Intuitive operability evaluation of surgical robot using brain activity measurement to determine immersive reality.

Surgical robots have improved considerably in recent years, but intuitive operability, which represents user inter-operability, has not been quantitatively evaluated. Therefore, for design of a robot with intuitive operability, we propose a method to measure brain activity to determine intuitive operability. The objective of this paper is to determine the master configuration against the monitor that allows users to perceive the manipulator as part of their own body.

Subtle grip force estimation from EMG and muscle stiffness--relationship between muscle character frequency and grip force.

A number of upper limb amputees experience difficulty in picking up a food bowl during a meal, because grip force estimation using EMG currently does not provide sufficient accuracy for this task. In this paper, we propose a grip force estimation system that allows amputees to pick up a bowl with a prosthetic hand by using the properties of muscle stiffness in addition to EMG. We have chosen a tray holding task to evaluate the proposed system.

Denitrification during vertical upwelling at an alluvium-diluvium interface below the upland perimeter of a riparian paddy.

Denitrification hotspots in riparian aquifers often develop in a relatively narrow zone at the upland-riparian interface, where nitrate-rich ground water of upland origin interacts with available soil organic carbon. In riparian paddy fields, denitrification in the aquifer has received less attention than that in the surface water and soil. This study aimed to determine the in situ activity of the denitrification hotspot formed at the vertical interface between the organic alluvial and the nitrate-rich diluvial aquifers around the depth of 2.

Induction of Soil Suppressiveness Against Rhizoctonia solani by Incorporation of Dried Plant Residues into Soil.

ABSTRACT Suppressive effects of soil amendment with residues of 12 cultivars of Brassica rapa on damping-off of sugar beet were evaluated in soils infested with Rhizoctonia solani. Residues of clover and peanut were tested as noncruciferous controls. The incidence of damping-off was significantly and consistently suppressed in the soils amended with residues of clover, peanut, and B.