science

Phiten

Phiten is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Phiten rather than just read about it. In short: The Company Phiten, headquartered in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan, sells quasi-drugs, cosmetics, hair care products, sports-related products, health foods, and health goods. Overview AQUA TITAN/AQUA-TITANIUM products worn as necklaces (such as RAKUWA Neck) are well known and used by many famous athletes.

Key takeaways

Phiten belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Phiten to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Phiten from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Company Phiten, headquartered in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan, sells quasi-drugs, cosmetics, hair care products, sports-related products, health foods, and health goods.

Overview AQUA TITAN/AQUA-TITANIUM products worn as necklaces (such as RAKUWA Neck) are well known and used by many famous athletes. Some of the athletes who have made endorsement agreements with Phiten are Yuzuru Hanyu, Hideki Matsuyama,Tomoaki Kanemoto, Yoshio Itoi, Yoshihiro Maru, Tetsuto Yamada, Daichi Osera, Katsuya Kakunaka, Sora Matsushima, Hina Hayata and Hikari Fujita. Athletes who have signed agreements with Phiten in the past include Daisuke Matsuzaka, Yu Darvish, Yukari Baba, Shintaro Fujinami, Yasuyuki Kataoka, Toshiaki Imae, Yuki Saito, Kengo Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Shinnosuke Abe, Shingo Katayama, Randy Johnson, Paula Radcliffe and Naoko Takahashi. The company makes endorsement agreements exclusively with athletes who need and enjoy Phiten products. The company also develops and sells sportswear, although the variety and production numbers are very small. The company is also involved in the development of health food products with functional claims. In 2007, it became the first Japanese company to sign the MLB/Major League Baseball Authentication Program.

Aqua Metal There is still a lack of scientific evidence to support the efficacy of Aqua Titan/Aqua-Titanium, and there has been criticism that Aqua Titan/Aqua-Titanium is nothing more than a placebo effect or a pseudo-science. In 2009, Biomarker Science, Inc. published the results of experiments conducted by Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University, University of California, Los Angeles/UCLA and Professor Martin Corte at Technical University of Braunschweig, which showed that Aqua Titan/Aqua-Titanium material had a certain relaxing effect. In 2013, Professor Toshikazu Yoshikawa of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, who has supported Aqua Titan/Aqua-Titanium research, published a hypothesis that Aqua Titan/Aqua-Titanium may have a balancing effect on the autonomic nervous system.

Scientific testing of product Instructors at the United States Air Force Academy conducted a double-blind study of the Phiten claim. Initially the instructors became interested in this product because of the company's claims that it could cause relaxation, maximize strength and energy. When looking into the product before testing they flagged several concerns; Most studies supporting Phiten were also funded by Phiten. The claims sound like the definition of pseudoscience with no mechanism to show how it could work and the claims are unfalsifiable. The packaging claims that '"not all users will experience the intended benefits."' Leaving the user to believe that it will work or it will not work. Also the instructors felt that the Phiten product was similar to other pseudoscientific medical accessories like copper bracelets, crystals and magnetic bands. Forty-eight Academy cadets wore a tape-covered necklace for 48-hours, half were necklaces purchased from the Phiten website and the other half were clothesline purchased from The Home Depot. All necklaces were the same length and wrapped in masking tape. The cadets selected a necklace from a bin and they and the instructors did not know who wore a clothesline and who wore a Phiten necklace. At the end of the 48-hours each cadet was asked to fill out a survey rating from one to nine, if they felt relaxed, angry or energized? The conclusion was that there was no "statistically significant difference" between the clothesline and the Phiten necklace. Furthermore, the instructors procured soil samples from a baseball field and analyzed the results checking for titanium. They also asked the Phiten company what the weight percent of titanium is in their necklaces, but were told it is a "corporate secret". The academy instructors learned that titanium was plentiful in the soil samples, and also learned that titanium is "the ninth most-abundant element on the planet". This led the instructors to state that baseball players "are purchasing Phiten necklaces to receive the purported benefits... when they are routinely performing... on playing fields that contain titanium."

Notes

External links Official Corporate Website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Phiten

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Phiten claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Phiten before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Phiten ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Phiten

In research: Phiten appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Phiten in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Phiten is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies established in 1983, Manufacturing companies based in Kyoto, Pseudoscience, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Phiten outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Phiten in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Phiten means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Phiten out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Phiten in simple terms?

The Company Phiten, headquartered in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan, sells quasi-drugs, cosmetics, hair care products, sports-related products, health foods, and health goods. Overview AQUA TITAN/AQUA-TITANIUM products worn as necklaces (such as RAKUWA Neck) are well known and used by many famous athlete…

Why does Phiten matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Phiten?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Phiten.