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Objective: Prior research has implied that promoting sustaining physical activity through nudges is challenging and boosting health literacy is important for the long-term establishment of behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the effects of commitment-based health application on step count and health literacy. Methods: A control experiment was conducted involving employees from companies located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Participants were divided into three groups: the commitment app group (utilizing a commitment-based application "Minchalle," where teams of around five members were randomly assigned to declare a target step count and report daily step count with pictures), the self-commitment group (individuals declaring a target step count and endeavoring on their own), and the control group (no intervention). Changes in step count and health literacy were examined over one month. Results: A total of 109 employees from 7 companies participated. The changes in step count were an increase of 893 steps for the commitment app group, 243 steps for the self-commitment group, and 178 steps for the control group, with a significant increase in the commitment app group compared to the control group. Regarding health literacy measures, there was significant progress in four items out of five for the commitment app group compared to the control group, and significant progress in one item for the self-commitment group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Communication within the app teams, such as commitment, sharing photos of their goal achievements and provide encouraging comments to others, functioned as social nudges, suggesting the potential for an immediate increase in step count and long-term behavioral reinforcement through improved health literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes new pantograph testing methods for railway pantograph/overhead catenary systems (OCS), based upon substructured testing consisting of a physical pantograph and a numerical OCS model. Hence, this work builds upon a previously presented work, (using the dynamically substructured system approach developed by Stoten and Hyde), which was conducted on a relatively simple mechanical structure in the Automatic Control and Test Laboratory (ACTLab), University of Bristol, UK. In this current paper, the dynamically substructured system (DSS) testing method is applied to a real shinkansen pantograph, using various actuator/DSS configurations that have been implemented at the Railway Technical Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan. In the first of these tests, a conventional servohydraulic actuated rig is used to represent phenomena due to the dropper-passing frequency. Resulting DSS test data are compared with those generated by a numerical simulation of the emulated system, i.e. the system to be represented by the DSS experimentation. Then, in the second set of investigations, the DSS method is used in conjunction with a new 'rotational disc' test rig that is arranged to be in dynamic interaction with the shinkansen pantograph contact head. This novel experimental system enables the investigation of dynamic interactions between the overhead catenary system contact wire and the pantograph head, due to span-passing. Again, results from this experimental investigation are compared with those generated by a purely numerical simulation of the emulated system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grb2-associated binder (Gab) family of scaffolding adaptor proteins coordinate signaling cascades downstream of growth factor and cytokine receptors. In the heart, among EGF family members, neuregulin-1[beta] (NRG-1[beta], a paracrine factor [...]

The effect of the probe arrangement on the reproducibility of topographic images of the concentration changes in oxygenated hemoglobin and deoxygenated hemoglobin is evaluated by a virtual head phantom. A virtual head phantom consists of five types of tissue the 3D structure of which is based on a magnetic resonance imaging scan of an adult head. Localized and broadened brain activation is assumed in a virtual head phantom. The topographic images are obtained from the reflectance detected by the standard probe arrangement and the double-density probe arrangement. The uneven thickness of the superficial layer, which cannot be evaluated by the previous slab model, affects the distribution of measured activation in the topographic image, and this reduces the position reproducibility of near-infrared (NIR) topography with the standard probe arrangement. The overlapping measurements by the double-density probe arrangement can improve the reproducibility of the image obtained by NIR topography. OCIS codes: 170.0170, 170.0110, 170.3660, 170.3880, 170.5280.

A practical and adequate approach to modeling light propagation in an adult head with a low-scattering cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) region by use of diffusion theory was investigated. The diffusion approximation does not hold in a nonscattering or low-scattering regions. The hybrid radiosity-diffusion method was adopted to model the light propagation in the head with a nonscattering region. In the hybrid method the geometry of the nonscattering region is acquired as a priori information. In reality, low-level scattering occurs in the CSF region and may reduce the error caused by the diffusion approximation. The partial optical path length and the spatial sensitivity profile calculated by the finite-element method agree well with those calculated by the Monte Carlo method in the case in which the transport scattering coefficient of the CSF layer is greater than 0.3 [mm.sup.-1]. Because it is feasible to assume that the transport scattering coefficient of a CSF layer is 0.3 [mm.sup.-1], it is practical to adopt diffusion theory to the modeling of light propagation in an adult head as an alternative to the hybrid method.