Better governance for integrated management of the Lake Biwa—Yodo River Basin

The present study discusses the efforts of the Union of Kansai Governments to resolve serious issues in the Lake Biwa—Yodo River Basin in Japan. It identifies many of the issues related to the basin on a ‘no man's land’ mindset of today's governmental framework, which has constrained both the will and the approach to remedy the associated problems. It also highlights better governance that not only encourages individual efforts, but also promotes collaboration and cooperation among the major stakeholders in the area, as important to developing acceptable solutions to relevant issues. The present study also recognizes objective scientific evidence as an effective driver for improving governance, being the basis for making informed decisions and highlighting the use of appropriate indicators to evaluate the conditions characterizing a specific location or the basin as a whole. The present study also describes the Union of Kansai Governments as a behind‐the‐scenes coordinator that gathers knowledge and intelligence on the basin, and works to integrate policies by getting basin stakeholders to gradually improve governance by repeating a cycle of: (a) recognizing the current situation; (b) identifying relevant issues to be addressed; (c) establishing a framework and policy for collaboration and corporation; and (d) taking necessary actions. To this end, the present study discusses the studies and efforts of the Union of Kansai Governments to develop and implement integrated management of this important interlinked lake–river water system in Japan.     

Dislocation and point-force-based approach to the special Green's Function BEM for elliptic hole and crack problems in two dimensions

In this paper we give the theoretical foundation for a dislocation and point-force-based approach to the special Green's function boundary element method and formulate, as an example, the special Green's function boundary element method for elliptic hole and crack problems. The crack is treated as a particular case of the elliptic hole. We adopt a physical interpretation of Somigliana's identity and formulate the boundary element method in terms of distributions of point forces and dislocation dipoles in the infinite domain with an elliptic hole. There is no need to model the hole by the boundary elements since the traction free boundary condition there for the point force and the dislocation dipole is automatically satisfied. The Green's functions are derived following the Muskhelishvili complex variable formalism and the boundary element method is formulated using complex variables. All the boundary integrals, including the formula for the stress intensity factor for the crack, are evaluated analytically to give a simple yet accurate special Green's function boundary element method. The numerical results obtained for the stress concentration and intensity factors are extremely accurate. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experience of superheater tubes in municipal waste incineration plant

Two years after the start of operations at the Tokachi Association for Municipal Waste Disposal and Treatment Services municipal waste incineration plant (name: Kuririn Center), which generates 400°C steam, an investigation of the plant's superheater tubes was conducted. The investigation consisted primarily of analyzing ash deposits, measuring tube wall thickness loss and observing tube sections after removal. The concentration of Cl in the deposited ash was found to increase as the temperature of the gas rose, and the amount of deposited ash tended to increase as the temperature of the gas rose. Tube damage consisted primarily of a uniform loss in thickness. Intergranular corrosion and other local corrosion was not observed. The results of thickness‐loss measurements showed that, after approximately two years in operation, tubes (SUS310) lost a maximum of 0.45 mm in thickness due to high‐temperature corrosion in locations where the steam temperature reached 400°C. Superheater tubes were also apparently damaged from the effects of a soot blower, resulting in an observed maximum loss of 0.9 mm thickness after approximately two years. Furthermore, the rate of thickness loss tended to increase after one year had passed.     

Radially and azimuthally dependent resonance self-shielding treatment for general multi-region geometry based on a unified theory

A unified resonance self-shielding method, which can treat general sub-divided fuel regions, is developed for lattice physics calculations in reactor physics field. In a past study, a hybrid resonance treatment has been developed by theoretically integrating equivalence theory and ultra-fine-group slowing-down calculation. It can be applied to a wide range of neutron spectrum conditions including low moderator density ranges in severe accident states, as long as each fuel region is not sub-divided. In order to extend the method for radially and azimuthally sub-divided multi-region geometry, a new resonance treatment is established by incorporating the essence of sub-group method. The present method is composed of two-step flux calculation, i.e. ‘coarse geometry + fine energy’ (first step) and ‘fine geometry + coarse energy’ (second step) calculations. The first step corresponds to a hybrid model of the equivalence theory and the ultra-fine-group calculation, and the second step corresponds to the sub-group method. From the verification results, effective cross-sections by the new method show good agreement with the continuous energy Monte-Carlo results for various multi-region geometries including non-uniform fuel compositions and temperature distributions. The present method can accurately generate effective cross-sections with short computation time in general lattice physics calculations.     

Ultra-fine-group resonance treatment using equivalent Dancoff-factor cell model in lattice physics code GALAXY

In order to achieve highly accurate resonance calculations with short computation time , a new ultra-fine-group resonance calculation method is developed. The ultra-fine-group method has a limitation in practical design applications of large and complicated geometries in fuel assembly level due to its long computation time. Therefore, we developed an enhanced one-dimensional (1D) cylindrical pin-cell model to achieve both high calculation accuracy and short computation time. In the enhanced 1D cylindrical pin-cell modeling, moderator radius is adjusted to preserve each fuel pellet's Dancoff factor obtained in the exact 2D fuel lattice arrangement. We call this model the ‘equivalent Dancoff-factor’ cell model. This model can accurately consider heterogeneity effects in PWR fuel assemblies and can represent effective cross sections obtained by the ultra-fine-group calculations in the complicated 2D square lattice arrangements. The present method is implemented with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. lattice physics code GALAXY. From the comparisons of neutron multiplication factors and pin power distributions between GALAXY and a continuous-energy Monte Carlo code, applicability of the present method to lattice physics calculations is confirmed. Application of GALAXY with the present method achieves high accuracy with short computation time in normal operations and accident conditions including low moderator density conditions.     

Copulatory behavior of sexually inexperienced male guinea pigs paired with synchronized estrus females

OBJECTIVE: To determine the number of children in the United States with parents incarcerated in jail and to describe the characteristics of these parents and their criminal histories. SETTING: Inmates of local jails accounting for 36.5% of the incarcerated population of the US in 1989. PARTICIPANTS: Personal interviews with 5675 inmates randomly selected from 393,553 inmates of 3312 local jails in 1989. RESULTS: 44,263 (36%) inmates had children younger than the age of 15. Fathers outnumbered mothers 10-fold; the majority were in their 20s or 30s, unmarried, and poorly educated. The vast majority of parents had a record of prior offenses, and substance abuse accounted for one third of the incarcerations. Substance abuse was reported by 84% of inmates and 95% had sought prior treatment for alcohol, drug, or other mental health problems. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly 1 of 50 children in the US has a parent in jail. Parental imprisonment is not rare, is often chronic, and is strongly associated with other psychosocial and health problems in the family. Screening for parental imprisonment potentially should be included as part of a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment.     

Suppression of 193-nm photoresist deformation by H2 addition to fluorocarbon plasma in via-hole etching

Suppression of 193-nm photoresist deformation by H₂ addition to fluorocarbon plasmas in via-hole etching is investigated for sub-65-nm-node dual-damascene patterning. Photoresist deformation causes profile distortion and results in degradation of reliability, such as the line-to-line time dependent dielectric breakdown. To prevent profile distortion, H₂ addition to fluorocarbon plasma is investigated in terms of fluorocarbon polymer and photoresist modification. XPS, FT-IR, and highlight etching investigations reveal that the H₂ plasma treatment extracts oxygen from the photoresist and modifies it. This modification suppresses the photoresist deformation and H₂ addition to fluorocarbon plasmas can have the same effects as the H₂ plasma treatment. Finally, a highly reliable damascene interconnection is successfully achieved.     

Glomerular lesions in multiple myeloma

An autopsy case of multiple myeloma (IgG, lambda type), clinically characterized by decreased glomerular filtration rate, is reported with particular emphasis on changes in the glomeruli of kidneys. Histologically, the glomeruli revealed slight increase in mesangial matrix and focal thickening of tuft capillary wall. Electron-microscopically, deposits were observed in a subendothelial location in the glomerular capillary walls, and inclusions were noted in the cytoplasm of the visceral epithelial cells. Histoimmunofluorescent study of the kidney demonstrated intense focal and slight diffuse positivity against labelled antisera of anti-IgG and anti-lambda type of light chain on the capillary wall of the glomerular tufts. Other immunoglobulins were not demonstrable in capillary walls. These findings represent the intraglomerular deposition of paraprotein of multiple myeloma without amyloidosis.     

The effect of obesity on plasma triglycerides and fasting plasma IRI levels. Significance of insulinogenic index and glucose tolerance

Three groups of 50 heavy feedlot steers were treated with 1 of 3 anthelmintics (haloxon, tramisol, or thiabendazole). One group of 50 steers was not treated and served as a control. The initial degree of infection with gastrointestinal nematodes was light and decreased during the course of the study. There were no significant differences in weight gains among any of the groups at the end of a 113-day feeding period.