Dissolved oxygen in the bottom water of the Sea of Japan as a sensitive alarm for global climate change

The Sea of Japan, a semi-closed marginal sea (greatest depth ∼3700 m) in the northwestern-most Pacific Ocean, has an independent, deep convection system, which is driven by the formation and the sinking of cool, saline surface water towards the bottom in severe winters. Continuous measurement of dissolved oxygen using highly precise versions of the Winkler titration method has revealed 8-10% decreases in the bottom concentration of oxygen (O₂) over the past 30 years. The temporal decrease in O₂ means an imbalance between the supply of O₂ from the surface and the in situ consumption of O₂ in decomposing organic matter, suggesting that the change in the deep convection pattern of the Sea of Japan is probably caused by global climate change to reduce winter cooling of surface seawater.     

Evaluation of ionic pollutants of acid fog and rain using a factor analysis and back trajectories.

Fog and rain water samples were collected at the same time in the Akita Hachimantai mountain range in northern Japan from June to September in 1998 and 1999. The various ion concentrations in these samples were analyzed, and the fog droplet sizes were measured for each fog event. As the fog droplet size increased, the ion concentration decreased. The slope of log-log plots of the concentration versus the droplet size differed with the kind of ion. In order to characterize the air pollutant, moreover, these data were quantitatively analyzed by an oblique rotational factor analysis. We found that three factors were extracted as the air pollutant source: (NH4)2SO4, acids (HNO3 + H2SO4) and sea-salt. Combining the factor analysis with the 72 h back-trajectory at 850 hPa level, we found that the contribution of each factor varied with the transport pattern of air masses.     

2-reducible cycles containing three consecutive edges in (2k + 1)-edge-connected graphs

LetG be ak-edge-connected graph and letf ₁,f ₀,f ₂ be consecutive edges. We call a cycleC (not necessarily simple) 2-reducible ifG – E(C) is (k – 2)-edge-connected. We here characterize the graphsG having no 2-reducible cycle containingf ₁,f ₀ andf ₂.     

Hydrothermal saccharification of cotton cellulose in dilute aqueous formic acid solution

Cotton cellulose subjected to a dilute aqueous formic acid solution, at acid concentrations up to 1% (w/w), under hydrothermal conditions in a semi-batch reactor was converted into glucose and oligomers with lower degrees of polymerizations (DP). After heating at 250 °C for 60 min in 0.1% (w/w) aqueous formic acid solution, yields of glucose and total sugar with DP = 1 to 9 were 36.6 and 83.8% (100 × gC/gC of initial cotton sample), respectively, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural was almost as low as 1%. The yields of glucose and oligomers were significantly improved by adding the acid. The reaction was represented by first-order reaction kinetics with regard to (1 ?C x) where x is the conversion based on the total sugar or glucose yield. At 250 °C, the differences in the rate constants (k ? k _water) were proportional to the square root of formic acid concentration.     

Single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformations and selective adsorption of porous copper(II) frameworks

A unique 4-fold interpenetrated (10,3)-b copper(II) framework exhibits reversible dehydration and rehydration in a single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SC-SC) process, and the dehydrated material can encapsulate CH(3)OH molecules, again in a SC-SC fashion, and shows selective adsorption of H(2) and CO(2) over N(2).     

On Symmetric Stable-Type Processes with Degenerate/Singular Lévy Densities

Journal of Theoretical Probability - We consider symmetric stable-type processes with degenerate/singular Lévy densities via Dirichlet form theory. We give conditions of some global path...     

Kaon condensation and lambda–nucleon loop in the relativistic mean-field approach

The possibility of kaon condensation in high-density symmetric nuclear matter is investigated including both s- and p-wave kaon–baryon interactions within the relativistic mean-field (RMF) theory. Above a certain density, we have a collective state carrying the same quantum numbers as the antikaon. The appearance of the state is caused by the time component of the axial-vector interaction between kaons and baryons. It is shown that the system becomes unstable with respect to condensation of K– pairs. We consider how the effective baryon masses affect the kaon self-energy coming from the time component of the axial-vector interaction. Also, the role of the spatial component of the axial-vector interaction on the possible existence of the collective kaonic states is discussed in connection with Λ-mixing effects in the ground state of high-density matter. Implications of condensation for high-energy heavy-ion collisions are briefly mentioned.