The Tarim Basin is the major source of aeolian dust in the northern hemisphere. Glacial activity in the mountains, transportation by rivers and homogenization by wind are believed to be responsible for dust production within the basin. However, the major source(s) and homogenization process(es) are not clear. Moreover, provenance studies on fine fractions have never been conducted. Here, we measured electron spin resonance (ESR) signal intensity and the crystallinity index of quartz in fine (< 16 μm) and coarse (> 64 μm) fractions of river sediments, dry lake sediments and mountain loess to examine the process(es) that produce aeolian dust. The result suggests that the coarse fraction of the river sediment was derived from the bedrock in the drainage area. The ESR signal intensity and crystallinity index of the fine fraction of river sediments from the Tian Shan Mountains and mountainous rivers in the westernmost Kunlun and Pamir mountains are also similar to the coarse fraction, suggesting the same sources. However, the ESR signal intensity and crystallinity index of the fine fraction of river sediments from the Kunlun Mountains are different from the coarse fraction and converge towards values close to the average for the fine fraction of river sediments and mountain loess. Convergence of the ESR and crystallinity index values for the fine fraction of river sediments from the Kunlun Mountains can be explained by contamination of the river sediments by aeolian dust. The convergent values resulted from the homogenization of fine detrital material by repeated recycling within the basin.

Here we investigated the interactions of phenol resin precursor and calcium aluminates, in relation to a recently innovated cement based material having a high flexural strength of more than 120MPa. An anhydrous phenol resin precursor was used as the binder and water was not contained in the initial composition.

The method of processing consists of mixing of the cement, the phenol resin precursor, and small amounts of N-methoxymethyl 6-nylon and glycerol under high shear. Addition of the 6-nylon and glycerol was necessary to produce viscoelastic cement paste through a twin roll mill. Setting of calendered sheets takes place during the heat curing at 200° C. The best combination for high flexural strength among all the cements tested is the mixture of calcium aluminate cement and the resole type of phenol resin. Resulting outstanding affinity suggested specific interactions between the phenol resin and calcium aluminate.

We here propose the interaction evidence of phenol moiety-calcium aluminate, based on the experimental data of differential scanning calorimetry and conduction calorimetry.

Observation of the high-velocity flows in the core region of the NGC7538 molecular cloud are carried out with CO (J=1-0) molecular line using NRO 45-m radio telescope. The beam size is 14″ and the mapping area covers about 4'x3′. Four high-velocity flows are found in the core region. The high-velocity flows are prominent at and around IRS1, 9, and 11.

B335 is now recognized as the smallest isolated star forming region. The detection of a Far-IR source and a bipolar flow were succesful, on the other hand, the distribution of the quiet gas is poorly understood. We are trying to determine the density distribution in B335. As the first step, we have carried out HC3N (J = 5-4 and 4-3) observations of B335. The observations of the J = 5-4 line have revealed a high density core with a 30″-60″ size. The Far-IR source is located just at the center of the core, and the core lies at the center of the bipolar flow. A mean hydrogen molecular density in the core of about 5x104 cm−3 is derived from the line ratio J – 5-4/4-3.

CS(J = 2-1) observations of B335 are carried out using the NRO 45-m telescope with a 16″ beam. We get many self-reversed profiles with good S/N ratio. Assuming that this region consists of a core and a halo, we get the molecular hydrogen density and the CS relative abundance in the halo. The CS wings are located within the cavity of the CO wing (Goldsmith et al. 1984).