In this study, we calculated the lifelong incomes as seen from employment forms of wives. The lifelong income consists of salary, retirement allowance and old-age pension. In distinction of academic background, employment forms of wives were classified into four patterns, which were housewife, part-timer, re-employed full-timer and full-timer.
The results were as follows :
1) In the case of a husband whose wife was a full-timer, his lifelong income decreased from 4 to 5 % with the spouse allowance and other benefits lost.
2) In terms of the economic effect of wive's employment forms, re-employed full-timers showed the highest effect to lifelong incomes. It was also found that the economic effect of the same employment forms of wives depended on the wage differences brought about by the levels of academic background.
3) In studying the lifelong incomes of respective households, we found that wives who worked full-time contributed no more than 55 % increase to the total household incomes even in households where both husbands and wives were college graduates. This is due to the difference of wage, i.e., less wage paid to the feminine gender.

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Enokitake contains a large amount of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an antihypertensive substance, and was fed in a powder or extract form to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) in a 5% diet for 3 weeks (experiment I) or for 2 weeks (experiment II). Blood pressure was determined, and the plasma and liver lipid concentrations were analyzed. No antihypertensive effect on blood pressure was apparent, and the plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels in SHRs were not decreased. However, the liver cholesterol and triglyceride levels were markedly decreased.
These results indicate that Enokitake had neither an antihypertensive effect nor suppressive effect on hyperlipemia, but did have a suppressive effect on the liver cholesterol and triglyceride levels in SHRs.

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An aqueous extract of green laver (Enteromorpha sp.) added to skim milk stimulated the acid produced by Lactobacillus casei YIT-9018 to as high a level as that of chlorella.
The active component in the extract for stimulating this acid production was studied. The factor stimulating acid production was fractionated by gel filtration with G-50 and G-15, and by chromatography with Dowex 50 and Dowex 1. The fraction containing stimulating activity was separated from the sugar, amino acid and peptide fractions, as well as most of the nucleic acid derivatives.
Since most of the stimulating activity still remained after ashing, and the level of activity was proportional to the amount of Mn in the ashed fraction, it was concluded that Mn was the component responsible for the stimulating effect on acid production of green laver. An organic substance, not Mn, seemed to be involved in the stimulating activity with L. casei subsp. casei S-1.
The effect of the extract from sea lettuce (Ulva sp.) was to stimulate acid production even more than that by green laver, the Mn content of sea lettuce also being greater than that of green laver.
Aqueous extracts from the two algae considerably stimulated the acid produced by L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus B-5b, L. acidophilus L-54, L. casei subsp. casei L-14, L. paracasei subsp. paracasei IFO-3533, and L. paracasei subsp. paracasei S-2, but significantly inhibited it with L. helveticus B-1 and L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus IFO-13953.
However, neither extract had much effect on the acid production by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis 527, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris H-61, or Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus 510.

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The effects were studied of pH and salts on the properties of mixed gels consisting of whey protein (WPI, 6%) and gelatin (3%).
The apparent rupture stress of the WPI and alkali-treated gelatin gel increased with increasing pH value, while the rupture stress of the WPI and acid-treated gelatin gel showed peaks at pH 3.5 and 4.5. When 0.1_N calcium chloride, and 0.1 _N magnesium chloride was added to the WPI (0.6%) and alkali-treated (0.3%) gelatin mixed sol, the transparency decreased with increasing temperature and an aggregate was formed. The effect of sodium citrate on the WPI and alkali-treated gelatin sol was to form a macromolecular aggregate formed at more than 80°C, this aggregate formation being accelerated under the conditions of 90°C for 10 min. The strength of apparent rupture stress of the mixed gels depended upon which salt was added. The highest rupture stress was observed with addedcalcium chloride, which was followed in decreasing order by chloride and sodium citrate. This order was directly correlated with the percentage of bound water.

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A study was made on the effect of adding milk on the rheological properties of rice flour sols.
The nonglutinous rice flour sol attained maximum viscosity with high thixotropy at 90°C, while the glutinous rice flour sol showed similar properties at 80°C.
The presence of milk played a role in increasing the viscosity of either rice flour sol, while the viscosity of nonglutinous rice flour sol was reduced by the addition of casein, whey protein, or butter.
In the presence of calcium chloride, however, the addition of casein was effective for creating ahighly viscous state in the nonglutinous rice flour sol, as casein seemed to coagulate with calcium ion in the aqueous phase. The glutinous rice flour sol was only slightly affected.
The granules of both rice flour samples were resistant to swelling and gelatinization after the addition of milk and milk components, and the degree of hydrolysis by enzymes was also reduced.
When either mixed sol was heated, the whey protein in the sol took on a high molecular weight.

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The absorptive coefficiency (uptake) of water and several kinds of alcohol was examined after piling towels in a stack using the Larose Method measured with a laser scanning micrometer. This uptake profile was approximately expressed by the same differential equation as the diffusion equation. Using this method, uptake coefficients of β and α were obtained along the vertical and parallel directions to the plane of cloth respectively. The magnitude of these coefficients is a measure of liquid absorbency.
As the number of towels in the stack increased, so did the value of β ; however, that of α remained almost constant. Equilibrium uptake was unrelated to the kind of liquid used, and the value decreased. When compared with the same number of towels in the stack, the value of β increased with the lowering of the viscosity of the liquid, but the relationship with a could not be clearly observed. These results were discussed using Poiseuille's law.

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A comparison between the shapes of the sleeve cap lines of several basic patterns and developed curves of model sleeves is attempted. The model sleeves are made to match arbitrarily chosen shapes of arm holes of basic patterns.
The results are :
1) The sleeve cap lines of basic patterns are based on plane development of diagonally cut cylinders.
2) By this simulation, it is found that 4 out of 20 sleeve patterns have the 3-dimensional shapes of the sleeves which correspond to the model sleeve cap lines.
Therefore, by using this simulation and given the shape of the arm hole and the angle between the limb and the side of a sleeve pattern arbitrarily, the sleeve cap lines which have similar configurations as these 4 patterns can be obtained.

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Wearing tests for the ease of buttoning and unbuttoning blouse cuffs were carried out on elderly women, as well as women in their 20s, for the purpose of designing clothes which elderly women can put on and take off easily.
The main results are as follows :
1) Comparing the time it took to button and unbutton the front and cuff buttons of the blouses, the elderly group took longer. The time difference was significant for buttoning up.
2) Analyzing the variance in the time it took to button up cuff buttons, differences among women in their 20s depended on the length of the sleeves. Differences in the elderly group did not generally depend on the length of the sleeves, but there were marked individual differences. Analyzing the variance in the time it took various age groups, to button up cuffs, butttoning up varied greatly only in the 70s' group.
3) Two different buttoning methods in the elderly women's groups were observed, which were not followed by the women in their 20s. Both of these methods involved pressing the cuffs firmly against the arm or body before doing up the button.

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An investigation was conducted by means of questionnaires changes in wearing habits overtime for female sufferers of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. The questionnaires were conducted in July, 1995 (204 sufferers) and in January, 1996 (104 sufferers) for the purposes of obtaining reference materials for risk management of clothing and documentation of the situations of sufferers. The results are as follows :
The greater the people suffered, the less clothing they wore, including wearing only a nightgown or wearing an additional coat or sweater, and wearing slippers going barefoot at the time of their escape. On the night of the disaster, 28% of the victims used nightwear compared to the previous night. This figure rose to 53.9% 1 month later. Recovery from what was slowest for aged men. As for bedding, the greatest sufferers had to make do with only a blanket for a long time. Six months after the earthquake, 75% of the sufferers began to take interest in their dress.
After a result of the research, the necessity of education in the areas of risk management of clothing and survival skills became apparent. Now the task remains for the establishment of improved rescue and information relay systems.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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