Energy-saving electro dialyzer for sea water desalination

Tokuyama Soda Co. ltd. has developed an energy-saving skid mounted electrodialyzer for sea water desalination. This equipment is suitable for making fresh water for drinking and industrial use. To desalinate 25°C sea water and turn out one ton of product water. This equipment consumes only 8.5 KWH of electricity and 0.09 Kg of concentrated sulfuric acid. Low energy consumption is achieved by adoption of low electric resistance membranes, new spacer and new designed one pass type system. Low running cost, easy maintenance and low initial installment cost place the equipment good position in the desalination field. And also we applied high temperature electrodialysis up to 50°C of sea water and get figure 6.0 KWH for one ton of product water.     

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and congenital heart anomalies

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of octreotide on portal pressure and the relationship between the portal pressure and portal hemodynamics measured by color Doppler. METHODS: A high portal resistance model by injecting bletilla hyacinthina was established in 6 dogs. The portal pressure and portal hemodynamics studied by color Doppler were measured respectively by two investigators before and after injecting octreotide into the peripheral vein. RESULTS: Portal hypertension was caused by injecting bletilla hyacinthina into the portal vein. The portal pressure was reduced and portal venous velocity increased after injecting octreotide into the peripheral vein. There was a significant negative correlation between the portal pressure and portal venous velocity. CONCLUSION: Color Doppler is helpful in evaluating the effects of octreotide on the portal pressure.     

Evaluation of delay-time degradation of low-voltage BiCMOS based ona novel analytical delay-time modeling

The degradation of delay time of totem-pole BiCMOS, CBiCMOS, and BiNMOS circuits by supply voltage reduction is evaluated by a novel delay-time model. It has been found that base-collector capacitance plays a greater role in determining the delay time than other parasitic capacitances in BiCMOS circuits. It is concluded that when the input signal swings fully from zero to the supply voltage, the minimum supply voltage to guarantee high-speed operation over CMOS circuits is almost the same for the three kinds of BiCMOS circuits. When the input swing is reduced by the base-emitter voltage, however, BiNMOS and CBiCMOS circuits can operate on a lower supply voltage than totem-pole BiCMOS circuits     

Room-Temperature Oscillation of Resonant Tunneling Diodes close to 2 THz and Their Functions for Various Applications

Compact and coherent source is a key component for various applications of the terahertz (THz) wave. We report on our recent results of THz oscillators using resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). To achieve high-frequency oscillation, the electron delay time of RTD was reduced with a narrow quantum well and an optimized collector spacer thickness. Conduction loss at the air bridge connecting RTD and slot antenna, which works as a resonator and a radiator, was also reduced. By these structures, a fundamental oscillation up to 1.92 THz was obtained at room temperature. Theoretical calculation shows that an oscillation over 2 THz is further expected by improved structures of RTD and antenna. Using the offset slot antenna and two-element array configuration, high output power of 0.61 mW was obtained at 620 GHz. A direct intensity modulation of RTD oscillators up to 30 GHz, which is useful for high-speed wireless data transmission, was demonstrated. By the integration of a varactor diode, wide frequency sweep of 580–700 GHz in a single device and 580–900 GHz in a four-element array were also demonstrated. This result expands possible applications of RTD oscillators.     

Exploratory research on creep and fatigue properties of 9Cr-steels for the steam generator of an FBR

Research on the applicability of 9Cr-steels to the steam generator of the demonstration fast breeder reactor was performed by the Subcommittee of the Japan Welding Engineering Society as a four-year program from 1985. In this program, exploratory tests, which included tensile, creep rupture and low-cycle fatigue tests, were conducted on three kinds of 9Cr-steels (Mod.9Cr-1Mo, 9Cr-1Mo-V-Nb, and 9Cr-2Mo) and their weldments. This paper describes the summary of results obtained in this program. Among the tested 9Cr-steels, Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel shows the best creep rupture strength and its weldment indicates almost the same level of creep rupture strength and the base metal at 500 and 550°C. The low-cycle fatigue properties of Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel is also discussed from its relation to the tensile properties.     

Development of a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics code for electromagnetic pumps

Annular linear induction pumps (ALIPs) are one of the electromagnetic (EM) pumps, which drive liquid metal using EM force, for fast reactors and have been developed in many countries. An ALIP mainly consists of multiple coils, iron cores and an annular flow channel. We have calculated the developed pressure of ALIPs using a two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code. There are some reports in which pressure drop and fluctuation were observed in EM pump operations near the top of the pressure and flow rate relation (P–Q) curve. For fear of this phenomenon, the EM pump design is sometimes too conservative. To simulate the pressure drop and fluctuation occurrence conditions, we have developed a new three-dimensional (3D) MHD code. Clarification of this condition and its phenomena in the sodium flow will enable design of a new structure or determination of operation conditions that preclude this pressure drop and fluctuation and, thereby, achieve high efficiency. In this paper, the model of our new 3D MHD code, the accuracy of the code, simulation results focusing on pressure drop and fluctuation by radial and circumferential vortices are reported.     

Gut Barrier Damage and Gut Translocation of Pathogen Molecules in Lupus,an Impact of Innate Immunity (Macrophages and Neutrophils) in Autoimmune Disease

The gut barrier is a single cell layer that separates gut micro-organisms from the host, and gut permeability defects result in the translocation of microbial molecules from the gut into the blood. Despite the silent clinical manifestation, gut translocation of microbial molecules can induce systemic inflammation that might be an endogenous exacerbating factor of systemic lupus erythematosus. In contrast, circulatory immune-complex deposition and the effect of medications on the gut, an organ with an extremely large surface area, of patients with active lupus might cause gut translocation of microbial molecules, which worsens lupus severity. Likewise, the imbalance of gut microbiota may initiate lupus and/or interfere with gut integrity which results in microbial translocation and lupus exacerbation. Moreover, immune hyper-responsiveness of innate immune cells (macrophages and neutrophils) is demonstrated in a lupus model from the loss of inhibitory Fc gamma receptor IIb (FcgRIIb), which induces prominent responses through the cross-link between activating-FcgRs and innate immune receptors. The immune hyper-responsiveness can cause cell death, especially apoptosis and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETosis), which possibly exacerbates lupus, partly through the enhanced exposure of the self-antigens. Leaky gut monitoring and treatments (such as probiotics) might be beneficial in lupus. Here, we discuss the current information on leaky gut in lupus.     

Space–time fluid mechanics computation of heart valve models

Fluid mechanics computation of heart valves with an interface-tracking (moving-mesh) method was one of the classes of computations targeted in introducing the space–time (ST) interface tracking method with topology change (ST-TC). The ST-TC method is a new version of the Deforming-Spatial-Domain/Stabilized ST (DSD/SST) method. It can deal with an actual contact between solid surfaces in flow problems with moving interfaces, while still possessing the desirable features of interface-tracking methods, such as better resolution of the boundary layers. The DSD/SST method with effective mesh update can already handle moving-interface problems when the solid surfaces are in near contact or create near TC, if the “nearness” is sufficiently “near” for the purpose of solving the problem. That, however, is not the case in fluid mechanics of heart valves, as the solid surfaces need to be brought into an actual contact when the flow has to be completely blocked. Here we extend the ST-TC method to 3D fluid mechanics computation of heart valve models. We present computations for two models: an aortic valve with coronary arteries and a mechanical aortic valve. These computations demonstrate that the ST-TC method can bring interface-tracking accuracy to fluid mechanics of heart valves, and can do that with computational practicality.     

Transistor action of metal (CoSi/sub 2/)/insulator (CaF/sub 2/) hot electron transistor structure

The first transistor action of tunnelling hot electron transistors with single-crystalline metal (CoSi/sub 2/)/insulator (CaF/sub 2/) has been achieved. This device consists of CoSi/sub 2//CaF/sub 2/ heterojunctions grown on n-Si     

Determining surface orientation by projecting a stripe pattern

A method is presented for determining the surface orientations of an object by projecting a stripe pattern on to it. Assuming orthographical projection as a camera model and parallel light projection of the stripe pattern, the method obtains a 2 1/2-D representation of objects by estimating surface normals from the slopes and intervals of the stripes in the image. The 2 1/2-D image is further divided into planar or singly curved surfaces by examining the distribution of the surface normals in gradient space. A simple application to finding a planar surface and determining its orientation and shape is shown. The error in surface orientation is discussed