Eight different data sets are examined in order to gain insight into the surface heat flux traits of the East Asian marginal seas. In the case of solar radiation of the East Sea (Japan Sea), Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments ver. 2 (CORE2) and the Objectively Analyzed Air-Sea Fluxes (OAFlux) are similar to the observed data at meteorological stations. A combination is sought by averaging these as well as the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)-1 data to acquire more accurate surface heat flux for the East Asian marginal seas. According to the Combination Data, the annual averages of net heat flux of the East Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea are −61.84, −22.42, and −97.54Wm−2 , respectively. The Kuroshio area to the south of Japan and the southern East Sea were found to have the largest upward annual mean net heat flux during winter, at −460- −300 and at −370- −300Wm−2 , respectively. The long-term fluctuation (1984-2004) of the net heat flux shows a trend of increasing transport of heat from the ocean into the atmosphere throughout the study area.

This study investigated the perception of the coupon benefit and behavioral response to the coupon. Consumer activism was tested as a moderator. All of the hypothesized relationships were supported. The multi-group differential test revealed that the perceptions of coupon benefit were significantly different between highly and less active consumers.

In recent years, PCB drills with smaller diameters less than 0.1 mm are used and thus there are growing needs for ultra-fine grained cemented carbides. However, ultra-fine WC powder usually causes extraordinary grain growth during sintering which weakens mechanical strength of ultra-fine grained cemented carbides. So we examined several kinds of WC powders to make new ultra-fine grained cemented carbides having superior performance. We found that direct carburized WC powder is very good as a WC raw material. The PCB drills made of the developed ultra-fine grained cemented carbides have higher hardness, toughness and stiffness than conventional ones.

The influence of porosity (P) on Young's modulus (E) and Poisson's ratio of sintered steels produced from four types of steel powders was investigated. The values of E and depend mainly on the value of P, and those were a little affected by alloying elements. The relationships between E, , and P were described as following equations: and , where subscript 0 means P = 0, and and are empirical constants. These approximate equations showed good agreement with empirical results.