This paper reports the experimental study on the preservation of CO 2 hydrate crystal samples at domestic freezer conditions for 3 weeks. These samples were characterized by initial hydrate mass fractions of 0.95 and 0.50, by particle diameters of smaller than 2.8, 2.8À4.0, and 5.6À8.0 mm and greater than 8.0 mm, and also by preservation temperatures at 258 and 253 K. The results revealed that the stability of CO 2 hydrate depends on the particle size, the initial hydrate mass fractions in the samples, and the preservation temperatures. Better stability was observed for CO 2 hydrate crystal samples of larger particle size and lower initial hydrate fraction and preserved at lower temperature. Visual observations of CO 2 hydrate crystal samples showed that dissociation occurs on the surface of the crystal samples. These experimental results indicated the possibility of the development of novel food/ drink products containing CO 2 hydrate.

Because a synoptic overview facilitates understanding of the temporal and spatial changes in the global distribution of greenhouse gases, we developed a statistical spatial estimation method using kriging. Level 3 (L3) data products for the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for Carbon Observation (TANSO) Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) were generated from column-averaged, dry-air mole fractions of carbon dioxide (XCO 2 ) and methane (XCH 4 ) TANSO-FTS SWIR Level 2 (L2) products using this method. Although there have been some reports on the use of kriging for analysing GOSAT products, the kriging method used in this research was specifically adapted to the statistical characteristics of GOSAT L2 products. In the context of using data for atmospheric research, spatially interpolated data (GOSAT L3 products) cannot be more accurate than modelsimulated global distributions of gas concentrations (GOSAT Level 4B (L4B) products), which are generated using an atmospheric tracer transport model. However, the L3 product takes much less time to generate than the L4B. It would take about a year to produce the L4B after generation of an L2 product. The great advantage of the L3 product is that it gives a comprehensive and reasonable monthly global distribution of gas concentrations with little delay. The L3 product using the kriging method can be generated on a monthly basis by estimating global semi-variogram curves from the L2 products for each month and interpolating spatially within a region with a radius of 1000 km from existing L2 data locations. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the methodology and characteristics of kriging used to generate the GOSAT L3 product, not for strictly scientific use of the estimated values, but for a reasonable global map of gas concentrations derived statistically from the sparsely observed L2 products within a short time frame. The characteristics of this method are compared to XCO 2 products simulated with an atmospheric tracer transport model. The results show that the method proposed in this study is of practical use for generating L3 products from L2 products.

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The multi-phase field method coupled with the thermodynamics database of calculation of phase diagrams has been successfully applied to simulation of solidification microstructure evolutions in engineering casting processes. As multi-phase field method is based on the local (quasi-)equilibrium assumption in solidification theory [1], applying this method to solidification of additive manufacturing processes is not studied enough because of extremely large cooling rate and temperature gradient conditions. On the other hand, some researchers have reported experimental observations of the columnar-to-equiaxed transition in the solidification of the additive manufacturing processes including the direct energy deposition. They suggest that the local (quasi-)equilibrium assumption can be applied to solidification of additive manufacturing processes [2]. In this study, solidification microstructures of titanium alloys in direct energy deposition are calculated by multi-phase field method. Temperature distributions obtained by thermal analyses using finite element method are adapted to multi-phase field method. The microstructure evolution of columnar-to-equiaxed transition is confirmed. The results are summarized in a solidification map for direct energy deposition process conditions.

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