Effective lightning protection schemes for distribution line

The causes of lightning outage are subdivided into direct lightning strokes and induced lightning strokes, which are identified by the characteristics of the lightning overvoltage. In the past, lightning protection devices were directed mainly toward the latter, and attention has been focused on the installation of lightning protection devices, ground wires, and reinforcement of insulators. However, lightning outages continue to occur. Thus it is extremely important to clarify the fault characteristics of lightning surges and to study the effectiveness of various lightning protection devices by considering both direct lightning stroke and induced lightning stroke in order to prevent lightning outage in the future. In this research, the electromagnetic transients program (EMTP) has been applied to the direct lightning stroke, and the induced lightning outage analysis program for multiple conductor systems has been applied to the induced lightning stroke to study the effectiveness of lightning protection devices provided by combination of various lightning protection devices. The most effective lightning protection schemes are analyzed and evaluated based on verification tests on the full scale models as well as economic considerations.     

Degradation of organophosphorus pesticides in aqueous extracts of young green barley leaves (Hordeum vulgare L)

The degradation of the organophosphorus pesticides malathion, chlorpyrifos, guthion, diazinon, methidathion and parathion in an aqueous extract of young green barley leaves (Hordeum vulgare L) was monitored by gas chromatography. Aqueous solutions of various amounts of freeze‐dried young barley leaves containing 5.75 mg l⁻¹ of malathion were incubated at 37 °C and pH 7.4 over prolonged time periods. Over 95% of the malathion degraded in 4 h in a 3% (30 g l⁻¹) solution of young green barley leaves. When the barley solution was autoclaved at 120 °C for 25 min prior to the addition of malathion, no degradation of malathion was observed. When 10 mg l⁻¹ each of the above six pesticides was incubated in a 15% (150 g l⁻¹) solution of young green barley leaves for 3 h at 37 °C and pH 7.4, malathion and chlorpyrifos degraded 100%, whereas parathion (75%), diazinon (54%), guthion (41%) and methidathion (23%) showed lesser degrees of degradation. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry     

Selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides with hydrocarbons over Zn–Al–Ga complex oxides

Selective reduction of NO with hydrocarbons was studied using metal oxide catalysts having a spinel structure. A Zn–Al–Ga complex oxide was found to be very active and selective for the catalytic reduction of NO with both C₃H₆ and CH₄. It was revealed that the role of oxygen at the initial stage of the reaction strongly depends on the reductants; oxygen is mainly used for NO oxidation to NO₂ in the reduction with CH₄, whereas it is used both for NO oxidation to NO₂ and oxidation of C₃H₆ to an active intermediate in the reduction with C₃H₆. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

ASYMPTOTIC EFFICIENCY OF THE SAMPLE COVARIANCES IN A GAUSSIAN STATIONARY PROCESS

Abstract. This paper deals with the asymptotic efficiency of the sample autocovariances of a Gaussian stationary process. The asymptotic variance of the sample autocovariances and the Cramer–Rao bound are expressed as the integrals of the spectral density and its derivative. We say that the sample autocovariances are asymptotically efficient if the asymptotic variance and the Cramer–Rao bound are identical. In terms of the spectral density we give a necessary and sufficient condition that they are asymptotically efficient. This condition is easy to check for various spectra.     

Synthesis and surface properties of N-long chain alkyl dihydroxy monoazacrown ethers

A series of N-alkyl dihydroxy monoazacrown ethers (1) was synthesized, and their surface properties were investigated compared to those of N-alkyl monoazacrown ethers (2) and open chain oxyethylenated long chain alkylamines (3). The complexation ability of1 toward alkali metal cations, a distinguished characteristic of crown compounds, was deduced to work even in the aqeuous solution from the values of T_CP, although it is weaker than typical monoazacrown ethers (2). The presence of two hydroxyl groups contributes to the large increase in hydrophilicity of monoazacrown ring and to the large surface excess of the surfactant molecule (1). A small occupation area to the solution surface is noted as a characteristic feature of the title coumpound (1).     

THIRD-ORDER ASYMPTOTIC PROPERTIES OF ESTIMATORS IN GAUSSIAN ARMA PROCESSES WITH UNKNOWN MEAN

Abstract. This paper deals with the third-order asymptotic theory for Gaussian autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) processes with unknown mean μ. We are interested in the estimation of ρ = ( α₁…, α_p, β₁…, β_q ), where α ₁…, α_ρ and β ₁…, β_q are the coefficients of the autoregressive part and the moving-average part, respectively. First, we investigate the third-order asymptotic optimality of the bias adjusted maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of ρ in the presence of the nuisance parameters μ and ² (innovation variance). Next, for a Gaussian AR(1μ μ, ²), we propose a mean corrected estimator α_c1c2 of the autoregressive coefficient. We make a comparison between the bias adjusted estimator α_c1c2* and the bias adjusted MLE, in terms of their probabilities of concentration around the true value, or equivalently, in terms of their mean squared errors. Finally some numerical studies are provided in order to verify the third-order asymptotic theory.     

Simulation of mechanical properties of epoxy-based chemically amplified resist by coarse-grained molecular dynamics

The mechanical properties of an epoxy-based chemically amplified resists with various cross-linking ratios were simulated using a newly developed coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation that employs a bead–spring model. Models with the different cross-linking ratios were created in the molecular dynamics calculation step and uniaxial elongation simulations were performed. The results reveal that the simulated elastic modulus of the resist modeled by the Kremer–Grest model with an extended angle bending potential depends on the cross-linking ratio, its dependency exhibits good agreement with that determined by nanoindentation tests.     

Suppressive effects of bifidobacteria on lipid peroxidation in the colonic mucosa of iron-overloaded mice

The antioxidative effects of live bifidobacteria on lipid peroxidation in the colonic mucosa were investigated. Bifidobacterium bifidum strain Yakult, which has been used for production of fermented milk, most effectively inhibited lipid peroxidation catalyzed by ferrous iron in liposomes among 10 species of bifidobacteria from human intestinal flora. Oral administration of B. bifidum strain Yakult for 2 wk significantly decreased the level of lipid peroxide (thiobarbituric acid reactive substance) in the colonic mucosa of iron-overload mice (Fe 0.07% in diet). The iron concentrations in plasma and cecum contents were not affected by administration of B. bifidum strain Yakult. Bifidobacterium bifidum strain Yakult had no chelating or incorporating activity for ferrous iron in vitro. Therefore, the antioxidative effect of B. bifidum strain Yakult in the colonic mucosa was not thought to be based on the removal of ferrous iron from the reaction system of lipid peroxidation. These results suggested that B. bifidum strain Yakult protected the colonic mucosa from oxidative injury without inhibiting iron absorption.     

All solid-state battery with sulfur electrode and thio-LISICON electrolyte

A high-capacity type of all solid-state battery was developed using sulfur electrode and the thio-LISICON electrolyte. New nano-composite of sulfur and acetylene black (AB) with an average particle size of 1–10 nm was fabricated by gas-phase mixing and showed a reversible capacity of 900 mAh g⁻¹ at a current density of 0.013 mA cm⁻².     

Molecular properties of the two-component cell lysis system encoded by prophage phigaY of Lactobacillus gasseri JCM 1131T: cloning, sequencing, and expression in Escherichia coli

Shotgun cloning of the Lactobacillus gasseri JCM 1131T whole DNA yielded two recombinant plasmids, p118gaY1 and p118gaY2, which directed cell lysis activity. Sequencing analysis revealed that the two plasmids carried almost identical inserted genes in following orders (truncated genes, in parentheses): in p118gaY1, (orf149)-orf92-holgaY-lysgaY-orf35-attL-(mnaAgaY1); in p118gaY2, (orfXgaY1)-orf169-orf149-orf92-holgaY-lysgaY-orf35-attP-(intgaY). The lysgaY-encoded protein (designated as LysgaY, 33.7 kDa) showed significant homology with putative muramidases (peptidoglycan-degrading enzyme) of the Lactobacillus phage phiadh, Lj965, Lj928, LL-H, mv4, and mv1. By zymogram analysis, LysgaY overproduced in Escherichia coli exhibited lytic activity towards 17 Gram-positive bacterial strains, including lactobacilli, lactococci, and staphylococci. The holgaY-encoded protein (15.7 kDa) contained three potential transmembrane helices, resembling putative holins (cytoplasmic membrane-disrupting protein) of Lj928 and Lj965. On the other hand, another clone p118gaYR obtained by EcoRI-shotgun cloning carried the (ptsCgaY1)-attR-(intgaY) genes. Three sequences, attL, attP, and attR, had a 47-bp common (core) sequence, and the core of attR was located in 3' region of a potential tRNA(Arg) gene. These results suggested that (i) attL and attR are phage-host junctions, left- and right-arms, respectively, (ii) attP is a phage attachment site, and (iii) intgaY is an integrase gene for phage integration and/or excision. After mitomycin C-induction, phage particles were demonstrated by electron microscopy. The prophage (phigaY) is somewhat leaky in the host, and has the two-component lysis system (HolgaY-LysgaY), closely resembling that of Lj928 as well as Lj965.