Effects of coal rank and reaction conditions upon coprocessing coal with waste tyre

It is well known that the amount of waste tyre increases every year, and a numerous amount of waste tyre is landfilled or dumped all over the world, which causes environmental problems, such as destruction of natural places and the risk of fires. Coprocessing waste tyre and coal is considered as one of the effective processing methods of both materials. Upon coprocessing lower rank coal (Wyoming, C; 68%) with waste tyre, the synergistic effects to upgrading, such as the increase of oil yield and the decrease of residue yield, were appeared. However, the synergistic effects were not observed on coprocessing two kinds of higher rank coals with waste tyre. The reactions of coal with benzophenone were carried out to discuss the hydrogen donatability of coal. Conversion of benzophenone to diphenylmethane on the reaction with Wyoming coal was higher than those of higher rank coals. Accordingly, it was considered that the synergistic effects to upgrading upon coprocessing Wyoming coal with waste tyre were obtained owing to the enhancement of stabilization of radicals from tyre and Wyoming coal through the hydrogen donation from both tyre and Wyoming coal. The effects of reaction temperature and the amount of solvent upon coprocessing Wyoming coal with waste tyre were also discussed in this study.     

6-in diameter InP single crystals grown by the hot-wall LEC method and the mirror wafers

6-in diameter Fe-doped semi-insulating InP single crystals have been grown by the hot-wall liquid encapsulated Czochralski method. This method has a quartz inner vessel to stabilize the thermal convection. Temperature gradient and solid-liquid interface shape can be controlled by a multizone heater system. The weight of grown crystal was 18 kg and the full length was 250 mm. The dislocation density was about 1/spl times/10/sup 5/ cm/sup -2/. The resistivity was more than 1/spl times/10/sup 7/ /spl Omega/cm and its uniformity was the same as the smaller diameter crystal. The conditions of wafer processing were optimized to improve the wafer flatness. The rolloff and the slope of the wafer surface could be reduced especially by the improvement of the polishing conditions. The typical total thickness variation was 3.3 /spl mu/m, and it was comparable to the GaAs wafer.     

Two-temperature chemically-non-equilibrium modeling of argon induction plasmas with diatomic gas

A non-equilibrium modeling of argon–oxygen and argon–hydrogen induction thermal plasmas was performed without thermal and chemical equilibrium assumptions. Reaction rates of dissociation and recombination of diatomic gas and ionization were taken into account with two-temperature modeling. A substantial deviation from LTE exists near the torch wall in argon–oxygen induction plasmas under atmospheric pressure, while small deviation in argon–hydrogen plasmas results from the large collision frequency between electrons and hydrogen atoms.     

Radiation-induced bystander effects induce radioadaptive response by low-dose radiation

When normal human fibroblast cells (MRC-5) received a priming irradiation of 3-20 mGy 4 h prior to irradiation with 1000 mGy, the number of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) decreased significantly to 18.2-18.7 per cell compared with 21 per cell when there was no priming irradiation. This result indicates that a priming irradiation of 3-20 mGy induces a radioadaptive response in MRC-5. The authors' previous study had indicated that DSBs induced by ≤ 20 mGy are due to a radiation-induced bystander effect. These findings suggest that radiation-induced bystander effects might contribute to induction of the radioadaptive response. To test this hypothesis, MRC-5 were suspended in lindane, an inhibitor of radiation-induced bystander effects, which was added to the medium for the priming irradiation of 3-20 mGy. Lindane inhibited the protective effect of priming irradiation on DSBs caused by subsequent irradiation with 1000 mGy. Thus, radiation-induced bystander effects may play a role in radioadaptive responses.     

Assimilative and co-metabolic degradation of chloral hydrate by bacteria and their bioremediation potential

Although the bacterial degradation of chloral hydrate (CH) has been recognized for several decades, its degradation pathway by assimilation has not been demonstrated. In this paper, we report the isolation of the LF54 bacterial strain, which utilizes CH as its sole carbon and energy source. LF54 converted CH into trichloroethanol (TCAol), which was dehalogenated to dichloroethanol (DCAol), and CO(2) was detected as the end product. Another strain that we isolated, RS20, co-metabolized CH into TCAol. Our 16S rRNA gene sequencing and taxonomic analyses revealed that the LF54 and RS20 strains belong to the Pseudomonas and Arthrobacter genera, respectively. When the two strains were inoculated into soil microcosms, both degraded 0.3mM CH to undetectable levels (<0.01mM) within 5days. These results suggest that LF54 and RS20 could be used in the bioremediation of CH-contaminated environments.     

Liquefaction and dechlorination of hydrothermally treated waste mixture containing plastics with glass powder

Additive effects of glass powder upon the product yields and chlorine distribution after liquefaction of hydrothermally pretreated mixed waste (HMW) are compared with liquefaction of HMW with any one of water, quartz sand, or glass powder plus water. As a result, addition of either water or quartz sand did not affect liquefaction and dechlorination of HMW. Further, water (5 g) addition did not enhance liquefaction and dechlorination of HMW with glass powder. On the other hand, after liquefaction of HMW with glass powder, the yields of chlorine in the gas and water insoluble constituents decreased and the chlorine yield in the water-soluble constituent increased significantly. Because sodium in glass powder dissolved in a small amount (0.5 g) of water resulted from dehydration of HMW during liquefaction. Further, hydrogen chloride derived from polyvinylchloride in HMW was neutralized by ion exchange between H(+) and Na(+) dissolved in a small amount of water forming NaCl in the Residue (water-soluble) constituent. Therefore, most of chlorine in HMW was removed easily by water extraction of the Residue constituent after liquefaction of HMW with glass powder. Further, upgrading of HMW into the oil constituent was enhanced due to inhibition of production of chlorine containing organic compounds. Accordingly, it was clarified that glass powder was the most effective additive for liquefaction and dechlorination of HMW.     

Relation of crack-induced current shunting to transport current and n-value in DyBCO-coated superconductor

Transport current and n-value of DyBCO-coated conductor pulled in tension were measured experimentally and their relation to crack-induced current shunting was analyzed with the partial crack-current shunting model. The following features were revealed. The shunting current increases with increasing transport current and with increasing crack size. At low voltage where shunting current is low, the transport current of cracked sample normalized with respect to the transport current in non-cracked state is described with the modified ratio of non-cracked area to overall cross-sectional area of superconducting layer. At high voltage where the shunting current is high, the normalized transport current becomes higher than the modified ratio of non-cracked area. The increase in shunting current with transport current (and voltage) leads to a decrease in n-value at high current (voltage). This phenomenon is enhanced by crack extension.     

Effect of dietary fats and sesamin on the lipid metabolism and immune function of Sprague-Dawley rats

We examined the effect of three dietary fats, safflower oil (SAF) rich in linoleic acid, borage oil (BOR) rich in gamma-linolenic acid, and perilla oil (PER) rich in alpha-linolenic acid, on the lipid metabolism, and chemical mediator and immunoglobulin levels in Sprague-Dawley rats, as well as the dietary effect of sesame-derived antioxidative sesamin. The serum cholesterol, phospholipid, triglyceride, prostaglandin E2 level and splenic leukotriene B4 level were lower in the rats fed on BOR or PER than in those fed on SAF. SES feeding suppressed the expression of the lipid-decreasing effect of BOR, but not in the rats fed on PER. In respect of the fatty acid composition of the liver and spleen, PER feeding gave a lower arachidonic acid level, and higher eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acid levels than SAF feeding did, while the effect of BOR feeding was marginal. The effect of SES feeding on fatty acid composition was much smaller than that of dietary fats. In respect of immunoglobulin production, PER + SES feeding gave the lowest IgE productivity in the mesenteric lymph node lymphocytes. These results suggest that PER feeding regulated lipid metabolism and exerted an anti-allergic effect by a different mechanism from that with BOR feeding.