Anaerobic Biodegradation Tests of Poly(lactic acid) under Mesophilic and Thermophilic Conditions Using a New Evaluation System for Methane Fermentation in Anaerobic Sludge

Anaerobic biodegradation tests of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) powder were done at the thermophilic (55 °C) and mesophilic temperature (35 °C) under aquatic conditions [total solid concentrations of the used sludge were 2.07% (at 55 °C) and 2.24% (at 35 °C)] using a newly developed evaluation system. With this system, the evolved biogas is collected in a gas sampling bag at atmospheric pressure. This method is more convenient than using a pressure transducer or inverted graduated cylinder submerged in water. PLA was degraded about 60% in 30 days, about 80% in 40 days and about 90% in 60 days at 55 °C. On the other hand, the PLA degradation started in 55 days at 35 °C and degradation rate was much slower than at 55 °C.     

Distractor devaluation effect in the attentional blink: Direct evidence for distractor inhibition.

When two targets (T1 and T2) are embedded in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), T2 is often missed (attentional blink, AB) if T2 follows T1 by less than 500 ms. Some have proposed that inhibition of a distractor following T1 contributes to the AB, but no direct evidence supports this proposal. This study examined distractor inhibition by assessing a distractor devaluation effect where inhibited items were evaluated less positively than controls. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a distractor presented just after T1 was evaluated less favorably when T2 was misidentified, independently of stimulus characteristics. Experiment 3 produced distractor devaluation in T2 incorrect trials when the evaluated distractor was the second item after T1. In contrast, a distractor presented before T1 was not devaluated (Experiment 4). Experiment 5 demonstrated that participants could not recognize presented distractors after an RSVP task, rejecting the possibility that memorized distractors were devalued. Results show a relationship between the devaluation of distractors following T1 and the AB, providing the first direct evidence of the distractor inhibition during the AB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kink and power saturation of 660-nm AlGaInP laser diodes

We analyze kink and power saturation phenomena of high power 660-nm laser diodes for DVD-R/RW experimentally. Power-current (P-I) and voltage-current (V-I) characteristics of laser diodes with different cavity lengths were measured. Using these results and thermal resistances, temperature rises caused by self-heating (/spl Delta/T) and the dependence of slope efficiencies on the temperature rise (Se-/spl Delta/T) were calculated. The slope efficiencies decreased linearly with /spl Delta/T and their gradients showed the same value regardless of the cavity length, while they had no systematic dependence on the current. The kinks occurred at the same /spl Delta/T of 30/spl deg/C regardless of the cavity length, while they occurred at different currents. These results indicate that the temperature rise caused by the self-heating is a key parameter for the kink and the saturation power. A method is proposed to calculate the kink and the saturation power using the gradient (Se-/spl Delta/T) and the kink temperature.     

Probabilistic models considering dependent relation in reasoning for decision-making

This paper proposes a fuzzy dependence-index for construction of the probabilistic models considering dependent relation for solving the reasoning problem. It is important for constructing the joint probability-distribution to consider the dependency of events. We consider that some vagueness is included in the dependency. Because causal relationship of among events is uncertain, it is difficult to express dependency as definite value. In this paper, we classify the dependent relations, and apply the fuzzy probability to calculation of the dependence-index. Then, the fuzzy dependence-index is defined to consider dependency with fuzziness. Using the fuzzy dependence-index, we calculate the joint probability of multi-events for constructing the probabilistic model. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

Broadband four-wave mixing generation in short optical fibres

Several advantages of using a short length of fibre to generate broadband four-wave mixing are proposed and verified using wavelength conversion experiments for different lengths of a previously developed high-nonlinearity fibre with a nonlinear coefficient of 13.8 W^-1 km^-1. Consequently, 91.3 nm broadband simultaneous wavelength conversion is demonstrated using a 100 m long section of the developed fibre     

Effects of rice straw returning methods on N<Subscript>2</Subscript>O emission during wheat-growing season

A field experiment was conducted in Jurong of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China from 2006 to 2008 to investigate N₂O emission during the wheat-growing season as affected by various rice straw returning methods prior to wheat cultivation. The study was designed to have four treatments: no rice straw applied (CK), rice straw burnt in situ (RB), rice straw evenly incorporated into the topsoil (RI), rice straw evenly spread over the field as mulch (RM). Results showed that N₂O emission was decreased by 24–29% in Treatment RB and by 3–18% in Treatment RI, but increased by 15–39% in Treatment RM, compared with that in Treatment CK. The contents of soil total C and N at wheat harvest were significantly increased by 7–13% and by 8–12% in Treatment RI, respectively, compared with that in Treatment CK. The wheat grain yield in Treatment RI was 1.0–1.2 times that in the Treatment CK. Based on these results, the best management practice of returning rice straw to the soil prior to wheat cultivation is evenly incorporating rice straw into the topsoil, as the method tended to reduce N₂O emission during the wheat-growing season and increase wheat yield and soil fertility.     

Effect of Absolute Configuration on the Optical and NMR Properties of Oligonucleotides Containing Benzo[a]Pyrene Adducts at N 6 of Deoxyadenosine

For oligonucleotide duplexes derived from trans opening of benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxides (BaP DEs) by the exocyclic N⁶-amino group of deoxyadenosine (dA), the hydrocarbon is intercalated toward the 5′-end of the modified strand when the configuration at the site of attachment of the base to the hydrocarbon (C-10) is R, and toward the 3′-end when this configuration is S. In oligonucleotide 11-mer duplexes modified by BaP DE-1 (benzylic 7-OH and epoxide oxygen cis) and DE-2 (7-OH and epoxide oxygen trans), as well as 7,8,9,10-tetrahydro BaP 9,10-epoxide, 10R adducts had consistently higher (5–9d°C) T_m values than the corresponding 10S adducts. Dodecamer duplexes from the HPRT gene with trans opened 10S (but not those with 10R) BaP DE-2 adducts at either of two adjacent dA residues exhibited blue shifts at ～350 nm at temperatures well below the T_m. We propose that these blue shifts result from a conformation in which the hydrocarbon is not stacked with the DNA bases.     

Geology and fluid chemistry of the Fushime geothermal field, Kyushu, Japan

The Fushime geothermal field is located in a depression close to the coast line. The system is characterized by very high reservoir temperature (>350°C), and a high salinity production fluid. Geological analysis shows that the main reservoir in this field occurs in a fractured zone developed around a dacite intrusion located in the center of the field. High permeability zones recognized by drilling data are found to be associated with fault zones. One of these zones is clearly associated with a NW–SE trending andesite dike swarm which was encountered in some wells.Alteration in the system can be divided into four zones, in order of increasing temperature, based on calcium–magnesium aluminosilicate mineral assemblages: i.e., the smectite, transition, chlorite and epidote zones. The feed zone is located in the chlorite and epidote zones, which can be further divided into three sub-zones according to their potassium or sodium aluminosilicate mineralogy, from the center of the discharge zone: K-feldspar–quartz, sericite–quartz, and albite–chlorite zones.Chloride concentration of the sea-water is 19,800 mg/l, and Br/Cl mole ratio is 1.55. Based on geochemical information, the reservoir chloride concentration of this field ranges from 11,600 to 22,000 mg/kg. The Clres (Cl in reservoir), Br/Cl ratios and stable isotope data indicate that the Fushime geothermal fluid originated from sea-water and is diluted by ground water during its ascent. Some fluids produced from geothermal wells show low pH (about 4). It is thought that sulfide mineral (PbS, ZnS) precipitation during production produces this acidic fluid.     

Long-term evaluation of combined antihypertensive therapy with lisinopril and a thiazide diuretic in patients with essential hypertension

For the treatment of hypertension, the combination of an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and a thiazide diuretic is supported by multiple lines of evidence, because these drugs have synergistic action and are expected to cancel out each other's adverse side effects. However, the long-term outcome of this combination antihypertensive therapy is not entirely clear. In the present multicenter open trial, we investigated the long-term efficacy and safety of combined antihypertensive therapy with an ACE inhibitor, lisinopril, and a thiazide diuretic, trichlormethiazide. A total of 466 patients with essential hypertension were treated with lisinopril alone (monotherapy group, n = 360) or with a combination of lisinopril with trichlormethiazide (combination therapy group, n = 106) for 1 year. The average blood pressure was effectively lowered to below 150/90 mmHg in both the monotherapy and the combination therapy groups throughout the study period. The average maintenance dose of lisinopril was lower when combined with thiazide than when given alone (9.8 vs. 11.5 mg/day, p < 0.001). Dry cough was the major side effect of lisinopril; no severe adverse effects were observed. The incidence of cough was not significantly different between the monotherapy group (13.1%) and the combination therapy group (11.3%). The increase in serum potassium observed in the monotherapy group was reversed by the concurrent use of the thiazide diuretic in the combination therapy group. Fasting blood glucose was significantly reduced in the monotherapy group; the reduction observed in the combination therapy group was not significant. Thus, the present results provide useful information as to the effectiveness and safety of combined antihypertensive therapy with lisinopril and a thiazide in comparison with monotherapy with lisinopril.