A neural network approach to predict tactile comfort of applying cosmetic foundation

An expert system has been developed to predict the degree of tactile comfort during the application of cosmetic foundation. A tribometer using compliant silicone-rubber surfaces was developed to perform 4 sliding tests and an oscillating test. From the tests for 20 different samples, 11 feature quantities were identified. The values of the feature quantities were used as the inputs to an artificial neural network, and the scores of tactile sensations were obtained as the outputs. The neural network, after supervised learning, could predict 5 types of emotional tactile comfort with high accuracy.     

Prevalence of primary chronic open-angle glaucoma in Ivory Coast

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine and analyze the rate of chronic open-angle glaucoma in C?te d'Ivoire. METHODS: The prevalence of chronic glaucoma (POAG) was retrospectively evaluated in a population of 33,000 patients attending a private clinic including 24,751 black subjects and 8,249 white subjects. Patients with a cup/disc superior to 0.5 and an abnormal Goldmann's kinetic perimetry, associated with (POAG with "elevated" pressure or not (POAG with normal pressure) with an intraocular hypertension (intra ocular pressure superior to 21 mmHg) were distinguished. RESULTS: Prevalence was from 2.1% for the black subjects and 0.75% for the white subjects. Mean age was 46.4 +/- 12.5 years for blacks subjects versus 52.8 +/- 12.2 years for white subjects. This prevalence increased with age in both populations. Out of 571 cases of POAG, 465 (81.4%) were previously known and 450 of them were treated; 38.5% of the POAG cases had normal pressure. CONCLUSION: Primary open-angle glaucoma is a major health care problem emphasizing the need for detection and prevention in C?te d'Ivoire.     

Emotion spectrum analysis for a daily repetitive mental workload

In this study, a mental workload of daily mental arithmetic training was objectively evaluated by physiological indices using the emotion spectrum analysis for a group with such training. Physiological measurements of the mental arithmetic task were conducted once a week for each subject. The physiological indices measured were the α-wave power spectrum, the β-wave power spectrum, the θ-wave power spectrum, variations in nasal skin temperature, and the high-frequency component of heart rate variability. Any depressive tendency during the mental arithmetic task was measured as a psychophysical index by using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) (brief form), and the time taken for the mental arithmetic task was also measured as a performance index. Correlations among physiological indices, the psychological index, the performance index, and the emotion spectrum were analyzed in relation to the mental workload.     

Bubble growth and transient heat transfer at the onset of boiling

An experimental study was conducted to investigate transient local heat transfer around a bubble at onset of boiling on a thin glass heating plate immersed in saturated n-hexane at low pressure. Eight rapid response Cu-Ni thermocouples consisting of a vacuum deposited thin film were used to measure the temperature change of the heating surface. Simultaneous high-speed video photographs were also obtained. The surface temperatures near a nucleation site decreased rapidly owing to the evaporation of a thin layer (microlayer) of liquid formed beneath the bubble in the early period and the rate of bubble growth increased with increasing incipient boiling superheat (ΔT_IB). The thickness of the microlayer decreased markedly with increasing ΔT_IB. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Jpn Res, 26(7): 484–492, 1997     

In situ XAFS Studies on the Effects of the Hydrophobic–Hydrophilic Properties of Ti-Beta Zeolites in the Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 with H2O

The photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ with H₂O to produce CH₄ and CH₃OH was found to proceed in the gas phase at 323 K with different reactivities and selectivities on hydrophilic Ti-Beta(OH) and hydrophobic Ti-Beta(F) zeolites prepared in the OH^– and F^– media, respectively. In situ XAFS measurements have revealed that these differences are attributed to the differences in the affinity for the adsorption of H₂O molecules on the highly dispersed tetrahedrally coordinated titanium oxide species depending on the hydrophobic–hydrophilic properties of zeolites.     

Structural effect of a series of block copolymers consisting of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly(N-hydroxyethylacrylamide) on thermoresponsive behavior

Well-defined diblock and triblock copolymers consisting of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and poly(N-hydroxyethylacrylamide) (PHEAA) were prepared using the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. The number-average molecular weight and fraction of each segment were precisely controllable by adjusting the monomer/initiator ratio in feed. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of a series of block copolymers with different compositions was examined using a turbidimetry analysis. The copolymers with a relatively lower molar fraction of HEAA units in the polymer chain exhibited phase transition phenomenon, in which the LCST depended on the fraction in the copolymer. On the other hand, the LCST disappeared for the copolymers with higher HEAA unit molar fractions. The ¹H NMR measurement clarified that the disappearance of the LCST was attributed to the formation of the water-soluble micelle. Furthermore, the thermoresponsive property of the series of block copolymers was elucidated on the basis of the structural effect of the copolymer, which includes the order and length of the block segments.     

Male violence against women: Current research and future directions.

This Psychology in the Public Forum section, authored by the American Psychological Association's Committee on Women in Psychology's Task Force on Male Violence Against Women and by Senator Joseph Biden, examines the prevalence, impact, and public policy dimensions of physical assault, sexual assault, and sexual harassment of women. This introduction reviews common themes that emerge from the articles that follow. It concludes by emphasizing that the problem of violence against women cannot be fully understood, let alone solved, by focusing exclusively on individual psychology. Only by changing the social and cultural institutions that have given rise to the problem can a lasting solution be achieved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meteorological parameters contributing to variability in 222Rn activity concentrations in soil gas at a site in Sapporo, Japan

Continuous ²²²Rn monitoring in soil gas since November 22, 2004 has revealed variability in activity concentration with time in the semi-natural woods on the campus of Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. Among various factors affecting soil radon levels and variability, temperature was found to be dominant during three seasons when activity concentrations of ²²²Rn showed a diurnal high and nocturnal low with a boundary around 10 o'clock in the morning. This pattern was disturbed by low pressure fronts with occasional rain. The activity gradually decreased as soil temperatures decreased from late November to mid-December. After the ground surface was completely covered with snow, soil radon levels became low with a small fluctuation. There were several peaks of ²²²Rn on the time-series chart in winter. Those peaks appearing in early winter and early spring may be interpreted by considering meteorological parameters. In a few cases, the radon activity suddenly increased with increasing pressure in the soil at a depth of 10 cm, which may be associated with subsurface events such as seismic activity in the area.     

Group signature implies public-key encryption with non-interactive opening

In this paper, we show that public-key encryption with non-interactive opening (PKENO) can be constructed from an arbitrary group signature (GS) scheme which is secure in the dynamic group setting and provides opening soundness. Moreover, the resulting PKENO construction is efficient if the underlying GS scheme is efficient and the message space of the PKENO scheme is restricted to short messages. Hence, our result not only shows that the existence of this type of GS implies the existence of PKENO, but also that designing a practical GS scheme is as difficult as designing a practical PKENO scheme. Our transform is constructed by carefully investigating the relationship between the functionalities of GS and that of PKENO, and developing a novel (but specific) multiple encryption technique. This multiple encryption technique plays an important role for simultaneously achieving both practical efficiency and security.