We develop a new mat sensor to distinguish between a wheelchair and a person. The mat sensor can be utilized for detection a wheelchair goes into dangerous areas. Furthermore, it can intelligently alarm only when there are truly dangerous by using a novel function of distinguishing the situation between a wheelchair and a person. Thus, the proposed mat sensor is very useful in hospitals and nursing facilities. A wheelchair and a person are distinguished by passing through the mat sensor which consisted of pressure sensor units and an acrylic board. Information of the pressure sensor units provided from the wheelchair is different from that of the person. If the wheelchair moves on the mat sensor, the center of gravity position of the wheelchair is almost the same as the position of the direction of movement. However, the center of gravity of the person changes because the person walks by foot with right leg and left leg when the person moves on the mat sensor. The wheelchair and the person can be judged by the difference in the change amount of each center of gravity positions. As a result of experiment using our proposed mat sensor, the good recognition rate is obtained.

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Rupture of atherosclerotic plaque causes serious results. Since heterogeneity of the mechanical properties causes stress concentration which results in material failure, a local plaque volume was compared with local strain in circumferential direction. Rabbit thoracic aortas with atherosclerosis were excised and four needles were stuck into them at equal intervals on their circumference. From the movement of the needles during pressurization of the specimen, local circumferential lengths were calculated. Local circumferential strains were calculated by referring to the circumferential lengths at the stress-free state. Pressure strain elastic modulus E_p, stiffness parameter β, and incremental elastic modulus E_inc were calculated. Total thickness T_total, plaque thickness T_plaque, medial wall thickness T_wall, and area fraction of plaque A_plaque were also measured in histological sections. E_inc and β obtained in the present study were comparable to those of the previous studies. Local strain at 80 mmHg ε₈₀ correlated significantly with T_wall (r = 0.37,p< 0.05) and T_total (r = 0.36,p< 0.05) while ε₈₀ had insignificant correlation with T_plaque and A_plaque. These results indicate that atherosclerotic plaque has insignificant effects to their mechanical properties, and T_wall becomes more uniform at physiological state than at the stress-free state.

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The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the influence of odor to physiological reaction when a subject’s experience is taken into consideration as a factor. Ten normal Japanese adult male (22.1 ± 1.1 years, mean ± SD) were enrolled. A mixture of spices including coriander, fenugreek, and cumin by the same ratio was used as the standard sample. Commercially available curry powder was used as the excellent sample. Three salivary biomarkers such as amylase, orexin, and β-endorphin were measured during baseline, inhalation and post-inhalation periods. Our results indicated that (i) change of the salivary orexin levels by inhalarion of spice was agreed with the result of subjective evaluation, (ii) the excellent sample showed more remarkable changes in physiology reaction than that of the standard sample. It was thought that a functional spice which it not only backs up delicacy, but have an effect which pulls out sensitivity may be designed.

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