Comparison of Mg–Al layered double hydroxides intercalated with OH− and CO32− for the removal of HCl,SO2, and NO2

Journal of Porous Materials - Two different Mg–Al layered double hydroxides (LDHs), OH?Mg–Al LDH and CO3?Mg–Al LDH, are prepared and utilized for the efficient removal...     

Prediction of recall accuracy in contextual understanding tasks using features of oculo-motors

Contextual understanding, which consists of memory, reasoning, and recall, is a key process of human–computer interactions and interfaces which provide universal accessibility. To determine the possibility of predicting the recall accuracy of reading and memorizing tasks using features of oculo-motors, eye movements, and pupillary changes, a contextual understanding task experiment, which was composed of definition and question statements, was conducted. The existence of a relationship between the features of oculo-motors during memorization and recall performance was hypothesized. The features of viewer’s oculo-motors while reading and judging a statement were observed, and significant differences were identified in most features according to the correctness of responses. The possibility of predicting the verification accuracy of question statements using these features for definition statements and the support vector regression technique was established, and there was a significant correlational relationship between the predicted accuracy and the experimental accuracy. Also, the estimation performance for judging question statements was assessed using the features and support vector machines. Estimation accuracy was the highest when all extracted features of eye movements were used. The number of definition statements, which were experimental conditions used to control the task difficulty, affected the accuracy of both prediction and estimation. These results provide evidence that features of oculo-motors during the reading, memorizing, and recalling of statements can be used as an index of contextual understanding.     

Suppressive effect of Tetragenococcus halophilus,isolated from fish-nukazuke,on histamine accumulation in salted and fermented fish

Occasionally, quantities higher than 1000 mg/kg of histamine (Hm) accumulate in salted and fermented fish products by the histidine decarboxylase of halophilic lactococci Tetragenococcus sp. In a total of 200 isolates from fish nukazuke (salted and fermented fish with rice bran), 13 strains produced Hm more than 200 μg/ml in 0.5% histidine containing broth, whereas 130 isolates produced absolutely no Hm. Among the strains, 22 strains suppressed the Hm production of the Hm-forming (HmF) strains. Both the HmF and Hm-suppressing (HmS) strains were identified as Tetragenococcus halophilus. To observe the Hm-suppressing effect, a specified quantity of live cells was needed. In the case of 10% NaCl salted sardine, inoculation with 3 log cells/g of a strain HmF-131 resulted in a significant Hm accumulation, 2800 μg/g in 30 days at 20 °C. The increase in Hm was clearly suppressed by 9 log live cells/g of strain HmS-129. These results suggest that HmS-129 can be used as a starter for salted and fermented fish products, enhancing food safety.     

Discrimination of phonemic vowel length by Japanese infants.

Japanese has a vowel duration contrast as one component of its language-specific phonemic repertory to distinguish word meanings. It is not clear, however, how a sensitivity to vowel duration can develop in a linguistic context. In the present study, using the visual habituation–dishabituation method, the authors evaluated infants’ abilities to discriminate Japanese long and short vowels embedded in two-syllable words (/mana/ vs. /ma:na/). The results revealed that 4-month-old Japanese infants (n = 32) failed to discriminate the contrast (p = .676), whereas 9.5-month-olds (n = 33) showed the discrimination ability (p = .014). The 7.5-month-olds did not show positive evidence to discriminate the contrast either when the edited stimuli were used (n = 33; p = .275) or when naturally uttered stimuli were used (n = 33; p = .189). By contrast, the 4-month-olds (n = 24) showed sensitivity to a vowel quality change (/mana/ vs. /mina/; p = .034). These results indicate that Japanese infants acquire sensitivity to long–short vowel contrasts between 7.5 and 9.5 months of age and that the developmental course of the phonemic category by the durational changes is different from that by the quality change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of the load condition on frictional heat generation and temperature increase within a tri-cone bit during high-temperature formation drilling

To investigate the effect of the load condition on frictional heat and temperature within a tri-cone bit, a series of experiments were performed to simulate the mechanical conditions during drilling. The bearing characteristic number, which indicates load conditions such as rotation speed, weight on the bit, and flow resistance, was used to interpret the results. The Stribeck curve of the bearing shows the bearing was in a state of mixed (boundary + elasto-hydrodynamic) lubrication, not in a smooth hydrodynamic lubrication. When drilling high-temperature formations, the bottomhole temperature is higher than that in the experiment, and mixed lubrication progresses to boundary lubrication. The temperature within the bit increases readily, damaging the O-ring seal in the journal bearing.     

Viscoelastic properties and filler dispersion in carbon black‐filled and silica‐filled cross‐linked natural rubbers

The activation energies (ΔE_{J ′} and ΔE_J″) calculated from the temperature dependence of the storage compliance (J′) and the loss compliance (J″) of carbon black (CB)‐filled, hydrophobic silica‐ and hydrophilic silica‐filled cross‐linked natural rubbers (NRs) were found to be less than 15 kJ mol^?1, which corresponds to the physical range of van der Waals interaction. The results of three‐dimensional‐transmission electron microscopy measurements indicate that the closest distance (d_p) between the two neighboring nanofiller aggregates centers decreased sharply with increasing nanofiller loading and tended to become constant at a nanofiller loading of around 30 phr or higher. For all samples examined, there were two regions related to the elastic deformation energy, and the critical d_p value between the two regions was in the order of CB > hydrophobic silica = hydrophilic silica. Additionally, ΔE_J′ developed in the region of longer d_p than that of ΔE_J″. On the other hand, ΔE_J″ occurred after the formation of the filler network and was larger than ΔE_J′. ΔE_J″ is assumed to be related to slippage of the junction and the rearrangement of the nanofiller network. Therefore, the dependence of ΔE_J′ and ΔE_J″ on d_p suggests that the interaction layer between the nanofiller and NR has at least two energy levels. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 2594–2602, 2013     

A comparison between Advanced Scatterometer and Weather Research and Forecasting wind speeds for the Japanese offshore wind resource map

This paper investigates the validity of the method used in the Japanese offshore wind map (NeoWins) to seamlessly connecting satellite‐derived wind speed for open oceans to mesoscale model‐simulated wind speed for coastal waters. In the NeoWins, the former was obtained from the satellite‐borne Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT), and the latter was obtained from numerical simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. In this study, the consistency of the ASCAT and WRF 10‐m height wind speeds is examined in their overwrapping areas. The comparison between ASCAT and WRF model reveals that their differences in annual mean wind speed are mostly within ±5% and that the ASCAT annual mean wind speed is, as a whole, slightly higher than the WRF annual mean wind speed. The results indicate that there are no large wind speed gaps between WRF and ASCAT in most parts of the Japanese offshore areas. It is moreover found that the discrepancies between the two wind speeds are due to two factors: one is the existence of winter sea ice in the ASCAT observation in the Sea of Okhotsk in ASCAT observation and the other is that the accuracy of the WRF wind speed depends on atmospheric stability.     

2010年上海世博园能源系统规划的研究--能源基础设施的基本规划理念

借鉴日本在世博会能源规划方面的经验和技术数据,对2010年上海世博园能源系统和能源基础设施提出了基本规划理念。根据上海世博会总体规划,对上海世博园区会展期间和后续利用时的最大空调供冷负荷及其分布作了估算,提出了能源中心的3种方案,并对共同沟等能源基础设施的规划作了介绍。