Emission rate of carbon dioxide while sleeping

Humans emit carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a product of their metabolism. Its concentration in buildings is used as a marker of ventilation rate (VR) and degree of mixing of supply air, and indoor air quality (IAQ). The CO₂ emission rate (CER) may be used to estimate the ventilation rate. Many studies have measured CERs from subjects who were awake but little data are available from sleeping subjects and the present publication was intended to reduce this gap in knowledge. Seven females (29 ± 5 years old; BMI: 22.2 ± 0.8 kg/m²) and four males (27 ± 1 years old; BMI: 20.5 ± 1.5 kg/m²) slept for four consecutive nights in a specially constructed capsule at two temperatures (24 and 28°C) and two VRs that maintained CO₂ levels at ca. 800 ppm and 1700 ppm simulating sleeping conditions reported in the literature. The order of exposure was balanced, and the first night was for adaptation. Their physiological responses, including heart rate, pNN_50, core body temperature, and skin temperature, were measured as well as sleep quality, and subjective responses were collected each evening and morning. Measured steady-state CO₂ concentrations during sleep were used to estimate CERs with a mass-balance equation. The average CER was 11.0 ± 1.4 L/h per person and was 8% higher for males than for females (P < 0.05). Increasing the temperature or decreasing IAQ by decreasing VR had no effects on measured CERs and caused no observable differences in physiological responses. We also calculated CERs for sleeping subjects using the published data on sleep energy expenditure (SEE) and Respiratory Quotient (RQ), and our measured CERs confirmed both these calculations and the CERs predicted using the equations provided by ASHRAE Standard 62.1, ASHRAE Handbook, and ASTM D6245-18. The present results provide a valuable and helpful reference for the design and control of bedroom ventilation but require confirmation and extension to other age groups and populations.     

Semi-solid processing of ultrahigh-carbon steel castings

Semi-solid processing using cooling plate technique was developed to produce a high quality ultrahigh-carbon steel (UHCS) components. Microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated as a function of fraction of solid. The microstructure of UHCS was improved using semi-solid processing. A unique homogenized microstructure comprised of fine particles grain size (200–100 μm) was obtained which totally differs from that obtained by ordinary UHCS casting (520 μm particle grain size). Tensile strength of as-cast and heat treated semi-solid processed UHCS is relatively high compared with ordinary one. Both the tensile strength and elongation closely connect with the particle grain size and cementite network changed with fraction of solid. Increasing fraction of solid increases hardness values, which is attributed to the fine and homogenous structure by semi-solid processing.     

Analysis of the Circulating Tumor Cell Capture Ability of a Slit Filter-Based Method in Comparison to a Selection-Free Method in Multiple Cancer Types

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a promising biomarker for cancer liquid biopsy. To evaluate the CTC capture bias and detection capability of the slit filter-based CTC isolation platform (CTC-FIND), we prospectively compared it head to head to a selection-free platform (AccuCyte^®-CyteFinder^® system). We used the two methods to determine the CTC counts, CTC positive rates, CTC size distributions, and CTC phenotypes in 36 patients with metastatic cancer. Between the two methods, the median CTC counts were not significantly different and the total counts were correlated (r = 0.63, p < 0.0001). The CTC positive rate by CTC-FIND was significantly higher than that by AccuCyte^®-CyteFinder^® system (91.7% vs. 66.7%, p < 0.05). The median diameter of CTCs collected by CTC-FIND was significantly larger (13.0 μm, range 5.2–52.0 vs. 10.4 μm, range 5.2–44.2, p < 0.0001). The distributions of CTC phenotypes (CK+EpCAM+, CK+EpCAM− or CK−EpCAM+) detected by both methods were similar. These results suggested that CTC-FIND can detect more CTC-positive cases but with a bias toward large size of CTCs.     

Conflict and Intolerance in a Web Community: Effects of a System Integrating Dialogues and Monologues

The Spiritual Navigator website offers a bulletin board system (BBS) for dialogues, weblogs for individual monologues, and a psychological test so the user can determine his/her own mental state. The results of covariance structure analyses, where questions in the psychological test are the independent variable and the number of postings to the BBS/weblog is the dependent variable, suggest that motivations for BBS interaction and for blogging are quite different. The less tolerant a user is of different views, the more often that user posts to the BBS. Some users who initially post actively to the BBS stop posting there (e.g., in response to criticism) but continue to post to their own weblogs (including their responses to criticism). Given this situation, it is suggested that a system such as the Spiritual Navigator that combines online dialogue and monologue, and that is designed to balance conflicts with stability, could bring about the observance of face-saving ritual (in Goffman's term) or Habermas-like discourse ethics in the public sphere on the Internet.     

Configuration of Shock Waves in Two-Dimensional Overexpanded Jets

An experimental and analytical study has been carried out to obtain the clear understanding of a shock wave transition associated with a steady two-dimensional overexpanded flow. Two-dimensional inviscid theory with respect to a shock wave reflection is used in the present study on the characteristic of shock waves. The results obtained from the flow analysis are compared with those obtained from flow visualizations. It is shown that in the region of regular reflection, the angle of an incident shock wave becomes lower than that calculated by two shock theory with an increment in the ratio pe/pb of the nozzle exit pressure pe to the back pressure pb. It is indicated that the configuration of shock waves in overexpanded jets is influenced by the divergent angle at the nozzle exit. Also it is shown from the flow visualization that a series of shock waves move into the nozzle inside with a decrease in pressure ratio pe/pb, even if the pe/pb is under overexpanded conditions.     

Recovery and Recrystallization Behaviors of Ni–30 Mass Pct Fe Alloy During Uniaxial Cold and Hot Compression

The recovery and recrystallization behaviors of the high-temperature γ-phase of carbon steel during deformation strongly affect the mechanical properties of steel. However, it is difficult to evaluate such behaviors at a high temperature. This study proposes the deformation behavior of the high-temperature γ-phase of low-carbon steel based on the quantitative observation of dislocation density and vacancies in the Ni–30 mass pct Fe alloy. This alloy was used because its stacking fault energy (60 to 70 mJ m^-2) is similar to that of low-carbon steel. Uniaxial compression tests were conducted at a strain rate of 10⁻³ s⁻¹ and 1473 K (1200 °C) for dynamic recrystallization and at 293 K (20 °C) for work hardening. The compression process was interrupted at different strain values to systematically investigate microstructural changes. The changes in work hardening, recovery, and recrystallization behaviors were obtained from the true stress–true strain curves of the uniaxial compression tests. Further, the microstructure changes during cold and hot uniaxial compression were investigated from the viewpoint of lattice defects by X-ray diffraction, positron annihilation analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction to comprehend the work hardening, dynamic recovery (DRV), and dynamic recrystallization (DRX). This study helps understand the DRV, DRX, and work hardening behaviors in the γ-phase of the Ni–30 mass pct Fe alloy during cold and hot compression.

     

A Linear-Time Algorithm for 7-Coloring 1-Plane Graphs

A graph G is 1-planar if it can be embedded in the plane in such a way that each edge crosses at most one other edge. Borodin showed that 1-planar graphs are 6-colorable, but his proof does not lead to a linear-time algorithm. This paper presents a linear-time algorithm for 7-coloring 1-plane graphs (which are 1-planar graphs already embedded in the plane). The main difficulty in the design of our algorithm comes from the fact that the class of 1-planar graphs is not closed under the operation of edge contraction. This difficulty is overcome by a structural lemma that may be useful in other problems on 1-planar graphs. This paper also shows that it is NP-complete to decide whether a given 1-planar graph is 4-colorable. The complexity of the problem of deciding whether a given 1-planar graph is 5-colorable is still unknown.     

Anti-oxidant content of different coloured sweet peppers, white, green, yellow, orange and red (Capsicum annuum L.)

Five different coloured sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum cv. Signal), white, green, yellow, orange and red were analysed for total carotenoids, α‐tocopherol, sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose), organic acids (citric and ascorbic acids) and anti‐oxidant properties. The mature fruits, ‘Signal Red’, ‘Signal Orange’ and ‘Signal Yellow’ contained higher carotenoids, α‐tocopherol, sugars and organic acids than the immature fruits, ‘Signal Green’ and ‘Signal White’. Among the mature fruits, ‘Signal Red’ was the highest in total carotenoids [9.15 mg (100 g)^?1 of fresh weight] while ‘Signal Orange’ was the highest in α‐tocopherol [5.40 mg (100 g)^?1 of fresh weight]. ‘Signal Red’ and ‘Signal Orange’ contained the most sugars and organic acids. The suppression of 2,2′‐azobis (2,4‐dimethylvaleronitrile) (AMVN)‐induced oxidation of methyl linoleate by the acetone extracts from the coloured sweet peppers resulted as follows: ‘Signal Red’ > ‘Signal Orange’ ≈ ‘Signal Yellow’ > ‘Signal Green’ ≈ ‘Signal White’. The order of 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities of the acetone extracts was similar to that of suppression of methyl linoleate oxidation.     

Pursuit‐Escape Particle Swarm Optimization

This paper presents a new Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with pursuit and escape behavior. This method takes a cue from the behaviors of schools of sardines and pods of killer whales. When the sardines are attacked by the killer whales, they would behave unusually, that is, the sardines would escape from the killer whales, and on another front, the killer whales would pursue the sardines. By this method, particles are divided into two categories called the pursuit‐particles and the escape‐particles, having interactions with each other. They play the key roles of intensification and diversification, respectively. This allows the particles to avoid local optimal solutions and find a global optimal one, and also achieve an appropriate balance between diversification (global search) and intensification (local search) during the search. Then, the proposed method is validated through numerical simulations using several functions which are well‐known as the optimization benchmark problems by comparing them to powerful methods such as SAPPO, LDIWM, and CFM. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.