Japanese expectations for green building assessments

The background and feedback on the Green Building Challenge '98 process in Japan is provided by a representative from one of two Japanese teams (representing the Building Constructors' Society). The positive process of validating and adapting the international criteria to particular national circumstances and then customizing these criteria is explained. Three significant benefits to the Japanese building industry are discussed: existing technologies and methodologies were validated, it was discovered that these have potential for world-wide application, the life expectancy of Japanese buildings needs to be lengthened. Future expectations from Japan include: the ongoing refinement of the international framework for the environmental assessment of buildings; the customization of criteria requires further structure and limits, a critical review of the customization process; an expansion embracing both developed and developing nations' new and existing buildings. The prototype green building assessment from GBC '98 has the potential to be refined and adopted as a world-wide methodology and is endorsed as the fastest way to achieve world-wide consensus. Les generalites et le retour d'informations se rapportant au projet Green Building Challenge 98 au Japon sont fournies par un representant de l'une des deux equipes japonaises (association de constructeurs). Cet article s'interesse a la procedure positive de validation et d'adaptation des criteres internationaux a des circonstances nationales specifiques puis leur particularisation. L'auteur examine egalement trois avantages significatifs pour l'industrie japonaise du batiment: le GBC a permis de valider des technologies et des methodologies existantes; on a decouvert qu'elles recelaient un potentieal pour une application mondiale; la duree de vie des batiments japonais doit etre allongee. On attend egalement du Japon des contributions dans les domaines suivants: l'affinage, deja en cours, du cadre international de l'evaluation environnementale des batiments; l'adaptation des criteres exige une autre structure ainsi que des limites; une revue critique du procede d'adaptation; une expansion englobant les batiments nouveaux et existants dans les pays en developpement et dans les pays industrialises. Le prototype d'evaluation des batiments verts a partir du projet GBC 98 peut etre affine et adopte sous forme d'une methodologie mondiale et etre considere comme la methode la plus rapide pour aboutir a un consensus global.     

Impact of the Coulomb interaction on nano-scale silicon device characteristics

Monte Carlo simulations coupled self-consistently with the three-dimensional Poisson equation are carried out under the double-gate MOSFET structures. The Coulomb force experienced by an electron inside the device is directly evaluated by performing the Monte Carlo simulations with or without the full Coulomb interaction and the Coulomb force on the channel electron corresponding to plasmon excitations is clarified. It is pointed out that the consistency of the boundary condition is achieved only if the long-range Coulomb interaction is properly taken into account, and this is crucial for predicting reliable device characteristics in ultra-small devices. The drain current and transconductance are greatly reduced if the self-consistent potential fluctuations are taken into account.     

Self-dissolving micropile array tips for percutaneous administration of insulin

Two kinds of insulin were loaded into self-dissolving micropile array tip (following tip). Fully-loaded tip (f-tip) and partially-loaded tip (p-tip) were prepared using chondroitin sulfate for the percutaneous administration of insulin. One hundred micropiles were constructed on a 1.0 × 1.0 cm tip. The mean length of the micropile in a tip were 483.4 ± 4.7 μm for the f-tip and 492.6 ± 2.4 μm for the p-tip. The insulin content of the p-tip was 28.5% of that of the f-tip. The pharmacological efficiency of insulin loaded tip was evaluated in rat experiments by measuring their hypoglycemic effects. The maximum hypoglycemic effect of insulin was observed at 1.7 ± 0.2 h for the f-tip and 1.5 ± 0.2 h for the p-tip. Good dose-dependency was observed for the plasma glucose level vs. time curves. These results suggest the usefulness of p-tip as a percutaneous DDS of insulin.     

High-pressure solubility of fullerene C60 in toluene

The solubility of fullerene C₆₀ in toluene was measured at temperatures between 278.2 and 308.2 K and pressures up to 340 MPa, and also at temperatures between 258.2 and 298.2 K under atmospheric pressure. The solubility increased with increasing pressure, and then decreased with a sharp maximum, suggesting a transition between solid phases. A thermodynamic analysis of the solubility supported the proposal of Korobov, et al. that the two solids correspond to C₆₀ (fcc) and C₆₀ · 2 (toluene) solvate. The solubility enhancement of C₆₀ by pressure in a low-pressure region is an unusual phenomenon when compared with the decrease in solubility of nonpolar molecular solids generally observed with rises in pressure.     

Convergence acceleration of the rational Runge-Kutta scheme for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations

An efficient method-of-lines approach is presented for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. The governing equations are spatially discretized by a central finite-difference approximation. The rational Runge-Kutta scheme is used for the time integration. Attention is focused on improving the efficiency and accuracy of the solution. A remarkable improvement in the efficiency is achieved by adopting a combination of the present scheme with the residual averaging and multigrid (M.G.) techniques. The M.G. method and the high suitability of the present scheme to a vector computer partly reduce the computational load imposed on a numerical simulation with a finer grid. The steady-state convergence obtained with the scheme is comparable with those of diagonalized implicit approximate factorization schemes for inviscid and viscous flow equations. The reliability and accuracy of the scheme have also been improved by adopting the artificial dissipation terms scaled down to the minimum level required for stability. The facilities of the scheme are demonstrated in a series of numerical experiments for two- and three-dimensional transonic flows.     

Functional analysis of genes encoding putative oxidoreductases in Aspergillus oryzae, which are similar to fungal fructosyl-amino acid oxidase

We found 11 genes (FAO1-11) encoding putative oxidoreductases in the Aspergillus oryzae genome, which are similar to fungal fructosyl-amino acid oxidases. The cDNAs corresponding to the genes were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. rFao2 had fructosyl-amino acid oxidase activity, whereas rFao1 did not show any enzyme activity, even though the deduced amino acid sequence of Fao1 is identical to that of one of the fructosyl-amino acid oxidase isozymes from Aspergillus oryzae. rFao7 and rFao8 showed oxidase activity toward sarcosine, L-pipecolate, and L-proline. rFao10 was active toward only sarcosine, of the substrates tested. The functions of the other proteins were also predicted from a phylogenetic analysis.     

Antioxidative activities of bran extracts from twenty one pigmented rice cultivars

Ethanol–water (70:30, v/v) extracts from the bran of rice seeds from twenty one pigmented and one nonpigmented rice cultivars were evaluated for antioxidative activities using the following tests: inhibition of peroxidation of linoleic acid; inhibition of peroxidation of rabbit lipid erythrocyte membranes; reduction of potassium ferricyanide, and scavenging of superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals. With some exceptions, extracts from the pigmented rice seeds had higher antioxidative activity than did the nonpigmented variety. The following pigmented cultivars had the highest antioxidative activities in all tests: Jumlalocal-1, Parnkhari 203, DZ78, LK1-3-6-12-1-1, and Elwee. A significant correlation was also noted between reducing power, inhibition of erythrocyte ghost membrane peroxidation, and superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenging. The results suggest that: (a) ferricyanide reducing power might be a useful and simple index for large-scale evaluation of antioxidative potencies of natural products present in rice; (b) pigmented rice varieties with high antioxidative activities provide a source of antioxidants and a genetic resource to develop new health-promoting rice cultivars.     

International mobility of researchers in robotics,computer vision and electron devices: A quantitative and comparative analysis

We investigated author information in scientific articles by approximately 7,000 researchers for a quantitative analysis of researchers’ international mobility. From top journals, we traced the movements of more than 2,200 researchers in the research domains of robotics, computer vision and electron devices. We categorized countries’ characteristics for the balance between the inflow and the outflow of researchers moving internationally. Flow patterns of international mobility confirm that the United States, China and India exhibit the greatest global flows of researchers, with Singapore and Hong Kong attracting remarkable numbers of researchers from other countries. International mobility focusing on institutions reveals that universities in Singapore receive as many foreign researchers as do research universities in the United States. Furthermore, firms and international collaborative research institutes act as alternative receivers to the universities in the electron devices research domain.     

Thermal conduction theoretical analysis of temperature distribution during multiple-electrode submerged arc welding

In recent years, in order to reduce the costs of transportation and construction of pipelines, which are often constructed using multiple-electrode submerged arc welding (SAW), higher joint performance is required. Therefore, there has arisen the need to understand theoretically and control appropriately metallurgical and mechanical characteristics in heat-affected zone (HAZ), which has a significant influence on the strength and toughness of welded joints. Commonly, metallurgical phenomena in HAZ are evaluated based on the highest temperature and the cooling rate. Therefore, in order to control metallurgical and mechanical characteristics in HAZ by means of the welding conditions, evaluating the temperature distribution and the temperature history near the melted zone is essential. However, a detailed investigation of the temperature distribution for multiple-electrode SAW has not yet been carried out enough. In this study, in order to investigate the temperature distribution and histories during multiple-electrode SAW, the experimental results are compared with the theoretical results. In the theoretical analysis, the temperature rise equation in multiple heat sources welding is developed using the method of summation. Furthermore, on temperature distribution during welding, the effects of multiple heat sources, such as the number of heat sources and the distance between each electrodes, are considered quantitatively through the thermal conduction theoretical analysis. As the result, the distance between lead heat source and final heat source primally influences the area with the difference between a single heat source welding and multiple heat sources welding. Based on the results, it is expected to control temperature distribution near melted zone by more appropriate heat input characteristics, which is depended on heat source arrangement.     

An integrated numerical simulator for thermal performance assessments of firefighters’ protective clothing

Research and development of firefighters’ protective clothing relies on a large number of fire disaster experiments in order to assess the thermal performance. It would be substantially advantageous to substitute a virtual numerical experiment for a real one in terms of time, cost and safety. The present article reports the development of an integrated numerical simulator that makes possible the estimation of burn injuries originating from fire disasters. In the simulator, a general-purpose computational fluid dynamics program computes the fluid flow and heat transfer in an in situ fire event, while a one-dimensional program calculates the radiative–conductive heat transfer through the clothing and human skin. A data interface combines the two simulations by loose coupling so as to give the real-time burn injury progress output. The predicted surface heat fluxes and burn degrees agree with experimental measurements reasonably well. Possible numerical error sources are discussed that call for potential improvements in the future.