Compressed hydrogen production via reaction between liquid ammonia and alkali metal hydride

Ammonia NH₃ is recognized as one of the attractive hydrogen H₂ carriers because it has a high hydrogen content of 18 mass% and it is easily liquefied under about 1 MPa of pressure at a room temperature. NH₃ can react with alkali metal hydrides and generate H₂ even at room temperature, resulting that metal amides are formed as reaction products. The H₂ generation is exothermic reaction, and it is not effectively prevented by H₂ partial pressure in a closed system as thermodynamic properties. In this work, we demonstrated the production of compressed H₂ by the reaction between liquid NH₃ and lithium hydride LiH in a closed pressure vessel, where liquid NH₃ would realize better kinetic properties for the reaction with metal hydride than gaseous NH₃. Actually, more than 12 MPa H₂ was obtained within several hours.     

Water Treatment Using Discharge Generated in Cavitation Field with Micro Bubble Cloud

A new method of wastewater treatment using electric discharge in the water cavitation field formed by a large number of micro bubbles generated by high‐speed water flow is proposed in this paper. Indigo carmine solution, which is a type of dye, with a concentration of 9 mg/liter was used as the specimen solution for demonstration of water treatment. The total volume of solution and the average speed of solution in the cavitation field were 20 liters and about 7.4 m/s, respectively. An absorbance decrease rate of 96% was obtained in 50 min of treatment time at the electrode distance of 2 mm and discharge power of 16 W. It was also found that the efficiency of decolorization was improved by changing the electrode location. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 186(4): 1–10, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.22483     

Validation of soil organic carbon dynamics model in the semi-arid tropics in Niger,West Africa

The fertility of sandy soils in the Sahelian zone (SZ) is extremely low. This poor soil fertility is one of the limiting factors of crop production in the SZ. Therefore, it is imperative to improve or to maintain soil fertility through various agricultural management methods. Further, it is well known that soil organic matter plays an important role in improving the physico-chemical properties of these sandy infertile soils. Therefore, it is essential to develop a suitable tool for the appropriate evaluation of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in the SZ. Therefore, the Rothamsted carbon model (Roth-C) was verified in 32 treatments of two long-term field experiments with and without crop residue application. These experiments were performed by ICRISAT. The performance of the model was evaluated by statistical methods using four indices (RMSE: root mean square error, LOFIT: lack of fit, r: correlation coefficient, and M: mean difference). As a result, the predicted SOC values in the case without crop residue management decreased with time in approximately 10 cultivated years. In contrast, in the case with crop residue application, the predicted SOC remained roughly equal to the initial SOC value during the term observed. Mostly, the Roth-C-modelled values agreed well with the actual value. RMSE and LOFIT, the statistical indicators of agreement between predicted and observed values, showed a significant conformity between the predicted and observed SOC values in all the 32 treatments. This fact means that Roth-C can estimate long-term SOC dynamics of several technical options that developed with short-term trials. Moreover the annual carbon requirement for SOC maintaining can be calculate if enough number of cases was estimated. And also analysis of regional carbon dynamics was made possible with using Roth-C model. It will contribute to show the sustainable development in SZ against global warming and other climatic changes.     

Chiral Electrodeposition by the Rotation in a Vertical Magnetic Field

The roles of the rotations in the process of chirality appearance in magnetoelectrodeposition were theoretically clarified.Electrodeposition in a vertical magnetic field induces a macroscopic fluid rotation called vertical MHD flow(VMHDF)over the electrode surface.Inside the rotation,minute numerous micro-vortexes called micro-MHD flow(MMHDF)arise from 2D and 3D nucleation,which interact with the mass flux of metallic ion,yielding chiral deposits with the characteristic features called micro-and nano-mystery circles.Generally,numerous vortexes always keep chiral symmetry,forming four types of vortexes,i.e.,with the combination of upward or downward and clockwise or counterclockwise.However,ionic vacancy acting as an atomic scale lubricant is created in electrodeposition,which gives a restriction to the vortexes;the bottom of an upward vortex covered with ionic vacancies becomes a free surface without friction,whereas the bottom of a downward vortex exposed without ionic vacancies remains rigid with friction.The rotation of VMHDF donates a precession to the upward vortexes to rotate in the same direction,which finally yield a chiral deposit.The similar effect to that of VMHDF can be expected for the system rotation(SR),where an electrolytic cell rotates in a vertical magnetic field.In this case,the SR gives the reverse rotation to the upward vortexes,so that a deposit with reverse chirality is obtained.     

Measuring the effects of lighting on the readability of electronic devices

The aim of this study was to understand to what extent people can read e‐paper devices under various conditions of ambient illuminance that can occur indoors. In this study, 110 young to elderly subjects participated in an experiment to evaluate the effects of 14 different levels of ambient lighting on their reading from three different electronic devises and paper text. The participants were asked to undergo a timed read task and then to evaluate the readability of two eReader devices (a regular electronic display and one with a front light) in comparison with a backlit liquid crystal device and conventional paper text. The results indicated that backlit and front lit devices are easier to read at less than 200 lx and the reflective device is easier to read at levels above 500 lx.     

Functional Properties of the Catalytic Domain of Mouse Acidic Mammalian Chitinase Expressed in Escherichia coli

Mouse acidic mammalian chitinase (AMCase) plays important physiological roles in defense and nutrition. AMCase is composed of an N-terminal catalytic domain (CatD) and a C-terminal chitin-binding domain (CBD). We expressed CatD of mouse AMCase as a recombinant fusion protein with Protein A and V5-His in Escherichia coli (Protein A-CatD-V5-His), evaluated its functional properties and compared them to the full-length AMCase (Protein A-AMCase-V5-His). Under our experimental conditions, the chitinolytic activity of both proteins against 4-nitrophenyl N,N''-diacetyl-β-d-chitobioside was equivalent with regard to their specific enzymatic activities, optimal pH and temperature as well as to the pH and temperature stability. CatD bound to chitin beads and cleaved the N-acetylglucosamine hexamer, colloidal and crystalline chitin as well as the shrimp shell, and released primarily N,N''-diacetylchitobiose fragments at pH 2.0. These results indicate that the primary structure of CatD is sufficient to form a proper tertiary structure required for chitinolytic activity, recognize chitin substrates and degrade them in the absence of a CBD. Our recombinant proteins can be used for further studies evaluating pathophysiological roles of AMCase in different diseases.     

Impact of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1b Infection on Triglyceride Concentration in Serum Lipoprotein Fractions

Reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level is a characteristic feature of dyslipidemia in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, abnormality in serum triglyceride (TG) has not been fully investigated. To clarify the impact of HCV genotype 1b (G1b) infection and advanced fibrosis on serum TG profiles, TG concentrations in lipoprotein fractions were examined in fasting sera from 185 subjects with active or cleared HCV infection by high-performance liquid chromatography. Serum lipoproteins were fractionated into four classes: chylomicron, very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), LDL, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Then, the significance of HCV G1b infection on TG levels in each lipoprotein fraction was determined using multiple regression models. We found that active HCV G1b infection was positively associated with high HDL-TG levels and low VLDL-TG levels, independent of other factors included in the regression model. In VLDL sub-fractions, active HCV infection was only found to be associated with low levels of large VLDL-TG. Similarly, advanced liver fibrosis in chronic HCV G1b infection was associated with high levels of LDL-TG, HDL-TG, and small VLDL-TG, independent of other clinical factors. These findings indicate that active HCV G1b infection and advanced fibrosis are closely associated with abnormal serum TG profiles.     

Infrared Aluminum Metamaterial Perfect Absorbers for Plasmon‐Enhanced Infrared Spectroscopy

Matured surface chemistry and excellent chemical stability have enabled gold to become the material‐of‐choice for plasmonic sensing in both visible and infrared wavelength range. Here, successful surface functionalization of metamaterials made from a low‐cost abundant plasmonic material, aluminum, with phosphonic acid and subsequent detection of the C?O vibration mode via surface‐enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy is demonstrated. The metamaterial consists of infrared perfect absorbers fabricated by colloidal lithography. Near perfect absorption is achieved at resonance wavelengths, which can be readily tuned by changing the diameters of the Al disk resonators, enabling excellent overlapping with the molecular vibration. Separately, the detection of a physically adsorbed protein layer on the Al metamaterial is also demonstrated. Surface functionalization with phosphonic acid provides various functional groups to the Al surfaces. Combined with tunable metamaterials, the work herein opens up great opportunities for Al‐based plasmonic nanostructures for biochemical sensing applications.