Feasibility study on 1.6 μm continuous-wave modulation laser absorption spectrometer system for measurement of global CO2 concentration from a satellite

A feasibility study is carried out on a 1.6 μm continuous-wave modulation laser absorption spectrometer system for measurement of global CO(2)concentration from a satellite. The studies are performed for wavelength selection and both systematic and random error analyses. The systematic error in the differential absorption optical depth (DAOD) is mainly caused by the temperature estimation error, surface pressure estimation error, altitude estimation error, and ON wavelength instability. The systematic errors caused by unwanted backscattering from background aerosols and dust aerosols can be reduced to less than 0.26% by using a modulation frequency of around 200 kHz, when backscatter coefficients of these unwanted backscattering have a simple profile on altitude. The influence of backscattering from cirrus clouds is much larger than that of dust aerosols. The transmission power required to reduce the random error in the DAOD to 0.26% is determined by the signal-to-noise ratio and the carrier-to-noise ratio calculations. For a satellite altitude of 400 km and receiving aperture diameter of 1 m, the required transmission power is approximately 18 W and 70 W when albedo is 0.31 and 0.08, respectively; the total measurement time in this case is 4 s, which corresponds to a horizontal resolution of 28 km.     

Effectiveness of Some Natural Antimicrobial Compounds in Controlling Pathogen or Spoilage Bacteria in Lightly Fermented Chinese Cabbage

ABSTRACT: This study was designed to evaluate the bactericidal or bacteriostatic effect of chitosan, an allyl isothiocyanate (AIT) product, and nisin for the artificially inoculated pathogenic bacteria ( Escherichia coli , Salmonella Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus , and Listeria monocytogenes ) or natural microflora of fermented Chinese cabbage. Addition of 0.1% chitosan decreased the population of pathogens from 0.7 to 1.7 log colony-forming units (CFU)/g after 4 d of storage at 10 °C. The bactericidal activity of chitosan was found to be stronger than that of nisin (0.05 mg/g). Addition of 0.2% of the AIT product (containing AIT and hop extract) exhibited a bacteriostatic effect. However, a combination of AIT product and chitosan enhanced bactericidal efficacy against L. monocytogenes . The addition of chitosan or AIT product was observed to suppress the populations of mesophilic and coliform bacteria during storage at 10 °C for 4 d. Moreover, the use of chitosan or the AIT product did not change the sensory quality of the lightly fermented vegetable. Therefore, these results suggest that chitosan or the AIT product could be useful to improve the microbial safety and quality of lightly fermented vegetable.     

Development of water pipe cooling system for power cables intunnels

A full-size test line was constructed to study the water pipe cooling system for a bulk-power transmission line installed in a tunnel. Based on the test data and their analysis, a technique for designing the system has been established. The results have indicated an effective layout of the cooling pipes in the tunnel, and have validated the accuracy of the computer models to determine thermal characteristics of the tunnel system. An efficient control method to operate the cooling system according to the load changes of the cables was developed. The chosen layout is shown to be more effective than the dispersed layout because it accelerates the air convection and makes the air temperature more uniform. Furthermore, the thermal convection resistance between the tunnel wall and the air is reduced. It was also verified that the air temperature distribution along the vertical shaft could be predicted by thermal convection analysis. This cooling system is scheduled to be applied to a 154 kV power cable line in 1990     

A power flow tracing method focused on reactive power and SC

“Tracing the power flow of electricity” is a concept that has become the focus of attention recently, as the deregulation or the liberalization of the electric power market proceeds. Although a number of methods, such as “tracing method by power flow contribution,” have already been published, reactive power contribution has been little studied to date. However, applying “tracing the power flow of electricity” to ancillary service, for example compensation of reactive power, is very important. In this paper, we focus on line flows and static capacitors in particular, and study how to deal with the problem. We perform a computer simulation using a simple system and show the tracing results. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 156(1): 33–43, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/ eej.20118     

Removal of lignin in a liquid system by an isolated fungus

The screening of a strain which could perform lignin removal was carried out. Based on taxonomic study the isolated strain (LM‐2) was identified as Penicillium sp. LM‐2 could decolorize 0.6 g dm^?3 lignin within 4 days in a shaking culture at 25 °C. The efficiency of decolorization of the lignin was over 80% in the pH range of 4.0–6.0, but was low above pH 6.2. The rise of temperature had a slight adverse effect on the lignin decolorization in the range of 25–35 °C. Lignolytic enzymes such as lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase and laccase were not detected in the culture broth or within the fungal cells. The lignin was removed from the high molecular weight fraction mainly by adsorption and accumulation inside the cells. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Small-angle X-ray scattering of long-period structures forming bundles

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) patterns have been calculated based on a structure model, which consisted of the bundles of long-period structures. The proposed model has produced various scattering patterns of polymers, such as the equatorial, layer line, four-spot, droplet-shaped and triangular scattering. The 0.5th order scattering has arisen when the disorder in or between the long-period structures was large even though the structure did not have the periodicity directly related to the scattering maximum. A slight decrease in the disorder due to slip between the long-period structures has accounted for the sudden change of the SAXS pattern of a poly(ethylene terephthalate) fiber from the four-spot to the layer line scattering which was caused by a slight tensile deformation.     

Gene transfer therapy for heritable disease: cell and expression targeting

Gene therapy is defined as the delivery of a functional gene for expression in somatic tissues with the intent to cure a disease. Different gene transfer strategies may be required to target different tissues. Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency is a good gene therapy model for targeting a rare population of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells capable of self-renewal. We present evidence for the highly efficient gene transfer and sustained expression of human ADA in human primitive hematopoietic progenitors using retroviral supernatant with a supportive stromal layer. A stem cell-enriched (CD34+) fraction was also successfully transduced. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is also a good model for somatic gene therapy. Two of the challenges presented by this model are the large size of the gene and the large number of target cells. Germline gene transfer and correction of the phenotype has been demonstrated in transgenic mdx mice using both a full-length and a truncated form of the dystrophin cDNA. We present here a deletion mutagenesis strategy to truncate the dystrophin cDNA such that it can be accommodated by retroviral and adenoviral vectors useful for somatic gene therapy.