Distribution and early life history of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kaupichthys</Emphasis> leptocephali (family Chlopsidae) in the central Indonesian Seas

Leptocephali of the widely distributed tropical marine eels of the genus Kaupichthys (family Chlopsidae) were collected around Sulawesi Island during a sampling survey in the Indonesian Seas in late September and early October 2002, and the otolith microstructure of 24 of the 59 specimens captured was examined to learn about the larval growth rates and spawning times of these small sized eels. Leptocephali ranging in size from 25 to 60 mm were collected in Makassar Strait and the Celebes Sea, but they were most abundant in the semi-enclosed Tomini Bay of northeast Sulawesi Island. The Kaupichthys leptocephali examined had 39–161 otolith growth increments. Their back-calculated hatching dates indicated that five age groups were present and each group appeared to have been spawned around the full moon of previous months. Average growth rate estimates of the first two age groups were 0.65 and 0.54 mm/day for the 27.4–30.4 and 37.6–45.6 mm age classes. The growth rates of the oldest three age groups (52.0–60.8 mm) appeared to have slowed down after they reached their approximate maximum size. An increase in increment widths at the outer margin of the otoliths of those larger than 53 mm suggested that the process of metamorphosis had begun even though there were few external morphological changes indicating metamorphosis. It is hypothesized that chlopsid leptocephali have an unusually short gut that may not need to move forward during early metamorphosis. The presence of four age classes in Tomini Bay suggests that the Togian Islands region may be productive habitats for Kaupichthys juveniles and adults.     

Positive buoyancy in eel leptocephali: an adaptation for life in the ocean surface layer

Many planktonic organisms have adaptations such as floats or lighter substances to obtain buoyancy to help them remain in the surface layer of the ocean where photosynthetic primary production occurs and food is most abundant. The almost totally transparent eel larvae, called leptocephali, are a unique member of the planktonic community of the surface layer, but their ecology and physiology are poorly understood. We conducted a comparative study on the specific gravity of planktonic animals including 25 taxa of 7 phyla of marine invertebrates and 6 taxa of leptocephali (vertebrate) to gain a broad perspective on the buoyancy of the eggs and larval stages of the Japanese eel. The specific gravity values of the various freshly caught marine invertebrate taxa varied widely from 1.020 to 1.425, but leptocephali had some of the lowest values (1.028–1.043). Artificially cultured live leptocephali had even greater buoyancies with specific gravities of 1.019–1.025 that were close to or lower than seawater, and their buoyancy showed ontogenetic changes among the different early life history stages. Leptocephali appear to have a unique mechanism of buoyancy control by chloride cells all over body surface through osmoregulation of body fluid contained in the extracellular matrix of transparent gelatinous glycosaminoglycans filling their bodies. This adaptation is likely a key factor for their survival by helping them to remain in the surface layer where food particles are the most abundant, while being transparent for predator avoidance. The ontogenetic change in buoyancy of eel eggs, leptocephali and glass eels likely enhances their larval survival, transport, and recruitment to terrestrial freshwater habitats.     

Temporal variation of Cs and Pu in the sea of Japan

Concentrations of the anthropogenic ¹³⁷Cs and ^239,240Pu in surface water of the Sea of Japan were in the ranges of 2·7–3·8 mBq l^-1 and 1·3–8·0 μBq l^-1, respectively, in 1993–1994, which are in the same order of magnitude as those in the North Pacific. The time-series data indicated a marked increase of surface ¹³⁷Cs in 1986 and 1987 after the major radioactive dumping and the Chernobyl fallout in 1986 and then rapidly decreased thereafter. The apparent half-residence time of ¹³⁷Cs in the surface water was estimated to be about 3 years for excess ¹³⁷Cs and 16 years for a rather long time-scale transport, respectively. For ^239,240Pu in the surface water, no systematic temporal variation was observed over the past two decades, which may reflect rapid recycling of deeper Pu. The results revealed that most of the recent radioactivity in water columns of the Sea of Japan was of global fallout origin from atmospheric nuclear testing and partly the Chernobyl fallout. No clear signal about the effect of radioactivity from Russian dumping was observed.     

Determination of ammonium on an integrated microchip with LED-induced fluorescence detection

A simply fabricated microfluidic device integrated with a fluorescence detection system has been developed for on-line determination of ammonium in aqueous samples. A 365-nm light-emitting diode (LED) as an excitation source and a minor band pass filter were mounted into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microchip for the purpose of miniaturization of the entire analytical system. The ammonium sample reacted with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) on-chip with sodium sulfite as reducing reagent to produce a fluorescent isoindole derivative, which can emit fluorescence signal at about 425 nm when excited at 365 nm. Effects of pH, flow rate of solutions, concentrations of OPA-reagent, phosphate and sulfite salt were investigated. The calibration curve of ammonium in the range of 0.018-1.8 μupg/mL showed a good linear relationship with R² = 0.9985, and the detection limit was (S/N = 3) 3.6 × 10^-4 μupg/mL. The relative standard deviation was 2.8% (n = 11) by calculating at 0.18 μupg/mL ammonium for repeated detection. The system was applied to determine the ammonium concentration in rain and river waters, even extent to other analytes fluorescence detection by the presented device.     

Temperature profile across the combustion zone propagating through an iron particle cloud

Knowledge of the mechanism of combustion zone propagation during dust explosion is of great importance to prevent damage caused by accidental dust explosions. In this study, the temperature profile across the combustion zone propagating through an iron particle cloud is measured experimentally by a thermocouple to elucidate the propagation mechanism. The measured temperature starts to increase slowly at a position about 5 mm ahead of the leading edge of the combustion zone, increases quickly at a position about 3 mm ahead of the leading edge, reaches a maximum value near the end of the combustion zone, and then decreases. As the iron particle concentration increases, the maximum temperature increases at lower concentration, takes a maximum value, and then decreases at higher concentration. The relation between the propagation velocity of the combustion zone and the maximum temperature is also examined. It is found that the propagation velocity has a linear relationship with the maximum temperature. This result suggests that the conductive heat transfer is dominant in the propagation process of the combustion zone through an iron particle cloud.     

Effects of a composition change of ordinary Portland cement on waste utilization and CO2 emissions in Japan

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This paper estimates the effects of a composition change of ordinary Portland cement on waste utilization and CO2 emissions in the Japanese cement...     

Methodology for case studies of accidental gas explosions

This paper discusses a procedure for case studies of accidental gas explosions. The procedure for each case study can be subdivided into four steps, i.e., collection of proofs, analyses, confirmation, and inference about the processes of the accident, and the issues in each step are pointed out. Making a guess on the sequence of the accident to be investigated should be avoided during collection of proofs. Misunderstanding of the phenomena in analyses and confirmation is likely caused by inappropriate knowledge on the phenomena and/or use of unsuitable models. The sequence of the accidental gas explosion should be inferred on the basis of confirmed processes. If there are other possibilities, those should be described in the report. The reasonableness of the results of a case study depends on the rationality of the procedure and the quality or plausibility of knowledge to infer the probable sequence.     

Growth reduction of the Japanese black pine corresponding to an air pollution episode

Changes of tree-ring widths of Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii Parl.) trees growing in air-polluted and unpolluted areas were analyzed. In the stand close to an industrial complex, a large reduction in the series of tree-ring index (TRI), which were computed by removing endogenous effects from the measured series, appeared from the 1960s to 1970s. This reduction in radial tree growth was not explained by the climatic response model calibrated for a pre-pollution period. TRI changes corresponding with changes in concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), and a significant negative correlation between the TRI and SO(2) concentration were found in the polluted area. Reduction in tree-ring growth was not seen in the unpolluted area. These results indicate that the past reduction in the growth of Japanese black pine trees growing in an industrial area was mainly caused by SO(2).