Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from irrigated lowland rice paddies after wheat straw application and midseason aeration

Straw application and midseason drainage play role in controlling methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from rice paddy fields, but little information is available on their integrative effect on CH₄ and N₂O emissions. A two-year field experiment was conducted to study the combined effect of timing and duration of midseason aeration and wheat straw incorporation on mitigation of global warming potential (GWP) of CH₄ and N₂O emissions from irrigated lowland rice paddy fields. Results showed that incorporation of wheat straw increased CH₄ by a factor of 5–9 under various water regimes, but simultaneously decreased N₂O emission by 19–42 % during the rice growing season. Without straw incorporation, prolonged aeration significantly reduced the net 100-year GWP of CH₄ and N₂O emissions by 6 %, but also decreased rice production when compared with normal aeration. With straw incorporation, the lowest GWP was found by early aeration, which reduced GWP by 7 and 20 % in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Estimation of net GWPs of CH₄ and N₂O emissions indicated that early midseason drainage with straw incorporation offered the potential to mitigate CH₄ and N₂O emissions from irrigated lowland rice paddies in China.     

An investigation into the relationship between processing,structure and properties for high-modulus PBO fibres: part 3: analysis of fibre microstructure using transmission electron microscopy

A detailed morphological study of the microstructure of poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO) fibres (HM and HM+) and a polypyridobisimidazole (PIPD) (HT) fibre has been undertaken using transmission electron microscopy. Both PBO and PIPD fibres are composed of rigid-rod polymers having p-phenylene rings in the molecular backbone and show high modulus (280–360 GPa) and high strength (4–6 GPa). It is found that the PBO HM+ fibre has the highest degree of molecular orientation of the three fibres and the longest crystal length along the fibre axis, while the PIPD fibre shows a lower degree of orientation and a shorter crystal length than the PBO fibres. To understand the effect of crystalline size and fine structure of the fibres upon mechanical properties, dark-field and high-resolution lattice images were obtained and analysed in detail.     

In Situ Observation of Wear Process Before and During Scuffing in Sliding Contact

In this study, a direct observation of a point contact area was conducted to understand the scuffing phenomenon. The contact area was produced between a rotating sapphire disc and a stationary steel ball and it was lubricated using n-hexadecane. The image detected by a colour digital CCD camera, load, and friction were synchronously recorded by a computer during the test. It was found that wear debris produced in the contact area played an important role in the wear process, which includes running-in and scuffing. In the test, debris particles accumulated in the inlet zone, and some particles entered the contact area to cause abrasive wear of the ball surface, even in the light-load stages. During the running-in process, the abrasive wear by debris particles changed the conformity between the sliding surfaces. In the high-load stage, just before the occurrence of scuffing, the whole contact area was flattened at once. When scuffing occurred, the contact area suddenly expanded. The conformity of the contact area was dramatically changed during its expansion. The flattening of the whole contact area and dramatic expansion with changing the conformity seemed to play important roles in scuffing.     

Molecular recognitive photocatalytic decomposition on mesoporous silica coated TiO2 particle

Mesoporous silica coated titania exhibited a substrate selective photocatalytic reaction; 4-nonylphenol and phenol were decomposed while nonane was not decomposed by the UV irradiation to their aqueous mixture.     

950 keV, 3.95 MeV and 6 MeV X-band linacs for nondestructive evaluation and medicine

We are developing compact X-band linac X-ray sources for nondestructive evaluation and medicine. First, we develop a portable X-ray system by a 950 keV 9.4 GHz X-band linac to realize on-site inspection. We use a low power (250 kW) magnetron as an RF source for compactness of the whole system. Since the RF power source is quite small and the stored energy in the structure is also small, we faced the problem of beam loading and current/RF-power oscillation. We are analyzing the problem by the circuit model. We plan to use this system for erosion inspection of metal pipes of petrochemical complex. By adopting a side-coupling cavity design to avoid the oscillation, we have developed 6 MeV X-band (9.3 GHz) linac for pinpoint dynamic tracking cancer therapy. Furthermore, we are manufacturing 3.95 MeV X-band (9.3 GHz) linac X-ray source with flexible waveguides for on-site bridge inspection. Updated results and situations are presented.     

Feature extraction of one‐step‐ahead daily maximum load with regression tree

In this paper, a new efficient feature extraction method is proposed to handle the one‐step‐ahead daily maximum load forecasting. In recent years, power systems become more complicated under the deregulated and competitive environment. As a result, it is not easy to understand the cause and effect of short‐term load forecasting with a bunch of data. This paper analyzes load data from the standpoint of data mining. By it we mean a technique that finds out rules or knowledge through large database. As a data mining method for load forecasting, this paper focuses on the regression tree that handles continuous variables and expresses a knowledge rule as if‐then rules. Investigating the variable importance of the regression tree gives information on the transition of the load forecasting models. This paper proposes a feature extraction method for examining the variable importance. The proposed method allows to classify the transition of the variable importance through actual data. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 156(2): 43–51, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20104     

Numerical Study of the Effects of the Secondary Diaphragm and Contact Surface in Expansion Tubes

The interaction of the shock reflected at a secondary diaphragm with the primary contact in six cases, i.e. the strengths and shapes of the contact surface are different, were explored by numerical study. The influences of the strength and shape of the contact on the developing wave pattern and the quality of the test gas are illustrated by many kinds of figures (e.g. the time-distance diagrams of the acoustic impedance contours on the axis, the acoustic impedance contours, and the time histories of pilot and static pressures).     

Automatic Tuning System for Integrator-Based Continuous-Time Filters

This paper proposes an automatic tuning system to adjust frequency characteristics of integrated continuous-time filters especially at high frequencies. Frequency characteristic deterioration of a filter using integrators with electrically controllable unity-gain frequencies can be easily evaluated and compensated even when they are affected by deviations of element values and parasitic elements. The compensation requires detection of both frequency and excess phase shifts of the integrators. Their two values are electrically detected by two detection systems usually used in the conventional frequency tuning system. The proposed system is stable, simple and easy to be implemented on an integrated circuit. As an example a 4th-order biquad bandpass filter with 10 MHz center frequency, 2 MHz passband width, and 0.5 dB passband ripples is designed using a bipolar process. Simulation results by SPICE show the effectiveness of the proposed system.     

Application of unified voltage analysis for high‐ and low‐voltage distribution systems by power flow calculation using indication method between nodes

It has been noted that the voltage of connection points rises according to the reverse power flow when grid‐connected photovoltaic systems are concentrated in distribution systems in residential areas. When this happens, the photovoltaic system may control the power generation output to maintain a suitable voltage for the connection point. Designing a demand area power system aiming at free access to a distributed power supply for energy‐effective practical use requires a precise understanding of this problem. When analyzing photovoltaic systems mainly connected to low‐voltage systems, we looked for a method of analysis in which the high‐voltage systems and the low‐voltage single‐phase three‐wire systems are unified. This report concerns use of the indication method between nodes using power flow calculation, for the purpose of developing a technique of analyzing unified high‐voltage systems and low‐voltage single‐phase three‐wire systems. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 147(3): 49–62, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10255     

Influence of Carbon Forms and Doped Elements in the Electrodes for the Production of Fullerenes

Production of fullereries using electrodes made of four kinds of pure carbon bearing materials and artificial graphite doped with seven kinds of elements such as B, Y, La, Gd, Ce, Pr and Nd have been examined. The yields of fullerenes were in a range between 12-20% of the soot produced for all pure carbon electrodes, even though the vaporization rate of amorphous carbon electrodes was about ten times higher than that of the natural graphite electrodes. However, for the doped graphite electrodes, the yield of fullerenes was less than 5%. From the above results it is concluded that fullerenes can be effectively produced with the pure carbon electrodes made of any form of carbon bearing materials used in this study and there is little material dependence on the yield of fullerences. Furthermore, the experiments using the artificaial graphite electrodes doped with metal elements suggests that the purity of the carbon electrodes affects the yeld of fullerenes greatly.