Advanced technology applications for second and third general coal gasification systems

The historical background of coal conversion is reviewed and the programmatic status (operational, construction, design, proposed) of coal gasification processes is tabulated for both commercial and demonstration projects as well as for large and small pilot plants. Both second and third generation processes typically operate at higher temperatures and pressures than first generation methods. Much of the equipment that has been tested has failed. The most difficult problems are in process control. The mechanics of three-phase flow are not fully understood. Companies participating in coal conversion projects are ordering duplicates of failure prone units. No real solutions to any of the significant problems in technology development have been developed in recent years

Cauchy-like Integral Theorems for Quaternion and Biquaternion Functions

It is well known that there is an integral theorem for quaternion-valued functions analogous to Cauchys Theorem for complex-valued functions, namely Fueters Theorem. The class of quaternionic functions for which this applies are generally referred to as regular functions, and these provide the most productive means of generalising the class of holomorphic complex functions. This paper derives a second integral theorem, also analogous to Cauchys Theorem, and which is believed to be quite distinct from that of Fueter, despite appearances. The paper takes the opportunity to present the basis of the derivation of both theorems, and also their extension to the associated classes of right-regular and conjugate regular functions. Both theorems can also be extended into the biquaternionic domain in which the four quaternion coordinates may be complex valued. This is of interest in physics as the Hermitian biquaternions have a natural norm which is Minkowskian and provide an elegant formalism for Lorentz transformations.Comment: 20 pages, 1 Figur

COMPARING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR BEEF CATTLE BACKGROUNDING: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

Livestock Production/Industries,

NERVA irradiation program. GTR 23, volume 1: Combined effects of reactor radiation and cryogenic temperature on NERVA structural materials

Specimens fabricated from structural materials that were candidates for certain NERVA applications were irradiated in liquid nitrogen (LN2), liquid hydrogen (LH2), water, and air. The specimens irradiated in LN2 were stored in LN2 and finally tested in LN2, or at some higher temperature in a few instances. The specimens irradiated in LH2 underwent an unplanned warmup while in storage so this portion of the test was lost; some specimens were tested in LN2 but none were tested in LH2. The Ground Test Reactor was the radiation source. The test specimens consisted mainly of tensile and fracture toughness specimens of several different materials, but other types of specimens such as tear, flexure, springs, and lubricant were also irradiated. Materials tested include Hastelloy X, Al, Ni steel, steel, Be, ZrC, Ti-6Al-4V, CuB, and Ti-5Al-2.5Sn

Extraction of the Axial Nucleon Form Factor from Neutrino Experiments on Deuterium

We present new parameterizations of vector and axial nucleon form factors. We maintain an excellent descriptions of the form factors at low momentum transfers ($Q^2$), where the spatial structure of the nucleon is important, and use the Nachtman scaling variable $\xi$ to relate elastic and inelastic form factors and impose quark-hadron duality constraints at high $Q^2$ where the quark structure dominates. We use the new vector form factors to re-extract updated values of the axial form factor from \numu experiments on deuterium. We obtain an updated world average value from \numud, \numubarH and pion electroproduction experiments of $M_{A}$ = $1.014 \pm 0.014 GeV/c^2$. Our parameterizations are useful in modeling $\nu$ interactions at low energies (e.g. for \numu oscillations experiments). The predictions for high $Q^2$ can be tested in the next generation electron and \numu scattering experiments.Comment: Presented by A. Bodek at the European Physical Society Meeting, EPS2007, Manchester, England, July 2007, 4 pages, 2 figure

New atlas of IR solar spectra

Over 4500 absorption lines have been marked on the spectra and the corresponding line positions tabulated. The associated absorbing telluric or solar species for more than 90% of these lines have been identified and only a fraction of the unidentified lines have peak absorptions greater than a few percent. The high resolution and the low Sun spectra greatly enhance the sensitivity limits for identification of trace constituents

(2R,4R)-4-(2-Eth­oxy-2-oxoeth­yl)-2,6,6-trimeth­yl–2-oxo-1,3,6,2λ5-dioxaza­phospho­can-6-ium iodide

The title compound, C11H23NO5P+·I−, consists of an eight-membered cationic heterocyclic ring in a boat–chair conformation. The ring features a tetra­alkyl­ammonium N and a methyl­phospho­nate P atom. A –CH2(CO)OC2H5 ester side chain at the C adjacent to oxygen produces two chiral centers at that substituted C atom and the P atom, both of which were determined to have absolute R,R configurations. A previously determined racemic bromide analog has exactly the same ring but with a –C15H31 side chain. In that structure, both chiral centers show the same relative R/S,R/S configurations, but the ring in the bromide analog is in a boat conformation

Formation of the oxygen torus in the inner magnetosphere: Van Allen Probes observations

We study the formation process of an oxygen torus during the 12–15 November 2012 magnetic storm, using the magnetic field and plasma wave data obtained by Van Allen Probes. We estimate the local plasma mass density (ρL) and the local electron number density (neL) from the resonant frequencies of standing Alfvén waves and the upper hybrid resonance band. The average ion mass (M) can be calculated by M ∼ ρL/neL under the assumption of quasi-neutrality of plasma. During the storm recovery phase, both Probe A and Probe B observe the oxygen torus at L = 3.0–4.0 and L = 3.7–4.5, respectively, on the morning side. The oxygen torus has M = 4.5–8 amu and extends around the plasmapause that is identified at L∼3.2–3.9. We find that during the initial phase, M is 4–7 amu throughout the plasma trough and remains at ∼1 amu in the plasmasphere, implying that ionospheric O+ ions are supplied into the inner magnetosphere already in the initial phase of the magnetic storm. Numerical calculation under a decrease of the convection electric field reveals that some of thermal O+ ions distributed throughout the plasma trough are trapped within the expanded plasmasphere, whereas some of them drift around the plasmapause on the dawnside. This creates the oxygen torus spreading near the plasmapause, which is consistent with the Van Allen Probes observations. We conclude that the oxygen torus identified in this study favors the formation scenario of supplying O+ in the inner magnetosphere during the initial phase and subsequent drift during the recovery phase

Neurophysiology

Contains reports on three research projects.National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 RO1 NB-04985-03)Instrumentation Laboratory under the auspices of DSR Project 55-257Bioscience Division of National Aeronautics and Space Administration through Contract NSR 22-009-138Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (Grant)The Teagle Foundation, Inc. (Grant)U. S. Air Force (Aerospace Medical Division) under Contract AF33(615)-388

Cystatins as calpain inhibitors: Engineered chicken cystatin- and stefin B-kininogen domain 2 hybrids support a cystatin-like mode of interaction with the catalytic subunit of μ-calpain

Within the cystatin superfamily, only kininogen domain 2 (KD2) is able to inhibit μ- and m-calpain. In an attempt to elucidate the structural requirements of cystatins for calpain inhibition, we constructed recombinant hybrids of human stefin B (an intracellular family 1 cystatin) with KD2 and Delta L110 deletion mutants of chicken cystatin-KD2 hybrids. Substitution of the N-terminal contact region of stefin B by the corresponding KD2 sequence resulted in a calpain inhibitor of K-i = 188 nM. Deletion of L110, which forms a beta -bulge in family 1 and 2 cystatins but is lacking in KD2, improved inhibition of mu -calpain 4- to 8-fold. All engineered cystatins were temporary inhibitors of calpain due to slow substrate-like cleavage of a single peptide bond corresponding to Gly9-Ala10 in chicken cystatin. Biomolecular interaction analysis revealed that, unlike calpastatin, the cystatin-type inhibitors do not bind to the calmodulin-like domain of the small subunit of calpain, and their interaction with the mu -calpain heterodimer is completely prevented by a synthetic peptide comprising subdomain B of calpastatin domain 1. Based on these results we propose that (i) cystatin-type calpain inhibitors interact with the active site of the catalytic domain of calpain in a similar cystatin-like mode as with papain and (ii) the potential for calpain inhibition is due to specific subsites within the papain-binding regions of the general cystatin fold