Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) treatment of supernatant of cow manure by thermal pre-treatment.

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) methane fermentation treatment of cow manure that was subjected to screw pressing, thermal treatment and subsequent solid-liquid separation was studied. Conducting batch scale tests at temperatures between 140 and 180 degrees C, the optimal temperature for sludge settling and the color suppression was found to be between 160-170 degrees C. UASB treatment was carried out with a supernatant obtained from the thermal treatment at the optimal conditions (170 degrees C for 30 minutes) and polymer-dosed solid-liquid separation. In the UASB treatment with a COD(Cr) loading of 11.7 kg/m3/d and water temperature of 32.2 degrees C, the COD(Cr) level dropped from 16,360 mg/L in raw water to 3,940 mg/L in treated water (COD(Cr), removal rate of 75.9%), and the methane production rate per COD(Cr) was 0.187 Nm3/kg. Using wastewater thermal-treated at the optimal conditions, also a methane fermentation treatment with a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) was conducted (COD(Cr) in raw water: 38,000 mg/L, hydraulic retention time (HRT): 20 days, 35 degrees C). At the COD(Cr) loading of 1.9 kg/m3/d, the methane production rate per COD(Cr), was 0.153 Nm3/kg. This result shows that UASB treatment using thermal pre-treatment provides a COD(Cr), loading of four times or more and a methane production rate of 1.3 times higher than the CSTR treatment.     

High-gain hybrid amplifier consisting of cascaded fluoride-based TDFA and silica-based EDFA in 1458-1540 nm wavelength region

A hybrid optical fibre amplifier is described that consists of a fluoride-based thulium-doped fibre amplifier and a silica-based erbium-doped fibre amplifier connected in a cascade. The amplifier has a gain of more than 25 dB and a noise figure of less than 9 dB over a wide wavelength region of 1458-1540 nm.     

High-resolution long-array thermal ink jet printhead fabricated by anisotropic wet etching and deep Si RIE

This paper describes the fabrication and characterization of a thermal ink jet (TIJ) printhead suitable for high speed and high-quality printing. The printhead has been fabricated by dicing the bonded wafer, which consists of a bubble generating heater plate and a Si channel plate. The Si channel plate consists of an ink chamber and an ink inlet formed by KOH etching, and a nozzle formed by inductively couple plasma reactive ion etching (ICP RIE). The nozzle formed by RIE has squeezed structures, which contribute to high-energy efficiency of drop ejector and, therefore, successful ejection of small ink drop. The nozzle also has a dome-like structure called channel pit, which contributes to high jetting frequency and high-energy efficiency. These two wafers are directly bonded using electrostatic bonding of full-cured polyimide to Si. The adhesive-less bonding provided an ideal shaped small nozzle orifice. Use of the same material (Si substrate) in heater plate and channel plate enables the fabrication of high precision long printhead because no displacement and delamination occur, which are caused by the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the plates. With these technologies, we have fabricated a 1" long printhead with 832 nozzles having 800 dots per inch (dpi) resolution and a 4 pl. ink drop volume.     

Driving voltage reduction in a two-phase CCD by suppression ofpotential pockets in inter-electrode gaps

This study reports an optimum design for a two-phase charge-coupled device (CCD) and limitations on its driving voltage reduction. The two-phase CCD to be used as a horizontal-CCD (H-CCD) in a CCD image sensor requires low-voltage and high-speed operation. Reducing the driving voltage, however, may induce potential pockets in the channel under the inter-electrode gaps which results in a fatal decrease in charge-transfer efficiency. In this case it is necessary to optimize the CCD design to be free of pocket generation. For this requirement, we conducted two-dimensional (2-D) device simulations for the two-phase CCD, whose potential barriers are formed by boron ion-implantation. Our simulations indicated that the edge position of the potential barrier region and the dose of boron-ion implantation would be important parameters for controlling the size of potential pockets. At an optimum edge position and a boron dose, the minimum driving voltage appears to be reducible to 1.1 V. Characteristics of potential pockets and methods of their suppression are also discussed     

Long-term follow-up (8 to 17 years) after thromboexclusion operation for thoracic aortic aneurysms

Forty-eight Russell's viper bite patients (40 males, 8 females), age ranging from 16-76 years were studied. Out of 48 patients, 14 were found to have a prolonged whole blood clotting time test (WBCT) (i.e. incoagulable blood) (Group 1); 23 had a normal WBCT (i.e. clotted blood) (Group II); and 11 patients had a normal WBCT on admission which changed to non-clotting during the clinical course (Group III). Four patients from group I developed hypotension and 2 expired. The serum cortisol concentration (mean +/- SEM) on admission among groups I and II were 639 +/- 45.6 and 424 +/- 33.2 nmol/l respectively. The blood cortisol level in 35 subjects (controls) were 370.7 +/- 17.7 nmol/l (mean +/- SEM). There was a significant rise of blood cortisol in patients with incoagulable blood when compared to controls at the time of admission to the hospital (p < 0.05); but there was no significant difference among those patients with clotted blood. A much higher mean serum cortisol level was observed in 4 patients with hypotension as compared to 10 patients without shock. These patients with hypotension according to our study shown to have a favorable response to steroid therapy and eventually recovered. Whether higher doses of steroid in addition to antiserum confer extra benefit in suppressing nonspecific venom effects on the pituitary and/or adrenal is not known.     

Phase fluctuations of cross-polarized signals at 4 GHz in fine weather on earth-space paths

On an earthspace propagation path with the low elevation angle of 10 deg, the phase between co- and crosspolar signals occasionally showed rapid and irregular fluctuations during fine weather. These fluctuations were generally significant during the daytime, and were strongly in phase with the occurrence of the copolar amplitude scintillations. This could be attributed to the combined effects of the crosspolar phase pattern of the receiving antenna and small fluctuations of the angle of arrival of the radiowaves.     

遥操作工程机器人系统临场感技术研究-6自由度临场运动感觉反馈技术的研究进展

 研究开发出一种遥操作工程机器人系统，可以应用于诸如火灾现场的修复作业等广阔的领域．该系统由伺服控制的工程机器人、2根从远处操纵工程机器人的操纵杆、视频系统和6自由度运动模拟器组成．操作者坐于座椅上，座椅固定于运动模拟器的上方． 该系统需要解决的一个关键问题是如何使操纵者高质量地获得工作现场的临场运动感觉． 提出了一种6自由度临场运动感觉反馈方法，其信号源来自工程机器人上安装的6个加速度传感器． 该方法的有效性已为实验所证明，即应用6自由度运动模拟器不但可以高质量地模拟工程机器人单个自由度的运动：滚动、俯仰、转动以及前后、左右、上下的平移，而且可以高质量地模拟工程机器人的各种复合运动．