We evaluated the suppressing effect of weak-acidic polyester on itching during sleep when wearing a sleep garment made of weak-acidic polyester for the patients with atopic dermatitis. The weak-acidic polyester knitted fabric was prepared from commercial weak-acidic polyester, and applied for a sleep garment. The degree of itching during sleep was evaluated by VAS, and it was confirmed that the degree of itching was lower in patients with atopic dermatitis when wearing a sleep garment made of weak- acidic polyester than when wearing that made of untreated polyester. When the patients with atopic dermatitis work up a sweat during sleep, the sweat contains histamine as an itching component so that they feel itchy while sleeping. The weak-acidic polyester has an antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus by maintaining the skin pH around 5.5, and it is considered that itching could be inhibited by suppressing the growth of Staphylococcus aureus.

In this study, the binaural model for the sound image elevation estimation was extended and experimentally verified under adverse perceptual conditions in a car cabin. First, the relationship between the spectrum of left and right ear input signals and sound image elevation in a simulation of a car cabin environment and in an actual car cabin environment was learned using a neural network. Then, cross validation of the proposed method was conducted under the conditions of a sound field where detection and discrimination of the spectral notches, an important cue for sound source elevation perception, is difficult, and as a result, high generalization performance was obtained. The model was then further extended and its accuracy was again tested in the interior environment of a car with noise. Results verified that the proposed approach exhibited the same trends as the conventional method.

We all need to manage our diets to lead healthy lives. Therefore, we focused on the temperature difference between the oral cavity and the food to improve the food experience and change the taste perception. In this paper, we investigated the changes in food experience and taste perception caused by the different temperatures of the spoon and food. The result of the study revealed that the “throat feeling” was improved, and the “deliciousness” and “comfort” increased when participants tasted the food with a spoon of the same temperature as that preferred for each food. In addition, we found that the combination of spoon and food temperature extended the food experience, and the perception of “sweetness” varied depending on the temperature of the spoon.

Improving comfort when driving on the road is an important aspect of customer satisfaction. There are a wide range of factors related to comfort. In this study, all roadscape components on expressways were considered as roadscape composition type, and the effects of these types on comfort were determined. Specifically, we used the roadscape composition type as explanatory variables and the results of the comfort questionnaire as objective variables, and analyzed them using Quantification Theory 1, adding considerations based on partial correlation coefficients and category scores. Along with considering the influence of each roadscape composition type on comfort based on partial correlation coefficients and category scores, the number of roadscape composition type and the size of roadscape composition type were also found to affect comfort. Even roadscape composition type that are not highly comfortable (e.g., falling object prevention fences) can be expected to improve comfort by improving their shape and color.

Successful cases of sales promotion using a self-recommendation robot (SRR) are increasing. SRR is a robot system that moves a product being promoted and makes it appear as if it were a robot itself. Namely, for the robot, recommending itself is the same as recommending the product. In the case of actual sales promotion, the SRR is expected to express emotions such as “I am happy to see you,” as in the case of sales promotions by conventional robots. However, since the SRRs do not have arms, legs, or faces, their behaviors and appearances differ from humanoid or anthropomorphic robots. Hence, it is impossible to apply the findings on the emotional expressions of conventional robots to the SRRs. There has still been insufficient research on the emotional expressions of the SRR, and speech and interaction design have been based on the knowledge and senses of individual developers. Therefore, we conducted an impression evaluation survey to clarify the factors that form the impression of the SRR. Referring to Mehrabian’s experiments, we evaluated SRR’s impressions by dividing emotional expressions into “motion (visual) information”, “vocal (auditory) information” and “verbal information” in our experiment. The results showed that vocal Information has a significant impact on forming the impression of the SRR.

In recent years, communication robots are commonly used in various purposes and situations such as guidance services at hotels and stations, elderly support, etc. in Japan. However, it is also shown that people still have a sense of anxiety toward robots. For this reason, there are few people who have motivations to communicate with robots. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the emotional expression of robots contributes to create a sense of familiarity and smooth communication. Therefore, we propose a method of emotional expression and enhancement by changing the color of the clothes the robot is wearing. In this research, we have matched the clothing color with speech emotion for communication robot. As a result of the experiment, we have found the matching between the clothing color and 10 emotions (joy, anger, sorrow, fear, shame, like, dislike, excite, relief and surprise).