Effects of Traffic Control Devices and Road Scenes on a Driver\u27s Judgment of Curve Sharpness

The effects of traffic control devices and road scene on a driver\u27s judgment of curve sharpness were investigated by field experiments on a 12-km section of rural highway running through a hilly area in Hokkaido. The configurations of traffic control devices at 36 curves were obtained from the road maintenance database. The favorability of the road scene was determined subjectively. Each of the 6 subjects drove a vehicle installed with instruments. The subject estimated the sharpness of the target curve before that curve and assessed the accuracy of that judgment subjectively after the target curve. Cluster analysis detected groupings of the 36 curves in terms of driver assessment of sharpness. The traffic control devices were verified as important cues in driver assessment of curve sharpness. In addition, the road scene had a positive effect in daytime on judgment of the target curve. However, there were some dangerous curves where the subjects underestimated the sharpness before entering the curve. Traffic control devices to provide accurate information on curve depth should be developed

Optimal Winter Speed Limit

This study aims to determine the optimal winter speed limit through the application of a cost analysis and by analysis of effects of road and traffic conditions. Initially, a cost analysis of travel time costs, vehicle operating costs, pollution costs, and accident cost was applied to determine optimal average speed on the basis of the minimum total cost. Then, the effects of road and traffic conditions were calculated by regression analysis. Finally, the optimal winter speed limits were achieved. In conclusion, we found that our model was reliable and the results were appropriate and sustainable for the long term

Effects of Cellular Telephone Use While Driving Based on Objective and Subjective Mental Workload Assessment

A series of studies were performed to investigate the effects of cellulartelephone use while driving on driver mental workload. In these surveillance studiesobjective and subjective methods were used to find the driver mental workloadbehaviour. In the first study, the results indicated that the hands-free system providedless effect on the driver’s mental workload than the hand-held system. In the secondstudy, experience in using a cellular telephone while driving had no positive effect onreaction time. The operation task and talking task had little effect on the subjectivemental workload of the experienced subjects, but had statistically significant effectson the subjective mental workload of the non-experienced subjects. In the third study,the results of experiment indicated that the telephone tasks increase the mentalworkload of the drivers as were shown in the second study. The results also indicatedthat the complex conversation task produced an increase in driver mental workload ascompared to the simple conversation task and the other tasks independent of agegroup

An approach to teaching a computer programming language

The 9th World Conference on Continuing Engineering Education, WCCEE 2004, slides ; Place : Tokyo, Japan ; Date : May 16-19, 200

Application of gain scheduled H∞ robust controllers to a magnetic bearing

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科知能情報・数理金沢大学工学部This paper deals with the problem of an unbalance vibration zof the magnetic bearing system. We design a control system achieving the elimination of the unbalance vibration, using a loop shaping design procedure (LSDP). After the introduction of our experimental setup, a mathematical model of the magnetic bearing is shown. Then, the gain scheduled H∞ robust controllers with free parameters are designed, based on the LSDP, so as to asymptotically reject the disturbances caused by unbalance on the rotor, even if the rotational speed of the rotor varies. Finally, several simulation results and experimental results show the effectiveness of this proposed methodology. © 1996 IEEE

Efficacy of tension-free vaginal tape compared with transobturator tape in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women: analysis of learning curve, perioperative changes of voiding function

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In this study, by comparing TVT surgery and TOT surgery for stress urinary incontinence in women, the characteristics and learning curves of both operative methods were studied.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 83 women with stress urinary incontinence treated with tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) (n = 38) or transobturator tape (TOT) (n = 45) at Saiseikai Central Hospital between April 2004 and September 2009 were included. We compare the outcomes and learning curves between TVT surgery and TOT surgery. In statistical analysis, Student's t test, Fisher's exact test, and Mann-Whitney's U test were used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The surgical durations were 37.4 ± 15.7 minutes with TVT surgery and 31.0 ± 8.3 minutes with TOT surgery. A longer period of time was required for TVT surgery (p = 0.025). The residual urine at post-operative day 1 was higher in TVT surgery (25.9 ± 44.2 ml) than in TOT surgery (10.6 ± 19.2 ml) (p = 0.0452). The surgical duration of TVT surgery was shortened after the operator had performed 15 operations (p = 0.019).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In comparison of TVT surgery and TOT surgery, the surgical duration of TVT surgery was longer and the residual urine of TVT surgery was higher at post-operative day 1. Surgical experience could shorten the duration of TVT surgery.</p

Fibulin-5/DANCE has an elastogenic organizer activity that is abrogated by proteolytic cleavage in vivo

Elastic fibers are required for the elasticity and integrity of various organs. We and others previously showed that fibulin-5 (also called developing arteries and neural crest EGF-like [DANCE] or embryonic vascular EGF-like repeat–containing protein [EVEC]) is indispensable for elastogenesis by studying fibulin-5–deficient mice, which recapitulate human aging phenotypes caused by disorganized elastic fibers (Nakamura, T., P.R. Lozano, Y. Ikeda, Y. Iwanaga, A. Hinek, S. Minamisawa, C.F. Cheng, K. Kobuke, N. Dalton, Y. Takada, et al. 2002. Nature. 415:171–175; Yanagisawa, H., E.C. Davis, B.C. Starcher, T. Ouchi, M. Yanagisawa, J.A. Richardson, and E.N. Olson. 2002. Nature. 415:168–171). However, the molecular mechanism by which fiblin-5 contributes to elastogenesis remains unknown. We report that fibulin-5 protein potently induces elastic fiber assembly and maturation by organizing tropoelastin and cross-linking enzymes onto microfibrils. Deposition of fibulin-5 on microfibrils promotes coacervation and alignment of tropoelastins on microfibrils, and also facilitates cross-linking of tropoelastin by tethering lysyl oxidase-like 1, 2, and 4 enzymes. Notably, recombinant fibulin-5 protein induced elastogenesis even in serum-free conditions, although elastogenesis in cell culture has been believed to be serum-dependent. Moreover, the amount of full-length fibulin-5 diminishes with age, while truncated fibulin-5, which cannot promote elastogenesis, increases. These data suggest that fibulin-5 could be a novel therapeutic target for elastic fiber regeneration

Drug Repositioning for Cardiac Arrest

The survival rate of cardiac arrest patients is less than 10%; therefore, development of a therapeutic strategy that improves their prognosis is necessary. Herein, we searched data collected from medical facilities throughout Japan for drugs that improve the survival rate of cardiac arrest patients. Candidate drugs, which could improve the prognosis of cardiac arrest patients, were extracted using “TargetMine,” a drug discovery tool. We investigated whether the candidate drugs were among the drugs administered within 1 month after cardiac arrest in data of cardiac arrest cases obtained from the Japan Medical Data Center. Logistic regression analysis was performed, with the explanatory variables being the presence or absence of the administration of those candidate drugs that were administered to ≥10 patients and the objective variable being the “survival discharge.” Adjusted odds ratios for survival discharge were calculated using propensity scores for drugs that significantly improved the proportion of survival discharge; the influence of covariates, such as patient background, medical history, and treatment factors, was excluded by the inverse probability-of-treatment weighted method. Using the search strategy, we extracted 165 drugs with vasodilator activity as candidate drugs. Drugs not approved in Japan, oral medicines, and external medicines were excluded. Then, we investigated whether the candidate drugs were administered to the 2,227 cardiac arrest patients included in this study. The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that three (isosorbide dinitrate, nitroglycerin, and nicardipine) of seven drugs that were administered to ≥10 patients showed significant association with improvement in the proportion of survival discharge. Further analyses using propensity scores revealed that the adjusted odds ratios for survival discharge for patients administered isosorbide dinitrate, nitroglycerin, and nicardipine were 3.35, 5.44, and 4.58, respectively. Thus, it can be suggested that isosorbide dinitrate, nitroglycerin, and nicardipine could be novel therapeutic agents for improving the prognosis of cardiac arrest patients

Flavor mixing in the gluino coupling and the nucleon decay

Flavor mixing in the quark-squark-gluino coupling is studied for the minimal SU(5) SUGRA-GUT model and applied to evaluation of the nucleon lifetime. All off-diagonal (generation mixing) elements of Yukawa coupling matrices and of squark/slepton mass matrices are included in solving numerically one-loop renormalization group equations for MSSM parameters, and the parameter region consistent with the radiative electroweak symmetry breaking condition is searched. It is shown that the flavor mixing in the gluino coupling for a large $\tan\beta$ is of the same order of magnitude as the corresponding Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element in both up-type and down-type sector. There exist parameter regions where the nucleon decay amplitudes for charged lepton modes are dominated by the gluino dressing process, while for all the examined regions the neutrino mode amplitudes are dominated by the wino dressing over the gluino dressing.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, figures are available upon request. ICRR-Report-317-94-1

プロダクトデザインにおける地域・ローカル性の検証/ヘルシンキ–神戸「屋外の食事」

本研究・プロジェクトは、今後のプロダクトデザインのあり様を探るために、地域・ローカル性と言えるものが、日常生活でのプロダクト、そのデザインにどのような姿で表現されるかを検証しようと試みるものであり、ヘルシンキのアアルト大学と神戸芸術工科大学の二カ国のデザイン学生が各国独自の生活慣習に則って、一つのテーマを支える用品・道具をデザインした。プロジェクトの共通テーマを「屋外の食事」とし、アアルト大学はトリコユ（露店・オープンカフェ）、神戸芸術工科大学は花見のプロダクトとしてプロジェクトに取り組み、実際にデザインされた道具を用いて各大学がトリコユ、花見を行なった。その後、使用された作品はヘルシンキ、東京、神戸でそれぞれが持ち寄って、その場の雰囲気が理解できるような展示会を行なった。それぞれの作品は、共に各国の地域性を強く表わしたものとなったが、同時に国際性が高いとの評価も得た。共に外観スタイルとしては、地域性を出しながらも、プロダクトとしての品質の高さ、またシンプルな様相を呈していることが、今日のモダンデザインを基本とするデザイントレンドに合致していることもありそのような結果になったと思われるが、地域性と国際性が共に並立して評価できることを確認することができた。The aim of this project is to examine the local characteristics of design appears in the product of daily use in order to describe the future of the product design.Eating in Open Air is a common design theme of the project for the students from Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Finland and Kobe Design University, Japan. A group of students from both Universities run out their own projects under the common theme. Torikoju and Hanami were realized in each country with necessary equipments designed by students. The result of the work was brought together into three exhibitions in autumn 2012, first in Helsinki, then in Tokyo and Kobe. They were valued expressing not only of their local characteristics but also their international characteristics. Their simple style of their appearances adapts modern design trend seems to make the assessment. This proves both local and international characteristics can be estimated at the same time