A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean

The seeding of an expanse of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean with low concentrations of dissolved iron triggered a massive phytoplankton bloom which consumed large quantities of carbon dioxide and nitrate that these microscopic plants cannot fully utilize under natural conditions. These and other observations provide unequivocal support for the hypothesis that phytoplankton growth in this oceanic region is limited by iron bioavailability.     

Frederick Pavy (1829-1911) and his opposition to the glycogenic theory of Claude Bernard

For more than 50 years the Guy's Hospital physician Frederick Pavy (1829-1911) attempted to discredit the theory of his erstwhile teacher, Claude Bernard, that liver glycogen was broken down to supply sugar to the systemic circulation. His opposition was driven by his clinical perceptions and was based on two assumptions: the first was that the kidney was a simple filter through which small molecules would diffuse, so that sugar had to be prevented from reaching the systemic circulation. For Pavy, the liver was the barrier. The second was teleological: he could not believe that nature would operate in what he saw as a defective way, i.e. converting sugar into glycogen and then back again. At the beginning of his long working life Pavy regarded himself as a physiologist and was critical of the stagnancy of English physiology which was kept afloat by amateurs like himself in whatever time they could spare from busy private practice. At the end he came to see his own view of carbohydrate metabolism as symbolic of the schism between responsible clinicians (himself) and irresponsible daydreaming physiologists (his opponents).     

Interferon therapy: side effect scare hits French trials

The French Ministry of Health, acting on the advice of its scientific council, has halted clinical trials of interferon in cancer patients after four out of eleven recipients died of myocardial infarctions. Trials are expected to resume after the domestically produced drug stock is repurified and successfully retested. It has been suggested that council oversight should be extended to imported interferon and other experimental drugs which are now being used in human trials without the Ministry's control or knowledge.     

环路热管启动特性的实验研究

通过大量的实验研究了蒸发器内气液分布、反重力工作高度、启动热载荷的大小、热沉温度等因素对启动的影响, 描述并分析了4种不同蒸发器内气液分布情况下的启动现象, 给出了系统温度变化曲线图, 分析了启动的难易程度. 根据实验数据得出结论: (ⅰ) 对于液体干道内充满液体的启动情况, 储液器温度上升的主要原因并不是漏热, 而是回路压力升高所致. (ⅱ) 热载荷大有利于启动. (ⅲ) 未完全绝热时小热载荷下热沉温度不影响启动. (ⅳ) 环路热管在反重力情况下启动时, 当蒸汽槽道存在蒸汽时, 所需启动时间、启动温升增大; 而蒸汽槽道充满液体时, 所需时间、过热度和启动温升都减少. 实验还观察到了反重力启动时呈现两种启动方式的特别现象.     

BaTiO_3∶Tm~(3 )反蛋白石的上转换发光

利用合成蛋白石模板、填充溶胶前驱体、烧结移除模板的方法,制备BaTi O3∶Tm3 的反蛋白石结构.根据实验测量的反射光谱与650nm激光光源激发下的上转换荧光光谱,得到了反蛋白石结构的光子带隙位置以及上转换光谱.由于带隙位置与激发光源位置的重合,与粉末样品的上转换光谱相比,反蛋白石的光谱强度降低,出现了峰位展宽,从而也为光子带隙对于特定电磁波的抑制提供了明显的证据.     

The fate of injectant coal in blast furnaces: The origin of extractable materials of high molecular mass in blast furnace carryover dusts

The aim of the work was to investigate the fate of injectant coal in blast furnaces and the origin of extractable materials in blast furnace carryover dusts. Two sets of samples including injectant coal and the corresponding carryover dusts from a full sized blast furnace and a pilot scale rig have been examined. The samples were extracted using 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) solvent and the extracts studied by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The blast furnace carryover dust extracts contained high molecular weight carbonaceous material, of apparent mass corresponding to 10⁷?10⁸ u, by polystyrene calibration. In contrast, the feed coke and char prepared in a wire mesh reactor under high temperature conditions did not give any extractable material. Meanwhile, controlled combustion experiments in a high-pressure wire mesh reactor suggest that the extent of combustion of injectant coal in the blast furnace tuyeres and raceways is limited by time of exposure and very low oxygen concentration. It is thus likely that the extractable, soot-like material in the blast furnace dust originated in tars is released by the injectant coal. Our results suggest that the unburned tars were thermally altered during the upward path within the furnace, giving rise to the formation of heavy molecular weight (soot-like) materials.