Systematic packaging design tools integrating functional and environmental consequences on product life cycle: Case studies on laundry detergent and milk

This study presents systematic packaging design tools integrating functional and environmental consequences on product life cycle. To design packaging for sustainability, the trade-offs between functional and environmental aspects of packaging throughout the product life cycle should be considered. However, it is difficult for packaging designers to understand the overall trade-offs because the extent of the design consequences on the entire life cycle of packaging and its contents is unclear. We developed two tools for packaging design: the Life Cycle Association Matrix (LCAM) and the Function Network Diagram (FND). The following three steps, based on literature reviews and interviews with industrial experts, were applied. Firstly, we listed the product functions and design variables related to the functions as the attributes allocated to the product life cycle. Secondly, the attributes were connected appropriately based on causal relationships. Lastly, we identified the factors to support decision making in the packaging design procedure. As a result, the LCAM depicts the design consequences on the life cycle, and the FND determines the stakeholders affected by the design consequences. Two case studies were demonstrated to analyze the trade-offs by using our tools. In the case studies, a liquid laundry detergent bottle and a milk carton were redesigned. The tools identified the design consequences and stakeholders affected by the redesign of the usability and protective function for the detergent and milk cases, respectively. The results showed the significance of understanding the design consequences on the product life cycle by integrating the functional and environmental aspects.     

Anomalies of the tracheobronchial tree in patients with esophageal atresia

Bone marrow examination revealed a lipid-laden histiocytosis in seven patients undergoing long-term total parenteral nutrition necessitated by extensive short-bowel surgical resection. Clinical abnormalities occurred during this treatment which required bone marrow examination. These included hepatosplenomegaly and peripheral blood cytopenia; the median time to the detection of these abnormalities was 64 months. The most striking change within the bone marrow was the presence of many pigment-laden histiocytes which had the typical morphology of sea-blue histiocytes seen in the so-called idiopathic sea-blue histiocyte syndrome. The occurrence of sea-blue histiocytosis in the bone marrow in association with long-term parenteral nutrition for short-bowel syndrome has not, to our knowledge, been reported previously and should now be considered in the differential diagnosis of bone marrow sea-blue histiocytosis.     

Dynamics and biogeochemical significance of the physical environment in Lake Biwa

We have examined two aspects of the dynamics and biogeochemical significance of the physical environment in Lake Biwa. One is the horizontal distribution of cyanobacteria as it relates to the ‘first gyre’ in the north basin of Lake Biwa. We could easily measure the first gyre using a vessel‐mounted acoustic doppler currents profiler. We were able to quantify the dynamics of the horizontal and vertical structure of currents and water temperature of this gyre. The first gyre did not remain at a fixed position; it moved north and south according to the growth of the gyre. This may play a role in the redistribution of cyanobacteria from place to place in the north basin. The second important environmental dynamic we measured was oxygen consumption rates from 1994 to 2000. We found that the minimum oxygen concentration in the hypolimnion has a clear inverse relationship with the apparent oxygen consumption rates in the 80–85 m depth layer. As a reduction in oxygen concentration in the hypolimnion can have a serious impact on benthic organisms, we concluded that the Lake Biwa environment should be monitored carefully and systematically.     

Development of a geographical information system and its application to Escherichia coli O-157 patient distribution

The so called Geographical Information System (GIS) is one of the basic tools for wide range of public health applications. We had developed a general purpose GIS and applied it to represent geographical distribution of patients of the bacterium E. coli O-157 which bursted out in Japan last early summer particularly at Sakai City in Osaka Prefecture. The patient record have been supplied from the Food Safety Office of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. These records were handled by EXCEL. The basic geographical data was constructed from the map data provided by Japan Geographical Survey Institute, and ArcView 2 was used as the map system. The maps were converted to Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) files and put on our Web server.     

Inhibition of acid secretion in gastric parietal cells by the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II inhibitor KN-93

A novel Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM Kinase II) inhibitor, KN-93 potently inhibits gastric acid secretion from parietal cells. As previously reported (1), treatment of parietal cells with a selective inhibitor of CaM kinase II, KN-62 resulted in the inhibition of cholinergic-stimulated rabbit parietal cell secretion, whereas it failed to inhibit the histamine and forskolin response. In contrast effects of carbachol, histamine and forskolin were significantly inhibited by KN-93 with an IC50 of 0.15, 0.3 and 1 microM, respectively; these effects occurred without any changes in intracellular cyclic AMP and Ca2+ levels. In the present study we investigated the mechanism by which KN-93 acts upon the acid-secreting machinery of gastric parietal cells. Neither redistribution of the proton pump activity nor the morphological transformation were affected by KN-93. The drug only weakly inhibited the H+, K(+)-ATPase activity but strongly dissipated the proton gradient formed in the gastric membrane vesicles and reduced the volume of luminal space. Thus KN-93 acts at pH gradient formation whereas KN-62 acts only at CaM Kinase II.     

Automated low-power technique exploiting multiple supply voltagesapplied to a media processor

This paper describes an automated design technique to reduce power by making use of two supply voltages. The technique consists of structure synthesis, placement, and routing. The structure synthesizer clusters the gates off the critical paths so as to supply the reduced voltage to save power. The placement and routing tool assigns either the reduced voltage or the unreduced one to each row so as to minimize the area overhead. The reduced supply, voltage is also exploited in a clock tree to reduce power. Combining these techniques together, we applied it to a media processor chip. The combined technique reduced the power by 47% in random-logic modules and by 73% in the clock tree, while keeping the performance     

A case of severe Becker muscular dystrophy diagnosed in early childhood--correlation between clinical severity and dystrophin testing

Cutaneous lesions caused by M. ulcerans were shown to bear only a superficial resemblance to those produced by certain spider species. M. ulcerans was not found in either the venoms or the midguts of several Australian spiders, and deliberate contamination by inoculation of the fangs and digestive system of the wolf spider, Lycosa godeffroyi, did not result in permanent colonization. M. ulcerans was successfully introduced into the skin of mice through a small trauma site similar to that caused by a spider bite. However, because M. ulcerans was shown to survive on exposed surfaces for only a short period, a successful inoculation is likely only if the skin is contaminated with this organism after, or at the same time as, the skin suffers damage. The claim by other workers that M. ulcerans produces cutaneous ulcers by release of an exotoxin could not be confirmed. The authors conclude that M. ulcerans is not involved in most cases of necrotic arachnidism and hence there is no justification for prescribing anti-mycobacterial antibiotics to resolve alleged spider bite lesions unless the presence of M. ulcerans has been demonstrated by appropriate laboratory tests.