Fish intake and serum levels of organochlorines among Japanese women

This study evaluates background serum levels of selected organochlorine compounds among Japanese women of reproductive age and investigates whether lifestyle factors, especially dietary factors, may be associated with these levels. A cross-sectional study was performed on 80 Japanese women, aged 26-43 years, who complained of infertility and were confirmed not to have endometriosis. The serum levels of total toxic equivalency (TEQ), 18 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs)/polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), 4 coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (cPCBs), 36 ortho-substituted polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and 13 chlorinated pesticides or their metabolites were measured and data were collected on the women's age, residence, occupation, body mass index (BMI), smoking and alcohol habit and 6 dietary intakes (fish, meats, rice, vegetables, fruits and dairy products). The serum median level of total TEQ was 25.1 pg TEQ/g lipid, that of PCDDs/PCDFs/cPCBs was 11.5 pmol/g lipid, that of PCBs was 0.46 nmol/g lipid, and that of total pesticides was 1.32 nmol/g lipid. The serum levels of total TEQ, PCDDs/PCDFs/cPCBs, PCBs and pesticides were positively associated with age (P for trend=0.003, 0.01, 0.005 and 0.01, respectively) and frequent fish consumption (P for trend=0.002, 0.003, 0.0003 and 0.006, respectively). Other lifestyle factors were not associated with serum organochlorine levels. The present study suggests that Japanese women who consume fish frequently in their reproductive period tend to accumulate organochlorines in their bodies.     

Antioxidant effects of reduced water produced by electrolysis of sodium chloride solutions

Antioxidant vitamins and enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase are considered to function as scavengers against reactive oxygen species and to provide protection against reactive oxygen species, including free radicals. Although antioxidants such as L-ascorbic acid, d-catechin and quercetin dehydrate show superoxide dismutation activity, using reduced water produced in the cathode side by electrolysis as a solvent instead of 2 mM NaC1 solution of the same pH level as the reduced water increased the superoxide dismutation activity of these antioxidants. Moreover, neither the reduced water nor its electrolyte solution showed any superoxide dismutation activity by itself. On the other hand, the reduced water was able to decrease hydrogen peroxide levels. It has been found that the behaviour of H₂ in reduced water, which was activated by a platinum electrode, differed from that of H₂ introduced by bubbling of hydrogen gas. The former decreased H₂O₂, whereas the latter did not. These results suggest strongly that the increase in superoxide dismutation activity, with a proton donor such as L-ascorbic acid, is due to an increase in the dissociation activity of water while the scavenging activity for H₂O₂ is due to activated dissolved H₂ in the reduced water.     

A novel spherical carbon

We developed a novel spherical carbon material. The spherical carbon is composed of a high density of carbon nanotubes or nanofilaments, and includes an oxidized diamond particle as a core. Syntheses of this carbon in high volume with high selectivity may be possible. It is expected that this carbon will be useful as a catalyst material for fuel cells, electric double-layer capacitors, etc.     

Properties of EHD Pump with Combination of Rod-to-Rod and Meshy Parallel Plates Electrode Assemblies

A high pressure required to drive the liquid can be generated by the compact electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pumps with multiple pairs of the rod-to-rod and meshy parallel plates electrode assemblies arranged in series. In this work, the performance of EHD pumps with electrodes up to nine pairs has been examined as a function of the applied voltage using a semi-insulating liquid. The pressure generated by energized electrodes gives rise to the vigorous liquid flow and the liquid ejects from the pump outlet. The flow direction always is from the cathode toward the anode. The pressure increases with nearly the square of the applied voltage and in proportion to the number of electrode pairs. The maximum pressure head achieved with a series of nine electrode pairs is 25.3 kPa at 18 kV with maximum power consumption of 7.2 W. The generated pressure is maintained stably at constant level of the corresponding value. EHD pumping is attributed to conduction pumping based on an unbalance of heterocharges with single ionic polarity in the vicinity of the anode and cathode.     

Service‐level assurance in high‐availability multi‐unit systems using the M‐for‐N backup scheme

In this paper, we investigate service‐level assurance in high‐availability multi‐unit systems using the M‐for‐N backup scheme. M‐for‐N shared protection (backup) systems with priority control (i.e. prioritized protection switching and prioritized re‐housing of repaired units) can be applied to actual telecommunication devices that are subject to service‐level agreement (SLA) involving reliability measures. A priority level is assigned to each end user in such a system and the switching and unit re‐housing process is subject to the priority. The main contribution of this paper is to give a practical computation method of the user‐perceived availability under the priority control. Our case studies for real telecommunication systems reveal the effect of priority control on the user‐perceived availability. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extraction of Road Information from Guidance Map Images

A function of image recognition is indispensable to an intelligent robot which can coexist with a human being. Furthermore, the intelligent robot needs to understand the environment of their action range by getting information of characters and maps on advertisements and signboards in order to move autonomously. In this research, a method to search the route from the starting point to the destination on a guidance map, by extracting the road area on the map and revising degradation portions because of overlapping with characters or other figures is proposed. And the validity of this method is shown by the experiment using maps which were collected from advertisements or pamphlets.     

Touch-Space: Mixed Reality Game Space Based on Ubiquitous, Tangible, and Social Computing

This paper presents a novel computer entertainment system which recaptures human touch and physical interaction with the real-world environment as essential elements of the game play, whilst also maintaining the exciting fantasy features of traditional computer entertainment. Our system called ‘Touch-Space’ is an embodied (ubiquitous, tangible, and social) computing based Mixed Reality (MR) game space which regains the physical and social aspects of traditional game play. In this novel game space, the real-world environment is an essential and intrinsic game element, and the human’s physical context influences the game play. It also provides the full spectrum of game interaction experience ranging from the real physical environment (human to human and human to physical world interaction), to augmented reality, to the virtual environment. It allows tangible interactions between players and virtual objects, and collaborations between players in different levels of reality. Thus, the system re-invigorates computer entertainment systems with social human-to-human and human-to-physical touch interactions. Correspondence to: Professor A. Cheok, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260. Email: adriancheok@nus.edu.sg     

Compensation for neutral current harmonics in a three-phase four-wire system by a synchronous machine

This paper presents a new method that passively reduces the neutral current harmonics in a three-phase four-wire system by a synchronous machine. Selecting 2/3 as the coil pitch of the armature winding can minimize the zero-sequence reactance of the synchronous machine. The proposed method utilizes such a characteristic, which allows harmonic compensation by the synchronous machine. For analysis and design, an equivalent circuit for the third harmonic component of the basic system is derived. Using this equivalent circuit, its harmonic compensation characteristics are theoretically analyzed and design fundamentals are provided. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and validate the theoretical analysis.