Isolation of dimethyl sulfone-degrading microorganisms and application to odorless degradation of dimethyl sulfoxide

With the objective of developing an odorless biodegradation process for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), Hyphomicrobium sp. WU-OM3 was isolated. During the cultivation of strain WU-OM3 cells with 20 mM dimethyl sulfone (DMSO2) as the sole carbon source, DMSO2 was completely consumed within 48 h and sulfate ion accumulated in the culture broth. Methanesulfonate was also detected as an intermediate of DMSO2 degradation. By combining the DMSO-oxidizing microorganism and strain WU-OM3 cells, 0.64 mM (50 mg/l) DMSO was degraded to sulfate ion with 80% molar conversion ratio.     

Excitation of surface-plasmon polaritons by use of a zeroth-order Bessel beam

We report an experimental result that shows the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons by use of a zeroth-order Bessel beam. From the viewpoint of energy efficiency, the zeroth order Bessel beam is ideal for the local excitation of surface plasmon polaritons on a metal film. We introduce an optical setup using an axicon element in order to carry out the excitation.     

Stress-induced martensite formation in Cu−Al−Ni alloys

A study has been made of superelasticity and the strain-memory effect in Cu?Al?Ni alloys in the composition range 14 wt pct Al and 2 to 3 wt pct Ni. These alloys have a bcc structure on quenching and show a low temperature martensitic transformation which is responsible for both the superelastic and strain-memory effects. Tests on both single and polycrystalline specimens showed that the maximum superelasticity occurred close toA _s. At higher temperatures the effect gradually decreased, whilst at lower temperatures it decreased very quickly. The magnitude of the effect was large in single crystal specimens (>5.8 pct), but small in polycrystal specimens (<1.5 pct). The superelastic effect was caused by stress-induced martensite (SIM). Two types of SIM were observed; thin plates of thermoelastic martensite which were always reversible, and wide plates of burst-type martensite. This burst-type martensite was responsible for the major portion of SIM, and whether it was reversible or not on removal of the stress controlled the amount of superelasticity observed. The strain-memory effect occurred on deformation either in the martensitic state (temperature <M _f) or in the temperature range where the martensite once formed was stable (temperature close toM _s). Deformation caused reorientation of the martensite plates and when the specimen was heated, the martensite disappeared and the specimen reverted back to its original shape. This effect was explained on the basis of development of martensite plates of favorable orientation on stressing.     

Evaluation of internal and external doses from 11C produced in the air in high energy proton accelerator tunnels

Air has been irradiated with high energy protons at the 12 GeV proton synchrotron to obtain the following parameters essential for the internal dose evaluation from airborne 11C produced through nuclear spallation reactions: the abundance of gaseous and particulate 11C, chemical forms, and particle size distribution. It was found that more than 98% of 11C is present as gas and the rest is aerosol. The gaseous components were only 11CO and 11CO2, and their proportions were approximately 80% and 20%, respectively. The particulate 11C was found to be sulphate and/or nitrate aerosols having a log-normal size distribution; the measurement using a diffusion battery showed a geometric mean radius of 0.035 micron and a geometric standard deviation of 1.8 at a beam intensity of 6.8 x 10(11) proton.pulse-1 and an irradiation time of 9.6 min. By taking the chemical composition and particle size into account, effective doses both from internal and from external exposures per unit concentration of 11C were calculated for various room sizes. The values can be used to evaluate the effective dose from the airborne 11C produced in the accelerator tunnels.     

Building more solid bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology.

Introducing the ways of cultivating mental balance, B. A. Wallace and S. L. Shapiro (see record 2006-12925-003) attempted to build bridges between Buddhism and psychology. Their systematic categorization of Buddhist teachings and extensive review of empirical support from Western psychology are valuable for future study. However, it remains a matter of concern that some more profound parts of Buddhist philosophy can be disregarded by focusing only on practical aspects of Buddhism within the context of mental health. In this comment, the authors briefly address four substantial themes to be considered: reality, identity, causality, and logicality. They suggest that the way to interpret Buddhism as techniques for well-being would certainly be viable in encouraging the study of Buddhist teachings in psychology. Yet, such attempts should not result in superficial imports and applications of Buddhist practices but give due weight to the deeper philosophical issues to build more solid bridges between Buddhism and psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Residential mobility, self-concept, and positive affect in social interactions.

The present research examined (a) the link between personal history of residential mobility and the self-concept and (b) the implications of such a link for positive affect in social interactions. Study 1 showed that the personal self was more central to the self-definition of frequent movers than to that of nonmovers, whereas the collective self was more central to the self-definition of nonmovers than to that of frequent movers. Results from a laboratory and a 2-week event sampling study (Studies 2 and 3) demonstrated that frequent movers felt happier when an interaction partner accurately perceived their personal selves, whereas nonmovers felt happier when a partner accurately perceived their collective selves. These findings present the first direct evidence on how personal history of residential mobility is linked to important individual differences in the self and positive affect in social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new Landsat 8 cloud discrimination algorithm using thresholding tests

ABSTRACT

In this work, we propose a Cloud Discrimination Algorithm for Landsat 8 (CDAL8) to improve a high-frequency automatic land change detection system developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan for large-scale satellite image analysis. Although the land change detection system can process several kinds of satellite remote sensing data, improvements are needed to enable practical applications using Landsat 8 data. Cloud discrimination is a necessary pre-processing step for land cover change detection. Currently, most of the prediction errors on land change detection are caused by the false cloud discrimination results as a pre-processing step. Therefore, we introduce an improved cloud discrimination algorithm (CDAL8) in this study to improve the overall performance of our land change detection system. The algorithm was developed based on a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud mask algorithm and Cloud and Aerosol Unbiased Decision Intellectual Algorithm (CLAUDIA). CDAL8 is distinct in that it switches judgment tests and their thresholds using a threshold brightness temperature and uses separate features in cloud judgment and clear-sky judgment. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed algorithm, we compared it with the Automated Cloud-Cover Assessment algorithm (ACCA) and Function of Mask (Fmask) version 3.3 using US Geological Survey Landsat 8 cloud cover assessment validation data, which contain 96 cloud masks. Our proposed cloud discrimination algorithm (CDAL8) have promising results with an accuracy of 88.1%, which was greater than that of the ACCA (82.5%) and Fmask (84.6%). Furthermore, we also confirmed that the average accuracy of CDAL8 was approximately 91.2% when low solar elevation scenes were removed.     

Gas entrainment inception at the border of a flow-swollen liquid surface

A rapid liquid flow into a tank may impinge on the free surface, making it swell partially. The returning flow branches off from the free surface and re-submerges at the border of the swollen surface. If the flow velocity along the swollen surface is high enough, gas bubbles are formed at the border and entrained by the liquid flow. The conditions necessary for gas entrainment in a simple system are examined experimentally, using water and air as working fluids. The effect of surface tension is examined by adding a surface active agent to the water. The results show that gas entrainment inception is determined by the flow pattern in the system and the product of the Froude and Weber numbers based on the local velocity at the bubble formation point.     

Growth of emerald crystals from PbO · V2O5 flux

The flux growth of emerald crystals by slow cooling in the PbO · V₂O₅ flux is reported. The crystals exhibited the typical emerald-green colour, were up to 1.8 mm in size and transparent. Their form was a regular hexagonal rod bounded by the well-developed {0001} and {10ˉ10} faces. The solubility of emerald in PbO · V₂O₅ was also investigated; about 9.0 g emerald was dissolved in 100 g PbO · V₂O₅ at 1200 °C. The solubility decreased gradually with decreasing temperature. Taking the solubility data into account, the presence of undissolved particles in the solution was found to be a necessary condition for the growth of large emerald crystals. Unsaturated solution at a soak temperature produced good and relatively small emerald crystals in a subsequent cooling experiment. Advantages of the PbO · V₂O₅ flux are also mentioned. Emerald crystals showing various kinds of imperfections, and even good crystals, were also present.