Present and Projected Australian Coal Supply Capacity : Impacts of Global Recession and Expansion in Coal Exports to China

Australias coal exports in 2008 totaled 252 million tons, accounting for 26.9% of global coal trade (in terms of exports) at 938 million tons. Although Indonesia has expanded its coal exports over recent years and reported exports in 2008 at 203 million tons, Australia has remained unshaken as the worlds largest coal exporter. Coal demand in Japan and European industrial countries has plunged on the global financial/economic crisis since the autumn of 2008. Their coal imports have thus declined. But China has expanded coal demand on the strength of high economic growth and increased coal imports more rapidly than earlier due to high domestic coal prices. Australias coal exports have maintained an upward trend even amid the global recession. In response to growing coal demand, new coalfield development and other projects are planned to expand production in Australia. This report considers the past results and future projections of Australias coal production and exports and its future coal supply capacity including estimated output under new coalmine development projects. It also covers the realities of a sharp increase in Australias coal exports to China in 2009.coal exports, Australia, Japan

Study on the Utilization of Pyrrhotite Principally Composed of Iron and Sulfur. II : On Making Sulfuric Acid from the Roasting Gases of Pyrrhotite

Considering the results obtained in the preceding paper, the pyrrhotite, mesh of which is 28\u27\u27～32\u27\u27, was roasted at 700℃ using a baby rotary furnace, and from the roasting gases sulfuric acid was made by the contact process. Finally, the following results may be stated : - 1. As for our contact process for making sulfuric acid, the most favourable conditions are as follows : - (1) The sulfur dioxide concentration is 7～7.5%. (2) The temperature of catalyser is about 440℃. 2. The pyrrhotite cinders, which are obtained in roasting 75～120g. of ores (28\u27\u27～32\u27\u27) for 30～48 hours at 700℃ in a baby rotary furnace, contain residual sulfurs, which amount to 0.2～0.4%, and are sufficiently available for iron making

Study on the Utilization of Pyrrhotite Principally Composed of Iron and Sulfur. I : On the Roasting of Pyrrhotite

Adopting the roasting process for the utilization of pyrrhotite, studies were made of the reciprocal relations among oxidation velocity, oxidation ratio, residual sulfurs in the cinders and production ratio of sulfur trioxide in roasting gases, under the several following conditions : - (1) Flow of air (cc/min/2g) : 100, 150, 300, 500 and 1000. (2) Mesh of ore : 150\u27\u27?170\u27\u27, 48\u27\u27?50\u27\u27, 20\u27\u27?24\u27\u27, 14\u27\u27?16\u27\u27, 9\u27\u27?10\u27\u27 and 7\u27\u27?8\u27\u27. (3) Roasting temperature (℃) : 600, 650, 700, 800 and 900. (4) Roasting time : Below 200 min. The most favourable conditions were confirmed as follows : - 1. The temperature range favourable for roasting is 700°?800℃. 2. In the range described above, sufficiently great oxidation ratios are obtained in the roasting time within one hour up to the mesh of 20\u27\u27?24\u27\u27, even in case of 100cc/min/2g. 3. The cinders, roasted in such a condition as described above, contain residual sulfurs which have become under 0.2%, and are sufficiently available for iron-making

Comparisons of different mean airway pressure settings during high-frequency oscillation in inflammatory response to oleic acid-induced lung injury in rabbits

Koichi Ono1, Tomonobu Koizumi2, Rikimaru Nakagawa1, Sumiko Yoshikawa2, Tetsutarou Otagiri11Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation; 2First Department of Internal Medicine, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, JapanPurpose: The present study was designed to examine effects of different mean airway pressure (MAP) settings during high-frequency oscillation (HFO) on oxygenation and inflammatory responses to acute lung injury (ALI) in rabbits.Methods: Anesthetized rabbits were mechanically ventilated with a conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) mode (tidal volume 6 ml/kg, inspired oxygen fraction [FIo2] of 1.0, respiratory rate [RR] of 30/min, positive end-expiratory pressure [PEEP] of 5 cmH2O). ALI was induced by intravenous administration of oleic acid (0.08 ml/kg) and the animals were randomly allocated to the following three experimental groups; animals (n = 6) ventilated using the same mode of CMV, or animals ventilated with standard MAP (MAP 10 cmH2O, n = 7), and high MAP (15 cmH2O, n = 6) settings of HFO (Hz 15). The MAP settings were calculated by the inflation limb of the pressure-volume curve during CMV.Results: HFO with a high MAP setting significantly improved the deteriorated oxygenation during oleic acid-induced ALI and reduced wet/dry ratios, neutrophil counts and interleukin-8 concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, compared to those parameters in CMV and standard MAP-HFO.Conclusions: These findings suggest that only high MAP setting during HFO could contribute to decreased lung inflammation as well as improved oxygenation during the development of ALI.Keywords: lung protective ventilation, open lung ventilation, IL-8, neutrophi

Stoma-Closure-Induced Fulminant Pseudomembranous Colitis Recovered by Adjunctive Intracolic Vancomycin with Postural Change

A 67-year-old man with a history of low anterior resection and diverting loop transverse colostomy for rectal carcinoma developed fulminant pseudomembranous colitis after stoma closure. Oral administration of vancomycin at 0.5 g every 6 h and colonoscopy with intracolic vancomycin administration was unsuccessful, but continuation of intracolic vancomycin with postural change resulted in dramatic recovery. Postural change may extend the efficacy of intracolic vancomycin, and intracolic vancomycin should be considered as an option between conventional therapy and surgical intervention for pseudomembranous colitis

Increased isoprostane levels in oleic acid-induced lung injury

The present study was performed to examine a role of oxidative stress in oleic acid-induced lung injury model. Fifteen anesthetized sheep were ventilated and instrumented with a lung lymph fistula and vascular catheters for blood gas analysis and measurement of isoprostanes (8-epi prostaglandin F2 alpha). Following stable baseline measurements, oleic acid (0.08 ml/kg) was administered and observed 4 h. Isoprostane was measured by gas chromatography mass spectrometry with the isotope dilution method. Isoprostane levels in plasma and lung lymph were significantly increased 2 h after oleic acid administration and then decreased at 4 h. The percent increases in isoprostane levels in plasma and lung lymph at 2 h were significantly correlated with deteriorated oxygenation at the same time point, respectively. These findings suggest that oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of the pulmonary fat embolism-induced acute lung injury model in sheep and that the increase relates with the deteriorated oxygenation.ArticleBIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS. 388(2):297-300 (2009)journal articl

Functional Lateralization of Speech Processing in Adults and Children Who Stutter

Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder in fluency characterized by repetitions, prolongations, and silent blocks, especially in the initial parts of utterances. Although their symptoms are motor related, people who stutter show abnormal patterns of cerebral hemispheric dominance in both anterior and posterior language areas. It is unknown whether the abnormal functional lateralization in the posterior language area starts during childhood or emerges as a consequence of many years of stuttering. In order to address this issue, we measured the lateralization of hemodynamic responses in the auditory cortex during auditory speech processing in adults and children who stutter, including preschoolers, with near-infrared spectroscopy. We used the analysis–resynthesis technique to prepare two types of stimuli: (i) a phonemic contrast embedded in Japanese spoken words (/itta/ vs. /itte/) and (ii) a prosodic contrast (/itta/ vs. /itta?/). In the baseline blocks, only /itta/ tokens were presented. In phonemic contrast blocks, /itta/ and /itte/ tokens were presented pseudo-randomly, and /itta/ and /itta?/ tokens in prosodic contrast blocks. In adults and children who do not stutter, there was a clear left-hemispheric advantage for the phonemic contrast compared to the prosodic contrast. Adults and children who stutter, however, showed no significant difference between the two stimulus conditions. A subject-by-subject analysis revealed that not a single subject who stutters showed a left advantage in the phonemic contrast over the prosodic contrast condition. These results indicate that the functional lateralization for auditory speech processing is in disarray among those who stutter, even at preschool age. These results shed light on the neural pathophysiology of developmental stuttering