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An odor sensing system is comprised of a sensor cell including a plurality of quartz resonator sensors aligned therein to detect odor by variation of resonance frequencies derived from weight loading on surfaces thereof, a recognition line including a neural network which recognizes data obtained by subtraction between an output signal of the sensor as frequency variation and, a reference signal selected by one of the output signals of the sensor. The sensor cell is thermostatically regulated by circulating thermostatic water therein to maintain the temperature higher than an advance line of the system. A sample to be recognized is supplied to the sensor cell in a form of vapor generated by blowing a standard gas onto the surface of the sample.

Recently, bisphosphonate and denosumab have been widely used for the treatment of bone metastasis of breast cancer. However, medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw(MRONJ)has often been reported as a side effect of these drugs. We experienced a rare case of intracranial epidural abscess secondary to MRONJ. The patient died of the condition, although chemotherapy was effective. The mechanism of and therapy for MRONJ have not been clarified; therefore, its prevention should be emphasized.

This paper discusses a method for supporting blackboard based lectures. In this method, students watch the video of the blackboard based lecture on a tablet computer. Some parts of the blackboards are recorded by two or more cameras, and a player is designed to enable the students to view and listen to any portion of the lecture. The videos in our method must be high resolution and high quality so that students are able to identify the characters written on the blackboard. However, when many students receive the video by wireless LAN, the bandwidth available for each student decreases. We attempt to maintain the image quality of the video by decreasing the frame rate. After viewing the videos, the tested students have completed questionnaires to evaluate these videos.

There are two main methods for pandemic simulations: the SEIR model and the MAS model. The SEIR model can deal with simulations quickly for many homogeneous populations with simple ordinary differential equations; however, the model cannot accommodate many detailed conditions. The MAS model, the multi-agent simulation, can deal with detailed simulations under the many kinds of initial and boundary conditions with simple social network models. However, the computing cost will grow exponentially as the population size becomes larger. Thus, simulations in the large-scale model would hardly be realized unless supercomputers are available. By combining these two methods, we may perform the pandemic simulations in the large-scale model with lower costs. That is, the MAS model is used in the early stage of a pandemic simulation to determine the appropriate parameters to be used in the SEIR model. With these obtained parameters, the SEIR model may then be used. To investigate the validity of this combined method, we first compare the simulation results between the SEIR model and the MAS model. Simulation results of the MAS model and the SEIR model that uses the parameters obtained by the MAS model simulation are found to be close to each other.

日本で受けた男性性転換手術後に晩期合併症として超高位の直腸膣瘻を経験し局所的に閉鎖しえたので報告する．患者は33歳で，7年前に男性から女性への性転換手術を受けた．3年前から人工膣から出血，排便をみている．注腸および内視鏡検査で，直腸S状部の超高位の直腸と人工膣が大きな瘻孔を形成していた．まず人工肛門を造設し，2か月後経仙骨的経路で手術を施行し癒着に難渋したが瘻孔を閉鎖した．術後は順調に経過し，2か月後人工肛門を閉鎖した．現在術後1年3月経過し再発はなく，美容的にも満足している．術後は再発の恐れから膣は使用されていない．本例は解剖学的に通常では発生しえない直腸S状部の超高位の直腸膣瘻であり，このような超高位の直腸S状部の直腸膣瘻の報告は内外とも見られず，局所的手術で修復した報告も見られないので報告した．本例での瘻孔の原因は人工膣内へ狭窄防止用ステントの使用による圧迫壊死であった．

Gas-source localization systems are required to quickly detect gas concentrations at various locations while moving. It is therefore necessary to design the system by taking account of the delay in the response and recovery of the gas sensor in the presence of variations in gas concentration. Also, in order to model the dynamic characteristics of the gas sensor in open air, it is essential to understand the delay in response and recovery of the gas sensor. To carry out a transient response analysis of such a gas sensor, it is necessary to know the gas concentration (changing in time) at the gas sensor. In the present study, in order to analyze the transient response of a QCM (quartz crystal microbalance) gas sensor, the gas concentration is visualized. A photodiode is placed close to the gas sensor and the intensity of scattered laser light is measured optically in order to know the concentration of the gas passing over the sensor. The sensor response and the intensity of scattered light are measured simultaneously and the sensor response is estimated from the visualized gas concentration by means of the models of a second-order system and a neural network. When the measured results and the estimated results are compared, the model based on the neural network is found to estimate more accurately. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 89(6): 14–21, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.10062

A novel method for depositing gas sensing films on quartz crystal microbalance electrodes was developed. The method is based on the production of a fine mist of the solution with the sensing material by means of an ultrasonic atomizer. The mist is transported by a dry air flow to the quartz substrate allowing its deposition. The responses of the sensors are compared with those fabricated by spray coating method. It was found that even liquid films such as Apiezon L that were not stably deposited on polished gold electrodes by the spray method could be stably deposited using the atomizer, and an improvement of the reproducibility and sensitivity of the sensor response was achieved.

Two kinds of sensor systems for detecting gas trail (so-called plume) are discussed. One is the mobile robot with several kinds of sensors which can track the gas plume to search for a gas source. The other is the sensor network which can reveal the spatial and temporal behaviors of air-pollutant plumes in detail. The sensor network can also perform an automatic calibration to achieve a maintenance-free operation.