Applying heat integration total site based pinch technology to a large industrial area in Japan to further improve performance of highly efficient process plants

“Area-wide pinch technology” which consists of R-curve analysis and Site Source Sink Profile (SSSP) analysis, was applied to Kashima industrial area, one of the biggest heavy chemical complexes in Japan. This case study demonstrates that despite the very high efficiency of the individual sites in the complex, there is a huge amount of energy saving potential through energy sharing among the various sites. In addition it was found that appropriate use of the available pinch technology tools and techniques allows an industrial area of enormous scale and complexity to be analysed conveniently. This has resulted in practical area-wide energy saving projects being proposed and implemented.     

Broadband semi‐parametric estimation of long‐memory time series by fractional exponential models

This article proposes broadband semi‐parametric estimation of a long‐memory parameter by fractional exponential (FEXP) models. We construct the truncated Whittle likelihood based on FEXP models in a semi‐parametric setting to estimate the parameter and show that the proposed estimator is more efficient than the FEXP estimator by Moulines and Soulier (1999) in linear processes. A Monte Carlo simulation suggests that the proposed estimation is more preferable than the existing broadband semi‐parametric estimation.     

High-Performance Induction Motor Drive System Using a PWM Inverter

A high-performance speed control system for cage induction motors is described which utilizes a PWM inverter. The effects of primary current coincidence and machine constant variation on system characteristics such as response time, torque precision, and operating noise were investigated. Based on the results obtained, new control methods have been devised; one varies the gain of the current controller in proportion to the primary frequency, and a second compensates for the slip frequency by using the deviation between the flux reference value and the actual value. Effectiveness of the compensation methods was confirmed in tests.     

Numerical analysis of plasmon-resonance absorption in bisinusoidal metal gratings

We numerically investigate plasmon-resonance absorption of incident light energy by a bisinusoidal metal grating, i.e., one whose surface profile is sinusoidally corrugated in two orthogonal directions with a common period. Employing Yasuura's modal expansion method, we solve the problem of plane-wave diffraction by the grating and evaluate the absorption, which is observed as dips in diffraction efficiency curves. We examine the field distribution and energy flow in detail at the angles of incidence at which the absorption occurs. We show that the absorption is caused by coupling of the TM component of an evanescent order with surface plasmons. A phase-matching condition is used in the prediction of the incident angle at which the absorption occurs. This, together with the field profile in the presence of the resonance absorption, explains the mechanism of the absorption. We then illustrate interesting features of the absorption: enhancement of polarization conversion between the incident light and the reflected light and simultaneous excitation of two plasmon waves in directions that are symmetric with respect to the plane of incidence.     

Aggregate formation of rCHO cells and its maintenance in repeated batch culture in the absence of cell adhesion materials

Aggregate formation of recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (rCHO) cells capable of producing granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), using medium lacking cell adhesion materials in a repeated batch culture, was examined together with cell growth, cell viability and G-CSF production. The rCHO culture was conducted in a rotary shaker and the medium was changed every five days. The formation of stable cell aggregates with high reproducibility was observed after the first medium change. The size of the cell aggregates (consisting of several 10s to 40,000 cells) formed during the repeated batch culture ranged from 30 to 600 microm. The cell density of the aggregates reached as high as 2 x 10(6) cells/ml and the viability was maintained at more than 80% for 19 d. Changing the medium to avoid glucose exhaustion effectively maintained the cell density, cell viability and G-CSF productivity at high levels.     

c-axis Superfluid Response and Quasiparticle Conductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ and Bi2Sr2CuO6+δ

Josephson plasma resonance for underdoped Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CaCu ₂ O ₈₊ and Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CuO ₆₊ have been measured by sweeping the microwave, frequency continuously. The resonance enables us to determine the superfluid density and quasiparticle conductivity in the c-axis accurately. We show that the. superfluid response and the low energy excitations out of the condensate in the c-axis of these materials are very different from those in the ordinary Josephson multilayer tunnel junctions. The Josephson coupling energy in single layer Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CuO ₆₊ is more than 5000 times smaller than is predicted in interlayer tunneling model.     

Effects of crystalline form on the tableting compression mechanism of phenobarbital polymorphs

The effects of the polymorphic form on the compression mechanism of forms A, B, and F of phenobarbital were investigated using a compression simulator, mercury porosimetry, X-ray diffraction analysis, BET gas absorption method, and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) photography. The order of tablet hardness obtained from all phenobarbital polymorphs was form A ≥ form B ≥ form F in accordance with that of the specific surface area. The Cooper and Eaton method was applied to evaluate two individual compression processes: particle rearrangement (phase I) and fragmentation and/or deformation (phase II). The parameters for compression processes were calculated using a nonlinear regression analyses program, and the compression energies of phases I and II were calculated from these parameters. The relationship between specific surface area after compression and compression energy at phase I showed a good linear correlation, but their ratio did not. In contrast, the specific surface area ratio showed a linear relationship with the compression energy on phase II, but again the ratio of these two parameters did not. The tablet hardness showed a linear relationship with the specific surface area ratio, but not with the specific surface area. Again, the ratio of these two parameters did not show a linear relationship.     

Effects of water-soluble

The effect of the amount of a water-soluble, lactose, on cephalexin (CEX) release from bioactive bone cement consisting of bisphenol--glycidyl methacrylate (bis-GMA), triethylene-glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) resin and apatite- and wollastonite-containing glass-ceramic (A–W GC) powder was investigated. A–W GC powder containing 5% CEX and lactose powders hardened within 5 min after mixing with bis-GMA/TEGDMA resin, and furthermore its compressive strength was expected to be higher than that of polymethylmethacrylate cement. In vitro CEX release from bioactive bone cement pellets in a simulated body fluid at pH 7.25 and 37°C continued for more than 2 wk. The drug-release rate increased with increasing amount of lactose powder in the mixture. CEX release profiles followed the Higuchi equation in the initial stage, but not in later stages. As hydroxyapatite was precipitated out on the cement surface, the CEX release rate decreased. The micropore distribution of the cements measured by mercury porosimetry also supported the variation in drug release due to cement porosity being mainly a result of the dissolution of lactose in the cements. These results suggest that the rate of CEX release from bioactive bone cement could be controlled by varying the amount of lactose in the cement system. © 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Molecular analysis of mutations induced by acrolein in human fibroblast cells using supF shuttle vector plasmids

Types of mutations induced by acrolein in the supF gene on the shuttle vector plasmid pMY189 replicated in normal human fibroblast cells were examined. Base sequence analysis of 92 plasmids with mutations in the supF gene revealed that the majority of the mutations were base substitutions (76%) and the others were deletions and insertions (24%). Single base substitutions were most frequently found (46%), while multiple base substitutions were 18% and tandem (two adjacent) base substitutions were 12% of the mutations. Of the base substitution mutations, G:C to T:A transversions were 44% and G:C to A:T transitions were 24%. The mutations were distributed not randomly but located at several hotspots. Acrolein produced DNA intra-strand cross-links between guanine residues, which might be responsible for rather high induction of the tandem base substitution mutations.     

Soluble VCAM-1 induces chemotaxis of Jurkat and synovial fluid T cells bearing high affinity very late antigen-4

It has been shown that cells with high affinity very late Ag (VLA)-integrins have up-regulated expression of a beta1-subunit epitope, which is detected by 15/7 mAb. In this study, we demonstrate that soluble VCAM-1 (sVCAM-1) exhibits chemotactic activity of T cells with high affinity VLA-4 against VCAM-1, such as Jurkat T cells and IL-2-dependent T cells. Moreover, we found that T cells in the synovial fluid show high basal migration in the absence of sVCAM-1, compared with peripheral blood T cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Among T cells in the synovial fluid, CD45RO+ memory T cells, in response to sVCAM-1, showed a much higher than basal migratory response when compared with CD45RA+ naive cells, while no significant difference was observed between CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. The chemotactic activity of sVCAM-1 is inhibited in the presence of anti-VCAM-1 and anti-VLA-4, which interfered with the binding between VCAM-1 and VLA-4. Inhibition studies using various kinase inhibitors (C3 exoenzyme, KN62, and H7) show that Rho, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II, and protein kinase C are involved in signal transduction in sVCAM-1-induced chemotaxis, respectively, whereas tyrosine kinase seems to play a lesser role, since genistein showed only partial inhibition of T cell chemotaxis. Western blot analysis using an anti-phospho-serine mAb (MO82) reveals that Ser82 in the vimentin is phosphorylated specifically by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II through sVCAM-1 activation in the IL-2 dependent T cells. Collectively, by inducing migration and recruitment of T cells through several kinase activations, sVCAM-1 contributes to the development of the inflammation of synovial lesion.