Polygenic sex determination, although suspected in several species, is thought to be evolutionarily unstable and has been proven in very few cases. In the European seabass, temperature is known to...Full Text Available
European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) is a marine species of great economic importance, particularly in Mediterranean aquaculture. However, numerous pathogenic viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites affect the species, causing various infectious diseases and thereby leading to the most heavy losses in aquaculture production of seabass. In this respect, knowledge on molecular and genetic mechanisms of resistance to pathogens and specific features of immune response against various infectious agents should greatly benefit the development of effective vaccines and proper vaccination strategies in marker-assisted selection of fish resistant to a range of infections. To date, genetic knowledge on seabass immune regulatory genes responsible for resistance to pathogens is relatively poor ...
BackgroundFood supply from the ocean is constrained by the shortage of domesticated and selected fish. Development of genomic models of economically important fishes should assist...Full Text Available
Endogenous opioid peptides (EOP) are molecules affecting many biological functions influencing productive and reproductive performance. They increase in stress conditions and interact with specific opioidergic receptors (OR): delta, kappa and mu. Several studies in other animal species suggest that they can also affect sperm cell motility. In fish the ionic external environment modulates the increase of intracellular calcium ion that is required to activate sperm motility after spawning. In mammals OR are functionally associated to calcium channels and in fishes calcium is highly required for fish sperm activation. In this study the presence of OR on spermatozoa of two Perciform fish, the sharpsnout seabream (Diplodus puntazzo, family Sparidae) and the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labr...
Malformations in farmed fish are a prime research topic as it has a major impact on fish welfare and on the economical value of the product. In this study, the genetic component of spine deformities was estimated in European seabass, a major species of Mediterranean aquaculture, with the use of a posteriori reconstruction of pedigree with microsatellites. Our population exhibited a very high malformation rate (81%), probably due to intense swimming of fish during pre-growing. The heritability of global spine deformities was evaluated to be 0.21?0.04 on the underlying scale (0.33?0.06 for lordosis, 0.13?0.04 for scoliosis). Deformities scored by an internal or external examination turned out to be genetically the same trait (genetic correlations>0.9), although phenotypic correlations were ...
The thymus is a key organ of the immune system in most vertebrates and, for this reason, it has been used in this paper for the generation of a normalized cDNA library from seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), one of the most extensively cultured species in South Mediterranean aquaculture. A total of 1632 ESTs from this library were initially analysed for sequence quality and vector sequences and, after this control, 1264 (77% of total clones sequenced) high-quality ESTs were further processed. The total collection of D. labrax thymus ESTs has been deposited in the EBI-GenBank-DBJ database (GenBank accession numbers from FN565576 to FN566839). The functional classification of ESTs was performed by Gene Ontology and KEGG annotation and, successively, the sequences were analysed using the Immuno...
The European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax is a marine teleost important in Mediterranean aquaculture. The development of the entire digestive tract of D. labrax, including the pharynx, was investigated from early embryonic development to day 5 post hatching (dph), when the mouth opens. The digestive tract is initialized at stage 12 somites independently from two distinct infoldings of the endodermal sheet. In the pharyngeal region, the anterior infolding forms the pharynx and the first gill slits at stage 25 somites. The other three gill arches and slits are formed between 1 and 5 dph. Posteriorly, in the gut tube region, a posterior infolding forms the foregut, midgut and hindgut. The anus opens before hatching, at stage 28 somites. Associated organs (liver, pancreas and gall bladder) ar...
The isopod parasite Ceratothoa oestroides becomes hard to eradicate in intensive fish rearing systems and in addition to causing weight loss in adult fish it causes mortalities in larval and juveniles stages of seabass and sea bream. Faced with the fast emergence of this infection in Adriatic finfish facilities, an effective compound had to be tested for bath treatment. Ivermectin was chosen for this purpose on the basis of extensive practice in northern European countries which used ivermectin administered in food with good results in treatment of Lepeophtheirus sp. and Caligus sp. infections. For determination of toxicity of ivermectin, a short-term toxicity bioassay on 40-day-old sea bream, Sparus aurata, L., was conducted, following FAO and UNEP procedures for methodology in aquatic t...
Japan has upwards of 40 pumped storage plants in operation and new river sites are becoming scarce, but peak demand is still rising. A plant under construction in Okinawa offers a solution: make use of the head between the coastal cliffs and sea level, using seawater as the medium. (author)
The origin of natural gas in the Japanese oil and gas fields are geochemically studied. Samples are taken from structural natural gas, surface gas seepage, water-dissolved natural gas and coal-field gas of the Japan Sea coast area. The origins of primary hydrocarbons are classified into bacteria gas and thermogenic gas, the latter being subclassified into gas in oil production zone with the per million deviation of the carbon isotope (/sup 13/C/sup 1/) of methane less than -35 and those gases with maturity higher than this. Surface gas seepage is subjected to migration and bacterial oxidation. Coal gas is similar to oil gas. The CO/sub 2/ concentration is 0 - 2% and /sup 13/CO/sub 2/ deviations from -30 - +30. The origin can be barely estimated from the isotopic composition because of the wide secondary change in the composition. The origin and migration of gas from the gas field of northern Niigata are not similar to those in the southern ...
The present study has investigated metal contamination at nine sites (10 sampling stations) from the English Channel to the Mediterranean Sea, including low level and highly contaminated sediments. Both total and labile concentrations of metals were determined in superficial sediments. The influence of different pHs was tested and metal lability at pHs encountered in the gut of invertebrates (the ragworm Nereis diversicolor, the blue mussel Mytilus edulis, the Japanese oyster Crassostrea gigas) was compared with the distribution of metals in various operationally defined geochemical fractions. Cd showed the highest lability and Cu the lowest, whereas Zn lability was intermediate. Metal concentrations were determined in bivalves at six sites and in worms at three sites. Cd in living organis...
The purpose of this paper is to check up a GPS (global positioning system) impact on scientific research activities of the Geodetic Society of Japan. First, it is mentioned that the conventional geoid-based concept of 'gravity anomaly' should be changed to a new definition, according to the GPS-determined ellipsoidal height system. Secondly, the results of many experiments, which have been made to monitor ocean-plate motions relative to the Japanese island-arcs, demonstrate that GPS is a powerful tool for obtaining temporal changes in horizontal displacement induced by the plate motion. Therefore, it is suggested that terrestrial measurements, such as triangulation and long-range leveling, would be replaced by GPS measurements in near future. Moreover, it is pointed out that GPS geodesy should play an important role in monitoring secular sea level trend due to global warming of the atmosphere and ocean. 19 refs., 4 figs.
Theoretical and experimental data which have defined and/or extended the effectiveness of remote sensing operations are explored, with consideration given to both scientific and commercial activities. The remote sensing of soil moisture, the sea surface, and oil slicks is discussed, as are programs using satellites for studying geodynamics and geodesy, currents and waves, and coastal zones. NASA, Canadian, and Japanese radar and microwave passive and active systems are described, together with algorithms and techniques for image processing and classification. The SAR-580 project is outlined, and attention is devoted to satellite applications in investigations of the structure of the atmosphere, agriculture and land use, and geology. Design and performance features of various optical scanner, radar, and multispectral data processing systems and procedures are detailed.
The present situation of the researches that have been made for predicting the process and range of diffusion of warm drain is reviewed. This review is divided into eight sections. The first section deals with the present situation of warm drain from power plants. For the establishment of drainage standard, there are many difficult problems to be solved because water temperature differs in its nature from other regulation items. In the second section, the process of diffusion and cooling of warm drain is explained. The third section deals with the diffusion characteristics of warm drain in Japanese coastal sea due to water temperature. Two types of diffusion are known. One is dominant irregular current, and the other is periodical reciprocating stream. The fourth section deals with the methods of prediction of diffusion. Research methods and simulation models are described. The fifth section deals with the prediction with single layer model. ...
Striped bass (Morone saxatilis) in the Chesapeake Bay are currently experiencing a very high prevalence of mycobacteriosis associated with newly described Mycobacterium...Full Text Available
Exposure to dieldrin induces neurotoxic effects in the vertebrate CNS and disrupts reproductive processes in teleost fish. Reproductive impairment observed in fish by dieldrin is likely the...Full Text Available
... Gastrointestinal Tract On the Growth and Development of Hymenolepis DiminutaKerry L. Dwinell, Paul Bass, Gordon L. Telford, ... central (CNS) nervous systems in the development of Hymenolepis diminuta usi...
It is needless to say that one of the most important roles of the condensate demineralizer in Japanese boiling water reactors (BWR) is to eliminate such impurities during accidental occurrence of sea water leakage from condensate cooling system. Ion exchange resins packed in condensate demineralizer have also been expected to decrease crud, or corrosion products (CP) in condensate water in order to finally reduce activated corrosion products (ACP) in the reactor coolant loop. It is perceived that crud removal ability of a condensate demineralizer has been improved year by year. And we call this phenomenon as `Aging Effect`. Typical property changes of aged cation exchange resin consisted of an increase of water retention capacity and a change of surface texture. Based on these findings, we formulated a new concept and developed new gel type ion exchange resins for the better crud removal. The results from column tests using actual condensate ...
The proceedings of a conference on the development of language capabilities to prepare United States scientists to share in scientific and technological development with Japan include these papers: "Are Japanese Language Programs Reaching Scientists and Engineers?"; "Japanese Language Study for Engineers: High Tech Perspectives"; "Applied Japanese Studies for Science and Engineering at American Universities"; "Training and Certifying Japanese Technical Translators"; "Designing Effective Language Teaching for Professionals"; "Problems in Teaching Technical Japanese"; "Commentary" A Cautious and Deliberate Strategy Is Needed"; "Establishing a Japanese High-Technology Information Company in the United States"; "The Problems of Operating a Technical Translation Company in Japan";"The Japan Information Center of Science and Technology"; "A National Agenda for ...
AimsTo describe nurse burnout, job dissatisfaction, and quality of care in Japanese hospitals, and to determine how these outcomes are associated with work environment...Full Text Available
Treatment of Japanese pines (P. densiflora and P. thunbergii) with paraquat induced a zone of lightwood. Determinations of turpentine and ether extractives contents in lightwoods showed high levels as compared with those in control woods. (Refs. 5).
... Tokyo Report: Japanese Government Budget for Materials R&D Date: 6/17/97 The National Science ... Graded Materials Area coordinator: Dr. Toshio Hirai, Professor, Institute for Materials Research ...
The purpose of this study was to determine the thickness of the macula and the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in Japanese subjects by Stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT), and to compare the...Full Text Available
A nonmammalian test system for germ-cell mutagenesis has been developed by using the Japanese medaka fish. We describe a system for detecting DNA alterations in F1 progeny descended from the gamma-irradiated...Full Text Available
The second in a series of flights to assemble the Japanese segment of the International Space Station saw the mammoth Kibo module delivered to the complex complements of Discovery and its crew on the STS-124 mission. Kibo, the Japanese word for u201chopeu201d would house dozens of experiments and serve as a platform for external payloads brought to the complex on subsequent Shuttle flights and the Japanese u201cKounotoriu201d H-2 Transfer Vehicle cargo ship.
density is slightly higher, its electrical conductivity is much higher, and it is slightly ... Sea water has characteristic properties (e.g. density) that are independent of ...
In this article based on extensive ethnographic interviewing of eighty-six Japanese adults, I analyze the different ways in which they understand life after death, and consider the societal implications of their views. I examine senses of life after death as based in communion with departed family members as linked to practices of ancestor veneration and ideologies of Japaneseness. I consider heaven/hell or reincarnation as linked, through the idea of impartial judgment of the individual, to meritocracy and the examination system. I examine agnosticism and relativism in senses of life after death as linked to the idea that individual freedom of choice may exist in the next world if not necessarily within the constraints of this Japanese world. I examine disbelief in any realm beyond the gr...
... The following report, filed by the Labor Inspector of the local Employment Security Office, cites S3 me of "the harsh disciplinary methods used by the ...
A three dimensional sea-land breeze model has been employed for the study on the inland penetration of sea breeze around Wolsung NPP site. In this study, the sea breeze simulation was carried out under the weak northwesterly geostrophic wind (3.2 m/s, 339 .deg.) at 850 hPa in Spring. The results showed that sea breezes developed near Wolsung site penetrated into about 20 km inland under the weak northwesterly geostrophic wind in Spring. This result agreed with observation data around Wolsung site on May 1996.
A three dimensional sea-land breeze model has been employed for the study on the inland penetration of sea breeze around Wolsung NPP site. In this study, the sea breeze simulation was carried out under the weak northwesterly geostrophic wind (3.2 m/s, 339 .deg.) at 850 hPa in Spring. The results showed that sea breezes developed near Wolsung site penetrated into about 20 km inland under the weak northwesterly geostrophic wind in Spring. This result agreed with observation data around Wolsung site on May 1996.
Discussion is presented of world crude steel production, the Japanese steel industry and its expectations of the Canadian coal industry. It is concluded that the Canadian coal industry should pay attention to the trend in customer's requirements regarding coal quality, maintain price competitiveness in the international market place, and remain flexible with regard to the market trend.
Accounts are given of the history of coal liquefaction research and projects (indirect liquefaction, direct liquefaction, plus the recent state of Japanese developments and of process development), and of the significance of the petroleum age, the energy crisis and of coal liquefaction itself. (10 refs.) (In Japanese)
Past and current development of coal utilization technology in the Japanese steel industry is reviewed and some projects currently under research and development briefly described. These include DIOS, an iron making process which directly utilizes both iron ore and coal without a sintering plant or a coke oven; and the development of a new generation coke oven. 15 figs.
Soil dressing on coal ash reclaimed land is a covering to use the land for agriculture. This study was carried out to find out the necessary depth of soil covering the ash layer in order to have normal crop growth. Two kinds of crops, Japanese radish, and rakkyo were planted in cover soil on the fly ash packed in wooden boxe (90 cm x 90 cm x 90 cm). Depths of cover soil were 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm and 50 cm. The results were summarized as follows: growth and yield of Japanese radish and rakkyo were increased with increasing depth of cover soil; root development of Japanese radish was inhibited at the lower coal ash layer. Main root length and edible root length of Japanese radish were decreased with decreasing depth of cover soil; boron and molybdenum contents in the plants remarkably increased with decreasing depth of cover soil. This may be due to the absorption of these elements from fly ash layer; it ...
This study has been carried out in the framework of a collaboration between the laboratory of processes automation (LAP, Caen (France)), and Air Com, a monitoring network for the prevention of atmospheric pollution in Basse-Normandie. It aims at obtaining a medium and long term forecast of the ozone level above the Caen city. The expected goal is to foresee the pollution peaks exceeding the warning thresholds, but the rareness of such events make them more difficult to predict. In order to solve this kind of problem, a neural modeling method combined with a noise injection technique has been implemented in order to obtain a sufficiently performing model over the whole domain of operation. (J.S.)
Abstract Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that is found in aquatic food webs and is hazardous to humans. An emerging conceptual model predicts that the areas of the landscape that have the potential to contain food webs with elevated concentrations of Hg are those that receive high amounts of Hg and sulfate deposition and have high coverage of forests and wetlands and low coverage of agriculture. The objective of the present study was to test this conceptual model using concentrations of Hg in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) from 145 reservoirs in four ecoregions of North Texas. The highest level of Hg contamination in fish was in the South Central Plains, the ecoregion that receives the highest levels of Hg and sulfate deposition and contains extensive forest and wetland habitat and ...
The Department of Energy (DOE) has contracted with Asea Brown Boveri-Combustion Engineering (ABB-CE) to provide information on the capability of ABB-CE`s System 80 + Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) to transform, through reactor burnup, 100 metric tonnes (MT) of weapons grade plutonium (Pu) into a form which is not readily useable in weapons. This information is being developed as part of DOE`s Plutonium Disposition Study, initiated by DOE in response to Congressional action. This document, Volume 1, presents a technical description of the various elements of the System 80 + Standard Plant Design upon which the Plutonium Disposition Study was based. The System 80 + Standard Design is fully developed and directly suited to meeting the mission objectives for plutonium disposal. The bass U0{sub 2} plant design is discussed here.
The PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) concentration in coastal zones in the Arctic were studied. Assessment in remote areas is difficult because PAHs contamination from fossil fuel discharges and combustion can be masked by PAHs from natural sources, such as oil seeps, bitumens and forest fires. It is believed that the most important source of anthropogenic PAHs in the Arctic is the long range transport of combustion emissions. A comparison study of PAH distribution between the Beaufort Sea and the Barents Sea led to the interpretation of PAH distributions in terms of potential sources and their geochemistry. PAH concentrations in the Barents Sea sediments were found to be 2 to 20 times lower than in the Beaufort Sea sediments; they are believed to be from anthropogenic sources. In the Beaufort Sea the sediments were found to have been derived from natural sources. 7 refs., 2 ...
Raytheon's Santa Barbara Remote Sensing (SBRS) division designed and built the MTSAT-1R Japanese Advanced Meteorological Imager for the Japanese Ministry of Transport between March, 1999 and July, 2002. In order to meet the stressing requirements of a geosynchronous orbit, a combination of structural, thermal, and optical (STOP) analyses were used to design and optimize the beryllium three-mirror anastigmat (TMA) telescope. This modeling approach was used to characterize and minimize the thermal distortion around local midnight. On-orbit temperatures and structural deformations were predicted using thermal Desktop/SINDA and PATRAN/NASTRAN software, respectively. The resulting optical performance was evaluated using Raytheon developed HEXAGON software. The telescope design was successfully optimized to attain specified visible channel performance for most of the 24 hour orbit.
The author considers the possibility that Japanese nuclear armament might be a realistic political option. Firstly introducing various issues on Japanese nuclear armament existing since long time ago, he classifies them according to the view point from internal and international problems. Internally, the armament is not possible at present on the ground of the nation's non-nuclear policy but it might be conditionally a choice in such case as the reliability of US nuclear deterrence declines or possibility of nuclear attack to Japan actually may be predicted. The armament may be possible technically and legally based on the consensus of the people. Various concerns by neighboring countries are discussed. Finally, the author stresses the importance of continuing to consolidate bilateral relationship with US, to deploy missile defensive system and to make every effort in the diplomatic activity for strong international ties and cooperation. (S. ...
The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) plaster for knee osteoarthritis among Japanese patients. An open-labeled, randomized, controlled, multiclinic trial was performed involving outpatient clinic groups. Two comparative groups?plaster NSAIDs and oral NSAIDs?were randomly allocated. The drugs used were limited to the current top three in both groups in Japan. Treatments were assessed after four?weeks and compared with the baseline scores. Outcomes were evaluated by two psychometric measures: Japanese knee osteoarthritis measure, and pain with the visual analogue scale. The total number of patients included in the final evaluation was 165 (87 for the plaster group and 78 for the oral group). Between these two groups there were ...
BackgroundHarbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena from the southern North Sea are known to display high levels of Zn and Hg in their tissues linked to their nutritional...Full Text Available
BackgroundSelection programs for growth and stress traits in cultured fish are fundamental to the improvement of aquaculture production. The gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata)...Full Text Available
Microstructure of the teeth of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus was investigated using optical microscopy, SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and SIMS (secondary ion mass...Full Text Available
Although deep-sea cephalopods are key marine organims, their feeding ecology remains essentially unknown. Here, we report for the first time the trophic structure of an assemblage of these animals (19...Full Text Available
The cosmic ray neutron spectrum at sea level has been measured by the method of pulse shape discrimination in anthracene scintillator. The exponent of the differential spectrum was found to be 2.2+-0.1. (Auth.).
Climate change-induced sea-level rise will have a disproportionate effect along the Gulf Coast shoreline for a number of reasons. This document describes ... ...
Hydrolytic exoenzymes as indicators of metabolically active bacteria were investigated in four consecutive sapropel layers collected from bathyal sediments of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. For comparison,...Full Text Available
We investigated the deep-sea fossil record of benthic ostracodes during periods of rapid climate and oceanographic change over the past 20,000 years in a core from intermediate depth in the northwestern...Full Text Available
Manganese oxides precipitated from aerated well sea water at the Marine Science Museum, Tokai University, have been analyzed chemically and mineralogically. The O / Mn ratios are lower in todorokite than in birnessite but these minerals have similar contents of minor transition metals, which can be taken up additionally from sea water after the precipitation of Mn oxides. On the basis of these results, the genesis of Mn minerals is discussed in relation to marine Mn nodules.
The South China Sea is an area of disputes on sovereignty and resource jurisdiction claims. As one of the six claimants, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has played an important role not only because it is the originator of the U-shaped lines, but also it has continuously occupied the largest island, Tai-Ping-Dao, in the Spratlys. This article reviews the ROC's position on the issues through an exploration of its maritime claims to the territorial sea, continental shelf, and exclusive economic zone.
Achievements in the field of sorption recovery of uranium from sea water are considered in brief. Polyacryl amidoxime chelate iorites are shown to exceed in sorption properties both titanium dioxide base natural adsorbents and styrene base synthetic resins. Merits of sorbents containing fixed layer of humic acid are pointed out, different methods of their application are considered. The cost of uranium recovery from sea water using different sorbents is estimated.
DescriptionRemote sensing of the sea surface from satellites in near-polar orbits has contributed greatly to our understanding of the links between physical and biological processes in marine systems. However most of this progress has been made in open oceanic waters or major upwelling areas, and many unresolved problems are encountered in coastal regions and shelf seas. In these optically complex waters, quantitative remote sensing requires a more sophisticated interpretation strategy than that implemente [continued...
Incorporating Environmentally Conscious Materials Selection in CAD System Narito Shibaike, Matsushita Electric, Japan ...Ikeda, Matsushita Erectric H.Ishida, INAX Y.Ishikawa, Japan Techno-Economics ...Tsuchiya*, Matsushita Electric Com- ponents Y.Tsuchiya*, Society of Japanese Value
Six species having characteristics of plants with the C4 dicarboxylic photosynthetic pathway, Echinochloa utilis L. Ohwi et Yabuno (Japanese millet), Cynodon dactylon...Full Text Available
... uncertainty. The method is applied for the invasive shrub Rosa rugosa (Japanese rose) in Danish fixed dunes. The probability ... habitat code 2130). In 14 sites, the invasive shrub Rosa rugosa was recorde...
Chemicals having a capacity to disturb the endocrine system have attracted considerable interest during recent years. There is a shortage of well-characterized in vivo tests with which to study such...Full Text Available
This report of an interview with T. Watamori, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New Energy Development Organization (NEDO), Japan outlines the general activities of NEDO, and then gives emphasis to the prospects of the liquefaction of brown coal from Australia. (In Japanese)
Testosterone has been shown to increase the volume of steroid-sensitive brain nuclei in adulthood in several vertebrate species. In male Japanese quail the volume of the male-biased sexually...Full Text Available
BackgroundSmall laboratory fish share many anatomical and histological characteristics with other vertebrates, yet can be maintained in large numbers at low cost for lifetime studies....Full Text Available
BackgroundWithin the last 25 years, after the introduction of the swimbladder nematode Anguillicoloides crassus from East-Asia to Europe, a body of work has aggregated...Full Text Available
Disruption of circadian rhythms may be involved in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, including drug addiction. Recently, we detected the significant association between prokineticin 2 receptor...Full Text Available
The DNA sequences were determined for the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene from five unrelated Japanese patients with familial LPL deficiency. The results demonstrated that all five patients are homozygotes...Full Text Available
The neuronal nitric oxide synthase gene (NOS1) is located at 12q24, a susceptibility region for schizophrenia, and produces nitric oxide (NO). NO has been reported to play important...Full Text Available
The Japanese medaka fish Oryzias latipes has an XX/XY sex-determination system. The Y-linked sex-determination gene DMY is a duplicate of the autosomal gene DMRT1, which encodes a DM-domain-containing...Full Text Available
The report, generated by a computerized data base system, presents a survey of operational and planned domestic utility flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, operational domestic particle scrubbers, and Japanese coal-fired utility FGD installations. It ...
Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos exposed to ethanol have developed craniofacial, cardiovascular and skeletal defects which can be compared with the phenotypic features...Full Text Available
BackgroundDiet is considered an important factor for bone health, but is composed of a wide variety of foods containing complex combinations of nutrients. Therefore we investigated...Full Text Available
This article outlines research and progress into the liquefaction of coal by solvent treatment, being conducted at the National Research Institute for Pollution and Resources, Japan. (In Japanese)
Several investigations suggested abnormalities in circadian rhythms are related to the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, including drug addiction. Recently, orphan nuclear receptor rev-erb alpha...Full Text Available
An investigation of the effect of blending of two different coals in various ratios on the hydrogenation reaction was carried out using a red mud-sulphur catalyst. Three Japanese coals and an Australian brown coal were used in the study. The conversion of the blended coals was compared with that obtained with each of the coals alone. A blend of the Yallourn brown coal and Shin-Yubari coal showed a synergism: it is considered that hydroaromatics from the Japanese coal promote the hydrogenation of the Yallourn coal. (The tables and captions in this paper are in English).
This report presents the results of a study of the Japanese MLU magnetic-levitation (maglev) system. The development of the MLU system is reviewed, and the dynamic circuit model then is introduced and applied to the figure-eight-shaped null-flux coil suspension system. Three different types of figure-eight-shaped null-flux suspension systems are discussed in detail: (1) the figure-eight-shaped null-flux coil suspension system without cross-connection; (2) the combined suspension and guidance system; and (3) the combined propulsion, levitation, and guidance system. The electrodynamic-suspension maglev systems developed in Japan seem to be very promising and could result in a commercial application in the near future.
On the basis of observations of the JTEC team, it appears that Japanese universities and research institutes are leading long-term R&D thrusts for development of new materials casting technologies. Significant efforts include amorphous metals, intermetallics, application of MHD in continuous casting of steel, and energy efficient furnace technology. Industrial R&D seems focused more on process improvements than on new product technologies, but significant efforts in new cast materials included cast metal matrix composites, materials substitutions for thinner wall products, and advanced ceramic products for foundry industry applications.
Graphical Abstract A Southward view of the Dead Sea western coast. The steep western escarpment of the Dead Sea basin, composed mainly of Upper Cretaceous limestone and dolomite, can be seen on the right. Beach terraces left by the shrinking lake run parallel to the shore. The larger part of the area between the present water line and the mountains was still under Dead Sea water just 50?60?years ago. The current fall of the lake?s stand is around 1?m?year?1. Three on-shore sinkholes can be seen in the front of the photo, as well as two submerged ones near its lower left corner. These were caused by dissolution of a Holocene salt layer located tens of meters below the surface, resulting in the collapse of the overlying sediments. The retreat of the Dead Sea in recent years was followed by e...
To investigate the future problem of oil field operation in the North Sea, the latest trend of the resources and development/production of the oil fields in the North Sea in British and Norwegian territories are outlined. Recoverable crude oil reserves, potential additional crude oil reserves, and undiscovered recoverable reserves of Britain, as well as probable total potential crude oil reserves in British continental shelf are put in order. Outlines of development and production of crude oil are described. The petroleum and gas development by Norway in 1996 is arranged, and outlines of the reserves, development, and petroleum/gas production are given. As the topics relating to the North Sea in 1996, reports are made on: the effective use of existing infrastructure surplus capacity; dealing with economic efficiency; challenge to abysmal development; applied instances of floating production; storage and offloading (FPSO) ...
The authors developed an analytical model (intersection model) to estimate the exposure of sea otters (Enhydra lutris), to oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The authors applied estimated and assumed exposure dependent mortality rates to the Kenai Peninsula sea otter population to provide examples of the application of the model in estimating sea otter mortality. The intersection model requires three distinct types of data: (1) distribution, abundance, and movements of oil, (2) abundance and distribution of sea otters, and (3) sea otter mortality rates relative to oil exposure. Initial output of the model is an estimate of exposure of otters to oil. Exposure is measured in amount and duration of oil near an otter`s observed location (intersections). The authors provide two examples of the model using different assumptions about the relation between exposure and mortality. Because ...
Abstract The white sea bream, Diplodus sargus (Teleostei, Sparidae), is a species with a high commercial importance in Mediterranean aquaculture. There is currently little information available about the genetic characteristics of cultured populations. In this survey, we have developed eight polymorphic microsatellites for the white sea bream using an enriched genome library protocol. All of them were polymorphic in the 67 individuals tested, 32 of which were wild specimens, and 35 were individuals from a captive F1 broodstock. These markers can potentially be useful tools for use in population genetic studies.
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is increasingly used in food supplements due to its dietary and medicinal compounds with a beneficial role in human diet and health. As many other medicinal plants, sea buckthorn can be contaminated with microorganisms which exerts an important impact on the overall quality of the products. Irradiation is an effective method for food preservation because it is able to destroy pathogenic microorganisms keeping the organoleptic and nutritional characteristics of the foods. The objective of the present study was to investigate the application of electron beam irradiation in order to improve the microbiological safety of sea buckthorn. The experimental results indicated that the electron beam treatment might be a good method to remove undesirable microorganisms from sea buckthorn without significant changes in its active principles.
Aug 25, 2004 ... The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite provided this image of Typhoon Aere over the western Philippine Sea as it was ...
The article presents briefly the plans of the British Petroleum Oil Company for a new hydrogen power plant that includes an offshore platform in the North Sea.
We describe the stabilization by pressure of enzymes, including a hydrogenase from Methanococcus jannaschii, an extremely thermophilic deep-sea methanogen. This is the first published...Full Text Available
Deforestation farther inland causes delayed reactions. When roots no longer hold soil in place, it ends up muddying streams, rivers, and coastal waters. ...
... and regional land, sea, air, and space-based systems, and ... means of delivery of weapons where such ... a separable and divisible part of the weapon. ...
Aug 18, 2004 ... The Arabian Gulf region presents a challenge to meteorologists trying to simulate weather with computer models because sea-surface and land ...
... Experts ( Appendix 5 ), and the NMFS-Sea Grant Joint Graduate Fellowship Program ( Appendix 6) . The Task Force consisted of one representative from NMFS Headquarters and 1-2 rep...
estimates from 42 years of submarine records (19582000) described by ... area (DRA) of declassified submarine sonar measurements. (covering $38% of the ...
Objectives To clarify the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition in Japanese women aged 18?40?years with low forearm BMD. Methods The subjects were Japanese199 women who had been selected for inclusion in the study based on a low forearm BMD determined at the Annual Women?s Health Examination. The subjects? mean (? standard deviation) age, body height, body weight, and body mass index (BMI) were 33.5 (?4.3) years, 158.1 (?5.1) cm, 49.6 (?5.7) kg, and 19.8 (?2.1), respectively. The BMD of the lumbar spine, total body, and left arm were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Fat mass (FM), bone-free lean tissue mass (LTM), and body fat percentage (BF%) were measured simultaneously with DXA. Results In the structural equation model, the standardiz...
This study looks at how education policies in colonial Korea changed over time in order to accommodate the needs of the colonial authorities during the period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea (1910-1945). The colonial experience can be divided into four different periods according to the four Educational Ordinances issued in 1911, 1922, 1938, and 1943 by the colonial government with each period corresponding to a historic event or context. The constitutive relevance of colonial discourse for an understanding of education can be found in the gradual transformation of the education sector in Korea under colonial rule. It is evident that Japanese colonial policy was inherently contradictory in principle and in practice. On the one hand it sought the assimilation of the Koreans, while on the other it maintained its discriminatory and exploitative practices. Such contradiction was obvious within the colonial education system. As the principal ...
Renewable energy systems, such as photovoltaic and wind-turbine energy systems, are considered to be environmentally sound from the viewpoint of carbon-dioxide emissions and resource depletion. The cost of energy supplied from renewable energy systems is higher than that of conventional fossil-fuel systems, and this hinders the wider spread of renewable energy systems. Global environmental problems, however, are becoming more obvious. There is a movement to defray the additional cost of electricity generated in environmentally-sound processes. In this paper, we report the results of a survey using the contingent valuation method (CVM) of the willingness of Japanese households to pay more, in the form of a flat monthly surcharge, for renewable energy. The median value of willingness to pay for renewable energy by Japanese households is estimated at about 2000 yen (around 17 US$ with the exchange rate 115 yen/US$) per month per household. ...
The current status and prospects for Japan`s economy and steel industry, forecast for demand and supply of coking coal, directions in steel making technology, and Japan`s expectations for Canadian coal are discussed. The PCI system, the Coal Moisture Control System (CMC) to increase coke density before it is fed into coke ovens, a feeder that allows use of lower quality coke on the outskirts of blast furnaces, the Direct Iron Ore Smelting (DIOS) Process, and the `Next Generation Coke Oven`, where coke is heated rapidly and coked at 700-800{degree}C are considered. By 2000, semi-soft coking coals are expected to account for over half of total coal consumption by Japanese steel mills.
Purpose To examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese-language version of the PedsQL? Multidimensional Fatigue Scale and to investigate the agreement between child self-reported fatigue and parent proxy-reported fatigue. Methods The Japanese-language version of the PedsQL? Multidimensional Fatigue Scale was administered to 652 preschoolers and schoolchildren aged 5?12 and their parents, and to 91 parents of preschool children aged 1?4. Results Internal consistency reliability was 0.62?0.87 for children and 0.81?0.93 for parents. Known-group validity was examined between a group of healthy samples (n?=?530) and chronic condition sample (n?=?102); the chronically ill group reported a significantly higher perceived fatigue problem. Correlations between child self- and parent proxy r...
Abstract: The current financial crisis has now led most major central banks to rely on quantitative easing. The unique Japanese experience of quantitative easing is the only experience which enables us to judge this therapy's effectiveness and the timing of the exit strategy. In this paper, we provide a new empirical framework to examine the effectiveness of Japanese monetary policy during the ''lost'' decade and quantify the effect of quantitative easing on Japan's activity and prices. We combine advantages of Markov-switching VAR methodology with those of factor analysis to establish two major findings. First, we show that the decisive change in regime occurred in two steps: it crept out from late 1995 and established itself durably in February 1999. Second, we show for the first time th...
For the purpose of nationwide surveillance of the antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens collected from patients in Japan, the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy conducted a third year of nationwide surveillance during the period from January to April 2008. A total of 1,097 strains were collected from clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory tract infections. Susceptibility testing was evaluable with 987 strains (189 Staphylococcus aureus, 211 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 6 Streptococcus pyogenes, 187 Haemophilus influenzae, 106 Moraxella catarrhalis, 126 Klebsiella pneumoniae, and 162 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). A total of 44 antibacterial agents, including 26 ?-lactams (four penicillins, three penicillins in combination with ?-lacta...
One of vector-borne avian protozoa, Leucocytozoon lovati, has been found in the Japanese rock ptarmigans (Lagopus mutus japonicus), the endangered bird species distributed in the alpine regions in Japan. Vector arthropod species of L. lovati has also been estimated as Simuliidae black flies distributed in the same habitat of the host bird, however, possible blood meals of the black flies were not identified yet. To reveal host animals of black flies, we estimated the blood resources by using molecular techniques. Black flies were collected at Mt. Chogatake, one of the alpine regions of Japan in which Japanese rock ptarmigans live in June 2005. The analyzed 144 specimens were morphologically identified into five species including Simulium japonicum (n?=?87), Prosimulium hirtipes (n?=?48), P...
An overview of LOCA analysis in Japanese industry is presented. The BASH-M code, developed for large scale LOCA reflooding analysis, is given as an example of verification and improvement of US computer programs are given. The code's application to the operational safety analysis concerns the following main areas: 1D drift flux model base computer program CANAC; CANAC-based advanced training simulator; emergency operating procedures. The author considers also the code application to the following new PWR safety design concepts: use of steam generators for decay heat removal at LOCA conditions; use of horizontal type steam generator for maintaining two-phase natural circulation under the reactor coolant system submerged. 9 figs.
The biological half-life of "1"3"7Cs in the total body of human subjects was determined in 23 individuals of Japanese male adult in their normal works by measuring amount of "1"3"7Cs in both their total body and daily urine in the same period. For the group, the value was determined by averaging the half-lives for individuals, by comparing the mean body burden and the mean daily urinary excretion, or by applying a curve fitting method to the body burden estimate. The biological half-life averaged 86 days, ranging from 50 to 161 days. The averages of the biological half-lives for the group were 83, 87 and 82 days in the different periods of observation. By the curve fitting method, 85 days was found for the group. The biological half-life for the individuals depended on both body weight and age, to a lesser extent, of the subjects. (author).
This study evaluated the clinical efficacy of treatment with oral risedronate (17.5?mg once daily) for 8?weeks in 11 Japanese patients with Paget?s disease of bone (PDB). Risedronate suppressed the excessive bone turnover associated with PDB and improved several biochemical markers, including serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), serum bone-specific ALP (BALP), urinary deoxypyridinoline (DPD), and urinary cross-linked N-telopeptide of type 1 collagen (NTX). These markers began to decrease within about 2?weeks after the initiation of treatment in most patients, and the response persisted for up to 40?weeks after the cessation of treatment. Risedronate reduced pain by week 24 in most patients. According to quantitative bone scintigraphy, the lesion with the highest radioisotope (RI) uptake showe...
The authors report an effort to determine the basis for the altered migration of seven inherited albumin variants detected by one-dimensional electrophoresis in population surveys involving tribal Amerindians and Japanese children. An amino acid substitution has thus far been determined for four of the variants. The randomness in the albumin polypeptide of these and the other sixteen independently ascertained amino acid substitutions of albumin and proalbumin thus far established was analyzed; the clustering of eight of these at two positions in the six-amino acid propeptide sequence seems noteworthy. By comparison with other proteins studied by electrophoresis, albumin exhibits average variability. It is a paradox that individuals who, for genetic reasons, lack albumin exhibit no obvious ill effects; yet, electrophoretic variants of albumin are no more numerous than are variants of proteins, the absence of which results in severe disease.
Southeastern Finland belongs to the area covered by the Weichselian ice sheet, where the release of the ice load caused a rapid isostatic rebound during the postglacial time. While the mean overall apparent uplift is of the order of 2 mm/yr today, in the early Holocene time it was several times higher. A marked decrease in the rebound rate occurred around 8500 BP, however, since then the uplift rate has remained high until today, with a slightly decreasing trend towards the present time. According to current understanding there have neither been temporary increases nor decreases in the rate of uplift during the postglacial time. Even so, it is not known for sure whether there are regional irregularities on the rebound in Finland. Concurrently with land uplift, relative sea-level changes in the Baltic basin were also strongly affected by the global eustatic rise of sea-level. During the early Litorina Sea stage on the ...
Sprat Sprat in the Southwestern Baltic Sea (including Sound and Belt Sea) ...episodic salt water inflows which occur during autumn to spring.The last major inflow to the Baltic Proper ...The small inflows in spring 1986 and fall 1988 have had only effects on salinity and temperature
Exposure of cells to light of less than 320 nanometers wavelengths may lead to lethal lesions and perhaps carcinogenesis. Many organisms have evolved mechanisms to repair U.V. light-induced damage. Organisms such as deep-sea bacteria are presumably never exposed to U.V. light and perhaps occasionally to visible from bioluminescence. Thus, the repair of U.V. damage in deep-sea bacterial DNA might be inefficient and repair by photoreactivation unlikely. The bacteria utilized in this investigation are temperature sensitive and barophilic. Four deep-sea isolates were chosen for this study: PE-36 from 3584 m, CNPT-3 from 5782 m, HS-34 from 5682 m, and MT-41 from 10,476 m, all are from the North Pacific ocean. The deep-sea extends from 1100 m to depths greater than 7000 m. It is a region of relatively uniform conditions. The temperature ranges from 5 to -1"0C. There is no solar light in the ...
The research project for which this is the final report was initiated in 1977 with the following three major objectives: Assess the retention potential for spilled oil within the coastal environments of Alaska's Beaufort Sea; Characterize the morphology and sediments of the Beaufort coast; Determine, as precisely as possible, the annual longshore sediment transport rate.
CETCO Oilfield Services, suppliers of environmental systems, have undertaken a project to treat contaminated water returns on a Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility in the North Sea. The solution sees fluids treated during oil well clean-up operations, reducing the potential for overboard oil discharges, and resulting production upsets.
Nexans has developed a new type of high voltage sea cable with metal barrier for dynamic application, suited for floating installations such as vessels, floating wind turbines or floating platforms. A brief presentation of the cable's design (ml)
DescriptionPhytoplankton is the collective name given to the microscopic floating plants in seas and lakes. Under certain conditions, the abundance of phytoplankton as a whole or of one or more species in particular, can reach a magnitude at which it is visible through discolouration of the sea. Some of these blooms because of the colour of the water have been called 'Red Tides'. Blooms of some 300 species of the phytoplankton are known as Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) species in recognition of their poten [continued...
A method based on the collection of [sup 99]Tc from 500 l sea water samples by anion exchange and further extraction of TcO[sub 4][sup -] into 5% triisooctylamine-xylene has been improved to include a decontamination factor 6.5x10[sup 5] for uranium. The detection limit for [sup 99]Tc is thereby reduced to 3 mBq/m[sup 3].
Resistive analogous meters for spatial and time characteristics in ocean agitation are most often used in practical oceanography in coastal zones but are based on bridge circuits determined to have shortcomings in their linearity range. This shortcoming is eliminated in the circuit of an instrument developed in an oceanographic laboratory (IMIO, Vana). Principle and block circuits are indicated, and static calibration curves are presented as are the correlative functions in the frequency spectrums obtained with the help of sea agitation recorded at a fixed point and at a depth of 6 meters.
Transport and deposition of atmospheric lead over the coastal zone of Northern Germany are investigated. It is shown that marked differences in the impact of the ecologically valuable wadden sea areas can occur between summer and winter time. Due to the formation of sea breeze systems in summer the coastal zone is likely to be less stressed than in winter when the pollutant is confined to a shallow layer above ground. (orig.) 10 refs.
More than 660 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired over the southern Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Gulf of Lyon in the Mediterranean Sea by the Second European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-2) have been analyzed since December 1996 with respect to radar signatures of marine pollution and other phenomena causing similar signatures. First results of our analysis reveal that the seas are most polluted along the main shipping routes. SAR images acquired during descending (morning) and ascending (evening) satellite passes show different percentages of oil pollution, because most of this pollution occurs during night time and is still visible on the SAR images acquired in the morning time. Moreover, we found a higher amount of oil spills on SAR images acquired during summer (April-September) than on SAR images acquired during winter (October-March). We attribute this finding to the higher mean ...
The topics covered in this session include: slimhole testing and data acquisition, theoretical and numerical models for slimholes, and an overview of the analysis of slimhole data acquired by the Japanese. The fundamental issues discussed are concerned with assessing the efficacy of slimhole testing for the evaluation of geothermal reservoirs. the term reservoir evaluation is here taken to mean the assessment of the potential of the geothermal reservoir for the profitable production of electrical power. As an introduction to the subsequent presentations and discussions, a brief summary of the more important aspects of the use of slimholes in reservoir evaluation is given.
We present the case of a 68-year-old female patient who was diagnosed with cancer of the descending colon in July 1994 and underwent partial resection of the colon (type 2, moderately to well differentiated...Full Text Available
Jan 16, 2008 ... home town, and awards, as well as the ground personnel. .... I was also awarded six air medals, which were given based on the number of missions ..... We took these projects from birth to grave. .... Japanese sonar on their submarine. About that time another airplane dropped a bomb ...
... Westinghouse Electric is already majority owned by Toshiba Corp the maker of flash memory chips, laptops, nuclear reactors and rice cookers and Shaw Group. A deal could erase any U.S. ownership of Westinghouse, the Wall Street Journal said. Shaw partnered with Toshiba, and another Japanese company to buy Westinghouse from British Nuclear Fuels PLC for $5.4 billion five years ago, the paper ...
The author draws the connections between the work he has done over the last ten years and related research. Connections with industry are also mentioned, and future prospects are considered. Topics discussed include research into the synthesis of olefins and into liquid phase oxidation, the catalytic effects of transition metal compounds, and coal liquefaction. (35 refs.) (In Japanese)
A nationwide surveillance for antimicrobial susceptibility in Escherichia coli strains isolated from food-producing animals in Japan was conducted from 1999 to 2002. Eighteen cefazolin-resistant...Full Text Available
Mitsubishi Research Institute has analyzed the energy demand of a typical Japanese city, Yokohama, as well as the distribution of fossil-energy flow, and the final consumption by sectors. It has evaluated the effectiveness of various energy conservation measures, (e.g., cogeneration, electric cars, insulation,...) in countering the global warming trend. This study defines a viable methodology which may be utilized, in the future, in examining the effectiveness of environmental policies. (TEC). 1 tab., 4 figs.
Analytical means have been developed to predict scour and accretion in sub-sea structures. Such structures can be very large and can have a large density of piping and structural members. They introduce a blocking and a shielding in the flow at the sea bottom leading to variable velocities and turbulence in the interior of the structure. This changes the transport capacity of the flow and result in general erosion where the transport capacity is increased and in accretion where the transport capacity is decreased. In addition there may occur the so-called tunnel erosion for structures built on concrete mats or similar. This type of erosion undermines the foundation of the sub-sea structure. Analytical models are developed and programmed to analyse the above phenomena. The internal flow variations are found by means of the LICengineering shielding programme and these are coupled to the transport formulae. The methodology is ...
Seismic records, combined with dredged samples and a core, indicate that the Spratly Islands of the Dangerous Ground Province are constructed of presently active carbonate build-ups, known to extend back continuously at least to the Pleistocene and presumed to have initiated in the Miocene, most likely upon the crests of sea-floor cuestas that trend north-east-south-west parallel to the sea-floor spreading magnetic anomalies of the contiguous abyssal plain of the southern part of the South China Sea. The cuestas range from spectacular to subdued, constructed of Triassic and Cretaceous strata and no older rocks have been identified from dredges. The cuesta axes plunge towards the south-west away from the islands, suggesting that the reefs began colonising their more elevated parts, but the ...
The transport of air pollutants in coastal regions has been known to be strongly affected by the mesoscale atmospheric circulations such as sea-land breezes. These mesoscale atmospheric circulations depend on synoptic weather conditions. In this study, a three-dimensional sea-land breeze model was developed to evaluate the effects of the sea and land breezes on the atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials released from nuclear power plants in Korea. In the model, the hydrostatic primitive equations in the terrain-following coordinate system were used. The mesoscale atmospheric circulation simulation were carried out under various synoptic weather conditions for all seasons around the Wolsung nuclear power plant site.
The transport of air pollutants in coastal regions has been known to be strongly affected by the mesoscale atmospheric circulations such as sea-land breezes. These mesoscale atmospheric circulations depend on synoptic weather conditions. In this study, a three-dimensional sea-land breeze model was developed to evaluate the effects of the sea and land breezes on the atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials released from nuclear power plants in Korea. In the model, the hydrostatic primitive equations in the terrain-following coordinate system were used. The mesoscale atmospheric circulation simulation were carried out under various synoptic weather conditions for all seasons around the Wolsung nuclear power plant site.
The T cell receptor is a fundamental mediator of the adaptive immune responses, since TR ab on T cells recognize foreign structures (peptides derived from processed antigens) bound to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on APC cells. In the present study, we report the cloning of six TRB chains cDNA sequences from gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), a fish of high economical impact in South Mediterranean aquaculture. The V-BETA domains have the canonical features of known teleost and mammalian TR V-BETA domains and have been divided in four different subgroups. A multiple alignment of the six sea bream TRB chains with other known TRB sequences was assembled and showed the conservation of the four cysteine residues involved in disulphide bonds and of some amino acids with an importan...
TiO2 hollow microspheres with sea urchin-like hierarchical architectures were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. The as-synthesized hollow microspheres with hierarchical architectures consisting of many rhombic building units exhibit high specific surface area. Electrorheological (ER) properties of hierarchical hollow TiO2-based suspension were investigated under steady and oscillatory shear. The hollow TiO2-based suspensions show much higher yield stress and elasticity than pure TiO2 suspension at the same electric field strength. This phenomenon was elucidated well in view of their dielectric spectra analysis. The sea urchin-like architectures result in stronger interfacial polarization of hollow TiO2 suspension upon an electric field, showing higher ER activity. Also, hollow i...
The Spratly Islands are developing into a flashpoint in the South China Sea region. Geological surveys conducted underneath the seabed of these islands following the oil crisis in the 1970s shows an enormous potential of oil and gas reserves. Moreover, with the adoption of the new International Law of the Sea concept there are overlapping claims by contending countries. Unless these claimant countries reconcile their differences and come to terms, the conflict is bound to escalate. This thesis is an in depth study of the disputes over the Spratlys and examines four cases of islands based territorial disputes that could be used as a model in resolving these tensions. This thesis argues that a military option will only create division and in-flame longstanding animosities. Instead, a peaceful solution is recommended as quickly as possible so that regional nations will realize the full potential of these islands. Spratly Islands in the South China ...
Numbers of wintering sea ducks, including buffleheads (Bucephala albeola; BUFF), common goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula; COGO), and long-tailed ducks (Clangula hyemalis; LTDU), increased substantially at Lake Ontario after Dreissenid mussels (Dreissena bugensis and D. polymorpha) colonized the Great Lakes. Invertebrates, including Dreissenid mussels, are major diving duck prey items that can transfer some trace elements, such as selenium (Se) to higher trophic levels. Se can be problematic for waterfowl and it often has been detected at elevated levels in organisms using the Great Lakes. There are, however, few data on hepatic Se concentrations in sea ducks, particularly during the winter at Lake Ontario. In this study, we evaluated interspecific differences and temporal trends in hepatic S...
Objectives(i) Investigate the correlation between Antarctic sea-ice and equatorial sea-surface temperature anomalies in a realistically forced ocean model simulation of the last 50 years. (ii) Determine whether and how the enormous seasonal change in distribution of sea-ice modifies the seasonal cycle at the Equator. (iii) Determine the detailed pathways of wave propagation both in a historically-forced simulation and in response to realistic perturbations. (iv) Quantify the amplitude of the response i [continued...]DescriptionIt is well known that the equatorial ocean-atmosphere system plays a key role in global climate events such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. There is now compelling evidence that changes in the Antarctic can strongly and quickly affect the equatorial ocean and the ENSO cycle. Observations demonstrate statistically significant correlations (teleconnections) between the Antarctic ...
Shell UK Exploration and Production, operating in the North Sea on behalf of Shell UK and Esso UK is presented developing the Teal and Guillemot fields in the Central North Sea (CNS). As part of this development it contracted with Single Buoy Moorings Inc., (SBM) for the design, supply and installation of a newbuilt floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. The work is executed in close cooperation between Shell Expro (Client) and SBM (Contractor) and its main sub contractors. The system is due to be installed during the third quarter of 1996. After a short description of the field development and the FPSO vessel this paper outlines the contractual arrangements and the organization set-up to perform the work. A summary of the lessons learned (by SBM) is given. The opinions expressed in this paper are entirely that of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinion of other parties involved in the CNS FPU project.
On Oct. 24, 2005, Hurricane Wilma, a category 5 storm, made landfall at Cape Romano, Florida. Three days later, the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at the University of South Florida deployed an iSENYS helicopter and a prototype unmanned water surface vehicle, AEOS-1, to survey damage in parts of Marco Island, 14 km from landfall. The effort was the first known use of unmanned sea surface vehicles (USVs) for emergency response and established their suitability for the recovery phase of disaster management by detecting damage to seawalls and piers, locating submerged debris (moorings and handrails), and determining safe lanes for sea navigation. It provides a preliminary domain theory of postdisaster port and littoral inspection with unmanned vehicles for use by the human-robot ...
Major forecast errors on the background error covariance from initial conditions, atmospheric forcing, model open boundary conditions, and the river discharges are examined in a coastal model of northern South China Sea. The analysis of background error covariance matrix produced by model ensemble shows that the perturbations of the initial conditions and atmospheric forcing play major roles in producing and maintaining the amplitude of ensemble spread except for the sea surface height (SSH) field. The perturbation of model open boundary conditions can influence ensemble spread of all variables and covariance between temperature and velocity or between temperature and SSH. The perturbation of river discharge mainly affects the covariance of salinity in river estuary. A data assimilation ex...
The Taiwan Strait is an important channel in the west Pacific Ocean transporting water and chemical constituents between the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Due to its complex bottom topography, alternating monsoon forcing and conjunction of several current systems [such as the Zhejiang-Fujian (Zhe-Min) Coastal Current, the Kuroshio intrusion and the extension of the South China Sea Warm Current], the physical and biogeochemical processes and ecosystem dynamics in the Taiwan Strait vary significantly both in space and in time. Our recent interdisciplinary studies, combining in situ and remote sensing observations with numerical modeling, allow us to address several important issues concerning the Taiwan Strait. The temporal and spatial variation of circulation in the Taiwan Strait ...
We developed an intersection model to integrate parameters estimated from three distinct data sets that resulted from the Exxon Valdez oil spill: (1) the distribution, amount, and movements of spilled oil; (2) the distribution and abundance of sea otters along the Kenai Peninsula; and (3) the estimates of site-specific sea otter mortality relative to oil exposure from otters captured for rehabilitation and from collected carcasses. In this chapter, we describe the data sets and provide examples of how they can be used in the model to generate acute loss estimates. We also examine the assumptions required for the model and provide suggestions for improving and applying the model.
A three dimensional sea-land breeze model and lagrangian particle dispersion model have been employed for the study on the mesoscale atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials released from Wolsung NPPs. In this study, atmospheric dispersion simulations are carried out under two synoptic weather conditions: the geostrophic flow is a weak northerly wind (CASE 1) and a strong northerly wind (CASE 2) on a clear day in spring. The results show that atmospheric dispersion is affected by sea-land breeze and the recirculation of particles by the change of wind direction between sea breeze and land breeze plays an important role in atmospheric concentration distribution of radioactive materials.
tion and the Copenhagen symposium in many regards heralded the birth of modern marine bio-optics and the .... given to conducting a pigment intercomparison based on .... assignment of personnel and equipment, so the Hout Bay deployments were suspended. ...... submarine light field. Upwelling radiance is measured at ...
BackgroundIn many gregarious mammals, mothers and offspring have developed the abilities to recognise each other using acoustic signals. Such capacity may develop at different rates...Full Text Available
El Niño/Southern Oscillation related climate anomalies were analyzed by using a combination of satellite measurements of elevated sea-surface temperatures and subsequent elevated rainfall and...Full Text Available
The picture of wind energy parks at the German North Sea Coast is well-known. There are also some of them on the Northern Friesian Islands. Recently, however, biogas plants have been conquering the western coast of Schleswig-Holstein, starting from the continent.
provides global ocean-surface wind fields with more structures than numerical weather prediction (Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol 25, No. 6, 761-764). The NSCAT data sets was produced...
BackgroundIn recent years, the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis has emerged as a critical model organism for comparative genomics and developmental biology. Although...Full Text Available
A publication on Norwegian gas and gas export. The content is wide spread from use of gas in daily life via sub sea pipeline repair systems to an overview over tomorrows gas fields. (AG)
retrieve detailed aerosol and cloud particle size distribution and shape ...... but on rain types, and hydrometeor characteristics. ..... of ice streams, decreasing sea ice cover in the Arctic, poleward movement of forest cover, and ...
Despite their ecological and economical importance, fishes of the family Ariidae are still genetically and cytogenetically poorly studied. Among the 133 known species of ariids, only eight have been...Full Text Available
An intertidal estuarine sediment core was collected from Esk Estuary in the Irish Sea which had been contaminated by low-level radioactive liquid effluent from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield, UK. The {sup 242}Cm and {sup 243,244}Cm radioactivity concentrations were determined to establish the present contamination levels compared with other radionuclides {sup 137}Cs, {sup 237}Np, {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239,240}Pu, {sup 241}Pu and {sup 241}Am. The results showed that {sup 242}Cm and {sup 244}Cm existed in the detectable levels in the Irish Sea sediment and the concentration of {sup 242m}Am was evaluated from that of {sup 242}Cm. The {sup 242m}Am/{sup 239,240}Pu and {sup 244}Cm/{sup 239,240}Pu inventory ratios in the sediment core were about 0.04% and 0.3%, respectively. The total amount of {sup 242m}Am discharged into the Irish Sea from the start of the operation of BNFL Sellafield in 1952 to 1988 was ...
Only half of the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels stays in the atmosphere. It is thought that the oceans absorb the rest. To understand the world's climate it is necessary to know how the atmosphere, ocean and biosphere interact.
In this study we determined the composition and biogeochemistry of novel, brightly colored, white and orange microbial mats at the surface of a brine seep at the outer rim of the Chefren mud volcano....Full Text Available
On the Dutch North Sea coast, at the Westereems wind farm, the energy supplier Essent is currently implementing one of Europe's largest repowering projects. A total of 88 new wind turbines are going up at Dollart Bay. (orig.)
Major stellar-wind emission features in the spectrum of Eta Car have recently decreased by factors of order 2 relative to the continuum. This is unprecedented in the modern observational record. The simplest, but unproven, explanation is a rapid decrease in the wind density.
Apr 19, 1996 ... I learned that unlike most nuclear submarines that have 3 or more access routes, the NR-1 has just one hatch. At shallow depths, a rubber ...
This article examines the potential threat of marine pollution caused by offshore oil and gas development activities in the disputed areas of the South China Sea (SCS) and the Spratly Islands. After addressing the potential threat of marine pollution, it discusses the legal obligations and political commitment of the SCS littoral states regarding the protection of the marine environment in the area. The role that Taiwan can play in these matters is also examined.
The relationship between short term relative sea-level oscillations and the reef, off-reef deposits geometry of an Upper Devonian third order sequence highstand of the Nisku Formation in west central Alberta was studied through the analysis of high resolution sequence stratigraphy. Hydrocarbon generation was reconstructed by total organic carbon values and migration patterns that were dependent on the geometry of three fourth order sequences. This stratigraphic reconstruction provided the key to recent hydrocarbon discoveries such as in the Brazeau southern reef margin.
...Benthic Marine Bioregionalisation of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone The benthic (sea floor) component of the National Marine Bioregionalisation covers the 80% of Australia's ... Exclusive Economic Zone that lies beyond the continental shelf break. It provides a description of patterns of biological distributions and physical habitats on the seafloor....sea floor) component of the National Marine Bioregionalisation covers the 80% of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone that lies beyond the continental shelf break. It provides a ... Benthic Marine Bioregionalisation of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone Change text size Skip to content Marine Bioregional Planning resources Search: About us Contact us You ...
The most typical kinds of corrosion of brasses are selective corrosion (dezincification) and stress corrosion. Prevention against these kinds of corrosion lies in application of arsenic alloy addition and appropriate heat treatment removing internal stresses as well as in maintaining the arsenic and phosphorus contents on a proper level. The most typical corrosion of cupronickels is the local corrosion. Selective corrosion occurs less often and corrosion cracking caused by stress corrosion in sea water does not usually occur. Crevice corrosion is found especially in places of an heterogeneous oxidation of the surface under inorganic deposits or under bio-film. Common corrosive phenomena for brasses and cupronickels are the effects caused by sea water flow and most often the impingement attack. Alloy additions improve resistance to the action of intensive sea water flow but situation in this field requires further ...
A radioactively contaminated marine sediment core stemming from Irish Sea has been characterized by radiometric and mass spectrometric techniques as for "2"3"7Np, "2"4"1Am, "2"3"9Pu, "2"4"0Pu, "2"4"1Pu, "1"3"7Cs and "1"5"4Eu. The data obtained with independent methods in the framework of a QA/QC program as compared with the source term discharges, as well as with those reported in literature, are in good agreement. (author)
ObjectivesObjectives Not AvailableDescriptionTo determine the effects of water penetration on the burst strength of filament wound composite pipes which have been damaged by impact and then subjected to long term pressurisation with sea water. ~%~ To monitor and characterise the damage and effects of sea water penetration using ultrasonic NDT. To determine the burst strength of bonded composite pipe joints with and without defects and to see whether the defects can be detected using ultrasonic NDT. [continued...
Four HVDC (high voltage DC) {+-} 250kV submarine OF (oil-filled) cables are to be installed each capable of 1.4-million kW for one dipole channel and two returns for forwarding to Yura Switchyard a part of the power to be generated by a Tachibanawan coal-fired power plant to open in 2000. The first cable is now being laid. They are to cover a distance of 48km on the sea bottom, and their 190mm diameter is the largest in the world and this decreases the required number of cables for a reduction in the construction cost. The installation is executed by use of a dedicated cable laying ship loaded with cables. The ship is equipped with five thruster screws by adjusting which a cable is fed into the sea and laid on the bottom with high positional accuracy in all directions, and with a 10m-accurate DPS (Dynamic Positioning System) besides GPS (Global Positioning System). Operating on the sea bottom is a simultaneous ...
Present and potential future changes to the global environment have important implications for marine pollution and for the air-sea exchange of both anthropogenic and natural substances. This report addresses three issues related to the potential impact of global change on the air-sea exchange of chemicals: Global change and the air-sea transfer of the nutrients nitrogen and iron. Global change and the air-sea exchange of gases. Oceanic responses to radiative and oxidative changes in the atmosphere. The deposition of atmospheric anthropogenic nitrogen has probably increased biological productivity in coastal regions along many continental margins. Atmospheric deposition of new nitrogen may also have increased productivity somewhat in mid-ocean regions. The projected future increases of nitrogen oxide emissions from Asia, Africa and South America will provide significant increases in the rate of ...
Magnesium alloys have replaced resins as a material for the components of electronic products such as cell phone and notebook personal computer mainly, because of their lightness and rigidity. Thin walls, a complicated shape, and high appearance quality are all needed in the external parts. Die-casting and injection molding are the main method of manufacturing magnesium alloy parts. The optimal cast conditions and mold design have been investigated in order that a few defects such as surface cracks and mold cavities in casting parts would be reduced. Instead of cast, plastic forming technologies such as warm drawing and hot forging have been developed to form thinner walls and less defects. Plastic formability of magnesium alloy in hot working is dependent on a grain size of material. The material with fine grains has advantage of being formed at high strain rate. The characteristics of forming processes of magnesium parts for Japanese home electric appliances are ...
By improving the currently used lactoperoxidase method, we were able to obtain radioiodinated chicken luteinizing hormone (LH) that shows high specific binding and low nonspecific binding to a crude plasma membrane fraction of testicular cells of the domestic fowl and the Japanese quail, and to the ovarian granulosa cells of the Japanese quail. The change we made from the original method consisted of (1) using chicken LH for radioiodination that was not only highly purified but also retained a high receptor binding potency; (2) controlling the level of incorporation of radioiodine into chicken LH molecules by employing a short reaction time and low temperature; and (3) fractionating radioiodinated chicken LH further by gel filtration using high-performance liquid chromatography. Specific radioactivity of the final {sup 125}I-labeled chicken LH preparation was 14 microCi/micrograms. When specific binding was 12-16%, nonspecific binding was as ...
It is reported that due to the large demand for electricity in Japanese homes and given the fact that the energy consumption rate of air conditioners to the total energy consumption rate in an average home exceeds 20%, an energy saving-type room air conditioner is essential, also for environmental reasons. Japanese customers ranked high running costs as a major drawback of conventional equipment. Toshiba started developing the first generation energy saving air conditioners in 1993. Improvements to the concept were made and the 1995 model offers a heating COP of 4.65 and a cooling COP of 4.3 at rated conditions, an improvement of more than 30% compared to the conventional model. Various component improvements have led to this high performance including the indoor fan design, a DC compressor motor and inverter using digital sampling, advanced (PMV) control technology, and compact heat exchangers. The latest feature is genetic algorithm control. ...
These summary descriptive data of ethnically similar cohorts of indigenous and migrant Japanese males have shown similarities or slight differences in characteristics wholly or largely genetically determined, such as blood groups, stature, and skeletal size. Differences have been noted in characteristics largely environmental or behavioral, such as diet and cigarette smoking habit, as well as in characteristics determined by a varying mixture of genetic and environmental influences, such as weight, blood pressure, glucose tolerance, and serum lipid and uric acid levels. Detailed analyses of the distributions of laboratory variables, of dietary data obtained by different methods, and of correlations among laboratory, dietary, physical, and demographic variables are currently in progress. Also part of the study plan are determinations of disease prevalence from evaluation of examination, laboratory, and electrocardiographic findings, of disease incidence from repeat ...
We analyzed the clinical features of inpatients at a Japanese pediatric department who were infected with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus. Study participants included 46 children hospitalized from July 2009 to January 2010. Infection with the virus was confirmed using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The epidemic month was October 2009; 34 patients were boys, and median age was 7?years. Pandemic influenza-associated respiratory diseases included pneumonia (n?=?42), bronchitis (n?=?3), and pharyngitis (n?=?1). The median time from onset to admission was 3?days. Children were divided into those with severe (n?=?32) versus nonsevere illnesses (n?=?14) according to Japanese guidelines. Significant features in the severe group were younger age, previous asthmatic a...
As the first step for development of the corrosion resistant superheater tube materials of 500 C, 100 ata used in high efficient waste-to-energy plants, field corrosion tests of six conventional alloys were carried out at metal temperatures of 450 C and 550 C for 700 and 3,000 hours in four typical Japanese waste incineration plants. The test results indicate that austenitic alloys containing approximately 80 wt% [Cr+Ni] show excellent corrosion resistance. When the corrosive environment is severe, intergranular corrosion of 40{approximately}200 {micro}m depth occurs in stainless steel and high alloyed materials. It is confirmed quantitatively that corrosion behavior is influenced by environmental corrosion factors such as Cl concentration and thickness of deposits on tube surface, metal temperature, and flue gas temperature. The excellent corrosion resistance of high [Cr+Ni+Mo] alloys such as Alloy 625 is explained by the stability of its protective oxide, such ...
As the first step for development of the corrosion resistant superheater tube materials of 500 C, 100 ata used in high efficient waste-to-energy plants, field corrosion tests of six conventional alloys were carried out at metal temperatures of 450 C and 550 C for 700 and 3,000 hours in four typical Japanese waste incineration plants. The test results indicate that austenitic alloys containing approximately 80 wt% [Cr+Ni] show excellent corrosion resistance. When the corrosive environment is severe, intergranular corrosion of 40#approx#200 microm depth occurs in stainless steel and high alloyed materials. It is confirmed quantitatively that corrosion behavior is influenced by environmental corrosion factors such as Cl concentration and thickness of deposits on tube surface, metal temperature, and flue gas temperature. The excellent corrosion resistance of high [Cr+Ni+Mo] alloys such as Alloy 625 is explained by the stability of its protective oxide, such that the ...
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) and the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) are promoting the joint project integrating both the Neutron Science Project (NSP) of JAERI and the Japan Hadron Facility Project (JHF) of KEK for comprehensive studies on basic science and technology using high-intensity proton accelerator. This document describes the joint project prepared by the Joint Project Team of JAERI and KEK to construct accelerators and research facilities necessary both for the NSP and the JHF at the site of JAERI Tokai Establishment. It was originally written in English and translated into Japanese with some corrections. (author)
A centralized, automatic monitoring system for coal mines has been developed. The system consists of newly-developed and improved sensors, transmission equipment, a minicomputer designed for scientific and technical calculations, and accompanying software (MOLES). MOLES performs six functions: input, computation, decision, memory, output and correction. Previously, centralized monitoring has been limited to single dimensional monitoring of the 'time and point' type. The present system carries out data analysis and processing with respect to time, space and item. It is also capable of simple automatic diagnosis of abnormalities. (In Japanese)
An account of problems arising in the use of coal ash and red mud as filling or banking materials. The soil engineering properties of these materials are explained. Problems encountered in on-site use include difficulty in controlling moisture content, absorption swelling and strongly alkaline atmospheres. For long-term use, it will be necessary to minimize the variations in engineering characteristics and in quality that result from the method of discharge and from the raw materials themselves. There must also be thorough quality control during shipment. (7 refs.) (In Japanese)
In Japan, cosmetics claiming hormesis effect are available through Internet. Although these cosmetics show the contents, they never mention the minor elements and radioactive sources. The existence of radioisotopes, however, was observed by measurements of the gamma-rays with a HPGe detector. In this study, in order to clarify the contents of trace elements, the hormesis cosmetics including radioactive sources were analyzed using INAA, PGAA and NAA with multiple gamma-ray detection (NAAMG). Nineteen elements were analyzed quantitatively in hormesis cosmetics by INAA, PGAA and NAAMG and 16 elements were detected qualitatively by SEM-EPMA. (author)
Gasification and hydrogenation are the two basic routes for coal processing. Accounts are given of various low-temperature processes in coal gasification route A: air separation, removal of sour gas by the Rectisol process, liquid nitrogen washing, the material balance and utility consumption of these processes, plus low-temperature gas separation, partial condensation and methane washing. There are also accounts of the low-temperature processes involved in gasification route B: i.e., in the indirect coal liquefaction and direct liquefaction carried out in the Sasol II and III processes. (3 refs.) (In Japanese)
Epoxy-resin based neutron shielding material, NS-4-FR, is used for spent fuel transport and/or storage cask. In this paper the outline of thermal aging test performed to evaluate the heating effect on this neutron shielding material, NS-4-FR, is introduced. The test is consisted of two kinds of thermal aging test, one is 'Basic Test' and the other is 'Block Heating Test'. The former is cooperatively performed by ten Japanese Electrical Power Companies, and the latter is done by GESC and NOF Corporation. (authors)
Epoxy-resin based neutron shielding material, NS-4-FR, is used for spent fuel transport and/or storage cask. In this paper the outline of thermal aging test performed to evaluate the heating effect on this neutron shielding material, NS-4-FR, is introduced. The test is consisted of two kinds of thermal aging test, one is 'Basic Test' and the other is 'Block Heating Test'. The former is cooperatively performed by ten Japanese Electrical Power Companies, and the latter is done by GESC and NOF Corporation. (authors)
The prompt neutron spectra of {sup 241}Am, {sup 242m}Am, and {sup 243}Am were evaluated for the next version of Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library, using the methodology developed by the authors. The method is based on the Madland-Nix theory with some improvements to consider the multimodal nature of the fission process, and shell effects on the level density parameters and the neutron multiplicity from light and heavy fragments. The results were compared with previous evaluations. (authors)
The world steel industry and market and the current status and prospects for the Japanese steel industry are discussed with particular reference to China, Europe, and the US. Trends in coking coal supply from Australia, Canada, and Mongolia and changes in demand for hard and semi-soft coking coals are considered. Canadian coal plays a significant role in the hard coking coal and PCI coal markets. This is expected to continue. Emerging concerns include the strong Canadian dollar and increases in fuel and materials costs. Canadian suppliers are asked to improve efficiencies, be competitive in the overall coal chain, and diversify their PCI coal reserves. 14 figs.
CNPT-3 is the laboratory designation of a strain of bacteria that reproduces best at deep-sea pressures. It was isolated from a sample collected at a 5800 m depth of the Pacific Ocean. This isolation was achieved from a sample that had been retrieved without warning. This year we demonstrated that there are similarly behaving bacteria that can be isolated from samples even when retrieved with decompression. The purpose of this project was to define the temperatures and pressures over which CNPT-3 can exist and function. (1) At 2"0C CNPT-3 is eurybathic from about 1000 to 6500 m, as judged from an only slightly pressure dependent generation time. (2) CNPT-3 is unquestionably barophilic at 2"0C, with doubling times of 9 hours at 580 bars and over 18 hours at 1 bar. (3) At 10"0C, reproduction is adversely affected at 1 bar to the extent that CNPT-3 becomes obligately barophilic at 10"0C. Yet reproduction is enhanced above 280 bars and occurs with a regeneration time ...
We have done analysis of elements in the Baltic sea sediment by using gamma spectrometry in neutron activation analysis Goal of the analysis is to determine the rate of morsel elements which is contained in the Baltic sea sediment. Sample of the Baltic sea Sediment (IAEA-SED-1), Standard of Reference Material (SRM) 1646 Estuarine Sediment and Standard Ce, Fe, Sc, and Co are put into vial of capsule rabbit, then irradiated together for 30 minutes in rabbit facility Multi Purpose Reactor at power of 25 MW and then cooled for one week. Next sample, standard, and SRM which have irradiated, each is cut for 30 minutes using gamma spectrometer. Result of analysis of rate of elements Ce, Fe, Sc and Co in the baltic sea sediment successively equal to 141.20 ppm, 5.91 %, 14.88 ppm, and 19.59 ppm. Result of analysis in SRM Estuarine sediment successively equal to 96.60 ppm, 3.21 %, 10.25 ppm, and 9.63 ppm. Result ...
The reduced polluting emissions make natural gas a quite interesting alternative fuel for automotive applications. Therefore a car diesel engine has been transformed into a dual fuel engine with pilot injection via the common rail injection system used to ignite the methane-air charge. Standard injection pumps show a certain instability at low flow rates and high engine speed. On the opposite the new common rail system allows to ignite the fuel in all conditions with an amount of gas oil less than 8% of the entire energy required by the engine was enough to ignite the fuel. Furthermore, a power increase has been obtained, with an overall efficiency equal to or even higher than a conventional engine. The article deals with a series of test carried out on 1929 cm{sup 3} direct injection turbo-charged engine and presents the preliminary results. [Italian] La riduzione delle emissioni inquinanti rende il metano un combustibile alternativo piuttosto interessante per applicazioni ...
The Coastal Zone Sector of the Canadian Climate Impact and Adaptation Research Network (C-CIARN) was established to address concerns regarding climate change in coastal areas. Coastal zones are sensitive to increases in air, sea and ground temperatures as well as to variations in sea level, precipitation, ice thickness, and storm intensity. This report presents the results of a workshop which focused on how coastal communities will be affected by climate induced water level changes, particularly sea-level rise on ocean coasts and decreasing lake levels in the Great Lakes. The workshop addressed issues such as the effects of changing water levels on coastal infrastructure, utilities, community development, and the implications of changing water levels to human safety, cultural resources, tourism, and insurance. The workshop reviewed the current state of understanding on water level fluctuations resulting from climate change. ...
Site measurements were collected at Mount John University Observatory in 2005 and 2007 using a purpose-built scintillation detection and ranging system. $C_n^2(h)$ profiling indicates a weak layer located at 12 - 14 km above sea level and strong low altitude turbulence extending up to 5 km. During calm weather conditions, an additional layer was detected at 6 - 8 km above sea level. $V(h)$ profiling suggests that tropopause layer velocities are nominally 12 - 30 m/s, and near-ground velocities range between 2 -- 20 m/s, dependent on weather. Little seasonal variation was detected in either $C_n^2(h)$ and $V(h)$ profiles. The average coherence length, $r_0$, was found to be $7 \\pm 1$ cm for the full profile at a wavelength of 589 nm. The average isoplanatic angle, $\\theta_0$, was $1.0 \\pm 0.1$ arcsec. The mean turbulence altitude, $\\bar{h_0}$, was found to be $2.0\\pm0.7$ km above sea level. No average in the Greenwood ...
An experimental campaign, aiming to investigate the perturbation effects induced by fixed obstacles on turbulence measurements in airflows at the air-sea interface, was carried out at the marine platform of the Italian Navy, located in the harbour of La Spezia (North Ligurian Sea, Italy) on 28., 29., and 30. June 1994. This study was prompted by the ever-growing interest in more reliable estimates of energy, mass, and momentum exchanges between water surfaces and atmosphere, whose measurements are severely limited by the geometrical constraints of floating or fixed platforms where they are installed. Two types of meteorological instruments have been used: fast response (20 and 21 Hz) ultrasonic anemometers and fluxmeters to measure turbulent momentum, sensible, and latent heat fluxes and slow-response sensors (less than 4 Hz and sampled at a rate of 10{sup 2} Hz) to measure average wind and temperature vertical profiles in the perturbed ...
Measurements of dissolved and atmospheric nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O) are presented for three coastal environments: (1) the central North Sea, (2) the German Bight, and (3) the Gironde estuary. The contribution of coastal regions to the oceanic emissions of atmospheric N{sub 2}O were also determined. N{sub 2}O was measured with a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector and analyzed. The surface waters of the central North Sea and the German bight were found to be near equilibrium with the overlying atmosphere, while the mean saturation in the Gironde estuary was 132%. Mean saturations in coastal regions without estuaries or upwelling phenomena were only slightly higher than in the open ocean. When estuaries and regions with upwelling are included, however, approximately 60% of the oceanic N{sub 2}O flux is attributable to coastal regions. A review of published data indicated that previous studies have seriously underestimated ...
Measurements of the small-, intermediate-, and large-ion concentrations and the atmospheric electric conductivity of both polarities have been made over the Arabian Sea on four cruises of ORV Sagarkanya during the Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment (ARMEX)during the monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons of 2002 and 2003. Seasonally averaged values of the total as well as polar conductivity are much higher during the monsoon than pre-monsoon season. Surprisingly, however, the concentration of small ions are less and those of large and intermediate ions are more during the monsoon than pre-monsoon season. The diurnal variations observed during the pre-monsoon season show that the nighttime small ion concentrations are about an order of magnitude higher than their daytime values. On the contrary, the daytime concentrations of the intermediate and large ions are much higher than those of their nighttime values. No such diurnal variations in ion ...
Over the last four decades the Irish Sea has received controlled discharges of radioactive effluents from the Sellafield (Windscale) nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria, UK. Enhanced levels of a range of fission, activation and transuranic elements have been reported in a variety of environmental media. Most of the {sup 239,240}Pu and {sup 241}Am and about 10% of the {sup 137}Cs have been retained in a deposit of the fine sediment near the discharge point. The quantities of radionuclides discharged annually from Sellafield decreased by two orders of magnitude from the mid-1970s to 1990, but estimated critical group internal and external exposure decreased by less than one order of magnitude over this period. Redistribution of the contaminated marine sediment is potentially of major significance. In this paper, a review is presented of published work and recent our study relating to Sellafield waste long-lived radionuclides, especially transuranium elements, ...
Notched and smooth cylindrical plasma nitrided (PN) and quench and tempered (Q and T) steel specimens made of a B-Mn SS2131 ({approx}AISI 15B21H) steel have been exposed to constant amplitude plane reversed bending corrosion fatigue tests (R = -1) at 47 Hz in sea water. S - N curves show that sea water suppresses the fatigue limit and reduces fatigue strength (especially at long lives) of smooth and notched Q and T and PN specimens. Plasma nitriding improves the corrosion fatigue resistance of Q and T specimens; this is associated with the good corrosion resistance of {epsilon} and {gamma}`-phases, the enhancement of corrosion and fatigue by compressive residual stresses, and the consumption of H{sup +} ions during reduction of nitrogen. This improvement is more significant for smooth specimens and for long lives. Notch sensitivity of Q and T and PN specimens decreases with fatigue life. Pitting corrosion, cyclic applied stress and residual ...
Denting studies have been undertaken in order to assess the influence of the most important parameters which could initiate corrosion of the carbon-steel occurring in the tube-tube support plate crevices of some PWR steam generators. Tests have been carried out in model boilers, feedwater being polluted with sea or river water. Specific effect of chloride or sulfate and influence of oxygen content, magnetite addition and pH value were investigated. In magnetite prepacked crevices, denting is obtained within 1000 hours for sea-water pollution of 0.3 ppm chloride at the blowdown. In neutral chloride or in river water denting is observed only with oxygen addition. Denting prevention is effective in the case of an on-line addition of phosphate, boric acid or calcium hydroxide. For denting stopping, boric acid or calcium hydroxide is efficient even with a high sea-water pollution. Soaks cannot stop denting if they are not ...
Sub sea pipeline construction at oil and gas fields, with high concentration of on-bottom facilities, becomes more difficult when mooring operations and pipeline approach to a congested platform have to be performed. One method that has often been applied in Brazil is the so-called 'DP (Dynamic Positioning) pull-in', where PETROBRAS owned pipelay Barge, BGL-1, is moored away from the congested area, while a DP anchor handler pulls the rigid pipeline from BGL-1 to a target near the platform. The method was conceived to avoid mooring operations near the congested platforms as well as to minimize risks due to the pipeline initiation process. Inside the congested area the initiation with aid of a 'dead-man' anchor on the sea bottom, which would be a more conventional solution, becomes impossible in most cases. This paper will discuss the engineering work required to perform the 'DP pull-in' as ...
Until 1990, in Tuscany, salt pollution of anti-salt insulators installed on high-tension transmission lines had led to rare breakdowns. On the contrary, in the last months of 1990, in most of Tuscany, following a strong libeccio wind coming from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and due to a long period of drought, salt deposits accumulated on the insulators of the high-voltage transmission lines (380 kV, 220 kV and 132 kV). This phenomenon not only took place in the coastal areas near Livorno, Pisa and Grosseto, but also in areas far away from the sea such as Florence, Prato, Arezzo and Siena. Following this, several high-tension lines, and whole sections of 380 kV electric stations went out of order, damaging the stations' equipment, insulators on the lines, and in particular porcelain insulators. The maintenance operations that were immediately undertaken consisted in washing operations, first focussed on stations, and then on lines. Several ...
Until 1990, in Tuscany, salt pollution of anti-salt insulators installed on high-tension transmission lines had led to rare breakdowns. On the contrary, in the last months of 1990, in most of Tuscany, following a strong libeccio wind coming from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and due to a long period of drought, salt deposits accumulated on the insulators of the high-voltage transmission lines (380 kV, 220 kV and 132 kV). This phenomenon not only took place in the coastal areas near Livorno, Pisa and Grosseto, but also in areas far away from the sea such as Florence, Prato, Arezzo and Siena. Following this, several high-tension lines, and whole sections of 380 kV electric stations went out of order, damaging the stations' equipment, insulators on the lines, and in particular porcelain insulators. The maintenance operations that were immediately undertaken consisted in washing operations, first focussed on stations, and then on lines. Several hundred men ...
The oceanic phytoplancton productivity may essentially influence the total rate of the atmospheric CO{sub 2} absorption by the ocean - that is, a considerable amount of CO{sub 2} will be taken-up in the 50 micrometers thick layer near the air-sea interface. Even if phytoplancton production constitutes only 5% of the total oceanic biota production, this will increase the rate of CO{sub 2} absorption more than twice compared with the present estimates. The reason is that metabolic activity of phytoplancton leads to the emergence in a thin scin (50 micrometers, the average size of phytoplancton cells) layer near the water surface of an additional minimum in the CO{sub 2} partial pressure profile and of an additional maximum of {Delta} {sup 13}C in the same area. These two extremums cannot be detected if the corresponding characteristics are averaged over any microscopic area in the well mixing layer that is more than 1 meter deep, which is usually the case when the ...
The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, Lepidochelys kempi, is an endangered species. The National Marine Fisheries Service's Head Start program is part of an international operation to save the turtles from extinction. Under the Head Start program, eggs from the Ridley's only known wild nesting beach at Rancho Nuevo in Mexico are transported to Padre Island on the Texas coast to be hatched. The head start enables the turtles to develop a survival advantage. The principal objective was to develop baseline waste-characterization data required to design a waste-water treatment scheme for the Galveston Head Start facility. As a secondary objective, preliminary testing of some filtration components was undertaken to determine which units were most appropriate for inclusion in a wastewater treatment scheme.
Three companies--Amerada Hess Ltd., Shell Expro (a 50/50 joint partnership between Shell and Esso) and Texaco--have joined forces in a project that will combine their expertise. The Triton project will allow three fields (Bittern, Guillemot West and Gullemot Northwest) to be developed simultaneously using subsea technology, with the wellheads on the seafloor and 68 miles (110 km) of flowlines taking oil and gas produced from the fields to a central floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. These fields are located in the central area of the North Sea, about 118 miles from Aberdeen in 295 ft of water. The paper discusses the development of the fields, subsea technology, technical challenges, laying the pipeline, and project completion.
Changes in cell density and cyst flux of Alexandrium tamarense, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxin contents in shellfishes, and environmental parameters were measured in two stations in Daya Bay, South China Sea from March 2005 to July 2006. Vegetative cells of A. tamarense occurred sporadically; however, they presented abundantly during the winter months. Meanwhile, cyst flux reached its maximum level just following the peak abundance of motile cells. The PSP contents in shellfish were generally low, but higher in winter with the maximum of 14,015 @mg STX equiv./kg. The majority of toxins were found in digestive glands, with a maximum of 66,227 @mg STX equiv./kg. There were significant positive relationships between toxin level and vegetative cell density and cyst flux. This indica...
Greenhouse-effect induced climate change repercussions will, via the catchment areas of big rivers, eventually arrive in amplified form at the far downstream coastal zones of the world. In the coastal zone these imported problems will add to the locally exerted climate change effects, while the climate change induced sea-level rise will attack the coastal zone from the other side, both by flooding and by saline groundwater intrusion. These multiple problems will hit the coastal zone, which is already under increasing stress. The combined threats require fast and massive support for national Coastal Zone Management capabilities, which could help to limit the damage and to support planning for sustainable development. Recommendations are presented to facilitate implementation of Coastal Zone Management units in all coastal countries by the year 2000.
Many of the world's coral reefs suffered high coral mortality during the 1998 ENSO, with the highest mortality in the western Indian Ocean (WIO). A meta-analysis of field data on change in coral cover across the 1998 ENSO event was conducted for 36 major reef areas in the WIO, and relationship of the change with the historical sea-surface temperature (SST) variability investigated. WIO reefs were categorized into three major SST groups of differing coral cover change. Cover change was negatively associated with standard deviation (SD) SST until about SD 2.3, with increasing flatness of the SST frequency distributions. It increased with further increase in SD as the SST distributions became strongly bimodal in the Arabian/Persian Gulf area. The study indicates that environmental resistance/...
The author investigates whether the international law regime so far has developed any legal principles dealing with the problem of the dumping of radioactive waste in the sub-seabed, and whether any of such provisions available adequately tackle the problem in the light of the gravity of danger emanating from radioactive waste. The study covers over 30 different texts of international treaties and protocols. Points of main interest are the London Dumping Convention and the Montego Bay Convention on the Law of the Sea. The author concludes that the disposal of radioactive waste into the seabed belongs to the permissible, although not specially allowed activities within the framework of the freedom of the high seas, and therefore urgently calls for establishing an international regulatory system pertaining to the planning and accomplishment of such activities. An outline legal concept of a regulatory system is explained. (orig./HSCH).
Two new triterpene glycosides, patagonicosides B and C (2 and 3, resp.), together with the known patagonicoside A (1), have been isolated from the EtOH extract of the sea cucumber Psolus patagonicus. The structures of the new compounds were established on the basis of extensive NMR spectroscopic analysis ((1)H- and (13)C-NMR, (1)H,(1)H-COSY, HMBC, HSQC, TOCSY, and NOESY), HR-ESI-MS data, and chemical transformations. Compounds 1-3 and their desulfated analogs showed antifungal activities against the phytopathogenic fungus Cladosporium cladosporoides in a dose-dependent fashion. PMID:21404430
Many coastal areas have served as repositories of different anthropogenic and naturally induced organic material and nutrients. The major sources thereof are riverine inputs which strongly influence the spatial and temporal distribution of benthic communities. In this study, the benthic foraminiferal, meiofaunal, and macrofaunal colonies in front of three rivers in a poorly known, but environmentally valuable, area of the Central Adriatic Sea have been examined concurrently. The physico-chemical parameters of bottom water and sediment characteristics were determined in order to characterize both the sediment?water interface and the benthic environments. Although changes in the biota are neither univocal nor unidirectional, a moderate influence of riverine input on the different communities...
The roughness length at air-sea interface during free convection (Z0fc) is mainly related to the convective velocity (w) rather than the friction velocity (u). The parameterization of Z0fc with (w)2/g as proposed by Abdella and D'Alessio (2003) is evaluated. It is shown that the field measurements at MM Lab, Tarapur Maharashtra Site (TMS) coastal site using Metek GmbH, Ultra sonic anemometers are consistent with the proposed formula. In order to avoid self-correlation by using u, a new parameterization of w with ?u and ?v and gustiness parameter as given by Fairall et al. (1996) is used. The mean values of w and Z0fc estimated using new parameterization were observed to be 0.97 m/s and 2.3E-4 m respectively for the year 2009 at TMS. (author)
Discussions on a form of a frequency spectrum of wind-driven sea waves just above the spectral maximum continue during the last three decades. In 1958 Phillips made a conjecture that wave breaking is the main mechanism responsible for the spectrum formation. That leads to the spectrum decay $\\sim \\omega^{-5}$, where $\\omega$ is the frequency of the waves. There is a contradiction between the numerous experimental data and this spectrum. The experiments show decay $\\sim\\omega^{-4}$. There are two general ways of the explanation of this phenomenon. The first one (proposed by Banner (1990)) takes into account the Doppler effect due to surface circular currents generated by long waves in the Phillips model. The second approach ascends to the work by Zakharov and Filonenko (1968). It is based on four-wave interactions in the kinetic equation and gives good agreement with the experimental data. In this article the contribution to the Phillips model due to the ...
In 1946, the Philippines raised claims in the South China Sea over an area already known as Spratly Islands. This claim advanced through peculiar stages, starting when Thomas Cloma allegedly discovered islands in 1946, later named as Freedomland, and maturing to some extent in 1978 by the governments claim over the so-called Kalayaan Island Group. Considered as an oceanic expansion of its frontiers, this paper reviews the basis of the claim, first over the nature of Clomas activities, and secondly over the measures the Philippine government took as a reaction of Clomas claim of discovery of an area already known in western cartography as the Spratlys. Eventually, what is the nature of the link between the 1978 Kalayaan Islands Groups official claim and 1956 Clomas private one?
The PARLOC Pipeline and Incident Databases provide the most complete information available on North Sea pipelines and risers from 1975. The database information enables the frequency of incidents which either result, or have a potential to result, in loss of containment to be related to the pipeline population as a whole or expressed as a function of particular pipeline characteristics. The importance of the PARLOC study in risk assessments of offshore pipelines is acknowledged worldwide and it is recognized as having contributed positively to their safer operation. Continuing improvements ensure that it remains a key reference in risk assessment studies. This paper describes the improvements which are being made to the study and shows how PARLOC is being used by the offshore industry in the consideration of pipeline safety. The rationalization of current arrangements for regulating pipeline safety presented in the new UK Pipeline Safety Regulations offer an ...
The exceptional ability of marine sponges to adapt to often drastic changes of their environments could be due to special structural features in cell membranes, including firstly phospholipids (PL). Thus, PL class composition was investigated in marine sponges (22 species from 19 genera to 15 families) originating from various locations (East Atlantic, North Atlantic, South-West Pacific, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Arabian?Persian Gulf). The quantitative determination of PL class composition was obtained by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) with scanning densitometry of the different spots. Previous reports have shown phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) as the major PL class in marine sponges, followed by phosphatidylcholine (PC), while other papers described PC as a minor class...
Since August 1984, the MITRE Corporation has been supporting the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and the Naval Medical Command (NAVMEDCOM) in their joint efforts to enhance the Navy Occupational Health Information Management System (NOHIMS). The goal of the enhancement effort was to create a comprehensive occupational health and safety system for Navy industrial facilities by expanding upon the original NOHIMS functions and adding modules for hazard deficiency abatement, hazardous-material control, injury claims and compensation, and safety and health training. To meet this goal, MITRE developed an enhanced industrial subsystem, referred to as the Occupational Safety and Health Record Keeping System (OSHRKS), using a prototyping approach and a public-domain data base-management software package, the Veterans Administration's (VA's) FileManager (FileMan).
Meiji (Mischief) coral atoll, in Nansha (Spratly) Islands, South China Sea, consists of an annular reef rim surrounding a central lagoon. On the atoll rim there are either protuberant ?motu? (small coral patch reefs on the rim of atoll) islets or lower sandy cays that contain modern microbialite deposits on the corals in pinnacles and surrounding bottoms of the atoll. Microbialites, including villiform, hairy, and thin spine growth forms, as well as gelatinous masses, mats and encrustation, developed on coral colonies and atoll rim sediments between 0 and 15 m deep-water settings. The microbialites were produced by natural populations of filamentous cyanobacteria and grew on (1) bulbous corals together with Acropora sp., (2) on massive colonies of Galaxea fascicularis, (3) on dead Montipor...
The known metazoa parasite fauna of the invasive round goby Apollonia melanostoma (formerly Neogobius melanostomus) consists of 12 species. The core of the parasite fauna comprises two species: Cryptocotyle concavum and Diplostomum spathaceum; secondary species are absent; satellite species include Cercariae gen. sp. and Ergasilus sieboldi; rare species are Acanthocephalus lucii, Anguillicola crassus, Bothriocephalus sp., Dichelyne minutus, Hysterothylacium aduncum, Pomphorhynchus laevis, Piscicola geometra, and Tylodelphys clavata. Fifty percent of metazoa parasites that occurred in the invasive round goby in the Gulf of Gda?sk (an invasion that was first detected in 1990) are also typically found in the native Gulf of Gda?sk gobiids. The round goby hosts common fish parasite species: C. ...
...Marine Flatworms provides a fascinating introduction to the intriguing world of polyclad flatworms, a group of large, free-living marine Platyhelminthes, which are found throughout the world but are most colourful in tropical waters. Although not related to molluscs, they are often mistaken for sea slugs ...com Marine Flatworms provides a fascinating introduction to the intriguing world of polyclad flatworms, a group of large, free-living marine Platyhelminthes, which are found throughout the world but are most colourful in tropical waters. Although not related to molluscs, they are often mistaken for sea ...the world Over 300 stunning full colour photographs Brings together polyclads worldwide Newly developed key to polyclad families Introduction The world of worms Flatworms (Phylum:Platyhelminthes) Segmented Worms (Phylum: Annelida) Round worms (Nematoda) Other worms The polyclad body Habitat and lifestyle Colours and ...
Ozone plays a critical role in both the chemistry and radiation balance of the troposphere. Understanding the factors controlling tropospheric ozone levels is critical to our understanding of a variety of issues in global chemistry and climate change. Chlorine atoms have the potential to contribute significantly to the ozone balance in the free troposphere. They can react directly with ozone or alternately, with organics and may actually lead to the formation of ozone in the presence of sufficient NO. Reactions of alkali halides in sea salt particles are a potential source of atomic chlorine, hence reactions of these alkali halides, especially those producing precursors to atomic chlorine, are of great interest. Finally, the mechanisms, intermediates and products of the Cl-biogenic reactions are unknown; these could serve as unique markers of chlorine atom chemistry in the troposphere, and hence are important to define.
The gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata, represents an important economic resource for Mediterranean aquaculture. In spite of its wide geographic distribution and economic importance, only recently studies have been carried out on the genetic composition of natural populations, which have revealed a picture of a heterogeneous degree of genetic differentiation among S. aurata populations. In this study an allozyme analysis of samples from six different collecting sites along the Italian and Croatian coasts was carried out, covering an area in the Central Mediterranean sea that has yet to be investigated through gene-enzyme systems. Data on 26 gene loci, 10 of which are polymorphic, indicate a slight but significant genetic structure (FST = 0.0167) of the species. A hierarchical analysis of pop...
An assessment study of the sea water scrubbing process for flue gas desulfurization has been made by SINTEF. This project has been financially supported by the Royal Ministry of Environment of Norway. The study is based on three FGD-units which are installed at three oil-fired, industrial boilers respectively with a maximum continuous heat input of 130 MW (27 MW + 2x51.5 MW) corresponding to approximately 50 MWE (10 MWE + 2x20 MWE) generating capacity for a power plant having a net efficiency of 38%.
Pursuant to statement issued by the Government of Vietnam on 12 May 1977, on the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the continental shelf of Vietnam, and according to the provisions of the LOS Convention, the EEZ of Vietnam extends principally up to 200NM from the baseline, and the area of EEZ amounts to about one million square km including the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands [The declaration of the Government of Vietnam on the territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, Hanoi, 1977]. The establishment of EEZ has significantly changed circumstances for the fisheries sector in Vietnam.Recently, even though the adaptation of new techniques and technologies to the fisheries sector has been somewh...
World demand for rare-earth elements and the metal yttrium?which are crucial for novel electronic equipment and green-energy technologies?is increasing rapidly. Several types of seafloor sediment harbour high concentrations of these elements. However, seafloor sediments have not been regarded as a rare-earth element and yttrium resource, because data on the spatial distribution of these deposits are insufficient. Here, we report measurements of the elemental composition of over 2,000 seafloor sediments, sampled at depth intervals of around one metre, at 78 sites that cover a large part of the Pacific Ocean. We show that deep-sea mud contains high concentrations of rare-earth elements and yttrium at numerous sites throughout the eastern South and central North Pacific. We estimate that an a...
Abstract The efficacy of iodine and glutaraldehyde as fish egg surface disinfectants were assessed in red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) and white sea bream (Diplodus sargus sargus) eggs, two species of interest for Mediterranean aquaculture. Iodine was effective in reducing the bacterial load of the 1-day-old eggs when applied at 50 mg L-1 for 5 min. The same concentration did not cause any significant change in hatching success or survival of the larvae for the first 5 days. Glutaraldehyde failed to reduce the bacterial load of the fish eggs at concentrations that were safe for the eggs (100 mg L-1 for 5 min), as it had a significant effect in preventing hatching of the developed embryo. Disinfecting 0-day-old eggs with iodine resulted in a significant reduction of hatching percentage, while larv...
In certain regions of the sea floor, water and methane from organic depositions have turned into a burnable form of ice, i.e. methane hydrates which contain more stored energy than all fossil fuel reserves. If they should desintegrate as a result of global heating, methane will be released and will contribute to further global heating. [Deutsch] Im Boden bestimmter Meeresregionen haben sich Wasser und Methan aus organischen Ablagerungen zu einer brennbaren Form von Eis vereinigt. Diese Methanhydrate speichern mehr Energie als alle fossilen Brennstoffvorraete. Wenn sie sich bei einer globalen Erwaermung zersetzen, koennte das entweichende Methan als Treibhausgas die Erde noch mehr aufheizen. (orig.)
Abstract: The basement of the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent areas can be divided into six divisions (regions) - Paleozoic Erathem graben-faulted basement division in Beibu Gulf, Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip pull-apart in Yinggehai waters, Paleozoic Erathem faulted-depression in eastern Hainan, Paleozoic Erathem rifted in northern Xisha (Paracel), Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip extending in southern Xisha, and Paleozoic-Mesozoic Erathem extending in Nansha Islands (Spratly) waters. The Pre-Cenozoic basement in the SCS and Yunkai continental area are coeval within the Tethyan tectonic domain in the Pre-Cenozoic Period. They are formed on the background of the Paleo-Tethyan tectonic domain, and are important components of the Eastern Tethyan multi-island-ocean system. Three branches of t...
From aerosol spectral optical depths ({tau}{sub p{lambda}}) at wavelengths in the range 380 to 1025 nm estimated at different locations in the near and far coastal regions of the Arabian sea adjoining the western coast of central India, the spatial and spectral characteristics of coastal aerosols and the effect of the proximity to the (urban) continent are investigated. The Aangstroem parameters are deduced from {tau}{sub p{lambda}} values. A significant increase, both in aerosol optical depths at shorter (visible) wavelengths ({lambda} {<=} 600 nm) and the Aangstroem wavelength exponent are observed in the near coastal regions, suggesting an increase in the (relative) concentration of sub micron particles, apparently of anthropogenic origin. The Aangstroem turbidity coefficient remains nearly steady spatially, indicating a (spatially) uniform loading of large particles. 31 refs, 10 figs, 1 tab
In recent years, offshore reservoirs have been developed in deeper and deeper water environments. Steel catenary risers (SCRs) are being considered in deepwater development such as Northern North Sea. SCRs used in conjunction with a semi-submersible or floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) in deepwater harsh environments present significant design challenges. The large vertical motions at the semi or FPSO induce severe riser response, which results in difficulty meeting strength and fatigue criteria at the hang off and touch down point locations. To improve the understanding of SCR behaviour and increase the confidence in the design of such systems in deepwater harsh environments, a parametric study on a SCR connected to a semi-submersible was carried out in this paper to deal...
Purpose Degeneration of the gingival margin and periodontal bone loss between segments can occur in various segmental osteotomies. However, treatment and management of these problems have not yet been resolved; improvement of the conventional method is necessary. The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the usefulness and advantage of orthodontic devices in osteotomies. Patients and Methods Forty Japanese adults presented with jaw deformities diagnosed as mandibular prognathism with maxillary protrusion, bimaxillary protrusion, and anterior crowding. Of these 40 patients, 20 (group 1) underwent anterior segmental osteotomy or dento-osseous osteotomy along with our original orthodontic periodontal management. The remaining 20 (group 2) patients underwent conventional procedure...
Babcock and Wilcox Volund is a major European provider of energy producing plants based on biomass and waste materials, which was founded in 1898 and today employs about 400 persons with headquarters and manufacturing in Esbjerg, Denmark. The R and D staff is about 10 persons, concentrating on gasification and improvement of traditional products. The Company turnover is about 120 mio. Euro annually, of which about 80 % is exported (50 % outside Europe - mostly far East). In 2000 the Company was acquired by US Company Babcock and Wilcox. In 1988 Volund initiated the development of updraft wood-chips gasifier Technology, which led to the commissioning of the Harboore gasifier early 1994. The work was supported in part by the Danish ELKRAFT Power Utilities and the Danish Energy Agency. The development process was carried out until 2002 and Volund now just concluded a license agreement with the Japanese engineering Company JFE. The overall layout for the Harboore plant ...
Testbed trials of the Sulzer RTA84 dual-fuel engine were successfully completed at the IHI Aioi engine works (Japan) in April 1986. This newly-developed engine, output range 15 to 40 MW, can be operated with both diesel or heavy oil and methane gas at comparable thermal efficiency and unchanged output. The RTA dual-fuel engine was developed in close collaboration between Sulzer Brothers Limited, Switzerland and its Japanese licensees Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (IHI), Nippon Kokan KK (NKK) and Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. (SHI). Intended for the propulsion of LNG carriers, where the boil-off gas from the ship's cargo is exploited or for the generation of electricity in stationary plants, the RTA dual-fuel engine is an economic and reliable alternative to the steam or gas turbines.
Test bed trials of the Sulzer RTA84 dual-fuel engine were successfully completed at the IHI Aioi engine works (Japan) in April 1986. This newly-developed engine-type, output range 15 to 40 MW, can be operated with both diesel or heavy oil and methane gas at comparable thermal efficiency and unchanged output. The RTA dual-fuel engine was developed in close collaboration between Sulzer Brothers Limited and its Japanese licenses. Intended for the propulsion of LNG carriers, where the boil-off gas from the ship's cargo is exploited for the generation of electricity in stationary plants, the RTA dual-fuel engines is an economic and reliable alternative to the steam or gas turbine. The performance of the engine is discussed.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is the most lethal form of diffuse lung fibrosis, killing approximately half of those affected within 2-3 years of diagnosis. Until recently, no therapies had been shown to have an impact on disease progression. The Clinical Studies Assessing Pirfenidone (Esbriet) in IPF: Research of Efficacy and Safety Outcomes (CAPACITY) program comprised two almost identical double-blind placebo-controlled studies assessing the effects of pirfenidone on change in forced vital capacity, the primary end point, over a 72-week period. One of these studies was positive, matching in magnitude the benefit seen in two previous positive Japanese studies. The other study did not meet its primary end point but positive trends were consistent in this and a number of secondary end point...
The objective of this paper is to give an overview on the seismic evaluation and retrofitting procedures of reinforced concrete buildings within JICA technical cooperation project in Romania. The content of the paper covers a) an outline of the seismic evaluation; history and comparison of Romanian seismic design codes with the Japanese seismic evaluation guidelines, b) an outline of the retrofitting techniques which were transferred from Japan to Romania and structural tests for retrofitting techniques employed in Romania and c) retrofitting details that were used by JICA/NCSRR in the retrofitting design of two vulnerable buildings in Bucharest. The above-mentioned retrofitting projects are now under development of detailed design and therefore, in the near future, refining and improvement of solutions will be performed. (authors)
Long term indoor radon gas measurements using a passive monitor were conducted in the basement rooms of five hospitals, which are built in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The ventilation rate averaged over all hospital was 12.3 air change per hour (ACH). The highest radon concentration was 56.3 Bq/m"3. The value averaged concentration over all hospital and all season was 20 Bq/m"3. But the average of the two hospitals were twice as high as those of three others. Since the total ventilation rate integrated over a day is not different much, the reason of the concentration difference is considered to be the difference in radon emission rate from concrete wall and soil of the each hospital. Though we inquired workers about 'Environmental complaints', it do not show the direct relation between radon and environmental complaints. (author)
As the world's largest creditor nation, with some of the world's largest banks and leading industries, Japan is often portrayed as an economic and financial superpower. With long-established 'Western-style' financial institutions to represent it in all the world's major financial capitals and markets, a technologically savvy Japan is often said to be positioning itself to lead Asia, the Asia/Pacific region, or even the entire world, into the marvels of the twenty-first century. Against this continuing rhetorical backdrop, however, fundamental questions arise as to Japan's ability to internationalize in today's increasingly globalized world economy. Domestically, only a very limited presence is permitted to the foreigner in the Japanese economy, especially in the commanding heights of finan...
Abstract Results of numerous experiments conducted over the past 15-years by using behavioural as well as brain imaging methods have shown that musical expertise influences brain anatomy, brain functions and behaviour. The musician- brain is thus considered as a very good model of brain plasticity. Moreover, many results have demonstrated that musical expertise not only impacts on music processing but also on several aspects of speech processing including lexical pitch, sentence intonation and the metric structure of words. Conversely, recent results indicated that linguistic expertise with tone or quantity languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Thai, Finnish and Japanese, influences the processing of harmonic tones and musical intervals. We discuss possible interpretations of these findings ...
The funding for a coal-liquefaction demonstration plant near Morgantown, W.Va., appears more certain since Japan has committed $175 million toward the project. West Germany has already signed a memorandum of understanding to contribute 25% of the expected $700 million cost. West Virginia Governor J. Rockefeller has said that he feels sure the Carter Administration will approve the project since half the money is assured. The solvent-refined-coal (SRC) demonstration program began in July 1978 with the award of two separate multiphased contracts for development of a solid process, SRC-I, and a liquid process, SRC-II. The US Department of Energy is expected to choose one of the projects for detailed design and construction by the end of fiscal 1979.
Background The Committee for the Standardization of Renal Pathological Diagnosis and the Working Group for Renal Biopsy Database of the Japanese Society of Nephrology started the first nationwide, web-based, and prospective registry system, the Japan Renal Biopsy Registry (J-RBR), to record the pathological, clinical, and laboratory data of renal biopsies in 2007. Methods The patient data including age, gender, laboratory data, and clinical and pathological diagnoses were recorded on the web page of the J-RBR, which utilizes the system of the Internet Data and Information Center for Medical Research in the University Hospital Medical Information Network. We analyzed the clinical and pathological diagnoses registered on the J-RBR in 2007 and 2008. Results Data were collected from 818 patien...
Adipose tissue plays an essential role in energy homeostasis as a metabolic and endocrine organ. Accordingly, adipocytes are emerging as a major drug target for obesity and obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Dysfunction of enlarged adipocytes in obesity is involved in obesity-mediated metabolic syndrome. Adipocytokines, such as adiponectin released from small adipocytes, are able to prevent these disorders. In this study, we found that honokiol, an ingredient of Magnolia officinalis used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicines, enhanced adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Oil Red O staining showed that treatment with honokiol in the presence of insulin dose-dependently increased lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipoyctes although its activity was weak compared with r...
In this paper I argue that when a researcher is a research instrument, it is likely that the researcher would develop a heightened awareness of his/her own cultural conditioning, especially in the case of cross-cultural studies. And that such awareness would make him/her realise that one's own cultural background may indeed have an influence on formulating his/her research methodology. The paper is based on my own research project on development cooperation between Japan and Cambodia, whereby I examined the perceptions of Cambodians and Japanese on what an appropriate power relationship between donors and recipients should be. At the outset of my research project, I paid little attention to my own cultural condition and the role it might play in my study, though I was aware that being Japa...
The heptageniid mayflies Epeorus latifolium and Epeorus l-nigrus are often the dominant species in the upper and midstream areas of Japanese rivers; as such, they play a significant role in river ecosystems. However, although these two species have been identified using the morphological characteristics of the male in its adult stage, it is impossible to differentiate them in their nymphal stage. We conducted a study to elucidate their distribution pattern, i.e., the current distribution of these two species in the Shinano-gawa River basin, based on quantitative field sampling and genetic analysis of nymphs and also some male adults; for these, it was possible to differentiate between the two species reliably. The data collected from the 30 study sites of the 1-year-long study revealed tha...
A pillbox RF output window was developed for the L-band pulsed klystron for the Japanese Hadron Project (JHP) 1-GeV proton linac. The window was designed to withstand a peak RF power of 6 MW, where the pulse width is 600 {mu}sec and the repetition rate is 50 Hz. A high power model was fabricated using an alumina ceramic which has a low loss tangent of 2.5x10{sup -5}. A high power test was successfully performed up to a 113 kW RF average power with a 4 MW peak power, a 565 {mu}sec pulse width and a 50 Hz repetition rate. By extrapolating the data of this high power test, the temperature rise of the ceramic is estimated low enough at the full RF power of 6 MW. Thus this RF window is expected to satisfy the specifications of the L-band Klystron. (author).
The static corrosion tests in lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) were conducted from 450degreeC to 600degreeC to understand corrosion behavior and develop corrosion resistant materials for heavy liquid metal systems. While increase of Cr content in steels enhances corrosion resistance in LBE, the effect approaches a constant value above 12wt% of Cr. Corrosion depth in LBE increases with increasing temperature and corrosion attack becomes severe above 550degreeC even under the condition of high oxygen concentration. Nickel dissolution and Pb-Bi penetration occur in 316SS and JPCA above 550degreeC under the condition of high oxygen concentration. When oxygen concentration decreases below the level of Fe oxide formation, corrosion attack on these steels also becomes violent due to dissolution of var...
Japanese companies have developed suitable cleansing technologies and export their know-how. Some original technologies are developed today, like: in-situ chemical oxidation, iron confinement, hot-soil process, low-temperature catalytic decomposition or dechlorination of dioxins. However, some pollutions are still poorly considered (nitrates) or badly mastered (dioxins). This situation is partly due to late legal decisions and to limited pollution abatement measures. Japan is also very active in bio-cleansing research, and this, despite the lack of dialogue and directives at the national level. Several research programs with important funds have started since 1995. However, Japan is still at the preliminary stage in open-field applications of cleansing methods. (J.S.)
We have conducted an agent-based simulation of chain bankruptcy. The propagation of credit risk on a network, i.e., chain bankruptcy, is the key to nderstanding largesized bankruptcies. In our model, decrease of revenue by the loss of accounts payable is modeled by an interaction term, and bankruptcy is defined as a capital deficit. Model parameters were estimated using financial data for 1,077 listed Japanese firms. Simulations of chain bankruptcy on the real transaction network consisting of those 1,077 firms were made with the estimated model parameters. Given an initial bankrupt firm, a list of chain bankrupt firms was obtained. This model can be used to detect high-risk links in a transaction network, for the management of chain bankruptcy.
The fundamental differences in the type of products sold in both Japan and the US, and some of the reasons for these differences, are outlined. Japan is the largest single country market for residential heat pumps, while the US represents the largest single country market for residential heating equipment. Quite different types and associated features of heat pumps are demanded in the USA and Japan. The term `convenience features`, used to describe the physical characteristics of the user interface device, is explained, as well as the fundamental reasons leading to the particular styles of product sold in each country: (1) product strategy and sales channels, (2) design of housing, (3) climatic factors, and (4) energy costs and distribution. It is stressed that there is no big cooling load in Japan. It is rather the comfort issue that drives the market for heat pumps
The model was based on a SEDCO 700 series semi-submersible offshore drilling rig used for operations in the North Sea. This report supplements earlier work on wind-heeling moments which are required to establish stability criteria on semi-submersibles. Wi...
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of short gravity waves is examined in order to explain the recent findings of the decrease in momentum transfer from hurricane winds to sea waves. A three-fluid configuration of a foam layer between the atmosphere and the ocean is suggested to provide signifficant stabilization of the system and shifting the marginal critical wavelength to the shortwave part of the spectrum. It is conjectured that such stabilization leads to the observed drag reduction. The high contrasts in three fluid densities provide a universal mechanism for stabilizing surface perturbations.
The nucleon axial charge is calculated as a function of the pion mass in full QCD. Using domain wall valence quarks and improved staggered sea quarks, we present the first calculation with pion masses as light as 354 MeV and volumes as large as (3.5 fm)3. We show that finite volume effects are small for our volumes and that a constrained fit based on finite volume chiral perturbation theory agrees with experiment within 5% statistical errors.
The passive continental margin in the northern South China Sea is a weakly active area. It has been found to be favorable for large gas field development and also to be profitable for gas hydrate. The active faults, diapir structure, slump deposits, faults break of slopes, gas chimneys and sandstone of submarine fan, control the concentration of gas hydrate. Gas chimneys are widely distributed in the northern South China Sea. They supply the pathway for migration of deeper gas to gas hydrate stability zones especially in the basin of tectonic inactive zone. This paper discussed the geological structures of gas hydrate occurrence in gas fields and presented a detailed analysis of gas chimneys within the northern slope of the South China Sea. The paper described the geological setting of the Qiongdongnan Basin and provided information on the data description and processing. Two multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection profiles ...
Based on a mathematical simulation which reproduces accurate split and velocity profiles for the 100 and 200 metre sprints, the magnitudes of altitude and mixed wind/altitude-assisted performances as compared to their sea-level equivalents are presented. It is shown that altitude-assisted times for the 200 metre are significantly higher than for the 100 metre, suggesting that the ``legality'' of such marks perhaps be reconsidered.
This spring, Newfoundland will send off a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to the offshore Terra Nova field. The Terra Nova will proceed southeast through Bull Arm, then northeast out of Trinity Bay, then heads southeast to the Jeanne d'Arc Basin on the Grand Banks. The Terra Nova is expected to produce 115,000 barrels of oil per day for six years, when it reaches full capacity. The consortium, headed by Petro-Canada as senior ownership partner and operator, built an environment protection program into every aspect of the project. Some of the features of the environment protection program include glory holes excavated on the ocean floor for the protection of production equipment from icebergs, to a flare stack on the platform, which has four legs to provide stability in rough seas. The FPSO was designed to withstand sea ice, icebergs, and severe winter storms. Flow lines are also protected, and in the event ...
Modec International Inc has selected Siemens Water Technologies to provide sea-water reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems for several floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels that are to be operated in deep-water locations. Siemens is also supplying a wastewater reuse system to one of Brazils largest refineries.
A study of more than 1200 of 72-fold, migrated, seismic reflection profiles, from the eastern part of the East Breaks flexure trend, Gulf of Mexico, indicates that, although individual seismic reflectors cannot be traced across the entire area, seismic depositional units can be recognized and correlated from basin to basin in most instances. Three tentative conclusions are evident from this study: (1) salt diapirs appear to have grown through a series of intermittent movements to form structurally separate intraslope basins; (2) sedimentation is probably channeled by differential dome growth, which creates local stratigraphic differences between basins; and (3) packages of distinctive seismic depositional units can be successfully used to map sediment cycles between separate basins. Fluctuations of Pleistocene sea level appears to be the dominate depositional control on the upper continental slope in this area. During high sea level stands, ...
The objective of the project was to develop a welded tubular joint database to assess the fatigue design curves (X and X{prime}) in the American Petroleum Institute design code (API RP2A). Changes in the curve-fitting method and screening criteria (primarily the exclusion of the very thin tubular joints) produced results different from those reported previously. The current results show that the X and X{prime} curves are too conservative and that a new curve should be adopted. The Department of Energy T{prime} curve was found to be consistent with the screened tubular joint air data and is recommended for use in API RP2A. The weldment size effect exponent (n) of 0.25 in the current version of API RP2A was found to be too small, and a higher value of 0.30 consistent with the Department of Energy recommendations is recommended. The fatigue test results for tubular joints tested in air and tubular joints tested in sea water with cathodic protection are the same at ...
The spatial connection between the zones of deep-lying faults and the narrowly-localized paleo-relief sections posessing an anomolous sedimentation condition in the latter Cretaceous is identified. It is established that this is of significance in choosing the primary regions for conducting oil exploration.
Saba Bank is a large submerged platform (∼2200 km2), average depth 30 m, located 4 km southwest of Saba Island in Netherlands Antilles, Caribbean Sea. Ships traveling to and from...Full Text Available
Quark models of production of cumulative particles and the EMC effect are analyzed. It is shown that all these models are characterized by a universal relation between the spectrum of cumulative nucleons and the cross section for cumulative particles containing valence quarks of the nucleus. This relation is tested for the deuteron, and the role of secondary nuclear processes for heavy nuclei is discussed. It is noted that the ''sea'' cumulative particles (K"-, p-bar) are particularly important for understanding the nature of the difference between the structure functions of a nucleus and of a free nucleon.
We have isolated a 4.785 Da protein from the nacreous layer of the sea snail Haliotis laevigata (greenlip abalone) shell after demineralization with acetic acid. The sequence of 41...Full Text Available
This 'Issues in Ecology' article from the Ecological Society of America provides information about the consequences of nutrient enrichment along the US coast. It describes problems such as harmful algal blooms (HABs), anoxia, hypoxia, and dead zones. It explains which nutrients are involved and describes implications of excess nutrients in regions such as the Gulf of Mexico/Mississippi River basin. The article features several color photographs, maps, and diagrams.
In this report is described the sources to nitrogen emission and how the emission have changed over time. The cost and effect of the proposals given by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to cope with the emission of nitrogen to the sea is also treated. A separate chapter describes what we know today about phosphorus and eutrophication Basic document to report SNV--4735. 25 figs, 11 tabs
Based on a hypothesis of multiquark states in nuclei, the nucleus structure functions are considered and the results are compared with experiment. It is shown that the multiquark state contributions are sufficiently high (Up to 20% in deuterium and 40% in iron) and must possess a greater, than in a nucleon, sea of quark-antiquark pairs. Also the comparison with the cumulative particle production cross sections is performed. The predictions are given for a further experimental test of that hypothesis.
A range of lessons have been identified from previous attempts to implement long term radioactive waste management policy in the UK and internationally. Many of these relate to the way the decision-making process is undertaken and the fact that there needs to be an open, transparent process that enables continuous stakeholder involvement. Nirex believes that using the SEA and EIA frameworks will help to incorporate the lessons learned into the future decision-making process relating to long-term radioactive waste management.
The invention deals with an offshore drilling or production platform in particular designed for quake-active areas. The platform rests on the sea bed with a low-gravitational weight and anchored to stabilized pile foundations absorbing the horizontal and vertical acting forces from earthquakes. The platform including pillars can be made of different materials, prestressed concrete in particular. 3 figs.
Seismic exploration is used to identify the Zapadno Rakushechniy Sea uplift. It is promising with respect to prospecting for oil and gas deposits as a result of its proximity to the Severo Rakushechniy deposit with commercial oil and gas presence in the Triassic sediments. Structural prospecting wells are drilled at the Zapadno Rakushechnyy Sea site which open sediment from the Neogene to the upper Triassic. The Triassic sediments are represented by a thick terrigeneous to carbonate series washed out to a varying degree and covered by Jurassic sediments. A comparison of the lithofacial composition of the Triassic sediments shows that the thickness and lithological composition o the Triassic rocks varies by site, while the sediments of the upper Triassic are sharply reduced in thickness to the southsouthwest. The older are the sediments of the Indskiy stage of the lower Triassic. The isolated stages of the lower, middle and upper Jurassic suffer ...
Within the EU-Project VOTALP (Vertical Ozone Transports in the Alps), we have shown that deep alpine valleys like the Mesolcina Valley very efficiently transport air out of the polluted valley up to altitudes between 2000 and near 4000 m asl (above sea level). Pollutants emitted in these valleys are very efficiently transported up to high altitudes. (author) 2 figs., 1 tab., 2 refs.
The direct-current submarine cable interconnecting Hokkaido and Honshu (hereafter called HH linkage) is an example of installation of an undersea cable for long-distance power transmission crossing a sea strait. In particular, the feature of this interconnection is that an oil-filled (OF) cable is used for the high-voltage side with crosslinked polyethylene (XPLE) cable adopted for the return to comprise a conductor return system. The details of the facilities, especially the design of the OF submarine cable are described. 3 refs.
A Lagrangian atmospheric dispersion model(K-LADM) combining a three dimensional sea-land breeze model has been developed and applied to the estimation of the quaterly and the annual averaged air tritium concentration around Wolsung NPP site. The estimated concentrations were compared with the observed concentration data. The results showed that the present Lagrangian Atmospheric dispersion model(K-LADM) provided very good agreement with the observations.
A brief overview is given of the developments in the Dutch offshore industry where new offshore sites appear to be retrofitted or recycled platforms and contractors take over the work from petroleum companies (e.g. as so-called Floating Production Storage Offloading or FPSO). It is expected that in ten years from now a large number of oil platforms will be disappeared or transported to the Chinese Bohai Sea where a new oil field will be explored.
The oceanic bathypelagic realm (1000–4000 m) is a nutrient-poor habitat. Most fishes living there have pelagic larvae using the rich waters of the upper 200 m. Morphological...Full Text Available
All the tests have been finished up in the Waste Management and Disposal Facility which has been used for the safety tests of solidified radioactive waste on sea dumping disposal. The decommissioning of this facility was performed for use of radioisotopes. This report describes the plan on decommissioning of facility for use of radioisotopes, the contamination checking methods and measurement of radioactivity, the fore case and practice for amount of generated radioactive wastes, the operation procedures for dismantlement, the safety measures, the expenses for decommissioning and so on. (author)
An intertidal estuarine sediment core was collected from Esk Estuary in the Irish Sea which had been contaminated by low-level radioactive liquid effluent from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield, UK. The "2"4"2Cm and "2"4"3","2"4"4Cm radioactivity concentrations were determined to establish the present contamination levels compared with other radionuclides "1"3"7Cs, "2"3"7Np, "2"3"8Pu, "2"3"9","2"4"0Pu, "2"4"1Pu and "2"4"1Am. The results showed that "2"4"2Cm and "2"4"4Cm existed in the detectable levels in the Irish Sea sediment and the concentration of "2"4"2"mAm was evaluated from that of "2"4"2Cm. The "2"4"2"mAm/"2"3"9","2"4"0Pu and "2"4"4Cm/"2"3"9","2"4"0Pu inventory ratios in the sediment core were about 0.04% and 0.3%, respectively. The total amount of "2"4"2"mAm discharged into the Irish Sea from the start of the operation of BNFL Sellafield in 1952 to 1988 was estimated to be 0.2-0.3 TBq. (orig.)
The K"+- and K"-meson cumulative production cross sections are measured at 119"0 in the laboratory system on nuclei Be, Al, Cu and Ta bombarded by 10 GeV protons. Spectra of the K"-mesons consisting of only sea quarks show universal features characteristic of the spectra of cumulative particles, which contain valence quarks. Evidence is obtained for the fact that the energy density in a flucton can exceed the mean nuclear density by an order of magnitude.
Quark models of cumulative particle production and EMS effect are analyzed. All the models are characterized by a universal relationship between the spectrum of cumulative nucleons and the cross section of cumulative particles containing valence nuclear quarks. This relationship is tested for a deuteron. The role is discussed played by secondary nuclear processes for heavy nuclei. A special role of ''sea'' cumulative particles (K"-, p-bar) is pointed out in understanding the nature of the difference between the structure functions of a nucleus and of free nucleon.
High concentrations of Cs-137 were detected in the muscles of Walleye Pollack (Theragra chalcogramm) collected from Kitamiyamato banks (sampling on 25 Jul. 2000), Kamui area (16 Oct. 2000) and Niigata coasts (31 Jan. 2001). The concentrations were 0.35 #+-# 0.01, 0.41 #+-# 0.01, and 0.63 #+-# 0.02 Bq/kg-wet, respectively. The average concentration in our past investigations was about 0.25 #+-# 0.01 Bq/kg-wet. Samples from other areas, the coat of Kushiro (8 May 2001), North Tishima (13 Nov. 2000) and the Sea of Okhotsk (6 May 2001), had the average concentrations. There were no such high concentrations of Cs-137 in other fish species collected from Kitamiyamato banks, Kamui area, and Niigata coasts. Fish samples with high concentrations all make the migration in the north of Japan sea. These results would indicated that samples took in Cs-137 elements from sea-water or foods on the migration route. Cs-137 concentrations in ...
''Climates of the Oceans'' deals with the atmosphere over the world oceans and provides a treatment not only of the climatic elements such as temperature, pressure, wind, precipitation etc., but also of the circulation of the atmosphere and its changes throughout the year. The connection between sea and overlying air is examined through studies of the water and heat balance. Numerous maps and tables illustrate the elements and their fluctuations over the water and on islands and coasts.
The carbon isotope profiles of shallow-marine carbonates from the Barremian-Aptian Kharaib and Shuaiba formations of the Arabian Gulf region range between 0.5 and 7{per_thousand} {delta}{sup 13}C PDB (Peedee belemnite). Systematic variations can be correlated with isotope profiles reported from Tethyan pelagic limestone sequences. The detailed correspondence between the isotopic signature of the relatively well-dated pelagic limestones and the poorly dated shallow-water limestones from the Arabian Gulf region suggests that global marine carbon isotope changes apparently affected deep-sea and shallow-water carbonate sediments similarly and at a similar time resolution. Although oxygen isotopes have been reset during diagenesis, carbon isotopes appear to have maintained their primary marine signature through time. No evidence has been found to connect carbon isotope trends to subaerial exposure or later meteoric diagenesis. In combination with other data, the ...
The biodegradation of one of the most commonly used commercially available dispersants in the treatment of hydrocarbon out-flow was studied. The culture mediums employed were sea water, sterile sea water, and medium M19 (Merck). The latter two were inoculated with two kinds of microorganisms of the Pseudomona genus isolated from sludge from a waste treatment plant. The dispersants used is a commercial product made of anionic sulphated dispersants (1.710% by weight); anionic sulphonated dispersants (0.144%) and non-ionic dispersants (8.146%), both accompained by hidrocarbonated solvent (90%). The degradation processes occurred at differents temperatures (20, 30 and 37). The greatest degradation was obtained at 30 degree centigree. The degradation percentages obtained with the miscroorganisms were 40% of the anionic total and 70% of the non-ionic total after 56 hours for the 5:2 strain and 40% of the anionic total and 9.3% of the non-ionic total ...
An observational and modeling study was performed over the Arabian Gulf region to investigate the coastal circulations and aerosol transport in the area. Climatological data and observations from the United Arab Emirates' Unified Aerosol Experiment were used to develop a better understanding of the complex meteorological processes in the Arabian Gulf region. Climatological data suggests that sea breezes occur on more than 77 percent of days in all months of the year and land breezes occur on more than 70 percent of the days. The occurrence of the sea and land breeze circulations are higher (90-99 percent) during the summer months when large-scale weather patterns are quiescent. Measurements of aerosol concentrations taken during the Unified Aerosol Experiment(2004) experiment are used to investigate aerosols, namely dust, transported in the Arabian Gulf region. Vertical profiles of dust concentration along with vertical profiles of potential ...
Scour around offshore structures is well known. It is caused by the strong eddy formation at the base of the structures protruding from the sea bottom. The strong vortices result in an amplified effective shear stress working on the sea bottom surface adjacent to the structure. When the surrounding sea bottom is lowered the scour protection will end up being a cap on a small hill and when the slopes are getting too steep the scour protection will roll or slide down the sides. It will loose its cohesion and therefore its integrity. This will take place irrespective of the type of scour protection material and the type of scour protection. This report describes scour protections, which can deal with this particular problem. Such a scour protection must be able to sustain the following loads: Be able to follow the lowering of the seabed on its way down; Be resistant to edge scour (scour around the perimeter of the scour ...
The verification test program on zinc injection applicability to Japanese BWRs was started in 1997. Laboratory tests using high temperature water loops under BWR reactor water conditions are in progress. This paper is an interim report on results obtained so far. Co-58 and Zn-65 were simultaneously used in the Co radioactivity buildup test to evaluate zinc injection suppression effects towards cobalt deposition on pre-oxidized stainless steel. The following results were obtained. The Co deposition was suppressed effectively by Zn injection, even when there was a pre-oxide film. For the test piping that had the pre-oxide film formed under the NWC (normal water chemistry) condition, when soaked under the HWC (hydrogen water chemistry) condition a large amount of Co-58 was taken into a small part of the inner layer. The distribution ratio of Co-58 in the inner layer and outer layer of the oxide film was almost the same for both the pre-oxidized test piping and the non ...
The R&D in satellite communications in Korea has been driven mainly by KCC (Korea Communications Commission) but in a small scale compared to Korea space development program organized by MEST (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology). Public and civilian satcom sector R&D has been led mainly by ETRI with small/medium companies contrary to rare investment in private sector while military sector R&D has been orchestrated by ADD with defense industry. By the COMS (Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite) experimental Ka-band payload, Korea pursues a space qualification of own technology for national infrastructure evolution as well as industrialization of space R&D results. Once COMS launched and space qualified in 2009, subsequent application experiments and new technology R&D like UHDTV will entail service and industry promotion. The payload technology is expected for the next Korean commercial satellites or for new OBP satellites. The COMS ground ...
The aim of this paper is to analyse the role that the Japanese Government has played in the development of alternatives to conventional vehicles, the effect of government programmes, and the importance of technical flexibility in government support schemes. The focus is on battery-powered electric vehicles (BPEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles. The effects of government policy and the process of innovation are analysed from a systems approach drawing on the literature regarding technical change and innovation. The whole chain of government support, including the context in which these different policies have been implemented since the early 1970s, is studied. The Japanese Government has adopted a comprehensive strategy including R and D, demonstration programmes and market support guided by long-term strategic plans. The role of the Government has been that of a conductor in the development process supplying ...
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Technical Cooperation Project on Reduction of Seismic Risk for Buildings and Structures started in Romania on October 1, 2002. The aim of the Project is to strengthen the capacity of earthquake disaster related activities in Romania. The Project approval is the result of four years of intensive efforts made by professionals from Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (UTCB), Ministry of Transport, Constructions and Tourism (MTCT), Romania, National Building Research Institute (INCERC) Bucharest, JICA, Building Research Institute (BRI), Tsukuba, and National Institute for Land, Infrastructure and Management (NILIM), Tsukuba, Japan. The duration of the Project is five years. The implementing agency is the National Center for Seismic Risk Reduction (NCSRR) as a public institution of national interest under MTCT. The activities are carried out by NCSRR in partnership with UTCB and INCERC. During the Project period, 29 young ...
The covariant quark model is shown to allow a phenomenological description of the neutron electric form factor, G{sub E}{sup n}(Q{sup 2}), in the impulse approximation, provided that the wave function contains minor ({approx}3%) admixtures of the lowest energy sea-quark configurations. While that form factor is not very sensitive to whether the q{sup -} in the qqqqq{sup -} component is in the P-state or in the S-state, the calculated nucleon magnetic form factors are much closer to the empirical values in the case of the former configuration. In the case of the electric form factor of the proton, G{sub E}{sup p}(Q{sup 2}) a zero appears in the impulse approximation close to 10 GeV{sup 2}, when the q{sup -} is in the P-state. That configuration, which may be interpreted as a pion loop ('cloud') fluctuation, also leads to a clearly better description of the nucleon magnetic moments. When the amplitude of the sea-quark admixtures ...
KM3NeT is a future deep-sea research infrastructure hosting a neutrino telescope with a volume of at least one cubic kilometer to be constructed in the Mediterranean Sea. The experiment aims to detect high-energy cosmic neutrinos using a 3D array of optical modules to collect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles in the water. Upward going muons and showers produced in neutrino interactions with the surrounding matter will allow the search and study of possible sources of extra-terrestrial neutrinos. The design of optical modules makes an important impact on the performance and cost of the KM3NeT project. Several different optical module configurations are under consideration; based on glass pressure spheres containing: a large (10 in.) hemispherical photomultiplier tube (with a multi-anode version as an option); 25-31 3 in. photomultiplier tubes, or a crystal scintillator-based hybrid device (X-HPD). The features and advantages of ...
A new lactone, 1,8-dihydroxy-10-methoxy-3-methyldibenzo[b,e]oxepine-6,11-dione (1), and two new xanthones, 1-hydroxy-8-(hydroxymethyl)-6-methoxy-3-methyl-9H-xanthen-9-one (2) and 1-hydroxy-8-(hydroxymethyl)-3-methoxy-6-methyl-9H-xanthen-9-one (3), were isolated from a mangrove endophytic fungus Phoma sp. SK3RW1M collected from the South China Sea. This is the first report on xanthone derivatives isolated as secondary metabolites from Phoma species. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, mainly 1D- and 2D-NMR techniques, and the structure of compound 2 was confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Cytotoxicity assays showed that compounds 1-3 were inactive against KB and KBv200 cells.
In a recent study of a search for enhancements from the galactic center with muons at sea level using the TUPI muon telescope, we have found several ground level enhancements (GLEs) as very sharp peaks above the count rate background. This paper reports a consistent analysis of two GLEs observed in December 2003 and detected after an up-grade of the data acquisition system, which includes a noise filter and which allows us to verify that the GLEs are not mere background fluctuations. The main target of this study is a search for the origin of the GLEs. The results show that one of them has a strong correlation with a solar flare, while the other has an unknown origin, because there is neither a satellite report of a solar flare, nor prompt X-ray emission, and nor a excess of nuclei during the raster scan where the GLE was observed. Even so, two possibilities are analyzed: the solar flare hypothesis and the gamma ray burst (GRB) hypothesis. We show, by using the ...
A cellular membrane exchanges substances into and from the cell and protects the cell interior by maintaining semi-fluidity rather than be being solid. It is known that microorganisms maintain the fluidity in correspondence with varying environmental temperatures by changing and adjusting the composition of fatty acids which constitute the cellular membrane lipids. As part of the studies to elucidate the pressure withstanding mechanism in deep-sea bacteria, this paper investigates what variations the fatty acid composition, which constitutes cellular membranes of the DSS12 strain, a pressure withstanding bacterium growing well under either normal pressure or high pressures, will show under different culturing temperatures and pressures. Culture under low temperatures and culture under high pressures increase content of unsaturated fatty acids including icosapentanoic acid. Culture under high temperatures or normal pressure increases content of such unsaturated ...
Coastal zones are among the most productive and vulnerable areas on the planet. An example of impact on these fragile environments was shown in the case of the Sea Empress oil tanker, which ran aground in the Bristol Channel in 1996, spilling 72,000 tonnes of Forties crude oil. The objective was to investigate the sub-lethal cellular pathology and tissue hydrocarbon contamination in marine mussel populations, 4 months after the initial spill, using the neutral red retention (NRR) assay for lysosomal stability in blood cells. NRR was reduced in mussels, and indicative of cell injury, from the two sites closest to the spill in comparison with more distant and reference sites. Lysosomal stability was inversely correlated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations in mussel tissues. Reduced lysosomal stability has previously been shown to contribute to impaired immunocompetence and to autophagic loss of body tissues. The use of this type of technique is ...
The germplasm with exotic genomic components especially from Sea Island cotton (Gossypium barbadense L. Gb) is the dominant genetic resources to enhance fiber quality of upland cotton (G. hirsutum L., Gh). Due to low efficiency of phenotypic evaluation and selection on fiber quality, genetic dissection of favorable alleles using molecular markers is essential. Genetic dissection on putative Gb introgressions related to fiber traits were conducted by SSR markers with mapping populations derived from a cross between Luyuan343 (LY343), a superior fiber quality introgression line (IL) with genomic components from Gb, and an elite Upland cotton cv. Lumianyan#22 (LMY22). Among 82 polymorphic loci screened out from 4050 SSRs, 42 were identified as putative introgression alleles. A total of 29 fib...
The present work concerns the numeric modeling of the sea-wave instability under the effect of the logarithmic-wind profile at hurricane conditions. Non-linear effects, such as wave breaking, foam production, etc. Powell et al. (2003), Shtemler et al. (2010) are ignored. The central point of the study is the calculation of the wave growth rate, which is proportional to the fractional input energy from the wind to the wave exponentially varied with time. The present modeling demonstrates that the Miles-type model applying Charnock's formula for roughness to the hurricane-wind parameters underestimates the growth rate from 5 to 40 times as compared with the model employing the roughness and friction velocity adopted from experimental data for hurricane winds.1 This occurs due to Charnock's formula fails at large wind speeds. The stability characteristics found on the base of the hurricane-wind experimental parameters are consistent with the other results of the ...
The present work concerns the numeric modeling of the sea-wave instability under the effect of the logarithmic wind at hurricane conditions (ignoring non-linear effects, such as wave breaking, foam production, etc. Powell et al. (2003)^1, Shtemler et al. (2003)^2. The central point of the study is the calculation of the growth rate, which is proportional to the fractional input energy from the wind to the wave exponentially varied with time. The present modeling demonstrates that the Miles-type model applying Charnock's formula Charnock (1955)^3 for roughness to the hurricane -wind parameters underestimates the growth rate of the wind waves 5-40 times as compared with the model employing the roughness and friction velocity adopted from experimental data for hurricane winds.^1 This occurs due to Charnock's formula fails at large wind speeds. The stability characteristics obtained on the base of the hurricane-wind experimental parameters are self-consistent with the ...
There are two major water currents off the coast of Peru in South America. The Humboldt or Peru current travels northwest across latitudes 35/sup 0/S to 6/sup 0/S. To the north, a branch of the equatorial current flows southward down to latitudes 6-7/sup 0/S in normal years. Its warm, less salty water is poor in nutrients and cannot support fishery. In some years, this warm current extends much more southward, down to 12/sup 0/S. This has a catastrophic effect leading to a mass mortality of the anchovies and, in turn, of the guano birds and less production of farm crops. This phenomenon occurs around Christmas (summer in the southern hemisphere) and is, therefore, called El Nino. The main feature of El Nino is to change the sea surface temperature. An abnormal rise in sea surface temperature can give rise to odd air movements which can change the monsoons pattern, even at distant places, profoundly. In the past 26 years, when El Ninos have ...
This report provides an assessment of the designs of turret and swivel systems for floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and floating storage Units (FSU) which are either purpose built or converted from tankers. Use of FPSO and FSO in the North Sea with the move to subsea and deepwater production is discussed, and the background to FPSO and FSU turret systems is traced. Details are given of general issues relating to ship structure, systems affecting the turret, swivel systems, mooring systems, turret loading, scaffolding and support structure, on-board personnel, and construction standards. Turret system components and types are described, and failure modes, operation and safety relevant components are examined. Inspection and maintenance, examples of good and poor practice, and applicable regulations are considered. Annexes list UK installations and present information on individual turret design, fluid transfer systems, system manufacturers, ...
The effects of temperature and different forms of nutrients on Chattonella marina growth have been investigated in strains isolated from the Daya Bay, the South China Sea. The strain of C. marina preferred high temperatures, with an optimal temperature of 25?C, and 18?C was the minimum for its survival. Higher cell number and growth rate were obtained in high nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations (500 ?g/L, 74 ?g/L) than under nutrient limitation. Nitrogen influenced the growth most, as the specific growth rate and maximum cell density were lower in nitrogenlimited cultures than noted under phosphorus limitation or under limitation from both. C. marina was capable of using many kinds of organic nitrogen sources including L-serine (L-Ser), glycine (Gly), alanine (Ala), L-threonine (L-Thr),...
The economies of East Asia are predominantly export based and, therefore, place special emphasis on the security of the sea lines of communication (SLOCs). Due to economic globalization, the United States shares these concerns. Cooperative measures by the concerned parties could reduce the potential for disruption by maritime conflicts. Primary threats against the SLOCs are disputes over the resources under the seas, disputes over some small island groups, disputes between particular parties (China-Taiwan and North-South Korea), or illegal activities like smuggling, piracy, or terrorism. This paper provides an overview on these threats, issue by issue, to identify common elements and needed cooperation. Cooperation on other topics such as search and rescue, fisheries protection, and oil spill response may help support improved relations to prevent maritime conflicts. Many technologies can help support maritime cooperation, including improved ...
Penicillium crustosum is common in food and feed both in subtropical and temperate regions. Recently, it has also been found occurring frequently in glacier ice, sea ice and sea water of Arctic regions of Svalbard. The aim of the study was to compare isolates of the same fungal species from widely different habitats and geographic regions to see if the nutritional physiology and the profile of secondary metabolites were consistent or depended on the isolation source. All 121 strains examined produced the following families of secondary metabolites: penitrems (100%), roquefortines (100%), terrestric acids (99.2%) and viridicatols (100%), whereas 81 of 83 Arctic isolates additionally produced andrastin A. However, only 8 of 38 non-Arctic isolates produced detectable andrastin A. The quantitative profiles of 96 strains were compared using cluster, principal component and correspondence analyses. There was no clear grouping of Arctic versus ...
In 1990, 176 million tonnes (mt) of air-traffic fuel was burned, which produced about 550 mt CO{sub 2}, 220 mt water, 3.5 mt NO{sub x} amd 0.18 mt SO{sub 2}. NO{sub x} emissions from air traffic may, by increasing ozone concentrations, be responsible for about 8% of global greenhouse warming. In the stratosphere NO{sub x} from aircraft is partly responsible for ozone depletion. With present technology 500 aircraft in the stratosphere would cause global ozone losses of 20%. Water vapour added by aircraft also contributes to global warming. In the form of ice crystals between 8 to 13 km above sea level, it acts as cirrus clouds. Probably the least damaging cruising altitude for aircraft is 9 km above sea level. Fuel consumption by aircraft is increasing. Air pollution abatement measures include substituting hydrogen fuel for kerosene, developing engines that emit less NO{sub x} and the introduction of internationally negotiated taxes on kerosene. ...
We explore a possibility that the daily sea-level pressure (SLP) over South Korea responds to the high-speed solar wind event. This is of interest in two aspects: First, if there is a statistical association this can be another piece of evidence showing that various meteorological observables indeed respond to variations in the interplanetary environment. Second, this can be a very crucial observational constraint since most models proposed so far are expected to preferentially work in higher latitude regions than the low latitude region studied here. We have examined daily solar wind speed ${\\rm V}$, daily SLP difference ${\\rm \\Delta SLP}$, and daily ${\\rm \\log(BV^{2})}$ using the superposed epoch analysis in which the key date is set such that the daily solar wind speed exceeds 800 ${\\rm kms^{-1}}$. We find that the daily ${\\rm \\Delta SLP}$ averaged out of 12 events reaches its peak at day +1 and gradually decreases back to its normal level. The amount of ...
An extremely sensitive stripping voltammetric procedure for ultra-trace determination of iridium(III) is reported. The method is based on the interfacial accumulation of the iridium(III)-CTAB complex onto the glassy carbon electrode, followed by the catalytic reduction of the adsorbed complex in the presence of bromate. 0.3molL^-^1 acetate buffer pH 4.7+6.9x10^-^2molL^-^1 NaBrO3+2.7x10^-^5molL^-^1 cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)+0.2molL^-^1 KCl was employed as the supporting electrolyte. The analytical procedure was verified by the analysis of the standard reference materials: Sea Water BCR-CRM 403 and Fresh Water NIST-SRM 1643d. The accuracy, expressed as relative error e%, was satisfactory, being lower than 6%, while precision as repeatability, expressed as relative standard deviat...
The ruptured offshore oil well 80 miles from Mexican town of Ciudad del Carmen, which poured 8000 barrels of light oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, provided marine scientists with the opportunity to monitor the spill and see what happens to petroleum hydrocarbons in sea water. Scientists followed changes in viscosity, surface tension, and buoyancy of individual oil globs as they moved through the water and interacted with the surface slick. Using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy, chemists are gaining an understanding of the unique characteristics of the oil. Computer-generated models projected the slick's movement in the Gulf in response to wind and wave pressures, but the sophisticated system did not give an accurate daily prediction. Immediate damage to fish, turtles, and sea birds was documented by tagging. Long-term effects will take longer to ascertain since 25 years is generally required to flush oil out of sediments. ...
Through the analysis of the relations between "3H monitoring results of sea water in West Daya Bay carried out by Guangdong Environmental Radiation Research and Monitoring Center (GERC) from 1994 to 2000 and the quantity of liquid "3H discharges made by Guangdong Nuclear Power Station (GNPS), the function has been found by fitting to describe the relation between "3H average concentrations (hereafter as to average concentration or concentration) for all sampling points at the same time and the quantity of liquid "3H discharges. "3H instantaneous concentrations or yearly average concentration in West Daya Bay can be estimated conveniently by using this function corresponding to either actual discharges or supposed discharges (the way for hydrodynamic calculation) from the GNPS's yearly "3H liquid discharge. The results have shown that the general influences both actual discharges and supposed sub-continuous discharges are almost the same and this results are in good ...
This article briefly comments on some stumbling-blocks to climatic change modelling accuracy - in assessments of the greenhouse effect, 25% (missing link) of atmospheric carbon dioxide absorption is still unaccounted for; 1989 World Bank estimates of the Amazon rain forest deforestation rate have since proven to be inaccurate; there are difficulties in assessing the movement of the earth's crust relative to variations in sea level; and different studies vary in results relative to global temperature measurement and trend assessment. The need for an assessment of the economic impacts of increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide is also pointed out.
Two researchers, Tom Goreau of the Discovery Laboratory in Jamaica and Raymond Hayes of Howard University, claim that they have evidence that nearly clinches the temperature connection to the bleached corals in the Caribbean and that the coral bleaching is an indication of Greenhouse warming. The incidents of scattered bleaching of corals, which have been reported for decades, are increasing in both intensity and frequency. The researchers based their theory on increased temperature of the seas measured by satellites. However, some other scientists feel that the satellites measure the temperature of only the top few millimeters of the water and that since corals lie on reefs perhaps 60 to 100 feet below the ocean surface, the elevated temperatures are not significant.
Total mercury content and its distribution in muscles and viscera of male and female blue crab (Callinectes sapidus Rothbum) and deep water pink shrimp (Parapenacus longirostris) collected from the 3 main fishing grounds near the Alexandria coast in the Mediterranean sea was estimated. The results indicate that the mercury content in the muscles of both species differ according to fishing areas, size, sex, and species. More than 75% of total mercury were accumulated in the viscera of both species which indicates that the mercury entered in these organisms via the feed chain. PMID:3696196
Although rovs (remotely operated vehicles) and AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles) are playing ever increasing roles in the development of underwater fields, surprise is expressed that oil companies are not supporting the necessary research and development. The situation was discussed at this year's annual Association of Diving Contractors and Marine Technology Society in Houston. Some of the technical problems associated with operating the vehicles in deeper and deeper water were discussed. Although demand for the vehicles is falling in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico is seen as the next growth area. (uk)
Faced with a changing business emphasis, plus the need to reduce operations and maintenance costs in the North Sea, the Forties Field engineering partnership between BP and Brown and Root recognised the need to make radical changes in its organisational structure. An innovative change management programme was planned and executed inside 12 months with the purpose of right-sizing the Forties Operations Engineering team. Not only has the initiative succeeded in cutting costs by 40 per cent; it has also enhanced the quality of engineering support services supplied to the BP Forties platforms. (author)
Quark models of production of cumulative particles and the EMC effect are analyzed. It is shown that all these models are characterized by a universal relation between the spectrum of cumulative nucleons and the cross section for cumulative particles containing valence quarks of the nucleus. This relation is tested for the deuteron, and the role of secondary nuclear processes for heavy nuclei is discussed. It is noted that the ''sea'' cumulative particles (K/sup -/, p-bar) are particularly important for understanding the nature of the difference between the structure functions of a nucleus and of a free nucleon.
The bibliography contains citations concerning the pitting corrosion of copper and copper alloys, in different media, with some references to methods for protecting against such corrosion. Included are factors contributing to the onset of pitting corrosion. Emphasis is placed on exposure to water, especially in tubing for heat exchangers and water conduits. Many of the citations present studies on exposure to sea water. Some references pertain to the detection of pitting corrosion in installations and the evaluation of the degree of pitting present. (Contains 250 citations and includes a subject term index and title list.)
A short-chain neurotoxin Pseudechis australis a (toxin Pa a) was isolated from the venom of an Australian elapid snake Pseudechis australis (king brown snake) by sequential chromatography on CM-cellulose, Sephadex G-50 and CM-cellulose columns. Toxin Pa a has an LD50 (intravenous) value of 76 micrograms/kg body wt. in mice and consists of 62 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence of Pa a shows considerable homology with those of short-chain neurotoxins of elapid snakes, especially of true sea snakes. PMID:4091794
FLOWER, a computer code recommended by USNRC for assessing the environmental impact in tidal regions, was adapted and improved so as to be suitable to deal with the influence of drift stream along seashore to the dilution of contaminants and heat in the bay mouth. And the code outputs were presented with more mid-results such as average concentrations and temperature values for all tides considered. Finally, the modified code is applied to the dispersion calculation of heat and liquid effluents from Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, and the impacts from routine operation of the plant on Daya Bay sea waters were given.
We analyze the monthly average wind velocity at about 12 km above sea level, between 1980 to 1995, for San Pedro Martir, Mauna Kea, another existing observatorie and some sites of interest. We compare the results obtained from two different data sets, the GGUAS and NCEP. Our results show that San Pedro Martir and Mauna Kea are comparable and are amongst the most suitable sites to apply slow wavefront corrugation correction techniques
A study for Cs-137 radionuclide dispersion in the marine environment through of compartmental model (Box Model) is presented. The model simulates the surface water contamination caused by direct atmospheric deposition, surface wash off, desorption from sediments and transfer with the ground water of accidentally released radionuclides. For this study the model was applied to the North Sea, near to Sellafield, based on the transfer coefficients obtain at the literature. The results obtained are in good agreement with the literature, being that the model developed can be applied in to the brazilian coastal regions. (author). 7 refs, 7 figs.
This work deals with the development of wind maps in the Venezuelan coastal zones (South America). The Navier-Stokes equations for real viscous incompressible flow are discretized via the finite element method and they are applied to a full 3D numerical model. Two regions were analyzed: the Margarita island and the Paraguana peninsula, both of them located in the Caribbean Sea at the North of Venezuela. These regions were modeled by using a three dimensional control volume, discretized through hexaedric eight-noded finite elements. Some wind maps obtained in this research are presented and discussed. (author)
Unit one of Daya Bay, China's first nuclear power plant was officially opened in February 1994. The nuclear island has been built by Framatome and is an improved version of the Gravelines 5 and 6, 900MWe Pressurized Water Reactors. Extra seismic protection has been included because of greater earthquake risk. The heat exchanger capacity has also been increased as the sea cooling water can be at 30"oC. The technical specifications and details of the fuel loading are given. The technical assistance, management and training of Chinese personnel are discussed. Two further units may be built if Daya Bay 1 is successful. (UK).
It is possible to create nomographs similar to Fig. 2.10 to characterise damage potential of candidate time histories, provided there exists extensive records of earlier time-histories and the damage that they have caused. Thus in order to create such nomographs, one needs the correlated documentation between the input to the structure and the resulting damage. In order to use the Response-Spectra approach, one needs good statistical description of the input to the system. Extensive literature exists on both these methods. The MAC method that has being developed for the present research has yet to be validated. However, if it is successful, it would provide a valuable link between the SEA method and the rational method.
We calculate the electromagnetic form factors of a bound proton. The chiral quark-soliton model provides the quark and antiquark substructure of the proton, which is embedded in nuclear matter. This procedure yields significant modifications of the form factors in the nuclear environment. The sea quarks are almost completely unaffected, and serve to mitigate the valence quark effect. In particular, the ratio of the isoscalar electric to the isovector magnetic form factor decreases by 20% at Q{sup 2}=1 GeV{sup 2} at nuclear density, and we do not see a strong enhancement of the magnetic moment.
Results are reported from initial characterization tests on the environmental effects of the natural draft cooling tower of the Chalk Point Unit 3 oil-fired power plant located on the shore of Chesapeake Bay. Data are included on updraft air velocity, plume drift, and sea salt deposition in relation to meteorological conditions.
Treatment of food with low doses of gamma radiation has been recognized to have two main advantages. These consist of: (1) improvement of food safety by elimination of pathogens and (2) reduction of microbial spoilage and extension of shelf life of perishable items by reducing the number of viable spoilage organisms. Studies during the last few decades have conclusively proved the beneficial effects of radiation with respect to fishery products. The three potential areas of application to fish products include: (i) radurization for shelf life extension (ii) radicidation to eliminate food borne pathogens in the products and (iii) radiation treatment to dried products to control insects.
The retention of radio-Eu, Go, Cs and Sr, at the tracer level, on raw fibers produced from hemp, linen and Jute plants was investigated. The study was conducted from different media including: sea and tap waters, sodium chloride and nitric acid solutions of different Ph. The percentage retention and elution, on prolonged contact, varied from one element to another depending on conditions. Extraction chromatography columns, using these fibers as supporting material were also experimented. Results were discussed together with possible applications. 7 tabs.
Chemical composition of fine aerosol particles over the northern Chilean coastal waters was determined onboard the U.S. DOE G-1 aircraft during the VOCALS (VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study) field campaign between October 16 and November 15, 2008. SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, and total organics (Org) were determined using an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, and SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, Na+, Cl-, CH3SO3-, Mg2+, Ca2+, and K+ were determined using a particle-into-liquid sampler-ion chromatography technique. The results show the marine boundary layer (MBL) aerosol mass was dominated by non- sea-salt SO42- followed by Na+, Cl-, Org, NO3-, and NH4+, in decreasing importance; CH3SO3-, Ca2+, and K+ rarely exceeded their respective limits of detection. The SO42- aerosols were strongly acidic as the equivalent NH4+ to SO42- ratio was only ~0.25 on average. NaCl particles, presumably of sea-salt origin, showed chloride deficits but retained Cl- typically more ...
A compartment model is described which is currently used by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to calculate collective radiation exposure due to liquid radioactive wastes discharged to sea from UK nuclear sites. Collective dose is a useful indicator of the radiological impact of a disposal practice and is one of the quantities needed to show compliance with the ICRP system of dose limitation. The model has been used for the purposes of the Sizewell Inquiry to predict the collective radiation exposure from reactor operation at Sizewell and, on the basis of current Sellafield experience, correlations between dose and discharge for disposals of fuel reprocessing wastes. (author).
The lower continental slope of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico is characterized by a hummocky topography with shallow salt masses interspersed by numerous salt-withdrawal basins containing thick Plio-Pleistocene and older sediments. Analysis of over 7500 km of multichannel seismic reflection data from the Keathley Canyon Area and vicinity defined the Wisconsinan-Holocene sequence and its seismic facies. In interbasinal areas and in the southern part of the study area where salt is shallow, the Wisconsinan-Holocene sequence consists mainly of low-amplitude (LA) facies underlain by strong basal-reflection (SBR) facies. The LA facies occasionally show subtle onlaps against SBR facies and grade upward into a draping pattern. Onlapping LA facies are interpreted to be a lowstand systems tract deposited by widespread low-energy turbidity currents. Draping LA facies at the top may consist of hemipelagic or pelagic sediments. The SBR facies are interpreted to consist of condensed sections ...
A field experiment was held in the northwestern Taiwan as a part of a long-term research program for studying Taiwan`s local circulation. The program has been named as Taiwan Regional-circulation Experiment (TREX). The particular goal of this research is to investigate characteristics of boundary layer and local Circulation and their impact on the distribution and Variation of pollutants in the northwestern Taiwan during Mei-Yu season. It has been known for quite sometime that land-sea breeze is very pronounced under hot and humid conditions. Extensive network includes 11 pilot ballon stations, 3 acoustic sounding sites, and 14 surface stations in about 20 km by 20 km area centered at National Central University, Chung-Li. In addition, there are ground temperature measurements at 3 sites, Integrated Sounding System (ISS) at NCU, air plane observation, tracer experiment with 10 collecting stations, 3 background upper-air sounding stations, 2 towers etc. NOAA and GMS ...
The Rebi Block is currently in the early stages of hydrocarbon exploration. The subsurface geology of this area is only known from seismic reflection data. By applying seismic stratigraphy techniques, unconformities and condensed sections were recognized. These discontinuities were dated using paleontological information from the Kulka-1 well, Northwest Shelf of Australia. With these age constraints, seven unconformities and three condensed sections were dated and correlated to the Exxon global sea level curve. The chronostratigraphic charts for the Rebi Block and the Northwest Shelf of Australia have clarified the Mesozoic stratigraphy of the study area. The Exxon global sea level curve has refined the ages determined by conventional paleontological dating. The chart has also helped in predicting source, reservoir and seal potential within a time framework. Prospective stratigraphic traps were those related to the incised valleys at the ...
Although the German Molasse Basin can be regarded as a mature hydrocarbon province, no regional sequence stratigraphic analysis has been carried out so far. We have studied seismic lines and well data from the region between the Isar and Inn rivers (SE Germany) that have been generously supplied by German oil companies (DEE, BEB, Mobil, RWE-DEA and Wintershall). Initial work indicates that five major seismic sequences within three main depositional cycles are developed. The Alpine thrust belt to the south serves as the primary sediment source in the foreland basin. However, sedimentary infill mainly took place parallel to the basin axis. Our analysis suggests that the stratigraphic development of the Molasse Basin was mainly controlled by eustatic sea-level changes which caused the shoreline to shift in the W-E direction. The shifting of the depocenter axis in a N-S direction was controlled by the tectonic evolution of the thrust belt. The ...
Fe-doped MnO2 with a hollow sea urchin-like ball chain shape was first synthesized under a high magnetic field of 10 T. The formation mechanism was investigated and discussed in detail. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EMPA, and vector network analysis. By doping MnO2 with Fe, the relative complex permittivity of MnO2 and its corresponding loss tangent clearly decreases, but its relative complex permeability and its corresponding loss tangent markedly increases. Moreover, the theoretically calculated values of reflection loss show that with increasing the Fe content, the as-prepared Fe-doped MnO2 exhibits good microwave absorption capability. -- Graphical Abstract: Fe-doped MnO2 with a hollow sea urchin-like ball chain shape was first synthesized in a high magnetic field of 10 T via a simple chemical process. Display Omitted Highlights: ? Fe-doped MnO2 with a hollow sea urchin-like ball chain ...
A Norwegian Research Program on Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) in North Sea reservoirs was launched in 1992. Microbial methods, applied in this context, is a part of this program. The scope, the methodological approach, and results from the three first years are presented. Water profile control, using biomass to block high permeable zones of a reservoir, has been investigated using nitrate-reducing bacteria in the injected sea water as plugging agents. Emphasis has been put on developing a process that does not have disadvantages secondary to the process itself, such as souring and impairment of the overall injectivity of the field. Data from continuous culture studies indicate that souring may successfully be mitigated by adding nitrite to the injected seawater. The morphology and size of generic-nitrate-reducing seawater bacteria have been investigated. Screening of growth-promoting nutrients has been carried out, and some sources were detected ...
During secondary oil recovery, water is injected into the formation to sweep out the residual oil. The injected water, however, follows the path of least resistance through the high-permeability zones, leaving oil in the low-permeability zones. Selective plugging of these their zones would divert the waterflood to the residual oil and thus increase the life of the well. Bacteria have been suggested as an alternative plugging agent to the current method of polymer injection. Starved bacteria can penetrate deeply into rock formations where they attach to the rock surfaces, and given the right nutrients can grow and produce exo-polymer, reducing the permeability of these zones. The application of microbial enhanced oil recovery has only been applied to shallow, cool, onshore fields to date. This study has focused on the ability of bacteria to enhance oil recovery offshore in the North Sea, where the environment can be considered extreme. A screen of produced water ...
We carried out a feeding study in rats aimed at extending our aboservations of contaminant-induced immunosuppression in harbour seals. Two herring batches were freeze-dried, supplemented and fed to female adult PVG rats for a period of 4 1/2 months. Daily contaminant intakes of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) toxic equivalents (TEQ) were estimated to be 0.3 ng/kg body weight and 1.6 ng/kg in the Atlantic and Baltic groups, respectively. At the end of the feeding experiment, no contaminant-related changes in spleen CD{sub 4}{sup +}/CD{sub 8}{sup +} cellularity, natural killer cell activity, or mitogen-induced proliferative responses of thymus or spleen cells could be detected. However, total thymocyte numbers and thymus CD{sub 4}{sup +}/CD{sub 8}{sup +} ratios were reduced in the Baltic group. A novel model was established to assess the specific T-cell response to rat cytomegalovirus (RCMV). When applied to the feeding study, no differences between the Atlantic and Baltic ...
Canadian oilfields are a prime breeding ground for talent, technology and industrial management. This paper described how Canadian talent was recognized in 2001 for three major projects which included a cold-ocean production platform in the Sea of Okhotsk in Siberia, a mountain pipeline project in South America, and an in-situ underground extraction technology in the oilsands of Alberta. The cold-ocean production platform project was recruited by Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., an international consortium originally led by Marathon Oil Co which is now led by Royal Dutch Shell. The oil production platform is stationed 16 kilometres offshore of Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. Sakhalin Energy bought and converted the Molikpaq, an innovative platform made in the 1980s for the Beaufort Sea by Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. The second project included Calgary's Hydroconsult EN3 Services Ltd. which was responsible for ...
The petroleum industry is increasing its focus on the exploration of reservoirs in turbidite systems. However, these sedimentary environments are often characterized by very complex sand distributions. Hence, reservoir description based on conventional seismic and well-log interpretation may be very uncertain. There is a need to employ more quantitative seismic techniques to reveal reservoirs units in these complex systems from seismic amplitude data. In this study we focus on North Sea turbidite systems. Our goal is to improve the ability to use 3D seismic data to map reservoirs in these systems. A cross-disciplinary methodology for seismic reservoir characterization is presented that combines rock physics, sedimentology, and statistical techniques. We apply this methodology to two turbidite systems of Paleocene age located in the South Viking Graben of the North Sea. First, we investigate the relationship between sedimentary petrography and ...
Tectonically active basins may host a spectrum of sequence stratigraphic expressions previously considered to be spatially mutually exclusive. In low accommodation areas with high sediment supply, fourth order eustatic cyclicity results in high frequency sequence sets while within rapidly subsiding areas, time-equivalent Type-2 sequences are expressed by highly asymmetrical coarsening upward successions, resembling large parasequences. In the shallow marine Fulmar Formation, of the U.K. North Sea Central Graben a sequence boundary and overlying lowstand deposits, which illustrate the effects of laterally variable subsidence rate and intrabasinal topography on the expression of a eustatic sea-level fall, lie between the Glosense and Serratum (J54a and J54b) maximum flooding surfaces. The syn-rift physiography comprises major tilted fault blocks, with the Central Graben dipping parallel to the major faults, simulating a ramp setting. Where the ...
As part of an ongoing strategic research project to find barrels of radioactive waste off San Francisco, the U.S. Navy (USN), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) pooled their expertise, resources, and technology to form a partnership to verify new computer enhancement techniques developed for detecting targets the size of 55 gallon barrels on sidescan sonar images. Between 1946 and 1970, approximately 47,800 large barrels and other containers of radioactive waste were dumped in the ocean west of San Francisco; the containers litter an area of the sea floor of at least 1400 km {sup 2} knows as the Farallon Island Radioactive Waste Dump. The exact location of the containers and the potential hazard the containers pose to the environment is unknown. The USGS developed computer techniques and contracted with private industry to enhance sidescan data, collected in cooperation with the GFNMS, to detect ...
Six species having characteristics of plants with the C(4) dicarboxylic photosynthetic pathway, Echinochloa utilis L. Ohwi et Yabuno (Japanese millet), Cynodon dactylon L. (Bermuda grass), Kyllinga brevifolia Rottb., Amaranthus tricolor L. cv. Early splendour, Kochia childsii Hort., and Portulaca grandiflora Hook (rose moss), responded decisively to 0.1 milliequivalent per liter NaCl supplied to their culture solutions initially containing less than 0.08 microequivalent per liter Na. Chlorosis and necrosis occurred in leaves of plants not receiving sodium. Portulaca failed to set flower in the sodium-deficient cultures. Under similar conditions Poa pratensis L. (Kentucky blue grass) having characteristics of the C(3) photosynthetic pathway made normal growth and did not respond to the addition of sodium. It is concluded from these results and previously reported work that sodium is generally essential for species having the C(4) pathway but not for species with the ...
Six species having characteristics of plants with the C4 dicarboxylic photosynthetic pathway, Echinochloa utilis L. Ohwi et Yabuno (Japanese millet), Cynodon dactylon L. (Bermuda grass), Kyllinga brevifolia Rottb., Amaranthus tricolor L. cv. Early splendour, Kochia childsii Hort., and Portulaca grandiflora Hook (rose moss), responded decisively to 0.1 milliequivalent per liter NaCl supplied to their culture solutions initially containing less than 0.08 microequivalent per liter Na. Chlorosis and necrosis occurred in leaves of plants not receiving sodium. Portulaca failed to set flower in the sodium-deficient cultures. Under similar conditions Poa pratensis L. (Kentucky blue grass) having characteristics of the C3 photosynthetic pathway made normal growth and did not respond to the addition of sodium. It is concluded from these results and previously reported work that sodium is generally essential for species having the C4 pathway but not for species with the C3 ...
We examined whether or not BMD or bone markers were useful for assessing the risk of vertebral fractures in 248 Japanese men with type 2 diabetes. We analyzed the relationships between bone markers (osteocalcin [OC], bone-specific alkaline phosphatase [BAP], urinary N-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type-I collagen) or BMD and HbA1c, urinary C-peptide, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), parathyroid hormone, 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D, and the presence of prevalent vertebral fractures. Multiple regression analysis adjusted for age, body height, weight, duration of diabetes, and serum creatinine showed that serum OC and OC/BAP ratio were correlated negatively with HbA1c (P?P?P?0.05). This association was still significant after additional adjustment for lumbar or femoral neck BMD. Our res...
This document concerns the proposal to negotiate an amendment to an existing contract for the supply of thick 6 inch silicon micro-strip sensors for the CMS tracker. For the reasons explained in this document, the Finance Committee is invited to approve an amendment to an existing contract with HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS (CH) for the supply of 7 000 thick 6 inch silicon micro-strip sensors for the CMS tracker, for an amount of 3 248 000 euros (5 131 840 Swiss francs), not subject to revision, with an option for up to 11 000 additional sensors, for a maximum amount of 4 708 000 euros (7 438 640 Swiss francs), not subject to revision, bringing the total maximum amount of the amendment to 7 956 000 euros (12 570 480 Swiss francs) not subject to revision. This total maximum amount will be added to the initial contract amount of 415 835 000 Japanese yen (4 879 824 Swiss francs), not subject to revision. The amounts in Swiss francs have been calculated using the present rate of ...
In the conventional visualization system for the computational results, only Japanese (Nihongo) Line Printer (NLP) was available to print two dimensional cross sectional plots of vector and scalar fields. To evaluate the phenomena, an analyst had to print many plots on the NLP. This task makes difficult to check the computational results immediately after the calculation. Recently, as the visualization tools, we introduced Micro AVS and Field View which are utilized widely in the scientific and the industrial fields. In order to show the numerical results on the visualization software, we constructed a post processing system which convert the results of the numerical code to 'intermediate files' which can be read by the visualization tools. As using this system, the examination of the numerical results can be executed on the display of the personal computer. Furthermore, the persuasive report and paper with high quality can be produced due to the color printing. As ...
Upon request by the Science and Technology Agency of Japanese Government, the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute has conducted Piping Reliability Test Program to demonstrate the safety and reliability of light water reactor primary pipings. In this report, the results of the program are summarized. In the test program, pipe fatigue tests, Leak-Before-Break (LBB) verification tests and pipe rupture tests were carried out to examine the integrity of pipings, to verify the LBB concept and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the protective measures against jet impingement and pipe whip under pipe rupture event, respectively. In the pipe fatigue tests, a procedure to predict the fatigue crack growth was developed and the integrity of piping during plant service life was demonstrated. In the LBB verification tests, pipe fracture tests and leak rate tests were performed using cracked pipes. Based on the test results, LBB in the primary pipings was demonstrated. In the ...
JRR-3 is a research reactor of 10 MWt output, which attained the criticality in 1962. All the design, manufacture, installation and others of this reactor were carried out by Japanese technologies, except the fuel and heavy water as the moderator and coolant, therefore it is nicknamed Home-made No.1 Reactor. Recently, due to the change in the state of utilizing research reactors and the rise of quality in the utilization, JRR-3 has become to be unable to meet sufficiently the needs of users. The plan of reconstructing the JRR-3 was considered under such situation, and in order to reuse the reactor building, the reactor proper is removed, and an entirely new, high performance, versatile reactor is to be constructed. In this paper, as to the removal works of the JRR-3 reactor proper, the method of execution, design, the execution of works and so on are outlined. The removal works of the reactor facilities were started in February, 1986. The removal of the accessory ...
A new type of passive integrating cup monitors was developed to measure indoor thoron("2"2"0Rn) and radon("2"2"2Rn) concentrations. By placing a pair of cup monitors with different size a air exchange windows in the same place during a sufficient period of time the concentrations of both gases can be assessed from the alpha track densities on the CN films of the two monitors. The lower detection limit with a 3 months measurement period is for "2"2"0Rn 26.1 Bq*m"-"3 and is for "2"2"2Rn 6.1 Bq*m"-"3. Radon-220 and "2"2"2Rn concentrations have been measured in about 20 different types of dwellings around the Nagoya area with these monitors. The results suggest that the "2"2"0Rn concentrations were rather high in traditional Japanese dwellings made of a timber frame and mud. (orig.). (4 refs., 4 figs.).
The expression of three c-onc genes (c-erb, c-myc, c-myb) was investigated in five cell lines established from fibrosarcomas induced with 20-methylcholanthrene (MCA) of Japanese quails. These cell lines showed low levels of the three c-onc genes, with the exception of two cell lines that accumulated moderate (MCAQ 1-4) and large amounts (MCAQ 3-5) of c-myc RNA. Molecular cloning and restriction endonuclease analyses indicated that expression of c-myc in these two cell lines were not associated with detectable rearrangements in the c-myc locus, that the size of the c-myc transcript (2.7 kb) in MCAQ 3-5 was similar to that of the normal c-myc messenger RNAs (mRNA) and that the transcriptional activatin observed in MCAQ 3-5 was not mediated by the LTR (long terminal repeat) of a proximate ALV (avian leukosis virus) provirus. Finally, when analyzed with the restriction enzymes Msp I and Hpa II, the c-myc locus of MCAQ 3-5 and MCAQ 1-4 was found hypomethylated as ...
Abstract Background & aims: Hepatitis B or C virus infection is considered to be the main cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Japan. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a carcinogen associated with HCC in regions with high exposure. Mutations in codon 249, exon 7 are a hallmark of AFB1 exposure. Therefore, to clarify the role of AFB1 in hepatocarcinogenesis, we examined AFB1-DNA in liver tissue and sequenced TP53 in Japanese patients with HCC. Methods: Hepatocyte AFB1-DNA adducts were determined immunohistochemically and direct sequencing of TP53 was done to determine mutations in 188 of 279 patients who underwent hepatic resection for HCC. We assessed hepatitis C virus antibodies (HCV Ab) and HBSAg expression; patients without either were defined as having non-B non-C hepatocellular carcinoma (...
The principle and history of free-electron laser (FEL), first evidenced in 1977, the relationship between FEL wavelength and output power, the high-power FEL driven by the superconducting linac, the X-ray FEL by the linac, and the medical use are described. FEL is the vacuum oscillator tube and essentially composed from the high-energy linac, undulator and light-resonator. It utilizes free electrons in the vacuum to generate the beam with wavelength ranging from microwave to gamma ray. The first high-power FEL developed in Japanese Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) is based on the development of superconducting linac for oscillating the highest power beam. In the medical field, applications to excise brain tumors (in US) and to reconstruct experimentally blood vessels in the pig heart (in Gunma University) by lasing and laser coagulator are in progress with examinations to remove intra-vascular cholesterol mass by irradiation of 5.7#mu#m FEL beam. Cancer ...
It is one of the most important subjects to estimate the flow-related stability of the heat exchanger tubes. A large scale model steam generator has been developed to verify the stability of the tubes in the Japanese PWR steam generators for the two-phase flow-induced vibration and to accumulate related technical data of thermal-hydraulic and flow-induced vibration of U-bend tube bundle. The model steam generator has 230 U-bend tubes of 46 different radius and 5 columns for each of practical diameter and material, and the anti vibration bars are inserted into each spacing between tube arrays. The freon R123 has been used as the secondary side fluid in stead of water-steam two-phase. In the test, void fraction and interfacial velocities in U-bend and straight tube-bundle are measured with bi-optical probes, and vibration responses of some selected tubes are measured with strain gauges and accelerators. It is verified that the U-bend tubes are stable when they are ...
Field corrosion tests were conducted on eight single tube materials and two welded overlay materials in three typical Japanese waste incineration plants in an effort to develop new corrosion-resistant superheater tubes capable of functioning efficiently under temperature and pressure conditions of 500 C and 100 kgf/cm{sup 2}-g in high-efficiency waste-to-energy (WTE) plants. Austenitic alloys containing higher concentrations of chromium, nickel, and molybdenum [Cr + Ni + Mo] showed excellent corrosion-resistant properties, and the new alloys JHN24 and HR30M showed good corrosion resistance. Different corrosion rates found in each of the three plants were explained by differences in operating conditions, such as gas temperature, concentration of molten salts resulting from chlorine (Cl) content of deposits, heavy metal (zinc oxide [ZnO] + lead oxide [PbO]) content, etc. It was confirmed that the corrosion rate of materials positioned in the first tube row facing the ...
The effect of two iron catalysts, red mud and CGS S-G, as well as Co-Mo/Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and Ni-Mo/Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ commercial catalysts on the composition of oil derived from the liquefaction of Japanese subbituminous coal have been investigated comparatively by conventional autoclave experiments at 440 and 450C under initial hydrogen pressure of 85kg/cm/sup 2/ . G with tetralin to coal weight ratio of 3. From the results obtained at 450C, total conversion and the yield of gas revealed almost same level with four catalysts, but the oil product from molybdenum catalysts showed higher yield than that from iron catalysts. CGS S-G catalyst also showed higher yield of oil product than red mud catalyst. Reaction behavior of two iron catalysts were also tested by solvent recycle mode experiments.
The financial evaluation of capital and operating cost estimates for a dry coke quenching facility installation indicates a marginal return on investment if the evaluation is based exclusively on steam credits. However, the potential improvements in environmental emissions and reported, but unverified, blast furnace operations may justify the expenditure. The Russian and Japanese claim of 2 to 4% reduction in blast furnace coke usage with up to 4% increase in iron production has not been demonstrated in the domestic steel industry and, therefore, is not included in the financial analysis. A 2% coke reduction represents a savings of approximately $0.81 per ton of hot metal produced or an additional annual credit of $1,800,000 for dry coke quenching, exclusive of productivity gains. Additional credit of this magnitude would increase the estimated discounted cash flow return from 10% to approximately 16% for the estimated capital expenditure of $21,742,652. The ...
For the purpose of risk estimates from radiation carcinogenesis including leukemogenesis and radiation genetic effects, the biological significant dose is not the tissue kerma in air but the absorbed dose in organ or tissue with respect to carcinogenic and leukemogenic effects or genetic effects. In order to estimate organ or tissue dose from the tissue kerma in air, a ratio of the organ or tissue dose to the tissue kerma in air for survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was calculated with the aid of the Snyder's mathematical phantoms constructed so as to simulate the body shape of survivors aged 5, 10 years old and adult at the time of atomic bomb detonations. The ratios were corrected for the angular distribution of atomic bomb radiations, assuming an anisotropic angular distribution for the survivors exposed to the atomic bombs in open air and the isotropic distribution for the survivors incide a Japanese house or other structures. The resultant ratios are ...
Deformation of the ground can be considered as a sum of volume deformation and shear deformation. At circumferential ground of pile axis, simple shear type of shear deformation becomes main factor of settlement. As shear forces with reverse direction are overlapped at parallel face for pile around face of the ground between the piles, the shear deformation is relaxed. At deeper place from top of the pile, volume deformation becomes larger and component of shear deformation approaches to a pure shear type. In case of the land surface loading type consolidation settlement calculation, a method adopting one dimensional consolidation calculating method using only vertical component within stress obtained by elasticity theory even when investigating multi dimensionally is used widely. In Japanese design standards, the method calculating the consolidation settlement by presuming imaginary loading face for land surface is widely adopted. In case of abrasion pile, the ...
Three typical Japanese coals of non-coking coal, coking coal and anthracite were heat-treated with KOH, and change in their pore structure was examined by absorption of N2, X-ray diffraction and TEM observation. In addition, the relation between a coal rank and pore structure was also studied by absorption experiment of N2. In experiment, the mixture of coal and KOH in a nickel holder was heat-treated in N2 gas flow at heating rate of 2{degree}C/min, and held at a fixed temperature for one hour. To clarify the pore structure, N2 absorption isotherms were measured at -196{degree}C under nearly 76cmHg using a commercially available full-automatic absorption measurement equipment. Based on the X-ray diffraction and TEM observation results on activated coals, the relation between the N2 absorption and pore structure was studied. The results are summarized as follows: (1) The yield and absorption ability of coals increase with a coal rank, (2) The specific surface area ...
Comparisons were made between various LH and FSH radioimmunoassays currently being used to measure avian hormones. The two LH assays were the homologous chicken system of Follett et al. (1972) and the turkey assay of Burke et al. (1979). These assays were also used in heterologous arrangement by interchanging the iodinated LH fractions and antisera. Five FSH assays were analyzed: two homologous chicken systems (Scanes et al., 1977; Sakai and Ishii, 1980) an assay based on mammalian materials (rat FSH and anti-ovine FSH antiserum, and one using labelled turkey FSH (Burke et al., 1979) with an anti-chicken FSH antiserum. The potencies of purified chicken and turkey gonadotrophin preparations and of a range of plasma samples from Japanese quail were measured in each assay. The two LH systems showed some degree of species specificity, such that chicken LH was more active than turkey LH in the chicken assay, whereas the reverse was true in the turkey LH assay. The ...
The application of chemical cleaning for dissolving and removing scale and sludge is being planned in the Japanese pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant in order to maintain high heat transfer performance and to prevent steam generator (SG) tube degradation. In this paper, the effectiveness of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and German Kraftwerk Union (KWU) processes on the integrity of structural materials other than SG tubes and the comprehensive applicability of chemical cleaning are discussed. The integrity of structural materials such as carbon steel, low-alloy steel and stainless steel was maintained after the EPRI and KWU processes. KWU chemical cleaning tailored for crevice cleaning has been studied to improve its cleaning effectiveness in crevices and to control the corrosion depth of structural materials less than the criterion for corrosion depth. (author)
Beach rocks are observed frequently on the tropical and subtropical sandy beaches where they express thin beds dipping seaward at less than 15 degrees. They consist of beach sediments including fossil shells, fragments of corals, diatoms and other biocarbonates, and are well cemented within the inter-tidal zone with calcium carbonate originated in sea water. Therefore, they are not only good indicators which show the past sea level, but also provide good sample material for radiocarbon dating. The locations of beach rocks give us an optimum condition studying a carbon cycle between land and marine environment by analyzing their isotope fractionations. In order to estimate the origin of calcium carbonate which worked as an adhesive when beach rocks were formed and to estimate the formative ages of beach rocks, a total of 330 fossil corals, fossil shells and calcarenite or calcirdite samples were collected from 128 sites of 16 islands consisting ...
A microcosm laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the impact of biological reworking by the ragworm Nereis diversicolor on the redistribution of particle-bound radionuclides deposited at the sediment-water interface. Over the course of the 40-day experiment, as much as 35% of a {sup 137}Cs-labelled particulate tracer deposited on the sediment surface was redistributed to depths of up to 11 cm by the polychaete. Three different reworking models were employed to model the profiles and quantify the biodiffusion and biotransport coefficients: a gallery-diffuser model, a continuous sub-surface egestion model and a biodiffusion model. Although the biodiffusion coefficients obtained for each model were quite similar, the continuous sub-surface egestion model provided the best fit to the data. The average biodiffusion coefficient, at 1.8 {+-} 0.9 cm{sup 2} y{sup -1}, is in good agreement with the values quoted by other workers on the bioturbation effects of this polychaete species. ...
A microcosm laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the impact of biological reworking by the ragworm Nereis diversicolor on the redistribution of particle-bound radionuclides deposited at the sediment-water interface. Over the course of the 40-day experiment, as much as 35% of a "1"3"7Cs-labelled particulate tracer deposited on the sediment surface was redistributed to depths of up to 11 cm by the polychaete. Three different reworking models were employed to model the profiles and quantify the biodiffusion and biotransport coefficients: a gallery-diffuser model, a continuous sub-surface egestion model and a biodiffusion model. Although the biodiffusion coefficients obtained for each model were quite similar, the continuous sub-surface egestion model provided the best fit to the data. The average biodiffusion coefficient, at 1.8 #+-# 0.9 cm"2 y"-"1, is in good agreement with the values quoted by other workers on the bioturbation effects of this polychaete species. The ...
The mature spermatozoon of Cricocephalus albus is filiform, tapered at both ends and shows the following features: 2 axonemes of different lengths presenting the 9+''1'' trepaxonematan pattern, 2 bundles of parallel cortical microtubules, a mitochondrion and a nucleus. Nevertheless, the particularity of the spermatozoon of C. albus is its anterior extremity with an apical electron-dense material associated with extramembranar ornamentation, a cytoplasmic dorsolateral expansion and spine-like bodies. To our knowledge, such an anterior extremity of the spermatozoon has not previously been described from a species of the superfamily Pronocephaloidea. Our study provides new data on the mature gamete of C. albus in order to improve our understanding of the pronocephaloidean phylogenetic relatio...
The adjoint of an ocean general circulation model is used as a tool for investigating the causes of changes in ENSO SST indices. We identify adjoint Kelvin and Rossby waves in the sensitivities to sea level and wind stress at earlier times, which can be traced back for more than a year through western and weak eastern boundary reflections. Depending on the thermocline depth the first and second baroclinic modes are excited. The sensitivities to the heat flux and SST are local and decay in about a month. The sensitivities to the fluxes are converted into the influence of SST using the adjoint of a statistical atmosphere model. Focusing on SST perturbations in the index region itself, we recover, up to a scale factor, the delayed oscillator concept.
The Spratly Islands constitute one of the earth's most ecologically significant areas, hosting a high diversity of marine species, providing critical habitats for endangered species, and providing marine larvae to reestablish depleted stocks among the heavily overfished and degraded coastal ecosystems of the South China Sea. Territorial disputes have led to the establishment of environmentally destructive, socially and economically costly military outposts on many of the islands. Given the rapid proliferation of international peace parks around the world, it is time to take positive steps toward the establishment of a Spratly Islands Marine Peace Park. Its purpose would be to manage the area's natural resources and alleviate regional tensions via a freeze on claims and claim supportive act...
Maximum cross-correlation techniques have been used with satellite data to estimate winds and sea surface velocities for several years. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is currently using a variation of the basic maximum cross-correlation technique, coupled with a deterministic application of a vector median filter, to measure transverse winds as a function of range and altitude from incoherent elastic backscatter lidar data taken throughout large volumes within the atmospheric boundary layer. Hourly representations of three- dimensional wind fields, derived from elastic lidar data taken during an air-quality study performed in a region of complex terrain near Sunland Park, New Mexico, are presented and compared with results from an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved laser doppler velocimeter. The wind fields showed persistent large scale eddies as well as general terrain following winds in the Rio Grande valley.
There is now a scientific consensus that current rates of accumulation of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere will result in significant global warming and climate change. These changes are likely to have important impacts on a wide range of human activities and the natural environment. There has now been a considerable weight of literature published on the impacts of global warming, much of it very recent. This report seeks to summarise the important results, to analyse the uncertainties and to make a preliminary analysis of the feasibility of monetarising these environmental costs. The impacts of global warming are divided into ten major categories: agriculture, forests and forestry, terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity, hydrology and water resources, sea level rise and coastal zones, energy, infrastructure/transport/industry, human health and air quality, oceans, and cryospheric impacts. The results of major summary reports are analysed, notably the report of ...
The North-West Borneo Trough is bordered along its south-east margin by a melange wedge that has been the subject of disagreement with insufficient discussion. Offshore Palawan it has been interpreted as an accretionary prism that has been preserved in place when subduction ceased in the Middle Miocene. It is unconformably overlain by undeformed Upper Miocene to Holocene draping strata. Farther south-west along the Trough, the seismically identical melange wedge has been named a Major Thrust Sheet System, which was assumed to have been thrust as a nappe north-westwards over the autochthonous Dangerous Grounds terrane of attenuated continental crust of the South China Sea passive margin. The accretionary prism model is the simplest, resulting in interpretation of the North-West Borneo Troug...
This article presents a humidification-dehumidification (H.D.) process suitable for desalination of sea- and brackish water. The work correlated performance characteristics of the combination of different components in such a loop. Water yield, energy requirement and design data are evaluated as functions of different parameters. The investigation covered water to air mass ratios ranging from 60 to 80, concentration ratios between 2 and 5, at a temperature difference of between 10 and 16 C, along the liquid for dehumidification. The results showed that 76% of energy consumed in the humidifier is recovered by condensation. Increase of the concentration ratio to 5 can reduce the make-up water and rejected brine by about 58% and 24% respectively. Cost calculations show that the H.D. process has significant potential as an alternative for small capacity desalination plants and permits to operate systems as small as 10 m[sup 3]/day in output. (orig.)
The discovery of large reserves of oil has resulted in a proliferation of drilling and production platforms in the North Sea, and other offshore areas around the UK will probably be developed. The exploitation of marginal oil fields, particularly in those developing countries which have only limited energy resources, has been made possible by the development of a floating production, storage and offloading (f.p.s.o.) unit consisting of a large tonnage oil tanker converted for the purpose and moored. The increased electrical power demands imposed by the addition of process plant, extra accommodation, and so on, usually necessitate additions to onboard generation and distribution systems, which must of course be integrated with the existing equipment.
The article has three sections. The first discusses the environmental problems the tanker traffic poses to the Norwegian coastal waters and shores. Various precautionary measures and requirements are briefly presented. The size of the present marine transportation and the future Russian marine petroleum activity in the Barents area are briefly mentioned. The second named, conflicting exploration drilling, presents the conflicting interests regarding exploratory drilling in the Barents Sea in Norway. The environmental problems are large and have lead to an on-going reevaluation. Some pollution abatement measures are mentioned. The regional economic development is briefly outlined. The third deals with the Norwegian governmental safety activities and presents a brief survey of the official safety activities in the petroleum sector in Norway and the international cooperation particularly with the Russian Federation. The emphasis is on the maritime security, the safety ...
Presented are the results from a laboratory test program conducted to identify and evaluate materials for converting hazardous geothermal residues to a non-hazardous and potentially usable form. Results indicate that the residues can be effectively incorporated, as a fine aggregate, into portland cement-based composites. Five geothermal residues obtained from sites in the Salton Sea area of California were evaluated. Three of these were classified as hazardous. After mixing with cement, the leach rates were all well below specified levels. Although structural-grade composites were produced, gradual reductions in properties with time up to 1 yr were noted. This indicates ongoing chemical reactions between the cement paste and the constituents of the residues. Further research is necessary before the composites could be considered for use in structural applications. 3 refs., 8 tabs.
Source Philippe (on the island of La Govave, near Haiti) is described in terms of climatic, sociological, agricultural and technical background. Because of drought conditions, it became necessary to develop a solar still to provide the town with sufficient fresh water. The still, which has been in operation since 1969, is described in some detail as is the construction process. Brackish and sea water are used to produce more than 1250 liters of fresh water each day. A windmill is used to pump the brackish water from a well to an elevated storage tank; it flows by gravity to solar still basins where it is vaporized, then condensed on a sloping glass surface and collected. Benefits of the solar still to the town's economy and health are discussed. Cost of the project was $17,000. 10 references. (MJJ)
Seismic stratigraphy and sedimentological studies of the Gemlik Gulf in the Sea of Marmara, Turkey, have been carried out. For this purpose, 19 lines totaling 189 km of excellent quality, high-resolution seismic data were recorded. Four major acoustic units were identified in the seismic profiles. Three were sedimentary units: irregular layered, cross-layered and well-layered; and the fourth was an acoustic basement which is probably composed of crystalline volcanic rocks. Some local areas in the Neogene formation contain gas accumulations. The formation of faults in E--W and N--S directions can be explained by the existence of shear stresses in the Gulf. The bathymetric map shows good accommodation with the shore line as does the tectonic map.
Mediterranean mariculture uses imported strains of marine phytoplankton, raising questions of ecological risk and ability to adapt to local conditions for mass culture outdoors. In this context, we report here on the mass-culture potential and chemical composition of six strains of Prasinophyceae (five strains of Tetraselmis sp. and one Pyramimonas sp.) isolated from a Greek coastal lagoon. Proximate composition had a pattern of 10?20% ash, 35?65% protein, 6?10% lipids, and 25?45% other organics including carbohydrates. The amino acid profiles were typical for the marine representatives of the class. All strains had a high PUFA content with dominant the ?3 fraction in four of them. The fatty acid profiles indicated a Tetraselmis strain with high EPA (14%) and a Pyramimonas strain with high...
Spratly Islands, located in the southern part of the South China Sea (SCS), consist of more than 100 small islands, coral reefs and banks. Remote sensing is the only way to obtain a synoptic view of all of the islands in such a large area. It has been demonstrated that satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is a very powerful tool for monitoring meso-scale and small-scale ocean processes in a large area. In this study, satellite SAR images were used to study the ocean environment in the area of Spratly Islands. The aim was to understand the capability of satellite remote sensing to monitor ocean processes and provide information for future field studies. Two sets of high-resolution European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS)-2 SAR images over the entire Spratly Islands area were coll...
Possible factors regulating phytoplankton variability in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf were analyzed on the basis of satellite observations and meteorological data (1997-2009), including remotely-sensed chlorophyll a concentration (CHL), sea surface temperature, wind, solar radiation, precipitation, and aerosols. Shallow waters of northwestern Gulf influenced by Shatt Al-Arab River discharge were more productive than open Gulf waters, although seasonal CHL patterns in this and other shallow regions looked unrealistic likely because the CHL signal was obscured by bottom reflection. Therefore our further analyses focused on the open Gulf waters, which show a subtropical seasonal CHL cycle with maximum in winter and minimum in spring-summer. This cycle, however, was decoupled from the seasonal e...
Tiered response is a basic approach to emergency plans, including oil spill response (OSR). This paper delineates a huge set of accidental scenarios within a certain tier of response generated by a computer during risk assessment. Parameters such as the amount of oil spilled, duration of discharge and types of losses should be provided in OSR scenarios. Examples of applications include offshore installations, sub sea or onshore pipelines, and localized onshore facilities. The paper demonstrates how to use risk analysis results for delineating all likely spills into groups that need a specific tier response. The best world practices and Russian regulatory approaches were outlined and compared. Corresponding algorithms were developed and their application in pipelines was presented. The algorithm combines expert's skills and spill trajectory modeling with the net environmental benefit analysis principle into the incident specific emergency response planning. ...
This is our response to a comment by Walter Eifler on our paper `A simple model for the short-time evolution of near-surface current and temperature profiles' (arXiv:physics/0503186, accepted for publication in Deep-Sea Research II). Although Eifler raises genuine issues regarding our model's validity and applicability, we are nevertheless of the opinion that it is of value for the short-term evolution of the upper-ocean profiles of current and temperature. The fact that the effective eddy viscosity tends to infinity for infinite time under a steady wind stress may not be surprising. It can be interpreted as a vertical shift of the eddy viscosity profile and an increase in the size of the dominant turbulent eddies under the assumed conditions of small stratification and infinite water depth.
Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels offer a cost-effective field development solution, especially in deepwater areas lacking an adequate pipeline network. Most FPSOs are permanently moored, i.e. the complete system is designed to withstand any kind of extreme environment at the field location. FPSOs that can be quickly disconnected from their moorings and risers have also been designed and deployed. The key feature of this type of disconnectable FPSO is that it can be disconnect and so avoid dangerous environmental conditions such as icebergs, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and typhoons in the South China Sea. In this paper, the concept of disconnectable FPSOs for deepwater field development is presented. Key technologies and their engineering analyses are highlight...
The effect of the wind on the sustain of extreme water waves is investigated experimentally and numerically. A series of experiments conducted in the Large Air-Sea Interactions Facility (LASIF) showed that a wind blowing over a strongly nonlinear short wave group due to the linear focusing of a modulated wave train may increase the life time of the extreme wave event. The expriments suggested that the air flow separation that occurs on the leeward side of the steep crests may sustain longer the maximum of modulation of the focusing-defocusing cycle. Based on a Boundary-Integral Equation Method and a pressure distribution over the steep crests given by the Jeffreys'sheltering theory, similar numerical simulations have confirmed the experimental results
It is suggested that the model of a neutrino ball described in terms of the standard model extended by adding right-handed neutrinos and the Majorana scalar field can be presented in order to explain a body of weak interacting neutrinos. Neutrino interaction with the scalar Majorana field violates the lepton number and produces the mass splitting of neutrino due to the sea-saw mechanism. In this model a neutrino ball is an object which appears as a result of a first order cosmological phase transition. It can be regarded as a ball filled with Dirac neutrinos and can be treated as a remnant of the phase transition with unbroken global lepton symmetry. In this paper we study the macroscopic parameters of such a configuration. In the result the mass-radius curve M(R) for this object is obtained. (orig.).
The use of numerical modeling in oil spill incidents is a well established technique that has proven to provide cost-effective and reasonable estimates of oil surface drift. Good predictability of such models depends highly on the quality of the input data of the incident and on the model calibration effort. This paper presents the results of simulating oil spillage trajectory in the Arabian (Persian) Gulf. The study employed a 3-D rectilinear hydrodynamic model combined with oil spill model. Typical representative environmental conditions of the Arabian Gulf were first setup into a hydrodynamic circulation model using data from various sources. The performance of the hydrodynamic model was then tested against measurements of tidal fluctuation and sea currents at selected locations. The sp...
This book discusses problems and topics important for the design and construction of fixed offshore platforms used for drilling and producing petroleum from beneath the sea. A general description of offshore platforms serves as an introduction to the whole problem of offshore structures. A chapter on the hydrodynamic analysis of fixed offshore platforms gives the basis for the layout and construction of such structures. A guide to soil investigation methods essential for the geotechnical analysis of foundation designs for all types of offshore structures concentrates on the instrumentation equipment actually used. Detailed information is given on pile foundations with special emphasis on steel jacket platforms. The behaviour of gravity platforms during the final construction stage is analysed. The basis for the design of subsea pipelines and their stability is treated as well as the scour protection near offshore platforms.
The offshore and inshore wave energy resource in Asturias (N Spain) is studied using wave buoy data and a hindcast dataset spanning 44 years (1958-2001). Offshore average wave power and annual wave energy values are found to exceed 30 kW/m and 250 MWh/m, respectively, at 7 of the 11 study sites. This substantial resource is characterised in terms of the sea states involved. Most of the energy is provided by IV quadrant waves with significant wave heights between 2 m and 5 m and energy periods between 11 s and 13 s. After analysing the offshore resource, numerical modelling is used to investigate the inshore wave patterns. A coastal wave model is validated with wave buoy data and applied to three case studies representative of storm, winter and summer conditions. Inshore wave energy concent...
A microcosm laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the impact of biological reworking by the ragworm Nereis diversicolor on the redistribution of particle-bound radionuclides deposited at the sediment-water interface. Over the course of the 40-day experiment, as much as 35% of a 137Cs-labelled particulate tracer deposited on the sediment surface was redistributed to depths of up to 11 cm by the polychaete. Three different reworking models were employed to model the profiles and quantify the biodiffusion and biotransport coefficients: a gallery-diffuser model, a continuous sub-surface egestion model and a biodiffusion model. Although the biodiffusion coefficients obtained for each model were quite similar, the continuous sub-surface egestion model provided the best fit to the data...
The winter syndrome in the gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata indicates that the species is exposed to critically low temperatures in Mediterranean aquaculture in winter. The present study of metabolic patterns and molecular stress responses during cold exposure was carried out to investigate this ?disease?, in light of the recent concept of oxygen and capacity limited thermal tolerance. The metabolic profile of fuel oxidation was examined by determining the activities of the enzymes hexokinase (HK), aldolase (Ald), pyruvate kinase (PK), l-lactate dehydrogenase (l-LDH), citrate synthase (CS), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and 3-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase (HOAD) in heart, red and white muscle after exposure to temperatures of 10, 14 and 18?C. Especially, the increase in LDH activity combined ...
Neutron-induced soft error rates (SER`s) of subhalf-micron CMOS SRAM and Latch circuits were studied both experimentally and analytically to investigate cosmic ray neutron-induced soft errors (SE`s). Because the neutron beam used in the measurement has an energy spectrum similar to that of sea-level atmospheric neutrons, the SER data corresponds to those induced by cosmic ray neutrons. The {alpha}-particle induced SER`s were also measured for comparison with the neutron-induced SER`s. Neutron-induced SE`s occurred in both circuits. On the other hand, {alpha}-induced SE`s occurred in SRAM, but not in the Latch circuit. The measured SER`s agreed with simulated results. The authors discussed the significance of how cosmic ray neutrons affects CMOS circuits at ground level.
This paper presents research work concerning the mathematical modelling of air pollution in the Athens basin. A mathematical model based on aerodynamics and conservation equations together with turbulence modelling in body-fitted coordinates is used to provide the necessary input information to a similar but more detailed (i.e. small scale) model around Athens. Both models consist of solving the full Navier-Stokes equations and take into account the precise topography of the region. Different roughness heights are used for sea, coastal regions and land. The smaller scale model makes use of a two-equation turbulence model ({kappa}-{epsilon}) and the large scale model assumes a constant turbulence viscosity. The pollutant sources used in these models are based on actual emissions in the Athens area and are distributed in space. The results of this work appear promising and demonstrate the capability of the model as a tool for providing flow fields and pollution ...
Turbulent shear flows on shallow continental shelves (here shallow means that the interaction with the solid, no-slip bottom is important) are of great importance because tide- and wind-driven flows on the shelf are drivers of the transfer of momentum, heat, and mass (gas) across the air?sea interface. These turbulent flows play an important role because vertical mixing and current are vectors for the transport of sediment and bioactive material on continental shelves. Understanding the dynamics of this class of flows presents complications because of the presence of a free surface and also because the flow can be driven by a pressure gradient (a tidal current), a stress at the free surface (a wind-driven current), or a combination of both. In addition, the flow can be modified by the pres...
Man's wastes are polluting the oceans from various sources and delivered by various routes. The result has been the loss of habitat and the irreversible altering of marine ecosystems. Development in the coastal zones and offshore activities that disrupt biologically sensitive areas have led to international negotiations to regulate these impacts and develop a law of the sea. Basic to international cooperation, however, is the need to develop answers to questions about the ecological consequences of development programs and the carrying capacity of the oceans. Current information does not demonstrate long-term global impacts, making it difficult to detect and predict incremental changes and causal relationships. Society needs to determine how much environmental damage it will accept and then to develop appropriate technology, such as biomonitoring. Society also needs to reexamine its positions on technology-based regulatory controls to see if the effects of ...
Beaked whales (Ziphiidae) often show highly specialized features, involving bone morphology or structure, in the rostral region of their skulls. Previous studies revealed an extremely derived and peculiar histological structure in the rostrum of the extant Mesoplodon densirostris. In order to assess if this structure is a general feature of ziphiids, the swollen premaxillae of Aporotus recurvirostris, a Miocene species from the North Sea, were studied histologically. These bones are pachyostotic and strongly osteosclerotic. However, their structural organization is entirely different from that of M. densirostris rostrum: they are basically made of a non-remodeled, laminar tissue that was cyclically deposited by the periosteum. As compared to the generalized structure of the premaxillae of ...
The framework of time-sequence stratigraphy was established according to the point of view of high-resolution sequence stratigraphy. The development characteristic of the sequence, the distribution pattern of strata, the basin evolution and filling, and the relationship between variations of base level and coal accumulation of epicontinental basin were expounded based on the base-level cycles. The result shows that the C-P coal measures in Hebei is a series of basin deposit of inner epicontinental sea. The formation and evolution and sedimentation of the basin is intimately related to the changes of the basin base-level, which controls the development of the coal-accumulation, forming a clear coal-bearing sequence in the cycle. 9 refs., 3 figs.
This paper presents a review of the history, motivation and current status of high energy neutrino telescopes. Many years after these detectors were first conceived, the operation of kilometer-cubed scale detectors is finally on the horizon at both the South Pole and in the Mediterranean Sea. These new detectors will perhaps provide us the first view of high energy astrophysical objects with a new messenger particle and provide us with our first real glimpse of the distant universe at energies above those accessible by gamma-ray instruments. Some of the topics that can be addressed by these new instruments include the origin of cosmic rays, the nature of dark matter, and the mechanisms at work in high energy astrophysical objects such as gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, pulsar wind nebula and supernova remnants.
The use of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels to develop UK offshore oil fields looks certain to increase. Of the 64 new offshore fields due for development in the next few years, 15 are expected to use FPSO vessels for their production. Most of these are small, short-life fields in the central North Sea which would not justify investment in a fixed platform. Three, however, are large fields west of Shetland, and one, the Foinaven field, is scheduled to be the first commercial development in this area, perhaps setting a precedent. Floating production systems with substantial storage capacity can be the best option in deepwater locations which are remote from existing infrastructure, where the cost of an export pipeline would be prohibitive. (author)
A large detector with high redundancy is used to search for various types of anomalous particles in cosmic rays at sea level. The detector is sensitive to zenith angles between 45/sup 0/ and 90/sup 0/. Previously obtained limits on the fluxes of charge (1/3) and (2/3) particles are reduced to 2.9 x 10/sup -10/ and 2.6 x 10/sup -10/ cm/sup -2/sr /sup -1/ sec/sup -1/, respectively. The flux of ionizing tachyons is determined to be less than 2.4 x 10/sup -9/ cm/sup -2/ sr/sup -1/ sec/sup -1/. The massive-particle flux limit we obtain is inconsistent with previous claims of such particles assuming that these particles are isotropic in zenith angle.
A large detector with high redundancy is used to search for various types of anomalous particles in cosmic rays at sea level. The detector is sensitive to zenith angles between 45"0 and 90"0. Previously obtained limits on the fluxes of charge (1/3) and (2/3) particles are reduced to 2.9 x 10"-"1"0 and 2.6 x 10"-"1"0 cm"-"2sr "-"1 sec"-"1, respectively. The flux of ionizing tachyons is determined to be less than 2.4 x 10"-"9 cm"-"2 sr"-"1 sec"-"1. The massive-particle flux limit we obtain is inconsistent with previous claims of such particles assuming that these particles are isotropic in zenith angle.
The nuclear complex in Tarapur, Maharashtra is a multi facility nuclear site comprising of power reactors and research facilities. Each facility has independent liquid effluent discharge line to Arabian Sea. Experimental studies were conducted to evaluate dilution factors in the aquatic environment using liquid effluent releases as tracer from one of the facilities. 3H and 137Cs radioisotopes present in the routine releases were used as simulated tracer nuclides. The dilution factors(D.F) observed for tritium were in the range of 20-20000 in a distance range of 10 m to 1500 m respectively and for 137Cs the D.F. were in the range of 50 to 900 over a distance range of 10-200 m. The paper describes the analytical methodology and sampling scenarios and the results of dilution factors obtained for Tarapur aquatic environment. (author)
This evaluation has for object to inform about the levels in carbon 14 in the environment of the factories of La Hague. Two sectors were differentiated on one hand the terrestrial environment, and on the other hand the marine environment. The investigations concerned first and foremost food products stemming as the vegetable culture (vegetables) or individual breeding (milk, eggs) but also foodstuffs stemming from the local agriculture (cereal). In touch with the second sector, the marine environment, the sampling concerned the accessible products of the sea by all and those locally marketed (fishes, molluscs, shellfishes). The different results are presented in tables. (N.C.)
Heart cells from the clam Ruditapes decussatus were routinely cultured with a high level of reproducibility in sea water based medium. Three cell types attached to the plastic after 2?days and could be maintained in vitro for at least 1?month: epithelial-like cells, round cells and fibroblastic cells. Fibroblastic cells were identified as functional cardiomyocytes due to their spontaneous beating, their ultrastructural characteristics and their reactivity with antibodies against sarcomeric ?-actinin, sarcomeric tropomyosin, myosin and troponin T-C. Patch clamp measurements allowed the identification of ionic currents characteristic of cardiomyocytes: a delayed potassium current (I K?slow) strongly suppressed (95%) by tetraethylammonium (1?mM), a fast inactivating potassium current (I K?fas...
A numerical model for the development of bed dominated scour around sub-sea structures is presented. The hydrodynamic part of the model is based on a modified potential flow theory. The purpose of the present study has been to develop relatively simple models, yet complex enough to capture the main physics that can be used as engineering tools. An overview of scour phenomena and the basic problems of scour in steady current flow is presented. A hydrodynamic model for horseshoe vortex is presented, as well as a model for the bed transport, and examples are given. The scour in oscillatory flow and a curvilinear model for suspended sediment calculations are described. An advection-diffusion model (formulated in a curvilinear stretched coordinate system) has been developed and is described in an article which has been submitted for publication, a copy of the article is enclosed in Appendix E of the report. (EG)
Often oil/gas and other hydrocarbons discovered and produced offshore are transported to onshore facilities via submarine pipelines. The route of such pipelines traverses through coastal/shore approach regions. For a rational/economic design, safe installation and subsequent operation it is of utmost importance to review, evaluate and finalize various environmental hazard such as winds, waves, currents, seabed topography, seabed and sub-bottom soils, seabed erosion and soil accretion. This paper addresses the above described environmental hazards, their assessment and techniques to prepare design parameters which must be used for stability analysis, installation methods, long term operation and maintenance for the shore approaches. Additionally, various proven pipeline installation and stabilization techniques for the shore approach region are detailed. As case histories, three approaches installed in the Dutch North Sea are described.
One proposed solution to the problem of ballast-mediated aquatic invasions involves chemically treating ballast water to kill key target organisms. Here, we examine the efficacy of three commercially available ballast water biocides using vegetative microalgae, dinoflagellate resting cysts and bacteria as test organisms. Chemicals tested were the ballast water biocides SeaKleen and Peraclean Ocean, and the chlorine dioxide biocide Vibrex. Results demonstrate that the applicability of each of the three chemical biocides as a routine ballast water treatment is limited by factors such as cost, biological effectiveness and possible residual toxicity of the discharged ballast water (assessed on the basis of impact on motility of vegetative marine microalgae). Of the three biocides tested, Perac...
This volume presents the main address, the lectures and the discussions of the symposium. The papers presented to the symposium were the following: the Draft Convention on the Law of the Sea and problems of the international deep seabed regime; developments in science and technology, as a challenge to international law; modern fishery engineering and its impact on international law; the EEC agricultural market - a case study of European Law; problems of international law in connection with a new system of the world economy; the GATT and a new world economic system; the Third World and UNCTAD; international disaster relief and mutual assistance in case of accidents, especially with a view to Atomic Energy Law; organisation, scope and limits of international co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
This is the first record from China of the bopyrid isopod genus Asymmetrione, of which the new species Asymmetrione globifera, a parasite of the hermit crab Dardanus hessii (Miers) in Beibu Gulf and South China Sea, is described. The female A. globifera differs from Asymmetrione nossibensis Bourdon in the shape of its barbula and ornamentation of the first oostegite. A tabulation of the occurrence of all currently known species of Asymmetrione is included. New genus Parasymmetrione is described. The type species, Parasymmetrione tuberculineata, sp. nov., a parasite of Clibanarius corallinus (H. Milne-Edwards) Xisha, is similar in appearance to Asymmetrione spp. but differs, in the female, in not having the propodi of its pereopods produced into sockets and having uniramous uropoda; the mal...
The atmospheric processing by ozone of peptide-containing mixed particles was investigated as proxies for biogenic and sea spray primary organic aerosol. Reactions were performed in a flow reactor and particle composition was monitored by photoelectron resonance capture ionization aerosol mass spectrometry. Mixed particles containing dipeptides in a saturated organic matrix of stearic and palmitic acids showed no reaction under ozonolysis at exposure levels of 2.5???10?4?atm s O3. However reactions of mixed particles of a dipeptide (Leu-Leu) in an unsaturated matrix (oleic acid) under the same conditions resulted in a rapid loss of the peptide ion signal, as well as the carrier matrix, and appearance of a number of ion signals corresponding to secondary products. High molecular weight imid...
Research conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory under the Coastal Meteorology and Diffusion Research Program from 1972 to 1983 is summarized by the following study areas: Diffusion Studies, Boundary Layer Studies, Coastal Meteorology Studies, Air-Sea Interaction Studies, Coastal Transport and Diffusion Climatology, Seabreeze Modeling and Instrument Development, all supported by the US Department of Energy. Studies supported by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the National Science Foundation and the American Petroleum Institute are also described. A summary of a Workshop on Coastal Atmospheric Transport Processes, an account of studies in progress, recommendations for future research and a description of facilities and instrumentation available are also included. A list of all publications and presentations prepared as part of the program is given with abstracts. 7 figures, 1 table.
Tarapur Atomic Power Station, Unit 3 and 4 is located on the West Coast of the Arabian Sea near the existing Tarapur Atomic Power Station Unit 1 and 2. The nearest railway station is Boisar at a distance of 12 km from the site, which is on the main Western Railway Mumbai-Delhi route. The site is well connected by road and is about 30 Km from Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway-NH-8. The paper describes the land acquisition and rehabilitisation of the affected families, importance of project in the western grid, how it works, working principles of PHWR, principle of operation, major components/equipment, important systems, safety features, and waste management
The Jeanne d`Arc Basin is located 320 km offshore in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. It is a Mesozoic failed-rift basin with recoverable oil reserves of about 2 billion barrels. Its huge Hibernia Field will be in production by late 1997. The basin has been reappraised using sequence stratigraphic concepts, and renewed exploration in the area is expected. The Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous sedimentary accumulation in the Basin was formed by the extensional tectonics that created the North Atlantic Ocean. The sedimentary packages were placed in chronostratigraphic order by calibrating the biostratigraphy of the Oxfordian to Maastrichtian section to the detailed ammonite zonation from the North Sea.
In the last two decades the performance of numerical wind-wave models has improved considerably. Several models have been routinely producing good quality wave estimates globally since the mid-1980s. The verifications of wind-wave models have mainly focused on the evaluation of the error of the significant wave height H{sub s} estimates. However, for wave energy purposes, the main parameters to be assessed are the wave power P{sub w} and the mean (energy) period T{sub e}. Since P{sub w} is proportional to H{sub s}{sup 2}T{sub e}, its expected error is much larger than for the single-wave parameters. This paper summarizes the intercomparison of two wind-wave models against buoy data in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea to select the most suitable one for the construction of an Atlas of the wave energy resource in European waters. A full verification in the two basins of the selected model--the WAM model, implemented in the routine operation of the ...
An outcrop-based study combining detailed lithofacies analysis with high-resolution sequence stratigraphy in the Paradox Basin, southwestern United States. has shown that complex lateral and vertical facies variations occur in relatively consistent and predictable patterns. Large-scale facies shifts of several kilometers occur across major sequence boundaries whereas small-scale lateral and vertical variations develop from stacking of individual cycles. Understanding of vertical stacking patterns and lateral distribution of facies in outcrop can be directly applied to both three-dimensional distribution of reservoir facies in the subsurface as well as the evaluation of heterogeneity within individual reservoirs. The Desert Creek and Ismay intervals of the Paradox Formation (Pennsylvanian) exposed along the San Juan River in southeastern Utah are characterized by high-frequency cyclic repetition of carbonate and siliciclastic facies controlled primarily by 4th and 5th-order changes in ...
Oil, in various forms, has been used for thousands of years and has even been recommended as a medicinal product. Starting in the mid-19. century, however, mineral oil production became an economic, political, social and scientific gold mine. Subterranean and offshore drilling rigs have created colossal fortunes among multinationals and made certain nations extremely wealthy. Starting in the 1920's, oil companies began to explore the possibilities of undersea drilling, but it was only in 1947 that the first offshore drilling rig was set up. With three-quarters of the planet covered by water, it was inevitable that oil companies would turn to offshore drilling - especially as sub-sea oil fields may cover as much as 84 million square kilometres. Drilling rigs now go deeper than ever and are able to operate in up to 3000 meters water depth. This paper will present the technical merits of two similar all-electric drill-ships 'Pride Africa' ...
Retention or dispersion of larvae from the spawning grounds has been identified as one of the key processes influencing recruitment success in fish stocks. To examine the potential effects of transport on recruitment. numerical simulations were performed utilizing a three-dimensional physical oceanographic model of the Baltic Sea. Cod larvae were represented as Lagrangian drifters released in the deepwater region of the Bornholm Basin, the main spawning ground for Baltic cod. Simulations were performed for the major spawning seasons of 1993 and 1994. when annual and interannual variability of meteorological forcing was large. The principal goals of the modelling exercise were first to identify the physical processes influencing the demersal distribution of the early life stages and second to describe the transport of the pelagic stages in response to variations in windstress, thereby identifying the meteorological and hydrodynamic mechanisms influencing retention ...
An increased use of floating production facilities for offshore oil production in the past fifteen years was due in part to advances in technology, the opening of new frontiers and the increased emphasis on value driven development. Throughout the world, a total of 121 floating production systems were in operation in February 2001, and orders had been placed for an additional 27. Located near the nose of the Grand Banks, approximately 350 kilometres east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland is the Terra Nova development. Twelve years elapsed between the discovery of the field in 1984 and the granting of the approval for development in 1996. The decision was made to use a floating production system as the Terra Nova was not considered robust enough to support a gravity base, ice resistant structure development concept, especially considering that it came on the heels of the Hibernia development. The first Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility to be ...
The Lower Cretaceous Falher Member (Spirit River Formation) in the Deep Basin of Alberta is composed of 5 units (A-E) comprising the reservoir of the giant Elmworth gas field. Using high resolution sequence stratigraphy, 333 well logs and 65 cores were integrated to understand the evolution of Falher C and D in the study area. Five major faces associations were defined in each unit. The basal surface of Falher D overlies nonmarine deposits (Falher E) and is defined by a marine flooding surface (transgressive surface of erosion) partially modified by a subsequent regressive surface of erosion. Southward, all the facies become more continental and the marine flooding surface passes into a lagoon-on-nonmarine contact. Falher D contains a series of shingled marine sandstone lenses separated by erosional surfaces interpreted as seaward-dipping ravinement surfaces indicating different phases of marine transgression-regression. The Falher C basal surface is a marine flooding surface partially ...
The end of 1994, five seismic observation stations were constructed with digital seismograph and 3-component seismometers. In this study, the epicentral distribution around the Kyungsang basin was obtained from one-year earthquake data (1994/12 - 1995/11) and compared with the annual earthquake report of KMA (Korea Meteorological Agency). The geological structure at the middle of the Ulsan fault was also investigated by the electrical resistivity method. The epicenters show high concentration at the Wolsung area. They show a linear alignment and their depths tend to be deeper as they approach to the coast line of the East Sea. These imply that they are probably correlated together. Another remarkable feature on land is the linear epicentral distribution along Jiri mountain to the Kimcheon and Sangju. This line is well coincident with newly recognized lineament. The other is the epicentral distribution at the Straits of Korea and East Sea. Even ...
This report provides information to government and industry to enable decision-making and management of local environmental quality conditions. The need for a summary air quality report has arisen in recent years due to growing concerns about air quality. Increased growth in population and the tourism industry is placing additional pressures on environmental quality. The report summarized meteorological and air quality data collected by the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection in the Sea-to-Sky airshed from 1984 to 2001. The airshed is located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. Air quality monitoring was conducted for various periods at 18 different stations and meteorological monitoring was conducted at 4 locations. A list of both provincial and national air quality objectives and standards was provided, with definitions and reference levels from the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Meteorological data was presented on a ...
In order to watch the environment of the construction site of dismantling of the former pipe of releases in sea of Cogema-La Hague, the special and permanent commission of Information near the establishment Cogema of La Hague (C.S.P.I.) asked the association for the radiation monitoring in the West (A.C.R.O.) to realize a specific campaign of measures, on the basis of a protocol accepted by the C.S.P.I.. During the three years of the building work, two significant increases of the concentration in {sup 137}Cs in the marine flora with at most, 9.3 Bq/kg dry, are noticed so be it ten times the concentration that could be measured before the building work begins. We note a net improvement of the situation after the works. The {sup 137}Cs tends finally to disappear. For the sedimentary masses and the sands of beaches, it is outlined no increase of the contamination in {sup 137}Cs (during the works and in posteriori) which translates in a irrefutable way contributions ...
In August 1989, representatives from the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA) were the guests of the USSR Interbranch Scientific Technological Complex, Oil Recovery Institute (MNTK) in an extensive visit to heavy oil and gas fields and to various research institutes. Observations made during this tour concerning developments in the USSR heavy oil/bitumen industry, enhanced oil recovery, research programs, proposals for joint ventures, and technological developments are reported. It is noted that oil production in the USSR seems to have peaked and is in a state of decline, indicating the vital importance of enhanced recovery projects in reversing this trend. The areas visited included the Yarega field, where underground thermal recovery methods are used; the Sakhalin Island area, where successful thermal methods are used and where the USSR's largest offshore drilling rig is located; the Krasnodar/Black Sea area, where MNTK's ...
As part of The International Northern Sea Route Programme (INSROP), Subprogram III, Trade and Commercial Shipping, a study has been made concerning seaborne export of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the Northern Russia, especially the West Siberian fields in Tyumen. The main purpose of the total project III.0703, part 2 and this study is to evaluate the economic viability of seaborne export from this area to the European region, mainly with the use of a special ice-strengthened LPG vessel, constructed and designed for such seaborne operations. This study concentrates on both seaborne LPG transportation, the demand and supply for seaborne LPG in the world and marine transportation of LPG from the West Siberian fields. Another purpose is to see which regions are potential exporters, importers and buyers of seaborne export of LPG from Tyumen. Currently large quantities of liquefied gas are flared off at the West Siberian fields due to insufficient infrastructure, ...
Reinterpretation of the South Florida basin reveals that it was a keep-up carbonate shelf during the Lower Cretaceous. Until the Cenomanian, it was connected to the Bahamas and the Cay Sal Bank north of Cuba. The Cenomanian sea level rise was at least partially responsible for the formation of the Florida Straits, isolating the platform. The combination of an abrupt worldwide rise in sea level and subsidence caused the South Florida platform to founder, ending shallow-water and evaporitic sedimentation over the majority of the shelf. The Cay Sal and Bahamian platforms remained as active shallow shelves separated by the Old Bahamas Channel. The Lower Cretaceous sediments are characterized by shallow shelf limestones, dolomites, and evaporites (mostly anhydrite). The evaporite-rich sections, originally thought to represent basinal facies, are reinterpreted as supratidal to shallow subtidal evaporites, based on examination of core and cuttings. ...
Approximately 700m of deep water clastic deposits of Mt. Messenger Formation are superbly exposed along the Taranaki coast of North Island, New Zealand. Biostratigraphy indicates the interval was deposited during the time span 10.5-9.2m.y. in water depths grading upward from lower bathyal to middle-upper bathyal. This interval is considered part of a 3rd order depositional sequence deposited under conditions of fluctuating relative sea-level, concomitant with high sedimentation rates. Several 4th order depositional sequences, reflecting successive sea-level falls, are recognized within the interval. Sequence boundaries display a range of erosive morphologies from metre-wide canyons to scours several hundred metres across. All components of a generic lowstand systems tract--basin floor fan, channel-levee complex and progading complex--are present in logical and temporal order. They are repetitive through the interval, with the relatively ...
Basalt and diabase from the Cretaceous Dumisseau Formation, southern Haiti have Mg-numbers of 43-63, TiO/sub 2/ contents of 1.6-3.9% and La abundances of 3.6-15.3 ppm. LaTa ratios average 10, and indicate that the basalts are oceanic in character, distinct from the arc associations forming the northern part of Haiti. Oldest lavas have low TiO/sub 2/, (1.6%) and are LREE-depleted, similar to N-MORBs, whereas overlying lavas have higher TiO/sub 2/ (2-3.9%) and are LREE-enriched, similar to E-MORBs or hotspot basalts. /sup 87/Sr/sup 86/Sr ratios vary from 0.70280 to 0.70316, /sup 143/Nd/sup 144/Nd from 0.512929 to 0.513121, and /sup 206/Pb/sup 204/Pb from 19.00 to 19.27 LREE-depleted lavas have high /sup 143/Nd/sup 144/Nd (0.51309-0.51310) typical of MORBs, whereas /sup 143/Nd/sup 144/Nd in the LREE-enriched lavas varies widely (0.512929-0.513121). Chemical features of the Dumisseau basalts are equivalent to those of Caribbean seafloor basalts recovered on DSDP Leg 15, and support the ...
There are at present 116 floating production systems and 60 storage vessels dotting the oceans involved in hydrocarbon exploration and production activities. Although concentrated mostly in the North Sea, they can be found also off the coast of Australia, eastern Canada, Brazil, some African nations and the Gulf of Mexico. They range from converted tankers to purpose built rigs. The most adaptable of the various systems is the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, first developed as a cost-effective means of developing fields in Brazil's very deep offshore areas. Still being tested and modified for work in widely different environments, FPSOs appear to have met all requirements in producing expenditure efficiencies, maximizing profits, and protecting workers. One of the most efficient and most technically advanced is a 292-metre long FPSO built for the Terra Nova Alliance by Daewoo Shipyards in South Korea. It arrived at ...
In PWR's steam generators, ''denting'' resulted from corrosion of support plate material, carbon steel is an important problem. The role of chlorides in corrosion acceleration of mild steel was studied. Corrosion tests were conducted at temperature from 100"0C to 280"0C in deaerated solutions of NaCl and MgCl_2 which are main content of sea water. 1) Solution of MgCl_2 was more corrosive than that of NaCl. The more increased in concentration of each chloride solution, the more corrosive in MgCl_2 soln. but the less corrosive in NaCl soln. 2) The rate of corrosion in the mixed solution of NaCl and MgCl_2 was governed by the concentration of MgCl_2 soln. The corrosion behaviour in sea water was suggested to be not controlled by NaCl but by MgCl_2. 3) Acidification of MgCl_2 soln. could be evaluated by experiment at 100"0C, the degree of acidification increased with increasing the concentration. However, the value of pH during corrosion was kept ...
In June 1997, the US Navy plans to close its Naval Air Facility on Sand Island and transfer the atoll to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for use as a National Wildlife Refuge. Midway provides breeding and feeding habitat for migratory seabirds, terrestrial and marine mammals, sea turtles and other reptiles, and a variety of reef fishes and invertebrates. As part of the base closure and transfer process, 36 sites of potential environmental concern were identified on Sand and Eastern islands. These sites include landfills and uncontrolled disposal areas, hazardous materials storage areas, abandoned transformers, sewer outfalls, and other potential hazardous waste sites. Potential contaminants include pesticides, PAHs, PCBs, and heavy metals. A screening ecological risk assessment was performed at each site with a goal of determining whether contaminants could pose any current or future risks to protected migratory bird or marine mammal wildlife species. Specific ...
Outcrops of Tertiary coal-bearing units in sea cliffs of the Kenai Peninsula provide an excellent study area for volcanic ash partings in coals. Twenty mid-to late-Miocene, 50-cm to 3-m thick coal seams exposed in the sea cliffs about 10 km west of Homer contain an average of 10 volcanic ash or lapilli tuff partings each. The bedding relationships of the coal with any one parting cannot be predicted, and the contacts of the partings with the coal range from very sharp to predominantly gradational. These bedding relationships provide clues about the surface on which the ashes fell and on which the coal was accumulating. For example, some ashes fell in standing water, others on irregular subaerial surfaces. The partings are in various stages of alteration to kaolinite and bentonite, and vary in thickness from a few millimeters to about 10 cm. The consistency and texture of the partings depend on the degree of alteration; the less altered partings ...
The procedure for field corrosion tests in sea water is decribed in DIN 50 917, Part II. Distinction is made thereby between long-term undisturbed test specimens, which remain at the exposure site up to the time of sampling, and disturbed test specimens, which are cleaned at certain time intervals for intermediate examination and subsequently exposed again. The comparability of results obtained with the two different types of test was to be investigated at the Helgoland test installation. At an exposure period of up to four years, undisturbed specimens of unalloyed and low-alloy steel grades feature considerably lower corrosion losses than disturbed specimens. At a longer exposure period of up to seven years, the corrosion rate can increase substantially again with the exposure time. This can be attributed to sulphate reduction in the anaerobic zone under the top coating. An effect of the alloying elements is also possible. With good and adequately thick coating ...
Over one-third of Canada's coal resources occurs in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains, with major deposits in the Front Ranges, Inner Foothills and Outer Foothills. In the Front Ranges, deposits of metallurgical and thermal, high-volatile bituminous to semi-anthracite coal occur in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Mist Mountain Formation. In the Inner Foothills of northeastern British Columbia and west-central Alberta, resources of metallurgical and thermal medium- and low-volatile bituminous coal occur in Early Cretaceous strata of the Gething and Gates Formations. In the Outer Foothills resources of thermal, high-volatile bituminous coal occur in Late Cretaceous and Paleocene strata of the Belly River Coalspur and Paskapoo Formations. The major deposits of the Front Ranges and Inner Foothills accumulated within the coastal plains of the Fernie and Moosebar-Clearwater seas. Shorelines prograded to the north and northeast into a foreland basin that ...
There are over 4,500 petroleum platforms in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. Explosives are commonly used to remove platforms and have the potential to kill nearby sea turtles. From June 1988-June 1990, the authors used aerial surveys to study turtle density and the spatial relationship between turtles and platforms offshore of Louisiana. They sighted 316 turtles most of which (92%) were loggerheads. Seventy-eight percent were sighted just east of the Mississippi River offshore of the Chandeleur Islands. East of the river, turtle densities ranged from 0.92 (winter) to 4.83 turtles/100 sq km (spring). West of the river, annual densities ranged from 0.11-0.50 turtles/100 sq km. East of the river, three statistical tests indicated that turtles were generally closer to platforms than expected by chance alone. West of the river, turtles were randomly located with respect to platform locations. Before explosives are used, current mitigation measures require that no ...
As regards the environmental protection, the A.C.R.O. maintained in 2001 its programs of surveillance around the main western nuclear installations of France. The radioecological surveillance of the site of Cogema La-Hague for the dismantling of the former pipe of release in sea was one of the key points of this action environmental surveillance. The two accidents of atmospheric release in may and october 2001 at Cogema La Hague have shown the interest of an association as A.C.R.O.. It is thank to the measure, by our laboratory, of repercussions on environment of these incidents that it has been possible to bring to light a dysfunction of the measurement system of the gaseous effluents released by the facility operator. To improve the public information, A.C.R.O. concerns its main efforts on the development of the consumer technical information available on-line via its web site and in its regular publication 'the nuclear chronicle'. Besides, the ...
The aetiology of childhood leukaemia remains generally unknown, although exposure to moderate and high levels of ionising radiation, such as was experienced during the atomic bombings of Japan or from radiotherapy, is an established cause. Risk models based primarily upon studies of the Japanese A-bomb survivors imply that low-level exposure to ionising radiation, including to ubiquitous natural background radiation, also raises the risk of childhood leukaemia. In a recent paper (Wakeford et al 2009 Leukaemia 23 770-6) we estimated the proportion of childhood leukaemia incidence in Great Britain attributable to natural background radiation to be about 20%. In this paper we employ the two sets of published leukaemia risk models used previously, but use recently published revised estimates of natural background radiation doses received by the red bone marrow of British children to update the previous results. Using the newer dosimetry we calculate that the best ...
Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a rare autosomal recessive disease, which shows diverse clinical symptoms such as photosensitivity, severe mental retardation and developmental defects. CS cells are hypersensitive to killing by ultraviolet (UV)-irradiation and defective in transcription-coupled repair. Two genetic complementation groups in CS (CS-A and CS-B) have been identified. We analyzed mutations of the CSA gene in 5 CS-A patients and identified 3 types of mutations. Four unrelated CS-A patients (CS2OS, CS2AW, Nps2 and CS2SE) had a deletion including exon 4, suggesting that there is a founder effect on the CSA mutation in Japanese CS-A patients. Patient CS2SE was a compound heterozygote for this deletion and an amino acid substitution at the 106th glutamine to proline (Q106P) in the WD-40 repeat motif of the CSA protein, which resulted in a defective nucleotide excision repair. Patient Mps1 had a large deletion in the upstream region including exon 1 of the CSA gene. ...
Recently the troubles related to the network security have often occurred at KEK. According to their security policy, the authors have started the strategy against the daily attacks. It consists of two fundamental things; the monitoring and the access control. To monitor the network, the authors have installed the intrusion detection system and have managed it since 1998. For the second thing, the authors arranged three categories to classify all hosts (about 5000 hosts) at KEK according to their security level. To realize these three categories, the authors filter the incoming packet from outside KEK whether it has a SYN flag or not. The network monitoring and the access control produced good effects in keeping the security level high. Since 2000 the authors have started the transition of LAN from shared-media network to switched network. Now almost part of LAN was re-configured and in this new LAN 10 Mbps 100 Mbps/1Gbps Ethernet are supported. Currently the authors are planning ...
A prototype for a quasi-cw, and high-average power free electron laser (FEL) driven by a 15 MeV superconducting rf linac has been developed, and constructed at Tokai, JAERI since 1989. Cryogenic and accelerating fields' performances of four JAERI superconducting accelerator modules have been realized without any serious problem in the FEL accelerator vault and experimental hall. Since modification and related maintenance of the cryogenic refrigerator system for the driver were completed in the middle of October 1995, the system has run with no trouble, and the driver has been continuously run very successfully up to now. The optical resonator system and related electron beam transport system have been modified to realize larger acceptance than the old for both of the undulator radiation and energetic electron beam in 1995 Japanese fiscal year. In the modification, an alignment and distance measurement system has been newly developed, and successfully applied to ...
The Reduced-Moderation Water Reactor (RMWR) is a next generation water-cooled reactor, based on the experienced light water reactor (LWR) technology, aiming at effective utilization of uranium resources, high burn-up and long operation cycle and plutonium multiple recycling. These characteristics can be achieved by the high conversion ratio from {sup 238}U to {sup 239}Pu resulted from the higher neutron energy spectrum in comparison to conventional LWRs. Considering the extension of LWR utilization, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) started the research on it in 1997 and then started a collaboration in the conceptual design study with the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) in 1998, under technical cooperation with three Japanese reactor vendors. In the core design study of the RMWR, several basic core designs with the high conversion ratio more than 1 and the negative void reactivity coefficient have been proposed, and then, subsequent investigation on ...
The detection, in European steam generators, of intergranular stress corrosion cracking initiating from the primary side (PWSCC) and the somewhat similar detection of intergranular stress corrosion (IGSCC) and intergranular corrosion (IGA) initiated from the secondary side in Japanese steam generators has led to a growing awareness of the potential for such corrosion forms in United States PWR steam generators. What had been a minor occurrence at several units is now a cause of concern and repair measures at more than 30 sites in the United States, and in some cases, is the major cause of steam generator unavailability. The United States nuclear utilities and EPRI formed the first Steam Generator Owners' Group (SGOG) in 1977 in response to the prospect of continued denting corrosion. The occasional appearance of PWSCC, IGSCC and IGA in domestic steam generators was not a sufficient cause for initiating an extensive research program in SGOG I. In SGOG II ...
The long-term durability of bonds between adhesive resins and dentin is of significant importance for the longevity of bonded restorations. We carried out an in vivo one-year study to evaluate the durability of resin-dentin bonds in the oral cavity, as well as to test the hypothesis that the adhesive interface would show morphological changes in vivo over time. Very shallow saucer-shaped dentin cavities were prepared in 12 intact teeth of one Japanese monkey (Macaca fuscata) under general anesthesia. The cavities were restored with Clearfil Liner Bond II and Clearfil Photo Posterior resin composite. The teeth were extracted at three different times: immediately, and 180 and 360 days after placement of the restorations. One day after the monkey was killed, specimens of the three time periods were subjected to the micro-tensile bond test at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. The surfaces of the failed bonds were observed under a field emission scanning electron ...
The purpose of this memo is to give an update on our work on ceramic laser materials--feasibility proposal 04-FS-006. Transparent ceramic materials have several major advantages over single crystals in laser applications including, ease and robustness of manufacturing, large apertures, design flexibility, fracture toughness, high activator concentrations, uniformity of composition, no residual stress, and others discussed in the proposal. After a decade of working on making transparent YAG:Nd in 1995 Japanese workers demonstrated samples for the first time that performed as well in lasers as their single crystal counterparts. Since then several laser materials have been made and evaluated. For these reasons, developing ceramic laser materials is the most exciting and futuristic materials topic in today's major solid-state laser conferences. The highlights and executive summary of our work to date are: (1) Ordered a slab of transparent YAG:Nd from Konoshima ...
Recently, US energy service companies (ESCOs) have begun to actively explore markets outside the US. Despite the needs of many countries for ESCO involvement, ESCOs face many challenges (i.e., marketing, financial, institutional, political and cultural barriers). Consequently, most of these firms pursue international project opportunities very selectively due to the costs and risks associated with project development. Despite these barriers, some ESCOs view international work as a strategic expansion of their business, assuming that there will be adequate business in the future to repay them for their initial investment. In this paper, the authors present the findings from a recently completed study on the proposed development of an ESCO industry in Japan. The study was based on four sources of information: (1) a review of the published and unpublished literature on ESCOs; (2) interviews with 26 ESCOs in the US, the US Department of Energy, and the National Association of Energy ...
Copper tubes have been widely used for water supply and heat exchangers. In such systems copper tubes often suffer from type 1 pitting-corrosion. A mechanism, of the type I pitting-corrosion on copper tubing has been presented, but a initiation mechanism of the pitting corrosion is still unknown. In this paper we aimed to clarify the initiation mechanism of the pitting corrosion. Copper-tube specimens were immersed in a circulating solution. The solution had been used for heat exchangers at a Japanese factory where the water leakage occurred by the pitting corrosion on copper tubes. The solution contained tiny precipitates resulted from corrosion of galvanized steel pipe. During the immersion test changes in the surface state of a copper tube was analyzed by in situ RAMAN (in situ Raman Spectroscopy), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), EPMA (Electron Probe Microanalysis), AES (Auger Electron Spectroscopy) and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). The pitting ...
In our previous study, we have estimated the level of human exposure to dioxins (PCDDs, PCDFs, and Dioxin like PCBs) in Japan based on dioxins monitoring data and results of total diet studies (TDS) in fiscal 2000 (April 2000- March 2001). It has been reported that the national PCDDs/DFs emission in 2001 against the 1997 level has been reduced by approximately 77% In addition, reduction of environmental levels was reported. The enforcement of Japan's Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins has significant impact on the reduction of the average dioxins concentrations in the ambient air. Therefore, the transitions of Japanese dioxins exposure levels in recent years are worthy of attention. In order to determine exposure level in fiscal 2001, collection and compilation for surveillance results derived from the regular environmental monitoring under the law as well as other dioxins surveys by national and local governmental bodies were continued, and ...
Dual fuel operation, in which natural gas is mixed with the diesel engine intake air and ignition is by diesel fuel spray, has the advantage that engine conversion is simple. Under high load it has the same high efficiency as a diesel engine and it can be switched to normal diesel operation for long distance running. Also, NO{sub x} and black smoke emissions can also be reduced. However, the disadvantages are to increase HC and CO emissions, to reduce efficiency under low load, and to emit the large amount of NO{sub x} under high load. Waseda University was commissioned by Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. to conduct research program involving experimentation ragarding a dual fuel engine. It was then discovered that the most effective means of solving the problems mentioned above is Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) and that the effect can be increased by heating the intake air. An old engine before the current emission standard was converted to dual fuel operation. It was found that these measures ...
In order to develop new corrosion resistant superheater tubes capable of functioning efficiency under temperature and pressure conditions of 500 C and 100 ata used in high efficient waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, field corrosion tests were conducted on eight single tube materials and two welded overlay materials at metal temperatures of 450 C and 550 C for 700 and 3,000 hours, respectively, in three typical japanese waste incineration plants. The test results indicate that austenitic alloys containing higher concentrations of [Cr + Ni + Mo] show excellent corrosion resistant properties and new alloys of JHN24 and HR30M have good corrosion resistance. The different corrosion rate found for each of the three plants could be explained by differences in the severity of corrosion factors, such as, gas temperature, concentration of molten salts due to Cl content of deposits, and heavy metal [ZnO + PbO] content etc. It was also confirmed that the corrosion rate of ...
The population doses and risks of stochastic effects from occupational exposures in Japan in 1978 were estimated on the basis of a nation-wide survey. The survey was conducted on annual collective dose equivalents by sex, age group and type of radiation work for about 82,500 workers other than the workers in nuclear power stations. The data on the workers in nuclear power stations were obtained from the offitial publication of the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission. The total number of workers except for nuclear power stations was estimated to be about 170,000 persons. Radiation works were subdivided as follows: medical works including dental; nondestructive inspectional; non-atomic energy industrial; research and educational; atomic energy industrial and nuclear power industrial. The annual collective dose equivalents were estimated to be about 6,000 man rem for medical workers, 450 man rem for non-destructive inspectional, 450 man rem for non-atomic energy industrial and 13,300 man rem ...
A series of stainless austenitic and ferritic materials was exposed for 100 days to boiling nitric acid which contained no corrosion products; the corrosion rates and depths of the grain boundary attack were observed. - Provided the structure is precipitation-free, the following are suitable for long-term exposure; the austenitic steels X 2 CrNi 19 11, X 1 CrNi 25 21, X 1 CrNiMoN 25 22 2 and X 1 NiCrMoCu 31 27 4, the practically Mo-free and Cu-free development steel X 1 NiCr 31 27, and the highly Mo-alloyed variant X 1 NiCrMoCu 31 27 5. - In the case of alloy NiCr21Mo it is advisable to limit the concentration and/or temperature of the nitric acid. - The 'superferrite' X 1 CrNiMoNb 28 4 2, the Japanese steel X 1 CrNiNb 30 2 and the austenitic steels X 2 CrNiMoN 17 13 3 and X 1 CrNiMoN 25 22 2 in the version with high nickel content are unsuitable. The decisive factor affecting the surface-removal rates is the chromium content of the material. The ...
This article gives an account of the recent development of light water reactors new concepts in the world. Different projects are being studied. The CE80+ from Combustion Engineering (CE) is a 1350 MWe-PWR-type reactor whose primary circuit is confined in a spherical metallic containment. This reactor was certified by NRC (national regulatory commission) in mid-1996. The APWR (advanced pressurized water reactor) is developed by MHI (Mitsubishi heavy industries) in a collaboration with Westinghouse, this PWR-type reactor fitted with 4 loops derived from the SP90 model that was developed by Westinghouse during the eighties. 2 units of ABWR (advanced boiling water reactor) were commissioned in Japan in 1996 and 1997, ABWR was certified by NRC in mid-1996. The BWR90+ is developed by ABB-atom (Sweden) and it represents a cautious advanced version of the BWR75. Passive reactors are reactors that rely only on potential energy (compressed gas, gravitational flow or electric batteries) to feed ...
During the last two decades, the demand for higher heat transfers in the heat exchangers has kept increasing. These high heat transfer rates can be obtained by using two-phase flows, or heat transfer augmented surfaces, or in some cases, both. Thus, the boiling flows and the associated two-phase flow instabilities have been studied by many investigators. Most of the work in boiling flows has been concentrated on single channel upflow systems or on parallel channel systems with plain heat transfer surfaces. The boiling flow instabilities in multi-channel systems should be covered to a greater extent, studying the effects of various parameters, such as inlet and outlet restriction, mass flow rates, the property variations, heat transfer coefficients, equal and unequal heat inputs on the stability. Also, the mathematical modeling needs to be developed for the parallel channel system to take into account the above mentioned variables. The research on two-phase flow instabilities in ...
Numerous studies have investigated degradation of individual endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in lab or natural waters. However, natural variations in water matrices and mixtures of EDCs in the environment may confound analysis of the treatment efficiency. Because chemical based analytical methods cannot represent the combined or synergistic activities between water quality parameters and/or the EDC mixtures at environmentally relevant concentrations ({mu}g L{sup -1}-ng L{sup -1}), bioanalytical assessments of residual estrogenic activity in treated water were used to evaluate the performance of the UV based advanced oxidation process for estrogenic contaminants in water. Four EDCs including estradiol (E{sub 2}), ethinyl estradiol (EE{sub 2}), bisphenol-A (BPA) and nonylphenol (NP) were spiked individually or as a mixture at {mu}g L{sup -1}-ng L{sup -1} in laboratory or natural river water. The removal rates of estrogenic activity were quantitatively evaluated by in vitro yeast ...
A working visit was made to the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics, Tsukuba, Japan, during the time periods May 16, 1988--June 15, 1988 for the purposes of further evaluation of the high intensity plasma sputter negative ion source and to test the response of the University of Tsukuba 13-MV tandem accelerator to mA intensity level pulsed mode heavy negative ion beams. During the visit, the traveler worked in collaboration with Japanese scientists in installing and testing of the source on the University of Tsukuba tandem electrostatic accelerator injector. During the course of preliminary testing of the ion source and prior to actual injection into the accelerator, sparking began in one or more tube sections, which ultimately led to the decision to replace the damaged tube sections. This problem led to postponement of the scheduled tandem accelerator tests. The traveler attended the Seventh International Conference on Ion Implantation Technology held in ...
{sup 60}Co is produced as an activation product and is present in the low-level aqueous radioactive waste released from the La Hague plant. At present, the concentration in the sea (non filtered at 0.45 {mu}m) at the Goury site are close to or even below, the detection limit: 0.2 mBq.l{sup -1}. The {sup 60}Co speciation depends on the type of effluent considered: in the effluent A ('active'), the cobalt is in the form of a stable trivalent complex; in the effluent V (to be checked), the cobalt is in majority (50% of the activity release) in the form of particles (>0.45 {mu}m), and then in the form of two soluble species: ionic divalent (Co{sup 2+}) and some stable complexes. The evolution of the reprocessing techniques used does not affect the speciation. So, since the nuclear reprocessing plant started at the La Hague plant in 1966, the chemical species discharged in the sea shows time variation related to the ...