Tsuneo Chinzei

Far infrared medical image database on World Wide Web

In order to set up international standards for medical infrared thermography the authors have been developing an international communication tool on the World Wide Web (WWW) named Biomedical Thermology Homepage (http://biomed.poli-sci.saitama-u.ac.jp/bmth/). The methodology and system concept have been reported (I. Fujimasa et al., 1996). In this report, the concept and methodology of the image database named Gallery are reported. The keynotes are how one establishes remote access of image handling software to analyze common source binary images in the database. The authors have developed software which was written with Visual Basic and JAVA. The system, which has included more than 20000 binary images, has been tested for its feasibleness from remote sites.

Use of skin sympathetic nerve activity for the automatic control of an air-conditioning system

As the first stage of a long-term project aimed at developing an automatic control system for external devices which utilizes signals from the nervous system, the current study utilized changes in the skin sympathetic nervous activity (SSNA) measured microneurographically in order to accomplish the switching control of an external device between the cooling and heating modes. The number of SSNA (vasomotor) bursts decreased in proportion to the increase in the thermal sensation of the subject, demonstrating the possibility of operating an air-conditioner by using feedback from the number of SSNA bursts.