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The objectives of this paper are to grasp the current situation of Japanese automobile dealers (sales outlets) and discover what the effective capability and management practices are for them. We analyse quantitative data obtained from questionnaires distributed to new vehicle sales outlets in the Tokyo region of Japan. We have three major findings. First, the overall sales performance of Japanese sales outlets appears to be unsustainably low, suggesting there will be ongoing consolidation even after a post-pandemic recovery. Second, the paper provides empirical evidence that there are significant differences in the new vehicle sales performance of sales outlets across vehicle brands and segments. Third, we found that acquisition capability and job role formalisation at sales outlets have significant negative effects on new vehicle sales performance. The results suggest the importance of role flexibility at sales outlets.

Advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) frequently causes systemic inflammation. Recent studies have shown that cancer cells reshape the immune landscape by secreting cytokines or chemokines. This phenotype, called cancer-cell-intrinsic inflammation, triggers a metastatic cascade. Here, we identified the functional role and regulatory mechanism of inflammation driven by advanced ccRCC cells. The inflammatory nature of advanced ccRCC was recapitulated in a preclinical model of ccRCC. Amplification of cancer-cell-intrinsic inflammation during ccRCC progression triggered neutrophil-dependent lung metastasis. Massive expression of inflammation-related genes was transcriptionally activated by epigenetic remodelling through mechanisms such as DNA demethylation and super-enhancer formation. A bromodomain and extra-terminal motif inhibitor synchronously suppressed C-X-C-type chemokines in ccRCC cells and decreased neutrophil-dependent lung metastasis. Overall, our findings provide insight into the nature of inflammatory ccRCC, which triggers metastatic cascades, and suggest a potential therapeutic strategy.

In this paper, the concept of illuminated area, an important characteristic in acoustic images, is formalized, which can be applied to tasks such as the 3D mapping of underwater environment. Unmanned exploration using underwater robots is gaining attention among the scientific community. A way to sense the underwater environment is to employ the acoustic camera, a next generation forward looking sonar with high resolution even in turbid water. It is more flexible than common underwater sonars; however, studies on acoustic cameras are still at the early stage. Acoustic cameras have a fixed vertical beam width able to generate a limited bright area on acoustic images which is named illuminated area. In this paper, we propose the concept of illuminated area and the method to detect the illuminated area under a flatness assumption of the ground. Then, it is shown how the knowledge of the illuminated area can be fused with depth information to estimate the roll and pitch angles of the acoustic camera. The estimated quantities can be employed to carry out a 3D mapping process. Experiment shows the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.

This paper proposes a novel motion planning method that can deal with changes in rough terrain efficiently. Previous studies on motion planning in rough terrain did not consider significant changes in the environment. To solve this problem, we propose an efficient re-planning method. The re-planning method is characterized by using search tree repeatedly as long as it is still valid. Reusing search tree enables limiting the re-planning region, which leads to the shorter planning time. After re-planning, the re-planned path is deformed to shorten the length of the path. Experimental results show that the proposed method can generate a collision-free path against a significant environmental change and perform the re-planning within a short time.

In this paper, we present a novel probabilistic three-dimensional (3D) mapping framework that uses acoustic images captured in an underwater environment. Acoustic camera is a forward-looking imaging sonar that is commonly used in underwater inspection recently; however, the loss of elevation angle information makes it difficult to get a better understanding of underwater environment. To cope with this, we apply a probabilistic occupancy mapping framework with a novel inverse sensor model suitable for the acoustic camera in order to reconstruct the underwater environment in volumetric presentation. The simulations and experimental results demonstrate that our mapping framework for the acoustic camera can reconstruct dense 3D model of underwater targets successfully.

In the disaster area, an arm mounted crawler robot is leveraged for missions such as searching victims. However, the robot system has possibility of failure of drive system at the extreme environment. Moreover, the robot needs to keep moving to repair the mechanism, if the drive system becomes failure. In response to this problem, it is important to realize the recovery motion. However, designing of recovery motion is difficult because the recovery motion depends on the environments and configurations of the robot. This paper describes the learning methodology of the recovery motion in the single-arm mounted crawler robot, and we confirmed that the proposed system can learn the recovery motion in computer simulation.

This paper presents a sensing method to measure three-dimensional (3-D) information in an underwater environment using an acoustic camera. Acoustic cameras can acquire clear information even in turbid water which is difficult to photograph with an optical camera. In addition, its detection range is extensive. Compared to traditional sensors, acoustic cameras with no restrictions on vision are the most powerful sensors for acquiring underwater information. In this paper, we propose a novel approach which enables 3-D measurement of underwater objects using arbitrary viewpoints based on an extended Kalman filter (EKF). By using the probabilistic method based on the EKF, 3-D reconstruction of underwater objects is possible even if the control input for camera movement has uncertainty. Furthermore, since the EKF based estimation is performed sequentially each time, our methodology can be adapted to realtime applications. Simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This paper presents an effective improved artificial potential field-based regression search (improved APF-based RS) method that can obtain a better and shorter path efficiently without local minima and oscillations in an environment including known, partially known or unknown, static, and dynamic environments. We redefine potential functions to eliminate oscillations and local minima problems, and use improved wall-following methods for the robots to escape non-reachable target problems. Meanwhile, we develop a regression search method to optimise the planned path. The optimisation path is calculated by connecting the sequential points produced by improved APF. The simulations demonstrate that the improved APF method easily escapes from local minima, oscillations, and non-reachable target problems. Moreover, the simulation results confirm that our proposed path planning approach can calculate a shorter or more nearly optimal than the general APF can. Results prove our improved APF-based RS method’s feasibility and efficiency for solving path planning.

The inconvenience and cost of utilising existing task assignment approaches to resolve dynamical mobile task allocation. For such new domain, we first propose a method, called dynamical-sequential task allocation and reallocation, by implementing multi-round negotiation and body expansion behaviour. Every former half time step, robots negotiate sequentially and select tasks to perform, and declare the information to other robots. When all robots have finished first time selection, then the remaining unselected robots choose the remaining unassigned tasks again sequentially at the latter half time step. We set two distance thresholds for robot decision-making to apply body expansion behaviour. The advantages of our methodology are demonstrated by comparison with existing algorithms, simulation results demonstrate that the efficiency for whole system to accomplish given tasks is improved by utilising our approach. Moreover, it is more conducive to reduce the numerous computational time and communication compared with existing investigated task assignment methods.

The gene for the D-mandelate dehydrogenase (D-ManDH) of Enterococcus faecalisIAM10071 was isolated by means of an activity staining procedure and PCR and expressed in Escherichia colicells. The recombinant enzyme exhibited high catalytic activity toward various 2-ketoacid substrates with bulky hydrophobic side chains, particularly C3-branched substrates such as benzoylformate and 2-ketoisovalerate, and strict coenzyme specificity for NADH and NAD+. It showed marked sequence similarity with known NADP-dependent 2-ketopantoate reductases (KPR). These results indicate that together with KPR, D-ManDH constitutes a new family of D-2-hydroxyacid dehydrogenases that act on C3-branched 2-ketoacid substrates with various specificities for coenzymes and substrates.

AbstractThe most stable molecular packing systems of aromatic polyester molecules have been investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations performed for decamer (ten repeating units) of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) in the nematic phase. The MD simulations were started from eight possible packing structures. Among them, we found the polar ordering structure with the intermolecular ester carbonyl groups aligned in the same direction is energetically most favorable. This is consistent with our previous experimental observation for the second-harmonic generation (SHG) intensity measurement.

AbstractDensity functional calculations (B3LYP/6–31G*) have been carried out to investigate the transition state structure for the inversion mechanism in the thermal cis-transisomerization reaction of azobenzene and 4-amino-4′-nitroazobenzene. Four and eight conformations were optimized in order to find the inversion transition state of azobenzene and 4-amino-4′-nitroazobenzene, respectively. As a result, it is found that azobenzene and 4-amino-4′-nitroazobenzene have only one genuine inversion transition state, respectively. The inversion barrier of 4-amino-4′-nitroazobenzene is smaller than that of azobenzene. The dipole moment of the inversion transition state of 4-amino-4′-nitroazobenzene is extremely large compared to those of the cisand transstructures.

X-ray scattering measurements have been done on aqueous MgCl2-KCl and MgCl2CsCl solutions saturated with their double salts of MgCl2• KCl • 6 H2O and MgCl2• KCl • 6 H2O respectively, at 293 K. The Mg2+ion was found to be coordinated with six water molecules at an Mg-O distance of 209 and 208 pm, respectively, whereas K+and Cs+ions were surrounded by both water molecules and chloride ions in the first coordination sphere. The interatomic distance between the alkali cation and the chloride ion was 320 pm and 339 pm for K+and Cs+, respectively, and the coordination numbers of K+and Cs+with respect to CP were 2.4 and 2.0, respectively. The alkali metal H20 distance and the hydration number of the cation were 277 pm and 3.7, respectively, for K+and 315 pm and 4.7, respectively, for Cs+. The structures of the solutions are discussed in connection with the nucleation processes of the salts from the aqueous solutions

The structure factors of molten LiNO3, RbNO3and AgNO3and the 1:1 LiNO3-RbNO3mixture have been determined over a wide range of momentum transfer by neutron total scattering measurements using a pulsed spallation neutron source. Least-squares analyses applied to the intra-ionic part of the structure factors have revealed the geometry of nitrate ions to be equilateral triangular (the D3hsymmetry) in the melts, independent of the cations involved. The radial distribution function (RDF) of the AgNO3melt has indicated that about four nitrate ions are bound to an Ag+ion as a monodentate ligand with the shortest Ag-O distance of 240 pm. The contact between lithium atoms and nitrate ions was also evidenced at about 190 pm in the RDF of the melts containing lithium ions, but the orientation of the nitrate toward lithium ions was not conclusive in the present study.

Pulsed neutron diffraction Pulsed neutron diffraction measurements have been performed on molten (7Li, K)C1 and (7Li, Na, K)Cl mixtures of the eutectic composition to determine the nearest neighbour distance between Li+and Cl-ions. Owing to the negative scattering length of the 7Li nucleus, this contribu­tion becomes negative in the radial distribution function and can be separated from the other contributions. The nearest neighbour distance between Li+ion and Cl-ion is found to be 240 pm in both the binary and ternary mixtures.

X-Ray scattering measurements of 2.78 and 5.56 molal aqueous solutions of caesium iodide and 2.78 and 6.05 molal lithium iodide were carried out at 293 and 343 K Differences in the radial distribution functions (DRDFs) have been obtained between the caesium iodide and lithium iodide solutions of similar composition, the latter being taken as a reference for the data analysis of the former. The DRDFs show a peak arising from Cs - I contact-ion-pairs at 390 pm for all the caesium iodide solutions. The hydration structure of the caesium and iodide ions has been revealed. Effects of the concentration and temperature on the formation of ion-pairs and on the hydration structure of the ions are discussed

Eosinophils are a potential target for treating radiation-induced intestinal fibrosis.

Ab initiocalculation was performed to appreciate 13C NMR chemical shift variations of 11-cis-retinal. The results show that isotropic shift of C12 varies significantly as the C12-C13 single bond rotates. This factor seems to be important to discuss a state of the chromophore in the protein.

Robots are expected to be operated in environments where they coexist with humans, such as shopping malls and offices. Both the safety and efficiency of a robot are necessary in such environments. To achieve this, pedestrian behaviour should be accurately predicted. However, the behaviour is uncertain and cannot be easily predicted. This paper proposes a probabilistic method of determining pedestrian trajectory based on an estimation of pedestrian behaviour patterns. The proposed method focuses on the specific behaviour of pedestrians around the robot. The proposed model classifies the behaviours of pedestrians into definite patterns. The behaviour patterns, distribution of the positions of the pedestrians, and the direction of each behaviour pattern are determined by learning through observation. The behaviour pattern of a pedestrian can be estimated correctly by a likelihood calculation. A robot decides to move with an emphasis on either safety or efficiency depending on the result of the pattern estimation. If the pedestrian trajectory follows a known behaviour pattern, the robot would move with an emphasis on efficiency because the pedestrian trajectory can be predicted. Otherwise, the robot would move with an emphasis on safety because the behaviour of the pedestrian cannot be predicted. Experimental results show that robots can move efficiently and safely when passing by a pedestrian by applying the proposed method.

An RNA aptamer containing two binding sites of HIV Tat exhibits extremely high affinity to Tat. We have determined the structure of the aptamer complexed with an RNA-binding peptide of Tat. The analysis was made feasible by the use of several peptides in which a single arginine residue was specifically 13C, 15N-labeled. Residue specific labeling of the peptide enhanced the identification of intermolecular contacts, which are otherwise hard to identify due to spectral overlapping. The structure of the complex has revealed the origin of the high affinity of the aptamer to Tat.

An RNA aptamer containing two binding sites exhibits extremely high affinity to the HIV Tat protein. We previously reported the structure of the aptamer complexed with argininamide as the simplest analogue of Tat. Here, we have analyzed the structure of the aptamer complexed with the partial peptide of Tat, RKKRR. The profile of chemical sift perturbations for the aptamer upon complex formation with RKKRR revealed that RKKRR can be a realistic analogue of Tat to address the interactions between the arginine-rich motif of Tat and the aptamer. It was suggested that the aptamer interacts with different arginine residues of RKKRR simultaneously at the two binding sites, which can explain the extremely high affinity to Tat.

We examined the effect of morpholino (MOR) backbone modification of triplex-forming oligonucleotide (TFO) on the pyrimidine motif triplex formation at neutral pH, a condition where pyrimidine motif triplexes are unstable. The binding constant of the pyrimidine motif triplex formation at pH 6.8 with MOR-modified TFO was approximately 60 times larger than that observed with unmodified TFO. Kinetic data demonstrated that the observed increase in the binding constant at neutral pH by the MOR backbone modification resulted mainly from the considerable increase in the association rate constant. The present results certainly support the idea that the MOR backbone modification of TFO could be a key modification and may eventually lead to progress in therapeutic applications of the antigene strategy <it>in vivo</it>.