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Charcoal-supported metal catalysts enhanced conversion of cellulose to aromatic compounds in high-temperature water even at 523 K.

Valorization of lignocellulosic biomass is expected to contribute to the realization of a carbon–neutral, sustainable society. In our previous work, a charcoal-supported Pt catalyst was found to be more active than other charcoal-supported metal catalysts (Rh, Pd, and Ru) for the conversion of Japanese cedar to aromatic monomers in supercritical water (yield = 17.4%). Here, we examined the effects of different support materials (i.e., active carbon, alumina, zirconia, and titania) to improve the aromatic monomer yield obtained using Pt catalysts. All of the Pt-based catalysts promoted aromatic monomer production from lignocellulosic biomass. Among them, the titania-supported Pt catalyst (Pt/TiO2) was found to afford the greatest yield (36.2%). Reusability testing revealed that the aromatic monomer yield obtained with Pt/TiO2 was greater than 25% at the fourth recycle.

Although chitin, an N‐acetyl‐D‐glucosamine polysaccharide, can be converted to valuable products by means of homogeneous catalysis, most of the chitin generated by food processing is treated as industrial waste. Thus, a method for converting this abundant source of biomass to useful chemicals, such as lactic acid, would be beneficial. In this study, we determined the catalytic activities of various metal oxides for chitin conversion at 533 K and found that MgO showed the highest activity for lactic acid production. X‐ray diffraction analysis and thermogravimetry‐differential thermal analysis showed that the MgO was transformed to Mg(OH)2 during chitin conversion. The highest yield of lactic acid (10.8 %) was obtained when the reaction was carried out for 6 h with 0.5 g of the MgO catalyst. The catalyst could be recovered as a solid residue after the reaction and reused twice with no decrease in the lactic acid yield., Biomass to useful chemicals: The conversion of chitin, which is treated as industrial waste, into lactic acid with catalysis by simple metal oxides was investigated. MgO showed the best performance and could be reused twice without loss of activity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of listening to music on sleep quality in university students and to explore the influence of preferred music on this effect.University students identified by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) as 'poor' sleepers (global score5) were assigned to three groups (a prescribed music group, preferred music group, and no-music group). During the period of intervention, the prescribed music group and preferred music group listened to their assigned type of music at home every day at bedtime.Global PSQI scores after the intervention were significantly lower in the prescribed music group and preferred music group, but there was no significant reduction in the no-music group. Between the designated sedative music group and the each subject's preferred music group, both the PSQI score showed significant differences in several items, but variations were found in the results.This study confirms that listening to music improves sleep quality, even among university students in Japan. Sleep quality was improved in both prescribed and preferred music groups, although the groups gave different responses to specific PSQI components, which suggests that sleep is potentially affected by music type.

Methylated nitrogen-substituted mesoporous silica, MeNSBA-15, was found to catalyze cyclic carbonate synthesis via cycloaddition of carbon dioxide with cyclic ethers. Moreover, comparisons with the control measurements over NSBA-15 and SBA-15 samples revealed that methylation was the key functionalization to enhance the nucleophilicity high enough for the reaction. Discussions based on spectroscopic and elemental analyses suggested that the catalyst possesses surface methylated nitrogen paired sites. The kinetic analysis of propylene carbonate synthesis over MeNSBA-15 were performed, and the interpretation of the turn-over frequency of the products clarified the mechanism of propylene carbonate formation mechanism. The most plausible mechanism is proposed to be a Langmuir-Hinshelwood type mechanism involving a kinetically relevant bimolecular reaction step over the methylated-nitrogen pair sites. Furthermore, the proposed reaction mechanism was also indirectly supported by the unique correlation between turn-over frequency and proton affinity of the reactant molecule.

The Front Cover shows the conversion of chitin, which is generated by food processing, into lactic acid with catalysis by magnesium oxides. Although chitin, a main component of the shells of crustaceans, can be converted to valuable products by means of homogeneous catalysis, most of the chitin is treated as industrial waste because use of homogeneous catalysts is compromised by difficulties associated with product separation from the catalysts and the recyclability of the catalysts. Thus, a method for converting chitin to useful chemicals, such as lactic acid, by using solid catalysts would be beneficial. Magnesium oxide catalysts can be reused twice without loss of activity. More information can be found in the Full Paper by Kodchakon Kun‐asa et al.[Image: see text]

The rat is one of the most popular experimental animals in medical fields. However, the rat is not so often used in complicated neurological studies because of its size of the brain. To investigate the localization of waveform of auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), two rats were examined. Twelve or 13 platinum-rhodium coated electrodes were implanted on the dura mater through the cranial bone. The waveform of ABRs with 6 peaks was clearly recorded. These peaks were comparable with those of the human. However, the latency of these peaks was slightly shorter compared with that of the human. These 6 peaks were clearly identified in the waveform measured on the occipital area. On the other hand, these peaks recorded in frontal region were fused together. From these results, electrodes should be placed on the occipital area of the cranial bone to identify these peaks originated from brainstem by the auditory stimulation. Therefore, it is expected that latency changes can be evaluated clearly. This measurement system has a new possibility to analyze the details of various kinds of evoked potentials waveforms.

In order to develop a brief assessment system of sleep stage for untrained users utilizing water mat pressure sensors placed in a bed, polysomnographic(PSG) recodings were compared to data obtained by present sensor. Coincident ratio were calcurated using estimated sleep stage by the sensor and polysomnographic judgement. Results showed that sleep diagram by present sensor was consistent with that by PSG.

There has been a lot of researches on the estimation/characterization of human emotions by using communication channels such as facial expressions. However, most of this research has focused on extracting facial features for some specific emotions at specific situations because the difficulty of the general characterization. We have developed a system that can characterize an emotion of an e-Learning user by analyzing his/her facial expression and biometric signals. The criteria used to classify the eight emotions were based upon a time sequential subjective evaluation of emotions as well as a time sequential analysis of facial expressions and biometric signals. The average coincidence ratio between these discriminated emotions by using the criteria of emotion diagnosis and the time sequential subjectively evaluated emotions for ten e-Learning examinees was 71%. When only the facial expressions were observed, the coincidence ratio was 66%. This suggests the multi-modal emotion diagnosis is effectiveness for estimating an e-Learning user's emotions.

The authors have been studying psychophysiological workload of human interface (HI) with physiological measurements and analysis. In this study, we investigated a kind of mental workload produced by user's unexpected waiting period from the request input to the termination of data processing during personal computer (PC) operation. As the experimental setting of HI, we used interactive software containing easy questions with unexpected time interval between each question. The effects of progress indicator (PI) indicating during waiting period on psychophysiological status of users were analyzed by using respiration, finger plethysmogram (PTG), heart rate (HR) and electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements. Results showed that the theta wave component of the EEG increased in the non-PI condition, even though autonomic nervous system parameters showed no significant change. Negative correlation between preference score for HI and integrated theta component percentage was observed only in non-PI condition. It is supposed that the PI was controlling theta activity coused by waiting stress in experimental condition. Utilizing physiological indices for HI assessment, this experimental method could be available to waiting stress estimation.

In order to estimate the mental workload, electroencephalogram (EEG) was measured during the Figure Stroop Task performance from ten healthy adult voluntary participants. In the experiment, two kind of visual stimuli were prepared: congruent and incongruent stimuli (figure and number of the figure was congruent or incongruent). Participants were asked to answer the number of displayed figures by pressing designated key. In the task, two different instructions to the participants were used: (1) respond as soon as possible, and (2) respond accurately. Integrated theta component of the EEG were compared between under condition of (1) and that of (2). Relative power percentage of theta component in condition (2) was larger than that in (1). The result suggests that the theta component was related with subjective difficulty of the task.

The aim of this experiment is to evaluate visuospatial and visuomotor cognitive function of the normal healthy young subjects. Estimation of object in motion in blinded spatial environment requires focused attention involving retrospective and prospective memory directly relating to visual cognitive functions. The task was carried out on a computer screen where the subjects followed an object in motion that disappears at specified distance and triggering the stop button when the object reaches a specified target. Blind distance and speed variables were used as criteria to determine the cognitive functions in the subjects. Two groups of five subjects performed a visual motion task with no feedback; namely blind condition (object do not reappears upon target triggering) and with feedback; namely visible condition (object reappears upon target triggering) in the reverse order for each group. Results showed object's longer disappearance duration (wider blind distance) affects deterioration in prospective memory more compared to narrower blind distance and the speed of the object has minimal affect in estimating the target.

In order to develop the effective evaluation system for the fatigue of operator's visual system in long term operation, the experiments were carried out utilizing perceptual time duration of motion aftereffect (MAE), critical flicker frequency (CFF) and the near point (NP) measurement. The MAE was measured using rotated spiral figure displayed on a CRT screen. To generate visual fatigue, a signal detection task in randomly displayed alphabets was used. After the task, MAE duration, CFF and NP were increased. It is supposed that the visual fatigue generated by the experimental task affects motion processing system of visual cortex. Results suggest that the MAE can be an effective tool for visual fatigue evaluation.

We used a stabilometer to examine development of postural control in 174 school-age boys aged 6-14. Subjects stood upright on a stabilometer for 30 s under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. At that time, we determined the mean location of the center of pressure (CP), the migration area of CP, the migration distance of CP, and the mean migration velocity of CP (VCP) using the measuring instrument. Along with age, the sway in all measuring items decreased under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions so that it shows that posture control developed as age advanced. Each measuring item was evaluated according to the ability of discretion by Mahalanobis distance under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. The greatest discretion through all grades was shown for VCP. Nevertheless, VCP decreases more with eyes open than with eyes closed, the difference grows larger between the ages of 9 and 11, indicating that the degree of dependence on visual information in postural control increases during that period. Differences between eyes-open and eyes-closed decrease after age 11; they become constant after age 12, indicating that the ability to maintain a stable posture is obtainable without much use of visual information.

Basic Life Support (BLS) is a rudimentary reanimation by common citizen. The execution of BLS improves lifesaving rate of Advanced Cardiac Life Support. Recently, the importance of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation education came to be pointed out in Japan. In this paper, the transition of the resuscitation technology is described. Next, the current state of the resuscitation is discussed. Finally, problems of resuscitation technology to be solved near future are also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the inter-visual-field transfer of leaning and the effects of auditory distraction on visual task performance with short display duration using a computer controlled tachistoscope.Linearly arranged slash characters with two different directions were used as the visual stimuli. The stimuli were displayed on the tachistscope screen for 8ms duration. After the screen was cleared, computer-generated random textures were displayed as a masking pattern. Subjects were instructed to discriminate the direction of stimuli, during task performance, radio news programs were presented through a headphone. Results showed no inter-visual-field skill transfer. With auditory distraction, task performance was lower than in the control condition. Visual perception mechanisms in visual learning process and related problems of cross modal interference were also discussed.

We are studying a novel concept of the on-line hospital system using a virtual environment called “Hyper Hospital”. The “Hyper Hospital” is a medical care system which is constructed in a distributed electronic information network using virtual reality (VR) as a human interface. In the present study, physiological and psychological responses of healthy young male subjects were measured by controlled experiments. Some physiological indices such as heart rate, blood pressure, and urinary catecholamine release showed statistically significant differences between results of control experiments using non-VR stimuli and results of VR loading experiments. However they were thought to be mainly from non VR origin. Subjective fatigue was complained by some sujects and they were thought to be indicating a direction of an improvement of our VR system in future. In conclusion, our VR system was proven to be safe when it is used for light medical purpose.

We proposed a novel concept of the on-line hospital system using a virtual reality called “Hyper Hospital”. For making the “Hyper Hospital” come true, it is important to investigate the effect of the virtual reality system (V. R. system) on the human body. In this experiment, twenty healthy young male subjects were exposed to our own V. R. system and their circulatory and respiratory function including blood pressure, ECG, pulse wave, etc., were recorded for 35 minutes. Results showed that the subjects did not experience strong effects on their circulatory and respiratory function by the V. R. system.

We are studying the virtual reality which is used as mean of human interface between the patients and the Hyper Hospital-a network based virtual reality mediated medical care system. For making the Hyper Hospital come true, it is important to investigate the effect of the virtual reality system (V. R. system) on the human body. In the present study, twenty healthy young subjects underwent the physiological measurements while using our own head mounted display (HMD). We measured the auditory response time which is regarded as a measure of a net activity of the central nervous system and is known to be affected by many physiological conditions such as fatigue. We also measured the critical flicker frequency (CFF) values before, during, and after the application of the V. R. system. The psychological fatigue was measured quantitatively by standard questionnaires and the Kraepelin test. The Yatabe-Guilford (YG) test was also carried out to investigate the influence of the individual character on the psychological fatigue. Some discomforts were complained after 30 minutes use of our HMD by almost all of the subjects. Examination of the CFF values did not show any significant changes due to the application of the V. R. system. No statistically significant difference was found by the usage of the V. R. system. The subjective fatigue measured using a standard questionnaires suggested that psychological fatigue was more significant than physical fatigue. No significant correlations were found between the result of the Kraepelin test and the individual character measured by YG test. No statistically significant fatigue was found by the usage of the V. R. system, and it was therefore suggested that the short time application of the V. R. system does not affect the human neurological and psychological response.

We are studying virtual reality system for “Hyper Hospital”. The “Hyper Hospital” is a medical care system which is distributedly constructed on an electronic information network. In the present report, we discussed a new version of our virtual reality system using a head-position sensor by the ultrasound, and a new head mounted display as the hardware parts of the system. We also developed an object oriented software to construct the virtual world for the Hyper Hospital. For severely disabled patients, we are studying the feasibility of the ERP (event related potential of the electroencephalogram) based human interface. The prototype system of the “Hyper Hospital” developed in the present study was shown to be applicable to the real medical environment.

Current situation of therapeutic and diagnostic equipments and their clinical aspects are described. Topics of clinical applications and expected status of regenerative and gene engineering are also reviewed. Contributions of new clinical technology and several low invasive medical equipments are discussed for medical care system in incoming era.

We develop a new digital plethysmograph using a sensor network. We can utilize autonomic indices for instance heart rate and heart rate variability from the plethysmogram recording. It makes possible to evaluate user's physiological state easily and on real time.

In order to assess psychophysiological state of the hyper arousal, pulse transit time during a mental task was analyzed using the ECG R-wave finger plethysmogram onset asynchrony (RPA) measurement. As the mental task, the authors used the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST). In the test, the following two kinds of condition were used: (1) a toy balloon burst setting with time limit, and (2) a narrated Japanese novel comprehension test. Under experimental conditions, measured RPAs were shorter than these in control conditions. It is suggested that the RPA is a possible tool for the assessment of hyper arousal through the autonomic responses.

We proposed a new concept of medical care system, named the "hyper hospital" which is constructed in computer based electronic information network. It is built as a distributed system on the network and consists of all kinds of conventional medical care facilities in both the real and the imaginary spaces. The virtual space of the hyper hospital and private information are owned and exclusively controlled by the patient, thus the maximum protection of the privacy of the patients can be observed. In the hyper hospital, an innovative human interface must be required for the consultation, treatment and other communication to the medical staff. This is especially true if the users are of severely disabled patients. The purpose of the present study is to establish a new human interface based on the event related potential, which enables those kind of patients to communicate with others including medical care staffs without any physical actions. >

We proposed in the present study a concept of an online hospital named "Hyper Hospital." The Hyper Hospital is a medical care system which is distributedly constructed on a computer-based electronic network with assistance of an alternate reality system, such as the virtual reality system. First, we reviewed problems of old conventional type of hospital system from viewpoint of human interface, and secondly presented a general idea of the construction of the Hyper Hospital. Lastly, we discussed its applicability and use as a new paradigm of the next generation of medical care. >

The Hyper Hospital is constructed in a computer based electronic network using the virtual reality system as the human-machine-human interface. Most of the physical contact, such as the visit to the out patient office by the patient, is actualized by the electronic connection of the patient private space and the public space of the hospital system. To realize such a system, the authors studied the physiological and psychological responses of healthy subjects induced by the usage of the VR in terms of fatigue. Twenty healthy young male subjects were exposed to the virtual reality system and they performed some psychological tasks with a virtual nurse for 30 minutes. None of the physiological or psychological parameters showed significant fatigue induced by the authors' VR system.

The safety features of a virtual reality system were studied from the physiological and psychological viewpoint within an ergonomic framework. The virtual reality was developed for constructing a novel online hospital system using a virtual environment called "Hyper Hospital". Ten healthy young male subjects were exposed to the virtual reality system with different intensities of the physiological and psychological stimuli. As a psychological stimuli, they underwent an interview with a virtual (an electronic) nurse. The interview session was divided into two parts, namely one of low stress and one of high stress. Following each interview session, subjects were exposed to a jet-coaster like moving scene of varying intensities. The responses were compared with those obtained in the control experiments in which an environmental video (just a scene of Northern seaside) was presented. None of the physiological or psychological parameters such as urinary catecholamine release, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. showed that significant fatigue occurred. This implies that fatigue was not induced by the usage of our VR system compared with the results of the control experiments.

We have been developing a novel medical care system which is constructed on an electronic or computerized information network using virtual reality as the principal human interface. The major purpose of the hyper hospital is to restore humane interactions between patients and various medical caretakers by making a much closer contact between them in the real medical scene than that in current conventional medical practice. In the present study, we discuss the most fundamental part of the development of the virtual reality system for the medical use, that is, system software for the creation of the virtual world which can be defined and modified by users of various levels, not only by the medical caretakers, but particularly by patients.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the evaluation of the safety features of a virtual reality (VR) system. Several measures of the physiological, biochemical, neurological, and psychological fatigue are calculated before, during, and after the control experiments. Similar is the case with the VR loading experiments in the study discussed in the chapter. It is found that there is subjective fatigue, particularly related with the psychological condition. The urinary catecholamine release (including epinephrine and dopamine) is found to increase in the VR loading sessions as well as the control video sessions. No increase in the norepinephrine release in the VR experiments are found while it increased in the control video session. Based on this, it is speculated that the use of VR does not have much effect on the physical condition, but may slightly affect the mental or psychological state; however, the extent of this effect is not as severe as the usual video presentation.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the general construction, user reconfigurable design, new cybernetic interface, feasibility, and safety features of virtual reality technology as a human interface to networked medical systems. The prototype of the Hyper Hospital described in this chapter has shown that the user reconfigurable virtual reality (VR) world paradigm can be implemented into such a system and can be practically used for this purpose. Two series based on the studies of safety features of virtual reality technologies were carried out. In the first series, 20 healthy young male subjects, and in the second series 10 such subjects underwent the psychological interviews in the virtual space using the virtual reality system for a relatively short duration. Several measures of the physiological, biochemical, neurological, and psychological fatigue are measured before, during, and after the interview session. However, there were no significant changes in the measured objective parameters of fatigue. The features of the user reconfigurable virtual reality world creation as shown in the present study are thought to be very useful. The VR technology is shown to be a potentially powerful tool for the improvement of modern medical care.