Temperature control for the expansion of artificial DNA motif

The DNA, which forms a double helical conformation by the highly selective base-pairing rule with the width of 2 nm, is one of the polymers utilized as a template for nanoparticle assembly. Then, holiday junction structure, where two different DNA double strands intersect and replace each complement strand, is an important artificial motif for forming two-dimensional mesh-like DNA morphology. In this study, the two-dimensional sheet with the mesh-like conformation is formed and the growth of the DNA morphology is controlled by changing the temperature in the formation process. The influence of the cooling procedure on the formation process of the two-dimensional DNA sheet is observed by atomic force microscope, and the formation of double strands in the process is traced by absorption spectra. The spectroscopic results demonstrate that the two-dimensional DNA sheet is strongly dependent on the correlation between the applied cooling process and the melting temperature of double helical conformation, and that the growth of the two-dimensional DNA sheet can be manipulated by the cooling procedure. Further, we will show the size control of the DNA sheet by mixing the designed DNA which inhibits the growth of the DNA sheet.     

RHINOS: a consultation system for diagnosis of headache and facial pain

This paper is intended to describe the expert system RHINOS for diagnosing patients whose chief complaints are headache and facial pain. RHINOS assists physicians in diagnosing the above-mentioned disease. For this purpose the authors surveyed diagnosing processes used by physicians to determine what advice physicians want. As a result, the author reached the conclusion that knowledge for diagnosing the above-mentioned disease should be categorized according to four types of rules: exclusive rules (if the patient has disease D, he must have symptoms S1, S2,....,Sn), inclusive rules (if the patient has symptoms S1, S2,...,Sn, he has disease D with a probability X (0 less than X less than 1)), associate rules (if the patient has symptoms S1, S2,...,Sn the probability that he has the disease D increases) and disease image (if the patient has disease D, he may have symptoms S1, S2,...,Sn). Through harmonious use of these four types of rules, RHINOS gives the advise that physicians want. RHINOS is widely available because it is implemented by Prolog-KABA which is operative on personal computers such as NEC PC9801 and IBM-PC.     

TARGET YIELDS AND HYDROGEN CONSUMPTION IN BROWN COAL LIQUEFACTION

A simple mechanistic model for brown coal liquefaction has been developed and used in conjunction with data from PDU operation to examine the factors which contribute to hydrogen consumption. It is found that after allowing for hydrogen generation requirements, the maximum achievable refined product yield from Morwell brown coal ((ssuming a naphtha/middle distillate ratio of 5:6 together with refined product H/C ratios of 1.8 for naphtha and 1.5 for middle distillate) is 46 - 48%, corresponding to a hydrogen consumption of 6.6 - 7.6%. Alternatively, if consideration of hydrogen generation is excluded (as in pilot plant operation), the maximum yield would be around 54%, corresponding to 6.6% net hydrogen consumption. These results suggest that an aim of maximizing product yield by decreasing Cl-C4 gas formation may not be as desirable as at first thought.     

Hydrocracking Marlim vacuum residue with natural limonite. Part 2: experimental cracking in a slurry-type continuous reactor

Disposable Australian iron-slurry (AL) and NiO-MoO₃-Al₂O₃ (NiMo) catalysts were used in hydrocracking experiments to convert Marlim vacuum residue (ML-VR) in a slurry-bed continuous flow reactor at temperatures of 440-460 °C, under a hydrogen pressure of 14.7 MPa and an LHSV of 0.5. The degree of conversion ranged from 54 to 83%, depending on the reaction temperature and catalyst used, with AL giving more complete conversion than NiMo. AL also proved more active in the removal of nickel. Hydrogen consumption was linearly correlated with conversion regardless of the catalyst used.     

Frenkel pair accumulation induced crystallization of amorphous MgAl2O4

The epitaxial and homogeneous irradiation induced re-crystallization of amorphous MgAl₂O₄ was studied by means of continuous Frenkel pair accumulation in the molecular dynamics framework. Present results point out that the re-crystallization induced by Frenkel pair accumulation appears in both cases to be thermally enhanced but non diffusive. It is governed by a local rearrangement of each point defect in the homogeneous case, while spontaneous Frenkel pair recombination process in the crystalline part or at the interface drives the re-crystallization in the epitaxial case.     

Analytical study on elimination of severe recriticalities in large scale LMFBRS with enhancement of fuel discharge

The possibility of severe recriticality could be excluded if the molten core materials are discharged from reactor core in the early stage of core disruptive accident (CDA). Based on this idea, several design measures for future commercial liquid metal-cooled fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs) have been proposed to enhance the molten fuel discharge from core in order to prevent formation of the core-wide molten pool with high mobility. One promising concept in these design candidates is modified-FAIDUS (Fuel subassembly with Inner DUct Structure). The event progression in unprotected loss of flow (ULOF) accident in a sodium-cooled large scale FBR with modified-FAIDUS was analyzed to assess the effectual performance of modified-FAIDUS in preventing severe recriticality using the SAS4A and SIMMER-III codes. Two parametric cases were performed covering the uncertainty of duct wall failure mechanism, one with stable fuel crust and another with unstable crust condition. The calculation showed that the final amount of discharged fuel from core in both cases was more than 20% of initial core inventory. The degraded core after fuel discharge is composed of the mixture of solidified fuel, swollen fuel chunks and molten steel, of which low mobility prevents massive fuel motion. The reactor power lowered to decay heat level and the reactivity lowered around −20 $, thus, the possibility of severe recriticality was eliminated.     

Effect of catalyst combination on growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes

A new effective catalysts combination of iron — nickel for alcohol CVD technique was found. This catalyst catalyzed well as well as the typical catalyst of iron — cobalt catalysts, but gave a different diameter distribution. Calculating their electrical density of states under the assumption of their solid lattice structures, the result was fairly consistent with experimental results. The number of electrical states near Fermi level that is considered to be important for catalytic reaction is enough and the DOS of iron – nickel catalyst was quite similar to that of cobalt unlike manganese – copper catalyst. Consequently, a blend of catalysts that has a similar DOS to cobalt and has enough states near the Fermi level can be a good catalyst for alcohol CVD.     

Electrolytic removal of ammonia from brine wastewater: scale‐up,operation and pilot‐scale evaluation

Brine wastewater with a high ammonia content from an iodine processing plant (commonly called kansui in Japan) was treated by electrolysis. The system, which can be considered as an indirect electrolytic treatment process, generates chlorine at the anodes and initiates the formation of mixed oxidants like hypochlorous acid. The oxidants then act as agents for ammonia destruction. Laboratory‐scale experiments showed that high ammonia concentrations (as much as 200 mg dm^?3) could be completely removed within a few minutes, and could be considered a good alternative for efficient ammonia removal from saline wastewaters. From laboratory‐scale experiments in the batch and continuous modes, the charge dose was analyzed and used as the operating and scale‐up factor. The value of the charge dose was not severely affected by changes in operating conditions such as electrode spacing and temperature. The charge dose from batch and continuous runs was found to be in the range of 23 C (mg NH₄‐N removed)^?1 to 29 C (mg NH₄‐N removed)^?1. Using the charge dose obtained from laboratory‐scale continuous electrolysis experiments as the scale‐up factor, a pilot‐scale reactor was designed, and the operating conditions were calculated. In the pilot‐scale reactor tests at different flow rates, the effluent ammonia concentrations were reasonably close to the calculated values predicted from the charge dose equation. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry