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.     

Recovery of fluorocarbons in Japan as a measure for abating global warming

The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential for recovering fluorocarbons as measures for the abatement of global warming. In this study, we focused on the three different kinds of fluorocarbons: CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs, and targeted refrigerant use because of the availability of relevant data. We first estimated future fluorocarbon emissions from the targeted appliances; we next compared those emissions in the units of CO₂ equivalent to the level of CO₂ emissions in 1990 from a quantitative point of view. As the result of this study, it was found that fluorocarbon emissions in 1999 and 2010 would be equal to approximately 7 and 3% of the level of CO₂ emissions in 1990 respectively. Moreover, if we implement a 100% recovery rate in every recovery route, we can reduce a large amount of emissions which correspond to approximately 2–5% of the level of CO₂ emissions in 1990, even if we take into account the energy-related CO₂ emissions by the transportation and decomposition of fluorocarbons.     

Real-time measurement of pointing action by using DSP

This paper presents an approach of measuring in real-time the vector of finger that is pointing to an object. DSP is used in the operation processing unit in order to do the real-time processing. The steps include the extraction of flesh-colored regions from an image, the labeling of the flesh-colored regions, and the detection of two characteristic positions on the finger so that the direction that the finger is pointing at will be calculated. The entire process takes about 29 msec, which makes it possible to have the frame rate of 34 fps. With this frame rate, this measurement approach is considered real-time and promising to be merged into other application systems. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

An automatic torque ripple compensation system for direct drive motors

A serious problem in motion control is the occurrence of torque ripple. Since a direct drive (DD) motor with a magnet rotor uses a rare-earth magnet, the torque ripple is more serious than that of conventional servomotors. This paper presents an auto-compensation of torque ripple using a software-implemented torque observer. The frequency and amplitude of torque ripple can be obtained in the controller by using the estimated torque from an observer, and the autonomous generation of a compensating current component for a torque ripple is possible. The proposed algorithm has been verified by experiments.     

Performance prediction of a hybrid‐excitation synchronous machine with axially arranged excitation poles and permanent‐magnet poles

This paper presents a method of predicting the steady‐state performance of a new hybrid‐excitation synchronous machine (HESM) theoretically. The field pole of this HESM is axially divided into two parts; one is an excitation part and the other a permanent‐magnet (PM) part. A nonlinear equivalent circuit, which can include the saliency of the rotor and the magnetic saturation due to the iron core, is derived. Based on this equivalent circuit, the steady‐state performance of the HESM is calculated, and the results are confirmed through experiments. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 150(2): 43–49, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20033     

Radiation tolerance for the SMASH-series front-end chips for a silicon micro-strip detector

The radiation tolerance for prototype front-end chips designed for a silicon micro-strip detector was examined with a ⁶⁰Co irradiation source to establish an allowable range of the radiation dose. The irradiated front-end chips were SMA²SH-64A, a 64-channel preamplifier array; SMA²SH-1, a single-channel preamplifier circuit with a comparator; and Control-C, a digital-control chip for the preamplifiers.     

Percutaneous lumbar nucleotomy

The nature of the events whereby the reactive intermediates resulting from the bioactivation of bromobenzene and furosemide induce hepatotoxicity is unknown. To examine a role for disturbances in intracellular calcium homeostasis, secondary to a depletion in cellular reduced glutathione (GSH) and reduced protein thiols (PSHs), isolated mouse hepatocytes were exposed to cytotoxic concentrations of bromobenzene or furosemide. Cytosolic calcium concentration, as well as thiol status, was determined. The incubation of hepatocytes with 3.0 mM bromobenzene, and subsequent additions (1.2 mM) of the agent every hour, resulted in significant GSH depletion. The loss of plasma membrane integrity at 1.5 h preceded both a rise in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and depletion of total PSH content. Furosemide (1.0 mM) produced a 70% depletion in cellular GSH content in isolated hepatocytes. The initiation of cell damage occurred concurrently with both a rise in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration and a depletion of total PSH content 4 h following furosemide addition. Since the increase in cytosolic Ca2+ did not precede cytotoxicity, these results do not support an initiating role for Ca2+ deregulation in bromobenzene and furosemide hepatotoxicities. In addition, depletion of PSH content did not correlate with bromobenzene- or furosemide-induced cytotoxicity.     

An empirical approach for structure-based prediction of carbohydrate-binding sites on proteins

A computer program system was developed to predict carbohydrate-bindingsites on three-dimensional (3D) protein structures. The programssearch for binding sites by referring to the empirical rulesderived from the known 3D structures of carbohydrate–proteincomplexes. A total of 80 non-redundant carbohydrate–proteincomplex structures were selected from the Protein Data Bankfor the empirical rule construction. The performance of theprediction system was tested on 50 known complex structuresto determine whether the system could detect the known bindingsites. The known monosaccharide-binding sites were detectedamong the best three predictions in 59% of the cases, whichcovered 69% of the polysaccharide-binding sites in the targetproteins, when the performance was evaluated by the overlapbetween residue patches of predicted and known binding sites. Received April 24, 2003; revised June 2, 2003; accepted June 10, 2003.