seeded FEL. Using the EOS-based beam drift controlling system, the HHG-seeded FEL was operated over half a day with an effective hit rate of 20%–30%. The output pulse energy was 20 μJ at the 61.2 nm wavelength. Towards seeded FELs in the water window region, we investigated our upgrade plan to seed high-power FELs with HH photon energy of 30–100 e V and lase at shorter wavelengths of up to 2 nm through high-gain harmonic generation(HGHG) at the energy-upgraded SPring-8Compact SASE Source(SCSS) accelerator. We studied a benefit as well as the feasibility of the next HHG-seeded FEL machine with single-stage HGHG with tunability of a lasing wavelength.
