Influence of Repeated Odor Adaptation Experience on the Olfactory Response

Recent studies have reported that essential oils and fragrances sprayed indoors affect psychologica evaluation and intellectual productivity. However, the effects of long-term exposure to fragrances on the human body have not been well studied, and there are still many unresolved issues. Therefore, in this study, the effects of repeated exposure to fragrances on changes in the perception of fragrances as a study for long-term operation of fragrance environments were investigated. In order to investigate the effect of fragrance repetition on threshold and odor perception, a panel experiment with 19 subjects was conducted using rosemary essential oil and scatole. The Rosemary was be exposed and the Scatole was not. The conditions were repetition frequency of adaptation. Regarding thresholds, several panels showed an increase in thresholds for rosemary with exposure and a decrease in thresholds for scatole, indicating a long-term acclimation trend due to repeated exposure to fragrances. As for the subjective evaluation of fragrance, the evaluation of fragrance preference and pleasantness/ unpleasantness tended to change to the neutral side in the case of lower frequency and longer duration. In the future, experiments that tend to increase the number of conditions of the frequencies and duration of repeated exposure will be conducted

Influence of Indoor Environment Changes in Relaxation Space on Relaxation and Refreshment Effects of Occupants

Since proper break between office work is helpful in decreasing work-related stress and fatigue, a break space in office is also an important place to create healthy and productive workplace environment. However, there are relatively few studies focused on the break space compared to ones focused on work space. In this study, experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of the break space’s indoor environment on occupants’ psychological and physiological responses. To examine whether change in indoor environment during break positively affect occupants’ responses and productivity, lighting, odor and air movement conditions were intentionally changed before the end of the break. As for the psychological response, there was a possibility that it would be affected when the lighting and air movement were changed. As for brain waves, effects were also observed when lighting and air movement were changed. In terms of productivity, performance was better when the environment was changed than when the environment was left unchanged during breaks. The need for breaks was indicated because the worst results were obtained when the work was done continuously without a break in the first place. The best results were obtained when the environment was changed to generate an odor

Field Survey of Indoor Microplastic in Four Regions of Japan

In recent years, the plastics pollution of 5mm or less size (microplastics) in marine ecosystems has been a global issue. The presence of microplastics (microfibers) is also a major concern in indoor environments of the residetial house. Many sources of microplastics in the marine environment also exist in the indoor environment. In the modern age where we spend most of our time indoors, the indoor environment is related to the health of residents, so it is important to investigate the presence and contamination status of microplastics in the indoor environment. There is limited the number of studies on microplastics in the indoor environment. In our previous studies have confirmed the presence of microplastics in indoor environments Kanto area including Tokyo of Japanese residential houses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the concentration of indoor microplastics in four regions; Kanto area including Tokyo, Chubu area, Tohoku area, and Kansai area. We focused on the indoor microplastics in settled dust on the floor of residential houses, and the survey was conducted on the 16 residential houses. Micro-Fourier transform infrared (µ-FT-IR) spectrophotometry was used for the qualitative analysis of microplastics. The detected components in the settled dust were cellulose, polyamide (PA), polyacrylamide (PAM), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyethylene (PEs), polyester (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl acetate (PVAL)

Holocene Evolution of the Outer Lake of Hwajinpo Lagoon on the Eastern Coast of Korea; Environmental Changes with Holocene Sea-Level Fluctuation of the East Sea (Sea of Japan)

From the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Wellington, New Zealand, September 1-5, 2003.The evolution of the outer lake of Hwajinpo Lagoon in Korea has been reconstructed using environmental proxies (lithologic, geochemical, and fossil data) with a chronology established using 7 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates. Grain size, water content, and X-ray analyses from the core of outer coastal lakes (HJ99) were used to reconstruct sedimentary environments by using total organic carbon, C/N, S, and C/S chemical proxies. Assemblages of mollusc remains also provided paleoenvironmental information. The environmental changes of the outer lake of Hwajinpo Lagoon can be divided into 6 depositional phases. The basin of the Hwajinpo was exposed and underwent a weathering process before the Holocene period. The muddy sand layer on the weathered bedrock indicated an estuarine system about 6000 BP. The laminated layer implies that the lagoonal system was anoxic between about 5500-2800 BP. The marl layer implies a relatively oxic lagoonal condition with mollusc presence about 2500 BP. The layer of very low sulfur content indicates a freshwater lake system isolated by a sand barrier about 1700 BP. Beginning about 1000 BP, the river system deposits progress progradation on the marl layer. Two erosional landforms could be related with a high standing sea level span during Holocene. These high-stands are dated at 5700 BP and 2200 BP and are supposed to have formed erosional landforms of about 1.6 amsl and 0.8 amsl, respectively. Environmental changes of the outer lake of Hwajinpo Lagoon are considered due mainly to the lake-and sea-level fluctuation during Holocene.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202