Color measurements according to three sections of wood

The purpose of this study was to measure each color of three sections of wood with instruments, and to examine whether there were differences between each color of three sections. The total number of tree species measured was 60, with the same number of conifers and broadleaf trees. A test piece, which was a cube with one side of 34 mm, was prepared for each tree species. End grain, edge grain, bark side and pith side of each test piece were flattened by a hand planer. Then, lightness L* and hue/saturation (a*, b*) in the L*a*b* color space were measured with a spectrophotometer. The results showed that the end grain had a lower L* compared to the other planes. The end grain was reddish and yellowish because it had a large a* and small b*. When chroma C* and hue angle h in the L*C*h color space were calculated from a* and b*, the end grain had a small dullness with less vividness because C* was smaller than the other planes. L*, a*, b*, C* and h on the other planes excluding the end grain were almost equal for each plane. Furthermore, it was found that the plane whose lightness L* had the strongest correlation with the density of the test piece was the end grain. Therefore, the correlation diagrams between the density, average of annual ring width, and L*of the end grain of each test piece were shown

Changes in Vibrational Properties of Wetwood of Japanese Fir (Abies Sachalinensis Mast) with Time During Drying

Temporal changes in vibrational properties of wetwood of Japanese fir (Abies sachalinensis Mast.) during a drying process were investigated. Specimens were cut from wetwood defined as heartwood with extremely high moisture content and normal wood whose moisture content was not so high, and matched in the R-direction. Green and water-saturated wood specimens were prepared. The specimens and the vibration testing system were put in an electric drying oven, where a free-free vibration test was conducted at intervals of 5 to 20 minutes. When the green specimens were used, the resonance frequency and loss tangent of both wetwood and normal wood reached the minimum and maximum, respectively, early in the drying. The minimum and maximum of the wetwood were smaller and larger than those of the normal wood. These differences between the wetwood and normal wood were mainly caused by the differences in initial moisture content because such differences, which existed in the green wood, disappeared once a water-saturated condition was reached

Comparisons of Shear Stress/Shear Strain Relations of Wood Obtained By Iosipescu And Torsion Tests

In this paper, we compared the shear stress/shear strain relations of wood obtained by Iosipescu and torsion tests.Quartersawn boards of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis Carr.) and shioji (Japanese ash, Fraxinus spaethiana Lingelsh.) provided the specimens. Iosipescu tests were conducted with specimens loaded in the radial direction, and the shear stress/shear strain relations were obtained. Shear stress/shear strain relations were obtained independently of the Iosipescu tests by torsion tests of rectangular bars. The following results were obtained:(1) The shear moduli, shear yield stresses, and shear strengths obtained from both methods showed good agreement with each other, except for the shear strength of ash.(2) As for spruce, the difference between the shear stress/shear strain relations obtained by Iosipescu and torsion tests was significant in the 5% significance level, whereas that for the ash was not significant.(3) Although the Iosipescu test can derive the shear stress/shear strain relation directly, it has the drawback that failure occurs earlier than with the torsion test. In contrast, the torsion test has the drawback that the procedure for obtaining the stress/strain relation is quite complicated. In determining the shear stress/shear strain relation of wood properly, shear stress/shear strain data should be measured more frequently by these methods

A systematic review of nonrandomized controlled trials on the curative effects of aquatic exercise

Hiroharu Kamioka1, Kiichiro Tsutani2, Yoshiteru Mutoh3, Hiroyasu Okuizum4, Miho Ohta5, Shuichi Handa4, Shinpei Okada6, Jun Kitayuguchi7, Masamitsu Kamada7, Nobuyoshi Shiozawa8, Sang-Jun Park4, Takuya Honda4, Shoko Moriyama41Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Drug Policy and Management, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 3Department of Physical and Health Education, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 4Mimaki Onsen (Spa) Clinic, Tomi City, Japan; 5Laboratory of Aqua, Health, and Sports Medicine, 6Physical Education and Medicine Research Foundation, Nagano, Japan; 7Physical Education and Medicine Research Center Unnan, Unnan City, Japan; 8Department of Longevity and Social Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, JapanBackground: The objectives of this review were to integrate the evidence of curative effects through aquatic exercise and assess the quality of studies based on a review of nonrandomized controlled trials (nRCTs).Methods: Study design was a systematic review of nonrandomized controlled trials. Trials were eligible if they were nonrandomized clinical trials. Studies included one treatment group in which aquatic exercise was applied. We searched the following databases from 2000 up to July 20, 2009: MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL, and Ichushi-Web.Results: Twenty-one trials met all inclusion criteria. Languages included were English (N = 9), Japanese (N = 11), and Korean (N = 1). Target diseases were knee and/or hip osteoarthritis, poliomyelitis, chronic kidney disease, discomforts of pregnancy, cardiovascular diseases, and rotator cuff tears. Many studies on nonspecific disease (healthy participants) were included. All studies reported significant effectiveness in at least one or more outcomes. However results of evaluations with the TREND and CLEAR-NPT checklists generally showed a remarkable lack of description in the studies. Furthermore, there was the problem of heterogeneity, and we were therefore not able to perform a meta-analysis.Conclusion: Because there was insufficient evidence on aquatic exercise due to poor methodological and reporting quality and heterogeneity of nRCTs, we were unable to offer any conclusions about the effects of this intervention. However, we were able to identify problems with current nRCTs of aquatic exercise, and propose a strategy of strengthening study quality, stressing the importance of study feasibility as a future research agenda objective.Keywords: aquatic exercise, systematic review, nonrandomized controlled trials&nbsp

A New Serum Biomarker Set to Detect Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease by Peptidome Technology

Background: Because dementia is an emerging problem in the world, biochemical markers of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and radio-isotopic analyses are helpful for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although blood sample is more feasible and plausible than CSF or radiological biomarkers for screening potential AD, measurements of serum amyloid- β (Aβ), plasma tau, and serum antibodies for Aβ1 - 42 are not yet well established. Objective: We aimed to identify a new serum biomarker to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD in comparison to cognitively healthy control by a new peptidome technology. Methods: With only 1.5μl of serum, we examined a new target plate “BLOTCHIP®” plus a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) to discriminate control (n = 100), MCI (n = 60), and AD (n = 99). In some subjects, cognitive Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were compared to positron emission tomography (PET) with Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) and the serum probability of dementia (SPD). The mother proteins of candidate serum peptides were examined in autopsied AD brains. Results: Apart from Aβ or tau, the present study discovered a new diagnostic 4-peptides-set biomarker for discriminating control, MCI, and AD with 87% of sensitivity and 65% of specificity between control and AD (***p  Conclusion: The present serum biomarker set provides a new, rapid, non-invasive, highly quantitative and low-cost clinical application for dementia screening, and also suggests an alternative pathomechanism of AD for neuroinflammation and neurovascular unit damage

Shear Strength of Wood Obtained by Torsion Test

塑性変形を考慮し，矩形棒のねじり試験から，木材のせん断強度を求めた。試験にはシトカスプルース（Picea sitchensis Carr.），アガチス（Agathis sp.），カツラ（Cercidiphyllum japonicum Sieb. and Zucc.）およびブナ（Fagus crenata Bl.）を用いた。これらの試験体を，繊維方向を中心軸としてねじり，まさ目面および板目面のせん断応力－せん断ひずみ関係を得た。このせん断応力－せん断ひずみ関係をべき乗関数を用いて定式化し，破壊発生時のひずみの値をこの式に代入することでせん断強度を求めた。一方，ねじり負荷では破壊まで弾性状態を保つという従来より行われている方法でねじりせん断強度を求め，それぞれの値を比較した。その結果，樹種によってせん断応力－せん断ひずみ関係は多様であったが，いずれの樹種においても定式化によって得られた真のせん断強度の値は従来の方法で得られた強度の約70％程度となった。In this paper, we tried to obtain the real shear strength of wood by torsion tests with considering the plastic deformation. Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis Carr.), agathis (Agathis sp.), katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum Sieb. and Zucc.) and buna (Japanere beech, Fagus crenata Bl.) were used for the specimens. These specimens were twisted around the longitudinal axis, and the shear stress-shear strain relationships of LR- (longitudinal-radial) planes and LT- (longitudinal-tangential) planes were obtained. These relationships were formulated by n-power functions, and the shear strengths were predicted by putting the shear strain at the occurrence of failure on the formula. On the other hand, the shear strength was independently calculated by the conventional method which is based on the hypothesis that the specimen keeps its elastic stress condition under the torsional loading, and the strengths obtained by the different methods were compared with each other. Although the shear stress-shear strain relationships varied by the species, the values of elastic-plastic strengths were about 70% of those obtained by the conventional method. There are several results of mechanical tests which show the coincidence between the testing data and theoretical analyses more precisely when the shear strength is evaluated as about 70% of that obtained by the conventional solution

Simplification of the Measurement Method of the Shear Modulus of Wood by Torsion Test

In a previous paper, we measured the shear moduli of wood by the torsion of a rectangular bar accurately. In this method, two strain gages were bonded on the LR- and LT-planes to measure the shear strains. Although this method is mathematically-accurate, it is not convenient because of the necessity of two torsional moment-shear strains relationships. Here, we tried to simplify the measuring method by using only one torsional moment-shear strain relationship. In this experiment, specimens with various rectangular cross sections of which aspect ratios (b/a) varied from 1/9 to 9 were twisted around the longitudinal directions. The shear moduli were calculated by the following three different relationships; two torsional moment-shear strains relationships, one torsional moment-shear strain relationship, and the torsional moment-torsinal angle relationship. The moduli obtained by these three procedures were compared with each other. The results were summarized as follows: (1) When the cross section of the specimen was narrow enough (aspect ratio=1/9 or 9 in this experiment), the shear moduli obtained from the three procedures were close enough to each other. However, the axial restraint effect was remarkable for the specimen with narrow cross-section, and hence, the shear moduli were evaluated as large. (2) The shear modulus can be approximated properly by bonding one strain gage on the measured plane even when the specimen has an intermediate aspect ratio of 1/3 to 3. The shear modulus on the LR-plane of wood does not usually exceed the twice of that on the LT-plane. Thus, we think that the shear moduli on the LT- or LR-planes can be measured effectively by bonding one strain gage on the measured plane.既報では，矩形棒の2つの側面中央（板目面およびまさ目面）にひずみゲージを貼付してねじり，2つのねじりモーメントせん断ひずみ関係から数学的に厳密な方法でせん断弾性係数を算出したが，多少煩雑な計算が必要であった。そこで今回は，必要とする面（板目面およびまさ目面のいずれか一面）の中央にのみひずみゲージを貼付してねじり，1つのねじりモーメント－せん断ひずみ関係からせん断弾性係数が求められるのかどうか検討した。試験では断面寸法比（b/a）が1/9から9の矩形棒を繊維方向を中心軸としてねじった。せん断弾性係数は以下に示す3つの関係すなわち（i）2つのねじりモーメント－せん断ひずみ関係，（ii）1つのねじりモーメント－せん断ひずみ関係（iii）ねじりモーメント－ねじり角の関係から計算し，それぞれの値を比較した。結果を以下に示すと，（1）断面寸法比が十分に大きければ（本実験では断面寸法比＝1/9あるいは9），3つの関係から得られたせん断弾性係数は互いに近接した。しかし，断面寸法比が大きくなるとねじり軸方向の拘束効果が避けられず，せん断弾性係数は大きく見積もられる傾向があった。（2）ひずみゲージを必要とする一面にのみ貼付した場合，断面寸法比が大きくなくても（断面寸法比が1/3から3の範囲）比較的正確にせん断弾性係数が算出できた。一般的に，木材のまさ目面のせん断弾性係数は板目面のせん断弾性係数の2倍以上にはならないので，この方法でまさ目および板目のせん断弾性係数を求めることは可能であると考えられた