A Carleman estimate and an energy method for a first-order symmetric hyperbolic system

For a symmetric hyperbolic system of the first order, we prove a Carleman estimate under some positivity condition concerning the coefficient matrices. Next, applying the Carleman estimate, we prove an observability L2-estimate for initial values by boundary data

Development and practical application of unhairing method without using sulfide

Content: Leather manufacturing industry uses a lot of water and chemicals, and it discharges large amounts of wastewater. The processing a large amounts of wastewater requires a huge cost. Therefore, reduction of amount of a pollution load in wastewater is a theme in many countries around the world. During the leather process, a lot of pollutants occur in the unhairing process. Some estimate that the amount of pollution generated in the unhairing process accounts for 70% of the entire leather manufacturing process. In this unhairing process, usually a large amount of sulfide is used. Sulfide is known to generate hydrogen sulfide and cause damage to the drain pipe. In Tokyo, strict criteria are set for draining sulfide to sewers. Therefore, reducing the amount of sulfide used is an important task for tanner. In addition, since sulfide has no degreasing effect, a large amount of surfactant is required in the unhairing process. However, to reduce the cost and the load of the wastewater, it is also required to reduce the amount of the surfactant used. Furthermore, in recent years, the types of usable surfactants have also been limited. Therefore, development of a method of effectively removing hair loss and degreasing without using a sulfide is urgent for the leather manufacturing industry. On the other hand, pelts are widely used as raw materials for foods such as gelatin and collagen casing, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. However, sulfides are not originally recognized as food additives. Therefore, some companies are concerned about using pelts as a raw material for food using sulfide in the unhairing process. Also from this point of view, it is necessary to develop an unhairing method without using sulfides. The method using sodium hydroxide has been studied for a long time. However, this method is hard in handling, and is difficult to set conditions such as concentration and temperature. That is, while successful at the experimental level, it has not been put to practical use. Therefore, we studied a method to solve the above problem using sodium hydroxide. The method developed this time can reduce the pollutant in waste water, and the amount of water used in the unhairing process to 1/10 or less of the conventional one. Moreover, since it is not influenced by water temperature, it made it possible to stably remove hair irrespective of the season. The finished leather kept sufficient strength. In addition, sodium hydroxide reacts with fat in the skin and turns it into soap, so it shows the degreasing effect and contributes to reduce the dosage of degreasing agent. Take-Away: development of unhairing method without using sulfide contributes to reduce the dosage of degreasing agent reduce the pollutant in waste wate

Natural attenuation of Fukushima-derived radiocesium in soils due to its vertical and lateral migration

Processes of vertical and lateral migration lead to gradual reduction in contamination of catchment soil, particularly its top layer. The reduction can be considered as natural attenuation. This, in turn, results in a gradual decrease of radiocesium activity concentrations in the surface runoff and river water, in both dissolved and particulate forms. The purpose of this research is to study the dynamics of Fukushima-derived radiocesium in undisturbed soils and floodplain deposits exposed to erosion and sedimentation during floods. Combined observations of radiocesium vertical distribution in soil and sediment deposition on artificial lawn-grass mats on the Niida River floodplain allowed us to estimate both annual mean sediment accumulation rates and maximum sedimentation rates corresponding to an extreme flood event during Tropical Storm Etau, 6-11 September 2015. Dose rates were reduced considerably for floodplain sections with high sedimentation because the top soil layer with high radionuclide contamination was eroded and/or buried under cleaner fresh sediments produced mostly due to bank erosion and sediments movements. Rate constants of natural attenuation on the sites of the Takase River and floodplain of Niida River was found to be in range 0.2-0.4 year-1. For the site in the lower reach of the Niida River, collimated shield dose readings from soil surfaces slightly increased during the period of observation from February to July 2016. Generally, due to more precipitation, steeper slopes, higher temperatures and increased biological activities in soils, self-purification of radioactive contamination in Fukushima associated with vertical and lateral radionuclide migration is faster than in Chernobyl. In many cases, monitored natural attenuation along with appropriate restrictions seems to be optimal option for water remediation in Fukushima contaminated areas

The HI and Ionized Gas Disk of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 1144 = Arp 118: A Violently Interacting Galaxy with Peculiar Kinematics

We present observations of the distribution and kinematics of neutral and ionized gas in NGC 1144, a galaxy that forms part of the Arp 118 system. Ionized gas is present over a huge spread in velocity (1100 km/s) in the disk of NGC 1144, but HI emission is detected over only 1/3 of this velocity range, in an area that corresponds to the NW half of the disk. In the nuclear region of NGC 1144, a jump in velocity in the ionized gas component of 600 km/s is observed. Faint, narrow HI absorption lines are also detected against radio sources in the SE part of the disk of NGC 1144, which includes regions of massive star formation and a Seyfert nucleus. The peculiar HI distribution, which is concentrated in the NW disk, seems to be the inverse of the molecular distribution which is concentrated in the SE disk. Although this may partly be the result of the destruction of HI clouds in the SE disk, there is circumstantial evidence that the entire HI emission spectrum of NGC 1144 is affected by a deep nuclear absorption line covering a range of 600 km/s, and is likely blueshifted with respect to the nucleus. In this picture, a high column-density HI stream is associated with the nuclear ionized gas velocity discontinuity, and the absorption effectively masks any HI emission that would be present in the SE disk of NGC 1144.Comment: manuscript, arp118.ps: 28 pages; 1 Table: arp118.tab1.ps; 16 Figures: arp118.fig1-16.ps; Accepted to Ap