The function of ipsilateral cutaneous reflexes was studied with short trains of stimuli presented pseudorandomly to the superficial peroneal nerve (SP; innervates the top of the foot) during treadmill walking in neurologically intact (NI) subjects and subjects who had had a stroke. Ankle and knee joint angles together with electromyograms (EMG) of tibialis anterior (TA), soleus (SOL), medial gastrocnemius (MG), vastus lateralis (VL), and biceps femoris (BF) muscles were recorded. Net reflex EMG and kinematic responses to stimulation were quantified in each of the 16 parts of the step cycle and responses compared between the stroke and NI subjects. Stimulation strongly suppressed extensor muscles throughout stance in the stroke subjects. TA muscle showed a significant suppression during swing phase that was correlated with reduced ankle dorsiflexion in both stroke and NI subjects. BF reflexes were facilitatory during parts of swing and VL reflexes were suppressive throughout stance in the stroke subjects. There was a significant correlation between BF facilitation and knee flexion during swing, which was stronger in NI subjects. We conclude that only part of the stumble correction to foot dorsum electrical stimulation observed in NI subjects is maintained after stroke, and that new, suppressive responses are seen.

In this study, we propose a user-interruptibility estimation method based on focused application switching (AS) during PC work. It was experimentally demonstrated that the interruptions of AS are more acceptable than those during continuous work. Therefore, we constructed an algorithm that estimates the interruptibility of AS at three levels based on 19 selected indexes. The feasibility of the interruptibility estimation of AS was demonstrated by an estimation experiment using another dataset of 11 users.

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An intrahepatic mass was incidentally found in a 41-year-old

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SUMMARYFrequently interrupting someone who is busy will decrease his or her productivity. To minimize this risk, a number of interruptibility estimation methods based on PC activity such as typing or mouse clicks have been developed. However, these estimation methods do not take account of the effect of conversations in relation to the interruptibility of office workers engaged in intellectual activities such as scientific research. This study proposes an interruptibility estimation method that takes account of the conversation status. Two conversation indices, "In conversation" and "End of conversation" were used in a method that we developed based on our analysis of 50 hours worth of recorded activity. Experiments, using the conversation status as judged by the Wizard-of-OZ method, demonstrated that the estimation accuracy can be improved by the two indices. Furthermore, an automatic conversation status recognition system was developed to replace the Wizard-of-OZ procedure. The results of using it for interruptibility estimation suggest the effectiveness of the automatically recognized conversation status.

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