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Volume 32, Issue 5
Displaying 1-7 of 7 articles from this issue
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Kaoru FUJIIE, Kiyomi MATUO, Masafumi IDE1996 Volume 32 Issue 5 Pages 215-222
Published: October 15, 1996
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe doorway designs which are easy to negotiate in a wheelchair are discussed. Nineteen people with spinal cord injuries followed a test course in their wheelchairs. The time taken to pass a test course was used as an index of the wheelchair manipulative skill. In addition, four subjects (three with cervical cord injury and one with thoracic cord injury) passed through 117 differently designed doorways installed within a laboratory. The results were recorded with a video camera positioned at a height of 8m. The time taken for passing through the doorways was measured.
When the difference in the time needed for subjects with differing level of injury to pass through a doorway was small, then that design of door was considered easy to use. A sliding door was easier to use than a hinged door. Among the nine basic types of doorway that were tested, the design where the sliding door was positioned directly across the progress direction of the wheelchair was the easiest to use. Among the designs of doorways where the door was positioned alongside the progress direction of the wheelchair, the width of passage leading up to the door influence the time taken to pass through the doorway. However, if the width of the passage was more than 300mm wider than the width of the wheelchair, then the time taken to pass through the doorway was not influenced.View full abstractDownload PDF (3384K) -
Nobuaki NAKAZAWA, Ryojun IKEURA, Hikaru INOOKA1996 Volume 32 Issue 5 Pages 223-229
Published: October 15, 1996
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSHuman characteristics of path planning and grasping force in the placing motion are investigated experimentally. The placing motions are performed by grasping an object with the thumb and middle finger and putting it on a plane in one degree-of-freedom. The object velocity during the approaching motion to the plane is profiled like a hanging bell on the velocity to time figure when the object is put with a large impact force. On the other hand, when the object is put with a small impact force the peak value of the velocity locates at the front part of the time duration. Moreover, it is found that regardless of the starting points a human reduces the velocity at about the middle part of the height from starting point to the plane. Furthermore, the grasping force is reduced gradually as the object approaches to the plane, and reaches the minimum by which the object can be held at the instant of contact. With this minimal grasping force the contact state can be translated smoothly. This experimental result might be used to operate a robot to move a object in free space and put it to the constrained space dexterously like a human.View full abstractDownload PDF (3744K) -
Daisuke CHIBA, Takehisa ONISAWA1996 Volume 32 Issue 5 Pages 231-238
Published: October 15, 1996
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThis paper proposes fuzzy inference models of human emotion and behavior under some situations within the following frameworks: (1) Human emotion under the situations is inferred by inference rules which are expressed by natural language expressions based on experienced knowledge. (2) Human behavior is inferred by the inferred emotion. The inference rules are also expressed by natural language based on experienced knowledge. (3) Fuzziness inherent in linguistic terms is expressed by a fuzzy set. (4) The fuzzy inference model is used for the inference of human emotion and behavior. An inference model of human emotion and behavior under the situation in which a person is waiting for an acquaintance at some place and the acquaintance does not come there is constructed based on the above frameworks. Finally this paper shows the usefulness of the proposed model by some simulation performances.View full abstractDownload PDF (2634K) -
Shinji MIYAKE, Nozomi SATO, Junichi AKATSU, Masaharu KUMASHIRO, Kazuya ...1996 Volume 32 Issue 5 Pages 239-249
Published: October 15, 1996
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of fluctuating room temperature on human sleep, with the aim to establish a comfort micro climate for summer night sleep. Twelve healthy male students slept in the nude except for underwear shorts at three different ambient conditions: 28°C constant (CTRL), 28-30°C fluctuating temperature with an average 45min-cycle (FLUCT-S) and with an average 90min-cycle (FLUCT-L). The fluctuating cycles were random from 1/f fluctuation. Standard polysomnograms consisting of EEG, EMG and EOG and surface skin temperature from seven parts were recorded. Subjects answered questionnaires concerning thermal sensation and subjective sleep parameters by the OSA sleep inventory. Subject were awakened by the experimenter at 7:30 in the morning to equalize total time in bed among the subjects, i. e., eight hours. Results from the valid ten subjects showed that stage II sleep was longer in CTRL than under both fluctuating temperature conditions. Furthermore, % REM+%SWS (slow wave sleep) was significantly larger in the FLUCT-L condition than in CTRL. These findings suggest that fluctuating room temperature during night sleep may induce better sleep.View full abstractDownload PDF (3734K) -
Kaname HIRAYANAGI, Kenichi IWASAKI, Shougo KANDA, Kazuyoshi YAJIMA1996 Volume 32 Issue 5 Pages 251-259
Published: October 15, 1996
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe techniques for the measurement and assessment of mental workload (MWL) are divided into three categories: (1) subjective measures, (2) performance or task measures, and (3) physiological or biochemical measures. Therefore, MWL should be measured and assessed from multi-parameters in the above categories. The authors have already proposed an experimental protocol for assessing MWL in the sense of mental strain. The experimental protocol consists of 3-min resting periods, graded step-wise and base-grade mental arithmetic pace periods.
To evaluate the usefulness of the experimental protocol, the relation between pace level of mental arithmetic and subjective workload evaluation (self-rating score on 0-10 graphical board), and performance evaluated with the percent of correct answer at each period were examined in 15 healthy male volunteers (19-25yr).
Respiratory rate (Rr) and tidal volume (VT) were measured throughout all periods. Power-spectra of low, i. e. 0.04-0.15Hz (LFP), and high frequency band, i. e. 0.15-0.5Hz (HFP), at each period were calculated from continuously recorded R-R interval (RRI). Baroreceptor reflex sensitivity (BRS) at each period was estimated using the sequence scanning method proposed by Bertinieri et al. from beat-by-beat measurement of RRI and systolic blood pressure (SBP) under vascular unloading condition.
It was confirmed that the pace levels of the mental arithmetic at each period in the experiment could be utilized as the useful indices of MWL in the sense of mental strain, judging from both subjective workload evaluation and performance.
In addition to the Rr, LFP and HFP derived from spectral analysis of RRIs, it was clarified that BRS, less affected by breathing than the HFP, could be one suitable parameter for the measurement and assessment of MWL in the sense of mental strain.View full abstractDownload PDF (1238K) -
Atsuo MURATA1996 Volume 32 Issue 5 Pages 261-263
Published: October 15, 1996
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSDownload PDF (397K) -
Mitsuhiko KARASHIMA1996 Volume 32 Issue 5 Pages 265-266
Published: October 15, 1996
Released on J-STAGE: March 12, 2010
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSDownload PDF (1578K)
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