[en] Nuclear fuels, such as uranium trioxide, are prepared by thermal decomposition of a nitrate in a fluidized bed reactor. The fluidized bed reactor for preparing uranium trioxide from uranyl nitrate by thermal decomposition has (a) a rectangularly shaped bed which satisfies the critical safety shape of ²³⁵U, (b) plural holes to supply an aqueous solution of uranyl nitrate into the reactor, (c) at least two reaction rooms divided by barriers, the bottoms of the barriers being capable of being lifted to control their distance from the floor and a mechanism by which uranium trioxide powder is taken out mainly by being overflowed from the top of the barriers through the reaction rooms, (d) heating means inside and outside of the fluidized-bed, and (e) a head structure which is upwardly V-shaped. Continuous operation can be attained with ease, and uranium trioxide can be made efficiently

[en] All possible couplings between a half-integral localised angular momentum in a cubic environment and lattice distortions are examined. When the cubic symmetry is broken the result can only be quadrupolar ordering. Application to NdFe₄P₁₂, SmRu₄P₁₂ and GdRu₄P₁₂ is discussed

[en] A method is described of producing a zirconia powder from zirconia containing SiO/sub 2/, comprising the steps of: preparing a raw material mixture comprising the zircon powder containing the SiO/sub 2/ and a powdery carbon-containing material such that the mole ratio of C, which is contained in the carbon-containing material and does not gasify at temperatures below 100⁰C. in a nonoxidizing atmosphere, to SiO/sub 2/ contained in the zircon powder is in the range from 0.4 to 2.0; and subjecting the raw material mixture to a desiliconizing heat treatment in a nonoxidizing atmosphere of which the presence is not higher than 0.6 atm, the desiliconizing heat treatment being a combination of a first-stage heat treatment which is performed at a temperature in the range from 1200⁰ to 1550⁰C. for separating silica from the zircon powder and a second-stage heat treatment which is performed at a higher temperature in the range from above 1550⁰C. to 2000⁰C. for completely converting silica in the mixture under heat treatment into gaseous SiO and dissipating the gaseous SiO, wherein the raw material mixture is subjected to the desiliconizing heat treatment in the form of at least one lump whose bulk density is in the range from 0.7 to 2.0

[en] A real-time imaging system using synchrotron radiation has been constructed for phantom and animal studies on less invasive coronary angiography. The system consists of a monochromator, an x-ray image intensifier, a television camera, and data acquisition equipment. The quality of the images obtained by the energy subtraction and temporal subtraction methods is evaluated. A viewing field of 50 x 60 mm was used. The detection limit in the K-edge energy subtraction image was 0.5 mm for vessel phantoms filled with 25-fold diluted agent (14 mg/ml iodine). The sensitivity and resolution of the system make it adaptable for use in transvenous angiography

[en] Complex quantum defects are shown to be convenient for comparisons of theoretical studies (which lead to a set of eigen quantum defects mu-bar/sub α/ and transformation matrix elements U/sub i//sub α/) with experimental determinations of resonance energies and line widths using the ns' autoinizing Rydberg series of Xe as a specific example

[en] The chelating adsorbents, heterocyclic azo dyes supported on silica gel, were prepared and their adsorption behaviors of metal ions were investigated. The 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol(PAN)-SG and 2-(2-thiazolylazo)-p-cresol(TAC)-SG show greater affinity for UO₂(II) and ZrO(II), compared with the other metal ions like Cu, Cd, Fe and alkaline earths. Trace uranyl can be quantitatively retained on the column of the gels at neutral pH region and flowrate 3-4 ml/min. The uranyl retained is easily eluted from the column bed with a mixture of acetone and nitric acid (9:1 v/v) and determined by spectrophotometry using Arsenazo-III. Matrix components in seawater do not interfere and the spiked recovery of uranyl in artificial seawater was found to be average 98.6%, with the relative standard deviation of 1.08%. Both gels were applied to the determination of uranium in seawater with satisfactory results. 16 references, 3 figures, 3 tables

[en] This paper presented a solution to the problem of recovering spilled oil from a sunken ship, particularly when the oil viscosity is high. In such cases, the pipe friction resistance becomes large and oil transfer becomes difficult. In this study, the pipe pressure drop from the pipe entrance to the exit was measured, and the friction factor was obtained. The flow rate in the pipe was then calculated. The oil flow rate of the oil injected into the water was compared with cases where only the oil flowed and with an annular water injection method (AWI). The method of transporting viscous oil by injecting it in a water current proved to be a simple and effective method for reducing the friction coefficient of the pipe. In oil laminar flow, the friction drag was reduced by inserting the oil into water with a simple T joint, thereby increasing the amount of oil transfer. 3 refs., 1 tab., 7 figs

[en] Thin films of MgIn₂O₄ and ZnO were prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique. H⁺ implantation into insulating MgIn₂O₄ films was carried out to generate carrier electrons. Upon implantation of 5x10¹⁶ cm^-2, DC conductivity at 300 K increased from below ∼10^-7 to ∼70 Scm^-1. Hot implantation at 500 deg. C resulted in a further increase in the conductivity to ∼500 Scm^-1. Hall voltage measurements revealed that the further increase in the conductivity by hot implantation originates from the enhancement of carrier generation efficiency. Hole doping by N⁺ implantation into n-type Ga-doped ZnO (ZnO:Ga) thin films was attempted to realize p-type ZnO films under Ga+N co-doping scheme proposed by Yamamoto and Yoshida. The conductivities monotonously decreased from 8.2x10² to 2.7x10^-5 Scm^-1 with increasing N⁺-fluences, indicating holes generated by N⁺ implantation compensated already existing electrons in the ZnO:Ga films. However, conduction type inversion (n→p) was not observed irrespective of implantation conditions

No abstract available

[en] The effect of ultraviolet or laser light on the growth of lobes in a green alga, Micrasterias thomasiana was investigated. During plasmolysis, the cell wall and the outermost region of the cytoplasm were separately irradiated with an ultraviolet or laser microbeam. Growth of the lobes was more effectively inhibited by irradiation of the cytoplasm than of the cell wall when the dose of irradiation was weak. Growth inhibition was observed in the irradiated cytoplasm where no apparent decrease in velocity of plasma streaming was seen, which suggested that irradiation caused more damage to the mechanism of exocytosis than to the migration of secretion vesicles. Strong irradiation resulted in gelatinization of the cytoplasm. With strong doses of irradiation on both the cytoplasm and cell wall, growth was completely inhibited. (author)