The stress induced during visual display terminals tasks in various environments was researched. One subject was made to do visual display terminals. The stress induced during visual display terminals tasks was evaluated using concentration of cortisol in saliva, sensory value, and work efficiency. In addition, the correlation between them was studied. New indices concerning stress and work efficiency were derived by means of the multivariate analysis. It was found that two new indices were enable to design a comfortable working environment.

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We are developing a technique to monitor information during the training for non-attendant student. We found the forward-bent of patient can be a parameter indicating the mental condition of client. The training was recorded by a digital video-camera. After the training, the forward-bent was measured manually from recorded pictures. In this paper, we reports the application of pattern matching technique to measure the forward-bent. As result of preliminary experiment, it was found that the downward distance calculated by the matching technique and the distance obtained manually are mutually related. In addition, frequency analysis is enabled by this technique. We examined possibility to grasp strain state of mind by frequency analysis, for example, stiff movement by strain of mind, and to be relaxed by change of frequency distribution. We developed a DV camera system in this analysis, but Video capture from a DV camera and conversion work to huge number of still image is necessary. We plan the camera interface connection such as IEE1394or USB2.0 protocol to a PC directly and an image transfer to memory improves efficiency.

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In this study, we evaluated the flexibihty of an ankle-foot orthosis in the design proess by nonlinear finite element analysis. A digitized orthosis model was made from a plasterleg model using a 3-D digitizing system. A total of 12 orthosis models were made with 3 values of thickness and 4 values of trimming. With each model, we conducted a monlinear finite element analysis to collect modification characteristics, and confirmed its validity from a comparison from the results of a tensile test. We evaluated4orthosis modelschosen from the results of a real gait analysis for theirflexibility unde 3 conditions of simulated gait: during heel-contact, mid-stance, and swing-phage. In nonlinear finite element Analysis, contact definitions of the orthosis model, foot model, floor model and the moment of the ankle joint calcula ted from the gait analysis were used as boundary conditions. Moreover, we evaluated the factor of safety in order to confirm the structural safety of the orthosis. Altogether, this study proposes the possibility of a new orthosis design system.

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Swallowing disorder is becoming a serious issue with increasing in elderly people, because pneumonia caused by aspiration is often the death of the aged.An increase in liquid food viscosity is effective to protect the aspiration, and thus a lot of thickener additives are used to raise the viscosity of drinks or liquid care foods. However, there is not a viscometer, which is easy to use in a kitchen. A cook has to adjust the viscosity by intuition for the people with swallowing disorder. We characterized the viscous property of care foods liquefied with a blender, thickener solutions, and contrast mediums with thickener. Based on those viscous characteristics, a new handheld viscometer was developed. This rotational-type viscometer enabled to define a shear rate. This function is essential, because almost all the liquid foods are non-Newtonian fluids. The developed handheld viscometer was calibrated using Newtonian fluids, the viscosities of which were known. It was found that the viscometer had enough accuracy and repeatability in the viscosity measurement. The trial handheld viscometer was applied to the viscosity measurement of liquid foods, and a reasonable agreement was obtained with the rheometer's results.In addition, we investigated the influence of food temperature and the temporal change in food viscosity, and proposed the guidelines for the practical use.

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