A method of determining cut position of automatic stem removal system for salted wakame

In the wakame manufacturing procedure, the manual operation process of stem removal is known to hinder the production process. In order to solve this problem, the manufacture aspires to develop an automatic wakame stem removal system. The purpose of this paper is to propose a cut position detection method for the system by picking up the characteristic changes that appear at the cross section of the wakame. In this method, with the utilization of exposure control, two images are captured from the same cross section that is made by a developed device. These images are used in the segmentation of the cross section. The positions where the stem should be cut can then be determined through the examination of the thickness of the cross section. To test the performance of the proposed method, 100 cross sections were generated from the roots of 10 samples of the salt-preserved wakame with an interval of 20 mm. In the experiments, the proposed method gave good results to find the cut positions except some misdetection. The experimental results showed that this method is effective and usable to the automatic stem removal system

Automatic image enhancement by artificial bee colony algorithm

editor: Zeng ZhuWith regard to the improvement of image quality, image enhancement is an important process to assist human with better perception. This paper presents an automatic image enhancement method based on Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm. In this method, ABC algorithm is applied to find the optimum parameters of a transformation function, which is used in the enhancement by utilizing the local and global information of the image. In order to solve the optimization problem by ABC algorithm, an objective criterion in terms of the entropy and edge information is introduced to measure the image quality to make the enhancement as an automatic process. Several images are utilized in experiments to make a comparison with other enhancement methods, which are genetic algorithm-based and particle swarm optimization algorithm-based image enhancement methods

Status of 48Ca double beta decay search in CANDLES

We study a strategy to reduce veto-time in the search for neutrino-less double-beta decay (0υββ) with CANDLES-III system. We develop a new likelihood analysis and apply it to our new Run010 data. We show that we can increase the un-vetoed live-time by 11.8%. Thanks to this improvements, We expect to increase a limit on the life-time of 0υββ by a factor of three by analyzing both Run009 and Run010 data

Ambulance traffic crashes in Japan: Characteristics of casualties, and efforts to improve ambulance safety

Background: An ambulance traffic crash not only leads to injuries among Emergency Medical Service (EMS) professionals but also injures patients or their companions during transportation. We aimed to describe the incidence of ambulance crashes, seating location, and seatbelt use for casualties (i.e., both fatal and non-fatal injuries), ambulance safety efforts, and to identify factors affecting the number of ambulance crashes in Japan. Methods: We conducted a nationwide survey of all fire departments in Japan. The survey queried each fire department about the number of ambulance crashes between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2019, the number of casualties, their locations, and seatbelt usage. Additionally, the survey collected information on fire department characteristics, including the number of ambulance dispatches, and their safety efforts including emergency vehicle operation training and seatbelt policies. We used regression methods including a zero-inflated negative binomial model to identify factors associated with the number of crashes. Results: Among the 726 fire departments in Japan, 553 (76.2%) responded to the survey, reporting a total of 11,901,210 ambulance dispatches with 1,659 ambulance crashes (13.9 for every 100,000 ambulance dispatches) that resulted in a total of 130 casualties during the 3-year study period (1.1 in every 100,000 dispatches). Among the rear cabin occupants, seatbelt use was limited for both EMS professionals (n= 3/29, 10.3%) and patients/companions (n= 3/26, 11.5%). Only 46.7% of the fire departments had an internal policy regarding seatbelt use. About three-fourths of fire departments (76.3%) conducted emergency vehicle operation training internally. The output of the regression model revealed that fire departments that conduct internal emergency vehicle operation training had fewer ambulance crashes compared to those that do not (odds of being an excessive zero -2.20, 95% CI: -3.6 to -0.8). Conclusion: Two-thirds of fire departments experienced at least one crash during the study period. The majority of rear cabin occupants who were injured in ambulance crashes were not wearing a seatbelt. Although efforts to ascertain seatbelt compliance were limited, Japanese fire departments have attempted a variety of methods to reduce ambulance crashes including internal emergency vehicle operation training, which was associated with fewer ambulance crashes.</p

36年以上経過した油症患者における神経症候

特集号 油症とPCB及びダイオキシン関連化合物 研究報告第20集 責任編集者 古江増隆The Twentieth Reports of the Study on Yusho―PCBs and Dioxin-Related Compounds―Guest Editor Masutaka FuruePCB汚染によるカネミ油症の発生からすでに36年以上が経過するが,PCBの代謝産物であるポリ塩化ジベンゾフラン(PCDF)の血中濃度は,正常対照と比べて油症患者ではなお高値である.一般に,油症患者では中枢および末梢神経の障害は多くないと考えられているが,その一方,痺れ,感覚低下や異常感覚などの自覚症状はしばしば見られる.さらに,対称性で遠位優位の感覚ニューロパチーがダイオキシンを取り扱う労働者に高頻度であることが報告されており,油症患者では末梢神経障害が潜在している可能性も考えられる.従って,我々は,初発から36年経った油症患者の全国健診における他覚的神経症候と血清PCB濃度とそのパターンの相関性の有無を検討した