Wellbore-wall compression effects on monitored groundwater levels and qualities.

The effects of wellbore-wall compression from rough excavation on monitored groundwater levels and qualities under natural hydraulic gradient conditions were investigated in a shallow clayey Andisol aquifer. Nine wellbores reaching the underlying aquitard at about 2.6-m depth were constructed by dynamic cone penetrometry to mimic rough wellbore construction. Five of these were constructed under wet aquifer soil conditions and the remaining four under dry conditions. A 15-month period monitoring showed that the groundwater levels in the wellbores constructed under wet conditions responded significantly in retard of, and in narrower ranges than, those constructed under dry conditions. The wellbore-wall hydraulic conductivities at the former wellbores were calculated to be more than one to two orders of magnitude lower than those at the latter ones. Furthermore, remarkable nitrate removal attributable to the occurrence of a heterotrophic denitrification was observed in one of the former wellbores. In contrast, the groundwater levels and qualities in the latter wellbores appeared to be generally similar to those monitored in the conventional soil coring and augering-derived wellbores. Our results suggest that the wellbore-wall compression induced by rough excavation under wet and soft aquifer soil conditions leads to a substantial decrease in the wellbore-wall hydraulic conductivity, which in turn can lead to unreliable groundwater levels and qualities. This problem can occur in clayey Andisols whenever the aquifer soil is wet; however, the problem can be largely avoided by constructing the wellbore under dry and hard aquifer soil conditions.

Experimental study using heparin-immobilized adsorbent of EDA(+)fibronectin.

EDA(+)fibronectin, which might participate in the pathogenesis and/or progress of immune diseases, is efficiently removed from plasma by cryofiltration; however, cryofiltration removes not only EDA(+)fibronectin, but also other proteins. We thus developed a new adsorbent by using its high affinity with heparin. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the adsorbent of EDA(+)fibronectin (OHC-20) in experimental arthritis. The experimental arthritis was induced by injection of 0.5 mg of Mycobacterium butyricum in Lewis rats. Rats were divided into 4 groups; 1 nontreatment group, and 3 treatment groups. Adsorption therapy in treatment groups was performed three times: on Days 1, 3, and 5 in Group A; Days 7, 9, and 11 in Group B; and Days 13, 15, and 17 in Group C. The walking postures of rats improved from dragging to walking on tiptoe, and the increase of hind-foot volume was suppressed in Groups B and C. We conclude that heparin-immobilized adsorbent might be promising for immune diseases.

In-Situ Direct Analysis of the Growing Species by 119Sn NMR Spectroscopy: Living Cationic Polymerization of Isobutyl Vinyl Ether with HCl/SnCl4/nBu4NCl1

119Sn NMR spectroscopy was employed for analysis of the interaction and reaction of SnCl4 with the HCl-IBVE adduct [1; CH3CHCl(OiBu)] in the presence of nBu4NCl in CH2Cl2 solution at -78 degreesC, which are model reactions for the living cationic polymerization of isobutyl vinyl ether (IBVE). The addition of 1 to an SnCl4 solution led to upfield shifts of the tin nucleus as the 1/SnCl4 mole ratio (<1) increases, which indicates the formation of SnCl5-, via the interaction between SnCl4 and the chlorine atom in 1. On further addition of 1, the pentacoordinated anion is converted into the hexacoordinated SnCl62-. These tin species are in fast equilibrium among each other, and the 119Sn NMR analyses support the formation of a carbocation [2; CH3CH+(OiBu)] from 1 and the dynamic equilibrium between 1 and 2. More effective chloride-anion donors such as nBu4NCl and Ph3CCl can quantitatively convert SnCl4 into SnCl5-, and then into SnCl62-. Thus under the conditions where living cationic IBVE polymerization proceeds (1 < nBu4NCl/SnCl4 < 2), SnCl4 is fully converted into a weaker Lewis acid, SnCl5-, with the aid of added nBu4NCl. The suppression of the carbocationic species in the living system has thus been found due to the interaction between the added salt and SnCl4.

Effect of methyl substitution on microbial degradation of linear styrene dimers by two soil bacteria.

The microbial degradation of 10 linear unsaturated dimers (I to IV) prepared from styrene and o-, m-, or p-methylstyrene was investigated with two soil bacteria, Alcaligenes sp. strain 559 and Pseudomonas sp. strain 419. The two strains decomposed styrene dimer I and all styrene-methylstyrene codimers II and III, but methylstyrene homodimers IV remained intact. The degradation rates of codimers II and III of o- and m-methylstyrenes were found to depend on both their structure and the strain used; i.e., Alcaligenes sp. strain 559 decomposed III faster than II, whereas the reverse order (II > III) was obtained with Pseudomonas sp. strain 419. In biodegradation by the former strain, the codimers were degraded faster in the presence of styrene dimer I than in its absence, but no such effect of dimer I was observed with the latter.