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Global oceans have absorbed a substantial portion of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted into the atmosphere. Data-based machine learning (DML) estimates for the oceanic CO2 sink have become an import part of the Global Carbon Budget in recent years. Although DML models are considered objective as they impose very few subjective conditions in optimizing model parameters, they face the challenge of data scarcity problem when applied to mapping ocean CO2 concentrations, from which air-sea CO2 fluxes can be computed. Data scarcity forces DML models to pool multiple years’ data for model training. When the time span extends to a few decades, the result could be largely affected by how ocean CO2 trends are obtained. This study extracted the trends using a new method and reconstructed monthly surface ocean CO2 concentrations and air-sea fluxes in 1980–2020 with a spatial resolution of 1×1 degree. Comparing with six other products, our results show a smaller oceanic sink and the sink in early and late year of the modelled period could be overestimated if ocean CO2 trends were not well processed by models. We estimated that the oceanic sink has increased from 1.79 PgC yr-1 in 1980s to 2.58 PgC yr-1 in 2010s with a mean acceleration of 0.027 PgC yr-2.

The terrestrial biosphere is a key player in slowing the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. While quantification of carbon fluxes at global land scale is important for mitigation policy related to climate and carbon, measurements are only available at sites scarcely distributed in the world. This leads to using various methods to upscale site measurements to the whole terrestrial biosphere. This article reports a product obtained by using a Random Forest to upscale terrestrial net ecosystem exchange, gross primary production, and ecosystem respiration from FLUXNET 2015. Our product covers land from −60°S to 80°N with a spatial resolution of 0.1° × 0.1° every 10 days during the period 1999–2019. It was compared with four existing products. A distinguishable feature of our method is using three derived variables of leaf area index to represent plant functional type (PFT) so that measurements from different PFTs can be mixed better by the model. This product can be valuable for the carbon-cycle community to validate terrestrial biosphere models and cross check datasets., Measurement(s) ecosystem-wide respiration • gross primary production • net ecosystem exchange • carbon flux • carbon dioxide Technology Type(s) Random forest Factor Type(s) year of data collection Sample Characteristic - Environment terrestrial biome • climate system Sample Characteristic - Location Earth (planet) Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12932882

Reconstructing surface ocean CO2 from scarce measurements plays an important role in estimating oceanic CO2 uptake. There are varying degrees of differences among the 14 models included in the Surface Ocean CO2 Mapping (SOCOM) inter-comparison initiative, in which five models used neural networks. This investigation evaluates two neural networks used in SOCOM, self-organization map and feedforward neural network, and introduces a machine learning model called support vector machine for ocean CO2 mapping. The technique note provides a practical guide to selecting the models.

Atmospheric CH4 mole fractions were observed aboard the R/V Mirai sailing in waters off Alaska in the Arctic Ocean in September 2012–2017 to investigate the CH4 emissions from the surrounding region, especially from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS). The synoptic-scale increases of CH4 were compared with simulated increases based on a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model and monthly CH4 flux maps determined by a global atmospheric inversion system. There were good agreements between the observed and simulated CH4 increases, suggesting the validity of CH4 fluxes from the surrounding areas of the cruise experiments. The CH4 emissions from the ESAS in September were further optimized in order to minimize the root mean square of the differences between the observed and simulated CH4 increases. The average (±1σ) of the resulting emission rates was 0.58 ± 0.47 TgCH4 yr−1, which was much smaller than previously reported estimates. The individual optimized CH4 emissions varied from −0.1 ± 0.3 to 1.3 ± 0.4 TgCH4 yr−1, showing a positive correlation with the sea surface temperature and a negative correlation with the ice concentration of the ESAS area in September. These results suggest a possible enhancement of the CH4 emissions from the ESAS in a warmer future.

Extremely high levels of column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of atmospheric methane (XCH4) were detected in August and September 2013 over northeast Asia (∼ 20 ppb above the averaged summertime XCH4 over 2009–2012, after removing a long-term trend), as being retrieved from the Short-Wavelength InfraRed (SWIR) spectral data observed with the Thermal And Near-infrared Sensor for carbon Observation – Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) onboard Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). Similar enhancements of XCH4 were also observed by the ground-based measurements at two Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) sites in Japan. The analysis of surface CH4 concentrations observed at three monitoring sites around the Japan archipelago suggest that the extreme increase of XCH4 has occurred in a limited area. The model analysis was conducted to investigate this anomalously high XCH4 event, using an atmospheric transport model. The results indicate that the extreme increase of XCH4 is attributed to the anomalous atmospheric pressure pattern over East Asia during the summer of 2013, which effectively transported the CH4-rich air to Japan from the strong CH4 source areas in east China. The two Japanese TCCON sites, ∼ 1000 km east–west apart each other, coincidentally located along the substantially CH4-rich air flow from east China. This analysis demonstrates the capability of GOSAT to monitor an XCH4 event on a synoptic scale. We anticipate that the synoptic information of XCH4 from GOSAT data contributes to improve our understanding of regional carbon cycle and the regional flux estimation.

This dataset includes the monthly distributions of CO2 fugacity in the world surface oceans reconstructed using a feed-forward neural network model and the CO2 measurements of the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas version 2.0. It has a spatial resolution of 1 9 1° and spans a period of 22 years, from January 1990 to December 2011. The dataset also includes necessary parameters for the reconstruction and an estimate of the CO2 fluxes between the ocean and the atmosphere. The aim of this work is to provide a dataset for estimating the oceans’ contribution to the global carbon budget.

Background Lectins are carbohydrate binding proteins and related to various biological events and diseases including virus infection and cancer metastasis. In particular, galactose-binding lectins have attracted attention as targets for drug delivery and cancer markers. We, previously, demonstrated that sugar-modified peptides (glycopeptides) were useful ligands for the detection and characterization of lectins compared to the sugar unit alone. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) conjugated with mannose-modified glycopeptides were useful in detection of concanavalin A, a mannose binding lectin. Objectives The main objective of this study was to expand our glycopeptide-GNP conjugates for detection and imaging of galactose-binding lectins. Methods Four galactose-modified peptides (glycopeptides) were synthesized by Fmoc-based solid peptide synthesis method. Synthesized glycopeptides were conjugated with PEG-coated GNPs using thiol-maleimide chemistry. The interaction between glycopeptide-GNPs (GP/GNPs) (0.5 nM) and RCA120, a galactose binding lectin, (0.5-1000 nM) was evaluated by mesuring absorption spectra of GNPs. The inhibition experiment in the interaction between GP/GNPs (0.5 nM) and RCA120 (100 nM) was performed in the presence of 60 mM α- methyl mannose or 60 mM lactose. HepG2 and MCF7 cells were placed on 22×22 mm cover slip in 6 well cell culture plates (2×105 cells / well) and cultured overnight at 37°C under 5% CO2 condition. 1 mL of GP/GNPs (0.2 nM) were added in each well and incubated for 18 h at 37°C under 5% CO2 condition. After incubation, cells were washed twice with PBS and fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde solution. The cover slips were coated with 90% glycerol and sealed to slide glass. Dark-field images based on elastic light scattering were taken using a Nikon microscope (TieU) with an immersion dark field condenser. Results In the titration experiment of RCA120, GP/GNPs showed a decrease of absorbance according to the addition of RCA120, suggesting that the aggregation of GP/GNPs is induced through the binding to RCA120. The EC50 values of AA(Gal)/GNP, WF(Gal)/GNP, TS(Gal)/GNP and ED(Gal)/ GNP were estimated as 66.2 nM, 43.2 nM, 38.6 nM and 104.4 nM, respectively. TS(Gal)/GNP showed the lowest EC50 value among GP/GNPs. RCA120 has several binding sites for the galactose, and there are hydrophilic amino acids (Thr24, Glu26, Gln35, Asn42 and Asp44) around one of galactose binding sites. This result indicates that the hydrogen bonds between these amino acids and Thr/Ser residues of TS(Gal) contribute to the efficient aggregation of TS(Gal)/GNP. Next, inhibition experiments in the aggregation of WF(Gal)/GNP with RCA120 revealed that lactose inhibits the WF(Gal)/GNP binding with RCA120, but α-methyl mannose does not, and that WF(Gal)/GNP selectively interacts with RCA120 and forms the aggregate. Finally, a galactose binding protein on the surface of HepG2 cells was successfully visualized by using GP/GNPs as optical probes. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that GP/GNPs could detect RCA120 by the selective binding and the aggregation formation. Furthermore, a galactose binding protein on the surface of HepG2 cells is successfully visualized using WF(Gal)/GNP as an optical probe. Thus, GNPs conjugated with glycopeptides will be useful probes for the selective detection and imaging of lectins.

Ambient measurements of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides from three mega-cities (Beijing, Mexico City, Tokyo) are compared with similar measurements from US cities in the mid-1980s and the early 2000s. The common hydrocarbon pattern seen in all data sets suggests that emissions associated with gasoline-fueled vehicles dominate in all of these cities. This commonality suggests that it will be efficient and, ultimately, cost effective to proceed with vehicular emission controls in most emerging mega-cities, while proceeding with development of more locally appropriate air quality control strategies through emissions inventory development and ambient air monitoring. Over the three decades covered by the US data sets, the hydrocarbon emissions decreased by a significant factor (something like an order of magnitude), which is greater than suggested by emission inventories, particularly the EDGAR international inventory. The ambient hydrocarbon and CO concentrations reported for the three non-US mega-cities are higher than present US ambient concentrations, but lower than those observed in the 1980s in the US. The one exception to the preceding statement is the high concentrations of CO observed in Beijing, which apparently have a large regional contribution.

We examined the effects of L-ornithine administration on physical fatigue. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2-way crossover study, 17 healthy volunteers were randomized to L-ornithine (2000 mg/d for 7 days and 6000 mg/d for 1 day as L-ornithine hydrochloride) or placebo for 8 days. The fatigue-inducing physical task consisted of workload trials on a cycle ergometer at fixed workloads for 2 hours on 2 occasions. We found that oral L-ornithine administration promoted lipid metabolism and activated the urea cycle from serum triacylglycerol, ketone bodies, free fatty acids, and blood ammonia level changing. L-ornithine significantly attenuated the subjective feeling of fatigue (measured by visual analog scale at postrecovery) compared with postload (P < .01). Moreover, in female subjects, the subjective feeling of fatigue was significantly lower compared with the placebo group (P < .05). In the physical performance test in female subjects, the decrease in mean speed for 10 seconds maximum pedaling from 0.5- to 3.5-hour trials in the group receiving L-ornithine was smaller than that in the group receiving placebo (P < .05). These results suggest that L-ornithine has an antifatigue effect by increasing the efficiency of energy consumption and promoting the excretion of ammonia. L-ornithine is a free amino acid and is not rich in meats or fish, so it is difficult to obtain amounts of L-ornithine from ordinary meals that would be sufficient to promote the antifatigue effect. We recommend L-ornithine intake as a nutritional supplement in cases of physical fatigue.

Objective This study examined the effects of coenzyme Q10 administration on physical fatigue. Methods In a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, three crossover design, 17 healthy volunteers were randomized to oral coenzyme Q10 (100 or 300 mg/d) or placebo administration for 8 d. As a fatigue-inducing physical task, subjects performed workload trials on a bicycle ergometer at fixed workloads twice for 2 h and then rested for 4 h. During the physical tasks, subjects performed non-workload trials with maximum velocity for 10 s at 30 min (30-min trial) after the start of physical tasks and 30 min before the end of the tasks (210-min trial). Results The change in maximum velocity from the 30- to the 210-min trial in the 300-mg coenzyme Q10–administered group was higher than that in the placebo group. In addition, subjective fatigue sensation measured on a visual analog scale in the 300-mg coenzyme Q10–administered group after the fatigue-inducing physical task and recovery period was alleviated when compared with that in the placebo group. Conclusion Oral administration of coenzyme Q10 improved subjective fatigue sensation and physical performance during fatigue-inducing workload trials and might prevent unfavorable conditions as a result of physical fatigue.

Objective We examined the effects of administering two different candidate antifatigue substances, caffeine and D-ribose, on mental fatigue. Methods In a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, three-way crossover design, 17 healthy volunteers were randomized to oral caffeine (200 mg/d), D-ribose (2000 mg/d), or placebo for 8 d. As fatigue-inducing mental tasks, subjects performed a 30-min Uchida-Kraepelin psychodiagnostic test and a 30-min advanced trail-making test on four occasions. Results During the tasks, the task performance of the caffeine group was better than that of the placebo group. However, after the fatigue-inducing tasks, although subjective perception of fatigue, motivation, or sleepiness was not significantly different, plasma branched-chain amino acid levels in the caffeine group were lower than those of the placebo group. Administration of D-ribose had no effect. Conclusion Because plasma branched-chain amino acid levels are decreased by mental fatigue, these results suggest that administration of caffeine improved task performance through the enhancement of central nervous system activity without increasing the sensation of fatigue. However, further decreases in branched-chain amino acid levels indicate that caffeine might promote deeper fatigue than placebo. Unfortunately, research subsequent to our study design has shown that D-ribose dosing higher than we used is needed to see a clinical effect and therefore no conclusions can be made from this study as to the efficacy of D-ribose.

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is the principal driver of anthropogenic climate change. Asia is an important region for the global carbon budget, with 4 of the world's 10 largest national emitters of CO2. Using an ensemble of seven atmospheric inverse systems, we estimated land biosphere fluxes (natural, land-use change and fires) based on atmospheric observations of CO2 concentration. The Asian land biosphere was a net sink of −0.46 (−0.70–0.24) PgC per year (median and range) for 1996–2012 and was mostly located in East Asia, while in South and Southeast Asia the land biosphere was close to carbon neutral. In East Asia, the annual CO2 sink increased between 1996–2001 and 2008–2012 by 0.56 (0.30–0.81) PgC, accounting for ∼35% of the increase in the global land biosphere sink. Uncertainty in the fossil fuel emissions contributes significantly (32%) to the uncertainty in land biosphere sink change., Land biosphere uptake of carbon is important in mitigating the anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO2 and its climate forcing. Here, the authors show that land biosphere uptake of carbon in Asia has increased substantially since the mid 1990s, likely owing to reforestation and regional climate change.

We examined the effects of citric acid and l-carnitine administration on physical fatigue. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-way crossover study, 18 healthy volunteers were randomized to oral citric acid (2,700 mg/day), l-carnitine (1,000 mg/day), or placebo for 8 days. The fatigue-inducing physical task consisted of workload trials on a cycle ergometer at fixed workloads for 2 h on 2 occasions. Before the physical load, salivary chromogranin A, measured as a physiological stress marker, was lower in the group given citric acid than in the group given placebo. Also, after the physical load, the subjective feeling of fatigue assessed with a visual analogue scale was lower in the citric acid group than in the placebo group. In contrast, l-carnitine had no effect on chromogranin A or subjective fatigue. These results suggest that citric acid reduces physiological stress and attenuates physical fatigue, whereas l-carnitine does not.

Alkaline treatment is a good method for extracting collagen with high recovery even from an aged animal specimen. However, the properties of collagen treated under alkaline conditions have not been well established yet. By the treatment with a solution of 3% sodium hydroxide and 1.9% monomethylamine, the isoelectric point of type I collagen was lowered from 9.3 to 4.8 because of the conversions of Asn and Gln to Asp and Glu. With the acidification of the pI, the denaturation temperature of the collagen was decreased from 42 to 35 degrees C after 20 d treatment, but the collagen-specific triple helical conformation was maintained. Human keratinocytes and fibroblasts adhered to the alkali-treated collagen via the collagen receptor integrin alpha2beta1. This indicates that the alkali-treated collagen maintained its property as a biological adherent molecule. Unlike acid-soluble collagen, alkali-treated collagen lost the ability to form fibrils at neutral pH under physiological conditions. This ability was lost even after 4 h of alkaline treatment, when the denaturation temperature of the collagen did not change. On the other hand, the alkali-treated collagen formed a fibrous precipitate with a uniform diameter of 50-70 nm under acidic conditions at 30 degrees C.

Northern Eurasia is one of the largest terrestrial carbon reservoirs on the Earth's surface. However, since the coverage of surface CO2 observations is still limited, the response to the climate variability remains uncertain. We estimated monthly CO2 fluxes for three sub-regions in Northern Eurasia (north of ~60?N), Northeastern Europe, Western Siberia and Eastern Siberia, using CO2 retrievals from the Japanese Greenhouse Gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). The variations of estimated CO2 fluxes were examined in terms of the regional climate variability, for the three consecutive growing seasons of 2009?2011. The CO2 fluxes estimated using GOSAT data are highly correlated with the surface temperature anomalies in July and August (r?>?0.8) while no correlation is found in the CO2 fluxes estimated only using surface observations. The estimated fluxes from GOSAT data exhibit high negative correlations with one-month lagged positive precipitation anomalies in late summer (r?>??0.7) through surface temperature and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The results indicate that GOSAT data reflects the changes in terrestrial biospheric processes responding to climate anomalies. In 2010, a large part of Eurasia experienced an extremely hot and dry summer, while cold and wet weather conditions were recorded in Western Siberia. The CO2 fluxes estimated from GOSAT data showed a reduction of net CO2 uptake in Northeastern Europe and Eastern Siberia, but the enhancement of net CO2 uptake in Western Siberia. These opposite sub-regional flux anomalies can be explained by the different climate anomalies on a sub-regional scale in Northern Eurasia. Thus, this study demonstrates that space-based observations by GOSAT compensate for the lack of ground-based observational coverage so as to better capture the inter-annually varying atmosphere-terrestrial biosphere CO2 exchange on a regional scale.

[1] A series of high-frequency observations of chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22) at Hateruma Island (latitude 24.1°N, longitude 123.8°E) was used to evaluate the strength of various sources in East Asia by a tracer transport inversion. The forward calculation was conducted with a regional meteorological model using an online tracer transport scheme, and the inversion calculation used a Bayesian approach. On the basis of winter observations during 2005-2007, we estimated the annual HCFC-22 emission from China to be 32 Gg, which is nine times current estimates. The total uncertainty of the Chinese emission was reduced from 50% (a priori) to 15% (a posteriori) by the inversion calculation. A sensitivity study showed that the a posteriori values for China showed little dependency on the a priori values, whereas those for Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were considerably affected by the a priori values used. This can be explained by the more frequent high-concentration events from China observed at the Hateruma site. The a posteriori emission estimates from central China accounted for half of the total emissions from China.

This study compared the effects of placebo with a carotenoid compound, crocetin, as well as an antioxidant, ascorbic acid, on physical fatigue in humans. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-way crossover study, 14 Japanese healthy volunteers (7 men and 7 women) were randomized to oral administration of crocetin (15 mg), ascorbic acid (3,000 mg), or placebo for 8 days. Subjects performed workload tests on a bicycle ergometer at fixed workloads for 120 minutes at 2 times (a total of 240 minutes) as a fatigue-inducing physical task. During the physical task, subjects performed nonworkload tests at maximum velocity (MV) of 10 seconds at 30 minutes (30-minute test) after the start of the physical task and at 30 minutes before the end of the task (210-minute test). The change in MV from the 30- to the 210-minute test was significantly higher in men who received crocetin compared with men who received placebo (P < .05). This effect of crocetin was specific to males. Administration of ascorbic acid did not change in MV from the 30-minute to the 210-minute test on males or females. These results suggest that daily administration of crocetin may attenuate physical fatigue in men.

[1] Eighteen C2–C7 NMHCs (nonmethane hydrocarbons) were measured hourly during the Integrated Measurement Program for Aerosol and Oxidant Chemistry in Tokyo (IMPACT) measurement campaigns conducted in central Tokyo during four different periods (summer/autumn of 2003 and winter/summer of 2004). The ambient atmospheric concentrations of NMHCs showed an inverse correlation with wind speed and mixing height and were significantly affected by mesoscale weather conditions. The mixing ratio of isoprene tightly correlated with solar flux and temperature in summer, as it was dominantly emitted by the local vegetation. All the observed NMHCs except isoprene showed high correlation with each other in winter (r2 > 0.5), suggesting concurrent accumulation under stagnant condition and common sources. Emission ratios were calculated on the basis of the correlation with carbon monoxide and ethyne. Compared to the typical winter NMHC composition, during summer there was a significant increase (up to 7 times higher than wintertime) of C4–C5 alkanes from fuel evaporation; of C2–C3 alkenes, n-hexane and benzene from chemical industry; and of toluene from local manufacturers, reflecting the temperature dependence of these evaporative emissions. In addition to the online measurements in Tokyo, canister sampling at a suburban site (Kisai) followed by multidimensional GC analyses was conducted during the summer campaign in 2004. The atmospheric concentrations of longer-lived compounds (≥ several days) at Kisai showed the buildup under sea breeze circulation. The average ambient concentration of toluene was 2 times higher than that in central Tokyo, likely because of substantial emissions from local industries as reported in the prefectural statistics.

Objective To confirm fatigue-related biochemical alterations, we measured various parameters just before and after relaxation and fatigue-inducing mental or physical sessions. Methods Fifty-four healthy volunteers were randomized to perform relaxation and fatigue-inducing mental and physical sessions for 4 h in a double-blind, three-crossover design. Before and after each session, subjects were asked to rate their subjective sensations of fatigue, and blood, saliva, and urine samples were taken. Results After the fatigue-inducing mental and physical sessions, subjective scores of fatigue were increased. After the fatigue-inducing mental session, the vanillylmandelic acid level in urine was higher and plasma valine level was lower than after the relaxation session. In contrast, after the fatigue-inducing physical session, serum citric acid, triacylglycerol, free fatty acid, ketone bodies, total carnitine, acylcarnitine, uric acid, creatine kinase, aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, plasma branched-chain amino acids, transforming growth factor-β1 and -β2, white blood cell and neutrophil counts, saliva cortisol and amylase, and urine vanillylmandelic acid levels were higher and serum free carnitine and plasma total amino acids and alanine levels were lower than those after the relaxation session. Conclusion Some mental or physical fatigue-related biochemical changes were determined. Various biochemical alterations reflecting homeostatic perturbation and its responses might be shown. We believe that our results contribute to clarifying the mechanism of fatigue, developing evaluation methods, and establishing a basis for treatment.

[1] The Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment phase C (BIBLE-C) aircraft mission was carried out near Darwin, Australia (12°S, 131°E) in December 2000. This was the first aircraft experiment designed to estimate lightning NO production rates in the tropics, where production is considered to be most intense. During the two flights (flights 10 and 13 made on December 9 and 11–12, respectively) enhancements of NOx (NO + NO2) up to 1000 and 1600 parts per trillion by volume (pptv, 10-s data) were observed at altitudes between 11.5 and 14 km. The Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) cloud (brightness temperature) data and ground-based lightning measurements by the Global Positioning and Tracking System (GPATS) indicate that there were intensive lightning events over the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which took place upstream from our measurement area 10 to 14 h prior to the measurements. For these two flights, air in which NOx exceeded 100 pptv extended over 620 × 140 and 400 × 170 km2 (wind direction × perpendicular direction), respectively, suggesting a significant impact of lightning NO production on NOx levels in the tropics. We estimate the amount of NOx observed between 11.5 and 14 km produced by the thunderstorms to be 3.3 and 1.8 × 1029 NO molecules for flights 10 and 13, respectively. By using the GPATS lightning flash count data, column NO production rates are estimated to be 1.9–4.4 and 21–49 × 1025 NO molecules per single flash for these two flight data sets. In these estimations, it is assumed that the column NO production between 0 and 16 km is greater than the observed values between 11.5 and 14 km by a factor of 3.2, which is derived using results reported by Pickering et al. (1998). There are however large uncertainties in the GPATS lightning data in this study and care must be made when the production rates are referred. Uncertainties in these estimates are discussed. The impact on the ozone production rate is also described.

Objective We examined the effects of Applephenon ® and ascorbic acid administration on physical fatigue. Methods In a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, three-way crossover design, 18 healthy volunteers were randomized to oral Applephenon ® (1200 mg/d), ascorbic acid (1000 mg/d), or placebo for 8 d. The fatigue-inducing physical task consisted of workload trials on a bicycle ergometer at fixed workloads for 2 h on two occasions. During the test, subjects performed non-workload trials with maximum velocity for 10 s at 30 min (30-min trial) after the start of the test and 30 min before the end of the test (210-min trial). Results The change in maximum velocity between the 30- and 210-min trials was higher in the group given Applephenon ® than in the group given placebo; ascorbic acid had no effect. Conclusion These results suggest that Applephenon ® attenuates physical fatigue, whereas ascorbic acid does not.

[i] Here we present measurements of a range of carbon-based compounds: carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH 4 ), nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), methyl halides, and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) emitted by Australian savanna fires studied as part of the Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment (BIBLE) phase B aircraft campaign, which took place during the local late dry season (28 August to 13 September 1999). Significant enhancements of short-lived NMHCs were observed in the boundary layer (BL) over the region of intensive fires and indicate recent emissions for which the mean transport time was estimated to be about 9 hours. Emission ratios relative to CO were determined for 20 NMHCs, 3 methyl halides, DMS, and CH 4 based on the BL enhancements in the source region. Tight correlations with CO were obtained for most of those compounds, indicating the homogeneity of the local savanna source. The emission ratios were in good agreement with some previous measurements of savanna fires for stable compounds but indicated the decay of emission ratios during transport for several reactive compounds. Based on the observed emission ratios, emission factors were derived and compared to previous studies. While emission factors (g species/kg dry mole) of CO 2 varied little according to the vegetation types, those of CO and NMHCs varied significantly. Higher combustion efficiency and a lower emission factor for methane in this study, compared to forest fires, agreed well with results for savanna fires in other tropical regions. The amount of biomass burned was estimated by modeling methods using available satellite data, and showed that 1999 was an above average year for savanna burning. The gross emissions of the trace gases from Australian savanna fires were estimated.

[1] Hydrocarbon and halocarbon measurements collected during the second airborne Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment (BIBLE-B) were subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA), to test the capability for identifying intercorrelated compounds within a large whole air data set. The BIBLE expeditions have sought to quantify and understand the products of burning, electrical discharge, and general atmospheric chemical processes during flights arrayed along the western edge of the Pacific. Principal component analysis was found to offer a compact method for identifying the major modes of composition encountered in the regional whole air data set. Transecting the continental monsoon, urban and industrial tracers (e.g., combustion byproducts, chlorinated methanes and ethanes, xylenes, and longer chain alkanes) dominated the observed variability. Pentane enhancements reflected vehicular emissions. In general, ethyl and propyl nitrate groupings indicated oxidation under nitrogen oxide (NOx) rich conditions and hence city or lightning influences. Over the tropical ocean, methyl nitrate grouped with brominated compounds and sometimes with dimethyl sulfide and methyl iodide. Biomass burning signatures were observed during flights over the Australian continent. Strong indications of wetland anaerobics (methane) or liquefied petroleum gas leakage (propane) were conspicuous by their absence. When all flights were considered together, sources attributable to human activity emerged as the most important. We suggest that factor reductions in general and PCA in particular may soon play a vital role in the analysis of regional whole air data sets, as a complement to more familiar methods.

[1] The Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment Phase B (BIBLE-B) aircraft measurement campaign was conducted over the western Pacific and Australia in August and September 1999. In situ aircraft measurements of carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), total reactive nitrogen (NOy), ozone (O3), nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), and other species were made during BIBLE-B. Meteorological analysis shows that the trace gases emitted from biomass burning in northern Australia were mostly confined within the planetary boundary layer (below ∼3 km) by strong subsidence in the free troposphere. Removal processes of NOx (equal to measured NO + calculated NO2) and NOy in biomass burning plumes in the boundary layer are examined on the basis of correlation analysis. The photochemical lifetime of NOx in biomass burning plumes during the daytime is estimated to be 0.1 to 0.3 days using the correlations of NOx with short-lived NMHCs and hydroxyl radical (OH) concentration calculated from a constrained photochemical model. Correlation of NOy with CO shows that ∼60% of the NOy molecules originating from biomass burning were removed in the boundary layer within 2–3 days. This result is consistent with dry deposition of nitric acid (HNO3) in the plumes. It is likely that only a small fraction of NOy emitted from biomass burning was exported from the boundary layer to the free troposphere during the BIBLE-B period.

[1] We present an overview of the spatial distributions of nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and halocarbons observed over the western north Pacific as part of the NASA GTE Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) airborne field campaign (February–April 2001). The TRACE-P data are compared with earlier measurements from the Pacific Rim during the Pacific Exploratory Mission-West B (PEM-West B), which took place in February–March 1994, and with emission inventory data for 2000. Despite the limited spatial and temporal data coverage inherent to airborne sampling, mean levels of the longer-lived NMHCs (including ethane, ethyne, and benzene) were remarkably similar to our results during the PEM-West B campaign. By comparison, mixing ratios of the fire extinguisher Halon-1211 (CF2ClBr) increased by about 50% in the period between 1994 and 2001. Southern China (south of 35°N), and particularly the Shanghai region, appears to have been a substantial source of Halon-1211 during TRACE-P. Our previous analysis of the PEM-West B data employed methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3) as a useful industrial tracer. However, regulations have reduced its emissions to the extent that its mixing ratio during TRACE-P was only one-third of that measured in 1994. Methyl chloroform mixing ratio “hot spots,” indicating regions downwind of continuing emissions, included outflow from the vicinity of Shanghai, China, but particularly high emission ratios relative to CO were observed close to Japan and Korea. Tetrachloroethene (C2Cl4) levels have also decreased significantly, especially north of 25°N, but this gas still remains a useful indicator of northern industrial emissions. Methyl bromide (CH3Br) levels were systematically 1–2 pptv lower from 1994 to 2001, in accord with recent reports. However, air masses that had been advected over Japan and/or South Korean port cities typically exhibited elevated levels of CH3Br. As a consequence, emissions of CH3Br from Japan and Korea calculated employing CH3Br/CO ratios and scaled to CO emission inventory estimates, were almost as large as for all of south China (south of 35°N). Total east Asian emissions of CH3Br and CH3Cl were estimated to be roughly 4.7 Gg/yr and 167 Gg/yr, respectively, in 2001.

[1] The Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment (BIBLE) A and B campaigns over the tropical western Pacific during springtime deployed a Gulfstream-II aircraft with systems to measure ozone and numerous precursor species. Aerosol measuring systems included a MASP optical particle counter, a condensation nucleus (CN) counter, and an absorption spectrometer for black carbon. Aerosol volume was very low in the middle and upper troposphere during both campaigns, and during BIBLE A, there was little aerosol enhancement in the boundary layer away from urban areas. In BIBLE B, there was marked aerosol enhancement in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere. Mixing ratios of CN in cloud-free conditions in the upper troposphere were in general higher than in the boundary layer, indicating new particle formation from gaseous precursors. High concentrations of black carbon were observed during BIBLE B, with mass loadings up to 40 μg m−3 representing as much as one quarter of total aerosol mass. Strong correlations with hydrocarbon enhancement allow the determination of a black carbon emission ratio for the fires at that time. Expressed as elemental carbon, it is about 0.5% of carbon dioxide and 6% of carbon monoxide emissions from the same fires, comparable to methane production, and greater than that of other hydrocarbons.

A submillimeter wave limb emission sounder, that is to be aboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM, dubbed as 'KIBO') at the International Space Station, has been designed. This payload, Superconducting Submillimeter-wave Limb Emission Sounder (SMILES), is aimed at global mappings of stratospheric trace gasses by means of the most sensitive submillimeter receiver ever operated in space. Such sensitivity is ascribed to a Superconductor-Insulator- Superconductor (SIS) mixer, which is operated at 4.5 K in a dedicated cryostat combined with a mechanical cooler. SMILES will observe ozone-depletion-related molecules such as ClO, HCl, HO2, HNO3, BrO and O3 in the frequency bands at 624.32 - 626.32 GHz, and 649.12 - 650.32 GHz. A scanning antenna will cover tangent altitudes from 10 to 60 km in every 53 seconds, while tracing latitudes from 38S to 65N along its orbit. This global coverage makes SMILES a useful tool of observing the low- and mid-latitudinal areas as well as the Arctic peripheral region. The molecular emissions will be detected by two units of acousto-optic spectrometers (AOS), each of which has coverage of 1.2 GHz with a resolution of 1.8 MHz. This high-resolution spectroscopy will allow us to detect weal emission lines attributing to less-abundant species.

In order to estimate measurement capability of the Superconducting Submillimter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) on the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) of the International Space Station (ISS) and to clarify the scientific impacts of the JEM/SMILES, we are developing the JEM/SMILES simulator. The simulator consists of the forward model and the inversion model. The forward model calculates a brightness temperature by applying the radiative transfer formula to a limb sounding geometry and simulates the effects of the JEM/SMILES sensor characteristics including optics superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers, Acousto-Optical Spectrometer (AOS), and so on, to it. Because it is important to estimate the effects of the sensor for the retrieval, we develop carefully simulated sensor model. The forward model also calculates weighting functions of molecular, the temperature, the pressure and so on. This paper describes how the brightness temperature and weighting functions are calculated in the forward model and how the effects of the sensor are taken into account in the simulator, and finally shows how the optical estimation method (OEM) is applied to our retrieval model.

A submillimeter limb-emission sounder, that is to be aboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM, dubbed as KIBO) at the International Space Station, has been designed. This payload, Superconducting Submillimeter-wave Limb-emission Sounder (SMILES), is aimed at global mappings of stratospheric trace gases by means of the most sensitive submillimeter receiver ever operated in space. Such sensitivity is ascribed to a Superconductor-Insulator- Superconductor (SIS) mixer, which is operated at 4.5 K in a dedicated cryostat combined with a mechanical cooler. SMILES will observe ozone-depletion-related molecules such as ClO, Hcl, HO2, HNO3, BrO and O3 in the frequency bands at 624.32-626.32 GHz and 649.12-650.32 GHz. A scanning antenna will cover tangent altitudes from 10 to 60 km in every 53 seconds, while tracing the latitudes form 38 S to 65 N along its orbit. This global coverage makes SMILES a useful tool of observing the low- and mid- latitudinal areas as well as the Arctic peripheral region. The molecular emissions will be detected by two units of acousto-optic spectrometers (AOS), each of which has coverage of 1.2 GHz with a resolution of 1.8 MHz. This high-resolution spectroscopy will allow us to detect weak emission lines attributing to less-abundant species.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Superconducting sub-millimeter-wave limb-emission sounder (SMILES) using 4K Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) detector for ISS/JEM is under development. Spectrum of 600 GHz regions will be acquired using acousto-optics spectrometer (AOS). The high sensitivity of SMILES will enable us to measure O3, ClO without enhancement, BrO, Hcl, HO2, HNO3 from 10 to 60 km. This paper describes a current plan of data retrieval algorithms (L0, L1, L2 and L3), ground data system, data validation and data distribution.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

JEM/SMILES (superconducting SubMIllimeter-wave Limb-Emission Sounder) is currently under development to demonstrate a submillimeter-wave sounder with extremely high sensitivity on the platform of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). In the submillimeter region, this is the first mission in space using a low-noise 4K cooled receiver, which is expected to give new observations for radicals in the stratosphere such as BrO. One of the most unique characteristics of the JEM/SMILES observation is its high sensitivity in detecting atmospheric limb emissions in the submillimeter wave range. The purpose of SMILES is global monitoring of the radicals which play important roles in the stratospheric system. We are now using the newly developed JEM/SMILES simulator to model observed spectra (including the characteristics of the SMILES sensor) and simulate the retrieval performance. Some preliminary results of the simulation are obtained in view of the scientific targets of JEM/SMILES.

The complete sequence of the cDNA for the proα2(I) chain of bovine type I procollagen is presented. The encoded amino acid sequence shows 92.0% identity to the human proα2(I) collagen chain.

Sharply increasing trends were observed for recent atmospheric concentrations of CFC alternatives by GC/MS analysis of samples collected in Hokkido, Japan and Syowa Station, Antarctica. These trends were consistent with those calculated based on the world production/release statistics for HFC-134a and HCFC-141b, but inconsistent for HCFC-142b, suggestive of some inaccurate release estimations.

In situ aircraft measurements of trace gases and aerosols were made in the boundary layer (BL) and free troposphere (FT) over Indonesia and Australia during the Biomass Burning and Lightning Experiment (BIBLE)-A and B conducted in August–October 1998 and 1999.Concentrations of ozone (O3) and its precursors [CO, reactive nitrogen (NOx), non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs)] were measured in these campaigns to identify the sources of NOx and to estimate the effects of biomass burning and lightning on photochemical production of O3. Over Indonesia, in-situ production of NOx by lightning was found to be a major source of reactive nitrogen in the upper troposphere during BIBLE-A. In some circumstances, increases in reactive nitrogen were often associated with enhancements in CO and NMHCs, suggesting that the sources were biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion, followed by upward transport by cumulus convection. Over Australia the levels of O3, CO, reactive nitrogen, and NMHCs were elevated throughout the troposphere compared to those observed in the tropical Pacific. However, the mechanisms responsible for the enhanced concentrations in the BL and FT are distinctly different. The emissions from biomass burning that occurred in northern Australia were restricted to the BL because of strong subsidence in the period. In the FT over Australia, elevated concentrations of O3 and its precursors result from injections of emissions as the air masses travel over Africa, South America, the Indian Ocean, and Indonesia en route to Australia. In all cases, O3 levels in the biomass burning plumes were enhanced due to photochemical production.

It is expected that the use of GNSS technology in urban areas will be increased. Since there are many buildings in urban areas, the direct signal from satellite occasionally can be reflected or diffracted. As a result, we are faced with big errors due to multipath. It is strongly required to improve reliability considering the use of GNSS for future ITS. In order to do that, the ability to detect the inferior observations of GNSS is required. The objective of this paper is to improve reliability and availability in RTK-GPS. Firstly, this study reveals the relationships between reliability and availability according to the quality check of GPS observation data. For example, reliability decreases when the measurement calculation is done with four numbers of satellites compared with five numbers or more of satellites. Then the detection algorithm to remove the inferior observations of GPS is proposed. The performance was checked by using raw GPS data obtained in major cities and it is confirmed that the performance was improved by using our proposed method.