The Young's moduli of various oxide glasses (silicate, borate, phosphate, and tellurite) were measured using an ultrasonic method. To predict the Young's moduli of the oxide glass systems, empirical compositional parameters Gi and Vi, based on the Makishima‐Mackenzie theory, were obtained, where Gi is the dissociation energy and Vi the packing density parameter of a single‐component oxide. The relationship between the calculated Young's modulus from the compositional parameters and the measured Young's modulus was investigated. Experimental results indicated that the Young's modulus of phosphate and tellurite glasses could not be predicted using these parameters. Thus, it was necessary to modify the Gi, by considering P2O5 and TeO2 as glass network formers. As for the phosphate glass, it exhibited a layered structure that consisted of P=O double bond and three chains of P‐O bond. In this paper, the modified Gi of P2O5 was calculated using the assumption that the P=O double bond is a nonbridging bond and does not contribute to Young's modulus. In the case of tellurite glass, the glass structure is mainly composed of TeO4 trigonal pyramids, and the addition of other oxides results in structural changes to the TeO3 trigonal pyramid. However, the mechanisms of such structural changes have not yet been clarified. Therefore, the modified Gi of TeO2 was calculated from the measured value using the density and Young's modulus of pure TeO2 glass. The results revealed that the calculated values using our proposed parameter were in good agreement with measured values all through the oxide glasses.

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BackgroundEnvironmental exposure to some persistent organic pollutants has been reported to be associated with a metabolic syndrome in the U.S. population.ObjectivesWe evaluated the associations of body burden levels of dioxins and related compounds with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among the general population in Japan.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study with 1,374 participants not occupationally exposed to these pollutants, living throughout Japan during 2002–2006. In fasting blood samples, we measured biochemical factors and determined lipid-adjusted concentrations of 10 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), 7 polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and 12 dioxin-like poly-chlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) all of which have toxic equivalency factors. We also performed a questionnaire survey.ResultsThe toxic equivalents (TEQs) of PCDDs, PCDFs, and DL-PCBs and total TEQs had significant adjusted associations with metabolic syndrome, whether or not we excluded diabetic subjects. By analyzing each component of metabolic syndrome separately, the DL-PCB TEQs and total TEQs were associated with all components, and the odds ratios (ORs) in the highest quartile of DL-PCB TEQs in four of the five components were higher than those for PCDDs or PCDFs. We also found congener-specific associations with metabolic syndrome; in particular, the highest quartiles of PCB-126 and PCB-105 had adjusted ORs of 9.1 and 7.3, respectively.ConclusionsThese results suggest that body burden levels of dioxins and related compounds, particularly those of DL-PCBs, are associated with metabolic syndrome. Of the components, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, and glucose intolerance were most closely associated with these pollutants.

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Enormous quantities of radionuclides were released into the ocean via both atmospheric deposition and direct release as a result of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident. This study discusses the southward dispersion of FNPP-derived radioactive cesium (Cs) in subsurface waters. The southernmost point where we found the FNPP-derived (134)Cs (1.5-6.8 Bq m(-3)) was 18 °N, 135 °E, in September 2012. The potential density at the subsurface peaks of (134)Cs (100-500 m) and the increased water column inventories of (137)Cs between 0 and 500 m after the winter of 2011-2012 suggested that the main water mass containing FNPP-derived radioactive Cs was the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (NPSTMW), formed as a result of winter convection. We estimated the amount of (134)Cs in core waters of the western part of the NPSTMW to be 0.99 PBq (decay-corrected on 11 March 2011). This accounts for 9.0% of the (134)Cs released from the FNPP, with our estimation revealing that a considerable amount of FNPP-derived radioactive Cs has been transported to the subtropical region by the formation and circulation of the mode water.

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Compositional dependence of spontaneous emission probabilities between initial 4F,, and terminal ' Z, (J = 9/2, 1112, 13/2,15/2) levels of Nd3+ were studied for about 90 samples of silicate, borate, and phosphate glasses using the Judd-Ofelt theory. The effect of the covalency of the Nd-0 bond on the magnitude of intensity parameters was estimated from the variation of spectral profiles of the ' Z9/, 4 4G, , 'G,,, and 4F,12, 4S,,2 transitions. Intensity parameters R4 and R, and the spontaneous emission probabilities were strongly affected by the ionic packing ratio of the glass host. The results were discussed in terms of the site selectivity of Nd3+ ions in glasses.