Effect of blending on liquefaction of coals

After solvent extraction of Taiheiyo, Miike and Balmer coals using wash oil under nitrogen atmosphere at 370 °C for 30 min, the extraction yield is always within the additivity law. Further studies used Yallourn, Soyakoishi, Taiheiyo, Horonai, Miike, Shin Yubari, Balmer coals and their blends which were hydrogenated in tetralin, wash oil or creosote oil, with or without catalyst, at 400–450 °C under 10 or 3 MPa of initial hydrogen pressure. When hydrogen is available, the additivity law exists for blended coals, but when the hydrogen supply is deficient, the experimental conversion of blended coals is always lower than calculated conversions. This may be due to the faster consumption of the hydrogen by more reactive coals and thus the less reactive coals were unable to react with hydrogen.     

Performance of the nonisothermal fixed bed adsorption column with nonlinear isotherms

The cell model approach for the analysis of nonisothermal fixed bed adsorption column has been presented under the assumption that adsorption is controlled by intraparticle diffusion and adsorption equilibrium is nonlinear. The numerical analysis has been carried out by the Runge-Kutta-Gill scheme. With the aid of a HITAC-8800 computer, the influence of controlling variables of the breakthrough curves and temperature curves has been made clear for such parameters as solid phase mass transfer coefficient, overall heat transfer coefficient at the column wall, length of bed and the equilibrium isotherms. A nonisothermal adsorption column can be designed adequately by applying the numerical method developed here according to the cell model approach.     

Preparation of poly(ethylene glycol)-modified poly(amidoamine) dendrimers with a shell of hydrophobic amino acid residues and their function as a nanocontainer

We studied the use of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-modified dendrimers as a nanocapsule with a biocompatible surface. We designed PEG-modified dendrimers having a shell of hydrophobic amino acid residues in the peripheral moiety of the dendrimer to increase their encapsulation ability. Subsequently, l-phenylalanine or γ-benzyl-l-glutamate residues were introduced to all chain ends of the poly(amidoamine) G4 dendrimers. Furthermore, PEG (MW 2000) chains were attached to the amino acid residues. These hydrophobic amino acid residues rendered the PEG-modified dendrimers as more compact. After binding of Rose Bengal (RB) guest molecules to dendrimers, an assay using the Klotz plot showed that the hydrophobic amino acid layer slightly affected the guest site number, but significantly increased intrinsic binding of the dendrimers to guest molecules. The PEG-modified dendrimers with the hydrophobic amino acid layer were better able to retain guest molecules than the dendrimer without the layer: they are therefore useful for drug delivery.     

微型离心式冷水机组性能分析

以桌公司开发的微型离心式冷水机组为研究对象,阐述了离心式压缩机微型化和冷水机组性能高效化的主要技术途径.根据机组在不同运行工况下的性能测试数据建立了能耗模型,分析了微型离心式冷水机组用于参考建筑供冷时的SEER特性.与名义制冷量、COP相近的单螺杆机组的计算结果进行比较表明,其全供冷季运行性能已达到或优于同等容量常规单螺杆机组的性能.     

Development of a transparent single-grid-type micro-strip gas chamber based on LCD technology

The liquid crystal display (LCD) technology allows several simple circuits to be built using thin film transistors, thus making fabrication of compact, integrated, large-area, and low-cost micro-pattern gaseous detectors possible. In this work, a single-grid-type micro-strip gas chamber (S-MSGC) using transparent electrodes based on the LCD technology was fabricated and successfully operated in several gas mixtures. The detector was coupled with a multi-pixel photon counter to detect an optical signal through the transparent substrate in Ar/CF₄ gas. Both electrical and optical signals were measured and the light yield of the detector was acquired. Successful operation of the S-MSGC can be considered the very important first step for development of the next target of integrated devices.     

The Complete Loss of p53 Expression Uniquely Predicts Worse Prognosis in Colorectal Cancer

p53 immunohistochemistry is considered an accurate surrogate marker reflecting the underlying TP53 mutation status and has utility in tumor diagnostics. In the present study, 269 primary CRCs were immunohistochemically evaluated for p53 expression to assess its utility in diagnostic pathology and prognostication. p53 expression was wild-type in 59 cases (23%), overexpressed in 143 cases (55%), completely lost in 50 cases (19%), and cytoplasmic in 10 cases (4%). p53 immunoreactivity was associated with tumor size (p = 0.0056), mucus production (p = 0.0015), and mismatch repair (MMR) system status (p < 0.0001). Furthermore, among CRCs with wild-type p53 expression, a significantly higher number of cases had decreased CDX2 than those with p53 overexpression (p = 0.012) or complete p53 loss (p = 0.043). In contrast, among CRCs with p53 overexpression, there were significantly fewer ALCAM-positive cases than p53 wild-type cases (p = 0.0045). However, no significant association was detected between p53 immunoreactivity and the “stem-like” immunophenotype defined by CDX2 downregulation and ALCAM-positivity. Multivariate Cox hazards regression analysis identified tubular-forming histology (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.17, p < 0.0001), younger age (HR = 0.52, p = 0.021), and female sex (HR = 0.55, p = 0.046) as potential favorable factors. The analysis also revealed complete p53 loss (HR = 2.16, p = 0.0087), incomplete resection (HR = 2.65, p = 0.0068), and peritoneal metastasis (HR = 5.32, p < 0.0001) as potential independent risk factors for patients with CRC. The sub-cohort survival analyses classified according to chemotherapy after surgery revealed that CRC patients with wild-type p53 expression tended to have better survival than those with overexpression or complete loss after chemotherapy. Thus, immunohistochemistry for p53 could be used for the prognostication and chemotherapy target selection of patients with CRC.     

Pial Vessel-Associated Microglia/Macrophages Increase in Female Dahl-SS/Jr Rats Independent of Pregnancy History

As the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, microglia have a wide range of functions such as surveillance, phagocytosis, and signaling through production of chemokines and cytokines. Recent studies have identified and characterized macrophages residing at the meninges, a series of layers surrounding the brain and spinal cord. While perivascular microglia within the brain parenchyma increase following chronic hypertension, there are no reports of changes at the meninges, and specifically, associated with the pial vasculature. Thus, we used female Sprague Dawley and Dahl salt-sensitive (SS/Jr) rat brains, stained for ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule (Iba1), and characterized microglia/macrophages associated with pial vessels in the posterior brain. Results indicate that Iba1⁺ pial vessel-associated microglia (PVAM) completely surrounded the vessels in brains from the Dahl-SS/Jr rats. PVAM density was significantly higher and distance between PVAMs lower in Dahl-SS/Jr compared to the Sprague Dawley rat brains. Pregnancy history did not affect these findings. While the functional role of these cells are not known, we contextualize our novel findings with that of other studies assessing or characterizing myeloid cells at the borders of the CNS (meninges and choroid plexus) and perivascular macrophages and propose their possible origin in the Dahl-SS/Jr model of chronic hypertension.     

Poly(4-diphenylaminostyrene) with a well-defined polymer chain structure: Controllable optical and electrical properties

The effect of polymer chain structure on the optical and electrical properties are reported for poly(4-diphenylaminostyrene) (PDAS), which was prepared by the living anionic polymerization of 4-diphenylaminostyrene (DAS) with the benzyllithium (BzLi)/N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) system. The optical properties of PDAS are strongly affected by the stereoregularity of the PDAS polymer chain; intramolecular excimer-forming fluorescence was observed from PDAS with a syndiotactic-rich configuration. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of PDAS were approximately −5.4 and −2.0 eV, respectively, regardless of the polymer chain structure. The hole and electron drift mobilities for PDAS were in the order of 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻⁵ (cm²/V s) and 10⁻⁵ (cm²/V s), respectively, with negative slopes. The distance of each triphenylamino (TPA) group in the polymer chain was a major factor influencing the drift mobility of PDAS. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of PDAS were controllable according to the polymer chain structure of PDAS.     

Measurement of particle concentration in powder coating process using capacitance computed tomography and wavelet analysis

Capacitance computed tomography techniques were used to visualize particles movement in the draft tube of a spouted fluidized bed for the coating process of drug production. A total of 512 frames images of the particle concentration distribution were obtained at 10-millisecond intervals over a coating time of 5 min using a capacitance computed tomography system. The three-dimensional capacitance CT images (time and two-dimensional space images) were decomposed to wavelet time and space levels to extract the dominant particle distribution feature using three-dimensional discrete wavelet multiresolution at different coating times. As a result, the time and space dominant particle distribution with a specific frequency level can be visualized.     

Sintering of Ceria-Doped Tetragonal Zirconia Crystallized in Organic Solvents, Water, and Air

Amorphous CeO₂–ZrO₂ gels were prepared by coprecipitation in ammonia solutions. The onset of crystallization of the gels, from calcining in air, was 420°C, while 200° to 250°C in the presence of water and organic solvents such as methanol and ethanol. The sintering behaviors of CeO₂–ZrO₂ powders were sensitive to the crystallizing conditions, since hard agglomerates formed when the precipitated gels were crystallized by normal calcination in air, whereas soft agglomerates formed when they were crystallized in water or organic solvents. CeO₂–ZrO₂ powders crystallized in methanol and water at 250°C were sintered to full theoretical density at 1150° and 1400°C, respectively, whereas that crystallized by calcination in air at 450°C was sintered to only 95.2% of theoretical density, even at 1500°C.