Research projects

This study focuses on the effect of extending the healthy life span, which is a Co-Benefit by improving the living environment, and by conducting a large-scale field survey and follow-up / intervention survey, the living environment is affected by brain function, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease. Quantitatively clarified the effects on health such as athletic ability and need for nursing care. In the survey targeting the youth to middle age, in addition to verifying the relationship between the home environment and the resident's home blood pressure, brain MRI imaging data, sleep state, body temperature, physical activity, heart rate, respiratory function, etc. We verified the intellectual productivity in the office. Since daytime intellectual productivity is affected not only by the office environment itself, but also by sleep and rest at home the day before, we conducted a subject experiment on the synergistic effect of a good home / office environment.

Wearable transmissive displays equipped with small cameras, such as smart glasses, are attracting attention as new devices that contribute to realizing an information environment in harmony with people. We have worked on realizing the technique to precisely estimate visual attention, which is an important cue for estimating a person's internal state (intention and interest) from the first-person video captured by a wearable camera. We also studied the establishment of a gaze guidance technology based on visual attention and visual threshold information presentation to realize a gaze guidance technology for wearable transmissive displays, aiming to recognize an information presentation space that supports daily activities for humans.

This study developed a system for classifying sleep into five stages using only heart rate data. In the first year, we simultaneously measured heart rate and polysomnography (PSG) to extract features necessary for classification, leading to a single patented equation. In the second year, we applied a non-contact sensor attached to bed legs, enabling heart rate detection and sleep staging simply by lying in bed. PSG validation confirmed the accuracy of this approach. Tests with healthy individuals in their 20s to 40s demonstrated the feasibility of five-stage sleep classification using heart rate alone. In the third year, we extended the study to patients with various conditions and to primate models. Results showed that the system was not effective in individuals with heart rate abnormalities, which we identified as a limitation for further research.

This clinical study was conducted using polysomnography to determine the effect of 3 hours of violet light irradiation during the day (11:00 am to 2:00 pm) on sleep quality. The results showed that the percentage of deep sleep (N3) during non-REM sleep significantly increased in the violet light irradiation group compared to the control group (p=0.03). On the other hand, there was no significant difference in total sleep time (TST). These results suggest that light may be associated with mechanisms that affect biological rhythms such as the sleep-wake cycle via the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and other organs.

本研究では、簡易脳波測定器を用いてリアルタイムで認知負荷量を推定し、認知作業分 析を実施する。これにより、手術における認知プロセスの形式知化と構造化を図り、サー ジカルインテリジェンスのレポジトリーを構築することを目的とする。また、手術中の認 知負荷が手術成績に与える影響について探索的な分析を行い、これらの結果を基に認知プ ロセスの修練に特化した動画教材を開発する。

The purpose of this research was to construct a system for on-line evaluation of the environment and intellectual productivity in the building by simultaneously measuring EEG( brain waves) and eye direction with only smartphones. We construct the following. 1. We built a system that simultaneously measures EEG and eye direction with only smartphone, 2. Using a EEG and gaze information, we have constructed a new smart system that evaluates interests, concentration, stress level in real time. 3. We have established a new quantitative evaluation of intellectual productivity in the working environment using EEG and eye direction information. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we calculated the stress, concentration and interest index obtained by the EEG in the actual work space. These experiments show that the results obtained by on-line evaluation of intellectual productivity correlate largely with the progress and accuracy of the work content.