An e-learning system for computer-aided engineering is developed. The system is designed as a Web-based rich client (or rich Internet application, RIA), so that anybody can learn CAE skills from anywhere, anytime. Mesh generation, finite element analysis and visualization capabilities for a set of benchmark problems, such as cantilever beam and plate with hole, are implemented using FLASH ActionScript language. It is combined with a CAE educational program, dedicated for under-graduate students and novice engineers in mechanical and architectural industries.
We have been developing an advanced general-purpose computational mechanics system, named ADVENTURE, which is designed to be able to analyze a model of arbitrary shape with a 10–100 million degrees of freedom (DOFs) mesh, and additionally to enable parametric and non-parametric shape optimization. Domain-decomposition-based parallel algorithms are implemented in pre-processes (domain decomposition), main processes (system matrix assembling and solutions) and post-process (visualization), respectively. Especially the hierarchical domain decomposition method with a preconditioned iterative solver (HDDM) is adopted in one of the main modules for solid analysis, named ADVENTURE_Solid. The employed preconditioner is the Balancing Domain Decomposition (BDD) type method. The ADVENTURE_Solid has been successfully implemented on a single PC, PC clusters and massively parallel processors such as Hitachi SR8000/MPP. In this study, this solid analysis module is implemented with minor modification on the Earth Simulator consisting of 256 nodes, i.e. 2,048 vector-type processing elements of theoretical peak performance of 16 TFLOPS (Tela FLoating point Operations Per Seconds), and succeeded in solving an elastostatic problem of a nuclear pressure vessel model of 100 million DOFs mesh in 8.5 minutes with 5.1 TFLOPS, which is 31.8% of the peak performance and over 80% parallel efficiency. As the purpose of demonstration of virtual mock-up test, the ADVENTURE_Solid is applied to solve a precise model of the ABWR vessel subjected to two kinds of loading conditions, i.e. (1) quasi-static seismic loading and (2) hydrostatic internal pressure.
SUMMARY Two species of the crustose red algal genus Peyssonnelia (Gigartinales, Peyssonneliaceae) are reported from Japanese waters for the first time. These species share the following combination of vegetative and reproductive features: thalli with appressed margins, perithallial filaments arising from the whole upper surface of each hypothallial cell (the Peyssonnelia rubra ‐type anatomy), unicellular rhizoids, hypobasal calcification and spermatangia that are produced in double chains (the Peyssonnelia harveyana ‐type spermatangial filament). However, they differ obviously from each other in the hypothallus orientation as seen from below, the perithallus structure in relation to the consistency of the crust, the origin of gonimoblasts and the elevation of the nemathecia. Peyssonnelia armorica is characterized by: (i) hypothallial filaments comprising a polyflabellate layer; (ii) easily separable perithallial filaments in a gelatinous matrix; (iii) gonimoblasts originating exclusively from the auxiliary cell; and (iv) semi‐immersed (slightly elevated) nemathecia. Peyssonnelia harveyana is characterized by: (i) hypothallial filaments arranged in parallel rows; (ii) closely packed perithallial filaments in a firm matrix; (iii) gonimoblsts originating from both the auxiliary cell and the connecting filament; and (iv) conspicuously elevated nemathecia.
In this paper, a new parametric optimum design system that is suited for the global computing environment is proposed and the system is discussed using with the parallel finite element analysis. In general, many studies of the parallel distributed calculation are discussed about a collection of computing resources in local area network. On the other hand, the researches of the highly efficient wide area calculation system called "Grid Computing" are done briskly now. At the Grid System, the computing resources connected to the wide area network are recognized as one system by using middleware. Ninf system is a kind of the middleware called Grid RPC. Evaluation procedures in optimization are executed frequently, and each procedure is executable asynchronously. In this study, evaluation procedures are called asynchronously using "Ninf remote procedure call". Each evaluation is calculated by ADVENTURE which is parallel finite element analysis system implemented by MPI.
We designed a new surface forces apparatus for measuring the interactions between two nontransparent substrates and/or in nontransparent liquids. The small displacement of a surface, the bottom one in this study, was measured by the two-beam (twin path) interferometry technique using the phase difference between the laser light reflected by the fixed mirror and that by the mirror on the back of the bottom surface unit. It is possible to determine the distance with a resolution of 1nm in the working range of 5μm. This apparatus was successfully applied to measure the forces between mica surfaces in pure water and aqueous KBr solutions.
Summary Male gamete chemotaxis towards the female gamete is a general strategy to facilitate the sexual reproduction in many marine eukaryotes. Biochemical studies of chemoattractants for male gametes of brown algae have advanced in the 1970s and 1980s, but the molecular mechanism of male gamete responses to the attractants remains elusive. In sea urchin, a K + channel called the tetraKCNG channel plays a fundamental role in sperm chemotaxis and inhibition of K + efflux through this channel by high K + seawater blocks almost all cell responses to the chemoattractant. This signalling mechanism could be conserved in marine invertebrates as tetraKCNG channels are conserved in the marine invertebrates that exhibit sperm chemotaxis. We confirmed that high K + seawater also inhibited sperm chemotaxis in ascidian, Ciona intestinalis ( robusta ), in this study. Conversely, the male gamete chemotaxis towards the female gamete of a brown alga, Mutimo cylindricus , was preserved even in high K + seawater. This result indicates that none of the K + channels is essential for male gamete chemotaxis in the brown alga, suggesting that the signalling mechanism for chemotaxis in this brown alga is quite different from that of marine invertebrates. Correlated to this result, we revealed that the channels previously proposed as homologues of tetraKCNG in brown algae have a distinct domain composition from that of the tetraKCNG. Namely, one of them possesses two repeats of the six transmembrane segments (diKCNG) instead of four. The structural analysis suggests that diKCNG is a cyclic nucleotide-modulated and/or voltage-gated K + channel.
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