This paper proposes a Clinical Reasoning System based on clinicians' diagnostic model to support medical diagnosis. The paper first clarifies the model of clinician's diagnosis process and then discusses about how the clinician reason their diagnosis. In the clinical field, it is necessary to detect important deceases at early stage of medical diagnosis without considering their occurrence frequency or possibility. Therefore, the proposed system applies inverse posibilistic causal reasoning using uncertain disease-symptom knowledge base to conclude the disease from the measured symptoms. Most of the proposed diagnosis systems only support single-decease assumptions. However, based on underlying cause-effect relations, when resulting causal model to diagnostic problems, multiple deceases may occur simultaneously This paper also discusses the method for multiple-decease assumptions in clinical reasoning.

View full abstract

In this paper we propose the exponential fuzzy numbers in Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), employing the fuzzy concept. The objective was determined a method of deriving the weights of criteria and their alternatives. Next, the influence of fuzzy is examined by using the membership function. Specifically we use the exponential fuzzy numbers for the pairwise comparison scale. Same experiments with AHP were conducted using the pairwise comparison scale and the new pairwise comparison scale of the method was examined.

View full abstract

This paper relates the heart rate variability (HRV) effects from the repeated listening to the same wind band composition by a healthy woman who was educated in music. One woman (aged 31) is invited as the experiment subject, and one piece of wind band music ("Appalachian overture" (composed by J. Barnes)) is employed as the test piece. The subject is asked to listen to the test piece for 2 weeks (one time per a day), and her HRV is recorded. The experimental data is analyzed by FFT, components of low frequency (LF;0.04-0.15Hz) and high frequency (HF; 0.15-0.40Hz) are obtained from the analysis of the HRV power spectrum. The study discovered a linear relationship between the frequency of listening to the test piece and the change of the HF value.

View full abstract

In this paper, the day-to-day base sales of a store were investigated for one year---from September 2005 to August 2006. The purpose of the investigation was to establish a consumer demand forecasting model. Also, the writers observed some meteorological factors like temperature and humidity during this period in order to consider the model in relation to those factors. Then, a statistic analysis was attempted to clarify the mutual relationship between sales and meteorological factors. The paper, firstly, tried to analyze, by applying analysis of variance and correlation analysis, the relationship between the sales of each day, and the meteorological factors. And secondly, on the basis of this analysis, the meteorological factors which are thought to be the most important are selected. This leads to the construction of the fuzzy reasoning model in which demand is forecasted by using the selected meteorological factors. Then, his time, the fuzzy reasoning model of each month proposed previously is applied. By doing this, the accuracy of the, forecast is thought to be improved. Finally, the writers attempt to compare the above-mentioned previous model, the one established in this paper, and a prediction from regression analysis. The utility of the fuzzy reasoning model proposed in the present paper is then discussed. The present study has found that meteorological factors affect, if not to a great extent then somewhat, peoples consumption.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to assist the activities of daily living (ADL) of disabled persons. In our system, surface electromyogram (EMG) signals, contaminated by electrical stimulation, are measured to control the movement in ADL. Double differential amplifier (DD) and blanking are used as noise reduction techniques. We developed the system based on DSP by means of a MATLAB, which is suitable to process the EMG and separate artifact signals in real time. A simple movement experiment of grasping an object with the hand and lifting the forearm was done successfully.

View full abstract

It is well known that musculoskeletal atrophy due to disuse arises among astronauts and bedridden patients. The atrophy is one of main issues for space medicine and clinical medicine. We proposed a "hybrid exercise method" (HYB exercise) in which antagonist is stimulated electrically to generate resistance forces against volitional contraction of agonist. This means that muscular trainings can be carried out without the force of gravity. We confirmed its advantages, but found it will be tedious in a long-term exercise. The motivation for the exercise may be decreased by daily repeated monotonous movements over the long term. Te purpose of this study is to develop a useful training system for maintaining or increasing motivation to exercise. A proposed VR training system will give relief from the mental stress and the atrophy in weightless environment. Our latest stimulation device that consists of 20 channels can train not only upper and lower limbs but also trunk of human body.

View full abstract

Tracheal intubation is a standard medical practice to conduct airway management. A laryngoscope and a tracheal tube are often used in that procedure. It is only a compassionate treatment from effectors in order to prevent complications while using a laryngoscope. There are no objective guidelines of laryngoscope handling. When tracheal tube is inserted into the trachea to send air, it happens to be inserted into the esophagus by mistake. Incorrect intubation is very dangerous. In this paper a force sensor and a two-axis gyroscope sensor are attached to the laryngoscope for making objective evaluations, and alarm buzzers beep to warn wrong laryngoscope handling. A field test was performed using a training model, and the result was analyzed by principle component analysis to evaluate the degree of achievement and a personal task. In addition, acoustic signals from a tracheal tube were examined as to whether insertion was correct or incorrect. Adaptive filter was used to reduce noises in the signals for enhancing estimated precision.

View full abstract

In this paper, we propose a technique for extracting a human region from images and for recognizing human postures. We employ a background subtraction technique using texture information and gray scale for extracting a human region, and a technique for recognizing a 3-D object from a 2-D image. Many extraction techniques must be performed in the outdoors and need thresholds tuned by manual operations. Moreover many recognition techniques need extraction of specific characteristics or modeling. Since the proposed technique does not necessitate manual operations, it can perform the recognition from extraction automatically The proposed technique obtained satisfactory results by the experiment performed in the outdoor environments.

View full abstract

This paper describes a fast three-dimensional object reconstruction technique. Recently the establishment of a high-speed 3-D reconstruction technique with mobile cameras is expected as one of the contents production technologies of a 3-D television. However, it is not possible to conduct the 3-D reconstruction with mobile cameras by the existent reconstruction techniques. We propose a 3-D object reconstruction technique with two fixed cameras which could be extended to a mobile camera system by simplifying 3-D geostationary object reconstruction technique proposed by Sugimoto & Xu In addition, we employ a software tool named OpenCV to speed up matrix computation which is included in most 3-D reconstruction algorithms and imposes a computer heavy computational load. An experiment was conducted for 3-D reconstruction of a static object by employing the proposed technique. The computation time for recovering the 3-D shape took only 650μs. This shows effectiveness of the proposed technique.

View full abstract

We propose a three-dimensional measurement method based on extended measurement matrix. Direct linear transformation (DLT) method is widely used for 3-D measurement for team sport analysis. However, DTL method needs camera calibrations and it is difficult to execute it immediately in the wide area such as soccer ground and basketball court. The proposed method enables us to recover 3-D measurement results without any calibrations. We apply it to the formation analysis of three kinds of team sports including soccer volleyball, and basketball in order to evaluate the performance of our method.

View full abstract

Characteristic behavior of magnetic fluid was investigated for a key technology study of the magnetic targeting drug delivery system, which is the specific delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to a desired location in the body, such as tumor by the control of an external magnetic field. Transparent images of the fluid were taken by using a CCD camera and an intense X-ray beam at the SPring-8. The reduction of the image information has lead to clarify the distribution of nanoparticles inside the fluid as a function of external field strength. The physical interactions between nanoparticles, one of the essential factors to achieve the drug delivery control, were discussed.

View full abstract

Oriental medicine, which emphasizes individual physical condition in medical treatment, has gained notice globally. We have been therefore developing to construct the health supporting system based on oriental medicine. The oriental medicine health questionnaire 57 (OHQ57) has been used in oriental medicine to understand the inference of syndrome and the individual physical condition before the examination. The validity of OHQ57 as assisting information to improve the health supporting system was here investigated. The results of OHQ57 correspond to 41% of the physician's results. However most syndromes could be diagnosed from the results of OHQ57 with the partial agreement. The change in score on the oriental medicine health questionnaire did not correlate with the change in the output value of the tongue diagnosis supporting system, and showed a different change pattern. From the observed result of the relation between the oriental medicine health questionnaire deficiency of qi score and the fundamental frequency of the voice suggested that changes in condition of fatigue can be perceived with this health questionnaire. Furthermore, the results of the oriental medicine health questionnaire primarily showed a trend related with the PCS (physical component summary) of SF-8. Since OHQ57 can reveal the inference of syndrome and the changes of physical condition with the different point of view of examiners, the validity of OHQ57 as assisting information to improve the health supporting system was suggested.

View full abstract

The rapid dissemination of the World Wide Web raises the issue of the Web accessibility and one of the important things is the combination of a foreground color and a background color. In our previous study, the visibility of web-safe colors on the white background was examined, and the blue used for the standard link color was found high visibility in wide range of ages. Since the usage of the blue and an underline are recommended as a link, in this study, we examined high-visibility background colors to the standard link color, i.e. blue. One hundred and twenty three background colors to the blue were examined using pair comparison method, and the evaluation of standard link color visibility by CIE-Luv, uniform color space. As the result, effective background colors to the standard link color were determined on the CIE-Luv, that is, L^* more than 67.6, u' less than 0.258, or L^* more than 67.6, v'larger than 0.421 provided high visibility in wide range of ages.

View full abstract

In this article, we describe the paired comparison test between white background and other character colors selected from the Web Safe Colors. And an analysis of fundamental visibility on Web color sets by SOM (Self-Organizing Maps) is also conducted. As to visibility; we focus only on the combination of background and character colors, which are the design-elements of Web contents. Then we consider a fundamental feature of visibility for the specific age groups using maps generated by SOM. The maps are useful for improving visibility and individual personal usability. We evaluate our web browsing system with an automatic color correction function (palette changing) for personal visibility, which is based on our proposed "Web Color Set Prediction Method by SOM". Since user profile data is required in advance for every user we resolve this inconvenience with SOM.

View full abstract

Rough set theory was proposed by Z.Pawlak in 1982. This theory can mine knowledge through a decision rule from a database, a web base, a data set and so on. The decision rule is used for data analysis as well. And we can reason for an unknown object using the decision rule. In this paper we apply the rough set theory to analysis of time series data. It is possible to acquire knowledge from economic time series data using regression line and suggest a method to apply to predictions. At the end, usefulness of our method are shown by applying it to the forecasting of TOPIX data.

View full abstract

Project management is one of central issues in management of technology and engineering. Kathy Schwalbe summarized recent statistics that average estimated development time overrun is 163% in 2001 and 227% in 1995, and average estimated development cost overrun is 145% in 2001 and 189% in 1995. The project management is not so much successful. A software development company is expected to provide high quality and functional software to the world. It is difficult to control software quality because software is invisible and cannot be felt with our finger In addition, it is hard to make its productivity efficient because software is created as a result of brainwork. Generally speaking, a project team is organized to create software. Human relationships and work environment affect software qualities. Therefore, it is important to study the project management of software development for the cost of management and the quality control. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the influential features of software development projects by analyzing questionnaires collected from several software development companies. In the analysis, a multivariate model is employed to quantitatively evaluate the influential features of software development projects.

View full abstract

After fostering and developing an IT industry, all developed countries in the world place stress on bio science and technology and take it as a national project and a priority industry. As people today eager for a high level of their life and health, the development of a bio-pharmaceutical industry is one of national and central issues in a country. The objective of the paper is to analyze the bio-pharmaceutical industry in Japan, clarify the present state of the bio-pharmaceutical industry and finally quantitatively estimate the relationship of the scale and investment behavior with the management achievement of bio-related companies based on the theory proposed by industrial economist J. S. Bain. That is, the paper is contributed to illustrate a surplus profit and a rate of return of a corporate relating with its capital, an employee size, a general investment and development investment of the corporate. This paper explains how management to enhance the performance of a corporate.

View full abstract

In this paper, we propose a 3-D modeling method of an object employing back projection based on an affine camera model. The method needs neither 3-D camera calibration tool nor markers for shape recovery and can recover the original 3-D shape from silhouette images. The method calculates an affine camera matrix from the camera orientation matrix acquired by factorization. The back projection employs an affine camera model in place of a conventional projective camera model, and recovers the original 3-D shape by employing the affine camera matrix. Experimental results show satisfactory performance of the proposed method.

View full abstract

Workload depends on each persons working posture and a compelled posture causes their fatigue. In order to reduce workload, working postures have been analyzed. But, now, it depends for the classification of a work posture on an analysis person's eyes, it is difficult to extract and classify posture data correctly if it is not the skilled technician. In this study, we propose a method that it is able to perform an exact posture classification by focusing the angle of joint on working personnel. We get joint angle data from motion data, we developped posture classification method using fuzzy inference based on some bending joint angle. By using fuzzy inference, we can classify vague posture which overlapped some segment of basic posture. From experiment, we found that we get the classification result of a posture high accuracy.

View full abstract