Under conditions without sweating, the transient responses of skin (stratum corneum) moisture content to the stepwise change in the absolute humidity around the skin were measured at the forearm by the electrostatic capacity method and by in vivo confocal Raman spectroscopy. As the results of the measurement by the electrostatic capacity method, it was shown that the skin moisture content showed vivid response to the stepwise change in ambient absolute humidity, and that the response almost converges within 5-10 min in case of the exposure to high (80 %rh) and low (10 %rh) humidity for 30 min. In addition, as the results of the measurement by in vivo confocal Raman spectroscopy, the distribution of moisture content in the stratum corneum responding to the stepwise changes of ambient absolute humidity was obtained, and it was shown that the moisture content in the region deeper than 30μm was almost constant, and that the moisture content in the region shallower than 10-16μm changed due to the exposure to high (90 %rh) and low (10 %rh) humidity for 30 min.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the effect of moving between spaces with large temperature differences on human physiological and psychological reactions. Experiments on the effect of air temperature step changes in hot thermal environments on climacteric aged females were conducted, and the results were compared with the responses of young females. The following experimental conditions were designated: step change of air temperature from 35.0℃ to 18.0℃, 35.0℃ to 22.0℃, 35.0℃ to 26.0℃, 35.0℃ to 30.0℃. Physiological and psychological responses were measured in climate chambers. The drop in peripheral skin temperature of climacteric aged females was lower than that of young females. And the drop in the whole body thermal sensation reported by climacteric aged females was lower than that of young females. The peripheral thermal sensation corresponded to the change of the peripheral skin temperature. It was considered that these facts indicated the insensitivity of the peripheral thermal sensations of climacteric aged females.

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The present study, involving female students, examined differences in their impression of footage of Japanese food shown on the screen with tickers of different colors in a cooking show. Eight types of footage with a white background and various colors - seven chromatic colors with an excitation purity of 100% (red, yellow red, yellow, yellow green, green, blue, and purple blue) and black (achromatic color), were prepared. A factor analysis was conducted to examine their impressions of the eight videos, and three factors were extracted: "readability", "palatability" and "Japanese flavor". Although scores for "readability" were high when the color of the tickers was purple blue, blue, and black, whose brightness significantly varied, there were marked score differences depending on the color phase as well as brightness under the condition of the same excitation purity. The score for "palatability" was the highest when yellow red characters were on the screen, and that for "Japanese flavor" was high when the color was black and purple blue. There were also significant differences in students' impressions of food in relation to the six types of taste, including salty and sweet, between the eight videos. When editing tickers used in cooking scenes, it is necessary to take into consideration their readability and harmony with the screen. The results suggest that tickers of specific colors can make the cooked dish appear to be more palatable.

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Persons using a parasol are exposed to complicated radiation environments in outdoors. A part of the human body is irradiated with intense solar radiation, while the other part is blocked it with a parasol. This study intends to determine a solar shading factor of the human projected area for direct solar radiation with a parasol. Measurements were performed on a roof of a five-story building in summer. Three college-aged female subjects were participated in the measurements. They wore their own casual clothes and parasols. The subject was asked to stand facing to the sun with/without the parasol to take an image of shadow casting on the horizontal surface. After having corrected image distortion using the image-processing software, the projected areas of the human body with/without the parasol were obtained. The solar shading factor of the human projected area with a parasol increased with increasing solar altitude. The subject's azimuth to the sun and holding position and angle of a parasol affect the solar shading factor of the human projected area. The equation estimates the solar shading factor of the human projected area with a parasol from the solar altitude.

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