Managing transboundary rivers: The case of the Mekong river basin

Abstract

During the last decade, leaders of the Mekong Countries have found it mutually advantageous to open up the Mekong Sub‐Region (MR) for development and trade, which promises some degree of political stability and regional security. Within the present political, cultural, and economic dynamics, the Mekong River Basin (MRB) ‐ one of the major international river basins in MR ‐ is a powerful catalyst for regional cooperation that facilitates sustainable development and regional stability; if, that is, the effective management intervention is in place to make sure that the benefits and costs of river basin development are spread equitably and peacefully. Nonetheless, there are numerous stumbling blocks in achieving integrated and balanced MRB management, such as limited success in real basin wide planning, implementation and monitoring and a poor knowledge base for supporting informed decision making and, finally, political impediments.

A workable and truly regional cooperative mechanism for integrated management of the MRB is yet to be developed, regardless of the existence of numerous regional institutions and organizations. The present paper proposes new schemes with (re)designing principles and performance determinants for a regional cooperative mechanism.     

Dissipativity reinforcement in feedback systems and its application to expanding power systems

This paper focuses on the performance analysis and improvement of interconnected passive systems. We assume that each subsystem has a special passivity property that is characterized by 2 parameters. The parameters are also utilized for evaluating the dissipation performance as the L₂‐gain. Then, the feedback system composed of passive subsystems inherits the parameter‐dependent passivity, and the parameter transition is given. In addition, it is shown that the dissipation performance of the feedback system is strictly improved as compared with that of the subsystems, which is called dissipativity reinforcement in this paper. Furthermore, we expand the feedback system to a larger‐scale system via the iterative feedback connection of the passive subsystems. Then, the performance of the entire system is gradually reinforced with the increase in the number of subsystems. Subsequently, we extend the class of parameter‐dependent passivity to a frequency‐dependent one. Finally, dissipativity reinforcement via an iterative feedback connection is applied to a power system that involves a large number of renewable energy generators. In particular, we propose a strategy for designing the power system, such that the dissipation performance of the entire system is gradually reinforced via scale expansion, ie, with the increase in the amount of energy generators installed.     

Bending fatigue strength of case-carburized helical gears (In the case of large helix angles)

Case-carburizing enlarges the depth of the hardened layer at the tooth width end on the acute angle side of helical gears. For the helical gears with large helix angles (Exceeding 25°), this hardened layer may lower their bending fatigue strength. Therefore, we investigated the influence of this hardened layer on their bending fatigue strength through the bending fatigue tests. Our results suggest that this hardened layer might reduce the case-carburizing’s effect to enhance their bending fatigue strength. Thus, using only the maximum tooth root stress would be inadequate for evaluating their bending fatigue strength, and it would be necessary to consider the relationship between the hardened layer and the tooth root stress distribution (Especially, the stress applied at the tooth width end on the acute angle side) from the beginning of meshing to the end.     

Fabrication and Application of an Oxide Thermoelectric System

A plate-shaped thermoelectric module was prepared using 140 pairs of p -type Ca₃Co₄O₉ (Co-349) and n -type LaNiO₃ (Ni-113) bulks. The hot-pressed thermoelectric oxide bulks were connected with an Ag paste, incorporating oxide powder, and Ag sheets. The module's open-circuit voltage increases with increasing hot-side temperature ( T _H) and reaches 4.5 V at a T _H of 1072 K in air. No deterioration in output power was seen when power generation was carried out 10 times at a T _H of 723 K with intermediate cooling to room temperature. The module was successfully used to charge a lithium-ion battery in a mobile phone. Thermoelectric modules composed of p -type Co-349 and n -type CaMnO₃ (Mn-113) bulks, which have a pipe shape, were constructed using Ag electrodes and stainless-steel tubes. The devices were connected with the stainless-steel tube coated with ZrO₂ by thermal spray using a dielectric paste composed of silica glass and iron oxide. Power generation was carried out in flame by combustion of natural gas. Water flowed inside the stainless-steel tube for cooling. One module consisting of 54 pairs of legs can generate 1.5 V, 0.28 W, and steam simultaneously by installing in an instantaneous water heater. Power generation was carried out four times with intermediate cooling. Deterioration in the open-circuit voltage of the module was not observed after the fourth combustion.     

Processing of Novel Strontium Titanate-Based Thin-Film Varistors by Chemical Solution Deposition

Strontium titanate (SrTiO₃)-based multilayered film with varistor characteristics has successfully been fabricated by a chemical solution deposition (CSD) method. Homogeneous precursor solutions of SrTiO₃ and Nb:SrTiO₃ with long-term stability could be prepared by optimizing the reaction conditions among strontium ethoxide, titanium isopropoxide, and niobium ethoxide. Films were prepared using the precursor solutions on fused silica substrates at 700°C. Triple layered films with SrTiO₃/Nb:SrTiO₃/SrTiO₃ structure were also successfully crystallized on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates at 700°C. The current–voltage ( I - V ) curve of the multilayered film was characteristic to varistors and the nonlinear coefficient α of the synthesized film was ∼3.0. The varistor voltages ( E _0.01) of 0.6-μm-thick film were 140 kV/cm for the forward direction and −120 kV/cm for the reverse direction, respectively, at room temperature.     

Model study on the formation of fuel NOx from cokes on combustion: Effect of metal oxides

To elucidate the process of ‘fuel NO_x’ formation from cokes and chars on combustion, carbons obtained from urea-resin and melamine-resin were subjected to combustion under a stream of pure oxygen at temperatures between 600 °C and 1000 °C. The carbons subjected to combustion without any additives produced a relatively small amount of NO_x, but, it was observed that the NO_x formation predominated at lower temperatures of combustion. When the combustion was carried out with the addition of metal oxides, such as iron oxides and cupric oxide, the amount of NO_x formed increased markedly but silicon dioxide had no such effect.     

Application of accelerators for the research and development of scintillators

We introduce experimental systems which use accelerators to evaluate scintillation properties such as scintillation intensity, wavelength, and lifetime. A single crystal of good optical quality is often unavailable during early stages in the research and development (R&D) of new scintillator materials. Because of their beams' high excitation power and/or low penetration depth, accelerators facilitate estimation of the properties of early samples which may only be available as powders, thin films, and very small crystals. We constructed a scintillation spectrum measurement system that uses a Van de Graaff accelerator and an optical multichannel analyzer to estimate the relative scintillation intensity. In addition, we constructed a scintillation time profile measurement system that uses an electron linear accelerator and a femtosecond streak camera or a microchannel plate photomultiplier tube followed by a digital oscilloscope to determine the scintillation lifetimes. The time resolution is approximately 10 ps. The scintillation spectra or time profiles can be obtained in a significantly shorter acquisition time in comparison with that required by conventional measuring systems. The advantages of the systems described in this study can significantly promote the R&D of novel scintillator materials.     

Fracture Toughness Analysis of Advanced Ceramic Composite for Hip Prosthesis

The fracture behavior of a zirconia-toughened alumina-matrix composite (added with small amounts of mixed oxides) for ceramic hip joint prostheses has been evaluated with emphasis placed on the effect of environmental surface degradation in moist environment. Accelerated aging tests were performed up to 300 h in an autoclave operating at 121°C (under 0.1 MPa pressure) in vapor environment, which represents a quite severe environmental testing condition. Besides conventional fracture mechanics characterizations, including different types of fracture toughness test, microscopic insight into the effect of environmental surface degradation on toughness could be obtained according to Raman and fluorescence microprobe spectroscopy. The main outcomes of this study were as follows: (i) after 10-h autoclaving (according to ISO standard recommendation) no significant change of monoclinic volume fraction and fracture toughness could be detected; (ii) after very long exposure time (300 h) the monoclinic phase content increased and the surface fracture toughness decreased by approximately 30%, although it was still above the toughness level of pure alumina; and (iii) the bulk toughness was unaffected by autoclave exposure, independent of exposure time elongation.     

Effect of trehalose accumulation on response to saline stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

To examine the effect of trehalose accumulation on response to saline stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we constructed deletion strains of all combinations of the trehalase genes ATH1, NTH1 and NTH2 and examined their growth behaviour and intracellular trehalose accumulation under non‐stress and saline‐stress conditions. Saline stress was induced in yeast cells by NaCl addition at the exponential growth phase. All deletion strains showed similar specific growth rates and trehalose accumulation to their parent strain under non‐stress conditions. However, under the saline stress condition, one single deletion strain, nth1Δ, two double deletion strains, nth1Δ ath1Δ and nth1Δ nth2Δ, and the triple deletion strain nth1Δnth2Δ ath1Δ, all of which carry the nth1Δ deletion, showed increased trehalose accumulation as compared to the parent and other deletion strains. In particular, our statistical analysis revealed that the triple deletion strain showed a higher growth rate under the saline stress condition than the parent strain. Moreover, some deletion strains showed further trehalose accumulation under non‐stress conditions by overexpression of the TPS1 or TPS2 genes encoding the enzymes related to trehalose biosynthesis at the mid‐exponential phase. Such increased trehalose accumulation prior to NaCl addition could improve the growth of these strains under saline stress. Our results indicate that high trehalose accumulation prior to NaCl addition, rather than after NaCl addition, is necessary to achieve high growth activity under stress conditions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.