Consumer magazines are important means for consumers to obtain correct information promptly. We analyzed various articles carried in the magazine "Consumer Reports" published in the 1960's with a view to clarifying the characteristics of the consumer information of the said period. The findings are as follows: 1) The number of articles peaked in 1961 and 1962, presumably reflecting "Strengthening of Programs for Protection of Consumer Interests," the message by President Kennedy in 1962. 2) Variation in the number of articles each year may be attributed to an increase or a decrease of articles related to the social and current affairs. 3) The magazine carried many articles featuring laws and regulations involving the protection of consumers' interests as they were promulgated. 4) The main messages from the magazine was "function" and "safety" as regards the goods and services, and "presentation" in the field to the social and current affairs. 5) Consumer Reports also carried a substantial number of letters from consumers. In other words, the magazine served to be the useful means of communication for consumers.

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Image analysis is applied to characterize fashion designs depicted by high school students. The sensory values of fashion designs are evaluated by ten high school teachers for the homemaking course. A digitized gray level image for a fashion design is captured by a color scanner. A one-dimensional power spectrum, P( f ), is derived from a two-dimensional power spectrum obtained from the frequency analysis of a gray level image. The co-occurrence entropy and fractal dimension are also determined as image information parameters. Since there is a good linear relation between log P( f ) and log f for all of the fashion designs used in this study, the slope of a line(α) is estimated for each of them. The α-value is the coefficient of the 1/f α fluctuation. The fashion designs are mainly divided into three groups by the α-value. Their sensory evaluation values are discussed in relation to the 1/ f α fluctuation and image information.

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Clothing systems for 16 infants aged from 0.5 to 1 year-old were investigated through a survey of changes in clothing conditions according to season and a series of experiments using a baby thermal manikin. Based on the results, thermal resistance of an infant's clothing ensemble can be estimated by a derived equation employing its total weight. The thermal resistance of the ensemble depends upon the season. The results obtained were 0.53-0.81 clo in summer, 0.42-1.33 clo in autumn, and 1.03-1.90 clo in winter. In order to maintain thermal equilibrium in a resting clothed infant, favourable thermal resistance for the ensemble should be less than 0.3 clo in summer, less than 0.5 clo in autumn, and 0.8-1.8 clo in winter. Therefore, it may be said that the infants wore more or less appropriate clothing ensembles in winter, while the thermal resistance of their ensembles in summer and autumn was somewhat excessive.

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With the Emperor having authority and the Shogun having power, Japan had a unique political structure. This paper will examine how the Choson government reacted to this situation through the clothing of the Korean embassy in 1682. Close examination of both literary and visual documents reveal that on entering Kyoto the Envoy and the high-ranking civil officials wore ceremonial clothing (kongbok). Although officials lower than Envoy did not have an audience with the Emperor, they wore the ceremonial clothing as a expression of respect. In this way they displayed their courtesy to the Emperor who held political authority in Japan, thus expressing their good faith as envoys. The ceremonial clothes of both the Envoy and the Vice Envoy were specially made by the Bureau of wardrobe (Sanguiwon), another fact showing that the Koreans expressed their good will through clothing and that they took courtesy seriously.

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With a view to clarifying the conditions of house remodeling work from the ecological standpoint, we made a questionnaire survey covering the detached houses in a residential area in Nara which was developed more than 35 years ago. The results of the survey are as follows: 1) Of the remodeled houses, 35.5% had been expanded, 38.6%, had been reconstructed, 25.0% had been partially remodeled, and 15.2% had been completely rebuilt. Those remodeling work had taken place on an average of 20.1 years after their completion: in other words, their life span is quite short. 2) The nature of the above-mentioned remodeling is the repair of the exterior finish, the reform of water pipe arrangement, the alteration of the interior, or the change of the house layout. The remodeling of low impact such as the reduction of energy consumption was rare. 3) The dwellers wanted their house improved from the standpoint of convenience, i.e., to suit the change of their lifestyle. Consideration to the aged members of their family and to the improvement of the durability of their house were evident. However, not much was meant for the energy conservation and the use of natural energy. 4) The dwellers seem to be fully aware of the importance of ecological improvement in view of the need to deal with the aging society, and to make their house durable and earthquake-proof. Although they are aware of the need to choose adequate building material for the benefit of their health, they seem to pay little attention to the use of recycled materials. There seem to be little demands for planning to achieve energy conservation that would make use of natural power.

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In this paper, we treat the character of home economics as practical and synthetic science from the aspect of livelihood support for prosumer. The value premise of livelihood support plays an important role in home economics in combining theoretical study with practice, and it is expected to contribute to the integration of the two. While referring to some arguments over life in the fields of home economics and clinical medical care, we reconsidered some methods heretofore employed in the home economics from the viewpoints of practicality and synthesis. At the same time, for the capacity of living in general to expand, we maintain that living should be studied from the viewpoints of holism, subjectivity, time-use for living, life space, human relations, life history, reconstruction of future (security of living) and designing science (researches in what should be done about what).

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The antioxidative property and inhibitory effect of otogiri-sou (Hypericum erectum) leaf tea on postprandial blood glucose elevation were investigated. The otogiri-sou leaf contains a large quantity of such polyphenols as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and epicatechin. Tea extracts with boiled water containing 2, 5, and 10% of otogiri-sou leaves showed strong DPPH radical scavenging activity. The lowering effect of otogiri-sou leaf tea on α-glucosidase activity was enhanced by the hot tea extracts containing at least 2% otogiri-sou leaves. The postprandial blood glucose level in human subjects after ingesting boiled rice was measured subsequent to an oral administration of otogiri-sou leaf tea. The subjects were assigned to two groups, each with a mean postprandial blood glucose level of 139 mg/dl. Otogiri-sou leaf tea significantly suppressed the increase of blood glucose level in those subjects whose postprandial blood glucose level was higher than the mean. These results suggest that the intake of otogiri-sou leaf tea prevented an increased postprandial blood glucose level by inhibiting the digestive absorption of sugars. These results suggest that the intake of otogiri-sou leaf tea prevented an increased postprandial blood glucose level by inhibiting the digestive absorption of sugars.

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