Selection of injection conditions for aluminum particles as a raw material by numerical analysis in the synthesis of ultrafine particles with transferred type arc plasma

We investigated by numerical analysis the dependence of vaporization behavior of aluminum particles injected into transferred type arc plasma on injection conditions in synthesis of aluminum nitride ultra fine particles. On the basis of calculation results, we chose one proper injection condition where aluminum particles vaporized more. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 170(2): 46–52, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20852     

Flexible and Conductive 3D Printable Polyvinylidene Fluoride and Poly(N,N‐dimethylacrylamide) Based Gel Polymer Electrolytes

In this work, 3D printable gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) based on N,N‐dimethylacrylamide (DMAAm) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) in lithium chloride containing ethylene glycol solution are synthesized and their physicochemical properties are investigated. 3D printing is carried out with a customized stereolithography type 3D gel printer named “Soft and Wet Intelligent Matter‐Easy Realizer” and free forming GPE samples having variable shapes and sizes are obtained. Printed PVDF/PDMAAm‐based GPEs exhibit tunable mechanical properties and favorable thermal stability. Electrochemical proprieties of the printed GPEs are carried out via impedance spectroscopy in the temperature range of 25–90 °C by varying PVDF content. Ionic conductivity as high as 6.5 × 10^?4 S cm^?1 is achieved at room temperature for GPE containing low PVDF content (5 wt%) and conductivity of the GPEs is increased as temperature rises.     

Self‐Expansion Behavior of Silk Fibroin Film

Summary: Silk fibroin cast film was prepared using a ternary solvent system of CaCl₂/CH₃CH₂OH/H₂O (1/2/8 in mole ratio). A drying temperature at casting influenced crystal structure of fibroin. When a drying temperature was set lower than 9 °C, the cast film became amorphous. When a drying temperature was set higher than 40 °C, a fibroin film of silk‐II structure was obtained. In order to produce a fibroin film of silk‐I structure, a preferable temperature range was from 20 to 26 °C. The crystal transformation from random coil structure into silk‐I could be made through exposure of an amorphous film to water vapor. As for the crystal transformation from silk‐I into silk‐II, the treatment with a glycerin solution was effective. In the course of the treatment a film showed self‐thinning and self‐expanding. The expansion ratio exceeded 40% at maximum. The film produced accompanying self‐expansion was ductile in nature.

The apparent self‐expansion percentage as a function of initial thickness of the film. The ductility of the film was classified into four stages from the observation of recovery behavior after folding: ?, very soft; ?, soft; ?, middle; ?, hard (see Figure 5 ).     

Supplementation of the diet of dairy cows with trehalose results in milk with low lipid peroxide and high antioxidant content

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with the disaccharides trehalose and cellobiose on antioxidant activity in rumen fluid, blood, and milk of dairy cows. Nine Holstein dairy cows housed in a free-stall barn were divided into 3 groups, with each group receiving a different dietary treatment (a control diet, a 1% trehalose-supplemented diet, or a 1% cellobiose-supplemented diet) following a 3 × 3 Latin square design. Feed intake and milk production increased in cows receiving the trehalose-supplemented diet compared with those receiving the control and cellobiose-supplemented diets. The total protozoa numbers in the rumen fluid of cows fed trehalose- or cellobiose-supplemented diets were greater than those of the control group. The C18:0 and C18:1 fatty acid content was increased in the milk of cows fed the trehalose-supplemented diet compared with that of the control group, and the C18:3n-3 fatty acid content in the milk of cows fed the cellobiose-supplemented diet was less than that of the control group. Plasma biochemical parameters were unchanged among the different treatments. In rumen fluid, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity and superoxide dismutase activity were increased 2 h after feeding in cows receiving the cellobiose-supplemented diet compared with the control group, and the concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in the rumen fluid of cows fed the cellobiose-supplemented diet was decreased. In contrast, the values of these parameters measured in the milk of cows fed the cellobiose-supplemented diet were no different from those of control cows. Dietary supplementation with trehalose did, however, bring about an improvement of the oxidative status of milk and blood in these animals compared with controls. These results provide the first evidence supporting the use of dietary disaccharides to decrease lipid peroxide levels and increase the antioxidant content of dairy cow milk. The findings suggest that disaccharides, particularly trehalose, might be useful as supplements for reducing oxidative stress and improving the quality of milk for human consumption, as well as possibly impairing the processes that give rise to lipid oxidation odor in dairy cow milk.     

Highwall Stability due to Punch Mining at Opencut Coal Mines

Conventional highwall mining extracts coal with an auger machine or a continuous miner from exposed seams at the base of opencut or strip operations. However, under poor strata and high stress conditions, highwall mining cannot be conducted due to pillar and roof failures. In such cases, punch highwall mining is more effective than the conventional highwall mining. This paper describes conventional highwall mining and punch highwall mining systems and discusses the stability of the highwall due to punch highwall mining at opencut coal mines.     

Treatment capability of an up-flow anammox column reactor using polyethylene sponge strips as biomass carrier

The feasibility of applying a polyethylene (PE) sponge as a biomass carrier in an anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reactor and its nitrogen removal performance were also investigated. Experiments were carried out in an up-flow column reactor with synthetic inorganic wastewater. Experimental results indicate that reactor containing PE sponge biomass carriers showed a high nitrogen removal capability and exhibited stable performance. In addition, the reactor with 8 strips PE sponge as biomass carrier exhibited greater adaptation capacity compared to that with 6 strips and could achieve a high TN removal rate within a very short period. The ratio of NO₂-N removal and NO₃-N production to NH₄-N removal for the reactor was 1.26:0.21. Furthermore, to investigate the bacterial composition of the mature community, 16S rRNA sequences were amplified by PCR and analyses were conducted using DNA databases. Results showed that a new kind of anammox microorganism (Kumadai-1) was the dominant species in the reactor when using PE sponge as a biomass carrier.     

Evaluation of selective plating media for the detection of heat- or freeze-injured Staphylococcus aureus

The efficacy of Baird-Parker (BP) agar, mannitol-salt-egg yolk (MSEY) agar and mannitol salt (MS) agar in detecting Staphylococcus aureus FRI-100 heated at 52 degrees C for 20 min in 100 mmol/L potassium phosphate buffer was determined. Brain heart infusion agar with 1% pyruvate (BHIP agar) supported the highest recovery of injured cells and was used as the control medium. Of the three selective media, significantly higher recovery of heat-injured cells was observed on BP agar than MSEY agar, and the poorest recovery was observed on MS agar (p < 0.05). Low recovery of unheated cells was obtained for MS compared with other media (p < 0.05). A reduction in populations occurred gradually in reagent-grade water stored for 14 days at -20 degrees C. There was no significant difference between BHIP agar and MS agar in the number of freeze-injured cells recovered from 1 to 14 days.     

Two-color photorefractive effect in Mg-doped lithium niobate

The two-color photorefractive response of near stoichiometric lithium niobate (SLN) doped with Mg above a critical threshold has been investigated. Striking differences as compared with non Mg-doped material were observed: The intermediate level in the two-color writing process has approximately a two orders of magnitude longer lifetime in SLN:Mg than in nominally undoped SLN, the grating is written in a shallower level but can be fixed via a simple thermal process and complementary electron-hole gratings are formed. It is proposed that the Fe impurity level moves from below the small-polaron level in nonMgO-doped material to above it, resulting in the increased lifetime of the small polaron. These changes are associated with a shift of the Fe from a Li site to a Nb site. The two-color sensitivity is higher than in the absence of MgO but the dynamic range is much lower.     

Characterization of the microbial community in an anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing biofilm cultured on a nonwoven biomass carrier

The enrichment and characterization of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing biofilm cultures are ongoing in our laboratories. Biomass, with a predominately red color, demonstrating simultaneous removal of ammonium and nitrite under autotrophic and anoxic conditions, which is characteristic of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing planctomycetes, was enriched and maintained for an extended period on a polyester nonwoven carrier. To investigate the bacterial composition of the mature biofilm community, 16S rDNA sequences were amplified by PCR and comparative analyses using DNA databases were conducted. Only one sequence had a notable similarity (92.2%) to that of the first discovered anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing planctomycete and lesser, yet significant, similarities to the 16S rDNA sequences of other recently reported anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing strains. The newly discovered strain (designated KSU-1) reported here was dominant among detectable members of the biofilm community. By fluorescence imaging, KSU-1 was shown to form spherical clusters wrapped in a thin layer of Zoogloea sp. Possible interactions and interdependencies of these two species are discussed with regard to the putative unculturability of the anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing planctomycetes.