Effects of psychotherapy for middle-aged individuals with anxiety disorders in a general medicine practice

Background: Anxiety disorders are mental disorders that cause somatic symptoms for which patients may seek care from generalmedicine departments. We focused on anxiety disorders in middle-aged patients and examined the effect of a psychotherapeuticintervention.Materials and Methods: The participants were 14 middle-aged patients diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Patients receivedpretreatment assessments and were randomly assigned to a pharmacotherapy group (n = 8) or a pharmacotherapy and psychotherapygroup (n = 6). The duration of the study was three months. Pre-and post-treatment, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-ItemShort-Form Health Survey (SF-36), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and a visual analog scale (VAS) were administered. Inthe pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy group, salivary cortisol was collected pre- and post-psychotherapy at the first and finalpsychotherapy sessions.Result: Four patients in the pharmacotherapy group withdrew from the study. There were no significant differences in the totalscores of the SF-36 or STAI between groups. Improvement was seen in the pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy group pre- andpost- treatment. SF-36 subscales of bodily pain (p = 0.02) and mental health (p = 0.04) were significantly higher than posttreatment.The state anxiety score on the STAI improved post-treatment (p = 0.03). On the VAS, the pharmacotherapy and psychotherapygroup’s symptoms were significantly improved (p = 0.02).Conclusion: This suggests that psychotherapy for middle-aged individuals contributes to the improvement of anxiety states andHRQoL in general medicine departments. It promotes the recognition of curative effects and prevents doctor shopping

Remote control and surveillance systems that utilize virtual instrument technology the Internet and a cellular phone

　We have developed PC-based remote control and surveillance systems that utilize the LabVIEW-based virtual instrument (VI) technology, the Internet and a cellular phone. The main VIs we have developed are “Remote Control VI for a Mobile Robot and a Robot Arm” and “Remote Surveillance and Warning VI”. In these VIs we devised a control system of mouse-clicking on camera images mounted on a remote browser. With this control system mis-operations of the VIs caused by the delay of image-communication between two remote sites can be eliminated

Vocalizations during post-conflict affiliations from victims toward aggressors based on uncertainty in Japanese macaques.

We investigated the use of vocalizations called "grunts," "girneys," and "coos" accompanied by post-conflict affiliative interaction between former opponents (reconciliation) in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Although reconciliation functions to repair bonds, such interactions sometimes entail risks of receiving further aggression. Vocalizations can be used at a distance from the former opponent; thus, we predict that vocalizations are used particularly by victims of a conflict, and are frequently used in situations of uncertainty when it is difficult for them to estimate whether the former opponent will resume aggression. In addition, we predict that vocalizations are effective in preventing further aggression. To test these hypotheses, we conducted observations of post-conflict and matched-control situations in female Japanese macaques living in a free-ranging group. We found that former opponents tended to be attracted to each other within the first minute following a conflict, thus demonstrating reconciliation behavior. Vocalizations were more frequently used by the victims in post-conflict interactions than under control situations; however, this tendency was not found in aggressors. When affiliation with the former opponent occurred, victims were more likely to use vocalizations towards less familiar opponents. These findings suggest that Japanese macaques used vocalizations more often when interacting with less predictable former opponents. Victims were more likely to receive aggression from former aggressors when engaged in affiliations with them than under no such affiliations. No significant differences were found in the probability of the victims receiving aggression, regardless of whether they used vocalizations; thus, whether the victim benefits from using vocalizations in these contexts remains unclear. Japanese macaques form despotic societies and therefore, further aggression was inevitable, to some degree, after a conflict. The use of vocalizations by a victim was found to depend on the nature of their relationship with the aggressor; however, the effectiveness of this behavior requires further investigation

DO RINGTAILED LEMURS EXHIBIT A SKEWED BIRTH SEX RATIO DEPENDING ON SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS? A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF A WILD POPULATION

In a 13-year study, we examined the birth sex ratio (BSR) of wild ringtailed lemurs at Berenty Reserve in Madagascar. Their BSR represented an equal sex ratio at the population level, irrespective of population change. High-ranking females did not always overproduce sons or daughters. In newly formed groups, females did not always overproduce daughters, and the BSR of young females was similar to an equal sex ratio. Thus, our data do not support the Trivers–Willard, local resource competition–population, or local resource enhancement hypotheses. Only one significant skewed BSR was observed: low-ranking females in medium-sized groups overproduced sons. This finding may support the local resource competition–individual hypothesis, but does not do so robustly

EACS 2016 paper - Shaking Table Tests of Cooperative Control between an Active Mass Damper for a Building and Semi-Active Damper for a Base-Isolated Floor Using a Small-Scale Specimen

<div>EACS 2016 Paper No. 136<br></div><div><br></div>To reduce the amount of earthquake damage, the effectiveness of cooperative control between two controllers (one for the building and another for the equipment) was verified using a shaking table test. We employed a Kalman filter and the linear quadratic Gaussian strategy to minimise the amount of damage under strong ground motions, and the two controllers share the quantities of the state variables of the building and equipment. A three-storey specimen, which comprise a building (the main system) with an active mass damper and a base-isolated floor (a subsystem) with a semi-active oil damper, represents a 15-storey building of a data centre on a real scale. As a result of the shaking table test, we confirmed that implementing cooperative control reduced the relative displacement between the main system and subsystem without increasing absolute acceleration

Box plots of differences in the index of familiarity (left) and rank differences (right) between opponents based on whether victims used vocalizations.

<p>Box edges represent the upper and lower quartiles, thick lines within the boxes represent medians, and open circles represent outliers (no vocalizations: <i>n</i> = 24; vocalizations: <i>n</i> = 48).</p