Background Procedures should be performed when an infant is most receptive to disruptions in order to reduce the stress on the infant. However, frequent direct observations place a heavy burden on medical staff. There is therefore a need for a method for quantitatively and automatically evaluating the neonatal state. Methods Ten infants in our hospital were enrolled in this study. The states of the infants were assessed by medical staff using the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale and were recorded on video at the same time. The recorded states were reclassified as activity levels, a new state classification method that includes middle activity, which is the appropriate time for a procedure. Using image analysis, motions of the infant were quantified as two indices: activity and pause time. Activity and pause time were compared for each activity level. The cutoff values of the indices were calculated, and the sensitivity and specificity of the middle activity were calculated. Results There was a significant difference between all groups of activity level (P < 0.01). The maximum sensitivity and specificity of middle activity were 71.7% and 51.2%, respectively. Conclusions The neonatal state of infants can be quantitatively and automatically evaluated using video cameras, and the activity level can be used to determine an appropriate time for procedures in infants. This will reduce the burden on medical staff and lead to less stressful procedures for infants.

Shaft sealing in a high-level waste(HLW) disposal system functions to minimize the water flow passage, and retard the radionuclide transport from the repository to the accessible environment. It is important to estimate the radionuclide migration along the sealed shaft from the viewpoint of the design and the performance assessment of the sealing system.This study presents the results of sensitivity analyses on the radionuclide migration in the vicinity of the access shaft of a repository in order to evaluate the effects of the length of a plug, as well as the number of plugs, and curtain grouts.In this study, the upward hydraulic gradient of the groundwater flow along shafts was used, based on transient coupled thermo-hydraulic analyses around a repository. Hydraulic conductivities of the backfill material and the disturbed zones around the shaft tunnels were also assumed to be one order and two orders of magnitude higher than that of the host rock, respectively.The results show that the velocity of the groundwater within the shaft and the disturbed zone is reduced by a factor of one third by installing a few plugs into the shaft filled with backfill material. The curtain grouts have the effect of retarding the radionuclide migration from the repository to the ground surface at a factor of approximately five. A few plug installations have the same effect. The sealing system properly constituted with backfill, plugs, and grouts can provide the same performance as the original host rock.

Groundwater flow from the repository to the surface through the sealed access shaft may be induced by the heat generated from high-level radioactive waste(HLW). It is important to estimate the effect of this heat generation on groundwater flow.This paper presents an evaluation of groundwater flow in the vicinity of an access shaft filled with a backfill material. The evaluation uses a coupled thermo-hydraulic model. According to the current design, the backfill material within the shaft will be tamped 5 to 15 times every 20 cm depth using a 60 kg vibrating compactor. The properties of the backfill material were determined from experimental results for this construction method.A transient coupled thermo-hydraulic analysis was carried out using an axisymmetric FEM model. Two kinds of repository models were considered, one was a single layered repository located at 1000 m depth, and the other was a two layered repository located at 800 m and 1000 m depths. The access shaft of each model was located at the center of the repository.The results show that the vertical hydraulic gradient of groundwater flow along the sealed shaft will be approximately 0.001 at a time 1000 years after closure of the repository.

This research aims to produce an intelligent surgical robot, incorporating the following three techniques, A: visual feedback B: force control C: organ-model base control. This research uses a robot model and a liver for the target object to evaluate organ-model base control. For the purpose of organ-model base control, three experiments were conducted to evaluate the physical properties of the liver for robot control. A dynamic viscoelastic test was then carried out to show the dynamic properties of the liver in the form of a differential equation. The nonlinearity of the liver was supported by the creep test. In addition, the liver model was validated using a constant strain rate test.

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