Application of human thermal load into unsteady condition for improvement of outdoor thermal comfort

Human thermal comfort is studied as a countermeasure to the thermal stress in outdoor urban space. Outdoors, people experience the strong impact of solar radiation in states that are unsteady and non-uniform. The feeling of comfort is a mixed sensation that can be easier to improve overall, as compared with a global large-scale effort, and can lead to improved ways of saving energy and reducing costs. Moreover, this can be directly beneficial to human experience and fulfill natural human desires. Since a thermal comfort index is a useful tool for understanding the present state and evaluating the impact of countermeasures, we examine the effects of the human thermal load, which is a thermal comfort index based on the energy balance of the human body. In a steady state, and even in an unsteady state with its variations in weather and human factors, thermal comfort values can generally be obtained by using the overall human thermal load. The reason for this is that the human thermal load takes physiological factors in account as well as weather parameters. This leads to the idea that thermal sensations follow from the human thermal load, which can then well describe a given human environment. As a result, human sensations as expressed by the human thermal load pave the way to the creation of comfortable urban spaces that require minimum expense and energy as an example of simple heat transport model focusing on urban outer structure.     

Distribution and geochemical behaviour of anionic surfactants determined as ethyl violet active substances in Lake Biwa,Japan

The distribution and geochemical behaviour of anionic surfactants (AS) determined as ethyl violet active substances (EVAS) were studied in Lake Biwa, Japan. We determined the vertical distributions of dissolved EVAS (DEVAS), suspended particulate EVAS (PEVAS), particulate organic carbon (POC) and the PEVAS/POC ratio. Statistical analyses conducted using plots of PEVAS versus POC and PEVAS/ Chlorophyll‐a (Chl‐a) versus POC/Chl‐a revealed that the distributions of DEVAS and PEVAS were affected by the concentrations of freshly produced POC and aged POC and by the pH of the lake water. Adsorption and desorption of EVAS onto the POC phase were found to be important mechanisms regulating the distribution and environmental/geochemical behaviour of EVAS in the lake. The organic carbon‐normalized particle–water‐partitioning coefficient, K_oc, for EVAS was also estimated and compared with that for nonylphenol.     

7Li 2D CSI of human brain on a clinical scanner

Lithium salts have been widely used in the treatment of mood disorders, but the mechanism of action is still not clear. In this work, a methodology for two-dimensional Lithium-7 imaging on clinical systems is presented. The data were acquired using a phosphorus volume head coil that was re-tuned for the Lithium-7 frequency. A spectroscopic sequence was used to acquire the free induction decay (FID) after volume excitation using a hard pulse. The results obtained on the head of patients undergoing lithium treatment (n = 7, 0.6 mEq/1 average serum level) demonstrate that images of adequate signal to noise ratio (100:1) can be obtained in acceptable imaging times (55 min) using the proposed methodology. The distribution of ’’Li appears uniform in the brains of the patients studied.     

Phase Stability of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia with Dissolved Cerium and Neptunium Oxides Under Oxidizing and Reducing Atmospheres

Phase stability and effects of sintering atmosphere on the crystalline structure of Np-doped yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) were evaluated in comparison with those same properties and conditions for Ce-doped YSZ. Different sintering atmospheres for Ce-doped YSZ led to differences in phase formation through reduction of the dopant from Ce⁴⁺ to Ce³⁺. On the other hand, YSZ specimens containing up to 40 mol% Np formed only a fluorite-structure phase regardless of sintering atmosphere. Yttria-stabilized zirconia thus seems to accommodate Np within a wide range of concentrations and to have excellent phase stability under both oxidizing and reducing atmospheres.     

High‐speed analysis of the major components of fatty acid methyl esters by capillary gas chromatography

We tested different column temperatures and carrier gas linear velocities in a capillary GC system with a high‐resolution column, DB‐23, to determine the shortest run time for analyzing the major components of a fatty acid methyl ester sample from any lipid source. Depending on the sample, the run time is 2 min or less. Commercially‐available high‐resolution columns can be used without modification.     

Effect of long-period stacking ordered phase on mechanical properties of Mg97Zn1Y2 extruded alloy

The mechanical properties of Mg97Zn1Y2 extruded alloy, composed of Mg matrix phase and a long-period stacking ordered phase, the so-called LPSO phase, with a volume fraction of approximately 24%, were investigated using compression tests at room temperature. The microstructure was varied to a large degree by various heat treatments at high temperatures above 400 °C, and the relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties was clarified. The plastic behavior of the Mg/LPSO two-phase alloy was compared with that of Mg99.2Zn0.2Y0.6 alloy, composed almost Mg-solid-solution phase, and the strengthening mechanisms at work in the Mg97Zn1Y2 extruded alloy are discussed. The existence of the LPSO phase strongly enhanced the refinement of Mg matrix grains during extrusion, which led to a large increase in yield stress through the Hall–Petch relationship. In addition, the LPSO phases, which were aligned along the direction of extrusion in the Mg97Zn1Y2 extruded alloy, acted as hardening phases, being roughly coordinated with the short-fiber reinforcement mechanism.     

Supervised vehicle trajectory prediction using orthogonal image map for urban automated driving

Artificial Life and Robotics - In urban automated driving, it is important to generate appropriate behaviors according to surrounding circumstances. The automated vehicle is generally equipped with...